Author: Eric Warren

I think there is a lot of value to be found in reading books while one attempts to write. They can help our imaginations stretch out after a long day of typing, or they can provide a much-needed reprieve if we’ve hit a wall. Ever since I started writing again I’ve become a much more active reader and sometimes I fall on gems like this.

I’m currently reading The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, and looking at it from a writer’s perspective I have never seen characters written so well. This man is a master, from the young and brash Holly Sykes to the despicable yet honorable Hugo Lamb, he’s got his thumb on the pulse of what makes us human. What is funny is Mr. Mitchell even tells us how he does it in a later chapter of the book where a writer is explaining an assignment to his students:

“Your characters’ plotted life histories. Whom or what your characters love and despise. Details on education, employment, finances, political affiliations, social class. Fears. Skeletons in cupboards. Addictions. Biggest regret; believer, agnostic or atheist. How afraid of dying are they? . . . Have they ever seen a corpse? A ghost? Sexuality. Glass half empty, glass half full, glass too small? Snazzy or scruffy dressers? It’s a letter, so consider their use of language. Would they say ‘mellifluous’ or ‘a sharp talker’? Foul-mouthed or profanity-averse? Record the phrases they unknowingly overuse. When did they last cry? Can they see another person’s point of view?”

-David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks

I firmly believe he is outlining his own thinking process here, allowing us to glimpse into his mind, how he structures his characters. As someone who struggles with this, these words are so valuable to me because they help me figure out how to flesh out a character myself. And while this only scratches the surface, it provides me with a much needed jumping-off point for creativity. Thank you for that Mr. Mitchell (I’m buying all your books).

Yep, as I said before, conference fever has struck. But don’t worry! This one was local, so no hotel rooms, car rentals or airplane tickets. But in the end it turned out to be invaluable for me. How do you ask? Read on and find out.

This past weekend I had the enumerable fortune of attending ConCarolinas for a second year in a row. Last year I attended for only a few hours on Saturday, but this year I felt much more “in the groove” so to say and spent nearly the entire weekend going to panels, listening to speakers, cowering through workshops and having an amazing time. ConCarolinas isn’t specifically a writer’s convention, it tends to run the gamut of interests, from Star Trek and Star Wars, to Warcraft and Doctor Who. Writing is only one small part, yet they have a robust writer’s track.

One of my primary goals while attending was to participate in the “Live Action Slush” which is just another name for the Gong Show, but on a smaller scale. All of the panelists were editors at Publishing houses instead of agents but the idea is the same. And because it was a smaller venue there was a much more likely chance everyone’s page would be read. And because my page wasn’t read at the Gong Show, I wanted to give it another go. And it turned out great! None of the editors raised their hands signaling they would stop during the reading of my page and seemed intrigued by my story. And this was the unedited first draft! That gave me warm fuzzies for the next few hours. That was…until four o’clock.

Four o’clock. The second of the two workshops I wished to attend. This one was entitled: “Face to Face with the Slushmaster” It worked similar to the Slush, except in this case, students who’d had nothing but form rejections (especially in the sci-fi or fantasy genres) were invited to present their Query Letters, Synopsis and first five pages of their manuscript for scrutiny. The idea was the editor would take a look and provide individualized feedback on what was going wrong.

Naturally, this was right up my alley. I hadn’t had a chance to revise my synopsis since DFWcon, but my pages and QL were ready, and thus I presented. And what I received in return was probably the most informative feedback I’ve had to-date on my very first manuscript: Forecast. It is the only one I’ve been querying so far and I received 28 rejections before I stopped and decided to rework it. That was six months ago. And while I believe the MS is improved considerably, it is clear it still needs more work. I won’t lie, I came out of that workshop a little deflated; I’d thought I’d finally fixed this one but hearing someone read it out loud made it clear I had not. I’ll spare the details, but it was difficult to listen to. It is hard to watch someone read your baby then look you in the eye and say “no”, but at least now I have an idea why, and that is more valuable to me than anything, especially ignorance. The only way I can improve is if I know where my weaknesses are, and today I have a better idea than I did four days ago.

So now the question is: in preparation for New York, do I attempt to fix Forecast, or spend the time finishing and polishing my third work, which I’ve tentatively titled Singular? After some great feedback on my second: Empowered, it has become clear that one needs a lot of work that will completely restructure the book, and I’m not sure I can do that in two months, even if I had nothing else to do, so I think that one is out for now. It is the bane of a writer’s existence, too much writing and too little time.

