#i really shouldn't beta published books

[just-french-me-up]

Harmonies

Dream of the Endless / Hob Gadling | Human AU | Writer Dream - Voice Actor Hob | Explicit | 2.2k Porn with some Plot | Masturbation | Literal voice porn | Dream doesn't quite know what to do with himself honestly

@hardly-an-escape recently had this FABULOUS idea of acclaimed writer Morpheus who secretly publishes popular romance novels under a pen name, who shamefully gets off while listening to voice actor Hob Gadling acting out an explicit scene from one of his romance stories. I would say my hand slipped but this was 100% planned and thought through.

Morpheus refreshed his inbox. Early afternoon, Lucienne had told him. He gave a quick glance at the clock. 5:42PM. Early afternoon was fading into late afternoon one second at a time, with nothing to show for it.

Morpheus refreshed his inbox. Again.

This is stupid, he thought, frustration seeping in. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Surely, they had not finished editing or formatting the whole thing yet, he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up. Perhaps they had forgotten. Morpheus didn't usually request to be sent the beta recordings. He was more than happy to let them do their job unencumbered, trusting Lucienne to green light everything once it was done. Truth be told, he was barely involved in the whole audiobook side of things, except for, well, writing the damn thing in the first place and having his pen name slapped on the cover. Lucienne had arched an eyebrow at him when he'd asked for the latest recordings out of the blue, but had not been overly curious. A good thing, really. Morpheus carefully avoided any occasion that required him to lie through his teeth. This, no doubt, would have been one of them.

His phone buzzed, startling him.

[6PM 09/05/2023 – The Kindly Ones – Edit Zoom Meeting]

Morpheus turned off the reminder. Too many fires at once. That was his problem, his sister had told him once. Stretching yourself thin until you're see-through, she had said. She was not wrong, of course, although Morpheus would not admit it to her face. She would be far too smug about it.

He refreshed his inbox.

Inbox (1)

Morpheus froze and stared at the screen. There it was. Finally. His pulse racing, he reached for his headphones, struggling to plug it in in his haste. The file was slow to download, the recordings accounting for more than half of the book. Morpheus' fingers tapped impatiently against his desk as he watched the bar crawl to the finish line.

5:51PM.

Surely he could allow himself a quick browse through the file. The meeting with his editor―his other editor―wouldn't start for five more minutes, if not more, should they run a little late on their side. Morpheus found himself wishing they would. Unprofessional, a little voice admonished him.

He opened the file. It had been divided into sections, each corresponding to a chapter. Skip. Skip. Skip. He knew what he was looking for. The book had come out a year ago or so. He still remembered the outline well enough. For a while, he heard nothing but the initial breath of the voice actor, one for each chapter, before he would skip ahead. When he finally let the recording play, the voice engulfed him in its warmth.

Although Morpheus had been the one initially weaving the words and sentences together, they found another dimension and depth in that voice. He was rediscovering his work on someone else's tongue, and the effect left him... intrigued. A few voice actors had given life to the words on the page over the years but this one... This one breathed a soul into the story like none had ever managed to before.

When Morpheus had learnt Robert Gadling would narrate another one of his books, he could not resist.

The beta recordings were rough, lacking the polish of the final product, leaving intakes of breath in and other little imperfections editors would cut out. Morpheus could hear every huff, every chuckle when Gadling would stumble over a word and correct himself, going back to the beginning of the sentence. He could picture the smile on his lips then, the playfully apologetic look at the tech team. He had looked up pictures of him online, once. His face matched his voice: warm, inviting, with a hint of mischief. Suave, even. Morpheus had then closed the tab, embarrassed at his own thoughts.

The scene he had skipped to was professionally relevant, or, at least, he tried to convince himself it was. He had always understood sex scenes to be a tricky thing, for actors. At least, when it came to traditional acting, it was a shared awkwardness, a simulacrum of pleasure played by multiple people who could find solace in the fact that they were all on the same vulnerable boat, camera crew included. Now, voice actors... Acting choices could either make or break a sex scene. It required a subtle mix of smoothness and confidence few could manage. The last thing he wanted was for his words to sound clumsy and awkward, when the goal was quite the opposite. It was Morpheus' authorial prerogative to check every aspect of the audiobook fit his vision, after all.

As the chapter began and Robert Gadling's voice filled his ears, Morpheus imagined him in his recording booth, alone. Some audiobooks had multiple actors playing different characters, but this one only had him credited. There were slight fluctuations of tones, accents and speech patterns, as he switched characters. Morpheus listened intently.

"Gabriel gave a fleeting look downward. Nathan's shirt was soaked, revealing hints of the skin underneath. He tried not to stare, but only managed to do so through conscious and continuous effort. 'You should change your shirt before you catch something,' he told Nathan, his tone as casual as he could manage. 'You could borrow one of mine.' "

The acting was good. There was tension in the words, in the tone. The characters sounded like different people, even though they were played by the same man. Morpheus continued. In the book, things heated up quickly after a long, tentative courtship. He braced himself for the following scene, replaying the words in his head from memory.

" 'It smells like you.' Gabriel stared at him, stunned, unable to look away as Nathan stood in front of him, his own t-shirt and boxers for only garments. 'What?' he managed, his throat dry. 'It smells like you,' Nathan repeated, lifting the fabric to his nose with a smile. 'I like it.' Gabriel's gaze trailed down Nathan's body, only now noticing the growing outline of his cock aga―"

Morpheus paused. He had written those words. He knew those words, from having read and reread them a few dozen times during the writing and editing process. Yet he had never heard them. Especially not in that voice. Even the narration was sensual, almost cheeky, dripping with lust like honey. Clumsy and awkward it was not. It was.... something else entirely. Shaking off the feeling, Morpheus hit the 'play' button again.

