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littlemanpoet · 04-21-2002, 06:06 AM

Getting Published

My writers' festival is done. I learned a lot and will share much of it in later posts, at least what's applicable to the concerns voiced so far.

The talk I'm relating was given by a literary agent out of New York. He said:
1. It's easier than ever to get published, and harder than ever to make a career of it. That doesn't mean it's suddenly easy to get published, just not as bad as it once was. (There was a lot he said that I won't bore you with.)
2. Know your market. Don't tell someone "I have a romance/horror/science fiction/fantasy type work. We all know we're doing fantasy; case closed.
3. Get Help. Find mentors, teachers, authors, writer's groups. If you are afraid that they will somehow damage your story, I can relate to that because that was how I felt; but when I finally stopped being scared of losing possession of it, I discovered that my sympathetic readers respected the story as my story, cared about my success as a growing writer, and had some good insights I was too close to it to see.
4. Write well. Well, duh. But the main problem literary agents and publishers see is that a book is not ready. Here are some ways that a book might be 'not ready':
- unsympathetic characters. the reader needs to be able to bond, have a connection to, your protagonist(s). This doesn't mean that your character has to be nice or likeable, just that he/she has to have some kind of strength that draws the reader to him/her.
- sympathetic protagonist is finally discovered on page 14. Introduce the character right away. Make the character
known to the reader straight off. So many people seem to think (are told) that you need to set up the story first, then get around to characters. Readers love characters, love to care about the characters, even a little bit. Once you've got that, then the reader will be interested in the conflict the character enters.
- lack of conflict. Put some kind of conflict, some kind of tension, in page 1, or as close to the beginning as possible. Invest tension in every page. It doesn't have to be your BIG conflict on page one, just enough of something to get the reader to turn the page and get the reader to the main one.
5. Make your character(s) memorable. Think of Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Gollum. Memorable! Heck, we can't forget them if we tried and certainly don't want to.

That's that. On to the next thing. Happy writing!

04-21-2002, 06:06 AM	#38
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,072	Getting Published My writers' festival is done. I learned a lot and will share much of it in later posts, at least what's applicable to the concerns voiced so far. The talk I'm relating was given by a literary agent out of New York. He said: 1. It's easier than ever to get published, and harder than ever to make a career of it. That doesn't mean it's suddenly easy to get published, just not as bad as it once was. (There was a lot he said that I won't bore you with.) 2. Know your market. Don't tell someone "I have a romance/horror/science fiction/fantasy type work. We all know we're doing fantasy; case closed. 3. Get Help. Find mentors, teachers, authors, writer's groups. If you are afraid that they will somehow damage your story, I can relate to that because that was how I felt; but when I finally stopped being scared of losing possession of it, I discovered that my sympathetic readers respected the story as my story, cared about my success as a growing writer, and had some good insights I was too close to it to see. 4. Write well. Well, duh. But the main problem literary agents and publishers see is that a book is not ready. Here are some ways that a book might be 'not ready': - unsympathetic characters. the reader needs to be able to bond, have a connection to, your protagonist(s). This doesn't mean that your character has to be nice or likeable, just that he/she has to have some kind of strength that draws the reader to him/her. - sympathetic protagonist is finally discovered on page 14. Introduce the character right away. Make the character known to the reader straight off. So many people seem to think (are told) that you need to set up the story first, then get around to characters. Readers love characters, love to care about the characters, even a little bit. Once you've got that, then the reader will be interested in the conflict the character enters. - lack of conflict. Put some kind of conflict, some kind of tension, in page 1, or as close to the beginning as possible. Invest tension in every page. It doesn't have to be your BIG conflict on page one, just enough of something to get the reader to turn the page and get the reader to the main one. 5. Make your character(s) memorable. Think of Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, Gollum. Memorable! Heck, we can't forget them if we tried and certainly don't want to. That's that. On to the next thing. Happy writing!