Naked Lady

Naked Lady

Naked Lady

Forget The Editor – It’s He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune
You’re going to write a book, sell it, become rich and famous. You’ll need an Editor willing to read it and be sufficiently inspired to offer you a contract.

How do you set about convincing him/her to take a chance and publish your book? Most of you will try. Most will fail, and wonder why! The answer is simple:

You are trying to convince the wrong person – FORGET THE EDITOR: The person you should be convincing of your manuscript’s merits is ME.

Who am I? What’s so special about me? I am the one that supplies the cash to make the thing a viable proposition. Keep me happy, and Editors will snap your work up.

How do you convince me to part with my cash? Easy:

I am a simple kind of guy called ‘Joe Public’. Impress me, and I’ll buy your stuff. If not, it probably sucks: I’m easy to please, but no sucker.

Although I’m easy to please, your writing will need to follow some simple guidelines to grab – AND HOLD – my attention. If it does that, fame and fortune beckons you.

The following is applicable whatever you write, irrespective of genre. For the sake of simplicity we’ll take writing a fiction novel as an example:

First, last, and foremost, it must grab my attention from the start – and hold it to the last page. Like any item I consider buying, I look for two main things: I want it to provide me with what I am looking for – And I want value for money.

I want a work of fiction to supply me with a ‘good read’. I want it to give me an ‘experience.’ I want a story to give me a feeling of interacting with it. It must set me thinking. If your story does that, you’ve given me value for money – and I’ll come back for more.

When looking for fiction to read, my first rule is to ignore the cover picture. Chances are that even a book on growing carnations – or bee keeping – will have a naked lady in some un-natural pose adorning the cover, hoping to catch the eye of any male punter in a hurry.

Having said that, you ignore YOUR cover at your peril! – It is the first thing your prospective purchaser sees. It is their first interaction with your story. At this point, they have no feeling for the contents, no connection with story or characters.

In my role as Joe Public, if I’m in a hurry I’ll grab a book that I’ve not read, but is written by an author I’m familiar with. With time to spare, I’ll peruse titles at leisure, read any synopsis or other blurb, and flick through a few pages to get a feel of the story. It is at this point your skill as an author is put to the test. Your story must be written in a way that – even a cursory perusal – will grab me, set me thinking, wondering, and reacting: It must make a connection with me. The better you’re able to make this connection, the more certain you are to sell me your story.

To do this you require certain basic building blocks to use in your story’s construction: A good plot, believable characters, and some form of action. It will require dialogue, some descriptions, and a definite structure to it. Use these components with skill, give them substance and quality, add a touch of your unique style and you will create an enjoyable experience for me.

The quality of each component in your construction is critical: Any weak link in the chain, and your story will exist as a collection of words and sentences of uninteresting mediocrity. I will dump it – having made a mental note to ignore anything by you in future.

You may be thinking I’ve missed the main point: ‘How do I get my book onto the bookshelves in the first place? – So you can read and decide if you want to buy it? Surely I need to get an Editor to accept it first?’

Patience – read on…

Earlier, I mentioned adding a touch of ‘style’. This is a small but all-important ingredient. Like any meal, a book is made up of basic ingredients. Most of us can use them to produce an edible meal for ourselves. But how many others will sample it and come asking for more? It is the acquired knowledge and skill of the cook, and his unique contribution to its preparation, which transforms a meal into a culinary delight, and turns him from ‘Cook’ into ‘Chef’: So it is with writing…

The writer uses the basic building blocks, adds his touch of uniqueness, and moves up from being a ‘Writer’ to becoming a ‘Published Author’.

Every would-be footballer knows the basic rules of the game. However, it takes dedication, training and practice, and a natural flare and uniqueness of style to stand out from the crowd, and catch the Football Scout’s eye.

As a writer you will have a natural style, though at first may not know it. Initially you may try to emulate some author you like. That’s fine for practice, however, you must adapt it so you write with a pace and flow that feels comfortable and natural to you, otherwise it becomes forced, artificial – AND IT WILL SHOW. It will not impress your readers.

Experiment. Find what way of thinking, moving your story along, what pace, what way of speaking, feels most natural and comfortable for you. Once you’ve found this you can then drop automatically into this style and frame of mind each time you sit down to write. With practice, it becomes second nature: You can then concentrate 100% on the content without the concern of how you present it.

It is important you develop this individuality of style to suite you: MORE IMPORTANT is that this style ALSO suits your readers!

This is where learning the ground-rules from successful authors is a must. There are many ‘Writing Schools’ available for this. You should also join a small group of fellow writers – do a web-search for ‘writers’ or writing groups’ or similar. Having found what style suits you, it’s pointless pressing on using it unless others like your style too. Test it out by presenting samples to others, and getting their feedback. Be prepared to modify and adjust, as a result of the critique you receive. Feedback

Naked Lady

Naked Lady

Naked Lady

Naked Lady

Forget The Editor – It’s He Who Pays The Piper Calls The Tune
You’re going to write a book, sell it, become rich and famous. You’ll need an Editor willing to read it and be sufficiently inspired to offer you a contract.

