Are writing rules meant to be broken? May 20, 2013

 

 

Over the last two years I’ve become a student in the school of publishing.  I started out not knowing what a query was, much less how to format a manuscript or create a pitch. But over time, and through all my teachers (writers on AgentQuery Connect and Twitter – I’m talking to you), I’ve learned how to navigate the crazy world that is publishing.

 

Do I know it all? No.

 

Will I continue to learn and make mistakes every day? Yes.

 

Yet there are some hard and fast rules I’ve learned about publishing I try to adhere to:

 

 

1) Read and follow submission guidelines.

 

2) Your query should be written in third person, present tense.

 

3) Never use adverbs

 

4)  Do not start your first chapter with a dream, eating breakfast, waking up, or riding in a car.

 

 

And I’ll stop right there. Why? Because I’ve learned rules 2-4 can be broken. Yes, I said broken. But only if done the right way.

 

Allow me to elaborate with examples:

 

#2 – Your query should be written in third person, present tense

 

While this is almost always the best route to go, one well-known YA author broke this rule and still signed with an agent.

 

How? Because she did it right.

 

Do you know who I’m talking about? Should I leave you in suspense???

 

No, I’ll be nice. The author is Miranda Kenneally and she broke many query rules when she wrote her letter for CATCHING JORDAN. She wrote it from the perspective of her lead character.  I would venture to guess many “experts” would say not to do this.  But for Miranda it worked in so many ways.

 

Here it is:

 

 

My name is Jordan Woods, I’m seventeen, and last year, I blew it in the final seconds of the Tennessee state championship football game. This year, I can’t let that happen or I’ll never get a scholarship to play ball in college. I have a lot to prove, what, with an NFL star for a father – a father who doesn’t think I should be playing football. Why wouldn’t a famous quarterback want his kid to follow in the family footsteps?

 

I’m a girl.

 

But I’ve been playing quarterback since I was seven, so everyone’s gotten used to me by now. I’m a normal teenage girl. Well, as normal as I can be. I mean, obviously I think Justin Timberlake is a mega hunk, but I’m also over six feet tall and can launch a football fifty yards.

 

Other ways I’m not normal? A girl who hangs with an entire football team must hook up all the time, right?

 

Nope.

 

I’ve never had a boyfriend and most people think I’m gay. Hell, I’ve never even kissed a guy. But that might be about to change because the hottest guy, Ty Green, just moved here from Texas. Just the sight of him makes me want to simultaneously fly and barf. It turns out that he’s also a quarterback, and he’s a hell of a lot better than me. Last year, Ty led his team to win the Texas state championship.

 

And I’m scared. What if Coach gives my position away? What if Ty isn’t interested in me? The worst fear of all? What if Ty distracts me from my dreams of playing ball in college?

 

And why is my best friend, our star wide receiver, acting so strangely all of a sudden?

 

 

So why does this break all the rules and still work? Because this query is full of voice. Miranda tells Jordan’s story in a few sentences and makes you want to read more. I’m not surprised her agent, Sara Megibow, requested after receiving this query.  It is brilliant.

 

Should a beginning writer take this risk? That’s for the individual to decide.  But Miranda was brave. She sent this query out as a test. She didn’t send it to fifty agents, but just a few, and the response was overwhelming. Again, she DID IT RIGHT.

 

 

#3 – Never use adverbs

 

I see people railing about this subject all over social media.  And while the advice is somewhat true, I think it’s difficult to avoid adverbs.  Yes, why say, “he walked quickly” when you can say, “he raced” or “he ran.”  But there are times in writing where it’s almost impossible to describe a movement or action without using an adverb.

 

Now, if you use adverbs at the end of dialogue tags, we are talking another thing.  Recently, I tried to read the fourth book in a very popular YA series.  I stopped reading after 80 pages. Why?  Almost every dialogue tag had an adverb attached. You can only read, “he said angrily” so many times before it gets annoying. Plus, it pulls you out of the story.

 

So yes, adverbs can be an issue, but the rule can be broken if they are used sparingly and in the correct places.

 

 

#4 – Overdone beginnings

 

After doing numerous agent interviews in my First Five Frenzy series one thing is clear:  you should NOT begin your story with a canned opening. No waking up. No looking in a mirror. No eating breakfast or riding in a car.

 

But again, this rule can be broken if done in a convincing way.

 

Another example: The Hunger Games

 

The story begins with Katniss waking up and describing her family and surroundings. A big no-no, right? But for Suzanne Collins it works. Her prose drives the story forward. In those few paragraphs she eases the reader into her world. It’s a lesson all writers could learn from.

 

The thing to remember as a writer is this: rules can be broken.  You have to know what’s going to work for your own plot and characters.  Don’t be afraid to stretch and reach outside the norm to create a beautiful story that will grab readers and never let them go.

 

And one last thing about rule #1:   That one should never, ever be broken.

 

 

What writing rules do you think are okay to break?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

FIRST FIVE FRENZY with Annie Bomke of Annie Bomke Literary Agency May 17, 2013

 

 

If you’re like me, you toil for hours editing and fine-tuning the first pages of your manuscript.  You look at the first lines to make sure they are compelling and tight.  You examine the next few paragraphs, hoping  your MC’s voice is already taking hold of the reader.

 

The First Five Frenzy is all about getting an agent’s perspective on what works, and what fails, in those first pages of a manuscript.  By reading each agent’s comments, I hope you’ll learn how to make your manuscript a shining gem that will be requested time and time again.

 

Today, I am proud to share Literary Agent, Annie Bomke’s, perspective on what’s important in those critical first pages.

 

 

Amy: Many writers have the impression that a great first line is imperative to drawing in the reader. How important is a first line to you as an agent?

 

Annie: A great first line does help grab my attention, but it’s not as important to me as the first page or the first chapter.  The first line should set the tone for the rest of the book, it should intrigue me and give me a sense of the voice or perspective of the novel and what makes it special.

 

 

Amy: Many times a writer is told to stay away from common openings like dreams, eating breakfast, riding in a car, etc. What are some common openings you recommend writers stay away from?

 

Annie: All of those, as well as looking in a mirror while they’re getting ready in the morning, having a dialogue that isn’t that interesting (and won’t be important later).  Anything that involves a lot of reflection and little action is a bad way to open a book.

 

A lot of mysteries and thrillers open with a murder, or from the point of view of the killer right before he/she does the deed.  This can be exciting, but it’s just such a popular opening that writers need to find a way to make it fresh and polished.

 

In the first five pages, there’s a fine line between giving away too much information and giving away too little.  If you give away too much information about who the characters are, what they look like, and what their motivations are, etc., the pacing of the story slows down.  If you give away too little information, the opening can seem too vague, and it’ll be unclear what’s going on and what makes this story special.  Either way, your readers will lose interest pretty quickly.  The idea is to put enough information there to intrigue the reader and make them curious to read more.

 

 

Amy: When you’ve responded to a writer to request a partial or full manuscript, what was it about their first pages that piqued your interest?

 

Annie: Sometimes it’s a really unique concept, but usually it’s the writing.  I want to see writing that’s vivid, visceral, emotional, and unique.  I like writing that’s suspenseful, and writing with a great sense of humor.  I want to see ideas and images presented in a way I’ve never read before, and characters that feel rich and real.

 

And the writing should have some tension.  By tension I mean the feeling that something is going to happen, that events are being put into motion.  And for this tension to work, I have to understand the character enough to become invested in what happens to them.

 

 

Amy: What are some common mistakes writers make in their first five pages?

 

Annie: They feel the need to explain some background information on the characters, the setting, or the plot before the story gets going.  Or they open the book with a scene that’s not that exciting, like a character driving in their car, reflecting the past or future.  They include unnecessary information, like a character’s hair and eye color.  They use language that doesn’t help me visualize the scene or get to know the characters.  They rely on clichés and stereotypical characters instead of showing me something new and interesting.

 

 

Amy: What resonates with you most in those first pages? Voice? Pacing? Unique concept?

 

Annie: I’d say it’s usually the voice.  The voice is what pulls me into the story and keeps me there.  And interesting writing is always a plus.

 

 

Annie Bomke is a literary agent with over a decade of experience in the publishing industry.  She has worked with internationally bestselling authors such as Ken Blanchard, Spencer Johnson, Bob Burg and John Assaraf.  Authors have called her the pH test for good writing, and a bedrock for literary quality control.  She is interested in representing a wide range of fiction and nonfiction—including commercial fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries, thrillers, YA, business, self-help, health/diet, and memoir—though she is most passionate about character-driven literary fiction, and psychological thrillers.

 

If you’re interested in submitting to Annie, please make sure to check the Annie Bomke Literary Agency website for their guidelines.

W.O.W. – Writer Odyssey Wednesday with Sara Raasch May 15, 2013

 

 

 

Publishing can be a rocky road.  When you are lucky enough to sign with a literary agent that is only the beginning of the journey. There are edits/revisions and a lot of work to be done before submission.  After the work is completed, you still have to shop the book around and hope a publishing house wants to buy it.  The process can be long and arduous.  But what happens when things don’t go as planned and you find yourself needing to move on from that book and that agent? Today’s featured writer, Sara Raasch, shares with us her amazing publishing journey that includes some major setbacks, but ends with a stellar agent and a shiny publishing deal for her debut novel, SNOW LIKE ASHES.

 

Here is Sara’s writing odyssey…

 

 

Amy: You have an interesting backstory I think many aspiring writers would be interested in.  You were previously agented with one book and then left that agency and went back to querying before landing another agent.  Can you share how you came to this difficult decision and how it affected your writing?

 

Sara: Leaving my first agency was hands-down one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in publishing thus far. It wasn’t a decision I made lightly either — I grappled with it for about ten months before I decided it was right for me. At the time I was at a bit of a crossroads in my career — a book I ADORED with every fiber of my being had been on submission for two and a half years (talk about soul crushing) with no bites whatsoever. I was no longer sure if the writer I wanted to be was linked to that book, if I should have kept going with that book, or where I fit in this mad publishing world. In that ten-month grappling time, I did a lot of soul-searching, philosophical-journey type things, and ultimately decided to leave that agency and refocus who I wanted to be as a writer.

