Life of A Writer

Last week I asked for your vote to help me advance to the Top 12 in the FWJ Idol Contest. Today I would like to thank all of you who voted for me, because your votes helped me advance to round two. Your support to get me that far was greatly appreciated! However, since the contest is for a writing job, the remaining rounds will be done anonymously. What this means is we (the candidates) can not reveal our identities to you or we'll be disqualified. Instead, we've been given numbers so that our names aren't revealed. The reason Deb and Jodee have decided to keep things anonymous is because they don't want it to end up being a popularity contest, which I completely understand, agree with and will respect. They're looking to hire a writer for the FWJ blog, and in order to do that, they want a writer who can teach and entertain through his or her writing, as well as communicate with FWJ's readers.

On Monday we were given our first assignment, which was to write a top 10 list, and we had until Friday (today) to turn our assignments in. After we submitted our top 10 lists to Deb and Jodee, they were placed on the FWJ blog, with our candidate number as our byline.

Another round of voting is taking place as I'm writing this, and the voting ends on Sunday. I hope you head over to FWJ to vote for the writer you believe can entertain and teach through his or her writing, as well as communicate with the readers in the comments area. To keep with the rules, I can't -- and I won't -- reveal which article is mine, nor can I reveal my candidate number to you, because that would be breaking the rules. However, I can ask you to view all of the articles that were submitted over the week, and then place your vote for the articles you thought were great and deserve to move on to round three. Even though my article is among the 13, I can honestly say each and every article offered something of value. I tell ya, I'm up against some tough competition, but that's what makes it fun and even more exciting.

If you're up for some weekend reading to help improve your freelance writing career and skills, then check out all the articles by clicking on their titles below (each will open in a new window/tab). While you're reading through them, make a list of the ones you like. Then after you've finished reading them, head to FWJ Idol Round Two Voting is Now Open to place your vote for each of your favorite articles -- the ones you added to your list. I just hope and pray my submission is good enough to make your list of favorites to vote on. And remember, I can't tell you which one is mine, so, please respect the rules Deb and Jodee have set and not ask me which article is mine. You can, however, return here and leave a comment letting us all know which article or articles you voted for, but I still won't be able to tell you if mine was one you voted for. I imagine the names associated with the candidate numbers will be revealed once the contest ends and a winner has been selected.

The articles are as follows:

10 Unique Places to Market Your Book, by Candidate #1
Top Ten Money Saving Ideas for Freelance Writers, by Candidate #2
How to Lose a Gig in 10 Ways, by Candidate #3
Top 10 Phrases No Freelancer Wants to Hear (and How to Fix Them), by Candidate #4
Ten Great Resources for Writers, by Candidate #5
Freelance 411: 10 Things I Wish They'd Taught Me in Freelancing School, by Candidate #6
Top 10 Ways to Write Without Pay and Still Respect Yourself in the Morning, by Candidate #7
Ten Ways to Get a Paid Blogging Gig, by Candidate #8
Top Ten Ways to Stay Out of the Slush Pile, by Candidate #9
Top Ten Mind Tricks to Boost Your Career, by Candidate #10
Ten Ways to Get Organized so You Can Get Writing, by Candidate #11
10 Sensible Defenses of Telecommuting, by Candidate #12
Top Ten Things to Do While Waiting for That PERFECT Writing Gig, by Candidate #13

Happy reading and learning! Don't forget to vote for your favorites.

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So far in this Fiction Writing Tips series you've learned how to create a character outline, how to write a novel outline, how to write a first draft and how to edit your first draft. With all that out of the way, you should now be ready for the publishing process -- but don't rush into it just yet. By rushing to land a publisher or agent for your book, you'll risk becoming the victim of a publishing scam. And after all that hard work you've put into writing your fiction novel, I'm sure you don't want to take that risk, right? Of course you don't, so in part five of this series -- Chasing the Right Publishers or Agents --I want to share some tips to assist you in your search for a publisher or agent -- tips that I pray will save you from being the next victim of a publishing scam.

Control your excitement

You deserve to be excited about the novel you've just finished, but don't get so excited that you fail to take the extra time to research the publishers or agents that will get your attention with their promises.

Take advantage of improved technology

Head to Google and enter the name of the publishing company or agent you plan to query. When entering the company or agent's name, place quotation marks around their name (this searches the exact phrase). Next, take the time to browse through the results to see if anyone has anything good or bad to say about the publisher or agent you're researching.

