The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction

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The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction Page 15

by Philip Athans


  Take detailed notes, organized as best you can, and make use of every tool at your disposal—from spreadsheets to spell-checkers—to make sure that you don’t sacrifice plausibility just by being carelessly inconsistent. Plausibility fuels the suspension of disbelief that fantasy and science fiction readers want to bring into the experience of reading your novel. Help them like you—stick to the rules you’ve set for your world.

  * * *

  PART III

  THE BUSINESS

  “I think there are all sorts of ways to break into the business and be successful at it. If you are willing to put in the time and effort, study on the craft, read everything you can get your hands on, and be patient, you will find a way.”

  —TERRY BROOKS, author of The Sword of Shannara

  There is a long list of books out there that will tell you all about the book business, and most of them are reasonably accurate, even the ones that make it seem as though “breaking in” is either surprisingly easy or impossibly hard. It’s actually somewhere in the middle … surprisingly hard. The “surprisingly” stems from all the reasons your manuscript is rejected that you couldn’t possibly have thought of. Sometimes you just catch an editor or agent on a bad day.

  I know, now you’re cringing, getting righteously angry with me that I’m about to abdicate all responsibility for you, your book, and your career, after getting you to pay me to help you. I understand, and though I can’t tell you that the publishing business is all sunshine and ponies and happy rainbows, I can tell you that it’s possible to get published. I did it, and so did all of the friends who’ve added their wisdom to these proceedings and whom I’ve worked with in some cases for more than a decade.

  I have been in the happiest position any editor can be in: I’ve accepted authors’ first novels.

  At the same time, I’ve also rejected probably a thousand manuscripts for every one that got through. But don’t lose heart. Those are better odds than the lottery, especially since there are ways to increase your odds!

  Read on.

  CHAPTER 32

  GET PUBLISHED

  In John D. Leonard’s 1958 Harvard Crimson article “Cocktails with Truman Capote,” Capote claimed that he had never received a rejection letter. If this is true, then he’s the only one. Every other author has, at one time or another, gotten something along these lines from an editor (or an editor’s assistant, or an intern):

  Thank you for considering GIGANTIC PUBLISHING CONGLOMERATE, INC. as a possible publisher for your novel (or cookbook, or memoir, or telephone directory), but we regret that we are unable to publish your work at this time and wish you the best of luck with your future endeavors.

  Truth be told, they probably don’t even really wish you luck. More likely they wish you would just go away. If you do just go away, they will not miss you. If you try again, chances are you’ll get exactly the same response—and I mean exactly. But with practice and persistence, eventually you may receive a very different kind of letter. I did. And so did Terry Brooks, and thousands of other authors.

  THE MAGIC OF THE BREAKTHROUGH

  Everybody “gets in” in a different way, at a different time, with a different book, for different reasons. Pyr editor Lou Anders advises aspiring authors to “join and participate in the SF&F community. Not only is there a great deal of learning by osmosis to be done, but you will already be part of the industry you are looking to become part of. All business endeavors benefit from relationships. Publishing is no different. This does not mean that if you buy an editor a beer he/she will buy your manuscript! But that if you want to learn about the business you are trying to break into, going to where that business is conducted might be a wise move.”

  The areas most open to unpublished authors are conventions. Not everyone can afford to fly to one of the major conventions, but almost every large city has some kind of a science fiction or comic book convention. Start local, and get yourself to the biggest convention you can afford to get to. While stopping short of being creepy and stalkery, introduce yourself to professionals there. Go to seminars rather than spending your days in the anime room. Listen to the stories and advice from seminar panels—contradictory as it will be. Absorb all of it and accept that your entrance into publishing will combine some elements of other authors’ success stories with a unique twist you’ll be able to call your own.

  GET YOURSELF AN AGENT

  Agents are as important to the publishing process now as they ever were, maybe more so. Just ignore the myth that says that no editor will read your work unless it comes from an agent and no agent will read your work unless you already have at least one book published. If this were the case, then once everyone who’s currently writing novels dies, there will be no more novels.

  In fact, new authors are breaking in all the time. Some editors won’t read unagented submissions, but most agents I know will read unsolicited manuscripts, and if they find something they think they can sell, they will sign you on as at least a “hip pocket” client. That means the agent likes this one book and will try to sell it but is cautious about committing to your career until there’s some traction on that first manuscript.

  For the majority of aspiring authors, it’s better to be a hip pocket client than not to be a client at all, so don’t be too wary of this kind of arrangement. Having someone who has at least that much confidence in your work is a major first step. According to author J. M. McDermott, “Writers tend to know less about writing, in general, than agents and editors. Writers tend to only work with one type of writer: themselves.”

