The New Agent Paradigm and Summer Reruns

After having been late or absent for my last several blog posts, it has come to my attention that I might need a blog break!

I will be fantastically busy through July, but I dislike stagnant blogs, so I have decided to put myself into syndication. That’s right. Summer reruns.

Starting Monday I will be doing blog REposts for the next few months (think of it as a “best of” The Accidental Novelist), although you probably won’t even notice, since most of you have only joined me in the last several months, and I can pull from years of bloggy goodness.

I will still post news every once in a while and will definitely respond to comments. Just trying to stay mentally healthy and balanced.

But, before I turn myself over to other life duties, I wanted to write about something I’ve been exploring recently: the new paradigm evolving for finding an agent.

Authors have gotten a lot of attention in the past 10 years. Some are practically rock stars. More and more people see it as a viable career choice. And because the Internet has made it so easy to submit a query, the agent slush pile has gotten out of control.

Agents live to discover great writers. But I can only imagine how overwhelming it must be to receive thousands of unsolicited submissions every year.

Agents were the gatekeepers; now they need gatekeepers of their own. Some agents curb their submissions by only accepting them part of the year or only through conferences. Conferences are terrific places to meet agents, of course, but they are sometimes cost prohibitive or problematic if one has small children.

But where there’s a problem, helpful people always find opportunities. And what is manifesting are creative ways for authors and agents to connect. Some of these places are more like online bulletin boards and others are places to hone your work. Bottom line is that many authors and agents are finding each other through these resources.

One of the most entertaining sites is the blog Miss Snark’s First Victim. The author who runs this blog hosts manuscript auctions where agents bid on the work, secret agent critiques, and other critique-driven submission contests. She also posts success stories of authors who found their agents through her site. She is a generous host and keeps the site positive and professional.

One of the latest sites I’ve come across is webook.com – which is “community picked writing.” Anyone can sign up to be a “reader” on webook and rate and critique work. Authors pay $3.95 for each submission in webook’s “Page to Fame” program. In a nutshell, writers start by submitting 1 page and this gets rated. If it makes the cut, then the first 5 pages is rated, and so on. The whole thing is anonymous for the writer.

Readers can get promoted as well as writers and only the top of the top readers can rate the top of the top work.

From the site: “Each time a book gets elevated, a publishing pro reviews the writing. Winners of Round 3 are promoted to a large group of literary agents who are eager to find the next bestseller on PageToFame.”

The site also has an online query system called Agent Inbox. There’s no vetting here, it’s just a system for querying their partner agents.

I have not used the site and there are legitimate agents involved. So, check it out. Maybe it’s the site for you.

The one that has really caught my attention is AgentSalon.com. What’s interesting about this site is the very involved profile application process as well as how involved the staff is with the process. You can’t just join the site. They want to make sure you are career-minded, able to take criticism, and truly wanting to grow as a writer.

The “application” includes your story’s hook line, conflict, characters, summary, climax, writing samples, as well as a bio and personal writing goals.

Once you are accepted you form your own unique peer group. These folks critique your profile and you edit it until you receive a high enough score to move on to editing. Then they critique your first 50 pages. After that you reach “marquee” level and if A.S. approves (they always have the last call as to whether your work is ready), they will showcase your work to agents and publishers and producers. Movie deals have been made and agents acquired through the site.

I think this site is a great idea for writers who have had work published in the past by small presses, or in a different medium. Personally, I like the exclusivity of it, because I want the people in my writer’s group (virtual or otherwise) to be serious about their careers as well to be at a certain level of writing.

Here’s an article on Writer’s Edge about what they are doing on Author Salon.

BTW – A.S. is currently free in its beta stage, but it will eventually cost money to join. If you are at all interested, I’d get in now while it’s still free.

Another site worth exploring (free and open to everyone) is W.A.E. (writers, agents, editors) Network. This is less critique and more conversation and advice. It’s basically social media for writers (and agents and editors), and a helpful community for writers of different levels who want to learn about the query process (and beyond).

They also have a “pitch fest” area where you can post your queries for agents to peruse. I have no idea if any agents have been procured via this resource, but there seem to be agents who use the site and the creators of the site are former agents.

