Writing from the Peak is pleased to present a special interview between Bowen Gillings and Agent Maureen Moretti .
Maureen Moretti
Maureen Moretti began her publishing career as an intern with several prestigious New York City literary agencies before joining P.S. Literary as an associate agent. She holds a B.A. from Saint Mary’s College of California, and attended the Columbia Publishing Course. Maureen is looking for narrative driven non-fiction with a gripping voice and a unique hook, such as unusual or untold biographies, commentary on culture, both mainstream and subversive, and new interpretations of history. She is also actively searching for fiction, romance, upmarket and commercial women’s fiction, select science fiction, thrillers, mysteries, and literary fiction. She loves new perspectives on old stories, characters that resonate and stay with you, novels about the zeitgeist, non-fiction that teaches you by accident and loves a happily ever after.
Bowen Gillings: Have you always wanted to be an agent? Allow me to reword that as, “What motivated you to become an agent?” Maureen Moretti: I wanted to advocate for authors. Agenting is a mix of skills that range from editorial to advocacy. I wanted to do work I love and ensure that the artists were fairly treated and paid. It allows me to be both creative and technical. I love contracts and I love art. It’s a mix of the two.
BG: What are you reading right now? I would add to that, reading for pleasure or for work or both. MM: I recently finished THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams which I adored. It subverted so many tropes of the genre. I’m also finally getting around to ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE, I’m definitely late to that train!
BG: What books and authors have most influenced your career? MM: First and foremost, Nora Roberts. I inhaled her books, I must have read at least 100 of them. Rosemary Graham, STALKER GIRL Tom Rachman, THE IMPERFECTIONISTS Cherrie Moraga & Gloria Anzaldúa edited THIS BRIDGE CALLED MY BACK
BG: Walk us through your process of taking on a writer as a client. How do you determine that you want to represent that writer? MM: Do I think I could I sell their book? Do we have similar ideas and working styles? Do we have a similar vision for their work and their career? It’s important to me that I’m not forcing a vision of a work and having revisions done that don’t feel right to the writer. Ultimately, I want the book that’s on the shelves to be the best version of the book they imagine.
BG: What are the top three things a writer should do to make you want to be their agent. MM: 1. Write a book they love 2. Have a community of writers (e.g. a platform, a critique group, supportive friends etc.) 3. Have a positive attitude and a willingness to put in the work
BG:What story are you longing to read? Describe the type of novel you long for, but have yet to see cross your desk. If that doesn’t exist, describe which novel you have read that is as near perfection as could be, and why. MM: RED WHITE AND ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston is on my top 10 of the last decade. The absolute joyful abandon, the incorporation of marginalized characters, the real and intense emotions made that book a joy to read.
BG:Describe your perfect reading scenario fantasy. Are you a beach reader? Secluded in a mountain cabin? On a retreat with a book club? What is it? MM: I live in New York and it’s one of my favorite places in the world, but there’s nothing like a cabin in the woods to read. When everything in the city gets too loud, I like to get a cabin for the weekend and relax with a stack of books. I never travel with fewer than five.
Bowen Gilling’s writing has appeared in Allegory e-zine, was selected for “Ghosts of Downtown,” “Writing is Art,” the “Writing from the Peak” blog, and has placed in the Zebulon Writing Contest. He is a member of Pikes Peak Writers and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and participates in Colorado Tesla Writers and Colorado Writers and Publishers groups.
Generating—and Testing—Ideas for Fiction and Non-Fiction Books
By: Donna Schlachter
Surveys suggest that, when asked,
more than 80% of people said they’d love to write a book. Unfortunately, only
about 25% ever do. Why is that? Whenever I tell folks, “I believe that
everybody has at least one book in them”, most shake their head and deny my
statement. When I ask why, they usually say something like, “I’m not famous”,
“My life is boring”, “I can’t tell a joke let alone an entire story”, “I don’t
have time”, “I don’t have anything interesting to say”, or “I don’t have the
patience to sit and type that much.”
I believe that all of these
responses are merely excuses, and that the real reason more people don’t write
is because of one thing: they don’t have an idea that will stand the test of
whether it’s enough to make a complete book out of it.
The interesting fact is that coming up with an idea is the easy part. We hear and see them every day: headlines in the news; front covers on the rumor rags in supermarkets; gossip around the water cooler at work; other books we’ve read; problems we’re facing, or somebody we know or love is facing; television programs and movies. If it was good enough for them, it should be good enough for us, right?
