Emily Casey

Flushing Chamberpots - an Interview (Blog Tour #16)

2012-01-30T08:45:00.000-05:00

I like to talk to Thea when I want to talk about the tv shows I love--Doctor Who and Once Upon a Time are at the top of that list.

So I was really excited to do an interview with her. This one is a little different. We actually did this interview over video chat and she transcribed it. Hopefully, she edited out all the stupid, embarrassing things I said. But Thea did ask me about the unusual chamberpots in The Fairy Tale Trap, which makes this an interview full of win.

Fairy Tales and Chocolate Cake (Blog Tour #15)

2012-01-29T08:40:00.000-05:00

Tia Nevitt is a fellow author, who wrote The Sevenfold Spell, a retelling of Sleeping Beauty. She is kindly hosting a guest post on her blog today. My post is on Fairy Tales and Chocolate Cake (and why the magic in fairy tales makes them fun).

Here's a sample:

A beautiful girl is hated by her mother. A prince is cursedwith an ugly appearance. A poor boy takes a risk to seek his fortune. Aprincess waits for true love.

We all love the magic in fairy tales. There’s somethingabout the perfectly white skin and red lips of a princess, the single rose thatbrings fortune in disguise, and the deal-with-the-devil motif that makes ushungry for more.

But is it the magic that makes fairy tales magical? Look atthe first paragraph. Each sentence describes a fairy tale, but couldn’t youtell each of those stories without magic?

Ivy's Heart (Blog Tour #14)

2012-01-28T08:13:00.000-05:00

Danyelle is a rock star. When someone cancelled last minute for this tour, she stepped up and filled a spot that was way earlier than we had originally planned. Her blog features guest posts by characters. Ivy is offering today's guest post on Danyelle's Blog. Here's a sample:

Like most girls my age, I have a special connection with mydad. Unfortunately, he’s in the military, so he spends a lot of time overseas.I worry about him when he’s away because, you know, anything could happen.

That’s when I bring out my favorite photo. It’s a pictureof him when he finished his first-ever marathon. He’s kind of a small guy, andhe’s really skinny. We used to joke that just the sight of him would give theKenyans second thoughts. His clothes are dusty, but he’s got this big goofygrin on his face. Whenever I look at that picture, I imagine that, wherever heis, my dad is happy, with the same goofy grin.

[...]

My story starts with me looking for the picture. It’s gonemissing. I don’t know it at the time, but the picture was stolen. Someone tookit because they knew how much it meant to me. If I had known the picture heldso much power, I would have guarded it more closely.

Book Review for The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour #13)

2012-01-27T08:09:00.000-05:00

Alex has been a follower of this blog for a long time. He's been so great and so supportive. He helped me create Ivy's character, even. So I'm thrilled to have him on this tour. He offered a book review on his blog Eclectically Inspired.

The Road to Publication (Blog Tour #12)

2012-01-26T08:49:00.000-05:00

Carmen Ferreiro Esteban let me do a guest post on her blog today. Head over there to read about my road to publication.

The Book Nerd takes on The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour #11)

2012-01-25T08:28:00.000-05:00

The Book Nerd (Jean) has a beautiful website that features author interviews and book reviews. She asked me about my influencers and surprises I had while writing The Fairy Tale Trap. (I also got to mention my dog, Guybrush and where he got his name.)

Ruth Ellen Parlour's book review (Blog Tour #10)

2012-01-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

Ruth Ellen Parlour is a fantasy writer who has been gracious enough to do a book review and an author interview. We'll find out what she thought of The Fairy Tale Trap together on her blog.

Author interview by Michael Haynes (Blog Tour #9)

2012-01-23T08:22:00.000-05:00

Michael Haynes is a fellow author and twitter friend. He's doing an interview today on his Writing Blog.

Fairy Tale Trap book review (Blog Tour #8)

2012-01-22T08:55:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure I'll ever get used to book reviews. Knowing that a tough critic, an unbiased reviewer, is going to tell hundreds of people what she really thought of my book is nerve-wracking.

But here I go again.

Melanie McCullough is hosting today's stop on the book tour at her book review site A New Kind of Ordinary.

Angela Scott's interview (Blog Tour #7)

2012-01-21T08:29:00.000-05:00

Angela Scott had some really great questions! Her interview includes:

What chapteror part of the book was your favorite to write and why?

What advice would you give to a first time author?
Who is yourideal reader?
What do youthink your protagonist thinks of you, the creator?

The entire interview is at her site: Whimsy and Writing.
(There's a giveaway on her site, too!)

Fast Facts and Book Review by the Nerdette (Blog Tour #6)

2012-01-20T08:26:00.000-05:00

The Nerdette (the lovely Jacqueline) is doing a blog review today! She has a Fast Facts section with some author trivia. (I always feel weird about answering what my favorite book is because it changes so often! But I did my best.)

Anyway, pop in and say hello! I'll be answering in the comments, as always.
Notes from the Nerdette

Book Review: The Fairy Tale Trap (Blog Tour #5)

2012-01-19T08:53:00.000-05:00

Danica Page is hosting the blog tour for today and I have to say I'm nervous! This is the first official review of the tour, so I hope she liked Thi Fairy Tale Trap.

You can read the full (yikes!) book review at Danica's blog Taking it One Page at a Time.

I Wish I Were as Cool as my Characters (Blog Tour #4)

2012-01-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, when I found out I was going to be on Julie A. Lindsey's blog, I was ecstatic. Julie is hilarious and always has something to say on twitter to make me smile. Her blog is refreshing, and her book Death by Chocolate is about to come out (if I'm not mistaken).

Julie let me do a guest post that I lovingly call: I’m Not a Cool Person, but I Write About them in Books (or: I Wish I Were as Cool as my Characters).

A lot of people think that authors write characters based onwhat the author wishes they could be.Well let me clear things up a bit: That’s completely true.

At least, it’s true for me. Sure, Ivy has her faults. She’sstubborn and impulsive. She gets herself into all kinds of trouble and tends tobe a loner. But Ivy is cool. So my guest post today will be all about why Ivyis cooler than I am.

First, I’m the nerdy type. Not the shy, awkward kind of nerdy.The goofy, foot-in-the-mouth type of nerdy. I say things without thinking, thenan hour later I realize that what I said wasn’t as funny as I thought. In fact,it could have been flat-out offensive.

Ivy, on the other hand, says offensive things on purpose andwishes she had written them down to use again later.

Read the rest of this post at Julie Lindsey's blog, and enter for a chance to win a free copy of The Fairy Tale Trap.

How to Make a Book Trailer (for free) - Blog Tour Stop #3

2012-01-17T09:01:00.000-05:00

The lovely Kat Anthony is hosting the Tour de Fairy Tale today. This one is more for writers, basically anyone interested in making a book trailer. Here's a bit from my guest post on Kat Anthony's blog on how I made my book trailer (for free):

Being an independent self-publisher is hard work. It’s evenharder to do it for cheap. A lot of authors try to cut costs where they can,and a lot don’t even consider making a book trailer. I think this is a mistake.A book trailer lets you show readers how great your book is in 90 seconds.Plus, it’s fun to make.

Why Writers are Off their Rockers (Blog Tour Stop #2)

2012-01-16T08:50:00.000-05:00

Liana Brooks is a good friend who's taught me a lot about writing and publishing. She may be tiny, but she's tough (and smart). Here's a link to my guest post on her blog: Why Writers are Off their Rockers.

Here's a teaser:

When I tell people I’m a writer, the response I get isusually pretty positive. People think I’m creative and ambitious. I’ve evenbeen called “cerebral” and “literary” before. This is very flattering, but I’velearned to keep my mouth shut after that. Like George Costanza, I’ve learned toleave on a high note, because it’s all downhill from there.

Because if I open my mouth again, someone’s going to realizethe truth: I’m actually insane.

Read the rest of the post here. You can also enter for a chance to win a free copy of The Fairy Tale Trap.

Basic author questions: Blog Tour Stop #1

2012-01-15T08:42:00.000-05:00

Let the tour begin!

A friend of mine is starting us off. Suzanne is probably the sweetest person alive and she was kind enough to be part of this. She'll start the tour off with some basic questions like "What influenced The Fairy Tale Trap?" and "What are you working on next?" So be sure to stop by her blog Six Saturdays a Week.

Tomorrow is a fun guest post called Why Writers are Off their Rockers. :)

Which blogs are first?

2012-01-10T11:24:00.000-05:00

Okay folks, here it is. Blog Tour 2012. By the time this is over, you're going to be sick of me.

I'm hopping from blog to blog EVERY DAY starting January 15 and ending Feb 10 or maybe later. There are going to be book reviews, interviews, and I'm doing several guest posts. Some on writing, some on characters, some on The Fairy Tale Trap. There's even going to be an interview with Ivy herself!

I'll post each stop here, on this blog, so you'll know where to go. I'll also post a teaser so you can see if it's something you think you'll want to read.

Here are the first few stops on my blog tour:

Jan 15 - Suzanne Meik - author interview
Jan 16 - Liana Brooks - guest post: Why Writers are Off Their Rockers
Jan 17 - Kat Anthony - guest post: How to Make a Book Trailer (for free)
Jan 18 - Julie A. Lindsay - guest post: Why I Wish I Were as Cool as Ivy
Jan 19 - Danica Page - book review
Jan 20 - Jacqueline (The Nerdette) - book review

to be continued... :)

Self-Publishing vs Sushi

2011-12-27T08:29:00.000-05:00

Picture a small town in Pennsylvania where the Amish ride horses through the streets and sell quilts at the market. A place where the locals have names for things most people in the country have never heard of. I went to a writer's conference in this town and met aspiring writers, top agents, and best-selling authors.

On the first day of the conference, a New York agent asked the locals of this small Pennsylvania town where to get some good sushi.

The response from everyone was pretty much the same: Sushi?!

We all had a good laugh about it and the agent handled the faux pas with grace, but it got me thinking. This agent is wonderful at her job. I'd have loved to have her represent me (only she didn't work in my genre). I don't think she's out of touch with readers. But I don't think she's in touch with every reader.

Agents represent books that they like and think they can sell to publishers. Publishers buy books they like and think they can sell to booksellers. Booksellers buy books they like and think they can sell to consumers.

But shouldn't that mean that there are books out there that would appeal to readers, but didn't make the cut because they didn't appeal to everyone else in the chain?

Readers like books from every part of this Venn Diagram. Except that little grey circle. Nobody likes those.

You may or may not like sushi. But if you were stranded and hungry in New York City, I’ll bet you could find plenty of delicious food. Still, you probably won’t find a gumbo that compares to the real thing from Louisiana, or real, honest-to-goodness Georgia peaches.

If you're reading this, odds are you love to read. Odds are, you've read hundreds of great books and are searching for your next. Imagine all those books, the great ones that didn't make the cut because a publisher didn't think it had "mass appeal".

That's why I want to self-publish. Because just like Georgia’s peaches, I have a story to tell that you can only get from me.

I'm not doing this because I think agents are bad people, or that publishers don't know what they're doing, or that chain bookstores are soulless. On the contrary. I think as readers, we’re indebted to them. They’ve made so many good books available to us. They don’t just shape the world of literature; they BUILT it.

But the publishing world is changing.

I’m not trying to find readers that hate all the books ever published so far. That’s crazy. It’s like saying you couldn’t find a single decent thing to eat in New York. I’m looking for hungry readers, the readers that might also like a book from a different source.

Think of my book as a new food or recipe. Are you willing to try it?

The Fairy Tale Trap is ready for you to read.

2011-12-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

The Fairy Tale Trap is officially available for download!

Thank you SO much to everyone who helped make this book. I got some amazing support from all of you and I appreciate it.

Get the book from Smashwords (you can get it in any e-format here)

Get the book in Kindle format from Amazon or donate to make The Fairy Tale Trap a paperback.

Be sure to look for the bonus material at the end, including how the original fairy tale inspired the book, a copy of the story Beauty and the Beast, and what to expect in Ivy Thorn Book #2: The Fairy Tale Twist.

Tweet about this book:

The Fairy Tale Trap - Book Trailer

2011-12-13T21:51:00.002-05:00

Want to See an Awesome Book Cover?

2011-12-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Ryan for creating a truly awesome book cover!

There were some great entries. Thanks so much for entering the contest. When The Fairy Tale Trap comes out, I'll send you a free copy as a thank you. :)

Some of the other covers (in no particular order):

I love this one. It came in a very close second.

Things I Never Said Before I Was a Mom

2011-12-06T12:47:00.000-05:00

A few quick notes: The book cover design contest ends this weekend. I have some fantastic entries, but would always like to see more. Just so you know, the winning entry WILL be the official cover of THE FAIRY TALE TRAP ebook which comes out December 20th!

Also, I'm working on some bonus material for the ebook. What would you like to see? (I've come up with some ideas for the poll in the sidebar, but if you want to see something else, please leave it in the comments!)

That said...

I've started a new blog, called Things I Never Said Before I Was a Mom. I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but the website address is based on something my mom said to me when I was two: "Stop standing on the bread."

http://stopstandingonthebread.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I thought I'd share the first few posts with my readers on this blog, in case you want a quick laugh.

"We don't rub our tushy with necklaces!"

"Get your foot out of the Crock Pot."

"Get the bath toys out of the toilet!"

Wordless Tuesday: Snow White's Revenge

2011-11-29T12:10:00.000-05:00

Breaking into a Secret Place

2011-11-22T11:50:00.000-05:00

I love running. I've never run a 5k in under 30 minutes and I've never run a marathon, but I have hopes of someday reaching those milestones.

The running community is a close one. We're supportive and can celebrate acheivements at any level. (Kind of like the writing community.) But what is it that unites us? It's not that we've all hit the wall while running a marathon. It's not that we're all super-elite athletes.

Is it that we simply share an interest? Would we be equally supportive if we all loved cross stitch samplers or followed weather patterns? I know there are communities of people that do love these things, and I'm not knocking them, but any runner would have to agree that it's more than a hobby we share.

My theory is that we've broken into a secret place. We're the ones that figured out the combination to the lock and now we're enjoying the spoils. And while we can tell others how wonderful running is (no, really!) and we can give them the combination to that lock, until they want it enough, they'll never open it.