" ―inst the taut fabric of his boxers. 'I like it,' Nathan repeated, slowly reaching for his cock through the thin fabric, his fingertips brushing the shape of it, well aware of Gabriel's undivided attention."

The rest of the scene followed, word for word Morpheus' work, yet somehow completely new to his ears. He sat there, enraptured, his eyes staring into nothingness while the rich, luscious voice surrounded him, filled him until it became his only focus.

A lewd, enthusiastic hum rose from the headphones, making Morpheus jump. Every word he had been anticipating thus far, but artistic license? It fitted with the narrative well. Too well. Not Gadling's first brush with erotica, he immediately guessed. He played it again for good measure. The sound was deeply erotic, with just enough warmth and breath. Real. It sounded real. It was followed by a breathy sigh Morpheus could almost feel at the back of his neck. God.

He played it again. He could feel the sound, the anticipation, the desire, the pleasure. Gadling conveyed it with such ease it felt genuinely intimate. Arousing, even. Morpheus ran his hand against the front of his own trousers, feeling the very real erection pushing against the hard fabric. This was ridiculous. Yet he could not stop. The scene kept playing, Robert Gadling's voice purring in his ears, words like caresses and gentle tugs, and he could not help but cup his cock through his jeans, seeking friction. He imagined him in the recording booth, leaning over the microphone, his features fitting the suggestive sounds, his lips wet from running his tongue over them. If he could just get a little further in the scene―

His Zoom alarm went off. Instantly, Morpheus removed his hand and his headphones, his back stiff as a board, a cold wave of panic rushing through him. Fuck! He gave himself a quick look through the camera of his phone. He was blushing slightly, to his utmost annoyance. Nothing he could not blame on bad webcam settings, he thought. The rest could be concealed easily enough. Especially when he was only visible from the waist up.

It was with a slight flush and a distracting, frustratingly hard erection that Morpheus answered his Zoom call, his mind scattered between book royalties, publishing dates, and Robert Gadling's voice still deeply embedded in his skull.

--

It was hours before Morpheus found a minute of free time. Night had fallen, the evening spent in front of a screen or on the phone, discussing the imminent release of his upcoming novel, one whose cover would feature his actual name, this time. Book releases were always exhausting affairs, between planning podcast appearances, book signings, press tours, and the likes. Morpheus disliked the fanfare of it all, the exposure, but could hardly complain. There were worse flip sides of the coin, out there.

At least writing under a pen name saved him the hassle, with the other half of his published work.

Lying on his bed, fresh out of the shower, Morpheus sighed, staring at the ceiling. He felt both exhausted and wide awake, his coffee-fueled brain refusing to quiet down. There were a few things the editor needed his input on in person, tomorrow, something to do with the cover art. He'd promised himself to write, too. Perhaps clean the flat a little. Too many fires at once, his sister's voice echoed in his mind.

His phone buzzed again. Incoming email from Lucienne.

Listened to it yet? Thoughts?

Plenty. Enough to know it was good. Enough to keep the reader listening. Enough for him to want to go back for more.

Going through his emails, Morpheus found the link to the beta recordings, and downloaded it onto his phone. He reached for old earbuds in his bedside table drawer. Where were we?

" 'Come here.' "

The latent desire in that voice was enough to get Morpheus right back where he had been, a few hours ago. Lying on his bed, he kept listening, swallowing hard at any well-placed sigh, any improvised grunt and whimpering sound. Was it even improvised? Did he plan on adding those? Did Gadling discuss it with the adaptation team beforehand? Marked the exact spots where he would do it in the printed script?

" 'You're so beautiful like this, love. Look at you.' "

God.

" 'I have thought about you like this. Hard under me. For me.' "

Hesitantly, Morpheus reached under the waistband of his pyjamas, finding himself hard already. He blushed at his own embarrassment, alone in his bedroom, his hand wrapped around his cock, his own words spilling in his ears. Vain, perhaps. Awfully self-absorbed. But deep down, he knew it was not that. Not really.

" 'Do you want me, Gabriel?' Can you feel I much I want you?' "

He hated himself for including so much narration in this passage, keeping him from the lascivious heat of Gadling's voice, waiting for the dialogue to return like a starving man begs for food. How could he do that? A wanton moan reverberated in his ears, quickly echoed by one of his own, harmonies of pleasure filling his head and his room.

" 'Fuck, you feel so good!' "

Why did his editor even let him publish that? Morpheus' mind was bridging the gaps between dialogue bits, ignoring the narration in favour of more pleasurable mental stimulation. He pictured Robert Gadling in his recording booth, focused over the microphone, his lips pressed into a sinful hum, his eyes closed. Gadling next to him, his mouth pressed against his ear, spewing new words, ones he did not write, ones of his own.

" 'Let me see those eyes.' "

Morpheus whined against his pillow, both from pleasure and frustration. He hated this. This was... mortifying, and yet he could not stop. He arched his back, chasing his pleasure.

" 'Fuck! I've waited for this for so long.' "

Morpheus came in his pyjamas in a muffled grunt, the release helping nothing with the shame spreading through him. It brought him some clarity, at least. Disgruntled, he yanked the earbuds out of his ears, Robert Gadling's voice reduced to a hushed whisper, the siren's song finally muffled. He looked down at himself, suddenly aware of the mess he'd made. Great. Fantastic.

His phone buzzed again. It was Lucienne.

Do you want the edited files once they are done? They would love your feedback before they start trimming it down.

Morpheus sighed, struggling against the brightness of the screen.

Yes, tell them I would like them.

[elumish]

Hey, I have a question: Three months ago, I wrote my first novel...well, the first novel that I didn't feel like scrapping and starting over. I've sent it to some family members and close friends to read, but thus far, they've been slow in reading it. I've gotten some positive feedback and one critique, but not as a reflection on the book as a whole. I don't really have a strict time frame on when I want this book published, but still, I have this burning curiosity about how my first draft really is and what I might need to fix, and I don't trust sending the first draft to people I don't know. Should I reverse my ban and send that first draft to other writing groups to read?

