It's Friday again! Time for another round-up of my carefully gleaned writing tips and personal writerly musings. Who knows? There might even be an Author Spotlight or Query Corner.
I talk a lot about the queryingprocess. Maybe someday I can talk about actually working with an agent. But, if you’ve been following me for a while, you know that traditionally published books need an agent and that most publishing houses don’t accept submissions for unagented works. You know, in order to get an agent, you need to send them a one-page query letter, telling them about the story — the characters and the stakes, the manuscript’s stats and comparative novels, and a brief biography of yourself. I’ve talkedabout how to pick who to query. I’ve even let you know about my worries about when to send that query letter.
But that’s not all you need to think about.
There’s debate about how many agents to query at a time, when to stop, and whether to give up and ‘drawer’ the manuscript or self-publish. I know I have the bad habit of revising my whole manuscript every ten queries or so, which I shouldn’t need to do unless I’m getting consistent feedback or my manuscript isn’t ready.
However, I’ve been running into querying writers who are sending out ten queries a day, without stop, until they’ve queried everyone in their genre, (or at least not opposed to their genre.)
Stop it!
You’re only hurting your own chances.
I agree that queries should be sent out in batches — but of 3-5, maybe up to 10. But then you need to wait. You need to see what sort of responses you’re getting.
If you’re getting form rejections, that doesn’t tell you if the agent doesn’t find your voice or story compelling, nor does it say that it’s not what the market is looking for. It simply means your query (and/or your first 10-pages) aren’t working.
It’s a LOT easier to edit or tweak a query and opening chapter than it is to revise and revamp an entire manuscript. But, industry standards are such that one does not re-query with the same manuscript unless there have been substantial changes — plot, pacing, characters — to a majority of the story.
A slight aside about those opening pages – a lot of publishers and agents and even veteran writers have told me that newbie writers often start the story in the wrong place — even if their writing is great.
Now, back to the query talk. If you query every agent immediately, you’ll never know if the problem is your query and opening, or the story itself.
If you query in smaller batches, you can tweak and adjust until you’re getting requests for more pages, or more personalized rejections. Both mean you’re getting closer. Feedback is useful, but lack of feedback just means you haven’t hit the mark yet (or you’ve been querying the wrong people).
Don’t waste your query chances with your first polished query. Once you’re getting rejections on partial or full requests, it may be time to query more widely, because you’ve got the query just right. Or, it might be time to look at the story. But all a form rejection means on a query is that the query isn’t working.
Slow down your querying. The publishing industry is a slow process, and rushing the querying process won’t do anything but close doors to your current manuscript.
Have you queried a manuscript? What did you find to be the right size for a batch?
a purveyor of interactive fiction & gamebooks for grown-ups
Readers! Let’s give a good, hearty welcome to James Schannep!
James Schannep has a son and a daughter, a cat and a dog, enjoys both running and napping, loves vanilla and chocolate, has a desire to travel but also to stay put and write. He loves horror, comedy, and nearly everything in between. Rather than being torn asunder by his dichotomies, he harnesses these schizophrenic impulses by writing branching fiction with over fifty possible endings.
James, thanks for agreeing to be here today. While most interviews start off with bios and such, and while I’ll get to that as always, let’s start with the important stuff!
If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?
I always wanted a pet dinosaur as a kid, so it’s going to be really hard not to say dinosaur, but… if we’re talking fantasy, I’m going to have to go with Lying Cat from Saga. Let’s face it, a dinosaur would be a bit much for a lot of life, but a walking, talking lie detector that’s fiercely loyal and gives smugly sarcastic side-long glances? It’s perfect. Purrfect. Oh, my car needs a new transmission? What say you, Lying Cat? It’s time to renegotiate my contract? Sorry, Lying Cat absolutely needs to be in the room for that. I don’t have enough time to get my writing done? Okay, okay, Lying Cat — thanks for keeping me on track. And you’re right, I do still want a dinosaur, if we’re being honest.
Now I have the ‘Dino, the Last Dinosaur’ song stuck in my head. But yes, I could see a cat being friendly and Lying Cat being… so much more helpful.
