Monthly Archives: November 2011

Great Opportunity if your Manuscript is Finished… but it’s tomorrow! (Monday)

Posted on November 13, 2011 | 2 comments

Robin Weeks tuned me in to this great contest.

“An Agent’s Inbox Contest”

Unfortunately, I will not be giving her any competition, although I’d love to take a shot at this.  For those of you lucky enough to be working tomorrow, (Monday) this might be tough (My company’s security won’t even let me access the internet on my own laptop.  Ugh.)  But for those of you who are free tomorrow…

If you have a completed, polished manuscript, you can post your query and first 250 words to this site just like you were submitting them to an agent… and guess what… YOU WILL BE.

Taylor Martindale of Full Circle Literary will be reviewing the queries and making comments on them.  It’s a great opportunity to get advice from a real agent on your query…  and BONUS — since she is a real agent, if your stuff is good, she can always ask you for a little more to read!

That’s almost enough to make me want to take a day off!

Good luck to all of you who are able to enter!

Jennifer Eaton

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Row 80 Check in 11-13-2011

Posted on November 13, 2011 | 16 comments

Here’s my update:

1.   Blog Posts:   Two regular blog posts completed (a Manuscript Red-line post, and a writer’s advice post from the Q&A session)

2.    Reverse-Nano goal:  My novel started at 119,479 words.  Now I am down to 114,713

3.    Inserted the new “Stuck in a Closet” beginning (Increased the word count Ugh.)

4.  Completely re-wrote my ending (again) It’s much more intense now, but yikes do I need someone to read it to make sure I’m not nuts.

5.  Finished a complete edit/read of the entire novel.  Eliminated about 11 unnecessary Points of View.

1.   Jury’s still out on cutting that scene with the King and Magellan.

2.  I didn’t cut the Matton meets the mercenary scenes.  This is about 2,500 words of the 4,500 I wanted to cut this week.  I’m going too, though… as much as I don’t want to.

1.  Do two blog posts on cutting Points of View (Gold Mine Manuscript tips)

2.  Re-write one of the dream sequences to richen the character of Darkness slightly

3.  Re-write the scene where Matt gets his memory back.  This is one of those huge-decision-things.  I will probably be reverting back to my original draft.  The current idea seems to be confusing, and too information-intense.  This will probably cut quite a few words, too.

3.  At least start the beta read I’ve been sitting on.  (I promise I will start it this week, J)

Happy ROWing!

Jennifer Eaton

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Finish Your Story Already!

Posted on November 10, 2011 | 13 comments

At a recent NJ Author’s talk on “Getting Published” (Click here to read my post from that night), I got a great piece of advice from best-selling author Jonathan  Maberry.

With all this NANO buzz going around, I am reading multiple blogs that say many of you are writing “really fast” just to get your word count in, and then going back and editing it so it sounds better, and then you plow forward again to make your word count (now even more stressed because you took up your writing time editing).  REPEAT, REPEAT, REPEAT.

Jon’s advice was not to re-write too soon.  He said to write your first draft all the way through. Once you are done, then you can go back and revise.  This is what he calls the “art of writing”.  He said that your first draft will concentrate on the substance… This is where the best part of the story comes out on the paper (or screen).

Don’t worry if it’s perfect… just get it all down and out of your head.  Once you have your idea all down in front of you, then you can concentrate on the “craft”.

Now is the time to add setting and character description if you missed  them the first draft.  Look at your punctuation, and watch for writing crutches and clichés.  Cut out scenes that don’t fit.  Re-write what’s just plain bad.  All this is part of the “craft” of writing.

So, if you’re NANOing, or just out there writing a great story at your own pace…  Don’t stress over it.  Enjoy the art of writing.  This is the best part for an author… having your vision materialize for others to read.

Worry about making it sound good later.  You will have plenty of time to edit when you’re all done.

Jennifer Eaton

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Lesson Fourteen from a Manuscript Red Line: Keeping inside the Point Of View, Part 2

Posted on November 7, 2011 | 11 comments

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can also look under “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

Lesson Thirteen talked about making sure we only see what the Point of View character can see.  We also have to worry about accidentally getting into the heads of other characters as we describe what the POV character is seeing.

It seems to happen most for me when I describe what another character in the scene is doing.

“Mike studied the sign on the wall.”

Is Mike the POV character? No?  Then how does the POV character know that he is studying it? He may just be looking in that direction but thinking of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Right?

Hold up your right hand and say:  forever more I will call this…

The publisher red-lined something very similar to this, and said that you need to show what the characters are doing by showing what the POV character sees them doing.  You cannot get into their heads, or assume what they are doing.

You might be able to fix something like this with “Mike stood in front of the sign on the wall, and scratched his head.”  This would work especially well if there was a little dialog afterwards that made it obvious he looked at it.  REMEMBER NOT TO SAY HE LOOKS AT IT.  (See my earlier post on “Write without Looking”)

Jennifer Eaton

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Row 80 Check-in 11-06-11

Posted on November 6, 2011 | 15 comments

I really don’t feel accomplished this week as far as writing goes.  There was just too much going on.  Soccer season is winding down, but Dog Training is starting, and my two youngest sons signed up for Wrestling…. There goes three hours on Tuesday, Three hours on Thursday, and an hour and a half on Wednesdays.  Saturdays are still shot with Soccer until Thanksgiving, and my oldest might be showing Chloe in a dog show in January, too, which means Show Training on top of basics.  Ugh.

I really want to finish HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT by the end of the year, but unless I take off from work to do it (which I might—I have the time) I’m not sure I will make it.

What I did get done, though, is decent… I just didn’t get to it all.

I went to the NJ Writers Q & A.  Check out my Blog post for Wednesday if you want to hear about it.  That was GREAT.  I was also pleased that a few of the authors stopped by my blog and posted. I also got a few personal emails from them.  Very nice.

I cut 1,687 words from my novel, and noted another 4,372 that I can cut – some inspired by my talks with the authors on Tuesday, and their emails afterwards.

For those of you who have done a beta-read… the scenes being cut are the two scenes in Harris’s mother’s POV (Mommy meltdowns).  Matt meeting the mercenary, and the whole cutting his hair scene (he will have short hair from the beginning, now) and Harris talking to Daniel Hyelven after he hurts the girl in the alley.  I am on page 300, so there are 100 pages to go in this sweep.  This will get me down to 113,000, but I might add words when I re-write a chapter that started with a conversation about Matt’s hair.  (That sounds really silly taken out of context.)

I did not start that beta read I have been sitting on (sorry again, “J”)

I did not exercise – unless you want to count Trick or Treating, which was an hour of walking

I did not keep to my blog schedule

I’m not sure if I am going to be able to keep posting ROW 80 twice a week.
It think it’s too much, and detracts from the point of my blog.  I don’t think  a Wednesday check-in is really all that helpful for me.  So… Sundays I will give my results, and my goals for the next week.  This way, I can get back on my twice a week blog schedule, plus a Sunday ROW80, and I won’t be under as much pressure.

1.    Two regular blog posts (a Manuscript Red-line post, and maybe a writer’s advice post from the Q&A session)

2.    Cut 4,372 words from my novel

3.    Insert the new “Stuck in a Closet” beginning (which I just remembered has more words than the current beginning.  UGH!)

4.    Decide whether or not to cut the scene where Magellan gets
tutored by the King.

Happy ROWing!

Jennifer Eaton

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Lesson Thirteen from a Manuscript Red Line: Keeping inside the Point Of View, Part 1

Posted on November 5, 2011 | 10 comments

For an intro into where these tips are coming from, please see my post: A Full Manuscript Rejection, or a Gold Mine?  You can look under “Rant Worthy Topics” in my right navigation bar.  Choose “Gold Mine Manuscript” to see all the lessons to date.

I used to slip out of my POV all the time, and now I am trying to really get my head inside the POV character so I am very aware of them and their surroundings.   I used to write partially omniscient, and I could see through walls and such.  Silly me.

This publisher noted that when you are in one character’s POV, make sure the narration does not tell something that the POV character cannot see.  For instance, if your character looks out the balcony window, thinks it’s a warm wonderful night, and then goes to bed.  Don’t Pre-tell with a three sentence closing scene of velociraptors swarming just on the other side of the trees, quarreling about who will get to eat your main character.

Great dramatic effect? Yes, and they use it in movies all the time, but the POV character can’t see it, so it’s a bit strange and out of place, right?

Now, if they heard something in the bushes, a growl, something unsettling… that would work fine. Then let them go off to nighty-night.

The same goes for a passage like “What Jessica didn’t know, was that someone was stealing her car while she put on her makeup.”  If we are in Jessica’s POV, this doesn’t quite work.  We need to wait and follow Jessica out the door to find out WITH HER that her car was stolen.

Make sense?

Jennifer Eaton

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Meeting Six Accomplished Authors, and ROW80 check in

Posted on November 2, 2011 | 14 comments

ROW80:  So far I’ve cut 1,500 words out of the first 200 pages of my novel.  I wish it could have been more.  There is one section that I “might have been able to cut” but it shows great characterization of the King and his relationship to  Magellan.  It might not make it into the final draft.

My big excitement was that I was able to attend the Q & A Panel on “Getting Published” put together by the  New Jersey Authors Network  last night.  I met six accomplished authors, and I am so glad that I didn’t wimp out and not go.  If you ever have a chance to do something like this, I highly recommend it.

Author’s panel:  From left to right as they were seated…

 Kristin Battestella:  Author of the Vampire Family Series (Her new book comes out Friday.  Check it out!)
Jennifer R. Hubbard: Author of The Secret Year and Try Not to Breathe.
Jon Gibbs:  Author of  Fur Face, Book one of “A Cat of Nine Tales”
Danielle Ackley-McPhail:  Author or Yesterday’s Dreams, Tomorrow’s Memories, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps Queen, Kantasi, as well as the Bad Ass Faeries and Dragon’s Lure anthologies among many others.
Mike McPhail: (Yep, they’re married) Military novelist, publisher and all around does-it-all guy
Jonathan Maberry: New York Times Best Selling Author, and multiple Bram Stoker Award –winner with about twenty books under his belt.  He’s who I want to be when I “grow up”

The night started out with them each answering the same questions.  It gave a great perspective from people who have achieved success from different angles.  The overall topic was “Getting Published” and each of their views and perspectives were enlightening.  (And exciting, because a lot of it I am doing already.)

They followed up with a short question and answer session, and then invited anyone who wanted to talk to come up afterwards.  Now, normally I am the type to run for the door.  The thought of talking to people I don’t know?  Terrifying.  I am Soooooo glad I didn’t break and bolt.  I hunkered up, walked to the front of the room, and shook hands with and introduced myself to each one of them.  (If you are really shy, you can appreciate what a HUGE accomplishment this was for me.)

Wow.  What a great experience.

I waited on line to meet Jonathan Maberry first.  (My gosh, I felt like I’d known him for years.  What a nice guy.)

After that, most of the “not really serious” people were gone, and I was able to take my time with the rest of the panel.  I felt like I was just hanging out at a coffee shop and talking to my writer’s group.  They were all so friendly, and some even asked about my book.  I must admit that I tripped and stuttered a little, until I realized that they were genuinely interested in helping.  I got great advice from each of them.  I even got to speak to Mike about some concerns I had from the “publisher’s angle”.  It was wildly informative.

Now I am more pumped than ever.  Yes, I will blog about some of their words of wisdom after I finish deciphering my notes (Thank goodness I taped the discussion, too).

For now, let me suggest that you look for panels like this in your area, and make time to check them out.  This was well worth it to me.

Also check out these author’s novels.  They are very talented, and we can all learn something from their writing styles.

Jonathan Maberry:  www.Jonathanmaberry.com

Mike McPhail:  www.mcp-concepts.com

Danielle Ackley-McPhail:  www.sidhenadaire.com

Jon Gibbs:  www.acatofninetales.com

Jennifer R. Hubbard:  www.jenniferhubbard.com

Kristin Battestella:  www.jsnouff.com/kristin

 

Visit Krista’s blog.  She was there, too!  https://kamagrowski.wordpress.com/

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