I’ve been teaching a class at the local Community College about writing fiction for publication. Not a “how to write” class, but rather geared to providing knowledge to decrease writing and editing time to finish a book. Things like editing tools, terminology, what POV and “show, don’t tell” mean—nothing earthshaking, but more condensed so it doesn’t take years to find out, usually the hard way. Things it would be nice to know before reaching what they thought was the end of their journey with that story but is actually just the beginning of a lot more work to make it shine.
At least that’s how it worked (and still works) for me. I remember submitting my first manuscript to numerous contests and not understanding why, after I made edits based on comments, I never seemed to move up in the rankings. Then one judge took the time to highlight a chapter, showing me all the POV changes. Which didn’t help to begin with, because I’d had comments that said my POV was all over the place, but what the heck was POV? (OK, just so you know, this was before Google—yes, I’m old.) Not only did this judge highlight the changes, but she actually explained that POV meant point of view. A MAJOR ah-ha moment! Obviously, that wasn’t my only problem, but fixing that did start me on an upward trajectory and helped me understand there were many things that I didn’t know I didn’t know.
I have a section on developing a networking pitch, in addition to an agent/editor pitch. The networking pitch is what you say to friends and family you haven’t seen for a while when they ask, “So, what are you doing these days?” It’s not all about the current WIP, it’s about affirming, out loud, that you’re a writer. You may have a day job, but the more times you tell people “I’m a writer, and I write xxxx (genre),” the more you begin to believe that you ARE a writer. Not to mention it tends to give you a reason to finish your book so the next time you meet that person, you can tell them you have manuscripts out on submission, or just uploaded your book for sale.
I may be a published author, but I still feel like a new writer. I learn new things on an almost daily basis. Every workshop or webinar I watch teaches me something I can use to make my writing better. I don’t believe I could ever possibly know it all. I’ve made all the mistakes most new writers do, and that’s why I teach the class. I feel great when I read comments about what they learned and how motivated they are. I feel the same way each time I get home from a writer’s conference or retreat where I’ve been exposed to so many great writer hacks or learned new skills.
So, to all you new writers: Writing may be your passion, but if you want to publish (and sell) books, know that you will have to learn a lot more than coming up with a great story and characters. Take classes. Go to conferences. Read books on writing. AND READ A LOT OF GOOD BOOKS IN YOUR GENRE. Pay attention to why you like the books, and what didn’t work for you. Analyze the good, the bad, and the ugly, and use that to help make your books better.
And most of all, WRITE ON!