writers digest july-august 2012 issue

8/18/2019 Writers Digest July-August 2012 issue

1/76

The Rule-Breaker’s

Issue

HOW TO BUILD PAGETURNING CONFLICT INTO ANY PLOT

Adriana TrigianiFROM THE COSBY SHOW TOTHE SHOEMAKER’S WIFE : WHY IT PAYS

TO TAKE RISKS IN YOUR WORK

WD INTERVIEW

JULY/AUGUST 2012 writersdigest.com

F n L 1 0 4 0 1 2 0

0 1 J U Y r V y B Q d W J s a W N h d G l v b n M s I E l u Y y A o

0 2 S W 9 s Y S B k a X Z p c 2 l v b i k P R 3 J l Z 2 9 y e S B L

0 3 c n V l Z 2 V y A E 7 v C S I E M T A u N A I 4 M A E x B V V Q

0 4 Q y 1 B D D A 3 N D Q 3 M D A y M z c 5 M Q A =

74470 023790 1

08

US $5.99

Display until July 16, 2012

Andre Dubus IIITHE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG

AUTHOR TALKS WRITING & LIFE

• PUSH YOUR CREATIVE LIMITS:

STEPS TO BETTER WRITING

• HOW TO PULL OFF A

KILLER PLOT TWIST

• SMARTER SELFPROMOTION:

TRICKS FOR GETTING

YOUR WORK NOTICED

• WRITING CONFERENCES:

HOW TO BEAT THE ODDS

& BRING HOME SUCCESS


2/76

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Go west and get discovered!

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4/76

Issue

Rule-Breaker’s

FEATURES

21

The Reluctant Risk-Taker’s Guide to

Filling the Creative WellGreat writing begins with an appetite or lie. ry these 8approaches to get out o your comort zone, break rules

and reap rewards.

BY ELIZABETH SIMS

25

Go Your Own WayForget what you’ve been told about how to get the most

out o writing conerences. Te best experiences come

when you make your own rules.BY TANYA EGAN GIBSON

28

Pulling the Rug OutWhen it comes to your plot, playing it sae doesn’t pay.

Here’s how to wow your readers with a plot twist.

BY STEVEN JAMES

32

Rewriting the Rules of Marketing You don’t need a big promotional budget to get noticed

and make your own waves. Learn how a little creative

thinking can take you a long way.

BY KEVIN KAISER

The

2 I WRITER’S DIGEST I July/August 2012


5/76

INKWELL

8 EXPLORING YOUR OPTION : Here’s what you

need to know about selling the movie and V rightsto your work.BY FRED ROSEN

10 PLUS: 5-Minute Memoir • Poetic Asides: Quatern •Cash in on the Calendar • Te Winners o WD’s

Annual Poetry Awards • Te Bolt From the Blue

COLUMNS

18 BREAKING IN: Debut Author SpotlightBY CHUCK SAMBUCHINO

20 ASK THE AGENT: John Rudolph, Dystel &

Goderich Literary ManagementBY KARA GEBHART UHL

46 QUESTIONS & QUANDARIES: Dening

Denouement ; Te Keys to Finishing a Book BY BRIAN A. KLEMS

48 YOUR STORY : Homecoming BY GREG LINDEN

58 STANDOUT MARKETS: EDGE Science Fiction and

Fantasy Publishing; Ploughshares; SmithsonianBY TIFFANY LUCKEY

60 CONFERENCE SCENE: Colorado Gold

Conerence; Women Writing the West; Emerald

City Writers’ ConerenceBY LINDA FORMICHELLI

72 REJECT A HIT: Charlotte’s WebSPOOF-REJECTED BY G REGORY WALTERS

36THE WD INTERVIEW:

Adriana TrigianiTe secret to Adriana rigiani’s success begins with an

old amily recipe: quality ingredients, attention to detail,

and good old-ashioned hard work.

BY JESSICA STRAWSER

40

Meet the Real Andre Dubus IIIHe did not set out to ollow in his amous ather’s

ootsteps, nor is he as dark and brooding as his own

House o Sand and Fog . And those are just the rst o

many things that will surprise you about the bestseller.

BY ZACHARY PETIT

44

Taking FlightTe winner o WD’s Annual Short Short Competitionstumbled upon a one-o-a-kind subject to bring her

ction to new heights.

BY MARIELLE MURPHY

ON THE COVER

50 How to Build Page-urning ConictInto Any Plot

2 1 Push Your Creative Limits

2 8 How to Pull Off a Killer Plot wist

32 Smarter Sel-Promotion

25 Writing Conerences

4 0 Andre Dubus III

3 6 WD Interview: Adriana rigiani

PLUS: 4 online exclusives 5 editor’s letter 6 contributors 7 reader mail

COVERPH

OTO

©TIM STEPHENSON

JULY/AUGUST 2012 | VOLUME 92 | NO. 5

WRITER’S WORKBOOK

C 50 CLASSIC CONFLICT TH ROUGH RIVALRY

BY RONALD B. TOBIAS

53 KEYS TO CONFLICT IN ROMANCE

BY JENNIFER LAWLER

55 5 TOOLS FOR BUILDING CONFLICT

BY JAMES SCOTT BELL

Writer’s Digest (ISSN 0043-9525) is published eight times a year (which may include an occasional special, combined or expanded issue that may count as two issues) by F+W Media Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Ste. 200,

Cincinnati, OH 45242. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Writer’s Digest , P.O. Box 420235, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0235. Subscription rates: one year, $24.96; two years, $49.92; three years, $74.88. Canadian

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No. 40025316. Canadian return address: 2835 Kew Drive, Windsor, ON N8T 3B7. Writer’s Digest , Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Vol. 92, No. 5. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, Ohio, and additional mailing offices.

WritersDigest.com I 3


6/76

Right Now at


Quote-Worthy Writing AdviceOnce you’ve read our exclusive interview with acclaimed

author Andre Dubus III (best known or House o Sand and

Fog , and eatured on Page 40) check out our avorite outtakes

in the orm o his inspiring quotes on the art o writing.

PLUS: Visit WD’s blogs every day for new advice & perspectives.

HOW TO FIND , RATHER THAN MAKE ,

MORE WRITING TIME IN YOUR DAY

Tips for fitting writing into your busy life.http://bit.ly/GQuflw

5 GREAT TIPS FOR BETTER WRITING

A selection of our favorite reader-

submitted ideas and techniques.http://bit.ly/xmXJGJ

WHY LITERARY FICTION ISN’T BORING

Vine Leaves Literary Journal ’s Jessica

Bell on the magic of beautiful prose.http://bit.ly/GZTzFy

Bring WD to Your Inbox!Subscribe to our ree email newsletter or weekly round-ups o some o the best articles, inormation and advice or

writers. Get a ree instant download just or signing up!

WritersDigest.com/subscribe/free-weekly-newsletter

C O W B I R D

P H O T O

©

S T E V E B Y L A N D / F O T O L I A

. C O M

Take a Short Short Story BreakAfer you’ve met the talented winners o WD’s 12th Annual

Short Short Story Competition (Page 44), read the piece

that took the top prize: Nicole Lesperance’s “Te Callers.”

PLUS: Visit WritersDigest.com/competitions to learn how

you can enter next year’s competition.

The Wild Story of “Dear Sugar”Learn more about the secrets to the success o CherylStrayed, proled in this issue’s “Rule-Breaker’s Spotlight”

(Page 34) or her unconventional approach to her author

platorm that made huge promotional waves.

To find all of the above online companions to this issue in

one handy spot, visit WritersDigest.com/august-12.

http://www.writersdigest.com/subscribe/free-weekly-newsletterhttp://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/writing-competitionshttp://www.writersdigest.com/august-12http://www.writersdigest.com/august-12http://www.writersdigest.com/subscribe/free-weekly-newsletterhttp://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/writing-competitions


7/76

Outside the Margins

We talk a lot about doing things by the

rulebook here in WD. Following proper

submission procedures. Conorming to

editorial standards. Doing what it takes

to show the pros in publishing you can

handle what’s expected o you.

But writers, being a right-brained

bunch, are ofen quick to point out that

or every rule, you can nd exceptions.

