But I was interviewed the other week and the post has finally gone up. Go check it out! It’s all about my querying process and finding the perfect agent

Regardless of whether it was or not, I always saw my prose as one of my weakest writing skills. Which is funny, since in a way, writing IS prose. I knew I could only strengthen my prose by reading a lot more and by performing a lot more writing exercises. I especially wanted to “break” the YA-sound that naturally came to my words, so I didn’t read a single young adult book for a year. I avoided them like the plague (which is ironic, since  three of the last four books I’ve written are all YA. Funny how that happens).

While I’m hardly done learning, I’ve noticed in the last six months that I’ve gotten better feedback on my prose, which is still shocking to me (but makes me incredibly happy). And since Juliana, for some reason,  thinks I know what I’m doing and she’s officially “legit,” I’m hoping some of what I have to say will be helpful.

I’d like to share four exercises that really helped strengthen both my prose and my attention to detail:

Exercise 1: The Copycat

Find a book with prose and descriptions that you really admire and select an especially strong paragraph from its pages. Copy it down. You pay a lot more attention to how an author writes when you freehand it. (My personal book of choice for this exercise isBlackdog by K. V. Johansen.)

Once that is done, write your own paragraph, but do it in the same pattern as the paragraph you copied. So if you copied down The looming house, complete with mustard-colored shutters and black cat in the front window, you would write something like, “The heavy sky, filled with cake-like clouds and a faded sun on the east horizon.”

It’ll make you think.

Exercise 2: Stare Until Your Eyes Bleed

Grab a pen, a notebook, and a timer and get yourself lost somewhere. A park, a bookstore, the auto-aisle at Walmart, whatever suits your fancy. (Though I do recommend starting somewhere nature-y.)

Sit down. Find something to stare at.

Now set your timer for 15 minutes and describe that thing.

After the first minute or two, once you run out of adjectives like “green,” “big,” and “dark,” your brain will start straining for new ways to detail its stare-spot. No pausing. Write down anything that could describe that tree, that bench, that woman with the pink overalls, even if it’s ridiculous. By minute six, you should be starting to break the confines of the box.

Exercise 3: Default to Worldbuilding

All writers worldbuild in one way or another, even if they don’t write fantasy or science fiction. Build upon the setting, build upon characters’ pasts. Even if it’s not relevant to the story. Because when you build a world outside the confines of the story, it feels more real. Not just to you, but to the reader. Readers can tell how much thought you’ve put into a story, believe me. And who knows . . . one of those extraneous details might come in handy later in the story; it might add a sense of realness to a scene, or might even solve a plot hole.

As an exercise, create a place–a city, a planet, a park–and describe it until its real. What kinds of trees it has, when the last lightning storm came, what it looked like 3,000 years ago. Weather, square mileage, population, flora and fauna. That weird lake smell that always hits between 10 and 11:30 at night. The homeless man named Bruce who sits on the corner of Main and Luther Street, except on Sundays when he relocates to the Evangelical church because he gets more handouts. 

And when you’re writing your own book, go above and beyond, even if half your worldbuilding knowledge never makes it into the story. Tolkien spent 20 years on his world, we certainly can spend a couple weeks on ours.

Exercise 4: Buy The Writer’s Portable Mentor by Priscilla Long

There are a lot of great writing books out there (some of my favorites are How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder). One of the problems with the bulk of writing books, however, is that they don’t focus on prose. They focus on story: plot, setting, character. And those elements are crucial. But what if you want to strengthen your actual words?

The Writer’s Portable Mentor by Priscilla Long is an AMAZING book that focuses almost entirely on prose. I truly believed it made me a better writer. It’s full of exercises that will strengthen your ability to describe. I’ve read through it twice, and when I read it a third time I’m positive I’ll find golden nuggets of knowledge I missed. Check it out from the library, at the very least.

I would love to hear about what authors you admire for their prose, and other exercises you recommend to strengthen prose!

This is an example of a bouldering wall! All hand/foot holds are marked with a piece of colored tape. Each of the colors represent a level of difficulty  When climbing, you follow a path using only one of the colors and are only allowed to use those hand/foot holds. This is called a problem. Unlike rock climbing, bouldering does not use ropes or clips.

