Category Archives: writing tips

Writers Keeping Records: Part 2

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10 Optional Records
More records to keep you organized or simply distract.
f (format) * (importance) ? (thoughts)

1. Literary Bio
f fifty words about you and your literary accomplishments
* at the ready for all those acceptances
? do you use humour in your bio

2. Letter to…
f template used for submissions
* provides continuity
? how do you close your letters

3. Magazine Locations
f Province/State…Magazine/Journal…City
*keeps geography in mind with story settings
? will you conquer your country

4.Yearly Contests/Grants
f Month…Contest/Grant…Deadline
* reminder of what’s approaching(update often)
? do you submit outside your country

5. No Simultaneous Submissions
f list of magazines that adamantly refuse ss
* also add publications you’ve been caught at
? how many places have you sent a story to at one time

6. No Response/1 Year+ Rejections
f Magazine…Story…Sent(date)…Response(date)
* tells you who the repeat offenders/slowpokes are
? what’s the longest you’ve waited for a rejection

7. Stories Retired
f Story…Magazine…Sent(date)…Response(date)
* history of stories retired(includes crap and acceptances)
? how many rejections can a story get before you retire it

8. List of Stories Written by Date
f Year/Season…Story
* how much you write in relation to other events in your life
? do you write more at certain times of the year

9. Story Synopses
f Story…Ten Word Description
* fun and challenging excercise
? can you pitch an entire collection in ten words

10. Table of Contents
f Story…# of Pages
* helps you visualize the length and ordering of collection
? what determines the order of your stories

10 Essential Records

Writers Keeping Records: Part 1

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10 Essential Records
Writers use different systems to keep track. Mine is somewhat obsessive, but it works. I use word files that I update regularly. f (format) * (importance) ? (thoughts)

1. Upcoming Submissions
f Date…Location…Story
* keeps submissions flowing
? how many times a month do you submit

2. Submissions by Date
f Date…Magazine/Contest/Grant…Story…Response(date)
* what’s still out there
? do you take long breaks in submitting stories

3. Stories Available
f Story…Destination…Sent(date)…Response(date)
* where is a story, how many times has it been submitted
? how many rejections does your favourite story have

4. Magazine Submissions
f Magazine…Sent(date)…Story…Response(date)
* history with a magazine(# of submissions/response times)
? what do you do if one magazine rejects you ten times

5. Feedback from Magazines
f Response(date)…Magazine…Editor…Story…Comments
* useful in revisions & when feeling crap about writing
? do you mention feedback in following submission

6. Magazines
f Magazine(alphabetical) – include address, fiction editor, email, guideline specifics
* visit website prior to every submission for updates
? how many different journals do you submit to

7. Stories by Word Count
f Story…Word Count(low to high)
* useful when wc is specified in guidelines
? what do you consider a short story, length-wise

8. Literary Resume   
f Publications…Education…Workshop…Interviews…Reviews
* useful for grant applications
? what else do you include

9. Grant Applications
f Grant…Deadline(date)…$…Writing Sample…Response
* keep separate file for application forms
? any tips on project descriptions for a short story collection

10. Contest Submissions
f Deadline(date)…Contest…Story
* quick view history, haven’t entered a contest in 2+ years
? do you think contests are worthwhile

Upcoming post: 10 Optional Records

Rejections: Good, Bad, and Ugly

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Big brown envelopes in the mailbox or email rejections are mere reminders that you are in process. A steady stream of submissions makes the wait, and weight of each rejection seem less. Because I don’t know editors personally, I don’t take rejections that way.

Good Rejections
These come back under four months – quick in submission land. You recieve handwritten feedback – constructive comments and encouragement to send more work. Some magazines have enough readers to give feedback every time, very cool. Good rejections say your story “was a near miss”. So take another look, tweak, and submit elsewhere. Send the almost-made-it-publication a fresh story, and give thanks for the feedback. I keep a file of good rejections to boost spirts when low which happens a lot.

Bad Rejections
These comprise the majority of rejections and come back six to eight months after submitting. A bad rejection is the ever popular form letter/card that reads, “there was too much competition this time,” or “your work is not in tune with our style”. They offer you a subscription when you already have one. You pull your story from its SASE and it looks suprisingly fresh for having travelled across the country and back. I’m sure all stories get read, but one can’t help to wonder.

