How to Submit and Make a Good Impression Series Part 1 – Query Letters by Denice Whitmore

What makes a good query letter? I’ve heard this question time and time again from aspiring authors longing for the rare privilege of publication. Let me share some tips I have picked up over the years as well as things that stand out to me from query letters received by our company with submissions.

A business letter format should be used when creating the query. Address the editor you are pitching to by name. This shows that you took the time to find out a bit about them and are not just sending out a generic form letter. This small detail could set you apart from the slush pile. Make sure to include your contact information, not just your email address but also your physical address and telephone number. This is always a good idea even when submitting electronically. If you are submitting a hard copy, be sure to include a self-addressed stamped envelope. This small courtesy doesn’t go unnoticed. It shows that you care about their time and resources. Most important, keep your letter to one page. This is not a synopsis of your book and a biography of your life. Keep it concise and to the point.

First and foremost, your query letter should tell about your book. What’s the title of your book? What’s your book about? What genre does your book fit into? Who is the main character? What is the main plot? What sets your book apart from others? This is not a place for a one-page synopsis (that should be attached separately), but is the perfect place to polish your 30 second elevator speech. Be sure that you are submitting to a publisher or editor who accepts your genre. Editors do not have time to waste. Taking the time to do a little research about who your submitting to and what genres they like to work with is appreciated by editors and publishers. It shows initiative.

I know this seems backwards, but introduce yourself after you have summarized the details of your book. Make sure to mention if you have met the editor at a conference or seminar and if they requested a sample of your work. Keep your background pertinent to writing. Don’t tell the editor about your children or pets. Instead, give them your background in writing. Are you a member of local writers’ group? Do you have any other published works? Do you have a degree in Fine Arts? What qualifications do you have to write about your non-fiction topic? Have you been published in anthologies or magazines? What kind of following do you have in place? What kind of author’s platform have you built for yourself? It’s very helpful if the editor can google you and see an online presence with a following. You don’t have to include all of these, just the things that pertain to you and show your expertise.

The most important thing to do before you submit a query is to PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD. A query is the first impression you give to an editor. If you submit a letter full of typos and grammar errors, it can be a good indicator of how much editing your manuscript will require. A poorly crafted query could land your masterpiece in the slush pile before it’s even looked at. A query letter is the first taste of your writing. It’s how you present yourself and can leave a lasting impression for good or bad. I hope these tips will help make it a good one.

Look for Part 2 – The Four Types of Synopsis and When to Use Them, next month. And…

Keep writing!

Setting up Your Novel by Jo Wilkins

Every author has an idea swirling in their head that they think about non-stop. It consumes their every thought. They talk about the storyline to everyone who will listen, and they think it will make a killer book and eventually a blockbuster movie. So, where do you start? How do you go from concept to a salable product?

In the construction of any idea, there are things an author must consider. To sell a product to a publisher, consider a few techniques that help the reader understand the work.

Keep your writing within certain parameters. The American audience wants a story that moves swiftly and brings them into the plight of the main character as soon as possible. It should make the reader care about the character’s plight and root for that character’s success overcoming the obstacles set before him in the plot. The reader must also see the story from the eyes of only one character at a time. Make the characters interesting and each one needs a real purpose within the plot.

So, the first thing to do is to organize the material floating around your brain. There are several methods to organizing a story. One is to use a process taught in most college English and logic classes. This process is taught under more than one descriptive name: Clustering, Mind Mapping, and the Bubble method. This way of fleshing out a concept into specifics is used by millions. Creative writing teachers teach them in many forms, but any way you use this technique, it will help bring your ideas into a cohesive order and allow you to put together a workable outline for your story.  

To do this, you should start with a large sheet of paper, the bigger the better (I use a sheet 24" by 30" for my students to doodle on in class). Place a small circle in the middle of the sheet, make it just big enough to hold your working title or the theme of the story. This allows you to expand on the thoughts you have treasured for so long. You can now build on those ideas fleshing them into a complete story your reader will enjoy sharing with the characters you develop.

Developing the plot in this way allows you to free-write your way from ideas to concept. I have included sample diagrams at the end of the piece that will show the concept of bubbling. The examples show how to use the method with storyline, setting, and/or a character analysis.

When adding information on each of these bubble sheets free your mind and add everything you can think of to define the object of the diagram. Put down everything that will define the concept you are expanding on. You may not use everything you put down, but you don't want to lose an idea until you have the story defined.

Why are even small ideas significant? After a second look, what looks insignificant may turn out key to plot movement. The more you, the author, know about the plot, the character, or the scene you are constructing, the better picture you can paint for the reader. And, remember, it is the responsibility of the author to use your pen as a paint brush to paint a picture so vivid the reader sees the same image the author has in his mind. If the author blocks the reader from what’s in his mind by writing in vague passive voice, the reader will fill in the gaps. They will relate the plot events to their own world, making the reader the director of the author's story.

Second, consider choosing whose point of view (P.O.V.) will tell the story. Choosing the wrong P.O.V. (or choosing too many) can make or break a story. You, as the author, are the only one who can make this decision. Will you tell the story in first person, from the mind of your main character? Look at how Susanne Collins put her readers into Katniss' head to live the Hunger Games with the character. Or, maybe you could have your readers live the duality in Stephanie Myer's character, Melanie/Wanderer, portrayed in The Host.

You could also choose to write your story in third person (the he said ─ she said experience) as in the Nikki Heat series. Third person stories not only tell the story in abstract, but they show it from the character's P.O.V.

