For My Peeps in the Trenches

It's been quiet here at Writer's Blog, which I think has a lot to do with the A-Z challenge going on.

So, instead of one of my more contemplative (read: rambling) posts, I decided to use this Monday's blogging space as encouragement for my peeps in the query/submission trenches.

We all know how much it sucks (yes, it does) to have your heart jump into your throat when you see a response to a query, only to open it and zero in on that dreaded "unfortunately..." Or when you make it past that first hurdle only to hear that an agent "didn't connect" with your work, or your characters, or their voice, or what have you. It sucks.

But published authors have been exactly where we are now, and there's no reason that hard work and proper alignment of the stars can't get us to where *they* are someday. Here's proof:

One of my favorite links is this one, where Kimberley Derting (author of The Body Finder series) shares some of the rejections she received from editors.

I also like this one, about a writer who got one of the worst Christmas gifts ever in the form of being dumped by her agent. This one, by the ever-fabulous Brodi Ashton is a similar story.

Then there's this post, that shares snippets of the rude and discouraging comments made to authors who went on to become household names.

So read and enjoy, peeps. And if any of you have your own stories to share, whether they're rejection horror stories or tales of the sun finally breaking through the clouds, please do!

The Best Form of Rejection

There's been a lot of buzz in the cybersphere lately over the issue of The Form Rejection vs. The Silent Rejection.

It started with agents Rachelle Gardner and Jill Corcoran giving their reasons for NOT responding, which you can read here and here.

Then the ever-fabulous Janet Reid shot back with reasons why these ladies had the wrong idea, prompting Nathan Bransford to ask his readers to give their opinions, and did they ever.

I recently had two queries that never made it to the intended recipients. Both agents were kind enough to ask me to re-send when I followed up, and one of those wound up being my full request - a request I would have missed out on if I'd assumed her lack of response translated to lack of interest in my project.

So here's what I think: if an agent wants to adopt the "no response means no" policy, that's fine. But at the very least, they need to give a time frame in which we can assume they've passed, and have an auto-response in place to let queriers know their e-mail was received. There's simply too much uncertainty (and anxiety) otherwise.

In all honesty, we as queriers are expected to do our homework on these agents. We're expected to flatter them, to demonstrate knowledge of their client list. And since professionalism is a two-way street, I do think writer's are at least owed the peace of mind to know their query made it safely into the agent's inbox in return.

That said, I don't hate the Silent No policy, not after all the rejections I've received. Having a heart attack every time a new e-mail pops up in my inbox isn't fun, and neither is having yet another agent tell me that my dream agent is out there somewhere... but it's just not them. With the no-response-means-no policy, you'd automatically know the e-mail contained good news, because they wouldn't be contacting you otherwise. Then again, I have received some personalized feedback with my non-silent rejections, and I do get a certain sense of closure from knowing the reason behind the "no."

So what say you, peeps? Is silence better than the impersonal words of a form rejection? Or are empty words better than no words at all?

One Year Ago... What Not to Do With Your First Draft

One year ago this month, I did something I'd never done before: wrote a draft of a novel from beginning to end.

It was a huge deal, because I'd talked about writing a novel for most of my life.  Normally I'd write a few pages, stop because I'd have no idea where I wanted to take the darn thing, and then never pick it back up again.

One year ago this month, all that changed.

My very first blog post was about my inspiration and endeavor to get that novel finished, and since I had about, oh, zero readers at the time, I thought it be worth revisiting.  So, once again, here's the story of How I Finally Finished a Novel:

In the Beginning

For the longest time, I said I was going to write a book. But alas, college came and went, and after graduation I put my BA in English to good use as... a purchasing agent? Eight years later, I felt like the last of my creativity had drained out of my toes, and was pretty sure I'd never see the day inspiration would strike again, let alone actually sit down and finish a novel.

Then, much like everyone else on the planet, I read and loved Twilight. For the first time in years, I felt the desire to create something again. I went online and read about how the idea came to Stephenie Meyer in the form of a dream. I admit, (hanging my head in shame) I was instantly jealous. I moaned to anyone who would listen that I had wanted to write a book my whole life, and here this woman was handed the mother of ideas on a platter as sparkly as Edward's skin. HMPH.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Earlier this year, I woke up from the strangest dream and knew it was going to be the subject of my story. 

I tossed ideas around in my head for two weeks before I ever put a word on paper. I had to figure out how to connect the characters, how to fill in their backstory, how to develop the plot based on the little snippet my subconscious had shown me. Once I had a clue, I started to write.

