From the Editor's Desk
Hi and
welcome once again to Fiction Factor! And, as always,
welcome to our new subscribers.
Last weekend I was invited to watch a delightful version
of the musical "Les Miserables"
performed by the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of South
Australia. I've seen this musical several times before in
various states around Australia, but the wonderful cast
and crew made this a truly memorable experience! I
wouldn't have missed it for anything. The actor who
played Jean Valjean should be commended for his
magnificent portrayal - and his beautiful voice.
If you haven't been fortunate enough to see "Les
Mis" performed on the stage, I strongly suggest
you find where it's playing near to you. It's an
emotional tale that doesn't translate to the screen at
all (the movie and the musical film weren't worth the
effort in my opinion).
On the way home from the show I noticed one of my friends
happily whistling the rousing tune to "Do You
Hear the People Sing?". It occurred to me that
the composer had done a great job in portraying a
multitude of emotions and sweeping the audience along for
the ride - from heartbreak to triumph - using words and
music combined. The composition was strong enough to
linger in my friend's head well beyond the finale of the
play and out into the carpark.
The next morning I woke and stood in the shower unaware
that the tune from the same song was replaying in my own
head...
Images of actors parading around the stage in front of a
mock baricade with a French flag waving defiantly during
the height of the rebellion still replayed in my head the
next day. I didn't even realize I was smiling at the
memories of the play.
And then it occurred to me the composers had done a great
job in invoking a sense of pride in the young men of the
rebellion and sympathy for the plight of poor Jean
Valjean long after the play had finished. Using music and
words, the creators of the musical had succeeded in
making at least one member of the audience relive the
moment the next day.
So how does a fiction writer succeeed in doing the same
thing using only words without the benefit of
mood-inducing music? How does a fiction writer succeed in
making the reader relive the moment long after the story
is finished, after the book is closed and the day ended?
A novel writer doesn't have the benefit of mournful music
to portray sadness or an orchestra to pull at the violins
in a moment of romance. A writer has only words on a page
to pull a reader into the moment and hold them there
until the end.
It's the words we choose to tell our tales that can
either draw a reader in and hold him to the last page or
make a reader put down the book and switch on the TV
instead. Next time your sitting down to write, think
about the words you choose to tell your tale and how
those words will affect your readers.
After all, your readers are your audience and as a writer
the goal is to captivate your audience until The End.
Update on the site upgrades: Last issue
I told you that during the past three months I've been
working hard with designers, programmers, web-hosts and
web-coders to come up with a new website design that's
flexible enough - and big enough - to cope with a
complete overhaul of all Fiction Factor's 10 writing
sites. It's been a difficult and time-consuming process,
but after three months, we finally have some success! The
new formats are a lot more streamlined - and the coding
behind it all will allow us to continue to grow as our
content expands and our visitor numbers grow.
The first of the site upgrades to be rolled out will be
Freelance Factor. The smaller site has coped very well
with the changes to format and coding, so during the next
week it will go live for checking and monitoring. If all
goes well, the bigger sites will follow very soon after
(hopefully).
Because the new formats won't go live until the entire
content is transposed to the new templates, I won't
upload anything to the 'net until I'm sure it's all
functioning how it should be functioning, but if you'd
like a sneak-peek at what the new format looks like, you
can check it out here: http://www.freelancefactor.com/sneakpeek.html
Now to find enough spare time to get the rest of the
sites completed...
Enough of that. Let's get onto the writing stuff!
Did you know that the topics featured in each issue of
Fiction Factor are chosen from the most active topics on
our forum each month? The forum is always busy and
everyone's very friendly and helpful. If you have a
writing question, feel free to ask. Not only will
everyone do their best to help you out, but we'll
probably end up featuring it in the ezine as well!
http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com
This issue Holly Lisle looks at how to find your novel's
pulse. Kristy Taylor looks at getting your short fiction
published and Laura College tackles how to end your
novel.
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
"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't
quit."
-- Richard Bach
 Create-A-Character
Clinic
Can you create a great character that editors
can't turn down?
Holly Lisle can and she can show you how too!
Learn to bring all your characters to life with
sparkle - from a full-time author of more than 30
published novels!
Click here for more
details: http://tinyurl.com/yqqawa
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 I Wanna Win!
Tips for becoming an award-winning author,
written by an award-winning author!
