From the Editor's Desk
Hi and
welcome once again to Fiction Factor! And, as always,
welcome to our new subscribers.
It might surprise some of
you to know that I read a lot of writing-related ezines,
magazines, websites and books. Then again, it might not.
I'm often curious to see how the trends change over time,
how the 'rules' continue to constrict and tighten the
boundaries of the fun creative side of writing that drew
most of us into fiction in the first place.
Publishing trends change and reader preferences go
through phases. The slasher-fest horror phases has ended,
the sweeping epic fantasy phase is gone for another
couple of years. We're suffering through a glut of
romantic-paranormal novels right now that is sure to give
way very soon to yet another phase in reader preferences.
Many writers try to write novels they believe will be
commercially viable. They aim at what's popular on the
shelves right now and attempt to write within that genre,
hoping this will increase their chances of receiving a
publishing contract. They hope publishers will be more
willing to buy even more books within the
current-favorite genre to fill up the bookstore shelves.
The problem with this logic is that the books you see on
the shelves today were bought by publishing houses two
years ago. From the time they buy a manuscript from an
author, go through the editing stage and then create
galleys to be checked, moving onto the printing and
publication stage and finally through to distribution can
take years. Even though you might see them on the shelves
today, those types of books might not be what editors are
buying today.
So what's a writer to do?
Regardless of what's popular or selling well or 'in
phase' at the moment, write the story you want to read.
Write your novel based on the type of books you enjoy
reading. Ignore the trends - after all, they always come
back around again, so the market will still be there.
Most importantly, enjoy what you're writing.
Let's get into this issue's writing articles.
This issue Lee Masterson looks at some basic storytelling
lessons. Ronnie Smith asks if self-published authors
should tell literary agents about their self-published
books and Terry W. Ervin II offers some suggestions for
how to get through the waiting process after you've
submitted a manuscript.
It's time now to grab a beverage of choice, sit back, and
enjoy this issue of Fiction Factor!
Lee Masterson
Editor-in-Chief
http://www.fictionfactor.com
Pop by and hi to me on
Facebook. I enjoy getting to know our readers! http://www.facebook.com/people/Lee-Masterson/1569278962
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Storytelling
by
Lee Masterson
There is so much information circulating on the Internet
about the right (or wrong) way to write a novel. How much
time do you spend reading through all the rules?
Are you wondering if you need to pay good money for yet
another course that promises to give you all the success
secrets just in case you’re missing out on that
vital piece of information or hidden rule that you really
need to finish your novel?
It’s no wonder many writers feel inundated.
Think about it. It must be intimidating for some writers
to sit down at the computer and contemplate writing when
they have to remember to include great characterization
tips, plotting and structure, novel theme, premise and
concept and then try to incorporate narrative and
exposition. All of these rules bombard them before
they’ve even written one word of story.
On top of all these concepts already tumbling around in
the memory banks, writers are also encouraged to remember
that dialogue needs to uncover your character’s
personality and childhood traumas at the same time as
revealing motives as well as moving the plot forward.
In amongst all these rules and regulations, writers are
also expected to tell a brilliantly woven tale that needs
to include drama, conflict, tension and a great climactic
scene before the big resolution wrap up.
During the writing process, so many writers worry about
the manuscript’s format and attracting an agent.
Then there’s the decision to submit to traditional
publishers or self-publish.
Just stop for a moment. It’s all become far too
hard.
Let’s get right back down to basics. Writing a novel
is about story telling. Readers buy books to enjoy a good
story. So let’s work on story-telling.
There are three simple lessons you need in order to
complete your story-telling education. Everything else is
incidental.
Are you ready for them?
Storytelling Lesson #1 – Read.
Read. The more you read, the more your own writing style
will improve. You’ll begin to notice how the authors
you enjoy put together sentences and dialogue. You should
notice how and when characters do the things they do that
you either loved or hated. You’ll start recognizing
when something is boring or when you simply can’t
put a book down.
You could elucidate that the spectacularly, amazingly
written tome you recently completed perusing sounded
rather overly pretentious in an effort to reverberate
strongly within the reader’s consciousness and
display the brilliant intelligence of the author, albeit
making sure every sentence is incredibly long and
awkward.
Or you could notice that well-chosen nouns have more
power over adjectives for getting your point across.
Simple words are best to showcase your story. Short
sentences have impact.
Don’t just stick to reading your favorite
writer’s books. Read different authors and different
styles and learn a bit about what makes the story
interesting to you. Re-read old favorites you enjoyed and
attempt to read books you put down out of boredom.