And O.M.G. was I rusty. But just four months later, I had a completed draft of word vomit, and I was as excited as a pig in you-know-what.


I decided I was ready to query.  Wrong.
 
Don't misunderstand, I was not - AM not - under the impression that my story is the next Twilight. But Stephenie Meyer proclaimed her query "sucked", and still scored herself an agent. I was pretty sure my query sucked too, but I was hoping the whole book-based-on-a-dream scenario would work in my favor, too. 

Twenty rejections later, I realized just how badly my query sucked. Not one request for a partial, not one request for a full.
 
I knew I had to buckle down and do even more homework. I bought reference books and found new websites, opened every link pertaining to queries (including the ones that popped up when my search was "why does my query suck") and tore my letter apart time and time again.
 
In the process, I realized how much work my manuscript needed. I came across a website, I think Chuck Sambuchino's, where I read YA novels over 80K words reflect the author's inability to edit. My story was 95,000 words. I chewed my nails, agonizing over my word count. I was sure there was nothing I could eliminate without hurting the plot.
 
Wrong again.
 
Three months after my last rejection, my manuscript is down to a more polished 88,700 words. And you know what else? It's not YA, either. I was nervous that my college student protagonist was too old, and I was right. My novel falls under the paranormal romance/urban fantasy umbrella. Good to know BEFORE you query, don't you think?


Looking back on that entry, I had even more to learn than I thought.  I had no critique partners at that point, because I was too scared and embarrassed to let someone read my writing.  I was afraid of people stealing my idea, and also of someone telling me how badly it sucked.


Now, I'm still pruning away the evidence of amateur writing, and excess words.  I was happy when I got down to 88,700, but now I'm down to 81,200 and still convinced I can trim it up some more.

I have two great critique partners I met through the blogosphere, both of whom believe my story could really have a shot with the right "renovations."  Their input and encouragement has been invaluable.

So if there are any newbies out there reading this, my advice is this: do it right.  Do LOTS of research.  Go to the how-to websites like Nathan Bransford and Query Shark.  Find helpful, introspective posts like this one from J.L. Campbell, and use all of them to hone your writing.  Then, find people you can trust, and let them tell you the strengths and weaknesses of your manuscript, because when you're looking at it day after day, there are things you just won't see.

And don't rush it.  Stephenie Meyer is the EXCEPTION, not the rule, which I would have known if I'd done more research.  I thought her piddly "seven or eight" rejections was the norm.  I wish I'd known then that most people liken getting published to hitting the lottery.  I wish I'd known about authors like Brodi Ashton, who faced over a hundred rejections and went through two agents before landing her book deal.

Finally, I advise newbies to follow the blogs of published authors and agents, but also follow the unpublished ones.  We're quite the worker bees, and there are plenty of us who'll link to the posts we've found most helpful on a regular basis.  Stina and Heather are great for this.  Check them out BEFORE you jump into querying.

Hopefully one day, my finished novel will become a published novel.  But in one year I've come far enough to know it might never happen.  All the more motivation to reach another milestone- finishing a second novel.

So how did your first novel come about?  Did you always know you'd finish it, or were you as shocked as I was?

** Also, there's a great giveaway going on at Cleverly Inked.  Stop by and check it out!**

G is for Great Posts, Gray Hair, and Giveaways! (And Gina, of Course!)

I'm not officially participating in the A-Z Challenge, but since I'm partial to the letter G, for obvious reasons, I decided to ride the blogfest's G-themed coattails.

First, I've been meaning to link to some great posts that stood out in my mind, and hadn't really had the chance to work them in.  Well, here's my chance.  First, a fantastic post from the Chocolate and Spice blog about why we love YA romance.  Tracy took the words right out of my mouth - I couldn't have said it better myself.

Also, agent Vicki  Motter did a succinct, informative post on common errors to avoid.  I love agents who elaborate on their pet peeves rather than make you guess.  Or worse, give off the impression that you're expected to be walking-textbook perfect on the first try.  Because, as agent Kristen Nelson proved the other day, even agents make grammatical errors.

Kristen did a post entitled Whose Got Problems?  Dorchester Has Problems.  An anonymous commentator remarked, Uh, don't you mean "Who's Got Problems?" As in "Who Has?"  Kristen didn't respond to the comment, she simply corrected the error.  Let it be a lesson to agents to not skewer us poor, nervous queriers when we show our fallability! 

