Don't Say It: 15 things that should never be in your query

Before we get down to business, let's stop for a second and celebrate. This is my 100th post at YAtopia!

So we're talking about pitching this month at YAtopia (Just in time for Pitch Wars, too!). Rae Chang and I were just chatting on twitter about what phrases in queries are giant red flags for us. Some of these may seem obvious, but I guarantee anyone who has read slush has seen them more than a few times.

If you find yourself writing any of these phrases into your query, it may be a simple matter of ... you know, not writing them. However, some of these might require some research and maybe an attitude adjustment.

1) "All the YA books out there are poorly written, but mine is different" or some variation thereof

Well. Check out the ego on this guy.

Don't write in a genre/category you don't respect. Period. This may be a matter of you not reading widely enough in your genre, which is easily fixed. Otherwise, it's a lack of respect for the genre/category itself, in which case, why are you bothering? If you believe everything on the shelves in a well-established genre/category is trash, find another genre/category.

2) Putting down literary agents, whether as a group or individuals.

We all know the agent-publisher system is slow and frustrating. However, it's the best we have and we're just all trying to work within it. Why some people think it's okay to complain about literary agents' "greed" or response time or judgement or whatever while also asking those agents to represent them - I will never understand.

3) "There's nothing like this on the market"

Yes there is and I can name ten examples off the top of my head. Again, read more widely in your chosen genre; you don't know your market well enough.

Unless this is literally true, in which case, it's probably unpublishable. Hey, a guy in my first writing group tried to convince me that not having a single piece of punctuation for 9 pages was perfectly fine in commercial fiction (yep, not even literary or experimental).

HOWEVER, every time I've seen this in a query, it's been the former, not the latter.

4) "My book will appeal to readers of Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, and Jane Austen."

Sure it will, Sparky.

If you can't find comp titles that aren't mega-bestsellers, you (say it with me, I'm going to be saying it a lot) don't know your market well enough.

And you really have to love the authors who are just a little bit bolder and say things like "this book is the next Harry Potter, a guaranteed bestseller."

Listen, not even Harry Potter was the next Harry Potter when it was pitched. Nobody knows whether or not a book will take off like that. Keep your expectations reasonable.

5) "I've loved books since I was five years old when..."

This isn't a turn-off so much as it's ... boring. Loving books doesn't make you special in this industry, so saying this in a query is a waste of ink/electrons. If you don't have a lot to put in the "bio" section of the query, that really is totally fine! You can actually leave it out if you don't have anything beneficial to add there. The book is the most important thing.

6) Drop the cliches

As much as you can, eliminate cliches from your query letter. You have such a short space to show how your book is unique, why would you want to use phrases that we see all the time? Things like "so-and-so was just a normal girl until..." and "will never be the same" and "more than he bargained for" and "an incredible journey" and "falls into the wrong hands" and "to make matters worse" and "will change everything" will make experienced query readers roll their eyes.

7) Your age

It doesn't matter and all it can do is create subconscious bias.

8) That your friends/family love the book

Of course they do. My friends loved the first book I wrote. And it was absolute crap. (Not saying yours is, but I'm saying the opinions of your friends/family (or even your old English teacher) will not sway an agent/editor.)

9) Personal information about the agent

Knowing professional information (the agent's clients & the books they've sold) is great. But when you mention anything that doesn't have to do with the agent's professional career, you've crossed a line. Stalking is a real thing that many agents have to worry about, so there's no reason to raise a red flag like this.

10) "Dear Agent"

Write out their name. To the agent, lack of personalization in the greeting, means that you are mass emailing every agent for whom you could find an email address.

11) "Fictional novel"

All novels are, by definition, fictional.

12) "doesn't really fit in a genre"

If your book sells, it's going to have to go on a shelf somewhere. Pick the closest thing so I know roughly what to expect.

And tbh, most of the time this is said, the book fits perfectly into a genre, which tells me you know don't your market very well.

13) First person POV from your character.

It's often creepy, but sometimes it's just confusing and clunky. All book and character descriptions should be in 3rd person present tense, no matter what the book is in.

14) Rhetorical questions

You are not the exception to this rule. Don't do it. Just don't. Please, trust us on this. They don't work.

15) "trend" and "diversity" in the same sentence.

Diversity is not a trend.
Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

Diversity is not a trend.

While we're at it, you didn't write "an LGBT novel" unless you have lesbians, gay people, bisexual people, AND trans people represented in the book. You probably wrote a f/f romance or a novel featuring a trans character, etc. 

