> Here’s my dilemma: I start a new novel every two years. I get 50-75
> pages into it and I start to lose interest or get a new job or start
> exercising again or get a new flat-screen or …. Ok. You get the
> picture. I’ve started working on a new novel now. I’m determined.
> I even unplugged the television. Any advice??????

First piece of advice, don’t start at Page #1.

Make sure dramatic structure applies to the basic structure of your story…

If Freytag’s Triangle is new to you, click here and start reading.

One of the things I’ve been seeing consistently with novel submissions from many first time novelists is that they’ve put together a story with some interesting scenes and character sketches but has no actual structure to it. Simply put, when that happens the characters don’t know where to go, what to do, or even WHY they’re doing it. Once at that point the writer runs the risk of having everything feel forced or, more commonly, the novel’s momentum completely stalls out and ends up in a proverbial desk drawer.

> Ok. Max. This is some good stuff. I took a look at the Wiki article also. I’ve
> generally approached novel writing as an “attack the head first” approach. But
> perhaps a “soft underbelly” may be the most efficient point of inital attack.
> Max, and others, are you suggesting perhaps writing the climax first?…

Glad the approach is working for you…

Personally, I tend to write stories alot like a film production. Movies are rarely ever filmed in chronological order but schedule their shooting based on a variety of factors. Sometimes major actors have prior contractual agreements (e.g. – also on a TV show) and the shooting schedules partially overlap so they shoot scenes that particular actor isn’t in. Sometimes if a movie takes place across several remote locations the production team will spend up to a few months in each location, shooting all the applicable scenes, then shoot the remainder on sets in a soundstage.

When it comes to your question about writing the climax first I’d say that’s more of a judgment call on your part. If your main climax is built up from a complex chain of events that cause all the characters and events to converge, then yes, writing the main climax first might be the best move. By writing that climax first you can define all the contributing factors then work backwards with each element.

Let’s take that movie “Castaway” (starring Tom Hanks) for example. Because this was about him being stranded on a deserted island, the first major climax in that story is when the flight he was on crashed into the Pacific ocean. By writing that climax first (or very early on in the writing process) you could define what items he has on him at the time of the crash (like the pocketwatch heirloom his girlfriend gave him with her face inside) and then work backwards to define the girlfriend and their relationship as well as all the events leading up to why he was on that fateful flight. Because a majority of the rest of the movie takes place on that island, this climax also defines some of the pieces of civilization that wash ashore with him, establishing certain themes that carry through the rest of the movie (e.g. – Wilson the volleyball).

At other times I’m prone to map the basic chain events but write the most powerful scenes first. Sometimes it’s because they’re critical lynch-pins to the rest of the story. Other times it’s because the scene required research and all that reading is fresh in my mind. Still, other times I might write that first major climax before anything else because it also affords me the chance to make the story leading up to that climax less predictable and I can better control the pace leading up to that climax. another thing I’ve noticed is that if I’m writing a story in a linear fashion, sometimes I have a bad habit of “telegraphing my punch” as far as the upcoming climax is concerned. Not sure if I do it because I’m anxious to get to the climax or that it’s hard to keep it a secret, but when it comes to working backwards it’s easier to remember “Okay, the reader wouldn’t know _______ at this point.” so it’s easy to conceal things (even verbiage that hints at something coming) and make for a bigger surprise once the reader reads it linearly.

Hope that helps… good luck with it.

> Hi I am not a professional writer; however, I have a class project in
> which I am suppose to interview a professional writer and was wondering
> if some one would be willing to answer the following questions:
>
> * What kind of planning do you do before you write? do you make a list?
> Formal or informal outlines?
>
> *How do you compose your drafts? do you dictate? Draft with a pen and
> paper? Compose on screen?
>
> * when you want advice about style. grammer, and spelling what
> source (s) do you consult?
>
> * Do you ever work with other writers to produce a single document?
> If so describe the process you use
>
> Thanks

Simple answers:

*How do you compose your drafts? do you dictate? Draft with a pen and paper? Compose on screen?

Dictation is for doctors and dentists. Speaking your thoughts into a digital recorder is a different thing entirely. With the professional writers that I associate with, a pen and paper doesn’t play much of a role in the drafting process beyond taking down journalist-style notes when away from a computer. Matter of fact, outside of an occasionally meeting a writer born between the late 30s and early 60s, drafting with a pen and paper is typically reserved to poets/spoken word artists/lyricists.

* when you want advice about style. grammer, and spelling what source (s) do you consult?

