Developing Ideas/Calls for submissions

An idea is the seed of a story. Like a seed, a story needs the right environment to grow. Some ideas grow better in a short story, some are suited for a full-length novel, and some are perfect for a picture book. Since you’ll be living and breathing the idea for a long time, choose it with care. The enthusiasm you have for your idea will need to be strong enough to be worthy of weeks or months of your time.

Borrow ideas from your own life or that of someone who interests you. You don’t have to make up everything in a fictional story. Consider the worst day of your life. Or the time you made a terrible decision. These moments evoke intense emotions and can be used to develop a character. The character doesn’t have to experience the same situations you did, but basing the story on a real event can add authenticity to the story making it seem more real to the reader.

When you get an idea, write it down immediately. Keep a notebook handy for just that purpose. If you overhear an interesting phrase or an unusual use of a word, add it to the notebook and allow a character to think those thoughts or use the phrase in dialog to add distinctive voice to your story.

Look at photos to get an idea of a house or area so when you describe setting, the words will flow much easier. Imagining the layout of an area is more difficult than looking at a picture in which you see trees, stream, and animals roaming around.

Research the subject of the story so interesting facts can add to the realism. Readers enjoy learning something new or being surprised with a tidbit of information.

Create a problem for the character and plot the story so the character must solve the problem on his/her own.

Don’t rush the story. Like seeds, stories take time to bloom.

Calls for submissions:

Accents Publishing, an independent press for brilliant voices seeks poems of up to 50 words for an anthology of very short poems, edited by Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. Previously published work is accepted if credited. Send submissions, along with a short bio, in the body of an e-mail. There is no limit to the number of poems submitted.
Deadline: Dec. 31.
Contact: accents.publishing@gmail.com.

Kentucky Young Writers Connection Blog wants writers/artists for publication on the Kentucky Young Writers Connection Blog. One writer will be featured each week through April. Personal promotion allowed but no stipend. Write a 300-500 word essay addressing 1) how/why you became a writer/artist; 2) how nature, ecology, your environment past and present have shaped or fit into your work.
Deadline: April, 2011.
Contact doris@dorissettles.com

Creating and Developing Ideas for Books/Contest/Call for Submission

A couple of weeks ago, I was attended the Kentucky Book Fair where I talked with lots of writers. One beginning writer asked a couple of interesting questions: What triggered the idea for my first book? and How did I develop the idea into a story? Sometimes I wonder why that particular manuscript struck a chord with an editor when previous manuscripts landed in the trash heap. Now that I’ve had time to reflect on the question, I think I can answer it, at least partially.

The writing advice “Write about what you know” certainly applies to my first book, Once Upon a Dime. The setting of the book is a small farm. I live on a small farm. The animals are named for famous Americans. For seven years, I taught American history and focused on many famous Americans. At the end of the story, the tree grows books. I became a librarian so I was surrounded by books every day. But the similarities don’t stop there. One day my husband came in from mowing the fields. He walked upstairs to change out of his hot, sweaty clothes. In the meantime, he emptied his pockets of coins and attempted to drop them into a glass jar that served as a piggy bank. Instead, the coins missed the opening of the jar and scattered over the floor with a ting and a ping and a plink. When I heard the noise I looked at my two canine girls and said, “The money tree is ripe and it’s dropping its fruit.” I immediately realized I had just spouted a plot for a book. Of course, the sound of the ting, pling, and plink became the sound of the money as it shimmied in the breeze.

I find that if I write about what I know or a subject I’m interested in, the story is easier to write. When I research, I’m always on the lookout for quirky facts and interesting information. In Once Upon a Dime, I added Chinese money, yuan, to the money crop. The hardest part of writing the story was creating names for the manure—pig squish, sheep biscuits—used to fertilize the crops. That was the most fun, too.

So to answer the questions, I wrote about a subject in which I was passionate and knew well—a small, Appalachian farm.

What subject are you passionate about? When you figure out the answer, you know the subject of the book you can write.

Next week, I’ll discuss more about developing ideas.

Fan Story Contest
Write a short love poem with fifteen words or less. $100 cash prize for the winner of this contest for poets.
Deadline: December 3
Details at http://www.fanstory.com/contestdetails.jsp?id=3301&at=177

Call for Submissions
Teen Ink is a monthly print magazine, website, and a book series all written by teens for teens.
Details at http://www.teenink.com/