Tag Archives: writing

April 19, 2010 · 11:36 pm

When the Time is Write

I am one of those people who is frequently late for things. Not terribly late, but not exactly on time, either. Sometimes, when it’s really important, I manage to get where I’m going when I should, but those occasions are rare, and don’t often happen without a struggle.

I have wondered where exactly I go wrong, that this happens so regularly. Is it because I don’t get up early enough? Do I not manage my time well? 

Several years ago, a similarly time challenged co-worker shared her theory that the inside of a shower is actually a time warp. Once one is enshrouded in its steamy confines, time passes unnoticed, and what seems like a five minute shower can be thirty minutes or longer.

While it might be an exaggeration to think of the shower as another dimension, I have realized that there is a grain of truth to it. When I am showering, my mind is not on soap and water, it is busy outlining stories, ironing out plot points, thinking up good names for my characters, and filling in backstory. Like a preoccupied driver, I end up at my destination (clean) but can’t remember how I got there.

I have spoken with other writers about this phenomenon, and they agree that it exists. Shower thoughts, running thoughts, car thoughts, those are the times that the really good writing takes place, the most creative, most machiavellian plot twists. When our bodies are busy but our minds are free.

When I do finally exit the shower, it usually takes me a few more minutes to write down my ideas before they evaporate.

Are those mini tape recorders waterproof?

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April 12, 2010 · 11:57 pm

Going Back Outside the Box

When I was in high school, I wrote articles for my church youth group’s newsletter. Usually I contributed silly short stories, or a report on how an activity had gone, but sometimes I promoted upcoming events. In tenth grade, I was asked to write about a retreat planned for Halloween weekend, at a nearby camp called The Highlands. 

I had been there many times, and enjoyed spending time with my friends in the cozy cabins, surrounded by essentially old growth woods and fields. Particularly beautiful in the fall, the property had been purchased for use as a camp by a group of Presbyterians in the late 1800’s.

The previous owner had been an early Ohio pioneer named Hezekiah, who had lived on the property with his wife, Martha, and their two grown sons.  A mile or so from the camp’s cabins were four graves under an old tree, their final resting place. Misfortune had stalked the family in the form of a large white dog, who had contracted rabies and attacked them all before meeting his own unhappy fate. One by one, the family succumbed, until no one was left. Legend had it that for some reason, Hezekiah’s head stone would intermittently topple over, and when that occurred, the white dog would roam again and attack unsuspecting campers. 

Inspired, I wrote a great article for the newsletter, incorporating the sad story of Hezekiah and his family, making sure to mention that Hezekiah’s headstone was in fact down again, just in time for Halloween. Mwa ha ha.

It turned out to be a very successful event. More people than usual attended, and everyone had a good time. Except for me. After relaying the details of Hezekiah’s unfortunate demise, I was too scared to go!

When I write, it is a little like being a fly on the wall of my own imagination. Last week, when I decided to provide a murder scene for the blogfest, I wasn’t sure that I really wanted to buzz into the “morbid” room again, but I did it as a personal challenge. It ended up being creepy, but fun, and I got a lot of nice comments. (Thank you, Commenters!)

The moral of the story: Take a chance and write something that you might not be perfectly comfortable with. When the retreat is over and you didn’t go, you’ll only regret it.

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April 8, 2010 · 8:13 pm

Pigeonholing Your Manuscript (or) Helpful Hints for Genre ID

My mother’s aunt was a rather well-known artist, Nell Walker Warner. Although she started out her career in Hollywood, painting backdrops for silent movies, in the 1920’s and 30’s she became part of a school of painters known as the California Impressionists. She was known primarily for her floral still lifes and seascapes, but I know her work best by the family portraits that still hang in my parents’ home.

A few years back, a cousin discovered that Auntie Nell’s paintings had gone up in value, and scoured the internet to discern the worth of paintings still held by the family. In addition to the portraits, various relatives retain a variety of florals, a seascape, a watercolor of Venice and a small view of a path with mountains behind it. Much to his dismay, he found that while the florals and seascape were worth notice, the others were considerably less valuable because their subjects were not what the artist was known for. Same artist, same quality, some even larger in size (with art, bigger is frequently better), but not the right genre.