Whether you want to win contests of simply hone
your writing skills, this ebook can help you
today!
Click here to begin winning today! http://tinyurl.com/2nc3f6
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Does Your Novel Have a Pulse?
by Holly Lisle
The best novels you've
ever read---the ones that stuck in your mind and kept you
going back to re-read them, that made you think, that
made you feel, maybe that scared your socks off---were
not about what they were about.
Sound cryptic? It is, sort
of. Novels that change the way you look at the world were
written by novelists who had things going on underneath
that they were working through on paper. Angry divorces,
fights at work, health problems, fears for their kids,
rage at politics and injustice, fear of war, loss of
loved ones---the whole gamut of human trials and
tribulations.
Some of these novelists
knew they were burying their struggles in their books,
some didn't. But while they were writing about running
into elves in the deep woods or opening a door to find
themselves looking down the barrel of a gun, they were
telling two stories. The one you read, and the one they
lived. While you were reading, you felt the second,
hidden story. That's why you keep going back to the book,
and why you can't get it out of your head. Your gut knows
there's more in that book than meets the eye.
Do you want to write books
that keep readers reading, that keep them thinking, that
let them look at the world through different eyes? Do you
want to find the stories beneath the stories in your own
work, and make sure you put them in there on purpose,
instead of accidentally hitting one just right, and never
again knowing how you got there?
This is doable. It's not
comfortable---few things worth doing ever are. But it is
a repeatable process. And here's where you start. Read
each step below, and write down your answers.
STEP
ONE:
Plato had it right when he
said, "Know thyself." You don't get to have a
starry-eyed vision of yourself as this nearly-perfect
person if you're going to write meaningful books. You
have to dig deep.
* You have to figure out
what YOU did wrong in every relationship that went south
on you. (Innocent victimhood is worthless as a
novel-writing perspective. You end up with passive main
characters who do nothing, and books that bore readers to
death. So accept the truth that you have been and done
wrong in your life, and buy your characters some
credibility.)
* You have to admit to
moments when you lied, and not make excuses about why you
did it.
* You have to recall the
people you hurt.
* And admit the things you
did that you should not have done.
* And face the things you
did not do that you should have.
This is a no-excuses zone.
You did what you did, you meant to do it, consequences
resulted and those were your fault.
Is this process all
negative? No. But you'll already remember all your
greatest moments; saving a life, sacrificing to help
someone else, opening doors for old ladies, teaching
Seeing Eye dogs for the blind. Those are great. And your
readers will believe your characters do those things
when, and only when, you have first proved that your
characters are human. Humans are not perfect. We all know
this about each other, even if we don't like to admit it
about ourselves. But we know a real character when we
read one, and this is where you find real characters.
STEP
TWO:
You've admitted who you
are. Now discover who you need to be, what you need to
have, and what you dread...
You can read the
online version of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/pulse.html
 Create A Plot
Clinic
Have you ever lost interest in your story only 20
pages from the start and not know how to get it
going again?
Best Selling Author of more than 30 novels, Holly
Lisle, can show you exactly how to structure your
story for maximum effect. Learn to fix problem
plotting while you write!
Jump Start your novel today: http://tinyurl.com/2z3ant
|
 How To Write Page-Turning
Scenes
Let Holly Lisle, author of more than 30
novels, teach you how to write page-turning
scenes that keep your readers up long past their
bedtimes.
Set up great conflict
and sustain suspense that will keep readers on
the edge of their seats - and have editors
begging for more!
Click here for more details: http://tinyurl.com/492sx5
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How to End Your Novel
By Laura College
Have you ever read a book with an unsatisfying ending?
Annoying, isn’t it? You’ve just read this
exciting, emotionally draining and captivating novel,
then arrived at the end only to be left hanging on the
edge of a precipice. What happened to the characters?
Were all of the problems resolved? The ending to a novel
is almost as important as the beginning.
How to End Your Novel with Dialogue
Some of the most wonderful novels have ended with
dialogue. The main character says something witty or
funny, and you close the book feeling like all has ended
well. Dialogue can be a powerful way to end your novel as
long as you do it creatively.
The best type of dialogue with which to end a novel is
closure; the last phrase gives both the reader and the
characters a sense of finality, which signals that the
story is over. You’ll see this done fairly often in
movies, and it can be just as attractive at the end of a
novel.
