Attached Link: Joanna Wayne's Rules Of Pacing For Romantic Suspense
I provide the link for romaantic suspense because suspense is an important incredient for any writing to keep the tension in a story.
Joanne Wayne is a writer of romantic suspense stories. Her ideas for getting published are commonsense,b ut we can all use a reminder once in awhile:
Joanna Wayne's Guidelines for Getting Published
- Tell everyone that you're a writer.
- This is important because it forces you to put your time where your mouth is - so to speak. Once you've announced to family and friends that you're writing, you are much more likely to take yourself and the writing seriously, as opposed to it just being some secret dream.
- Consider the writing work rather than a hobby.
- A hobby is something you do to occupy spare time. Work is a requirement. Not that it shouldn't be fun, but if you really want to become published, you need to dedicate yourself to that end. Put your time for writing first - not before taking care of your children, of course, but definitely before routine household duties. So the bed doesn't get made one day or your house is not quite as clean as it used to be. Who will really notice. Make time for your writing and don't feel guilty about it. Besides the IRS will only consider it a legitimate business if you do.
- Join a writing group - either on line or in your community - or both.
- Joining up with other writers is very important to keeping motivated. True, some people get published who have never been in any kind of writing group, but it is far easier if you have the support of other writers while you are honing the craft and facing rejection letters. Non writers try, but they don't quite get it. In fact, many will be quick to tell you they might write a book themselves, somehow equating it with something as east as writing a letter. Also, writing organizations are where you learn all the marketing news.
- Learn all you can while keeping your primary focus on writing.
- Go to seminars, workshops and conferences and take classes. Learn all you can about the craft of writing and about the market. This will help you continuously improve your skills. If you're trying to get published in category, read the line and their guidelines to see if your type story is appropriate for them. But there is a point of diminishing returns. Far too many people spend all their time and energy on conferences, chatting with other writers, heading committees for writing groups, etc, , leaving them no time to write. Don't forget that your primary purpose in all of this is to write, not just talk and think about writing.
- Join a "good" critique group and learn to use the criticism effectively.
- This is especially true when you are new to writing and unpublished. Notice that good is the operative word here. I do an entire workshop on critique groups so I can't possibly cover it all here, but it is important that your critique group makes you a better writer, and doesn't stifle your voice or discourage you so that you don't want to write. You should leave the critiquing session fired up to write not feeling deflated. And never let them change your writing style. I like at least 3 and no more than 4 in a critique group. If two people tell me a scene doesn't work, then consider that reason enough to go back and look at the scene. If you agree with them, make changes so that it works better for you. If you strongly disagree, I'd say go with your own feelings. After all, it's your book.
- I received harsh criticism and extremely low scores from Golden Heart on my first manuscript - a manuscript that I sold with no rewrites and changes. I was told by everyone that I simply couldn't start the book with a hero who breaks out of a mental institution and kidnaps the heroine at gunpoint. Luckily for me the editors at Harlequin Intrigue didn't know that rule. They loved the book and that's how my career as an Intrigue writer got started. The book was Deep in the Bayou.
- Meet agents and editors whenever you have the opportunity.
- Sign up for editor and agent appointments whenever you have the opportunity, even if you don't have a manuscript ready to submit at that point. For one thing, the more often you pitch the manuscript, the more relaxed you'll become at it. For another, you just might connect with an editor who loves your pitch and asks to see a partial. Or you might hook up with the perfect agent, a very daunting task indeed. At any rate, if you're already paid the conference fee, you may as well take advantage of the opporunity.
- Consider a couple of smaller conferences rather than national.
- While the national conference is quite an event, it can also be overwhelming for a new writer - or for those of us with over 30 books under our belts. Smaller conferences are usually much less expensive, have some of the best writers in the business giving workshops and usually have at least one agent and editor in attendance, frequently more. At smaller conferences, you get to mingle freely with the authors, editors and agents in informal settings and you'll be much more likely to have your individual questions addressed. I know that when I speak at one of the smaller conferences, I especially enjoy the informal receptions where we sit around an talk to everyone, I've formed many lasting friendships that way.
- Save the rewrites until your first draft is finished.
- I know this is hard to do. The tendency is to rewrite every scene over and over until it is perfect. You do that with chapter one, then when you write chapter two, something changes and you have to go back and write chapter one again. Then you write chapter three, something changes, and you go back and rewrite chapters one and two again. And on and on. That's how so many people win contests with a fantastic chapter one but never finish the book. Besides it's really difficult to cut a scene that doesn't work for the book after you've spent hours and hours perfecting it. So, at least for the first one, write the book, then do your rewrites. By then you'll know exactly where it is going. Actually, I still follow this rule.
- Write every day.
- This is very important, even if you can manage only an hour. As long as you write every day, your mind is caught up in the book and the characters. You'll think about them while stuck in traffic or while standing in line at the grocery store. You'll be working out your plot while cooking dinner and even in the shower. You won't do this if you haven't written in a few days. But if you miss a day due to emergencies in your schedule, don't beat yourself up about it. Just try to make sure you get back on schedule the next day.
- Write! Write! Write!
- You'll never learn to write by talking about it. So, put butt in chair and write. Bottom line, you'll never get published if you don't write the book.
Originally posted on the "Making Mysteries Memorable" Group
