Staff Editorials

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.

By Brittnee Alford

Your initial response to this may be “Uh yeah!” You’re not alone—I thought so too. That is until one of my professors said something to the contrary. She said that books are not really dying out because high quality will always prevail over quantity. In essence, just because people have access to self-publishing on the internet, doesn’t mean that people are going to stop noticing high quality writing. She put it like this, “If you are walking down the street and you see a gorgeous face, you’re gonna stop and think DAMN that’s a gorgeous face! You will notice and remember that face, even though you may see hundreds or even thousands of faces that day.” The point is as a reader you’re still going to notice excellent writing among a ton of crap writing. The fact that more and more people are writing isn’t going to change the fact that there are good writers who are actually worth reading. It takes crafted writers, with high quality products and deep dedication to push forward through the traditional route of finding an agent and working with a publishing house, to get their books published. This is no easy feat for an inexperienced writer. Quality writers will continue to get published and have actual paperback or hardcover books. This leads me to my next point…

Do people still buy books?

Yes! People still buy books. There is still a readership that appreciates the feeling of holding a book. There are people who prefer not to stare at a computer screen for hours on end, and like turning the pages in a book. They like having a collection of books to put on their bookshelves, or store in a home library, or keep to pass down to family members for generations upon generations. Students seeking Master’s and Doctoral degrees can’t always access research and journals online—they must get up from the computer, put on their shoes and step foot in a library to seek out information. My professor said the average buyer of books is a woman aged 50 or older. These are the people buying the most books. So, if you are writing a book, just remember that you can write about whatever you want, but your goal is to sell. It’s all about being marketable. This is the person who buys books; you want to engage her.

I, myself, am an avid book reader and the only reason why I don’t buy them that often is because I’m a college student, enough said. I love the smell of the paper in a book, and the elaborate art on the book cover that you can touch, you can caress a book and be one with it—all things that you can’t do through a computer screen. I can go back and re-read it and not have to wait for my computer to load. At bedtime, I can snuggle up in my sheets with a book and not have to worry about holding a heavy laptop on my lap, stuck in an upright position. Books offer so much more freedom and agility to one’s life. Books can get thrown around, stepped on, ran over, and they are still readable. Try doing those things to your computer, e-reader, or iPhone—guess who won’t be smiling anymore. This brings me to my last point…

Where is the book headed?

So it all comes down to this: Books aren’t going anywhere. They are here to stay. Just because more people are creating blogs and other ways to self-publish their writing, doesn’t mean that books will die out. The recorded word etched on paper will not lose to words being transmitted through a digital screen. At the blink of an eye these words disappear, if your electronic device crashes, or even just loses battery power. The printed word is what makes writing lasting and concrete, from the Guttenberg press to the modern day ink-jet printer. So again, I repeat, the printed, bound, tangible book is here to stay.

Book Reviewer for International Book Management Corporation

By Emilee Stanford

I feel about e-readers the same way I feel about nudists, Star Wars enthusiasts, and KFC’s Double Stacker. They all induce a mixed twinge of panic, angst and contempt.

I cringe when I see someone intently reading from the screen of a one-inch thick, battery-operated device. There’s just something odd about it. But, as with nudists, I wouldn’t dare intervene and attempt to alter their habits. In fact, although I’m holding onto my paperbacks for dear life, I admit that these e-readers might be a good thing, a great thing, even.

Nora Roberts recently joined Stieg Larsson and James Patterson in the Kindle Million Club, selling one million paid copies in the digital format. Now, despite my traditional preferences when it comes to book format, I believe this is great news, a dove delivering an olive branch. Amid bookseller foreclosures, library closings and the pathetic, almost nonexistent, recreational reading habits of my peers, people are still reading. Does it matter the format?

To me, it does. It’s all a matter of preference. So here, for the record, let me state the reasons behind my preference for the tattered pages, the notes in the margins. I aim not to convert any Kindle-loving techies out there, just to speak to my fellow traditionalists, to elaborate on my opinion, and maybe even to remind myself why I remain averse to these technological advances that will surely change, perhaps for the better, the publishing industry I ache to see thrive.