This is a close up picture of the same wall, but here I’ve circled in yellow all of the problems that are tagged with a dark green piece of tape (this is an easy beginners problem! hehe ) In the video I’ve posted below, you’ll see the girl (that’s me!) climbing only using the holds highlighted in the picture above- I also use the crack in the wall too.

I completely encourage everyone to try out bouldering, and when you go, find someone there to help you get a feel for the problems. Climbers are incredibly friendly and love to offer assistance (at least most of them are). It’s a wonderful stress reliever, and when you finish a problem you’ve been struggling with, you feel like superwoman.

Have you ever tried bouldering or rock climbing?

Have you ever seen a professional marathoner run? Smooth, efficient, powerful…and cruising along at sub 5 minute miles. Watching them, it seems as if their bodies are designed to move that fast (and perhaps they are), that they’re barely working at all. That’s not at all how I look when I run. Not even close.

Saying I’ve run a marathon (and shorter distances) does not mean I have ever performed well. I merely completed them. Completing and doing well are two very different things.

This time around (I’m running another half-marathon just a few weeks from now), I decided to do things a bit differently. I turned to my boyfriend for support and for a training plan. He put together a  plan designed just for me, for what I can handle without getting burnt out, and what would prepare me for the race the very best. Today, 3 months into my training plan, I can honestly say I’ve never felt more prepared and I’ve never been in better shape.

Over the past months I have often thought about how my running training plan has helped me become a more confidant runner. Is it possible that this idea of ‘training’ can be applied to my writing also? Could I create a ‘training plan’ for my writing that would, over the course of three months, help me to become better, to produce more, to become more efficient at my passion?

Those professional runners? They work their butts off to become that good…literally. I suppose this is the same for writing. The more I work, the more I stick to my training plan, the better I will become.

Do you ‘train’ yourself for your passion?

And now, help me welcome Letitia! *cheers!*

Writing for the web is different than writing for any other medium. Simply put, writing for the web means you write for an audience of scanners rather than readers.

And no, this is not a post about writing for digitizing devices or robots. Although that could be kind of an awesome topic to cover.

What I mean is the majority of us (79%, according to older but well-known research) are simply not interested in reading word-for-word online. We may do this in our offline lives, but on the web we generally want to get in, get out and get on to the next thing.

So we scan.

We look for headlines

We look for emphasis.

We look for bold text.

• We
• look
• for
• lists!

We look for content that is quoted or otherwise made to stand out.

When all else fails, we decide tl;dr (too long; didn’t read) and generally move on without remorse. Why we do this is unclear – perhaps the information superhighway is speeding along so fast, we’re afraid to slow down – but online scanning is a habit well-ingrained for many of us.

In fact, you may only read 20-30% of the words in this post!

What does this mean for web writers**? Be a ruthless editor on the web. Instead of including more content, more details, more descriptive words or marketese, aim for less. Focus on what you really mean to say and make every word count.

When in doubt: spread it out. Don’t be afraid to break up long sentences, paragraphs or whole posts and pages to create some breathing room. Use well-placed spacing and any of the formatting tricks noted above to guide your audience to the key points.

The more you respect your readers’ time and attention by working with their instincts, the more likely those readers will find your content enjoyable and want to come back for more.

**Of course, this presumes that you are writing in hopes of attracting an online audience and selling something (your stories, your knowledge, your products/services). Different cases may call for different approaches!

***

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed Letitia’s post as much as I did. I also have to include the fact that she is extraordinarily creative! She recently opened an Etsy shop called Sock Doll Stories. I have one of my own and sent one to a friend for her birthday- go check them out!

How do I open a query? What should the first line be? – ImJustCasey

Dear NAME,

You’d be surprised how many people don’t address their queries to a specific agent (or spell the agents name wrong!)

Once you’ve done that, you have a couple of options. Some people choose to jump straight into their novel summary, while others feel more comfortable giving a short introduction to their manuscript first. Both options are perfectly fine, but if you’d like to open with something, you have a few options.

If the manuscript was requested (either during a contest, on a blog, or at a conference), feel free to reference this fact. Something as simple as “Thank you so much for requesting my query via #PitMad (or at the Writer’s Digest West Conference, etc.) Below you’ll find….” And then whatever it is that you’re including (query, pages, synopsis, etc.)

