Scratching a Familiar Writing Itch in New Way Keeps Horses on the Page

I've mentioned before that themed calls for submission—announced by literary journals, mainstream websites or magazines, or anthologies—are an excellent way to spur writing and create outside deadlines. For any writer struggling with maintaining a disciplined writing practice, or those overwhelmed by too many writing ideas, or dismayed by not having enough ideas, submission calls can help define writing time and energies.

Peruse the calls at various sites and listservs (some links here), pick one or two that appeal, and…you're off. Writing a piece that addresses the theme, adheres to the required word count, fits the style or tone of the venue, and meets any other criteria noted, are powerful ways of developing writing chops. And of course, meeting the deadline is paramount, especially for those who start but don’t finish writing projects, or just have trouble with deadlines.

The unspoken rule is that you must, of course, have something to say on the topic of the submission call. Such was the case last fall when I noticed a planned anthology on writing about animals. In my 20s and early 30s, I made a living writing about horses. In the last few years, I've been itching to write about horses again, but it's been two decades since I've been around horses on a daily basis, so I've been finding new ways of integrating horses into my writing life, resulting in many personal essays. And here was a chance to combine horses and writing into an essay about, well, horses and writing!

Off went my piece to the anthology, a combination personal essay and advice on one aspect of writing about horses. And a few weeks later, back came the rejection. That's okay, it's part of the writing life. First, you wallow. For minutes, hours, days—depends on your personal rejection wallowing style. Then, you decide: Scrap it? Make a few tweaks and send it right back out? Revise, rethink, rewrite?

I rarely scrap something, though I may let it sit for weeks or months (or longer) before I gin up the interest or energy to revise, or have the time to do so properly. That's okay, too.

With my writing-about-horses piece, I believed it had merit as it was, so I made only a few minor tweaks. The next question was where to send it. "Advice for those writing about animals" is not that common a themed submission call! So I turned to venues that publish all kinds of essays about writing craft and the writing life; in fact, I've begun to maintain a list of such outlets because I want to write and submit more pieces on writing craft.

Then, as often happens, serendipity intervened in the form of an announcement that the literary journal Hunger Mountain (published by the Vermont Center for Fine Arts, which runs a fine MFA program), was seeking new work for its writing craft website series.

And off went my piece again.

Hunger Mountain published it two weeks ago in Ephemeral Artery, the Hunger Mountain Online Companion. Here's an excerpt:

"… On the “A” level horse show circuit where, even in the 1980s, top jumpers were bought and sold for the high six figures, one of the most reassuring relationships I witnessed was between these high-priced performers and their minimum-wage earning grooms…. A fiery Thoroughbred ex-racehorse could be snorting, galloping might in the ring, but transform, once handed by the professional rider to his groom, into a cuddly, frolicking pony….My advice to those who want to write about modern horses at work or play in America: find them with their caretakers. The ones who love them whether they’ve had the fastest jump-off round that day, or if they spooked at the stray plastic bag at the side of the ring, tossing a rider on his duff. That is when you will see the real horse, the one who knows he’s safe and seems to understand when nothing is expected of her except that she exist…"

You can read all of  "When Prose Turns to Horses, Remember the Humans," here. And, for more on the horse-writing connection, see Annie Penfield's essay in the same section, "On Rhythm—In Sentences."

Let me know of your experiences with writing to themed calls for submission. Or writing about animals, or horses, or whatever's going on in your writing life now!

Image (top): Flickr/CreativeCommons-S.Carter

Guest Blogger Kim Ablon Whitney on Writing Niche Novels, Writing What You Know

The first thing I wrote that evoked a positive reader reaction was about a trip to the Sunday morning pony rides that turned terrifying, when my favorite plodding mount spooked and ran off. That was in first grade, and I was immediately hooked on writing about horses. Since then, I've been a columnist, reporter, and editor for equestrian magazines, and dozens of essays about what horses have meant to me have run in journals, magazines, and anthologies.

Along the way, I've made many friends who also write about horses. Kim Ablon Whitney is one of them. Her novels have earned praise from the American Library Association, Bank Street College of Education, and Booklist Magazine. Kim, a Massachusetts resident, holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College. She has been a top competitive rider, and is now a horse show judge. Her latest book, Blue Ribbons, is available for Kindle, Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.

Please welcome Kim Ablon Whitney. 

I remember a specific conversation with my editor after my second book, The Perfect Distance (a novel set in the world of horse shows), was published. We were discussing what I might write for my third book.  My first book had been about a girl growing up in a family of con artists and I wanted to return to writing about a world I didn’t know.  “I don’t want to write another horse book right away,” I told her.  “I want to stretch. I mean I don’t want to just be the horse book writer.”