The main problem is that there
are too many fiction books that all have the same plot: somebody is living
their life; something happens to force them to make a decision; that decision
changes them; and their life is something other than they originally envisioned.
In fact, this plot line is the
same for every novel, unless you’re talking literary, which may have no plot at
all.
With regards to non-fiction, most
people read to be entertained, encouraged, or educated, which is perfect for
non-fiction. With a good topic, an author can accomplish all three in one book.
Think of your favorite non-fiction author. Why do you read whatever they
publish? For me, Max Lucado ranks high on my list. His story-telling
techniques, wrapping parables around real-life happenings, then explaining how
this applies to me, draws me into his books like a moth to a flame. I cannot
resist it.
Ways to identify the kind of book you’d like to write.
So let’s look at ways to identify the kind of book you’d like to write. Because, let’s be honest—if you don’t enjoy writing it, nobody will enjoy reading it, either. Most of the following tips will apply to fiction or non-fiction, and every genre within those two categories.
What topics get your heart pounding and your blood pumping? Is it the atrocity of sex trafficking? Slavery by any other name? Genocide for profit, such as blood diamonds or drug cartels? Underhanded politicians? Crooked law enforcement? Sleazy lawyers? Animal abuse? Child abuse?
What topic do you like to read about? Any of the above? What parts of the newspaper draw you in? Athletics? Obituaries? Lifestyle?
What topic makes you angry when you read about it? Makes you want to write to your representative or even enter the political arena yourself? What would you join a protest for? Or against?
What topics do you talk about with friends? Neighbors? Family?
What are you most afraid of? What do you enjoy doing? Where do you spend most of your time? Your money?
By now you should have a list of
at least three topics that capture your interest. On to the next step.
Where to find information and ideas about those topics:
newspapers, online news sites, and online searches
organizations and associations where folks who suffer from, practice, or congregate
friends and family
businesses that provide services
television and movies
libraries, including librarians and their books
bookstores
online book sites, such as Amazon, or Google searches
online social media groups
Figuring out your story:
So let’s say that a couple of
your hot topics are sex trafficking, child abuse, and dishonest politicians.
You gather research about the thousands of children who leave home under
mysterious circumstances in the US each year, both runaways and the missing.
You do some research into laws regarding child abuse, and find the penalties
can be relatively minor. You contact some organizations that search for missing
teens, and learn that many of them run from a bad home situation, ending up in
large cities either as addicts or prostitutes or both. And you watch some
online investigatory programs about the wealthy who hide behind their money and
escape prosecution even for something as serious as murder.
You have your nugget.
You can write either a novel with
these same characters, or you can write a non-fiction book to parents, helping
them improve their communication with their teens so they don’t run. Or a book
for teens, educating them with stories of other kids who ran and ended up in a
bad place. Or a book for law enforcement, giving them the signs and clues of an
abused child, a runaway, or a sex trafficking ring.
Regardless of which message
you’re communicating, there is an audience.
How do you know whether it’s good enough to carry an entire book?
If it’s a novel, you should be
able to summarize the book in one sentence, three sentences, and a paragraph.
For example:
One liner:
When Sarah Taylor runs away from her abusive father, she runs straight into the arms of an abusive pimp, who wants to control her mind, body, and soul; especially her body.
Three sentences:
Sarah isn’t one of the cool kids at school, none of the boys even look at her twice, and her father likes to smack her around for no good reason. When she runs away, and a boy offers to put her up for the night with no strings attached, she falls for it. And later, when she runs again, a social worker might be her only lifeline.
Paragraph:
Sarah Taylor, 15, thinks life couldn’t get any worse. She has no friends, nobody who understands her, and nobody she can confide in. She can’t take it anymore. So she runs, looking for that perfect life she is certain is out there.
Tom Wilson is always on the
lookout for a lonely girl. One with no friends. One who needs him. And the best
place to find girls like that is the bus station. Every day, three or four
teens hops off the bus in downtown LA with that deer-in-the-headlight look.
Molly Green chose social work for
a reason: she wants to reach kids who are just like she was once. Alone.
Vulnerable. Looking for family. And while the boys tend to gravitate toward
gangs, these girls are hooked into seemingly romantic relationships where the
boy pledges to do whatever he must to treat her well—except that she will owe
him.
