So the blogging world was a little slow these last three days? Does anyone know why? WRITEONCON!
A totally FREE online writing conference that was awesome. It was so good on day 1 I sent the founders E-cards. Shannon said thank you back.
Here are the VERY BEST of WRITEONCON
three pieces of advice for writers
Awesome vlog about the myths of the publishing industry.
how to be funny
why a less then big advance can be a good thing
<--- Writing a query letter.
How your characters handle a life changing situation.
Questions to ask before you revise <--I WISH i had this a month ago.
this focuses on romance in YA BUT I think it rings VERY true for all romance subplots
Sex in YA
Writing in Real life--- AWESOME seriously some of the best stuff out there
Stay positive in the face of rejection
The first of a three part series about the first 5 pages of novel... Kathleen Ortz tells us when she stops reading and why or if she requests more and why.
Ready to have your mind blown in a BILLION different ways. Mary Kole talks about character cliches and how to avoid them and she does some pretty fancy stuff with a rubix cube.
It was an amazing three days, the resources were insanely valubible.
In other news: Mr Clean's Magic eraser is, in fact, magic. I'm talking some serious Harry Potter Sh*t here or Middle Earth or Neverending story. Not as cool as writeoncon but still pretty freaking magical.
Showing posts with label links. Show all posts
Showing posts with label links. Show all posts
Friday, August 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Midweek links- dialogue
So Lydia Kang asked on her blog asked: What is your weakness? Most people said dialogue.
I won't lie, I'm pretty awesome at dialogue:
"Shut the front door." I screamed, people are so rude.
"You shut the front door."
"No you.
"You."
"Stop being such a putz and shut the door."
End scene.
Um, or maybe I don't rock at dialogue as much as I think.
So here are some links and resources for writing great dialogue.
Whenever I do one of these postings the first place I go to is Mary Kole. This week I have a TON of stuff from her and other links I found through her.
The Name Game talks about how some writers use the character's names too much in dialogue.
Tag you're it, is all about writing good dialogue tags. <-- this one I think is SUPER helpful.
What to cut, explains what you need to cut from your book. Lots of times it's crappy dialogue.
What show don't tell really means<-- yep it's that straight forward.
Here are a bunch of links Mary posted on her blog and I'm reposting them.
Barry Lyga has a great series on dialogue, one, two, three, four and five.
As always a little Nathan Bradford for you. Cause he's just so gosh darn cute.
Blood Red Pencil has TONS of great stuff. Dialogue is NOT how we talk How to write dialogue that gets interrupted
This one I have a really hard time with, internal dialogue
They also have the three part series about dialogue. Part 1, Part 2, Part3
I found this post from W.I.P It. 7 tips for writing Dialogue.
I think 17 posts are good for now.
I won't lie, I'm pretty awesome at dialogue:
"Shut the front door." I screamed, people are so rude.
"You shut the front door."
"No you.
"You."
"Stop being such a putz and shut the door."
End scene.
Um, or maybe I don't rock at dialogue as much as I think.
So here are some links and resources for writing great dialogue.
Whenever I do one of these postings the first place I go to is Mary Kole. This week I have a TON of stuff from her and other links I found through her.
The Name Game talks about how some writers use the character's names too much in dialogue.
Tag you're it, is all about writing good dialogue tags. <-- this one I think is SUPER helpful.
What to cut, explains what you need to cut from your book. Lots of times it's crappy dialogue.
What show don't tell really means<-- yep it's that straight forward.
Here are a bunch of links Mary posted on her blog and I'm reposting them.
Barry Lyga has a great series on dialogue, one, two, three, four and five.
As always a little Nathan Bradford for you. Cause he's just so gosh darn cute.
Blood Red Pencil has TONS of great stuff. Dialogue is NOT how we talk How to write dialogue that gets interrupted
This one I have a really hard time with, internal dialogue
They also have the three part series about dialogue. Part 1, Part 2, Part3
I found this post from W.I.P It. 7 tips for writing Dialogue.
I think 17 posts are good for now.
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Midweek links-Synopsis
Synopsis = sucknopsis.
For those of you who don't know Synopsis suck, hence the name sucknopsis. A Synopsis is a one to two page summary of your book. That's not a big deal, right? you wrote the book, you should know what's it's about? Right.
Um no.
How do you condense a 70,000 word book into 1 page?
Leave out the details.
