The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 5 Jan 2010

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"Try narrowing your focus or offering a unique point of view, then offer as much detail as you can about how you'd organize the piece and whom you'd interview. List actual names you know you can get, instead of vaguely referencing 'experts in the field.' Then tell the editor why you're just the writer to do it." Kristin D. Godsey

Another quote that seems to be aimed at the nonfiction side of the house -- although it's probably good advice for fiction writers too. Instead of telling us the history of the universe in three pages or similar wide views of the world, focus on a human-size story. Tell us about someone that we can identify with, doing something that is believable. In a particular place, with very real surroundings and characters. If your little town is in Kansas, we may not be able to find it on Google maps, but we should have the feeling that is an error in the maps -- that is just in between those other three little towns, and it's got that willow tree on the bank of the stream, and the ice cream shop on the main street. Avoid generics -- there may be cheaper, but you want reader recognition. Which means details, specifics, someplace that is waiting just around the edge of your page.

OK? Not a big city, but New York City, Milwaukee, Chicago, San Francisco, or some other particular place. Small towns -- make us feel as if we would recognize it, if we drove through it. And make the people live and breathe.

Original Posting 27 Dec 2009

On another list, someone asked about keeping on track. Apparently the snow outside was distracting them, and they were having trouble keeping themselves focused on writing. My response...

Some notions that might help

1. I've found that most of the time I need to write down -- key words, snippets, bits -- of those ideas that are nudging at me. Once I do that, I can let go of them and they quit insisting on attention, because they are in my notes for later.
2. Howard Tayler talks about dividing up his work into tasks for Smart Howard and Dumb Howard -- and being honest with himself about times when he needed to just do dumb stuff. I have to admit this helped me, to relax and let myself do dumb stuff with a clear conscience when sinus trouble, headaches, and other stuff makes it difficult to focus on smart work.
3. Fairly often, when I'm having to push myself to do something, there's something wrong. There's a simpler way, I've skipped something, there's a problem that I haven't yet consciously noticed -- and I need to step back, take a second look, and find the loose edge that needs to be tacked down. Take care of that, and then things will move.

Deadlines, quotas, regular work habits, counting words -- sometimes those can help too. I think of them as ways to make progress visible.

How do you keep yourself on-track?

Back to work, Mike.

Original posting 13 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"I read an awful lot of beginning work that involves wheelspinning, throat clearing and flights of fancy that seem on the surface to be artful, but in fact are an impediment to careful reading." C. Michael Curtis

Hum -- get to the point (in late, out early) or even in medias res (start in the midst of affairs). Well, uh, you know, we could... yeah, you know, it's like... really, I think... just go ahead and start. Cut out the stuff at the beginning that was you thinking with your fingers, find the real point where the story begins, that makes the readers sit up straight and pay attention. And where those wonderful baroque piles of literate wordiness sit, glinting and gilding and sparkling like something left behind after a flood -- consider them carefully, and cut out the literary deposits that clog the reader's consciousness. Keep the ones that really do move the story forward, that make characters come to life, that help with setting and such, but not the ones that make the readers choke.

Just the story. The real story, the true story, and nothing but the story.

Original posting 24 December 2008

Quick and quirky, from the March 2005 Writer's Digest, page 8. David A. Fryxell, in his book Write Faster, Write Better, suggests the following exercises:

Focus, Focus, Focus

If you can't describe what your story or article's about in just a few words, chances are you haven't developed adequately. Test yourself with these exercises:

• in no more than 25 words, write a concise description of your current project. Explain what it's all about and why anyone would want to read it.
• take your writeup from the previous exercise and recast it as a Hollywood "high concept" pitch -- that's one very brief sentence that expresses the essence of your project. (For example, the concept pitch for Night of the Lepus, one of the all-time worst horror movies, was supposedly "Jaws with rabbits.")
• if you're writing an article, write a mock headline and subhead for it. [tink adds -- if you're writing something else, you can still write a headline -- what's the news about it?]
• if you're working on a book length project, try writing your own promotional copy as it would appear on the back cover of your book. If you're writing a shorter piece, try writing a table of contents entry and cover line describing your work as it might appear in a magazine.

Sounds like fun, and it only takes a few words (we won't count the mental toil and trouble :-)

Since I suspect most of you are on vacation, stay warm, stay safe, and enjoy the holidays. Merry whatever-you-may-celebrate and a happy new year to one and all.

with rooty-toot-toots and candycanes too . . .

Original posting for August 2008

"There is only one way to defeat the enemy, and that is to write as well as one can. The best argument is an undeniably good book." Saul Bellow

"Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not; it is the first lesson that ought to be learned; and however early a man's training begins, it is probably the last lesson that he learns thoroughly." Thomas Huxley

What do you want to tell people? What is the most important thing for you to say right now?