  Sample Query Letter

  Ethan Ellenberg was kind enough to write a sample query letter for us. Don’t copy this word for word (especially if you plan to send it to Ethan), but look to it for inspiration and instruction. Notice how simple it is. He spent exactly forty-five words on what the book is actually about—twenty more than a Hollywood log line. The next sentence after that pimps the thing a little bit. Don’t be afraid to sell yourself and your book. If you can’t get excited about it, why should anyone else? But be careful: “This is the finest fantasy novel ever written and will forever revolutionize this tired old genre” is not going to win you points. It’s going to make you look like a jackass.

  * * *

  SAMPLE QUERY LETTER

  Dear Ethan,

  I’m enclosing the first three chapters and the synopsis for my completed fantasy novel, ETERNAIA.

  ETERNAIA is the story of a small group of bored aristocrats who realize the world they are in is synthetic and though they neither age nor get sick they desperately plot to escape their world back to the world of sickness and death—real life. I’ve created compelling characters and a fascinating new world that harbors lots of secrets and surprises certain to hook even the most jaded fan of the genre.

  As soon as you express interest in the sample material, I’d be happy to forward you the balance of the book.

  Sincerely,

  Ms. or Mr. Brand New Writer

  * * *

  In query letters like this, comparing your work to successful books is a time-honored tradition, but it’s a little risky. Be realistic about the books you’re comparing yourself to—realistic and positive. “It’s like The Lord of the Rings but less boring, mixed with a much better written Twilight” sends you back into jackass territory. “It’s Mein Kampf meets the Bible” might get you on some kind of FBI watch list, but not an agent’s client list. “Combines the innocence of Harry Potter and the nonstop action of HALO” might get you somewhere.

  This letter would work as well to send to editors who are open to unsolicited, unagented submissions. Unsolicited means the editor didn’t ask you for it; you’re sending it in blind, hoping it’ll be read and loved. Publishers, especially those who let the word get out that they’ll read unsolicited manuscripts, get a lot of them. How many? Hundreds.

  A few hundred every year? That doesn’t sound like so much. No—hundreds a day in some cases.

  I
f your query letter strikes a chord with that agent or editor, he or she might ask to see some or all of your manuscript. Hopefully you’ve actually written the book and can respond right away. But keep in mind that just because someone has asked to read it, you still have a ways to go before a decision is made to publish it. The book still has to be good.

  When an agent or editor picks up your manuscript or query letter, you have only a few minutes—maybe even seconds—to make your case. You need to accomplish two things in that first minute or so:

  Come off as a sane, balanced professional. Be sure to use only white paper. Fancy colors or expensive paper will make you look less professional: a rookie trying to impress with everything except what needs to be impressive—your writing.

  Show that you’re expending your energy on your story, not on some goofy gimmick. Chances are high that no one wants to read a book that is half written in Ancient Greek. The same for a pop-up book aimed at adults. These are expensive to manufacture, so even a good one for kids has to be awesome before a publisher will invest that heavily in its success. And if your book is meant to be read in two directions at the same time, like Mark Z. Danielewski’s Only Revolutions, well then like Danielewski you better have already been successful with a book as extraordinary as House of Leaves or that’s an almost certain pass.

  Do not ever tell people that you know you’re “the next [insert name of popular author here]” and for the love of all that’s holy, never ever take potshots at any other author. Telling an agent “I can write circles around [bestselling author who unbeknownst to you just had dinner at the agent’s apartment last night]” is not going to make that come true.

  Keep it professional: simple, to the point, realistic, and positive. Any other brilliant idea is a bad idea. Yes, even that one. Just don’t.

  Stay Humble

  Literary manager and film and television producer Brendan Deneen cautions authors to avoid arrogance. “Self-confidence is a great trait but certain ‘new’ authors act as if they’re already bestselling authors with the attitude to match. A dose of humility and a lot of good humor goes a long, long way in this industry.”

  All this presupposes that you have a completed manuscript in hand. Do not try to sell a novel you haven’t written yet. If you have a great idea, hurray for you. So does everyone. No one gives a rat’s ass about your great idea unless you are an established author with several bestsellers behind you. For now, if you’ve actually written the book, it’s an original work that is yours to sell, and the story and characters are compelling, the prose sparkling, there is a market out there for it.

  Finding the Right Agent

  Where do you find agents and editors willing to read unsolicited manuscripts? There are a number of online sources just a keyword search away. The Internet has made getting this information faster, easier, and a little bit more reliable. But exercise caution. If the website you find was last updated in 2006, ignore everything on it and move on. In this business, 2006 might as well be 206. Out of date information isn’t any help.

  Confirm that the editor or agent is still with the company. If you send your manuscript to someone who was fired six months ago, the editors who remain are likely to ignore you—you obviously weren’t professional enough to do your research. Give them a handy excuse to toss out an unsolicited submission and they’ll happily take it.

  Never, ever call or even e-mail an editor or agent to pitch anything or follow up on an unsolicited submission. This is both completely unprofessional and an intrusion on the editor or agent’s time. If you—and the thousands of authors like you—grind the editors and agents to a halt, no one will get published.

