Monthly Archive for April, 2010

Books that must be written

Published on April 30, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , . ______________________________________

I just finished reading HUNGER GAMES. Great book. Not sure if I’ll review it or not, because it’s been reviewed a lot.

Anyways, I really enjoyed the story, but I don’t know if I could ever write a story like that and enjoy the process. I don’t even know if I would have read the story without all the high recommendations. I’m glad I did, though.

In my last post, wonderful writer Melissa came up with an idea for a book about an ice cream diet.

Why not?

This made me remember all the stories and ideas that I would dream up in random places (The shower, anyone from my last post????) and I would say to myself, “That book needs to be written. Just not by me.”

Like the one about the kid who is pretty sure his bologna sandwiches give him super powers.

Or the anthropomorphic cats that travel through space and time to save the universe, forced to rely on what they think is a vastly inferior human girl for her opposable thumbs.

Or the young married couple that moves into their new home only to discover that it hides a portal to another realm that may separate them for eternity. *cue dramatic music*

Or the young girl who must choose between the boy she loves (who must fight the urge to kill her) and the other boy she loves (whenever boy number one is absent). Oh, and both love interests have paranormal ablilities…

Just kidding on that last one…

Anyways, stories whisper and bubble and crowd their way into my head all the time. Sometimes I write them down, sometimes I don’t. I read an interview with some author (gosh, I really don’t remember which one–sorry!!) where she said that she waits to see if an idea keeps coming back to her, that’s when she knows it’s worth her time.

It wouldn’t be fair for me to write a story I wasn’t passionate about, even if I thought the premise was wonderful. I guess that’s like the agents who have to pass on great stories because they know the author deserves someone who would be more on fire about it.

So I’m curious if you have any funny or just plain great stories that you think need to be told, just maybe not by you…at least for now. ???

Like the one about the boy who runs away from home with his dog and meets this traveling gypsy circus group and…

Or the monkeys that must destroy the evil space bananas before…

Or the duck-billed platypus that wishes his nose wasn’t so big and moves to LA for cosmetic surgery, only to discover the true meaning of loving yourself…

lol

You get the picture. :)
Peace ♥

oh yeah, and all images are from wikimedia commons.
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Interview with Heather McCorkle

Published on April 27, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , . ______________________________________

Today we have a peek inside the mind of brilliant blogger and author Heather McCorkle. She’s repped by Ken Atchity of AEI. Check out the link! Her blog is full of valuable advice and discussions on the writing life. She’s in the process of editing and outlining her own work, but was still sweet enough to agree to an interview on her writing process.

Here goes:

1. What’s your revision method? (Do you use critique groups and/or beta readers? How many revisions do you average before you feel that your work is ready?)

HM: I have a four step revision method.

#1 I handwrite everything in a notebook first then at the end of the day I
enter it into my computer and do a mini-edit.

#2 Once my novel is completely finished I do a read through edit to correct
grammar and blaringly obvious mistakes. After this I try to set it aside for at
least a week to simmer.

#3 Is my big one. I print it out and take a red pen to it, looking for everything
from plot holes and character arc to misspelled words or repititions.

#4 I read it aloud to my beta reader. This serves two purposes. I catch a lot
of things when reading it aloud that my eye or pen passed over so I correct
those issues. Also, my beta reader catches inconsistencies, missing parts,
or any other problems I usually passed right over. I do have a critique group,
the Scribe Sisters, who I bounce things off of throughout the whole process.

2. When you begin a manuscript, do you favor an outline, or do you tend to fly by the seat of your pants?

HM: I love to fly by the seat of my pants when I begin a manuscript but I
resist the temptation. I learned the hard way that an outline will keep me
from screwing up the plotlines and character arc. By writing an outline I
cut my editing time in half.

3. What’s the weirdest source of inspiration you’ve ever experienced? (A crazy dream maybe? The subway? Vacuuming your carpet?)

HM: Inspiration usually hits me strongest in the shower. I have no idea why
but when I’m stuck on a particular part of my book that always works!

4. If you could go back in time to the point when you decided to try this writing thing as a career, what is the one piece of advice you would give your past self?

HM: That’s easy, go to writers retreats and conferences now, don’t wait! My
writing improved in leaps and bounds after attending two writers retreats. I
could have been where I’m at now a long time ago if I would have done that.

