How to Get Published

A Rerun

by Al Kalar

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits. -Lazarus Long

Setting

Every story takes place somewhere and some-when.

If you’re dealing with real places and real periods in the present or history, you’d best know everything you can about the topography, plant life, seasons, maps, and what is/was going on at that place/time. Research can be boring, but if you stumble here, hundreds of readers will take great delight in correcting you for your blunder.

Harry Turtledove is a history major and the publisher of several fine alternate history novels. He researches his stories meticulously. In spite of that, every now and then, his fans enjoy pointing out some small error he made in a book. Since he’s so careful, these incidents are not common, but they do happen.

Now, if Turtledove has this problem in spite of the fact that this is his area of expertise, how much more will you suffer if you mess up? You will, but do your best to create as few errors as possible. (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…)