Lounge

[neongrey]

Meanwhile, my alphasmart neo just showed up today... I've got some longish car and/or bus rides coming up soon, figured thirty bucks was reasonable for maybe getting some work done.

Plus this way even at home I can write next to the air conditioner, lol

[kais]

So guys, I just got my first offer on AFD, and I like don't even know what to do with my life right now.

Edited July 2, 2016 by kaisa

[Mandamon he/him]

3 hours ago, kaisa said:

So guys, I just got my first offer on AFD, and I like don't even know what to do with my life right now.

Awesome! (That you got the offer, not that you don't know what to do...)

[Robinski he/him]

That's great!

I always enjoyed listening the WE casts about publishing. I hope it's an offer that you'll be able to accept from a business standpoint, i.e. it's fair and reasonable. Hurry back to WE and listen to their cast(s?) about offers/contracts, I know there's at least one. Or maybe you don't need to do that.

Anyway, I always presumed that knowing what to do with your life and being published (in fiction) were not necessarily connected!!

[neongrey]

Ooh! Congrats! And yeah, I'm hoping it's a good offer, eeeeee.

[Silk she/her]

Do you have an agent already? If not--forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know--then it's probably worth sending out some query letters posthaste. My understanding is that many agents will respond quite quickly if they know there's already an offer on the table.

[Carcinios he/him]

So I suspect that everyone here likes the Cosmere as a concept. But I have a question. Would anyone ever consider setting their fiction in a shared universe like that?

I was thinking about the pros and cons of having a deep background that is common across the different stories I wanted to tell and was wondering if anyone else had thought about it.

Here are some initial thoughts I have had:

Pros

• Gives an easy framework to hang world building off. No need to build everything from base level each time.
• Allows you to tell stories that don't follow the standard narrative structures because you have a degree of assumed knowledge.
• Gives a greater sense of depth to the universe

Cons

• Danger of contradiction. Once something is the case in one story it has to be consistent in all stories.
• Danger of repetition. All the worlds follow the same rules and therefore aren't sufficiently unique (including the danger of being to heavily influenced by pre-existing shared universes)
• This one may be unique to writers of a religious persuasion but tackling the questions of deity, origins of existence and evil in a way that is honouring to what you believe but isn't just an allegory.

Any thoughts one way or the other?

[kais]

20 hours ago, Silk said:

Do you have an agent already? If not--forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know--then it's probably worth sending out some query letters posthaste. My understanding is that many agents will respond quite quickly if they know there's already an offer on the table.

Yup. Awaiting responses, although the issues is more complex than most because A) I actually have Big Time publisher interested, but need agent to access but B.) thus far the agent R&Rs want changes that are mostly awesome, but one in particular I'm not willing to make (and I understand why they want it, and I understand it makes the manuscript more attractive, but I did write the thing in multiple POV for a reason). So now we have C), publisher whose changes do not involve anything I am uncomfortable with, but I don't have an agent to help me negotiate. 

Hence, me having no idea what to do with my life. I could take a shot at Big Publisher with a manuscript that isn't what I want it to be anymore, or go with Small Publisher whom I adore but I'll never make any actual money with. There's also still no guarantee if I do the R&Rs that they will be to agent's satisfaction, or that Big Publisher will take it in the end. So, you know, advice always welcome.

I've worked with independent publishers before. I generally like small outfits, and do reasonably well with them, but the world of nonfiction is very different. My current thought is to just go for it, get AFD out there, and work on a new manuscript to sub out to agents. Small Publisher does not have a noncompete clause, so I can keep pursuing bigger dreams. AFD is my first fiction work, and its nice to know someone really wants it (and the series), but its also weird when there has been bigger interest, but maybe the bigger interest isn't in my best interest, you know?

 

[neongrey]

Hmmm. I know it's not an ideal solution at all because it does involve cash up front-ish, but isn't it possible to get a lawyer who specializes in these things to look over the contract you've been offered and give some advice? Might do, if you don't have any agents jump immediately with the offer in hand.

[kais]

I've got lawyers on it, and the contract is pretty simple compared to ones I do with my nonfiction stuff. At least that part isn't too worrisome.

[kais]

Pit2Pub is THIS WEDNESDAY (July 13th), everyone! Anyone else participating? DO IT DO IT DO IT!

[krystalynn03 she/her]

On 7/3/2016 at 4:34 PM, Carcinios said:

So I suspect that everyone here likes the Cosmere as a concept. But I have a question. Would anyone ever consider setting their fiction in a shared universe like that?

I was thinking about the pros and cons of having a deep background that is common across the different stories I wanted to tell and was wondering if anyone else had thought about it.