Authors: Kill These Bad Social Media Habits

Hello YAtopia! So sorry for being a day late on this post but I am in the middle of moving (within the same city) and also my Windows decided to "update" and now my touch pad doesn't work. Yay.

Our topic this month is "Kill Your Darlings" so I'm here to talk about social media practices you should murder and leave in a ditch somewhere!

1) Twitter auto-DMs when someone follows you

I follow someone on Twitter because I think they're fun/nice/entertaining/informative. Within minutes, I have a private message from them. Which seems nice, right? But wait, the message is an impersonal version of "Thank you for following me. Check out my books at [amazon link]."

Me:


via GIPHY

Don't do this.

Since people always argue with me about this when I teach "Social Media for Authors" classes, I'll try to explain why. If you're at a party and you think someone seems like an interesting person to talk to. You go up and introduce yourself. The person says, "Thanks for saying hi. Check out my office supply store on Main Street," then turns and walks away.

At the last conference I went to, we literally had a 15-minute rant session about how much we hate auto-dms. Yes, even if it's not a direct sales pitch.

If you want to interact with your new followers, reply to something they've tweeted with a relevant comment. That's the best way to begin a real relationship.

Treat people like people, not like potential customers.

2) Feeding your Facebook posts into your Twitter posts

We all know Twitter has a 140 character limit, right? A lot of people have it set up so that whatever they post to Facebook automatically posts to twitter. There are more subtle reasons as to why this isn't a good idea, but the big one is that your message is truncated. Most twitter users are on mobile and don't want to click over to Facebook to finish reading your post. This is why doing it the other way around (Twitter posts to Facebook) isn't as bad (but still not ideal).

3) Reposting the same tweet about your book, every day

Believe me, I know how tempting it is to schedule this tweet once so you never have to think about it again. But I see the same tweet from you, every day, and it's just noise at this point.

4) Follow and unfollow and follow and unfollow and follow and unfollow for followers

Dude. I'm not going to follow you back. I follow people I find interesting, not just because they followed me.

Be fun and interesting and nice and way more people will follow you than you can get using any kind of "strategy."

5) Copyright infringement in your advertisements

We all know that stealing someone's writing and posting it without their permission is a no-no, right? Why don't we apply the same knowledge to photos? If you don't have the legal (usually, paid) right to use an image, do NOT use it in your advertisements. This goes double for celebrity photos.

Photos used in discussion/commentary are a different matter, but in promotional materials for your book? You better have the rights to use it.


These days, social media is an important part of author life. You can't make everybody happy, but killing the habits listed above will help you scare off fewer potential readers.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Whether this day brings out the romantic in you, or makes you roll your eyes and internally groan, Valentine’s Day is a time to reflect on the people and things you love most in life.

Below are some things to love, even if you despise Valentine’s Day … 

#1—CHOCOLATE: Dark, milk, smooth, or filled with coconut, nuts, etc. No matter how you like your chocolate, having plenty on hand on Feb. 14^th is very important. (And don’t forget tomorrow boxes will be 50% off! ☺) 

#2—READING: If you’re having a bad day, you can always curl up with a good book and … eat chocolate! Very therapeutic! 

#3—WRITING: Whether you’re currently writing a romance, fantasy, or horror, there is no better escapism than writing (except maybe reading). Pick up that half-finished manuscript where you left off, or start the new project you’ve had on the backburner for months.

I’ve often heard writing described as a labor of love. Some people write to relax, or as a hobby, and never intend for anyone else to read their work. Others dream of penning the next bestseller and walking the red carpet at the premiere of a blockbuster movie inspired by their work.

Recently, an agent I follow on Twitter posted a #pubtip saying (paraphrased): If you find the possibility of writing a book you’ll never make a cent on unappealing, you should think about changing careers. 

This was followed up with a tweet that very few authors are able to make a living off their writing, and advised to write because you love it, not for money.

Now despite this notion being somewhat pessimistic, to most writers, it isn’t exactly news. Even if deep down you hope to eventually make a living doing what you love, chances are if you've been writing a while, you've experienced your share of rejection.

If you’re new to the publishing world, however, it’s something to consider, as most writers don’t publish their first novel … (with the exception of Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling, although, they too experienced rejection). Even if writing is a labor of love, there’s nothing better in the world than making a living off something that brings you joy each day. But if your love for writing is truly unconditional, you won’t be able to stop writing, despite hundreds, maybe (cringe) thousands of rejections. 

