How to Get Published

by John Bowers

One of the hardest things I face when writing a novel is keeping the story consistent. Writing a book-length story may take from a few weeks to a few months, and you put the story down a few hundred words at a time. Over a period of several weeks, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of what happened earlier, and consistency can suffer.

If you’re writing from a detailed outline it may be easier, but if you’re like me, outlines are too restrictive. When I start a novel I usually have a general idea of what the book is about, three or four high points I want to hit, and a couple of characters. From that starting point, the adventure begins, and I usually don’t end up where I thought I might. But the journey is fantastic-I discover the story as I go, just as the reader does later on. (more…)

by Al Kalar

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. -Ernest Hemingway

In one short sentence, Hemingway wrote the background for The Old Man and the Sea. The sentence tells the reader who, where, and what the story is about.

In times past, it was not unusual for the author to devote and entire chapter (or more) to tell the background scenery and information for the story. Modern readers won’t stand for that. (more…)