Upcoming Picture Book Webinar

January 28, 2013 in Events | No comments

Hey all, this is a quick note that I have an upcoming Writer’s Digest Webinar on the ever-popular subject of picture books. If you’ve taken this one before, a lot of the content will be pretty much the same, but condensed and updated. The big difference is that, instead of manuscript critiques,  I will be doing a long Q&A at the end, so this is your time to come and ask any questions you want about the marketplace and the craft. For any of you who have been hesitant about the price, this one is priced more attractively since there is no critique portion.

It’s on February 21st at 1 p.m. Eastern. A computer is the only thing you need in order to participate. If you can’t make that date or time, you can still register and you will still have the opportunity to ask questions. All questions get answered and every registered student receives the presentation and the Q&A PDF via email after the event.

Find out more and register here.

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Connecting Secondary Elements

January 23, 2013 in Writing | 5 comments

You’re writing a novel and putting a lot of images, events, characters, settings, and objects into it. Grand! A lot of manuscripts don’t take the necessary step after this, however, and connect the dots. If you introduce a character early on, they should work their way deeper and deeper into the fabric of your plot. Images should reappear and gain significance each time. A bird in chapter one will ideally have new shades of meaning halfway through the book, and then even more in the final chapter. Settings should change as the plot unfolds, meaning that the quarry your protagonist runs away to on a carefree summer day might change drastically when she takes a boyfriend there at night. Not only might your character experience these images, events, places, and people, you should keep in mind how your protagonist reacts to them.

Imagine a photograph of two people you’ve never seen before, young girls playing table tennis. To a random stranger, this elicits little or no reaction. But imagine if you were the girls’ mother, looking at the photograph? Or one of the girls, but maybe thirty years down the line? That object has now become imbued with some very personal emotions. Give the important secondary elements of your manuscript significance by building a relationship between them and your main character. These relationships can change and evolve over time.

Mimic the human brain and don’t let your characters think linearly. This means that you shouldn’t just bring an important secondary element to the page when it’s convenient or right when it’s needed. In between encounters with that bird that keeps reappearing or a character who is crucial to the plot, let your main character remember them or wonder about them. That’s too convenient, and it plays on the surface. Free yourself from only referencing one of your carefully chosen story points when it’s needed and let them form a richer tapestry using your character’s inner life.

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Getting the Most Out of a Conference

January 21, 2013 in Events | 7 comments

I’ve done several posts on writer’s conferences (some are here), and I know that the big NY SCBWI is coming up. What I want to hammer home to writers about to go to their first or their hundredth writer’s conference is that it’s all about what you make out of it, much like writing-related programs and work experience. Many people go to conferences in the wrong mindset, and it can impact their experience in a bad way.

For example, they put a lot of emphasis on their pitch session, thinking that whether or not they get a request will mean the conference either was or wasn’t worth the money, respectively. Or they enter a conference-sponsored contest and hang all of their hopes on winning. Or they expect to corner a visiting agent or editor and sell them on the book. It’s very rare that these American Idol moments happen at conferences, and expecting them is setting yourself up to have a bad time should the stars not align.

But before you think I’m trying to talk you into shooting low, remember that it’s very rare indeed for the stars to align. And even if you make a connection with an editor or agent, it’ll most likely be long after the conference when they’ve finally had a chance to read the manuscript they requested from you at the event. Because that’s how it has always worked for me: I request and read later, not at the table, while the writer is nervously staring at me.

Your primary job at a conference, therefore, isn’t to walk out of there with a book deal (though I can’t swear this has never happened), it’s to be cool, personable, and open to the experience. Most importantly, it’s to be without agenda. I know this sounds lame. You are paying a lot of money to be there, you’ve likely taken time off work or away from your family. You have a manuscript burning a hole in your hard drive. You don’t yet understand that publishing moves slower than molasses unless you’re one of the very few debuts that’s destined to set the world on fire. While it’s important to have a dream and a strong motivation, it’s more important not to only be there in obvious service of it.

This means chatting with your tablemates at lunch about things other than you project (though you can definitely discuss it). Maybe you’ll find a critique partner or learn about another genre. This means introducing yourself to visiting authors, agents, and editors without immediately launching into your pitch. (Most of my most successful conference matches have come from writers who chatted me up about something random, had a good sense of humor, and were very casual-yet-professional about getting a card and following up with business later.) This means using your pitch session as a fun practice exercise in distilling your ideas instead of The End All And Be All Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity you might think it is.

