Net Work Book Club discussion

Hey folks.

Well, I'm finally making a thread to promote my work. I'm not someone who likes to be a nuisance, but Frenchie has insisted she wants me to make a post, so . . . Plus I'm at the point where my work is going unnoticed and I'm pretty much out of options without promoting.

As an author and reader, I'll pretty much read and write anything. I'm mostly a short story writer at the minute, though I'm branching out into longer stories now with a serial story I'm working on (basically, one longer story comprised of shorter stories that add up to a cohesive whole, in an episodic format like a TV show).

Right, so . . .

You can find my serial story, which is currently 3,500 words or so and updated at least once a week, on Wattpad:

http://www.wattpad.com/user/David_Gil...

Feedback is very much welcome, but the nature of serial stories is that published parts are very much set in stone with the exception of minor tweaks. Mostly, feedback can be used to shape future parts as I'm writing it as I upload.

You can also find Gus, a published story of mine on sale at Amazon, now free to read on Wattpad. The story is complete there, but the bonus you get for purchasing it is an afterword, which I need to make a very slight adjustment to. (My amazon profile can be found at: http://www.amazon.com/David-Gilmore/e... & http://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Gilmore...)

I'd love it if you let me know what you think and if you want to support me and my writing because you've enjoyed the story, I'd very much appreciate any sales or reviews left on Goodreads or Amazon. I'll be making The Dead Should Stay Dead free to read on Wattpad in about two days as well, as Amazon won't have exclusive rights then. (I don't reckon it's as good as Gus, personally, because I feel I have a lot to say with Gus. The only downside with the story is its short length really.) I should note that stories already published, that are made free on Wattpad, will possibly only be on there for a limited amount of time. I'm not sure yet.

So, yeah . . . that's that. I've probably rambled here. If it's okay with folks and there's any interest, I can post here whenever I update The Deadlands on Wattpad. It might be easier to just follow me on there though if you have an account. That reminds me, if you're a member there, I'd very much appreciate votes on each part, provided the votes are deserved. Will help visibility.

You're not the David Gilmour are you? :-)

I expected that to come up. ;) I wish I was!

David wrote: "I expected that to come up. ;) I wish I was!"

I used to know a Dave Gilmore and he had the same all the time :-)

Thanks, Frenchie, and will do. :) I'll post here once I've updated The Deadlands. Might be as late as Friday or Saturday as I'm trying to find the best time/day to post and the next part's not finished yet. The part itself shouldn't take much longer though.

Michael,

It's pretty much a new thing for me. :) Since I started publishing basically.

Hello, David. Just to let you know I have added you and your story The Deadlands to my profile page on Wattpad. I have written the same message to you on my thread for my story Klubbe the Turkle and the Golden Star Coracle, but I thought I would repeat it here, in case you missed it. And thanks again for adding me and my story on Wattpad.

I noticed and left a reply. Appreciated, Philip. :) I mentioned that I'm trying to find the best time to post in order to find readers. According to what I've read, Friday or Saturday might be best for information purposes.

I'll try to get another update out tonight, though it might be shorter than others and it looks like it'll take 2 more parts rather than 1 to complete the first episode. I've basically re-written the 5 - 6 segments/scenes, changing the direction I was heading in, but the story itself is still sticking to the path I have in mind. It's just a minor detour for the episode in question.

And, Frenchie, as a thanks for supporting me and my writing, I think I'll dedicate the next part to you. It's nothing much, but yeah . . . one of the few things that can be done online to show appreciation besides saying thanks.

Frenchie, my honest advice is not to do so. Everyone has to start somewhere (I say this as someone who's not yet looked at your work, but I'm sure it's fine).

I'm not someone who critiques content, so I'd probably just have good words to say and offer words of encouragement, unless something didn't make sense. But I do technical critiques a lot, so if you want that sort of feedback, I'd be more than happy to take a look.

Honestly, the only time someone should worry about sharing their stories is when said stories are poorly written (meaning typo ridden etc.) and they're charging money for it. There are plenty of people selling work like that and they call themselves a writer (I guess I'm of the old belief that a lot of care should be taken when you're selling work). The funny thing is some copies can be sold. (I'm not sure if they even know about the errors either)

So, yeah . . . this is turning into a rant, but don't think of yourself as a non-writer and don't feel you should take your work down. You like writing? Then you're a writer.

Hello, David. After enjoying reading your stories The Deadlands and Gus on Wattpad, and appreciating the clear, precise prose in which you write and your gift for dialogue, I was wondering if you have ever thought of writing a stage play or a television or film drama. I think you could do it. Just a thought I had while reading your tales.

Nothing to apologise for, Frenchie, and you're welcome. :) As I said on Facebook, it's me that should be thanking you for the support. And if you want to share your writing, then definitely do post it up. The advantage to Wattpad is that people can't copy and paste from there, by the way.

Philip,

I appreciate the kind words. I can't say I have thought about writing scripts or stage plays. I guess I haven't thought about that or sending works off to publishers because of the wait and also financial reasons. While I'm not making money now, at least there's a possibility of things taking off at any point in time, rather than waiting at least a month, likely more, to hear a response about whether something's been accepted. I guess I like to have complete control of everything too without interference.

One thing I have been looking into of late are comics. I like the idea of applying the shared universe that DC and Marvel comics have, like Stephen King does for his own writing, to my own writing. I can marry it with the episodic style and have lots of connections between the stories while also having each individual title be standalone. There'll just be bonuses for readers of multiple stories. I might actually get started on that soon and get the groundwork laid for a world that can house fantasy, sci-fi, horror, dramas and gritty crime stories, then post it on Wattpad with that work being the central part of the 'mythology' or just post if for sale without posting on Wattpad. But I'll have to be careful about taking on too much at a time, and I'd need to vastly increase my output rate, especially with it being something that'd entail a lot of work and be complex in nature with things such as continuity and other stuff to consider.

Sorry for the delay, Frenchie, in getting back. I'm going to work as long as it takes to get the first episode finished by the end of the night, even if it's not edited, and post it, so check back tomorrow and it'll be uploaded. At least that way you have the end of the episode (somewhat of a conclusion, with the 'getting safety' narrative of the episode concluded, though there will be plenty of dangling threads for later stories with already sowing the seeds for them in the narrative). After that, while I'm going to still be working on the story, updates will possibly be sporadic as my time's being diverted to web writing to try and earn an income, until I can focus on fiction again. Not really what I want, but we don't always get what we want.

I've gone into this in more detail on Facebook. I'm just finding it really hard at the minute, and it's not that I think the story's rubbish either or anything. Quite the opposite and I do have an ending in mind which I think has the potential to be quite touching, even if it's not well liked. I just need to fix my life, basically. (I can talk more privately if you want, though don't feel I need to talk to anyone. Not an emotional guy, I keep everything to myself and I've pretty much got everything off my chest.)

Edit: It's possible I'll find a way of making fiction and non-fiction work, but I don't want to still promise I'll keep to a schedule because of possible disappointments. I should know in about a week or two, I guess.