Saturday, 4 July 2009

A short quiz...

Will you succeed as a novelist?

  1. How much have you written?

    2. I've begun several books, but not finished any.
    I've got one or two completed books on my hard drive, and another I'm writing now.
    Well, I haven't started yet, but how difficult can it be? All I need is the time to do it.

  2. What's your view on grammar, spelling and punctuation?

    3. The spellchecker is a lifesaver, but everyone makes the odd mistake. No one expects an unpublished writer to get everything right.
    I take pride in getting my typescript as perfect as I can.
    Typo's, grammer ect. dont matter if the story is good enough, thats what i think. Publisher's have editor's to take care of minor stuff like that for there writer's. Why do people love to nitpick? why can't they focuss on whats really important.

  3. You've finished your novel, and are bursting with pride. You ask a friend to read it. She's quite critical, and makes several suggestions for changes.

    4. That woman is no longer my friend. In fact, do you have the phone number of a contract killer on you?
    Oh. I'll go through it again. Maybe some of what she says is right. Nice of her to be honest with me.
    My book is my baby! She's wrong, and she'll see that once I've explained it to her. The first chapter may be a bit slow, but you have to know all that stuff about the will in order to follow the plot...when you get to chapter five, the pace picks up...

  4. You posted your typescript to a dozen agents. You are now the possessor of twelve form rejections. Your reaction?
    I give up. It's too good for them. Bastards.
    JK Rowling got rejected a lot. I'll just keep sending it out. *grits teeth*
    Hmm...maybe it needs more work. I'll join a writers' group.

13-16 You're on your way. Can I have a signed first edition when it's published?

8-12 Honestly. You need to take this a little more seriously. Pull your socks up, stiffen that upper lip and buck up your ideas!

0-6 Oh dear. I fear there is no hope for you at all in the challenging world of books. I suggest you take up line dancing instead.

Posted by Lexi at Saturday, July 04, 2009

6 comments:

rodgriff said...

I like your quiz. OK fair deal if I ever get published I owe you a signed copy.

11 July 2009 18:20
Lexi said...

Aha, my cunning plan to get people to give me free books is working!

11 July 2009 18:43
plumboz said...

Fun one. The only question I hesitated on was the last one. My initial impulse was "JK Rowling got rejected a lot..." But let's face it, as stunningly successful as her work has been, it could have used a bit of a polish and been even better, so I went with "...maybe it needs more work"

End score? 16. So I am "on my way".

Been on my way for a long, long time. It's the journey, not the destination that counts.

Right?

11 July 2009 23:43
Lexi said...

JKR was only rejected 9 or maybe 12 times, an amount I could happily cope with!

Jasper Fforde, on the other hand, was rejected 76 times over a ten year period. Not unduly perturbed, he wrote four or five sequels while waiting, because he was enjoying the writing, according to his website.

His attitude is a good one, I think.

12 July 2009 10:17
plumboz said...

I will have to have another and closer look at Mr. Fforde's site. I enjoyed "Something Rotten" a couple of weeks ago.

What did he do to put a roof over his head before his writing career took off?

12 July 2009 17:40
Lexi said...

He worked in the film industry at a variety of jobs. (I've just looked it up.)

12 July 2009 18:12

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