(Years ago I used to hang out on ZoeTrope – one of the original online critique communities. I found it very helpful at the time, but again, since anyone can join, writers of all different levels were critiquing each others’ work. It’s a great place to learn HOW to critique someone else’s work. Which is a great way to become a better writer. I do not know if agents ever look on this site)

Well, for someone who wanted to blog less, this was quite the long post. But I wanted to share this new information as well as hear from any of you who have explored some of these new sites or have any others to add to the mix.

I was approved on AuthorSalon last week and am forming my peer group. I will let you know how it goes!

KDP and Book Launch Social Media Campaign Hoohah

A few of you asked if I would post about what I did to promote my free ebook campaign, which I thought was pretty successful. It exceeded my expectations, to say the least. There were a total of 2,848 downloads and we hit #1 in free fantasy ebooks that day.

It was done through Amazon’s KDP program. I’m not entirely sure how it all works as I did not set this up, my publisher did (if you want to know about THAT process, I could probably get him or author Jennifer Munro to do a guest post about it).

I know KDP / Amazon wants exclusive ebook distribution for 3 months. I know you can get up to 5 free days in those 3 months. We had some technical difficulties the week our book was uploaded, so figure this out early if you’re set on a specific free day.

I think a lot of factors go into the success of your campaign, from what day of the week you schedule your freebie to the genre of your book.  I would not have gotten the same response if I had done this at the launch of my first book. I didn’t know as much about the industry, I didn’t have as much internet presence back then, didn’t have as many fans or as many FB followers . . . you get the picture. So be patient and let your presence grow. (BE the sunflower)

Here are some advantages you can give yourself
leading UP to your freebie day.

1) If you are working with a small press, they’re ultimately the ones who have to see the benefit of a free day.  My publisher is getting to be pretty savvy in this new age of publishing – it was actually HIS idea and I was the hesitant one. So if it’s something you have to present to your publisher, do your research (Read Chris Anderson’s essay on The Economy of Free). If you’re self-publishing, then just create the best possible book you can. There’s no advantage to giving a free book out before it’s ready. You want people to say, holy cow, I just got this amazing book for free!

2) Create an online presence. If you haven’t published a book yet, you can still create a facebook page for yourself as an author. Your friends and family will like the page and you can keep them abreast of anything like conferences you attend or readings you’re doing. If the book is ready to publish, create a page for the book in advance of publication. Always be gracious and thoughtful about how many announcements your post and to whom.

If you have a blog, join a blog community. Join one of the Platform Campaigns or a review group like Middle Grade Mondays or any other friendly space. Widen your circle of blog friends.

With both FB and blogging, you need to participate in the community for your own site to grow. Throwing words up on a virtual page does nothing for anyone else. Invest time in finding like-minded bloggers, exchange experiences and advice. Be of service to each other.

3) Other sites: GoodReads, Amazon, Yahoo Groups, LinkedIn, WAE, NaNoWriMo – all these sites have forums for writers. One of my pet peeves is when people only jump in on forums to advertise their books and don’t invest in other people. Join and participate in a few forums before your books come out.

You don’t have to use them all. Join the forums that interest you so it’s fun. I use GoodReads and Yahoo Groups more than the others and am in four different Sci Fi / Fantasy forums and three children’s authors groups. I try to check in as much as possible, but it’s easy to get distracted!

In the Months before Free Day

-My publisher used Lightning Book Promotions to create a blog tour that spanned the week before and after my launch. Stormi is fairly new and very energetic about the work she does for writers. You can set up your own blog tour, of course, but I’m so glad I didn’t have to do that on top of everything else. The blog tour started the buzz going about the book.

I did add on three more bloggers of my own to the tour after Stormi had booked the first 10 or so. If there are blogs your love or frequently visit, go ahead and ask them if they’d like to be a stop on your tour. Most bloggers are looking for things to write about or for fun guests on their blogs.

-If I had my act together, I would have advertised on these sites: Pixel of Ink, Ereader News Today, and ebookswag.com (unfortunately, I learned about them too late)

5 DAYS before Free Day:

-I created an “event” on Brigitta’s FaceBook page and invited all the people I thought not only might be interested in a free ebook, but might help me pass along the message. Some people don’t realize that an “event” can be virtual. I listed my FREE EBOOK DAY EVENT with a link to the book’s Amazon page.

-I checked in with GoodReads and Amazon forums to find appropriate places to post a free ebook note. Search GoodReads groups and Amazon’s forums. There actually groups and forums that are specifically for authors to advertise their free ebooks.

