From the Editor's Desk
Hi and
welcome once again to Fiction Factor! And, as always,
welcome to our new subscribers.
This issue heralds the start of a whole lot of changes
for Fiction Factor. For the past 7 ½ years we've sent
our ezine to you in a plain text format. Many of you
appreciate this format as it's clean, easy and there's no
downloading hassles as with a HTML format. Unfortunately,
keeping to the plain text format means the information we
can send you each issue is limited by size restrictions.
So we've decided to trial a HTML format to see if we can
bring you even more content, along with some brand new
sections.
We'd love to hear your feedback and your thoughts about
the changes. You can add your feedback here:
Feedback - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?c=6
You'll also notice a few other changes around the Fiction
Factor websites over the next few months. We're
undergoing a massive renovation and overhaul right now
that won't be visible for a few more months, but there
are plenty of changes going on behind the scenes. We hope
to bring you a searchable article database to make it
easier to find exactly what you're looking for amongst
our hundreds of articles. We're also working hard on a
new format for our community forum and a new streamlined
look to the website. It's going to be fun. We'll keep you
updated as the changes happen.
We're also launching a new segment in the newsletter -
the"Writer's Announcements" section.
We receive so many emails from writers letting us know
about successes they've had with publishing or with
writing in general that we've decided to congratulate
them publicly. If you'd like you post your own writing
announcement and perhaps see it listed in the newsletter,
feel free to add your news to our forum listing, along
with a link to your site or your work. What better way to
let people know about what you're doing?
Here's the link: Writer's Announcements - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?showforum=6
Keep in mind that this is your ezine too. We value your
comments and we'd love to hear any feedback you have on
our upcoming changes. Let us know what you think, what
you'd prefer to see and what you'd like us to keep the
same. We opened the feedback forum so you can post your
thoughts and also see what others are thinking. Here's
that link again: Feedback - http://fictionfactor.1.forumer.com/index.php?c=6
Well - It's that time of year again. Nominations for the
Writer's Digest's 101 Best Sites of The Year are now
open. If you appreciate our website, please consider
nominating Fiction Factor for a listing.
Simply send your nomination, along with the following
information to: writersdig@fwpubs.com -
Subject "101 Best Sites" -
Message body: "I would like to nominate Fiction
Factor http://www.fictionfactor.com for the Top 101 Writing Sites of
the Year!"
Let's get into the writing stuff:
This issue Vicki Hinze looks at common mechanical
pitfalls many writers fall victim to when submitting
work. Kurt Mortensen looks at the four essential phases
of creating a great story.
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 ~
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Common Mechanical Pitfalls
by Vicki Hinze
When asked, a group of editors from top
publishing houses, responded that the following are the
most often seen mechanical errors in works submitted by
authors.
By removing these errors from our works, we greatly
enhance our potential for publication—and strengthen
our writing skills.
Author Intrusion, Filtering, Passive Voice.
Use the active voice in writing. Avoid weak verbs:
"to be" and its variants: was, are, is. This
puts the reader on-scene, makes what’s happening,
happen now. Author intrusion reminds the reader she’s
reading, hence you lose immediacy, empathy between
reader/character.
Show, don’t tell applies.
Watchwords: thought, wondered,
considered, realized, and the like.
Example:
Filtered: She realized she’d breached the point
of no return.
She had to kill him.
Unfiltered, no intrusion: The point of no return. She
had to kill him.
Autonomous Body Parts.
Parts of a character’s body cannot act alone. The
character must lift her hands, dart her gaze, tiptoe.
Otherwise, the visual images created in the reader’s
mind are horror. Disconnected body parts shouldn’t
move without the character’s body being attached.
Example:
Her eyes roamed around the room.
Corrected: She let her gaze roam around the room.
(Eyes shouldn’t roam. Use gaze. Note that she caused
this roaming. In this corrected version, her eyes didn’t
act autonomously or independent of her.)
Cause before Effect, Reaction before Action,
Syntax Error.
Whatever the reader reads first on the page, happens
first in the readers mind. This error occurs when the
reaction to something, say fear, is written down before
the action causing the fear, say a hissing snake. Or when
the effect is shown before the cause prompting that
effect.
Watchwords are: when, as, before,
during, while, until, after, and since.
To correct this error, simply flip-flop the phrases to be
sure you list cause then effect, action then reaction.
Use of names in dialogue.
When conversing, people don’t often use names. To be
clear about who’s speaking, give the character a
distinct voice, an outstanding feature, and use action
tags. Have character do something with an object and use
it to make it clear to the reader who’s talking.
This writer’s tool does double duty: tags the
speaker and creates an illusion of action. Body language
is an extremely effective method.
Avoid: Figure, Frame, and Presence.
This editorial Pet Peeve doesn’t show up as often
now as it once did.
Don’t write: He leaned his massive frame against
the door.
Do write: He leaned against the door.
A point: When is the last time you saw a hunk and
thought: Wow, what a nice frame?
Separate Actions.
Keep actions separate, otherwise you risk having the
character do the physically impossible. "And"
can be a wicked abuser of this mechanical infraction.
Example: She called 911 and drove to the hospital.
Can she really do these two things simultaneously?
Without a cell phone? More likely, she called 911 and
then drove to the hospital. The actions were separate.
One followed the other. They didn’t occur
simultaneously.
You can read
the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/mechanical.html
 Create-A-Plot Clinic
You can create a novel, short-story or screenplay
even if you don't know what you want to write
about yet!
