Stephen Cox's Blog, page 14

Pompous letter to Society of Authors magazine

Our hero got annoyed at articles in the SoA magazine referring to wooden books as ‘real books’.  They published this…

Those of us who wish to write in the new reality should distinguish between personal taste and a universal moral law.  Printed books, e-books, and audiobooks are all ‘books’.

I like the physicality of a printed book, and of browsing a bookshop.  I read a lot on computer screens for my day-job and I don’t enjoy novels on a Kindle. I think I skim more on screen [1].  I loathe the idea that, like my daughter, I should read novels on a smartphone.  I don’t listen to audiobooks.  As a reader, I have a preference.

However, as a writer, I wish to get my story into the heads of the reader without dilution or intermediary.  All these means of delivering a story are fine by me.  I have no intention of lecturing complete strangers with different tastes, if they will buy and consume my book.

Those who like the cheaper e-book are in my experience, prolific readers and given to online reviews and discussion of the books they read. 

I suggest the Society of Authors adopt a house-style under which ‘books’ refers to any of these delivery methods, and then run a competition for the best term for the traditional version.  I vote for ‘dead tree books’, which to be clear, are one of the truest loves of my life.

The Society of Authors offers excellent advice and support, grants and networks.  It’s a bone fide trade union for authors.

[1] I think I skim more reading novels on screen.  I edit my books on screen and I am not sure I notice the same effect

In praise of the crappy first draft

Some writers craft each sentence, paragraph, scene, and chapter as if they are a Swiss watchmaker.  And when they get to the end, a quick polish and the book might be ready to be shown to someone else.  Hey, if that works for you, great.

I’m not like that. Writing a book explores how your characters react to each other and the world.  Writing a plot tests it for coherence, probability, and interest.  Writing your ideas may shift how much you want to emphasise one thing or another, or begin to strengthen and draw out themes that were not explicit in any plan.

I think that would be true even if you plan chapter by chapter in advance.

There is every reason to believe your first draft will need at least one major revision, at the level of character and structure.  Probably more than one.  So it feels to me that aiming for it to be perfect as you go is a mistake.

I am 30,000 words into Mysterious Second Book, and already I have lists of things I want to add, strengthen and possibly remove.  I have a choice, to go back and redo what I’ve already done, or keep ploughing on, taking notes.  I’m also leaving scenes that aren’t working to come back to them.

If I must be happy with everything I have written, and I must write everything I need up to this point, I could hover for months endlessly refining.  I could get stuck on a scene I may decide in the end I don’t need.  Better to have the whole thing done, however patchy in places, and then know what you are working with.

So, when someone says the first draft can be crappy, they don’t mean that bad writing is good, that everything in it ought to aim to be crappy.  They don’t mean, in my experience, that they don’t read each chapter over and fix or annotate obvious issues.  They’re saying, they have let go of what they have written first off needing to good enough to show.  It will be the second or third draft, perhaps, that might be fit to be let into the light.

The most important writing advice is probably read a lot.  The second might be, don’t do what Famous Author says they do just because they say so.  Understand why they do it.  Maybe, you should try it, maybe you should accept it, maybe it is the best advice for you ever.  Maybe, you will end up like other authors who don’t do that.

What you don’t need is a folder full of the first thirds of several different novels, each polished to gleam and yet abandoned.

I Will Write You A Short Story

Authorsforfamilies.org is a group of literary people mostly from the US who got together on Facebook, to support immigrant children separated from their families.

Ripping children away from their families in tears and locking them up in cages, and no-one speaking the kids’ languages… and no paperwork… no easy way to connect a kid and their parents … we have this crazy idea that this is a Very Bad Thing. ***

So, we are fundraising to help, and we’re doing an auction.  There are lots of books, critiques, and advice things to bid on.

I’ve offered to write you a new, original short story.  Yes YOU, if you bid the most.  Cool, huh?

Here are the details.

