When should I use direct thought?

If I had my way I’d make up a rule outlawing direct thought. I hate it because it often breaks a story’s spell, especially when italics are used to denote it.

What is direct thought? It’s when you use italics or quotation marks to show that a character is speaking to him or herself but not out loud with his or her voice.

Example: Agent Story was sweating. Not one of the kids in the gym laughed at her stock market joke. Don’t these kids know anything about money?

Example: Agent Story was sweating. Not one of the kids in the gym laughed at her stock market joke. “Don’t these kids know anything about money?” she thought.

The last bit in italics or quotation marks is what we call direct thought. It’s what Agent Story is thinking but not saying out loud. This is how I would rewrite this action using straight narrative or what is called indirect thought.

Example: Agent Story was sweating. Not one of the kids in the gym laughed at her stock market joke. She couldn’t believe that they knew so little about money. What on earth were parents teaching their kids these days she wondered. After all, financial products are becoming more, not less, complicated. She knew that the task of building financially literate high school graduates was going to be monumental. She hoped that she had the energy to pull it off.

Note that when indirect thought goes on for more than a sentence or two it becomes an interior monologue. My advice…just narrate your characters’ thoughts indirectly and if you absolutely must use direct thought, try the quotation mark format because it is less distracting than italics. But note, use italics OR quotation marks to show direct thoughts for your whole story; don’t switch back and forth.

Help! My 7 year old wants to write a book.

My Junior Authors courses for kids (online and live) start at age 10. The absolute earliest that I will work with a young writer is age 9.

Until then, I encourage kids to simply keep writing and telling their stories, playing with imaginary friends, and reading to the best of their ability.

As for your daughter’s book, here are some steps you can take to make her “book” a reality:

1. Ask her to tell you the story she has in mind – just in words.
2. Encourage her to have just one main character who has one problem that takes place in one setting. Other minor characters should be limited to 2 or 3.
3. Make up a catchy title that really speaks to the main point of the story.
4. Have her dictate the story to you as you type it up in Word.
5. Read it together a few times to make sure she likes the plot.
6. Break the story up into logical scene chunks so that you just have a few sentences per page at the top or bottom.
7. Print the pages and have her do the illustrations on each page.
8. Take it all to a printer and have colour copies made, binding, too, if you like.
9. Get her to sell copies to friends and family for $5 each to raise money for charity or for her piggy bank.

If you need some guidance through this, I can work with you privately in my online classroom at $40 per hour. But you probably don’t need me…it’s all about you two having fun with it and keeping her love of words and storytelling going.

If she wants to “meet” me, I suggest that you watch my YouTube channel. http://www.youtube.com/AgentStory

Also, my audio CD “Tales from the Briefcase” may affirm her writing goals and inspire her to practice her storytelling skills. Shipping and taxes are included in the price ($16.99). Most of the material is interactive. http://www.agentstory.net/Agent-Story-CD.html

Thanks for your question!

Word count

Well…it’s Junior Authors contest season again and I’m getting the same old questions about the word limit. Here are the answers to those nagging questions you have about word counts.

Why have a word count at all?
Because the judges only have so much free time to donate to reading your stories.

What counts in word count?
Punctuation does not count. The title and your name do not count. Page numbers do not count. But written out numbers do count. Every word–from the first word of the first paragraph to the last word of the last paragraph–is counted.

Does my story really need to be less than 1000 words?
Yes.  The first step toward winning a writing contest is to follow the rules. If your story really needs more than 1000 words to be told well, then set it aside and send us a story that works with the given word limit.

What if I have 1005 words?
Like an editor of a magazine, I’m okay if the word count is over by a few words…but just a few.

How short can my story be?
As short as you like. Sometimes it’s the shortest stories that are the best. There’s no extra stuff; everything works to keep the plot moving. The judges love those.

Did I miss your question? Post it!

Self-published v. published authors

Self-publishing is huge and getting huge-er by the day. And while I am not keen on the whole concept, I do appreciate that it employs an awful lot of book lovers and helps our GDP. So it’s a burgeoning industry, so what does that mean in writer’s circles?

