I've been trying to work on a query letter lately. Unfortunately, I'm having a little trouble figuring out how to focus it. Or rather how to write a good hook for it.
It's not that I don't know how to describe my story. I know what my story is about, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to introduce the concept. From what I understand, portal stories are notoriously hard to sell. This is something I've known for almost as long as I've seriously wanted to pursue publication for this particular book. I know that a lot of agents and editors might find it hard to get behind the story. Which is why I know it's very important to hook them early, and show them how great the story really is, even if it is a portal story.
But how do you get them to get past the fact that it's a portal story? At first I thought that describing Alana as a totally normal teen would be a good draw, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that her story isn't about a normal teen getting thrown into fantastical circumstances. That's certainly part of it, but in revising the story, I realized it's more about her overcoming her fear of conflict. It's about her going from being a perpetual flee-er of conflict to someone who will stand up for others, even though it's probably going to hurt her in the end.
Since I spent so much time thinking the story was about a normal girl in extraordinary circumstances, I've never given much thought to how to describe this new idea in terms of a query letter and a hook. So I'm working on how to pitch this idea in a compelling way. I haven't had a lot of success yet, but I've also been really sick lately, so I haven't gotten to work on it as much as I'd like to. Hopefully when I actually sit down to work on it, it will come out right.
Then I just have to find someone to critique it for me. *sigh*
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Monday, April 14, 2014
My Favorite Writing Things
I decided it's time for a list post. (To be honest I'm having trouble coming up with a topic for this post, so you get this list instead). Here is a list of 25 of my favorite things that have to do with my writing in some way.
1. Writing
2. Reading
3. Music
4. Stories
5. World creation
6. Character creation
7. Plot twists
8. Writing sarcastic comebacks
9. Researching other cultures
10. Greek mythology
11. Notebooks
12. Inspiration
13. New pens
14. What if?
15. Magic systems
16. Backstory
17. Happy endings
18. Physical descriptions
19. Horses
20. Adventure
21. Sword fights
22. Chemistry (between characters)
23. Brainstorming
24. Castles
25. Mysterious strangers (in stories only)
There you go. 25 of my favorite (and random) writing-related things.
1. Writing
2. Reading
3. Music
4. Stories
5. World creation
6. Character creation
7. Plot twists
8. Writing sarcastic comebacks
9. Researching other cultures
10. Greek mythology
11. Notebooks
12. Inspiration
13. New pens
14. What if?
15. Magic systems
16. Backstory
17. Happy endings
18. Physical descriptions
19. Horses
20. Adventure
21. Sword fights
22. Chemistry (between characters)
23. Brainstorming
24. Castles
25. Mysterious strangers (in stories only)
There you go. 25 of my favorite (and random) writing-related things.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Why I Love Fantasy
My love of fantasy wasn't always as strong as it is today. I think I've always liked it, but it wasn't until I was in middle school that I really fell in love with the genre. Still, even as a little kid I loved the magical elements of fantasy.
One of the first fantasy books I remember reading was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It remains one of my all time favorite books and I count it as one of the main influences on my writing today. I think it's the first book that really introduced me to what fantasy could be. Other worlds and great adventures, magic and sword fights, great evil and greater good. So many of the big things that I love about fantasy. I don't know how many times I read and reread that book. So many that I almost had it memorized. I actually still have bits and pieces of it burned into my brain. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
There's something so incredible about fantasy. I'm not sure I can even describe why I love it so much. Maybe it's because when you write fantasy there so much creation involved. You're not just making up the characters and the story line. You're making up entire worlds with their own rules and ways of doing things. And all of those things influence how your story turns out. Every aspect of a fantasy world interacts and influences every other aspect. You get to decide how cultures interact with each other, what those cultures are, and how that influences that way your characters think. That in turn influences why your characters do the things they do and even what they can and can't do. You make up all those rules and so many more.
And that's not even counting magic (if your fantasy world has it) and how that impacts everything else in the world. It's so amazing and I love every part of it.
I'm not saying there's not a lot of creation that goes into other types of stories. There absolutely is. I don't think any one genre is better or more complicated than another. It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to create any story world, whether you're basing it here in our world or creating and completely new one for it.
But for me, the most interesting and exciting genre is fantasy. I just love it, all those possibilities. The ability to rewrite the rules any way you want. The joy of creating everything from the ground up. It's amazing and I'm not sure I'll ever get enough of it.
So do you like fantasy? If so, why? Or are you more drawn to another genre? What other genre do you prefer and why?
