YAtopia: My New Playground

I'm really excited to announce I was invited to join the team of contributors at YAtopia! It's a writer's blog that focuses on teens and books written for them - but there's more. The YAtopia gang is also AWESOME at running competitions.

If you're a YA writer and you haven't followed us yet, get over there and do it! Just last week we've announced a pitch competition that's direct to an Egmont editor - and there's more to come!

So, about once a month (starting in two days) you'll see me linking Seeking the Write Life to my contribution at YAtopia. I'll also be tweeting links to their competitions, writer advice and so forth.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Today I'm Guest Posting at Rachelle Gardner's Blog!

What do you think about the  "Us vs. Them" attitudes from writers in both traditional and independent publishing? I say, enough! Time to realize we're all on the same team...

Join the conversation here.

International Pitch Comp - GET YOUR PITCH ON for a Real Live Editor!

My online buddy and author S. M.Johnston has a fabulous opportunity for you:

Commissioning and Managing Editor of Hardie Grant Egmont, Marisa Pintado, will be poised and ready to take your pitches on Sharon's blogs Down Under Wonderings and YAtopia on October 15th.

Marisa is looking for YA in any genre and is accepting submissions from any where in the world. It's your chance to skip the slush pile and put your pitch right under the nose of a fantastic editor. There's even better news - there is no limit on how many requests Marisa will make from the contest.

Here's the rules:

• Your manuscript must be complete, polished and ready to query - this means no first drafts or almost finished manuscripts.
• It must be YA.
• When the contest goes live on October 15th, post your entry details in the comments section of either YAtopia or Down Under Wonderings - each blog is accepting 100 entries only.
• Your entry details need to include a 50 - 70 word pitch.
• You can enter more than once if you have more than one complete, polished, ready to query manuscript.

Go here to find out exactly how your pitch should be formatted, and where to send it.

BUT BEFORE YOU ENTER:

Just as it's important to get someone else to look over your manuscript before you query, it's a good idea to get feedback on your pitch before you post. Sharon has organized about twenty blogs who are ready to help you hone your pitch. These workshops start on October 1 and you can find the list of the participating blogs here.

Holy Smoke!

It's my very great pleasure to be a part of my dear cyber-buddy, Cally Jackson's cover reveal.

So, please join me in a standing ovation for Cally's debut: The Big Smoke. I hope you'll agree, it's a stunning cover. I can't wait to read it!

Ceara’s desperate for love; Seb’s desperate to get laid. Ceara adores reading novels; Seb hasn’t finished a book in years. Two strangers, both moving from small country towns to Brisbane – the big smoke. As they prepare to attend the same university, their paths seem set to collide, but they keep missing each other. Maybe fate is keeping them apart, or maybe it’s just chance.

When the semester starts, things get complicated. Ceara’s best friend withdraws from her, Seb’s closest mate turns into a sleazebag, and the relentless demands of university make their stress levels soar. Before their first semester is over, both Seb and Ceara will be forced to question who they are and what they want from their lives. Will they have the courage to find the answers, or will they crumble under the pressure? And when they finally meet, will it be love at first sight or a collision of headstrong personalities?

You can find Cally at her blog, on twitter or Goodreads. Don't forget to add The Big Smoke to your to-read list!

Show Other Writers Your Best Blog Content

Hey guys, I'm really excited about this blog-hop Katherine is running over at Beyond The Hourglass Bridge.

All you have to do is decide which of your blog posts contains your best content and enter it in the linky list! That's it! And then you can scan the list for other great writer blogs - and only follow the ones that catch your interest.

I think this is a fun idea - and a great way to spotlight your best work.

I'm in. Are you?

The Nine Rules of Effective Writing - How Many Do You Break?

1. Do not put statements in the negative form.

2. And don't start sentences with a conjunction.

3. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.

4. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.

5. Unqualified superlatives are the worst of all.

6. De-accession euphemisms.

7. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.

8. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.

9. Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

~William Safire, "Great Rules of Writing"

Wherein I Get An Agent (AKA Thank you, GOD!)

Source

That headline says it all, doesn't it?

CUE: Beaming Smile

The reality is, there's a really long story behind all this spanning three years, hundreds of queries, a false-start and a recent independent publishing contract offer... but the really important point is this:

Yesterday I spent an hour and a half on skype with Brittany Howard of the Corvisiero Literary Agency and, despite the fact I still had a couple agents waiting to finish the manuscript, I finished that call with a virtual handshake and promptly emailed the other potential takers to tell them I'd found my girl.

As I told Brittany at the time, listening to her talk about my book, her approach to agenting, relationships, writing, and editing, was like having my wish-list read back to me (and I hadn't even asked her the pointed questions!).

