All the things I wish I did... - by Matthew Greene

After your book is released and the publicity campaign for its grand entrance nears completion, how do you keep your book on the red carpet and in the spotlight?

I'll be honest. This prompt was tricky.

Not because it's a bad question. Quite the opposite, in fact. It's something I've grappled with for years. Because, if I'm being honest, I didn't do a great job keeping my book in the spotlight after its "grand entrance."

And I can't blame anyone but myself. I heard over and over again: "Even with a traditional publisher, marketing falls to the author." And I thought I'd done what I needed to do. I set up social media pages, I made friends at conferences, I put together bookstore events in the first couple weeks to peddle my book from coast to coast! 

But it never seemed to be enough. I earned out my advance, but sales numbers never exploded the way I hoped. I got good reviews, but the buzz wasn't strong enough to make the book a hit. I saw the book resonate with readers, but I still kept being told it wasn't resonating enough. Wasn't reviewed enough. Wasn't selling enough. 

I'll pause for a moment, because I'm starting to sound like a bit of "sad sack," which isn't my intention. Sure, I had plenty of frustrating days. There were plenty of times when I wondered what magic I could do to sell a book whose marketing I didn't control, whose price I didn't get a say in, whose destiny rested solely in my hands after so many decisions had been made for me. 

Well, let me try and answer those questions for young(er) Matthew. Because, the truth is, there is plenty I could have done differently. Plenty I will do differently the next time around. Allow me to name a few...

I would have started sooner. A few months before my book release, Barnes & Noble ran a pre-order promo, and it was the first time I heard from the marketing team at the publisher. They encouraged me to get the word out to my "network." And I truly didn't know what they meant. I had my social media followers, of course, but those were mostly friends and family who had already ordered the book if they felt so inclined. There was an assumption, I realized, that I'd done the work to build a community of readers. (Of course, you might ask, what readers are going to follow a writer before he has a book out that they can read? But I digress...) I realized with a sinking sensation that I was already too late to feed the marketing machine. No one was coming to save me, as they say, and I had a very small community to sell to. Maybe I should have built a brand somehow, maybe I should have started a podcast, maybe I should have paid to boost posts on Instagram...but whatever path I chose, I should have started as soon as the book deal was signed.

I would have focused more on individuals, less on institutions. There's a temptation to think too big as a first-time author. I had it in my head that if I got the right high-profile press coverage, the right sexy book launch event, the right the right endorsement...everything will work out. In fact I did get some good coverage (humble brag alert: Library Journal Starred Review) and a launch event at the Drama Book Shop where I was interviewed by a famous actress (more humble brags, maybe). But none of that mattered nearly as much as the personal connections I forged one-on-one with readers who connected with the book. These were the people creating positive word of mouth. These were the people requesting the book in libraries and bookstores. These, ultimately, were the people I was writing for. For every one influencer, publication, or gatekeeper I'd tried to get to pay attention to my book, I wish I'd taken the time to personally connect with ten (or one hundred!) real readers. Because that's what it's all about.

I would have built a following around me, not just the book. As a writer, I want nothing more than to hide behind my work. My god, if I wanted to be front-and-center, I would have become an actor! But I chose a path that I thought would allow me to fade into the background and let my work shine. Wrong! In today's creative economy, personal brand rules all. My catchphrase for the months leading up to and following the release of my first novel was, "Read the book!" But the invitation—the call-to-action, as the real marketers say—should have been based about investment in me. I needed to give readers something to support and follow after they'd read and (hopefully) enjoyed There's No Murder Like Show Murder. In a world where I don't get to control the when or the how of the second book in this series, I ceded too much control to the publisher. I needed to figure out my own answer to the question I'd inevitably get: "Okay, I liked the book. Now what?" The good news is, I'm currently working on an answer to that question. Watch this space.

Sometimes I want to go back in time a couple years and shake the clueless version of me that let so many opportunities slip through his fingers. But there were wins, as well, Triumphs I have to remind myself to celebrate. Without forgetting the hard-won truths that will make my next go-round even more successful.