1. Kerouac’s On the Road in digital format. Think about it. It just doesn’t make sense. A story marked by spontaneity, the subversive lifestyle, a rebellion from attachment simply cannot be read on a device that relies on battery power. Bottom line: some stories are fortified by their traditional formats, and a digital format jeopardizes their message and the reading experience.

2. Books are meant to be shared. Passed off to friends, left in public places for strangers to find. I like to imagine that my book has been places, has been read, and loved, by others. It’s been shoved in back pockets, toted around in purses, ready to be pulled out at a moment’s notice, in a dentist’s office, a traffic jam, the line at Starbucks. Reading from a digital screen is just too sterile, too isolated. It takes away all the romance, history and possibility carried by old, used books.

3. It’s a matter of style. Picture it: tall, dark and handsome, patiently standing in line, mentally detached from the scene and immersed in the actual paper pages. He looks poetic, timeless, content. Now picture the same scene with an iPad, or a nook. Even if he’s still reading a digital copy of the same tattered text, we can’t tell, and the gent transforms from a sensitive, thoughtful man into a complete techie, unable to dislodge his Bluetooth headset long enough to engage in reality. He’s someone who would probably check his email during a date.

Alas, I can’t deny that Kindles are the future. Despite my hesitations at embracing the digital book, I really couldn’t be happier about the idea of it. The publishing industry’s ability to adapt signals staying power, and challenges the pessimists who preach gloom and doom.

So welcome, ye e-readers. Pull out your chargeable devices and read to your heart’s content. I’ll refrain from judgment. Yet, as music-purists hold on to their turntables and vinyl records, despite the convenience and accessibility of iTunes, so shall I maintain my bookshelves.

By Sara Halleman

This week I would like to celebrate what I call “intelligent social networking.” I have recently had a falling out with the network site Facebook. Basically I quit the addictive site cold turkey just to prove I could. Well as the 3 week itch is coming around the bend I have reached out to find other websites that might officially cure this addiction. Here is a list of a few that I find refreshing:

1. www.YouAreWhatYouRead.com - This is an “intelligent social networking site” run by Scholastic. This site allows you to create a profile by choosing five “Bookprints” or novels that most influenced your life. The site is free and loaded with great features like “Pass It On,” a book suggestion tool or “Names You Know,” which connects you with celebrities on the site. There are a variety of celebrity users that range from Scarlett Johansson to President George H.W. Bush. Another great thing about this site is that you do not have to create a new log in name and password. You can simply connect through an existing account such as Facebook or Twitter.

2. www.GoodReads.com This site allows you to create a virtual bookshelf where you can list books you have read and books you want to read. Users can post book reviews as well as suggest books to others. This site can become time consuming at first while you are trying to remember every book you’ve read so that your book shelf expands accordingly. There is a feature on the site that allows you and your friends to take a books comparability test to see what books you have in common. This site is free and you can also connect through Facebook or Twitter.

3. www.LibraryThing.com This site is more focused on a book club aspect. This would be the place to go to join a forum or group and talk about a book that you and others are reading. I think this would be a great way to keep in contact with friends and create a virtual book club. You can organize your books into groups such as ‘currently reading’, ‘read,’ ‘read but not owned,’ and ‘wish-list.’
This site links to Amazon where you can purchase books that you have placed under your wish-list. A really useful feature that this site includes is local literary events in your area. It links to these events on your home page.The site is free to join, however you have to create your own personal account for the site.

