First, to answer the question, yes I think a lot of the story structure tips can also apply to non-fiction articles. I’ve seen something akin to setup – conflict – resolution used for articles. Obviously, the tips regarding character development won’t apply, but I’m sure you can find some useful ideas there.

One thing Terry said made me start thinking, about not having the talent for writing fiction. So, let’s say you’d like to write novels or short stories, but you don’t know if you can or how to get started. I’m no expert, but I’ve had some articles and short stories published, so I can tell you how to get that far at least.

Step one: Read and Write. A lot.

You wouldn’t expect to become a great basketball player if you shot hoops once or twice a month, so why would you expect writing (or anything really) to be any different? Read the types of things you’re interested in writing, and write a lot.

Step two: Accept that you’ll write a lot of garbage

Even the BEST writers, and I mean the absolute best, write some crappy stuff. You’re going to write crappy stuff. Accept it and get past it. Some of your stuff will be unpublishable, ever, and that’s o.k. Think of it like a quota; you have to generate so much garbage to finally generate something good.

Step three: Get feedback

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re writing good stuff or garbage. Get feedback from someone else to help you figure out which you’re doing. This feedback should come from someone who’ll be honest with you, even if it hurts your feelings. Otherwise, the feedback isn’t much use, is it?

In general, avoid depending on your family and friends to judge your writing. They care about you, and they’re likely to say your work is better than it is. This will make you feel good, but it won’t do anything for your writing.

So, where can you get feedback? You can try posting your work online, in a blog or in a writer’s forum. You can also try online or in-person writer’s critique groups.

How to choose a critique group

Ideally, you want a critique group that has someone a little more advanced than you are. If everyone is a beginner, then it will be tough for anyone to advance.

You also want a group that will be honest about your work and tell you when something isn’t working. Hopefully they’re also telling you what is working well so you can build on that.

It can be difficult to ask for, and take, a critique of your work, but it’s also a crucial step in getting better at writing.

Don’t be afraid to ditch your critique group

When should you dump your critique group and look for another? It’s hard to say, but I can tell you some things that have triggered me to do that.

• When the group becomes more social than writing-related. Socializing is nice, but it won’t help you improve as a writer
• When the group loves everything I write. No one is that good, and it’s bad for me to think, even for a second, that I might be.
• When the group hates everything I write. I’m not that bad either. Typically, this is a mismatch of writing style, genres, etc. Find a group that likes to read the kind of stuff you write.
• When I stop getting useful critiques. This is a tough one to judge, but if you feel that you’re not getting feedback you can use, or that you couldn’t have figured out for yourself, it’s time to find another group.

Step four: Publish

What? Already? Yep, already.

You like what you’ve written. Your mom likes it. Your spouse likes it. Your critique group likes it. It’s time to send it off and see if someone else likes it.

I’d suggest starting off with short stories or articles. Find a magazine that fits your genre and style, read their submission guidelines, and FOLLOW them. Start off with a magazine that’s relatively easy to publish in. Online and paper publications that generally pay little or nothing are what you’re shooting for here. You’ll want a few publishing credits to your name before you submit to a more competitive market.

Submit, and wait. You might get a form rejection. If so, re-read your story, tweak it if you think necessary, and send it out to another market.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get an offer, or a note from an editor asking for some changes. You can learn a lot about what’s “wrong” with your story from this advice. Yes, it’s just one person’s opinion, but for now, it’s the person who matters.

Step five: Do it again.

The best way to learn to write is to write. Each time you put your work in front of someone, you’ll learn something about how readers react to your work. And with each time, you’ll get a little better at it.

Which got me to wondering, what exactly does he mean by “story architecture,” and how does a writer know she has one?

I did some digging on his site and found this page, where he does a ten part series on story structure. Here are the 4 parts he uses, but I’ll leave it to you to head over to his site to read through the whole series.