A lot of authors don't understand P.O.V. in its purest form. But to bring it down to basics, choose one character (the P.O.V. character) for an entire story or just one scene. The reader should experience the inner feelings of this character only. The main character can see indecision, fear, or happiness in the other characters, but the other characters can express their feelings only through dialogue.

There are types of P.O.V, to consider other than first or third person. Second person is where the author talks directly to the reader as I am in this piece. Omniscient (The least salable P.O.V. you can write in) is where someone outside of the story is telling the reader what they need to know about the character's or the plot. This only works if you establish the storyteller as a character, the narrator.

Of all of these P.O.V's, agent's and publishers consider the third person the most saleable, although, lately, the first-person novel has made a comeback. Whatever P.O.V. you select, if you write from your heart and construct an intriguing, intricate plot, you can make it something that will catch an agent's or publisher's attention.

More Than Just a Villain by Janelle Evans

All books need an antagonist or villain—they add tension and often are the cause of motivation to our protagonist. But often writers forget to give them as much depth as their protagonist. A villain who is bad just because he wants to be bad is a very boring bad guy. Think in terms of real life when considering antagonist. It’s all about perception, and you see it everywhere.

You might be liked by one person and hated by another. Maybe that person who hates you is justified in how they feel, but the wrong you did to them was out of a great need you can’t express at this time. You could feel torn about what you’ve done, but the secret of why this must be kept isn’t yours to share.

This is just one example, and I’m not saying every antagonist should be a misunderstood good guy either. Let’s face it—being cruel is a human condition. But even the meanest people have their reasons. As a writer you need to have those reasons fleshed out. Even if you never share them with your readers, it will help give authenticity and consistency to your antagonist as you write. Remember the best protagonist have a strong antagonist to face. Take the time to make that antagonist unforgettable.

Platforms, What They Are and Why You Need One By Denice Whitmore

New authors often hear that they need a platform in order to sell their book. This is often a new concept. What is a platform? Your platform is how you present your expertise on the topic you write about. Say you write a book on budgeting. Do you have a degree in finance? Are you sharing how you overcame your budgeting mishaps and now live a debt free, frugal life? What in your experience makes you qualified to give advice on this topic?

A platform is not just your experience in a field; it’s how you present your expertise to the public. Do you have a website with thousands of followers? Do you write a weekly blog? Do you have a YouTube channel with videos? How much social media do you do in relation to your chosen topic? All these things get your name out there and lend to your experience. They give people a reason to listen to your advice. When you have established your online presence as an expert in your field, you have built a readymade audience for the book you want to write. If people already follow your blog, follow your tweets, join your Facebook group, they will be excited to buy your book.

This works for fiction as well as non-fiction. On July 15, 2018 NewLink Publishing released Ghost of a Chance: a SEEK Team Investigation, By Sharon Day. This book is about a team of ghost hunters led by a psychic. Sharon has a website dedicated to ghost hunting, Bigfoot searches, and all things paranormal. She writes a blog, has self-published books in the past, and we are excited to release her first traditionally published book. She has built a ready-made audience for her new book release. She has put a lot of time and effort into building her platform and it is paying off. Check out her website at www.ghosthuntingtheories.com.

So, before you think about writing a book, think about getting your name out there. This pre-marketing strategy could even help your book get picked up by a reputable publisher. Give it some thought. Build your platform and get your name out there. It will pay off in the long run.

Keep writing!

Three Ways to Raise Your Novels Ability to Entertain by Janelle Evans

Writing a book is hard. Writing a book someone else would actually enjoy reading is even harder. Trust me, my love of reading has led me to many a stinker. Some of those were supposed to be New York Best-Selling, so not even well-known authors are immune to bad story telling. In hopes to improve writers everywhere, here are three things that keep a reader captive.

1.      Don’t start your story with giving the readers a ton of backstory. It’s a mistake that will have readers closing a book faster than anything else. Yes, all characters have a backstory, but SO WHAT! People in real life have backstories, too. People don’t generally go around wanting to here another person’s history without spending some time with them first. So, give your reader a character in an opening scenario that grabs their interest.

2.      Keep your sentences tight. This goes way beyond the passive verbs “was” or “to be.” Crazy long sentences with flowery descriptions or lists drags the pace of any story. Stick to the point, and as I’ve said a thousand times, build the world around your character as you go. Not every inch of a place has to be described, only the parts pertinent to the story.

3.      Don’t make your reader wonder who is speaking. Snappy dialogue can go a long way in keeping a reader interested. But if they have to reread sections twice just to figure out who’s speaking, you will lose them.

Remember, your goal is to achieve a seamless effect, where your story is so easy to read and understand, it’s as if the words on the page disappear. Great writers aren’t searching for praise on their word choices and sentence structures. An author’s ability to write is self-evident by the enjoyment others get by reading their work. 

Promotional Memes by Janelle Evans

My latest novel, Stuffed Souls, released a month ago. While this is my fourth published novel, the anticipation for it to launch was just as nerve-racking as the first three. Every author wants their work to be well-received. A cover that strikes a desire in the hearts of millions to buy your book immediately wouldn’t be too bad either. But a successful promotion doesn’t end with the book release—nor is it really the beginning.

I spent hours preparing promotional memes before the release date. Now those memes have to be trickled into the many forms of Social Medias and other ad campaigns to get the word out there. Remember, there is a sea of new books being launched every day. As authors we need to do all we can to get ours noticed. You worked too hard to just let it sink to the bottom. The more you prepare and research your advertising options ahead of a launch can greatly affect how well your book will sale. So remember…

The Importance of Understanding Your Audience by Janelle Evans

As an author, understanding your audience is paramount, at least, if you want to sell books. That may seem callused and calculating to what really is a creative process, but you’re not spending all these hours clicking away on a computer for mere self-fulfillment. It’s for others to read and enjoy. So today I will be talking about three audience factors I always consider while writing novels.

