Ruth and Anne wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2018.
As Anne wrote earlier this month, you run into a lot of bogus information about writing in the Internet age. Other advice you run into can be helpful…but be wary of taking it all as gospel.
Remember that rigid rules usually lead to wooden, awkward writing.
In the end, what will nail that book and make your writing sing is getting into that flow where the muse takes over and the words pour out onto the page. That’s hard to do when you’re trying to follow dozens of rules. Especially when some of the “rules” make no sense.
What you want to pay attention to are writing guidelines, not rules. And remember that we all started as beginners. As a beginner, you’ll make all the mistakes beginners make. Some of them will be whoppers. But you can fix them later. That’s what editing is for.
Writing is a complex craft and it takes a lot of practice to get really good at it.
And publishing, like everything else, goes through fashion cycles. Something that’s wildly popular in one decade may become taboo in another. Many things you’re told are “wrong” may simply be out of fashion. Chances are it will come back in style again in some new incarnation.
The English boarding school novel–so popular in the 1930s and 40s–was totally dead in the 1990s when an English mom named J. K. Rowling wrote a quirky boarding school novel called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
So don’t let the naysayers and Debbie Downers get in your way. Getting the book on the page has to be your main goal. Ignore everything else until you’re ready to polish.
Here are some posts we’ve offered in the last year or so that might help.
Guidelines that Help you Nail that Book and Stay Sane.
- Anne laid down the laws of the (Amazon) jungle—Eight Rules Authors Need to Know to Stay Safe
- Learn to keep a style sheet! Ruth explained how and why a style sheet will save your a$$.
- Avoid the mistakes that red-flag a newbie writer.
- Ruth told us how to break tasks down into smaller chunks to reach our goals.
Mistakes, Misery and Dealing With the Writer’s Enemies.
- Anne confessed 10 mistakes she made so you don’t have to.
- Because she learned the hard way, Ruth told writers how to survive Hard Knocks U.
- Ruth took on rejection and lands a knockout punch.
- Anne gave some advice about how to get out of your own way, i.e. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.
- Anne’s writers’ enemy list took names and kicked butt.
- Stress? Burnout? Ruth had some suggestions.
Editors, Editing, and Revising.
- Ruth, a long-time editor, went into the nitty-gritty of the editing process.
- Anne explained seven ways beta readers can help improve your book.
- Ruth talked about adding historical details to trigger emotional responses in your readers
- Anne told us 10 things your opening chapter should do, A Checklist for Self-Editing
Nail That Book Title.
The wrong title or the wrong cover can sink a book. We offered help.
- Anne drilled down into the art and craft of choosing a title.
- Seven tips for finding the right title.
- The 101 best book titles.
- Author and friend-of-the-blog, Tara Sparling, explored book title generators.
by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) and Anne R. Allen (@annerallen) December 31, 2017
What about you, scriveners? Do you have a novel that you want to finish and polish and get out into the marketplace? What are your writing goals for 2018? Have you made some New Year’s resolutions about your writing?
This week Anne is over at her book blog, answering “21 Questions about Writing” and talking about her transition from actor to writer and why she feels driven to write.
Ruth is in frigid NYC suffering from the Cold from Hell, and Anne is on the burning California coast nursing a bad back. (Which is beginning to heal, although she still needs a walker.) But we will drop by to respond to comments. 🙂
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We’d love your nomination to Writer’s Digest’s List for 2018!
BOOKS OF THE WEEK
Ruth offers you her NYT bestseller absolutely FREE!
“A SPECTACULAR, RICHLY PLOTTED NOVEL. Racing to a shocking climax, this glittering novel is first-class entertainment, a story of love and money, and how both are made, lost, and found again.” ...New York Times
And Anne’s most popular Camilla novel is on sale for only 99c!
No Place Like Home: Camilla Randall Comedy-Mystery #4
(But it can be read as a stand-alone)
Wealthy Doria Windsor is suddenly homeless and accused of a murder she didn’t commit. But Camilla, with the help of a brave trio of homeless people, the adorable Mr. X, and a little dog named Toto, is determined to unmask the real killer and discover the dark secrets of Doria’s deceased “financial wizard” husband before Doria is killed herself.
And NO PLACE LIKE HOME IS ALSO AN AUDIOBOOK!!
OPPORTUNITY ALERTS
45th New Millennium Awards Four prizes of $1,000 and publication in New Millennium Writings. Up to 3 poems totaling no more than five pages, Fiction or creative nonfiction of up to 6,000 words; flash fiction of up to 1,000 words. $20 entry fee. Deadline: January 31.
EVERYTHING CHANGE CLIMATE FICTION CONTEST NO ENTRY FEE. Submit one piece of fiction up to 5,000 words using the impact of climate change as an element of your story. The winning story will receive a $1000 prize, and nine finalists will receive $50 prizes. Selected work will be published in an anthology by the Imagination and Climate Futures Initiative at Arizona State University. Deadline February 28, 2018.
Wergle Flomp Humorous Poetry Contest NO FEE. First prize of $1,000 and a second prize of $250. Ten Honorable Mentions will receive $100 each. The top 12 entries will be published online. Judge: Jendi Reiter, assisted by Lauren Singer. Length limit: 250 lines. No restrictions on age or country. DEADLINE APRIL 1, 2018
10 Major book publishers that read unagented manuscripts. and 20 Literary Journals that publish new writers. Both lists compiled by the good folks at Authors Publish magazine.
