Books on Writing Part 1

Since I had so much fun writing the previous post series, I decided to tackle another. This time around, I'll be sharing my favorite books that instruct about writing.

To start, I'll share a common one you have probably heard of, thought of reading, or already have read.

Stephen King's On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Part autobiography spanning King's life, part writing bible, King's book is one of my favorite writing books of all time. Probably because I'm a fan of his novels, I found his memoir enticing. It moved at a snappy pace, never bogging down like many memoirs can. Then, when he's imparting his wisdom on the craft, he feels much like a personal mentor sitting you down in a private room and telling you all he knows before he retires to Boca and leaves you to write alone.

Some fantastic snippets:

"I believe the first draft of a book - even a long one - should take no more than three months...Any longer and - for me, at least - the story begins to take on an odd foreign feel, like a dispatch from the Romanian Department of Public Affairs, or something broadcast on high-band shortwave during a period of severe sunspot activity."

"I've found that any day's routine interruptions and distractions don't much hurt a work in progress and may actually help it in some ways. It is, after all, the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster's shell that makes the pearl, not pearl-making seminars with other oysters."

You'll enjoy this book if: you're serious about writing for publication, you're a fan of King, you like to feel a personal connection to the author giving you advice, and/or you need a knowledgeable mentor to help your tools for the craft move up a level.

The book pictured (my personal copy) is the 10th Anniversary Edition, which features (though the original may also, I have no idea) a section at the back of the book where King revises (by hand!) a segment of 1408 so you can see that the pros rework too, and gives you his list of must-reads.

Happy (Belated) Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary, everyone! I know, I know, it's belated now because another Tuesday slipped through my grasp, but it's still here!

One year ago, this week, (it would have been Monday, January 21, 2013, to be exact) I posted the very first blog post here. That's one year we've been sharing advice, encouragement, and our love for writing. It's exciting, yes?

Through this year, we've grown in our craft, probably gotten further along in those manuscripts, submitted, been rejected, or even accepted. If you're still with me - still writing - thank you. And thank yourself. You're the one who found time to write one sentence in between commercial breaks, karate recitals, and while waiting for the pasta water to boil.

Coming up: another year with weekly writing advise, and hopefully I'll hear more from all of you, my blog readers and fellow writers, in the comments section.

Speak to me. I want to hear what you have to say. But for now, Happy Anniversary. Keep writing.

Knowing Where You're Going (aka Genres)

Are you close to querying your manuscript? Do you want to enter a shot story in a contest? Need an easier way to describe what you're writing to those distant relatives who ask?

Turn to Genre.

Genres are the way writers and the publishing industry categorize their story in a simple way.

Here's a list of common genres:

Action
Adventure
Biography
Mystery
Satire
Humor
Memoir
Erotica
Fantasy
Science Fiction
Cooking
Gay/Lesbian
Self Help
Inspirational
Romance
Political
Thriller
Suspense
Young Adult
Middle Grade
Commercial Fiction
Graphic Novel
Historical Fiction
Literary
Western

Many more exist, and in addition, these can be combined to better describe the manuscript you wrote. For example, I've seen many Action/Adventure, Thriller/Suspense, and Literary/Young Adult stories.

While many writers don't want to be confined by genre or labeled as writing one genre and not others, you will need to know your genre if you're going to query agents, or if you plan to traditionally publish, or find your book a home in a bookstore.

Genres also offers the writer a way to see what's been done before. Take Western, for instance. If you're writing a western genre novel, you can study the ones already published (the massive collection of Louis L'Amour at your local library, perhaps?) and see what's been done. Twist it, reimagine it, and come out with a story that isn't predictable, but is still publishable.

Genre is not a coffin wrapped in chains and locks. Genre is a fantastic tool to research other books like yours and to help those who ask (or those you tell) about your novel understand it via an established system.

The Stages of Rejection

I'm talking about rejection today, not because I'm in a bad mood, but because I'm ecstatic I received a rejection in the mail today!

That sounds weird, I know, but until now I've only hit level 1 and level 4 on the rejection scale (see below). It's either emailed or mailed form rejection, or acceptance. However, today, I received my first level 3 rejection. Upon opening the envelope, I saw the form rejection and my heart sank - like it always does when you see, "Dear Writer, Thank you for submitting but we regret to inform you..." - but then I took the form out and noticed there was another paper behind it. A familiar one. My manuscript. (And here's the exciting part:) With corrections, editor's note and signature! It was like getting asked to prom by the football quarterback.

I've never been an advocate for saving your rejection letters. I've heard stories and even know of other writers who save every rejection, pasting them to the walls like wallpaper. They know the exact number, "This is 673, it's going on the headboard!", and use the rejections as motivation to do better. I understand this, but saving my rejection letters is not how I get motivated. In fact, I try to purge my life of anything considered clutter or negative (not that rejections are negative, just part of the writing life). So, instead, I save the important ones - like today's (and my first full manuscript request from an agent) - in a binder and store it in a drawer where I won't look at it constantly. That way, it's there when I need someone from the industry telling me I'm on the right path, just not there yet, but I won't obsess and freeze up when the writing needs to happen.


I know this is the part you've been waiting for:

THE REJECTION SCALE

Level 1: The form rejection. They sit in stacks in publishing houses, agent desks, and literary magazine editors' drawers waiting to be stuffed into your SASE. You've probably accumulated a few (hundred?).