 

This decision didn’t only affect my writing, it affected every aspect of my writing world. It was like a blank slate, which was both horrifying and exhilarating, and let me truly “start over” and make myself into the kind of writer I wanted to be. Leaving an agency is terrifying — you worked so hard to get THIS agent, why on earth would you leave?? — but if it’s something you’re considering, make sure you do consider it very carefully. Any big career move should be made only after thoughtful deliberation. But if you do decide to take that plunge, know you aren’t alone in your choice, and many, many other writers have been in the same boat as you. It’s scary, but can also be the beginning of wonderful, wonderful things.

 

 

Amy: When you queried the second time with SHUTTER, SHUDDER did you feel like you were pretty seasoned with the process? Did the query come easily?

 

Sara: Oh, querying. No matter how long you’ve done it, how many agents you’ve sent to, or how long you’ve been in the business, querying SUCKS. But this time around, I felt a thrill with each query I sent out. Despite how much the rejection sucks (and boy, does it ever suck), there is something to be said for the sheer greatness of possibility. Each email could be The One, each incoming response could be a Let’s Set Up A Call. That possibility is what makes querying bearable.

 

One of my guilty pleasures is, sadly, writing summaries for queries. *ducks sharp projectiles* Okay, okay, hear me out! Actually, there’s nothing I can say to make it less weird. Querying did come easily to me this time around, but only because I adore writing summaries, and that mixed with my excitement to be reevaluating/redeveloping myself as a writer made the whole thing oddly enjoyable.

 

 

Amy: How many agents did you query before you got a positive response?

 

Sara: Luckily, I’m super OCD, and have a nice little excel sheet with just such digits.

 

I sent out 84 queries between the end of March 2012 and mid-April 2012 (I was excitable, okay? And I do not endorse this kind of aggression). Of those queries, I got 10 full requests (which still makes me dance a little inside) and of those 10 full requests, it was a week between when I sent the query to Sheedy Lit and when I got a voicemail saying they loved my book (the one I queried was a paranormal ghost story called SHUTTER, SHUDDER). Suffice to say, between leaving one agency and joining another, the beginning of 2012 was a frickin’ roller coaster.

 

 

Amy: You have a novel coming out in 2014 called SNOW LIKE ASHES.  Did you have critique partners or beta readers that helped you polish it? If so, how did that influence your writing process?

 

Sara: Of course! A writer is nothing without a good network of support and beta-ship. My CPs influence my writing SO much! I shudder to think what SLA would be like without their keen eyes and loving ability to tear scenes to shreds. Also, my agent is a KILLER editor — I rave all the time about how great she is at making my manuscripts that much more polished and coherent.

 

 

Amy: What can you tell us about your call with your agent, Charlotte Sheedy? How did you know she was a good fit for you?

 

Sara: I ended up speaking to both Charlotte and Mackenzie at various points before I accepted representation from them, and I knew they were a good fit because of how passionate they were for my book. Passion is truly the most important trait in an agent — if they love your work, that love will emanate out to editors and help sell your book a LOT more efficiently! There’s no substitute for passion, and as soon as I felt that spark with Mackenzie, I knew SHUTTER, SHUDDER (and all my future projects) would be happy with Sheedy Lit!

 

 

Amy: What was one piece of advice you got during your early writing stages that has stuck with you to this day?

 

Sara: There’s a quote I ADORE by Jodi Picoult: “You can always edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank page.” When I’m stuck on a scene or afraid to tackle a new project or seriously doubting my ability to live up to my goals, I remember that quote. You can always make a bad page better, but a blank page? You can’t do anything to fix a blank page. So write, write, write, no matter how you feel, because writing has a way of working out the bad feels too.

 

 

Amy: If you met an aspiring writer at a book signing and they told you they were going to give up on their writing dream, what would you say to them?

 

Sara: “NOOO!” and then I’d tackle them and cling to the hem of their skirt and sob dramatically.

 

Seriously though, I’d ask why they were leaning toward giving up. That can really make all the difference — this industry is much too stressful to put yourself through it if you don’t REALLY want it. So if writing truly isn’t something that’s “for them,” giving up might be a solution worth considering.

 

But if they’re considering giving up because it’s hard, because the rejection hurts, because they’ve been trying for so long and they still haven’t gotten anywhere, because someone gave them a bad review/a mean crit/was overall nasty to them, I’d do the whole dramatic-skirt-clutching-sob thing. None of those reasons are enough to quit if publishing is what you really, truly, deep-down want. If seeing your book on a shelf or finishing your novel or getting an agent is so much a fiery part of yourself that you go to bed every night on the verge of exploding from wanting it so bad, then you HAVE to keep trying.

