Congrats? All authors should experience the birth of their first "child." Take care. Vern
This is my fourth "child" but it still feels the same as if it were #1.
Sometimes, patience is a virtue. The novel I have been submitting parts of for review, Concentric Circles, is no longer a project. Yesterday, I received the following letter from a small, traditional publisher.
"Milton Trachtenburg,
I am pleased to say that we would love to work with you to publish your novel Concentric Circles. From here, if you're interested in working with us, I would get you the necessary paperwork as soon as possible. Before we start that process, are there any questions I can answer for you? Let me know!
Best,
--
Ryan _______
Executive Content Director
_______________, LLC, Publishers"
I don't know how many of you have experienced this happening to you. Both my wife and I have had the experience. Last night, we were talking about how when the call or email comes, it is a close second to the experience of having a child. I wanted to share the experience with any of you who read this because it is the best motivation for the struggle to polish a manuscript and use the suggestions to get new views of what you THINK you have done.
I erased the name of the publisher and editor because they do not want a stream of unsolicited manuscripts. After my book has been published, their imprimatur will be on the book jacket and I will proudly display it as I have my other publishers' names. And the acquisitions and project editors will get my eternal thanks for their contributions to the edition that goes to press.
With tongue-in-cheek, I will say that I want to buy two copies for myself. The first one off the press and the one millionth one!
The use is required when you are writing in past tense and then talk about something that happened in the past. That calls for past perfect to separate the two times. I find that it is best to avoid it through a little writing trick: Have the character talk about the event in dialogue. Then you can use simple past tense and still have a clear separation of time. There are always ways to eliminate a problem without violating the rules of writing. That is why they call our tools a bag of tricks.
Imagine learning that there is an equal and opposite world to the one we live in. Everything we do and say results in the opposite happening in the twin world. If we save a life in this world, it results in the taking of a life in the mirror world. You are in a position to prevent a catastrophic war ...
It needs to be genre-free so that regardless of what genre a person writes in, they can fit under the umbrella of the contest. So there needs to be a contemplation of what issues cross every form of story? The first word that comes to mind is relationships. Past, present or future, Earth, Mars or an alternate universe requires two characters to interact in some manner. How about two characters who begin in opposition of each other need to cooperate to solve a problem that seriously affects their world. Their world can be as small as the apartment they live in or as large as the universe they inhabit.
This is a site for sharing writing, not for social chat. Everyone here has one goal --- improve their manuscript to prepare it for publication. It is far more polite than the sites that claim to be writing groups but are more like teen chat rooms. This is not to demean teens. There are teens who are serious writers but the kind of thing I am talking about is where they do little but argue, put down other people's work or present unedited product that isn't ready to be shown to anyone.
Submit, critique, learn, enjoy ... and welcome. This group is more serious than what many of us have experienced elsewhere.
Without knowing the story there is no way to suggest whether multiple first person narratives would be effective. Also, without knowing the skill level of the writer I wouldn't hazard a suggestion. One of the most important skills is to be able to write in a variety of distinctive voices whether it is dialogue or first person narrative. I've never seen your writing so I would have no way of knowing.
Why not show samples and then ask the same question?
Did you consider using a voice recorder temporarily until you feel better? You can choose whatever is the most comfortable position and still talk a manuscript into a recorder. When you feel better, you can type it. I used to move furniture --- I owned a small furniture store and did everything myself. I could unload a 20 foot trailer of flat packed, KD sofas and chairs in an hour. Now, I am lucky if I can pick up a sandwich without back pain! You pay now and you pay later when you do more than your back can handle.
Get well quickly!
Thanks for the reference. One of them looks like it has potential for the novel I am working on, Witness Impulse Publishers. They are not presently accepting submissions. Oh, well. I saved their homepage and I may try again in the fall. If you know of a small publisher that is looking for a psychological mystery written by a psychotherapist whose history in the real world includes working with every form of pathology, and has written an award-winning nonfiction book about abuse and addictions, please let me know.
The rope, Jane. The rope!
I wrote a book for and about abused women using mostly women's voices. It was well-received. Rather than tell you about it, allow me to post the opening few paragraphs and you can judge for yourself whether the gender of the author is even discernable from the writing ...
"I was abused by my mother when I was a child. I was abused by my husband as an adult. I abused myself with drugs and alcohol. I abused myself by having sex for money, or with men who had no love for me. It felt right at the time because I had no love for myself - I still don't. I feel unworthy. I want to hurt somebody. I hate myself. I take my anger out on my children. I destroy friendships through my anger and insecurity. I run to sick men to seek comfort. I don't know who I am. I cover it all up with jokes and smiles and assurances that - hey, I'm ok today - I didn't pick up a drink or a drug. I can't stop the pain.
I'm thirty-three years old and still suck my thumb and play with a piece of satin to try to make myself feel better. I'm in great shape, aren't I? I hate men and I don't trust women. Sometimes, I even resent my kids just because they are there and I want to be alone, or I want to go out and have fun. I have this friend. He tells me I'm special and I have all kinds of good qualities. When he says those things to me, sometimes I just want to rip his face off. Doesn't he know how much I want to believe those words, but inside I believe it's a crock and he's gonna be just like the others and want something back from me? Maybe if I shut my eyes, he will disappear.
"I think I'm gonna be ok soon. See, there's this guy I met. He makes me feel great. He really turns me on. Maybe if we get it on, I can forget my pain and feel good for a little while. I have to keep it my secret though. Too much to lose if I open my mouth because everybody will tell me I'm not ready for a relationship. What do they know, anyway?"
