What You Read Makes A Difference

Writers love to read. What we love to read, of course, varies widely. Yet how does that affect the writing and then, of course, the path to publication?

Q) I have written my first novel, and it's a story I believe in. Yet as I send it to agents, I'm getting a consistent question back: whom do I write like? To whom would I compare myself? The trick of it is, I really prefer non-fiction to fiction, so how do I figure this out?

A)

Lynne Griffin
Agents ask this question of nonfiction and fiction writers primarily to hone a pitch. Editors want to know this to sell your book to the house. If the publishing house can visualize your novel finding a home with a specific subset of readers--the bigger the group the better--you'll be more likely to be offered a deal.

Be sure that you make accurate comparisons. Resist the urge to shoot the moon by saying you're the next Stephen King or Ann Patchett. Instead it's best to make specific comparisons. I pitched Life Without Summer as Ordinary People meets Deep End of the Ocean. Later my editorial team fine tuned it to--Good Grief meets Deep End. Why? Because comparisons should be contemporary so a larger group of readers can relate and of course should be compared to books readers know, those that did well in the market.

How to come up with your comparison titles? Read. Read. Read. Doing your homework is more than half the battle in this business. Never stop reading.

Amy MacKinnon
Interesting. My first instinct was to respond to your obvious question about comparing your writing to a published work, but I think there's a more urgent consideration here: Why are you setting yourself on the fiction track if you prefer nonfiction?

Look, it's a tough business. You will not reap satisfaction in a $big$ deal, you will not discover contentment when you make the NYT's bestseller list, the reviews will give you no solace. The true joy in the writer's life is found in the writing. It is the only time you'll feel whole. Write what you love, write your passion, and then you'll know exactly where your work fits in relation to others. And from a purely business oriented standpoint, it's a heck of a lot easier to sell nonfiction than a novel. I like nonfiction too, I read a lot of it. But I far and away prefer novels when I want to cozy up on the couch with a cup of tea. So the ball's back in your court. Why are you spending precious hours of your life pursuing something you don't want?

Lisa Marnell
My gut feeling is that you probably have a favorite author or two that you may be similar to. Given that you may not read much fiction, I'd look back to authors you read as a child or teenager, books you love. Are you similar to any of those authors? If you can't pinpoint yourself in regards to an author's style, then I'd recommend you think about genre and fit yourself comfortably in between books on that shelf.

Hannah Roveto
One question to ask yourself is are they asking because they want a way to categorize you, or because they perhaps feel you need to define yourself, and thus in turn refine your writing? If you write fiction, it is important to read fiction, and what you should do is to go to the library and talk with those fabulous men and women who seem to read everything. Tell them what you like to read, what it is about non-fiction and the particular books you read that you enjoy. Give them a brief overview of what you write, and ask for suggestions. They will get you on your way. At the same time, read about craft, so that you can read as a writer, too. In time, you will find you are learning from fiction writers (Guardian Angels, in the words of Martha Southgate) who are most similar to yourself.

Reading

Posted by Lynne Griffin

Put the words literature and professor together, and do you get a case of the hives? Maybe visions of long papers and red pen come to mind? Don't let that turn you off to the book called, How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster.

This book is filled with insight into great works of fiction that draw on Greek myths, Shakespeare, and the bible. You may have known that West Side Story was a contemporary Romeo and Juliet, but did you know that the scene in Toni Morrison's Beloved when Sethe is protecting her children as four white men come after her is based on the book of Revelation's four horsemen of the apocalypse?

The book's subtitle is--A lively and entertaining guide to reading between the lines, and let me tell you, it's as much a book for writers as readers. If you're going to put your characters at a table to enjoy a meal, you better know why writers do that. And if you're interested in planting symbols or burying meaning read the chapters called, Is that a symbol? and What does that mean?

This is a terrific book to add to your library, and though I haven't read Foster's next, How to Read Novels Like a Professor, I imagine that's a keeper too. So if you're interested in learning more about craft in a new way, pick up a copy and be prepared to be entertained. And think of the trivia you'll have for your next get together with writers or avid readers.

