This writing analyzer is fun. It’s totally useless for anything but amusement, though. It claimed that a passage actually written by Hemingway most resembled the work of P.G. Wodehouse, which is a bizarre choice for a passage about a man that killed a lion. Wodehouse mainly wrote comedies about foppish dandies more likely to use a club for golf than for anything interesting. (In the program’s defense, alcohol does play sort of prominently in both the Hemingway passage and Wodehouse’s work).
If you’re interested in length guidelines for graphic novels, please see this LinkedIn discussion. By the way, if you’re interested in getting published, I’d recommend getting on LinkedIn. It’s like Facebook for professionals. For example, right now I’m in discussions with other writers about how best to build up a writing platform to impress prospective publishers. I think it’s even better for comic book teams: I posted a request for feedback on a group for comic book illustrators and received feedback that was very useful and informed.
PS: Based on the graphic novels I’ve seen recently, I think anywhere between 132-200 pages would be publisher-friendly. However! Each publisher has its own preferred length, so check out what they’ve been publishing lately. If your length is significantly outside of the range of what they’ve published in the past few years, I think that bodes poorly for your chances there.
One final note: As a measure of comparison, comic books are usually 20-32 pages of content (not including ads). As always, check out what the publishers put out, but Marvel and DC usually publish at the shorter side of that and Dark Horse and Image typically do 32. Also, since each sheet of paper has a front and back side, I’d recommend accounting for an even number of pages. If your script covers 27 pages, you’re going to have a blank side that you need to fill up. For example, you might answer letters from readers or do an ask-the-cast page (like a letters page, but supposedly it’s the characters answering the questions), include another side of ads (not preferred), extend the story by a page, etc. Good luck!
How to Survive a Publisher’s Google Check (by editor Meghan Conrad). Your publisher will probably Google you before offering a contract to make sure you’re consistently professional and easy to work with.
More Query Blunders (by agent Laura Bradford) — among other things, be very careful about mocking/insulting authors or genres the agent or publisher works with.
Like many other literary agencies (and publishers, for that matter), Bookends uses reader’s reports to help agents/editors evaluate each credible proposal. Assistants and/or interns will sift through the slush pile of unsolicited novel submissions and will pass along maybe 1% to their bosses for consideration, along with reader’s reports.
Bookends posted the guidelines for its reader’s reports, which is useful to you because it lets you know many of the criteria by which a novel proposal will be graded.
What was the book about?
Did the overall idea seem different and unique?
Was it a common theme, but executed in a unique way?
What did you think of the author’s voice?
Did the characters seem real and likable?
Was the plot seamless and did it make sense or were there a lot of holes?
Did the multiple plotlines blend together to create a whole book or did they seem choppy and disconnected?
If you’re looking for a low-stakes way to get a short story (up to 6000 words) published, This Mutant Lifemight be worth looking into. You can see its submission guidelines here. ”Stories which deal with the everyday lives of people with unusual abilities or physical characteristics are ideal, and there will be a definite preference given to stories which present interesting and well defined characters and situations.” The pay is extremely low, though.
UPDATE: A Thousand Faces is a quarterly journal that also specializes in superhero stories. You can see its submissions page here.
If you’re looking for a job with a novel publisher or nonfiction publisher, I’d highly recommend checking out BookJobs. Right now, ~200 jobs and internships are available across the US, including a few telecommuting positions.
Unfortunately, it’s not that useful for jobs with comics publishers. I’ll have more thoughts about how to get comic book jobs in the weeks to come, but until then I would recommend checking the job pages for Marvel, Image, Dark Horse and DC regularly. Also, if you’re interested in unpaid internships in New York City, Marvel has more than a few of them.
If you’re a Firefox or Chrome user that likes to read deep through blogs, I think you’ll like FastestFox. Rather than making you hit “Previous Articles” again and again, it’ll automatically add the next set of articles below the last article. I’m doing some heavy editing work on all of the articles I wrote in 2007, and I enjoy not having to hit “Previous Articles” 25 times.
Should You Advertise on Facebook?–Therese Walsh talks about her experiences advertising her writing on Facebook. If you’re thinking about ads, I’d recommend checking this out. Personally, I’m a bit skeptical (you only make about $1 in royalties every time you sell a novel, so your advertisements would have to bring in near-guaranteed sales to justify the expense).
Beating Writer’s Block
How to Finish Hard Scenes–excellent for anybody that’s ever struggled for days with a particularly tricky scene.
How to Find an Agent–if you have a manuscript completed and need an agent, I’d highly recommend checking this out.
Completing Your Author’s Bio–whether you’re completing an “About the Author” section of your website or preparing a manuscript submission, you’ll probably provide a bio to your readers. Here are some tips.
Advice for First-Time Authors that Want to Self-Publish
Don’t. Seriously, that’s probably the best advice you’ll get all day.
Advice for Authors that Want to Self-Publish Anyway
Designing Your Book–one of the biggest opportunities (or challenges, depending on how you look at it) of self-publishing is that you make your own design choices. Don’t suck.
This Thanksgiving, I am very grateful for Seth Godin’s advice for authors and Mark Hurst’s secrets of publishing. These aren’t designed with comic book writers in mind, but a lot of the information is useful for them as well. (If you’re interested in writing comic books, please read my comment below– I picked out a few details that I think are particularly useful for the comic book industry).
(Also, outside of the realm of publishing, I’m also very grateful for Air Force Materiel Command in particular, because logistics is never as sexy as dropping the bombs but at least as important).
