QT Open Mic: Today's Writers, Today's Topics

There is an important aspect of the writing business that is often easy to overlook.

Keeping relevant.

Writing is an intensely personal venture and many people get swept up in their personal art. We live in our stories. We eat, breath, dream our books and their inescapable grasps. After months (perhaps years!) of laboring at our novels, we emerge from the writing haze, ready to get that book out there. Only, some of us find that the publishing world changed quite a bit while we were busy dreaming.

That happens to QT bloggers, too. :)

Some of us are out of the query trenches and fast-advancing toward the front lines.  A few of us are madly managing back lists and marketing endeavors. But all of us want to continue to provide insightful, relevant posts to help you get to where you want to be with your writing, your book, and your career.

Over the years, we’ve discussed numerous topics related to writing, editing, agents, and the journey toward publication. However, maybe there’s something we haven’t covered (or haven’t covered in a while) that you’re curious to know more about. So today the QueryTracker Blog Team is taking your questions!

Need some writing advice?  Dying to ask someone that question nobody seems to be able to answer?
                    
If you have any question you want answered--even if it's something subjective that solicits an opinion--throw it at us. We'll research and compile our answers for future posts. Our blog team has an amazing range of both personal experience and professional expertise and we're here to share it all with you.

 

Please ask your questions or suggest your topics in the comments section below. (If you would like to suggest something but wish to do so on the down-low, just contact Ash through her website www.ashkrafton.com using the subject line "QT Open Mic". She'll make sure your thoughts are shared with the team.) 

 

We love our blog readers and are thrilled to have all of you with us. Our subscribership keeps growing and we are grateful for your support.

When the Publishing Business Just Isn't Into You

A few years back, a hugely successful book spoke the blunt truth that sometimes the object of your affection just isn't that into you and there's nothing you can do about it. It's a simple, yet profound notion that neither of you has a fatal flaw and the universe hasn't conspired to keep you apart. As the saying goes, it's not personal.  Every writer meets that moment when the question must be asked: Is it time to move on?

Before you decide to shelve your manuscript though, ask yourself some tough questions.

Did I query the manuscript too soon? Every manuscript deserves a break before a final edit and polish. That nay be a month, or a week, but if you haven't let your book simmer for awhile, you'll regret it later when you see a dozen ways those first five pages could have packed a better punch. This is easier to fix if you query in small batches. Yes, you've blown the opportunity with those agents that already rejected you, but there are plenty of agents out there.

And speaking of agents, did you research the agents before you queried them? Did you look at their favorite books, their current clients and their stated areas of interest? Was your query concise, professional and did it plainly lay out the protagonist and the stakes in your story? Did you do something gimmicky like writing the query in the character's voice or leading off with a hypothetical question? (If so, please proceed to "Query Help" on QT the forum right now)

Is your manuscript in a genre that's currently saturated? It really stinks if no one will touch your dystopian YA right now, but market trends have ebb and flow and you can't control it. Write something else. There will always be a place in bookstores for vampires and romance and sci-fi and a year from now, maybe you'll get a warmer reception.

Are you a tad bit whiny/needy/bitter on social media?  Being a part of a supportive community doesn't necessarily mean you have to share every indignity you've suffered while dealing with rejection. Many agents do check you out on line before making an offer of representation or a request.Make your on line presence an asset.

This is the hardest one: Is your writing just not up to par? Have you tried to objectively compare your writing to other published works in the same genre? Try reading passages out loud, which is a huge help in identifying awkward sentences.  Has your manuscript undergone scrutiny by beta readers (not blood relatives) critique partners, or published authors? Have you done a full content edit, looking for clichés, crutch words, tropes and pacing issues? It's never easy to admit that something you've created may not see the light of day in traditional publishing, and yes, great books do get rejected, but sometimes the common denominator is simply that this manuscript isn't the right one.

Every writer gets rejected. Every. Single One. Good queries and bad queries likely get the same form rejection. Before you give up your dream, try as best as you can to objectively assess the reason for your failures. Most of the time, you can fix what is wrong. Writing improves with practice. Queries can be polished. About the only thing you can't control is market trends and the wildly subjective tastes of people in the industry. Press on and never let the fear of failure stop you from pursuing your dream.

Kim English - A native Floridian, Kim is the author of Coriander Jones Saves the World and the upcoming Coriander Jones On Assignment at Sabal Palm Academy. She lives in southwest Florida with her family and an ever increasing number of rescue pets. You can learn more about Kim and her books at CorianderJones.com

Best Writing Advice: Sometimes, You Just Gotta Throw Darts

I once had a good friend named Carolyn.

We met through QueryTracker, talking informally through the forum. Turned out, she worked closely with the site's captain and moderated the QT blog. One day, she invited me to write with them.

It was a huge opportunity. I thought, what a great gig. This could really pan out for me. What I didn't know was I'd be getting a dear friend and mentor in the bargain.

Carolyn was bright—no, brilliant—and funny and innovative and she had a charm about her that was far too humble to accurately portray her innumerable talents. One of those talents was giving advice. And over the years I'd turned to her quite often for guidance.

