5 ms·

Yeah...I recall a family member telling me once "I have this great idea for a novel", and I immediately tuned out. I'm not a writer, but I know that -everyone-

Yeah...I recall a family member telling me once "I have this great idea for a novel", and I immediately tuned out. I'm not a writer, but I know that -everyone- has a great idea for a novel. The difference between authors and everyone else is the authors did the work to actually get it down, edited, and published (to where I even have a little respect for the people who self-publish obvious vanity projects, simply for the fact they had the self-discipline to actually sit down and get it on a page).

ben_w 5y ago
As I’ve been working on my first novel since 2016… I agree completely. An idea isn’t much without the effort backing it up.
theshadowknows 5y ago
My father-in-law wrote five books during his lifetime. To his credit, they were ok. But he refused to ever work with an editor. And thus none were ever published.
- codazoda 5y ago
  I wrote a book on how to publish your ebook. The people who read it seem to love it but I haven't marketed it real well. In any case, you might find it interesting if you want to publish your own book or if you wanted to publish your father-in-laws unfinished books. There's even a bit of information in there about using your computers text-to-speech tool for editing. You have it read the book back to you in order to catch mistakes. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00A4112ZM https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00A4112ZM
  - andai 5y ago
    The text to speech idea is brilliant. I've read some books several times in print, but many finer details escaped me until I listened to the audio version.
JKCalhoun 5y ago
I've had great ideas for novels ... until I started to write them. Then I realize there has to be a middle too. And it has to be interesting to read.
- billwear 5y ago
  yes, yes, yes. the middle. if you can't keep a reader from taking a bathroom break until page 140, you can't write a novel.
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    There are a lot of novels that would beg to differ.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  I do wish it was easier to publish and get short stories in a similar way to novels. Like, I don't need a 300 page tome every time. But even anthologies of short stories by new authors (as opposed to Sci-Fi classics) seem to be out of style.
  - ElFitz 5y ago
    I think the future for this is online publication. On a personal blog, or a shared website. A bit like stories such as Sherlock Holmes’ were initially published in episodically in newspapers. Many platforms now offer subscriptions options, so it definitely could work. That still leaves the discovery & editing issues though. Any thoughts on that?
    - FalconSensei 5y ago
      In the west this is still growing, but in Japan at least, it's way more common, at least regarding 'light novels' (kinda of like YA?). I'm not sure about earning money through subscriptions, but there people who write to those sites (similar to Wattpad) often struck a deal with a publisher to adapt the 'web novel' to a 'light novel'[0] Edit: I know that for webtoons (korean comics) subscription is turning into a reality, at least in English markets. Not sure about how's it in Korea though [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/6hgw1w/konosuba_was_originally_a_web_novel_how_many/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/6hgw1w/konosub...
noneeeed 5y ago
I was listening to an interview with John Greene, the author of A Fault in Our Stars and the excellent The Anthroposcene Reviewed podcast. He talked about how one of his books basically sat on the shelf for ages (possibly a year), he just couldn't get the idea to work, until one day he came back to it and figured it out. People massively underestimate how much work it takes to turn an idea for a story into a working novel with a coherent plot and characters. In sci-fi and fantasy I think this is particularly obvious. There's a lot of sci-fi that has an interesting idea or concept at it's heart, but the actual story just falls flat. I think it's why short stories are often a better format for sci-fi ideas. Similarly I've encountered a lot of fantasy that was all about world-building but where the book itself just went nowhere. World building is kind of easy compared to actually writing a novel with a compelling story. It seems to be common for aspiring fantasy authors to spend years doing the former and never getting round to the latter.
- Ma8ee 5y ago
  > Similarly I've encountered a lot of fantasy that was all about world-building but where the book itself just went nowhere. It’s like bands that spend years polishing their sound, but never actually write any songs.
- open-source-ux 5y ago
  People massively underestimate how much work it takes to turn an idea for a story into a working novel with a coherent plot and characters A common piece of advice often repeated for fiction writing: when you finish your novel, leave it untouched for a few months (e.g. six months). When you return to read it again with a fresh eye, you'll spot all the clunky passages, clichés, and poorly written characters you didn't spot when you were immersed in the writing. The space of a few months gives you a more critical eye. That's the advice. Whether writers actually heed it I don't know. (A pause of some months might feel too long for some writers itching to be published.)
- anonymousDan 5y ago
  Note 'one of'. In my experience all ideas are different. Some ideas just naturally work almost straight off the bat, and others take an inordinate amount of fine tuning.
VSerge 5y ago
in the video game industry, I remember reading a person (an indie maybe, but I'm not sure) saying that values are basically: idea = 1 prototype = 10 shipped game = 100 shipped game that actually earns money = 1000
- Something1234 5y ago
  Can you explain this quote?
  - heavenlyblue 5y ago
    1000 ideas are as valuable as a shipped product.
    - ElFitz 5y ago
      > 1000 ideas are as valuable as a shipped product that earns money.
  - lostcolony 5y ago
    It would benefit with commas or semi-colons after each number. It took me a bit to parse as well.
  - celticninja 5y ago
    Think of it as XP.
- username90 5y ago
  And then prospective gamedevs took this to heart and build a flappy birds clone, ship it and feel they accomplished something. Shipping a game you know is shit wont teach you anything at all! You need to pour your soul into it first, try to work out the kinks and ensure it can be fun to play before shipping, and then see how what you think matches with how players feel about the game.
spc476 5y ago
My dad would always tell me about his ideas for smart phone apps, if only I would build them (and in my mind---he'd get the money). I would always then search the app store for his "idea" and find N number of apps, already there. He never did stop with his "ideas" though (and he never bothered to do a simple search either).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

ben_w 5y ago

As I’ve been working on my first novel since 2016… I agree completely. An idea isn’t much without the effort backing it up.

