As if querying isn’t torture enough, many writers like to put themselves through the nightmare of contests. Several types exist, each with benefits. The most popular ones include:
1. Those held by writing organizations such Romance Writers of America (e.g. The Golden Heart and RWA chapter contests).
2. Blog contests where feedback is given on your entry (e.g. MissSnark’s First Victim Secret Agent contests (MSFV)).
3. Blog contests where agents bid on entries. No feedback is given. (e.g. MSFV Baker Dozen contests, Brenda Drake’s Pitch Contests)
4. Pitch fests on Twitter. (e.g. Carina Press on April 4th #carinapitch)
Each of these contests have their own pros and cons, the #1 con being they are SUBJECTIVE, like everything else in publishing. With the RWA contests, you have to pay to enter. I participated in one last year, and I won’t do that again. I finaled, but the scores were ridiculously high. Sure my entry was good, but I knew it didn’t deserve the 99 out of 100 one judge gave it (more like the 87 the published author gave it). I wanted feedback. That’s not what I received.
MSFV Secret Agent contests require thick skin (just like querying), but you can get some amazing feedback from agents and fellow writers that will help make your first page stronger.
Contests like those held by Brenda Drake are great for getting your pitch seen by agents who aren’t currently accepting queries. Since demand to get into these contests is high, and only a few entries make it in, your entry has to be strong to begin with.
Contests are a great way to be seen by agents, but beware submitting the same piece again and again, as agent Sarah Lapolla pointed out on Twitter:
The lack of variety is why I stopped saying yes to contests for a while. When I started doing them again, the same pitches were still there.
Do you participate in writing contests? How do you feel about them?
How many of you have beta read for someone and received a thank you from the person even though your suggestions caused her to do massive rewrites? How many of you received, instead, a nasty email telling you how wrong you are?
We’ve all heard the sage advice that you should wait at least three days before responding to a critique. What you don’t want to do is criticize the person who beta reads your book and undermine her opinion. If you don’t agree with it, then simply ignore it.
I recently sent feedback on a novel I was beta reading. For the most part I had been enjoying it, but there were a few clichés and aspects that I felt were cruel or hurtful to certain teen readers. Also, there was a character type I’d seen in the teen movie Easy A (who came off as a cliché/stereotype even in the movie). The similarities between the two were too close for comfort. I emailed the writer to warn her. Unfortunately, the writer felt it necessary to send me a nasty email. Once it became insulting, I stopped reading it, for both our sakes.
Fortunately, I’m not a vindictive person. If her book is published, I’ll still buy it to support the author. But not everyone is like me. What would happen if her book was published one day, and it had been someone else who received the nasty email? Remember, what happens in Los Vegas doesn’t always stay in Lost Vegas. You don’t want your unprofessional attitude to someone’s feedback to hurt you down the line.
The other problem is that if you keep berating your beta readers you disagree with, you’re setting yourself up for learned behaviors that are inappropriate when you are published. You’re more likely to respond to negative reviews in a non-professional manner, which is something you want to avoid at all costs.
So remember, if you want your beta readers to only gush about your book, great. Just warn them first. And if you don’t like what they have to say, then just thank them and ignore it. Don’t justify why you did something a certain way, unless you’re hoping for additional feedback.
(I didn't take this photo.) Are you ready to get your butt ready for bikini season manuscript in peak shape for querying?
Are you ready to sweat and feel the burn?
Then I have the workout for you. It’s guaranteed* to whip your butt manuscript into shape and leave agents drooling. And a drooling agent = The Call.
First, you’re going to need some equipment:
• Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. You don’t have a copy, you say? Then stay tune. It will be one of the prizes in my upcoming contest to celebrate reaching 500 + followers. (note: if you don’t want to bother with the workbook (though I highly recommend it), you can still do some of the workout. Adjust accordingly).
Workout
Warm up:
1. Characterizations
2. Outline
Some people (also known as pansters) prefer to skip the warm up. I’m not going to make you do twenty push-ups if you do. Just remember, you may need to do more work to get your manuscript into shape compared to the outliners.
Donald Maass’s workbook has some great exercises to do for the warm up (found under Character Development and Plot Development). However, I did them after I finished the first draft of my current WIP. With my next project, I’ll do them during my preplanning, to make sure my characterizations and outline are properly warmed up before I start my first draft.
Light Aerobic Exercise:
1. Write your first draft. I don’t care if you speed through it or if your internal editor is peeking over your shoulder (like mine). Just do it!