Organize your topics and points.
If you’re writing a non-fiction
book, you should be able to organize the various topics and points you want to
make into a table of contents that will carry the reader from the premise,
through the solution, to the conclusion and action steps you want them to take
as they become another supporter for your position. While writing this kind of
book, you want to ask yourself how you can help the reader achieve their goal
of education and activation.
If you’d like to download a free worksheet that will lead you through this article and culminate with a great story idea or the outline for a non-fiction book, email me at donna@livebytheword.com and I’ll send that to you.
Traditional publishing is still considered the holy grail to
many a writer. It validates you as a bona fide author. There is definite street
cred to getting an agent and a book deal.
But … there seems to be a growing movement to “just go
indie” when the traditional route takes too long or isn’t panning out quite the
way writers had hoped. Going indie may sound super easy – write a book, slap on
a cover, post to Amazon. Done.
And believe me, I just heard this version at a writer’s
conference back in the fall and just about fell out of my chair.
Indie publishing isn’t that easy. It takes a crap-ton of
work. Before I decided to indie publish my nonfiction, I weighed the pros and
cons of traditional versus indie.
For nonfiction, indie won out for a couple of reasons but
mainly because I wasn’t all that concerned about wide distribution and I’m
comfortable marketing.
For fiction, on the other hand, I’m still holding out for a
trad deal.
Before you decide which direction you should go, I really,
really, really encourage you to do a pro-con list because publishing indie
isn’t for the feint of heart.
The factors below helped me decide, and I hope they help you
before you decide.
Street Cred.
Although Jeff Bezos told Amazon shareholders in his annual report that more than 1,000 authors hit the six-figure mark, there is still a stigma around indie publishing as not being of the same quality as traditionally published books. Is it as deeply ingrained as it used to be? No. And if you are confident in the quality of your books, then you can build your own street cred. But that brings me to marketing.
Marketing
Regardless of which method you decide to publish, you will have to do upwards of 80% of your own marketing. Yes, even with a traditional deal. Former Writers Digest Publisher Guy LeCharles Gonzales led a publicist’s panel at Writers Digest conference in August and all agreed with this. This means you will need to know how to sell yourself and your books online and in person.
However, the traditional houses have ins with the major networks and news outlets you would have a hard time busting into as an indie.
There are a million ways to market a book and the information available is overwhelming and doesn’t all work. You’ll have to do a ton of testing to find which works for you.
Timeline
If your books are not time sensitive, then traditional publishing will work for you. It takes one to two years to get a new book to market.
With indie publishing, you’re on the timeline it takes you to write, edit, design and publish. It took me 10 months from the start of the first page, through the edits, book designers and uploading to Amazon. It’s taken five for the second book.
Editing
Traditional publishers want a clean manuscript, so having beta readers or a critique group or even a freelance editor review it is smart before you query. That being said, they will still edit it a million times for you.
If you indie publish, you’ll have to hire an editor (developmental, content, line, proofreader). I found mine on Reedsy and scored with the first one. I’ve had friends go through several before finding the best one for their work style.
Book Cover and Design
For the book cover, traditional houses will determine that for you. I’ve heard repeatedly that even authors with a stipulation in their contract to have final say on the cover never actually get that final say.
With indie publishing you’ll certainly have final say, but you’ll also have to do the market research to ensure your covers are industry standard and then hire the designer. It took me four before I found the right chemistry with a designer.
Distribution
Traditional publishing has the upper hand here. They can get your books into brick and mortar stores and yes, those are still a thing. Indie bookstores are rising and the Big Five have the contacts.
However, with IngramSpark, you can now pitch your books to libraries and bookshops.
TV and Movie Rights
Traditional publishing has the contacts to sell your book to Hollywood and get your story on the small and large screen.
If you indie published, you’d have to find an intellectual property attorney or a hybrid agent to help you do this.
International Rights
Selling your books overseas is lucrative. Period. A traditional agent again has the contacts at the London Book Fair, the Frankfurt Book Fair, BookFest Singapore and others. It takes money and time to get to those, make contacts and get you an international deal.
That being said, you can sell in other countries on Amazon, Kobo, Apple Books and Google Play Books. You can use an aggregator/distributor like Smashwords and Draft2Digital to help you.
