Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies UK E-Book

George Green

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 565

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Learn to:

• Craft a winning manuscript
• Troubleshoot and edit your work
• Prepare your manuscript for publication
• Find a good agent to represent you
• Negotiate the best possible deal

Turn your aspiration into reality with this completely updated guide

If you’ve always wanted to write that great novel, but never knew where to start, look no further! With a published author advising you on how to write well and a literary agent providing insight into getting a publishing deal, this updated guide gives you the inside track on the art and science of breaking into the fiction-publishing industry. Taking you step by step from concept to contract, this book provides the tools you need to tell your story with skill and approach agents and publishers with confidence.

• Dive in — check out how to combine your natural talent with the writing techniques used by successful authors
• Establish a firm foundation — construct your basic story, plot and structure
• Examine the key elements — create characters, develop dialogue, explore relationships and insert conflict
• Fine-tune and finish up — discover tips on adding detail, creativity and flair while bringing your work to a close
• Get published — take the next step by weighing up your publishing options, working with agents and negotiating deals
• Find out more — check out additional advice, like the most common mistakes you need to avoid, and tips from published authors

Open the book and find:

• Tips for getting started
• Creative ways to develop plots, storylines, characters and dialogue
• The seven basic stories and how to put them to work
• Tricks for crafting a great ending to your novel
• How to prepare your manuscript for editing and publishing
• The lowdown on the business side of publishing

Leseprobe

Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2014. First edition published 2007.

© 2014 George Green and Lizzy Kremer.

Registered office

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ISBN 978-1-118-91040-5 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-118-91041-2 (ebk), ISBN 978-1-118-91044-3 (ebk)

Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

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Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies®

Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/writinganovelgettingpublisheduk to view this book's cheat sheet.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Icons Used in This Book

Beyond the Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I: Getting Started with Writing a Novel and Getting Published

Chapter 1: Entering the Writer’s World

Knowing Yourself

Knowing Your Reader

Remembering that Writing Is Editing

Entering the Market

Steeling yourself

Doing the maths

Being polite

Honouring deadlines

Chapter 2: Meshing Your Talent and Technique

Combining Talent and Technique

Turning to Your Talent to Find a Topic

Harnessing Your Technique

Reading Other Authors

Picking their brains

Saving time and effort by not re-inventing the wheel

Realising that writing’s meant to be fun

Developing Your Style

Chapter 3: Getting to the Writing

Deciding Whether to Plan or Dive Right In

Preparing the Pieces

Doing your research

Considering plot basics

Trying out archetypes

Setting your location

Sitting Down and Starting Up

Assembling your kit

Beating the distractions

Writing for writing’s sake

Going for doughnuts

Making much of practice

Keeping count of your ideas

Getting unstuck

Part II: Building from the Basics

Chapter 4: Following the Hero’s Journey

Setting Your Hero on a Journey

Surveying the Stages of the Journey

Typecasting Your Heroes

The hero as John Wayne

The hero as your mum or dad

The hero as Gandhi

The unexpected hero

The hero who isn’t

Chapter 5: Scheming and Plotting: Using Stories

Trying to Separate Plot, Story, and Narrative

Differentiating plot and story

Telling a story, not a narrative

So Many Stories, So Little Time

Sticking with the seven most useful stories

Working with the seven basic stories

Realising Every Story Has Been Told

Chapter 6: Considering the Grand Concept

Finding Your Theme

Testing Your Premise

Considering ‘About-ness’

Making Sure That It Matters

Explaining Your Concept

Making your pitch

Digging down to the bones

Chapter 7: Structuring the Story

Beginning Well is Just the Start

Supplying the needs of your first paragraph

Knowing what readers look for

Choosing your hook: Covering who, what, when, where, and why – or not

Placing your hook

Building a Three-Act Structure

Casting Light and Shade

Regulating the Pace

Keeping a Finger on the Pulse of Your Novel

Following your story’s progress

Plotting your graphs

Rating scenes

Part III: Examining the Elements

Chapter 8: Creating Characters

Contrasting the Main Types

Building Your Characters

Starting with yourself

Mixing in your friends

Interrogating your characters

Naming Names

Telling them apart

Meaning something

Placing names in time

Naming only when you need to

Creating the Back-Story

Motivating Your Characters

Writing Characters to Care About

Fighting fair versus Bambi Meets Godzilla

Endowing your hero with just enough

Writing Characters Big and Small

Big normal characters

Big abnormal characters

Deepening Your Characters

Divining a defining characteristic

Sampling other characteristics

Going on assumptions

Chapter 9: Exploring Relationships

Determining Helpers, Hinderers, and the Rest

Aiding helpers

Confounding hinderers

Mixing them up

Fitting in the rest

Writing Relationships

Families

Lovers

Enemies

Chapter 10: Talking about Dialogue

Discussing What Dialogue Can Do

Presenting Dialogue

Listening in at the Bus Stop

Hearing how people speak to each other

Like, er, it isn’t … um, like talking, knowarrImean?

Wroiting loike eet sownds, innit?