In the end, it was an amazing experience where I felt like I finally got some real, tangible feedback from an industry professional that I can use to improve my works. I can’t wait for next year.

 

Nope, not the 90’s Hip Hop Dance show that was AWESOME! No, I’m referring to the grind of taking time out to sit down for a few hours every day and write with conviction.

My first two works were a little odd. On my very first, I had little to no idea what I was doing as I was just starting and so I went along writing a little here, a little there and eventually I ended up with a finished manuscript (don’t ask me how I don’t know.) The second I started the very same day I finished the first one, didn’t even give myself a break of any kind. And that turned out to be a mistake. About six weeks and 20,000 words in I took a break to start editing my first and I completely lost all enthusiasm for the second. It was a bear to finish which didn’t end up happening until almost six months later.

So last Thursday I started on what I am tentatively calling THREE. Only because it is my third, it doesn’t relate to the first two in the slightest. But this time I am also still editing and querying my first, and also my second which is in Beta reading now. Looks like I need to get good at juggling quick.

I haven’t written continuously (with the exception of edits, some of which are extensive) since last October when I finished Two. I wanted to sit down and prepare for this one, get an outline set, flesh out the characters and details and all the little things so that when I began, I could plow through it. And that’s what I did, I took a little break, did all my prep work, focused on improving my craft and set up a schedule. Which began last Thursday.

My goal is approximately 2500 words per day. For an 80,000 word project that puts me right at a month’s time before finishing. My first took five months. My second almost nine. I am determined not to let that happen again. I want to stay in this headspace and get the work done, grind it out so to say. And for the first week, things have been going swimmingly. I’m at a little over 13,000 words already which is fantastic. But there is always a plot twist.

Unfortunately my characters have decided they have minds of their own and have deviated from the outline I so painstakingly crafted. Road bump. And while I like where my characters are going, I can’t keep up that sort of speed without the map, so it is back to the drawing board.

I guess I should budget for two months.

During my time in Fort Worth I had the unique opportunity to watch the infamous “Gong Show” the convention puts on every year. My buddy Novelarnia has already posted about this, check out her page to get a slightly different perspective. But for those that don’t know, the Gong Show is a showcase where all of the invited Agents sit up at a long table in front of the crowd and critique Query Letters or First Pages as they are picked out of a pile and read. When an Agent thinks they would stop reading, they bang the gong. If three Agents Gong, the reading stops and the Agents explain why they would have rejected the piece.

Here are 10 things I learned not to do on the First Page of your Manuscript:

1. Ask a Question
   1. Asking a question anywhere during the first page is typically an automatic rejection. Agents don’t want to be asked, they want to be enthralled. Don’t take them out of the story by posing a rhetorical question.
2. Cliché after Cliché
   1. Agents hate clichés. You’ll be lucky if you get away with one. More than one and you’re doomed. Don’t give them a reason to reject you, come up with something new.
3. Info-dumps
   1. An info-dump can pull the reader out of the story with too much information. Sprinkle it in, especially in the first page. Take a look at how the page looks, if it is nothing more than a solid block of text, you may want to rethink it.
4. Not enough information on the Character – Too Vague
   1. Your reader needs to connect with your character early, otherwise they are going to lose interest. Give the reader something to grab on to, don’t beat around the bush.
5. Words did not Flow
   1. Watch your sentence structure and your grammar. Keep in mind your manuscript should be “show ready” by the time it is sent off to an Agent. Get a couple of opinions of your fellow writers before you send it to make sure you’re not missing the basics.
6. Purple Prose
   1. This goes back to Vagueness. If you are focused on flowery language and too many small details, you are going to lose the reader early on –unless you are a Pulitzer Prize Winning Author. They can get away with it, and once you have a couple of bestsellers, you can too.
7. Back Cover Reading, not a 1^st Page
   1. Don’t make your first page sound like your Query Letter or Synopsis. The reader needs an introduction to the story, not a summary.
8. Repetitive, Not Enough Info
   1. Once you’ve provided information to the reader, don’t keep providing it over and over again in different ways. Or if you’re not giving the reader enough to go on, they won’t be able to follow what you are trying to convey.
9. Wooden Character, Contrived, One-dimensional
   1. This goes to clichés again. Don’t make your MC a Harry Potter or Jason Bourne, make sure they are different enough to make them unique, and make them complex.
10. It was Perfect
    1. Despite everything you do, even if you avoid all these pitfalls and manage to craft a perfect first page, there is a chance the Agent just may not like it. There’s nothing you can do but take your punches and move on, but at least you’ve done your best.

