Purchase your copy of Embassy HERE.
The sequel, Resonance, will be available January 1, 2016
Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thursday. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Thursday, November 6, 2014
The 90k Milestone in RESONANCE and other news
I hit 90k yesterday and it was okay so I had to say, "Hey, what a day to hit 90k. What a way to finish the day."
Well, can't say I didn't try to make a snazzy rhyme on a dime that time.
I'm past 90k now (almost to 93k, actually) and I'm closing in on the final pages of Resonance. My heart is starting to go knowing that I'll be finished in a matter of 2-3 weeks.
In other news, several book blogs are reviewing Embassy in the upcoming weeks! If you haven't already, grab your copy at Amazon, Smashwords, or the Book Depository! Links are in the sidebar to the right! Things are heating up!
Thursday, July 24, 2014
5 Query Letter Mistakes You Should Avoid
Be sure to read the follow-up post:
Writing your first query letter can be daunting. You have to pitch your book to an agent in 1-2 paragraphs (not including your hook line and bio) and you have to make it memorable.
In the near(ish) future, I'm going to write a post about the anatomy of a successful query letter with an in-depth analysis of my query (which has garnered a few partial and full requests, so yay!)
Without further ado...here we go.
Mistake #1: "MY BOOK IS
DIFFERENT BECAUSE....!!!!!"
No, seriously. People have said that in their query letters.
Not even joking. I used to fall victim to that, and now I've changed my methods
because I learned that saying your book is different is you screaming I'M AN
AMATEUR!!!
You need to know
what your book is about. If somebody told you a chapter number, you should be able to tell them what happens in that chapter. As the author, it's your job to say, "this happened because this happened because this
happened." Show that your story is connected to itself, or else it'll look
like you write a bunch of events that don't seem connected.
But when it comes to the query, you have to explain one question: "What is the main character's conflict?" That's it. Nothing else. Hook the agent with the conflict.
Mistake #2: TRYING TO SQUEEZE
IN EVERY OUNCE OF DETAIL THAT YOU CAN
Do yourself a favor and don't rewrite your book
in the query letter. Save that for the synopsis. Leave stuff out. Lots of stuff. You have
around 250-350 words to make the agent/publisher flip to the next page.
Remember, the only question you have to answer is, "What is the main character's conflict?"
In two paragraphs, introduce the character, introduce the situation, and show the agent that there will be a journey. Only include the main character and the character who has the largest influence on him/her throughout the story.
See, instead of stuffing the query full of shallow plot points, now you can expand on one or two points, giving the agent a chance to connect with the story and characters.
(Stupid) Mistake #3: "MY BOOK IS
JUST LIKE THIS BEST-SELLING NOVEL OVER HERE!!!!!"
*cough* no it's not *cough*
I understand you spent the time to write a book and that's about as far
as you'll get for a long time. Come on. I've been writing for 10 years and I'm not professionally published yet. You wanna know why? Because I wrote
three books and, at the time, thought they were the best books in the whole
wide world.
Today, I shudder at the thought of them.
When you write a
book, I bet ten-to-one you think you have the next Harry Potter in your
hands. You are so hopelessly in love with your book that of course everyone will love it! How couldn't they?
Basically, be humble.
 |
| Unlike this cat. |
Mistake #4: "MY FRIENDS
AND FAMILY ALL SAID----"
And to the trash it goes.
 |
| For some reason, I can't stop laughing at this. |
Mistake #5: "MY HOBBIES
INCLUDE WRITING AND READING."
Really? I wouldn't have guessed!
Yes, I have seen this in query letters....and....sadly I
included these in the first query letter I ever wrote. But that was 7 years
ago.
Personalize your hobbies and pastimes. Be specific. Make
yourself look interesting. What do you do that nobody else does? Heck, what's a
quirky thing you do?
As Haymitch Abernathy would say, "Give them something to root for."
Show why you are unique. What makes you qualified to write this book? Why should they want you as a client?
As I mentioned above, I'll have a post analyzing my own query letter sometime in the near future. Subscribe and share to keep updated with my posts!
Enjoy this post? Check out these others:
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
5 Ways to Improve Your Writing by Reading Other Books
Have you ever seen this quote? "The six golden rules of
writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write." -
Ernest Gaines
There is a lot of truth behind that.
Stephen King had another one: "If you don't have the
time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write."
So what can you do to improve your
writing through reading? Let’s take a look.