First: the age group of my target audience. I write for young adults so I don’t fill my novels with uncommon word choices. Let me write that statement using different words to illustrate. I compose for young adults so I don’t dominate my narratives with infrequently used terms. The sentence means the same thing as the first statement but let’s face it, it’s harder to read, especially for my target age group of 12-18. If you write for an older audience go ahead and elevate the vernacular, but I like to caution all writers of fiction. If your audience has to keep pulling out a dictionary to understand you, they will stop reading. Your goal when writing fiction isn’t to show your audience how smart you are. Entertain them and I promise they will come back for more.

Second: the age of the protagonist in the story. It is best if the main hero/heroine of you story is close in age to your target audience. Other sub-characters can be older or younger as needed, but if the character is going to be a love interest, they should also be close in age. Yes, in society we see age gaps between couples, but it is not as common as it used to be. For example the Victorian age of Jane Austen’s novel Emma. In the story, Emma is sixteen and her eventual love interest is thirty-two-year-old Mr. Knightly. Yeah…that’s probably not going to work in today’s society. You don’t want an ew factor to happen with your audience and your character’s budding relationship.

Third: the all-important ending. Since I write for young adults my goal is to give them satisfying happy endings. It’s what this age group expects and likes the most. Now if you’re a writer that despises happy endings, young adult fiction probably isn’t for you, but again I would caution you in whatever you write. All endings should satisfy your audience. That doesn’t mean it has to end happy, but there should be clear resolve to the conflicts in the story. If it is a series, not all conflicts have to be resolved, but give your reader something uplifting to cling to before you make them wait for that next novel to be released.

Like and As by Richard Draude

Which of these sentences are correct?

1. Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. (This is a famous ad jingle?)
2. He spends money like a drunken sailor.
3. He lied on the witness stand, like one would expect a guilty person to do.
4. My cousin looks like Greta Garbo.
5. Robert likes to run his company as though he were a dictator.

Only sentences 3, 4 and 5 correctly employ the word "like."

Remember these two rules when considering the use of "like":
Rule 1: "Like" can be either a verb or a preposition but not a conjunction. Thus, we should not use
it before a subject-verb combination (a clause).

In sentences 1, 2, and 3, we should use the conjunction "as" or "as if" in place of the word "like"
because in each case "like" is followed by a clause. In these corrected sentences, we have
bracketed the clauses and capitalized the subjects and verbs to highlight the grammatical
structure:

1. Winston tastes good [as a CIGARETTE SHOULD].
3. He lied on the witness stand, [as ONE WOULD EXPECT a guilty person to do].

Rule 2: We should use "like" either as a preposition to demonstrate a resemblance between two
things or as a verb to express a preference.

In sentence 2 the comparison of spending money. In Sentence 4, "like Greta Garbo" is a
prepositional phrase. In sentence 5, "like" is the verb in the main clause, and "as though" is the
conjunction launching the subordinate (dependent) clause.

Of course, in casual correspondence or in conversations we have more flexibility. In many
idiomatic expressions using "like" are perfectly acceptable even though they do not follow these
rules. Consider also the expression "It looks like rain," which employs a perfectly acceptable
idiom for the highly formal statement "It looks as though it is going to rain."

The bottom line: in formal contexts, we use "like" only as a verb or a preposition and never when
we mean "as," "as if," or "as though."

Do any of these sentences correctly use the word "like"?

1. Like a man walking a tightrope, he teetered on the brink of financial ruin.
2. It looks like Arthur could become the next unit director.
3. He acts like he owns the world.
4. He carried an umbrella, like everyone should do on a rainy morning.

ANSWERS:

1. Like a man walking a tightrope, he teetered on the brink of financial ruin. [Correct because we
are making a comparison.]
2. It looks as though [or as if] Arthur will become the next unit director.
3. He acts as if [or as though] he owns the world.
4. He carried an umbrella, as everyone should do on a rainy morning.

Blogging—Another Way to Promote by Denice Whitmore

Ah…blogging. We’re told as authors it’s a great way to stay connected to our fans, but it can still be overwhelming to many writers—adding one more thing to the endless promoting we’re supposed to do once we are published. I know. I’m right there with you. Here are some tips to help ease the blogger’s plight.

1.         As an author you should already know your audience. This is also key when blogging. If your novels aren’t written for the politically savvy, keep politics out of your posts. If you write for young adults, the adult-ish struggles of your life may not interest them. Yes, as the author of your blog, it’s going to be your opinion you are expressing. But—and this is a big but—be careful what you write. The written word is a powerful thing. It can draw people in or it can cause them to reject you completely, which gives me the perfect segue into my second tip.
2.        Do all you can to keep your posts positive. Negative words seldom ever bring positive results.Unless you are the author of some polarizing subject with many followers, leave the bashing of persons, places, or things out of your posts.
3.        Keep your posts short. It’s a blog not another novel. Simple and snappy posts are most effective. People are busy, be considerate of that and they’ll be more inclined to click again when your next post pops up. I try to keep mine to no more than 300 words.
4.        You don’t have to blog every day. I only blog once a week, but that post happens at the same time and same day every week. The number of times you blog in a month is up to you, but be consistent. It shows you care about your fans and take your work seriously.
5.      My final tip—have fun with blogging. This is a great opportunity for your audience to get to know you. Blogging about my hilarious screw-ups in life have been some of my most responded to posts. So let’s get out there and blog our way into recognition. 

