This style wasn’t set in stone when I wrote the first book, so I’m now going back to fix it. I think it’s making it a much stronger book, and something that will be a great series opener.

Tommy

Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is sh*t!”, and I agree with him. But, you know what, it’s necessary.

Before we go any further, let me check something. You’re not one of those writers who sends their first draft out to publishers and agents, are you? Tell me you’re not. If you do, you’re only harming your reputation with them. You need to send time to refine your work first.

Picture yourself as an artist; someone who makes beautiful vases. Before you can begin to create your masterpiece, you have to drop a great big lump of ugly, dirty clay onto the wheel. That’s what a first draft is. A great big lump of clay. It doesn’t look nice, it certainly isn’t in the right shape, and if you tried to ship it out to sell as a vase, your career would be over in a second.

First, you have to refine it, shape it, add the decoration and decoration that makes it stand out. That’s what rewriting is.

Creative writing books will tell you to put your first draft away in a drawer for a week, a month or even longer to get some distance from the piece before you begin to rework it. If you’ve got the luxury of time, go for it. I prefer to leave it until the following morning or, if I’m on a really tight deadline, the time it take me to make a cup of tea.

We’ll discuss rewriting in a later post but, for now, allow yourself to write a big lump of clay. Don’t worry about how it looks or reads, that the plot doesn’t make sense, or that the characters are flat and unoriginal. It’s on paper, and that’s all that matters for now.

Tommy

For today’s exercise, take a well-known children’s story or fairy tale – such as Goldilocks & The Three Bears – and give it a modern day twist. Perhaps the bears live in a bad area and Goldilocks is just the latest in a series of break-ins. Or maybe Goldilocks was injured and looking for help when she found the bears’ cottage. It’s up to you.

Be as creative as you can with the characters and plot of your chosen traditional story. Who knows, you may come up with an idea you could adapt for a story of your own.

Good luck!

Tommy

Have a look around the room and pick out an object. It could be a lamp, a door, an ornament – anything at all. Now, write about it.

Don’t think you can? get creative. Who owned the object before you? Where was it made? Does it have magical or unusual properties? The possibilities are endless.

remember that no-one is ever going to read this. You can even throw it away as soon as you’re done – but maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit upon an idea that you can take into your work in progress.

Now, get writing!

Tommy

Today’s topic is fan fiction – the stories written by fans of a particular book, film or TV series that features their favourite characters. Innocent enough, you might think – or is it?

Put simply, writers spend years developing their settings and characters. The books or scripts they write are their lives; it’s certainly how I earn my living and feed my family. So, should someone be able to simply come along and take what I’ve created for their own use? Is it any different to illegally downloading an album or movie?

Hollywood writer, Lee Goldberg – http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/ – falls very much on the fan fiction is copyright theft side of the fence and, sadly, is often berated by his own blog visitors for his staunch views on he subject. Lee writes novelisations of series such as Monk and Diagnosis Murder – the difference between his work and fan fiction being that he is commissioned to author those books by the owners of the original series.

JK Rowling has stated that she doesn’t mind Harry Potter fan fiction, so long as it doesn’t cross the line into pornographic material (a darker side of fan fiction). She sees it as evidence that her fans have taken to her characters so much that they want to explore new adventures for themselves. That’s OK, says Goldberg – the copyright owner has given you permission to do so.

But what if a fan fiction writer crosses that invisible line and tries to profit from their work? Lori Jareo wrote a full-length star wars novel called Another Hope, and offered it for sale via the publish-on-demand facility provided by both the Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites. Once discovered, the book was quickly removed (a lawsuit from George Lucas won’t do anyone any good), yet Jareo was incensed by the decision. “If it’s not a commercial project, I don’t see any problem,” she said. Sorry, Lori – if you sell it, it’s commercial.

Where does that leave me? What if, when my Scream Street books are published, fans write their own stories featuring the main characters? I’m still undecided, and would probably have to see what form they take. I do know that I have already spent well over a year writing these books and there’s at least another years’ work to do. Would you like somebody to come along, uninvited, and steal two years of your life from you?

