Well Fed 2, by Melissa Joulwan, is the grand-prize winning book in the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, besting more than 2,800 other entries across nine categories. A cookbook geared towards the paleo diet (in which meals are prepared without grains, legumes, starches, processed sugar, dairy or alcohol), Joulwan’s entry came out of the reference category. For complete coverage of this year’s awards, check out the March/April 2015 issue of Writer’s Digest. Click here for a complete list of winners from this year’s awards.

Melissa Joulwan, 46, is a full-time cookbook author and blogger. She grew up in eastern Pennsylvania, and lived in San Francisco, CA, and Austin, TX. Right now, she’s calling White River Junction, VT, home while her husband gets his Master’s degree in cartooning at the Center for Cartoon Studies. After, they’re moving to Prague.

Joulwan has done a lot of magazine writing over the years, primarily in fitness publications and music magazines. Back in the day (1996), she had a website about women’s sports called “Go, girl!” Now, she has a blog called The Clothes Make The Girl, where she writes about her failures and triumphs in the gym, in the kitchen, and in life. She also writes a recipe column in every issue of Paleo Magazine.

Can you describe Well Fed 2 for us?

Well Fed 2: More Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat is the follow-up to my first cookbook Well Fed. The recipes follow the Paleo template, which means that they’re made without grains, legumes, soy, sugar, dairy, and alcohol. I know that probably sounds like they’re no fun, but the recipes are really delicious and don’t taste like boring, sad “health food.”

In addition to the 200 recipes and meal ideas, the book opens with information to help readers manage their relationship with food, including ways to identify emotional appetite versus true hunger, 30 reasons to do a Whole30, tips for socializing while keeping good habits, and a call to action to develop the best version of themselves.

Eating Paleo is usually defined by what must be given up, but it’s really about gaining good health, boundless energy, and a happy outlook.

Describe your writing process for this book.

My husband and I are a team. I develop the recipes and write all the content. We collaborate on the props and food styling, then Dave takes all of the photos and draws the illustrations. After the success of Well Fed, we knew we wanted to do another cookbook, and the first step was defining the theme. We didn’t want to have a classic sophomore slump! We had several ideas we liked and conducted a survey of my blog readers to find out what they wanted. The overwhelming response was “more of the same.”

My next step was to narrow the list of more than 300 recipes I’d been collecting to a more manageable number. We photograph every recipe, so we try to keep the count to around 100. I like to have a wide variety of ingredients and international influences in my recipes, so when I have a list I like, I put the titles on index cards and divide them into piles to see what’s what — just to make sure I don’t have twice as many Turkish recipes as Chinese, or 20 chicken and only two beef. Once I’ve got my draft list of recipes, I work on the outline: the editorial content that will be in the beginning of the book, the sections for the recipes, support content in the back of the book. All of that work is done in a combination of very messy notebooks — Mead composition books with college ruled paper are my favorite — and Google docs so I can share with Dave. Eventually, I make a spreadsheet that I use to track the content through first draft, final, recipe testing, and photos. I’m an extensive list-maker and note-taker, and the piles of papers and books on my desk during this part of the process are epic.

When it’s time for recipe testing, I’m on my feet in the kitchen, cooking and making notes. I usually make each recipe at least four times before I consider it final: once to try it, a second to refine, a third to finalize it, and a fourth to take the photo. Development and testing usually lasts about six months.

Recipes begin as handwritten notes in my notebook; I have a shorthand that only makes sense to me but I can write it very quickly. After the third time making a recipe, I type it in language that’s as close to final as possible. This allows me to use the printout to make the food for the photo and minimizes re-writing. I develop all of the recipes before we begin principle photography, and we shoot about three to five photos per day so principle photography takes about one month. At the end of each shooting day, while Dave is editing the photos, I try to make final adjustments to the recipes and draft the head notes.

We have a clearly defined design for the Well Fed series, so along the way, we communicate with the designers about unusual content so they can factor it into the design system. All of the photos and recipes are finished at the same time, and we deliver the content to the designers for layout. When the first draft of the manuscript is ready, Dave and I give it a once-over and provide feedback to the design team. We then hand it off to a copy editor and she works her magic. I make corrections, and it goes through proofreading. Then it’s off to the printer!

Because we’re self publishing, we’re also working with our printer and distributor throughout production to make sure the business side is in place. About six months before the book’s publication date, our distributor needs to start talking to retailers, so we make what’s called a BLAD (Basic Layout and Design): a PDF of the cover, table of contents, and sample pages the sales team can use to generate excitement and sales of the book. That’s always a fun time because the book starts to seem more real.

Describe the process of publishing this book.

We found a wonderful printer and distributor with our first book, and they’ve been solid partners for us since. Bang Printing prints our books. They also warehouse the books and handle fulfillment. For distribution, we work with Greenleaf Book Group; they represent us with retail bookstores offline and online, as well as big box stores that sell books.

Why did you choose to self-publish?

My first book Rollergirl: Totally True Tales From The Track was published by a major publisher, and I didn’t enjoy the experience. All of the people I met at the publisher were good people, but I never felt like they cared about my book as much as I did. How could they? To them, it was a day job — to me, it was my life.

When we decided to write our first book Well Fed, we chose to self publish because we wanted to do everything our way. My husband and I had both spent two decades working in agencies where your excellent, initial idea was watered down by executive decision making. We love punk rock music and admire people who go their own way, so we decided to try that approach ourselves. Our primary goal was to create a book we would enjoy making and that would make us feel proud.

The other big driver was the financial side. If you write a book for a traditional publisher, and it’s successful, you make some money and they make a lot of money. If you self publish and you’re successful, you make a lot of money. Yes, the publisher is providing services for the revenue they keep, but once we understood all the steps of publishing, we didn’t think it was worth it to pay the publisher 90% of the profit.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced self-publishing?

The hardest aspect of self publishing for me is managing my ego. The tasks associated with publishing are neither mysterious nor difficult. It’s a lot of details and staying on top of the business, but it’s manageable. The emotional side is harder. Most days, I’m very proud to have self published our books, but every once in a while — usually when it feels like I have to defend the decision to self publish — I wonder if we should work with a traditional publisher. Several publishers have approached us over the years, but when we dig into the details of the deals, they can’t compete with the marketing and financial benefits of doing it ourselves.

When Well Fed 2 was released, I turned to Dave and said, “Man! If we had a publisher, they probably would have sent us a bottle of champagne or something.” He looked at me for a minute and said, “I’ll go buy us some champagne, and it won’t cost us 90% of our profits.” Smart guy, my husband.

What are the most important benefits of self-publishing?

Self publishing literally changed our lives. I was working a full-time, corporate job while we were writing and publishing Well Fed. By the time the book had been out for three months, it was earning enough that I could quit my job to focus on blogging and promoting the book full time. Dave, too, was able to quit his full-time job as a computer programmer. Now, almost 4 years later, he’s attending grad school, and I’m working on our third cookbook. Self publishing gave us the financial freedom to focus on building our small business. It also boosted our confidence in our abilities and has made us more fearless is pursuing other creative pursuits and business partnerships.

The value of creative freedom can’t be underestimated. I’ve learned to trust my instincts. When I create things I like, taking into account what my audience has told me they need, we’re successful. We don’t need “experts” at a publisher to guide us because we’re experienced enough to put out good work — and daring enough to figure out the things we don’t know. We also have a really wonderful circle of creative, professional friends on whom we can rely for opinions, advice, and shoptalk.

What surprised you about the self-publishing process?

The most surprising thing was that it’s not that hard. It’s a lot of details. It requires discipline and a leap of faith, but the tasks are not difficult or confusing. It’s a giant checklist that must be methodically checked off, but it’s doable.

What are the biggest misconceptions about self-publishing?

I think the majority of people have an out-of-date idea of what self publishing means. In the past, if a book was self published, it was probably fairly low quality. To be fair, I’ve seen my share of poorly written and poorly-printed books that were self published, but I’ve also read some really crappy books put out by major publishers. The most important thing when self publishing is to go through all of the steps that a traditional publisher would. Work with an experienced designer. Hire a real copyeditor and proofreader; you should only have your cousin proofread your book if she’s an actual proofreader. Make a marketing plan. Learn about the printing process, choose quality paper, and go to the press check. A self-published book can and should look and feel as good (if not better!) than a book from a traditional publisher.

What’s your advice to other self-publishing authors?

To be successful, you need to be honest with yourself about your goals. If it’s your lifelong dream to have your book published by a particular publisher, you probably won’t be satisfied with self publishing, even if you make wheelbarrows full of money. If you’re a non-fiction author, the clout and perceived credibility of a big publisher may be beneficial for your career. Self publishing success can turn writing into a full-time business that requires bookkeeping, marketing, boring admin work, and overseeing the details of printing and distribution; if all you want to do is sit by yourself and write, self publishing might not be the right path for you. If it’s your heart’s desire to hold a book in your hands with your name on the spine, either path will work for you.

I knew I wanted to make writing my full-time job, I wanted creative control, and I wanted to reap as many of the financial rewards of our books as possible — self-publishing was the only way to reach those goals.

What’s the worst mistake that self-publishing authors can make?

As much as I’ve been highlighting the awesomeness of complete creative control, that doesn’t mean self-published authors should do everything themselves. It’s important to find talented, motivated people with the skills you don’t have. Whether you pay them outright, work in trade, offer them profit sharing, or somehow get their work for free, you need to rely on others to do the work you don’t do well. For us, that meant hiring a fantastic graphic designer, copy editor, and proofreader for production, and relying on Greenleaf for distribution. These are not big expenditures, but they’re important.

Another potential pitfall is thinking that you’re “only a writer.” Once you self publish, you move beyond author to publisher and promoter. I’ve had to learn how to compartmentalize my thinking: “Today I’m ignoring social media and writing all day, but on Thursday, I can’t write because I have to pay attention to the business.”

If you were to self-publish again, what is one thing you’d do differently? The one thing you’d do the same?

For both books, we made the production schedule tight but manageable. For our next cookbook, I’d like to build a little breathing room into the schedule to allow room for days the writing just isn’t going well or when the photography magic isn’t happening. I’m also trying to figure out how we might use an external project manager to guide production. I loathe the project management aspects of the project — setting and managing the schedule, tracking assets, keeping all the moving parts on deadline — and would love to have a real project manager join our team.

We have a tradition of going on a vacation after we’ve handed off all of the content to the designer. While the design team is doing the first draft of the layout, we’re recharging our batteries so we’re energized for the last phase of production and promoting the book after publication. It’s really fun to deliver all the raw materials and come home from vacation to an almost-there manuscript.

Who and what has inspired you—in your writing and otherwise?

There were always books floating around in our house. My dad was a big reader, and I used to get up early to say goodbye to him when he left for work and to read a little bit in bed before school. Both my mom and my favorite aunt were writers at different points in their lives. I always liked playing with words, and I was — and continue to be — inspired by the idea that if I put my thoughts into words on paper, they might affect other people in some way.

How long have you been writing? How did you start?