 

I’ve wanted to be published since I was, no joke, five years old. I started querying when I was around 15, and didn’t get my first agent until I was in college. I’m 23 now and just got my first book deal, so that’s almost 12 years of working toward this goal. 12 years. A lot of it was awful, a lot of it made me question if I really wanted this, a lot of it made me cry and growl in frustration. But then I’d remember why I started this crazy venture in the first place. Why I love stories, writing, this whole thing — because stories are so vitally important to life, as an escape, as a way to make sure we know we aren’t alone, as a way to smile when life is just too hard. Remembering my reason for doing this helped me endure 12 years of up and down and down again until that magical, wondrous day when my agent called and told me we sold SNOW LIKE ASHES to Balzer + Bray in a pre-empt. All those bad things suddenly seemed so, so worth it, and I know I was infinitely happier in my most miserable time during those 12 years than I would have been had a I quit, because even though I was miserable, I was still working toward my dream. And if you keep at it, it WILL happen. Not it might. It WILL.

 

And when it does, it will be even better than you imagined.

 

 

Sara Raasch has known she was destined for bookish things since the age of five, when her friends had a lemonade stand and she tagged along to sell her hand-drawn picture books too. Not much has changed since then — her friends still cock concerned eyebrows when she attempts to draw things and her enthusiasm for the written word still drives her to extreme measures. Her debut YA fantasy, SNOW LIKE ASHES, is coming out Fall 2014 from Balzer + Bray. It does not feature her hand-drawn pictures. For more info on Sara, check out her blog or follow her on Twitter.

HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY – EYES EVER TO THE SKY!!!! May 13, 2013

My amazing friend (and brilliant critique partner), Katie French, releases her second book today. It’s a cool YA sci-fi tale with PLENTY of romance!  If you like fast-paced, edge of your seat stories, be sure to check this one out! Love the cover too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Hugh wakes up in a smoldering crater—no memory, no clothes—a single thought echoes in his head…trust no one. Frightened and alone, with no memory of who he is, he stumbles upon a grisly murder scene and is fatally shot. He wakes, only to find he can heal himself. He has superpowers, and he’s going to need them.

 

Desperate and bleeding, Hugh stumbles upon fifteen-year-old Cece, who’s got enough troubles of her own. Between caring for her bipolar mother and trying not to get evicted from her run-down trailer, Cece may be the only person struggling as much as Hugh. Drawn to Hugh, Cece finds a love she’s never known. But when the real killer—a man-hunting beast—chooses another victim, Hugh and Cece realize they must unlock the clues to their past if they have any chance at a future.

 

 

 

Katie French imagined herself an author when her poem caught the eye of her second grade teacher. In middle school she spent her free time locked in her room, writing her first young adult novel. Though her social life suffered, her love for literature thrived. She studied English at Eastern Michigan University, where she veered from writing and earned an education degree. She spent nine years teaching high school English. Currently she is a school counselor, doing a job that is both one of the hardest things she’s ever done and the most rewarding. In her free time she writes, reads great books and takes care of her two beautiful and crazy children. She is a contributor and co-creator of Underground Book Reviews, a website dedicated to erasing the boundaries between traditional and non-traditional publishing. She lives in Michigan with her husband and two children.For more information about Katie you can check her out on Goodreads, Facebook or on her website, Katie French Books.  Eyes Ever to the Sky is available on Amazon.

Secret to Sequels May 10, 2013

In the past six months I’ve read five YA sequels.  Three out of the five I put down at least half way through.  One of those I picked up again a few days later and sloshed through until the not-so-satisfying end.

 

I dread reading sequels. They are almost always a disappointment.  My biggest issue when reading?  The author does nothing to drive the plot forward.  Half the time they just rehash old events and continue the angst between the male and female leads.

 

What about those two I enjoyed?  What grabbed me?  I can answer this in two words: fresh blood.  No, I don’t mean death and gore. I mean the introduction of new and vital characters who build up the story and push the plot forward in a satisfying way.

 

Case in point (and I know many will argue with me here) CATCHING FIRE from Suzanne Collins.  The introduction of a new hunger game and characters like Johanna Mason and Finnick Odair kept the book alive for me.  I was intrigued by the characters and how they managed to set off both Peeta and Katniss. Another sequel winner for me? TORMENT by Lauren Kate.  Here again, new characters (and a new setting) made the story one I wanted to follow.

 

As a writer, I can only imagine how difficult it is to keep a steady, intriguing plot going (maybe this is why I’ve never written anything but a stand alone). But as a reader, I wish authors would think about where they are taking their plots and how they can keep the characters fresh.  Many times if the book is a trilogy, I find  the second book is merely filler to get to book three. If this is the case, you’re going to lose the reader and their commitment to finish the series.

 

What do you think is the key to writing a successful sequel?  What keeps you clamoring for the next book in a series?  I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, and please add your suggestion for a book you thought was a compelling sequel.

