Concentrate On Conflict

Deborah S. Rossman

The development of conflict is perhaps the single most difficult task of the writer. It is also the most important.

Action in a story is defined by characters talking or moving, much like actors on a stage, but in order to feel written words come to life, a reader needs more. In a time when mass telecommunications have brought information to our fingertips with the flick of a switch, a reader expects excitement and entertainment in everything she reads. The conflict of the story is the avenue by which a writer can hook the reader and keep her turning pages.

A scene should always portray a struggle. It is used to reveal something interesting, important, or exciting that is happening, something which advances the plot of the story, usually by adding to the character's problems. It follows that the conflict of each scene is shown, not told, to the reader in a moment by moment sequence that imitates real life. (No summary allowed.)

The answer to writing conflict begins with the invention of characters. A good rule of thumb to follow is the old adage, opposites attract. When hero and heroine come from separate ends of the spectrum, struggle results from their differences.

The progression of each scene into conflict can be categorized into three steps.

Identify the character's goal:
Just as a book should start by stating a character's goal, so should each scene begin by showing what the character wants to accomplish and why. There are several ways to do this. Direct dialogue is an excellent approach to introduce character, while at the same time showing his motivation and intent. Well written dialogue makes writing flow and brings a realism that simulates life's experiences. Another way to reveal goal is through character internalization.

Using a single point of view, delve into the character's thoughts and show how he sees his world. The nature of the character enlightens the reader. This includes revealing prejudices, ignorance, and fears, and most importantly the character's purpose. The third and last way to reveal goal is to paraphrase in the opening line of the story. This brings the character's intent into the reader's mind immediately. Whichever method you choose, be sure that the goal is stated as soon as possible in a clear and concise form.

Present conflict:
After the reader knows what the character wants to accomplish, drop the brick with the all important struggle. Provide conflict by placing an obstacle in the character's path. He can't reach his goal. So, creates the problem. And voila`, a scene is born. A word of caution here. Conflict is not to be confused with sexual tension. Rather, the struggle is intrinsic to the goal of the character, not just a hero trying to sleep with the heroine. Real conflict is further categorized into two kinds. Internal conflict is described as the inner struggle and usually deals with the character's emotions. It must be serious and deep. Examples include a heroine pining for the husband who never came home from the war, a heroine hiding the fact that the son she had born out of wedlock belongs to her brother's best friend. External conflict, on the other hand, is visible. It is defined as the influence from an outside force which threatens the character's life. Examples: a fire that destroys the heroine's home and subsequent threats on her life, a villain trying to kill the hero or heroine, a ghost held captive in an inn. Both types of conflict work together. A word of advice, however. Beware of trivial or unconvincing misunderstandings. Conflict must be believable and strong.

Culminate the action with a catastrophe:
Once you have developed the struggle and brought the character into the depth of the conflict, pull out all the stops and impact the confrontation with a disaster. In other words, make things worse. The story moves forward by shoving the main character farther and farther away from his purpose. Like the black moment at the climax of a novel, each scene should present a major crisis, and that crisis must be directly related to the character's struggle within the scene. Equally important, remember that all conflict in a novel is tied in a progression to the character's ultimate goal. There's a reason for everything. How does the novel end? The poor hero gets a break and finally meets his goal. The conflict is resolved.

In any well-written novel, the struggle is what makes the writing exceptional. Tension brews while the character tries in vain to achieve his goal. And as tension builds, the pacing flows. The reader identifies with the character and feels sorry for her. Emotion is tapped, drawing the reader into the scene until the conclusion, keeping the book in her hand until the very last word.

Writing is anything but easy. An author puts her blood and sweat into her work, her time, her very soul. Perhaps, she might compare the well constructed conflict in a scene to her life as a writer. Good writing is the intent, getting there is the struggle, and there are always disasters along the road. But in the end, the writer who concentrates on creating conflict, studies the craft of writing, and works with diligence and without relent will meet her final goal.

http://www.lionhearted.com/tips.htm#POV

Uncommon Advice For Beginning Writers

by Dara Girard
1) Convince yourself you want to do something else. If you don't succeed, proceed to number 2.

