Getting Published Now!

Coronado Adult Education

Spring 2015

The Great American Novel

February 3, 2015

“If you decide to become a professional writer, youmust, broadly speaking, decide whether you wish towrite for fame, for pleasure, or for money.”

Ian FlemingHow to Write a Thriller

Recap of What We Covered Last Week

Non-Fiction - The Hungry Market

• Being - or becoming - the expert?

• Pursuing a subject - or letting life happen?

• Scratching itches - or entertaining?

• How much to tell and what’s next?

• Query letters

• Full-on book proposal

Non-Fiction vs. Fiction:What’s Needed to Sell It

• Non-fiction: What are you going to write?

• Fiction: How are you going to write it?

This Week:The Great American Novel

“For me, I gotta write, and it’s the adventure of it that’shooked me. As the writer, I can do it all. I get to be theNational Security Advisor who recommends the actionto the President who must commit the forces. I’m thesenior officer who sends his men into action and whofeels the pain if they don’t make it back. I’m the enemyand the defender; logistician and staff planner. Butmost of all, I’m a young man again, that freshlieutenant who must lead his men into battle.”

Dick Couch“So you Want to be a Writer”

“The Great American Novel”

• Great or not-so-great? What you need to know getting started

• Mainstream or genre? Which way should you go?

• Defining your audience and picking a “voice” and point of view

• Getting the sale with a publisher

Mr. Clancy said none of his success came easily, and hewould remind aspiring writers of that when he spoke tothem. “I tell them you learn to write the same way youlearn to play golf,” he once said. “You do it, and keep doingit until you get it right. A lot of people think somethingmystical happens to you, that maybe the muse kisses youon the ear. But writing isn’t divinely inspired — it’s hardwork.”

Tom ClancyQuoted in the New York TimesOctober 2, 2013

Great or Not-So-Great? What You Need to Know Getting Started

• Lots of decisions to make:– Mainstream or genre

– Publisher or self-publish

– Single work or a series

– Time-bounding to complete

• The competition is intense– Increasing number of novels published

– This means that far-fewer are commercially successful

– In many ways, the market is over-saturated

– Compared to non-fiction, there are fewer barriers to entry

Mainstream or Genre? Which Way Should You Go?

• Mainstream…

• Genre…

• Niche…

• Other…

Defining Your Audience and Picking a “Voice” and Point of View

• Who are you writing for?

• What voice should you pick?

– What voice do you most enjoy in the fiction you read?

– What voice seems most natural to you?

• Go for a test drive

– Write three chapters in third-person

– Write the same three chapters in first-person

Getting the Sale

Well save this for later…for now…

let’s work on what you want to sell

…so what does your novel need to have to get the sale?

…inspiration and perspiration

…so what do the experts say?

A strategic pause…

“There is only one recipe for a bestseller and it is a verysimple one. If you look back on all the bestsellers youhave read, you will find they all have one quality; yousimply have to turn the page.”

Ian FlemingHow to Write a Thriller

Dean Koontz’s Recommendations to New Writers

• Thought

• Care

• Storytelling

• Craftsmanship

Dean Koontz On Generating New Story Ideas

• Read!

• Write!

• Tickle the imagination and generate story ideas by playing around with exotic titles

• Type out a bunch of narrative hooks and find one that is intriguing

• Prime the idea pump by building up a couple of characters in enormous detail

• Whatever you write, you must begin your novel by plunging the hero or heroine into terrible trouble

What the Average Reader Demands of a Novel

• A strong plot

• A great deal of action

• A hero, or heroine, or both

• Colorful, imaginative, & convincing characterization

• Clear, believable, character motivations

• Well-drawn backgrounds

• At least some familiarity with the English language

• A style with lyrical language and striking images (MC)

Let’s talk about two of the most important ingredients in writing a

successful novel…

Let’s talk about two of the most important ingredients in writing a

successful novel…plotting and characterization

Plotting

“There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey anda stranger comes to town.”

Timothy Spurgin“The Art of Reading”The Great Courses

The Classic Plot

• The writer introduces a hero or heroine who has just been –or is about to be – plunged into terrible trouble

• The hero or heroine attempts to solve his or her problem but only slips deeper into trouble

• As they try to climb out of the hole they’re in, complications arise, each more terrible than the one before, until the situation could not become more hopeless, then one final unthinkable complication arises and makes matters worse.

• At last, deeply affected and changed by his awful experiences and intolerable circumstances, the hero learns something about himself and the human condition. He then understands what he must do to get out of the dangerous situation in which he has wound up. He takes the necessary actions and either succeeds or fails, succeeding more often than not.

“You can distill any drama – a Greek tragedy, aShakespearian play, a modern novel, a TV drama orcomedy, whatever – into a simple equation: ‘What dothese guys want, and what’s keeping them from gettingit?’”

Bill BleichWriting advice

Plots

• Create a compelling plot

• Write a grabber opening

• Write a successful ending

• Create a middle that keeps the reader involved

James Hall – Hit Lit

• Gone with the Wind• Peyton Place• To Kill a Mockingbird• Valley of the Dolls• The Godfather• The Exorcist• Jaws• The Dead Zone• The Hunt for Red October• The Firm• The Bridges of Madison County• The Da Vinci Code

Characterization

“There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey anda stranger comes to town.”