(1) The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. (this is a must)
(2) The Copyeditor’s Handbook
(3) Dictionary.com
(4) Webster’s Pocket Style Guide (I keep this in my laptop backpack)

* Do you ever work with other writers to produce a single document? If so describe the process you use

I’ve only participated in one collaborative writing effort and, even then, it was only because I was hired to come in after two other writers had been taking turns writing installments for a piece of serial fiction. I took on the project because I wanted a simple part-time challenge and I believe in what this brotha has put together (I write for the online drama the site is Jamal Washington:CEO, a feature on Blackmoneymatters.com. Admittedly, getting started with it was a huge pain because Paige and Sonja, the two writers that handled it before I took over, had completely different styles. One was pretty consistent, the other was all over the map like she was transcribing conversations from that show “The View”. Neither did that good of a job at maintaining consistency with what the other wrote. What I ended up doing was spending a few weeks actually studying everything that was written beforehand so I could get a fix on what the main character had been through, who was in his life, and where to possibly take it from there. I also had to deal with taking care of all the continuity errors, factual errors and anything with the plot that didn’t drive the story forward — all while building a solid foundation that I could conceivably hand-off to another writer someday and eliminate their need to go through the same process. Collaborative writing efforts seem to only work best for non-fiction; for anything else it’s just a pipe dream.

Hope that helps… good luck.

> Does anyone have experience using voice activated software to write
> your books? I experimented with a program some years ago, but found it
> too slow. I imagine the software has improved since then.
>
> I would like to hear from anyone who has used it, and became more
> prolific using a program that writes down everything you say, instead
> of having to type out all of your work.

A few years ago, as part of a book project I experimented with using Dragon NaturallySpeaking package to transcribe dictation files recorded using my digital recorder. After training the software (I had to read a pre-set page to it a few times so it could learn my speaking patterns), I learned the following:

• Although the software is pretty accurate with it’s transcription (and steadily getting better), it’s not foolproof. Expect to edit your work thoroughly because many of the errors will also slip by the average spell checker (e.g. – read versus red, lead versus led, etc).
• Since it’s trained to your voice, it does a quirky job if you’re trying to transcribe a recorded interview or conversation with one or more people.
• Using this to help write a book would be handiest if you are writing a personal memoir or recording stories being told by an elderly person (or anyone else that has had to tell such tales many times).

Regardless of what you’re writing, the downside is that it will show you that we form spoken sentences and structure stories in a radically different fashion than how we write them. We tend to repeat ourselves, cut our words (depending on regional accent), rely heavily on cliches and colloquialisms, attempt to revise sentences on the fly to see what sounds better, and while we’re formulating sentences we tend to throw in unnecessary words and sounds like “uh”, “and-uhh”, “ummm”, “like”, “so”, “and so on”, and etc. The first time I saw my first transcribed story attempt on the screen I felt like I was reading the ramblings of a babbling idiot.

After all the editing and cleanup, I came to realize that this method sucked as a replacement for just typing everything into a word processor. I found that I was better off using this method for transcribing collections of dictated notes and thoughts, saved to files that I could print as references or cut pieces and insert into a manuscript.

Good luck with it…

Max

> Hi Everyone,
> … I’ve been working on my first story for almost two years now and almost
> finished with the rough draft (excluding re-writes, critiques, etc. to get to
> my final draft). Am I going to slow or what is the normal length of time for
> first-time authors to complete a story.

Outside of the classroom, there is no “normal” amount of time for writers to complete a story. Everyone has their own speeds and writing processes. If you’re new to writing fiction you might be better off focusing on craft versus just getting it done. The reason for this is simple: the need to write a quality story that flows well. You’re not training to run a 440 relay race. You’re striving to write good fiction.

> Also, I’ve had a real problem getting consistent friends to read portions of my
> story and give me specific, definitive feedback on the work–other than a
> nebulous thumbs up. Has anyone else experienced issues finding friends or
> people to read portions of their work and provide feedback? What are
> some options?

In my opinion, and please don’t take this wrong, you need to ask yourself whether it’s more important to write the story well or try to bask in some early praise before you get published? The reason I ask is that it’s tough to find prolific writers who also have the time to provide solid, constructive critiques. They’re either too busy writing or, quite candidly, they’re new to the game too. A hundred positive critiques is the same as a hundred negative critiques in that they are usually all very different and if you give people your manuscript and ask them to give a comment on what you’ve written they will give a comment, whether or not it is valid. Don’t waste your time using friends and family because more often than not you’ll get polite praise and accolades that are alot like eating a diet of cake icing — tasty yet full of nutritionally-useless empty calories that will ultimately slow you down when it comes to developing your story. Writing your story well shouldn’t be about feeding your ego; it’s about writing and revising your story along the way and refining your plot and characters to write the best story possible. Once you’ve got a grasp on it, you’ll have what you need to write novel after novel and know how to keep the readers happily sucked in.

