The Dreaded Query – again

I, among others, have an intense fear as well as total lack of confidence of querying my work. And I don’t have a reason in the world to feel so shy. I know I’m a good writer. I have a fairly good education. And I have a pretty good network.

Not much scares me, from flying airplanes to riding motorcycles (yes a Harley with a club) to breaking in young horses. Not even facing a room full of high-schoolers – or kindergarteners – will make me blink an eye. But sending out a query gives me bad dreams.

I enjoy hawking my wares, whether crafty or written, in craft or book fairs. I love meeting new people and talking up the things I do and how I do it.

I’m not afraid to speak to a group, large or small, old or young, on a wide variety of topics – after all, I’m a teacher. I can even do a ‘shoot from the hip’ talk about just about anything and make it funny. But I’m unsure of querying.

I’m not afraid to write outside my comfort zone and then present that work to my critique group, both online and local, in person. But writing a query letter sends me shrinking to the shadows.

So why am I so afraid of sending a little letter and a few lines of my latest book to an agent?

Could it be that I feel the agent is this great and grand (Wizard of Oz) wise and powerful keeper of the keys to the Magical Kingdom of Publication? I suppose so.

Wow, was that an example of pre-judging? Doesn’t that sound a bit like prejudice? Perish the thought, especially in this day and age! The truth is, I think they (the agents and editors) are just as nervous as we are. Like, what if they happen to be the one who rejected Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. But they do read an awful lot of material. And they do have at least a little bit of experience in the game.

I have to get it through my head that agents are not gate keepers, they are skilled members of the industry actively looking for the next great work which they can sell to the big guys and make lots and lots of money. So I have to be the one to write – and send – that amazing book.

Could it be that I feel I’m only a small, unknown beginner. I have no idea what I’m doing, and all my rejects prove that little fact. So maybe I don’t deserve to keep trying. (Oh, don’t ever fall into that trap.) I bet Dr. Suess can tell us something about keeping on keeping on. I’m so glad he didn’t give up.

We all start out an unknown, uneducated beginner. The difference between then and now should be education, workshops, clinics, conferences, and practice, practice, practice. That means the BIC index. How long you keep Butt In Chair. So maybe that will take care of my self-esteem issues. At least it should. I still hesitate in clicking the ‘send’ button on my query.

So what’s my problem? Ah, clue one – it’s my problem, my mindset, my choice to change it.

Ok, so I took a course from Writer’s Digest. I also attended a few conferences, and I follow several agents’ blogs and twitter. Here’s what I learned.

 

1.      Most agents tell you exactly what they want and how they want it on their agency’s website. And you can see what that agency reps in your research. Don’t send if it doesn’t fit.

2.      No two letters are exactly the same, so there isn’t one hard fast format to follow and achieve instant success. But remember KISS – Keep it simple

3.      Keep practicing – read – write – read – write – repeat as needed.

 

A query letter is a tiny bit of information about the work. It needs to be read in under a minute. And it needs to capture the attention of someone (actually the right person at the right time). We’ve all heard it a hundred times – and we should have been hearing it since we took that journalism course way back in high school. The query letter should answer the five ‘Ws’, who, what, when, where, and why. In this case ‘how’ (your extensive research and education) isn’t needed.

Practice writing an entire story in one hundred words. I mean a story with a main character, a plot with action, a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end. Did I say keep it at exactly one hundred words? It’s a great exercise. Also practice tweeting meaningfully.

Try this format.   Title  is a   Word Count     Genre  about    gender of MC and overall action . Then condense your main plot to one hundred words. (Remember that little exercise I just told you about?) Basically, write the back cover blurb or a cable TV style description of your book. Less is better, but make it so interesting that the reader simply can’t continue life without reading the book. Follow this with a sentence about you and include your contact info – the agent will look you up and you can prove that by looking at your statistics on your website. AND don’t forget to say thank you for your time.

This format got me my very first personalized rejection! Yea, after I can’t tell you how many years or hundreds of rejections, a personal note – with suggestions for making the manuscript a little better. I count that as a huge success and soul-lifting step forward.

I heard a children’s book author speak at a conference. He sends out five queries a month, or was that a week. And then he works on the next book project, or researches more agents and publishers. Then he sends out five more. Then he works on revisions. He said that if you never hear anything, then the trouble likely lies in your query letter. Redo it. If you get a written reject, especially a personalized one, then your query is fine, it’s either the content of your book, or the timing is actually wrong for this agent or editor.

I also learned to never take it personally. But I can tell you: It sure was fun receiving that personalized rejection. So onward I go.

 

I welcome your comments and I’m willing to take a look at your own query if you’d care to share.

Reading and Writing Devices  -  Foreshadowing.

A while back I was involved with a fairly tough critique partner who wrote in a vastly different genre than I. He was writing a 200K suspense/murder/mystery/drug & mind control novel while I was writing a simple horse story for fourth graders.

