Tag: writing tips

A Shortcut to Getting Published

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You’ve just finished your first novel. Your next step is getting published, right?

Wrong! There’s so many other steps you need to do after finishing your novel. What about finding an editor? What about agents? What about self-publishing?

All these questions were going through my mind earlier this year.

I spent months and months trying to figure out what to do with my first completed novel. Writing it was one thing. I hardly believed I would ever even finish it, that I never even thought about getting it published.

What I needed was a guide to help me understand everything I had to do.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find one on the internet. Believe me, I did plenty of research… this past year, I…

  • Read hundreds of blog posts
  • Searched through dozens of forums and asked tonnes of questions
  • Consulted with published authors and agents
  • Talked with my writing peers about what they were doing
  • and so much more…

What I wish I would have found (which I didn’t), was an ALL-IN-ONE guide on everything I needed to do to go from the finished-my-first-novel phase to getting-my-first-agent phase.

I spent months learning exactly what to do, what would work, what wouldn’t work, and I’m proud to say that I’m currently in the query phase. And while I don’t have an agent yet, I have had a few that have been interested in my novel.

So, in the mean time, I’ve put together a complete guide on everything I’ve learned to get myself to this point.

So, if you’ve just finished your first novel, this guide is perfect for you! I’ve been in your shoes. I know the confusion, the hesitation, the plain not-knowing-what-to-do. BUT! Now I’m miles ahead.

This guide will put you miles ahead too.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at my Ultimate Guide on how to Publish Your First Novel.

Finished your first manuscript?

killer queryYou need to know how to write a killer query letter!

  • Learn the 3 step process
  • Know how to format your query in a professional manner
  • Read examples of other killer queries
  • Plus tips & tricks to get ahead & more! 

 

5 Tips For Writing A Killer Short Story Intro

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If you’re like me, you write a lot of short stories – like at least one a week!

I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in a writing group that helps me critique my work. This not only means that I receive lots of tips on my writing, it also means that I’m constantly reading drafts of other people’s short stories ALL THE TIME!

And I’ve learned a few things. Actually, I’ve learned a lot!

And perhaps one of the most important things I’ve learned is how well the intro to your short story has to be (we’re talking the first 1 or 2 paragraphs).

Think of the intro to your short story as the first bite of a new food. You’re curious. You’re sceptical. You’re ready to spit out your first bite and throw the entire dish away if you don’t like it. BUT! If that first bite tastes delicious, you’ll gobble everything else up as fast as you can.

That’s what the intro to your story is.

If it’s got a fantastic hook and glimpses of something great, your reader will keep reading at breakneck speed.

If it’s just “meh,” you’ve already lost your reader. With millions of other things to read on the internet, or in stores, why would anyone ever keep reading “meh”?

So, how do you make your intro super great? Well, to be honest, I’m still learning. But, I’ve also learned a heck of a lot so far, and my introductions are getting better. I’m writing better hooks. I’m retaining readers for longer. I can see a clear distinction between what I wrote even a month ago and what I’m writing now.

Every time I write an introduction, I use a checklist. While some of the items may seem a bit obvious, it’s amazing how many times I get too excited about one aspect of what I’m writing and forget to include them.

Checklist for How to Write a Short Story:

  1. Introduce The Setting
    • where is the reader? Be quick about it, no extensive descriptions! While it is okay to add some description (ie. “Moss hung on the stone wall below the cathedral windows”), the reader should never EVER have to guess where they are.
  2. Introduce the Main Character Right Away!
    • Who are they? What do they care about (motivation)? Why do I care about them?
  3. Introduce Character’s Situation
    • This must be something that we’ve all found ourselves in and can relate to. Introduce this immediately! This makes the reader feel connected to the character, “Yup, I’ve been there.”
  4. Introduce What’s Different
    • This can be about how the character acts in the situation that the reader might not have thought of OR how the situation forces the character to act in a way that the reader would wonder what they would do
    • This lets the reader know what kind of character the main character is and how they differ from them
  5. Reveal Every Mystery Right Away Except for One
    • Don’t leave the reader guessing about where they are, the motivations of the character, or anything else. This is a short story, and your reader will start off being confused and staying confused until you answer all their questions.
    • While you should reveal everything upfront, it’s a good idea to leave only ONE THING a mystery. This will help keep the reader’s attention as they want to figure out what it is.

Now, this list isn’t the be-all and end-all of short story introductions, but it is a good start to keep you on track.

So, what are you waiting for? Take a short story you’ve written and compare the introduction to this checklist and see what matches up.

Happy Writing!

Finished your first manuscript?

killer queryYou need to know how to write a killer query letter!

