Developing Your Own Stories to Tell

You have been telling stories for awhile now and have enjoyed it immensely. However, the stories that you have been telling are someone else’s. You have never told a story that you have made up. Now you want to tall your very own stories. How do you go about developing your own stories? Well, if you sit down for awhile and lend me your ears, I will tell you how I how I make up my stories. That may give you’re a start.

First thing you must realize is that any story you develop yourself is a story for telling and NOT for reading. The difference should be obvious. A story for reading is complete and is read word for word. A story you develop to tell is composed of an outline or skeleton that you, the teller, cloth in rich word pictures for your listeners. Later, of course, you can rewrite if for reading and get it published. The beauty of having a story for telling is that every time you tell it the story can change and grow. Stories for reading are “caste in stone” so to speak, and do not grow with every reading.

Now a good story has to have some basic characteristics. It should have a single theme or idea clearly defined. You need a well developed plot. It can not wonder all over the place as your listeners will easily get lost. You need at least one well developed character that is the center of the action. It is ok to add more as they are needed but too many and your story will get crowded. The story should be brief and simple but capable of being expanded according to your audience and your inspiration at the time of telling. The story needs a beginning, a middle and an ending with a climax and resolution. Stories that do not have all of the above can fade away and end up in that “wannable story graveyard in the sky.”

Now to the hard part! How do you actually start to develop a story? How do you get passed the storyteller’s version of writer’s block? I have a secret method. I will tell you if you promise not tell anyone else.

I start with one word – yes, one word. Then I let is ferment in my mind for awhile. It is like magic. The story suddenly pops out nearly complete and almost ready for telling. I quickly write down the basics as my memory is not the best at times. This is where cue cards come in handy. Well that is my secret way of developing stories for telling. Why don’t you try it.

For your first time, I am going to help get you started. The word “bird” just popped into my mind. Wait, something else just attached itself to the word – something about flying backwards! There is your start! Fly with it and let me know what you come up with. Maybe I will pick the best and publish them as guest authors on “Storyteller’s Korner” at http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/19292

References:
Baker and Greene, Storytelling: Art and Technique, pp. 28
http://www.eldrbarry.net/roos/eest.htm
http://www.focusonyourchild.com/entertai…
http://www.thestorynet.com/articles_essa…

James Foster Robinson Original source:

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Demanding Miracles

Have you ever had an overwhelming problem or issue?  Was there some circumstance in your life that seemed beyond your ability to handle it?  Have you ever called out to God, Buddha, guardian angels, The Force, your higher self, Mohammed, Mother Earth, whatever name you give that spirit?  To find an all-encompassing name without prejudice towards any one belief system, I’ll just hereby use the word ‘god’ to refer to whatever or whoever it is that you pray to for assistance and guidance.  Have you cried out to your god for help and guidance with some crisis in your life?  Did you get an answer?  Did you get help?

When we get the help and assistance we’ve just asked for, we assume all is well in the heavens.  We think, “Wahoo!  Miracles really do happen!”  However, when we don’t get the answer or the help we were looking for, we often conclude that there is no god or that we’ve fallen out of favor.  We seem to have mixed up our traditional beliefs stating that we have to jump through hoops and beg for our gods to favor us and the new age concepts that we can simply visualize anything we want into manifesting.  Somewhere along the way, we seem to have rolled it all up into a belief that if we visualize what we want or demand that the gods assist us in the manner that we so choose, then we’ll get whatever we want whenever we want it to appear.  What a spoiled bunch we have become.

Positive visualization and faith are intertwined.  You really can’t have one without the other.  You cannot empower your visualizations without faith.  Kind of a ‘duh’ statement, I know.  Faith is not sitting around doing nothing while demanding miracles from the gods to come save you or to come clean up your mess.  If you’ve made choices that have put you into a bad place, don’t yell at the gods to bail you out.  Don’t just sit there doing nothing while expecting the heavens to fix it all for you.  It’s not their job.  It’s your job.  Faith is trusting that if you work hard at finding solutions to your problems while following the Golden Rule, then things will turn out for the best.  It’s believing that the gods will help you find or cultivate the solutions you need.

The Golden Rule, karma, What Comes Around Goes Around, cause and effect, or whatever name you want to give it… it exists.  If you make bad choices, bad things will happen.  If you hurt people, people will hurt you.  If you’re living a negative lifestyle, then cry out for the gods to come save you from your misery, you’re not likely to get any help.  It’s your life, your problems, your challenges.  Learn, grow, heal, move forward.  You can tell your god that you’re sorry for your part in creating the problem and that you’re ready to change it.  Then prove it, by changing it.  Your god will show itself somewhere along the way.  Have faith and keep working.

Let’s assume it’s one of those times in life where you were happily going along doing your good deeds, having a positive attitude, and some nightmare blew up in your face anyway.  What is your immediate response when that happens?  Do you claim there is no god and that all of your positive thoughts and deeds were of no use?  Do you lose faith that your god will guide you through the event?  Do you quit being a good person with a positive attitude because of some negative circumstance outside of yourself?  Or, do you hold strong to your god and to your positive beliefs?  Do you roll up your sleeves and get to work on finding solutions with the basic belief system that you will find your way and that it all must have happened for some higher reason that maybe doesn’t make sense right now?  Do you trust that you’ll see the lighter happier side of life again soon?  Do you even find ways to continue seeing the beauty in life while overcoming the adversity?

How much of this is a self-fulfilling prophecy?  Negative people who don’t have very much faith in themselves, in life, or in some form of a god tend to use life’s adversities as proof that they’re correct for being so pessimistic.  While people who are upbeat and positive, having faith in themselves, in life, or in some form of a god tend to use life’s adversities to collect evidence that everything really does turn out for the best in the long run.  Whether we believe in a god or not doesn’t effect whether or not there is some form of god out there looking over us.  I can’t even say for sure that believing in a god will inspire that entity to like you or want to help you.  All I know for sure is that when we walk in faith that things will get better, they usually do.  When we believe things won’t get better, they usually don’t.

Do miracles happen?  Absolutely!  They happen to all kinds of people all of the time.  They happen regardless of religion, gender, attitude, financial position, or how much power you have over others.  By definition, they have a magical unexplainable mystery element that’s integral to how it came to be.  Whatever that force is that causes such things to happen, it is awe inspiring and beautiful.  Can you force miracles to happen by demanding them or by blackmailing your god with the underlying belief system that if your miracle isn’t delivered then you’re going to turn your back on your god?  Definitely not.  You can coax them by recognizing them when they happen no matter how little they might be and by being thankful to whatever force you attribute them to.  “Thank you for your divine intervention, whoever you are.”

Skye Thomas is the CEO of Tomorrow's Edge, an Internet leader in inspiring leaps of faith. She became a writer in 1999 after twenty years of studying spirituality, metaphysics, astrology, personal growth, motivation, soulmates, and parenting. Her books and articles have inspired people of all ages and faiths to recommit themselves to the pursuit of happiness. After years of high heels and business clothes, she is currently enjoying working from home in her pajamas. To read more of her articles, sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter, and get free previews of her books go to http://www.TomorrowsEdge.net

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Dealing with Discouragement

I can’t name a single writer whose career has been without discouragement. We’ve all dealt with rejections, non-responses, bad reviews, losing a contest we were sure we’d win, having someone laugh at us when we share our career goals…

What sets apart the successful writers from the unsuccessful ones, in part, is the way we deal with these discouragements.

Let’s take a pretty common scenario. You’ve written something (a novel, screenplay, essay, short story, poetry collection, whatever) and you’ve sent it out ten times. All ten recipients either reject it or don’t respond at all. How do you react?

1. You yell, cry, wallow in pity, eat HoHos, etc.
2. You vow never to write again.
3. You grit your teeth and say, “I’ll show them. They’ll be sorry!” and begin cranking out a new masterpiece.
4. You keep sending it out and figuring it’ll find a home soon enough.
5. You reread the piece and decide it needs some editing.

Any of those reactions is fine and normal and appropriate… but those first two are appropriate for a limited time only.

Those first two reactions are the ones I’ve been thinking about lately. I get letters pretty often from writers who are down in the dumps over rejections, and they want me to advise them. “What should I do?” they’ll ask me. “I just want to give up.”

Truth? If you really want to give up– not just temporarily as a result of a stinging criticism– it’s probably healthier for you to do so.

Thing is, some people are pathological pity-hounds. They go to other writers and say, “I’m so discouraged! I got ten rejections and I think I’m just going to give up because no one wants me”
Almost without fail, writers will jump in and say, “Don’t give up! Don’t ever give up!” They mean well, of course. They want to be encouraging and caring. But the hard truth is that some people aren’t cut out to be writers– not because of a lack of talent, but because of an oversensitivity to discouragement.

See, they go through these cycles. They feel discouraged by publishers, so they come to fellow writers, who feed them with encouragement. Then they go back to the publishers, get discouraged again, and the cycle repeats.

At what point should we encouragers stop bandaging the problem and let the writer figure out if he or she can deal with the down-sides of writing?

When someone comes to the point of asking, “How long should I keep sending out this manuscript before I quit?” the answer is usually, “Quit now.” Why? Not because the work may never sell– for all I know, it could be the hottest best-seller of all times– but because the writer is already showing battle fatigue.

If you’re discouraged before your career even starts, how will you have the stamina to handle all the other discouragements that are bound to come your way?

Your editor leaves the house and the new editor wants a total rewrite, taking out what you think is your “best stuff.”

Sales aren’t great, so the publisher doesn’t want your next book.

Reviews are mixed, and some reviewers call your work trite and simplistic.

Your agent drops you.

Your book is sitting in the remainder bins in less than two years.

Someone else comes out with a book just like yours a month before your book’s publication date, and bookstores don’t order yours because it’s too similar to the one they just stocked.
The media ignores you.

Your publication date gets postponed twice, and your advance money has run out before the electric bill arrives.

Mean-spirited people post nasty reviews of your book on Amazon and elsewhere.

You take a risk and write in a new genre, only to find out that no one will buy it and you’ve “wasted” six months of your life.

These things happen.

Sometimes I think of that writer who’s so discouraged and worn out after ten rejections that she’s already threatening to quit, and I imagine her five or ten years down the line. Even if she sells that book, will she be able to handle all the other “stuff” that comes with being a writer?

Hey, we all go through crises of faith over our talents. We all get down, and most of us contemplate giving up at some point. The question you need to ask yourself is if this roller-coaster of emotions and career highs and lows suits your personality in the long term. Do you usually feel like giving up? Do you constantly seek outside assurance? If you knew that in your lifetime, you would accumulate 1,000 rejections instead of ten, does that thought make you miserable?

Don’t be so self-hating as to stick yourself into a business that depresses you. If you can imagine those rejections and tough spots and still believe that you’ll be happy with your life and your career overall, you’ll be fine. The good should outweigh the bad. But if it sounds terribly painful, why not keep writing as a hobby and find a different career goal?

Writing isn’t something most of us get into because we expect to get rich quick, or because we expect to become household names. We do it because it brings us creative fulfillment and a sense of accomplishment, and maybe the lifestyle attracts us. So weigh that against the disappointments and figure out: Is writing still making you happy? Is it worth it for you if you have to fight through the discouragements?

If the answer for you is “yes,” you’ll never have to ask someone if you should quit. You’ll know deep down that you would never quit, no matter how tough it gets. If the answer is “no,” don’t prolong your pain. Accomplishing your goals isn’t a good enough payoff if you’re going to be miserable all the way there.

Spend your time doing things that bring you more pleasure than pain. Whatever you choose to do with your life, if you’ve made the right choices, you’ll never have to ask someone when it’s time to quit.

Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write (www.absolutewrite.com). She has written for hundreds of national and online magazines, including Physical, Woman's World, Woman's Own, Salon.com, and Contemporary Bride. She's a contributing editor at Writer's Digest and her latest book is MAKE A REAL LIVING AS A FREELANCE WRITER, which you can find at www.jennaglatzer.com. Find out how to get a FREE editors' cheat sheet with this book!

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Defeating Writer’s Block

If you’re a writer, or a student, or anyone who’s ever felt the desire or need to write, you know all about the dreaded thing known as writer’s block. You sit at the computer, or your’re at your desk with a pad and pen, ready to write. But nothing happens. Your mind is drawing a complete blank. You feel as if you’ll never be able to string even five words together into something coherent. It’s a tragic problem and many experience it. The sad thing about this particular monster, is that once it’s bitten, it sinks its teeth in and begins to work its way into your mind. If you don’t defeat it immediately, it can be around for quite some time. You’ll find yourself thinking “why can I write anything?”

There are a few fabulous techniques for slaying this particularly ugly monster:
Just write! Write absolutely anything, even if it doesn’t pertain to what you want to write. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, it’s just important to continue. Even if doesn’t even make sense! Who knows? Somewhere in all of the mess, there might be a few incredible pieces!

Take a walk! If weather permits it, a walk outside just might help you, as something you see might break the wall that’s holding those good ideas hostage.

Remember when you were in kindergarten? That’s right, take a nap! Some of the best ideas come from dreams. And it’s been said that we often dream the solutions to our problems.

Meditation is an easy task, even if you’ve never practiced it before. There are many reliable resources that can teach you how to meditate. Like taking a nap, meditation offers the ability to quiet the mind long enough to find a solution or an idea.

Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! Do some yoga or aerobics, or maybe go to the gym and walk on a treadmill. While you’re at it, observe the other people in the gym. See if that doesn’t jog your brain into giving up those great ideas.

Sometimes, it just helps to talk to another writer. There’s an expression that many authors use – “Only another author would really understand this.” It’s true – it’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t write how sometimes our minds and our muses just don’t want to work with us when it comes to our writing and coming up with great ideas. So, call another writer friend and talk about your writer’s block. Sometimes two heads really are better than one.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a research paper, a love letter, or the next great international bestseller – everyone suffers from writer’s block now and then, even people who don’t consider themselves writers! The important thing to remember, no matter what option or techniques you use, is not to let the writer’s block defeat you. You have to destroy the monster!

Amanda Baker writes for All Things Pondered

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Deciding on the Number of Characters in a Short Story

In our desire to write a story that is packed with insights emanating from different types of characters representing widely divergent point of views, we end up with so many characters who are either too underexposed or too vague for the readers.

So how many characters could we put in and develop effectively in our story, without confusing our readers?

For a short story that would not exceed fifteen (15) pages, at least one major character and a maximum of two should do well. Then you can add at most three (3) minor characters, even as other writers manage without any minor characters at all. It depends on what kind of writing technique you are going to use and how “short” your short story will be. At any rate, you should be careful not to give your minor characters very long speaking parts so as not to sacrifice space for your major characters.

Controlling minor characters

Minor characters could be friends, fellow customers in a restaurant, an antagonist’s ally or anybody whome the major characters would interact with as you expose them and as the story progresses. But even as you limit the exposure and speaking parts of your minor characters, you should be able to justify their existence and make them a worthy part of your story.

For instance, if you would write a story about a doctor who has been blaming himself for the loss of his child, you could make him interact with a doctor friend, or maybe his own patients who would like to console him. Your minor characters will exist briefly in your story and may or may not cause a significant impact in the life of your major character. With too many minor characters in a room or at any given part of your story, you may confuse your readers as to who is talking and what his/her relation is to your major character.

Controlling major characters

Major characters or protagonists need as much time and space as possible so you won’t be confusing your readers with their intentions and choice of actions. If you choose to use your major character’s point of view (POV) in expounding your story, you would help yourself if you won’t mix in too many POVs in a limited space. If you do well with one POV, then do so.

If you challenge yourself and put in more major characters than you can handle, you risk losing your readers or you can also expect them to get confused with your story. So to be able to expose your characters effectively, consider their number and length of lines in a given scene.

All characters present

When you’ll have a scene where everyone is going to be present for a confrontation, discussion, celebration or whatever kind of gathering, you will greatly please your readers if your characters can give a confusion-free, strong, engaging and catchy exchange of dialogues. If you can make this work, you can be sure you’ve successfully given your readers a story that’s definitely worth their time.

Copyright © 2003 Arlene M. Paredes

Arlene M. Paredes writes short stories, features and essays. Her first nonfiction book will be released this year. She maintains an online journal as a form of writing exercise. You may contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Get Your First Sale!

Nothing beats the joy of your first sale. You can plot, plan, market and dream all you want, but until you get that first sale, you’re not sure that you have a real business. It’s 25 years since I sold my first book to an international publisher. I walked on air for days. To my mind, because real writers wrote books, I was real writer at last.

Your first sale legitimizes what you’re doing to others, and not least to yourself. When you’ve got that sale, you get a lot more than money: you get confidence, feedback, and ideas on how you can make the next sale and the next.

How do you make that first sale? Here’s how:

One: Give yourself a deadline

Although I’d made writing sales I didn’t sell a book until I gave myself a deadline. I gave myself a long deadline, ten years. I didn’t need that long, it took a year. However setting a deadline turned selling a book from a dream into a goal. If I hadn’t given myself a deadline, I would have fudged for years: making outlines, doing research, writing a chapter here and there, and convincing myself that I was trying to sell a book, when I wasn’t doing anything of the sort.

Give yourself a deadline to make your first sale. You’ll know how long the deadline should be. Don’t make it ten years unless it’s something where you need to learn a lot of skills first before you can produce a product.

Your deadline must be serious. The ten years I gave myself was the absolute cut-off date. If I hadn’t sold a book by then, I intended giving up writing book-length material forever.

Two: Ask for the sale!

Once I’d set the ten-year deadline, I knew I had to ask for the sale. This meant submitting partials to publishers. A partial is a fiction proposal. It consists of a synopsis, a chapter outline, and the first chapters: around 50 to 100 pages of the novel. I wrote a partial every two months, and sent them out.

How will you ask for the sale? If you’re selling your writing, then send out novel and non-fiction proposals, or proposals for magazine articles.

Keep in mind that “Ask for the sale” means ask the person who can buy your product to buy it. I approached editors at publishing houses who could buy my work. I didn’t approach agents. As handy as literary agents are, an agent can’t buy.

No matter what product you’re selling, from apricots to zebras, you must ask the person and/or company with the cash to buy your product.

It’s worth mentioning here that you don’t need to follow any particular rules when you’re asking for the sale. For example, most writing books will tell you that to sell a novel you must write the complete novel, then write the partial, then get an agent and then wait while the agent sells the book. You can follow someone else’s rules if you want to. Or you can choose your own route. Do what you intuitively feel is right for you.

Three: If it’s not working, get feedback from others

You’ve set your deadline, you’ve asked for the sale repeatedly, but no one’s buying.

At this point, I need to tell you that everyone who’s ever followed this process for selling their writing has sold their writing before the deadline. So from long experience I know that this process works. If this process hasn’t worked for you it means that somewhere you’ve bumped into a wall, but don’t see that is a wall.

You need feedback. Find someone’s who’s doing what you want to do, and ask them for help. You may need to pay for it, but it will be money well spent, because they’ll be able to put you on the right track. Don’t ask for help from people who have never done what you want to do. If they haven’t done it, they may think they know how it’s done, but they don’t.

After you get your feedback, set yourself another deadline, and then ask for the sale until you make the sale. Try this simple process: it works.

Veteran multi-published author and copywriter Angela Booth crafts words for your business — words to sell, educate or persuade. E-books and e-courses on Web site. FREE ezines for writers and small biz: http://www.digital-e.biz/

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Full Contact Storytelling

Nearly every storyteller has experienced the frustration of telling to these audience members: the clock-watcher, the doodler, the hair-twister, the squimer, the talker, the bored acting, the heckler, ect. But these characters are reminders that sometimes we all forget the most important ingredients in our storytelling program – personal contact and meaningful interaction.

Grabbing an audience’s attention is critical to increasing listeners’ retention and decreasing your frustration. I’ve often seen storytellers complete a program without ever making their audience members a part of their lives. They offered no warmth, no one-on-one interaction and no full-contact relationships. All they did was tell stories! There is more to it. You are the entertainer! To avoid that mistake, you can use these four ideas to keep even the hardest audience on their toes while you tell.

Say Their Names
In small groups, storytellers have the power to use the most beautiful word ever heard by an audience member – his or her name. Before you start your program go around the room if possible introducing yourself to people. Don’t be afraid to write down a name and repeating it after each person speaks. Now when you work the room, you can add peoples names to your storytelling program! Not only will you be able to associate a face and name but the audience members will likely loosen up because they are no longer strangers. A big plus is that they will wonder if you will use their name next! If you don’t know how to add someone’s name to your storytelling program, you might want to work on it! It’s not hard! For big groups possibly using a name or two of someone well know locally always works. Note: Don’t make fun of people! If you make fun of anyone, let it be you.

Ask For Background
Find out as much as you can about the group you’re telling to if possible. If it’s a school, maybe a little history, if it is in a certain town, that is even easier, get the information! Never go into a program without any sense of who you’re telling to. Even their age makes a difference.

Get the Audience to Participate
As you delve into your program, don’t let much time pass before you involve the audience. You can even start right away by singing a song or by using a “repeat after me” opener. This starts the ball rolling. The audience will do what you want them to if you are willing to lead them along! Remember: It is your storytelling program, let them be a part of it on your terms. When you do this all of the weird stuff and noise that can happen at a program is under your control.

The Purpose of Your Program
Why are you telling? Is there a theme? Holiday’s, birthday, ghost stories, folk tales, Cajun festival? The event you’re telling at is important! I saw a teller at a Halloween program tell a baseball story that wasn’t even scary! It just happened to be their favorite story! You can imagine how the audience responded. Stick with the theme! It’s not that hard. If you don’t have any stories to tell within certain themes, learn some! When you discover that the purpose of the program is a foundation to your stories, you will be successful!

Discovering the secrets to full contact storytelling isn’t hard. You must act as a professional if you want to get up in front of people and say, “I’m a storyteller”. There are too many tellers in the world that only tell stories, they don’t get the crowd involved. That is sad. I do believe that is why some audiences don’t want to hear “a Storyteller”, they had a bad experience before.

Go out and make the next audience you tell in front of “your” special audience. Get involved.

Let them know you were there. They will have the time of their live’s!

Mike Miller is a Full Contact Speaker and Storyteller based in Charleston, South Carolina. His fresh, unique and exciting brand of speaking and storytelling has impacted thousands of groups ranging from major industry and health care to youth and education. He can be found at www.greatstoryteller.com

Article Source : http://www.articledashboard.com

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Frequently Asked Questions About Children’s Writing

I HAVE A STORY I’VE WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN. DO I NEED TO FIND SOMEONE TO ILLUSTRATE IT BEFORE I CAN SEND IT TO A PUBLISHER?

No.

In fact, in cases where the author of a picture book is not also an artist, the publisher prefers to find its own illustrator for the book. The reason for this: often a publisher will match up a new author with a more experienced illustrator who has some name-recognition among book stores and teachers. Also, publishers have a stable of illustrators they have cultivated, and are always looking for new manuscripts for these illustrators to work on.

Finally, publishers have a certain “look” they have developed for their individual lists, and the illustrator you choose for your manuscript may not have a style that fits with other books already published by that house.

If you do know an artist that you want to work with, you can submit illustrations with your manuscript, but be prepared that the editor may like only the writing or only the illustrations and won’t want to buy the entire package.

WHERE SHOULD I SEND MY MANUSCRIPT WHEN IT’S DONE?

Finding the right publisher for your work involves a bit of detective work. A story that’s wrong for one house may be perfect for another. To conduct your search for publishers, follow these steps:

1. Purchase Children’s Writers & Illustrators Market (Writer’s Digest Books). You’ll find it any large bookstore. It’s a thorough listing of every important children’s publisher, listing needs, personnel and more.
2. Subscribe to a publication that will keep you informed of changes, new imprints and changing publisher needs. At Children’s Book Insider, we devote the first two pages of each issue to such market news.
3. Spend lots of time in your local bookstore, reading newer books. Look, in particular, for books that have a similar tone or theme as your manuscript. Note the name and address of the publishing company, and send for their catalog and writer’s guidelines.
4. Join a writers’ group. You’ll be amazed at the dossier of information most experienced children’s writers have compiled about publishing houses.
5. Scan the Web for publishers online. We’ve provided a link to many of the publishers on our home page.

THERE’S SO MUCH ABOUT WRITING AND SUBMITTING STORIES THAT I DON’T KNOW AND I’M QUITE INTIMIDATED. WHAT’S THE BEST WAY FOR A BEGINNER TO LEARN?

1. Buy Career Starter — it will answer all your questions without costing a fortune!
2. Join your local chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (call 323-782-1010 for more info.) In Canada, join CANSCAIP (416-654-0903).
3. Get online and ask questions! Our message board is filled with very knowledgeable folks ready to help.

HOW DO I GET A COPYRIGHT?

These links make it easy!

* Great all-purpose copyright site: http://www.copyrightwebsite.com/

* Copyright forms direct from the government: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/forms/

* US Government’s Frequently Asked Questions About Copyright:
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/faq.html [Editor’s Note: This link no longer works. But I am going to leave it in here as it was part of the original article.]

* Service that takes care of copyright registration for you:
clickandcopyright.com

* Copyright info for the United Kingdom: http://www.intellectual-property.gov.uk/

* Copyright FAQ by WhoIsHostingThis: http://www.whoishostingthis.com/resources/copyright-faq/  [Editor’s Note: I’ve added this link as it was recommended by a reader.]

* Guide to Copyright and DMCA for Bloggers – https://blogging.im/copyright-guide. It’s a deep dive into copyright and DMCA laws for bloggers (and anyone who publishes online). [Editor’s Note: I’ve added this link as it was recommended by a reader.]

WHAT ABOUT MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS? SHOULD I SEND MY MANUSCRIPT TO ONLY ONE PUBLISHER AT A TIME?

Multiple submissions (also called “simultaneous submissions”), once taboo in children’s publishing, have become commonplace. Editors understand that since it often takes them several months to respond to an unsolicited submission, it’s only fair that writers be able to send their manuscripts to several publishers at once. There are still a few publishers, however, who only take exclusive submissions.

The best thing to do is send a SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope) to the Children’s Editorial Department of each publisher to whom you plan to submit, and ask for writer’s guidelines. They’ll mail back their current guidelines, explaining what format submissions should take (query letter, entire manuscript, etc.) and whether or not they accept multiple submissions.

When we’ve spoken to editors about this practice, they’ve all said it makes absolutely no difference in their final decision as to whether or not they’re going to buy a manuscript, as long as the author states in the cover letter that it’s a multiple submission. The editor simply likes to know that someone else might have your manuscript as well. We suggest, though, that you limit your submission of the same manuscript to five publishers at once, because it’s easier to keep track of who has responded and where the manuscript is at any given time.

DO I NEED AN AGENT?

It’s not a question easily answered, but one which must be addressed as your writing career progresses.

Before we begin, one important point: if your work is not salable, no agent-even the world’s best agent-can sell it. The time to start thinking about agents is when you feel you’ve invested enough time and effort in your work to truly call it professional.

First let’s look at what the three main activities of an agent:

• Guiding the client through the publishing maze.
• Putting manuscripts on the desks of key editors.
• Negotiating the best possible deal for his or her client.

Agents are not paid directly by the client, rather, they earn a commission (usually 15%) from any money received from a sale. The client is responsible, however, for any expenses-postage, photocopying, long distance phone calls-generated on his or her behalf. Agents bill their clients periodically or subtract the expenses from an author’s advance and royalty payments. A good agent is combination sales person and business manager, with a knowledge of the children’s publishing market and of particular editors’ preferences. Unless you’re using a critique service, an agent is the first reader of your manuscript.

Only after an agent agrees to represent you will he or she help correct flaws and improve your work. The next step: your manuscript is sent to appropriate editors until it sells, or you decide to terminate the submission process. If a sale is made, the agent negotiates the contract (including amount of advance and royalties), offering certain rights to the publisher and sometimes reserving other rights for future sales (such as book club or paperback rights).

Your agent will also represent you in any dealings with the publisher when problems arise. Besides being able to decipher royalty statements, for example, an agent can challenge inaccurate payments without damaging your relationship with your publisher. Agents handle all the little things that occur during the publishing process that you don’t understand or don’t have patience for.

Once the book is published, an agent tracks royalty payments, makes additional sales on any rights the author has retained, and sometimes assists the publisher in marketing the book. Agents are also useful in opening up new avenues for the writer’s second book. Many agents actually generate projects for their clients, by perceiving that an editor is looking for a particular type of book, and matching that editor up with his or her client.

MYTH: An agent can make you a better writer or illustrator.

REALITY: If your story has been turned down by 25 publishing houses, representation will not make the story more salable, or appear to be better than it is. Only your own hard work will improve your skills-and your chances of success.

MYTH: You will make more money-and faster-using an agent.

REALITY: Strike one against that myth is the fact that an agent will take 15% off the top of anything you earn. Strike two is that editors really don’t have a prejudice against unrepresented authors. They’re just looking for the best stories they can find. (Some larger publishing houses have instituted a policy of reviewing only those submissions sent by agents, so check in advance if you’re representing yourself.) Strike three is the simple truth that it takes a long time and a lot of hard work for anyone-represented or not-to make substantial money as a children’s book author.

MYTH: Hiring an agent means a guaranteed sale.

REALITY: A surprisingly common misconception is that once an agent decides to represent a client, the work is as good as sold. Would that this were true! Agents take on clients they think they can sell, but publishing is subjective to the tastes of editors and shifts in the market, so nothing is ever guaranteed.

Myths aside, here’s what a good agent can provide:

• Knowledge of the marketplace.
• Knowledge of the publishing contract.
• The time and energy to send your manuscript to editors.
• The ability to have your work read faster than if you submitted it yourself.
• Career advice that-if it’s good-can help you for years to come.

So now, back to the question: Should you hire an agent? We are, of course, going to weasel our way out of answering that directly, and with good reason-the choice must really be your own.

We will, however, sum up by saying this: If you are a talented writer it is possible to get your first book published without an agent. It takes perseverance, an understanding of the market (visit book stores and see what publishers are up to), and confidence that you can handle the business end of your career.

An agent can simplify the submission process, find opportunities you may not be aware of, save you time and effort, give good advice and, hopefully, provide some encouragement. If this is worth a 15% commission to you, follow the steps above and find the right agent. If not, be comforted by the fact that many non-represented authors find success on their own.

HOW DO I FIND AN AGENT?

Recommendations from other writers are the best sources for names of agents. Here are two books that can also help:

1. Guide To Literary Agents published by Writer’s Digest Books (updated yearly).
2. Literary Market Place published by R.R. Bowker (updated yearly, found in the research sections of most libraries).

http://www.babygeniusproductions.com

Laura Backes is the publisher of Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers. For more information about writing children's books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children's Book Insider's home on the web at http://write4kids.com

Click here to return to the index of Articles

Frequently Asked Questions Storytellers Are Often Asked and How They Answer

When I tell people that I am a “storyteller” right away they fire back a slew of questions. In this article I am going to share some questions and answers from two of my favorite storytelling friends. These mini-articles appeared originally as posts on the StoryTell List. Whether or not you are a storyteller and/or a listener, you will find them insightful, entertaining and illuminating.

