Cool Contest for Agented Authors!

Vania's Life Captures is offering a cool contest for agented authors. The winner gets a book shoot! To see more about the contest or just check out her fabulous pictures click here!

Blog Chain: Coming Clean Regarding my Stalker-O-Shame Wall

This blog chain is brought to you by:

ME!

Please hold your applause until the end :)

Anywho, my question for myself and the other writers is this:

How do you get inside your character's world?

I'm almost afraid to tell you guys how I do this because it's a little OCD and a little strange, to say the least. Basically, I stalk my characters. How, you ask? It's quite simple, really.

My latest book, BREATHLESS, takes place in an actual town called Niceville located in Florida. I was there, once, but it was like eighteen years ago, so I don't remember a whole lot. Because I'm the type of person who really likes to get inside my characters' lives/heads I hurried on over the the Remax website and started looking up houses in Niceville. When I found one that fit the location/price range I imagined for my family, I printed out all the pictures (various rooms, street views, yard, etc.) and pinned them up around my work station.

Next, since I write YA, it was time to explore the high school. Again, I googled the local high school and printed out various pictures posted from their website including the athletic fields, front entrance, hallways, etc. But that was not enough. My teen's going to want to grab a coffee before class. So I headed over to google maps and typed in the high school's addy and from there searched for neighboring coffee shops. Not only did I make a note of this on my wall-o-stalker-shame, but I "street viewed" my path the whole way there to get a feel for the area.

And I don't stop there.

My MC makes an anklet from a stone she found at the beach. So what do I do? Search the shelves at Micael's Crafts until I find a bead that closest resembles what I have in mind so I can make an anklet of my own.

Because I'm crazy?

Probably.

But it's also because I'm a very visual person and surrounding myself with pictures and things that belong to my MC makes her and her world more alive to me. And when you bring the world to life, for me at least, the story practically writes itself.

So how about you? How do you bring your fictional world to life?

Stay tuned until tomorrow when our own feelin'-the-love Rebecca answers this question.

Blog Chain: The Rejection that Changed my Life

This blog chain was brought to you by the lovely Rebecca who asked:

What is the best mistake you've made so far in your journey as a writer? How has that mistake helped you grow :)?

My answer to that is simple: I didn't do my homework.

I started writing seriously about four years ago. My first novel, a paranormal romance, was a real stinker. I'd made every mistake that you could:

1. Opening with a dream sequence
2. Taking too long to build up back story and not getting to the action fast enough
3. The overuse of every cliche in the book
4. Not having a critique group to look over my edits
5. Querying almost as soon as I wrote the words, "The End".

I can't really pick a best from that list because they are all equally horrendous. And they all had a hand in landing me the rejection that changed my life.

Dear Ms. Gibsen: Please note that I’ve changed your font to one that is more readable and formatted these first pages into the accepted parameters for presenting a manuscript for publication. I’ve taken the time to critique the pages, as I do for all authors who submit to XXXX Press, because I believe the standard rejection most novice authors receive from New York leaves much to be desired. Bear in mind, this type of in depth critique would cost $2-4 dollars per page if done by a ‘book doctor’, and no editor would take the time to describe the failings in your submission.
1) The story takes too long to get to get to the action.
2) There are many errors in punctuation
3) There is an overabundance of repetitive words and flowery phrases (purple prose)
4) There is a lack of direction in your story that I’m not sure can be fixed.

XXXX Press is looking for professionally written novels that are ready to print, with little editing or revision required. Your manuscript is still in the amateur stages and needs much work. I suggest you join a writers’ group (possibly Romance Writers of America, check them out on Google as they are the largest teaching organization for writers in the US).
I wish you success in your career and the placement of your novel.
Sincerely,
XXXX
Editor
XXXX Press

Yowch!!

I admit, when I first read this letter I burst into tears and devoured a pint of cookie dough ice cream. I considered giving it up. I'm one of those annoying people who doesn't like to do anything I'm not instantly good at (which is why I played bass guitar and not rhythm or lead, why I don't ever go ball room dancing, and I don't have a tea pot crafted from clay). The only difference here, was, I couldn't give up writing because unlike those other things, I LOVED writing too much to quit. BTW - I hate you, knitting! Hate Hate HATE!!!

So I resolved to do whatever it took to get better. I joined a critique group (several actually), I joined the fabulous community over at Query Tracker, I switched to a genre I felt more comfortable with and closer to, I gobbled up every book I could in the YA genre, I read every book I could get my hands on on writing, I went to conferences - the list goes on and on.

The moral is: I had to really work, learn, and work and learn some more and it totally paid off in the end. Now, I have an agent and we're gearing up to take my YA paranormal, KATANA, out on submission. None of which would have ever happened without that in-your-face rejection and the resolve it inspired in me to do better.

Please check out Shaun's blog - who nailed it the first time and just goes to show you how everyone's path is different - to see his answer.

How about you? What was your best mistake?

Ten Word Tuesday - Random

The dog has pieces of grapefruit on his back. End.