Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Writing Group => Topic started by: JP Dogberry on May 25, 2004, 08:48:53 AM
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Ok, this may sound very n00bish from me (hopefully not) but it is quite relevent I think.
This question is basically addressed to those on the board who are in fact published.
What path does one take to getting from being an amateur writer to having multiple published books? Especially if, hypothetically spekaing of course, one was an 18 year old amateur speculative fiction writer just starting to get serious about it and trying to get in the habit of writing every day?
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Well I'm not published but I DO know EUOL's method. Which is simply put: have a mother who thinks you're wasteing your life as and English major and that he only hope of a successfull child (read: Getting married) is her teenage daughter. Then strive for several years writeing and getting published just to see the look on her face as all the sudden you become her "favorite" child.
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That doesn't help me so much as knowing what to write and who to show it to.
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Na it was modivational advice.
As what to write, do what you like. It's very rare for people to sell their first book that you actualy write and finsish. So if you want to get into the habbit then that's what I'd recomned. I'm sure EUOL, SE and Mustard can give you better advice but mines just simplely "Write what you'd want to read". Of course learing how to present it in a way other would want to read is a whole nother story.
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Lol. That's a big question, JP, but not an uncommonly asked one. However, without going TOO long, here are a few pointers.
1) You've got the right idea. You have to write consistently. When I started out, I was told by someone (don't even remember who...) that your first five books are generally terrible. Now, I don't necessarily believe this is true. However, every author I've known who's finished two books has found that the FIRST one, at least, was terrible. (Back me up here, Fell, HoM.)
The first book is often something of a train wreck. It usually has good ideas, but when you start, you have no concept of pacing. The book will wander, and its feel/plot will get warped and bent out of shape as your writing ability improves dramatically--which it will, if you're writing every day and plugging away at that first book.
So, my first--and most important--piece of advice is to get that first book out of your system. Don't worry if it isn't progressing how you want, just get it written! You can always come back and fix it. My first book, WHITE SAND, was absolutely horrible. However, I rewrote it as my eighth book, and that time it was pretty good. (This is the version people on this forum have read.)
2) You don't need to worry about marketing yourself until you've written that first book, and preferably your second as well. HoM's first sale was his second book, I believe.
Once you have that first book, it's time to start attending cons and making connections. It took me four years of con-attending to finally make a sale. However, you need to start going early because you'll need to build your professional and networking skills, as well as give yourself time to get comfortable at the cons.
3) Make certain you're well-read in the genre. This should be a no-brainer, but I've seen most authors include it in their 'how do I get published?' FAQs. If you don't know what SF/F is doing, you won't be able to market yourself very well.
4) Learn to understand your writing style. Identify what you do well, and focus your books around it. Identify what you do poorly, and don't focus your books around it (but try and work on it and improve at it.)
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Submit. A lot.
No seriously. Submit everything you think is remotely worth reading.
Some writers will recommend starting with short stories. And that can be a good way in. Get three or four good stories published in magazine, and you can put that in your cover letter when you send in novel manuscripts. It like a CV, people look for experience. If you've been published before, they're more likely to give it a serious look.
Other tactics: go to cons. Not gaming cons. Fantasy/Science Fiction cons. But DON'T DRESS IN COSTUME. Dress nice. Even a tie. Talk to the publishers and editors instead of slobbering over at Gabe and Tycho's booth. Find out what sorts of stories they're looking for. Find a publisher/editor who's looking for the subgenre you have a manuscript for. Show it to him or promise to send it to him. Then follow up. Even if you don't have something ready to submit then, you'll know what people want to publish, and you'll be making contacts, networking.
Find out what people like. Read the successful books (this is where EUOL is right and I am, at least in practice, wrong. Wheel of Time is very successful, and it bears reading to find out what people like about it). Read the SFWA winners. Find out what people are publishing, and therefore what readers (your ultimate income source) are reading.
Stick with a writing style that is easily read. Most people don't enjoy reading present tense or second person. Things like that.
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oh, and it goes without saying, if you're submitting a lot, you have to be writing a lot. That's a key thing people overlook. A writer writes. Always.
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Dang it. I've been trying the "a writer sits on his arse" principle. Probably time for a change.
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well, you CAN do that. You just have to write at the same time.
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I don't know how applicable a lot of my advice is, since I am publishing in a non-mainstream market. The LDS market is an entirely different ball of wax than the national, so there are some subjects I am thoroughly unfmailiar with (such as agents, etc.).
Still, the biggest piece of advice I could give is the same that EUOL began with: Write. Write all the time. I'm nowhere near as prolific as EUOL, but I've got five books under my belt (and I've only been writing for three years). (And yes, my first books was a blight upon humanity.) The key is to write as often as possible. If you have a serious goal of writing as a career, you need to view your writing as work: set daily goals, set time to write, avoid distractions, set deadlines, etc. This has been doubly important for me, simply because I haven't been trained in writing (no English degree here), and I had to learn mostly through trial and error.