I hope something in here might prompt someone else to avoid a mistake I made. But I hope that "someone," whoever they are, is kind to themselves about the myriad unique mistakes they will make. It's all a learning process, after all. 

And next time will be better.

And finally, a palate cleanser (above). The morning of my book launch, giddy with possibility, brimming with pride. May we all feel that way again. And soon.

Writer's Odyssey by Poppy Gee

How do you know when your book is complete and ready to be sent to the publisher for its final journey to the bookstore shelf? 

This is such a good question, and I have two answers. 1. You need to give yourself permission to decide your novel is finished. 2. Don't ever send it off before its ready.

I once met a woman who had been working on her art history PhD for eleven years. A PhD usually takes four years full time. The woman kept changing bits, editing and tweaking. She was not a happy person - she'd spent all her twenties working on this one project, and not doing anything else. No job. Nothing. She seemed haunted, dissatisfied, anxious and worried. Her doctorial thesis haunted her friends and family, too, who privately told me that the unfinished work was a terrible cloud that hung over every interaction with her. This woman talked about her thesis all the time, not in a positive way, but like it was a ball and chain she dragged around with her. 

Not many projects are worth this time and misery. Unless you're Michelangelo who, spent four years and up to eighteen hours a day standing on scaffold to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Vatican City. The key question to ask is, are you enjoying your work? If so, keep tinkering. Otherwise, turn it in. 

I wrote my first published novel while I was doing a Creative Writing Masters in Philosphy at University of Queensland. My supervisor, award winning literary fiction writer Venero Armanno, gave me excellent advice. I'd finished my manuscript, we had workshopped it in the classes and critique groups. I won a coveted spot to show the first twenty pages to a publisher via a local writers festival. Afterward, I reported back to my supervisor.

"The editor gave me encouraging feedback, including some tips to make changes," I told Venero. "But she didn't offer me a book deal. Should I make the changes before I start submitting it?"

"No," he said, vehemently. "If you make changes based on what every different person tells you, you'll drive yourself mad. Wait until someone loves it so much they want to publish it, then make the changes they suggest."

You, and only you, need to decide when it's finished. It's your project, you must trust your gut instinct when you feel you've put everything into it. However, there are some things you must consider before you send it to a publisher. 1. Ask some appropriate people to read it and give feedback. 2. Make sure you've done the appropriate research or consultation, particularly if you're writing outside your lived experience. 3. Proof read it. 

The 1966 surf documentary Endless Summer by Bruce Brown follows two professional surfers as they travel the globe, chasing the perfect wave. They surf the symmetrical right-hand point breaks in Cape St. Francis, South Africa, the reef breaks in Tahita, the legendary barrels of Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, and remote coasts in Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria where they teach the locals to surf. The point of their odyssey is the joy and the pleasure. There is no end point. They'll never find the perfect wave, and it doesn't matter. It's the journey, not the destination, that matters. 

How Do You Know When Your Book Is Done

   

How do you know when your book is complete and ready to be sent to the publisher for its final journey to the bookstore shelf?

You don’t.

That’s the comforting news I bring to you today.

Because language is imprecise and malleable, I don't believe a manuscript is ever truly done. At some point, you simply have to stop revising and release the thing into the wild where strangers may love it, ignore it, or use it to prop up a wobbly coffee table.

Perfectionism is the problem, and it is a vicious little carnival ride.

You find something wrong. You fix it.

You feel satisfied for approximately fourteen minutes, then revisit the manuscript and revise it again because suddenly your detective “would never say that” and chapter twelve feels “emotionally dishonest.”

You fuss with the manuscript until you can no longer tell whether you are improving it or simply exhausting yourself.

Just when you think you finally have it right, your beta readers tell you it is wonderful. Your inner critic immediately informs you they are merely being polite. They want you to stop texting them paragraphs that begin with, “Be honest, though…”

Because writers, especially crime writers, are suspicious by nature. We spend our days inventing lies, hiding clues, and imagining terrible outcomes. Of course we assume everyone secretly hates our manuscript.

Then your editor blesses it, and you think all is right on God’s green earth. You line up blurbs. You approach that writer you deeply admire and try to sound casual. You begin to picture your finished novel sitting proudly in stores.