I share a lot about my writing endeavors on this blog. Writing has its own secret place, its own supportive community. I consider myself very fortunate to have two secret places.

Trying Something New: Eggs Benedict

2011-11-15T11:30:00.000-05:00

I like trying new recipes, especially if they're supposed to be a little challenging. I make divinity every Christmas now, because I was too stubborn to let a pile of amorphous white goo get the best of me. Now it's my husband's favorite treat.

I was in the cooking mood, and my stomach growled for something substantial. Maybe it was because I'd been watching Holmes that week (where Sherlock Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch), but I felt like I had to try eggs benedict. I've never made it before, but I know it involves a poached egg, an english muffin, canadian bacon or ham, and something called hollandaise sauce.

I looked up the sauce and already knew how to poach an egg. The rest was pretty simple: just slap it together.

The sauce was harder than I thought. Not too difficult to make, if you keep a close watch on the temperature, but knowing when it's cooked enough was hard for a first-timer. Still, I managed to make the best brunch I've ever made. (Possibly the only brunch I've ever made, but I was still proud.)

Quick moment of honesty: It took me a few tries before I got a good poached egg. The first few times, the white went everywhere and it looked like silly string.

Why NaNoWriMo is like my book cover

2011-11-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

I love NaNoWrimo. A whole bunch of people come together and for 30 days, they write their hearts out in hopes of reaching the coveted 50,000-word mark. They don't really have much to gain from it. Just a silly novel and the chance to see that novel as a book they can actually see and hold in their hands.

While that can be pretty cool, and enough to motivate you to keep going, NaNoWriMo is so much more than that. It's a community of creative people who come together to do something crazy.

It's a bunch of people who say, "Hey, let's create something new and see what we come up with."

They sit down, they write, and they have a blast doing it.

You know what? I love people like that. They're fun, and when I read their blog posts and facebook updates and tweets, it makes me want to do a happy dance. Because there are really cool people out there doing something just because it's a challenge and it's fun.

I was just thinking about all the folks who are designing a book cover for THE FAIRY TALE TRAP. Some of them are strangers, but I'm cheering for them. It wasn't until today that I stopped to consider why. Why do I care if somebody I've never met creates a great cover, especially if it doesn't win?

Because they're crazy. They don't have much to gain by entering the contest. Just a silly novel. ;) I mean sure, there's the Amazon gift card and the chance to see your work on an actual book.

But this contest is so much more than that.

These complete strangers are creating something new, to see what they can come up with. And even though it's a really small community, hearing from them and what they're doing is exciting.

Because I think the world is a better place when we say, "Hey, let's create something new and see what we come up with."

Quiet Beauty on my Window Sill

2011-11-01T10:25:00.001-04:00

Happy NaNoWriMo, everyone! Sadly, I can't participate this year, since I have THE FAIRY TALE TRAP to revise and prep for publication NEXT MONTH. (Yikes!) But I will cheer for you from here and admire your pretty word counts. :)

Well, the baby craziness is over and I'm trying to get healthy again. (Yes, I know toddler craziness is right around the corner, but at least my body is my own again.) So I'm running regularly (slowly, but regularly), taking vitamins, drinking water, and trying to get on a decent sleep schedule.

I love flowers.
There's something about
them that makes the world
seem a little less crappy.

But I also want mental/spiritual health. My religious beliefs play a big part in that, but I thought it might also be nice to bring a little nature indoors.

So I used a Groupon to fill my window sill with color. I got a bunch of flowers and herbs (at half price) and put them where I would see them (and water them).

So after dropping my daughter off at school, running, coming home and showering, and taking care of my son, I need to do the dishes. Being able to see this natural beauty while I work brings quiet awe into a crazy day.

How do you recharge?

Contest! Design a book cover for THE FAIRY TALE TRAP

2011-10-24T14:56:00.000-04:00

My book, THE FAIRY TALE TRAP is due to come out at the end of the year, but it needs a cover! Unfortunately, I have little to no talent for visual art. Lucky thing I have friends who can do amazing things.

Contest time!

What do you get out of it?

Everyone who scores well in the contest will get a copy of THE FAIRY TALE TRAP ebook.

The winner will get a feature on my blog (where you can show off your portfolio, website, etc...), their name and website in the acknowledgements, and of course, the chance to get your art on the cover of THE FAIRY TALE TRAP.

The winner also gets a $25 Amazon gift card.

Rules:
Original art must be submitted as an TFF or JPG file.

Requirements for the size of your cover art:
• Image dimensions of at least 500 by 800 pixels.
• A maximum of 2000 pixels on the longest side is preferred
• Ideal height/width ratio of 1.6
• Save at 72 dots per inch (dpi) for optimal viewing on the web [I don’t know what this means. I pretty much copied this from Amazon's publishing site. I figure they know what they're doing.]

All submission must be received no later than midnight, on December 10th, 2011.

Submitted artwork must be your original creation. You must have full rights to all material used. (Public domain is fine to use.)

Yes, you may submit multiple entries.

Your cover needs to have the title: ‘The Fairy Tale Trap’ plainly visible and large enough to read the title when the image is reduced to a thumbnail. The author's name, ‘Emily Casey’ should also be plainly visible.

Book covers will be judged by Emily Casey and/or a panel selected by Emily Casey and the voting may be opened to the public.All submissions to be sent by email to emilycaseysmusings@gmail.com

Please include your name, age, email address, and website.

Judging Criteria:

Marketability: 35 points

Is the cover aimed toward the target audience? (Girls age 12-18)
Does the cover make it clear that this is a young adult fantasy book?
Is the title largely visible, even when shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp?
Is the writing legible on the cover?
Does the cover bring out emotion and/or reflect a mood in the viewer (that relates to the book)?
Is it clean and professional-looking?

Overall Visual Appeal: 40 points

How it Captures the Essence of the Book: 25 points

Tips:

I’m putting up the first chapters of The Fairy Tale Trap so you can get a feel for the tone, setting, and characters of the book. I highly recommend you read it before you start! Some things to note:

Ivy’s dad is Asian. Her mom is Anglo/White.
Ivy’s personality and attitude vs. the setting
This book is all about Beauty and the Beast, with a twist.

Cover art with white or very light backgrounds can seem to disappear against white background. Adding a very narrow (3-4 pixel) border in medium gray will define the boundaries of the cover.

Although I've never used them, I've heard GIMP and Scribus are good tools for making a book cover. Since this is an ebook, you don't need to worry about designing the spine or back cover. :)

Good luck!

Let me know if you decide to enter so I can cheer for you!

Stuff I have to put on here to avoid headaches and lawsuits:

By entering this Contest, each contestant consents to the use of his/her name, and/or artwork in any merchandise, advertisements, educational materials, publicity, or other related use carried out or produced by Emily Casey and advertising and promotional agencies without further notice or compensation. Emily Casey can publish or decline to publish, or use or decline to use, any submitted artwork at her sole discretion. The winner relinquishes the rights to use and publish the submitted artwork.

On the Road to Self-Publication:The Unknown

2011-10-18T14:37:00.000-04:00

I'm making plans for the release of Ivy's book. The title Roses and Mirrors doesn't seem to do justice to Ivy's voice, so I'm playing around with that. At the moment, The Fairy Tale Trap appeals to me, but I'm open to suggestions.

The idea of self publishing has put me in a weird place, emotionally. I'm torn between I'm-So-Excited and Wow-This-Is-Scary. The book won't come out until late November/early December, but it feels right around the corner. I want to make sure the book is as close to perfect as I can make it.

This is the road to self-publication. It's chock-full of fear. I have to wonder: is my manuscript good enough? Should I send it to agents one more time? What's going to happen?

I think it's that unknown factor that makes self-publishing so exciting and stressful at the same time. It's a gamble. On one hand, I could have amazing success. On the other, I might sell two copies to my mom and that would be the end of it.

Would that be so bad though, if I learned something? If I even got one review on Amazon that mentioned one thing that I didn't know, would it be worth it? I mean, it would be horribly disappointing, but still. I'm doing most of the production on my own. I'm trying not to spend a ton of money on this.

But I think that learning from all this is key. Maybe I'll learn about a weakness that's been holding me back. Perhaps I'll learn about a strength that will launch my next book into success. Or maybe I'll learn that self-publishing isn't for me. (I hope it's not that last one, but if it's true, better to learn it sooner rather than later.)

The unknown is scary. But it's also promising.

Thanks for the Musefire, Holly

2011-10-11T12:41:00.000-04:00

It broke my heart when I heard this, but Holly Lisle is going to close the doors to her writing classes to new students. These online courses changed my life and put my writing on the right path. I owe so much to her, but she's pursuing her true passion: writing fiction. I completely understand.

Holly has put so much of herself into helping other writers find their passion. She taught us how to dig into ourselves, find what we love, and transform it into stories we could be proud of. She called the course How to Think Sideways.

Then Holly realized that most people don't know how to simply "revise a novel" until it becomes what the writer intended it to be. She'd written so many novels (35 at the time, I believe), revision was second nature to her. So she analyzed her process and broke it down into lessons to make an even better class (in my opinion) called How to Revise Your Novel.

I thought I knew how to revise. I was wrong. Even now, as I try to describe the excitement of turning my book into what I hoped it would be, I fall short. You know when you watch a movie trailer and, even if it's for a movie you've already seen, it gets you so pumped that you suddenly feel like to HAVE to watch that movie? Going through How to Revise Your Novel is like that.

Holly, you've done incredible things for the writing community. You helped change me as a writer and as a person. The aha! moments were priceless, but there were moments that were even better.

So Holly, if you're reading this, I want you to know: because of your classes, I wrote dialogue that made me laugh, stories that made me dance for joy, and hints to my readers that literally made my hands itch with anticipation.

Thank you.

Brief Update on the Self-Publishing Schedule

2011-10-10T21:14:00.001-04:00

So, just to get you lovely readers caught up, I'm trying to schedule a photo shoot for my book cover. I'm doing another revision before sending it off to a final few readers. And I'm just hoping I don't forget anything.

The plan is to release Ivy's first ebook around Thanksgiving. (I know. So soon!) I'm really excited, but also a bit... terrified. This is so new to me.

While I have your attention: what kind of bonus material would you be interested in?

Ooey, Gooey Chocolate: A writer's best friend

2011-10-04T10:50:00.000-04:00

One of my good Twitter buddies, Shellina has this great recipe blog called The Frugal Flambe. When she tweeted about Sinless Chocolate Lava Cake, well, I didn't waste any time. It was my duty to evaluate the authenticity of this claim.

Being a writer, my muse needs to be bribed every now and then. This was the perfect way to do it.

It looks so innocent in this picture, but don't be fooled.

This is what good books are made of.

After sufficiently downing one of these cakes (I promise it was only one!), I sat down and had a pretty good writing day.

Lesson learned: chocolate in good. Gooey chocolate cake is better.

**Just so you don't overestimate my cooking abilities, this past Sunday I made waffles. Instead of 4 teaspoons of baking powder, I used 4 teaspoons of baking soda. *shudder* Those babies got more bitter with every bite. Don't make that mistake!**

Crossing Genres: Brilliant or Suicide?

2011-09-27T14:57:00.000-04:00

At the moment, I'm writing a zombie-themed book. This is crazy, considering the book that I'm revising has a fairy tale them. Isn't it?

Not necessarily, at least I hope not. Because my fairy tales are spunky. They've got a fiesty spark to them that Hans Christian Andersen wishes he had. Ivy Thorn brings life to Roses and Mirrors that I can't fully describe.

I want that same spark, that same lifeblood to flow through all my books. Different characters, varying voice, but the same drive.

The real question is: if a reader picks up a zombie book because they love zombies, and they loved it, would they pick up a fairy tale book by the same author?

I've tossed this around in my little brain for some time. I'm not sure what the answer is. Could there be some cross over? Sure. Will most cross genres with me?

I don't know.

Hey, "And now for something completely different" worked for Monty Python.

What's your opinion? Which would you pick up, given the choice: a zombie book with a twist or a fairy tale with a twist? And if you loved it, would you pick up something completely different?

Everyone Has an Opinion on Self-Publishing, Right?

2011-09-20T21:51:00.001-04:00

Self-publishing is hot right now. Everybody's talking about it and most writers (or at least it seems like it's most) are willing to give it a shot. I think writers see it as a nothing-to-lose situation. That's not really true--you stand to lose time, respect (if you try to sell an inferior product), and the money it takes to get a professional-looking book out on the market (cover design, formatting, editing, etc...)

That said, there are some distinct advantages: the writer gets to control pretty much all that goes on with their books, higher royalties, faster turn-around, and a closer relationship with readers. No middle man means more money for the writer, but it also means the writer can really get to know the reader. (I'm not saying you can't do this with traditional publishing, but with self-publishing, the writer gets all the information, all the contact.)

I think that's a really cool aspect. I adore my blog readers. You guys are awesome. Supportive, loyal, and did I mention attractive?

Seriously, though. I love hearing from you guys. I value your input. And I think I can cater better to my readers if I self-publish.

I've given this a lot of thought. Self-pubbing isn't for everyone. In fact, I think a writer would be foolish to jump into self-pubbing with less than 5 years of fiction-writing experience. (Some will tell you 10 years is better. I don't doubt it.) I'm sure there are exceptions to this, I'm just sayin'... I've learned a lot in the last 6 months I've been writing. I'm still learning. And I've thought about waiting. I've thought about it a lot.

Right now, I'm writing story ideas that I'm not sure will appeal to "mass markets", but I think they'll be well-received by many. These stories wouldn't get taken up by a traditional publisher because the pool of readers is too small and they wouldn't be able to profit from it. (And by small, I'd say the pool is right around 10,000-15,000 readers. I'm just guessing.)

But if I publish these books myself, I can write for my smaller, more modest group of readers, cater to them, write for them, and everyone's happy.

I may be nuts, but I think it's exciting. I'm going to give it a try.

Blog Changes? I need input!

2011-09-13T19:10:00.000-04:00

I've been doing some thinking (and reading and praying) about this blog. I love this blog. It's a great outlet and you readers are so supportive. (And awesome. And did I mention attractive?) Right now I post every three days. That's my schedule and, for the most part, I stick to it. So right now, I'm asking you, my reader, to be honest and speak up. How often do you check this blog for updates? Would you feel like you were missing out if I posted, say, once a week, or once every two weeks?

