Cutting Your Teeth

FEATURED in the AUTHORS Newsletter DTD: 19 JULY 2017

CUTTING YOUR TEETH

by StephBee

I’ve been writing seriously for about ten years now. I love writing genre fiction and every genre has its own rules and quirks. But writing for publication takes patience, oodles and oodles of it. So as a writer who wants to see their project published, you have to be patient.

There are two ways to get published – you can self-publish or go the traditional route. Going the traditional route can be very rewarding, but this path requires a healthy dose of patience.

Thorny little word to an author who wants to see their manuscript published RIGHT NOW, isn’t it. Patience.

I’m striving to go the traditional route. Why? Time. Help. I have no time. (I’m a working, married Mom with two young boys.) A traditional publisher usually offers advances, pays royalties, and helps with marketing and publicity. (By self publishing, you’ll have to hustle to do all this and if you lack the time, it’s hard.) Also, I’m a writer who wants to write. While I understand the business side of publishing, I want to focus on writing, and using a traditional publisher will help with that.

To attract a traditional publisher, you have to hone your craft. Some writers are naturals, but it's taken me several years to master the art of telling a story. Crafting a story that will grab attention is not easy. Read a lot of the types of stories you wish to tell. If you write romances, read a lot of romances. You’ll be able to discern if your writing is up to par with traditional publishing by reading what is traditionally published. Along with reading, keep in mind that writing is 10% writing and 90% editing. You must master self-editing skills. A first draft of a novel is usually you, the writer, getting to know your characters. Expect to edit it.

A literary agent can help you put your foot in the door in the traditional publishing world. They have the same high standards the publishing houses do. Getting an agent to represent you gets your foot half-way in the door.

One of the things I’ve done to help me hone my writing skills is to enter writing contests. I’m very selective about the contests I choose. Writer’s Digest sponsors the best contests I’ve come across. They host two contests a year that I strive to enter: Popular Fiction and the Annual Competition which features ten categories. (They also have a flash fiction contest called short shorts and a poetry contest.) Last year, I entered my story, “Spontaneous Decision” in the Mainstream/Literary category of the 77th Annual WD Competition. This contest usually receives 17,000 entries a year. My story took 8th place in this category. (My story, “The Watch Tower” took 22nd in Genre Fiction.) I was pleasantly stunned.

Ten years of patience is starting to pay off. I’m writing those caliber of stories that will attract attention. For my 8th place win, I received a free year’s subscription to WD, a certificate and $25.00. As an added bonus, I’ve had two literary agents approach me, asking me to query my next project with them. Currently, I’m waiting to hear back from those agents regarding my project.

My patience is paying off. Keep writing, keep reading, and master self-editing skills. Challenge yourself to take your writing to the next level. Enter writing contests to hone your storytelling abilities. Study writing techniques. Even an honorable mention in a writing contest is a writing credit that might impress a literary agent. The Writer’s Digest Annual Competition has ten separate categories. They have a grand prize winner, list the top ten in each category, (who win monetary prizes) and give out honorable mention certificates to the top 11-100 winners in each categories. Out of 17,000 entries that’s recognizing 1,000 entries.

Here’s a list of my writing credits:

8th Place, Mainstream/Literary, 77th Annual WD Competition for “Spontaneous Decision.”

Note1 Honorable Mention, Romance, 2007 WD Popular Fiction Competition for “The Wolf’s Kiss.”

Note1 Honorable Mention, Thriller/Suspense, 2007 WD Popular Fiction Competition for “The Peenemunde Secret.”

Note1 Honorable Mention, Genre Fiction, 77th Annual WD Competition for “The Watch Tower.”

Note1 Honorable Mention, Genre Fiction, 76th Annual WD Competition for “Red Paint, Crimson Blood.”

Note1 Honorable Mention, Genre Fiction, 75th Annual WD Competition for “The Music Box.”

Note1 Self Published: “The Wolf’s Torment,” 2007, IUniverse. 4 stars, ForeWord/Clarion Reviews.
Note1 “Destination:Berlin,” 2001, IUniverse. “A tauntly written suspense.” Midwest Book Reviews.

© Copyright 2009 StephB buzzing around (UN: sgcardin at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

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Cutting Your Teeth, Part 2

DATED: SEP 2016

I’ll be honest, I’d forgotten about this article. Recently, it was brought to my attention. That’s how much my writing life has changed. The original article was written in 2009 - 7 years ago! Where has the time gone?

In 2010, I turned my short story, “The Wolf’s Kiss,” into a full length novel called, “The Hungarian.” Desert Breeze Publishing, a small press, expressed interest in publishing it. The novel was written in the 1st person from Katherine’s point of view. The editor-in-chief asked me to re-write the story using a 3rd person limited perspective in both Katherine’s and Matthias’ voice. I did the re-write and in May 2010, it was published as a paranormal romance.

Desert Breeze Publishing has gone to publish 14 of my novels since!

Also that year, my children’s story, “The Giving Meadow” was published with 4RV Publishing, another small press. To my surprise, I discovered I enjoyed writing children’s stories. Since 2009 4RV Publishing has published 4 of my children’s stories.

During Christmastime in 2010, Victory Tales Press, another small press, published one of my Christmas short stories in their anthology. Since then, I’ve published 7 short stories with them.

In 2013, my short story, “Made in America,” took 8th place in the Writer’s Digest annual contest in Mainstream Fiction.

“The Wolf’s Torment” and “A Gentleman and A Rogue,” won GOLD in the Reader’s Favorites annual contests. Other winners include: “Victorian Scoundrel: BRONZE,” and “The Count’s Lair,” SILVER. “Danube in Candlelight” was a Finalist in 2012. “Young Witchcraft” won 3rd place in the 2015 IDA awards. “The Secret Door,” won a cover award in the InD’Tales Contest. “A Lady Never Lies,” “Twilight Over Moldavia” and “Sunrise Over Brasov” were RONE Finalists in the InD’Tales writing contests. The last 7 years have been productive indeed!

The benefits of a small press is that they are willing to work with you if you are a new author. They do provide editing and cover services. They help provide limited marketing opportunities such as Internet exposure via blogs and Facebook pages or a local festival where they can afford a booth.

I’ve found I’ve had to do a bulk of marketing myself. Marketing is a whole new beast. Opportunities include using the Internet, coordinate blog tours, using Triberr, Facebook, Blogs, You Tube for book trailers. Festival booths and book signings are a challenge in my area. Also, there are other commitments on my time, so finding time to promote and market is challenging.

As for my writing, since releasing “A Princess is Always Right,” in SEP 2015, I have had no time to write due to my commitments with work and scouting. Currently, I have 2 stories which I’m struggling to finish. I still have plenty of ideas, but due to demands on time, it’s tough.

I try to enter flash fiction contests and keep up with my blogs, but I find I can’t do much more than that. Still, it’s enough to keep me in the game. It all comes around to that work many of us authors struggle with - patience.

Even now, I need to work on my patience. I want to finish my stories and I want to market my stories more aggressively, but I don’t have the time I need to dedicate to these endeavors. So I’ll keep my writing urges alive by hanging out on WDC until I can pick up steam again.

If you have a chance, here are a couple of items I’ve written to fulfill my writing urges.

Missing Paint  (13+) Instead of paint, Suze found handcuffs. #2002149 by StephBee

Invisible   (ASR) A conversation between a man and his mirror. #2049070 by StephBee

STATIC

Gus  (ASR) Gus would prefer to avoid his birthday. #2096034 by StephBee

Let me leave with you this: always write something. It’s how you improve your skills. I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.