Welcome
The Scribe’s Secret
So what’s the
secret to writing a good story - the writer might
ask himself while touching the keys of his
creation; how will his story stir sufficient
interest and entice the masses to buy and read his
attempts at becoming a Scribe?
Some days, as he started hitting down hard on the
letters, the thought of publication never crossed
his mind and the tack of the tale never seemed to
falter as the story line just flowed, as if it was
always there - a vein waiting to be tapped. However
on other days, the characters seemed to have a
boorish behaviour that started to stem the flow of
words, causing disinterest. Then at the times when
this writer’s block became large enough it would
cause a word-dam with the ideas eventually drying
up. During these periods he downed fingers and
waited for the dry season to pass.
His absence from the plot was like a holiday and
when he returned there was renewed vigor and
insight; his revived creativeness became as one
with the word-flow once again. This revival
revealed the whole word-picture more clearly, the
mistakes, the stale characters and new windows of
wit opened; steering his fingers to furiously
figure the future formation of facts.
He continued tapping letters tirelessly together to
form meaning and his enthusiasm caused his thoughts
to flow faster than his fingers could forge to the
paper. Spelling errors abounded as he accidentally
hit the wrong keys in his haste - less he miss the
momentary muse of a particular thought.
Then he stopped and it suddenly dawned on him, the
secret to a good tale - the scribe’s secret. It
wasn’t in the telling of the tale or recording its
reoccurring characters in print. The satisfying
secret lay within the creation of a story from a
thought, from an imaginative occurrence or dream -
creating a tale from nothing, and fulfilling an
urge that fires an inner flammable idea that once
ignited can’t be extinguished.
He wasn’t writing for recognition or reward; he was
writing for himself. The self contentment that
caresses the soul and the lingering last word of
the last sentence in a story - that moment can’t be
measured, it needs to be enjoyed and experienced
for a short time before it disappears. Until a time
when another thought beckons the scribe to search
for the elusive mystery of inspiration – to once
again find the scribe’s secret.
Writing and Selling
Someone once said: If
your motivation for writing a novel is to make money
then perhaps you should try another occupation. Many
aspiring authors discover after writing their first
story that it isn’t unique and that the world is full
of talented people who can write an excellent tale
but only a very few actually receive recognition and
get published for their efforts. I’m a fiction story
writer and through my own experiences I’ve found that
completing the manuscript, although a laborious task,
is possibly only one of the many steps in the process
of getting published.
From my own point
of view I believe some of the basic attributes
necessary for writers of fictional stories is to
have lively imaginations, sufficient enough for
them to become one with the characters and the plot
- stirring a sense of interest and excitement
within the reader, for without those elements the
story will lack conviction.
Depending on whether you self-publish your book or
are accepted by a major publisher, there are three
other important tasks that need to be addressed in
the long process towards successful publication
that many might overlook or not even consider. They
are: Promoting, Marketing and Selling. However,
there might be some budding authors out in writers’
world who say: I don’t want to be a salesperson,
but when you think of it we’ve all been salesmen or
saleswomen sometime in our lives – we do it
everyday.
One of the most frustrating hurdles we’ll have to
confront is finding someone in the literary world
who’ll read our story. If we want to sell the
manuscript to a literary agent or book publisher
we’ll need to prepare a covering letter and a brief
two or three page synopsis to get our foot (or
manuscript) in the door, and we’ll need to be
enterprising in our selection of words because
there’s thousands out there doing the same thing.
The words we use will set the process in motion;
words that’ll catch the editor’s eye and words
that’ll create the first step in the sales pitch –
creating interest and wanting to know
more.
Rejection Letters Vs No Replies
I read an interesting article on the internet regarding writers handling rejection when Donald Maass (NY Literary Agent) was asked: ‘Do writers need to be hard-skinned to handle rejection and how do you find the grit to write a story that will attract attention. How can a writer give profoundly of themselves while also shielding the creative spirit against rejection?’
Donald Maass answered: ‘He regards rejection as information, not always quality information but information nevertheless - the rejection tells you that you have more work to do and sometimes points you in the right direction.’ When asked what he looked for in a synopsis, he replied: ‘Just a few basics, a hint of what’s different and don’t try to convince me you are a good writer because the purpose of the synopsis is to get me to read it – to create interest.’
Subsistence
Or you just accept that you aren’t a well-known celebrity and your literary work will never attract sufficient readers to justify a publishing company producing the book. It’s all about return on investment (ROT) and publishing houses are in business to make money – quick sales equates to fast money. Look how quickly a new book pops onto a retail shelf one week at a premium price and then three weeks later it’s on special at half the price. There must be an enormous margin for them to cut the price so dramatically. Has the book’s quality changed that quickly?