Well, it means that we “wordsmiths” need to look for the right word to describe what kind of writers we are.

I recently read about a writer who has “found publishing success” and who’s book is now for sale on Amazon. As for myself, I’m on pins and needles waiting to hear back from Warner Press about my book, so I wanted to know who the publisher is and the details of the deal: royalties, advances and stuff like that.

As it turns out, the book was published by a full-service, self-publishing company whose fiction packages start at $999. Oh…I hope that money comes back to the writer.

Has this writer really “found publishing success?” Yes, if  the money comes. But is this a “published” author?

With so many writers paying money to see their work in print it should be okay to say: “Hi, I’m a self-published author.” I don’t think it’s good practice to use words that imply that you have sold your piece for cash-money to a traditional publishing house.

It’s the writers who don’t pay a penny to see their work in print that are published authors…and the terminology matters.

I know this distinction is new and admit that self-published books are getting better all the time. But when it comes down to my bottom line as a self-employed writer, there is a huge difference between getting paid for my writing and paying out to have my writing published–a huge difference.

Kids and Publishing

How do you get something written by a kid published?

Here are your best options ranked from easiest to hardest:

1. Self-publishing: take it to a printer and pay to have copies made.
2. Write for your school or club newsletter.
3. Send a letter to the editor of your community newspaper.
4. Enter a writing contest where you will be competing with kids your own age. Like the 2010 Junior Authors Short Story Contest.
5. Submit something to a publisher who only wants stuff written by kids. I have a list of publishing markets for young writers on my Web site that I update all the time.

I know that options for writers 18 and under are limited, but think of it this way. You don’t have to worry about writing to pay the bills so use this time to practice, practice, practice.

Realistically, only the top one-percent of submissions that are sent to a publisher have a shot at making it to print.

Storytelling process (& thick description)

How can I explain things better in my writing?

This is such an important question and it relates to both written and oral storytelling. The storytelling process goes something like this:

Step 1: The storyteller has a scene in her imagination.

Step 2: The storyteller has to take the time to create and “see” the details in her imagination with great clarity and with all five senses.

Step 3: The storyteller has to find the words that describe those details. This includes what the setting looks like, what the main character looks like, how the main character feels, what the other characters look like, etc.

Using an online dictionary and thesaurus will help you find just the right nouns, adjectives and verbs that you need to describe the scene exactly as you see it. This takes time. Don’t hurry through this step.

Step 4: When she is ready, the storyteller speaks those words out loud to a listener or hands over the manuscript to to a reader.

Step 5: If the scene is vividly described, then the listener or reader will “see” it in her imagination.

It all begins with what you see in your imagination. If you can’t see the scene clearly, then your audience will not see it clearly either. Once you see the scene, the challenge is to find the words to put it down on paper. But if you take time in step three to find the right  words, your audience will love you for it and, quite likely, they will remember your story for a long, long time!

Using ellipsis dots in dialogue

How do you use ellipsis dots in dialogue?

In general, the purpose of ellipsis dots is to show the reader that something has been left out. It comes from the word “elision” which means to omit something.  In fictional dialogue, ellipsis dots show faltering or fragmented speech that may occur when a character is confused, insecure, stressed, or unsure. Note: use a dash to show interruption, a quick change of mind or impatience in speech, not ellipsis dots.

These are the rules for North American English from the Chicago Manual of Style. Every language has different rules for using ellipsis dots.

Let’s use this sentence as an example:

“Hey! You can’t go in that rundown house over there because you can’t, because of her,” said Jill, grabbing Jimbo’s shoulders.

Ellipsis dots inside a line of dialogue

“Hey! You can’t go in . . . that . . . house . . . because . . . , because of her,” said Jill, grabbing Jimbo’s shoulders.
Put one space before, between and after the dots
You can keep or ditch the comma

Ellipsis dots at the end of a line of dialogue

“Hey! You can’t go . . . because . . . ,” said Jill, grabbing Jimbo’s shoulders.
Put one space before, between and after the dots and before terminal punctuation
Does not change the punctuation, the comma stays as would any other terminal punctuation
No space between comma and quotation mark

If you are still unsure, please copy and paste your sentence into the comment box and I’ll help you out.