First off, congrats! Finishing a novel is a huge accomplishment, and I hope you feel proud of yourself for doing so.

If you can, I highly recommend finding a group of people who you trust to share your writing with to get feedback from. Family and friends can be great for cheerleading, but 1) they may feel reluctant to give negative feedback so as not to hurt your feelings, and 2) they may just not be people who know novels well enough to give you useful feedback. Just because someone reads casually, it doesn't necessarily mean that they can give give useful feedback on novels--it's a skill, just like everything else.

I can't tell from your question if you have a writing group that you belong to that can you send stuff to. If so, my advice is: consider whether you trust them to give you useful and constructive feedback on your story. If yes, I'd send to them. If not, find a different writing group or a beta reader.

If you don't have a writing group, see the previous step.

All in all, I'd say if you intend to try to publish the book at some point, you shouldn't go with the option of "send to people you don't know." But if you have people you know (in real life or online) who you trust to give you useful and constructive feedback (and not steal it), I don't think that there's any real reason not to send it to them.

[ladydorian]

If crit isn't asked for, don't offer it

There's a soft way to word questions so they don't come off as offending

For the love of fuck DO NOT rewrite someone's fic without their permission bc you think "It just sounds better this way"

If you really want this much leeway to offer your input/criticism/suggestions, then ask to become a beta reader

Don't assume your negative experience with one author is the standard of all author interactions, same as you shouldn't assume anyone who posts their work online should be expecting criticism

These are not published books, and fanfic sites are not goodreads

That's what I have to say on the matter.

[illarian-rambling]

Thanks for the tag @davycoquette!

Writer Questionaire

1. Is writing a hobby or way of life?

I mean, it's my greatest passion, but it's not what I do or plan on doing for a living in the future, so I'll go with hobby. To be honest, I'm fine with that. I think I'd enjoy writing a lot less if I was doing it professionally.

2. A journal full of writing notes or a clean, completed manuscript?

Sorry guys, clean manuscript. I do a barebones outline to start, then just write the thing top to bottom. I know first drafts aren't supposed to be pretty, but I can't help myself.

3. Who (or what) is your writing inspiration?

That's a tough one. I read a lot, so maybe Sanderson or Tolkien, but honestly, the person who inspired me to take writing more seriously is a guy from my weekly dnd group. He was the first person I met in real life who wrote and had published stuff. He proved to me that regular people can be authors too.

4. Which is worse: someone you "idolize" reading your first draft or listening to you sing?

Listening to me since, easily. I can't sing, but I'm fine with that. I'm not emotionally invested in my singing ability like I am with my writing ability.

5. Has writing from someone else's POV ever changed your own perspective?

Maybe a little? I feel like a lot of my characters are based on different parts of my own psyche, so really I'm just leaning into those. Because of that, writing about them has made me more accepting of different parts of my own identity.

6. Tumblr, AO3, LiveJournal, or FFN?

I'm only on Tumblr at the moment. I don't intend to put my writing anywhere else because I feel like sites like AO3 aren't really made for original fiction.

7. AO3 wordcount, and are you satisfied with it?

Not on AO3, but I just did the math and between three Honor's Outcasts books and two and a half Mortal God books, I'm at 644,000 words. Add up all the miscellaneous short stories I have floating around and I'd put myself at an even 650,000. Not bad!

8. What movie/book/fic gripped you irrevocably?

The Name of the Wind was the first book that really showed me what could be done with prose. I don't care that the third book is never coming out, Kingkiller Chronicles will always have my heart <3

The Foundryside Trilogy is an underrated series that basically inspired Mortal God. It weaves fantasy and sci-fi perfectly, has some of the best villains I've ever read, and the ending still makes me sick to think about. Which is a compliment.

And, of course, the Stormlight Archives massively inspired my worldbuilding. I always strive for the layer of depth and strength of character found in those books.

9. What’s the highest compliment you’ve ever been given, and have you been given it?

The best comment I've ever gotten isn't exactly a compliment. One of my beta readers once commented on a weak metaphor, "You can do better, you started with a symphony." That really stuck with me for some reason. It reminds me that I do have the capability to write beautifully, and that I shouldn't settle for anything less.

10. What defines your writing style?

I've been told my narration is very conversational, cut through with fanciful descriptions. I've also been told the voice of whichever character I'm writing from the POV of tends to slip through into my writing style. Descriptions in Sepo's chapters are darker and more grim, the narration of Ivander’s chapters gets more sarcastic, Twenari’s chapters focus more on the smaller details, the voice of Astra’s chapters has some more of that country flair, and so on and so forth.

I'll tag @fantasy-things-and-such @wyked-ao3 @rotting-moon-writes @finchwrites and anyone else who wants in :)

[loadednachosao3]

Any tips for someone who wants to get better at creative writing?

hoo boy there are a ton I could give! let's see if I can't think of some that might help!

first, read! read, read, read! read things you like, that engage you and make you feel something, and then read writing advice to figure out how to translate what you felt and what you liked into writing that makes someone else feel just as good (or sad, or angry, or whatever, LOL). Stephen King's book On Writing is a solid place to start -- learn from the people who have made writing their lifeblood! go to the library's 800s section and find all the writing tips books you can get your hands on! I STILL read those 19 years into writing!

don't try to edit while you write (small edits are fine so you don't forget them, but don't overdo it). remember: first draft, worst draft! the important part is getting the backbone of the scene down. once that's there, you can mix and match and scramble it up and change words and delete shit and do all sorts of things! I actually enjoy the editing process, since it makes everything come together. don't think "oh, this is so bad, I have to edit so much, I suck." try to frame it as, "damn, look how much writing I did! this is an awesome base to polish up! it's gonna be so rad once I correct these mistakes!"