2) Write what you don't know. Write what interests you. Fiction is about emotion not personal experience--that is a memoir. Truth comes from emotion. Write with passion.

3) Embrace rejections. Not literally unless it makes you feel good. Understand that they are as inevitable as bad hair days, gum on your shoe, and taxes. You’re in the marketing business. Everyone will not buy your product, but eventually somebody will.

4) Procrastinate. You don’t need to write every day. On some days just be idle. Use these days to fill up your creativity well. Take a long leisurely walk, organize your cupboards, read, buy the stationary you’ll send to your fans, imagine a brilliant review and write it down, sketch your book cover with a blurb from an author you admire.

5) Write to make money. Poverty need not be a mandatory requirement of the writing life. Artistic expression is all well and good, but you need to eat. So write the books of your heart, but also understand the market and see if you can tailor some of your work to fit it. You can write your Great Novel on the side, but trust me it’s very difficult to be creative when you’re starving.

6) Skip the book and watch the movie. Especially, the movie versions of classic novels. The writing style has changed drastically in the past centuries. So writing like Charles Dickens or Henry James will not get you far in today’s market. However, don’t let it skip your notice that their books (or the rather movie versions of them) still capture contemporary movie audiences. Why? Because of the stories they tell.

Watching the movie of these books will help you learn how to develop your storytelling abilities. See what stands out, pay attention to what scenes linger in your mind, what dialogue makes you gasp or laugh out loud, what does the camera focus on? How does that enhance the tale? We live in an age where people are very visual; writing to that preference will help make your work successful.

7) Get into character. Use stick figures to lay out a scene, listen to the music a main character would listen to, wear a piece of clothing a character might like, write a diary enter for them. Photograph the area where your character lives; if your character comes from a different place, eat the regional foods they might eat. These activities will help you make your story and your characters come alive.

8) Laugh at yourself and the industry. Many authors like to offer dire warnings about the death of the mid-list, how publishers are consolidating, they bemoan the few options there are for new writers and how publishers promote only the lucky few. Yes, that’s true, but you can be a happy author despite the industry.

Unfortunately, too many writers take themselves too seriously. We’re a maudlin group despite available Prozac, alcohol and pills. It's a crazy life. It’s supposed to be. We make up stories for a living! It’s a Peter Pan profession like dancing and acting. You want to emotionally strip yourself naked and have people applaud. Isn’t that bizarre?

So you can get discouraged, but you don’t need to be depressed. Stories are needed. They keep our cultures alive.

9) Don't worry about promotion. If you haven’t written a word, don't concern yourself with bookmarks, getting on national television, networking bookstores or the like. Anyone can sell an idea, find out if you can deliver.

10) Celebrate milestones that don’t seem to count. Contest losses (can’t win if you don’t enter) bad drafts (at least you finished) rejections (at least you’re in the game), $25 checks (at least you got paid to write), personal notes (someone read your work) and anything else that gets you closer to your publication goal.

Celebrate being a writer in every little way that you can. You deserve it.

© Copyright Dara Girard. All Rights Reserved

Creating Believable Characters

You're a writer, and you have all these great characters in your head… how do you get them out and onto paper? How to create, through word-pictures, flesh-and-blood characters that are three-dimensional, characters that make your reader say, "Oh, yes, I know someone just like him…"

Any seasoned writer will tell you that creating believable characters takes some work. It's a little like painting a picture, stroke by stroke. Characters have to be constructed, bit by bit, until the whole, complex individual finally comes into view.

Here are a few of the "strokes" that help to build a character:
A characteristic mannerism: If you watch a very good actor creating a role, chances are that one of the things you will note is a distinctive mannerism that defines that character. It can be a small thing, a way of glancing in the mirror admiringly at his own image, a way of rubbing her hands together (remember Lady Macbeth?), or maybe a way of talking. It should be a mannerism that expresses that character's inner being. If you give your character a characteristic mannerism, and use it sparingly but tellingly, that character will take on individuality and stick in the reader's mind.

