Craft of Writing - Rachelle Gardner

Where Your Passion Meets the Market

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 04:00:40 +0000

Recently, I wrote a post about building a long-term writing career (Are You in this for the Long Haul?). In my list of
things writers can do to develop a long-haul career, I said:

Pay attention to where your passion intersects with the market.

I want to expand on that because it’s so crucial. Most writers start out writing what interests them (obviously) which is the way it should be. But things change once you transition from writing for fun to writing for fun & profit. The profit part requires you think about what you can sell.

I often hear writers debating whether it’s best to write what you love, or try to write to the market. I think this is a false dichotomy. You need both.

As a writer, you’re probably interested in a variety of topics and genres. So if you want to sell books, it’s a good idea to identify which of your favorites are doing well in the market, and go in that direction.

Sometimes you don’t need to think about this until you reach a point where whatever you’re doing isn’t working. When you’re just starting out and putting your first books or queries out there, you should start with whatever you’ve got. But if you’re not having the success you want, maybe it’s time to look at what you’re writing and how well it fits with where the market is. Is there another topic or genre that you enjoy just as much, and is selling better?

I’ve had this conversation with several of my clients who have books published, but the market is changing and they need to reconsider their direction. One client was writing in the parenting category, but parenting doesn’t sell much anymore, so we brainstormed to find out what else she is interested in writing about, that would still capitalize on her brand, but would sell better. I’ve had a couple of other clients who wrote a specific genre of fiction, and when the market became glutted with that genre, made a slight transition into a related genre that would be more likely to sell, and that they enjoyed just as much.

The concept applies across all walks of life: you can follow your passion as long as you’re not expecting to get paid for it. But when you’re going into business, other considerations besides passion are necessary—like what you can sell.

Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams had an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal in which he goes so far as to say, “forget about passion.” He points out that a successful venture actually increases your passion for it, but if you’re working on something that’s failing, your passion will fade. He advocates more of a work-horse mentality: create a business that works, and when you start to see success, you’ll be passionate about it.

For most people, it’s easy to be passionate about things that are working out, and that distorts our impression of the importance of passion. I’ve been involved in several dozen business ventures over the course of my life, and each one made me excited at the start. You might even call it passion. The ones that didn’t work out—and that would be most of them—slowly drained my passion as they failed. The few that worked became more exciting as they succeeded. ~Scott Adams

Whether or not you agree with Adams, the point is still the same:

If you want to create a lasting writing career, continually pay attention to where your passion overlaps with what is selling.

Don’t get caught asking pointless questions, like, “Should I follow my passion or follow the market?” Do both!

Do you tend to follow your passion, or follow the market—or both? What do you think is the best strategy? Do you agree with Scott Adams’ advice to forget about passion?

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Focus on Writing the Best Book You Can

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 04:00:29 +0000

It seems in the last few years, dialogue about all-things-publishing has been focused on platform, marketing, increasing output, distribution platforms, technology, and self-publishing. But I think it’s important to call our attention back to the work.

In January 2014, I posted a prediction for the coming year:

“I think authors will re-focus on the foundational importance of writing a good book. Conversations will be more about mastering the craft and less about the logistics of publishing. People are becoming aware that while options are expanding because of self-publishing, and it may be easier than ever to get your work out to readers, the process of writing a good book is the same as it’s ever been. It’s challenging, it’s grueling, it’s mentally and emotionally exhausting — and it can be incredibly satisfying. People will have a renewed awareness that ultimately, the great writing itself is the very best platform there is, and determine to put most of their efforts in that direction.”

I’m not sure if my prediction came true. Are authors re-focusing on the writing? Some are, some aren’t. But here’s what I know: It’s easier than ever to get a book published because of self-pub and indie publishing.

But it’s not any easier to write a good book.

In fact, it may be even harder to write a good book than it was in days past, because both you and your reader have more distractions. You’re tempted by the Internet, your ability to concentrate for long periods of time has been compromised, and deep focus is more challenging. Meanwhile, your reader has infinite sources of information and entertainment. So a book has to be darn good to to keep both your attention and your reader’s. Now is the time to make sure we’re not minimizing the importance of mastering the craft.