And it’s true. Some o the most successul

writers in history, in act, have been the ones who took big risks, either in theirwork (I’m guessing Jack Kerouac’s agent didn’t recommended he write a book

manuscript on one long scroll) or in their careers (who would have thought

erotic wilight an ction would go mainstream, as it did with Fify Shades o

Grey ?). Big risks are, well, risky—you’d be ill-advised to hinge all your hopes

on being an exception to a well-established “rule,” written or otherwise. But no

one can deny that big risks can also have even bigger payoffs.

And, ortunately or the reluctant risk-takers among us, there are plenty o

smaller ways to break the rules—or at least make up our own as we go along—

and reap rewards. Tat’s why we decided to devote this WD to the rule-breaker

in all o us. As we were putting this issue together, we had to admit it was

rereshing to take a break rom worrying about “the right way” to do things—and we have a eeling you’ll think so, too.

Get inspired to step out o your comort zone and seek out the kinds o real-

lie experiences that add authenticity to your work—and provide endless ideas

or uture writing (Page 21). Push your plot beyond the predictable by daring

to attempt the kinds o jaw-dropping plot twists readers go crazy or (Page 28).

And nd good reasons to ignore well-intended advice you might have heard

about things like building your platorm (Page 32) and getting the most rom

writing conerences (Page 25), and learn how to invent new strategies that will

serve you ar better than the “rules” ever could.

We can’t orget that while writing is a business, it’s also a creative out-

let. We don’t have to present ourselves as the human equivalents o double-

spaced pages in plain typeace with one-inch margins. In act, we shouldn’t!

We challenge you to step outside those rules and see where it takes you. Ten,

let us in on the un—share your adventures in rule-breaking by emailing

[email protected] with “Reader Mail” in the subject line. Select

responses will appear in a uture issue.

PHOTO©

ALPARRISH

EDITORJessica Strawser

MANAGING EDITORZachary Petit

SENIOR ART DIRECTOR

Daniel T. Pessell

WRITER’S WORKBOOK EDITORRoseann Biederman

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSSteve Almond, John Dufresne, Linda

Formichelli, Jane Friedman, Chad Gervich,

Steven James, Jerry B. Jenkins, Elizabeth

Sims, Art Spikol, Kara Gebhart Uhl

WRITER’S DIGEST WRITING COMMUNITY

PUBLISHER & COMMUNITY LEADER

Phil Sexton

ONLINE COMMUNITY EDITORBrian A. Klems

WRIT ING COMMUNITY EDITORSRobert Lee Brewer, Scott Francis,

Chuck Sambuchino

ASSISTANT EDITORSTiffany Luckey, Marielle Murphy

ONLINE PRODUCT D IRECTORWinter Thielen

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JULY/AUGUST 2012 | VOLUME 92 | NO. 5


EDITOR’SLETTER


8/76

F+W MEDIA INC.

CHAIRMAN & CEODavid Nussbaum

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERJames Ogle

PRESIDENTSara Domville

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SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,OPERATIONS

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PRIVACY PROMISE

Occasionally we make portions ofour customer list available to other

companies so they may contact you aboutproducts and ser vices that may be of

interest to you. If you prefer we withholdyour name, simply send a note with themagazine name to: List Manager, F+W

Media Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Ste. 200,Cincinnati, OH 45242.

Printed in the USA

COPYRIGHT © 2012 BY F+W MEDIA INC.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

WRITER’S DIGEST MAGAZINE IS A REGISTEREDTRADEMARK OF F+W MEDIA INC.

KEVIN KAISER (“Rewriting the Rules o

Marketing,” Page 32) is senior brand manager at

Creative rust, an entertainment management com-

pany based in Nashville, enn. He oversees creative

development, digital marketing and social media

strategy or international bestselling authors and

advises several o the “Big Six” publishers on effec-

tive grassroots marketing. He also is co-ounder o

Te American Fossil Company, which publishes the

popular Double Barrel series (authorgreywest.com).

JENNIFER LAWLER (“Keys to Conict in

Romance,” Page 53) is the acquisitions editor and

imprint manager o Crimson Romance, a new

imprint rom F+W Media (parent company o

WD). She is the author o several romances under

the pen name Jenny Jacobs, including the orth-

coming Second Acts. Lawler is also the author or co-

author o more than 25 nonction books, includ-

ing her popular and award-winning Dojo Wisdom

series. Visit her online at jennierlawler.com.

KRIS RADISH (“An Audience o One,” Page 10)

is the bestselling author o eight novels (includ-

ing uesday Night Miracles, Hearts on a String

and Dancing Naked at the Edge o Dawn) and two

works o nonction. A ormer journalist, university

instructor, managing editor and worm picker—to

name just a ew—Radish lives in Saint Petersburg,

Fla., where she’s co-owner o Te Wine Madonna, a

wine lounge, and where she is hard at work on twonew novels (and a great class o cabernet).

TANYA EGAN GIBSON (“Go Your Own Way,”

Page 25) is the author o the novel How to Buy aLove o Reading . Her work has appeared in Te

Writer , Parents, Carve and Cicada. She lives in

Northern Caliornia, where she is penning her

second novel, teaching writing classes and work-

ing as a developmental editor. She loves present-

ing at conerences, where she encourages writ-

ers to break the rules—judiciously. Visit her at

tanyaegangibson.com.

R A D I S H P H O T O

© A L I S O N

R O S A ; L A W L E R P H O T O

C O U R T E S Y O F M A R I L Y N

N A

R O N ; E G A N G I B S O N P H O T O

© L I S A

K E A T I N G

CONTRIBUTORS


http://authorgreywest.com/http://jenniferlawler.com/http://tanyaegangibson.com/http://jenniferlawler.com/http://authorgreywest.com/http://tanyaegangibson.com/


9/76


(BOOK) PARTY PEOPLE

I have been a WD sub-

scriber since 1987. As

a writer, author and an

instructor o creative writ-

ing, I have ofen looked

to Writer’s Digest or sup-

port when I ound mysel

in a writing dilemma, and

WD usually comes through

with much-needed advice.

Your “Lie o the (Book

Launch) Party” article in the

February 2012 issue is a pri-mary example. I was prepar-

ing or the February release

o my second novel, Tis We

Will Deend , and a contact at

Garrett College had offered

to host a launch party. Te

article was invaluable, pro-

viding insight into ways o

promoting a book event.

(As suggested in the article,

I selected a theme: “Spendan Afernoon With Spies!”)

Afer 25 years o reading

and learning rom WD, I

nd you are still giving writ-

ers the best inormation.

Tank you, WD, and thanks

to Lela Davidson or her

timely article that will mean

the difference between a

ho-hum event and a smash-

ing success.

T.S. Pessini

Friendsville, Md.

Many thanks or the article

by Lela Davidson, “Lie o

the (Book Launch) Party.”

Just days beore this issue

arrived in my mailbox, I

was wondering about the

logistics o planning my

own book launch party.

Right there, on Page 10,

was the insight and motiva-

tion to get started. My book,

Speaking o Apraxia: A

Parent’s Guide to Childhood

Apraxia o Speech, made its

big launch in early April.

Keep up the good work.Leslie Lindsay

Aurora, Ill.

POETIC LICENSE

In regards to the Poetic

Asides column by Robert

Lee Brewer in the March/

April 2012 issue: Please, I

beg you, Robert and other

poets, to leave the standard,

traditional poetry ormsalone. We would not dare

rewrite the Shakespearean

sonnet, or the cinquain, or

the sestina, with other lines

and syllables. Please leave

the haiku orm as it should

be, which is three lines o 5-

7-5 syllables about nature. I

one wants to create poems

with different lines and

syllables, he is ree to do

so—just call the creation by

another name. Redening

the haiku not only makes it

impossible to write one cor-

rectly, it also makes judging

contests impossible when

the submissions are not

standard. It is the respon-

sibility o Writer’s Digest to

set and promote the stan-

dard, not dele it.

Lee Ann Russell

Springield, Mo.