Once, I was lamenting being stuck for a topic for my upcoming spot on the blog. After a lot of sympathizing/grumbling on both our ends (because writer's block doesn't discriminate), she shared a few of her tactics for treating Topic Absentia. Then she added:

"I've also been known to flip through writers' books and just put my finger on a page and write about whatever I end up with."

As offhand a comment as that seemed at the time, it stayed with me. Frankly, it was good advice. For one thing, this nifty little trick actually worked. I've got a pretty sizeable writer's library, so every time I've resorted to this, it worked like a charm. It was an innovative way to harness the elusive muse and her inspiration.

Apart from the simplicity of the advice, there was a deeper takeaway message.

And, like just about everything else Carolyn said, it was light-hearted and poignant and brilliant, all at the same time.

Sometimes, you just gotta throw darts.

Ready, Aim...
Picking a random topic out of a writer's book is like throwing a dart. Close your eyes and pick one.

It's a stress-free way to make a decision and it pretty much takes you off the hook for it. Fate determined the choice. Now, all you had to do is make something of it.

These days, I find myself with more options than opportunities to see every single one of them through. Sometimes, it's just too hard to choose…and we waste valuable time waffling. If you've ever faced a deadline, you know how desperate lost time can feel. And what if we pick the wrong option? In a profession where doubt can do serious damage, anything that makes a decision a lot less guilt-ridden is a commodity.

In moments like these, you need to close your eyes, center your spirit, and lift a dart.

That sounds scary, I know. (And it would qualify for Jane's advice to do one scary thing every day.)

But it doesn't have to terrify you. You already know that, no matter where the dart lands, it's going to be a choice that you had already considered. It was on the table. It was something you wanted to do. And, if any one of those choices is a scary thing in and of itself, tell yourself this: you control that fear, because you had already been willing to face it.

Knowing that you have a table full of things you'd like to do doesn't mean it's easy to choose one from amongst them. Maybe you want to do all of them with equal intensity. Maybe they've divided themselves into categories like Easy, Necessary, Impressive (or Fun, Feels Like Work, Would Look Awesome in A Bio). But if you didn't think they should be done, they wouldn't be on the table in the first place. There are no bad choices.

So, feel the dart in your fingers. Weigh it. Envision its flight path. Imagine the satisfying thunk it will make when it hits home. Let fate make a decision, for once, and revel in that tiny fleeting moment of blameless freedom.

...Fire.
Then open your eyes, see what life has next in store for you, and smile because your aim is true.

You made sure of that before you even picked up that dart.

Ash Krafton is a speculative fiction writer who, despite having a Time Turner under her couch and three different sonic screwdrivers in her purse, still encounters difficulty with time management. She's the author of the urban fantasy trilogy The Books of the Demimonde as well as WORDS THAT BIND. She also writes for YA and NA audiences under the pen name AJ Krafton. THE HEARTBEAT THIEF, her Victorian dark fantasy inspired by Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”, is now available.

Best Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received: Rhythm in Writing Makes a BIG Difference

There are lots of questions we ask ourselves while we’re creating or revising a story. Is this scene flowing? Are my characters speaking in believable ways? Is this chapter about a three-legged poodle joining a street gang engaging enough? As careful and crazy diligent writers, we break our stories into tiny parts and investigate each one. The minutiae of choosing the right word or a strong sentence can consume us.

Ultimately, we want to know if we’re communicating effectively and if people “get” what we’ve written. Considering the rhythm of our words is one critical step. It can be the difference between someone reading your book in one day or in one month…same characters, same content.

And by “rhythm,” I’m referring to the combination of three things:

1) How Words Sound in Your Noggin – When the majority of people read, their brains reproduce the same sounds as if they were reading out loud. Crazy, right? This means one VERY important and albeit obvious thing… your writing needs to sound good when spoken. If you can, get a friend and read it out loud to her. Encourage her to tell you when something is confusing or sounds squidgy. While you’re reading you’ll come across all sorts of sentences that stick in your mouth like peanut butter. Change them. If you can’t even read them well, and you wrote them, what do you think they’ll sound like to others? Reading out loud is your first line of defense against suckage.

2) The Effect Sentence Length Has on Reading Ease – When all of your sentences are short, they sound choppy. When they’re all long, they become increasingly difficult to understand. Vary those puppies up. Sentences that are all one length have the sound equivalent of monotonous tones. And boring isn’t sexy. Monotonous sentences can kill your exciting content.

3) Writing the Way Humans Actually Speak – Most people worry about dialogue having a good “flow” and sounding realistic. We phrase our dialogue to be easily understandable and to roll off the tongue. But what about all the other sentences? In my opinion, every single sentence should be approached the same way dialogue is. They should be easy to say, interesting to listen to, and have a voice.

As far as I know, “rhythm” (in the way I used it) isn’t writing jargon. I made it up. But if I’ve explained it in a way that you could both easily understand and easily read out loud, then I’ve done my job. I’ve created something and convinced you of its viability and importance. I’ve told you a story.

Happy writing, everyone!!