Re-Post: Dialogue vs. Non-Dialogue

2011-09-10T15:07:00.000-04:00

Writers know about basic dialogue punctuation. Right?

I was shocked to find that in my advanced fiction workshop, several students consistently failed to use proper punctuation and capitalization.

I almost cried.

I know everyone has to start somewhere, but I had higher expectations for an advanced writing class at a university.

So, I feel obligated to include this link from Fiction Factor. Aside from punctuation, definitions, tags, and simple dos and don'ts, it includes a few simple tips for avoiding repetitive tags and a few other things.

Once you have the basics down, I'd recommend this Fiction Factor's post, which has several pointers that I thought were helpful. One tip they mentioned (that I tend to forget) is:

Unspoken dialogue can, at times, be the most powerful dialogue of all. When a character says the opposite of what she means, or says nothing at all, just looks away. This too is effective dialogue.

There's also an invaluable list of body language cues, divided by emotion, that I have to include. It's too good not to.

Angry? Fisted hands. Narrowed eyes. Stiff posture. Clenched jaw. Slashed mouth. Jerky movements. Rough handling of objects.
Happy? Smile. Wink. Twinkle in eyes.
Relaxed? Sprawl. Loose-limbed.
Crowded? Back up. Create distance.
Interested? Lean forward, draw closer.
Questioning? Cock head. Widen eye. Elevate voice. Hands lifted, palm up. Hiked shoulders.
Nurturing? Clip a loose thread. Pat.
Tender? Stroke, touch, lips parted.
Nervous? Pace, scratch, rub your arms.
Stunned? Wide-eyed. Stone still. Hand to chest, fingers spread. Gaping jaw.
Sad? Tears. Listless. Hand curled to chest. Shoulders slumped. Fetal position.
Trusting? Palm open.
Lying? Avoid eye contact. Dipped chin.

Just be careful not to Over Describe. (Thanks Bookshelf Muse!)

More on Dialogue

Becoming the Writer I Want to Be

2011-09-07T15:25:00.000-04:00

The other day, I wrote that I was having trouble juggling more than one project at a time. I said it wasn't going as smoothly as I had hoped. Writing is an art, and for me it requires a lot of mental energy. Writing is especially draining if I write by hand. 500 words in and I'm ready for a nap or at least just sit and stare at something on Netflix for a while. So it seems like working on a second project is impossible.

But I was telling my friend Ryan that this is something I want to be good at. I'm still going to try and work on more than one project at a time. This may take some experimentation, but I will make it work. So I've tried alternating days on my projects (which works, I'm just not always excited about starting work on the project that's not going as well) and I've tried planning zombie book first, then writing Ivy long hand. (I don't get as many words done on Ivy, but I do get work done.)

The reason I'm so stubborn about this is because of the vision I have for my future as a writer. I picture myself with a space of my own (not having to retreat to the bedroom with a notebook and pen, or sitting on the couch with my laptop, but a real desk where things don't move when I put them down). My future writer-self is professional and can always handle a deadline with finesse. And if the muse wants to try something other than what I'm on contract for, I want to be able to write it.

The thing is, I want to be professional, but still be able to say to my future agent, "I have this project I've been working on. Tell me what you think."

I haven't told many people this, but I have a sci-fi short story swimming around in my head. I don't write sci-fi and it would be difficult to market it alongside my other work. But I treasure the freedom I have that allows me to write it (should I so choose).

So, for all you writers out there, what does freedom mean to you? What would you hate to lose, once you sold to a publisher?

Write Better Dialogue

2011-09-04T09:42:00.000-04:00

I've had stories come to me (via Musefire-like inspiration) in two ways.

1) A really cool situation and/or plot twist comes to mind
2) A really cool character comes to mind

If the character comes first, usually it'll be in dialogue form. Lines of dialogue form in my brain like I'm having a thought about what I want to eat for lunch.

But if I start with a premise, it's harder to develop characters that are real. And dialogue is part of that.

So of course, I did some digging.

10 Creative Techniques for Creating Character-Specific Dialogue come from Emlyn Chand and compiles a list of ways to personalize a character's dialogue, from specific vocabulary choices to catch phrases.

Have you ever read over your work and said something like My Dialogue Sucks? The Creative Penn comes to the rescue by reminding us of the Functions of Dialogue and showing us how to keep the reader from getting bored or distracted.

How to Write Effective Dialogue in Your Novel talks about the ever-important beats: small units that have an action and a reaction. I personally found it was easier to craft good beats while writing longhand. But that's another post.

Query FAIL

2011-09-01T14:21:00.000-04:00

Okay, this is really embarrassing, but I think I have to share so others won't make the same mistake. I finished my novel Roses and Mirrors a while ago. It started out as a short YA, but I rewrote it to be a short middle grade.

The thing was, it was still REALLY short. 28,000 words. I wanted the book to be closer to 35k or even 45k, but I had heard that the range for middle grade started around 25k.

I think I heard wrong. I read the words of a few agents that said they *might* consider something in the mid-30,000s, but they'd prefer it to be longer.

What? You must mean mid-20,000s....

Nope.

Unfortunately by this time, I had sent out all my queries. I knew I was supposed to stagger them and I did. I sent out 3-5 at a time for a while. In the first two weeks I got a partial and a full request, so I figured I'd done a good job on something. So I patted myself on the back and sent out a few more queries. And a few more.

And then the form rejections started rolling in. At first, I thought this was no big deal. I expected form rejections. Then I read about the more appropriate word count range and I started to worry. What if I was getting these form rejections because of my word count? I mean, it makes sense. I got better feedback on Shadow Bound and, according to my critique group (and family), Roses and Mirrors is way better.

I'm still deciding what to do about this. Do I requery in a few months? Do I shelve it?

Whatever I choose, I'm going back and making this book right. Some great subplots have come to mind and I've toyed with my main plot to see if I can make it twistier and more gut wrenching ('cause I'm evil like that). But I've already done some serious damage. Please. Don't make the same mistakes I did. Query slow. And ~~double~~ triple-check your facts. I wasn't familiar enough with middle grade before I started querying. Genre-hopping isn't as easy as they make it look. :)

MuseFire: A Much-Needed Word

2011-08-29T03:31:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed (or maybe not) that my blog's title is different. I was giving some thought to this blog and what I wanted to write about, and what kind of things you, my audience, want to read about.

As creative folk, we're kind of weird. "Regular" people just don't get us. In the past, I've blogged about hearing voices, fictional characters that tell me what to do, and a part of my brain that likes office supplies and sparkly things. I've talked about how some books are magical. If you're not a writer, we look pretty strange.

Here's another thing creative people go through that I'm not sure others get to experience:

You're going through life (folding laundry, doing yard work, or for me in most cases, trying to fall asleep) and "it" hits you. That idea for your next book, that twist that makes your whole story suddenly awesome, that character voice that you've tried to nail down for weeks.

There should be a word for that.

Sometimes it feels like a forest fire. Sometimes it feels dangerous. It makes you want to bang the table and shout, "Yes!"

It's insatiable. Consuming. Wild and organic, yet it fits so perfectly it has to be divinely inspired.

I call it MuseFire.

Writing Multiple Books at Once

2011-08-26T09:15:00.002-04:00

I've finished another book (sort of) and now I'm planning my next one. I'm eager to start writing it. I want to see where the story leads, what's around that twist I planned, and how my character's personality develops in prose. But I can't start writing until I nail down a few details about my concept.

And while I'm excited to start my zombie book, Ivy (from my "finished" book) demands my attention. (Teenage girls are like that.)

A quick recap: I thought I was done, but it turns out the story could be better. So I'm writing out a few new scenes, I'm going to rearrange a few plot points based on feedback from my critique group, and then I'll polish some prose (again). Then I'll set it aside for a few months and work on my next project. Really.

I want to do Ivy justice. She deserves it. But after I make some changes, Roses and Mirrors needs some time to cool off, I think.

It's hard. I want to make sure I do the best thing for my books. I'm just not always sure what that is.

One thing I did learn: I can't juggle multiple projects like I thought I could. It'll get easier if I keep at it. Right?

Need a Story Idea? You Need a Creative Boost.

2011-08-23T13:57:00.015-04:00

Getting good story ideas can be hard. Sometimes all you need is a creative boost. For me personally, I get my story ideas when the "creative well" is full AND I'm doing something boring (like trying to fall asleep, doing dishes, folding laundry, or waiting in line). So I have to make sure my creative well is always full to take advantage of the boring parts of my life.

Literary Agent Rachelle Gardner always gives good advice. She has a list of things you can do (when you're not writing) that will feed your book-writing later in her post: How to Become a Better Writer.

Routines for Writers is a great resource for any writer. Shonna Slayton has multiple posts on boosting creativity, including this one on Daydreaming. She gives a few methods to get the creative side warmed up.

Have you ever heard of the Rule of Twenty? Upstart Crow writes that your first 5 or 10 ideas may not be gold, but keeping trying.Creative riches lie ahead!

Garden FAIL

2011-08-20T09:58:00.020-04:00

Okay, this garden is the worst I've ever done. I got two beans from the entire thing! I thought you may like to laugh at my failed attempt. :) Behold: my future compost!

These are dead corn stalks with bare bean vines wrapped around them. The whole garden pretty much looks like this.

The marigolds did well, at least.

Francis did his job. No rabbits, no birds. Francis is perfect.

Finished a Book? Congrats! Now Do it Again.

2011-08-17T09:00:00.011-04:00

Before I start, if you're not participating in WriteOnCon, why not?!

That said, I finished my book!

Roses and Mirrors has been done for a while. (This is the book about a sarcastic teenager that gets stuck in a fairy tale. You may have heard of her. Her name is Ivy Thorn and she is awesome.)

I jumped into the query process as soon as I was finished. I blogged about it not too long ago, about how I thrive on rejection and all that happy-sounding stuff. The truth is, rejection really is great. It's the gap of silence between sending the query and hearing a response that is absolutely maddening.

Seriously. And some agents tell you: If we decide to pass, you won't hear back from us. At all.

Really? REALLY? You can't send me a polite form rejection?! How will I know when to stop hoping for a reply? (I know, I'm pathetic.)

But I digress...

Now that I'm done with Roses and Mirrors, and it's been sent out into the world, I'm moving on. My next book is completely different. That's right, I've gone from fairy tales to zombies.

But before you roll your eyes and say, "I don't like zombies," you should know that this isn't true horror, it's not gross for the sake of gross, and it's not totally far-fetched. This is a character-based story with a strong, witty voice (if I do say so myself) about a guy who happens to struggle with zombism. (If that's not a word, I will take it upon myself to coin it and spread it around the world because it is an awesome word.)

So, I'm working on this book, and when I say "working on" what I really mean is nailing down my premise and researching and building structure so my novel has something to stand on. I'm geeking out over all the cool little facts on biology and pathogens and parasites and neurotransmitters and especially the way the brain works, but I know that very little of it will be in the actual book. Because, let's face it, most people are not as dorky as I am.

But I have to know this stuff. I have to know exactly how my zombies work, where they came from, and--most importantly--where their weaknesses are.

The toughest part about this process is having the ideas and possibilities swirl around in my head. I can't possibly use all of them and I'm not even sure which ones will work.

So my muse is a little crazy right now. My creative side takes a back seat while logical me builds a playground. Creative Muse gives input, but it's about as much input as a kid gives to his dad for how he wants his tree house to look. It still needs to be safe and functional.

That's right. No chocolate milk fountain. :(

Free Online Writing Conference? I'm So There!

2011-08-15T12:36:00.004-04:00

If you write kidlit (YA, MG, Picture books, Chapter books) you HAVE to be online August 16-18 for the WriteOnCon. It's a totally free, completely online conference. I'm talking blog posts, vlog posts, Live Chats, and Query Critiques. Feedback on your first few pages, your synopsis, and the watchful eyes of agents and editors in the forums.

Seriously. Published authors, agents, editors, and a ton of writers. Why on earth would you miss it?

Blissfully Ignorant: The Writer's Friends and Family

2011-08-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

Family can be a complicated thing. As writers, we're told not to trust them to give the best feedback on our work. I was blessed with an understanding, supportive family. They probably know I'm crazy, but they don't say it out loud. I occasionally let them read my work.

My family is great (fantastic, wonderful, amazing) in so many ways. They're really good for bouncing story ideas around and for helping me develop my story. They're great for research.

But they aren't writers. (Okay, one sister is.)

When they read my work, sometimes their feedback upsets me (because they just don't understand that you don't SAY that when you critique someone else's writing because it's MY book, not theirs) or it's bubbly-positive and I can't trust it because, well, they love me and care about my feelings.

Oh, goodness... and then there are the relatives that ask: How's the book coming along? every time they see me. And every time they do, I think of Stewie from Family Guy:

How you uh, how you comin' on that novel you're working on? Huh? Gotta a big, uh, big stack of papers there? Gotta, gotta nice litte story you're working on there? Your big novel you've been working on for 3 years? Huh? Gotta, gotta compelling protaganist? Yeah? Gotta obstacle for him to overcome? Huh? Gotta story brewing there? Working on, working on that for quite some time? Huh? (voice getting higher pitched) Yea, talking about that 3 years ago. Been working on that the whole time? Nice little narrative? Beginning, middle, and end? Some friends become enemies, some enemies become friends? At the end your main character is richer from the experience? Yeah? Yeah?

Here's a link to the video, but I'm sure it violates some kind of copyright, so who knows how long it'll be up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2MWRb4Dq7w&amp;feature=related

And then there's "that guy" who tells the WORLD that I'm (writing a novel, submitting to agents, got a partial request) and then I have random people come up to me and practically recite the above Stewie transcript.

So, yeah. Even though my wonderful family has the best of intentions and are taking an interest in what I do, I don't love sharing every intimate detail of my writing with them.

I sometimes feel lousy, unappreciative, and ungrateful, but at least I'm sane.

So really, when I say "Blissfully Ignorant", I'm talking about their ignorance and my bliss.

Find the Writing Advice You Need with the new Site Map!