How can you best show this to people?

Now write!

BICHOK: Butt in Chair, Hands on Keyboard
[Who's having trouble keeping focused? How can the number of interruptions increase in the middle of the summer doldrums and vacations? Eyah!]

Original posting: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 11:30:57 JST

Hi, Ipatia

I'll keep this short.

1. Outline. Then fit bits into the outline. Repeat. Each attack on the outline may be only a few words, but in a very short time you'll have a long outline. Then expand a little bit at a time again. Just like blowing up a balloon, you don't have to do it in one big whoosh, you can do it with little puffs and when you finish, no one but you will know the difference.

2. Scribble sheet. Write the extra thoughts and side issues on another sheet of paper (I keep a clipboard by the computer). Then make yourself go back to the part you promised yourself you would work on.

3. Reward yourself AFTER doing a bit. Then set your goals a little longer/higher and don't reward yourself until you hit them. That snack is a reward for not writing - which isn't what you want to do, right?

Try those three.
tink

Original posting: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 16:41:41 JST

Peter, jbutcher, and Karen Lowe (at least),

First for Peter and jbutcher...

- To be honest, I was hoping for that as well as information about
- potential occupational opportunites, the writing market, etc. Is this
- kind of thing normally discussed on here?
-
- I'm interested in the writing market and how to go about getting something
- published, or what the best approach to take is with publishers/magazines/
- newspapers...I don't think I've seen anything on this list yet that addresses

Jane said...
- All you need to do is ask, and I guarantee SOMEONE will
- respond (whether it's what you want to hear or not).

I guess I qualify as SOMEONE, so let me bend your eyes for awhile:-)

I'm fairly sure the serious folks have gotten back to you. I hope so, because I certainly am interested in these questions, and am (possibly) more out of touch with the markets than you are.

You may know all this, but I can suggest you visit your library or bookstore (cripes, you have easy access to both of those with LOTS of English language books *envy*) and look carefully at Writer's Digest books - there's a big hardcover each year (Writer's Market), plus recently a stack of paperbacks for specialties. Despite drawbacks that someone will likely point out, that's probably the best general reference. They also put out a monthly magazine "Writer's Digest", and there's "The Writer" and at least one more whose name I cannot recall which you can usually find in Walden's or B. Dalton's magazine racks.

If the serious folks have something they send by email in answer to questions like this and are on bitnet, could you send me a copy, too?

This next part isn't really answers, more a series of questions I've wrestled with in regard to my writing. I hope they might help you think about "the market".

Now, I'm going to start with a funny question - are you just interested in being published, or do you want money too? I think it makes a significant difference in the markets you're looking at as to how you answer that.

Let me add one more odd question - do you insist on your article (story, poem, etc.) being published exactly the way you wrote it or can the editor change the title, rewrite the lead-in paragraph, and otherwise fit your work to their needs? How you answer that question also affects your markets.

Let me give you an example - (blatant self-plug follows) - if you look at the January 1993 issue of IEEE Software in the book reviews, you'll find a piece with my name on it. I get "paid" with two copies and the book I review (actually, with computer book prices what they are, that's not bad pay:-). But - the editor wrote the lead-in using something I had in mine, and she's never used any of my titles. She also hacked it again, even after I'd seen the approval copy. Not that I'm objecting - we've done this before, and she knows I'm not a stickler about it. In fact, her headlines are much better than my proposals, and she's trying to juggle text, ads, and noisier writers into a product against a deadline, so I don't argue when she makes last-minute changes. In fact, she's told me that's one reason she likes to use my pieces - because I do understand the kind of work she's doing, and let her do it.

The editor also enjoyed that piece because I used an extended metaphor - I said the author reviewed the field of email, and then I talked about him showing us the flowers, cow patties, and other things. Not your ordinary boring technical review, and in the cover I carefully made sure she understood that if she didn't like it, I would redo the piece.

You might say - that's non-fiction, just a book review, that's different. You should read "Grumbles From the Grave" by Robert Heinlein. This is the collected history of an "established writer" trying to get fiction published - a fascinating insight.

And yet another question to help point your self-searching - do you insist on writing fiction or non-fiction? Do you have a specific genre or specialization that you just have to be published in, or is your drive more generous with you? Again, the answer affects how you look at and attack the market.

Oh, one other very off-beat question - do you insist on having your name on your writing? Suppose the editor puts your name on some things, but leaves it off some? Or suppose the editor puts someone else's name on pieces you've written? These are critical questions, especially if you get into some of the newspaper markets.

