Is there anything weighing on your mind? Well, our panel does and we want to share. There are so many issues and obstacles on the path of the indie writer and at times it is good to express what is stressing you out. So why don’t you join us for a debrief and lessen the stress together. As always, the Roundtable begins at 7 PST/10 EST.
*beeps*
Hello Erica!
How y’all doin?
Hi! In keeping with the topic, I wonder who wants to have an entertaining nervous breakdown on air tonight.
RChazzChute you?
hi writerwade how be you?
BatmanErica RChazzChute possibly. More whiskey! It could leak out….
RChazzChute I’d watch that :p
BatmanErica writerwade I be good.
What’s on your mind RChazzChute ?
We’re shy a Michelle Read. And a Liam Kingman.
xgranville pick me?
Elder gods again. Big ones. o_O
I killed a guy, but he was bad, so it’s okay, right? That’s the sort of thing we’re talking about?
RChazzChute I read a book series about that 😛
BatmanErica RChazzChute Hit Man Series
Write book 1. Publish book 1 (while writing book 2). Market book 1 (while writing / publishing book 2). Publishing book 2 (while writing book 3)… etc.
xgranville Good, I need a cover. Get on it.
Ahem.
RChazzChute actually… http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Slightly-Neurotic-Hitwoman-Book/dp/B014F6E924
JamieDodge I made a cover last week. Want to see it?
BatmanErica That sounds like me. Yikes!
BatmanErica JamieDodge Sure.
Get an office xgranville it has helped me a lot!
BatmanErica xgranville You want in? haha
xgranville sure 😛
Ideas are definitely the easy part. And every idea sure as hell isn’t a book! Hah. LOL
BatmanErica Nice!
Mgon Ain’t THAT the truth.
JamieDodge thanks 😀 It’s to replace an existing cover.
BatmanErica That is gooood.
Mgon it’s the first draft that is hard >.<
Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen. – http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_steinbeck.html
Thanks Mgon
Philip Harris Steinbeck up this HOUSE!
Is that Mister Beta or Master Beta? 😛
Screw the market!
Gotta bounce some light off the wall in front of you, Wade. With that lighting, you’re a Bond villain asking for a ransom again.
xgranville Hah hah. Funny! 😀
RChazzChute he is missing the kitty.
RChazzChute Eeeeeeexcellent.
BatmanErica xgranville Invite sent? :p
xgranville no?
BatmanErica xgranville On Google+?
Yeah. There’s a book I want to read now, and is recommended by several writers, and it’s something like $14.00 for the eBook. I just cannot spend that kind of money on an eBook.
At some point you have to actually just do, and stop listening.
JamieDodge Do! Do! Do! Doo! Doo! Doo!
BatmanErica check Facebook
I really like the comradery with other writers, at this point. The encouraging and encouragement. It’s important and very helpful.
Love your hair, Erica.
YAY, ERICA! Numfar! Do the dance of joy!
I have a plan too. I just don’t remember what it is.
CateMorgan Oh…oh Canada…
I like Erica’s accent. 😀 Good stuff!
Mgon thanks dude 🙂
JamieDodge Whoah man….Deep…
JamieDodge I wrote mine down
BatmanErica Mgon No thank YOU! Really. That’s a feel-good voice you got 😉
BatmanErica I did too, I lost the paper/
JamieDodge BatmanErica Type it up next time
Mgon well I don’t think so, but I’m glad that others like it 🙂
xgranville BatmanErica Dude, are you on the same group as I am? I don’t have a damn plan.
Mgon BatmanErica What am I chopped liver?
Any questions, guys?
It shouldn’t be procrastination it should be againstcrastination. Am I right or what? LOL
xgranville Mgon BatmanErica No, Canadian.
xgranville BatmanErica LOL. I’m not encouraging you. You talk too much as it is 😛
Mgon
Anticrastication.
Mgon xgranville BatmanErica This is true.
xgranville Mgon Profornication. Oh, wait…
xgranville YES!
CateMorgan xgranville Hah hah
BatmanErica What is this walking stuff you keep talking about?
What are your guys’ favorite writing rituals?
BatmanErica Awesome!
BatmanErica Well, heck, you’re rolling right along. That’s exciting 😀
xgranville Bastard! lol
JamieDodge walking? you mean the 20 minute walk to my office? I don’t usually walk there, I have to be dropped off so I’m there. Hooray for hubby 🙂
I do jazz.
Mgon xgranville …What did I do? haha
xgranville X plays the piano while he writes =)~
JamieDodge Skip bibbly bebop?
xgranville Anita O’Day usually.
Mgon sometimes you gotta take your mind off things
Don’t lie Erica! You’re in NZ you totally have a view! ALL OF NZ IS A VIEW.
CateMorgan I don’t really have one. I do procrastinate beforehand though, but with the office I’m doing less and less of it beforehand
Do any of you dictate into a recorder? Or have you in the past but gave it up? Thoughts on that?