Social Media by Janelle Evans

Social media is one of the ways we as writers can spread the word about our past and upcoming books. Ranging from free to a fairly inexpensive way to promote your work, every author should strive to be savvier in this area of promotion. 

One way to strengthen your social media presence is create memes with images of your work. Here are a couple of examples I have made to promote my own.

I use canva.com to create all my advertising artwork—from posters to memes. It’s user friendly with tons of layouts and text settings. Not everything is free at this site, but since they allow me to download my own images and create my own layouts, everything I do from this site is free for me. How is that possible?

• Tip #1: Use a google or Bing.comsearch to find pictures for your background. If they don’t have a watermark covering them, you don’t have to pay royalties to copy and download them to Canva. The rose picture you see I found by typing (winter, rose). The other picture I found by typing (rippling water). Yes, it’s time consuming to go through pictures. I set aside a few hours every Saturday just typing in random words and seeing what pictures pop up. Anything that jumps out at me I save to Canva, even if I don’t know what I’ll use it for at the moment.
• Tip #2: You want to look for wallpaper sized pictures. They don’t tend to pixelate, or get burry, when you try to enlarge them as often as other pictures do. I usually use the word wallpaper in my search also just to help weed out some of the thousands of free pictures out there.
• Tip #3: There is an option on canva.com to make the picture you create as a link to other webpages. Don’t use it. Social Media sites don’t support it. When you upload these memes, write those links in the subject bars instead. Then your customers will have a working link they can click on to buy your book after being amazed by your eye-catching artwork.

The last thing I would like to mention about promotion is that it is time consuming. So, I also use a web platform that helps me look like I spend more time on social media than I actually do. Hootsuite.com enables me to schedule posts and comments across all of my social media accounts. From this website I can view comments and drip in posts, up to 30 per month. If you want unlimited accesses for scheduling it will cost you a yearly fee, but so far I have found 30 schedule posts per month to be more than enough.

Why the Author by Jo A. Wilkins

Published by a commercial imprint or self-published, marketing your book falls on your shoulders. You can depend on the publishing house to secure venues to publicize your book, but, in all cases, the readers want to hear from and/or rub elbows with the author of their favorite genre.

Why is this you ask. Well, you as an author have built a world or situation that takes the reader away from their humdrum lives. You take them into a place where they can live out a situation or fantasy that they don’t have the ability or (in some cases) the courage to experience.

Take me for example. I am an introvert with many phobias. I’m claustrophobic, I have a fear of heights, and I am afraid of flying, etc. So, what do I write, I write science fiction that takes place in the future, on other planets and more than scary for me, out in space. And how do we get from one place to another? We FLY in metal ships that, in most cases, have cramped quarters and are speeding through the nothingness of space.

The scene I get the most comments on is one where a passenger on the protagonist’s ship lets his fear of flying influence a dream he has while flying to a newly colonized world. It accentuates his fear of being caught in the depths of space with nothing to support him -- no air, no rescue, and a tight, one-person escape pod to climb into.

Or, take the author of Seraphim Sword, Jeff Ketner, whose book we released on November 15th. He has lived confined to a wheelchair with MS all his life. He created a world in his book where he runs free to chase demons and witches. He writes his fantasy of freedom – to move about unfettered and fight the evils of the world he created.

These are the reasons why readers want to hear from the author, not the publisher. To see why and question how they came up with the story that sucked them into the author’s world. This is why James Patterson’s publisher never holds his books up on the commercials. The readers want to see Mr. Patterson and hear why he thinks his new book is right for them to read.

Authors who attend book signings or shows and sit back in a chair at the back of the booth (or as I watched on one occasion an author who knitted and ignored her prospective customers) are the ones who sell nothing. If you stand outside the booth or at the table and talk to prospective buyers as they pass, you have a chance to sell that book you slaved over. I know one author who does magic tricks to entice customers to his table. Myself, I tell my authors to keep a bowl of candy on the edge of their table and a poster of reviews behind them.

Just like publishers who receive thousands/millions of submissions each year are overwhelmed by who to choose, readers are inundated by the number of books produced each year. Why should they choose your book? What does it offer them? They will never know if you, the author, don’t let them in on the secret.

So, to sum it up, advertising a novel is more productive when done by the author. If authors care about their books and are proud to show them off, then the reader might be intrigued enough to take a chance purchasing a copy.

Making Time for Writing By Mary Einfeldt

Fun Fact: In order to be a writer, you actually have to sit down and write. While this sounds pretty straightforward, things can get complicated, fast.

An average day for me goes something like this: I wake up with every intention of getting a solid 1000 words down. I plop down at the table, open up my laptop, and am promptly reminded by my two-year old that she needs a chocolate milk. RIGHT NOW. By the time I finally make it back to my computer, I have assembled a meal (or two) for a bevy of young humans, assisted in the cleaning of a spilled chocolate milk, started a load of laundry, folded a single load of laundry while watching a half a season of Parks & Rec, ferried the youngsters to and from the library, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a couple times, scrolled through a small novel’s worth on Facebook, and a few other not-so-minor tasks. And now it’s 11:00 p.m. So much for my solid 1000 words.

While my experience is certainly not universal, it’s not terribly unique either. Most of us have the desire to write, but struggle finding the time amidst the whirlwind of daily life.
I can’t, unfortunately, loan you a time-turner, as I believe the Ministry of Magic keeps those under pretty tight security, but I can offer up a few suggestions that may help you manage your writing time more efficiently.