ROBERT LEE BREWER

RESPONDS: Tank you or

your note, Lee Ann. I under-

stand when poets are resis-

tant to multiple denitions oa orm o poetry, because it

makes the orm itsel a little

blurry. For instance, you

mention the Shakespearean

sonnet, which is only one

type o sonnet orm (and not

the original, I might add). As

with other poetic orms, the

rules o the haiku have been

bent over the years—par-

tially because traditional Japanese haiku measure 17

sounds (called on ), which are

not the same as 17 syllables

in English.

As a result, even the

Haiku Society o America

shares a denition o haiku

as a poem with “17 or ewer

syllables.” More important

than an exact count o syl-

lables is the presence o a

“cutting word” ( kireji ) as well

as the requently used “sea-

son word” ( kigo ). Tese are

what really set haiku apart

rom senryu, which are more

ocused on human nature.

o ignore and disregard

how a orm has evolved over

time would be a disservice to

poets and poetry lovers. It

would be like saying a

Shakespearean sonnet is not

really a sonnet (because it’s

not a Sicilian sonnet), when

everyone knows it is.

Keep poeming!

ALL IN THE NAMES

In your January issue,Elizabeth Sims gave

us an excellent assort-

ment o methods to use

when naming characters

(“Namedropping”). When I

wrote Brute Heart , a novel

set in Oregon, I pored over

my Oregon road atlas and

gave every character the

rst and last names o a

county, park, geographicaleature, town or unincor-

porated community on the

map. I was amazed at the

rich storehouse o names

I ound there, includ-

ing Riley, Dusty, Cooper,

Jordan and Jude.

Ginger Dehlinger

Bend, Ore.

“After 25 years of reading and learning from WD,I find you are still giving writers the best information.”

WRITE TO US: Email [email protected] with “Reader Mail” in the subject line. Please include a daytime phone number (forverification purposes only) and your city and state. Submitted letters are considered for publication and may be edited for clarity or space.

READERMAIL

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


10/76


P H O T O ©

P A V E L L O S E V S K Y / F O T O L I A

. C O M

Exploring Your Option

Here’s what you need to know about selling the movie and TV rights to your work.BY FRED ROSEN

I’ve been in “development hell” or

16 years, but I’m not complaining.

While Hollywood has not yet

made any o my books into a ea-

ture lm, V movie (known in the

trade as an MOW, or Movie o the

Week) or series, I still get paid ormy writing being optioned. In act, it

orms part o my yearly income.

I you’ve ever wondered how some-

thing gets made into a lm—and how

your work can be tapped or one, too—

here’s the inside scoop on options.

WHAT EXACTLY ISAN OPTION?A rental. A production company or

studio reserves the right to make yourwork into a lm, MOW or V show

or a specic length o time. In the past,

the standard option was or a year,

with two renewable one-year options.

aking advantage o the recent reces-

sion, producers have now been able to

negotiate the rst option to 18 months.

Regardless, each time a company picks

up the option, you get paid just or

sitting on your tushie. In the mean-

time, they’ll try to secure the money tomake the adaptation and get someone

to write the script (though it probably

won’t be you—Hollywood preers to

use its own writers to adapt work).

WHAT CAN GET OPTIONED?Just about anything. Published novels

and nonction books. Magazine arti-cles. Short stories. Unpublished work

can break through, too, when some-

one who has a connection with a pro-

duction company discovers something

and passes it on (Frank Capra based

It’s a Wonderul Lie on an unpub-

lished short story by Philip Van Doren

Stern). But you should generally ocus

on getting published rst—becausethe print imprimatur still demands

the highest price when optioned.


11/76


HOW MUCH IS AN OPTION WORTH?Options start at $500 and go up.

In today’s market, $5,000 is excel-lent. It’s impossible to offer an aver-

age because it depends on so many

actors, the most important being

how much the production company

wants the work. As my proessor

A.D. “Art” Murphy used to tell us,

the movie business operates on the

junkie/pusher principle: Someone

has something that someone else

desperately wants.

DO I NEED AN AGENT TOMAKE THE OPTION SALE?Generally, yes. As you may know,

there are both literary agents (who

specialize in book publishing) and

lm agents. Many writers have both.

I you have a literary agent, look at

your contract and see i the agent

gets points or a lm sale; i so,

encourage her to send your work toa lm agent she’s amiliar with (the

two will split the commission). I

you don’t have an agent, it’s ne to

query lm agents directly. Tey’re

always looking or salable stuff to

pitch to Hollywood. Be straightor-

ward in your pitch: Briey summa-

rize the work to be optioned, where

it’s published—or not—and your bio.

It’s also possible, though less com-

mon, to make a sale yoursel andlater obtain a lm agent or lawyer to

negotiate the details. You can nd

out what production companies

buy—and get executives’ contact

ino—by going to their websites.

No matter how you do it, in the

end, you’ll still be waiting or that

ateul green light .

WHAT’S THE GREEN LIGHT?In the movie business, it’s the colos-

sal step o money being put on the

table to produce a project. Fewoptions actually lead to a green light.

Hollywood has so much money, pro-

ducers can afford to buy a lot more

than they need, and then cherry-pick

their projects. Tat’s why you want

to get as much as possible up ront

or the option itsel. In the rare cases

where you get a green light, you

will get paid the purchase price. For

now, think o it as Monopoly money.

When you’re negotiating the option

amount, the producer will dangle

lots o zeros on the purchase price,

while trying to keep the actual optiongure at a minimum. (Good agents

will ght this. And or their services,

they’ll get 10 percent o the option

and 10 percent o the purchase price.

A lawyer will get 5 percent across

the board.)

HOW MUCH DO YOU MAKEIF YOU GET A GREEN LIGHT?Te purchase price is usually 2–3

percent o the production’s bud-get, with a cap. So, at 2 percent, i a

lm is budgeted at $10 million, on

the rst day o principal photogra-

phy you get a check or $200,000. I

the cap is $225,000, that means even

i the lm is made or $50 million,

your ee is still $225,000. For MOWs,

a basic cable MOW is in the $25,000

range. Premium cable doubles that

to $50,000. (I you luck into a series,

you also get paid per episode.) Ten

again, like many writers, you couldnd yoursel in development hell—

the period when you’re waiting or

the green light. But there are worse

places you could be.

SO WHAT’S THE KEY TOGETTING YOUR WORKOPTIONED?Te rst rule in the business is

you need good product. And, on

a psychological level, i you believe

your writing is good enough to be

optioned, people will pick up on

your condence. (On the ip side,they also pick up on your despera-

tion—this rom a writer who has

been desperate on more than

one occasion.)

All told, you have to have the

innate belie that you are unique,

and are offering something that no

one else can. Frank Capra o It’s a

Wonderul Lie ame taught me that.

I knew him; he was a riend.

He once saved my writing liewhen I was ready to jump off

that bridge.

Fred Rosen’s book Lobster Boy: The Bizarre

Life and Death of Grady Stiles Jr., the true

story of the carny, his murder and how

Rosen’s detective work led to the convic-

tion of the killer, was just optioned by Sam

(Avatar ) Worthington’s Full Clip Productions.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: When it comes to movie adaptations of books, which do you think have been the best—and which do

you think have been the worst? Log on to the discussion forum at community.writersdigest.com/forum to share your thoughts.

An option is a rental. Each time a company picksup the option, you get paid just for sitting onyour tushie.

http://community.writersdigest.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.writersdigest.com%2Fforumhttp://community.writersdigest.com/main/authorization/signIn?target=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.writersdigest.com%2Fforum


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The lone woman looked terried. She sat with her shoulders

hunched and her ace down as i she were trying to turn her body

into a tent where she could hide.

I remember standing off to one side and looking at her—really

looking at her. She was clearly uncomortable being in the bookstore, and

her ill-tting clothes, dirty shoes and trembling hands made me want to drop

down and wrap my arms around her.

Beore I could move, the bookstore manager came over and put her hand

on my arm. “Kris, it looks like we picked a bad night or your presentation. I’m

sorry. An audience o one isn’t the greatest. What do you want to do?”

I wanted standing room only, every book with my name on the cover sold,

and ree beer or the rest o the night. But instead I had the trembling woman

who couldn’t raise her head to look at me. I had a cold night, dashed expecta-

tions and a slight pounding behind my eyes. But I was staying.