If writing turns out to be simply a crush for you, the publishing world might break your heart, and you may quickly become disenchanted with the notion of ever publishing anything. But don't despair. Whether you resolve to soldier on and face more rejection, or if you decide writing might not be the path you wish to follow, you can still curl up to read a good book. And don't forget the cure for all heartache ... plenty of chocolate!

Love is in the air...

It's only a few days away from Valentine's Day, so there's no better time to talk about the wonderful, scary, sweeping world of love.

Despite what people think about genre, you can actually write about love in many different ways, and it has its place in all genres. Alright, enough preamble, let's take a look at this, shall we:

1) You have your all-consuming romance. The epic love, the sweeping drama, the "one", the soul mate, the "I can't live without him". Oh the feelings, so rich and deep and evocative! Can anyone say Bella and Edward Cullen?

2) You have the slow burner. This gradually filters throughout the story. It could be like Katniss and Peeta, brought together through trials and tribulations. A thriller of such intensity that our love interests are pushed together. A survival story where they must beat the odds.

3) The love to hate you. This is seen a lot in romance novels, but can come up in all sorts of genres. You'll see it in "detective gone bad, but beautiful woman brings him back from the brink". They hate each other - she his drinking, dangerous, gluttonous self; he her airs and graces. But as the plot progresses, they begin to respect each other for who they are by unwinding the orange peel and seeing the true person within.

4) You have your "already there before the book started" romance. These characters might break up and make up. They might stay the course nice and steady throughout the book. They might break up and never make up. But these characters know each other. They understand each other.

5) I don't know who I love. There are plenty of books out there that look to characters who don't know who they feel for (take Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith for one, which is also a great book on sexual orientation. Who does he love? His friend Robby? Or Shann?). These kind of love dynamics are fascinating.

6) Familial love. No, I'm not talking that kind of love (though you can if you want. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma is a great example). The complexity of familial love (or lack thereof) can be a huge pull in a story, no matter the genre. Maybe the horrible villain is the sibling of a good character (take Caul in Miss Peregrine's, Library of Souls. He's the good Mrs. Peregrines' brother, and look how he turned out to be!). Maybe the parents are overbearing in their love. Maybe everything is happy families. There are any number of variations you can use here.

7) Friendship. Yup, These can be present in every and any book. That bond, that deliberately chosen extension of self to someone else, that caring, loving feeling. It's just as potent as romantic love, and can see people through the toughest of times, because it's made of empathy, compassion, understanding, and, yes, love itself. There are endless examples: Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Lyra and Will. Blue, Ronan, Adam, Noah, and Gansey (this last one a fantastic extended group). I need not go on.

8) Hopes and dreams. Or the lack thereof. Hopes and dreams fill people with love for the world, with desire and passion, with the need to strive for connection. They love what they dream about, and this love can be as all-consuming and complex as any other. But if they don't achieve their dreams or don't have any, does that mean love doesn't exist for them? Not necessarily so. People can hate love. They can lust after love. They can feel what love is without having experienced it (an oxymoron, I know). But they can. We don't just feel what we've experienced. We feel what we wish we could experience, too. Therefore, even the darkest, friendless, loneliness can have love of a sort.


Phew. So there you go. Not a comprehensive list, but at least something to get you started! Now go forth and love! :-)

Changing Things Up

Welcome to 2017! 

I love beginnings. New days, new weeks, new months. Yes, I am someone who actually loves Mondays. On Monday, the week always holds possibility and the chance for something better than last week. I also love mornings for the same reason, and because of coffee. Mornings = Coffee, so how can they be bad?

And today is not only a Monday, it’s the first Monday of 2017. A new year, fresh and open to possibilities. A chance to change things up to meet goals.

Okay, I confess, I didn’t wait until the first of the year to change things. I started last Monday. I’m impatient like that. But since I made changes a week ago, I’m now an authority, so I can give advice.

The last couple of months, writing has been a struggle. Really, for the last year. I did complete a manuscript in 2016, but that happened because I took a week off from life and wrote like a fiend. Truthfully, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to work writing into my everyday life. My other responsibilities feel more important: homeschooling five children, feeding those same five children (even though they do a lot of the cooking, I still have to do the grocery shopping, some assisting, and fix a few meals), driving those children to activities, spending time with my husband, exercising. Yes, those responsibilities are all important, and I honestly enjoy them all too. (Except the tenth grocery store visit in a week. That I do not enjoy.) But I was giving these activities priority, which left me too tired to do the writing thing. I had the time to write, but not the mental energy. Sandwiching writing after homeschooling and exercising and before driving and feeding left me too drained. Those two to three hours became my downtime, NOT my writing time. So I decided something had to change.

A few years ago, I started making sure homeschooling happened first because it was the top priority, and for several years, that worked. Then that schedule stopped working. But because I had drilled into myself that I wasn’t motivated enough to succeed at homeschooling when it came second in my day, I took a really long time to address this problem and recognize that I needed to—and could—make a change. Not only that, but life had changed. My kids are older. Our school day isn’t filled with phonics and addition and crafts. I don’t need to be my freshest, most patient self because the subjects no longer try my patience (most days anyway). Writing can take the first of my day when I’m freshest and school the second half, when all I really need to do is check assignments, read, and ask questions.

So if you’re finding writing (or any other important task) not fitting into your life, here are a few tips to try changing things up.

1. Reevaluate Those Things In the Past That Didn’t Work: So you tried once a month cooking five years ago to give you a couple more hours in the evenings to write, but you ended up eating out too often because you consistently forgot to thaw the meals. Or you attempted to write during your child’s music lessons but you were constantly distracted by the teacher’s teaching and couldn’t focus. Just because these things didn’t work before doesn’t mean they can’t work now. Maybe you can tweak the idea to fit your life better, such as once a week cooking, so you can prep ingredients but keep them thawed in the fridge, or write in the car during music lessons since your child is older now. Don’t continue rejecting an idea simply because you tried it once and failed. You’ve changed. Your life has changed. So try again.
2. Think Outside the Box: For a while, I took a long nap in the afternoons. I got up in time to help with dinner, spend time with the family, and after the kids went to bed around 8ish, I wrote until midnight. Then I’d sleep until five-thirty, go to the gym, homeschool, and after lunch, nap again. It was like living two days every twenty-four hours. Day one was gym and homeschooling, Day two was family time and writing. And it worked. So try arranging your schedule unconventionally.
3. Don’t Give Up Too Soon . . . : When implementing a change in your life, don’t quit before giving it a realistic chance. If you’re getting up an hour earlier to write first thing in the morning, and by day three the newness has worn off and there isn’t enough coffee in the world to wake you up, don’t give up on the experiment. Keep setting your alarm. Keep programming your coffee pot. Keep making the change.
4. . . . But Don’t Be Stubborn About What Isn’t Working: If after a month of waking up early you’ve actually written LESS than before you tried writing in the mornings, reevaluate. Obviously, writing early in the day isn’t working. But maybe it’s only the writing muse that sleeps in while you actually find yourself awake and not hating the solitude of the quiet pre-life hours. If so, what could you do during that time that doesn’t require creative brain cells but would free up time later in the day when the words start flowing? 

Most of us are fitting writing into our lives around family and job and other obligations, and sometimes, the pieces stop fitting together. When that happens, don’t give up on a piece that isn’t fitting. Make a change instead. Try fitting those pieces together in a different way, build a new picture, and make a new beginning.

How to Leverage Your Personality to Bolster Your Writing Productivity

 
I recently attended a religious woman's retreat and during one of our sessions, we discussed our personality types. The Myers-Briggs test from the '50s is a wonderful way to figure out your strengths and weaknesses, what type of career would play out your natural gifts, and may other facets of life. As I explored a topic I've already studied in the past, I realized that the dry spell I've been having in my fictional writing might be due to the fact that I wasn't playing up the needs of my personality.


Re-discovering What Makes Me Feel Accomplished

I haven't changed a bit. That is to say, I've become great at adapting to life's curve balls, but I'm the same person I was ten, fifteen, even twenty years ago. We all are unique, with quirks and needs that affect every part of our world. We have things that make us tick, that make us happy or content or even giddy. Those things can be leverage to make us productive and overflow with inspiration simply by being true to who we are and what works best for us.

Unfortunately, in the last few months, my inspiration well has been drier than a grain of Sahara sand at high noon. Focusing was impossible, words stopped up somewhere between brain and fingers, and I'm fairly certain intelligence chipped off and escaped my body. Lazy, bored, uninspired, and frustrated, I sat in front of a blank screen and stared, mentally begging the words to come.

Turns out, I'd been so wrapped up in life that I'd forgotten a fundamental part of who I am. Specifically, where I got my energy.

