Quite Possibly The Best Writing Resource, Ever (Part One)

I'll admit it: I'm sort of stingy when it comes to buying stuff.

My theory is that I'm suffering from post-traumatic stinginess due to the horrors of several years as an impoverished student (I prefer this theory to the one which suggests that stinginess is just my inherent character flaw).

Whatever the root cause, for a long time I have tended to borrow books from the library, read them and then, if they are particularly good, buy them. As William Gerhardie said, "If a book is worth reading at all, it is worth reading more than once." In my opinion this is especially the case with expensive non-fiction books, which can be amazing resources if they're well written, and not much more than a paperweight if they're not.

The point is, today I'm doing a shout out for a book that's been on my shelf for some years. I first got it out from the library and was so impressed that I ordered it from my local bookstore within days. I consider it a truly valuable writer's resource. It's called Make A Scene: Crafting A Powerful Story One Scene At A Time, and is written by author/editor/writing coach Jordan Rosenfeld.

The book has pride of place in my resource shelf, between such heavy hitters as Strunk & White, and Stephen King's On Writing. 

Rosenfeld works on the premise that each scene should be perfectly crafted in its own right, with all the necessary elements to absorb a reader into the story. Of course, each scene should also lead the reader gently through to the next, and serve its purpose in terms of pace, story telling and tension.

Why is the book so great? Well, in my opinion, its structured approach makes the book helpful and user-friendly. Rosenfeld break the book into four parts:

1. Architecture of a Scene (where she describes scenes as having their own beginning, middle and ends, and what purpose each part serves)
2. The Core Elements and the Scene (Setting, Senses, Dramatic Tension, and so on)
3. Scene Types (where she dissects everything from Dialogue Scenes to Climactic Scenes)
4. Other Scene Considerations (Multiple Points of View, the Protag's Emotional thread, Scene Transitions)

All in all, I've found this book to be the most helpful resource in my writing journey (amidst some tough competition). Kudos to you, Ms Rosenfeld!

You will have noticed that this blog post title is appended with "Part One." I'll be canvassing writer friends about their own "Quite Possibly The Best Writing Resource, Ever," and will bring you the results shortly. Meanwhile, Gentle Reader, if you have a writing resource that's begging for a mention, I'd love to hear about it!

~ Charlotte

A fellow blogger has informed me that she is having trouble commenting on my blog - is this happening to you? I'm working on a fix, and in the meanwhile feel free to email me charlotte.ivory@gmail.com  (thanks to Peggy Blair for the heads-up)

Writing Groups - or, When You Go Looking For Criticism, You'll Probably Find It

... not that it's always a bad thing!

I have heard very mixed reports from writer friends about writing groups, and it's easy to be left scratching your head as to how you find a good one and - let's face it - whether it's worth it.

If you, like me, have been toying with the idea of joining a writing group but don't want to be burned, I highly recommend reading this post by Terry Guiliano Long: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (links to her blog).

~ Charlotte

You Can’t Spell Procrastination Without “Pro”

Everybody has times when they just can’t write another %#^% word. But your down-time doesn’t have to be unconstructive. Here are five ideas to make the most of the can’t-face-anymore-writing times, which will still improve your novel.

1. Seek and Destroy your adverbs

Straight from the Agent’s Mouth: Ten Reasons Your First Pages Are Blowing Your Chances

Today I’m passing on words of wisdom from Kristin Nelson, agent extraordinaire and blog author of Pub Rants. 

Nelson recently wrote about her “Agent Reads The Slush Pile” workshop. This workshop is a bit like a stage show, where the audience watches Nelson pretending to be in her office, while a volunteer reads (aloud) the first two pages of a manuscript submission.

In the workshops, as the volunteer reads, Nelson says “stop” at the place she would have stopped reading. Since it’s a workshop, she’ll also state why.

Writing the Compelling Female Character - that people want to read

This blog post featured as a guest post on Natasha Bennett's blog. I thought I'd revisit it for those who missed it the first time.

Dear Aunt Charlotte,

I don't get it. My female protagonist is super-sexy, has ninja fighting skills, and can shoot a man between the eyes in the middle of the night at fifty metres. But my readers keep telling me she's "one-dimensional". I don't get it - she has an ENORMOUS rack.

