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Things I Learning in Writing Class this Semester (Part II) November 28, 2010

Posted by pacejmiller in On Writing, Study.
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Man I am slow.  Here is the second part of the things I learned in writing class this semester.  Part I can be found here, and there will probably be a Part III…eventually…

Be Persistent

I guess this applies to a number of things.  Of course, the most important thing when you start writing is to try and finish it.  Sounds easy but it’s probably the most difficult thing.  Unless it’s compulsory, it’s so easy to give up.  Just do something else!

We all know the success stories of writers who were rejected dozens of times before the same manuscript got through and became an international bestseller.  These people persisted in finishing their manuscript, persisted in rewriting and editing hundreds of times to get it right, and persisted in getting an agent and/publisher.  If they gave up anywhere along the way, they’d never have made it.

But what I really meant to refer to was journalistic writing, and the act of going out there and getting people to talk to you.  The first thing that crossed my mind when I was tasked with writing an article about something or someone was — why would anyone want to talk to me?  Well, you’d be surprised how many people love to talk about themselves.  Often it’s a matter of getting them to shut up because you just want to go home!

On the other hand, there are people, especially key people you must speak to for a piece, that won’t want to talk to you, or worse, simply ignore you.  I’ve had so many calls, emails, and even an in-person visit knocked back this semester.  For every successful interview, I’ve probably had five knockbacks and three delays/reschedules.  But the key is, as the heading says, to remain persistent.  Forget about people thinking that you are a pain in the butt.  Forget about the humiliation, the disappointment.  Such is real life.

For one particular piece, I must have emailed and called this one guy at least 50 times over the course of two months.  I think he thought that if he jerked me around for long enough (by not answering, by not returning messages, by continuous delays and rescheduling, and by refusing to come out to see me even when I showed up at the time of our appointment), I would eventually give up.  But no.  I just kept going, kept pestering, and eventually I got the interviews and information I needed, and it ended up being one of the best articles I wrote this semester.

Confidence does wonders

This one also has multiple applications.  In terms of journalism, I was terrified when we first had to go out and talk to people.  Petrified.  I prepared for hours and hours, researched, wrote up lists and lists of questions, anticipated responses, basically played the whole interview out in my head.  And, needless to say, I still ended up being a fumbling, mumbling mess that made little sense. I remember wondering at the time how I was ever going to make it through the semester.

But after a few more goes, my confidence started to build up.  I stopped making up so many questions, instead relying on a few dot points covering specific areas I wanted to talk about.  I looked my subject in the eye.  I spoke coherently.  I felt like a real journalist.  And they thought I was one too!

In terms of writing, I’ve also discovered the power of confidence.  Reading back on my old fiction stuff, I realised I was too timid, too afraid to make mistakes.  I kept gravitated towards the mundane, the cliched style that I desperately wanted to avoid.  It allowed me to get to the end, but it wasn’t something even I wanted to read because it bored me to death.

I still struggle with that a lot, especially when I am not focused, but I’ve found that the more you write and the more confident you become, the more you are willing to experiment with things.  Muck around with the structure a little.  Do something more outrageous.  It doesn’t always work, but it’s a lot more fun.  The most important thing is to develop your own voice and style — which doesn’t necessarily have to be the same all the time, but it should be something you can call your own.

It’s all about connections

Sad but entirely true.  I never used to think it would be that bad, but it kind of is.  If you have the right contacts, you can get access to people you would never have gotten access to in a thousand years.  I was lucky to know a friend who knew a pretty famous guy that was kind enough to grant me an interview.  And through that guy, I got a whole bunch of other powerful contacts who were kind enough to speak to me.  The same can be said for another article I did on a writer.

But I basically exhausted all the contacts I had for two articles.  There were some people in class that had a contact for just about everything.  If you want to give yourself opportunities, you have to put yourself out there and get to know people.  I used to think networking was disingenuous, and it probably is, but it’s gotta be done if you want to give yourself a chance in the industry.  Some of it might be fortuitous, but most of it will have to come from actively seeking contacts.

