On Writing and Publishing

RPCVs who love books and magazines and want to find work that matches their love of literature and language are drawn to the world of publishing. They want to get a job where they can sit around all day and read books and get paid for it, you know,  like being a PCV. As a way of helping newly returning PCVs, I am going to post a series of short blogs about finding work in publishing. It is an area that I know a little about and these blogs might be of some help to all of you currently going through reverse cultural shock. Getting a job in publishing can be a problem because most RPCVs lack “publishingese,” the insider’s special blend of vocabulary, knowledge, skills, and manner of doing business that conveys a cosmopolitan, confident, can-do attitude worthy of an entry-level position. Aspiring publishers also lack information about the . . .

A free lance editor who has worked very successfully with an award winning RPCV writer is Lorraine Bodger. I want to recommend Lorraine to you if you are looking around for help with your manuscript. If you are submitting anything to an agent or publisher, it has got to be ready to be published. Lorraine might be the person who can make it happen for you. Here’s what she has to say: LORRAINE BODGER: PRIVATE PROFESSIONAL EDITING FOR YOUR WORK Whether you’ve got a book proposal or finished ms that’s ready to be submitted OR you’re under contract and working on a final ms OR you’re aiming for a POD book, your best chance of success is to present as perfect a piece as possible. I can help. A lot.  I’ve been working with writers for more than fifteen years, and I treat my clients with the respect and care . . .

John Cheever won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1979 for his collection of stories. He also won as well the National Book Critics Circle Awardand the Natinal Medal for Literature by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His work also has been included in the Library of America. He is considered by many one of the finest short story writers that America has produced. However, when Cheever attended Thayer Academy as a teenager he was expelled for not studying. Nevertheless, at the age of eighteen, one of his first published work, “Expelled” appeared in The New Republic. In 1942 when he enlisted in the army he tested low-normal on the government IQ test.  It was the same year that he published his first short-story collection, The Way Some People Live. So, when someone tells you that you are not smart enough to be a writer, remember John Cheever.

Okay, here are first lines from 10 Memoirs by RPCVs. I’ll make it easier and give you the names of the authors. You need only match the prose with the person. 1. The nicest thing anyone ever said to me came cloaked in an insult which, while essentially inaccurate, proved astute in its initial perceptiveness: “We all thought you’d fail.” 2. They took us in the Land Rover, Mike and me, with Kim Buck driving. We had planned to leave that morning, as it was a good four hours’ drive, although it was only about sixty miles from Mbeya. 3. A single lantern filled the room with flickering light, throwing Fanta’s shadow toward the door. The glow bronzed her tight cheekbone, her deflated breast, her moving stomach. 4. These were momentous times. Pope John died and the only clergyman with the guts to stare a television camera in the face . . .

Phil Damon (Ethiopia 1963-65) came close, but didn’t get all 10. He missed #6 and #8 Here is the correct list 1. Jack Kerouac, On the Road 2. John Knowles, A Separate Peace 3. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby 4. James Jones, From Here to Eternity 5. William Faulkner, Light in August 6. Hamilton Basso, Th View From Pompey Head 7. Irwin Shaw, The Eighty Yard Run 8. John O’Hara, You Can Always Tell Newark 9. Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms 10. Frederick Exley, A Fan’s Notes

This snowy day I have been thumbing through writing magazines and it is amazing the advice you get from second rate writers (like myself!) telling other writers (like you!) how to write. I have been reading about ‘submission strategies for literary journals’ and ‘what makes literary fiction literary?” Most of the advice is predictable (by the way that’s a no-no, writing a predictable story.) The advice goes this way: Know the literary journals; Themed issues are your friend; Play the odds. Etc. Not too useful. One comment stood out, this from Marc Fitten, editor of the Chattahooochee Review. I never heard of the little magazine, nor Marc, but he commented, “A strong, distinctive voice is the first thing I read for. Whammo! Does the voice grab me and make me read the story.” That I agree with. Now whether you are writing fiction or non-fiction, a memoir or an academic tome, you can’t . . .

Last month (1/30/2010) there was a great article in The Wall Street Journal  entitled, “The Death of the Slush Pile” by Kathrine Rosman. It told of the depressing straits in publishing, how an unknown–unless extremely lucky–can’t  find a publishers. No publishing house is reading unsolicited manuscripts. Most film producers won’t read anything that comes from a new writers, unless they have an agent. Why? Well, film and television executives are afraid of being sued for plagiarism. There is the 1990 case where Art Buchwald sued Paramount, alleging that the studio took his idea and turned it into the movie, “Coming to America.” Also publishers and movie executives say they can’t avoid to hire young college graduates to read through the mail. And since 9/11 and the aftermath, remember the anthrax scares? Well, everyone is afraid to open the mail. It doesn’t get any easier (getting published) at place where unsolicited work is read. The . . .

