Hey, you know all that stuff I talked about yesterday? Rubbish. Wrong. Incorrect. Drop back fifty yards and punt.
I gave it some thought, and decided that NaNoWriMo is not really my cup of tea. The problem is that I have a day job, I have games I wanna play, I’m gonna be watching Desert Bus, Thanksgiving is rolling around… November is a lousy month for a writing binge, overall. And given I was originally planning to take a break for 2-3 months after City of Angles so I could rest and recharge? Diving back in immediately with 3x the fury and speed of my usual pace is probably not smart.
Besides, what is NaNoWriMo? It’s motivation for people to write a novel who might otherwise shy away. I’ve written enough novels to fill a shelf. Hell, I COMPLETED NaNoWriMo in 2009! Why break my back doing it again when the prestige it gains me probably wouldn’t actually boost my readership very much? I’d rather have a life.
As for “full book publish” vs. “weekly free serial”… I gave that some thought as well, and opted for weekly free serial, just like anachronauts and City of Angles. I do appreciate the support folks were showing for the idea of a traditionally published book, but I don’t think the upsides balance the downsides. I’d need to go dark for months and months to get the work done (since honestly, pushing myself to write the whole thing in a month is silly) and from my reader polling, a hefty portion the audience just can’t buy books. In the end… I’d rather have readership than sales.
Writing is not my job, it’s my passion. Making your passion your job is a way to kill your passion dead. In the end, I want a large audience enjoying the work — and if that audience is willing to show appreciation financially, good, if they can’t, good. As long as the work gets read, I’m happy. I don’t need a traditional publisher, I don’t need a traditional book. I just need to write.
That’s not to say this is some toss-off hobby for me. It’s my passion, as noted. And anything, anything you can do to enable that passion is welcome. Buy books. Fill out Amazon book reviews. Link to the website on your tumblrs. Tell your friends. Burn the URL into the moon with an enormous laser. Anything and everything you do, on any level, will help me. And I will be everthankful.
So, let’s cut to the TL;DR.
Floating Point, a cyberpunk novel, will start being released in weekly updates in likely December or January. Once completed a book with bonus content will be available. I might add a Patreon on top, but the core content will be free. And your participation in this process is most welcome. Door’s open; come in, grab a book, and read. I’ll bake us some cookies.
AraneArchon says
Been offline the last few days do to… sad… things… but I come back and see some nice news.
I’m looking forward to reading (in regular intervals) what you come up with, especially with the specific theme. Sentient programs are a hard thing to pull off proper, and I’m really interested how it will turn out.
By that point, I’ll probably be neck-deep in Anachronauts :P
Completely and utterly unrelated to Floating Point, have you seen/played Thomas was Alone? It’s worth checking out.
Raigne says
Even if you could get all that writing done, it would be mostly shit, and you would be miserable. Another serialized webfiction author I follow decided to release her novels in book format, and her story is much better for the break to edit and refocus the plot line, but she lost the vast majority of her weekly readership. I imagine mostly due to the enormous break in writing that she took (it was over a year, I think), but also due to the fact that it’s now a book. I don’t read as much as I used to and I say, “Because I don’t have the time,” but it’s really due to my reading habits. When I read a book, I read a book. The whole thing, in one sitting. Breaking it up into installments made it easier for a lot of people who have a similar habit, I’m sure. Incidentally, there is another author I follow who set up a patreon account for her podcast. Amounts are limited to $1/month or $2/month, and there is no content locked behind the pay wall. Her podcast, her blog posts, her short stories, are available for everyone, but people who want to shoot her a few bucks to make up for the expenses of creating hosting that content can if they want to and are able. Her reasoning is much like yours. She likes doing all that stuff, but once she creates an obligation to do it for others, she doesn’t want to do it.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
I’m going to be researching story Patreons soon. I’d like to set one up, but I don’t know if I can provide Patreon-exclusive content, or if Patreon-exclusive content is mandatory, or what. It’ll depend on the trends I see. I suppose at a most basic level I can add in a tipjar-esque one.
Marek says
Ah, damn… Buying an apartment means that I will sadly not have enough money for that enormous laser. Maybe next time.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Priorities, man. Priorities.
Andy says
It sounds like you made the right choice for you, and I support it.
lirazel says
Ah, well then. As we were, as it were.
It’s amazing how sleeping on something (or not sleeping on something) can turn your thoughts around.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
It was the daylight hours, actually. I sat there at 1pm thinking “I have a limited amount of time to write today if I’m really gonna start this. If I don’t start this I can’t finish in time for Desert Bus. I have stuff I wanna do tonight and I still need to take a shower. …why in the hell am I forcing myself to write like the wind again?”
The ONLY… ONLY… reason to push myself that hard is for a meaningless non-trophy I already won once. So I decided to take the sane option.
Jen says
*applause*
Really think this is the right move for you. Give yourself some creative breathing room, pace it however the writing needs to be paced, yadda.