There are critique group mailing lists like De Griot Space (used to be at degriotspace.com but the link wasn’t coming up) which are great places to start. The catch to that list is the fact that there are monthly quotas that all members must meet, both when it comes to the number of submissions as well as number of critiques of other members’ works. Depending on your schedule, keeping up with such requirements may slow you down as well.

Bottom line, from my own experiences I’ve found that unless you join or put together a very small critique group (less than 8 members seems to work best), your best bet is to spend time reading books on good fiction writing techniques and occasionally set aside some time to read and analyze works of fiction by authors you like — see how those authors put the stories together. Look at the plot conflicts. Understand the various character archetypes and techniques for telling the story while sticking to word economy.

Outside of that, the only way you’ll get solid feedback from a truly dedicated manuscript reader is to find a freelance editor and PAY that person. Keep in mind that a developmental/content editor can charge as much as $5.00 or $6.00USD per page to start. To find some freelancers, check out Editorial Freelance Association.

Best of luck on your quest…

> Has anyone ever co-written a novel/play? Can you tell me your experience?
> Do you split the writing 50/50. What if one author writes considerably more,
> does the rights of the work belong to both authors? I tried to research online
> but could not find any information. I decided to co-write a play with a friend
> and wanted to get all the details together before venturing into this project.
> I’ve always written alone and wanted to find out more about co-writing.
> Any advice is appreciated.

Greetings,

You’re referring to Collaborative Fiction, an interesting scenario as far as writing processes go.

Collaborative writing efforts work well for film/television/plays but when it comes to novels I’ve only seen it work with genres like Science Fiction, Fantasy, and etc. As far as I can tell this is because these are genres where authors can continue to expand upon the “known” universe, adding other characters and incorporating events into what’s considered a “canon timeline” (dunno if that’s a real term but canon referring to what’s been deemed as “official” — read up on Canon fiction for a better explanation). A perfect example of a collaborative work are the Star Wars novels that accompanied the movies. In the original Star Wars, Luke Skywalker was the good guy, Darth Vader was the bad guy, and Princess Leia was the Women’s-Lib version of a Damsel in Distress and potentially Luke’s love interest. Because of the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, it was revealed that Vader was Luke’s father and that Leia had fallen in love with Han Solo. In “Return of the Jedi”, it became known that Leia was also Vader’s daughter, Luke kills Vader, and the Empire is no more. Now, if someone came along after the fact and wrote a novel that was meant to take place after “Return” and wanted to have Vader come back from the dead and fall in love with Leia, aside from the fact that it wouldn’t make sense and Lucasfilm would never authorize it, such a work would not be considered canon in the Star Wars universe because it was already written that Vader was Leia’s father and when Vader died he reverted to being a good Jedi in the afterlife.

Anyway, I spelled all that out to say that in order for a collaborative effort to work, there have to be set boundaries between you and your partner on the creative side. Whatever you write — names, people, events, etc — all become canon. Same goes for what your partner writes. And to make matters even trickier, you and your partner have to keep up with each other’s work in order to know what hasn’t been written so you don’t break continuity by writing something that goes against what’s already canon.

Let’s say you’ve created the character John Doe and he’s happily married to Jane Doe, his high school sweetheart, and you’ve established those characters and these facts across several chapters. John and Jane as a married couple are now canon in the story, even if they eventually get divorced their marriage is still considered canon in that novel’s timeline. Now, if your partner came along and wrote that Jane was actually a transsexual axe-murderer named Jim, this wouldn’t work. Yes, technically the partner could write it but such a radical shift would (1) mess up the flow of things, (2) go against what was considered canon by what you had already established with John and Jane, and (3) it would break the unwritten author/reader contract, destroying the Suspension of Belief, and more than likely turn them off from wanting to read/watch any further.

What happens when continuity and canon is not established? Chaotic writing that steps on its own toes, leading to a lot of frustration, and at its worst you’ll have a mess of a story that no one will be happy with.

As far as copyright goes, the Form TX (for literary works) that gets sent to the Library of Congress doesn’t recognize fractions of ownership based on the amount of work. I believe this means that the ownership would be equally split between the number of applicants listed with the registration.

