Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2017 i Writer's Digest

1 Turow’s Testimony Fictional Kindle County has served as the setting for nearly all of Scott Turow’s novels, yet his latest takes readers to The Hague. In these bonus outtakes from our WD Interview (Page 42), Turow explains the departure, and describes how disparate threads come together to form a story. 2 Ebb and Flow In this bonus Q&A, author Connie May Fowler (Page 12) expands on lessons learned while combining journalism and memoir in her new book about the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. “Good memoirists don’t peddle anecdotes. They craft artful stories greater than the sum of their parts.” 3 Trigger Warning Read “Party Tricks,” WD’s 12th Annual Popular Fiction Award–winning story about a troubled Russian roulette-playing daredevil (Page 46), and learn…

JACK OF ALL TRADES I’ve been a WD subscriber since the ’70s, and I read every issue from cover to cover with enormous pleasure. The one place that I thought WD was weak, however, was in covering genre fiction. As a writer of both romance and fantasy, I sorely missed your magazine’s insights in that area. Much to my delight, you’re now covering genres! I couldn’t wait to dive into the January issue. My thanks to all of you! Kathy Trueman Lone Oak, Texas TIES THAT BIND Richard Campbell’s January Inkwell piece, “A Life Well Written,” was most enlightening. I’ve started exploring pieces of my life through blog writing—“mini memoirs,” as he called them—and these scraps of memory placed side by side have shown me where the jagged edges…

A lifelong Florida resident, novelist and essayist Connie May Fowler started that April day on Alligator Point much as she’d started every day for the past 16 years: walking out among the dune grasses and water birds to watch the dolphins at play. She’d been dabbling in the early stages of a memoir encompassing this, her sacred space, her own Walden. But within hours, a nightmare began to unfold that would consume most of her consciousness for more than a year: the cataclysmic 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Fowler began writing about the tragedy as a reporter on the scene, setting down what she saw as it unfolded, but quickly realized she needed to be more than a witness—she needed to write about its impact, about…

GRAND PRIZE THE BLACK LENS by Christopher Stollar ($4.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited; $14.99, paperback; $19.99, hardcover), Boyle & Dalton, christopherstollar.com CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS WHERE DO YOU LIVE, ANIMAL FRIEND? by Laura Bullock and Izzy Bean (illustrator) ($8.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited; $9.99, paperback), CreateSpace, llaurabullock.com GENRE FICTION LIVING IN SHADOW by Georgia Florey-Evans ($3.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited; $20, paperback), georgiaevansauthor.com INSPIRATIONAL THE HUNGER BLESSING by L. Philips ($1.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited), thesamaritansong.com LIFE STORIES AMERICAN YELLOW by George Omi ($5.99, Kindle; $14.95, paperback), First Edition Design Publishing, georgeomi.wordpress.com MAINSTREAM/ LITERARY FICTION TELEMACHUS by Peter Gray ($2.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited; $7.99, paperback), CreateSpace, petergray.org.uk MIDDLE-GRADE/YOUNG ADULT FICTION SUPERNATURAL HERO AND THE ZOMBIES by Eran Gadot ($0.99, Kindle; Kindle Unlimited; $7.99, paperback), CreateSpace NONFICTION THE PATHWAY…

1 Emily Cavanagh The Bloom Girls (women’s fiction, March, Lake Union Publishing) “When the news of their father’s death reaches them, sisters Cal, Violet and Suzy Bloom have to set aside their personal crises as they struggle to understand the secrets their father left behind—and each other.” WRITES FROM: Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. PRE-BLOOM: I’d been writing seriously for about 10 years. I’d published a few short stories, but had been focusing on novels for a while. Though [this] is my first published novel, it’s the fourth novel I’ve written. TIME FRAME: I wrote the novel in about a year and a half. However, the characters started when I was in graduate school for creative writing at San Francisco State University. I wrote a collection of short stories about the…