By Sara Halleman

As I am sure you already know it is NaNoWriMo, or for you nerds out there who do not know what that means it is National Novel Writing Month. November is the month that is dedicated to your writing! Participants, known as Wrimos, are taking the bet to write a 175 page novel throughout the month. The website www.nanowrimo.com has set up a timeline to help you keep up with other Wrimos. You can stay connected and offer encouragement to others. NaNoWriMo is meant to get you out there and start writing. We've all thought about writing a book at one point or another in our lives. But for some people, there is always something that stops them. Whether its time, laziness, or lack of confidence, this month is set aside for you to jump those barricades and start being creative! It doesn't matter how bad it turns out because, as the website states, this month is about quantity not quality. I'm sure December will be soon known as National Novel Revision Month (NaNoRevMo anyone?). I mean what else do you have going on this time of year, right? I can only imagine how many publishers receive submissions from unedited works starting in December. Come one people don't be lazy! You just worked your butts off to overcome your own writers block to pump out a novel in a month. Now take the extra time to do the most important part: EDIT EDIT EDIT!

If you are participating in this year's NaNoWriMo I'm sure by now you are hitting some sort of wall. Well here are some helpful tips and tricks:

1. Push yourself: http://writeordie.drwicked.com/ This website offers the same kamikaze effect as NaNoWriMo. This one is a bit more intense. You set your word goal and time goal and begin writing. If you aren't keep up with your goal it will begin to erase your work gradually. Sounds like a writers worst nightmare huh? It is actually very helpful and it will get the job done.

2. Create your own time table: NaNoWriMo’s schedule may not work for you so don’t be afraid to start your own! Set your own deadlines while still keeping the major deadline in mind (Nov. 30th!) Create a calendar and mark your word count goal for each day. On days that you know you will be busier use a lower count and vice versa. Being realistic will lower your stress and allow for a better work of literature!

3. Take a break: If you are really hitting a wall maybe it is best to walk away, literally. Enjoy the last few days of the fall season by taking a walk outside. Getting some fresh air can help clear your mind and refresh your thoughts. If you prefer a more thought-based break then I suggest www.sporcle.com the website of “mentally stimulating diversions.” This will keep you occupied during a necessary break from writing.

Happy Writing!

By Sara Halleman

We did the mash! We did the literary-monster mash up... and it was a literary smash! Its the publishing fad that has been taking our beloved classics and turning them into monster parodies. It all started in 2009 with Seth Grahame-Smith’s monster mash-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The book follows along the same general plot with just a few slight changes. The most obvious being that zombies, or ‘unmentionables,’ roam the English countryside. The Bennett sisters are trained in martial arts and weapon training and Elizabeth and Darcy regularly fight off armies of the undead together. The book quickly gained much popularity and eventually ending up on number three on New York Time’s Bestsellers list and remained on the list for 41 weeks.

With the book being such a huge success its no wonder that it has sparked many more monster parody novels.To follow the zombie fighter Elizabeth Bennett is Elinor Dashwood’s attempts to survive in a world of man-hunting sea creatures in Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Once again the plot of Jane Austen’s classic is twisted into a world of survival. However, the author, Ben H. Winters, manages to keep the story intact.

Author Michael Thomas Ford follows with a different approach. In December of 2009 he released the first of his three book series about the famous author Jane Austen who he portrays as a vampire. In the part one of the trilogy entitled, Jane Bites Back, the undead New York bookshop owner must balance two suitors and a dark presence. The second book, which will be released in 2011 is entitled Jane Goes Batty.

Although none of the books following Pride and Prejudice and Zombies have reached the same success, this trend shows no sign of slowing down. One by one monsters has been taking over these famous novels and it seems that no book is safe. Some people feel annoyed that this fad is creeping into the classics but those same people can’t deny that it is also bringing a new generation of fans to the work of these famous authors. Sure its not the same book that the authors intended, but the characters and themes are still present. These mash-up authors are careful not to take away from the story, just give them a quirky, new perspective.

So who’s next for these monster mash-ups? Surely this theme cannot be limited to just Austen novels. I would be interested to see a twist on Shakespeare, Steinbeck or Salinger. I personally don’t see these twisted novels going anywhere soon. There is endless possibilities and a demand for supernatural literature in pop culture. If it takes a few vampires and zombies to get the younger generation interested in the classics than so be it! I say whatever keeps people interested in literature can never be a bad thing.