One of the first fantasy books I remember reading was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It remains one of my all time favorite books and I count it as one of the main influences on my writing today. I think it's the first book that really introduced me to what fantasy could be. Other worlds and great adventures, magic and sword fights, great evil and greater good. So many of the big things that I love about fantasy. I don't know how many times I read and reread that book. So many that I almost had it memorized. I actually still have bits and pieces of it burned into my brain. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
There's something so incredible about fantasy. I'm not sure I can even describe why I love it so much. Maybe it's because when you write fantasy there so much creation involved. You're not just making up the characters and the story line. You're making up entire worlds with their own rules and ways of doing things. And all of those things influence how your story turns out. Every aspect of a fantasy world interacts and influences every other aspect. You get to decide how cultures interact with each other, what those cultures are, and how that influences that way your characters think. That in turn influences why your characters do the things they do and even what they can and can't do. You make up all those rules and so many more.
And that's not even counting magic (if your fantasy world has it) and how that impacts everything else in the world. It's so amazing and I love every part of it.
I'm not saying there's not a lot of creation that goes into other types of stories. There absolutely is. I don't think any one genre is better or more complicated than another. It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to create any story world, whether you're basing it here in our world or creating and completely new one for it.
But for me, the most interesting and exciting genre is fantasy. I just love it, all those possibilities. The ability to rewrite the rules any way you want. The joy of creating everything from the ground up. It's amazing and I'm not sure I'll ever get enough of it.
So do you like fantasy? If so, why? Or are you more drawn to another genre? What other genre do you prefer and why?
Monday, April 7, 2014
Life Getting in the Way Again
My life (more specifically my health) seems like it's out to ruin my . . . well, life. Okay that doesn't seem to make sense, but whatever. After yesterday, I'm not sure much makes sense to me right now. Right now I'm just super pissed at my body for being stupid.
I think this is the point that I should probably explain.
I had a bit of a scare yesterday. I've been sick all weekend and stuck at home. Yesterday I was finally getting out of the house to go to a meeting for a mission trip I'm taking this summer (to Guatemala. I can't wait!). On the way, for some not-completely-clear reason my body decided that I needed to blackout. This was particularly problematic since I was driving at the time. Oh and alone in the car.
Thankfully I was still conscious enough that I eventually managed to pull over to the side of the road, though I'm pretty sure it's a miracle that I didn't wind up hitting another car. God was definitely protecting me.
After I pulled over, a kind woman stopped and checked on me. Also a police office. An ambulance was called, I was taken to the ER. After three hours and a few tests, turns out I'm fine. Probably just dehydrated. Which apparently doesn't combine well with my naturally low blood pressure. At least that's what the doctor thinks. Not that they are ever sure of anything when it comes to my health.
Still, it was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life. I'd prefer to never, ever repeat it.
Now I'm just trying to get back to normal. My health has always kind of been an issue and seems to complicate my life (both writing and otherwise). I've always to just be healthy, but that's never really been an option for me. Even when things seem totally fine, I'm dealing with some health-related thing. It kind of sucks.
Anyway, that was my weekend. I'll try to write something about writing next time.
I think this is the point that I should probably explain.
I had a bit of a scare yesterday. I've been sick all weekend and stuck at home. Yesterday I was finally getting out of the house to go to a meeting for a mission trip I'm taking this summer (to Guatemala. I can't wait!). On the way, for some not-completely-clear reason my body decided that I needed to blackout. This was particularly problematic since I was driving at the time. Oh and alone in the car.
Thankfully I was still conscious enough that I eventually managed to pull over to the side of the road, though I'm pretty sure it's a miracle that I didn't wind up hitting another car. God was definitely protecting me.
After I pulled over, a kind woman stopped and checked on me. Also a police office. An ambulance was called, I was taken to the ER. After three hours and a few tests, turns out I'm fine. Probably just dehydrated. Which apparently doesn't combine well with my naturally low blood pressure. At least that's what the doctor thinks. Not that they are ever sure of anything when it comes to my health.
Still, it was probably one of the scariest experiences of my life. I'd prefer to never, ever repeat it.
Now I'm just trying to get back to normal. My health has always kind of been an issue and seems to complicate my life (both writing and otherwise). I've always to just be healthy, but that's never really been an option for me. Even when things seem totally fine, I'm dealing with some health-related thing. It kind of sucks.
Anyway, that was my weekend. I'll try to write something about writing next time.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Why I Stuck a Fork in It
That title came to me so much faster than it should have. Why can't I come up with a title for Alana that easily?
