HELP! Every Writer's Nightmare

Today I lost my laptop for at least six weeks. Please join me in a
moment of silence, to mourn the loss of my creative fountain...

Okay, so this is my first attempt (a dress rehearsal, if you will) of
blogging via email. Did it work? Do I look okay in this? Have I grown
a third nose? Your comments regarding the viability / noticeability of
posting this way (especially any that can make me smile through the
tears) are most welcome.

Help me, friends. I need to remember there are more beautiful things
on the face of this earth than the rapidly-filling page in my MS Word
doc....

*Sob*

Your Questions for an Independent Publisher?

I've had my eye drawn to the independent publishing market recently - and by that, I mean the smaller, independent presses, e-book prints, etc. These publishers will offer little or no advance, but neither will they charge you - they're investing in your book.

It's an aspect of publishing I don't know a lot about, so I've been exploring.

A very generous and recently successful independent publisher has agreed to take our questions. Yes, that's right. You can submit any questions you might have in the comments of this post (or email me if blogger is blocking you) and I'll pass them on to the publisher who has agreed to visit Seeking the Write Life with the answers.

Huzzah!

Here's the questions I've come up with - what are yours?

1. Does going independent in today's market essentially mean going solely digital?

2. Do independent publishers have access / distribution to bookstore chains?

3. Has the YA market embraced e-books yet? (I get that kids are big on gadgets, but at this point most of them can't afford to buy e-readers for themselves. My perception is it's the adult genres that are really taking off in the e-book markets... am I wrong?)

4. It appears that in many cases a writer still needs an agent to get in the door with any worthwhile independent publisher - yet many agents say the deals with indie's are too small to make it worth their while, so... how does an author gain an indie's attention otherwise?

5. Are we naive to respect the 'we're not accepting unsolicited submissions' guidelines? Do many authors ignore and throw themselves on the slushpile anyway, thereby getting a foot in the back door?

Your Turn: What questions do you have for an independent publisher? (Just in case it's relevant, please note the genre your question is about).

Self-Editing #10 - Getting Specific: VERBS

So we've already talked about "Show, don't tell", and getting specific with your nouns. Today I want to talk about what I like to call 'nothing' verbs. Verbs like "came" and "went", "down" and "moved". Words that tell the reader something... but not much of anything.

To whit:

A moment later the door opened. Carl came out and went down the street.

For those words to have any meaning or impact, they'd have to be in context. As they stand here, they tell you next to nothing. Right?

A little better would be:

A moment later the glass door opened. Carl stepped out, walking down the street.

There's more certainty in that, which is a starting point. But a really firm image needs the tiny details that will make it real for the reader. Like this:

A moment later the glass door slid aside. Carl appeared, trotting down the stairs. His steps echoed off the nearby buildings as he hurried along the empty street.

Do you see what I mean?

Yes there are more words in that final image. But there's also a lot more clarity and reality.

I'd suggest to you that if your book is full of rich and succinct imagery, then you can get away with a few thousand extra words. But in truth, you won't need to. The more solidly your world is built in the little moments of description, the fewer words it will take to convince your reader your story is really happening.

Although you can't do a seek and destroy mission on these words, start developing an eye for them. They're the verbs that tell the reader your character did something, but don't tell them how.

Wherever possible, turn your 'went' into 'walked', exchange the likes of 'came' for 'hurried', and replace 'moved' with 'shuffled' and his equally vivid friends.

Then, just like with specifc nouns, when you've got some specific verbs in place, choose a minimum of adjectives to color in the gaps.

Enough said?

Your Turn: What generic words spring to mind when you read this? What kind of words would you use to replace them?

Self-Editing #9 - Getting Specific: NOUNS

This self-editing tip is another that's going to take some time and some intentional re-reading. But it's also a great philosophy to adopt in drafting:

A good writer uses specific nouns to offer clarity in minimal wordcount. They paint a detailed picture - not to complicate or exaggerate, but to be clear and succinct.


To whit:

"The noun rhinoceros flahes a sharper, more meaningful picture to your reader than does the noun animal. But animal is sharper and more meaningful than creature. In the same way, consider bungalow versus house versus building... starlet versus girl versus female... Colt versus revolver versus firearm..."

-Dwight V. Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer

The fewer words you can use to communicate the idea, the easier the reader will follow - and the broader the world built in their head in the shortest time. In other words: You'll write more efficiently.

So scour your manuscript for nouns and ask yourself: Is that the very best and clearest word for this person-place-or-thing?

Then let the nouns speak for themselves.