My dad had my first story, written in kindergarten, hanging in his office, and I have memories of making my little brother play library with me. I think I’ve been interested in writing since I learned how to write the alphabet. There’s a big, flat storage box under my bed stuffed with grade school poetry projects, research papers, samples from my early advertising jobs, and a novel I wrote during NaNoWriMo in 2003. I’ve always been a serious word nerd.

What are the challenges of writing a cookbook?

A cookbook is a combination of storytelling and technical writing. I try to inject enough personal detail and voice in the recipes to help readers feel a connection to me. One Amazon reviewer said, “The author’s personality is all over every page, and her personality is unbearable.” Happily, most other people seem to like my voice, and that negative comment actually made me feel like I was doing a good job of being me in print. On the instructional side, I think it’s a mistake to assume readers have extensive cooking experience, so I try to find the balance of explaining technique with details to help novices without boring or annoying veteran cooks. Juggling all of that can be a challenge. To be a successful, self-published cookbook author, I need to be a good cook, to write clear instructions, to craft inspiring supporting copy, to develop a narrative line throughout the whole book, and to determine the best way to visually represent the recipes.

Do you write anything else?

I have a blog called The Clothes Make The Girl. I started it in 2008, long before I ever thought of writing a cookbook, and the content evolved as my interests in fitness, nutrition, and cooking grew. These days, the majority of posts are recipes, but I also write pieces on motivation, meditation, managing health issues, and other things that interest me, like books, art, music, and travel. My blog is the online version of conversations we’d have in my kitchen, over a cup of Earl Grey rooibos tea. I keep very detailed journals when I travel, but I don’t journal on a daily basis at home. My blog has become the place where I work through what’s on my mind, and it’s a really lovely way to connect with my audience on a personal level.

I also contribute a recipe column to every issue of Paleo Magazine. I research the history of a traditional recipe, then adapt the recipe to fit into the paleo template. Knowing the history of a dish makes me feel connected to cooks I’ll never meet, and I love showing people that eating paleo can be playful and exotic. It’s so more than grilled meat and steamed vegetables.

I’ve also written a few other books. In 2007, my first book Rollergirl: Totally True Tales From The Track was published. It’s a memoir of my transformation from bookish, piano-playing non-athlete to Rollergirl (still bookish but also surprisingly tough on wheels). I’m also the co-author of Living Paleo For Dummies, published by Wiley in 2012 — and I wrote the meal plan in the New York Times best-selling book It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig.

What advice has had the biggest impact on your success in life and as an author?

I think one of the things that’s helped me the most in my writing life is recognizing that it’s OK to write absolutely terrible, embarrassingly awful sentences during first (and second and third) drafts. No one but me will ever see them! I give myself the freedom to let my writing completely suck as it flows from mind to page. Writing is re-writing, and you can always clean it up.

Also: Ass in Chair. That’s what we call it when there’s a lot of writing to be done and a deadline ahead. There’s no more whining or procrastinating or bargaining. It’s Ass in Chair time, and you just get it done.

I learned a lot of skills doing endurance sports and roller derby that have served me well as a writer. There are times when it’s just going to be uncomfortable. Maybe I’m not inspired, or the writing is so bad I cringe when I read it, or there doesn’t seem to be enough time to get it all done, or I’m just overwhelmed by the sheer volume of words it takes to share my ideas. When it’s most uncomfortable is when I have to surrender to the discomfort. Once I stop fighting the uncomfortableness of a situation, I feel free.

What’s the one thing you can’t live without in your writing life?

I’m going to cheat! Two things: Earl Grey Rooibos tea and the kundalini exercise “breath of fire.”

What does a typical day look like for you?

Workdays always start with a workout. I have a really great gym with programming that combines heavy weight lifting with interval training, so it’s a thorough and intense workout. On the way home in the car, I eat a post-workout snack (sweet potato and chicken, usually) and eat a full breakfast when I get home. I usually do the newspaper crossword while I eat, or flip through a cookbook for inspiration. I try to get dressed in real clothes (rather than workout clothes) at least three days a week, so after primping a little, I clean up my email inbox and usually do some social media work. I try to post to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at least once a day, just to check in with my audience. I really like Twitter, so I’m likely to tweet throughout the day.

At lunch, I usually read a novel, then I spend the afternoon writing blog posts or dealing with other business stuff. One of the things that’s been surprising is how much time I spend on little marketing activities: sharing recipes with other web sites, answering Q&As for other bloggers, managing the non-writing projects associated with our business. At 5:00, I try to either go for a walk or do kundalini yoga at home. Then I check email again, clean up my inbox, and start working on diner.

When we’re actively working on a cookbook, the email and social media stuff is replaced with recipe testing and writing, but I try not to let the online interactions drop too much because they’re so integral to staying in touch with the people who will eventually buy our books.

Describe your typical writing routine.

When it’s Ass in Chair time, I usually do a big cookup once a week to prepare. I stock the fridge with food that’s easy to eat on-the-go or that can be reheated quickly: chili, salad stuff, hunks of meat in the slow cooker. I keep my workout routine because that physical exertion helps me think clearly. When it’s time to sit and start typing, I make a cup of tea and set a timer for an hour so that I remember to get up every hour and move around. I do squats or lunges, walk up and down the stairs, lie on the floor and stretch out my back, or use a lacrosse ball to roll the knots out of my chest and shoulders. When I know I’m going to be writing all day, I make a schedule on the whiteboard behind my desk of the exercises I’ll do every hour. As the day goes on, I also add meditation to the list. I almost always write my first drafts in BBEdit because there’s no formatting nonsense to get in the way, but then I paste my text into Word to add formatting to help direct the designers. I’m convinced there’s not efficient way to write well; it’s just a matter of finding the tricks that work for you and making it feel as comfortable as possible. There are days when I can write quickly and crank out a lot of work, but overall, the creative process is not about efficiency, it’s about creating something awesome.

What do you think are the biggest benefits and challenges of writing nonfiction?

I enjoy writing nonfiction because it helps me process my experience with the world and, if I do it well, my stories resonate with other people and are a catalyst for their own emotional reactions. That’s heady, satisfying stuff!

My blog started in 2008 as a place for me to amuse myself. I think I had about six readers, including my mom, my husband, and my 6:00 a.m. Crossfit class. Now I have about 200,000 people reading it every month. That’s presented me with the challenge of learning how to share enough that people feel a connection to me, without crossing over into being too personal. I still cover the same topics, but the way I write about them has changed slightly. I’m less likely to divulge very personal information, but I still like to open my heart as much as possible. It’s tricky, and I’m always learning where my boundaries lie — and my readers’ boundaries are.

Why do you write?

Because my head would explode if I didn’t.

What do you do for a day job?

I’m very fortunate and grateful that writing cookbooks, magazine articles, and my blog has become my day job. Because we self published our books, they’ve become a significant and steady source of income. My web site generates revenue through affiliate relationships like Amazon and some Paleo food retailers, but I don’t sell advertising.

What do you feel are your strengths as a writer? How have you developed these qualities?

In person, I’m very in touch with my emotions, and I don’t hold back when I’m writing. I think my biggest strength is that I’m willing to be pretty vulnerable in my writing. It takes a lot to embarrass me, and if relating a story about a time I was sad, happy, confused, triumphant, or angry makes someone else feel less alone? That’s just about the best thing that can happen for a writer. I also write the way I speak: I cuss like a sailor sometimes and sometimes get so worked up when I’m ranting about something that tears burst out of my eyes — I try to share all of that in my blog and in my cookbooks.

What are some aspects of writing you’ve struggled with? How have you worked to strengthen yourself in these areas?

I love to read the kind of fiction that takes you to another world and introduces you to people you’d never meet on your own. Some of my favorites are The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, all of the Dick Francis mysteries and Lee Child thrillers. But I’m really awful at writing fiction. All of my characters sound like me, and as willing as I am to kind of let myself be ugly in some of my blog posts, I can’t allow my characters to do terrible things, though some of them must! Maybe some day the mystery novel I’ve been writing inside my head will make it to the page.

What’s your proudest moment as a writer?

It’s really lovely when I meet people who’ve read my cookbooks and they describe how the information and recipes have made their lives better. I’ve heard so many wonderful stories of people learning to cook for themselves for the first time, or how they’ve turned their health around and feel better than ever. That’s really rewarding and makes the world feel smaller and friendlier.

What are your goals as a writer?

I want to keep doing what I’m doing; I love it so much. But… my ego pushes me to learn to write about food like Peter King (MMQB column in Sports Illustrated) writes about football. His descriptions flirt with hyperbole, but never cross the line, so the football players seem, simultaneously, like superheroes and wholly human. He’s knowledgeable, inspiring, sometimes biting, and always entertaining.

Any final thoughts or advice?

Ass. In. Chair. (And don’t forget to take quick movement and meditation breaks.)

Writer’s Digest would like to congratulate the 46 winners of the 22nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards. For full coverage of the awards, please check out the March/April 2015 issue of Writer’s Digest.

Grand Prize

Well Fed 2 by Melissa Joulwan ($24.95). Smudge Publishing. theclothesmakethegirl.com.

Children’s Picture Books

First Place

Rocko Rocket: Rocko’s Big Launch by Yolande Clark-Jackson and R. Jackson (illustrator) ($19.99). rockorocket.com.

Honorable Mentions

Commonplace Mouse by Karima Cammell ($15.00). Dromedary Press. blog.castleintheair.biz.

The Wonderful (Magical, Super-Fantastical) Musical Animals by Damon Robinson ($24.95). Dog Ear Publishing.

Genre Fiction

First Place

Glory Be! by Martha B. Hook ($16.99). Xulon Press.

Honorable Mentions

The Fig Orchard by Layla Fiske ($14.95). Rancho Publishing, LLC. laylafiske.net.

Lessons I Learned From Nick Nack by Padgett Gerler ($16.95). CreateSpace. padgettgerler.com.

Once Upon a Mulberry Field by C.L. Hoang ($15.95). Willow Stream Publishing. mulberryfieldsforever.com.

Blood on the Tracks by Steve Liskow ($15.00). CreateSpace. steveliskow.com.

To Murder a Saint by Nicole Loughan ($5.99). Little Spot for Stories. littlespotforstories.com.

One Eyed Jack by Christopher J. Lynch ($10.99). CreateSpace. christopherjlynch.com.

Finding Out by Sheryn MacMunn ($11.99). Joy Inked. sherynmacmunn.com.

By Water and Blood by Melanie Rose ($13.95). CreateSpace. melanieroseauthor.com.

Inspirational

First Place

Cora Pooler by Dottie Rexford ($19.95). WestBow Press.

Honorable Mentions

Winter Always Turns to Spring by Sachiko Takata Bailey, as told to Akemi Bailey Haynie ($15.99). Friesen Press.

Inside/Outside by Jenny Hayworth ($14.99). CreateSpace. jennyhayworth.com.

A Middle Way by Duke Robinson ($15.50). CreateSpace.

Steps Out of Time by Katharine B. Soper ($16.95). Stellaire Press.

Life Stories

First Place

Breakfast with the Pope by Susan Vigilante ($19.95). Richard Vigilante Books. desperateirishhousewife.blogspot.com.

Honorable Mentions

An American’s Resurrection by Eric C. Arauz ($17.95). Treehouse Publishing. ericarauz.com.