His biggest beef about my writing – foreshadowing. And of course real danger for my main character, an eleven year old girl who had a telepathic connection to her pony.

It was not a good fit.

My biggest mistake was that I let it get under my skin. But I eventually got over it. Then I did some research. For one thing, after re-reading some of his chapters, I recognized that his foreshadowing technique was actually almost pre-telling what was coming. I’m really not sure what category that falls into. Okay, so if a character, say a law enforcement officer, is approaching a potential bad-guy-hideout and slips the safety strap off his pistol, I’m going to look forward to a possible gun-battle. However, if the cop loosens his revolver, saying to himself “I’m sure I’m going to need this because this guy I’m after is crazy and I know he has an arsenal of weapons in there.” Well, that’s giving it away and since I know for sure what’s coming, I may just skim to see what’s next. (No that author didn’t write those words, that’s only an example. And he did get an agent.)

I did more reading.

A well-known children’s author who has won all sorts of rewards did the same thing in the first chapter by actually telling what the stakes were and how bad it could be right there in black and white. Instead of me looking forward to what might happen – be it good and wonderful, happy and funny, scary and adventuresome, I was no longer curious. I already knew. Sadly I couldn’t find the energy to keep reading. It was already told how dangerous it would be to approach the only means necessary to solve the big problem.

The best text for learning the technique of foreshadowing from both a writer’s perspective and a reader’s is THE LOTTERY, by Shirley Jackson, way back in 1948. And it still stands as the benchmark. Only a few glimpses, solitary items, which don’t really seem to add to the story – until the end.

What is foreshadowing? It’s an element in the story that you have no idea is there until the danger rises its scary face, or until the funniest thing in the world occurs. (Not all stories need to have death, murder, and mayhem involved to be really, really good.)

Foreshadowing is a passing glance at a picture on the wall, which may turn out to hold some secret vital to the outcome. And after dancing all around that non-remarkable painting, the reader is delighted to discover the clue hidden there. But if the author overstates the presence of the art, the reader will become frustrated when the MC doesn’t see it, or become bored with the whole story, and toss it in the corner without finishing.

In my children’s book, LEGEND OF THE SUPERSTITION GOLD, which is my third Black Pony book, I dedicate a chapter to putting shoes on the pony, while dropping information about the upcoming trail ride along with a few stories about the Lost Dutchman Gold. Why the whole chapter? Well, it’s short and full of horsey stuff. Plenty of dialog between Annie and the pony. A humorous dismissal of the legends by the farrier (in my opinion one of the strongest pieces of foreshadowing in the book). AND every single element in that first chapter is seen again – several times. Not only that, the shoes themselves become in integral part of the plot. But you don’t know that until you read further.

My second chapter is dedicated to a pair of spurs and how they come to be in the possession of the main character. The spurs once belonged to Annie’s grandfather. Her uncle has very little success in using them and passes them to her. The connection won’t be noticed until mid-point of the book, but will be totally understood at the climax. But you never will know that until you get there.

Other bits of foreshadowing include Annie looking at hieroglyphics – and feeling a strange presence. Midnight warns her a few times that ‘The Others’ are nearby as well. True, I have a rather slow chapter where the whole thing is dedicated to a few of the stories, which anyone can google, about the haunted Superstition Mountains and its hidden treasures. But, they are all seen again. Besides, to at least a few of us, those stories are juicy and wonderful.

But, if at any point in the story I would have written ‘X is about to happen’ you may not have been interested anymore. Why do I point out that riding in the soft sand of a dry wash could be dangerous? Because a flash flood is coming! That was likely the most telling foreshadowing in the whole story.

I’ll never say that I’m anywhere near as good at foreshadowing as Shirley Jackson, or in fact dozens of other authors out there, but the fact remains. You will never know what part of a scene foreshadows the coming event until after that event has occurs and it all comes together in a satisfactory ending.

A few examples of books using foreshadowing from Goodreads include, THE AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker, published by Random House; Mo Willems’ THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA; Though this next one has mixed reviews because of adult content, THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger, is pegged as a great book for foreshadowing.

One of my personal favorite authors is Linda Ulleseit, who writes a series of The Winged Horses. You know something is up when an outsider falls in love with a filly, and there is dark talk of a long forgotten village, but you don’t know what it is until it happens. And you know something is about to happen when a young rider is torn between a soon-to-be barn leader with an attitude - who will do anything to win, and a timid rider who has a fear of flying, but you are blown away by what happens – and you didn’t see it coming, until you read it again, and again, and again. (Yes, I read it that many times.)

Goodreads has more if you wish to look them up. Of course mine is one of the best (in my opinion). http://tinyurl.com/p6wm6kf

How well to you foreshadow the events in your story? Do you let it all out before it happens, or drop invisible hints that show their glory at the end?

I’d love to hear your stories and examples.

