Sometimes (when I remember) I play Rejectomancy over at the Absolute Write forums. This consists of posting the name of the market from which I received my latest rejection and how many days it took to get a response. On occasion I post an additional observation on something the editor said.
Now first of all, let me talk about rejections. There is a school of thought that says you never talk about anything but acceptances in public. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1. You avoid looking like your work isn't selling. (Even if it isn't.) 2. You avoid the appearance (and temptation) of a "sour grapes" attitude toward editors that have rejected your work.
I totally get that. But I also think it's helpful as a community to pool one's knowledge about a market as much as possible. And part of that pool of knowledge contains details on how long it takes to get a response, if they send out mostly forms, etc.
Today I posted the following over in the W1S1 Rejectomancy thread.
22 day personal from STRAEON. Mr. Blake indicates he is never going to
be the right editor to send zombie stories to, no matter how well
written.
Aggy, challenge accepted! (Kidding. Sort of.)
Only a few minutes later I received an email from Mr. Blake gently cautioning me from encouraging folks from sending him zombie stories because it would be a waste of time (both theirs and his).
Now I must make two things very clear.
1. I am extremely stubborn. When anyone tells me that something is overdone/boring/too much of a fad to be saleable, I immediately add that to my list of things to write. (I have a short vampire unromance on submission right now that was - in part - a response to all the Twilight hatred and the erroneous conclusion drawn that vampire fiction (especially contemporary vampire fiction) was a has-been.) So, when an editor tells me that they don't like X, I determine to work harder to redefine whatever X may be.
2. If an editor tells me not to send them a particular type of thing, I know better than to waste my time doing that. (I'm not talking about "This will be a hard sell for us." stuff. Almost every market has a list of X, Y, and Z that they feel are going to be difficult to win them over. Almost every market also has certain things that are an absolute no. They are not the same thing and submitting stories that fall into the latter category will only make you look like an idiot.)
So, while I am feeling personally challenged to write more, better zombie fiction, I also know not to send it to STRAEON. (And you should too.)
But I have an even bigger point to make here and it is simple: The internet sees all.
This is one reason folks sometimes avoid rejectomancy, because someone from the market you mention might see what you say and be offended. Some folks do rejectomancy but they use numbers or symbols to hide the market's name from search engines. (STR4EON or As!imovs, for instance.) Which is all well and good. If that makes you feel more comfortable, then maybe you should do that.
But it's a better policy to not say things online that will offend potential business partners. Whether you're Tweeting or blogging or posting in forums you should consider that if you want to keep a market from seeing what you're saying, then perhaps you shouldn't be saying it. (I have a secondary rule which runs along the lines of: "If I'm making a reasonable observation about a market and they are offended by it, they are probably not someone I want to work with." Thus far it has not steered me wrong.)
So, there's my helpful advice for the week.
In writing news, I have been chugging away on the Spider-thief novella. It's chugging along steadily. I had thought it would be done by now, quite frankly, but with RL stress and struggles and a series of burgeoning subplots, I'm not done yet. (It's really good though, so I'm pleased. Just not finished yet.)
When I was working on The Steampunk Novel back around Christmas, I had a mantra that I had to make every scene count. That seems to have leaked over into the novella because every sequence has at least one if not three plotlines running through it. No fluff here. (I hope.)
Showing posts with label best practice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best practice. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Friday, December 13, 2013
The Oxford Comma Can Kiss My Arse (But Details Matter)
I am not Oscar Wilde. I do not deliberate for hours over comma placement. Nor do I stress over whether I need more or fewer commas. I know that I tend to under-use the comma, but it's not something I lose sleep over.
Before BRASS STARS was released there was a round of copy edits. Not really an arduous task, but one thing was immediately clear. The copy-editor knew the proper use of the Oxford comma and he wielded it mightily.
Changes were made with only minor grumbling on my part. (Mostly to the tune of "Maybe I should have done this when I wrote it." and a small chorus of "Fucking hell I do hate commas.")
But (and this is the important thing) it made the book better.
Currently, I'm revising a longer novel. Not a novella of a mere 90 someodd pages, but a full on novel that pushes 500+ pages. And by revising, I mean retyping from a paper copy while making notated changes and adding content where necessary. It's... tedious. But I'm more aware of the commas left out of the last pass. Commas I would normally not stress over. But, having just done this sort of tweak for publication, it's on my mind. So, as I see them (and certainly there are still some that I miss) I have been fixing them and, in future, I will likely try and put them where they belong in the first place.
Sometimes I see young writers (and by this I mean folks new to the craft, not young people) referring with some disdain to "the rules" of writing. Not "Don't start with a prologue rules" but things like "Pick a tense and stick with it". Story, I've heard it said, is more important than clean writing.
There is a smidgen of truth to that assessment. Clean writing will not save a dull story. But messy writing will kill even the most interesting tale.
So. Why do I say the Oxford comma can kiss my butt? Because when I start a story, I don't worry about the minutiae of the writing. I use fragments and drop in semicolons where they plain don't belong because I'm writing a draft and the only thing I'm worried about is the story.
BUT, once I start revisions, the details matter. Not just the details of the story or the characters, but also the details of the writing. The basic mechanics of the sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the bigger picture of a story can survive a death of a thousand little errors. It cannot.
Write your story however you feel necessary. And then polish that baby 'til every little comma shines.
Before BRASS STARS was released there was a round of copy edits. Not really an arduous task, but one thing was immediately clear. The copy-editor knew the proper use of the Oxford comma and he wielded it mightily.
Changes were made with only minor grumbling on my part. (Mostly to the tune of "Maybe I should have done this when I wrote it." and a small chorus of "Fucking hell I do hate commas.")
But (and this is the important thing) it made the book better.
Currently, I'm revising a longer novel. Not a novella of a mere 90 someodd pages, but a full on novel that pushes 500+ pages. And by revising, I mean retyping from a paper copy while making notated changes and adding content where necessary. It's... tedious. But I'm more aware of the commas left out of the last pass. Commas I would normally not stress over. But, having just done this sort of tweak for publication, it's on my mind. So, as I see them (and certainly there are still some that I miss) I have been fixing them and, in future, I will likely try and put them where they belong in the first place.
Sometimes I see young writers (and by this I mean folks new to the craft, not young people) referring with some disdain to "the rules" of writing. Not "Don't start with a prologue rules" but things like "Pick a tense and stick with it". Story, I've heard it said, is more important than clean writing.
There is a smidgen of truth to that assessment. Clean writing will not save a dull story. But messy writing will kill even the most interesting tale.
So. Why do I say the Oxford comma can kiss my butt? Because when I start a story, I don't worry about the minutiae of the writing. I use fragments and drop in semicolons where they plain don't belong because I'm writing a draft and the only thing I'm worried about is the story.
BUT, once I start revisions, the details matter. Not just the details of the story or the characters, but also the details of the writing. The basic mechanics of the sentences and paragraphs and chapters. Do not make the mistake of thinking that the bigger picture of a story can survive a death of a thousand little errors. It cannot.
Write your story however you feel necessary. And then polish that baby 'til every little comma shines.
Monday, December 9, 2013
All These Words Are Stupid!
The other day I pulled out my work journal and starting sketching out part of a scene from The Steampunk Novel. It's an addition to an existing scene and I wanted to get the bones of the new material down on paper before I forgot.
So, I wrote the following sentence.
Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side of his face.
Only it wasn't that simple.
From the very first word, I realized it was one of those days. You know, Those Days. When this little voice starts screaming in the back of your head as soon as you set pen to paper. Some folks term it Writer's Block, but usually it's more like Writer's Indecision. This complete and nearly overwhelming doubt about every letter being formed on the page.
So writing that thirteen word sentence took somewhere close to three minutes. The thought process was something like this. (And it's important to remember that I already had all thirteen words written out in my mind. I knew what the sentence was. I knew what I wanted to say. But this was the fight that took place trying to get it onto paper.)
Keira sat no, not sat. maybe straightened or stirred. what's the rest of the sentence look like, dummy? stick with sat for the moment. she was sitting in his lap. Keira sat up and laid cupped. no. rested. placed. cupped. placed. (This bit went on for a good two minutes.) gah. just stick with laid. Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side really? either side? how about against? no, that sounds too forceful. okay. Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side of his face. that's wrong. how about cheeks? or should it be jaw? that sounds even weirder. but face? come on. what kind of hack are you?
So, three minutes and thirteen words later I finally had the first sentence of this new scene on paper. Time for round two.
Her so what? now we start every sentence with a pronoun? how old are you? seriously, this is the worst thing you've ever written.
And on it went. But the more words I put on paper, the quieter the voice got. The more words on paper, the more I was able to see the shape of the scene and you know what? It wasn't that bad. A little rough around the edges, but not bad.
Folks always want to know when rejections stop hurting, when the writer's block goes away. And the answer is... maybe never. But over time you can learn how to deal with the doubt and the disappointment that comes with getting a story turned down again. Or struggling with a scene that just doesn't want to do what you thought it should. Or struggling with each and every word because you just can't imagine that anyone else would ever be interested in these stupid words.
My key strength (and flaw) is that I am as stubborn as the day is long. When I run up against a wall, I will bang my head against it 'til that mother crumbles. There is sometimes a bit of crying and consumption of tea and chocolate in the interim. But eventually that wall goes down and I go on.
This is what works for me.
For some it will be easier to find a way around the obstacles. Or under them. Or simply to wait 'til they crumble under the ravages of time. (Which, since this is all metaphorical can be not as long as it sounds.)
So. When that voice in your head is screaming "All these words are stupid!" remember the following. (I've said this before, even recently, but it bears repeating.)
1. Few things are as bad as we think they are.
2. What is bad can always be fixed later.
3. You cannot fix what you have not already written.
So, I wrote the following sentence.
Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side of his face.
Only it wasn't that simple.
From the very first word, I realized it was one of those days. You know, Those Days. When this little voice starts screaming in the back of your head as soon as you set pen to paper. Some folks term it Writer's Block, but usually it's more like Writer's Indecision. This complete and nearly overwhelming doubt about every letter being formed on the page.
So writing that thirteen word sentence took somewhere close to three minutes. The thought process was something like this. (And it's important to remember that I already had all thirteen words written out in my mind. I knew what the sentence was. I knew what I wanted to say. But this was the fight that took place trying to get it onto paper.)
Keira sat no, not sat. maybe straightened or stirred. what's the rest of the sentence look like, dummy? stick with sat for the moment. she was sitting in his lap. Keira sat up and laid cupped. no. rested. placed. cupped. placed. (This bit went on for a good two minutes.) gah. just stick with laid. Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side really? either side? how about against? no, that sounds too forceful. okay. Keira sat up and laid her hands on either side of his face. that's wrong. how about cheeks? or should it be jaw? that sounds even weirder. but face? come on. what kind of hack are you?