Genre is an interesting animal, hard to define, typically trendy, and sometimes elusive. It is a classification used primarily to drive book sales, to direct a potential buyer to the right area of the bookstore, which makes it more likely to be found and purchased. It also serves as a publishing gatekeeper to ensure that saturation levels are identified, so as not to clog the market. Chick Lit, for example, is “full” these days, unless the manuscript is a knockout. 

These classifications are great, as long as one has written something clearly identifiable. To the person behind the keyboard, genre is frequently of secondary interest. Many writers (myself included) have written entire novels without considering genre until query letter time. As a result, the typical manuscript is a blend of genres, and the typical author is confused about what to call it.

Amazon.com currently lists their book categories as: Nonfiction, Professional & Technical, Children’s Books, Literature & Fiction, Reference, Entertainment, Computers & Internet, Arts & Photography, History, Science, Business & Investing, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Mystery & Thrillers, Religion & Spirituality, Biographies & Memoirs, Romance, Gay & Lesbian, Health, Mind & Body, Teens, Comics & Graphic Novels, Travel, Cooking, Food & Wine, Medicine, Sports, Outdoors & Nature, Home & Garden, Law, and Parenting & Families.

That’s a start, but what about Urban Fantasy, Cosy Mystery, Amish Romance, and the rest of those offshoots that agents (and editors) seem to care so much about? In an effort to end the confusion, I have scoured the internet for articles on identifying genre. Here are some of the best:

Agent Query:
http://agentquery.com/genre_descriptions.aspx

Writing to Publish:
http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/genres.html

Jill Terry:
wordsmithextraordinaire.wordpress.com/2006/12/13/literary-genres/

Nathan Bransford:
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2008/10/commercial-fiction.html

And two that I just found this morning, thanks to Elizabeth Craig and her wonderful Twitter posts (it must be Unofficial Genre Day):

Stephanie L. McGee:
http://novicewriterchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/04/genre-adventure.html

Katie Lovett:
http://katie-lovett.com/2010/03/15/blending-genres/

With the help of these experts, your YA-Historical-Adventure-Literary Fiction-Romance-Family Saga will soon be folded neatly into an acceptable (and hopefully marketable) literary classification. Good luck!

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April 5, 2010 · 9:52 pm

Scrabbling for Success: 10 Helpful Hints for the Querying Process

Ever since I discovered that Scrabble was on Facebook, I have been playing simultaneous games with multiple people. In an attempt to justify this, I have decided to write a post about things that I have noticed are parallels between the game of Scrabble and the Querying Process.

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1. LOOK AT THINGS FROM EVERY ANGLE

Look at the board’s potential in various ways before setting any letters down, even before you look at your own tiles. Sometimes, just adding an ‘S’ can net you more points than making a word out of the letters on your rack.

When writing a query letter, it is important to think of a good hook. While there are typically many aspects of a manuscript that could be highlighted, jot down several different ideas before selecting one to develop. Sometimes, not going with the obvious can be more effective.

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2. TAKE YOUR TIME

It pays to take some time to consider the potential point value of different words, instead of just going with the first thing you see.

Rather than whipping your query together just to have something to send out, it is better to take your time with it, get some opinions, and send out a few test queries to agents on your B list first. If you find that no one responds, give it a few tweaks and send out a few more. Remember, you can never requery an agent with the same project; don’t burn bridges in your haste to get on the bestseller list.

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3. DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAKE A FEW RISKS

Sometimes you’re not sure if a word is really a word or not, but when you take a chance, it can pay off in big points. One of my recent words was QUIPU, which I recalled from my sixth grade Social Studies report on the Incas. I wasn’t sure whether or not it would be valid, but I tried it anyway. 66 points!

A few months ago, I queried an agent whose website said if there was no response in one week, to requery. A week later, I had not received a reply. Although I felt awkward about it, I re-sent the query with a note reminding the agent that queriers were instructed to do so, and apologized for it being a duplicate. Within a few hours, the agent responded that he had never seen it, and requested a partial.

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4. CREATE A CHALLENGE AND THEN REWARD YOURSELF

It can be dull playing against people who don’t play as well as you do, or are of the same skill level. Mix things up by playing people who are better than you are. If you win, take a little time to gloat. This can be done subtly on Facebook by “sharing” the news and personalizing it by saying, “Good game, (opponent’s name here).”

