Chicken Soup is Looking For Stories

I recently checked the Chicken Soup for the Soul website to see what books they have in the works. It's been one of my best markets in the creative nonfiction area of my writing world. I will have number 14 in November in a book titled Just Us Girls.  The cover above is a book published several years ago but still available. I checked at Amazon.

A Chicken Soup story must be true and it must be a story, not an essay or a sermon. Creative nonfiction stories are no different than fiction in that they must have a beginning, a middle, and an ending. They aren't just a slice of life kind of writing. But let's go on to the book titles so you can see if you have a story that will fit or would like to write one. Check out this page for details on each book.

1.  Home Sweet Home
2.  Living With Alzheimers and Other Dementia
3.  My Guardian Angel
4.  Overcoming Challenges
5.  Reboot Your Life
6.  Recovering From Traumatic Brain Injuries
7.  The Cat Did What?
8.  The Dog Did What?

Numbers 2 and 6 are pretty specialized but some of you just might have a story to share on these difficult subjects. Read the blurbs behind the titles to see what the editors are looking for. It's interesting that they keep creating new books about cats and dogs, obviously a popular subject.

Remember the Golden Rule of Submitting--Follow the Submission Guidelines Carefully. The submission page that will give you guidance is found here. There is a great deal of information on this page but, beleive me, you had better read and digest it before you submit to this publisher. After you write your story, go back and read it again and see if your story fits within the guidelines. If not, make some revisions before submitting.

We have a long weekend coming up. August exits, September smiles at us and Monday is a holiday. Perfect time to get some writing done unless you have lots of outdoor activities planned. As for me, I'm going to the first Kansas State football game of the season tonight but will be working on some stories for Chicken Soup the rest of the weekend.

Write It, Publish It, Then Sell It

Play a little game with me today.When I look at this picture, I imagine myself spending a week in a seaside hotel with nothing to do but swim, dine, sip a glass of wine, relax and read. That book you see is mine. I've finally published a book. As an independent publisher. All mine. Glorious! I worked hard on the novel and I had a lot to learn about the self-publishing process, but it's all been accomplished. So I deserve this vacation. But it's not going to be a serenity filled week at all because I keep thinking about the stacks and stacks of books in cartons that are waiting for me at home. I'm writer, publisher and marketer. I have to sell all those books on my own. All of a sudden, my stomach hurts, my head is throbbing and I'm breaking out in a cold sweat. What next?

All of the above is purely imaginary, but the dream of writing and publishing your own book can end up being a major headache once it comes to the marketing end of the process. Publishing companies have people who do nothing but marketing. They know all the methods plus they have the contacts needed to get the word out when a book is published. You, as an independent publisher might think that's unfair competition.

Actually, it isn't. An independent goes into the project knowing that the burden of all parts of the process is going to fall on him/her. The joy of accomplishing the writing and creating an actual book to sell can often be dimmed considerably when the selling part grows to be a problem. I don't profess to know the best ways to go about it. There are certain things that most of us in the writing world would be able to suggest.

1.  Sell to your family and friends
2.  Advertise through social media
3.  Offer to speak to local groups about your book
4.  Contact libraries in your state
5.  Contact TV shows that do interviews in your area
6.  Attend Book Festivals and writer conferences
7.  Send promo copies and ask for reviews in newspapers, blogs and other media

All of the above will help sell some books but not in any large quantity. One thing that an independent publishing writer might consider is hiring a publicist. Another expense. But maybe it would be worthwhile. I do know that publicists sell their services as a package, and like all things, the more you pay, the more you get. I think I'd interview a publicist extensively to learn exactly what I might expect from them and how much difference they might make in your sales. Do some research and learn what a publicisit might do for you.

A few authors hit it lucky when they hit the ebook world. But I am guessing that it is only a very few. Many more sell enough books to cover original expenses and little more. Sounds discouraging, I know, but if you want to publish your own book, it's best to look at the realistic picture. That goes for ebooks and print.

Another suggestion is to head over to Amazon and take a gander at the help they have for you. Pages of titles! There are lots of people selling books about how to sell books. They've probably been there themselves and are willing to write a book and throw you a lifeline. Of course, they are also hoping for lots of sales on their book, just like you.

