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you might someday sell, plus you'll have the experience of having written a complete novel.

6. Don't rewrite except to editorial direction. In other words, don't endlessly rework your novel. Many novice writers revise endlessly. They think that they're polishing their work, but really they're just sapping it of originality and vitality. Your best writing comes from your subconscious; don't let your conscious mind dumb it down - or keep you safe from rejection by endlessly re-working it.

7. Send your novel to someone who might buy it, like an editor, or sell it, like an agent. Don't worry about rejection. The mafia have a saying, and while I don't generally advise modeling your life after wise guys in this case it will serve you well; if you can't lose, you can't win. If you don't send your novel out there it will never be published.

8. Keep sending your novel out until it's sold. Publishing is full of stories of novels that became best-sellers after many, many rejections. Don't try to judge your novel yourself - writers are notoriously poor judges of their own work - just send it out to market, and keep sending it remembering that many famous best-sellers would have never been published if their authors had given up on them.

9. Start writing another novel right after you've finished the first. This tip is courtesy of science fiction writer Robert Sawyer. He points out that you have to produce a body of work in order to count yourself as a real working pro. Plus, starting another novel right away will keep you in the habit of writing every day.

10. Join a critique group or writer's circle. Writing can be lonely and, especially with novels, feedback can be sparse. If there's no writing group near you there are online options like Critters (just google it) which will let you submit one chapter of your novel at a time for critique. Some writers, in order to follow tip 6 and the rule laid down by Heinlein, submit their work to critique groups but don't rewrite it; instead they use what they learn from the critique groups comments on their next projects.

If you follow these ten tips you'll have a finished science fiction novel out to market, and be hard at work on your second novel, in about six months. What's more, your novel will have a real shot at getting published, and making you a published science fiction author.

Learn more about this author, David Riel.
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