The Questions I Asked

As I was trying to think of a topic to blog about on this chilly Thursday, I thought back to before I signed with Beth. What did I not know then that I know now? The truth is, signing with an agent doesn't suddenly make you wise, or all-knowing.

Although during the whole process in finding Beth, I did inhale every article I could find about querying, what agents look for, what the step-by-step is like. I'm pretty sure I've already done posts on these, haven't I? To be sure, I looked back over my archives. I stumbled upon my post on The Call...

...and realized that I never actually gave you guys my list of questions. You know, the questions I bombarded Beth with during the conversation? Granted, you can find this list on a ton of other sites on the 'net, but this will be just another resource for someone to stumble upon when they're ready to query. These aren't all the questions I asked, because I can't find the exact list, but I think these are the top ten. Please not that these are in no particular order!

1. If this manuscript doesn't sell, what will be the next step?

2. What is your percentage?

3. Will you show me the list of submissions, and how often will you send me an update?

4. What rights do you handle?

5. Do you consider yourself an editorial agent?

6. Will I work with a publicist?

7. What would happen if you were to leave the agency or no longer able to represent me?

8. What would you consider a good agent-client relationship?

9. May I contact some of your clients for references?
10. Do you have any questions for me?

My list is kind of sad in comparison to these great resources. So if you're expecting that call someday soon, or even in the distant future, check these pros out.

Agent Rachelle Gardner on Rants & Ramblings: What to Ask an Agent
Casey McCormick on Literary Rambles: The Call
Writer's Relief: Nine Questions to Ask a Literary Agent

Tone --> Mood

Mood is an important part of a story, obviously. Actually, mood and tone, as I have learned through analyzing poetry and speeches and such (yay English class!). When you as the author use a certain tone, you hope it invokes a certain mood: Tone --> Mood. For example, funny tone --> amused mood, somber tone--> sad mood, angry tone --> upset mood.

My question is, how well can different tones and moods mesh in a story? Generally when I finish reading a book I'm left with an overall mood, and I can think back and identify certain sections of the book that had different tones and therefore different moods. (For example, my overall mood after reading Mockingjay was WHATTHECRAPWASTHAT.) Often times the different moods really aren't so different; humorous tone --> amused mood can mesh with urgent tone --> suspenseful mood, like in Bad Kitty by Michele Jaffe.

Some stories combine tones such as somber and humor, creating a sort of heartbreaking amusement. Or an amusing heartbreak. (For this blend I suggest Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick.) When done well (like in the aforementioned book) I find overall mood surpasses a "normal" tone/mood combo. When done ineffectively, though, the story is jarring, which detracts from each individual tone/mood and the overall feeling after reading it. When I tackle potentially unsettling combos in writing I try to keep a third tone or theme constant throughout all sections, to tie them together. How do/would you deal with writing these combos?

What are some interesting tone combinations you've read?

Kieryn
www.kierynnicolas.com
(^Check out my new website!)

Saturday is Quirky

Or: Like you didn’t know that.

But this post is about writer quirks, not just general quirkiness. Thanks to Erica for the inspiration!!! (Because, seriously, no ideas today.)

1. I cannot write kissing scenes around my mother. I like kissing scenes, but I have to be alone in the house to write them. I write better alone, anyways, though.

2. I get really picky with my music when I’m writing. My current “listening” playlist is two hundred and fifty songs long, but when I’m writing, certain scenes demand the “right” song. I call it mood music, and I’m working on a playlist so I don’t have to flip through 20 songs to find one for the scene I’m working on.

3. The “right” songs might not end up on the book playlist, though. To be on the playlist, I have to connect the song to the book in some way. Lyrically, emotionally, whatever. Also, I can’t listen to songs from one book’s playlist while I’m writing another.

4. I get a little weird switching from characters. I have one character that makes my sense of humour a little… erm… more PG-13, another that makes me a little depressed. Which makes me sound insane, but what can you do?

5. No one sees the first draft. Ever. I had a couple friends who read the second draft of Berserk as I rewrote it, but no one sees first drafts.

6. I always have twitter open, unless I’m in my room where I don’t usually have internet. If I don’t have twitter open, I’ll play solitaire. I get bored really easily and it helps me think, I guess, to have something else to do between words.

7. I rarely edit as I write, or I get stuck in an infinite loop of things not being good enough to move on and I never finish anything.

8. Most of my stories start out as vampire stories in my head. Then I usually realize that the characters aren’t vampires. I don’t even understand this one, really.

9. If I’m not really careful, I end up with a lot of character whose names start with the same letters. M, N, C, and A are my worst ones.