How to write an interesting story

What is the best way to keep a reader interested in your story?

Vladimir Nabokov, the famous Russian writer, once said that writers are three things: teachers, storytellers and, most importantly, magicians.

Magic is what keeps the reader interested.

Magic is what makes your fictional story world seem so real, so seamless, so perfectly true that the reader forgets that he or she is reading words on a page.

Here are four magic tricks that will help you cast a spell on your reader:

#1 Thick Description
Describe important parts of your story with a good thick layer of colour and sound. If an object, setting or character matters to your protagonist then it matters to your reader.

#2 Be Tough
Don’t be nice to your protagonist. A story is about something interesting that happened to a character. We like to read about conflict. We want to feel something.

#3 No Back-Story
Keep your back-story out of the story. If you tell your friends about something weird that happened to you last week on your way to church, you don’t start by telling them what happened when you were five years old. You jump right into what happened that Sunday morning, and then you only add details from your past if it’s relevant to the story. Tell your fictional tales the same way.

#4 Keep it Clear
As a general rule don’t write dialogue in slang, accents or dialects. Avoid changing fonts, using words that you don’t really understand and using punctuation like ellipsis dots…all the time. Each of these things can be really distracting for the reader and will break your story’s spell.

Getting paid to write

If your work is published, how do you get paid? Can you live off your writing?

I love these questions. The publishing business is like a raging river: we can all see the water, but it looks kind of scary so we don’t dare put a toe in. As a result, most of us have no idea how books and magazines are brought to market.

And it is a market.

Toothpaste manufacturers produce toothpaste, writers produce word widgets.

It’s all about having a product to sell to a shop that sells to the consumer. It works like this:

You create the product, your word widgets: an article, a poem, a story, a novel manuscript. Then you find a book or magazine publisher that sells your style of word widgets. You submit your widget to the publisher. Then you wait and wait and wait.

If the publisher thinks he or she can sell your word widget to their consumers, you will have a sale. The publisher’s right-hand person, the editor, will contact you and say, “Yes, we want to buy your widget!” They will pay you according to their going rate (you will not be in the position to negotiate as a freelancer). And some time down the road, when your word widgets are are actually printed, they will send you a cheque.

Note that if a publisher doesn’t want to buy your word widget, you will probably not hear back from them. Give them two months and then send your widget somewhere else.

Can you earn a living? That depends on how busy and how efficient your word factory is. To be successful, you need to produce a lot of high-quality word widgets and you need to find the right publisher for each widget you produce.

Think about it: if you were running a toothpaste factory, would you try to sell boxes of toothpaste to a pet store? Probably not, unless you make pet toothpaste.

As to how much you will get paid when you make your first sale, set your sights low. Beginner freelance writers typically are paid in copies of the magazine or 0.05 cents a word. But that’s okay. You have to start somewhere. The more you are published, the greater your chances are of making a big sale down the road.

While you are waiting for that big sale that lets you quit your day job, keep your factory running smoothly:

1. Make writing a regular habit.
2. Keep searching for the right publishers for your style of writing.
3. Keep taking classes that will challenge you and help you improve the quality of your word widgets.
4. Stay true to your artistic vision, but don’t get emotional when it comes to selling your work…it’s just business.

Working Titles

What is a working title?

A working title is a title that works…until it doesn’t.

Let’s review the writing process–idea, research, focus, draft, edit.

You get an IDEA. You write. There are aspects of your story or poem that are fuzzy in your imagination so you do some RESEARCH. You write more.

Now you have a mass of writing and you have to start making some choices. What is this story or poem really about? What am I trying to say? This is where you FOCUS.  Tossing a “working” or temporary title at the top of the page at this stage will help you focus your decision-making: what to keep versus what to save for another day.

Your title should not be finalized until your last DRAFT is done and you are ready to move on to EDITING.

Remember to say “yes” to your ideas and not to confuse FOCUSING with EDITING. You do not need your inner critic turned on until you are knit-picking words, punctuation and grammar.

Teaching Tip: Encourage your students to create a working title as soon as possible. It will help them understand unity.