A consistent world view: When you create a character, you should know all about him or her, whether you actually express those details in the story or not. What does your character like to eat for breakfast? What is his favorite color? Who's his best friend, his worst enemy? Even if those details don't play into your plot, you, as his creator, should know them by heart, and they'll give your character dimension, even if they are not expressed.

An inner life: All right, so your character likes to wear Armani and drink lattes and hustle ladies in singles bars. What's going on inside his head? Does he have an inner life? You, as the author, need to express his thoughts, his way of looking at things, his inner conflicts. You can do this through his dialogue with another character, or you can simply show the reader the character's thoughts in his own inner dialogue. When you go into a character's thoughts, you deepen him, and he becomes more real.

A base in reality: A character also seems more real if he is based in reality. In other words, the old writer's dictum—"Write what you know"—extends to characters. Write characters you know. If you base your character on real people you have observed—even a pastiche of people—the character will seem more real, and you will have a wealth of material to draw on.
And finally, a last word of advice for the would-be creator of characters:

Do your homework: You may have to research your character, especially if you give him a particular profession or a context that requires some special knowledge. She's a scuba diver? Then you'd better know everything you can about scuba diving.

Learn from the greats: A good writer is a good reader. Refresh yourself by taking a look now and then at how the greats wrote their characters. Go back to Shakespeare's Falstaff or Chaucer's Wife of Bath or any more recent character in the hands of a great writer. Study how they do it. Study their strokes. You will see the results as your own characters take on more depth and dimension.

How to Plan out a Novel

It doesn't matter whether you plan on writing a literary novel, a genre piece or a semi-autobiographic al book, the sheer mass of paperwork can accumulate quickly if you don't plan ahead and organize as you go.

Steps

Label file folders

Goals/Deadlines: Even if you don't have a publisher or editor breathing down your neck, it's a good idea to create personal goals and deadlines for completion. Create a master list for your folder and update both calendars if anything changes. For example, if you have an interview with a veterinarian, place that on the calendars and review your master list as to how that alters your goals.

Characters: One for each major, secondary, and recurring minor characters as well as another for a "master character list." If your story is one that has character "types" (such as aliens or monsters) make a folder for those as well.
Maps/Settings: Not just for large scale settings (such as a "story world" map so you can differentiate between galaxy sectors in a sci-fi tale or which neighbor lives next door to the other one) but for each major household so you don't have your main character with the master bedroom on the first floor in one chapter, and then five chapters later it's on the second or third floor.
Scenes: One for your "Master Scene List" (see tips) for a quick overview and one for each scene in your novel. You may eventually wish to combine scenes into chapter sections, but until you're sure exactly what form your novel is going to take this technique makes it easier to mix and match until the novel is solid.
Research: Start with a list of questions on areas in your novel that you are unsure about and use secondary (encyclopedia etc.) as well as primary resources that you can frequently acquire through a few phone calls whether by using the phone book or by contacts you know from work or your personal life.

Label the hanging file folders with the same categories.
Organize these files appropriately inside of the filing cabinet. File major categories (character, etc) alphabetically and then by sub-categories (specific characters).
Assure that the research materials you'll need are conveniently located.
Create an "On the Go" Kit (see tips). This kit is so you can grab and go needed supplies whenever you leave the house. You never know when you'll run across a reference source or, more importantly, be able to grab a few extra moments to work on a bit of your novel.

Recommended Reading
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language Fourth Edition
Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus Third Edition
Bartletts' Familiar Quotations
Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia Updated Version
The Writer's Digest Handbook of Novel Writing

http://www.wikihow.com/Plan-out-a-Novel

TOP TEN MUSTS TO CREATE ARTICLES WEB SITES WILL LOVE

Judy Cullins, http://www.BookCoaching.com

Did you know web sites really want your original information on most any subject? Their challenge? They need your articles well-edited and formatted so their readers will love them. That's what makes visitors keep coming back for more. Since articles are the number one way to promote your service business, take a look at how you can be sure yours will get published.