2. Read through your manuscript and write notes about things you want to fix (like inconsistencies) or things you’re questioning. Go back and deal with them now if necessary.
Intense Aerobic Exercise:
1. Go through your WIP using the exercises in Donald’s workbook under the section Character Development. With my WIP, I went through the entire manuscript doing this step.
2. Go through the remainder of the workbook (Plot Development and General Story Techniques), completing as many of the exercise as you can. Some will have to wait until you analyze the WIP at the scene level (next step).
3. Now we’re going to do interval training. Divide your WIP into chunks, each containing about three chapters (depending on the length of the chapters). Why? Because after each chunk has gone through the interval training, it’s send off to your CPs. Of course, you don’t have to do it this way. But this is how I did it.
a. Go through each scene doing the exercises in the workbook (under Plot Development and General Story Techniques). Not all exercises will be necessary for each scene. Only you can decide which ones apply to a given scene.
b. After editing the scene according to the above step, do a dialogue pass. I talked about this last week on my Query Tracker Blog post (Strengthening Dialogue).
c. The final step is to Toss The Pages. Okay, I don’t actually toss anything. I randomly select the pages. But the main point is I don’t edit these pages sequentially. This enables me to focus on the writing and not on the story. I also use the RWA handouts list under ‘equipment’ during this part. Doing it this way helps me deepen the layers of the story (setting, emotion, etc). Check out the handout, From First Draft to Final Manuscript, and you’ll see what I mean. Really push yourself on this step. Don’t gloss over it, thinking the page is fine. I bet you can make it better.
d. Continue the above three steps then read through the chunk of chapters you were working on and edit if necessary.
e. Send to CPs (optional but recommended). Edit based on their suggestions.
f. Repeat steps a-e for next chunk of the WIP.
Cool Down
1. Once finished—and after you’ve given it some distance—read through your manuscript and deal with any areas you feel could be further improved on (like pacing).
2. Send to beta readers. Edit as needed.
Celebration
(I didn't take this either)
Yay! You are now ready to query. Just make sure you’ve put your query and synopsis through their own intensive workout.
Good luck!
Any other suggestions? How do you usually edit?
* Fine Print: 1. I’m using this workout with my current WIP, so I don’t actually know if it will work when it comes to querying it. But it has made MAJOR improvements in my manuscript, hence why I’m sold on it. Of course, both the writing and a unique concept are important too. This workout won’t help you there. Sorry. 2. I lied about it being a twenty-minute workout. But it got you to look, didn’t it? ;)
Do you hear voices in your head when you write? I’m not talking about your characters (though mine definitely won’t shut up) or your internal editor.
I’m talking about your critique partner’s or beta reader’s voice.
It’s happening to me. Last week I was editing a chunk of my manuscript to send to my crit partner (okay, she thinks she’s a beta reader, but she’s more awesome than that). In my head, she was telling me that it was too convenient that this guy just happened to show up (convenient for me, not my main character). This stemmed from a comment she had made on a previous chunk on my WIP. Naturally, I listened to her voice and fixed the problem. And I’m glad I did. The story is much better now and the change increased the level of suspense.
So has this happened to you? Has you crit partner/beta reader told you something in your head while you’re editing, or does my crit partner has some paranormal abilities I don’t know about?
Note: The picture DOES NOT look like any of my fabulous crit partners or beta readers. It’s the look I get when I hear the voices. :)
A year ago, I received a rejection on my full in which the agent suggested I hone my writing skills some more (okay, more like a lot more). Within 24 hours, I had signed up for two writing courses (one focused specifically on YA) from a reputable online organization.
The advantage was that the instructor in each (along with my fellow students) would provide feedback on the assignments. While I did learn a few things I didn’t know, most of what I learned wasn’t new to me. Actually, I learned a helluva more by reading blogs—for free.
So what about the feedback? Wasn’t that worth it?
Let’s just say I’ve had way better crits from beta readers than I got from my instructors and classmates. Again, for free. After receiving feedback on my first chapter during the class, I sent it in for the critique at the LA SCBWI conference last year. Shortly afterwards, several beta readers read it and gave me much better feedback (especially on how I could tighten my writing). Even Ellen Hopkins had a lot to say about it. Things the instructor should have pointed out. #epicwritingcoursefail
Recently I took an online workshop for writing love scenes. Too bad I’d already read Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing Erotic Romance. The class would have be great if we could have had feedback on our work (or at least on some students' work), but that didn’t happened.
