Moody and introspective? I must be a writer or something...
I'm in kind of a funky place with my writing. Simultaneously, I feel like I have a lot going on, and nothing going on. I was a finalist in GUTGAA, I've submitted Martinis with the Devil to Harper Collins' unagented contest, and I may or may not also be a finalist in another anonymous writing contest at the moment. I'm almost done writing a fantastic middle grade book that is incredibly unique and luscious and beautiful and fun. I alternate between feeling stuck in a rut and being on the perfect path. Not sure if it's because I turned 30 a couple months ago, or just that my overachiever self is feeling a lion's roar of impatience, but I just want something to happen! Now, please!
After writing throughout my teens, I took about eight years off for, you know, LIFE and stuff. In 2009 I wiggled back into the waters of my lifelong passion for writing, and in 2010 I dove down deep and have been immersed ever since. I know I'll be writing my whole life, and that my stories are my humble offering to the world. I know that I have three great stories under my belt that will someday be published. I also know that it's super hard to get an agent, and that getting my work turned down doesn't mean it's not good or marketable, but that the business is incredibly subjective and hard to break into.
So now I am obsessively editing my latest book, the unique, luscious, beautiful, fun one. I will be querying it by the end of the year. And if I get yet another round of rejections, I think it's time I explore getting my foot in the door another way. I absolutely will be published by one of the Big 6 one day. It's my ultimate goal. But I'm fine with taking some intermediate steps to get there. I think I'd look at small and medium presses first, and also trying to get some short stories published in anthologies or reputable sci-fi/fantasy lit magazines. Something to give me credentials and get me on the way to connecting with my readers, sharing my stories.
Anyways, that's where I'm at right now. Feeling the waves of change and transformation pulling at my toes, calling me into new waters. Where will they lead me? Not sure. But something is going to happen.
What about you?
Monday, October 22, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
All About Martinis with the Devil
Hi, blog friends! I was tagged by my new blog and Twitter friend Yelena Casale to participate in the 18th week of The Next Big Thing Bloghop. It's fun because you get to talk about one of your WIPs, and I've chosen Martinis with the Devil, my adult urban fantasy. So, here goes.
What is the working title of your book?
Already spilled that one.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Hmmm... should I admit this? Haven't shared this before. So, I had read Twilight recently (no, don't groan, it's not going in the direction you think it is). And suddenly this voice just pops into my head and starts chattering away. Since Twilight is all about a 17-year-old falling in love so desperately she wants to become immortal to stay with this person, the sarcastic voice in my head wanted to know what happens when you're so sure of something, and you become immortal - and then you get dumped and have to spend eternity contemplating your stupidity. So, it was around this loud, sassy, sarcastic voice that the whole story was born. Zyan would simply not leave me alone.
What genre does your book fall under?
Urban fantasy.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the working title of your book?
Already spilled that one.
Where did the idea come from for the book?
Hmmm... should I admit this? Haven't shared this before. So, I had read Twilight recently (no, don't groan, it's not going in the direction you think it is). And suddenly this voice just pops into my head and starts chattering away. Since Twilight is all about a 17-year-old falling in love so desperately she wants to become immortal to stay with this person, the sarcastic voice in my head wanted to know what happens when you're so sure of something, and you become immortal - and then you get dumped and have to spend eternity contemplating your stupidity. So, it was around this loud, sassy, sarcastic voice that the whole story was born. Zyan would simply not leave me alone.
What genre does your book fall under?
Urban fantasy.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Haven't really polished my one-liner yet, so this is a bit rough: A rogue witch/vampire must choose between the revenge she's sought for over 200 years and working within the law to save the planet from a demon invasion.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Repped by an agency I hope. I'm still working on that :)
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Four months.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
It has some of the snark of the Anita Blake series, but without the (IMO) over-the-top sex and violence that developed later in the series.
Who or What inspired you to write this book?
Kind of covered this above - I guess you could say it was Twilight in a way. Mostly my main character bugging me relentlessly until I wrote her story.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Martinis is a fun, sexy, fast read. It has a great mix up vamps, witches, shifters, weres, faeries, angels, demons and even cyclops. I've had a lot of people that have read an excerpt say they loved it even if they're not usually fans of fantasy or vampire books.
So, that's it for my answers! I have tagged my dear blog friend Rachna Chabbria for next week's post! Please go see her post next week, and don't forget to check out my tagger Yelena, especially if you like urban fantasy.
Hope everyone has a rad week!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Are You a Profiler?
