NationStates Jolt Archive

Has anybody here ever written (or are writing) a book?

Just curious.

Am writing a book

Well, I'm working on a fantasy novelization, but right now it's more of a short story. I'm seeking publishing information as part of a project for school as well as due to encouragement from friends.

2, but I'm completely amateur, I just do it for fun.
"Freddy and the Daschunds!"
"Niflheim"

I'm working on a book of poetry--technically, I have one because I have a thesis on file at the University of Arkansas as the requirement for my MFA, but I'm editing it and writing new material for contests in hopes of widespread publication.

I used to make comics. Does that count?

I used to make comics. Does that count?

It counts with me.

I used to make comics. Does that count?

ooh that sounds like fun

as for writing, I started to write a book for the fun of it a while back, wrote about three chapters then left it, must get back to it sometime

I've written plays that have been performed (some more than once...) and made short films (some that have even been seen...)

no books though...

I've written plays that have been performed (some more than once...) and made short films (some that have even been seen...)

no books though...

You write all that but You can't think of a name?

:lol:

just kidding.. :D

i've written twelve screenplays, seven novels, and am currently in the process of writing my autobiography.

Has anybody here ever written (or are writing) a book?

Just curious.

Well, last year, my english teacher made up write a 200 page novel, double spaced. So I wrote a bunch of short stories.

I'm currently writing a graphic novel, which features many guns, tanks, jets, explosions, and not a single superhero!

When I say 'writing', I'm mostly drawing the pictures and making the plot up as I go along, but it's character-driven, so I can get away with it :)

I've written plays that have been performed (some more than once...) and made short films (some that have even been seen...)

no books though...

You write all that but You can't think of a name?

:lol:

just kidding.. :D
You aught to see the crappy titles they get....

-or-

I wasted all my good names on my material...(a lie, none have good names...)
My first play was called The Potentially Great Adventures of Captain Sedentary and Stationary Lad It just goes downhill from there, really.

EDIT: Theoritically I have written two shorts for a comic book compilation (well, I didn't theoritically write, I did write the stories, but I have yet to see the comic book or even the artwork, so I can't confirm if the guy ever put it out.)

i've written twelve screenplays, seven novels, and am currently in the process of writing my autobiography.

*Mutters at slow NS forums*

Cool....what are those books called? I might look them up and see if they are my kind of book....

Thats a great name!
Wish I thought of it. "potentially great."
"Freddy and the Daschunds" has been described by me as "The Great British Novel!"
It essentially focuses on this person, who, whilst slightly drunk, and listening to the best of Tito Puente at 3 in the morning, decides to journey off to India, to see the Dalai Lama, to find out the meaning of life.
There are not, and never will be, any Daschunds in it. But there will be a tramp called Dirty Harry.

Sort of. I wrote a story when I was 9-12 but it's really kinda crappy, I don't think I could turn it into a book even with major editing. :? I'm writing a book-length thingermajig right now, but seeing as I'm still only 14 there's no reason to assume this'll ever turn into a real book either. I like what I have so far though. :D

No books, but several screenplays. I have an idea for a book. . .

It takes place in Canada in the near future. The Liberal Party has become the only party, and only the "business Liberals" are in the Party. Adrienne Clarkson is the official dictator, but she doesn't do anything. It starts with a main character named Meana (pronounced MEE-an-a). Her father is a Liberal party official, and her mother is a business owner. She is 15, and a "closet socialist." It starts when the socialists (the characters are based on some people in the NDP, and Sheila Copps, but I don't use their real names) are supposed to be shot. But Meana single-handedly rescues them and hides them in her attic. She feeds them and hides them. She is able to smuggle them out of the country, but not without getting caught by the Liberal Party. She is about to be shot, but her friends talk to the government of where they are hiding (they get refugee status). The government demands that the Liberals hand over Meana. Meana is rescued and goes to live with her friends.

I'm attempting to write a novel, a James A Michener type thing about Albania.

Wrote two books, then read them and set them on fire. No use publishing something that will only damage your name.

currently writing a book, based on these maps I did in year 11 and 12

A friend of mine showed me this site tonight: http://foetry.com

If you're trying to get a book of poetry published, this is the general route--you have to send it in with a reading fee to one of many contests and hope it wins. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of these "contests" in recent years have had the fix in--contest judges have been picking their students or people with whom they have personal relationships. It's not always the case, but it does happen, and this site is a good place to at least look for potential conflicts and perhaps think twice before sending in that entry fee.

I have, so far, written four novels in my life in addition to hundreds of short stories. They were (In my own personal opinion) very well written, but since nobody else ever read them I haven't gotten much feedback.

