By Delilah S. Dawson
This is like that Couch to 5k thing people do to gear up for a marathon. Except you can do it without leaving your couch. And for me, a book is a better souvenir than a popped-off toenail.
What follows is the quickest, dirtiest, most simple route to writing a novel and getting it published by a traditional publisher, which I accomplished from my own couch in Atlanta while nursing a baby and having neither an MFA nor any previous contacts in publishing. The following advice is based on my own personal experience that began with writing a seriously shitty book (about accidentally banging Zeus) in 2009 and seeing my third book (about steampunk vampire circuses) on the shelf in B&N in 2012. Everything I learned came from Google.
Is this advice perfect? No. Is it gospel? No. Is it universally applicable and the same for every writer, ever? JESUS, NO. Will your mileage vary? Yes. Widely, even with Chevron with Techron. But if you’ve never written a book, hunted for an agent, or signed a contract, I hope it will be a good place to start. If not, just read… oh, Chuck’s entire blog. And then hit Google.
Read the full article at Chuck Wendig’s blog, TerribleMinds.
