As I was picking the image this week, I got to a devianART page of agnes-cecile and Fell. In. Love. You can get to her page from our pin on the Ink and Angst board.
So by now I’m certain you get it. You know the gate is open, welcoming everyone into the realm of children’s literature! 
Click the pics for awesome writerly links (like author blogs and websites)!
I know. Really. I get it. Those days when the Mage of Doom sits on your shoulder and zaps his magical staff at your WIP… You feel your words going up in smoke, keyboard melting beneath your fingers and it just plain stinks. And somedays, that’s the writer’s world. You think, it sounds dreary, but really, it’s not! It’s exciting, welcoming, wonderful! Because other days, you pull the sword and poof, your a genius!
Sure, writers get frustrated. Crafting brilliance is tricky. Revisions get rough. Queries lurk like demons, rejections sting. But, the stories will come. Words will take shape. You’ll be brilliant! I’m not just telling you so. With the help of The LUCKY 13s (writerly friends with novels coming in 2013) I’m going to show you. Publishing is POSSIBLE. Some days it seems harder than pulling a sword from a stone, but really all it takes is heart, hard work and a little help from your friends! You can do it. Just like The Lucky 13s who’ve paved the way; you too can pull a sword from a stone! These talented writers will tell you all about it.
It was October of 2009, and I was driving down the interstate, thinking, “Hmm. If I’m going to do this whole NaNoWriMo thing, I need a topic. What the heck am I going to write about?” A few miles later, it came to me: What if a high school senior had to host a smokin’ hot alien exchange student? And what if they hated each other at first, but wound up falling in love? But what if they couldn’t be together? What if he was hiding something? From there, the ideas came flying at me from all directions, and I outlined like a mofo for the rest of the month. In November, ALIENATED was born. Two years and five rewrites later, it sold to Disney-Hyperion.
Here’s my advice, folks: Get off the bleeping internet and write more books. Don’t stress about networking or building a brand right now, because it’s the manuscript that matters. You can’t tweet your way into a book deal. No matter how many blog followers you’ve snagged, it won’t help if you can’t manage to produce a salable manuscript. So disconnect for a while and give yourself the freedom to finish that novel. And then start the next one.
The hardest part of this journey was pushing through five rewrites without any guarantee of a sale. That takes dedication, my friends. Or at the very least, obsession. When I received my first rejection, I sat at my computer and cried. But you know what? The next day I put on my big girl panties and got to work on a new project. If you want to stay sane during the submission process, you have to keep moving forward. To quote Dory from FINDING NEMO: “Just keep swimming.”
Nothing tops getting “The Call,” but aside from that, the most exciting part of this journey was writing the original draft. ALIENATED was my first book and drafting it at breakneck speed during NaNoWriMo was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my adult life. There was no pressure–no goal aside from hitting that 50k word mark. I wrote for my own amusement, and it was such a rush. To all of you just starting out: Enjoy the ride, and never forget why you chose to write in the first place. Don’t lose that rush. Best of luck!
I dreamt my story after watching a documentary about a looming freshwater shortage. The second I woke up I told my b/f, “Hey, I wrote a book in my head just now.”
Develop thick skin and patience. Use crit partners and don’t get defensive about constructive criticism.
Not knowing if I’d ever make it. I wrote and queried for ten years. (yeah).
I’m excited to see my name on a real book, of course. But honestly the most fun thing has been meeting other writers, pubbed, unpubbed, self-pubbed, agented, unagented, and aspiring. Doesn’t matter to me. I feel like I’m finally surrounding myself with people who “get” me. And that’s a lovely feeling.
I’d had the theme of combined loss, betrayal and second chances from unlikely sources rattling around in my head for a long time. I tried writing this story from a different character’s perspective first, but it wasn’t until I honed in on Brianna’s voice and specific dilemma as a pregnant cheerleader that things really started to fall into place
Goodness, there is so much I could share, but I’ll go with a piece of advice that was given to me by Ron Hansen, author of Mariette in Ecstasy and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, who told me to go “live life” after I graduated from college in the 90′s. I’ve since done just that, and I don’t plan to stop now that I have a book deal. The pursuit of publication can be a rough road that often takes years (or decades for some of us). And while, on one hand, a certain amount of tunnel vision may be necessary to keep one’s eye on the prize and move through the rejection and self-doubt that are near-certainties along that road, there are some things you can’t get back once their time has passed. Family time is one of these, as is time spent doing other things that bring joy and positivity to life (horse training, riding and judging for me). It’s been crucial for me to try to strike the balance between being a crazy dreamer and a realist in that regard.