Audio Books
Audio is simply exploding this year and with a trad deal, you won’t have to pay upfront costs or find a reader.
As an indie, audiobooks can be cost prohibitive as it can cost upwards of $3000 to produce an audiobook and you’ll have to find a reader using ACX or Findaway Voices.
Jenny Kateis the founder of Writer Nation, an online space dedicated to helping writers market their work. With 19 years communications experience, she regularly writes on social media, internet marketing and face-to-face publicity. You can find her on her Website, Facebook, and Instagram
Esteemed Conference Attendees, Sponsors, Volunteers, and PPW Members –
We have been watching the development of COVID-19 along with everyone else and share your concerns. First of all, we are deeply grateful for all the messages of support we’ve received and thank you for letting us know how much PPW matters to you. It matters to us too, which is why this decision was so hard to come to. We are also immensely thankful to our partner, DoubleTree Hilton hotel, for helping us through this difficult time.
To follow the best practices set forth by the CDC, and to help slow the spread of COVID-19, we regret to announce we are cancelling the 2020 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, scheduled for April 16-19. We are deeply disappointed that circumstances made this decision necessary, and will miss the opportunity to connect with our writing family in person. However, we will be back, better than ever and ready to rock, next year. Please put the dates of April 21-25, 2021, on your calendar now! The conference will be held at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, Colorado Springs.
To our faculty: You have already been contacted by Amy Krasikov, our 2020 Conference Program Director. Please continue to address your questions to her, and she’ll coordinate with you in regards to our future conference as appropriate.
To our registered attendees: For those of you already registered, there are multiple options. As of right now our 2021 conference is set for April 21 – 25 2021. Your current registration can be rolled over to 2021, your 2020 price confirmed, while your date of registration and the benefits associated with early registration remaining intact. Or you may request a refund of your 2020 conference registration. If that is your choice, please give us a few days to work through those as they come in. Email registrar@pikespeakwriters.com if you would like your registration refunded. Another option, as we are a non-profit organization, is you can donate any portion of your registration fee to the organization to keep us moving forward over the next few months. As many of you know, our conference is the engine that fuels the organization all year long. In addition, we’ve made several purchases for the 2020 conference that will not be recoverable (such as airfares for faculty).
Also – Please don’t forget to cancel your Doubletree hotel reservations for this year. Reference the PPW Conference cancellation. They are expecting our calls.
To our conference staff / volunteers: You are the heart of this organization, and we can’t thank you enough for your patience and perseverance. We appreciate all the hard work you did for conference this year, and we look forward to working with you in the same capacity for 2021.
To our sponsors: We would love to carry over your sponsorship for next year. If that doesn’t work, we are more than willing to give you a full refund and we’d consider the digital advertisement we’ve done on your behalf already to be our gift to you.
Pikes Peak Writers will continue to appreciate and support our local writing community. We may need to cancel or restructure a few events, but we are committed to serving our writing family. Stay safe and keep washing your hands!
Kameron Claire Pikes Peak Writers 2019-2020 President / 2020 Conference Director
Updated news on COVID-19 comes hourly with more conferences and large scale events cancelling daily. Currently, the PPW board and the 2020 conference committee are working with our conference partners to identify options that will protect our members as well as our organization. We hope to have an answer in the upcoming week, however, in the interim, to help alleviate financial concerns for those who have registered or who were waiting to register, we are extending our refund period beyond March 17th to April 1st, as well as our regular pricing.
Please note, we are taking COVID-19 very seriously and worry about our member’s health as well as our own. As a small non-profit organization this is not an easy decision, therefore we need time to investigate every option available that might keep our lovely community intact. We sincerely hope our sibling organizations who have also had to face this dilemma have been able to do so in a manner that will allow them to operate in the future.
Please hang in there with us for another week or two and stay tuned.
Thank you for your submission to the annual Ghosts of Downtown flash fiction event. Your story will join those used by Downtown Colorado Springs to spook visitors on their tours in the month of October.
It was SO matter of fact I had to read it again. Wait,
did that just say my story had been selected? Well, not exactly. My
story “will join” the others, which I suppose, is a selection of sorts. Or at
least not an exclusion.
Now, there was no money involved in this contest, no
byline, and quite possibly, no mention of it anywhere else but in this brief
email and during the tour itself. But it was still one of the most exciting
moments I’ve had as a writer, because it was a first.