CateMorgan yeah other people smoking isn’t a view. However, the beach is a block away, both from the house and the office 😛
BatmanErica Very true. Definitely part of the balance to creating.
Can’t stay on tonight guys. Have a great week!
Mgon xgranville Sometimes I do, too. Either that or violin. But then I find myself procrastinating and have to force myself to go back.
BatmanErica CateMorgan The beatch??? Ohhh. I ain’t saying nothing. lol
RChazzChute You too!
CateMorgan The violin. Niiiice. I love the violin.
RChazzChute sad panda
Mgon It’s my faaaaaaaavorite. Then I pace, play the violin, and the cats follow me like the piped piper.
Hello everyone. Xavier quit smoking? Good for you dude.xgranville
xgranville You said BONE! Hah-hah
It’s impossible to a. get enough quiet to dictate b. get any privacy to dictate.
Sometimes I creep into the den in the wee small hours and dictate a bit.
One thing: edit soon after you dictate because some of what comes out on the screen won’t be anything like what you said. If you wait too long to edit, you will have forgotten what you said and you might as well not have bothered.
CateMorgan That is so cool. I can only imagine being able to do that.
LRDennis Those are interesting points.
Mgon It’s only impressive until I fall over a cat and crash. SAVE THE VIOLIN!
American accent? Which one?
JamieDodge I meant some of the more outlandish ones
CateMorgan Hah hah. I bet. Yikes. Not cheap to replace.
BatmanErica Like mine?
JamieDodge I’ve not heard yours… I don’t think
Mgon You want impressive, go check out Lindsey Stirling on You Tube. You plays and DANCES. Also, she is tres adorbs.
JamieDodge Dragon does offer “Southern” American and also, “teenager.”
writerwade has a real family, as opposed to that fake family…
CateMorgan Mgon hells yeah!
Wait, we have rails? SINCE WHEN?!
BatmanErica Very southern.
CateMorgan Oh yes. I know her! Talk about talented and making it look easy. Woe.
LRDennis JamieDodge Amazing haha
JamieDodge more southern than Louisiana, cause that I’ve heard and don’t think is that bad.
Mgon She’s even better live. Also, there’s David Garrett, aka Thor with a violin. It looks like a child’s toy in his hands, but he’s fuh-mazing.
BatmanEricaNo, I’m not Cajun.
Hell, I like offending people. It’s fun.
CateMorgan I’ll have to look him up. Thanks.
Mgon Check out him and also Hilary Hahn. You’ll thank me.
Mgon Dictate into a recorder? Mimsy were the borogoves.
However, it’s neat to do “morning pages” whispered into a recorder. Dump that into iTunes. Not your main iTunes, just someplace to keep the recordings.
I keep trying different things.
It’s easy to say to make time, it a hell of a lot harder to actually make time.
Some of the best classics were under 30K.
CateMorgan I subscribed to both their YouTube channels.
JamieDodge and those are the ones that get turned into movies 🙂
Erica is so right. Maybe you are aiming for too many words, making the story too long.
If you can bring the story to an end at 30k, you can go back and infill with subplots and layers of description, motif, etc.
LRDennis Or he needs to sketch out the story structure before he starts. That’s what I do.
What do you do when one of your beta readers tells you they hate your main character?
CateMorgan LRDennis
Yep. That would be part of outlining. He said he’s trying to outline now. It really does help.
JamieDodge I’d find another beta haha.
LRDennis I draw up an Aristotle’s Incline–I’m visual, so it really helps to SEE it.
JamieDodge Ask him why he hates the MC.
JamieDodge If most of them tell you the same thing, take their advice. If it’s only one or two then you can ignore them if you want. Books, are art and not everyone will like the same things.
LRDennis writerwade It seems to me that Wade has a confidence problem. He needs to let go and not give a shit. If he thinks his book is crap then fix it in the rewrite. If the ending doesn’t work then fix that there too, but make notes of ideas while you are writing. Just hammer it out no matter what. Once you get your first one done the next one is easier and easier.
David Anson JamieDodge Yeah I listen to what people say, not a single person
CateMorgan LRDennis Wait a mo–I’m going to look that up.
Give a 5 cheesecake review!
LRDennis That’s some old school shenanigans, but it works!
xgranville David Anson JamieDodge I listened to people on my first book and rewrote it. My editor told me to put it back the way it was and resubmit it
Thank you all. Good to see everyone!
I actually have cheesecake…
https://hangouts.google.com/call/eqfeozlqayh3uerffqnaech36ua
David Anson xgranville JamieDodge Grr….fucking people!
David Anson LRDennis writerwade All worship Wade. The one true God.
xgranville David Anson LRDennis writerwade
xgranville David Anson LRDennis writerwade ROFL
I really wish I could watch you guys live.