Are Critics Too Harsh?

Ahh yes. The dreaded critic. The one who is hard to please and always....always, sees the glass as half empty. The one who takes pleasure in finding the smallest, tiniest inconsistency. The one we all fear and despise, but secretly seek affirmation from.

I spend a lot of time reading reviews to see where other authors went wrong, to see if I can avoid making the same mistakes. I always here complaints like:

• I liked the antagonist better
• The friend was stereotypical and/or gave horrible advice
• The main character was too self-centered
• The mother/father wasn't believable or was stupid
• Things were too easy for the main character
• I didn't empathize for the main character
• The writing was terrible
• The voice was terrible
• The plot was boring, nothing happened....
  And so on

And these are really good points. They are all mistakes we have all fallen into. In my critique group, every single person complained about my main character's mother...A complaint I have seen pop up with many other writers. I banged my head against the wall because I said I would make sure to make the adults as pesky and interfering as they are in real life. But...I failed. 

Now everyone is entitled to their opinion and if it's shared with every other person who has read your book, it most likely is a valid opinion. Still, I find some reviewers can be snarky and do their best to poke holes through even the most solid plots and characters. 

Hmmm, the same way we could poke holes through living, breathing people too...

My point? As a writer, it's great to keep an eye out for common mistakes and to try to avoid them. Take constructive criticism with a grain of salt. When our time comes, and we have our book published and ready to take the world by storm, remember this: 

• Not everyone you've met liked you and not everyone who'll meet your book and it's characters will like them either. 
• A bad review is more fun than a good review. Seriously. Go on Goodreads and read reviews on a book that you love and read the one star ones. I can spend hours laughing at the witty ways these readers put down the books they read.
• Which leads to... a reviewer isn't doing his/her job if they don't have anything bad to say (I don't agree but it's an unfortunate fact). 
• Look for the good reviews, those are the ones that count.

• Although it may not apply to some books out there, there is a reason why YOU got published. YOU are one of the few that made it out of the slush pile that consists of millions and millions of manuscripts at any given time. YOU made it to a point where your book can even get bad reviews.

So look forward to the day when you'll cringe from the witty but cruel remarks. It just means you made it.

When to Reject Advice

I'm sure a lot of writers run into this problem. You get some feedback or advice; and you don't agree with it...at all.

So when should you trust your writer's instinct over another writer's suggestions? Always! As long as instinct isn't being ruled by pride. It's so easy to get defensive and it can cloud your judgment. When someone is telling you how they feel about your work, listen openly and try to understand them as the reader.

It is ultimately your story, but if you're writing to share it with others and not just for yourself, you must listen to the readers as well.

How to Approach Advice You Don't Agree With:

1. Explain what you intended for the part in question to convey.
2. If the critic insists what you wrote doesn't convey what you intended it to or that what you want just doesn't work, ask for suggestions.
3. Listen carefully, take notes.
4. If you still don't agree, ask for a second opinion. Take more notes. If more than one person is giving you similar feedback and suggestions, you need to review your work with a more open mind.
5. Fix accordingly.
6. If all else fails, try changing the part in question on your own. Try working with what you want but switch it up and ask critics to review it once more.

When Should You Reject Advice?

1. You've gone through the steps above.
2. You're INSTINCT, not your pride, is still opposing the advice, no matter how you try to see it.
3. You are the god of your literary world and if others oppose it, you make the final decisions in the end.

If your feedback isn't from a critique person or group, but from an editor, you cannot reject advice as freely of course. In that case, you should really try to see your work from an objective point of view. If needed, let it breathe for a couple days, than go back to it. Usually, some space from your work will change your perspective and let you look at your work with fresh eyes. 

A Rookies Take on Querying

In my previous post, I told you a little bit about my querying journey so far and listed some thing I learned about what should be done before you start querying. Well here's what I've learned about querying itself. I'm not sharing technical advice, there are tons of resources for that. Although some may be, I'm concentrating more on the state of mind.

