Chimera Review » Fiction

Non-Fiction Salesmanship

Rob — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:45:19 +0000

The research you have conducted has been exhausting, yet the first draft of your non-fiction work is complete and you are in the midst of revisions and personal editing. Your plan is to send it on to a publisher soon.
Are you really finished with the work at that point?
You can take satisfaction in the fact that one of the harder elements of your experience in writing is over, but there are many details yet to attend to. You will need to write a cover letter and provide a synopsis or outline of the work, but you may have forgotten a key bit of research.
Market Research
In order to convince a potential publisher your work will make a needed contribution to the non-fiction subject matter you have chosen it is imperative to conduct some market research. This information is not only useful to the potential publisher it is key to their continued assessment of your manuscript. If you cannot provide a reason for the publisher to consider this work unique and marketable they will likely stop the review process at that point leaving the manuscript you worked so hard on untouched.
Every potential business conducts market research to find out if there is a need for the type of business they are seeking to establish. If a business decides they need to establish a hamburger fast food establishment, but the town already has enough ‘hamburger joints’ then the entrepreneur needs to establish research that indicates the hamburgers he will be selling are far superior than what is currently offered – or he might go back to the drawing board and determine if there is another specialty food item that might be more marketable (even if it’s a niche market).
For the writer this lesson indicates that your best market research should be conducted prior to investing creative energy in the crafting of your book. If you have already completed your manuscript without market research you might go back through your manuscript and find the many unique characteristics about your book and the content covered. This information should provide adequate material to move forward with the market research you need.
It may be hard to view yourself as a salesperson, but in the context of writing you must be able to present a clear case as to why the publisher should consider your work for publishing and in turn providing you with royalty checks for your efforts.

Scott Lindsay is a web developer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of FaithWriters (http://www.faithwriters.com” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.faithwriters.com) and many other web projects. FaithWriters has grown to become one of the largest online destinations for Christian writers. Members include writers from all around the world. Please visit the website at: http://www.faithwriters.com” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.faithwriters.com
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A Short Explanation of Classic Detective Fiction

Rob — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:39:24 +0000

Classic detective fiction is the type of fiction that really makes a reader focus on the pages. These types of stories are not generally very gory or bloody as such stories can be today, but they do hold some blood and gore inside the pages; they just release it shortly and at proper intervals. The history of classic detective fiction is interesting to say the least.

Most critics agree that classic detective fiction rose from the pages around 1841 when the famous Edgar Allen Poe wrote the story of The Murders in the Rue Morgue. His character, Dupin, is able to solve the crimes that were unable to be solved by the police thereby paving the way for future detectives to come along and do the same. He created the dazzling detective who attempts to solve the perplexing crime and the aloof colleague (or friend) who records every bit of the case in detail. The police, of course are lost. They appear to be unsure of which road to follow and by the end they are completely astonished as everything is laid out before them by the hero (the detective).

After Poes discovery and subsequent tale, there were many attempts at successful detective fiction but none were notable until Recollections of a Detective Police Officer by Waters. At this point, the stories had become almost unreadable since there really was no literary attempt. The end to hack writing came in 1859 when Wilkie Collins The Woman in White forced other writers to show some sort of a literary effort to be able to compete. The other notable novel that followed in Collins footsteps was Hugos Les Miserables (1862) which is still immensely popular in theatre today.

Novels such as this were published for years, giving the public reason to believe that there would never be an evolution of the genre. However, in 1887, Sherlock Holmes emerged from the pages of Beetons Christmas Annual. Unfortunately, the original story did not take off at first. The intricate character had seemed doomed to fade into the pages and be lost forever. Four years later, in 1890, Lippincott picked up Doyle and put him on contract to write more Holmes stories. Strand magazine also began publishing Doyles detective stories. This is when the craze began. The first stories were combined into a book to form a series. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes was enormously successful, and so was the following series, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, even though Doyle made a decision to kill of Holmes in this series. Of course, since this was now a very popular character, the death of Holmes generated anger and protest among the public. The demand for Sherlock Holmes was greater than ever. Although Doyle obviously did not want to do it, he was finally forced to bring the character back to life around 1905 to appease both the public and the publishers.

