Have you ever written a book?

[Sheamus' Suntan]

Okay...this is a pretty straight forward topic, no major...debates to be had, just a bit of a chat really for all the members of WZ for anyone wanting to be an aspiring author.

A bit of bg on me; Ive been writing now for 10 years +. I'm 22, and started in eWrestling at the age of 12. I started back when it was a few simple lines of promo "bashing" your opponent, and then carried it on. Now in the realm of ewrestling it's become a lot of mini novellas, with a lot of people creating full back stories to their characters.

The development skills I learned from this hobby were really important for me, and by the end of last year I felt things wrapping up for me with eWrestling. Come July, I stepped out of it totally, feeling I had "done everything I set out to do" and set to work on writing a book, which was something I had always aspired to do.

So I picked up my laptop and started tap tap tapping. I came up with a few pages that were trash and got rid quickly, but then on a night in bed, randomly, I woke up suddenly knowing EXACTLY where to take things and how to get the story to work.

Since then I've been writing a suspense/thriller titled Oxygen. The synopsis is below.

Spoiler

Oxford, England. A city like any other, until Samantha Hindon is chased by a faceless assailant from her place of work through the heart of the city. The chase is unrelenting and neverending until she falls into the arms of Jon Thorne, a police officer who is 'on the beat' on the day of the attack..

Under his protection, Samantha finds that not all is simple within her own life - her family have been deceiving her for years and all is revealed by the attacker as he rampages through loved ones, leaving nothing but riddles behind him.

So anyway, was wondering people of WZ. Anyone tried writing a book? If you've ever wanted to, what's stopped you? If you have, or if you are writing one, what's the base outline?

I would be intrigued to read others work, not for my own gain, just because I think it would be interesting to read what peers within a forum I frequent have written.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I have wanted to write a book, but never got around to finishing it. It was a novel version of the storyline in my video game, Division Blade. I had the idea of writing it as three different entities.... A video game, a movie, and a book. That way the same story was out there, appealing to multiple fanbases. The movie never got finished due to most of my recruited actors changing their mind, and a lack of time. The game got finished, and is currently available. The book, I ended up giving up on.

I've thought of giving this another shot, it's worth trying again because it would be another medium for my story to be shown to the world. The story is the strongest point of the video game, and it could translate over quite well into a novel or a full series. The main problem is that I am bad with descriptions and going into major details. I'm more of a plot development guy. I came up with the potential idea of having someone more skilled in writing itself to help me out. The story is there, completely finished, I'd just need help translating it into 100% text without any of the visuals seen in game form.

I have a plot summary available if anyone would ever want to read it and consider helping me write the book version.

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

Im intrigued by the game and the story, definitely. Shame Im trying so avidly to get through Oxy or I would definitely be first in line to help you out with writing it Dagger.

 

[Kermit]

That is awesome man. I enjoy writing very much, and I currently am participating in an e-fed here. You should try it out. I know you are writing a book, but it is always good to help jump start your mind with some character development.

I've been writing long before that though. The impact of Literature has always fascinated me. The teacher for my senior English class taught literature in a way that I had never experienced. He made it real. During the year I had him, his daughter got diagnosed with cancer. There is just something that clicks in your mind whenever you see a clearly exhausted man coming in for a 9:00am class. His head was shaved in support of his daughter and he carried that weight of uncertainty upon him, but he still taught the class.

I remember him teaching a poem that had to deal with things no going as planned. He tried to jog conversation out of us, but we were typical high school students who didn't like to get involved. He said, "Listen guys! It sucks that sometimes things don't happen as we want them too. It sucks that my daughter has cancer, but I can't just stop living life. Life has to progress and we can either sit and dote or play the hand we have been dealt." That is probably not word for word, but it was along those lines.

Between him, various influences, and the call that I feel God has on my heart; I know that I belong in the field of English. Whether it be in missions overseas or right here in the states. As far as the book writing goes. I do hope to write one someday. I have a million ideas in my mind, and my imagination is larger than anyone could ever grasp. Sometimes I have myself believing that no one uses their brain in that aspect as much as I do.

Good luck with your book and keep us updated!

 

[X]

Fun topic. As a fellow aspiring writer for pretty much my entire life, I can relate well. From the moment that I learned how to read and write I've always been obsessively passionate about reading, writing, literature, poetry, songwriting and all of the other language arts. I've been an avid writer through out my life, keeping dozens of journals through out my adolescence and adulthood comprising hundreds and hundreds, possibly thousands of entries and I used to be very into poetry as a teenager, filling up notebooks with them. People always told me I was very talented and advanced for my age so I kept on at it, and eventually I wound up getting published when I was 15 years old for the first time in a poetry collection book, though looking back on it now I feel totally embarrassed because the poem they chose was one I had written back in 8th or 9th grade and it was so overly morbid and dark and depressing that looking back at it now, it's just kind of depressing to read. Still, I was so proud of that for awhile. I also had a short story I wrote around the same time published in a fictional magazine about a boy who went on a murder/suicide mission after reading a Graham Greene story. Similarly dark and amateurish and I'd be embarrassed of it now, but at the time it was a huge deal for me and I had alot of pride for getting published like that.

