The dictionary defines versatile as "competent in many things; able to turn from one subject to another. Many-sided." And this describes the writing of Bill Crider. His body of work stretches from Mystery and Western to Horror and Science Fiction. From adult mystery to children's fiction. He won the Anthony Award for "Best First Mystery Novel" in 1986 for TOO LATE TO DIE and in 1989 he co-authored the novel MURDER UNDER BLUE SKIES with NBC's The Today Show's weatherman Willard Scott. Bill is Chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at Alvin Community College in Alvin, Texas.

 

Top Ten Things I've Learned About Writing: by Bill Crider

 

10. IT HELPS TO BE LUCKY. Rick Riordan, author of a very successful series of private eye novels set in Texas, told me the other day that in researching for a class he was going to teach, he ran across an amazing statistic: out of every 10,000 manuscripts submitted, .03% are accepted. Book editors' offices are stacked high with manuscripts. Magazine editors receive huge bags full of manuscripts every day. Good manuscripts, even excellent manuscripts, are sometimes rejected because of the sheer volume that editors have to deal with. So no matter what anyone tells you, luck does play a part in getting published.

9. NO ONE IS GOING TO STEAL YOUR WORK. I've been to a number of workshops where unpublished writers express the concern that some publisher will steal their manuscripts or ideas. Don't worry about anything like that. As far as I know, and I've talked to many, many writers about it, it's never happened. (Hollywood is a different story.)

8. YOU'D BETTER BEGIN WITH YOUR BEST STUFF. I've talked to several editors about this, and I've heard the same thing from others who have talked to them: you'd better get it right on the first page. I asked one editor this question: "When you're reading an unsolicited manuscript, how much do you have to read before you decide you're not going to buy it?" The answer: "One page." Even if that's an exaggeration, it gives you apretty good idea. Never, ever try to tell the editor that "it starts off slowly, but it really begins to build after the first two hundred pages."

7. IT NEVER HURTS TO KNOW THE EDITOR. They call it networking these days. I believe very strongly in going to workshops and conferences and meeting editors, agents, and other writers. When an editor receives a manuscript from someone she's never met, it just doesn't get the same reception as one with a cover letter that says, "You mentioned at the Houston Writers' Conference that you'd like to look at my manuscript."

6. YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOUR WAY. There are thousands of books that tell you about writing, but not one of them can write for you. Advice is meaningless if it doesn't work. Try different methods and find out what works best for you. Then don't listen to any more advice.

5. YOU CAN'T BE SOMEONE ELSE. This is a corollary of #7. I always wanted to be William Faulkner or Ernest Hemingway or Raymond Chandler, but I never could. It took me years to get over it and start writing my own books in my own way. And that's when I got published. You have to write what you write, not what someone else has written.

4. YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO GET RICH. If you're writing for money, you're writing for the wrong reason. Most of the writers I aren't making a living at it. Including me. If I were single and willing to live very frugally, I could probably make a living as a writer, but I'd rather have a job with a regular paycheck than take the chance. Rule of thumb: When you're making as much money as a writer as you're making at your day job, quit the day job.

3. ON THE OTHER HAND, YOU MIGHT MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. There's Stephen King. Not to mention John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark. And there are lots of others. But some writers get big advances, their books don't live up to the expectations of the sales staff, and they get dropped by their publishers because they don't live up to the expectations of the sales staff. In other words, if you get a big contract, you have to produce big numbers. (In some ways, being a midlist writer isn't so bad. Expectations are lower.)

2. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE AN AGENT. There are writers even now who are selling without agents. I sold my first two books without an agent. But an agent does help. It's just easier to get one after you've made a few sales.

1. If I can do it, you can, too. One of my humbling experiences was at a book signing with several other writers. One of them came up to me afterward and said, "You don't remember me, but I was at your session at a writers' workshop a couple of years ago, and you're the reason I got published." I was pretty flattered, and naturally I asked her what I had said that inspired her. "It wasn't anything you said," she told me. "After listening to you, I figured that if you could do it, so could I." There's a lesson there for everyone.