This character and the cases that he participated in changed the way that detective fiction would be written from then on. Doyle is now considered to have paved the way for the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

Chris Haycock is an information publisher, one of whose many hobbies includes crime fiction. Early detective fiction in particular. A particular favourite is Sherlock Holmes. If you would like to know more about Sherlock Holmes and an excellent offer, why not go now to http://www.sherlockandwatson.com
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Short Story Writing – A Viable Route To Publication For Older Writers

Rob — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:08:35 +0000

Many people take up writing as a hobby or as a more serious undertaking later in life – maybe even after what would be considered by many retirement age. This article looks at one way the older writer can compete with younger rivals on a level playing field.
There you are, sitting looking at your finished book manuscript. It’s probably taken at least a year – maybe a lot longer – to get to this stage. Now, you say, it’s finished! Sorry to correct you here – but it’s not. It will only be finished when it is published, in book form, and sitting on a shelf in a bookshop where people can buy it.
So you send away your manuscript, bracing yourself – you have been warned about this – for rejection. You may be very fortunate and have your work accepted: if so I take my hat off to you! It is far more likely that the work will be returned. If the reason given is that is out of fashion, or not right for that particular publisher, or just plain badly written, then you can do something about it.
Sometimes though – and this an older, unpublished, writer’s pitfall – your age may work against you. I know, it’s wrong – but there it is. You may have written a great book, a truly stunning piece of work – but an agent or publisher, being hard-headed businesspeople, have to ask themselves two very crucial questions. These are:
1. Has this writer got more than on book in them? In other words, is this book something you have taken a long time – maybe years and years – to bring to a conclusion? If so, do have any more ideas or are all your guns fired?
2. Now this is not the greatest thing to dwell on – but how much longer are you going to be around? Let’s say you’re a fit 70-year old lady. You could, these days, reasonably expect another good fifteen or twenty years at least. How does this work with your writing career?
Well – a book – any book – can take five years from first rough to publication. Three years is good going. As you can only write one book at once (unless your name is Simenon!) that means you could well be hitting 90-plus if a publisher gave you a five-book contract – together with all the sales and marketing investment that implies. When they look at these sort of figures you can understand – even if you do not agree with – their concerns.
So – this leaves us with the old problem: how to get into print? Well, one excellent way is via the short story market, particularly those published within popular women’s magazines. Hang on, though – what about your age in this environment? Does it not still hold that it may count against you?
Happily, the answer is a resounding NO. Magazine editors aren’t offering you a contract beyond purchasing publishing rights from you – hardly a big investment – so concerns regarding your longevity aren’t present! Also, many older writers find they have the depth of experience concerning the human condition so essential to many stories found within the pages of this type of magazine.
Then there are other types of magazine – the science fiction short story is one of the types enjoying a keen readership, as popular today as it was seventy years ago. Maybe it’s not your thing – but it’s worth considering!
The other thing about short stories is that they are, when compared to a novel, quick to write. You could probably write twenty or thirty short stories in the time it would take you to write your book. Too, they give a new writer great exposure. It’s fair to say that the buyers of women’s magazines probably don’t do so just to read the short story tucked away towards the back – but read them they do and some magazines have readerships in the hundreds of thousands. If you sold that many copies of your novel it would be a best-seller!
Maybe the best things about getting your short story published is the great boost to confidence it brings to any fledgling (or indeed seasoned) writer. There’s nothing quite like having your name in print as the author! Add to this the bonus of getting your name known to editors and agents – yes, they do read these stories, spying out talent – and it can be seen that writing for the short story market can be a great way to get noticed.
You may decide, if following this route, that short stories are the thing for you – a writing niche that suits your talents and needs. On the other hand, should you again experience the desire to write The Novel, you have a good grounding in economical, well-planned writing (as all short stories must be) that will shine out to any publisher whose desk your manuscript lands on!

If you would like to know a bit more about the short story genre, try clicking here. Or, if you’re still determined to have a go at a longer work, just click here.