And then it happens.

The typo.

Not a tiny typo hidden in the acknowledgments. A gigantic typo on page one that somehow survived you, your beta readers, your editor, and the copy editor.

You question everything.

How long have you been illiterate? Were you always illiterate?

This is the moment every writer faces eventually: the realization that no book is perfect because books are created by humans, and humans make mistakes.

So how do you know the manuscript is done?

Not when it is flawless. That day never comes.

It is done when the story works. When the characters breathe. When the pacing holds. When you have revised it enough that further tinkering is no longer improving the book but merely soothing your anxiety.

There comes a point where revision becomes procrastination wearing a fake mustache.

That’s when you let go.

You send it off despite the fear, despite the lingering doubts, despite the certainty that six hours later you will think of the perfect line you should have written in chapter three.

That lingering dissatisfaction may actually be a good sign. It means you are still growing as a writer. If you reread your old work and think, “Magnificent. A flawless achievement,” you may have bigger problems than typos.

Every novel teaches you something for the next one. Not perfection. Progress.

Your task was never to create a perfect manuscript.

Your task was to finish the thing.

How will I know when it is the end?

 

How do you know when your book is complete and ready to be sent to the publisher for its final journey to the store's bookshelf?

I wonder, is there a writer who ever feels their book is 100% complete? Or do we just eventually force ourselves to hit send because we understand, on some level, that there will always be one more tweak, one more scene to be rewritten or rearranged.

From what I’ve seen, writers tend to fall into two groups, the I hate everything about editing kill me now, group. And the I love editing so much, I have twenty years versions of the same novel that I’ve been working on for the last twenty-five years, group.  I tend to be a mix of the two. I’m in the I hate editing, but can’t seem to stop because I want my work to be perfect, group. Which is reason number one million and one that I feel writer’s groups are necessary and important. Sometimes, you just need someone to say, in their best Shrek voice, “that’ll do, donkey. That’ll do.” Or if that fails, rip the computer keyboard out of your hands and hit send. Whatever works, no judgement here.

My first three books were self-published. There was something wonderful about having the power to make every decision on my own, on my own timeline. But I found that that may have been too much power for this writer to handle. It took me years before I was satisfied enough to call my first book complete and send it from my computer out into the world. I did a little better for books two and three, but still significantly longer than my publisher allowed for my first traditionally published novel.

Good thing too, because without that deadline, I’d probably still be editing the life right out of that story. That’s not to imply that this is true for all writers. I know some writers who can, and do, write several books a year. Not first drafts, but final drafts ready for publishing. I salute their discipline and determination and hope to join them one day. But for now, I’ll be completely done at 11:59pm the night of my publisher’s deadline.

Don't be like Ralphie | Good Query Letters

 What tips do you have to get your query letter noticed and pulled from the slush pile?

This week’s question reminds me of the scene in the movie A Christmas Story where Miss Shields, a 4th grade teacher, is going through a pile of horrible essays written by her students. Ralphie, the protagonist, believes his essay is so good that when Miss Shields reads it, she will pause, clutch her heart, and both her faith in humanity and the creative process will be restored.

No one told Ralphie that it just doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t work that way for class assignments, and definitely not with query letters. But we who have been through the querying process? We’ve made the mistakes, learned the lessons, and record them here so you won’t be required to follow in Ralphie’s footsteps.

I queried what felt like a hundred agents for my first book A Killing Fire. And occasionally, I’m invited to lecture university-level creative writing classes on pitfalls, best practices and resources to use when querying agents. Most of the advice I’ve given mirror previous blog posts answers to this week’s question, so be sure to read them. I also provide students with examples of good and bad query letters that might be helpful to you. I’ve shared them here. What follows is an example of a good query letter that I use in class. It's a version of the one I used to find an agent for A Killing Fire. After that is an example of a bad query letter. Read if you dare.

Good Query Letter Example:

Dear Ms. Shields-- Send to a Person

I am seeking representation for my completed southern gothic mystery A Killing Fire (95,200 words). In researching agent possibilities, I was encouraged to learn that you specialize in fiction with strong, diverse voices.  -- Tell them what you want them to represent. This is the ‘ask’. 

