Feb blogfests and comps I heart

Hey there writer friends!

This is just a quick post to let you know about some fun and exciting blogfests and comps I've come across and am participating, and I thought you might like to know about them too! (I've come across these from a few different sources, but one I've just discovered is Sharon's blog The Blue Word. She does a monthly post on blogfests and comps in the writing realm.)

There's the Valentines Blog Event being hosted by Brodie at Eleusinian Mysteries and Lisa from Read Me Bookmark Me Love Me. It's a month long event with all sorts of fun games and AMAZING book prizes. Seriously. Check them out.

Operation Awesome is hosting their monthly Mystery Agent contest. I don't think I'm going to enter this one because I'm not quite ready, but hey, there's always next month!

The I'm Hearing Voices blogfest, hosted by Angela at Live to Write and Cassie at Reading, Writing and Loving It, is a great character study done in three parts. A very good way to get to know your characters a little better (especially the elusive ones that don't like to talk to you) and there are also some great prizes on offer.

And of course there's the Get Fired Up blogfest, which I've already talked about here. Don't forget, if you're a new blogger in need of a little guidance, I (and all the others who have signed up for this blogfest) are always happy to help.

Have you found any awesome comps or blogfests this month? I'd love to hear about them. Will you be participating in any of these?

Blogfests and competitions

The lovely Sarah Ketley at The Precocious Scribe is hosting a blog hop competition, and she's been kind enough to put me on the list (thanks Sarah!). If you head on over, all you have to do is put your blog on the linky to be in to win an Amazon voucher, and if you follow some of the people on the list then you can win even more prizes. Go check it out!

I also came across this blogfest (via Sarah's blog hop), called the Power of Tension, which is being hosted by Rachel Morgan and Cally Jackson. You can win prizes, and you can get feedback on 300 words of tension filled scene.

And last, I just came across this query contest to get an MS critiqued by agent Rosanne Wells via Query Tracker. I think there's only 5 hours left to submit (the time zones confuse me) but if you get there fast you might get in.

Has anyone else come across any cool blogfests or competitions lately? I'd love to hear about them.

Attempt number... I forget

I while ago (before getting two assignments) I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for Slice of the Blog Pie's Query Letter Blogfest. Which was yesterday (Aussie time).

Well... yesterday I handed in an assignment, had class till 8.30pm, arrived home at 10pm sat down and proceeded to try and rewrite my query letter. I've made quite a few attempts at this here, and here, and an epiphany here. At around 1.00 in the morning the power cut out. Crap. Had I saved? No I hadn't.

So now, finally, here is my new and hopefully improved (though I don't have high hopes for this one) query letter. And yes, I know it's still ridiculously long. I am not so good at the summarising.

Have at it!


Edit to add: I'll make changes based on people's comments, so if early comments don't make sense this is why.


Dear [Agent],

I am a regular reader of your blog and I believe my 84,000 word YA fantasy, BLOOD LEGACY, would be a good fit for your agency [because of reasons inserted here].

Dani Strider is the only one who knows her mother’s death wasn’t natural. Murdered by a shadow, but nobody would believe that. For seventeen years Dani has dreamed of revenge, but even her strange talents, her wild magic and ability to hear people’s thoughts, aren’t enough to find a creature that shouldn’t exist.

When strangers appear in Dani’s house, claiming to be family from her home world, Dani knows where to find the wraithlike killer. They came from Dereshan, a hidden realm on the brink of war between the rebels and a ruthless tyrant, and they believe Dani can help. But before she can find out how or why, the strangers vanish, the only evidence of their visit a cryptic message: if he comes, you must follow.

After searching for a path into Dereshan without success, Dani unleashes her magic in fury and despair. She wakes in the aftermath, a gray dog at her side, and an expression all too human in his eyes. Dani follows the dog to Dereshan and discovers he has a voice, an attitude, and too many secrets. He’ll help Dani get revenge - for a price. He wants to be healed and what he means by that he won’t say.

Dani must decide if revenge is more important than helping stop a war, but the deeper she gets into Dereshan, the more she realises that both paths are inextricably linked, and she may not be strong enough for either.

I am an Editing and Publishing student at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sari Webb

Ooooh a shiny new lightbulb

Some of you may know I've been attempting to write my query letter recently. Attempting being the operative word. I'm not in any way ready to query, but I thought, since queries seem to be the bane of many writers, I'd get a head start.

Well... it hasn't been going that well. Aside from my issues with length, and lack of ability to decide what's important enough to be in the query and what isn't, I've just kind of felt like there's something missing. Like the tension is lacking and the query is falling flat.

I've heard people say that writing your query is a great way to see if your story has issues, and now I know it's true.

It took me a while but after several attempts to answer Janet Reid's query questions, and then a discussion with my amazingly artistic and talented brother Ushan on Sunday (yes, we all have strange names), I finally realised what was wrong.

The question and answer that was causing me trouble was this one:

What does the protagonist want? To find her family.