Why am I talking about nouns instead of verbs or adjectives? Well, primarily because we're covering verbs in the next post. But since you brought adjectives up (yes, you did), I'll make one brief point:
If you let your nouns speak for themselves wherever possible, adjectives will be less necessary. And where they do crop up, more effective.

But don't mix up being specific with over-stating. Say one thing clearly - not impressively. What's the difference? Here's a quote from C. S. Lewis:

"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite."

I'd add to that, don't say 'wonderful' for something that is merely 'sweet'. And never use 'devastated' when your character is simply 'sad'.

Good writing is simple, clear and leaves no room for confusion or distraction. (It also doesn't get impressed with it's own ability to synonymise).

If the reader is spending time thinking about how beautifully you phrased something, or how impressive your vocabularly is, they aren't deep in the story. They may admire your prose, but be unable to tell their friends what the story was about.

So, what's your goal? For me, I want my words to be invisible, disappearing behind the clear and fascinating picture they paint.

Your Turn: Does this advice / approach apply only to commercial fiction, or to literary fiction also? What are your thoughts?

Self-Editing #8 – WHEN to show / WHEN to tell.

Today's tip is a little more involved, but I'd encourage you, once you've finished a draft, to undertake a revision with this purely in mind:

The irony of being a fiction writer is that our goal, as authors, is to remain utterly invisible. The best way to keep the reader engaged and completely unaware of the author, is to predominantly show rather than tell.

I know we bandy that phrase around a lot, so I think it's time to demonstrate.

TELLING:

"We're just friends," Dani said.

Carl was sure Dani was lying to him. He imagined all the reasons she had for hiding her true feelings and felt cold.


SHOWING:

"We're just friends," Dani said. Her eyes drifted across the room to Adam, slouched in a chair in the corner.

Carl kept his face blank, his fingers curled to fists in his pockets. Would she be honest, knowing how he felt about Adam? Or did she think he'd stop helping her if she was dating that loser?

An ice-cube of doubt settled in his stomach.


"But that uses more words!" the writers scream. Yes. It does. But which would you rather read? Which gives you a stronger sense of the characters and scene?

As a reader I'm going to contend that if your words keep me entralled, I don't care how many of them you use.

Of course, there are moments when telling / summary are completely legitimate forms to convey the reader from one place and time to the next. Without them, every book would be a tome.

The trick is knowing WHEN you can tell, WHEN you can summarize.

The simple answer is this. Always default to show UNLESS what you're conveying doesn't change, a) the protagonists's state of mind, or, b) the protagonists state of affairs.

(Insert reader “Huh?” here).

Okay, here’s the basics of what you need to know. (I'd highly recommend reading Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer for more on this):


STATE OF MIND:

If your POV character went to sleep feeling anxious, spent two days in anticipation of a meeting with the Principal feeling anxious, and woke on the morning of said meeting feeling anxious, the state of mind has remained unchanged. As long as nothing has occurred to change that or the story's forward motion in that time, then merely tell the reader that time has passed.

Summarize time and emotion: "Those two days of waiting were hell, walking around with my stomach in my mouth, trying to pretend I didn't care."

CONVERSELY, if during those two days Mom or Dad asked the protagonist why they were acting weird and tried to talk about the 'issues' they'd been having at school, that's a scene that needs to be SHOWN because the protagonist's state of mind will be affected by the fear Mom or Dad is onto them.

Clear?


STATE OF AFFAIRS:

The FBI Agent protagonist gets a call from the evidentiary team - they've found DNA. But DNA takes days to analyze, and all other leads are exhausted.

Certain his prime suspect is the man, FBI Agent sends the DNA sample for analysis, and waits. During that time he does paperwork, answers the phone, eats, sleeps, poops... but in terms of the plot development, nothing is happening. The State of Affairs remains unchanged. So tell.

Summarize time and events: "Agent Fielding slunk through the next three days dodging visits from the victim's mother, and conveniently forgetting to return his bosses calls. Roger Fandango was the murderer. He just needed those results to prove it."

CONVERSELY, if during those three days the victim's mother has a conversation with Fandago's defense lawyer who offers potential 'proof' Fandango isn't the man - show it in scene. The State of Affairs has changed.


So, are we clear not only about how to show, but also when? If, at any time, your protagonist's state of mind or the state of affairs changes, you must SHOW it. When neither of these elements is affected, feel free to tell.

Vividness outranks brevity. But do your best to be as brief as you can. Using specific nouns will help with that, so we’ll be covering those in the next post.

Your Turn: Have you seen effective exceptions to this rule? How did the author handle it? Why do you think it worked?