Book Review: The Fiction Writer's Handbook by Shelly Lowenkopf

The Fiction Writer's Handbook
by Shelly Lowenkopf
Publisher: White Whisker Books, November 16, 2012
Available in: Print, Kindle, and Nook  336 pages

I have been dreaming of reference books like this one ever since I was first introduced to the concept of hyperlinked text.  The fact that this is all about fiction writing just puts the purrrr in perfect.

The Fiction Writer's Handbook is organized like a dictionary or encyclopedia with an entry for every term and concept used by writers and editors and publishers of fiction.  And every time a term with an entry is used inside another entry it is linked back to its own entry.  There is also an alphabetized hyper-linked list of the entries accessed via the table of contents so you can easily find your way back to one you surfed away from while following links.  An entry can be from a sentence or two long up to several pages.

Lowenkopf has compiled an extensive toolkit for writers that incorporates his own decades of experience in the field as reader, writer, and editor, of fiction and teacher of fiction writing at the college level.  After decades of collecting and reading books on fiction writing I had long lost the wonder and hope that once colored my initial expectations with each encounter of a new how-to-write-fiction volume.  It is hard to surprise me with new information tho occasionally I can still be wowed by a new insight created by a new perspective on familiar facts and concepts.  But both have happened repeatedly as I delve deeper into the rich veins of information in this book.

Of course this could be because I focused on areas I was currently obsessing on because of issues I was having with my storyworld as I've discussed here frequently--the difficulty in creating antagonists or villains and in creating and keeping conflict active so the story doesn't fizzle.  Conflict is something I avoid in real life but to avoid it as the storyteller is the kiss of death for the story.

This isn't a new concept for me but something about Lowenkopf's presentation--with the terms all so carefully defined and expanded upon in their own entries and the ease of clicking back and forth between the entries that define a term and those that expound upon a concept--has brought the old info into focus in a new way such that I feel a dawning confidence that I now comprehend it well enough to apply it to my own stories.

This is one ebook that will not sit in my archives gathering pixel dust.

From the Publishers:

The Fiction Writer's Handbook is the definitive volume to explain the words and phrases that writers and editors use when they talk about a work. In the highly competitive publishing world, today's writers need to stay ahead of the competition and make every sentence count. This book will help new writers who need an understanding of the writing process, and for seasoned writers, it is a powerful tool.

What they are saying:

"Knowing how editors choose one work over so many others would give any writer an advantage. To that end, Lowenkopf, a longtime writer, editor, and educator, delivers the fiction-writing guide he has always longed for-one that can be applied to the practical goal of every aspiring writer: getting published... VERDICT: An invaluable insider's take on what editors look for when sifting through the slush pile." -Henrietta Thornton-Verma, Library Journal

"The effect is also similar to falling down a rabbit hole. To put it plainly, it's a tool that anyone who loves to learn more about the craft of writing won't be able to put down, an indispensable addition to any writer's library." --Marc Schuster, Small Press Reviews

"Shelly Lowenkopf has cooked up literary gumbo for all writers. Once you've sampled it, you won't be able to stop coming back for more." -Ehrich Van Lowe, author of bestseller Boyfriend From Hell

"It's encyclopedic in its erudition, yet as practical as a toolbox. It's also the masterwork of a brilliant mind, which has devoted itself to its subject and its students. Finally, as Sinatra might put it, it's simply a kick in the pants." -Gerald Locklin, poet 

 "The Fiction Writer's Handbook is one of those rare reading experiences-insightful, unusually useful, and wise." -Gayle Lynds, author of bestseller The Book of Spies

Shelly Lowenkopf taught in the University of Southern California's Master of Professional Writing Program for 34 years, has taught at the annual Santa Barbara Writer's Conference since 1980, and has been guest lecturer in many schools and conferences. He is currently Visiting Professor at the College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, with classes in noir fiction, the modern short story, genre fiction, and developing a literary voice. Lowenkopf has served as editorial director for literary, general trade, mass market, and scholarly book publishers, seeing over 500 books through the editorial and production process. His own short fiction has appeared widely in the literary press.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lowenkopf
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shelly.lowenkopf





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Rethinking Conventional Wisdom

Front cover

One of the books I currently have checked out on my sister's card is Alone With All That Could Happen: Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About the Craft of Fiction Writing by David Jauss. Published by Writer's Digest.  I am finding Jauss' advice helpful, his perspective upending and reading it enjoyable because even in non-fiction essay's he uses language like a poet.  But this is not a review..  At least not of the content.