1. Create a benefit-driven title. Give your potential visitors a reason to read your article.
2. Include a few key words in your title and your article’s introduction. The search engines look for these and from them, will list you higher and on more sites.
3. Write a hook in the article's first sentence. Ask a question or two that engages your reader right where they are now. What's their challenge? Speak to that.
4. Include the thesis statement of your article in the last line of your first paragraph. The thesis tells the purpose and main idea. It also gives the plan to solve your reader's problem.
5. Write a short conclusion to each article, even if it's a fiction excerpt. Here's a good chance to include more key words and benefits.
6. Stop lecturing. Instead of telling what you know, engage your reader along the way with a few benefit-driven headlines and questions. Include your short stories, analogies, and wit. .
7. Make each paragraph short. Remember Online articles demand easy and fast -to-read with shorter specific examples than print articles.
8. Keep the “I” out of your articles. Make them focused on your audience “YOU.”
9. Write tips. This kind of article takes the shortest time and its format is easy. Name your tip: How to Get More Targeted Traffic. Keep each time format the same as this:

1. Command. Do this.
2. Benefits from doing it or Consequences from not doing it.
3. Your solution. Can be resources where reader can get more information on this such as a book or a web site.

10. Include numbered solutions rather than just paragraphs. Make it easy for your reader to get your valuable, original, information.

These 10 how to write articles keys make a great beginning for you tostart your marketing campaign now.

Staying Motivated

It's hard to stay motivated. Any advice?

Get away from the place where the distractions are (television, sending/reading e-mail jokes to friends, computer games).

Take on different writing genres you think you couldn't do—step outside your comfort zone and write outside the box.

Go to writers' conferences ... for the contacts and the information.

Don't go into writing thinking, "I'm going to get big writing contracts from newspapers and magazines and get rich. Then I'll write a novel and publishing houses will fight over the rights to it." You have to lay the foundation before you can build the house and live in it.

Be a packrat; throw away nothing. You never know when something you wrote and never got published will be the perfect plot twist or big ending elsewhere.

~ Andrew Zuelke, WRWA member

You Are Not A Writer. You Are A Business

by Lee Masterson

"Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money." - Jules Renard

It's silly, isn't it? Honest writers being made to feel guilty if they 'sell out' (otherwise known as compromising art for the sake of money). And yet it happens every day.

There seems to be a sad belief in the mindset of many writers that in order to be a true writer, one must live on almost no income at all, striving day and night for the perfection of his or her 'Art'.

To some writers, 'art' is defined by writing a brilliant novel and receiving copious awards for the content within.

For others, 'art' means living on pittance until the day the One Blockbuster Novel-Contract arrives, thus landing the starving author in the lap of luxury and ending all her troubles.

Neither of the writers in the above examples is earning a comfortable living consistently from his or her writing. They are too busy creating art.

Of course, the same starving writers could probably have been living quite comfortably from alternative writing efforts, if either of them had thought of writing in general as a viable business proposition. You see, just because Starving Writer wants to earn a full-time income from writing fictional novels, there is simply nothing wrong with supplementing his or her income with OTHER writing endeavors until that huge contract arrives.

Writing alternative things can actually boost your writing career as well as boost your writing income - all before you've even sold one novel. An editor might become tempted to buy your novel, based purely on the strength of a short story you wrote. Your readers might be tempted to buy your books just because they liked your non-fiction articles. A publisher might be more willing to print larger print-runs of your novels because you already have an established reading audience.

These things all stem from your writing and still don't 'compromise your art'. In other words, writing purely so you can receive money is not a bad thing. In fact, it could actually kick-start your career.

This is because writing is a business.That's right! A BUSINESS.

I'll explain further.

You are not "getting published". You are Selling a Product (your book, article, short-story, etc)

You are not "receiving rejections". You are being told your product is not right for that customer (editor) at the moment.

You are not "looking for an agent". You are seeking the correct business partner, (sales manager) to whom you will entrust to sell your products.

