Renewing Acquaintances

When I mentioned Lary Crews in a recent post, I decided to see if he was still around. It has been several years since I took the online novel writing class from him.

So I did an Internet search and found his Web site and blog. I posted a comment on his blog and we’ve exchanged a few e-mails as a result. I’m delighted that he’s got a wonderful job and a wonderful wife. He’s also got a new book coming out in January 2007, The Baby Boom Writer.

Lary was the best writing teacher I’ve ever had, so his book will be great!

Editing: Turning Dreck into Prose

In an earlier post, I talked about writing the first draft … and expecting it to be “pure green dreck.”

No two writers will write exactly the same way. But many writers find it most effective to write the first draft from beginning to end without spending time editing. Changing from creation to polishing can interfere with the flow of ideas and get the writer bogged down in details. All of us probably know people who have been working on a writing project for months or years with little progress. You’ll never finish a novel if you spend all your time trying to perfect the first chapter, and you won’t finish an article or a proposal or a letter if you focus on making the first paragraph perfect.

When I’m writing something that can be done in one sitting, I write from beginning to end for the first draft without attempting to edit. If I’m writing a novel or anything in segments over a long period of time, the first thing I do when I start to work is to re-read what I wrote in the last session. Although I might make minor corrections, I’m not in an editing mindset when I’m re-reading. My goal is to get immersed back into the story to start writing again.

Only after I’ve finished the first draft do I start editing – the process of turning that “pure green dreck” into meaningful words. First, I read the manuscript to evaluate the content. For nonfiction I want to make sure I’ve covered all the important points and the ideas are organized in a logical, understandable way. For fiction, I look for a coherent plot and characters that act in ways that make sense (not that they act logically – just that they act in a way consistent with their personalities, attitudes, and beliefs). On this first editing pass, I may move text, add or delete scenes or paragraphs, and change things that don’t fit. Although I always correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors when I find them, at this stage, I’m not looking closely at details.

In the next pass, I try to improve on what I’ve written – not only looking for errors but also cutting out superfluous words, changing words, or revising sentences and paragraphs for clarity, ease of reading, variety in structure, and style.

The final edit puts the finishing touches on the piece, correcting any remaining errors and polishing the prose.

Depending on the length and complexity of the piece, as well as its importance, the number of edits and the length of time between them vary. Something simple like an e-mail can be written in one sitting with a single review/edit. A full-length novel will be edited many times, preferably with some time between each edit.

If possible, I like to allow a few days or even weeks after I’ve finished the last major edit before I do a final read-through. Since I prefer to read electronically, I put my manuscript into my eBookwise reading device, sit back in my easy chair, and read as if I were a reader who hadn’t seen this story/article before. I can highlight text and make notes in the manuscript to mark any place where anything distracted me (whether it’s a grammar error, a confusing sentence, repetition of a word or sentence pattern, an out-of-character action, or anything else that pulls me out of the story/article). At this point, there should be few items to mark, and when I go back to the computer and make those changes, the manuscript is complete.

But then … it’s time to get another opinion (or several other opinions). Even though I may have edited the manuscript a dozen times, someone else is going to see something (or many somethings) I missed. I was in a critique group with three other writers, and each week we read a chapter of the others’ work and gave feedback. We said, “If one person mentions something, consider it and make a change only if you agree. If two people notice it, pay close attention and consider making a change. If all three comment on the same thing, you’d better change it!”

After getting input from other people, the final step in turning dreck into prose is to integrate into the final manuscript the suggestions that will make your work better without losing your own writer’s voice.

[tags]editing, critique[/tags]

Finding a Publisher

I received an e-mail from a writer who found my Web site in her search for a publisher. She wrote, “I am seeking a Publisher for my {genre} manuscript.  Can you tell me approximately how much it would cost, or do the Publishers pay you?”

Well, the answer is, “It depends …”

Whether you pay to have your book published or the publisher pays you depends on the kind of publisher you choose.

Traditional, royalty-paying publishers (sometimes called “New York publishers” because many are located in New York) do not charge you to publish your book; they pay you advances and royalties. Many people believe this is the only legitimate path to publishing. A common expression among writers is, “Writers don’t pay; they get paid.” You can learn more about this kind of publisher in a post I wrote for the Christian E-Author Blog on Writing and E-Book Publishing.

However, New York publishers are very selective in the books they publish; probably less than 10% of the manuscripts submitted to conventional publishers are accepted for publication. Many books are rejected because of poor writing, but others are rejected because they do not fit in standard genres or publishers think the market will be too small to be profitable. Conventional publishers can be large mega-corporations in New York or small, independent presses (who publish fewer titles with smaller print runs … and usually not as wide distribution).