“Someone is here, and I’m going to do the entire talk and sit right down

with her,” I said. “I’ll be ne. Tis woman came to see me, and I’m going to

honor that.”My novels are real stories about real women and the real problems and joys

they ace every day. Some o these women wear ill-tting clothes and some o

them wear high heels. Some o them look me in the eye and some cannot raise

their heads. One woman was all I really needed.

I sat down in ront o her, pulled my chair close, and talked about my

novel and my lie. And then I asked about her lie, and as she talked I could

barely breathe.

“A year ago I was homeless and living behind the bookstore,” she told me. “I

was a drug user and I watched people coming into the bookstore and authors,

just like you, and one day I told mysel that I would get straight and come back

and sit here like this.”I took her hands and held them as she cried and told me how this moment,

me taking time to sit with her, was the

most remarkable thing that had ever

happened to her. I cried too as she told

me about her new lie plans.

Here was a woman right out o one

o my novels. A soul seeking redemp-

tion, a second chance, ulllment, joy

and a chance to ollow a dream.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: Submit your own 600-word essay reflection on the writing life by emailing it to [email protected]

with “5-Minute Memoir” in the subject line.

Kris Radish is a former journalist and the

bestselling author of eight novels (most

recently, Tuesday Night Miracles ) and two

nonfiction books.

I think o this woman when I

create new characters and imagine

them walking out o a dark spot and

back into the light. I think about

how important it is to be kind and

open and to never miss a chance

mysel. I have had other audiences

o one, and I never walk away. Tere

is no room in my writing worldor an ego. I remain humbled with

each book sale, every time some-

one shows up to hear me speak. My

readers tell me my books are a gif to

them, but it’s the other way around.

My readers are a gif to me. Tey’re

my daily inspiration.

When the woman in the book-

store was ready to leave I hugged

her or a very long time and then

watched as she turned and walkeddown the sidewalk and away rom

the alley.

I love happy endings. Tey are

everywhere. One at a time.

5-MINUTE MEMOIR

Tales From the Writing Life

An Audience of OneBY KRIS RADISH

P H O T O ©

R U F O U S / F O T O L I A

. C O M ;

J A H I N A

P H O T O S / F O T O L I A

. C O M


13/76


CREATIVE CHALLENGE: THE QUATERN

A quatern is a French poetic orm comprised o our quatrains (our-line

stanzas). It’s similar to the cascade orm in that it has no rules or rhymes or

iambics, and it repeats a rerain throughout the poem—but with a different

pattern and syllable count.

I’ll mark the rerain pattern to the lef o this example by Poetic Asides blogparticipant Bruce Niedt:

“Purple Heart”R I gave away your clothes last week.

A truck rolled up and took six bags

to some forsaken warehouse where

they’d be passed on to people who

cannot afford to buy them new.

R I gave away your clothes. Last week

I couldn’t stand the closet full of coats and dresses, hung like ghosts

and so I yanked them off their racks,

stuffed plastic bags with memories

R I gave away. Your clothes, last week,

went to a world that never knew

how fine you were, how beautiful

in that red dress, that silken blouse

some stranger walks the street in now.

R I gave away your clothes last week.

Robert Lee Brewer (writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides)

is the editor of Poet’s Market and a published poet. He’s been a

national featured poet at the Austin International Poetry Festival

and is the former Poet Laureate of the Blogosphere.

Quaterns contain our

quatrains, or a total o

16 lines.

POETIC PROMPT

Write a preparation poem.The narrator could be preparing for something, or the poem could

chronicle preparations by someone—or something—else.

INSPIRED TO GIVE IT A SHOT? Try your hand at a quatern, and then share your

work alongside other writers on the Poetic Asides blog at http://bit.ly/spa5aY .

PHOTO©

HUGH

O

NEILL/FOTOLIA.COM;ILLUSTRATION©TONYCAPURRO

No matter what you write, a bit of poetic license canbe a valuable asset to any writer’s arsenal.

BY ROBERT LEE BREWER

Te orm incorporates

a rerain o the rst line

rom the rst stanza

into each o the subse-

quent stanzas.

You can make the rerain

more interesting by vary-

ing its punctuation.

While there are no iambic rules,

each line in a quatern should

contain eight syllables.

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asideshttp://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides


14/76


P H O T O S ©

V L A D I M I R

V O R O N I N / F O T O L I A

. C O M

I love anniversaries—and not just

the one I celebrate each June

with my lovely wie. Newsworthy

milestones o all sorts can mean

big bucks or savvy reelance writers.

Over the years, I’ve landed numer-

ous anniversary-based assignments

rom magazines large and small.Te key is to uncover the happen-

ings other writers may not be privy

to—and have something resh to say

about them.

Here’s how to do it.

1. STUDY UP, AND KNOW WHAT’S

GOING ON WHEN. Most writers

pitch ideas pegged to traditional

holidays such as Tanksgiving

and Christmas. Instead, ask your-sel: What big, unique anniversaries

will occur this year and, even more

important, next year? Tis kind o

advance planning can pay off in a

major way.

Te U.S. government provides a

good overview o upcoming holidays,

major anniversaries, and historic

dates o interest online at usa.gov/

opics/Reerence-Shel/Calendars.

shtml. An Internet search o “anni-

versaries + [specic year]” can also

reveal many potential article angles.

Te bigger and rounder the num-ber o the anniversary, the hotter the

hook. arget these ndings rst in

your queries, because well-known

anniversaries are where the competi-

tion will be toughest. Ten …

2. EXPLORE YOUR PERSONAL

INTERESTS. We all have things we’re

passionate about—and a lot o them

have pitch-worthy anniversaries.

One idea I wouldn’t have ound

on usa.gov: I’m a big an o writer

Edgar Rice Burroughs, so I knew

early on that 2012 was the centen-

nial anniversary o the rst appear-

ance o arzan in All-Story Magazine.

I pitched various ideas pegged on

this seminal pop-culture event to an

array o magazines and so ar have

received three assignments: a 12,500-

word oral appreciation or Filmax ;

a prole o Burroughs or Famous

Monsters o Filmland ; and a eature

on arzan movies or VideoScope.

I’m also a big military history

buff, and recently came across amention o the Navy Experimental

Diving Unit on Te History Channel.

I did a little digging and ound that

2012 was the 85th anniversary o

NEDU’s ounding. I pitched a story

to Military Offi cer magazine. While

the unit’s history and accomplish-

ments were certainly newsworthy, it

was the article’s anniversary-based

hook that sealed the deal.

3. CAST A WIDE NET. Tis is a rule

o thumb in most aspects o ree-

lancing, but especially with anniver-

sary pieces: You never know who’s

planning to cover what, or what

special issues are being cooked upthat your piece might t nicely into.

Cash in on the CalendarFind pitch-perfect hooks for articles on virtually anytopic by targeting anniversaries.

BY DON VAUGHAN

The key is to uncover the happenings otherwriters may not be privy to—and have somethingfresh to say about them.


15/76


Don Vaughan (donaldvaughan.com) is

a North Carolina–based freelancer and

founder of Triangle Area Freelancers.

I pitched different aspects o the

centennial anniversary o arzan

to everyone rom Boys’ Lie to R

Book Reviews. I knew I wouldn’t getassignments rom them all, but I

increased my chances by pitching

broadly and appropriately. (Besides,

I’ve ound that even rejections can

open the door to uture proposals.)

Whenever possible, target both local

and national publications—and cater

each pitch to its specic market.

4. AVOID LOW-HANGING FRUIT. By

that, I mean the stereotypical ideas—

the rst ones that come to mind—

that every hack will be pitching

related to a specic holiday or anni-

versary. Instead, nd an innovative

way to spin the topic that will make

your pitch stand out rom the others.

Rather than pitch a standard prole

o Burroughs to Filmax , or example,

I decided to interview amous artists

and writers about their appreciationo Burroughs’ works. Te resulting

article was a unique tribute that also

provided me with the opportunity to

talk to creators I’ve long admired.

5. PITCH EARLY. Because o lengthy

editorial lead times, most magazines

want anniversary-related queries

at least our to six months—i not

more—in advance. I you’re unsure

o when to pitch, consult the pub-lication’s submission guidelines or

ask the editor how ar out they work.

