I've begun the query process! How do people react when you describe your story?

Good luck with the querying process - here's hoping it produces some good results for you.

How do people react when I describe my story to them? Generally, I just say, "It's fantasy" or "It's science fiction." When I describe it in more detail, they usually say something non-committal like "That sounds interesting."

Do they bring up what other stories it reminds them of? The tagline for one of my books is "a murder mystery set in a school for wizards," so you can imagine what people think that sounds like... Another book was inspired by a famous film, and shares one of its key plot twists. If I tell people about the twist, they invariably say, "Oh, like [name of famous film]?" It got annoying, because almost everything else is different, so nowadays I try to avoid mentioning the twist.

Do they smile and nod stupidly and you think to yourself 'if they read it they'd understand better'? Gawd, I hope not, because it would mean either my story was too complicated or I wasn't very good at explaining it. If you can't explain the story to someone else in a couple of minutes, chances are you don't really understand it yourself.

Do they tell you how they think you should publish your book? They used to. Now that I'm self-published, they ask me how many copies I've sold.

Do they mention other people they know who have published? A couple of people have. One chap had a lodger who self-published a book about military aircraft at a cost of £10,000 (about $15,000).

Do you discover that you have friends who are also writing novels that you never knew about? One chap I used to work with was writing a novel, though perhaps "continually rewriting" would be a better description.

Do they tell you to remember them when you're famous? I haven't had that yet - I think most of my friends and colleagues appreciate that most writers don't earn enough from writing for it to be their sole source of income.

Do they tell you "don't quit your day job"? I haven't had that yet, except in jest.

Best of luck with your story! o:

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Do they bring up what other stories it reminds them of?

Yeah, sometimes they do. It kind of bothers me because I feel like it's not original anymore and has already been done. Though most things have already but still, I'd rather them not say it. Though I guess it isn't all bad sometimes. It can be interesting comparing the two. :P

Do they smile and nod stupidly and you think to yourself 'if they read it they'd understand better'?

All the time. Though I think it's partially my fault since I'm usually too lazy to go into depth about my story and just say the genre and the brief plot, leaving out all the themes, character's and all that jazz in my head.

Do they tell you how they think you should publish your book?

Most are pretty supportive of me. (These people are all classmates, by the way. Age group: 14-16 since I'm in high school.) Since I don't know many writers, most just think of the traditional way. Oh and they ask for dedications. Lol.

Do they mention other people they know who have published?

Nope.

Do you discover that you have friends who are also writing novels that you never knew about?

Rarely... xD I have maybe one or two friends who write a bit but aren't as serious as I am and write maybe a paragraph then drop it. :P

Do they tell you to remember them when you're famous?

How did you know? XD

Do they tell you "don't quit your day job"?

I don't have a day job. LOL. Still a high school student. Though many tell me I should focus on studying a bit more. My grades aren't as high as I keep getting told they could be but...I prefer spending my time writing. :P

Though it'll probably be more sensible for me to focus on studying..

Other reactions I get?

Other than the ones I just mentioned. I'd say I can luckily get a few avid reader's to read my story. I belong in a reader's group at school and sometime's they'll listen to me talk about my story and actually are enthusiastic and want to read it. That's a nice reaction. xD

HP, we're so proud of you, going after what you want!

I don't often describe my work in real life. Many erotica authors don't, since we can't guess how people are going to react. But seldom is not never; I have told others what the one I have on sub is about.

So far, nobody's mentioned anything similar.

The smile and stupid nod, yeah. They were being polite and don't really care. Their loss, since if they read it they'd care a lot about whether my guy makes it out alive.

A few tell me about publishing, and that's when I do the smile and stupid nod, because they don't know jack. I've had people recommend PublishAmerica. Ugh.

They do ask if I know some author they know, like we had a secret guild or something.

I've not yet discovered someone was writing a novel unknown to me, but that'd be cool.

Yes, they want to be remembered when I'm famous. I don't have the heart to tell them not to hold their breaths.

