{"id":1216,"date":"2016-07-11T07:42:42","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T13:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrmaresca.com\/wp\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2016-07-11T11:10:17","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T17:10:17","slug":"heinleins-five-rules-to-get-published","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mrmaresca.com\/wp\/heinleins-five-rules-to-get-published\/","title":{"rendered":"Heinlein’s Five Rules to Get Published"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you go to workshops– especially SF\/F related workshops– or otherwise seek out Writing Advice, sooner or later you’re going to hear Heinlein’s Five Rules for getting published.<\/p>\n

The rules are pretty strong, solid advice, but to a degree they have more bearing on a short-story market than a novel market.\u00a0 So I’ll go over the five rules over the next few posts, and how I’ve integrated them into my process.<\/p>\n

RULE #1: YOU MUST WRITE<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

You really can’t argue with this, right?\u00a0 If you want to be a successful writer, writing is a given.<\/p>\n

But what does this mean, in terms of actual action?\u00a0 Here’s how I see it:<\/p>\n

A. You must know what you’re writing<\/b>.
\nB. You must know how you write.<\/b>
\nC. You must work with discipline.<\/b><\/p>\n

Now, for the first part, knowing what you’re writing: apply this as broadly as you want, but I think you need to know what your general plans and intentions are.\u00a0 Of course, things can get away with you: you can start writing a short story and discover a novel.\u00a0 Or you can start a novel and find it’s only a novella.\u00a0 But the point is you’ve got to have some sort of plan when you sit down.<\/p>\n

This ties directly to the second part: know how you write.\u00a0 Which is very different from “know how you think you write”.\u00a0 For example, I’m a big outliner.\u00a0 This is what works for me, and I learned that through a process of discovery.\u00a0 I did a whole lot of, “I’m going to write and see where it goes” and where it went was nowhere slowly.\u00a0 Another example: I’m not a writer who can do the “just get it written, and then fix it in editing” thing.\u00a0 That isn’t to say I don’t edit or make a lot of changes when I do, but I see a rough draft as a foundation, and if I’m not building a strong foundation, it doesn’t work for me.\u00a0\u00a0 Another point: I get the most creative in later hours, usually after 10pm.\u00a0 I’ve accepted all these points as how I work best, and I’ve thrived by accepting that.\u00a0 So the advice I have there is: learn how you write, but look very critically at if that’s really what works best, or if it’s how you think you ought<\/i> to work best.<\/p>\n

Finally: write with discipline.\u00a0 Once you know what you’re doing and how you do it best, sit down and get on it.\u00a0 “Write every day” is good advice, but it doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone (see point B).\u00a0 But this is what I’ve found effective for me:\u00a0 when I’m working on a project (in rough draft), I set a daily writing goal.\u00a0 This is a low-balled goal, a minimum quota. \u00a0This is the, “Fine, you’ve earned the right to eat today” amount of writing.\u00a0 It’s a C-.\u00a0 Now, many days I will write more than that quota– and going over quota doesn’t give me slack the next day.\u00a0 But by keeping that quota low, I keep myself from getting in a shame-spiral of failure.\u00a0 Because I know how I <\/i>work, and if I “get behind” on even an arbitrarily set quota, part of my brain says, “We can’t do it” and shuts down.<\/p>\n

And before I learned properly how I write, I would do that to myself constantly<\/i>.\u00a0 I would set an Unreasonable Writing Goal (I would even call it that to try and spur myself on), and then kick myself for not reaching it, and the whole thing would stall out.<\/p>\n

RULE #2: YOU MUST FINISH WHAT YOU WRITE<\/b><\/i>.<\/p>\n

To which I say, yes.\u00a0 But a qualified yes.<\/p>\n

Of course you have to finish what you’re working on.\u00a0 An unfinished story– especially an unfinished novel– is nigh-useless unless you get hit with exceptional circumstances, which are not something you can count on.<\/p>\n

But here’s the ugly truth that is sometimes hard to face: not every project is worth<\/i> finishing.\u00a0 Sometimes you’re just going down a blind alley, and continuing to work on it is the equivalent of flailing around in the dark instead of finding a light.<\/p>\n

So here’s the qualification: You must finish what you write, unless you determine that finishing it is wasting your time.<\/p>\n

HOWEVER<\/i>, “wasting your time” is a LOT different from, “This is hard and I want to work on the shiny new thing I came up with”.\u00a0 Like I said earlier\u00a0write with discipline<\/i>, and that means pushing through the hard work to the other side.\u00a0 And every one of the finished projects that I have shopping had that fallow period were the process of writing felt interminable.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n

There’s a difference between smashing your way through the brick wall, and smashing your head against it.\u00a0 The really hard part is figuring out which one you’re doing.<\/p>\n

And most important, if you don’t finish one thing that you write, you’re not finishing that<\/i> so you can finish something else.\u00a0 Because, yes, you must finish<\/i> before you can move on to the next step.<\/p>\n

RULE #3: YOU MUST REFRAIN FROM REWRITING, EXCEPT TO EDITORIAL ORDER<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

Now, this makes it sound like Heinlein is talking about not editing your work at all, which I don’t see as the case.\u00a0 Editing your work falls under, in this case, the Second Rule: finish the work.\u00a0 A rough draft that you’ve typed “the end” on is nice, but it isn’t finished.<\/i><\/p>\n

But at some point, you have to decide it’s done, and further fiddling isn’t serving any purpose beyond feeding your own anxiety.\u00a0 So the advice is less, “You shouldn’t edit your work” but, “If you keep picking at it, it’ll never heal.”<\/p>\n

So you have to reach a point of acceptance with the work, where you stop seeking one more bit of beta-reading approval, where you think if you just re-do this one part it’ll be right<\/i>, and then the full scope of your genius will be clear.\u00a0 But are you really making it better<\/i>, or are you just rearranging the furniture?<\/p>\n

And, again, this is a point where you have to do some triage of your own work.\u00a0 Are you constantly fiddling because it really is salvageable, or because you don’t want to admit that you’ve invested too much into it already to put it in the trunk?<\/p>\n

That’s the dark side of this advice: some works, you have to stop messing with and decide to send it out into the world.\u00a0 Others, you have to stop messing with and put it away forever.\u00a0 Either way, once you reach that point, you have to stop poking until someone gives you a really<\/i> good reason to.<\/p>\n

So, now you’ve written something, you’ve finished it, and you’ve stopped fiddling with it.\u00a0 This can only mean it’s time for one thing:<\/p>\n

RULE #4: YOU MUST PUT THE WORK ON THE MARKET.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

This rule ties into the third rule a lot.\u00a0 Because when it comes down to it, you’ve got to push the baby bird out of the nest and see if it’s going to fly.
\n<\/b><\/i>
\nBecause everything you’ve done up until this point is darn well useless if you don’t.\u00a0 They aren’t going to beat a path to your door to see if you’ve concocted some brilliance that they might want to publish.<\/p>\n

This includes the ever painful act of querying an agent<\/i>, which may be the most dreaded act a writer has to face.\u00a0 But let me tell you, querying in and of itself<\/i> is pretty easy.\u00a0 It may almost be too easy.\u00a0 It’s so easy that many agents receive over 500 queries a week.\u00a0 However, a good portion of those queries are more or less the equivalent of shouting baboons hurling their feces at an agent.\u00a0 So you’ve got to work extra hard to make your query be the thing that can be noticed above the din of baboon screeches and feces.\u00a0 There are only two steps to accomplish that:<\/p>\n

1. Follow the submission guidelines.
\n2. Write a brilliant query.<\/p>\n

Step one is very, very<\/i> easy if you just pay a modicum of attention.\u00a0 Do not get lazy or sloppy with it.\u00a0 Every time.\u00a0 Or you might send a query addressed to “Dear “.<\/p>\n

Step two is harder, I won’t deny it.\u00a0 Research query letters.\u00a0 Polish the hell out of it.\u00a0 This is the calling card for your novel, and you need to make it as strong as possible, clean and concise.<\/p>\n

Concise is a big thing.\u00a0 I’ve had the opportunity to read many query letters, and many times I see– especially with genre– writers who want to explain EVERYTHING<\/i> in the query.\u00a0 It really isn’t necessary. \u00a0 You want to entice the agent to read the book, not summarize it.<\/p>\n

Also: avoid negativity.\u00a0 Especially in regards to a. the genre you’re querying and b. other writers in that genre.\u00a0 Apparently this sort of denigration (“Sci-fi is stupid, so I wrote a better sci-fi novel which will blow everyone away.”) is common.<\/p>\n

Heinlein gives his Fifth Rule as such:<\/p>\n

RULE #5: YOU MUST KEEP THE WORK ON THE MARKET UNTIL IT IS SOLD.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

So, here’s where Mr. Heinlein and I must part ways, because I don’t fully agree with this rule.\u00a0 For one, I think it’s already intrinsic to the Fourth Rule– you need to put stuff out there, and it needs to stay out there.\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 So in part, I’m not too keen on this rule because it’s redundant.\u00a0 But also, on some level, I think it’s bad advice.\u00a0 You’ve got to be able to recognize when it’s time to put something in the trunk.\u00a0 That you might be doing yourself more harm than good flailing a project out there that’s well and truly flawed and unsellable.<\/p>\n

The other big reason I’m not on board with this rule is it doesn’t feel like the next proper step in terms of discipline.\u00a0 “Put it out there” is energy.\u00a0 “Keep it out there” is inertia.<\/p>\n

So what’s a better rule to show what one needs to do in order to move on to the next level?\u00a0 If I may be so bold:<\/p>\n

ALTERNATE<\/b><\/i> RULE #5: YOU MUST MOVE ON TO THE NEXT PROJECT.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

This makes a lot more sense to me.\u00a0 You’ve pushed your baby out of the nest, and regardless of what happens with that<\/i>, you’ve got to make something else.\u00a0 Something new.<\/p>\n

And I must stress<\/i> the ‘something new’.\u00a0 I fully understand the temptation, but you shouldn’t go headfirst into ‘Book Two’ of whatever you’re shopping.\u00a0 Put down notes, draft an outline, have a plan?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 If my experience is typical, if you get interest in the book you’re shopping, you’ll be asked for plans for possible books two and three.\u00a0 So having those plans is good.\u00a0 But leave it at that.<\/p>\n

Whatever you really<\/i> work on next needs to be something whose sale is not<\/i> dependent on the sale of the thing your shopping.\u00a0 Because then you’re building a whole house of cards, investing more and more into something you might have to through in the trunk.\u00a0 And if you invest that <\/i>much, you’re going to become more and more petrified in letting go.\u00a0 Move on<\/i><\/b>. To something new.<\/p>\n

It’s hard.\u00a0 It’s supposed to be.\u00a0 Tom Hanks will tell you why.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Go get to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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