After you're finished at Google, search for, then visit, websites and blogs for writers that list publishing scams. Some include the National Writers Union, Preditors & Editors, Absolute Write's Beware Board, Writer Beware, Writer Beware Blogs and Writers Weekly: Whispers and Warnings.

Don't be shy

Contact the publishers or agents and ask them for references. Some may tell you their privacy policy prevents them from giving out their clients' information, and if that's the case, ask them to have some of their clients contact you instead. If their clients do contact you, make sure the client isn't one of their employees. To verify this, perform a quick search on their name and see what information pops up. If you discover that the publisher or agent did give you the name of an employee, that should be a big warning sign.

Look for other warning signs

Browse the publisher or agent's website for the following:

• Will the publisher require you to buy a certain number of books before they'll enter into a contract with you?
  
• Does the publisher or agent charge extra for editing or reading your novel, or do they offer referrals to third parties who charge for these services?
• Does the agent charge fees other than a percentage of your royalties? If an agent asks for up-front fees such as reading fees or etc., run, it's a sure sign of a publishing scam! A legitimate agent will only ask for a percentage of your book sales, and they should work with you to help you publish and market your book.
• Did the publisher or agent offer publication or representation only after reading a few chapters, synopsis or query letter? A legitimate publisher or agent will ask for the complete manuscript before making a decision to enter into a contract with you.

If you can't find the information I mentioned above on the publisher or agent's website, contact him or her and ask about the things you were unable to locate on their website.

Seek legal advice

Always take the contract you're offered from an publisher or agent to a lawyer for him or her to look over and explain to you. Trust me, the investment you make for legal advice will be money well spent for your peace of mind.

Look for contact information

Make sure the publisher or agent's website lists their phone number, complete address and other contact information. Another way to check them out is to give them a call to make sure the phone number is valid and answered in a professional manner -- have a few questions ready when you call.

Turn to other writers for assistance

Join groups, message boards, forums and other social networks for writers. Use your membership with these networks to find out if other members have heard of or used the services of the publisher or agent you're considering.

Research the publisher's history

Explore the publisher's website to see how many books they've published. Once you reach their electronic bookstore, write down the names of some of the authors they've published. Then, Google that author's name to see if you can find their website or contact information. Next, contact the author to ask about their experience with the publisher. Are they happy with the services they've received thus far? Does the publisher do anything to help them with marketing (most print-on-demand and vanity publishers won't, but some will)?

Those are just a few tips you can use to avoid being scammed by a publisher or agent. No matter what, always keep that old saying in mind: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

Do you have some tips on researching publishers and agents or know of a resource that lists publishing scams? Help a fellow writer and receive an entry in the Mentoring Session Contest by sharing your tips and/or resource in the comments area?

Join me next week for part six in my Fiction Writing Tips series. In part six, you'll discover what you can do while waiting on the responses from the publishers or agents you contacted. Subscribe for free e-mail updates to stay up-to-date with the Fiction Writing Tips series and Mentoring Session Contest. After you've verified your free subscription to e-mail updates from Life of a Writer, you'll be entered into the Mentoring Session Contest.

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Writing the first draft -- for me, anyway -- is the fun part, because I find it to be exciting when I finally take my idea and bring it to life on paper. However, once the first draft is finished, you have to edit it, and editing the first draft is what I dread the most. Even though I despise the editing process it has to be done, and throughout my years of writing, I've discovered a few things that make editing the first draft a little easier and less time consuming. With that said, let's explore some of the ways I edit my first draft, so that maybe when you begin editing your first draft, you will find the process a little less frustrating as well.

Fill in the Blanks

As I mentioned last week, it's best to write the first draft of your fiction novel without stopping, but now that you've finished writing the first draft and moved on to the editing process, it's time to fill in the blanks. In other words, because you wrote the first draft without slowing down or stopping, you might have inserted little notes in parentheses so you could go back later to fill in the details. Those little notes might have said something such as "research the scenery in the town of X for a short description to go here." On the other hand, maybe you were stuck on a section and skipped it so you could return to it later. Why would you skip a section or chapter? So you don't have to stop and think, which could interrupt your flow of words.