Imagine a party with lively and interesting conversation. Now imagine that party on Twitter, with dozens of participants asking questions and sharing information. Tweet chats are fantastic ways to network with other authors and readers. Typical tweet chats start at a specific time, usually last an hour, and use a chat-specific hashtag to earmark each tweet (e.g., #bookchat). Joining a tweet chat is easy. Hosting one is a little trickier. Here are some tips and tricks: • Participate in a few tweet chats before hosting your own. Find a chat through sites such as twubs.com/ twitter-chats or tweetreports.com/twitter-chat-schedule. • For fast-flowing chats, the native Twitter client can be clunky. Consider using a free service such as TweetChat, or free tools such as TweetDeck, Twitterfall or Hootsuite to orchestrate things in…

(Windows, Mac and iOS; literatureandlatte.com ) Scrivener 2, the program’s latest iteration, is designed for organizing, drafting and polishing large writing projects that can become unwieldy in other programs. Among its highlights: The software offers numerous customized templates to start from (script, novel, etc.), and the “Scrivenings” mode allows you to compile and edit non-sequential pages in your draft (e.g., reviewing sections pertinent to a character who appears in only select chapters). For outlining, the Corkboard function displays index cards of grouped pages and any associated notes for easy reorganization. While Scrivener’s numerous features and formats might appear intimidating at first, the program contains a robust, interactive tutorial that demonstrates its capabilities and how you can make the most of them. Central to…

Author, attorney, advocate—Scott Turow’s collective roles range in scope and responsibility, yet each is a key exhibit in the mountain of evidence that upholds his position in writing’s upper echelon. Over the past four decades—2017 marks the 40th anniversary of his acclaimed debut, the law-school memoir One L—Turow has published 11 bestsellers (nine of them legal thrillers), served two stints as president of The Authors Guild, and penned op-eds for The New York Times and essays for The Atlantic, all while continuing to practice law (most of it pro bono) in his hometown of Chicago. When asked why he didn’t quit his day job after finding literary success (the way most other lawyers-turned-bestsellers do), his response is firm: “For me, having to produce a book a year would be a…

Chasing some idea about what sells or what agents want isn’t going to be the best path toward publication. That’s more likely a sign you need to devote more attention to improving your craft. Dear FYSA, Is it bad for your career to try writing in a completely different genre if you don’t have any luck getting an agent with the genre you’ve been focused on? Sincerely, Genre Roulette Dear Roulette, Look, if you’d like to try a different genre, I absolutely support that. But only in the event that you feel creatively driven to do so, and not if you’re switching gears because you think it might be a better way “to get an agent” or “to get published” or to get anything. The latter assumption is…

Most fiction writers have a pretty good grasp of plot—or at least know that they need to. They work on it, worry about it, and use templates as varied as snowflakes and the hero’s journey to develop it. Scene checklists help them keep things moving. Micro-tension keeps readers turning every page. Get plot down and your novel will have a firm foundation, right? True enough, and yet even airtight plots can fail to keep readers emotionally engaged. Why is that? Let’s discuss. There’s no denying that plot excites a reader’s interest. It pulls her along with urgent questions, tension and uncertainty about what will happen next. What excites her emotions, though, is the tension inherent in where a character is going within a scene and within the narrative. That excitement…

1 California Crime Writers Conference Put your inner detective on the case at this boutique event in the city that inspired Raymond Chandler, Michael Connelly and other genre greats. WHEN: June 10–11, 2017. WHERE: DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Los Angeles–Westside, Culver City, Calif. PRICE: $300 through April, $335 through May. Onsite registration is $350, based on availability. Includes continental breakfast and lunch. Manuscript critiques are an additional $50. See website for details. WHAT MAKES THE CONFERENCE UNIQUE: The CCWC’s small size and genre-specific focus are its biggest assets, conference co-chairs Sue Ann Jaffarian and Rochelle Staab say. Panels and workshops cover topics ranging from craft and marketing to law enforcement and forensics, and the congenial atmosphere and fun evening events help to foster camaraderie. “It’s a learning conference with a…

