Mid-week Writer Blues

I have some fun blogging stuff planned for later this week, such as my second book review from that recent Barnes&Noble trip, and also a post revolving around a Donald Maass quote that I think is really interesting. Problem is that I've got a momentary case of the mid-week blues.

I haven't been motivated to do much editing, which is okay because I need to brainstorm anyway, but I always feel a bit mopey and unfulfilled when I'm not working. Also, I really want some fiction to munch on, but I need to wait for the weekend before trundling out to buy some. Plus I burnt my tongue on scalding tea and everything tastes funny. Thus! Feeling the blues.

My cure for this is always to go out and dig up some fun writing stuff online. Today the stuff is so good, I thought I'd share it.

First here's a link to Jim C. Hines fiction survey results. He basically asked a bunch of authors what they did in order to sell their first novels. From these results, he helps debunk a bunch of interesting publishing prepositions--like "You have to know somebody to get a book deal" and "you've got to publish short stories before even thinking about a novel!" His analysis is great, mixed with just enough humor to make the statistics interesting. Also, not going to lie, it was a relief to see some of these debunked by cold facts.

And to finish it off, here's a little satire video entitled "The Best Book Ever" that had me laughing. Thanks, Nathan Bransford! (and because certain browsers will cut the screen off, here's the original Youtube page)

News and Interviews

There’s a few things I didn’t get the chance to talk about in my last post. First off, more interviews! I’m currently talking to a few authors, and four have already agreed to appear here on Headdesk. Those four authors are, in no particular order:

 

Carol Ayer. Her novella Storybook Love is being released June 16^th, and if all goes well, her interview will be up on the same day. Carol Ayer is the wonderful lady who told me my article had been published – lets give her a clap out, or better yet, comment on her interview when it comes!

Next is Sarah Ockler. Her novel Twenty Boy Summer debuted June 1rst. Don't you just love the cover art? Hopefully, we can get the interview posted sometime this month.

Danielle Laurens is the debut author of Shrinking Violet. The release was only a few days ago, and I'm excited to get Danielle over here for an interview. 

Finally we have Jennifer Laurens, who’s book Heavenly is coming out this August. Not sure when this one will be up due to the release date, but it's definitely one to look forward to.  

 

Those are just the authors who’ve responded. I’ve still got at least…let me count…four or five more who have yet to reply back. The authors I interview have always been extremely cooperative, and for a long time I’ve wanted to find another way to support them. So now if you’ll just look over at my sidebar, you should find a widget displaying the books of authors I’ve interviewed. If you enjoy their interview, give them the courtesy of checking out their books! (One note. I’ll try my best, but some authors I interview are published by small presses, and I may not be able to list their book if I can't find it on Amazon or Goodreads.)

You should also notice a second widget displaying a rotation of books by the 2009 Debutantes. This is part of their incredibly simple contest that goes like so: you post the rotating-book widget somewhere prominent on your blog, myspace, whatever. You then post your link in the comment section of this post. Contest ends June 22, and then the debutantes randomly select three of the entrants as prizewinners. And the prize packages are incredible! Each package has around nine signed books by the debutanes, plus cash gifts and giftcards to stores like iTunes and Starbucks. The only catch is that you must keep your widget up until the end of ‘09. 

You can see that I entered. I highly suggest that if you enjoy reading YA, you scurry over and enter yourself. Official rules here, widget here.

We all know that getting an agent is tough enough, but once we have an agent, it doesn't get any easier. The submission process is tough - and my good friend Chandler Craig is starting an agented support group on her blog Fumbling With Fiction. (scroll to the bottom of the post.) Here's a description: 

I’ll post a series of guest blogs of agented writers who have yet to land their first book deal and published authors who took a longer time to make that first sale. The series will deal with a variety of issues including how to stay motivated, what to work on, and tips on not going insane.

Chandler is a blast, and I'm sure her group is going to be both fun and educational. I highly suggest you check this out if you and your agent are struggling through submissions. 