Make Writing a Priority

In his book Zen in the Art of Creative Writing, Ray Bradbury talks about how he spends an hour writing first thing each morning. Before breakfast, before shower, before everything else. This time of day may or may not work for everyone, but one thing is clear. You need to make your writing a priority. It’s like going to the gym. If you don’t schedule it and make it a priority, you’ll keep putting it off. If first thing in the morning isn’t your jam? Find a time during the day where you know you can get at least an hour of uninterrupted work in, and stick to it. Schedule it in your calendar, set a reminder on your phone, whatever you need to do.

Get a Support System

Once you have your writing time scheduled, you need to get your people on board. This may be the most important part of this whole list. Regardless of your situation in life, you need to have a team who can support you in your writing endeavors. First and foremost, you need to communicate with them. If you have family, get them on board with you. Ask for help when you need it. In my case, enlisting the support of my spouse and my older kids is crucial. Whether it’s keeping an eye on the little ones or taking a chore off my to-do list, they make this all possible. However, even if you’re not in the midst of family life, keep your support system in mind If you’re constantly ditching out on basketball games or D&D night with your buddies to work on your book, relationships could suffer. Make sure you let your pals know how important both your writing, and they themselves, are to you. These will be the ones who will be your first book buyers down the road.

“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”

Settle on the best place to let your creative juices flow. Hemingway and J. K. Rowling found success writing in cafes, Chuck Palahniuk wrote in busy public spots, and Stephen King believes the most important attribute of your writing space needs to be a door. Regardless of which environment fits you best, make sure that you designate a spot that best suits your writing needs. For me, it’s the library. I can separate myself from the distractions and responsibilities of home, plug in some noise cancelling ear buds, and focus solely on the task at hand.

Defeating Distractions

Last of all, your writing time needs to be as free from distraction as humanly possible. Keep that Facebook tab closed! Leave your phone in another room! Lock your kids in the closet! Ok, no, maybe that’s a bit too far. This is where the first three items on our list all work together to make sure you can use your writing time effectively. Schedule yourself a time when you can put aside other responsibilities, make sure your support system has your back (aka, leaving you alone), settle into your writing space, and let your imagination go crazy.

In addition to these tips, remember to keep your goals realistic. Set schedules that will reasonably work with your own unique situation. Don’t get down on yourself if everything doesn’t run smoothly from the get go. Allow yourself time to get into good habits, and tweak things as necessary. Jobs change, kids grow up, and situations can take your life down some unexpected paths, but as long as your commitment to writing is there, you can make it work. So keep going, and good luck!

Illusive Ellipses by Rachelle Abbott

Why so much trouble over such little dots . . .? The ellipses points are used to show missing words. In a way, it is like an apostrophe being used to show a missing letter in a contraction.The trouble usually arises over when to use three dots and when to use four. (Darn those English professors who taught all the ways to use the ellipses, and now, only pieces and parts of those rules remain swirling around in your brain.) My suggestion is when in doubt, and you can’t look up the rule, use three points.

Having said that, I think the best idea is to know the exact rules and use them appropriately. Because Mystic Publishers uses the Chicago Manual of Style as the final word on editing, I will be using that text to support the rules for using ellipses.

There are essentially three methods of using ellipsis dots:

1. The three-dot method (used general works and some scholarly ones).
2. The three-or-four-dot method (used for most scholarly works).
3. The rigorous method (used for legal works and textual commentary).

I am only going to discuss the three-dot method because for our purposes of writing stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, this is the method that should be used. Only three points are used no matter where the omission occurs, whether the omission is at the beginning, the middle, or the end. It is also only three points if entire sentences or paragraphs are removed. The most common use of the ellipses points in fiction is in dialogue. It is used to show that the speaker is fading into or out of his/her own thoughts leaving things unsaid to the reader. If the speaker is being cut off either by another speaker, an event, or action, then the EM dash is used to show this. The Ellipses can also be used to show a long pause, hesitation, or fragmented speech.

Let me give a few examples:

1. “I wish I had never met you! I wish we had never kissed! I wish. . .” Slamming her fists against his chest, Brynn’s body begged for him to hold her once more. (Notice that even though the ellipses signal the end of a sentence, and the capital “s” signals the start of a new sentence, you only use three ellipses.)
2. He tiptoed to the door and leaned his ear against the cold mahogany wood and heard crumbs and shards of hushed words, “. . .please. . .my family. . .never. . .please.” (Notice that there are still only three points whether there is one word missing or many.)
3. Fidgeting with the threads hanging from the hem of her shirt, Lucy couldn’t manage to meet his questioning eyes. “I didn’t mean to . . . ,” she said through clenched teeth and searched for the right words to continue. (Notice that the comma is still used as it should be at the end of a quote and before a dialogue tag.

An example of when to use an EM dash instead of ellipses:

Wyatt took a deep breath and tried once again to help her understand, “Mom, it wasn’t my fault—".

Mom grabbed him by the shoulders, and said, “I’m not interested in whose fault it is! I just need this fixed.”

            *                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                     

Wyatt took a deep breath and tried once again to help her understand, “Mom, it wasn’t my fault. . .”

Mom grabbed him by the shoulders, and said, “I’m not interested in whose fault it is! I just need this fixed.”

(Notice that written the first way, Wyatt is trying to explain but is interrupted by his mom. In the second example, Wyatt fades off in thought without finishing his sentence.)

I hope this helps demonstrate how to use the ellipses in writing narratives. The other rules of using the ellipsis . . . well, that is a post for another day!

Common Writing Mistakes by Richard Draude

When you're writing, are you tempted to use adverbs to punch up your pros. Don't!