It will be a story for age 16 + but without excessive sex and gore.  It will be between 1000 and 10000 words.  It will probably have some science fiction or fantasy take, but probably not vampires, werewolves, or zombies.  At the moment, I try to write things which end with hope.

It will take how long it takes.  I’d be surprised if I didn’t get you a draft within a couple of months, but what I will promise is fortnightly updates.

When I send you a draft, I’ll listen carefully to comments, but I won’t be planning a major rewrite.   I have a book deadline.

Will you like it?  I hope so, but there’s no realistic way I can write this unless we’re grown-ups, and accept that you might not.  I’d have to grill you about your taste for hours, and it would still be incredibly difficult to produce something you liked.  It may annoy you.  I hope not, but let’s accept the possibility.

We speak by email.  You give me four prompts.

A name
An object
Something about style or setting or genre
A line (poem, song, book, play) or a visual image but not of the object

I will try to use three of these, and it may be central or tangential, literal or figurative.

Of course, it’s fine to throw in some personal comments ‘Stories with aliens in give me hives’ and I may listen to those.

My decision as to whether I have delivered to you a story within the above parameters is final and no refunds will be given.

OK legal bit, as it has my name on it I keep the copyright and will publish it on my website.  The story will always be used with the line ‘Written for [you] after their kind donation to support Authors For Families.’  Unless you want to remain anonymous. You can put it on your website and send it to people in your Christmas letter, and we should talk about anything else you want to do with it.

It will come to you in British English, or a sort of weird hybrid I write when I set things in America.

An odd collection of my stuff is here.  I hope you enjoy it.

Bid early, bid often.

***You don’t think it is a Very Bad Thing?  Convo over, mate.  Educate yourself.

The Seven Deadly Habits of Ineffective Writing Groups

Even a terrible writing group can spur you to write more.  But having sampled many groups over the years, here are some real problem areas.  Even a good group can drift into these problems from time to time.

(tongue in cheek)

Unwillingness to be critical.  You could read the telephone directory and get a chorus of ‘Oh, that’s lovely.’  If people won’t or can’t give constructive feedback, just buy a dog instead.   Dogs give unconditional approval and you can think about story ideas when walking them.

Ignorance.  The one person who sold a short story once (to Wee Scottish Fluff) dominates discussion of the market, even when they are wildly wrong.   There’s uncritical recycling of unattributed stuff. Spreading myths about writing, agenting, self-publishing when clear, reliable and disinterested information is available.

Lack of ambition.  No-one talks about personal goals, or cares if you are meeting yours.  After a while you realise people don’t act on feedback.  But ambition should be personally decided and owned.  To me, ‘I just want to finish this memoir for my grandkids’ is as worthy an ambition as ‘I want to win the Booker.’

Poor discipline.  The loudest voice dominates.  People are interrupted. The first to leap in sets the tone of the subsequent discussion, no matter how ill-considered their comments.  People talk about the content of the writing, not the writing.

Brutality.  People are destructive, personal, and unpleasant in their comments.  Maybe they are frightened of new people, or worried other people are better than they are, or they are just horrible people.  They don’t understand the difference between ‘I’m sorry, for me this paragraph came across as racist’ – about the writing -and ‘You are a racist’.

Mine is the One True Way-ism. People should offer freely what worked for them and what didn’t, but step back if you are doing it differently.  In turn, be open minded about what they say works for them.

Unsafe.  Some groups are bigoted, or unwilling to protect individuals from inappropriate comments or readings.  The group has no clear rules about what can be read, and any necessary warnings.  Your working assumption must be if you read about sexual violence, at least one person in the room has direct personal experience. In here I throw the usual unfortunate dynamics: men talk more than women, and interrupt more.  Regulars may dominate newcomers.

Free Fiction Offer: A Story A Month

So, I’ll be sending a free story a month and a bonus story to everyone subscribing to the newsletter…

…and listing free fiction available online here…

check it out.

