Open Questions

September 25, 2009

Posting your work online.  Mystery or romance? Contests – good or bad?   Finding readers.

 

Mary Rosenblum:  This is our open question Forum. Anything goes and there are NO stupid questions!

 I did want to bring something up here. I got a rude shock last night, sigh.  I have a very promising student, working on a young adult novel that I feel has a very very good potential to get picked up by an agent, sell to the NY publishers, and do very well.  So last night, I get an enthusiastic email from him about how he has posted all six finished chapters to this writing website and he's just loving all the emails, suggestions, and feedback he's getting.
I nearly fell off my chair emailing him to STOP doing this.  Once that novel is completely posted on the internet it's published and nobody is likely  to touch it from NY.  Published means it's available to the general public. The general public has access to the internet.  Realize what you are doing when you post your work there.
Now if it's a critique site and it's passworded then it is NOT open to the general public and you are fine.  This site was not passworded.

I am in the middle of a mystery novel but it seems to be drifting more toward romance with mysterious incidents, should I let it flow that way or try to get back on the mystery track.
Mary Rosenblum:  One, that's a hard call without reading the novel, but let me sort of dissect the mystery genre and then maybe you can make a clear decision.  The mystery subgenres are pretty narrow and the mystery genre in general is relatively formulaic, although you have a lot of variation in individual series of course. But essentially, it is a crime that must be solved and the main character, PI, cop, amateur, struggles to solve it, meets with entertaining obstacles that vary in violence according to the subgenre's 'rules' and finally solves the crime.
That's a generalization but most books published in the mystery field more or less conform to it.  The romance is a clear subplot, VERY secondary to the solving of the crime. So if you find that you have chapters where the main dramatic element has to do with the evolution of the romance, then yeah, you might want to consider romantic suspense instead of mystery for your market. When I work with student novels, I'm watching each chapter to make sure that the dominant element in that chapter is the crime and its solution.  Other things can go on, but the crime and its solution needs to be the backbone. Does this help, One?
Yes it does Mary thanks
I've been having the same issues with mine too. Sigh. I think I may have to go the "romantic suspense" way.
Mary Rosenblum:  Ah, which novel is this, Speck? The one I saw when you were doing the novel course?
No, the Cande novel for the workshop in May. The one I was hoping would be a mystery series.
Mary Rosenblum:  It's worth analyzing what you're doing. The danger is that if you fall between those genres you won't have something that major publishers will look at.  You won't have enough of a romantic plot for the romantic suspense folk and you won't suit the mystery marketplace.
That's my fear too. Right now I'm thinking it's about 50/50.
Mary Rosenblum:  You probably need to change that, speck.  One of the things that's hard for novice writers to see...myself included when I started out...is what a particular market includes and does not include.  The better you get at understanding dramatic structure and the better you get at analyzing dramatic structure, the easier it is to see the common elements in a genre.

 Since I don't have another question at the moment, let me go back to that issue of my student who started posting his novel online. There's nothing wrong with posting part of your ongoing novel online.  And some publishers will actually have no problem with you posting the entire thing online, although you'd better make sure of that BEFORE you do it!  Daniel Pinkwater, a well published children's author, posted his most recent book online as he wrote it, even though it was under contract to be released. With his publisher's blessing.  I'm guessing that both he and his publisher hoped that it would generate sales rather than detract from them.
Why would anyone want to post their stories on line?
Mary Rosenblum:  Mostly, Otto, I think they do it for the immediate gratification.  It’s very lonely writing something as large as a novel with no certainty that anybody will read it! [OTTO] 10:23 am: waste of valuable time.
Well, yes and no, Otto.
Mary Rosenblum:  The internet is a very good way to get reader attention if people post links to your work on Facebook, tell everybody how they loved it, and so on. It's called 'viral marketing' these days. But it can bite you in the butt if you compromise rights you hoped to sell. Actually, if you have sent your stuff around to all the paying markets you can find out there and you haven't sold it, there's nothing wrong with posting that story on Facebook, Live Journal, or on your website or blog. It will do you more good out in the internet universe than it will sitting on your hard drive. You can also sub it to the 'for the love of' (non paying) ezines as well.
In both cases, your work is at least catching a few eyes and you're picking up a bit of name recognition.  But some novices get sidetracked into these 'author sites' and never leave. It's so gratifying to have a handful of people give you instant applause. And for many people, that's enough. If  you do have aspirations to a larger market place, then by all means don't post everything you write in entirety on the internet! :-) Some yes...everything no!
The  blog thing is confusing. I would rather hone my writing than worry about setting up a blog....
Mary Rosenblum:   Wow, there's a very 'today' issue, Pam. Blogs are a very double edged sword and both of those edges are razor sharp!  On the positive side of things, a well written, entertaining, and 'catchy' blog that gets a lot of links from visitors can really help establish a readership for you. If people like your blog posts, they'll maybe go buy your book. That's the plus side! And a number of writers have really made it work to their advantage. The NY publishers do notice someone's name when it starts getting tossed about on blogs that they monitor.  BUT.....
And this is a HUGE 'but'....
The blog posts have to be entertaining. Witty. Dramatic. Whatever hooks readers. You can't just keep a diary unless you're a VERY good diary writer. And some folk are. Not many.  Now...that equally razor sharp down side. They are a HUGE time sink, and you can find that immediate feedback gratifying enough that you never actually get any writing done other than on the blog.

