Any other writers in the house?

[Over The Hill]

Yes and no: most agents want something between five pages and three chapters, but they will immediately want to see the whole thing if they like it, so it's counter-productive to send anything until it's finished.

I do agree with you and have been trying to get the whole thing finished for that reason. Problem is time slips by and it still is not finished.
I do have a first draft of the whole novel but the middle is a bit rough and needs a fair bit more. First two and last two chapters are much more advanced and on about third draft and about as good as it will get. I think I would pitch with an extract from the beginning and end anyway so I don't see that I have much to lose. I could finish quite quickly if I had some decent feedback.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I'd still advise against it: it won't make you popular with any agent who wants to see it, and by the time you've finished it they may have moved on and/or lost interest. Since you need to complete it anyway, I'd do that first.

 

[hoopdriver]

Anyone published?

No doubt @Flying_Monkey is?

Well, I have been a journalist for thirty years. I am a former senior writer for TIME Magazine and for the last 18 years I have been freelancing, primarily for National Geographic - but for other international news, travel and science magazines on occasion as well.

As to books I have published two travel books - one about my travels in Antarctica another about a 10,000-mile solo cycling trek I made through the Australian bush: both of these were published by National Geographic Adventure Press. I have also written or contributed to several National Geographic coffee table books and wrote the National Geographic Traveler guidebook to Australia,

At the moment I am polishing a completed draft of my first novel - or what I hope will be my first novel.

 

[MontyVeda]

I've recommended it to lots of people. No-one who has tried it has ever gone back to a word processor.

that looks interesting... although I've recently discovered the comments and the navigator on OpenOffice, which makes things a whole lot easier.

Problem i have is remembering the names and ages of each character.... Mr Barnes can easily become Mr Bates and i won't even notice as my memory is awful at times.... I tend to have such details on a post it note stuck to my monitor, but they don't always stay stuck.... so I'll be giving Scrivener a trial. (i clearly need all the help i can get)

 

[Jon George]

but after writing something i just instantly believe it to be terrible and bin it.

Next time, stick on a shelf somewhere and return to it a few weeks later - critical post-writing blues is quite common.

Oh, if anyone is interested you can find me and my work at : http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0034PSSAM

 

[ColinJ]

I've heard Scrivener mentioned a lot, I write everything in Google Drive at the moment.

I've recommended it to lots of people. No-one who has tried it has ever gone back to a word processor.

That might be exactly what I need! I scribble notes on scraps of paper, in old diaries, text files and so on, and then find it hard to gather the information into anything that makes sense.

I will investigate Scrivener!

 

[CopperBrompton]

Problem i have is remembering the names and ages of each character.... Mr Barnes can easily become Mr Bates

You are not alone - one section of the Research section of my Scrivener projects always has the names of the characters (always a quick scroll away), together with pen portraits just a click away. That way, they don't change names, job titles or (once, famously) sex.

That might be exactly what I need! I scribble notes on scraps of paper, in old diaries, text files and so on, and then find it hard to gather the information into anything that makes sense.

Scrivener is perfect for that, as it keeps everything from notes to web pages all in one place.

 

[hoopdriver]

I do agree with you and have been trying to get the whole thing finished for that reason. Problem is time slips by and it still is not finished.
I do have a first draft of the whole novel but the middle is a bit rough and needs a fair bit more. First two and last two chapters are much more advanced and on about third draft and about as good as it will get. I think I would pitch with an extract from the beginning and end anyway so I don't see that I have much to lose. I could finish quite quickly if I had some decent feedback.

Sounds like a good strategy. I am doing much the same with my novel. I have gone ahead and sent 25,000 words to my agent, and have the rest in a state where I could polish the rest of the draft quite quickly if required.

 

[jhawk]

Currently at 33K!

Just started Chapter Nine... Really want to make this one action-packed...

 

[CopperBrompton]

Currently at 33K!

My issue at present isn't writing the words, it's trying to write fewer of them!

This novel was supposed to be 120,000 words maximum, and is currently at 139,000 without having quite reached the end ... I am comforting myself with the thought that it's easier to cut words than to add them during the editing phase.

 

[hoopdriver]

My issue at present isn't writing the words, it's trying to write fewer of them!

This novel was supposed to be 120,000 words maximum, and is currently at 139,000 without having quite reached the end ... I am comforting myself with the thought that it's easier to cut words than to add them during the editing phase.

Far easier.

 

[vernon]

My shortest published work is found in Notes and Queries, The Guardian

How are rock types dated?

* Rock types are not generally constrained to a specific time, eg granites occur throughout geo logical time. Igneous (eg granite, basalt and andesite) and metamorphic rocks (eg schists and gneisses) are dated predominantly by radioactive methods.

Sedimentary rocks are generally dated by the fossil they contain using zone fossils (those which have an internationally determined age range). All rocks can be dated relative to each other to give a local self-contained chronology, using what is called the "cross-cutting relationship" of one rock to another.

Ivan Finney, associate lecturer, geology and sedimentary processes, Open University, Enfield, Middx.

* Buy them a few drinks and enquire after their modelling aspirations.

Vernon Levy, Leeds.

 

[bigjim]

Well, I have been a journalist for thirty years. I am a former senior writer for TIME Magazine and for the last 18 years I have been freelancing, primarily for National Geographic - but for other international news, travel and science magazines on occasion as well.

As to books I have published two travel books - one about my travels in Antarctica another about a 10,000-mile solo cycling trek I made through the Australian bush: both of these were published by National Geographic Adventure Press. I have also written or contributed to several National Geographic coffee table books and wrote the National Geographic Traveler guidebook to Australia,

At the moment I am polishing a completed draft of my first novel - or what I hope will be my first novel.

Wow! I'm so impressed.

I've only written articles for In house mags.
I once sent a short story to the BBC and they wrote back saying that they wanted to use it for a "Book at Bedtime" but it had just finished and could I rewrite it as a short play for something or other that they were doing. However other things that actually paid me money got in the way and that was that.
I do enjoy writing though and I've just started a blog http://adenough1.blogspot.co.uk/ where I can dump some of my short touring ride reports and any other bits of writing.
I don't have the comittment for a book and I'm not hungry enough anymore.
I read recently about a quite successful crime novelist who only mananged to clear about £15K a year. I think you need to sell TV or Film rights to make the big money.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

If anyone fancies flexing their creative side I can recommend submitting 75 word stories here http://www.paragraphplanet.com/ It's great fun!

 

[vernon]

I read recently about a quite successful crime novelist who only mananged to clear about £15K a year. I think you need to sell TV or Film rights to make the big money.

The other week I heard on Radio Four that to make a comfortable living, an author needs to have three books that are selling well at any given time.