WRITING RESOURCES – A FEW LINKS TO GET YOU GOING

I’m often asked for writing advice, so I thought I’d share a few links I’ve used over the years. For anyone ready to dive in and start writing either books or screenplays, hopefully the below will give you a good place to start.

 

RESOURCES ON THE WRITING PROCESS

There are plenty of books on how to write, but my favorite is Stephen King’s “On Writing.” No, it’s not a horror book. It’s a book on his writing process, and I found it very insightful and inspirational.

For screenplays, William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade really did it for me.

For grammar, you can’t go wrong with Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

ORGANIZATIONS

If you write thriller’s / mysteries, join your local chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Also Sisters In Crime.

If you’re into writing YA and Children’s book, SCBWI is a terrific organization to join.

The main reason to join an organization is to meet other writers. Since writing is a solitary business, talking to others is a must–if only to verify that there are, indeed, other people as crazy as you.

NanoWriMo is an on-line and meet up organization that urges you to write a book in a month. I think Water for Elephants started off in this program. The idea is to challenge yourself to write 50,000 words in a month. I highly recommend this program to those who have always wanted to write a book but find it too overwhelming. The program isn’t about writing a perfect manuscript–it’s about getting a rough, rough draft done. Then you take your time rewriting. After all, writing is rewriting.

FINDING AN AGENT

Finding an agent isn’t easy–and there are rules. You have to know how to do it. In my opinion, there is no better web resource on how to write a Query Letter, how to apply, etc, than Miss Snark’s blog. It was written by an agent in the publishing industry, though her identity is still a secret. Granted, this blog has ended and is now five years old, but I’ve referenced it recently and it still seems to apply.

Predators & Editors is a must. They keep track of who is on the level, and who has a reputation of taking advantage of writers.

Also, if you want an agent, some of them have blogs. Follow them and make sure you understand what they are looking for and how to submit to them. I still follow Janet Reid’s blog regularly.

These days, just about every agency has a website. Be sure to go to the site and see what their submission rules are.

Everyone Who’s Anyone is also a good resource (and humorous) but it doesn’t include much in the way of submission information. Just email addresses.

Remember, to get an agent you should attend writing conferences, write query letters, and be prepared to wait for months for an answer.

FINDING AN EDITOR

In my experience, your best chance of connecting with an editor is through an agent or at a writing conference. I found my agent through my writing group, and my agent then connected me to my editor. However, there are lots of ways to connect with an editor. My colleague, Michael Underwood, who shares my editor, connected with him through Book Country. Michael has a great and very “in the age of the Internet” story for his road to publication. You should read it and take notes.

SELF PUBLISHING (indie publishers)

Don’t want to go the traditional route? You no longer have to. You can upload your own work at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble (for the Nook).

For iBooks and “indie” e-booksellers, you can go through Smashwords, just be aware that if you use Smashwords, they also take a commission on your sales. I would recommend uploading to Amazon and B&N on your own to avoid that.

I think self publishing is a terrific thing. Before you do it, I’d recommend creating a really solid book cover and paying an editor to work on your manuscript. Be sure your book is ready!

WRITING CONFERENCES

I attended the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, the San Francisco Writers Conference and the SDSU Writers’ Conference. All three were worthwhile. I would recommend them for different reasons. Santa Barbara was the longest, allows you to work in the same class, and offers a great environment to help improve your craft. They also get terrific speakers–we had Ray Bradbury, Christopher Moore, and Fannie Flag. San Francisco is a shorter conference and offers a balance between networking and craft, while San Diego was mostly about meeting Agents and Editors.

I haven’t attended, but I hear that the Squaw Valley Conference is terrific.

There’s also, of course, the grand daddy of publishing conventions, Book Expo America.

You can find a list of the conferences in your state here.

REGISTERING YOUR SCREENPLAY

For screenplays, I register all of my scripts at the WGAw Registry.

WRITERS BLOGS

There are lots of authors who have a lot of great things to say about writing and publishing. Here are a few that I follow:

Nathan Bransford. (writing and publishing)

John August. (screenplays)

Christopher Gronund. (writing process)

Lisa Eckstein (writing process)

Lee Goldberg (writing and publishing)

GOOD READS

Finally, Good Reads is a terrific source for book review, discovering new material and interacting with other readers. It’s the imdb of the book world.

 

OK, that’s all I’ve got. I’m sure everyone has their own resources — feel free to add to this list in the comments below.

 

IDENTITY, Mark’s first novel, will be released August 7th. You can pre-order it now for a special sale price of $1.99 at: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and iTunes.com.

IDENTITY is an adult book, meaning it’s not suitable for children. If you can handle Michael Crichton and John Grisham, you can handle IDENTITY. See for yourself by reading the first chapter in the embed below: