Advice for a First Time Author

First question: What is it about you that makes you more qualified to write novels, short stories, and poetry than every other person in your school district who share your enthusiasm and background? Did you train harder? Do you know more about the process of writing fiction for the printed word than the others? Are you in some way quicker to learn new things? When it comes to poetry, do you know the difference between a male and female line ending? A trochee from an iamb?

Let's say you felt this way about painting, or writing scripts for stage film or TV. What steps would you have taken to prepare yourself? Have you done the equivalent for this profession?

I ask because when you say that your grammar sucks, it also appears that by depending on/expecting others to fix it instead of working to perfect your own skills, you want to be a writer but you're not taking steps to become one.

So that being the case, and as a sort of aptitude test, I propose a bit of study to learn the basics of the field. If you find it torture and have to drive yourself to do it, you've learned something important and saved a lot of wasted time (not to mention saving some editors the time it would take to reject the work . If you find it like being backstage at the theater, and fascinating—if it energizes you, you've learned something even more important.

For the poetry side of it, something easy: read this excerpt to Stephen Fry's, The Ode Less Traveled. You should find it fascinating if poetry is for you. And if it's not, what you learn about language is useful when writing fiction. It's something every writer should know because it relates to the ease with which the reader scans the lines.

If that seems interesting, and you're serious about becoming a writer, spending a few dollars and a bit of time on learning your profession isn't unreasonable. So spend less than the cost of a decent meal eaten out on Deb Dixon's, GMC: Goal Motivation & Conflict. It's an easy, warm read, and covers all the basic nuts-and-bolts issues of the compositional techniques and specialized knowledge of writing fiction for the printed word. There are better books, but this one is really good for the beginner, and will give you a feel for the questions you need to ask.

And as for grammar, you might start here. It's free. A copy of Elements of Style will do a lot more. Add a point a week to your skill set and in a year you have it nailed. But don't just read it, use it till it feels natural. You might also want to pick up a copy of Eats, Shoots & Leaves. It won't teach yoy grammar, but it will explain why it matters, and, it's a fun read.

You have the desire. Now you need the tools, the knowledge of how to use them, and what to use them on, because in your years of schooling you, like everyone, learned a general skill called writing, a useful and handy tool for business and in life. It's a sturdy dray horse, useful for carting things from here to there. What you need is Pegasus, useful for reaching the sky, and taking your reader with you.

 

Hi, you have a writing style of non English speaking person. Is English your first language? I don't get the connection of why you stopped reading because someone told you you have low comprehension skills. I would suggest exactly the opposite.

 

Again, thank you everyone! here's the story:
I am going to be done with school and there's so many reasons why I felt like I'm serious about becoming a writer. I take a graphic design course for diploma, felt like I took a wrong lane, but the teachers there, told me that, "you could be anything in any creative industries from graphic design" this is why I barely know a lot about writing and it's really rare to find "creative writing" courses or school where I'm from. I'm devastated that I couldn't afford to apply for a Creative Writing degree at a university abroad whatsoever... English is not my 2nd language. The good thing is that, I'm also doing an English as a second language course to fix my English at the same time I'm schooling, learning from the VERY basic English grammar. Literally basic and honestly, moving on to the next level takes monthS for me... So yes, I'm still learning. And I stop reading cause I have low comprehension skills because it's seriously hard for me to understand as in I'm really a slow learner but I'm still learning how to take effort and I'm also reading again like I said. But if I can't have a job as a freelance writer, or write a novels YET, what jobs should I take that still involved with writing when I graduate and get my diploma certificate?(while I'm still practicing my writing) :/ Idk where to go...

 

@teeekilicious18 You're young enough, with a pliable enough brain, that if you want to be a writer, that is what you will be. You will meet countless naysayers along the way. Take note, they will be good characters for some of your stories.

 

Have you written anything? Do you have anything worth writing about? I get the feeling that you are more concerned about creating a financial career than actually giving us something substantial. You failed to give me a reason to help you.

 

Heres a quick idea to check your grammar. Write a paragraph or couple of pages, then give to your friend or someone in the know to 'mark'. BUT don't let her give you your work back. She then tells yiu how many grammatical errors there are. You take a red pen and try to find them. Then compare

 

That's probably 2 different questions, because they're not really the same things. First you need a job that pays because unless you wanna sponge off your parents, you'll need to eat (and even if it's the norm in your culture to live with your parents as an adult till you marry - as is the case in Bolivian and Hong Kong Chinese culture - you'll still want to contribute some financially, buy the shopping once in a while, that sorta thing). So, job that pays.