You might call it a product review but that doesn't cover the whole of what is on my mind, which is that I was also thoroughly enjoying holding the book in my hands as I read.  Not only was eye-strain minimal even for me with my vision issues but the texture of the pages was pleasing to the touch and the decorative extras were pleasing to the eye and the elegance of the cloth cover exuded luxury.

splash page

I realized I was lusting after owning this book as much for its physical essence as for its content.  Maybe more.  For I could get the content in a variety of formats and still appreciate it--paperback, ebook, audio book--but none of them would give me the same visceral gratification as of a gourmand for an exotic delicacy.

As I mused on this it occurred to me that this reaction was proof that the panic attack the traditional publishing industry is having over digital publishing is a waste of energy and all the words, ink and sweat spilled over the issue useless.  All they need to do is think outside the box.  Not by all that much either.  Just a moderate rethinking of their business model.would remove the specter of irrelevance

table of contents & epigraph

If they could shift from seeing themselves as primarily content purveyors who must have a monopoly over the content and its potential market and must mass produce the cheapest possible vehicle for said content in order to make a profit and realize that they could be creators of works of art themselves they could stop hyperventilating over the impending demise of their industry.

chapter heading

For as long as there are those for whom the handling of an exquisitely made book gives pleasure there will continue to be a demand for them.  And as long as there are parents and grandparents who share their love of handling physical books with the youngsters in their lives there will be new crops of customers.

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Smashwords

I had to download some review copy books from here today and then spent hours exploring and downloading free books, short stories and samples.  Not everything is free of course.  On most things it is possible to read online or download a sample that tends to be 30% of the complete book even if it is a 300 page novel.  The theory behind that is that most people investing in a hundred pages of a story will pay to see how it ends.

I joined as I am thinking about putting some of the stories  I've already posted on Joystory in snippets on here as free ebooks to make it easier for anyone interested to read them beginning to end.  It might also serve as promotion for future novels once finished which I could sell via Smashwords. Based on what I've seen today, I like the atmosphere and attitude at Smashwords better than Amazon.

It is free for authors to publish ebooks and they get over 80% of every sale.

I'll just drop the info direct from their FAQ:

What does Smashwords offer authors?Over 30,000 authors around the world collectively publish and distribute over 78,000 ebooks with Smashwords.  Smashwords makes it fast, free and easy to publish and distribute your ebook to the world's largest ebook retailers and mobile phone apps. Authors control the pricing, sampling and marketing of their books, and receive 85% of the net sales proceeds from their works (70.5% for affiliate sales) for sales at our Smashwords.com retail operation, and authors earn 60% of the list price for sales though our distribution network of retailers including the Apple iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo and the Diesel eBook Store.

I have got to get control of my obsessive collecting of free ebooks that started in late October.  I've now got over 2000 which is ridiculous as even at the improved speed that reading ebooks gives me I couldn't read them all in under a decade as it is unlikely I'd be able to maintain a book a day pace which would still take at least 6 years!  I'm a hopeless hoarder.

In the case of the classics tho, I just like knowing they are there for the whim that may take me.  Many of them I have read tho decades ago.  And then there is the nostalgia factor for those children's classics I read as a child or YA.

Ah, well I might as well accept I am who I am.  Collecting ebooks seems one of the less malignant of my hoarding proclivities.

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Arielle Ford: The Golden Age of Authors: Why Books Are Alive and Well

print for sale @ art.com

Arielle Ford: The Golden Age of Authors: Why Books Are Alive and Well:

'via Blog this'

The stats are in:

Americans, young and old, are reading actively in all print and digital formats

This makes a great follow up to yesterday's post regarding the, to my mind misguided, war between Amazon.com and similar online platforms for publishing and distribution of print media and the old vanguard of big publishing houses and big bookstore chains.