By Sara Halleman

This week marks the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week, a week dedicated to the celebration of the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. The ALA works hard to bring awareness to the books that are being challenged and banned every day in the Untied States. They define intellectual freedom as the freedom to access information and express ideas openly, without reprisal. This intellectual freedom is the foundation for Banned Books Week. Classic novels such as Keroac’s On The Road or Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye have been historically known for the backlash that followed their publications. Perhaps the controversy surrounding these great novels is what eventually made them classic. That controversy generally being the sexually explicit content and offensive language, the number two reasons for banning a book. I did some research this week about why certain books have been banned for other reasons and was pretty surprised with what I have found.

My first surprise was that this was still an ongoing task. When I think of banning material, I think of strict governments or a powerful dictator. But wait a second, are we not the land of the free? Many books today are still being challenged or becoming targets for potential banning. Fortunately, while some books are banned or restricted, there is hope due to many organizations fighting for the First Amendment. This is all thanks to the awareness of Banned Books Week. Efforts put forth by librarians, teachers, booksellers, and members of the community to retain the books in the library collections have proven successful. Readers like me should be thankful for these advocates of intellectual freedom. So many more books might be challenged or restricted if it wasn’t for them. Because these leaders use Banned Books Week each year to teach the importance of our First Amendment we retain our rights and power of literature and become aware of the danger that exists with such restraints.

According to the American Library Association, the most challenged book for the years 2006-2009 was surprisingly a children’s book. The book, entitled And Tango Makes Three, tells a true story of two male Chinstrap penguins in New York’s Central Park Zoo, who were given an egg to hatch. The book, which was published in 2005, received several prestigious awards but that did not stop the accounts of restraint. It was challenged and banned for its portrayal of homosexuality and a nontraditional family structure. Because of these two elements, the book was said to be unsuitable for young children, the target audience for the book. Co-author Justin Richardson states, “We wrote the book to help parents teach children about same-sex parent families. It’s no more an argument in favor of human gay relationships than it is a call for children to swallow their fish whole or sleep on rocks” (New York Times 2005). I’m not trying to advocate for one specific book or genre, rather, I’m advocating for the reader’s right to read what they choose. The concept is simple. Just as you would change the channel on your television when you may find a topic not to your liking, so too can you pass up a book not to your liking. In And Tango Makes Three’s case its up to the parents to decide. Yes, in our society this penguin relationship is unconventional but it still exists whether some some choose to accept it or not.

And Tango Makes Three isn’t the first children book to be challenged. Classic books like Charlotte’s Web and Winnie the Pooh have both been questioned in the past. Charlotte’s Web was banned by religious groups for its unnatural portrayal of talking animals and Winnie the Pooh was supposedly threatening Russian dignitaries. Though these reasons seem radical, they were a real issue at one point in literary history. As our culture shifts, the reasons to ban books will, as well. It will be a never-ending fight. It is important, however, to realize that it is a fight that can be won, one book at a time. To learn more about Banned Books Week and ways to help log onto http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

By Sara Halleman

This past spring I graduated from a prestigious university in the city of Pittsburgh with a degree in English. I wasn’t always set on being an English major. I spent the first two years of my college education trying to decide what to do with my future. I think it’s absurd to have these huge life decisions figured out at such an immature age. Alas, I fell to the pressures and blindly jumped head first into higher education. I started my college career as a nursing major and quickly found that I have a phobia for all things medical, except for my slight addiction to WebMd.com. I then transferred to the school of Mathematics. After my recurring nightmares of numbers, I decided this wasn’t my educational home either. At the tail end of my sophomore year I had finally found my place with English. At last I was comfortable in classrooms where I understood and enjoyed what was presented to me. I couldn’t believe that I was assigned to read and write about authors I had already admired for so long. This high I received from my new major quickly died out with the first “So what’s your major?” “English,” I proclaimed with ignorant bliss. With the following judgmental “Oh,” my bliss turned to anxiety and fear. Why did I suddenly feel like the only person majoring in literary studies? I was sure there were other people in my class today! I place all the blame on my overly supportive parents for my ignorance to this stigma. They should have prepared me for some of this judgment. I could have said I was going to clown school and I would have been thrown a party. The next two years of my education I came across the same judgmental statements about my choice of studies over and over again. I began to add on my minor in Psychology with each response to the ‘major’ question, as if that really helped my case.