Since then my writing career took a bit of a hiatus for a few years while I was going through a lot of personal problems, but I returned at it about 2 years ago renewed with an energy for writing reviews for wrestling shows of all kinds this time. I did very well at it and was able to become one of the main contributors on 411mania.com's Wrestling section as well as Scott Keith's Blog of Doom, doing reviews for all kinds of indy and puro shows as well as my duties of covering RAW, Smackdown, and every TNA PPV live for 411mania.com. That sort of brought the passion back out of me after awhile, and since then I've actually begun the preliminary process on writing my first novel. I have long character descriptions written out, a few major plot points, some major themes, settings, and tone and I even wrote up a prelude to the story. The only thing now is sitting down and plotting how each plot and sub-plot intertwines and wraps up by the end of the novel, but I'm making headway on it and I'm hoping to start the actual bulk process of writing the actual chapters within the next month or two. From there, who knows, I'm going to do everything in my damnedest power to get it published in some way, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. I've also got a few preliminary outlines for a few other novels, short stories, and various screenplays I've thought up over the years but I'm trying to do one thing at a time right now. My eventual goal is to create a series of four books for young adults (kids/teens age 12-18 basically) detailing the actual reality of junior and high school life, the problems, the traumas, the tragedies, the pressures, the drugs, the sex, the politics, the spiritual and educational awakening of a young person's mind...all of this wrapped around an ensemble piece detailing one class's four years in high school with each novel comprising one of the school years. I'm contemplating starting earlier though, maybe 7th or 8th grade because that's where it all REALLY begins with puberty and adolescence, but like I said, I'll worry about all of that once I've got the idea for the first novel done and everything.

So I'm a published writer, I contribute to 411mania in both the Wrestling and Movies/TV sections, and I hope to become successful enough in my writing to be able to actually live off of it for a few years atleast, long enough to pay for an education and figure our a day job, yknow? Anyways, yeah, that's my life story as an aspiring writer I guess. Cool thread idea man. Keep at it, never give up, keep the dream alive man. If you ever want any feedback or constructive criticism my inbox is always open.

 

[Lee]

Not a book but I do enjoy writing despite sometimes having brain farts and it going out the window.

I write occasionally for unofficial Newcastle United Football Club Fanzine "True Faith" which means I have about Five or Six published articles in the sports side of things.

Of course I write for WZCW with my character Titus which is 100% for fun.

On that I have my gaming site www.nintendolee.com which I have had going for about Nine months now. I enjoy writing it and haven't really had any negative feedback off anyone on the site. I hope to use this as an online CV to then get a chance to write for bigger ggaming sites.

 

[Барбоса]

I have a couple of ancient history books in the pipeline - one on the Romano-Persian War of the seventh century and the subsequent Muslim conquests that I have already signed a contract to have published and another that may evolve out of my PhD thesis on Late Roman recruiting. I also have numerous other academic article and book ideas on various subjects.

As far why I write, basically it has been my life for the passed decade in academia and I hope for it to be a major part of my career in the future. I would say that it is not specifically the writing itself that appeals to me but the potential for research that it includes.

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

That is awesome man. I enjoy writing very much, and I currently am participating in an e-fed here. You should try it out. I know you are writing a book, but it is always good to help jump start your mind with some character development.

I have been e-fedding for 9 years or so. In the end I lost sight of the "fun" in e-fedding and quit out following the death of a friend who did it alongside me. Since then I've started writing Oxy. I know how fun e-fedding CAN be though.

I've been writing long before that though. The impact of Literature has always fascinated me. The teacher for my senior English class taught literature in a way that I had never experienced. He made it real. During the year I had him, his daughter got diagnosed with cancer. There is just something that clicks in your mind whenever you see a clearly exhausted man coming in for a 9:00am class. His head was shaved in support of his daughter and he carried that weight of uncertainty upon him, but he still taught the class.

I remember him teaching a poem that had to deal with things no going as planned. He tried to jog conversation out of us, but we were typical high school students who didn't like to get involved. He said, "Listen guys! It sucks that sometimes things don't happen as we want them too. It sucks that my daughter has cancer, but I can't just stop living life. Life has to progress and we can either sit and dote or play the hand we have been dealt." That is probably not word for word, but it was along those lines.

See...this is why you HAVE to do what you WANT to do in life - because you never know what is around the corner. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow, and I'll feel unfulfilled until I get this book written and published.

Good luck with your book and keep us updated!

No doubt, of course I will.

Fun topic. As a fellow aspiring writer for pretty much my entire life, I can relate well. From the moment that I learned how to read and write I've always been obsessively passionate about reading, writing, literature, poetry, songwriting and all of the other language arts. I've been an avid writer through out my life, keeping dozens of journals through out my adolescence and adulthood comprising hundreds and hundreds, possibly thousands of entries and I used to be very into poetry as a teenager, filling up notebooks with them.

This is awesome to hear. I love knowing I'm in a place with people of similar...disposition to me when it comes to hobbies. From the age of 6 I've been writing creatively and found e-fedding at the age of 12 or so. I fell in love with it there and then. I was more into creative writing than poetry but in all honesty, I love a bit of poetry and there are pieces now beginning to work their way into the book I'm writing.

I have a couple of ancient history books in the pipeline - one on the Romano-Persian War of the seventh century and the subsequent Muslim conquests that I have already signed a contract to have published and another that may evolve out of my PhD thesis on Late Roman recruiting. I also have numerous other academic article and book ideas on various subjects.

As far why I write, basically it has been my life for the passed decade in academia and I hope for it to be a major part of my career in the future. I would say that it is not specifically the writing itself that appeals to me but the potential for research that it includes.

That's amazing news, congrats on having a contract!