Tell, don't show <--which goes against EVERYTHING you know as a write.
Main plot points only.
Focus on the main character.
Sounds simple enough, but here's the thing, no one goes into writing to write a summary. No, we write because we like word play, we like characters, we like dialogue or exploring new ideas or rich worlds that are completely unlike our own. In other words we write because we like to be creative.
A synopsis is boring, its like REAL work... worse yet it's like a homework or a book report.
Why does it need to get done? Because some agents require it, how else are they going to know what happens in your book if you don't tell them.
So below are a few links on how write a sucknopsis.
Enjoy:
At Guide to Literary Agent blog, Chuck Sambuchino gives an example of a great synopsis for possibly one of the greatest movies in the past 20 years, Eternal Sunshine in a Spotless Mind. What's nice about this is that the movie is very confusing story and yet makes complete sense. It would be a nightmare to write a synopsis for it, but Chuck does an excellent job of it. And he includes some links at the bottom of his page.
He also give a few step by step example of how to write it here.
Querytracker.net Blog is always a good resource on how to write in general. Here's one on how to make your synopsis ROCK and who doesn't like a little rock.
YA Highway has a great article about the dreaded synopsis and I'm pretty sure this is where I stole to term Sucknopsis.
Because a mid week link session would be complete without it, here's Nathan Bradford's take on a synopsis.
Lots of the sights repeat the same information, again and again.
And it all comes down to practice.
Yes, it's skill and drill. Yes, its homework. But of the query process is like the final test, then having a great synopsis is like having a great study guide.
For those of you who don't know Synopsis suck, hence the name sucknopsis. A Synopsis is a one to two page summary of your book. That's not a big deal, right? you wrote the book, you should know what's it's about? Right.
Um no.
How do you condense a 70,000 word book into 1 page?
Leave out the details.
Tell, don't show <--which goes against EVERYTHING you know as a write.
Main plot points only.
Focus on the main character.
Sounds simple enough, but here's the thing, no one goes into writing to write a summary. No, we write because we like word play, we like characters, we like dialogue or exploring new ideas or rich worlds that are completely unlike our own. In other words we write because we like to be creative.
A synopsis is boring, its like REAL work... worse yet it's like a homework or a book report.
Why does it need to get done? Because some agents require it, how else are they going to know what happens in your book if you don't tell them.
So below are a few links on how write a sucknopsis.
Enjoy:
At Guide to Literary Agent blog, Chuck Sambuchino gives an example of a great synopsis for possibly one of the greatest movies in the past 20 years, Eternal Sunshine in a Spotless Mind. What's nice about this is that the movie is very confusing story and yet makes complete sense. It would be a nightmare to write a synopsis for it, but Chuck does an excellent job of it. And he includes some links at the bottom of his page.
He also give a few step by step example of how to write it here.
Querytracker.net Blog is always a good resource on how to write in general. Here's one on how to make your synopsis ROCK and who doesn't like a little rock.
YA Highway has a great article about the dreaded synopsis and I'm pretty sure this is where I stole to term Sucknopsis.
Because a mid week link session would be complete without it, here's Nathan Bradford's take on a synopsis.
Lots of the sights repeat the same information, again and again.
And it all comes down to practice.
Yes, it's skill and drill. Yes, its homework. But of the query process is like the final test, then having a great synopsis is like having a great study guide.
Wednesday, June 02, 2010
Midweek links- Queries.
Queries.
Ok, here's the deal, you spend at between six months to five years writing a book.
And you want to get it published. How do you do that?
GET AN AGENT. How do you get an Agent?
Due to weird ass formatting issues you'll have to scroll to the bottom of the page,
to watch a cool video about it.
Ok, queries have a very specific format, three paragraph, one bio paragraph.
Here's a great example of what not to do, over at GotYA.
Sadly, I've known writers who have made most of these mistakes.
Don't ever send your form query out to 100 agents and wonder why you got rejected.
Here's another important fact-
ONCE YOU QUERY AN AGENT YOU CAN NOT QUERY THEM FOR THE SAME PROJECT.
No matter how much you change your query letter.
You get ONE shot with an agent, don't screw it up by spelling their name wrong.
Format of a query letter:
Nathan Bradford is pretty much the best resource out there for this topic.
Here is a fill in a blank format
Here is an example of a good query on Nathan's blog.
NOTE: he is representing the book as well.
Formatting the query.
Publishing Cred. What to list and what not to list.