If you don't mind doing non-fiction (you shouldn't, it's a good field and helps pay the way for many other pursuits), here are some entryways I know that used to be fairly generous - book reviews in many professional magazines (it helps if you work in that field - and then they give you books to read!), small newspapers (weeklies, etc.), your local political office/church/other social group... During grad school, I also wrote a stack of press releases which the PR people happily distributed for me. No name, no pay, and the newspapers tended to rewrite or cut like crazy, but sometimes I could tell where my words had gone. Note that these are largely zero or negative in terms of pay, but they give you practice and help build your clip book. They are also almost entirely non-fiction.

OK, Karen. I've been following the other pieces, but I wanted to comment on this...

- I'm interested in the "Rinky-Dink" Society. Personally, I usually get a
- decent response from my poetry, but am unable to compete with current
- popular forms of poetry. You may have noticed my "Victorian Poetry". I've
- decided to go the Emily Dickinson route, write tons of stuff, publish a few
- and tell the "official" critics to take a flying leap, their grandchildren
- will love my stuff. ;-) Karen Lowe.

whoa! wait a minute. "unable to compete with current forms of poetry"? Karen, I'm the bloody fool around here, you certainly beat my doggerel hands down. You even know what Randy's caesurus are, apparently.

I suppose you mean you don't think you'll make Redbook, or whatever the main mass market pub's are now? I doubt very much if my stuff (poetry, story, or non-fiction) will ever hit that kind of market, but is it important?

I'm afraid I take a little different approach to writing. I don't think there are "winners" per se, in the sense that there is one champ, with everyone else ranked below them. As in certain martial arts and other fields, the question is whether you executed your art as well as you could or not, no matter how other people look at it. Do you really think that the vast majority of marathon racers compete to win? Or do they run against themselves, whether alone or in the midst of others?

Here, do me a favor, would you? Write yourself a poem on the theme of the runner (swimmer, writer, whatever you like) whose only purpose is their own pleasure, and the feelings they have when one day someone stops them and says "You came in first". The unconscious, surprised winner, shall we say? Then, if you like, I'd enjoy reading it.

Karen, I think poets perhaps more than any other branch of writing need to forget about the normal measures for societal accomplishment. You know the plot, at least for artists - starve in a garret, beg, borrow, and steal to let themselves produce their own art in their own way. The rare comedy goes that they are discovered in the nick of time and become rich and famous. The far more common tragedy is that discovery comes too late. And the even more common reality is that (a) they manage to support themselves relatively well, usually doing something else and (b) they make the time and do what they like and (c) they make their own "discovery".

Heck - take several of your poems, and make some copies of them. Go down to your supermarket and find the manager. Point out to him (or her) that bulk natural food cereals don't have a box for the customers to read in the morning, so you'd like to help him offer them a treat - poetry to eat by. Talk him (or her) into putting up a little box, and the explanation of what this is, right beside the bulk cereal. This first set of poems is free for the store. And you have now "been published." But be patient, it gets better.

Watch - those poems will be picked up. And when the stack is nearly gone, you can talk to the store owner about paying you for the next ones (let them suggest a payment, if possible. keep the charge low, but make sure you get paid.) Figure out whether you want to do the copying yourself (to control paper quality) or let them do it. If you want to, talk them into reproducing it themselves but pay you a larger fee (since they can now make as many copies as they want, they may consider it a bargain).

You think I'm kidding, don't you? I just recently (here in Japan) saw something about a guy who's printing his short stories on T-shirts. Apparently they are selling, too.

Maybe that's not the kind of publication and market you're looking for, but please don't tell me you can't compete. You can. Get out there and go for it!

Jane also said

- Please don't be. The majority of us (let me know if I'm wrong) are,
- as yet, unpublished, so have no proof that we are better or worse
- than you (and even then, it's not really proof!) - regardless of what
- certain egotists might think. Do be prepared for some criticism
- and/or some praise, however.
-
- ENJOY!!!!!

I'm not sure if Jane will let me talk (I've got a 20 year old clipbook of newspaper articles and there are other odd bits and pieces around that have my name on them - but they're almost all non-fiction, Jane, and I sure never got paid much:-) To tell you the truth, though, I'm usually looking at my next piece - and so far, that's unpublished.

I can also state categorically from the pieces I've seen printed (and done) that publication has relatively little to do with value - a lot to do with timing, blank empty pages around paid-for ads that the editor has to fill, and other oddities. Let you in on a secret, though. If you don't write it, and don't send it out, the odds of being published are very, very low. If you follow the reverse strategy (write, submit, and keep submitting), the odds increase dramatically! Which reminds me, now I've got to get back to writing.

Heinlein's "recipe" (abridged from memory, 'cause I can't find the book)

1. write
2. finish what you write
3. don't rewrite unless an editor tells you to
4. put it on the market
5. keep it on the market until it sells

(sorry, this isn't very well organized. I got excited, and wanted to get it out this week. I managed to find hideyholes for all my files here, too.)

hope this helps,
mike