PaperBox Books

I’ve learned in the process of getting a manuscript ready for submission that two things are true.

1. it’s never perfect but you need to get as close as possible
2. there will be changes when the editor reads your story

Getting close to perfect involves sharing and listening. First, when you have revised it a couple of time, it’s ready for critiquing. There are a number of ways to get a critique. Posting on-line to a writing and reading community. Finding an in-person writing group and inviting 4 or 5 people into a writing circle.

Writing circles generally share specific numbers of pages on a regular schedule. You provide and you get advice on structural issues, character development and description – the bigger items. A critique group can agree to do line editing so it’s important to understand the guidelines of the group. When you get critiques the rule is that you don’t argue – you can decide you don’t agree, but it’s not cool to try to bring people to your point of view – you are there to find things you can’t see in your writing.

Online groups can be useful if you keep in mind that you don’t know who will critique. There are lots of site out there, Sue posted some earlier today. My favorite is Authonomy a Harper Collins site. Your work needs to be at least 10,000 words to make public but once it is, people will give you comments and ask you to give them comments back. What makes this community great is that you get comments from readers and writers. You need to develop a professional attitude here, that’s a good thing, you’ll be a better author for it.

The key to success for critiquing – online or reality – is to participate. You give as much as you expect to get – and more.

Happy writing

Perry

No Comments | In: Submissions, Writing Tips | tags: How to Submit, Process, Writing Tips. | #

What’s up with us right now?

We’re reviewing some great submissions and continuing to stalk the premium distributors for our books.

In between that we’re designing a 6 week revision online workshop. We are not ready to launch yet, but we’re working on the curriculum. Participants will learn a process for revising their stories from a big structural check through to polishing the pre-submission draft. Including some ideas on how to deal with critiquing, how to decide what you will change and how to approach changes. Along with how to deal with conflicting critiques.

Along with tools and lessons, each participant will receive at least 2 separate critiques on a few scenes of their work.

We’re having fun creating it from our own experiences in figuring out how to get from the first draft to the polished manuscript.

Stay tuned over the next month or so while we get the course set up and tested.

Perry

No Comments | In: What's New with PBB | tags: Process, Writing Tips. | #

One of the challenges of being a writer, at least a fiction writer, is that you work alone when you write but you need to be steeped in life for the writing to be great.

It is a common belief that writers are introverts, after all we spend hours sitting at the keyboard, or scratching out words on paper. The expectation is that we like to be alone when we work and we do good work when we are alone.

I know more writers who do their work in coffee shops. We have two writing groups who meet weekly in public to write together. During NaNo last year, we wrote on public transit. Whether you are a solitary or social writer, you need to create believable characters. If you are writing about a world you created, you need to have social, political and religious structures that sound as true as the geographic description.

So, how do we do it?

I can speak for me, and I can tell you what I observe. Writing is not a solitary and introverted pastime. You need to interact with people, you need to understand how the world works and you need to translate the basic truths of reality to your fiction.

Writers find their inspiration in life, and they build vital compelling stories by observing and participating in life. The solitary part is different. Whether I’m at my desk, sitting on the couch with the TV muttering in the background, or sitting with a group in a coffee shop, I write best with focus.

That’s my advice for authors. Rub elbows with life and then write what you learn. The old saying, write what you know, doesn’t mean you have to be a serial killer to write a brutal complex murder mystery. It means learn about why someone would commit the crimes, then translate what you know about people – your family, friends, coworkers, and the couple you watched eating in the food court – and contrast the normality of their behaviour against your killer.

Get to know how people interact, get to know how people react. Then write that truth into your fiction.

Happy writing.

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: writers, Writing Tips. | #

Yes, that’s the person who reads your work, not a device. Lately our author discussions have revolved around audience. Who is going to read your book and what can you do to make your book better for them?

It is clear when you are writing for YA or children, you use specific language – or more correctly, don’t use specific language. No sex!  Entertain, don’t Preach! And your themes need to connect with what your age group is focused on. Or, perhaps the next age group up.

When you write in a genre, you must work with the conventions of the genre. No mystery reader is going to buy your second book if you don’t solve the crime. Although the bad guy doesn’t need to get punished, but the reader needs to know who did it, and usually why. And, if they don’t get punished, if the detective walks away from the final closure, you have to have a compelling reason.

Science Fiction seems to get the most buzz about conventions in story – there’s that group of readers who put more emphasis on the Science and the group the places more emphasis on the Fiction. And the group in between who want a good story with some science.

