Hello,

Welcome to this month's E-zee Writer. With less than three weeks to go before the deadline for The Writers Bureau Poetry and Short Story competition, our feature article provides a quick checklist for adjudicator's pet hates when it comes to hackneyed storylines.

We also have Top Tips on how to submit photography with your articles, to increase both the likelihood of acceptance and the amount you will be paid. Remember Simon Whaley, author of last month's article? He says, "Many of my articles are sold as complete words and picture packages. As a result, my images have appeared in a variety of magazines." See below for how Writers Bureau student – and runner-up in our Writer of the Year competition 2007 – Beate Allerton used her photography to break into a new writing market.

So, why not make the most of the summer sunshine and get snapping? It could mean the difference between an editor rejecting or accepting your next submission!

Have a great month,

Teresa

PS. Remember, our Write For Profit Using The Internet course is still on special offer to E-zee subscribers until the end of the month.
Click here for more details.

Newsflash! All winners in our Poetry and Short Story competition will now be eligible for an additional prize!
Click here for details!

FREELANCE MARKET NEWS
an essential guide for freelance writers

For up-to-date market information, Freelance Market News is invaluable.

Issued 11 times a year it's packed with information on markets in Britain and around the globe, plus you get all the latest news and views on the publishing world.

Every subscription comes with FREE membership of The Association of Freelance Writers. Your membership also entitles you to discounts on books and competitions, a free appraisal worth £18 and a Membership Card which confirms your status as a Freelance Writer. For full details and to subscribe visit the website at: www.freelancemarketnews.com

IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE OF FMN:
A GUIDE TO MAGAZINE CONTRACTS PART II

Ditch Those Dire Plotlines!

When you're writing a story for a magazine or competition, there are certain hackneyed plot lines that will make any editor or adjudicator consign your work to the waste paper bin – and very quickly, too!

Obviously every editor has their own list of dislikes and these will depend on both personal preference and the target market of the magazine.

But here to start you off are some of mine, as a competition adjudicator:

• Ghost stories that involve going on a train journey and then strange events happening. The twist at the end of the story is usually that the train has crashed and the main protagonist and their travelling companions are now dead/ghosts.
  
  
• Another favourite of ghost story writers is where the hero or heroine is made welcome at a house after breaking down/having a crash/getting lost. They are given warm hospitality and friendship but in the morning they find it is just a ruin. The owners who they met had apparently died years before.
  [Note: Most ghost stories seem a bit 'twee' unless you manage to come up with a really original plot line.]
  
  
• Never, ever end your story with 'and then she/he woke up, it was all a dream.' This immediately signals to your reader that what has gone before is so preposterous and far-fetched that it can only be justified as a dream.
  
  
• A pet hate of mine (if you''ll excuse the pun) is the story where a twist at the end shows that the narrator (whom you are led to believe is a person) is, in fact, a dog, cat, guinea pig, frog – you name it. Believe me, it just doesn't impress.
  
  
• People still write stories about lottery winners. Lottery winners who lose tickets. People who have grasping, unpleasant partners but when they win the lottery they have the last laugh. Lottery stories are past their sell-by date, so please don't even think of writing one.
  
  
• I suspect there is quite a lot of wishful thinking in some plots. Especially common is the one where an abused wife gets away with murdering her vile husband. It might be satisfying to plot and write (and possibly saves a lot of men from real-life slaughter) but it isn't going to win any prizes.
  
  
• Another common plot is one where the wife suspects that her husband is having an affair with her best friend/her sister/his secretary. She's heartbroken, but just a moment'he's really only plotting with them to give her the best anniversary/birthday treat of her life. By the time I've read six of these heart-warming stories I get to the point where I wish the husband would have second thoughts and actually run off with his secretary.
  
  
• Avoid life on the streets. You might be inspired by those nice young men selling The Big Issue but channel your energies into buying a copy rather than writing about them. Tramps with hearts of gold; tramps with a fortune stashed away in a vault who reward those who are kind to them; tramps who are rescued from a life of grime and house trained ' most of the stories are cliched and unbelievable.
  

And now three tips that are more general:

• Never send in a 'story' that is really part of a longer piece. It doesn't work because it isn't written tightly and doesn't have a proper beginning, middle and end. The usual culprits here are people who write sci-fi and fantasy. They think they can lift one chapter from their novel-in'progress and it will be a hit as a short story. 'Hey, isn't the scene where Thofric defends Lyla's honour from Bugbear the Barbarian exciting ' it would make a terrific short story' they think. Trust me, it won't. You're just wasting your entry fee or postage.
  