It takes more than prose to get your book published. First, there is the competition, other writers who have written books they want to sell. For example, more than 5,000 students graduate every year from creative writing programs. Most, if not all of them, have collections of stories or a novels ready to be sent to an agent. Any agent. On top of that you have all those would-be writers who attend literary festivals and conferences all summer long. Plus, and let’s not forget, those silent novelists steadily (we might add cunningly, too) writing away in  backrooms of homes somewhere in the world, churning out stories while living in garrets, hovels, or Third World countries. You can’t stop anyone who wants to write. Writing a book, however, is the easy part. You write your book on your own, at your own pace, enjoying (for the most part) the process of creating on paper, or on . . .

Day Nine 1. Write. 2. Write more. 3. Write even more. 4. Write even more than that. 5. Write when you don’t want to. 6. Write when you do. 7. Write when you have something to say. 8. Write when you don’t. 9. Write every day. 10. Keep writing. Brian Clark www.copyblogger.com You now have made: A commitment to writing your book Developed a working schedule Know what your story is Have developed a number of characters Thought of a plot of the entire story Have a short narrative of what your book is about Take the day off. This is the first of the Coyne Holidays. Time to let your book brew in your subconscious while you decide if you want to continue the course, invest money and yourself in How To Write A Novel In 100 Days or Less. To help you decide, I am including now a . . .

 I sit here religiously every morning-I sit down for eight hours every day-and the sitting down is all. In the course of that working day of 8 hours I write 3 sentences which I erase before leaving the table in despair…. Sometimes it takes all my resolution and power of self-control to refrain from butting my head against the wall.  Joseph Conrad Keep asking the question, “why?” As you reach the start of your second week you will have a stack of 5×7 character cards that spell out intimate details about the personal life of each and every character in your story, down to their waist measurement and favorite color. [The novelist Vladimir Nabokov, by the way, composed all of his books on index cards.] You will have a one page summary of what your book is all about, basically the ‘plot’ of your novel. You will also have begun . . .

Day Seven When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away-even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time. Kurt Vonnegut Figure out who you need in the story and what they do together or to one another, and what the story does to them. Are they all pulling together in one direction? Are they pulling in six different directions? Ask yourself the critical question: Which would be most interesting to the reader? That’s the real litmus test of character development and plotting. Will the reader be interested? Will the reader care? To be successful in character and plot development, you need to make hard choices. You need to be ruthless with your characters and your story. Who’s in, who’s out? What’s in, . . .

Day Six The invention of movable type created opportunities for writers that could barely be imagined in Gutenberg’s day. The opportunities that await writers in the near future are immeasurably greater.  Jason Epstein, editor You need a strong protagonist regardless of what you are writing, a novel, memoir, or non-fiction. Most writers have a problem with creating a character who is larger than life, fully developed, and a consistent protagonist. For books of non-fiction, the larger than life hero (or villain) steps out of the pages of history. He or she is the reason you are drawn to the story. Remember, your protagonist is your story’s major character. This is the person with whom your reader will identify. You want your readers to care about your protagonist. He or she is your new best friend. You need to care about your protagonist. If you as the writer hate the protagonist . . .

Day Five You can never know enough about your characters. W. Somerset Maugham Get a stack of 5 X 7 cards and put each character’s name at the top on a card. Next, think about the role each plays in your story, and what kind of person each is: age, education, place of birth, hot-headed, funny, fat, ugly. What are their quirks? Do they wash their hands 500 times a day? Do they hear voices? Are they kind to kids but love to torture cats? Do they have a favorite expression or phrase that they say over and over again?  Put it down, put down so much that you finally come to know these characters intimately. Alfred Hitchcock would write down the scenes of his movies on index cards, one scene to a card. That way, as he said, by the time he was ready to shoot the film, he . . .

Day Four Begin with an individual and you find that you have created a type; begin with a type and you find that you have created-nothing.  F. Scott Fitzgerald For the novel that you are writing pick your characters first, as they are harder to pick than a story. In his book on writing the legendary book editor Thomas McCormack writes, “There is no doubt in my mind that the choice of the cast of characters is the most important decision the novelist makes, and that the choice cannot be optimally informed without attention to how they plug into one another, their circuitry.” When writing, the plot may or may not change, but the characters will develop and have lives of their own. As your characters develop, they’ll take on distinct personalities, and as with good friends, you’ll know in certain situations what they will or will not do. Mystery . . .

Day Three  Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.  Mark Twain Most novels are written to a formula, especially big best sellers. For example, John Baldwin, co-author of The Eleventh Plague: A Novel of Medical Terror, developed a simple formula that he used to structure his novel.           His ten-step formula is: 1. The hero is an expert. 2. The villain is an expert. 3. You must watch all of the villainy over the shoulder of the villain. 4. The hero has a team of experts in various fields behind him. 5. Two or more on the team must fall in love. 6. Two or more on the team must die. 7. The villain must turn his attention from his initial goal to the team. 8. The villain and the hero must live to do battle again in the sequel. 9. All deaths . . .