Thank you to everyone who has participated so far in Calling All Critiques, whether you were a submitting author or a critiquer or just stopped by the blogs to see what was going on. The second week’s Rafflecopter random giveaway of two eBooks and a $10 Amazon gift certificate ends on Sunday at midnight, so give some feedback on one of the earlier posts and maybe win some prizes:
The first week’s visiting winner who either commented or followed one of the participating bloggers on Twitter is:
Entry #49
Elliot W.
Elliot, you should have received an email yesterday. You have until Thursday to respond with further information for us to send you your prize. If we don’t hear from you by then, a runner-up will be chosen.
Cover Art Random Winner
As a thank you to all the authors who submitted their work to be critiqued, we’ve randomly chosen one lucky winner who has a choice of the following prizes:
An honest review of his or her book (no horror/hardcore erotica) on MM Jaye Writes AND, if it’s speculative or dark fiction, Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews, with corresponding Amazon and Goodreads reviews.
This week’s winner is:
Entrant #9
Bob Cradock
Bob, look for an email in your inbox later today. You have until Friday to respond as to which of the three prizes you want. If we don’t hear from you by then, a runner-up will be chosen. Once you choose your prize, we will provide you and the blogger with each other’s contact information to coordinate timing.
Next Week: Query Letter or Book Blurb Critique
Starting Saturday, June 7, 2014, at 6 a.m. Eastern and ending Monday, June 9, 2014, at 8 p.m. Eastern, submit your query letter or book blurb to Critiques@Saboviec.com. Cut and paste the following template into your email and fill it in.
The name you want to be known by: Your website (optional):
Title: Genre (include audience, such as YA/Adult, and category):
Entry:
We’re not imposing a word limit for this critique; however, you already know that too long isn’t going to get you an agent or interest in your novel, right?
This week’s deadline: Monday, June 9, 2014, at 8 p.m.
Your entry will be assigned a number in the order in which it is received. Our cutoff is 30 entries. Entries 1-6 will be posted on our blogs Monday morning, entries 7-12 will be posted on our blogs Tuesday morning, etc.
Your email will be kept confidential. What you submit is what will be posted, so double- and triple-check your spelling and grammar. (We may correct crazy formatting errors as a result of email quirks, but still, make sure it’s clean before you press send.) You may resubmit an entry, but it goes to the end of the queue: if you submit it past the 30-entry cutoff, you’ll have lost your spot.
All 30 accepted entrants will be entered into the prize drawing, and the winner will be chosen by their assigned number through Random.org.
As always, if you don’t want both positive and negative feedback, please don’t enter. This event is for us to help one another grow as authors and maybe to make some friends in the process.
Some fine print: Entries that don’t include the above information will be discarded. At our sole discretion, we may also discard other posts for reasons such as offensive/distasteful material. Erotica may be confined only to certain blogs, and we may put an adult content warning on it.
If You Enter, Please …
Critique other entrants. The sky’s the limit on how many other entries you critique, but we ask that you at least provide feedback to two other participants.
Also, when you receive feedback on your entry, be gracious if you decide to respond. We would highly suggest not responding except for perhaps a “thank you,” but you’re going to do what you’re going to do, aren’t you? Don’t be defensive or explanatory; these critiques are for you to improve your writing. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.
And If You Critique, Please …
Be nice. Be constructive. Be specific. Be polite.
Mean-spirited or spam posts will be deleted. General “I love everything about it and I think you’re the next J.K. Rowling, ZOMG!” obviously-written-about-your-best-friend comments won’t be deleted, but that’s tacky. Don’t be tacky.
Join us for more fun next week!
While you wait, check out all the participating blogs and bloggers:
Michael Haley is the author of “Lost on the Edge of Forever,” a spiritual romance of the Fantastique published by Curiosity Quills, released on February 2, 2014. But possibly more importantly, the little dude-to-be mentioned on the book’s author page is now officially a little dude-been-born, and baby & family are healthy and wonderful.
I connected with Michael through Goodreads, after he sent me a kind message about my 5 ways new writers chase away potential readers post. I was intrigued by his language use (which goes to show that we should all polish our language even when commenting on a post) and headed over to his site where I read his novel’s amazing excerpt. My next move was to invite him for a WIP Q&A and asked for the excerpt to be posted on my MM Jaye’s friends write blog. Michael gracefully accepted, so you can read the exciting opening of “Lost on the Edge of Forever” here.
Michael, first of all congratulations on the triumphant arrival of the new member of the family! How are you adjusting so far?