  Waiting sucks, but it’s part of the publishing process. Rejection sucks, but it’s part of it, too. If you are really serious about being a published author, this is the world you’ve entered, and this is part of how it has always worked. Be patient, assume you’ll be rejected at least once, and keep at it. “Luck is a big part of this business,” Terry Brooks cautions, “but as Kevin Anderson is fond of saying, ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get.’ ”

  Mike Resnick maintains that “selling the fourth book is always more difficult than selling the first. You sell your first on promise; you sell your fourth on your track record, and your publisher probably hasn’t poured any promotional money into your first few.” This is a tough business, and every year it gets a little less forgiving.

  Critic and author Paul Witcover offers this simple advice: “Above all, keep writing, keep submitting, keep revising.”

  Remember, you might be rejected a thousand times, but it only takes one “yes” to launch a career.

  CHAPTER 33

  DO IT FOR A LIVING

  In a letter to H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard wrote:

  I could have studied law, or gone into some other occupation, but none offered me the freedom writing did—and my passion for freedom is almost an obsession … Personal liberty may be a phantom, but I hardly think anybody would deny that there is more freedom in writing than there is in slaving in an iron foundry, or working—as I have worked—from twelve to fourteen hours, seven days a week, behind a soda fountain. I have worked as much as eighteen hours a day at my typewriter, but it was work of my own choosing … I’ve always had a honing to make my living by writing, ever since I can remember, and while I haven’t been a howling success in that line, at least I’ve managed for several years now to get by without grinding at some time clock-punching job.

  Is this your dream? To be a full-time writer, banging away at the keyboard entirely at your leisure, writing nothing but what most inspires you, and being paid millions of dollars a year in the process, achieving fame and glory?

  If you want to write a science fiction or fantasy novel in order to get rich, stop now. Chances are, you will not be paid at all, let alone get “rich,” at least by most people’s standards. In this genre, there are a small number of very successful authors, a few who could be described as millionaires. But the overwhelming majority of the authors I work with hold down a full-time “day job” in one industry or another. There are a number of teachers, at least one lawyer, and a bunch of people who are editors or otherwise involved in the publishing or entertainment business.

  DON’T WRITE TO GET RICH

  Writing is a terrible way to try to make a living. Even if you’re fairly successful, money comes to you in clumps, and it’s unreliable. A lot of what may affect your income is out of your control.

  When I think about the subject of authors and money, I’m reminded of a line from Citizen Kane: “It’s no trick, making a lot of money, if all you want is to make a lot of money.”

  If you want to be rich in a hurry, sell insurance. If you want to be really rich and have a few years to achieve it, invent a sustainable clean energy source. But as far as being a novelist is concerned, you’ll find that money comes slowly, rarely, and in small doses.

  Which reminds me of another line from a movie, this one called Orange County. A teenager appeals to his wealthy but absentee father for money to go to an Ivy League university to study under his favorite novelist. His father rejects the idea on the basis that there’s no money in being a writer. When the son mentions Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Tom Clancy, the father replies, “That’s three people! In the history of literature!”

  You know who wrote those lines? A writer.

  Do this for everything but the money. Only if you’re writing for the love of the game will you ever end up with a book that people respond to, and pay for.

  If You Want to Be a Writer, Write

  On the subject of work habits I’ll refer you to my blog for an entry entitled “Save the Bullshit Excuses,” but here’s one that’s important to pass on to you now. Many books and articles on writing advise something like this: Find a safe place to write—an office, a nook, some kind of cave in which you can work in absolute silence and solitude, surrounded by inspirational knickknacks or whatever.

  It seems li
ke good advice, and for years I followed it and wrote very little.

  Never do this. Buy a laptop as soon as you possibly can. Write while sitting on the living room couch, in bed, at a coffee house or bar, at the library, on the bus or plane or train—write everywhere and whenever. If you find yourself thinking, “Well, I can’t write without, unless, or until…” then stop right there, get your laptop fired up, and write something. I don’t even care what it is, just write.

  Write when the kids are asleep or running around you in circles screaming at the top of their lungs, with the television on or off, with or without music, where people are talking or silent. Do not ever let yourself be limited to a place, a time, or a set of circumstances in which you can write. Free yourself, and your words will follow.

  If you have a deadline, consider yourself lucky. If someone cares enough about what you’re writing to want it at a certain time, honor that. Would you blow deadlines at your “day job”? Would you fail to pick up your kids from school? Would you pay your taxes on April 16? No? Then why would you keep your editor waiting?

  MAINTAIN RELATIONSHIPS

  At the other side of that deadline is your agent, your editor, or both. “I think a writer’s relationship with an editor is crucial,” Terry Brooks explains. “I’ve had three: Lester del Rey, Owen Lock, and Betsy Mitchell. All have taught me something, all have been committed to making my work better, all have been friends. I don’t think I could function if that wasn’t so. The writer/editor relationship is not all that different from a marriage. There needs to be understanding, give and take, and deep respect.”

 

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