One knocks one off between tea and bedtime....

[Jason Byrne]

Well it's a good thing I'm writing a sci-fi for kids that go gallivanting through the multiverse on their first year science internship! A great way to spend your summer

Yeah — easy suspension of disbelief, as it's called.

 

[Meerkat]

NPH is in it, too? Even better!

Aaaaand Nathan Fillion is the villain in one of the later seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

[Marc Joan]

There is something in the idea of pooling writers together to share an editor. Not sure how it would work exactly but maybe an annual nominal fee like £100 along with x numbers of writers to pay for a professional full time editor. You would need 200- 300 members to pay a decent wage. This would work best as part of an established agency or publishing house.

I love the idea of this, and I think it is exactly the kind of initiative that we should focus on in Litopia - let's use our joint purchasing power to mutual benefit.

 

[Emurelda]

I love the idea of this, and I think is exactly the kind of initiative that we focus on in Litopia - let's use our joint purchasing power to mutual benefit.

It's very similar to an insurance model. It would be difficult for just one agent to do this even full time but it would work in partnership with say a number of respected and established agencies and publishing houses who may be able to subsidise this some what.

Maybe an exclusive for Litopian members...ahem *hint hint wink wink nudge nudge*

 

[James Marinero]

I had to learn to remove a lot of my research from things I'd written. Some action takes place in a battle in Spain, and I spent a week of evenings, reading, watching videos, studying maps, etc. In the end I had to take it all out because none of it added any value to the narrative.
In fact, I STILL think there's too much exposition in that section, even though I've tried really hard to mention things incidentally.

This generates another interesting question. Why slave for weeks researching the detail of a book that is not expected to sell in the '000s (am speaking from personal experience)? At the other extreme, make it all up (as sci fi writers do). OK, apples and pears, but somewhere in the spectrum there is a point where accuracy can be traded off against effort and sales. Or is there? How important is it to be absolutely accurate?

 

[David Steele]

I think it's all about what you don't put in. For example, it's okay to make a passing reference to something in passing, but it's not okay to explain why.

Imagine there's a plague on, and people have started dropping their money into a bucket of water rather than paying hand-to-hand. The good writer would say "He dropped his coins into the merchant's bucket, making sure the merchant caught sight of them before they splashed into the water." The bad writer would say "The merchant had a Plague Bucket, which merchants at that time used as receptacles for money, so that coins could be passed from person to person while being washed clean of infection."

Casual mention of the meticulously researched is a difficult trick to pull off, but it works when you see it.

Oh, and I made that up about buckets.

 

[Jason Byrne]

I think it's all about what you don't put in. For example, it's okay to make a passing reference to something in passing, but it's not okay to explain why.

Imagine there's a plague on, and people have started dropping their money into a bucket of water rather than paying hand-to-hand. The good writer would say "He dropped his coins into the merchant's bucket, making sure the merchant caught sight of them before they splashed into the water." The bad writer would say "The merchant had a Plague Bucket, which merchants at that time used as receptacles for money, so that coins could be passed from person to person while being washed clean of infection."

Casual mention of the meticulously researched is a difficult trick to pull off, but it works when you see it.

Oh, and I made that up about buckets.

Then what have I been dropping money into all this time?!

 

[Nicole Wilson]

This generates another interesting question. Why slave for weeks researching the detail of a book that is not expected to sell in the '000s (am speaking from personal experience)? At the other extreme, make it all up (as sci fi writers do). OK, apples and pears, but somewhere in the spectrum there is a point where accuracy can be traded off against effort and sales. Or is there? How important is it to be absolutely accurate?

I agree that it might seem like a waste of time to research every little thing, but you never know when you may need it and having it already in your research Bat-belt makes it a lot easier. Especially if it's something you wouldn't have normally thought of - something that you wouldn't have known you needed to research unless you ran across it. I also think @Jason Byrne's response on if you're writing a realistic world or not applies. If you are, people will expect it to be perfect. If not, you can get away with a lot more.

 

[David Steele]

Then what have I been dropping money into all this time?!

Be-dum Tish!

 

[Jason Byrne]

I agree that it might seem like a waste of time to research every little thing, but you never know when you may need it and having it already in your research Bat-belt makes it a lot easier. Especially if it's something you wouldn't have normally thought of - something that you wouldn't have known you needed to research unless you ran across it. I also think @Jason Byrne's response on if you're writing a realistic world or not applies. If you are, people will expect it to be perfect. If not, you can get away with a lot more.

Howard Johnson is right (I don't know why I keep coming back to Blazing Saddles).
I always say I'm writing for that one guy. The guy the actually knows who was count of Andechs in the beginning of the 12th century, or what the jungle looks like around Lake Tele in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That one guy might happen to read my book and be like "holy crap, he got it right!" Or not.

