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Editor’s Notes: Target the Trends—or Not
There’s a lot of talk about trends in the publishing world, especially within the umbrella of speculative fiction. Harry Potter resuscitated high fantasy and kidlit. Following close on HP’s heels was the paranormal romance explosion, which spawned endless Twilight read-alikes. Then there was The Hunger Games and the all-consuming fascination with dystopian (and violent) fiction for teens. In the world of children’s literature in particular, (As a children’s book author, I admit that I am less familiar with the trends of adult literature) rumors abound of what the next “big” thing will be. Mermaids? Science fiction? Horror?
Too many writers try too hard to keep up with or get ahead of these rumored trends. They write what’s hot now, hoping to ride on the coattails of the current blockbuster. A few do succeed, though these books rarely come close to achieving the level of recognition or success of the books that inspired them. For other authors trying to catch the next trend wave, there are several flaws in this strategy.
First, what is hot today will be cold tomorrow. Trends come and go. So by the time a writer manages to complete a manuscript, thoroughly revise it, AND (if lucky) find a publisher, a year (or two, or three) will have passed, and the genre that once dominated the market will have moved aside to make room for some new bestselling trend.
Second, trends are unpredictable. Even with all those rumors flying around, it’s anybody’s guess what the next big hit will be. The top-selling titles of recent years were all surprises. How are blockbusters born? Someone writes a phenomenal book that is different than anything else on the market. They manage to land a good publishing and marketing contract (although even this is not always necessary. Consider the popularity of Wool by Hugh Howey and 50 Shades of Greyby E.L. James, which began as self-published endeavors), then lots of people read it, like it, and tell all their friends about it.
So, then how do you write the next bestseller?
You don’t.
Don’t write to the trends. Don’t write books that are just “like” another book. Don’t write something you are sure will be the next big hit. Doing so will, more likely than not, land your manuscript at the bottom of a lot of slush piles.
What should you do?
Write your story, whatever that is, and write it well. If you like mermaids, or vampires, or wizards. Fine. If you’d rather write a western even though no one is buying them right now, then do it. Or maybe you really like contemporary romance, which may never make you a million dollars, but that’s where your heart is. Then write it.
Some editors and agents may indeed be hunting for the next best-seller, but all of them are searching for plenty of stories that will simply sell. If you have a story to tell, no matter what the current trend may be, you need to tell it. And then leave the rest to fate. You never know.
Author and editor Laurisa Reyes lives in Southern California with her husband and five children. She has published two middle-grade fantasies, The Rock of Ivanore and The Last Enchanter. Her current project for The X, Reflected, Book II of the Vanguard Legacy Series, is slated for release in April of 2014.
Follow Laurisa here:
Website: http://www.laurisawhitereyes.com
Blogs: http://laurisareyes.blogspot.com & http://middlegrademania.blogspot.com
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Featured Friday: Steamstock Tour, Chicago
BY ALYSON GRAUER
There are some who might argue that steampunk was a literary genre first and an aesthetic movement second. I happen to agree, but by no means does that mean the case is closed. Not only has steampunk spread its coiling, copper-wire roots out into the artistic stratosphere in literature, film, television, art, and fashion, but music, too, has fallen under the siren spell of theatricality, fun and alternative society.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend an evening of music at the Wise Fools Pub in Chicago. As part of the Steamstock tour—a Steampunk music event traversing the nation—three musical acts under a steampunk influence performed on an otherwise perfectly ordinary Tuesday night in Lincoln Park.
This Way To The Egress, The Cog is Dead, and Frenchy & The Punk took over the already charmingly-antiqued Wise Fools Pub and gave Chicagoland steampunks a wild night of foot-stomping fun. Egress played a great deal of swing-influenced, carnival-esque, gypsy punk, which made for excellent dancing.
Cog had more of an alternative or rock feel, with blues undertones, which meant a break from the wild choreography, and Frenchy was more European folk-punk, but the entire night was a wall of sound that none would soon forget.
Many of the attendees of this Steamstock event were fully dressed to the steamy nines: goggles and corsets and silver-topped canes and spats. Some were more casual, with a simple pair of suspenders and a waistcoat or a bustle skirt over leggings. The bands themselves wore a hodgepodge of styles, mixing circus stripes with cowboy chaps or fishnet gloves and military caps.
Aesthetically speaking, the whole affair was very incongruous and highly irregular—and a great deal of fun for the imagination.
