Yeah, What He Said....

John Scalzi, on his always witty blog Whatever, posted an article a few weeks ago (hey, I was editing an issue of the zine, I'm behind a little, ok?) on 10 Things Teenage Writers Should Know About Writing. The post is very informative and should be taken seriously by teen writers who aspire to selling their work.

However, I think John sells his audience short by limiting it only to teen writers. I think this is advice that any writer who is starting out could read and learn something from. While some of the points are really pertinent to teens (i.e. 1. The Bad News: Your Writing Sucks and 2. The Good News: It's OK That Your Writing Sucks Right Now; although any new writer should be willing to admit these facts to themselves) there are some points that are really important to any writer as well as to an editor.

3. You Need to Write Every Day

I'm sure you've got this wired, and I'll note that for teenagers today, it's easier to write every day, because there's an entire social structure revolving around writing that didn't used to exist: Blogs and blog-like things like MySpace, or whatever thing has replaced MySpace by the time you read this. Writing isn't the isolating experience it (mostly) was before.

Now, be aware that writing in your blog or journal isn't the same as writing stories or songs or whatever your writing aspirations might be. Blogging very often takes the form of what writers call "cat vacuuming," which is to say it's an activity you do to avoid actual writing. You want to avoid doing too much of that (yes, there's some irony in me writing this in a blog entry -- particularly a blog entry being written when I could be writing part of a book I have due to a publisher).

This is so vital to having any success as an author. I don't know any writer who doesn't write some every day. I also don't know any writer who doesn't feel they are constantly growing as a writer. Writing every day will help you hone your own voice and iron out any problems your voice has. Also, if you aren't willing to write every day (or at least have some sort of structured writing schedule) it says about how serious you are about your writing.

Back in the day when I though I wanted to be a writer I could never get myself into the mindset to write every day. It never worked for me. But I felt driven to read every day, and through reading I felt the desire to fix and format the writing... I'd have to say that I edit every day. So, for something you are serious about, do it every day. Could be writing, could be editing, could be cooking, whatever.

Every day.

5. Read Everything You Can Get Your Hands On -- Even the Crap That Bores You.

And here's why the crap that bores you is worth reading: Because someone sold it, which means the writer did something right. Your job is to figure out what it was and what that means for your own writing. It should also give you hope: If this bad writer can sell a book or magazine article, then you should have no problem, right? Excellent.

[and]

A corollary to this is: Read writers who are new to you. Don't just stick to the few writers you know you like. Take a few chances. You don't have to spend money to do this: Most towns have this wonderful thing called a library. We're talking free reading here, and the publishing industry won't crack down on you for it. Heck, we like it when you visit the library.

Of course I like when you go to the library, I work at a library. But, just like you should write every day, you need to know what you're writing about. You need to know about the other people who are writing in the style/genre/idiom that you want to write in. Ignorance is not acceptable.

I'll quick mention #8, which is Be Ready for Rejection. It's going to happen. I've rejected a lot of writers who are new. And just so you know, I've rejected established writers, too. Just because you're established doesn't mean you get a free ride. It will be easier, because someone will be more willing to invest time into REALLY reading your work, but they may reject you in the end. Like John says, go ahead and submit stuff now, even if you are brand new. I got some horrible rejection letters when I was trying to write. They made me feel worthless, or worse, they were hurtful (I tried for a long time to give a personal, constructive rejection for everything, but I no longer have the time for it), but you know what?

The rejections I got were deserved. I hadn't written something that deserved to be published. Think about it. The money for Electric Velocipede comes out of my pocket. For me to give money to you for your story over putting food in my baby's mouth (ok, it's not that dire, but I'm making a point), your story had better be good. It had better be good enough that people who read it tell other people they need to buy my zine so they can read it.

Here's the last thing I'm stealing from John:

7. Try to Learn a Little About the Publishing Industry.

If you're going to be a writer for a living (or, if not for a living, at least to make a little money here or there), you're going to have to sell your work, and if you're going to sell your work, you should learn a little how the business of writing works. The more you know how the publishing industry works, the more you'll realize how and why particular books sell and others don't, and also what you need to do to sell your work to the right people.

Try to think of submitting stories as job applications. Would you apply to a job in the world of deep-sea fishing if you had never been on a boat? If you didn't know what a fish looked like? If you didn't know what they meant by deep-sea? And:

If you think you're going to write in a specific genre (science fiction or mystery or whatever) why not learn a little about that field, too? A good place to start is by checking out author blogs, because authors are always blathering on about crap like that. Trust me. Also (quite obviously), authors are prone to offer unsolicited advice to new writers on their sites, because it makes us feel all mature and established to bloviate on the subject. And sometimes our advice is even useful.

Don't submit something to a magazine if you've never read a copy of it. I get stories all the time that are nothing like anything I've published. Sometimes this is great. I find something new. I like new things. I like discovering things. But sometimes, it's something that just doesn't fit. I have guidelines on my website and I think they're pretty straight forward. So, when you want to submit somewhere, first, read something they've published and determine if what you've written would be a fit for them (i.e. don't send your slasher novel to a children's publisher). Then second, read their guidelines and FOLLOW THEM.

Think back to the job application thing. If they ask for three references and you send zero, do you think they're going to call you? Probably not. If you mail me your story and don't include a SASE, do you think I'll get in touch with you? Definitely not.

But even more than this, learning about the publishing industry will help set up expectations for you that are more realistic. Publishing is a business and therefore it wants to make money. Many editors and publishers also want to be involved with things that are cool, that have merit, but merit doesn't pay the electricity bill.

Tags: Science Fiction, Electric Velocipede, writing, John Scalzi, publishing