How to Get Published

by John Bowers

You read an awful lot these days about the good writers who never get published.  You read how the system is structured to make it very difficult to break in.  And what you read is true.

There’s another reason good writers often don’t get published.  That’s because they never really try to break in.  They become discouraged and give up.  That query letter is just too intimidating, or researching the markets just seems hopeless. “I can’t do it.”

I understand that mentality completely.  I’m one of those writers.

I discovered a love of writing in junior high.  Long before I bought my first typewriter, I was writing short stories with a pencil.  I just loved to create adventures in my head and write them down.  When I got to high school, four of my English teachers (which means…ALL of them) were astounded at my natural gift (I didn’t even know I had one, I just thought it was fun), and expected great things of me.  So I began to believe in myself.

Then I ran into the world of reality.  People I knew - friends of the family, people at church - they smirked.  They laughed.  “You want to be a writer?  Who are you? What makes you special?” (more…)

The story…must be a conflict, and specifically, a conflict between the forces of good and evil within a single person. - Maxwell Anderson

by Al Philipson

by LuMaxArt

For a story to be interesting, there must be conflict. If your goal is to describe some utopian society filled with all sorts of technological wonders, you don’t have a story, just a boring travelogue.  How interesting would Beowulf have been without Grendel, his mother, and the dragon?

Ben Bova once described “a story” as “a narrative description of a character struggling to solve a problem.”

So, what do you need to do to provide the problem or “conflict”? (more…)

By BARB STEGEMANN, Author of The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen

WHENEVER I give a talk, I make a point of asking how many people in the audience wish they could write a book. Nearly every hand goes up. It puzzles me that more people don’t put their thoughts on paper. I believe if you have knowledge on some topic, it is your responsibility to get over any fears you might have and write. (more…)