W.O.W. – Writer Odyssey Wednesday with Francesca Zappia May 8, 2013

 

 

 

Quick confession here – I’ve always wanted to have the talent to draw.  My oldest brother can pick up a pen and doodle something that is absolutely stunning.  Me? I pick up a pen, and I’m lucky if what I draw even looks like a stick figure.  Today’s featured writer, Francesca (Chessie) Zappia is not only a writer but an artist.  I find this fascinating for many reasons, but probably the most dominant being that I think it would be cool to illustrate your characters on a blank piece of paper.  This to me would be the ultimate way to really “see” what my characters look like, and have them become not just words on the page, but colorful beings.  During the interview, as you will read below, I asked Chessie about her drawings, and while she admits they help her visualize the characters, she also feels bad about what she does to them later.

 

Many thanks to Chessie for sharing her writing journey.  Be sure to check out her artwork here: http://www.francescazappia.com/p/artwork.html

 

 

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

 

I think I was around seven or eight–it was when I read my first Harry Potter book. After I finished it, I realized that an actual person had written it. For some reason I had the strange idea that all books had always existed since the beginning of time. I’d always liked thinking up stories and drawing them, but that was the first time I realized that I could make stories with words, too, and make people fall in love with them the way I’d fallen in love with Harry Potter.

 

 

I love your artwork.  When you draw your characters, and see them come alive on the page, does it help you connect to them better as a writer?

 

Thank you! I never really thought about it, but I guess it does! When you’re drawing a character, you have to know what pose to put them in, what their expression will be like, what sort of clothes they wear, how they do their hair–little things like that, that you may not necessarily describe all the time in the story, but they help you get a better grasp on the character’s personality and motivation. (It also makes me feel bad for what I do to them later.) I know a lot of people who wish they could translate their ideas into drawings and get frustrated when they can’t, so I feel incredibly lucky to have that skill.

 

 

How many manuscripts had you completed prior to ASK AGAIN LATER?

 

Wellll, that’s a bit of a hard question to answer. When you first start writing, most of what you write is for practice. I think a lot of writers write multiple manuscripts before they find the one that finally gets them an agent/book deal/etc. I mainly wrote two books–one was ASK AGAIN LATER and the other was the beginning of a YA sci-fi trilogy. I rewrote them from the ground up multiple times. To me it feels like dozens of manuscripts, but in reality, I guess it was only two.

 

 

If you had preliminary rejections, how did you deal with that process and continue to write?

 

I’ve been querying since I was fourteen or fifteen, so I’ve had my share of rejections. It’s hard to get rejections, no matter what form they come in, but for me I guess the writing itself was the way I dealt with it. If agents didn’t like my current book, I would write them another book they would like. But it always had to be the book I wanted to write–not what I thought they wanted to read.

 

 

Did you have critique partners that helped you polish ASK AGAIN LATER? If so, how did that affect your writing process?

 

I did! It was one of the first manuscripts I ever handed over to my critique partners, and the help they gave me in shaping it was unbelievable. They’re amazing because they each look at a different part of the story. With all the manuscripts I’ve churned out since then, I feel like I’m more open to trying new things and writing the way I want, because I know if it doesn’t work, my critique partners will slap me over the head and tell me to get my act together.

 

 

How long did it take you to write the query for ASK AGAIN LATER? Did it go through many drafts?

 

The original query took me probably a few days, but I was constantly revising it while I queried. It went through so many drafts it makes me kind of sick to think about it. Needless to say, I am not the best at query writing.

 

 

How many agents did you query for ASK AGAIN LATER?

 

72. But that’s not including those I sent submissions to after contest requests.

 

 

Did you receive instantaneous response or did you have to wait for requests/rejections?

 

All the times I’ve queried, it’s been pretty much a wait for requests/rejections. Sometimes I only had to wait a few days. Some of the queries I waited months on. Most were rejections; the requests were just as spread out. I got one request a week after I queried an agent, and I got another two months after I sent the initial query. It definitely wasn’t one of those “I sent out queries and everyone loved it!” situations, haha.

 

 

Can you tell us what your “call” was like with your agent, Louise Fury? How did you know she was a good fit for you?

 

Our call actually got delayed one or two times before it finally happened, thanks to a plane ride and a very unfortunately-timed illness. Which just meant I got to teeter on the edge of a heart attack for an extra two days. But as soon as I got on the phone with Louise, I knew she was perfect. She’d gotten just about everyone at L. Perkins Agency to read my book, and the overwhelming support they had for it blew me away. We talked about my vision for the book and her ideas for revision, and by the end of the call–which lasted about forty minutes to an hour, if I remember right–I knew she was right for me. She’s so professional and so dedicated to her job, but also so passionate about the books she takes on.

 

 

If you met a struggling writer at a book signing and they told you they were about to give up on their dream of publication, what would you say to encourage them to keep writing?

 

I’d tell them to keep at it, no matter how bad they think they are or how many rejections they get. All writers think their work is horrible at some point. All writers get rejections. But the more you write, the better you get. And the better you get, the more likely you are to attract the perfect agent or publisher. The only way you will for sure never reach that dream of publication is if you quit.