Thank you! Life feels like near-constant fatigue, yet it’s fatigue that makes me feel amazing and ecstatic! Adjusting ourselves back into our normal routines has been a little bit of challenge, but every day it gets a little bit easier. Between a wonderful baby, two working parents, a book that won’t market itself, and new material that is screaming to be written, it’s a lot of work!
Before we talk about your work process, why don’t you tell us a few things about yourself?
I studied both Psychology and English at Iowa State University, although my studies often got pushed aside to study film art and narrative style regardless of what actual classes I was taking. That meant I watched a lot of movies when I should have been studying, but how important is Psychiatric Assessment techniques when there are decades of Jean-Luc Godard films to watch? Although I’ve always been interested in telling stories, it’s through film that I discovered the important of authorial voice in storytelling, and after college I began to hover around expressing that voice through literary rather than cinematic means. As my mind thinks in cinematic terms, my task is to translate what I see as a fully shot, edited, and scored film into a book. And most importantly, have the book read like a literary text as opposed to a junior novelization of 21 Jump Street.
Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of “Lost on the Edge of Forever” in under 200 words.
Leila, an ambitious and brilliant student, is murdered during her final semester at college, yet discovers she’s been reborn as a spirit resigned to haunt the school of her death. Alejandro, a listless and depressed freshman, arrives on campus eager to reinvent himself after eighteen years of awkwardness, as well as a devastating family tragedy, shake his sense of worth and faith to their cores.
These lonely souls meet under the auspice of moonlit rain, and soon find themselves irrevocably, passionately attracted to each other. Leila begins to feel her spiritual body physically reawaken, and Alejandro discovers a kindred spirit who understands him like no one else. Intoxicated with each other, the impossible lovers dream of holding onto their own private miracle forever.
Yet how can Alejandro explain to skeptical friends and family his soul-mate is dead? Why does Leila get the nagging suspicion their romance might contain the secret of her existence? An unexpected act of evil ignites these unavoidable questions, revealing in its afterglow the true purpose of their star-crossed romance. Will love allow them to accept a profound destiny that surpasses time and perhaps even God, or is their love destined to die loud and young? (199 words)
Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?
I aim for the Stephan King quota of 2,000 words a day, but life almost always gets in the way of accomplishing that. I would kill for the ability to consistently put out a first draft every three months – only once was I able to achieve the feet by sheer fluke. I tend to overthink nearly everything, which often prevents me from just writing the text and trusting it to be good enough to make it to the next draft.
Plotter, pantser or both?
Plotter. I’m obsessed with narrative structure and cannot read or view anything without thinking about the skeletal structure underneath the work, which means I’m obsessed beyond all reason with the framework of my own. This might seem paradoxical considering I write almost exclusively character based fiction, but in my experience, most of the character’s growth/voice will naturally emerge from the book if everything else is done right—conflict, pacing, setting, etc. I don’t entirely exclude giving voice specific attention, but it’s never my first concern as I’m much more interested in getting the “gears” of the book right. If you were to criticize the personalities of my characters, I’d probably just shrug and say, “That’s who they are.” But if you were to criticize scenes for being boring, having pacing issues, or other stylistic stuff, then you’d probably see all of your suggestions taken into account on the next revision.
What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?
Generating new material is always much more difficult for me than editing/rewriting previous material, and lack of progress is often an emotional determent for me. So the trick to getting the first draft done is to write something new every day, if only to keep a momentum going as losing momentum has prevented some dear-to-my-heart plots from ever turning into fully realized stories.
Have you ever experienced lack of inspiration or drive to write? If so, how do you motivate yourself?
I wish I could say the act of writing is a transcendent experience I couldn’t live without, but that’d be a lie. Nearly every day, I have grand aspirations to write amazing work, only to lose these aspirations the moment I sit to write. The only way to combat this is to either procrastinate until I can’t stand it anymore, or write with my teeth clenched until the anxiety to write goes away, which will happen eventually but never quick enough. As Roger Ebert never tired of saying, “The muse visits during the act of creation, not before.” The finished product is what makes the process worth it, but the process of writing a first draft I could do without.
Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring?
Lake Michigan
My workspace freely oscillates among a messy desk, an unmade bed, and the fourth floor of the Illinois State University library. None of these are particularly inspiring or remotely interesting to look at, but there is a place I often take mental trips to. The month my father passed away was an extraordinarily stressful time in my life, yet a trip to Chicago afterwards provided me with a chance to gaze deeply into the horizon of Lake Michigan; seemingly vast and yet with the land of Michigan relatively and comfortingly close. The view was calming in that meditative way one can’t put words to, and when writing, I find that thinking about the lake & the horizon is enough to clear the garbage cluttering my mind and get things moving again.