EMPTY ADVERBS

Actually, totally, absolutely, completely, continually, constantly, continuously, literally, really, unfortunately, ironically, incredibly, hopefully, finally – these and others are words that promise emphasis, but too often they do the reverse. They suck the meaning out of every sentence.I defer to People Magazine for larding its articles with empty adverbs.

A recent issue refers to an “incredibly popular, groundbreakingly racy sitcom.” That’s tough to say even when your lips aren’t moving. In Still Life with Crows, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child describe a mysterious row of corn in the middle of a field: “It was, in fact, the only row that actually opened onto the creek.” Here are two attempts at emphasis (“in fact,” “actually”), but they just junk up the sentence. Remove them both and the word “only” carries the burden of the sentence with efficiency and precision.(When in doubt, try this mantra: Precise and spare; precise and spare; precise and spare.) In dialogue, empty adverbs may sound appropriate, even authentic, but that’s because they’ve crept into American conversation in a trendy way.

If you’re not watchful, they’ll make your characters sound wordy, infantile and dated. In Julia Glass’s Three Junes, a character named Stavros is a forthright and matter-of-fact guy who talks to his lover without pretense or affectation. But when he mentions an offbeat tourist souvenir, he says, “It’s absolutely wild. I love it.” Now he sounds fey, spoiled, superficial.. (Granted, “wild” nearly does him in; but “absolutely” is the killer.) The word “actually” seems to emerge most frequently, I find. Ann Packer’s narrator recalls running in the rain with her boyfriend, “his hand clasping mine as if he could actually make me go fast.” Delete “actually” and the sentence is more powerful without it.

The same holds true when the protagonist named Miles hears some information in Empire Falls by Richard Russo. “Actually, Miles had no doubt of it,” we’re told. Well, if he had no doubt, remove “actually” – it’s cleaner, clearer that way. “Actually” mushes up sentence after sentence; it gets in the way every time. I now think it should *never* be used.

Another problem with empty adverbs: You can’t just stick them at the beginning of a sentence to introduce a general idea or wishful thinking, as in “Hopefully, the clock will run out.” Adverbs have to modify a verb or other adverb, and in this sentence, “run out” ain’t it.

Look at this hilarious clunker from The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: “Almost inconceivably, the gun into which she was now staring was clutched in the pale hand of an enormous albino.”

Ack, “almost inconceivably” – that’s like being a little bit infertile! Hopefully, that “enormous albino” will ironically go back to actually flogging himself while incredibly saying his prayers continually.

Self Editing: The Bane of Self-Publishing by Richard Draude

Think how many times you've received a reply to an email you sent out, only to noticed that your original text contained errors. It turns out that editing one’s own writing is remarkably difficult. Once they are initially missed, errors tend to become "invisible" to a writer when they review their work. Our eyes skim past them. A lot of new writers make the critical error of self-editing and think they are done.

If the publishers of writers like James Patterson, Issac Asimov, Sue Grafton, Robert B Parker, Raymond E. Fiest all require an editor to review and check their work. What makes any of us first time writes believe we are better and don't need an editor.

My co-author and I had our self-published Tyranny series picked up by a publisher in Las Vegas. What was the first thing the owner did? He tore out the first chapter (literally). We had to create a whole new chapter starting in a different place. Next he took a scene from book one and had us move into to book two. Next he underlined all the places where we did tell and not show. We sat together in a marathon session over a weekend and removed all the places he raised objection. Now the company editor is taking her turn and bringing up very good points about character development, scene description, and repetition in the story. The process is frustration at times but necessary.

I'm doing a last read-through of The Adam Eradication. I printed the entire manuscript, got away from my computer and started reading. While the manuscript is complete, and was edited twice, this read is pointing out a boat load of typos made while removing my telly pros and replacing them with pros that help the reader to see the story.

This brings to mind an elderly woman I met. She wrote a book and was very anxious to get it published. So anxious in fact she didn't want to bother having an editor read it at all. This was a huge mistake, made by those who decided to self publish.

Concerned about her book I request she allow me to send the first five chapters to the woman who did the first edit on my book. She went through the pages as a courtesy. What this editor returned shocked the woman into taking a second look and she paid the editor to run through her manuscript.

She received her red-lined manuscript back entered the edits and corrections. This writer figured she was done. I tried to convince her to have someone outside her family read through it one more time. Her reply, I made all the changes, it's ready to go.

She had 500 copies printed. After receiving cases and cases of books, her son took one home to read. He returned it to her three day later, red lined, pointing out errors on almost every page. Her concept is a good one, but instead of a book worth reading she had boxes of books that are good for little more than starting a fire.

My first editor did the work and I made the corrections. But The Adam Eradication, being my first book, I found what I considered holes in the story and proceeded to plug them. Enter a good friend (enough of a friend to tell me the truth) she did the second edit. The first thing she did was cut the last 10 chapters (48K+ words). Her analysis. Your book ends at this point. A good piece of advise. I used those 10 chapters to start the second book. (Never trash anything you've written, archive it. A good idea can be reworked to fit somewhere else)

Throughout the edit she deleted whole paragraphs as redundant. Some writer suffer from this problem some do not. I was anxious to get the story to press and rushed though the last edit. After publishing the book I gave several copies away. My friend's wife read the book and sometime later handed me her copy. She said "I love you story but --"  The book was marked with over forty sticky tabs each on a typo. Though minor typos, I learned my lesson. Fifty fire starters.

Editors cost money. Not as much as publishing an unreadable book. This mistake marks you as an amature, not serious about your craft. This kind of attitude will stop readers from ever considering reading any future work you publish, no matter how much you improve. And without someone finding your story compelling enough to look past your mistakes, no publisher will take you seriously in the future.

