The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing

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Hulohot
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by Hulohot » Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:10 am

I've been meaning to get around to writing my short horror story "My house at the edge of the Motorway" but I have been too lazy. Someone slap me please.

I'm also going to plug the Holy GRail story posted above.

Anyone who loves the forum and it's history and memes will absolutely love the collaborative quest for the holy GRail.

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by DarkRula » Mon Mar 18, 2019 3:05 pm

My fourth eBook is soon to be releasing and is available for preorder. Space Race Championship is a sci-fi/fantasy telling the tale of the titular competition in which Tom and Lee are entered. This preview sees them in training for the event.

The Space Kicker moved forward with increasing speed, then made a drop at the last second. Lee quickly swapped to the rear camera to see it pulling around to enter the hangar. Swapping to one of the cameras within the hangar, he watched a blue blur appear for a second on the feed.

Looking up, the Space Kicker had pulled up in front of the viewshield.

“How was that?” Tom asked.

“As good as could be expected,” Lee said. “Now would you be able to do roughly the same thing except approach from below?”

A pause of a few seconds, in which Lee had a feeling Tom was doing some calculations. “In two tries I think I can.”

It took him three. On the first try he overshot and ended up boosting over the DSSC instead of through it. On the second he scraped the upper lining of the hangar and had slammed to the floor trying to correct it. On the third try, there had been a moment where it looked like he might have failed but managed to pull it off.

“Yeah!” the exultant exclamation came through the speaker. “This really is great. I really must thank you for entering me into this. It’s the most fun I’ve had in ages.”

Lee smiled at that. “You’re welcome. This is definitely fun for me as well. We’ll give it a few more runs before heading back down.”

Lee recited the next checkpoint he had in mind. This one involved something similar to what Tom had done during Space Racer, but instead of strafing around the fittings of the hangar roof he needed to dodge around several smaller ‘craft. That couldn’t really be done, but Lee was leaving it up to Tom to create a pattern of random shifts before flying through the DSSC’s hangar.

“Going good,” Lee stated, seeing the pattern of left, left, right.

The Space Kicker then strafed left sharply before driving a long right. Lee watched as it continued on for longer than it needed.

“Pull off!” Lee exclaimed, but only received crackles from the speaker.

Lee watched as it finally faltered in its constant speed, then stopped. It stayed still for a minute.

“That… wasn’t meant to happen,” Tom said in a questioning tone.

“Are you sure everything’s fine with it?” Lee asked. “Do we need to return?”

“All reading fine.”

“Scanning for static pulses,” Lee informed, having thought on the next reason for a failure. “Irregular patches around, and some thin streaks…” It was an odd combination. The patches were uncommon but not unusual. The streaks of static meant someone had been firing a special type of laser infused with the stuff.

Hitting one of those streaks alone wouldn’t be enough to cause issues, but enough of them in close proximity would.

“Move away from the area,” Lee advised. “Too much static, and I think someone might be training using CSP lasers.”

“Aren’t they meant to be prohibited to security forces only?” Tom asked.

“I think they might be, but it’s always possible a friend of someone in security is helping that friend train in a more active way.”

The Space Kicker moved away from the area, with the DSSC following suit. The two set up a new checkpoint to practice, but no sooner had Tom started than Lee shouted for him to abort.

“Static streaks inbound! Get inside quickly!”

Lee kept his eyes locked on the scanner, now tuned exclusively to look out for static, and just about heard Tom say he was inside when the streaks passed over the central point of the scanner.

The lights flickered slightly, but that was the only effect the static had on the DSSC.

“I recommend we head back down,” Tom said. Lee hadn’t heard him enter. “Even if we aren’t being targeted, I don’t think we’re going to get much more done today unless we were to head out further.”

“I’m sure the crew of the Sur-C are tracking the static appearances, but I’m still reporting it.”

“As you should. Land at mine and I’ll get a full diagnostic run on the Kicker when we land.”

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:00 pm

Congrats on finishing another, Rula!

What's the word count, and how long did it take? I'm interested as I've hit 21k on my current writing and it has taken a looong time :lol:

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DarkRula
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by DarkRula » Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:41 pm

Thanks, OR.

Total word count is sat at almost 78k, and it probably took somewhere between 6-9 months.

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:16 pm

i would like to offer my congrats as well if i may

ive been thinking about giving crowd funding ago for my second book, anyone got any advice or website suggestions?

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:28 pm

What needs funding? I think you're unlikely to get people wanting to crowdfund a book, just get on and write the story you want to write. You don't need money upfront to do that, it's one of the things that makes writing so accessible!

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by DarkRula » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:29 pm

Thanks, shy guy.

I've no experience with crowdfunding sites, but you already have something for people to see in way of that first book, so no matter where you go you can at least show off the things you can do and hopefully gain support from it.

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:59 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:What needs funding? I think you're unlikely to get people wanting to crowdfund a book, just get on and write the story you want to write. You don't need money upfront to do that, it's one of the things that makes writing so accessible!


well ive have written it, it would be publishing fees id be crowdfunding for

DarkRula wrote:Thanks, shy guy.