Expectations are hard in that they’re always present and always tied to emotion. Writing expectations, especially, because they have to do with something so personal and creative. But everyone has a different path to publication and a different path once published. Any of my clients will tell you that having a book out in the world is great but (and there’s always this but) nothing like they expected or imagined. The house is late in processing your payment. Your book does unexpectedly well or poorly. You get questions from readers that blow your mind. Your book gets banned because of one word from a school library. Your next book isn’t picked up or you end up scrambling to write a sequel because of demand. Your editor leaves. You switch houses. Your house announces a huge merger with another house. And on and on and on. Everyone is in a long learning curve together in this publishing business, and every time I think I’ve seen or heard it all, a new story emerges that changes my perspective on it.

The best way to go to a writer’s conference is to temper your expectations, be casual and professional, make a good impression by being friendly and curious, and take as many notes as you can on sessions that interest you. I recommend conferences 100% but I have been to hundreds of them and can tell you now that one isn’t going to change your life. That’s not to say that you won’t get an idea, have an “aha!” moment, or meet someone who is going to be part of your journey. Go into the experience with your head in the right place and be open to anything.

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Situation Queries

January 14, 2013 in Writing | 4 comments

One of my favorite notes to give because it make so much sense to me is “A situation is not a plot.” (Though Stephen King is quick to absolutely disprove me by giving the opposite note here, ha! Proving once and for all how subjective writing advice can be. As the author of a book of writing advice, I’ll be the first to admit it.) This note applies especially to queries and I wanted to remind everyone to concentrate on specific plot points in their pitch letters as 2013 and all the make-your-dreams-come-true querying gets underway.

Here’s an example of a query letter that relies overly on situation instead of plot:

Emma wants to be normal so badly, but she can’t. Between a cheating boyfriend, an abusive father on his way out of the family, and a rivalry with the most talented softball player in school, she has no time at all to discover that the tattoo she got over spring break is giving her secret powers.

Sorry for the lame example, but I rather like the idea of a tramp stamp giving you a little more than you bargained for. Maybe it’s my childhood memory of that one episode of the X-Files when Scully gets that snake tattoo and all hell breaks loose? Wow. Blast from the past. Anyhow…

This query is fine and I see it a lot in the slush. But it’s not the best it can be, and that’s why I’m calling it out here. What’s missing? A specific sense of plot. This query gives us a fine idea of everything that’s going on in Emma’s life, but it doesn’t really do any of the heavy lifting to connect the dots. It’s like dumping the jigsaw puzzle of your plot in front of your reader and saying, “Well, there it is.” In a pitch letter, you’re not just selling the reader on the hook of your story or how marketable it might be, you’re also selling them on your story itself.

Here, we don’t know if the father is going to be the main secondary plot (giving it a darker, more contemporary realistic shade despite the tattoo element), or the boyfriend (giving it a more romance flavor), or the softball rivalry (making me think it’s going to be a school-heavy story). If I’m left to reassemble the pieces of Emma’s situation in my own head, I could find three very different books in there.

That’s a problem. You want to not only give us the elements of your story but arrange them in such a way that your plot shines through, guiding the reader even more into the specific world and events of your unique novel. Something that’s more specific would go like this:

Just as her abusive father is on his way out of the family, Emma discovers an uncomfortable secret: that tattoo she got over spring break is giving her the ability to see people’s futures. And she doesn’t like what it forecasts for her relationship with Rufus when she predicts his cheating on her at prom. From there, it’s one catastrophe after another, especially as she races against time to best her softball rival before the last game of the year determines who gets a coveted scholarship. As her power predicts doom and gloom for everyone around her, Emma has to do everything she can to secure her own future.

Okay, now I know that the father isn’t really going to be a big part of it, and the boyfriend’s cheating is more of an incident for the first third. The main thrust of the plot will probably be the rivalry, ending in a championship at the climax. The story feels much clearer to me now that the query is guiding me along instead of throwing me in the deep end of situation. This is a nuanced distinction, but an important one.

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Bringing the Past Into the Future

January 7, 2013 in Writing | No comments

As a plot moves forward, your characters will gather events, relationships, and memories that will transition from the novel’s present to the novel’s past. Make them matter by making them dynamic. If an event or relationship doesn’t progress from what has already been established, you are not using it to its full potential. For example, you present your reader with a contentious relationship between your protagonist and her main competitor on the track team. They make snappy remarks at one another and always vent their aggression on the track. But if their relationship doesn’t progress from this dynamic (by either getting better or worse), this story element will plateau. It becomes something in your character’s past that drags them down.

