Be Your Own Editor

Contributed by C. M. Clifton

When I first began submitting my short stories for publication, I had no idea that query letters existed until I chose to submit my story to a publisher whose submission guidelines required that a query letter accompany every manuscript. Once aware of query letters, I found myself confused. So I conducted a bit of research in an attempt to discover what type of information should be included in such a letter. If you are just embarking on the writer’s journey and seeking to submit your first short-story manuscript, I hope this article will assist you as some guides on cover letters have helped me in the past.

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Jennifer writes:

I wrote a novel, and I am currently working on correcting the verb tense mistakes throughout. I am wondering, can I use some sentences in past (simple) tense and some in past progressive tense? Also, it is a novel written in first person, and I wanted to know if her interior dialogue can be written in present tense if she still feels the same way now, or if that also needs to be in past tense, as long as she felt that way then? Apparently I am totally confused and would appreciate help. Thanks!

Murky waters exist here, Jennifer, but I’ll try to help you navigate them more confidently.

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Contributed by Daniel Arenson
Every scene doesn’t need a monster, but even the more “literary” writers among you would do well to think about whether your scenes serve a narrative purpose.

How do we define a scene? The simplest, easiest definition would be “a chunk of writing that appears as a subunit within a story or chapter.” Such subunits are often separated by blank lines or five asterisks.

But is any such chunk of writing truly a “scene”? I often see writers (myself included, when I’m not careful) create “scenes” that are, in a sense, not scenes at all. Just because a bit of your story appears as an individual unit doesn’t necessarily make it a true “scene”—or at least not a very engaging scene.

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Once in a while I am called upon to edit or proofread a manuscript that makes a particular mistake with great frequency, and I’m reminded to tell you all to avoid aforementioned mistake. Today I am helping to rescue an author who had difficulty knowing when to include or omit the ever-present but little-considered word “that.”

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As I’ve preached before, anyone who wants to be a successful writer in the days of e-everything should be web-savvy. And if you’re web-savvy, you probably know what a podcast is. If not, you should be spending more time online, both creating your own online presence and taking advantage of the many creative writing websites and, yes, podcasts out there to advise you on both writing and the book business.

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