I Know You Want to Write a Novel...
but wait just a minute
Yeah…this is a long one, and it could tick off some people. But like pulling off a Band Aid, it’s usually best to take a deep breath and pull. So, here we go.
Recently I have watched as a lot of well-intentioned people have turned to Twitter/X/Whoever they are this week, and other online outlets to pose their publishing questions. And over 90% (I kept track for a while) were questions about their current projects. Their WIPs. Work in Progress. I’ve watched as they talked about their WIPs (that acronym makes an awful lot of people feel like an actual novelist whether they have ever finished a project or not) like they were children who had just been enrolled in an advanced gifted class.
And that’s fine up to a point.
But here’s the thing. The discussion of their “gifted children” leads to some questions about the writing process. And the questions are too often aimed at sources that are ultimately very little help (other unpublished writers).Here’s an example: “How long should my chapters be? I’m trying to keep them pretty uniform. Some people thought that was a “cool idea” and others actually came up with numbers for how many pages or words an average chapter should be. My response was: “There is no standard chapter length. The chapter should be long enough to adequately lay out the scene/scenes and move the story along. A chapter can be dozens of pages, or as short as a single word. And why do you want uniform chapters?” The answer made me shake my head. This person thought chapters of relatively equal length would look good when the book was laid out.
Another question that comes up on a regular basis is how long should a book be? How many words? My favorite response: “I’m probably the wrong person to ask because my epic fantasy is already pushing one million words.” Angels and ministers of grace defend us as Bill Shakespeare once said. The other answers were some riff on the well, my book is… theme. And all by people who hope to self-publish their books or are writing as a hobby just for the fun of it (absolutely nothing wrong with that, but unless they are familiar with the publishing industry, it’s not helpful advice). My response, again, was a little different.
“The best way to determine a good length for your novel is to research publishing companies that publish the kind of novel you’re working on and look at their guidelines whether you’re publishing traditionally or self publishing. That information is readily available on their website.” Then came the sad part. As much time as people spend on the internet and as much time as they are spending on these gifted children of theirs, many of them have no idea how to find the information on a publisher. And I was happy to help those who had no idea the same way a lot of writers helped me when I first started and didn’t even know how to format a manuscript.
But some pretty big name writers (we’ll leave it at that…I’m not here to name drop) Took me under their collective wings and gave me invaluable help that has stayed with me for over 30 years. So, for those of you who have a novel just waiting to get out and aren’t exactly sure how to bring it into the world, I’ll give you the best advice I’ve got, and what you do with it is up to you. No harm, no foul regardless.
The Beginner’s Guide to Writing a Novel
Step 1. Don’t
Yeah, this is the unpopular part. And from here on out, I am writing for those of you who would like to be a professional and be paid to write your book. If you’re a hobbyist, again, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Enjoy the experience! But if you want to sign contracts and eventually see your book on the shelf in your local book store, this one’s for you. So read this next sentence very carefully: What I am about to say is NOT a value judgement (I probably don’t even know you), but is based on my experience and the experience of many other writers I DO know who get paid to put words on paper, and while there are always exceptions to the rule, they are not as common as you might hope they are.
Now, back to the show.
Most of the beginning writers I have ever met (and I include myself in this example), do not have the skills, the knowledge, or the mental/emotional stamina to write a novel when they are first starting out. And the reason is simple. Writing is a mental, physical, and physiological endeavor. It’s like learning to play a musical instrument or become proficient in a sport. You have to train your body and your mind. You play scales, learn about chords, become comfortable with your instrument of choice. You have to run laps, build your muscles, participate/drill in your chosen sport until playing it becomes second nature.
You can’t run a marathon when you’re just learning to jog. You can’t play a concerto when you’ve just learned the notes on the piano. And you can’t write a novel when you’ve never written anything before.
So, what do you do? You start small. Write blog posts. Magazine articles. Short stories. Essays. Plays. Book chapters. Columns. Web copy. Bible Studies. Sunday School take-home papers, academic study guides (one eight page guide sent my wife and her mother on a NICE trip to Hawaii for TWO WEEKS). Start small and build your writing chops. With every project you learn about things like pacing, scene construction, language use, description, research (this is a biggie!). And physiologically, when you have a specific place to write and develop a specific routine (whether you have an office or write at your local coffee shop), when you begin the process of writing , you will find that your mind sharpens, you become more focused, and your body adapts to your writing space. You sit in different posture and you become, in some ways, more relaxed. Why? because writing is physiological as well as mental. Your body and mind will begin to adapt and help put you in the frame of mind for writing. Your shoulders will relax, you’ll block out distractions, etc. and all to help facilitate the writing process.