DIY MFA by Gabriela Pereira DIY MFA is the do-it-yourself alternative to a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. By combining the three main components of a traditional MFA—writing, reading and community—it teaches you how to craft compelling stories, engage your readers and publish your work. Learn how to set customized goals for writing, generate ideas on demand, outline your book and more. ITEM #T7995 RETAIL: $19.99 YOUR PRICE: $14.28* Writer’s Market 2017 by Robert Lee Brewer, Editor Let Writer’s Market 2017 guide you through the publishing process with thousands of updated publishing opportunities for writers, from book imprints and consumer magazines listings to contests, journals and literary agents—all complete with submission info. Beyond listings, find new material devoted to the business and promotion of writing. ITEM #R1509 RETAIL:…

With more than 300 instructional writing videos available now (and at least one new tutorial added per week), we have all the writing instruction you’ll ever need—everything from improving your craft to getting published and finding an audience! Individual tutorials are also available for $16.99 each. FEATURED TUTORIALS INCLUDE: • Create an Author Website in 24 Hours or Less • 50 Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic • How Writing Can Succeed in the Future of Digital Publishing • Build an Audience for Your Poetry • 10 Mistakes Writers Make When Submitting to Agents • 10 Things You Were Never Told About Freelancing • 10 Tips for Writing Picture Books • 3 Essential Paths to Self-Publishing • And hundreds more!…

At Last … After a lifetime of dreaming, it’s finally here. And I have you to thank. When I first joined WD, in 2001, one of my first jobs was to write our column spotlighting debut authors. Today you know it as Breaking In (Page 18), but then it was called First Success, and it focused in depth on one author at a time. I’d read their books, speak with them by phone, and hang up full of contagious excitement at what they’d managed to accomplish, often after years of perseverance through false starts and rejections. More than any other interviews I’ve done, those conversations were tangled with emotion: joy, gratitude, relief, uncertainty, trepidation, passion and, above all, hope. That’s why it’s still a thrill for me to…

POETIC FORM: TRIMERIC The trimeric is a newer form devised by award-winning poet Charles A. Stone. The rules are simple enough: • There are four stanzas. • The first stanza has four lines. • The other three stanzas have three lines each. • The initial line of each stanza is a refrain of the corresponding line in the first stanza. That’s it! Line length, meter, rhyme and subject matter are all up to you. Let’s break down an example by a Poetic Asides reader. “Flow” by Jane Shlensky When you get to Sunders Crossing, The opening quatrain should be treated with extra care, as it sets up the rest of the poem. a take a right to find the mill b down that slice of the New River c where…

1 There the footsteps stopped. —Laurie Banks 2 It might have been a road sign marking the boundaries between The Here and The Out There, but I needed to get home. —Lemuel McMillan 3 Although meant as a joke, Zac forever changed the world by moving one sign. —Jaime Liddick 4 The doomsayers got it wrong—our graves weren’t unmarked. —Vismay Harani 5 Seven years after the bomb the ash still resembled a Robert Frost poem, but someone had activated the beacon and we had to discover whom. —Kevin Kissig 6 She loved winter, when the snow would cover the scorched earth and mix with the grey ash, and they could all forget. —Kate Laack 7 Muggsy stopped short, suddenly realizing why none of the guards pursued him as he made…

›ways ››ine your plot, no matter its genre, as a pu›le in which every scene fills in one or two missing pieces. Complicating intentions is a ›u›al part of building suspense. Few things pull a reader from a story faster than an aimless protagonist. To keep your hero from wandering haphazardly about your narrative, give him a job to carry out in every scene. This intention isn’t plucked from thin air—it stems directly from the inciting incident and from your protagonist’s personal history. Intention, it’s worth noting, does not equal motivation. An intention, for our purposes, is best described as a character’s plan to take an action. A motivation, on the other hand, is a series of reasons—ranging from your protagonist’s childhood trauma to his current mood—that accounts for why…

