My Workshops at the Taylors Hill Neighborhood House - Term 2, 2014

Check out my term 2, 2014 workshops at the Taylors Hill Neighborhood house. 
 
Book your place asap to avoid disappointment!

Update 02/05/14: Blogging for Beginners will begin on Monday 12 May and finish on Monday 9 June. All other programs will run as advertised. Thanks for your support!

SEED Magazine

Here's the cover of SEED magazine's latest issue, the third for 2012. While I didn't write anything this time around, I edited a number of articles, proofread most of the others and gained a sub editor credit for my hard work. 

I also co-authored an eight-page feature article with Craig Henderson in the previous issue. I had a great time working with the editors, Suellen Green and Michelle Smart, who let me edit a number of articles and proofread the magazine as a whole. 

While I'm on a role with the covers, Writers Victoria mentioned my story Time and Time Again in their Jan-Feb 2012 issue for winning the 2011 Melton Short Story competition and being Highly Commended in The (2011) Henry Lawson Society Literary Awards.

Thanks for visiting,

Emanuel

Issue 12 of Platform Magazine

Platform magazine's awesome twelfth issue is here! 

This fantastic magazine, produced by Victoria University's Professional Writing and Editing department, features pieces by writers off all capabilities from high school, VCE and TAFE students to more established authors like Cate Kennedy, John Marsden, Michael McGirr, Alice Pung, Barry Garner and Kristin Henry, to name just a few.

If you would like a free copy of issue 12, send me your details.

Oh, and be sure to check out page 11 ;)

Emanuel

The Drafting Process

If you ask a group of writers what they hate most about writing, the overwhelming majority, if not all, will say editing. It takes a long time, is much less enjoyable than writing the first draft and involves thinking about a lot of things at the same time: grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization, logical progression of ideas, point of view, mood, theme, target audience, word choice, tense, headings, subheadings, font style and size, paragraphing and line spacing—to name just a few.

No wonder editing is associated with eyestrain, headaches and feelings of frustration and hopelessness.

To make the editing process less painful, many writers involve other people at various stages, from friends and family to fellow writers, literary agents and/or editors. As you gain more experience editing your own work and develop your support group, the process will become shorter and more tolerable. The goal is to go through each stage only once with as little help as possible.

If this is the first time you're reading this process, it might look quite daunting. The fact is, being a writer is tough, being a good writer is tougher, getting published is even tougher, and being a great, published writer is one of toughest challenges you'll face. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, doesn't draft their work (usually because it's only a hobby, which is fine), or has a ghost writer.

But, seeing your work in print (physical or electronic) and knowing you’ve created something unique and original that people are going to read and enjoy is well worth the effort. Your writing may show a reader they aren’t alone, shed light on a taboo subject, or change someone’s life for the better.

Below you’ll find an explanation of the various editing stages all good writing (emphasis on good) goes through, in one way or another, before it's ready for publication. Some writers, like me, draft their work a number of times at each stage and swap back and forth between them whenever necessary. It just depends on how quickly the story comes together.

Whenever you feel you don't have what it takes to be a great writer, don't be too concerned—there are a lot of easier jobs out there: physicist, biochemical engineer, astronaut and brain surgeon spring to mind.

I hope to shed some light on this process and break it down into smaller, manageable chunks of information that shouldn't melt your brain. I'll focus on writing a novel, but the principles are much the same for shorter fiction and non-fiction of any length.

Please keep in mind that, as with anything creative, the actual workings are unique to each author. What works for some, won’t for others. The same goes for each story.

The First Draft

The author writes a chapter at a time, with minimal feedback from a fellow writer, writing group, or mentor. The key here is to get the story down as organically and seamlessly as possible with only the faintest amount of conscious thought and self-criticism. Some writers call this free writing, but I think it’s best to keep the end product and target audience in mind at all times, reducing the chances of going too far off track and having to throw out slabs of text that took hours to write.

 

The emancipation
proclamation

I write most of my first drafts and rewrites by hand. I find it helps silence my inner critic and editor. But I also like to dip my McDonalds fries in a chocolate sunday...

When this first full draft is complete, you have the groundwork for a novel: a manuscript. Congratulations!

Some writers let family and friends read their manuscripts, but most of these people aren't regular readers, will say a lot of nice things and have very little to offer in the way of constructive criticism. This is great for a writer's motivation, but does little to improve the story.