Insert the Chapters

If you wrote your first draft without breaking it down in to chapters, now would be the time to re-read what you wrote and decide where to begin and end your chapters. Remember, you want to leave your readers wanting more, so when you end a chapter, try to end it in a spot where you know the reader will want to continue.

Re-read for Consistency

Re-read your fiction novel to make sure your staying consistent with your tense (past or present) and person (she or I). For example, if you're writing in past tense, make sure all your sentences and words are past tense (e.g., take in past tense should be took).

Check for Spelling and Grammar Errors

Perform a spelling and grammar check using Microsoft Word's spelling and grammar check feature. Because you can't always depend on Microsoft Word's spelling and grammar checker to catch everything, you should also do a manual check.

After you re-read your fiction novel to do your own check for spelling and grammar mistakes, perform the following tips for another round of editing:

1. Search for commonly misused words such as effect and affect, then and than, bring and take, who and whom, and other misused words. Once you find those words, double check to make sure you're using them correctly.

2. Check to make sure your quotation marks are properly placed. In dialogue, the quotation marks should go after a period, comma or question mark.

Examples:

"I don't believe in angels," George replied.
Ronald asked, "Why not?"

3. Are there any words that you tend to overuse without realizing it? Search for those words and delete or replace them with another word from your thesaurus.

4. Read through the last paragraph in each chapter to make sure that you've ended the chapter with a "hook" that will compel your reader to keep reading instead of earmarking or bookmarking the next chapter.

Additional tip: When performing the editing tips mentioned above, use Microsoft Word's Find and Replace feature. Using the Find and Replace feature in Microsoft Word will make locating and replacing what you're looking for quicker.

Record Yourself Reading Your Fiction Novel Aloud

Grab your recorder, settle in a quiet room and read your novel aloud. Start at the beginning and read all the way to the end. You'd be surprised how many mistakes you'll catch by reading out loud.

After you've recorded yourself, play the recording and listen for mistakes. When you hear a mistake, pause the recorder, correct your mistake, then continue where you left off.

If you follow the aforementioned advice in the order I listed, then editing the first draft should be easier for you. "How will it be easier?" you ask. Think about it for a minute. If you fill in the blanks before you do a spelling and grammar check, you won't have to repeat the spelling and grammar check a dozen times. Makes sense, right?

Editing your first draft on your own is a must, but I also recommend investing in an editing service to have a professional editor look over your fiction novel to catch things you might have missed on your own. One final edit by a professional could save you from embarrassment as well as reviewers pointing out the spelling and grammar mistakes you missed by accident.

Join me again next week as I share researching tips to help you discover the right publisher or agent. To keep up with each post in my Fiction Writing Tips series and earn one entry into my Mentoring Session Contest, subscribe free to have updates sent to your e-mail inbox.

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Deb at Freelance Writing Jobs (FWJ) is currently seeking a twice weekly columnist for FWJ, but instead of choosing the columnist herself, she's doing something unique: leaving it to her readers to choose the columnist by doing an American Idol-like contest. For the first round, Deb asked the writers who wanted to apply to leave their pitch for the writing job in the comments area on this post. Since I'm a regular reader of FWJ I would love to write for Deb, and I enjoy sharing my writing experience and knowledge with other writers, so I wrote and placed my pitch as instructed. Now I must pray that I'll receive enough votes to move on to round two.

Many of you have read my writing-related articles, left wonderful comments and e-mailed me feedback, which I greatly appreciate and thank you for. With that said, I'd be grateful if you could head over to FWJ and give me your vote to help me progress to round two. You don't have to reveal your identity. All you have to do is click the box next to my name (Misti Sandefur), and then click "Vote." If you'd like to read the pitch I left before voting, read the comments area at FWJ Idol is Now Open. If you click CTRL and F on your keyboard then type Misti Sandefur into the box and click find, you'll find this is much quicker for finding my pitch.

Voting closes on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at Noon (EST).

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Public relations firm seeking an experienced business plan writer ($1000).

Niche trade magazine seeking a permanent freelance writer to write content related to the retail industries ($45K-$55K).

SEO Shootout seeking bloggers to share their experiences and opinions of digital marketing and search engine optimization (pay is commensurate).

Swimnetwork.com seeking bloggers to write about swimming-related news (competitive, per-post basis).

Writer needed to write a monthly employee newsletter. Writing as well as design experience may increase your chances of landing this telecommute freelance writing job (send your desired rate).