Conveying Character

Hearing what’s said and how it’s said

Revealing relationships in conversation

Registering Tone

Looking at the Mechanics of the Layout

Talking Tags

Chapter 11: Including Conflict

Working Out Why You Need Conflict

Confronting Conflict

Wanting with intensity

Putting up obstacles

Considering the Different Sources for Conflict

Disagreeing with other people

Being in conflict with the circumstances

Struggling with internal conflict

Putting Conflict into Your Story

Part IV: Fine-tuning and Finishing Up

Chapter 12: Adding Depth and Detail

Stripping Down to the Essentials

Plotting essentials

Focusing on main characters

Making the most of minor characters

Layering

Foreshadowing

Sub-Plotting

Taking Care with Coincidence

Prompting Action and Reaction

Chapter 13: Getting Creative

Accepting Ideas and Mixing Them Up

Be open

Stop trying too hard

Visualising What You Need

Don’t Think, Write

Writing speed pages

Writing ‘I remember’

Chapter 14: Ending and Editing

Sharpening Your Editing Pencil

Numbering the drafts

Getting your tools together

Diving into the Actual Editing

Checking up on your characters

Setting the scenes

Establishing place

Checking the Outline Chain

Messing about with the Spelling and Grammar

Knowing the rules before you break them

Being professional

Polishing the layout and presentation

Getting Feedback – When and How

Showing it to everyone

Showing it to no one

Compromising

Making use of the feedback you get

Creating Your Final Draft

Part V: Publishing

Chapter 15: Publishing Your Novel

Becoming an Author

Understanding What Publishers Do

Meeting the people who work in publishing

Organising into imprints

Analysing the Kind of Books Publishers Look For

Recognising that publishing is for profit

Looking at what constitutes a novel that sells

Thinking about the Market for Your Novel

Defining what ‘market’ means

Sorting out who controls the market

Considering the Mechanics of Bookselling

Exploring where books are sold

Pricing it up

Chapter 16: Finding an Agent

Understanding What a Literary Agency Does

Approaching a smaller agency

Surveying a larger agency

Checking Out Agencies

Looking into the Association of Authors’ Agents

Working out which agents to approach

Approaching Agents

Making use of contacts and recommendations

Crafting your approach

Submitting Your Manuscript

Following agency submission policies

Writing a submission letter

Composing your synopsis

Handling Submissions the Agency Way

Understanding Rejection Letters (or ‘My Opinion Is Just One in a Business Full of Them’)

Meeting Agents and Finding Your Perfect Match

Taking a Fresh Look

Maximising Your Chances

Chapter 17: Preparing for Publication

Preparing Your Manuscript for Submission

Working with your agent

Getting the book right

Getting the title right

Submitting to Publishers

Developing a plan of attack

Discovering whether you’re commercial or literary

Drawing up a submission list

Peeking into the Commissioning Process

Securing the deal

Meeting a publisher

Making the Deal

Negotiating

Understanding what you’re selling

Chapter 18: Coping with the Business Side of Being an Author

Reviewing Publishing Contracts

What you promise

What your publisher promises

What your publisher doesn’t promise

Contractual clauses to watch out for

Earning Advances and Royalties

Authors earn royalties

Authors need advances

Accepting the Unpredictability of the Business

Why one royalty is not like another

How ebook royalties are accounted

How to calculate your royalty earnings roughly

Facing the Realities of Being Published

Chapter 19: Taking Control: Self-Publishing

Determining Whether Self-Publishing is Right for You

How do you define success?

Are you the kind of author who makes a good self-publisher?

Can you wear a lot of hats?

Do novels like yours sell well online?

Does your work appeal to established ebook buyers?

Are you still tempted to try self-publishing?

Travelling the Road to Self-Publication

Sharing your work online

Selling your work online

Self-publishing services

Packaging Your Book

Generating a great title

Getting a great jacket

Promoting a great subject (or writing a great blurb)

Going for great timing

Tackling the technical bits

Bringing Your Book to the Attention of Readers: Marketing

Creating your marketing plan

Gathering reviews for your book

Building your website and blog

Stepping into social media

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Chapter 20: Ten Top Tips for Writers

Keep a Writer’s Journal

Show, Don’t Tell

Write about What You Know

Write What You Like to Read

Joking: It’s Only Funny if It’s Funny

Use All the Senses

If It’s Been Done (and It Has), You Have to Do It Better

Get Yourself a McGuffin and a Gotcha

Find Out What You Want Your Story to Do

Never Give Up

Chapter 21: Ten Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Promoting an Unfair Fight

Forgetting to Focus on the Problem

Giving a Little Too Much

Neglecting the Reader

Using the Passive Voice

Holding Only One Note

Re-inventing the Wheel

Overlooking Mattering

Running Out of Steam

Feeling Alone

Chapter 22: (Answers to) Ten Questions Put to Agents

How Much Do Authors Typically Get Paid?

Is an Agent More Likely to Offer Me Representation If I’m Self-Published?

How Can an Agent Reject My Book if They’ve Only Read an Outline/One Chapter?

Should I Hire a Literary Consultant or an Editor?

Should I Study on a Creative Writing Course?

What are an Agent’s Top Writing Tips?

I’m Not on Twitter: Does it Matter?

Should I Take a No-Advance Publishing Deal Offered by a Small Publisher?

How Do I Know You Won’t Steal My Idea?

Can You Recommend Any Other Agents?

Chapter 23: Ten Tips from Published Authors

Get an Agent

Listen to Your Editor

Keep Your Feet on the Ground

Know that the Deal isn’t Everything

Ask Questions but be Flexible

Publicise Your Book

Be Prepared for Anticlimax

Pick Yourself Up and Start Again

Enjoy It!

Remind Yourself that You’re a Real, Live Author

About the Authors

Cheat Sheet

More Dummies Products

Guide

Table of Contents

Begin Reading

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Introduction

People who tell you that writing a novel is easy don’t know what they’re talking about. From experience, we can tell you that writing a novel is hard work. However, the thousands of books published every year, and the hundreds of thousands still in print, prove that hard work can pay off.