Wasn't there a show a few years ago called The Profiler? Okay, just Googled it and it was more like twelve years ago. Anyways, I'm not talking about profiling criminals, but profiling your characters. Unless of course some of your characters are criminals, in which case I am talking about that...
But anyways, before we get into that, a brief update since my last post. I last shared with you guys that I was a finalist in Deana Barnhart's GUTGAA agent contest, and alas, I did not get any agent requests for my middle grade novel Everdream. There were twelve agents in the contest, and of the twelve only three were middle grade agents, and of the three I knew that one didn't like stories with animals. So, I knew my chances were slim but of course it was still disappointing. I did however get two nice comments from agents, including one from the lovely Molly Jaffa of Folio Lit who said about my book "it does evoke some Tamora Pierce-esque imagery in my mind, and that's great!". So, that was pretty rad, since I adored Tamora Pierce as a teen and got to meet her at WFC.
And that does actually lead back to my main subject of character profiling. Because I just finished my third round of edits on Everdream, a kind of fine-tune/polish edit. All of the major edits have been done, and at this point I just need to shine, shine, shine it up before I start querying, which I'm pretty scared about since it'll be my third time crawling down into the query trenches. So, for my fourth round of edits, I'm going to do some character profiles, and then go through and add in those rich details that really make a story shine. I've never done an in-depth character profile, so I Googled them to find some good ones online. These are the best ones I found so far:
Speaking of rounds, have you checked out Write Club? It's up to Round 28 now, with another few weeks to go before the finals. It's fun to see the two entries that go head to head in each round, so head on over, check it out, and put in your vote. Check it out here.
But anyways, before we get into that, a brief update since my last post. I last shared with you guys that I was a finalist in Deana Barnhart's GUTGAA agent contest, and alas, I did not get any agent requests for my middle grade novel Everdream. There were twelve agents in the contest, and of the twelve only three were middle grade agents, and of the three I knew that one didn't like stories with animals. So, I knew my chances were slim but of course it was still disappointing. I did however get two nice comments from agents, including one from the lovely Molly Jaffa of Folio Lit who said about my book "it does evoke some Tamora Pierce-esque imagery in my mind, and that's great!". So, that was pretty rad, since I adored Tamora Pierce as a teen and got to meet her at WFC.
And that does actually lead back to my main subject of character profiling. Because I just finished my third round of edits on Everdream, a kind of fine-tune/polish edit. All of the major edits have been done, and at this point I just need to shine, shine, shine it up before I start querying, which I'm pretty scared about since it'll be my third time crawling down into the query trenches. So, for my fourth round of edits, I'm going to do some character profiles, and then go through and add in those rich details that really make a story shine. I've never done an in-depth character profile, so I Googled them to find some good ones online. These are the best ones I found so far:
The one on the Children's
Publishing blog has a huge list of mannerisms and common phrases to choose
from. Fun stuff. So, that's what's happening with me. I'm going to do profiles
on my three main characters, and start edit round four.
Anybody got any character profile links to share? Have you checked out Write Club yet?
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Back to the Beginning
Before I get into the main portion of my post, I have a fun announcement. I'm one of the GUTGAA finalists over at Deana Barnhart's blog!! This past week anonymous judges voted on their top 50 queries and first 150 pages, and next week, 11 agents will pop over to Deana's blog and look at them. They can make requests if they want, so fingers crossed!! If you have time, pop over and cheer me on. My book is called Everdream.
Okay. On to what I'd originally planned. So, I've completed three novels now. Completed being the key word, since I've written many others, but not finished them (mostly in my teens). My first completed novel was Countless, about a witch. It wasn't strong enough, so I had to put it on the back burner last year and started writing Martinis with the Devil, about a vampire. Well, that book is very strong, but vamps are a super hard sell right now, so no luck with that so far. So, my third book is Everdream, a middle grade fantasy. GUTGAA is it's debut into the world; I hadn't started querying it yet. So, if I don't have any luck with the agents next week, I'll be jumping on the query train and will need a distraction.
So, I'm finally circling back to Countless, to rewrite it from third to first person. It's a great story, but I never got the voice strong enough. It was just missing that vital sparkle dust that takes a book from good to great. I realized a while back that I really should have written it in first all along. Not only do I write better in first, but the story goes so deep into my MC's thoughts and feelings that it really is best in first. And you know what? I am so super stoked to get back to those characters and the journey they're on! I adore them, and I can't wait to dive back in and make it shine like it deserves.
That's pretty much the plan for the fall. After that, who knows? No writing plans yet for next year. We'll just have to see how the literary cookie crumbles. What about you guys? What's your main project this autumn?