Platform is important if you want people to read your work. But ultimately, great writing is the best platform. A million followers are meaningless if you don’t have something worthwhile for them to read. Marketing challenges, evolving technology, and competition will always be with us. But it’s irrelevant without a good book.

I sense, out there in writer-land, an increasing focus on writing more-more-more. Many want to publish as fast as possible. Volume + speed = more money, or more success, or some such equation. But readers can only read so much. They’ll have shrinking patience for works that feel sloppily crafted and hastily written.

The only way forward is the same as it ever was: run away from the noise, hunker down and wrestle mightily with your prose.

As an agent, I’m here to help with the “other stuff.” Only you, the writer, can do the most important part. Write that book. And make it great.

Let’s collectively remember that mastering the craft is the best object of our focus. There is a time for considering various publishing routes and promoting our works, but only when we have in our hands a book that is the absolute best it can be.

So where are you on this? Are you mainly focused on craft, or do you spend a great deal of energy focused on other aspects of publishing? What’s the right balance?

Image credit: kbuntu / 123RF Stock Photo

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That All-Important First Line

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Let’s talk about the opening line of your book. The first thing to know about “first lines” is that they are not going to make or break you. Sure, it’s a lot of fun coming up with great ones. But as long as the first line makes someone want to read the second line, and that line makes you want to read the third… you’re on the right track.

The second thing to know is that the opening line might be the very last thing you write before your book is finished.

That said… don’t you just love a great opening line?

The fun thing about writing a book is that you get to choose what kind of opening line you want, what type of sentence appropriately sets up your book. You can choose to set a stage or create a setting. You can reveal a character. You can drop the reader into the middle of a scene. You can introduce conflict. You can have your character speak a line of dialogue. There’s no one right way to do it.

I took a look at some of my favorite first lines from novels, and asked myself why I liked them. I found each one appealed to me for a different reason.

It might have:

been clever
been thought-provoking
brought an immediate smile (or stab) of recognition
struck me as poignant
painted a really cool word picture
set up an intriguing mystery
introduced a character I want to know better
made me laugh
drawn me into an unfamiliar world
used words in a beautiful way

The one thing they all have in common is they make me want to read more. They immediately draw me into the universe of the novel by the unique voice that first line begins to establish.

One of the trends lately is to come up with stunningly clever first lines, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But not every novel requires one of those. Some need a more understated approach.

Some say the best first lines introduce conflict right away. I believe that can be true, but it’s not the only way to write a first line. Most of my favorites give a small hint that something is going to go wrong, or something already has gone wrong.

There’s no formula for a first line. It should elicit interest, pique something in the reader, speak to their heart or their intellect or their funny bone. It just has to work. Some of the best opening lines stand remarkably well on their own, having enough meat to allow you to chew on it awhile.

Here are a few popular opening lines from famous novels:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
~ Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (my favorite first line ever)

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
~ Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
~ J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.
~ Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
~ William Gibson, Neuromancer

Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.
~ Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway

All this happened, more or less.
~ Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Dr. Weiss, at forty, knew that her life had been ruined by literature.
~ Anita Brookner, The Debut

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
~ C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.
~ Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

Need a writing or publishing coach? Click here for packages.

Image copyright: olegdudko / 123RF Stock Photo

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Writing a One-Sentence Summary

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 04:01:19 +0000

Let’s discuss the one-sentence summary, also known as a logline, a hook, or a one-sentence pitch.

What: About 25 words that capture your novel, memoir, or non-fiction book.

Why: To get someone interested in reading your book.

When to use it: The start of a query, book proposal, or anytime someone asks you, “What’s your book about?”

What it does: A one-sentence summary takes your complex book with multiple characters and plotlines and boils it down into a simple statement that can be quickly conveyed and understood, and generates interest in the book.

What it should include:
→ A character or two
→ Their choice, conflict, or goal
→ What’s at stake (may be implied)
→ Action that will get them to the goal
→ Setting (if important)

Tips:
→ Keep it simple. One plotline, 1 or 2 characters.
→ Use the strongest nouns, verbs and adjectives.
→ Make the conflict clear but you don’t have to hint at the solution.

In your one-sentence summary, try not to pitch a theme. Pitch what happens. Examples of themes (what not to do):

This book explores forgiveness.
This book looks at the thin line between right and wrong.
This book explores the meaning of independence, and asks if it’s really possible.