Anyway, to my point. How do you know a story is finished? That is something I've been trying to figure out with Alana. As I said in my previous post, I think Alana is pretty much done, but I'm not totally sure. I am terrible at judging my own writing.
I'm pretty sure that this is where other people would say that your critique partners come in. Seeing as I don't have any (I've unsuccessfully tried to find CPs multiple times. Inevitably the relationships have just fallen apart. No one's fault, they just haven't lasted), I can't really comment on that. I have had a few people read the book. One of my close friends who is also really particular about their reading material and I trusted to give me an honest opinion gave me some great insight, which I used in the fourth draft. But she's not a writer, so it's still hard to know if the book is done.
Still, after going through and doing a fourth draft, I really feel like it's done or as done as I can make it on my own. Why, you ask. Well, because on this run through, though I did find things that needed some changing, and I added some more small scenes, overall, I felt that the story was told. There didn't seem to be anything missing after the additions I made. It felt complete and cohesive to me at this point. I added far less on this go around than I have on any other draft (while I'm calling it a fourth draft, for this particular book, it's actually something like the 15th. This is just the fourth draft aft a complete rewrite of the entire thing a couple years ago). And while I'm sure I will always find things that I could change, overall, I really like the story and the way I've told it. I feel like it's good and might even be ready to be seen by the outside world.
So I've decided that I want to start submitting it. Which means I have a ton of research to do. And a query letter to write. And I need to write up basic outlines of the other two books in the series. And anything else that I might need to come up with for submitting purposes. Oy. Excuse me while I go cry in the corner over there.
Better get to work.
Anyway, to my point. How do you know a story is finished? That is something I've been trying to figure out with Alana. As I said in my previous post, I think Alana is pretty much done, but I'm not totally sure. I am terrible at judging my own writing.
I'm pretty sure that this is where other people would say that your critique partners come in. Seeing as I don't have any (I've unsuccessfully tried to find CPs multiple times. Inevitably the relationships have just fallen apart. No one's fault, they just haven't lasted), I can't really comment on that. I have had a few people read the book. One of my close friends who is also really particular about their reading material and I trusted to give me an honest opinion gave me some great insight, which I used in the fourth draft. But she's not a writer, so it's still hard to know if the book is done.
Still, after going through and doing a fourth draft, I really feel like it's done or as done as I can make it on my own. Why, you ask. Well, because on this run through, though I did find things that needed some changing, and I added some more small scenes, overall, I felt that the story was told. There didn't seem to be anything missing after the additions I made. It felt complete and cohesive to me at this point. I added far less on this go around than I have on any other draft (while I'm calling it a fourth draft, for this particular book, it's actually something like the 15th. This is just the fourth draft aft a complete rewrite of the entire thing a couple years ago). And while I'm sure I will always find things that I could change, overall, I really like the story and the way I've told it. I feel like it's good and might even be ready to be seen by the outside world.
So I've decided that I want to start submitting it. Which means I have a ton of research to do. And a query letter to write. And I need to write up basic outlines of the other two books in the series. And anything else that I might need to come up with for submitting purposes. Oy. Excuse me while I go cry in the corner over there.
Better get to work.
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
What's Going with My Writing
Despite the long break between posts, I have still been writing. I'm sure that y'all are desperately wondering what I've been working on, so I thought I'd put you out of your misery and tell you.
Basically I'm still working on the same two stories that I was last time you saw me. They've just progressed some. My life has a way of getting in the way sometimes, so I haven't gotten too terribly far, but I have made real progress I feel on both First Sight and my other book (Alana), which I'm thinking of calling The Hero Card.
First Sight isn't much further along than it was when I last posted. Yes, I realize that that was over a year ago and that I'm a major slacker. To be fair though, in that time, I also put in major work on Alana, got a promotion at work, started working on another concept that completely fell apart, and got laid off from work (don't worry, I got another job eventually). I had a busy year. But, a couple of months ago, I did manage to pretty much finish a second draft of it (thanks to being laid off actually). I also realized that while I love the idea, I'm still struggling with the story itself. I think it's mostly cause I'm not sure I've totally found Raelin's voice yet. There's something still off about the story and I'm just not sure what it is. So I've set it aside again to focus on Alana instead.
As for what's going on with Alana, well. I recently finished a fourth draft that I'm having a friend do a line edit of. I'm pretty sure that it may be as finished as I can make it at this point. So unless my friend comes back and tells me I have some major issues still to work out, then I'm thinking I'm going to start submitting to agencies and see if anyone likes it enough to want to represent me.
