In order to get published you have to stand out in the crowd. This is a must. Never tell people that you want to be, say, the next Stephen King. Why not? Because until King is dead, you ain’t got a job, pal! So, unless you’re content with sitting back and reading the literary guild obituaries, you might want to try a different tact, and that is developing your own clear, distinct writing style.

A writer’s style is created when a writer finally finds their own unique voice on paper. It takes some work to uncover your style, but it is well worth the journey. Let’s see what you might be able to do to create a style all your own.

First, you need practice. Lots of it. You can’t discover your own unique way of doing anything without putting some effort into it. You need to write, and to write every day. Of course, you’re first instinct is to shout back how busy you are, how little time you have, how precious each moment is … blahblahblah.

Shut up.

C.J. Here: I am reminded of my favorite cartoon ever from the New Yorker. Cocktail party, two men speaking to one another. The speaker, eager, bright-eyed, innocent. The listener, bored, leaning against the wall, wearing sunglasses. The speaker says: “A writer, huh? Gee, I always wished I had the time to write.”

No one has the time to write. No one is born with extra minutes in the day to devote to putting things down on paper. You find the time, you make it. You cut out the unnecessary, the distracting, the useless. You get down to the work of becoming the greatest literary voice of your age. Or you let someone else do it. Period. That’s all she wrote.

Bruce & C.J. Here: You will need to establish a regular daily time to sit down and write. Like an athlete practicing their sport, a writer must practice their craft often to become great. Your mind runs like a computer can quickly program itself to be full of ideas at the time of your writing session every day. Trust yourself to rise to the occassion.

The second step is to read widely in your genre of choice. A writer learns writing techniques from other writers as they read. This exposes you to different writing styles and allows you to pick and choose what you think are the most effective methods of writing. And, understand that we’re not talking theft here. This is an exercise for your subconscious, not your conscious mind.

For example: reading a James Bond novel by Ian Fleming would expose you to his tight, highly detailed style of writing. Fleming’s approach to the craft was designed to take you into the lifestyle of a spy that is licensed to kill. Even normal things like eating a meal or driving a car are not done in typical fashion by such a person. The simple act of reading a Fleming novel could be that key to helping you better understand that characters are defined by many things, their upbringing, surroundings, racial identity, and their jobs, just to name a few.

In the fantasy genre, David Eddings is one of the acknowledged masters at moving a story forward through dialogue. He’s one of the very best. Kevin J. Anderson, the highest paid science fiction writer in the world, tells tales on a grandious scale, and he is capable of doing so in the Star Wars or Dune series, as well as his own universes. Stephen King claims he doesn’t outlines his novels (C.J. here: I have to believe him, I don’t outline anything, either), but allows the characters to lead the twists and turns of the plot. King is a master of creating believable characters. Dean Koontz is the master of hooking a reader in with a first paragraph that leaves you dying for more — to the point where most folks find it very hard to put down a Koontz novel.

Practice writing through the five senses (taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight) of your characters to create a complete reading experience. Go into their minds. Show the audience what they’re thinking. Use metaphors and similes artfully to paint incredible descriptions with words. Push yourself to be different in your word choices. Write short, powerful sentences to build tension in a scene.

We could go on and on, but the point is made. All of the above tips might be just what you are looking for, or they might be absolutely wrong for you. You’re the only one who can decide. They were provided only as springboards, ways for you to experiment in the hopes of finding your way toward creating your own unique style of writing.

Reading the giants of your genre never hurts. Study their styles to see what makes them great. If nothing else, it’s a better way to pass an afternoon than drugs or television.

Honest.

If you’re anything like us, then you’ve heard writers complaining for years about the demise of markets for short stories. Now, all right, yes, it is true that the heyday of hundreds of printed fiction magazines is over. Only the very strongest such as Space & Time Magazine have survived, but I strongly disagree that there is a lack of demand for shorter works of fiction.

Remember this truest of facts … nothing disappears without being replaced by something else. That’s evolution, dudes.

The novel still outsells single author short story collections and multiple author anthologies in printed form, just as always. But a savvy writer realizes that short stories (5,000 words or less) and novellas (5,001 to 59,999 words) appeal to more multi-media markets for fiction than the novel. For those who haven’t noticed, we are living in a multi-media age, one that seems to become a bit more “multi” with every passing day. In order to sell more short fiction you have to think in terms of appealing to editors in other mediums that might be willing to use your fiction.

To create top selling short stories a writer needs to think of a short story in terms of an episode. Write a series of short stories using the same universe and main characters. And, despite the popular notion to the contrary, these stories do not need to be written in chronological order. Unless, of course, you were thinking that Robert E. Howard’s Conan wasn’t a popular character.

What working in a chronological progression does allow you is, at the end of a group of, say fifteen to twenty short stories, is to create a very exciting book that can be published as a “novel.” By way of personal example, we did this with our forthcoming “novel,” Where Angels Fear. We first sold the stories to many different magazines, websites, and anthologies. Then we wrote more unpublished stories to fill out the story arc and sold them as one complete work of art — one with a beginning, middle and end. Just like any other novel. Each short story or novella appears as a titled chapter, leading to that most wonderful of situations, selling the same short story twice.

Episodic fiction can also be sold as a comic book series. You have to rewrite the short stories as comic book scripts, but then you could sell the short stories to a book publisher as a comic book tie-in. C.J. did this with his hit Moonstone Books comic Lai Wan, Tales of the Dreamwalker, which is now an anthology from Marietta Publishing as well as a comic book series.

Also: don’t forget the very popular Manga publishing companies and the best selling graphic novels that dominate the comic industry today. Any novella you’ve done is most likely the perfect length for a graphic novel.

Television producers are always on the lockout for new TV series, as well. Short stories or novellas can be rewritten as screenplays for television. Author Wendy Webb wrote a series of comedy mystery novellas for Marietta Publishing (Last Resort, Bee Movie, and Mean Cuisine). Each is subtitled “A Beluga Stein Mystery.” Wendy sold these to Fox TV as a series. Talk about selling something twice!

A good long novella is the perfect length to convert to a movie screenplay. Novels are actually too long for the standard two-hour movie.

Another point to consider is the fact that the gaming industry is now bigger than the movie industry. Like Hollywood, they are always in need of talented writers to create role playing games and video games. Most of the larger hit games have book series to tie-in the game and inspire game masters. Many game tie-in book publishing companies are actually owned by the game companies such as Chaosium, Black Library and Lucas Books. Gaming companies publish short stories, novellas, and novels depending upon the game. Two great examples of bestselling gaming book series are Halo and Warhammer.

The bottom line is to think outside the box of print media. In many ways, it is actually easier today to start a writing career than ever before, thanks to the never-before availability of Internet publishers. Their online magazines may be just the ticket to the building of both your credits and writing skills. Then you will be ready to submit stories to the cream of the online crop — Baen’s Universe and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show.

You have to start somewhere. The “where” is not important.

Getting started is.