You are not "selling out" if you compromise your art. You are creating cashflow for your business.

Am I making sense yet? Creativity aside, writing as a hobby is a competitive business. Writing for a living is cut-throat. Let me show you...

Your products (books) are competing with thousands of other products, all packaged just like yours on shelves right beside yours.
You're fighting for the attention of one customer (your editor) right alongside your own business competitors (all those other writers who submitted manuscripts!).
You must show your business manager (your publisher) that your products are good enough (selling well) so they will keep producing more.
You must entice a sales manager (agent) to get you the very best business manager (publisher) possible, so that you can sell more of your own product (Your book).

It all sounds so clinical, doesn't it? That's because it is. Publishing is a business - like any other. Sales and profits dictate much of the business-activity that comes from the publishers, agents and editors. Why should a writer think of his or her business any differently?

Running Your Business

Now that we all understand that writing for a living is the same as running your own business, let's look at why it's okay to run your business profitably.

Cashflow:

All business are made or broken by the amount of cashflow they have (or don't have!). It has been said that cashflow is the life-blood of all businesses - and yet so many people are confused by what cashflow really IS.

Cashflow is NOT profit and it's NOT the amount of money you took out of your account as income.Cashflow is the amount of money coming in from business activity and the amount of money going out on business expenditure. If the amount of money coming in exceeds the amount going out - then you're making a profit.

If the amount of money going out exceeds the amount coming in - then you're making a loss.

It's really that simple!

The trick is to monitor every amount of money that moves within your business structure - in and out - and then improve on each transaction so that your business grows.

Now let's put Starving Writer into the equation. Let's say Starving Writer gives up her day job to write full time. She knows she's going to write a blockbuster novel and get a six-figure advance from Bucking Huge Publishing House. So she decides to live off her savings until the advance arrives in the mail. Four months later, Starving Writer has no savings left and her blockbuster novel is not even finished, let alone sold. There's no money left to pay the bills. Starving Writer has two choices to make: return to her regular day-job or marry a rich guy!

In this example, Starving Writer BEGAN her writing business with a negative cashflow. i.e. she had no incoming cashflow, but plenty of outgoing cashflow, creating a negative cashflow position for her writing business activities.Let's create a new writer for our next example. We'll call him Mercenary Writer.

You see, Mercenary Writer only writes for money. In fact, he'll write ANYTHING for money. He's a happy sell-out, in fact.

When Mercenary Writer decided he wanted to write the Great American Novel, he knew that he'd need to have enough time and money put aside to create his artistic masterpiece. He also knew that his current day-job would never allow him the time or energy to complete it.

So he created a business blue-print. He knew that he would need to spend a portion of his time on money-creating writing. Another portion of his time would need to be set aside for business 'stuff' (account keeping, new-market hunting, reprint submissions etc). Yet another portion would need to be scheduled for promotion of his existing pieces in print and another portion still would need to be arranged to sit down and create his masterpiece novel.

Once the finer points of his plan-of-attack had been honed, he began writing short fiction stories and selling them to magazines, periodicals and web-magazines. He learned that one of the magazines that published one of his short stories also paid a small amount of money for jokes, recipes and cute sayings. Figuring that writing one of each would only take him a few minutes out of his day, Mercenary Writer submitted some of those, too. Luckily, he'd already done this same excercise the week before and there were several small checks in the mail box already.

Mercenary Writer learned the value of 'reprinting' and selling different types of rights around the world, in as many formats as possible. He also wrote things he didn't particularly like, because the pay rate was great and it still got him another published credit to show future editors and agents. In his scheduled time slot, he created his masterpiece.In this example, Mercenary Writer is still keen to create his 'art' - but he's willing to sacrifice some of his time to establish a viable writing business at the same time.

In this example, Mercenary Writer began his writing business with positive cashflow. He worked hard to set aside enough time to keep his cashflow consistent, while still writing his Great American Novel.

Both of the above examples are over-simplified, but they do outline the difference between a person who wants to be a writer and a writer who wants to earn a living from writing.