Vanity or subsidy publishers require that the author pay for publishing. So-called “vanity” publishers charge high fees and provide few services but will publish any manuscript, often without editing or other services. Some subsidy publishers provide excellent quality services at reasonable prices for authors.

In self-publishing, the author takes on all the costs and responsibilities of publishing and earns all the rewards. This type of publishing may be a good idea for an author who has a platform to sell books – a speaker who can sell books at speeches, for example.

You can learn more about vanity, subsidy, and self-publishing in another CEA blog post.

Although writers often expect to have their books published by a royalty-paying publisher, authors have to decide for themselves if subsidy publishing or self-publishing is the right choice for them.

If so, they must be do their research to learn how to avoid being scammed by unscrupulous people who simply want their money.

I’ll write more about finding a publisher in the future, but perhaps the way to learn about the publishing industry is to network with other writers, either in a local writers group or online at one of these writing sites.

[tags]writing, publishing, vanity publisher, self-publishing[/tags]

The First Draft: Pure Green Dreck

Several years ago, I took an online novel writing course from Lary Crews. One of the things that has really stuck with me is Lary’s description of the first draft: pure green dreck.

So often writers – whether employees writing reports for work, novelists, or citizens writing to politicians or newspapers – want to sit down and write a masterpiece in one sitting. However, that usually doesn’t happen.

The purpose of the first draft is to get your ideas down on paper (or screen). The composer, musician, and author Virgil Thompson said, “Let your mind alone, and see what happens.” Don’t worry about sentence structure, organization, grammar – or even if you really want to use that idea. Just let the ideas flow.

You’ll probably end up with something that is ”pure green dreck,” but you can take that dreck and turn it into a masterpiece … or at least a coherent report or letter.

[tags]writing[/tags]

How Blessed I Am!

Today was my birthday, and my husband Jack took me out for dinner. I had fried chicken livers – yummy! Jack and I just celebrated our 39th anniversary a few weeks ago. We’re very blessed to share our lives … and lots of love and laughter.

The first thing I noticed about him was his sense of humor. When the boss was introducing me around the office on the first day of my summer job, Jack joked about my having to remember everyone’s name the next day. The joke wasn’t very funny, but Jack laughed and enjoyed his own joke so much that I couldn’t help but join in the laughter.  We’ve been laughing and loving ever since.

We complement each other in so many ways; we laugh that he’s hard of hearing and my eyesight is very bad, so he sees for me, and I hear for him.

Review for Spring House

Ellen Hogan of Reader Views recently reviewed Spring House: Book 1 in the Westward Sagas, the book I edited for David Bowles.

“This was a very interesting book, I didn’t want it to end. Although I am not a huge fan of historical writing, I enjoyed this book. The writer made the meshing of story and history very entertaining.”

You can read the entire review on the Reader Views Web site.

You can read how David came to write this book on the Westward Sagas Web site. It might inspire you to think about writing your own family history.

Finding the Information You Need

The Internet is filled with information, but the challenges are finding what you need among the millions of Web sites, then determining if the information you find is reliable.

And researching in the library can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to begin.

Your Information Center offers a free report on how to do research, both in the library and on the Internet, and how to evaluate the information you find.

The report includes three detailed case studies and more than 50 resources in the library and on the Internet.

Whether you’re gathering background material for a writing project, researching your family history, or just satisfying your curiosity, you will benefit from Finding the Information You Need – Research Tips for Your Family, Business, or Personal Pursuits.

Who Needs an Editor?

Some writers hesitate to admit they need the help of an editor because they think it reflects negatively on their writing ability. “A good writer shouldn’t need an editor,” they think.

Aspiring writers hoping to have their stories or articles published may think editing is the job of the publisher’s editorial staff.

Businesspeople preparing proposals, manuals, or other business documents may believe that the content of the message is important, but details like grammar and punctuation don’t matter.

In fact, however, every writer needs an editor - either a professional editor or simply another person who has good writing skills and an eye for details.

A friend of mine says, “I can catch everyone’s mistakes but my own.” And that is true for all of us because when we write, we know what we mean. We overlook a misspelled word because we know the correct spelling; we just didn’t realize our finger hit the wrong key. We don’t notice a mis-used word or a confusing paragraph because when we re-read the document we automatically read what we meant to write. We can’t see some mistakes because we each are prone to particular errors - I’m notorious for leaving out words, for example. Most of us do a poor job of catching our own mistakes, so we all need an editor.

Those writers who think asking someone else to edit their work makes them look like a bad writer would change their minds if they understood that the errors in their document may reflect badly on them, but having their work edited makes them look good. 

Aspiring writers who think the publisher will provide all the editing needed on their work will learn quickly that publishers generally don’t waste their time reading submissions that are filled with errors or that are confusing or hard to read.