Finally, some hard evidence that books covers effect sales. Jennifer Laurens has a fascinating post up on her blog about the process of creating a book cover and how changing her book cover has directly impacted her sales. Big time. I’m not surprised one bit, because I always judge a book by it’s cover. (Is it the artist in me, or am I just shallow?) There have been good books I put down because I couldn’t get over the cheesy packaging. There have been books I kept putting down from content, but gave extra chances because it kept drawing my eyes. Anyway, It’s a cool, fun post and I suggest you check it out.

That’s all for today. Don’t forget about the upcoming interviews, and sometime soon I’ll list the names of everyone published in the final issue of ByLine Magazine.  

Truly and always,

-Creative A 

Weekend Fun

I've discovered quite a lot of good links, lately, and I thought it was about time for some Saturday linkage fun. 

First is an interview with author Stephen Koch, talking about his book The Modern Library Writer's Workshop: a Guide to the Craft of Fiction. Sound familiar? It should, because I've ranted about his fiction guide a few times now. Yes, the title is long. But the book is great. And the interview actually has some good advice for fiction writers. My favorite quote: 

"Listen, the number of people who really encourage young writers is very, very small. Most of the time, a young unpublished writer is facing not only her or his own self-doubt, but frozen indifference “out there” and a lot of nay saying from people up close. What on earth would be the point of adding my voice to this overwhelming negative chorus? ...I remember the student who set me straight: 'You’re wondering whose going to tell us how hard it is? Who’s going to warn us about failure? Everybody, that’s who.'" 

That quote in and of itself made me read the book.

Our next link is of another interview, of another fiction guide. Isn't this exciting? Authors Sandra Newman and Howard Mittlemark talk about their book How NOT to Write a Novel, which they describe as a satiric dictionary of newbie mistakes and solutions. This is one of those short interviews you can read in five minutes, but it's worth it for the humor alone. My favorite line:

"Interviewer: 'Everyone has a novel in them.' Discuss. 

Howard Mittlemark: Everyone has a kidney in them too. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to try to take it out."

You can check out the How NOT to Write a Novel website for more humor. 

I can't remember if I've linked to this before, but I think I'm going to go ahead and link to it again: Noah Lukeman's short e-book How to Write a Great Query is up for free download on Amazon. I can't say much about that, since I've downloaded it, but been too busy to read it. So. Is it fun?

Next link up is the Gender Genie. Supposedly, it can tell you the gender of a whoever is writing a particular manuscript, which it does by analyzing 500 word chunks of writing. (The more words, the better it can analyze.) Okay, you say. Neat but pointless. Except that this can be very helpful if, say, you're a girl writing from the POV of a guy. 

Have you ever wondered if your novel's title is of bestseller quality? This Lulu Titlescorer will look at your title and analyze your chances of getting a number one hit. Is it accurate? Well, try typing in Twilight or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and you'll see they scored 59.3% and 14.6%, respectively. The analyzer favors short, figurative titles, especially ones with verbs and nouns. The site itself admits that there's a margin of doubt. But they also say "it guessed right in nearly 70% of the cases." My opinion is that this is a pretty decent yardstick for whether your title works or not. 

Our third random-fun link is a list of writer mistake terms. The Turkey City Lexicon lists and describes everything from Said Bookisms, to Tom Swifties, to As You Know Bob, and Dues ex Machina. It's a great list. I think some of the titles could have been changed and some of the explanations would have made more sense with real examples, but all in all, I found it helpful. Favorite quote: 

"Burly Detective" Syndrome

Fear of proper names. Found in most of the same pulp magazines that abound with "said" bookisms and Tom Swifties. This is where you can't call Mike Shayne "Shayne" but substitute "the burly detective" or "the red-headed sleuth." Like the "said" bookish it comes from the entirely wrong-headed conviction that you can't use the same word twice in the same sentence, paragraph, or even page. This is only true of particularly strong and highly visible words, like, say, "vertiginous." It's always better to re-use an ordinary, simple noun or verb rather than contrive a cumbersome method of avoiding it.

And FINALLY, I have for you a short video entitled Octopus Love. It has nothing to do with writing except that it's a great story. I mean, look at the stakes! The video is less than three minutes long, and the stakes get raised at least four or five times. I think it's a great example of the tension-release process we are supposed to develop in our writing. Plus it's hilarious. 

