Writing for Publication – Author Jennifer Hudson Taylor

stack of thin books on left and thick books on right

Apr 14 2024

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Upping the Word Count in Novels

By jt4novels

Plenty of information exists on how to tighten your sentence structure to cut out unnecessary words and trim the fat from your writing, but few resources explain how to increase the word count. And believe me, adding fluff doesn’t count. An editor will spot it right away and so will avid readers. To prove my point, I’d like to share my experience during an interview with a well-known, respected editor at a CBA publisher. This editor seemed interested in the story but wouldn’t ask to see it since it was too short for their single-title line. My immediate response was that I could lengthen it. The editor replied that they wouldn’t want me to add “fluff”. I told her I would add a couple of plot twists. She seemed tempted to entertain the thought, but with me being an “inexperienced” and “unpublished” author, she wasn’t willing to take a chance. So how do you add 25-30K words to a manuscript without making it seem like a bunch of fluff? I have three methods for increasing the word count. If you only need to add a few thousand words you may only need to choose one or two of these. If you need to add 15K words or more to your manuscript, you may try layering in all three of these methods. Add a Few Plot Twists Throw in another obstacle or two to keep your main characters’ from achieving their goals. You may have to deepen their motivation to keep them going, but it will be worth it. Among your new scenes, be sure to show how this will affect them spiritually and emotionally. What reaction can you show that won’t take him/her out of character? If you are satisfied with the beginning of the story, I would recommend adding a few plot twists around the middle toward the end of the book. This way you will only need to revise the beginning and rewrite from the middle to the end of the story, adding new scenes as necessary. Add a New Secondary Character If you choose to add a new character, make sure that character has a specific purpose and is instrumental to the story. Will this character contribute a new viewpoint? How will he/she change the story? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Will this change confuse the reader or add to the depth of the reader’s understanding and enjoyment? Some characters won’t make or break a story, but they can definitely add flavor through humor and annoyances to enhance it. Examples of some of these characters are the donkey in Shrek, Smee in Hook, and Lilly in the Princess Diary. These characters definitely give the story more flavor and is more enjoyable to the reader and viewer. Write in Deeper POV Another way to significantly add to your word count is to write in a deeper point of view. This is a layering concept that connects with the reader on a deeper, emotional level and is much harder for inexperienced writers to achieve. I’ve written a couple of articles on Digging Deep into POV, which may help with understanding this concept. The second post on this topic includes a few examples. I will post links in a few weeks. Whenever you need to increase the word count, make sure you add something that is meaningful and not fluff or an editor will definitely reject it or ask you to rewrite it. Share with your connections:

Jan 15 2024

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Writing for the Market

By jt4novels

In these difficult economic times, writers are struggling with whether to write the stories on their hearts or write what the market will buy and sell. If you are depending on your writing income for a living, the pressure to write for a market may be even stronger. So what should a writer do? I think it depends on where you are in your career and what doors are open to you. It’s hard for a new, unpublished writer to break into publishing during great economic times, but even harder during a recession. But as Christians, we have to remember that God is still on the throne and He’s the same God in the best of times, as well as the worst of times. Several authors and I are a testament, that new, unpublished authors can receive their first contract during a recession. In fact, it seems like more of a miracle. Pre-published Authors If you are still unpublished, take advantage of the fact that you can write whatever is on your heart and on a schedule that is convenient for you and your family. One positive aspect about a recession is that it’s temporary. The market will change again, and if you are willing to be patient, it will swing back in favor of what you’re writing. With God, everything is about timing and occurs in its proper season. Don’t try to write to a market. By the time you finish your book and begin shopping it around to editors, the market will have changed again. This is a time to sharpen your skills and have other books available. If you have plenty of finished manuscripts to sell, a publisher will be more confident in your ability to finish a novel, to write a series, and meet deadlines so you won’t be a “one-book wonder”. You will have more to offer readers after your first book is contracted. New Contracted Authors These authors have a foot in the door, but they don’t have a sales history and may not be able to get anything published that would be considered “risky”. Writers with new contracts are getting feedback directly from their agent and publishers. They know more about the direction of the market because of this feedback. These authors can talk to their contacts and receive professional input to which most unpublished authors don’t have access. For instance, a publisher gave me a revision letter years ago that would require me to rewrite a significant amount of a manuscript. After that a recession hit and they have stopped buying fiction and many fiction lines folded. At that time, my agent pulled me off that story and had me lengthen another manuscript for a different editor that showed some interest. This publisher was still buying books in spite of the recession. This isn’t something I would have known without my agent’s guidance. In this case, I wasn’t exactly writing to a market, but reworking what I had already written to make it more marketable for what is in demand at that time. Multi-published Authors These authors have a proven sales history, a foot in the door with several publishers, and an agent helping them to manage their career. They can sell books on proposal and may even be asked to write a book for a “risky” sub-genre that a publisher might want to test in the market. Multi-published authors are in a better position to determine if they want to write for the market, write books from their hearts, or a combination of both. I say this, because their manuscripts are rarely thrown in the slush pile. They are read faster than an unknown author and their stories will be contracted faster as a result. They can catch a trend much quicker than a new author. Many depend on their writing income for a living and write full-time. This means they can finish books faster than an author who is trying to write between a day job, family and church acitivities. I believe an author can write both to the market and the books of their heart, especially when they stay true to what God has called them to write. This doesn’t mean there won’t be down times, but it does mean that you might grow from one season to another. In other words, what you start out writing during the first ten years may evolve into something different through the next ten years. Be flexible through your writing journey, and open to new callings God might place on your heart. Change can be hard, but sometimes it is for the best and we may not see it until after the full change and transformation has taken place. Share with your connections:

What is your story lit words in a window

Nov 05 2023

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How to Write a Compelling Synopsis

By jt4novels

Most literary agents and publishers require an author to submit a 3-5 page synopsis. Some want a longer synopsis, while others want a one-pager or a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline. My advice is to create a 3-page synopsis since that will suffice most requests and customize it as needed, but always keep the original 3-pager as a template. Format The format should be much like the manuscript itself, double-spaced, one-inch margins, a header with page numbers, and a font in Times Roman Numeral or Courrier. The entire synopsis must be written in present tense and it is best to use third person POV even if your story is written in first person. As writers, it is drilled into our psychological mental space to write in a way where we show, don’t tell. The synopsis is where you throw that concept out the mental window and write everything in a telling format. There is no other way to condense hundreds of pages down to a few pages without this skill. Stick to the main highlights of the story and the critical turning points. Introduction The first lines should contain a hook, introducing who the hero is and what he wants, and who the heroine is and what she wants. Then the next few lines should explain why they can’t have what they want, making the external conflict immediately clear. You don’t need to include a lot of backstory, only enough to get the main concept across to an agent or editor. Setting Give a brief overview of the setting, which would include time period, location, and culture. You don’t need to get into specific details, but flavor the synopsis with enough sensory to make the editor imagine the story and feel the setting. This is not a time to showcase your character dialogue skills, or deep POV sensory descriptions. Characters Concentrate on the two main characters’ personalities and reveal their inner conflict. I usually alternate paragraphs that indicate each character’s point of view. Try to only mention the hero and heroine, however, if you must mention a third or fourth character whose influence is essential to understanding the story, try to only mention them by their profession (doctor, lawyer), or relationship (mother, sister, brother). Introducing too many characters in so few pages can be overwhelming and increases the chance of confusion, a perfect reason to reject your proposal without requesting the full manuscript. Genre Show the development of the plot regarding the genre you’re writing, whether it be romance, suspense, mystery, fantasy, inspirational, etc. If it’s a romance, this is where you tell about the characters’ physical attraction, how they fight the attraction for whatever reason, and how they eventually break down to acknowledge the attraction. Then discuss the progression of the relationship to the caring phase and the love phase. Faith In an Inspirational romance or Christian fiction, make sure you indicate what kind of spiritual state both characters are in at the beginning of the story. Are they believers? If they are, what are their spiritual flaws? What are their weaknesses? Talk about new realizations and discoveries that begin to change their mind. End on how they’ve changed as a result. Either the characters must find salvation, or if they were already believers, then they must have grown in a spiritual area. Think about the different fruits of the Spirit for areas to improve your characters. Climax Just like in your story, build the synopsis to the climatic point. Bring the inner and external conflict to a head, relate the spiritual tension, and make the situation look impossible to resolve. Resolution Tell how the characters resolve their conflict and what plot changes occurred to enable them to achieve their goals or remove the problem. Be sure to include how the story ends. Editors and agents won’t appreciate being teased. They want to know that you can bring the book to a satisfying end before they’ll be willing to invest more time in reading it, or before they will consider advocating it to their team in consideration of buying it. Share with your connections:

Sep 21 2023

Defining: Based on a True Story

By jt4novels

Q & A Q: Can fiction be based on a true story and still be fiction? A: Absolutely Q: When do you know to call it nonfiction or a novel based on a true story? A: That depends I’m sure there are varying degrees of answers to these questions, but I’ll attempt to give you my version below. Fiction Based on a True Story The setting of the story may be in a real place and in a time during an actual historical event, but the characters are all fiction. While the setting and plot is true, the story is about characters that do not exist. Therefore, it is fiction. An example would be the Titanic movie released in 1997. The ship truly sank in 1912. Many perished while a select few were saved on life boats. There were lots of true historical details and some true to life minor characters, but to our knowledge, the two main characters Jack and rose never existed. If the setting, place and events are real, as well as the characters, it could still be fiction if the characters’ decisions and behaviors are not historically accurate based on what we know in actual history. An example would be the movie Braveheart. We know that William Wallace existed in the place and time depicted by the movie and that he led a rebellion against the king of Great Britain, but we have no evidence, not even any circumstantial evidence, that he had an affair with the king’s wife and produced an heir not of the king’s bloodline. This is Hollywood’s version of distorting the facts and glamorizing the plot. However, if the setting, place, events and characters are all true, but we lack accurate historical evidence or detailed knowledge of those individuals, information must be created in order to produce the story and move it forward. The author must create dialogue, personalities of each character, paint an image of what each character looks like, as well as their decisions and behaviors as the true historical events take place. An example would be a movie of North Carolina’s Lost Colony in the 1500’s. We know the colony actually existed, who was there, when they arrived, but we don’t know what happened after Sir Walter Raleigh returned for England for supplies and assistance. The rest is based on theory, imagination, and a number of speculations. Nonfiction: A True Story I consider a story to be nonfiction when the setting, place, events and characters are all true and there is clear and accurate details and evidence of what was said and took place and it is portrayed as it happened. This means we do not make up plot twists, glamorize inaccurate details and throw in creative dialogue to fill in the loops holes. When you start creating dialogue and subplots to make it flow better, you sacrifice accuracy and delve into the “based on a true story” concept. A great example of a nonfiction story would be the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When he was on the cross, we know that he asked for water. He could have said, “I thirst” or “I’m parched” or “I’m dehydrated” or “Water, please”. All of these statements mean the same thing. How he stated it, is up to the interpretation based on translation, but as long as the story shows what he stated within the context of what he meant, it is nonfiction. If the story shows him asking for a Coke, we’d know it was fiction. Coke didn’t exist in his time. All the elements are based on fact and true events as we know them. Another good example of nonfiction are historical books, documentaries, biographies and autobiographies. Keep in mind that biographies and autobiographies are based on a person’s personal perspective of what happened in their life or during a particular experience. It is based on what they know to be true from their perspective, but specific facts and historical details may not exist and we only have their story to guide us. This means, that if another person experienced the same event and published a biography of their perspective, it may differ quite a bit from the first person’s autobiography. While it’s their personal story, a personal perspective is biased on that person’s point of view and their limited understanding of what only impacted them and what they may have seen and their position and role in the experience. A great example of this could be the biography, Spare, written from the personal perspective of Prince Henry. Right now we only have his version, but if Prince William were to write a story about his brother, or King Charles were to write a story about his son, I guarantee their perspectives of Spare would be very different regarding some of the events and view points of what was shared by Prince Henry. Because of the lack of evidence and available facts, some people may still consider these type of autobiographies and biographies as based on a true story. Share with your connections:

Aug 24 2023

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Between Minor and Major Edits