A Killing Fire features a strong African American protagonist, homicide Detective RAVEN BURNS, who believes she has finally outrun her father’s sins, notorious serial killer FLOYD “FIRE” BURNS. By the time he is executed, Raven has become a cop with the sole purpose of putting men like him away. To catch a killer, Raven must come to terms with who she is. And who she is not. -- Brief synopsis of the book 

A Killing Fire is the first in a series of mysteries based on the four elements-- fire, water, earth and air. Raven encounters them all on her journey to understanding her true character. In Fire, and in each subsequent book, she will cross lines and draw boundaries that will eventually define her soul. Let them know that you have other books. This isn’t a one and done.

I have three published mysteries with Kensington, Spiral of Guilt (1999), The Savior (2003, 2004) and Fatal Justice (2005, 2006). I have had short stories and poems published in various literary journals including the African American Review, Calliope, and Occam’s Razor, and have been awarded writing fellowships at Djerassi and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I took a break from writing after Fatal Justice to pursue a master’s degree in English. I began A Killing Fire after completing that degree, and am now ready to renew my writing career. -- List writing credits; if you don’t have writing credits, say one or two things that make you particularly qualified to write this book

A Killing Fire will appeal to lovers of mysteries that have strong literary and psychological undertones, as well as to those who attracted to books featuring multicultural characters. I also have a robust marketing plan to ensure that this series receives vigorous promotion after publication.  Tell them who the book will appeal to, and how you might promote it. List comparative titles as well.

Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Faye Snowden

Bad Query Letter Example

To Whom it May Concern:

I am seeking representation for my completed novel A Killing Fire (95,200 words). In researching agent possibilities, I decided to query you even though you don’t represent my genre. I’m sure cookbooks are fun, but I’m convinced that my southern gothic mystery is so good that you will not be able to resist. Besides, I’m running out of agents to query.

A Killing Fire features a strong African American protagonist, homicide Detective RAVEN BURNS, who believes she has finally outrun her father’s sins, notorious serial killer FLOYD “FIRE” BURNS. By the time he is executed, Raven has become a cop with the sole purpose of putting men like him away. I would say more, but I’m concerned about someone stealing my idea, and I worked too hard for that to happen.

A Killing Fire is the first in a series of mysteries based on the four elements-- fire, water, earth and air. Raven encounters them all on her journey to understanding her true character. In Fire, and in each subsequent book, she will cross lines and draw boundaries that will eventually define her soul.  

I have published before but not in a very long time. I have been concentrating on my family and career, but am now ready to get back into writing and publishing.  

A Killing Fire will appeal to lovers of mysteries that have strong literary and psychology undertones, as well as to those who are attracted to books featuring multicultural characters. That may make it difficult to sell, but once it finds its audience, I’m sure it will be a success. Please make sure that any potential publishers know that I will expect that the book be aggressively publicized. It is no secret that the genre suffers from a lack of diverse voices, and they have a responsibility to make sure everyone is heard.

Let me know when I can send additional material. I know that you are busy, but I’d appreciate your response in ten business days. That should give you plenty of time to get back to me. 

Sincerely,

The Author 

---

Final piece of advice? Don’t be like “The Author”. Treat your query letter as you would a cover letter for a job, because that’s exactly what it is. Oh, by the way, poor Ms. Shields.

Picasso and the Query Letter from James W. Ziskin

What tips do you have to get your query letter noticed and pulled from the slush pile?

Panning for gold in the slush pile

I’m no expert at this, and I worry that any advice I offer may be repeating what Dietrich and Terry put forth earlier this week. But since the gauntlet has been thrown…

My number one personal observation on queries is this: You can lose a lot of points by submitting them the wrong way. The sad truth, however, is that you don’t necessarily win any points for doing them the right way either. 

But at least you don’t lose any.

So what can/should you do to increase your odds of getting an agent or editor to Bite and ask for a partial or complete manuscript?

For starters, DON’T USE A STUPID FONT LIKE THIS ONE!

