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Coffee Break for Writers Monthly E-zine |
In This Issue: • Straight Talk From the Editor • Feature: "Viewpoint Writing 1: Seeing Through Your Character's Eyes" • Paying Fiction Markets • Writing and Publishing News • Writing Exercise • Café Fun • Answers to April's Café Fun • Legal Information • Advertising Information • Suggestions • Feedback • Brewing for June 2008 Straight Talk From the Editor Over 10 years ago I can remember sitting down to write my first novel ("Help From Above"). I had an outline but wasn't quite sure where to begin when it came to writing the first words. It wasn't long, though, until I just started writing. Then, when I finally finished the novel, I had to compose a proposal, chapter-by-chapter outline and all the other things to begin seeking a publisher. To make a long story short, the whole writing and publishing process wasn't easy for me since I was just starting out at the time. In fact, back then I didn't have the Internet to turn to for advice. Instead, I visited the library for books. In the end, I succeeded, but I failed to research my first publisher and ended up being scammed. I was able to gain a new publisher who has been great, but I often wonder if things would have turned out differently had I had access to the Internet and a mentor to help me through the beginning stages of writing and publishing my book. Even with the advanced technology now a days, some aspiring and veteran writers still struggle, and they turn to the Internet for information and advice from the more experienced. This is what has inspired my first ever blog series for Life of a Writer, as well as my biggest contest ever! The blog series and contest tie in together. "Fiction Writing Tips" is the title of my upcoming blog series, and the contest is for a free mentoring session with me, which will continue until the winning writer has finished his or her novel. More details on both will be announced on my Life of a Writer blog on May 13. If you don't want to miss the exciting news, subscribe to Life of a Writer's RSS feed or via e-mail for immediate notification. This "Fiction Writing Tips" blog series and "Mentoring Session Contest" will allow me to help aspiring and veteran writers, which, aside from writing, is another passion of mine. Trust me, you don't want to miss this, especially if you're writing a novel or planning on writing a novel soon! Never give up on your dreams — work toward them, Misti Sandefur Has Coffee Break for Writers helped you land a new client, publish an article or
enhanced your freelance writing skills? Then by all means, please tell let us know how we've helped you. Maybe you have suggestions on how we can improve our e-zine ... feel free to send
those our way as well. Viewpoint Writing 1: Seeing Through Your Character's Eyes By Steve Dempster Of the many different writing styles, viewpoint writing is probably the one that works best for aspiring writers — but what is it? Viewpoint writing is used extensively in modern novels, especially ones that contain fast-paced action. As its name suggests, it's written from the active character's viewpoint, telling the reader what the character sees, how they feel, what they know and so on. We'll look here at seeing through your character's eyes. Maybe you think this is easy. Well, it is — up to a point. It's surprising, though, just how many writers unconsciously lose control of what they are writing and wander off into other writing forms. In viewpoint writing it is essential that you, the author, are "not present" in the scene you are describing. What does that mean? Put simply, you must never, ever use phrases like "little did he know that later ..." or "he had no way of knowing that the killer was just next door." Why? By writing intrusive sentences like the ones above, the illusion of experiencing the story through the character's eyes — as it happens — is shattered. You're reminding the reader that you, the author, know exactly what's going to happen and that this is, after all, just as story. When readers pick up a work of fiction, even though they know full well that it is just that — make-believe — they enter into what's called a "state of suspended disbelief." Now this isn't some weird mental condition. It just means that while reading your book or short story they're quite happy to accept that Captain Jake "shoot-'em-on-sight." Bullet of the 6th. Precinct is indeed a real person. Why else do people happily read fantasy fiction? They know it's not real but are willing to forget that in order to enjoy the story. The last thing they want is to be reminded that it's not real — hence viewpoint writing. Let's run with Jake Bullet. He's just about to enter a bar where he goes on a regular basis. What he doesn't know is that there's a gunman