I've no experience with crowdfunding sites, but you already have something for people to see in way of that first book, so no matter where you go you can at least show off the things you can do and hopefully gain support from it.


you have a point, thanks

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by That » Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:06 am

Hey shy guy, have you considered just e-publishing through Amazon? I think it's free or at least very cheap. Maybe something to investigate.

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 9:53 am

Karl wrote:Hey shy guy, have you considered just e-publishing through Amazon? I think it's free or at least very cheap. Maybe something to investigate.


i looked into it, a while back, but i decided against


also im contractually obliged to show my next two manuscripts to my current publishers first

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:05 am

shy guy 64 wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:What needs funding? I think you're unlikely to get people wanting to crowdfund a book, just get on and write the story you want to write. You don't need money upfront to do that, it's one of the things that makes writing so accessible!


well ive have written it, it would be publishing fees id be crowdfunding for


Ah okay, I don't know anything really about publishing and fees involved

I don't think I ever posted saying so before, but congrats on getting your first book published last year :) Is there anything you learned in the process that might be interesting to share?

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:04 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:What needs funding? I think you're unlikely to get people wanting to crowdfund a book, just get on and write the story you want to write. You don't need money upfront to do that, it's one of the things that makes writing so accessible!


well ive have written it, it would be publishing fees id be crowdfunding for


Ah okay, I don't know anything really about publishing and fees involved

I don't think I ever posted saying so before, but congrats on getting your first book published last year :) Is there anything you learned in the process that might be interesting to share?


thanks you, i did learn a few things during the process but im not sure if it was usual for the process or just for the publishers i went with, it was a good experience they kept me well up to date date with what was happening and asked for my own ideas about how to do certain things

one thing that always stuck in my mind was that the people who designed the cover dont read the manuscript which just really drives home the saying dont judge a book by its cover

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:07 pm

shy guy 64 wrote:one thing that always stuck in my mind was that the people who designed the cover dont read the manuscript which just really drives home the saying dont judge a book by its cover


:lol: I'm guessing they just went by the title and blurb. It looks alright though!

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:51 pm

OrangeRKN wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:one thing that always stuck in my mind was that the people who designed the cover dont read the manuscript which just really drives home the saying dont judge a book by its cover


:lol: I'm guessing they just went by the title and blurb. It looks alright though!


they actually asked for suggestions and it is pretty much what i described to them

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by Clarkman » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:25 pm

shy guy 64 wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:one thing that always stuck in my mind was that the people who designed the cover dont read the manuscript which just really drives home the saying dont judge a book by its cover


:lol: I'm guessing they just went by the title and blurb. It looks alright though!


they actually asked for suggestions and it is pretty much what i described to them


Shy Guy, I've just read your posts and they've set some alarm bells ringing. By the looks of things, your work is being published by a company called Pegasus, who are what is referred to as a vanity press - they have a business model built around charging their authors fees to publish their work, and will accept everyone who submits.

With any other publisher, I guarentee you that the graphic design department will read your work, or at least read a sizeable section of it.

Check out warnings against Pegasus online here or here.

Also have a look at what of their employees say about their business model on Glassdoor.

Please hold onto your work and feel under no obligation to honour whatever contact they've presented you with.

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shy guy 64
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by shy guy 64 » Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:58 pm

Clarkman wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:
OrangeRKN wrote:
shy guy 64 wrote:one thing that always stuck in my mind was that the people who designed the cover dont read the manuscript which just really drives home the saying dont judge a book by its cover


:lol: I'm guessing they just went by the title and blurb. It looks alright though!


they actually asked for suggestions and it is pretty much what i described to them


Shy Guy, I've just read your posts and they've set some alarm bells ringing. By the looks of things, your work is being published by a company called Pegasus, who are what is referred to as a vanity press - they have a business model built around charging their authors fees to publish their work, and will accept everyone who submits.

With any other publisher, I guarentee you that the graphic design department will read your work, or at least read a sizeable section of it.

Check out warnings against Pegasus online here or here.

Also have a look at what of their employees say about their business model on Glassdoor.

Please hold onto your work and feel under no obligation to honour whatever contact they've presented you with.


to be fair i dont think there was a publishers i looked at that didnt have some kind of warning about, i did try other publishers first and they all wanted publishing fees, i decided i would take a chance in spite of what id read cause i just wanted to get something out there make a start as it were, honestly im not sure anyone would take a risk on a starting author, i was cautious about it and i will continue to be

mind you i not even sure how to go about getting out of a contract

thanks for the warning none the less

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:41 am

Broke 30,000 words last night, feeling pretty good about that!

Going to a local writer's group on Tuesday too, no idea what to expect

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by Balladeer » Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:10 am

Doing Camp NaNo OR? Or just writing for writing's sake?

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by OrangeRKN » Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:17 am

Balladeer wrote:Doing Camp NaNo OR?


I'm not, but my girlfriend is so I'm still feeling somewhat motivated by it.

Unfortunately she can write way quicker than I can so my numbers pale in comparison :lol:

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PostRe: The Writer's Sphere - Share your writing
by Balladeer » Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:27 am

Mine too, funnily enough. As long as the words are good, that's the important thing!


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