Calling my fellow Novelists…We need our own Comicsgate
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Do you have any examples of things you have written? I’m not a writer, but I do enjoy reading. I’ve even heard Brandon Sanderson say self publishing is probably a better way to go these days.
if you can get YouTubers like Daniel Greene to review your work it’ll also go a long way to building an audience.
Any work that was actually public was merely fanfics from eons ago, and even if they could be found outside my own files (and I only keep them for nostalgia and idea repurposing), they are not representative of my current skill level writing style wise. Even if you could find the first Lunar fanfic I wrote at 16, I’d gouge your eyes out before you could read it ;) 24 years makes a difference in style and technique. Yes, over that 24 years I was part of the Tenchi fanfic elites, but even my best work there is not good technique wise to what I can do now. The stories and character work are fine, but my writing mechanics were neophyte. Back then I had no personal voice, merely copying the styles of favorite authors.
Anything sorta available is not only not up to date with my current skill level, but they are going to be rewritten to fit into what I plan on doing. In the one place they currently exist, I plan on soon removing them.
This is part of the trick in going through with this venture. Essentially being a new author, I have nothing to show off to really prove my worth outside of my word. Which is why I’m going to take likely most of 2021 to build a YouTube/platform audience/base that will be willing to give me a chance. The first book I plan on putting out to crowd fund has been finished for months, and it’s a good chance I’ll have one to two more done before I even start the first crowd fund (yes…I am a fast writer once I get going and have nothing else to do), which will have me done with more than half of this 5 book series. That being said, once the crowd fund is started, I’ll likely release some teaser material. And once a physical copy reaches the hands of those that funded the book, I’ll probably do digital version, because as an independent publisher, it’s not like I have the power or resources to constantly print physical copies to sell.
As we’ve all learned from watching Comicsgate, printers print specific amounts. There will probably be the amount that goes to the backers initially and leftovers for damaged books, the in demand store or maybe an ebay store. But after that, new comers will likely have to get a digital version for the time being until perhaps my printing circumstances change.
And if things go well and we get to Stage 2 and a second crowd fund, then things can be taken up a notch like with comicsgate books where there is enough interest created that I can risk offering extra doodads as stretch goals like key chains, cloth maps, etc. I’ve given this all alot of thought, but I know there is more to make it work that I have not even considered, which is why I think many mind working on this is a good idea.
But as I said, this is going to be a large mountain to climb starting out, which is why I fully believe in a Comicsgate like network being formed to not only help me but others who are ready to move to a professional level.
And I have respect for Sanderson, since he did a find job of finishing up the Wheel of Time. I’ve never read any of his original works, but I barely read anything new these days anyways. Last time I read a few new books was back in 2017, and one series I read ended up being thoroughly disappointed in when I reached it conclusion. About the only thing I’m looking forward to reading right now are the remaining Poldark books that were used in the recent TV series.
As for Daniel Greene, I don’t know who that is, but I’ll be perfectly happy to hear his opinion once the book is out there for public consumption. If I learned anything from my pre-readers during my rewrite last year, I can take constructive criticism if it is there to be made.
These are f’d up times we are in, and more than ever people need escapism. Lord knows alot of us who come here are going to need it in the coming years, as will countless others.
I believe myself, and others with talent, should step up and step in to provide that. I think I’m up to the task once I get my footing in all this, and I know there are others out there too.
That’s so funny because I was just starting to pick writing back up to get my mind off politics. I was thinking about crowdfunding or self publishing. I’ve never written a full book before but I came pretty close when I was writing fanfiction during the brony craze. If you think finding a none woke publishing firm would be difficult (and even if they weren’t I’d still lose creative control) then maybe when the time comes you can help me get the book published assuming I ever finish. Outside of fan fiction I’ve never attempted to write a full length fantasy novel before or any novel for that matter. However I feel like I have the creative capacity to tell a riveting story that holds no punches
I will never tell anyone not to try and find it in themselves to create something. It has to start with you, though, and it has to be a project and IP you are passionate about.
The best advice I can give is to keep working with fanfiction as your proving ground for practice, because that is the kind of writing arena that is the most forgiving. Good or bad criticism is easiest to handle in that setting, because any set backs are not coming at a professional level. Find a series that still lights a fire in you belly, come up with a great original idea to fit into the setting, and then throw yourself into it.
All my first novel length books were done with fanfiction, and my style evolved over each and every one. And even when I put my own original IP to words for the first time in 2002, it was not ready for prime time even though I thought it was. Even years later when I did a semi-rewrite, in retrospect it was not as good as I thought it was on both a technical and proper story level. It was not until last April when I sat down and did a full and proper rewrite from page one that it blossomed into the proper version it now exists as, and that was thanks to the hard work I still put into the four other books I put out between 2004 and 2016.
And technically these books were rooted in a form of fanfiction I called fusion fiction, because while they had IPs from videogames, anime, and old D&D stuff, it was still 80% original characters and events created by me with partnership with a few other people. These books are going to be rewritten in the coming years once I fill in the gaps left by the IPs I don’t own, so all my hard work in terms of story and world building will not have gone to waste.
One of the only big hiccups will come in the way of that I hope that by the time I get to it, I will be in a position where I can either buy or lease the rights to the Glaive from Krull….because good god damned I wanna use it. I’m hoping that because Krull is so cult and out of the lime light, that I can accomplish this task, and the Glaive is a part of the DNA of my universe. I can make something new and similar if I have to, but I think it’s possible to actually get the rights in some way shape or form.
But I digress….
I believe that this network could also serve as a breeding ground for people to help one another to learn how to get to a professional level, as well as be a good community. I wish I’d had something like that back during my Tenchi fanfic days, because that community was so fractured in terms of cliques. As popular and successful as I was, because I was not a part of the original “Old Guard” of Tenchi fanfic writers, I was a little gated from certain things. It was only the popularity of my series of stories that forced them to acknowledge me, and I have the Kiyos to prove it ;)
I never won best OAV cuz I wasn’t in the old guard. They always gave it to one of their own, even if the fic was incomplete. But for the three years the Kiyos happened, I owned best action.
So by bringing this to the front, I also now hope this network can serve the purpose of nurturing talent as well as publishing ready talent.
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