A NOVEL Writing Site.com

Personal Motivation, The Writing Industry

Writing Lesson 3.20 – Should You Enter Writing Contests?

By Naomi Musch, on January 20th, 2012

As you pop around the web or read writing magazines, you’ll pretty quickly discover writing contests. In fact, we even host one on this site each spring. You may mull these contests over and wonder if they’re worth your while. Winning would be fantastic! But what do you have to gain for all your effort if you lose?

Contests are a great way to stretch your writing wings. Of course, not every contest is for everybody. To randomly select contests to enter would be as bad as submitting an article to just any-old-market without studying its style, needs, and requirements first. If you haven’t studied writing craft long, or if you haven’t been through the experience of having your work critiqued, then entering a national contest would probably not be the best use of your time.

However, if you’re looking at a smaller contest with a topic or style that really suits you, then entering a writing contest can have value in a several ways.

First, you just might win. You might not, of course. Your odds are always 1 in however-many-entrants-you’re-up-against. And you may be competing against some real whizz-bang writers. But even if you don’t win or don’t make an honorable mention, you will doubtless learn something that will improve your skill. If the contest is small enough, you may get individual feedback from the judges. This is a HUGE deal. As long as you can handle helpful criticism, you stand to gain insight that most people have to pay for.

But even if you don’t get feedback, you may learn to streamline a story, set parameters, follow guidelines, train your mind around a theme, work on a deadline, and so on. And then there is always the possibility of residual rewards.

Case in point: Two years ago I entered a very large contest with a national publisher for a contemporary romance novella (one of those stories that’s too long to be a short story and too short to be a novel). In this case, the contest word limit was 25,000 words. My story came in just under that.

I’d never written a novella before. I’d also only written in the historical genre, never contemporary. But as I was working on a separate, long project involving tons of research, stepping back to enter the contest gave me a refreshing break. It taught me a different style. In writing a novella that didn’t really require research, I knew I’d see closure on a story much sooner than in my long fiction. The contest also gave me very clear guidelines for writing this contemporary story. You could say those guidelines walked me through the process. I really didn’t know how it would go, but when I finished, I felt I’d written a very sound piece. I also discovered that I actually enjoyed writing contemporary stuff — much more than I ever thought I would.

So did I win? No. I don’t even know if I came close. But…

I was so pleased with that story that I decided to modify it for a different publisher (so it wouldn’t be seen as the same storyline as for that contest) and I submitted it elsewhere. Within weeks, I had a contract for publication of my novella, which you’ll see somewhere on the sidebar of this page. It’s called Heart Not Taken.

I am really glad I entered that contest!

Not every story you write might come to such a fine conclusion. But you will never know unless you try.

Exercise

Investigate some contests online. Beware of sites that charge high entry fees. Many contests are free to enter. Some of the larger contests charge nominal reading fees of $10-$30.

Take a look at your current Work-in-Progress. Is it something you think might do well in a contest? Are you ready to expose it to the world? Contests like the one here at A Novel Writing Site require only the first several pages. Other contests might involve a scene, a line, or a blurb. Be prepared to meet requirements.

If you decide to enter a contest, follow the submission directions exactly!

Write on!

Naomi

http://www.naomimusch.com

Goal, Motivation and Conflict

Writing Lesson 3.19 – Say What…?

By Lynn Dean, on January 13th, 2012

I just read this headline:

Icebreaker Makes Push to Reach Iced-In Alaska City

and my caring nature*, couple with my earnest desire to be reassured of the imminent safety of my stranded fellow countrymen, forced me to click and read the article immediately.

*ahem, yes, sarcasm…but really, I DID click.

Within three paragraphs I learned that Russian barges are cutting through the ice at a rate of about 5 miles per hour to sell Alaskans some oil because they might run out before Spring.

Say what? Where’s the fast-paced drama, the life-or-death stakes, the selfless sacrifice to save mankind?

I feel a little duped, click the big X in the corner. Screen closed.

That’s what happens with all too many books, I’m afraid.

Picture yourself at your local bookstore. You walk in, and the smell of java and fresh ink makes you a bit giddy. You wander the aisles until a cover catches your eye. Maybe the title is clever or the artwork is arresting. Either way, unless this happens, you don’t pick up the book. You just walk right by. Same thing happens if you’re browsing Amazon for an ebook. You scan the lists of titles and thumbnail images. If nothing catches your eye, it’s as if the book did not exist because, for you, it didn’t.

But something DOES catch your eye. Giddiness becomes anticipation. What next? You read the book’s description and take a peek at the first page or two.

A good story needs a high concept–a compelling need to conquer an obstacle before a looming deadline.

And that’s why the story above lost my interest. It seemed to be purely a commercial venture. The ships are well equipped to cut through ice, and they’re in no particular hurry. No one is in any immediate danger of freezing to death.

Ho-hum. The book goes back on the shelf.

Exercise:

Analyze a favorite thriller or adventure story (book or video). What’s at stake? Why can’t the hero just walk away or call 911 and wait for the authorities?
Take a cold, heartless look at your current writing project. What’s at stake? Why can’t your hero walk away? What compels him (or her) to fight through?
The American patriot Thomas Paine said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Recognize that few people leave the comfort of normal life except for the fear of loss or hope of gain.

In telling a story with a high concept you will not have to preach to inspire and encourage moral greatness in your readers.

The lessons will unfold naturally from context and be all the more memorable. Everyone needs a hero.

Genre, The Writing Industry

Writing Lesson 3.18 – Conventions of Genre

By shannonmcnear, on January 6th, 2012

NOTE: Please welcome Shannon McNear back to the NOVELWritingSite, but this time she is not a guest. Shannon is the newest member of our pool of contributors, and we’re so glad to have her with us!