5. How do you fight the am-I-crazy times when you doubt yourself or your work?

HM: That’s a really tough one. Every writer has moments of doubt when they
think they’re crazy for pouring all their time and heart into writing. The
important thing to remember is you aren’t alone. When it happens to me I
lean on my friends on at Twitter, Heather’s Odyssey, and the Scribe Sisters.
Other writers and readers are the most supportive people I’ve ever met.
Bottom line is, I don’t give up. I keep writing. When in doubt, write
another book, then another.

Bonus #6. If you could choose one single meal to eat three times a day, every day, for the rest of your life, what would it be?

HM: Icecream, hands down.

—

mmm…sounds nutritious.

Thanks again, Heather, for taking the time to let us in your world. I still can’t believe you hand write everything, but it sounds like a great revision process. Seriously genius. Best wishes for your awesome blog and books!

PS. She also has an inspiring interview on the GLA blog, here.

Peace♥

16 Comments

Writer’s excuses

Published on April 26, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , , . ______________________________________

So I pretty much forgot that I had an anniversary this weekend. I mean I remembered, but only after I planned out all the hours I wanted to spend working on my revisions.

Needless to say, I did not get as much done as I wanted to.

That made me think of how to be a writer you need to be really strict and organized with yourself if you want to get anything done. BUT most writers are naturally a little more, um, unscheduled.

We can be chaotic if we let ourselves. I mean we hear voices in our heads (of our characters, of course) and we write on napkins in the middle of restaurants so we don’t lose amazing ideas. I love being spontaneous, but I will never achieve the level of writing and revision I want if I let my whims rule my schedule.

I am one of those people that hates wearing a watch—it feels so restricting. I don’t want to think about time. However, I went out and bought a stopwatch to help me stay on track. Have I used it? Heck no, but the idea…

Anyways, I don’t know if you have one of these, but I ran my excuses through my very scientific BS-OMeter at home, and this was what I found:

I need to revise another 20 pages, but I’ll be able to concentrate better if I go eat Chipotle first.

Okay, this is kinda bullcrap because I eat Chipotle like three times a day, so I never really neeeed it, but it is important to be fed and well rested before trying to hone your brain on your story. So why am I always up till 2am working on it???

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I’ll be able to write better if I just clean the house first.

Total BS. First of all, I am a horrible cleaner, and cleaning my house would take me all day because I get sidetracked too much. That’s what amazing husbands are for (shhhh). Also, once I get into my story, I’m in the zone, I don’t really see or hear the room around me. The important thing is to get your butt in that chair and get into that zone.

.

I can juggle family time and writing time AT ONCE. Go ahead, sweetie-face, pop in that movie. I’ll just sit on the couch, watch the movie, and somehow still type coherently.


ding ding ding. Absolute BS. You will not be able to concentrate. I tried this weekend and I started typing what the characters in the movie were saying, or I’d completely space out, and then the movie would play this really dramatic music and I’d be like, “Wha’d I miss? Wha’d I miss????” booo.

.

Anyways, feel free to share your excuses that keep you from writing. Along with ways you combat them.
My best advice is just to sit there and type. It’s getting into that chair that’s hard for me.

Peace♥

12 Comments

How to write a super synopsis

Published on April 22, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , . ______________________________________

Do you ever wonder how those authors who’ve written twenty books can sell based solely on synopses? THIS IS HOW THEY DO IT.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Synopsis Salad Shooter.

Why should stories make sense when they can be fun??  Give it a whirl and I guarantee you will come up with a killer plot idea that will have agents swooning.

(If you need help with any of the parts of speech, I put a brief description at the bottom of this post, along with examples I came up with.)

Please share your dynamite stories with us all!!

noun=person, place or thing.
verb=an action
adverb=describes a verb
adjective=describes a noun

My examples in order: Mary Kole, dog, wasted, flower, purple, snail, squirms, vomit, hamsters, hastily, fuzzy, eyeballs, bombed, eons, tremblingly, Olleymae

Peace♥

12 Comments

Interview with T.H. Mafi

Published on April 20, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , . ______________________________________

The hilarious T. H. Mafi was generous enough to agree to an interview on my humble, new, little-known blog.  If you don’t check her blog like every day, you should because she’s a riot.