So, three minutes and thirteen words later I finally had the first sentence of this new scene on paper. Time for round two.
Her so what? now we start every sentence with a pronoun? how old are you? seriously, this is the worst thing you've ever written.
And on it went. But the more words I put on paper, the quieter the voice got. The more words on paper, the more I was able to see the shape of the scene and you know what? It wasn't that bad. A little rough around the edges, but not bad.
Folks always want to know when rejections stop hurting, when the writer's block goes away. And the answer is... maybe never. But over time you can learn how to deal with the doubt and the disappointment that comes with getting a story turned down again. Or struggling with a scene that just doesn't want to do what you thought it should. Or struggling with each and every word because you just can't imagine that anyone else would ever be interested in these stupid words.
My key strength (and flaw) is that I am as stubborn as the day is long. When I run up against a wall, I will bang my head against it 'til that mother crumbles. There is sometimes a bit of crying and consumption of tea and chocolate in the interim. But eventually that wall goes down and I go on.
This is what works for me.
For some it will be easier to find a way around the obstacles. Or under them. Or simply to wait 'til they crumble under the ravages of time. (Which, since this is all metaphorical can be not as long as it sounds.)
So. When that voice in your head is screaming "All these words are stupid!" remember the following. (I've said this before, even recently, but it bears repeating.)
1. Few things are as bad as we think they are.
2. What is bad can always be fixed later.
3. You cannot fix what you have not already written.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Goals
Last December I proposed the following goals for myself during 2013.
1: Find an Agent Who Can Sell The Steampunk Novel
2: Finish the Novellas I started This Year but HAVEN'T FINISHED
3: Write another Novel or Two
4: Sell my Short Stories
Two of those (#2 and #3) were things I could control. And with that thought in mind I finished up BRASS STARS and put some good effort into ALL THAT IS PRECIOUS and SURVIVOR. I've also revised The Steampunk Novel (and am currently delving into another revision round) and started work on the rewrite of THINGBREAKER (a magic-punk thriller).
#4 was one that required a combination of doing the work I could to ensure I met the goal, and waiting for the alignment of the stars that ensured my story hit the right desk at the right time. (Remember, the best way for that to happen is to make sure that a story is on someone's desk to be read, rather than sitting in a drawer gathering dust.) I used the fantastic Submission Grinder over at Diabolical Plots to help me tackle the short stories, sending each one out to a new market as soon as it got booted from the previous one.
In addition to a handful of short stories I wanted to find homes for, I was still trying to meet the goal of selling a longer work (novel or novella) that I had set for myself in 2012. So, I did pitch contests on Twitter, summarizing both The Steampunk Novel and BRASS STARS in a microscopic 130 characters. I got requests for both, but ultimately they turned into rejections.
I dug in deeper, researching publishers that took novella length, speculative fiction and submitted the MS for BRASS STARS to Eggplant Literary Productions.
In the meantime, I was having some success with the shorter work. I placed "Love Like Dysphoria" with New Lit Salon Press in their Southern Gothic anthology. And later in the year, I sold "The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer" to Crowded Magazine. (And last week I sold "Vessels for Destruction" to Nature Magazine's "Futures" column.)
I'd also been working hard at goal #1. Starting in December of last year, I'd been querying agents with The Steampunk Novel. Dozens and dozens of queries sent out over nearly eight months. Hours worth of mindnumbing research on AgentQuery and QueryTracker trying to find every single agent who might be a good fit for my alternate history/fantasy/steampunk/murder mystery mashup.
I got requests to see more. And a lot of rejections - most from the initial query and some after partial or full requests. A lot of rejections.
Then I got a letter from Raechel Henderson of Eggplant Literary saying "Yes! I love this and here's a contract." (Okay. She didn't quite say that, but it's close.) And suddenly BRASS STARS was scheduled for publication. Only a few days later I got a phone call from an agent who'd been looking at the full MS of The Steampunk Novel. He was interested and wanted to know if I could do some more revisions.
Hell, yes, I could do some more revisions. So we talked and brainstormed and I started in on those just this past weekend. Along with still working on The Magic-punk Thriller. And all the "OMG! I have a book coming out Monday!" madness that precedes a release day.
"And this is all great, but what is the point here?" you say.
The point is this. I'm sitting here, realizing that I have successfully accomplished one of the things on my List of Things To-Do. (Admittedly, the Sell a Novella goal was for 2012 so I'm almost two years behind, but it has been done.) I'm also realizing that the list never gets any smaller.
Writing goals are not destinations, they are mile-markers. It's not like saying "I want to visit Australia" and then going and being like "Well that was hot and those koalas sure were cute but now I've DONE that so cross it off the list." Every goal I reach reveals a new one.
Every story written makes room for a new one. Every sale is a step up to the next. Every goal achieved gives way to another one down the road.
The list never gets any smaller. It just gets different.
P.S. My SF Western novella, BRASS STARS, is available now from Eggplant Literary Productions: http://eggplantproductions.com/e-books/brass-stars-g-carpenter/
1: Find an Agent Who Can Sell The Steampunk Novel
2: Finish the Novellas I started This Year but HAVEN'T FINISHED
3: Write another Novel or Two
4: Sell my Short Stories
Two of those (#2 and #3) were things I could control. And with that thought in mind I finished up BRASS STARS and put some good effort into ALL THAT IS PRECIOUS and SURVIVOR. I've also revised The Steampunk Novel (and am currently delving into another revision round) and started work on the rewrite of THINGBREAKER (a magic-punk thriller).
#4 was one that required a combination of doing the work I could to ensure I met the goal, and waiting for the alignment of the stars that ensured my story hit the right desk at the right time. (Remember, the best way for that to happen is to make sure that a story is on someone's desk to be read, rather than sitting in a drawer gathering dust.) I used the fantastic Submission Grinder over at Diabolical Plots to help me tackle the short stories, sending each one out to a new market as soon as it got booted from the previous one.
In addition to a handful of short stories I wanted to find homes for, I was still trying to meet the goal of selling a longer work (novel or novella) that I had set for myself in 2012. So, I did pitch contests on Twitter, summarizing both The Steampunk Novel and BRASS STARS in a microscopic 130 characters. I got requests for both, but ultimately they turned into rejections.
I dug in deeper, researching publishers that took novella length, speculative fiction and submitted the MS for BRASS STARS to Eggplant Literary Productions.
In the meantime, I was having some success with the shorter work. I placed "Love Like Dysphoria" with New Lit Salon Press in their Southern Gothic anthology. And later in the year, I sold "The Spider-thief and The Sorcerer" to Crowded Magazine. (And last week I sold "Vessels for Destruction" to Nature Magazine's "Futures" column.)
I'd also been working hard at goal #1. Starting in December of last year, I'd been querying agents with The Steampunk Novel. Dozens and dozens of queries sent out over nearly eight months. Hours worth of mindnumbing research on AgentQuery and QueryTracker trying to find every single agent who might be a good fit for my alternate history/fantasy/steampunk/murder mystery mashup.
I got requests to see more. And a lot of rejections - most from the initial query and some after partial or full requests. A lot of rejections.
Then I got a letter from Raechel Henderson of Eggplant Literary saying "Yes! I love this and here's a contract." (Okay. She didn't quite say that, but it's close.) And suddenly BRASS STARS was scheduled for publication. Only a few days later I got a phone call from an agent who'd been looking at the full MS of The Steampunk Novel. He was interested and wanted to know if I could do some more revisions.
Hell, yes, I could do some more revisions. So we talked and brainstormed and I started in on those just this past weekend. Along with still working on The Magic-punk Thriller. And all the "OMG! I have a book coming out Monday!" madness that precedes a release day.
"And this is all great, but what is the point here?" you say.
The point is this. I'm sitting here, realizing that I have successfully accomplished one of the things on my List of Things To-Do. (Admittedly, the Sell a Novella goal was for 2012 so I'm almost two years behind, but it has been done.) I'm also realizing that the list never gets any smaller.
Writing goals are not destinations, they are mile-markers. It's not like saying "I want to visit Australia" and then going and being like "Well that was hot and those koalas sure were cute but now I've DONE that so cross it off the list." Every goal I reach reveals a new one.
Every story written makes room for a new one. Every sale is a step up to the next. Every goal achieved gives way to another one down the road.
The list never gets any smaller. It just gets different.
P.S. My SF Western novella, BRASS STARS, is available now from Eggplant Literary Productions: http://eggplantproductions.com/e-books/brass-stars-g-carpenter/
Saturday, November 2, 2013
The Challenge
The National Novel Writing Month is here and with it comes a heightened awareness of the function of The Challenge.
On the one hand is the obvious, write 50k words in 30 days challenge. For those of us still balancing the demands of Real Life (including family responsibility and day-jobs) with the requirements of Being an Author Who Actually Writes Stuff, making that 1.7k words every day is rough. Especially for a whole month.
But there's also prospect of writing something difficult. This is where I find myself - facing down a story that I love, but is more complex than anything I've written before. (Not more complex than anything I've attempted before. There are a bunch of things I've tried and had to put to one side because I'm just not there yet. ) This is The Challenge to Improve as a Writer.
It wears many hats.
Sometimes it's the struggle to improve my storytelling ability. The elusive quest to put the emotion on the page so strongly the reader feels it.
Sometimes it's the fight to give my characters depth. To make the plot be more than just a sequence of events. To make the story feel like something that matters.
Sometimes it's just about being a better writer than I was yesterday.
The problem with The Challenge is that it raises questions and with questions come doubt and with doubt comes the seemingly inevitable "block". That mind-numbing, finger-paralyzing block that keeps us from putting a single word on the page because it might be The Wrong One. Or the words might be okay but the concept is a Bad Idea. Or that this story is taps something so personal that No One Else Will Get It.
But there is hope. When staring down my own doubt (and the blank white screen of my word processing program) I remind myself of the following.
1. The first word you think of is usually best.
2. Even when it's not, you can always fix it later.
3. A simple word is frequently better than an esoteric one.
4. Even when it's not, you can always fix it later.
5. Every idea has potential.
6. Even when it doesn't, you can always fix it later.
7. Every idea will appeal to at least one other person.
8. Even when it doesn't, you can always fix it later.
The Challenge, really, is not in the story. The Challenge is in the writer and how much we are willing to risk putting on the page.
On the one hand is the obvious, write 50k words in 30 days challenge. For those of us still balancing the demands of Real Life (including family responsibility and day-jobs) with the requirements of Being an Author Who Actually Writes Stuff, making that 1.7k words every day is rough. Especially for a whole month.
But there's also prospect of writing something difficult. This is where I find myself - facing down a story that I love, but is more complex than anything I've written before. (Not more complex than anything I've attempted before. There are a bunch of things I've tried and had to put to one side because I'm just not there yet. ) This is The Challenge to Improve as a Writer.
It wears many hats.