(Also, request the magazine’s edito-

rial calendar or the coming year;

it could give you more great ideas

regarding appropriate anniversary

pitches.) Te most successul writers

pitch early, and pitch ofen.

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16/76


P H O T O ©

S T E A D L E R / F O T O L I A

. C O M

Nearly 2,300 poems were submitted in the

seventh annual Writer’s Digest Poetry

Awards, and Linda Neal Rising’s “An

Educated Woman Explains Why She Likes

Bluegrass” claimed the No. 1 spot. Her prize: $500, a

copy o the 2012 Poet’s Market and a trip to the WD

Conerence in New York City.

“I ell or Rising’s poem rom the opening lines,” says

nal-round judge Robert Lee Brewer, editor o Poet’s

Market and WD’s Poetic Asides column (Page 11)

and blog. “Whether through the repetition o because

to open every stanza or using perect metaphors to

describe the individual elements o a bluegrass tune, this

poem takes a amiliar topic and plays with it—making

the whole enterprise more beautiul in the process.”

Te contest was open to original poems o any style

that were unpublished and 32 lines or ewer. Te top 50

poems will be printed in a special collection, availableor $11.95 at wizehive.com/apps/products/WDPoetry .

o nd out how to enter next year’s contest, visit

writersdigest.com/competitions.

“An Educated Woman Explains Why She Likes Bluegrass” by Linda Neal Rising

Because a fiddle can cry honey

or shapeshift into the Wabash Cannonball,

chugging its arrivalor whistling through a crossing

in some by-passed Ozark town.

Because a banjo plunks

like hail on a tin roof,

covering a barn with weathered sides.

Or like drops, fat and dull,

plopping into a zinc bucket, set below

the eaves to catch rain water.

Because a guitar can speak

with a country accent,hum about mockingbirds and murders,

long for girls with names

like Sally Goodin, Liza Jane, Sweet Fern.

Because a mandolin quivers,

a timid soul, fluttering

like the wings of a blackbird

trapped inside a stone chimney.

Because the voices lift so high

and lonesome they drift,

suspended like Blue Ridge fog

just before fading to sun.

The Top 10 1. “An Educated Woman Explains Why She Likes

Bluegrass” by Linda Neal Rising

2. “Last Chair” by Maggie Morely

3. “A Holding Time” by Barbra Simpson 4. “Hands Together” by Ace (A. Charles) Baker

5. “Listening to the Ocean” by Kathleen Olive Palmer

6. “34” by Jack Libert

7. “This is how you ready for it” by Roberta

Guthrie Kowald

8. “Prayer for Mother” by Carol Despeaux

9. “Cracked” by Chris Warner

10. “Grah Nade!” by John J. Zerr

The Winners of

WD’s Annual Poetry AwardsBY MARIELLE MURPHY

https://www.wizehive.com/apps/login/WDPoetryhttp://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/writing-competitionshttp://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/writing-competitionshttps://www.wizehive.com/apps/login/WDPoetry


17/76


18/76


Ideas ofen percolate and sim-

mer over time, but every once

in a while lightning strikes—

and a sudden ash o creativity

can alter a writer’s career orever.

ake, or example, these 10 amous

works inspired by unexpected bolts

o inspiration.

1. Te Hobbit : J.R.R. TOLKIEN wasgrading college exam papers, and

midway through the stack he came

across a gloriously blank sheet.

olkien wrote down the rst thing

that randomly popped into hismind: “In a hole in the ground there

lived a hobbit.” He had no idea what

a hobbit was or why it lived under-

ground, and so he set out to solve

the mystery.

2. reasure Island : ROBERT LOUISSTEVENSON painted a map to pass

the time during a dreary vacation

in the Scottish Highlands. When he

stepped back to admire his handi-work, a cast o imaginary pirates

appeared. Stevenson recalled, “Tey

passed to and ro, ghting and hunt-

ing treasure, on these ew square

inches o a at projection.” He

promptly traded his paintbrush or

a quill and began to write.

3. Te Wonderul Wizard o Oz :L. FRANK BAUM was telling his sons

a story when he abruptly stopped.He’d been swept away to a land

unlike any his imagination had ever

conjured. Baum ushered the young

audience into another room and,

page by page, began to document

Dorothy’s journey along the yellow

brick road.

4. Charlotte’s Web: E.B. WHITE had decided to write a novel

about saving the lie o a pig, but

wasn’t sure who would be up to

the heroic task. He was walking

through an orchard, on his way to

a pigpen, when inspiration hit. He

thought back to a large gray spiderthat had woven an intricate web

in his house: She was perect or

the part.

5. Te Lion, the Witch and theWardrobe: On an otherwise ordi-

nary day, 16-year-old C.S. LEWIS

was seized by a peculiar daydream.

A razzled creature, hal-man and

hal-goat, hurried through snowy

woods carrying an umbrella and abundle o parcels. Lewis had no idea

where the aun was heading, but the

image was still with him when, at

age 40, he nally put pen to paper to

nd out.

6. Around the World in EightyDays: JULES VERNE was ipping

through a newspaper in a Parisian

caé when an advertisement caught

his eye. It offered tourists the chanceto travel the globe in just 80 days.

The BoltFrom the BlueBY CELIA JOHNSON

P H O T O ©

Y U R I I B E Z R U K O V / F O T O L I A

. C O M

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19/76


Tis was an amazing eat at the time,

and Verne’s imagination immediately

began to re.

7. “Rip Van Winkle”: WASHINGTONIRVING had been suffering rom

writer’s block. His brother-in-law,

Henry Van Wart, was trying to cheer

him up by reminiscing about child-

hood adventures in the Hudson

Highlands when, in the middle o

the conversation, Irving dashed out

o the room. Te next morning, he

emerged with a new story inspired

by the talk.

8. Animal Farm: GEORGE ORWELL watched as a young boy steered

a massive cart horse along a nar-

row path, and he was struck by an

unusual thought: What i animals

realized their own strength? His

hypothetical question evolved into a

metaphorical novella about animals

taking over a arm.

9. Anna Karenina: As he lay ona soa afer dinner, LEO TOLSTOY

had a vision o an elbow. Te image

expanded into a melancholy woman

in a ball gown. Te mysterious lady

haunted olstoy and he eventually

decided to write her story.

10. One Hundred Years o Solitude:

GABRIEL GARCÍA MARQUÉZ wasdriving his amily to Acapulco or a

vacation. As he gripped the steer-

ing wheel, the opening line to a

novel popped into his head. García

Marquéz threw his oot on the

brake, turned the car around, and

cut the trip short to work on the

rest o the story.

Celia Johnson is the author of Dancing

With Mrs. Dalloway: Stories of the Inspira-

tion Behind Great Works of Literature.

Sierra Nevada College is pleased to

announce its new low-residency MFA

program in Creative Writing,

located on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

[email protected]/mfa

[email protected]/mfa

MFA FACULTY SPOTLIGHTProgram Director Brian Turner’s poetry andessays have been featured in The New YorkTimes and National Geographic. His mostrecent book, Phantom Noise, was short-listedfor the T.S. Eliot Prize.

Kelle Groom’s memoir, I Wore the Ocean inthe Shape of a Girl, was a Barnes & Noble’sDiscover Great New Writers pick for Fall 2011and an Oprah.com selection.

reative nontion tion poetr


20/76


BREAKINGINDebut authors: How they did it, what they learned, and why you can do it, too. BY CHUCK SAMBUCHINO

Natalie Bakopoulos The Green Shore

(literary fiction, Simon

& Schuster, June) “The

portrait of a family

and the way in which

their stories of love and resistance

play out against the backdrop of

the military dictatorship that ruled

Greece between 1967 and 1974.”

WRITES FROM: Ann Arbor, Mich. PRE-

GREEN SHORE : Tis is my rst novel,

and the past seven or eight years o

my creative lie have been devotedto it. My ather is rom Athens and

I ell in love with the country at a

young age. I knew I wanted to write

a novel and set it in Greece. TIME

FRAME: Eight years passed between

the writing o the book’s rst sen-

tence and its publication. ENTER

THE AGENT: My agent is the brilliant

Amy Williams [o McCormick &

Williams], whom I met when I was

[a Master o Fine Arts] student atthe University o Michigan. WHAT I

LEARNED: Tere were times when I

was rewriting the novel when I elt

that I was done. But I wasn’t. I was

sick o it and I just wanted to get it

out there. I’m glad I resisted that

urge. I anything, I learned patience.