Signed, Frustrated Author

Dear Frustrated,

Your readers are being entirely unreasonable. As any one who's watched modern movies knows, superhuman gun skills and a gargantuan bosom are equivalent to a personality. However, if you want to buckle to this kind of tree-hugging pressure, check out these tips below. (Or have her wear more makeup. Whatever.)

Aunt Charlotte

One of the toughest challenges for an author is to create strong characters. While we writers easily create whole new worlds, magic systems, parallel dimensions, and even alternate histories, populating these places with well-rounded, multi-faceted characters can often be just an eensy bit out of reach. 

 

This is especially so with female characters, because we are so often presented with very characterised images in mainstream media. For example, here are a few female image stereotypes that might be currently hard-wired into the reader's brain: Young career woman who wants nothing more than a pay rise and a pair of Jimmy Choos; Angry, ass kicking Lara Croft type; Dizzy blonde bimbette; No-nonsense, prudish, uptight librarian/law student super-brain...

Because these stereotypes are so recognisable, readers respond quickly to the clichés that suggest them. So if a story starts with: 

Damn – I’d broken another nail. I wondered if I had time before drinks at the Malibu Bar to fit in a mani-pedi – perhaps if I skipped lunch...

...the reader’s mind starts connecting with the young career woman type. 

  

The trouble is that as writers, we’re trying to create people on the page – not types. I mean, when was the last time someone said to you, “I’m just your typical middle manager buying a red sports car to ease me through his mid-life crisis”? Not likely – most people will go out of their way to remind you of what makes them an individual. And why? Because individuals are interesting; types aren’t.

Most writers I know do not set out to create a type when they’re writing a female protagonist, or female secondary character. We want to create a compelling female character (CFC, if I may shorten it). But you know, we’re only human: we get lazy sometimes. 

Being the eager-to-please bunnikins that I am, I’ve compiled a list of prompts to help you avoid the cardboard cut-out female, and instead breathe life into a fully-fledged CFC that readers will relate to and like. The list is by no means exhaustive, but will hopefully get you thinking about all the many and varied depths of your own CFC.

1. Make her realistic and let her dream. 
Perhaps these seem mutually exclusive, but they’re not. After all, you’re realistic, aren’t you? And you have dreams too. So should your CFC. Give her all sorts of odd dreams and aspirations, not just those which fit neatly into your story (she doesn’t just want to find the Grindstone of Doom, she also wants to learn tap dancing). You don’t have to make a big deal of this in your novel – it may not even find its way in – but just knowing this about your character will make her more real to you. If she’s real to you, she’s more likely to be real to your reader.

The Dreaded Query Letter - Part Three

As promised, Gentle Reader, here is the third and final installment of the Dreaded Query Letter series. (If you missed them, here are Part One and Part Two.)

This post is devoted entirely to the writing of the query letter itself. Before we get immersed on the whys and wherefores, here are a few (obvious but necessary) points:

The Query Letter is, first and foremost, a business letter. Keep it professional – no funny fonts, no Snoopy notepaper (if you’re sending a hard copy), no spelling or grammar errors. Use standard business format: Single-spaced, 12-point font, spaces between paragraphs.

The length should be 250-300 words. Any longer than this and you probably wont be able to hold the attention of a busy agent. 

Parts of the Query Letter

There's no way a sane person would tackle a query letter all at once, so I'm going to break it down into components:

1. Salutation
2. Mini-synopsis
3. Housekeeping
4. Fond farewell and your details

The Dreaded Query Letter - Part Two

Gentle Reader,

Recently, I talked about the process between starting your manuscript, and bringing it to the stage where it’s ready for sending off to agents. On Friday I introduced the query letter, that dimpled darling of the publishing world. If you’re not sure what a query letter is, check out Friday’s post here.

My next blog post will go into more details about writing the query letter, but there are a few things to do before you start writing your query letter:

1. First, find possible agents. There are several websites (such as QueryTracker and AgentQuery) which will help you with this. Some charge for their services, some don’t.