Tommy

I’m just coming to the end of book four in the Scream Street series, having managed to fit in the third draft of book one and a swift polish of book three along the way. Book five and the line edit of book two await…

I’ve also had the first draft of the first cover through. I can’t show you yet but, rest assured, it’s brilliant! Can’t wait to see the rest!

Right, break time over – back to work!

There’s no secret formula. I did it the hard way.

So, in case it may help other writers who read this blog, here’s how I did it…

I started writing while still at school, eschewing the teenage norm of hanging out on street corners to sit home and practice my art. Thankfully, I hit the library (no Internet back then…) and knew enough about how books were made not to send off my first ever attempts (although I did send some sketches out to Spitting Image, Stephen Fry and Ben Elton, getting very kind ‘keep it up’ letters in return.)

As you will know if you’ve read my biography, I then went into the world of acting (the only known industry more precarious than writing!) and fought my way through jobs entertaining kids at holiday camps and on Russian cruise liners to a role in a West End musical. Even that was part luck and part metal balls – I went to see the show with my parents, saw a part I thought I’d be good at, wrote to the producer to ask for an audition, got the audition where they saw me for a different part, stopped halfway through and said I wanted the original role for which they reluctantly let me read. Eight years later, I was still there (no, not at the audition! In the show!)

While I was in Buddy, I kept on writing, turning to the age-old phrase, ‘write what you know’. I’d worked with kids for years, so why not put together all the games and activities I’d been using, and pitch them as a book. It worked, and Quick Fixes For Bored Kids was published soon after. I went on to write three more titles for the same publisher, all packed with things to do for bored kids. Not what I wanted to write, but a foot in the door, nonetheless.

Then the door shut over my foot.

Buddy closed, I left London, and the book worked dried up. I worked for a few months on a computer tech support line, then auditioned for a role in a very small, touring schools and clubs panto. I did the tour, and stayed with the production company in order to write some of their shows. I still toured in them and often found myself playing a part in show ‘A’ while writing show ‘B’. Hard work, but great fun.

I was still writing in what little spare time I had, sending off my work to publishers and agents, and amassing an impressive collection of rejection letters in return. Still, I kept refining my work, and creating new projects. Eventually, I was given the chance to write a sample chapter for Egmont Books – they were looking for new writers for their 2Heads range, and I was offered three titles in their Too Ghoul For School series (I’ve since written a further two).

That gave me enough fiction publishing credit on my CV to get a meeting with an agent. I’d sent her a novel I’d written, but it wasn’t what she was looking for. Fortunately, I had a back-up plan and pitched her another idea I’d been developing. Scream Street was born…

It took me almost a year of various drafts to get Scream Street ready for submission (my agent assured me it was worth the extra effort to get it right before we found a publisher), and the series found a home with Walker Books.

So, it’s taken me almost 20 years to be an overnight success. I’m 40 years old and considered a new writer! And the reason is, I stuck at it, took criticism of my work and, most of all, kept writing! You do the same, and you can do it, too.

Tommy

I was working my way through the second draft of the third book in the Scream Street series, and made quite a few changes to several of the chapters. All was going well until I realised that the original ending didn’t fit anymore. The alterations I had made earlier in the book meant I had to come up with a brand new ending. The problem was, I couldn’t think of one.

So, I did whatever I recommend to anyone facing the problem of writer’s block – I took a break. I got away from my desk and let the problem simmer for a while. how could I create an original and exciting ending to this book? I had dinner, watched some TV and played with the kids – all the while, letting my mind work on the ending for the book.

The answer came, as it always does, from what I had already written. I went back through the book and made notes of every item, comment or action that isn’t followed up – one of them had to pay off in the end. Before long, an idea hit and, even though I was sitting in bed with a notepad, I had to get up and write the last chapter there and then. I was worried that I wouldn’t remember my idea in the morning, or even be able to understand my hastily scribbled notes!