WHAT I DID RIGHT: I worked hard and

I didn’t rush it. But like everything

else in lie, much o it was luck and

timing. PLATFORM: I’m a contribut-ing editor to Fiction Writers Review

(ctionwritersreview.com), and

this community has been a huge

support. I also hope this book

will be well received by the Greek-

American community, which has, so

ar, been hugely supportive. WEBSITE:

on..me/H9wzmS. NEXT UP: Some

short stories, a collection o essays,and a new novel.

Nichole Bernier The Unfinished

Work of Elizabeth D.

(women’s fiction, Crown,

June) “A woman

inherits the journals

of a close friend, and realizes she

didn’t know her friend as well asshe’d thought—including where

her friend was really going when

she died.”

WRITES FROM: Te suburbs o Boston.

PRE-UNFINISHED : I had been a maga-

zine writer or 15 years. In the years

afer I lost a riend in the terror-

ist attacks o Sept. 11, I elt an urge

to express mysel [through c-

tion]. In 2005, I wrote a scene about

a woman imagining her riend’slast moments on a plane. Tat

scene became the beginning o my

Chapter 3, which is basically the

same as [it was] the day I wrote

it. TIME FRAME: Tat grueling rst

scene sat on my computer or a day

or two while I shivered and won-

dered what on earth I was doing. I

had three children at the time, andit was the strangest eeling, justi-

ying to mysel time spent on this

thing that might not amount to

anything. I nished the rst draf

two years afer I started—not realiz-

ing that this was just the beginning.

ENTER THE AGENT: Julie Barer [o

Barer Literary] is my agent. WHAT

I LEARNED: First, that being done

doesn’t mean done, and there is a lot

o material you write that will neversee the light o day. Te second sur-

prise was how much I’m enjoying

the business side—the networking,

marketing and promotion. WHAT I

DID RIGHT: Finding a small commu-

nity o trusted, valued writers or

eedback is tremendously impor-

tant. I went to events alone and met

people. I invited people to my home

and threw book parties. I embraced

social media like the water coolerand business conerence I was

http://fictionwritersreview.com/https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Green-Shore-by-Natalie-Bakopoulos/166777616763524https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Green-Shore-by-Natalie-Bakopoulos/166777616763524http://fictionwritersreview.com/


21/76


lacking as a stay-at-home mom.

PLATFORM: I have a platorm

as a magazine writer, which includes

a decade on staff and as a contrib-uting editor to several magazines. I

also have a blog and witter account.

WEBSITES: nicholebernier.com;

beyondthemargins.com. NEXT UP:

A second novel.

Dianne Warren Juliet in August

(titled Cool Water

in Canada)(mainstream fiction, Amy

Einhorn Books/Putnam,

July) “The story of several char-

acters on one ordinary hot sum-

mer day in a small Saskatchewan

community in the sand hills, caught

between its ranching heritage and

a new West.”

WRITES FROM: Regina, Saskatchewan.

PRE-JULIET : I’ve written short storiesor many years, but this is my rst

novel. In act, the rst draf o Juliet

in August was a short story called

“Desert Dwellers,” but I knew right

away that the world was too big or

the orm and I didn’t pursue pub-

lishing it as a story. TIME FRAME: en

years off and on, as I worked on other

projects. I think I was araid to admit

I was actually working on a novel—I

kept putting it away and going back

to stories. ENTER THE AGENT: My agent

is Dean Cooke at Te Cooke Agency.

I sent the manuscript to him because

o other writers that he represents,

thinking my work might be a good

t. WHAT I LEARNED: My biggest sur-

prise has been the number o people

that are working or you and the

book when you’re ortunate enough

to publish with a large press. Teexpertise and knowledge about the

contemporary realities o publishing

are astounding. WHAT I DID RIGHT: I’m

glad that I took the time with it that

I did because it’s a better book or all

the thinking and revising that went

into it. NEXT UP: A new novel. WD

Chuck Sambuchino is the editor of Guide

to Literary Agents .

PHOTO

©DON HALL

KEEP HOPE ALIVEGet Nichole Bernier’s advice on viewing

rejection as encouragement at writers

digest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-

literary-agents (select “Breaking In”).

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22/76

ASK THEAGENTBY KARA GEBHART UHL


HARDEST LESSON FOR WRITERS TO

LEARN: On the writing side,

regardless of genre, justabout every project involvesa “show, don’t tell” discussion.Publishing-wise, I think it’s thewaiting—no matter how wellversed authors are in the pub-lishing process, there’s almostalways a “Why the @%$! is thistaking so long?” moment.

DYSTEL & GODERICH LITERARY MANAGEMENTJohn Rudolph spent 12 years as an acquiring children’s book editor for Simon

& Schuster Books for Young Readers and the G.P. Putnam’s Sons imprint of the

Penguin Young Readers Group before joining Dystel & Goderich as a liter-

ary agent in 2010. Now, with a strong track record of deals in the young adult,

memoir, picture book and pop culture genres, he is expanding his client list

in other areas, too. “I’m looking for any and all narrative nonfiction,” Rudolph

says. “Thrillers and other commercial men’s fiction are up my alley as well. On

the children’s side, I’m on the hunt for character-based middle-grade and

young adult fiction, and I would dearly love to find the next great picture book

writer/illustrator.”

BEST/WORST QUERY: Not sure i it’s the worst or best, but the greatest query I

got was the picture book about talking poop—ully illustrated, o course. Tat

gem arrived my very rst week as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster—a

suitably auspicious way to start a publishing career.PERFECT DAY: Any day that I sell a book!

BIGGEST PET PEEVE: You would think that with the enduring popularity o a

certain Christmas song, it wouldn’t be that diffi cult to send a letter to John

Rudolph—not Randolph, Rudol, or my all-time avorite, Rudlo.

DREAM CLIENT: Since Keith Richards is taken, I’ll have to go with Springsteen.

Give me a call, Boss …

BEST PUBLISHING ADVICE RECEIVED: Tat at the end o the day, it’s the author’s

name that’s on the jacket.

STRANGEST WRITING CONFERENCE ENCOUNTER: Luckily, I’ve been spared any

major conerence craziness so ar—never had anyone pass me a manuscript in

the restroom or anything like that. Te best experience was about a year ago,

when I actually signed up a writer as a client—rst time that ever happened!

BIGGEST CAREER SURPRISE: Tat I’m an agent! And that, afer 12 years as a chil-

dren’s book editor, hal my list now consists o adult titles.

FAVORITE CONVERSATION WHEN AGREEING TO WORK WITH A NEW CLIENT: Short

o learning that an author already has an offer on the table, the best conversa-

tions end with the revelation that a client loves to bake—and that treats are in

the mail. WD

John Rudolph

Kara Gebhart Uhl (pleiadesbee.com) is a freelance writer and editor based in Fort Thomas, Ky.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:dystel.com/submission-requirements


http://www.pleiadesbee.com/http://www.dystel.com/submission-requirements/http://www.pleiadesbee.com/http://www.dystel.com/submission-requirements/


23/76WritersDigest.com I 21

The Rule-Breaker’s Issue

G u i d e t o F i l l i n

g

t h e C r e a t i v e

R i s k - a k e r ’ s

W e l l

T e R e l u c t a n t

Not long ago I was standing in a hotel lobby, ormally done up

in an evening skirt, sparkle top and lipstick, making small

talk and waiting or the doors to open or an elegant cocktail

reception and ceremony. Tere was, however, a delay. Te doors did

not open. About 200 o us milled about, obediently, or 10 minutes,

20. Te doors continued to not open.

I began to grow impatient, as I had particularly been looking or-

ward to a glass o wine. I wanted one now. Te ballroom down the

corridor, I’d noticed, was teeming with wedding guests enjoying a

reception. Why not? I thought, and strolled in their direction.

