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How to Read like an Editor

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by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

I modified this from a piece I originally wrote for Science Fiction Writer’s Marketplace and Sourcebook, Writers Digest Books, 1994. Back then, I edited The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (and had just won a Hugo for doing so). One of the most valuable things I learned for my writing was how to read like an editor. Here are a few insights:

Editors read differently than writers do. As writers learn their craft, they learn to critique manuscripts. A critique (often done in a workshop setting) requires the writer to read a manuscript from beginning to end. Writers look for flaws and for hidden gems in the material, sometimes rereading four and five times, looking for the author’s intent.

An editor reads like a reader does—with an eye to entertainment.

If editors spent that much time on each manuscript, they wouldn’t put out magazines. An editor reads like a reader does—with an eye to entertainment. If the editor gets bored, she moves onto another story. She doesn’t try to figure out what was wrong with the one she has set aside. She’s looking for something good, not what’s bad.

When I teach writing classes, I explain the editorial mind this way:

Imagine yourself on a plane flight from New York to San Francisco with a stop in Chicago. A half hour before landing in O’Hare, you finish the book you brought with you. On your layover, you want to buy a book for the second half of the journey. You have forty dollars in your pocket, twenty-five of which you need to bail your car out of long-term parking. Not quite enough left over to buy a hardcover, but enough for at least one thick paperback.

You walk into the airport bookstore and find yourself in luck. The book by Stephen King (or any other big-name writer) that you’ve been wanting to read has just been released in paperback. You snatch the book off the shelves, plunk down your $7.99 and leave, a happy customer.

But suppose you’ve read everything by your favorite big names. Then you look for the secondary names on the list, the writers whose work you sometimes like. You scan the back cover, and read a page or two before deciding to buy any book from these authors.

Suppose none of the books by secondary names interest you. You turn your attention to the writers whose names you have never heard of. Before you spend your money on them, you read the back cover and the front flap. You scan the author bio and the list of previously published works (if any). You read the first page. You read a page in the middle to see if the style remains consistent. Sometimes you read the entire first chapter before taking the risk of buying an unknown. And sometimes you put the book back on the shelf without buying a thing.

Editors work the same way. We have limited funds — and limited space. We have our list of beloved authors as well as a secondary list (mostly of unpublished writers who are “close” and whom we’ve been monitoring for a long time). But the difficult buys are the stories from the unknowns. Editors try to buy writers whose work will appear again and again in the magazine, whose name will eventually be on the cover as one of the draws. But it takes time and effort for a new writer to break in. Sometimes it takes years of submissions before an editor will take a chance with the new writer.

Editing is a matter of taste. Remember the airport analogy above? I will have different writers on my A, B, and C lists than you will. I have different preferences. I edit a magazine because my publisher believes that the other readers of the magazine share my tastes.

Editors for other magazines have different tastes. That’s why these editors get hired. They get hired because they have an eye for the commercial, an eye for what readers will like. These editors don’t get hired because they can critique a manuscript well.

So how does that apply to your writing? Stop reading critically. Read for enjoyment. You can’t see a story if you read with a red pen in your hand. Often the writer will do something “wrong” for effect. You will miss that effect if you’re reading critically. You’ll experience that effect if you read for enjoyment.

It’s easy to point out mistakes; it’s harder to see brilliance.

If you find a book that’s spectacular, then go back after you’ve finished reading, and go through it again. Look for the “mistakes” the writer made, and ask yourself, “What effect was the writer trying to achieve?” Assume that the writer knew what she was doing, because if you loved the book, then indeed, she had an expertise you don’t. Learn from that.

And stop critiquing in a workshop. Look for the things that work, not the things that fail. It’s easy to point out mistakes; it’s harder to see brilliance.

If you train your mind toward excellence, then you will become a better writer.

And you’ll enjoy yourself along the way.