In my last blog post, I discussed genres and mentioned that what genre you write affects how you write. This time, I’m going to expand upon that idea.

I spent a lot of years just writing whatever I wanted, however I wanted. The idea that different kinds of stories called for different modes of writing seemed too restrictive—until I began to really understand that structure was what made genres what they were. (See my last post.) And it wasn’t just the structure that made the difference, but building materials as well. I found that when I was expanding my 60,000 word story aimed at the category romance market (those short Love Inspired reads you can find at Wal-Mart) to a full-length, 90-100,000 word story, it involved more than adding a subplot and including scenes that I’d only referred to before in passing. It changed how I worded the sentences, because suddenly I had the freedom to add description there wasn’t previously room for.

Like last time, this won’t be an exhaustive list of all the details, but just some highlights of what die-hard readers have come to expect. I pretty well covered the basic types of plots in the last post, so this time I’ll start with your …

FIRST CHAPTER

The overall principle for first chapters is, of course, that you want to get to the meat, define what kind of story you’re writing, and what it’s about.

In romance, the hero and heroine should meet by the end of the first chapter, with sparks already flying. We should know what drives each of them, and have some hint of why they’re perfect (or mostly so) for each other, and what they have to overcome to have their HEA (happily ever after).

For mystery, the reader wants the fun of finding out “whodunit,” so the story should begin with some kind of crime being discovered, with clues laid out along the way—but don’t reveal until the very end “whodunit.” This differs from …

… Suspense, where you’re allowed to not only reveal who the villain is, but have scenes in his POV (point of view). Something is at stake—the life of the hero or heroine, or someone close to them. Maybe it’s a regional threat, or worldwide, in which case your story is considered a thriller. These stories often start with a BANG—jump right into the action, with either a literal shooting, something blowing up, or a car chase.

This kind of beginning, however, wouldn’t work for a women’s fiction, where the story is more about thoughts and emotions and how people deal with them than about the actual events. Women’s fiction should, in its own way, be no less gripping, but remember that the draw is emotion, not action. (Hence why it’s called “women’s” fiction … and suspense tends to be the genre of choice for the guys.) You don’t, however, have to have the main character’s love interest (if there is one, and it’s perfectly fine to have a thread of romance in WF) show up in the first chapter.

Science fiction is generally, but not always, set on other worlds or in space, with technology that we don’t have yet, but theoretically could at some point. Here you have your choice of openings from the other genres—I’ve seen suspense-style first chapters, romance-style first chapters, and so on—but remember, you want to establish right away that this is SF. The same applies to fantasy, or steampunk, or paranormal … or even historical, for that matter.

Now, let’s talk about …

POINT OF VIEW (POV)

In romance, you generally have only two POV’s: the heroine and the hero. Since girls are usually the ones reading romance, the story usually starts with the heroine’s POV, and is split about 60/40 or 70/30 with the hero’s.

In women’s fiction, mystery, or chick-lit, or the young adult versions of the same, it’s perfectly fine to have one POV. In many genres, however, there can be two or three or even more. Some sweeping historical or fantasy sagas employ a dozen or more. Just remember—the more POV’s you use, the more work you make for yourself, and the more skill required to weave them all together and keep everything consistent. This is why new writers are generally counseled to keep their early stories to one or two POV’s.

Another thing: romance and other classic genres are generally written from third person, past tense. Women’s fiction and chick-lit (and much YA) is equally first-person, whether past or present tense. I’ve also seen classic westerns written in first person. (Louis L’Amour was wonderful at this.)

And that leads to …

THE ENDING

Mystery readers like the element of surprise. They want to guess who committed the crime, so don’t give anything away! Suspense and thrillers, however, are all about—big surprise here—the suspense and thrill of the chase. Build yourself a big, bad, super-smart villain, and then build how the hero/heroine will go about outwitting him. Neither suspense nor SF/fantasy readers, however, enjoy the resolution just coming out of nowhere. If your hero is going to suddenly develop superpowers at the end, you better have laid clues along the way that this will happen.

In romance, everyone knows the hero and heroine will end up together, and the readers are expecting that HEA (Happily Ever After) ending! The fun is watching them get there, the push and pull of the dialogue, seeing the characters discover how the other person has that one quality they can’t live without.

In women’s fiction, however, it isn’t guaranteed that the heroine’s going to end up with a particular person or in a particular place, so you still have that element of surprise. But the reader usually expects an ending that “feels right,” even if isn’t happy.

Now let’s talk about …

SENTENCE STRUCTURE and WORD CHOICE

For suspense, thriller, and adventure, you generally want shorter, choppier sentences that get right to the point and aren’t cluttered with a lot of description, especially in the more tense scenes. (There are exceptions to this rule, but usually these are writers who have been published for decades.) The same for your dialogue. A good website for digging deep into suspense-writing techniques is the Forensics and Faith blog by Brandilyn Collins. Anything I have to say on the matter would be rendered redundant by this site!

Romance, historical, and fantasy tend to have a more relaxed sentence rhythm. Your sentences can be longer and more flowing, the descriptions more detailed, the dialogue less terse. Don’t go overboard, though, or you might find yourself guilty of writing something called “purple prose.” Then again, it’s possible you lean more toward literary fiction than genre fiction, but that’s another post for another time …

ONE LAST THING!

These are not hard-and-fast rules! These are general guidelines … observations about how things work, if you will. Be careful to not get all legalistic about something that is not a rule. (That would make a good post topic, too, wouldn’t it?)