Writer needed to write articles for a wrinkle product review website. SEO writing experience is a plus ($20 per article).

Are you looking to hire a writer or blogger? Contact me with the details and I'll include your announcement in next week's listings.

Finally, if you would be so kind to leave a comment and let me know if you're enjoying the weekly telecommute freelance writing jobs, I'd appreciate it very much. In addition, feel free to let me know if you've managed to land any of the telecommute freelance writing jobs I've been sharing with you each week.

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Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that any of the telecommute freelance writing jobs listed above will still be available when you apply for them. Furthermore, I'm not responsible for the credibility of the freelance writing jobs. Before committing to any writing gig, get the details and promised payment in writing. If you can't get it in writing, at least save all e-mail communications between you and the company or individual you will be writing for.

If you're scammed or have been scammed by any of the companies or individuals from one of the telecommute freelance writing jobs above, please warn your fellow writers by sharing your experience in the comments area.

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Now that you’ve completed your character and novel outlines let’s move on to the next step in the fiction writing process: writing the first draft. The first draft is not the perfect version. Instead, the first draft is where you let your mind run free. As you’re writing your first draft, here are a few things to consider:

Eliminate Distractions Around You

Before you begin writing your first draft, pick a quiet place -- a place where you won’t be distracted by the things and people around you. Distractions consist of screaming kids, ringing phones and a rambling spouse. If you’re the only one there for your children and they have to be supervised, hire a babysitter for a few hours. Turn off the phone. Gently let your spouse know you’re going to another room to write on your novel and would appreciate no distractions; unless, of course, it’s a dire emergency.

Dialogue Keeps the Reader Entertained

Don’t bore your readers with paragraph after paragraph of description and details. If your novel is filled with details instead of lively conversation (aka, dialogue) between the characters, you’ll risk losing your readers. Include as much dialogue as you possibly can, but don't over do it. Break up your dialogue with some description, action or other details so that your entire novel isn’t just dialogue.

While writing your dialogue, keep your characters realistic. Listen to people around you talk. Everyone has their own way of speaking. For example, teenagers use words like awesome, cool, rock on, whatever and etc., and not everyone speaks perfect grammar. Keep your dialogue real and your characters will come to life on page.

Stay Consistent With Voice, Person and Tense

Decide what voice, person (first, second or third) and tense (past or present) you’ll be writing in and stick to it throughout your entire fiction novel.

Write Without Editing

Write, don’t edit! I’ve found that when I have the auto spell and grammar checker feature turned on in Microsoft Word, I tend to want to edit what it underlines. To keep myself from stopping to make those edits, I turn off the auto spell and grammar checker before I begin writing the first draft of my fiction novel.

Later, once you’ve written your entire fiction novel, you can worry about spelling, grammar, rewording, eliminating and etc. The only thing you really do when you stop to make changes is create distractions, which could lead to writer’s block.

Take Breaks

When the words don’t seem to be flowing anymore and you’re spending too much time thinking instead of writing, save your work and return to it the next day.

Once you’ve written the last word for your fiction novel, your first draft will be completed. After writing the first draft, then you can go back and edit for spelling and grammar. In fact, next week we’ll cover editing your first draft. To ensure that you don’t miss next week’s post, subscribe for free to receive updates via e-mail. When you subscribe for free updates, you’ll earn an entry into the Mentoring Session Contest. Have you already received an entry into the contest another way? No problem, you can still subscribe and earn another entry, which will increase your chances of winning the free mentoring session with me.

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Blogger to write on wedding topics such as trendy wedding ideas, etiquette and tips ($10 per post).

Financial journalist to manage a new monthly newsletter ($1000 monthly).

Fishing Facts magazine accepting articles ($30 per published article. Pays on publication).

LoveToKnow needs a writer to create web articles related to home improvement and interior design ($20 per article).

Technology writers and bloggers wanted ($10 per post).

TV and movie bloggers (modest payment, which is open for discussion).

Writers to research and write on a variety of topics ($1000-$2000 monthly).

Writers to write about hair fashion and styling for a hair fashion website (Send your desired compensation).

Writers with a strong background and understanding of the banking industry ($35 to $50 per article).

YouthNoise.com is seeking bloggers who are passionate about sports and social change ($500 monthly).

Are you looking to hire a writer or blogger? Contact me with the details and I'll include your announcement in next week's listings.