waiting for him. How can this be written? Well, for a start you don't describe the bar. Jake knows it well and he would only really pick up on something different. So this is wrong ... "Jake walked into the bar and took a seat at one of the barstools. He looked at Henry, the barman, who was a big guy and looked as if he'd been in a few brawls. The mirror behind Henry revealed the other drinkers who sat at the tables Jake knew so well. Looking up and down the length of the bar Jake thought how polished it was, as usual. Then he saw the man standing at the end. Little did Jake know that this man was one of Big Mike's torpedoes, sent to shoot him." What's wrong with it? Well, Jake goes in the bar every day. He wouldn't notice, on a conscious level, Henry's appearance, the tables or the polished bar. He'd just see the man, who is a stranger and have no idea who he was. Compare it to — "Jake walked into Henry's and sat down on one of the barstools. 'Give me a beer, Henry.' He tossed a bill to the barman. Glancing up the bar, he saw a heavyset guy watching him. He saw the guy suddenly pull out a gun from inside his jacket." Jake only sees what he sees and only knows what he knows. All he knows in this scene is that a stranger sat at the end of the bar and suddenly pulled out a gun. What happens next is up to you! It would have been fair for Jake to look around and describe what he saw if he had never been in that bar before. As it is, it's his favourite bar, a place he knows well, so there's no need — from his viewpoint — to describe it. Maybe the previous scene was written from the gunman's viewpoint. In that case, you could have"'introduced" Henry's bar to the reader through the gunman's eyes — it would be new to him and you can bet he would be looking around pretty carefully. By writing these two scenes you would have accomplished the introduction of the bar, the entrance of the gunman and, in the next scene, Jake's entrance, setting the stage for what is to follow — but the really important thing is that your reader will be immersed in the action without your intrusion. Steve Dempster writes fiction, copy and informative articles such as the one above.
His website can be found at I Want To Write! Additional Resources: Software to Help You Write: Boost Your Writing Skills! All-in-One Software That Instantly Improves Your Writing and Grammar Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting Dynamic Characters and Effective Viewpoints New Novelist 2.0 Power Writer (Novel and Fiction Writing Software) Paying Fiction Markets Are you looking for writers? If so, send your information to Coffee Break for Writers. Your information will then be posted in our June 2008 issue. There is only one requirement: you MUST pay writers at a rate of $.10 or more per word or a flat rate of $25 or more. It won't cost you a dime to have your call for writers placed in Coffee Break for Writers. Deadline for sending your information: June 1, 2008. American Short Fiction "American Short Fiction has published, and continues to seek short fiction by some of the finest writers working in contemporary literature, whether they are established, or new or lesser-known authors." Seeking: Short fiction stories only. Payment information: Pay is competitive and meets our minimum requirements for paying markets. Boulevard "Boulevard strives to publish only the finest in fiction, poetry, and non-fiction (essays, interviews, etc.). Therefore, we ask that you send only your best work. While we frequently publish writers with previous credits, we are very interested in publishing less experienced or unpublished writers with exceptional promise." Seeking: Fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, etc. Payment information: $25 - $300 (sometimes more) for poetry and $50 - $300 (sometimes more) for fiction. Event "We publish mostly Canadian writers, but are open to anyone writing in English. We do not read manuscripts in January, July, August and December." Seeking: Fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and reviews. Payment information: $22 per printed page, with a mininum of $25 for one page and a maximum of $500. Pays on publication. Orion "Orion welcomes your thoughtful submissions concerning the collision of nature and culture, the commingling of people and place. The editors place a high value on fresh and surprising material, as well as fresh and surprising approaches to material that might otherwise seem commonplace." Seeking: Essays, narrative nonfiction, interviews, profiles, short stories, photoessays and portfolios of fine art. Payment information: Pays anywhere from $50 up to $1000. Sniplits "Can you think of a better place to listen to an audio short than the beach (flip after every 15-minute story), or garden or city park? Sniplits is looking for stories to usher in