Fortunately not all workshops I’ve attended have been a complete flop. A lot of the workshops at the LA SCBWI conferences have been awesome, and I’ve heard great things about the workshops/conferences held through my local RWA chapter (which I’ll be going to this year). And WriteOnCon (the free online conference) is awesome. If you haven’t already, check it out from last year. The organizers will be announcing the 2011 conference dates soon.
If you’re looking at taking an online writing course, here are some things to consider:
Who’s teaching the course? Have you read any of the author’s books? Some instructors (like in my ‘writing love scenes’ class) spend more time patting themselves on the back than teaching you anything. Warning: This happens at conferences, too.
Will there be an opportunity for feedback?
How many people are in the class?
Is the class for beginners? (This might affect the level of feedback you get or the level of information you’ll receive.)
What kind of time commitment is expected from you?
Is the class being held by a reputable organization? (Not that it helped me.)
For those of you who want to take your writing to the next level, my suggestion is to read as much as you can. This includes blog posts (hence why I do Cool Links Friday) and non-fiction books on writing fiction. Adventures in Children’s Publishing compiles an extensive list each week on blog posts pertaining to writing and publishing. It’s a must read, no matter what genre you write.
For feedback, check out forums such as Absolute Write, the Query Tracker Forum, and Verla Kay’s blue boards (for kidlit and YA writers). They are all free.
Has anyone else had good/bad experience with writing courses? Any other recommendations to help a writer hone his skill?
As most of you know, I write, read, and breathe all thing YA (young adult). And I pretty much only crit or beta read YA novels plus the occasional MG (middle grade) book—with one exception. One of my closest friends writes women’s fiction.
Before I got hooked on YA novels, I read historical romances (I was planning to write them one day), medical thrillers, and a few Patricia Cornwell novels thrown in for luck.
I’ve never read, in my entire life, any women’s fiction (or at least I think don’t I have), unless Harlequin romances count. Hmmm. Do they?
Anyway, my friend recently decided to take a break from her WIP. But not only did she decide to start working on a new novel, she decided to explore a new genre (for her): erotica.
Now, other than the steamy parts in the historical romances—and I mean seriously steamy—I’ve never read the genre before. But being the diligent critter that I am, I thought I should read a few for RESEARCH. Yes, that’s right, it’s strictly for research.
And of course, my husband, being your typical male, was more than delighted to hear about my selfless sacrifice to benefit my friend. *grins*
So my question is: how far will you go to help your writer friends?
And in case you’re wondering, since I’ve just finished reading my first romantic erotica novel (and it was hot!!!), I have no plans to write the genre (though I’m definitely doing some more research to help my friend out. *winks*). I’m YA all the way.
I’m going to tell you a secret. I’m a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance Canada? During season three (which ended last month), it dawned on me just how much we writers can learn from the show.
1. Don’t be afraid to try new genres: During his audition, super sexy Denys Drozdyuk wowed the judges by not only performing the Paso Doble on his own (something unheard of since it’s most definitely a partner dance), he combined it with a touch of contemporary dance.
All twenty-two dancers selected for the show had to learn and perform dance styles they had never studied before (contemporary, jazz, ballroom, hip hop, Latin dance). The dancers only had a few days to learn the routine, yet all did an amazing job.
As writers, we should push ourselves to try (or at least read) different genres, and see how aspects of them might combine to produce something even more exciting. You might even develop a new trend. Isn’t that what we all want? To be on top of a trend instead of racing behind it, especially since the latter is never recommended.
2. Bring out the emotion: At the end of each performance, the dance partners listened—sweat dripping down their faces, hearts pounding from the gruelling routine—as the judges critique the dance. Often the dancers were told to dig deep and pull out that raw emotion, which will take them to the next level. Those who managed to do that went far in the competition. There were a few dances that left the judges in tears because of the emotional connection they felt with the dancer and the performance (not to mention the subject matter).
Same deal with writers. In order for the reader to connect with our characters, we need to dig deep and bring our characters’ emotions to life on the page. It’s not easy at times. Sometimes we’re crying over what we just put them through (Or is that just me?). But it’s essential if we want to get to the next level: gaining an agent or landing a book contract.
