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TNTOS

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    TNTOS

    Posted

    Very helpful and informative! I now have some new bookmarks to dig through.

     

    I still feel attached to traditional publishing though. I blame Andrew Clement's The School Story for the bad socialization, and I mean most of the bestsellers like Clancy and Patterson were traditional so I still feel like I need to do that to get in the big leagues.

    It's okay if you want to go the traditional route. I just don't recommend it for new writers at the moment unless you have a ton of clout or know what you're doing.

     

    Anyway, the two routes aren't mutually exclusive anyway. There are a lot of self-published authors who hit it big through publishing their own works and were then offered a contract by one of the big publishing houses, so even if you want to do traditional publishing, it is still possible to get noticed by the big publishing houses through publishing your work on your own.

     

    I feel it's important to mention that you need to register your work with the U.S. government (the Library of Congress system for books, I have the documents somewhere) for full copyright protection. It costs about $50, but if you're going to publish, it is $50 well spent, I think. (That copright handbook might cover it, don't know.)

    Actually, your work gets full copyright protection the moment it is finished in a tangible form (including as a file on a computer). This applies even if you don't publish your book or even tell anyone about its existence or try to make any money off of it.

     

    What registering your copyright with the Copyright Office does is give you statutory damages in case that someone infringes on your copyright and you sue them and win in a court of law.

     

    For example, let's say I publish a book and then someone else steals it, modifies it a little, and then sells it as their own and makes $500 off of it. I find out about this blatant case of infringement and sue them and win the case.

     

    In most cases, the judge would order the infringer to give me $500 and to stop selling my book (as well as destroy any copies of the book they have not yet sold). But if I have registered this particular book with the Copyright Office within three months of its initial publication or before I sue the infringer, then the infringer will also have to pay for my attorney fees and such (which is what statutory damages is). Whether or not it is worth registering with the Copyright Office depends on how likely you think it is that someone will infringe on your work.

     

    But yes, The Copyright Handbook covers this and much, much more. It probably explains it better than I do, so again, if you are an aspiring writer hoping to break into the biz, I really recommend you pick up this book. It isn't the end-all, be-all of copyright law (and it mostly focuses on US copyright law, though it does talk about international copyright law as well), but it does explain the basic concepts and ideas well enough that you don't need a background in copyright law to understand it. It also tells you where you can find more info on specific parts of copyright law that interest you.

     

    The other thing is that Word can save stuff in HTML directly. It's a bit messy, but you can kick out Mircrosoft's fluff with plain text Find and Replace, and save you a little time. :)

    Well, I use LibreOffice Writer, rather than Word, to write my books in, but yes, I've heard you can do that.

     

    My only problem, as you said, is that it is fairly messy and may not come out exactly the way you want it to. I like manually coding the HTML because, while it does take a little bit more time, it lets me know exactly what is and isn't in my book, so I don't have to worry about any unpleasant, possibly difficult to fix surprises showing up when I create the finished file. I believe it results in a higher quality ebook (and, by extension, paperback book, since I create the paperback book by exporting the ebook file to .odt format) as a result.

     

    Anyway, I hope I helped. There is a ton more to publishing and copyright and such than I covered in this blog post (which I think I mentioned in the post itself), so I really do recommend that you (generic 'you' here, not you specifically, fishers) do lots and lots of independent research beyond what I wrote here. I kept it as accurate as I could, although as your comment shows, I clearly did not cover every aspect as well as I could have.

     

    -TNTOS-

    TNTOS

    Posted

    I might take a crack at the Toa Makuta concept. I've been trying to come up with something for a new Bionicle Fan-fic, but nothing was sticking. That Idea might just work for me though.

    Send me a PM when you start posting it. Like I said, I still think it's a cool idea and I'd love to see how other writers handle it.

     

    -TNTOS-

    • Upvote 1
    TinkerTech

    Posted

    1) I used to keep a word counter on my blog, but this year I'm not doing daily updates on my BZP blog. Just don't feel the need to, but it's a good idea for people who are motivated by public scrutiny.

    2) This is good advice.

    3) While research is usually a good idea, I think it's better to write about something you're already familiar with during NaNo, mostly because you won't get stuck as often or feel the need to look up every obscure little fact when you get stuck.

    4) I've never done this myself, but I could see this working for some people.

