Well, I think that the title is able to tell you basically what's going on here. I've started a few months ago and have around 10,700 words (18 pages)of it written so far. I'm not very far, mainly because of school work, social events, (ehem), and LFS , but I think that it is going quite well. I was sort of curious as to how many people here write (if any), and if anybody'd be interested in just simply reading it since I need more than a few people to help me proof read it before I'd submit it to a publisher. I've not been published before, but I showed a publisher a short story and they gave me their information and told me to contact them if I ever finish something longer (This publisher only publishes novels).

For those of you who haven't already been around me in the game or on the forums, I'm a little different than most people, and this partially might explain why. Most people who write novels aren't entirely correct in the head .

In any event, if you'd like to read my novel and help me proof read it just let me know. Also, if you'd like to read a completed short story of mine which has accumulated quite a bit of praise, just in-box me on here, and I'll get you from there.

Oh, and I almost forgot to post in information on the novel:

Title: TBD
Book 1 of the "Bender" Cycle (Planned to be 4 books, but also could stand on it's own if I decide I'm not going to continue)
Audience: Teen-Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Setting: A made-up school in Ohio (Rosemary Secondary), 2009-2010
Rough Final Length: 150,000 - 200,000 words
Rough Completion Date: Between 1-1-2012 and 9-29-12

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, I can't spell . I never could get it, but I use spell check so it's all god

Quote from Cornys :

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, I can't spell . I never could get it, but I use spell check so it's all god

These two sentences sums up how this is going to go for you.

Good luck, you are going to need it.

ahahah I hoped that somebody'd catch that 'mistake'.

Thanks, for the luck though, I think...

Here's a quick quote from my novel (page 18). Background: the main character (Randy Ludwig) is on his way to the school for the first time (It's a 10 hour drive, he will be living there until next summer), and is talking with his father who's driving.

“Isn’t that what school is anyways, teachers kidnapping children?”

A smile light up his face underneath his black and grey mustache, “Well, you do have a point there.”

Sort of a random quote, but I like it Actually, my character is full of 1 liners like that

Quote from PMD9409 :

These two sentences sums up how this is going to go for you.

Quote from Cornys :

ahahah I hoped that somebody'd catch that 'mistake'.

Quote :

A smile light up his face underneath his black and grey mustache, “Well, you do have a point there.”

Is that another 'mistake'? Surely it would be, "A smile lit up his face underneath is black and grey mustache..."

spell check ain't gonna pick those up!

Thats really cool that you want to write a novel. I proofread as a summer job this year, so if you want to send me a piece when you've got around 60 or so pages just PM me.

I am seriously thinking about writing a book. I've got the basic idea about the whole story. I only need to expand it.

I haven't decided whether I want to write it in English (bigger audience) or in Slovak (native). And I have no experience with publishers and how the business works. And I'm also a little paranoid about other people stealing my idea.

Once these things get solved, I will start writing it full time...meaning spending alsmost all my free time on it. I still have a job to fill my fridge with food.

Quote from flymike91 :

Thats really cool that you want to write a novel. I proofread as a summer job this year, so if you want to send me a piece when you've got around 60 or so pages just PM me.

That's pretty cool, how did you get such a job? Or is it something you've worked with for a while? I have been looking high and low for a job like that.
Sadly, I don't have a university degree in anything yet and interesting jobs are hard to find without one

I found the job on Craigslist and when I applied in person I was given a sample story to proofread. I don't have a degree either, but correct grammar and the fact that I offered to work for a little more than half of what they were offering the more "experienced" applicants landed me the job.

Quote from PMD9409 :

Is that another 'mistake'? Surely it would be, "A smile lit up his face underneath is black and grey mustache..."

Nope, that is an honest mistake there . Like I said, I can't spell to save my life.

Quote from flymike91 :

Thats really cool that you want to write a novel. I proofread as a summer job this year, so if you want to send me a piece when you've got around 60 or so pages just PM me.