Let’s hear what she has to say, shall we?

Question 1. What’s your revision method? (Do you use critique groups and/or beta readers? How many revisions do you average before you feel that your work is ready?)

THM: oo tough question. believe it or not, my revision process breaks many,
many rules. [insert massive cringe here.] i revise as i go, and as a
result, usually max out at two drafts. my only experience with beta
readers [read: my unwilling brother and two incredibly generous
friends] were for my very first MS, and mostly because i was so
excited and [equally as] convinced that it was the greatest work of
literature ever known to man. after realizing my MS sucked dog doo, i
vowed never to burden my loved ones with my slush ever again &,
consequently, worked in solitude. the MS that landed my agent has
never been read by anyone but me and her lovely, lovely self. please
note: i do not recommend this method to anyone. my experience was some
kind of freak fluke. revision and beta-ing are suuuuper important. i
was just too embarrassed to ask.

Question 2. When you begin a manuscript, do you favor an outline, or do you tend to fly by the seat of your pants?

THM: i’ve never outlined. ever. i can’t stand the idea. (sorry outlining-
friends!) in fact, i often start writing with absolutely no clue what
i’m writing. i just feel a character developing in my head and follow
his/her/it’s voice. the story unravels itself.

Question 3. What’s the weirdest source of inspiration you’ve ever experienced? (A crazy dream maybe? The subway? Vacuuming your carpet?)

THM: mmm… this is a good question, but i’m afraid i have nothing
particularly interesting to offer. my first MS was inspired by a
serious concept i was considering for awhile. (although it did have a
lot to do with purple eyelashes, so i suspect that might be strange?)
one was fairly random. one was inspired by a song. one was relatively
autobiographical. & the one that caught Amy [Tipton], my agent, had
the funniest source of inspiration: my brothers’ stupidity. i talked
about it at length on my blog — you can find the link here:
http://stiryourtea.blogspot.com/2010/03/amy-tipton-love-story.html

Question 4. If you could go back in time to the point when you decided to try this writing thing as a career, what is the one piece of advice you would give your past self?

THM: “YOU IDIOT WHY DIDN’T YOU FINISH THE BOOK BEFORE YOU STARTED QUERYING?!?!” <— yes. i really did do this.

more pertinently? i wish i’d have known about AW before i started
writing and/or querying. The AbsoluteWrite forums & friends saved my
life. (love you guys!)

Question 5. How do you fight the am-I-crazy times when you doubt yourself or your work?

THM: *nods very slowly*

yes. this happens often. this happens every day, in fact. it happens
every time i write a blog post, much less a novel. i wish i had a
foolproof solution, but i don’t. i just take a deep breath and keep
pushing forward. because i love writing. i love it with every fragile
feeling in my body. i have to do it. and so i do. onward and upward,
always.

Bonus #6 (oops…how did an extra question get in here?). If you could choose one single meal to eat three times a day, every day, for the rest of your life, what would it be?

THM: oh goodness. what a question!! one single meal, every day for the rest
of my life?? hm. hmmmmmm.

i don’t know.

i like chicken?

——–

And there you have it. Of course she’s a genius. And apparently quite blessed with talent.  Thanks again, Tahereh for your time.  I hope you are super successful on submission because I can’t wait to read your gosh darn book.

PS. I don’t know if you noticed, but I cheated on the first question (It was really more like three questions! mwhahaha.) but I put them in parentheses so it was less noticeable.

Peace ♥

17 Comments

How to be a good reviser

Published on April 19, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . ______________________________________

As Nathan Bransford says, revision in semi-important.  I am going through like my 5th terrible, yucky, draining, life-killing revision, and I thought, Shouldn’t this be easier?”

So I looked up all these easy ways, and I thought  that today I would share tips for a super fast, super excellent revision process.  Seriously, these will sike you out of your mind:

.

  • Insert your personal opinions in rants and long, forced character soliloquies. This is per Mary Kole again. Your readers what to know your every whim, and they won’t mind taking a break from the plot for a few minutes to get a look inside your genius brain.
  • If you don’t have an extensive prologue, you need one. Agent Kristen says you need to fill those readers in on every bit of backstory possible!
  • Just writing he said and she said is way too boring and old fashioned.  Spice it up with words like expostulated, admonished, objected, and best of all, remonstrated.  See how colorful that is??? Barry Lyga is great at this.
  • Don’t worry about little things like plot.  If your writing is edgy enough, (which is a big deal per YA highway), no one will notice if little Billy has no real purpose in the story.