Flight Through Fire by Carol Fiore ($17.99). Flying Kea Press. carolfiore.com.

A Garland for Ashes by Hanna Zack Miley ($19.95). Outskirts Press. georgeandhannamiley.com.

Mainstream Fiction

First Place

The Life & Times of Persimmon Wilson by Nancy Peacock ($16.00). Lystra Books. nancypeacockbooks.com.

Honorable Mentions

Stuck by Stacey D. Atkinson ($17.95). Mirror Image Publishing. staceydatkinson.com.

The Lady of the Lake by R.E. Braczyk ($12.95). iUniverse.

Lenin Lives Next Door by Jennifer Eremeeva ($24.95). Small Batch Books. russialite.com.

The Rummy Club by Anoop Ahuja Judge ($16.95). Daggerhorn Publishing. therummyclub-anovel.com.

A Place in the World by Cinda Crabbe MacKinnon ($14.99). Multicultural Press. cindamackinnon.wordpress.com.

The Unheralded King of Preston Plains Middle by Jedah Mayberry ($14.95). River Grove Books. jmberryfictionwriter.tumblr.com.

The Legacy Letters by Carew Papritz ($21.95). King Northern Publishing. thelegacyletters.com.

Eleven Sundays by Alonna Shaw ($12.95). CreateSpace. alonnashaw.com.

Middle-Grade/Young Adult

First Place

Eleven by Tom Rogers ($8.95). Alto Nido Press. eleventhebook.com.

Honorable Mentions

Forever Thirteen by Crissi Langwell ($14.95). crissilangwell.com.

Nyx by D.M. Livingston ($16.95). Some Peril Publications. nyxthebook.com.

The Adventures of Pearley Monroe by Marci Seither ($7.99). Sawmill Press. marciseither.com.

Starved by Michael Somers ($12.00). Rundy Hill Press. michaelsomers.com.

Nonfiction

First Place

The Twible by Jana Riess ($19.99). Paraclete Press. janariess.com.

Honorable Mentions

Back to Vietnam by R. Bruce Logan and Elaine Head ($22.95). JOTH Press. backtovietnam.com.

Deaf Dogs by Melissa McDaniel ($55.00). The Photo Book Projects. thephotobooks.com.

The New Art of Dying by Diane Burnside Murdock ($14.95). The Murdocks, LLC. dianemurdock.com.

Poetry

First Place

South From Istanbul by Ken Hebson. Green River Press.

Honorable Mentions

The Death of the Human Soul by James Karis ($11.95). Alvalini. univesta.tripod.com/jameskaris/index.htm.

A New Orchid Myth by Helene Pilibosian ($13.95). CreateSpace. home.comcast.net/~hsarkiss.

Reference

First Place

10 Steps to Publish & Succeed by Jill Ronsley ($12.95). Blue Star Press, Inc. suneditwrite.com.

Honorable Mention

Your Guide to the National Parks by Michael Joseph Oswald ($25.00). Stone Road Press. stoneroadpress.com.

Editor’s Note: The following content is provided to Writer’s Digest by a writing community partner. This content is sponsored by American Writers & Artists Inc. www.awaionline.com.

Writing content can be an extremely profitable option for working writers …

Sure, there are fiercely competitive content markets where writers fight over penny-a-word contracts. But, those more obvious opportunities in highly-competitive markets aren’t what I’m talking about.

There are far better opportunities for writers looking to make a living … and that’s my goal with this blog each week:

To help you learn about — and take advantage of — REAL opportunities that will allow you to make a living as a writer.

One in particular stands out in my mind right now — as we’re talking a lot about it over at AWAI …

It’s a place where there are more jobs available than writers with time to do the work. Plus, the rates can climb to $2 (or more) per word.

The only catch? To see the vast opportunities here — and appreciate the scope of what’s on offer — you’re going to have to open your eyes to a world most writers have never realized existed.

The “Hidden” World of B2B Content Writing

Most of the time, if we think about advertising, we think about companies hooking into our feelings to sell us everything from clothes to laundry detergent.

But the personal consumer side of marketing is just a drop in the bucket compared to the overall business world …

Companies also sell things to each other, in what’s known as the Business-to-Business (B2B) market.

Instead of a bottle of laundry soap, picture the effort it would take for a company to sell an industrial washing machine to a cruise line.

In that kind of transaction, the sale is not so simple. Multiple people — a Purchasing Agent, Laundry Director, Chief Housekeeper, and Head Engineer, for example — are involved in making the buying decision. And the dollar amounts can be staggeringly large …

With huge sums of money at stake in each sale, do you think the industrial washing machine company is going to hire a writer for pennies a word?

No … if you were a company looking to make that kind of sale, you’d want to have high-quality written materials on your side. And, you wouldn’t expect to make the sale in your first meeting …

Instead, you’d expect to spend time building trust, developing a relationship, and educating the various people involved about why your equipment is best for their needs.

Perhaps you’d send over a great case study about how your machines cut down the staff time spent on each load. Maybe you’d fill your corporate website with top-notch articles about how your equipment handles the variety of table linens, pool towels, and bedding. And you’d definitely have a white paper on the machine safety features and the reduced risk of fire or electrical issues.

You’d keep the conversation going … offer up a continuous flow of relevant reading materials to provide the buyers with all the information they need. All in the name of making that final meeting — the one where they buy hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars’ worth of product — as easy as possible.

So the name of the game becomes content, content, and more content.

Which means your company needs writers, writers, and more writers.

There’s just one problem … as a B2B company in North America, you’re competing with 5 million other B2B firms who all want … need … to publish as much content as possible also.

And as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reminds us, there are only 129,100 professional writers out there …

A Supply-Demand Problem That Works For You

Think about that math for a moment.

Five million B2B companies … 129,100 professional writers.

Now, how many pieces of content do you think Maytag wants to publish in any given month? How about LG … Sears … GE … Speed Queen …

All of these firms have enough work to keep multiple writers busy, and that’s just a few brands in the commercial washer market!

And it’s not just super-big firms marketing in the B2B space, either. Your local Laundromat has to buy washing machines … hotels have to rent table linens … country clubs have to buy towels … and so on …

As you can see, once you start digging into the B2B world, it reveals itself as a vast “Blue Ocean” of opportunity. And all of these companies are willing to pay top dollar to writers so they can compete for even more lucrative business contracts of their own.

So, what can you expect to earn as a content writer?

B2B content expert Gordon Graham (known in our business as “That White Paper Guy”) shared some of the price points for the most in-demand B2B content types:

• Blog Posts: $250 to $500
• Case Studies: $1,000+
• E-newsletters: $500+ per issue (As I’ve explained, e-newsletters are a great way to land valuable retainer contracts)
• Press Releases: $250 to $500+
• Slide Decks: $100+ per slide
• White Papers: $2,500 to $10,000

He recently put together a great “Crash Course” for writers on the how-to aspects of B2B content writing.

In it, he covers what goes into each kind of project … the research you’ll need to do … how much time it will likely take … what you should bill your clients … and even how to turn that first project into a steady stream of ongoing work.

All great stuff from an expert with 35 years of writing experience …

Now, normally I don’t like to “sell” anything in this blog. But because this blog is about making a living as a writer, and this new program covers in detail 12 different writing projects you can get started on right away, I hope it’s okay if I make an exception …

I encourage you to grab a copy of Gordon’s “Crash Course” as soon as possible and begin exploring it … especially if you’ve ever been offered a gig that paid pennies. There are better, more lucrative opportunities out there for you, once you know where to look.

And this “Crash Course” can get you access to these high-paying projects faster than you ever thought possible.

To your success,
Rebecca Matter

P.S. Want to talk more about the opportunities available for content writers? Reach out and connect with me on Facebook, or find me any time through my website at rebeccamatter.com.

You’ve been out of work for a few months and respond an unusual ad online that reads: “Team seeking full-time associate who isn’t afraid of ghosts.” They call and tell you to come in. Intrigued (and desperate for work), you go to their office and get hired on the spot. Moments later, there’s a call—and you have your first assignment. Write about what happens.

Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below.

Want more creative writing prompts?

Pick up a copy of A Year of Writing Prompts: 365 Story Ideas for Honing Your Craft and Eliminating Writer’s Block. There’s a prompt for every day of the year and you can start on any day.

Order now from our shop.

For this week’s prompt, write a free poem. Think free parking or a free space (in a board game). Think fat free, care free, or stone free (for all the Jimi Hendrix fans out there). Or think words with free in them, a la Freedom of Information Act. You’re free to take it in any free-wheeling direction you wish.

*****

Get Started in Writing!

Take your writing to new levels with the one-of-a-kind bundle of writing products called Getting Started in Writing premium collection!

The bundle includes an independent study workshop, four e-books, seven paperbacks, and a handful of webinars–all at one low discounted price.

Click to continue.

*****

Here’s my attempt at a Free Poem:

“freeze”

tag was a silly game we played
when we were young. running
around until someone tagged you
to make you freeze. but maybe

hide & seek was sillier. or just
tag, because the same kid always
ended up being IT and unable
to catch the others. & then

regardless, we just liked to run
& hide & jump fences & eventually
hear the call, ollie ollie oxenfree,
which meant figuring out what’s next.

*****

Robert Lee Brewer is Senior Content Editor of the Writer’s Digest Writing Community and author of the poetry collection, Solving the World’s Problems (Press 53). He edits Poet’s Market, Writer’s Market, and Guide to Self-Publishing, in addition to writing a free weekly WritersMarket.com newsletter and poetry column for Writer’s Digest magazine.

He used to play tag with the best of ‘em.

Follow him on Twitter @robertleebrewer.

*****

Find more poetic goodies here:

• Wednesday Poetry Prompts: 286.
• WD Poetic Form Challenge: Gogyohka.
• The Poetry World A-Z.

This is a recurring column I’m calling “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far,” where writers (this installment written by Robin Antalek, author of THE GROWN UPS) at any stage of their career can talk about writing advice and instruction as well as how they possibly got their book agent — by sharing seven things they’ve learned along their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning.

GIVEAWAY: Robin is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Please note that comments may take a little while to appear; this is normal).

Robin Antalek is the author of THE SUMMER WE FELL APART (HarperCollins
2010; chosen as a Target Breakout Book) and the new novel, THE GROWN UPS
(William Morrow, Jan. 2015). Her short fiction has appeared in Salon, 52 Stories,
Five Chapters, Sun Dog, The Southeast Review and Literary Mama among
others. She has twice been a finalist in Glimmertrain Magazine, as well as
a finalist for The Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction. She lives in Saratoga
Springs, New York. Connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

1. Tell The Best Story You Can. This sounds easier than it is. Telling the best story you can often means you might have to go someplace that makes you uncomfortable. If you’re worrying about criticism, if you’re worrying about a specific audience, if you’re worrying about anything but the characters and the world you’re creating, then you are not fully in that story and your readers, any reader, will know that.  Let go. Trust yourself.  Allow your characters the room to breathe and ask what if. Write the you-know-what out of the story. Then do it all over again.