2011-08-12T21:54:00.000-04:00

If you have a specific topic in mind, or just want to browse the dozens of categories, I'm putting up a site map. It has all the different topics, from Agents to YA.

I realized, I have over 300 posts of information, but nobody wants to skim through three years of blog posts to find the one that may be helpful. So maybe this thing is silly. I think it's practical. :)

Click here to go to the Musings Site Map

Writers: Beware of Google Docs!

2011-08-10T18:27:00.009-04:00

I found this in the terms of service for a Google account:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

I tweeted about this and @pearannnoyed pointed me toward the revised version of this:

11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, share, upload, post or display on or through, the Service. By submitting, sharing, uploading, posting or displaying the Content you give Google a worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, share, upload, post or display on or through the Service for the sole purpose of enabling Google to provide you with the Service in accordance with the Google Docs Privacy Policy.

It sounds a lot better, but I'm wary. It's subject to interpretation, so I'm still going to hesitate before backing up my WIP on Google.

What do you think?

Slow Reader, but Not Really

2011-08-09T15:34:00.001-04:00

I'm a slow reader. On top of that, I don't set aside much time for reading. My To-Read list crawls at a horrible pace. I'm ashamed to say that I've spent over three weeks on a book that I adore. I could understand if the book wasn't that good, but seriously, this could be in my Top 10 Favorite Books/Series list.

So I've sort of whined to myself about how pathetic this is (blah, blah, blah) until I realized something...

I read other stuff.

I have a great critique group, and I read about a chapter a week from each person that posts. Normally, we have 2-3 people in the writing-and-posting-for-critique stage. I'm also reading non-fiction as research for my next project. (I also research and read articles online and exchange emails with old professors and other pros for the same purpose.) I'm getting into WriteOnCon.com (if you haven't checked out this free online writing conference, go now!) and participate in the critiques in their forums. In addition to all of this, I read a dozen books a week to my little girl. Sure, they're picture books, but it's all fodder for future projects, right?

So what do you read, aside from the TBR pile on your night stand?

Get a Good Story Idea. And make it better!

2011-08-07T13:00:00.001-04:00

It's time for a round of helpful links! (I know, I know. It's about time.) Continuing with the 'Building and Creating Your Novel' theme from my last post, here's what I found:

Agent Sarah Davies (of Greenhouse Literary) wrote A Recipe for Writing the Breakout Novel on Ingrid Sundburg's blog. She gives tips for making your story stand out from everyone else's. It needs to be different. Original. Your characters need to be vivid, unique, but not obviously constructed.

Building a Better Novel Premise is doable. Martina at Adventures in Children's Publishing wrote her query first, using it as a guide to make sure her story was an attention-grabber from the beginning. She also goes into the difference between a "good premise" and a gimick.

Middle Grade Weremonkeys. Agent Holly Root explains why she loves off-the-wall crazy ideas.

Repost: How to Query Agents Part 1

2011-08-04T11:34:00.001-04:00

So, when you've written the best novel you possibly can, all tweaked to perfection, what do you do next? You submit.

My recommendation: query agents. You can query publishers or self-publish, but quite frankly, I don't have enough knowledge to help you in these areas.

So this next series of articles is going to be about submitting your manuscript to agents.

First, an agent is someone who works with you, the writer. They negotiate contracts, they know all about what rights you're selling, they know editors, they know marketing. It's in their best interest to get you the best deals possible. You want a reputable agent who's interested in building the kind of career you want. So where do you find a reputable agent?

The Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR) has a (very long) list of agents that are most likely reputable. Check to see if an agent is on their list before you sign anything. (If an agent asks for money from you, s/he's is NOT reputable. Check out Writer Beware, a website that closely follows scam artists that target rising authors. AAR has a fantastic FAQ.

There are a number of sites that list good agents. Some more helpful than others. I use QueryTracker. This site has a slew of agents that you can search by genre, but better than that, it lets you tag agents you'd like to query in the future. You'll have your own list of agents you want to query, agents you have queried, and agents that have replied. QueryTracker also has a blog that posts useful information.

Similar sites include Query Shark and AgentQuery.

Seriously, if you haven't already, spend a couple of days on these sites. Get familiar with the basics of a good query letter and what an agent does. How to Query Agents Part 2 will cover how you find the right agent for your book.

Guest Post: Efficient Use of Limited Writing Time by Gene Perret

2011-08-02T08:40:00.014-04:00

I'm pleased to have Gene Perret guest blog today! Gene is the author of Write Your Book Now. His blog tour continues tomorrow on the QueryTracker blog.

Take it away, Gene!

Someone once asked the legendary comedian Bob Hope, “If you had your life to live over again, what would you do?” Hope replied, “If I had my life to live over again, I wouldn’t have the time.” Many of us writers feel the same way, or even worse. We feel as if we don’t even have time to live the life we’re living now.

Writers have to deal with day job demands, parenting chores, and countless other distractions. Even if we do manage to steal a few minutes or hours of writing time, it’s hard for us to pick up where we left off and get up to speed again. Sometimes finding out where we are and what we have to do uses up almost all of our writing time.

How do we deal with these problems?

In my latest book, Write Your Book Now! (a proven system to start and FINISH the book you’ve always wanted to write), I recommend planning and scheduling. Try to make non-writing chores work for you rather than against you.

My first suggestion is to plan your entire book project before you begin typing even the first page of text. Know what your book is about. In fact, write a short few paragraphs to yourself defining your book. Why? So that when you do have to deal with stop-and-go writing times, you won’t have to rethink what you’re writing about and who your reading audience is. It’s all there for you.

Chip away at the ideas you want to write until you plan your entire Table of Contents or map out your basic story line. Write a brief paragraph on each of your chapters. Tell yourself what you plan to include in each chapter.

Plan a writing schedule that considers all of the non-writing distractions – the day job, the kids, the household chores, the unforeseen circumstances. Design a schedule that is challenging yet not impossible. In this schedule allow for short vacations and periods where you might catch up should you fall behind. Leave your schedule flexible enough to deal with emergency events.

One benefit of this planning is that it makes it easier for you to deal with stop-and-go writing. When you sit down to write, you don’t have to rethink what went before and what comes next. There’s no need to get your mind up to speed on this project. It has all been thought out. It’s all contained in your outline and your chapter by chapter descriptions. Regardless of where you pick up your writing project, you know where you are and what you must do. Now you can utilize whatever brief writing time you have for writing, rather than going back and reorganizing up to this point. You’re already there and organized.

Another benefit is that well-planned writing allows you to write sections of your book out of sequence. This again, is a more effective and efficient use of your limited writing time. For example, if you have only a brief period available for writing, you can select a shorter chapter or an easier chapter. You might finish that (or at least a good portion of it) in the short time allowed to you. If you have a longer opportunity for writing, you could select a longer or more difficult portion of your book.

Your personalized schedule also allows you to measure your progress and control your own limited writing time. Writing a book is a delightful chore, but a demanding one, also. There will be times when it becomes fatiguing, even irritating. I remember one TV writing colleague who stormed out of the room as we were watching a taping of the show we had just written. He said as he left, “I’m beginning to hate this family.” There will come times when we almost hate the book we’re working on. However, if you have a workable schedule, you can allow time to step away from your project for awhile. Take a brief vacation. Relax for a bit and return to your project refreshed and ready to resume your writing with renewed passion. There may be times when doing nothing is a valuable use of your time.

There’s another hidden advantage to knowing just where you are in your writing schedule – you can know immediately what you’ve completed and how much you have to get done. When I read a book, I often check the bookmark. Am I one-quarter of the way through the book? Half way through the book? It seems to me that I read much more quickly when I can see the end of the book approaching. Isn’t it pretty much the same way with writing? You seem to work more quickly and with more dedication when you feel the end is in sight.

There’s a story told about performers and stage fright. The tale goes that one experienced performer admitted that he always got butterflies in his stomach before a performance. “The secret, though,” he said, “is to get the butterflies to fly in formation.”

That’s what we writers are trying to do with the realities that face us. We have to make a living. We must care for and provide for our children. We have pressing duties at home and in the community. We have many chores that take priority over our writing. The secret, though, is to take charge of these distractions. Organize the chaos we must deal with daily and weekly. We can do that – and finish the book we want to write in the process – by recognizing these impediments, accepting them, and dealing with them. Get them to “fly in formation.” Plan and schedule your writing and you’ll work more efficiently and eventually get your book completed.

Of course, then you begin to plan and schedule your next book – again, despite many necessary distractions.

Writing a Novel that's Better (and maybe easier)

2011-08-01T13:15:00.019-04:00

Wrapping up this series of posts on Creating and Building a Better Novel, I wanted to first share with you what two authors learned for themselves while writing the novel that got them published. (Because what writer wouldn't kill to know that?)

Author Holly Cupala did a guest post on The Other Side of the Story (great blog, by the way) on what she learned about writing. She asked questions and did research on other authors, but this post on What She Learned while writing her book Tell Me A Secret has some real gems in it.

On the same blog, Janice Hardy writes about what she learned while writing her first published book The Shifter and how it differed from her previous books.

And a couple of little tidbits that I think I worth reading: How to Avoid Pantser Pitfalls (in case you're not much of a plotter) and How to Create a Template so you don't keep having to adjust your margins and font and paragraphing for each book.

Lightning Strikes... in my living room?

2011-07-29T21:34:00.017-04:00

Last week, my husband was struck by lightning.

As if the odds of that aren't small enough, get this: He was sitting on the couch in our living room!

We had a really bad storm and lightning struck a huge tree in our front yard. Kyle says one of his eyes saw a flash of white light, followed by a dark after-image that blinded that eye. He also had a ringing in his ears. My husband felt the shock go in where his neck meets his shoulder.

Kyle looked over to our daughter, sitting next to him, and she was crying. (He couldn't hear her because he was deaf at the time.) The shock went in through his left shoulder and out his right hip into her. The baby didn't get the shock, but he looked pretty shaken up.

Kyle's hearing and sight returned after a short amount of time and there were no burn marks or anything. Everyone's fine, but I just can't believe it happened!

Who knew you could get struck by lightning while sitting on your living room couch?!

Good Story Ideas: Where do they come from?

2011-07-26T11:59:00.059-04:00

Helpful writing tips and links have been sparse lately, and I apologize for that. I'm trying to redirect this blog so it has a piece of me in it. I want this blog to be helpful for writers, but I also want it to be MY blog. I'm still trying to find that balance. (Any feedback is appreciated.)

So, getting back that helpful stuff, I thought I'd blog about getting good story ideas.

I haven't been published yet, but I've already been asked The #1 Question Writers Get: "Where do you get your ideas?"

Um... I don't know. They just come to me.

Okay, okay. I've given it some thought. The first decent answer I came up with was: my story ideas come to me just like any idea comes to any person.

Inventors come up with incredible gadgets. Usually, when they answer The Idea Question, they talk about a problem they were having. Then, they'll say, "So I invented the doohicky-o-matic!"

So... you got your idea from a problem? Didn't the idea come AFTER you had the problem?

Seriously, I think that's how our brains work. We see a problem, and we try to come up with a solution. Some of us are better at it than others. (But is it possible that it just takes practice?)

When I want a story idea, I have to define my problem, with specifics. And no, the problem isn't just 'I need a story idea'. My problem is: I need a character that lacks something, in an interesting setting, with the potential for a lot of problems to happen around him/her while he/she struggles with her own problems. And it needs to be entertaining.

But how can your brain work with garbage like that?

Be more specific!

I want a 70,000-word YA novel with a spunky female protagonist who doesn't know what's good for her, who finds herself in a situation with a fantasy element in it.

Usually, the more specific I am, the faster the ideas come to me. I analyze each idea until I find one I'm excited to work on. (Because, let's be honest, sometimes my ideas aren't all that good.)

Of course, there are other ways I get ideas. I got my idea for Ivy Thorn because friends challenged me to approach writing from a different angle. I wasn't looking for a story idea then.

And I got my idea for my zombie book from ~~the voices in my head~~ a dream I had while I was awake. I wasn't looking for a story idea then, either.

So my Top 4 pieces of advice for coming up with good story ideas are:
1) Be specific with what you want
2) Read a lot
3) Try new things with your writing
4) When an idea does come, pick it apart to see if it has "great idea" potential. If it doesn't, keep trying.

More on story ideas to come...

Cyn Balog Guest Post: What Career Novelist Know

2011-07-23T15:43:00.017-04:00

I’m so psyched about this guest post. The lovely Cyn Balog has agreed to tell us a bit about what writing is like after the first sale. I’ve always been curious about this. Thank you Cyn!

Cyn's new YA fantasy Starstruck just came out (and her books never disappoint)

And now... here's Cyn Balog with insider information!

I’ve said before that writing is like eating my favorite flavor of ice cream. Writing on deadline is like eating that same ice cream while having someone hanging on your back, screaming, “EAT!” Yes, it still tastes good. I still love it. But there’s also a lot of nagging pressure. You can’t stop when you’re full. You can’t take the time to experiment, to, for instance, see if caramel syrup would make it taste better. You just have to dig in and keep going until you are done.

I’ve written four books under deadlines now, and sometimes it’s scary and frustrating. But it’s one of those problems I’m lucky to have. I’ll never wallow and say “poor me” because I love what I do, and I’m happy and grateful to be paid for it. But creativity is not one of those animals that does well in captivity; sometimes it needs time to breathe, to stretch its legs. And with a deadline, that freedom simply isn’t there. Considering the optimum schedule for a career novelist is one book a year, how does a writer get her creative well to abide by that timetable?

When you write your first book, it can take you three months or three years. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have a schedule. You can wait for inspiration to strike, for the well of creativity to be full. You can pore over every sentence, make sure every word chosen is perfect. But suddenly, when that book sells, you realize you don’t have that luxury. You’ll have agents, editors, fans clamoring for your next book well before your first book releases. Creativity isn’t one of those things easily forced, which is why, once the initial celebration of selling your first book is over, your immediate next concern will be if you can make it a career. There are plenty of one-book wonders out there, and you will wonder if you will be one of them. You will think that a hundred monkeys working in a room for a hundred days could probably write a publishable book, but well, writing two publishable books, that takes talent. How will you be able to recreate the same magic of your first book?

