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Found the first agent I’m going to send the new and improved, dedicated query to.  FYI: I found a list of agents here. Here’s my first quandry: I planned to submit to a publisher who requested a query, a 10 page synopsis, and 3 chapters.  I buckled down and got my synopsis finished.   This agent wants a query containing a one or two paragraph(!!!) synopsis and the first 3 chapters/50 pages.*  Now, I love when agents will accept pages.  I feel like I’ve skipped the request for a partial and gone for the good stuff.  But how am I supposed to condense 10 pages intoRead More →

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Look. I’ve had a difficult year. I’m not whining, honestly. I won’t even go into detail, because I’m private that way and that wouldsort of be like whining. You’re welcome.  But, whatever.  I’ve been a bad writer. I put off doing my synopsis/query for On A Bet.  I didn’t know how to do one, or who to send it to, plus it’s scary.  I stopped writing Skye’s Falling because I joined a crit group and I got overwhelmed, feeling like I *had* to make all the changes, which is just a bad idea (for me) when it’s just a first draft.  It’s not supposed toRead More →

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Working on a new story that I’m really excited about.  Written down my backstory, written where my characters are immediately before the story starts.  Now I’m working on the GMC charts* for my two protags, my secondary characters, and my one (maybe two?) antagonists.  Once I have this, it will be awesome and make the story better to the nth degree.  But, how much do I hate doing these?  I always have to get the book out and go over the parts I highlighted (thankful for that foresight, go me) and make sure I have concrete, measurable external goals and then the internal part whichRead More →

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’tis be, as described, th’ best character name finder ever. Let’s spy wit’ ye eye, ye can pick which letters it can’t or must start wit’ or end wit’, th’ length ‘n number ‘o syllables, even what letter sequence it contain. Then thar’s style preferences, like: Traditional, Contemporary/Invented, Passin’ Fashion ‘o th’ Past, etc. Then ye decide how popular a name ye want ‘n whether it be popular in locales outside th’ U.S. Extremely awesome. ‘n once it gives ye a list ‘o names, then ye really start diggin’ in. ETA: This post is in Pirate, because it’s…. Talk Like A Pirate Day! Using theRead More →

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Listen to me. No, seriously.  Stop what you are doing, stop twittering or IMing or going through your email and listen to me.  I think I’ve got the long synopsis thing kicked.  Or, a first draft of the long synopsis kicked.  Or maybe the outline of a long synopsis which I can use to create a nice long synopsis. Whatever. Listen to me when I tell you this: do not ever, for any reason, no matter what, put off writing your synopsis/query letter for an embarrassingly long time because those things are scary.  The whole thing is scary.  You’re going to wimp out now? YouRead More →

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A novel notebook. Dead serious here. And I’m going to show you exactly what to buy. A big binder. This is the kind of thing I would buy. It’s cheap, but well-made. It’s huge and it’s got one of those little thingies for holding the paper down. Dividers. Lots of them.  You will thank me later.  These are the exact ones I own, but whatever works for you is perfect. Top loading, economy pack, sheet protectors.  There are some things that you just don’t want to have to find again, make again, whatever–these will keep them safe, handleable (I realize that’s not a word), and easy to getRead More →

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I know, it’s Wednesday, and I totally had every intention of writing this awesome blog, because I am in the midst of my creative process, and I’ve got good stuff to share. But it’s the first day of school, and yesterday was the day before the first day of school and freshman orientation, and the day before that was middle school orientation, plus I work (somehow), so I just didn’t get to it. Not that you’d trust me, anyway, given the run-on of the previous sentence. So, I’m linking you to an article I’ve been meaning to read for two weeks. Seriously. It’s been openRead More →

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I mentioned (I think) that I’m working on a new manuscript. I’ve got several characters roughly sketched and about 35 pages of backstory (the setup for the now) written. I love this part, where there’s still so many things to do, and you can just pick and choose. Should I develop the characters more? Should I research jobs? Draw my town? Find pictures of their apartment? Jot down scene ideas? Writing a novel is such a long and difficult process (duh), that I love the parts where it feels like you’re so on top of it, and options are limitless. It’s a lot better thanRead More →

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I guess every writer ever in the history of ever has been asked this question: where do you get your ideas from? And I’d say there are a dozen dozen (this sounds weird, I mean like 1212=8916100448256, okay?) answers for each individual writer. So I’m just going to talk about how I’ve been struck with inspiration. The biggest place ideas come from are my dreams. No, really. And then they grow and change and turn into something completely different, but they start in my sleep. And they’re not dreams, like how you’re still in grade school, and you just realized that you don’t have yourRead More →

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In my new manuscript, my heroine is a romance writer with a list of ten characteristics she expects her heroes to live up to.  I think she uses it a little bit for a personal measuring stick as well.  Anyway, for your reading pleasure: Skye’s Ten Traits of a Hero Always keeps his word/promises. Respects the heroine as an individual with intelligence and many other ass-kicking qualities. He loves her brand of crazy. Once they begin their own mating dance–even if it involves slammed doors and acidic wit–he doesn’t/can’t sleep with another woman.  If he does, he finds the experience hollow and unsatisfying. Even ifRead More →