Enjoy!

-Creative A 

Stories of Encouragement

So. Here we are, full-throttle in the middle of week 2. If someone ever needed encouragement, it was now. With that in mind, I searched the web for stories of Wrimos clawing their way through November. Here are their links. 

Blogging the experience, live from Rule-TwentyNine and 10-30-Iotaabr. 

Bloggers Starstuff and WCM talk about their continuing Nano experience. Over at Rule-TwentyNine, the entries kick of with a summary of each days experience starting October 30^th through November 5^th. Other posts such as First Full Saturday, Arduous In-Betweens, and Riding the Wave, continue Starstuff's Nanowrimo saga. Meanwhile, WCM writes a letter to a "horribly pathetic excuse for a protagonist" - am I hearing frustration? - and welcomes everyone to Week 2 doldrums. Both bloggers plan to continue posting new updates across the month, so don't forget to check them out every so often. 

Nano Pep Talks

This is a series of short talks by published authors – Neil Gaimen, Sara Gruen, and Sue Grafton, among others. These authors talk about the tough stuff. Writer’s block. Lack of inspiration. How to push, how to shut out the inner editor, how to write the novel already, dangit! These guys know our pain. And this is their best advice on the subject.

Interview 

Here’s an interview with Chris Baty himself, Nanowrimo founder, and the reason for all this craziness. Chris talks about the Nanowrimo community and how the experience has affected people. He even offers a tip for week 2! This is a fun, inspiring interview that made me get excited about Nano all over again.

 

Enjoy reading the stories. To all Wrimos out there, keep up the good work, and I hope the stories give you enough strength to type that next word. Just repeat after me – all I have to do is get to week 3. That’s all. Just. Get. To Week. 3.

See you there. 

-Creative A

 

Developments

Today I woke up and thought it was Friday. Between last Wednesday and today, I lost 24 hours…0.o…

In light of this, I do not have a normal blog post to give you all. Please accept this comic of Inkygirl as a token of my regret.

Credit of this comic goes to: Debbie Ridpath Ohi, of Inkygirl: Daily Diversions for Writer’s.

In lieu of a real post, I do have some interesting personal/blog news:

On July 21rst, Chandler Marie Craig is going to interview me over at Fumbling with Fiction. This is part of her very enjoyable “Featured Writer of the Day” series. It’s also the first time I’ve ever been interviewed. I’m pretty sicced. Please check it out and comment!

As for this blog: In June, I upped my posting schedule from once a week to twice a week. I wanted to regularly talk about writing how-to issues as well as online resources I uncovered, and blogging once a week wasn’t cutting it. But now it seems I’ve taken on too much – besides this blog, I also write my novel, critique other’s work online, and write for a local newspaper. As a direct result of that I feel the blog is suffering.

I started Headdesk because I felt people did a lot of talking about writing, but weren’t learning much. I wanted to write a blog where people could use the topics in their own writing. But now, I don’t have enough time to get to those in-depth topics. And I feel bad about that. So I’m thinking about going back to posting once a week; at least for the summer.

But how do you feel about all of this? Have you noticed the difference? Would you rather have two posts weekly, or more in-depth, once a week posts about the craft of writing? How do you feel about the resources I’ve highlighted and the authors I’ve interviewed? Should I change things? Should I keep them the same?

There’s a poll about all this in the sidebar. Please vote, and let me know your opinions in the comments section. I’m open to ideas.

 

-Creative A 

 

 

 

For the Procrastinator Among Us

I thought this Sunday we’d do something fun. Here are two writing-related links for you to waste time on, as well as some book giveaways I spotted.

Link the first: Author Versus Character.

This is a wry blog post about an author and it’s character dueling out their different opinions. If you’ve ever felt like your characters are secretly grumbling at you, throwing fits when they don’t like the direction the story is taking…then this is for you. The satire is awesome. 

Link the second: TV Tropes. 

Self-labeled as a being about the tropes of fiction, not the clichés, this site contains humorous articles about, well, tropes. It’s beyond addicting and something you just have to see for yourself.