Rejection

As the first few rejections trickled in, my husband looked at me with worry, knowing my sensitive ways. He repeated J. K. Rowling's story each time I told him I got another no and paired it up with a pep talk. I had prepared myself for rejection and promised myself that I wouldn't get discouraged until a certain number. So I smiled at my well meaning husband and told him I was fine. 

And you'll be fine too. I've passed the number of rejections I promised I would take well, but I've had so much practice that now I shrug my shoulders and move on. Every no is a signal that maybe I could be doing something better...or...my work really, wasn't for them. This is one of the reasons I joined a workshop. The positive feedback and constructive criticism helped build my confidence, and trust in my ability to tell a good story.

Query Letter

...is so important. Put time and effort into it. Even get someone to look over it. Your letter is the first impression and if you're not getting requests for fulls or partials, your query letter is to blame. It really is. Here's an example. One of the agencies I was submitting to didn't want a query letter sent in, but a form to be filled out. I did copy and paste a lot of the answers with parts of my query letter, but they asked for more. What morals are taught, if any. Lessons learned. And more. I filled out the form, answering the questions with passion because I really believe in my story and the main character. That agency asked for my manuscript. Now I know, I could improve my query letter's content. 

Read Agents' Blogs

During this process, agents may seem like cold, heartless gatekeepers, when really they're not. I follow countless agents on Twitter and read their blogs. A lot of them explain that when they say no, it could be for many different reasons YOU DON'T HAVE CONTROL OVER. Yes, this sucks because now it seems it's really all a game of chance, but it's reality. An agent's mood can affect his/her decision. I know, bummer, right. But think of yourself when you're scanning possible titles to read. A book that didn't catch your attention on day may catch it the next. Just like food. Understanding the delicate nature of an agent's decision making process, helps to handle the sting of a no a lot better. 

Besides that, they offer tons of great advice and updates on what's happening in the market. 

Start Building Your Platform Now!

Don't wait for your book to get published...DO IT NOW! Get into the online writing community and build your platform now. Don't sit on your hands and wait for responses. You need to actively work on your career as a writer. Put your name out there and keep writing. 

Appreciate the Personal Rejections

Even though it sucks that yet another agent said no, appreciate it when it's a personal response. A lot of agents are busy and don't have the time to outline why they don't want to represent your work. So when they do, it's a huge bonus (silver lining people...silver lining). Even if it's one short sentence, you get an idea of what's just not doing it for them and it helps a lot. It could be small comments about the concept or writing...anything. 

Do Not Stalk Your Inbox

I mentioned this in the last post. When I sent out my first round of queries, I checked my inbox at least ten times an hour (okay, maybe more) for the first few days. It's not healthy and a waste of emotional energy and time. I have gotten responses in the same day, but more often than not, I get responses within two to four weeks...sometimes more. So don't stalk. Forget about it and do something constructive...like maybe work on your next project.

Research Agents

I don't need to elaborate on this because I already mentioned it in the previous post. I'm mentioning it again because it's something that needs to be done before, and during the querying process.

That's all I can think of to share for now. Until then, happy querying! 

New York Pitch Conference

Gahhhhhh! I'm so excited! 

What am I so excited about? Why, the NYC Pitch Conference of course! It's official! After a lot of insisting (okay, begging) and explaining how this conference would be extremely beneficial for me to my husband, we've decided to go!

I just can't believe I've reached this point where I can honestly say I'm ready for a pitchcon! I can't wait till September and to be able to tell you all about it. 

Hopefully I'll be able to meet some of the writing community members that I've been able to cyber-meet. Will you be attending the conference? Let me know!

A Rookie's Take on What You Should Do Before You Start Querying

It's that wonderful moment...the moment when you've edited and revised your manuscript ten times. The moment when you read over the closing line; the last sentence that you think is smart, witty, magical...just pure genius. Surely an agent or publisher will see that and snatch you and your manuscript right up. That would be great if an agent or publisher even get's to see that genius last sentence.

A few months ago, I was ecstatic to finally reach the querying phase. I had started to draft my letter countless times while writing my book and then countless times while revising it. Each time I would stop myself and opt to write it when I was actually ready. So when I was ready, I wrote it and sent it off. I took the no's with grace, remembering all the great authors dealt with rejection.