Ebooks How to Write Best Sellers

Rob — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:47:28 +0000

Writing an ebook is a great way to make money online. Although there are millions of people who make money this way, there are millions of others who commit significant time and effort developing a great product, but fail to generate any sales at all. This can be very discouraging. On the other hand, certain types of non-fiction are great sellers. ‘How to’ ebooks with mass market appeal sell very well. Mass market appeal means that people all over the world are interested in that subject. Some of the best selling topics instruct you how to; build something, solve a common problem, cure something, or start a business. Although there is no guarantee that any product you create will sell, there is one way to give your product the best chance possible. You need to research your topic BEFORE writing a single word. Do a search to determine what kind of demand exists for products in that particular area. I can almost guarantee you that your ebook on ‘How to Raise Penguins’ will not make you rich. That’s because very few people are interested in raising penguins. On the other hand, your ebook on ‘How to Cure the Common Cold’ may make you very very wealthy in a matter of hours! As you can see, certain subjects sell better than others. If your product is on a hot subject that is in demand, you will generate sales. On the other hand, certain types of non-fiction are great sellers. ‘How to’ ebooks with mass market appeal sell very well. Mass market appeal means that people all over the world are interested in that subject. If it is in a genre that does poorly, you will find it difficult to make money.As a general rule of thumb, fiction ebooks do not usually sell very well unless your name is Stephen King. Although there is no guarantee that any product you create will sell, there is one way to give your product the best chance possible. You need to research your topic BEFORE writing a single word. Do a search to determine what kind of demand exists for products in that particular area. I can almost guarantee you that your ebook on ‘How to Raise Penguins’ will not make you rich. That’s because very few people are interested in raising penguins. If you are interested in creating a work of fiction, you might be better off by considering one of the more traditional publishing methods. On the other hand, certain types of non-fiction are great sellers. ‘How to’ ebooks with mass market appeal sell very well. Mass market appeal means that people all over the world are interested in that subject. Some of the best selling topics instruct you how to; build something, solve a common problem, cure something, or start a business. Collectors and hobbyists are also big ebook buyers. If you are knowledgeable in this area and have an interesting angle, you may have a best seller on your hands. Collectors and hobbyists are very active buyers if you can find the right topic.Do you want to learn how to make money? Get all the details and start making money online!

For more useful tips & hints, please browse for more information at our website:- http://www.create-free-pdf.com http://www.ebookmarketing.reprintarticlesite.com
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Fiction Writing: 3 Crucial Points For Your Main Character

Rob — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:45:58 +0000

The main or lead character in any story is a lynchpin and has very definite qualities. Miss one of these and your story may well grind to a halt! This article takes a look at three crucial aspects of the main character.
The main character in any work of fiction is the one around which the entire story revolves. He or she must possess certain values or abilities if your story is to work, yet many aspiring writers miss one or more of these vital points and become frustrated when their story fails to work as it should. Let’s look at these three key ingredients to our main character:
1. The main character is the one who suffers most as a result of your story’s events.
2. The main character is the one who has the power to change things within the story.
3. The main character is the one with the freedom to change things if they so wish.
In more detail:
1. Let’s say that your main character, Jake, suffers most in your story. He has the freedom of choice to change this suffering but not the power to make it happen. Pretty soon your readers are going to realise that Jake is inept and weak, can’t change a thing and that he must, in the end, surely fail.
2. If on the other hand Jake is the one who suffers most and possesses the power to make it stop but lacks the freedom to do this, the story will fall flat on its face because Jake cannot act and the plot can go nowhere.
3. Finally, if Jake has both power to change things within the story and the freedom to do so but isn’t in jeopardy or doesn’t suffer, the story will lack any form of tension. Jake will also lack any real motive to make any changes you have him perform as he isn’t under any threat or duress. In this scenario the reader is left wondering why Jake has to do anything at all and usually gets bored pretty quickly!
What does this tell us as writers? Answer: that the main character must have a truly proactive role within your story – or he simply cannot be the main character! However, does this make the main character the protagonist? Usually the answer is yes, provided that the main character also acts in a proactive manner.
The protagonist must make things happen. If in your story you merely let the main character react to what his adversary, ‘the opposition’ (the bad guy) is doing, you risk the bad guy becoming the protagonist and your main character slipping into what is essentially a secondary role. This is a danger if the bad guy is particularly charismatic or has very powerful dominating character traits.
The danger here is that the bad guy becomes the lead character, an ‘anti-hero’. This is a very, very difficult line to follow and I would not advise beginners to go down this route. The anti-hero can work if handled expertly – think of Paul Kersey in ‘Death Wish’ or Lestat in ‘The Vampire Chronicles’. Both are anti-heroes but both work due to the expertise of the author. If you have any doubt as to your abilities to pull this off, stick to a good guy hero!
Therefore the main character must seek his story goal, overcoming the bad guy who seeks to thwart this. He must call the shots as to what happens in the story, driving it by being proactive. Incidentally, the bad guy isn’t there just to cause your hero trouble – he has to have his own goal that, to him, is just as valid as the one your lead character has or he risks becoming a ‘cardboard cut-out’ villain whose only role within the story is to give your hero trouble.
This set-up, with main character as the good guy and also acting as the protagonist, is the most popular in fiction simply because it works so well. All other types of main character require a much greater effort to make them work well (if at all) and so seldom work effectively unless handled by a very skilled writer.
In conclusion: for beginners, choose the easiest set-up for your main character as descried above. Learn to do the simple things well – after all, a straightforward plot with good, strong and conventional characters will for a beginner ultimately produce a better finished work than trying to manipulate character types and work with a difficult, laborious storyline. Keep it simple and write it well!