I took a deep breath and glided in, smiling and making eye contact

with other guests, and made my way to the bar, where ountains o

pink liquid bubbled. Te server handed me a stemmed glassul and

I tasted it. “Pink lemonade?” I asked, my heart sinking. “Tere’s no

wine or anything?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Are these guys Mormons?”“Either that or AA, I guess.”

Great writing beginswith an appetite for life.

Try these 8 approachesto get out of your comfort

zone, break rules andreap rewards.

B Y E L I Z A B E T H S I M S


24/76



Pamplona, and ought sh his own

size in the Caribbean.

Rebecca West, arguably the

most inuential British writer

o the 20th century, took to the

streets o London to advocate or

women’s suffrage, probed the guts

o Yugoslavia to write her non-

ction masterpiece Black Lamb

and Grey Falcon, covered the

Nuremberg rials or Te New

Yorker , and risked arrest while

exploring the slums and pris-

ons o Johannesburg to report

on apartheid.

Tose writers took chances. Andthey used their experiences to

prime their creativity. I think that

deep down, we all wish to be Ernest

Hemingway or Rebecca West.

Great, you might be thinking. All

I have to do is nd a war, live abroad

or put my lie on the line against

nature, thugs or both.

Well, no. While I wouldn’t dis-

suade you rom leaping onto the

world stage, here’s the great secretHemingway and West knew:

Great writing begins with an

appetite or lie.

oo, they knew its corollary:

A glancing acquaintance with

something is ofen all you need to

extrapolate accurately in writing.

Here’s how to get out o your

comort zone, wake up your wild

side, break rules and reap rewards.

1 Know thyself.Spend an hour writing your

thoughts on these questions:

What makes you quail? Disease,

poverty, a spider over your bed,

meeting new people, space-based

nukes, a plugged drain, heights,

deying your parents? Make a ull

list. Delve into the eelings those

things inspire. What exactly doesthe ear eel like?

I thanked him and carried the

lemonade to my reception. Well, I

thought, I didn’t get my wine, but at

least I crashed a wedding.

Tis is the kind o thinking writ-

ers need to do. I may or may not

use material rom that night in my

ction—either the actual incident

or my quickening heartbeat as I

talked mysel into brazenly act-

ing like the guest o people I didn’t

know—but that’s not entirely the

point. Te point is that I stepped

out o my comort zone, did some-

thing a little outré, and got away

with it.Let’s ace it: We writers tend

to be rule-ollowers. We were the

kids who turned in our papers on

time, played clarinet in the march-

ing band, didn’t have premarital sex.

(OK, two out o three.) As adults we

drive deensively, wear sunscreen

and consult experts beore making

big decisions. We don’t crash wed-

dings or argue over the contents o

our carry-ons in the airport securityline. We weed out risk.

And we get stale.

But we’re writers! As such, our

chie goal is to produce work that

resounds with authenticity. We must

create exciting ction; we must pro-

duce gripping nonction. And tak-

ing the sae path won’t always cut it.

Comort zones can hold us back in

lie as well as in our work.

William Faulkner asserted, “A

writer needs three things—experi-

ence, observation and imagination—

any two o which, at times any one

o which, can supply the lack o the

others.” Note that experience is rst

on his list.

Ernest Hemingway surely agreed.

He was cut down by a hail o bul-

lets in World War I, recovered and

skied the Alps, hunted lions onoot in Arica, ran with the bulls in

urn to a resh page. What does

your wild side look like? (I you’re

not sure you have much o one,think o it this way: When you were

a kid, what did you like to do or

un?) Is it happy, or is it listless and

neglected? Listen to it. What is it

asking or?

Read over your ears, then read

about your wild side. Which makes

you eel better? Remember: Fears

are only thoughts, but the world is

thrillingly real.

2 Say yes to opportunity.Te main thing is to be ready.

Te best way to be ready is to

get stronger, physically as well as

mentally. I you’re out o shape, get

active and eat healthier ood (you

know you’ve been meaning to any-

way!). I you’re in decent shape,

challenge yoursel to get to the level

where you really want to be. Having

a strong body boosts your con-

dence and automatically makes you

eel more adventurous.

Recognize opportunity. It might

come in the orm o a hint rom a

riend (or hey, even an enemy), or

you might eel a vague impulse to

do something new. Pay attention to

these subtle suggestions; get quiet

and listen. Te instant you start

thinking No, counteract that with,What i I did? No might still be the


25/76

A s w r i t e r s , o u r c h i e f

g o a l i s t o p r o d u c e

w o r k t h a t r e s o u n d s

w i t h a u t h e n t i c i t y .

T a k i n g t h e s a f e p a t h

w o n ' t a l w a y s c u t i t .

C o m f o r t z o n e s c a n

h o l d u s b a c k i n l i f e a s

w e l l a s i n o u r w o r k .


4 Get a press pass.My rst job out o university was as

a reporter-photographer or a small

newspaper. Te work extended my

education tremendously; I learned

how newspapers and city govern-

ments really work, plus I got to do

unusual, cool things like ride in a

police boat and watch dynamite

blow up a rock ace.

I was reminded o this when I did

some reelance work or my local

daily recently. Within just six weeks,

I’d met and written about peror-

mance artists, homeless mothers,sand sculptors, kids with autism,

botanists, volunteers, police person-

nel, an Army sergeant (and an Army

wie) and social workers. Pitch an

article or offer your services as a ree-

lancer or part-time stringer and see

where it takes you. It takes nerve to

ask questions (especially i you don’t

have any journalistic background),

but it’s proportionately rewarding.

Invariably you’ll learn off-the-record, juicy stuff that suggests nonction

book and article ideas as well as c-

tional plotlines.

5 Learn something new.ake a class in anything. Build or

make something unusual—say, a

potato cannon or a paper model

o the Forbidden City. Follow an

interest to its deeper conclusion.

Do it yoursel.

A while ago I said yes to a riend,

a retired military commander, who

invited me to go target shooting in

an abandoned quarry. He brought a

number o guns. One was a beau-

tiully made hunting rie with a

high-resolution scope. Tat gun

was a smooth joy to re, accurate

and powerul, designed to make a

clean kill o big game rom a dis-tance. Another was an AK-47. As I

scenes. Walk backstage afer a show.

Walk backstage anywhere. alk to

the people you nd there. respass

mildly. Open doors that interest

you, even i they say “SAFF ONLY:

WRIERS KEEP OU.” Simply

open them and walk through. Atworst, someone will notice and ask

you to leave (apologize and/or play

dumb as needed, remembering

these magic words that always work

or me: “Sorry, I was just looking or

the bathroom”). You’ll still catch a

glimpse o something you haven’t

seen beore.

Cops essentially live backstage,

know what I mean? alk to them.

Te rst time I nervously walked up

to a police offi cer with an off-the-

wall question, I was curious about

why there were so many people beg-

ging or money on the main drag

in Berkeley, Cali. I got a respectul,

long answer that sparked a deeper

interest in street people. Tat inter-

est led me to write realistic passages

about street lie in my novels Lucky

Stiff , Easy Street and Te Extra. NowI talk to cops all the time.

right answer, but it shouldn’t be a

knee-jerk one.

When I was acing a milestone

birthday (not telling), I started think-

ing I should do something—any-

thing—to counteract that horrible

number. Listening to me whine, ariend challenged me to join him

on a rigorous backpacking trip in

Washington’s Olympic Mountains.

I hadn’t slept outdoors in 20 years,

but realized this was what I had to

do. Five weeks later, with a body in

(somewhat) better condition and a

willing spirit, I orged through muck

holes and inched along sheer drop-

offs. Te knowledge I gained o the

Olympic backcountry—the harsh

terrain, the sound o gushing streams,

the emotions stirred by isolation and

exposure—brought authenticity to

my novel On Location. Reviewers

noted its realism, and readers tell me

they nd certain passages appropri-

ately harrowing.

