Beginning Again, Again

Well, dang. Here it is, another two months, a new year, and I'm just getting back. I don't make resolutions, but I do set (movable) goals. The full moon coming close on the heels of Twelfth Night seemed a good place to start. Festivals over, and the first full moon of what may be the last year, if we're to believe some interpreters of the Maya forecast. For myself, I choose to ally myself with those who think it is the end of an age and the start of something new. Surely does feel as if things are coming to a head. (Why does that bring to mind John Belushi in Animal House?) 


So, the full moon comes, and true to my inner werewolf, I enjoyed the first night of insomnia of the year. Did I toss and turn? Did I get out of bed and write? No and no. I lay there waiting for sleep, and waiting, and waiting. Until 5 AM. But I did, as I lay there, determining I'd be more faithful to my writing life. I will blog more often than once every two months. I will restart the querying process. I will not hate my last novel, and I will begin a new one. I will revisit my query, now that I've slotted the novel into a different, more apropos genre and given it a new and darker title. And then there's that dreaded synopsis. But it’s a new year for a new start, right?


And I must get back to the community. I've not participated much at all. I will confess (see back a couple of posts) that I do see the new queries being posted for critique as they come into my e-mail, and I understand more and more the increasing number of agents who choose not to reply or do so with a very polite, generic, form rejection. Most of those, I read only the first sentence, and sometimes I don't even finish that much. If I read one more "The last thing MC expected…" or "17 year old MC never thought…", or even worse, some cute thematic sentence with no MC (main character), no stakes, no threat, and no reason to keep reading. And I'm only seeing a few a day. Agents are seeing 100 or so. Every day. Reject. Reject. But that's not helping anyone.


I think we help each other improve by simply supporting each other. It ain't an easy road, this writing path, and lately the landscape is changing so fast that keeping up with the publishing world is almost a full-time task, let alone reading and commenting on others' blogs and critiquing queries and synopses. I have no children to get to school or soccer or ballet or piano, no dog to walk. I do have a job, but its hours are variable. And yet I struggle to fit into the day all those things. And I didn't even include the most important—the sit your ass down in the chair and write part.


So, a new cycle begins. Nothing resolved, but goals in mind. And maybe something of value to give. Definitely a lot to do. But first, get some sleep. And then, as Yoda said, "just do."

Writer, Do Your Work

Just write. Summer's over, I told myself. Get back in that saddle. Back in the literary social network groove. Engage, crit, comment. Review agents to query. Wait. Go back and look at that query again first. Maybe farther back, to the synopsis. (Or maybe just move on.) But do your work.

So I pulled out an old short I started months ago and made myself sit my ass in the chair and keep going, and I added about 700 words in an afternoon of writing. And I revised my last post here. I did write. Some. Didn't get back to that query yet, though.

Needing to re-engage in the aforementioned social network, I started again reading queries on the wonderful Agent Query Connect site. Most I couldn't comment on. If you don't have anything nice to say… Why oh why do new members (not all, mind you) come on board, say they've lurked and read and are so nervous about putting their work out there (who isn't?), and then prove in their first lines that they haven't done even the most basic research on query writing? There are SO many available resources and guides, and yeah, they often disagree and differ, but there are so many basics, it's amazing that these writers jump into what is a professional place only to prove their complete lack of professionalism.  

I have ranted about this onsite, and plenty of members added their comments. We want to be helpful, supportive, and AQC is all that and more. But what can you say to someone whose opener, the first line a prospective agent will see, is a run-on sentence? A hypothetical question that begs a sarcastic answer? A complete non-hook statement of theme. Telling what the book is about rather that showing enough of the main character to make a reader care and enough conflict to make said reader want to read more?

Querying rules? Discussions aplenty on them-- There are none. They're made to be broken. Stay in the mold and be mediocre. All true (usually.) But as with the craft of writing itself, first you have to know the rules, divergent as they are. Know the accepted conventions. Then make the piece your own, in your voice, in the voice of the novel. Be bold, be original.

 Does the hook have to open the query, or the genre/word count? I'm of the hook-first school, but many successful authors are not, and since I'm not among that group, I have no authority. But the importance of the first line comes home when you are reading through queries as they come in by email. By far the largest number lose me in the first line. If I were an agent, that's an instant rejection. Sometimes it's the subject. I'm not a huge YA reader, and while I was a horror movie freak as a kid, vampires to me are the Dracula type, not Edward Cullen. If I see one more opening with a teen werewolf, fallen angel, or demon, grab the barf bag. That said, grab me with a strong lead (lede) and I'll follow you anywhere. But if I see the writing itself is bad grammatically, why read on? I don't.

Pay attention to your craft, writers. Every phase of it is craft. Craft can and must be learned, or you can never be taken seriously. Even if you do learn the craft, the rough truth is you still may not be. But if you can't take the time to learn, to self-edit, to polish, there isn't much to offer you in the way of guidance. I'm no expert. We're all always still learning. Do your work. It will pay off.