That’s a very tranquil vista indeed. Now your photo is “pinned” on my Featured Writers’ Workspace Board on Pinterest. Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?
A thesaurus to avoid redundant words, but that’s really my only other writing tool. My research often involves reading either fictional novels in the genre appropriate to the scene in question (for stylistic choices) or memoirs written from people with comparable points of view to the fictional characters, and the rest is…well, made up. If a technical detail pops up I will fact check it, but it’s often more pleasing just to avoid the detail and write something more interesting than reality anyway!
How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?
Usually by going out to eat somewhere, or treating myself to buying a book or some other enticing piece of media. I don’t often write “The End” on my books; not because I’m opposed to the concept that stories must be concluded, but because the two words look aesthetically unappealing to me. Aesthetics and presentation matter just as much as content, and I distrust any writer who says that only their words matter. Words of course matter a great deal, but in the world we live in, everything else does too and I think it’s detrimental to success to pretend otherwise.
Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?
As the novel is not self-published, most of the production was covered by my publisher Curiosity Quills, including editing, cover design, etc. However, the house allowed me a terrific amount of creative input on the cover as well as editing, and despite the text having gone through numerous revisions big and small since signing the contract, I can proudly say every word of the text is my vision, a luxury that other authors unfortunately can’t claim with other publishing houses. However that also means if the novel stinks, I have no one to blame but me!
Your blog is Michael Haley (writer). Do you follow a specific branding pattern with your posts or is it a free writing platform?
At the moment it is a free writing platform in the process of becoming; i.e. I need to update it more. The vision for the blog is for readers to find literary, cinematic, and/or other artistic observations, critiques, tips and suggestions, or whatever else is currently obsessing me. My brain is a random place, so who knows what one will find?
Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?
Read nearly everything you can about marketing and promotion—especially this blog, which has a wealth of nuggets, insights, and other wonderful tips and tricks via guest posts such as Nat Russo as well as your own writings on the topic. I don’t feel I can add anything new to the topic that either you or a guest writer haven’t covered, and I’m still attempting not to make most of the mistakes that are so easily made by beginners and dreamers alike.
Thanks a bunch for the positive vote! Is spiritual/paranormal romance the genre you will brand yourself with or do you see yourself branching out in the future?
Although I will brand genres on my books for marketing purposes, I never approach any story as a work of a specific genre or another. The pipeline of work I want to produce includes a political/sci-fi epic, a road novel that combines fairy tales with Jack Kerouac, a literary horror experiment in the vein of Pale Fire, and who knows, maybe even a teenage sex comedy if I can get an original angle on it. The only thing I’m interested in is telling a compelling story, to which genre is an afterthought.
That’s a really diverse scope you’re looking into! Would you like to share with us links where we can find you and your work?
Thank you to everyone who has participated in our first week of Calling All Critiques, whether you were a submitting author or a critiquer or just stopped by the blogs to see what was going on. The Rafflecopter random giveaway of two eBooks and a $10 Amazon gift certificate ends on Sunday at midnight, so give some feedback on one of the earlier posts and maybe win some prizes:
As a thank you to all the authors who submitted their work to be critiqued, we’ve randomly chosen one lucky winner who has a choice of the following prizes:
An honest review of his or her book (no horror/hardcore erotica) on MM Jaye Writes AND, if it’s speculative or dark fiction, Magic & Mayhem Book Reviews, with corresponding Amazon and Goodreads reviews.
This week’s winner is:
Entrant #5
Toya Barnette
Toya, look for an email in your inbox later today. You have until Sunday to respond as to which of the three prizes you want. If we don’t hear from you by then, a runner-up will be chosen. Once you choose your prize, we will provide you and the blogger with each other’s contact information to coordinate timing.
Next Week: Cover Art Critique
Starting Saturday, May 31, 2014 at 6 a.m., submit your cover art to Critiques@Saboviec.com. Cut and paste the following template into your email and fill it in.
The name you want to be known by: Your website (optional):
Title: Genre (include audience, such as YA/Adult, and category):
Attach your cover art to the email in a standard format (.jpg, .gif, .png preferred). Make sure it’s big enough to be legible when viewed at full size on a standard web browser.
Updated info for this week: Your entry will be assigned a number in the order in which it is received. Our cutoff is now 30 entries. Entries 1-6 will be posted on our blogs Monday morning, entries 7-12 will be posted on our blogs Tuesday morning, etc. This week, we will keep accepting entries through Monday or Tuesday, depending on interest. If you get them in before 8 p.m. EDT and spots are open, you will go into the next day’s round.