Try something safe. Maybe Times New Roman or Arial, depending on whether you prefer your text avec or sans serif.

Next…

• Give the reader a reason to read on. If nothing else, your query must compelling.
• To that end, find a hook. A snappy, irresistible opening might intrigue the reader. Sometimes it’s risky to…well…take a risk. But it just might pay dividends. 
• Get to the point right away. The finger is hovering over the delete button... Don’t waste time.
• Be concise. Bauhaus it.
• Be professional and confident. You’re a writer. Show that you’re a professional one. No one ever said, “Oh, this is just too professional. I think I’ll pass.” But one certainly might say, “This is amateurish. I’ll pass.”
• Do your research. Would you send your erotica to an editor who publishes YA?
• Personalize your pitch. Find an agent who likes books like yours and let them know you’ve done your homework.
• Chek yore speling

Now, the best advice I can offer for getting an agent:

If possible, BE RECOMMENDED BY AN EXISTING CLIENT. This won’t guarantee an offer of representation, but it’s almost like getting a private audience. The agent will shut out other distractions—at least for a few moments—and consider your query a touch more receptively. The rest is up to you and your writing.

And, of course, there are some obvious DON’Ts:

• Don’t predict great sales and awards. You’ll sound arrogant or uninformed. Or both.
• By the way, don’t be arrogant. The same goes for entitled and obnoxious. 
• Don’t present yourself with a chip on your shoulder. The writing biz is hard to break into. You’re not the only one swimming upstream, and agents/editors don’t owe you anything.
• Don’t send a form letter. That’s the quickest and surest way to get a rejection.
• Don’t use AI. That’s lazy. And it’s not you besides, is it?
• Don’t try to be cute. (Unless you REALLY are.) Which you’re not.

In sum, don’t lose points by taking chances!

Unless… your pitch is soooo irresistible and breaks all the rules in the right way. I like to use the example below. The two paintings are by the same artist, Picasso. What’s more—believe it or not—they show the same model, his first wife, Olga. The lesson, of course, is that Picasso knew how to draw and paint before he decided to break the rules and create something daring and different. Writers should do the same. (By the way, I believe he and Olga separated shortly after the second painting… Make of that what you will.)

Finally, to echo Terry’s nod to the late Janet Reid earlier this week, I propose you visit Janet’s Query Shark website immediately and often. It constitutes a veritable post-graduate course on query writing. And it’s absolutely free. Janet was a tough teacher, but one who truly wanted to help writers. She was never my agent, but she was someone I always enjoyed meeting and chatting with at conferences. She was generous with her support and advice. I considered her a friend and I miss her.

Here’s the address: https://queryshark.blogspot.com/

Until we meet again, happy querying! (With a normal font and color, of course.)

 *****************

THE PRANK…enigmatic and unnerving. The pace never flags for a second. This is some masterly plotting. I loved it.”

—Liz Nugent, author of Strange Sally Diamond

 

THE PRANK. A picture clipped from Playboy magazine, a missing Swiss Army Knife, and a prank gone terribly wrong conspire to make Christmas 1968 a deadly holiday to remember.

 

“The Holdovers meets The Bad Seed,” THE PRANK features a charming but volatile thirteen-year-old named Jimmy Steuben. He befriends his seventh-grade English teacher, Patti Finch, just days after her boyfriend is killed in an electrocution accident while hanging Christmas lights on his roof. Patti desperately needs respite from her grief, and a chance encounter with Jimmy provides just that. Ignoring the dangers of a potential scandal, the mismatched pair begins spending time together over Christmas break. Patti finds solace in Jimmy’s company; Jimmy discovers desire and infatuation. But what Patti doesn’t know is that it was Jimmy who caused the tragic accident that killed her lover.

From two-time Edgar Award finalist, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity award-winner James W. Ziskin, THE PRANK releases July 2026.

PLACEHOLDER—NOT THE OFFICIAL COVER

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Tip the scales

What tips do you have to get your query letter noticed and pulled from the slush pile?