In all honesty, I've considered self-publishing a juvenile novel, a book of articles for beginning writers, an anthology of short stories for kids and a book of my memoir stories. I could learn the process of doing it as an ebook, maybe even the print on demand. It's the marketing that holds me back because I know that it's a huge process that must be worked on constantly and consistently. In my stage of life, I'm not sure I want to wrap that yoke around my neck. Twenty years ago, I'd have done it without even thinking about it. I'd have headed into it blindly no doubt, which is not a good way to take on a major project. Learn all you can before you commit.

If you want to be an independent author/publisher, do the research. Talk to others who have been there. Read books about the process. Then make the commitment but do so with your eyes wide open. I'm not trying to discourage those who would like to publish a book this way. Not at all. I admire anyone who does so and will give all the encouragement I can to them. Writing and publishing a book is a huge accomplishment, one to be proud of. Just know that there's still a lot of work to be done in the marketing.

The Pinocchio Factor

An intriguing plot that piques the reader's interest and holds it might be at the top of the list for goals for writing good fiction. As important as plot looms in creating memorable fiction, characters that show emotion and carry out the plot may surpass it in importance. Now matter how good the story line, stiff and unfeeling characters will deflate a story faster than a pin pierces a balloon.

In the classic tale, Pinocchio, a woodcarver named Gepetto creates a puppet boy of wood. Gepetto's fondest wish is to turn his inanimate creation into a live boy who can love and cry and be a son to him. Pinocchio's adventures and misadventures fill the pages of this beloved children's story. We're writers, not woodcarvers. We don't want to create lifeless characters that might drag a story into oblivion.

We've all read work with charactes that move the reader from Point A to Point B, but if they are wooden and show no emotion, we quickly lose interest. Emotion drives us, identifies us and creates feelings of one kind or another for the characters in a story.

Readers want to feel the anger, sadness or fear in a character. More important than a physical description is to show what that character feels within. Show is the keyword here.

Consider the following two passages:

A.  Jennifer felt angry

B.  Jennifer stormed into the kitchen, picked up a bowl of gravy and threw it against the wall. Body shaking, she clenched her hands into fists and searched for another missile to hurl.

Passage A is short and tells what Jennifer felt while B shows it through her actions. The reader can relate to and feel the emotion in B. It not only shows the emotion, it creates emotion in the reader.

In Lois Lowery's Newberry Award novel, Number the Stars, a girl living in Nazi-occupied Denmark during WWII runs into two German soldiers on her way home from school. Ms. Lowery did not say "Annamarie was frightened by the soldiers." Instead she wrote the following passage:

Annamarie stared up. There were two of them. That meant two helmets, two sets of cold eyes staring at her, and four tall shiny boots planted firmly on the sidewalk, blocking her path to home. And it meant two rifles, gripped in the hands of the soldiers.

When a reader comes this passage, her heart might beat a little faster. She feels the same fear that Annamarie must be experiencing by seeing the soldiers through the child's eyes. Thanks to Ms. Lowery!

In Pinocchio, Carol Collodi brigns Gepetto to life through his words and actions. When Gepetto carves his wooden puppet, strange things begin to happen and we see his fear and frustration in the following passage:

...in a few minutes it had become an immense nose that seemed never to end. Poor Gepetto tired himself out with cutting it off... The mouth was not even completed when it began to laugh and deride him. 'Stop laughing I say' he roared in a deafening tone

In real life, we often hold back our emotions. When writing, we must learn to do exactly the opposite. If you want to create memorable characters that inspire deep feelings in the reader, release the passion in you and allow the emotion to rise to the top. It's the perfect place to give your own emotions the outlet you might not have in your everyday existence. Make your characters laugh and cry, shout and stomp.

Pinocchio spent an entire book trying to become a real boy. You can create a real person in a paragraph with the right words. Let yourself go. Who knows? It could be a lot of fun.5

A Sure Way To Lose Your Readers

Something crossed my mind the other day that I decided to talk about on a blog post. Today's the day. As the quote above tells us, almost all writers have the burning desire to be published. It's the brass ring on the carousel ride for most of us.