“How To Read Like An Editor” copyright © 1994 and 2011 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Kristine Kathryn Rusch spent ten years editing fiction, first for Pulphouse Publishing (where she won a World Fantasy Award for her work) and then for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (where she won a Hugo for her work). She is an internationally bestselling author who writes under several pen names, from Kris Nelscott in mystery to Kristine Grayson in romance. Under her real name (Rusch), she has won the Hugo, the AnLab Award, and Asimov’s Readers Choice Award six times. Her short mystery fiction has won the Ellery Queen Readers’ Choice Award twice, and has been nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards. Her work has sold in sixteen different countries. For more information on her writing, go to www.kristinekathrynrusch.com.

“Prepare the Standard Rich and Famous Contract.”

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by Joan Frances Turner

Of all the landmarks in a writer’s life, nothing ever matches the first time someone tells you your work makes them want to vomit.  For me it happened twenty minutes after I sent Dust, my first novel, as an e-query to the first of the long list of names I’d collected from the Agent Query website; I pressed the “send” button, my hand shaking with nerves, expecting to wait weeks or months to hear a word.  Instead, a immediate terse reply:  My sample chapters were “nauseating,” but they knew a tiny independent horror press who might like them.  (The tiny horror press was indefinitely closed to submissions.  Occasionally, I think the agent knew this in advance.)

This was an excellent introduction to the query process, because it showed me there’s no point taking rejection to heart:  It was simply a rather colorful way of saying, “It’s not you, babe, it’s me.”  Fine, maybe I’m some other agent’s Ms. Write.  I get sad reading about aspiring writers querying a half-dozen agents and then giving up in frustration; ninety-four rejections and one acceptance later, I can attest to a few truths about the process.  Namely:

1.  It isn’t who you know.  No, seriously, unless you’re already a known literary or media superstar, it doesn’t matter.  I didn’t know any agents, editors or publishers, I didn’t blog or know any writing bloggers, I hadn’t taken any workshops or gone to publishing cons, I knew nobody.  The gatekeeper myth is just that.

2.  It is about money.  When I got personalized rejection letters (I usually didn’t), one comment recurred:  “I like this, but I can’t sell it.”  Agents will often step outside their comfort zones–mine did–but publishing is a business and business wants profits, period.  That’s as much outside the agent’s control as yours.

3.  Your “sure bet” agents aren’t.  My horror-fantasy novel with YA market potential sold to an agent who specializes in…literary and “women’s” fiction, because she liked my writing style and thought it was just commercial enough to sell.  Meanwhile all the agents who specialized in genre and YA rejected me, flat out.  Again, it’s all about being one person’s Mr. or Ms. Write.

4.  Feelings aren’t relevant.  Never mind form rejections, you need to prepare for your work being called “nauseating,” or “disgusting,” or–I still wince about this–getting your own query letter back with “NO” scrawled across it in huge ballpoint letters.  Even without those personal touches, dozens of rejections take a toll.  This is not about a “thick skin”–mine is frankly tissue paper–but about realizing backing down only hurts more.

5.  IT ISN’T WHO YOU KNOW.  It’s affinity, and luck.  That’s not any fairer, honestly, but it gives unknowns like my aspiring self a chance.

The giant ballpoint “NO” of doom is painful for five seconds and then, it’s over.  One “yes” out of ninety-five is long odds, but not astronomical.   Keep playing them.   And when the phone finally rings–and it will–congratulations.  You’ve already won.

 Joan Frances Turner is the author of Dust (2010) and Frail (2011), both published by Ace Books.  She is currently at work on a third novel.

Taking a Swing at Those Writing Slumps

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by Jamie Todd Rubin

I knew from a pretty early age that I would never make it to the big leagues. I wasn’t a bad ball player, mind you, but there was just some quality that I lacked that others had that would make the difference. My younger brother, for instance, had that quality and went on to play baseball through college and even into the semipros. But I also realized that I probably didn’t want to be a big league baseball player. My talents, what little they might be, lay in other directions.

I wanted to be a science fiction writer. Continue reading →

Own Your Creative Process

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by Amy Sundberg

As writers, we are constantly being inundated with advice, collective wisdom, and snapshots of other writers’ creative process. On any given day, the internet hands me several blog posts about writing, writers posting their daily word counts, writers obsessing over submission stats, and writers kibitzing over every imaginable aspect of craft, business, artistry, and process. Whether upbeat or despairing, these tweets, status updates, and posts give us a window into the writer’s life…and a guaranteed reason to worry we might be doing it all wrong ourselves.

