Every piece of writing is a work in progress. Over the years, I’ve had nine fiction editors and four dramaturges. Each has improved my work immeasurably, and each has left me with lessons that I carry with me still.

  Everyone reading this book will be dealing with a very different publishing world than the one I dealt with in 1988. The manuscript of Deadly Appearances that I sent to Rob Sanders at Douglas and McIntyre was a mess, but Rob saw something worthwhile in it. He didn’t send me the rejection letter I deserved; instead, he got me an editor—a brilliant one at that.

  We’ve all heard the old joke: “How do you make an elephant out of a chunk of marble? Chip away everything that isn’t elephant.” My editor, Jennifer Glossop, chipped away everything that wasn’t the novel I wanted to write, and as I said in Chapter 1 Deadly Appearances was nominated for what was then the W. H. Smith prize for the Best First Novel in Canada. I will be forever grateful to Rob Sanders and Jennifer Glossop for taking a chance on my chunk of marble.

  These days most publishers lack the resources to pay someone to chip away at a writer’s chunk of marble unless their acquisition people are certain there is an elephant in there. That means writers themselves have to do some serious chipping, giving their first draft a rigorous edit before sending it off.

  The Editing Process

  Before you begin to edit your manuscript, take time off—two weeks minimum. You need to come at your draft with fresh eyes. There’s always a period of at least six weeks before I get my first draft back from my substantive editor. I need those six weeks. The substantive editor is the one who makes the big suggestions about everything: major characters, supporting characters, plot, structure, pace, style, and whatever else simply isn’t working.

  My first response when I read my editor’s notes on the manuscript is surly resentment. Every writer I know suffers from the “What the hell does that editor know anyway?” syndrome. The only cure for the syndrome is time and reflection.

  When I’ve stopped wailing and gnashing my teeth, and I’m able to take a sober second look at the manuscript, I realize the value my editor’s fresh pair of eyes has brought to my work. As I read her notes, there are many palm-slapping-forehead moments. I’ve been a writer for thirty years and a professor of English for longer than that. I’m overwhelmed and chagrined at the number of rookie mistakes I’ve made. “Why didn’t I see that?” “Why didn’t I feel how the plot lagged in the middle of the book?” “Why didn’t I combine those two characters into one?” “Why didn’t I clarify the killer’s motivation?’” The answers to those questions are the same. I was too close to the trees to see the forest.

  The first step in editing is to give yourself the distance that will allow you to approach your work as a reader would. For me that means reading the novel in hardcopy in as close to one sitting as I can manage. And it means reading without red pencil in hand. After you’ve read your manuscript from the reader’s perspective, you’re ready for the second stage.

  This stage involves asking questions of your work like those listed above. In finding answers to those questions, you will be doing the work of the substantive editor. Come up with solutions and incorporate them into your second draft, and the likelihood of your work being published will be measurably better.

  Now it’s time for the nitty-gritty. The substantive editor will do some of this on his or her next pass through the manuscript, but I’ll pass along some tips by the experts, so you can sharpen your red pencil. There’s a fair amount of overlap in the rules for writing, so I’m going to extract the gist of the general rule and add a comment of my own.

  Writing Tips

  “Vigorous writing is concise” (William Strunk Jr.). Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style will always be a writer’s best friend. Be concise; be concrete. Cut until you can cut no more. Almost every piece of writing can be improved if you cut it by a third.

  “Try to leave out the parts people skip” (Elmore Leonard). Deep-six your prologue. The material there is generally back story and can be worked in later. Your first task is to bring your reader into the world of your novel; start the action and write an opening that will keep your reader reading.

  “Using Adverbs is a mortal sin” (Elmore Leonard). British writer Esther Freud’s editing advice is even more draconian. Freud instructs writers to cut out all metaphors and similes. I’m with Leonard on adverbs, but when it comes to metaphors and similes I’ve been known to indulge myself. I always feel terrible the next morning, but nobody’s perfect.

  “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very.’ Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be” (Mark Twain). Amen!

  Don’t explain too much. Give your readers credit. Allow them to become part of the creative process. In talking about Richard Price’s Lush Life, I mentioned that Price presents his inherently powerful material without comment. If you’ve done your work as a writer, then your readers will do the rest.

  Read aloud passages in your novel you suspect might be problematic. If there is a problem, then reading the passage aloud will reveal it.

  January 24th is the feast day of Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers and journalists. I understand he’s available 24/7.

