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Vol
16 Number 4 - May 15, 2012
In this Issue:
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Case, editor Traveling? Write About It! by Susan Sundwall Last fall my five sisters and I were able to take our first ever “sisters only” trip to the lovely cities of Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia. It was wonderful. It took a great deal of coordination and effort, but it was well worth it. I even chronicled our adventures and sent the results off to each sibling a few months after. That vacation included several plane trips and I took mental notes. For many frequent fliers the Sky Mall catalog and in-flight magazines provide a welcome distraction from the “I know this already,” mentality associated with the flight attendants safety talk. The Delta Sky magazine in the seat pocket in front of me, I found out, accepts freelance material. It didn’t take me long to discover that most airlines have some form of publication for the enjoyment of their passengers. These magazines, as well as the ones highlighted below, favor articles about events, businesses, personalities and dining opportunities in and around the destinations they serve. Some, like United’s Hemispheres Magazine, have an online form where you can pitch your story and send it along. How cool is that? So take your business acumen, your knowledge of events, love of fine dining and affinity for a lovable personality and submit in writing to one of these. American Way Magazine - Query Delta Sky – Paying market. Guidelines: Alaska Air Magazine – Pay rates vary from $150 – $700. See guidelines here: Horizon Air Magazine - Rates begin at $100 http://www.horizonairmagazine.com/contributor/writers.php Hemisphere Magazine - Check out the online query form at: http://www.hemispheresmagazine.com/talk-to-us/ And then we have your travel stories. I recently sold a story compilation resulting from three unique encounters with very interesting people during several coast-to-coast trips. Close encounters in airports and on planes resulted in a middle-aged bride, a Roman Catholic priest, and a regular guy from Maine making their way into my piece. It took a few years to compile, but I didn’t let the experiences go to waste. You’ve got similar stories in your noggin, too, I’ll just bet. Try them for one of these markets: World Hum Magazine – Payment negotiated Matador Network – Pays $25 per feature story with higher payments negotiated Literary Traveler – Pays $50 for articles. Also pays for blog posts. In the Know Traveler – Paying market Backpaker Magazine – Pays .60 – $1 per word GoNomad – Pays $25 per feature Moving right along – what tips have you picked up while traveling? Are you a senior citizen, a new Mom, or college student? Without realizing it, you’ve probably got a mental list of what has worked for you as you travel. Write them up in the form of a how-to or a list article and sub it to one of these: Parents Magazine – Payment varies Parents & Kids – Payment begins at $25 per article MomSense – Invoice for payment Charisma – Payment negotiated Country Woman – Pays $300-600 In good times and bad people travel. The planes I flew on this past October were all booked to capacity. Our family reunion is coming up in 2013 and I’ll be on high alert for stories when we travel for that. Someone needs to inform and entertain our fellow travelers and you or I might be just the person to do it. © 2012 by Susan Sundwall Susan is a freelance writer, blogger and budding novelist. Visit her at www.susansundwall.blogspot.com Turn Life into Income with Creative Nonfiction by Beth Fowler In 1959, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, two ex-convicts on parole from the Kansas State Penitentiary, robbed and murdered Herb Clutter, Herb’s wife and their two children in their home, in cold blood. Think of how straightforward and nonliterary the Clutter’s obituary was compared to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. Capote said, “I wanted to produce a journalistic novel, something on a large scale that would have the credibility of fact, the immediacy of film, the depth and freedom of prose, and the precision of poetry.” He wanted to produce creative nonfiction. Capote compiled thousands of pages of researched notes upon which his groundbreaking nonfiction novel was based. He interviewed the murderers. Even so, some of the psychological dynamics between the ex-cons, for example, would have been supposed on Capote’s part. Creative nonfiction writers use techniques associated with fiction. They shape events into stories. Characters, scenes, dialogue, suspense and plot help transform a person’s experience into one with universal appeal that touches readers. One small event for a person: One great read for people…that's creative nonfiction. Most of us won’t be writing about massacres, so what can we write about? Take the advice Capote gave another writer: “You have to be willing to use everything. Everything that's interesting.” Creative nonfiction strikes a universal chord. Any