 

 

Francesca is 20, majors in Computer Science the University of Indianapolis, and prefers the name Chessie. She writes books about pirates, aliens, crazy people, ghosts, skysurfing, nightmare hunters, underwater prisons, and any other thing that catches her attention. Her debut novel, ASK AGAIN LATER, is a YA contemporary coming from Greenwillow/HarperCollins in Fall 2014. She’s represented by Louise Fury of L. Perkins Agency. You can find her on Twitter and on her blog.

W.O.W. – Writer Odyssey Wednesday with Elle Cosimano May 1, 2013

 

 

What are you willing to risk to make your writing dream come true?  Some of us give up sleep.  Others take sick, or vacation days just to finish a scene. Today’s featured writer, Elle Cosimano, took a two-month sabbatical from work to write her debut novel. She risked her full-time job to write NEARLY GONE and it paid off with a stellar agent and a book deal.   I admire Elle’s determination and drive. She is proof that if you believe in your dream, you can make it happen.

 

Here is Elle’s amazing writing journey…

 

 

Amy: When did you first know you wanted to write a young adult novel?

 

Elle: I didn’t know I wanted to write young adult fiction until I was knee-deep in my first adult novel. I was poking around online, researching the query and submission process, and I was blown away by the YA writing community. It was supportive, vibrant and engaging. These writers were approachable and fun! This was the kind of creative community I wanted to be part of. That same afternoon, I reimagined my story, and began telling it from the perspective of a younger narrator. I fell in love with her voice as easily as I fell in love with the YA community, and I never looked back.

 

 

Amy: When was your first manuscript completed?

 

Elle: I took a two-month sabbatical from work to write my first draft of NEARLY GONE. I began drafting at the beginning of June 2010, and completed my first manuscript eight weeks later.

 

 

Amy: Did you have any completed manuscripts prior to writing NEARLY GONE?

 

Elle: *ducks* This is usually the part where someone throws a shoe at me.

 

NEARLY GONE was my first manuscript. It was also the first piece of fiction I’d written in over fifteen years (since I’d graduated college). I guess I had a little pent up creativity. But in hindsight, I knew on some level that this was my one and only shot. Taking that sabbatical – gambling my full-time career – was the riskiest thing I’ve ever done.

 

 

Amy: How long did it take you to compose the query for NEARLY GONE?  Did you struggle with it or did it come to you quickly?

 

Elle: Queries are TOUGH! I did a LOT of research. I read a lot of agent blogs, and I spent a lot of time on Query Shark, studying the ones that did and didn’t work. Once I felt confident I had the guts of a solid query, I took it to a workshop, and revised based on feedback I received there.

 

 

Amy: How many agents did you query for NEARLY GONE?

 

Elle: After researching agent preferences, I batched my list into groups of six. I queried my top six agents first.

 

 

Amy: Did you receive initial positive response or did it take a while to get requests?

 

Elle: Five of the six requested full manuscripts within 72 hrs of the initial query.

 

 

Amy: What can you tell us about your “call” with your agent, Sarah Davies? How did you know she was a good fit for you?

 

Elle: I knew I wanted Sarah to represent my book as soon as she began reading my manuscript. I’d get brief, encouraging emails from her, letting me know she was completely engaged in my story. In an industry that can be so silent for such painfully long stretches, those small correspondences felt like lifelines. Then I got an email in which she described my love interest as “stonkingly sexy”. I immediately googled “stonkingly”, and I was totally sold.

 

I was so nervous during the actual “call”, I don’t remember most of it. I probably babbled. We talked a lot about what I’d done right (my query, my hook, my characters and my romance), and what I needed to do to make my book stronger (rewrite it). By that point, I felt so confident in Sarah, I didn’t have to think about it. I just knew I was in the best possible hands.

 

 

Amy: In your bio you say you write part of the time in a tree house on the edge of the jungle on the Caribbean Sea – how is it possible to get any writing done with that kind of view?

 

Elle: I find it incredibly peaceful. No distractions. No ringing phones. No errands to run, or laundry to do. It’s the one place where I feel like I can breathe. Things just seem to make more sense up there.

 

 

Amy: What writing advice did you get early on in your career that you still use today?

 

Elle: Sarah once told me to “trust my prose” — that I don’t need a lot of words, only the right ones. I’m still learning to trust myself, but I’m getting there.

 

 

More on NEARLY GONE:

 

 

Nearly Boswell’s name is an adverb with glass-half-empty connotations. Appropriate, given she’s almost certain to win the scholarship that’s her route out of Sunny View trailer park, almost pretty under her second-hand clothes, and she almost likes her best friend as much as he likes her.

 

But Nearly has a secret. She’s hopelessly addicted to the personal classified ads. Her search for hidden messages in the Missed Connections seems harmless enough – until a girl turns up drugged and naked under the bleachers, and a cryptic series of ads reveal clues to increasingly terrible crimes. Girls start turning up dead, and all the evidence points back to the one person capable of solving the clues – Nearly herself.

