Hobby, Future Career, or Both?

[sunstruckdream]

what is writing to you? for me, it's definitely both. how bout you?

 

[BoxBunny]

Both. I'm studying to be an editor after grad school, but I will always write as both a hobby and a side job.

 

[MrBF1V3]

Hobby, big time. I went through the time I would write what I thought might sell, then zip off letters to various publishers. And I did get to the "good, but not quite right for us at this time" rejection letter stage. But I don't have the patience, and I have a job I love.

If my hobby becomes my job, I have to find another hobby.

B5

 

[Tariel]

Future career? I don't think so. Current career and all-consuming hobby is more like it.

 

[Doubtless]

Hobby, big time. I went through the time I would write what I thought might sell, then zip off letters to various publishers. And I did get to the "good, but not quite right for us at this time" rejection letter stage. But I don't have the patience, and I have a job I love.

If my hobby becomes my job, I have to find another hobby.

B5

I abhor that stage. I went through it with Cloud Ten Pictures (the makers of Left Behind), when they thought my film idea was awesome, but they already had more than they could handle. At least they replied, though...

Future career? I don't think so. Current career and all-consuming hobby is more like it.

That's kind of how it is for me, but it's not exactly a career. More like pre-production. I'm halfway through the first book (of six), but am currently revising to eradicate all things Tolkien. I'm going to have to put it off (I mean off!) for a long time, because I'm hoping to catch up on my schoolwork (I have to do the second half of ninth and all of the tenth grade in the 100 school-days I have left until school starts (btw, I'm homeschooled), so that my parents will allow me to go to my old Christian school. I was hoping to publish it via my publishing company, Blanchweald Press, in September or October, but it appears that I'll have to wait till probably summer of next year. Oh well...

 

[sunstruckdream]

Pre-production...i like that. Me too.

 

[faithmom]

Passionate hobby that others are encouraging me to turn into a carreer more and more.

I'm not intimidated to write, but the task of knowing how to make it into something more than the oodles of files I have stored away is a bit daunting.

Is it better to know what I am doing first, or dive in and learn by experience? Or, perhaps a bit of both...

I just found this part of CF, and it'll be interresting to see what others have to say on the varying subjects of writing. I'm also a reader, and will enjoy reading your many works!

God's blessings on your creative hands, hearts and minds.

 

[Doubtless]

I wouldn't say jump in, and send your manuscrript off to a publisher you don't know, or anything, but yeah, if you have a talent, you should use it for God, be it poetry, novel-writing, mini-series, whatever. If you're in it for a career you can make some money on, whilst doing what you love, and serving God, then be cautious. While plagiarism isn't at it's all-time high, rip-offs are. Publishing companies love to lure in first-timers, and get them signing a book deal or something that gives them two cents, and kicks them back out on the streets. My advice: do your research (not just the basics, get it to where you think you know everyhting there is to know about publising and writing), and then jump in.

Me, I don't have to worry about much, because I am my own publisher.

Hope it turns out well, and God bless!

~ Eric M. Boellner

 

[Tariel]

Pre-production...i like that. Me too.

I would....but that's so not me. I'm totally into getting my name out there. I'm talking to a literary agent tonight, so that should be a lot of fun He's an awesome guy, and was behind Jerry Jenkins and a ton of other major Christian writers.

 

[Doubtless]

Sweet. Dragonflame, what genre do you write?

 

[Tariel]

Sweet. Dragonflame, what genre do you write?

Fantasy, mainly. I take it you're the same?

What kind, precisely do you write?

 

[Doubtless]

Christian High Fantasy. By Christian, I mean that it's an allegory. It's about a man who discovers himself to be a High Prophet (the only one still alive, save the Dwarf Prophet), of God. He also discovers that he is a figure in an ancient Prophecy, that leads to the finding the Augur, a powerful artifact crafted of the core of a world, when God shattered it. With it, and with it alone, he can stay the reign of [enter evil villain ] Twilight, Netherlorde of the Abyss. Now I'm sure you really didn't care to hear all that, but it gets lonely around here. None of my family will let me tell them so much as the name of my main character, because they want to read it when I publish it. So, I've no one to talk to about it.

So what kind of fantasy do you write? I know only that you write about a girl/woman named Tariel (I think, anyways), and that she is recently married and now expectant.

