BSFW: I think it is great advice for all of us. It was originally posted on the Clarion site, blog post 122 run by Lynda Williams written by Kim Neville
   
      I recently started reading slush submissions for Ideomancer, an opportunity I’m enormously grateful for. I’ve long been a believer in the benefits of critiquing the work of others. Slush-reading has brought me new insights to apply to my own work. Here are the top three lessons I’ve learned thus far:


Get to the Point
      I should know this. I’ve heard the advice countless times. You only have a paragraph, maybe a page, to capture an editor’s interest, so it’s best to cut to the action as quickly as possible. Still, there’s nothing like reading a dozen story openings in quick succession to drive the point home. The other day I reread a story I always loved but was never able to sell. It was obvious the first six pages needed to be cut. All the setup I thought essential? Not so much.


Stay Focused
     I see a lot of otherwise well-written stories with pacing problems. Once you’ve gotten an editor’s attention, you need to keep it. Don’t use the second scene to dump all the information you cut out in the first. (Guilty.) Remove any scenes, no matter how pretty, that don’t move your story forward. (Also guilty.) And please, don’t bog down your middle explaining things your reader has already figured out. (Ugh. So completely guilty.)


Deliver the Unexpected
     Most slush stories end exactly how you expect they will. They’re not necessarily weak endings – just not memorable. Those rare moments when an author surprises me with something unexpected are the ones I hope for every time I open my inbox. I’m still working on incorporating this into my own writing.
      My slushing experience has helped me see that I need to focus more attention on my endings.  
      Do editing, slush reading or critiquing the work of your peers have an impact on your own writing? Is it positive or negative? What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learned through engaging in these activities?


Kim Neville writes contemporary fantasy. She lives near the ocean in Vancouver, Canada with her husband and six year-old daughter. Her floors are often covered in sand and glitter. Kim is a graduate of Clarion West, class of 2012. She has a story forthcoming in the Summer 2013 issue of Shimmer. Her work has also appeared in On Spec and Leading Edge. www.kimneville.com. 

Hey All,

     BSFW has been having an extended conversation about outlining for about a year, particularly the novel group.  Arguments for and against have been made with compelling clarity. I for one am all for outlines, although for the longest time I was, to be honest, afraid of compacting my novel to its most 
                                                                       fundamental elements.

      One reason I feared outlining was the possibility, that once I did, I’d find my story just didn’t work, and that others would see it too.  Another difficulty was finding the right format; one that was helpful to me, the author, yet flexible and relatively easy for the critique members to follow with limited time constraints.

      This struggle has resulted in some interesting answers. Mark Salzwedel, a new BSFW member,  put up the synopsis of his novel Bauble based on my recommendations given in the letter announcing the dual meet-ups. It needed to include most of the following basic criteria:

1. Who your protagonist and antagonists are, & his/her/their main  
    conflicts

2. Themes

3. The key plot points & or events in your story

4.  (Optional) What kind of story is it? First Contact, space opera,   
     swords and sorcery,  urban fantasy,etc.

      Marks synopsis was clear, concise, fit on one page, and still managed to be exciting and sound like a book I wanted to pick-up and read. After reading his,  I finally redid my outline. It took just under an hour and I’m pretty happy with the results.  And that’s not all.

      Recently, Brad Parks re-posted a great article on reverse outlining on the BSFW Facebook group. The article, by Aaron Hamburger, gave me the idea of incorporate reverse outlining into an outline template that would then allow me to go back and easily check on my story organization by answering questions like: How many words am I expending on this section? What  part of the story it? What job is this section doing? 
That way, I just get to focus on writing a great story.


     I've attached the outline template here for you to download. Let me know if it works for you, and any thoughts to make it better. Consider this open source.

-Rob Cameron