If you follow these tips, you’re sure to have your revision done in one easy sweep and be snatched up by top agents in no time.  Good luck!

Told you it was a sike.

But this isn’t a sike: Wednesday we have a very special interview with none other than the Honorable Queen of Funny and Sarcasm herself, T.H. Mafi. Yay!

Peace♥
***Oh wait.  I almost forgot to tell you about this contest. Super cool from a super cool 16 yr old author!

12 Comments

Writers’ Conference Success Story and Tips!

Published on April 16, 2010 in Uncategorized ______________________________________

There is an awesome story on the DFW conference’s website about agented author Candace Isenhower.  She thought she blew her agent pitch, but it worked out well for her.

  • So don’t be shy and don’t be afraid to screw up.  Even if you think you look like an idiot, you may have actually made a decent impression.  So what if you do make a bad impression?  You’re a writer, it’s okay to look a little crazy eccentric…right?

Per her interview on the GLA blog, author Vicky Dreiling accidentally met her agent at a conference event.  It looked like all hope was lost because she missed out on the agent appointments, arrived late to the keynote speech, and no one saved her a seat.  Alas, she was forced to take the only open chair NEXT TO HER FUTURE AGENT.

  • You never know who you’re rubbing elbows with, and attending conferences increases your chances of meeting a contact that may be valuable down the road.

And here’s another GLA blog success story, this time from a conversation about slacks in the elevator at a conference!

  • Don’t throw yourself at agents, no matter how much you read about and love love love them.  Talk about something normal people talk about. Like pants. If an agent wants to know about your work, they will ask. And lots of times they do.

Do you have any interesting conference stories and/or tips?

peace♥

2 Comments

What’s Your Writer’s Conference Tip?

Published on April 15, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , . ______________________________________

This week I’m posting tips from my recent adventure at a writing conference, but I’m curious,

What is your best tip for a successful writer’s conference?

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1 Comment

DFW Conference Tip #2

Published on April 14, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , . ______________________________________

UNOFFICIAL CONFERENCE TIP: When there is a table full of yummy scones, muffins, brownies, etc. along with nice long tongs to pick up said yummies, please don’t use your fingers and then proceed to munch on your brownie over the rest of the yummies.

Conference tip #2: No matter how shy you feel, don’t keep to yourself.  I can be super shy around large groups of unfamiliar people, heck even around small groups, but I chatted it up with everyone I met— in elevators, in the bathroom, in the lunch line, before class.

YES, THIS WAS HARD AND INTIMIDATING, but it got easier because pretty soon I started seeing familiar faces, even in the big crowd.

I’ve heard the horror stories of agents getting pinned in elevators and bathrooms and forced to listen to some crazy writer.  You never know if the stranger in the stall next to you is a savvy agent or a seasoned author.

That’s why I wasn’t pitching.
Instead, I asked the best question for any writer: Continue reading ‘DFW Conference Tip #2′

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ooohhh weee

Published on April 12, 2010 in Writing Tags: , , , , . ______________________________________
So have you seen that SNL skitty-skit where these celebrities are getting interviewed, but they never get to say anything because this other guy starts singing “ooooohhhh weee what’s up with that? what’s up with that?” WELL THAT’S KINDA WHAT’S GOING ON IN MY HEAD NOW.

Super Cool Conference this weekend. I don’t have time to say much because my husband is cleaning my car and that’s supposed to be my chore, so he must be growing impatient.

Let’s just say, “CURSES TO YOU, WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL WORKBOOK! WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST LET ME BE COMPLACENT WITH MY BASSACKWARD REVISIONS???? WHY DID YOU MAKE ME WANT TO REVISE MORE?

Alsssoooooooo….
Number one #1 #1 #1 TIP from the conference:
Wear a stop watch around your neck and keep track of your writing time. Every time you click over to twitter, surf, or blog, or pick your nose, whatever, stop the timer. Then you will see how little much time you truly spend on writing.
Genius.

Peace♥

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