2013 has been a major journey of
self-discovery for me as a writer. It turns out, with novel writing,
I'm better at character-driven than plot-driven. I've learned my
writing vastly improves when I let a character narrate as opposed to
playing narrator myself. My fictional characters have stronger
voices, go figure. Also, I've crossed that bridge from having a
well-crafted plot to expressing a well-crafted plot. They
really are two different things. The former is strictly from a
writer's perspective, and a bit amateur, as in, look at my plot,
isn't it neat? The latter is from an author's perspective and more
professional, as in, allow me to tell you a story, it begins like
this...
Last but not least, and this deserves
its own paragraph, I've learned the difference between creating
suspense and building suspense. Like many writers, I could
come up with a million plot points that start to create suspense, yet
building suspense takes more than dropping all these little ideas and
hoping at least one catches fire. I've learned to set the fire
myself, take a big step back, and let it all happen. No need to force
suspense, it'll will be there. It's like letting an infant walk for
the first time. It takes a leap of faith, which is one of the hardest
things to do.
So, I now have a completed manuscript
of a psychological thriller and I'm exploring publishing
opportunities. Because I don't have an agent, I've been hesitant to
publicly talk about traditional publishing, especially on the
internet where the disagreements are endless. I have a two tiered
planed attack. 1, pursue agents, if that doesn't work out for
whatever reason then, 2, independent presses. In regards to the
process of traditional publishing I'm going to break everything down
in simple terms and use myself as an example.
Literary agents do not publish your
book for you. Ever.
Anyone who has seen the movie Jerry
McGuire will know how an agent functions. They make deals and
show you the money. You don't seek agents because you want to be
published for the sake of being published. To be brutally honest,
anyone anywhere at any age can upload a word doc and be published.
That's the easy part. You seek agents only because you want to
make money from being published. Publishing is just one step in a
very long process.
Patience is always the key.
I don't begrudge anyone for
self-publishing, that's a writer's personal choice. If that's what
you want, go for it. However, I've noticed that the number one reason
many will self-publish is time. They want it done now. When I worked
as a graphic designer, I had a poster in my office that read, I
provide service that's high quality, cheap, and on time. You can have
any of the two. That's the real world in any kind of business, it
takes time. If you aim to have everything right this second, you'll
miss out on something. You want high quality and cheap? It won't be
on time...
Writing is a job. Crafting fiction
is a career.
Be prepared. A solid commitment is
needed to pursue crafting fiction as a career. It will not matter how
many online cheerleaders you have, though that can be a nice
confidence boost to keep you going. It's like that old truism about
the most popular girl in high school who never gets phone calls
because all the boys assume she's busy every Saturday night, when in
fact, she spends every Saturday night alone. It happens more often
than not. Popularity and success are two different things, in the
same way writing and crafting fiction are two different things. It
will not many how many friends say, I loved it! It won't make the
slightest difference if you have 2000+ friends on Facebook, Twitter,
and MySpace. It also won't matter if you only have 10 friends on
social media. The difference lies in perserverence and consistency.
I'm getting my psychological thriller published and pursue agents as
a means to make money from the story, because I've long since made
the commitment to my career. Popularity is nice and beng loved by
many is validating, but unless a solid commitment is made, neither
will ever mean a damn thing.
Query Letters, Outlines, Synopsis,
oh my.
There is so much information available
online at a click of a button. I've long since learned that 99% of it
is dead wrong, and the other 1% is right but doesn't know how to
phrase things in a way that an aspiring writer or a burgeoning author
can understand and it can all get bloody confusing. Chances are the
majority who so freely give advice online have no direct experience
and don't know what they're talking about. Once, I had a woman, in a
rather bully and bitchy way, dictate that “my terminogoy is
confused.” Er, what? Well, according to the world of her, a real
synopsis is always exactly four pages long. Geez, must be lonely in
that perfect little world of hers. I've had aspiring writers try to
bully me into writing one way only and following a specific formula,
because otherwise zomg I'll never get publish. Let's see, getting the
approval of a bunch of unpublished amateurs online or (!!!) publish
original fiction. I'll publish original fiction, thanks.
I do have a point, online bullshit
aside. The process is actually really simple. Here are the steps:
1. Write a one paragraph synopsis of
your plot idea, or at least one sentence (see Hooks for more info).
2. Write a 1 – 2 page full synopsis of
your story.
3. Write a full manuscript.
4. Write a query letter, this is where
you can use the paragraph from number 1, and bits from number 2.
5. Find an agent, and this is the most
important part, that share a common interest with you, whether it's golfing or
the love of a fast-paced thriller, just, something. Remember, this is
someone who could be working with you for the rest of your life, so
you better have something in common and establish a good working
relationship.
A few more pieces of advice from my own
direct experience. The above process is completely unrelated to job
applications, because this is not a job, it's a career. Queries are
not some impossible monster to fight, it's just a brief description
of your manuscript, and if you developed a solid plot first,
then the rest will fall into place. Last, publishing is easy, anyone
can do it. Building a career and producing stories that are meant to
last, takes a lot of hard work and a lifetime commitment.
In conclusion, love yourself, love what
you do, and love all the hard work involved, no matter how long it
takes, and for pity's sake, stop trying to find a short cut in life
because it doesn't exist anywhere.
Happy Holidays!
