Blog for Bristol Services Intl.

A writer with a book manuscript finished and ready to market asked:

QUESTION:
 What are your personal thoughts about submitting a ms anywhere at the present time (considering the financial situation)? I was going to wait until after the election for sure. Life might be more settled then, for better or worse, but at least some questions would be answered. What would you do if you had a book to submit?

ANSWER:
For any year, I would NOT submit towards the end of the year, meaning from mid-November on. I’d wait until after January 1st. Traditionally the publishing world comes to a screeching halt twice a year: in August (publishers flee for vacations from the too-hot NY publishing world) and year end. They are only half staffed Thanksgiving through Jan 1 for the Holiday season.

For this particular year, with the financial world seemingly coming to a crashing halt, nearly every industry is in the “hold” mode. In the publishing world, they already have committments for months in advance, so will likely hesitate to committ for anything much further out until some stability is felt in the markets overall. So from September to the end of 2008, I’d say it’s a bust just for the reasons you give. Sorry about that.

But … if I ALREADY had the right connections within the industry and an introduction either you made with a publisher previously or through your networking, I would NOT put it off. I’d proceed with any contacts in a business-as-usual fashion. Holidays slow-downs and financial woes aside, they are still in business so they will respect any contacts already started. And at the least, you would be firmly in their minds once the world starts to turn again.

PS: I answered this writer prior to the 2008 elections and prior to financial situations only deepening. If you already submitted something to a publisher during this difficult time and find responses slower than expected, these are likely the reasons. So don’t be discouraged. Just keep in mind that it will take a while before new committments will be made in any sector … and keep on honing your writing skills in the meantime.

A writer send me a manuscript for my editing services and he’d used present tense throughout his story. He included a question about whether present tense or past tense was the best method to use in writing fiction.

PRESENT TENSE

The Pros: The voice of the author nearly disappears (which is a good thing) when a story is written in present tense. Readers tend to feel they are watching the story unfold, without a need for any author to “tell” them what is happening. The reader feels plopped right into the immediate action. This sounds perfect. Isn’t that what writers want: a way to totally engage readers? Yes … but there is a distinct downside.

The Cons: Present tense can actually fatigue readers.  It can feel like shouting or pointing here and there rapidly. It works nicely in action scenes, but it can feel awkward or just plain tiring when slower scenes, reflective areas, etc. naturally occur.  True, some authors can pull it off without a problem. If handled deftly, the reader may not even notice the tense after the initial few pages.

      Additionally, showing flashbacks or changing points of view can be tricky in present tense. Again, it can be done, the author can handle that several ways. Like Frank Patterson, who may use a present tense and first person point of view for all the chapters with a certain character and past tense and third person point of view for others. But, hey, he’s Frank Patterson! 

PAST TENSE:

The Pros: Past tense is the usual, normal, standard way of writing fiction. New writers tend to think this is, therefore, boring. But in reality, it is the way we are used to reading stories. So rather than getting “creative” and using present tense to spice up your writing, it is better to learn the tools that really DO matter, whether you use present tense OR past tense. Rules like “show, don’t tell,” “activate,” “deepen character,” etc. do more to elevate a story than switching to present tense ever will. And, without these other tools, present tense alone won’t save any story.

The Cons: Well, there are no real cons to using past tense. It works. Period

YOUR DECISION: Keep in mind that there are writers who are just a natural at present tense. Maybe you are one yourself! This might be a “signature” aspect of your books. At an early stage in writing, who’s to say? If you found yourself writing in present tense from the outset, maybe this is a sign to keep with it. But I suggest that you try out past tense before you plunge yourself 15 chapters into a present tense manuscript only to–possibly–discover this isn’t so easy afterall.

     Here is a trick to find out which if present tense really works for you: rewrite just one of your action scenes, a couple of pages, in past tense. Keep a close eye on the verbs and activate them as much as you can (something every writer should always do anyway). Do the same for a slow scene. Let them sit for a day or two and then read both scenes, pretending (if you can) you just picked up someone else’s  book to read and had flipped to that page. See what you think. Does it carry the action? Can you see the scene clearly and want to read on? If so, I’d suggest using past tense.

BOTTOMLINE: Only you can make the decision on which tense to use. My encouragement to go to past tense is simply because it is the easiest to pull off and causes fewer problems for writer and reader. And I hate to see any capable writer and strong story possibly be negatively reviewed by publishers, or not even considered, because of such a minor element as the verb tense used. But if your natural writer’s voice turns out to be a present tense voice, then go for it!

     Just remember that the customary past tense isn’t a bore and present tense isn’t forbidden—these are just tools, to be used carefully, like all the other writing tools in an author’s kit.

A writer recently wrote, asking me: “When I started the story, I was worried that it might be too similar to other stories. One person whom I talked to about the plot said it was sort of a ‘tired and predictable’ idea. Since you’ve read a lot of things, do you think I have to worry about originality?”

The question is a common one and one that needn’t worry an author. How you write the plot, the road the plot takes, is what makes any story fresh.

Per various “authorities” there are only 20 or 32 (depending on the authority) basic plots at all. Period. So what makes any plot new or fresh? The execution of it. How many “children possessed by the devil” stories and movies have you read or seen? How about “boy meets girl, loses her and must win her back”? Tried and predictable? Yeah! Even if the boy is a robot and the girl an electric toothbrush, the plot is the same hackneyed plot. So are all the other stories you’ll ever find. In fact, most times when my husband and I watch a movie or TV program we announce to each other, within the first few minutes, what the plot is. This is true for many writers who analyze books, movies and shows as they watch. We may not know how it will play out, but we know the outcome, the basics of the plot. But we still read or watch it … if it pulls us in with interesting characters, good dialog, twists and turns.

My husband and I just watched a CSI Miami last night and knew Horatio would finally nail the bad guy and the general way it would be done. That was the obvious plotline. But how could H pull it off? He needed a specific method to get to that point to arrest the culprit. He was thwarted at every turn. We were captivated and only minutes from the end the truth was revealed. The “plants” or clues of how he could achieve the goal–how he’d fulfill the very plot we already knew by heart–had been deftly woven into the story all along and we had that “Aha! We should have seen that!” moment that makes ANY suspense story worth the time. Not the blood or screams. Not the weird limp or scarred face of a character.

Memorable and fresh story plotting requires interesting variations, storyline twists, and personal interactions that remind us of ourselves or others in poignant ways that make stories worth reading. Plots still worth reading even though we have, in fact, read that basic plot dozens of times before.

So don’t worry over the plotline itself–make the story zing with sharply detailed characters, zag with events twist, and snap with great interactions and you’ll have a strong story!