This is perfectly normal. I don’t think any writer out there thinks that everything he writes is amazing and will be published. There are always fears in this business, whether you are embarking on the first chapter of your first novel or penning the last word of your hundredth. Always. And you’re likely to have setbacks along the way, such as a book your editor hates, bad reviews, poor sales . . . there are a million things that might make you want to close up your laptop for good and go find a career that you don’t suck so badly at. But you’ll go back to it, partly because you’re a glutton for punishment, but mostly because you love it so much.

Every writer who has made the attempt to sell their work knows that writing is hard work. Most people dream of writing a book, talk about it, but never attempt it. Because they know that if they did put in the work, they’d likely fail. And actually publishing it? Well, that’s damn near impossible. And that’s the thing. If you do sell your book, you’ve done the damn near impossible, the thing that 99.9% of the world will never, ever do. Be proud. And when the time comes to write the second one, remember that you have already accomplished what can’t be done. You’re already a superstar.

And no matter what fear you’re hit with on the journey, the answer to overcoming it is always the same: Keep writing, no matter what. That is what career novelists do.

Cyn Balog is going to Guest Post Tomorrow!

2011-07-22T10:24:00.003-04:00

I'm really excited about tomorrow's post. Cyn Balog, author of several young adult fantasy books, is going to guest post! Cyn is going to tell us how writing is different after that first sale.

Kid-Friendly Recipe: Whiny Bread

2011-07-20T10:25:00.000-04:00

Whiny Bread was originally going to be called Double-Berry Banana Bread, but Thing #1, my sweet daughter Rebecca (bless her) inspired me.

Rebecca loves to cook. She especially likes to make muffins. One day, she decides: This is the day I WILL make muffins. So, she bugs me. And when I say 'bug', I mean every five minutes: "Hey, Mom. Can we make muffins?" Every time, she says it like the idea just came to her, like she's just spouting off some stray thought.

Well, I caved.

I was going to make banana bread (because bananas were 25 cents a pound at Wal Mart and, well, I had a lot of bananas) but I had these frozen blueberries. I needed freezer space, I didn't have anything else in mind for those blueberries, so in they went. I replaced some of my mashed bananas with thawed blueberries. (I still have bananas on hand. Oh well.)

Note: Adding blueberries to banana bread batter makes it less pretty:

That's a lot of batter, I know. I froze some of it for later. (Bananas don't last forever.) I also added some dried cranberries and of course chocolate chips. Chocolate is a must.

So, the oven is preheating and I'm scooping batter into the muffin tin when Rebecca asks, "Mom, can we take a bath?"

At this point, I'm counting to an insanely high number before responding. She hasn't even eaten a muffin yet and she's already asking for something else?!

"Sure, honey. After muffins."

I continue to scoop batter and she goes off to play with her little brother. Pretty soon, the muffins are baking and Rebecca is missing.

She's a big girl. She probably went to play with toys.

Nope.

She runs back into the kitchen stark. Naked.

The muffins are in the oven. I can't give her a bath right this second. When I tell her this, she cries. I don't know why, but watching her melt down over a gentle "not now" is funny. (I know, I'm terrible.) Rebecca slumps to the floor, whining about how she wants to take a bath. You'd think I just told her she can never bathe again.

And so, Whiny Bread was born:

It's even the right color. And it has a soothing ingredient to mend a broken heart: chocolate.

Hmm... maybe I should call them Sanity Muffins.

Define Rejection (and make it work FOR you)

2011-07-17T12:49:00.000-04:00

Rejection. I've given my pep talk on why rejection isn't so bad because it brings you to something better, but I've been thinking about it. You know what? I'm really weird.

Rejection isn't just something I get through. I actually look forward to the query process. The form letters don't tear me apart. They used to. Man, those stupid emails filled with 'no' used to sting. But I think I understand more about the publishing industry and about my own weaknesses that rejection isn't personal.

We've all heard that: it's not personal. It's not a rejection of you, it's a rejection of this book at this time.

But if that's what the form letter isn't, then what IS it?

I'm not sure if that makes any sense. You can't define something by defining what it's not. You can't say that 'black' means 'not white'.

So what IS rejection?

When I'm querying, I check my email every day (okay, MULTIPLE times a day) hoping to hear back from an agent. Of course, I'm hoping for The One, but even if it doesn't come, I love to get replies.

Because a rejection is information. It's an evaluation of your query letter and maybe your first few chapters. Some agents request five pages or three chapters, others just want the query. Pay attention to who requests what. (I keep notes on each query using QueryTracker.net.) Because if you're getting form rejections from all the agents who requested pages, but you're getting personalized rejections or even partial requests from agents that only saw your query letter, you've learned something. It's your writing, and not your premise.Your query letter is fine. It's the writing sample that was weak.

There are lots of things you can learn by paying attention to your rejections. If you get nothing but form rejections no matter what you send, then you know you need to write another book. Don't bother killing yourself trying to make this book perfect. It wasn't even close. Go back. Try again.

So, I think that's why rejections don't completely suck for me. A rejection isn't a 'No'. It's a "No, but..." or a "No, and..."

Three Sisters Garden: Two Months Later

2011-07-14T13:27:00.000-04:00

Earlier, I blogged about my Three Sisters Garden. Well, I'm pleased to announce that it has produced food!

Cue heavenly concourses of angels.

This is an updated picture of my garden. Please excuse the weeds. We (finally) got some rain, so I haven't been outside in some time. This is mostly corn stalks with pole beans growing up them.

That, friends, is future corn.

And I think these are kernels without a husk. Weird.

Fun with Word Clouds

2011-07-11T13:40:00.001-04:00

Writers like words. At least, I hope we all do. So, just for fun, I plugged my work in progress (Ivy's novel Roses and Mirrors) into Wordle. It generated this word cloud:

It's not as cool as I thought it would be, but I'm very pleased that 'Beast' and 'Beauty' are prominent. I really need to go back and look at how many times I use the word 'like', though.

I'd much rather it come out like this:

What clouds can you come up with?

Update: my friend Ryan made his own word clouds and posted them on his website here.

How to Write a Book (And Stay Sane)

2011-07-08T09:56:00.000-04:00

I'm a writer, so naturally, I'm a little crazy. I spend countless hours playing with imaginary things, trying to visualize things that aren't there, and then find the EXACT words to describe it. (You know those times when you're looking for the perfect word to describe a crazed, mentally-ill, soulless dying-to-rip-your-throat-out animal? The magic word is: rabid.)

The writing life is riddled with insecurity, which can also make you crazy. You spend hours upon hours (upon hours) writing a book (a BOOK for cryin' out loud!) and then you spend more hours revising it, usually more hours than it took to write the first draft. And then you wonder if it's good enough. And you worry about what you may have done wrong. And then you send it to agents and you find out that it's not good enough, or maybe it is and then you have a slew of other things to worry about (but I wouldn't know about such worries. Yet.).

Yes, being a writer is insane.

Here's how I cling to the scraps of sanity that I still have:
1) Take breaks. It doesn't matter how frequent or how long, I just take a break when my eyes start to glaze over. Usually, my head feels like it's full of mush. That's a good time to take a break. I get water, eat some fruit, close my eyes for a few minutes, or stare into space. (That's really fun to do in a public place, if you like to write in book stores or coffee shops. You get some great reactions.)

2) Accept your best for what it is. Do what you can and move on. I edited the pudding out of Shadow Bound. I learned a lot about revising and the last draft was ten times better than the one before it, but it still didn't sell. It was too far gone. The premise was good, but the characters weren't just flat, they were stick figures. The voices were... wanting. If I really wanted to, I could spend 6 or more months rewriting every word, but what's the point? I can write a better book from scratch.

3) Keep at it. This is similar to "get back on the horse". Just keep writing. Don't even think about it, just keep writing. It doesn't matter what you work on, but as soon as you stop, it gets difficult to start again. Every time I take a break from writing (like, you know, to have kids or something) it's so hard to start up again. And what do I think about during my off-time? My failures, usually. I think about how my last book didn't work out, it was weak, it was... Trust me. Move on and write something else.

4) Reach out. You may recall, Writers feed other writers, like vampires in a blood bank. If you don't believe me, go to a writer's conference. If you can't go to a writer's conference, check out the #amwriting tag on Twitter. Writers are so supportive. Part of it is because we're going through the same insecurities, the same frustrations. Another part is that we have the same goals. Yes, we all want to sell books, but more than that, we want to build a community of readers. And to do that, we all have to write the best stuff we can.

How to you maintain sanity (or at least the illusion or sanity)?

Outside, Around My House

2011-07-05T16:57:00.002-04:00

These are just some pictures I took in the spring. I like to look back to them during the scorching hot summer months to remind myself it's not always this bad.

Azaleas grow better than most weeds here in Tallahassee.

They're everywhere, but you only really notice them during the one month they're in bloom.

Ah, pollen season.

My three year old calls this the church angel because her hands are together like she's praying.

Some volunteers by the deck.

This is Francis. He watches over my garden and makes sure the birds and squirrels stay away. (I'm sure the dog fur I put around the garden helps, too.)

Getting Ideas for Novels

2011-07-02T09:20:00.003-04:00

I've already posted about how I got my idea for my zombie book, but I realized I didn't officially tell you how Ivy came to be, or how she evolved into a book.

I have to give credit to my writer friend Ryan Rhoads. He was instrumental to her creation. He started posting short fiction on his blog and encouraged me to do the same.(I was very pregnant at the time and had slowed WAY down on my novel.) I've never been really great at short stories, but maybe I could do something else...

I'd also recently received a comment from a reader on this blog.

Emily, First off, let me offer my appreciation for your blog as one that- though I do follow a fair few- your's is one that I'm always in the mood to read; partly because I like your writing style and partly because what you say interests me to the point of distraction. [...]

Alex.

This comment was just what I needed. Alex, if you're reading this now (a year later), thank you!

I realized at that point that my blog voice was better than my character's voice in my then WIP. So, I thought to myself: What if I wrote a book like I wrote my blog. It could be one long blog post, written by a character who has a life more interesting then mine.

That idea collided with the short fiction idea. I could experiment with the blog-post-novel idea and first person present (which I'd never used before). But what to write about?

I love fairy tales. They appear on my Sweet Spot Map all the time. And they're short enough for blogging.

That's when I met Ivy Thorn.

Establishing a Writing Routine: What Works for Me

2011-06-29T09:09:00.002-04:00

My writing routine has evolved. Mostly, it centers around my kids' nap time. It also depends on what I'm working on. First drafts can be written between breaths. Whenever I get a free moment, I can sit down (butt-in-chair or BIC) and pull a couple hundred words from my muse. (Where'd you think I pulled them from?)

That doesn't work for revision, though.

Something about rewriting a scene drains me. You may recall, I'm writing by hand because, well, it works for me. The content is better (setting, conflict, voice) but it's EXHAUSTING! When my kids (finally) go to bed, I go back to my room, pull out my notebook, and pick up where I left off the day before.

Thirty minutes later, I'm resting my head on my arm with my eyes closed, trying to recover. It's physically draining.

I'm lucky to get more than four pages written.

Now, typing those pages up on the computer takes no time. It's not nearly as demanding, mentally. I usually type up the week's handwritten pages on Saturday. It comes out to about 1800 words a week.

For those of you who haven't done the math yet, that's 300 words a day. (I take off Sundays.)

Really? That's pathetic.

It's okay. You can say it. I used to write five times that. But the thing is: I'm going to save myself a whole draft. So I like to double that number. :)

Another thing I need: silence. Some people like to work with music. I've done that, and it works really well for me if I have music or dancing in the scene. Otherwise, I find it builds the world in my mind without it being on the page. (I'm not sure if that makes sense.)

But the kids have to be asleep and I can't write in the same room as my husband if he's listening to something on the computer. Sometimes I get really lucky and he'll take the kids to the park or the pool. That's prime writing time, right there. Pure quiet.

I love it.

AbsolutelyEvil: the voice that says: You Can't

2011-06-27T21:49:00.000-04:00

As I get closer to finishing this draft of Roses and Mirrors, I start to hear that voice. You know the one. The voice that says, "You're going to fail." It's AbsolutelyEvil.

AbsolutelyEvil is picking at the back of my brain right now, telling me that there are so many mistakes in this draft. AE says I'll never catch all of them in the next pass.

Maybe I should freak out and stop what I'm doing RIGHT NOW and go back and make all the changes I can think of. Because I might forget to make those changes if I don't do it RIGHT NOW.

I'm leaving myself little notes while I write (AE says I'm not going to see them when the time comes to make those changes.) and I try not to worry about it until I'm ready to do the next draft, but (excuse my whining) it's hard. It's difficult to put something imperfect on the paper and move on.

But I must.

And AE can just deal with it.

Fairy Tales Gone Wrong: Riker's Fractured Fairy Tale

2011-06-26T14:24:00.034-04:00

by Ivy Thorn

The last post I made on this blog, someone asked me for an example of something that can go wrong in a fairy tale if you don't follow my three rules. (Why is it always three?)

Well, I'm not the only one who gets trapped in fairy tales. Every now and then, I'll meet someone like me, someone who's been captured by one of those obnoxious pixies. I got sucked into the Twelve Dancing Princesses once, where I met this guy named Riker. I got his permission to tell you about one of his adventures. I think I mentioned him once. Riker survived The Clever Little Tailor.

Riker's a pretty awesome guy. Like me, he enjoys messing with people. I warned him about that. It can get you into trouble. He knew exactly what I meant.We were dancing at the time, so we had some time to talk.

"I had a little too much fun with that fairy tale," he said.

I stepped on his toe, but didn't apologize. He was used to it by that point. "What do you mean?"

He flashed a wicked grin. “I broke into the cheese shop.”

“You what? Why?”

“The tailor was supposed to trick the giant by squeezing some cheese. Says he’s squeezing moisture out of a rock.” He spun me around, slow enough that I didn't trip.

“So you stole all the cheese? That’s crazy.”

“Crazy delicious.” He grinned and patted his stomach. “But then the tailor had to scramble for a new plan. In the meantime, the giant tore up the entire village. Not pretty, when the whole community uses outhouses.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Tell me you’re kidding.”

“I’m kidding.” He dipped me really low, totally hamming it up. “But not really.”