I had to go back and tweak a few scenes to lay clues for what would happen at the end but, eventually, I had a climax to the book that both made sense, and was fun to read.

So, whenever you’re stuck on what happens next, just read back over what you’ve already written. Chances are, the answer is already in there somewhere.

Tommy

My answer is always the same. No, you don’t need an agent to sell your writing; I sold my first four books direct to the publisher. However, if you want your work to land on the right editor’s desk and – more importantly – get the attention it deserves, then you need an agent.

More and more publishers are refusing unagented submissions, and who can blame them? The average guy in the street would never think of sitting down at a piano and playing a concert to a paying crowd without lessons or practice. Yet, because everyone knows the alphabet, they think they can write. A lot of wannabe writers simply hammer out the first idea they have with no concern for formatting, style or technique, then flood the market with their ‘masterpiece’. These manuscripts clog up the slush piles for the likes of you and me.

However, if an editor receives a submission via an agent, they know that the manuscript has already received a critical eye from someone who knows the publishing business and they’ll treat it seriously. If agents were to submit bad work, their reputations would quickly suffer – so they work hard to filter out the rubbish, and provide publishers with quality, salable writing. Think of it as the first of many quality control barriers your MS must pass through on the road to publication.

Plus, no-one knows more about publishing contracts than agents. They negotiate, amend and agree them on a daily basis. Trust me, if you’ve ever tried to wade through the jargon of a book contract, you’ll be glad to have someone on your side who speaks the lingo.

So, you need an agent. My writing career took off the day I shook hands with mine (and I’m not saying that just because I know she pops in here from time to time!) My agent is a force to be reckoned with when necessary, and I’m very glad we’re on the same team.

Getting an agent, however, isn’t easy. I should know; it took me years. There are, however, things you can do to help you get closer to the day you sign on the dotted line. What follows is advice I’ve learned by trying, failing, and trying again. You may already know a lot of what I’m about to say but, with any luck, there’ll be a nugget of information in this article that will find you an agent.

10. Don’t send your manuscript to anyone!

At least, not yet. Think for a second. Is it ready? Have you rewritten, put the piece away for a while, then rewritten again? Have you shown your work to and received criticism from other writers? No – showing it your significant other and/or parents won’t do. They love you. They’re proud of you. They won’t, despite what you think, tell you if your writing stinks. You need someone else in the same boat for that. You need another writer.

I send everything I write to an author friend of mine, and he sends everything he writes to me. We’ve been doing it for ten years (we weren’t authors when we started doing it – just two unpublished writers who met on an Internet forum and got chatting). We’re brutally honest about each other’s work; there would be no point in emailing it back and forth otherwise. Most of the time it’s just good to hear that everything reads the way you planned but, occasionally, we spot a glaring error or two that would have spelled doom had we submitted the piece without fixing.

Don’t know where to find a writer pal? Subscribe to one of the many online writer forums and get chatting until you find someone with a similar outlook. Join a local writers’ group or, if there isn’t one, stick a card in the library and start one. There are people like you everywhere, and your writing will benefit from meeting them.

One final point on getting that critique. Don’t pay any attention to the notion that other writers will steal your work if you send it to them to read. Trust me, they’re far too wrapped up in their own projects to want yours.

9. Take off your rose-tinted glasses.

Your work isn’t perfect; nobody’s ever is. Mine certainly isn’t. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that there isn’t a single creative project in the world that cannot be improved in some way. The trick is knowing when to stop fiddling and start submitting. You also need to be able to take criticism.

Yes, I know this is your baby, and you’ve probably spent long hours crafting it – but other people will find fault with it. It’s the nature of the business. You don’t always have to take their advice, or act upon it, but you do have to accept that suggestions will be given. I know a talented musician who wrote a song and sent it in to a music publisher. The publisher passed but was gracious enough to offer a few pointers as to how he thought the piece could be improved. My friend went ballistic, claimed the song was perfect as it was, and actually wrote back to the publisher to argue the point, saying that he obviously didn’t know a good tune when he heard one. You can bet the publisher didn’t consider any more submissions with that name at the top.