Mary wrote 1423 words today, and I only managed 400. Robert finished a story today, and I had to spend all day brainstorming. Phyllis is self-publishing, and Peter has more sales than me, and why haven’t I heard back from Big Shot Agent when my friend Christy got an offer from her two weeks ago?

Add this to the well-meaning advice of friends and pros alike, and it’s easy to see how writers can become completely overwhelmed. I have to write two thousand words every day like Stephen King, or I’m a failure as a writer. I have to write every day, and I need to finish what I start. If I think what I’m writing sucks, I need to plow through and just hope I can fix it later on. I need to outline, or I need to not outline. I need to revise every single thing at least five times. I must write at the same time every day. I need to finish two novels this year, or twelve short stories, or send one hundred submissions to pro markets. I need to belong to as many critique groups as possible, blog, tweet, Google+, and Facebook every day, and while I’m at it, why don’t I beat myself up because I can’t singlehandedly cause world peace?

It’s not that the advice in the previous paragraph is bad. In many cases, it’s quite good. But what it fails to take into account is that we’re not some collective Blob of writers but individuals. We each have our strengths and weaknesses; we each have our own pace and our own long-term goals. We all learn at different speeds and in different ways. And each of us has some kind of life outside of writing, which will inevitably sometimes be more difficult or draining than other times. We move house. We have a critical yet crazy deadline at work. We get sick. We have babies. We lose people we love.

This has been on my mind a lot because in the past year, I’ve had to throw out a bunch of really great advice about process. It was no longer working for me. And I spent a lot of time beating myself up for not being the perfect writer. But you know what? None of that self-flagellation accomplished anything. All it did was make me feel more stressed about writing and less able to write well.

Instead I have learned to own my process. I do what works for ME, right now. Not what works for my friend or Ms. Random Famous Writer. I’m always open to new ideas, but I get to take responsibility for how I’m writing. I get to decide, and I don’t need to apologize to anyone. What is most important is that I’m fulfilling my writing goal of becoming the best writer I can be.

An interesting side effect of owning my process? Now that I’m not so concerned over how I’m writing, I’m finally producing more and better material. Sometimes our process needs a kick in the pants, and sometimes it just needs us to embrace it and let it happen.

Amy Sundberg is a writer and musician who blogs regularly at practicalfreespirit.com. Her stories have been published in Daily Science Fiction, New Myths, and Crossed Genres. She loves musical theater, ice cream, Anne of Green Gables, and learning about neuroscience, and she lives in California with her husband and her little dog.

Building the (Story) Arc

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By Jodi Moore

Confession time.

I’ve been writing stories since I could hold a crayon. I’ve attended countless writer conferences, workshops and seminars. I hold a degree in education.

But the concept of a story arc has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.

Obviously, I accept its existence. I bow to its importance. I would even venture to say I hold every story, whether I’m writing or reading, up to its brilliance.

But to have to explain one, especially to 300 wriggling children?

* shudders *

This past May saw the birth of my first picture book. I couldn’t wait to share my little Dragon with the world and eagerly set up an elementary school visit.

Rather than discuss the publishing process, I decided to try to inspire my audience’s own creativity. I wanted to show the students how building a strong story is like modeling a sandcastle. Each one needs its own set of tools. Each one requires a firm foundation upon which to build and sculpt the different layers. Each one flourishes with its own fine revisions.

It was all so perfect in my mind.

Until I realized that I would have to discuss the parts of a story and * gasp * weave them into a story arc.

I felt a bit like Noah. The drizzle had already started and I was presented with the challenge to build the “arc”.

“R-I-G-H-T. What’s a cubit?”

(Okay, I know I’m dating myself, but if you’ve never heard Bill Cosby’s shtick on the conversation between Noah and The Lord when building the ark, you must take a moment and do so. Go ahead. I’ll wait. * nibbles chocolate *)

Don’t you just love Bill? But I digress…

No problem, I thought. I can do this. I have the Internet. I am linked to great minds throughout the world. So I searched. I Googled. I Binged. I Yahoo!ed.