Other than writing, is there something else you might enjoy doing? What is your character? Don't think of what you're "good" at - one can be good at many things and do them well and still be dissatisfied. Think rather of your personality traits - are you a good listener, are you gentle or are you rather fiery, are you the sort who form quick opinions or who like to maul things over, are you a people person or do you prefer to work alone, do you prefer routine and structure over chaos, or do you prefer a bit of... variety, shall we say?

In terms of jobs in writing that pays - you'd probably have to start with either graduated positions or internships. Search writer or content writer - when I did that on Guardian jobs (these are English jobs in the UK, so you'll have to find your own site lol) many jobs and other titles popped up, all with something that required writing and designing layouts of magazines or newsletters etc. Since you're still studying, I dunno what the norm is in Indonesia, but in the UK, you'd get work experience and internships, shadow someone in the profession - aka work for free. In this case, you'd email the companies directly via email and basically pester them until they give you experience. If it's a writing job you want, you'd probably want to try and get experience with newspapers. Look for this sort of experience while you're still studying, because no one has the luxury of working for free once you leave school usually! (unless your parents are rich, but from the fact that you say you can't afford a degree, it sounds like not)

Now, as for getting your writing out there - that's a different issue. For that, keep reading and writing. Write something you'd like to have published, revise, edit, polish till it shines, and then you have 2 main routes - send it to agents and publishers and get it traditionally published, or else you can self-published, which means pushing it out on Amazon and Smashwords and other platforms on your own, in your own time, on your own budget. Which option is more suitable depends on your book, what you want to achieve with it, and also your personality, because self-pubbing is a lot of work since you'll have to deal with cover design and formatting and most importantly, some promotion of the book to get exposure, without any help. However, certain books are less suitable for the traditional route. So it depends.

But in this case, I think you're getting ahead of yourself anyway. When you have a finished manuscript, then think about how to get it out there Since you already have a friend in the business, it sounds like it may not be as difficult anyway. But even published authors do not always become successful, so don't think that just because it's published, now mobs of people will read it. It may still sink to obscurity and then the publisher decides never to take your work on again after the last bomb.

Anyway, for right now, work hard at your diploma, get as much work experience as you can in something that pays, and keep writing, reading, and studying the craft. I'd personally focus on your diploma and getting work experience for right now - writing you can do at any point in your life. But this window of luxury when you have the chance to study, and have the time and funding to find relevant work experience is limited.

 

Aww thanks mckk. I think I'll choose to ask my teachers for internships after my diploma instead of working straight away as a freelance writer and practice my writing skills more in a lot of years... It's rather settling isn't it?

 

Wish me good luck on my future hehehe... I have a long road to go...

 

do you also know an easy way to learn how to understand what I'm reading? ya know, boost up my comprehension skills.. cause I wanna be a good reader to, there's just lots of fancy vocabs in there.

 

down load some comprehensive texts and questions, you can get these from free GCSE and A-Level websites, with answers.

 

thanks dude

 

If there's a word you don't understand and you can't determine the meaning from the context of the sentence then use a dictionary. You don't even need a physical one if that's somehow an issue: you can access various reputable dictionaries (e.g. Collins, Oxford) online for free.

However, there is more to reading comprehension than just simply understanding the words in the sentence. Writers use various techniques and careful word choice to get their message across exactly as they intended.

Unless you're just being lazy on here (or English isn't the language you prefer to write in) grammar is definitely your weakness. Even in the message I'm quoting you have: missed capital letters; misused ellipsis; and used the wrong spelling of to/too for the context. It might just be because you are on a forum that you don't feel the need to type perfectly but if you get into the habit of doing so all the time it will come more naturally to you. Go back to the basics and work your way up from there.

 

@teeekilicious18 I'm guessing you speak the language of your fellow youth. It would be wise to listen carefully and mimic the language of your fellow teacher and educated adult. It will take you a long way to improving your grammar.

 

Just have fun, we all had to learn, just we had head start by starting way earlier. But remember not to run before you can walk, write your stories, make the mistakes, forget the capitals and put in loads of apostrophes. Get the story down, re read it. See the mistakes, correct them, ask learn and refine your story or piece re read and repeat. Then when you have a great story and understanding of the fundamentals, then start looking into other avenues. Cliche but if you don't make the mistakes how do you know they are?

Dictionary's are great for the meaning of the word, but it wont tell you how and when to use it. Hard work I'm afraid.

We are all guilty of the same mistakes. Some just re read them

 

Yeah take SuperVenom's advice - GCSE and A-Level English Literature questions would be immensely helpful for your comprehension. It helps you think about metaphors and writing devices and think between the lines I benefited immensely from it myself. I can still remember much of what I learnt in Eng Lit.