BRENDA DRAKE (“#Hashtag Happy,” Page 20) is The New York Times bestselling author of Thief of Lies, Guardian of Secrets, Touching Fate and Cursing Fate. Drake hosts workshops and contests for writers—including the popular #PitchWars and #PitMad—on her blog, on Twitter and at pitchwars.org. She’s represented by Peter Knapp of Park Literary & Media, and can be found online at brenda-drake.com or on Twitter@brendadrake. ORLY KONIG (“Get Your [Facebook] Group On,” Page 24) is an escapee from the corporate world, where she spent 16ish years working in the space industry. Now she spends her days chatting up imaginary friends, drinking too much coffee and negotiating writing space around two overfed cats. Founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, her debut novel, The Distance Home, hits bookstores in May. Find…

“For those of you expecting a woman, you’re only partially correct!” That’s how I began book events for my debut novel, The Charm Bracelet. Many readers didn’t know I’d used a pen name, and expected to see the female author whose name was featured on the cover, Viola Shipman, rather than the man, Wade Rouse, who actually wrote it. But, like a sort of literary Victor Victoria, the two are one and the same. The No. 1 question I receive from readers is how I, as a man, can write female characters and story lines so well. “Who do you channel?” readers ask. “Why does writing female characters interest you?” I grew up in kitchens and sewing rooms. Like many Southern women, my mother and grandmothers were oral storytellers. Their…

Difficult subject matter can be emotionally taxing for the author and uncomfortable for readers. Handling such stories in a way that truly invites readers in takes a deft hand. Christopher Stollar from Columbus, Ohio, spent more than three years conducting background research on sex trafficking for his novel, The Black Lens—interviewing survivors, social workers and police officers. Stollar’s goal: to tell a story that would shed light on this dark underworld. The resulting thriller topped more than 600 entries in eight categories to win the grand prize in the 4th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards. With that honor, Stollar takes home $5,000 in cash and a trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference in New York City, among other prizes. “I first became aware of sex trafficking about 10…

Anjali Singh grew up splitting time between New Delhi, India (her father’s hometown), and Alexandria, Va. (her mother’s), while spending summers on the Rhode Island coast with her grandmother. A graduate of Brown University, Singh went on to study Hindi, Urdu and French in Wisconsin and Paris, and took time to travel around India before eventually settling in New York City. She did editorial stints at various publishing houses—including Vintage Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Simon & Schuster—then turned her focus to agenting, joining Ayesha Pande Literary in 2015. Singh works in Harlem and lives on the Upper West Side with her husband and two daughters. Kara Gebhart Uhl (pleiadesbee.com) writes and edits from Fort Thomas, Ky.…

#amwriting / #writing: Can you tweet and write at the same time? From the immense popularity of these hashtags, it seems so. Use them to connect with others who are at their keyboard in real time, or simply to announce your solidarity before going offline to focus. #1linewed: Join the many writers sharing one line of their manuscripts on Wednesdays, in line with that week’s theme as set by @RWAKissofDeath, or simply eavesdrop in search of inspiration. #writerwednesday / #WW: These tweets highlight other writers worth following, in the spirit of paying it forward. #fridayreads: Writing is all about the readers, after all—so why not join in this weekly status update by sharing what book is currently keeping you up at night? #pubtip: Share or search using the hashtag for…

Despite the many writer-focused Facebook groups out there, there will be times you just can’t find what you need and you’ll want to set up your own. Here are a few things to consider: 1. What will the focus of your group be? What will make it different from the others? What’s your motivation for starting it? 2. What type of group do you want it to be—secret, private or open? Facebook has clear definitions of what each type involves. 3. Who will be included in the group? This is mostly a concern if you’re establishing something other than a public group. Do you want to handpick members, or allow anyone to join? 4. What guidelines do you want to enforce? For example, will you allow self-promotion and if yes,…