See told you Nathan was a good resource.
Mary Kole talks about What to Query here.
I asked Mary Kole a few months ago when was the best time to query, see her response here.
Examples of Queries and why they are rejected by Janet Reed can be found here.
I will give you a warning, Janet's comments are harsh and if you are having a "woo is me, I totally suck and I should give up writing and breathing" sort of day, avoid this website.
Kathleen Ortiz gives you Query Etiquette and Part 2 is here.
She recently had a query with a 11,000 KB attachment!
It blocked up her e-mail for hours. Not cool.
HUGE TIP: Research the agent, what they like and what they don't like.
Here are a few places where you can learn all about agents.
agent query
Query Tracker.net
For YA and Children's books this is a great resource.
Reflection:
Query letters are hard, yucky and tedious.
There's lots of way to screw up on it.
So if you spent years of your life working on a novel, why not spent some time on your query letter and make sure it's perfect.
My first book I sent out 24 queries, I got 5 requests for content.
I was rejected because the novel sucked.
But I wrote a pretty awesome query letter and I learned a lot from it.
There's TONS of resources out there, but that was a small sampling that I found to be useful.
Well Maureen Johnson does a pretty good job of explaining the process here,
and since she's a published author she knows what she's talking about.
Ok, here's the deal, you spend at between six months to five years writing a book.
And you want to get it published. How do you do that?
GET AN AGENT. How do you get an Agent?
Due to weird ass formatting issues you'll have to scroll to the bottom of the page,
to watch a cool video about it.
Ok, queries have a very specific format, three paragraph, one bio paragraph.
Here's a great example of what not to do, over at GotYA.
Sadly, I've known writers who have made most of these mistakes.
Don't ever send your form query out to 100 agents and wonder why you got rejected.
Here's another important fact-
ONCE YOU QUERY AN AGENT YOU CAN NOT QUERY THEM FOR THE SAME PROJECT.
No matter how much you change your query letter.
You get ONE shot with an agent, don't screw it up by spelling their name wrong.
Format of a query letter:
Nathan Bradford is pretty much the best resource out there for this topic.
Here is a fill in a blank format
Here is an example of a good query on Nathan's blog.
NOTE: he is representing the book as well.
Formatting the query.
Publishing Cred. What to list and what not to list.
See told you Nathan was a good resource.
Mary Kole talks about What to Query here.
I asked Mary Kole a few months ago when was the best time to query, see her response here.
Examples of Queries and why they are rejected by Janet Reed can be found here.
I will give you a warning, Janet's comments are harsh and if you are having a "woo is me, I totally suck and I should give up writing and breathing" sort of day, avoid this website.
Kathleen Ortiz gives you Query Etiquette and Part 2 is here.
She recently had a query with a 11,000 KB attachment!
It blocked up her e-mail for hours. Not cool.
HUGE TIP: Research the agent, what they like and what they don't like.
Here are a few places where you can learn all about agents.
agent query
Query Tracker.net
For YA and Children's books this is a great resource.
Reflection:
Query letters are hard, yucky and tedious.
There's lots of way to screw up on it.
So if you spent years of your life working on a novel, why not spent some time on your query letter and make sure it's perfect.
My first book I sent out 24 queries, I got 5 requests for content.
I was rejected because the novel sucked.
But I wrote a pretty awesome query letter and I learned a lot from it.
There's TONS of resources out there, but that was a small sampling that I found to be useful.
Well Maureen Johnson does a pretty good job of explaining the process here,
and since she's a published author she knows what she's talking about.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The weakest link, on the weakest day.
Contest pimping and pitching.
First off, how do you like the new format? Cid thanks for your help and Alicia sorry for snipering it.
I'm going to start the doing a thing where in the middle of the week I'm going to post links to blogs I found to be useful, because as Alicia pointed out, Friday everyone's doing it, (because Friday is the most logical day.)
Contest Pimping
http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/2010/05/introducing-league-of-extraordinary.html
League of extraordinary writers is a blog for people who love the most scary screwed up future the writers can think of. It's called a dystopia. Lots of pretty amazing YA books (young adults for those who are not in the know) feature a dystopian society, the most famous being The Giver.
The blog just started and they're having a contest, FREE STUFF. Go check it out.
Pitching
In exactly 10 days I will be going to a writers conference. My last writers conference was possible the worst day of my life, more about this to come at a later date.