Building A Professional Writing Portfolio

by Lee Masterson

Regardless of what type of writing you do, most editors these days will give more consideration to the work of those writers who can display at least some form of verifiable publishing history.

Usually a publishing history will be vaguely summarized in a query letter, not giving the editor much information about the specifics of each sale or submission you may have made, but the fact remains that even small writing credits can do much to sway an editor's choice of which writer's work to represent.

This preference for seeing a verifiable writing history serves several purposes:
1) - Shows the editor that the author has worked with submission deadlines successfully.
2) - Proves that the author is serious about submitting to his specific publication.
3) - Lets the editor see what other professional markets have taken a chance with your work.
4) - Allows the editor to familiarize himself with the author's prior style.
5) - (in the case of short fiction stories) Gives the editor an idea of current popularity with other publications and readership.

There are other considerations that come into play as well, but these are the main factors we'll deal with for now. Please bear in mind that any form of self-publication does not actually constitute a professional writing credit to an editor.

I stressed this last phrase, because I am aware that most editors consider self-publishing sites as a form of vanity press and do not officially count publication in these forums toward a professional writing credit, despite the fact that there are lots of professionally researched and presented stories and articles available.

So how does a beginning writer gain those all-important writing credits? It's actually a lot easier than you think.

Beginning with the premise that "All editors need writers", remember that every newsletter, newspaper, magazine, periodical, publishing house, web site, radio station, television station and movie studio would be absolutely nowhere if some writer did not put pen to paper and WRITE! Without those writers, editors would be out of a job, and the newsagent's stands would be empty.

Now that nobody is so intimidated by the big, bad editors, let's take a look at how to fill that professional portfolio with published work.

Confidence
This is often the hardest obstacle for new writers to overcome. Finding the confidence to send your work to a complete stranger can often delay, or even halt, a fledgling writing career.

Get online. Check out as many potential markets as you can find. Create a file for these sources and rate them as to how difficult or how accepting you would consider them to be. If you've done even a vague amount of homework on these, you would begin to realize that some markets will be relatively easy to crack.

Submit articles to non-paying online sites. These sites won't make you buckets of money (if any at all!) - unless you're into major self-promotion - but they will help you to develop some confidence in your abilities.

Focus on the reader, or even editorial, feedback. You will soon discover which articles held that 'spark' which pulled readers in and which articles did not make the grade. Learn from this and follow your own examples when you write your next piece. When you are confident in your ability to give readers something valid, aim a little wider with your focus.

Start Small
If you are the type of person who prefers to aim high, then go right ahead and aim straight for the top paying markets right off the bat. There's nothing wrong with that approach at all.

But if you would prefer to see your professional portfolio grow, and thus ensure that the larger markets will eventually take you more seriously as a writer, then begin submitting your work to the smaller markets.

Small press newspapers exist in almost every town in the world, serving the communities with local news, events, and trivia. Most of the time, these small press papers exist on a shoe-string budget, but almost all of them will gladly accept a submission from a fledgling author. Offer your work in return for only a by-line (your name printed below the article or story title).I am aware that advocating "Writing for no pay" will bring a round of protests my way, but I am not suggesting you do it often. You only need to submit this way for as long as it takes to get that one clipping with your by-line into your portfolio.

Persistence and Patience
Submitting any writing to a publication is going to mean learning the art of patience. Editors are usually busy people and can often take up to several months just to send you that much-awaited rejection slip.

Rather than sit back and wait for a response from that first piece of writing, sit down and immediately create something else. Then submit THAT, too. While you have more than once piece circulating the 'submission rounds', you will find it easier to cope with the waiting game.

When your response from the editor does arrive, you need to be aware that the envelope in the mailbox could very well be a rejection. Don't give up - and don't throw the piece away. Persist - and submit it to another publication the same day!

Accept Rejection
Rejection is a way of life for a writer. Even the all-time greats were rejected at the start of their careers, and you are no different.

Rejection does not necessarily mean your work is no good. It may mean the publication or publishing house you submitted to is filled to brimming at the moment. It could mean the editor has already blown the budget for that quarter. It could also mean that some other writer has already submitted an article or story that is similar in topic to your own.

