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Writer's Digest Questions and Quandaries

Questions and Quandaries Blog

Dealing with Writer's BlockJanuary 6

Q: Do you have any advice on overcoming writer's block? I am currently taking a course on this subject and wondered how professional writers deal with this common problem. —Jane Thomas

A: Writers have only three true enemies: time (or lack thereof), computer viruses and writer's block. Defeating the first two is easy—set a writing schedule and backup your work. But writer's block doesn't have a cut-and-dry solution. It's a chronic ailment that all writers deal with differently.

For some insight, I asked several prominent authors how they tackled this terrible disease:

"To overcome writer's block I try to imagine: What's the worst thing that can happen to my protagonist within the context of this story? Then I do it. Characters should have goals, and my job as the author is to make it difficult for them to reach those goals."—JA Konrath, author of Fuzzy Navel, the fifth novel in his Lt. Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels series.

"After I’m done feeling sorry for myself, I return to the literature. I first learned to write by reading, so I figure I can relearn to write by doing the same thing."—Matt Rothschild, author of

Can You Copyright an Idea?December 2 2008

Q: I have a fantastic idea for a book and I want to protect my idea from someone else copying it. What steps should a person take in order to protect an idea until it comes into print? –Brian

A: I hate to break the bad news, but you can't copyright an idea. Nobody can. Section 102(b) of the ersDig@fwpubs.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Come back each Tuesday as I try to give you more insight into the writing life.

Brian's Q&Q Three-Question QuizNovember 25 2008

Happy Thanksgiving my Q&Q friends! I'm off this week getting a little rounder (I love pumpkin pie almost as much as I love my wife), so no new question answered. But for those itching for some knowledge—or even just a refresher—I offer up a challege:

Go to the search box about halfway down the left-hand column and type in "Query." You should find a number of Q&Qs related to queries and the querying process. Then take my quiz below to make sure you "absorbed" as much information as I did pumpkin pie.

Brian's Q&Q Three-Question Quiz:

1. The title of my ficticious memoiris The Brian A. Klems Diaries: (fill in the blank)?

2. Cold calling for an interview isn't too different from what?

3. According to one of my posts, there are three ways queriers often mispell my name. Two will immediately warrant rejection while the other may not. What "misspelling" may not?

Feel free to post your guesses thoroughly-researched answers in my comments section. Or have some fun and post what you think I

Should I Use The Chicago Manual of Style for my Book?November 18 2008

Q: In my writing I strictly follow the rules in The Chicago Manual of Style. For example, in a sentence joined with an "and," I place a comma after the last word before the "and" when the first part of the sentence is a complete sentence. I have received a rejection with the first page sent back and the editor's deletion marks are in contradiction to the rule in the Chicago Manual. Should I follow the Chicago Manual in my fiction writing or not?--Carolyn Boyles


A: According to Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript (and editors I've spoken to at conferences), most book publishers use The Chicago Manual of Style—or some variation of it—as a formatting guide for their books. So when writing your novel or nonfiction work, it's best to follow those guidelines. But if you haven't been using The Chicago Manual of Style or an editor comes back with changes that contradict it, don't panic.

The key to writing any manuscript is to be consistent—in other words, no matter what style you are using (Chicago, AP-style, your sixth-grade English teacher's rulebook), stick with it. Publishers and editors tend to be forgiving when reading a manuscript that doesn't embrace their style, but are less forgiving when the formatting is all over the place (e.g., using a comma in a parallel

How Many Rejections Does it Take to Self-Publish a Book?November 11 2008

Q: I've submitted my manuscript and query letters to various agents and publishers and have received several rejections. I feel this book is pretty marketable. How many agent rejections and how many publisher rejections do you think I should take as a signal to self-publish this book? I'm pretty tenacious. If need be, I could probably send out a query letter a day per day to 100 agents, but I'm wondering if there's a cut off number of rejections after which it's prudent to give up?—Barbara Bullington

A: There is no standard on how many rejection letters it takes to push an author into self-publishing mode—mainly because every author (and manuscript) is different. Some authors don't see self-publishing as a viable option for their work, while others—especially nonfiction writers who are also good marketers—see the opportunity to make more money self-publishing than they would spending time trying to traditionally publish their work.

If you believe self-publishing could work for you, you can certainly set a rejection threshold. But I'd recommend against it. This puts the timetable in the hands of agents and publishers, not you. And trust me, you don't want to have to waste your life away waiting for essentially bad news: "Well, there's rejection letter number 50. Thank goodness it came. Now, after 35 years of waiti