If you’re querying without having been requested (which is totally fine…no shame in being discovered in the slush!), then you can start with something as simple as “I am seeking representation for TITLE, my WORD COUNT + GENRE. Below I have included…” and then whatever it is they ask for in their submission guidelines (found on the agency website).

What are the vital elements of a query: ie, format, biography, stakes?

A good query will include THREE ELEMENTS:

1. a brief summary (2 paragraphs or so) of your book
2. info about the title/word count/genre.
3. a short bio containing information that is RELEVANT to your novel.  Are you writing a non-fiction book about water skiing? You better mention that you have an Olympic medal in aquatic sports. Or whatever. Shut Up.

That’s it. But! I also recommend including a tailored message to the agent (ie I’m querying you because you said you were interested in Dragon tales, and by jove, I’ve written one!). 

Is it true that your query should be personalized for each agent?

Yes.

How do you write a query when your book has multiple POVs? – similar to @RebeccaEnzor’s question

This is so tricky, isn’t it? I’m going to admit to you guys that I have yet to do this. In fact, my current ms SIGHTLESS is told from the pov of a 16yo, but the novel is interspersed with chapters from her mother’s pov. And yet, I chose not to write a multi pov query. I decided that since the 16yo dominated the majority of the novel, it was unnecessary to include her mother’s pov in the query.

However, if you’re writing a novel that is split evenly between two characters (or even 70%, 30%), you may not be able to do that. Juliana and I were discussing this very issue, and she showed me a great query that was written from a single pov, but managed to make it clear that there were many POVs in the novel.  You can check it out here.

If that doesn’t appeal to you, then you can include both points of view. Again, you have options. Some people like to write their query from the pov of an actual character. If this is your style, then you’re going to have to dedicate one paragraph to each character, and make sure that  a) both characters have distinctive voices, and b) your paragraphs aren’t repetitive. Honestly, this is so difficult to do well, that I think you might want to skip it unless you think it’s ABSOLUTELY necessary for your novel.

The other option is to address what’s happening to both characters from an omniscient pov, focusing on the MAIN CONFLICT to organize events. It’s tricky, and I highly encourage you to make sure your final product makes sense by showing it to critique partners (or to me!)

Ultimately, it’s a balancing act, and you have to decide which option works best for your novel and your voice.

What’s the ideal word count range for a query? And the max number of sentences allowed in a query (does it matter?) – @ifeomadennis

I’ve heard it said that the ideal word count is 250 words, but I think this is, once again, dependent on you and your query. Less is always more in terms of word count, but don’t freak out if you’re at 300 words or even 225. Just make sure you’ve said everything you need to say, and not a word more.

How should a writer detail expertise in a certain period, especially if a history buff who researched a lot, not a professor? – @ConniDowell

If you mean, how do you make it clear in your summary, then my answer is: just write the novel summary, and let the research shine through. If you’re writing historical fiction and you’re including a specific location and historical events/people, I think it’ll be self-explanatory that you’ve done your research.

However, if your question actually pertains to your bio paragraph, then you can include your interest in a given area of study. Don’t go on and on, though. Just mention that you’ve spent quite a lot of time researching Ancient Egypt, and that your research played a large part in the creation of your novel, in particular the characterization of the Pharaoh. Or whatever.

I’d love to hear about historical fiction queries. Should one detail whether certain places and events are real or imagined? – @ConniDowell

If a place is real, I think the agent will recognize it. Same goes for invented places—if the reader doesn’t recognize it, they’ll assume its imaginary. Obviously this isn’t a perfect solution, so if you’re still not sure it’s clear, you can always say the setting was “inspired by REAL CITY HERE” when you get to the penultimate paragraph of your query (you know, the one where you give the title, word count, and genre).

What’s a good way to go about researching agents and finding the agent that’s right for your book?