-I sent an email newsletter to my teacher/librarian list telling them about the free day.

-I had a note sent to all the bloggers on my blog tour and asked if they would please post something about the free day and share the info elsewhere (some did on FB, twitter, and GoodReads)

Day Before Free Day

-I posted announcements in my regular forums in GoodReads (YA and Sci-fi / fantasy forums) that I was offering the book for free the next day. Be careful in your GoodReads forums that you post in the appropriate section or you’ll irk the moderators. Things are usually pretty well marked, but you can always ask someone.

-I posted on my own blog, my yahoo group, and my LinkedIn group about the freebie. My publisher loaned me his Twitter account and I did a #freeebook tweet.

Free Day!

-I sent personal notes to my FB friends and family asking them if they would post the free book announcement on their own pages. I told them my goal was to get in the top 100 on the Fantasy downloads. My friends are great – I’m sure a few dozen of them forwarded my announcement and several mentioned me in FB posts. My friends are awesome. We all support each other this way.

-I kept a watch on the Amazon stats… which is a little obsessive, but it’s exciting and fun. I posted updates on Brigitta’s FB page.

REMEMBER – you have to find the balance between promoting yourself and being intrusive. There’s nothing wrong with promotion. People DO want to support you. Your friends and family and colleagues want to help. Just be aware of your intentions, participate, and be inclusive.

from Mike Howell @ constantly risking obscurity

I think that’s it. If you have any questions I’ll try to answer them. If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. But we’ve been selling 2-3 Ruins of Noe ebooks per day since the free ebook day, so I think, in the end, it will be worth it.

The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here! !

THE NEW PHONE BOOKS ARE HERE! (<<– click me)
(heh ~ remember phonebooks?)

Okay, I lied. It’s not the new phone books. And I’m probably the only one who even gets that reference (It’s one of my favourite movie scenes ever. And that goes to show you just what kind of a dork I am).

But ~ yay ~ not new phone books. The Nice Purolator Man delivered these boxes instead. Books for a week of launch events around Vancouver. Freddy Suave is excited. He is so excited the green laser beams are going off in his eyes.

Book Two is even more fabulous than Book One on so many levels. Everyone is getting better at what they do, including me. But also, one novel could have been a fluke. I could have been the literary equivalent of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. But two books, I think that means I’ve passed some kind of test. There may even be a club membership involved.

This map by the fabulous Alison Woodward makes my heart happy. I’ve always loved maps, all kinds, and loved maps in books. I’d say I can even be map-obsessive. When I’m reading a book with a map, I’ll literally stop reading to reference the map and find out where the actions is taking place.

Exciting month ahead. Full of magic and adventure. I will do my best to maintain a regular blog schedule, but I can’t promise anything! If you want to tune into what’s going on regarding Brigitta and Noe, check out Briggy’s Facebook page or the White Forest website.

NaNo Hangover Episode 3

Okay, so you’ve printed your newborn, placed it in a lovely binder, hugged it, read it through (completely) with magic purple pen in hand . . . and had the following response:

a) Wow! I love this!
b) Wow! This is terrible!
c) No one will ever publish/read/enjoy this. I’m a hack.
d) I should not have quit my day job.
e) All of the above

Loving, hating, smiling, laughing, cringing, crying and especially combinations thereof are all natural responses to your new work. Heck, they are even natural responses three drafts into your work. But do know this – every day you sit down to work on your manuscript you make it a little bit better.

But, how to start? What next?

As I’ve said, unfortunately I can’t work on my NaNo story yet due to a strict deadline for Ruins of Noe. But I’ll tell you what I will do once I read my newborn, because I always start a rewrite the same way.

This is a story about . . .

I am a firm believer in timed and spontaneous writing exercises. For both poetry and prose and for various reasons.

For narrative fiction, it aids in the thinking/brainstorming process. It’s where ideas can be explored, baked, fertilized, broken in half, put into beakers, shaken and stirred with no pressure, because it’s just writing exercises. And within those exercises lie the answers. Trust me. You need to get out of your head.

This is a story about . . .  is my fallback exercise. I use it when I start a new project, start a new edit of said project, or if I haven’t written in a while. It’s dependable. It’s simple. It opens me up.

I have been using timed writing exercises since Mr. Bedecarre made us write them in my 8th grade journalism class. This is a story about I owe to Jack Remick, Bob Ray, and Geof Miller who made us do this exercise countless times in the University of Washington Screenwriting program (thanks, guys!).