There is no one hardest thing. For me, as for many artists and entertainers, any time spent feeling that my passion and hard work were in vain was just soul-crushingly awful. It was also hard, frankly, to see friends and family achieving great success, accolades and money (especially if they were writers) while feeling shut out of the publication universe myself. Not only was there self-pity involved, but I felt like a chump for letting envy get the better of me. I’m pretty stubborn, though (for better or for worse), and at some point I had to decide that there was no “I” in quit. Oh, wait.
The absolute best, most fun and awesome thing is when I’m working on a story, and something just clicks – whether it’s a turn of phrase that comes out just right or a major character revelation. That feeling of “nailing it” is one of the things that has kept me going through the tough times, and it’s why I became a writer in the first place. It’s why I keep challenging myself to create worlds with words no matter what may be happening (or not happening) on the publication side of things. There’s nothing like tapping into that creative vein that, I believe, runs to some degree through all people.
My very first spark of a story idea for THROUGH THE BOMB’S BREATH was an idea unlike any I had read or heard of before. I knew from the start that the idea was sound; it was all a matter of how willing I was to put in all the work it takes to go from idea to publishable manuscript.
Everyone has strengths and weaknesses in writing. The trick is figuring out what yours are, then playing your strengths to their fullest and learning everything you can to lessen your weaknesses. Never, ever, ever stop learning!
Writing my query letter! I spent five months perfecting the content, the sentence structure, the word choices, deciding what was important to tell, what was absolutely necessary, and making sure it had enough voice. I jumped on every critique opportunity I could find. I reworked it so many times, and asked a few close friends to read my changes so many times, it’s amazing they’re still talking to me! In the end, it was worth it just to send off a query I had complete confidence in.
Getting to know so many writers through going to conferences and blogging! This writing community is an unbelievably amazing one, and I’m
This was an idea that had been forming in my mind since college. We had to do a multi-genre paper focused on an issue in one of my classes, and I picked sexual harassment in high school. The paper was one of the best assignments I’ve ever done. We had to research the issue and then create a paper using a variety of different genres (poetry, essays, letters, and stories). The story of a girl named Kate started to unfold in this project and it was that idea that sparked my book CANARY. I worked on the story during the summers when I wasn’t teaching. I loved the summers because I could devote almost all my time to it, but it would slow down once the school year started. I finished about two years ago and then started to revise.
1) Never give up
2) Be passionate and love what you write
3) Coffee and gummy candy will get you through the rough patches!
The waiting…oh, the waiting! Publishing moves so so slow. You wait to hear if an agent wants to read your full, you wait for them to read the full, you wait while you’re subbing to publishing houses, you wait for your cover, your release date, on and on and on until it can drive you made if you let yourself get consumed with it. You have to have a lot of patience in publishing, and that’s something I’m not good at. Luckily, I’ve learned to throw myself into other projects to distract myself and still stay busy.
Hands down all the people I’ve met so far along my journey. There are so many great and supportive YA authors (go, Lucky 13s!), teens, and other readers of YA. I especially love connecting with my blog readers. I have a lot of followers who have been with me from the start of the journey, and it’s great to talk and meet new readers too. The YA community is so supportive and amazing.
Hmm, that’s a good question. Charm & Strange isn’t the first novel I’ve written. I’ve written others and was in the process of looking for an agent when I got a spark of an idea that felt really odd and different, but also very raw. That idea stuck with me, so I decided I’d write it down, but never show it to anyone. I even typed up a brief summary in an email to a fellow writer friend that had the subject line “is this too out there?” but I never sent that email because it did feel too out there to even share. But I knew I wanted to write this story and I did.
