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Progress at Last

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on January 16, 2011| 4 Comments »

This week, I finally got through the chapter of DREAMER’S ROSE that’s had me stopped for nearly a month.  This is a story that has fought me tooth and nail from almost the beginning.  Well, that’s not quite fair.  It’s only this first part that fights me. The rest has gone fairly smoothly. I’ve been tempted just to chop off this beginning and start where the story starts flowing more easily, but that just ends up feeling unbalanced to me.

Part of the problem with this first section is the old, old one from the very first of trying to create enough conflict for a character that’s basically invulnerable.  That’s not easy.  I think I’ve finally hit on the right balance–or close to it–for the male main character.  I may do some cutting in the next pass, but I’m feeling a lot better about it.

Then I got stopped on the two chapters in this section that are written from the antagonist’s point of view. Have I mentioned that writing real villains is harder for me?  And this one is a particularly slimy little sociopath. Well, I finally got through the chapters that show his development and I’m making good progress on the next chapter (back in the male main character’s point of view).

The next chapter after this shouldn’t need too much revision and then it’s on to the chapters where the female main character makes her appearance.  Those are actually some of the first chapters I wrote and they’ve always just flowed better for me. 

Since this first section is basically a rewrite, I’ve given myself first-draft permission not to get everything perfect right now.  The later sections will be more of a revision and, hopefully, will go faster.

It feels good to be past that block, finally.

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Rejection

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2011| 5 Comments »

News:  This is my 100th post. There have been about the same number of comments.  And some time over the holidays while I wasn’t looking, the blog went over 2000 views.

Now on to today’s topic: rejection.  It’s something we’re all going to have to deal with. The only way to avoid it is to never send your work out and that just guarantees that no one will ever see it or publish it. So, you have to take the risk.

Earlier this week, I started sending out the very first queries on MAGE STORM.  Five queries have gone out and one rejection has already come back.  That’s not totally unexpected. There can be all kinds of reasons for it and agents don’t usually stop to tell you exactly why.

But that’s not what this post is about.  It’s about the freeing nature of that first rejection.  (Now, this isn’t my first rejection.  Just the first for MAGE STORM.) When you first send the queries out into the world, you’re a little bit on pins and needles, even though you know that realistically it could be weeks before you hear anything back, if you ever do.  Some agents only reply if they’re interested.

Then that first rejection comes back. It’s disappointing.  It stings.  But then you realize that you’re still standing, still writing. That you still believe in your story. And you compose another version of the query letter and send it right back out. 

The worst is over.  It may be an uphill battle, but at least from here it is all uphill.  Well, mostly, anyway.

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Query Time Again

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , on January 9, 2011| 3 Comments »

First, an update:  Last week I blogged about e-publishing.  SFWA’s Writer Beware has a very informative and realistic article about e-publishing on their blog. Plenty of food for thought.  I’ll be interested to see the next installment.

Over the last week, especially, I’ve been working on refining the query and synopsis for MAGE STORM.  I’m almost happy with the query:

The only traces of magic left in Rell’s world are the violent, semi-sentient mage storms made up of the ashes of the magic-wielders killed in the great war.

At least that’s what Rell believes until a mage storm infects him with magic he can’t control. The magic ebbs and flows with his emotions, protecting those he cares about one day and starting fires the next. His only hope of returning to a normal life is to find someone who can help him learn to either control the magic or get rid of it.

Rell follows rumors of a teacher but instead finds a cult leader, Trav. When Rell witnesses the death of another student, he realizes he’s next on Trav’s list. Forced to flee, Rell can’t forget the friends he left behind. Somehow, he has to learn enough to return and free the others.

That is, if Trav doesn’t catch him first, because Trav doesn’t let anyone with real magic live long enough to challenge him.

I’ve also started my research and developed an initial list of agents.  In the next few days, I’ll take a deep breath and start submitting MAGE STORM to agents.  Fingers crossed.

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Happy Birthday to Me

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on January 5, 2011| 4 Comments »

Really.  I’m blogging on my actual birthday.  No, I’m not going to tell you which one.

I happen to know that among my birthday gifts, I will be recieving two books on writing young adult fiction.  (When you buy and wrap your own gifts, there aren’t too many surprises, but at least you know you’re getting what you really want.)

WRITING AND SELLING THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL by K. L. Going

and WILD INK: HOW TO WRITE FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS by Victoria Hanley

So, tomorrow, I get to start on one of those New Year’s resolutions–learn.

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E-Publishing

Posted in writing, tagged , , on January 2, 2011| 6 Comments »

The new year is traditionally a time for looking ahead and anyone in or trying to be in the writing business right now would have to have their heads in the sand not to be aware of the potential–good and bad–of e-publishing.

It’s becoming more and more easy to just put your books out there for people to download to their various e-readers at whatever price you set.  This is both good and bad.  There’s no way anyone can keep you from publishing your stories, now.  There’s an end-run around the gate keepers of traditional publishing.  Of course, this also means that a lot that probably shouldn’t be published will be and the readers will have to find a way to sort through the slush pile that agents and editors cull for them in traditional publishing.

I haven’t begun to really get a grasp of what all e-publishing will mean to the future of publishing or for me personally.  I know a couple of people who are experimenting with it–even making sales and garnering good reviews from readers.

I really want a career as a traditionally published author.  I confess, however, that I’m a little tempted.  And more than a little frightened at the same time.

My first book, THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, rightfully got no interest at all from agents.  From the perspective of a year and a half later, I’m glad. It wasn’t ready. There’s a good chance that it will see a rewrite sometime in the next year, or so, but as it stands, it really isn’t good enough. But my third book, BLOOD WILL TELL, I truly believe is. It got only a little interest when I queried it, but I believe in that one still.  It’s tempting to think of e-publishing it and finding out if it really does have wings (like some of its characters).  But, will I still feel the same way about it a year from now? Or would I wish I could pull all those e-copies back? 

Well, this year, I intend to make a decision on that, one way or the other.  I’m not jumping off into the deep end just yet, but I am giving myself a deadline.  This year, I mean to learn a lot more about e-publishing, maybe stick a toe in with something much shorter, and make up my mind.

Fortune favors the brave, or so they say.

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New Year’s Resolutions

Posted in writing, tagged on December 29, 2010| 2 Comments »

I’ll spare you the mundane ones practically everyone makes–and breaks–every year, like lose weight or declutter the house.  Just the writing-related ones.

  1. Get MAGE STORM out on submission.  I’m doing a polishing edit, with a bit of revision in the middle, right now. Also preparing the query letter and synopsis.  I want to start submitting this no later than the end of January.
  2. Keep writing and submitting short stories. It’s not the primary focus of my writing, but it is good practice. The publication credits wouldn’t hurt, either.
  3. Finish two books this year.  Current candidates (subject to change without notice) DREAMER’S ROSE (which is in rewrite) and SEVEN STARS (which will be a first draft)
  4. Learn.  There is always more to learn.  I happen to know I’m getting a couple of books on writing YA fiction for my birthday (coming up in a few days). And I still have two or three good writing books from last year waiting to be read. I wish it were feasible for me to go to one or more writing conferences or seminars, but that doesn’t look likely for this year. Someday.
  5. Read widely in the YA genre. (That’s actually an easy one.)
  6. Never give up. Never surrender.

Happy New Year, everyone.

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Villains

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 26, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I’ve reached a couple of chapters in my rewrite/revision of DREAMER’S ROSE in which the villain, or more appropriately, the antagonist, is developed.

In this story, because of the way the chronology works out, I actually get to show what make the bad guy so bad. What were his original goals, what obstacles blocked him, and how did he turn out so evil?  Most of the time that’s backstory.  Not in this one.

It’s fun.

In my first attempt, I was warned that his motivations might make him a little too relatable for my target audience. I think I’ve fixed that.

He’s a chip off the old block. He wants to accomplish the same thing Daddy did, if for somewhat different reasons. But unlike Dad, he’s not quite brave enough to go back for a second attempt after finding out just how much this is going to hurt. And so he finds another way, a less honest way, a manipulative way.  That’s going to be the cause of the rift between him and his father which drives the rest of the story. 

I think I’ll positively take care of any chance the reader will like him when he kills his sister to steal her power. 

Hm. Come to think of it. Drat. I may need to go back and make the sister a little more important, and sympathetic, character in the early chapters so it’s shocking when she gets killed.

There’s always another complication with this story. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.

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The Sandwich Method

Posted in writing, tagged , , , on December 22, 2010| 4 Comments »

The last post was about the value of harsh critiques. I stand by that.

But, the problem with critiques of all sorts, harsh or not, is that they have to be received to do any good at all. Otherwise, both parties are just wasting their time.  And a truly harsh, if truthful, critique can have the effect of making the recipient shut down or get defensive. That doesn’t help the creative process at all.

One way around this is the sandwich method. Put simply, you start by saying something good about the story. Anything. Anything at all.  There’s bound to be something–a bit a particularly evocative description, one scene that was spot on, the perfect title, good dialog, a unique and interesting premise, whatever.

Then you give the more blunt part of the critique–what didn’t work. For me, at least, it’s always helpful to include as much reasoning behind this as possible. Even examples of ways it could be done differently. These aren’t intended to rewrite the writer’s work, but to provide jumping off places for new inspiration–a kind of slow-motion brainstorming, if you will.

Last, you close again with something that you liked about the piece.

Basically the critiquer is helping to apply the balm to that sting that the critique is going to cause.  And it does often help the critiqued to accept the criticism in the spirit it is offered.

I’ll confess, I probably don’t do this often enough, myself.

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Harsh Critiques

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on December 19, 2010| 4 Comments »

They sting, there’s no getting around that. No matter how thick a skin you think you’ve developed. But sometimes a blunt critique is the very best gift you can recieve. Someone who’ll tell you flat out where your story fell down and couldn’t get back up. If nobody tells you, how can you fix it?

This may be particularly true with query letters and synopses. Hopefully, your actual story doesn’t have plot holes you can drive a truck through. If you’ve honed your craft, you should have found most of those yourself. But it’s not so easy when you’re trying to condense all or part of a story you’ve lived with for months into 250 or 1500 words. It can be much too hard to forget all the complexities that lay behind those few sentences that your reader can’t possibly know unless they’ve read the book. Even then, there are likely details you know that never made it onto the page.

That’s where someone who doesn’t know (and hopefully already like) the story is so helpful. They can tell you the impression the couple of paragraphs of your query really give, so you have a chance to go back and refine it before an agent sees it.

So, take a deep breath, rub a little balm on the sting, and sincerely thank the people who will tell you the truth about your writing.

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Killing the Pace

Posted in writing, tagged , , , on December 15, 2010| 2 Comments »

Unfortunately, a lot of that new material I said was flowing in my last post had to be cut.  It was just killing the pace.  That’s bad at any time, but worse in a young adult novel. And horrible at the beginning of any novel, when readers aren’t fully engaged, yet.

Well, no writing or inspiration is ever wasted.  It did sort of take the wind out of my sails for a bit, though.  I really did like the couple of scenes I’d written.  This first part of DREAMER’S ROSE has given me more trouble. I really do think I’m on the right track this time, but the key is to show just enough and not get bogged down in it.

For the moment, I’ve gone back to some fine-tuning on the beginning of BLOOD WILL TELL before I go back to DREAMER’S ROSE.  That’s why it’s a good idea to have more than one thing to work on.

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