What we advise our authors is to make sure they understand the conventions of their genre or age group. Then if they need to break them, do it skillfully and with purpose. If your reader thinks you’ve made a mistake in your writing, you’ve kicked them out of the story. If you are skillful in changing conventions, they will be intrigued and captured in the story.

How do you get to know your audience?

The best way is to read what they read. If you do that, you can see the conventions and you will ride the knowledge as you write.

The second best way is to buy and read a book about writing for the age group or genre.

My advice – do both. Start with a book on how to write for that audience to see what you should be including, then read books in the genre/age group so you can see how well it’s done, or how badly.

I wish you good writing.

Perry

No Comments | In: Industry, Writing Tips | tags: audience, writing, Writing Tips, Your reader. | #

This might be the 500,000,000th or more posting on this subject. When submitting your work to an agent or publisher, you want to make the best impression.

That doesn’t mean your book needs to be publishing ready. There are people in the process who will help you take your best work and make it excellent, fabulous, and readworthy.

It doesn’t seem to matter whether the economy is booming or busting, there are always more books written than can possibly fit on a book shelf. That’s why it’s so hard to break into publishing. Well, e-publishing is no different. No matter how easy it is to get your book out there, you need to think of your reader – they want the best stories presented to them in the most professional way possible.

So, when you submit to a publisher or agent you need to start with your best. Your best includes making sure you’ve run the spell, grammar, and style checker on your word processor. It includes making sure your characters come alive and your story has a beginning, middle and end.

How do you get there? I’ve found the best way to get from first draft to publishable work is revise the first draft a couple of times and then get a critique. Critique groups give you two important things.

First, your critique group is made of writers, they know what the process is. They know what structure is, they know when the passion is on the page. A good critique group will challenge you on everything about your story – and they’ll find thing you can’t see. My experience with critique groups has been great – I see my mistakes in other people’s books. After reviewing another writer’s work, I go and look for the same things in my own.

Second, and perhaps more important, a critique group will get you used to critiques. You’ll hear things you don’t agree with and you’ll get great ideas. The feedback from your critique group is not intended to be gospel. You can decide what you want to do with the comments. But, I bet you’ll find that when you don’t agree, it’s not because your writing was so great and the reader didn’t ‘get’ it, it will be because you weren’t clear enough in the first place.

When you’ve worked with a critique group and thoughtfully revised your manuscript, it’s time to check submission requirements. And check them carefully, they aren’t there to create a barrier, they are there to make it easy for the editor/agent to access your work. Keep in mind the person reading your submission is reading multiple works, make it easy for them.

Wow,is the rant over? Yep, only one thing left. When you think you’ve sent in your best work, don’t be surprised if you get back a long list of suggestions. If the person reading your submission has gone to the trouble of giving you feedback, it means they read the work and they care enough to help.

Write well and prosper.

Perry

2 Comments | In: Submissions | tags: How to Submit, opinion, Process, Writing Tips. | #

Hi, Perry here. Along with over 150,000 writers worldwide, I’m taking part in the madness that is National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who haven’t heard of this, it’s a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

I’ve set myself the goal of 80,000 words because 50,000 is a bit short for a novel.

I first attempted this last year, and won, and that book is Off Track which is coming soon from PaperBox Books.

Yesterday I started the day 4,800 words behind my goal and ended the day 1,200 words over my goal. That was a marathon but I made myself do it without the great support available this month.

Why? Well, I wanted to see if I had the discipline to focus on my work without word wars and “you can do its” from the team. If I could, then maybe I could write a second book in 2010.

Here’s how I did it. I had a timer and I wrote for 15 minutes and counted up the words. I worked on another project for 15 minutes and came back to the writing. Truth be told, I also checked email and tidied my desk and did all the other things I do that eat into writing time. The only difference was, I only wrote in the 15 minutes of writing.

My success made me think of the writers I’ve talked to who struggle to get the first draft done. They try to squeeze the writing into busy schedules, or carve off a couple of hours to write at a time.

If this sounds like you, try taking a timer and writing for 15 minutes. I think you’ll be surprised at the number of words  you can get on the page. And, when you go back and read the words later, how good they really are.

So, turn off the editor and give it a try.

Good luck to all the other NaNoWriMo participants, and a shout out to our favourite MLs in Vancouver.

No Comments | In: Writing Tips | tags: NaNoWriMo, Writing Tips. | #