The first in-person Steampunk event I ever attended was TeslaCon II, in Madison, Wisconsin, back in 2011. The minute my friend and I walked through the door, we were swept away on a highly imaginative, highly immersive journey where the con’s employees maintained the characters they portrayed throughout even the panels, and perhaps more amazingly, the attendees of the con did so as well!
This kind of grown-up make-believe at Steampunk events is not always the same, but there is usually that spark of playfulness about meeting other alternate-history folks bearing gears and gadgets that in turn kindles the imagination.
Of course you don’t need to have an alter-ego or persona to go to an event like Steamstock or even TeslaCon. But it’s fun, and as a writer and an actor, I find it highly rewarding in both categories. It’s great fun to play and improv with strangers as a character, but it lingers in the imagination for future writing projects as well.
And there’s just something about coming home from the day job on a Tuesday, lacing up a corset and doing one’s hair in a fancy way, and setting out to dance like a heathen at a bar in the middle of the city. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there’s definitely something. It made me wish there were more reasons to get dolled up and get out of the house more, at least in a steampunk context.
Till then, though, there’s always the words on the page, and circus-punk-swing music to write by.
Originally from Wisconsin, Alyson Grauer lives, works, plays, acts, and role-plays in Chicago. Her short story, “Lavenza, or the Modern Galatea”, was featured in Mechanized Masterpieces: a Steampunk Anthology, released in April, 2013. When she’s not supporting her local Renaissance fair, she’s working on her current project, an expansion of The Tempest by William Shakespear, slated for released by The X in 2014.
Follow Alyson on Twitter and her blog, Comma Chameleon.
Fellow MMSA author, Aaron J. Sikes, writes about Steamstock in California in his blog post here.
Editor’s Notes: Knowing When to Quit
BY JESSICA SHEN
On this blog, we’ve talked a lot about how to write successfully—how to use dialogue tags, how to open your story, avoiding the passive voice, how to handle criticism. While this is all great advice, another important thing to know is when to quit.
We all get to that point—writers and editors alike—when we want to keep going: it’s 3AM, we’re falling asleep at the wheel and drinking Red Bull so we can finish that scene before we go to bed.
Step away from the keyboard! You’re not doing yourself any favors by overworking your brain. It’s better to put your work to bed and come to the table the next day refreshed and ready to write, than spend the first couple hours of your day trying to piece together what you’d written the night before.
I know I’ve made plenty of mistakes (or missed plenty of mistakes, rather) while editing because I was too tired, and it would have been much more beneficial to just put it down and come back the next day, than to have to do the work twice because I have no idea what I’ve actually covered.
Give your brain a break every once in a while. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in our stories, that we can’t see the forest for the trees. Take a couple hours off, or even a couple days! Come back to your story with new eyes.
Between work, classes, and editing, Jessica catches the zzzs when she can at her home in northern California. Her latest project, A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology, was released in July 2013. Her next project, Mr. Gunn and Dr. Bohemia, a steampunk adventure penned by author Pete Ford, will be released in October, 2013.
Featured Friday: Writing, writing—Squirrel!
BY SARAH HUNTER HYATT
Twitter and Facebook and Blogging… Oh my!
Since I have taken on the, dare I say, challenge, of accepting that I am a writer, I have found that keeping up with that all entails can be quite a harrowing task! First of all, I’m not solely a writer; I’m a wife and mother first. I have three children that keep me busy from the moment I’m awake until they go to bed!
Once the house is quiet and all are in a peaceful slumber, the artist in me can take over and I become the writer. The problem is that so much of the social outlets I belong to happen throughout the day. So how can I juggle it all?
One thing I try to remember is that all of these outlets: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr (to which I’m not a member yet), blogging, etc. are for us to reach out to more people. I can get my “voice” heard further by using the blessed little thing called the Internet. However, I was troubled recently when I read a post that said how these social sites don’t really boost sales of books and promote authors as much as one would think. Could that be true?
I tried to think how I would get the word out about my upcoming book release without social sites. If I still had the Internet, the only thing I could do would be to email my friends and family and maybe create a website, hoping others would find it. But since I don’t have to be limited, I now have a Facebook Author page, my own blog and Twitter account to help others find me and my book. I think it has certainly helped me to meet new people and connect with other authors, editors and agents. That’s certainly a good thing!
But that can also cause a problem. These sites are called “social” for a reason! There are times when I log on for a purpose and find myself looking at a friend’s photos from a trip they took two months ago or watching a video of my niece learning to walk, over and over. Pretty soon, I’m so distracted, I have no idea why I even logged on. I know this happens to others too.