Taking Feedback

Posted by Lynne Griffin

I've been doing some manuscript consultation through Grub Street and through my own company and I'm learning a lot about how writers respond to editorial feedback. Now I'm not an agent looking to buff and polish a manuscript to get it ready for submission. And I'm not an editor at a publishing house. I'm reading like a writer and giving honest development feedback on stories and nonfiction book proposals. There are a number of myths out there about editorial feedback, some I admit to grappling with in my writing career. I'm going to attempt to bust a few.

Myth 1
If your work needs editing, it isn't very good.

Every writer needs a good editor, or two! From developmental edits about structure and voice to copy edits for consistent grammar, open your mind to this: you will be edited. Before any kind of submission, be sure to find smart, savvy readers. Your work will absolutely be better as a result of constructive feedback.

Myth 2
If you accept the editorial feedback, then the story isn't yours.

You are in the driver's seat making the final choices about what stays and goes, and what is deepened and strengthened. If you write with the hopes of being published, then get set to embrace a team mentality when it comes to fine-tuning your work.

Myth 3
If there is too much editorial feedback, then the story probably isn't worth revising.

Feedback on a first draft may well be overwhelming, but keep in mind most writers believe it is in revision that the real writing begins. I doubt Arthur Golden or Wally Lamb would show you first drafts of Memoirs of a Geisha or She's Come Undone.

Myth 4
If an editor suggests that an aspect of your work is confusing, he or she just doesn't get what you were trying to do.

When one trusted reader says he doesn't get, and then another says the same, it's time to listen. If sophisticated readers don't understand something, likely readers won't either. There's an art and a science to listening to feedback, and of course then to taking it.

Myth 5
If your editor gives you feedback, that means he or she doesn't like the work.

Often editors can be more objective about your work than you can. Simply because he or she points out flaws in argument or weak plot lines doesn't mean he or she doesn't like your overall effort. It's all too easy to take feedback personally. This business requires you to know when to put on your armor or when to close the office door.

Like anything in this journey toward living a literary life, it's important to learn where you are in accepting honest, constructive feedback. Perspective taking is hard work, but I will say it's important to do it. If you're able to let go of mythical thinking and really sort through the feedback you've received, only then will you be able to see what rings true and what doesn't. You'll be in a better position to execute changes that deepen the piece, and in the process become a better writer.

Working through my own feelings about accepting feedback is it's own work-in-progress. I'm willing but not always able to challenge my thinking about accepting feedback, but when I can, my writing is stronger for it. I'm truly grateful for the cadre of trusted readers who've challenged me to reach for a new personal best when it comes to story telling.

The first step in debunking myths related to accepting editorial feedback is to be open to what gets in the way of seeing it's validity. What gets in your way? And how do you attempt to overcome it?

Magazines

Posted by Lynne Griffin

If you're in the market for an agent, check out the interview series in Poets & Writers, or the article on agents looking for your work in Writer's Digest.

Want ten tips for curing the mid-book blues? Then read next month's article in The Writer.

Love Hallie Ephron's Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel? Then you'll love her article in the September issue of The Writer.

There are plenty of magazines to peruse aimed at helping you refine your writing while staying tuned into the marketplace side of writing. Whether you subscribe, buy a copy now and again, or visit each magazine's on line equivalent, writer's magazines are a useful tool.

Do you have any magazine recommendations for our readers? If so, please share them in the comments section. And do check out the article featuring friend of our blog, Gail Konop Baker's memoir. It's in Writer's Digest, on stands now. It's terrific. Congrats, Gail.