Okay. On to what I'd originally planned. So, I've completed three novels now. Completed being the key word, since I've written many others, but not finished them (mostly in my teens). My first completed novel was Countless, about a witch. It wasn't strong enough, so I had to put it on the back burner last year and started writing Martinis with the Devil, about a vampire. Well, that book is very strong, but vamps are a super hard sell right now, so no luck with that so far. So, my third book is Everdream, a middle grade fantasy. GUTGAA is it's debut into the world; I hadn't started querying it yet. So, if I don't have any luck with the agents next week, I'll be jumping on the query train and will need a distraction.
So, I'm finally circling back to Countless, to rewrite it from third to first person. It's a great story, but I never got the voice strong enough. It was just missing that vital sparkle dust that takes a book from good to great. I realized a while back that I really should have written it in first all along. Not only do I write better in first, but the story goes so deep into my MC's thoughts and feelings that it really is best in first. And you know what? I am so super stoked to get back to those characters and the journey they're on! I adore them, and I can't wait to dive back in and make it shine like it deserves.
That's pretty much the plan for the fall. After that, who knows? No writing plans yet for next year. We'll just have to see how the literary cookie crumbles. What about you guys? What's your main project this autumn?
Thursday, September 13, 2012
I'm Over at Charlie Holmberg's Blog Today!
Please pop over and visit me there. I am her "Someday Star" of the week. Can you see me blushing?
Also, if you're looking for my GUTGAA entry, it's here. Hope everyone's having a fab week!
Also, if you're looking for my GUTGAA entry, it's here. Hope everyone's having a fab week!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Pimp My Query
I'm participating in Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up To Get An Agent contest (aka GUTGAA)! Deana is a great blog friend, and even though she's now repped by Sarah LaPolla, she's still so awesome that she wants to pay it forward by hosting this contest. Go follow her if you're not already, and check out the contest. She has helpful contest links in the upper right hand corner of her blog.
And a quick update for those of you who read my last post on virus woes, I'm using hubby's computer this week while I wait for my Toshiba recovery disks to come in the mail. He's just going to wipe my hard drive. So, hopefully my cute little laptop will be healthy again soon.
Okay, so on to GUTGAA! I'm entering my recently completed upper middle grade fantasy. For those of you that don't know, middle grade is usually readers between 7 and 12, and upper middle grade is the oldest category, usually the 11 and 12-year-olds. This is my first full length middle grade novel, though I wrote a short novella for my son once.
So, what we're supposed to post is our query and the first 150 pages of the book. The judging round is next week, so please offer up your feedback so I can polish! Tell me what works and what doesn't. I really would appreciate any and all constructive criticism. Also, definitely let me know if you're participating in GUTGAA too, so I can make sure to visit your entry. I know I'm not going to be able to make it to all 200 or so entries, so that will guarantee I return your visit. And, please feel free to provide feedback even if you're one of my regular blog friends not in GUTGAA!
Query:
(Agent's proper salutation),
The last of the dreams are running out…
It’s been thirteen years since the Queen of Ravens cast the spell to strip all Taravel’s inhabitants of dreams. Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to her, there is one remaining who can dream unaided, twelve-year-old Eleven, the dreamseer.
An orphan, El has been raised in a black market dream caravan, caring for the ponies who grant people the ability to dream. The citizens of Taravel pay generously for a ride on the dream carousel, a chance to touch the magical, dream-inducing manes of the ponies. But when the ponies start losing their ability to spin dreams, El knows she must do something.
Accompanied by Dusti, a persnickety pony, and Ryn, the pirate-poet, El sets out to break the Queen’s spell. The three companions’ adventures take them from crystal pirate ships, to cities in the sky, to underground palaces and the home of a sea witch. Along the way El realizes there’s a lot more at stake than the ponies: a rebellion is brewing, the Queen has learned of her existence, and the truth about her parents is far different than she ever imagined. And worst of all, if El doesn’t free the dreams soon, they’ll be gone forever.
Everdream is a 50,000 word upper middle grade fantasy. Per your submission guidelines, I've included (whatever requested) below. Thank you for your time and consideration.
First 150 words:
Dreams seeped through the flaps of the tent, escaping into the sky like multi-colored ghosts. It was a busy night in the caravan. Though the metallic taste of thunder sat on my tongue and dark clouds pressed down over the crowd, we were still packed. The other merchants had begun to close up for the night. But we weren’t exactly ordinary merchants.
I counted bodies as I walked along the line of people snaking out the purple and white striped tent. Sixty-two. Eight-eight. Ninety-six. When I hit one hundred I cut in.