One of four parts of a personality according to the test I mentioned above is about how you recharge, how you gather yourself back to being okay. Do you need to be surrounded by people and socializing to feel whole, or do you prefer the quiet solitude to think and imagine?

I am an extrovert. The months I've spent cooped up in our rental, trudging through life in a infuriatingly silence were literally leaving me exhausted and empty. With a simple day retreat with other woman and a 20 point questionnaire, I realized my writing life won't ever be fulfilling if I don't let my need of people, of recharging with many others surrounding me, to be a regular part of it.

Additionally, the final element in my personality made me realize it may be time to take advantage of structure. A schedule, follow through, and completing small goals might help me feel more accomplished. I might even need to be a *gulp* plotter though I've proudly been a pantser for years. Perhaps the plotting will help me focus and complete projects.

I've taken a hold of these bits of myself and developed a plan that I hope will lead my writing in a forward motion. It may require creating my own real-life writing group since I can't find one. It may mean that I need to go to a bookstore or library to write instead of holing up in my office at home. You can do make your own plan once you know your personality type and examined your current habits against it.


Types and Tendencies

If you've never checked out what your personality is, even if you are very self aware, I'd highly recommend it. Insights such as this may help you develop a writing, plotting, or marketing campaign that works better for you than your current one. Keep in mind, some people take on roles or tendencies outside of their true personality, but this is about what is most comfortable or natural to you. Feel free to fill out this "knock-off" personality test (the Myers-Briggs one costs some money) that you can use to get a better sense of your strengths and weaknesses so you can leverage them for your writing.


The four categories used to analyze your personality are:

• Extrovert/Introvert - Do you get your energy recharge from group settings and the energy of others or from quiet time alone in personal or spiritual activities? 
• Regular in person critique groups will appeal to extraverts, while secluded or quiet writing time might appeal to introverts.

• Sensing/ Intuit - How do you take in information? Do you rely strictly on facts of the world around you or do you follow gut instincts?
• This can affect your research style or help you analyze critiques to better your manuscripts.

• Thinker/Feeler - Do you use logic or your feelings to process things?
• Thinkers may be more willing to ask questions of beta readers or feedback, while a feeler may need to take some time to process before replying.

• Judging/ Perceiving - How to you use the information and how important is structure in your life? Do you need a regular, scheduled routine or is spontaneity important to your process?
• The good ol' pantser/plotter come into play here. Do you need more structure than you realized previously? Deadlines are important to Judgers, while perceivers may consider deadlines flexible.

By knowing the way you best handle these elements, you can bend your writing time and process to better accommodate your writing.

Click to Tweet: "E.G. Moore discusses how your personality should affect your writing habits on @YAtopia_blog"

I'd love to know what you discovered! Please share your personality type and any ah-ha moments you may have had when you read about it in the comments below. Pinterest is also a great place to find out more about your type one you discover it. Just enter your four letter combination into the search bar, and have some fun.
 

E. G. Moore is a poet, freelance writer, and storyteller (the first of which her mom still has recorded on a cassette tape.)  She is a long distance member of For Pete’s Sake Writers Group in Washington, active in an email writer’s response group, and a Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI member. When she’s not telling “Mommy Made stories” to her two daughters or nagging her husband to edit her latest manuscript, she can be found off-roading in her suped-up ATV, baking some scrumptious bread, or in a long, plot-refreshing bubble bath. She’s represented by Jessica Schmeidler of Golden Wheat Literary. E.G. Moore tweets, posts on Facebook, and blogs at: www.emilygmoorewriter.blogspot.com

Which Way is Write?

There’s something I feel a lot of people forget what with all the advice flying around out there.

This is your dream. These stories are your stories.

Every single person approaches things differently. Each one of us has had experiences which shape the way we look at the elements that contribute to how and what we write.

So all of this: You should write every day. You should always plot. You should pants. You should only write when you feel like it.

None of those are absolutes. All of those pieces of advice are the sum of someone else’s experiences.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a good idea to look at what has worked for people who’ve been through this whole thing before. But always remember – just because it worked for them, doesn’t mean it’ll work for you. Take the bits that do work for you, and mold them to your unique set of circumstances.

If you need to, pluck different parts from everywhere and make your own set of rules. Because ultimately, you have to figure out how you write best. And since no one else is you, no one can 100% definitively tell you how to write.