My experience with collaborative fiction has been to write installments for a piece of serial fiction about Jamal Washington, a 20 year-old Black kid from Queensbridge, NYC, and his quest to eventually become CEO of his own company. Before me there were two authors who took turns writing the installments. One sistah was pretty consistent with her style, the other was all over the map. Outside of a few character names there was no sense of connection between the storylines, especially after the all-over-the-place writer was finished with her latest installment. When I took it over it was a continuity nightmare, so much in fact that it took me a month just to read through all of the other sections and figure out how to put together a storyline to go from there and bring it all home. As much as I wanted to, I couldn’t just delete everything that had been previously written. I ended up having to put together a way out series of story twists to not only tie in things from past installments but also enable me to get rid of unrealistic/2-dimensional characters and dead-end events by systematically writing them out of the plot. I posted my first installment in May of 2006. It is now March and the story has just about stabilized to where I can turn it over to another writer who can take the story and my notes and take the story forward.

Will I ever engage in collaborative writing again? Only in screenwriting and even then for something like a series. For anything literary I’m flying solo. I know my pace and my writing style and meshing it with someone else’s work brings alot of headaches.

Hope this helps… Good luck with it.

When it comes to self-publishing, there are proverbially 1,001 rookie mistakes that can make it all the way to the final print run. Once in print, the problem is that they’re all expensive to fix and any of them are enough to get your book declined for review by major book reviewers, declined by the major chain bookstores, declined by distributors, and then some. Why? Because the various strata of the book publishing industry are FULL of elitists. Most of these people are in positions to review your book or cut a deal to sell/distribute it. When they spot one of those 1,001 amateur mistakes (usually visible between the cover and the first 10 pages) they often toss the book aside, not even bothering to read it.

How does a self-publisher reduce their chances of making those mistakes? Research. Expect to spend at least between $75 and $250 dollars on books to learn the basics. Buy these books and keep them in your library because you’re going to need to review them over and over again from manuscript preparation all the way to the marketplace. If you’re not willing to invest this money into preliminary research, do yourself a favor and forget about self-publishing altogether. Professional quality books just don’t happen by themselves — they come about through production experience, whether your own experience or someone else’s. Buying the following books are the cheapest way to get that experience:

• The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition (this is a MUST have for anyone that’s serious about writing, editing and/or publishing). Costs about $60 dollars. The CMoS contains almost everything you could conceivably need to know about editing, the manuscript preparation process, and how to format every inch of a standard book.
• The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book by Dan Poynter (or some other book on the basics of self-publishing; there are several on the market and there’s no harm in reading more than one).

There are other books you’ll need but these will get you started. After reading the self-publishing stuff you’ll get a better fix on the process and know whether or not it’s truly for you. If after reading those you decide that you still want to pursue publishing your own book, here’s a real rough ballpark of how much you can expect to spend on production:

• Editing: up to $4.00 per page (there are different types of editors and some kinds of books will require more than one editor). Many freelance editors will charge you a flat rate that works out to be roughly $1 or $2 dollars a page. Typically I budget for at least $500 or $600 dollars (including manuscript printing and shipping).
• Cover Design: usually no less than $500 and no more than $3000 for a professional design with custom graphics and photographs and the rights to all of the above.
• Interior Design: around $2.00 per page (more for graphic-heavy pages), can be packaged with the cover design depending on the deal you work out with the graphic designer.
• ISBN numbers: Around $270 dollars. These come in a minimum block of 10. Buying them will also get you into the Bowker’s “Books in Print” database. No ISBN number means your book is not officially published, so don’t even think about skipping this step. Check with R.R. Bowker, the exclusive U.S. ISBN and SAN Agency for current prices.
• Bar code: Around $10 dollars, sometimes free depending on who you know. The bar code will contain the ISBN number and often the price, too. Most bookstores won’t even consider stocking your product without a bar code.
• BISAC Subject Heading: This category designation is usually on the top left of the back of the book or near the price. The official source is the Book Industry Study Group’s “BISAC Subject Heading Package”, sold for $25 dollars from their website. I’ve seen the complete listing online for free so the price is debatable, but you want to have your book’s category noted on the back cover so bookstore clerks know how to stock your title. I’ve had independent bookstore owners tell me if they receive book submission packages that don’t have a BISAC code on the back cover they won’t even open the book.

NOTE: These solely relate to production costs and does NOT cover the costs associated with printing or shipping.

So, all in all, to self-publish a professional-quality 224-page novel if you budget for $6000 you’ll probably cover your initial production costs. If you cut a deal with an experienced graphic designer you can easily cut that cost in half, meaning that the $6000 will also cover printing the first few hundred or so. The beauty is, once it’s paid off, it is paid off, and for every print run after that your major overhead is the cost of printing.