That sense of wonder, that tickle in the brain, that is the rare and precious thing. I’ll happily chase it for the rest of my life.
After I graduated with a spanking new bachelor’s
degree in English, I can remember being so hungry to see my words in print that
I would write ANYTHING. Sales letter? Sure! General website content?
Absolutely, I’m your girl. Contest instructions? You got it! (Actually, I enjoyed
writing contest instructions, in a passive-aggressive bossy sort of way.) I
jumped at the chance to write unpaid concert and theatre reviews for a short-lived
independent newspaper, parlaying this experience into a few paid articles for a
slightly longer-lived independent newspaper. I earned twenty-five whole dollars
for each bland little item that probably six people in the world ever read,
including me. At last I landed a job as a technical writer and was able to make
a decent living with my writing, producing pages and pages and pages of
methodical instructions, informational tables, and bulleted lists.
But somewhere along the way, I became numb. I started
to feel like writing was a pedestrian thing, a kind of space filler measured
between the thumb and forefinger of an art director. I heard the phrase,
“Nobody ever reads the instructions anyway” more times than I can count. I lost
the excitement of starting a new technical manual because I knew how it would
end up: slashed up, pissed on, and pasted back together like a half-dead
Frankenstein’s monster, unrecognizable as anything that came from my brain,
stripped of even the infinitesimal shred of creativity that attended its
conception.
So that’s why I am so excited for this little story.
Because it is a STORY. I made it up, 430 words about a the ghost of a dead girl
haunting downtown Colorado Springs, something that didn’t exist before I
thought of it, and which will (hopefully) entertain and amuse those who hear it
read aloud on a crisp fall day, and make them wonder if maybe, just maybe,
such a thing could happen . . . That sense of wonder, that tickle in the brain,
that is the rare and precious thing. I’ll happily chase it for the rest of my
life.
Robin Laborde is not sure exactly how long she has been a member of Pikes Peak Writers but she enjoys it very much. She worked as a technical writer for over ten years and has had nonfiction articles published in newspapers and magazines. She is currently writing a speculative fiction novel and working part-time at the East Library in Colorado Springs.
Like many writers, I often write with no outline, but by the seat of my pants—a “pantser” if you will. Plotting? Meh, who needs it. Planning? Ugh, that’s for wimps. I like to see where my characters want to go within the story, how they get out of any given situation, and what happens next. But sometimes—many times—I’m left trying to figure out just how the hell they got into that mess and how they’re going to get out of it. Help, I’ve written myself into a corner and can’t get out! I’ve had to implement that “What if” questions to get my characters back on track. It works, and I find a way to save my characters from certain doom, but it seems like an awful lot of work for one character. So, what’s a writer—a pantser—to do?
Keeping Things Straight
Lately, I lean more toward plotting my story, filling out every detail of my character, where my story wants to end up, and all the situations where my character(s) may end up. Why the change, you may ask? Well, I’m getting older and I’m finding that keeping everything straight in my head sometimes gets to be confusing. Was his name Rennick or Ronnick? What color was the vehicle? Why does my character love spaghetti here, but loathes it there? Not only that, my plots are becoming more complex as I move through my series, and I have many more ideas for future books. I need timelines for my characters as well as knowing what their home looks like.
Can a Pantser Change Into a Plotter?
It’s been fairly easy to convert into a plotter. For my latest book in my series, I became a “plantser,” a hybrid plotter/pantser. I planned out a few things, but also left some things to chance. Even then, however, I was running into issues. What side did my character get shot on? When did this happen? Who was where when it happened? I’m having to go back a few chapters to find these things out. I’ve started taking notes on my own writing to keep things straight. Some of these things may be trivial, but attentive readers will notice these small discrepancies and call you out on them.
Planning Can Be Flexible
For my next novel I will be planning/plotting every detail to
keep things straight, and for my peace of mind. Just because I’ve planned it
out doesn’t mean I have to follow it to the letter, though. Want to make the
character go out with friends instead of with a date? If it works with your
storyline, who’s to say you can’t change it a bit? You can still “fly by the
seat of your pants” with minor details and see how your character responds to
the change. You can always go back and stick with your original idea and keep
those characters under control. They’ll be okay, I promise.