on that note: there WILL be mistakes. you'll miss plot holes, forget shit, write stuff that doesn't make sense, whatever. beta readers are great for this, since a fresh set of eyes will be able to catch things you didn't. or do what I do: throw caution to the wind, post it, and if someone catches a mistake, say "oops!" and find a way to fix it, retcon it, or ignore it. either 1: you're writing fanfiction or something similar, so it really doesn't matter that much if you fuck up, or 2: you're aiming to be published, and an editor will help spot and fix those things for you anyway. don't let making mistakes discourage you, we all make them!

if you have tropes/character types/plotlines you like, don't let anyone stop you from writing them again and again. you know how many stories Stephen King writes about a writer from Maine with interpersonal issues who goes through supernatural shit? and look where he is! what you WANT to write will always be better than what you THINK people want to read! readers can sense passion. use that to hook them!

it is 100% okay to use your writing to work through things, on that note. encouraged, as a matter of fact! lots of great writers have underlying themes in most/all of their works. depression. substance abuse. daddy issues. optimism. pessimism. worldviews. whatever! doesn't have to be bad, but if it IS bad, writing is a phenomenal way to channel those feelings! don't let any shitty weirdo ever tell you anything else. projecting your emotions onto fictional characters is a very highly recommended therapeutic technique, so use it! (lbr, even if you don't do it consciously, you WILL do it subconsciously. sorry about that)

mmmmmblock out the haters! that is, don't let people tear you down and make you feel like you shouldn't write anymore! no matter your skill level, if you have something to say, something you want to see play out, make it happen. everyone else can suck a duck

figure out a plotting style that works for you. for some, it's a rigid outline with every conversation accounted for. for others, it's a looser one, some ideas and scribbled notes of general directions with the rest to be filled in as you go. for others still (this is mostly my style), you just start writing and see where it takes you. very chaotic, but very fun! I also like to have vivid daydreams sometimes and then just write them down. whether I do that or learn where the scene is going as my fingers are on the keys depends on the day. no method is better or worse, so do what feels right!

jot down inspiration in a notepad or on your phone or whatever's around as it comes to you. could be as simple as "this exchange I heard caught my attention" or "that gravestone has a badass surname I'd love to use for a character," or as complex as "I want to explore the themes of grief and trauma that that other book did, but with my own twist on it." a word. a color. a feeling. keep a list of everything that makes you want to write, and use it later!

if you really hate your first draft, scrap it! if you hate your second, scrap it! if you hate your third... you can always start fresh!!! don't sit around thinking, "aw beans, I couldn't get it right on the first try, I must not be a real writer." not every idea's gonna be a winner, not every scene is gonna work out! you gotta keep on keeping on, though! don't give up even if you hate it!!!

uhhhh that's all I can think of rn... the rest would be more stylistic/grammatical/nitpicky tips, which I CAN give, but maybe in a different post? let me know if you guys would ever like an insight into how I edit my stories with tips like that in mind, and maybe I'll make a lil guide!

but in general, yeah, those are my big, sweeping tips! hope they helped at least a little!

[romilly-jay]

COSY CATASTROPHE: Worked examples

Over the next few days, I'm going to return to The Martian and also look at a different couple of example texts, neither of which was in my little home-made Cosiness Quotient index. The first wasn't covered because it's a film (Mister Right). The second is my WIP and dearly as I love it and would love to see it discussed in a ranking selection, it's at best years away from a Waterstones offer table *fingers x for the auspicious and unlikely event it gets onto one*.

On the subject of offer tables TBW - here's a not-random pic I snapped in Covent Garden Waterstones Spring 2023 to accompany my Working As A Writer paper. (Somewhere in the background there's a selection of Ben Aaronovitch titles and a note that he was working here when his Rivers of London series was picked up <3.)

I chose this table because it's themed as "It's not the end of the world" which seemed... apposite.

Notice that this table has The Martian! And The Fifth Season! And a book by Brian Aldiss - his most famous, I think? - and also one of James SA Corey books from that writing partnership's series, The Expanse (looks like the first one, Leviathan Wakes).

Some people from my course are adamant that you should be able to picture your own book nestled in amongst them. Gonna say - that's a stretch. I - sort of know how vanishingly unlikely it is that I'll achieve that. Better to try to dream it into existence or better to focus on the things I can actually control - such as writing this as a distraction from getting on with my WIP ;)?? If the book gets any kind of audience at all, I will be tremendously thrilled. (My beta readers so far seem keen, which is hugely kind of them. Heart-warming, honestly.)

Or, come to that, could I imagine my own book launch? Hmmmm, ask me after I've had one. Would I love banging on about my influences and how much I love a good televised SF series (I'm looking at you, The Expanse!)? That's easy, 100%, am there for that.

Before I lose sight of my topic altogether, let me express gratitude for my MFA tutors and supervisors at City, University of London, for the great reading lists, the nudge towards reading recent publications alongside established classics, and a range of excellent exercises.

[One was an analysis of the first five pages - then the first five chapters - of a role model book. I used The Martian and that exercise gave me the structure I used for my Y1 dissertation. By the end of the first, okay, six chapters, Andy Weir has got us to a place where we feel comfortable about the immediate/ short-term situation on Mars - and that's then his opportunity, for the first time, to cut away and let us see how things are unfolding at NASA, starting from ch7.]

Related point, I suppose, is about what you should or shouldn't read while you're drafting. I've read a LOT of genre fiction, though really not many of them are directly time-travel / science fiction / speculative / loopy in the way my WIP is shaping up to be.

Thought about this again today when I caught up on a back episode of The Rest is Entertainment - I'm thinking of the discussion from 25:45 about whether it's possible to read (/what to read) while you're in the middle of writing something...

References:

§Aaronovitch, B. (2011) Rivers of London (book one in the Rivers of London series). London: Gollancz.