Your writing will benefit from reading stories told by
other authors.
Storytelling Lesson #2 – Be Your Unique Self
“Just follow what I did. After all, that’s
how I ended up a major success with books on the New York
Times best-seller list with Hollywood agents and
producers chasing me for screenplays”.
Have you just finished reading a set of instructional
writing tips where the person writing has told you how
brilliant they are and how wonderful their own career is
– and then expects you to follow everything they
just did?
Every writer is a unique human being with a very
different story to tell. Even if you think your plot
sounds a little like someone else’s, the words you
choose to tell your tale will be your own. Nobody else
can ever write those but you.
There’s no point trying to follow the steps someone
else took to reach their particular level of success. You
don’t know how many people they stepped on along the
way, how many friends they lost or how unscrupulous they
had to be to get there. You don’t know what dirty
lengths they went to in order to pester and annoy some of
those agents or editors or producers just to notice their
name.
Are those things you want to copy for your writing career
too?
You can read the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/story-telling.html
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Self-Publishing:
Should You Tell Literary Agents and Editors About Your
Self-Published Book?
by Ronnie Smith
Listing your self-published book in the writing bio
section of your cover or query letter may not be the best
idea when you're trying to impress literary agents and
editors. Before you mention your self-published book or
books, you need to be certain you're not doing more harm
than good.
Finishing a book is a huge achievement-self-publishing a
novel or book manuscript can also be an accomplishment
worthy of real celebration and joy. However, unless your
project has been exceptionally successful, you could
shoot yourself in the foot if you mention your
self-published book in your cover or query letters to
literary agents and editors. Here are a few possibilities
to consider before announcing your self-publications in
your query and cover letters.
Practice books. Publishing professionals
know that it can take a few tries before a new writer is
able to master the many complexities of writing a
full-length book. Although you may adore your first few
novels, a literary agent will likely look at them as
"practice" books, not necessarily as fresh,
high-quality projects that reach the top percentile.
Practice books are important life achievements, but they
are not to be confused with important publishing credits
worthy of being listed in a query letter.
Low sales = low enthusiasm. If you
self-publish a book but then are not able to sell a
significant number of copies, literary agents will have a
hard time being excited about it, or they will presume
that you have not done the necessary marketing. If you
can't inspire readers' enthusiasm, an editor may doubt
that you can inspire his/her enthusiasm.
Negative Presumptions. Some
self-published novels have done quite well. Many have
become wildly popular, but keep in mind that they are the
exception to the rule. The fact remains that the quality
of self-published novels as a whole doesn't compare to
the quality of novels that have been vetted and edited at
traditional publishing houses. In other words, if you
align yourself with the legions of others who have
self-published, agents may presume your writing is weak.
Also, agents may worry that you no longer hold all rights
to your self-published book if you don't specify
otherwise.
Cutting Corners. Many people
self-publish because they think it's easier than dealing
with the submission process (though that's not always the
case). There's some concern that a writer who has
self-published is a writer who would rather settle for
second-best and cut corners than go the distance. Low
sales indicate lackluster motivation. Literary agents
want to work with passionate, driven people who will stop
at nothing to reach their dreams of being successful
writers.
You can
read the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/self-publishing.html
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On Waiting: Suggestions For Writers
by Terry W. Ervin II
You’ve just submitted your short story after several
days spent locating the perfect market. Now what do you
do? Common advice suggests that you begin another project
and write while you’re waiting for a response.
Makes sense, but there’s that nasty, dreaded
seven-lettered word in the previous sentence. Waiting.
It’s often followed by the question: How long should
I wait? Then the next question: Wait for how
long…until I do what?
Do I begin thinking about other potential markets? Do I
query about the status of my submission? Do I pull my
story?
A lot of questions, to which I don’t have all of the
answers. Every writer’s situation is different. But
I do have a few suggestions.
1. Do you begin thinking about other potential
markets?
No. The best way to handle this is to make a list of
potential markets while finding the first one to submit
your story to. Note in the list items such as rate of
pay, windows of when the market may be open to
submissions, print or online (or both), and any notes
about stories or information provided in the guidelines
that caught your attention. Jot it all down because in a
few months with other projects at the forefront,
you’ll forget.
If you stumble across another potential market for the
story already out, add it to the list. What this does is
help resist the urge to invest time surfing online for a
‘just in case I get rejected’ market. This is
true even if you’ve submitted to markets that accept
simultaneous submissions.
2. Do you query about the status of your
submission?
