Thoughts on pitching contests
Posted: June 18, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: agents, aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses, writing Leave a commentI’ve got a new-found respect for agents.
Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for a while know that I highly rate pitching contests. They are a great way to hone your pitch, query or first pages. And, just as great, you can get in touch with what I’ve discovered to be a supportive community of fellow writers, many of whom have great advice to offer or are just happy to be a cheer squad. I wouldn’t be here now if it weren’t for Pitch Wars (if you want to know why, I blogged about it here).
And if you’ve been reading my blog for only a little while you’ll know that Aussie Owned and Read has been hosting its first pitching contest, where people can submit a 250 word blurb for their young adult or new adult manuscript. In the first round, the eight bloggers at Aussie Owned choose their favourites to progress to the final round. That is where we have eight small presses (nine editors) who will swing by to request the ones they’d like to see more of. (In the second round you can pitch your friends—that starts on 20 June so if you missed the first round it’s not too late!)
The first round closed last night and choosing three pitches from those that entered was SO HARD IT HURT MY BRAIN! Not in a bad way but in an “aaaah, I can’t choose” way! My original shortlist was 50 per cent of the total. I loved them all, and wanted to take them home with me. Like, really. I have a newfound respect for people like Brenda Drake and the writers who help her; she runs Pitch Wars and Pitch Madness. Our humble contest is only in its first year so we didn’t get nearly the number of entries she’d see in one of hers. (Not that I didn’t respect her before, but Oh. My. Gods!)
And that’s why I also have a newfound respect for agents. In a way they have it a bit easier than we did in choosing our pitches, because most of them request at least the first five pages, which gives them an idea of the voice and execution. But in another (much bigger) way, they have to read thousands upon thousands of queries a year. And they don’t even get paid for that part of their business, not until they choose a client and then sell their client’s work.
Wow. Just wow. You seriously have to love books, love stories and tales well told, to dedicate that amount of time to it. Because while all the pitches we saw were good, the same cannot be said for agents’ slush piles (or so I hear).
Agents, I doff my hat to you. Or I would if I was wearing one.
I doff my imaginary hat to you.
One more thing. If you’re reading this and you entered Pitcharama, I also wanted to say that, whether you’re one of my final choices or not, I respect the courage it takes to put yourself and your work out there. I know how stressful it is. Don’t give up.
Will their world survive? World-building for a series
Posted: June 15, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: guest post, research, writing 3 CommentsThis guest post is by one of my fellow authors over at Turquoise Morning Press, Bobbye Terry. A veteran at writing in created worlds, she’s talking to us today about world-building.
Enter, stage right, head-strong heroine with kick-assitude. Enter, stage left, brooding hero with something to prove. He has a mission. He needs help. She willfully resists helping him. That is, until he woos her through his dry wit and unerringly strong character, winning her heart and enabling him to steal an embrace. But wait! They are fraught with the slings and arrows of outrageous villainy, keeping them from declaring their undying love and destined mating.
You do agree every good book deserves some outrageous villainy—ahem, villains—don’t you? Did I mention your book is set in the future world of Frostos and all those who survive must protect against the ancient followers, known as Ice-ciples, of the Abominable Snow Android, also known as an AS Andro, while staying warm with their revolving bubble-heating spheres? So, where do you begin and how will your idea spawn not one but many books around the central theme of defeating the ice-ciples and the AS Andro, then opening the mechanical clouds to the warmth of the eternal sun?
Before you sit down and busily start to get the first chapter down, stop. Be smart and consider the following list. Know where you want to go so you don’t have to come back and backtrack, and yes, pantsers, this will work for you (so said the queen of all pantsers, me).
Series world-building: things to consider
1. Fantasy in current world or other world? Will your world co-exist with our current world or will it be different, play by new rules? If so, what are those rules?
2. Future, present day, past or time travel?
Is this in the future on our planet Earth? If so, how did we get where we are? Background here…is it a dystopian world, ravaged by war and devastation of a flourishing paradise, or a world now controlled by one sect? How will you best illustrate the change in conditions? Is it in the past? If so, have you done your research about dialect, clothing, customs, conditions, activities and occupations for daily living? Is it a time travel? If so, how will you best contrast the dichotomy?
3. Fantasy beings—in human form with special powers, category beings (vampires, witches, angels, zombies, demons, etc?), or totally new category?