What can an editor do that I can't?  What can an editor do that you can't? An editor will read what you wrote, not what you think you wrote. A good editor will find your inconsistencies, help you with the language appropriate for your genre. For instance a steam punk novel's use of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, etc will be different from those used in a science fiction novel as will a fantasy fiction novel will differ from SF or romance. Next, an editor will point out your flaws in the construction of paragraphs, scene breaks and poor character development. Some writer's characters all talk the same. A good editor will point this out and help you see how to vary your character's personalities. A good editor will tell you when you've shifted you POV (Point Of View) If character A is you POV character you cannot have character B's thought in a scene or describe a scene through character B's eyes. You can if your novel is written from an omniscient POV, but few good writers use this POV anymore.

An editor will spot problems with spelling, punctuation, and grammar that can escape your notice.

Does the phrase familiarity breeds contempt. Well, familiarity with your subject can result in explanations and descriptions that are incomplete or confusing to readers. What you see in your minds eye is always what you've put on paper. An editor will ensure that your copy is intelligibly and concisely written.

You may also ask yourself why an editor is necessary when your word processing program already has spell checking capabilities. Spell check, it turns out, is only partially effective at catching problems. For example, homonyms (e.g., council/counsel) you won't find these flagged. Words used nonsensically are regularly accepted by a spell checker. These programs have nothing to say about confusing, ones needlessly wordy, jargony or telly prose.

One of the biggest helps is to join a writer's group. You read your work aloud and they critique your writing. Be advised, while most groups offer good nonthreatening environment, you need a thick skin, because it is still hard to hear your writing evaluated by others.

You took the time and effort to create a good story. Give it the polish and attention it deserves.

What’s the Character’s Motivation? by Janelle Evans

As an author and editor I feel one of the biggest struggles we face as writers is how to make our characters connect with the audience. This must happen in every story, or the reader won’t keep turning the page. How I deal with that struggle is to draw upon my years as an actor.

‘What’s my motivation?’ is something I was often asked by directors. They wanted me to take the time to create an inner dialogue for the person I portrayed. Though these inner thoughts were never shared with the audience, they helped make my outward actions, the things the audience could see and hear, more realistic. Now, if that only confused you, don’t worry. Next, I’m going to illustrate what I mean.

Below are two short scenes. In each of the scenes the action and dialogue will remain the same. The only thing I’m going to change is the motivation for the main character.

Scene 1

Why had he come back to this stupid town? It had been so hard to leave in the first place. “I can’t do this anymore.” He glared at the lines of the sidewalk passing under his feet, wishing he had more courage than to just storm out of his parent’s home like a child. He was a grown man now, for heaven’s sake! He should have acted like one, and punched his brother in the face. His hurried march barreled him into the back of a woman not moving fast enough.

“Hey.” She stumbled forward but didn’t fall. The tear-streaked face she turned his direction couldn’t have been caused by him. Her red eyes looked like she’d been at it for a while. She crossed her arms. “What’s the deal? Are you lost or something?”

“Uh…no.” He looked her up and down. She seemed familiar, but he’d been gone so long he couldn’t be sure. “Are you from around here?”

“Seriously—now you’re trying to hit on me?”

            “Of course not—you seem upset. Is there something I can do?” Jeez, why had he asked that? He had enough problems of his own, but her expression seemed so forlorn. How could he ignore it?

            “I don’t know.” She squeezed her folded arms even tighter, her eyes pooling with tears again.

            “Come on, now.” He held out his hand as an offering of comfort she could take. “How will you know unless you try?” In his thirty years of life going out of his way to help others had slapped him in the face more than once, but here he was, doing it again.

Awe…right? He sounds like such a nice man, going out of his way to help another. Now watch me turn the scene on its head by doing nothing more than changing the motivation.

Scene 2

His whole body itched for another victim. It had been so long since his last, he struggle to hide the frustration behind his easy-going demeanor. “I can’t do this anymore.” He glared at the lines of the sidewalk passing under his feet, wishing Peggy’s body hadn’t been found. Though the police hadn’t come knocking on his door, the discovery had made everyone in town hyper-aware of their surroundings. Watchful eyes were never a good thing for someone like him. His hurried march barreled him into the back of a woman not moving fast enough.

“Hey.” She stumbled forward but didn’t fall. The tear-streaked face she turned his direction couldn’t have been caused by him. Her red eyes looked like she’d been at it for a while. She crossed her arms. “What’s the deal? Are you lost or something?”

“Uh…no.” He looked her up and down. The supple curves on this woman just begged to be scratched.“Are you from around here?”

“Seriously—now you’re trying to hit on me?”  

            “Of course not—you seem upset. Is there something I can do?” He needed to keep her talking—reel her into trusting him and his friendly smiles. Her emotional state only made it that much easier for him to manipulate the situation.

            “I don’t know.” She squeezed her folded arms even tighter, her eyes pooling with tears again.

            “Come on, now.” He held out his hand. His fingers burned with so much pent-up desire it took all of his control not to lash out and force her to the ground. “How will you know unless you try?”

What a creepier take on the same moment, right? I hope these two examples help you understand the importance of showing your point-of-view character’s motivation. In fact, I would say it’s more important than the dialogue your characters actually speak. It will elevate your novels to a whole new level, and you’ll find the need for redundant actions like smiling, frowning, or brows furrowing in confusion almost disappear.

Subsidy Publishing - 4th portion of the 4 Types of Publishing series by Jo A. Wilkins

A subsidy publisher is a publisher that acts like a commercial publisher. They do produce books and go through most of the steps of a commercial publisher. However, even though they put manuscripts under contract, they do not print them unless they get their authors to pay for the cost of publication. They usually hide this criteria under the guise of having the author purchase a certain number of books before production. This usually amounts to 1000 to 2500 books.

