Basic Tips for Aspiring Authors
Andrea Campbell is the author of twelve traditionally published nonfiction books on a variety of topics but she writes mostly about forensic science and criminal law. Andrea is editor for a professional quarterly, columnist, ghostwriter and e-teacher. To subscribe to her bi-monthly author’s e-newsletter or to find out more about her online classes, write to: andreacampbell@hughes.net
I am not Medusa, but I think I remember some actual mythology. Anyway, I’ve been an e-teacher for longer than I’d like to admit. I wrote and conduct two courses: an 8-week workshop on how to write a book proposal that sells, and the other is 4-weeks of the gatekeepers—how to get an agent or editor, how to work with them, and grow as a career author. I tried to think about what it was that I could tell potential writers, wannabe writers, or any writer hoping to become an author. I have come up with these tips:
• Read. It is totally amazing to me how many authors don’t read. I feel like I am reading 24/7 but it is not always books. Of course, when I do research for a book of my own, I am in about 20 titles all at the same time, analyzing, thinking and, well, reading. I think the reason that some writers don’t read is they don’t want to acknowledge the competition. They say things like, “I don’t want the other writer’s style to influence mine.” That’s ridiculous I think because, what? are you going to memorize their words? Your words will always be your words! And look at it this way, you are reading someone who is already published; don’t you think they might have something to say?
• Marketing. There aren’t many students that come to me that know the difference between “audience” and “market” and they use the terms interchangeably. Because I might have a few readers here who will try to finesse us into thinking they know too but don’t: your audience is your reader. And you should be able to conjure up a picture of them. If not, 
who are you writing for? The market on the other hand, are ways to get to your reader. So first you should be able to describe your reader, for an example: My reader is female, in her 30′s, she works in an office and hopes for better; she isn’t rich or good looking but is nice and tries to keep up with what’s hot, what’s in, what to wear, what movies to see, etc. So where is she in the market? She might read Cosmo, or Self, or People. She only has only around $10 for books (paperbacks are her thing) because of her Chevy car payment; she went through the romance phase, then the chick-lit phase, now moving into the female-driven mystery phase—well, you get the picture. In other to attract her to your writing, your character should possess some of the same problems she has, the same concerns she might have, her economics may be similar, whatever. But this is how you begin to target an, hey, an audience. So the end result: Your reader needs to identify with your character and the best way to do that is to mirror their lives. Novel idea.
• Cliches. And this is my last little lecture here—you can only take so much glib teacher. When did writers lose the ability to think? I very seldom meet a student writer who gets it. What I mean is: this writing gig is a business and there are a lot of other people out there who think they can do it too. But are they competition? Not unless they learn how to think. Thinking is hard. No one really wants to do much of it. Five minutes at tops. Your mind starts to wander. You have to wash the car. You need to online shop at HSN, your mother/brother/husband/boyfriend drives you crazy….you get the idea. So we resort to what is comfortable, familiar and it’s called “first level thinking.” Yup. We think like everyone else does. Whether we call it a consensus, common knowledge, a groundswell of information—we are all thinking the same things at any particular moment. Sorry. The self-esteem and uniqueness thing you got drilled into your head is, well, less than you know. Anyway, my point is this. New and original ideas are hard to come up with. But, you know what? Those are the things that spring off the page. Clever ideas or twists or concepts that we are all familiar with but that we hadn’t thought of yet. Or maybe we haven’t looked at something that way. “Hey, this writer is right! I hadn’t thought of that,” you say, and continue reading because they have built a connection to what you find interesting, but they have something new to say. Need I say more?
July 9, 2010
Posted in: Guest Blogs
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3 Responses
Good commom sense advice that helps me focus on goals.
good common sense advice that helps me focus of goals.
When I’ve taught, I’ve also been surprised by the number of people who don’t read in the genre they want to publish in. Good advice!
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