I am starting to write a novel, which of course will be about Alexander. Since i heard that there are some 30.000 books about Alexander, both novels and studies i guess, i want to make it as original as i can. So, i am thinking of the general theme.
I will write it in English, because in Greece the publishing world is a little bit strange. Even if i find someone to publish it, and assuming it is good and people like it, it would still be very difficult for it to be translated and published abroad, even if it was a success. And also, i would like for you pothosians that i respect, to be able to read it.
So, i need advice from anyone that can provide it, if i should really write it in English, and try to publish it abroad. Is it difficult? Which is the process for something like that? It is matter-of-course, that the language will be very conscientious, and i will have someone to chek it for grammar and spelling afterwards.
When i will finish the first chapter, i will upload it somewhere for you to see it, and tell me your oppinions.
Novel preparation
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Efstathios
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ruthaki
- Strategos (general)
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Writing an Alexander Novel
Writing a novel of any subject is a daunting task and one that required a total dedication. Writing a historical novel required many extra hours spent in research etc. Even though you are writing from a historical plot (as I am in my novel about the fall of Alexander's dynasty) you must be meticulous about certain facts. You can fictionalize your idea of the characters and how they may have reacted to situations and one another, but other details like settings etc, need to be as accurate as possible. Especially the historical aspects of the story.
Besides this, you will need to be prepared to spend hours in writing and rewriting. It would be best if you belonged to a writer's critique group but I'm not sure they have those in Greece. If you are writing in English, you will require someone to proof-read your chapters for spelling, language use, grammar etc and that will add to the amount of time (and money) spent. (Editors don't work for nothing.)
I would suggest you first write the story in Greek if that's your language as it would make it easier for you to get through it. However, if you English is fairly fluent you can try to write it in English but see if you can find someone there who can help you with the editing as you go. Perhaps you can find someone among the many ESL teachers in Greece. (I used to live in Greece and taught ESL there at one time. I also teach novel writing at night school here in Canada.)
Good luck with your project. Mine has taken me literally YEARS to write in order to make sure I am producing a good piece of literature. I was lucky to live part time in Greece after I began it, and make many contacts with Classical Scholars and archaeologists there and also to visit many of the sites. So you are very lucky to be there while writing your book. I am almost finished mine. Then comes the huge task of finding an agent and editor and this is probably the most daunting of all.
I was once offered a publication by Kalendis publishing in Greece but they wanted me to pay $23,000 US for part of the publishing costs. Naturally I declined. Avoid this kind of "vanity publishing". If your book is worthy, it will be picked up by a publishing who will actually pay you, although it may not be huge rewards.
I hope this info has been helpful to you. Please feel free to ask anything else you'd like to know about writing/publishing etc.
Besides this, you will need to be prepared to spend hours in writing and rewriting. It would be best if you belonged to a writer's critique group but I'm not sure they have those in Greece. If you are writing in English, you will require someone to proof-read your chapters for spelling, language use, grammar etc and that will add to the amount of time (and money) spent. (Editors don't work for nothing.)
I would suggest you first write the story in Greek if that's your language as it would make it easier for you to get through it. However, if you English is fairly fluent you can try to write it in English but see if you can find someone there who can help you with the editing as you go. Perhaps you can find someone among the many ESL teachers in Greece. (I used to live in Greece and taught ESL there at one time. I also teach novel writing at night school here in Canada.)
Good luck with your project. Mine has taken me literally YEARS to write in order to make sure I am producing a good piece of literature. I was lucky to live part time in Greece after I began it, and make many contacts with Classical Scholars and archaeologists there and also to visit many of the sites. So you are very lucky to be there while writing your book. I am almost finished mine. Then comes the huge task of finding an agent and editor and this is probably the most daunting of all.
I was once offered a publication by Kalendis publishing in Greece but they wanted me to pay $23,000 US for part of the publishing costs. Naturally I declined. Avoid this kind of "vanity publishing". If your book is worthy, it will be picked up by a publishing who will actually pay you, although it may not be huge rewards.
I hope this info has been helpful to you. Please feel free to ask anything else you'd like to know about writing/publishing etc.
