 For Authors: September 04, 2013 Issue [#5869] |
  For Authors
This week: Be Bold Edited by: Jeff  
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"Some writers enjoy writing, I am told. Not me. I enjoy having written.
-- George R.R. Martin
Trivia of the Week: Publishers and film production companies can receive thousands of submissions every year. While the number of reads they have to do varies from week to week, many editors and creative executives can read anywhere between one and five manuscripts and/or screenplays per week. Multiply that by 50 weeks a year, and by at least two or three of those positions at a smaller company and your work could be up against as many as 500-750 other submissions that year! In the case of a larger studio or major publishing house, that number could easily be four or five or even ten times higher!
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BE BOLD
When you set out to write something under competitive circumstances - whether it be a Writing.Com contest, for publication, or otherwise - it's important to understand what will make your entry stand out. After all, you're competing with dozens, hundreds, sometimes thousands of other writers for a very small number of opportunities. For example, the Writing.Com Official Contest, so far in 2013, has an average of 32 entries per month. Publishers can receive thousands of manuscripts for every one they publish. With that many other writers also vying for the same few prizes or publication slots, how do you maximize your chances for success?
Be bold.
As a judge for many Writing.Com contests over the years (including the Official Contest), and as someone who spent years working in creative affairs for a motion picture company where I read screenplays and determined which ones to buy and which ones to pass on, I've often found that the entries and submissions that stand out are the ones that tell their stories with boldness.
Boldness, in this context, is defined by Merriam-Webster's dictionary as "a fearlessness before danger; showing or requiring a fearless, daring spirit; standing out prominently."
When competing with so many rivals for the same objective, it's important to stand out. Obviously the quality of the writing also has to be there, but I always consider that a given; nothing else will matter if you don't have a good product to put out there. Assuming you do have a good product, though, and that you're competing against other good products out there, you have to stand out from the pack. Be bold in your choices and if you are going to make a mistake, have that mistake be in trying to do too much rather than too little.
This is especially true when there are guidelines involved. If you're writing to a prompt or otherwise have a very specific set of criteria that everyone else also has to follow, remember that while you're just writing your story, the judges are reading every story. Take the following picture prompt:
I think most people seeing that image would immediately conjure up images of a haunted house story, or at least some kind of darker, horror/thriller type fare. The problem, though, is exactly that; most people (including your competition) have the same general idea. And if everyone is working on a story with the same general concept, your success becomes reliant purely upon the execution of the idea, which is subjective in the eyes of those tasked with evaluating all the entries.
What most judges can appreciate, though, is originality and inventiveness. If the above image were a prompt for a contest and you were the one person who figured out a way to make it an erotic/romance story, or a drama, or even a comedy, it will stand out from all the others. Even if you can spin the prompt in a unique direction ... haunted house stories are often about characters who go inside and explore a mysterious house that isn't theirs. What about a haunted house story told from the perspective of someone in the house who wants to keep those pesky explorers out? Regardless of the particulars, the idea is to take your work and elevate it beyond the predictable or the expected; to be bold in your choices and, as a result, stand out from the crowd. When it comes time for a judge to pick her favorite entries or a publisher to recall which manuscript to publish, you want your work to be the one that stands out. You want your work to be the one that makes them say, "Out of all the stories I read, that's the one I remember."
Boldness isn't just a matter of the concept or premise for your story, though. It's also important that you make the same choices in your plot points and character choices. Don't be afraid to push yourself and take risks; if your villain is a violent psychopath, have him do something violent and crazy and don't shy away from it. If your character is a soldier battling with PTSD, make that affliction a real problem with real consequences rather than a minor inconvenience from time to time. If your story is about a manhunt for a fugitive, the near-misses between the authorities and the fugitive should be as close, as tense, and as high-stakes as they can possibly be.
Predictability and the lack of boldness is what we so often criticize in bad movies and books. Those are the scenarios where you have a character's weakness that isn't really a true weakness but rather a minor quirk that provides a temporary inconvenience, or the scenarios where the protagonist triumphs not by a particularly ingenious choice he made, but by the slip-up or foolish choice the villain makes.
Strive to stand out in both the quality of your writing and the originality of your ideas. Don't take the easy route, or the first idea, or the easiest solution. Push yourself to be original, to be memorable, and above all... to be bold.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following Writing.Com birthday-related items:
13 Days - 13 Genres - Stretch your imagination for GREAT daily prizes!
Celebrate WdC's 13th Birthday by writing a tragic ballad about a past birthday celebration
Celebrate WdC's 13th Birthday by writing a steamy erotic or romance short story!
BARD'S Hall & WDC's 13th Birthday CELEBRATION PROMPT!
Write a novelette-length story based on this round's prompt for a chance to win. All entrants of the WDC Birthday Round will receive a gift!
This contest runs for 13 days, with 13 prompts and 13 prizes. You can enter any or each day and qualify for first place up to 13 times.
Write an article on the 13 reasons you love Writing.Com. Sounds simple, but how will you ever cut it down from 1,347?