If your characters look like humans but have powers, what are those powers? Is there a limit or an Achilles heel? If they fall into a category of beings, do they act like the stereotype of those in other novels, or do your beings look or act differently? If they do, bring that out early. Are they in a new category? If so, how do you describe them and how do you suspend belief?
4. Items, terrain, locations, special features that remain in all books?
What is the glue that holds this series together, the constants? Think of one or a small number. In my series The Cash Chronicles—which was just released in print this month with The Rise and Fall of Millicent—the story centers around a dystopian word where the U.S. no longer has part of its land mass and has come under the tyrannical rule of the Primera, a woman who was cryogenically frozen and then cloned at a later date in the future. If you use the same locations each time, make sure these locations, their places, etc., stay the same in each book.
5. Do the hero and heroine stay the same in every book or do they change?
If the hero and heroine are the same, how will you ensure that they can hold your readers from book to book? What is suspenseful that continues to propel readers forward? If hero and heroine change, what continuity do you bring over from earlier books?
6. Tone of the books—needs to stay similar.
You can’t have one dark and one light, one funny and one somber, one sweet and one ultra hot. The transition between books need to be smooth like a nice glass of wine or a great piece of jazz music.
7. Keeping all the characters straight—do you have them written down somewhere, including physical and personality details?
This is very hard after you write 80—100,000 words times three or four or five. Write down all your characters, their idiosyncrasies, their traits so you can reference to make sure they stay the same. Even if they’re short-term in the book or the series, you need to keep track of the names and using the same letters, etc. Consider doing some back-story, other things about what make them who they are. You may want to do a companion book like Sherrilyn Kenyon did for the Dark Hunter series.
8. Website—does your world have its own distinct website?
This may be a good idea if the series is long. Always be ready to greet your readers and fans with information to whet their reading appetites.
I hope this has gotten you to start thinking, or maybe a single title sounds real good about now…
Bobbye Terry is the multi-published writer of fantasy, suspense and romantic comedy novels under her own name, her solo pseudonym, Daryn Cross, and her co-authored one, Terry Campbell. She also writes inspirational nonfiction. Her previous works have garnered finalist awards in the Booksellers’ Best and other RWA-sponsored contests. Bobbye’s most recent release is The Rise and Fall of Millicent by Daryn Cross, In the Stillness Publications. Nothing Ever Happens in Briny Bay, a compilation of the novellas in the Briny Bay mystery series by Bobbye Terry, will release this summer through Turquoise Morning Press. Additionally, she has a new inspirational book, The Light Within released in May 2013 and another Joy Glows, which will release mid-July.
Bobbye Terry
Pitcharama: it’s here!
Posted: June 14, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses, young adult Leave a commentGot a completed manuscript? Want a chance to put your pitch in front of the eyes of eight small press editors? Now is your chance. Go go go! (NOTE: If you don’t have a blog but want to enter anyway, post your pitch here in the comments section of this post on my blog as per the original requirements, and then link it here on the linky list.)
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the time you’ve all been waiting for… Pitcharama is here! *Insert trumpeting fanfare*
We are so excited to offer you this opportunity to have your manuscript seen by some of the world’s top independent publishing houses. See who they are here.
Sign up your blog with our dear friend Mister Linky Tools below and then post the following information on your blog:
Manuscript Title:
Author:
Age group: (YA/NA)
Genre:
Word count:
250 word blurb:
Quick, do it now! The Aussie Owned and Read team will stop by and select our favourite 24 queries to go through to the publishers round over the next four days and then, AND THEN, we will share them on our blog on the 28th when the big guns stop by. Don’t worry, though; you will know who made the cut on the 19th, when we announce our top 24.
Don’t get…
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My boy turned four
Posted: June 13, 2013 Filed under: On parenting, On writing | Tags: motherhood, Thursdays Children 6 Comments
I missed Thursday’s Children last week because it was my son’s birthday. He just turned four, which is weird because I’m pretty sure it was only a few days ago that I was finally being induced at almost 42 weeks gestation. He didn’t want to come out. (I should have realised then how stubborn he was—turns out he really didn’t want to come out and I ended up having an emergency c-section.)
When he was a tiny baby I was wistful about the fact he’d stop being a tiny baby, and terrified of him being a toddler. But it turns out that wasn’t so bad either—suddenly he was cracking jokes and dancing and smothering me with kisses (as well as tantrums), and that was fun too. And words! Seeing him discover words was a joy! Now he’s a pre-schooler and I can see what an inquiring mind he’s going to have. He already has the best vocabulary of any kid in his room at daycare. And I’m really looking forward to him being able to read books, so that together we can (re)discover all my childhood favourites. It seems like every age has its own type of awesome to give a parent, and I’m enjoying the ride.
