Home of Author J.A. Konrath

Writing is hard work. Publishing what you write is even harder.

These pages are for writers, in any stage of their careers, who want to improve their writing and market themselves better. They are tips and tricks I've learned through rejection, failure, success, and advice from industry pros.

PAIN-FREE REWRITING
I have killed. With my hands I have hacked and slashed and chopped. I have even, on occasion, pieced back together the mutilated remains, joining parts like a Frankenstein.

And I am better for it.

It isn't easy to begin cutting--the sharp instrument in hand, the fear and trepidation. How dare I kill my children? My little legacies, born of my blood and sweat...from fruit of the womb to grist for the mill.

I started with adjectives. Adverbs soon followed. The 'said' clones were next--replied, queried, questioned, declared, yelled, lamented--killed and buried.

But what of beautifully detailed descriptions? What of prose of a rose so sweet the reader can smell it in the page? Not essential to the plot. Kill it.

Exposition didn't die easy. It fought like a wounded bear. I couldn't stamp the life completely out, so I cleverly hid plot devices in dialogue and brief sentences.

Simile and metaphor were like two giant monsters, harder to kill than an army of rats, endless as boring lectures, repeated more often than Lewinsky jokes, like two great--see what I mean about hard to kill?

Backstory posed a problem. The reason it posed a problem is because many years ago, when I was much younger, I knew a--SNIP!

A character's backstory should be a few sentences at most. If it drags into pages, it ain't backstory, dammit!

Harder still, was cutting story. Being able to spot a stray adverb and assassinate was a painful but easy task. But to actually cut dialogue and action...

Visualize a runner. The kind that wins marathons. No corpulence on this guy. No heart disease threatening to kill him before he finishes the race, no extra baggage weighing him down. Lean and fast. That's the story. A race from start to finish. Take only what is needed to win.

Is the hilarious scene where the guy gets his butt stuck in an armchair needed? Not to finish. Is the clever banter between hero and sidekick required? It doesn't make the story go any faster. Fiction does not exist on paper. It exists within the mind of the reader. Use just enough words to get the mind working. Don't let ego tell you otherwise.

The hardest past of parenting is discipline, and there's no harder discipline than murder. But I urge you to kill your children. Not all--some must die so the others can live. Those that do survive will be taking home trophies.

Damn... I should probably cut out that simile.

The first chapter is often the most important in the book. A good first chapter will make an agent, editor, and buyer take notice. A poor first chapter will make them reach for something else.

Here are some tips on what to look for in your novel's beginning.

TIPS FOR THE FIRST CHAPTER

Make sure the first chapter starts with action.

Show, don't tell. This means you don't need a one paragraph description of a bedroom, a character's thoughts on everything, and for god's sake don't put any backstory int he first chapter.

Keep it short. It doesn't have to be James Patterson short, but a ten page first chapter is better than a thirty page first chapter when it comes to grabbing attention.

Watch your POV... try to stick in one character's mind for the whole chapter.

Cut everything that doesn't move the action forward. EVERYTHING. If it moves the story forward, or gives us a better feel for the characters, put it in a later chapter, but not the first. Leave the reader wanting more, not knowing everything.

You probably don't need a prologue. Editors often cut them, and readers often skip them. Try to remove it and see if the story suffers. If you really believe you need one, don't make it longer than a few pages.

And this is the most important---trust yourself. You've been writing since you were four. You know how to craft a sentence. Not eveything needs to be rewritten---sometimes it comes out right the first time.

SELF-CRITIQUING
Perhaps the hardest thing about writing is judging one's own work. Taste is subjective; anyone can read a novel and give their opinion, with points to back it up. But when the mind behind an opinion must critique its own creation, catharsis ensues. I know what I like, and I write what I know, but how can I judge what I have created when I use the same mind for both? The answer is, I can't. Just as potty training toddlers are so proud of their mastery they want to show everyone their doo-doo, we as writers cannot separate pride from opinion. Self-editing is a grueling task, and trying to incorporate critiques or advice into revisions is akin to pulling out one's own teeth. So here's some Novocain. I've learned three techniques that help make self-reflection more accurate. Instead of deluding ourselves that the very first draft, aside from a few typos, is ready for Pulitzer submission, these exercises will help us trade rose colored glasses for the magnifying kind.

1. Read everything out loud

This deceptively easy trick will not only help with errors, it will also give you a better feel for the piece and where it is going. Wordiness and redundancies are hard to spot on paper, but they're exposed when rolling off the tongue. Keep in mind that we all have a voice in our head when we read something, but we also use that same voice when we're writing something. It's easy to confuse the two. By reading your work out loud, you can make a distinct separation from what you thought, and what is actually on the page.