Excerpt from "How to Get Off the Merry-Go-Round" e-Press, 2010
Why go to all that trouble. There will be too much DNA evidence in the "fall off." With Snoqualmie Pass in the winter, the body can be disposed of without all the gore. Or, Lake Washington serves as a lovely resting place. A paint bucket filled with cement, a length of chain and the body will remain beneath the 55 degree waters for longer than the murderer will live. I was going to suggest trying the lumber splitter on a spare wife to test it, but that would be the Alfred Hitchcock in me speaking.
Plagiarism is a legal concept. It is not subject to opinion. If you do it and you fit within the definition, you will be sued and the author will win. If you want to know its legal boundaries, here is a good summary of the law: http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/plagiarism/
My wife was personally affected by someone who believed as you do, and allow me to tell you the results. My wife wrote an article in her professional field and it was published in a major journal in her field. It also caused a positive response in her field. Someone who felt it was a good idea took the idea and made it his own as part of a textbook. My wife's publisher found out about it and sued the author and his publisher. The results: The publisher had to pay a percentage of all royalties they collected from the sale of the book to my wife and the author had to pay them back everything they lost. Then, all the existing copies not sold had to be destroyed. Thereafter, several dozen additional authors used my wife's work in their textbooks. They all paid her royalties for the use of her ideas. She got her last royalty check over 20 years after she wrote the article.
Someone tried to sue me for "using their book title for my own." Titles are not copyright unless there was intent to make a profit from using it in the same field to create confusion. We wrote about totally different topics and my use was coincidence. I had never heard of him or his book. Also, his was called The Merry-Go-Round and mine was called Stop the Merry-Go-Round. I could say, tongue-in-cheek: Not my carnival; not my merry-go-round.
Hope this information is helpful. By the way, you can't steal a plot. There are a finite number of plots. You can write about bank robberies even though many of the great genre writers of police procedurals have done so. You can steal characters, dialogue, stories, styles, narration. Someday try stealing Mickey Mouse and you will discover a side of Disney that Annette Funicello never saw!
I think the electronic world caused a miscommunication all around. Walking in her shoes, she may have believed that your Amazon link would end up her advertising your book creating Amazon sales. If you look at it through her eyes, you might see that possibility. You thought you were simply communicating information. World wars have begun on less dispute. I first published before the internet existed and I had the opportunity for personal distribution because of public speaking to go to many major cities. I took along copies of my book and went in person to major book stores with a hard copy. You wouldn't believe how many independent stores and branches of chains took my book on consignment from a visit. I was so successful that the publisher began providing copies to me free for distribution. I was their best salesperson! As a first time author, the book, a trade paperback, went through five printings and four raises in price. I even got it into Strand in NYC which was a real accomplishment back then. Now, over a quarter of a century later, Amazon is still selling used and a few new copies although it has been out of print for almost two decades. My experience showed that other than the marketing arm of the publisher, the best contact is author to bookseller with a personal pitch. Links, if they have TMI, can be misinterpreted.
I don't understand what makes this group worth paying for. There are thousands of Facebook groups that allow you to post your publications and the fact that everyone pays means they are there to sell books, not buy them. This is almost a reversal of an old sociological cliché. The new one would be: "People who care, don't count, and people who count, don't care."
I got a connection request from Larraneise and went to the page. No writing, no posts, no comments. I simply deleted the request. Sometimes, a little detective work saves a lot of aggravation. Behind the best fiction is research of FACTS.
Lizbet could feel his contempt, like a fire burning through the door, even before Carlos crossed the threshold and entered the cold and dark place where her only memories were of fear and sorrow.
Sir Lancelot owned a poodle, a German shepherd, and a collie. Would you call him a three dog knight?
Being in love is a belief that you are exempt from reality.
Have you heard the prayer of the existential agnostic? Dear God, if there is a God, please help me, if there is a me.
I loved her. She ignored me. I loved her even more. I guess you could call that love at first slight.
People who want to get married in the worst way ... usually do.
Most professional editors work in MS Word, so that if changes are to be handled seamlessly, you need to work with them. My last book moved back and forth between a line editor, an executive editor and myself quickly with each person's comments standing out so that the final product was easier to manage. Chrome has its own word processor which is compatible with Word, but it doesn't have the powerful editorial capacity when working with a team. I wrote my first book before the age of Internet. No writer today would mail a five hundred page manuscript back and forth and no editor on the planet would accept it unless the writer's name was E Hemingway or W Shakespeare.
If you believe your writing is worthy of publication by a house that provides editorial services to its contracted authors, you need to accept an investment in Word. Even an inexpensive computer can run it. If you are writing for yourself and/or self-publishing it doesn't matter.
Suggestion: When you write your next book, keep a tally sheet and add the names of people who deserve thanks for their contributions. That way, you won't leave anyone out. You never know when failure to give thanks can cost you someone you may need the next time. We love to believe that we are selfless, but when we do something important for someone and they do give thanks to others, it is a slight to be left out. Thank you doesn't cost a penny but in todays world where electronic masturbation on an I-Pad has replaced relationships, it is a good feeling to know that someone cared enough to put it in a book.
I have posted the beginning chapters of a "who dunnit" with a psychologist as the lead character. It is a story that introduces a family of his clients who might be involved with a serial killer. You will not know until the very end if one of them is a murderer or if all are just victims of their own histories. It is not a shoot-em-up. It evolves slowly and focuses on characters rather than plot.
As an aside, I used to live in the Seattle area and loved Gig Harbor. I was a customer at the original Starbucks across from the Pike Place Market the week they opened and still featured real coffee not sundaes floating on a coffee base.