1. Set up: Establish the stakes
2. Response: React to the problem
3. Attack: Main character begins to fix things
4. Resolution

Channel 101 also has an interesting article about story structure. If you’re familiar with Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, then some of Dan Harmon’s stuff will sound familiar to you. Dan says there are eight steps you need to cover. I like this description best because his descriptions are great, yet succinct. Definitely head over and read these now; I’ll wait.

1. You
2. Need
3. Go
4. Search
5. Find
6. Take
7. Return
8. Change

You might be more comfortable with the three act structure, described here.

1. Setup
2. Confrontation
3. Resolution

I’m sure you’re picking up on the theme here. Whether you know the whole layout before you start writing, or if you write it and then rework it later, your story will probably follow this basic pattern.

1. Setup: Introduce the character and setup the situation
2. Conflict: The character has a problem, tries to fix things, often makes matters worse, and eventually gets it right. Or not.
3. Resolution: Wrap up loose ends, answer lingering questions, etc.

Of course, if you’re writing something that’s non-traditional, then your story might not follow this, and that’s cool too. Write what you want. As long as it works, do it, I say.

Ralan.com is a good place for speculative, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. He keeps the site up-to-date, and there are hundreds of listings there, divided up by pay amount, so it’s easy to find something in the level you’re looking for. Ralan is free to use.

Duotrope is another free online market database. It includes most genres, not just speculative. It has a good search feature so you don’t have to go digging.

Writers Market is another one I use. It’s not free (about $40/year). It has searchable market listings, although the search features here aren’t as good as those on duotrope! One nice feature is the ability to input your submissions and track when you sent them out, to whom, and when you should expect to get a response. I think that’s worth the $40/year price, not including the market listings. They do offer a monthly payment plan if you don’t want to commit right away.

Which comes first, market or story?

O.K. you have an idea and a few markets, what’s next? Do you write the story and then search for a market to fit the length, genre, and other specifics? Or, do you find a market and tailor the story to fit?

If your primary goal is getting published, then tailoring to the market is easier in my experience. Some markets have very off-the-wall requirements, so you’re better off working that into the story from the beginning if possible. I know purists will turn up their noses at that, but I said if your goal is being published, writing to the market is easier. If your goal is art, then by all means, write first and market later.

I’ve done both successfully, and for me it just depends on the story. If I have something more or less fully worked out, I write that and try to find a market that it will fit. And, honestly, that can be tough. Often I’ve found a great market for it just to realize that it’s too long, too short, should have taken place in Maine or on a pirate ship, etc. Having a great story and nowhere suitable to send it is frustrating, to say the least, and one reason that I tend to make sure I have a market in mind before I put in too much work.

Submissions

You have a story, you have a market, you’re all set. Right?

Not quite. Not yet at least.

First off, put the story away for a week or two. You need time away from it to do a good job editing and proofreading. Here are a few other tips I use for editing my work before it goes out.

• Read it out loud. Nothing will help you pick up on awkward construction like hearing it.
• Get someone else to read it. This person should be someone who can help you proofread and edit.
• Make sure characters’ names are different enough that they’re not easily confused.
• Read each characters’ dialogue to make sure everyone doesn’t sound alike. No, the forty year old mom should not sound just like her seventeen year old teenage son.

Next, you need to look at the submission guidelines for the market you’ve chosen, and follow them. Follow them to the letter. You want your work to stand out because it’s good, not because you ignored what the editors asked for. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot!

If you don’t know how to format your manuscript, then this search for “manuscript submission format” will help. Sometimes markets will have their own guidelines that conflict with these, if so, do what the market says.

Last step, send it out. It’s all too easy to get carried away editing and preparing and never get anything submitted. It’s something I think most writers struggle with, so set yourself a deadline and get the story out. Even if it’s rejected, you’ll feel better about yourself for trying.

Constant Content

After registering, you’ll submit your work for approval. You can submit content that matches up to a previous request, or you can write whatever you like. After the content is approved, it’s up for sale.

Pros: You can write about what you want and charge what you want. Writers can typically get more from Constant Content than from other sites.