 

[Jennifer Stone]

Howard Johnson is right (I don't know why I keep coming back to Blazing Saddles).
I always say I'm writing for that one guy. The guy the actually knows who was count of Andechs in the beginning of the 12th century, or what the jungle looks like around Lake Tele in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That one guy might happen to read my book and be like "holy crap, he got it right!" Or not.

Howard Johnson is right about Abe Johnson being right. Is that right, Jason?

 

[James Marinero]

I think it's all about what you don't put in. For example, it's okay to make a passing reference to something in passing, but it's not okay to explain why.

Imagine there's a plague on, and people have started dropping their money into a bucket of water rather than paying hand-to-hand. The good writer would say "He dropped his coins into the merchant's bucket, making sure the merchant caught sight of them before they splashed into the water." The bad writer would say "The merchant had a Plague Bucket, which merchants at that time used as receptacles for money, so that coins could be passed from person to person while being washed clean of infection."

Casual mention of the meticulously researched is a difficult trick to pull off, but it works when you see it.

Oh, and I made that up about buckets.

On the other hand, sometimes is gets very interesting and draws you in. I researched gold mining in Alaska for Gate of Tears, and probably put too much in the book.

 

[Mark Odell]

I love the idea of this, and I think it is exactly the kind of initiative that we should focus on in Litopia - let's use our joint purchasing power to mutual benefit.

By jove, the boy's got it!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I love the idea of this, and I think it is exactly the kind of initiative that we should focus on in Litopia - let's use our joint purchasing power to mutual benefit.

If Litopians do that, and they approach @AgentPete for recommendations, it might benefit him, too.

 

[Bernard Stacey]

My accuracy is pathalogical, Nicole. It's so bad.

If my characters walk through a village, I find pictures of the countryside, maps from the time period, local weather data, the current lunar phase, the history from antiquity up to the current day of the story, or sometimes even back to pre-history, cultural information like ethnic breakdown, enemies and allies, trade statistics, who are the current members of ruling nobility, what is their political situation, what are their ages, who are their relatives and what is their age and political situation, were there any local celebrities in the current era, what is the food and language of the region, what was the local stage of technological development, were there any new advances recently... it just goes on from there.

And I do that for every village the characters visit, whether they stay for five minutes or five days. I'm even starting to have native speakers check over my foreign languages for accuracy, just to get their impressions of my portrayal.

You are Edward Rutherford and I claim my £5.

 

[Amber Zade]

It took a while for the penny to drop when I realised that Adam Blade doesn't exist
Ghost writers at least in that case are given credit.

Would it have been worse that another author takes the credit?
After all many celebrities do this and why not treat an author like a celebrity every now and again

It's just bad. One night I saw a commercial where he talked about the children's book he wrote and then spoke about the women's fiction book he wrote. I'd love for one of those CO-writers to come outside the cone of silence and explain exactly how this goes down. He doesn't write women's fiction OR children's books. Who is he kidding?

He used to write and they were good books. Weird.

Ghostwriters for celebrities is different to me.

 

[Amber Zade]

Gaaah. The totally awful Ayn Rand.
@AgentPete has been known to suggest that if you take time, say, 2 weeks to plot, properly plot your novel; you'll finish faster, and that's what writer's of best sellers do (apart From Stephen King, who worked like a maniac fuelled by...em, stuff) The idea is, 2 weeks of plotting is hell, but after it, you've got your clothes horse all ready to hang the clothes on, with far less need to re-write than if you'd done it by 'pantsing.'

Even when I plot I end up writing something else entirely. I understand the idea. It sounds very nice and organized. I've even made little index cards for the story I am working on now and it's true that I felt tons better once I wrote the synopsis and knew how it ended. But I'm at the end now and I've changed tons of stuff and I'm about to change the particulars of the ending.

Also, when I'm writing, the things that make me happiest, are those that happen unexpectedly. It feels like a moment of magic. (then I have to make a note to change everything that came before that moment..... lol)

 

[Amber Zade]

I already knew he didn't necessarily write all his own books. My guess is he has an idea and asks another author if they want to work together. There are tons of co-author groups out there, so I don't much have a problem with it. Besides, if James Patterson asked me to write a book with him, am I going to say no? Am I not going to want his name on the cover? No way.

But he also does a lot of good for the writing community. He's teaching a writers course now, and he frequently donates huge chunks of money to bookstores and libraries.

I really don't know what he is doing for certain.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

[QUOTE Also, when I'm writing, the things that make me happiest, are those that happen unexpectedly. It feels like a moment of magic. (then I have to make a note to change everything that came before that moment..... lol)[/QUOTE]

I relate to that. One fixes co-ordinates but the going underfoot or a star overhead might change the route

 

[Jason Byrne]

You are Edward Rutherford and I claim my £5.

Worth the price, Bernard! I might just name-drop him in my agent letter...