This method of divorcing yourself from your ideas is the difference between the pros and the amateurs. Find an author you like, read their prose aloud, and try to compare it to yours. Unless you've been commercially published, theirs is better. Figure out why Stephen King is a better writer than you, and maybe one day he won't be.

2. Never listen to praise

Praise is like chocolate--we love to eat it up, but it isn't good for us. Being told something is good doesn't help you get better. We're writers. We write because we feel we have a pretty good mastery of the language and a lot of ideas to share. To seek praise for a well turned sentence, while ego inflating, is not going to bring us any closer to our goal. That goal, of course, is publication.

There is ALWAYS something that can be fixed, edited, or told in a better way. To paraphrase Hemingway, writing is never completed, it is simply due. When asking for opinions, you want to know what didn't work, what needs to be fixed, how it can be made stronger. Ask questions and demand details. A simple critique of "It sucks" is no more help than, "It was great." Find out why the reader didn't like something. Then get an opinion from someone else, and question them on the point of contention. If most of the people who read a piece tell you to change it, change it. They're right.

3. Put the writing away

When you've finished something, move onto something else before you tackle a full scale edit. Two weeks is good. A month is better. If you can avoid editing for a year, then that's the best of all. The more you're able to forget what you've written, the more you'll be able to spot its flaws when you read it again.

As an experiment, dig up something you wrote a year ago, read it out loud, and write down ten things that should be changed to make it better. Force yourself to do more than just switch commas or replace synonyms. The point of creation, whether it is a poem or an epic novel, is an ego boost. Ego will not allow you to see the work as others do.

Don't we all know someone who carries photos of their ugly baby and always looks for excuses to show them off, beaming with pride each time? The pictures are lying to her, just as the mirror lies to us. We must regain objectivity if the piece is to be successful. Distance=objectivity.

4. Get the scissors

A friend taught me this. You may have the right words, but the wrong order. Don't be afraid to print up a manuscript and then attack it with a razor and a roll of tape. Switching chapters, paragraphs and sentences can sometimes make a good piece into a great one. Seeing your words all hacked gives you a greater freedom to manipulate them. Why do so many people buy those refrigerator poetry magnets? It's fun, and sometimes very effective, to slice and dice.

By working with these four suggestions, we can force the mirror to show us the real thing. What it shows may be ugly, but a pencil is the perfect plastic surgeon.

CONFLICT IS THE KEY
He burned down my house. Killed my wife. Kidnapped my kids. Ate my dog. Left me with two teeth, one eye, and no legs.

I dedicated my life to tracking him down. Chasing him through Europe. Following him back through time. Traveling into outer space. But I never did catch him, so I gave up.

Bad? Stupid? A time waster?

It could be worse. He didn't burn down my house. He just came over to watch the ball game. My wife and kids went to see a movie. We had a few beers, then I went to bed.

Both of these concepts are missing something essential. We all know stories contain a beginning, a middle, and an end. We also know they contain plot, setting, and characters.

But the thing that makes a compelling read, the thing that makes us keep turning the page, is something that a lot of us forget

That thing is conflict.

Conflict is the main ingredient for successful fiction. The question of "What happens next?" is what keeps your audience glued to the page. Not pretty description. Not clever phrasing. Not cute dialog. The motor that drives the story is conflict. The central plot of any story should be centered around a conflict. The sub plots should introduce more conflict. There should be conflict on every page, and even in every paragraph.

Readers don't want characters to be happy. They want them to be tortured for 90,000 words, and then happy at the very end. Maybe. That's the essence of a page-turner.

I like to break conflict down into three steps:

Opposition - That is, something against something else. Man vs. man, animal, nature, death, even himself.

Stakes - When the opposition is defined, what is at stake here? Who risks losing what?

Resolution - How does the conflict end? Is the hero's goal reached? Here's the fun part.

Apply this principle to any narrative you've encountered--movie, TV show, book, comic, short story, cartoon, etc. All of these contain a conflict, probably many conflicts at once.

Now--does your story? It doesn't matter how cool or beautiful your hero is, or how nasty the villain, unless there is turmoil and chaos. Many writers cringe at the prospect of plotting a novel. Eighty thousand words? How can I make one idea stretch that long? It's actually not too hard. Simply put your characters in a worst case scenario, then keep making it even worse.

For example--if I wrote a story about two hit men, this is how I'd add conflict.

