Hunger Games and a Contest Reminder

Phew, I just found the Hunger Games books at the library and I devoured the first one already. And the half of the next one too, actually. Amazing books with amazing writing. I normally don't like present tense prose, but Suzanne Collins does it so well that I don't even notice it. And honestly, I can't imagine these books written in any other way.

I suppose most books are written in either first person, past tense; or third person, past tense (yeah, I also needed to do the maths here when I read over this entry). The first person, present tense is something that's becoming more and more popular. It's good for fast paced, action packed books. It gives the reader the intense feeling that they're right there with the character. 

First person with a mix of past and present tense is also something I'm seeing more of. Like Charleine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series. She'll write most of it in past tense, but once in a while there'll be something in present tense, like when Sookie is stating a fact about herself. I kind of like this style.

What's your favourite to read and your favourite to write?

Just a simplified reminder of the Trilogy Contest:

You fill out this form to take part. You can get additional (for additional work) by filling out this form.

The requirements are that you need to follow my blog, Marieke's, and Rach's.

It's international and it's up to you how much work you want to put in the forms - just stating you're a follower to all three is enough to take part, but you can up your chances by blogging, tweeting, etc.

You'll get the chance to win one of the prizes:

3 x query or synopsis (max. 2 pages) critiques (winner's choice)

3 x first 300 words critiques

3 x first 3 pages critiques

3 x first 30 pages critiques

Across the Universe, by Beth Revis (from Rachael)

Mockingbirds, by Daisy Whitney (from Marieke)

Unearthly, by Cynthia Hand (from me)

3 x Amazon gift certificates of $30 each from the ones who reach 300 followers before the contest ends.

The Calm before the Storm

http://officeofstrategicinfluence.com/calm/ © TONIVC

I have completed the majority of my agency list. Phew, it was a lot of work! I recommend people start on their lists early if they intend to send out queries to many at a time. It took me at least 30 hours all in all to find the agencies, read through their submission guidelines and choose the agent I wanted (by reading the profile of each agent). I also wrote down their email addresses.

--> Start on your agency list early.

I had a whole Word page with names of last-minute agents that I found last Friday and decided to go through it yesterday. I’m so glad that I did! I ended up with 56 agencies, and that’s excluding the one-man ones and the snail-mail ones. Going through that list increased the number in my snail-mail folder though. Why do agents still request forests of queries/manuscripts? I simply love the agencies who request emails only, because they don’t want paper wasted.

--> Prioritize.

I haven’t personalized the query letters yet, but I intend to. They have very different requirements: some request the query letter only, some want 5-10 pages, some 50 pages, one wanted the entire manuscript as an attachment, and some want 1-2 page synopsis, etc. Most don't accept any attachments, but a couple do. I’ll have to read each guidelines very carefully to have a chance.

--> Read the submission guidelines carefully and personalize the query letters. Don't send out mass-queries (Cc's and Bcc's).

Some agencies request exclusive queries, and I decided to ignore those agencies. I might try them if all the others decline. There was actually one agency that said something like “We request that you query more than us. Writers shouldn’t query exclusively.” That made me laugh and the agency earned my respect immediately.

--> Query more than one at a time.

Some agencies forbid querying more than one agent at their agency (no from one means no from all), but some only forbid to query more than one at a time. Janet Reid says to query the others regardless. I suppose I might try it if the agency is big.

--> Query one agent within the agency at a time.

I have also decided to include a line in my queries saying that I’m sending out multiple queries, just to have everything upfront. Some specifically say they want to be told, but others don’t mention it. At first I thought that they’d put those queries aside and focus on the ones submitted exclusively (as some claim to do), but now I’ve come to a different conclusion. I think that they want to read the multi-submitted ones to be able to snatch up the writer before anyone else does, if the query letter sounds promising. I haven’t been able to verify this, but in at least three guidelines there was a text asking writers to let them know if they’ve gotten proposition of representation elsewhere, so that they might make a counter-offer. That means that, say, if I got an offer from Agency X and I also queried Agency Y some time ago, but hadn't heard from them, I’m supposed to send an email to Agency Y and tell them about the offer in case Agency Y wants to have a go. Maybe I'll ask Janet, Rachelle, or Kristin about it.

--> Let the agencies know that you're querying others, too.

The reason I checked the submission guidelines first was to put aside the snail-mail ones. I bookmarked them to list them later. Obviously I’ll try the email-ones first, because they're faster and don't cost anything, but there’s one in particular I’ll want to snail-mail, and that’s the agent of the House of Night series, since that’s my genre.

I also bookmarked in a separate folder “one-man agencies”. That doesn’t mean that I prefer the bigger agencies, it just means that I’ll do more background search on them, and that’s work I’ll have to put aside for a bit.

So what I did was I made five folders in my bookmarks and five Word sheets. I used the same names on the sheets and the folders (Contact 1, Contact 2, etc.) and bookmarked all the ones on Contact 1 sheet in Contact 1 folder. This is to help me later when I have to work my way through the submission guidelines of each agency. I didn’t write the agencies down in any specific order; I intend to query them all. Of course some seemed more like a perfect match for me, but it won’t hurt to send to others to see if they’re interested.

--> Keep a good, organized list on your agencies.

