Doctorow, Cory: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Science Fiction
Writers: Cory Doctorow & Karl Schroeder
Genre: Writing Reference
Pages: 360
An Idiot's Guide, you might ask? Yes, an Idiot's Guide! To be fair, I would've never considered reading this had it not been assigned to me (as it was assigned to all of my mentor's mentees), but I'm definitely glad to have read it.
There is a lot of information in this book. And as usual, when I read book such as this, I find myself digesting a lot of information I’m not ready to tackle at this stage in my career. Information such as publication, agents, contracts, awards…of this is good to file away, but not immediately pertinent to what I’m trying to accomplish.
That said, there were some very, very helpful items in this book. I hadn’t realized it, but since my time at the Odyssey Fantasy Writer’s Workshop,--where I learned how to write a short story--I’ve been stuck in short story mode. I tend to be a minimalist anyway, and zero in on the things of the story that interests me: character, voice, and style. Worldbuilding and plot is good, but most everything else I’ll let slide until a critique comes that says, “You need to work on this.”
My writing frame of mind last week was in a fragile state. I can’t articulate it now, but it’s safe to say I had a crisis of material. I knew the high points, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to flesh them out, even in a basic outline form. After some phone calls and a handful of chapters in the Idiot’s Guide later, I understood: I had been thinking of my novel in short-story format. I forgot that in a novel, a reader wants to sit back and enjoy the world you’ve created. That adding more setting and description is okay, and multiple point of views can be a boon. Obviously, anything’s a good thing provided it’s not overdone, but since I was on the opposite end of the scale, this unlocked a few doors for me. Considering my other characters helped figure out motivations, and in turn, sub-plots. I ended up spending one day at work compiling a list of bucket ideas that I emailed myself at the end of the day. It was two pages worth, and it covered the whole span of the novel, and most notably the beginning: where I’m weakest and freak out, despite the warnings that it’s not that important until you’re ready to revise and know the total scope of the story.
Another useful tidbit was the “Page-A-Day” theory. For writers like me, who procrastinate writing everyday if they aren’t in “the mood,” this brought up several solid and key points: notably that if you save all your writing for a large chunk on the weekend, there’s no guarantee that you’ll have that chunk. Life happens, and steals time away faster than anything else. So, writing a page a day is solid advice. If all goes well, by the end of the year, you have 365 pages. That’s pretty good, even if it seems slow going. Also, the suggestion to write a scene but not finish is a great method of reverse psychology. If you don’t finish the scene, you’re going to be itching to finish, so that when you sit down at the computer next, you’ll be ready to go--the energy is there. If you finish the scene, the next time you sit down to write there won’t be that forward energy, and it’s harder to get started.
There were other, useful items of how to spend your writing time and how not all writing time is actually draft work, and how it’s important to spend your various kinds of writing time in the right kinds of places for maximum productivity.
Lastly, the various sub-genres: interesting, but at this point, very late. I was supposed to read this book first thing, but it was out of print everywhere I ordered, and by time I realized this, I was already reading other parts of my list and researching sub-genre on my own. What they offered was helpful, but again, a bit late. I’ve pretty much decided I’m writing at least science fantasy, and at most, soft science fiction. And that may change as the novel progresses and evolves.
Who should read this book? ANYONE who is writing SF, fantasy, or horror, or any blend thereof. Whether you're just starting out or getting ready to shop your novel or short story, there's something for everyone (both short story writers AND novelists).
But, please keep in mind that this book IS out of print. You can find used copies on Amazon.com or ABE Books.com, or you can download a digital copy off Amazon.com. The book is worth it though, even though some information is out of date. The writers are aware of this, and encourage you to do your homework before you leap. They even give you the resources to do it!
So go, read, be merry, and learn a lot in the process! :)