Well, it looks like things are making some interesting changes that I was completely unaware of.
1) Firstly, apparently scientists have developed a way to levitate things via sound. You can find the link here at Tales From the Raven. They levitated an ant, a fish, and a tadpole. I’m rather disturbed by it because, well, that’s just creepy. Can you imagine walking around and suddenly get picked up? And who knows where this technology might go in the future. Perhaps we could use it for targeted attacks of some sort. Perhaps police officers will use it for something. Who knows.
2) Some things on writing of interest to anyone who writes. Over at Quantum Storytelling there is an interesting checklist of scene necessities, especially on the different conflicts necessary. I think it greatly applies to fantasy, but that’s my opinion.3) New Links: You’ll notice several new links over there ——–>
Well, figured I’d explain what some of them are :). First there’s Blogels, a nifty site that links to a bunch of other blog novels such as mine–although not in the same genres. They deserve as much attention as mine I gather. There’s Blogging Poet, a lovely place with poetry, interesting news about poetry and things going on in the world, and it apparently has a poetry search engine that I have yet to use as of yet. Sword & Sorcery/Weird Fiction Terminus is a nice blog that has book reviews and the like–mostly related to fantasy of course. SF Bookworm is a bit misleading at first as the title suggests it is related only to SF, when in fact it is just a big blog about all sorts of speculative fiction writing. This post was about who won the grand master award at the latest World Horror Convention. Of Making Many Books is yet another writing advice blog and recently had some great info on “Show, Don’t Tell”. An Urban Fantasy is a blog by debut author Alan Campbell which is more or less related to writing, whether directly or not, and is rather entertaining to read. From the Cradle to the Slave is a fantastic beginning to a potentially thrilling scifi novel. Hopefully the author will get some more chapters up soon as I have quite enjoyed reading it. Pocket Full of Words is a lovely blog by a fellow writer of what looks to be fantasy. She’s got three novels in progress, so best of luck to finishing all of them. After all, I’m doing one…
Heather Harper I managed to find by accident. She’s also writing a YA fantasy and I look forward to reading more on her blog as she progresses in this endeavor. Lowe Brow is doing the same as the previously mentioned site, posted in installments and also podcasted. All the Billion Other Moments is another writers blog with some helpful insights into the writing life, progress, and the like. Scribblings of a Madman is a journal by a fellow amateur novelist about his writing life. Write, Pam, Write! is a blog by a three time NaNoWriMo winner. She’s currently working on a novel called Eagle’s Heart. And finally there is S. William Shaw, Writer!–a blog about the progress of his novel endeavors in the younger adult field than my own, but still worth a lovely read.
So, this is my midweek post for no real reason other than the fact that I am home and available to do it. Don’t expect midweek posts often, but yeah, here it is.
12 Responses
You made a comment in your profile that you were considering posting a blog novel. One of my friends tried doing this, but I convinced him to stop.
First, my experience is that people won’t read it. Especially some poor schmoe who comes in at the middle, then tries to figure out what he is reading.
Second, if your novel is any good, by posting it on your blog, you’ve blown most chances of getting it published. Published on a blog is considered first electronic rights.
I tend to put things on my blog that I have no intention of sending out. Although recently I have started sending out some things to sources that will reprint material.
Anyway, just wanted to give you some feedback. Goodluck.
Stewart, I agree that it is not a good idea to publish on a blog IF you are hoping that this will attract an agent or publisher. You’d do better with a lottery ticket. However, there are some notable exceptions (John Scalzi), and through the advocacy of writers like Doctorow and Stross, slowly there is a growing view, at least in some publishing circles, that simultaneous online and print publication is not detrimental. The example of Daniel Pinkwater is a good one, who has been serialising his latest novel online (THE NEDDIAD), which will soon be published conventionally. However, I grant you that these latter were already established authors.
I am serialising my YA fantasy MORTAL GHOST because I believe in open culture. I like readers, but I like writing better. And I’m not interested in fame, fortune, or any sort of career.
If your novel is really any good, you haven’t blown anything.
And here, if you are interested, is a link to the Phildelphia Inquirer’s new column on online literature:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/special_packages/sunday_review/16507557.htm
Hey, I just got your post on my site. That’s cool that you’re writing a blog novel. I’ve thought about putting a few short stories up on my blog, just so people know what my style is like. Besides, they may come back for more, or even buy my books if I ever get one published.
That’s crazy about the sound wave levitation, but it’s also really interesting. It’s amazing to think what they could use that for, like construction, maybe.
Anyway, thanks for visiting. I’ll be checking back at yours too.
Sorry, the link was truncated due to its length. I’ll break it up, so you’ll need to fiddle with cutting & pasting a bit:
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/
special_packages/sunday_review/16507557.htm
I LOVE Scalzi. I’m reading Old Man’s War right now and am totally in love with it.
But I did mention to Mr. Sternberg on his blog that I am pursuing a career (of sorts) in writing, just that this novel is not part of that endeavor. It was more or less something I wanted to just do. I don’t intend to published WISB or anything I write within this world. I just want to have it online for people to read and hopefully receive feedback from a readers viewpoint.
I’ve got other stuff on my backburned that I’m working on getting published. But if for whatever reason this novel turns out to be rather good and people like it, then I’ve got a good idea of how I need to pursue a novel for publication I suppose later on in life lol.
Because I don’t want to post any misinformation, here’s what Charles Stross says over at the FAQ on his website (http://www.antipope.org/charlie/fiction/faq.html. And he ought to know:
‘For the past decade or so, it has been policy among the major publishers to buy all electronic rights to novels they acquire for paper publication. This doesn’t mean they actually intend to do anything with the rights — just that they get all angsty if they don’t own them. Indeed, not selling the electronic rights can be a deal-breaker.’
So for those who want to publish conventionally, maybe I’m still too optimisitic …
Hey, there! Thanks for the link. I just wanted to point out that Pocket Full of Words is Holly Lisle’s blog (I think she thinks of it more as a diary) – and while she might have 3 novels in progress, she’s published something like 27. The great thing about Holly is her willingness to share what she knows with new writers. Check out Mugging the Muse – it’s a freebie.
Thanks again for the link.
~PJ~
Thanks for the link. I recommend offering your online novel in other formats (DOC, PDF) so people like me can port it to work.
Thanks for the midweek post and links! I look forward to checking it more out. I came across your blog rounds about last week, and have fully enjoyed reading your novel. I am hooked & wanted to let you know it is really good. I agree with some of the others, when your novel-your writing is good, you’ll get published if that is what you want. I’m not a critic, only a sci-fi fan as my own blogs are in depth to just light hearted and fun 🙂 Keep up all the great entries.
This is exactly the kind of feedback I want everyone. Thank you so much for your kind words. Thanks Mr. Sternberg for saying that I am a good writer–that means a lot coming from someone I don’t know who is completely unbiased in his opinions. Also thanks to blondeswtp for her kind words on the blog and my novel. I hope to see many of you returning to read more of the novel as it progresses!
Your problems are not as big as Stewart might think. Go search Google webmaster for the “Do not cache” code and copy and paste it into your template. Then should you want to puul it offline and submit it to publishers it’s vanished without a trace. I do this on every blog I write as poets have the same sorts of issues.
As for how many people might read it? In the last year one of my crappy online novels has been read by over 100,000 readers and the publisher is happy to allow me to keep it online until the book is available for sale, hopefully very soon.
Fact is: when publishers tell you something like they only want first rights they probably didn’t want it at all. Case in point, the blog PostSecret became the #1 blog in the world and a publisher still published it even after millions had read it online.