If you’re serious about getting your novel published, and don’t have a team of credible people behind you, you could pay for a manuscript appraisal. The appraiser should identify, among other things, general problems with the voice, point of view, tense, amount and credibility of characters, chapter structure, themes and plot development. You’ll have a good sense of what woks and what doesn’t and, if your appraiser is good, you’ll know how to resolve most of it or know where to research how to.

The changes are usually applied by the author in this stage, or by an editor in the next.

Draft the Second

The second draft involves moving the text around to get the structure right: scenes, chapters, plot points, character relationships, themes, back-story, setup, main conflict, climax, resolution, plot holes and mix of setting, dialogue and narrative. Obvious punctuation, spelling and formatting errors can be corrected here, but the finer details are covered in later drafts.

This is usually where most writers need professional help (pardon the pun) and is where many give up. Little do they know, emerging authors usually have help from a mentor, agent or other person with authority in the field. Publishing houses usually assign contracted authors a specific editor, or various editors, who works very closely with them through this stage. The more prolific and popular the author, the more editors they’ll have behind them—not that they’ll ever tell you. Lucky aren't they?

Some editors call this structural or substantive editing and charge a lot for it. Others consider this an early stage of copy-editing.

While this stage can be quite daunting and leave your mind whirling in confusion, with the help of a good editor your manuscript will be a good read, something to be proud of. The story will flow in a logical and entertaining fashion. The plot points will be in the right place. The voice will be engaging and reasonably consistent. There'll be just the right amount of characters and they'll be believable and compelling and be doing what you want them to.

You've put a lot of hard work into your manuscript and should pat yourself on the back for hanging in there.

Third Time Lucky?

The third draft, which may be anywhere from the fifth read-through, is true copy-editing. It's time to work on the intricate details: paragraphing, sentence structure, progression of thought, depth of detail, tense, point of view, pace, tension, spelling, grammar, capitalization and word choice.

Reputable publishing houses have a team of editors who work through manuscripts a number of times at this stage. Most self published authors hire a freelance editor to do it for them. While many emerging writers spend very little time here and just print the damn thing.

Your work should be as polished as possible before being released to a wider audience or submitted to a publisher. Publishers won't be as willing to invest in your manuscript if it needs a lot of work. And, if a reader pays for your self-published book, you want to give them the most enjoyable experience possible.

Bad copy-editing lowers a book's readability and drags readers out of your story, deterring them from finishing your book and buying the next.

Anything with your name on it should be as error proof as possible. This will create a positive image of you as an author and create a standard of excellence. Establish yourself a skilled writer and you will gain credibility. A good reputation will lead to a wider readership and publishers will be more willing to invest in your work.

There’s a Fourth Draft Now?

The end is in sight! It's now time for line editing/proofreading. Most of the obvious errors will have been resolved. So, this stage is quite brief and may only take a few hours, depending on the author's ability to implement the previous drafts without introducing too many new errors. A few are inevitable; a lot can be quite time consuming.

Final version of the
emancipation proclamation



If you have gotten to this stage on your own, or with a single editor, you, or the editor, should get a second professional to proofread your manuscript—the fine details are very hard to see for someone who hasn’t seen them during previous drafts. This stage involves reading the manuscript line by line, word by word, a character at a time and teasing out the last of the spelling, punctuation, grammatical and formatting errors. 

Proofreaders are the Terminators of the writing business—almost nothing escapes them. From the opposite side of the room, they can spot extra spaces between words and lines, indented paragraphs that shouldn’t be, back to front apostrophes, missing full stops and commas, hyphens that should be n-dashes, and incorrect capitol letters.

Submitting or Self-publishing?

If you are selling your novel to a publisher, you're now ready to finalize your cover letter,chapter summaries, pitch and/or blurb and submit it to appropriate places. By now, you should know where and how. A literary agent can guide you through this process and get you the largest advance possible.

Literary agents research authors with similar writing styles and books with similar themes and target audiences to your own. They look at sales figures, demographics, projected sales, established markets, emerging trends and recent accusations. After creating a profile for you and your book, they approach the most appropriate publishers and try to get you the best deal possible.

If you have chosen to work on your novel alone until this point, you might find your manuscript gets rejected by agents and publishers without much explanation. Having an editor involved in the process does not guarantee your manuscript will be accepted by the first publisher you approach, especially if you submit it to the bigger ones, but it will definitely help. Any publisher willing to reject a well-structured manuscript with minimal errors is not worth your time.

