Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 18:04 on 17 July 2008
With regards to me only being a trial member, I was planning on joining in Dec, so the membership can be a Christmas present, or when I finish my first book and have stepped away from it for a month or two before sending out to agents, but I really like the place, so who knows...
Anyway, just saying hi! I'm a 19yr old who has been writing since she was very young. I used to write mini stories in my little book and two years ago I started trying to write my first novel. Unfortunately, with school and exams I kept losing interest. A month ago I started writing a brand new one and have almost finished the first draft.
I have some questions to ask:
1. On this site and on other places, it says if you want to copyright your work, post it to yourself. Can anyone explain how that works exactly? Also, does the same go for emails?
2. I've been "lurking" on the Getting Published forum since Tuesday, and worked through all 59 pages. Every time I saw someone mention their word count, they had figures like 100,000 words or less. I am near to end of my first draft, intending to add more description and prolong scenes to build up the tension, but I have only managed 21,000 words. I am writing a thriller. Does that sound too short? Would an agent/publisher take me seriously if the word count only reaches 25,000 to 30,000 words?
I hope this is the right place to have my questions answered and appreciate any help I receive. Thank you very much for reading.
Re: Hi! New trial member. susieangela at 18:38 on 17 July 2008
Hello SunriseSunset and welcome
Hope you decide to join - it's a great place and you learn so much, as well as getting a lot of support and empathy.
Can't answer the question about copyrighting, though I look at it that anyone can steal an idea, but no-one can write it the way you wrote it, and if you've written it you're ahead of the game anyway, if you see what I mean!
Like you, I also waded through every page of the Getting Published Forum, which is v. addictive!
As to your word count, I'd say yes, you need considerably longer than 21,000 words for a thriller. Though the crime writers here will have a better idea. The 'average' word counts for adult fiction begin at about 80,000 and go up to 150,000 for saga type work. Naomi M might be able to say whether your work would count as a long short story? I think even novellas tend to be about 50,000 words - but again, see what others say, as I'm writing Women's Fiction.
Anyway, well done for writing as much as you have, and hope you join us.
Susiex
Re: Hi! New trial member. NMott at 19:30 on 17 July 2008
Hi SunriseSunset, and welcome to Writewords.
With regard to copyright, you own the copyright to your own work from the moment you commit it to paper or PC. If anyone tried to pass off your writing as their own, then you would need to prove that you worte it before they claim that they did. There are several ways you can do that:
Print it out and send it to yourself by registered mail, and leave the letter unopened somewhere safe - but who's to know if you've just reused an old envelope?
Send it to yourself by email.
Upload it onto a writers site like this one.
In practice, however, it is totally un-necessary. No one is going to try to pinch your work, and ideas and plots are not copyrightable anyway, so someone could just re-write it in their own words.
As for Word Count. If you were writing a childrens story then 20-30K would be ok (40K is better). But if you are writing for Adults you should aim for at least 80K, and preferably more. you may find that a lot of stuff you have written is 'Tell', rather than 'Show'. 'Show' is a lot more wordy and you can bulk out the manuscript by changing it over. There should be old threads on Write Words explaining the difference.
- NaomiM
Re: Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 19:55 on 17 July 2008
Wow! 100,000 words. I feel embarrassed turning up with 21,000. Thank God for this site because sending my 20,000 word "novel" to agent would've been very embarrassing! I'll aim for 100,000 words at least. It's got me thinking about how I could expand my story to go further, so hopefully it'll take me there. Also I tend to be in a hurry to get the story down, so my descriptions and setting the scene needs to improve. I'll try and look for the "show/tell" threads.
Final question, when you pay for membership through paypal, is it straight away or is there a few days delay? Thank you.
If anyone else wants to comment, please feel free because I need all the advice I can get.
Re: Hi! New trial member. NMott at 23:38 on 17 July 2008
I'm pretty sure Paypal is straight away.
- NaomiM
Re: Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 03:03 on 18 July 2008
Thanks. I'm very impatient so I'll be signing up tomorrow.
Re: Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 14:29 on 18 July 2008
After hearing about Paypal freezing accounts and unauthorised charges, I've decided that the mail will be my best option. I was wondering whether this site is ever going to use other online transaction services in the foreseeable future? Like when you order something from an online shop and the transaction is processed a day later, instead of having to wait for Paypal to process it in a week and then give this site the details after that.
Thanks for any insight.
<Added>
These are my last two questions, I promise.
If people pay through the mail do we get an email reminder when the account is about to expire?
Finally, how long is the membership for? 2wks, 4ks? I want to make sure that I don't lose my account if I upgrade too late.
Thanks again!
Re: Hi! New trial member. Dee at 14:31 on 18 July 2008
Hi Sunrise, and welcome to WW. You seem to be finding your way round already, but feel free to give me a shout if you get stuck. When you sign up, your membership will start straight away. If you have problems getting access to the members-only areas after that, just log out and then back in again, and that should sort it.
Best wishes
Dee
Re: Hi! New trial member. Dee at 14:49 on 18 July 2008
Sunrise, I've forwarded your questions to David, the admin guy, as he is the one who knows how the finances work. He'll contact you direct.
Cheers
Dee
Re: Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 17:37 on 18 July 2008
Thank you for doing it. I got his message.
Re: Hi! New trial member. ShellyH at 23:35 on 18 July 2008
Hi SunriseSunset, I'm fairly new to the site too but I'm so glad I joined. There is so much advice on here, and its great to know that other writers are here to give you advice if you need it.
Michelle
Re: Hi! New trial member. Nik Perring at 17:17 on 22 July 2008
Hello - warm welcome from me as well!
Nik
Re: Hi! New trial member. SunriseSunset at 21:43 on 22 July 2008
I'm a full member now!!
Re: Hi! New trial member. Dee at 08:49 on 23 July 2008
SunriseSunset
NMott