Ugly Rejections
These come in the mail a year or more after you’ve submitted, or you never hear back. Ugly rejections contain disparaging remarks, tell you not to quit your day job. Ha. A writer never quits his day job. My stories have been called “weak, thin, and insignificant” by editors. A friend recieved a rejection from a magazine he has no recollection of submitting to. Huh? Ernest Hemingway was rejected with, “It would be extremely rotten taste, to say nothing of being horribly cruel, should we want to publish it”. (The Torrents of Spring).

Do you have a good, bad, or ugly tale of rejection?           What do you do with your rejections?

More ugly rejections to famous writers

Short Story Submission Tips

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You’ve been studying the craft and now you have stories you want to share with the world. You know they’re good. A trusted peer (not your mum) has encouraged you to submit.

Workshop to receive feedback and to catch spelling and grammatical errors that you often miss in your own work.

Find an appropriate journal/magazine. The Canadian Writer’s Market (book), Places for Writers (website), surfing the net, peers, and bios in the back of journals will help.

Read issues (buy, borrow from library, read/order online). Can you see your story here? Is it the right genre? Hopefully you have more than a few stories to choose from. I don’t subscribe to tweaking a story for location.

Follow guidelines related to formatting, word count, submission dates, SASE, etc. Start a file of magazines you submit to that includes addresses and guidelines – a great reference. Update with each subsequent submission as things change quickly in the writing world.

Cover letters should be short and sweet. Address them to the fiction editor. List publications and writing related education. You can mention a story you read and enjoyed from a recent issue to let them know you are familiar with their magazine. If you had previous feedback from the publication, give thanks.

Simultaneously submit There are a few places that say never ever, but who wants to submit a great story and wait 8 months to send it out again. If one story is accepted for publication, you simply email to say that unfortunately “your story” has been accepted elsewhere and you will e/mail them a new story.

Keep records of dates (sent & response) and locations. The business side of writing is important. You must stay organized. Ask for help if this isn’t your strong suit.

Be patient A 4-8 month response time is the norm, but you may wait a year or never hear back. After a year I don’t expect a response and often send something else. Once, I heard back after a year and a half. They said my story almost made the cut. Said story was accepted four months previous elsewhere so I took it as reinforcement and sent the slowpokes new fiction.

In the meantime… write, write, write, and continue to send out those amazing stories. I have a story, rejected ten times yet I continue to submit it because I believe in it and it has received positive feedback. Think of the submission process as background to the creative. I submit 2-3 stories a month which means there are usually 10-12 stories floating around in submission land at any give time.

Stephen King

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My first writing teacher Richard Scarsbrook suggested On Writing – half autobiography, half tools of the trade. It was great. His humble view of success and matter of fact suggestions are inspiring and encouraging. “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”

Previous to this I had only read Thinner, written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. That was almost twenty years ago. Shortly after I tried Misery – scared the crap out of me and I stopped after a few chapters. I also remember my brother having nightmares while reading It. I guess that’s the point, but everyday life provides me with enough anxiety!
 
I recently read Just After Sunset. Some great stories, some so-so. “Stationary Bike” was best. On-line reviews give higher praise to his previous collection Everything’s Eventual. I will check it out. Do you have a favourite Stephen King book?

Name that Character

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How do you name your characters? I sometimes use names of childhood friends, or names of cats that I grew up with (most had human names). I’ve also chosen names of characters from books I love (Paul and Marion from Sons and Lovers). Nicknames work well too. When I started writing I often had unnamed narrators and wonder if it is easier for a reader to identify with a nameless character. As a fan of Carver and Cheever, I like their oft used first and last names or collective last name for a family or couple.

I’ve used websites to look for names that were culturally specific and the white pages in the phone book are fun. A writer friend pulled out a book of baby names from his bag that he had been using for his upcoming novel. These can always be found at Goodwill or the Sally Ann.

Sometimes an entire story can be built around a strong character name. Other times, it can take many rewrites before realizing the name I’d chosen doesn’t work. I think my favourite character name that I’ve come up with thus far is Pinkerton Lewis.

Story Retirement

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I now retire stories that I once thought were good. I’ll blame it on naive delusions of grandeur which still help to push me along in my writing career. I feel embarrassed that I once submitted stinkers to magazines/journals. The more I write the better judgement I have of knowing when a story is about developing craft (practice, practice, practice) or if it’s worth sending out to the world. Writing, good or bad, is never a waste of time because even a retired story usually has lines, dialogue, or scenes worth harvesting and planting into future stories. I transplanted passages from my very first short story (long retired) to my most recent piece, the two seemingly unrelated.

