With partials in the mail, it's time for my "final" pass through my novel, Dreams of a Shaper. You'll note the quotes around final, and they're there for a good reason--I don't actually think I'm done. On that happy day when I get an agent and/or publisher, I expect more work for certain.
However, here final means I'm closing on the limits of what I can see to do myself. I'm finding typos, hastily disposing of unnecessary adverbs, and fixing occasional clunky sentences (often the result of prior editing), but by and large the pages say pretty much what I meant them to. I'm not a writer drawn to the eternal revising some find so attractive. I've already spent seven years with this book. Frankly, that's too long and I'm ready for something different.
But before I can wholeheartedly move to the next project, this last polish has to be done. I've got to look at it again, because the next person to see it after that will be an agent or publisher who's requested a full.
How do you finish off a long project? Are there any tricks you use to finally set it aside, or are you already prepared to move on once the first draft is in the bag?
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Oh, the questions they ask
An interesting part of the pitching experience that, in retrospect, should have been ultra-obvious was the question I might get asked. I didn't consider it much before-hand--combination of nerves and other fish to fry, such as nailing down the essence of my story.
But questions were asked. Some I fared all right with, others I muddled through. This is clearly not the list to end all lists, but here's what I was asked:
Stand-alone vs. series--This fell into the easy-to-answer category, and is particularly relevant to sff where long epic sagas proliferate--especially unpublished, long, epic sagas. My answer seemed to be what they wanted to hear: stand-alone, with potential sequels. Although a series can get sold, it means convincing someone to fork over for not one book, but three (and I hope it's only three for your sake). Better to hit them hard and leave them wanting the next installment.
What books would you compare it to?--This one nailed me. I've thought about it before, but never come up with a compelling answer that I feel captures the style and world of my book. It wasn't a deal-breaker, but I sure didn't feel sharp scraping my brain on a moment's notice for something intelligent to compare it to.
Earth-based vs space-based?--This actually highlighted in my first pitch that my setting wasn't crystal clear. Especially if you are working in an alternate universe, grounding is important. I filled in at the time and made more direct references to locations in the later pitches. I definitely recommend listening carefully to what's being asked, though, to see if it signals something you should have given in the main pitch.
What's the ending?--I actually had some preparation on this one since my pitch leaves it hanging. No one asked directly, but my friend Heather has been asked it in pitching before. I'm glad I'd considered how to succinctly answer that because otherwise it would have been easy to blather.
Where can we back up the truck-loads of money?--Haha, just kidding. Certainly didn't get asked that... at least not this time around :)
But questions were asked. Some I fared all right with, others I muddled through. This is clearly not the list to end all lists, but here's what I was asked:
Stand-alone vs. series--This fell into the easy-to-answer category, and is particularly relevant to sff where long epic sagas proliferate--especially unpublished, long, epic sagas. My answer seemed to be what they wanted to hear: stand-alone, with potential sequels. Although a series can get sold, it means convincing someone to fork over for not one book, but three (and I hope it's only three for your sake). Better to hit them hard and leave them wanting the next installment.
What books would you compare it to?--This one nailed me. I've thought about it before, but never come up with a compelling answer that I feel captures the style and world of my book. It wasn't a deal-breaker, but I sure didn't feel sharp scraping my brain on a moment's notice for something intelligent to compare it to.
Earth-based vs space-based?--This actually highlighted in my first pitch that my setting wasn't crystal clear. Especially if you are working in an alternate universe, grounding is important. I filled in at the time and made more direct references to locations in the later pitches. I definitely recommend listening carefully to what's being asked, though, to see if it signals something you should have given in the main pitch.
What's the ending?--I actually had some preparation on this one since my pitch leaves it hanging. No one asked directly, but my friend Heather has been asked it in pitching before. I'm glad I'd considered how to succinctly answer that because otherwise it would have been easy to blather.
Where can we back up the truck-loads of money?--Haha, just kidding. Certainly didn't get asked that... at least not this time around :)
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Ship it
So I've just posted my big high-level recap of pitching at the Willamette Writers Conference. While I finished up editing that, I actually got to the (short-term) finish line, and the partials are in the mail--two hard-copy, one electronic.
Now for that most dreaded of all games... the waiting game. Actually, it takes a lot of the pressure off. I have a bit of final polishing planned for the rest of the book, but otherwise I'm not going to be fretting too much more over it (until such time as someone else points out something to fret about).
Soon I'll start gathering other agents to query, but first there's a pile of closet doors I've been putting off painting the whole summer. They're calling my name, I can hear them.
Now for that most dreaded of all games... the waiting game. Actually, it takes a lot of the pressure off. I have a bit of final polishing planned for the rest of the book, but otherwise I'm not going to be fretting too much more over it (until such time as someone else points out something to fret about).