I searched through my genre on PublishersMarketplace, QueryTracker, and AgentQuery and listed them all down. Then I had a webpage of Predators & Editors open and checked each agency to see if they were legit, or had any specific warnings. There were only a few that I took off my list because they seemed iffy. I also eliminated those that take reading fees. I could have done this if they contacted me back to offer representation, but I decided to save myself time so that I won’t have to work my way through their submission guidelines only to learn that they’re dishonest.

--> Check your agencies in Predators & Editors.

So, what’s next? I got back the critique on my query letter and first five pages. I wanted to have the query letter edited to be absolutely error-free, and I got a few pointers with it. I also decided to send the first five pages, because I've made a lot of changes to it since I had the whole manuscript edited. Next up is to apply those changes and then my letter will be ready.

--> Make sure your letter + material is error free.

I have made a full proposal as well and wanted to be able to offer it in the query letter, but since something came up with the editor, I might have to give it a pass. It’s no big deal, really. The agencies only request a query letter, sample chapters/pages, and possibly a synopsis, but never a full proposal for fiction. I just wanted to show that I’d worked hard on the proposal, so less time would go into that after I’m signed.

--> Full proposals are not necessary, but nice.

Task for the day: Apply changes to the query letter and personalize 2-3 letters, but don’t send yet.

Twitter-dee, Twitter-dumb

People who are trying to get published often talk about the need to have a platform. This is especially important for new writers who have had nothing published before, or in other words: writers like me.

A platform is basically a follow-ship of people who would likely buy your books. There are different kinds of platforms, but since the only way I can build a platform in America is by using the internet, I'll skip the talking at conferences, teach courses and such.

What are my optioins?

A blog. A nice feature in a blog is the follow button so that both the writer and possible agents/publishers can see how many are following your blog. It's important to keep blogging, every day or at least a few times a week and keep at it. People won't continue following you if you stop blogging for a long time.

You can write articles and/or short stories and have them published on a popular website/blog/ezine (online magazine). If you can do a number of these, eventually people will know who you are and might follow you on your blog. If you get to publish on a big, famous site then you could possibly mention it in a query letter.

You can create Facebook and Myspace, and any other follower-related accounts. Ten thousand followers on Facebook would be an impressive platform, though you'd have to be very witty and clever to build that kind of a follow-ship. I personally prefer Facebook (it's what all Icelanders and their grandma have - yes, my 78 year old grandmother is very active on Facebook), but I have created a MySpace page as well.

You can join writer-related chat forums and be active in the discussions. I recently joined She Writes, a community for female writers. I'm still getting into it, but they have excellent tips, discussions, and groups. I don't know if I'll join more communities since an awful lot of time is going into blogging and reading writing-related material on the internet.

And then you can use Twitter. Dum-Dee-Dum. Twitter is a tool I just cannot understand. I created an account earlier this week, but it looks like a jungle to me. I just don't see the point in Twitter. I much rather prefer Facebook. I was excited to get my first follower on Twitter though (I'm TessyQuin there), and I'm sure that, in time, I will be able to figure this Twitter thing out. Some people seem to be addicted and "tweet" many times a day. I suppose I'll have to alt-tab there every hour or so and try to say something clever.

All of these are tools I need to keep active to build my online platform.

What are you doing to build a platform? Do you have many followers yet?

Fantasy Genre

Vampire Girl from the Dark Moon homepage

I'm a total sucker for vampires. Ever since I watched the movie Interview with a Vampire in my teen years, I've been hooked on those fang-bearers. I even love watching Angel! (The vampire, not a fallen angel). I absolutely adore Charleine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series, and I read any YA vampire novel I can get my hands on.

I didn't choose to write about vampires when I was designing my story. I started creating my magical characters before Twilight hit the theaters (which was when I discovered the books), so YA vampires weren't big in my world at the time. I should be thankful for thinking outside the box when I decided to write a book, because now agents and publishers aren't taking in new vampire novels. At the time, I had no idea there were such things as trends in book publishing, and I thought that if someone wrote a good vampire novel, they'd get it published. As for me, I suppose I wanted to create something that was mine from the start.

I have also read books about fallen angels. I must admit that angels don't appeal to me as much. I don't know what it is. They're supposed to have the dark element, but they just don't do it for me. I'm now reading Fallen, by Lauren Kate, and we'll see how I feel after that. It's definitely something I wouldn't choose to write about.

Then I've read books about fairies, and I honestly don't know if I could ever write books about fairies. At least not the kind of fairies I've read recently. Elves are a different matter, and to me, they're not the same (although they sometimes seem to star in fairy books).

I can't bring myself to check out a werewolf book from the library. I've seen them in movies and read about them as vampires vs. werewolves, but I always cheer for the vampires. Edward was always the one I rooted for, and Jacob was just annoying at times. The same goes for the movie Underworld, which really wasn't a great movie, but it's about vampires, and so I watched it. Charleine Harris has werewolves and fairies, but I let that slide because I love her vampires so much.

I suppose that if I can't write about vampires (if I want to be published -- and I do), I'll have to continue creating my own race of fantasy creatures. I don't know if that'll ease my way into publishing or hinder, since it might be a risk for publishers to introduce new creatures. I have caught myself wondering if I should write a vampire series, I even have an idea for one, but reading the agent/publisher blogs I've decided not use my time on that and rather continue with my own creation.

Vampire books will always be the thing I love to read. I hope that although agents/publishers are rejecting such books today, they'll never stop completely so that suckers, such as I, can continue reading what we love.

What are your favorite creatures in fantasy novels?