  Enjoy the ride. Ann Patchett says, “Writing is a job, a talent, but it’s also the place to go in your head. It is the imaginary friend you drink your tea with in the afternoon.” Most people have to say goodbye to their imaginary friends when they start kindergarten; writers get to keep their imaginary friends forever.

  Ray Bradbury says the most important items in a writer’s make-up are zest and gusto. I agree. If you can’t imagine your life without writing, then you’re a real writer. Stay the course.

  Chapter 12

  Getting Published

  This is where I wish I had a magic wand. Sadly, I don’t. As I said earlier, the publishing landscape is not as welcoming to new writers as it was in 1988 when I started out. There will be times when you’ll feel you’ve wandered into the world of Catch-22. You’re told that publishers won’t accept unagented manuscripts and that agents won’t accept manuscripts from unpublished writers.

  Your desk will be piled high with form letters rejecting your work. Incidentally a friend once told me she learned how to make origami toads out of rejection letters. She breathed into the toad to inflate it, gave it the name of the rejecting editor, and then stomped on it. Apparently origami toads make an immensely satisfying squishing sound when they breathe their last.

  Enough of that. Onward! And that means going back to the place where we started and revisiting the two questions I posed then: “What do I hope to achieve with this piece of writing?” and “How can I best use the tools at hand to achieve my goal?”

  The answer to the first question might seem simple. You now have a finished manuscript. You’ve done everything you can to make it publishable. What’s the next step?

  I suggest you go to www.writersunion.ca/content/getting-published. The union’s advice on finding a publisher, multiple submissions, literary agents, contracts, and copyrights is direct. Its answers to questions frequently asked by emerging writers are honest but respectful. The union is realistic about the publishing landscape in Canada today but offers a path for emerging writers that gives you your best chance of being published.

  When you go to the union’s website, you’ll notice a number of reasonably priced publications you should have. I suggest starting with the “Writers’ Guide to Canadian Publishers” and the “Literary Agents” list of the thirty literary agencies in Canada with addresses and information about whether the agency is accepting new clients and what genres it accepts.

  Go through the “Writers’ Guide to Canadian Publishers” and make a list of the publishers that best match what you have to offer. Be realistic. Cross off the names of publishing houses unlikely to take a chance on a debut novel by an unknown writer. The firms still on your list will be your best options. Think of comparable books that have been published, and put check marks beside their publishers. My guess is that those check marks will be beside the names of some smaller publishing houses. Don’t turn up your nose at them.

  Go to the website of each of these publishers; carefully read the submission guidelines, and then send exactly what they ask for, paying particular attention to the title and spelling of the name of the editor to whom your query letter should be addressed.

  Make sure your query letter has a dynamite opening sentence and paragraph. The editor reading your letter will have read thousands of query letters, but her job is to find something that will sell. Entice her. Sell your manuscript. Identify the demographic of the audience who will be lining up to buy your book. Point out what there is about you that will interest the media. Keep your letter brief. Be courteous in thanking her for giving your letter and submission serious consideration, and then write a letter to another publisher. When you’ve contacted all of your leads, take a break. Then start your next book.

  Don’t give in, and don’t give up. When your floor is littered with expired origami toads, sweep them up, give them honourable burials, send out more letters, and then get back to your laptop. There’s a quotation from Ursula Le Guin that you might want to print out and tape somewhere near your workspace. “The unread story is not a story,” she said. “It is little black marks on wood pulp. The reader, reading it, makes it live: a live thing, a story.”

  Persist. Find your reader. Tell your story.

  Acknowledgements

  My thanks to

  Howard Engel, Alison Gordon, Eric Wright, and L. R. Wright, who built a solid foundation for Canadian mystery writing.

  Bruce Walsh and the University of Regina Press team for creating this series and for making the concept a reality.

  My family, including Esme, who make everything possible.

  Selected ReferenceS

  Writers / Books Quoted or Discussed

  Aesop, “The Lion and the Fox.”

  Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.

  Julian Barnes, “Flaubert’s Parrot,” The Sense of an Ending.

  Samel Beckett, Worstward Ho.

  Gail Bowen, The Brutal Heart, Burying Ariel, A Colder Kind of Death, Deadly Appearances, The Endless Knot, Kaleidoscope, The Last Good Day, Love You to Death, Murder at the Mendel (Love and Murder), 12 Rose Street, The Wandering Soul Murders, What’s Left Behind, The Winners’ Circle.