So, having just read your story from start to finish, grab your notebook (I always use one notebook per story), set your timer for 5 minutes, and HAND WRITE – I repeat, HAND WRITE – starting with the line This is a story about . . . (do not stop, edit, cross out – heck, you don’t even need punctuation, just dump)

When the timer stops, go to the center of that exercise, pull out the middle line, use that for your next start line, and write for 7 minutes this time. Repeat for 10 minutes.

Now go back with a highlighter or another colour pen and mark the things that make sense to you.

There are many, many more fabulous writing exercises you could do to prepare, but let’s just say you can now start your rewrite and I’ll post some of these exercises along the way.

Turn to page one of your binder (i.e. printed version of your newborn) and page one of word document and begin.

(up next: what to do when you don’t know how to fix something)

NaNo Hangover: What to do between your first draft and second (Episode 2)

At the moment, I’m actually doing my final Ruins of Noe rewrite for my editor and can’t start rewriting my NaNo until my homework is done. Boo hoo. New projects are always more fun.

The below may seem obvious to some of you, but perhaps there’s someone else out there going through their very first rewrite  and feeling overwhelmed. If you are a more experienced / published writer, be sure to add your 2 cents about how you approach your rewrite.

First of all, rewrites are overwhelming. For all of us. You’re not alone. And you can do this.

So, the rewrite . . . First, print out your entire manuscript. If you have an aversion to paper waste, use recycled, scratch, or scratch recycled paper. All my paper gets used twice (and then recycled). I don’t like waste either.

Put it in a binder and then give it a big hug. I’m serious. Don’t skip this step just because it sounds too silly for the likes of you. It feels really good to have a physical manifestation of all your hard work. Yay.

Read the entire manuscript with pen in hand and in the shortest amount of time possible so you can stay in the flow of the story.

This was tough for me this week as I was working long days and on set. But having a print copy in a binder meant I could take it everywhere. I read/marked this sucker while I was on public transit (that’s how I commute most of the time), during my lunch breaks, and when I got home each evening.

Don’t worry so much about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or even word choice. Sure, if you see an obvious mistake, circle it and move on. But, trust me, you’ll be rewriting this thing four, five, six or more times and that run-on sentence you wanted to fix will probably magically disappear along the way. If not, it will get fixed in your final copy edit. Focusing on the little details (what we call “polishing your buttons”) is not helpful at this point.

Think big picture. Which is why you want to read it as quickly as possible to see if it all holds together.

How do I mark it as I read? Generally, I ask myself a lot of questions in the margins: what is this character’s motivation? does this match something I said earlier? do I need to reveal more here? etc. I also mark places where I need to expand something – more info, description, detail, etc.

When an idea bounces into my mind, I immediately write it down on the opposite page. OR, if my scratch paper doesn’t allow room, I keep lined paper in the back for chronological notes/ideas.

Other things you can ask yourself while you read:

• Does my protagonist have a character arc? Does it grow naturally over the course of the story? Is it believable?
• Is my protagonist an “active hero in conflict” (meaning, does she solve her own problems or does someone or some coincidence solve them for her)
• Is there a clear dilemma?
• Have I put obstacles in my protagonist’s way of achieving his goal?
• Do my other characters sound flat / one-dimensional? Are they “too good” or “too evil”?
• Does the story keep moving? Is it bogged down anywhere?
• Are all my plot set ups paid off? Are any subplots left dangling? (If this is a series, some things may be left dangling, but you want the story to satisfy)

Please feel free to add suggestions for the things you look for in your rewrites!

NaNo Workout: Coming in for a landing, aka Beat Sheet It!

Okay, so I meant to keep up with my NaNo AND blogging about NaNo, but that second part seems to have gotten away from me. As if doing NaNo isn’t ambitious enough on it’s own. And life has a tendency to place things in our way sometimes (like getting sick or having to go to WORK or make a birthday cake for a family member, sheesh.).

Hopefully, most people are “coming in for a landing” this week and have less than 10,000 words left (If not, this could still work. you can still do it. Just buy lots of snacks and frozen meals, hole yourself up somewhere, barricade yourself into an Internet free zone and leave a note for your family not to disturb you until Dec 1).

By the time the end is in sight (somewhere around 3/4 through), usually my story looks not much like my original outline/beat sheet. So, even through I’m still glancing at it for reference, it’s pretty useless.