#1.
EXAMINE SENTENCES.
Okay, read the book. Enjoy it and take your time! When
you're done, go back and look at what you read. Which parts did you like
or hate? Which parts went fast, and which parts went slow? Did you
cry, or feel angry, or smile uncontrollably at any point?
Look at those parts and examine the sentences. Look at WORDS
and PHRASES and how long the sentences are. Long sentences (15+ words)
are generally exposition, while short sentences (usually 3-6 words) are used to
emphasize action.
 |
| Books ARE emotional puzzles, after all. |
You should notice that generic words (it, that, like, the)
missing, because they interfere with imagery. Sometimes they are
unavoidable, but you won't see them as often as distinct objects and actions.
#2. STUDY THE BOOK'S PLOT STRUCTURE.
We all know the 5-point structure: Exposition, Rising
Action, Climax, Falling Action, Denouement. But why should we follow this
and why does it work?
BECAUSE THIS SEQUENCE MAKES THE READER CARE.
 |
| There are no funny pictures for plot structure. |
The reader meets the characters, befriends them, and gets to
"know the normal." Then BOOM! Something happens that
throws the characters off-track, something they may not have seen coming.
Now the reader wants to know what will happen and wants the problem to be
solved.
If you can make the reader care, they WILL finish the story.
So study where the authorputs certain
events, who they
affect, and the choices they force upon the characters.
Adapt this to your own story. You'll see how smooth the events work
together and that it creates a believable setting for the reader to live in.
#3. LISTEN TO THE CHARACTERS' VOICES.
Seriously, listen to them. Watch what words they use.
What they emphasize. How do they make you feel? Do you tense
up, smile, laugh, or become embarrassed? Dialogue is crucial.
Dialogue is the BASIS of characterization. You can describe in
straight-up prose exactly who your character is through his interests, fears,
emotions, friends, family, pets, school grades, and more, but I GUARANTEE you
readers will get bored and skip ahead.
I bet some of you skimmed that last sentence because you just
wanted to get on to the next because DESCRIPTION IS BORING. It really is. Readers
want to experience a character, not be handed a paper with a checklist of his
likes and dislikes. We want to see a character react. We want to
see them cry and laugh or yell in anger. That's why good characterization
matters.
And a conversation between two characters (or more) is interesting
to read!
 |
| This picture is weird, but somehow illustrates my point. |
Fun fact:
In his novel Hills Like White Elephants, Ernest Hemingway only
describes ONE character: "She had taken off her hat and put it on
the table." That is the only physical reference to ANY character in
the entire book.
#4. WATCH HOW THE VILLAIN AND HERO AFFECT THE WORLD AROUND THEM.
This is similar to what I said in my post "How to Create a Vile Villain." If readers care about the characters,
and the villain kills someone or wreaks havoc that destroys a character's life
forever, your reader will see how determined the bad guy is.
Create conflict and use it to no end. Keep it reasonable,
but put it in whenever possible because it drives up the story's tension and
the reader won't be able to put the book down.
 |
| Think about Tony Stark's involvement in the world. |
In Les Miserables, Javert keeps coincidentally
encountering Jean Valjean. If you know the story, you'll know Javert is
seeking Valjean because of a previous crime and his obsessive drive for
"justice" creates a tension between them.
Do that. Figure out how the villain and hero (or other characters)
interact with each other, and how every choice forces a reaction.
#5. KEEP TRACK OF HOW CONFLICT OCCURS AND IS RESOLVED.
Watch when the first "turning point" of the story
occurs. You know, when the main character's life is changed forever and he must
embark on a journey of self-discovery and bravery in order to right the wrong,
or meet his goal. That part.
 |
Focus on how the author crafts that
scene. What emotions are there? What words create the scene? Who is
affected? Why is this important to the story overall?
Answer these questions and then move on to the next conflict.
Do the same thing. Find a pattern. Then figure out how these
conflicts are resolved. I've seen many books work in this
"scheme" of conflict-to-resolution:
ABCDDCBA
This visual
shows you is that the largest conflicts tend to show up first and disappear
last. Conflicts of other degrees and importance rise and fall in this sort of
"palindromic" fashion. The least important conflicts tend to happen
near the middle, like an argument between a couple, a minor character
friends/family with the main character is injured or sick, that sort of thing.
Tension that comes and goes. See what I'm saying?
What are some other ways we can improve our writing by reading?
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