Cons: Your writing skills need to be a bit more polished than other sites might require; otherwise, your content is likely to be rejected. Your content may not sell for quite some time, or ever. In my experience, most of the content sold here will sell for full rights, meaning that the writer gets no byline or credit for the piece. Writers will need to accumulate $50 in earnings before being paid.

Associated Content

Associated Content is similar to Constant Content. Associated Content has different payment categories, some of which pay up-front and others don’t.

Pros: You can get paid something for just about anything you’ve written. Even if they offer no up-front payment, you’ll get paid a small amount for each article based on its page views, so your articles can continue to earn for months or even more. Even better, Associated Content will begin paying you about a week after your first article is bought. Beginning writers will find their work more readily accepted here. Because writers can claim their works publicly, Associated Content also makes a much better portfolio than Constant Content does.

Cons: The pay is pretty low, sometimes only $3-7 per article. Priority is given to content that is unique to the site.

Helium

Helium allows you to post whatever content you want, like Associated Content. However, Helium is unique in that members rate articles, and those ratings determine which articles move to the top of their categories and get the most page views.

Pros: You get paid something for your work, but it may be a small amount since Helium pays a percentage of the advertising revenue the article earns. Helium also has a marketplace where buyers can ask for particular articles, but in my experience there are usually few options there.

Cons: The pay is low. You’ll need to accumulate $25 or more before you get paid.

Suite 101

I can’t speak to the pros and cons of this site since I’m not a member. Unlike the other sites listed here, Suite 101 requires writers to apply to write for them. From that point, they sound a lot like Helium; they pay a percentage of the ad revenue your articles earn.

Xomba is another site that works very much like Helium or Suite 101.  The revenue model for many of these is the same, you earn a share of adsense revenue.

You may be asking, why would I use any of these sites that share their ad revenue when I can write for myself and get all the ad revenue? That’s a good question, and I think it depends on what your ultimate goal is. Writing for your own site will build your blog or website and, over time, increase its traffic. However, you’re likely to earn very little if anything in ad revenue for some time. Sites like Helium can provide you with better initial traffic, and higher earnings. If you’re allowed to put links back to your own site, you can also drive some traffic as well (check the TOS first).

This is what I do. If the content would work well on one of my blogs, that’s where I put it. If it’s an article that I’m interested in writing but that doesn’t fit with my blogs, then I sell it.

Note that I’ve deliberately eliminated sites that pay you to write advertisements and reviews on your own site. Those are a bit of a different animal. I also didn’t include article directories that don’t pay but that drive traffic back to your site. I also didn’t include freelancing sites like elance or guru.  All those are for a future post.

My best advice is to experiment with different sites. Join, write an article or two and see what happens. You may find some easier to work with than others. I tend to post most of my work to Constant Content. If an article doesn’t sell after several weeks, then I might consider placing it on Associated Content or even Helium. In short, try for the biggest payout first, and only later settle for one of the lower paying options.

Webook is an “online book publishing company, which does for the industry what American Idol did for music.”

That’s a pretty interesting intro, don’t you think? From browsing around the site, it looks like you can start a project, collaborate with others on projects, and vote for projects (the American Idol part). I haven’t joined, but I’ll keep it in the back of my head. Right now I’m more focused on finishing my novel than getting started with something like this.

Any members out there?

If you like this post, please take a second and use the buttons below to submit it to StumbleUpon, Digg, etc. I’d appreciate it!