10. I write longhand a lot. Like every day. But I can’t draft that way.

11. I work best if I focus on one project at a time. Otherwise I get a little twitchy.

12. Doing dishes or cleaning can help me figure things out that are bothering me, and even if they don’t, it usually helps relax me.

13. I like my chapters to be 2500 words long, or around that. Currently in Spyder, the chapters are all over the place, from 2100 to over 5000 (OVER NINE THOUSAND!), so that’s bugging me a little. There’s nothing wrong with long or short chapters, of course, but I like mine to be around 2500 words. (I actually did once have a 9000 word chapter in one of my first drafts, but that’s just because I forgot to, you know, start a new chapter.)

14. I have double-spacing issues. I’ve posted about that before.

15. I am bad at titles. Usually it’s really, really obvious why I named my WIPs what I did. My newest one (the one I’m not allowed to work on yet, haha) is the first that doesn’t have a one word title and I’m not so sure I wanna share it on here yet.

I think that’s a good number, right? What are some of your quirks?

Also, seriously, do you guys have any requests for posts? Because… I’m blanking lately on things to post. So if you do, let me know!!

Peace and cookies,
Laina

The Slump

It happens around 20,000 words or 30,000 words. Sometimes earlier, sometimes later. But I think there comes a point for every writer where they take their hands off the keyboard, sit back, and say, "Now what?" We have ideas where the story is going. We might even have timelines or plans. But there is a moment when there seems to be no way to get from point A to point B. So we slow down and maybe stop completely. Maybe we lose our excitement or our drive.

That's when you know you've hit the slump.

How to get past this seemingly impossible obstacle? There is the obvious answer, of course: just keep going. I've said this and I've heard this and I'm beginning to get annoyed. Because even though there really is nothing else to do, it's just so hard. There are other ways to get past this, albeit this comes before the just keep going part. Make a list of all possible ways the story could go. (You know how much I love my lists.) Think on it. Dwell so deeply. Toss prospects back and forth with your friends.

One thing I'm still learning about the slump: it doesn't mean you've lost your talent, or your "touch". You're still a writer and you're still capable of banging out a great story. Everyone runs into the slump. We are not alone in our deflation. (That's kind of a fun word.) Try not to start anything new - that's when the trouble starts. The endless cycle. So, point of today's post. You can get past the slump. And once you do, it'll be worth the struggle.

Guess Who?

Guess who stopped by today? (Or more like wrote an insightful post about one of her identities as I curled her hair for the heck of it.) I'll give you a hint, it's not me.

If you guessed my little sister, you're right!

Here she is:

__

So a lot of people ask me what it's like to have a teen-author-person living in the next room over. And my usual response goes something like this: Well, it's really nice to have these fantastic stories coming chapter by chapter, and whenever I have an epiphany about where the story's going, I can run into her room in the middle of her homework-montage and go all "Oh! That--plot--character--STUFF!" (Teen authors don't always appreciate this).

Also, it's really fun to be the author's little sister. Because I get to say something about Kieryn in school, and I get a lot of fish-faces (you know, wide eyes, gaping jaw) going: "Oh! You're related to the one that wrote the BOOK? What's it about?"

Yep. I'm cool like that.

Not to mention, if the chapter finishes and I can't wait to hear what comes next, I have a new activity: Badgering Kieryn to tell me the plot. Or, better yet, badgering her to write FASTER, sister, FASTER.

Just a day (week, month, year...) in the life of the little sister of a teenage author.

-Bryn

www.kierynnicolas.com

Revise Me, Baby, One More Time

Or: Saturday is revising again

I have a confession. I have plot issues. They tend to be *cough* slightly weak. On occasion, they're even almost a little bit non-existant. Or at least that's how it feels right now revising my WIP#1 to make the plot stronger.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day rewriting one chapter. I ended up adding about 2500 new words to that one (deleted about a thousand, too) and 150 to another scene. Today, I'm doing more plot-strengthening edits, mostly, but sooner or later, I will do the line-edit type revising. Line edits (for me) include making sure everything's consistent, tightening the voice as much as possible, all that little, time consuming stuff.

It sort of feels like I've been revising forever, but I'm hoping that this will be my last MAJOR round of revision. This round, then a couple betas/crits, then I hope... well, I just hope.

So I want to know what your best revision tips are. My friends Kait and Ashy and I are doing revision parties/wars on twitter. It's kinda like word wars, because competition always makes you more productive (at least with us!) and that's really awesome, but hit me with your best tips, too. :)

(Also, go follow Kait's blog. When she reaches 100 follows, she's going to post a video of her dancing. I suspect it will be humourous.)

So, yeah, this is short, sorry about that, but I really want to get back to my revisions. Leave your tips in the comments!

Peace and cookies,
Laina