When I’m looking down at the last bit of hiking trail, but the trailhead still seems pretty far away, I do what I call an “in story” beat sheet / outline. I find that this gives me the last bit of energy, insight, and momentum I need to finish the story. It makes the ending, and how to get there, more clear. And it makes it all seem possible.

I think it works best when you’re leading up to the climax of your story. That part can be a little intimidating b/c we so want it to bring all the elements together so perfectly.

All this means is taking some time to write out the beats until the end of your story INSIDE your manuscript. So simple, yet so effective.

So, go to the last thing that you wrote, and just type out the rest of your story in beats. Don’t worry about full sentences or punctuation or anything like that. It’s basically just a list, in chronological order, of the things that have to happen in the rest of your story. If inspired to do so, add a few notes to yourself (I usually put these in parentheses)

Then, as you write, just follow along, fill in the details, etc. It’s very inspiring to be able to see it all laid out in front of you. Yes, it takes a little bit of your NaNo writing time to do it, but I guarantee it will be worth it.

It might look a little something like this:

-The two warring planets come together and threaten everyone on the asteroid, pull it out of the neutral zone with a tractor beam (see! idoLL says, I knew someone had invented that)

-IdoLL can’t sit by and watch her friends get destroyed (she feels guilty, responsible for the whole thing)

-She contacts the Rethulans and says to take her, and her alone, instead – they agree.

-idoLL and the princess have a bonding moment in the shuttle (first time idoLL hasn’t been an asshat to her) while they’re floating towards the Rethulan ship

-idoLL punches “auto pilot” and they get stuck in a space stalemate

-idoLL’s parents show up! and negotiate with Rethulans, yay! they are very diplomatic (Queen has soft spot for AIP’s)

-idoLL takes princess to TREND to show her “something” (i.e. the purple planet)

-Jettison meets them there, she’s depressed because she now thinks she’s a fraud

etc. etc. etc.

Like I said, once you have this typed out into your manuscript, it makes getting to the end see doable. I always find it gives me that last motivational push to plow through to the end.

NaNo on!

NaNoWriMo Day 16 – Down the Other Side (aka Tips, Tricks, Inspiration to Get Through the 2nd Half of NaNo)

Today’s Goal: 2,000 words
Actual Words: 2,568 words
Total Words to Date: 36,142

I have two NaNo friends who chose to quit last week because they were too far behind. I’m not going to give them a hard time b/c I know life gets in the way, we all have different priorities and responsibilities, and sometimes it’s not the right time. That doesn’t mean it was in vain, though, because 6 or 8 or 10,000 words on a new novel is a great start.

If you are on the cusp of deciding whether to continue or not, I encourage you to stick with it. If you’re having procrastination issues, time management issues, focus issues, perhaps there’s a tip or word of encouragement in here to see you through.

Tip #1) Your Timer is Your Friend

I have had my Pillsbury Dough-boy Timer for almost 15 years. I use it in my writing classes for timed writing exercises and to keep my classes running according to my agenda for the day. I also use it as an anti-procrastination device and a way to stay focused.

Here are some of my own personal timer tricks.

+ If I’m feeling really unmotivated, I give myself a timed writing warm-up to get my mind going.

+ If I’m really dragging myself to the page/computer, I tell myself to just write for 20 or 30 minutes and see how it goes. I set my timer and GO. (usually after 20 or 30 minutes I’m so into the story I don’t want to stop). Setting the timer helps me to start and focus. I have no idea how PBD tricks me into writing every time. I must be very gullible.

+ Even if I’m totally motivated to get to the page, I set it for 30 minutes anyway so I’ll remember to get up and stretch or do some yoga sun salutations.

+ If I really feel like checking my Facebook or email after breakfast, I give myself permission to do so, but set my timer for 20 minutes and when the time is up, I stop. That way it’s a conscious choice and I don’t feel guilty afterwards.

+ Say my daily goals are to work on my novel, clean the kitchen, do some marketing, and write a blog post – I set my timer for each task. I can take 60 minutes to clean the kitchen if I’m not timing it. 20 minutes if I am. It makes a huge difference.

IMPORTANT: USE A TIMER and not a clock. Clock-watching is distracting. Timers go off when you tell them to. Do not use the one on your cell phone. I keep all phones away from my cottage when writing.

