How To Write Novels, Poetry, &
Other Literature + Writing Tips

This is where I hope to help others in writing novels and/or poetry. Four important points for you to remember.

• First: Write about things, events, people, and places you know about.
  
• Second: Write at least one line a day.
  
• Third: Write simply. Hemingway wrote to fourth grade level, and he wasn't a bad author at all!
  
• Fourth: Write to entertain.

Other Tips:
(If you have some tips about writing in general, writing novels, short stories, novellas, or poetry, please email them to me to put here.)

1) Generally speaking, I believe that having an agent is better than dealing with publishing houses directly. This is more preference than anything.

2) You have to sell yourself and your work. Learn to market yourself. Write query letters with a cover letter. Be short, to the point, and keep it simple. This works with agents and/or publishing houses.

3) Keep a journal. It helps you write. Write letters. Many writers were great letter writers. Writing is an art, but it also is work. Develop good work habits. The most important habit is to write at least one line a day. You would be surprised how much time can go by, if you don't keep to your writing projects every day of the year.

4) When I say to write to entertain, remember to have fun writing. If you have fun, it is a sure bet the reader will have fun.

5) Buy some little notebooks and some pencils. Sharpen the pencils. Now everywhere you might sit, put a pencil and notebook. Ideas have the strangest times to occur. Especially brilliant ideas almost always come to you when you have nothing to write on and are miles from anywhere. With a pencil and a notebook located in all the right places, you can't lose that million dollar idea. I have a pencil and notebook by my bed (dreams make fantastic stories), by my desk, by my living room chair, by the throne of cogitation (the toilet), by the phone, in my vehicle, in my brief case, and in the bag I take with me to hockey games. I think by now you get the idea.

6) Avoid agents or publishers who charge more than a nominal fee to read your work. There are too many who do not charge or charge just a minor fee. What is a nominal fee? For me it is anything less than $100. Anymore than that and I get suspicious of the outfit.

7) Writing poetry is not quite as organized as writing novels, but all the same points apply. I write 75 to 100 poems for each of my collections. Collections can be centered around a theme, but it isn't necessary. Fitting poetry into the mold is really not a problem, since you just follow the rules for that form. I prefer free-form, because I don't want to be limited in my creativity. That is just the way I do it. There is so much more to poetry though! The biggest piece of advice is just do it! You can tinker with it later and fit it into any form you like. Try to write a poem daily, weekly, or monthly. Whatever habit periodicity you like. The point is to get in the habit of writing at least one poem per day, week, or month. Now, go write some poetry and enjoy doing it!

8) There are many poetry contests out there. Can you trust them? Why not! If the entry fee is $5 or less per poem submitted and there is no obligation to buy a poetry anthology later, then go ahead and enter. You get published and some exposure for your work. You might even win. Just be careful, because there are a lot of scams out there!

9) Margo, who teaches English and journalism, wrote to us with a tip that is quite good. Reprinted here with permission. "One word of advice I always gave my students: 'Write to Express... not to Impress.' Thanks, Margo!

10) Having proofreaders and/or copy editors help you correct and smooth out your work is fantastic, but you need to take some precautions. First, copyright your work. Yes, you can copyright work not yet published. Second, have everyone helping you this way sign a simple nondisclosure statement. All that means is that they will not tell anyone of your work until AFTER it is published.

11) If you write or produce a collection of anything, be it short stories, poetry, or art, copyright the whole collection not each individual piece. You save yourself some money, and you can still list the copyright notice with individual pieces wherever listed.

12) A good way to think about writing is to place yourself mentally around a campfire [not too close now...] telling a story to a bunch of friends. Write like you tell that story, and you can't go wrong.

13) Writers are not superstitious, are they?

14) Avoid using it in a sentence. You confuse the reader. The sentence and your writing will always be better without it. Of course, once in a while, it is unavoidable. Do you get it?

15) Also avoid sentences with I am in them. Try to write sentence that are direct and obvious. I am sentences are usually confusing and indirect.

16) Alex emailed us this tip: "I drive a lot and come up with ideas while driving. Naturally writing things down while driving at 60mhp is not such a great idea. So, I bought a cheap mini-cassette recorder. Let me tell you, this is a great tool for brain storming. I can dictate my ideas and then transfer those ideas to my computer later." Thanks, Alex!

17) More to come. I bet you can't wait.



http://www.ravensheadservices.com Novel writing software and other aids

The Temporal DoorWay

Virtual Reference Desk

Amazon Books

Library of Congress Home Page. Here you will find the Copyright Office. It is too easy to register your work with the Copyright Office NOT to avail yourself of their services. There is a small fee. You don't have to live in the USA to register your work here either.

Science Fiction Writers Assoc. Index

World of Witchipoo

www.stetson.edu/~rhansen/writweb.html -Writing-Related Internet Sites . Good selection of resources.

www.nerdworld.com/nw742.html - Large list of different types of writing resources.

www.lights.com/publisher/ - Gives you an idea of what type of books the publisher's listed are interested in.

authors.miningco.com/ - Good beginning point to explore what authors are doing and has links to other resources.

www.writerswrite.com/ - Good list of places stories can be submitted.

www.writers.net/ - List of published writers, publishers, and literary agents.

www.benedict.com/ - The Copyright Information Source.

www.vgrant.com/ - Good list of resources slanted toward Romance writing but good for all genres.

www.amazon.com - Good way to keep track of what is being published. They have a service which will notify you of publication of your interest. They keep a list of what you have purchased and they will notify you on their home page of books just published about the same subject.

www.barnesandnoble.com - Another resource to keep track of what is being published.

www.mindspring.com/~daviskyle/ - A webzine for writers with great resources.

www.nytimes.com/books/ - My favorite the New York Times Book Review where you can keep track of bestsellers. They have great reviews and you can learn. The last 24 URLs and comments provided by Sharma. Thanks Sharma!

English Lesson - Humorous look at our English language, but an eye-opener as well. Good list to review!

14‘When you see the appalling abomination set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judaea must escape to the mountains;15if a man is on the housetop, he must not come down or go inside to collect anything from his house;16if a man is in the fields, he must not turn back to fetch his cloak.17Alas for those with child, or with babies at the breast, when those days come!18Pray that this may not be in winter.19For in those days there will be great distress, unparalleled since God created the world, and such as will never be again.20And if the Lord had not shortened that time, no human being would have survived; but he did shorten the time, for the sake of the elect whom he chose.21‘And if anyone says to you then, “Look, here is the Christ” or, “Look, he is there,” do not believe it;22for false Christs and false prophets will arise and produce signs and portents to deceive the elect, if that were possible.23You, therefore, must be on your guard. I have given you full warning.
The New Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition, (New York: Doubleday.) 1990.
 

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