It’s much easier to write 80,000 words when you have been successful with 500, 1000, 10,000, 25,000 and so on. When you start with smaller projects, you develop the skills to tackle the bigger projects.
And don’t worry. The smaller projects are out there and many of them pay pretty well. And all of it is training for the big event: writing that novel.
Step 2: Do your research
These days many people’s first impulse is to self-publish their novel. Fight that urge (the average cost to self-publish a novel is $2000-$4000 if you do it right. And I am old school in that I much prefer to be paid to write). Start with the attitude that what you are writing is worthy of publication (if it’s not, self-publishing won’t help it) and start looking for the publishers who want the kind of book you are writing. Then, find out exactly what they are looking for. What is the word count? Do they want stand-alone novels or are they open to a series. And the easiest place to find the information is on the publisher’s website.
So, how do you find that? First, go to your local book store, Amazon, your local library, or wherever you buy your books. Look for the kind of book you want to write/are writing, and see who the publisher is. If you’re at the library or the book store, take notes. If you’re online, same thing. Then, get on the Internet and search for the publisher’s website. The guidelines will either be listed under Guidelines, Submissions, or the Contact tab. If you don’t find the guidelines in one of those two places, just send a quick email to the contact listed and ask for a copy of their writers guidelines.
Now that you have your guidelines, write according to what they want. If the word count is listed as 55,000 words, that’s not a suggestion. That’s the limit. Come as close to 55,000 as you can, but DON’T GO OVER their number. 75,000 means 75,000 not 77,000-82,000.
Publishers will tell you what they want. For example:
“We are now accepting novel and novella submissions.For novels (50,000+ words), please submit a synopsis and the first three chapters. If we’re hooked, we will request the entire manuscript. Novellas (20,000 [firm] to 50,000 words) can be submitted in their entirety. While we are open to all horror (adult and YA), our personal preference is for creature features. Submissions should be sent to submissions@potentialpublisher.com* and include the following in the subject line: Novel (Novella) Submission/Title/Author’s last name/Word Count. Include a short bio in the body of the email.
Submission Guidelines:
Double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 pt.
Page headers (in the upper right-hand corner of every page except the title page should include: Author name/Title/Page No.
Single space after periods, no extra spacing between paragraphs, and please do not set a tab. Instead, use Word’s paragraph formatting for first line, and set the first line indent to 0.3″.
Manuscripts MUST be in doc, docx, or rtf formats. PDFs will not be read, nor will manuscripts embedded within the body of an email.
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS and NO MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS” [emphasis theirs]
*Fake email since the actual publisher is close to submissions until later this year.
Guidelines will also tell you whether you can submit directly to them or whether you need an agent . For now, you don’t. So bypass those publishers who require one. You might need an agent later, but not just yet.
Now, a word on manuscript format. No matter where you are in the writing business, proper manuscript format is essential. Be it a novel, short story, play, essay, or whatever, if an editor knows you are new and don’t have many/any publishing credits, a properly formatted manuscript tells them you are serious and are doing things the right way. It makes you look like a professional. It puts you ahead of your competition. And all of that works in your favor.
Instead of giving you a crash course in proper manuscript format, here are two sources that will give you more than a basic understanding of how various types of manuscripts should look. Jonathan Maberry is nothing short of an institution in the publishing industry, and he most definitely is someone to follow. and the Shunn manuscript format information is as valuable today as it was when it was first published. Note: the he/him notation in the heading at the top of the Shunn page is not really necessary unless a publisher specifically asks for it, or you feel strongly about it. Most editors won’t ask.
Maberry: https://www.jonathanmaberry.com/freestuffforwriters.cfm
Shunn: https://www.shunn.net/format/story/ (this the short story manuscript because it tells you WHY things are done this way. You can click on the novel format link at the top of the page, but read the short story example first).
Now that you have an idea of who is buying the kind of book you want to write (or are already writing), and you have an idea about what it should look like, let’s move on.
Interlude: A word about self publishing
Earlier I mentioned self publishing and I want to pause here and say a few things that might be helpful (and will also probably tick some folks off. Well…we’re all grown here). Years ago, what we now call self publishing was called vanity publishing. Companies even referred to themselves as vanity publishers. And there were two basic types of books they published:
(1) Books that served a niche too small for a traditional publishers to represent (they would never make back their initial investment). For example, a few decades back, quilting books were often self published because it had not gained the popularity it has today. So traditionally published quilting books were few and far between. That is no longer the case.
(2) Books that would never be published otherwise (and often for good reason). Family histories, church histories, sermon collections, and other similar books that would be important to a small group of people but have no real audience beyond those groups. For example, my father was a minister for about 50 years. One church he pastored asked him to write a book of poetry and a devotional book. They enjoyed his sermons (he used original poetry in them sometimes) and the church wanted to have a supply of these books on hand to give to members, visitors, etc. A traditional publisher would not have been interested, but it was a valuable asset for the church. So they paid to have the volumes published.
Now comes the other kind of book that wouldn’t be published otherwise: really bad books. Awful books. Books that lived up to the “vanity press” name. And back in the days when you would have to order hundreds of books as part of the deal, many people found out the only thing you can do with the cases of leftover books (after selling maybe a dozen to family and really good friends) is either put them in the basement, or stack the boxes, cover them with a sheet, and call it an end table.
That brings us to today and self publishing. There are some good cases to be made for publishing your own work. Often speakers will have self published books to sell at their seminars, speaking engagements, via their online sites, and so forth. People who are involved in niche groups that, just like in the early days of the vanity press, have a good idea for a book that just won’t have a large enough audience to warrant a publisher’s interest. There are self publishing companies that specialize in gift books and family histories. Some offer a service by which a parent, grandparent (or anybody, really) can tell their story in a book format for family and friends. Memoir services so to speak.
Then there are the other books that wouldn’t see the light of day otherwise. They’re just bad. Poorly written and edited if they’re edited at all, amateurish covers, odd formatting. The kind of books that put the vanity in vanity press. We’ve all seen them. They are the white noise of the publishing industry.
But here’s the thing that bothers me. Many of those books are written by people who don’t know any better or who just want to see their book in print. I understand that. But the reasoning that makes me scratch my head is “I’m self publishing because I want to have the freedom to do it like I want to. I don’t need somebody else telling me what to do.” Sure, you’ll get to maintain control over your work and maybe earn more money than you would through traditional publishing. But there are no guarantees.
Yeah…heaven forbid you have the people who sell hundreds of thousands of books helping you turn out the best product you can. For example, most successful authors, be they novelists or those who specialize in shorter forms, will be quick to tell you that a good editor can make a good project even better.
What self publishers come to realize is that things a traditional publisher provides (editors, artists, marketing, coaching, ISBN numbers, printing costs, and distribution) now fall to them. And it’s not cheap.
I’d rather have the publisher pay me and take care of all that.
But here’s the reasoning that really makes me shake my head. After a few rejections, some writers decide to publish the book themselves. Many of them have valid notes from the editor about how to fix the book (these notes are GOLD to a writer), but the writer doesn’t want somebody telling them what to do (that comes up a lot) so they decide to do it themselves.
Laziness or pride. Sometimes both.
So, my point here is, don’t “settle” for self publishing. Don’t be lazy. It’s a valuable tool under the right circumstances. But it is also an easy way to just add to the white noise. And you’re better than that.
Step 3: Get Comfortable, This Will Take a While.
It’s best to write on a regular basis. Preferably same place, same time every day. But regardless of your writing schedule, seeing your book in print is going to take a while. First, there’s the actual writing, then the proposal (that’s what you’ll actually send to the prospective editor. There are many good examples online, and Write the Perfect Book Proposal: 10 Proposals That Sold And Why by Jeff Herman is also a good resource). The book will also need to be finished before you start submitting, because a publisher will want to see a completed novel the first time to make sure you can write a whole book. We’ve all been there. Welcome to the club!