§Aldiss, B. (2008) Hothouse (introduction & afterword, N. Gaiman). London: Penguin Modern Classics. (First published in 1960.)

§Bovalino, T. (2024) My throat an open grave. London: Titan Books.

§Corey, J.S.A. (2012) Leviathan wakes (book one in The Expanse series). London: Orbit Books.

§Jemisin, N.K. (2016) The fifth season: the broken earth book one. London: Orbit Books.

§Mister Right (2015) Directed by P. Cabezas. Available at Amazon Prime Video (Accessed: 23 March 2024).

§The Rest is Entertainment. (2024) The truth behind TaskMaster prizes & how product placement works in film | Q&A. 15 February. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1tGsYFyPk0 (Accessed 29 May 2024).

§The Expanse. (2015) Penguin in a Parka SeanDanielCo (s. 1–3); Alcon Television Group Just So (s. 4–6); Hivemind (s. 4–6); & Amazon Studios (s. 4–6). Available at: Amazon Prime Video.

§ Weir, A. (2014). The Martian. New York: Crown Publishing.

[jasminedragonart]

Oh okay so I'm actually getting some genuine interest in this post.

I actually did a course on publishing when I was at uni, the process to actually make a book is actually really easy. Doing it alone might seem daunting, especially if you're planning on making more than one copy but it's possible.

I'm going to put the process here which I'm using to make my own book. By that I mean with my atla comic, my goal is, once I reach the end of book 1 I'm going to make myself a physical copy with my own hands.

First, you need an idea. Sounds simple but it's actually the hardest part of the publishing process. My advice: get it down, make it messy, do it fast.

Second, if you're doing this on your own, you're gonna want to take a day or two and not look at it at all. You want to wipe it from your mind and not even think about it until we get to the next step of our journey.

If you aren't doing this on your own youre going to send your draft to your beta. You're going to get that second opinion and listen to every disgusting plot hole and problem until you want to cry. If you are doing this on your own you will also be doing this step but you are the beta. Your fresh eyes will tear that project apart.

Third, redraft. This is where things get good. You have a skeleton of a fic at this stage, what you're going to do now is add meat and blood and skin until you're just as in love with this draft as you were the first.

Fourth, repeat the second step.

Fifth, take a break. Take a long break and then read over your second draft again, you're going to find a lot more wrong with it now than you did before. It shouldn't be as bad as the first purge but you should be able to fine tune your draft.

You're going to do and repeat this until youre happy with your draft and your beta is too.

This is where we go to our next stage.

Sixth, the proofreader and editor. If this is you, print your work out, it's a lot easier to find mistakes when you have a physical copy. You're fine combing it now. You're finding little mistakes, little grammatical errors and words that don't sit right. You're going to send this out into the world so be happy with what you've produced, dont leave anything to chance. Even if you have to get your parents or siblings or friends to read your work just do it. A new pair of eyes spot things you don't even think about.

Seventh, if you're finally happy with your work you're going to start the publishing process. If this is an Amazon book I can't help you since I'm going to be printing and creating at home but there are a lot of sites out there and youtubers that can help you with that.

If you're doing this at home you're going to typeset your work. You're going to adjust the margins, the paragraph space, font and size until they're the typeset you're wanting. Since mine is a comic I will be making sure the margins leave a big white space near the centre so the art isn't lost in the spine. There are pages out there debating the best typeset to use depending on your book so it's entirely up to you really. For example young adult books have larger fonts than adult books.

Eight, after this you need to either, manually, or with a pdf app put your book in printing order. This is where you need to know about how books are actually made. Books are made up of signatures which are three or four pages folded together. This means the pages go 1 on the right, 2 on the opposite side to the left, 3 goes onto page 2 and 4 on the opposite side to the left. It goes on like that and it's not impossible to do it manually but it does require a bit of thinking.

Nine. Once youve put it in printing order you need to print and make those signatures.

Ten, you sew those signatures together. There's a tutorial on YouTube on how to do this and, again, there are variations and it comes down to taste, a lot of stuff after this is taste. You can add a bookmark at this point as well as binding around the top. Make sure you glue your spine.

After that you need cardboard and book cloth and a tutorial on YouTube because, again, it's personal taste but at this point it's not impossible, you've almost done it and books don't have to be expensive to make no matter what some people say. Make it how you want to make it. Research book covers and bookbinders because they will tell you how to make the most amazing book ever.

I'm sorry I don't have a more informative tutorial. I will definitely post my process when I'm making the physical book but that's going to be a while from now. Some people to look into for cool books are Nerdforge and Seallemom. These are the people I watched on YouTube to learn how to make a book. When I was in uni we used Amazon books to make our own. But I hate how those ones came out, physically, not people work since they were great, and the book itself was a collaborative effort so when I make my own I want it to be my own.

With that in mind, so many people on Tumblr know how to bind a book, they love to read and have a keener eye than some professional proofreaders. I literally don't know how a bunch of us haven't got together and made our own publishing company by now.

genuinely wondering how some people on here haven't started their own publishing company. It's not like we don't have the skills. The amount of bookbinders, proofreaders and artists on here could rule the publishing world if they had the right motivation.

[deservingporcupine]

Meta for the Rainbow Book Exchange — Fangirl. Spoilers, I guess? 

Chapter 11 - Cath talking to Professor Piper. 

Okay, this is the part, in this whole book, that I have a big believability problem with. (It's not, like, a book ruiner or anything… but it is a pretty big thing, I think.) 

Because here’s the thing — it is utterly unbelievable to me that Cath is surprised by this, and by this reaction. 