Steve Dempster writes fiction and informative articles for the web. Learn more about how to kickstart your writing career here!
Healthy Living

Write About Something That Will Change Your Life!

Rob — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:58:18 +0000

It’s been said that you should “write about what you know”. It’s also been said that doing that condemns you to a life of boredom as you’ll never grow beyond your current limitations.
Not very helpful, is it?
It’s also been said that you should write about what you’re passionate about, interested in or otherwise taken by, as you’ll spend so much time researching it, writing it and rewriting it, that it had better light your fire, or it will drive you insane. And then again, others say don’t tackle a topic you know nothing about, you should write what you know….
And so we go around in ever decreasing circles.
I actually subscribe to the “write what you know” line of thought, but with a bit of a twist. I encourage writers to write about what they know on an emotional level.
Try writing a story that heals YOU. Emotions are the universal language. We all feel the same feelings, we may just experience them in different ways. We all recognize joy, love, peace, anger, resentment, jealousy and fear and when you tap into this universal language with your stories, you speak to the hearts of all readers. As you and your characters go on the roller coaster ride, your readers will go with you, and as you and your characters heal, so too will your readers see a way out for themselves.
Have you ever read a novel that’s changed your way of looking at the world? I certainly have. Try this simple tip, and you’ll soon be writing stories that change lives as well, including your own.
Write about something that will change your life.
Now by this I don’t mean sitting back and thinking, “What would change my life? I know! Divorcing my wife/leaving my job/selling my business and trekking across Africa/buying a ski lodge in Switzerland/running for President”. That’s not the type of change I’m talking about.
I’m talking about real change – the type of change that starts on the inside and works its way out. And while it may eventually manifest in divorce, resignation, liquidation, traveling, new businesses or political aspirations, it is not the way the change looks on the outside that matters as much as how it looks on the inside. And once you get the inside right, the outside takes care of itself.
As writers of fiction we are constantly living inside our own imaginations, aren’t we? True creativity occurs when experience meets imagination. The best way to write stories that resonate with others, that capture them from the first page and don’t let them go until the last, is for you, as the writer, to delve into your own basement of emotional experience and retrieve images of universal resonance to deliver to your readers.
JK Rowling said that the Dementors were definitely born of her own depression. The mirror of Erised was her own desperate desire to spend just five more minutes with her own mother, who passed away as she wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry’s search for a family of his own was paralleled by Jo Rowling’s desire for the very same thing in her own life.
You need courage to be a fiction writer. Courage to expose your own wounds, courage to go to the places you haven’t been before to heal them, and courage to decide you have the strength to go on the journey in the first place.
We have all had our ups and downs in life. And saved somewhere in our unconscious databases, are all the emotions, all the traumas, all the joys and all the images of our lives. As you access these buried emotions, a curious thing will happen. You won’t necessarily relive the actual events that happened to you. By drawing on the emotion, and allowing it to be your guide, your imagination will fill in the missing bits, and you’ll find yourself retrieving images, scenes and situations that may be very different to your own actual experience. Writing a memoir or autobiography is not the goal. Writing a story with emotional resonance that others will want to read is.
Try this simple exercise: Sit with your feet flat on the floor, hands resting on your thighs, your eyes closed. Take 3 to 5 deep breaths. Now in your mind’s eye, see a spotlight shining on a brightly lit stage. Step into the spotlight. Take a few seconds to grow accustomed to the shift in perspective. Now I want you to feel real anger. Feel the heat of it coursing through your body. How dare they? What right do they have? Ask yourself these questions over and over in your mind until you have worked yourself up into a white heat of fury. Now in your mind’s eye, allow an image to form around you, the source of your anger. What’s happening? Who is there? What can you hear? Coming up with a first sentence, write for 10 minutes on what happens next.
When you’ve completed this exercise, take a break, or come back tomorrow and try this next exercise. Following exactly the same process, feel forgiveness instead of anger. Allow the sense of true forgiveness to envelope you. Then when you are ready, allow an image to rise in your mind’s eye, and coming up with a first sentence, write for 10 minutes.
Did these two pieces of writing connect at all? Did the forgiveness relate to the anger, or vice versa? Don’t worry if they didn’t. Just know that as you utilize this process when writing a story, you will write a progressive story of great emotional resonance, and in so doing, you will be unconsciously training yourself to experience this journey in your own life.
This is a simple exercise to show you the power of accessing your unconscious through emotion. Once you become accustomed to using this method, you will find all kinds of magical thing occurring to your writing, and all kinds of wonderful healing occurring in your own life.
Writers of non-fiction are bound to an extent by the limitations of science and provable fact. They can speculate, philosophize and hypothesize, but until someone can come up with “proof in a test tube”, it is essentially speculation.
When you write a story, with a character confronting their issues, overcoming their obstacles, facing their demons and changing their lives, you are unconsciously writing a guidebook that shows others how to make those changes too. Fiction writers offer real solutions. Real emotional solutions. We may not show you how to fly to the moon, or how to crack the property market and walk off with millions, or how to build a successful e-commerce business from home, but we can show you how to really live your life, how to relate to others, how to relate to yourself, how to heal relationships and how to lead more blissful lives.
And that’s pretty terrific, don’t you think?