Revision is a process that I imagine every writer tackles in his or her own way. Of course there are those magnificent geniuses in movies who type the last word, then dramatically pull the paper from the printer and say, “Done!” Not in the real world. I’d be willing to bet they don’t even do that in a writer’s room where several talented heads get together on the same project.

Some authors I’ve spoken with on the subject don’t begin revisions until they get the entire first draft on paper. Some work on a few chapters, run them through their critique process and get busy re-doing right away. Then they repeat the process with each new chunk of material. And there are about a thousand levels between. I know a young adult author who writes in rhyme – a whole novel, that is. She actually did say, “When it’s done, it’s done.” Her editor doesn’t even force the rewrites. But she completed the process along the way, so in fact, she did revise and plug her holes.

A few days ago I started thinking about where my latest WIP was going. I’m still somewhat of a newbie, but I’ve been picking up techniques and tools along the way. I’m not quite finished with this mid-grade horse story, but I’m worried about all my points coming together. And I don’t want to waste weeks of writing and critiquing just to turn around and redo because I missed an important piece of a plot. So I pulled out the toolbox and started digging.

My first and favorite tool is an outline. The beginning chapters are done loosely while the outline is coming together. I have a firm idea of the opening scene and the closing scene and some big plot points along the way. But a really good story often writes itself once it gets going, so I steam away and tighten up my outline as I go.

Outlining works for me because I have the story all on one page. More important, I keep track of the plot. I do have to go back and work on character building and scene painting, but without a strong plot, who cares. I can also see sub-plots and plot twists emerging as my outline develops. And I can keep track of major changes I have made or need to make. Now the work is getting fun. Still hard work and a challenge, but it’s exciting to see it come together.

My second favorite tool is my spiral. Maybe I should clarify. It should be a spiral that I carry around with me to jot down notes and ideas, but really it’s a collection of scribbles on the backs of envelopes, old receipts, napkins, and anything else I can find to write on when the Muse drops a word on me. Basically, keep track of every idea. I have a good friend who relies on sticky notes. I think she the sticky-note people in business all by herself. But it works for her. Every intriguing new sentence, character trait, action, or scene idea goes down on paper – or my little voice recorder on my phone – to be incorporated in my story when I get back to the keyboard.

Of course I print hard copies and take them to a neutral corner and read. I’m not sure why, but mistakes just pop out on paper, but lie hidden on the screen. And since it’s nearly Arbor Day, I sorta feel guilty for killing trees. But I do recycle, and I plant trees, too.

For revision and all the other skills needed to bring an idea into a great book, I look to the professionals who’ve been there and written about it. I figure if their books are still in print after a few years, they must have something good going on. Some of the plans in the vast ocean of writing craft manuals simply don’t work for me, or it’s the same thing said in a different color (but it’s still a rose). I do use a few which I found by googling a keyword. So the one I’m using today to find and patch holes in my plot is a story development and revision worksheet that can be found online at jamigold.com.

The worksheet asks a series of questions for a character driven plot and the first time I looked at this, months ago, I couldn’t even begin to answer them. What moral choice did my character have to make? No clue. What were her external and internal goals? I only thought I knew. Write a few more chapters and revisit.

So, now that I’m within sight of the ending scene, the answers to these questions are much clearer. And they show the gaping, bleeding holes in my plot. I also see that there are several characters in my story who need to arc and so they also need action, character building, and great scenery to bring them out. Now I’m ready to answer these questions for all my characters. And I discover I have a main plot, two sub-plots, and a great plot twist. I’ve also tagged all my characters with an arch-type, but that’s a different story.

Giving all credit to Jami Gold, who incidentally writes paranormal and I wouldn’t even try to do such a thing, here are the questions I had to answer about the arcing characters of my story:

How will the protag change? How does the struggle to complete the action affect the character?

What moral choice will the protag have to make?

What does the character learn about him or herself?

What external goal does the character want to reach? (here’s some action)

What’s holding the character back?

What does the character have to overcome?

Next: How does the plot reflect the character’s struggles?

What initial problem grows out of the character’s weakness?

What opponent is competing for the same goal? (Here’s where I found the sub-plots and juicy plot twists)

What’s the characters plan?

What immoral act does the character do as a result of his/her weakness?

What’s the criticism or justifications for the choice?

What’s the final battle? (Is there really a final battle for every character who needs to come to grips with a problem they may have with the protagonist?) That was fun to discover.

What is the character’s new self?

The list goes on, and of course there is a great lesson to go along with it. I have spent the last two days working through this, story-boarding, jotting down notes, and adding text in red to my outline (meaning that’s the stuff I need to work on)

My little heart went pitty-pat when I found all the holes in my plot which needed to be patched and I simply had to share. I encourage you to visit jamigold.com. It’s simply another great tool to add to the toolbox.

I’d love to hear how you wrap up your plots and character arcs.