Thursday, February 02, 2006

Open for questions

Instead of posting on a given topic today, I thought I'd open up the floor to questions. Anything you want to ask me about my books, publishing etc, here's your chance.

4 comments :

Anonymous said...

How long have you written before you got the Call? How many books? Did you always target category?

And what was the big key difference between the books you couldn't sell v. the book that got you the Call?

YOu did say it was OK to ask... :D

Nalini Singh said...

Great questions! :)

I was actually trying to figure out the answer to the first question the other day. I'm one of those people who's always written so it's difficult to delineate but I think if you count from the time I completed my first full romance ms, it was 6-7 years. But if you count from the time I joined a romance writers group and started entering competitions etc, it'd be about 5.

Number of books - oddly enough, I don't have the number off the top of my head. It's probably in the double figures - I think it's because I basically learned how to write by writing (rather than reading how-to books etc).

Yes, I targeted category from the start, though I was always also working on single titles too.

Key difference? Fairy dust??? Lol. Seriously, I think my last 2 books or so before DESERT WARRIOR, my first sale, were pretty close to the mark. I guess it was a combination of having learned my craft, a good story idea and finding editors who liked my voice.

Anonymous said...

So you didn't read any how-to books? :-O Shocking.

Here are the follow-up questions. *grin*

1. Do you outline? How many drafts do you go through before you hand your manuscript over to your editor?

2. Since you said you didn't read how-to books -- Did you have critique partners when you started writing?

Nalini Singh said...

No, I don't really do plot outlines, though I usually have an idea of the overall story arc before I start writing. (However, I do have to come up with some sort of a basic outline for my proposals, which I've learned to do.)

Drafts - over 4 I'd say. I do complete drafts ie. go through the whole book in one go, rather than making one part perfect and then moving on. I like the continuity.

I've never really had a CP. I tried it at the start but it didn't work for me. I do have some people I'll send an occasional piece on which I want feedback, but that's sporadic. I have read the odd how-to book but I found quickly that just writing worked better for me in terms of learning. On the other hand, I do read articles, blogs, talk to other authors etc, so new information constantly comes in, just in ways that cater to my short attention span *G*