The truth is showing up in the numbers but why isn't it just plain intuitive that if you have more of something available in more formats more people will use it?  And if you have formats that can reach billions in seconds isn't it obvious more appetites will be whetted and sated?

One of the really amazing things about the web is the way those with similar tastes can find each other and in their digital fellowship know exactly how to provide the very thing that answers to their fellow fan's craving.

Once maybe a new author or artist needed the echelon of professional editors and promoters the big publishing houses provided because the tools required to do it well were expensive and often individually too large for the family garage let alone the family room.  Now all of those same tools and techniques are available to anyone from the fourteen year old Junior High geek to the frumpy granny in gingham.  All of them together fitting in junior's backpack or granny's handbag.  As long as they have web access, curiosity and the willingness to learn they can avail themselves of all the same techniques the old bastion used to generate hype and create desires only they could fulfill.

The difference being that for them the cost of such promotion was so prohibitive they could only do it for a few and in order to profit had to create huge mass audiences for their fair.  Not so for granny and junior. They can start reaping profit with only a few thousand fans/customers and yet if persistent can go on to create the tidal wave of want known as going viral that can put them on the map.

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Amazon Rewrites the Rules of Book Publishing - NYTimes.com

Amazon Rewrites the Rules of Book Publishing - NYTimes.com:

'via Blog this'

What Penguin did to Kiana Davenport as told in this article is proof of the lack of imagination and flexibility the old print industry has and those are what will bring it down not the existence of Amazon.com or any other forum that eliminates middlemen from between author and reader.

By canceling Davenport's contract for her upcoming novel due out next year because she used one of the well known, well tested self promoting techniques of publishing online some of her unpublished short stories and threatening to force her via legal action to return her $20K advance, Penguin has shot itself in the foot. Not only have they lost what even they must have thought was a potentially profitable relationship with a new author for this first and any following novels but the publicity of this case will likely lose them many future new authors if not many current ones.

I've been thinking for some time now that self-publish is the way to go for me. And the more I read about the arrogance of the big house publishers and their paranoia regarding the web, their elitist exclusivity, the difficulty breaking in--the no agent no submission acceptance/no publish credits no agent catch 22) the hit or miss promotional efforts for new authors and so forth, the more I am convinced I will have to get over my reluctance to self promote and just do it.

I've been holding back partly because of the stigma of the so called vanity press from the days before the web and electronic publishing.  But I'm beginning to see that as another artifact of the past.

I've also been holding back most of my best work off my blog and other web presences for fear of scaring off publishers and agents as I'd heard they frowned on that and would refuse to publish stuff previously published online.

It is my prediction that these old print publishing houses are going to find themselves unable to satisfy the readers and writers coming of age in this decade who have no memories of before electronic publishing and the web and will have no patience with waiting months for responses to submitted manuscripts and years to see an accepted one actually in print. And it will be there own fault not the fault of those with the vision to foresee the potential of the new technology and do something with it.

Whether publisher or bookstore I have no patience with those who see Amazon.com and their like as their enemy. I'm tempted to blame the age of those in the decision making positions for this tunnel vision but none of them can be more than half a decade older than me and even this ol fuddy duddy can imagine ways in which they could mutually profit so why can't they?

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Friday Forays In Fiction: The Future?

I've been seeing these around all over the book blogs and wondering what they were about exactly. I wasn't immediately excited because recent experience with electronic screens had dampened my enthusiasm. I was, for example, extremely disappointed when I bought my laptop in 2005 to discover that I could not read the screen outdoors in daylight. The same thing happened with my new digital camera I got for Christmas last year. I can't see the image in the LED screen in sunlight. Even on cloudy days it is only very faint. So I feared the same problem would hold for an e-book device. But ever since I read the product description last Sunday and learned that the Kindle's screen is not backlit and can be read from any angle either indoors or out, I was intrigued. More than intrigued. I started to drool (in a virtual way) and the more I read about it the more I liked what I saw.