Have them hate each other.
Hit Man #1 wants out of the business--this is his last job.
Their target (a terrorist who's planning on blowing up a school) gets away.
Their bosses threaten to kill them if they don't finish the job.
Hit man #1 is sleeping with hit man #2's wife.
Their target begins stalking them, trying to kill them before they kill him.
Hit Man #2 finds out about the affair, swears to kill #1.

And you can keep upping the ante. The boss eventually sends other hit men after them both. Hit Man #2's son is at the school the terrorist is going to blow up. The wife gets kidnapped. Etc.

If you don't like plotting out a story before you write it, you can do it as you're writing it. Just keep raising the stakes for your characters. Set up goals in the beginning, throw some obstacles in the way, and see if your characters sink or swim. And if your characters do swim, send a few sharks after them!

PLOT VS. CHARACTER

I�m an advocate of cutting everything non-essential to the story. It�s the Kill Your Darlings School of Writing. If it ain�t needed, trim it.

But does that include characterization? Aren�t those little extra descriptions, those bits of nuance and idiosyncrasy, needed to establish a character?

To which I firmly answer: kind of.

I believe that characters are there to serve the plot, rather than the plot being a device to showcase characters. They overlap, but I'd bet a writer who spends two pages describing a character could boil down that character's essence to a few short sentences and not lose anything.

Characterization for the sheer sake of characterization is useless.

My heroine in Whiskey Sour, Jacqueline Daniels, has insomnia. This is specifically tied into her career, her perceived failure as a wife, and her opinion of herself. Though insomnia is a character trait of Jack's, and I spend a few pages describing it, it's still essential to the plot at several key points�it even saves her life once. If Jack didn't have insomnia, the book would be entirely different.

Let's say Jack also has migraines. This could also be a bit a characterization, and might also say something about her, the way she lives, and why she does the things she does. But unless I actually use those migraines to advance the plot (such as she suffers one in the middle of a shoot-out and can't function), having the audience know about them is unneeded.

During the book we find out about Jack's past--her childhood, her marriage, her career. I could have put in a flashback chapter about the night she found out her father died--all that was going through her childhood mind, all the emotions she was feeling, a blow-by-blow account of his death. This could have invoked reader sympathy and identification for Jack's character.

But I didn't do that. I described her Dad's death in one sentence. Why?

Because even though it added to Jack's character, it wasn't essential to the story.

So I killed Jack's dad, then let the reader figure out how it affected her.

Give the reader just enough to picture the scene. Too much and you bore the reader. Too little and--well, I'll be honest here; I've never seen a case where the author gave the reader too little. Pre-published writers usually spend more time on characters than plots, and it hurts them. We're not writing r�sum�s. We're writing stories.

I think cutting everything about a character that doesn't relate to the plot is a smart idea, because it forces you to consider the character within the plot and giver her traits that NEED to exist. The trick here (and it is a trick) is to make each chapter, each paragraph, each word ESSENTIAL.

Every trait and description you give a character should be followed by asking yourself why that character needs that trait and description. Do you want to make the reader sympathize? Hate? Understand? Fear? Laugh? How can you do that succinctly?

All of this should be thought-out, the same way a plot should be thought-out.

Now there have been cases in my writing where I don�t call my own pot black. Usually I transgress to put in a joke, or a funny situation. This could possibly fall under necessary characterization, because humor is essential to the success of the story. But it could just as easily be cut and not hurt the story at all.

This kind of indulgence only works on a line-by-line-basis. A quick joke here, and a quick pun there. I�d never include a three-page humorous anecdote, no matter how amusing, if it didn�t advance the story. If I find I really want to include something that I know is purely fluff, I try to make it part of the plot.

Jack�s partner, Herb Benedict, overeats. In Whiskey Sour, this is mostly comic relief. But in the sequel, Bloody Mary, Herb goes on a diet, which is a catalyst for several important changes that occur to his character.

I spared this particular darling and used it to advance the plot.

This doesn't mean you should strip your characters of all traits so they're wooden stereotypes. Well-drawn characters are important in fiction. If a reader doesn�t care about the protagonist and antagonist, it doesn�t matter how many rollercoaster twists the plot has. As writers, it�s our duty to make our characters memorable.

But always remember; interesting characters are not interesting because of who they are. They are interesting because of what they do. Who they are may effect what they do, but backstory and exposition are poor ways to describe characters. Action and dialog are much better. And these actions and dialogs should be revealed through the plot.

You are writing a STORY, and not a CHARACTER. But I don't condone neglecting characterization in lieu of story.

In fact, done properly, the two aren't separate at all.

AVOIDING PLODDING PLOTTING
I did a speaking thing the other day, and afterward a bright and talented young author expressed that plotting was difficult for him.