So, accept that people are going to tell you how things should change. They’re probably not going to be subtle about it, either. Chances are, they may have some great ideas you can use to improve the piece for its next submission. If you don’t agree, be ready to thank them for their time and move on.

8. Research, research, research.

You wouldn’t walk into a jeweler’s shop and ask to buy pork chops, and neither would you visit your butcher for a diamond ring. Yet writers consistently send out their work to agents – and publishers – who simply do not deal with their genre of books.

Sending your children’s adventure to an agent who deals with adult non-fiction won’t get you blacklisted anywhere, but it is a waste of your time, and that of whoever has to deal with your query at the other end. How much better to target your submissions to someone who might be interested in your work?

It’s not as if the information isn’t out there. Visit any bookshop and you’ll find writers’ directories, and virtually every agency has a website now with – get this – submission guidelines. They’re telling you what they want and how to give it to them – and yet so many writers get it wrong. Don’t be one of them.

7. Proper manuscript format

I’m not going to get into the age-old argument of Courier vs Times New Roman (if a publisher or an agent has a preference, they’ll tell you in their submission guidelines), but I will say this: make your manuscript look like a manuscript.

If you’re not sure what a proper manuscript should look like, check out William Shunn’s excellent guide here. Put simply, type on one side of a piece of paper, double-spaced with margins all around. Number the pages, put a basic header on each page and your contact details clearly on the title page.

Do not bind the manuscript in any way. No staples, no ring binders, no combs. If you must secure the pages – a simple bulldog clip at the top will do. That’s it. You wouldn’t trust a plumber if he turned up with a toolbox filled with odd looking implements. You want him to have plumber’s tools, pure and simple. Make sure your manuscript – your tool – shows you to be a writer.

6. Don’t try to be clever.

I’m not referring to your writing here; by all means try to be clever there. I’m talking about your submission. Trust me – being cute or unusual will only mark you out as an oddball; someone to be wary of. I doubt there is a single instance of an agent saying, ‘Look! Miss Writer has splashed red paint over the pages of her murder mystery manuscript! I’ll sign her today!’

You want potential agents to see you as nothing more than a potential client. A writer. That means you behave professionally from the word go – submission included. So, no clipart, no sketches (unless you’re a competent artist hoping to illustrate your own book), no coloured or patterned paper, no gifts in with the MS, so photographs of yourself, no reviews from your kids saying how much they like your stories… Nothing but the MS and a brief cover letter.

You really want to send an agent flowers? Wait until you’ve signed your first book contract through her. That’s what I did.

5. Query first.

Your first point of contact with a potential agent is a well-crafted query letter. There are dozens of websites devoted to writing queries, and I’ll be covering the topic myself in a future post. Query letters aren’t easy to write. You have to hook the agent with your idea, show her that you can write and give her enough of your background in just one page. Yes, you read that right – one, single page.

Search online for tips on writing great query letters but please do not make the mistake of sending in your entire manuscript unless it is specifically requested. All you’re doing is burning bridges. Some agencies allow you to enclose a chapter or two with your query or, rarely, query via email. Their submission guidelines will tell you exactly what you can and can’t send.

4. Follow the guidelines.

Yes, I’m telling you to read the guidelines again – but so many writers don’t. The agents out there are trying to help you get published, all you have to do is listen! If the guidelines say send three chapters, send three. Not two, or five, or four. Three. If they say they’re snowed under and aren’t accepting submissions – don’t submit anything and move on to the next agency! It’s that simple!

And, yes, the rules apply to you. No, you will not stand out by sending what you want, when you want. Your submission will simply be consigned directly to the rubbish bin. Why would an agent want to work with you if you can’t follow a few, simple rules? How does she think you will be when faced with a mountain of notes from an editor if you won’t listen when asked to send in nothing more than a brief outline?

