What are Your 10 Rules for Writing?

Tin Pencil Writing Exercise

What do you consider the most important practices for an aspiring author? How about rules for writing? We all have our own writing quirks and pet peeves, but what are some personal standards that you apply to your writing? Let’s compile a list of the Tin Pencil’s favorite writing rules!

Example* (by Neil Gaiman, author of Stardust and Coraline):

1 Write.

2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.

3 Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.

4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.

5 Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.

6 Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.

7 Laugh at your own jokes.

8 The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

*Find more examples from revered writers here.

Please bring your writing rules (doesn’t have to be ten, however many you have, really) to the next Tin Pencil meeting on March 23^rd.

Write On!

Your First Page Better Be Good…

If you are serious about getting your work published, you already know the importance of your first sentence, your first paragraph, and your first page. When all you get to send to a prospective literary agent is a query letter and page 1, that first page better be pretty good. Unlike at writers club, you won’t be around to insist, “keep reading, it gets better.”

And rightfully so. We, as readers, quickly judge books we consider purchasing, not by reading page 127 (and certainly not by reading up to page 127), but by reading the opening scene. If it doesn’t grab us, if it doesn’t give us a reason to keep reading (or worse, the writing screams “stop right there, if you know what’s good for you!) we put the book back down. Knowing the stories about the many rejection letters that now-published authors received before getting their big break, I think it’s safe to assume that literary agents and publishers are more critical than the average reader, not more forgiving/curious/patient. As one blogger puts it, “they’re looking for reasons to reject, not reasons to accept.”

If you’re interested in knowing what these reasons are, check out This is Why I Would Read Beyond the Page 1 and This is Why I Would Not Read Farther by author and blogger Anne Mini. There are 76 reasons the interviewed agents listed for rejecting based on a first page, and only 8 for reading further. It’s definitely worth checking out. Both lists are located pretty far down the page, past all the bold type. Don’t lose hope, just keep scrolling.

So to arm ourselves for the fight to get our work noticed by prospective agents and publishers, a writing exercise was distributed at the Tin Pencil meeting last night. If you weren’t able to make it to the meeting, you’ll find it below.

1. Pick up a few of your favorite books and a couple not so favorites and read the very first sentence. Does it grab you? Why or why not? How can you incorporate what you liked into your own opening scenes?
2. Write five first sentences.
3. Choose one of your newly crafted sentences as a prompt and finish the whole first paragraph, page, or chapter. Was that first sentence the best way to start the scene? Can you improve it?

Those who complete this exercise will be given time at the beginning of the next meeting (February 10^th) to read their resulting first sentences and opening scene, or feel free to post them in a comment. Write on!

The Difference

As writers aspiring to be published, the most basic BASIC thing that we must know (besides the English language) is the difference between being published and being self-published. This is not to say that there isn’t a place in this world for “vanity presses,” but paying someone to print copies of your story doesn’t make you a published author.

I had a sad experience at work yesterday. (I work at a bookshop. Be jealous.) As has happened many times before, I had a woman approach me at the counter and introduce herself as a local author who wanted to show me her book. This time it was a children’s book, a thin little thing with poorly painted illustrations that screamed “self-published.” I asked her whether Tate Publishing, whose logo graced the cover, was a traditional publisher or a self-publishing company, to which she replied “oh, no, they’re the real deal.” She gave me a very passionate description of her book, told me how she’d read it at several schools and another local bookstore, and showed me a letter from the publisher stating that out of the thousands and thousands of manuscripts that they receive each year, hers stood with the tiny percentage that was worthy of being published. With a little more faith, I promised her I’d give it a read and call her back.

I should have gone with my gut. After tripping through the clumsy rhymes and disappointing story, I googled Tate Publishing and one of the first things to come up was “Tate Publishing Scam.” Apparently they charge their authors $4000 as an up front “investment” in the “publication” of their books. Pushing aside the swell of indignity at being lied to, I realized that I wasn’t really the one being misled. I have a feeling that everyone who submits their manuscript receives one of those glowing letters in return, along with the price tag.

Please, fellow writers, don’t be fooled! Do your homework. Anytime you have to pay the publisher instead of them paying you, you are self-publishing! No matter how selective they claim to be.

Now, I have a difficult phone call to make.

*Addition* A few legitimate publishers, and apparently agents too, are creating their own self-publishing companies to capitalize on their extensive slush piles. Check out this blog to learn more about this scary new trend.

Reasons for Rejection

Here are two interesting blogs, one by literary agent Janet Reid and one by Del Rey editorial director Betsy Mitchell, on how many manuscripts that passed their initial tests ultimately were rejected and why. It’s a bit scary, but enlightening all the same.

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2009/12/statistics-to-torture-yourself-with-in.html

http://www.suvudu.com/2010/01/what-i-learned-this-week-why-i-say-no.html

Thoughts On Slang

As I was reading a Yahoo! article on banned words, I got to thinking about the use of slang in fiction. As an aspiring fantasy author, my current story being set in a pre-technology society, I sometimes catch myself throwing in modern phrases and metaphors that have no place in the setting that I’ve tried to create. There are times when my two main characters need to use swear words — I mean, they’re teenage boys after all — but which ones would be appropriate without breaking the fantasy? Should I make up my own? I spent months agonizing over whether the characters could call their dad “Dad” or if they needed to call him “Father.” After the first draft, I strategically removed all but one use of the word stupid  and replaced it with foolish, thinking that sounded more timeless.