And all the rest is the same: Your email will be kept confidential. What you submit is what will be posted, so double- and triple-check your spelling and grammar. (We may correct crazy formatting errors as a result of email quirks, but still, make sure it’s clean before you press send.) You may resubmit an entry, but it goes to the end of the queue: if you submit it past the 30-entry cutoff, you’ll have lost your spot.
All 30 accepted entrants will be entered into the prize drawing, and the winner will be chosen by their assigned number through Random.org.
As always, if you don’t want both positive and negative feedback, please don’t enter. This event is for us to help one another grow as authors and maybe to make some friends in the process.
Some fine print: Entries that don’t include the above information will be discarded. At our sole discretion, we may also discard other posts for reasons such as offensive/distasteful material. Erotica may be confined only to certain blogs, and we may put an adult content warning on it.
If You Enter, Please …
Critique other entrants. The sky’s the limit on how many other entries you critique, but we ask that you at least provide feedback to two other participants.
Also, when you receive feedback on your entry, be gracious if you decide to respond. We would highly suggest not responding except for perhaps a “thank you,” but you’re going to do what you’re going to do, aren’t you? Don’t be defensive or explanatory; these critiques are for you to improve your writing. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.
And If You Critique, Please …
Be nice. Be constructive. Be specific. Be polite.
Mean-spirited or spam posts will be deleted.
Join us for more fun next week!
While you wait, check out all the participating blogs and bloggers:
Terry Tyler is an award-winning author, writer and blogger and also blogs for the UK Arts Directory. She has seven novels and a collection of short stories on Amazon. Terry writes in the genres of contemporary women’s fiction/romantic suspense; her latest book is called Kings and Queens, and is a modern day take on the story of Henry VIII and his six wives (a two-digit perfect 5* score so far!). A sequel will be started soon!
Fun fact: I started things with Terry on the wrong foot! Her Twitter bio says that she’s into gangster stuff, and in my “thanks for the follow” tweet I wrote “gangsta stuff”! Terry politely pointed out that those are two different things, and then, for a while, I kept calling her “Tyler” instead of Terry! I’m lucky she was still interested in doing the interview! 🙂
Terry, it’s a pleasure having you here. Apart from your amazing writing credentials, we would like to get to know you a bit better. Could you tell us a few things about yourself?
I live in the north east of England with my husband. I don’t have a great deal to tell you as I mostly live a pretty quiet life these days; I’ve had loads of different jobs (including having my own shop for 4 years, working in a psychiatric hospital, running a deli, all sorts!) and have lived in many different places with all sorts of people but am now happy just stay at home with my husband and write, mostly. We like to hibernate! I enjoy going out to the countryside and seaside, and visiting places of historical interest, too.
Exercise in lean writing: give us a synopsis of your current WIP in under 200 words.
Round and Round is a novella of about 30K words.
Sophie Heron’s fortieth birthday is looming, and she is depressed about her job, her relationship, her whole life, especially since her partner, Chris, has developed an interest in which she definitely doesn’t want to get involved….
Fifteen years before, she had the choice of four men, and can’t help wondering how her life might have turned out if she’d chosen one of the others.
Sophie’s beloved Aunt Flick died in 2001. Sophie felt closer to her than anyone; kind, intuitive and rather unconventional Auntie Flick was her best friend and agony aunt. The two of them had a special place, a tree by a river, where they would go together; when she was a child, Sophie called it the Angel Tree. Now, she visits this idyllic spot whenever she wants to feel close to Auntie Flick, who said she would always take care of her. She often senses her aunt there, waiting for her, under the Angel Tree
As Sophie’s fortieth birthday draws near, she calls on Auntie Flick to show her the way forward ~ and help her look back into the past so that she can see what might have been….
Heart-warming and inspiring! Are you happy with the pace of your work? Do you aim at a specific word count each day?
I am happy with it, yes, I just wish that other things didn’t get in the way, sometimes! Me and every other writer, I should think. I don’t aim at a specific word count each day, because motivation is never a problem. I spend as much time editing and re-writing as I do on the first draft, during which, of course, word count isn’t so relevant.
What’s your worst enemy in getting that first draft finished?
Tiredness! I stop writing, with reluctance, when I’m tired, because I know I won’t produce my best work. When I start to get a headache and sandpaper eyes I know it’s time to pack it in for the day!
I can so relate to that! Could we take a look at your workspace? Is there a particular place you find inspiring? I always write in the same place, at my desk against a blank wall!