theshadowknows 5y ago

My father-in-law wrote five books during his lifetime. To his credit, they were ok. But he refused to ever work with an editor. And thus none were ever published.

codazoda 5y ago
I wrote a book on how to publish your ebook. The people who read it seem to love it but I haven't marketed it real well. In any case, you might find it interesting if you want to publish your own book or if you wanted to publish your father-in-laws unfinished books. There's even a bit of information in there about using your computers text-to-speech tool for editing. You have it read the book back to you in order to catch mistakes. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00A4112ZM https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00A4112ZM
- andai 5y ago
  The text to speech idea is brilliant. I've read some books several times in print, but many finer details escaped me until I listened to the audio version.

JKCalhoun 5y ago

I've had great ideas for novels ... until I started to write them. Then I realize there has to be a middle too. And it has to be interesting to read.

billwear 5y ago
yes, yes, yes. the middle. if you can't keep a reader from taking a bathroom break until page 140, you can't write a novel.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  There are a lot of novels that would beg to differ.
HWR_14 5y ago
I do wish it was easier to publish and get short stories in a similar way to novels. Like, I don't need a 300 page tome every time. But even anthologies of short stories by new authors (as opposed to Sci-Fi classics) seem to be out of style.
- ElFitz 5y ago
  I think the future for this is online publication. On a personal blog, or a shared website. A bit like stories such as Sherlock Holmes’ were initially published in episodically in newspapers. Many platforms now offer subscriptions options, so it definitely could work. That still leaves the discovery & editing issues though. Any thoughts on that?
  - FalconSensei 5y ago
    In the west this is still growing, but in Japan at least, it's way more common, at least regarding 'light novels' (kinda of like YA?). I'm not sure about earning money through subscriptions, but there people who write to those sites (similar to Wattpad) often struck a deal with a publisher to adapt the 'web novel' to a 'light novel'[0] Edit: I know that for webtoons (korean comics) subscription is turning into a reality, at least in English markets. Not sure about how's it in Korea though [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/6hgw1w/konosuba_was_originally_a_web_novel_how_many/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels/comments/6hgw1w/konosub...

noneeeed 5y ago

I was listening to an interview with John Greene, the author of A Fault in Our Stars and the excellent The Anthroposcene Reviewed podcast. He talked about how one of his books basically sat on the shelf for ages (possibly a year), he just couldn't get the idea to work, until one day he came back to it and figured it out. People massively underestimate how much work it takes to turn an idea for a story into a working novel with a coherent plot and characters. In sci-fi and fantasy I think this is particularly obvious. There's a lot of sci-fi that has an interesting idea or concept at it's heart, but the actual story just falls flat. I think it's why short stories are often a better format for sci-fi ideas. Similarly I've encountered a lot of fantasy that was all about world-building but where the book itself just went nowhere. World building is kind of easy compared to actually writing a novel with a compelling story. It seems to be common for aspiring fantasy authors to spend years doing the former and never getting round to the latter.

Ma8ee 5y ago
> Similarly I've encountered a lot of fantasy that was all about world-building but where the book itself just went nowhere. It’s like bands that spend years polishing their sound, but never actually write any songs.
open-source-ux 5y ago
People massively underestimate how much work it takes to turn an idea for a story into a working novel with a coherent plot and characters A common piece of advice often repeated for fiction writing: when you finish your novel, leave it untouched for a few months (e.g. six months). When you return to read it again with a fresh eye, you'll spot all the clunky passages, clichés, and poorly written characters you didn't spot when you were immersed in the writing. The space of a few months gives you a more critical eye. That's the advice. Whether writers actually heed it I don't know. (A pause of some months might feel too long for some writers itching to be published.)
anonymousDan 5y ago
Note 'one of'. In my experience all ideas are different. Some ideas just naturally work almost straight off the bat, and others take an inordinate amount of fine tuning.

VSerge 5y ago

in the video game industry, I remember reading a person (an indie maybe, but I'm not sure) saying that values are basically: idea = 1 prototype = 10 shipped game = 100 shipped game that actually earns money = 1000

Something1234 5y ago
Can you explain this quote?
- heavenlyblue 5y ago
  1000 ideas are as valuable as a shipped product.
  - ElFitz 5y ago
    > 1000 ideas are as valuable as a shipped product that earns money.
- lostcolony 5y ago
  It would benefit with commas or semi-colons after each number. It took me a bit to parse as well.
- celticninja 5y ago
  Think of it as XP.
username90 5y ago
And then prospective gamedevs took this to heart and build a flappy birds clone, ship it and feel they accomplished something. Shipping a game you know is shit wont teach you anything at all! You need to pour your soul into it first, try to work out the kinks and ensure it can be fun to play before shipping, and then see how what you think matches with how players feel about the game.

spc476 5y ago

My dad would always tell me about his ideas for smart phone apps, if only I would build them (and in my mind---he'd get the money). I would always then search the app store for his "idea" and find N number of apps, already there. He never did stop with his "ideas" though (and he never bothered to do a simple search either).

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]