From Karen Chace:
For me, first and foremost I seem to always have to explain “what” a storyteller is as most people assume I read. I know many of you have the same problem. Sometimes that leads into a longer discussion about what the differences are and it is always nice to make another storytelling convert.

Then, of course, comes the question “What kind of stories do you tell?” My answer is that I share a variety of stories from different genres, folktales, fairytales, myths…at this point they are usually shaking their heads in affirmative…ahhh they get it. :)

Other questions that follow are:

• Where do you find your stories?
• Do you memorize them?
• Do you write your own stories?
• Do you tell just to children or to adults as well?

Wouldn’t it be nice if all of those questions and answers could fit on a business card? I seem to remember that there is a new type of digital business card that is in the market. It contains a computer chip which stores a lot more information; the wave of the future to be sure.

I want to throw three more questions into the mix. I tend to tell more to children. Although I have told at some adult venues, by far, the majority of my shows are for children. Granted, when telling to children, I often find adults in the audience, but it is different from an entire adult audience. I used to feel that I should spread myself out more, move into the adult telling arena. However, lately I have come to realize that I really enjoy working with the children more. I am in my element, comfortable and happy so why apologize for it? So here are my three questions:

1) As storytellers, do you instinctively know what audiences you are more comfortable telling to?

2) As storytellers, do think/feel it is perfectly acceptable to stay within one age group, i.e. children vs. adults when choosing storytelling venues?

3) Do you think it is absolutely necessary to tell to all age groups?

[Editor’s Note: Please look in the Resource box for information about Karen Chace]

Tim Jennings answers Karen’s questions:

1) As storytellers, do you instinctively know what audiences you are more comfortable telling to?

I started telling to troubled kids, refined my work in front of juvenile delinquents. I was too aggressive for very young kids, and too – I don’t know – loud, maybe, for older audiences.

2) As storytellers, do think/feel it is perfectly acceptable to stay within one age group, i.e. children vs. adults when choosing storytelling venues?

It’s always easier to tell to people younger than you are. This is one of the great advantages of being a storyteller – as I creep (or, increasingly, plummet) into geezerhood, I find fewer and fewer audiences that buffalo me in that particular way. Picking a particular audience and sticking to it is perfectly acceptable, and, indeed, from a marketing point of view, even desirable. Certainly better than alienating potential audiences for others who enjoy them. But. You do grow more, as an artist, if you can figure out how to work with a variety of ages. And, it is helpful to be prepared with material that will help you adapt to a wide variety of situations, because, well, that’s the way life is.

You know, “children” is not one kind of audience – there are at least three or four in there. And if you can handle all of them, then any problem you might have with performing for adults might be a function of either the particular set of adults you are performing for (they are looking for something – spiritual uplift, say, or stand-up comedy – that you aren’t interested in providing), or could be something that you could probably fix with some experimentation and feedback.

Here at random are some personal, hard-won discoveries I made over the years by analyzing what went wrong – or, worse, what kept going wrong – when working in front of a new kind of audience.

• The same sweet voice that offends many fifth graders and most any worthwhile 7th grader, and positively horrified my father (library lady reading “millions of cats”) – this same voice relaxes and reassures young children.
• Small groups require (and I do mean require) much less movement and volume than large groups.
• Most traditional folk material that works at all for you can work in front of any age or degree of sophistication, but the style of presentation should be modified to suit.
• Adults are made comfortable by your own comfort.
• But the basics work for everybody – you need to demonstrate fairly soon that you are entertaining, that you have no hidden agenda, and that you are comfortable in front of that group. And you need to stay entertaining, giving them something good at least every twenty seconds – if not a laugh, something as good as a laugh.

3) Do you think it is absolutely necessary to tell to all age groups?

No. But I would miss any that I lost.

Karen Chace lives in East Freetown, Massachusetts. She is a professional storyteller, co-publisher of Working smARTS - An e-Publication for Professional Children's Artists, and author of _Researching Stories on the Internet: A Webliography of Storytelling Resources_ Storytellers' Products-Karen Chace. Karen may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Tim Jennings of Jennings & Ponder from Burlington, Vermont, may be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or visited at http://www.folktale.net. Tim is also involved with The StoryTellingWiki found at http://www.onegecko.com/wikigecko/index.php. Take a few minutes to visit.

Click here to return to the index of Articles