  • Learn the 3 step process
  • Know how to format your query in a professional manner
  • Read examples of other killer queries
  • Plus tips & tricks to get ahead & more! 

 

Write Your Query Letter in Half the Time with This Ultimate Guide on How to Publish Your First Novel

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You’ve finished your first novel, but you don’t know what to do next.

I’ve been in your shoes. The above statement described me perfectly after I’d finished writing my first novel.

I spent months of research, reading blogs, consulting with authors, following & writing agents, and talking with other people who were on the same journey as me.

This free guide is everything I’ve learned about the whole after-finishing-my-novel-and-now-I-want-to-get-published process.

It’s your cheat sheet to skip trying to figure what to do on your own. 

So, check out this free, ultimate guide on How to Publish Your First Novel and learn everything about how to get your first agent that will push you full steam ahead into a bestseller!

The Ultimate Guide on How to Publish Your First Novel

Finished your first manuscript?

killer queryYou need to know how to write a killer query letter!

  • Learn the 3 step process
  • Know how to format your query in a professional manner
  • Read examples of other killer queries
  • Plus tips & tricks to get ahead & more!

 

Every Author’s Must-Do Checklist

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After years of writing (and receiving a mountain load of feedback), I’ve created a guide on how to write better.

Here’s what I’ve learned and try to follow so far. Add your tips to the comments!

STORY INTRODUCTION

  • Introduce setting – where is the reader? Be quick about it, no extensive descriptions
  • Introduce character right away. Who are they? What do they care about (motivation)? Why do I care about them?
  • Now introduce character situation that we’ve all found ourselves in and can relate to. Immediately! This makes the reader feel connected to the character, “Yup, I’ve been there.”
  • Now introduce what’s different about how the character acts in the situation that the reader might not have thought of OR how the situation forces the character to act in a way that the reader would wonder what they would do
    • This lets the reader know what kind of character the main character is and how they differ from them

STORY PROGRESSION

  • Explain what is happening through dialogue or action – do not “tell” back story or what is happening!
  • Don’t tell the reader everything upfront, let them discover where they are.
    • John was scuba diving at the great barrier reef VS swarms of fish danced around John’s arms. He turned to examine the blue corals that clung to the rock cliff.
  • Every page and situation must
    • contain no adverbs
    • contain no descriptive ways to explain dialogue other than, “he said” “she said”
    • Start late
    • Leave early
  • Take time and really think through the setting. This way you’ll be one step ahead of the reader and they’ll think, “that makes total sense where they are, I didn’t think of that yet!”
    • If someone is hiking, think about everything they could possibly bring. If someone is in a new setting, think of everything they could possibly see – then slowly reveal these things.
  • Write freely – then go back and trim everything but what’s absolutely necessary
  • List the most expecting thing that might happen next. DON’T let that happen! It’s too easy
  • At any point in the story, the reader must know what’s at stake and what must be done to solve the main problem. You’ll lose them if the path is ambiguous
  • The main character tries to achieve his/her goal, but the exact opposite happens and he/she has to regroup and form a new plan, being extra vulnerable, but coming out stronger
  • Never let the main character reflect on what’s happened to him/her, until they’re forced to reflect from something bad happening to them
  • In the ending, the character must come back to an original problem/situation. The only difference is that they’ve changed how they acted based on their character arch and what they learned.

MAIN CHARACTER(S)

  • Never force the main character to create situations until they’ve come through their arch. Every situation is forced upon the character and he/she is only forced to choose how to act
  • The main character doesn’t have to succeed, he/she just has to try his/her hardest (until the climax)
  • You character needs a backstory – what makes them who they are today?
  • The main character should be a reflection of the reader and get into situations the reader can see themselves getting into given the setting. The main difference is that the main character is the reader’s ideal. He/she is slightly better at doing what they do than the reader.
  • The main character can get into cliché problems, but never solve them in cliché ways
  • The main character is decisive, not passive.
  • The main character must always be honest with himself/herself. You can’t lie to the reader
  • The reader should always know slightly more than the main character so that they can’t wait for the main character to find out (kinda like how you can’t wait to tell a good friend something you know and they don’t)

SECONDARY CHARACTERS

  • Every secondary character must act in their expected ways
    • if a character is easily angered, they are always easily angered – the reader shouldn’t have to guess how they’ll act
  •  Secondary characters can create situations for the main character

ANTAGONIST

  • The antagonist, no matter how vile, must always have some redeeming quality.