The same can be said for the publishing industry.  If you know the right agents and the right editors, or people that can get you through to such people, getting published becomes much much easier.  You can have all the talent in the world, but if you can’t catch a break…

Okay, now I’m certain there will be a Part III because there’s just a couple more things.  Stay tuned…

Sydney Writers’ Festival 2010: Lucky Breaks and Big Bucks May 21, 2010

Posted by pacejmiller in Book Reviews, On Writing.
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Sydney Writers’ Festival

I attended the Sydney Writers’ Festival for the very first time today.  It’s an interesting yet odd experience, watching so many writers and wannabe writers converge in the same location.  As expected, it was primarily an event for oldies (considering I went during work hours), and there was barely a person without grey hair (if they had any hair at all).

Things didn’t get off to a great start when I was stuck in traffic at the foot of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but this was compensated later when a stroke of luck gave me an unlikely parking spot right outside the venue where the event I was attending took place.

Having been inundated with writing assessments all week, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to check out some of the sessions that interested me.  I ended up choosing a ticketed event (about half the sessions are free and the rest require purchased tickets; most of the popular events are sold out very early) called “Big Deal”, where acclaimed writer Debra Adelaide (author of the hit The Household Guide to Dying) interviewed Kirsten Tranter and Rebecca James, two new Australian writers who have hit the jackpot with their respective debut novels, The Legacy and Beautiful Malice.

I’m a sucker for inspiring stories of “beating the odds”, and as a writer, there’s no secret  fantasy greater than selling your book for enough money to quit your day job (or in my case, render it unnecessary to look for one).  Of course, if the book sells well, that’s an added bonus, but the key is always to secure that mega advance or multi-book deal with a publisher that will put in the time and effort to promote your book.

The session went for only an hour, beginning with Debra asking each writer how they managed to sell their books for loads and loads of money, how it has changed their lives, followed by an extract reading of their novel.

Kirsten Tranter

Kirsten Tranter’s story is very interesting, though slightly less relevant to most writers out there — because she worked as a literary agent, her mother is a big time literary agent, and her father is a famous poet.  These things gave her a natural advantage in the publishing world, but still, she had to write something worthy of selling.

Her debut novel, The Legacy, tells the story of a beautiful Australian girl who disappeared during 9/11 and is a contemporary homage to Henry James’ The Portrait of a Lady.  At the time of writing the book, Tranter and her husband were struggling financially thanks to the GFC.  However, she was fortunate enough to finish the novel with the assistance of an Emerging Writer’s Grant from the Literature Board of the Australia Council for the Arts.

Being a literary agent herself, it wasn’t hard for Kirsten to find representation (ie her mother).  They decided to put The Legacy to auction, something I wasn’t very familiar with.  Effectively, books usually only go for auction if there is sufficient confidence that it will sell and sell well.  Kirsten’s agent sent the manuscript to seven of Australia’s biggest publishers and gave them a deadline to make an offer.  Fortunately, at least one of them did, and it was for a very handsome sum.

Rebecca James

Rebecca James’ story is closer to a true publishing fantasy for the ordinary writer.  Her novel, Beautiful Malice, rose to prominence in the media after it sparked a bidding war amongst publishers.  It’s been promoted as both young-adult and adult fiction, and centres around the friendship of two girls, one of whom is still getting over the murder of her “perfect” little sister.

Beautiful Malice is actually not Rebecca’s first published work.  Apparently, after she finished her first novel, she was so excited about it all she sold it to an E-publisher for $100.  Yep, a hundred bucks.

Rebecca has four children (which makes one wonder how the heck she ever found the time to write!) and earned her income through a small kitchen business with her husband.  However, the business struggled and they had to close it down.  The very next day, she got her first six-figure book deal, and it changed her life forever.

Rebecca said she wrote around 80 query letters to agents in Australia, the US and the UK.  It’s a lot easier these days, because agents are now more willing to receive queries and manuscripts via email rather than hard copy.  She eventually scored an agent from the UK, also a relative newbie to the publishing world.  And together, they turned Beautiful Malice into a worldwide phenomenon even before it was published by selling it to 37 different countries around the world.  Insane, I know.

Throughout the session, there was no exact sum mentioned when it came to just how much these lucky ladies earned for selling their book rights, but from what I could gather Kirsten must have gotten at least several hundred thousand dollars and Rebecca at very least a million.