Realize that for each rejection you have in your 'rejection file', you are one rejection closer to receiving an acceptance. File the slip accordingly and send the article or story back out the same day .

Expand your Horizons
Armed with a newfound confidence in your abilities, and a small list of professional, verifiable writing credits, you should begin researching larger markets. There are literally thousands of publications wanting more and more submissions from writers just like you. So what are you waiting for?
- 2005 Writer's Markets (Click Here to View Amazon's Reviews) - this is the must-have book for any writer serious about turning his or her craft into a career. Contains thousands of market listings, submission guidelines and more.

- Fiction Factor (http://www.fictionfactor.com/markets.html) - offers heaps of paying online markets, including markets for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, contests and anthologies.

- Ralan.com (http://www.ralan.com) - brilliant market site for fiction writers. Always up-to-date and filled to brimming with great opportunities for any writer.

- Writer's Markets (http://www.writersweekly.com) - list hundreds of current paying print and online markets weekly.

- Literary Market Place (http://www.literarymarketplace.com/lmp/us/index_us.asp) Grab a copy of this excellent writer's market resource from your library, or better yet, buy a new copy.

- And if you're still short of places to look for markets, check out our own resources page
(http://www.fictionfactor.com/links.html)- there are plenty more market listings and writer's pages there for you to choose from.

Study print magazines and genre periodicals. Even the women's glossy mags accept freelance articles and short fiction these days.

Make sure you have a feel for the style of work they prefer to accept before you submit. List your current writing credits on a professionally written query letter, and submit your work.

By this stage you should be seeing those small clippings beginning to work for you. A non-paying by-line in an online web-zine could be the step you need to get you accepted by a large magazine publisher. In turn, that clip from a magazine publisher could just be enough to convince an editor to take a chance on a bigger project, or even your novel.

Good luck with growing your own portfolio!

Writing Query Letters for Fiction or Poetry Markets

Writing a query letter for fiction or poetry is a bit different from writing a query letter for a nonfiction piece.

Short Fiction and Poetry

In the case of short stories or poetry, you in general won't be writing many query letters; editors may be mildly annoyed at getting a query letter about a piece when their guidelines clearly state that writers should simply submit such pieces. Thus, you will write query letters in only a few circumstances:

You're writing to find out if the publication is currently accepting submissions; do this only if your market research has yielded conflicting information. This type of query should be short and to the point:

Dear (insert title and editor's last name here),Are you currently accepting materials for NAME OF PUBLICATION? I have a (5,000-word/50-line/whatever) (science fiction short story/poem/whatever) that I wish to submit. My work has appeared in (list relevant credits).Thank you,(your name here)(phone and email)

You're writing to find out if they're willing to look at a piece that falls outside their submissions guidelines (for instance, you might have a short story that's a few thousand words longer than what they say they'll take).

You're trying to get into an invitation-only anthology or chapbook.

In the latter two cases, you will be writing a letter similar to the one for the basic are-you-accepting-work? query above. There are a few things to keep in mind when writing such a query:

Make sure you've got the editor's title and name correct; this is basic, but to mess this up really hurts your chances. Not figuring out that Editor Pat Smith is female rather than male and then addressing her as "Mr. Smith" is a common mistake.

Do not try to summarize your poem or story. This is a huge turnoff for most editors. Give them the length and its genre and, if relevant, its topic.

Include your relevant publishing credits ("My fiction has appeared in publications such as NEAT-O STORIES, TALES OF THE UTTERLY FABULOUS, and EEK! IT'S FICTION"). Demonstrating that you are a published writer -- and therefore likely the author of competent, readable work -- will help your cause. If, say, you're an unpublished fiction writer but you've had poems published in magazines that run both fiction and poetry, you can sneakilly rephrase things ("My work has appeared in publications such as TALES OF THE UTTERLY FABULOUS and GRINDSTONE QUARTERLY"). If you are well-published, don't list the whole shebang; pick and choose which publications are likely most recognizable to the editor. A maximum listing of two or three lines is sufficient.