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Efstathios
- Hetairos (companion)
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Thank you very much Ruthaki. Yes, i intend to keep it strictly historical regarding the settings e.t.c., with accurate representations. And of course the grammar and language use will be checked.
About the publishing, i will see. I will ask around. I may write it in Greek first, but later it will have to be accurately rendered in English by using the right words, idioms, e.t.c.
About the publishing, i will see. I will ask around. I may write it in Greek first, but later it will have to be accurately rendered in English by using the right words, idioms, e.t.c.
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ruthaki
- Strategos (general)
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Writing an Alexander novel
By the way, I have a very good friend who lives in Athens who is going to do a reader's critique on my novel (she's already read a lot of it but decided to wait til it's all done and then go through it.) She might be interested in helping you along if you wish once you get started. She's very proficient in English and Greek and knowledgeable about literature and the history of Alexander. Let me know if you are interested in this and I'll see if she will agree.
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Efstathios
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Hi Stathi (et al):
As a three-times published novelist I'll second what Ruthaki says about the importance of "beta-readers" and writers' groups. (I was in a group in Toronto for about 10 years that produced eight professional novelists.)
I'll also second that novel-writing, and learning novel-writing, is an insane amount of work for no material gain at first, and maybe ever. Most people who finish novels do it because they are compelled to... they have to write or they get a kind of internal itching. If you don't already have that, or find it in yourself as you get going, your interest will probably turn to other things before you finish.
There is much to learn... the great Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood once had a neurosurgeon comment to her at a party, "I think I want to take a couple of months off this summer and write a great novel... I'm sure I can do it, I'm a smart guy." She nodded encouragingly, adding, "I think I want to take a couple of months off this summer and do some neurosurgery... I'm sure I can do it, I'm a smart girl." A bit exaggerated, perhaps, but you get the point.
However, you have declared your intention to learn how to write a novel exactly the correct way -- by doing it!
The first work you do will be utter crap. Not to worry, that's the case with everyone. Keep going until it stops being utter crap.
An excellent learning exercise is to take the work of one or more novelists whose work you love, and study it closely. How do they handle the four big elements of novel writing (plot, character, theme and style)? How do they do description, how do they do dialogue? As a teenager, I precisely aped the writing of Mary Renault for years, and it was an invaluable learning experience. In my 20s I diverged off into my own style, which happens quite naturally if you let it.
I don't know anything about writing a novel in a second language, as I've never attempted it, but like Ruthaki I suspect it might be taking on too much. You have to juggle a bunch of things at once as you write, even if it's in your native tongue, especially as a beginner. Adding unfamiliarity with the language to that is adding a big ball to the eight or nine you'll already have in the air.
If you write it in Greek then translate it into English yourself, you'll have the manuscript to sell abroad... you don't need to write it in English from scratch.
The Alexander story is a stunningly difficult one, having defeated literally every novelist or movie-maker who's attempted it (based on critical reaction) with the sole exception of Mary Renault. You might be thinking that because you're doing a historical you don't have to plot out the story, because it's already there. True (depending on your approach), but it does not free you from the rules of literary plotting, because readers are still readers. You have to motivate them to keep turning the pages.
Finally -- maybe the best advice about novel writing you'll ever get -- do the research, write the novel, slave over every sentence and word, do your absolute best even if it takes you years... and then whack it in half.
Yes, I mean that -- cut it down to half its size. Yes, that means eliminating half of your lovingly-crafted words. ("Murder your darlings," as one writer grudgingly put it.) The two errors of which first novelists are almost invariably guilty are: 1) too many words and 2) too little emotional intensity, and the lack of emotional intensity is often there due to the excess words. If you cut every boring chapter out of the whole, every boring paragraph out of each chapter, every boring sentence out of each paragraph, every boring clause out of each sentence and every boring word out of each clause, you'll bring the emotional intensity up to its full potential.
If you don't do this beforehand, I promise you, a publishing-house editor will make you do it.
Note of a self-promotional nature: Ruthaki mentioned that freelance editors don't work for nothing. I am such an editor.
Good luck! I look forward to reading the first chapter.