2. Second, decide which agents you are going to query. Your target agent should:

• Be open to receiving new queries (some have full client books and aren’t looking for any new authors)
• Represent the genre you have written (remember when I talked about genre?)
• Be a good “fit” for you. You will need to do a little research before you can decide this. Usually the agent will have some information about him or herself on the agency website. If the agent has a blog, read it. 
• Not be a scammer. You don’t want your precious manuscript falling into the wrong hands, so check Preditors and Editors, Writer Beware's "Thumbs Down Agency List", and Absolute Write’s Bewares and Background Checks for more information.

3. Make a list of your favourite agents, starting with the ones you’d most like to work with. You will query these agents first (so you’ll want to make sure your query is as perfect as it can be right from the word "go").

4. Check the agent’s guidelines. These might specify that you need to include sample pages, a synopsis, or just the query letter itself. Send exactly what the agent wants. If you ignore these guidelines, the agent may simply not even read your query.

Doing this will prepare you for the final step, which is:

5. Send a personalised and brilliant query letter.

So, how do you write a personalised and brilliant query letter? I’ll be dissecting The Ideal Query Letter (and other myths) in my next post... Stay tuned xxx

The Dreaded Query Letter - Part One

A little while ago, I wrote a post about completing your first novel, where I attempted to give a useable outline of how to get the damned thing finished. If you missed it, here’s the linkie.

I also – rather rashly – ended with a promise to give an overview of query letters. 

Well, a few things have come up (including a huge-ass earthquake, and completing the first draft of my new novel) – but now I’m back on track! Onward, Fiction Soldiers! Part One is below...

What is a query letter?

The query letter is a short letter that lets the agent know the substance and content of your book. In relatively few words, it should sell the agent on the concept, your writing, and the marketability of the novel.

In addition, the query letter is to an author what a gammy heel was to Achilles: it will definitely slow you down, and may just kill you.

OK, I exaggerate. But query letters are the bane of all sane authors, and here’s why: they are the literary equivalent of a CV for your book – if, that is, your CV had to include naked photos of you, and all your worst secrets.

Your beautiful novel - without a decent query letter, no one will ever read it

So, why do we have query letters?

If a first-time author wants to be published by most commercial publishers, she will need an agent. Most commercial publishers have a slush pile as high as an elephant’s eye, and they tend to use “Does this author have an agent?” as a quality filter. (It is by no means a perfect filter, since many fine authors don’t have an agent, but nevertheless, that is how the situation stands for many big publishers.)

So we have the publisher who won’t accept unsolicited manuscripts from a new author, unless that author has an agent. Naturally, this puts a premium on getting an agent.

The problem is that there isn’t an agent for every book written.  And obviously, agents can’t read every 300-page manuscript from every aspiring writer. Therefore they have to have their own filter: the query letter. 

 

What happens if the agent likes my query letter?

In that case the agent will request a “partial” which is usually the first 50 pages/first three chapters (or similar). If the agent reads and likes the partial, she will request a “full”, which is – you  guessed it – the full manuscript.

If she likes the full, and thinks she can sell your book, she may offer you representation. Which would be, of course, fabulous. 

The trouble for the first-time author is that the agent is wading through dozens, if not hundreds, query letters every day. And the odds of success are pretty bleak – the likelihood of a first-time author getting an agent is about 2%. 

OK, so I know the odds – how to I beat them?

I like your attitude, Invisible Question Man! The first step to beating the odds is to construct the best query letter you can. It must be professional (without being dull), clever (without being gimmicky), witty (without being pretentious), exciting (without being melodramatic), fast-paced (without losing the reader), and complex (without being opaque).

Easy, right? My following posts will discuss of the Dos and Donts of the Query Letter, as well as an anatomical dissection of a (made-up) example.

Author Self-Sabotage: A Shakespearean Tragedy in Three Acts

Wowsers. Here I was, minding my own business and browsing my favourite author blogs, when Nathan Bransford's blog pointed me to one of the worst cases of author self-sabotage I've ever seen. Behold, a Moderne Shakespearean Tragedie:

Oh be quiet - you know you prefer this version of Shakespeare.

The Cast

Jacqueline Howett is the self-published author of a work called The Greek Seaman, a novel of the suspense/literary fiction genre.  