2. Embrace the Quiet. Our bright and shiny worlds have a lot of distractions. The trick is not to be the magpie, you know? But pay attention to the quiet. Listen to the conversations around you, remember the color of the sky, the twist of a subway riders hands resting in their lap, the body language between two strangers, the reaction of the grocery clerk to the long lines at six o’clock, the teenagers flirting and scooping ice cream at the beach shack.  They may seem like arbitrary and random scenes barely registering in your brain. But you never know when you will need them. Pay attention to the quiet and get used to it. It is absolutely essential to your writing mind.

(Definitions of unusual literary terms & jargon you need to know.)

3. Write Whether You Feel Like It Or Not. When my daughters were school age I walked them to school in the morning and then returned to my desk. I ignored the laundry and the breakfast mess and I wrote whether I felt like it or not. Good days or bad, that diligence shaped my life as a writer.

4. Don’t Edit Yourself. Use everything. The pain, the embarrassment, the loss, the unbearable happiness, the love, the lust. Write it down. There’s no right or wrong. It’s your world, your drafts, and your story.

5. Be a Good Member of the Literary Community. If you read a book by a writer you like, share it with others via any outlets you may have. If you get jealous, and you will, pour it into your work, not spite on social media. If you are compelled to give a review on Goodreads or Amazon, do it so it helps that writer, not takes them down. We all can do with a little kindness. Writers are fragile creatures. Kindness is everything.

(Tips on how to find more agents who seek your genre/category.)

6. Stay informed. Read, Read, Read. Everything and anything. Then re-read. It’s as essential as re-writing. If you don’t, how will you ever get better at your craft?

7. If You Write, You are a Writer.  When you get Published, you are a Published Writer.  No question about it.

GIVEAWAY: Robin is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Please note that comments may take a little while to appear; this is normal).

Are you a subscriber to Writer’s Digest magazine
yet? If not, get a discounted one-year sub here.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• Agent Spotlight: John Weber (Serendipity Literary) seeks Young Adult and Middle Grade.
• 5 Opportunities to Increase Your Writing Productivity (Without Actually Writing).
• Never Let An Idea Get Away.
• How I Got My Literary Agent: Robert Owens (Fiction).
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and writing a query letter.

Your new complete and updated instructional guide
to finding an agent is finally here: The 2015 book
GET A LITERARY AGENT shares advice from more
than 110 literary agents who share advice on querying,
craft, the submission process, researching agents, and
much more. Filled with all the advice you’ll ever need to
find an agent, this resource makes a great partner book to
the agent database, Guide to Literary Agents.

Some people know exactly what they want to write about when they start their memoir. Others come to the computer expecting to purge their life onto the virtual page. If that’s you, take it from me, it won’t work—at least not for a book project. By focusing on the three foundational legs of memoir — Core Threads, Clarity, and Collective—you will create a book that is clear, relatable, and universal.

This guest post is by Colleen Haggerty, author of a memoir and personal essays.  She has contributed to four anthologies: The Spirit of a Woman, He Said What? (penned as Colleen Robinson), Dancing at the Shame Prom, and Beyond Belief. After Colleen lost her leg at seventeen years old she found feeling marginalized. She developed a deep empathy for and desire to help others living on the fringe of society which led to her twenty year career in non-profit management and her latest book A Leg to Stand On. She is an inspiring public speaker and was a speaker at the 2013 Bellingham TEDx event where she talked about the power of forgiveness. Colleen writes about walking through life as an amputee at colleenhaggerty.com.  She makes her home in Bellingham, WA with her husband and two teenagers.

1. Core Threads

Finding the core themes of your story by outlining your book is much like laying the warp in a weaving project. The warp are the stable, fixed threads that support the weft, the cross threads that are woven through them. The weft threads are akin to the individual stories that support each of the warp threads of your book.

The core themes inform what parts of our story to tell. For instance, when I wrote about a court trial in my book, my emphasis was about my relationship with my perpetrator (which set the tone for the Forgiveness thread) and my need to be stoic (which addressed the Resilience thread). I could have written about my relationship with my lawyer or the stress I felt when I missed college classes to attend the trial. But those weren’t relevant to my threads and would have distracted my reader.

Outlining your book will inform everything you do. Unlike fiction where the plot can take sudden twists and turns, you are writing about what actually happened. You can’t implant a new plot line when it didn’t really happen. So, given what has happened in your life, what core threads comprise your foundation?

[Memoir or Novel? 8 Issues to Think About Before Writing Your Own Story]

2. Clarity

In any kind of writing, clarity is King. In memoir, there are two key places where the author needs to have clarity. First, as memoirists, we run the risk of over-sharing. A memoir is not the place to tell every story you remember from your past. If the story sheds light on the themes you’ve laid out, use it; if the story doesn’t highlight your theme, toss it.

Second, some of your stories will butt up against your themes, but are too private to share. Be crystal clear about what you are willing to share and what topics or stories are taboo.

Learn better by seeing examples? Check out Writer’s Digest Tutorials,
helpful videos designed to help you reach your writing goals.
Enjoy this FREE preview and visit Writer’s Digest Tutorials to learn more.

After I wrote the first few chapters of my book, I came face-to-face with parts of my life that are private, that I didn’t want to share with the world, and my writing stalled. To overcome my writer’s block, I decided to let those secret experiences see the light of day and write about them—not for publication, only to purge.

I went to a friend’s cabin for two days and wrote non-stop about an experience I had ten years prior. I emotionally threw up onto the page. Because that experience was so big and life-altering, I had been expending a lot of energy remembering every detail, reliving the experience so it wouldn’t be forgotten. Writing down all those details actually freed my brain and made room for me to focus on what I did want to write about.

[Have concerns about including your family in your memoir? Here's what you need to consider.]

The second time I went away to purge-write, I spent two days writing about two stories on the taboo list, the two abortions I had when I was in my twenties. After that weekend, I discovered that I had just written two chapters of my book. I didn’t intend to include my abortion stories until I realized how integral those experiences were to the threads in my book. Leaving them out would have left the narrative flat, uninteresting, and lacking tension.

I suggest writing a list of all the taboo subjects you are unwilling to share. If and when you come up against those topics, try writing about them. These are the elephants in the living room of your brain. Once you write about them—for your eyes only—your brain will be free to write about what you want or you may discover, as I did, that you are actually willing to share the story.

[Understanding Book Contracts: Learn what’s negotiable and what’s not.]

3. Collective

It’s important that our story is relatable. When I decided to publish my memoir, I solicited endorsers. After receiving out my manuscript, I received an email from someone who said she couldn’t endorse my book, stating that she couldn’t finish my book because it was one big whine-fest. I was devastated. Heartbroken. This remark spoke to my biggest fear: being a whiner. I had, in fact, spent my whole life being stoic, so to hear that I had purged thirty-five years of pent-up non-whining into my book was a disappointment and an embarrassment. My book had recently been edited, so I asked the copy editor for her opinion. In her sensitive way, she confirmed what the uncaring non-endorser said.

I decided to hire a developmental editor to help me tighten the threads and highlight the universality of the book. We made the book less about me, me, me and made it more about me, you, us. They say “show, don’t tell,” but I discovered that, for the memoirist, the narrator has to occasionally tell the reader her revelations so the reader has something concrete to hold onto.

Your memoir needs to give the reader something to walk away with besides a great story. By identifying and staying true to your themes, you can weave a story that is so tight and textured that it envelopes the reader with a renewed sense of self and a feeling of belonging to the collective whole of humanity.

In the middle of writing your memoir or thinking about writing it?
WD’s Memoir Writing Kit is 6 items rolled into one bundle
at a steep discount. This kit gives simple, yet in-depth instruction
on crafting a great memoir  and getting it published.
Order now from our shop and get the huge discount.

Thanks for visiting The Writer’s Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.

Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Sign up for Brian’s free Writer’s Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

The following is an excerpt from WD Books’ Creating Characters: The Complete Guide to Populating Your Fiction, a comprehensive reference to every stage of character development. In the book, you’ll find timely advice and helpful instruction from bestselling authors such as Nancy Kress, Elizabeth Sims, Orson Scott Card, Chuck Wendig, Hallie Ephron, Donald Maass, and James Scott Bell. Together they walk you through the important steps in bringing your fictional cast to life. In this excerpt from Joseph Bates (originally from his WD Book, The Nighttime Novelist), you’ll learn exactly why it’s your character that should be the start, and heart and soul, of your novel. Without a character that is in someway relatable and wholly understandable, there’s a chance your story, no matter how smartly written, could fall flat.

*     *     *     *     *

In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, an unnamed father and son, survivors of some never-specified apocalyptic event, head south by foot in the hopes of finding some, any, more sustainable world than the wasteland around them. “Going south” is thus the stated, external goal of the two characters; it’s what they hope to accomplish in the most basic sense. And the external conflicts they face along the way—from desperate individuals hoping to steal their few resources to roving gangs of marauders rumbling up the road in diesel trucks to the hostile, unforgiving terrain itself—all stand in the way of that goal.

Does stating and understanding the external goal and conflicts of the story reveal the gripping emotional experience of reading The Road? Absolutely not. The external goal and conflict are aspects of pure plot, the general “what happens.” And the external motivation and conflict as stated here—characters wanting to get somewhere and being hindered—are familiar to us, forming the basic plotline of everything from The Odyssey to The Wizard of Oz to Charles Frasier’s Cold Mountain to the Steve Martin movie Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Reduced to these terms, the external motivation and conflicts of McCarthy’s novel seem unremarkable. But The Road is a remarkable, even unforgettable, book, and what makes it so is the way the external motivation and conflict parallel, complicate, and deepen our understanding of the characters’ internal motivation and conflicts.

We find hints at the internal motivation of the characters by looking more closely at the stated external goal: The father and son are heading south in the hopes of finding a more hospitable climate. But the bleak, unrelenting environment McCarthy sets up in the novel’s opening pages—with its “ashen daylight” and “cauterized terrain”—makes it clear that there probably isn’t any place untouched by the cataclysm; the burnt-out condition of the world seems all-encompassing. If this is the case, and their stated goal of finding a more inhabitable environment is unattainable, what’s really keeping the characters (and story) moving forward, and why do we care?

If you’ve read the book, then you know the answer: The father is using the goal of heading south as a way of holding onto the slimmest idea of hope. And the reason he’s doing this is simple: He’s trying, against all conceivable odds, to keep his young son alive. This is the father’s internal motivation, the reason the events in the book are meaningful to him and, as a result, meaningful to us.

What would you do to protect the life of the ones you love? Could you steal to keep them alive? Could you take a life? Could you keep one foot moving in front of the other when there is, in fact, nowhere safe on earth you can go? These are all questions of internal conflict, questions that, along with the internal motivation, make the external motivation and conflict matter. And these are also the questions we find ourselves asking as we read the novel; you need to never have been in a postapocalyptic wasteland to find something relatable, and heartbreaking, in the father and son’s journey.

This connection to character and what’s personally at risk was a crucial component of McCarthy’s initial creative spark, as he revealed in an interview with Oprah Winfrey:

My son John and I … went to El Paso, and we checked into the old hotel there, and one night John was asleep, it was … probably about two or three o’clock in the morning, and I went over and I just stood and looked out the window at this town. … I could hear the trains going through and that very lonesome sound, and I just had this image of what this town might look like in fifty or a hundred years. I just had this image of these fires up on the hill and everything being laid waste, and I thought about my little boy.