Ah, I love this question! Researching is one of my favorite parts of this process, after the writing itself. Here’s what I’ve found:

1. Websites like agentquery.com and literaryrambles.com are GREAT resources for finding agents.
2. I  found a bunch of agents via Twitter (you follow one agent, you get a suggestion to follow two more…etc).
3. You can also buy books, but that’s really not necessary. Or cheap.
4. You should also find out who represents books that are similar to your own. I’m working on a YA fantasy project, so I found out who reps J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter), Jennifer Bosworth (Struck), Leigh Bardugo (Shadow and Bone), Veronica Roth (Divergent), and on and on.
5. Another way to get an agent is by entering contests on blogs. I found most of these through twitter. Even if all the agents ignore you, you’ll meet people who can be VERY helpful critique partners. I’ve made some great friends this way, and I rely on them a lot when it comes to feedback.
6. Yet another way to get an agent is through twitter hashtags. Keep an eye on #pitchmaddness or #pitmad. Basically, you write your book pitch in 140 characters or less (this part sucks, take it from me) and if an agent likes it, they’ll ask you to send them a query. It’s still the query model, but you already have an “in” that way.

I found over 200 agents this way, all of whom represent YA Fantasy (which is what I’ve written most recently).

Pro Tip: If you plan on writing in more than one genre or for more than one age group, then make sure the agents you’re querying are open to this. No point is querying an agent who ONLY represents non-fiction if someday you plan on writing a novel for Middle Grade readers.

How important is it that [the agent] be located physically near you? Same coast? Same continent? Thanks! – @Swan Mountain

Not important at all. If it was, we’d all have to move to NYC (not that I’d mind…)

Last: give a quick and dirty tip for making a query shine!

Write it, then put it away in a deep dark corner of your computer and leave it there for AT LEAST a few days—a week if you can stomach it. You’ll be amazed how much more clearly you can see the query after some time apart from it.

***

Lastly, as Juliana mentioned, I’ve started my own query critique business at laurenspieller.com. Stop on by and see me sometime. I’m happy to help with all of your query-woes  

Thanks Lauren for tagging me in The Next Big Thing meme–this has been one I’ve enjoyed reading on other blogs! (Including Jaye’s, which you all should check out. She did her post on Sing to the Wind, which comes out in 2014!) Lauren’s Next Big Thing is about her new young adult WIP titled DIVE. How awesome of a title is that?!

What is the working title of your book?

CADAVER DOG

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

After a tribe of his own kind, Cadaver Dogs, slaughters Jacob’s village, he’s left to fend for himself in the desert filled world of the future.

What genre does your book fall under?

CD is (in my mind) post-apocalyptic YA.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Honestly, I’ve never been one to think too hard on actors for my characters, but I can post pictures about Jacob’s most striking feature- his eyes. In CD, all Cadaver Dogs have beautiful amber eyes, much like a dogs.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I am represented by the dream-agent Emmanuelle Morgen of the Stonesong Agency.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Hmm, if I’m remembering correctly, it took me a few months to write the first draft of CD. Since then, it has gone through a few major revisions, each taking about a month to complete.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I gave the comp. title of The Forest of Hands and Teeth when I was querying. It has a similar feel of a journey book.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

I was inspired by two thoughts before I started writing CD. The first was the question of: What would the world look like if a drought swept over the earth and never went away? And the second was: What if people could smell as well as dogs?

Interestingly, I had never heard the term ‘cadaver dog’ before. I heard it on the news one night and immediately started researching. These dogs are trained to locate human remains and are used in disaster areas- how incredible is that?!

Over the past year, I’ve enjoyed researching the dog’s scenting abilities and figuring out how to incorporate that into my writing.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Most obviously, I think the unique setting and the fact that much of my book centers around Jacob’s scent abilities will interest readers. But my very favorite part of the book is a small girl named Sam who has a very big secret…but I’m going to refrain from saying anything more on that

And now it’s time for me to tag another writer! I’m passing the torch onto my lovely super-CP Ari Susu-Mago whose writing always gives me the chills.

So, I gave myself yesterday off and relaxed my brain (it was wonderful, I highly suggest this!) and then I wrote myself a list for encouragement (which I also highly suggest doing!). Having this list has been a great help in finishing my MS and helped me to doubly realize that it’s okay to feel discouraged so long as you take a break and then keep working.

And without further ado, here’s my list!