A quick note about self-publishing: Nowadays, with the commercial publishing business being so hard to break into, many authors are choosing to self-publish their first novel(s). This is often in the hope of creating that elusive "author platform," which has become so important in convincing publishers to take a punt on your work. Self-published, therefore, is not synonymous with bad writing, or with novels so awful that they would never be picked up by an agent. On the other hand, there's no vetting process, so the odds are fairly good that the self-pubbed book you download is going to be a howler.

Big Al from Big Al's Books and Pals. Big Al is a blogger who reviews self-pubbed indie novels. Considering the fairly good odds that self-pubbed novels are howlers, I consider this a benevolent public service: it not only saves the potential reader time and money, it also highlights the genuinely good books from the dreck.

The Internet. A bit like a Greek Chorus, only meaner and with emoticons.

Act One

The blog post started out in a pretty ordinary way: Big Al reviewed a book called - you guessed it - The Greek Seaman. 

The review came across to me as fairly balanced. Big Al gave the book's stats (genre, length), a short background about the author, and included a link to her blog. He praised the book as "compelling and interesting", if the reader stayed with it till the end. 

However, he noted, the book contained many spelling and grammar errors that had the effect of jarring a reader out of the book. He also felt there was too much flowery description, some of which worked and some of which didn't. "Reading shouldn't be that hard," he concluded, and gave The Greek Seaman two stars out of five.

The first commenter on the blog was none other than the author herself, Jacqueline Howett. She called the review "unfair," because "you obviously didn't read the second clean copy I requested you download that was also reformatted." She suggested that Big Al didn't "get" her style, because she was an English author. She concluded by saying that her other readers on Amazon had given her rave reviews, and she would "stick to my five star and four star reviews thanks."

Ms Howett, obviously feeling like one comment wasn't enough, then went on to paste three reviews from Amazon into the following three comments. Each were four or five stars, and said they found the story interesting and enjoyable.

A Journey of a Thousand Pages Begins With But a Single, Badly-Written Prologue...

Gentle Reader,

Last month I was invited to contribute as a guest blogger on The Writeaholic's Blog. The topic was The First Year Tally, and we writers were asked to identify the genesis of our, you know, writerness. In case you didn't catch it over at Writeaholic's, I thought I'd include my contribution today:

It was the Chinese philosopher Confucius who observed that “the journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step”. In my case, a journey of a thousand miles is more likely to begin with “forgetting to programme the address into the GPS”. I just don’t have much of a sense of direction.

Much the same can be said about my journey as a writer. I certainly never intended to meander down the writing road. Despite this, my childhood was characterised by scribbling: my first short story at age six was a farmyard saga in which a Rhode Island Red hen (named Big Mama Betty) hatched from one of her eggs a baby bull (tragedy struck when the farmer came over to investigate, and got a swift kick from the newborn). Encouraged by the success of these early efforts – it got a big red tick, and was subsequently stuck to the fridge door at home – at age ten I wrote a comic space opera. This featured the antics of the crew from the star ship Capewallader Cod – and no, I don’t know how I came up with that name. In fact, all I remember about the story was the opening scene, in which the ship’s captain awoke floating three feet above his bed because he’d forgotten to take his gravity pills. Gene Rodenberry, eat your heart out.

My starship would have had nicer drapes and an old-timey feel

As generally happens, life got in the way, and from age fifteen onwards, I probably wrote a grand totally of fifteen hundred creative words (despite what some of my grumpier professors may claim, I’m not counting University essays). Fifteen hundred words over some thirteen years amounts to a 115 words a year; about one-third of a word each day. I was not exactly slaving over a hot typewriter, Gentle Reader.

It wasn’t until 2007, when I lived in Germany, that the desire to write struck me again. To help my painfully slow progress in that delightful language, my husband (a native German speaker) would read me novels in the evening. One of these happened to be the translation of a suspense novel by a well known English-speaking author. Perhaps it was a poor translation, but I spent the entire story being irritated by the plot (in my eyes, tepid and predictable) the characters (wooden and clichéd), and the tone (saccharine and a bit preachy). Hell, I remember thinking, I could write a better novel than this. So I sat down to do exactly that.