How to write? Sit down, and do so. But the when, the method – that you need to find out for yourself. Just like everything involved with writing, this takes time.

Remember it’s your dream – make sure you do it your way.

And in the end, it'll be worth it.

Building a Concept #3: Organizing Your Ideas

So you’ve let inspiration lead you and you’ve brainstormed how you can use those brilliant ideas. But what if you’ve already got half-a-dozen other novels you’re working on or time is working against you? (Oh, that’s just me?) How do you keep snippets of inspiration or couplings of ideas together for a story that you may not get to for a couple months or years?

I think it’s safe to say everyone does this a little differently. I’ve heard of people organizing stories in scrivener or files of documents on each part. Some people add notes on their phone or email themselves or even keep an idea notebook.

I’m a hybrid of several of these methods. For me, I often get inspiration in the form of a character. So while the brainstorming leads me to a decent but underdeveloped plot, I need to hang on to the voice the character gave me from the onset. I create a working title and scribble down a page of notes with pen or pencil, but I also create a word document and “start” the novel in the character’s voice so I can remember that element. (Voice is huge for me, and most of my novels are in first person narrative.)

If you chose to create files to organize inspiration and brainstorming outcomes, I’d highly recommend creating files for each of these: characters, settings, inciting incidents, story problems. Or if you write across the genre board, consider having notebooks or documents for each genre so that when you go to write a particular novel, any and all notes you have that may work for that plot are handy. If you go the "old fashion" route on paper, invest in some sticky labels and divvy up your ideas that way.

Do you use any of the suggestions above to organize your concepts or brainstorming sessions? Or do you do it another way? Please share with me in the comments below. Check back for the most important part of building a concept on June 2nd!

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E. G. Moore is a poet, freelance writer, and storyteller (the first of which her mom still has recorded on a cassette tape.)  She is a long distance member of For Pete’s Sake Writers Group in Washington, active in an email writer’s response group, and a Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI member. When she’s not telling “Mommy Made stories” to her two daughters or nagging her husband to edit her latest manuscript, she can be found off-roading in her suped-up ATV, baking some scrumptious bread, or in a long, plot-refreshing bubble bath. She’s represented by Jessica Schmeidler of Golden Wheat Literary. E.G. Moore tweets, posts on Facebook, and blogs at: www.emilygmoorewriter.blogspot.com

 

Building a Concept #1: Igniting Inspiration

As writers we are blessed with the ability to find inspiration or snippets of stories in everyday situations. It may be overhearing an awkward conversation or seeing something unique on a particular day. It might also come at inconvenient times such as when we're washing dishes or driving and can't write it down.

But what if our inspiration runs dry? We've all been in those desert spots, grasping for something to develop into our next masterpiece and holding only air. If you're dealing with something similar now, read on for ideas on how to ignite some ideas to further cultivate.

Take a Walk

It's been proven over and over that getting the blood flowing in your body leads to better creativity and heightened brain activity. It also gives you the opportunity to focus on something other then your day to day happenings. In addition, where ever you take the journey can lend sights, sounds, and smells to trigger flashes of brilliance.

Become a Spy

You read that right! Immerse yourself a hub of human activity such as a mall, bookstore, coffee shop, college campuses, or other busy areas. Then use the senses to purposely listen and watch human stories unfold all around you. Before going, consider something to focus on such as a weird conversation or different characters you could write about. Then listen and watch as your mind takes over and zones in on these types of diamonds in the rough.

Read, Read, Read

Almost all of us are constantly told to read a lot. What a lot of us don't realize is that the advice doesn't just mean fiction. Magazines, newspapers, blogs, and websites offer myriads of interesting tidbits that could easily be expanded on. Just this last week, Sharon tweeted dozens of weird stories  from @UberFacts that would have been awesome jump-off points for stories. If you do read fiction and discover a nugget of story gold, write those titles down so you can use them as comp titles later.

Reminisce

It is very common for artists to use inspiration from their own life for their work. The reason this often works so well is that you already have an attachment to the story and the emotions are already present. It doesn't have to be something you experienced either. It could be something you remember happening to a friend or to someone you went to school with. It could be something that you remember hearing about that happened in a local or surrounding area. Using your memories as kindling for a story often becomes a therapeutic venture. To dive into those memories, arrange to visit an old friend, attend a reunion, or look through diaries or photo books from your earlier life.

Do you have a favorite way to  switch your mind into brainstorming mode? Please share it in the comments below!