As for how he’s inspired me, I’ve got two picture book drafts kicking around that I wrote after he was born. I never would have thought I’d be a picture book writer, but reading all those books to him made me want to write for him too. (As an aside, if I entered all the picture books I read into Goodreads then I’d stomp all over my goal for 2013!)
I realise I’ll probably never see them in print, because the PB market is, I understand, even harder to crack than the market for novels. But that’s not really the point. And occasionally I send my favourite of the two off—it’s called Eric Emu to the Rescue—to another publisher, just in case.
Who knows; maybe as he gets to late primary school I’ll dabble in middle grade fiction too.
He also inspires me to write my YA and adult fiction, although I realise that if he grows to be a typical teenage boy my female protagonists aren’t exactly going to be his cup of tea. But I want him to grow up to see that if he has a dream and he works hard enough, he can make it come true: I wanted to be a published author, and next year that dream will come true for me (squee!).
So this blog post is just to say thank you to my son, because he brings me so much happiness. I love you, stinky face.
Do you have children? Do they inspire you to write?
Aww, baby
From baby to … BATMAN!
Click here to see this week’s other Thursday’s Children blog posts.
Seeking feedback: the importance of critique partners
Posted: June 9, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: beta readers, editing, writing 12 Comments
Writer’s toolbox: an artist’s impression. (Original photo from wiki commons.)
Stephen King—who is pretty much the god of writing as far as I’m concerned—said writers should write with the door closed, and edit with the door open. In other words, once you’ve done your first draft, you need to let a few people, people you trust to be honest without being cruel, read it and give you some feedback. These crit partners are often referred to as “beta readers”.
The way you might choose to approach getting that feedback, though, is up to you. There are two basic approaches.
The perfectionist writer lets the drafted manuscript percolate for a month or so, then re-reads it and does a first-round edit on it before letting anyone else lay eyes on it.
Pros: This is a great approach if you want to make sure that your beta readers aren’t going to be distracted by random typos or plot holes you could drive a semitrailer through.
Cons: It’s possible to get stuck in a cycle of editing and re-editing—possibly induced by fear, the mother of procrastination—and never actually let go of your baby enough to give it to someone else.
The sharer is a writer who completes their first draft and then sends it straight out to all their beta readers.
Pros: You can get an idea of where the weaknesses are early, so when you do your first edit you can fix them straight away, rather than tinkering around the edges, working on things that may have bigger problems—the writing equivalent of putting a coat of paint on a car whose engine doesn’t work.
Cons: There will be problems with the first draft—and many of them will be problems you could have fixed if you’d taken the time. That means your beta readers will have a lot more to criticise, which can be a blow to the ego—potentially a fatal one if you’re a new writer struggling with self-doubt.
Both of these approaches work for people, and both have things to offer. But I have writing friends who actually use a middle ground approach, by using an alpha reader.
The alpha reader is the one person you trust to give you the feedback on your raw work. They see it before you edit, and help you shape the direction of your work, but without stomping your heart into the floor. A lot of people use their significant others for this. I know of some that actually give their chapters to their alpha reader as they are completed, before the entire work is finished. This has the benefit of egging them on to write, but you’d want to choose your alpha reader even more carefully in this case, to make sure you don’t get sucked into doing revisions when you should be drafting in the first place.
My boyfriend is my alpha reader. I wouldn’t show him, or anyone, an incomplete manuscript—I’ve feel like I’ve only just become brave enough to share it with others in the first place!—but I do brainstorm with him when I come up against a difficulty in the plot.
For example, I realised recently that my current work in progress was going to run short if I continued to follow my outline. It’s an adult (or possibly new adult) manuscript, and it was looking like tapering out at about 50k words—around 30k shorter than I was aiming for. I explained where the story was up to and what the antagonist’s resources and plans were, and he came up with a few suggestions for things the antagonist could do to throw spanners in the works—even more spanners than I already had. A whole toolbox of spanners.
It helps that my boyfriend is an evil genius, of course.
What is your approach to getting feedback on your writing? Do you fall into any of the camps I’ve described, or is your approach different again? I’d love to hear from you!
Pitcharama: manuscript pitching contest
Posted: June 2, 2013 Filed under: On Books, On writing | Tags: aussie-owned, contests, queries, small presses Leave a commentIf you’re a writer of young adult or new adult fiction, and you have a completed manuscript that’s ready to go, there’s a fantastic opportunity this month over at Aussie Owned and Read!
