I Do The Write Thing

1. Do-edit your manuscript until it's as close to publishable as you can make it.

2. Don't-be snotty in your correspondence with an editor. Be professional. This is a business

3. Do-draft a great query letter. Get help to make it attention getting.

4. Don't-get cute with your submission. Multicolored paper will make your manuscript stand out but not in a good way.

5. Do-send a clean copy of your manuscript. No coffee stains or musty smelling paper.

6. Don't-call an editor every other day to enquire on the progress of your manuscript

7. Do-finish the next book while you wait for a response. You know they're going to love your work so be ready with the next one!

8. Don't-go broke mailing out complete manuscripts. Use your attention getting query letter instead. This is a cost effective way to weed out editors and agents who aren't interested.

9. Do-send a thank you note to any editor who reads your entire manuscript-even if they reject it. They loved your voice enough on this project, they might be interested in another project so leave them with a good impression.

10. Don't-ever give up! 90% of publishing success is being there when the time is right.

Whenever I write, inevitably I get to a place where my creative well seems to not only dry up, but cave in on me.

Many other writers experience this exact same phenomena. That's why we come up with artful ways to describe what happens - the sagging middle, muse-go-bye-bye, and worst of all- blocked.

The problem, as I see it, is far simpler and less traumatic than those phrases make it out to be.

Writers frequently sit down to write because we had a great idea for a story. In actuality, what we had was a great idea for a scene. We rush to our keyboards or paper frantic to begin the process. After you've expended all your energy on the brilliant scene you realize, you have to tie that scene to a beginning and an end.

At this point is where the real work of being a writer begins. Anyone can create a scene, only writers know how to craft those few ideas into a masterpiece.

When you reach the "I'm stuck" place, ask yourself:

Do I know where to begin and end?
Do I have one great climactic scene to anchor all the others?
Do I have several smaller climax scenes leading to the big scene?

My guess is the answer to at least one of the questions will be, no. In addition, I bet the question most frequently creating obstacles is the last.

We know we have to open by introducing the characters in their natural habitat. We know we have to wrap everything up at the end. The huge crisis scene is what set us off on this adventure in the first place. What's left are the foothills leading to the mountain.

The foothills are the trickiest because they have to do with motivation-which is usually straight forward-and conflict-this seems to be the hardest. After all, you've spent a lot of time giving birth to these characters, and making them decent people. Then you have to torment them. What kind of a monster are you?

It's okay. It's your job to torment your characters, and their job to suffer.

If plot is a four-letter word to you, then mull over the dilemma, let it simmer until you know all the scenes that build your story. If you're a plotter, send your charting skills into high-gear, and map out what you need to do to get from a to b to c.

Whether your process is organic or mechanical, don't force the answers. If you do, the results will be stale and predictable.

Getting stuck happens, but it's not the end of the world. Instead, redefine a block as an opportunity to dig deeper and discover you're in a mineshaft full of gold.

Imagine you plunk down $1.50 for the Sunday paper and the headline reads, "Some Stuff Happened But We Didn't Feel Like Researching it, Check Back Tomorrow." You'd be upset and probably want your money back. After all if those lazy reporters can't do their jobs then why should you waist your money?

Yet, there are countless books out there with chapters where nothing really happens. Why should a reader waist their time?

If dramatic tension stays flat chapter after chapter why are those chapters in the book? Exposition? Boring! Look for these tension killers and eliminate them.

1) Repetitiveness - Writers want to make sure the reader understands what's happening in the story. Then make sure what you wrote was clear the first time, instead of slowing the pace by repeating yourself.

2) Rambling Man - Moving characters from one place to another, can slow the pace of a story. If one scene is in the living room and the next dramatic scene is in a grocery store, the reader doesn't need to follow the character into the garage, out the driveway, past the church at the end of the block, waving to Mrs. Johnson - You see my point here, right? If there isn't a horrendous collision that sends your character into a coma, ala soap writing 101, somewhere on the way to the store your reader will lose interest. End the scene in the living room, add an extra line and then begin the scene at the store.

3) A Whole Lot of Thinking Going On -- If your character is having a problem with indecision don't let them sit around thinking. Get their problems out of their head and into dialog. Better yet, add a scene that shows the characters indecision through their action or inaction.

4) DANGER, DANGER! - Is your character in enough danger from one chapter to the next? Danger can take many different forms. The easiest and most obvious is the physical danger. Don't forget to use emotional danger. You as the writer have a moral responsibility to torture these characters as much as you can. Pile on the emotional danger along with the physical and see where that leads you.

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