Come on back on April 2nd for some tips on what to do with all those awesome ideas once your inspiration is cranking!

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E.G. Moore

E. G. Moore is a poet, freelance writer, and storyteller. She is a long distance member of For Pete’s Sake Writers Group in Washington and is a Rocky Mountain Chapter SCBWI member. She loves writing stories that send her young readers on adventures they can't experience in real life. She’s excited to be the new blog assistant for YAtopia. When she’s not telling “Mommy Made stories” to her two daughters or nagging her husband to edit her latest manuscript, she can be found off-roading in her suped-up ATV, swimming, or in a long, plot-refreshing bubble bath. She tweets @egmoorewriter, posts on facebook.com/emilygmoorewriter, and blogs at www.emilygmoorewriter.blogspot.com.

YA's PG-13 Misconception

The other day I was listening to the audio book of Kendare Blake's ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD. Within the first two chapters I heard the "F" bomb. Twice.

It was wonderful.

But I found myself double-checking that the book was indeed a YA. For the record, it is Young Adult. And shame on me for thinking just because a book has a certain four-letter word it suddenly becomes Adult.

YA is not the literary equivalent of a PG-13 movie. This is something I had a misconception of. Young Adult fiction is defined that way simply because the perspective of the narrative and main characters is that of an adolescent. That's it.

It would be ignorant to assume teenagers don't swear. It would also be naive to think some don't occasionally smoke, drink, have sex, take illicit drugs, make mistakes, have an opinion.

They are human aren't they?

The wonderful thing about literature over film is that there isn't too much of a box to be cramped by. Each of our experiences with a book, while shared in regards to the plot, is completely unique for every one of us.

Whether it's the fantastically grotesque aftermath of a monster attack in Rick Yancey's THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST or the aforementioned Kendare Blake novel, YA doesn't mean authors should back down from the way they intend to tell their stories. Even though it's all lies in the end, truth resonates still. Readers expect as much. Readers deserve as much.

Sean

Publishing is a House with Many Doors

You don't need an agent.

But, Sean! you say. Aren't you always spouting advice about how to query and interact with agents?! Now you're telling me not to even bother?!

Go back to my first sentence. I said you don't need one. You can certainly want one. I do. It's a personal preference. Agents do a great many things you probably already know about.

But let's face facts. Sometimes agents might not think your manuscript is sellable in the market at that time. Should you trunk the novel? If you want to. However, allow me to offer another option.

While many big publishers require an agent to be the contact point between author and editor, there are many amazing publishing houses that accept unagented submissions. Tor is one that comes to mind, which is great for peeps like me who write speculative fiction.

That's right, kids. You can basically be your own agent.

Many, many, many authors did the reverse of what is thought to be the standard way to get published.

Brandon Sanderson met his editor at a convention and was offered publication. Then he went looking for an agent. His Writing Excuses co-host, Dan Wells, did the same thing.

And let's not forget smaller publishers. Sure, there are a lot of crap ones out there that slap their books with a stock photo and some cheesy font, and whose website looks like it was designed by your seven-year-old niece. But there are tons of amazing independent publishers that do some stellar work and whose books sit on the same Barnes and Noble shelves with Random House, William Morrow and the rest.

If you want an agent first, that's great! Do it. If you exhaust that, but still think your book is sellable and ready to rock, don't shy away from submitting to willing editors.

Just because one door closes, doesn't mean you should mope away down the street. Publishing is a house with many doors, and one will open for you if you just keep knocking.

Yes, That's Spam; No, Don't Do It: How to Avoid Alienating Readers

We all hate SPAM. Every author knows that spamming potential readers is a surefire way to alienate them (RIGHT?) - so why do some insist on invading your online space with their advertisements?

It turns out, based on some conversations I had this week, some authors don't believe what they're doing is SPAM. So here's my handy-dandy, not comprehensive guide, called "Yes, that's spam."

1) Direct Messages

Unless you are having an actual conversation (not argument) or the person has asked you to DM her some information, resist the urge to send a private message on any social media site.

The absolute fastest way to get someone who may have been interested in your books to unfollow you is to send one of those gross "thanks for following messages" immediately after they follow you. Bonus points if it's obviously automated.

For ex:

Thanks for following me! Check out my newest release Stupid Book on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1C53u9V (service of @tweetspammerco)

*yes that is a link to my alter-ego's book. Hey, I needed a link for my example. And you're in my space, after all.

