Why My Love Life Sucks preview

I've uploaded the first 25,000 characters of Why My Love Life Sucks to Amazon where you can download and read them on your computer or your Kindle. You can find them here:
https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1066301

Twitter chats for writers & illustrators

Debbie Ohi, otherwise known as InkyGirl, has put together a list of Twitter chats for writers and illustrators:
http://www.inkygirl.com/twitter-chats-for-writers/
There's a schedule at the end of the blog post.

#writechat: Sundays

Topic or topics are usually announced at the beginning of the chat.
Moderated by @WritingSpirit
EST: 3-6 PM

#scriptchat: Sundays
For seasoned and aspiring screenwriters as well as anyone who is curious about screenwriting. The goal: learning and sharing.
Moderator: @jeannevb
EST: 8 PM

#journchat: Mondays
EST: 8-11 PM

#writersroad  Mondays
formerly #ScribeChat, mostly for writers of MG/YA fiction
EST: 9-10 PM

#kidlitchat: Tuesdays
Craft & business of writing for young people, board books up through YA. Topic or topics announced at the beginning of the chat.
Moderators: @gregpincus, @bonnieadamson
EST: 9 PM

#poettues: Tuesdays
Discussion of poetry with @robertleebrewer
EST: 10AM

#FaithLitChat: Tuesdays
A weekly faith-based discussion of Christian books, writing & CBA market. Follow @FaithLitChat for more info.

EST: 9-10PM
#litchat: Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Mission is to connect readers with books and authors.
Moderator: @litchat.
Transcripts on blog.
EST: 4-5 PM

#WNW: Wednesdays
Wednesday Night Writer. Fantasy/Fiction discussion group on Twitter.
Moderator: @_decode_ .
EST: 8-11 pm

#YALitChat: Wednesdays
Young Adult (teen) books
Moderator:  @Georgia_McBride.
EST: 9 PM

#memoirchat: Wednesdays
Moderator: @alexisgrant
Writers of memoir
EST: 8 PM
#poetry: Thursdays
We talk poetry. Readers, writers, and all others encouraged to join. Moderator: @gregpincus.
EST: 9-10 PM

#kidlitart: Thursdays
Weekly chat for illustrators, pb authors & author/illustrators. Topics announced in advance via @kidlitart. Hosted by Bonnie Adamson and ( @BonnieAdamson) Wendy Martin (@lyonmartin).
EST: 9-10 PM

#dnchat: Thursdays
For those who write fiction for online publication. “DN stands for DigitalNovelists.com, which is the platform most of us in the group publish on, but all web fiction writers and fans of web novelists are welcome.”
EST: 11 pm-12 PM

#fridayflash: Every Friday.
Writers write/post flash fiction. Readers comment and RT.
Time?

#scifichat: Fridays
Moderated by: @DavidRozansky. Follow @scifichat for schedule changes and announcements.
EST: 2-4 pm

#platformchat: Fridays.
Moderator: @thewritermama
EST: 2-3 pm

#scifichat: Fridays
Hosted by: @WritersDigest. Collab fun.
Time?

#StoryFriday: Fridays
Moderated by: @DavidRozansky
EST: 2-4 pm

#followreader: Fridays

#FollowReader is a weekly discussion on Twitter for the bookish community, lightly moderated by @KatMeyer and @CharAbbott, who provide a new topic each week. Kat and Charlotte alternate moderating duties on Fridays from 4 – 5pm EDT, Kat is moderating from 4 – 5 pm on Fridays, but the #FollowReader hashtag is used all week long to bring excellent ideas and discussions to the table.
EST: 4-5 pm

#ThrillerChat: Saturdays. #thrillerchat is a Twitter chat for anyone interested in writing Thrillers, although you don’t have to be a writer to join in. 1-2 hours. Moderated by: @Selorian. More info here.
EST: 8 pm

#ScreenwritingSaturday: Saturdays
Moderator: @UncompletedWork.
Time: all day

The following are more motivational groups rather than scheduled Twitterchats, but are still a great way of meeting other writers on Twitter. They're open any day, any time:


#amwriting:  @johannaharness
#amwritingparty: @saramcclung.
#mommyswriting: @quirkywriter: It’s official. If you’re trying to balance raising kids and writing for them, meet us on #mommyswriting for support.
#writegoal: @annadestefano.

Other hashtags of interest to writers: #AgentPeeves, #allaboutagents, #askagent (at least every 2 wks, around 11 am EST Mondays or Tuesdays?), #authors, #cdnkidlit, #editing,#fictionfriday, #nanowrimo (during November), #pubtip, #RomChat (see info), #storystarters, #tuesbooktalk, #wip, #wordcount, #writetip, #novelists, #wordathon, #WriteRomance (see info), #writers, #writing, #writingparty, #agentsday #agentinternday. (I'm not sure of the times for most of these, but if someone can give me that information I would be happy to update it.)

The best way to follow a TwitterChat is with http://tweetchat.com/

I give you permission to...

So many times I've heard writers say, "You can't..."

You can't write a novel that crosses genres. For example, you can't write a fantasy novel that later turns out to be a science fiction novel. Gene Wolfe could do it in his Book of the New Sun because he's Gene Wolfe, but you aren't Gene Wolf.

You can't write in more than one genre. For example, you can't write realistic poetry and prose fantasy. Maybe Jane Yolen can write in more than one genre, but you aren't Jane Yolen.

You can't write for different age groups. For example, you can't write picture books and novels for teens. Neil Gaiman can do it because he's Neil Gaiman, but you aren't Neil Gaiman.

You can't have a novel with different points of view. Stephen King did it in The Stand, but you aren't Stephen King.

You can't. You can't. You can't.

But you can.

Gene Wolfe was a writer just like you before he wrote the Book of the New Sun. Jane Yolen had to start out in one genre before she tried another. Neil Gaiman used to write comic books for adults--and won awards for them--before he started winning awards for his children's books. Stephen King apparently never got the "You can't" memo. Either that, or he didn't listen. None of them did, and neither should you.

Don't listen to "You can't."

I give you permission to write a novel that goes across genres. I give you permission to write in more than one genre. I give you permission to write for different age groups. I give you permission to write stories with different points of view. I give you permission to use repetition. And incomplete sentences. I give you permission to break all the rules, to draw outside all the lines.

What I don't give you permission to do is to tell yourself, "You can't."

You'll never know what you can do until you try, so try. You have everything to gain, and nothing to lose.

Tone versus Voice: But what’s “voice” and whose voice?

These are my comments in a discussion on the SCBWI boards on tone versus voice. I’m of the position that the voice of a story is the narrator or POV character’s, while someone else said it is the unique voice of the author. What do you think?


Tone is simple. Tone can be humorous, melodramatic, etc.. It's mood. It's style. Books by different writers with different characters can still have the same tone.

Voice, however, is complex. It's a world view. It's a unique way of seeing and expressing everything in the story. It can be of a certain tone--humorous, for example--but it goes beyond that. How is the humorous tone created? How does the MC or narrator see the world?

For example, in the Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison, the tone is humorous. And yet Georgia's voice isn't intentionally funny. She sees herself "on the rack of love," suffering because of her crazy family and her dither spaz best friend, and all tragic. The humorous tone is created in only the way Georgia's unique voice can create it, her unique way of seeing and describing her world.

I guess one way to put it is the style might tell you it's abstract, but the way it's done tells you it's a Kandinsky.

Yes, to me the tone of a piece of writing is the mood. I think others were saying something similar when comparing it to the tone of voice you use when you say something. You can have an angry tone or a humorous one. Those are moods.

Also, I'd like to point out that in many works of fiction today, the voice is the character's, not the writer's. I know that's the case in my writing. Although some things pop up in different stories of mine, I like to think that is more a matter of my style, that it doesn't prevent the character's voice from shining through.