Here are some initial thoughts I have had:

Pros

• Gives an easy framework to hang world building off. No need to build everything from base level each time.
• Allows you to tell stories that don't follow the standard narrative structures because you have a degree of assumed knowledge.
• Gives a greater sense of depth to the universe

Cons

• Danger of contradiction. Once something is the case in one story it has to be consistent in all stories.
• Danger of repetition. All the worlds follow the same rules and therefore aren't sufficiently unique (including the danger of being to heavily influenced by pre-existing shared universes)
• This one may be unique to writers of a religious persuasion but tackling the questions of deity, origins of existence and evil in a way that is honouring to what you believe but isn't just an allegory.

Any thoughts one way or the other?

Hey Carcinios,

I wonder if no one's responded yet to this because it's such a big question. I don't know that I'd like to write in a shared universe. Part of writing fantasy is the worldbuilding, and that's part of the fun. I think that if you had to clear your ideas with a group consensus or worry about remaining consistent with what other people wanted to do with the rules of the world that it might get annoying and slow creativity rather than foster it. On the other hand, if you brainstormed up something really cool with someone and got a lot of synergy going, I could see how it could still lead to fun projects.

[Carcinios he/him]

On 7/9/2016 at 3:15 PM, krystalynn03 said:

Hey Carcinios,

I wonder if no one's responded yet to this because it's such a big question. I don't know that I'd like to write in a shared universe. Part of writing fantasy is the worldbuilding, and that's part of the fun. I think that if you had to clear your ideas with a group consensus or worry about remaining consistent with what other people wanted to do with the rules of the world that it might get annoying and slow creativity rather than foster it. On the other hand, if you brainstormed up something really cool with someone and got a lot of synergy going, I could see how it could still lead to fun projects.

Thanks for the comment.

I actually agree with you about multiple authors sharing a universe. It can be done but the shared property has to be well enough defined that everyone knows what rules to play by. (See Black Library fiction for a good example of how this can work.)

What I was more trying to gauge is whether other people treated their own fiction as taking place inside a universe common across all their stories or whether they treated each story as an isolated piece of fiction and world building.

[krystalynn03 she/her]

I see.

Reckon that depends on what they're writing...should get some interesting responses.

[Robinski he/him]

Ha-ha. Thieves World is an excellent example of the multiple author scenario, but that's another story (or should I say series of stories).

Personally, no. I have completed four novels. One is contemporary, but the three fantasy ones are in different worlds. This said, the first and third of the three are planned as separate triologies, and the second is one of a 6 (7?) part cycle of novels, novellas and short stories.

I don't think I would want to be limited by having to stick to a single overarching mythos, but would always want to be able to start with a blank slate. Then again, maybe I'd feel different if I created something good enough that I didn't want to leave and have another shot at it!!

[Carcinios he/him]

I think one of the big attractions of the shared mythos for me is that I like to go into a lot of world building that doesn't make it into the story. Having a joint background for me is really just like having a bigger swimming pool to play in. That said there are things that I am working on that don't fit the overall setting so I keep them separate. But anything that involves magic I would pretty much want to keep in the same universe.

[neongrey]

Managed to get through both Fifth Season (definitely where my Hugo vote is going; the only other that I've read to completion was Uprooted which, while not bad at all, struck me as kind of pedestrian) and Too Like the Lightning (same, I think, but for next year; be quite surprised if it doesn't land on the ballot) during my brief time on vacation.

Fifth Season sure was a trip; it did my absolute least favourite thing ever that you can do with a POV but by the end it sure had me going 'it absolutely had to be this way'. I phrase circuitously because spoilers, of course.

Both really hard for me to get into, but once I had the time with not much else to do, they both made me really glad I put in the effort.

Edited July 14, 2016 by neongrey

[Robinski he/him]

Interesting, I'm still working on my votes - I've got till 31st July - I can do it!

[krystalynn03 she/her]

On 7/8/2016 at 10:28 PM, kaisa said:

Pit2Pub is THIS WEDNESDAY (July 13th), everyone! Anyone else participating? DO IT DO IT DO IT!

How did this go, kaisa?

[kais]

I decided not to participate. I'm in contract negotiations with one publisher and another waiting if that one falls through, so I thought it might be in bad taste to participate. I was sorely tempted though. 

[Robinski he/him]

I've just got to share this, it really tickled my funny bone. So, I'm still working my way through my Hugo votes and am looking at Best Fan Writer at the moment. I'm wading through an article about all that Sad Puppies stuff (yeesh) and came across a quote from Mike Resnik (although used in this context by Brad Torgersen), to wit (talking about Hugo nominations):

"I have three now, plus a Nebula and a Campbell in the same year and two Analog magazine readers' choice awards. I think I've sufficiently demonstrated I know how to shove a noun up against a verb."

Maybe this is old hat, but I just loved it 

[kais]

Well, officially signed and now complete with release date. Mind boggling.

[neongrey]

eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Robinski he/him]

I was going to say something along those lines. Well done!

Are you able to say when we can look out for AFD hitting the shelves?

[kais]

January 30th 2017 is what I was told.