Margena Adams Holmes was born in Bellflower, CA sometime in the 1960s. She has always had a love for both reading and writing, writing her first song/poem in 1st grade. Margena is a big supporter of indie authors and will read anything that draws her into the story. She is an observer of life, and many everyday things could (and do!) end up in her writings. Her publications are available through her author page. Contact Margena via email: jedi_anegram@hotmail.com.
Our partners at the State Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) report that the risk to most Coloradans from the coronavirus is LOW, and they are confident the state health care system is prepared to minimize the potential spread of infection. We are operating as normal and there are no changes to the conference schedule. We will continue to monitor the situation through the CDPHE and the CDC.
It is important to remember the risk to most Coloradans from the coronavirus is low. We are recommending that everyone follow appropriate safety measures as recommended by the CDC, which include:
Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
Stay home when you are sick.
Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Then, wash your hands.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
In addition, we recommend
Cough or sneeze into your elbow instead of into your hand
Consider elbow or shoulder bumping instead of handshakes or hugs.
While in attendance at the conference, we encourage you to make use of the hand sanitizer we will have available in every conference room and at the registration desk. If you are feeling ill, we recommend that you give yourself an opportunity to recover or take necessary precautions to protect yourself and your fellow attendees.
Congratulations to Sandra Knauf, finalist in
the 2019 North Street Book Prize!
ABOUT THE BOOK
On February 15, 2020 Colorado Springs author
Sandra Knauf was announced as a Finalist in the 2019 North Street Book Prize.
She received recognition for her self-published memoir Please
Don’t Piss on the Petunias: Stories About Raising Kids, Crops, and Critters in
the City. Out
of 1,657 entries, there were 22 self-published books that received awards and
recognition. Sandra said that the very first story she wrote for this memoir
was “The Chicken Chronicles,” which was submitted to the 2000 Pikes
Peak Writers Contest and won first place in Creative Nonfiction.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandra Knauf has been a “Colorado Voices” columnist for The
Denver Post and her writing has appeared in Colorado Gardener and
national publications such as GreenPrints and MaryJanesFarm
Magazine. She’s also been a guest commentator on KRCC’s (a NPR
affiliate station) “Western Skies” show. In 2011 she created Greenwoman
Publishing and has since published a garden writing journal, Greenwoman: Vols. I-6; her YA fantasy novel, Zera and the Green
Man; an anthology of sexy
gardening stories (Fifty Shades of Green); and, in 2019, her gardening
memoir, Please Don’t Piss on the Petunias: Raising Kids, Crops, and
Critters in the City. Follow the author at sandraknauf.com, Greenwoman
Market, Greenwoman Publishing,
LLC, Greenwoman’s
Blog: Flora’s Forum, andGreenwoman
Facebook Page
Darby Karchut is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy wrangling words. Her latest book (lucky number thirteen), DEL TORO MOON, released October 2018 from Owl Hollow Press. Visit the author at her website.
Querying
can bring on a whole slew of sleepless nights, obsessive inbox refreshing and a
soul-crushing anxiety of the word “No”. While navigating the social media
trenches of the querying process, the biggest question I see is “How do I make
my work stand out?”
The bad
news is there is no magical button. A unicorn is not going to trot in, tap its
horn on your manuscript and make it a must-have best-seller that agents are
going to fight over. But the good news is unlike Katniss Everdeen, you can stack the odds in your favor. And that
starts with honing your craft and your manuscript.
Say you
finished your final chapter last night, huzzah! Now you can write a quick query
letter and start emailing agents tomorrow, right? That’s a hard no. Like I will
slap your hands off the keyboard kind of no. So what are the steps to help hone
your craft? To get an agent? To be successful? Read on, friends. Read on.
Step one: Research standard word counts for your genre
If
you haven’t done this already, do it now! For the planners this is an easy feat, but for us pantsers the struggle is real. We don’t
always like to plan ahead, but in this case, it’s a must.
Writing
with word counts in mind is important for a multitude of reasons. #1 is that
many agents will pass immediately if your word count is too far below or above
industry standards. Sarah Nicolas of Pitch Wars has an excellent reference page
for genre word counts here.
Step two: Write and finish your novel
This
is obviously the most important step. You can’t query a project that’s not
complete. Once done, make sure to stop and celebrate! You just finished a manuscript
which is a huge feat in itself. So be proud, do a little dance and toast with
your emotional support team.