Just make sure, if you end your novel with dialogue, that
you haven’t left any questions unanswered, and that
the previous prose brought the story to a close.
Personally, ending a novel with a question seems cheap,
as though you are cheating the reader.
How to End Your Novel with Prose
This is the most popular way to end a novel because it
allows the author to say everything that needs to be
said. For example, you can end your novel with an
Epilogue that explains what happened after the final
scene in your novel. It can project days, months or years
in the future, which is especially helpful in a romance
novel.
If, however, your novel does not require an epilogue, you
can simply bring it to a close in the present. The
characters have solved the mystery or thwarted the great
evil, which means that there isn’t anything left to
say.
You can see
the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/end.html
 Did
you know...
Authors who have sold short stories have
a 92% higher chance of having a novel accepted by
an editor or publisher?
Lee Masterson's step-by-step ebook can show you
how.
Click here for more details: http://www.fictionfactor.com/order2.html
|
 How To Find Your Writing
Discipline
Have you always wanted to write - but
can't find the time?
Do you keep making excuses for why you can't
write?
No matter what's going on in your life, Holly can
help you find the discipline to write your novel!
Get writing today! http://tinyurl.com/6fwvuu
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Getting Your Short Fiction
Published: The Hard Truth
by Kristy Taylor
The short
story market is one of the hardest to break into. There
are thousands of well-known writers pumping out short
fiction, and thousands more just like you, struggling to
get themselves published for the first time. But there
are several things you can do to set yourself apart from
the rest and start working your way to the head of the
pack.
Attention
to Detail
First things first, make sure your manuscript is
professional. Use a plain, 12-point font, times new roman
is the norm. Double-line space the entire manuscript and
only left-justify your text. Use a minimum one inch
margin on both sides of the page, and top and bottom. Put
your name, address and contact number in the top
right-hand corner of the coversheet, put your story's
title and your byline in the centre of the page. Rights
being offered should go on the bottom-left corner and
approximate word count on the right. Thereafter, make
sure the first three words of the title and the page
number appears in the page header on the right-hand side.
Place your title about two-thirds of the way down the
first page, your byline immediately underneath, and start
your story one double-spaced line below that.
If this manuscript was for a short story competition you
would normally need to remove the coversheet and delete
any occurrences of your name from the final draft. Though
you should always check the competition's guidelines as
some do differ.
If you can submit an error-free, professional-looking
document, you will already have beat out all the dreamers
who think they'll get their story noticed if it's printed
on pink paper, bordered with little stars, or
hand-written in old gothic. None of these strategies will
give you an edge; they will only make you look too
eccentric to be worth an editor's trouble.
Choosing
a Title
Though an editor may want to change your title, a title
can sometimes make or break your entire submission. Don't
alienate yourself by selecting a title like 'My Dog
Rover,' or 'The Story of My Father.' Instead, go for
something mysterious or edgy, like 'Bark the Dead Down,'
or 'The Meanest Old Bastard from Here to Melbourne.'
Know
When to Take Instruction
Get on-line, not just
for e-publishing, but for print publications as well.
Find out what your target publishers are looking for in
terms of genre and submission criteria, such as format
and word length. You would be surprised at how many new
writers will attempt to submit a piece that is 3,000
words too long, or is on a topic completely unrelated to
the regular content of the publication they are
attempting to break into. If you can follow a publisher's
submission criteria to the letter and are sensitive to
what their publication is trying to accomplish, you will
find yourself pulling even further ahead of the other
writers.
However, you don't always have to listen to the dictates
of publishers. Many editors will tell you that if you are
submitting a piece to them, do not submit it to any other
publisher at the same time. If they find out they have
been wasting their time on your piece while you've gone
with another publisher, they could blacklist you.
Although, authors will tell you a different story. Rather
than having eager publishers fighting over your work, the
truth is that you will probably submit your story, wait
for months to hear from the publisher, and then get a
letter of rejection. Is your time really that much less
valuable than that of an editor? Experienced authors say
submit, submit, submit. Just be sure to keep a list of
all the places you have sent your manuscript so you can
withdraw it if you get lucky.