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6 Tips for Your Writing Journey

Rob — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:17:40 +0000

So, you’d like to be a writer? Congrats! Writing not only is a great way to express yourself, but can provide an income. Keep in mind not all writers make a fortune, some still can’t quit their day job. Below are some tips to start your writing journey.

1. Start Writing

Okay, so this tip is obvious. For some, it’s a question of what to write about, for others how to write. Write how and what you want. What kind of books do you like to read? Fiction, Mystery, science fiction, how to books? How about articles, reports, maybe you’re interested in journalism. Whatever the case may be, to get your creative juices flowing, start writing! Don’t worry about how it sounds, grammar or other mistakes, you can go back to fix these.

2. Join online and offline groups/message boards and chats

If you already know what you want to write about, consider joining writer groups at your local library, or online groups, along with message boards and chats. It’s a great way to network with other writers and published authors. It’s also a good place to share your work and receive feedback. Many places online are free to join, some require a membership which usually consist of a user name, e-mail address and password for your user name. Some request more information such as a name, address and sometimes phone number.

3. The Library

You’ve probably heard about some books that writers refer to; this could be writer markets, e-book publishing, self publishing and generally how to improve your writing. Bu what do you do when you can’t afford to buy these books from your local bookstore or online? A trip to your library is the key. Many libraries carry writer resource books, which if you have a library card, are free. If you’re living out of the area, the library may require a fee for membership. The book you’re looking for may not always be at your local library; however libraries borrow from other libraries in and out of state. The method of receiving outside books is called Inter-Library Loan. Later on, if you find the book to be a great resource, you may be able to purchase a used copy online.

4. Researching

The Internet is also another good resource for information. Keep in mind that not every resource you find online is going to be an honest good resource. It will take time to sort out which websites are useful. Most information is free, so you can sit back and research in the comfort of your home. If you don’t have a computer with Internet access, check your local library and see if you can use one of theirs.

5. Workshops

Workshops taught by experts is a great way to learn from the professionals, but only if you can afford it! Make sure the topic of the workshop is based around your interest. For instance, if you love fiction..It wouldn’t be a good idea to go to a workshop based only on non-fiction. It’s a good idea to register early to ensure a spot at the event. Bring a new legal pad, plus a few writing tools to take notes.

6. Contents

After writing a while, you may want to enter contents. Some require an entry fee. I suggest staying away from the entry fee contents until you’ve entered some other free ones. That way you can get a feel for how contests work. Spend some time writing and re-writing your entries. If you’ve written your entry in 5 or so minutes, the judges will notice it immediately. You wouldn’t want a reputation for sloppy work.

There you are 6 tips to get you started on your journey to writing. Good Luck!

www.allfreereports.com
Writing Tips

âi Just Wondered How You Got Started Writing?â Tips in Your Pursuit of a Writing Career-writing Groups and Connections

Rob — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 04:03:58 +0000

Â Last week we started talking about writing groups and how the support within can help you on your road to writing success.Â Every month I can talk to the group and express my fears, writing blocks and other issues and gain encouragement and even ideas to help me move on to the next step.

