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Publishing

Moving Past Rejections. Taking on the World.

By | Publishing | No Comments

There hasn’t been a post on here for a while, and there’s been a number of reasons for that. One of them being the fact that I was actually pouring over the Lasera Book One manuscript and trying to make it as good as possible. But the main one has been discouragement.

I sent out 8 query letters for this book at the beginning of April. 6 of them came back as form rejections, one came back with a line saying mermaids just weren’t her thing and I’m still waiting on one. I sent 10Β more letters out in this past week. I’m not really hoping for much. (All this on top of the 20 letters I sent in 2012)

It’s hard to get form rejections, especially when I haven’t had any requests just to read the manuscript. I feel like the biggest asset of this book is the world building. This amazing place of Mer that I’ve built. But no one’s even taken a chance reading it, let alone tried to sell it to a publisher. So for a while there I had to step back. I had to make decisions and figure out what I wanted.

I’m still going to wait and see what happens with my queries, but I’m no longer banking on a publishing deal. My book is ready. I’m ready. This is my year. I’m ready to take on the world. Both figuratively and the imaginary world of Lasera πŸ˜€

If I don’t get any interest from agents in this batch of queries, I’m going to put this book out there myself. Maybe the market is sick of mermaids and other fantastical beings, I don’t know. But I’ve decided that I’m going to let the readers decide.

Watch out, Lasera is coming.

 

Cheers!

Editing, One Weird and Hard Hat to Wear

By | Publishing, Writing Tips | No Comments

Some days it’s much harder than others to turn off the creative side and to think like an editor. To look objectively at the phrases that have been put on paper and to distance ourselves from these characters that we love so much.

Most of you know Lasera is my first novel. Just a bit ago I’d put on my editing hat again. Now maybe it was because I haven’t done any serious pruning to this manuscript in over a year, or maybe it’s because I had a particular attachment to what I was cutting but for some reason, I cut one paragraph and I gave a little inward gasp. “Like Oh My Gosh I actually just hit control-X. Gah!” But then I took another breath and I was okay and remembered that this was all part of the process. And it’s not like I haven’t cut things before, last year I’d cut pages at a time. But I’d gone to a writer’s conference and wanted to implement some of the things I’d learned.

Suffice it to say the it’s taken me over a year to implement those changes in just about half the book. I just really find it hard to put the editing hat on. Not so much because of the cutting stuff like I described above, but more because of the lack of creativity. It’s work. And it really feels like work.

I read in an all around improve your writing book that if you’re not enjoying the editing process you’re doing it wrong. Yeah definitely call Bull on that one. Maybe for some personalities it’s possible to like the editing hat, and maybe for others they can grow to enjoy it, but for me? Yeah, it’s like trying to like a chocolate covered onion, it looks like it could be something good and then you take a bite.

All of that said though, editing is so needed. I know my book needs it, I know that I need to keep at it. It’ll really be worthwhile in the end, because I’ll have put my best book forward.

There’s a lot of different editing advice out there, but the best I’ve heard yet — which came from that writing conference I went to– record yourself reading your manuscript and then listen back to it. With smart phones, totally doable. Try it! I will be as soon as I’m done this last little bit :S πŸ˜›

So if you’re like me and stuck at that spot where you’ve just got those last few sections of revision to go? Put your butt in that chair and just get-er-done!

Check out today’s post on DanielleWAM: Get A Designer and Brand Yourself

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Talking About Your Next Big Idea. Amateur or Professional?

By | Publishing, Writing Tips | No Comments

Doesn’t matter what subject it is, there will always be differing opinions. Fact of life. But as writers we have to wade through so much garbage, that I’d say every single person out there who has any aspirations of being a writer needs to take any advice about writing/publishing with a huge grain of salt. As in like a massively sized boulder piece of salt.

Essentially you gotta work your way through everything and pay attention to things that are said consistently, but read the opposing views, and then do what works for you and what feels right. Read lots and research lots about writing and the skills required for the craft. However just because a best-selling author says something doesn’t mean it’s true for everyone. Suggestions and posts I make might not be everyones cup of tea either, so read even my posts with a discerning eye.

Ya or nay? Discussing your WIP

Where am I going with all this? Well, I’m having a bit of an inner debate on whether or not I, as a new author, should be discussing -in detail- my current novel with others. In the last little while I’ve seen a lot of opinion regarding talking about your current WIP (that’s work-in-progress for all you newbie/non-
writing folks) and there seems to be a split right down the middle.