What sparked the idea for The Road was nothing more than McCarthy’s looking out his hotel window at the darkened city, and at that moment two things converged: First, he imagined the city burnt-out and decimated. Then he looked at his young son sleeping in bed and found himself wondering, if the world were in ruins, could he protect his son? From this seemingly simple wandering thought, The Road was born—an apocalyptic story and vision, and also the story of a father wondering if he were fully capable of protecting his child from the harsh world.

This is precisely the way our own novel ideas should start: not just with an external idea, conflict, and motivation, but with a resonant and relatable view of who the characters are, what it is they truly want, and what they would do to achieve it. Without considering your character in such terms, you run the risk of writing a novel in which things happen but affect no one, and as a result the events will resonate with neither your reader nor you as the author. When an understanding of character informs and is at the heart of your work, you’ll find that the world you’ve created is one that the reader finds engaging, terrifying, touching, but above all familiar.

*     *     *     *     *

Looking for more valuable information on characters and writing novels or short stories? Look no further than Crafting Novels & Short Stories: The Complete Guide to Writing Great Fiction. This book, similar to Creating Characters, pulls the writing of several WD authors, from both the magazine and books, to pick their brain on writing a truly great story. Crafting Novels & Short Stories covers everything from Plot and Conflict to Setting and Backstory to Description and Word choice, and much more.

Reminder: New literary agents (with this spotlight featuring Lane Heymont of The Seymour Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.

About Lane: Serving as a literary assistant for the past two years at The Seymour Agency, Lane Heymont has led the marketing efforts for their authors and enjoyed connecting clients with readers. As a lover of literature since childhood, he decided to pursue his passion as a literary agent to bring more well written books to the masses. With a bachelor’s degree in Psychology, business and literature, Lane continued his education in Creative Writing and English, attending Harvard. Lane is a member of HWA, ITW, and AAR membership is pending. He believes what John Gregory Dunne said: “Writing is manual labor of the mind.”

(Ever want to adapt your novel/memoir into a screenplay? Here are 7 tips.)

He is seeking: science fiction and fantasy (exceptional world building is a must), and nonfiction (the inspiring, intriguing, mysterious, and scientific).

How to connect: Send all queries to lane [at] theseymouragency.com. The subject line should be “QUERY: (Title)”. Please past the first five pages in the body of the e-mail.

(Will an agent be interested in your degrees or where you went to school?)

The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent updated edition online at a discount.

I (Chuck) Will Instruct At These Great Writing Events Soon:

• Oct. 24, 2014: Atlanta Writers Fall Conference (Atlanta, GA)
• Feb. 6, 2015: Kentucky Writers Conference (Louisville, KY)
• Feb. 7, 2015: Tennessee Writers Conference (Nashville, KY)
• Feb. 20, 2015: Portland Writing Workshop (Portland, OR)
• Feb. 21, 2015: Seattle Writers Workshop (Seattle, WA)
• March 27-28, 2015: Chesapeake Writing Conferences (Baltimore and DC)
• April 17-18, 2015: Carolina Writing Workshop Conferences (Charlotte, NC and Columbia, SC)
• May 15, 2015: Milwaukee Writers Conference (Milwaukee, WI)
• May 16, 2015: Chicago Writers Workshop (Chicago, IL)
• June 25-28, 2015: Jackson Hole Writers Conference (Jackson Hole, WY)
• July 31- Aug. 2, 2015: Writer’s Digest Conference East (New York, NY)
• October 2015: Books by the Banks Book Festival (Cincinnati, OH)

Your new complete and updated instructional guide
to finding an agent is finally here: The 2015 book
GET A LITERARY AGENT shares advice from more
than 110 literary agents who share advice on querying,
craft, the submission process, researching agents, and
much more. Filled with all the advice you’ll ever need to
find an agent, this resource makes a great partner book to
the agent database, Guide to Literary Agents.

There is no more potentially contentious group than family. Holidays spent with family members inevitably bring stress. Visits from parents prompt us to unlock the liquor cabinet. And, as memoirists, when we sit down to write the stories of our families—our childhoods, our relationships with parents and siblings, and so on—we often pause, our fingers both itchy and hesitant. Questions begin to stir. What will happen if I write about my family? How will my mom react? Or my brother? Should I tell the truth unflinchingly, or should I take care to write more gently—and less controversially?

To write honestly and compassionately about members of your family, you must first reflect on your purpose, your approach, the details of your story and the potential reactions your family members might have.

This guest post is excerpted from The Truth of Memoir by Kerry Cohen, with permission from Writer’s Digest Books. Kerry Cohen is a psychotherapist, writing faculty at The Red Earth Low-Residency MFA, and the author of Loose Girl, Dirty Little Secrets, Seeing Ezra; and the young adult novels Easy, The Good Girl, and It’s Not You, It’s Me. She lives with the author James Bernard Frost and their four children in Portland, Oregon.

Know Your Purpose

All memoir writing should have layered purposes. If you are writing about your relationship with your complicated mother, you might be writing about how we raise girls in the 21st century. If you write about struggling with obesity and growing up next to your stick-thin sister, you might also be writing about how our culture contributes to people’s struggles with weight.

Consider the classic family memoir The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr. While Karr’s book is about growing up with her wildly eccentric and, at times, disturbing parents, it is much more so about storytelling itself. The Liars’ Club is a group of men, including Karr’s father, who meet at the bar to exchange stories. The stories are rarely true, and through Karr’s experience with the club, she learns that storytelling has the power to save her from her family’s truths. In the end, Karr crafted a book that is as much about how to tell a story as it is about the actual story.

You also should examine your motivations for writing the memoir. Is it to reveal someone for the liar she is? Is it to prove your side of the story? Never write in order to get revenge or to hurt someone. Write only to understand. Perhaps Anne Lamott is right that if people didn’t want to be written about, they should have behaved better, but that doesn’t mean you should behave badly, too. Your objective is to grasp why people behaved the way they did, what their actions or words actually meant.

[Memoir or Novel? 8 Issues to Think About Before Writing Your Own Story]

Write With Compassion

Whether you are writing about your parents or your sister or your great uncle, you must always strive to write with compassion. But what does this mean?

Writing about others with compassion means writing about them as whole people. [Like this quote? Click here to Tweet it!] Your parents are not only the people who did those crappy things to you when you were 10 years old. They are also people who were once children themselves, who also had parents who may or may not have done crappy things to them. Maybe one grew up in a Detroit ghetto and had to share a can of beans with three other siblings for dinner every night. Or maybe the other grew up in a time when women were treated like possessions. Or maybe no one ever talked to either of them about sex when they were teens, or they were bullied as children, or they had to learn to speak English in a strange, unforgiving country.

The point is that your parents are also people. They are human beings whose life events informed who they became. And all human beings, including you and me, are flawed and limited as well as wonderful and unique. No one is exactly like anyone else.

This doesn’t mean you have to address the entire context surrounding a person in your book or essay, but it does mean that you should take the time to know more about who that person is. You can do this in a number of ways. The most obvious is to interview that person or the people who know her.

But even if you can’t find out about a person’s background, try to see the person’s context as you explore your experience or memory of her. Notice gestures that reveal vulnerability, insecurity or other feelings behind her actions. Does your mother keep checking herself in the mirror? Does she constantly rearrange the silverware on the table? Does your friend say, “I’m so happy for you,” but her smile is too big, disproportionate to the situation? Does your wife answer your questions about where she’s been all night, but keep her back to you while she speaks? Notice the humanness of the person—and include it when you write.

In the middle of writing your memoir or thinking about writing it?
WD’s Memoir Writing Kit is 6 items rolled into one bundle
at a steep discount. This kit gives simple, yet in-depth instruction
on crafting a great memoir  and getting it published.
Order now from our shop and get the huge discount.

Share Your Work Wisely

Family members aren’t always going to love your memories of what they’ve said or done, and many writers want to know if they should show their manuscripts to the people they wrote about.

Most writers would agree that it isn’t a good idea to share what you’re writing until you’re finished. The writing process is sacred, almost magical. Introducing anyone else’s voice into your process is rarely a good choice for the work. Once the story is written, though, some memoir writers do choose to let their family members read it. Before she publishes a work, Hope Edelman asks certain family members she has written for feedback about passages relating to them and sometimes offers veto power. “This often improves a piece and sometimes leads to conversations we need to have on a personal level,” she says.

But memorist Abby Mims has very different advice. She says, “Never show anyone something you’ve written about them, before or after publication.” In other words, don’t go out of your way to let them know you wrote about them. They’ll find out, or they won’t.

Ultimately you must decide whether to show the story and to whom you show it on a case-by-case basis. I gave my sister the manuscript for my memoir Loose Girl to read before it went to copyediting because I’d written about her throughout the book, and I wanted to respect her experience of becoming one of my subjects. I trusted that she understood my intentions—that it was the story of my experience growing up in our family, not hers. Indeed, that’s exactly how she responded. She was sad to read about my struggle, even if she viewed herself very differently. But she understood that if she wanted to show her reality, her perspective, she’d have to write her own memoir.

[Are you writing a memoir or an autobiography? Click here to learn the differences.]

Prepare For Reactions

People who set out to write a memoir about their families are often terrified of the possible repercussions. What will Mom do when I expose her as an alcoholic? What will my brother think of me once I tell what really happened between us? How will Grandma react to my feelings about her? These are real, frightening questions, and they keep many people paralyzed at their keyboards, unable to write a word.

Sue William Silverman offers this advice: “I never allowed concerns to stand in the way of writing. I’ve always felt that as a writer of memoir, I own my truth and I am free to write about it.”
We can’t know how family members will react to the exposure of painful secrets or unspoken truths, but most memoirists would agree that you can’t predict what will happen, who will feel good or bad about the revelations in your work, and why. I thought one of my memoirs served as a sort of apology to someone, and that person is one of the people who couldn’t forgive me for writing it. I was terrified about how my mother would respond, and she’s been one of my greatest supporters. We can’t know, or control, what happens. The key, then, is to write. Just write, and prepare for potential responses, good or bad.

Sometimes family members will be upset by the words you write. This happened to Jillian Lauren after her memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem was published. She says, “The biggest sadness was my parents’ reaction to the memoir. I had hoped they would be able to be supportive, but I was also prepared for them to have a negative reaction. When the book came out, they were hurt and angry and they opted to no longer have any contact with me.”

But family members’ reactions aren’t always negative. In fact, positive changes in relationships are just as likely. Kim Barnes, whose father had shunned her before she wrote In the Wilderness, was sure that he’d do so again and that her kids would lose their grandparents. When her parents responded instead with acceptance and forgiveness, it opened the door to long conversations and an increased understanding of their relationship. “What I know now is that by allowing yourself to be vulnerable and flawed and compassionate, other people feel the desire to do the same thing. … We cannot underestimate the love and permission that our families will give us if we believe in what we’re doing for the right reasons.”

