Writing Tip Wednesday

 Where Am I Going With This Writing?
      Considering Publishing Your Work

  So we've all heard it: "When are you going to get this published? Are you going to get this published?"
  But is getting published really what you're aiming for?

   The first thing you'll want to figure out and think about are your goals and what your future in writing looks like. Are you a person who plans on being a writer when you're older? And if you are, do you really think that you are going to write full-time? Be a freelance writer? Make it big with traditional publishers? (yeah, right!)
     If you are, sketch out your plan now. It's never too early. If you really plan on being a full-time writer, you'll want to 1) get great grades in English and Writing and 2) have as much stuff published as possible. But never sacrifice quality for quantity.
   I wouldn't really know a lot about this, because I don't plan on writing full-time when I grow up. I know it will always be a part of what I'm doing, but my whole life won't be devoted to it. I've looked at the facts, and publishing Appaloosy has really given me experience. Being a writer is hard work, and the publishing world is harsh. You'll be admired, sometimes, but mostly you'll have a hard time earning any money and an even harder time pitching stuff to people and dealing with that gut-wrenching feeling of rejection.
   Maybe you're one of those people who never wants to get anything published.  Just writing satisfies you. I really admire those kinds of people, cause it takes guts sometimes. We all want to see our names in print.

  Now: Publishing options. For short stories, articles, poems, etc. Local newspapers and magazines would be the first place to look. I have gotten tons of articles published through this outlet, small-town newspapers are begging for news and can sometimes use other things, and they love having local kids write it for them. Just give the editor a call or email with your pitch!
   When you've done that and are looking for bigger fish to fry, try a regional magazine or newspaper. The Valley Equestrian was my first. They serve about 25 states. Don't be afraid to try! I was terrified to show anyone my first true short story "Spike: My Best Friend" but one day I just closed my eyes and pressed the "Send" button on the email to the top Editor. Surprise! It was published, people sent comments about how they loved the story, (i was forwarded some of them) and now I'm best friends with the editor! You can't be afraid of rejection, or it will keep you away from acceptance (and a lot of other things).
    If you really want to keep going, try for a National Magazine. I haven't done this yet, I have a manuscript  and query waiting to be sent to Parents magazine in my room whenever I get the courage. Just one note on this: Read up and make sure you do it right!
    For novels and nonfiction books, you have three options: Self -publish, Traditional publishing or a combination of the two. Because this is getting a little long, as usual, I think I will take next Wednesday explore the differences in these.
   I'm sorry I lied too. I didn't think I was going to have time to write a post today because I was supposed to go to youth group tonight but I didn't because the people who were going to take me along with them called and said that they couldn't go. So sad!! But at least you get this on the right day!

   

 Thanks for reading,
   ♥Mattie
    

Writing Tip Wednesday

 The Top Five Ways Writers Bore Readers

We are all guilty of these in our writing sometimes, myself included. I'm going to start with number 5 and work down to number 1.

#5 --- Stiff Dialogue

One thing that really bothers me in other's writing is stiff dialogue.
  
     "Hey how are you?" Molly said.
     "Good." said Jeff.
     "That's good," said Molly.

 Booring! No one wants to read something like that. Dialogue can tell a story all on it's own. Let's try that super short scene again.

Molly bounded up to Jeff and tapped him on the back, then smiled at him. "Hey, how are you doing today?" She asked.
  Jeff shifted his eyes away then answered casually, "I'm doing pretty good."
  "That's good," Molly replied, but she could sense that something was wrong.

   You can see that you can add details into the way people say things to make them seem more "alive". But space is short so I'm going to move on.

#4 Unimportant Information

This one bothers me too.
     Storm was a tall brown Appaloosa, whose mother was Misty, whose father was Blackhawk, and Storm liked apples and oats the best but he sometimes liked eating hay. He spent most of his days grazing but sometimes he like to watch butterflies fly by or canter around wildly.

There is a definite fine line here between too much information and a beautiful description. Use your judgement/common sense mostly on this one. Would you want to read about what times of day that Storm takes a drink? Probably not. I think you rather read the exciting book called Appaloosy.

#3 Enticing Openings and Wrap-up endings

Sometimes I have a hard time with this one. Close your eyes. Wait, don't close your eyes, you won't be able to read this. Imagine this instead. You've published your novel! It lies on a bookstore shelf waiting for someone to purchase it with their hard earned money. They read the back of it. They like it. So they open the book at start reading the first few sentences of the story. But-Alas! the story seems to be just not quite interesting enough for them to want to buy it. They close it and put it back on the shelf, uninterested.
     Now-Bang! Your back in real life. You really don't want that for YOUR novel, right? Use enticing openings. Take a look at Appaloosy as an example. I've snatched a lot of people if they would only read the first few paragraphs.
    As for endings-Not with a whimper, but with a bang! You want people to remember your story, to have the last words ring in their head. Think of your favorite book. How does that one end?

I think that this post is getting a bit too long. I wouldn't want to, uh, bore you with it, so I think that I'll leave the last two ways for next Wednesday. Can't wait, eh?
  
   Your friend,
   Mattie