Editorial: Book Scout: Tips for Survival

By Colin Conway

I used to be a boy scout. I learned things like how to weave a basket, carve a horse out wood and punch holes in leather. I also learned how to survive in the wilderness, at least for a week-end, and I have the badge to prove it. Now, in an effort to earn my "You are a Published Author" Merit Badge I've come up with BOOK SCOUT: Tips for Survival which is based upon my experience as a scout.

1. A Signaling Device: Say you're lost. Not only because your cell phone took a nose dive into the stream you just crossed but because you are really, really lost. The question is how to let people know where you are. Now apply that question to your story about being lost. You need to send a strong signal to the reader that says very clearly: HERE'S A STORY WORTH READING. I don't mean starting you story with some gratuitous sex scene or sound effect like: V-V-Vroom went the car, or Bang! Bang! sounded the gun but by starting you story where the story begins. Where's that? you may ask. Well, the story starts when something out of the ordinary happens to your protagonist that causes him, or her, to act and react.

2. Shelter: You found an effective signaling device and damn if it doesn't begin to pour down rain. Lightening thunder and the whole shooting match and the sun is about to set. (Which can be a good thing: At least you know which direction is West.) What do you need to find? SHELTER and structure in which to protect yourself. Your story needs a structure, too. Here's some of the building blocks: First you decide to whom your story belongs (and your story, as a new writer, normally belongs to the Protagonist). Once you know who the story belongs to you can begin to shape the story around them. Your protagonist should naturally be your most interesting character, and so everything they do should help to move the story along. These are essential elements that need to be addressed in order to give your story a solid form. Just like building a shelter, your story needs a solid base to build off of, or else you're going to be left out in the cold.

3. Food and Water: The storm has passed, but all that huddling in your shelter has worked up an appetite. You need food and water to keep you going. You'll need to forage close to your shelter. Your story needs food too, and you shouldn't wander too far from your protagonist to find it. Everything you need for your story to survive is right next to your main character. The relationships you've given him/her will be the food that your story needs to survive. Complex relationships between characters will enrich your story and make it grow strong. If there is ever a moment in your story that seems like it could be a low point don't forget that your characters are complex people and they always have something going on. If you provide you protagonist with a rich cast of supporting players then your story will never be dull. Even in the harshest environment your characters can survive.

4. Fire: What is a story without a campfire to warm your buns? You novel needs fire on several levels: You need to keep a fire under your protagonist butt or he'll remain stagnant. You need to make sure that the fiery conflict at the center of your story never dies down. If things seem to be petering out throw some fuel on that story and shake things up a bit. Also, you need to use fiery and exciting language to keep the reader's attention. If you only speak in flat meaningless cliches no one is going to want to read your story. If you create sentences that set the reader's blood to boil then they will be hot for your story. You need to craft a story that will burn its way into people's minds and make them want to warm themselves over it again and again.

It is a dangerous world out there for a book. Give it every chance to survive. Oh, and as a scout I found, first hand, the answer to the age old question: Do bears poop in the woods? YES, they do. I advise you not to step into it-I had to toss away my favorite hiking boots.

My name is Colin Conway and I’m from Abington, Pennsylvania. I’m a senior at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Fiction Writing and English Literature. I enjoy writing short stories and not so short novels. I like to run and take Judo to stay in shape. In the future I hope to find a job at a publishing company or literary magazine writing about books and the publishing industry.