By Dietrich

You’ve poured your soul into the manuscript, polished it until it sparkles, bled on the keyboard, cried over plot holes until the wee hours, and finally declared it done. But you’re not done. You have to write a stand-out query letter, not to mention a second-to-none synopsis worthy of the back of the novel, and/or an elevator pitch with a killer hook. You’ll need the pitch for when you meet a writer you admire at the next convention, and they ask what your book’s about. The last thing you want to do is freeze like a deer in the headlights (been there, done that).

A killer query gets you read, but weak pages and pitches get you rejected fast.

Your opening needs to punch them in the feels. Introduce your protagonist, their goal, the conflict, and the stakes. Never start with “In a world where love is forbidden...”

Use comp titles—“The Office meets Practical Magic”—but pick realistic ones. Skip “It’s the next Harry Potter but better” unless you want your email deleted instantly.

Don’t call your novel “hilarious, heart-wrenching, and groundbreaking.” Let the pitch do the work. Agents decide if it’s good; you just need to make them curious enough to want to read it.

Voice is king in the slush pile, just like in the novel.

Mention writing credentials, relevant experience, or fun facts that tie into the book. No need for your life story. Skip “I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was…”

Never ever predict your future bestseller status or movie deals.

Agents and publishers are drowning in query letters. Yet a few manage to get fished out, manuscripts get requested, and shiny book deals get signed.

Don’t blast the same query to every agent with a pulse. Agents and publishers can smell a mass email from a mile off, and it’ll get an instant eye-roll, followed by a tap of the delete key.

Follow guidelines exactly. Don’t ever ever ever misspell the agent’s or publisher’s name. And don’t add attachments when the guidelines said no.

Dig into their “Manuscript Wishlist” and check recent sales. Oh, and verify the sale: Use Publishers Marketplace to confirm the agent actually made the sale (And it wasn't just a book they praised on social media). Personalize the opening: “I’m querying you specifically because you rep [similar author/book] and mentioned loving [trope/element] in your recent interview.”

Match the vibe: If the agent's wishlist uses casual, enthusiastic language (e.g., “I'm dying for a goblin market romance!"), match that specific phrasing in your trope mention.

If nothing else, this shows you’re not lazy. And hopefully, it’ll flatter them without seeming creepy or too obvious.

One page. Seriously. Walls of text get skimmed or skipped.

Use short paragraphs, Arial 12, and get to the point. Hook → Book pitch → Bio → Thanks and goodbye. If it spills onto page two, cut it back to one.

Make the subject line clear and professional. No fancy fonts, colors, or creative formatting. This is a business letter, not a page in a scrapbook.

Tweak the query based on any feedback before you send out the next round.

Time it right: Avoid December holidays and peak summer.

Understand that great books get rejected all the time. But a sharp, personalized, error-free query with a compelling pitch increases your odds. For one thing, it shows respect for the agent’s time and signals you’re a professional.

Write the best damn book you can, then query like you mean it. And if it doesn’t work the first round, revise and try again. Persistence plus craft beats luck every single time.

Please, I'm Begging

 

Terry here with our question of the week: 

What tips do you have to get your query letter noticed and pulled from the slush pile? 

Having queried and been turned down or ignored by 75 agents before I signed up with the agent who sold my first book, I’m not sure I’m the right person to give anybody tips. But here goes: 

 In my writers’ group we recently had a discussion about query letters. It seemed that different writers in the group had gotten different advice. What? Who knew there would be conflicting advice for writers? Sorry, I’m laughing as I write this. No advice, ever, to writers has ever been without a conflicting piece of advice. 

For example, “Never start with the weather.” 

                        But then, “It was a dark and stormy night.” And yes, I know that’s a cliché that has spawned a thousand hilarious entries in “worst first line” contests, but taken by itself, it sets a scene. 

 There is advice about point of view, number of characters, dialogue, setting, you name it. There will be conflicting advice. But none of it is as dire and contrarian as the advice about query letters. 

I used to have an agent, Janet Reid, who as gone on to that great Agent Firm in the Sky, who called herself The Query Shark. She critiqued query letters with great glee, and with unparrelled snarkiness. But also, with a heart. She wanted writers to succeed. Her point was usually—get to the point! 