    5) I get up and walk around every hour to get my blood pumping. Not sure it helps me with writer's block, but so far I haven't been blocked at all during this story, so I'll keep doing it.

    6) This I disagree with. I think it's a lot more fun not to know the ending than to know it, but I guess this is something that varies from writer to writer. Agreed on taking notes, though, especially if your novel is fantasy or sci-fi (I have a basic text document on my computer that has everything from character bios and descriptions to basic worldbuilding facts and am constantly adding to it as I come up with more ideas)

    7) More good advice. After all, the point of NaNoWriMo is to get 50,000 words (or more) of a novel down. Not 50,000 words of planning and thinking. Just write!

    -TNTOS-

    TNTOS

    Posted

    Eh, I did it the last two years, but this year I do not foresee any freetime to which to pull this off. Good luck to you this year!

     

    It seems on BZP there's always a little excitement when it starts, and then towards the end of the month those who finish it mention it... but there's not a whole lot of discussion between those two points. At least from what I remember, anyway.

     

    :music:

    Yeah, that's about how it usually goes around here. Maybe this year will be different with so many people doing it. We'll see.

     

    -TNTOS-

    TinkerTech

    Posted

    I am also participating in NaNoWriMo this year (as I do every year), but unlike you I am not going to record it on my BZP blog. I used to do that, but this year I think I'll be too busy in November to blog about it on BZP, mostly because I'll have a bunch of other things going on next month that will eat up most of my free time.

     

    As for planning, I'm doing something a little different from what I normally do this year. I'm writing a bunch of short stories set in the novel's setting to help me worldbuild and get to know the characters better, which I've heard other writers recommend but which I've never done before myself.

     

    I must say that, so far, this is infinitely superior to my original method of worldbuilding, so maybe I'll make this part of my normal writing method (at least when I'm writing in a new world).

     

    Anyway, good luck with your novel, Jalina. NaNoWriMo is always tons of fun, especially if you succeed.

     

    -TNTOS-

    TNTOS

    Posted

    The names are just for the demo I think, 'cause Alpha and Omega/Anna and Orlando.

    Even so, I still don't like Orlando as much as Brendan (Anna's not bad, but I still think of her as May).

     

    Like I said, though, it's probably more out of nostalgia than anything.

     

    I wish that there had've been a chance to choose which you wanted to play as, since May/Anna is sorely under-represented in the promtional stuff, but... Still a pretty cool demo. =P

    It doesn't bother me one way or the other, but I did expect to be able to choose who I wanted to play as.

     

    What do you think about the removal of roller skates?  Personally I'm glad to see them go--they were too hard to control, and it's nice to be able to use the Circle Pad without fear now.

    I hated the rollerskates. I only used them when I had to. The rest of the time, I either ran or used the bike. I will not miss them in the slightest.

     

    -TNTOS-

    believe victims

    Posted

    most of the people disappointed in how complex and hard sci-fi the story was getting.

    'Cause a giant planet-sized robot is TOTALLY hard sci-fi. :P

     

    In all seriousness, though, I agree with this post. I honestly expected a lot of backlash from the fans of 2001-2003, but surprisingly few of them have complained or criticized the 2015 sets as much as I thought they would. Most of the backlash does seem to come from fans of the later years (though as a fan of the later years myself, I am not at all critical of the 2015 stuff, mostly because it looks really awesome so far, although I guess that could change as we learn more about next year and see how the story unfolds).

     

    -TNTOS-

    Sumiki

    Posted

    I'm same as you, Sumiki. I notice spelling and grammar errors almost all the time (especially spelling errors), but I've reached the point where I never feel the need to correct anyone's misspellings or grammar unless they 1) ask me or 2) are so terrible that I literally can't understand what they're saying. I just realized that constantly correcting others' incorrect usage is a losing battle and kind of makes you (as in generic "you" here, not as in you specifically, Sumiki) look like a pretentious jerk.

     

    Way I see it, strict grammatical and spelling standards only really need to be upheld in professional contexts (such as in book publishing, for example). Otherwise, as long as you have a grasp of the basic rules of English grammar and spelling and aren't too sloppy, it doesn't matter in less formal or professional contexts (like a blog post on a website dedicated to a LEGO toyline, for example).

     

    -TNTOS-

    TNTOS

    Posted

    While I have no vision of becoming a full-time writer, it is an actual goal of mine to have Book 1 of Steel Scales published and the second book started on within the next five years.