These are the features I like:

• A readable screen
• Long battery life for reading (less long when useing the wireless) and quick recharge
  
• Adjustable font size--my poor eyes just looooove this.
  
• An onboard dictionary to look up words encountered while reading.
• An ability to subscribe to newspapers and blogs
• A QUERTY keyboard for typing search terms, orders from the Kindle store and notes on reading
• It comes with room to store approximately 200 books but a memory card can be added to expand that to 4000. sigh. droooool. No more second bag for my traveling library.
• But if you run out of room and need to delete material to make room for new orders or you loose your Kindle--no worries Amazon stores your Media library for you and it can be downloaded again at anytime.
• The cost of recently released hardbacks in Kindle format is only $9.99! That is like one half to one third of the cost of most new books! In fact fairly close to the price of the mass market paperback that isn't released for over a year. And no trees have to die!

But alas. With a ticket price of $359 and our current circumstances, I'm sure Suze Orman would say DENIED! So for now I drool.

But none of the above really qualifies this for a topic in Friday Forays in Fiction which is reserved for topics relevant to the craft and business of writing fiction. What I got to thinkng about after I got an email from NaNoWriMo a couple days ago made it relevant to the publishing of one's fiction though which is a topic concidered very relevent by most fiction writers.

The email from NaNoWriMo announced that a deal had been struck with CreateSpace which is owned by Amazon to provide every NaNoWriMo winner with a free proof copy of their NaNo novel. Beginning retroactively with 2007 winners. Not only can they get that free paperback proof copy but they can choose to offer their novel for sale on the CreateSpace site.

My mind instantly made the connections between the two Amazon endeavors and saw a future in which fiction writers could bypass the tyranny of the publishing industry gatekeepers: agents, editors, bean counters, the hostage holding of manuscripts, the catch 22 of needing to be published in order to get published and all of the rest of the hurdles that tend to curdle the aspiring writer's soul.

Self-publishing using methods that would combine the potential of the Kindle technology with that of CreateSpace and the promotional potential of blogs and websites could put the power back in the hands of the writers. The creators, the providers of content could dictate the terms instead of groveling at the gates of industry moguls who have to care more about buildings, printing presses, payroll, paper, ink and advertising than they do about art.

And oh yes more trees would live!

BTW Oprah announced the Kindle as her new fav gadget today and gave them to her audience with the current book club selection, The Story of Edgar Sawtell loaded already. And for the watching audience Amazon is providing $50 off for anyone using the special code at checkout. You'll find that special code at Oprah.com. The offer is good only through November 1st.

$50 off $359 is a significant savings but not enough to get me the Suze Orman APPROVED. Sigh.

OK I've been watching too much CNBC this month.

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O'Rile Me

This speaks to why I am no longer interested all that much in being published by one of the 'big boys' aka the big publishing houses that are more than likely already folded into a multi-media monolith.

I mean really! Would you buy a book by Jeffery Dahmer on table manners for kids?

Seriously. Who would? And yet someone thought it was a good idea to produce this morality and ethics tract for kids which includes advice on interpersonal relationships by one of the most notorious bullies in all of mediadom: a man caught on tape bullying his co-workers and the guests on his show; a man who settled out of court with a co-worker who had taped him conversing with her about the interesting things he could think of using a loofah for ...

It is bad enough that the man still has a job! But seeing that the publishers are still hawking his hypocritical drek as fit for kids? That is gorge rising!

Who are the parents buying this book for their kids?

And I bet his manuscripts don't sit on an editors or agents desk for six to sixteen months while 'due consideration' is given as to whether it 'fits their current needs!'

I have no desire to share a publisher's imprint with this compost. (Um. I meant the book not the man. I think.)

Nor do I want to even bother trying to compete for the attention of those who even consider for a nanosecond that there is value in advice packaged for kids under the name and face of our nation's most iconic tantrum thrower, stalker and racist? Why would I entrust my work, into which I've poured my heart and soul and infused with the values of my spirit, into the hands of someone whose values are reflected in this shinola?

I wouldn't. I won't! I will find another way.

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