Having an agent also helps you avoid the 'slush pile': the mountain of unsolicited manuscripts the major publishers receive every month. Getting off the slush pile is almost impossible, and even if you are offered a contract, it will likely include an entry level commission percentage and a very small advance. Your initial offer should include a cooling off period and the opportunity to have an agent represent you. An agent is your promoter, financial planner, legal aid and protected in all things publishing all rolled in one.

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to post comments or questions below.

Emanuel

Updated 28/06/12 - resolved format issues
Updated 06/05/12 - more pictures

A message to my fellow emerging writers

As one of five shortlisting judges for a local creative writing competition (I'm not sure if I can say which one...), I've read a ton of unpublished short stories in the last few months.


It's exciting to know there are so many talented armature and emerging writers who's stories need only minor changes to be truly amazing.

Submit your stuff to publishers, people. You never know when you'll be picked up!

Be brave, leap off the deep end and have confidence you'll land on the other side.
Even if you're not, pretend to be; not many people can tell the difference

For all you Aussies, check out my post on the major Australian literary journals and magazines.

A bunch of other competitions are also currently accepting submissions. Some are free, while others charge a small reading fee. Many offer decent prize money, certificates of merit and/or publication opportunities.

I know I've said this cliche before, but...

You've gotta be in it to win it!

Review: The 'Style Manual: for Authors, Editors and Printers'

I have chosen to review the sixth edition of the Style Manual: for Authors, Editors and Printers edited by Snooks & Co, printed by Craft Print International Ltd, Singapore, and published, marketed and distributed by John Wiley and Sons Australia, Ltd. My 2011 paperback edition contains 550 pages and cost $44.95 plus $7.50 shipping and handling via Wiley’s online store.

The Style Manual is an extensive resource for authors, editors and printers as it contains detailed information on preparing publication plans; the role of authors, editors, designers, printers and various other specialists; how to convey information clearly and concisely, including spelling, grammar, punctuation and capitalisation conventions; the importance of thorough copy-editing and proofreading; copyright, privacy and defamation laws; how to obtain quotes from printers; measures to ensure a publication’s quality; and, unique to the sixth edition, publishing on the web and other forms of digital printing.

Since the first edition, published in 1966 by the Commonwealth Government Printing Office, the Style Guide has undergone a number of revisions, keeping it up to date with the ever changing English language and trends in the publishing industry.

Each topic is written by specialists in their field, refereed by a second, or subsequent, source, and includes relevant images set out in an effective manner. For example, the introduction to chapter 25, ‘Paper-based Reproduction’, states that “Arranging for a document to be printed is a significant project management task. It entails contracting and coordinating a range of different suppliers, and checking the quality of the services they provide for the project. Knowledge of the processes and techniques involved enables suitable production decisions to be made.” The following 28 pages describe the process in great detail, including not only the various costs associated with print production (types of paper, printing and binding techniques, and embellishment), but also advice on how to reduce expenses without necessarily degrading the look and feel of the publication.

When you include the long list of further reading resources at the end of each chapter, the Style Manual has to be one of the most thorough and credible resources anyone serious about the publishing industry in Australia can own.

Harvard reference: Snooks & Co (eds.) 2011, Style Manual: for Authors, Editors and Printers, 6th edn, John Wiley and Sons, Singapore.

My experience studying at university

In case you’re visiting my blog for the first time, 

And for my French-speaking readers: je vous en prie

I’ve been studying Certificate IV in Professional Writing and Editing part-time at Victoria University since the middle of 2010. I’m a stay at home dad with two kids under 5—leaving just enough time to study two subjects per semester. The decreased workload and ability to study from home allows me to pursue my dream of becoming a novelist while focusing on raising my little ones and maintaining our household.

A fairly accurate dramatisation

So far I’ve completed Fiction Elements and the first semester of Editing 1 online. I’ve also studied Story Structure, Short Story, Novel, Professional Skills, Writing for Young Adults, and the second semester of Editing on campus. Next year I hope to complete Industry Overview and a second year of Novel and Editing.

Over the last eighteen months, I’ve learnt tons of stuff that didn’t sink in during VCE (oh so many years ago). I’ve gone from not knowing the difference between nouns and pronouns and verbs and adverbs to being able to pull apart sentences from my favourite books and put them back together in my own words with my own characters. It feels great calling myself a writer, and believing it!