What if a story is a favourite? I have work I am determined to get published, but wonder if my personal attachment outweighs its merit. How many rejections are too many? One has ten rejections thus far, but I haven’t lost faith so I continue to send it out. And, if no one wants it? I’ll put it in a book if I still love it down the road, fuck it if the editor doesn’t like it (positive delusion). Or, maybe I’ll think it’s crap by the time this happens.

Before you retire a beloved story have one last look. Have you responded to feedback from editors, teachers, and peers in rewrites? This worked for one of my published stories. Perhaps, re-workshop or have a trusted writer/friend have another look. Ultimately, intuition is your best guide. When you lose interest in reworking or submitting a story it is time to put it to rest.

First Reader Exception

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A first reader is that person you ask to read your story when it is completed, almost finished, or when you are so sick of it you don’t see it clearly anymore. A teacher said to me, “Your mother is not the ideal first reader because the goal here is constructive criticism, not praise.” My siblings read my stories and say it is difficult to comment because they see me in my characters, or sometimes themselves! And with other stories based on fact, “…that’s not how it really happened!” So, other family members can too create conundrums other than the gushing mother syndrome.

My mum is an exeception to the first reader rule. She has a tendency to point out what she doesn’t like first. She is also an avid reader (albeit, we have very different tastes), and her grammar and spelling are impeccable. Recently, I went to visit her in the hospital and gave her a story to read that I was close to submitting. I told her to disregard any real life connections she might infer and feel free to scribble on the page.

She let her ward roomie D. read it as well. Mum apologized to D. for the  F words in my story and the roomie replied, “Oh well, she’s a modern woman.”

Mum gave great comments regarding time line, grammar (I’m still explaining once you know the rules you can break them, regarding sentence fragments) and questioned factual information. Her notes were very professional and it has inspired her to write/journal about her experience in the hospital. Go Mum!

My first readers are the amazing writers I meet bi-monthly to workshop, but I may ask my Mum again.

Ray Bradbury on Perseverance

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“You have to feel the editors are idiots or misconceived. We all do that. It’s wrong, but it’s a way of surviving. I try to teach young writers to say the same thing. You sit down at the typewriter again and do more work and try to get a body of work done so you can look at it and become your own teacher. If you do fifty-two stories it’s better than doing three, because you can’t judge anything from three stories. It’s very hard to write fifty-two stories in a row and have them all be bad. Almost impossible. The psychological benefits from my first sale, which I got no money for, had to last me for a year before I made my next sale. That year I sold two more stories and had a little extra residue of belief.”

-Ray Bradbury, Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives by Lawrence Grobel

Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips For Writing Well

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1. Use short sentences.
Hemingway was famous for a terse minimalist style of writing that dispensed with flowery adjectives and got straight to the point. In short, Hemingway wrote with simple genius.
Perhaps his finest demonstration of short sentence prowess was when he was challenged to tell an entire story in only 6 words:
For sale: baby shoes, never used.

2. Use short first paragraphs.
See opening.

3. Use vigorous English.
Here’s David Garfinkel’s take on this one:
It’s muscular, forceful. Vigorous English comes from passion, focus and intention. It’s the difference between putting in a good effort and TRYING to move a boulder… and actually sweating, grunting, straining your muscles to the point of exhaustion… and MOVING the freaking thing!

4. Be positive, not negative.
Since Hemingway wasn’t the cheeriest guy in the world, what does he mean by be positive? Basically, you should say what something is rather than what it isn’t.
This is what Michel Fortin calls using up words:
By stating what something isn’t can be counterproductive since it is still directing the mind, albeit in the opposite way. If I told you that dental work is painless for example, you’ll still focus on the word “pain” in “painless.”
• Instead of saying “inexpensive,” say “economical.”
• Instead of saying “this procedure is painless,” say “there’s little discomfort” or “it’s relatively comfortable.”
• And instead of saying “this software is error-free” or “foolproof,” say “this software is consistent” or “stable.”

5. Never have only 4 rules.
Actually, Hemingway did only have 4 rules for writing, and they were those he was given as a cub reporter at the Kansas City Star in 1917. But, as any web writer knows, having only 4 rules will never do.
So, in order to have 5, I had to dig a little deeper to get the most important of Hemingway’s writing tips of all:
“I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit,” Hemingway confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. “I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

-Brian Clark, CoppyBlogger