Soon I'll start gathering other agents to query, but first there's a pile of closet doors I've been putting off painting the whole summer. They're calling my name, I can hear them.
The Main Event -- Willamette Writers Conference 2007
I know, it's been a week since the big conference, and the blog has been eerily silent. Well, rest assured this is a good thing. The silence comes from my feverish work in almost every spare moment (apart from a little Wii boxing for tension relief, and quality time with Amber) revising my synopsis and first fifty pages.
Yes, my pitching at the conference resulted in partial requests from each agent/editor. I'm not naming names, but suffice to say that most of the pitches were an enjoyable, if slightly nerve-wracking experience.
A couple things I learned:
All in all, I'm glad I went. Now to get those partials in the mail!
Yes, my pitching at the conference resulted in partial requests from each agent/editor. I'm not naming names, but suffice to say that most of the pitches were an enjoyable, if slightly nerve-wracking experience.
A couple things I learned:
- If possible, don't take your notes. I knew the material well enough to not bring the notes, and oddly it helped me be more at ease, more conversational. No notecard in hand, less to fidget with.
- Interacting with the "pitchee" is the whole point--if you're just going to give a stilted summary, why not just send a letter? The personal (if short) conversations after one pitch was actually the highlight of the conference for me.
- Ask questions. Be prepared with specific questions for each agent or editor. I wasn't ready enough on this count, although I pulled a few interesting questions out at the last moment.
- Ask more questions! I asked for clarification on a few points about what they were requesting, and I'm glad they did. One editor asked for three chapters, then said, "But we really mean about fifty pages." I mentioned this to the next agent who also asked for three chapters, and he said, "No, we just want three actual chapters." If I hadn't asked, I might have cut one short or flooded the other with almost twice what they'd really wanted.
- Enjoy the experience. This was a unique and exciting time--I'd never had a novel ready to sell before, never met people in the industry, never had trotted my tale out to people who could actually get it published. It's easy to lose sight of this in all the worry and nerves, but as my wife kept reminding me, keep perspective on what this is--a great chance to sell face to face that you won't have too often.
- Materials--although you probably won't have to hand out copies during the pitch, have the following together:
- Query Letter--better now than when you're pressed to put a cover letter on your partial.
- Synopsis--I got requests for a shorter synopsis, about two pages. Thankfully, I'd already drafted one that could be pared down, or I would have been even more slammed this week.
- 50 pages--like I said, I got requests for three chapter (~30 pages for me), and for 50-75 pages. Glad I had 50 together already.
All in all, I'm glad I went. Now to get those partials in the mail!
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Pitch It!
So tomorrow is the day I've been preparing for most of this year--the Willamette Writers' Conference begins! While I'm looking forward to the sessions and meeting with other writers, this year's focus for me is the pitching.
There are three agents and one editor at the conference who deal with sci-fi, so I'll be presenting my fresh and clean, nifty smelling novel to all four of them. This is an entirely new experience for me; I've sent stories and queries out a few times in the past with material I now realize wasn't really there, but I've never pitched in person before.
I've done a lot of reading on different agent blogs, and gotten plenty of good advice. One of the biggest themes is keeping it somewhat casual and conversational. If you're just going to show up and read a scripted synopsis, why are you doing it in person?
The carefully crafted script was where I started off, branching from a hook I wrote for Miss Snark's crapometer last year. It was a decent place to begin for me, since it helped me to really nail down the flow and what elements were at the core of the story. But when I came to actually giving the "pitch" verbally to my wife, Amber, it fell utterly flat. It was almost painful to see how all those beautiful words I'd agonized over just didn't work when they came out of my mouth.
Amber's suggestion was to take that and turn it into a set of bullet points. It wasn't too hard to carve it down to a first draft of those essentials since I'd been thinking about this for quite a while already. Then I ran off that and just talked. I won't claim that it was an immediate success--it's taken a week worth of practice, revising the bullets, reordering, pitching to people who haven't read the story to find any incomprehensible gaps. But now I'm actually feeling pretty good. At first, everyone I pitched to had lots of things to suggest. The last few, though, that's been trailing off.
Nerves will play a big part when it comes down to the actual event, but I'm as ready as I know how to be. Bring it on!
There are three agents and one editor at the conference who deal with sci-fi, so I'll be presenting my fresh and clean, nifty smelling novel to all four of them. This is an entirely new experience for me; I've sent stories and queries out a few times in the past with material I now realize wasn't really there, but I've never pitched in person before.