3. You owned that dance: Each dancer had his or her own style (e.g. wild, kooky, etc). The successful dancers applied that to their routines and the judges took notice. This style made those dancers memorable. Very important during the competition.
Okay, writers. I have only one word for you: Voice!
4. Don’t give up because you were rejected: Tara-Jean Popowich auditioned for the first season of the show but never made it to the top twenty. She went home and did everything she could to become a better dancer. Her hard work and determination paid off. Not only did she make it to the show for season two. She won the position of Canada’s favorite dancer.
Like dancers, writers deal with rejections All The Time. It’s part of the package. But instead of bemoaning the unfairness of it all, take the rejection and use it to make your writing and/or story better. Maybe you need a crit group (or a different one). Maybe you need to enrol in a writing class to hone your skill some more. Do whatever it takes to push your writing to the next level.
5. Embrace the critique: Winner Denys Drozdyuk couldn’t have said it better on the final show when he told the judges that praise is great, but the critiques were what had made him a better dancer. What more can I say?
It was amazing watching the show and seeing how much dance has in common with writing fiction. Both require determination, passion, skill, and the ability to tell a story. Do you have all of these requirements? Is there something you need to work on some more?
<<<3
I'm the guest blogger today on the Query Tracker Blog. The topic? The wicked truths about writing edgy YA novels. I'd love it if you zipped over to say, "Hi!"
I recently entered my query for Lost in a Heartbeat (YA thriller or romantic suspense—still trying to figure which one it is) in the Adventures of Children’s Publishing query contest. Our queries (which could be only 175 words max) would be assigned a mentor, and we would crit five other entries. We would then have a chance to fix them up for the final round—the judging.
During WriteOnCon, I received some great feedback on my query. I entered this contest to see if there were some things that needed further tweaking. Okay, the prize was pretty cool, too.
To my surprise, it was attacked. Some critters told me that my main character’s behavior wasn’t logical, and that I wasn’t setting a good example for other teenage girls in who are in a similar situation.
Three problems with their comments:
1. Not every survivor of rape reports it. Not every teen age girl who is raped tells her parents and/or the police.
2. If I did what the critters wanted me to do, then there would be no story, no consequence. And there’re definitely consequences. I just can’t tell what they are in the query because it’s a query not a one page synopsis.
3. These critters were using ADULT logic not TEEN logic.
During WriteOnCon, nineteen-year-old author, Kody Keplinger (her book THE DUFF was released yesterday—I can’t wait to read it!!!), talked about writing authentic teen novels. Check out the link for the full article, but here’s the main point:
What
Would
Teens
Do?
Scary question for some, I know. But that’s what you have to ask yourself when writing YA fiction. You have to think like a teenager when you write.
Not like a parent – even if you are one.
Not like a teacher – even if you are one.
Not like a big sister or brother or aunt or uncle worrying about the lessons you are teaching today’s youth and what not.
No, you have to think like a teenager. Plain and simple.
According to Inside The Teenage Brain by Sheryl Feinstein (I’ll be discussing this book in a future post), teenagers and adults rely on different parts of the brain. "Teen brains are ruled by emotion and adult brains by logic".
So for you YA writers out there, my question to you is (and you don’t have to answer here): are your teenage characters using adult logic or teen logic?
And my question to everyone, what are your query woes? Do you have any?
(note: since my query is now 217 words--thanks to all the suggested changes--I am no longer eligible for the contest. But that's okay. Hopefully I now have a kick-ass query. *grins*)
Last month I was tagged by Lindsay (Aka Isabella) to do the penmanship meme.
The rule is to do the meme on paper and scan it (or take a picture if you don't have a scanner). Here are the items:
1. Name/Blog Name. 2. Right handed, left handed or both? 3. Favorite letters to write? 4. Least favorite letters to write? 5. Write: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. 6. Write in caps: CRAB HUMOUR KALEIDOSCOPE PAJAMAS GAZILLION 7. Favorite song lyrics? 8. Tag 7 people. 9. Any special note or drawing?
Well, my scanner didn't want to play, so I had to take a photo. As you can see, I'm a terrible writer. My mind kept drifting to my wip, and I started to mispell words. AND apparently I can't follow directions because the quick brown fox now jumps over the lazy fox instead of the lazy dog. Oh well.
And here's my drawing of a dust bunny (no, he's not the hot dude in my wip).
Since so many people have already participated in the penmanship meme, I decided not to tag anyone. If you're interested in doing it, please let me know so I can check out your blog.
