Having managed to type up a prologue and one chapter and write pretty much most of another two I hav edecided that
Having managed to type up the prologue and one chapter of my Joram fanfic and written most of another two chapters I have decided that I should post now and if they are rubbish go back to finishing my knitting(at least DH will be pleased when I remove the weird looking object from the dining room table which is actually a glove with three fingers knitted!)
So, gentle readers how do I go about this. Do I just cut and paste onto one of these or is there anything else I need to know.
It's all your faults because if you weren't so nice I would never have dared to write anything.
I thought it would make a belated birthday present for Aerlys and also (hint, hint) encourage her to write her fan fic - along the lines of "what rubbish that UK woman writes that's not what happened at all!!"
And the typing is rubbish too apparently going by the last post!
Yes, you can just start a new topic in the Deryni Fanfic section of the board, then copy the chapter from whatever you are writing it in and paste it into your new topic's editing window. Having said that, if you are working in Microsoft Word, sometimes you can accidentally paste in the hidden Microsoft coding, filling the text with random odd symbols. So to prevent that from happening, I used to paste into Wordpad first, then copy out of that to post to the forum. Alternately, if you have trouble copy/pasting it and preserving the formatting, then you could email it to someone else to upload it. One caution: italics or bold text won't transfer, not will centered text, but those can be coded in one you get the text transferred. I strongly suggest using the preview feature to make sure all the formatting looks correct before you post it to the board.
One recommendation I have is to get a second set of eyes to give it a read through before you post it. Often a different reader will spot typos you might miss because you know what you meant to say, or can alert you to sentences that are phrased in confusing or inadvertently funny ways. (I've forgotten the howler of a double entendre that Annie and Alkari once spotted in a scene I posted in the chatroom, that would have ended up posted in a story if they hadn't pointed it out to me first.) If you'd like, I can beta read for you, or you can send a Private Message to one of our other writers if you would prefer. A short chapter can be copied and pasted into a PM just like you'd post it to a forum board, although I personally prefer to use either Google Docs or a Microsoft Word document sent via email. With either of those options, I can highlight specific words or phrases and make comments in the margins. Having a beta reader isn't required, but I think most writers find it helpful to get that second opinion and a chance to do a final polish before posting.
Oh yeah, an email address might help, right? I can be reached at mail2evie at yahoo dot com (@ symbol and a "." of course, but I spelled it out to avoid spam bots collecting my address). :)
Those evil spam bots are everywhere!!
I do believe in that second set of eyes. I know that while sometimes what I write seems perfectly clear to me, it's amazing how it comes across when someone else reads it. Some of it I can now spot myself, but it is amazing what I overlook. Including a whole heard of horses. ;D
It never hurts to have a beta reader or two or three. :)
I whole-heatedly agree with a willing beta-reader. As I have said before: better to be embarrassed in front of one than in front of everyone. Sister Disarray truly understands my concern and heaven help those angles; without Evie they would have lost their way and never found their wings to become Angels. I'm not even going to mention the 2000 comma errors. Really Evie, I am trying to reduce my adjectives and improve my comma placements. I hope my new story will have less errors. Finger's crossed.
Revanne, I am encouraging you to jump in and have fun. Finding the courage to post fanfic is the hardest thing I ever did, but also the most rewarding. My only suggestion is to break up each post into 7000 words or less, so that slow readers such as myself can read each post in one sitting without having to lose my place.
Have fun with it!
Seconding the courage. I felt sick the first time I posted, but the first encouraging comment made it worth it!
And even though nowadays I put things through two sets of readers, and do a final pass before handing it over, the flaming editor STILL manages to find things that have me facepalming. So I'd fourth, or fifth, or whatever, the beta reader(s).
oh no.. my poor little adjectives are even now at the mercy of Evie's pen. And that's after i've gone through and removed several dozen.
LOL! Have no fear, I love adjectives... in moderation. But if I notice you've used the same adjective 72 times on the first page, or that you're in danger of sounding like a gushing or overwrought Victorian author (Mr. Bulwer-Lytton of the purple prose, I'm looking at you!), I'll let you know. My first short story was maybe 500 words long, and when I showed it to my best friend, she nearly hurt herself laughing at how often I used the words "velvet" (or "velvety") and "darkness" in it. It wasn't a bad story, but it definitely could have benefited from a beta reader, not to mention a thesaurus. :D
I just spotted your email and will take a peek as soon as I get a chance today (probably after breakfast). :)
Wow, what a neat surprise this morning to discover this thread! Thank you. :)
I'll be looking forward to my "present" whenever you are ready. Take your time. I know we will all enjoy a look into Joram's head. (Not a reference to trepanning from another thread. :D)
Quote from: revanne on June 13, 2014, 03:10:48 PM
I thought it would make a belated birthday present for Aerlys and also (hint, hint) encourage her to write her fan fic - along the lines of "what rubbish that UK woman writes that's not what happened at all!!"
I
wish I could sit and write! Life is in high gear right now (not going to be the relaxing summer I hoped for), though maybe I can make some progress on the road. Joram won't be making any appearances anytime soon, however, so we can all get our Joram fix from you! And it WILL NOT be rubbish. :)