Honesty. Compassion. Forgiveness. Hold these words in your mind as you write about your family. Allow them to pulse through the pages of your memoir. Know that you can’t presuppose how your family members will react to your writing about them, but if you keep these precepts in mind, you will reduce your chances of hurting or angering them. Your memoir or essay may even be the key that opens the door to communication, reflection and a better understanding of your family and your place within it.

You’ll appreciate this book if:

• You want to write a memoir that includes other people in your life
• You want to know the repercussions of including others in your memoir
• You want to learn from other memoirists who have successfully included other people in their stories

Order The Truth Of Memoir Now

Thanks for visiting The Writer’s Dig blog. For more great writing advice, click here.

Brian A. Klems is the editor of this blog, online editor of Writer’s Digest and author of the popular gift book Oh Boy, You’re Having a Girl: A Dad’s Survival Guide to Raising Daughters.

Follow Brian on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Sign up for Brian’s free Writer’s Digest eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

Editor’s Note: The following content is provided to Writer’s Digest by a writing community partner. This content is sponsored by American Writers & Artists Inc. www.awaionline.com.

Go-to writers … I love them! These are the writers I reach out to again and again, because I know I can trust them to do great work, on time, and constantly suggest new projects.

My “inner circle” of writers was carefully built … and they’re very well paid. But I know what I’m doing with them isn’t unique.

Every publisher or marketer has a set of favorite writers. When they need something new … or have an opening on the Editorial Calendar … these are the writers they call.

The “preferred” writers … the trusted “go-to” partners … don’t struggle to make ends meet. They don’t wonder where their next project will come from — in fact, many have to turn away work because they have too much to do.

Would you like to join them? Can you imagine an inbox overflowing with projects … editors who are happy to take your calls … and seeing your name on publication after publication?

It is possible … if you have the right skills. I’ve outlined the top four here, with a short test so you can see if you have what it takes.

The Go-To Writer Test

1. Do you have a positive attitude?

2. Do you respond promptly to questions, editor queries, and follow-up emails?
3. Do you consider yourself an “idea machine”?
4. Do you always hit your deadlines?

I hope you were able to give a big “Yes!” to each of these questions. If not, don’t worry — you can still become a go-to writer (and now you know what to focus on to improve your odds of success).

Here’s why these four questions — and the skills they represent — are so important for writers who want to become a publisher’s or editor’s best friend.

The Critical Skills for Being a Go-To Writer

Skill #1: Keep a Positive Attitude

My go-to writers are universally positive, upbeat people. When I reach out to them about a project, I get enthusiasm and a can-do vibe back from them … and that’s very important in the writing business.

Why does a positive attitude help so much? For one, it helps kill off the self-doubt, fear, and worry that can block good writing, so it’s easier for you to complete your assignments. But it also inspires me that I’ve made the right choice by picking you for the work.

After all, like all prospective clients, I’m human, too. I have days where I’m frustrated and overwhelmed. On those days, I don’t need a negative voice to help me throw a pity party … I need a writer who brings energy and positivity to the table. And when I find them, I will go back to them again and again and again …

Skill #2: Be Responsive

If I reach out to you … get back to me! Shockingly obvious, right? But you’d be surprised how many writing projects I have to reassign each year because the first writer I reached out to didn’t get back to me promptly (or at all).

What do I mean by prompt? I’m not saying you have to hover over your email (I realize you may be balancing other projects, too). Responding within 24-48 hours is good; ignoring your email for weeks is bad.

What about editors who don’t get back to you? I know it happens, everyone is busy … but trust me, if you’re one of my go-to partners, I’ll respond to you. Especially if you’re coming to me with a great idea. And speaking of ideas …

Skill #3: Be an “Idea Machine”

I’m constantly looking for new ideas to help me connect with my readers and build my business. Yes, I can brainstorm on my own … but my life is so much easier when a great writer comes to me with a good idea.

In fact, this is one skill that really sets go-to writers apart from the crowd. Go-to writers aren’t waiting around for me to come up with something for them to do … they’re constantly suggesting new projects and pitching new articles.

Do I say yes to all of these ideas? No, but turning down one idea doesn’t mean I don’t want to see more. Plus, by continually pitching me new ideas, new writers give themselves more opportunities to get hired for projects and earn their way into my inner circle.

The best part of this? You can train your brain to be an idea machine. See how in James Webb Young’s classic book, A Technique for Producing Ideas, and be sure to listen to AWAI’s Great Books Club discussion of his novel here.

Skill #4: Hit Your Deadlines

Make sure you hit your deadlines! If you don’t, I may not forgive you (and there are many other publishers who also consider blown deadlines to be an unpardonable sin). I certainly won’t offer you more work.

After all, your deadline is just one part of the publication process. Your work has to be reviewed … edited … matched to relevant graphics or illustrations … laid out for publication … uploaded to the website … and so on. When you miss a deadline, you throw off the whole publication schedule.

So budget your time wisely so you never miss a deadline. And if time management is something you struggle with, check out copywriter Roy Furr’s time management tips for freelancers or master writer Will Newman’s methods for scheduling your way to writing success.

Pull all these skills together, and you have the potential to find great success as a go-to writer. So think it over … and then start! Select a publication you’d like to partner with, fire up your idea machine, and start working your way toward success by pitching them a new idea.

If you have any questions about the process, connect with me on Facebook or contact me any time at my website, rebeccamatter.com.

To your success,
Rebecca Matter

Ah Kerry. I do like the new title but miss seeing your name. I’m glad I did. In so many ways my father is mine, but in others he isn’t. So I understand. My mother’s father, the one this was about, was a giant for me but he was actually pretty tall comparatively too. There was so much to him I didn’t know until other people told me stories he had shared, and stories he shared with me I later found out my mother didn’t know. Going from a farm boy to joining the military to having two jobs long enough to draw pensions so that even retired he was out earning me at my highest paying job so far. He was a great man and I’m glad I could could remind you of that connection with yours, because when they do it right our grandparents do have this amazing guidance for us and so much to teach us.

Those time when he was recovering from the injury about a year before he died were amazing. They were kind of like the quiet car rides. He didn’t always remember who I was but we just talked and he told me so much. I was a grown man and he was close to the end of his path and he still had things to teach me. Still had stories to tell, that is a sign of a life well lived I think. As I mentioned I think the parents offer a lot but there are others involved. It’s that whole it takes a village thing. Thank you for the comments and getting me thinking and for the understanding and insight into this. Thank God you’re back! Stupid sql demon.

And to fmerella. No, the lack of reply button has always been the case after a certain number of replies. I believe it is to keep them from moving so far to the right that they end up reading as one line straight down the right side of the site. So we work around if we continue the conversation. So my response to your response is …

Funny how? You mean like a clown? Like I’m here to amuse you?

Man I think I’m getting old that I’m worried people will be too young to understand where that line comes from. Thank you, I like being funny sometimes.

Ah Kerry. I was sure this was you when I read your story. I wanted to ask if the sql error got you. However I was raised in a different era of netiquette and it was just possible you were hiding so I didn’t. I recognized a couple of elements of your story as things you had spoken of before, specifically the cancer and the ladybugs. But I wasn’t entirely sure. That’s why I limited my comments, just in case you were a different you. So I guessed and almost asked but held my tongue because I didn’t want to be rude. Glad you got back on, I was worried about you when you hadn’t posted.

Thank you for the comments. They are beautiful and speak into the heart of the feelings and the situation. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one and that it connects in an understandable way. Thank you again and glad to see you back.

When you said press da buttons, it reminded me of someone.

No it is not. I couldn’t get back on with my user name and created a new one. A soon as mine returns, I’ll use the old one. Kerry

THank you, David. Kerry

Thank you fmerella. Tears help as they are now flowing. This forum is so generous, thoughtful and full of wisdom. People have told me to take Leslie’s portrait off my desk, put my grief in a closed box, but it is impossible for me to do so. God love, she was so beautiful, happy, kind and magical. I still wake up in the darkness and ask why? Why do you take the very best? Kerry

Thank you, willowtree. That is so touching for you to say. I’ve written a lot of letters to my daughter. Sometimes they help, often not. I appreciate these lovely comments on my letter. I’m sure she reads as I write. Kerry

Oh, no it’s not. Kerry

This is beginner, Character Development 101. Probably geared towards the person who read Twilight and wants to create their own sparkly teen heart throb.

so sad ,so sweet..so much love expressed in the lines..and love that remains ,still lives ..
this is a beautiful..beyond beautiful tribute ..you have my deepest sympathy..
lady bugs..yes ,your dear daughter was letting you know she was near..always will be
in our family it was butterflies that turned up at the oddest of moments..in the house ,even..

This is a recurring column called “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far,” where writers at any stage of their careers can talk about writing advice and instruction — by sharing seven things they’ve learned along their writing journeys that they wish they knew at the beginning. This is installment is from Eric Smith, author of The Geek’s Guide to Dating and the young adult novel, Inked.

1. Editing? Cut the Parts You Find Yourself Skipping. When I’m finished writing something, and it doesn’t matter what it is, a chapter in a book, a new essay, a blog post, whatever… I like reading and re-reading it, often times, reading out loud. And almost always the same thing happens. I find myself skipping over parts because I’m a.) way too excited to get to the next paragraph or b.) find that I’m tired of that particular section.

Usually, that means it’s time to make some cuts.

If you can’t even get excited about a bit of writing you’re working on, if you’re tired of that passage already… there’s a solid chance your reader will be too. You should be excited about everything you’re hammering down on the page. Leave no room for skipping. Unless, of course, it’s a victory skip in your backyard. Then, by all means, go forth and frolic. You earned it.

2. It’s Okay to Take a Break. When I wrapped up the rough manuscript of Inked, I immediately dove into working on a sequel idea while researching agents. Immediately. I got lucky, signed with a fantastic agent (hi Dawn!), and shortly after, the opportunity to work on The Geek’s Guide to Dating came up at my publisher. I worked on that book, and when that was done, went back to the sequel concept, worked on some essays, and started adfjdfgdfgsdfkl CRASH.
Burned. The. Hell. Out.

With one manuscript being shopped around and another on its way to publication, I took a breath. I went on a vacation. Not any place special. A little place called Tamriel. Lush wilderness, rushing streams, and tons of dragons. Oh, Tamriel is a place in a video game called Skyrim. I was on my couch. It was great.

Listen: It’s okay to take a break. Whether you’ve got something on submission, a book on its way to publication, or you’re just working on a bunch of fun ideas and drafts. Don’t burn yourself out. You’re no good for anyone like that. Plus, you need your energy for all that dragon slaying, Dovohkiin.

3. Save Your Darlings. I say this a lot, but when you’re busy editing and cutting, whether you’re making cuts on your own, with your peers, with your editor… save those darlings. Avoid that “kill your darlings” cliché, and open up a Word .doc, and stash those little gems off to the side.
Look, you might never use them. They might be the bits you cut out because they were boring you (remember #1?). Those couple of pages you sliced out of that manuscript, you probably cut them out for a good reason. Your agent, your editor, your writer friends… they’re a smart bunch, otherwise you wouldn’t be working with them, right? But down the line, when you’re working on a new story or idea, click on over. See what’s in the scraps. You might find something that sparks an idea, which you might have otherwise deleted.