One way you are sure to take one step forward and three steps back is to write a whole lot of unnecessary description that end up boring a reader. Many years ago, I attended a Saturday workshop for writers in the area where we lived. Several who gathered in a cozy living room on that cold, winter day were published authors. Others were only wannabe authors, while still others fell halfway between. At one point in the day, we had a read-around. It was a chance to read our work aloud and get the reaction of the group.

Everything was going just fine until one young woman began to read a portion of a novel she was working on. She read many pages. Her audience listened attentively to page one, a bit less so on page two and by page three, many were squirming in their seats, writing in a notebook, staring into space, looking out the window at the snowy scene. In short, she had lost her audience. Completely! And why?

In several pages nothing happened. We learned about the character being hungry and wanting to eat something. The writer meticulously described the room, she took us along as the character rose from her chair, walked across the room and opened the refrigerator door. We went with her as she peered into its cavity looking for something to appease her hunger. We were then made to watch as she closed the fridge door, walked to the kitchen table and placed the lunch meat and mustard on its top. Then, we were taken with her as she went to the breadbox and selected a loaf of bread. On and on it went like this. How it can take several pages of sentences to make a sandwich is a wonder.

The point is that making that sandwich or her hunger had absolutely nothing to do with the story. It had no importance whatsoever. We don't care about the many steps it takes to get up, get the ingredients and make the sandwich. We only care about what is relevant to the story itself. Let the reader assume these mundane parts of the story. Respect your reader's intelligence enough to let them figure out that she rose from her chair and walked to the refrigerator, got the makings of a sandwich etc. If the many steps in making that sandwich had a major bearing on the story, fine, but in this one, it most certainly did not.

What the writer did was to bore her readers (in this case listeners) to the point that they literally tuned her out. Elmore Leonard, the mystery writer who died very recently is often quoted for this sage piece of advice. He said, I try to leave out the parts that people skip. It makes most people laugh, but oh what wisdom it holds.

Forget the mundane, the things that can easily be assumed by the reader, and all things that do not have any bearing on the story.

Will It Be I, He, She or You?

I    He    She   You

Since our oldest granddaughter is going to be applying to colleges this year, I paid close attention as I read Lacy Crawford's article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal, titled Tell Harvard What You Think.  It was an eye-opening article about writing the personal statement on a college application but it also gave me a thought for today's blog post.

The part that jumped out at me as a writer was the one and only sidebar shown in the article. It said The first person is a mighty tool. Use it. Ms Crawford is referring to the college application essay, but I immediately thought about writing fiction. I like writing stories using the first person. I enjoy reading stories written in the first person.

Why? When I write a story in first person, I can climb right into the head of my main character. The longer I write, the more I can feel my character. I begin to understand her in a way I might not if I wrote strictly using her name or she as done in third person. I feel as though I am living the story because of the use of I. It definitely feels more personal than if I wrote the story in third person.

Similarly, when I read a story written in first person, I seem to be living the story. I relate to that character, sometimes even thinking I am that person.

I have read only a few short stories using second person or you. Some writers think it a fun and unusual technique, but when I read a story written that way, it irritates me to no end. It actually sets my teeth on edge. Obviously, not everyone has this kind of reaction because editors continue to publish stories that have a zillion you words in them. I guarantee that you will never read one of my stories written this way.

I agree with Ms Crawford whole-heartedly. The first person is a mighty tool. Use it.

Are You At Land's End In Your Writing Life?

Sign posted at the farthest tip of land in Cornwall, UK

Some clever person came up with this signpost in the Cornwall area of England, which we visited earlier this summer. Made us smile and as Ken wandered farther on the adjacent pathway, I lingered. I gazed across that huge sea that appeared to have no other side. Where was it? Thousands of ocean miles beyond, that's where. I thought about the early immigrants who sailed to the Colonies from these shores, even those who started the American Colonies. How frightening to set off for the unknown. But also how very thrilling to embark on such an adventure. They didn't know what lay ahead of them but were willing to take a chance in hopes that good things waited across that vast body of water. History tells us that they received their share of difficulties, heartaches and discouraging experiences. But along with all of that, the people who went on the adventure gained a sense of achievement, satisfaction and joy as they made their way into the new world and settled the land there.