Â Â Â Â Writing exercises and games are something we do in writing group to liven things up and get the creative juices flowing.Â Some of my and others best short stories have come from writing exercises.Â To me, these exercises cause me to go to my creativity and flow.Â By flow I mean just start writing without trying to think everything through.Â Like an artist, I go to the creative side of my brain instead of the logical side and before I know it the story is on paper.Â Logic is okay in editing but gets in the way during the initial write.

Â Â Â Connections made during writing groups can be fruitful.Â Many groups have guest speakers such as editors, published authors and even publishers that can give you valuable insight into their world, what they think and what they want in a story.Â Groups can also open doors to conferences, workshops and online groups that can again broaden your perspective on things and possibly allow you to meet someone who can help your career.

Â Â Â One of our meetings was about getting your work professionally edited and an editor/writing coach from another state came in and talked about what she did.Â I had brought along a small non-fiction work I had written in case the opportunity came to show her.Â She glanced at it and asked me to send the first 10 pages by email for her to check out later.Â

Â Â Â Â She liked the non-fiction thoughts I had but asked me if I had ever considered taking these thoughts and turning them into a fiction story that might be more interesting for the readers.Â Turning the principles I believed into fiction had not really crossed my mind but I decided to take the thoughts in one chapter and write a story.

Â Â Â Â It quickly grew into fifty pages and we began talking by phone and email.Â Her insights were invaluable and I hired her to edit my work.Â My first novel is finished and edited with the second in the series two thirds of the way completed.Â I have ideas enough for at least a seven book series and all of it grew from a writing group meeting where I made a life-changing connection.Â

Â Â Â So do not despise the day of small beginningsâ¦classes, groups and just plain hard work.Â You never know where these can leadâ¦next week we will look at getting started writing through journalingâ¦

Jennifer Hallmark is a writer, artist and ministry leader who works with womenâs ministry groups. Her love of writing is evident in the over 50 articles she has written for several different article websites, as well as being a contributing writer for brandlady.com magazine. She has finished her first in a series of novels, Journey of Grace: A New Beginning.Check out her websites at www.jenniferhallmark.com and www.aclarioncall.com .
Payday Loans UK

6 Writing Tips for Starting Your Writing Journey

Rob — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:11:08 +0000

Tips for your writing journey

so, you’d like to be a writer? Congrats! Writing not only is a great way to express you, but can provide an income. Keep in mind not all writers make a fortune, some still can’t quit their day job. Below are some tips to start your writing journey.

1. Start Writing

2. Join online and offline groups/message boards and chats

3. The Library

You’ve probably heard about some books that writers refer to, this could be writer markets, e-book publishing, self publishing and generally how to improve your writing. Bu what do you do when you can’t afford to buy these books from your local bookstore or online? A trip to your library is the key. Many libraries carry writer resource books, which if you have a library card, are free. If you’re living out of the area, the library may require a fee for membership. The book you’re looking for may not always be at your local library; however libraries borrow from other libraries in and out of state. The method of receiving outside books is called Inter-Library Loan. Later on, if you find the book to be a great resource, you may be able to purchase a used copy online.