Sometimes it's the struggle to improve my storytelling ability. The elusive quest to put the emotion on the page so strongly the reader feels it.
Sometimes it's the fight to give my characters depth. To make the plot be more than just a sequence of events. To make the story feel like something that matters.
Sometimes it's just about being a better writer than I was yesterday.
The problem with The Challenge is that it raises questions and with questions come doubt and with doubt comes the seemingly inevitable "block". That mind-numbing, finger-paralyzing block that keeps us from putting a single word on the page because it might be The Wrong One. Or the words might be okay but the concept is a Bad Idea. Or that this story is taps something so personal that No One Else Will Get It.
But there is hope. When staring down my own doubt (and the blank white screen of my word processing program) I remind myself of the following.
1. The first word you think of is usually best.
2. Even when it's not, you can always fix it later.
3. A simple word is frequently better than an esoteric one.
4. Even when it's not, you can always fix it later.
5. Every idea has potential.
6. Even when it doesn't, you can always fix it later.
7. Every idea will appeal to at least one other person.
8. Even when it doesn't, you can always fix it later.
The Challenge, really, is not in the story. The Challenge is in the writer and how much we are willing to risk putting on the page.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Hunger And Fear
A few years back we installed a swinging door between the kitchen and the living room. It's primary purpose was to keep our cats at bay while preparing food. And for several years it worked just fine.
Until we got Sundance, a leggy 4 pound female. Of all the cats in the house (including our 15 pound bruiser, Monster Cat) she is the only one who has conquered the spring-loaded hinges in the kitchen door, pushing through even while the door repeatedly squishes her.
At first I was afraid the other cats would watch her squeeze between the door and the jamb and they would do the same thing. In fact, one or two of them tried it, but as soon as the door started to squeeze in on them, they would wiggle a retreat. At first I was just amused that this tiny cat could (and would) do what none of the other larger cats can.
But the other day it hit me: there is a lesson to be learned here.
Sundance doesn't want to wait around for the bowls of cat food to be brought to her, she wants the good stuff I'm fixing for dinner and she wants it now! She is willing to risk the pinch of the door because she lets her (perceived) hunger outweigh her fear.
As a writer there is a lot of fear.
Fear that my ideas are stupid. Or that maybe they're brilliant but that my writing skills won't match the material I'm tackling. Fear that I will never finish the book. Fear that I won't know how to finish the book. Fear that no one else will like what I have to say. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure.
Fear that in the end this will be nothing more than a huge masturbatory waste of time.
I've spent a long time trying to get rid of my fears. I remind myself that I've sold stories in the past, I can do it again. I analyze my old work in order to improve (and show myself that I have already improved). I practice telling myself that one more rejection doesn't matter, it's only the eventual acceptance that's important.
In the end, the fear remains.
So does the hunger. And that, I realized, is why I've not given up. (And believe me, there have been a lot of moments, days and weeks when I really did think it was time to throw it all in and give up this idea of being a writer.) Because I want the good stuff and I want it now.
I'm afraid of the long hours of feeling like I'm etching each word in stone with a slightly undercooked carrot. I'm afraid of another rejection letter on a story I love.
I'm afraid of someone I respect telling me what I write isn't good enough.
But I am hungry and that outweighs the fear.
Until we got Sundance, a leggy 4 pound female. Of all the cats in the house (including our 15 pound bruiser, Monster Cat) she is the only one who has conquered the spring-loaded hinges in the kitchen door, pushing through even while the door repeatedly squishes her.
At first I was afraid the other cats would watch her squeeze between the door and the jamb and they would do the same thing. In fact, one or two of them tried it, but as soon as the door started to squeeze in on them, they would wiggle a retreat. At first I was just amused that this tiny cat could (and would) do what none of the other larger cats can.
But the other day it hit me: there is a lesson to be learned here.
Sundance doesn't want to wait around for the bowls of cat food to be brought to her, she wants the good stuff I'm fixing for dinner and she wants it now! She is willing to risk the pinch of the door because she lets her (perceived) hunger outweigh her fear.
As a writer there is a lot of fear.
Fear that my ideas are stupid. Or that maybe they're brilliant but that my writing skills won't match the material I'm tackling. Fear that I will never finish the book. Fear that I won't know how to finish the book. Fear that no one else will like what I have to say. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure.
Fear that in the end this will be nothing more than a huge masturbatory waste of time.
I've spent a long time trying to get rid of my fears. I remind myself that I've sold stories in the past, I can do it again. I analyze my old work in order to improve (and show myself that I have already improved). I practice telling myself that one more rejection doesn't matter, it's only the eventual acceptance that's important.
In the end, the fear remains.
So does the hunger. And that, I realized, is why I've not given up. (And believe me, there have been a lot of moments, days and weeks when I really did think it was time to throw it all in and give up this idea of being a writer.) Because I want the good stuff and I want it now.
I'm afraid of the long hours of feeling like I'm etching each word in stone with a slightly undercooked carrot. I'm afraid of another rejection letter on a story I love.
I'm afraid of someone I respect telling me what I write isn't good enough.
But I am hungry and that outweighs the fear.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Tools for Selling Your Novel: The Query Letter
Query letters are like the Gorgon of the writing world. Unpublished and experienced authors alike get all wobbly at the knees when they hear the words "query letter".
I understand the stress. The query is the thing that will (hopefully) entice an agent to look at your pages. The query is the bait around the sharp hook of your manuscript; that tasty morsel that makes the agent (or editor) say "I want more." It seems like an impossible task to write a one page anything that will accomplish that. Especially when you start thinking about all the other query letters the agent sees every day. Yours has to stand out, not just among a few letters but a few dozen or hundred!
First, take a deep breath. Writing a query letter is not an easy thing, but it's not as hard as most of us have been led to believe.
Second, one of the best ways to get an idea of how to put a query together is to look at some existing ones. Query Shark is a great place to see various queries - some that work and many that don't - dissected by a Real Life Agent in order to illustrate What Works and What Doesn't. If you want to take the time to join the Absolute Write Water Cooler they have a forum called "Query Letter Hell" that is for the revision and refinement of queries. (There are also a couple of threads about How to Write a Query Letter and Successful Query Letters, if you're still in the research phase of your query mission.)
I have a caveat here: I have not found the advice given on my early query attempts though QLH to be especially useful. But many people have found the feedback and insight there to be invaluable. So, it obviously works for some, but don't be distressed if it doesn't seem to be working for you.
I DID find it useful to look through the successful queries to see what sorts of things they said, how they structured their letters. (And really the answer there is: all sorts of things and many different ways.)
I also found it very useful to start with a logline and then expand that to produce the bulk of my query.
Here was my three sentence logline: Magic-handler Keira Fennel's search for her father intersects with shape-shifter Lowen McCrae's hunt for a murderer in the alleys of 1888 London. When they uncover a plot to construct a mechanical heart from stolen flesh, Keira's skill with gears and magic makes her the target of the otherworldly villain. She's forced to participate in the experiment or lose both Lowen and her father.
(And let me just stop to say that I've a short version of the query letter that uses just these three sentences + the genre/length of the book and my personal info/credits. Although there are agents who apparently dislike loglines, this shorter letter has produced the same percentage of initially positive results as the longer letter.)
I understand the stress. The query is the thing that will (hopefully) entice an agent to look at your pages. The query is the bait around the sharp hook of your manuscript; that tasty morsel that makes the agent (or editor) say "I want more." It seems like an impossible task to write a one page anything that will accomplish that. Especially when you start thinking about all the other query letters the agent sees every day. Yours has to stand out, not just among a few letters but a few dozen or hundred!
First, take a deep breath. Writing a query letter is not an easy thing, but it's not as hard as most of us have been led to believe.
Second, one of the best ways to get an idea of how to put a query together is to look at some existing ones. Query Shark is a great place to see various queries - some that work and many that don't - dissected by a Real Life Agent in order to illustrate What Works and What Doesn't. If you want to take the time to join the Absolute Write Water Cooler they have a forum called "Query Letter Hell" that is for the revision and refinement of queries. (There are also a couple of threads about How to Write a Query Letter and Successful Query Letters, if you're still in the research phase of your query mission.)
I have a caveat here: I have not found the advice given on my early query attempts though QLH to be especially useful. But many people have found the feedback and insight there to be invaluable. So, it obviously works for some, but don't be distressed if it doesn't seem to be working for you.
I DID find it useful to look through the successful queries to see what sorts of things they said, how they structured their letters. (And really the answer there is: all sorts of things and many different ways.)
I also found it very useful to start with a logline and then expand that to produce the bulk of my query.
Here was my three sentence logline: Magic-handler Keira Fennel's search for her father intersects with shape-shifter Lowen McCrae's hunt for a murderer in the alleys of 1888 London. When they uncover a plot to construct a mechanical heart from stolen flesh, Keira's skill with gears and magic makes her the target of the otherworldly villain. She's forced to participate in the experiment or lose both Lowen and her father.
(And let me just stop to say that I've a short version of the query letter that uses just these three sentences + the genre/length of the book and my personal info/credits. Although there are agents who apparently dislike loglines, this shorter letter has produced the same percentage of initially positive results as the longer letter.)
I expanded it to this: Nineteen-year-old magic-handler KEIRA
FENNEL is painfully aware she has outgrown the magic school at
Ballaghaddereen Abbey, but her father – absent in every way but his
continued fear for her safety – is not ready to let her loose in
Fey-shy Britain. When Keira learns Da is lost and injured, she seizes
the opportunity to prove she no longer needs to be protected.
Her quest to find and rescue her father intersects with shape-shifter LOWEN MCCRAE's hunt for a serial murderer stalking the alleys of 1888 London. At first they are allies out of necessity, but a friendship soon forms and Lowen's search for the man who murdered his ex-wife becomes a mission to protect Keira. The bond is deepened when Keira reveals her Immortal second-nature in order to save Lowen and he accepts her strangeness without judgment.
As they uncover a conspiracy to construct a mechanical heart, the parts distilled from stolen flesh, Keira's skill with gears and magic makes her the target of the otherworldly MONSIEUR DEVEREAUX and his cohorts. Keira must choose between cooperating with Devereaux or losing both Lowen and her father.
Her quest to find and rescue her father intersects with shape-shifter LOWEN MCCRAE's hunt for a serial murderer stalking the alleys of 1888 London. At first they are allies out of necessity, but a friendship soon forms and Lowen's search for the man who murdered his ex-wife becomes a mission to protect Keira. The bond is deepened when Keira reveals her Immortal second-nature in order to save Lowen and he accepts her strangeness without judgment.
As they uncover a conspiracy to construct a mechanical heart, the parts distilled from stolen flesh, Keira's skill with gears and magic makes her the target of the otherworldly MONSIEUR DEVEREAUX and his cohorts. Keira must choose between cooperating with Devereaux or losing both Lowen and her father.
Of course, the big question is always "But did it work?". I've had a 1 in 10 request rate off my queries. Which is at the low end of the spectrum but perfectly acceptable. (I know, I'd be giddy if I'd gotten a higher request rate on this, but I've had some really wonderful people ask to look at this so I'm satisfied.)
The longer version is great for querying folks who want only a query to start off with. If they ask for a synopsis as part of the query package, I've been using the short query letter. Because I'm a writer who likes to be succinct whenever possible.
But whether I'm using the long version or the short version, both letters have the following: a summary of the book (with the intent of showing the uniquenesses of the plot), the basic info on the book (genre, word count, with series potential, complete), a paragraph about my writing credits, and a brief paragraph stating that I am querying multiple agents, I look forward to hearing back, and whether or not I've included sample pages, etc.
Why am I telling you all this in detail?
Because writing a query letter is not easy, but it's not rocket science. In fact, that longer query letter was written in one thirty minute stint last fall. (After I'd spent a month working on the logline, of course.) It has remained virtually unchanged since then.
So stop stressing.
Write a logline (or nine) and find the heart of your story.
Then write a query expanding the logline.
Finally, go forth and query.
Your agent is waiting.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Keeping Your Butt In Chair and Fingers on Keyboard After the First Draft
Two weeks ago I finished a round of revisions on The Steampunk Novel. They were changes I feel made the book stronger. Changes an agent had requested to see. But there were still days it was difficult to stick with my plan of attack.
"Maybe this is good enough." That thought crossed my mind a lot. Especially while I was trying to brainstorm how to keep a chapter I knew was weakening the whole second act. (It wasn't a bad chapter, it was just slow. And very little happened and then only by accident.) "Maybe I should just leave the rest alone. It's pretty good."
And it was "pretty good". But I don't want just "pretty good". I want "really good" and "the best I can do".
Eventually I cut out the chapter I had and wrote a new one. And it was better than "pretty good".
But it made me think about the challenge of keeping the excitement in a project after the first draft. First drafts have their own pitfalls. The whole "Where the hell is this story going?" and "OMG! Why does every word look stupid!" problems. And let's not forget "I'm so sick of this story". But with first drafts the excitement usually comes back. We remind ourselves that we want to see how it all turns out (even for those of us who outline the ending is not always a guarantee), that we want to mark "Write First Draft of Project X" off our to-do list, we want to write those magical words "THE END" and throw up our hands and say "Yes! Done!"
And then we realize we aren't done and there's another draft waiting to be done and maybe one (or four) after that. And that's about the time I start thinking "This is pretty good. Maybe I should just leave it alone."
So, how do I keep my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard while revising? Well, not every day is the same but here are some things that work for me.
1. Set page goals. I think the most I've done was 80 pages in a day. (And that included writing about 40 of them from scratch.) Most days I try for 10 pages.
2. Schedule breaks. Revising (for me) requires more analysis of what's one the page and that means making sure I'm not getting foggy headed or blurry eyed from too much done at once. I try and stop about every 30-45 minutes and do something else for a little bit. (Refill coffee, get a snack, use the bathroom, check my email, whatever.)
3. Trust your gut. If something seems off, it probably is. While your inner editor may be screaming for you to set the whole manuscript on fire, that's a little extreme. But when a chapter seems clunky or slow or incomplete, I stop and pay special attention because that's usually a spot that needs more than just a few whacks with the editing machete and/or revision bat.
4. Take your time. Sometimes you just have to wait for your brain to sort out the issues that have you stumped. Having deadlines (real or self-imposed) may be pushing you to hurryhurryhurry, but don't be afraid to walk away for an afternoon and let the dust settle. You'd be surprised at what you'll see when you come back.
5. Trust your gut. I know, I already said that. But in this case I'm talking about NOT fiddling with stuff. It's hard to stop tweaking a manuscript once you start, but you'll reach a point where you'll start to think "This is ready". For me that thought is usually followed by a loud mental voice that says "No it's not. You suck at writing. This can't be finished." In which case, the revision bat serves a different purpose. But, trust your gut and don't overthink the revisions.
"Maybe this is good enough." That thought crossed my mind a lot. Especially while I was trying to brainstorm how to keep a chapter I knew was weakening the whole second act. (It wasn't a bad chapter, it was just slow. And very little happened and then only by accident.) "Maybe I should just leave the rest alone. It's pretty good."
And it was "pretty good". But I don't want just "pretty good". I want "really good" and "the best I can do".
Eventually I cut out the chapter I had and wrote a new one. And it was better than "pretty good".
But it made me think about the challenge of keeping the excitement in a project after the first draft. First drafts have their own pitfalls. The whole "Where the hell is this story going?" and "OMG! Why does every word look stupid!" problems. And let's not forget "I'm so sick of this story". But with first drafts the excitement usually comes back. We remind ourselves that we want to see how it all turns out (even for those of us who outline the ending is not always a guarantee), that we want to mark "Write First Draft of Project X" off our to-do list, we want to write those magical words "THE END" and throw up our hands and say "Yes! Done!"
And then we realize we aren't done and there's another draft waiting to be done and maybe one (or four) after that. And that's about the time I start thinking "This is pretty good. Maybe I should just leave it alone."
So, how do I keep my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard while revising? Well, not every day is the same but here are some things that work for me.
1. Set page goals. I think the most I've done was 80 pages in a day. (And that included writing about 40 of them from scratch.) Most days I try for 10 pages.
2. Schedule breaks. Revising (for me) requires more analysis of what's one the page and that means making sure I'm not getting foggy headed or blurry eyed from too much done at once. I try and stop about every 30-45 minutes and do something else for a little bit. (Refill coffee, get a snack, use the bathroom, check my email, whatever.)
3. Trust your gut. If something seems off, it probably is. While your inner editor may be screaming for you to set the whole manuscript on fire, that's a little extreme. But when a chapter seems clunky or slow or incomplete, I stop and pay special attention because that's usually a spot that needs more than just a few whacks with the editing machete and/or revision bat.
4. Take your time. Sometimes you just have to wait for your brain to sort out the issues that have you stumped. Having deadlines (real or self-imposed) may be pushing you to hurryhurryhurry, but don't be afraid to walk away for an afternoon and let the dust settle. You'd be surprised at what you'll see when you come back.
5. Trust your gut. I know, I already said that. But in this case I'm talking about NOT fiddling with stuff. It's hard to stop tweaking a manuscript once you start, but you'll reach a point where you'll start to think "This is ready". For me that thought is usually followed by a loud mental voice that says "No it's not. You suck at writing. This can't be finished." In which case, the revision bat serves a different purpose. But, trust your gut and don't overthink the revisions.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Withdrawing a Story
In my short writing career, I have withdrawn a story from consideration a grand total of twice. Both times were instances of discovering a divergence of opinion on issues of race/sexuality with the editorial staff. And I haven't submitted anything to either of those markets since.
I mention this, not because I'm such a crusader for equality, but because every now and again I see someone asking about making a simultaneous submission on the sly. In other words, they have multiple markets they wish to submit a particular story to, both of which request "No Sim Subs", and one of which has a deadline/really slow response time. Usually the question is "Can't I just withdraw the story from one market if it were picked up by the other one?"
The short answer is: Yes.
Naturally, there is nothing to prevent you from sending your story to every market at once. There is nothing to prevent you from withdrawing a story from a market at any time for any reason - whether it be that you subbed to more than one market and had an acceptance or you decided it needed more revisions or because you realized the editor was anti-banana and you're pro-banana and you don't want him/her publishing your story anyway.
But there are a couple of things you should keep in mind when considering withdrawing a story. (Or considering putting yourself in a position where you might have to withdraw a story.)
Firstly, once a story is withdrawn it cannot be resubmitted to the same market at a later date. Withdrawing a story is like giving yourself a rejection notice.
Secondly, while it may seem like an editor won't know why you decided to withdraw a story there are a limited number of possibilities.
1: You submitted something that wasn't ready.
2. You submitted something to more than one market despite being asked not to.
3: You found a market that pays more/has more exposure/whatever and you want to try them first.
4. You have decided you don't want to work with the editor.
None of those possibilities is likely to make the editor/slush-crew think very highly of you. Some won't care enough to remember it the next time you might submit something (this is assuming that either #4 doesn't apply or you've changed your mind about the anti-banana stance of the editor-in-chief). Some will.
So, my rule of thumb is: Don't withdraw a story unless you have no intention of working with a market/editor ever again.
My second rule of thumb is: Don't put yourself in a position to NEED to withdraw a story.
This means, No Sim Subs (unless a market says it's okay) and Always Be Certain a Story is Ready To Sell.
I mention this, not because I'm such a crusader for equality, but because every now and again I see someone asking about making a simultaneous submission on the sly. In other words, they have multiple markets they wish to submit a particular story to, both of which request "No Sim Subs", and one of which has a deadline/really slow response time. Usually the question is "Can't I just withdraw the story from one market if it were picked up by the other one?"
The short answer is: Yes.
Naturally, there is nothing to prevent you from sending your story to every market at once. There is nothing to prevent you from withdrawing a story from a market at any time for any reason - whether it be that you subbed to more than one market and had an acceptance or you decided it needed more revisions or because you realized the editor was anti-banana and you're pro-banana and you don't want him/her publishing your story anyway.
But there are a couple of things you should keep in mind when considering withdrawing a story. (Or considering putting yourself in a position where you might have to withdraw a story.)
Firstly, once a story is withdrawn it cannot be resubmitted to the same market at a later date. Withdrawing a story is like giving yourself a rejection notice.
Secondly, while it may seem like an editor won't know why you decided to withdraw a story there are a limited number of possibilities.
1: You submitted something that wasn't ready.
2. You submitted something to more than one market despite being asked not to.
3: You found a market that pays more/has more exposure/whatever and you want to try them first.
4. You have decided you don't want to work with the editor.
None of those possibilities is likely to make the editor/slush-crew think very highly of you. Some won't care enough to remember it the next time you might submit something (this is assuming that either #4 doesn't apply or you've changed your mind about the anti-banana stance of the editor-in-chief). Some will.
So, my rule of thumb is: Don't withdraw a story unless you have no intention of working with a market/editor ever again.
My second rule of thumb is: Don't put yourself in a position to NEED to withdraw a story.
This means, No Sim Subs (unless a market says it's okay) and Always Be Certain a Story is Ready To Sell.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Ideas Under Words
Last week I went through some of my "archived" stories. Mostly bits and pieces of novels that I started and then shelved during a long case of Shiny-New-Idea-itis. (Seriously. It was almost ten years of moving from one project to the next and not finishing any of them. Blech. I have developed a little more discipline since then. But I still have a massive back-log of Unfinisheds clamoring for attention.)
A couple of things immediately stood out to me.