How do you set about convincing him/her to take a chance and publish your book? Most of you will try. Most will fail, and wonder why! The answer is simple:

You are trying to convince the wrong person – FORGET THE EDITOR: The person you should be convincing of your manuscript’s merits is ME.

Who am I? What’s so special about me? I am the one that supplies the cash to make the thing a viable proposition. Keep me happy, and Editors will snap your work up.

How do you convince me to part with my cash? Easy:

I am a simple kind of guy called ‘Joe Public’. Impress me, and I’ll buy your stuff. If not, it probably sucks: I’m easy to please, but no sucker.

Although I’m easy to please, your writing will need to follow some simple guidelines to grab – AND HOLD – my attention. If it does that, fame and fortune beckons you.

The following is applicable whatever you write, irrespective of genre. For the sake of simplicity we’ll take writing a fiction novel as an example:

First, last, and foremost, it must grab my attention from the start – and hold it to the last page. Like any item I consider buying, I look for two main things: I want it to provide me with what I am looking for – And I want value for money.

I want a work of fiction to supply me with a ‘good read’. I want it to give me an ‘experience.’ I want a story to give me a feeling of interacting with it. It must set me thinking. If your story does that, you’ve given me value for money – and I’ll come back for more.

When looking for fiction to read, my first rule is to ignore the cover picture. Chances are that even a book on growing carnations – or bee keeping – will have a naked lady in some un-natural pose adorning the cover, hoping to catch the eye of any male punter in a hurry.

Having said that, you ignore YOUR cover at your peril! – It is the first thing your prospective purchaser sees. It is their first interaction with your story. At this point, they have no feeling for the contents, no connection with story or characters.

In my role as Joe Public, if I’m in a hurry I’ll grab a book that I’ve not read, but is written by an author I’m familiar with. With time to spare, I’ll peruse titles at leisure, read any synopsis or other blurb, and flick through a few pages to get a feel of the story. It is at this point your skill as an author is put to the test. Your story must be written in a way that – even a cursory perusal – will grab me, set me thinking, wondering, and reacting: It must make a connection with me. The better you’re able to make this connection, the more certain you are to sell me your story.

To do this you require certain basic building blocks to use in your story’s construction: A good plot, believable characters, and some form of action. It will require dialogue, some descriptions, and a definite structure to it. Use these components with skill, give them substance and quality, add a touch of your unique style and you will create an enjoyable experience for me.

The quality of each component in your construction is critical: Any weak link in the chain, and your story will exist as a collection of words and sentences of uninteresting mediocrity. I will dump it – having made a mental note to ignore anything by you in future.

You may be thinking I’ve missed the main point: ‘How do I get my book onto the bookshelves in the first place? – So you can read and decide if you want to buy it? Surely I need to get an Editor to accept it first?’

Patience – read on…

Earlier, I mentioned adding a touch of ‘style’. This is a small but all-important ingredient. Like any meal, a book is made up of basic ingredients. Most of us can use them to produce an edible meal for ourselves. But how many others will sample it and come asking for more? It is the acquired knowledge and skill of the cook, and his unique contribution to its preparation, which transforms a meal into a culinary delight, and turns him from ‘Cook’ into ‘Chef’: So it is with writing…

The writer uses the basic building blocks, adds his touch of uniqueness, and moves up from being a ‘Writer’ to becoming a ‘Published Author’.

Every would-be footballer knows the basic rules of the game. However, it takes dedication, training and practice, and a natural flare and uniqueness of style to stand out from the crowd, and catch the Football Scout’s eye.

As a writer you will have a natural style, though at first may not know it. Initially you may try to emulate some author you like. That’s fine for practice, however, you must adapt it so you write with a pace and flow that feels comfortable and natural to you, otherwise it becomes forced, artificial – AND IT WILL SHOW. It will not impress your readers.

Experiment. Find what way of thinking, moving your story along, what pace, what way of speaking, feels most natural and comfortable for you. Once you’ve found this you can then drop automatically into this style and frame of mind each time you sit down to write. With practice, it becomes second nature: You can then concentrate 100% on the content without the concern of how you present it.

It is important you develop this individuality of style to suite you: MORE IMPORTANT is that this style ALSO suits your readers!

This is where learning the ground-rules from successful authors is a must. There are many ‘Writing Schools’ available for this. You should also join a small group of fellow writers – do a web-search for ‘writers’ or writing groups’ or similar. Having found what style suits you, it’s pointless pressing on using it unless others like your style too. Test it out by presenting samples to others, and getting their feedback. Be prepared to modify and adjust, as a result of the critique you receive. Feedback will often be controversial, it may disillusion you, and be hard to swallow, seem over harsh, or appear as a personal attack: 99.9% of the time it will be none of these. What it WILL be is a genuine effort by others just like you to offer their ten-cents-worth to help you.

However varied and controversial the comments, invariably they will have some consensus running through them. It may be they indicate your style is too ‘ceef’ (wordy), has too much ‘tell’ and not enough ‘show’. Or that the dialogue does not flow naturally, or your characters lack personality, or believability! Maybe it is

Bare Female