Adriana Mather is the 14th generation of Mathers in America, and as such her family has their fingers in many of its historical pies – the first Thanksgiving, the Salem Witch Trials, the Titanic, the Revolutionary War, and the wearing of curly white wigs. Also, Adriana co-owns a production company, Zombot Pictures, in LA that has made three feature films in three years. Her first acting scene in a film ever was with Danny Glover, and she was terrified she would mess it up. Her first young adult novel, HOW TO HANG A WITCH, is forthcoming from Knopf/Random House in Fall 2016. In addition, her favorite food is pizza and she has too many cats.

Advice from Carolyn Kaufman, Part 2: Accepting Criticism

Recently, I posted the first part of this article regarding advice from my friend and critique partner, Carolyn Kaufman.

 Carolyn passed away well before her time, but she left a rich legacy of advice for writers in her book and on her blogs, including Psychology Today and this one.

 This is the second part of an interview she did for me back when her book, The Writer's Guide to Psychology, was about to come out.

What I’ve Learned: Advice for Writers Who Aspire to Publish  

Dr. Carolyn Kaufman 1973-2013 

2. Be open to honest feedback: Realize that criticism of your idea or writing isn’t criticism of you. Also realize that you are not objective about your work, and that the only way you’re going to see those flaws that are hidden from you is to rely on other people. The only way you’re going to grow as a writer is to really listen and consider what others have to say – especially when their feedback isn’t all glowing. (In fact, if all you’re getting is glowing feedback, you’re not getting honest feedback. Everybody’s work has rough edges. And if you’re not getting honest feedback, it’s because you’ve somehow sent the message that you don’t want or can’t handle honest feedback. So take a step back and decide how important publication is to you. If you’re determined to get there, you need to find a way to hear and utilize constructive criticism.)

Easier said than done. Truth can sting, but it also can make us better, which is why I loved having Carolyn as a critique partner. She told it like it was, and my manuscripts were much better for that. She lived up to her own advice and accepted criticism gracefully. More information on Carolyn and her book can be found at the bottom of Part 1.

How about you? Do you have writing buddies who give and accept honest criticism? (Feel free to give them a shout out in the comments).

***

Mary Lindsey is one of the founding members of the QT Blog. 

She writes young adult novels for Penguin USA and is the author of Shattered Souls, Fragile Spirits, and Ashes on the Waves. She also writes adult romance for Entangled Publishing as Marissa Clarke. Love Me To Death is scheduled for publication October, 2014. 

Mary is represented by Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency and can be found the following places: Twitter, Facebook, MaryLindsey.com and MarissaClarke.com. 

Advice from Carolyn Kaufman, Part 1: Professionalism

It is such a joy to blog here again after several years away. My name is Mary Lindsey, and I was one of the original Querytracker bloggers, along with H.L Dyer, Suzette Saxton Fisher, Elana Johnson, and Carolyn Kaufman. 

It was a tremendous loss, not only to me, personally, but to QueryTracker community, her college students and fellow professors, her family and friends, and to aspiring and established authors when Carolyn Kaufman died unexpectedly in September 2013 of a brain aneurism.

When I mentioned to Patrick McDonald, (owner/creator/designer of QueryTracker.net) that I had come across an old interview I did for Carolyn's first book, we agreed it would be a nice tribute to Carolyn, and all the hard work she did on behalf of aspiring authors, to post some of her wisdom as a tribute. So, here we go!

Here's the first bit of advice she had for aspiring authors (second tip will be posted on July 2):

What I’ve Learned: Advice for Writers Who Aspire to Publish 

Dr. Carolyn Kaufman 1973-2013

 1. Treat everyone well at every step along the publishing path. That includes your crit buddies, agents and their assistants, editors, publicists, and anyone else you encounter along the way. How well you write is important, but I genuinely believe professionalism is nearly as important. If you’re arrogant, entitled, mean, petty, or refuse to be a team player, nobody is going to want to work with you. There’s a reason most authors’ Acknowledgements page is lengthy – they didn’t reach the finish line (of publication) alone.

It seems like such an obvious suggestion: Be professional and treat people well. And it is… until the drama begins. Bad reviews. Inflammatory blog posts or Tweets. Flame wars on forums. The online drive by nastiness can suck a writer in and under and make Carolyn's advice nearly impossible to follow.

But follow her advice.

The professional contacts and friends I've made over the years have been one of the most important aspects of my success as a writer.

Carolyn lived up to her own advice, setting an example not only as an author and expert, but as a personal friend and critique partner. I was fortunate enough to have her as a critique partner for several years, and though her critiques were often harsh, they never came across as anything other than honest and professional--like Carolyn herself. She is terribly missed by all of us at QueryTracker.

Carolyn Kaufman's bio and articles on psychology for writers can be found on the Psychology Today Blog, where she was a contributor. Her book, The Writer's Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately about Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior, is available for purchase and is an excellent resource for established and aspiring writers.

***

Mary Lindsey is one of the founding members of the QT Blog. 

She writes young adult novels for Penguin USA and is the author of Shattered Souls, Fragile Spirits, and Ashes on the Waves. She also writes adult romance for Entangled Publishing as Marissa Clarke. Love Me To Death is scheduled for publication October, 2014. 