aspect of the human experience can be the focus of creative nonfiction. Unforgettable encounters, life's milestones, disasters, work relationships, marriage, homelessness, substance abuse, parental abandonment … For insights on molding your experience into a salable work, dig into Judith Barrington’s Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, Nancy Davidoff's Writing from Personal Experience: How to Turn Your Life into Salable Prose Elizabeth Berg’s Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True, Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story and Bill Roorbach's Writing Life Stories. “Creative Nonfiction Journal” offers online classes. The web site says, “Writers at every level can use guidance when it comes to shaping and refining their work. The Creative Nonfiction Mentoring Program pairs you with one of our seasoned, professional editors and writers who will design a program around your writing needs.” Visit Gotham Writers Workshop at www.write.org and Writers on the Net at www.writers.com to find writing classes. The University of Wisconsin-Madison offers a non-credit online Creative Nonfiction class. Also, visit http://writing.shawguides.com where you’ll find The Guide to Writers Conferences & Workshops, a free, online directory of programs worldwide. Publications that print creative nonfiction include: Publishers of memoirs, autobiographies, personal essays, travelogues and themed anthologies buy creative nonfiction. So do newspaper and magazine editors. Browse bookstores, including quirky independent stores and university bookstores, to find markets that publish creative nonfiction. Periodical editors suggest (plead) with authors to “be familiar with our publication before submitting your work.” One creative nonfiction author subscribes to a different literary magazine each year to get a feel for what magazines publish. The flavor of stories in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series is different from stories in “Rosebud.” Editors who consider creative nonfiction manuscripts want a strong theme or narrative that serves as a unifying thread through the story. Writers must be disciplined and ruthlessly trim passages that don’t support the theme. If you think you have a memoir in you, read others’. Larry Brown’s On Fire, J.R. Moehringer’s Tender Bar, and Louis Erdrich’s The Blue Jay’s Dance are examples of the genre. Carol Crawford, coordinator for the Blue Mountain (North Carolina) Writers’ Conference says, “Write small.” Narrow down the focus of the story to draw readers in. The biggest mistake most beginning nonfiction writers make is giving too much information. To help writers zero in on a theme, Crawford asks writers to sum up their stories in six words. Crawford offers more advice for creative nonfiction writers. “Journal for catharsis. Craft for story.” Write naked with your back to the world. Forget about readers and editors and publishers on your first draft. Let ‘er rip. Open the gates of emotions. Stick your feet into the sneakers you wore as an 11-year old and let that character’s voice guide your pencil. Use prompts to get you going. You’ll be amazed at where your creative mind will run once you unleash it. Here are prompts we used in a Creative Nonfiction workshop at John C. Campbell Folk School. (www.folkschool.org) “If only someone had told me about…,” and “Write about being nice to someone you detest,” and “Write about the time the ___________ caught on fire.” After writing hot and heavy, go back and make design decisions. Erdrich’s design decision in The Blue Jay’s Dance was combining three babies into one character. She states this up front in a contract, so to speak, with the reader. Creative nonfiction reveals the author and another person or other people clearly, as well as establishing a time and place readers can visualize. Most publishers don’t want lyrical description for the sake of lyrical description. Nor do they want pieces that are emotion only. Something’s gotta happen. Someone’s gotta change. Creative nonfiction, like other well-crafted manuscripts, has a beginning, middle and end. In Your Life as Story, Tristine Rainer suggests writing about a problem, your struggle to resolve it, and the resultant transformation or realization. The main character’s change can be inner as well as outer. In Cold Blood first appeared in “The New Yorker” in four parts. Papers sold out. Then the nonfiction novel became one of the most talked about books of its time. Dubbed an instant classic, In Cold Blood earned its author millions of dollars and celebrity status. “Sometimes when I think how good my book can be,” Capote said, “I can hardly breathe.” Breathe. Write. Edit. Shape your experiences into salable manuscripts. © 2012 Beth Fowler Beth Fowler is a longtime Writing for DOLLARS! contributor. Visit http://www.authorsden.com/bethfowler for more helpful articles. 16 Paying Markets Updated or added in our database since April 18, 2012 High - Over $500
Medium - $125 - $500
Low - Less than $125
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