Another thing though is that some brains are just not wired in a way that helps you understand metaphors and other poetic devices. My husband for example - he's a smart and empathetic guy, and for the life of him he cannot really enjoy fiction. Metaphors elude him. He just doesn't make the connection between two supposedly different things. Thus he prefers books that are concrete, especially non-fiction. He prefers when descriptions are solid and set in the real world and straight-forward, and it is then he can relate and empathise. I'm not - I find that boring lol.

Basically, I'm just saying - your lack of reading comprehension *could* be because English is your second language, or it could be something to do with just the way you are too. Writing is not just about metaphors and poetry, and fiction not the only type of writing you can do. If it's only fiction you struggle with, then it could be a lack of grasp on metaphors, which could either be a lack of understanding of how metaphors work, or just the way your brain works. If you struggle also here on the forums and with straight-forward non-fiction (assuming it's written in plain and popular language), then it may well be your English level.

I'm basically saying (lol), there may be more than one reason for your poor reading comprehension. Try different options, keep an open mind, and find the path that best suits you. You can write fantastic fiction using straight-forward language, and you can write fantastic fiction using all kinds of poetic devices. Depending on how your mind works, how you think, you may be fantastic at fiction and suck at essays (that's me lol) or maybe you'd make a great journalist but a poor novelist. And yet, all these people - essayists, journalists, novelists, and others, are ALL still brilliant writers. Good luck

 

Hello All,

I was happy to find this forum, I've been browsing some of the posts for awhile now. I don't want to bore people with too many details, but a few months ago I started writing again after a long lay off, and this time I stayed with it until I completed the first draft of my novel.

I'm now starting the process of going back and cleaning up some things and I'm struggling with the proper/accepted way to handle a few things, I'm hoping I can get some feedback on the items below:

1) As I went through the book, I found I struggled with how to properly refer to the characters. The story has two main characters, five secondary characters and maybe ten or eleven smaller or part time characters. When referring to the main characters, it felt natural to go by their first name but for all the rest...I felt like I wanted to switch back and forth a lot. Two of the secondary characters are homicide detectives and I frequently felt the need to change from "Detective Jones" to "Jones" to "Phil Jones", etc. Likewise, with new characters, I'd introduce them and then struggle on how to refer to them. I went back and looked through some books I liked and paid attention to how the authors handled this, there didn't seem to be any set pattern but I'm wondering if there is an accepted way or rule to follow?

2) For many items I wanted to research, I was able to find the answers I looked for online. However, I wasn't able to locate everything. For example, regarding the homicide detectives...I have no idea if people really call them Detective Smith or Officer Smith or Sargent Smith or what. I don't know if it varies between departments and jurisdictions or if it's a pretty set standard. Anyway, this seems like something I would best find out by speaking to an actual detective, but I have no idea how to go about that. Do I cold-call a local precinct and try to talk to someone, explain that I'm a writer and looking for information? Will that get me laughed at and hung up on? Is it better to send a letter or something, or just show up at the station? I struggle with how to to handle this.

3) Finally, I wonder how important it is to be 100% accurate regarding details that only a few people would ever know. I understand that doesn't sound good, I strive to be as accurate as possible whenever I can. An example of what I'm talking about is, a few scenes in my book take place in a local police station. The way I describe it in my book is a combination of stations I've seen in movies and on TV. I could be more accurate if I visited the real station, but I don't see how that would change or advance the story in any way, and the only people that would ever know would be those that read my book AND had visited the real police station. As a counter to this, when discussing driving to various areas, I actually drove around and made note of street names, some business locations, etc. thinking that it would help with the realism. Just wondering where to draw that line.

Sorry for the long post, looking forward to some feedback. Thanks in advance for all replies.

 

Hi,welcome to the forum.

You answered #1 yourself:

"I went back and looked through some books I liked and paid attention to how the authors handled this, there didn't seem to be any set pattern."​

A good place to learn is reading other stuff.

I think you'll find the answer to #2 in the same place. But judging from my profession, co-workers tend to be informal with each other. When the exchange is between supervisors and worker-bees, the frequency with which they interact and the formalness of the profession dictate when titles, last names or first names are used.

As for #3, if people would never know why would it matter? Some authors strive for meticulous accuracy, some take a lot of literary license so to speak. Have a beta reader tell you if they find something less than credible.

Right now in my story I'm working on making some things more credible. Despite the fact they actually are based on real events, a couple of my critique readers didn't find them credible. Now that's a dilemma.

 

Welcome to the forums! Relax, learn, and grow as a writer. We're a friendly bunch, you know.

1.) It depends on how much time they get in the book. If it's just a couple of lines, just give them a title such as "a man" or "the cleaning lady". If it's a little more than that, I'd say that's your call. Just bear in mind that you should flood your reader's mind with names. Also, with the detectives, just refer to them as either just "Jones" or "Detective Jones", as interchanging them will confuse the reader. I would stick with just the surnames though - it makes it feel more formal (unless you're not going for formal).