A great course in developing great plots from
beginning to end - from an author of more than 30
published novels!
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Four Essential Phases Of A Great Story
by Kurt Mortensen
There are
four phases that are absolutely essential to making your
story cohesive, clear and easy to follow.
The first phase involves setting and characters.
Your audience needs to have some sense of where and when
the story is taking place. Did this story happen in the
past or is it occurring in the future? What era is it
supposed to take place in? Where does the action take
place? On a farm, in the workplace, on a fishing trip or
at a store? Immerse your audience within your story’s
context as much as possible so they can identify with it
as much as possible.
Remember, you must paint the picture for them. You need
to take them into your story. With effective story
selling, your audience is watching your movie in their
mind. Also, take the time to not only introduce your
character but also to really develop them. If your
audience can’t grasp who the characters are—their
strengths, their faults, their dreams and what makes them
unique—then they won’t be able to relate to
your story. When they know the story’s characters,
they will appreciate your story’s climax when it
comes. That’s because they will have the necessary
background information to draw from so they can connect
with why the experience being conveyed would be
significant to a particular character.
The second essential phase of a great story
involves presenting a clear challenge or problem with
which the characters must cope.
Challenge generates interest and suspense. The audience
is drawn in to wonder what the character is going to do
about the dilemma. When presented with a challenge, it is
instinctive for human beings to start guessing and
projecting what they think the character will do, or
better yet, what they themselves would do in the same
situation. The more the challenge is a situation audience
members can readily relate to, the more it will hit home.
Why is this story-selling component so crucial? If there
is no obstacle to overcome, no vision to fulfill and no
questions to be answered, then what’s the point of
telling the story in the first place? Conflict and
tension also create energy and give momentum to the
story. The more engaged your audience is, the more eager
they are to hear your story’s outcome. Finally,
effectively setting up the story’s challenge will
make the solution that much more powerful. In addition to
making the story itself more powerful, the audience is
able to reach a greater level of appreciation for and
acceptance of your point. Create appropriate tensions
when presenting the conflict so that the impact of the
solution is that much more inspiring.
The third phase of an excellent story involves
its climax, or turning point.
The climax is the point where all the buildup has taken
you.
You can see
the rest of this article here: http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/phases.html
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:
Terry
W. Ervin II of www.ervin-author.com writes: "I just sold a short
story, "Vegetable Matters" to MindFlights. Also, my short story "Drug
Dogs" was published in Futures Mystery
Anthology Magazine."
Brenton Tomlinson of musingsofanaussiewriter.blogspot.com writes: "I have just had a
little piece accepted at AntipodeanSF. It will be published in the 10th
Anniversary Edition, scheduled for February 2008. This is
my first fiction piece sold."
Congratulations guys! Great news!
~ "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
Fantasy Writing Course
Fantasy is all about the strange, the fantastic, the
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you name it, if it’s Fantasy related, we’ll be
looking at it, in depth, up close and personal.
http://fantasy.fictionfactor.com/course.html - (this link will take you to Fantasy Factor)
Thriller Writing Course
Learn how some of the masters of the modern thriller get
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Michael Crichton, James Paterson, Patricia Cornwell and
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Romance Writing Course
Increase your chances of writing a great romance
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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)
Pod Castle
http://podcastle.org/guidelines
PodCastle is looking for fantasy stories. We’re open
to all the sub-genres of fantasy, from magical realism to
urban fantasy to slipstream to high fantasy, and
everything in between. Fantastical or non-real content
should be meaningful to the story. Pays $100 for 2,000 to
6,000 words. Pays $20 for flash fiction up to 1,000
words.
**Prefers REPRINTS only!!**
Submission Guidelines: http://podcastle.org/guidelines
Far Far Away
http://susurruspress.com/FFAgls.htm
Far Far Away will be a themed print anthology about the
worlds that exist alongside our own, unseen, be they on
the other side of the looking-glass, in virtual reality,
or in the sewers under the city. We especially like
slipstream or cross-genre. Also: humor, SF/Fantasy,
experimental, and/or surreal. Stories without any element
of genre may be considered if they do a fantastic job of
making Mundania seem like a foreign world. Elements of
horror are fine, but we'd rather you evoke a sense of
wonder than dread. Show us what exists just outside of
the everyday, and turn what's under our noses into a land
far, far away.
Deadline: February 29, 2008
Submission Guidelines: http://susurruspress.com/FFAgls.htm
Omega Room Press
http://www.omegaroom.com
We will consider all genres and literary submissions but
our focus is Sci/Fi and fantasy. Omega Room will only
consider complete and edited manuscripts. There are many
fine editors out there. Check the Editorial Freelancers
Association (http://www.the-efa.org/) if you need help.
We are interested in lengths of 80,000 words to 150,000.
Please submit cover letter (including author's bio), two
to three page synopsis and the first 50 pages to omegaroom@yahoo.com Acceptable formats are anything
that can be opened in Word.
Please read full guidelines and FAQ before submitting.
Submission Guidelines: http://www.omegaroom.com/ORBsubmit.htm
Read by Dawn 2
http://beautiful-books.co.uk/?bloodybooks
Bloody Books are seeking Horror stories up to 5,000 words
for annual print anthology. Pays 15% net royalties. No
reprints. Deadline: 31st October 2007
Submission Guidelines: http://beautiful-books.co.uk/40.html
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