  Gail Bowen and Ron Marken, 1919: The Love Letters of George and Adelaide.

  Gail Bowen, Ron Marken, et al., An Easterner’s Guide to Western Canada/A Westerner’s Guide to Eastern Canada.

  Beth Brant, Food & Spirits.

  James Lee Burke, Creole Belle.

  Raymond Chandler, “Red Wind.”

  Robertson Davies, Fifth Business.

  Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Creeping Man, A Study in Scarlet.

  Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves.

  Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl.

  Elizabeth George, Inspector Thomas Lynley series.

  Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

  Joseph Hansen, Dave Brandstetter mysteries.

  John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany.

  Carl Gustav Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul.

  Margaret Maron, Deborah Knott series.

  Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City .

  Susan Neiman, Evil in Modern Thought.

  Richard Price, Lush Life.

  Ian Rankin, Inspector John Rebus series.

  Sinclair Ross, As for Me and My House.

  Rex Stout, Before I Die, Murder by the Book, The Red Box, The Rubber Band, The Silent Speaker.

  Evelyn Waugh, “Work Suspended.”

  Interviews / reviews

  James Lee Burke, interview by Anthony Rainone, January magazine, online, October 2004.

  Michael Connelly, “Murder, Cops and the City,” International New York Times review of Richard Price’s The Whites, February 14, 2015.

  Michael Connelly, “A Mystery with Multiple Messages,” International New York Times review of Caleb Carr’s Surrender, New York, August 2, 2016.

  E. L. Doctorow, interview by George Plimpton, published in The Paris Review 101 (Winter 1986).

  Vinnie Mancuso, “Ten Seconds of Black: Revisiting the Life-Affirming Series Finale of The Sopranos.”

  E. A. Robinson, interview by Joyce Kilmer, New York Times, April 9, 1916.

  Terry Teachout, “TT: Forty years with Nero Wolfe,” About Last Night: Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City (blog).

  Writers on writing

  Margaret Atwood, “Ten rules for writing fiction,” The Guardian, 20 February 2010.

  Helen Benedict, “Research in Fiction—Necessary but Dangerous: Helen Benedict on the use and mis-use of facts,” www.centerforfiction.org.

  Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.

  Kenneth Burke, “Literature as Equipment for Living,” The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action.

  Joseph Hansen, “The Mystery Novel as Serious Business,” The Armchair Detective, Summer 1984).

  Ernest Hemingway, advice to Arnold Samuelson, With Hemingway: A Year in Key West and Cuba.

  Ted Hughes, “Michael Morpurgo’s rules for writers,” The Guardian, 23 February 2010.

  P. D. James, “Ten rules for writing fiction,” The Guardian, 20 February 2010.

  P. D. James, “How to Write a Mystery,” Crimezine online.

  Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.

  Ursula K. Le Guin, Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places.

  Elmore Leonard, “Ten rules for writing fiction,” The Guardian, 20 February 2010.

  Alastair MacLeod, “The Writer’s Life: Geography as Inspiration,” The 17th Annual Margaret Laurence Lecture, May 23, 2003.

  Hilary Mantel, “Ten Rules for Writing Fiction (part 2), The Guardian, 20 February 2010.

  Hilary Mantel, Write (Guardian Books)

  Stephen Minot, Three Genres: The Writing of Poetry, Fiction, and Drama.

  Vladimir Nabokov, “The Art of Literature and Commonsense.”

  William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style.

  Other

  “Sherlock Holmes Museum,” wikipedia.

  The Wolfe Pack: The Official Nero Wolfe Society, www.nerowolfe.org.

  PHOTO: MADELEINE BOWEN-DIAZ

  About the Author

  Author of the award-winning Joanne Kilbourn series and of the Charlie Dowhanuik Rapid Reads novellas for reluctant readers, Gail Bowen also writes drama for radio and stage. Six of her novels have been made into tv dramas starring Wendy Crewson as Joanne Kilbourn. In 2008, Reader’s Digest named Bowen as Canada’s Best Mystery Novelist, and in 2009 she received the Derrick Murdoch Award for her contribution to Canadian crime writing from the Crime Writers of Canada. Now retired from teaching at First Nations University of Canada, Bowen lives and writes in Regina, Saskatchewan.

 

 

  Gail Bowen, Sleuth

 

 

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