Many seem to feel talking about an idea and what you’re currently in the midst of writing is amateurish and screams of insecurities. Others say that in fleshing out ideas and discussing your project with others is the sign of a professional as you’re building up an audience and garnering interest.

My opinion? For the longest time I felt like I could and should be talking about my book as much as possible. As I came across more articles that addressed this and said that I shouldn’t be talking about my WIP I shifted my view to try and see their points. I think that in this day and age of rampantly expanding e-books/self-publishing and the astoundingly far reach that is social media, an author would be doing their book more harm than good if they kept quiet about it.

To clarify though, I think that if a writer’s idea is in its infancy and their novel is just barely started out, I’d be leery of how much and what you share with others. I would say don’t start talking details until the novel and its basic plot and theme are set in your mind. When you start to second guess yourself and let others influence your imagination and thoughts, it can be confudelling. Some have said that a good rule of thumb is to not discuss anything until your first draft is written. This is a good basic rule of thumb I think. But for me personally it just wasn’t what I wanted to do. I hashed out and plotted an entire series of four books (which later turned into six) before I was done chapter two of Book 1. So my ideas and themes were pretty much nailed down. On the pro side for discussing before your draft is finished, sometimes those who are totally removed from the world you’ve created can solve problems that you had no solution for. This happened to me with one specific detail I couldn’t quite get to work. Talking about it over dinner with my husband and our two roommates at the time, I had a solution before dessert. Discuss what you want and be open, but be wary and don’t allow too much influence, this is your work, your voice! It’s when you get a lot of different ideas and advice from a ton of people and you try to implement them all that you run into trouble. If you hear the same thing from 3 different people it should receive due consideration, but if its a single person take the advice as simply that one person’s thoughts.

At the same time have a short pitch of specifics things to say to friends and family. (ie an elevator pitch) Be enthusatic, love it and own it. It’s your work. You SHOULD be excited about it. So I say share it! (after you’ve nailed down the basics in your mind of course. :D)

What say you all those other authors out there? Sound off in the comments below.

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Comparisons Sometimes Can Help. My Villain vs Voldemort

By | Publishing, Website stuff | 2 Comments

Many times when a person starts comparing themselves to others the outcome isn’t good. However when it comes to character development I find comparisons to be invaluable.

Now I was in the shower when I hashed out some really key details about my main villain. Maybe it’s just me but I tend to get my best thinking and brain storming done about my novels and my characters while in the shower. Go figure its always when I’m surrounded by water and nowhere near a computer or notebook. (Not that I could use them while wet anyways). Thankfully I was able to retain most of the thoughts I had until I got the opportunity to write them down.  
Lego Voldemort – Sweet

What I’d done was compared my main villain to Lord Voldemort. As far as literature goes, he’s one great bad guy in contemporary work. And as I’m extremely well aquatinted with all things Harry Potter it made sense for me to flesh out the flaws and motivations for my main villain in comparison to Voldemort. What an amazing character JK Rowling developed! He went from a sociopathic, attention seeking teenager (who murdered his father) to someone with devoted followers who wanted to place himself as supreme ruler and to subjugate all Muggles.
Now I agree with many others in the writing sphere that when promoting or trying to sell your novel it is probably best not to compare your work with some internationally recognizable names. But I find it immensely helpful with my own characters. The more I thought about Voldemort and his history and all of his motivations the easier it was for me to flesh out my villain. 
In thinking about how my villain was different from Voldemort I nailed down some very essential characteristics and motivations. Was my villain a sociopath? Was he(she) an attention seeking teenager? Did he commit murder at a young age? What was her childhood like? Did he want a large following of people who worshipped him? Or did she prefer to work from the shadows, manipulating people in an underhanded, hidden behind fake names kind of way? By taking the details I knew and understood about Voldemort and then putting that in direct comparison with my villain I got some great work done, and was a huge eye opener at the same time. (You’ll notice I alternated between referring to my villain as a he or a she. This was so there’s no spoilers. πŸ˜€ )

What you read can have huge impacts on your writing see What You Read Will Always Affect Your Writing, but in addition you can analyze great books and great characters that you love and use them to grow and develop your own characters and writing. Happy Writing all! πŸ˜€

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