Here is Nathan Bransford’s simplified formula for a one-sentence pitch: “When [opening conflict] happens to [character(s)], they must [overcome conflict] to [complete their quest].”

An example:

Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
A boy wizard begins training and must battle for his life with the Dark Lord who murdered his parents. (Thanks Randy Ingermanson for this one.)

→ Character=boy wizard
→ Conflict=battling the Dark Lord
→ Stakes=his life
→ Setting=none
→ Action=wizard training; avoiding the same fate as his parents

What about the one-sentence summary for non-fiction?

Answer the question: what’s your book about? This is the problem, the issue, or the topic of your non-fiction book. And it needs to have a “hook” or something that will immediately capture attention. As an example, I’ve taken a well known book by Brené Brown and constructed a possible one-sentence hook for it:

In my non-fiction book, Daring Greatly, I dispel the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness, and I show how it is actually our most accurate measure of courage.

There are always numerous ways to express your book in a single sentence, so I recommend you create 10 or 20 different ones, before settling on the best angle and combination of words.

Sharpen those pencils and get to work!

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Writing Craft: Foreshadowing

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 16 Jan 2019 05:01:16 +0000

Today I thought I’d talk about an aspect of novel-writing that I don’t see addressed very often, even though I deal with it all the time when editing novels. It’s the technique of foreshadowing and its black-sheep cousin, telegraphing.

Foreshadowing is when you purposely drop tiny hints about what’s going to happen later in the novel, to heighten the effect or the suspense. It might not even be a hint, but an image or idea that thematically relates to whatever’s going to happen later. It’s like subtle shading to plant tiny, even imperceptible, seeds in your reader’s mind.

Telegraphing is giving away too much, too soon, thereby ruining the suspense, or the impact of the event.

When you foreshadow, the reader usually doesn’t notice it when they initially read it. But later they might have an “aha” moment, remember it, and put two and two together. Often foreshadowing can’t even be detected until someone reads your novel for a second time. It’s that subtle.

But telegraphing works the opposite. The reader notices the telegraphing detail, groans, and predicts what’s going to happen. It takes the fun out of reading a novel. Envision the important event, or piece of information that your reader’s going to learn, like a balloon. Telegraphing is like letting some of the air out of the balloon ahead of time, so when the time comes for the “pop” you get a fizzle instead.

Often when I mark a manuscript with the note, “Delete – telegraphing” the writer will respond, “I was trying to foreshadow.” It can be tricky to know the difference between the two. If you’re trying to foreshadow, ask yourself if there’s any chance the reader could begin to guess what you’re hinting at. If so, then you’re probably telegraphing. Make it more subtle.

Better yet, always decide carefully whether foreshadowing is even necessary. Are you sure you need it to heighten the tension? It’s a device to use carefully.

As an example: I was working with a client on a novel in which the hero is eventually going to fall in love with the heroine. At the beginning of the novel, he has been corresponding long-distance with her, but he thinks she is an elderly lady. Part of the surprise the reader looks forward to is him finding out she is actually the same age as him, opening up the possibility of a relationship.

The author included an early scene in which the hero discusses the reasons he thinks his pen-pal is elderly. I asked the writer to strike the whole conversation because it was telegraphing. I don’t want the hero to have any reason to question his assumption about the heroine’s age, because that would ruin it when he finally finds out the truth. The author’s intent was to foreshadow, but in this case it was telegraphing. Further, foreshadowing wasn’t even needed. The situation has enough tension inherent in it—the reader is already looking forward to the hero discovering the truth about the heroine.

Remember, when you’re trying to foreshadow, do it carefully and make sure to avoid crossing the line into telegraphing.

Photo: https://pixabay.com/en/sheep-wool-east-frisia-dike-black-441942/

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The Writer’s Voice

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Many people have asked about “voice” lately. It’s a big topic and I’m sure we’ll discuss it more than once. But let’s get started!

What do we mean when we say we’re looking for “new voices”? What do editors mean when they say it’s the writer’s voice that captures them—or doesn’t?

Let’s start by identifying a few things voice isn’t. Voice is not style. It’s not technique. It’s not branding. It’s not a decision to write in first or third person.