Ahh... pretty important question, right? Pretty lame answer, too. I mean, sure she's spent her whole life thinking she has no family, so finding out the truth that she has family is pretty important. And of course she'd want to go find them. But... it just isn't enough. Even I don't want to read a whole book about an MC finding her family when there's much bigger things going on, and I wrote it!

Enter my friend, the epiphany. MC's mum dies on the first page. She was murdered. MC knows this. MC saw the murderer. And she knows nothing about her dad. Why the hell isn't she trying to find the nasty murderer and deal out some sweet sweet revenge? And track down her dad in the process?

What does the protagonist want? To avenge her mother and find out who her father is and why he's never come for her.

Friends, please note exhibit A: the pitfalls of being a pantster.

This lightbulb moment also resolves an issue I was having with this story being split into two books. I wasn't sure if the story arc for the first half was strong enough to stand alone. Now I know it will be because I've already written the ending which ties in neatly with the new MC goal.

If you're interested, Janet's questions for what needs to be in a query letter are:

What does the protagonist want?
What's keeping him from getting it?
What choice/decision does he face?
What terrible thing will happen if he chooses A; what terrible thing will happen if he doesn't.

Have you had any lightbulb moments recently? Realised you've made errors that are going to result in significant revisions (like me *sigh*)? Or just any words of wisdom?

Share the Birthday Love Blogfest Post

Since finishing the first draft of my WIP, I've started trying to write a query letter. I know I'm still a long way away from querying anyone, but I figured it's going to take me a while to get it right. And it is. It's HARD!

Anyway, my query has been through a few iterations since the first version. My most recent version (only the part about the story) is under the tab 'Blood Dragon' above. I've had some feedback on Nathan Bransford's forum asking for more feedback, so I've tried to steer away from previous versions. I'm struggling with length (358 words!) and just the query in gerenal. Any feedback would be wonderful!

I will be getting around everyone's entries tomorrow morning. Can't wait to read them all! (I would have done this sooner, but my dad is in Japan so it's been a stressful day! He's ok though.)


QUERY: Blood Legacy (YA Fantasy)

Dear [Agent],


The people of Dereshan have waited centuries for their saviour, a child with two-toned eyes and the heir of the last dragon queen. But for Dani Strider, ignorant of her heritage after growing up on earth, the uncontrolled magic coursing through her is a curse. All it’s ever gotten her is loneliness.

When Dani wakes to strangers in her home the last thing she expects is to meet the family she thought were nonexistent. Her joy at the discovery is ripped away when they vanish, fading into the woods behind her house. The only evidence of their visit is a cryptic message: if he comes, you must follow.

Dani’s anger at the loss unleashes her magic and wreaks destruction on her surroundings. She wakes in a blast crater, a giant gray dog at her side, and an expression all too human in his eyes.

Dani follows the dog to Dereshan, only to discover he has a voice, an attitude, and far too many secrets. His help doesn’t come free; he wants to be healed and Dani’s the only one who can do it. What he means by that he refuses to tell.

The long-lived tyrant Vaddrin controls the world of Dereshan using fear and dark magic, and is soon to find the Dragons’ Histories, a weapon that will give him dominion over not just Dereshan, but all its parallel worlds, including Earth. According to an ancient prophecy, Dani’s the only one who can stop him, and he wants her dead.

Dani discovers her ancestors are the founding members of a society called the Kaardrivaal, the only opposing force against Vaddrin. If Dani bends to fate she will join the war against Vaddrin, and it will likely cost her life. But she is determined to choose her own path, and by doing so she may lose the one thing she’s always wanted: her chance to claim her place in the world.

BLOOD LEGACY is a young adult fantasy of approximately 84,000 words. It is a complete story with strong series potential. This is my first novel.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Kind regards,

Sari Webb

A birthday compfest and a lie revealed

Today I am turning 24, and since it's my birthday I want to share the giving love.

I'm smooshing together a competition and a blogfest (so it will be a compfest?) and I wanted it to be one where not only the winners get something out of it, everybody does.

As I have already discovered, when you need some help with your creative endeavours the writing bloggerverse is more than happy to pitch in.

So here's the deal:

• You can choose to enter either the blogfest or the competition or both.
• If you would like to do the blogging part of the compfest, put your name and whether you are posting as a writer or reader in the form below. Write your post to go up on the 11th of March:
• If you are a writer your post will be about something you need help with on your writing. This could be an excerpt from you story, your first page, your query, information on setting, ANYTHING that you think the writing bloggerverse can assist with. Make it clear what the question is, and if you are wanting a piece critiqued please keep it to max 500 words.
• If you are a reader (or a writer who would prefer not to ask for help on their blog), in the spirit of spreading the birthday love, post about one of your favourite books and why you loved it.
• If you would like to enter the competition part of the compfest:
• Follow this blog.
• On the weekend of 11-13th of March visit the blogs of the people participating, and comment/offer your help/critique on a minimum of three of them. Each additional comment/offer of help/critique gets you an extra entry into the competition.
• Get one extra entry for tweeting about the compfest.
• Get one extra entry for blogging about the compfest.
• A post will go up here on the 11th of March titled "Entries into to the Share the Birthday Love Compfest". Use that post to tell me what you've done to get entries with links to blog posts & comments. Please try to comment only once so I don't get confused (I'm easily confused).
• To keep things simple, and to accomodate people on the other side of the world, the 13th of March will end at 12am EST.