PRIME NUMBER FLASH FICTION PRIZE $7 ENTRY FEE. Prize $251 (a prime number) plus publication in Prime Number Magazine with traditional layout on individual page with author photo, bio, Q&A, and the winning story. Submit one unpublished story that is no more than 751 words. Deadline the last day of each month
Happiest of new years, Anne & Ruth! Thank you for being the sweet but brutally honest gurus for the would-be-published in the present day. Especially helpful for ladies of a certain age (like me) who grew up in a world where cyberspace wasn’t in any dictionary.
And, yes, as a matter of fact, I can finally say I want to nail that novel–get out and start pitching–in 2018. I have a couple more days off to get caught up on all your great 2017 blogs.
Gabriella—Anne & I send our very best wishes—and some extra cyber-energy (also not in the dictionary when Anne & I were growing up) to help you Nail That Novel in 2018!
Happy New Year to you, Anne and Ruth. I’ve learned so much from this blog. I look forward to reading it, and being encouraged by it, in 2018
Eve—Thanks for the good wishes and kind words! We both send our good wishes and every encouragement to you for 2018—and beyond!
Happy New Year to Anne, Ruth, and your amazing readers. A style sheet is a must-have for me, but after 6 books it is mostly a box of scribbled notes. 2018 is the year everything gets organized! Thanks for the reminder and for your great blog.
Carmen—A style sheet is just a list. Don’t over think it. It will serve you well! Happy New Year from Anne and moi! 🙂
Wow! It’s a writers’ Linkatorium! Thanks again.
Hi CS—A Linkatorium, indeed! Well said and many good wishes from Anne and me for an excellent 2018!
Happy New Year to the two women who keep me sane and informed, Anne and Ruth!
Ruth, have a warmed drink on hand until the Arctic-ness goes home. Anne, godspeed on your back healing and hope you have someone to wait hand-and-foot on you.
Thank you both for the invaluable knowledge you share and for keeping us all safe as we struggle along our separate paths to publication.
Blessings to you and all your readers here!!
Maria D’Marco
-17 wind chill
Maria—Many thanks for the kind words and all the best to you and yours in 2018. -17? OMG. Where are you?
Happy New Year to both of you, Anne and Ruth, and thank you so much for all the posts you’ve written in 2017 for us to read and learn from. Yes, my next book will come out in June 2018 and we’ve just finished all the editing, from content to line edits and all the rest of that stuff! It’s now good to go! Now, on to the next book!
Patricia—Bravo and congratulations on your new book! Best of luck and best of New Year’s from Anne & me. 🙂
thank you
Thank you for this empowering article. Happy 2018!
Leanne—Anne and I send out best wishes to you for a Most Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to both of you! And thank you for all of the generous sharing of your expertise and experience. You are both gems!
Christine—Thanks! All our best to you for the coming year! 🙂
Here’s to a 2018 filled with creativity, writing that works (and these articles help, thank you), breakout books and avid readers!! Start writing for 2018!!
Caroline—Clinks glasses! 🙂
Ruth, thanks for another post full of helpfulness!
Anne, I moseyed over to your other blog to read the interview you did. 25 years as an actress! Who knew? Great forerunner to a writing career.
There’s a bit of a mystery on that page, though. Where you mention one of your book’s having been translated into Spanish and Italian, the illustrated book cover is actually in Portuguese. What’s the deal with that? Looks as though you need to give yourself credit for another language!
I hope your back is totally well soon.
Tricia—Thanks for the kind words and our best wishes for 2018!
Tricia–Thanks for the eagle-eye! You’re right. I have the translations listed on my book page, but in that post I identified them incorrectly. Why Grandma Bought that Car is available in Italian and Portuguese and Ghostwriters in the Sky is available in Spanish. I’ve corrected it now. Thanks much for the proofreading! 🙂
You’re welcome, Anne! I live in Brazil, so it jumped right out at me!
Thanks, Anne for this wealth of helpful information.
patriciaruthsusan—Thanks for the kind words. Anne and I send our best wishes for 2018!
Love your blog! So much useful information. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Writing your first—Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated! Anne and I send our best wishes for the new year! 🙂
Fabulous recap and wishing you both a happy, healthy and successful New Year! (Hope that back is on the mend Anne.) 🙂
dg—Thanks for your kind words about the recap. Anne and I wish you the happiest of New Year’s! Anne’s doing a bit better with her back and even my cold is gone!
Thanks Ruth, So glad to hear you’re both on the mend! 🙂
I love your blog! It is the best thing out there. Truly. Thanks so much for all you do. I find it incredibly helpful.
brad—Anne and I appreciate your very kind words. Between us, we’ve been in and around publishing for decades and know all too well that it’s much harder than it looks. There are “secret” rules, “best practices” not universally known, ways forward and ways for the unwary to get creamed. Between us, we’ve done dumb things and even some smart things. We want to share our hard-earned experience and are so pleased to learn that we’ve been of help!
Thanks for all you do here, I’ve found the blog to be an invaluable resource.
Hope you survived the storm-cyclone, Ruth – I had to get up at 7 a.m. to keep a radiologists’ appointment. No fun! But it will be 40 degrees on Monday.
My New Year’s resolution is to finish the book I started in October 2014 and never write a book again the way I wrote this one. I wrote the first draft very sloppily, following Ann Lamott’s dictum about sh*tty first drafts (also Hemingway, who said, “all first drafts are sh*t).
OK, but I that can lead to sloppiness, which can cause problems later on. My next book writing process will be very different, much more deliberate, make haste slowly.
Also, I held back a bit on saying the things I really wanted to say. Tentativeness in a first draft is bad. Write fearlessly what you want to write in your first draft. You can always take it out.
gothamette—thank *you* and good luck with finishing your book! You’re so right about being fearless in your early drafts. Never forget: the “delete” button is the writer’s best friend! 🙂