I've done a lot of reading on different agent blogs, and gotten plenty of good advice. One of the biggest themes is keeping it somewhat casual and conversational. If you're just going to show up and read a scripted synopsis, why are you doing it in person?
The carefully crafted script was where I started off, branching from a hook I wrote for Miss Snark's crapometer last year. It was a decent place to begin for me, since it helped me to really nail down the flow and what elements were at the core of the story. But when I came to actually giving the "pitch" verbally to my wife, Amber, it fell utterly flat. It was almost painful to see how all those beautiful words I'd agonized over just didn't work when they came out of my mouth.
Amber's suggestion was to take that and turn it into a set of bullet points. It wasn't too hard to carve it down to a first draft of those essentials since I'd been thinking about this for quite a while already. Then I ran off that and just talked. I won't claim that it was an immediate success--it's taken a week worth of practice, revising the bullets, reordering, pitching to people who haven't read the story to find any incomprehensible gaps. But now I'm actually feeling pretty good. At first, everyone I pitched to had lots of things to suggest. The last few, though, that's been trailing off.
Nerves will play a big part when it comes down to the actual event, but I'm as ready as I know how to be. Bring it on!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
jasonrclark.net site is live!
Just a quick note to announce that my full website, jasonrclark.net is finally up and running. Apart from this blog, it includes some of my travel writing that I've made available on the web, links to my favorite writing resources, current reading, links to my favorite technical blogs, and my brewing blog, The Nervous Brewers.
Check it out and let me know what you think!
Check it out and let me know what you think!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Rewriting with George R. R. Martin
George R. R. Martin keeps a blog (although he calls it Not a Blog since he doesn't update it too frequently), and it's a great place to hear news and general goings-on from one of my favorite authors. It gives a whole new level of personal connection to an author, even just reading a few postings every so often from them.
He doesn't, however, spend a lot of time talking about writing. He gives plenty of updates about his progress on the latest Song of Ice and Fire book, but entries about the craft itself are rarer.
Today was an exception to that, though. In talking about a prologue that he's been working on literally for years, he digs into just how hard the process is:
This, by the way, is the quandary that every writer faces on every book. When is a chapter really done? When is it good enough? We all walk tightropes there. On one side are those who just pound out first drafts, publish them, and move on to the next book. On the other side is poor souls like the character from THE PLAGUE, endlessly revising one sentence over and over in search of some illusory perfection. The best work, I believe, comes from those who stay up the tightrope, leaning this way and that, but never falling off to either side. That's what I try to do... and yes, that's one big reason why the books take so long.
To hear one of my favorite authors, whose work has consistently amazed and enthralled me, talk about how difficult the task of writing a book is gives me hope. Thanks George!
He doesn't, however, spend a lot of time talking about writing. He gives plenty of updates about his progress on the latest Song of Ice and Fire book, but entries about the craft itself are rarer.
Today was an exception to that, though. In talking about a prologue that he's been working on literally for years, he digs into just how hard the process is:
This, by the way, is the quandary that every writer faces on every book. When is a chapter really done? When is it good enough? We all walk tightropes there. On one side are those who just pound out first drafts, publish them, and move on to the next book. On the other side is poor souls like the character from THE PLAGUE, endlessly revising one sentence over and over in search of some illusory perfection. The best work, I believe, comes from those who stay up the tightrope, leaning this way and that, but never falling off to either side. That's what I try to do... and yes, that's one big reason why the books take so long.
To hear one of my favorite authors, whose work has consistently amazed and enthralled me, talk about how difficult the task of writing a book is gives me hope. Thanks George!
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Agent blogs
In recent years the internet has become a huge source of information for new writers. I remember back in high school, (now more than ten years ago, yikes!), dreaming of publication. My only sources to learn about the industry were books in the library. I spent countless hours pouring over the Writer's Market, tagging prospective publishers, and re-reading the query letter samples in the front of the book.
Things have changed for the better, and one of the biggest advances is the advent of blogging. Now some agents are coming online, writing about the things they see every day in their jobs, answering questions, and generally providing an insight into the world of publication that I could never have gotten before. I've been reading a number of agent blogs in preparation for selling my novel, and here's the list. It's a great place to start if you want to get a feel for what the real publishing world is really like.
- Miss Snark (retired) -- This is where it all started for me. Unfortunately, Miss Snark has retired at this point (boohoo!), but the Snarkives are a massively informative collection of Q&A. She also ran several of what she calls "Crapometers" where she took submissions from the internet at large. I participated in the last one, and although the critique was sharp (Snark is the operative word in the title after all), it was a huge help in seeing how an agent might view my query.
