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Joe Love
Heeeeeeyyyyy! Stephen King has a book on writing (well, duuuh Helen!)? That's one I'd like to read! Thanks for the tip!
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 12, 2007 at 11:49 AM
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Helen_Bach
I think above all that you must write to satisfy a need within you. You apparently have a desire that is satisfied by writing.
As for your publication/rejection question, I would suggest reading Stephen King's "On Writing". You will probably find all of your answers there.
posted by
Joe_Love
on January 11, 2007 at 8:16 PM
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To all those below
Thank you all for the input! It is much valued!
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 11, 2007 at 12:13 PM
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Hi Helen, my thoughts:
1. It does need to be tight, but any commissioning editor will overlook small problems if the content is a winner. That's what they have sub-editors for. Different editors do have different foibles though, as you suspect.
2. A deadline sharpens me. I'm not published, but when writing short pieces for my workshops or producing scripts for school, the deadline is a good friend.
Look out for Azur & Jazwolf - they know more than me about the sharp end.
(Bats poem coming soon - I've just reminded myself that you reminded me!)
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on January 10, 2007 at 5:31 AM
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It's ok if there is a punctuation mark ( a comma, especially )
missing from the sentence. Don't let it be an issue. Most importantly, the spelling must be correct. Keep on blogging. Have fun.
posted by
richinstore
on January 9, 2007 at 8:42 PM
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helen--
here are my answers:
1. Be as grammatically correct as you can possibly be. Glaring errors will kill any chances, but you need not obsess over every comma.
2. My muse reacts to a deadline as though a fire were lit under her behind--and she gets it into gear!
posted by
Julia.
on January 9, 2007 at 3:15 PM
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Helen
Go for it, gal!
Hardly anyone around here who's in their sixties, or even late fifties, can read and write, and one day Lady Ariel was at our holiday house doing some cleaning.
She had some of my stories that had been translated into Spanish, and she gave them to a neighbour. Encarne took them out and began to read one to other neighbours.
They were dumbstruck! A new, strange and wonderful world opening up before them!
I wasn't there at the time, but when Lady Ariela told me, I was so moved ; almost to tears.
I'm not very fit right now, but I keep saying I've gotta get a proper story reading together, to repay a tiny bit of what we owe the Spanish. They are so generous and open hearted.
Just like what we brits were sixty years and more ago.
Off to be soon, cos it's nearly midnite.
posted by
ariel70
on January 9, 2007 at 2:54 PM
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Ariel70 - not keepin' count anymore!
HA! LOL (by the way, the word "lol" in dutch means fun)! My mother would certainly say he was (is)!
Did your parents know much about the old stories? It's such a shame that storytelling by the open hearth got lost somewhere along the lines. Guess it doesn't have much of an effect when you're sitting by an electric heater.
Stories (folktales, mythology, etc) are more important than people think, but it would take pages to go into that! Maybe I'll start a post about it sometime.
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 9, 2007 at 2:41 PM
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Helen part four
Well, exactly!
Too much of a gentleman to say so, tho' Even under hypnosisLOL
My, what odd parents you have/had! Worse than mine.
Sure he wasn't the Pishogue in disguise?
posted by
ariel70
on January 9, 2007 at 2:31 PM
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Ariel70 part 3
Heeeey! Won't work! My father was a hypnotist, but he was never able to hypnotize me (...or was he...? weird sci-fi music and doubtful chin rubbing)!
By the way "the face that launched a thousand ships"... I don't know if that would be a good thing. It's all a question of interpretation! They might have been fleeing her!
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 9, 2007 at 2:29 PM
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Helen
Sorry, can't recall the connection. Been trawling the net myself. No luck tho'
posted by
ariel70
on January 9, 2007 at 2:26 PM
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Kabu
Hey, aren't you supposed to be working?
Whew! A lot of blood, sweat, and tears going into your manuscript, I suspect! Good luck! Thanks for responding! (Hope you can finish the first part before your artist begins on the third cover! Wouldn't want him to become too smug!)
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 9, 2007 at 2:23 PM
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P.S. Ariel 70
Thanks for putting things into perspective! You are right, of course! I'll just have to send it up and see what happens. It's not like if I blow it with one publisher then the whole deal's shot. The story's good, the message is good. I told another blogger not to worry about publishing because it effects the writing. Why is it always so hard to take one's own advice?!
Can you remember in which context your Nan used the term Pishogue's funeral? It seems to have a very broad definition on the net, from a practictioner of magic to just plain superstition. Sometimes a Pishogue (or Pisoc, Piseoc, Pishoge...) is a person and sometimes, it's a curse or charm. Love a good challenge!
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 9, 2007 at 2:17 PM
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Helen
Watch my eyes! You will not squawk like a chicken, nor emit any animal other onomatopoeic sounds!
Nor will you make jokes about your face having launched a thousand ships, quips, dips. snips or whips.
Snap! Wake up to success!
posted by
ariel70
on January 9, 2007 at 2:11 PM
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Ariel70
Can I sue if I start squawking like a chicken?
posted by
Helen_Bach
on January 9, 2007 at 2:05 PM
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I'm glad that you asked those questions.
I'm busy going through my manuscript fixing up the puctuation as suggested by an English major friend. A big job because I just wrote without concern.
I must say that the dialogue is much sharper.
Don't know anything about publishing.
Kabu
posted by
Kabu
on January 9, 2007 at 1:45 PM
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Helen
Can't help you much with publisher's fads and fancies, I'm afraid.
My gut instinct is, to paraphrase the late Lord Wellington " Write and be damned!"
I wouldn't imagine that a publisher would reject a good book 'cos a comma or two are out of place. But then, who knows?
I'll have to get in touch with Fan's ghost, and get her to ask the Pishogue!
Seriously, you could serve an apprenticeship as a freelance in free magazines. I've had fifty-odd short stories, numerous articles, comment, poetry, masses of stuff published over here.
See, most editors of local and free mags are looking for local interest/local history stories, and of course they won't be as picky as the big fish.
Won't pay a great deal, but it keeps the wolf from the door, gives you confidence in writing, and practice makes perfect.
Watch my eyes! Listen carefully! You will seek out editors tomorrow! You will write good stuff! You will be successful! Is that clear? You will succeed!
You can wake up now.
My secretary will submit my account in due course.
posted by
ariel70
on January 9, 2007 at 1:36 PM
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