Level 2: The motivational rejection. This is the form rejection containing a personal message from the editor or agent you sent the manuscript to. It's often short - one sentence or two - and may or may not come with signature.

Level 3: The personal rejection. May or may not be accompanied by a form rejection - always accompanied by the story being returned to you with edits and critiques (may not be line by line, but will speak specifically about the story you submitted). Usually signed or initialed.

Level 4: Acceptance. The holy grail of writers. You're going to be published. Break out the celebration drinks and party supplies.


Rejections got you feeling down? Take a look at these famous authors' rejection totals:

Stephen King: 30 rejections on his first book Carrie, and 60 rejections on the same short story
J.K. Rowling: 12 - a whole dozen - publishers rejected the first Harry Potter book
Jack Canfeld and Mark Victor Hansen - 140 rejections for the first Chicken Soup for the Soul
James Joyce - 22 rejections on his short story collection Dubliners
Margaret Mitchell - 38 rejections for Gone with the Wind
Madeliene L'Engle - 26 rejections for A Wrinkle in Time
Dr. Seuss - 15 rejections before his first book was published

Whether you burn your rejections letters in a giant pyre to the writing gods, pin them to your walls, or drag the rejection email to your trash box, take heart that even the best have been right where you are now.

Bringing in 2014

2014 arrives in less than 24 hours. It's a time for reflection upon the past few breaths of 2013 and a time to dream about the future. It's easy to dream. (At least for me.) But it's hard to do.

So, as you party into 2014 and make your New Year's Resolutions, commit to yourself that this year you won't just dream about accepting a Book Award on C-Span, you'll work your hardest to make it happen. Whether that's actually writing that amazing book, finding an agent, or self-promoting your novel - get our there in 2014 and make it happen!

 

Original picture from:http://wallpaperhd2014.com/new-year/happy-new-year-2014-cards-wallpaper-hd.html/attachment/happy-new-year-2014-cards-wallpaper-hd

High Expectations

It's that time of season. A string of holiday parties, family dinners, and themed outings. If you're anything like me, when you're the host of one of those parties, you want everything (and I mean everything) to be perfect.

No poorly frosted cookies, no crooked stockings, no unlit bulbs, and definitely no family scuffles. If you're anything like me, not one year has gone your way.

But that's okay. Both in your writing (or lackthereof in this hectic time) and your social life, nothing is going to be perfect. Do the best you can and remember to breathe. Sometimes, falling a little short of your high expectations can bring unexpected opportunities, or at least a good laugh.



Happy Holidays!

Photo from: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/142707881915407994/

The Number One Writing Mistake (Late Post Tally #3)

Second late post this month, third of all blogging time (since last January). Wow, I'm on a roll.

Since this post is late, let me tell you how I spent yesterday so you know why I'm tallying again. After work and a massage to get out the "at the computer 24/7" shoulder knots, and grocery shopping, and cooking dinner, and cleaning up, and then shopping for new winter boots since mine are leaking wet into my socks every time I go out (and this is a massive problem in Northern Wisconsin, since it has yet to be above negative or single digits for 3 weeks and snow only keeps coming), *inhales deeply* I finished reading a book.

It was terrible.

It was so bad, I told my mother, "I don't think I'll ever read another book of her's again, in case she does the same thing."

This is the kiss of death for a writer. I (as a reader) did not enjoy the story. I told someone else it was terrible. She will probably tell another 3 people, so on and so forth, and then this writer will have to live out of a cardboard box behind Wendy's. Bad word of mouth travels.

Why was this story so terrible, you ask? It was terrible because the writer let me down.

Common ways to let your readers down:

• Using 3/4 of the book to hype up a supposedly explosive meeting between protagonist and antagonist, and then when they finally meet on page 368, they have a slightly strained "talk" and work out their feelings sans shanking and bullet wounds. 
• Building up a world with rules and boundaries, only to smash it to bits and tiny pieces in the third to last chapter.
• Anything along the lines of, "Turns out they're government experiments".
• Anything along the lines of, "Turns out it was just a dream".  

You get where I'm going with this. If you lead the reader to believe one thing (that your world's rules are solid and unbreakable) then feed them something else entirely (whoops, looks like she can bend time afterall thanks to a government mutated gene hidden deep in her genetic code...no, wait, that was a dream, she's really dead), they're going to feel let down and they will hate you - or at least your book. They may never read another word you write.

New ebook? Nope, not taking it if it's free. Score a nonfiction magazine article deal? Flipping past it, in case that's just a dream, too. You sent me a Christmas card? Trashing it, in case it's mutated by the government.

Letting the reader down is the number one mistake you can make. We can all see past a little diffused tension here, a little crappy writing there, and a typo or two, but none of us will ever get past being let down. It's like the time your friends said they'd pick you up from your house on the way to the airport, but then left on the plane to Vegas without you. They're not your friends anymore.

People's time is precious. Don't waste it.

Don't live behind Wendy's in a cardboard box because you could have done some more creative thinking - or better yet - trashed that one story you didn't know how to end properly.

That is all. Write better and more prosperous, my friends. (I'm going to leave myself a note and hopefully, we'll speak again on Tuesday!)