So what is it? To me, your writer’s voice is the expression of YOU on the page. It’s that simple—and that complicated. Your voice is all about honesty. It’s the unfettered, non-derivative, unique conglomeration of your thoughts, feelings, passions, dreams, beliefs, fears and attitudes, coming through in every word you write.

Voice is all about your originality and having the courage to express it.

Sounds simple, right? Then why is voice so hard? One of the most common problems with fiction by new authors is the lack of a unique voice on the page. How is this possible? You are unique. You can’t help it, you just are. You aren’t exactly like anyone else. How, then, are you failing to express that on the page?

I think it’s because most of us spend our lives presenting to the world anything and everything except who we really are. We present images of who we want to be. We show the world what we want them to see. We expend lots of energy upholding our facades, and in the process, we can lose touch with our true, unique selves. Many of us are afraid of real, total, gut wrenching honesty.

I also think one of our biggest problems is that we’ve been media consumers since the day we were born. When I read fiction that doesn’t have a “voice” that captures me, it usually feels derivative, i.e. similar to other works of fiction rather than striking me as fresh and coming from life. Instead of truly creating stories and characters of your own, you may be unwittingly regurgitating stories and characters you’ve read and seen in thousands of hours of reading and TV/movie watching in your life. This means you are not being your unique self, but a composite of many other selves who are not you. Admittedly, it’s a big hurdle for all of us to overcome.

So how do you find your voice? You can’t learn it. You can’t copy it. Voice isn’t a matter of studying. You have to find it. And the only place to find it is within you. (Yikes, sounds like I’m going New Age here!)

It’s a process of peeling away the layers of your false self, your trying-to-be-something-you’re-not self, your copycat self, your trying-to-sound-a-certain-way self, your spent-my-life-watching-television self. It’s like going to psychotherapy, delving deep and allowing the real you to emerge, only in this case you want it to find its way on to the page.

How, exactly do you do that? Take heart—there are lots of ways to excavate, uncover, discover and develop your writer’s voice (and it doesn’t necessarily involve years of therapy). Don’t you think that will be a terrific topic for another post? Me too.

Photo credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/8v2qspkmhik

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Write a Captivating Opening Line

Rachelle Gardner — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 04:00:00 +0000

The first thing to know about “first lines” is that they are not going to make or break you. Sure, it’s a lot of fun coming up with great ones. But in a novel of a hundred-thousand words, we have to keep those first twenty-or-so in perspective. As long as the first line makes someone want to read the second line, and that line makes you want to read the third… you’re on the right track.

That said… don’t you just love a great opening line?

The fun thing about writing a novel is that you get to choose… everything. And you can choose what kind of opening line you want, what type of sentence appropriately sets up your novel. You can choose to set a stage or create a setting. You can reveal a character. You can drop the reader into the middle of a scene. You can introduce conflict. You can have your character speak a line of dialogue. There’s no one right way to do it. You might want to try several different “types” of first lines. It’s a good exercise in stretching your imagination and playing with words.

I looked at some of my favorite first lines from novels, and asked myself why I liked them. I found each one appealed to me for a different reason. It might have:

-been clever
-been thought-provoking
-brought an immediate smile (or stab) of recognition
-struck me as poignant
-painted a really cool word picture
-set up an intriguing mystery
-introduced a character I want to know better
-made me laugh
-drawn me into an unfamiliar world
-used words in a beautiful way

The one thing they all have in common is they make me want to read more. They immediately draw me into the universe of the novel by the unique voice that first line begins to establish.

I know one trend is to come up with stunningly clever first lines, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But not every novel requires one of those. Some need a more understated approach.

People say the best first lines introduce conflict right away. I believe that can be true, but it’s not the only way to write a first line. Most of my favorites give a small hint that something is going to go wrong, or something already has gone wrong.

There is no formula for a first line. It should elicit interest, pique something in the reader, speak to their heart or their intellect or their funny bone. It just has to work. Some of the best opening lines stand remarkably well on their own, having enough meat to allow you to chew on it awhile. And one of the secrets to great opening lines is that they’re written after the entire book is complete. Maybe that will work for you!

Here are a few popular opening lines from famous novels. Ask yourself, what works? What do you like? What don’t you like?

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
~ Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (my favorite first line ever)