Cath isn’t dumb. She would know that turning in fanfiction to a creative writing class is suspect. (Heck, for most of the school-run creative writing classes I’ve been in (though, granted, those were a while ago), even thinking about trying to turn in anything that could be considered “genre” felt wildly risky and borderline not-allowed.) Less than twenty pages later, while talking to Levi about fanfiction in the diner, it even says, specifically: “She was so used to keeping it a secret—used to assuming people would think she was a freak and a nerd and a pervert….” (p. 124) On page 107 it says, “all the arguments came easily to Cath; they were the justification for all fanfiction.” (“Borrowing… repurposing. Remixing. Sampling. … It’s not illegal.”) She’s been doing this a long time; she’s thought about this, she’s had to defend this… 

So why does she seem surprised? 

I can believe that Cath writes the story and turns it in (maybe she didn’t have time to do something else, or maybe she was just really excited about this particular story idea and thought it fit the assignment perfectly and knew that she would do a good job on it), but I can’t believe that she doesn’t worry about it at all (especially when she doesn’t get her paper back), and I can’t believe that she’s so utterly surprised and shocked by Prof. Piper’s reaction. 

And here’s something that could fix it: if we saw her worrying a bit about it beforehand, maybe rationalizing it — after all, there are TONS of what are essentially fanfiction assignments in all kinds of different classes, including history and English class and all… even creative writing classes, if the fandom is something like mythology. (I have SUCH a list, both from high school and college: newspaper based on The Hobbit; diary of Marie Curie for science class; epistolary retelling of To Kill a Mockingbird; alternate ending for Sense and Sensibility; myth retelling from Orpheus's lyre's POV for Latin class; the list goes on...) It would also help if they’d talked in their class about the complex, interwoven nature of inspiration and ideas and the way works play off one another in literature. 

 But yeah, if Cath had thought about that beforehand—and then decided, “oh, it’ll be okay, Professor Piper will understand.” (Which is a huge emotional risk for Cath, isn’t it. There’d be that sense of hope and daring, maybe a little bit defiant, and trying to reassure yourself, it’ll be alright, it’ll be alright… Thinking that she can trust Prof. Piper to get it, that she’s safe.) 

 And then SHE DOESN’T. (Like, at all. I love Prof. Piper, but rereading that scene, I almost question whether she even read Cath’s whole paper. She clearly doesn’t understand fanfiction and hasn’t thought about it at all, though it’s possible she’s considered it a little more before their future meetings. As, to be honest, she should; do I even need to mention things like Wide Sargasso Sea, or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? See also one of my favorite quotes.) 

 And then Cath, who probably didn’t realize how subconsciously important this was to her (and maybe still doesn’t, consciously), would be obviously just crushed. (Partly because she was sharing something so close to her heart, partly because mother figure, etc etc etc.) Much like she is, anyway, but without that nagging problem of seeming dumb for being surprised that this was an issue. 

To me, this would also have the benefit of making her decision to tell Levi about it all, and talk about fanfiction with him, that much more poignant and brave — having just taken the risk of sharing this with someone, and having been shot down painfully, she still decides to do it again anyway. (I mean, this is what happened anyway, it would just be a little more emphasized, maybe.)

@rainbowexchange @thegracelane @bexlogic @jenndoesnotcare @bethanyactually 

[imagine-silk]

hullo! May I please request varric dating a reader who acts a lot like a detective? (Basically they really like to solve mysteries and help people and be a bit eccentric)

A strange detective covers a lot of ground, so I went with a noir Sherlock Holmes. I don't know, the thought of a melodramatic noir detective in Dragon Age is so out of place it humors me greatly.

Art by Benjamin Carre

You first met in the Hinterlands when Berand asked the herald to find his lover. They found you over her body reading the letter and you quickly explained you found her like this and needed to find her lover. When they told you where he was you got really sad claiming the hunt and satisfaction of finding him was gone.

You joined them to deliver the news a little displeased but immediately perked up when the party off-handily mentioned this was the second person you were hired to find. Excited you asked who they were and joined the inquisition.

Through all of this Varric wanted to laugh. He knew he shouldn't think this was funny in the middle of a war but you were so strange and Trevelyan thought so as well.

Working for the inquisition satisfied your inquisitive nature. Whenever there was a person or object to find you were on the case and you solved them quite quickly.

Because of the ongoing war with templars and mages you were always busy. So much so you never really talked to the inner-circle or anyone really that much not until after Haven is attacked. During the journey to Skyhold it was Varric who checked on you. He had never seen you distraught about anything unrelated to your work. While everyone is getting settled he notices no one really checks on you so he takes it upon himself to do so.

He learns quite a bit during your talks. Proper checking for cause of death, deducting suspects, talking to the victim's family. You also have more personal talks explaining how much you enjoy your job, your extreme highs and lows, your close relationship with death, your need to figure things out and how all of these things make it difficult to be palatable to others.

You also learn about him. He doesn’t really say much about himself that's not cryptic but for you he doesn't need to. Not saying you fully understand, you probably never will, but you get a general idea. As much as you want to press for detail or find a paper-trail you know he wouldn't like that and a stepping stone in your relationship is you learning to be content with that. (And no, he won't tell you the story of Bianca.)

At some point he writes a book that is based off of you. It becomes very popular even to people outside of his fans because it is one of the only book of his where the main character survives and has regular wins, a lot of losses but consistent wins. It wasn't hard to write, he mostly just rewords what you tell him and embellishes it.

A lot of people saw the change of the MC over time. MC started as a strange excitable person obsessed with solving intricate crimes who was petty and difficult to deal with but later turns out to be a person isolated because of their eccentric nature and constantly working because it allows their mind to run as fast as it can without waiting for others.

Readers also noticed when there was a growing romantic tension, like they were suddenly reading this character in the most flattering light. But they had no love interest. It's not very clear if Varric was envisioning his lack of romance or yours. (Cassandra picks up on it and is ate it up)

The only real reason he allowed it to be published was because his beta-readers loved it to pieces and he knows you won't read it due to your lack of time and lack of interest in it. You hate when writers get something wrong but specifically in Varric's case you already knew what happens. And your right, your not going to find anything new other than things he embellished.

