Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies

Writing a Novel and Getting Published For Dummies

George Green

Language: English

Pages: 314

ISBN: 0470059109

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


Includes advice on perfecting dialogue, plot, and endings

Turn your bright idea into a brilliant novel

With a published author advising you on how to write a great novel, and a literary agent on how to get a publishing deal, this guide gives you the complete inside track on the art and science of breaking into the fiction publishing industry. It takes you step-by-step from concept to contract so you have all the tools you need to tell your story with skill, and approach agents and publishers with confidence.

  • Structure your novel
  • Develop believable characters
  • Put the seven basic stories to work
  • Troubleshoot and edit your work
  • Get a good agent
  • Negotiate a deal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the odds? Read this book for a start. Beyond that, always, always be professional. This section contains a few initial pointers. Part V has loads more information about getting published. Steeling yourself Getting your novel published calls for clear-eyed realism and absolute honesty with yourself. If you think that getting a novel published is easy, you are just plain wrong. You have to deal with the publishing market as it really is, not how you want it to be. This reality means never being

yourself ‘What do I care about in this story, and what do I hope the reader is going to care about?’ The thing that you care about is your theme. 11_059104 ch06.qxp 3/21/07 3:05 PM Page 61 Chapter 6: Considering the Grand Concept Testing Your Premise Writing a story without a premise is like rowing a boat without oars. —James Frey (author) The premise is the reason you’re writing the story that you’re writing. The premise is, if you like, the novel’s purpose. You need a premise because

ratings also show you whether the story arc is on a generally upward trend, which is what you’re aiming for. 79 12_059104 ch07.qxp 80 3/21/07 3:06 PM Page 80 Part II: Building from the Basics Obviously, the numbers vary depending on the sort of novel you’re writing, and prescribing absolute rules is impossible. However, some useful general points can be made. If the total is less than 10, have a really close look at it. If a scene isn’t moving the story along and isn’t involving the

would be a very different book. Of course, you can have two intertwined or parallel plots of more or less equal importance. Sub-plots can be quite insignificant, although a point comes when they lack the substance or importance to qualify as sub-plots – they become just stuff, such as padding for scenes, important in their way but not essential. 19_059104 ch12.qxp 3/21/07 3:08 PM Page 151 Chapter 12: Adding Depth and Detail The relationship between your plots is a matter for you and what

list, and monofont for Web site addresses. If Web addresses break across two lines of text, we don’t put in any extra characters (such as hyphens) to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending that the line break doesn’t exist. You also see grey boxes from time to time. These sidebars contain information that you may find interesting but isn’t essential to understanding the text. So, you can read them if you want to,

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