 

Salvaged from the Agent’s Slushpile

The Bookseller refers to a recent debut as ‘salvaged from agent […] ‘s slushpile.’

Every trade paper develops a slang, a jocular shorthand.  But to refer to the process of getting an agent as being ‘salvaged’ is a little harsh.  I am worried it might confuse people who want to get a traditional publishing deal.

An agent works for you.    They try to secure a deal with a publisher (or a series of deals regarding overseas, film, etc.)  They get paid only if you get paid, so they obviously have to be picky who they represent.

Most people who try to get an agent don’t succeed, certainly not on the first book they submit.  But when an agent does sign a debut author, the ‘slushpile’ – unsolicited contributions from people the agent doesn’t know – is a major way they find talent++.  JK Rowling was ‘salvaged from the slushpile’.

An agent usually advertises as being open for business, or not.  Therefore, if you send them your novel as a submission, when they are open, and if they represent that type of book, you are literally doing something they have asked for.

Since the arrival of The Internet, what an agent wants and who else they represent is usually findable online.

Typically, British agents ask for a short letter, a synopsis, and three chapters.  Anecdotally the majority of submissions to agents are doomed to fail.  They fall into one or all of the following errors: the agent is not currently taking submissions, the agent does not represent this type of book at the moment (or ever), or the submission is not what they ask for on their website.  And many of the books that are left are somewhere between dreadful and not at all bad but not quite there.

Given this, I understand why agents call submissions slush, but it might be better called the crude ore from which the agent will find their next nugget of pure gold.

So, in my case I sent my first novel to a dozen agents and got nothing back but a little useful feedback.  Rather than revise that book to the degree it clearly required, I finished the second, Our Child of the Stars.  I sent to a dozen or so agents, one of whom, Rob Dinsdale, told me he was closed.  (His website was down so I’m not apologising.)  Now, living in London, I had been to events and talked to a few live agents, but there are events outside London.  I participated in #askagent on twitter.  One agent advertises that she takes questions via email, so I asked her a question.  This was all mostly to make sure I understood the process.

Wow, a well-known agent, who I had met socially, asked for the entire manuscript.  I chased everyone who hadn’t actually said no, including Rob, who also asked for the full, loved it, and offered me representation.  We talked through what his vision was for the book, which matters.  I shook hands, and he got me a two-book deal with Jo Fletcher Books. (There’s quite a lot of work hidden in that last sentence.)

Lessons:

You can get an agent through ‘the slushpile’, aged over fifty with sum previous publications experience, three short stories in US SFF mags, and no high profile social media presence.

I hadn’t met Rob, and I hadn’t sent him the first novel.

How the industry works is probably more obvious now than it ever has been.  Meeting agents helps understand the process, but they will make the decision based on the book – and whether you share a vision for it.  That’s code for, if they have editorial suggestions, will you work with them on it?

Being polite, researching the process and having a great book mattered.

There are all sorts of things that are unfair, and that’s for another post.  But the point about submissions to the slushpile – one can hope this is the process LEAST open to favouritism, old boy networks, etc.

There are also alternatives to traditional publishing deals secured through an agent.  Some publishers take direct submissions.  Self-publishing is a viable and honorable route.  There are crowd-funding options etc.

 

Edited to add.  Some weeks later I saw two agents talking on Twitter.  One said all but two of her fiction clients came through the slushpile.  The other said 80%.  Of course, mileage can vary.

 

The Student, the Kaiju and the Eight Basic Plots – free on Medium.com

The Student, the Kaiju, and the Eight Basic Plots

That night, out in the family boat, when he was ten years old. Sea-mist came from nowhere. He was careless, and fell into chill April water, breathing its knife pain into his lungs. Panic. The current was strong, and the life-jacket could not protect him from cold. The water wanted to hold his head under, a force, a something that wanted to drag him down.

Story here

Golden Gate bridge