I gave him my stock answer: Torture your protagonist.

The fact is, readers don't want your hero to be happy. At least, not until the end. They want angst, conflict, ruined dreams, dashed hopes, impossible situations, neuroses, struggle, heartache, near death experiences, ruined lives, and pain.

All you need to know about plotting is twofold.

Give your characters goals.
Don't let them reach those goals.

For example, let's say we're writing a YA coming of age novel about a 14 year old video game geek named Leroy. His goals: kiss a girl, mend his parents' unstable marriage, and get ahold of Grand Theft Doom Craft 3: Halo and Goodbye and the new GameBox X-Station System. Let's also make his family very poor.

So how do we torture Leroy?

His parents won't let him have the game, because it is too violent, and they can't afford it
He asks the cutest girl in school to the dance, and she says yes, but he can't dance
He bribes the high school bully to buy him the game and system, cashing in his bonds (which are supposed to be for college)

His parents begin a trial separation
The bully takes all of his money but doesn't buy him the game
He needs dance lessons, but no longer has any money (the bully has it)

His best friend gets the game, but won't let him play
The cute girl cancels the date
He tries to get him money back from the bully, and gets beaten up.

The cute girl is going with the bully to the dance
Leroy confides in his Dad, who boxed Golden Gloves in high school, and he gives him some lessons
Leroy confides in him Mom, who shows him how to dance

How can things get worse?

Leroy sucks as a fighter
Leroy sucks as a dancer
Leroy sucks as a matchmaker
Leroy overhears that the bully is going to go 'all the way' with the cute girl after the dance, whether she wants to or not
GTDC3:H&G is having a high score contest, and the winner gets $10000 dollars

Come on. You know how it's going to end.

His friend lets him finally play the new game, and Leroy gets a great score and sends it to the contest folks. Then Leroy goes to the dance stag, walks in on the bully making unwanted advances on the cute girl, cleans his clock, dances with her, gets a kiss, goes home to find out Dad has moved back in.

And, of course, the prize people show up with a check for $10000.

Or maybe the parents don't get together, and Leroy doesn't win the money, but he realizes that growing up means you don't always get what you want.

The point is, if you keep thinking "How can I make this worse?" plotting takes care of itself.

If you've ever read a book with a surprise twist, it was probably the result of the author thinking, "What would no one expect could happen next?"

If we wanted to add a twist to the story, we could have the cute girl be a secret videogame addict, and she wins the contest and gives Leroy back the money he lost to the bully. Or the Dad, in a fit of overcompensation after leaving home, buys Leroy the game system. Or the bully turns out to be Leroy's brother, because Leroy's Dad is a cheater, which is why Mom kicked him out.

And if you're truly stuck, use my tried and true Jump Start the Plot Trick: "And when I answered the door... there were zombies!"

That always works.

CREATING SERIES CHARACTERS

Series characters in mysteries and thrillers are all the rage. How can you invent a likeable hero that will help you land a book deal?

I've discovered that focusing on several character traits is a fast and easy way to define your protagonist, and make her stand out form the rest of the pack.

Read over the following list, check out my examples, then download a blank worksheet and create that hero.

UNIQUE- What makes this person different from anyone else? Why is this hero the ONLY ONE who could be in your story? Include profession, race, gender, age, and brief description. And make sure you have a cool name.

GOALS- What are your protagonist�s goals? Dreams? Fears? Things they desperately want?

FLAWS- What personal, internal problem will get in the way of the hero reaching his/her goals? Addiction? Illness? Disability? Neuroses?

QUIRKS- What are the strange, bizarre, personal, or human traits this hero possesses? Habits and rituals?

PERSPECTIVE- First person or third person, and why?

SUPPORT- Who are the supporting, returning characters that assist your hero? Friends? Co-workers?

ENEMY- Your villain should have all of these traits as well. Who will make a worthy opponent for your hero?

EXAMPLE- Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels

Featured in the novels WHISKEY SOUR & BLOODY MARY, and the EQMMM short stories ON THE ROCKS & WITH A TWIST by JA Konrath

UNIQUE- Jack is 46, divorced, unlucky in love but a good cop�she had to be to become a Lieutenant in the male-dominated fraternity of the CPD. Jack has dedicated her life to the Job, but is now at an age where she�s regretting never starting a family.

GOALS- Jack needs to do well in her career; that�s the only time she feels good about herself. But she also realizes, for the first time, that there�s more to life than work, and she wants to broaden her personal life.

FLAWS- Jack has insomnia, due to her fixation with her job. She constantly questions her own actions, wondering if she could have done better. She doesn�t think she�s worthy of love.