Novel 1) A Star Wars Novel, describing the happenings on the planet of Alderaan the day before it was destroyed by the Death Star

Novel 2) A Novelization of the computer game series FreeSpace (Where I get my technology and ships from in the Role-Playing sections) describing the first contact with the Vasudans, the outbreak of the V-T War, the Great War, the Final Seperation, the formation of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance, the Neo-Terran Front, and the Second Shivan Incursion

Novel 3) A novel revolving around the Ancient Greek Gods. In reality the Greek Gods were actually powerful aliens which had come to Earth and started humanity (This might have also been a Star Trek episode. But don't tell anybody!)

Novel 4 (My personal favorite) The Blue Glove. It focuses upon a blue glove (Duh!) which works like a personality inverter. You wear it and act in a manner directly opposite to your usual manner. If you're a work-a-holic who's always on time you become a lazy procrastinator, and vice-versa. The novel focuses on the way a persons personality influences everything around him, and how even a slight change can cause ripples which effect society.

That's pretty much it.

(The novels were a lot better than these small and not well written explanations)

I have some unpublished manuscripts.
Fantasy stuff.
I think you have to go to a wealthy prep school to get published.

Freespace stuff, eh Klonor?
I suppose you have a lot of background, only in the tech screens.
I had the vasudan speech (untranslated) as the noise my computer makes when it boots up. Sounded really super-cool.
Hmm. I would certainly put a lot more content on the HoL and the Vasudan navy. They were quite intereting. Was it a lot better than standard fan-fic?
I have a book called Odyssey of the Gods. Deals with exactly what you talk about in novel 3. It talks about the Odyssey and how the way they invent giants that breath fire, and so forth, must come from somewhere.

Awww....I have a few ideas for books, and I think I could write a pretty good one, but I lack ideas to make any book I wrote longer than 50-100 pages. Hence, I would love to write a book in conjunction with someone else....but I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon..... :(

Awww....I have a few ideas for books, and I think I could write a pretty good one, but I lack ideas to make any book I wrote longer than 50-100 pages. Hence, I would love to write a book in conjunction with someone else....but I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon..... :(

I remember reading a book years back written by two authors, the chapters alternated between telling the story from the lead male, jack's side to amy's point of view, but it was well done, the story kept moving on and there wasn't too much repetition of events

what kind of book would you want to write, what sort of genre??

Awww....I have a few ideas for books, and I think I could write a pretty good one, but I lack ideas to make any book I wrote longer than 50-100 pages. Hence, I would love to write a book in conjunction with someone else....but I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon..... :(

I remember reading a book years back written by two authors, the chapters alternated between telling the story from the lead male, jack's side to amy's point of view, but it was well done, the story kept moving on and there wasn't too much repetition of events

what kind of book would you want to write, what sort of genre??

Either something sci-fi or something historical....

cool - well I would say stick to it, don't give up you're bound to find someone with the same ambitions as you

good luck with that

cool - well I would say stick to it, don't give up you're bound to find someone with the same ambitions as you

good luck with that

Oh, I doubt I will ever give up....Its just I doubt I will ever find someone with the same ambitions.....

you're bound to eventually, who know's maybe there'll be someone on here that's interested

you're bound to eventually, who know's maybe there'll be someone on here that's interested

I have written a volume of poetry (which is still being added to), and am currently working on a novel - in the fantasy genre. At this point I have completed the first part of the book (it is in three parts), and have twelve chapters completed ... the outline calls for forty-two, so it will take a bit more work.

Aside from this type of writing, I am actually a composer - contemporary classical music - and have had pieces performed by some amazing performers, on radio in Canada and on television and radio in Russia.

Good luck to everyone on the writing - don't give up on the dreams.

Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of these "contests" in recent years have had the fix in--contest judges have been picking their students or people with whom they have personal relationships.
This is pretty much true of plays as well. It was that kind of advantage that got my first plays produced, it may be what gets them produced again as people involved in that theater get involved in others. I just have to work the system, worm my way into as many theater communities as possible and hopefully spread like a virus.

Same goes for film too. The only thing they tell you about getting a job when you're in film school is "network." So EVERYBODIES my best friend who's work is unfetered genius, no matter what. Just in case they make it, I can get a phone call.

Mebbe, but you really need to be able to meet up for long periods with someone to cowrite a book.....certainly you do if you have no past experience in authorship....

Edit: Double Post

Mebbe, but you really need to be able to meet up for long periods with someone to cowrite a book.....certainly you do if you have no past experience in authorship....
There is nothing wrong with short stories. If thats what you are coming up with, thats what you should write. One of the hardest things for me to realize was that nothing has a minimum length. You only write as much story as there is to write.