Warmly,
Karen
As a three-times published novelist I'll second what Ruthaki says about the importance of "beta-readers" and writers' groups. (I was in a group in Toronto for about 10 years that produced eight professional novelists.)
I'll also second that novel-writing, and learning novel-writing, is an insane amount of work for no material gain at first, and maybe ever. Most people who finish novels do it because they are compelled to... they have to write or they get a kind of internal itching. If you don't already have that, or find it in yourself as you get going, your interest will probably turn to other things before you finish.
There is much to learn... the great Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood once had a neurosurgeon comment to her at a party, "I think I want to take a couple of months off this summer and write a great novel... I'm sure I can do it, I'm a smart guy." She nodded encouragingly, adding, "I think I want to take a couple of months off this summer and do some neurosurgery... I'm sure I can do it, I'm a smart girl." A bit exaggerated, perhaps, but you get the point.
However, you have declared your intention to learn how to write a novel exactly the correct way -- by doing it!
The first work you do will be utter crap. Not to worry, that's the case with everyone. Keep going until it stops being utter crap.
An excellent learning exercise is to take the work of one or more novelists whose work you love, and study it closely. How do they handle the four big elements of novel writing (plot, character, theme and style)? How do they do description, how do they do dialogue? As a teenager, I precisely aped the writing of Mary Renault for years, and it was an invaluable learning experience. In my 20s I diverged off into my own style, which happens quite naturally if you let it.
I don't know anything about writing a novel in a second language, as I've never attempted it, but like Ruthaki I suspect it might be taking on too much. You have to juggle a bunch of things at once as you write, even if it's in your native tongue, especially as a beginner. Adding unfamiliarity with the language to that is adding a big ball to the eight or nine you'll already have in the air.
If you write it in Greek then translate it into English yourself, you'll have the manuscript to sell abroad... you don't need to write it in English from scratch.
The Alexander story is a stunningly difficult one, having defeated literally every novelist or movie-maker who's attempted it (based on critical reaction) with the sole exception of Mary Renault. You might be thinking that because you're doing a historical you don't have to plot out the story, because it's already there. True (depending on your approach), but it does not free you from the rules of literary plotting, because readers are still readers. You have to motivate them to keep turning the pages.
Finally -- maybe the best advice about novel writing you'll ever get -- do the research, write the novel, slave over every sentence and word, do your absolute best even if it takes you years... and then whack it in half.
Yes, I mean that -- cut it down to half its size. Yes, that means eliminating half of your lovingly-crafted words. ("Murder your darlings," as one writer grudgingly put it.) The two errors of which first novelists are almost invariably guilty are: 1) too many words and 2) too little emotional intensity, and the lack of emotional intensity is often there due to the excess words. If you cut every boring chapter out of the whole, every boring paragraph out of each chapter, every boring sentence out of each paragraph, every boring clause out of each sentence and every boring word out of each clause, you'll bring the emotional intensity up to its full potential.
If you don't do this beforehand, I promise you, a publishing-house editor will make you do it.
Note of a self-promotional nature: Ruthaki mentioned that freelance editors don't work for nothing. I am such an editor.
Good luck! I look forward to reading the first chapter.
Warmly,
Karen
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derek
- Pezhetairos (foot soldier)
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Efsthasios,
Good luck with the novel, and definitely write it in your own language. Then you can devote your mind solely to creative writing, rather than forever tinkering with sentence construction in a foreign language. I found that just converting from British English to US English was bad enough, let alone a foreign language. But your book hasn't a chance if it only exists in Greek, so have it translated into English once it's finished, and by someone who grew up with English as their first language and then learned to speak Greek later. Otherwise it'll end up a stilted and grammatically incorrect translation.
Yes, unknown authors do sometimes get their novels published, but my own experience is disillusionment. The publishing industry is a closed shop. If you're already a well-known best-selling author, or your name's Jenna Bush or Madonna, you can get any old tat published. If you're unknown, forget it. I wish you luck, but Alexander the Great is a niche market at the best of times, and the movie killed any chance that will change. I've written two novels about Alexander and have nearly finished a third - and I'm doing it for my own pleasure now. It's a hobby and I pay to get them published, because otherwise they'd never see the light of day. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but that's the way it is.
