Ouch

Yesterday, I picked the kids up from the bus stop. Usually takes five minutes. On the way I drop off a little girl at her house. 1/4 mile away, but she is our next door neighbor. She lives in a two story house turned apartment complex. Their driveway branches off of the road, wraps around the house and merges back with the road. The land is sloped so when you make the turn around the house you are facing down a hill.

When I made the turn today I found the entire slope covered in a thick sheet of ice. The truck slid and twisted sideways. I managed to break. Front tires resting on the edge of the hill. I got the neighbor girl out and into her apartment. I asked her mother if she had cinders I could put on the ice so I could get traction to back up and straighten out. Having nothing to put down she called her father, Bill, to tow me straight.

When he arrived my children got out of my truck and into the Bill's. A nice new one with a crew cab and 4-wheel drive. The Bill hooked up the chain and told me to get into my truck and put it in drive. I go around the driver's side and start to climb in. The truck slips. And with one hand holding the door and the other on the steering wheel I was dragged over the brink my feet stumbling on the earth so I didn’t trip and end up under the truck.

As it was a hill, not a cliff, the tires continued to make contact and when I finally reached up and pressed the emergency break, the truck stopped.

The only thing going through my mind was "crap!" When I stood, I found that I slid over six feet at a sixty degree angle through a pine tree. I don't remember the pine tree while I was sliding. Finally, I did the only thing there is to do when stuff like that happens. I laughed.

The kids were scared when they saw the truck go over the edge. Until they heard me laughing, then they laughed too. Bill said that the new position of the truck would make it easier to get back on the road. I was just glad I could help.

I am a little sore this morning, and the truck is fine. One new scratch, but you really don't notice.

Writing the perfect query.

Everyone that's ever written a query knows this trauma. So many of us who can write, edit and rewrite a novel, struggle over a one page letter describing said novel. There are no standards. No sentence by sentence outline on what to write.

The main objective is to let the agent/editor know what your book is about, what makes it special. Hook them. Sell them. Some want to know about your writing credentials. Some don't. Some insist that it is just courteous to thank them for their time. Some are put off by that.

IMHO there is only one way to do it. Focus on the hook of the book.

In the first paragraph you flatter them, note the genre and word count. You should include a one sentence hook.

In the second paragraph blurb about the novel.

In the third paragraph conclude the letter. Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you. Give contact information.

Doesn't sound too hard does it? For some of us it's murder.

Well, I've just the read the best description of how to write a query letter here:

http://misssnark.blogspot.com/2007/04/yea-this-works.html

If nothing else, it may make you smile and relax enough to take another stab at that letter.

Good Luck. :)

The project is not right for us.

I have had two rejections up to this point. Both have sighted something to the effect of this project is not right for us. The latest one included in the text that they use a form letter. I understand the need for that, but the lack of criticism is disheartening.

I grew up in a home where constructive criticism was doled out with regularity. An honest review can help a person, writer or not, grow. If you don't tell the person they have spinach in their teeth, having that awkward moment when they ask "How do I look?", they will go on the date or the interview flashing a speckled smile and having that moment at the worse possible time.

I understand agents and editors read hundreds, even thousands of queries a month and most don't have time to write personal replies to every letter. And that some writers have such fragile egos they will crumble at the slightest negative word.

So really, that is that. Agents and editors will not suddenly expand the day. Creative people will not thicken their skin any time soon. And I will continue to submit my work until an agent or editor explains where I'm not hitting the mark, or it gets accepted.

Until then I work diligently, albeit slowly, on my next novel.

POV and Head-Hopping

Since I've become a writer, I've heard about the horrors of head hopping. Others have warned me not to do it, and although it came from several sources the reasons against it felt vague. In an article by Marg Gilks, on the writing world web site called Fundamentals of Fiction, Part X:Avoid Those Beginners' Blunders, (link to full article http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/fiction10.shtml ) the reasons become clear.

You'll probably notice when reading a contemporary novel that the story seems to be told in the voice of only one character. If there seems to be more than one character telling the story -- different viewpoints -- if you pay close attention to each scene within that novel, you'll probably find that only one character seems to be sharing his or her perceptions of events in the scene with the reader. The character whose eyes readers see story events through, whose thoughts the reader "hears" in a scene or throughout a story or novel is called the point of view character. This is called "limited" point of view, and it's the most common form you'll see, because today's readers like getting right inside a character's head to experience the story.

The point of view (POV) that most novice writers fall into, however, is "omniscient" point of view. In this point of view, the narrator is all-knowing and all-seeing, hopping from one character's head into another, making the reader privy to everyone's thoughts and everything that's going on, even if that activity is off-stage, in the past or in the present or in the future. There is a lot of explaining -- the
omniscient narrator tells the reader what everyone is thinking and what is going
on.

Sounds pretty good, huh. Look at that description of omniscient point of view
again -- the narrator is telling. Telling instead of showing is one of those red
flags for rejection, remember? With omniscient, you are leaving nothing to the
reader's imagination. You're not allowing the reader to participate, to experience, but merely to observe. For this reason, while omniscient POV is a legitimate point of view, it has fallen out of favor with today's readers.

If point of view hops from one character to another within a scene in your novel or
story, it will be perceived by an agent or publisher as poor writing.
Manipulating point of view to best effect or maintaining it consistently takes
attention and practice, but it's one skill that sets more experienced authors
apart from novices, and well worth learning

So, it all comes back to showing vs telling. If a writer is skilled enough, he or she can use omniscient POV and keep the reader in the action. Writers that are new to the craft, should practice, get used to showing action in other points of view. Then they can move on to omniscient. If it's done right, it can be well received.

If you want to read more of Marg Gilks's writing advise, or look into her editing services please visit her web site: http://www.scripta-word-services.com/

Not so alone

In my quest for all the knowledge I can find on the business of writing, I am reading the blogs of literary agents. One that I frequent is Lit Soup by Jenny Rappaport. The blog is entertaining and enlightening and I am very glad she is writing it.

Today I read a post that lists her reactions to query letters and partial manuscripts. A wonderful idea. Especially for all of us as yet unpublished writers. Lets us know that we are not alone.

Writing is mostly a solitary business. We labor, create, submit and fail or succeed mostly on our own. Some of us have joined writers groups for support. And they are helpful. But in the end, when you sit at your computer or open the mail and read that rejection or acceptance letter you are by yourself.

It helps to remember that there are many more writers in the world giving it a try right along with you. Brothers and sisters in spirit. We are not really alone.