When he pulled me back up, I tried giving him a look that said, “Oh, please.” but on the inside, I was cracking up. I just had this mental image of busted outhouses, all because this guy stole some cheese.

There you go. That's what can happen. So please, if you ever wake up in a fairy tale, follow the rules!

Writing Progress

2011-06-25T13:51:00.001-04:00

I have about three scenes left in Roses and Mirrors! I'm really excited to be so close to The End.

The story still needs another draft and I'm going to try reading the manuscript out loud because it's supposed to be incredibly helpful. I'm hoping to query Roses and Mirrors by July 12. I can't wait!

(Yes, I look forward to querying. Rejections don't bring me down like they used to. I realize that must seem strange. Oh, well.)

My Guest Post, complete with Ivy

2011-06-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

I just did a guest post on Liana Brooks' blog. It includes an except from Ivy's novel, Roses and Mirrors.

Grandma's Garden

2011-06-23T16:21:00.001-04:00

My grandma is an amazing gardener. She lives in central Florida and grows just about anything. She's a big inspiration for me with my gardening. We went to visit my grandparents not too long ago and I took a bunch of pictures.

Container gardening at it's finest. Grandma will use anything as a

planter: old bathtubs, barrels, water drums, you name it.

I love this little pond they made. There are some fish and

the little pile of rocks in the back sometimes has water trickling out from it.

More containers. Tomatoes and herbs, mostly.

These are in Grandma's little greenhouse.

Please take as many kumquats as you want!

Grandma makes really good kumquat preserves.

She has a Three Sisters Garden of her own.

(Hers is so much better than mine.)

Freezer Cooking: Surprisingly Delicious (Yet Convenient)

2011-06-20T17:12:00.000-04:00

Our family can't eat a whole lasagna. We can't even eat half of it. So, every time I make it, I put together two smaller lasagnas (in two 9x9 pans) instead of one larger (9x13) pan. I don't cook the noodles ahead of time, I just put a little extra liquid in the sauce. I freeze one pan and cook the other. When we want lasagna again, I pull the frozen pan out in the morning, let it thaw, then bake it at dinnertime. Simple. Easy. And I think it tastes better than the fresh one.

Then I found out I'm not the only person who does this. I mean, there are some people that go all-out. I found this website called FreezerDinner.com run by a homemaker in Utah. She does freezer cooking all the time and has some great recipes on her blog.

I gave some of them a try.

The Chicken Manicotti Recipe was something new and kid-friendly!

Chicken Marengo is a new family favorite. It's like an Italian stew on rice.

So on the nights when dinner is just "throw something in the oven", I get to write!

It's my latest thing.

Writers: Rejection is a Good Thing

2011-06-17T14:39:00.056-04:00

I'm closing in on the end of my fairy tale book. This draft, at least. I'm just itching to get it out into the world. With every book I write, it's hard not to think: "This could be the one."

"The one", of course, is the book that lands me an agent and a publisher and a check. I'd continue to write, even if I knew I'd never write "the one", but it's nice to have validation, you know? Besides, my stories need to be read. They need to be shared.

Anyway...

So I'm getting closer to finishing this book. This is Ivy's book. (She deserves it. She's been a great character and so entertaining. For me, at least.) And I've already built my agent list. A list of several agents that I think would be a good match for my book, my future books, my career, and me.

And I can't help but think about rejection. It's part of the biz. You query for the "yes", but you have to prepare for the "no" (and the "no thanks" and the "sorry" and the "this is a subjective business" and "I'm going to have to pass" and "this isn't quite right for me").

But rejection is good. Rejection means you're trying. I think of my rejection letters as battle scars, badges of honor. Every query I've sent is a little ping that I sent out into the world. And every rejection was a response. Not the response I was looking for, but it was a response.

And with every response I get, the closer I get to the one that's going to make me jump up and down, run and scream like a kid playing freeze tag, and then collapse on the floor with a smile on my face.

Because I may not be very good at math, but I know a bit about statistics. I was a psychology major and we're all about statistics.

Daryl Sedore did a guest post on the blog Write to Done on Why Rejection Letters Are Great and I completely agree. They're great.

He writes:

Years ago I worked as a door to door salesperson doing cold calls. We’d go knocking on doors all over the neighbourhood and eventually get in. Sometimes it took ten minutes, sometimes an hour. Once in a while it took all day. I learned quickly that it was just a matter of knocking on doors before I got in. What I mean is, the more doors I covered, the faster I got in a house to do a presentation and possibly make a sale. So I ran. That’s right, I ran from door to door. It kept me energized and fired up so when I finally got in, I was ready to present and sell. I outsold my team month after month. The rest of the salespeople got depressed when a door slammed in their face. Not me, I loved it, because I was one closer to the door that would welcome me in.

And he makes a great point later in the post:

[...]You miss out on 100% of all literary agents that you don’t query.

Of course, the quality of your book is what really counts. You can't just query 300 agents for the same book and expect the law of averages to work for you.

But still.

I'm writing the best book I can. And I can't wait for it to get rejected. Because that means it's that much closer to becoming "the one".

Fairy Tale Survival 101

2011-06-14T11:19:00.003-04:00

by Ivy Thorn

Fairy Tales are so predictable. But they're not. You think you know what happens next. You think you know all the patterns and archetypes. But the thing about fairy tales is: you never know when some fairy is going to change things up because he's bored. Or you might change the story without meaning to. There's no rule that says Snow White has to take a bite from a poisoned apple. You can pick all the apples in kingdom, but that's not going to stop the queen from going after Snow White.

Believe me. I've tried.

I had a friend who got stuck in The Clever Little Tailor. And things went horribly wrong because he broke into the town's cheese shop. But that's another post.

The point is: anything you change can come back and bite you.

So the first rule of fairy tale survival is: Don't touch a thing. I don't care if it's pretty or sparkly or if it looks delicious. It's probably cursed anyway and you don't want it.

The second rule completely contradicts the first one. You have to change something. If you're being trapped in a fairy tale, it's most likely because a fairy is bored and wants to watch something entertaining. So you have to change something or the fairy will change things for you. And believe me, you don't want that.

So start small. Start by talking to characters. Get them to think about their situation differently. You want the character to make the big changes, not you. For example, one of my better ideas was when I jumped into Snow White this latest time. (Yes, I get trapped in the same tale more than once occasionally.) I told the queen she'd be better off leaving Snow White alive. Of course, she didn't listen to me. Until I suggested that she make Snow White ugly. Not dead, just ugly.

My third and best tip for surviving a fairy tale is to make friends. I know it sounds cheesy, but it works. You'll get past all those witches and enchantresses trying to test you. Friends are allies and can help you be in more than one place at the same time. One of the best friends you can make? The kitchen staff. Everything revolves around food, just like in our world, and if you can make friends with the cook, you've got a leg up on all the big parties, balls, royal dinners, family suppers, even that basket of poisoned apples...

So there you go. You're ready for a fairy invasion. If you ever wake up in front of a castle, you know what to do.

My Three Sisters Garden

2011-06-11T16:21:00.000-04:00

I'm growing some veggies and a few flowers in my yard. I like growing things. I love the smell of the dirt and how thirsty plants suck up all the water on a hot day. Baby green leaves shooting up out of the ground are just so beautiful. And the really great thing about growing vegetables is: you get to eat them!

So this spring, I planted a garden. Not just any garden. I planted a Three Sisters Garden. This is a Native American tradition, I think. Basically, you plant corn, then some pole beans and squash. The beans put nitrogen into the soil, the corn gives the beans something to climb, and the squash provides ground cover, which keeps out the weeds.

Marigolds keep the bugs away.

I planted the corn first to give it a head start, then planted the beans and squash.

The newspaper isn't pretty, but it cuts down on weeds.

Baby squash plants. Took about 2 weeks to get this big from seed.

So yes, the writer lives outside the words in her brain. :) I don't spend much time outside, but I try to get out every couple of days to water and weed my little garden.

Writers Write. And Garden. And Chase Kids Around. And...

2011-06-10T16:14:00.000-04:00

I'm a writer. It's what I do. It's what I love. Writing is my escape from life.

But sometimes, writing is hard work. I'm okay with hard work, but all work and no play makes Emily a spiteful wench.

Not pretty.

So I need other outlets. Believe it or not, I have a life outside of my writing (and kids). So I'm thinking about sharing my other interests on this blog. I garden. I think I might post some pictures from my adventures through my yard. I also run (when I'm not sick or injured), read, and of course: raise my kids.

So how 'bout it? You interested in seeing what my life is like? It could be scary. To be honest, I'm not sure if I'm brave enough. Maybe that's why I'm procrastinating...

Writers Feeding Writers, Like a Vamp in a Blood Bank

2011-06-07T09:05:00.000-04:00

Jonathan Maberry was one of the keynote speakers at Pennwriters this year. His speech was absolutely inspired.

He spoke about how he got his start as a writer. He'd heard that writing is a solitary life, that writers are reclusive and jealous of other writers. So he worked alone.

Then he went to his first conference. Not only were the other writers friendly, they lifted each other up. There wasn't any jealousy. These were people who enjoyed their work, who shared their ideas, and who worked to help others succeed.

The thing about writers is that we benefit by helping our "competition". With most businesses, you buy from either company A or company B. If you buy from company A, then B has lost you as a customer, and vice versa.

Not so with writers.

If a reader picks up book A and reads it and loves it, then that reader will continue to look for books written by that author. In the meantime, the reader is looking for another fix. They're looking for another book to read that will entertain them and move them like book A did. And so they pick up book B. If they love it, they now have two authors from whom they buy books. And the cycle continues.

The goal of writers is to create a readership. To write our best so that readers come back for more. Not just for our benefit, but for the benefit of the industry.

And so our community, the community of writers, is not a competitive one. We feed each other. As Mr. Maberry put it: a writer walking into a conference is like a vampire walking into a blood bank.

And that's why he doesn't put other writers down. If author A slams author B on his blog, Jonathan Maberry said he'll go buy author B's book. There's no room in this industry for negativity or malice.

For me, writing is a joy. I'd like to spread that joy to as many people as I can.

RePost: Show vs. Tell: What I Learned at Pennwriters

2011-06-04T11:53:00.000-04:00

YA author Maria V. Snyder gave a great seminar on Show vs. Tell. I asked if I could post her handout and she said yes! So, here it is:

A common writing mistake is to tell the reader the events of a story or tell the reader how a character is feeling. Journalism is an acceptable method of telling, of presenting the facts, but fiction creates the illusion of being there in the story, seeing events happen without the writer telling you.

For example:

Valek was angry. (Telling)

"Valek took a gray rock off his desk and hurled it toward me. Stunned, I froze as the stone whizzed past and exploded on the wall behind me." (Showing)

[This year at Pennwriters, I also learned to avoid showing AND telling. You wouldn't want to say Valek was angry and then hurl the rock.]

There are five techniques a fiction writer can use to avoid telling the reader:

1.Using Point of View (POV)

2.Using dialogue

3.Using all the senses

4.Using picture nouns and action verbs

5.Writing in scenes

USING POINT OF VIEW (POV):

POV is the character who is relating the story. The readers see your fictional world through this character's eyes. Usually the POV character is the main protagonist, but not always (The Sherlock Holmes mysteries are told from Dr. Watson's viewpoint).

There are many different POVs:

1. First person - The POV character tells the story as "I." Strong reader identification with POV character. Readers discover story events as character does. Remember - POV character must be present at all main story events. Example:

"I averted my eyes from the flickering light as they led me down the main corridor of the dungeon. Thick, rancid air puffed in my face. My bare feet shuffled through puddles of unidentifiable muck."

--POISON STUDY, Maria V. Snyder

2. Second person - The POV character is referred to as "You." Demands reader identification, technically challenging. Example:

"You avert your eyes from the flickering light as you are led down the main corridor of the dungeon. Thick, rancid air puffs in your face. Your bare feet shuffle through puddles of unidentifiable muck."

3. Limited third person - A single POV character is referred to as "he" or "she." Allows writer to get out of the POV character's head and tell the story. Provides some distance from POV character while still fostering strong identification.

Example: "Yelena averted her eyes from the flickering light as she was led down the main corridor of the dungeon. Thick, rancid air puffed in her face. Her bare feet shuffled through puddles of unidentifiable muck."

4. Multiple third person - Multiple POV characters, each referred to as "he" or "she." Flexibility in covering spatial and temporal events. Less reader confusion when one POV character is used per chapter. Same writing style as limited third, but the writer is not restricted to one character's thoughts and actions.

5. Omniscient - No single character, jumps from POV to POV, with authorial comment. Freedom to make major points without too much reader identification with primary characters. Example:

"Sam had a very sharp sense of clothes style - quite as sharp as a "mod" of the 1960's; and he spent most of his wages on keeping in fashion. And he showed another mark of this new class in his struggle to command the language.

By 1870 Sam Weller's famous inability to pronounce v except as w, the centuries-old mark of the common Londoner, was as much despised by the "snobs" as by the bourgeois novelists who continued for some time, and quite inaccurately, to put it into the dialogue of their cockney characters."

--The French Lieutenant's Woman, by John Fowles

USING DIALOGUE:

Dialogue is fast paced, it's easy and entertaining to read, it advances the plot and shows characterization, and it involves the reader. We all like to eavesdrop on conversations (if you're a writer it's practically a job requirement!). Dialogue is also a great way to "show" what is happening in your story.

Example:

Valek poisoned Yelena's drink with Butterfly's Dust. (Telling)

"While we're waiting, I though maybe you could use a drink." Valek handed me a tall pewter goblet filled with an amber liquid. Raising his own goblet, he made a toast. "To Yelena, our newest food taster. May you last longer that your predecessor."
My goblet stopped short of my lips.

"Relax," he said, "it's a standard toast."

I took a long swig. For a moment, I thought my stomach was going to rebel. This was the first time I drank something other than water.

"What does it taste like?" Valek asked.

"Peaches sweetened with honey."

"Good. Take another sip. This time roll the liquid around your tongue."

I complied and was surprised by the faint citrus flavor. "Orange?"

"That's right. Now gargle it."

"Gargle?" I asked. He nodded. Feeling foolish, I gargled the rest of my drink and almost spat it out. "Rotten oranges!"

