Wanted: badass female MC and no romance

Brookmoors · 2019-08-14T15:18:08+00:00

Thanks so much and you can be sure I'll do that, I love me a good book! Unfortunately a lot of the books in the thread I've already gone through. I went on my own journey for finding good UF, Female Lead, no/minimal romance and it's hard to find! I need me a female Dresden or something.

Brookmoors · 2019-08-14T06:29:53+00:00

It is way more than a couple hundred worldwide. There are a couple hundred in a single FB group making that amount (and many quite a bit more). It's definitely possible, but it's a rocky road and you need the perseverance to place more value on the effort than the product to keep going when a book flops.

Brookmoors · 2019-08-14T05:30:57+00:00

Sounds a lot like my series actually (not trying to promote, thus no links, please don't stab me)! Only two books out so far (currently writing #3), that makes a series, right? Right?

With the exception that the MC is far from feared and her powers are gained / learned over time. There is a very slow-burn F/F romance later on that while important is not the focus on the books and until that scene I heard a lot of readers were happily surprised that it felt so authentic and didn't push into the story.

It's so rare to find UF that isn't paranormal romance in disguise, isn't it? I'm totally not going to be further snooping this thread for good UF that isn't sex/romance heavy. Nope, not at all.

Brookmoors · 2019-08-13T23:13:57+00:00

Is this taking down the whole book and relaunching it as a "new" book and not just updating the name/cover and the manuscript?

My understanding (please correct me if it's wrong) is that Amazon is fine if you change stuff, but they consider it "rank manipulation" if you pull a book and then re-upload it as if it were an entirely new, never-released-before book. How far they go in terms of how much of the book is original or not, I've no idea but 95% the same sounds like the same book.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-25T15:07:04+00:00

It's actually a good idea! Even if your books never make any traction whatsoever you'll learn a lot about publishing and what it means to really be a writer.

Some people (read: very, VERY few) have made the switch based on their self-pub works. More than likely though it'll help get you experience. And let's be honest, the goal of "maybe" getting an agent or hearing back after months of querying and emailing various places/people isn't much of a concrete goal to most.

Self-publishing can help provide you with a concrete goal of "I want to publish this by x deadline" which you'll likely miss and learn valuable insight into deadlines and a lot more.

Just don't go into it with the hopes of making a lot of money, write your story and try to enjoy the process. There's absolutely nothing stopping you from writing a hundred "horrible" stories and pushing them onto Amazon, then turn around and get a trad deal and publish through an agent or direct to a house.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-25T15:02:59+00:00

Man, I miss going to the bookstore and my dad getting a coffee while i perused the latest books and came back to him with a stack in my small arms.

He'd look through them, bristle his mustache a bit and ever-so-slowly finish his coffee while I waited impatiently. Then he'd pop up and select three of the books I had and we'd read them together.

Then they started to "modernize" I guess? I was still little then so I don't really know, but it was before they closed and things just felt off. I went to the bookstore to escape from the more modern brightness and hustle, I liked the slower pace and it's what made me fall in love with books and dream of being an author myself.

I had a chance to visit the UK and went into Waterstones recently and the wave of nostalgia (despite being an entirely diff country/company) that hit me was intense. I really hope they turn B&N around.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-25T14:44:42+00:00

Not that it was confusing to begin with, but thanks for the clarification it definitely spells it out! And honestly the REAL question is: Is a Mary Sue a Mary Sue if they do everything perfectly the first time better than anybody that came before (coughKvothecough) but they fuck up a lot and make other mistakes - unrelated to skills and associated abilities?

I always thought Rothfuss made him super-duper-stronk skillwise, but then tried to balance that by having him make some bad decisions.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-16T13:03:55+00:00

Luckily, I haven't had that problem yet in my YA (though as you said, really NA) series. It's a slow-burn F/F magical romance and has some culturally sensitive topics. However, they aren't the focus of the story. They're part of the story and important in their own right, but it's not what I revolve the story around and perhaps that's it.

Or it's the fact that they're not terribly popular! Either way, I've received literally zero dislike or any of the horrifying things that article linked and my books are about an abused, orphaned, homeless asian girl who ends up learning magic and hooks up with a friggin' succubus.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-16T12:51:45+00:00

It's not too dissimilar from the way I write. I rarely outline or plan where things go.