It has been a little over a week since DFWcon ended and I’m already feeling the itch to attend another conference. Maybe it’s because of the high of meeting so many other writers and working in a writing-only space for a couple of days, or maybe it is being in a place where I feel like every ounce of my time is being put to good use. I feel like I waste so much time at home and try to dedicate as much of it to writing as I possibly can, but obviously real life gets in the way and there is only so much that I can do.

So is it crazy I’m considering attending yet another writing conference in the same calendar year?

A friend of mine recently made me aware of the Writer’s Digest NYC Conference in August. Not only do more than fifty agents attend, but this is a three-day conference, including a few events on Thursday night! But there are some drawbacks: the Pitch sessions aren’t included and require an additional purchase (and you only get 90 seconds!) and the total cost of the show is at least double of DFWcon, before I even add in airline cost.

But…

From what I’ve been reading online this is the conference to attend. 50 agents. Untold opportunity. Writers from all around the world. Classes by some of the best names in the business. So I guess the real question is: How much do I want it?

Whew! What a weekend. I haven’t worked that hard at meeting people in years, and it felt good to be under the gun a bit.

Before I started my writing career, I’d been to many a convention. But these weren’t “craft” conventions per se, they were more of fan conventions, even the one I organized myself. And while those were a chance to relax, enjoy some downtime with people I hadn’t seen in a while and maybe buy something, this past weekend at DFWCon was completely different.

And not a bad different.

But make no mistake. While I had a great time meeting people and attending classes, at DFWCon I had goals. Goals, I am happy to report, that I accomplished. But as a self-described introvert (as many of us writers are) it takes a certain amount of self control to leave my comfort zone for a few days and start interacting with people regularly. Because I own my own business I don’t have co-workers. Because I work from home I don’t interact with many people daily. And because I covet my downtime I don’t socialize much. So pulling myself out of that head-space for a weekend was difficult. It was work.

For my first honest-to-god writer’s convention I had three goals: 1) Meet as many new people as possible, 2) pitch my novels to at least three agents, 3) interact and learn. While only goal number 2 was clearly defined, I feel like I was able to do all of this and more this weekend. I met some wonderful people (it helped that I’d formed a bit of a twitter clique beforehand), and the mixer on Friday made a big difference as well. I think if I had gone in blind on Saturday morning I would have been a lot more reserved. Pitching to three agents was more of a logistical thing, and I was able to squeeze in the very last spot for one of those said agents, so talk about cutting it close.

And finally number three, learn, learn, learn. I’d heard that during conventions like this most of the “action” happens at the bars, and I even had a colleague who said he was staying at the bar the entire time. But I still consider myself a newbie and I knew I needed to attend as many classes and workshops as possible. I am so glad I did. I almost feel like I should have attended this conference before I even began writing, because it really opened my eyes. However I managed to be a participant in one of the Read & Critique Workshop and the response to my piece was overwhelmingly positive. At least I know I’m not completely off-track.

I would like to give a special shout out to two classes: Jenny Martin’s Digging Deeper, and Amanda Arista’s Creating Strong Heroines and Stronger Villains in Your Women’s Fiction. These two classes have completely changed my perspective on writing, and I look forward to applying what I’ve learned in my next novel (currently in the outline phase).

To say the convention was a success for me would be a complete understatement. While none of the Agents ran up excitedly and pleaded to represent me, I feel like the experience and friends I gained make the entire experience priceless. I can’t wait until next year.

 

(Protip: Writers! Get on Twitter, it really makes a difference!)

The Ninth Annual Dallas Fort Worth Writers Convention starts in a few days and I’m getting excited. It’s my first big convention that doesn’t have to do with small plastic robots. To say I’m in a flurry is a bit of an understatement. I am preparing two different manuscripts to pitch, (as my father always said: Be Prepared) and I am also preparing for a Read and Critique workshop. Finally I’ve decided I need to throw my query into the Gong Show pile if for no other reason than to see what happens.

Two months ago I didn’t even know about this convention and now it has become the center of my world for the next week and a half. Fortunately some of the great people over at Charlotte Writers Group have had some good experiences with the ‘con, so I’m hoping this becomes more than a single trip. Who knows, maybe by next year I’ll have my third manuscript done.

Back to work!