I failed, of course. A year later, the plot of my newly-minted novel could only be described as tepid and predictable; the characters wooden and clichéd; and although the tone was neither saccharine nor preachy, I have to admit it did oscillate between ponderous and breathlessly-hysterical. But that, as our friend Confucius might say, is all part of the journey. Most of my writer friends (and yes, these days I feel I am advanced enough in writerdom to drop phrases like “my writer friends” into the conversation) view their first novel with a mixture of embarrassed affection and slight humiliation. If you, Gentle Reader, have written your first novel and it isn’t the literary equivalent of Jackass: the Movie, then you should celebrate: you’ve done better than about eighty percent of your counterparts.

But enough about you, Gentle Reader; let’s talk about me again. There I was, reading through my own shiny new novel manuscript, and all I could think was: Hell... I could write a better novel than this. And, with a dizzying sense of déjà vu, I sat down to do exactly that.

Except this time, it worked. After another eighteen months, I finished a novel which I deemed worthy of rejection by a prominent New York agent. Accordingly I sent off my query letter and the first three chapters, fully expecting a polite but firm no. And blow me down if my dream agent didn’t love the story! After reading through the whole manuscript, she offered me representation. 

And that, Gentle Reader, is where I am at the moment: still shaking my head at the journey so far, but desperately keen to see what’s around the next bend. Admittedly, much of the process for this novel is out of my hands for now, which is maddening. Whilst I would like to have a New Year’s Resolution of score a contract with a major publishing company, really the best thing I can do is to work on new projects in the meantime. Thankfully, my open-minded agent has embraced what I describe as “my trans-genre leanings”, and with her blessing I’m working on a satirical urban fantasy and a gothic Victorian thriller. 

As I mentioned, Gentle Reader, I never intended to meander down the writing road. But just look at what happens when you don’t use your GPS.

Ever a fan of reading the map upside down,

Yours,

Charlotte

So You Want to Write a Novel: The First-time Author’s Road Map

Gentle Reader,

When, some years ago, I first sat down to write a novel, I had no idea what I was in for. Sure, I knew how to spell (mostly) and I understood the basic rules of grammar (mostly), and I knew how my book was going to go (mostly)... but when it came to the actual business of what went into completing a novel and getting an agent, I hadn't the first idea of how it all went. 

Partly because I was still honing my writing skills, but partly because of this lack of knowledge, my first novel turned out to be very average. Yes, it’s generally agreed that your first novel will always be a bit naff, but I don’t think this is because there is an inherent naff-ness about the first novel. I think it’s because we don’t necessarily know how to complete a novel.

Now, there are heaps of resources about how to write a novel – how to plot a story, create good characters, improve your writing style, etc. So I’m not going to attempt that here. What I want to do is to give my version of a basic road map to complete your novel, up until the time you begin to query literary agents. (Those of you who know me may laugh at the "road map" analogy, given my real-life habit of driving the wrong way up one-way streets, blissfully unaware that all that honking is directed at moi.)

 

Your published novel - the final step on a long road

1. Get to know your story

Writing the Compelling Female Character

If you've ever wondered how to make your characters more rounded and three-dimensional, you're not alone. 

As a guest blog post on Natasha Bennett's blog, I have compiled a list of pointers for Writing the Compelling Female Character. Most of them work for male characters, too!

You may know your opinion – but do you know your Point Of View?

Gentle Reader,

Most of us, when writing our first stories, just sit down and write the thing. We’re seized by an amazing idea, and surf off on a wave of creativity. 

And sometimes it turns out pretty well.

More often, however, it turns out like a dog’s breakfast, because we didn’t know enough about the craft of writing. (That’s exactly what happened to me with my first novel, Sins of the Father, which is currently being sacrificed over at the Murder Your Darlings site.)

My first novel

One of the things a writer should give serious thought to is choosing her Point of View (POV). Mostly we just go with whichever POV feels right to us – and often that’s the best choice. But if we want to write the Best Book we can, we have to really understand our chosen POV. Like the YouTube Double Rainbow Guy, we have to ask: What does it mean? And Is it really the best choice?

So You Want To Write a Novel: Never Give Up!

Gentle Reader,

Today’s motto is Never Give Up, or as Margaret Atwood’s character Offred would have said, Nolite te bastardes carborundorum! I think it’s appropriate to plunder the work of that Canadian high-priestess of literature, since today’s blog post is inspired by another Canadian author: Peggy Blair.