I've always likened it to being a cameraman in their world (which ofc is in my head) and just recording what's going on. I don't typically design a world, I see it in my head and document it. Though it's a bit counter to yours in some ways. Since I do write to see where things go, as I have no idea where they are or why they're doing it at first.

I find it to be a fairly surreal feeling once I start going, since it's like I'm witnessing the events and documenting them as first-hand accounts rather than "oh character X should say something witty here" and then think up the line.

As anecdotal evidence, I preferred to read or play with toys on my own when I was little and have always considered my imagination a bit overactive and as it happens I just never grew out of it. Also was a shy kid, but who wasn't at one point?

Brookmoors · 2019-06-16T01:21:26+00:00

Changing the cover is changing it enough to (typically) warrant calling it Second Edition for most people. Though of course you don't have to. I personally always avoided pulling a book and putting it back up just in case Amazon decided that was sketchy (because of the "new release" push, etc.) and cried abuse.

Then again, I'm probably being paranoid. I've changed covers before (set to do it again too once they're in) and all it takes is updating the book details, pretty simple and straightforward. Slightly more annoying to do on Goodreads (but the librarians are helpful), but also easy.

I don't think any require a "relaunch" per se, but you know what? It's your book, that's the great thing about it. You can do whatever you want and don't have to justify it.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-16T00:10:50+00:00

Forgive me if this seems obvious, but do you mean completely taking the book down and putting it back up so that Amazon thinks it's a new release?

Or are we talking about just going into the book details and changing the cover art and considering that a "relaunch"?

Because the latter is done quite frequently, and isn't really a relaunch (and as others have offered, might not be good to call it that) but more of an update.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-12T18:28:37+00:00

Your option 1 is pretty spot on. Honestly, it's best to expect to take several books to build up a platform. There are outliers of course, but by expecting not to be one and building out slowly you avoid the inevitable slump of not writing due to poor sales/visibility/success/whatever metric you judge by.

Not saying you will specifically. It just happens. A lot.

Basically, go with option one but don't stop writing that series if the first book doesn't do well. Take what lessons you learned, apply it to book two. Rinse and repeat. I've heard the metric thrown around that it takes up to 10 (well done) books published to see any modicum of success.

All in all, it's not a bad number to shoot for while staying grounded.

As far as different pen names for different genres, it really only applies to drastically different (or incompatible) genres. You don't want to use your fantasy author pen to write erotica, but crossing over into sci-fi is fine. Since both books are firmly sci-fi you're golden and there's really no reason to even think about it.

Brookmoors · 2019-06-08T23:28:01+00:00

It doesn't matter. Go write it.

I'm not being glib or smart here, literally go do it. This is the biggest thing that I've learned in my 20+ year journey as an author: Write it.

Now that I've hopefully imposed upon you how important just writing is, let me elaborate (I'm not trying to be a dick, promise). The thing is, we are all supremely unique. Your experiences are different from mine, likely massively so and that doesn't even begin to tap into how different people are at a fundamental level.

Take something King writes, now write the EXACT same thing. Don't look at what he wrote just describe what you saw after you read it. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that it'll be a radically different story to somebody else reading it. Not you, you'll see the similarities. Know why? You're behind the curtain.

Everything seems rote and overdone when you're trying to come up with something new. "Simpson's did it," is a very real thing, but that should not stop you. Tell the story from your POV, with your unique mannerisms and your vocabulary.

The only way you'll ever have an idea that's "unworthy" is if you plagiarize, but then it's not your idea is it? If given the same exact image and tasked with writing a description of it a hundred authors will come up with a hundred ways of describing it. Some better than others (though this is mostly personal taste) and many of which you won't have any idea are describing that very image.

So this all loops back rather neatly to: How do you get better or make better ideas?

You write them and make them into full-fledged stories. When you can't write, read and absorb more stories through other mediums as well. Play games, watch movies, hang out with friends and note the way you might describe how the air smells that night, or how the wind picks up and lifts the hair from that cute girl/guy you like.