 

[Tariel]

Christian High Fantasy. By Christian, I mean that it's an allegory. It's about a man who discovers himself to be a High Prophet (the only one still alive, save the Dwarf Prophet), of God. He also discovers that he is a figure in an ancient Prophecy, that leads to the finding the Augur, a powerful artifact crafted of the core of a world, when God shattered it. With it, and with it alone, he can stay the reign of [enter evil villain ] Twilight, Netherlorde of the Abyss. Now I'm sure you really didn't care to hear all that, but it gets lonely around here. None of my family will let me tell them so much as the name of my main character, because they want to read it when I publish it. So, I've no one to talk to about it.

So what kind of fantasy do you write? I know only that you write about a girl/woman named Tariel (I think, anyways), and that she is recently married and now expectant.

Don't worry...I totally understand not having anybody to talk to about that sort of stuff. My family's not too into it either. I think you've got a decent plot, just be careful. It can be done very well, but it can also be done very very poorly. Watch out.

I'm not exactly big on writing high fantasy (at least in the sense that I DON'T have Elves and Dwarves. Actually, I pretty much only have one race (unless you count the mages as a different race, which some people do).

Anyway, yes, my major story is partly about a girl named Tariel, and partly about a girl named Eliel. Eliel is princess and only heir to the throne (her mother and brother were killed years before); Tariel is servant/apprentice to a powerful mage (and is herself a rather powerful one) and has been used as his personal assassin. One day, he sends her out to kill Eliel, but she refuses. He's not happy. Actually, he tries to kill Tariel. And the story unfolds from there. Fuingal (Tariel's master) atttempts to hunt down and kill Eliel (he has personal reasons for wanting her dead), Eliel tries to keep herself alive while somehow holding her kingdom together, and Tariel's an angsty mess--sometimes clearly helping Eliel, sometimes considering going back to her old master. (The young man is involved throughout pretty much the whole story). That's the very basic plot, I suppose. I really enjoy writing it.

 

[Doubtless]

I don't have Elves either. I have Dwarfs (not Dwarves), but they are not like Tolkien's Dwarves, they are more like the dwarf shown in the "Great Classics" illustrated version of King Arthur. He was just a short guy, with a mushroom-cut. As for other races, I've made some of my own, but mostly it's just humans. Except for da baddies thumbsup, they're mostly demons named by words or combined words, like: Nightmares, Mysts, Black Prophets, Etherlights, etc. Then there's the bigger bad guys, like: Sheol (Hebrew meaning Grave or Hell), Abaddon (Hebrew meaning Destruction), and Twilight.

Interesting plot. I suck at writing stories that aren't about some big journey or something. I just can't keep things interesting in towns, like other people can. Oh well...

 

[Tariel]

You're serious, aren't you. You named your villians in your fantasy novel Sheol and Abaddon? Please tell me that this isn't an EndTimes thriller masquerading as a fantasy novel. If I were you, I would very much look into changing the names of most of your baddies, including the Nightmares and Etherlights and all that. I'll be rather blunt: most of the time, when I see names like that in a book, I attribute them to the laziness of the author. I mean, couldn't you at least use some lesser-known terms for things-that-go-bump-in-the-night? Maybe, if you had 50+ 'classes' of baddie and some of the classes had names like those (with the exception of Sheol and Abaddon--from what I know of the Christian fantasy readership, those won't go over too well) can be excused. I'm sorry if I've been too blunt, but...well...I don't normally make excuses.

As to a journey story vs a more localalized tale....that really depends on the writer. I personally like it taking place in mainly two or three locations, because then I can develop those places a lot, and give the reader a good idea of what the town looks like. simply because they spent a third of the story there.

 

[Doubtless]

It's not that I'm lazy, it's that I hate it when people try to come up with names for the races of their books, and they turn out like Kilkemar or something stupid. Its those names that give fantasy writers a bad reputation. I don't understand what you mean about Sheol and Abaddon not going over well with Christians. As for it being an End Times book, heck no. I hate End Times books. I get bored watching the Left Behind movies! These names are just significant in that people understand them to represent servants of the devil, and in that they are based on the Bible. For God's Son, in my book, I used Shiloh. I appreciate the bluntness. I can't stand excuses either. If you have something to say, just say it, don't beat around the bush, eh?

 

[Pathfinder]

I'm a creative writing major, so I guess that means I'm going pro. =P

 

[faithmom]

I'm a creative writing major, so I guess that means I'm going pro. =P

WHHHOOOOOHOOOOOO! (just wanted to give ya a little support)

 

[Pathfinder]

Thanks. =D

 

[divinenobodies]

what is writing to you? for me, it's definitely both. how bout you?

writing has been part of much of my life in one way or another since my teen years when i began keeping personal/spiritual journals. i started writing books a couple years ago and so writing became a little more substantial in my life. either way, i enjoy writing and it seems to be an important part of the journey for me.