Can’t find an agency’s guidelines on the website? Write in for them, enclosing a stamped addressed envelope. It will be worth it.

3. Get Snarky!

Sadly no longer active, Miss Snark’s blog was an acerbic peek into the life of a literary agent. The archives are still online here. Read everything. Laugh. Then do exactly what she says.

2. Use the correct postage.

Do NOT guess when sending in a manuscript. Take your package to the post office and get it weighed. If you don’t put enough postage on, your MS is likely to end up in a sorting office somewhere, waiting to be collected. Guess what? A potential agent won’t go there and pay the extra on the off-chance that yours is a work of genius.

The same holds true about return postage. If the agency guidelines (yes, those again!) say to enclose a stamped addressed envelope big enough to hold your MS, do it. Don’t subscribe to the oft-quoted idea that if you don’t enclose return postage, the agent won’t need it. Follow the instructions.

While we’re on the subject of posting out your work, do yourself a favour and send out a fresh, clean copy each time. No agent wants to wade through a manuscript covered with scribbled out notes and unexplained stains from previous use. The extra paper and printer ink are worth the effort to look professional.

1. Forget it and write something else.

Yes, my number one tip for finding an agent is to submit your manuscript and forget about it. If you sit by the door holding your breath as the postman approaches each morning, you’ll drive yourself insane. The best thing to do is forget it and start on your next book (you’ll want to something ready in case the agent says, ‘I like your writing, what else do you have?’)

Do NOT chase the agent for a response. Not after a week, not after a month, not after a year. Trust me, if they want to talk to you, they’ll contact you. Yes, there’s always the chance that your MS got lost in the post, or dropped down the back of the reader’s desk. If they don’t reply, put it down to fate and move on. I think I can safely say that no agent has changed her mind about rejecting a book because the writer called to hurry her opinion.

So, there you are – my 10 top tips to help you get a literary agent. Do I know everything? No. Will every tip apply to every writer or agent? Of course not. All I have to go on is my experience and, through that experience, I did it. If I can, so can you.

Good luck!

Tommy

It may sound glaringly obvious, but I’ve known so many writers who have an idea for a book and start to pitch it before they’re even at the end of chapter one. They figure that, as it can take so long to hear back from agents, they have plenty of time to write the thing. This attitude, however, can easily backfire.

What if your query letter for child-becomes-robot novel lands on an agents desk just as she’s getting off the ‘phone with Mr Big Publisher who’s been saying that what he really wants is a book about an android that used to be a small boy? Bingo – the agent is going to want to read your book now! If it’s not ready, you’ve wasted both her time and your own. And you can bet you won’t get another chance at that agency.

Even more likely is that your book will change as you write it. Characters will develop, plot twists will happen and, on occasion, the finished book will look nothing like the idea you started with. If you’ve already pitched the book as one thing and it’s become another – you simply can’t send it out.

Years ago, when the movie Ace Ventura: Pet Detective first came out, I was carrying around a vague idea for a comedy screenplay set in a theme park. As soon as I saw Jim Carrey on the big screen it hit me – this story would be perfect for someone with his talents! So, I wrote a query letter and sent it to his agent in Hollywood thinking, at best, I’d end up with a pretty fancy rejection to show around. It didn’t happen like that.

Three nights later – just three – the ‘phone rang. It was Jim Carrey’s agent. Jim liked the idea and wanted to read the script. Sh*t! I stalled for time, saying it was going through another draft at the moment and I could send it over in two weeks’ time. Then I got off the ‘phone and I wrote. I wrote and wrote like my life depended on it, trying to stick to my original pitch – the one Jim Carrey liked, no less – and complete a feature length comedy screenplay in two weeks. The result was a mess and, as you can imagine, I never heard back. Lesson learned.

So, finish the thing before you query. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, it takes time. But it will be worth it.