Tip #2) Don’t watch your word count

I’m typing my NaNo into a Word Doc. At the bottom of the page is the Word Count. It’s so easy to get obsessed with those little numbers down there, so I always scoot my Doc down enough so that the word count is off screen. I find that I go faster when I can’t see it and usually by the time I do check it, I’ve surpassed my goal.

Tip #3 ) Go for a WALK

If you are stuck, frustrated, foggy, unfocused then reread your last several pages and take a walk. Think about what just happened, what needs to happen in the next sequence, and where you want to go. Play out different scenarios in your mind. Run through some “what ifs.” It’s so safe when it’s all happening in your head.

Tip #4) Put Another Obstacle in the Way

At 20,000 words I panicked a little because I thought I was almost done with my story. What? I know I’m an economic writer, but that’s not even a novelette. But idoLL and Jettison had already reached their final destination, where I had imagined my profound climax. Oops. What did I do? I figured out a reason they had to leave the planet, then threw a new monkey wrench into their plans.

When you’re looking to make your story more interesting, throw something else in the MC’s way. Make their goal harder to attain. Never make it easy for them.

Tip #5) The Final Quarter Beat Sheet

When I’m about 2/3 or 3/4 into the story and closing in on the climax, I write a new beat sheet. Generally by this time my old one is useless anyway, b/c the story has taken a left turn at Albuquerque.

This is a great way to see what’s left to do and gets you out of overwhelm. It puts the end in sight and a map to get there.

I will go into this more on my Friday Weekend Workout (and guess what your weekend workout will be?)

INSPIRATION and TIPS from OTHERS

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there are writers out there who have published their NaNo novels. Some of them give pep talks on the NaNo website.

Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, which she wrote, yes, for NaNoWriMo, gave this little pep talk I enjoyed.

Author Deb Olin Unferth adds THESE TIPS.

Lastly, even though I know I’m in danger of giving you too many tips as to distract you from your writing, one of my favourite YA authors, Scott Westerfeld, reposted his NaNo Tips from 2009 if you’d like to check them out.

NaNoWriMo Day 8 – Are we having fun yet?

NaNo Writing Goal Today:  1,800 words
Actual Words Today: 2,145
Total Words to Date: 19,248

One of my promises to myself this month during NaNo was that I was going to have fun doing it. I was not going to stress, I was not going to whine about the quality of my work, I was just going to write and have a good time. So far, it’s working. I’ve only had a few moments of, What the hell am I writing? This is awful!

As my GBF always says, “That’s the little you talking. Have big you tell little you, Thanks for sharing.”

I really wanted to jump into the NaNo community, rah, rah, rah, but I was overwhelmed by all the different forums and the sheer magnitude of participants, so I parked myself over at a friendly little thread in the “Age Group: 30′s and 40′s” forum called Blogging NaNo. It’s been a treat poking through all the NaNo Bloggers. There’s a HUGE list of them posted over at Knots and Anchors.

I think finding a manageable community is helpful. Participating in too many threads can be distracting.

In the vein of having a good time, I know it’s only a week into NaNo, but does anyone have any funny stories or want share a few favorite lines?

My story is silly. Very, very silly. There have been days where I think it’s only purpose is to entertain me personally. I was cracking myself up in a cafe today and the students studying around me must have thought I was a complete dork. I was seriously busting a gut. Coffee out the nose.

Here are a few of my favourite lines so far from my NaNo Intergalactic: a Pop Space Opera:

~~~

IdoLL wonders how much it would hurt to punch a robot.

~~~

“There was a princess in the trunk?” asks Monkey.

“Just a small one.”

~~~

“If we give the princess up and the Rethulans find out, they will destroy us. If we don’t give the princess up, the Burtuisites will destroy us.”

Monkey stands there for a moment waiting for a response from idoLL.

“AND?” she finally asks.

“Which way would you prefer to be destroyed?”

~~~

“Why do I get the feeling I will regret going along with this.”

“Don’t worry, you wont,” idoLL pats him on the head. “Robots don’t have feelings.”

~~~

(conversation between 2 robots)

“The ship is playing very loud music.”

“Why?”

“For no apparent reason. No one is inside.”

“Perhaps it just likes to listen to music.”

The both stare at the ship and then look around the empty shuttle bay.

“It is a catchy song.”

~~~

“You know what I think?” idoLL asks the princess.

“Ooh, is this a guessing game?”