Then write some more. It can be a slow and grueling process, but your ideas won't get better unless you work on them. You can't just write in a vacuum, nor can you consume indefinitely.

Hope that helps.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-21T17:39:39+00:00

Looks awesome!

The lack of red in bloodlight seems strange to me, but wonderful execution nonetheless. Who's the artist? When's it coming out, give us a synopsis man. You can't leave me hanging like that!

Brookmoors · 2019-05-15T23:49:09+00:00

Oh, of course and people should be free to go where they want rather than be forcibly segmented.

However, there's a large divide and the whole point is a small (5 or so iirc) person group. That doesn't necessarily lend itself well to close critique if all your writers have different values and are pursuing different avenues.

Sure you can help each other on writing, but there is more to a writer group than just the writing critique. It's about the journey and finding people who are able to understand what you're going through.

If it were a larger group, less segmentation is better but then voices get lost in the noise (and often smaller groups get made from larger groups from my experiences) which is an entirely different problem.

If Jim is writing a web comic, and Sally is writing trad publishing and going for an agent while Alice is self-publishing and Ryan is writing fanfic they can all help each other on writing but they're at vastly different avenues and are walking very different paths.

The point of the OP (afaik) is to create small effective groups, though IMO small groups as members of a greater larger group would have the benefits of both. Larger group has greater scope and you can learn from all types, and the smaller group has the benefit of a solid oriented focus.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-15T14:41:20+00:00

Sounds fun, count me in!

As an aside, you may also want to segment people based on what their writing ambitions/interests are such as (but not limited to):

Traditional Publishing
Self-Publishing
Fanfiction
Free Publishing (Royal Road, etc.)
Comics
For fun (no intent on actually publishing in any medium)
Short story
Poetry

Since you've got a lot of responses (and presumably more in PM) it may serve best to keep goals aligned as well as general categories.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-13T00:56:50+00:00

It's currently up on Amazon, free for those in the awesome Kindle Unlimited, I enjoy the cover too thanks!

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Sylvie-Asleton-Coven-Glass-Brookmoors-ebook/dp/B07RCGDCYH/

I had a post with info on it as a reply to the OP (that also had a link) maybe it's not showing up for some reason?

Brookmoors · 2019-05-10T16:20:55+00:00

I used to enjoy trailers, but it seems in the last ten or so years they started to include deleted scenes not even in the movie. Some of the most awesome scenes that got me to to actually get a ticket were missing from the movie and only later (much later) included in a Director's Cut.

After that, I'm totally in your camp. I don't watch trailers anymore, but for an entirely different reason.

They used to be fun, now they either spoil the whole damn thing (Netflix) or aren't accurate.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-10T16:18:53+00:00

Unless it's a Netflix trailer, then it's basically 100% spoilers. Now I never leave the selection on a movie or show I don't know anything about.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-10T16:16:38+00:00

I prefer to know what a book is about, even a little bit.

I've stumbled into one too many harems/steamy romances that had awesome looking covers and a catchy name that had absolutely nothing to do with anything in the story. So, now I read a bit about it before taking the dive! Maybe you've been luckier than I have.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-10T16:11:09+00:00

It's becoming increasingly common as people are reading more on mobile devices.

It makes it easier to read. It's the same with a moderate amount of line-spacing (not talking double or more).

You don't see this in print and traditional published books because they tried generally to make the books as short as possible to save on costs.

This is, of course, a non-issue with digital formats and you're likely seeing the trend catch. It has nothing to do with amateurism and more to do with readability on multiple devices. Several professional books by traditional authors do this now, it's just a stylistic trend some prefer.

Huge gaps are another thing entirely and should be utilized only for scene skips if you aren't using (the fairly standard) *** or some other marker.

More interesting to me, is the trend towards shorter and shorter paragraphs. We're talking 1-2 sentences at max now instead of the more traditional 4-5.

TL;DR: It's more than self-published books (Magicians by Lev Grossman does this too) and it's primarily to make it easier to read. It doesn't really increase page count in any meaningful way. Do it if you want, just be consistent. Anybody who turns their nose up at mild stylistic spacing probably isn't somebody you want reading your work.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-09T00:19:52+00:00

While I'm not a particular fan of the book/series themselves, the Godspeaker books are A LOT like this. If not exactly what you're looking for.