Mary is represented by Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency and can be found the following places: Twitter, Facebook, MaryLindsey.com and MarissaClarke.com. 

Catching Up with Our Now-Published Contest Winner

Amy Sue Nathan was one of the five winners in our April 2010 contest with agent Jason Yarn. She went on to become one of Jason's clients, and her first novel, The Glass Wives, came out yesterday. We're pleased to be able to find out how far she's come since our last interview with her!

Tell us a little bit about your novel and where people can learn more about it and where they can get it. 

THE GLASS WIVES is about Evie Glass, a divorced mom whose ex-husband dies suddenly leaving her the only parent of ten-year-old twins. Then, when Evie finds she’s strapped for cash, she takes in her ex’s widow and baby, so they can share living expenses and childcare. Troubled by this decision, Evie’s friends and family try to intervene, forcing Evie to walk out on long-time friendships until the widow causes a ruckus of her own. That’s when Evie has to decide who she can trust, and what really makes a family.

On May 14th THE GLASS WIVES became available in bookstores (indies and Barnes & Noble) as well as at Target stores. It's also available online everywhere books are sold.

What inspired you to write The Glass Wives? Where did the idea for this story come from? 

Like my main character, Evie, I’m a divorced mom in a suburb where everyone is married. And like Evie, my ex-husband passed away suddenly. When I divorced, I felt that some people were uncomfortable having a single mom for a friend. When my ex-husband died, well, they just didn’t know what to do with me, or my kids. We didn’t fit into any of the fixed suburban circles and frankly, I think the sadness in our lives overwhelmed them. Writing this novel allowed me to put this kind of discomfort—and its ramifications—on display and show that families are equal no matter their parts, and that the term broken home is outdated. There may be a few cracks in our walls, but broken? No way.

The sales aspect of writing—producing a good pitch and query and providing a great excerpt—can be very challenging for some writers. How did you learn to produce such catchy material? Were there any particular resources you used?

I have always belonged to writing groups and online forums, but I'd say in the years leading up to up querying my novel, the best resource was Backspace, where traditionally published authors (Karen Dionne, Randy Susan Meyers, Keith Cronin, and A.S. King, for example) and a few literary agents, were kind enough to give me tips, guidance, and advice that I always took to heart.

Do you have a writing routine?

When I'm on track I write fiction in the morning and non-fiction—essays, blog posts, interview questions, and interview answers (like these)—in the afternoon and evening. Working at home and being a single mom means I have to be flexible. Today my daughter had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so I did my fiction writing in the afternoon.  But my preference will always be morning. I'm an early bird!

What is the single best piece of writing advice you've ever gotten?

Recently, while working on the beginning of my new novel, I kept thinking about best-seller trends and what my editor would be looking for.  I considered fitting elements like magical realism or a heated romance, into my new story. And then Therese Walsh, author of The Last Will of Moira Leahy and co-founder of Writer Unboxed told me something very simple: separate the craft from the business. I wrote it on a sticky note and stuck it to my computer. She was right. I couldn’t worry about whether the book would sell, all I could do, at that moment, was to tell the story I needed to tell. And for me that story does not include zombies or a hot shirtless hero. At least not today.

What has been the hardest or most surprising thing you've learned on the journey between the time Jason began submitting to editors and your publication date?

That patience in publishing is not simply a virtue, it's a necessity.

What is the most important (or surprising) thing you've learned about publicity as you near your publication date? Do you have any advice for others on publicity?

I've learned there's no such thing as too much publicity. I'm not sure about "any publicity is good publicity" adage, but we'll see!  My advice would be to seize every opportunity to build relationships with readers and other writers because in the long run that will go farther than hundreds of "buy my book" tweets.

Are you working on any new projects? Can you tell us anything about them?

Absolutely! I'm always working on a few things, and right now I'm writing a novel about a blogger who tells lies online and keeps secrets in real life and what happen to make her finally truth. I'm also jotting down notes for two more book ideas I'm excited about. I know if I don't write down my ideas I'll lose them. Sometimes my best scenes are written on the backs of envelopes or napkins while I'm standing in the kitchen or parked in a parking lot!

Visit Amy Sue Nathan on her website, Twitter @AmySueNathan, or Facebook!

Vanilla is under-rated

What does an apple pie contest have to do with writing a novel? Something it took me about twenty years to learn.

Back when I first started getting a local small-town paper, I'd read the whole thing because, well, it was a small town. After the heart-stopping excitement of an apple-pie contest, they wrote an article about it, with the recipe and an interview with the winner.

Scanning the recipe, you'd find all the usual suspects: flour, water, salt, shortening, apples....vanilla extract?

The winning contestant explained in the article that she didn't normally make an apple pie this way. For Thanksgiving and Christmas, the vanilla extract stayed in the bottle. But with a contest (and this is a rough paraphrase, but we'll pretend it's a quote,) "I know the judges are tasting dozens of apple pies, so in order to win, I need to add something to make mine taste just a little different. Just different enough that they remember, and that's why my pies win."

Now, how would our winning baker write a novel? She'd think to herself, "This is a fine story just as it is. But the agents and editors of the world are looking at a hundred manuscripts a week, so I need to make mine taste just a little bit different."