You're invited to attend one of the most sought after events around, The Writing.com 13th Birthday Masquerade Ball and although you know it's just a game, someone is in danger, so you're also a little nervous. Will you be able to solve the mystery and take home the top prize?
And don't forget to check out the many, many great other activities over at "Writing.Com Party Central 2024!" !
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https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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Feedback on my last newsletter about calculating less:
Rhonda  writes, ""The only things I have control over are my story and my characters. The world I'm creating on the page is the only thing that I have complete autonomy over, and the only thing whose outcome I can influence." I truly believe this is the best writing advice that I have ever come across. There is no magical way to be discovered. Submit (be sure to follow submission guidelines though) the best you have to offer and it will stand on it's own. Also, Thank you so much for the mention of my flash fiction piece "Bullied". I am honoured to have been included in your newsletter. It made for skies of blue on a dark and stormy day."
You're very welcome for being featured, and I'm glad you found the advice useful!
Joto-Kai  writes, "We all know how important lucky socks are, but all that really counts hitting the ball (or getting it past the hitter.) But you missed two words in your synopsis: it should be, "Write more- and better."
In an ideal world, the more you write the better you'll get! 
JACE  writes, "Interesting advice, my friend. I think folks today are conditioned to be "intricate" or "unique." Perhaps we try too hard to force success. Over the years, I've found things tend to work out better (and easier) when I just let things flow. Calculate Less just puts a title to that effort. I like that!  "
Thanks, Jace! And I totally agree. The quality, quantity, and enjoyment of my work all increase when I'm spending more time just losing myself in the process, and less time trying to engineer my success.
Michael Thomas-Knight writes, "Great advice, thanks so much for sharing. People keep telling me, I need a Facebook, I need a Twitter, I need to get on Linkedin, that just having a blog is not good enough. People spend so many hours on these sites... when do they write?"
I wonder the same thing sometimes. I have writer friends who are on Twitter and Facebook all hours of the day, some have full-time jobs and/or families as well. I wonder how productive they are, or - more importantly - how productive they could be if they used even a fraction of that time for their writing. I'm trying to be better myself. I use social media at work because it's a good distraction and I can't really write there anyway... but I'm trying to focus on writing and not the internet when I get home from work.
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  writes, "Forget formulas, publishers, Screenwriters, and all that- do it because you love it." (Submitted item: "Monster Cowboys The Book" )
That old Nike slogan isn't just for athletes. "Just do it!" 
Rayne E. Dazes writes, "This was exactly what I needed to hear right now! I spend so much time worrying about people thinking my story may be too similar to others on the market, worrying that maybe the genre has been over used. But I think the story is solid, and the characters come to life. Thank you for reminding me to take a step back and not worry about the calculations of success."
Happy to help put things in a different perspective! 
Spawn of Sylvia Plath writes, "Thinking about this advice reconnects me to the main reason I wanted to be a writer in the first place--I LIKE TO WRITE. As I've gotten older, my growing fear of wasting time has caused my mind to "calculate" a LOT--I'm constantly reassuring myself that my efforts WILL pan out (in monetary form) if I just keep working. Lately I've been practicing NOT thinking like that, and I find that my work is a lot more enjoyable if I simply write what I want to write, paying no mind to all those factors I can't control. If my novel ends up selling 80 million copies, great! If it's never even accepted for publication, then it's the literary community's loss ;)"
Exactly! Honestly, I feel exactly the same way. With my screenwriting, I spent many years chasing trends and trying to write what I thought would have the best chances of selling. During that same time, I found myself writing many short stories for Writing.Com where I allowed myself to be be less inhibited and just have fun with my writing. Looking back, the Writing.Com stories are the ones I'm far more proud of, are a better indication of the quality of material I can write, and I noticed that I'm far more likely to actually see something through and finish it rather than losing interest and quitting.
dogpack saving 4premium  writes, "Great advice! Had dental surgery and am reading more than writing at the moment, so I'd better start doing more writing. Much thanks for listing the portfolio items and for the advice."
You're very welcome... and make sure that you properly recover from the dental surgery first! Not sure how extensive it was, but any time "surgery" and "dental" are in the same sentence together, it can't be good.
Tornado Dodger  writes, "Jeff, this was one of the most useful, coolest editorials I've ever read. Kudos! Thank you for reminding me and our members what's important.  "
Thank you so much for the kind words! I felt the same way when I first heard the advice given to other writers, and I thought it was important to share it with others.
shaara writes, "I love your theme. About two years ago my desperation fled me. Now I can write for me. I write novels that please ME. If I don't get published someday, oh, well ... Meanwhile, I'm back to improving my writing and enjoying the process. Isn't that what it's really about? Just a thought. (Of course, maybe I'm only lying to myself, and this is all rationalization. There's that, too, knocking at my brain. LOL) But meanwhile, CALCULATE LESS is a nice phrase to add to my list of things that makes for a better writer." (Submitted item: "Invalid Item" )
It's a nice feeling, though, isn't it? To write for yourself and for the love of writing rather than out of some ulterior motive to get published or to please the market? Which is not to say it's wrong to have a desire to be published or write a bestseller... but writing is so much better when those things are the result of your writing rather than the inspiration for your writing! 
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