Eight publishers will be participating – we’ll announce who in the next few days, but they are all open to submissions internationally, so this isn’t just an opportunity for Australians. If I hadn’t just signed with Turquoise Morning Press I’d be really disappointed, because I’m not eligible to enter! :p
The details are on the Aussie Owned blog, so you can start refining your pitch. Make sure you follow the Twitter account as well, so you don’t miss out on any updates.
The Business of Writing: Reblogged from the Daily Dahlia
Posted: May 30, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: writing Leave a commentThis is a great post about some of the things you need to do if you want to be an author. You should follow Dahlia’s blog if you don’t already, because her posts are insightful and packed full of juicy, useful information.
You know when all of a sudden all these things converge at once and kind of spin your world on its axis a bit with the way they all play into one another to give you some sort of epiphany? That was this past week for me. All of these things happened so close together that made me think about the business of writing. Which doesn’t mean writing as a thing that keeps you busy; it means what it means to decide you want to be a capital-A Author, a person who makes this a full-time, this-is-my-life career.
For a really long time, I didn’t. I refused to show anything I wrote to anyone. The only reason I even queried when I did, after so many years of writing, is because my husband had just started law school and we were broke and I felt like I should try something
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Inspired by Canberra
Posted: May 30, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: Canberra, Thursdays Children 17 Comments
Ah, Canberra. The nation’s capital. Reviled across Australia as (allegedly) the soulless, out-of-touch political heart of the country. (For those of my readers who are overseas, it may come as a shock to learn Sydney is not in fact Australia’s capital. Sydney is to New York as Canberra is to Washington, if that helps.)
As Canberrans love to point out, though, almost all the politicians that live here for part of the year are from other parts of the country—so if they bring a deficit of soul with them, whose fault is that? We didn’t vote for them! 😉
Canberra is, in some ways, an overgrown country town. Our population is around 370,000 people—so we don’t have the heavy pollution and insane peak-hour traffic you get in bigger cities, but we still have the amenities of a big city. We’re actually Australia’s largest inland city … but all the state capitals are on the coast, so we’re only the eighth-largest overall.
The city sprawls over 812 square kilometers, but has a population density almost a fifth of Sydney’s, and just over a third of Melbourne’s. What that means is we have a lot more green spaces than either of them do: reserves running through suburbs; low mountains covered in walking trails and with lookouts perched on top; parks for the kids to play. It’s a great place to raise a family. And a great place to set a story when your supernatural population likes green spaces.
Canberra: we have lakes!
Werewolves and fairies would love it here—there are places with hardly any iron or steel, and green corridors a wolf could sneak through. Vampires would have to be careful how they hunted given the lower numbers of humans to snack on, but depending on their appetites they’d do alright too.
So far, all my books have been set in Canberra (all 2.5 of them!). I wondered at first whether setting a supernatural tale here would somehow lack credibility, and whether I should instead pick Sydney or Melbourne, even though I’m less familiar with them. But then I thought, if Sookie Stackhouse can run into vampires in a tiny town like Bon Temps, why can’t Canberra have its own supernatural stories, that element of magic?
When I see the sunlight sparkling off the surface of Lake Burley Griffin on a crisp autumn afternoon, or the glittering lights of the city from Mount Ainslie at dusk, I think that magic is already there. All I’m doing is telling people about it.
In a fit of procrastination, the other day I made a Pinterest board celebrating Canberra. Check it out, you know, if you want to.
Click here to see this week’s other Thursday’s Children blog posts.
Four reasons I chose not to self-publish
Posted: May 28, 2013 Filed under: On the Isla's Inheritance trilogy, On writing | Tags: Isla's Inheritance, self-publishing, small presses 15 CommentsA week ago I got asked the inevitable question. I imagine all debut authors get asked it these days: why not self-publish? Why subject yourself to the delays of traditional (even small press) publication? After all, my book isn’t scheduled for release for more than a year. Why wait, when I could have it out tomorrow if I wanted to, and start raking in all that cashey money?
So here are my reasons.
Please understand this is in no way meant to deride those who choose the self-publication path. If I had been as unsuccessful with the small presses as I’d been with the agents (I’m still too embarrassed to tell you guys how many rejections or ‘no response’s I got), I would have self-published Isla’s Inheritance. There are two reasons. I have faith in the story … and I wrote a sequel, which I also have faith in. No way was I going to let my first two books sit in a drawer!
