My First Book Complete!

G

Ganheim

New member
I have been working on Life of the Silver Tear for years, and I've finally finished volume one in the novella series. I've even finally finished assembling the Prologue for the next volume. Hooray for me!

So...anybody want to check it out and tell me what you think? I'd really appreciate anything any of you have to say about it.

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Read and review Life of the Silver Tear at Fiction Press.com.</P>
 
Let me be straight with you, man.

After reading this, I got a horrible feeling. It's a feeling of hollowness that comes from looking at a piece of writing, knowing full well that its synthesized solely from existing works, and not truthful to the writer in any way.

For god's sake, look a the first paragraph. I'll bet you these ideas came from other bits of fantasy literature, and not your own head. The main problem is that you don't believe in what you're writing. It's all fake, and practically unreadable.

What makes great fiction, esp. sci-fi or fantasy, is the author's ability to maintain their own sense of truth. Lord of the Rings works because Tolkein spent his life researching languages, and the myths and legends of various cultures. He built his own world from the ground up, combining his love of England, with his love of mythos. He created his own history as a result. Tolkein is not a brilliant writer, but he developed his own truth, which makes his work endearing, and remains influential.

Honestly, when you talk about the Elven Clan Guard, isn't this your own spin on another author's ideas, or existing fantasy convention? And that's only the beginning. I could site more examples than could fit here.

I don't want to discourage you from writing, because I see some ability in you. If you're serious about the craft, try thinking out of the box, and developing something more true to who YOU are. Imagine your own family and neighborhood, and imagine how that mirrors something of legend. These correlations do exist. Not to overuse Tolkein, because there are other great fantasy writers, but he took the feelings of religion in his own life, and managed to tell those stories in a new way. Because it meant something to him, and because he believed in it, he made it great.

My suggestion is to put aside the library of fantasy that's swimming in your head, and look at the world around you. Other fantasy books can show you methods of execution, but they can't be the foundation for your own fiction.

Good luck, and don't lose heart. Writing isn't easy, and every draft makes you learn something new. So what if you wrote crap? So what if you blew countless hours on something that doesn't work? You discovered something, and at least had the balls to run with it. With each thing you write, if you believe in it enough, you'll find your truths.

Don't give up!

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> Don't give up!

Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!


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> So...anybody want to check it out and tell me what you
> think? I'd really appreciate anything any of you have to
> say about it.

Don't be too discouraged by Lobster's comments, but I have to agree that I got the same feeling. I'm also a little confused by the website setup... the chapters seem very short. The first-person present tense is a little awkward. Here's the thing, you could have a very solid plot, but if the first thought is, "Oh, another LOTR-style fantasy", they're likely to put it down. So you need to ask yourself why you're writing, and who you're writing for. If you're building a fantasy world, you need to convice your audience that it's fresh from the title and prologue. Then when you move into elves and halflinks, they'll be part of your world... and not somebody elses.

Again, don't be discouraged. I spent years writing fantasy and science fiction, I have a love for it. It's all a step in the right direction, but you're writing. I get the same jolt from legends and myths in a medieval surrounding as you probably do. However, my writing improved dramatically when I forced myself to write about reality. I'm sure you've heard "write about what you know", and eventually you'll take what you know and create the world you've imagined.

Keep writing.

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> > Don't give up!
>
> Join the Nintendo Fun Club today!

Where's the NHK camera? Hello Tokyo!

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...the way to be!</div></P>
 
When I asked for brutal honesty, I didn't think I'd get _that_ brutal. Still, thanks for the honest criticism. It really annoys me when I get a review that says nothing more than "update".

And yes, I know the format and layout for FictionPress isn't that great, but it works and it's available to anyone with an internet connection, which is the important thing.

As for "making it real", I suppose that means it's time to set this story on the shelf. Disappointing, this is the only project I'd been working on for the past three years.

I guess this means some serious "back to the drawing board".

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Read and review Life of the Silver Tear at Fiction Press.com.</P>
 
Whatever you do, don't be discouraged. If your happy with something you've written, that's good..it's half the battle.
I wasn't happy with my book until the seventh re-write.
Keep writing. I like the style.

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> I wasn't happy with my book until the seventh re-write. Keep
> writing. I like the style.

I'm still rewriting it. Right now (depending on the chapter), I think I'm on the 4th-8th rewrite. As long as its up, I figure I might as well fix every problem that can be found. After all, that should mean that my next work will be that much better.

However, I'm not quite sure what you mean by saying it doesn't "seem real", so I'm not sure how I could recitify the problem. What was it that seemed like the story was missing? Where the characters, or the settings, shallow?

What's wrong with it?

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Read and review Life of the Silver Tear at Fiction Press.com.</P>
 
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