Yeah, it's something I've done before when I was younger and didn't know how to write very well (150,000 words before I realized that I wasn't good at that point in time). I've spent 3 years teaching myself how to write a story well, and have been considered one of the best fan fiction writers on a rather large section of fanfiction.net (of course, fanfiction is not impressive as a whole as we all know).

Just something I did for writing practice over the last year after I ran out of short story ideas.

I'd love to have somebody properly proof read it, but I'm not able to pay anybody for it. I'll be sure to contact you though. I worked a little on it last night and got to page 20, so it should be another 3 or 4 months before I get there.

Also, can you find the error(s) in your post?

Quote from breadfan :

I am seriously thinking about writing a book. I've got the basic idea about the whole story. I only need to expand it.

I haven't decided whether I want to write it in English (bigger audience) or in Slovak (native). And I have no experience with publishers and how the business works. And I'm also a little paranoid about other people stealing my idea.

Once these things get solved, I will start writing it full time...meaning spending alsmost all my free time on it. I still have a job to fill my fridge with food.

Go for it if you enjoy writing it, but if you don't: don't. I think the worst thing you could do is write something that you either aren't into, or are in a hurry at writing when it comes to prose. I've done both before and quickly learned not to.

I know a very little bit about the business side of this whole thing, but I'll tell you what I know as far as the English audience as far as averages:

Pay: $5,000 a novel (unless it is successful, then you may get a bonus, and your next novel will be likely to receive more)
Avg. Chances of Publishing: 50% (obviously dependant on quality)

If you self-publish you'll earn a lot more money, but not half of the people will read it unless you do some major marketing which will cost a pretty penny.

If you're comfortable with English, write it in that if you're looking for profit. If you're doing it just for the heck of it I'd write it in Slovak

Also, the ideas could be proven to be yours via multiple tests that there are for that now. I won't lie, I still am a little afraid myself. I hang out around a few writing sites, and have never had this happen though. My writing is detail rich and hard to duplicate also, so that sort of protects me.

Oh, and as far as the writing goes, usually I start a book with a beginning and an end and allow the middle to be fleshed out by the characters personalities. I rarely know what's going to happen in between the point I'm at right about now (1/10th of the way in), and the climax. Basically I wing it, and lean on the characters I've created to guide me. I would suggest a notes page which lists the events of importance in order so you don't get lost later on, and also a page or 2 on all of your characters which you can add onto as you go.

(Note: I haven't spell checked this post, how many misspelled words are there?)

What is the plot? Could you sum it up briefly so we can now what the novel is about? Or do you just want to keep it secret until it's done/you get closer to the end?

Anyway, good luck with this.

I think its the grammar that you should revise and not the spelling.

But anyway, good luck.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

What is the plot? Could you sum it up briefly so we can now what the novel is about? Or do you just want to keep it secret until it's done/you get closer to the end?

Anyway, good luck with this.

Thanks, well, I will say what I know for sure. It is centered around a group of people who are trained in the arts of emotional magic. This is a world wide community of schools which are funded entirely by the national governments in order to provide national security. They all teach students how to employ their emotions in order to do extraordinay things.

The books conflict will be based on the spread of something known as the "Red Arts" around these schools, which is endorced by those in the west (I.E.: California, China, Japan, ect.). Red art is the use of angery or negitive emotions which are hard to control, and highly addictive as the use of emotion gets rid of it.

A centeral governing body for these schools will exist in London, and I'd prefer not to give away all to much, but over the Winter months of 2009, when Randy Ludwig, the main character, is a Freshman (9th grader, about 15 years old) this central body will declair Red Arts illegal. Schools one by one from Chicogo on west clear to the Middle East will declair removal from the international governing body (EHSB or Emotional Human Specialties Board)

It sounds sort of cliche when I list it out like this beifly, but really the systems of magic that I'm using aren't anything like what I've encountered. Not only this, but events that transpire will not hardly follow the mold of a fantasy novel.

Quote from Cornys :

It sounds sort of cliche when I list it out like this beifly

It does a bit TBH. Another good old war between the good and the evil

But better keep up with something conventional for debuts I guess.