This is especially true for writing contests, but it's also true for querying. Your piece sits alongside ninety-nine others. Where's your vanilla?

I'm not talking about adding a dragon, of course. (Nor gimmickry either; imagine using green food coloring on the crust. Yuck.) And although it's tempting to douse one's manuscript pages in vanilla extract for a little aroma-therapy, as a professional I have to recommend against it.

These are the elements of a good apple pie query: Professional presentation. A query that tells the agent what the story is about. A brief bio. Your writing sample.

Now for the vanilla: Your voice. Your details. A take on the story that only you could have written. A character you understand inside and out. If there are only twelve plots in the world, you'll have to infuse  your apple pie novel with your heart and your perspective. Your vulnerability. Your humanity. The love you have for your own story.

(By the way, I make my own vanilla extract. Shove a bunch of vanilla beans into a bottle of vodka and steep it five months. The alcohol draws all that yummy vanilla into the tasteless vodka. Think about it.)

We're not writing only for ourselves. We're also writing for our readers.

In the end, your readers will walk away from their slice of apple pie enjoying that lingering taste of vanilla, a subtle question mark bringing them back to the story again and again, and leading them to tell others about something they just can't get out of their minds.

Isn't that what we all want as writers? So go. Go deep and find your vanilla.

---

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the amazing Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

A nameless protagonist

I have a simple, very simple, request for everyone who reads this blog. Please, please name your main character.

I recently ran a short story critique group as part of an online writers conference, and fully half the stories had a nameless main character. One of these was even a third-person narrator.

The reason given by the authors was, "I wanted the main character to be an everyman type," or "I wanted to make sure the reader would be able to step into her perspective." In addition to the lack of a name, these characters lacked history, lacked family, lacked motive -- lacked personality.

Before I begin dissuading you from taking this route, let me admit there are perfectly good stories which have nameless and extremely interesting narrators.  A. Lee Martinez does a fantastic job with a nameless first-person narrator in A Nameless Witch and Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca also has a nameless first person protagonist. 

But for the most part, every novel you pick up is going to have a protagonist with a name, and there's a reason for that. Because before your reader can identify with your protagonist, your protagonist has to have an identity. 

Leaving the character nameless is a symptom of this overall lack of identity in the main character, and rather than creating a blank slate on which the reader will write his own name, gives the reader a featureless individual who drifts rather than acts (since our actions come from our identity) and whom we instinctively distrust. In these cases, the namelessness is a symptom rather than a cause.

Do you want to write an "everyman" type of character? Check out the Harry Potter books. Not only is Harry's life detailed, but they're very specific details. They're in many ways over-the-top details, but they're all there, and yet millions of readers identify very strongly with Harry.

Now why would that be, since I can guarantee you all those millions of readers do not have magical powers, are not orphans, were not forced to bunk under the stairwell, and aren't living in boarding schools. Many aren't male and all the ones I know personally are not British. 

What we're identifying with is his core humanity. Break him down and you get:

1. someone who's special, but the world doesn't really know it
2. someone who faces adversity
3. someone who has trouble making friends, although he has a few close ones
4. someone who feels misunderstood by authority -- either people expecting too much of him or, by contrast, people expecting far more than he could possibly deliver
5. someone who feels the rules are smothering him and keeping him from achieving his full potential. 

Everyone can identify with these traits. Either we feel those things about ourselves, or we want to believe those things. Harry evokes in the reader a sense that we can transcend our past, can prove our detractors wrong and maybe live up to the expectations of our cheerleaders. Who wouldn't want to feel that?

So to make your MC more identifiable, give him that human core which we all want. Expanding those characteristics, even if they're not specific to every one of your readers, is going to make your protagonist more accessible. He doesn't have to be "everyman" in order to be identifiable to everyone.

The reader wants to invest in the main character. That's in the author's favor. It's easier for us to do that if your MC is inhabiting a fully-fleshed-out world of his own. That means a job, clothes, flaws, needs (both met and unmet), friends, choices to be made and the process by which the character makes them. It means a personality. It means a name. And once you give us those characteristics, we'll be able to step into his place and see ourselves there too.

---

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the resolute Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Publishing Pulse: 3/11/11

Agent Success Stories

Congrats to our four success stories this week.

Kristine Carlson Asselin  

Kathy Bradey   

Veronica Canfield   

David Kazzie    

Agent Related Advice

Assistant agent Natalie Fischer talked about when the client/agent relationship doesn’t work anymore.

E-books

Nathan Bransford explained this week why some ebooks cost more hardcover.

Pimp My Novel talked about five things to know about the e-evolution.

Writer Conferences

Are you going to any upcoming writer conferences? Agent Janet Reid shared some advice about the benefits of attending conferences and what you shouldn’t do after attending one.

Agent Jessica Faust has some tips on how to pitch successfully at conferences.

Conference Handouts for Free

Check out this listing of free handouts from the RWA (Romance Writers of America) annual conferences. You don’t have to be a romance writer to appreciate many of the handouts, which include topics on craft and promotion.