By having events and relationships change and evolve and grow in importance over the course of the story, you give each story element a trajectory in the plot. Give things a sense of future direction so that they don’t stagnate. In the track rival example, above, I’d find a way to work this relationship into the plot so we know that this dynamic is going to matter in the future of the story. To use a cliché example, maybe I’d work in an upcoming competition to really put the pressure on their bond. This way, the girls aren’t just snarking at one another in limbo, the relationship is also in forward motion toward something more climactic than we’re seeing in the novel’s present.

Think of every important story element as a line that’s climbing toward your climax. Any plot developments or relationships that plateau (especially in the middle of the novel) are shortchanging the future of your story by staying in lockstep with the past. Why is this such a bad thing? The reader is already familiar with what you’ve established. Without a sense that these elements have a future and are going somewhere, a reader’s investment wanes. Remember, a rising line trending toward the climax, with all elements growing, changing, and weaving together.

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Now Offering Editorial Services

January 2, 2013 in Freelance | 4 comments

Welcome back from the holidays! Was your break as relaxing and wonderful as mine? I hope so. It really was a Christmas and New Years for the ages. But now it’s back to work. Speaking of work, I’m offering something new: paid editorial critique and consulting services.

In the fall, right before my book came out, I had a few writers email me to ask whether or not I offered paid critique services. It’s something I’ve always considered doing but the timing never seemed right. As is, I do critiques for my Writer’s Digest webinars, for various conferences, and for my clients (in good faith, without charging a fee) on a regular basis. It’s my favorite part of the job, hands down. I love story, I love craft, and I love rolling my sleeves up and getting into the nitty gritty of a piece of writing, whether it’s a pitch letter, a 10-page sample, a picture book, or a novel. I have a very specific set of skills, some in-depth market insight, and context that many writers have found valuable over the years. This is just another avenue that lets me do what I’m honest-to-goodness passionate about.

It’s gratifying to help aspiring authors get to the next level and I know there are a lot of people out there who want professional help to reach their next writing milestone. After getting some inquiries and taking on a few trial editing jobs, I decided to take the plunge and offer my services officially. You can check out my new website here for more information, including packages offered, rates, and submission information. My main focus so far has been full manuscript edits, which are very time-intensive but also utterly gratifying, but I offer options for picture book writers, query letters, first pages, etc. etc. etc.

I’ve always been very honest and that’s not going to change. I can completely understand why some people have issues with agents or in-house editors pursuing editorial work on the side, just like I understand people having issues with the recent trend of agencies publishing client books in digital form. As a result, I know this won’t be for everyone and that’s perfectly fine. For those who are curious, I’m making every effort to keep the line between my agenting work and my editing work clear. I have the full support of Movable Type, and the conviction that my existing and future agenting clients always come first. My customers sign an agreement that says I will not offer literary representation on any project that I’ve edited, though I could happily recommend it to colleagues if it strikes me as a fit. If you’ve been looking for an editor but don’t want any conflict of interest, email me for the names of several outstanding freelance recommendations with no current agency or publisher affiliation.

It’s four years into my agenting career and I’ve sold many books, published my own book on the writing craft, traveled the world, and fulfilled a lot of personal and professional dreams. I’ve also made some publishing dreams come true for writers, and that is a feeling that never gets old. I have a submission pile that I’m actively hunting through, a full list of clients and projects, some time on my hands, and a commission-only job that pays unpredictably (yes, everything from a love of editing to boring practicalities played a role in this decision).

It’s a new year and, finally, the timing is right.

If you’re interested in my services, please check out my freelance editing website. I won’t be pitching you hard on this blog to give me your money going forward, don’t worry. But I’m here if you’re interested, and I’m genuinely excited to help writers who are looking for a very qualified pair of eyes and some honest and proactive feedback.

Back to our regular programming on Monday! And, for the love of Gertie, if anybody spots a typo in this post announcing my editing services, please do the humane thing and don’t tell me about it. :)

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Happy Holidays!

December 22, 2012 in Site Stuff | 12 comments

I’m adding a thing to the already long list of stuff I do, and I’ll tell you all about it on Wednesday, January 2nd. In the meantime, here’s a sweet review of WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT from superstar MG author Danette Haworth, whose book VIOLET RAINES ALMOST GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING is excerpted (though she swears her praise isn’t biased!).

