Anybody out there enjoy reading and writing enough to go through the process of writing a book/novel?

What is your book about? It can be interesting to see what others have been or are planning on writing.

I have a work of humorous fiction steeping on the backburner, and have for several years.

I have even written bits of the novel already. These only need to be fleshed out, the characters developed thoroughly and the storyline made more plausible.

When will this potential bestseller hit the shelves? Anybody's guess. Too busy trying to make a living and raising children to gallop after it right now, I'm afraid. But I never give up hope...

Not on the scale you mean, Trident, but I like writing little stories for the three year old son, making a book up and whacking photos in to illustrate it. Things like a day with his mate, time spent with his Dad, his cousins and so on.

I have written a few and am pounding the pavement with one right now. It's a murder/mystery.

Oooh, sounds interesting Skunkee. I didn't realize that. By "written a few", do you mean published or that they are just written?

Right now I have a fantasy in the works, which seems to be popular for naive writers to want to write. But I think I'm confident enough with my writing to hopefully pull it off.

Nothing published yet. It's a very glutted market and hard to crack.
I have 2 written in one series, and I am working on the second in a second series.
Anyone who has read them has found them to be very good. It's a question of getting the right one on the right desk at the right time.

I love reading fantasy, but could never write one.
I have yet to read a really good fantasy without at least one epic battle, and I have trouble reading those, never mind writing one!

I wrote my first novel, a 1,067 page unpublishable behemoth back in 1989. Last year, I got an amazing agent for my most recent work. In between, I wrote six unpublished "apprentice" novels including a collaboration for fun on a teen-age mystery novel that actually ended being sold to a small Maine publishing house. But my real work is with my agent, and I am currently at work on a new book, which I put on semi-hold while I finished school. I have to say to any other writers reading this thread: do get an agent before you try and sell your own work. I sent my own stuff to publishers for years, and in my experience, there was very little respect for an unagented writer. My agent is a former editor at Houghton Mifflin (that's spelled wrong, I think), and his support of my work has really made all the difference in the world regarding the seriousness with which potential publishers view it. And if you've done free-lance writing for magazines or newspapers, include that in your resume as well. The writing, if it's good, will speak for itself, but the trick is to get the jaded industry people to let it speak!

"I like writing little stories for the three year old son, making a book up and whacking photos in to illustrate it. Things like a day with his mate, time spent with his Dad, his cousins and so on"

What a wonderful idea, Copago!


I've written a medical terminology text book which is in use Australia-wide, however, I wrote it under contract to a training company so my name does not appear on it as the author and I got paid peanuts for doing it. I won't make that mistake again. I am writing another text book right now for which I intend to get the credit!

I just published a festschrift for a retired professor of mine. I was the editor and wrote two of the many sections in it.

It was very satisfying. That's mostly because we were paying tribute to Dr. Stafford, but also because it scratched my writing itch for a while. It also showed me that it's possible, and I will probably do it again!

Reading your work in print is very gratifying, and I would love to be able to see it again. This time I would rather write a book than crank out columns every week!

I wrote columns, a few editorials and other feature material [ along with hard news ] for a small news company during the 1980's. That's been so long ago that it's easy to forget I was even published, until I stop and think!

You know, in all the years that I've written articles for papers and magazines, I've found that once the thing is published, I have a hard time reading it. I always find a phrase that could be better, or a section that I want to disown. That's why I like writing quizzes. Even after they're online, one can always EDIT.

My father and I are currently trying to write a Sci-Fi/Religious novel called "The Chronicles of Saint Fred". It will be a novel about a scumbag con-man who, while in the process of trying to escape a prison planet delivers a sentient species from slavery and winds up becoming this ridiculously idealized saint.

Well, I am not into sci-fi but your plot sounds interesting. I'd read it!

I used to fill lots of notebooks with my own type of story when I was younger. Mostly in the pattern of the Enid Blyton books. Never got anywhere with them though!

I've never written a novel, but for several years I was one of the main contributing writers for a magazine called "Slick Times." They are the people who came up with the $3 bills with Slick Willie's picture on them. They accepted the first article I submitted, paid me more than I ever thought possible, and continued to use my stuff until the magazine ceased publication following the 2000 elections. So don't be discouraged if you don't get published right away - just look for the right market. There are opportunities for writers out there. Sigh, I almost wish Hillary would get elected Prsident so I could resume my writing career.

Oh yes, I want to be a writer, and I'm working on several stories right now...and I have ideas for future stories...one idea I have is that there's a teenaged girl on trial for killing her mother...and while the professional court goes to work with the case by day, by night, a literal jury of her peers is formed, and they sneak out to where nobody will find them, and they set to work on the case themselves, unofficially, because they know something nobody else does. They all know that the girl didn't kill her mother, but that means what they also know, is that anyone in the room could be the killer. What they have to determine is which one, and if not one of them, then who?

Great ideas. I'm starting a "book" (if thats what you want to call it), but I just write whatever pops into my head. Since nothing has been popping I haven't been writing.

"To anyone who knows an author, never underestimate the power of your encouragement."-Matthew Reilly

I started an Open University Creative Writing course in February - it's a 12 week short course called 'Start Writing Fiction.' I don't know if I'll ever get anything published but at least I'm writing, which is something I've always loved doing.

I would love to write a novel but I'm not sure I'll ever manage it...

I'm writing a series of novels. Fantasy, actually. Although I love horror, everything I write that's in the horror genre comes out smelling strongly of garbage. *shrugs*

My fantasy stuff's been fairly good, so far.

Morrigan

I have been working on a young adult novel, "Clash With the Wild", for two years. I have recently finished the manuscript and it is now going through editing, illustrating (for the front cover), and publishing. It is expected to go out sometime in 2008. My novel is about three teenagers that are as different as day and night. They are all visited by the Ghost of Fauna that takes them on an adventure of four animal countries: the mammal country, the insect country, the fish country, and the bird country. And, of course, they have many adventures along the way from falling in love to having close to death encounters. I'm excited to get the book into print!

I have 89 Bionic Woman stories posted on fanfiction.net, and am putting the finishing touches on #90 and #91. I have the preliminary outlines of a (non-bionic) novel in my head, but am having too much fun on fanfic at the moment. The novel is tentatively set in the year 2125, and is about a futuristic government intelligence agency.

I am only 14 years old, but I have already written around 50 short stories whodunit mysteries based on the Clue! series (in some I make it a celebrity version featuring Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton). It is a fun thing for me to do and I hope to become an author later in life!

I am only 14 years old, but I have already written around 50 short stories whodunit mysteries based on the Clue! series (in some I make it a celebrity version featuring Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton). It is a fun thing for me to do and I hope to become an author later in life!

Well, here's an update. "Saint Fred" has been moved to a back burner. I, however, have embarked on my own project. It is a short story that may wind up being a book. It is a story about a 14 year old girl who lives in the middle ages and is cursed to be a werewolf for the rest of eternity. I have only written a couple of pages but I have already been asked about letting it be produced as an internet audio drama. My current working title is "Moonbeams". I think it lacks punch, but I can't seem to think of anything better. If any of y'all have a better title, shoot it my way.