By jt4novels

The first time an editor told me they thought they could acquire my manuscript after I made a few minor changes, I was thrilled! The editor sent me a brief paragraph stating that I needed to lighten the sensual detail between my hero and heroine, deepen the faith element, and lighten the Scottish brogue a bit. Immediately I tried to think of all the scenes that could be considered sensual. There was only one that stood out in my mind, so I edited that scene. I worked on layering a few more faith elements here and there, and took out some of the major brogue dialect throughout the manuscript. She rejected it. What? I thought, but I did what she asked me to do. Did I? I’ll never know. What could be minor to one person may be major to another. Since then I’ve received more editor feedback and learned additional things that can be helpful to others—I hope. Eventually that book sold and was published with another editor. It became my debut novel, Highland Blessings. Minor Edits Typically, I consider minor edits basic grammar corrections here and there. It may also include rewording a few phrases every other paragraph, but not necessarily every line. Other minor edits could include going through your manuscript and adding simple sensory details to each scene, or altering the dialogue to make it more fresh and direct or to sound more like your character. You may need to deepen the point of view (POV) of one or two of your main characters. Deepening the faith element could be minor edits or major edits, depending on your plot and what the editor has in mind. Perhaps you only need to have your main character pray more often so he/she is seen relying on their faith more or attending church in one or two scenes. It could also mean having the unbelieving character in your story ask more questions about Christianity and faith before he/she gives their life to the Lord. If you don’t even have a church or a circle of Christian friends and characters in your current story, this could require major edits. You may have to write a few new scenes or revise existing scenes to include those elements. This will alter your subplots, but not your main plot so it will fall under major edits, but it still won’t be a complete rewrite. Major Edits When you have to make any change to a plot or a sub-plot, I consider this part of major edits. It will require writing a few new scenes or rewriting existing scenes. In this case, something in the book is missing and must be added. Examples of major edits include adding new characters, reworking a plot to include additional plot twists, adding multiple POV’s, rewriting scenes and chapters so show rather than tell. It could also be rewriting scenes to eliminate head-hopping, which is switching between more than one character’s POV within a scene. One scene should only show one character’s POV, and then you should switch to a new scene to another character’s POV. Other major edits are when you have simple grammar, dialogue, POV issues, and sensory or descriptive detail that need correction throughout the manuscript. This isn’t only on a few pages here and there throughout the manuscript, but a problem on every page or every other page throughout the complete book. Simple corrections on 300 pages can quickly become a major edit and take up a lot more time than originally calculated. Regardless of whether you are working on minor or major edits, do the best you can. If it still gets rejected as mine did, don’t despair. Either you have more to learn, or the timing isn’t right and you haven’t found the right publisher or editor. Keep at it and something will eventually happen as long as you don’t give up.

Aug 07 2023

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Why Jane Austen Would be the in the Slush Pile Today

By jt4novels

Don’t misunderstand me. I am a huge #JaneAusten fan and in many ways I believe she was ahead of her time. In spite of her popularity and movie success, if you compare the quality of her writing to what is required of writers today, she would not be published in today’s market. In fact, her manuscripts would be allocated to the slush piles until the dreaded rejection letter arrived in her email box. Getting noticed and published by a traditional publisher has always been hard for new authors–and each year it seems to get harder. There are so many industry standards and writing rules that authors must write by until they have the sales to back them up and they can break those rules. Below are a few set of rules we must follow today that doesn’t seem to appear to be part of the Regency time period. Show, Don’t Tell The carriages were then ordered; Willoughby’s was first, and Marianne never looked happier than when she got into it. He drove through the park very fast, and they were soon out of sight; and nothing more of them was seen till their return, which did not happen till after the return of all the rest. Here is an example of how it could have been written to show rather than tell. The servants brought the carriages around, leading with Willoughby’s shiny black curricle. He extended his hand to Marianne. She beamed with excitement as her smile reached each glowing cheek. Accepting his assistance, she glanced up at Willoughby with trusting eyes full of adoration. He climbed in beside her and snapped the reins. The horses launched into a canter and the curricle rolled down the lane leaving a cloud of dust trailing behind them. Marianne laughed in delight and gripped her hat to keep it from blowing away. Cut Unnecessary Words While Jane Austen’s writing style is of another time in our history when people generally talked different, the way she phrased her sentences is often too wordy. Today’s readers would never tolerate such wordiness from a new writer, and therefore, neither would today’s publishers. Below is another example from Sense & Sensibility. The sudden termination of Colonel Brandon’s visit at the park, with his steadiness in concealing its cause, filled the mind, and raised the wonder of Mrs. Jennings for two or three days; she was a great wonderer, as every one must be who takes a lively interest in all the comings and goings of all their acquaintance. It could have been simply stated: For several days, Mrs. Jennings continued to wonder about the reason behind Colonel Brandon’s sudden departure. No Head Hopping The chapters often begin in an omniscient POV, giving a general description of the scene and the feelings and viewpoint of each character. At various times the scenes will swap between Elinor and Marianne’s point of view, and on occasion, even their mother within the same scene. Writers today are not allowed to head-hop, which is switching from one character’s POV within the same scene without a transition, scene or a chapter break. Be Consistent This may have only been an editing mistake, but there are times when the girls’ mother is referred to as Mamma and as Mama. The spelling variations are not always consistent. Writer’s today are taught the rule of consistency. If we choose to spell something one way, stay with it throughout the story. For example if you start out spelling inquiry, you cannot later use the spelling of enquiry. I have only listed a few cardinal writing rules, but these few are enough to cause a new writer of today to be rejected by most publishers. Jane Austen would not be published by today’s standards without further editing. Because her work is well-known and considered a classic, today’s readers still buy and read her work. She still sells more than most midlist authors of today. Share this article with your connections: