Sep 6, 2006 | Uncategorized |
There's a new blog in town called Critique Partner Exchange. Michelle over at Magical Musings started the blog after realizing that a lot of people seem to be searching for a partner or group and just can't find what they're looking for.
A few people have posted their desires, moi included. I have been in two live groups, but neither worked for me in the exact way I wished. I think it helps if you write in the same genre, even if it's not the same sub-genre. For instance, if you're all writing romance, then it might not matter if one is writing historicals, another suspense, and another paranormal. But mixing a category romance writer with a lit fic writer or a straight sci/fi writer is bound to create problems. In my experience anyway. đ
In my early days of writing, I had a great online group where everyone wrote romance. That group has since scattered to the four corners. Some stopped writing altogether, others switched genres. At least one person, bless her, made the USA Today list and seemed to have a promising career, but has since stopped writing due to health problems. đ I miss her voice.
So, yeah, I'm looking for a new group or partner. Hopefully I'll find something soon. If you have a critique partner or group, how did you get together? I could use some suggestions in case I don't find anyone over at the new blog…….
(Picture from FreeFoto.com)
Sep 5, 2006 | Uncategorized |
No doubt it's the Crapometer, currently chewing through entries over at Miss Snark's blog. Lordy, lordy, what makes some writers not only willing to throw their work out there, but to do so more than once? Some of the entries have the distinct smell of deja vu. Some commenters have mentioned that a few entries have appeared on Evil Editor's blog as well. At least one entry has been through the Crapometer once before.
I understand how you could make a spelling mistake, or dangle some modifiers, or even write a rambling query. These things are hard to do well (queries, I mean), and sometimes when you think you got it, you're disappointed to find out you don't. But why, oh why, have some of these people sent in their entries with “Dear Agent” on them? And then they claim to be faithful readers of Miss Snark? Um, no, I don't think so. I think you're lying your sorry ass off and taking an opportunity away from more deserving readers of Miss Snark (since there was a lottery system this time, and no I did not send anything in and probably would not ever do so).
Another offender is the phrase “fiction novel.” How many times has MS said that's redundant and not to do it? About a million, which you'd know if you really were a faithful reader.
Another thing that amazes me is how downright mean anonymous commenters can be. Some folks seem to take a lot of joy in kicking a fellow writer when he's down (or yanking the rug out when he's flying high on praise). Just when you think people might have evolved a bit, you see this. The pack closing in for the kill. OTOH, some commenters try to give helpful and constructive criticism. Some do it under their own names, others go Anon; I understand why after watching the pack devour some poor sod.
But, hallelujah, one lucky writer was invited to submit a partial to a real live agent (other than MS) who read his/her entry and loved the concept. Lucky indeed. And you know what? It doesn't make me jealous in the least. I think it's cool. I'm happy for this person. Maybe if they wrote military romantic suspense, I might feel different (I'm only human, though I try to do unto others and all that) but I really think it's neat.
I'm not done reading the Crapometer yet. I think I'm in the sixties, so instead of doing something constructive, like work on my own WIP, I will no doubt head back for another dose of educational reading. Some of the writing is terrible, some is good, a few really good. But reading through slush really shows you what goes through an agent or editor's mind. Judging contests does the same. If you want to improve your own work, you'll read a lot of published books (goes without saying, really) and you'll judge contests. Contests are amazing for what they teach, whether you're an entrant or a judge.
If you're reading the Crapometer, what's the most valuable lesson you've learned? (I think sample pages for me, because some queries really suck and then the writing is great.) What's the most valuable thing you've learned from contests? (Opening hooks are no good if you then launch into backstory for 10 pages.)
Aug 31, 2006 | Uncategorized |
Lots of writers like to make collages of their works in progress. Alison Kent, for instance, gets pics of her hero and heroine and makes a board (or a notebook — I can't remember). Over on Murder She Writes, Allison Brennan was imagining who would play her characters if her books were movies.
I once went through a phase where I cut out clothes from a catalog and pasted them into a notebook, but I never got any farther than that. I love the idea of the collage (or notebook or storyboard), but for me it breaks down at the pictures of my hero level.
I feel like Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone. Her Jessie is always portrayed as a shadow man precisely because she doesn't know who he is. He's a figment of her imagination, and the man she secretly wants to find. He doesn't get a face until Michael Douglas comes along, and even then you're never sure until the end that MD will be the man of her dreams after all.
So while I flip through catalogs and Google Images, I just can't land on a photo of my current hero. This one is too young, or too gay, or too square-jawed, or too pretty. They just don't match. Now, if we chop the heads off and just look at the bodies, I have NO problem finding the perfect body……
Ahem, where was I?
Oh yeah. Heroes. Lots of men are attractive to me. Hugh Jackman is yummy, but he's Hugh Jackman, not Matt from my book. The guy who played Superman recently was pretty fine, but he's Superman, not Matt.
Imagine my surprise, however, to run across two photos today that gave me a glimmering of Matt. And the thing is, the really truly surprising thing, is that it's Ricky Martin. Ricky-freaking-Martin! I'm not a teenage girl and I don't go gaga over the Rickster. Never have.
But, holy moly, these two photos do wonders for my imagination. The arms and chest could be a bit bigger, more ripped, but I like the military haircut (facial hair out of regs, but who cares?) and the bad boy tattoo thing.
I'm just going to pretend like it's not Ricky Martin, okay? It's not quite Matt either, but it's close. How about you? Do you make collages or find pics of your characters? Or do you have difficulty imagining anyone as your hero or heroine?
(I probably won't have a blog post for the next few days, due to hubby being home for the holiday weekend and tomorrow morning's book group meeting, so I've posted twice today. Sure would love to hear from the writers about their story collages…..)
PS Edited to remove photos, which may or may not be copyrighted.
Aug 31, 2006 | Uncategorized
If you like category romance novels, be sure to stop by The Pink Heart Society blog September 1st for the launch party!
The Pink Heart Society members & all their friends are free to pop in here and rave about romance any time they please… So why not come join us and tell us all about you and what makes you love the books we love to read and write!!!
We have plans for Guest Bloggers/weekly updates to the Hero Database/articles/reviews/Blogs of the Week/Romance destinations/Rom-Com reviews/Romance Tips/Nominations for Shipper Shows/Competitions & Giveaways/Challenge of the Week and MUCH MUCH more…
Sounds exciting, right? đ
Aug 31, 2006 | Uncategorized |
It's amazing to me how I can stare at a scene, know it isn't working, wonder how to fix it, then decide to go take a shower since I'm stumped. And usually some sort of answer presents itself while I'm standing under the hot water. đ
I've been working on the rewrites to Seducing Evangeline, taking the revision suggestions I received from the Harl. editor and incorporating them into the story. Wow, I really like it too, especially now that I'm back to the point in the story where I was when I put the whole thing aside for the thesis.
Making changes is both fun and hard. It's fun when the lightbulb goes off and you get it. It's hard to decide what to axe and what to keep. It's also frustrating when you first get the revisions and don't quite know what to do with them. That's the point where you think you suck, your story sucks, your ideas suck, and you'll always suck and never sell this book or any other book, ever. I hate that part, but I love it when the aha moment happens and I get past that.
So, I went to the shower with this dilemma in my head: where to put this scene (already written, but feeling like it was in the wrong place) that explained something about one of the bad guys, a guy who unfortunately has to die very soon. As I stood there, it came to me. The scene is unnecessary. It's a bummer to have to cut all that work, but I was so relieved to realize the answer that I didn't care. I'm not so dumb as to cut forever, though. I have a “Discarded Scenes” file for every book, so I paste it into there. I never reuse them, but I like knowing they're there if I need to.
My DS file is over 200 pages (for one book — yes, I've cut quite a lot, including most of one previous version of the same story). The WIP file is right around 95 pages so far. đ Ah well, that's the way it works.
What about you? Where do you get your WIP lightbulb moments? Shower? Walking? Gym? Grocery store? Do you have a DS file? Is it as big as mine? đ
Aug 29, 2006 | Uncategorized
My new addiction is reading Rachel Vater's blog. Rachel is a literary agent with Lowenstein-Yost Associates, and her blog is chock full of good info. Take, for instance, today's post. In it, she talks about a client's first query to her. There is a sample of the query and the first page, which Rachel passed on. The writer rewrote the story and the query and tried again six months later. This time, Rachel was interested. Another round of rewriting and layering, and the writer got an agent and a book deal.
Jeaniene Frost kindly volunteered her old query (which was rejected by all 10 she first sent it to) and her newer one, which first got my attention. I sold Jeanieneâs novel in a two book deal to HarperCollins / Avon this spring shortly after signing Jeaniene up as a client. But Jeaniene isnât an âovernight successâ because she worked hard for this. She reminded me recently that I passed on her work 3 times before taking her on as a client: The first time, she got a form response. She revamped her query and tried again, and this time I gave her encouraging notes and revision suggestions. She was so fast and so good at creatively implementing editorial suggestions I knew she was someone I could work with further. So I gave her some more notes. And then one more round. (Remarkably persistent! Very impressive!) But you can see how her work evolved, and how her query and sample pages improved.
The examples from Frost's pages are worth reading in order to see how a talented writer didn't give up and kept trying until she got it right. I thank God every day that writer's are so giving. Examples like this not only give me hope, but they also teach me something valuable.
Another great post today comes from Magical Musings. Here, Maria V. Snyder talks about the rejections she received before selling. Apparently, she got a LOT of rejections. But she didn't give up and she's proof that all it takes is one yes.
After 17 publishers said no – I finally, finally got a yes! And although I was thrilled to have an acceptance, there was a small (tiny, really) part of me that thought (with a smidgen of disappointment), âBut I still have three publishers on my list!â And with all those rejects – I couldnât help but feel the story was deficient in some way – I worried that I would get the âOh, weâre sorry we made a mistake and weâre not going to publish you after all,â phone call. Instead, the publisher, Luna, decided to print the book in hard cover. It received a starred review from Publisherâs Weekly, won the 2006 Compton Crook award for best first novel, and was nominated for a Romance Writerâs RITA award.
Jeez, does it get any better than that? It's stories like this, and my own stubborness, that bring me back to the keyboard again and again. I may set the work aside for a couple of months (especially with an academic deadline staring me in the face), but I always always come back to it again. I don't want to quit. I just want someone to tell me how to fix what I need to fix.
Oh, wait, someone did that. And she works at a real publishing house buying and editing real manuscripts every day. I can't complain about that, can I? Back to work, then.
