Getting involved is probably very difficult. Getting known is a case of turning up to the Tav once a month and being generally pleasant to all and sundry (and not gushing over Moffat, as my girlfriend and I did last time. Or Rob Shearman, like we did... um, the time before that).
Since my decision in 2000 to 'do my own thing', I've not gone for the networking, and haven't gone often enough to be known by many people at all - it's just a nice cheap pub in a pleasant part of London where I can drink real ale and talk about Doctor Who.
But the FIRST time I went was part of a general House at Allen Road mailing list meet. The other people who went along included Eddie Robson, Jon de Burgh Miller and Matt Michael, who as far as I know weren't particularly known in fandom at that point. Now Eddie's getting stuff on BBC7, Jon's had a couple of novels published and Matt crops up regularly in DWM. Kinda makes me wish I'd taken the whole trip more seriously.
The Internet is still not really a place to network on a professional level, basically. It is still a case of who you know. I've not been to the Tavern for a few months now, so I don't know how many of the New Who / Big Finish crowd are still going on a regular basis. But it's a great starting point for either Who or S&S
I know, i just meant generally, but yeah, wish i were in London :/
Still, as my offspring grows up and gets even more detached to having me around all the time, I can nip off to London for 3 hours for a few quid on a megabus, and participate in these things, meet the people, and make myself known.
Being a 'famous author' is a lifelong dream, and one day i will achieve it, somehow. Until then, i will keep writing, just for myself, and enjoying the hell out of it.
Yeah, I have the same basic dream of being a 'famous author' (with the added frill of being a famous author and living in a rambling tumbledown chateau in South West France) - the other day I did a little thought experiment which went thusly.
'I want to be a professional writer. What is preventing this from being reality?'
And the only answer I had was:
'I don't write enough.'
I feel myself getting sucked into fanfiction again, and I'm very ambivalent about it. The Craig book is one thing (one achingly time-consuming and frustrating thing), but now I'm tinkering more with the Time War idea (just because it's brilliant) and possibly even finishing off my silly piece where the Doctors all go on a drunken bender together (Tennant has just chopped up Richard E Grant with a Sycorax broadsword and Pertwee is moaning about the Master being a gold-bricking tart who was quick to come sniffing about as soon as he got a cushy consultancy job).
I view fanfiction as a dangerous snare for anyone with professional aspirations. It's easy to spend too much time on it because it's generally quicker to write than original fiction, I get a rapid response of usually broadly positive feedback - it's seductive.
I fell into the same trap writing book and film reviews for Internet websites - made a bit of money at that, but it's all just treading water, really. Showing up to meet a potential agent with a fistfull of snobby reviews of Titanic and a crossover with Alfonso Bonzo isn't going to impress anyone, sadly.
You know more about the game than i do, evidently, because i dont know even the first thing about even meeting a potential agent, or anything else.
Yes, fanfic is easy to write, but i say its better to write something than nothing at all, and the more writing i do, the better i get (i hope!) so its practice well worth doing.
I just have a couple of short stories under my belt and the odd bit of editorial and translation as part of my day job. Just enough to realise that if I'm serious about writing I have to up my game and:
a) Get an agent b) Write more stuff.
I've always enjoyed writing fanfic, but I personally learn a lot from proper critiques of my work. Fancrit tends to be gushing when it's positive, and focusing too much on continuity elements when it's negative. Perhaps that's just a Doctor Who thing, I don't know.
Might be your betas - my usual suspects ( alocin42, thats you!) tend to be quite harsh on things that dont make sense or could sound better / more English / etc... She's not so big on continuity, but more on the thing making sense, kwim?
My Shelf Life entry has had 4 betafyings now so far, and i'm waiting on Adrian for number five. And i may give it to my next door neighbour for number 6. Can't have too many opinions, never.
Funny, not one of them pointed out the same thing twice.
Yeah, maybe i ought to get an agent or something. Course i dont have a professional career at the moment besides professional mommy and housewife, so its a bit awkward :/
I don't do the beta thing, for fan fiction at any rate. It probably shows in a lot of my material. I'm a ruthless self-editor and my background in obscure French literature (and cinema! Ooh, got the dvd of Last Year in Marienbaad from the director of Providence! I am teh chuffed!) means no one understands my influences enough to comment on certain things - which are definitely the bits that NEED reining in.