As for the book giveaways:

Susan Breen hosts a monthly contest/giveaway for her debut novel, “The Fiction Class.” The contest ends by July. Check out the rules here on her website, and here on her blog.

Keri Mikulski is hosting the giveaway of two YA books, “That Summer” by Sarah Dressen and “A Bad Bride’s Tale” by Polly Williams. The contest ends June 30^th. The rules are here.

 

So there you go. Kick back in your sweats, enter some giveaways, play around, and enjoy.

 

-Creative A

Query Shark

If you’re drafting a query letter or looking for critique on one, check out Query Shark. This is a relatively new site dedicated to critiquing queries. As quoted directly from the site:

You can send a query letter to the Shark.

It might get posted and critiqued.

It might not.

You'll know either way.

You can send a revised query letter after the critique. You MUST include the post number for it to be posted and critiqued as well.

To send work to the shark: email your query letter to janet at fineprintlit dot com

You MUST put Query Shark in the subject line to have it be considered for the blog.

Not all queries will be critiqued.

 

Query Shark mentions somewhere that she accepts revisions of previous queries. This is a pretty interesting site by someone who doesn’t waste her words. And he cool thing is if you’re too chicken to get your queries torn apart, you can read the other queries that did. Muahahah.

 

-Creative A

 

Psst: This review was not paid for or sponsored. 

Young Writers

It's the awful truth that young writers don’t get much respect in the real-writing world. My personal opinion is that they get a bad rep from all those other teens, the ones that are playing with writing. Or, all they care about is getting published, regardless of whether they're good enough or not.

Another thing is that they have less life experience. I'll admit it, a 40 year old will know a lot more than a 14 year old, or even an 18 year old. But that doesn't make the adult a better writer. It just makes them older.

Young writers have a lot going against them. But it's been done - look at the authors Christopher Paolini, Alexandra Adornetto, and freelancer Lauren Berger. These are young writers that went out there and DID IT. They got published with a bang. People took them seriously. But do you know why? Because they took their writing seriously.

Let’s talk about getting real.

First: get real about writing. You know all that advice people give you? All those “dumb rules” like show, don’t tell, be more descriptive, blah blah blah? Every writer needs to listen to that advice. EVERY WRITER. Including J.K. Rowling, and Scott Westerfield, and Stephenie Meyer. 

Start fleshing out your characters. Edit your novels - a good edit should take at least half as long as writing your novel did. Avoid plot clichés. You should set a goal to learn as much as you can about writing, and to finish almost every story you start. Until you do, you won’t be ready for the publishing world.

Next: get real about publishing. You can’t just send a publisher your manuscript. There are steps to take and rules to follow. In following entries I’ll try to discuss the specifics of some of these rules, but for now, let me just say that getting published is not easy. You’ll receive a lot of rejection, and you need to deal with that. You need to be respectful and businesslike. You’ll need to do research. 

Thirdly: get real about what it means to BE published. Being published comes with responsibilities. You need to promote your work, improve your craft, and network like a crazy person. You need to realize that getting published once doesn’t guarantee you’ll get published again. You won’t become a famous author overnight. Or ever. And don’t you dare think you’re a finished product – even the greatest writers are still learning.

Finally: get real about being realistic. I know that doesn’t make sense, so let me explain. If you try to get too realistic you might start doubting yourself. You might feel overwhelmed. Writing is partially a faith process, and without that trust in yourself, you won’t be able to write squat. You need to expect the worst and hope for the best. Or in other words: write your plans in pencil, and give God the eraser.

I know. It’s some heady stuff. Let me explain how the mentality of “plan in pencil” works: You write, you edit, you learn more about writing, and you gather yourself a bunch of people that believe in you. You set small goals - a certain number of words per day, better descriptions, a finished work by next quarter. You'll learn about publishing. You send out your finished works, but you don’t die if they aren’t accepted. And if they ARE accepted, you keep on going as you’ve gone before, learning, working, proving to the world that you can do this. 

Try Googling the words “writing articles,” “writing forums,” “writing fiction,” etc. Or check out these websites:

www.writermag.com

www.fanfiction.net

www.thefirstline.com

www.absolutewrite.com

www.fictionfactor.com

www.wherethemapends.com

 

- Creative A