And before all the Author Mill and Lulu champions chime in to recommend those services, by self-publishing this way you have a much greater chance of having your title noticed by a major literary agency and possibly picked up by a major publisher. I know this from personal experience since one of the titles I recently published and packaged, NEXT STOP by Ivan Sanchez, was picked up by Levine Greenberg Literary Agency and recently sold to Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Bohemian Griot Publishing LLC and Ivan Sanchez also made the deal happen WITHOUT selling Touchstone the film/TV rights or the audio book rights, both of which they have joint ownership with in two other production companies. So, yeah, trust me when I say if you’re going to self-publish, this is the way to go.

Hope that helps put things into perspective.

As always, best of luck on your path.

– Max

> What was/is the motivating factor that caused you to begin to write?
(from a question originally posted on BWRC Collective)

There were three main factors that caused me to start writing seriously as a form of expression:

• At the age of 7, I discovered a love for Art and had begun to dabble in comics and cartooning by the age of 9. I loved the concept of telling a story with illustrations. By the age of 10 I had applied for (and received) my first Copyright.
• At the age of 12, my father had brought home one of the early personal computers, an Apple ][+ (circa 1981). This gave birth to my love for Computers and led me off into a world of programming as well as doing rudimentary graphics (programs like Photoshop didn’t hit the market until 1988 while I was in college).
• Sometime before my 14th birthday was the first time I had ever been questioned by the FBI. Because my parents didn’t fully understand what all could be done with that computer, their idea of “parental supervision” was being secure in the knowledge that I wasn’t out running the streets. Instead, my friends and I had become computer hackers and almost all our mischief involved a keyboard and monitor. By the time I was 18, if I had been arrested for all the computer crimes I’d committed I would have been in prison until my late 20s or early 30s.

The stunts my friends and I pulled during our teen years in the 80s were borderline the kind of stuff that most other people only saw in movies. Granted, the computers weren’t as flashy and the closest we ever got to a Pentagon computer as a “SAC” newsline, but the thrill was just the same, especially once I got my first laptop and went mobile. Even a decade before most people had ever heard of the Internet my friends and I were already communicating with other hackers on global computer networks and there seemed to be no end to what exploits awaited us. For me, it was like living in the digital equivalent of the Wild West, and between the stories I lived and the stories I heard, they were better than fiction. During my freshman year, among the books I’d chosen to analyze for English Lit class were “The Price of the Ticket” by James Baldwin and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” by Hunter S. Thompson. Baldwin spoke to my deep craving to explore and understand all the facets of being Black in America. Thompson spoke to my inner social commentator and the unpredictable, often freewheeling cyber-criminal misadventures I was usually getting into at the time. Together, both authors spoke to my understanding of being an American, an African-American and my Love (sometimes Love-Hate) relationship with this country.

The resurgence of my need to write as an additional creative outlet was born from that — and it has yet to go away. Today, Writing, along with Art and Computers, make up the creative triad that keeps me going, career-wise and on a personal note.

Not too long ago I received an email from a friend, a kindred spirit in Writing except she likes to write all the stuff I refuse to publish. There were no salutations or “How Are You?” or anything like that. It started out with a simple sentence: “I got rejected” .

My reaction was somewhere between sympathetic and stoic. Even on the fringe of the publishing  industry where small publishers like BGP exist, annual rejection letters can easily outnumber good manuscripts 100-to-1.  When we chatted about it via Instant Messenger, some of her frustrations came out as if by being a publisher I was somehow in cahoots with the publishing house that rejected her. The following is a rough transcript of my side of the conversation that I whipped up into a short essay meant to provide some insight into what rejection letters can mean.

With all sincerity, I feel your pain but I can’t bring myself to offer an apology about a rejection letter. If I did, it would be fake. Rejections are part of the game and half the time they have nothing to do with the quality of your manuscript or whether or not you have talent. This is especially true when it comes to the big publishing houses because they don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts anyway and generally the only way to get to them is through certain literary agencies they deal with. Even still, because these publishing houses often have dozens of editors across multiple imprints, if they even suspect that another editor within their conglomerate has a title in production similar to your manuscript you’re going to get rejected. And sometimes you might get rejected just because it’s Tuesday.

Aside from all the obvious advice about constantly striving to make sure your package (query letter, synopsis/sample chapters, and manuscript) is tight, you might want to focus your energies on landing a literary agent. The reputable agencies will only agree to represent you if they think they can sell the title to a publisher and if they’re really on their game they might be able to have several publishers bidding against each other to buy the rights to your book. They won’t get paid until the book is sold, usually for 15% commission.

The only thing that rejection letters mean is that someone doesn’t “get it” — whether the publisher doesn’t understand what you’ve got to sell or you don’t understand what the publisher needs — and it’s different in every scenario.

Hope that helps… Good luck on the quest.

– Max Nomad