Researching agents can be tiresome, as can tweaking/personalizing each query, and you should reward yourself often. Set up a system where after researching/sending three, you get a treat. The treat doesn’t have to be big, just something you like (going for a walk, getting a snack, or playing a game of Scrabble on Facebook…). After ten are totaled, you get something bigger, while a request for a partial or full manuscript gets a correspondingly larger payoff.

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5. DON’T SET YOURSELF UP TO FAIL

Don’t play someone better than yourself too often. Sometimes it’s fun to face a difficult challenge, but it isn’t fun to get beaten all the time, and you won’t want to play anymore if it happens a lot.

Don’t make unlikely goals to inspire yourself (sending ten queries in one day, getting a response in the first five queries, getting an agent in 20 queries, etc.), because if you fail, you will be less likely to try it again. Managable chunks are best. 

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6. DON’T RELY ON THE SAME PERSON ALL THE TIME

Don’t always play the same opponent. Playing with a variety of people keeps you from getting into a rut, and you tend to learn a better variety of strategies.

Find different people to critique your query and make suggestions. You will be sending the query to many agents, with different points of view. The more people the basic query appeals to, the better off you’ll be.

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7. CAPITALIZE ON NEW IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES

Learn from your opponents; watch what they do better and take heed. They might not be prepared to have their own tricks used against them.

Look for query critiques on agents’ blogs. Even if your query isn’t the one being evaluated, you can learn a lot from other people’s mistakes.

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8. FORGIVE YOURSELF FOR THINGS BEYOND YOUR CONTROL

Sometimes you just don’t get great letters on your rack. Persevere, and sooner or later things will turn around.

Consider the comments on your rejection letters. If it’s just not “right for their list” or not what they rep, or if they just signed a similar book, don’t take it personally.

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9. DON’T GIVE UP

Even if your opponent is 80 points ahead, keep on playing. You may end up losing anyway, but you certainly will if you just forfeit.

Even though it can be discouraging to get rejection after rejection, it is all part of the querying game. Keep reminding yourself of authors who got over a hundred rejection letters before finding representation, such as J.K. Rowling, and that was when it was a lot easier to get published.

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10. DON’T BE AFRAID TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

You might have the word “indigo” in your tray, but if the letters on the board don’t give you an opening, it doesn’t matter how great your plans are. If you look into alternatives, you might get something even better.

Don’t just query. Participate in online agent pitch fests, go to conferences, enter contests. There are many ways to get your work seen by agents. Take advantage of as many as possible. Not only will it get your work out there, but it is fun and breaks up the monotony of querying. 

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I could go on, but it’s my turn…

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April 1, 2010 · 11:59 pm

Great Minds Think Alike

Most creative ideas are developed by individuals. There are occasional collaborative efforts, but most of the time people end up disagreeing and going their own way. By and large, if you are creative, you spend quite a bit of time alone.

Most of my pastimes are individual in nature. I like to write, read, paint/draw, knit/crochet, bake, play the piano, make things out of stained glass, and do genealogical research.  On the Myer’s Briggs test, (www.myersbriggs.org) I score E/INFJ, which means I am right on the border of being an introvert/extrovert. In short, my extroverted side tends to suffer from my interest in solitary pursuits.

It seems to me that many writers are in the same boat. This problem is traditionally solved by drinking, but with the advent of the internet, things have changed somewhat. I have been a member of the Agent Query Connect writing forum since last August. My online friends are cheerful, knowledgeable, helpful and creative, with a good sense of humor. They like to have fun, sometimes disagree, and occasionally gripe, but by and large, the thing they have in common is that they are a lot like me: Word people who spend a lot of time alone.

Although I have heard some horror stories about internet trolls and the like, my experience of a writing forum has been very positive, for several reasons. First of all, the other people on the forum are writers. When I ask for opinions about my work, they tell me, unlike friends who might read and say inanely, “It was really good.” (Whether it was, or not.) Secondly, there is a ton of positive support. If I get an offer for a partial/full OR have been laid low by rejection, there will be sincere condolences and/or good wishes from that empathetic bunch. Thirdly, I get a decent laugh at least once a day.

The word “forum” is defined (in part) by the New Oxford American Dictionary as:

forum |ˈfôrəm|

noun ( pl. forums )

1 a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged : it will be a forum for consumers to exchange their views on medical research.