Peggy is the author of the upcoming Beggar’s Opera, which is due to be released in North America and the UK in spring 2012. Her story was short-listed for the prestigious Debut Dagger Award, she’s received a personal recommendation from crime writer Ian Rankin (pause for angel chorus), and her book has been snapped up by European markets at the important Frankfurt Book Fair.

Like all authors, Peggy knows the hard slog of writing, editing and querying her book. She also knows the odds facing authors who want to be published. And she's beaten them, proving that hard work, determination, and talent are a winning combination. If you would like to read about Peggy and The Beggar's Opera, click here to check out her blog. 

Yours in inspiration,

Charlotte

So You Want To Write A Novel: Genre Issues

Gentle Reader,

Perhaps you’ve been writing for decades, perhaps days. At some point you’re going to be asked “So, what kind of book are you writing?” Now, naturally the correct answer to this is: “The awesome kind.” However, for me this response has elicited more eye-rolls than guffaws, so I’m beginning to assume that, when people ask what “kind” of book I’m writing, they want to know the genre.

When you are asked this, Gentle Reader, it is best to be prepared. Sucking one’s teeth and gazing desperately about the room does not cultivate an aura of knowledgeable-author-ness.

So let’s talk about genre, shall we?

What is genre?

In literature, genre is the word used when referring to the category or kind that the novel falls into. As a classification system, it has become increasingly important because of the commercial nature of writing and publishing.

n.b. genre can also relate to music, and written works that aren’t novels. This discussion will refer primarily to genre as it relates to novels.

Who really cares about genre?

In a word: Everyone! Whether they know it or not, every person in the publishing process is affected by genre considerations. For example:

So You Want To Write a Novel: Five Bad Habits That Can Kill Your Chances of Getting Published

Gentle Reader,

Thanks to MSWord and similar programmes, most of us can now avoid embarassing embarrassing spelling mistakes. Word will even address many grammar errors, baffling though its suggestions might be (“Consider revising”?! How is that advice?). Unfortunately, Gentle Reader, what these programmes have failed to remedy is the issue of clarity in writing – or, to be precise, non-clarity. 

A sentence is the basic tool of the writer, and it needs to pack a powerful punch. It benefits from simple constructions, direct language, and powerful imagery. Sounds straight-forward enough, doesn’t it? 

AND YET... we writers are constantly coming up with convoluted phrasing, flowery words, and confusing descriptions. We prefer to use twelve words when three will do. In fact, if at all possible, we prefer to use twelve words and four adjectives and three adverbs, where three words will do. We end up with sentences like:

With an irritated toss of her sun-kissed hair, the sultry blonde sank her pearly white teeth into the shiny skin of the Granny Smith.

...when we could have written: The blonde bit moodily into her apple.

This kind of “purple prose” is a sure way to turn off your reader, be she your beta reader, a potential agent, or a kindly friend who’s offered to edit your work.

So, which are the most heinous clarity-killers? I’ve compiled a list of those which are, in my opinion, the Top Five. These are based on my experience of my own writing, errors I have seen in my writers’ groups. Feel free to comment below, if you think there are important ones I’ve missed.

So You Want to Write a Novel: Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard...

Welcome to my new feature, So You Want to Write a Novel

In this edition, I'm going to eschew the usual information about plot, characters, genre, etc, and focus on something much more fundamental:

Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard... aka BICHOK.

Q: So, how do I become a writer?

A: You write.

Q: Haha, no, seriously, I really want to write a novel. How do I do it?

A: Write.

Q: Yes, but, what are the tricks to writing a publishable book?

A: Write. Every day. That's tricky enough to start off with, believe me.

If you, Gentle Reader, want to become a novelist - published or unpublished - there is no better tip than this simple advice above. After all, you will never hold your finished manuscript in your hands if you don't write it. (Once you have your first draft completed, then you can worry about silly little things like a coherent plot and believable characters. we'll cover this all later.)

The problem is that the simplest advice is often the hardest to follow: stop biting your nails. Eat better. Exercise more. Life gets in the way - and when it comes to writing, that is no different for published, career authors than it is for the first time novelist.

So how does a writer get around to it?