1. Your sample was too short. I want to see a good size chunk of the article before I buy it. I think some writers resist putting in a large sample because they’re afraid someone might “steal” their idea. If you want it to sell, you’ll need to put in a real sample.
2. And the point is? If I read the sample, and I’m still not sure where the author is going with the article, I’m not likely to gamble that it’s going to get better in the part that I can’t see.
3. Errors. If there are a lot of errors (grammar, punctuation, etc.) in the article, then I’m not likely to buy it. I don’t want to have to take the time to clean it up myself, and I wouldn’t put it up on my site in that condition.
4. Usage rights only. I’d be more likely to purchase unique or full rights than usage only. Any number of people could buy and post the same article under a usage contract, and that can lower my SEO.
5. Overpriced. I looked at one article, as an example, that was priced at $50 for usage rights. I think that’s a bit expensive. For that price, I’d expect to at least get a unique license, especially for a short blog post article.
6. Underpriced. I also looked at an article that was $1 for 1000 words. Wow. The article had been bought only twice, despite the bargain price.  I have to wonder if it’s worth even the dollar.
7. Passive voice. I’m not usually a stickler about the passive voice, but when it pops up in the first paragraph, I tend to notice. I don’t know how many articles I read that began with some variation of “Much has been discussed about…”
8. Weak introduction. If you don’t catch me on the first paragraph or so, you’ve lost me. This is more important on a site like constant content than even in your blog, where loyal readers will cut you some slack.
9. Inappropriate slang. Another example, in an article obviously intended to sound professional, the writer used the phrase, “They’re just too hung up on themselves…” While that’s perfectly okay for a casual blog post, it’s not appropriate for an article intended to sound authoritative.
10. Lack of details. One article turned out to be a list of links, with no explanation. Another turned out to be a quickie article that looked like it took all of five minutes or so to write. If I’m going to buy it, it needs to be fleshed out a bit more than that.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I write for Constant Content, and I’m happy to say I’ve sold about 75 percent of what I’ve written there. You can see my profile and articles here. I hope that these tips can help you sell more there, or wherever you’re trying to sell your content.

Book collection

Originally uploaded by Ian Wilson

Techdirt has a great article about publishing and the internet, and how the publishing model will need to change in the future. I’m sure you know about the RIAA and/or MPAA and their many lawsuits against users downloading their content without paying.

It doesn’t take much imagination to see it happening with books as well. It’s already possible to find books for illegal download online, and it’s probably only going to get worse as time goes on. Does that mean being a writer is going to become less profitable?

Many books are available electronically, and as devices like the Kindle, they’ll become even more popular. Even is a digital copy has DRM, it’s usually relatively easy to find out how to break the encryption and share the copy. What will writers and publishers do?

The record and movie industries have chosen the path of suing their customers and attempting to stop illegal downloading and file-sharing. We all know how well that’s worked so far; it’s not likely to work any better for the publishing industry.

Will writers have to work for free? Will mainstream publishing go under? Not necessarily. It may mean, however, that writers will need to find other ways to make money from writing, and so will publishers.

My favorite quote from the article: “We have to evolve and create a very different pay system, possibly by making the content available free to all and finding a way to get paid separately.”

That’s a healthy attitude to have. If an industry is inflexible and unwilling to change to react to the times, then, in my opinion, they’re already doomed.

Finding an agent doesn’t have to involve searching through publications, acknowledgment pages, and a myriad other places. Here’s a site you’ll want to try, LitMatch.

First, you can search for an agent or agency. Their search feature allows you to filter by several categories like genre, fiction/non-fiction, geographical area, agent name. You can further limit your search to agents with web sites, those taking queries, and those who accept e-mail submissions.

For each agency, you’ll see information to help you decide if they’re right for you. This includes a list of other authors they represent (you can search by that as well). Users of the site report their interactions with the agency, including response times, whether rejections are personal or form, and acceptance information. Users can even enter comments for the agency.

The site also has an area to allow you to track submissions. If you have a book you’re interested in sending out, enter its information and track which agency you’ve sent it to and the response.

Overall, I think this site looks great, so if the time is right for you to approach an agent, this is definitely a great place to begin looking.

Get Ready for NaNo

Two Great Market Resources

Short Story Markets

Writing Tools

What’s Holding You Back?

I know a lot of us will have a novel rough draft in a month or so, and if print-on-demand is what you’re thinking of, then you’ll want to check this one out.