By then people have kind of sniffed out the growing interest you both have. An interest you both don't seem to want to act on. Varric's self-loathing is infamous, he would never give himself a happy ending and you know this. You also have reservations due to your very dangerous job and insane working habits. You both are quite content to keep what you both know unsaid.

It gets to a point the inner-circle start to intervene. They don't succeed but they try. Trevelyan gives you less work so you have more free time but having less work pisses you off big time. Cassandra tries to get you to read his books but you keep telling her no and Varric is irked by her attempts. Cole tries to fix your hurts but for both of you it's too little too late. Josephine and Leliana get you to social events but Varric is a socialite and entertains crowds and you are known as a very impressive detective and a main character in a book, you both occupied the whole night. Depending if your fem or masc, Sera or Dorian will ask if you need any advice for the bedroom to which annoyed you. Vivienne got peeved enough to invite you to a spa day and brought Varric along with her, apparently he was under the same impression, so out of spite you both enjoyed your time using her paid day off to do nothing. Even Blackwall and Solas try to ask if either of you are interested in someone, though they're a lot more teasing.

Funny enough Iron Bull is the only one content on letting things play out. He knows something would need to happen for the spark to turn into a flame.

The beginning of your official romance is not very romantic I'm afraid. You leave on a particularly interesting case and don't come back. And he panics. Fully thinks your dead but doesn't give up on trying to find you. He asks news from the scouts, checks taverns and towns when he goes out, even asks Cole if he knows where you are. Cole says, "Panicked, prancing like a headless chicken, they're probably scared as I am. Or maybe their fine. Or maybe their dead. Just another regret. My answer won't soothe your hurt no matter the what I say." He knows the kid is right. If he said you were perfectly safe he would doubt it and if he said you were unsafe or dead he would never forgive himself.

When you come back bloodied and bruised it's almost like you never left. No one reacts and you don't want them to. Because of this Varric doesn't know you’re back. He spots you sitting on the battlements and runs. You turn to see a flushed sweating dwarf staring at someone he's not sure is a ghost, like if he blinks you’ll wisp away. The conversation starts like all the others and for a long time you sit casually talking. A long pause is broken by Varric, "You scared me." to which you replied a quiet I know, and silence takes over once more. You put your hand on his and he pulls you into a hug. When you pull away you look at each other and with no words see everything unsaid. Neither of you knows who started the kiss but it's long and chaste, sweet and tenderly slow.

After that you're just an item, no real talk necessary. It takes a while for others to figure it out, y'all don't act mush different. All of your kisses are stolen, flirting is no more than usual. Varric takes things slow which is fine by you.

When your gone you send letters back and forth. It's a bit difficult because you're on the move constantly. Your letters mostly consist of current events but as the time apart grows it will detail how you miss one another, sometimes it's spicy.

In your extreme highs he listens intensely. Your excited nature making him feel like everything is right in the world. In your extreme lows he learns how to help you. Lack of work? He tries to get you to focus on doing something, like a puzzle or finding a specific item. Saw something horrible? He'll ask you to talk about it. Just down? He tells you it's okay and either does a little spa day and spends the day pampering and goofing off or he takes you to the tavern to have fun, which usually end in some 'fun'.

Varric is also a bridge to having a better social life. You don't stop being strange but he brings out your sweetness and humor allowing others to enjoy it as well. You are also the muse of his latest book and high society folk are nosy so in places like Val Royeaux you will be swarmed. But in taverns and the like it's just an good time.

[carriereedwrites]

FUCK YOUR FIRST LINE AND UNFUCK YOUR WRITER'S BLOCK

I don't know if ya'll know this about me, yet. I fought with Imposter Syndrome for a good... six years? Yeah, for six years I wrote zilch. Nothing. Nada. Why? Because I ran into that ever delightful feeling of, "You don't write like [insert author name here], why are you trying?" Or, "Look at all these twenty-something year olds publishing their first book AND winning awards. Do you REALLY think you can do THAT?"

And no, I can't do that. I have to be content with never achieving that. But, writing is so ingrained in me, I wasn't "myself" for those six years. I wanted myself back.

So, for the last two years, I committed to un-triggering my brain to take the pressure off and give myself permission to suck.

One of those triggers is having so much of your dreams riding on the first line of your story.

Ya'll, I hate that. I hate articles that say the first line is THE most important thing to write. I hate it when authors say your first line is the thing that'll hook readers in and, "if you don't hook 'em, they'll never read your book!"

I hate those things with every single DNA strand in my body.

There are SOOOO MANY other things that are deal breakers for readers. POV, active vs. passive voice, too much description, too much dialogue, VIOLENCE. SEX. And we're not even going to touch Saggy Middle Syndrome and failing to fulfill plot promises (yet!).

What I'm trying to get at is: first lines shouldn't be your priority. It shouldn't even be the focus. What you really need to do is concentrate on character development, building a strong story, hitting the appropriate story beats, be aware of your pacing, FULFILLING PROMISES.

And when you've gotten to the point where you are satisfied with all of that and your beta readers just can't get enough... you can now work on that first line hook.

If you've EVER needed permission to fuck your first line so you can concentrate on the important shit, here is your permission, dear writer: FUCK YOUR FIRST LINE. GET BACK TO WRITING.

And remember, you don't suck at writing. No one really does. You just haven't improved your craft. Or, if you were like me, you placed too much pressure and one tiny part of writing. Don't do that to yourself. It's time to be brave, dear writer. And let all of that stupid advice go. Have fun. Remember what got you into writing and hold on to that for dear life.