Speaking of fallability, the one thing we all succumb to in life is age.  Sure, some go down kicking and screaming with whatever muscle movement is left after their Botox treatments, but in the end, age gets all of us.  And it ain't pretty.

The idea of morphing into a faded, wrinkled version of yourself is terrifying to most people, myself included.  I started taking vitamin supplements in college, when I read vitamin A was essential to youthful skin, and lack of vitamin B and D could actually cause premature gray hair.  Gray hair?!  I shuddered at the thought.

Three years ago, my sister and I shared a hotel room on a trip to California, and upon seeing me popping my B-complex tabs, she questioned me about my vitamin regimine.  I explained the gray hair theory, and that was that. 

Unfortunately, the day after we returned from that trip, our Uncle Frank passed away.  At lunch after the funeral, my sister casually remarked, "Oh, by the way, Tod (her husband) and I saw a gray hair on your head at the wake last night."

Pffffff.  That was my actual reaction.  I thought she was busting on me for taking the vitamins and being paranoid.  But when her face remained totally serious, and she started sifting through my hair, I felt panic set in.  Sure enough, seconds later I was staring at a completely colorless piece of hair in my hand, one that had just come from my carefully vitamin-supplemented head.  I was devastated. 

I was only twenty-seven, and I'd never felt so old.  All my illusions came tumbling down around me.  I had to face what I already knew: there is no eternal youth, and there is no eternal life.  Eventually, we'll all shrivel and fade until we meet the same end- another "G" known as the Great Equalizer.

So what do we do in the meantime?  Enjoy every minute of it, gray hair and all.  And you can start by adding some great books to your life through my final G- my Name Game Giveaway!  There's still time to play for some great YA titles.  Here's a synopsis of what's available.  Go now!

An ARC of ABANDON by Meg Cabot.  (First in a trilogy!  Pub date April 26th)

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.



But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.


Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.


But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

FEVER CRUMB by Philip Reeve

Fever Crumb is a girl who has been adopted and raised by Dr. Crumb, a member of the order of Engineers, where she serves as apprentice. In a time and place where women are not seen as reasonable creatures, Fever is an anomaly, the only female to serve in the order. Soon though, she must say goodbye to Dr. Crumb-nearly the only person she's ever known-to assist archeologist Kit Solent on a top-secret project.

As her work begins, Fever is plagued by memories that are not her own and Kit seems to have a particular interest in finding out what they are. Fever has also been singled out by city-dwellers who declare her part Scriven. The Scriveners, not human, ruled the city some years ago but were hunted down and killed in a victorious uprising by the people. If there are any remaining Scriven, they are to be eliminated. All Fever knows is what she's been told: that she is an orphan. Is Fever a Scriven? Whose memories does she hold? Is the mystery of Fever, adopted daughter of Dr. Crumb, the key to the secret that lies at the heart of London?

WHAT I SAW AND HOW I LIED by Judy Blundell:

When Evie's father returned home from World War II, the family fell back into its normal life pretty quickly. But Joe Spooner brought more back with him than just good war stories. When movie-star handsome Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served in Joe's company in postwar Austria, shows up, Evie is suddenly caught in a complicated web of lies that she only slowly recognizes. She finds herself falling for Peter, ignoring the secrets that surround him . . . until a tragedy occurs that shatters her family and breaks her life in two. As she begins to realize that almost everything she believed to be a truth was really a lie, Evie must get to the heart of the deceptions and choose between her loyalty to her parents and her feelings for the man she loves. Someone will have to be betrayed. The question is . . . who?

An ARC of THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE by Jeff Hirsch (Pub date September 1st):

The wars that followed The Collapse nearly destroyed civilization. Now, twenty years later, the world is faced with a choice—rebuild what was or make something new.


Stephen Quinn, a quiet and dutiful fifteen-year-old scavenger, travels Post-Collapse America with his Dad and stern ex-Marine Grandfather. They travel light. They keep to themselves. Nothing ever changes. But when his Grandfather passes suddenly and Stephen and his Dad decide to risk it all to save the lives of two strangers, Stephen's life is turned upside down. With his father terribly injured, Stephen is left alone to make his own choices for the first time.


Stephen’s choices lead him to Settler's Landing, a lost slice of the Pre-Collapse world where he encounters a seemingly benign world of barbecues, baseball games and days spent in a one-room schoolhouse. Distrustful of such tranquility, Stephen quickly falls in with Jenny Tan, the beautiful town outcast. As his relationship with Jenny grows it brings him into violent conflict with the leaders of Settler's Landing who are determined to remake the world they grew up in, no matter what the cost.