My anxieties hit their maximum potential during one unforgettable trip to visit my mother in Tennessee during my junior year. She had offered to buy me a massage for an early Christmas present and I was ecstatic, as any sane person would be. So there I am in my Zen mood and my masseuse decides it is conversation time. She is blabbering away about her life and then turns the microphone on me for the interview portion of the massage. Would you believe her first question was, “So what are you studying?” I reply “English,” in a tone that I was hoping would give her the hint that the conversation should end. She proceeded to babble on about how she heard on the radio that it is the worst major you could have and all these little fun facts that I was just overjoyed to hear. I mean come on lady! This was supposed to be a relaxing process. I instantly formed 60 stress knots in my back to unsure she had to work extra hard the remaining 40 minutes. Ultimately the victory went to her that day because she had not only my money, but also my dignity.

Now with my degree in hand I have a new sense of pride for this education. Life isn’t so bad being an English major. The stigma behind the major is simply the lack of security. There is no set path when you choose to study English. It is freedom and it should be celebrated, not punished. It takes a strong person to do what they want in life rather than listen to the negativity that surrounds us. So fellow English majors, I applaud you. When we find our place in the literary job world we can smile knowing we are doing what we love.

“When the Day of Judgment dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards—their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble—the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without a certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them here. They have loved reading." –Virginia Woolf

By Meghan Morrow

It seems to me lately, that we have been growing a bit sloppy with our writing. I don’t mean that our grammar is slipping or that our characters are unbelievable; just that we don't appear to be paying as much attention to the details as we once did. One of the largest mistakes that seems to be showing itself more and more is the complete lack of research being done for our stories. We cannot claim to know everything there is to know out in the world, but we still write stories involving areas that we do not fully understand. Since the first person put pen to paper and wrote, "Once upon a time..." people have been writing books, short stories and any other forms of writing you can think of that stray from what is known to them. Whats more, is that readers believe the author has actually been to the places he writes about or experienced the world he describes. These authors have put the effort into creating a “real world” for their readers and some have even been able to convince us of a not-so-real world. But these authors have done their research. They know what and how the world must be described. They have traveled to the places they hope to describe, spent countless hours on Google, read book after book after book on the subject. These writers are dedicated to providing a realistic experience for their readers.

So why, now, have we been growing lazy when writing about places or people we have little to no knowledge of? Are we hoping no one will notice if a few colloquialisms are wrong or the setting is unrealistic? In truth, readers know when the writer is full of it, so we shouldn't hope to fool anyone with a lack of knowledge. The anachronisms may start out being few and far between, but the moment the reader spots the first one, they become mistrustful of the author and their eyes open to the possibility of other errors. The entire point of writing a story is to go somewhere, even if it is your own backyard, an create a new world. We are not going to achieve this goal by filling our stories with mistakes. The only way for us as writers to create is to thoroughly research the subject we are trying to write about.

Some topics will be easier than others. Writing a story about your neighbor will be infinitely less difficult than writing about a woman from the seventeen hundreds. Each of these settings can lead the readers to get lost in the writing, but one slip and the reader will notice. None of us can be absolutely sure how people spoke in the seventeen hundreds even with the proof of written documents from the time period, so how are we supposed to ensure there are no discrepancies? Honestly, there is no way--aside from time travel--but with enough research we can describe the world and the people in it with enough detail to create a believable atmosphere. Even writers who make up there own world do research. They cannot just write out that all of the world is made of pudding and be done with it; they would have to learn more about the properties of pudding.