Free Online Conference

And if you haven’t already heard, the 2011 WriteOnCon dates are now out. Mark off your calendars for August 16-18^th.  You don't want to miss out on the awesome event.

YA Fiction and Teen Opinions

Agent Mary Kole discussed the hierarchy of publishing opinions when it comes to YA novels.

Turning Your Book Into A Movie

Agent Rachelle Gardner talked about in the Hollywood side of the book deal (parts one and two).

 Hope you all have a great weekend!

Stina Lindenblatt writes romantic suspense and young adults novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and blogging addict, and can be found hanging out on her blog, Seeing Creative.  

Quirks

The first day I entered the Internet (you know, when it was so alien we capitalized it, as if you were journeying to Mordor) I joined a group (I mean, a LISTSERV) for writers. The group was discussing the different ways they'd write, and someone said she "must have absolute silence in order to write."

I laughed until I had to wipe away the tears. Really? Absolute silence? (Bear in mind, I learned to write by hauling a 200-decibel electric typewriter to my future stepfather's house and typing while three boys under age ten watched -- and re-enacted -- late-night wrestling. Either that or after school on the New York City subways: to this day, when I'm writing longhand, I look up every three minutes, checking my stop. The first time I found myself writing in a library, I had to leave.)

But during that first online conversation, I realized that I too had my writerly quirks. I liked to write my novels longhand in spiral-bound notebooks, using only one side of the page (so I could make edits on the blanks) and with all the same color covers, and using the same pen until it ran out of ink. I liked looking at a pen and thinking, "My entire book is in this pen. I just need to stretch it out."

And I dared laugh at someone who required silence?

Writing feels mystical to those of us who create, so it makes sense we'd come up with our own quirks, the things we "need" to do in order to make the magic happen. To some extent, those are fun and harmless weapons against writers block. Do you need to write in purple ink? Fine, stock up on purple pens and produce pages of purple prose. (All alliterative, as an aside.) Nothing wrong with that.

But here's a caution: writing is scary in that we can't always control it. When we manufacture these quirks, they're an attempt to control the out-of-control. When we're not writing to our own standards, it's easy to say "That's because it's not perfectly silent" but harder to look at ourselves and say, "Something is wrong today. I need to push through this anyhow."

In other words, we can develop both helpful and unhelpful quirks. Unhelpful quirks place limits on when, where, how, and with what we can write. Helpful ones channel the writing in order to keep creativity on a higher burn.

For example, one writer told me she never stopped writing at the end of a scene. Even if only three words, she would start the next scene because she didn't want to begin her writing session with nothing. Other writers say they have to write something every day, even if only one sentence, because then they don't feel they haven't made progress.

Once the quirks become truly helpful, you'll notice, they're no longer quirks. At that point, they're disciplines.

There are as many ways to write as there are writers. What quirks have you found to reinforce your urge to write rather, than frustrate it?

---

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Thrashing

The Bookends weblog, written by literary agent Jessica Faust, recently addressed revision requests, and how some authors ruin their own books with rushed revisions.

Based on my experience both at the tutoring center and in critique groups, I have to say she's nailed the problem. When you finally get the attention of someone with suggestions to perfect your work, especially when you know there's a problem, the first thing any writer wants to do is revise, revise, revise!

But are they the right suggestions? And even more importantly, do you understand the suggestions? Can you frame the problem?

Because until you understand the scope of the problem, you won't know if the suggested changes will be the best possible fix. Even worse, you're not going to know if by following directions you've fixed the problem.

Taking every suggested change without understanding why is a condition I call "thrashing."

You'll see it most often on writer forums where you can post for critique. A writer posts five pages of material or a query and says, "What do you think?"  Four people come back with five different opinions, and the writer turns around the changes in an hour, posting the new material with, "Now what?"

Invariably the piece is now a mess, the new material unevenly woven into the old, the text jumpy where old material has been cut, and the meaning unfocused. New comments come in, and an hour later there's another revision for us all to digest, and it's still got the same problems, just in different places.

Imagine you post your query to the QueryTracker forums for feedback, and four of the people who reply tell you it's too long. You remove parts of the query and post it again. Now people tell you there isn't enough of the story there. You put back some of the original stuff, and again you hear it's too long, but at the same time people also say the story isn't clear.

It kills me to see a writer churn out thirteen drafts of a query letter, losing the good parts and retaining the bad, working like the dickens to turn the query inside out only to show no improvement. Is the problem with the novel or with the query? Or should the writer just take a week off and start over only after she wakes up one morning saying, "Oh, I see now! This is what went wrong!"

When you're doing a lot of work but making no progress, that's thrashing. And thrashing is frustrating.

That frustration is a sign to STOP. Stop, stop, just stop. Take a deep breath. Stop, put it away, and think about something else. All those agents you're on fire to query today will still be queryable tomorrow. If they quit agenting tomorrow, well, it didn't matter if you queried them today anyway. Stop until you get the scope of the problem rather than making blind changes hoping you stumble on the perfect formula.

If you have posted six versions of the query letter in two days, STOP.

If you find yourself undoing your edits in subsequent revisions, STOP.