  
• Avoid self-indulgence. I see lots of stories that are actually reminiscences about schooldays, early career or a love affair. They are autobiography masquerading as fiction. Most editors can spot this and avoid them like the plague.
  
  
• And finally, don't write stories that aren't really stories. Each year I see hundreds of pieces of stories that are beautifully written, contain wonderful descriptions and are a real pleasure to read. But they have to be discarded because again they don't have a proper plot. There is no beginning, middle or end; there is no conflict and no resolution. They might just find a place in a literary magazine but they wont in mainstream publications.
  
  

I hope you don't find this article too negative. Believe me, even if you stay away from the type of work I've mentioned above, there is still lots of material for you to work with. The secret is to take your germ of an idea, craft it into a proper plot with real characters, not stereotypes, and introduce enough conflict to keep your hero or heroine on their toes until the end.

And when you reach the end make sure that there is a satisfying resolution. Notice that I say 'a satisfying resolution', not 'a happy ending'. There doesn't need to be a happy ending but your readers must put down the story feeling satisfied with what they have just read.

Finally, when your story has reached its natural conclusion – stop! Don't be tempted to waffle on, giving unnecessary information. So, on that note all that remains is to say – THE END.

AUTHOR'S BIO

TOP TIPS

Writers can quadruple their chances of acceptance and double their fees by submitting photos with their words... and with digital images you don't need to be an expert photographer to provide saleable photos with your work.  Writers Bureau student Beate Allerton says, "being able to offer images in support of feature outlines is a definite advantage. I'm sure that my shots of cakes and biscuits contributed greatly to being accepted when I was trying to break into the food market with an idea for 'Country Kitchen'." So here are some tips on profiting from your photography:

1. Remember that a good picture is worth a thousand words. If you can provide photos you save a busy editor time sourcing pics to illustrate your article. This can be a huge factor in determining whether your work is accepted or rejected.
   
   
2. You don't need an expensive camera but you do need to learn to use it properly.  Know it so well that you never have to refer to the instruction booklet and can remember all the modes without thinking.
   
   
3. Always take more pictures that you expect to use – it doesn't cost any more and you can delete the rubbish. But you may just get an unexpected bonus!
   
   
4. Make sure that you save your images securely and that you have two copies of each set – one as back up, and one to work on.
   
   
5. Few photos can be submitted without being enhanced in some way; so learn to manipulate your images.  Buying a good manipulation package such as Adobe's Photoshop Element or Adobe's Photoshop (depending on how technical you want to get) is a good investment.
   
   
6. Learn to think visually. Do this by studying articles in magazines and the colour supplements to see how they are illustrated.
   
   
7. Beautiful sunsets and pastoral scenes are all very well, but editors usually want photos that involve people. And they prefer people who are doing something interesting that will involve the reader in the subject matter.
   
   
8. If you intend to send photos electronically, always find out the magazine's preferred format and then use it.
   
   
9. If sending photos on a CD by post, enclose a covering letter together with a printout of your article and a printout of the caption sheet. A clear, descriptive caption for each photo is essential and each image on the CD should be numbered sequentially so that they can be identified easily on the caption sheet.
   
   
10. Make it very clear that you are giving permission for 'single reproduction rights only'. By doing this, if an editor wants to re-use them he has to pay again! Alternatively you can use the pics again when you re-write your article for another publication.

www.theopenspectrum.co.uk is a unique and free-to-join website that provides the platform for writers and film-makers to converge, collaborate and produce. The site operates on a peer reviewing system – writers upload their scripts to the site and then all members review and rate the scripts to produce a Monthly Top Ten. Producers and film-makers then search through our filtered archives to find the writers and scripts that they want.

The Internet is an invaluable tool for writers so using it more efficiently would be a great help. www.dogpile.com – 2007 top consumer search engine – is a metasearch engine that puts the power all the leading search engines together in one search box to deliver the best combined results. The process is more efficient and yields more relevant results.

www.author-fellowship.co.uk The aims of the Fellowship are to promote and encourage the use of writing and all art forms as a means of therapy and self-healing; to provide a valuable resource and meeting point for all interested parties including, but not limited to, writers, artists, counsellors and healers; to publish as web pages or ebooks any suitable works that may help to support or promote these aims.

www.booktribes.com is a community for booklovers where they can share their passion for books they already know and discover new books through recommendations.

That brings us to the end of this month's issue. Next month, learn how to build believable fictional characters with Linda Acaster.

As usual, if you've any suggestions or would like to comment on content then please contact Teresa at: ezeewriter@writersbureau.com

And don't forget – if you've enjoyed this issue of E-zee Writer and found it useful, tell your friends about it so that they can subscribe too!
www.writersbureau.com/resources/ezewriter.htm

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