I found countless sites discussing the parts of a well-crafted story. I found dozens of depictions of story arcs.

All different.

Seriously, I couldn’t find two that were the same. While some were very complex and others (thankfully) more simplified, it seemed the only consistency was that no one could agree on the parts of a story, let alone the specifics of the elusive story arc.

I nailed a few planks together. I feared my initial attempts at explanation wouldn’t float. Everything felt too academic. Stiff. Hollow. I could sense both the ship and my spirits sinking.

Upon further pondering, however, I realized I wasn’t looking for a smooth sail. I wanted to give these students a good ride. My arc demanded spark. I needed to find a new analogy.

I wanted a thrill ride.

And then, in a Lucy-Van-Pelt-makes-Schroeder-flip-in-the-air-“That’s IT”-revelation, it hit me.

Have you ever noticed how much a story arc looks like a roller coaster?

Think about it for a moment. First, you and your friends/family (CHARACTERS) arrive at the park (SETTING). You climb aboard cars that are all linked together. The first pulls the others along, each one dependent on the one before it (ACTION and PLOT).

Then the TENSION builds…clank-clank-clank…ever so s-l-o-w-l-y as you make your ascent. A cacophony of emotions (thrilled/terrified/ecstatic/exhilarated) mount as you continue that climb…up…up…up…! How your heart fills (with joy, dread, panic) at the tippy top (the CLIMAX) where you seem to hang – breathless! – for a split second until you – WHOOSH! – rush downwards through the twists and turns and loops to the final (RESOLUTION) stop!

And, to continue this analogy…if the ride/story is exciting enough, won’t you want to ride/read it again and again…and recommend it to everyone you know?

Look. I’m not saying that I have all the parts included or completely defined. And it’s very likely that I will come across English scholars/teachers/writers/readers/roller coaster enthusiasts along the way that will shoot my theory – and my simplified story arc picture – full of holes.

But it worked for me. Following our “ride” (and yes, we even threw our hands up in the air as we plummeted down!), these kids seemed to “get it”. They were actively engaged. They could name characters, discuss action and plot. They could identify the climax.

Most importantly, they were ready – and excited – to buckle in tight and create their own work.

After all, doesn’t every story deserve to be a thrill-read?

Jodi Moore is the author of WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN (May 2011, Flashlight Press) and GOOD NEWS NELSON (Story Pie Press, tbd). Jodi considers books, along with chocolate, to be one of the main food groups.  She writes both picture books and young adult novels, hoping to challenge, nourish and inspire her readers by opening up brand new worlds and encouraging unique ways of thinking.  Jodi is the proud and (admittedly) neurotic mother of two incredibly talented young adults and never ceases to be amazed at how far the umbilical cord really will stretch. She lives in central PA with her always-supportive best friend/husband, Larry, two laughing doves and an ever-changing bunch of characters in her head. In addition to reading, writing and chocolate, Jodi enjoys music, theatre, dancing, the beach and precious time spent with her family.  Finally, Jodi thinks it would be really cool if one of her stories eventually became a Disney or Universal movie or theme park ride. Or a Broadway musical. Just puttin’ it out there.

How to Tackle Your Basement and Water Proof Your Revisions…or the Other Way Around

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By Kimberly J. Sabatini

I’m going to talk to you about my basement. (Don’t role your eyes at me–even my kids will tell you that’s not a good idea.)  Yes, I know I’m supposed to be writing a guest blog post, but all I can do is obsess about being dab-smack in the middle of water proofing the basement.  It’s all I can think about.  I’ve spent endless hours hauling musty, dusty, nasty things that I’ve stock piled over the years, to other locations around the house and yard.  I’ve tried to decide what to clean up and what to toss.  I’ve found treasures packed away that I’d forgotten I had and I’ve found more than a few unpleasant damp and moldy surprises.  In fact, as I’m writing this, there are guys in my basement ripping out flooring and walls and ceiling.  Very soon, there will be four ungodly days of jackhammering and pump installation.  To survive it all, I’m dreaming about how awesome the basement will be when it’s finished, dry, clean, organized, up-to-date and loved by all.