Don't include biographical information unless it's quite relevant to the piece you wish to submit (for instance, if you've written a thriller novellette based on the time you were held captive by guerillas in El Salvador)

If a better-published writer known to the editor has suggested you send your work to this market, by all means mention this. If you're trying to get into an invitation-only anthology, this is pretty much crucial: "(writer name) suggested I submit this piece to you."

Keep a businesslike tone. Don't try to be funny unless you are VERY sure of the editor's sense of humor. It's way too easy to inadvertently offend someone and have your attempt at humor backfire.

A lot of the above advice will equally apply to writing cover letters when you submit a story or poem to a publication.

Novels
Novel queries can be simple documents, or they can be complex works that will take you weeks to properly prepare. It all depends on what the publisher says he or she wants to see. If they say they want a query letter and the first chapter or three of the novel, that's essentially what you send.

Piquing their interest is crucial in getting them to ask to see the rest of your novel.
You will be summarizing the plot and character interactions of your novel. You will also want to include publishing credits and relevant biographical/expert knowledge. In short, your opening letter will be much like a query proposal for nonfiction.

RSW: SELF-EDITING FOR SUCCESS

Editing Tips

by Mary Embree

Whether you are getting your manuscript and/or book proposal ready to send to an agent, a publisher, or a book doctor/editor, the principles of self-editing are very much the same. Only the reasons are different. You are going to have a much better chance of finding a good agent and a publisher for your work if your presentation is professional-looking. And you are going to spend a lot less money on a professional editor if you do as much editing as you can first. Here are some important things to look for:

Format:
Present your work in the standard format for that genre. For example: query letters and synopses for a proposed book are single-spaced; the other parts of the book proposal, the sample chapters and the pages of your manuscript are double-spaced. There is a special format for television scripts for a half-hour taped series, a different format for a TV script for a "movie of the week" or a miniseries, and still a different format for theatrical film scripts. Do your research, get samples of these formats if you can, and pattern your presentation according to the standards of the industry, genre and entity to which you are making your presentation.

Accuracy:
Always check spelling and word usage. Your computer's spell-check is helpful but has its limitations. Beware of the words it will not pick up, such as using their when it should be there, it's in place of its, affect instead of effect, emigrate when you mean immigrate.
As much as possible, check for grammar and punctuation. There are some simple guidelines in most dictionaries. If you are serious about doing most of your own proofing and copy-editing, though, you should use The Chicago Manual of Style.

Consistency:
Check for tense. If you are writing in present tense, be sure that you don't slip into past-tense from time to time. Once you decide on a style, stick with it. Style is defined as the rules of uniformity in punctuation, capitalization, spelling, word division and other details of expression. They often vary according to custom. Textbook publishers require a different style from publishers of romance novels, for example. Knowing the styles they use and abiding by them will make you appear more experienced in that field of writing.

Repetition:
Once you have stated a character's title, described how she looks or what he does, don't do it again unless you have a very good reason. If you feel that it's important to remind the reader who this person is, say it differently. Repetitions of all kinds can be annoying. If you wish to repeat something for emphasis, put a new twist on it.

Flow, Continuity and Transitions:
In writing, flow means to proceed continuously, smoothly or easily. Continuity is defined as a continuous or connected whole. A transition is a passage that links one scene or topic to another. After you have done all the editing you can, read your entire manuscript through from start to finish at one sitting, if possible, keeping these guidelines in mind. Does it flow or are there words, phrases or ideas that cause glitches or create snags along the way? Do you keep going back and forth in time and, if so, is it really necessary? Maintaining a logical continuity helps the writing flow and makes it easier for the reader to follow. When you begin a new sentence or paragraph, is it jarring, does it seem to skip a beat or to make too big a jump in the storyline? Is it too abrupt a change of subject? Good transitions can cure that problem.

Being aware of the above principles and making the necessary adjustments along the way can help you make your writing more readable, interesting, and certainly more professional-looking.