“Sorry, but this is the cap for the night.” I watched the opposite expressions of relief and disappointment on the faces of the two people I stood between. Groans and angrier protests rose around me.
I walked back to the tent as the crowd behind lucky number one hundred dispersed into the darkness.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entry! Good luck to all GUTGAA participants. And everybody have a great week!
And a quick update for those of you who read my last post on virus woes, I'm using hubby's computer this week while I wait for my Toshiba recovery disks to come in the mail. He's just going to wipe my hard drive. So, hopefully my cute little laptop will be healthy again soon.
Okay, so on to GUTGAA! I'm entering my recently completed upper middle grade fantasy. For those of you that don't know, middle grade is usually readers between 7 and 12, and upper middle grade is the oldest category, usually the 11 and 12-year-olds. This is my first full length middle grade novel, though I wrote a short novella for my son once.
So, what we're supposed to post is our query and the first 150 pages of the book. The judging round is next week, so please offer up your feedback so I can polish! Tell me what works and what doesn't. I really would appreciate any and all constructive criticism. Also, definitely let me know if you're participating in GUTGAA too, so I can make sure to visit your entry. I know I'm not going to be able to make it to all 200 or so entries, so that will guarantee I return your visit. And, please feel free to provide feedback even if you're one of my regular blog friends not in GUTGAA!
Query:
(Agent's proper salutation),
The last of the dreams are running out…
It’s been thirteen years since the Queen of Ravens cast the spell to strip all Taravel’s inhabitants of dreams. Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to her, there is one remaining who can dream unaided, twelve-year-old Eleven, the dreamseer.
An orphan, El has been raised in a black market dream caravan, caring for the ponies who grant people the ability to dream. The citizens of Taravel pay generously for a ride on the dream carousel, a chance to touch the magical, dream-inducing manes of the ponies. But when the ponies start losing their ability to spin dreams, El knows she must do something.
Accompanied by Dusti, a persnickety pony, and Ryn, the pirate-poet, El sets out to break the Queen’s spell. The three companions’ adventures take them from crystal pirate ships, to cities in the sky, to underground palaces and the home of a sea witch. Along the way El realizes there’s a lot more at stake than the ponies: a rebellion is brewing, the Queen has learned of her existence, and the truth about her parents is far different than she ever imagined. And worst of all, if El doesn’t free the dreams soon, they’ll be gone forever.
Everdream is a 50,000 word upper middle grade fantasy. Per your submission guidelines, I've included (whatever requested) below. Thank you for your time and consideration.
First 150 words:
Dreams seeped through the flaps of the tent, escaping into the sky like multi-colored ghosts. It was a busy night in the caravan. Though the metallic taste of thunder sat on my tongue and dark clouds pressed down over the crowd, we were still packed. The other merchants had begun to close up for the night. But we weren’t exactly ordinary merchants.
I counted bodies as I walked along the line of people snaking out the purple and white striped tent. Sixty-two. Eight-eight. Ninety-six. When I hit one hundred I cut in.
“Sorry, but this is the cap for the night.” I watched the opposite expressions of relief and disappointment on the faces of the two people I stood between. Groans and angrier protests rose around me.
I walked back to the tent as the crowd behind lucky number one hundred dispersed into the darkness.
Thanks for taking the time to read my entry! Good luck to all GUTGAA participants. And everybody have a great week!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
There Should Be a Special Circle of Hell...
Reserved for people who create computer viruses. My practically brand new laptop has become infected to the point where it is completely non-functional. This is the third time in a year I've gotten a bad virus. And I even have anti-virus software. Very frustrating... and since Best Buy tells me that new computers don't come with a backup disk for your operating system like they used to, I'm probably going to have to pay a lot of money to get Geek Squad to take care of it. And don't even get me started on the horrendous service I've gotten from Norton after I paid them to remove the virus.
Okay, rant over! Anyways, I'm borrowing hubby's computer at the moment, but I probably won't be able to visit as many blogs since we have to share at the moment. Just wanted to let everybody know... As I said to my husband yesterday, it's probably a really good thing I don't have those special witch powers I always wanted or there would be a lot of virus-creator carnage in my wake...
So, has anyone else experienced such bad luck with viruses? Any words of wisdom?
Okay, rant over! Anyways, I'm borrowing hubby's computer at the moment, but I probably won't be able to visit as many blogs since we have to share at the moment. Just wanted to let everybody know... As I said to my husband yesterday, it's probably a really good thing I don't have those special witch powers I always wanted or there would be a lot of virus-creator carnage in my wake...
So, has anyone else experienced such bad luck with viruses? Any words of wisdom?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)