What is your best tip for new authors?

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer FitzGerald on September 26, 2012 at 8:35pm

I like to add small touches of humor.  Everyone loves a laugh.

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Permalink Reply by Tara Henry on September 30, 2012 at 1:49am

Write like you know the story is worth telling and somebody will want to hear it. I am hopefully encouraging an awesome new author to continue the stories she has written and the ones still rumbling around in her head. Once she let others read her stories we wanted more. These characters and plots can't just not go any further. So when you write a story its ok to assume its going to need a future! Plant those plot seeds early on.

www.pedagogyartstudios.com

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on September 30, 2012 at 10:42am

Hey Tara

I love your encouragement. Its a maze out there and encouragement is always welcome. there is plenty of awesome talent flapping free and under-appreciated. Let the creative juices flow!

Thanks

Tara Henry said:

Write like you know the story is worth telling and somebody will want to hear it. I am hopefully encouraging an awesome new author to continue the stories she has written and the ones still rumbling around in her head. Once she let others read her stories we wanted more. These characters and plots can't just not go any further. So when you write a story its ok to assume its going to need a future! Plant those plot seeds early on.

www.pedagogyartstudios.com

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on September 30, 2012 at 10:43am

Laughter is the fuel of life, fill the world and help to make it a better place.

Thanks Jennifer.

Jennifer FitzGerald said:

I like to add small touches of humor.  Everyone loves a laugh.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on September 30, 2012 at 10:44am

Absolutely Blaize

Love is always the key. Love life and love your writing.

Thanks for the reminder.

Blaize Nolynne said:

To write because you LOVE to tell stories, not because you are trying to be a successful MILLIONAIRE! 

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Permalink Reply by John Brantingham on October 1, 2012 at 4:22pm

I think the best advice is to write every day. This is what the muse is.

Whatever you do on a regular basis is what you tend to think about on a regular basis. If you're writing, all of your experiences go through the filter of your writing and your daily events begin to inspire you to write.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on October 1, 2012 at 4:26pm

This one is true and I have to admit, with my busy life schedule it is not always possible to do. However I can say I do think of the stories everyday so even if I don't have the opportunity to write I am always dipping myself into the Everlasting Fantastical Adventures. They have become an intrinsic part of my life as much as my family are. Which is kind of scary to admit to...

John Brantingham said:

I think the best advice is to write every day. This is what the muse is.

Whatever you do on a regular basis is what you tend to think about on a regular basis. If you're writing, all of your experiences go through the filter of your writing and your daily events begin to inspire you to write.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Stevenson on October 8, 2012 at 6:20am

If you're thinking about giving up on your book or writing, consider this letter I wrote to a friend:

"Dear One, I've been close to packing it in myself. And I'm repped! Nothing has come easy for me it seems--a struggle all the way up that hill. I know you've been trying to snag that dream agent, and the odds are just so crazy. I know that POD small press is distasteful to you, as it is with a lot of us. But there are some gems out there that I think you should at least try--give it a shot. (Honest, I think I'm becoming the king of small press lately).

Gawd knows publication with the smaller outfits won't give you that mass-market paperback deal you've been looking for. Dawg knows that you won't get a thread in your favorite writing group, praising you for your accomplishments to the high heavens, nor hundreds of members buying your book. But what it will give you is vindication that somebody, anybody, read your book and loved it--believed in you--believed in that story. It's all about positive reinforcement--that drive to keep you going, pushing for that next step.

Just taking one example: I landed my agent with Planet Janitor, a SF survival tale--kind of a cross between Robison Crusoe on Mars and Starship troopers. Oh, did I have high hopes for that one! We spent months hammering the plot, polishing the prose. After it went through two rounds of agent subs over a year's period without selling, I was totally crushed. I thought this was the end.

Until I sent it out. 

Three editors at one small publisher loved it and requested minor changes. Contract came. I got an advance and a wonderful contract. I thought it was fluke. I kept thinking author mill. It was later that the publisher came under some terrible discrimination. So I voided the contract but kept the advance. I sold it again to a larger e-pub/print publisher. Two editors there said they loved it. When I tried to work the contract in my favor they wouldn't budge. So I pulled the book from them.

My final sale was to a newish pub house that specialized in SF. They praised it up one side down the other. The CEO shared the manuscript with a "name" SF author. Yep, done deal. This was a hot one. They wanted some minor changes--which I made happily.

That was not a fluke.

My point is, eight people couldn't be wrong. Nine, including me. The big houses probably cut me off at the knees at the synopsis stage or the first chapter. I was dismissed out-of-hand. But I'll tell you something very important I learned; I knew that my instincts were right all along. I had something very special there, but for whatever reason, those big name houses didn't catch it, couldn't see the potential. Bad timing, bad luck, bad breath, the stars out of alignment, some damn evil force conspired to get me and hold me down.

I think you need to so something similar for YOU. And I have to admit that handing out rejection slips to publishers sure did something for my ego.

I'm reminded of another writer, and the hassle she went through trying to find a publisher. She had a memoir that just had to be told. It seemed like it took her forever, but she finally landed with a respectable publisher and turned the small press on its ear by selling more books than anyone expected. Wonderful reviews, TV and radio spots followed--it all came into place for her. I'm positive that she never regretted that decision. A great story will find its way to the readers, in spite of all the obstacles.

But that means you can't give up on it. Listen to your heart. Screw the establishment."

FWIW,

Chris

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on October 8, 2012 at 1:13pm

 A great piece Chris,

Thanks for sharing,

Persistence, determination and the ability to learn, holding on to your dreams and going on gut instinct. All good tools. The biggest thing I pick up from this wonderful piece (for me) is that we should all use every opportunity as a learning one. Whether to pick up and move elsewhere or to gather the gems and polish some more. Eventually the diamonds will shine and the readers will meet with the author.

Success breads success.

Power to your pen

Sean

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Permalink Reply by Chris Stevenson on October 8, 2012 at 7:35pm

Thanks, Sean. Something I wrote to myself as a reminder:

A Writer is…

A humble, receptive student and negotiator

But the heart that beats within his breast

Is a determined savage

Unfamiliar with surrender

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Permalink Reply by Sean Noonan on October 8, 2012 at 7:53pm

That is apt. I like it. Cool stuff. 

Chris Stevenson said:

Thanks, Sean. Something I wrote to myself as a reminder:

A Writer is…

A humble, receptive student and negotiator

But the heart that beats within his breast

Is a determined savage

Unfamiliar with surrender

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Davenport on October 8, 2012 at 9:48pm

Edit.

Write a lot. "An athlete may run ten thousand miles in order to prepare for 100 yards. Quantity gives experience." Ray Bradbury.

Edit.

If you want to make money, don't expect it from your novels right away. Right a bunch of shorts stories, pop them up for $0.99 on Kindle and Smashwords, and use them to drum up business.

Edit.

Get Twitter. Hate it all you want, but hate it good. Use hashtags and punch lines, and retweets, and hate it like you were born to hate it, because it will work for you as long as you use it.

Edit.

Most importantly: Your writing isn't as bad as you think it is. You're your own worst critic. Well...you and that Amazon troll that just likes to give everyone 1 stars. I won't tell you their username, he/she has about a thousand of them, just ignore him/her.

Oh, and Edit.

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