Firstly, my writing up until about three years ago... kind of sucked. And there isn't some magic point after which my stuff doesn't suck, but there's definitely a point at which I started focusing on writing better. I found a lot of earlier stuff written in squashy Omni. And some of it is not bad (for Omni which I still suck at), but most of it is just... squashy. After I began to focus on writing only one character's POV per chapter there is a vast improvement. (And this isn't to say that there is anything wrong with Omni, but I don't do it very well. At all.) And my characters got a little more personality. Not that they didn't have flaws before, but there's more nuance to the more recent characters. Some of them have downright unlikeable traits. (Like my Fey detective who compares his college-educated female partner to a stripper. Or the Marine Sergeant who is a not only a chauvinist but also a bigot through and through.)
I know why this shift in quality happened.
I started analyzing my work. I began looking for things to improve. I began writing for more than just fun. (And again, nothing wrong with writing for fun, but for me personally, it didn't spur me to grow as a writing because the only person I had to please was myself. And that used to be easy.)
Secondly, despite the lack of skill in the writing, the ideas were sound. And this, is one reason why I used to have so much trouble finishing things - I didn't have the skill to tell the story. Deep down I knew (and still know) that I'm not quite ready for the epic cyber-pagan novel I first drafted when I was fifteen. It has a scope and language that is just a touch beyond me. One of these days I'll sit down to try it again and it will flow, but for now... I'm just not ready for it. But the idea... that's been solid since the beginning which makes me think that maybe there are no bad ideas, just poorly executed ones.
I remember a few years back, when I was still in college so maybe a decade ago, I ran into a fellow in an online community who was developing an idea for a Sci-Fi story. He had a planet that was always dark on one side and always light on the other. And there was a giant bridge connecting the planet with it's orbiting moon. That, in and of itself, is a bit of a stretch but it could be feasible. HOWEVER, he wanted it to be Earth. Not just a version of Earth, but OUR EARTH. And his explanation for why one side was always day and the other always night? "The moon stopped orbitating [sic] around the Earth."
I tried to explain that the moon's orbit has nothing to do with why we have day and night on all sides of Earth. He was offended. AND he accused me of being the opposite of a "creative". He said I was *gasp* "AN EDITOR."
After I stopped laughing, I realized that he had a prime example of a poorly executed idea. Because he wanted to make it "real", but he A) didn't know enough about the subject matter and B) wasn't willing to adapt his premise.
But I digress. The point here is that even the ideas I had a memory of being awful were not so bad when I looked at them again. They do, however, need some retooling. Not bad ideas, just poorly executed. Even the stuff from my early years that I really want to print out just so I can set it on fire is not "bad" it just needs better words to flesh it out.
And that, quite frankly, is just a question of practice. In fact, that's a large part of what I do when I write - get rid of the bad words in a story and replace them with good ones. Because the idea is sound. I think, really and truly, most of them are. Maybe even all of them are. I just have to find the right words.
A couple of things immediately stood out to me.
Firstly, my writing up until about three years ago... kind of sucked. And there isn't some magic point after which my stuff doesn't suck, but there's definitely a point at which I started focusing on writing better. I found a lot of earlier stuff written in squashy Omni. And some of it is not bad (for Omni which I still suck at), but most of it is just... squashy. After I began to focus on writing only one character's POV per chapter there is a vast improvement. (And this isn't to say that there is anything wrong with Omni, but I don't do it very well. At all.) And my characters got a little more personality. Not that they didn't have flaws before, but there's more nuance to the more recent characters. Some of them have downright unlikeable traits. (Like my Fey detective who compares his college-educated female partner to a stripper. Or the Marine Sergeant who is a not only a chauvinist but also a bigot through and through.)
I know why this shift in quality happened.
I started analyzing my work. I began looking for things to improve. I began writing for more than just fun. (And again, nothing wrong with writing for fun, but for me personally, it didn't spur me to grow as a writing because the only person I had to please was myself. And that used to be easy.)
Secondly, despite the lack of skill in the writing, the ideas were sound. And this, is one reason why I used to have so much trouble finishing things - I didn't have the skill to tell the story. Deep down I knew (and still know) that I'm not quite ready for the epic cyber-pagan novel I first drafted when I was fifteen. It has a scope and language that is just a touch beyond me. One of these days I'll sit down to try it again and it will flow, but for now... I'm just not ready for it. But the idea... that's been solid since the beginning which makes me think that maybe there are no bad ideas, just poorly executed ones.
I remember a few years back, when I was still in college so maybe a decade ago, I ran into a fellow in an online community who was developing an idea for a Sci-Fi story. He had a planet that was always dark on one side and always light on the other. And there was a giant bridge connecting the planet with it's orbiting moon. That, in and of itself, is a bit of a stretch but it could be feasible. HOWEVER, he wanted it to be Earth. Not just a version of Earth, but OUR EARTH. And his explanation for why one side was always day and the other always night? "The moon stopped orbitating [sic] around the Earth."
I tried to explain that the moon's orbit has nothing to do with why we have day and night on all sides of Earth. He was offended. AND he accused me of being the opposite of a "creative". He said I was *gasp* "AN EDITOR."
After I stopped laughing, I realized that he had a prime example of a poorly executed idea. Because he wanted to make it "real", but he A) didn't know enough about the subject matter and B) wasn't willing to adapt his premise.
But I digress. The point here is that even the ideas I had a memory of being awful were not so bad when I looked at them again. They do, however, need some retooling. Not bad ideas, just poorly executed. Even the stuff from my early years that I really want to print out just so I can set it on fire is not "bad" it just needs better words to flesh it out.
And that, quite frankly, is just a question of practice. In fact, that's a large part of what I do when I write - get rid of the bad words in a story and replace them with good ones. Because the idea is sound. I think, really and truly, most of them are. Maybe even all of them are. I just have to find the right words.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Fear
Every now and then I find myself saying "I love pretty much everything about writing except for *insert dreaded thing here*." Usually that "dreaded thing" has to do with selling a project.
FREX: I hate research markets.
I hate finding new markets.
I hate writing log-lines.
I hate writing query letters.
I hate writing synopsis.
I think you get my drift.
Yesterday I was working on a synopsis for The Steampunk Novel. I'd written one a few months ago and it sucked. I mean, it was okay, but with the recent revisions it needed changes and I'd thought from the start it seemed a little bit long so I figured I'd grit my teeth and write a new one. With much complaining. Because, you know, I hate writing a synopsis.
As I worked on it this little thing in the back of my brain started to ponder my dislike of this part of the process. It reminded me I'd done a similar round of teeth-gnashing and complaining both when writing a log-line and while trying to draft a query letter. Why was that?
I told the little thing to shut up. I was busy.
I finished the synopsis - totally and completely certain that it sucked in a very unpleasant way - and took a break to eat dinner. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Trying to write anything while hungry and tired is probably not one's best idea.) I got something to eat. Spent some time with my family, then came back to the synopsis.
Amazement of amazements, it didn't suck. It needed a few tweaks (which I made) but it was nowhere near as horrible as I had thought whilst writing it.
And then something clicked.
My hatred of log-lines/synopsis/query letters/market research grew out of a very quiet sense of fear.
Sure, there was the fear that all my hard work writing The Steampunk Novel would be lost if I didn't have a killer query with which to pitch it. The fear that the synopsis would not reflect the really interesting aspects or voice of the book. But beyond that was a deeper, more personal fear.
Suppose the query worked? Suppose I got a request for a partial?*** Suppose an agent read my first chapters/150 pages/whatever and DIDN'T LIKE THE WRITING? What if my wordcraft was bad? What if the thing I'd loved so much and put so much energy into... sucked?
I've spent four years trying to get over the idea that what I write isn't worth much. Four years focused on practicing my craft in the hopes that I would get better. That I would gain confidence. That I would get good at writing.
Along the way I'd conquered a series of things that I "hated". (Finishing stories. Editing stories. Finding a market. Dealing with rejections. And so on.) One by one I'd put them behind me until the only things that stood between me and selling my novel (well, finding representation for my novel and THEN selling it) were the query letter and synopsis.
I hated them. I doubted my ability to make the book sound interesting. I doubted my ability to be succinct.
I doubted the value of the story I had told. I doubted my ability to tell a story, period.
That, you see, was the whole problem. Doubt.
FEAR.
The gut-wrenching, mouth-drying, palm-sweating fear that after all this time I still wouldn't be any good at this thing that I love so much.
And that's when I realized I don't have to "hate" any of it. All of that angst and blather about "hating" was just a smoke screen for my insecurity. And there was only one thing to do.
DO IT ANYWAY.
I wrote a lot of short stories before I discovered Write 1, Sub 1 and used that as an excuse to start sending things out. I started a lot (A LOT!) of novels before I found NaNoWriMo and used that as an excuse to write the first draft of The Steampunk Novel. The only thing that changed between the short stories I wrote and shelved and the ones I submitted was that I submitted them anyway. Even when I was CERTAIN they sucked. (And the ones I thought sucked the most, sold the fastest.)
The only thing that changed between the dozens (yes, dozens) of novels I started and never got past the first 50 pages and the two that I've finished is that I didn't stop when I thought the book sucked. And then I went back and fixed the parts that weren't good. Even when I was CERTAIN it was a waste of time.
So, my (very long) piece of advice for today is: DO IT ANYWAY.
Whatever that writing related thing is that you "hate" (drafting/editing/querying/outlining/writing)... DO IT ANYWAY.
DO IT ANYWAY.
*** Which, incidentally, I have. So much for thinking my query letters are shite.
FREX: I hate research markets.
I hate finding new markets.
I hate writing log-lines.
I hate writing query letters.
I hate writing synopsis.
I think you get my drift.
Yesterday I was working on a synopsis for The Steampunk Novel. I'd written one a few months ago and it sucked. I mean, it was okay, but with the recent revisions it needed changes and I'd thought from the start it seemed a little bit long so I figured I'd grit my teeth and write a new one. With much complaining. Because, you know, I hate writing a synopsis.
As I worked on it this little thing in the back of my brain started to ponder my dislike of this part of the process. It reminded me I'd done a similar round of teeth-gnashing and complaining both when writing a log-line and while trying to draft a query letter. Why was that?
I told the little thing to shut up. I was busy.
I finished the synopsis - totally and completely certain that it sucked in a very unpleasant way - and took a break to eat dinner. (IMPORTANT NOTE: Trying to write anything while hungry and tired is probably not one's best idea.) I got something to eat. Spent some time with my family, then came back to the synopsis.
Amazement of amazements, it didn't suck. It needed a few tweaks (which I made) but it was nowhere near as horrible as I had thought whilst writing it.
And then something clicked.
My hatred of log-lines/synopsis/query letters/market research grew out of a very quiet sense of fear.
Sure, there was the fear that all my hard work writing The Steampunk Novel would be lost if I didn't have a killer query with which to pitch it. The fear that the synopsis would not reflect the really interesting aspects or voice of the book. But beyond that was a deeper, more personal fear.
Suppose the query worked? Suppose I got a request for a partial?*** Suppose an agent read my first chapters/150 pages/whatever and DIDN'T LIKE THE WRITING? What if my wordcraft was bad? What if the thing I'd loved so much and put so much energy into... sucked?
I've spent four years trying to get over the idea that what I write isn't worth much. Four years focused on practicing my craft in the hopes that I would get better. That I would gain confidence. That I would get good at writing.
Along the way I'd conquered a series of things that I "hated". (Finishing stories. Editing stories. Finding a market. Dealing with rejections. And so on.) One by one I'd put them behind me until the only things that stood between me and selling my novel (well, finding representation for my novel and THEN selling it) were the query letter and synopsis.
I hated them. I doubted my ability to make the book sound interesting. I doubted my ability to be succinct.
I doubted the value of the story I had told. I doubted my ability to tell a story, period.
That, you see, was the whole problem. Doubt.
FEAR.
The gut-wrenching, mouth-drying, palm-sweating fear that after all this time I still wouldn't be any good at this thing that I love so much.
And that's when I realized I don't have to "hate" any of it. All of that angst and blather about "hating
DO IT ANYWAY.
I wrote a lot of short stories before I discovered Write 1, Sub 1 and used that as an excuse to start sending things out. I started a lot (A LOT!) of novels before I found NaNoWriMo and used that as an excuse to write the first draft of The Steampunk Novel. The only thing that changed between the short stories I wrote and shelved and the ones I submitted was that I submitted them anyway. Even when I was CERTAIN they sucked. (And the ones I thought sucked the most, sold the fastest.)
The only thing that changed between the dozens (yes, dozens) of novels I started and never got past the first 50 pages and the two that I've finished is that I didn't stop when I thought the book sucked. And then I went back and fixed the parts that weren't good. Even when I was CERTAIN it was a waste of time.
So, my (very long) piece of advice for today is: DO IT ANYWAY.
Whatever that writing related thing is that you "hate" (drafting/editing/querying/outlining/writing)... DO IT ANYWAY.
DO IT ANYWAY.
*** Which, incidentally, I have. So much for thinking my query letters are shite.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Goals 2013
About this time last year I posted my goals for 2012.
1: To finish and submit Gaslyte - the novel-in-progress I've been working on since 2008 - by the end of the year.
2: To finish and submit at least one longer length project - 15k or more - by the end of the year.
3: To polish and submit the handful of stories I wrote this year but have languished in my pile of "to edit" projects.
4: To write a minimum of 15k per month.
I can safely say I've failed at all of those. (Well, there's a sliver of hope for #1 still. Maybe.)
Here's what I did accomplish this year.
WROTE:
Damsel
The Spider-Thief and the Sorcerer
Legacy
SOLD:
The Collections Agent
Caught
Happy After All
In the Cool of the Day
Legacy
I also made serious revisions to The Steampunk Novel that have brought me to the brink of querying it. (See? There's still hope.) And in June and August I wrote nearly 40k words (combined). It has been a productive year. It has not been productive in the way that I envisioned it. And that's okay.
But I'm back in that same spot; asking myself "What do I want to accomplish next year?" After much thought (and too much coffee) my goals for 2013 look like this.
1: Find an Agent Who Can Sell The Steampunk Novel
2: Finish the Novellas I started This Year but HAVEN'T FINISHED
3: Write another Novel or Two
4: Sell my Short Stories
Notice how open-ended those are? Last year I tried making specific goals, laying out a plan of attack, and I did very little that I set out to do. (Again. It was a productive year, but not in the way I had planned.) This year I'll try something new and different. And, most importantly, I will not do what I did this year which was to waste time on personal lamentation about how I wasn't meeting those goals.
Here's to a fresh start! And, hopefully, a fresh attitude.
1: To finish and submit Gaslyte - the novel-in-progress I've been working on since 2008 - by the end of the year.
2: To finish and submit at least one longer length project - 15k or more - by the end of the year.
3: To polish and submit the handful of stories I wrote this year but have languished in my pile of "to edit" projects.
4: To write a minimum of 15k per month.
I can safely say I've failed at all of those. (Well, there's a sliver of hope for #1 still. Maybe.)
Here's what I did accomplish this year.
WROTE:
Damsel
The Spider-Thief and the Sorcerer
Legacy
SOLD:
The Collections Agent
Caught
Happy After All
In the Cool of the Day
Legacy
I also made serious revisions to The Steampunk Novel that have brought me to the brink of querying it. (See? There's still hope.) And in June and August I wrote nearly 40k words (combined). It has been a productive year. It has not been productive in the way that I envisioned it. And that's okay.
But I'm back in that same spot; asking myself "What do I want to accomplish next year?" After much thought (and too much coffee) my goals for 2013 look like this.
1: Find an Agent Who Can Sell The Steampunk Novel
2: Finish the Novellas I started This Year but HAVEN'T FINISHED
3: Write another Novel or Two
4: Sell my Short Stories
Notice how open-ended those are? Last year I tried making specific goals, laying out a plan of attack, and I did very little that I set out to do. (Again. It was a productive year, but not in the way I had planned.) This year I'll try something new and different. And, most importantly, I will not do what I did this year which was to waste time on personal lamentation about how I wasn't meeting those goals.
Here's to a fresh start! And, hopefully, a fresh attitude.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Lessons Learned (Re)Writing a Novel
1.Nothing is as Bad or Good as You First Thought
Rereading a first draft of a novel (or a second or third draft for that matter) is an adventure. I discover brilliant scenes I'd forgotten, unearth little threads of subplot that I don't remember weaving, find little gems of dialogue that make me all happy inside.
I also find a fair number of turds: descriptions that are not as clever as I thought they were when I first put them down on paper, plot holes I can throw a cat through, characters who seem cut from cardboard. Some of it is ugly. And some of it beautiful.
The point is, early drafts are allowed to be a mess, but chances are they are not as bad as you first thought when you typed "The End". That's what revising and editing are for - making the bad better and the good really good.
2. Trust Your Gut
Revisions are hard. There's that constant feeling of "But what if I make it worse?" There's the nagging suspicion that you won't have improved while writing the first draft and the second one will be more of the same drivel. There's the fear that if you try and change things you'll lose the thread of what you loved about the story in the first place.
But beneath all that is a sense of what needs to be fixed. It's the voice that says "That character doesn't serve a purpose here, get rid of her." It's the tingle of intuition that says that your MC's flaws are more interesting than her strengths. It's the whisper that tells you "That person has to die if the danger is real." This is your gut, the muscley side of your subconscious. It is always right.
3. Take Small Bites
Novels are hard to rewrite/revise/edit because they are so much longer than a short story. (Duh, right?) Take small bites, work on it consistently, and don't give up. Much like writing a first draft the middle will probably seem like The Middle from Hades or The Second Act That Ate Chicago. The difference here is that you already know how things end. You can stop to fiddle with an ornery scene that sets up the final conflict. You can take the time to develop that subplot with the romantic secondary character.
Where writing the first draft was a necessary push to get the whole story out on paper, the second (or eighth) draft is about fine tuning all the moving parts. Take it one step at a time. If it takes a week to revise one chapter and only five minutes to revise the next... that's okay. Mashed potatoes take less effort to chew than ciabatta.
4. Set Goals and Celebrate Accomplishments
Aim for a certain number of pages edited/revised at each session. Be honest about what you can accomplish, but give yourself a little challenge too. Just like with word count goals you may miss the mark sometimes. And sometimes you'll go way beyond what you intended to do. But without a goal it's easy to fall into the trap of moving commas around. Really easy.
Goals help you keep in mind that this is not the only chapter that needs work. And don't forget to celebrate when you make progress. That may mean an extra piece of shortbread at tea time or taking the evening off to something fun (or to veg). Whatever you choose to do, don't forget to recognize that you are making progress. Even if it's slower than you'd hoped.
Rereading a first draft of a novel (or a second or third draft for that matter) is an adventure. I discover brilliant scenes I'd forgotten, unearth little threads of subplot that I don't remember weaving, find little gems of dialogue that make me all happy inside.
I also find a fair number of turds: descriptions that are not as clever as I thought they were when I first put them down on paper, plot holes I can throw a cat through, characters who seem cut from cardboard. Some of it is ugly. And some of it beautiful.
The point is, early drafts are allowed to be a mess, but chances are they are not as bad as you first thought when you typed "The End". That's what revising and editing are for - making the bad better and the good really good.
2. Trust Your Gut
Revisions are hard. There's that constant feeling of "But what if I make it worse?" There's the nagging suspicion that you won't have improved while writing the first draft and the second one will be more of the same drivel. There's the fear that if you try and change things you'll lose the thread of what you loved about the story in the first place.
But beneath all that is a sense of what needs to be fixed. It's the voice that says "That character doesn't serve a purpose here, get rid of her." It's the tingle of intuition that says that your MC's flaws are more interesting than her strengths. It's the whisper that tells you "That person has to die if the danger is real." This is your gut, the muscley side of your subconscious. It is always right.
3. Take Small Bites
Novels are hard to rewrite/revise/edit because they are so much longer than a short story. (Duh, right?) Take small bites, work on it consistently, and don't give up. Much like writing a first draft the middle will probably seem like The Middle from Hades or The Second Act That Ate Chicago. The difference here is that you already know how things end. You can stop to fiddle with an ornery scene that sets up the final conflict. You can take the time to develop that subplot with the romantic secondary character.
Where writing the first draft was a necessary push to get the whole story out on paper, the second (or eighth) draft is about fine tuning all the moving parts. Take it one step at a time. If it takes a week to revise one chapter and only five minutes to revise the next... that's okay. Mashed potatoes take less effort to chew than ciabatta.
4. Set Goals and Celebrate Accomplishments
Aim for a certain number of pages edited/revised at each session. Be honest about what you can accomplish, but give yourself a little challenge too. Just like with word count goals you may miss the mark sometimes. And sometimes you'll go way beyond what you intended to do. But without a goal it's easy to fall into the trap of moving commas around. Really easy.
Goals help you keep in mind that this is not the only chapter that needs work. And don't forget to celebrate when you make progress. That may mean an extra piece of shortbread at tea time or taking the evening off to something fun (or to veg). Whatever you choose to do, don't forget to recognize that you are making progress. Even if it's slower than you'd hoped.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Persistence
Back in 2009 before Write 1, Sub 1 had been initiated (probably not even concieved) I submitted a little story titled "In the Cool of the Day" to Weird Tales. (This being when Ann Vandermeer was the editor.) After four months I received a polite rejection.
Because I was new to the short story game I spent a few weeks moping about it. Then I tried a few more places (Clarkesworld, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, GUD Magazine, AGNI, Boston Review and Glimmer Train). All rejections. I began to think short stories must not be my strength and I put the story aside for a while.
