TJ's Question on College

TJ writes: I have a question for you, sir, that isn't really related to this blog post. I'm kind of at the point in my educational career where I really need to pick what I'm going to be doing with whatever education I receive. Being an author, or going for an English degree is one of the many choices I've been pondering. What I really want to know is how you ended up with your degrees in sciences, and then progressed into being an author? I'm sure that they have an effect on your writing, but I was just wondering how so?

I ended up having advanced to my candidacy for a PhD in science like most people in this world end up doing anything—just wandering around, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, but trying to make the best of things (what Thoreau would call leading “lives of quite desperation").

I started writing by reading a lousy book and declaring “How hard could this be?” and then tried my hand at it. I was blindsided. I’d taken a few literature classes in college but had never seriously entertained the notion of writing until I actually did it for myself. The moment I got my writing to the point where it read like a real book...well, I was hooked. I left the old life behind and started a new one.

Yes, I use my science background to help write the technical parts of my science fiction, and certainly I have a love for science that few do, but the net result of my long and expensive college education was that it in no way prepared me to be a writer.

Many writers just go off and learn how to write on their own, taking with them much, some, or to no extent what they studied in college.

Examples: Michael Crichton (anthropologist and MD); John Grisham (accountant and lawyer); Terry Brooks (lawyer); Stephen King (high school English teacher) ; Nora Roberts (legal secretary and homemaker).

So my advice to you is this: If you have the opportunity to go to college, then by all means, go! It may or may not help your writing, but you will learn about something that you’re interested in, and hopefully get a decent paying job afterwards.

(I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that most would-be writers do not end up like Crichton, Grisham, Brooks, King or Roberts!)

If you want to write—then write. Take classes or teach yourself.

The two activities (college and writing) are not mutually exclusive.

Good luck!

Writer Beware

When you market your short story, novel, or screenplay you may get rejected by agents, editors, and producers. This leaves some would-be authors in the position of wanting to have their work published so badly...they can make regrettable choices.

Enter the con artist.

They usually take the form of an agent who tells you that your work shows promise and they’ll read more (for a reading fee) or recommends that you send it to a particular book doctor (who they get kickbacks from).

There are as many variations to these scams as there are aspiring authors. As a general rule, however, in the publishing business the money always flows to the writer—not the other way around.

There are some legit expenses. Some agents charge for photocopying or long-distance calls, but anytime you are asked to pay for anything—warning bells should sound.

For an exhaustive study on these cons check out the Science Fiction Writer's of America "Writer Beware" website. It’s free and makes for an interesting and educational read.

Caught up!

After the wind storm knocked out power, followed by a Christmas trip, I lost two weeks off my writing schedule.

Today I am finally caught up on MORTAL COILS and my BATTLESTAR GALACTICA research—even a tiny bit ahead.

There is nothing grumpier than a writer with a deadline who is behind. Syne was great, giving me the extra time I needed while getting her own stuff done as well as being the best wife to me and mother to Kai. Thanks Syne!

As an unexpected bonus I was reading the latest section of MORTAL COILS and the GALACTICA script...and they’re good. Really good. Understand that I’m a pessimist when it comes to editing—never happy with any of my writing—so this is a nice change.

Despite it only being icy and 19 degrees Fahrenheit this morning, I feel like it’s summer.

Evanovich

This week from the library I picked up the audiobook HOW I WRITE (Secrets of a Bestselling Author) by Janet Evanovich.

Evanovich is most famous for her Stephanie Plum novels which are adventure/mystery/romance. Her fiction may or may not be your cup of tea, but she has great (and well organized) advice in this book, a funny way of presenting it, and many examples.

If you’re a beginning writer you should check it out. She covers everything from writing, editing, finding agents, getting published, to publicity.

The Pitch

A pitch is a quick one-line description of your story.

It’s one of the most overlooked facets of writing. Many people don’t worry about the pitch until after they’ve written their story.

That’s a mistake.

Your pitch not only helps sell your work, but it’s a key factor in determining if your idea is worth developing in the first place.

It serves three functions.
1. When an editor/publisher/producer asks what you’re working on you have an answer that makes them want to hear more. (Many times you only have one sentence, about ten seconds, to hook them.)
2. You can test your idea on a friend before you write a full novel/screenplay/etc. (If a pitch doesn’t grab someone’s interest, odds are another 100,000 words won’t help).
3. It focuses you on the most important aspects of your story.

The parameters of the ideal pitch are:
* 25 words or less (17 is ideal)
* explains who protagonist is
* makes protagonist sympathetic
* shows protagonist and antagonist relationship
* describes the task ahead (plot)
* gives the beginning, middle, and end
* describes the setting
* provokes a spine-tingling reaction

Now it is darn near impossible to nail all these things for every story…but you need to try (especially that last point).

Classic pitch mistakes:
1) You say your story is about saving the world; people want to hear about interesting characters.
2) You keep secrets (“...and then something fantastic happens that solves the mystery…but you’ll have to read my novel to find out”).
3) use of proper names

Here’s an example of a good pitch (thanks to best-selling author, John Sual)

“What if a small, elite mountain community covertly uses growth hormones on their prize high school football team and accidentally creates monsters?”

And for (A Game of Universe)

“What if an assassin from the far future is hired to find the Holy Grail--only to succeed he has to first regain his soul?”

These days I make sure I have the inklings of my pitch before I start the outline, and darn sure that the pitch is perfected before I market anything.

Sure there are great stories that defy the Pitch process, but for me, life is too short to spend a year writing something that has little chance to sell.