You can see the rest of this article here: http://short.fictionfactor.com/articles/shortfiction.html
(this
link will take you to Short-Fiction Factor)
Review
of A Time To...Volume 2
edited by Carol Hightshoe
reviewed by Tina Morgan
Carol
Hightshoe continues to amaze me with the quality of
stories she chooses for her e-zines: The Sorcerous
Signal and The Lorelei Signal. She's brought another delightful
collection together to commemorate the second year of
publication. In "A Time 2" the stories are
well-written, thought provoking and moving. While many of
the authors are new, their style and delivery is rich and
strong.
Well worth the time and money, A Time 2 is a must read
for the science fiction and fantasy lover. I'm looking
forward to the next anthology...
You can
read the full review here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/reviews/timeto2.html
 Writers Wanted!
Great Pay Quick Jobs
Best Selling Author Nick Daws exposes
little-known writing markets willing to pay great
rates for writers willing to work now!
Click here for more details: http://tinyurl.com/tr2ga
|
 How to Beat
Writer's Block
Writer's Block isn't just about being stuck
wordless - it's the thought of all the hard work
ahead of you bringing you down
But you can bring back the thrill of creating
stories easily with Holly Lisle's audio course on
beating writer's block for good!
Click Here to jump start your writing again: http://tinyurl.com/5b9b39
|
Writer's Announcements
If you have any writing news or
announcements about your successes with writing, we'd
love to hear about it! Post your publishing announcements
on our forum and we'll get them in the newsletter for
everyone to see!
You can add your Woo-Hoo to our Announcement Forum Board
here:
Writer's
Announcements - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?showforum=6
This week's news:
Tina Morgan, along
with Jeanne Allen, Piers Anthony, Milena Benini, Orson
Scott Card, Ian Irvine, Wil McCarthy, Simon Rose, Carol
Heightshoe, Bud Sparhawk, Michele Acker, Bob Nailor,
Michael McRae, Darin Park and Kim Richards are very
pleased to announce their collaborative book, The Complete Guide
To Writing Science Fiction, was awarded the 2008 Eppie Award for the
Non-Fiction: Self-Help Category.
Lee of Fiction Factor writes: I couldn't help
myself - I had to put our very own Fiction Factor woo hoo
in the announcements section - we made the Writer's
Digest Top 101 listing AGAIN! Woo hoo! :)
Judy Reveal writes: On April 1, 2008,
"Cheating Death" by Judy Reveal became a
reality as an ebook and will be published as a paper
version later this summer and will soon be available for
KindleBooks via Amazon.com
Congratulations everyone! Jump over to the forum and keep
the great news coming!
~ "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug
used by mankind." -- Rudyard Kipling ~
Writing Courses
You can see the full list
of available courses here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/courses.html
How to Beat Writer's Block - and Have Fun Writing
from Now On!
Have you ever wanted to shut out your pesky Inner Critic
and just enjoy the pure creativity of writing? It's
easier than you think - once you know how. Presented by a
best-selling author of more than 30 published novels,
Holly Lisle will guide you through breaking Writer's
Block, re-connecting with your Muse, learn to get past
what was stalling you in the first place and enjoy
writing again.
Click
Here for your course and your bonuses!: http://tinyurl.com/26uy95
Writing
Great Horror Novels!
Join a multi-award winning, best-selling horror author
Kenyon Charboneaux and learn what it takes to write great
horror novels! Limited spaces available - be quick!
http://horror.fictionfactor.com/course.html (This link will take
you to Horror Factor)
Romance Writing Course
Increase your chances of writing a great romance
manuscript and having it accepted for publication. Join
our romance course today and launch your romance writing
career!
http://romance.fictionfactor.com/course.html - (this link will take you to Romance Factor)
 Write Any Book
in Under 28 Days
Best Selling Author Nick Daws has written 30
books in 3 years. He can show you how too!
Click here for more details:
http://www.fictionfactor.com/bookstore/28days.html
|
 Create-A-Culture
Clinic
Have you ever wanted to create your own
realistic world? Best-selling author of more than
30 novels shows you how to create religions,
philosophies, governments and lifestyles that
will make your fiction story feel real!
Click here for more details: http://tinyurl.com/26uy95
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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)
Haunted Legends
One-time print anthology to be printed by Tor
Books is seeking to reinvigorate the genre of
"true" regional ghost stories by asking some of
today's leading writers to riff on traditional tales from
around the world. We don't just want you to retell an old
ghost story, but to renovate it so that the story is dark
and unsettling all over again.