I know that talking about my basement means I run the risk of losing you to another blog post–DON’T LEAVE!  I have important information for you. I’ve discovered that revising your manuscript and water proofing your basement are almost interchangeable activities—accept that you can’t store things in your manuscript—like real life things in giant plastic tubs.  But, aside from that, the similarities are astounding.  Let me prove it to you.

After you write the first draft of a story, unless you have a freaking magic wand, (and if you do I want to know where you got it) you novel probably looks something like this.

The “cute” thing about that first draft is the bliss you feel when you’re done. You’re just so happy to have the whole darn thing piled in one place.  You can’t believe you’ve gotten the whole thing in the basement down on paper.  When I typed the last word of my first draft, I laid my head down and cried with joy and relief.  I was a winner.  I was also exhausted.  I had blown every last ounce of energy I had on that draft.  Putting it away was not only advisable, but also necessary.  I was more than happy to do it and it sat there for a couple weeks collecting spiders and dust bunnies until I felt ready to revise.  Unfortunately, I had a problem.   I knew revision was something I had to do, but I really didn’t know exactly how to go about doing it.  But the professionals in the biz seem to advocate the practice, so I shooed a couple spiders and did a little rearranging.  Revision done!  Now my manuscript looked something like this.

Familiar, huh?  Sadly, I didn’t find this problematic.  Instead, I declared it READY.  To my credit, I think I had a niggling feeling that this wasn’t the best my manuscript or my basement could look.  So I hired a professional to edit it for me.  She gave me incredible insight into the changes I might need to make.  Unfortunately for me, I was not developmentally ready to implement that advice.  I tried.  I took everything I’d unpacked, dusted it off and laid it out the best I could.  My manuscript now looked a little bit like this.

Not bad–absolutely a significant improvement.  I used the tools I already had in my box, the floor plan I was comfortable with, I painted (until I got bored, tired, ran out of time) and now I was ready to invite agents into my average, partially painted, slightly damp and musty basement.

*sob*

They didn’t want to come.  Can you believe that thirty-two different agents didn’t want to hang out there?  Truth be told,  I wasn’t focused on what my basement lacked, rather, crazy thoughts were running through my head.  I wasn’t happy they declined my invitation to be a best-selling novelist (with a mediocre, sub-terra, living space.)  But we all know the rules…

Instead, I started to read about revising.  I devoured everything I could get my hands on.  I was even watching tutorials on YouTube.  Then, something unexpected happened.  The Greek Gods had mercy and an agent ask for a full.  She passed, but my battery was recharged.  She also gave me some editorial advice.  I read her suggestions and it was like fireworks going off inside my head.  I knew what to do.  I had a vision at last.  Ironically, the agent’s advice was eerily similar to what had been suggested in my critique.  The difference?  I’d learned a lot in a year.

Now I understood that this is what a real revision looks like.

And when I did that—this happened…

My name was in Writer’s Digest!!!  Can you find it?  SQUEE!!!!

But don’t get too excited, because the renovations revisions never end.  Guess what happened when I got an editor?  I had to do this.  It’s hard, dirty work.

I’m still doing edits, although I’m beginning to see the finished product a little more clearly.  I’m not 100% certain what it will look like when it’s ready for the shelves, but I have a good idea.  And I’m excited.  I believe that people will want to come to my basement and read my book.  And although it’s been a long road, I’m absolutely sure it’s been worth the effort.

So what am I working on now–besides the last of those edits?  I’ve got a work-in-progress that needs my attention.  Have I also mentioned that the garage could use a makeover?

Kimberly Sabatini

Kim is a former Special Education Teacher who is now a stay-at-home mom and a part-time dance instructor for 3, 4 and 5 year olds. After her dad passed away in 2005, she used writing as a way to make sense of the experience and discovered that she’s full of questions that need to be answered. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband and three boys. Kim writes Young Adult fiction and is represented by Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary Agency. She is thrilled to be part of the “Wolf Pack.” TOUCHING THE SURFACE is her debut novel. (Simon Pulse – Simon & Schuster, Fall 2012)

Get Out of Your Own Way!