A year or so later I looked at the story again. I liked it, but felt it was missing something. So I revised and turned a rather short story (2.1k words) into a rather longish one (6.7k words). It was better. I got feedback from the SYW critters on the Absolute Write forums. Made further revisions. Had a beta-reader look at it. (She said "A little too perfect.") Revised again.
Submitted to Daily Science Fiction where the story was passed to the second round, but ultimately declined.
Submitted to Lightspeed. Rejected.
Submitted to Strange Horizons. Rejected.
Made a few more small revisions.
Submitted to Asimov's Science Fiction. Rejected.
Submitted to Abyss & Apex. And then... ACCEPTANCE.
And all in a little more than three years from the first submission, subsequent revisions and submissions to other markets to a final acceptance.
It's easy to get discouraged. In fact, I do it all the time. (Get discouraged, I mean.) But I am a firm believer that there is always a home for my stories. Persistence is key in this game.
Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.
Because I was new to the short story game I spent a few weeks moping about it. Then I tried a few more places (Clarkesworld, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show, GUD Magazine, AGNI, Boston Review and Glimmer Train). All rejections. I began to think short stories must not be my strength and I put the story aside for a while.
A year or so later I looked at the story again. I liked it, but felt it was missing something. So I revised and turned a rather short story (2.1k words) into a rather longish one (6.7k words). It was better. I got feedback from the SYW critters on the Absolute Write forums. Made further revisions. Had a beta-reader look at it. (She said "A little too perfect.") Revised again.
Submitted to Daily Science Fiction where the story was passed to the second round, but ultimately declined.
Submitted to Lightspeed. Rejected.
Submitted to Strange Horizons. Rejected.
Made a few more small revisions.
Submitted to Asimov's Science Fiction. Rejected.
Submitted to Abyss & Apex. And then... ACCEPTANCE.
And all in a little more than three years from the first submission, subsequent revisions and submissions to other markets to a final acceptance.
It's easy to get discouraged. In fact, I do it all the time. (Get discouraged, I mean.) But I am a firm believer that there is always a home for my stories. Persistence is key in this game.
Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Focus
I've mentioned before that I like to work on multiple projects at once. Multi-tasking you might call it. Or scatterbrained. But it's worked pretty well for me.
Until it hasn't.
After several months of turmoil (both internal and external) I have come to a decision: I will not work on anything other than The Novel until it is finished and in the hands of an agent. (That could, admittedly, be a while, but all the more reason to go at it hard.)
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule.
1) I have been working very hard on a story for The Beast Within 4 anthology. My story might suck, but I've been working hard. And I will edit and submit it and let the rest handle itself.
2) I will also continue to sub/resub everything currently on rotation. I might (if I get really stuck on The Novel) edit a couple of things that were in sub rotation but were pulled because I felt they needed more work. MIGHT. But that's a little unlikely.
In the meantime, The Novel is a little over half-way finished and the rest of it is more or less outlined. All I have to do is: Write It. Edit for the numerous typos that have grown over the past months I've been working on it haphazardly. Find agents that interest me. Query the hell out of The Novel until I find someone as excited about it as I am.
Simple yes? (That's what I keep telling myself so it must be true.)
Until it hasn't.
After several months of turmoil (both internal and external) I have come to a decision: I will not work on anything other than The Novel until it is finished and in the hands of an agent. (That could, admittedly, be a while, but all the more reason to go at it hard.)
There are a couple of exceptions to this rule.
1) I have been working very hard on a story for The Beast Within 4 anthology. My story might suck, but I've been working hard. And I will edit and submit it and let the rest handle itself.
2) I will also continue to sub/resub everything currently on rotation. I might (if I get really stuck on The Novel) edit a couple of things that were in sub rotation but were pulled because I felt they needed more work. MIGHT. But that's a little unlikely.
In the meantime, The Novel is a little over half-way finished and the rest of it is more or less outlined. All I have to do is: Write It. Edit for the numerous typos that have grown over the past months I've been working on it haphazardly. Find agents that interest me. Query the hell out of The Novel until I find someone as excited about it as I am.
Simple yes? (That's what I keep telling myself so it must be true.)
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Lessons Learned Making Sweet Pickle Relish
1. Start with a Recipe...
I like outlines. They give me a chance to see if the mechanics of a story will work. It's in the outline that I usually see (and try to fix) the biggest issues with plot. Depending on the story I may have a very detailed outline or a very vague outline. But I've never written a story that I didn't have some idea from the get-go where I wanted it to end. Know what you're trying to accomplish before you start.
2. ...But Don't Be Afraid to Improvise
Even when I pre-plan a story, even when I outline in minute detail, I always hit a point where I just start making shit up. Maybe it's adding a scene I hadn't anticipated. Or turning the entire plot in a different direction because my Main Character turned out to be more of a coward than I had anticipated. Even when I think I know where things are headed, there is always room for change. Don't be afraid to put The Plan to one side and go with your gut.
3. No Matter How You Slice Them, The Onions Will Make You Cry
Every author enjoys some part of the writing process and HATES some other part. For some of us it's trying to finish that all important First Draft. For some of us it's looking at that messy First Draft and figuring out how to make it better. For some of us (me) it's the nit-picky line-editing stage. (Typos are the bane of my existence. And commas. And making sure that every word that should be in a sentence actually is.) For some it's the process of selling a story. But no matter which part you dread, if you want a readable, sellable and published story you have to wipe the tears off your cheeks and muscle through.
4. Even If You Don't LOVE Something, You Can Still Make it Well
I'm a big believer in writing what you love. But (BUT!) I do think it's possible to write a story that you are not completely enamored with and still produce a solid piece of fiction. I say this for two reasons. 1) You may - at some future point - be asked to edit or rewrite something in a way that was not how you first envisioned it. Have faith. You are capable of making changes to suit the needs of someone else. Even if it's not how you would do it. (Of course, whether you want the sale badly enough to do this is a whole 'nother discussion.) 2) You will - if not now, then later - have a story or two that you just don't like as well as the others you have written. This doesn't mean they aren't any good or that they aren't sellable. Trust your skills and submit that puppy 'til it's published. (So far, three of my five sales were stories I wasn't "sure" about.)
5. Getting It Right Takes Time
Some things you just can't rush. I'd like to say that as I've improved as a writer, my ability to turn out stories every week/month has gotten smoother, more dependable. Alas, that is not the case. My ability to tell stories has improved. So has my ability to sit down and write when I say it's time to write. (No more hanging around waiting on that damned muse to strike.) But writing is still work. It still takes effort. Finishing a story can still take weeks. (Or months.) That's okay. Some things come together quickly and others require a more elaborate process, but getting it right is worth the effort.
I like outlines. They give me a chance to see if the mechanics of a story will work. It's in the outline that I usually see (and try to fix) the biggest issues with plot. Depending on the story I may have a very detailed outline or a very vague outline. But I've never written a story that I didn't have some idea from the get-go where I wanted it to end. Know what you're trying to accomplish before you start.
2. ...But Don't Be Afraid to Improvise
Even when I pre-plan a story, even when I outline in minute detail, I always hit a point where I just start making shit up. Maybe it's adding a scene I hadn't anticipated. Or turning the entire plot in a different direction because my Main Character turned out to be more of a coward than I had anticipated. Even when I think I know where things are headed, there is always room for change. Don't be afraid to put The Plan to one side and go with your gut.
3. No Matter How You Slice Them, The Onions Will Make You Cry
Every author enjoys some part of the writing process and HATES some other part. For some of us it's trying to finish that all important First Draft. For some of us it's looking at that messy First Draft and figuring out how to make it better. For some of us (me) it's the nit-picky line-editing stage. (Typos are the bane of my existence. And commas. And making sure that every word that should be in a sentence actually is.) For some it's the process of selling a story. But no matter which part you dread, if you want a readable, sellable and published story you have to wipe the tears off your cheeks and muscle through.
4. Even If You Don't LOVE Something, You Can Still Make it Well
I'm a big believer in writing what you love. But (BUT!) I do think it's possible to write a story that you are not completely enamored with and still produce a solid piece of fiction. I say this for two reasons. 1) You may - at some future point - be asked to edit or rewrite something in a way that was not how you first envisioned it. Have faith. You are capable of making changes to suit the needs of someone else. Even if it's not how you would do it. (Of course, whether you want the sale badly enough to do this is a whole 'nother discussion.) 2) You will - if not now, then later - have a story or two that you just don't like as well as the others you have written. This doesn't mean they aren't any good or that they aren't sellable. Trust your skills and submit that puppy 'til it's published. (So far, three of my five sales were stories I wasn't "sure" about.)
5. Getting It Right Takes Time
Some things you just can't rush. I'd like to say that as I've improved as a writer, my ability to turn out stories every week/month has gotten smoother, more dependable. Alas, that is not the case. My ability to tell stories has improved. So has my ability to sit down and write when I say it's time to write. (No more hanging around waiting on that damned muse to strike.) But writing is still work. It still takes effort. Finishing a story can still take weeks. (Or months.) That's okay. Some things come together quickly and others require a more elaborate process, but getting it right is worth the effort.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Relationship Dynamics
As I trodge through the latter half of revisions to the The Novel, part of my brain keeps ticking away on the problem of how to pitch the story. What should I say about it? If I boil down the plot to a single sentence or three what does it look like?
All of this (combined with several meme photos of Twilight VS Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) prompted me to start thinking about the relationship dynamics between my Main Character and the Main Secondary Character in my novel. If I had to sum up how their relationship works in one or two sentences, what would it look like?
This is what came out of that pondering.
Lowen: You're lucky I like you, otherwise you'd be dead.
Keira: Only if I didn't kill you first.
Lowen: I love you, you know.
Keira: M'ballacks.
And, because that one was so much fun, here's one for the short story I've been working on this week.
Owen Rex: I'm sorry I turned you into a werewolf but someone has to stop my bitch of a step-mother.
Willa: This is true. Besides, you're dying so I guess we're even.
So, my question/challenge/proposition for you is: How would you sum up the relationship between your MC and his/her sidekick/best friend/lover/companion/whatever?
If you feel like sharing what you come up with, hit the comment button. (They don't have to be snarky. Mine just came out that way.)
[To be clear: I have no intention of including either of those in a query letter. They are simply a part of my process as I figure out the heart of all the moving pieces in these stories.]
All of this (combined with several meme photos of Twilight VS Buffy: The Vampire Slayer) prompted me to start thinking about the relationship dynamics between my Main Character and the Main Secondary Character in my novel. If I had to sum up how their relationship works in one or two sentences, what would it look like?
This is what came out of that pondering.
Lowen: You're lucky I like you, otherwise you'd be dead.
Keira: Only if I didn't kill you first.