2 a court or tribunal.

3 ( pl. fora |ˈfôrə|) (in an ancient Roman city) a public square or marketplace used for judicial and other business.

That does not seem like an adequate description of what goes on in a writing forum. I think that I would use the word “cohort.” (Which doesn’t sound too warm and fuzzy either, but what does it mean?) The same dictionary defines it as:

cohort |ˈkōˌhôrt|

noun

1 [treated as sing. or pl. ] an ancient Roman military unit, comprising six centuries, equal to one tenth of a legion.

2 [treated as sing. or pl. ] a group of people banded together or treated as a group : a cohort of civil servants patiently drafting legislation.

• a group of people with a common statistical characteristic : the 1940–44 birth cohort of women.

3 a supporter or companion.

• an accomplice or conspirator : his three cohorts each had pled guilty.

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French cohorte, or from Latin cohors, cohort- ‘yard, retinue.’ Compare with court .

 The word derives from the Latin : cohors, an ancient Roman military unit, and also ‘band of people with a common interest.’ 

I think that number three describes it the best. Companions with a common characteristic, all in the same straights, supporting, empathizing and encouraging. If you are a writer, join a writing cohort (either online, or locate one in your community). You will be surprised at how much more connected you feel.

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March 31, 2010 · 10:52 pm

Flash Fiction: Worth My Weight in Gold

WEBook.com is having another mini-contest, where entrants submit a 100 word paragraph written from the point of view of an inanimate household object. Here’s mine:

a

Worth My Weight in Gold

Here I sit, minding my own business, when a sudden squeeze warns me that my world is about to be turned upside down again. Three times a day it happens, without so much as a word of thanks. My partner, Piper Nigrum, thinks he understands, but at least he stays upright. It’s not the same at all. Yesterday, someone actually dropped me. I was lucky nothing broke. I’m still feeling a little shaken. Piper says that he feels needed, and likes the daily grind, but the last thing that I ever want to hear again is, “Please pass the salt.”

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March 26, 2010 · 10:56 pm

Clichés: A New Twist to an Old Problem

The New Oxford American Dictionary lists the definition of cliché as, “a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.”

I have lately become aware of just how many phrases could be considered cliché. Obviously “It was a dark and stormy night” should be avoided, but it is surprising how many other phrases have worn thin. “Making peace with the past;” “she had a soft spot for (anything);” “to his heart’s content;” the list is endless.

Clichés exist for a reason. The question is, is their use due to modern laziness, or efficiency? They are a verbal shorthand, a familiar phrase that provides a lot of information in a very few words. The purpose of language is communication, and the more common phrases that are used, the fewer opportunities there are for misunderstandings to occur. When someone says, “she ran like the wind,” there is no room for interpretation.

Although I can see the problem with using too many clichés, I think that they have their place, especially when writing dialogue. The fact is that everyone uses clichés, all the time. If you were to write dialogue without incorporating at least a few of them, it would seem inauthentic. 

Some clichéd advice is to change the wording around a little to give things a fresh twist, such as:

Old: She ran like the wind.
New: She ran like a zephyr.

Old: He looked like the cat that swallowed the canary.
New: He looked like a dog with a ham bone.

Old: It’s the best thing since sliced bread.
New: It was better than a piece of pie.

Sometimes, things we say are not so much cliché, as they are just words that go well together. Where is the dividing line between something that is common language and something that is cliché? It’s easy to get caught up in trying to make everything original, but maybe sometimes, it’s okay to go with what you know. Like eating macaroni and cheese. You wouldn’t want a steady diet of it, but once in a while, it isn’t going to hurt anything.

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March 10, 2010 · 2:36 pm

THE HELP Follow-Up Review

I finished The Help at 2:19 this morning.  (See my March 8th post if you haven’t read the first half review.) Good book! I was not disappointed after page 200. A few things cropped up in the second half that nudged me as a writer, but as a reader, I loved it. It had a nice pace, light suspense, and was very descriptive. The characters were easy to empathize with, and the description and backstory were perfectly blended with the action. I was very happy that it was over 400 pages, because I hate reading a great book and then having it end too soon. This was just right. 

