My Personal Expert / Fresh Words for Waiting

Fantasy writing is research intensive as anyone could probably guess. Research in general isn't my favorite activity. I much prefer to be writing my story than figuring out details such as what is the average precipitation on an island the size of Prana. [This wasn't as easy to answer as I thought, since it depends on the area of the island. Maui, for instance, ranges from 17 inches to 300 inches depending on the location!]. Lucky for me the next novel involves war and my husband happens to be a military expert.

The Shadow Apprentice takes place quite a bit on a military base. I took some scratch paper and started figuring out just what types of buildings needed to be on the base. I knew, though, that I must be forgetting some important things. My husband is a Captain in the Army Reserves and spent a year in Iraq. So instead of doing internet searches and camping out in libraries, I just casually handed my husband the sketch and asked for help. After a minute of looking at it he had a ton of suggestions.

I also needed to figure out just how many officers and enlisted personnel I needed. How many colonels are there compared to captains? I don't know how long it would have taken me to research that information normally. Luckily, all l had to do was lean over to him and say, "Honey, how many junior officers are there per senior officers?" And in seconds he was rattling off numbers.

There are a lot more complications that have to be worked out. For instance, Prana was founded around the time of the Salem Witch Trials in Colonial America (about 1690) before the revolutionary war. So using a modern American structure--or even a revolutionary war structure--doesn't quite work. Plus, they're witches and the culture is much different. So there is much that I have to think about and change. I do think that it's necessary to at least in part use modern structures so that the fantasy is grounded in reality.

* * *

On a completely different note, the word waiting feels a bit stale to me. I think I've been overusing it lately. If you're a writer like me in the midst of trying to sell a book you may feel the same. [One of the writers in my critique group recently got a request for a full nine months after she queried. She's probably sick of waiting, too.]

Here's a handy list of alternatives for the W word:

Delay
Stay
Pause
Remain
Hold your Fire
Hang On
Hold your Horses
Put off
time lag
Holdup
Postponement
Interval
Slowdown
Linger
Hesitate
Stoppage
Setback
Impediment
Hindrance

Avatar Obsession Continues

My husband and I spent a couple of hours today watching more Avatar. Here's a great quote from a scene where Aang (that's the Avatar) is getting his fortune read by a psychic:

Aunt Wu: Your destiny...this is incredible! You will be involved in a great battle! An awesome conflict between the forces of good and evil! A battle whose outcome will determine the fate of the whole world!

Aang: Yeah, yeah, I knew that already. But did it say anything about a girl?

Even the great Avatar is a novice when it comes to love.

Marked Characters

Lately my husband and I have become hooked on the cartoon “Avatar.” For those who have never watched it, Avatar is about a boy who is the reincarnated Avatar—a person who has the power to control all four elements (earth, wind, fire, and water). We missed most of the seasons, so my husband went out last night and purchased season one.

As I watched Avatar, I started pondering about the marking that the two main characters have—the Avatar is marked with an arrow on his forehead, while the exiled Prince of the Fire Benders carries a terrible red scar on his face during a duel with his father. Neither the Avatar nor the Prince can hide who they are from others—or themselves. The Avatar’s destiny is to bring an end to the fire bender’s rule to bring peace to the world; the Prince must find and destroy the Avatar to restore his honor and win his father’s respect. The marks they bear are a physical manifestation of the roles they are forced to play.

This isn’t a new concept in literature (or screenplays). Probably the most famous example that comes to mind is Harry Potter. His lightening bolt scar on his forehead is something that he can’t hide, and he can’t escape. Wherever he goes he is “the boy who lived.” As the only Voldemort survivor, Harry is marked to ultimately defeat the evil wizard.

In Joan Bauer’s “Hope is Here” the main character gets a rare opportunity: she gets to choose her own name. She chooses Hope, and thereafter is marked by what the name represents. She lives up to the meaning of her name throughout her childhood and teens. The most memorable act of hope is the scrapbook she keeps for the person that someday will come in to her life and become her father. Does she know that this will ever happen? Of course not. But as her name implies, she has hope that a man will come along who will fill the void. Personally, I think hope is a courageous act. To hope is to put yourself in a position to be hurt if the thing you desire does not in fact happen. Bauer’s novel is not about a character finding the perfect life, but it’s about a girl who at a young age decides she will never lose hope.

Going back to Avatar, I suspect that the Prince in the end will defy his marking and refuse to destroy the Avatar. I think it is interesting to have two characters marked: one must learn to live up to it, while the other must find a way to move past it. I also love that the two characters who have so much in common are set up as rivals—even enemies—at the beginning of the series.

Here’s a writing exercise I came up with based on the idea of markings. I think it could be useful in flushing out a character, and maybe even creating an arc:

1. How is your character marked? It can be a physical manifestation (like the arrow on the Avatar’s forehead) or an unseen marking such as the name Hope.