In other news, I don’t know if you’ve unfriended me on Facebook yet, but you should. Why? Because my feed is about to turn into one big infomercial about Gertrude, our 10-week-old pug puppy. Loyal blog readers know of my love for animals, and probably remember my two furry loves Smokey and Sushi, who passed in 2009 and 2011. It is so wonderful to have a pet again. I’ve never had a dog before, either, so this pup is a dream come true. I feel so blessed and grateful. (And I should really buy stock in pet deodorizer spray…)

Now for the vital stats: She’s a rare silver gray color and–maybe I’m biased but–I don’t personally think that she could get any freaking cuter. Her favorite activity is chewing on everything. Her favorite food is treats. Her favorite way to sleep is upside down. Her favorite place to go to the bathroom is everywhere but her puppy pad. (Hence, her nickname is “Dirty Gertie.”) Her murder weapon is lots and lots of kisses until her victims succumb. It’s disgusting how smitten we are with her. Here’s a glamor shot:

silver gray silver black pug puppy

Happy Holidays to you and yours, and an energizing New Year that sees you many steps closer to your dreams!

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Book Giveaway Winners

December 19, 2012 in Kidlit Guide | 2 comments

And the lucky winners of my holiday WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT giveaway are:

Stephanie Schumann and
Josef Bergman

Please email me if I don’t email you first to give me your mailing address and confirm your personalization. I’m going to the post office tomorrow and would love to mail your books in time for Christmas. To everyone who didn’t win this round, BUY IT and make your favorite agent/blogger/new author very happy. ;) I have more author copies and will be giving them out in 2013 as well.

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Book Giveaway!

December 12, 2012 in Kidlit Guide | 167 comments

Just in time for the holidays, I’d love to give away TWO personalized copies of my book, WRITING IRRESISTIBLE KIDLIT. I just got some new author copies in and they are getting restless sitting on my bookshelf. Instead of making you guys do a bunch of stuff like Tweet or Facebook or blog and provide a link in order to be eligible, I’ll just open this up to anybody who wants to enter (provided you live in the United States for the sake of shipping costs).

If you want to read an interview I recently did about the book with Lenore Appelhans over on the Apocalypsies blog, click here. To enter the contest, leave a comment below with the name you want me to personalize your book to, should you win. No need to also leave an email address as long as you enter it in the form (only I see these). The contest ends midnight, Tuesday December 18th and winners will be announced December 19th. Tell your friends and your writing group!

ETA: Just to clarify, I’m giving away two copies of the book to correspond with two entries by two different writers, not two copies of the book to one entry. I just want to avoid any confusion!

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Next Steps and Considerations

December 10, 2012 in Advice, Publishing, Writing | 7 comments

Katie Van Amburg, a recent college graduate, wrote in a few weeks ago and wanted to know what she should be doing next to further herself as a writer. Should she get an MFA? Should she work at a publishing house? These are some of the “next step” questions that a lot of writers have when they’re looking around and wondering if the writing that they do in their rooms is going to be enough to speed them toward their goals.

Is taking the next step and working at a publishing house or getting an advanced degree for you? Well, as a lady who has done both…

This is a tough answer to hear but it’s necessary: There is no magic bullet. I worked as an intern at Chronicle Books in San Francisco, and it was wonderful. I learned a lot. I also got an MFA degree and wrote a thesis, which was a completed fiction manuscript. Again, I learned a lot. But working at Chronicle didn’t get me automatically to some new level as a writer, and neither did the MFA. Neither ended directly in a publishing deal. I published a book this year but it took into consideration all of my experiences in publishing. And everything I wrote for Chronicle or for the MFA certainly must’ve played a role, but at the end of the day, the sum of all my experiences came out on the page.

Writing isn’t a linear progression. There’s no “go get your medical degree, then do a residency, then…” path outlined for it anywhere. That can be liberating, but it can also be scary because there are so many variables and fewer tangible results than in other fields.

If you do any of these things, you are doing them for YOU and to grow as a writer, not to get brownie points on your resume. Remember that. If you expect to wake up the morning after your MFA thesis is accepted and somehow be changed, it’s not going to happen. (Sorry to say, but it’s sort of like publishing a book. When I got the deal, I called Andrea. The first thing she said to me was, “That’s great, but just don’t think it will change your life.” At first, I thought she was being a bummer. Now I know she’s right. That one thing will not change your life…unless it becomes a megaselling hit and makes you lots of money. Most books are all about what you got out of writing it and then all about what you do with them. Waking up on publication day is like waking up on any other day.)

However, if you think a structured, workshop-based program will help you get to the next level, apply to an MFA and get everything you can from it. If you want to see how a publisher works from the inside out, go intern at one or work for a literary magazine or read for a literary agent. But don’t expect either of them to be more than what you make of them.

Sure, good programs and good publishers will furnish you with mentors and experiences you’ve never had before. And there’s a lot of value in that. But there’s usually no benchmark with something like this. The lessons and realizations (and then the energy and courage to use those insights when you’re back at the page) mean the ball is in your court. All of these things are just individual steps, it’s up to you to put them together into a ladder a climb it.

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