novel – Thonie Hevron Author

by Michael Cristiano

re-posted from Ryan Lanz’s A Writer’s Path

So, you say you have a dream, Mr. Martin Luther King Jr. of prospective fiction (or nonfiction) writer. Well, so do I, and so do millions of others around the world. That is to write a book, but not just any damn book: a book that will be good enough to publish.

Seems like a pretty simple goal, right? In today’s day and age, there are a billion ways to see your work published: paperback, hardcover, ebook, literary magazine, traditional publishing, self-publishing, hybrid publishing, serialization, writing your novel on your arm and reciting it in the subway (okay, maybe not that one…)

Since publishing a book is easier and more accessible than ever before, it’s important to know how to write a novel that’s worthy of being published.

Read Widely
“This is a given,” you say. This is what got you into wanting to write the most epic, mind-shattering, life-changing fiction in the world in the first place. It’s amazing though how quickly reading gets shut out of life after a 9-to-5 job, commuting, cooking, cleaning, sleeping, and meeting word counts consumes all your time.

Trust me, I’m guilty of putting reading at the bottom of my priority list. I find it hard to find time to read, but it really is necessary for a successful writing career. Reading allows writers to become fluent in their craft. It allows us to see what works for other authors, and what could work for us. It allows us to stay on top of what’s happening in the publishing industry and to analyze those happenings and apply them to our own career.

And you MUST read widely. Don’t only read the genre you write. It’s tempting to say, “Oh, well, I only write fantasy, so I’ll read myself silly with George R. R. Martin and J. R. R. Tolkien and Terry Pratchett”. Read everything. Read contemporary and young adult and romance and how-to manuals about square dancing and cat-sitting.

The classics are also a must—and believe me when I say that you won’t detest them as much as you did when you were forced to enjoy them in high school.

Learn How to Write & Edit Like Mad
Writing without knowing anything about the craft is like scuba diving without an air tank. It’s like running a marathon without proper shoes. It’s like driving a car with your eyes closed (which I do not recommend, to be clear).

You need to invest something into your writing, and I don’t mean that you have to toil and toil over plot points and character development and 100,000 cat videos on YouTube (though, that’s all included). You’re going to need to get control of your grammar and the conventions of your genre. You should invest in a style guide and maybe even read a few how-to‘s and don’t-do‘s. There are millions of resources online and at your local bookstore, and if you’re interested in improving your craft, I’ve already written a post with tips.

Even when you’ve mastered all those semi-colons and romance novel tropes and Oxford commas, you must still edit. All manuscripts go through a revision process, sometimes upwards of ten times, and if self-publishing is the right route for you, it is ESSENTIAL that you hire a professional editor to prepare your work for publication. There’s nothing more terrible than a novel that has grammar, spelling, and plotting issues (except maybe driving with your eyes closed).

Don’t Follow Trends
Are vampires and zombies cool anymore? No, it’s dystopian fiction and Fifty Shades of Too-Embarrassed-to-Be-Caught-Reading? Well, then.

Following trends doesn’t work. By the time you write something that follows a trend, polish it, and publish it, chances are that trend will be on the way out or already gone. Besides, it’s even worse when a writer writes something in order to try to capitalize on the bee’s-knees-du-jour, and it’s so blatantly obvious that they did that they write garbage. These novels lack originality and personality.

So, screw the trends. Write something that feels right for you, and maybe you’ll grandfather (or grandmother) your own trend. Talk about mind-shattering!

Know When It’s Crap
Ah, my USB. It’s a place where all the magic happens—and also the place where manuscripts go to DIE! Truth be told, not all of your work is meant to be published. Sometimes we write something full of clichés and plot holes and enough literary conventions to make Shakespeare hiss in territorial protection.

And that’s okay! You’re allowed to write crappy every once in a while. I did it. I have a manuscript that’s been edited multiple times but is now enjoying retirement in my “Nice Try” folder. I even have a nice disclaimer on the front page that says “In the event of my death, DO NOT publish posthumously”. It’s that crappy.

How do you know when it’s time to let go?

You’ve Lost Interest. That initial spark is gone, and writing the piece feels like drinking three-week-old urine with ground up ceramic. Yeah, that feeling.
You’ve Written Yourself into a Hole. This is the hardest time to let go. This happens when your plot is so mangled that it’s unrecognizable. It’s unfocused and messy, inconsistent and terrible. Sure, you could edit, but is it worth it? Maybe let it be for a while and come back later.
You’re Not Ready. We all need the opportunity to fail. Sometimes what you write is just the trial edition. You can’t run a marathon without training. You need some practice runs, so to speak. It’s important to know when you’re writing a practice run, especially if you’re just starting out and writing your first novel.

How do you know when something you’ve written is worthy of publication? Do we ever really know?

Guest post contributed by Michael Cristiano. He works in editing and acquisitions for Curiosity Quills Press, and his freelance work has appeared on websites such as Nexopia, FluentU, and BlushPost. Check out his blog for more of his work.

By Thonie Hevron

Counting words is downright annoying. Yet demands for word count are everywhere—agent/publisher guidelines, contests, academic papers, magazine and news articles all are at the whim of the digit. So imagine my delight when Microsoft Word tucked an unobtrusive little tally on the lower left hand corner of each word document.

Keeping track of the number of words has morphed into a work tool that I use to measure my productivity. I know, I know—artists should be at the mercy of the muse not the calculator. I’ve heard this by many successful writers through the years but it’s never really worked for me. Gore Vidal said, “Amateurs hope, professionals work.” Thankfully, I read that quote early in my serious writing career. What matters is getting words on a page. Period.
As a kid, I spent a lot of time looking out the window, day dreaming. Teachers often told me I could amount to something if I quit day dreaming and applied myself. In retrospect, while it wasn’t totally wasted time (where do you think those stories came from??), I didn’t have anything to show for it. No short story, novel, screenplay, nothing. I squandered a lot of time.
At some point in my life, I finally figured if I didn’t write something, all my stories would die. When I found Gore Vidal’s quote, something clicked. I had to stop thinking of writing as fun, a hobby, something to while away all my spare time (spare time doesn’t exist, if you want my opinion). Writing became work. Work I love, but a job nonetheless.
Working included sending out query letters to find an agent and/or publisher. Each agent has very specific criteria for reading potential client’s work: submit a 100 word synopsis, the first 10,000 words of your manuscript, and a one page cover letter specifying why you are the best person to write this story. I caught on quickly—keep track of word count. It matters. These days I have several bios: 50 word, 100 word and 500 word. I keep these and similarly constructed synopsis and outlines of all my marketed books. I’ve learned to have these on hand when someone taps me for an interview or story. They came in very handy last month when my computer crashed. I was between pcs and I got an interview request. But it came with an expiration date, one that was prior to the new pc delivery. Out came the thumb drive and off went the info—all done on my tablet.
Word counts are helpful to keep up my motivation as well. When I sit at the keyboard with a general idea what I want to accomplish, I mull over the plot points, point of view, and scene goals and start in. I fall prey to the same anxiety all writers suffer from—what if I can’t come up with anything to say?
Here’s where word count comes in. If I put 500 words on a page, edit them, massage phrases, find synonyms and delete whole paragraphs, I’ve done my job. I’ve made those 500 (or 300 or 700 …) words count but it wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t put them on paper in the first place.
In my writing studio, I usually work in the early morning. I can get anywhere from 200 to 1000 words down in a couple of quiet hours. I’m goal-oriented enough to work for a number, hopefully a minimum of 4 digits. For me a good day is any day I can tally an increased number of words from the last total.

The only way I know is to look at my word count. Just another tool to get the job done.

Share this:

Share this: