Trying to get Published

[Eunuch Provocateur]

I'm going to send my writing away to a small publishing house called Barbican Books located up in Berkeley. It takes about three months for them to respond.

 

I've attached the word document that is what I'm sending. It consists of ten poems and one short story, as per their request...

 

When I get their reply in three months, I'll bump this topic to let you guys know!

 

Anybody have any tips, recommendations, knowledge?

 

Evan "The Budding writer" Pug-h

 

PS: If you are interested in more from me, I'm willing to send you all 86 pages of poetry... Oh, AND: If I found out that you've stolen my writing, I will kill you.

Barbican Books SubmissionTPR.doc

Writing.

[Wes]

Here is some honest criticism: You are trying too hard. Or at least your writing makes it seem like you're trying too hard. Your poetry is very "wordy". It reads like you were using the thesaurus function in MS Word. A few of your poems read like Mars Volta songs, alot of big words strewn together that don't really add up to much.

 

I know poetry is very subjective, though. I may not like it, but someone else will.

 

 

The short story needs a lot of work. It's really hard to read. It's incredibly disjointed, to the point where I really don't know what it's about. (And I read it twice.) There's also quite a few grammatical mistakes, sentence fragments, etc. that make it harder to read than it needs to be. Do you know anyone who has editing experience? I think you should definately have them read over it and help you out with stuff like that.

 

By all means, keep writing. You can only get better from here.

[Swimace]

I'm afraid I have to agree, your writing is a bit convoluted. It doesn't really capture the reader as it should, and the story had me fighting to pay attention. It really looks like you are trying to use big words where they are not needed, try some Hemmingway style for a change. Some of your poems sound like they are trying to be deep, rather than just being deep. I think this is caused by some unnecessary uses of repetition along with poor word choice. If you work at it I'm sure you can make it better, everybody has to start somewhere. Please don't take this as mean, I'm only trying to give you constructive criticism.

[Bubba Z]

Try Lulu.com they can publish anything for you. Good luck with it all.

[Eunuch Provocateur]

Concerning the convoluted comments, it's ironic since I actually went through a phase of forced, awkward writing where I would simply change words for the sake of making myself sound smarter. It was dumb. However, the problem may be that, now, I use those words because I actually know what they mean...

 

The other ironic thing is that I'm deathly afraid of convolution--it's the reason why I can't write a book--and it's something I've fought against.

 

I just write a stream of conscious and what happens happens. I guess the way my mind works is to be convoluted... But isn't that how thoughts often are?

[pagemaster_b]

If your trying to do stream of consciousness, I highly suggest you read Faulkner. He did that a lot with his writings. It's good that you're starting out with a small publisher. One to two percent of manuscipts turned into editors actually get published. Most require agents before submitting manuscripts, and to get an agent you need to have been previously published (the ever annoying Catch-22).

 

Unfortunately, I firmly believe your manuscript will get unceremoniously rejected. Point blank, it's bad writing. I must admit that poetry is not my favorite area of writing, so it can often be difficult to see past my warped views, but bad writing is still bad writing. Your poems are just random lines that don't tie together. Poetry is all about language and emotion, of which neither is invoked, and it's done with as few words as possible. Free verse may be the popular style of poetry right now, but poets still adhere to other poetry conventions, such as alliteration, imagery, diction, etc. I strongly advise you read more poetry, and not to limit yourself to modern poets. After all, they studied from the greats like Shakespear and Wordsworth.

 

As for your messy short story, there are two MAJOR mistatkes. First of all, this isn't stream of consciousness, you're trying to write it like poetry. Stream of consciousness rarely uses punctuation or paragraphs. Also there's a lot more repetition in words and phrases, and it's done from the character's point of view, not the narrator's. Again, I refer you back to Faulkner. The second mistake you made is the complete lack of details. You don't describe any of the characters or the setting. As far as your story is concerned, they don't even exist. Readers will not become attached to the characters and/or become emotionally involved in the story. Nor will they ever get the point or meaning of the ending because there is no thought process to the doctor's thoughts. Why did he do what he did and how did he come to this conclusion? That question, above all, does not get answered. For the most part, there's no clear plot structure--it might work that way, but without good details to the characters, setting, or actions, it's just useless.

 

 

Advice?

1. Keep reading. Writers are readers. Authors and poets are the best source for tips, writing styles, and ideas. (Don't worry, we all plagarize to an extent.)

2. Keep writing. The only way to improve writing is to write. There's no way around it.

3. Don't think while you're writing. That comes during the revisions.

4. Don't conform your writings to other people's ideas, but don't ignore them either. Some might give you the answer to a particular problem (or get you on the right track).

5. Write for yourself. That's the only person that matters.

 

 

And above all else, don't give up. Breaking into print is very difficult.

[Swimace]

^ Nicely spoken, I agree with most of what you said. The writing definatly needs work, but anything worth achieving is never easy.

[Eunuch Provocateur]

Well spoke pagemaster_b! I am actually reading As I lay Dying right now. I began by emulating Ray Bradbury in 7th grade. Then Stephen King (bad choice). Right now, I've been reading a lot of Charles Bukowski and you guys are probably right when saying that I'm trying to hard to emulate his style... Except when I write it's disjointed. The biggest problem I have is that I can see everything in my head, like a painting, but the words never seem to become what is in my mind, and, if they do, it's too esoteric and lacking to everyone else since they don't see the same picture.

[Swimace]

The biggest problem I have is that I can see everything in my head, like a painting, but the words never seem to become what is in my mind, and, if they do, it's too esoteric and lacking to everyone else since they don't see the same picture.

 

I have the same problem when I do art. I can write wonderfully, but I've always had a mind for design and it never translates onto paper the way I want it to.

[pagemaster_b]

The biggest problem I have is that I can see everything in my head, like a painting, but the words never seem to become what is in my mind, and, if they do, it's too esoteric and lacking to everyone else since they don't see the same picture.

 

That's because you are thinking. Don't think when you write. I know it sounds strange, but it works.

[Eunuch Provocateur]

Well, I learned about lulu.com's Print on Demand services and jumped at the chance...

 

After emailing various publishers then giving up then deciding to actually EDIT my poetry, I rise again, from a month of ambiguity from this website, as a new author. I guess.

 

Check this out:

 

http://www.lulu.com/content/262679 It's titled The Purple Calligrapher's Angeles Step which, as broken down,

 

Purple is not the color but a type of passage which I strive to not write,

Calligrapher is an eloquent type of writer

Angeles is paying Homage to the Diversity of Los Angeles, hinting at the diversity of the writings within

Step is a type of dance.

"The Angeles step," is a diverse, cultural dance, since music and rhythm have a huge role in what I write.

 

 

LuLu seemed legit since they were in Newsweek! Haha.

 

PS: Support your local revolution.

[shepp]

Coming out of the closet a bit here...I'm actually a professional author. I've sold over 200 short pieces (including one set in a coaster queue), have written four books that have been published by a commercial firm, and am editing my third anthology. But when I look back at what I wrote when I was your age...well, it's mostly pretty awful.

 

Not to sound discouraging or ageist, but there are very few folks your age capable of consistently good writing. (Except JT Leroy - inside joke.) Writing well is a matter both of possessing technical skill and having things to say; it takes work to hone skills, and experience to gain something original to communicate.

 

By all means, continue writing. And if you're serious, join a writing workshop, take classes, go to open readings, expose your work to criticism. Read. Read good works and good criticism. And go through life with an open and inquiring mind. I salute your bravery in putting yourself out there - best of luck.

[USRoadTripper]

Shepp! Is this you??? If so, you need a new copy editor! hahaha

 

-Julie

[shepp]

^ Sorry - you're asking about the Superman excerpt? Then, nope. Never saw it before. But yes, everybody needs a good copy editor. It's a shame there are so few out there.

 

And hell, I should use spell check more often, too...