Be open to criticism, but at the same time, own what you want to write. I think there’s nothing more important than finding good beta readers who read in the genre you write and who can you hold you to standards of your favorite authors. They’ll tell you what isn’t working, and in my experience, they’re usually right. However, I also think there’s a danger in overworking manuscripts and relying on other readers to tell you how to fix it. At a certain point, you need to use feedback as a way to clarify what your intentions are as a writer (something only you can do) and then push to execute your vision in a way that is all yours.
Wanting to live up to other people’s hopes and expectations. It’s the kind of pressure that motivates me, but it’s also super anxiety-provoking.
Sharing the news of the sale with my family and friends.
LUMINANCE HOUR actually has its roots in a twelve page short story that I wrote to submit to an anthology which was asking for pieces about faeries that were “modern and sexy.” I asked my co-workers Helen and Ferrin (who were teaching English with me in South Korea at the time) to read the story, which was about a Faery guarding the Prince of England from a soul-eating Green Woman. When Helen finished it she turned in her swivel chair, looked me in the eye and said, “This isn’t a short story. This is a novel.” And that was that.
Usually when I’m asked this I say, never ever give up. But this time I have a new one. Write the story that you love. Because if you’re serious about getting published, you will be spending a lot of quality time with said story. You commit to it. I spent a good amount of my college years writing literary short stories, but my heart was really in YA paranormal/fantasy fiction. So many times in this publication journey it has been only my love for the story I’ve created that’s kept me going. I believed in my plot and my characters, and that made all the difference.
The waiting. Hands down. I’m not a particularly patient person (which you would very well know if I’ve driven you somewhere), and waiting is everything in this business. You have to wait for responses on queries. Responses on agent submissions. Responses on agent revision. Responses on editor submissions. Responses on editor revision. Responses on… you get the drift. There’s a lot of waiting. I’ve learned to busy myself with multiple projects so that if I’m waiting on something for one of them I can work hard on the other to distract myself!
Most fun thing? The opportunity to meet and interact with some of my favorite authors! I was really privileged to attend and help out with YALLfest in my hometown Charleston last November, where I got to meet Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Andrea Cremer, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (among so many others). The second most fun thing is being able to tell people that I’m an author at cocktail parties!
So ends The Lucky 13s Trilogy! They’ve Gate Crashed, had a blast. And we’ve all learned a little something. Like…Hum… Just do it! Tug the sword. Pull. Pull. Pull! Write your story, critique, rewrite, query, read, find people who share your passion. Gnash your teeth. Wait. Wait some more. Listen. Revise. CELEBRATE! REJOICE! And share your knowledge! Often. Allow others to soak up your wisdom. Be the water that fills the sponge. Be a writer. Be a mentor. CRASH THE GATE. Have fun and good luck!
Leave a comment, ask a question or two. These authors and I are thrilled to hear your voice. We’ll mull, ponder, think on your questions and answer back as best we can!
Oh, and because I just can’t help myself…
Pull. Pull. Pull!
CRASH THE GATE
Not all apps are created equal. Some are Pages, and some are, well:
Yes, they are.
How to know the difference?
Let’s take something quite obvious, like Microsoft Word 2012. Here’s an app that was so egregious, as pointed out by App Advice, Apple was forced to pull it from their store. It was nothing more than instructions on how to use MS Word, and some lousy instructions at that–all for the low, low price of $9.99.
It’s not the only sketchy MS-based app in the Apple store. There are several high-priced apps still left, but they spell their intention out a bit better–if you read down far enough–that they are merely instruction manuals of some sort. DON’T BUY ANY MICROSOFT APP AT THIS TIME. Microsoft will be launching their own apps this November.
That brings me to the first four things to check when looking to buy an app:
Oh, those app developers can be so, so tricky. Look at this:
Pretty close, right?
Why do you suppose that is?
You guessed it. iA Writer is the winning app, and writing wanted to cash in on its popularity. Again, App Advice blew the whistle, and if you look up the writing app today, the blue bar is gone. Guessing Apple had a little talk with them. So if you heard about iA Writer and you glanced at the icon and zipped off to the Apple Store on your iPhone, there’s a chance you could accidentally download the inferior product–for more money. How do you keep from making that mistake? How do you pick a good app, in general?
Follow the four steps above and also:
Some apps are a fair chunk ‘o change, most won’t break you, but I don’t want to support anybody who’s piggybacking off someone else’s hard work.