3 Go backstage.I all the world’s a stage, there’s gotto be a lot o stuff hidden behind the


26/76


handled it, eeling the clunky action,

the haphazard nish on the metal

and stocks, the clumsy open sights,

the loose tolerances, I elt a chill as

I realized the gun was meant to do

only one thing: kill people at airly

close range, and not cleanly. So

simple even a drunk terrorist could

drop it in the mud and still destroy

with it! Without handling both guns,

one afer the other, I wouldn’t have

known that, wouldn’t have gotten

that visceral cold eeling that I’ll

never orget—and that I ully intend

to evoke in my uture crime novels.

6 Do something that makesyour palms sweat.Scared o public speaking? Go to a

busy street corner and start orating

about something. Express a strong

opinion. You will be terried at

rst, but i you put your heart into it

you will experience a breakthrough.

Your ear will transmute to a why-

not sort o joy.

Like my ctional series charac-ter Lillian Byrd, I play the mandolin.

Along the lines o my interest in street

people, I’ve had a strong interest in

buskers (street perormers).

Purely as a test o guts, I’ve

busked or money in several cit-

ies. It’s surprisingly terriying to

stand on a street corner, open your

case, tune up and begin playing. I’ve

been photographed by alternative

city papers and questioned by pass-

ing musicians who think maybe

they should try busking too. “It’s

like getting paid to practice!” one

exclaimed. One time I was chal-

lenged by a belligerent panhandler

who elt I was hurting her business.

Tat was an interesting conversation.

I you’re considering doing

something dangerous, like walk-

ing alone in a tough part o town,think it through rst. What are you

really afer? An accurate representa-

tion o dread? Maybe it’d be just as

scary, and way saer, to walk alone

through a cemetery at night. Or

maybe you don’t have to be alone to

get the experience you’re afer.

7 Eavesdrop.Eavesdropping is illicit, it’s impolite,

and it’s great un.

When I lecture on writing ter-

ric dialogue, I advise my students

to eavesdrop to gain a sense o how

people really talk. But you must do

more than listen; you must be sys-

tematic—you must bring yournotebook. How ofen have you

heard somebody say something

imperishable, but when it came

time to recount it, you could only

weakly paraphrase? When you

take a minute to write it down, it

becomes yours.

Coffee shops are the cliché place

to eavesdrop, and there’s good reason

or it. Ofen people who haven’t seen

each other in a long time meet overcoffee to talk their heads off, or peo-

ple meeting or a not-exactly-a-date

rst date, or to discuss something

important, will do it in a coffee shop.

I used to do a lot o writing at a

particular Starbucks in my town.

Once in a while I’d see a certain type

o couple: a young man sitting drink-

ing coffee with a much older woman.

Teir conversations were quiet and

remarkably intense. And I saw this

over and over, with a different young-

guy-older-woman combo every time.

I started to wonder. And I started

to purposeully, stealthily eaves-

drop. I started to look at the bigger

picture, and realized that the co-

ee shop happened to be across the

way rom an armed orces recruit-

ment center—and these young men

and … their mothers had just beenthere. Tey’d come out and seen the

Starbucks and decided to come in

and talk it over.

Te aces I saw and the conver-

sations I overheard there were too

intimate to recount here, but they

inormed me as a writer.

Eavesdrop. Write it down. Repeat.

8 Do something repugnantto you.Challenging your assumptions

will result in a broader worldview.

Never been to a strip club? Go.

Feel uncomortable about stadium-

sized churches? Attend a service.

Despise the [ll in the blank] politi-cal party? Show up at a rally and

watch without judging. Skeptical

about mediums? Attend a séance.

Do nursing homes creep you out?

Walk into one, nd a lonely person

(which will take eight seconds) and

hang out awhile. Do these things

and eel them. Avoid labeling or cat-

egorizing the resulting experiences,

because doing so will keep them on

the surace. Instead, let them sinkin deep.

Busting out o your comort zone

to seek out unique experiences

will not only make you a more

complete person and bring authen-

ticity to your writing, it will sug-

gest new ideas and new work. I

you extend yoursel, you’ll have an

advantage over the couch potatoes

and Web addicts.

I invite you to share my current

motto:

Impulse control is overrated. WD

Elizabeth Sims (elizabethsims.com) is

an award-winning novelist who has been

writing for WD since 2006. She also teaches

webinars for WD University and is working

on a new book, You’ve Got a Book in You,

forthcoming from WD Books. She’ll be

presenting at the Writer’s Digest Confer-ence West in Los Angeles in October.


http://elizabethsims.com/http://elizabethsims.com/


27/76WritersDigest.com I 25

You’ve saved up money and vaca-

tion days. You’ve hoped and

daydreamed. You’ve rewritten pages

and pitches. And you’ve absorbed

countless conerence “rules” rom

websites, publications and ellow

writers about “making the most o it.”

Only one problem: Tose rules cansabotage you.

I taken too literally, the “mak-

ing the most it” rulebook, while ull

o well-intended advice, can actually

encourage sel-serving, short-sighted

and inauthentic behavior that can

end up leaving you eeling empty

and disappointed at the conerence’s

end. Consciously looking beyond

these rules, on the other hand, can

leave you eeling like you’re part o

something—a literary community

that promises collaboration, ongoing

connections and career-long support.

Forget what you’ve been told abouthow to get the most out of writingconferences. The best experiences

come when you make your own rules.B Y T A N YA E G A N G I B S O N

THE RUL EBOOK APPROACH:

Get as much face timeas possible with FamousSomebodies.THE BETTER APPROACH:

Spend more time gettingto know fellow attendees.

Sure, it’s un to eat lunch at thesame table as an editor who’s tell-

ing a behind-the-scenes story about

a bestseller. But getting acquainted

with ellow attendees is more impor-

tant to your writing career. Some

o these olks are Future Famous

Somebodies. More important, they

are your present writing community,

people with whom you can trade

manuscripts, exchange tips and

nd support.

“Your peers are your best

riends, supporters

… [and]

resources,” says author Molly Giles,

who has taught workshops at the

Community o Writers at Squaw

Valley, and whose own conerence

roommate later became an editorat Playgirl —the magazine that rst

published Giles’ ction. “Many o

your ellow writers are going to get

discouraged long beore you will

and will go into editing—which is

just where you want them. So be

nice. o everyone.”


Put yourself out there every

chance you get.THE BETTER APPROACH:

Listen more than you talk—and be willing to share thefloor when you get it.While listening to participants

practice speed-pitches at the San

Francisco Writers Conerence this

year, I kept interrupting to ask why

they were planning to talk or nearly

all o their allotted three minutes

with each agent. “Be

brie,” I suggested.

“Ten be quiet.”

You’re at a conerence, afer

all, to get eedback and advice. So

make time or listening. I the agent

or editor wants to hear more, he’ll ask.

I an author thinks your work might

be a good t or her agent, she’ll offer.

Don’t ask. And don’t orce things.

I you do end up chattingwith a Famous Somebody at the

Go Your Own Way


28/7626 I WRITER’S DIGEST I July/August 2012


occasion interrupted by participants

who, eeling deensive, tell me, sud-

denly: ‘Oh, that piece was already

published!’ or, alternatively, ‘I or-

got! I have made signicant changes

to the version o the manuscript I

gave you,’” says Andrew onkovich,

an author and editor who’s on

the Writers Workshop staff at the

Community o Writers at Squaw

Valley. Since the point o a proes-

sional critique is to learn to improveyour work, such reactions short-

change you—and impress no one.


Focus conversations on whatyou’ve written.THE BETTER APPROACH:

Focus conversationson writing .Don’t know what to talk about? No

worries. You’re at an event whereeveryone shares an interest: You

love words on paper. So talk about

what you’ve read lately, what moves

you, what you’re really into. A

shared passion is magnetic.

You know what’s not magnetic?

A 10-minute recitation o your writ-

ing credits. Also uninteresting: how

conerence bar, make an effort to

include ellow attendees (see Future

Famous Somebodies). Rather than

expounding urther upon how

Proust’s work inuenced your zom-

bie novel, you might say, “Dave here

wrote a hilarious yet touching story

about Shakespearean vampire igua-

nas. Our workshop adored it.”

People who celebrate and support

their peers project condence. So

share the oor, take it slow and leavepeople wanting to hear more. Who

knows, Mr. Famous Somebody might

just seek you out later to learn more

about your ennui-riddled undead.


writers digest july-august 2012 issue

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