What do you write?And how did you get started?
A chance conversation with a friend contained the question, “Why aren’t there any Choose Your Own Adventure books for adults?” That led down a Google rabbit hole, a writing experiment, and eventually a passion for a new form of storytelling.
Yay for a new era of choose your own adventures!
What do you like to read?
Part of the fun for me is that each interactive book I take on is in a different subgenre. So, for a few months I become a zombie fanatic. Then, once that’s done, I read all the best mystery writing I can get my hands on. After I finish my detective story, I become immersed in the superhero genre, and on and on it goes.
Love it! I know some authors who are more interested in research than writing…
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.
Don’t worry about the details, it’s fiction.
No. No, no, no, no. I love learning; as a writer, as a reader, as a human. So if consuming entertainment can also teach me something? Good! I believe if a detail in a book can be accurate, it should be accurate. In addition to being a small way to improve upon society through microeducation, researching various topics also prevents us from alienating certain segments of our readership. We all know the nurse who hates the way X portrays hospitals or the soldier who can’t watch Y because the details are laughably wrong. Don’t they deserve to be immersed in your stories as well?
I’m with you one-hundred percent. I’ve heard one of the things you should try to never do is to kick your audience out of the story, triggering their disbelief, and making them stop to think about the story. Getting small details wrong can ruin the story for plenty of people.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.
No one can tell the story the way you can.
I’m going to write a haunted house story next. Haunted house stories have been done…ahem…to death, but no one has ever told a haunted house story the way that I can. And if I don’t, who will?
Definitely! I’ve heard writer friends stress out, because a published book sounded superficially like theirs. But, Pocahontas, Avatar, and Fern Gully all have the same plot, but very different styles and moods. And they’re all enjoyable in different ways. Just because a plot sounds similar to yours doesn’t mean your story will be seen as a copy-cat. As long as you’re not plagiarizing, you should be fine.
Shameless Self-Promotion time!
New release time! SPIED has just launched. 3 Unique Storylines. Over 50 Possible Endings. Just one question…Can YOU Crack the Code as a Secret Agent?
SPIED is a suspense thriller unlike any other — YOU are the main character. Recruited from the lower-levels of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to become a field agent (finally!), it’s up to you to break into secure facilities, solve cryptic puzzles, expose potential moles, and suavely talk your way out of any situation before shadowy forces [REDACTED] the world!
Praise for SPIED: “Filled with so many twists and turns, Schannep had me both shaken and stirred.” -Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond series
If spies aren’t for you, check out James’s other choose-your-own-adventure stories: Murdered, Infected, Superpowered, Marooned, and Pathogens.
In Case You Missed it: here’s the round up of all of my latest content, plus updates from old guests!
Read on if you want to know more.
If not? See you next week with more writing tips and writerly musings.
Coming up this week:
Taking the week off.
Content Around The Web:
On Youtube:
Life Happens – You know how I’m always saying to be kind and forgiving of yourself when life happens? Well, this week, I’m practicing what I preach and putting my family first.
On the Podcast:
Why You Should Consider An Agent If You Want To Be Traditionally Published – You can only spend so long revising and editing a novel. But then what? If you want to get your novel traditionally published, you’re gonna need to query some agents. This episode answers your burning questions: What are your publishing options? What are the benefits of having an agent? Where do you find an agent? And more!
On The Blog(In Case You Missed It):
Life Happens – You know how I’m always saying to be kind and forgiving of yourself when life happens? Well, this week, I’m practicing what I preach and putting my family first.
Author Spotlight Guest: Cas E. Crowe – a YA dark fantasy/horror/thriller writer, artist, creative thinker, and jogging addict. Check out her interview, writing tips, and more.
Events:
None coming up.
What I’ve Been Reading:
More Zoe Chant paranormal romance novellas, Rafael, the latest Anita Blake book (by Laurel K Hamilton), and rereading some old Anita Blake’s cause I was trying to remember when some stuff happened.
New Works By Previous Guests!
Nothing this week, but a lot of great stuff coming up soon!
Here’s a picture from this past weekend — me grinning having just had a successful first paid speaking gig.