Prizes

(Wooo did you say prizes?)

The winner of the Share the Birthday Love Compfest will be drawn at random from the entries into the competition, and will receive their choice of one of these awesome books:

And the first ten pages of their WIP critiqued by me (if they're a writer and if they want the critique).

Three runners up will receive the first five pages of their WIP critiqued by me, or an interview and profile of their blog here.

I hope you'll join me in sharing the birthday love!

And the lie revealed... I don't laugh like a donkey crossed with a duck. At least I don't think I do. But my boyfriend tells me I do have a nervous giggle which occasionally slips out when I've finished talking.

Bookmark This: Queries

If you're a writer, still in the 'aspiring' category, then bookmark this post by author JM Tohline about the biggest mistakes a writer can make in a query letter.

JM emailed 100 agents asking one question: What is the single biggest mistake writers make when querying you?


He has responses from over 50 of them, and he's compiled them into this very helpful post. Definitely worth saving the link for later use. I know I'll be needing it one day.

The other side of the fence

As an aspiring author who follows numerous industry blogs, always looking for helpful advice, I've seen a lot of information about what to do and what not to do when querying an agent. Which is why, when I came across this comment by Another Anonymous Editor in reply to a post on Betsy Lerner's blog I was somewhat surprised and in a strange way comforted.

Where to start?
Agents who take to Twitter to air a grievance against ONE editor but make it sound as though everyone does whatever it is they’re ticked about. Usually looks something like :”Editors: Don’t do this. It annoys me.” I don’t even care if ALL editors do whatever it is. Kvetching on a public forum, even if you’re not naming names but especially if it’s a blanket whine aimed at all editors who might decide to “annoy” you in future, is unprofessional and whiny and does NOT make me want to work with you.

Agents who set arbitrary deadlines as to when they expect to hear back from me (or….what exactly? You’ll pull the project? You’ll send the Timing Police to rough me up?). These deadlines are ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ludicrous. I read a project on my schedule, not yours. FYI–those tend to be auto-rejects for me.

Agents who don’t include A SINGLE SENTENCE OF SYNOPSIS in their pitch. Just go on and on about how the author won this award I’ve never heard of or that they’re really good at taking direction. I get to the end of their query and I have no idea what the stupid book is about.

While we’re on pitches, how about lazy agents who don’t even pitch. “Thought you might like this.” I get that from agents I’ve never had a conversation with (and they usually haven’t done an iota of research on my house to see that I don’t do books like that). I’m always tempted to forward the pitch to the author and say, “Is this really who you want representing you? Someone who couldn’t be bothered to actually try to get me interested in your book?”

Agents who see on Publishers Marketplace that I’ve just acquired a book with LGBT subject matter and then bombard me with identical projects, thinking, “Hey, he’s buying LGBT stuff!!” I’m at a tiny press with a diverse list. When you see I just bought an LGBT book, you should send me something completely different.

God, that feels good. Having said all that, I’ve worked with some amazing agents. Agents who really have done their homework and have a lock on what I look for. Agents who write queries so stunning that not only do I request the full manuscript immediately but I stop whatever I’m doing and start reading it the second it’s in my inbox. (OK, that’s only happened twice but it’s happened.) Agents who are patient with the quirks of a small house. Agents who are genuinely interested in helping their client’s careers but only get involved when it’s absolutely necessary (as opposed to, say, micromanaging every step of the process by shooting countless e-mails to editors, publicists, copywriters, and even sales people and trying to dictate what SHOULD be happening).

There are fabulous agents that I adore working with. And there are agents that better hope I’m not the one holding the life preserver when they’re drowning.

Don't worry Aspiring Authors, we're not the only ones with all the guidelines and unwritten rules to follow. Luckily we are intelligent and follow the blogs of agents who wouldn't make these mistakes and know what we need to do to avoid making any agents facepalm in frustration.

Janet Reid also posted this example recently which is probably an example of a the sort of query Anon Editor is talking about.

My biggest challenge (once I'm at that stage) will be writing the query that makes the agent want more. And that's going to be hard enough without shooting myself in the foot without all the other easily avoidable mistakes.

So why do I feel comforted? Because I know I am smart and professional enough not to make these mistakes. Even if I am seeing it from the other side of the fence.

Oh Gods of the Query Letter, please help me to avoid...

...ever appearing on this blog.

Luckily (or not?) I have a long way to go before even the possibility of that arises.

So how 'bout those words... that deadline is fast approaching.