I think it's important for voice to remain consistent in a story--at least when the POV character is the same--but I don't like it when writers are incapable of changing the voice from story to story. It makes all their stories and all their characters sound the same, and that's boring. Some of us aspire to be Woody Allen; some of us aspire to be Meryl Streep. I'd much rather be Meryl Streep. I know I'm not there yet, but that is the dream.

I would take lack of authorial voice as a huge compliment! To me that would mean the ability to get out of the way and let the story just be itself. That ability would be an amazing thing--if I could achieve it. But, alas, I can't. That would take the rarest talent indeed.

I read stories because they immerse me, not in the writer's skin and world, but in the character's skin and world. When I read Lord of the Rings, I'm a hobbit on a desperate mission to save Middle Earth. I'm not Tolkien. Indeed, I'd find that boring. I'm sure even Tolkien found that boring. If he didn't, he probably wouldn't have written the darn thing!

You say it's the writer's voice that makes one story different from another. I say it's the voice of the narrator or POV character that makes one story different from another. How could anyone else's story sound like mine with different characters' unique voices? I created my characters, and another writer will create his characters, and those characters will give each of our stories a unique voice. Not only will my characters' voices make my work completely different from another writer's, but they'll make each of my stories completely different from one another, or at least they will if I've done my job properly.

Although I love being a hobbit in Middle Earth, I don't want to just be a hobbit. Not when there are an infinite number of stories out there, an infinite number of worlds I can visit and see through a unique set of eyes belonging to a character with a unique voice with every book I pick up. And this is the way I want to write.

You say there would be no reason for anyone to prefer my stories over that of an equally skilled writer. On the contrary! The question isn't about which writer you would prefer to read but whose characters you would prefer to spend time with, which world you'd like to visit for a while.

If you want to hear Meryl Streep in her own voice, watch an interview with her. But if you want to enter the world of Julia Child and hear Julia in her unique voice wax poetic about French cuisine, watch her in "Julie & Julia." And if all you hear is Meryl's New Jersey accent when you're watching the movie, I'm sure even Ms. Streep would admit she'd failed miserably in what she was trying to accomplish. When the audience can't separate the actor from the role, it's a sign of a less than stellar performance.

This is how I see my voice versus the voices of my characters. If the reader can't tell the difference, then I've failed to truly bring my characters to life, which means I've failed the reader. Because how can the reader truly immerse himself in the character's world if the only voice the reader hears—and the only POV the reader can experience that world through--is mine?

Shevi

Query done? Check. List of agents to submit to? Check...

I've accomplished the next three things on my "How to Get a Literary Agent" checklist:

1. Used AgentQuery.com to research agents and put together a list of agents who are interested in YA and open to submissions.

2. Further researched the agents who seem like they might be a good fit for what I do and selected my top twelve (couldn't narrow it down to less than that).

3. Wrote a dynamite query letter and had my critique group, SCBWI friends, and Facebook friends help me polish it until it shines!

Here's the finished query:
____________________________________________________


Dear (agent’s name goes here),


Seventeen-year-old Tracy Miller found the love of her life . . . thirty years after her own death.

Thirty years ago, Tracy was working in the House of Horrors at the Amazing Lands Theme Park when a fire broke out and quickly spread through the building. While others fled, Tracy lost her life trying in vain to save eleven-year-old Mack. Now the House of Horrors is gone, the six other ghosts who died there are gone, and only Tracy and Mack remain.

As ghosts in the park, Tracy and Mack can ride all the rides, see all the shows, smell and even taste all the food. For Mack every day is a new adventure. Tracy, however, hates the park, but unlike the other people who died in the fire with her and Mack, she can’t bring herself to go to the Light. She claims she’s sticking around for his sake, but deep down she knows it’s not true.

Then everything changes when seventeen-year-old Josh also dies in the park. At first Tracy wonders why Josh chooses to stay with them, but she soon discovers that he is in love with her. And despite her apprehensions, she finds herself falling for him too. Is their love strong enough to help Tracy overcome something that happened when she was alive, the one thing that still haunts her and stops her from going to the Light?