1. This is a first draft, it’s allowed to be bad.
2. This is a first draft, you have time to fix the holes.
3. You are in no rush.
4. This is your book, your writing. Be happy with it.
5. There is, and always will be, room to grow as a writer. This will always be the case no matter how far you go. This will always also be a source of enjoyment and struggle.
6. The Doubt-Monster will always follow you but this is not a reason to panic.
7. In the end, you are the one who’s in control.

What do you do when you’re overworked? What else would you add to my list?

***

I have two exciting posts coming up, including a guest post by my website designer Letitia Englund and My Next Best Thing post that I was tagged in by Lauren Spieller that will highlight my MS. Be sure to stop back!

Also, this is an unusual tale (complete with .gifs) where the lesson is: Never ever ever give up hope- finding an agent is an unpredictable journey.

Five months ago, I shelved Cadaver Dog, a beautiful story of a boy lost in a desert world. I was heartbroken, but it was time. I’d spent six months querying with no luck. So I moved on, I wrote two new books, made some amazing friends, CP-ed some killer books, and only thought of CD when my mom would call and tell me I should get back to that book.

But then, about one and a half weeks ago I received an email requesting Cadaver Dog. And this was me:

Because, well…I was done with that book. So I sent it. And then waited. And refreshed my inbox. And then I had a bright idea!

I wanted to email asking if she’d be interested in hearing the pitches for my other two books! But then…what if that would be super annoying? What if she’d ha…Yeah okay, after a day of thinking about it, I pressed send and to my astonishment, she said yes- she’d like to hear the pitches! So I sent the pitches and it turns out they didn’t annoy her- she liked them too, BUT it turns out she liked Cadaver Dog better.

And after a few days, I received the utterly nerve-wracking and thrilling email saying, Would you like to talk? and that’s when I went:

So we scheduled a call for that night after I got home from work. I sweated all day, with Lauren constantly talking me off the ledge, went home and took a walk with my dog and boyfriend to calm me down.

On the phone, I tried to do my best to sound like the dude on the left, while in my head I sounded like the dude on the right. Seriously guys, I’m sure I forgot how to talk at one point. Also, I forgot the name of one of my book’s MC’s…yeah, that happened.

And at the end of the phone call, she offered. I was bewhildered- at the most, I’d expected an R&R, but no, it was official. I’d just received the call .

After I got off the phone, I walked into the living room and told Cale the news, but it came out more like, “She offe–” and then I did this:

Seriously. I bawled. I bawled more when I got on Skype with my parents.

Then I called Lauren and Charlie and my sister and this was us:

And over the next days, I researched a lot, had many conversations with my friends who straight up know a ton more about this than process than I do (thanks Cat!) and now today, I am officially able to say that I am represented by Emmanuelle Morgen of the Stonesong Literary Agency and this is what I’ve been feeling for the past few hours:

Never give up guys, you don’t know when an agent will walk into your life unexpectedly!

And now, for the stats, because everyone loves stats!

Books Written: 6
Books Queried: 2
Contests Participated in: 5
Queries Sent: 66
Full Requests: 4

And of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a massive thank you to everyone who’s read my work and pushed me on the hard days: my family (duh), Lauren, Charlie, Cat, Jessica,  JRo, Ari, Rebecca, Sophia, Janice, Cortney, Anna, and Jack.

***

Hi guys! I’m excited to be on Mom’s blog today and find out why she spends so much time hanging out online with you guys…sheesh.

We all went on vacation last weekend to Asheville, NC and they took lots of picture. First, we went hiking because Asheville has lots of beautiful mountains, but unfortunately Mom forgot to take pictures.

Next, we stopped at a brewery! But I only drank water.

After the brewery, we went in search of a restaurant that I could eat at too. Mom had french toast…

Dad had a pork sandwich…

And I got some french fries because I’m such a good girl (and am especially good at begging).

Mom also had to take a picture of me sitting at the table with her, though I don’t know why- she’s so embarrassing.

Next, we went to the Battery Park Book Exchange where I got to look at books and have coffee (well, I didn’t have any, but Dad did!)

And then Mom made me sit still while she took another picture of me being cute.

There were so many other dogs at the book store, too! I had such a great time.

Then we went across the street to another book store where the owner gave me a treat! Boy do I love books.

After visiting the bookstores, we drove around town a bit more, then we went back to the hotel to relax for the night. Asheville’s such a cool place- I hope they take me back again!