Beginning writers, even those who've been writing for some time, are very much like those early immigrants. It's never smooth sailing from day one to the day you call yourself a roaring success in this field. The writer's sea is fraught with many of the same problems the early settlers faced. There are heartaches when rejections come more than acceptances. We face discouragement when an editor takes time to write a note to let the writer know why their work was rejected. Especially, in our early days, we strike out far more often than we get a hit. I was once told by a longtime writer to expect an acceptance for one of every twelve submissions. Doesn't take a genius to figure out that means eleven times your heart falls to your feet when you receive the rejection notice, or even no notice at all after months slide by. We get discouraged when a story just doesn't seem to work. Why is it so flat? Why can't I make the characters come alive? Why doesn't my prose sing?

But along with those dismal things, there are the times in our writing life when we do have a tremendous sense of achievement. We are satisfied and elated with something we've written or the number of published pieces we've had. It's a good thing we do experience those positives to offset the negatives. If not, we might get so discouraged that we'd chuck the whole writer's journey into the nearest body of water. For me, that would be Tuttle Creek Lake, not an ocean. For some of you, it might be a meandering creek or river. Doesn't matter what kind of place it is, some of us are ready to dump it all at times.

But wait! Don't rush into giving up the writing life. If you set goals that are within the realm of being able to achieve, if you truly love to write, and if you can dwell on the positive aspects more than the bleak ones, then you'll keep going. You may feel like you're at Land's End on some days, but look across that ocean between frustration and success. It's worth trying to get to the other side. 

One Way To Plan A Book

"The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ”

 
-Agatha Christie

The quote above has been popping up over and over recently. It's one I've seen many times over the years but why is it getting so much attention now? She was born 123 years ago, so this is not a special anniversary year. But think of it--a woman born so very long ago is still quoted and her books are still read, still being made into movies for TV (Masterpiece Theater on PBS). 

She was an insightful person as well as being witty. One of her quotes that I like better and better, the older I get says An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. The older she gets the more interested he is in her. 

But let's talk about the quote on planning a book. Doing the dishes in Ms Christie's day and doing them present day are two totally different tasks. At least in most homes. Now, we clear the table, scrape the plates and load them in the dishwasher in exactly the same pattern each time. Plates in one area, flatware in a basket of some sort, glasses and cups on the top tier. A task that needs no thinking on our part, just as it was in her day. Soapy water in the sink, a dishcloth and rinse water. A mindless task. A household chore like this leaves our mind completely free. 

And that is key here. Our hands may be busy but our mind can begin planning a novel or book. With a very practiced writer like Agatha Christie, I wouldn't doubt that she was able to plot an entire book with the washing of the dinner dishes. For others, it might mean figuring out the beginning of a novel, or depending where you are with the writing, even the concluding sections. 

I have two places where I am able to give my total thought attention to something I hope to write in the near future. The first is when I'm out walking by myself. I most often walk on a lovely trail that is lined on both sides with the backyards of homes. Bushes, trees, flower beds and birdsong--that's what I see and hear as foot hits ground over and over. I have developed ideas for many stories or essays while taking a walk. The other place that works for me is at the ironing board. It is definitely a task that takes no thought, it's as rote a practice as can be. But something about it is satisfying to me and I have often said that I do some of my best thinking at the ironing board. The problem is that we don't have to iron as many things as we once did, so that means less time standing there sliding an iron back and forth to get the wrinkles out--and planning what I want to write next.

Planning your writing projects while doing a no-thought task is fine as long as you do one important thing. When the job is finished, hie thee immediately to a place where you can jot down some notes. It doesn't matter how detailed they are. If you have nothing but keywords to jog your memory, that's fine. If you don't write it down somewhere or somehow, you risk losing some good ideas. You might remember part of what you mentally planned but perhaps not all of it. So for Heaven's sake, write it down. Same thing goes for those fabulous thoughts you have in the middle of the night. Write it down or it's going to be gone by morning.