The Rejectionist recounts some wildly bad query letters. Keep your chin up– no matter how bad your story is, it’s not about an air traffic controller doing battle with a spaceship using his skills as an ex-quarterback. (And, if it is, please go into some other line of work).
Anne Mini explains what should go into a novel submission package in excruciating detail. Helpful if you’re writing a novel but (unlike the above) absolutely irrelevant for comic book writers.
Redlines and Deadlines tackles how to do a novel synopsis– this is aimed at romance authors but I think any novelist would benefit from it.
This CNN interview with two Colombian hitmen is pretty illuminating. If you’re writing about any hardened criminals (or supervillains), I’d recommend checking it out.
The Turkey City Lexicon is a great resource for writers that want to understand reviewing jargon. I’d like to come up with something similar for this site, which has a slightly different jargon. Have you read any terms here that you weren’t familiar with? (Or that you think a typical prospective writer wouldn’t be familiar with?) Which terms? I’d really appreciate if you could point out any to me in a comment.
Query Shark: Condensing a 300 page novel into an intriguing page is difficult, but this site provides excellent advice about how to write queries effectively.
Pub Rants. The author of this site is friendly and patient. That’s a refreshing change of pace for the publishing industry.
Evil Editor. This is maybe a bit more humorous than helpful, but it’s quite entertaining. Written by the author of Why You Don’t Get Published.
How Readers Read on the Web. This article will help you format online content more effectively. I agree with its conclusion that “promotional language imposes a cognitive burden on users who have to… filter out the hyperbole to get at the facts.” However, it handles the issue of bolded text poorly. Bolding should be used very sparingly.
Celtx is a free scripting program that is designed for comic books (among other types of scripts). I find it very useful.
THE EXCELLENT
It produces scripts that are generally easier to read and navigate than Microsoft Word.
Easy to learn. It took me 10 minutes to figure it out by trial and error.
It’s extremely good at converting scripts into typeset. (You can see an example here). A typeset separates the in-panel text (like dialogue, captions and sound effects) from the text that won’t actually appear in the panel, like your directions to the artist. That’s useful because it helps you gauge how large the panels will have to be to accommodate the text.
It’s free!
THE GOOD
Handles comments notably better than Word.
It’ll help you keep your comic book documents separate from your other files.
If you like to fill out index cards with important details about characters or places, it can help keep those details accessible and organized.
Built-in spellchecker. Not that important for a professional proofreader, but you might find it helpful.
THE BAD
It’s not as easy to add dialogue as new pages or panels.
They should add buttons for New Panel and New Page.
It can’t save scripts as Word files. Everybody (like friends and editors) is comfortable with Word. Right now, if I have a Celtx script that I want to show you, I have to also tell you how to download Celtx and pray that you figure out the software quickly.
One last note. I haven’t had a chance to test its printing capabilities yet. Given that Celtx can’t produce Word files (as far as I know), its ability to print usable scripts is essential.
This article offers strong advice on how to use criticism effectively. To summarize:
Positive advice from friends and loved ones cannot be taken seriously.
Some reviewers will offer inane and ridiculous advice. But if reviewers keep offering advice that sounds ridiculous, the problem may lie more with your writing than your readers.
When are you done editing? Use the Ten Percent Rule: when you change less than 10% of a manuscript from one rewrite to the next, you’re probably ready to submit.
There is one main issue that I think he kind of misses, though. He says that “the value of critique varies widely depending on whether it is given with the same goal in mind as you had in writing it.” That measuring stick is pretty useless. You’ll probably never know whether the reviewer’s “goal” is the same as yours.
For example, let’s say I write a story that’s a cheap knockoff of Eragon. If my reviewer says “this needs to be totally overhauled,” is it because he hates this specific knockoff or because he finds the entire epic-fantasy genre cliched? Unless he specifically admits to hating epic fantasy in general, there’s no way for me to know.
A more useful measuring stick in judging a review is “does this get me closer to what I want to accomplish?” It doesn’t matter at all what goals the reviewer has, but whether his advice helps you achieve yours.
Defense Tech has an article on military exoskeletons. We haven’t reached the level of killer androids (yet), but strength-enhancement is interesting, too. (Also, if killer androids are in the works, exoskeletons will help programmers teach the androids how to move naturally, says one commenter).
If you’re interested in writing about thieves at the top of their game, you might find it interesting to know how the super-wealthy protect themselves. For example, a German shepherd from a security services firm will cost $40,000. What kind of face-ripper does that buy you? Here’s what one customer says…
The police successfully rescued all the hostages taken by a gunman that was not merely a psychopath, but a squirrel sympathizer. Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Shar […]
Novelist Paulo Campos has a list of questions to help you determine whether your story is ready to submit. I found #1-9 especially helpful. One of my own: during your last rewrite, how much of the story changed? If less than 10% changed, you’re probably ready to go. […]
Vampires Suck is startlingly bad. How could anybody dig into a comedic vein so rich–ripping into Twilight–and come up with so little? It’s like going to Alaska and failing to find snow. If you’re in the mood for a good Twilight parody, I recommend this fake screenplay. Here’s an excerpt: SCENE 2 BELLA: It’s tough […]
Jay Faulkner is looking for superhero story submissions between 2500-8000 words long. (For longer submissions, query first). Genre: anything with superheroes. “This can be pure comic-book style heroes, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, etc but the central theme / characters in the story MUST involve superheroes.” Deadline: October 31, 2010. Pay: none. Submission de […]
If you’re worried that your manuscript isn’t as coherent as it could be, mapping your plot can be extremely helpful. To do so: List the 25-50 most important events in the plot. Place one event each on a post-it note. Organize as many of the post-it notes into a cause-and-effect chain as you can. For […]