I am, quite literally, overjoyed. I am also, quite literally, struggling to believe it's actually happening O_o

So, please forgive the brief post, but I'm off to do some housework via interpretive dance and remind myself this is real.

WATCH THIS SPACE

Source

 There's an announcement on the way...

Do You Understand Motivating Stimulus and its Importance to Your Novel?

I was recently interviewed about common mistakes I see in manuscripts I critique. It got me thinking about a lot of the mistakes I used to make and how I learned to identify them.

One of the most common problems I had in my first few manuscripts was the lack of foundational structure:

Tying Together Motivation and Response to Create Realism

This is crucial regardless of whether you're in the first two, middle five, or last page of your manuscript: The way to keep a reader reading, and convinced your world is real, is to tie their actions, thoughts, feelings and words to motivating stimulus.

It's how our lives work for real (the phone rings, so I answer it; a friend cries, so I offer her a tissue; my husband says he wants a divorce, and I go into shock, etc). Using it makes any world believable.

What is a motivating stimulus? I'll leave it to my swami Swain to explain since I think he does it best:

"A motivating stimulus is anything outside your focual character to which he reacts. For a motivating stimulus to do its job well, it must have:

a. Significance to your character.
b. Pertinence to your story.
c. Motivity to your reader."

And I'll add one point that Swain makes later in the book in much greater detail:

Plausibility is key. If a stimulus appears "trumped up" by the author -- a vehicle to move the character that doesn't occur organically -- it doesn't matter how well the character reacts. You'll lose your reader.

So, what does this look like? It looks like something that isn't happenstance, and requires immediate reaction:

- Rather than a character randomly deciding to pick up the newspaper that morning (which is going to tell them their estranged father has been indicted), have the character receive a phone call for comment on the story.

- If your teenage protagonist wants to be Prom Queen. Instead of just steeling themselves to ask that gorgeous guy out, have them witness the most beautiful (and annoying) girl in class sauntering up the to the object of their attention and flirt with him.

In short - give the character a launching point.

Then take it down to the detail: When one character speaks to another, make sure the response is both logical and timely. Don't let your characters give three paragraphs of internal narration before responding to a line of dialogue from someone else -- not unless you've established a great deal of emotion attached to that dialogue and hte reader already knows the answer, but it's more important to hear how the protagonist feels.

In general, give the motivating stimulus, then the response. Keep the momentum flowing by making sure that when event occurs it makes your character feel something. Give the reader the character's response right away - in thought, action and / or speech.

Your character should always be doing something to move your story forward. It's up to you to give them a plausible reason to do it.

That's what makes a story realistic and helps the reader suspend disbelief long enough to fall for your fallen angels, superhero teens, cool-guy-falling-for-nerd-girl, etc, etc, etc.

Your Turn: Any questions about motivating stimulus? Or comments on how it's used?

Opening Page MUST HAVE(S)

I dare you to pick up any book released as a major publication and check out the first page or two. I can guarantee you they'll include the following.

Does yours?

The 5 W's: Who, Where, When, What and Why

Obviously there's a limit to exactly how much ground you can cover in 500 words. But don't underestimate the power of that first page. Pick up any novel that 'hooked' you from very beginning and you'll find at least three of those W's present probably as early as the first paragraph. Maybe even the first sentence.

They're fairly self-explanatory, so I won't spend a lot of time:

WHO: Whose skin am I in?

WHERE: Physical location and setting.

WHEN: World-building is a HUGE component in those first words, so consider at least giving the time of day and a hint at the time / space continuem. Maybe you can offer the season by painting a picture of the leaves (or lack thereof). Whatever. Just keep in mind, the more information your reader absorbs without realizing it, the more fixed in the world they'll feel.

WHAT: Could be as simple as whether they're driving, walking, talking, etc, or it could be (and hopefully will be) as engaging as placing the focal character on the frontline of a war, or engaged in making out with their hot boyfriend / girlfriend. Wherever they are, make sure they're DOING something.

WHY: This won't always be clear in the first pages, but make sure you don't leave the reader hanging completely. If you can't offer the story question on the first page, then at least give the character a goal or intent. Have them aiming for something the reader can shoot for too (even if they don't know exactly why at this early stage).

Simple? Great. Let's move on.

TROUBLE: Creating Danger and / or Presenting a Problem

This one sounds simple, but in my experience its one of those blind-spots for us novice authors. We feel the tension, trouble or implications of a situation for our focal characters because we KNOW the story.

Fresh eyes though? Sometimes it's not as clear to them.

I'm not suggesting you should spell out t-r-o-u-b-l-e, but find a way to introduce change that threatens the life, livelihood or eternal happiness of your character and your reader will read on to find out whether they're going to overcome this terrible problem.

There's more, but those are the most important, I think. Now, go forth and write!

Your Turn: What else is crucial for those first 500 words, in your opinion?