And if not, whatever. How much space does a Word document take up? Like, a gig? Maybe? Who cares how many gigs? You have lots of gigs.

4. If You Must Read the Reviews, Learn From Them. I have a sign on my desk at work and at home that says “Don’t Read the Comments” in big bold letters. I bought it on Etsy in a fancy frame, because in my mind, an artisanal frame made out of reclaimed wood would make it work.

I never listen to it. No one does.

Look, if you’re going to read the reviews (you’re gonna), don’t lash out, don’t get upset, don’t get angry. Instead, see what you can learn from them. I love book bloggers. Love them. I follow tons of them on Twitter, read a lot of their blogs, and go out of my way to say hi to my favorites at conventions at BEA.

Because they are book lovers. They are my people.

And yes, when they write about my books, I read their reviews, the good and the bad. Why? Because these are the smartest consumers of books out there, and you can actually read what they think about your book! Your book! And if they care enough about your book to talk about it, that’s freaking awesome.

Reading reviews isn’t for everyone. Even I’m aware that I shouldn’t do it. I KNOW I shouldn’t do it. But I do. And when I do, I see what there is to learn. And I’m grateful that someone took the time to actually read my wild button mashing in the first place.

5. Find Your Soundtrack. I have a lot of friends who go running and hit the gym, and when they are busy doing this thing called exercising, they often rock out to music that gets them in the mood. Pumps them up. Gets them excited for the work they are about to do. Because hey, working out? That’s work. And so is writing. It’s just a different kind of work, with an equal amount of tears.

Writing at home? Find your soundtrack. For me, it depends on the kind of work I’m doing. Fussing over a Young Adult novel idea? I turn on the music of my youth, lots of pop-punk, power chords, and acoustic guitars, music by New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy, Punchline, Something Corporate, Saves the Day. An essay? Something that’ll calm me down. The Fray, Dashboard Confessional, Sherwood, Gin Blossoms.

Please note, I listen to my pop punk and emo on a regular basis too. Sing it, Motion City Soundtrack!

6. Find Your Peers Online As Well As Off. Thanks to the magic of Twitter, I’ve met more authors I admire and adore than… well I’m not quite sure how to finish that sentence. I’ve met so many. And the great thing about the online literary community (or “bookernet”), is that everyone supports one another. Be genuine, be kind, be excited. Find the authors who write books you deeply care for, find the writers you yourself admire. Connect with them on Twitter. Celebrate their success. You’ll learn so much from them. I absolutely have, and wish I’d been more active in seeking out writerly peers earlier on.

7. Surround Yourself With Supportive Friends. Team! Team, team, team, team, team. I even love saying the word, “team.” Having an awesome team backing you up is so very important, and I’m not just talking about professionally. Close friends that can network you, will blast your message out there… those friends are awesome, don’t get me wrong. But friends that will give that crappy rough manuscript a looks over, who will join you for coffee and listen to you ramble about an idea you haven’t quite thought out yet, friends that will look over your under-construction author website full of Geocities era animated .gifs… those are the supportive friends you need around you at all times.

Real friends. The friends that will give you a kick in the pants when you’re down and troll you a little bit when you’re doing too well. Who will keep you level. Surround yourself with those kind of friends, and it’ll certainly help your writing career.

Good luck!

Eric Smith is the author of The Geek’s Guide to Dating (December 2013), which was an Amazon Best Book of the Year in Humor and has sold into five languages. His debut young adult novel, Inked, comes out January 2015 with Bloomsbury’s digital imprint, Bloomsbury Spark. He is represented by Dawn Frederick of Red Sofa Literary. He can be found blogging for BookRiot and The Huffington Post, and when he isn’t busy writing, he can be found tweeting and marketing at Quirk Books. Visit Eric’s website to learn more, and follow him on Twitter (@ericsmithrocks).

This series is called “Successful Queries” and I’m posting actual query letter examples that succeeded in getting writers signed with agents. In addition to posting these query letter samples, we will also get to hear thoughts from the writer’s literary agent as to why the letter worked.

The 71st installment in this series is with agent Suzie Townsend (New Leaf Literary) for Makiia Lucier‘s historical young adult debut, A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR (HMH Books for Young Readers, March 2014). The book received both a School Library Journal Starred Review and a Library Media Connection Starred Review. It was named as a 2014 ABC Best Books for Children Selection, a 2014 ‘Indies Introduce New Voices’ Selection, a 2014 Publishers Lunch ‘Buzz Books’ Selection, and a Spring 2014 Kids’ Indie Next Pick.

(How many literary agents should a writer send their work to?)

Dear Ms. Townsend:

In the fall of 1918, Cleo Berry is completing her studies at St. Helen’s Hall, one of the oldest boarding schools in Portland, Oregon. When soldiers arrive at nearby Camp Lewis, they transport the Spanish Influenza, a mysterious strain of flu that strikes down young men and women with swift, shocking brutality.

Schools, churches, and theaters are shut down. Cleo disobeys her headmistress’s quarantine order, choosing to wait out the epidemic, and her family’s impending return, in the relative safety of their empty home. But it isn’t long before the Red Cross launches a plea for volunteers. For deeply personal reasons, Cleo finds she cannot ignore the call for help.

Her duties are clear — to search the neighborhoods and report cases of influenza to the grand auditorium, which has been transformed into an emergency hospital. There Cleo meets Lieutenant Edmund Parrish, a medical student who bears the permanent scars of war. In the coming weeks, the death toll mounts, and reality sets in. There is little help forthcoming from an overworked medical staff and a strained ambulance service. If Cleo is to help save lives, she must find the courage to navigate alone in a city turned ominous with fear.

A DEATH-STRUCK YEAR is a young adult historical novel, complete at 56,000 words.

My articles have appeared in the Portland Oregonian, Bookmarks Magazine, and Library Journal. I have a BA in journalism from the University of Oregon and an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where I studied literature for children. Additionally, I am a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators.

I have attached my complete manuscript. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Makiia Lucier

COMMENTARY FROM AGENT SUZIE TOWNSEND:

Now, historical YA is actually pretty tough. It’s tough to get the teenage sensibility just right while also staying true to the historical time period. As a result, I was wary when I realized it was historical YA. I wasn’t opposed to it, but it wasn’t something I was looking for either. For me to take on a historical project it would have to be something with amazing characters and really great plot and outstanding writing.

Then I got this query.

Here’s what I loved about it:

First: Spanish Influenza! I love that this is a time period I haven’t seen too many times before, but at the same time there’s a high stakes backdrop. (And can I say that when I read this for the first time, I was constantly freaking out when someone sneezed next to me on the subway.)

I also was really struck by the writing and pacing in this query. Makiia introduces the stakes (the flu that kills!) and then she sets up Cleo’s personal experience with it in a way that gradually built the sense of urgency. I felt so grabbed by the “personal reasons” (why would she put herself in danger!?) and this Lieutenant with scars of war (I admit I sort of love a guy with emotional baggage–at least in books).

I read the manuscript and loved it. There were parts that made me weep and of course, Edmund is rather swoony, and Cleo…I just loved her.

I wasn’t the only one. I sold this to Harcourt Children’s. The book is one of the ABA picks for New Voices.

(Book Payments and Royalties — Your Questions Answered.)

Don’t let your submission be rejected for
improper formatting. The third edition of
Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript
has more than 100 examples of queries,
synopses, proposals, book text, and more.
Buy it online here at a discount.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• Agent Spotlight: Caitlen Rubino Bradway (LKG Agency) seeks Middle Grade and Young Adult.
• Gospel of Combat: How Fight Scenes Feed Your Story.
• Re-Vision? Easier Said Than Seen.
• Agent Spotlight: Rebecca Podos (Rees Literary Agency) seeks YA, New Adult and Narrative Nonfiction.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and writing a query letter.

Your new complete and updated instructional guide
to finding an agent is finally here: The 2015 book
GET A LITERARY AGENT shares advice from more
than 110 literary agents who share advice on querying,
craft, the submission process, researching agents, and
much more. Filled with all the advice you’ll ever need to
find an agent, this resource makes a great partner book to
the agent database, Guide to Literary Agents.

The following is an excerpt from Word Painting Revised Edition by Rebecca McClanahan, available now!

The characters in our stories, songs, poems, and essays embody our writing. They are our words made flesh. Sometimes they even speak for us, carrying much of the burden of plot, theme, mood, idea, and emotion. But they do not exist until we describe them on the page. Until we anchor them with words, they drift, bodiless and ethereal. They weigh nothing; they have no voice. Once we’ve written the first words—“Belinda Beatrice,” perhaps, or “the dark-eyed salesman in the back of the room,” or simply “the girl”—our characters begin to take form. Soon they’ll be more than mere names. They’ll put on jeans or rubber hip boots, light thin cigarettes or thick cigars; they’ll stutter or shout, buy a townhouse on the Upper East Side or a studio in the Village; they’ll marry for life or survive a series of happy affairs; they’ll beat their children or embrace them. What they become, on the page, is up to us.

Here are 11 secrets to keep in mind as you breathe life into your characters through description.

1. Description that relies solely on physical attributes too often turns into what Janet Burroway calls the “all-points bulletin.”

It reads something like this: “My father is a tall, middle-aged man of average build. He has green eyes and brown hair and usually wears khakis and oxford shirts.”

This description is so mundane, it barely qualifies as an “all-points bulletin.” Can you imagine the police searching for this suspect? No identifying marks, no scars or tattoos, nothing to distinguish him. He appears as a cardboard cutout rather than as a living, breathing character. Yes, the details are accurate, but they don’t call forth vivid images. We can barely make out this character’s form; how can we be expected to remember him?

When we describe a character, factual information alone is not sufficient, no matter how accurate it might be. The details must appeal to our senses. Phrases that merely label (like tall, middle-aged, and average) bring no clear image to our minds. Since most people form their first impression of someone through visual clues, it makes sense to describe our characters using visual images. Green eyes is a beginning, but it doesn’t go far enough. Are they pale green or dark green? Even a simple adjective can strengthen a detail. If the adjective also suggests a metaphor—forest green, pea green, or emerald green—the reader not only begins to make associations (positive or negative) but also visualizes in her mind’s eye the vehicle of the metaphor—forest trees, peas, or glittering gems.

2. The problem with intensifying an image only by adjectives is that adjectives encourage cliché.

It’s hard to think of adjective descriptors that haven’t been overused: bulging or ropy muscles, clean-cut good looks, frizzy hair. If you use an adjective to describe a physical attribute, make sure that the phrase is not only accurate and sensory but also fresh. In her short story “Flowering Judas,” Katherine Anne Porter describes Braggioni’s singing voice as a “furry, mournful voice” that takes the high notes “in a prolonged painful squeal.” Often the easiest way to avoid an adjective-based cliché is to free the phrase entirely from its adjective modifier. For example, rather than describing her eyes merely as “hazel,” Emily Dickinson remarked that they were “the color of the sherry the guests leave in the glasses.”

