# I want to be published.



## Jessalynn Barnum (Sep 19, 2010)

Ok,here is the deal.  I have a story that I am still working on and I want to publish it when I am done with it and I am new with pubishing, so I am kind of confused. 
Can somebody help me out??


----------



## Sam (Sep 19, 2010)

What sort of a story? A short, novella, a novel? What genre is it? I can't really help you out until you give me some specifics.


----------



## Jessalynn Barnum (Sep 19, 2010)

It is a novel and I beleive it's adult thriller......horror.


----------



## Sam (Sep 19, 2010)

Well, either it's a thriller or it's horror. Horror novels have been known to thrill, and thrillers have been known to have horrific parts in them, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard of a horror, adult thriller novel. 

Maybe an outline of what the story is about might help me determine your genre. In any case, there are two ways to go about getting published. First, you send a query letter to a publishing house. Google "query letters that worked" to get a feel for what's going to be expected. You need to search for a house that publishes the kind of story you've written, which is why I mentioned genre. No point in going to a sci-fi publishing house if you're writing romance. 

Second, you can go down the avenue of finding an agent interested in your work. S/he will push the novel into a publishing house for you, but will expect 10% of the royalties you earn (sometimes more). Be forewarned: Getting published is a long and drawn-out process. It's not going to happen overnight. You need to have a finished manuscript first, otherwise you're wasting time. Get the novel written, have someone beta-read it for you (preferably not family), and edit where necessary to make it the best it can be. Then you can start looking for potential publishers.


----------



## Jessalynn Barnum (Sep 19, 2010)

It's mainly a horror. It's about a girl of 21 who finds out that her ex boyfriend is sleeping with a lot of other girls and she get's ticked, she decids to handle it with poisoning him and killing him. There is some romanic parts in the story also. Like she meets a guy who sweeps her off her feet and he helps with killing the ex boyfriend. 

And I will finish the story and do what you told me. 

Thanks, Sam. (Funny the ex boyfriend is named Sam......hahaha)


----------



## Ilasir Maroa (Sep 19, 2010)

That's most likely to be a thriller, not horror.  Possibly a romantic thriller, depending on how dark it is, and how strong the romance elements are.

If you've read anything in that genre before, look at who the publisher is--and also the agent.  They will no doubt be noted somewhere, often in the "Acknowledgements" page.

Also, what Sam said.


----------



## Jessalynn Barnum (Sep 19, 2010)

Ilasir Maroa said:


> That's most likely to be a thriller, not horror. Possibly a romantic thriller, depending on how dark it is, and how strong the romance elements are.
> 
> If you've read anything in that genre before, look at who the publisher is--and also the agent. They will no doubt be noted somewhere, often in the "Acknowledgements" page.
> 
> Also, what Sam said.



Thank you very much. I will look in some books I have of that genre and see. If I have any more questions I will ask.


----------



## Sam (Sep 20, 2010)

Yeah, that sounds like a thriller. Here's the rub, though: Your girl of 21 seems to be the undoubted villain of the piece, since she's going to kill her boyfriend. I'm pretty sure she's your main character, which means you haven't got a good guy, so to speak. Are you planning on the girl accomplishing the murder and getting away with it, or do you want someone to foil her before she can? If it's the former, you're going to need to identify her with the reader so that they _want _her to escape and that the ending won't seem like a cop-out. If it's the latter, you don't need to worry about making the reader care for her because she's going to be caught and they're going to want to see her caught. 

Right now you have no real believability, unfortunately. Girls tend to be more psychological when it comes to revenge. A girl would plot to ruin the guy's life, spread rumours about him, damage his credibility. Maybe she would poison him, but because he'd cheated on her? There has to be a deeper meaning for your reader to understand why this girl has decided to kill him. Maybe he abused her or raped her. Maybe he had AIDS and didn't tell her -- that would make a good storyline. Now you have a reason for your reader to empathise with your baddie, and when you can make a reader care for the bad guy, it makes selling the ending that little bit easier. 

Good luck with it.


----------



## Ilasir Maroa (Sep 20, 2010)

I had some trouble with the jump from cheating to killing, too, but it's not like it hasn't happened a few times in real life.


----------



## Foxee (Sep 20, 2010)

Ooh, I'm not sure I agree with you, Sam. I can imagine a woman poisoning someone though belladonna sounds old-fashioned.


----------



## Jessalynn Barnum (Sep 20, 2010)

The AiDS thing sound great. I will tweek it and put that in there. Thanks for the help.


----------



## TWErvin2 (Sep 20, 2010)

Why not do something besides poision? What about the woman switching out his AIDS drugs for inert ones, causing his disease to progress and his early/premature suffering demise?


----------



## Auskar (Sep 24, 2010)

Sometimes, the story does not go where you want or expect it to go.  Once I wrote a piece with a cynical ending, but editors kept saying that the ending didn't fit the story.  I decided they were right.


----------

