Month: January 2017

Inspiration from Iceland

Inspiration comes from a lot of different places. Each place you visit, live or pass through has quite a bit of history. History is a great place to start a story.

Think about every book you have ever read. Every non-fiction piece: history. Every fiction piece has history. It’s the path in which the story took to arrive at the end of the journey.

Reykjavík, Iceland

This week I’ve been in Iceland. I had never really thought about Iceland’s “story” other than the fact that there were Vikings involved, they have a cold, relatively dark winter, and 24-hours of daylight during the summer months.

During our excursion one night to find the Northern Lights, the guide told us a story. It was Búkolla the Magic Cow. Our guide sat at the front, her Icelandic accent transporting us to a farm where a boy and his family lived.

Reykjavík, Iceland

“Once upon a time,” she began. The story was short and sweet, detailing the trials of a young boy and his cow against the might of trolls.

Everyone associates Ireland with the fae folk, the little people, fairy tales. At least, everyone I know. But I never thought to think of Iceland having stories riddled with creatures, trolls particularly. It was a new experience for me, and immediately my head was spinning with new tales that I could weave based upon the stories from Iceland.

Blue Lagoon, Iceland

Aside from the stories we heard, the land is fickle and beautiful. Snowstorms can crop up out of nowhere, rage for a few moments and disappear as if they were never there. The mountains are breathtaking, the Northern Lights sought after by every tourist, the Blue Lagoon a warm-water paradise, waterfalls, geysers, glaciers, even the snow sprinkled streets.

Statue of Leif Erikson, Reykjavík, Iceland

And let’s not forget the real history! Vikings settled this land and statues of these settlers and other famed people dot the city. There are tales here, both already told and asking to be written—a story in every aspect of the land.

This goes for any location. But I know, that after my visit here (even during) I will be writing stories and poems with Iceland at their hearts.

About Corinne

Connect with me
on Twitter!
@AndersonCorinne

Corinne has her MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University. She has been an editor at Ink Smith Publishing and Native Ink Press since 2013. Since her first trip to the library when she was a toddler, Corinne has been collecting books, recommending her favorites and providing commentary on the less-than-stellar. Her belief is that if you have a problem, it’s nothing that a good book can’t solve. Currently, she is pursuing her MPS in Publishing at George Washington University, editing for Ink Smith Publishing and hoping that her blog posts here will help writers improve and publish their work.

Habitualized Writing Spaces:

Writers are creative creatures. Whether they are writing fiction or non-fiction, they are building worlds from images inside their heads. This world building takes a lot of fuel, and for those writers who have done multiple worlds recently, it can be hard to develop something new. Authors and writers, in general, can be creatures of habit. I’ve met many authors who have said that they have a specific place they write. They create the same environment each time they sit at their desk, by the window, or in a local coffee shop. The pad of paper for notes goes on the right side of the computer, two pens, a highlighter (to really mark an important idea to flesh out later), a cup of tea, a thesaurus – you name it. They have a system.

Authors and writers, in general, can be creatures of habit. I’ve met many authors who have said that they have a specific place they write. They create the same environment each time they sit at their desk, by the window, or in a local coffee shop. The pad of paper for notes goes on the right side of the computer, two pens, a highlighter (to really mark an important idea to flesh out later), a cup of tea, a thesaurus – you name it. They have a system.

But this system can fail us. Particularly, if we are not “experienced” individuals. That is not to say that everyone needs experience before they write (at least not actual experience). What I mean by that is that when we habitualize a creative process, we can get bogged down in writing the same dialogue, scene, character—even the same story.

Inspiration comes in many different forms, so you don’t have to go and change your writing habits. The easiest things to are: look out your window, listen to people talk, Google a picture, or even listen to a new song.

But don’t limit your inspiration.

But I encourage writers, heck I encourage everyone, to expose themselves to new adventures, new people, and new places so that you can bring those experiences with you to your perfectly set writing space.

About Corinne

Connect with me on Twitter! @AndersonCorinne

Submissions Now Open for 2017!

It’s that time of year again! Ink Smith Publishing has opened submissions for 2017! Genres accepted can be found on our website: www.ink-smith.com/submissions. We love fantasy, so if you do not see your specific fictional genre listed, we encourage you to submit to us anyway. There are so many fiction genres (particularly hyper-specific genres) that we cannot list them all.

But, please note, we do not accept non-fiction or children’s (12 years and under) titles at Ink Smith. For non-fiction/children’s titles please submit to Native Ink Press. Guidelines and requirements apply to Native Ink Press as well.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions will be accepted January 1 – July 30 each year, with a closed reading period beginning August 1.

Novellas must be 30,000 to 50,000 words and novels must be at least 50,000+ words.
No fan fiction.
No short stories.
Manuscripts must be polished. No first drafts or incomplete manuscripts.
Manuscripts that you submit cannot be previously self-published.
No attachments in the email.
No manuscripts on first query. *We will request your manuscript if we are interested in moving forward.*
No non-fiction titles.
No children’s books aimed at ages 12 and under.
No submissions from outside the U.S./Canada at this time.

Submit Your Book Query

Please follow ALL guidelines below. Submissions not meeting submission guidelines are automatically rejected regardless of the quality of the work submitted.

Title Your email: Query, Your Last Name, Title of Your Book
Cover letter: Tell us about yourself. Please include current address, as we use this to verify that you are currently residing in the U.S. or Canada.
Story information: Genre, Word Count, etc.
Synopsis: no longer than 1 page, please.
Your marketing plan! In the event we move forward with your manuscript for publication, please note that we expect our authors to be active in the marketing of their titles alongside our efforts. Your ideas, opinions and comfort level with marketing tools are essential for us to develop a marketing plan that works for you and your book.
The first three chapters of your story copied and pasted into the body of the email. (NO ATTACHMENTS)
Send your query to submissions@ink-smith.com!

As a final reminder: NOT FOLLOWING GUIDELINES WILL RESULT IN AUTOMATIC REJECTION.

2017 Writer Resolutions

As the end of the year approaches, the topic of resolutions becomes ever more present. For many authors, their resolutions revolve around the painstaking work of creating worlds.

I suppose it is both a blessing and a curse that NaNoWriMo takes place in November. There is this fierce dedication to complete a novel in a month, followed by the feeling of complete accomplishment.

But what follows this success? Editing. The dreaded, hated reread; and the eagle eyed scan for errors.

Sounds like fun, right? Not at all, at least for the majority of the writing world. This is where the resolution comes in.

So, if you’re a writer – what kind of resolution have you made?