WritersDigest.com WD’s hub of free articles, prompts and downloads is filled with career advice, craft tips, competitions and more. Check out the editor blogs for friendly expert advice on writing and publishing, poetry challenges, agent updates and more. Tutorials.WritersDigest.com More than 300 instructional videos are available to stream immediately, with new videos added weekly. A monthly subscription is $25, while an annual is $199. ScriptMag.com Script Magazine offers vital scriptwriting advice, news and info on spec-scripts, film festivals and more. WritersDigestUniversity.com You don’t even have to leave home to get one-on-one instruction from expert authors and editors: WDU classes are offered year-round for every genre and experience level. DigitalBookWorld.com DBW offers resources, networking and education, both online and off, for publishing professionals and their partners. WritersMarket.com Along with 6,000-plus market…

Who has inspired you as a writer? Jonathan Maberry and Scott Sigler are my two favorite authors. The way their genre-bending stories include lightning-fast pacing with three-dimensional, empathetic characters is a balance I hope to achieve in my own writing. No matter what events are happening (or how quickly they’re happening), [the action] never feels forced. The characters always react to circumstances—no matter how extreme—in realistic ways, and there are always little beats that give you clearer insight into the people themselves. What aspects of writing have you found most challenging? Harold Bloom’s “anxiety of influence” has been a big thing I struggle with. It’s difficult not to be influenced by all the other amazing fiction that’s out there, and can be discouraging if one day you discover the phenomenal…

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Write the opening sentence (one sentence only, 25 words or fewer) to a story based on the photo prompt below. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story. TO ENTER: Send your story via the online submission form at writersdigest.com/ your-story-competition or via email to yourstorycontest@fwmedia.com (entries must be pasted directly into the body of the email; attachments will not be opened). NOTE: WD editors select the top 12 entries and post them on our website ( writers digest.com/your-story-competition ). Join us online in early June, when readers will vote for their favorites to help rank the top 10 winners! The winners will be published in a future issue of Writer’s Digest . DON’T FORGET: Your name and mailing…

FOR YOUR WEB-FRIENDLY WRITING: Vox First Person ABOUT: “Vox‘s mission is to explain the news. We’ve also come to realize the power of personal narrative in advancing our mission. The Vox First Person section was introduced with the goal of giving a voice to “a wide range of perspectives from writers of every age, gender, race, sexual orientation and political leaning.” FOUNDED: 2015. TRAFFIC: Vox attracts 24.1 million monthly unique visitors. PAYMENT: Around $400–500. LENGTH: About 1,500 words. TOPICS: “We’ve had success with pieces on parenting, relationships, money, identity, mental health and job/workplace issues. But we’re always looking for new topics to cover.” HOW TO SUBMIT: Email the completed piece or a 1–2 paragraph pitch to firstperson@vox.com. DETAILED GUIDELINES: vox.com/2015/6/12/8767221/vox-first-person-explained. WHAT STANDS OUT & WHY: Past…

CONFERENCE GUIDE MAY/JUNE 2017 • Keep in mind that there may be more than one workshop in each listing. • These workshops are listed alphabetically by state, country or continent. • Unless otherwise indicated, rates include tuition (T) only. Sometimes the rates also include airfare (AF), some or all meals (M), accommodations (AC), ground transportation (GT), materials (MT) or fees (F). • When you find workshops that interest you, be sure to call, email or check the website of the instructor or organization for additional information. • All listings are paid advertisements. ARIZONA WOMEN WRITING THE WEST 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE, sponsored by Women Writing the West, October 26–28, 2017 at Loew’s Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, AZ. Women Writing the West, an organization that supports authors and other professionals in…

Social Media for Writers by Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine Social media isn’t a fad: It’s a necessity for writers. But trying to make sense of the available platforms for community and self-promotion can be frustrating. No matter your level, Social Media for Writers will equip you with the essential tools you’ll need to succeed. Learn how to develop an editorial calendar, create an online brand, build a network and more. ITEM #T6859 RETAIL: $17.99 YOUR PRICE: $12.99* Blogging for Writers by Robin Houghton A well-maintained blog is one of the most effective platform vehicles available to writers. Blogging for Writers will show you how to create a blog that promotes your brand, builds your audience and sells your work. You’ll find blogging tips ranging from which platforms are best…