 Traditional Storytelling Framework

  1. Your character is in their comfort zone
  2. They want something they can’t have
  3. To try and get it, they embark on a journey into unfamiliar territory
  4. They realize they’ve entered into something beyond them, but they master it
  5. They are faced with a big decision – get what they want, or do the greater good
  6. Climax! They do everything they can possibly do to do the greater good and pay a heavy price for it
  7. They travel back home
  8. They reach home, but realize they’ve changed

Finished your first manuscript?

killer queryYou need to know how to write a killer query letter!

  • Learn the 3 step process
  • Know how to format your query in a professional manner
  • Read examples of other killer queries
  • Plus tips & tricks to get ahead & more! 

 

How I got my first Flash Fiction Published

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I’ve had 4 of my short stories published now — I’m just at the start of my writing career.

I was first published nearly a year ago after pushing myself to write some short stories as I worked on my first novel (figured I might as well start getting my name out there). I tried writing about the most outlandish things in order to catch attention. A story about a hopelessly romantic giraffe and the blue kite that flies into his life. Another about an entrepreneurial vampire midget trying to market her frozen treats called, Bloodsicles.

All my premises were WAAAAAY out there!

Some were so absurd I’m sure they barely made sense to even a seasoned Hallucinologist (and those people spend a lot of time trying to make sense of things).

I figured that the best way to capture attention was by being unique, but I wasn’t sure if there really was a market for the fantastically absurd, so I started doing some internet research.

I discovered that people are dying to pay for stories! DYING!

My hopelessly romantic giraffe story – yeah, there’s a cult following of long necked lovers lurking in a zoo chat group. My entrepreneurial vampire midget story – yeah, small business tips in gothic settings are trending somewhere in Panama.

Okay, so I made some of that up, but the point is that I discovered that there’s a market for nearly anything, which was exciting! I spent a night or two’s worth of internet research and compiled a list of a dozen places that accepted quirky fantasy stories, then I bombarded them with submissions.

My first publication WITH PAY (muahaha!) was a story I wrote with the prompt of two words: RED ICE.

Somehow with those two words as my inspiration, I ended up creating a story about a man who bought a house on the edge of a volcano with the intent of hosting a suicidal dinner party for all his friends as it was erupting. Unfortunately the volcano erupts before his guests arrive, and he’s left lamenting over his daddy-problems with his mother over the phone while his robot servant fixes him a sandwich.

If that story isn’t crazy enough of a premise, I don’t know what is.

It took me 7 months to find a publisher that wanted to buy it. In the process, I was rejected 4 times. Even the paying publisher requested a lot of edits before he agreed to publish it.

The final review from the editors was that they enjoyed the weirdness of the situation. It was refreshing and fun to think about. It also brought up questions of what type of society would be okay with suicidal parties as commonplace—distant futures where people live through holograms? Weird aliens that have multiple lives? People that live hundreds of years and get bored with life? I got some really interesting comments from both the editors and readers after it was published.

The editors also liked that they could connect with the character on a more grounded level: his daddy issues, his condescending attitude towards his robot, the way his mother spoke to him.

Overall, the main reason it got published (according to the publisher), was that it was unique. It was something different, something refreshing, something that fit their audience. The other publishers rejected it because they didn’t feel their audiences would like it. If I had given up after my first rejections, I wouldn’t have been published.

So, how much did I get paid? A whopping $3.00.

But, that’s okay. It was the first time I got paid for something I wrote. It also gave me inspiration knowing that there really is a market for my work. I’ve since been published three more times and starting to get my name out there.

As always,

Happy Writing!

Finished your first manuscript?

killer queryYou need to know how to write a killer query letter!

  • Learn the 3 step process
  • Know how to format your query in a professional manner
  • Read examples of other killer queries
  • Plus tips & tricks to get ahead & more! 

Flash Fiction: Invasion

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Invasion

Still no attempts. 30 seconds till deadline.

“At the ready!”

I thought of my mother. She gave me courage all these years since I quit medical school. On my command, 40 billion tonnes of tetrafluoromethane would be released.

We established contact with Inanna three years ago, but all negotiation attempts were futile. They remained hostile, shooting down all our probes.

15 seconds.

I remembered the films I watched as a boy— aliens invading in tiny saucers— laughable now. Dumping greenhouse gases into a planet’s atmosphere was much more efficient. All life would be annihilated within a decade. They weren’t at a technological age to negate the effects, only Earth Equivalent 1940s. We had to establish peace or nip them now. They had just begun experimenting with nuclear fission.

5 seconds.

After med school, I quickly ascended the ranks, my mother’s support my anchor. Now the fate of billions rested on me. I had gone from saving lives to taking them. My heart raced.

0 seconds.

Why didn’t they respond? I imagine they’ve created their own films of alien invasions and in the end they win. They have no idea.

I sent a prayer to my mother.

“Fire at will!”