Thanks for including yourself in the picture! Now your photo is “pinned” on my Featured Writers’ Workspace Board on Pinterest. That’s one thing we have in common. I also need a blank canvas before me so that those images will conjure… Oh, the darn reading glasses too! 🙂 Apart from Word and Google, do you use any other writing or research tools and apps?
Um…. yes, books…!! If I need to do a lot of research for a novel, I read a lot. I use Google for one-off facts, though, like everyone does. I didn’t know there were any other writing tools and apps!
How do you intend to celebrate writing “The End” on your draft?
I may smile, and tell my husband… that’s about it, though! I’ve written about 17 novels over the years, so it’s not a particularly momentous moment, especially as I then go back to the beginning and start all over again with the first rewrite! I usually leave that for a few days, though.
Which book publishing processes are you going to outsource and which are you confident enough to undertake yourself?
I always edit all my own work; I couldn’t let anyone do that! I feel pretty confident about it now, and can see what’s superfluous, what doesn’t flow right, what needs a bit more detail, etc. All writers need an independent proofreader – mine says she finds between 300 and 800errors in the average, well written novel. My worst thing is missing words – honestly, my proofreader (@ProofreadJulia on Twitter, the best!) finds about 300 per novel in mine! Someone else does my covers and formatting for Kindle, too.
Being confident enough to do your own editing? I bet it takes seventeen books and excellent intuition! Do you have any marketing tips or favorite promotional sites you’d like to share?
Ooh, far too big a subject for an interview answer! This might help, though: follow @BadRedheadMedia and @RachelintheOC on Twitter, and read her blog posts; in fact, read any blog posts you find on the subject, including mine on my blog on UK Arts Directory. In short: be prepared to spend a fair bit of time on promotion if you want to succeed, don’t rush to publish your first book before it’s ready, as if people don’t like it they won’t buy another by you , do plenty of research before paying money for advertising so you don’t get ripped off, always get your work properly proofread (I suggest Julia, or @wendyproof) and realise that securing a regular readership is a long process – it might take longer than a few months!
Actually, it was through your UK Arts Directory posts I connected with you! Very insightful! Is contemporary/women’s fiction the genre you will settle in, or do you see yourself branching out in the future?
I have never decided on a genre, I just write the story I want to write. I don’t think about genre when I start a novel, I worry about that later. Inadvisable, so they tell me! One of my books, Dream On, is a bit ‘lad lit’, and has never sold as well as the others. It’s got the best review average of all my books, but I think the fact that it starts off with some guys in a rock band alienated some of my readers who were used to me writing more about female relationships. I stay more women orientated now! Kings and Queens has an historical element to it, and Round and Round has a hint of the paranormal, but they’re all instantly identifiable as my books. I think it’s best to stay in roughly the same genre, because your readers want to know what to expect.
Would you like to share with us links where we can find you and your work?
Quick reminder: Tomorrow (Saturday, May 24) starting at 6 a.m. EDT, we’re accepting entries to the Calling All Critiques event. Next week, we’re doing critiques of your first 500 words.
How to Enter
Submit your entry to Critiques@Saboviec.com. Cut and paste the following template into your email and fill it in.
Your name/pseudonym: Your website (optional):
Title: Genre (include audience, such as YA/Adult, and category): Entry:
Your first 500 words may run slightly over in order to finish at the end of a sentence.
Acceptance of entries closes on Sunday, May 25, at 5 p.m. EDT.
More Details
Questions? Check out some of the earlier blog posts or leave a comment below:
I absolutely loved this post! Although I’ve read dozens of similar, empowering efforts offering advice I appreciated, I couldn’t put it to use. Ray’s tips, though, are “doable” in my little world, and I’m writing this about a month after he posted his article to prove to myself and you, dear reader, that this is solid advice: I’ve completed the first chapter of Fate Captured, the prequel to Fate Accomplis, my first contemporary romance with a November release date. See? It works! Over to you, Ray! (Click on the title to go to Ray’s site.)
If you’ve ever tried to be a writer, at some point you will no doubt have come across the sagely advice that to become a good writer, you must write every single day. There is certainly truth to this: writing is a skill, and like any skill, the more…
Thank you to everyone who has participated so far in Calling All Critiques, whether you were a submitting author or a critiquer or just stopped by the blogs to see what was going on. The second week’s Rafflecopter random giveaway of two eBooks and a $10 Amazon gift certificate ends on Sunday at midnight, so give some feedback on one of the earlier posts and maybe win some prizes:
Beyond the Mind Maze 