Lowen: I love you, you know.
Keira: M'ballacks.
And, because that one was so much fun, here's one for the short story I've been working on this week.
Owen Rex: I'm sorry I turned you into a werewolf but someone has to stop my bitch of a step-mother.
Willa: This is true. Besides, you're dying so I guess we're even.
So, my question/challenge/proposition for you is: How would you sum up the relationship between your MC and his/her sidekick/best friend/lover/companion/whatever?
If you feel like sharing what you come up with, hit the comment button. (They don't have to be snarky. Mine just came out that way.)
[To be clear: I have no intention of including either of those in a query letter. They are simply a part of my process as I figure out the heart of all the moving pieces in these stories.]
Monday, March 12, 2012
Lessons Learned From Short Fiction Submissions
1. Patience is a virtue
Sending a short story out for consideration takes courage. It also takes a fair measure of patience. Even the fastest professional markets usually hold a story for close to a month before a decision is made. Many of them are much slower, pushing the wait time to a year or more. If you can't stomach the wait, you won't last long. (Don't get me wrong. No one likes to wait for three months only to hear "Sorry, not for us at this time." The solution is to stay busy during those months of waiting.) Is it worth it? Of course it is. Professional mags are called "professional" for a reason: they pay well, they have high standards (which also means high rejection figures) and they are read by a lot of people.
2. Pay attention to the details
If you've been writing for very long you've probably become familiar with standard manuscript formatting. Which is a good thing. But there are a few markets that prefer different formats. And even if they do want standard formatting they usually want a special file type. (.rtf and .doc are the most common, but not every market takes both.) It's easy to skim through the submission guidelines and miss something important. Take your time and give yourself that extra boost up the ladder by paying attention to what the guidelines ask for. (This goes for length, genre and content too.)
3. Don't hesitate
If you've had a story sitting at a market for 92 days and they say to query after 90 if you haven't heard anything, don't wait. There's a lot of reluctance from many writers about "bothering editors" with status queries. Certainly you don't want to flood them with constant demands for updates on your story's status. BUT, if they say to query after X amount of time, then do it. I had a story that had been marked received at a specific market, then passed the 90 day mark. I was elated, thought for sure I had made it through the slush pile, probably up to the final round, but I still didn't hear anything. Finally, about day 110, I queried. The editor responded to tell me (rather sheepishly) that although the story had been received it had never been put in the queue to be read. After another 40 days or so I received a rejection (personal, but still a rejection). I gained nothing, except more waiting, by waiting a little longer to query because I was worried about bothering the editors.
4. Be courteous
If you do have to query the most important thing you can remember is to be courteous. Editors are busy people and it will not do you any good to be rude or cast blame (even if it turns out they've done something sloppy). We've all made mistakes. I usually address status queries along the lines of "Just wanting to make sure this didn't get lost in transit." Then wait two weeks minimum before sending anything else. (I usually wait about three, just because.) There's nothing wrong with wanting to know what's going on with your story, but remember, your story isn't the only one on submission - it may take a little time for an editor to track down the information for you.
Sending a short story out for consideration takes courage. It also takes a fair measure of patience. Even the fastest professional markets usually hold a story for close to a month before a decision is made. Many of them are much slower, pushing the wait time to a year or more. If you can't stomach the wait, you won't last long. (Don't get me wrong. No one likes to wait for three months only to hear "Sorry, not for us at this time." The solution is to stay busy during those months of waiting.) Is it worth it? Of course it is. Professional mags are called "professional" for a reason: they pay well, they have high standards (which also means high rejection figures) and they are read by a lot of people.
2. Pay attention to the details
If you've been writing for very long you've probably become familiar with standard manuscript formatting. Which is a good thing. But there are a few markets that prefer different formats. And even if they do want standard formatting they usually want a special file type. (.rtf and .doc are the most common, but not every market takes both.) It's easy to skim through the submission guidelines and miss something important. Take your time and give yourself that extra boost up the ladder by paying attention to what the guidelines ask for. (This goes for length, genre and content too.)
3. Don't hesitate
If you've had a story sitting at a market for 92 days and they say to query after 90 if you haven't heard anything, don't wait. There's a lot of reluctance from many writers about "bothering editors" with status queries. Certainly you don't want to flood them with constant demands for updates on your story's status. BUT, if they say to query after X amount of time, then do it. I had a story that had been marked received at a specific market, then passed the 90 day mark. I was elated, thought for sure I had made it through the slush pile, probably up to the final round, but I still didn't hear anything. Finally, about day 110, I queried. The editor responded to tell me (rather sheepishly) that although the story had been received it had never been put in the queue to be read. After another 40 days or so I received a rejection (personal, but still a rejection). I gained nothing, except more waiting, by waiting a little longer to query because I was worried about bothering the editors.
4. Be courteous
If you do have to query the most important thing you can remember is to be courteous. Editors are busy people and it will not do you any good to be rude or cast blame (even if it turns out they've done something sloppy). We've all made mistakes. I usually address status queries along the lines of "Just wanting to make sure this didn't get lost in transit." Then wait two weeks minimum before sending anything else. (I usually wait about three, just because.) There's nothing wrong with wanting to know what's going on with your story, but remember, your story isn't the only one on submission - it may take a little time for an editor to track down the information for you.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
How To Feel Miserable As A Writer
(Or, What Not To Do. Underline Any That Apply)
1. Constantly Compare Yourself to Other Writers
2. Talk to Your Family About What You Do and Expect Them To Cheer You On
3. Base The Success of Your Career On One Project
4. Stick With What You Know
5. Undervalue Your Expertise
6. Let Money Dictate What You Do
7. Bow To Societal Pressures
8. Only Do Work That Your Family Would Love
9. Do Whatever the Client/Editor/Publisher/Magazine Wants
10. Set Unachievable/Overwhelming Goals. To Be Accomplished By Tomorrow
(NOTE: This is adapted from a post on The Violin Channel on Facebook - How To Feel Miserable As An Artist. All credit due to original (unnamed) author.)
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Plan of Attack
A few days ago I posted my goals for the coming year. Then the group sponsoring the Write 1, Sub 1 Novel Challenge suggested doing a blog chain discussing our plan of attack for the coming year.
Making goals and figuring out how to meet them are two different animals. Making goals is easy. Two years ago I wanted to write 500k in a year. Saying that was easy. Doing it? Not so easy. (In fact, I failed to meet that goal.)
I have my list of goals for the year, now I have to figure out how I'll meet them.
Let's start with the basics. When it comes to meeting writing goals the biggest step forward is to write. Every day. That's one reason why I made goal number four: Write 15k each month. Because when words are going down on paper, that's always a good thing. Setting a specific amount helps me. (I've tried the whole "chapters" or "pages" goals and they don't work as well. I wind up with short chapters and pages of dialogue. Well, that happens anyway but it gets worse if I'm trying to write five chapters a week instead of 3.5k words.)
The next challenge is producing words that are all in order. By that I mean, working toward the end of a single project. That's where goals two and three come into play (Write and submit a longer length project and Polish and submit the unfinished/unedited shorter work from this year). I suffered from a ten year stretch of Shiny-New-Idea-itis, jumping from one project to the next without finishing much and not even attempting to sell the few things I did complete.
If I were simply writing for fun that wouldn't matter. But I'm not. I want to get paid. That means writing. Every day. Then revising and editing. Then hitting up every editor with the finished story until they cry mercy and publish my story.
That just leaves goal number one: Finish and submit the novel-in-progress. This is a huge deal. I've finished drafts of novels before. I've finished four drafts of this particular novel already and they were not up to par. Not for the publishers I want to query. But polishing a 70k manuscript is a big task. (Again, see goal number four.) And once the novel's done, I still have to write the other submission material - query letter, synopsis, etc.
These are all brand new territory for me. And I'm terrified. But I still have a plan. I will write. Every day. Then revise and edit as necessary (this includes the query letter, etc). Then send that sucker out to every publisher (in order since most don't allow sim-sub) until they cry mercy and publish my novel.
If there's one thing I've learned this past year, writing short stories and submitting them over and over again 'til they find a home, it's to never take "no" for an answer. There is a home for my work. There's a home for your work. All you have to do is find it.
In the meantime, write. Every day. Then revise and edit until your story is as good as you can make it. Finally, submit it to any editor who publishes your genre/content and don't stop until they cry mercy and publish your story.
------
If you want to read more about planning an attack on the publishing world check out Alex Shvartsman's blog post HERE. Up next is Michael Haynes with his own take on making a plan of attack.
Making goals and figuring out how to meet them are two different animals. Making goals is easy. Two years ago I wanted to write 500k in a year. Saying that was easy. Doing it? Not so easy. (In fact, I failed to meet that goal.)
I have my list of goals for the year, now I have to figure out how I'll meet them.
Let's start with the basics. When it comes to meeting writing goals the biggest step forward is to write. Every day. That's one reason why I made goal number four: Write 15k each month. Because when words are going down on paper, that's always a good thing. Setting a specific amount helps me. (I've tried the whole "chapters" or "pages" goals and they don't work as well. I wind up with short chapters and pages of dialogue. Well, that happens anyway but it gets worse if I'm trying to write five chapters a week instead of 3.5k words.)
The next challenge is producing words that are all in order. By that I mean, working toward the end of a single project. That's where goals two and three come into play (Write and submit a longer length project and Polish and submit the unfinished/unedited shorter work from this year). I suffered from a ten year stretch of Shiny-New-Idea-itis, jumping from one project to the next without finishing much and not even attempting to sell the few things I did complete.
If I were simply writing for fun that wouldn't matter. But I'm not. I want to get paid. That means writing. Every day. Then revising and editing. Then hitting up every editor with the finished story until they cry mercy and publish my story.
That just leaves goal number one: Finish and submit the novel-in-progress. This is a huge deal. I've finished drafts of novels before. I've finished four drafts of this particular novel already and they were not up to par. Not for the publishers I want to query. But polishing a 70k manuscript is a big task. (Again, see goal number four.) And once the novel's done, I still have to write the other submission material - query letter, synopsis, etc.
These are all brand new territory for me. And I'm terrified. But I still have a plan. I will write. Every day. Then revise and edit as necessary (this includes the query letter, etc). Then send that sucker out to every publisher (in order since most don't allow sim-sub) until they cry mercy and publish my novel.
If there's one thing I've learned this past year, writing short stories and submitting them over and over again 'til they find a home, it's to never take "no" for an answer. There is a home for my work. There's a home for your work. All you have to do is find it.
In the meantime, write. Every day. Then revise and edit until your story is as good as you can make it. Finally, submit it to any editor who publishes your genre/content and don't stop until they cry mercy and publish your story.
------
If you want to read more about planning an attack on the publishing world check out Alex Shvartsman's blog post HERE. Up next is Michael Haynes with his own take on making a plan of attack.
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