Young Writers Society

I want to published fantasy book that I have been working on. Part of it is posted here.. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get it published, or where to start? Thanks,
Kenzie

I'm thinking you might be a touch too young to publish just yet.

Don't worry, there's no rush. Just keep on practising and practising and practising your writing. You'll find you constantly get better at it.

~Mackenzie wrote:I want to published fantasy book that I have been working on. Part of it is posted here.. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get it published, or where to start? Thanks,
Kenzie

Short version:

1. Finish your first draft.
2. Revise your novel. Multiple drafts will probably be necessary. Put the first chapters through critique groups and implement their changes. Send it out to beta readers and implement their changes.
3. Write a query and synopsis. Put them through a critique group.
4. Submit to an appropriate list of agents, tailored to their individual wishes. This stage will involve a great deal of research which cannot be skipped.

Familiarise yourself with Yog's Law - money flows toward the writer - and writers' watchdogs like Writer Beware, Preditors & Editors, the Bewares & Background Checks forum at AbsoluteWrite, etc.

You might find it helpful to remember that getting published is a process that can take years. You may not get published this year or even this decade. You might get published with this novel or your fifth novel or your tenth novel. The fix for most problems is to write another, better book.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Karsten

Thanks. I don't care how old I am I just want my book published. I want to make a change for someone, open a path for them to give reading a chance.
-Mackenzie

~Mackenzie wrote:Thanks. I don't care how old i am I just want my book published.
-mackenzie

That can be the problem - take a step back. You're too interested in getting published. Unfortunately, I've not read any of your writing, but what I will say is that you need to consider whether it's good enough to be published. Really, you'll need to do a lot of practising. A lot more reading, a lot more writing. If you feel the same way about your novel in a year's time, go for it. But like Sureal said, there's no rush.

That's pretty much a professional writer's life. I don't mean to put you down, it's just my opinion on the matter.

~Mackenzie wrote:Thanks. I don't care how old i am I just want my book published.

Sureal and Blink have given some excellent advice. I also wanted to note that writing at a professional level requires appropriate spelling, grammar and punctuation. I suspect that if you were ready to pursue publication, you'd find that clean, grammatical English is second nature to you: you couldn't write "i am" without cringing. Taking pride in your work starts with the basics.

Sorry, When I am online I don't pay attention. At school, writing, ect I care. I really think I have a chance ( if I edited it). I am planning on using Thesaurus when I am completely finished. Thanks for the advice you guys, it's been my dream to be an author ever since I was little. I love writing, I am a total bookworm.. and I'd love to see someone taking a chance in reading because of my book.
~Mackenzie

Isn't practicing spelt that way not practising??

~Mackenzie wrote:Isn't practicing spelt that way not practising??

Good question. My understanding is that in British English, to practise is the verb and practice is the noun - but in American English, it's always practice. So practising is accurate for us but not for you. I think.

Ok, thank you. I didn't know they had different spelling. So, practicing is right for me, got it. Thanks again!
~Mackenzie

Yup, I'm British. =)

Also, regarding a thesaurus: you might want to be careful with that. I know it seems like a very writerly thing to use as many big words as possible, but in actuality it's not. Never use a big/complex/unusual/obscure word, just for the sake of using a big/complex/unusual/obscure word.

In my opinion, never use a big word where you can use a smaller one.

I think the only time you should really be using a thesaurus is when you're using the same word a lot in a short space of time, and need to use a different word to keep things from getting redundant.

Dictionaries are your friend, though. I personally have Dictionary.com bookmarked for easy access.

Yes. I overuse some words and would like to 'shake' things up by using a thesaurus.