Of course, now that I've written that down, something is going to happen and my plans will be derailed, since that seems to be my fate when it comes to my writing. We'll see and I'll let you know.
In the mean time, I have a ton of research to start doing. Oh and I need to write a cover letter draft. Which I then should really find someone to critique, but since I can't seem to find or keep any critique partners, I'm not sure that will happen. *sigh* Oh well, I have to try.
Anyway, that's what's going on in my writing at the moment.
See you next time.
Basically I'm still working on the same two stories that I was last time you saw me. They've just progressed some. My life has a way of getting in the way sometimes, so I haven't gotten too terribly far, but I have made real progress I feel on both First Sight and my other book (Alana), which I'm thinking of calling The Hero Card.
First Sight isn't much further along than it was when I last posted. Yes, I realize that that was over a year ago and that I'm a major slacker. To be fair though, in that time, I also put in major work on Alana, got a promotion at work, started working on another concept that completely fell apart, and got laid off from work (don't worry, I got another job eventually). I had a busy year. But, a couple of months ago, I did manage to pretty much finish a second draft of it (thanks to being laid off actually). I also realized that while I love the idea, I'm still struggling with the story itself. I think it's mostly cause I'm not sure I've totally found Raelin's voice yet. There's something still off about the story and I'm just not sure what it is. So I've set it aside again to focus on Alana instead.
As for what's going on with Alana, well. I recently finished a fourth draft that I'm having a friend do a line edit of. I'm pretty sure that it may be as finished as I can make it at this point. So unless my friend comes back and tells me I have some major issues still to work out, then I'm thinking I'm going to start submitting to agencies and see if anyone likes it enough to want to represent me.
Of course, now that I've written that down, something is going to happen and my plans will be derailed, since that seems to be my fate when it comes to my writing. We'll see and I'll let you know.
In the mean time, I have a ton of research to start doing. Oh and I need to write a cover letter draft. Which I then should really find someone to critique, but since I can't seem to find or keep any critique partners, I'm not sure that will happen. *sigh* Oh well, I have to try.
Anyway, that's what's going on in my writing at the moment.
See you next time.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Let's Try this Again
Seems like I inevitably have to restart this blog over and over again. Here I am, doing it again. Funny how that happens.
It's not that I don't like writing. I really, really like writing. Even when I'm not writing I'm thinking about writing.
It's also not that I don't like this blog. I do. I love the idea of it. And I understand how important it is to the future I am working toward (which is probably why I keep restarting it).
I think the biggest obstacle I have in maintaining this blog is that I simply feel that I have little of any value to say. Do people really want to read about what's going on in my life? It's kind of a foreign concept to me, to reveal parts of my life to complete strangers. I'm normally a really private person. Ask anyone who knows me. I don't talk about myself much or in much depth. I can count on one hand (quite literally) the number of people who know a lot about me and my story. And by that I mean the people who know what makes me really excited, or what really hurts me, or other deeper parts of myself.
This idea of posting about my life, about my thoughts on things, is so strange and hard for me.
Which is, perhaps, exactly why I need to be doing this. I am not an open person, but maybe it's time that I learn to loosen this death grip I have on my thoughts and share a few things with the outside world.
So today, I'm going to start on that journey again. I still have no idea what I'm going to say, but I'll just have to think of something, now won't I.
It's not that I don't like writing. I really, really like writing. Even when I'm not writing I'm thinking about writing.
It's also not that I don't like this blog. I do. I love the idea of it. And I understand how important it is to the future I am working toward (which is probably why I keep restarting it).
I think the biggest obstacle I have in maintaining this blog is that I simply feel that I have little of any value to say. Do people really want to read about what's going on in my life? It's kind of a foreign concept to me, to reveal parts of my life to complete strangers. I'm normally a really private person. Ask anyone who knows me. I don't talk about myself much or in much depth. I can count on one hand (quite literally) the number of people who know a lot about me and my story. And by that I mean the people who know what makes me really excited, or what really hurts me, or other deeper parts of myself.
This idea of posting about my life, about my thoughts on things, is so strange and hard for me.
Which is, perhaps, exactly why I need to be doing this. I am not an open person, but maybe it's time that I learn to loosen this death grip I have on my thoughts and share a few things with the outside world.
So today, I'm going to start on that journey again. I still have no idea what I'm going to say, but I'll just have to think of something, now won't I.
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