“I think this whole H.O.F.F.A. thing is a private collection of Madam C’s.”

“Oh, that’s not what I was going to guess. I was going to guess you were thinking that your knees were getting sore.”

“They are.” IdoLL stops for a moment and rubs them.

“Do I get a partial score for that?”

~~~

“Greetings,” he says to idoLL, Tara, and Ari. “I am custom diplo-synth data AIP #P29751H. I will be your cultural liaison, pop synthesizer,

and general information kiosk.”

“See?” idoLL says to Tara. “What’d I tell you?”

“You may call me Liam.”

“You look like a chimpanzee,” says idoLL. “Can I call you Monkey instead?”

“All right.”

~~~

“Is that our ship, idoLL?” asks the rebooted Monkey.

“It is the ship of pop star Jettison Prix,” responds Ari.

“Where is pop star Jettison Prix?”

“She has been captured by the Curator and the rainbow AIP’s.” Off idoLL’s look he says, “That is what they call themselves on the com. I am Captain Pink.”

“You’re not Captain Pink, you’re Ari spying on the rainbots disguised as Captain Pink. Now get the princess on board and I’ll put Monkey in a box.”

~~~

“Monkey!” idoLL tries desperately not to wring his neck. “Listen, we are in danger. Life-threatening danger. Pre-rebooted Monkey, let’s call him Awesome Monkey, the opposite of you, would do anything to save the Intergalactics and the tour. He was loyal. He was supportive. And he was much, much more fun.”

Prepping for NaNoWriMo: The Sequence and Beat Sheet!

I love my beat sheet. Love, love, love it. It’s basically a form of outline for a story, but because of my screenwriting background, I tend to think of stories in sequences, beats, scenes, etc.

Beats are the main “steps” of the story. For example:

Anna gets a horse for her birthday.
Anna’s father loses his job
Parents can’t afford to keep the horse.
Anna get a job at the stables to support her horse-riding.
Anna falls from a loft and breaks her leg.
ETC.

After I’ve done copious amounts of prewriting (i.e. I basically know what the story is about and where I want to go), I write my first beat sheet. Sometimes I know exactly what’s going to happen in a sequence and my beats are more detailed. Other times I get to the middle of a sequence and I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I know something must happen, so I’m just vague and add in some questions:

Anna meets someone at the hospital (male/female? a love interest?)

SEQUENCES are generally used in screenwriting (a sequence equals about 8-15 minutes of screentime), but I’ve discovered they work just as effectively for novels. Sequences are a series of scenes that act as kind of a mini-movie. They have set up and pay off and end in a change in status quo. Large “reversals” and “reveals” can happen at the end of a sequence.

Sequences help to break a story down into manageable “chunks.”  In novels, those chunks usually turn into chapters, although you don’t really have to worry about that just yet. Beats are the smaller steps inside each sequence that get you from the beginning and end.

For a much more detailed post about the Sequence Approach, CLICK HERE

When writing out my sequences and beats, the first thing I think about is how the “status quo” is going to change at the end of the sequence, then I write out the beats it will take to get there.

Here’s my real live process for the first sequence of Intergalactic (the YA Sci Fi story I’m writing for NaNoWriMo).

SEQUENCE 1 – Set up of characters and world

I knew idoLL was about to set off on her intergalactic tour and that (at 17), her music career was already waning. I wanted to demonstrate that her manager has been cutting corners financially. At the end of the first sequence, I wanted to have a “Houston, we have a problem” status quo change and a reveal that her manager has not exactly been up front with her.

I came up with six main beats for this opening sequence:

*idoLL has a pre-tour video chat with her manager
*idoLL has a pre-tour interview with an amateur
*idoLL discovers that her tour ship has been replaced with an older model and most of her crew let go
*She learns that the planet they are about to visit is on the brink of war
*They land, she meets the queen, and is treated bruskly
*She learns that she playing a private birthday party for the princess, and she’s not even the main act (her nemesis is)

After I had the main beats in this sequence, I went back and filled in a few details (bitty beats), to make sure that each scene had TENSION (as well as set up and foreshadowing). For instance, in the opening scene – her video conference with her manager – I added the following smaller beats:

*idoLL has a vid chat with Garrison:
-G is evasive about tour
-idoLL worries about her activist parents being out of communication
-G can’t make first tour date because he will be in court dealing with lawsuit
-G assures idoLL low #’s are only a reflection of current political climate
-idoLL worries about her nemesis Jettison Prix passing her on the T.R.E.N.D. charts

Within this one scene I’ve created the set-up for the story and the current status quo: Garrison is her somewhat fishy manager, idoLL feels abandoned by her parents and resents their cause, idoLL is worried about her waning popularity, Jettison is her nemesis and is passing her on the charts.