Yes, they tell me not to quit my day job--but I quit years ago, to raise our kids, so it's too late to shut the barn door, you know?

I'll cross my fingers for you!

Well, I sort of babble on half the time or trail off, because I have it in my head that while I explain my story, I must fill them in on the details of the world I built for it all to make sense. I probably don't have to do this, but I feel that I do so they kind of lose interest, haha XD

Sometimes they smile and nod like an idiot and I'm thinking, "They have no clue what I'm saying, heh .. ^_^'", yeah.. XD My nanna tells me people who she knows personally have been published, and, though it's interesting, I want to keep telling her about my world and my story but I think it's just as interesting. I know I sound rude but she goes on about her friends before I ever get the chance of telling her about the best parts!

I remember people asking me, "oh! Include me in your story, Beth!" or "Can you give me half your money when you're famous, Beth?" in school. It all got a bit too much so I kept my writing-life private to my social-life from then on for a couple of years. When I told someone about my story in college (just casually dropped it in), they were like, "oh! I'm a writer, too :P" He's awesome ^_^

I wish you the best of luck :D It is really exciting ^_^ Don't worry about anything, I'm positive you'll get good feedback and/or a deal ;)

I have nothing to offer here except that you might wanna try reading some books on the subject. Some of the books I've read on writing fiction touched (very lightly) on this process and seemed to be very good advice. They also recommended further reading as the subject of their books was writing fiction and not actually the "getting it published" phase.

Anyways I'll be very interested to hear the sort of feedback you get in a few months. Maybe you can PM me.. If you remember lol. I'd also like to know what your novel is about?

: )

Most of the reactions I get are people saying "ooohh that's nice"

I don't have a lot of writer friends.

The one writer friend I have writes so well and read such highfalutin stuff I'm scared to share my stuff with him.

But hey, Good Luck HP! Keep up updated!

Firstly, congrats on finishing up your novel and good luck with it.

Secondly, their reactions depend on the idea. I'm one of those people who go through every single plot detail when I tell my story. I can't believe my 17 y/o nephew has sat through 30 minutes of me telling my story, lol. Seems amazing now.

yep, if it sounds similar to a story they've heard of, they'll tell me. I'm talking about my nephew, because he's really the only one I've told about it family-wise. He said one of my ideas reminded him of Ghost Rider (never saw that movie and I tried to watch it but couldn't get through it). He hated another one of my stories because it didn't end with a happily ever after. He's told me not to go with a character's name because he knows someone with that name (don't ask, lol).

Only my sister thinks I should publish my works. She holds many myths about publishing and has no idea about it. She thinks it's relatively easy. and back before ebooks became popular, she thought it was cheap. She thinks that just because you write a novel that it should be published.

I'm the only writer I know of in my personal life. Unless I count my 9 y/o nephew who loves to write his own stories and is working on a series. And, my sister, who doesn't read, says she has a great idea for a novel she wants to write.

My mother has this idea that all authors are millionaires, lol. I read an article in the local paper where two co-authors got a millionaire deal and I mentioned it to my mother and she was like 'yep, they all get that kind of money.' I felt it would be a waste of time trying to change her mind about that, though, I did tell her that was incorrect, but she wasn't convinced.

Otherwise, no one in my personal life knows anything about being an author. No one mentions it in the realm of being famous. Though, my sister - the one who doesn't read but has a 'great idea' for a novel - said that when she writes her book and becomes famous, she'll pay off my student loans.

Usually, I've gotten a few people who are like 'you're writing a story, so you want to become an author?' or "what do you want to do with it (the story)'.

Good luck with your submission and let us know how you get on.

I'm still looking for beta reader on what I know needs rewrites. All I get is people who skim through it and say "nice". I know it needs work though, my characters are flat.

Best of luck with yours though

I don't describe my story to anyone. My husband beta-reads for me, so we discuss it sometimes, but I don't talk _about_ it unless I'm asking him for specific advice on a technical issue.

Good luck with your submission :)