But here are the reasons I didn’t decide to go directly there (do not pass Go, do not collect $200).
#1. To have someone else edit my work
I’m a professional editor. And I’ve edited the bejeezus out of Isla, in particular, because it’s my first book. I think I’m up to version eight, and that’s before Turquoise Morning Press have started on it. I’ll easily crack double digits on the number of versions before it finally hits the shelves. BUT! I’m not an editor of fiction, and I’m so close to these words right now I wouldn’t spot a hilarious typo or a misplaced modifier if it hit me in the face in a 16 point font.
I could have paid someone, or begged a colleague to do a proofread (although they aren’t editors of fiction either). By going with a small press I didn’t have to.
#2. To have someone else do all the other things you need to do yourself if you self-publish
I have a pretty awesome fake cover for my book, thanks to my friends. (Well, I think so.) But even if we assume TMP’s cover won’t be better—which it probably will be because I’m not a graphic designer—there’s still typesetting, publication, and promo work that needs doing.
I’m under no delusions. The bulk of promotion is going to be up to me, whether I’d self-published or traditionally published. Even the big publishing houses don’t do much for their authors these days. But every little bit of help helps; know what I’m saying?
I could have learned to do these things. If I’d had to, I would have. But I’d rather be writing.
#3. Amazon lives in the dark ages if you’re an international author
Amazon pays authors who use its publishing services (including its print-on-demand hard copy service) by direct deposit … unless you live in a country where they don’t have Amazon. So, for example, say I lived in Australia (oh wait, I do!) and wanted to self-publish using Amazon. They will pay me via international cheque (or ‘check’, for the Americans), in US dollars. If I’m not making much in royalties, the bank fees to convert the cheque and cash it could actually absorb the royalties! Sure, Amazon may pay royalties of up to 70% of eBook prices, but I wouldn’t see 70%.
By going with a small press, I have someone who will take the payments from Amazon (in instances where they are the vendor of my book) and turn them into something my bank won’t eat like the Cookie Monster.
My bank fees: an artist’s impression.
(Cookie Monster belongs to Sesame Street; I’m not trying to steal their copyright. Their cookies, maybe…)
#4. To pass through the gate
Agents and publishers are the traditional gatekeepers of fiction, which is a good thing and a bad thing.
A great thing about self-publishing is that there’s a way for people who’ve written something too challenging for a regular press to get their work out there. Unfortunately there is now also a way for people who are too impatient to bother even proofreading after the first draft to get their work out there too. And it’s difficult for your average shopper to be able to tell the difference (although avoiding dodgy covers and taking advantage of the “Look Inside” feature are great ways to start).
Having a press logo on your front cover or an imprint as part of your blurb tells the reader that someone other than the author has taken the time to make the book presentable. I wanted that—because readers have a lot of demands on their time and for their money, and anything I can do to help people decide they should give my work a go is a thing I personally feel is worth doing. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’m interested to hear what you think—have you chosen one path or the other? Why?
Inspired by Australian Magpies
Posted: May 23, 2013 Filed under: On writing | Tags: Australia, Thursdays Children 23 Comments
Have you entered my double Amazon giveaway yet? I’m running it to celebrate my book deal and 1000 Twitter followers! The details are here. It ends in 2 days and 9 hours (give or take), so time’s running out!
This Thursday’s Children post flows on from my last one, where I talked about being inspired by the Australian bush. This one is about my favourite Aussie species: the Australian Magpie. It is unrelated to the European magpie, except in the very broad sense. Interestingly, its specific Latin name translates to “piper” or “flute-player” … which, when you hear it carol, you will totally understand.
A lot of Australians have mixed (or even outright negative) views about this particular bird, though. The reason is that, in spring, some male magpies have a rush of testosterone to the brain and will swoop to defend their mate and chicks in the nest. They are especially fond of people on bicycles, and I’ve heard stories from time to time about people being injured by overzealous magpies.
But to me, that aggression (which isn’t universal) is only for six-to-eight weeks a year. And their song makes up for it for the rest of the year. Because this bird is, in my not-so-humble opinion, Australia’s premiere songbird—despite its humble appearance.
Here’s a YouTube link. (The bird featured isn’t the local Canberra variant, which has a white band across the back of the neck but not all the way down the back. However, the song is the same.)
Click here to see this week’s other Thursday’s Children blog posts.
Cassandra Page 