People writing to communicate in business will find that their documents are more effective if they are well-edited so readers understand the message rather than notice mistakes or question the meaning.

Who needs an editor? Anyone who writes to be understood, that’s who.

Answers to a Young Writer’s Questions

A young writer wrote to me recently as part of a language arts career project. He’s interested in becoming a writer and asked me some specific questions.

 Here are the questions and my answers:

1. Where do you get most of your ideas on a book?

Ideas come from everywhere. My novel Stroke of Luck is based on my personal experiences, but my forthcoming novel Dream or Destiny was sparked by a television documentary about people who have psychic knowledge about crimes. Within each story, ideas for specific characters and events came from many places: people I’ve known or observed, situations that happened to me or someone I know, items in the media …

Most writers keep track of ideas as they occur to them. Many keep a writers journal that they carry with them all the time to jot down descriptions of people or places, thoughts that pop into their heads, events they see or conversations they hear, anything that might come in handy in a story or a book.

Other writers have an “idea drawer” or “idea box” to collect newspaper clippings, pictures, brochures, pamphlets, and other items they want to remember in addition to notes about their own ideas.

For nonfiction, I usually see a need – a problem people have, for example – and write something that will fill the need – the solution to the problem.

2. How long does it take to get a book published?

This question is impossible to answer. Several years ago, a romance writer was published for the first time after twelve years of writing and submitting manuscripts. She wondered how long it took most people to get published and discovered through researching new writers for the major romance publishers that, on average, first-time published authors had been writing for seven years and had seven completed manuscripts before making the first sale. Although she researched only romance writers and publishers, it is likely that this is typical.

Of course, some writers have their first book published very quickly, and the majority of writers who try to get a book published never succeed. Only about 10% of the manuscripts submitted to traditional publishers are accepted every year.

There are other ways of being published besides the major print publishers. Small presses (small publishing companies often specializing in a specific genre or a region of the country) may be more accepting of new writers, and electronic publishers (generally small companies specializing in e-books but sometimes also publishing trade paperbacks) offer additional opportunities to writers. In fact, electronic publishing is growing faster than print publishing.

Most writers have to submit their work to many publishers and get many rejections before having a manuscript accepted. A dedicated writer continues to believe in himself and write, write, write and submit, submit, submit – no matter how long or how many rejections it takes.

Once a manuscript is accepted by a publisher, it usually takes one to two years for it to actually be published.

3. How hard is it to get a book published?

Very, very difficult by the traditional publishing route. However, a writer can be published very quickly if he decides to self-publish. Self-publishing means the writer also becomes the publisher and hires editors, designers, artists, printers, whatever is needed to produce the book. Then he also is totally responsible for promotion. The writer arranges and pays for everything, but he also receives all the income.

Writers need to be wary of companies who claim to be “self-publishers” – companies that do all the work of publishing a book for a fee. Subsidy publishers can be legitimate businesses that do a quality job for a reasonable price, but many companies that publish books at the author’s expense are “vanity” presses. They are in business only to publish books that feed the author’s vanity but don’t really sell to customers. These companies will publish anything a writer will pay for, regardless of how well or badly it is written or whether or not there is a market. Writers who don’t want to go through the hard work – and often years – to be published traditionally may be easily scammed by someone who promises publication. A writer who pays for publication must research the company very carefully and make certain he is spending money wisely.

To improve your chances of getting published by a company that pays you, you need to work on your craft constantly. Some people say serious writers write every single day, whether that writing is entries in a personal journal, chapters in a novel, a blog … anything. I’ve heard a writer has to write a million words before he can expect to be a good writer – whether that exact number of words is valid or not, a writer does have to write a lot – just like musicians and athletes have to practice, practice, practice.

Another way to increase your odds of being published is to join a writers group, either in person or online. A good writers group will provide writing training, market information, and networking and critique opportunities. Having other writers read and critique your work, while you do the same for them, is invaluable and one of the best ways to grow as a writer.

You will find links to many resources for writers on my Resources for Writers page.

4. What type of college do you need to go to get a degree in writing?

I’m not qualified to answer this question because my college degree is in sociology with a minor in psychology. All the training I have had in writing has been through writers groups; conferences, seminars, and workshops; and self-study.

Current Projects

I’m helping Richard Turner, known as “the greatest card mechanic of all time,” find an agent and/or publisher for his Christian time travel/action adventure novel Re-Deal: A Miss Guided Adventure.

And as soon as my friend Grace Anne Schaefer, author of The New Day Dawns, recovers a little more from her recent heart surgery, we’ll be doing the final edits on the second book in the People of the Frozen Earth series: As Shadows Fall.

 

Next Page »