This is not limited to sales links! Telling people where to find your website or other social media, or even messages without links are still considered spam. Private messages are a place for conversation, not for promotion of any kind.

It's like: Those obnoxious phone calls just as you're sitting down to dinner

2) Posting on Someone Else's Virtual Space

Posting about your book on someone's Facebook Wall. Promoting your book on a FB group that has not specifically invited you to do so. Using the comments of another person's blog post to link to/talk about your book. Posting about your book in forums not specifically intended for that sort of thing.

Really, posting about your books on any online space that you do not "own" and you have not been specifically invited to use for that purpose is always a big no-no.

It's like: Walking around a book festival, slapping stickers of your book cover on people without asking.

3) Goodreads "Events" and "Book Suggestions"

I know that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Events to announce your book launch and that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Book Suggestion feature to suggest your own book to anyone who's naive enough to friend you.

Someone wants people to hate you. I want people to like you and I'm saying: don't do this.

Events should be an actual event that someone can attend (virtual events are a thing!), not just an announcement of a book launch. And the Book Suggestion feature's intended use is for people who actually know each other (again, online friendships are a thing!) to suggest books they enjoyed to other people they think might also enjoy them.

It's like: Those pieces of mail that make it look like you're going to get in trouble with the law, but really they're just trying to make you sign up for a loan.

4) Tags

Tagging people in a picture when it's just a promotional image for your book. Mentioning people in a tweet that is promo for your book (or even tweeting a bunch of usernames with something impersonal). Using hashtags meant for communities in promotional posts.

It's like: #2 on this list and also implying that the tagged person endorses your product.

5) Repetitive Promotional Messages

If you tweet the same message about your book every day with a link, rethink that strategy. Also, if you post only about your book and nothing else, mix it up. You may think this is ok because those people have chosen to follow/like you, but you're not building your readership this way. Either your readers are going to unfollow you, or your message becomes background noise.

It's like: a preacher giving the same exact sermon every Sunday.


If you are doing any of these things, you are without-a-doubt alienating potential readers. I know some authors will argue with me, but you're deluding yourself if you think these things are a good use of your promotional time. I promise you the number of books you may sell will never outweigh the books you will never sell because you made someone feel like a customer and not like a person.

Yes, that's spam. No, don't do it.

The No Spark Rejection

If you're a writer and any kind of good, you'll inevitably get past form rejections and make it to the big leagues of actual comments on your work.

Wow. An agent/editor was moved enough to give a personalized rejection!

But this can be bitter sweet.

Sometimes they might offer helpful feedback that, if you agree with it, can help you fix an area of your manuscript you and your CPs hadn't caught. Heck, they might even request a rewrite.

Other times it's not so helpful.

The "no spark" rejection, also known as the "didn't connect" or "just didn't love it the way I wanted to" rejection, is a big, acrid jug of "no thanks".

And there's nothing you can do about it. Often these rejections are attached with comments saying there's nothing wrong with your work. Not one dang thing! You have great characters, an interesting premise, the pacing is right, there are no cliches--but....

It's a case of "she's just not that into you".

These kinds of rejections can be hard to take. "But you said there's nothing wrong with it!" As productive human beings we struggle with the thought that there is nothing to fix. No flick of the wand that'll brush things up for the next agent/editor.

But on the flip side of things, you don't have to fix anything. Move on to the next agent. Send the work out to the next editor. Just like dating, you can't get bent out of shape over one person, even if you thought you guys would be great together and you really just "knew" it was going to happen.

I've thought about this over the last month in great detail. And I've thought of books I have on my shelf that I didn't really like.

Pet Semetary - Meh. Didn't think it was that scary, just really sad. It made me hug my one-year-old son tighter every day, but I didn't feel that "spark".

The Name of the Wind - I picked it up thinking the hordes of people praising it couldn't be wrong. But they were, at least, in comparison to what I like. It wasn't a bad book. It just wasn't that great. I had higher hopes for it.

Divergent, The Hunger Games, and a good many other YA books - They were written in present tense. I disdain present tense, and that's putting it gently. Not that it means the books are bad. They just don't fit into my wheel of cool.

And this is just my opinion, my taste. I am but one individual and there are plenty others with differing views. It's the same with the people you submit to. They're people--fallible, unique.

But that's what makes this journey we've endeavored to begin so magical. It might take you a few tries at the arcane table. You might have to send more than one raven with your potion of awesome.

It's hard. But that doesn't mean it's not worth it.

-- Sean