RIDE OF YOUR LIFE (78,000 words) won third-place in SmartWriters W.I.N. (Write It Now) Competition in 2006, which was judged by author Alex Flinn. It is a YA ghost story, similar in tone to Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones.

Editorial cartoonist, comic-strip magazine editor, arts-and-entertainment writer, and consumer columnist: I’ve been writing professionally in one form or another since 1987. My last full-time job was as the consumer columnist for The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com). Most recently I wrote and edited the SCBWI Illustrator’s Market Guide. You can read more about me on my website: www.sheviarnold.com.

As per your submission requirements, I’ve included (whatever is required for this agent and my reason for choosing this particular agent). I look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Shevi Arnold
___________________________________________________

I have now started to print up the things I need to send, which will be personalized to explain why I've chosen to submit my novel to these agents.
 
Wish me luck!
 
Shevi
 
PS: Someone suggested that I post my query letter on the YA Lit Chat Ning group to get help editing it. I did that, and my query received only one reply. It told me the writer would reject my query outright (without any explanation as to why), the agents on the site might be interested in it (again without any explanation as to why), and that if I wanted real advice, I should ask to be put on the "Query Kick-Around" schedule, the nearest opening for which is about a month off. In other words, the whole thing was a waste of time and an exercise in futility. I wrote a well-thought out and fair post there about my experience with the YA Lit Chat Ning group, and the moderator deleted it because they "try to keep things positive." It reminds me of that poster of the Mafia boss saying, "When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you." It's sad, really, when you consider some writers might not have the resources or the confidence I have to seek advice elsewhere. At least the YALitChats on Twitter are often interesting and informative. All this is to say, thank goodness for critique groups, the SCBWI, and Facebook friends! You've been a tremendous help. You rock!

Steps to getting a literary agent

Here's where I am on my search for a literary agent.

Steps already accomplished:
1. Wrote a dynamite outline and first few chapters of a novel
2. Got chapters critiqued by my critique group and revised accordingly
3. Took outline and chapters to conferences and got positive feedback from editors and agents
4. Submitted to a contest and won third place in the YA category--Yes!
5. Got one-on-one feedback and encouragement from an agent at a SCBWI NJ Mentoring Workshop (Those workshops are awesome!)
6. Finished writing the novel
7. Put it in the drawer for a month so I could edit it with fresh eyes one more time before sending it off (Also wrote the first draft of another dynamite book during NaNoWriMo!)
8. Gave it one last edit and made sure it's now ready to go out

Steps to accomplish now:
1. On AgentQuery.com, go through list of agents who are open to submissions and are interested in YA. Rate agents from 6-10 based on the following: how close a match their interests are to this manuscript, how open they are to other manuscripts I have, whether they've had good sales to good publishers recently (Add points to agents I like who I've met at conferences and elsewhere, as well as agents who work with writers I know.)
2. Select top 5-10 agents from my list (That's tricky with so many great agents to choose from.)
3. Write a dynamite query letter and get my critique group to help me polish it until it shines!
4. Adapt query letter for each agent on my list
5. Print up query letters, cover letters, synopses, chapters, full manuscripts--whatever each agent requests
6. Mail or email (according to each agent's guidelines) a personalized query letter or submission to each one
7. Pray!
8. Work on something else so I don't drive myself bonkers while waiting for replies
9. With each rejection letter (everyone gets rejection letters), submit to the next agent on my list and try not to sweat it
10. Don't jump on the first offer of representation. Make sure this is really the person I want to work with first
11. Read contract carefully and make sure I understand it
12. Sign contract
13. Give agent what he/she needs to get the right deal at the right house with the right editor

I'll get there one step at a time.

Wish me luck!

Agent Mary Kole is running a contest. Send the first 500 words of your MG or YA, and you could win a critique! Here's the link: http://kidlit.com/kidlit-contest/