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By Jeff Cox

Let me just start by telling you, I don’t have a book deal. No best sellers under my belt as of yet, just some online articles and the many, many projects I’m working on.

Getting a big project completed was the barrier I had to cross. I got tired of saying I was working on a novel. I’d much rather say I was shopping one around. To solve this problem, I set a goal last year to write 1000 words a day to finish a first draft. To do so meant eliminating the things that arrested my progress. You all know these things, because we all do them. Here are the rules I used to do it.

The Rules 

Write everyday, but don’t be a perfectionist. I aim for 1000 words a day. Sometimes I do more. Sometimes I do less. Once in a while, I miss the day all together. Life gets in the way. Can’t be helped, but you do what you can. A published friend of mine pointed out to me, if you just write one page a day on average, at the end of a year, you have a book. So write every day, keep up that average.

Write the first draft with the door closed. Stephen King said that in his book On Writing (go buy it). He meant don’t share your first draft with anyone until it’s done. He knows a thing or two about this. The first draft is for the author. It’s where you tell your story to yourself. It’s how you get to know your story and make it your own. Letting anyone else in dilutes your vision and can paralyze you with doubt. Don’t share it until it’s done. Now you don’t have to worry what people think about your work and it will be all your work.

Kill the internal critic. One bad habit comes from doubting every sentence. Guess what? You WILL do revisions. Know it. Accept it. But they will happen after the first draft. If you get an idea about a way to improve your manuscript, make a note then get back to the work of building your story. The only exception is if you go down a dead end. I did this a couple times, solving the characters problem too easily or revealing something too soon. Those sections were cut and pasted to the bottom, and then I got back to work, incorporating them at the right time. Keep the momentum. No rewriting.

Keep learning. Listen to experts. I made a point of getting involved with people who knew about writing. In my case, I joined the SCBWI. I go to all of their monthly meetings and every special event I can. I read all of their publications. As lessons are learned, I apply them to my work. It’s a lot more efficient then improving only through trial and error.

Maybe my rules will work for you, too. Feel free to adjust them to your own needs. But you want to be a writer? Live the life. Write. Butt in chair. Whether you’re unpublished like me or you’re JK Rowling, the most basic component of being a writer is something you can do right now. Put your story down. Make it a discipline every day. If all that’s coming out of you is crap, write down the crap. You can revise later, once you hit your stride. You would not believe the typos on my first draft, but making writing a habit was the most important thing I’ve ever done for myself.

The effort made me a better writer. Seems obvious, but it wasn’t until I had finished my first draft that I realized how much easier writing had become for me. The anxiety that used to be associated with a writing assignment is gone. I can get my thoughts organized and in print with relatively little effort.  It’s like any skill. Work it regularly and you will, without question, get better at it.

Under a year after I started this effort, I had a 372 page first draft sitting on my hard drive (yes, I backed it up). I’ve put it out there for criticism and readers have given me good responses and constructive notes. Revising is like fixing up a house. The paint and tile could be better, but the house is built. I’m ready to take on the revisions, because I live the life. I’m a writer.

Jeffery Cox writes novels, comics, screenplays, and picture books and is a regular contributor at galacticbinder.com. He’s also an active member of SCBWI and counting this article toward his thousand words a day.

The Right Word

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By Ingrid Sundberg

Mark Twain famously once said “the difference between the right word and the almost right word is really a large matter – it is the difference between the lightening and the lightening bug.”

As writers it’s important to know that we’re more than storytellers, we are wordsmiths! Every word we type has potential to do more than convey character and plot. Our words can also deepen the mood and emotion resonance in our novels.

Ilsa J. Bick is a master of this technique. In her apocalyptic zombie novel Ashes (which comes out Sept 6th) Bick intensifies each page with the danger of her world through the use of aggressive words. In the following examples Bick uses the violent words of: slash, spear, and pierced, to describe otherwise peaceful images.

“She registered the slash of morning sun in an already too-bright and very cold room…” (301).

“She heard the creak of Tom’s footsteps overhead, and a spear of light pierced the darkness as he shone his flashlight down the stairs” (159).