But even in fiction that is set in modern times in our own world, the use of modern slang and technology will date your story. I got a real kick out of reading “Eternal” by Cynthia Leitich Smith, in which guardian angels send memos to each other, a character starts a website to help track down a friend who’s disappeared, and frequent reference is made to various literary fandoms. Those details are a sign of the times; you won’t catch Nancy Drew using Google to find the secret of the old clock. Twenty plus years from now, will those now modern details still work? Does it matter? Should some slang be omitted simply because it’s not literary? There is already concern over literacy levels dropping due to poor spelling and grammar in emails and text messages… What does it say about a society that allows “brb” and “c u l8r” to infiltrate their literature? Your thoughts?

By the way, Happy New Year!

New Year’s Writing Resolutions

This January the Tin Pencil will be celebrating its 2nd birthday, and I can’t help but look back on the time that’s passed and the writing that’s been accomplished in that time. Some Tin Pencil members, who at first attended meetings merely to humor me, have transformed into impressively prolific writers. Others, like myself, have found it challenging to complete one to two new pages between meetings, and when I think of the small quantity of work I’ve completed over the last two years I’m at least comforted that it’s more than I would have done if I didn’t have the Tin Pencil meetings as deadlines.

That said, how awesome would it be if 2010 were a bit more productive? I’m sure I could make more time to write if I really set my mind to it.  I know I’d like to finally finish this last edit on my novel and send it out to some agents and then (squee! I can’t wait!) start writing the next one.

So what are your goals for your writing in 2010? Do you have a word count you’d like to hit? A number of stories you’d like to write? Are you finally going to query that agent you’ve been stalking online? At our last meeting of 2009, on December 23rd, or in the comments section here, I’d like it if we could all share our writing goals for the coming year.

And finally, how can the Tin Pencil help you meet your goals? I’d appreciate your thoughts.

Beware the Everyman

It frustrates me when I sit down to watch a new movie and am faced with yet another cleft chinned hero with an arsenal full of one-liners and a leading lady whose greatest feature appears to be her tiny waist and large bust size. These cookie cutter characters that flit from one movie to the next, even though the names in the credits change, with nothing to distinguish them from well built robots. I can tolerate it, though. In movies. Not in books.

I’m not talking about the “sex sells” concept, though that could be another post. I’m talking about the Everyman Syndrome. In the movies, more often than not, the characters are placeholders. Hero= guy with guns and self-righteous attitude. Villain= guy with guns and malevolent intentions. Love interest= non-intimidating super-model with unexplainable attraction to Hero who gets herself into situations where she needs saving. Whatever. With few exceptions (the exceptions generally being adapted from books), they don’t grow as characters, they don’t overcome internal obstacles. They’re the Everyman. The Everyhero, the Everyvillain, and Everyhenchmen by the dozens.

But, in books, I need more. If I read one more character being described as “average” or “normal” I’m going to scream. What is average? Pluck ten people from the populace at random, are any of them going to look the same? Will they have the same interests, the same mannerisms, the same anything except, possibly, the same number of fingers and toes? Describing someone as normal or average is the same or worse than not describing them at all. We all have details that make us interesting and if you’re not going to draw those out of your characters you’ll have a story populated by stick figures.

Be Thankful

I had promised myself I wasn’t going to fill this blog merely with links to other blogs, but Tin Pencil member Sue E. sent me the post Ten Commandments for the Happy Writer by the amazing Nathan Bransford (*blush* see previous post) and I was struck by how relevant commandment number nine is in the wake of Thanksgiving.

9. Be thankful for what you have. If you have the time to write you’re doing pretty well. There are millions of starving people around the world, and they’re not writing because they’re starving. If you’re writing: you’re doing just fine. Appreciate it.

We are very lucky. I know that I find myself whining with embarrassing regularity about my busy schedule, lack of time, so much to do, blah, blah, blah. But I’m busy because I get to do all of the stuff that I love. How lucky is that?

Read the rest of the commandments here. Thanks Sue!

The Future of Publishing…

My posts are so often links to other bloggers’ posts, I know (hangs head in shame), but this is perhaps the best argument I’ve read for the future domination of e-books. While, as an indie bookseller in a traditional brick and mortar store, this makes me a little sad, I can also now look to the future with a different kind of hope. Maybe bookstores will soon be welcome among the ranks of clock shops and hat stores, but at least we will still exist for those to whom it makes a difference.

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/11/efficiency-wins-in-end.html

Query Shark

As promised, here is a link to the awesome Query Shark:

http://queryshark.blogspot.com/

This blog is updated by literary agent Janet Reid. Here you can find problematic query letters dissected as well as examples of letters that made it to the next level. You can even submit your own query letter for feedback, but make sure you read her guidelines (found in the righthand column of her site) before you do.