Guest Columns

Writers often live or die by how engagingly they convey the extreme merits of something: a character’s beauty or strength, an impassioned cause, a life-altering event. But equally crucial is how convincingly writers can extol—okay, “hype”— their own work in queries and marketing.

Some editors rightly warn against over-hyping in a proposal; but a touch of deft hype may be just what wins the day, with benefits far outweighing the risks. The greater danger is to acclaim your work with feeble, tread-worn superlatives such as nerve-tingling or heartwarming, which is like a billboard saying NO DISTINCTIVE VOICE HERE. Read more

1. Start tweeting now! Or Tumblring, or whatever, and discover what feels genuine to you. My publisher is very active across multiple social media platforms and encouraged me to get involved well in advance of my book release, to explore what I was comfortable with and start making connections. I happen to like Twitter and would never vlog except under duress, but you may be more telegenic than me.

GIVEAWAY: Barry is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (UPDATE: pavic30 won.) Read more

There is an old saying. What comes from the heart reaches the heart.

I have always found this to be true. But I would add to it my own less elegant postscript. It helps to know who you’re talking to.

GIVEAWAY: John is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (UPDATE: bikerkat won.) Read more

Writers have always had to be disciplined, but the internet has made matters a million times worse. In addition to the temptations that everyone else faces, we are being actively encouraged to be online 24/7: to network, promote our books and so on. Ashley Ream wrote a great guest post recently about how to write a novel when you’re busy, but how do you focus on the writing itself when there are so many distractions right at your fingertips? Read more

People who work in book publishing always have a ridiculous amount of reading to get through. I once worked on what is pejoratively termed the “slush pile” in the HarperCollins fiction department, where I would often be the first reader. As such, I would get to decide if the story was worth further consideration by those higher up the chain. There were so many submissions I don’t think I was ever on top of it…

GIVEAWAY: Sara is excited to give away 2 free copies of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: xlonelytearsx won.) Read more

So you’re at a writers’ conference and you have a chance to sit down with an agent. This encounter is basically like speed dating because you have about five minutes to get the person across the table from you to want, if not to commit to a relationship, at least to try one out.

You have probably 15 seconds to make a lasting first impression. Another 30 to build curiosity. A mere few minutes to captivate, inspire and intrigue…

GIVEAWAY: Merry is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: Miro won.) Read more

Here is where we must be more like Charlie Sheen. When the highest paid actor on television gets fired after a public psychotic break, which he then turns in to a concert series, which then lands him a new television deal, we must conclude that any of us can have our dark night of the writer’s soul and still stage a comeback. Or to quote Mr. Sheen, “Can’t is the cancer of can’t happen.”

Invoking his “#winning” spirit, I’m starting a new Twitter hash tag–#winningwriters… Read more

1. Write As If No One Is Watching. Let the story flow organically without feeling any pressure to reach a certain market, impress a specific agent, or hit a bestseller list. Write because it’s how you process the world around you. Write because it’s what you want to be doing when you aren’t writing. Write because you can’t imagine not being able to write, even if it’s during the wee hours of the morning when you should be sleeping. Then, and only then, is it worth sharing with others.

GIVEAWAY: Julie is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: sspratt2010 won.) Read more

Picture being a new student at a high school where you don’t know anyone (writing your first novel). And now picture dementedly wanting to run for school president . Lord knows why you want to run for school president (publishing your first novel), but maybe you think you’d make a terrific president. You have really good ideas and if people would just give you a chance you could make this school the greatest school the world has ever seen (it is possible that your novel doesn’t suck). You know it’s a long shot but it can be done, so you set out to do it.

GIVEAWAY: Michelle is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: 13sgelda won.) Read more

There are all sorts of guides on how to write a great thriller. I’ve read some. I’ve learned a lot from writing my own novels and I’ve learned a lot from co-writing with James Patterson, someone you have heard of who knows a thing or two about drama. This is by no means an exhaustive list but some observations I’ve made over the years that I don’t necessarily see on the normal lists of writing advice.

GIVEAWAY: David is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: blemish won.) Read more

I know BB King when I hear him. I may not have heard the song before, but a few bittersweet notes from his Gibson guitar is all it takes to make a positive identification. His sound is unique, an expression of his singular personality. Like a song, a novel is many things. It’s a collection of characters and storylines, dialog and descriptions. But a book is also an expression of the author. When I write a book, I want people to know I wrote it. I want my finished product to be an extension of my personality. Something nobody else could’ve written. BB King sounds like BB King. And I want to sound like me.

GIVEAWAY: Warren is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within two weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Flute71 won.) Read more

2. Reading Builds Confidence – As a beginning writer, I lacked confidence in my work. When I received feedback on my writing, I would start changing things to meet one person’s criticism only to have another reader suggest the opposite, and I had no idea how to evaluate their comments. These people were my teachers, after all—even if I disagreed with them, they knew what was best for my story, right?

GIVEAWAY: Dayna is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: Colossians323 won.) Read more

Before I wrote my first novel, The Expats, I spent nearly two decades at various arms of publishing houses such as Random House, Workman, and HarperCollins, mostly as an acquisitions editor. But a more accurate title for that job might be rejection editor: while I acquired maybe a dozen projects per year, I’d reject hundreds upon hundreds. And while it may not be possible to pinpoint what exactly makes for a great manuscript or submission, it’s pretty easy to identify some of the avoidable mistakes that can virtually guarantee your project will get relegated to the circular file.

GIVEAWAY: Chris is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: Lynn33 won.) Read more

I read every “how to write” book I found, every writing magazine, every article on authors I could find. I loved hearing about how they did what they did. And still, I didn’t have a clue about how things worked in this business. Here are 10 myths about being a writer that I discovered once I became published:

GIVEAWAY: Lori is excited to give away a free copy of her book to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: jdmstudios won.) Read more

When you revise, you must go back and fine-tune your work—add, delete—what needs to go in, be taken out. Repair the characters. Do it when your mind is still fresh with the scenes and the characters of that chapter. However, you must be unbiased (which is hard toward what you’ve just written), detached (which is harder from what you’ve just built), so you can see your own creative flaws.

GIVEAWAY: Khanh is excited to give away a free copy of his novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Update: Bop won.) Read more