He laughed. "Correct." He opened my folder and picked up his pen. "You just had your first lesson in food tasting. Your drink was laced with a poison called Butterfly's Dust. The only way to detect Butterfly's Dust in a liquid is to gargle it. That rotten orange flavor you tasted was the poison." (Showing)

--POISON STUDY, Maria V. Snyder

USING ALL THE SENSES:

Don't just use visual imagery for description. In addition to colors, sizes, and shapes, use smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. Smells can be very effective in provoking a response in your reader. Example:

"I selected four squares. They were each about the size of my thumbnail. If I hadn't been told they were a dessert, I probably would have guessed they were pieces of brown candle wax. My fingernail left an impression on the top, and my fingertips felt slightly greasy after handling them.

I bit into the hard cube, expecting it to turn to powder between my teeth. Thinking wax, I anticipated tasting wax. Instead of crumbling, the dessert melted and coated my tongue was a cascade of flavor. Sweet, bitter, nutty and fruity tastes followed each other. Just when I though I could say it was one of them, I would taste them all again."

--POISON STUDY, Maria V. Snyder

USING PICTURE NOUNS AND ACTION VERBS:

Use specific, concrete nouns instead of vague ones like happiness, kindness, arrogance, and courage. Instead show characters being happy, kind, arrogant, and courageous. Also use the most vivid, active verbs, and avoid the passive or linking verbs. Limit modifiers. Examples:

There was a robot working behind the counter. (Telling)
A glittering, magnificent, and spectacular robot was working behind the vast, shiny, smooth counter. (Modifier overload! and passive voice)
An X-14 Postal Robot sorted envelopes behind the customer service desk. (Showing)

Passive Voice: The car was speeding down the road.

Active Voice: The car raced down the road.

Passive: The report was read by Karen.
Active: Karen read the report.

Passive: The crash was witnessed by a pedestrian.
Active: A pedestrian witnessed the crash.

WRITING IN SCENES:

For any story length, scenes are the building blocks of the story. The word "scene" is a theater term. It describes action that occurs in a single place or setting. It can be as short as a paragraph or as long as a chapter. Focus defines a scene not length. Each scene in a novel has a specific focus or reason that the author chooses to show the reader what's going on at that time.

Here are some reasons to use the scene:

to give information to further the plot of story
to show conflict between characters by using dialogue and action
to show a particular character by focusing on how he/she deals with a situation
to create suspense.

The beginning of a scene should hook the reader and make him/her want to keep reading. The ending should create some type of suspense - emotional or physical so the reader will want to continue reading.

There are seven ways to begin a scene:

In media res (beginning in the middle) -- start with action or at a point in the protagonist's life where there is change or conflict
Dialogue -- starting with dialogue is another form of in media res, but this method starts in the middle of a conversation. This is an interesting and fast-paced way to open a scene. Dialogue also shows characterization, background information, and plot conflict all without the reader noticing the technique.
The Jump Cut -- starting with an action or dialogue that has nothing to do with prior scene. This creates suspense as the reader has to read on to find out what happened after the last scene ended.
The "Big Promise" Opening -- start the scene by making a big promise to the reader about what the scene will entail. Example: "When I stepped onto the commuter train that afternoon, I had no idea that it would be my last train ride."
Setting -- only begin with setting if it is a crucial part of the story. By starting with setting, the reader knows this aspect of the story is very important.
Time -- Begin the scene with the time of day. Waking up in the morning is a popular place to start -- although this can be weak if nothing significant happens. Avoid the waking to the screaming alarm clock and pounding door cliches.
Character Description -- opening a scene with a description of a character. Not a dry list of physical features, but rather a sense of the character's personality, focusing on some trait that will influence the plot.

Ms. Snyder left us with some writing exercises that should help with show vs. tell. I thought it might be fun to leave our answers in the comments section.

Using all the senses, describe one of the following three scenarios:
A. Waiting in line for the Drop of Death rollercoaster
B. Riding on the Drop of Death rollercoaster
C. Getting off the Drop of Death rollercoaster after having ridden it.

Correct these three sentences to show rather than tell (can expand into a paragraph):
A. The hotel was crowded.

B. Doug was handsome.

C. He wore a suit and thought he looked good.

D. Mary hated working for Frannie.

E. The little boy was afraid of the dark.

F. Kari was angry at Tom.

A special thanks to Maria V. Snyder for giving a great seminar, a thorough handout, and for letting us share it!
She has a lot of great sources for writers in her Publishing Labyrinth, but I think this post is long enough! :)

Finding What Works for You: Writing Longhand

2011-05-31T10:10:00.001-04:00

Today, most writers use a computer to work. Why wouldn't you? It's faster and easier to edit.

At least, that's what your brain tells you.

I've been writing new scenes out by hand. (Crazy, I know.) It's been really helpful. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe my brain just has more time to throw out the junk words and cliches before my hand can write them out. Maybe I'm using a different part of the brain. Maybe my muse just likes writing by hand, so she throws out the good stuff when I cooperate. Who knows?

What I do know is that my writing is much richer. The settings come to life, the voice comes naturally, and the conflict is everywhere. (I also haven't gotten writer's block yet, knock on wood.) I hardly feel like I can take credit for it. It's like something takes over and gives better words to my pen.

After I get a few chapters down, I type up what I've written. I do a little editing in the process. Mostly, I make sure the rhythm is right and the descriptions aren't too long. Sometimes I catch a place where my character notices things she shouldn't (like when she's injured--why would she have the presence of mind to count the windows?) or where the villain gives too much information. (He likes to hold back a little. It makes him feel in control.) So this method works in more than one way.

It doesn't take as much time as I thought it would. I can type 4,000 words in one day without too much trouble. That's a crazy number of words if you're weaving a story from scratch.

I'd highly recommend it. Just to try. :)

Building Your Brand with CJ Lyons Part 2

2011-05-28T15:06:00.002-04:00

Here's Part 2 of How to become a Bestseller and Preserve your Sanity

You can find CJ's (absolutely fabulous) writing resources at her website No Rules, Just Write! If the ideas in the handout are helpful, there's more on this in her Break Free from the Slushpile e-book.

[recap]
I'm going to tell you to ask yourself three questions.

Here we go!

1. Why did you write this book?

2. Who did you write this book for?

3. What are you willing to do for this book?

Dig deep with your answers! Why? Because the answers will frame your entire marketing strategy--and make it a custom fit tailored to you and your readers!

How?

Why did you write this book? Answer that truthfully and you'll find yourself telling all sorts of stories about what the book meant to you and what inspired you and why this character did that and how you researched various things, etc, etc, etc.

Key word in all of that? Stories!!!

Right there is the heart of every answer you need for interviews, guest blog posts, QandA's, press releases, etc, etc, etc.

Look at your answer. If you dug deep you'll find that you've placed a human, emotional face onto dry facts whether you're talking about your research or how you juggled your schedule to find time to write this book you were so passionate about.

Let that passion and emotion shine through--it's how we connect to an audience!

Answer that question truthfully and you'll never have to worry about a paint-drying-boring press release or interview or feature article again! Because you--the "real" you, authentic and passionate and honest!--will be at the heart of each story written about you (or by you).

Okay, so that's pretty much all the content you'll need. Now, you need to decide who to send that content to.

Sounds like the answer to question #2, doesn't it? Who did you write this book for? That's your target audience.

It might be one person, say your mother. That's fine, but dig deep, ask yourself why? Is it because you've been estranged and you're reaching out through your characters for a chance to reconnect?

Guess what? A large number of people have been there, done that! Use them, reach out to them via blogs, online groups, etc.

Did you add a Calico Cat character because you wrote the entire book with your calico cat sleeping on your lap and the keyboard (kinda like I'm writing this article, lol!) Then reach out to all the Calico Cat lovers out there!

Does the book wrestle with a social or political issue that you feel passionate about? Then reach out to the others who feel the same way!

This is targeted marketing. Reaching out and connecting with PEOPLE, not just anonymous blogs or websites or demographics. You want to connect, start conversations, tell stories.

Do not simply post a bunch of tweets, blogs, comments and turn tail and run….in other words, it's NOT about YOU--it's ALL about THEM!

With every audience you aim to connect with, first ask yourself: what do I have to offer them? What can I give them? What do they want?

Which brings us to question #3: what are you willing to do?

Knee jerk answer for any debut author is: ANYTHING or EVERYTHING.

Great way to burn out, fast!

Answer this one thoughtfully and honestly.

If you're terrified of public speaking and getting up to give a talk would make you lose a week of sleep and decrease your ability to work (remember your main job is to write the next book!) then acknowledge that and incorporate it into your plan: I won't do any live presentations.

Doesn't it feel better just to say it? Feel that weight off your shoulders? And hey, you're not ruining your career by focusing on the things you're comfortable with--in fact, you are PROTECTING THE WORK!

That's right, your job isn't to promote your work, it's to PROTECT it.

So make a list of promotional possibilities and impossibilities….play to your strengths. You may find only a few things under the "I know I can do this and rock it!" column--that's fine, then really focus on those.

They might not seem like promotion at all. They might be more along the lines of writing short stories, things totally in your comfort zone. No worries. As long as you're doing something to keep your name out there (and short stories are a great promotional tool!) you can count it.

You'll probably find that you have a third column: I'd like to do…but I'm not very good at…type of things. Great! Those are fun to try--as long as they don't get in the way of your writing.

For instance, you're an Introvert but really, really want to go to RWA so you can walk around smiling and wearing your First Sale ribbon.

Figure out a way to do it that won't sap your creative energy. Partner with an Extrovert friend who will introduce you and keep the small talk flowing. Schedule down time alone in your room so you can re-charge. Prepare a few topics of conversation ahead of time so you don't feel like you have nothing to say. Make appointments to meet people for meals so you don't end up eating alone in a crowd and feeling left out.

Bottom line: very, very, very few debut authors made it "big" because of their own promotional efforts.

BUT, if you know your strengths and play to them then you'll not only have fun but you'll be able to write the next book and build name recognition with YOUR audience.

And that's how bestsellers are made…one reader at a time.

Thanks for reading!

CJ

Building Your Brand with CJ Lyons Part 1

2011-05-27T14:57:00.023-04:00

Bestselling Thriller Author CJ Lyons had some fantastic seminars at the Pennwriters Conference. She was kind enough to let me share her handout from her Branding Workshop. You can find her (absolutely fabulous) writing resources at her website No Rules, Just Write!
If the ideas in the handout are helpful, there's more on this in her Break Free from the Slushpile e-book.

How to become a Bestseller and Preserve your Sanity

CJ Lyons
There are tons of places debut authors can find information on building a brand or platform--so many that it's often overwhelming. It's easy to feel like all you want to do is hide in your hermit cave and write the next book.

No worries--even I feel like that most of the time!!! You see, I'm an Introvert and my strength comes from my ability to sit alone and focus, get the job done.

I can put on a "party face" when needed, but it takes work and a lot of psychic energy--so much so that often for days after a convention I can't write.

Now, Extroverts--they usually don't need any help with promotion, they're walking/talking promotional powerhouses. Which can be a good thing as long as they learn to channel that energy and focus on the real work: writing the next book.

Because here's what I'm going to tell you that is different from all the other how-to-promote advice for debut authors:

Number one thing a debut author should do to promote their work and build their career? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number two thing? WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Number three? Repeat after me….WRITE THE NEXT BOOK!

Okay, you guys got that. Now, what else should you be focused on while preparing for your debut?

Most how-to posts will give you a checklist. In fact, I have a pretty good one that I wrote a few years ago called Birth of a Book: What to Do While You're Expecting. It's a pdf and you can download it here http://cjlyons.net/extras/for-writers/

But I'm not going to give you a checklist here. Instead, I'm going to tell you to ask yourself three questions.
Here we go!

1. Why did you write this book?

2. Who did you write this book for?

3. What are you willing to do for this book?

Dig deep with your answers! Why? Because the answers will frame your entire marketing strategy--and make it a custom fit tailored to you and your readers!

(I'll post Part 2 tomorrow, where CJ tells you how to use the answers to these questions.)

Writing Pointers from Pennwriters -- Dialogue

2011-05-25T13:33:00.017-04:00

A few little things I learned about dialogue and point of view.

It's okay to zoom in and out of your character/change POV as long as it's for a good reason. (To show a character's thoughts, for example.) Your english teacher would tell you it's not technically correct, but this is fiction.
Cut junk talk like "Okay", "Fine", or "Yes"
Avoid having a character answer a question directly. It's a great way to increase tension.
Read it ALOUD!
Try to make your characters sound unique. You should be able to take a random line of dialogue out and know who the speaker is without dialogue tags.

Writing Pointers from Pennwriters -- The Query

2011-05-23T13:33:00.000-04:00

Here are a few tidbits I picked up about querying:

Make it personal. Agents want to know why you chose to query them, specifically.
Your blurb needs to have voice and style (the same voice and style that's in your book).
Be polite!
Remember contact info!
May is a good time to query. Fall is also good. Summer is a busy time for agents, so don't expect a quick reply. (I personally don't think you should sit on a book just because it's summer, though.)
Send your query to yourself first to make sure it translates correctly. You don't want weird characters and formatting going out to every agent you query!
Be specific. Too many times, the inner conflict is described as "his demons" or "inner struggles". What does that even mean? Give details to show why this character's struggles are specific to him and your story.
More is less. One paragraph, maybe two. You're not writing a full synopsis. What you want to do is hook the agent by giving a few specific details about the conflicts. Show just how impossible your character's situation is.
Remove all the telling. Don't tell me the book is exciting. Show it in the blurb.
Agents say they want you to compare your book to other authors, but they really don't. Nine times out of ten, it'll hurt you more than help you. (Either you'll come off as overconfident or unclear, or you'll show the agent that you really don't know much about the current market.)

Getting A New Novel Idea ... Zombies

2011-05-21T08:26:00.000-04:00

One night during conference weekend, I was trying to fall asleep, when I heard one of those voices in my head. A new character. A new story. I heard the opening to a book I never thought I'd write. A zombie book.

Not being one to take lightning for granted, I wrote down the 150 words or so. Lightning struck twice. Three times. More and more. (I didn't sleep much that night.)

Over the rest of the weekend, even more until I had layer upon layer of conflicty goodness.