In all, it was an inspiring hour.  Both Kirsten and Rebecca were very down to earth and humble.  Kirsten, of course, had that natural writer’s aura around her.  You can just tell her life revolves around reading and writing fine literature.  Rebecca, on the other hand, had more of an everyday person vibe.  She’s the type that never thought she would be earn seven-figures for writing a book but kept writing because she knows how to tell a good story.  Nevertheless, both are very deserving of their success and financial rewards.  They also sent me rushing home to work on my own writing.

[PS: I was supposed to go to another free session later in the day about the future of e-readers and e-books, but the outrageously expensive street parking in Sydney made me give up on the idea.  Maybe next year.

PPS: Stories like theirs prove that the book publishing world isn’t dead, at least not yet anyway.]

More info:

Kirsten Tranter’s website (and her blog)

Rebecca James’ website (and her blog)

Debra Adelaide’s website

Writing Success Stories January 12, 2009

Posted by pacejmiller in On Writing.
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That last post was too depressing, so I’ve decided to share some success stories to cheer myself up.

JK Rowling and Stephen King

jk-rowlingMost people have probably heard of the most famous ones, like JK Rowling and Stephen King.  Rowling was a single mother on unemployment benefits, and the first Harry Pottstephen-kinger manuscript was rejected by all 12 publishing houses it was submitted to.  Now she’s one of the richest women in the world.  King, on the other hand, spent years getting rejected, submitting short stories to magazines for chump change and even pumped gas for a living.  There’s no need to describe how successful he is now.

Both authors apparently had a bit of luck.  In Rowling’s case, rumour has it that the daughter of Bloomsbury’s chairman read the first chapter and urged her dad to get the rest of the manuscript, which led to publication.  For King, he had thrown the draft of Carrie into the trash, and had it not been for the encouragement of his wife to continue the story, it would never have been finished.

Nicholas Sparks

nicholas-sparks1Famous soppy romance novelist, Nicholas Sparks, is one of my favourite success stories.  In short, he wrote The Notebook while selling pharmaceuticals and sent 25 query letters to agents.  Only one, a rookie agent, agreed to represent him.  He ended up selling the book for a cool $1 million.

You should read about his story for yourself at his webpage.  Here are the links to the stories of how he found an agent and how he found a publisher:

http://www.nicholassparks.com/WritersCorner/MyAgent.html

http://www.nicholassparks.com/WritersCorner/Publisher.html

Also have a browse of his very interesting and informative “Writer’s Corner”, very worthwhile.

rockySylvester Stallone

I only came across this the other day.  I don’t want to spoil it, so I will say no more.  Follow this link (http://www.rockysdream.com) on how Sylvester Stallone shot to stardom with Rocky (which he wrote), as told by motivator Tony Robbins.  The guy really does know how to tell a story. 

Matthew Reilly

The guy may come across has a bit of a toss, but one cannot deny that Matthew Reilly knows how to write excitement.  His story is also one of continued persistence and hard work.  After being rejecmatthew-reillyted by every major publishing house in Sydney, he decided to self-publish 1000 copies by borrowing money from his family.  Unbelievably, he even lost some of his books from the back of his car through theft.  However, eventually one of the copies of his book Contest was picked up (from the book store he negotiated with) by an editor from Pan MacMillan, and he went on to sell several bestsellers.

Reilly also comes across as a bit of a shameless self-promoter (maybe that’s what you need to be), but you cannot help but admire the things he did to get to where he is today.

And more…

The list goes on and on.  Just about every famous writer ever has an inspiring story of success or funny rejection story to tell.   Here are just a few examples of what famous authors have received in their rejections (from Pushcart’s Complete Rotten Reviews and Rejections):

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: “Sentimental rubbish…Show me one page that contains an idea.”

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: “I haven’t really the foggiest idea of what the man is trying to say.”

Lord of the Flies by William Golding: “It does not seem to us that you have been wholly successful in working out an admittedly promising idea.”

And last but not least, my 2 favourites:animal-farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell: “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.”

and

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by DH Lawrence: “For your own good do not publish this book.”

I’ll add more success stories or funny quotes if I come across any (or if I remember them).