No. At least not right away. Sure, the submission
guidelines may indicate a response time of three months.
Sometimes it’ll even happen, and if so, more often
if the story is rejected. Editors mean well and do the
best they can. But, in addition to the hundreds of slush
submissions a month, they are also editing and formatting
already bought stories and dealing with printers,
budgets, contracts, distribution, advertisement and more.
Often assigned slush editors sift through the pile,
weeding out the stories that are not well written,
incorrect genre, don’t conform to the guidelines
(wrong file type, weird fonts and spacing, etc.),
aren’t quite good enough and a variety of other
reasons earning the submission a rejection letter. The
slush editors pass on up those they see having potential
to make the cut into a new, ever-growing-never-ending
pile waiting for attention.
Beyond that, sending a status query to the editor on the
exact day the posted guidelines say a submission
should’ve been read may not win you any points. It
is another hassle an editor has to deal with. Editors are
dealing with dozens of issues mentioned above, including
their own deadlines—such as meeting press dates and
paying bills. Why involve themselves with a writer who
could potentially make the experience of running a
magazine/ezine/anthology a little more unpleasant,
especially if the content or tone of the status query is
questionable?
What to do? Be patient. Check websites such as Duotrope (
http://www.duotrope.com ), Submitting to the
Black Hole ( http://brain-of-pooh.tech-soft.com/critters/blackholes/ ) and Ralan’s
Webstravaganza ( http://www.ralan.com/ ). There you can
find information on what to expect from different
markets, such as shortest, longest and average time for a
submission to be read and accepted or rejected, rates of
acceptance and rejection, and if a market has closed its
doors, among other things.
If you do decide to contact a market about the status of
your submission, if for no other reason than to know if
it did arrive (yes, this question does bounce around just
about every writer’s frontal lobe and on very rare
occasions weird things do happen in cyberspace), provide
the relevant information for them to easily search and
identify your story. Title of the work, genre, author
name, date of submission, return email address are all
important. In your contact be brief and polite.
You can
read the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/waiting.html
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Adding Character Depth Through
Perception
by
Lee Masterson
How do
you describe your character's physical appearance? It's
not always easy to describing your characters without
resorting to the cliched "She looked in the mirror
and saw..."
Likewise, setting the scene for each part of your story
is an important element of building your fictional world.
In fact, some authors go to great lengths to describe the
weather patterns, the scenery and the passing traffic in
detail so that the reader has a sense of the world around
the characters.
This kind of descriptive narrative can sometimes be long
and cumbersome. It can also bog down the pace of your
story if not done right - especially when all the experts
are saying Show - don't tell!
Many authors are careful to explain exactly what is going
on in their fictional worlds. What people look like, what
objects around them look like, what characters are
thinking about, how the weather is behaving, the precise
color of an object, what characters are seeing around
them... This means the author is telling the reader what
to see.
But not many authors actually take the time to write HOW
their characters are seeing the things that are going on
around them. This is where the author should be showing
the reader what's happening. Your own characters are a
perfect tool to use when you need to show events or
appearances or even moods.
Let me explain...
Every person on the planet sees life through their own
personal perceptions. How they choose to interpret those
perceptions is largely up to that person and can be
affected by a multitude of factors.
These differing perceptions are what make us unique as
human beings. What excites one person may repel another.
What one person sees as attractive, another may find
repulsive. What one character yearns for may send another
character into panic attacks.
For example: A sunny day might brighten
the mood of one character and seriously frighten a person
with a phobia of skin cancer. The same sunny day would
therefore have a completely different effect on the
latter character and would skew many of his other
perceptions, too.
The same is true for personal relationship preferences.
Some people are attracted to curvaceous women, while
others are repelled by them. Still others prefer the
gorgeous occidental features of Asian people while others
veer toward the svelte, slinky blonde types.
Because we all have such different tastes and opinions,
these perceptions of what we find appealing and
unappealing will color your descriptions of those things.
Remembering to use these differences in character
perspective can add depth to your characters by showing
your readers much about their personalities - all without
actually using narrative to TELL your readers what's
going on.
Show, Don't Tell
So how does a writer show things happening, or describe
another character, without resorting to large chunks of
descriptive narrative AND remember to add the unique
perspective of the character at the same time?
The simple answer is: Dialogue.
When your characters talk to each other, you should be
using the opportunity to express much more than simply
words. Dialogue can propel your plotline, it can
highlight the importance of conflicts, it can show
character perspective and it can show the reader many
other things - all at once.
"I hate this miserable rain. All I can do is sit
around and mope in the house until it stops," Fred
said.