    Good luck. If you need any tips on good resources for self/indie publishing (like the best programs to format ebooks, where to find good covers, etc.), feel free to drop me a PM sometime and I'll be happy to help.

     

    There's no way around it, sometimes being "successful" or "well-known" can boil down to something of a popularity contest or being a part of the right clique.

    I've sometimes wondered whether I would be more well-known if I had gone to the various LEGO fan conventions (BrickFair, Brick Fiesta, etc.) that everyone on BZP seems to go to and befriended the members who attend. I've been planning to go to Brick Fiesta at some point, seeing as it's in Texas, which is where I live, but due to a severe lack of funds I doubt I'll be able to do that for another year or two at least.

     

    *Shrug* Like I said, attaining universal popularity has never been the primary motivation for writing. I will admit, though, that I have, at times, gotten jealous of other writers' success in the popularity department. It's silly, but it's also true. I've seen other writers--even newer writers--post a story and suddenly get a lot of attention from everyone and I'm just sitting here thinking, "What are they doing that I'm not? Don't I write at least as well as them? Haven't I written anything good enough to be that popular?"

     

    Sometimes, they're more popular because they write better than me. Sometimes it's because they've written on a subject that interests a lot of people. Sometimes it's because they've taken an old idea and written about it in a new way. Sometimes it's because the staff featured their story on the front page. And sometimes it's a mixture of all of the above, with a bit of luck thrown in for good measure. No real way to tell what will and won't be a success right off the bat, but it's clearly never happened to me.

     

    All I know is that jealousy is a highly toxic emotion, especially for writers. I know that jealousy has caused me to think unfair things towards genuinely good writers who, for reasons generally outside of their control, suddenly became popular. I know enough not to let my jealousy influence my decisions or feelings toward those writers (thankfully), but it still sucks to feel jealous of other people, especially if they happen to be your friends.

     

    Another bad thing about jealousy is how it causes you to lose perspective. None of my fics have been breakout hits within the Bionicle fandom, which depresses me sometimes, but then I remember that I've received loads of positive comments and praise from a bunch of different people over the years and feel better about myself. If I let jealousy control me, I'd never write at all and never believe that anyone likes my work, which would be both false and an insult to the people who have honestly enjoyed my work.

     

    Definitely one thing I'm glad I've always done is write my stories in a word processor and save them locally. This not only made it easier to pick up, jot down a few paragraphs or a whole chapter a session, and not have to worry about losing everything. It also meant that I could keep writing when BZP was busy from serverload and I could still look back at previous chapters to make sure I didn't wind up with plot holes.

    I go a step further by saving everything I've written (yes, including previous drafts) on two separate thumb drives. In fact, I've made a habit of backing up my work after every writing session, just so I don't lose anything to a freak power outage or computer meltdown or whatever.

     

    I know of one professional writer who backs up all of his work on two thumb drives (which he carries on his body at all times) and on a third one that he stores outside of his house in case of a house fire. You can never be too safe with your work, in my opinion.

     

    Perhaps even more-so than the fact that I wanted to know what would happen next, my big problem with seeing other people release in this format is forgetting what's going on. More than once I would either have to go back and re-read some or all of the previous chapters just so I could bring myself back up to speed. Alternatively, I just decided it wasn't worth it and stopped paying attention altogether. I can only imagine how many times this happened with Toast Busters.

    Exactly. This just happened to me with a fanfic I've been following. It's especially annoying when the fic in question has more than ten chapters.

     

    I wonder if this problem could be mitigated by fanfic writers including a brief "Last time on ..." at the beginning of each chapter. I never did it myself, but it seems to me that including something like that could really help bring new readers up to speed and help old readers remember what happened last time, assuming there is a big gap between the last chapter and the newest one.

     

    Me, I'd be ecstatic if people started writing fanfics based on my works. I also probably wouldn't read too much of it, but where we differ is the reason why. I'd probably be too put-off by how they were misrepresenting my characters, breaking the rules I set for my universe, and SHIPPING EVERYBODY WITH THE WRONG PERSON.

    But ... that's what makes fanfics so fun.

     

    I have a feeling that if people started writing fanfics based on my works, I might just encourage them to write the craziest ones they could purely for the lulz. I'd never read them (for the reasons I mentioned in the post), but I'd at least know people were having fun anyway.

     

    -TNTOS-

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