Step three: Self-editing is fun! Not really… but do it anyway
Before
you hand your work over to an editor or beta-readers. Go over it yourself! It
should go without saying, but no first draft is ever amazing. From manuscripts
to query letters to elevator pitches – if you’re not slightly ashamed of your
first drafts by the end of editing, you’re not doing it right.
When
self-editing, it’s crazy easy to overlook spelling errors, odd phrasing and descriptions. But there are a few tricks to
help hone your editing skills.
The
first editing trick is to change your font. Your eyes have grown accustomed to the
shapes of your current lettering, and by changing the font your brain will fire
on to process the new lettering and catch more errors.
Next,
study and fill out the same Beta Reader Questionnaire that you will give to your
critique partners. This will prompt you to think like a reader and hopefully
catch a few things you may not have thought about before.
Lastly,
read out loud or have an auto-reader read to you. Your ears will pick up more
than your eyes did.
Note
that some writers prefer to have ongoing feedback as they write, while others
like to finish their entire project before handing it over to beta readers. Both
are fine! But either way, self-edit before handing your work to someone else.
Step four: Get outsider feedback
Cultivate
the right group of beta readers. This is your book baby you’re handing
off, so trust is a must. Also, make sure they’re your target market. Aunt Sally
may be a voracious reader, but if she only devours Erotic Fantasy, her feedback
on your Middle-Grade Historical Fiction isn’t going to be as relevant as your 11-year-old
nephew’s. And sadly, no “yes men”. It always feels good to hear how amazing you
are and cheerleaders are important when you’re writing. But when it comes to
critique time, you want people that are going to push you and call out the
good, the bad, and the ugly.
Make
sure they review your Beta Reader Questionnaire before your manuscript. (Here’s my favorite questionnaire!) This helps them shift from the
pleasure reader mindset to a beta reader mindset. Make sure they fill it out or
better yet, go over it with them. I like to get my betas together for drinks
and dive in as a group. It spurs great conversations and also highlights sticky
areas in my writing.
You
won’t always like what you hear, so it’s vital to recognize the difference
between critique and criticism. Remember, your betas genuinely want you to
succeed, so listen to their thoughts. You may find their dislike of a character
is because he needs to evoke more emotions, or that your favorite scene isn’t
really as necessary as you thought in advancing the plot. A huge part of honing
your craft during feedback is growing a thick skin. I promise this will serve
you well throughout your writing career.
At
the end of the day, don’t forget the number one rule of reader feedback – this
is your story. If editor or beta feedback doesn’t jive with your storyline,
it’s okay to ignore it. You don’t have to change a character’s name because
someone didn’t know how to pronounce it or rewrite your entire plot to appease
one person. Look for the overall sweeping themes. If multiple readers were
confused by the same chapter, it probably needs reworking.
Step five: The craft of the query
Truth?
This is a whole other can of blog post worms for another day. But basically,
repeat steps one – four in query form. Do your research. Know what agents represent
your genre and follow their submission requirements to the letter. Write an
amazing query – PPW has free classes on this regularly *wink wink* — and then begin
the edit and critique process of your letter.
So no
unicorn, but it’s a step toward success. If you’re putting your best work
forward, you’re already floating to the top of those query slush piles.
Writing is
not easy. And anyone who tells you differently is lying. So say this with me.
Out loud. Right now. “My best writing will come from hard work.” Now commit to
that mantra. Whether you’re striving to be a New York Times Best Selling Author
or simply want to self-publish, your readers deserve the best version of your
book and so do you.
Want a
mini craft-honing practice you can do right now? You got it! Pick up your
favorite book and go to your favorite scene. Now, read it with analytical eyes.
Why did you love this part? How did it make you feel? What sentence structures
give you the warm fuzzies? How can you replicate those feeling when telling
your own story? It goes without saying to never, never plagiarize another
writer’s words, but recognizing analytically what it was in their phrasing that
reached you as a fan will ultimately help polish your voice to reach fans of
your own.
Jennifer Wilson is the #1 Amazon bestselling author of the young adult New World Series. The gripping trilogy spansRising, Ashes, and Inferno. Jennifer is constantly on the move, always working on her next storyline and drinking way too much coffee. When not writing, she is enjoying life in Colorado, rock climbing, camping, exploring new foods, playing with her golden retriever, Duke, and sharing life with her heroically supportive hubby. You can connect and nerd out with Jennifer on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and on her website.