Getting comfortable also includes making up your mind that you will probably write when you don’t feel like it. You might write something one day and think it stinks. That’s OK. When you edit it later, it might actually be better than you thought it was. Some days the words flow like water going downhill, and some days writing is like giving birth to as pterodactyl. So appreciate the water days and on the pterodactyl days, just take a deep breath and get ready to deliver.
Now the publishing company has bought your book. Contracts are signed and their part of the job starts. Between edits, design, cover art, galleys, final edits, etc., it will be about a year before your book is on the shelves. So, do you wait?
Nope. You start the next project.
And the next.
And the next.
End stuff
This is by no means a comprehensive guide to getting published, but it should be enough to start you off on the right foot. Writers groups can be a big help if it is not just a group of people who like everything everybody in the group writes. Those are a good source of companionship, but no help with your writing. Most statewide or national groups (Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, Mystery Writers of America, to name a few) generally have critique groups or other methods of giving a writer honest feedback.
But ultimately, the formula for successful writing is this. Writing = Butt In Chair.
My name is Thomas Smith and this is Whistling Past The Graveyard; an occasional newsletter about what I’m working on, any books/writing projects coming out in the future, and anything else that strikes my fancy. I’m honored you decided to take this walk with me.
Still here?
This was a long one. But it has been a while since we all gathered here in our little corner of the intwerwebs.
Still, there is actual news to report.
My short story collection, Other Places, was released in April by Cemetery Dance and has done pretty well. One review in particular still has me floored.
“Thomas Smith's debut short horror story collection, 'Other Places," contains sixteen tales of varied length, all of them strange, some puzzling and some rather disturbing. The author sells himself short when he tells us "I’ve always considered myself an average short story writer at best": most of the stories, if not all, are riveting, plainly told, with clear prose, easy reads with unpredictable endings and great atmosphere. Although it's not hard to pick favorites, Smith is a gifted craftsman of stories both realistic and hopeful, articulated both compellingly and engagingly. The point he's trying to make in his Author's Note is better put by saying that his style celebrates the kind of simplicity reminiscent of older horror stories: he doesn't go straight for the most shocking twist, nor does he aim to please by insisting on deeply unsettling situations or large-scale, blockbuster visuals. He's not "cutting edge," as he himself admits. His strength seems to me to lie in straightforward subtlety (yes, I know that's an oxymoron), of the sort that's very difficult to achieve.
Take the most impressive "Presto," the opening story, for example: it's about a magician whose magic is apparently real - is it, though? You never really know, until the end; and even then, you realize that Smith could have easily turned the short story into a novella, going for a most complex and long-winded plot of revenge and mayhem. Instead, he limits himself to the important points and provides closure and clarity, without forcing the reader to slog through a series of unnecessary shenanigans (unlike lots of stories today)…"Prometheus," about one of the genre's iconic monsters has amazing dialogue and a terrific premise, though this time I wouldn't have minded a longer, far more atmospheric story. In fact, my favorites were the longer stories towards the end: the awesome, Lovecraftian story of "Croatoan," and the kinda-morality tale, "Bad Place Alone," about who deserves hell and why.
Overall, this is the kind of horror collection that celebrates the darkness hovering at the edge of everyday life. It rests on mood and extraordinary simplicity, without striving to surprise you at every turn or tripping over itself in order to impress. Smith has stories to tell, and it'd be wise to listen. Otherwise you'd be missing out on some great entertainment!”
For something a little different, I wrote a book on the haunted coastline of North Carolina for The History Press’ Haunted America imprint. It’s called Haunted North Carolina Coast and will be released in August. That one was a lot of fun to write.
From the Publisher: “The North Carolina coastline is a tourist destination, a paradise for locals and visitors alike--during the day. Its proximity to the Graveyard of the Atlantic gives it other, darker associations after nightfall. When the sun goes down and shadows appear, it becomes the haunted coast. Then, the quaint towns and islands that hours earlier played host to happy inhabitants are peopled by long dead pirates, specters, poltergeists, and some things that defy description. The ghost of a blind mother searches for her lost son, her wooden staff tap…tap…taping through the night. Five hoof prints give silent testimony to a cocky rider's race to hell. Author Thomas Smith walks though places best not explored alone.”
As always, thank you for walking past the graveyard with me. It has been a long walk this time, but you’re always good company.