Explode the Code

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Little House on the Prairie Series Laura Ingalls Wilder

Night of the Red Horse by Patricia Leitch

Narnia books by CS Lewis

Backwater by Joan Bauer

Upper Fourth at Mallory Towers by Enid Blighton

The Beach Club by Elin Hilderbrand

Star Girl by Jerry Spinelli

A Kiss from Maddelena by Christopher Castellani

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

Avoidance by Michael Lowenthal

Epigraphs and Other Front Matters

Posted by Lynne Griffin

A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day. --Emily Dickinson

Last week Amy wrote eloquently about the joy of writing the dedication and acknowledgment pages of her book. Lisa started this week off with a poem by Emily Dickinson, which got me thinking about epigraphs. Those snippets of famous quotes or poems often found at the beginning of a book and sometimes the beginning of each chapter.

Most know the intent of an epigraph is to in some way summarize or link a theme from one work to another. Sometimes they're used as a counter example, and sometimes simply to set the tone of the work. A personal preference among writers, some use them, some don't.

As a reader, I love finding them in books and trying to make the connection. As a writer, I love searching for just the right one to fit the theme of my writing. In fact, the working title for Life Without Summer came from an epigraph. I so loved this seed for my novel, that though I abandoned my first title for the book, I worked the phrase into my novel at a pivotal scene.

Just as it is critical to get constructive feedback on your writing, I think it's important to get feedback on your choice of epigraph. It won't serve your purpose of drawing the reader in, if no one gets even a hint of a possible connection. Getting feedback can also help you avoid a common pitfall, one I fell into with my first epigraph for Summer. Some quotes are overused, and you need someone brave enough to tell you so. My editor, though she liked my original choice, thought it had been used a lot, and she advised me to branch out to find something that better captured the redemptive tone of my novel.

Another downside to the use of epigraphs is that they can come off as pretentious. Alyssa McDonald of The Blog Books wrote a great post on this. She said, A good epigraph doesn't need to be learned or literary in itself, it just has to add something.

And keep in mind there is a time and a place for epigraphs. Miss Snark wrote in her much beloved blog, that epigraphs are a total pain in her asterisk. Her advice, and mine, is to keep them out of your query letter and sample pages. You can add them to the final manuscript, when the time comes.

So in the spirit of sharing poems this week at The Writers' Group, I'll share my epigraph for Life Without Summer. I hope it draws you in, making you want see inside the world I've created. To me it captures a tangle of emotions, as night casts a shadow on a glorious day.

O summer day beside the joyous sea!
O summer day so wonderful and white,
So full of gladness and so full of pain!
Forever and forever shalt thou be
To some the gravestone of a dead delight,
To some the landmark of a new domain.

From A Summer Day by the Sea

--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Majoring in Minors

By Amy

My favorite part of writing fiction -- well, one of my favorites, there are many -- is discovering minor characters. When they introduce themselves, I need to know them wholly: feel the texture of their hair, smell the layers of cigarette smoke dulling their nylon windbreakers, understand what it means when they dance in place or are stilled by the grace of death. A minor character's life needs to be bigger than the short turn each has on the page.

The great Michael Lowenthal (really, he's that good, read his books) did a workshop at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace conference this past May and spoke to this very issue. If I had Michael's eloquence, I could explain it better, how to make what could easily and certainly should be a two-dimensional character three-full-D. Lynne was there, she'll probably remember the short story he gave as an example (was it a Flannery O'Connor?) that included a large woman, a woman whose bulk and personality filled a doctor's waiting room. She was lush with ego, the characters around her wilted under her disdain -- in a few carefully chosen words. Michael's examples truly did astonish.

The fleshing out of minor characters is crucial because they're able to reveal much about a protagonist. William H. Macy believes a good actor reacts to other actors. I believe a good character reacts to other characters. After all, in life don't we find much of our behavior to be a reaction to those around us? Minor characters reveal to readers both how our protagonists are perceived by the world and how our protagonists perceive their worlds to be. Only a fully-formed minor character can execute both duties well.