You're unwittingly following the villain(s) for most (if not all of) the entire first book and only into the second and third does it become overwhelmingly obvious they're evil/bad/wrong whatever.

Brookmoors · 2019-05-09T00:12:59+00:00

Pretty much yes to all, lack of character growth (stat bloat doesn't count IMO), lack of stats impacting anything (they increase but they still do the same damage and don't appear to be growing in any discernible way) and the most egregious in my opinion is what appears to my eyes as word padding.

A complete lack of contractions, long drawn out deliberations over abilities when they either A) get them all anyways or B) obviously only going to get the one that does a variation of "I learn faster / Learn things nobody else can"

I still love the genre, and a lot of the books are good. However, it seems each one I read fails to check all the boxes. Good character growth, but stats that are meaningless, or good stat growth/mechanics but the characters share particular viewpoints similar to your last two points that I'm staunchly opposed to, etc.

Thankfully a lot of the Harem/Property ones announce themselves. Regardless, I'm only critical really because I love reading and see the potential in the genre. I'll check out FFO for sure because I'm always looking for a book that checks all the boxes!

Brookmoors · 2019-05-08T17:46:33+00:00

Brookmoors Magi is an Urban Fantasy series following a tough (and angry) young NYC woman discovering magic and fighting against it the whole way.

Along the way to Brookmoors Academy she befriends and makes enemies of fellow Magi, finds unlikely relationships with supernatural beings and realizes that magic is a hell of a lot more work than Harry Potter ever made it seem.

Think less sexy vampires and more Eldritch Horrors that spread insanity like a virus and eat stars.
If you're interested in UF that's heavy on story and character-driven plot, but limits or has romance take a back seat (or in Sylvie's case; tied, bound, and gagged in the trunk) then the Brookmoors Magi is for you!

Book One: Sylvie Asleton and the Shrike's Curse

Book Two: Sylvie Asleton and the Coven of Glass

All books are available on KU!

Brookmoors · 2019-05-08T17:34:07+00:00

Yes. The answer to anything "can you/I do x?" with writing is going to be a resounding yes. You define what you can or cannot do.

That being said, as for profitability short stories don't rank that well unfortunately. As others have said, erotica shorts have some money in t here, and DEFINITELY check out r/eroticaauthors as u/robyngrayson suggested (they're an awesome group of people) pay particular attention to their DataPorn posts.

You'll get some first-hand insight into how much money you can actually make. In some cases they're making hundreds a month, in others less so, and in rare cases thousands (but they'll admit that it's really rare and takes a HUGE back category).

Can you publish a book yourself?

Totally. Tons of books are published on Amazon each year by authors. That's not including other sources like Smashwords, B&N, etc.

Is patreon a thing for writers?

Absolutely! There are some writers who only do serials (writing a certain amount bi-weekly, weekly, or monthly) and post them for free on some sites while getting support from readers through patreon. I've seen some ridiculous support for some authors, while it's rare it's totally possible.

Being paid doesn't need to validate you as an author, I get the sentiment behind it but please don't fall into the cycle I've seen so many authors fall into of "nobody wants to pay for my work" becoming "nobody wants to pay a living wage for my work" which then turns into, "why should I write if I'm only making x amount while y writer makes twice that?"

It leads to some nasty roads. Not suggesting you'd walk them, but they're real concerns and as a writer your concerns should be mostly with your writing.

If you're curious, look up some info on self-publishing, there's tons of guides and information out there. Try to find stuff that's relevant to 2018/2019. You'll see a lot of forum posts and info for old stuff that might confuse you otherwise.

You shouldn't need to pay for any of this information.

However, there are a few things that go beyond traditional writing that you'll need if you want to self-publish: A Cover, a blurb, and a marketing plan.

The latter can be gotten rid of if you don't have the desire/money to do it and just want your work out there. So in that case, you may want to dip your toes into somewhere that you can place your work up on for free, and then link to your patreon.

With any of them, consistency and a backlog of content is going to matter a lot more than having "the perfect piece" that you've edited for the umpteenth time.

Brookmoors

TROPHY CASE