With the exception of certain types of publishers such as university or scholarly presses, any publisher that requests a fee from the author is a subsidy publisher. These types of publishers are, in most respects exactly like the commercial publisher. In most cases, the authors are the only ones who know they are paying to have their books produced. As with commercial publishers, the books are owned by the publisher and remain in the publisher's possession and authors receive royalties on the books sold.

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Part 3

Vanity Press - 3rd portion of the 4 Types of Publishing by Jo A. Wilkins

When the amount of submissions to commercial publishers became so large that 99% of those submissions were not being read unless you knew someone in the industry to send your work to, vanity presses were born. These vanity presses are known under various names, which I will not list here for obvious reasons. They did not start out as publishers, but as entrepreneurs who saw a need in the industry and tried to fill it. They, in most cases, do not edit the content of construction of your work.

A vanity press is exactly what this division of publishing implies; its total existence is predicated on stroking the author’s ego. They do not care if the content will sell or if the cost of their services are bloated to the author who pursues their offered avenue of either publishing or marketing. One vanity press offered getting your book reviewed by the New York Times for a mere $2500. If you didn’t bite on that, a few weeks later they offered a sale on the service for $1900. I know, because it happened to me. They kept it up until I told the representative that I knew I could send my book to the Times for nothing and I also knew that they did not waste their time reviewing books without sales or ones from a vanity press.

Another portion of their marketing scam is to offer a publicity kit and schedule book signings for you. When I took them up on the offer, I received a list of the bookstores in my city (that I could have compiled from my phone book), 100 invitations, and two posters to put up at the signing. They also let me know that they no longer set up book signings for the author. For all this, it only cost me $750.

·         No selection criteria

o   If you send a vanity press the telephone book on a disc, they will print it into a book for you and list it on their site for sale. They do not care about the content or construction of the book you send them.

o   I have a friend that sent her submission in to them like we are told we are supposed to submit, in a double spaced document. They printed her 250 page book on 500 pages with all the double spaces so it cost her twice as much to purchase her book.

·       While a commercial publisher's intended market is the general public, a vanity publisher's intended market is the author.

o   A vanity press will list your finished book on their website with a thousand other books. If the reader looking for a book happens onto their site, the reader is lost unless they know your name or title to enter into the search. A vanity press is out to sell your book to only one person – YOU.

So, you can see that vanity presses are out to take the desperate author who wants to see their work in print to the proverbial cleaners.  Although self-publishing has its place in niche areas, this type of self-publishing is what it hampering the publishing industry. Their only aim is to make a profit off frustrated authors.

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Time Management—Writing Every Day By Denice Whitmore

Being a writer can be a tricky business, especially when starting out. After all, life doesn’t stop because we want to chase our dreams. Many of us start writing as a hobby. Everyone has hobbies—things we do occasionally because we enjoy doing them. But when we decide to take the leap and change our writing from hobby to something more fulfilling it can be daunting and scary. Becoming a serious writer takes planning and time management.

I consider myself a stay-at-home mom first and foremost. I have four very active boys ages 21, 14, 10 and 8. I am chauffeur, cook, financial manager, activity coordinator, chore overseer, homework tutor, laundress, seamstress, therapist, first-aid specialist and giver of hugs and kisses. I am also a book editor and writer, both of which I do from home. And recently I went back to school to finish my degree. Life gets pretty busy around here. Daily planning is a must.

To be a full-time writer, it is important that you set time aside every day to write. Some of my friends from school would get up at five in the morning to do their studying before their kids got up for the day. This minimized their distractions. It’s a good strategy to use for writing as well. I’m more of a night owl than a morning person. I like to write after my kids are in bed for the night. This is tricky in the summer since they never want to go to bed. I am also lucky that all my boys are in school. During the school year I usually have a good five hours each weekday to edit, write or work on school work. The strategy that works best for me is to have a focus for each day of the week. I edit two days a week, do school work two days a week, write two days a week and take Sundays off. The important thing here is to set time aside every day or every week to do nothing but write.

Another setback to writing is distraction. How many times have you sat down at your computer to write and your email dings or you get a Facebook notification? Next thing you know, an hour has gone by and you’re still staring at a blank page. Here are some suggestions to eliminate distractions.

First, NO INTERNET! It is too easy to get distracted on the internet. If you need to research something for your book make a list of things to look up or questions that need to be answered and work on them another time. This will help you stay on task writing which is the goal of the time you have set aside. If you have to, turn off the wi-fi. All your notifications will be there when you turn it back on.

Second, find a quiet place to write. Turn off the TV. If you like to sing along to the radio, don’t listen to music with lyrics. I like to listen to movie soundtracks and classical music while I write. Sometimes the music even affects the tone of my writing.

Third, turn off your cell phone or put the phones in the other room and let the machine pick them up or let them go to voice mail. I screen my calls because my children are at school and you never know when one of them will need something urgently. Think back to before we had cell phones. If we weren’t home they had to call back. In most cases you can talk to someone after your done writing with no harm done.

Lastly, let your family know that you are writing and you need them to leave you alone for the next hour or two. Impress upon them how important it is to you and how much you appreciate their support. My husband is very supportive of my writing. He reads my first drafts and my second and my third…He knows it makes me happy and does what he can to be supportive. Your family will, too.

In order to be a serious writer, you have to write. If you don’t make time to write on a regular basis you can’t improve your craft. The more you write, the better writer you will be. With a little time management, you can make things happen and become the writer you want to be.

Keep writing.