"If we run, we can get to the stream and catch
some frogs. The rain always brings out the frogs!"
Jack called.
In just two sentences within the dialogue tags, I have
(hopefully) conveyed something about the weather, given a
sense of the character's mood, described what the
character is doing, and given each character a unique
perspective on what is happening.
Both characters are viewing the rain in a completely
different way - and neither of the above examples
required lengthy blocks of narrative to achieve the same
effect.
Describing Physical Traits
"Jane tossed her long golden tresses over her
shoulder to flow down her slender back. Running the tip
of her tongue over wide, full lips, her emerald green
eyes glinted with a hint of promise to come and she
crossed her long, supple legs slowly."
"John ran a perfectly manicured hand through his
raven black hair, his sparkling blue eyes taking in every
inch of her..."
Have you ever read a book in which the characters are
described in unwieldy chunks of narrative as though they
were no more than cardboard cut-outs of a Barbie and Ken
promotional poster?
In over-exaggerated examples like the ones above, it is
obvious that the 'narrator' has stopped the story and
interrupted you - the reader! - to remind you how
fabulous the author wants you to think these people look.
The problem with this approach is the author has
forgotten that all readers have different opinions on
what's attractive. More importantly, her characters
should be the ones voicing their thoughts and
preferences.
So is it necessary to include these bland descriptions in
your narrative at all?
You can read the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/articles/perception.html
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~ "Words
are, of course, the most powerful drug used by
mankind." -- Rudyard Kipling ~
Writing Courses
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of available courses here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/courses.html
Writing
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~ "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best
friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." ~
~ Groucho Marx ~
Paying Market Listings
You can find the complete
Market Index here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/markets.html
Happy Market Hunting!
(Disclaimer: Mention of a market/ contest in Fiction
Factor is not necessarily an endorsement. Check all
guidelines in full before submitting)
The Way of the Wizard
http://www.johnjosephadams.com/?p=1760
One-time print anthology by Prime Books. Your story
should be about a wizard, witch, sorcerer, sorceress or
any user of magic. Stories should be no longer than 5,000
words
Pay: 5 cents per word plus 50% of earnings plus
contributor copy.
Deadline: 31st March 2010
Submission Guidelines: http://www.johnjosephadams.com/?p=1760
Art From Art
http://www.modernistpress.com/
This collection of short fiction by literary writers aims
to feature stories that are connected directly to - or
inspired by - a work of art. It could be a song, a
painting, a museum, an architectural monument, a
blueprint, a piece of writing - a play, novel, poem,
letter, etc. The art in question needs to be a major
component of the story - a character - within the fabric
of the story.
Deadline: 31st July 2009
Pay: Between $100-$200 based on author credits
Submission Guidelines: http://www.modernistpress.com/
Skulls and Crossbones
http://mindancerpress.wordpress.com/books/skulls-and-crossbones/
'Skulls and Crossbones' is a collection of short stories
that feature women pirates in any setting and any time
period. All stories should be between 4,000 and 7,000
words. Editors may consider reprints. Stories should NOT
focus on romantic hook-ups or erotica - rather the
editors prefer stories that feature adventure, intrigue,
battles, trickery, thievery and/or assorted banditry and
outlaw behavior.
Pay is $35 plus one contributor copy of anthology.
Deadline is 1st September 2009
Submission Guidelines: http://mindancerpress.wordpress.com/books/skulls-and-crossbones/
Shadows of the Emerald City
http://jwschnarr.webs.com/submissions.htm
Shadows of the Emerald City and The Terrible Wizard of Oz
is a new anthology featuring short HORROR stories based
in the world of Oz. Deconstruct the 'Wizard of Oz' and
the world it's based within however you choose. Include
blood and gore. Scare us. Disgust us. Be sure your
stories are under 10,000 words. Payment is $20US plus one
contributor copy. Anthology is purchasing one-time
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Deadline: 31st July 2009
Submission Guidelines: http://jwschnarr.webs.com/submissions.htm
Best Horror of the
Year, Vol. 2
http://www.ralan.com/antho/listings/besthorror09.htm
Annual print anthology is seeking reprints of horror
that were published throughout 2009. All branches of
horror will be considered, from traditional-supernatural
to the borderline, including high-tech sf horror,
supernatural, psychological horror, dark thrillers.
Guidelines are quite specific. Please read guidelines in
full prior to submitting.
Deadline: 15th December 2009
Submission Guidelines: http://www.ralan.com/antho/listings/besthorror09.htm
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