~ Happy Writing, Ya'll ~

[storybookprincess]

i think a really important difference we need to acknowledge between fanfic betas & professional editors is that fanfic betas are not editing for commercial publication

as a professional editor, your goal is to get your author's book to be as strong as possible for publication. but, and i know not everyone is going to be receptive to this, that is not your job as a fanfic beta

as a beta, you are not aiming for publication. you're not, at least usually, working with a professional writer. so you don't need to (and in my opinion, really shouldn't) go in with your metaphorical red pen & mark up the whole fic trying to resolve as many problems as possible

as a beta, your job is to meet your writer's creative needs. that's it. sure that might mean that your most important role as a beta is to nitpick grammar and spelling. but your most important role might be to act as a cheerleader. it might be to help with characterization. it might be to keep your writer accountable with deadlines. but whatever it is, you need to be meeting your writer's creative needs.

because, again, fanfic writers are usually not looking to professionally publish their fics, so the focus of your role is not the same as that of a professional editor. and holding a writer's fic to publishing industry standards can frequently do much more harm than good

[itsladykit]

Honestly I *feel* desperate when I ask for comments (bc I am), but I don't think that about others doing the same - plus, as I keep telling myself, I ain't getting paid for writing so really asking for response *shouldn't* be considered anything but perfectly reasonable. And to specify which kind of response shouldn't either, for the same reasons. I got incredibly tired of hearing complaints about my grammar when I started out writing fanfic a couple years ago, ig. so specifying might've helped

I feel that way too! I’m always worried people think I’m desperate.

Frankly, I’m of the opinion that, with a few exceptions, grammar and spelling errors should just be ignored. I greatly appreciated it when someone corrected me about Untypical Sans being a ‘bakeneko’ as opposed to a ‘bakaneko’ (though, given the translation, I rather like the latter) because that was a pervasive error and something I was honestly ignorant of. I’ve seen the same thing done in English, where using a homophone or something similar resulted in a wildly different meaning. Sometimes an embarrassing one. I think that is okay to correct, done politely and with some praise sprinkled in to lessen the blow. 

By and large though? I expect at least a few errors, and when I find them, i just ignore them. I know I don’t work with a Beta, even if I did, our Betas probably aren’t professional editors either. With fanfic, a draft probably gets one or two read-throughs before it’s posted. It’s free and it’s not written by a professional. Spelling errors and grammar errors happen to the most inveterate writer–I’ve certainly found my share of errors in published books! Besides, English grammar in particular is very flexible outside of scientific or academic writing. A lot of the grammar rules we learn that seem so hard and fast in school really aren’t all that hard or fast. 

Thank you for your opinion! ^_^ 

[giuliafc]

as far as I've read on their message they give you the option of doing it if you want, but you're not required to use the paid service.

I have often seen artists who produce fanart request a small (or larger, depending on the quality of the art) payment and I have paid for commissions myself to get wonderful arts done for my fanfictions. I also support a few artists on patreon with a monthly payment. Now, I'm very happy to do it and I don't see any problem in paying for work that is commissioned to them and they spend time and effort in producing. However, even THAT is using copyrighted material to earn money. The payment is for their time and resources more than anything else, but it's still a payment. Hence, the world of fanart is already monetised by the same artists who take on commissions to create art. I haven't seen ANY lawsuit because of it.

Now although it's true that fanfiction is the writing of a fan based on characters and situations copyrighted to someone else, so is a fanart commissioned to an artist. So if an artist can request a payment for a fanart that is commissioned, I don't think it's too far fetched to say that if someone commissions me a story for a prompt that they have always wanted to see developed and I write it for them, I should be able to request a payment for the story exactly like an artist could do for a fanart. What's the difference? I as a writer have also put time and effort in writing something following someone else's guidelines.

Now, I'm NOT saying that I will or that I would, but I'm just saying that theoretically, it's the exact same principle. There are artists who make a LIVING off supporters they get on Patreon, sometimes even thousands of dollars/euros per month. They aren't being sued for it. In fact, I have seen the actual authors of the shows sometimes complimenting them for the beautiful arts they have created.

There is something that I have noticed in the fandom and it saddens me considerably. Artists start getting recognised for their work: this is a GOOD THING and I'm SO HAPPY it's happening. You see a post wit a beautiful art and you reblog it and write a comment underneath because you're in love. BUT then you real a BEAUTIFUL piece of writing, you love it and... you only put a like on it and carry on with your life. What's different even here? Doesn't the fanfic author also deserves to be reblogged and to receive a comment on how much you loved their piece? Didn't the fanfiction writer put also a lot of time and effort (and resources. You need a computer or a phone and a word processor to write, and an internet connection to upload) into it? I personally spend my nights writing, then I ask at least two or three people to beta read for me and make sure that the piece is perfect before putting it online. Sometimes a chapter takes me hours to write. Sometimes I don't sleep until 5 am to put the finishing touches to a story. What's different between this and a fanart?

In short, I'm trying to say that in the fandom nowadays there seems to be two different ways of thinking. Artists who draw arts can be recognised, commissions paid for and posts reblogged. Writers instead... don't know. It feels almost as if we should be ashamed of what we do. We write stories that sometimes inspire art. Some stories a beautifully written, even better than proper books published. Sometimes we take commissions, we take prompts and write a story about it and dedicate it to the person who proposed the prompt. I don't see any difference between that and drawing an art. Yet, artists have patreons, paid followers and such, writers can't.

AND I WANT TO REALLY HIGHLIGHT AND POINT OUT CLEARLY THAT I'M HAPPY THAT ILLUSTRATOR ARTISTS GET RECOGNISED AND IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER I'M IMPLYING THAT THEY SHOULDN'T BE RECOGNISED. I JUST WOULD LIKE THE SAME TO HAPPEN TO WRITERS TOO, BECAUSE WRITERS ARE ALSO ARTISTS.

Ok but on a more serious note: tumblr literally says we can monetize fanart and fanfiction and I don't know if they are flat out stupid or if they don't care about their users (it's probably both) but holy shit those are hundreds of serious lawsuits waiting to happen for the love of god don't do that