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Blog Tour – Spotlight: The Fiction Writer’s Handbook by Shelly Lowenkopf with a guest post
The Fiction Writer’s Handbook
written by Shelly Lowenkopf
published by White Whisker Books
find it here: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Goodreads
About the book – from Goodreads: 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 a 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 it’s also for seasoned writers who need inspiration. It’s a powerful tool.
Praise for The Fiction Writer’s Handbook
“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
Every Free Chance Book Reviews is pleased to welcome Shelly Lowenkopf as he is on tour with Premier Virtual Author Book Tours. He has prepared the following guest post for all of you.
Into the Rabbit Hole of Publishing
By Shelly Lowenkopf
What’s the difference between a writer and an author?
Only a matter of degree and formality, you say. Well, chew on this for a bit: Each time you revise a work in progress; you are learning from it and advancing your project toward its destination of being published.
Sometimes, the revision is a matter of removing extraneous and, thus, distracting material. Other times, you’ll have noticed a gap where you might have included material helpful to advancing your story. Yet other times, you’ll discover a better way to arrange the paragraphs and perhaps even chapters to get an impact you hadn’t seen before.
Now, you’re at a plateau where the professionals—literary agents, editors—have an acquisitive interest in your project. Good for you. You’re about to be published, and you’ve earned it. Whatever your previous thoughts on the matter, now your education as a writer is about to begin.
You start by learning from your agent the nature and extent of contracts, the agreements to publish. You learn your obligations and those of your publisher. You discover your potentials for being paid, when, and under what circumstances.
Then. Delivered to your mailbox or your computer, a learning experience of considerable magnitude—your editor’s notes and suggestions.
I can see your response (because, at one time, I had the same one). How can this be? If there were so many notes and suggestions, why ever would they want to publish this work? The answer is, in itself an education. They saw the value and wonder of your work. They also saw ways to make it yet more intense.
I wrote my most recent book, The Fiction Writer’s Handbook, for the same reason my literary agent and publisher took the time and effort to talk to me about its strengths and potential soft spots. We all saw a need for such a property. The agent persuaded me that a few things were unnecessary. The publisher asked for three or four additions. The project was in many ways a summary of things I’d learned in a long career of writing, editing other writers, and bringing a number of students to publication level. Agent and publisher saw ways to tweak and enhance. I knew the process well; I’d done it for writers over the years. Now, as a writer, it was my turn to shut up and listen to the individuals who know what they’re doing. Is it any less my book because I listened? In fact, The Fiction Writer’s Handbook is more my book because I listened and responded rather than listened and argued.
So now, we’ve got the content editor’s notes and suggestions dealt with, and we’re almost ready to go. But not quite. Next step is the copyedit. Most of the better book publishers in America use CMOS, the University of Chicago Manual of Style, as a usage guide. This is so because CMOS has been almost a hundred forty years, establishing usage conventions for spelling, punctuation, abbreviations, when to use italics, and how to format captions and indexes.
Copyediting is a mechanical process, where the goal is consistency of use. There are similar works, used by magazines, journals, and newspapers. Professionals know which to use and under what circumstances. Even so, the detail-oriented eye of the copyeditor works in tandem with the dramatic sense of the content editor to make sure your work emerges with dramatic and factual depth.
When you see your copyedited manuscript, you’ll become aware of personal quirks in your work such as referring to 52nd St. with numerals and an abbreviation in one chapter, then spelling out Fifty-Second Street in the next chapter. May not sound like a big deal until you see the entire copyediting pass on your work. Then, you’ll be in a better position to understand why so many authors give nods to their agent, their editor, and their copyeditor in the acknowledgments.
By the time you hold the finished product in your hand, you’ll have a sense of having been a part of a skilled, professional team, all of whom have helped you articulate aspects of your project you may have at one time taken for granted or not even considered until asked.
The emerging writer often fears publication is an adversarial process. The professional author understands the process of evolution inherent in every project.
Welcome to the club.
After a significant amount of revision, I thought I knew my latest book pretty well. Then came the edits and copyedit, with the result that I know it even better.
About the author: 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 a 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.
Happy reading wherever you are and whenever you get a free chance!!!
2 Comments
by Teddy Rose
Thanls so much for taking part in the tour and hosting Shelly!
by The Every Free Chance Reader
No problem!