Human & Lupusad - Of Men and Wolves

Discussion in 'Writing' started by Jonesy, Dec 14, 2015.

  1. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I'm winding the story down now, so there's no rush.
     
  2. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    Finally finishing a story (especially one of length) is a great feeling!
     
    Jonesy likes this.
  3. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I'm looking forward to it, but I'll be immediately re-working it to get it into a publishable state. But even that should be interesting, since I've come a long way as a writer since the early chapters.
     
    Gilligan Lanley and Pangaea like this.
  4. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    Are you going to try a professional publisher or self-publish?
     
  5. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I'd like to try professional, but I don't know how that'd work with a novel that was originally a web serial.
     
    Pangaea likes this.
  6. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    Some publishers won't publish anything that's been exposed before, regardless of where it was or how many people saw it. If you're going professional then you should look into getting an agent. But make sure you research the agent(s) thoroughly. Don't want to get scammed or similar!

    Oh, and be ready to have your "baby" cut to pieces by editors. It's rare for a novel to be in acceptable (to them) shape from just the writer's efforts. Also, there are two kinds of editors. One will edit things like grammar and spelling only. The other will edit plot and characters as well. Make sure you get the second kind involved in your story.

    I'm curious. How many words will this be when it's finished?
     
  7. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Yeah, I suspect I'll have to take the story down (or replace it with a couple of sample chapters), even if the published version is superior to the original. I kind of need to make money off it at this point, and don't have a lot to pay for an agent upfront. Though looking it up, it would appear that they tend to work on commission, which sounds preferable.

    At the moment, the wordcount of the story is way too long for a novel, so I'm looking to turn it into two separate ones. I've already identified a good point halfway through where I can split it quite cleanly, though I'll still reshuffle a few things and make the story up until that point a bit more focused. I'm not sure what sort of a wordcount that will be off the top of my head, but it's probably going to be around the 125k mark.
     
  8. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    If a story is too long it will just be tossed away without even being looked at. For new authors anyway. Seasoned, famous authors can get away with it since they're established sellers. Is the 125k mark for the whole thing or 125k for each part? Because 125k might still be too long for a brand new author.
     
  9. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    For what I intend to make the first novel. I'll probably be stripping out some of the more redundant parts, so hopefully I can get the wordcount closer to 100k. Might still be too much, but I honestly don't know what else I can do at this point.
     
  10. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    This is where those editors come in handy. They'll tell you what needs cuts beyond the cuts you'd want to make yourself. Cutting out whole scenes, characters, and chapters isn't uncommon.
     
  11. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    I suppose so. I'd much rather face the depression of having to make some changes than the depression of being unable to get it published, especially with my failures to find other work IRL.

    Anyway, I've gone ahead and taken the story down from FurAffinity and Weasyl, where I hadn't updated it for years in either case. Now, it's just on here and the TwoKinds forums, and I can easily remove both if need be.
     
  12. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    Good luck! Don't give up if no one wants it at first. Keep trying!
     
  13. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Thanks. I really appreciate the advice.

    Honestly, it's a bit of a Catch-22 situation at the moment. On the one hand, I am worried how having the story posted online will affect my chances of publishing. But on the other, I wouldn't have even considered publishing it if I hadn't posted it online and had people enjoy it. I guess it does also give me a bit of a fandom to build off, too.
     
    Pangaea likes this.
  14. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    Not all publishers will care about self-published online things such as this. Some will only care about if it was published and made money or published through another house. This is where researching an agent comes into play, specifically what kinds of publishers they deal with and what those publishers' policies are about previous publications.

    That may or may not matter. But if you can convince your potential future agent that you do have a large fanbase then it will probably help.
     
  15. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Well, that's something, at least. Here's hoping that and the fact that I'll be drastically increasing the quality will give me a fighting chance.

    I guess so. I mean, I've had fanart and fanfiction about the story, so that must count for something.
     
  16. Pangaea

    Pangaea Forum Moderator

    That will help, I think. It proves there's an audience for your story. Which, I mean, we both knew you had but this proves it to potential publishers.
     
  17. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    Chapter 35 is up!
     
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  18. Jonesy

    Jonesy Sarif's Attack Kangaroo Forum Moderator

    At long last, after four years of hard work, I've posted the epilogue.

    It's been a wild ride, but this isn't the end of H&L. I intend to a major re-write, bringing the quality of the early chapters up to my current standards, improving characterization, and splitting the story into two novels with more focused plots. If I manage to get those published, I have plans to do a sequel, so it won't be the last we hear of Jakob and Zyanya and their friends.

    Thank you all for your readership and support. It's always a joy to see people enjoy my work, so I hope that will continue as I turn H&L into a formally published series.
     
  19. Corraidhín

    Corraidhín Supernova

    Oi, best of luck! bloody good work I say!
     
    Jonesy likes this.
  20. Thee Pie Man

    Thee Pie Man Subatomic Cosmonaut

    Finally got time to come back!
    Hats off to you Jonesy, I wish you success and hope you're able to market your story. And I hope you get some reimbursement from the experience, time, and love you put into this. This has been a thrilling ride and I'm glad I got to read this story. I also hope moving forward, that like in your story things can come to even better terms with those that are just like us, those that wish to live normal lives and be treated as equals.

    Thank you for writing this, thank you for existing, and I wish to see more from you in the future! Good luck, and well wishes to you and what you want to accomplish. ^_^
     
    Jonesy and Corraidhín like this.

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