Payment is 6 cents (US) per word up to 8,000 words.
Reading period opens July 15. Do not submit before.
Deadline is July 31 2008.
Please read guidelines carefully before submitting.
(besides they're actually quite amusing guidelines...)
Submission Guidelines: http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1098831.html
Jim Baen's Universe
http://www.baensuniverse.com/subguide.html
Looking for Sci-Fi and Fantasy with popular appeal.
May submit via e-mail or via forum at website; forum at
website recommended for writers not yet pro by SFWA
standards. E-mail submissions should be *.rtf or *.doc
files. One slot each issue reserved for non-pro writers.
Pay differs between solicited and unsolicited stories.
Pay rate for Unsolicited Manuscripts: any length, pays
8-15 cents US.
Pay rate for commissioned stories:
• For the first 5000 words, we'll pay 25 cents a
word. That comes to $1,250
• For the next 5000 words (i.e., from 5-10K), we'll
pay 15 cents a word. That comes to $750, or a cumulative
payment of $2000 for a story that was 10K words long.
• For the next 10,000 words (i.e., from 10-20K),
we'll pay 10 cents a word. That comes to $1000, or a
cumulative payment of $3000 for a short novella that was
20K words long.
• For the next 20,000 words (i.e., from 20-40K),
we'll pay 8 cents a word. That comes to $1600, or a
cumulative payment of $4600 for a short novel that was
40K long.
• Anything longer than that, we'll pay 6 cents a
word.
Our rates are lower for stories that we buy from
unsolicited manuscripts, whether submitted through the
submission form or the Slush conference. They range from
8 to 15 cents a word depending on various factors.
Submission Guidelines: http://baensuniverse.com/subguide.html
Interfictions
2
http://christopherbarzak.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/a-call-for-stories/
The Interstitial Arts Foundation will be publishing a
second volume of Interfictions. We invite submissions for
an Anthology of Interstitial Fiction, to be published by
Small Beer Press under the auspices of the Interstitial
Arts Foundation in ??? of 2009.
What We’re Looking For:
Interstitial Fiction is all about breaking
rules, ignoring boundaries, cross-pollinating the fields
of literature. It’s about working between, across,
through, and at the edges and borders of literary genres,
including fiction and non-fiction. It falls between the
cracks of other movements, terms, and definitions. If you
have a story idea that’s impossible to describe in a
couple of sentences, it may be interstitial.
We’re looking for previously unpublished stories
that engage us and make us think about literature in new
ways. Rather than defining “interstitial” for
you, we’d like you to show us what genre-bending
fiction looks like.
Our submission period will be from October 1, 2008 to
December 2, 2008. Do Not Submit Before!
Heliotrope
http://www.heliotropemag.com
Heliotrope Magazine is looking for exceptional fiction
that does not exceed 5,000 words. We are most interested
in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery and Horror. If your
story is somewhere in between or is something you
can’t label – we are interested in that as
well. We pay 10 cents a word for fiction. Payment will be
made upon publication and in U.S. currency.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.heliotropemag.com/node/2
Brio
Magazine
http://www.briomag.com/
Seeking
short fiction up to 2,000 words to suit teenaged girls.
Romance stories, sibling rivalry and situations faced
daily by teen girls are especially welcomed. Brio’s
target audience is teenaged girls from 12-15 and Brio
& Beyond’s target audience is older teenaged
girls from 16-19.
Both Brio and Brio & Beyond pay between 15 and 35
cents per word on acceptance.
Submission Guidelines: (downloadable) http://www.family.org/sharedassets/correspondence/pdfs/GeneralInformation/Brio_Writers_Guidelines.pdf
Aphrodite
Unlaced
http://www.aphroditeunlaced.com
Aphrodite
Unlaced is now accepting exclusive submissions for
publication of sophisticated, romantic erotica. We seek
contemporary, historical, mystery and paranormal genres.
We do not seek works dealing with aliens, sci-fi, horror
(vampires, werewolves) or futuristic fantasy. Selected
works will be offered as e-books for individual online
purchase and download. We're seeking writers, experienced
and new, who can supply some serious HEAT, but within a
selective romantic framework. We're looking for
provocative tales that are sensual, smart, and above all,
sexy.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.aphroditeunlaced.com/guidelines.htm
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