 My advice is, take that advice. Get to the point. The agent knows you are looking for representation, so don’t be coy. 

“I’m seeking representation for my 200,000-word book, The Saintliness of the Writer. 

 Then, say what it’s about in a few sentences. “Writers are the unrecognized saints of the world. I’ve showcased sixteen writers whom I think deserve sainthood, and why.” 

 Then say why you are the person to write this book. “As a graduate of the seminary, I have studied saints and written numerous essays on the subject published in religious publications, so I am eminently qualified to write this book.” 

Then say who will be interested in reading it, mentioning any comparable books. “The book is written for the general public, and would be well-received, as it is in the same vein as the best-selling The Writer and His Demons. 

 Try to put some of your own personality into the query letter. That doesn’t mean you have to try to be funny, or super-smart, or self-effacing. Try to think of yourself as talking to the agent. Pleasantly. Not demanding. Not begging. Just requesting that they take you seriously. 

And finally, I have a bit of personal advice that I’ve rarely seen. In fact, I’ve seen the opposite advice: Include a blurb from a well-known writer if you can. I had a well-known writer read my book and give me a blurb before I sent out query letters. Bill Crider said he wasn’t sure how much good it would do, but he’d be happy to read it. He gave me a great blurb and I put it right up front in the letter. The first agent who took me on said that’s what had caught her eye. It can’t hurt. Or can it? I’m sure someone will tell you why it’s a terrible idea. Make of it what you will.

Deadlines and Discipline

If you have typically written for newspapers and magazines, what was the transition like for you when you wrote a novel?* 

I always wanted to be a novelist. I also understood it's not a 'paid profession'. I knew I needed a trade so I did a journalism cadetship on a small newspaper in Sydney and worked my way up to become the subeditor, then the editor. Next, I spent several years working on a teen girls magazine where I was the chief subeditor. This was followed by a job on the subbing desk of daily newspaper The Courier Mail in Brisbane. I liked working in news and magazine rooms. I liked the buzz, the people, the fast pace. 

Throughout this time - early mornings before work, late nights after work - I was writing novel drafts. Certainly, what I learned in the newsroom helped shape my writing style. 

Writing journalism is formulaic. You write to the inverted pyramid model, which means you start with the most important bit, and then add layers of information, in order of importance. The idea is that a busy subeditor can cut your story from the bottom up. Ideally, they could cut off any number of sentences from below, and the story above would still make sense. You need to provide the facts: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How. And, most crucially, when the reader has finished the story, they shouldn't have any questions. No plot holes. 

My novel writing style is quite journalistic. The risk with that, is that the writing is too bare. Early on, I learnt to slow my prose down, to let the story breathe. This was something I had to work at. Smells, memories, textures, emotions and lush descriptions are often not included in a hard news story, unless it's a colour quote from an interviewee. 

I also have a terrible habit of over-researching for my novels. Fact checking and triple checking things. I'm always reminding myself of Stephen King's advice about story coming first. For example, the history of a crumbling stone colonial building beside a river in the Tasmanian highlands doesn't really matter as much as the actions of the person who has arrived there to bury a body. 

Writing crime, or writing journalism, have similarities. A journalist must be curious and determined, and they also need to have empathy and integrity to do their job well. These are qualities that many crime fiction writers share. 

Crime writers and readers, just like journalists and their readers, desire to know the truth. Writing journalism, you're tasked with laying out the facts and letting the reader make their mind up. A good journalist gathers as many facts as they can, and arranges them in a way that is fair, and makes sense. They must ask tough questions, in order to get real answers. They can't embellish, or dramatise. The facts are all that is required. 

Deadlines and discipline are ingrained in me - I never waste my writing time. That's a good skill to have. Writing short - that's a skill I need to continue to practise.

Honestly, I wasn't a great news reporter. Often, I felt sorry for the mayor or a politician. When we were trying to dig up dirt on them, and expose them for the fun of a good headline, I felt mean. Journalists need to be tough. In the magazine world, I didn't like how we put our integrity aside for the sake of advertisers. Magazines are full of product placement, sometimes in very subtle ways. We'd push products on the teen readership, often playing on their anxieties about personal hygiene, appearance or wellbeing in doing so. I'm not completely proud of being part of that business model. 

