to get published compel your reader

FICTION WRITING LESSONS, May 2006

COMPEL YOUR READER TO GET PUBLISHED
by zentao

Let's talk about...er...ah...submissions...and rejections...and queries...and hooking the [fill in the blank from the following choices]

readers
agents
editors

Of course, the whole reason for writing fiction, both the novel and the short story, is for that story to be read. A fiction writer desires to get their work published...by the majors. That would be the PRIME MARKET MAGAZINES for short story writers and the MAJOR PUBLISHING HOUSES for novelists. Novel writers in particular are very specific in their desires. They want to be published by a major house, and not just published. No mid-list, mind you. They want to be published BY a MAJOR with an advance in the six to seven digits (to the left of the decimal point, thank you), and they want the BIG PUSH (which means that Major is devoting lots and lots of money out of their pocket to promote your book).

So what's the key? What's the secret?

First of all, you have to compel.

How many of you here go to z7's Mobius or to any online or real world critique group week after week and, with bated breath, offer your story for review? How many of you as a member of a critique group go with jaded, jaundiced eye to take a peek at the latest offering up for review? As a writer and critiquer, how many times do you find the posted work so very compelling that it snags you right in and drowns you in its story to such an extent that, when you surface...when you come to the end of a partial submission, you sit there WONDERING, WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE'S THE REST?!! Damn it, Author, how DARE you prevent me from continuing on with THE story?!

Notice "THE" story. Not June's or Harry's story, not the [name of author]'s story, but THE story.)

The moment a story becomes THE story, there has been a distinct shift in the reader's mind. That story is no longer the property of the author. It has become the property of the reader, a reader who perceives it their RIGHT to READ THE STORY. So the property, STORY, gains attendance: the action, THE READING OF THE STORY has gained AUDIENCE, and the author, in posting just a partial, have JUST DENIED THAT AUDIENCE THEIR RIGHT TO READ. That is compelling.

TWO LESSONS

TO BE A SUCCESSFUL FICTION AUTHOR, YOU MUST WRITE A COMPELLING STORY.

IF YOU CRITIQUE SOMEONE'S WORK, YOU MUST EITHER FIND IT COMPELLING OR HONESTLY EXPLAIN HOW AND WHY YOU FOUND IT LACKING.

How many of the stories put up for critique do YOU, as a critiquer, actually find thus compelling? If you don't, doesn't the author need to know this? Do you go out of your way to NOT address the fact that you approached the submission with trepidation? That, maybe, if it doesn't peak your interest, you (because you know the member and because you yourself ARE a member who doesn't want to hurt someone's feelings) go through and find material to critique in the submission that actually doesn't address the fact that the work just didn't grab you?

I'm guilty. I do it. I don't find a lot of what I read so very compelling that I lose myself. I do hedge my comments because, first of all, my tastes in literature are, sadly, more that which would provoke yawns of boredom from most, and my dislikes are that which most find very stimulating. So, I take my likes and dislikes, and I stash them aside and try my best to find the gold in the submission. And sometimes I do. Like R___'s T__. Like B___'s H___, and D___'s G____.

I am very sure all of you who critique do the same.

BUT.

We need to address the fact that, IF an author's work is LESS than compelling, we have an obligation and responsibility to help that author understand what is lacking for us as readers, and help them understand how to fix it. It doesn't mean they are going to agree with us. I certainly don't agree with many of the opinions about a work I might hear from others, but at least the author has an honest evaluation from you, the reader.

For me, novel writing is an art and discipline, no different than my horseback riding or my martial arts. For me, the novel is no less an expression of art than is any masterwork hanging in the Prado Museum. But that's me. For many of you, the novel is not an art form, but rather a vehicle of entertainment...which is the most common, prevalent definition upon which a novel or short story is measured today. So, does your novel or short story entertain? (Yes, we know you like it...or you wouldn't have written it, kept it, and presented it to others. But do others find it so?)

Think of a book as an adventure. Is your story an adventure?

Is the story you are critiquing an adventure? Does it enthrall? Does it compel? Or would you rather be watching/playing [insert name of TV program or movie/game]?

Is reading a submission-for-critique "work?" Or is it sheer pleasure? Enthralling? There's your measure. Anything less and you need to tell the author that it doesn't compel you to read on.

Now, what does this have to do with submitting and all the rest I mentioned at the start?

If a novel does not compel and keep compelling a reader to read on, it ain't gonna go far. Isn't it better for the author to know that before receiving three-hundred rejections from agents and publishers?

Now, some of you might say, "But the submission isn't something I'd normally read." Yes, say I, there are distinct differences in style, voice, genre, etc., that makes one reader prefer one book or story over another. However, you are all...or should be...EXPERT AT PUTTING THAT ASIDE. My question is, are you expert at honestly telling an author, "Sorry, this just doesn't snag me, then keep me in it?" I'd say the answer is a resounding, almost unanimous, 'NO.'

As critiquers, if the work you are critiquing doesn't compel you to read on, if it doesn't live and breath for you, and you know that the author wants to be published, isn't it your duty to help them understand that they are NOT going to grab an agent's or editor's attention, much less a reader's time and money UNLESS THEY DO MAKE IT A COMPELLING READ?

As authors, the question I have for each and every one of you is this: You should know your voice, style and genre by now. Therefore, you also know what effect you want from your writing — what state you want to drop your reader into from the onset of your book. Knowing that, can you do it effectively so that someone who is in your demographic target audience actually is affected by your work in just the desired manner, totally enthralled by your story so that the words fade and the story becomes, for them, a living experience? As an author, can you honestly say that every moment of your work puts your reader exactly where you want them to be to experience the story? If you can snag the most jaded eye in a critique group comprised of knowledgable and experienced, yes, published, fiction writers and enthrall them, don't you think you have a better shot at those with likewise jaded eyes, i.e., agents and editors?

Compel to be published.

Lesson TOC (Table of Contents)...4

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