I leave you with this piece of advice; Research. Read books, check the Internet, ask your friends. Whatever approach you choose, the research must be done. Writing a story isn’t just about writing down a string of words and ensuring there is a beginning, a middle and an end; it is the attempt to create a place of wonder and share it with the world.

By Meghan Morrow

Picture this: You’re outside your favorite bookstore. You go inside, look around for a bit, and then you see it. The book you’ve been looking for. The cover catches your eye from across the store and you are drawn to it. You’ve never heard of the author, or even of the book, but something about the color of the cover and the weight of the book tells you this is going to be a great read. You rush home to read it and can’t put it down for two days in a row. You come to the last page, waiting for the moment of finality and you see ‘TO BE CONTINUED’ taunting you from the page. What do you do now? Do you eagerly await the next book or do you toss the book across the room and vow never to read anything by that author again?

Well, I can’t give you a straight answer on that...yet. Before I can even begin to tell you whether each novel in a series should stand alone or they should just be a continuation of the next, we first have to try and understand what goes on in a publisher’s head because the publisher is the most important part of your book. Without the publisher’s support, your book will go no further than the box under your bed. I know there are some of you out there saying, ‘I’m not writing to be seen, I’m writing for the art.’ This is just fine, but I would suggest you stop reading this article now.

For months now, I've been searching every possible writers advice website I could find, and do you want to know what they all said? When it comes to writing a series of novels, the first book, at least, must be able to stand on its own. Up until about a week ago, I agreed with this theory, but as I thought more about the topic, I became increasingly bitter about the whole thing. ‘Why does the first in a series need to stand alone? The book writes itself, I can’t change how it ends.’ I understand that the characters need to resolve some big action for the readers to feel satisfied and I know I would personally be frustrated if at the last page of a good book I saw the words 'TO BE CONTINUED,' but wouldn't seeing these words only drive up your desire to the read the next novel? Wouldn't you want to know what happened to the characters in the final end and wait diligently for the next book to come out? Absolutely not. I'm a stubborn reader and if I am dissatisfied with the end of a story, even if the rest of the novel was brilliant, I refuse to waste my time on the second, or third, or fourth. As an author, it is your job to leave the reader with a feeling of resolution. Yes, there are those out there that will not completely turn their backs on an author just for leaving us dissatisfied, but writing a novel isn't just about those select few.

Publishers look for authors who can sell their books and make a profit. If the novel doesn't end, it will be less appealing to readers, and publishers are not going to waste their time on a second one. Why would they risk spending money to produce a book they don't even know will make it past the first stage? They are already taking a chance that your novel will turn a profit, now they will have to take an extra risk hoping you'll have a great enough following for your series. I’ll let you in on a little secret; most publishers are not going to take that gamble.

When writing a series of books, don't concentrate on the fact that you plan to make the story into a series. In fact, don't think about the other books at all. Only focus on the current novel you're working on and let that story come to an end. There needs to be some concrete ending for the readers or you will find yourself the owner of a failed novel—that is if it ever becomes a part of production. There is a reason that the three main areas of the story arc are the beginning, the climax and the denouement. The denouement resolves any issues that the characters come across and clears up any confusion the reader might have had. You can plan to write a series of novels, in which case you can add something that may need to be concluded in a subsequent novel, but the first novel must end.

I will admit that I once thought you could stop a story halfway through the journey. I was a bit biased in this opinion since my personal novel is that of a journey and I have been unsuccessful toward finding a way to end the first book while my character remains on her journey. My thought was, if J.R.R Tolkien can do it, why can't I. Well, I'm not Tolkien, not by a long shot.

I will leave you with my final plea to ensure that your first novel in a series, especially as an unpublished author, finds some way to come to an end. Leaving the book hanging is no way to treat your future hopeful