Timothy Spurgin“The Art of Reading”The Great Courses

“There are only two plots: The hero takes a journey anda stranger comes to town.”

Timothy Spurgin“The Art of Reading”The Great Courses

Important Qualities for Heroes and Heroines

• Virtue

• Competence

• Courage

• Likeability

• Imperfections

• Change

Character Motivations

• Love

• Curiosity

• Self-preservation

• Greed

• Self-discovery

• Duty

• Revenge

Character Traits

• Physical appearance• Voice and speech• Movement and gestures• Past life• Religion• Sexuality• Vocation• Skills and talents• Fears• Dreams• Pleasures • Plans for the future• Sense of humor• Politics

Character Traits

• How many major and minor characters to have

• Develop a “job description” for each character

• All major characters must have a biography

• You will know what your characters will do

• You are writing a novel – not a movie script– You have to get your characters from Point A to Point B

– Your characters are not dead when they’re off the page

• What is each character doing?– On stage

– Off stage

James Hall – Hit Lit

• Gone with the Wind• Peyton Place• To Kill a Mockingbird• Valley of the Dolls• The Godfather• The Exorcist• Jaws• The Dead Zone• The Hunt for Red October• The Firm• The Bridges of Madison County• The Da Vinci Code

“It’s not what you know that counts, it’s whether thereader believes that you know something. This effect iscalled the suspension of disbelief.

Oscar Collier and Frances LeightonHow to Write and Sell Your First Novel

…let’s “deconstruct” one character from Out of the Ashes…Anne Sullivan

…plot?..characterization?...which is more important?

Plot or Characterization

• You have to have plot to make the reader turn pages

• People a the story and the whole story

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• Plot has the entertainment value to pull the reader along

• The characters are the vehicle, the tools through which you tell your story

• Readers want you to tell them a story

• Dialogue brings your characters to life!

“There is only one recipe for a bestseller and it is a verysimple one. If you look back on all the bestsellers youhave read, you will find they all have one quality yousimply have to turn the page.”

Ian FlemingHow to Write a Thriller

But That’s Not All!(Mainstream and Genre)

• High Concept (Think in movie terms)

– The Coronado Conspiracy

– For Duty and Honor

• Theme

– The Coronado Conspiracy

– For Duty and Honor

• Balancing scene and summary

• Don’t ever forget about the action

Wait – There’s More!What Are you Writing?

• The king died and then the queen died

– A story

• The king died and then the queen died of grief

– A plot

• The queen died, and no one knew why, until it was discovered that it was through grief at the death of the king

– A mystery

Getting Serious AboutGetting the Sale

Getting the Sale

• Query agents – get the statistics on your side:

– Forty years ago – 30% of books were agented

– In the last decade – Over 85% of books were agented

• Small publishers – you will likely bear some risk

– Likely no advance

– Limited print run

• Be your own agent – to find an agent: Richard Curtis How to Be Your Own Literary Agent

Getting an Agent to Read Your Manuscript

• It starts with being familiar with books in your “field”

• Then you find out which agents agented those books

• Stay in the library: Contact info for agents

• Go back to what we learned about query letters:

– High Concept (back to the movies)

– Treatment

– Narrative Outline

– Full Manuscript

• Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: One example

Let’s Deconstruct a Novel Treatment

• Cover

• Organization

• Organizing Impulse and High Concept

• The “Old” OpCenter Dies

• The “New” OpCenter is Born

• New Character Details– Preamble

– Those who spend a great deal of time physically at OpCenter

– Those who deal with crises overseas in each scenario

– Those who deal with crises domestically in each scenario

• OpCenter Plot and Scenario Plan– Preamble

– Short Plot Synopsis

• 17,000+ words

Let’s Deconstruct a Narrative Outline

• Cover

• Front matter

• Chapter summaries

– Separate sections

– One or two paragraphs per section

• Epilogue

• 19,000+ words

Resources

• E.E. Forster Aspects of the Novel

• Francine Prose Reading Like a Writer

• Richard Curtis How To Be Your Own Literary Agent

• James Hall Hit Lit

• Dr. Linda Seger– The Art of Adaptation

– Advanced Screenwriting

• Robert Masello– Robert’s Rules of Writing

– Writer Tells All

“Being a comparatively successful writer is a good life.You don’t have to work at it all the time and you carryyour office around in your head. And you are far moreaware of the world around you. Writing makes youmore alive to your surroundings and, since the mainingredient of living, though you might not think so tolook at most human beings is to be alive, this is quite aworthwhile by-product, even if you only write thrillers.”

Ian FlemingHow to Write a Thriller

Slides Posted:http://www.georgegaldorisi.com/

E-mail address:george@georgegaldorisi.com

Next Week

Establishing an Online Presence

• Review of weeks one through four

– Writing in general

– Writing for and selling for publication

– Writing and selling non-fiction

– Writing and selling novels

• What makes your online material unique?

• Beating the competition for “eyes”

• Balancing content and entertainment

• Doing-it-yourself…or…?