2. Is it self-inflicted (Hope chose her name)? Or was it given by the gods, so to speak (Harry didn’t choose to have a lightening-bolt scar—it was part of his destiny)?

3. How does your character react to the marking? Does s/he fight it or embrace it? Does this change through the story? If so, what causes the change?

4. Does your character need to get beyond the marking (like the Prince in Avatar) or live up to it (like the Avatar)?

Army Reserves Tribute Page

As part of the celebration of the Army Reserve's 100th anniversary, they have set up a tribute page. You can add a picture and say a few words about a reservist you would like to honor. Most of us know someone who has been to Iraq or Afganistan. This is a fun way to show them that you haven't forgotten them.

And here's a quote I like from a Victorian writer:

This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think it.
Thomas Carlyle

No News is Good News, Right?

I’m feeling very positive today. After all, as my friend Sheryl says, “Every day without a pass is a good day.” I haven’t received a phone call from the agent saying yes she wants to represent me, but she hasn’t said no yet, either. I’m sticking with the cliché that no news is good news.

It helps that I’ve gotten a good start on book two, which I’ve titled “The Shadow Apprentice.” It feels real now. A week ago, it was just a title page, a chapter heading, and a few paragraphs. Now I’m almost done with chapter one! I’m no longer staring at a blank page thinking, “How do I start this thing?”

Rejections today: 0

Yes, today is a VERY good day.

Journey Around the World

Everyone from my writing pals, my husband, my coworkers, and the pizza guy has told me that I should start working on book two while waiting to hear from the agent about book one. But like all great advice it’s much harder to take than to dish out even if it arrives with extra pepperoni.

It’s hard to be at the beginning stage again. The one where you’ve got this great germ of an idea in your head. No, not a germ. More like a virus that has taken over your mind. It seems so easy to tell the story. Then you sit in front of your laptop and realize . . . it’s not.

The one fear I had wasn’t telling the story, but the new magic I needed to bring the story to life. What if I couldn’t think of anything original? Or worse yet, what if I couldn’t come up with anything at all and my manuscript was littered with brackets like [insert cool magic spell here]?

So earlier today I casually mentioned this fear to my husband. Being the practical guy that he is he started throwing out ideas. This started a little brainstorming session and I swear within less than ten minutes we’d come up with some great stuff. So I suppose I don’t have as much to fear as I thought.

Also, I don’t have any excuses anymore. Starting this next book is like taking the first step in a journey around the world. It’s going to be long and arduous and full of unexpected hurdles. But there will be some amazing things to see along the way. I’ve got a roadmap, but occasionally I might take an unexpected turn here or there but the important thing is to get to my destination. I think it’s time to get started.

SCBWI Summer Conference: Highlight on Editors

There is so much crammed into the SCBWI Summer Conference I can’t possibly put all of my notes into one blog. Even by choosing a subtopic, like Editors, I’ll only have the opportunities to present a fraction of the information I received. But I do hope that this is helpful in deciding who to send your work to or a new appreciation for what editors in general are looking for today.

Nancy Conescu, Editor at Little Brown Books for Young Readers
I attended one of Ms. Conescu’s breakout sessions. Her imprint publishes Trade (for everyone out there not familiar with the term, “Trade” is a publishing term for hardbacks) from Picture Books through Young Adults. She referred to Little Brown as “a small publisher with a big budget.” The process for choosing a book to publish at LBYR is that one editor reads a manuscript first. If she likes it then at a weekly editor’s meeting she gets three to five additional editors to read the book. If those editors like the book then the Editorial Director reads it. If the ED likes it, then it’s presented at the monthly Acquisitions meeting where representatives in Finance, Publishing, Marketing, Special Sales, Promotion, Subagents, Library Marketing, and Editing gather to discuss the fate of the book. Retail stores are the biggest market for LBYR. In YA, they are not looking for anymore Gossip Girl type of books. They have plenty of those on their list already. They are not afraid to take risks. Two books that Conescu showed excitement for are Ghost Girl and Prophecy of the Sisters. I asked her specifically if there were any genres that she was opposed to seeing, and she stated that as long as it had an original take there wasn’t any genre she wouldn’t take a look at. She doesn’t read unsolicited manuscripts, so if you don’t have an agent the best way to reach her is through a conference.

Diane Hess, Scholastic Press
I attended Ms. Hess’s breakout session that was about the World of Scholastic. One thing that really showed through was her love for books that have a historical bent. Also, books that are based on true, inspirational stories. For instance, she referred to books on her list about the holocaust, slavery, and a death-row experience. Curiously, she also is working with another imprint that publishes humorous chapter books. So I could be oversimplifying her tastes. Hess is looking for picture books through middle grade.