QUIRKS- Her insomnia causes her to max out her credit cards watching the late night Home Shopping Network. She worries too much about fashion, and is envious of those who dress better than she does.

PERSPECTIVE- First person for Jack, third person for the villain.

SUPPORT- Overweight partner Det. Herb Benedict, accountant boyfriend Latham Conger, mother Mary Streng, ex-husband Alan Daniels, criminal friend Phineas Troutt, ex-partner PI Harry McGlade, hellspawn cat Mr. Friskers.

ENEMY- In WHISKEY SOUR, a serial killer called The Gingerbread Man is making snuff movies in his basement and wants to make one with Jack. In BLOODY MARY, a maniac is dismembering people and leaving accessories of Jack�s at the crime scenes.

DOWNLOAD THE CHARACTER WORKSHEET

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Believe it or not, your writing may not be the only reason you get rejected. If you don't follow correct manuscript formatting, and overworked agent or editor may file you in the round cabinet before reading a single word.

And even if you do have the proper manuscript presentation, you can easily make some newbie mistake to turn the editor off. Here are some important tips to keep in mind.

Font. Sound silly? It's not. Read for ten hours straight, then try to squint at some joker who crammed 1000 words on a page using 8pt Helvecta. You wanted to save paper and postage. Editors want to save their eyes. Use 12pt Times New Roman or Courier. ALWAYS!!!!!
Paper. Cheap paper, thin paper, colored paper, multiple folds, stains of dubious origin, rips and tears, too many staples---999 times out of 1000, if the paper is crummy, the story is crummy. But whenever an editor sees 24# ultra white paper (go for 104 bright) she perks right up. Sound silly? It's not. Use good paper, no folds, binding other than a paperclip if needed. Show her the work is important. If you serve lobster, you use bone China, not plastic McDonald's Hamburgler plates.
Ink. If it is dot matrix, or typewriter, or colored ink, or smeared ink, or ink that's running low, or has ballpoint pen or White Out ANYWHERE on it to make corrections, the editor can safely assume the story is bad. If you want to impress a date, wear expensive clothes. If you want to impress an editor, buy a decent laser printer.
Spacing. If an editor sees big blocky paragraphs, more than 25 lines per page, no indenting, indenting 3 spaces or less (rather than 5), line spacing between paragraphs, or a story that begins on the first line of the first page rather than halfway down the first page, her subconscious says, "I don't want to read this" and her subconscious is usually right.

These first four criteria should tell you that the way the story looks on a page is incredibly important. Did you ever go to a website that was so hard to read you didn't bother? It's the same thing with submissions. Make it look professional, or it won't even get read. Think eye-friendly. Think lots of white space.
Typos. If an agent sees a typo, grammar error, spelling mistake, or anything that says to her, "The writer didn't proof read" it's going to get a form letter rejection. Sorry, but agents and editors have to read thousands of other books, and they can't waste their time. You obviously don't take this seriously, so why should they?
First Sentence. If you don't draw Ed in at the first sentence, and you made any of the above mistakes, you're rejected. If you have a lousy first sentence (usually describing the weather, or details about the setting, or telling instead of showing, or something awkward and confusing, or explaining what is going to happen later) Ed may read on if you didn't make any other mistakes, but she'll be leery. You want her excited, not leery.
Dialog. So many submissions don't have any dialog on the all-important first few pages. If there's no dialog, that's a good indicator the story is all telling, all exposition. Round file.
Ending. Shocking as these stats are, an editor may only completely read 1 out of every 40 or 50 stories. Nothing irks her more than reading an entire story, only to find a weak ending. Make sure the destination is worth the trip.
Conflict. If Ed manages to get a page into the story, and nothing has happened yet, she won't get any further.
Memoir. Unless you're one of the Rolling Stones, don't write anything autobiographical. Sorry, but you just ain't interesting to anyone other than yourself.
Adjectives and Adverbs, Exclamation Points, Repeating the same words, using the passive 'was' a lot, onomatopoeia, dialects, a first paragraph of nothing but setting, explanations, preaching, and anecdotes. Attempt at your own risk.

Remember: You want to submit a nice clean manuscript, your last name and page number up in every right corner, one inch margins. double-spaced, 250 words per page average.

If you want an example of proper manuscript format, here's a short story I wrote called The Big Guys. It won a Derringer Award for short fiction. Pay attention to how it looks on the page. And if you want to see a difference, print it up on an inkjet printer using 20# paper with 84 brightness, and then print it using a laser printer using 24# paper and 104 brightness. The difference will amaze you.

Download a pdf of THE BIG GUYS HERE.

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