All wrapped up
Jan. 27th, 2026 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
baroque_mongooseI finished the book yesterday. It's longer than The Hobbit.
So the next job will be the final edit; I need to sort out a few little inconsistencies and tidy up a few things along the lines of "actually, you wouldn't need to use [high-level spell X] to do that, because you could use [lower-level spell Y] and it would be better for the effect that is specifically wanted here" and so on. There are also a few little character things that need bringing out; I realised, belatedly, despite not having consciously written this in, that one of the NPCs was developing feelings for one of the party. (I'd always intended that another NPC would develop feelings for another of the party, but I hadn't quite planned this one.) And when all that is sorted out, there will be the lengthy and tedious business of getting it all up on AO3... in chapters, because although AO3 is pretty generous when it comes to file length limits, I'm pretty sure this would still make it fall over if I tried to post it in one fell swoop. I may even put up each chapter as a separate post so that people don't lose their place, but I'm not sure about that yet; the existing system for dividing longer works into chapters may still make sense here. (On the other hand, I'm not sure if it allows chapter titles, and I do want to keep those. So if it doesn't, I shall definitely be posting the chapters individually.)
Inevitably, I've had questions about whether I'm going to publish this. I have made several attempts in the past to publish books and got precisely nowhere. Now, I know for a fact that there are worse writers out there than I am who have not only got published, but done so repeatedly; and I don't know, but I do strongly suspect, that there are considerably better writers than I am who have never been published. Publication is not really about how good you are. It's much more about who you know. And, while I know a lot of people (and very fine people most of them are, at that), I am pretty sure I don't know anyone who knows how to get published. I do know people who know how to self-publish; yes, well, I did that once. I still have a novel sitting on Smashwords somewhere. It's never sold a single copy.
So I think I just have to accept the fact that everyone likes what I do but nobody wants to pay me for it, because that's how it's been for my entire life. I shall put it up on AO3, and a lot of people will be entertained, and I'll get a lot of nice comments because I always do, and that will be that. I suppose the way I could look at it is that I'm being supported by the State in order to add value to the world in ways that other people can't, or don't want to, pay for. Obviously I don't just mean the writing there. I basically give away a good deal of my free time in quite a number of ways.
It would be nice if someone would actually pay me to do a job; but nobody wants to do that, because there are very few employers who view working from home as a necessary adaptation for some people, rather than as a perk for the employees they don't want other companies head-hunting. I know a few people who work from home, and in all cases it is a perk. Which is fine; but I don't have a choice other than to work from home, and nobody is going to give a "perk" to someone who's just joined the company (and if they did, I would expect considerable resentment for being treated above my station). Disability discrimination in this country is illegal, but you'd really never guess. It's so easy to get away with it that almost all employers do as a matter of course.
It doesn't really matter. Nobody is going to stop me doing my best to make the world a better place. In this case, it involves entertaining a few people and making them laugh; and, when you think about it, you can't really put a price on that.
So the next job will be the final edit; I need to sort out a few little inconsistencies and tidy up a few things along the lines of "actually, you wouldn't need to use [high-level spell X] to do that, because you could use [lower-level spell Y] and it would be better for the effect that is specifically wanted here" and so on. There are also a few little character things that need bringing out; I realised, belatedly, despite not having consciously written this in, that one of the NPCs was developing feelings for one of the party. (I'd always intended that another NPC would develop feelings for another of the party, but I hadn't quite planned this one.) And when all that is sorted out, there will be the lengthy and tedious business of getting it all up on AO3... in chapters, because although AO3 is pretty generous when it comes to file length limits, I'm pretty sure this would still make it fall over if I tried to post it in one fell swoop. I may even put up each chapter as a separate post so that people don't lose their place, but I'm not sure about that yet; the existing system for dividing longer works into chapters may still make sense here. (On the other hand, I'm not sure if it allows chapter titles, and I do want to keep those. So if it doesn't, I shall definitely be posting the chapters individually.)
Inevitably, I've had questions about whether I'm going to publish this. I have made several attempts in the past to publish books and got precisely nowhere. Now, I know for a fact that there are worse writers out there than I am who have not only got published, but done so repeatedly; and I don't know, but I do strongly suspect, that there are considerably better writers than I am who have never been published. Publication is not really about how good you are. It's much more about who you know. And, while I know a lot of people (and very fine people most of them are, at that), I am pretty sure I don't know anyone who knows how to get published. I do know people who know how to self-publish; yes, well, I did that once. I still have a novel sitting on Smashwords somewhere. It's never sold a single copy.
So I think I just have to accept the fact that everyone likes what I do but nobody wants to pay me for it, because that's how it's been for my entire life. I shall put it up on AO3, and a lot of people will be entertained, and I'll get a lot of nice comments because I always do, and that will be that. I suppose the way I could look at it is that I'm being supported by the State in order to add value to the world in ways that other people can't, or don't want to, pay for. Obviously I don't just mean the writing there. I basically give away a good deal of my free time in quite a number of ways.
It would be nice if someone would actually pay me to do a job; but nobody wants to do that, because there are very few employers who view working from home as a necessary adaptation for some people, rather than as a perk for the employees they don't want other companies head-hunting. I know a few people who work from home, and in all cases it is a perk. Which is fine; but I don't have a choice other than to work from home, and nobody is going to give a "perk" to someone who's just joined the company (and if they did, I would expect considerable resentment for being treated above my station). Disability discrimination in this country is illegal, but you'd really never guess. It's so easy to get away with it that almost all employers do as a matter of course.
It doesn't really matter. Nobody is going to stop me doing my best to make the world a better place. In this case, it involves entertaining a few people and making them laugh; and, when you think about it, you can't really put a price on that.