How much romance do you think we can get away with in a mystery? 25%? More, less?
Mary Rosenblum:  Speck, you can't really reduce it to a percentage.  Fiction isn't that cut and dried.  If the mystery dominates and the romance is a clear second, then you're fine. If the romance get close to equal dramatic attention, then you're not so fine for the mystery genre at least. It might well work for some romance imprints, might not have enough romance for others.  You'll just have to shop it around and see.
If it's mystery , keep it mystery. It romance, keep it romance and make it lovable
Mary Rosenblum:  Well, this is where reading REALLY helps you as a novice writer. And it's why nearly every writing teacher and book on writing says 'write what you read'.  If you read SF or mystery or romance, you KNOW how the stories tend to run.  Without being able to analyze what you're reading, you know it when you feel it. And that makes it easier to end up writing something that more or less suits the genre.
That's what I do, I just pay close attention to the books that are similar to what I want to write
Mary Rosenblum:  I  found that I wasn't able to analyze other genres until I'd had a lot of experience writing.  That's a very good way to learn, Caege.
Mary, do you think contests are worthwhile, or is our waiting better spent with query letters for publication?
Mary Rosenblum:  It depends on what you need, Pam. I sent my work to contests when I was just starting out, and got a couple of nice wins in small contests that went a long way to giving me some needed self confidence. Those wins were minor 'clips'. They didn't mean a lot, but they did mean that I was at least sending my stuff somewhere! But they made ME feel better about what I was doing. I do suggest to students who are writing publishable work that they should try the paying markets first and then go to contests and/or nonpaying markets. I have a couple of students who have some talent but spend all their time writing for contests. :-) Which makes them feel that they're writing, yeah, but they're not sending anything anywhere else. Nag though I do.
Why would I want to spend time on contests? Better spent time on buying a lottery ticket.
Mary Rosenblum:  There's a lot of truth in that statement, Otto. When you enter a contest, the judge is gonig to choose the story he/she likes. That is the only criteria. In a commercial publication, the editor has the likes and dislikes of thousands of readers in his/her mind. So you get a wider selection.
Great point Mary.
Mary, when you're editing a story you've written, and you've gotten to a point where you just can't figure out what's left to fix, who would you send it to for that extra bit of help? Would you go to a critique group, or a "professional reader" and pay for it, or would you trust a friend or family member? Which do you think would be better?
Mary Rosenblum:  I would never pay for a reader, Verbose. You have no guarantee that person is going to help you at all. I suggest that if you belong to a writers group, or can get three or four people to meet you in one of the rooms here, then give it to a group.  That way you get a range of reactions. Some folk will help you, others will miss your intent by a mile. But if you hear the same thing from most of the folk who read it...pay attention!  Friends or family members want to make you feel good and that is not in your best interests here. :-) Even though you can deliver a very tough critique in a positive manner (just ask my poor students, heheh), you want to let the writer know where the weak points are.
I've never used these rooms for a critique, do many students do that? Nice idea.
Mary Rosenblum:  Pam, that's why I created all these rooms when we put up the new chat rooms. You can read stuff ahead of time and meet here in one of the rooms to discuss it.  You can use  the want ad feature in the Newsletter.   The people who have asked for critiquers have gotten them.
I generally give my work to a variety of reader types. It goes to other professional writers who will look at it in a way that novice writers or readers cannot.  It goes to people who read in the genre I'm writing in and are articulate about what and does not work.
Advertise in the LR Newsletter.
Plan to exchange long pieces by email with plenty of time to read them.
And then meet in the chat rooms here to discuss it, as well as sending a critque letter.

 See you all this Sunday for our casual chat!