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echo.

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Hi all.

So I've been lurking around this site for a while, but today I thought I'd finally take the plunge and sign up. I'm a reluctant teaching assistant from Berkshire, and I dabble in the ill-defined genre of literary fiction. I think. I'm still not really sure what it means. I've recently finished my first novel and now I'm on the tiresome job of proofreading it. Again. And again. And again.

Nice to meet you :)
 
Welcome to the Colony. I understand your boredom, as I'm in the throes of editing my second novel. This feels like counting thousands of porridge oats with a cocktail stick, then turn them over and count them again!
 
Hi all.

So I've been lurking around this site for a while, but today I thought I'd finally take the plunge and sign up. I'm a reluctant teaching assistant from Berkshire, and I dabble in the ill-defined genre of literary fiction. I think. I'm still not really sure what it means. I've recently finished my first novel and now I'm on the tiresome job of proofreading it. Again. And again. And again.

Nice to meet you :)
Greetings. I'm relatively new here and I find the site the most helpful of any I've come across.
 
Hi all.

So I've been lurking around this site for a while, but today I thought I'd finally take the plunge and sign up. I'm a reluctant teaching assistant from Berkshire, and I dabble in the ill-defined genre of literary fiction. I think. I'm still not really sure what it means. I've recently finished my first novel and now I'm on the tiresome job of proofreading it. Again. And again. And again.

Nice to meet you :)

Hi, nice to meet you too and welcome.

I find something very odd when proof reading my work: I just keep missing simple typos that I can unusually spot a mile off with someone else's work. However I'm not as bothered as I once was to make sure my work was 'perfect', especially as I notice typos in actual published books. :D:D
 
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I find something very odd when proof read my work: I just keep missing simple typos that I can unusually spot a mile off with someone else's work. However I'm not as bothered as I once was to make sure my work was 'perfect', especially as I notice typos in actual published books. :D:D

I get this too! I think it's something to do with knowing your own work so well that you just sort of skim over it without noticing. Either that or I've become so bored of rereading that my brain can't be bothered to spot them anymore... :p
 
So what's your novel about? Any books you think your novel, if /when published, would be placed next to in a bookstore? (assuming not alphabetical order ;))
 
So what's your novel about? Any books you think your novel, if /when published, would be placed next to in a bookstore? (assuming not alphabetical order ;))

It's a sort of tragicomic lit-fic thing, about a man from Reading and his day-to-day. There's a kind of gradual revelation of something that's happened in the past and why it's still affecting things now. Christ knows what it would sit next to on a bookshelf; I'm still half-convinced 'literary fiction' is just a catch-all term for when you don't really know what else to call it. What about you? What are you working on at the minute?
 
It's a sort of tragicomic lit-fic thing, about a man from Reading and his day-to-day. There's a kind of gradual revelation of something that's happened in the past and why it's still affecting things now. Christ knows what it would sit next to on a bookshelf; I'm still half-convinced 'literary fiction' is just a catch-all term for when you don't really know what else to call it. What about you? What are you working on at the minute?

Ah, I see what you mean now… hard to categorise. I guess Lit Fic fits. Sounds interesting. Next to Nick Hornby books maybe? Is it a 'guy' book?

I'm writing YA action-adventure: Hunger Games meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's slowly getting there ... A few more months for first draft but I have a whole series planned. It's a bit ambitious for a newbie but I'm learning as I go.

Aside, I visited Reading once many moons ago when my friend was applying to Reading Uni for her Masters. We went shopping afterwards and got lost in the shopping centre; it was huge. (I live in London.)
 
Ah, I see what you mean now… hard to categorise. I guess Lit Fic fits. Sounds interesting. Next to Nick Hornby books maybe? Is it a 'guy' book?

I'm writing YA action-adventure: Hunger Games meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's slowly getting there ... A few more months for first draft but I have a whole series planned. It's a bit ambitious for a newbie but I'm learning as I go.

Aside, I visited Reading once many moons ago when my friend was applying to Reading Uni for her Masters. We went shopping afterwards and got lost in the shopping centre; it was huge. (I live in London.)

Not too 'guy' as such, one of my first readers just said 'it's a little bit camp.' Lovely. Hunger Games/Crouching Tiger sounds pretty awesome though, I imagine it'd be a fun one to direct in your head.

And it's true, Reading may be the place where dreams go to die, but it has a really good shopping centre.
 
Not too 'guy' as such, one of my first readers just said 'it's a little bit camp.' Lovely. Hunger Games/Crouching Tiger sounds pretty awesome though, I imagine it'd be a fun one to direct in your head.

And it's true, Reading may be the place where dreams go to die, but it has a really good shopping centre.

LOL. That's funny! "Reading may be the place where dreams go to die…" You have to put that line in your book somewhere.

Camp can be good… and funny. (If you make it look like it was intentional, perhaps?) ;)

Thanks, I hope I'm not sucking the awesome out of it because it's turning into a bit of a slog. :P But I will push through. :)
 
Ah, I see what you mean now… hard to categorise. I guess Lit Fic fits. Sounds interesting. Next to Nick Hornby books maybe? Is it a 'guy' book?

I'm writing YA action-adventure: Hunger Games meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It's slowly getting there ... A few more months for first draft but I have a whole series planned. It's a bit ambitious for a newbie but I'm learning as I go.

Aside, I visited Reading once many moons ago when my friend was applying to Reading Uni for her Masters. We went shopping afterwards and got lost in the shopping centre; it was huge. (I live in London.)

I love the sound of HG x CTHD.....and go for it, if you have a series in your brain, just write and write. The more you write, the better it will get.

Welcome Echo - I have a shy friend who is also starting out on the Lit-Fic route. Stick with it, write what you love and want to read. Congratulations on first draft stage.
 
I love the sound of HG x CTHD.....and go for it, if you have a series in your brain, just write and write. The more you write, the better it will get.

Hi @Madeleine Conway, thanks for your words of encouragement. Also wanted to thank you for the link for 'Adventures in YA Publishing' you posted up a while back. Feels like it has a real YA community spirit and treasure trove of info. :)
 
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