One author I know (who will remain anonymous) recently posted “Wait, why did I come on the computer? Darn you facebook! You distract me so easily!” So it happens!
While on Facebook today, I saw this quote “Being a good writer is 3% talent and 97% not being distracted by the Internet.” Although funny (and ironic), I don’t agree it’s only 3% talent—writing is hard work. However, it brings up a good point. How many times have I designated a block of time for writing and then half way through, realize I’ve spent it on Internet “stuff?”
I have myself planted firmly in the chair, a cup of warm tea and a silent house, so how did I easily get off course? One problem is that I step off the path using the words “Internet research.” My heart is in the right place, but as soon and I leave that document and jump over to the blue “e,” I’m a gonner.
But wait, you may be saying, “didn’t you just say that the social sites helped you promote?” Yes, yes they do, so I will clarify. Social sites are good to help you get out there; people want to know who you are and what you write.
All sites are a way to express yourself. I think it’s essential to having a good Internet presence. I only caution that you make sure not to let it take all of your time.
Just as we may set blocks of time for writing, set blocks of time for social networking. Keep a good balance and don’t allow yourself to jump over for a quick peak on Facebook when a notification beeps on your phone. When you’re writing, keep writing.
Whe Sarah’s not chasing toddlers, being Super Mom and abandoning the arid desert of Arizona for the rain-soaked mountains of Washington, she writes young adult adventures. Her short story, “Stunner”, appears in A Dash of Madness: a Thriller Anthology.
Editor’s Notes: Stop Backtracking Through Door #4!
BY TERRI WAGNER
Years ago, I was into gaming. Now, mind you, this was old-time gaming. We would choose our characters, plug in a game, and begin. In those seemingly ancient days, you would come to, say, a fight scene. Each of you would determine what your character will do, enter that information into the computer, and wait for the computer to translate your choices into a fight sequence and tell you the result. I always enjoyed this more than the click-and-shoot games of today because I had a say in what happened.
My favorite memory here is that my character (a cleric half human, half elf named Sean) and the good knight knocked on a door accompanied by our neutral evil thief and completely clueless magic user. Bottom line: when the fight finished, Sean and the knight were standing back to back, having just wiped out an entire barracks of bad guys. We didn’t know it was a barracks of bad guys. We thought it was a tavern.
There is a point here. As the games progressed, of course, so did we. Well, we tried. Truth was, we never did like games where the computer did all the action. We liked deciding what spells to cast, and what weapons to use, and the odd consequence. Our new game was impossible to figure out, much less win. Let’s just say we spent a good bit of money on calling the tech support line.
Essentially a maze that led to a treasure, the game had an interesting hitch. When you made choice A, you would hear a noise in the background. That was possibly choice F, D, or E getting omitted. For example, if you went down the long, lonely, dark hallway and choose Door #1, and entered, then Door #6 became off limits. The kicker was that later on, you might need Door #6 open. So there was a lot of grumbling, fussing, and the occasion cursing, and way too much backtracking.
That’s what happens when you edit your story without an outline. You are taking a chance that by changing even something minor in Chapter 1, Scene 5, that down the line in Chapter 4, Scene 3, you no longer have the original option available to you. When you outline, you have a map of your story in front of you. A map you can refer to. For example, if you decide that minor character Jonesy needs to die in Chapter 2, he can’t reappear in Chapter 7—unless of course you are writing about zombies or the walking dead.
I was fascinated to discover that all movies use storyboards, which is basically what an outline is for a writer. They mock up each individual scene and put them in order to determine if the actions taken in Scene 1 affect the ending. Without it, movies would be nonsensical. (Yes, I realize they appear on the whole as nonsensical, LOL.)
Just imagine a labor-intensive project like Lord of the Rings. Now imagine making The Hobbit. You’d have to review, in the very least, Fellowship of the Rings to make sure you are not contradicting something. Only in comedy sequences can you laugh-track off the odd mistake.
If you are an artist as well as a writer, consider a visual storyline. There are a number of tools on the Internet that can help: you Prezi, PowerPoint, Timetoast come to mind.
The outline becomes your Bible. It will serve you well. Don’t discount it because it seems labor-intensive. Backtracking all the way to Door #2 is far more strenuous, not to mention what it does to you sanity.
Editor Terri Wagner lives, writes, teaches, and edits from her home in Alabama. Her current project, Mr. Gunn and Dr. Bohemia, a Steampunk action/adventure by Pete Ford, will be released in October, 2013.