My Shelf Life entry gets more esoteric by the hour, but I've given Ace the best line EVER, so hopefully no one will notice.
I feel I'd write more if I had an agent. Productivity is my downfall. But lack of professional career isn't a barrier to getting an agent. An agent shouldn't cost you anything, merely take a commission from your work that they sell to publishers.
I'm a ruthless self editor as well, but i feel i can do nothing but benefit from trusted and respected peoples' opinions on my writing, so i take it all in, and what i come out with in the end is hopefully worth printing!
Ooh, well if it doesnt cost anything to have one, maybe i'll look one up!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Since my decision in 2000 to 'do my own thing', I've not gone for the networking, and haven't gone often enough to be known by many people at all - it's just a nice cheap pub in a pleasant part of London where I can drink real ale and talk about Doctor Who.
But the FIRST time I went was part of a general House at Allen Road mailing list meet. The other people who went along included Eddie Robson, Jon de Burgh Miller and Matt Michael, who as far as I know weren't particularly known in fandom at that point. Now Eddie's getting stuff on BBC7, Jon's had a couple of novels published and Matt crops up regularly in DWM. Kinda makes me wish I'd taken the whole trip more seriously.
The Internet is still not really a place to network on a professional level, basically. It is still a case of who you know. I've not been to the Tavern for a few months now, so I don't know how many of the New Who / Big Finish crowd are still going on a regular basis. But it's a great starting point for either Who or S&S
(no subject)
Still, as my offspring grows up and gets even more detached to having me around all the time, I can nip off to London for 3 hours for a few quid on a megabus, and participate in these things, meet the people, and make myself known.
Being a 'famous author' is a lifelong dream, and one day i will achieve it, somehow. Until then, i will keep writing, just for myself, and enjoying the hell out of it.
(no subject)
'I want to be a professional writer. What is preventing this from being reality?'
And the only answer I had was:
'I don't write enough.'
I feel myself getting sucked into fanfiction again, and I'm very ambivalent about it. The Craig book is one thing (one achingly time-consuming and frustrating thing), but now I'm tinkering more with the Time War idea (just because it's brilliant) and possibly even finishing off my silly piece where the Doctors all go on a drunken bender together (Tennant has just chopped up Richard E Grant with a Sycorax broadsword and Pertwee is moaning about the Master being a gold-bricking tart who was quick to come sniffing about as soon as he got a cushy consultancy job).
I view fanfiction as a dangerous snare for anyone with professional aspirations. It's easy to spend too much time on it because it's generally quicker to write than original fiction, I get a rapid response of usually broadly positive feedback - it's seductive.
I fell into the same trap writing book and film reviews for Internet websites - made a bit of money at that, but it's all just treading water, really. Showing up to meet a potential agent with a fistfull of snobby reviews of Titanic and a crossover with Alfonso Bonzo isn't going to impress anyone, sadly.
I'm rambling, whee!
(no subject)
Yes, fanfic is easy to write, but i say its better to write something than nothing at all, and the more writing i do, the better i get (i hope!) so its practice well worth doing.
(no subject)
a) Get an agent
b) Write more stuff.
I've always enjoyed writing fanfic, but I personally learn a lot from proper critiques of my work. Fancrit tends to be gushing when it's positive, and focusing too much on continuity elements when it's negative. Perhaps that's just a Doctor Who thing, I don't know.
(no subject)
My Shelf Life entry has had 4 betafyings now so far, and i'm waiting on Adrian for number five. And i may give it to my next door neighbour for number 6. Can't have too many opinions, never.
Funny, not one of them pointed out the same thing twice.
Yeah, maybe i ought to get an agent or something. Course i dont have a professional career at the moment besides professional mommy and housewife, so its a bit awkward :/
(no subject)
My Shelf Life entry gets more esoteric by the hour, but I've given Ace the best line EVER, so hopefully no one will notice.
I feel I'd write more if I had an agent. Productivity is my downfall. But lack of professional career isn't a barrier to getting an agent. An agent shouldn't cost you anything, merely take a commission from your work that they sell to publishers.
(no subject)
Ooh, well if it doesnt cost anything to have one, maybe i'll look one up!