Bick’s words are doing double-duty. They not only convey the imagery and action of the scene but they also infuse each sentence with emotional stakes. Never once does Bick’s protagonist feel free of the horror that surrounds her. This is because Bick allows her powerful word choices to accumulate over the entire novel, creating an air of danger that is unconsciously felt by the reader.

Two Great Exercises to Learn How to Do This Yourself:

Exercise #1: Scene Analysis

Pick a scene in a book where you (as reader) felt an emotional connection. Perhaps this was a scene that made your cry or cringe or got your blood pumping. Re-read the scene and pick out the words that relate to the emotion you felt. Take a look at those words and how they’re used. Become aware of when a specific word choice affected you unconsciously!

Exercise #2: Write with Word Lists

A great way to use this technique in your own work is to create word-lists. Ask yourself what the emotional mood of the scene you’re writing is (i.e. fear, nervousness, lust, etc.). Now write a list of words that invoke of this feeling for you. For example, if the feeling is nervousness my words list could include:

wobble
chatter
prickle
tremble
ice
upturn
squeamish
clench

As you go to write your scene, try to use some of your words. You don’t have to use all of them, and you will easily start to come up with new ones as you write. But when you’re done you’ll find a new emotional layer has been added to your work with the touch of a few carefully chosen words.

INGRID SUNDBERG writes young adult novels, picture books, screenplays, and illustrates for children’s magazines. She is very active in the Kidlit community and blogs about writing craft on her blog: Ingrid’s Notes (www.ingridsnotes.wordpress.com). She currently works at an independent bookstore in the children’s department and is attending the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in writing for children program.

THE NOT SO SHORT…CUTS

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by Jordan Summers

It used to be that you could give a new writer advice on the publishing industry and be pretty certain that what you were telling them was the truth to the best of your knowledge. There were ‘sure’ paths to take (ie write the best book you can, get it critiqued, start the next book, then submit to an agent and keep your fingers crossed). These days not so much.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’ve probably noticed the explosion or implosion happening in the publishing industry. Even those of us who’ve been in the rodeo for a while, don’t exactly know how to ride this particular critter. There are clauses popping up in contracts that would curl anyone’s hair. So what’s a writer to do?

I’ve been giving this particular question a LOT of thought. See I started out selling books to an online e-publisher, then moved to NewYork publishing via several contest wins. I’ve had three separate agents–one of which left the business–and I have the scars to prove it. The scent of desperation coming out of New York right now is absolutely cloying. I find myself in a position that I hadn’t anticipated. (I’m sure a lot of writers do.) I have a release, Blood Lite 2 coming out in September 2011 (shameless plug), but I’m officially out of contract. What does that mean? I haven’t sold a new book yet.

Being out of contract is not unusual in publishing. In fact, it happens to most writers at some point in their careers. What’s different now is that for the first time I’m not sure exactly what to do. Due to the current publishing climate, I’m not in a particular hurry to jump back into the fray. This does not mean that I’ve stopped writing. On the contrary, I seem to be in squirrel mode. By that I mean I’m writing and stockpiling manuscripts. I have one novella, one contemporary, and a fantasy YA finished. I’ve also just started work on an urban fantasy romance. Hope to have a rough draft done in August. I plan to follow that book up with a straight urban fantasy. Once I’m done, I think I’ll be in a good position to test the waters again…if I want to.

These days authors have a choice when it comes to publishing and the line in the sand continues to grow. There are some authors who believe that N.Y. publishing is antiquated and should be done away with. Most of these authors come from a self-publishing/indie background. There’s nothing wrong with indie publishing. I’ve been slowly putting my backlist up with a few original pieces tossed in for giggles. The other side of the fence is lined with authors from a traditionally published background. They’ve written their books, got an agent, and sold their work to N.Y.  Both sides have strong opinions about the right way to publish. (HINT: There isn’t one.)

The thing is I think in order to survive in today’s publishing climate an author must figure out how to do both. Right now there’s a lot of enthusiasm coming from indie authors, especially the ones making decent money. For every one of those authors, there are thousands of othersmaking very little–much like in the traditional publishing model. As excited as I am about the indie opportunities, I know just like when the first wave of ebooks hit in 2000/2001, it will not last. That’s why these days it’s more important than ever to diversify. I cannot stress this last point enough. Every writer has to think about the long game. Short-sidedness is inexcusable, especially with all the free information floating out there.