3. Strengthen physical descriptions by making details more specific.

In my earlier “all-points bulletin” example, the description of the father’s hair might be improved with a detail such as “a military buzz-cut, prickly to the touch” or “the aging hippie’s last chance—a long ponytail striated with gray.” Either of these descriptions would paint a stronger picture than the bland phrase brown hair. In the same way, his oxford shirt could become “a white oxford button-down that he’d steam-pleated just minutes before” or “the same style of baby blue oxford he’d worn since prep school, rolled carelessly at the elbows.” These descriptions not only bring forth images, they also suggest the background and the personality of the father.

4. Select physical details carefully, choosing only those that create the strongest, most revealing impression.

One well-chosen physical trait, item of clothing, or idiosyncratic mannerism can reveal character more effectively than a dozen random images. This applies to characters in nonfiction as well as fiction. When I write about my grandmother, I usually focus on her strong, jutting chin—not only because it was her most dominant feature but also because it suggests her stubbornness and determination. When I write about Uncle Leland, I describe the wandering eye that gave him a perpetually distracted look, as if only his body was present. His spirit, it seemed, had already left on some journey he’d glimpsed peripherally, a place the rest of us were unable to see. As you describe real-life characters, zero in on distinguishing characteristics that reveal personality: gnarled, arthritic hands always busy at some task; a habit of covering her mouth each time a giggle rises up; a lopsided swagger as he makes his way to the horse barn; the scent of coconut suntan oil, cigarettes, and leather each time she sashays past your chair.

5. A character’s immediate surroundings can provide the backdrop for the sensory and significant details that shape the description of the character himself.

If your character doesn’t yet have a job, a hobby, a place to live, or a place to wander, you might need to supply these things. Once your character is situated comfortably, he may relax enough to reveal his secrets. On the other hand, you might purposely make your character uncomfortable—that is, put him in an environment where he definitely doesn’t fit, just to see how he’ll respond. Let’s say you’ve written several descriptions of an elderly woman working in the kitchen, yet she hasn’t begun to ripen into the three-dimensional character you know she could become. Try putting her at a gay bar on a Saturday night, or in a tattoo parlor, or (if you’re up for a little time travel) at Appomattox, serving her famous buttermilk biscuits to Grant and Lee.

6. In describing a character’s surroundings, you don’t have to limit yourself to a character’s present life.

Early environments shape fictional characters as well as flesh-and-blood people. In Flaubert’s description of Emma Bovary’s adolescent years in the convent, he foreshadows the woman she will become, a woman who moves through life in a romantic malaise, dreaming of faraway lands and loves. We learn about Madame Bovary through concrete, sensory descriptions of the place that formed her. In addition, Flaubert describes the book that held her attention during mass and the images that she particularly loved—a sick lamb, a pierced heart.

Living among those white-faced women with their rosaries and copper crosses, never getting away from the stuffy schoolroom atmosphere, she gradually succumbed to the mystic languor exhaled by the perfumes of the altar, the coolness of the holy-water fonts and the radiance of the tapers. Instead of following the Mass, she used to gaze at the azure-bordered religious drawings in her book. She loved the sick lamb, the Sacred Heart pierced with sharp arrows, and poor Jesus falling beneath His cross.

7. Characters reveal their inner lives—their preoccupations, values, lifestyles, likes and dislikes, fears and aspirations—by the objects that fill their hands, houses, offices, cars, suitcases, grocery carts, and dreams.

In the opening scenes of the film The Big Chill, we’re introduced to the main characters by watching them unpack the bags they’ve brought for a weekend trip to a mutual friend’s funeral. One character has packed enough pills to stock a drugstore; another has packed a calculator; still another, several packages of condoms. Before a word is spoken—even before we know anyone’s name—we catch glimpses of the characters’ lives through the objects that define them.

What items would your character pack for a weekend away? What would she use for luggage? A leather valise with a gold monogram on the handle? An old accordion case with decals from every theme park she’s visited? A duffel bag? Make a list of everything your character would pack: a “Save the Whales” T-shirt; a white cotton nursing bra, size 36D; a breast pump; a Mickey Mouse alarm clock; a photograph of her husband rocking a child to sleep; a can of Mace; three Hershey bars.

8. Description doesn’t have to be direct to be effective.

Techniques abound for describing a character indirectly, for instance, through the objects that fill her world. Create a grocery list for your character—or two or three, depending on who’s coming for dinner. Show us the character’s credit card bill or the itemized deductions on her income tax forms. Let your character host a garage sale and watch her squirm while neighbors and strangers rifle through her stuff. Which items is she practically giving away? What has she overpriced, secretly hoping no one will buy it? Write your character’s Last Will and Testament. Which niece gets the Steinway? Who gets the lake cottage—the stepson or the daughter? If your main characters are divorcing, how will they divide their assets? Which one will fight hardest to keep the dog?

9. To make characters believable to readers, set them in motion.

The earlier “all-points bulletin” description of the father failed not only because the details were mundane and the prose stilted; it also suffered from lack of movement. To enlarge the description, imagine that same father in a particular setting—not just in the house but also sitting in the brown recliner. Then, because setting implies time as well as place, choose a particular time in which to place him. The time may be bound by the clock (six o’clock, sunrise, early afternoon) or bound only by the father’s personal history (after the divorce, the day he lost his job, two weeks before his sixtieth birthday).

Then set the father in motion. Again, be as specific as possible. “Reading the newspaper” is a start, but it does little more than label a generic activity. In order for readers to enter the fictional dream, the activity must be shown. Often this means breaking a large, generic activity into smaller, more particular parts: “scowling at the Dow Jones averages,” perhaps, or “skimming the used-car ads” or “wiping his ink-stained fingers on the monogrammed handkerchief.” Besides providing visual images for the reader, specific and representative actions also suggest the personality of the character, his habits and desires, and even the emotional life hidden beneath the physical details.

10. Verbs are the foot soldiers of action-based description.

However, we don’t need to confine our use of verbs to the actions a character performs. Well-placed verbs can sharpen almost any physical description of a character. In the following passage from Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping, verbs enliven the description even when the grandmother isn’t in motion.

… in the last years she continued to settle and began to shrink. Her mouth bowed forward and her brow sloped back, and her skull shone pink and speckled within a mere haze of hair, which hovered about her head like the remembered shape of an altered thing. She looked as if the nimbus of humanity were fading away and she were turning monkey. Tendrils grew from her eyebrows and coarse white hairs sprouted on her lip and chin. When she put on an old dress the bosom hung empty and the hem swept the floor. Old hats fell down over her eyes. Sometimes she put her hand over her mouth and laughed, her eyes closed and her shoulder shaking.

Notice the strong verbs Robinson uses throughout the description. The mouth “bowed” forward; the brow “sloped” back; the hair “hovered,” then “sprouted”; the hem “swept” the floor; hats “fell” down over her eyes. Even when the grandmother’s body is at rest, the description pulses with activity. And when the grandmother finally does move—putting a hand over her mouth, closing her eyes, laughing until her shoulders shake—we visualize her in our mind’s eye because the actions are concrete and specific. They are what the playwright David Mamet calls “actable actions.” Opening a window is an actable action, as is slamming a door. “Coming to terms with himself” or “understanding that he’s been wrong all along” are not actable actions. This distinction between nonactable and actable actions echoes our earlier distinction between showing and telling. For the most part, a character’s movements must be rendered concretely—that is, shown—before the reader can participate in the fictional dream.

Actable actions are important elements in many fiction and nonfiction scenes that include dialogue. In some cases, actions, along with environmental clues, are even more important to character development than the words the characters speak. Writers of effective dialogue include pauses, voice inflections, repetitions, gestures, and other details to suggest the psychological and emotional subtext of a scene. Journalists and other nonfiction writers do the same. Let’s say you’ve just interviewed your cousin about his military service during the Vietnam War. You have a transcript of the interview, based on audio or video recordings, but you also took notes about what else was going on in that room. As you write, include nonverbal clues as well as your cousin’s actual words. When you asked him about his tour of duty, did he look out the window, light another cigarette, and change the subject? Was it a stormy afternoon? What song was playing on the radio? If his ancient dog was asleep on your cousin’s lap, did he stroke the dog as he spoke? When the phone rang, did your cousin ignore it or jump up to answer it, looking relieved for the interruption? Including details such as these will deepen your character description.

11. We don’t always have to use concrete, sensory details to describe our characters, and we aren’t limited to describing actable actions.

The novels of Milan Kundera use little outward description of characters or their actions. Kundera is more concerned with a character’s interior landscape, with what he calls a character’s “existential problem,” than with sensory description of person or action. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Tomas’s body is not described at all, since the idea of body does not constitute Tomas’s internal dilemma. Teresa’s body is described in physical, concrete terms (though not with the degree of detail most novelists would employ) only because her body represents one of her existential preoccupations. For Kundera, a novel is more a meditation on ideas and the private world of the mind than a realistic depiction of characters. Reading Kundera, I always feel that I’m living inside the characters rather than watching them move, bodily, through the world.

With writers like Kundera, we learn about characters through the themes and obsessions of their inner lives, their “existential problems” as depicted primarily through dreams, visions, memories, and thoughts. Other writers probe characters’ inner lives through what characters see through their eyes. A writer who describes what a character sees also reveals, in part, a character’s inner drama. In The Madness of a Seduced Woman, Susan Fromberg Schaeffer describes a farm through the eyes of the novel’s main character, Agnes, who has just fallen in love and is anticipating her first sexual encounter, which she simultaneously longs for and fears.

… and I saw how the smooth, white curve of the snow as it lay on the ground was like the curve of a woman’s body, and I saw how the farm was like the body of a woman which lay down under the sun and under the freezing snow and perpetually and relentlessly produced uncountable swarms of living things, all born with mouths open and cries rising from them into the air, long-boned muzzles opening … as if they would swallow the world whole …

Later in the book, when Agnes’s sexual relationship has led to pregnancy, then to a life-threatening abortion, she describes the farm in quite different terms.

It was August, high summer, but there was something definite and curiously insubstantial in the air. … In the fields near me, the cattle were untroubled, their jaws grinding the last of the grass, their large, fat tongues drinking the clear brook water. But there was something in the air, a sad note the weather played upon the instrument of the bone-stretched skin. … In October, the leaves would be off the trees; the fallen leaves would be beaten flat by heavy rains and the first fall of snow. The bony ledges of the earth would begin to show, the earth’s skeleton shedding its unnecessary flesh.

By describing the farm through Agnes’s eyes, Schaeffer not only shows us Agnes’s inner landscape—her ongoing obsession with sex and pregnancy—but also demonstrates a turning point in Agnes’s view of sexuality. In the first passage, which depicts a farm in winter, Agnes sees images of beginnings and births. The earth is curved and full like a woman’s fleshy body. In the second scene, described as occurring in “high summer,” images of death prevail. Agnes’s mind jumps ahead to autumn, to dying leaves and heavy rains, a time when the earth, no longer curved in a womanly shape, is little more than a skeleton, having shed the flesh it no longer needs.

Write a letter to someone in your life that has passed away. You can tell that person the things you wish you’d said, tell that person some of the highlights of your life, whatever you want. If that’s too difficult, have one of your characters from your novel (or short story) write a letter to a character he or she lost.

Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below.

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