My third book, The Other Half of Life, was historical fiction set on a refugee ship during World War II—as far from horses and blue ribbons as you can imagine.  When I started to think about my fourth book project, I decided on my own to look at the sales figures for my first three books. 

The best selling book of the three, by far?  The horse book.  The horse book was also the book for which I received the most online customer reviews, and the one that generated the most emails from readers.  They often asked me whether I was writing another horse book.

I began to ask myself the same question. Why not write another horse book?

I know horses and the horse world inside out.  I love horses and riding.  I have ridden since I was six, shown on the A Circuit, and have been judging horse shows for over twenty years.  Why not use my insider knowledge to create books that my past readers, and likely many more readers lurking out there in the horse world, were eager to read?

While I didn’t love the idea of being pigeonholed, I did begin to realize if I wanted to establish a growing and dedicated readership, it might not be bad to be “the horse book writer.”  Along the way, while writing and publishing my newest book, Blue Ribbons, I learned some valuable lessons about the business of being an author.

 A Niche Can Be Nice

Unless you’re lucky enough to write standout literary fiction (think Ann Patchett), writing for a niche readership can be instrumental to your success.  A niche will help you interest agents and editors, and in a finicky publishing market, it’s easier to sell a book that's clearly quantifiable and describable—what industry lingo calls a “market distinction.”  Agents and editors like projects with a unique appeal and a ready-made audience.

If your niche audience is big enough (vampires, corporate thrillers, etc.), a big publisher may even be interested in it, while a smaller niche may be better suited to an independent press or self-publishing as an e-book (as I did via Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple’s iBooks and Kobo).  People are passionate about their interests, and often spend considerable money on the activities they love.  The more narrow the interest, often the more passionate and the more excited they are to find a book that targets their interests.  Publishers have passed on books they claim are “too niche,” only to have that book sell tens of thousands of copies as an e-book.

Nail Your Own Niche

Writing books about the world of horses, young riders, training and equestrian competition, was an obvious niche for me, given my background and work as a United States Equestrian Federation judge at major events.  Perhaps you have an obvious niche yourself.  Did you grow up playing, or have you shepherded a child through, a sport?  Do you know piano playing or spelling bees or gardening?  What kind of work do you do?  Do you know computers inside out, a segment of the medical world, or the retail world?  These are all possible settings for fiction, memoir, or general nonfiction.

Or, perhaps there’s something you’ve always wanted to learn more about.  Decide to make it your niche, and finally take those cooking classes, train for that marathon, travel to India.  Use what you learn and write about it.

Either way, you don’t need to be the foremost expert on a topic.  Yes, you need to know enough to describe the world and get the logistics and lingo right. But you can fill in details and double check facts with experts true experts, who are also  usually willing to be beta readers and help you get it right.

A Niche is a Nice Place to Land

I've learned how very gratifying it feels to write a book that people are interested in.  I love seeing the reviews, emails, and Facebook posts about my horse books in which people relate to the story, tell me how great it was to read a book that brought their world to life, and want me to know they are eagerly anticipating my next horse book.  I am so flattered and nearly giddy with the positive feedback!

Marketing your niche book is also more straightforward than marketing a general fiction book.  You probably already know all the blogs, websites, Facebook groups, and magazines devoted to your niche.  If not, they’ll be easy enough to find.  You won’t be competing for visibility with hundreds of other books, either.  Instead you’ll find there are probably only a handful of books in your chosen niche.

Some niches offer endless opportunities and you’ll never run out of ideas and books waiting to be written.  Others might run dry sooner.  But once you’ve built an audience, your readers might be willing to follow you if your next book falls outside that category.  Think of it like a spin-off from a successful sitcom.

For now, I’m sticking to horse books.  And I’m having a lot of fun writing about something I love and something that readers are passionate about.  I’m hoping to publish my next horse book, Summer Circuit, in the fall and a sequel to Blue Ribbons after that.  Maybe I’ll go back to writing other books someday and hopefully the readers I’ve connected with through my horse books might follow me.  Or maybe I’ll just be “the horse book writer.”  That’s fine with me!

Note from Lisa:  Kim will stop by the blog over the next week to answer any questions left for her in comments.  All those who comment by midnight, Saturday, June 14   21 , will also be entered to win a free download of Blue Ribbons, plus a physical copy of one of her three previous books (must have a U.S. postal address).