 

Reformed bad boy Reece Whelan is a narc. Working for the cops as a confidential informant is the only thing keeping him out of juvie. Helping police solve the chain of crimes could be his ticket to redemption, but shadowing Nearly is a challenge. The more Reece gets to know her, the harder it is to keep his distance, and as the evidence mounts against Nearly, Reece is sure not only that she’s being set up – but that he’s falling for the girl the cops think is the perp.

 

Drawn into a forbidden partnership, Reece fights to protect Nearly from the cops who suspect her and a calculating predator who has her second-guessing the people she loves. Somehow Nearly must work out the meaning of the mysterious numbers blue-inked on the victims and their connection to the puzzling ads. But time is running out, and who can Nearly trust with her secrets, her heart, and her life?

 

 

Elle Cosimano is the daughter of a prison warden and an elementary school teacher who rides a Harley. As a teen, she spent summers working on a fishing boat, baiting hooks and lugging buckets of chum. She majored in Psychology at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and set aside a successful real-estate career to pursue writing. She drinks too much coffee and is a professional puppy and little boy wrangler. She divides her time between her home near Washington, DC and a jungle tree house in the Mayan Riviera.

 

Elle’s debut YA thriller, NEARLY GONE, releases in early 2014 with Kathy Dawson Books, an imprint of Penguin Books for Young Readers.

 

You can find Elle on her website, twitter, facebook, and goodreads.

Monday Musings: Writing Communities April 29, 2013

I’ve been writing for a long time, but it wasn’t until about a year ago that I stumbled upon an internet writing community.  I’d heard about places like Absolute Write and AgentQuery Connect but had never ventured onto either site.  Why did I hesitate? Well, there were a couple of reasons:

 

 

1) I was afraid to ask questions. Would they be lame? Would they show just how truly uneducated I was about the publishing world?

 

2) If I shared my pages and/or my query, would I be showing my fellow writers what a hack I was?

 

3) What did I have to offer?  One of the things about a writing community is the give and take.  Yes, you share your work, but you’re also encouraged to engage with others, and critique their work.  I wasn’t sure any feedback I could offer would be of value.

 

 

But as with any challenge, you have to be willing to take a risk.  So with a big leap, I jumped into the writing community over at AgentQuery Connect.  What did I find?  An amazing website where writers of all ages, and genres, share their work, and go out of their way to support one another.  Many of the writers on the site were kind enough to agree to give me my first interviews for this blog.  Other writers have become my critique partners, while countless others have commented on my query and added invaluable feedback to my work.

 

 

If you are new to the writing world, or are just hesitant about joining a writing community, I highly encourage you to check one out.  Not only will it provide you with valuable feedback, and help educate you about the world of publishing, it will also help connect you to other writers who want to support you as you try to reach your publishing goal.

 

 

Are you involved in an online writing community?  What kind of value has it added to your work?  Please share with me in the comments.

Contests: Are You (and Your Manuscript) Ready? April 26, 2013

There is truth to the saying that the real work begins when you write “The End” on your manuscript. Once the final word is on the page it’s on to revisions and edits. And then, hopefully, a great manuscript gets passed on to beta readers and critique partners for further review.

 

But let’s say you’ve already gone through this process, and are ready to query. You put your letter together and hit “send” and wait. And wait.  It’s frustrating, but you can do other things in the meantime to further your chance to get an agent.  You can go to conferences, start following agents on social media, and you can enter contests.

 

Contests are an amazing way to gain access to, and share your work with, many agents at once.  They allow you to share everything from your query, to your pitch, to even your first 250 words or first page.  Many success stories have come out of contests (I know one personally). So if you want to put in the time and effort, contests are another good way to approach agents.

 

Now let me state for the record that contests in many ways take work. The people who coordinate and organize them require you to follow a specific submission process in order to participate.  In addition, many times submission windows are only open for a specific date and time, and have a limit on how many entries can be included. So, as with querying, you must DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

 

Some things to think about…

 

 

1) Check out the people/blog holding the contest.  Make sure they are reputable and have the agent contacts that will help further your writing.

 

2) Follow rules regarding how many manuscripts you are allowed to submit.

 

3) Confirm the contest is looking for your type of manuscript. Please don’t perfect your query and first 250 for your women’s literary fiction manuscript only to get rejected because the contest only wants Middle Grade and Young Adult.

 

A couple of other things to keep in mind…

 

 

1) Unless otherwise stated, most contests require a COMPLETED manuscript. Do not send in an entry for an MS that is only half-done. If you get a request, the agent is going to want to see the material right away – not in six months – when it’s done.

 

2) If you have an agent, DO NOT enter.  Be considerate of aspiring writers. Don’t take their place in a contest where they have an opportunity to connect with an agent when you already have one.

 

With this all being said, do you think you’re ready to enter a contest? If so, I’ve started a list of three up-and-coming opportunities. If you know of more, please send me a comment and I will update the list.

 

And one last thing.  Even if you don’t get a request, contests are a great place to connect with fellow writers (especially if you are required to comment on their work).  Take the opportunity to network and meet other people who write in your genre. Who knows, maybe you’ll build a friendship that will last a lifetime!

 

Good luck!

 

 

May Pitch + 250

 

Hosted by: Adventures in YA and Children’s Publishing

 

Dates: Submission window will open Sunday, April 28th at 3:00pm EST and close on May 3rd at 11:00pm EST, or when they receive 100 submissions, whichever comes first.

 

Details: Pitch+250 is open to YA, NA, and MG submissions of a pitch (100 words max) and the first 250 words of your completed manuscript. It will consist of three rounds of judging by bloggers, published authors, and agents. Full contest details here: http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-may-pitch250-contest.html

 

More details on judges can be found here: http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-judges-for-may-pitch250.html

 

 

The Writer’s Voice

 

Hosted by: Brenda Drake, Cupid’s Literary Connection, Mother. Write. Repeat. and Love YA

 

Dates: Begins May 1 – with judging and mentoring going on through the end of May

 

Details: “The Writer’s Voice” is a multi-blog, multi-agent contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Krista Van Dolzer of Mother. Write. (Repeat.), Monica B.W. of LoveYA, and Brenda Drake. The premise is based on NBC’s singing reality show The Voice, so the four writers above will serve as coaches and select projects for their individual teams based on queries and first pages.

 

Link: Brenda Drake’s Blog for full contest details

 

 

QueryKombat

 

Hosted by: Bloggers Michelle4Laughs, Writer’s Outworld and SC Write

 

Dates: The submission window opens at 11AM EST on Monday, May 13th and close at 11AM Friday, May 17th or when they receive 225 entries.

 

Details: Query Kombat will host 64 kombatants in a single-elimination, tournament style query-off. There will be a total of six rounds in Query Kombat. First opponents will be grouped by target audience (ie. YA, NA, Adult, and MG). After that, a bracket-style grid will dictate future opponents. If you secure a spot in the tournaments, your query and the first 250 words (to the end of a complete sentence) will be pitted against another query and first 250 words. Judges will read each match-up and vote ‘Victory’ on the best entry (Remember, this is subjective). The entry with the most ‘victories’ will advance to the next round until only one champion remains.

 

 

Link: For more details you can go here: http://www.michelle4laughs.blogspot.com/2013/04/announcing-query-kombat-contest-and.html

Writers: Do You Push Yourself? April 22, 2013

 

The query trenches suck.  There I said it. I’ve been saying it for a while.  The only thing keeping me sane right now are my writing buds, who are going through the same thing, and my need to distract myself with developing something new.

 

I was fortunate enough a while back to write a short story, “Emanate”, which was included in The Fall anthology published by Elephant’s Bookshelf Press.  It was a true challenge for me.

 

First off, the only time I’ve ever written a short was for a creative writing class some time back – and it was hard.  Well, who am I kidding? It was almost freaking impossible. Create an entire story with a beginning, middle and end in less than 10k? Yeah, it was pretty difficult.  But it tested me in ways I never expected.

 

“Emanate” still had a YA voice but this time it was male. I don’t write male protagonists. Ever. But I wanted to push myself.  See if I could write an authentic teenage boy’s voice that would be compelling.  It took months to write and massive edits after my CPs got a hold of it.  I’m a little embarrassed to admit the first draft was really bad. No, really, really bad.

 

When ”Emanate” was complete, and eventually accepted for submission, I felt like I’d jumped a huge hurdle. Not only had I written a short, but it was way out of my comfort zone.

 

Fast forward six months. My MS is completed and queries, partial and fulls are floating out in the marketplace. I was tired of refreshing my inbox for the thousandth time and needed something new to write.  Elephant’s Bookshelf Press had announced a summer anthology and was looking for submissions which was a perfect way to get my focus on something new.

 

I toyed with several ideas until one stuck.

 

But I hesitated.

 

A day. A week. A month.

 

Why? Because it was way out of the realm of what I usually write.

 

1) It was adult

 

2) It was sci-fi

 

3) It was 3rd Person POV

 

I tried many times to talk myself out of this story, but every time I tried to focus on something new, the premise came back to haunt me.  Begging me to be written. So one Sunday a month ago I sat down and wrote.  The characters and plot flowed onto the pages seamlessly and before I knew it “Unearthed” was born.  I did a small amount of editing before I sent it to my CPs.  They were incredibly encouraging about the writing and the premise (except for the several times when I “head-hopped” – which is something that is very difficult NOT to do in 3rd Person POV). I bow down to those of you who write in this POV. It’s really hard.

 

So you may ask what is the point of this long diatribe? It’s this – your writing gets better if you push yourself.  Writing in a different genre and POV forces you to experiment and learn.  After finishing “Unearthed”, I proved to myself I could write in something besides the YA voice and could do it from a different POV.

 

Now will I ever write an entire adult, sci-fi MS from third person POV? Probably not.  But what I proved to myself was I could stretch as a writer. Even though my idea was scary, I pushed beyond that fear to create something I was proud to submit.

 

What about you fellow writers?  Do you push yourself beyond your writing comfort zone? If so, I’d love to hear how in the comments.