I didn't know this when I set out to write my book. It wasn't until it was my turn to have a passage critiqued by Lisa, Hannah, and Lynne that they said they fell in love with a character who appeared for two brief pages. To me, he was only a means to an end. They assumed he would have a recurring role. That night, they set the bar much higher for me. Every one of the people who appeared in my book needed to have a backstory that was hinted at, a presence that was tangible. Though it meant revising, it hardly seemed a challenge it was so much fun.

Writing this now, processing what the other three women of my group have taught me, I suppose it's somehow misleading to use the term "minor character." For the truth of the story, each needs to fill the proverbial waiting room.

Why We Keep Reading...

Posted by Lisa

You haven't heard enough about Harry Potter. Really, you haven't. You may not be a fan. Perhaps you've never cracked open a book. Or you read the first and second books, then lost track, somehow, along the way. You might want to check back in; this phenomenon is worth studying.

The top reasons why Potter fans keep on reading:

1- We care about Harry. Who wouldn't? He's kind, orphaned, cute (bordering on Hollywood Hunk post puberty).

2- The setting is well woven and complete. Hogwarts, the school, is so real I close my eyes and I am there. Why? Details like the photograph of a wizard who demands a password from students entering their dorm rooms

3- It's unpredictable. Plain and simple. Readers love that.

4- It's unbelievably creative and unique. The author created the ideas of an invisibility cloak and a mirror that reflects your innermost desires - you mean those things don't really exist?

5- There is conflict and stakes. You-Know-Who. Oh, how that is lacking in some works of fiction (present company sadly included at times, I confess).

The writing has been criticized, but what IS good writing? Frankly, I don't know. It's not literary. But, nonetheless, the prose engages me; I turn page after page, letting minutes slip by unnoticed. I read Harry Potter as a reader. How can I not? But, I read Harry Potter as a writer as well.

As a writer of middle grade and YA to date, I look to Sarah Dessen, Lois Lowry, Jerry Spinelli, and Jack Gantos with awe; I learn from each of these writers each time I sit with one of their novels. They, too, keep readers reading. Isn't that our ultimate goal?

High Hopes for Harry

by Hannah

Is anyone else caught in this quandry? I wait as eagerly as my twelve-year-old for Friday midnight, when hundreds of local families will finish up a night of "Quidditch," spells and contests with purchase of J.K. Rowling's final installment. Talk about summer treats. I have fond memories of evenings stretched out on the sofa reading the sixth book, a hot fudge sundae or two savored along with the story.

Harry Potter? I know. I read the first three books aloud, cover to cover, twice. Those editors missed more than a few awkward phrases and repeat words; there are a number of suggestions I would have made if wearing their shoes.

Yet a tiny voice in my head says the seventh book could surprise me, not just as a fan, but as a writer. I want to see the craft of the whole, now that it is complete. I want to believe.

Creating the arc of one story is, of course, something every author works hard to achieve. Rowling created seven independent arcs that could -- should -- curve together into a massive saga. I want to be astounded; please, let it be so.

Then, of course, how does it end? Not just for Harry, but for so many vividly drawn characters? Did Rowling found a way to give us an ending that satisfies without being too sweet, one that allows her to walk away from this world, should she so desire, for all time? Harry has the potential to say farewell as more than an angst-ridden teen with a wand and a vanquished evil enemy. He and his friends can deliver much more, if Rowling does.

I have theories: Snape and Harry's mother, Harry as a horcrux, Neville's potential, Wormtail's role to come. About who will die and why. Do any of the threads I think I am following trail off into nothing? Or are they woven neatly, tied tight?

The Potter series, according to one passionate analysis, builds on the experiences of England during World War II. A people who refuse to see the rise of evil, a few outspoken leaders, heroes who choose what is right over what is easy, heavy losses paid to win victory. Could this possibly be true? Or are there historians trying as madly to justify their love of a ripping good story from an academic viewpoint as I am from a writerly perspective?

The fan in me expects to enjoy the finale of this phenomenon. To my surprise, the writer in me desperately wants a seventh book that caps this series to perfection, and I don't know why I want this so much. Any thoughts?