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Disclaimer: I can't guarantee that any of the telecommute freelance writing jobs listed above will still be available when you apply for them. Furthermore, I'm not responsible for the credibility of the freelance writing jobs. Before committing to any writing gig, get the details and promised payment in writing. If you can't get it in writing, at least save all e-mail communications between you and the company or individual you will be writing for.

If you're scammed or have been scammed by any of the companies or individuals from one of the telecommute freelance writing jobs above, please warn your fellow writers by sharing your experience in the comments area.

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Last week I told you how to get to know your characters with a character outline and gave you a free character outline template to use for creating your characters. This week I’m going to tell you how to write a novel outline. Writing a novel outline will help you build a story from beginning to end. And like the character outline, you can refer to it as you’re writing your fiction novel. Shall we begin?

Working Title

Each novel outline you create should begin with the working title for your fiction novel. You’ll want to choose a title that not only describes the storyline but attracts attention. Here are a few tips for choosing a title for your fiction novel:

• After you’ve come up with a few titles, poll your readers and ask them to vote on the title they like best. You can poll your blog readers and those on your mailing list.

• Ask family and friends what title they like best and what attracted them to that title.

• Keep it short and simple. You don’t want a long title, and you certainly don’t want a complicated or hard-to-pronounce title. In other words, make it easy to understand and remember.
  

Genre

After you’ve written your fiction novel, you’ll be busy trying to sell it to publishers or agents with a query letter, and all query letters should tell the publisher or agent what genre your book is. So in this section of your novel outline, specify the genre of your fiction novel. In other words, is it a romance, mainstream fiction, mystery, Christian fiction, western romance or etc.?

Description

Describe what your fiction novel is about. What you include here could be the text for the back of your novel. Following is an example, which is what I currently use on my website to describe Help From Above:


Setting

Where will your story take place? When deciding on the location for your story, pick a place that you’ve visited or know well. If you choose a location you’ve never been to before, then research the climate, population and etc. Although the story is fictional, you’ll still want to make it believable. For example, many people know it doesn’t snow often in Los Angeles, California. Therefore, if Los Angeles is the setting for your fiction novel and you have it snowing often during the winter, then you may risk turning your readers off or losing them entirely. You can make up names of stores and even streets, but keep the scenery and weather realistic.

Time Frame

What year will your story take place? Again, keep your story realistic, so research the year well. For example, don’t have your characters talking on cell phones in the year of 1970.

Conflict

The conflict is an obstacle or obstacles that the main character (usually the protagonist) must overcome. Therefore, in this section of your novel outline, list the conflict(s) for your main character. If you’re creating more than one conflict for your main character, don’t list too many.

Once you’ve listed the conflict(s) for the main character in your fiction novel, describe how your main character will overcome the obstacle(s), which I refer to as the resolution to the conflict(s). Remember, though, you don’t want the conflict(s) resolved until the end of the novel. Having the conflict(s) remain throughout your fiction novel will keep your readers reading.

As an example, when creating the novel outline for my first Christian fiction book, the conflict in my story came about with Ronald, the angel. Ronald’s assignment from God was to help George recover from his drug and alcohol addictions, but George’s stubbornness didn’t make things easy for Ronald. In addition, George didn’t believe in angels and had lost his faith in God, which also made it hard for Ronald to help him.

In the end, a miracle happened and the resolution to the conflict finally took place, but I won’t reveal the resolution because it would give away the ending, so you just have to read Help From Above to find out what the resolution was. Nevertheless, this should give you an example of what you should include in this section of your novel outline.

Join me next week for Fiction Writing Tips: Writing the First Draft. Until then, feel free to download the novel outline template for free. You can use my novel outline template for each of your fiction novel ideas.

What do you include in your novel outlines? Did you find my tips on writing a novel outline helpful? Please share your advice and feedback in the comments area. In fact, leaving a comment will earn you one entry into my Mentoring Session Contest.

To ensure that you don’t miss any upcoming posts in my Fiction Writing Tips series, subscribe to my RSS feed via e-mail. Your subscription via e-mail will earn another entry into my Mentoring Session Contest.


Additional Reading

Choosing a Perfect Title, by Marti Talbott

Fiction Genres Considered: A Guide for Writers, by Adriann Ranta

The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life, by Noah Lukeman

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