Since I was at the conference with a master of zombie writing, Jonathan Maberry, I talked to him about it. He said the idea was really good, and to his knowledge, hasn't been done before. (Wow)

I'm building it, all while working on getting Ivy ready for submission. I'm enjoying working on both. They're in such different stages, I don't feel like I'm spread too thin. The books are so different, they don't blend together.

So there you have it. Be on the lookout for my new zombie book. I'm pouring everything I've got into it.

Pennwriters: Character Driven Stories

2011-05-19T10:25:00.000-04:00

I'm (finally) home from Pennwriters! Can I just say: I love this conference. You can smile at anyone and start a conversation because you know you have something in common with them: You're both crazy.

But that's another post.

My adventures at Pennwriters started on Thursday, a three-hour workshop with CJ Lyons. Not only is she a national bestseller, CJ has insight into how she got there. Her classes don't disappoint and this workshop was no exception.

The class was based on her e-book No Rules, Just Write: Crafting the Character Driven Novel. I can guarantee you I'll be reading this book. The class was so helpful!

Here are some highlights:

Your main character should have an outer goal (the main conflict of the novel) that's concrete and easily defined. This is what he wants.

He should also have a weakness or flawed way of thinking, some way in which he needs to grow over the course of the novel. This is what he needs (although he probably doesn't know that he needs it).

So, what does your character keep doing that's holding him back? Maybe he's quiet and reserved because in the past, getting attention has always led to bad things in his life.
Maybe she distances herself from people because she's afraid of being vulnerable (or, she's afraid of getting hurt if she made herself vulnerable).

What is it that your main character really fears? Abandonment? Poverty? Not being in control?
And what does your character do to avoid it?

Once you have that, you can use it to motivate his actions as he works toward his outer goal. (Cool, huh?)

CJ used techniques like this to explain the three-act structure in a way I've never seen before. I've read about it dozens of times. It's always seemed like more of a checklist to me. Set up the character. Bring him into the conflict. Make things worse. Have him lose hope. He triumphs. Blah, blah blah.

This was different.

This made sense. And when I broke my WIP into the right pieces, I saw rich conflict that I didn't even known was there. Now I know what to emphasize. Ivy is going to be so much more compelling and real.

After this workshop, I was a little torn. On one hand, I was excited that I'd learned so much and that I knew how to tear my book apart to make it better.

On the other hand, now I have to tear my book apart to make it better.

Pennwriters done! Heading home now.

2011-05-17T21:01:00.000-04:00

Okay, it's disgusting how difficult it is to get internet on this trip. I know I'm supposed to be camping and it's a chance to "get away" from technology, but this is ridiculous. I had internet for a short time yesterday and I couldn't even get through all my email.

But the Pennwriter's Conference was incredible! I've posted a few things on Twitter under #pennwriters.
I have a few posts coming, but unfortunately, I just don't have enough internet time!

So my apologies, everyone.

More Goodies to Come!

2011-05-11T17:46:00.009-04:00

Well, what a week!

I went to the hospital, so I don't have much planned as far as blog posts go. (I'm fine. Just got one of those pesky non-essential organs removed.) BUT I don have Pennwriters tomorrow!

I love writer conferences. You learn so much and get a feel for where the market is right now. But more than that, you get a sense of commradere. You realize that a lot of people are going through the same thing you are. And it's encouraging. I leave feeling like what I'm doing is worthwhile. And it reminds me how much I love writing.

I'm going to take lots of notes at my Pennwriters conference (which, did I mention?, starts tomorrow!), but I'm not planning on posting until I can get those up. Hopefully, there won't be any gap and I can post in a couple of days.

Re-Post: More Crackin' on Character Building

2011-05-08T10:04:00.002-04:00

By the way, if you're not an avid reader of this blog and you need help with your characters, I have more than a dozen posts on the subject.

But, if you've read all that and are thirsty for more, here you go!

It's all about the villain, right? I've posted about villains before, but this article was fantastic: Beyond Bastards, Bullies, and Bad Girls breaks down just what an antagonist is, why an antagonist is not necessarily a villain, and how to make their roles pivotal and complex.

Taking it down a notch, here's an article on the basics of Character Development. Maybe you think you need to know more about your character, but are unsure of which questions to ask. This can help.

I've written about this one before and how it helped me, but I gotta share it again. Mary at Kidlit posted on Character-Driven Plots and has a phenomenal list of questions to ask your characters. Seriously. Go. Now.

Do you love your main character? Why? Author Becky Levine shares Why She Loves Her Main Character. I thought this was just so inspiring. This is how I want to feel/write my characters.

RePost: Let's Get Crackin' : Character Building

2011-05-05T10:01:00.006-04:00

Big topic, I know. But I have so many links and goodies, I'm busting at the seams. So let's get to it!

First off, if you want to build good characters, you HAVE to read everything you can from the blog Plot to Punctuation. This blog has a number of series on character development, all of which are worth reading all the way through. But, here are my favorites:

How to Revise Your Character's Attitudes: consider complexity and consistency when creating your character's beliefs and attitudes. Includes a few methods and techniques for getting to know your characters and why they behave/believe the way they do.

Great Characters are Like Origami: A step-by-step on how to create believable, authentic characters from the ground up.

The Five Stages of Grief: The latest series on this blog. Fiction is all about having your character's world come crashing down. So, how should your character react to crises? These posts have the answer.

How to Revise Your Character's Mannerisms: this is something I struggle with. We all have our own ways of moving, our habits, our ticks, our quirks. Here's how to make your characters' mannerisms consistent and believable.

Why You Sholud Steal Your Character's Shoes: Why heroic, perfect characters are boring, and how to fix it.

Whew! That's probably enough for today. (A BIG thanks to P2P editor!)

How to Create Better Characters

2011-05-02T09:52:00.024-04:00

Yes, of course I have more on characters. (Because what writer doesn't need better characters?)

Miriam Forster did a 6-part series on character building, but my favorite is the Edward/Bella dilemma. How much better would the Twilight series be if it were told from the POV of a character that struggles with larger-than-life problems?

Arguably one of the best posts by The Great Nathan Bransford: What Do Your Characters Want?

More on Creating Great Characters

2011-04-29T09:33:00.002-04:00

While trying to find out how to make a character sympathetic, I found a few good more character-building goodies.

Inner Dialogue is vital. K. M. Weiland has 5 Ways to Write Character Thoughts Worth More Than a Penny.

Beth Hill says The Psychology of Character shows us that every time a character makes a choice, he’s revealing who he is.

What do Frodo and the evolved Superman have in common? You can relate to both of them. How to Make a Great Leading Character by Seth Frederiksen.

Creating Sympathetic Characters

2011-04-26T09:33:00.002-04:00

Even though your characters seems to do everything right, you hate them. Or your beta readers hate them. What went wrong?

Two things: your character must be interesting and your character needs to be sympathetic. Whether he's a good guy or a bad guy, he should have those two qualities.

So how do you make a character more sympathetic?

Mary Lynn Mercer at Why Stories Work posted a thorough answer in The True Nature of Sympathetic Characters. She also covers a few things to avoid like a character that whines.

Darci Pattison posted a couple of really great ones: 9 Traits of Sympathetic Characters and then you can use those traits to Make Your Character More Sympathetic.

Every hero needs his fatal flaw. Apparently, there are nine types. I didn't know this, but it's pretty cool. Laurie Campbell's Creating Your Hero's Fatal Flaw

And finally, J. Timothy King gives 3 Steps to Sympathy that makes inappropriate behavior okay.

Upcoming Posts: Sympathetic Characters

2011-04-21T13:58:00.001-04:00

I'm going to do some posts on creating sympathetic characters. I have a few links already, but I was wondering if you had any questions on the subject. What kind of advice are you looking for? What do your characters need to be completely awesome?

All-In-One Revision: Raise Stakes, Build Conflict, Setting & Mood

2011-04-20T13:58:00.000-04:00

I'm really excited about my latest revision system. I only go through and revise once, but I'm going through 3 phases to prepare for that, leaving myself notes on what to change and how.

Right now, I have one index card for each scene. At the top of each card is a sentence that summarizes the main conflict. I've used this system before, and it's great for focusing each scene on the conflict and for reorganizing the structure of the novel. But I've added something new this time.

On each card, I have:

The scene number (so I don't get confused)
The one-sentence summary for the scene
The time of day
What my main character wants
What's keeping her from getting it
How she feels
Why she feels that way
The overall mood of the scene (if different from how MC feels)
How the setting intensifies/contrasts the mood
How I can possibly raise the stakes

While I write out these cards, I'm creating meaninful scenery. The setting interacts with my characters and really comes alive. I've always heard that the setting needs to be a character, that it needs to create conflict. I never really understood that until now.

This method also helps me to create an primary mood for each scene and helps me to intensify the feelings of my characters. I think it'll lead to some pretty awesome subtext, too.

And who doesn't love high stakes? I mean, I thought I had some awesome conflict, but now... every card has some brainstorming on the back for how I can make it better.

Doing all of this takes time and brain power. I'm often tempted to skip one or two of these, but when I give thoughtful answers to each one, it's so rewarding. I'm getting really excited about this revision!

Synonyms: Finding Another Word For 'Walked'

2011-04-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

One of my pet peeves with first drafts is that I always use "He walked here." or "She walked over there." So for a creative exercise, I set the timer for ten minutes and wrote as many words as I could think of that were more specific than 'walked'.

I started off with words like ran, skipped, crept, crawled, dragged, and dashed. The last five minutes had some pretty great ones. Waltzed, meandered, stumbled, snaked, and clamored. I think I came up with 54 words total. (I'll have to double-check, but I don't have my list.)

What common words plague your first drafts?

Got any other great synonyms for 'walked'?

RePost: Revising and Editing Part 3

2011-04-14T21:54:00.000-04:00

Great advice on editing your novel (more or less) from people who know what they're talking about:

I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard

To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement. To condense the diffused light of a page of thought into the luminous flash of a single sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize composition just by itself...Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph. ~Mark Twain

The personages in a tale, both dead and alive, shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there. ~Mark Twain

An author should
... Say what he is proposing to say, not merely come near it
... Use the right word, not its second cousin.
~Mark Twain

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov

Substitute “d***” every time you’re inclined to write “very;” your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain

Quantity produces quality. If you only write a few things, you’re doomed. ~Ray Bradbury

You have to know how to accept rejection and reject acceptance. ~Ray Bradbury

Vigorous writing is concise. ~William Strunk Jr.

Parts 1 and 2 on Revising and Editing have more practical resources, if you're interested.

Getting Nit Picky with Your Manuscript

2011-04-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

So, when you think you have your basic plot nailed down and everything is in its place, what's that last step? Line editing! (Oh joy. Rapture.)

To help out with this oh-so-fun task, I have a few links to share. (Hey, it's what I do.)

The Infinite Checklist of Writing Tips has all those things you tend to forget, like eliminating "felt" and "started to". Excellent source to keep on hand.

Something I struggle with (especially when I write present-tense) is Cutting the Passive Voice, courtesy of Jennifer Walkup.

And you know those annoying words and phrases that everyone gets wrong? Altogether vs. all together, adverse vs. averse, bemused vs. amused. Yeah, here's a list of them: More Commonly Misused Words. Thank you to people like Meghan Ward. You keep me sane.

Revision Tips and Tricks

2011-04-08T21:31:00.000-04:00

What do you look for when you revise?

As a start, here are The 4 Most Common Mistakes Fiction Editors See. This post stressed me out a little. There's just so much in there that I need to be doing!

Sarah Enni has a terrifying suggestion for revision: delete everything! Okay, save it first, but then delete it. I can vouch for this method. I've tried it. I hate it, but it works. Not only do you get better words when you start over, but you get over your fear of the dreaded blank screen!

Oh, and did you know there's a Golden Rule of Writing? I didn't think it was possible, but there is one rule that applies to all writers, no matter when or how you write, no matter what you're writing. There is one rule you must follow. (But I won't tell you what it is. You have to click the link. Sorry.)

And I just love this post by Ginny Wiehardt on Cliches and Description. Sometimes we as writers forget to be original with our descriptions.

Next Post: The nitty gritty!

For Those of You Who Write at Night...

2011-04-07T23:55:00.000-04:00

As a quick sidenote, if you stare at your computer screen at night and then have trouble sleeping, you might want to try this program called Flux. At night, it'll warm the colors of your screen instead of the glaring blue-white screen you usually have.

Maass-isms

2011-04-05T00:09:00.000-04:00

Donald Maas has been tweeting daily Breakout Novel Prompts. You can follow him, but here are my favorites:

Before a new character debuts, give your MC an expectation or fear. Make the reality three times better or worse

What does your MC know about people that no one else does? Create 3 moments when he/she spots that in others.

In the last dialogue passage you wrote double the friction, disagreement, overt hostility or hidden agenda

What principle guides your MC? At what moment is it most tested? When does it fail? Put it into action three times.

Give your MC passionate feelings about something trivial: e.g., cappuccino, bowling, argyle socks. Write his/her rant. Add it.

In your climactic scene, what are 3 details of place that only your MC would notice? Cut more obvious details, replace with these.

During a big dramatic event, what’s one small thing your POV character realizes will never change or never be the same again? Add

What does a sidekick character know about your MC that your MC refuses to see? Force a showdown over it.

How does your POV character change in your current scene? Work backwards. Make that change unlikely, a surprise or impossible.

Choose a middle scene: What does POV character feel most strongly? Evoke that feeling without naming it, through actions alone.

Find any violence in your ms. Delete any shock, fear or horror. Replace with two *conflicting* emotions that are less obvious.

Revising a Novel's Structure

2011-04-02T20:44:00.005-04:00

Speaking of revision, look at the goodies I found!

My last post mentioned the importance of revising your novel structurally. Guess what? Kitty Bucholz posted a four-part segment: How to do a Structural Edit on Your Book. In it, she shows what she learned in her Master's class taught by editor Nicola O'Shea. Also, here's Part 2, and 3.

In response to this series, Stephanie Shackelford added: Write yourself a review or revision letter. She makes some great suggestions, step-by-step.

The next posts will be more of the nitty-gritty, microscope-not-telescope problems that first (and second and third and fourth) drafts tend to have.