Anyway, good luck.
Derek
Good luck with the novel, and definitely write it in your own language. Then you can devote your mind solely to creative writing, rather than forever tinkering with sentence construction in a foreign language. I found that just converting from British English to US English was bad enough, let alone a foreign language. But your book hasn't a chance if it only exists in Greek, so have it translated into English once it's finished, and by someone who grew up with English as their first language and then learned to speak Greek later. Otherwise it'll end up a stilted and grammatically incorrect translation.
Yes, unknown authors do sometimes get their novels published, but my own experience is disillusionment. The publishing industry is a closed shop. If you're already a well-known best-selling author, or your name's Jenna Bush or Madonna, you can get any old tat published. If you're unknown, forget it. I wish you luck, but Alexander the Great is a niche market at the best of times, and the movie killed any chance that will change. I've written two novels about Alexander and have nearly finished a third - and I'm doing it for my own pleasure now. It's a hobby and I pay to get them published, because otherwise they'd never see the light of day. Sorry if that's not what you want to hear, but that's the way it is.
Anyway, good luck.
Derek
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Efstathios
- Hetairos (companion)
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- Joined: Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:08 pm
- Location: Athens,Greece
All your advice is good and precious. Thank you Karen and Derek. I am doing the novel for my own pleasure, but also because i want people to read it. I am not aiming at money. I know how hard it is to write an entire book that keeps the reader turning the pages, and doesnt mumble too much about not important things. It is easy to mumble. I even do it sometimes here while posting.
Anyway, i think i have some kind of a genuine idea for a historical fiction book about Alexander. Or if you'd wish, another approach that has not been used much. It wont just be an account of events, through story telling, like for example Manfredi's trilogy about Alexander, which is of course good.
I am probably going to write in English, because i talked with an archaiologist that knows a little bit about publishing here in Greece, and told me that in order for a work to be "accepted" in our academic cycles it has to be in English. I dont know why is that. But it suits me. I dont think i'll have much trouble writing it in English, as i sometimes also think in English, maybe not with an entirely correct grammar, but i'll just make sure that it is rendered correct on written speech.
Furthemore, i was informed that there are publishers here in Greece, that if they like what they read, they can arrange for the book to be published abroad, through the internet. As i heard specifically they make some sort of deals with p.e Amazon, in order to show the book in the current top 10 or 20 e.t.c, if it gets good critiques.
All that of course is in theory. I will write it and we'll see. Maybe it will be crap. Maybe not. But as Karen said, you have to practise a little bit before getting good results. If of course you have the talent on writing.
Thank you all. I'll be sure to post the first chapter when it will be finished, and i hope it will intrigue you to wanting to read the rest. But i want harsh critique. So that i know which points i must work on to be better.
Anyway, i think i have some kind of a genuine idea for a historical fiction book about Alexander. Or if you'd wish, another approach that has not been used much. It wont just be an account of events, through story telling, like for example Manfredi's trilogy about Alexander, which is of course good.
I am probably going to write in English, because i talked with an archaiologist that knows a little bit about publishing here in Greece, and told me that in order for a work to be "accepted" in our academic cycles it has to be in English. I dont know why is that. But it suits me. I dont think i'll have much trouble writing it in English, as i sometimes also think in English, maybe not with an entirely correct grammar, but i'll just make sure that it is rendered correct on written speech.
Furthemore, i was informed that there are publishers here in Greece, that if they like what they read, they can arrange for the book to be published abroad, through the internet. As i heard specifically they make some sort of deals with p.e Amazon, in order to show the book in the current top 10 or 20 e.t.c, if it gets good critiques.
All that of course is in theory. I will write it and we'll see. Maybe it will be crap. Maybe not. But as Karen said, you have to practise a little bit before getting good results. If of course you have the talent on writing.
Thank you all. I'll be sure to post the first chapter when it will be finished, and i hope it will intrigue you to wanting to read the rest. But i want harsh critique. So that i know which points i must work on to be better.