V. Publishing a Novel: Self-Publishing

Once upon a time, they called this “vanity” publishing. The implication, of course, was that self-publishing was for people who weren’t particularly good writers but who were willing to pay to see their words in print.   Wow, have things changed! And that’s a really good thing. Amazon and the Internet have provided platforms for…

I. Publishing a Novel: The Value of an Agent

  The first time I submitted a novel manuscript to an agent, I received a phone call a few weeks later, and heard the thrilling words, “I would like to represent you.” Wow, I thought, I’m on my way! Except that I wasn’t. Although that manuscript received positive attention from several New York publishers, it…

Dialogue that Speaks

  I once critiqued a fictional story based on the writer’s own life experiences. When I noted that his dialogue didn’t sound authentic to me, he replied, “But that’s what we really said.” I’m sure that was correct. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that what someone actually said works effectively in fiction. Replicated everyday speech in…

Butt In, Distractions Out

“Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”  — Gene Fowler, journalist and biographer It always comes back to the chair. Okay, you’ve done your research, created your outline or filled a notebook with ideas, detailed your main characters complete…

Necessary Arrogance

  Writing is a tough business. Gratification (publishing) can be long in coming. If and when it does, royalties are usually insufficient to live on, sometimes even nonexistent, especially when averaged over the months or years and costs it’s taken to finish a manuscript and get it accepted for publication. Once published, we have to…

Barrels

My Uncle Grattan, my father’s oldest brother, was a brilliant man. He spent a couple of years in New York City in his twenties studying art before he returned to his native South Carolina. He then lived out the remainder of his life on the coast at Murrell’s Inlet, and for many of those years…