I like fiction because it's more nuanced, and also, perpetrators often get punished in satisfying ways. Fiction mirrors real life, it's murky, morally complex, emotional and revealing. Crime fiction writers ask deeper questions, we might even ask the reader to empathise with a perpetrator, to walk in their shoes for a while, for example. Our role is to not just solve the crime, but to examine the consequences of the crime - what's the cost of justice, how are people affected by this, what does crime to a person. If you look at any village, town or city, the type of crimes that occur there are very revealing about what kind of place it is. Crime is a way to understand human nature, and to explore the ways that bad behaviour effects people and societies. 

*I tweaked this question to personalise it. The original question was: If you have typically written short stories and then wrote longer (novels or novellas), what was the transition like for you, and how did you teach yourself to take the leap and go long? 

But I've never written short stories, except in high school, and once when I wrote a story about a farmer from Cunnamulla and his awful children, a story that was submitted to, and rejected by the New Yorker. Being rejected by the New Yorker is an achievement and I saved my rejection letter as a writerly milestone.

The Venn Diagram of Short Story Writers, by Catriona

 If you have typically written short stories and then wrote longer (novels or novellas), what was the transition like for you, and how did you teach yourself to take the leap and go long? 

I went the other way. Well, pretty much. Back when the world was young and I started writing, I produced one very solemn autobiographical short story, full of darlings that should have been drowned in a bucket, then a PG Wodehouse pastiche, then a sitcom script. The two shorts are unpublished. The script got me a meeting at BBC Scotland. It even went into development. (As far as I know, it's still there.)

But then I resigned from my  job and started writing for real. And it was novels all the way. My first short story didn't appear until over ten years later when I was invited to contribute to an anthology. 

First ever published short story

In total, I've written fifteen short stories (and more than twice as many novels) mostly when asked to contribute something. I've only submitted three or four to a blind selection panel. Two got knocked back, one got accepted, one is pending. 

So the Venn diagram of current short mystery fiction writers would be a glorious super-imposed elliptical extravagangza of Michael Bracken, Barb Goffman, Art Taylor, Charlaine Harris . . . all that lot, and near the margin of the page, a rash of dots representing the writers whose short stories are squeezed out in homeopathically tiny doses. I'm one of those dots.

The main difference between writing short stories and writing novels, for me, is probably caused by not reading many shorts. That means - I think - that I'm not good at evaluating my own shorts. Weirdly, I always conclude that my completed story is a towering work of staggering genius. Truly. Every time, I think this is going to win awards. People are going to reel away stunned from the anthlogy this appears in, their heads fizzing with wonder and awe. (I wish I was kidding.) It's like those parents that put babies forward for modelling contracts, blinded by love, and are puzzled when the bundle resembling a boiled bulldog doesn't get the gig. 

swankiest anthology I've been in

Novels are different. I think I can place myself quite accurately in the league table of effectiveness: with - say - Rebecca at the top, shining and perfect, and couldn'tpossiblycomment down in the gutter, stinking. I know I'm not hopeless; I know I'm not Margaret Atwood.

But I find it very difficult to identify what makes a great short story. Sometimes, I read the winner of a prestigious award, or an entire issue of AHMM or EQMM and I don't get more than half of them. I probably need to take a class with Art Taylor.

Proudest short-story moment

It's just occurred to me that I'm spilling this having written the introduction to more than one anthology of shorts. I've even got another introduction coming soon. But when I read as an intro-writer, I'm using a different bit of my brain, a bit that finds it easy to identify the strengths and charm in every piece of writing. It's when I sit back with a cup of tea and read as a reader that I feel lost in the weeds. Lucky they're not very tall weeds. You know, because they're short.

Lucky, too, that it's the output of a few days' or weeks' work that I submit thinking it's astonishingly brilliant, only to get a "Yeah, naw" response. It would be much worse if that happened after a year's slog on a novel. The developmental edit is humbling enough for me any day.

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