Tessa: So, what about Jane?
Cari: I think she’s great. I don’t have any bad feelings about Jane, she’s had a hard life. She’s young. She’s also a little addicted to poor treatment, and that’s what she never grows out of. The only thing that’s apparently quote “wrong with her” is that she’s homely.
Tessa: She’s passionate, and there’s all this stuff under the surface. She’s really hard to get to know, but she’s also the kind of friend you want to have, because she will always stick with you.
Cari: To the point of being a doormat. Though she did have a good relationship with the girl that died—one could even say a healthy relationship.
Tessa: Jane’s strong, she advertised to get out of Lowood and she totally mouthed off to Mr. Brocklehurst.
Cari: She did. She was a feminist in her time.
Tessa: She stands up to Rochester, too. She doesn’t take his crap. Those whole conversations after dinner? She holds her own, one ups him most the time, and runs rings around him—which he totally knows. That’s why he likes her.
Cari: One of the scenes I flipped to was when they start talking with Ms. Fairfax, and Jane admits to being not well educated, not having a family, etc. To me, Rochester’s questions and reactions were for picking out a victim. She’s fallen into his lair, and has no resources to fall back on besides him, and no one to fall back on besides herself. So the run rings around him scenes, that just angers him and (later) makes him shake her.Then, when she’s left and he’s burned down his house and is blind and killed everyone, it’s a little convenient that his sight eventually comes back. He’s controlling her through her kindness. Oh look, I neeed you. Again, doormat.
Tessa: First he does not get his sight back, only in bits and pieces—Cari: Convenient.Tessa: —and he did not make her come back to him.
Cari: I thought you said she called out to him on the wind. Bella Bella!
Tessa: An emotional connection is not forcing her to come back to him! And he thought he was a total idiot when he was calling for her anyway.
Cari: If he did. Oh yeah honey, I was “calling” for you.
Tessa: Wait, I thought he brought it up first? Calling to her?
Cari: Damn. Ok, yes, basically he brought it up.
Tessa: So there! The magic of romance!
Cari: It’s not romance – it’s crazy.
Tessa: So crazy people can’t have love too?
Cari: They can until Rochester locks them in the attic.
Tessa: Yeah, but the attic treatment was probably a thousand times better than the institutions they had back then. And he provides for Adele. But on the romantic side, the love story is such a slow build. Every simple conversation, every exchanged glance, multiplies in passion and expression until while I don’t *want* Jane to marry an already married Rochester, I do think that if he’d succeeded—married Jane without her finding out—she’d have been happy. He’d have done everything in his power, moved heaven and earth, to make her happy. Beyond the sheer gothic-ness, it’s a story of the pull between passion and duty, love and standards of self. She can’t marry him if she knows, because she loses herself—and the price paid is misery. That’s why the ending is so romantic—to regain love and still keep one’s honor.
Cari: What I see is a girl who came from nowhere – a victim because she has no resources.The guy has so scared his employees that they don’t even try to protect this young girl, presumably for fear of repercussions from Rochester. Later, his stuff is destroyed and she’s gotten her fortune so finally “deserves” him, so she comes to take care of blind and burned Rochester. She could have anyone whenever she wanted – she has money now and even a proposal from St. John. But just because she turns him down doesn’t mean she can’t have anyone else. A la Bella, who could have any one of five guys but chooses the one who wants to kill her, Jane goes back to the guy who lied and manipulated and shook her. A vicitim and her manipulator. Just because Rochester experienced misery doesn’t mean the misery he’s caused is excused – or that it’s romance.
What music is for Tessa (see here) images are for me. Personally I think that has something to do with having a toddler and valuing silence so much. Images inspire me and refocus me. Whenever I need to center on my story I pull up my Pinterest board. We’ve started one for Ink and Angst and once a week I’ll share something from there for our back jump.
Backjumps: A quickly executed throw up or panel piece. Usually painted on a temporarily parked train or a running bus. (wikipedia)
Take five minutes, 100 words or less, and create something magical. No stress, no strings, no critics. Just you and your craft.
I thought the first post should fittingly be what we look at every time we pull up Ink and Angst.