- Nathan Bransford -- Nathan's blog has a great, light humor tone, and some really sharp insights into common pitfalls in query letters, what makes great writing, and what's going on the publishing industry at large. His posts on publishing news have taught me more about the nuts and bolts of the business than I would have thought possible. He also is a big proponent of e-queries and represents some sci-fi, so I'm doubly fascinated.
- LIT SOUP -- Excellent agenting advice from Jenny Rappaport, along with plenty of glimpses of what a day in the life of an agent is like. She's going to be at the Willamette Writer's Conference, which is really exciting.
- The Rejector -- Another anonymous blog in the vein of Miss Snark, The Rejector is an agent's assistant who posts pointedly about the issues that she sees in the slush. She's also a writer herself, so she knows first-hand the pain and delusions of those outside of the agenting world. Lots of good reminders on etiquette and practical querying.
- Agent in the Middle -- Lori Perkins dishes out industry news, and lots about the process of being an agent.
- Pub Rants -- Agent Kristin gives insight into the world of queries, writers, and publishing. Also an inspiration for her regular, near-daily blogging schedule!
By no means are those all the blogs that are out there (I've got to have time for writing after all!) What writing-related resources have you found most useful?
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Done! (again, sort of)
Last week was a major milestone in my writing--I've finished what at this point appears to be the last major revision on my novel before I start pitching it. There's another polish on the way in the next month before the Willamette Writer's Conference, but the main thrust of that is catching typos from the larger edit.
It's such a great feeling hitting this type of completion point. There's a sense of relief at getting there, since often in the midst of the work it feels like the end will never quite arrive. Along with that comes a touch of melancholy. The time when this book is new for me is coming toward its end. That's premature--it'll likely still be big on my mind and thoughts for at least the next two years, if not more--but it does bring me to considering working on other things.
Life's gone a bit crazy, so it's not a bad time for having finished either. It's been useful to take a couple weeks where to let things sit and focus outside the writing life.
Next step is coming up with the synopsis, and then that'll be the basis for a verbal pitch. Nerve-wracking and thrilling all at the same time!
It's such a great feeling hitting this type of completion point. There's a sense of relief at getting there, since often in the midst of the work it feels like the end will never quite arrive. Along with that comes a touch of melancholy. The time when this book is new for me is coming toward its end. That's premature--it'll likely still be big on my mind and thoughts for at least the next two years, if not more--but it does bring me to considering working on other things.
Life's gone a bit crazy, so it's not a bad time for having finished either. It's been useful to take a couple weeks where to let things sit and focus outside the writing life.
Next step is coming up with the synopsis, and then that'll be the basis for a verbal pitch. Nerve-wracking and thrilling all at the same time!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Writing Journal
A week or two ago, my friend Nate had an excellent writing suggestion. We were talking over the perennial "How do you write consistently?" question, which has many answers from "Just do it you slacker," to "I don't, I wait on my muse."
Anyway, although I've been on a good kick lately, I'm always looking for ways to get more consistent. What Nate mentioned was a writing journal. Now this is not a journal where you blather about your genius, writing reams of deathless prose about your work. Writing too much in the journal would kind of defeat the point of getting stuff done.
The writing journal is intended to help you record 1) what you did, and most importantly 2) what and when you're going to write next. That second part has been the most interesting and helpful part. When I finish a writing session, the last thing I do before cracking open that bottle of homebrew is to set a date and time when I'll write next.
I've been using a simple format, four or five lines at most:
Actually putting a plan down on paper makes it easier to do for me when the time comes around. I've still missed a couple sessions, and that gets written into the journal too, but primarily it keeps me thinking about what's next, and that's always a good thing.
Anyway, although I've been on a good kick lately, I'm always looking for ways to get more consistent. What Nate mentioned was a writing journal. Now this is not a journal where you blather about your genius, writing reams of deathless prose about your work. Writing too much in the journal would kind of defeat the point of getting stuff done.
The writing journal is intended to help you record 1) what you did, and most importantly 2) what and when you're going to write next. That second part has been the most interesting and helpful part. When I finish a writing session, the last thing I do before cracking open that bottle of homebrew is to set a date and time when I'll write next.
I've been using a simple format, four or five lines at most:
5/19 (Saturday) 1 hr, evening
Plan: Edit through end of chapter with Nicolae. Get Kyle to his next destination.
Result: Finished up through Kyle's full chapter. Stopped on pg. 169.
Plan: Edit through end of chapter with Nicolae. Get Kyle to his next destination.
Result: Finished up through Kyle's full chapter. Stopped on pg. 169.
Actually putting a plan down on paper makes it easier to do for me when the time comes around. I've still missed a couple sessions, and that gets written into the journal too, but primarily it keeps me thinking about what's next, and that's always a good thing.
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