A screenwriting teacher of mine is fond of saying (though its not always true but relevent here) no one every complained that it was too short.

In the long run, it might be easier to get short stories published, and certainly better way to gain the experience neccisary to write the longer book length.

I love sci-fi. Sure. I'll collaborate if I can, and if you want. I can actually write s.f not too badly, but I'm not the greatest.
Freddie and the Daschunds is genius too.
He asks American tourists, and Indian restaurant owners for the way to India, then steals a bus to get there
"The bus service had never failed him before, and by God, it won't now."

Freespace stuff, eh Klonor?
I suppose you have a lot of background, only in the tech screens.
I had the vasudan speech (untranslated) as the noise my computer makes when it boots up. Sounded really super-cool.
Hmm. I would certainly put a lot more content on the HoL and the Vasudan navy. They were quite intereting. Was it a lot better than standard fan-fic?

I have the "FreeSpace Bible" on my computer, it's a a Word document you can download from the FS web-site with background info on pretty much everything. It was able to fill in a lot of the holes that the games don't explain (the principle cause of the V-T War for one, and the origin of the Hammer of Light). I'd e-mail it to you, but I deleted it a long time ago (My novel, not the Bible)

That game was one of the first PC games I played in years.
Moving from a nintendo 64 to freespace 2 was minblowing. Nothing I had seen came close to the scale of the colossus. The the Sathanas arrived.
Also, the beam cannons were what I was wishing for since I first seen Babylon 5. I can't imagine what it must have been like to move from the Lucifer beam cannons in 1, to the new, improved cannons in 2.
What was the basic plot-line of your novel?

There wasn't one single plot, it spanned the history of the Terran-Vasudan civilisations. Picture it like a history text-book, except it involved laser weapons and aliens (and it wasn't nearly as boring)

Oh, like the Silmarillion is to Lord of the Rings (If you've read them)
Anyway, sounds very nice. It's good to see somebody uses Freespace tech.
I see you are doing a reformation RP. Do you need any more positions filled? If so, tell me who, and what they have, and I'll join, if you want.

Actually, it's more of a "My entire government has been horribly massacred and the nation has split apart" type RP, but you're welcome if you want in.

I thought you were doing one where the splintered factions were fighting each other, whilst you keep quiet, and then attack whilst they don't expect it, but, sure, gimme a link to the thread and I'll join. (I don't have to front my own hardware do I? Each side already has some I hope, because I don't have any future tech weaponry, and certainly no FS stuff, yet. I didn't even know it was used til today.
(You gotta have a favourite ship, was is it? Mine is the Psamtik, Hatshepsut class.)

I was always partial to the Galatea (to bad the Lucifer made it go "boom"). Anyway, there's no one single RP going on. It's all convoluted and twisted. I'll let you know when a new one starts (since right now it's mainly charatcer RP's and negotiations)

Novel 4 (My personal favorite) The Blue Glove. It focuses upon a blue glove (Duh!) which works like a personality inverter. You wear it and act in a manner directly opposite to your usual manner. If you're a work-a-holic who's always on time you become a lazy procrastinator, and vice-versa. The novel focuses on the way a persons personality influences everything around him, and how even a slight change can cause ripples which effect society.




I'd like to read that one.

If you want to email it to me I'd give you an honest opinion of it.

(Have you got copywrite for them? I think you can establish it just by getting each page date-stamped, or signed along with the date, then witnessed by 2 people and sending the lot off to your bank or lawyer for safekeeping)

So far the only book I've written is a children's one, and it's designed as one of the "picture page to each text page" sort, so there's not a lot of point in sending it to a publisher until I can find someone artistic who'll paint (cartoonish but still realistic) scenes for me in return for half the profits of the published book.

Positive thought at work here - profits! Now wouldn't that be grand? :wink:

the Orions are very nice. Always really like the vasudan designs more though. The game was good at making you angry when your ships that you fought with went boom. It always seemed like it wasn't scripted, and with skill, you could have saved it.
I wish they made a FS 3.
Have you ever thought how the plot of that would work?
I was thinking that they build another knossos, and link it to Sol. Humans have found these ancient ruins, which would allow them to revolutionise shipbuilding. With a fleet of Colossi, they go to fight the Shivans in the remains of Deneb.

The remains of Deneb? Unless I'm mistaken Deneb is fine. It's Capella that the Shivans tore up.

Rivermist, let me put on the final details. It'll probably be a while, but when it's finally done I'll e-mail it (I'll need an e-mail address)

Im currently working on a book...and myself and three others are doin a compelation of sorts where we take a single plot but put it to our own writing styles...i hope it'll turn out...

~Prongs

I'm in the process of writing two books.

One on college journalism, and the other is an anthology of poetry.