As a writer, I was startled when about three-quarters of the way through the book, it abruptly switched from first person to third person. I had to read the first page of that chapter three times for it to sink in that it was not Skeeter speaking, but an omniscient narrator with a similar speech pattern. The book went right back to first person directly afterward, but I found it quite disruptive. Granted, all three of the MC’s were involved in the scene, and it would not have been easy to convey the complex events of that particular chapter from only one perspective, but I think that it could have been done.

I was also surprised that the author confessed at the end of the book to having been less than accurate with a few of her historical facts. Shake ‘n Bake was referenced, for example, even though in actuality it would not yet have been invented. That can be a slippery slope. I personally strive for authenticity in that regard, even researching dialogue to make sure that common phrases (such as “spilled the beans”) had been coined by the time period I’m writing.

In spite of these minor hiccups, I highly recommend the book, and am happy to own it. Great job, Kathryn Stockett!

Layinda’s Blog Final Rating: ¶¶¶¶

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March 9, 2010 · 1:34 pm

Too Much Smiling Hurts Your Face

Why are there so many words for frown, grimace, and the like, but so few for smile and grin? According to thesaurus.com, synonyms for smile include: “grin,” “beam,” “twinkle,” “smirk,” “simper,” and “leer.” Grin lists: “smirk.” That’s it. And most of those don’t really indicate happiness. If one feels compelled to include a happy scene in one’s novel, it can be tediously irritating to come up with description that is not repetitive. By the time I’m done writing one, the last thing I am is happy.

I just read about a study done by the University of Maryland http://www.newsdesk.umd.edu/sociss/release.cfm?ArticleID=1789
indicating that happy people watch less T.V., preferring to read or socialize. This brings to mind the Great Depression, when everyone was so stressed that the public flocked to “happy” movies, with stars like Shirley Temple, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Now the hopeless watch T.V. (Dancing with the Stars, anyone?)

Conversely, if people who read are already happy, do they like more depressing fare? Hence the lack of need for “smile” and “grin.” Hmmm.

Maybe I’ll flip on the T.V. I’m still feeling a little down from writing that happy scene.

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March 1, 2010 · 10:33 pm

(Whom) To Be or Not to Be

Carolyn Keene, F.W. Dixon, Mark Twain and Victoria Holt all have one thing in common. They are all fictitious names used by writers. Nom de plume, pen name, pseudonym — all are terms for names employed in lieu of one’s own.

Common reasons for an author to use an assumed name include personal privacy, genre (not many romances list a man’s name as the author!), writing multiple genres that are very different from each other, choosing a maiden name over a married one, taking the opportunity to right a wrong done at birth, and political reasons, like Francois Marie Arouet (Voltaire) and Thomas Paine.

Some particularly famous pseudonyms are Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), and of course, Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel). Although their real names are now commonly known, at the time their first books were published, the authors enjoyed anonymity.

Whatever the reason for wanting a nom de plume, how should one go about choosing it? On Agent Query Connect this past weekend there was a thread discussing the topic, and someone suggested the time tested method of combining the name of a pet with the name of the street one grew up on. Some people choose an old family name, or middle name, or the name(s) of their children. Others prefer a name based on the genre that they write, like Carolyn Keene of Nancy Drew fame (feminine, yet no nonsense and clever sounding). Some just pick one that they like a lot. Samuel Clemens used a riverboat term from his days as a captain on the Mississippi.

Whatever the name you choose, make sure to Google it first (in quotations), to make sure that the name of choice has no unsavory doppelgangers.

Based on some of the above criteria, my pen name could be Buster Clifton, Linda Everett Parker, or Layinda Parker, although I’ve written a boy book. Perhaps I should go the Hardy Boys route and pick a man’s name, like George Sand (Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupinand) and George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) did. I could just go with Everett Parker, or Parker Everett… but Jean Craighead George wrote boy books and so did Elizabeth George Speare and they kept their names. All the Georges did pretty well. Perhaps I should add a George to my name…. Layinda George? Hmmm. I just took a moment to Google that, and aside from being the pseudonym of an Argentinian woman who got to Twitter before I did (I had to go with layindalayinda and am still grumpy about it), there was nothing bad. So, maybe.

But I also googled my own name and the first 162 entries were ME! It seems that maybe I should just go with that. I might still add a George though, just in case.

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