2.) I would say that as it's not important or secret information that you want to find out about, then you could probably just turn up at the station and ask to speak to someone there and then or set up an "appointment". I personally wouldn't call or write a letter, as you would probably be taken more seriously if you were seen in person. Just remember to write down all the questions you want answered in a notebook and take it with you, so you don't forget them, and be confident! That will also make you seem like a more professional writer, I'm sure. I haven't done "serious" research like this myself, but I will do soon. Just be yourself and go to the station knowing exactly what you want without being rude. Go for it!

3.) Depends on your market, in some ways - a crime novel should be 100% accurate in my opinion, because readers expect fact as well as fiction. The same goes for thrillers, political drama, and suchlike. However, there are people who will pick up on false statements, but as your particular example is unknown to the vast reading population, I'd say you're okay. Again, I'd say this is more of a judgement call on your part.

Hopefully these answers are of some use to you, but I'm just a fallible man, so don't take my word as gospel. Writing a novel is a wonderful achievement, by the way: congratulations!

 

After you introduce Detective Jones, just be consistent in how you (the narrator) refer to him: Jones, or Detective Jones, whichever you prefer. Other characters might address him differently. A rookie cop might call him "Detective Jones" while other detectives would probably just call him "Phil."

See my comment above.

Accuracy has to do with factual reports. In fiction you want plausibility and believability. Since you're creating a fictional police station, the description just has to sound believable in the circumstances. If it's a small town, for instance, a 12-story police building wouldn't be plausible.

 

As for names a lot depends on the POV chosen. If it's first person the name used would always be influenced by how the protagonist thought of him or her in the moment that protagonist called now. In third person, you would use one designation when the narrator speaks and whatever the characters use when addressing that character. You might use "the detective," to break up using his name, but in general, pick a name and stick with it.

Where it gets tricky is that POV is a big factor. If you're using a close POV you should use the name the protagonist uses in his/her thoughts, so the reader will use that, too, to to strengthen the reader's involvement. But if we've been calling a character Susan, when in her POV or someone who knows her, and then change to the POV of someone who doesn't know her, she goes back to being, the "woman," or the "pretty brunette" till that protagonist learns her name.

As for learning police procedure, you might pick a slow time and drop in at the local police station, tell them you're trying to be accurate, and would like to ask some questions. But before that, you might look at a few procedural books. There are lots of books on how things are done, designed for writers. You can learn what a day in the life of a homesteader, a knight, a Middle Ages housewife, etc is like, from a book that's a click away. Here's one on police procedure. There are many more.

As for how critical getting details right, readers of crime fiction, like historical novels are nit-pickers, and if if you get the shade of a uniform wrong you'll hear howls of outrage.

There is a way to cheat, however. When I decided to write about a man who was the local lawman in a small town, I set it up so he got the job because the dying lawman who had held the job for so long said, "Give the job to Ted Blackwell. He's the only one in town dumb enough to say yes." So then I didn't have to worry if he was doing things wrong, because he did everything wrong. Of course it didn't sell, so maybe...

 

Thank you all for the detailed and quick replies! Some very good advice here.

I went and skimmed through some of my chapters, it appears that while I was very consistent with the names for the main characters, I jumped around quite a bit for the secondary ones. I obviously need to work on being more consistent with that, and I've got quite a bit of editing to do.

GingerCoffee - The credibility issue is one I'm struggling with on a couple of key points myself. I don't think what I wrote so far is impossible, just...unlikely, I guess.

David Thomasson - thank you for the great definition of accuracy versus plausibility. Sometimes I manage to confuse the two and get too hung up on being accurate. Hopefully, I'll remember this next time!

Anyway, thanks to all again. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

I am relatively new to creative writing, so please bear with me. The story I'm writing has text from a 17th century book inserted verbatim within the story. The inserted text has nothing to do with the story other than to visually illustrate it comes from a very old book. I have purposely changed the font of this passage throughout my story to one in keeping with the time it was written. The excerpts I'm using were reprinted/published by the Cambridge University Press in 1984.
Am I obligated to cite this work or get permission of any kind to use this text for publishing purposes?

 

This quote from Stanford University's library page should answer your question:

 

Every single in in your story should move the plot, develop character, or meaningfully set the scene (hopefully, more then one of those at a time). From what you said the inserted text does none of them and thus only slows the narrative, because for every moment the reader is looking at that text nothing is happening in the story. If you say the protagonist reading an old book it is, and needs no demonstration. God help us if you run the protagonist into the bathroom.