Insanely I signed up for a three minute pitch session. *shakes my head in shame because clearly I didn't learn from last time*
So I am going to include some links on how to pitch a book to an agent, because I need a refresher.
As far as I can tell, pitching a book is like a verbal query letter, but you can see the agent's face as their eyes glaze over in boredom or shine with excitement.
Rachelle Gardner talk here about why it's so important. Basically it comes doing to being able to read body language.
After 9 years of being a teacher, you would think I'd be an expert at it... NOPE, if I have an idea I'm going to steamroll through you until I've said it, no matter how uncomfortable you are during the process.
She then goes on to say what to do during a pitch, like STEP by STEP DIRECTIONS. Pretty much the most useful and awesome thing ever. Her final advice was that agents are people too. Yes they are people but they are people with POWER, they can validate five years worth of work or they can make you cry. <-- that's my addition not hers. I should say EVERY agent I've ever encountered has been very kind and extremely helpful. Still they're kinda scary.
Over at QueryTracker.net Elana Johnson talked to Laura Rennert who gave 5 steps to a great pitch. Serious five steps and a five minute timer will give a perfect pitch. Guess what I'll be doing over the long weekend?
Just for some good measure some conference to do and NEVER EVER do's.
Agent and blogger superstar Nathan Bradford talks about the one sentence pitch and the one paragraph, and two paragraph pitch.
He's so dreamy.
Mary Kole talks about Pitchcraft and she did it MONTHS ago because she's a trendsetter. She will also be at the conference I'm attending and I pray to God I don't puke on her shoes. Maybe I should bring an extra pair of shoes for her, just in case.
Kathleen Teman talks about the one sentence pitch here and since she's running the NJ SCBWI conference I'm going to, it's some solid advice.
Ok there's you go TONS of links.
Any thoughts on what to do next week?
First off, how do you like the new format? Cid thanks for your help and Alicia sorry for snipering it.
I'm going to start the doing a thing where in the middle of the week I'm going to post links to blogs I found to be useful, because as Alicia pointed out, Friday everyone's doing it, (because Friday is the most logical day.)
Contest Pimping
http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/2010/05/introducing-league-of-extraordinary.html
League of extraordinary writers is a blog for people who love the most scary screwed up future the writers can think of. It's called a dystopia. Lots of pretty amazing YA books (young adults for those who are not in the know) feature a dystopian society, the most famous being The Giver.
The blog just started and they're having a contest, FREE STUFF. Go check it out.
Pitching
In exactly 10 days I will be going to a writers conference. My last writers conference was possible the worst day of my life, more about this to come at a later date.
Insanely I signed up for a three minute pitch session. *shakes my head in shame because clearly I didn't learn from last time*
So I am going to include some links on how to pitch a book to an agent, because I need a refresher.
As far as I can tell, pitching a book is like a verbal query letter, but you can see the agent's face as their eyes glaze over in boredom or shine with excitement.
Rachelle Gardner talk here about why it's so important. Basically it comes doing to being able to read body language.
After 9 years of being a teacher, you would think I'd be an expert at it... NOPE, if I have an idea I'm going to steamroll through you until I've said it, no matter how uncomfortable you are during the process.
She then goes on to say what to do during a pitch, like STEP by STEP DIRECTIONS. Pretty much the most useful and awesome thing ever. Her final advice was that agents are people too. Yes they are people but they are people with POWER, they can validate five years worth of work or they can make you cry. <-- that's my addition not hers. I should say EVERY agent I've ever encountered has been very kind and extremely helpful. Still they're kinda scary.
Over at QueryTracker.net Elana Johnson talked to Laura Rennert who gave 5 steps to a great pitch. Serious five steps and a five minute timer will give a perfect pitch. Guess what I'll be doing over the long weekend?
Just for some good measure some conference to do and NEVER EVER do's.
Agent and blogger superstar Nathan Bradford talks about the one sentence pitch and the one paragraph, and two paragraph pitch.
He's so dreamy.
Mary Kole talks about Pitchcraft and she did it MONTHS ago because she's a trendsetter. She will also be at the conference I'm attending and I pray to God I don't puke on her shoes. Maybe I should bring an extra pair of shoes for her, just in case.
Kathleen Teman talks about the one sentence pitch here and since she's running the NJ SCBWI conference I'm going to, it's some solid advice.
Ok there's you go TONS of links.
Any thoughts on what to do next week?
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