Indie publishing has been touted as a short cut to publishing. Although most aspiring writers won’t want to hear this, indie publishing is not a short cut. You still have to spend hours and hours working on your craft.  By the way, this never ends. You still have to write hundreds of thousands of words. You still have to know how to tell a good story. You still have to have your work critiqued by someone other than your mom. (Unless your mom is like my mom and will tell you exactly what’s wrong with your book.) Just because you can publish a book in a matter of hours these days, doesn’t mean that you should. Indie publishing is always an option, but it should never be your ONLY option.

Jordan Summers has eighteen published books to her credit. She is a member of the Horror Writer’s Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Novelist Inc., Romance Writers of America, and the Published Author’s Network. Her next release, BLOOD LITE 2 comes out Sept. 2011. You can reach Jordan through her website: www.jordansummers.com.

Finding Your Niche

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by Kevin Hearne

Urban fantasy is a vast, undiscovered country that’s still in its early growth period as a genre. If you’re looking for a place to break into the market, I think nothing offers so many opportunities as urban fantasy—the “rules” are few and the editors are already looking for books that are a bit different from the early tropes that have been established.

I spent seventeen years trying to get published in various genres before I discovered urban fantasy at the bookstore. The basic premise was a revelation to me: pick a critter from mythology or folklore, drop it into a contemporary setting amongst clueless humans, and hang on for the ride. When one considers the breadth of human belief and the staggering number of places those old gods and creatures can get into trouble in the modern world, the possibilities are endless—but if you look at the shelves, you’ll see that only a fraction of the territory has been explored so far. Most everything is happening in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, and most of it concerns vampires, werewolves, demons, or faeries. To contribute something new, therefore, all you have to do is browse and see where there’s some negative narrative space on the shelf—a wee little niche that you can fill, that you want to fill—and then write it. I know it’s easier said than done, but honestly, it worked for me. I got a three-book deal by starting with this very basic market analysis.

One thing I noticed immediately in my review of the genre was that there were relatively few males writing about male protagonists. That would set me apart right away. Once I had that thought, my own fondness for Celtic traditions suggested a Druid in the modern world might be a good time. My quick scan of the shelves revealed that there were exactly zero urban fantasies featuring a Druid hero. I have since learned that there was a series at that time featuring a Druid in Boston who’d lost his powers, but I went to writing The Iron Druid Chronicles thinking I’d have no competition (instead of little competition) and my book would therefore stand out a bit from the rest of the slush pile. I had a blast writing it; compared to the baggage that vampires and werewolves drag around with them, Druids are practically blank canvases.

By the time I finished Hounded, the first book in The Iron Druid Chronicles, I’d been trying to get published for nineteen years. When it landed me an agent inside of two months, I began to hope that maybe I’d finally written something ready for the market. It turned out to be precisely the sort of thing publishers were looking for: once my agent submitted it, Hounded sold in just two weeks in a four-way auction. It can happen for you too.

There are still plenty of niches in urban fantasy that need filling. To my knowledge, there are no gay or lesbian main characters; there’s a profound lack of gnomish heroes trying to make a difference in a world dominated by human giants; there are no manticores struggling for acceptance in a world full of prejudice, and so on. Go see for yourself; the ideas are out there, waiting for you in the bookstore, between the books that are already on the shelves, screaming in all the voices of the world’s mythology that they deserve some attention.

And whatever you do, whatever you’re writing, keep at it and don’t give up.

Kevin Hearne is a native of Arizona and really appreciates whoever invented air-conditioning. He graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and now teaches high school English. When he’s not grading essays or writing novels, he tends to his basil plants and paints landscapes with his daughter. He has been known to obsess over fonts, frolic unreservedly with dogs, and stop whatever he’s doing in the rare event of rain to commune with the precipitation. He enjoys hiking, the guilty pleasure of comic books, and living with his wife and daughter in a wee, snug cottage.