Elizabeth Law, VP and Publisher of Egmont Books USA
I attended her breakout session titled “Mistakes I’ve made and what I’ve learned from them” and let me tell you it was one of the best workshops I attended. Scratch that, it WAS the best breakout session I attended. What struck me was how so many of her mistakes centered on taking on a project because she (or her publisher) thought it would sell well rather than because they really thought the writing was excellent. She’s learned that no matter how much money you throw at a mediocre book you can’t make it sell well. My favorite example was Jay Leno’s picture book. Apparently, he promoted it on the Tonight Show, they put out a huge contest, and spent a mint on promotion and the book still didn’t sell. She described the style of writing she’s looking for as “meat and potatoes books.” Law isn’t attracted to work that’s too edgy or too literary. She isn’t currently taking unsolicited submissions, but she said that will change as soon as she has the staff capable of handling it!

David Gale, VP and Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
In Gale’s breakout session, he said he had a reputation for being the most blunt of all editors. I thought he was the most concise as to what he’s looking for and how to sell a book to Simon & Schuster. He acquires a mix of commercial and literary styles. Be wary of sending a fantasy his way; he said that fantasy was still selling well “but I wish it wasn’t.” His best advice to unagented writers is to NOT target a specific editor when submitting your work. Apparently, the junior editors every three weeks will go through the slush pile. They have permission to do whatever they like with what they find. The benefit of submitting to this “general” pile is that a junior editor will know what senior editors are looking for and can send your manuscript off to the right person. Also, occasionally an editor will ask for revisions even before they send it to the right editor to give you the best chances of success. These junior editors are motivated to find the next big thing, and have the time to work with you to make the manuscript as tight as possible. The Simon and Schuster hotline for submission guidelines is 212-698-2707.

Some brief comments on other editors:

Debra Dorfman of Scholastic Paperbacks, Cartwheel, and Licensing. She publishes mass-market books. She handles licensing, paperbacks, book fairs, and paperback series developed in house. She mentioned a new social website geared for children who read called “Stacks.” At Stacks children can connect with each other and authors (the authors don’t have to be limited to Scholastic).

Allyn Johnston is VP and Publisher of her own West-Coast imprint under Simon & Schuster called “Beach Lane.” She’s looking for Picture Books for the very young and she has wide-ranging tastes for other genres. She wants to acquire books “that change children’s lives.”

Gretchen Hirsch of Harper Collins is mostly looking for YA that’s smart and sexy. Though voice is important, she is looking for page-turners (books with strong plots).

Amalia Ellison of Harry N. Abrams (Amulet Books) is looking for Eclectic / Commercial. Ellison mentioned Twilight as a novel she wished she had published. When asked what she would choose if she had to pick between a book with a strong voice or a book with a strong plot she said she would probably choose plot though she thinks she should say voice.

Namrata Tripathi of Hyperion Books for Children and Jump at the Sun is looking for Eclectic / Literary. She mentioned John Green as one of the authors she wished she could have published. Tripathi believed plot could be coached and developed but voice was something that she can’t force.

Plan B

I think one of the scariest feelings is that the fate of my novel is in one person’s hands. That isn’t true, really. I could send query letters, go to more conferences, but I know from talking to authors who are very talented that finding an agent who is enthusiastic about your work is not easy. So it’s an enormous amount of pressure waiting to hear from the agent who showed interest. She was enthusiastic about the first two chapters; will she still love it after reading the whole novel?

I’ll find out soon enough. I finished my revisions and emailed it to her two weeks ago. Yah!

I went to the SCBWI summer conference feeling great that I had a completed novel ready to sell. It changed the way I looked at panels and even the way I networked. The one truly exciting thing that occurred there was that another agent said I could send her the whole novel! I had submitted the first two chapters for a manuscript consultation, not knowing who would critique it. Turns out I was lucky enough to be paired with a junior agent at one of the top literary agencies. She asked me questions about the novel, and asked me to talk about what happens in it, and she seemed truly enthusiastic about where it was headed. She did mention some revisions, but nothing that was unreasonable. I was honest, though. I told her that I’d submitted the novel to a different agent and was waiting for a response. I didn’t feel comfortable submitting to her unless the first agent passes on it.

I walked away feeling so happy because I no longer had just one option. It’s like knowing that if a door in the room I’m in is locked there’s another one just across the way that I can try. Of course I really want to burst through that first door! I feel that I could have a great working relationship with the agent I met at Big Sur. IF she says yes.

I know that if this pans out there will be a lot of people who think that I had it easy. But if you talk to any of my friends or family you’ll find out that I spent YEARS working on this project. And other projects before this one that never came together. I can’t tell you how wonderful it feels to get such a warm and positive response now that I’ve taken my book out into the world. I just cross my fingers and toes that all this excitement translates into sales!