I took Chuck Sambuchino's advice and queried only ten...okay eleven agents. Make sure to check out all of his advice on querying and more. He's a great resource. I got no requests for the full MS so like Sir Chuck said, I blamed my query letter and found an editor to help me polish it up. For forty dollars, I had a gleaming query letter and couldn't wait to send out a fresh round.

Still, I got no requests. I worked on the query letter a bit more (really only needed tweaking) and sent out yet another round. I continued this process until I got a request for the full MS. The agent wasn't interested in the end but since then, I've been receiving more personalized rejections, which believe it or not, made me happy. After months of silence and generic rejections, I was happy to get SOME feedback. Guess what, most of it was positive.

There's so much to say about what I've learned so that's why I dedicated this post to what you should do before you start querying.

1. REVISE: I'm so happy I had the patience to revise my book more than five or six times. My book is fuller, brighter, and just soooo much better. This is one thing I did right.
   
2. GET OTHER EYES ON YOUR MS: I resisted this. I wanted to be able to show my book on a shelf in a bookstore, not a Word document. Here's the thing; others will see what you can't. The story is yours so it's easy to miss the holes in your description. They help you eliminate the reader's 'why's' that don't contribute to suspense, just to the reader's frustration. I got a friend to look over my work and she has helped me improve it immensely. Everyone has an avid reader/grammar Nazi (I say that in the most loving way friend o' mine) for a friend. Take advantage of that.
   
3. JOIN A WORKSHOP: Yet another step I desperately tried to resist. It really is worth it and I can't stress how much good it could do for your MS. I had gone to one and read the first six pages of my MS and got the most amazing feedback. Now I'm in another and have more than six people reading my entire book and I will be meeting with them in a week so they can give me feedback. Fellow writers helping fellow writers, it's just what writers do.
   
4. GET YOUR QUERY INTO A WORKSHOP TOO: Never even thought of this! The writer that leads the workshop I attend suggested I use the opportunity to get some extra eyes on my query too.
   
5. WRITE A SYNOPSIS: Yes, something else I was avoiding. You need it, make sure to have it ready.
   
6. RESEARCH YOUR MARKET: It's important to know who your audience is. With that kind of knowledge, you'll know how to sell your book and how to find an agent that will represent you. Which leads to...
   
7. RESEARCH AGENTS: You cannot pitch your YA Fantasy MS to an agent that represents only non-fiction. It is so important to find the agents you feel will match up well with you and your book. Don't just read their bio; look into the books they represent. You don't need to read every book out there, just read the synopsis and/or sample pages to get a feel of what kind of writing and concept grabbed that agent.
   
8. WRITE WHILE YOU WAIT: This isn't a must, but it really helped me settle down while I waited for responses. I had spent the first few days stalking my inbox and that's not healthy. On a less sentimental note: you need to keep yourself writing, whether it be for a blog, for fun, or your next project. Writing is like a muscle, you need to keep it working. AND on an even more serious note: you can't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't set yourself back, and get working on your next project. A lot of authors claim their first published book isn't really their 'first' book. You can always be the exception but why ride on that hope when you can broaden your chances by doing what you love...write, write, and write some more. 

Well, that's pretty much what I've learned so far and can't wait to share with you what I've personally learned during my querying journey. I'm still trudging through it but those who persevere will succeed. 

Greetings!!!

Okay, so that title comes off sounding really dorky. Well, that's me. Speaking of dorky, let me outline what you'll find here, in my lair, because I believe everything should be labeled clearly so you know what to expect.

To start off, I'm a young mom and an aspiring writer. I eat a strange green diet which you can learn more about HERE. It's died down a bit. but I plan on starting i t up again. So that leaves this spot with my other two passions; my beautiful, sweet, perfect, angel baby (NO! I am not biased :D) and my writing.

So what will you get? Possibly funny stories about my beautiful, sweet, perfect, angel baby and my journey of getting published and writing. If I learn something, I promise to share it with you, whether it's about parenthood or writing.

Oh, and maybe I'll share some of my thoughts on my current reads too.

Until next time!