the season, with themes or settings including, but certainly not limited to: summer romances, baseball, swimming pools and holes, fishing, the weather, motorcycles, vacations/holidays, family reunions, picnics, family trips, parades, camping, canoe trips, etc." Seeking: Short stories. Payment information: $15 - $150 per story, plus royalties. (Editor's note: Even though the $15 does not meet our minimum requirement to be listed in our paying markets section, Sniplit does offer more as well as royalties, which would then meet our minimum.) Writing and Publishing News Have you launched a new e-zine, newsletter, magazine, blog or Web site for writers? Has your publication made editorial changes? Are you currently running a contest for writers that doesn't require an entry fee? Will you be hosting an upcoming event for writers? Send us your press release and your news could appear in the next edition of Coffee Break for Writers! Editorial Comings and Goings: If you who keep track of the contacts for the publications you plan to query, check out the following editorial comings and goings so you can update your list. The publications that follow now have new editors: Babytalk (Meredith Bodgas, senior editor) Health Affairs (Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief). Parenting (Christina Varcelletto, senior products editor; Dawn Roode, managing editor; Elizabeth Shaw, deputy editor). Los Angeles Time (Davan Maharaj, managing editor; John Arthur, moved from managing editor to executive editor). Writing Exercise The following writing exercise is brought to you from "Writing the Stories of Your Life: How to Turn Memories Into Memoir," by Elsa McKeithan: "Think of a story you are planning to write. Write a description of the setting setting
of your story. Write a paragraph or two about who you were at the time the
story happened. Don't add these pages directly into the story. Alternatively,
you can do both of these preparation steps in list format. Put them aside. Begin your story in the present. Write your story with those ideas fresh in your mind. Because you are looking back on the story, your viewpoint is not the same now as it was when it happened. Did this cause any problems for you? How could you solve them." Café Fun How many words — with a minimum of two characters — can you come up with from the following phrase? I'll reveal a few of the words I was able to discover in next month's edition of Coffee Break for Writers. Freelance Writer Answers to April's Café Fun 1. Simultaneous Submissions: When you send your submission to more than one editor, agent or publisher. 2. Reprint: A manuscript, article, essay or etc. that has already been published once. 3. FNAR: First North American Rights. 4. Kill Fee: A fee paid to you by an editor if they later decide not to publish the piece they promised you they'd publish. Usually they'll pay a certain percentage of the agreeded up publication fee they were going to pay you. 5. SASE: Self Addressed Stamped Envelope. Legal Information Coffee Break for Writers has made every effort to be factual with regard to the content and information provided in this e-zine; however, your results may vary. Coffee Break for Writers accepts no liability of any kind for any losses or damages caused or alleged to be caused — directly or indirectly — from the use of the information generated within this e-zine. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form — either whole or in part — without the written permission of the copyright owner. Violations of this copyright notice will be enforced to the fullest extent of the law. If you're interested in any article published in this e-zine, you must contact the editor of Coffee Break for Writers. When inquiring about an article, make sure to mention the title and author of the article. Upon receipt of your inquiry, Coffee Break for Writers will forward your request to the copyright owner of the article or articles. Advertising Information Coffee Break for Writers e-zine is an advertisement-free publication. Therefore, we do not place any advertise- ments in this section of our Website. However, we do accept advertisements on other sections of this Web site as long as they relate to the writing or publishing industry. To find out more about our advertising, visit Affordable Advertising. Once there, you'll also find our demographics. Suggestions If you have any suggestions at all for future issues of Coffee Break for Writers, send them our way. It can be suggestions for articles, new columns or etc. Feedback We also welcome your comments on anything in this issue, past issues or future issues. Don't be shy; send your letter to the editor. We value every word. Brewing for June 2008: • Part two of Viewpoint Writing: How To Use Your Character's Voice. • Paying markets. • ... and much more! |