2015 & 2016

[scfrankles]

I’ve been reading thesmallhobbit and okapi1895’s posts about their writing in 2015 and their plans for 2016, so I thought I’d have a go at something similar myself.

My total word count for 2015 (including my DeviantArt stuff and my big bang fic which won’t be posted until the spring) isn’t terribly impressive—about 74,500 words. But as Okapi pointed out, I am concentrating on microfiction. So for 2016, I’m not going to worry too much about the final word count. But I do want to write more often and produce more individual works—both fanfiction and original pieces. One thing I’m going to do is go back to writing for fan_flashworks. I rather let that slide due to work and other writing projects.

And I want to continue to try new things. One thing I definitely want to try this year is writing a novel—something 50,000 words or more. Writing at length is not something that comes naturally to me, but I’ve been greatly heartened by how relatively straightforward writing my fic for smallfandombang has been. That’s only 16,000 words but a couple of years ago I would have found that impossible. I’m not sure I’ll try NaNoWriMo. Simply because I’m such a slow writer—I’m not sure I could keep up. Though I don’t know—if it was just a case of getting a very rough first draft out... But I think for me it’s something better spread out over several months. And anyway, I shouldn’t really put off starting—if I want to try, I should just get on with it.

Another important thing I want to try is selling my original work. I’ve come a long way in the last five years or so, and I’m confident about the standard of my work. I get a good reaction from people I don’t know and have no reason to flatter me. And I think I’m also realistic about rejection now—I’m not going to be crushed if a piece isn’t considered suitable. I can’t see myself ever being a full-time professional writer but it would be wonderful if I could get some additional income out of something I’m good at and proud of doing.

Comments

[garonne.livejournal.com]

Very interesting to read about your writing goals! I'm always interested by how other people are thinking about their writing. 74,500 words is extremely impressive when there's a lot of microfiction in there! I know when I'm writing a longish fic then some of the sentences hidden in the middle were quite easy to write because they're not so polished ;) But in microfiction, every words counts.

I'm also intrigued to hear you're thinking about selling your original work. What kind of market are you thinking of? I've been vaguely thinking the same thing myself recently, but I'm hesitating. I did it before, a long time ago, before I'd ever heard of online fandom, and sometimes I think, hey, I could do that again...

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I certainly can't believe any of your sentences are unpolished ^_^ And it has to be said, not all of my microfiction is as polished as it could be ^^"

I must admit I don't have a clear idea of a market yet - just vaguely "magazines". I have done a bit of research in the past but it all felt a bit overwhelming and I never really got to the point of having particular publications in mind. So that's my first step - doing some research and finding publications that might be interested in the kind of thing I write. And then perhaps building up a small number of stories before I start submitting - at the moment everything I've written is posted online.

I wouldn't imagine you'd have much trouble selling your writing. I know there's a lot of competition but you're something exceptional. Your work is so impressive.

[garonne.livejournal.com]

Hah, you are too kind to me!

Actually to be honest, I do sometimes look at published novels and think, hey, I can write better than that. So, so many fic authors I know can write better than that. Then I don't read the novel, but go read some fic instead ;)

Well, I did have trouble making any money from writing in the past... ;D That was in the days where everything was on paper, and you had to pay for ink and postage and so on, so that every rejection (and I had lots of them, and only one accepted!) was an additional entry in the minus column in the book-keeping... Nowadays with the internet that must have completely changed, and there must be a lot of additional outlets for selling writing too. I should do some research too.

Your writing is far more than good enough to be professional. Of course I know that actually getting published then depends not just on quality, but also on genre, outlet etc. (e.g. literary fiction being more difficult than romance because there are less outlets). So I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on, what you decide to go for, etc. if you make some more posts on the topic in the future.

P.s. I do hope that won't mean you stop writing fanfic, because I would miss your fic very much! But your 'goals for next year' post reassures me that fanfic is also a part of that :)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying you would miss my fic (and that my writing is good enough to be professional) ^^ Someone of your talent enjoying my work just makes me feel so positive. And I don't think I could ever give up the fanfic world now. There are so many talented writers, there's so much passion for other people's work and for writing in general, and everyone seems to have a willingness to branch out and try new things. On the whole I've found people who only write original fiction to be more conservative in their outlook. And fanfiction is such a demanding discipline - I find it far more challenging than writing original stuff. Oh, and it's fun too, of course ^_^

And, yes, I have seen professional writing that is nowhere near as good as yours or many other fic writers. Though to be fair, looking at things the other way round, I have seen some pretty dire fics too ^_^ It's a reality all writers have to face I suppose - talent isn't always enough to be successful or popular, and in the end publishers are looking for something that will make money.

But I am determined to try selling my work ^^ I will make some more posts as I go along - it will encourage me to actually get on with things, if I know I have to report on them afterwards. We could compare notes - get competitive over rejection letter totals ^_^