If everyone's saying the same things every time they critique but you're not sure why, STOP.

If people who faithfully commented at first have ceased commenting, STOP. You're thrashing.

A few posts ago, Mary suggested putting your revision letter in the freezer for a few days. I'm going to go further and say not to make any revisions whatsoever (to your query, to your book) until you understand what the problem is.

Changes made rapid-fire without knowing why are only thrashing. Nothing good comes of thrashing. Settle down. Take a deep breath. Put the manuscript or the query aside and write something else. Re-read all the suggestions and try to whittle them down to what the real problem is. Only then will you know whether the suggested changes actually address it. If you don't know why you're making the change, you'll end up with the equivalent of a patchwork quilt, lots of visible seams and no discernible pattern. Even worse: the original problem will still be there.

---

Jane Lebak is the author of The Guardian (Thomas Nelson, 1994), Seven Archangels: Annihilation (Double-Edged Publishing, 2008) and The Boys Upstairs (MuseItUp, 2010). At Seven Angels, Four Kids, One Family, she blogs about what happens when a distracted daydreamer and a gamer geek attempt to raise four children. She is represented by the clever Roseanne Wells of the Marianne Strong Literary Agency.

Once Upon a *YAWN*

Courtesy of Just4You

A reader asked: "What makes a boring story?"


Books, like any art form, are extremely subjective. What bores one person, could be riveting to the next. And as authors, writing a boring book is one of the biggest--if not THE biggest--thing we want to avoid. Because if a reader perceives a book as boring, they might not only put the book down there, but might also avoid any of your books in the future.


So, how not to write a boring story?


There are three basic things I think that can go a long way toward minimizing the dreaded boring story: voice, giving your audience a sense of wonder, and being an evil author.


VOICE
Defining voice is a lot like trying to describe the way salt tastes--without using the word salty--or telling someone what the color blue looks like, especially if they've never seen it before. But for me, voice is the soul of the story. It's the author's fingerprint, the words they choose, and the way they structure them. The ambiance and atmosphere of the story. It has been said that you can have an out of this world premise, but if you execute it badly, the premise will no longer matter, because the book will fall flat. On the other hand, you can have an ordinary premise, but if you execute it well, then you have the chance to go far. And I truly believe this. I've fallen in love with stories that lack Big! Exciting! Things! in them, but have an incredible voice that resonates with me and becomes a part of me long after the happily ever after. So, find your voice and continue to refine and strengthen it until it shines.


BRING YOUR AUDIENCE A SENSE OF WONDER
This is another salt and blue question in a lot of ways. What gives someone a sense of wonder? I believe that this sense of wonder can come from different places. It could be the setting, the voice, the premise. It can also be taking a reader's expectations and turning them inside out and upside down. Humor is often used this way. A scenario is presented, the reader expects something, and the writer gives them something else. (An example of this type of humor would be the movie The Emperor's New Groove.) Setting can be incredibly important to a story, and should definitely have a role, if not a personality of its own. This is why a lot of novels have exotic settings--especially if you go into the fantasy and science fiction genres. These are the genres of wonder. Paraphrasing a quote I've searched for and cannot find, fairy tales have golden apples to remind us of the way it felt when we experienced a regular apple for the first time. Bringing a sense of wonder into your novel can be an excellent hook that makes the reader want to keep reading.


BE AN EVIL AUTHOR
This is perhaps the thing I love most about being an author--giving myself the chance to torture and torment my characters. One of the fastest ways to a boring book, in my opinion, is to go easy on your characters. Let them succeed over and over and over again. Let them get what they want without really paying much by way of a price. If the stakes are low or non-existent, I usually end up putting the book down. Because, after all, what's the point? I think, in a lot of ways, readers connect to the characters more and more as the story evolves, going from one try/fail cycle to the next and as the tension mounts up towards the climax of the story. Characterization is important, but even the most compelling characters would fall short of their potential if the story didn't stretch and pull them, testing their limits and making them grow. And you do that by making things hard for them. The thought sitting--well, actually crouching--at the back of my mind while I write is: what's the worst thing that could happen. And then I make it so. Now, this doesn't mean that every second of the story is heart pounding, breath stopping, bad things happening. Oh, no. >:) It's also a good idea to use those scenes where things are going all right for the moment and the characters are happy to build up for the fall that's coming later on. Think of it like building a tower of blocks. Knocking over a tower that's only 2-5 blocks tall is more of a fizzle than anything else. But knocking over one thats 50-100 blocks tall? Much more exciting to your visual and aural senses.


So there you have it. Three basic things that can help you avoid writing a boring story. Any other tips and suggestions?

Danyelle writes MG and YA fantasy. In her spare time, she collects dragons, talking frogs, and fairy godmothers. She can be found discussing the art of turning one's characters into various animals, painting with words, and the best ways to avoid getting eaten by dragons on her blog. 

Pathway to Becoming a Bestselling Author

Now that the New Year is rapidly approaching, it’s a perfect time to discuss writing goals for 2011. What you want to accomplish next year may be dependent on where you are on the above pathway to becoming a bestselling novelist (or one with a loyal and growing fan base).