Ray Bradbury once said: “I believe that eventually quantity will make up for quality.
How so?
Michelangelo’s, da Vinci’s, Tintoretto’s billion sketches, the quantitative, prepared them for the qualitative, single sketches further down the line, single portraits, single landscapes, of incredible control and beauty.
Quantity gives experience. From experience alone can come quality.”
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This has been doubly important for me, simply because I haven't been trained in writing (no English degree here), and I had to learn mostly through trial and error.
I don't think the standard English degree prepares you for novel writing. Mostly because the standard English student procrastinate her papers until the last minute, thereby leaving only enough time to write, not write well.
However, now that I think about it, she does learn to write for an audience. ("If I express this opinion, I will get an A, but if I express that opinion, or beat that old horse to death, I'll probably get a C.") And sometimes it helps to be able to just spit the writting on the keyboard, rather than agonizing over every sentence.
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David Brin told me to get a degree in BUT English if I wanted to be a writer.
He also said to wander around and knock on a new door once a month, introduce myself and find out what they do there.
Did the first, but never actually got around to the second. And I'm an editor nowadays anyway... (Finally working! Yay!)
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With TokyoPop Ookla?
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Yeah. I'm doing copyediting.
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Omedito!
Hopefuly you'll beable to move up in the ranks and start makeing TP buying good lincenses.
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Congrats!
Though that means the writers just lost their lead in board attendance....
(TWG professional writers: 2 TWG professional editors: 2. Someone else get published so we can show those snooty editors what for. ;))
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Fell's job description is Senior Writer. Sure, he's not published, but, technically he's a professional writer.
Writers win!
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Technically, one of the editors *is* a published writer, just not of books or fiction. Whaddaya make of that?
(I've worked for magazines and newspapers, remember?)
Am I competing against myself?
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Well, technically, I got a poem published in my school yearbook, but didn't get paid or anything.
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Hey, I've graduated and I'm working as an editor...don't I count as a professional editor now? ;)
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well, I've been paid for writing that got published before, just not currently. so add one to "writer" i guess.
However, I've also been paid for editing other people's stuff, during the same era, so i guess i count for both if I count at all.
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I wasn't aware we were keeping score!
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Professional writers:5
Professional Editors:4
Entropy: 1
I win.
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Well, you win at losing at least.
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Now, now. "Professional" in my definition implies "Receiving a significant portion of your income from this activity."
I think Fell counts, and Brenna's freelance right now, but she's earning a good amount (at least, if what her husband told me is true.) Stacer, you're not a professional writer right now--you jumped the fence and betrayed us! ;)
So, that makes the count...
Professional Writers: 3
Professional Editors: 3
Entropy: 1
Hum. Yeah, I think Entropy does win....
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Yes, but how many of them have cool websites? Not even Entropy has that (though he should).
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so CURRENT significant income?
Darn. Because I was making a couple thousand a month when I was writing.
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That means you're retired, SE! How does it feel?
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surprisingly inglorious and poor.
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So, out of curiosity (because I've forgotten), what exactly do you edit, Stacer? Is it YA/children's fiction? I can't remember for some reason.
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Right now it's 5th and 6th grade social studies textbooks. I'm studying children's literature at Simmons, though, and when I finish my master's I intend to get a job somewhere in middle grade and/or YA fiction, preferably fantasy, but I'll take anything in the field.
And before that it was Electrical Apparatus, a magazine that covered the electrical aftermarket.... Yeah, I learned more than I ever intended to know about industrial electrical motors. :D
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This isn't exactly related, but I thought I'd ask. EUOL, would you have any connections that might be able to get me the email address for one Crystal Velasquez at TOR, who is in charge of hiring proofreaders? I'm trying to pick up some extra work and heard that they use freelancers.
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All the other Tor addresses I've mailed to have been name.name at Tor.com.
However, I'll email Moshe and see if he knows the address. We'll see if he knows her.
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Thanks, I appreciate it. :)
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Hey says there isn't a Tor employee by that name, nor is there one at St. Martins. He did say, however, that he'd try and figure out who you should apply to.
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That's the name they have on their website, but it's probably really outdated and gives them a red flag of people they don't really want to talk to, I suppose. Any help you and Moshe can give would be great.
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*poke*
EUOL, did you ever hear anything?
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Nope. Sorry.
Moshe kind of gets distracted, but he usually gets back to me eventually. I'll let you know.
Of course, you're going to Worldcon in Sept, right? You can always meet all of the editors there.
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Yep, I'm planning on it. I was just thinking of seeing what I could scare up this summer.