Because the status quo is clear, the reveal at the end of the sequence makes us empathize with her. Garrison and her parents HAVE abandoned her, the gig stinks, and Jettison is the star of the weekend. All her fears have manifested, and it’s only the first stop on her tour.

Does this sound like a lot of work? It can be. But when I’m writing the story next month, I’m going to be SO glad I have my beat sheet to follow. Even if there are some blank spaces and vague ideas. I can always fill them in when I get to that sequence. As well, I usually rewrite my beat sheet after the first draft to assist with the rewrite.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of this! And let me know if you try your own beat sheet and, if so, how it goes.

Weekend Workout: PrepWork, NaNoWriMo, and an Invite to Join the Insanity

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m starting a new novel and have been doing prepwork/writing exercises for the past month. The start of this project just HAPPENS to coincide with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), an annual experiment to write an entire novel (well, at least a 50,000 word one) during the month of Nov.

I have participated in many time-constrained writing projects, but never this one. I love the idea because it supports my philosophy of writing from start to finish in the shortest amount of time possible. But I DO think you’ll have a much more successful go at it if you do preparation exercises in advance. If you know what your story is about, and you know where you’re going, you’ll have more fun getting there.

From NaNoWriMo’s Facebook Page:

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that’s a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

Yes, creation is messy. And allowing yourself to have (and leave!) the mess and get to the end is important.

SO

With all this in mind, if you, too, are at the beginning of a new novel, I am inviting you to take a risk and join NaNoWriMo. The worst that could happen is you don’t finish. The best that could happen is you do. In either case, you’ll be farther along than you were on Nov 1.

If you are working on a novel and are not interested in NaNoWriMo, I invite you to participate here on my blog as I (we) go from start to finish.

For the next several Weekend Workouts, I will focus on the task of writing a novel (my third). I’ll guide you through some of my personal writing exercises, how to write a beat sheet, and offer other goodies and support. I will demonstrate my process – not that my process must be your process – simply to show that step-by-step, it can be done. You can do it.

To kick it off, I will share with you how I prepared.

Starting with: The Notebook.

I think it is vital to do writing exercises by hand. I am as picky about my notebooks as I am about my pens. Find what works for you. I like ink pens, for instance, and not fine-point ones. I like the thick coloured uni-ball pens. I won’t write with ball-point unless I have no ink pen option in sight.

Love your writing implements! If it feels right and good, you’re more likely to enjoy the process.

My favourite notebook so far is this red deal I got at Staples:

Why do I like it? Because it’s red, and not too heavy, and inside it has these stickers and tabs you can add to the pages:

          

My tabs say: Exercises, Beat Sheet, Novel, Songs (songs because my two main characters are pop stars)

I generally start with my characters. The first writing exercise I did was to write the answer to “Who is idoLL?” (the protag). I began to write about her nemesis, too (Jettison Prix), so I drew pictures of them both. Trust me, you don’t have to be a talented artist to draw pictures in your exercise notebook.

The next writing exercise I did was “This is a story about . . .” (for the whole process and some alternate start line CLICK HERE). I always set a timer and simply write without editing or judgement. My notebook is messy.

The next exercises I did were the ones I listed on my Starting Something New post.

After I’m done with my writing exercises, I READ THEM, marking/circling passages, checking or starring areas I want to come back to, and TYPING up significant information that I know will go into the story. I try to put the typed notes chronologically as they will appear in the story, so as I’m writing or editing I can review them as I go along.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going for the NaNoWriMo or eking out your manuscript on the weekends, pre-writing exercises will not only uncover the story for you, they will ultimately inspire the work.

Your workout:

Find that notebook and the pen that feels right (but don’t use a lack of the “perfect” implements as an excuse not to write). Punk it out with a title label and OWN IT. Start with a few timed writing exercises about your story and protag. If you need some start lines, cruise through my old weekend writing workouts. The exercises I used for writing screenplays apply just as well. Some of the poetry writing ones will also. The point is to WRITE.