7
CHAPTERStrategy Session h
Breaking In
HOW TO USE THIS STRATEGY SESSION
The purpose of this chapter is to help you plan the practical steps
you will take to get your novels into print. We will also examine the
h'rst important issues facing you as you make your opening moves
in your gambit for a full-time fiction career.
This chapter is interactive. You will have choices. I cannot,
should not, presume to give advice that will apply to all writers in
all cases. No two novels are exactly alike, and no two fiction careers
will unfold in exactly the same way.
You must decide what is right for you. Nevertheless, there are
certain fundamental choices that confront all beginning novelists.
By making you aware of them now, 1 hope to help you make your
opening moves as strong as possible. You may also, I hope, avoid
some early pitfalls by being prepared.
At the end of this chapter you will find a checklist that summa-
rizes all the choices I am discussing here. When you are done filling
it out you will have a plan for the early part of your career. Having a
plan does not guarantee success, but I firmly believe it will raise the
odds against failure.
Here we go.
WHAT TO SELL
If you have only one completed novel, then your initial choice may
be simple: your first submissions will be of your first novel.