I write short stories, poems and reviews, maintain this blog and am a few chapters into my sci-fi novel for Young Adults. I’ve been published a couple of times (three to be exact!), received Commendations and High Commendations in national writing competitions, and, most recently, won the 2011 Melton Short Story Competition.

I'd like to thank my wife and children for supporting me through the tough times and the academy for...

I couldn’t have done any of this without the skills I’ve gained at university, and the support of my tutors and fellow students. Sure I could have found a lot of the stuff on the net, or in books, but there’s a lot of rubbish out there and it’s really hard to separate fact from fiction. By the time you research the source of the information, make sure they’re a credible, active author and they’ve covered every aspect of the topic, you’ll have a massive headache and be over the whole learning process.

Is this illustrator following me around or something?

The classes at uni are fairly casual—certain topics need to be covered, but the delivery is adapted to each group. Almost all of the ideas and practices to do with writing are customisable. We discuss the relevant theories and come to our own conclusions. I don’t agree with everything the other students say, but I listen to them and make up my own mind. If something I’m initially against is repeated often, by different students or teachers, I look closely at whatever it is and adapt it to suit my way of thinking. The great thing about being a student is you don’t loose points for changing your mind.

I quite like the workshopping. Hearing what others think of my work, and giving feedback on theirs, makes the writing process a social experience. After all, I want my stories to be read by, and appeal to, as many people as possible. And it’s great learning from other people’s mistakes.

Bender, my robot friend, you are hilarious. How about some new episodes?

The tutors have a lot of experience in their fields. They teach from experience in a practical way. They are writers, too, and understand how tough it is for an emerging writer. They’re extremely approachable and many will look over your assignments the week before they’re due. Don’t expect them to correct your spelling and punctuation, but they might give you a little nudge in the right direction. If you’re really lucky, some might even read the stuff you’re trying to get published. Every bit of help counts.

If any of my tutors are reading, it’s probably best you skip the rest of this paragraph … Still here? Consider yourself forewarned ... Failing a subject is almost impossible! There, I said it. All you have to do is turn up to all the tutes on time (apart from the most exceptional of circumstances), participate in the discussions, listen to what others have to say and hand in all your assignments—no matter how crap you think they are.

The real challenge, the challenge you should set yourself, is achieving Distinctions and High Distinctions. These grades are quite elusive, especially if you have little prior experience as a writer, like me. But they are achievable.

How do I add 'And Writers Smell Bad All the Time'?

It would be nice to get 100% for everything you hand in but it’s just not realistic. The randomness of everyday life has a way of getting in the way of the best laid plans. Like your kids getting sick the day you're meant to hand in that big assignment; your hard drive getting wiped the day before, taking with it the changes you made since your last back up to USB; or, a plane crashing in your driveway, blocking your only path to uni. Two of these happened to me this year!



Make your own!

Whatever your goals, be realistic and kind to yourself and pat yourself on the back, often. Little steps like handing in assignments are just as important, if not more than, the grades you receive.

What maters most is that you learn the core principles in each subject, and how to apply them to your chosen field of writing, whether it be fiction, non-fiction, editing and publishing or a mixture of these. I’ve found that effort counts for a lot when you’re studying. If you put in the effort you won’t be able to stop yourself from being a great writer!

The most relevant piece of advice I can give a fellow student is to use all the resources available to you, especially if you’re struggling. If you’re having trouble understanding a particular idea, tell the tutor. Pardon the cliché, but some are worth their weight in gold. They’ll answer all the questions you put in emails, be available before and after most classes and may host study sessions during the week. A rare few even answer the office phone. Take advantage of all this, especially if you’re struggling—you wouldn’t be studying their subjects if you knew everything.

Merry Christmas and good luck in the new year to you and your families, and I hope you do well, whatever you choose to do.

Emanuel

A re-imagining

Not only am I struggling to find time to post on the topics I intended this blog to cover, but also I don’t feel qualified to speak in the depth this blog, and you, the reader, deserve.

So, I’m re-imagining this site as a platform to share my experience as an emerging writer. While I won’t post the details of everything I’m doing (my life isn’t that interesting and this isn’t a diary after all), I will mention the stories I’m working on, and those I’ve submitted to competitions and publications.  

I hope you check back regularly to see where my stories and I are at, and for snippets of my favourite stories. After all, this is a blog all about the writing and only a little about me :)

Thanks for reading and, as always, your comments are most welcome,

Emanuel