Newbie Writer

So you want to write a novel (or have already started one). Congratulations! The first thing you need to figure out is WHY you want to be a writer. Is it because you want to be the next Stephen King or J.K. Rowling? If so, quit now. You’re doing it for the wrong reasons. But if you want to be a writer because you hope to write stories that might one day be published and make a difference in someone’s life or entertain your readers, then welcome to the club. But before you join us, there’re some things you need to do:

• Read Read Read in the genre you want to write. If you woke up this morning and decided to become a YA writer, then you’ve got a lot of homework ahead of you. Same deal if you want to write a medical thriller and have never read one before. Of course, in this case, you might want to consider attending medical school first (or law school if you want to write a legal thriller).
• Read outside your genre. You might get some brilliant ideas for your story. Plus, you might discover a genre you never thought about writing before.
• Study nonfiction books on writing.
• Read blogs. A lot of writers are delighted to share their knowledge and writing tips in bite-sized pieces. This makes it easier for you to remember the pointers when writing and editing your novel.
• Analyze the writing of your favorite authors and see how it can improve your writing.
• Join a critique group or find some knowledgeable beta readers.
• Learn to research. Most novels require research, even if it’s just to make sure your characters aren’t stereotypes.
• Attend conferences. They’re a great learning and networking experience.

Querying Writer

You’ve written your novel and done numerous revisions based on feedback from your critique partners and beta readers. You’ve polished your novel until it shines, and have given it some much needed distance. Now you’re ready to query.

• Learn how to write a query and how not to write one. Many queries are rejected because writers did those things that irritate agents and editors the most. Don’t be one of these writers.
• Research agents. Don’t waste your time and theirs by querying the wrong agents.
• Write a query and have it critted by your critique group and by people who don’t know the story. And don’t forget to make sure it has voice. If it doesn’t, the agent might think your novel lacks voice, too. (Hint: It needs to be in the same voice as in your novel. Believe it or not, this mistake does happen.)
• If you’re just getting form rejections, go back and redo the previous three points.If agents are rejecting requested materials, figure out why. IF you’re lucky, they might give you a hint. For example, if an agent mentions the characterization wasn’t as strong as she would like, now’s the time to study some books on characterization.
• Start working on a new project. I can’t stress this one enough.
• Consider trying out a different genre. Maybe you aren’t cut out to write legal thrillers, but discover you can write a kickass romantic suspense.
• Attend conferences.

Agented Writer

Congratulations, you’re getting closer to your goal of publication, but you’re not there yet. When you consider how many agents represent your genre and how many editors are looking for it, well, the odds aren’t great in your favor of your book being sold.

• Keep reading books in and out of your genre.
• Continue to develop your craft. Just because you’re agented, it doesn’t mean you can stop learning and challenging yourself to do better.
• Start working on a new project so if your current book doesn’t sell, you’ll have something new for your agent.
• If your manuscript is only collecting rejections, study the reasons behind them. Unlike agents, many editors do provide some feedback as to why they rejected the book. See this as an opportunity to improve that area of your writing (if that was the reason for the rejections), especially if they’re consistent. Remember, your goal is to be a professional one day (i.e. make money from your stories). And professionals (physicians, accountants, lawyers) are always learning. It never stops. Which brings me to the next point.
• Attend conferences.

Published Author

Wow, you did it. You’ve made it to a place a lot of writers dream about. Of course, you still have a lot of work to do. You have to promote the book (which I’m not going to go into here) and write a new one. But just because yours is published doesn’t mean you can stop challenging yourself and pushing your writing to the next level. Keep studying those books on writing and attend conferences. Unless you’re an award winning author (I’m talking the major literary awards), you probably still have room to grow. Don’t be the foolish author who assumes he knows everything.

Bestselling Author

Okay, I know no bestselling authors are reading this, but hopefully you keep this advice in mind if you ever get to this point. Your fans might be forgiving, but that can only take you so far. If you start to ignore the rules, it might not necessarily work in your favor (though sometimes it can). How many of you have stopped reading books by your favorite author because the writing just isn’t there anymore? The writer has become lazy. Once your fans drop you, you have to work even harder to get them back—if you ever can. That’s why I consider the pathway to being a bestseller (or a much admired author) a two-way circle. It is possible to move backwards and not just forwards. Also, your first published novel might have been a bestseller, but it was mostly because of hype. Your next novel might not do as well if readers where disappointed with the last one.

Remember, no matter where you are on the pathway, you should never stop learning and challenging yourself to do better. Your readers will thank you for it. So where are you on the pathway, and what are you planning to do next year to help you meet your goal of being published (or keep being published)?

(Note: Because of the limitations of my graphics program, this graph is slightly misleading. Only under very rare instances could a newbie writer skip the querying step and go straight to being a bestselling author. And a writer’s first book might be a bestseller (i.e. they skipped the part about developing a fan base over a period of several books), but I couldn’t show that in my graph. Also, you might be published by a small pressed before landing an agent for your next book.)

Stina Lindenblatt writes romantic suspense and young adults novels. In her spare time, she’s a photographer and blogging addict, and can be found hanging out on her blog, Seeing Creative.