4. Researching

5. Workshops

6. Contents

www.allfreereports.com
Free Credit Reports 123

Three Fiction Writing Concerns for the Author

Rob — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:49:48 +0000

One of the challenges an editor must face is polishing the work of an author without erasing too much of that author’s style. If you follow a particular novelist, you might notice over time particular quirks to dialog and narrative that shape the author’s unique voice, little things inspired to endear readers over time. It may be a method of relaying a specific dialect, a favorite phrase used in more than one book, or even a mechanic style one doesn’t often see in certain genres.
Fantasy authors, for example, may feature characters that communicate by thought. To enhance this phenomenon to the reader, use of italics denotes what is being thought, rather than said. Some authors may take this device and imprint a unique style by adding asterisks or other characters to further emphasize the story. Other books may use different fonts to express and highlight different aspect of their tales as well.
An author should be unique in writing style, and should possess a voice that attracts readers and inspires them to want to seek out books that mimic yours, rather than leave them guessing for whom you take after. That said, there are a number of tics that readers (and editors) may find more annoying than amusing. In the spirit of previous articles on the subject of style, I hereby submit three more personal nitpicks of mine: devices and phrases I have seen in bestsellers and small press offerings. The following are not necessarily incorrect or improper, but may cause distraction if overused in a manuscript. Grab a pen and proceed with caution.
1) There was no other word for it.
I can’t tell you how many times I have suggested in edits that authors strike this sentence from their works. It is common narrative, used mainly to emphasize shock or surprise as felt by a character.
When Brian pulled the gun on her, Darlene was flabbergasted. There was no other word for it.
You think so? What about shocked, galled, puzzled, speechless, amazed, surprised, or bewildered? A quick search in the Thesaurus may produce more suitable words to describe how Darlene is feeling, standing there at the end of a gun, wondering if her life is about to end. Quite personally, were I in Darlene’s situation, one other word would come to mind…it’s about four letters long!
Is this phrase used incorrectly? Not really. Taking the scene from Darlene’s point of view, there could be no other words to say. Having a gun pointed at your face doesn’t necessarily inspire anything verbose outside of screaming in fear or gasping for breath. Is the phrase necessary? Not really. As a matter of personal opinion, tacking on “there was no other word for it” seems rather superfluous in this situation. If there is no other word to describe what Darlene is feeling, why not leave the scene at flabbergasted? Why add on dressing to an already tense scene, when brevity better evokes a sense of doom?
When Brian pulled the gun on her, Darlene was flabbergasted. She grasped the doorknob for support and pressed a hand to her chest to keep her heart from bursting. “What are you doing?” she finally cried.
Continue with the action of the scene without unnecessary words getting in the way, and keep Darlene alert in front of that gun.
2) Heads-a-hoppin’
When I send manuscripts for evaluation, one thing I ask readers to look for is concise differentiation of point of view. Are scenes constructed in a manner that one point of view is presented clearly? Otherwise, does the narrative appear too jumbled with too many voices shouting to heard over the others?
In fiction, third person point of view is easily the more popular style – over first-person, where the story is told entirely by one character, either a lead (e.g. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum) or an observer of the leads (e.g. Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway, who tells the story of Gatsby and Daisy), and the rarely used second person (see Bright Lights, Big City for an oft-used example). Within the third person point of view are two distinctive styles: limited, which presents the story told from the perspective of a character based only on what he/she knows, and omniscient, where the character’s perspective of things is broader. In the case of omniscient point of view, the narrative might not even be told from the perspective of an active character, but an outsider watching and sensing everything that happens.
In a book written in the third person limited point of view, the perspective does not have to be limited to one character. In romance especially, point of view may switch from the hero to the heroine at various intervals. In mainstream fiction, perspective may expand to a number of core characters. Other books, especially cozy mysteries, limited the perspective to that of the sleuth, while a more intense thriller may also get into the head of a criminal.
However you decide to tell your story, it is strongly recommended to keep the perspective limited to one point of view within a distinguishable scene. In other words, avoid the device known as “head-hopping,” where point of view changes so swiftly within a passage that the reader might not know who is thinking what. While telling a story from different points of view is acceptable, it is suggested to make the shifts obvious so the reader can keep track. Head-hopping can be distracting to readers, and especially to editors who might decide the manuscript is too muddled to fix in a reasonable amount of time.
3) Dot-dot-dot
And now…we come to a device overused more than the comma…the ellipsis. Yes, there is actually a name for the “dot-dot-dot” that follows a trailed away thought, a break in conversation, or a tease into a sudden action. Used properly, the ellipsis indicates an omission of words; for example, if you have ever seen a movie ad where Roger Ebert proclaims American Pie is “The best film…of the year,” there is a good chance the film’s PR people are spinning critics words and exaggerating praise. For all we know, Ebert really said, “The best film to walk out of when you’re sick. Lord of the Rings is the best film of the year.”
In fiction, I often see ellipses unnecessarily used, whether to enhance a character’s flighty thought or conflict, or merely to make the prose more dramatic. In truth, words are better at doing that, and I would strongly advise any author who wishes to overdress his fiction in dots, dashes, and other superfluous characters to think twice. Stay to an active voice and let your sentences flow.
Take this advice as you will. As writers, you are the most comfortable with your style, but as you submit to editors and publishers they may not find that same level of ease you enjoy. Be judicious with punctuation and other devices, and tighten that manuscript for a future sale.

Kathryn Lively offers book marketing tips to authors, and writes for CINIVA, Virginia Beach website design.
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