SCWC: World-Building

My notes from the Southern California Writers' Conference.

• Applies to memoirs and nonfiction, too!

• The more abstract the idea is, the more world building you have to do

• Difficult to go against known laws of physics unless you come up with a damn good reason

• Top-down (big picture, create world around larger concept) or bottom-up world building (world built around a specific character)

• Non-fiction—build the world for people that have never been to the locale. Show what is different and new.

• If you’re not familiar with it, be general unless you want to do the research.

• Manipulate the world into pushing the character where you want

• History doesn't have to be a large component, but helps establish the world

• Real-world influence helps

• Even in fantasy, it still needs to be consistent (rules/laws)

SCWC: What to Expect from Your Agent—And What She Expects from You!

My notes from the Southern California Writers' Conference.

• Main thing—look for authenticity (on the part of both author and agent)

• Passion—important for agent to be passionate about your work. Crucial for their pitching.

• Honesty in author/agent relationship. Editorial feedback, valuable critiques

• Ethics—agent should be following AAR guidelines. How do they earn their profits? You shouldn’t have to pay to get your work evaluated! Follow your instinct, avoid red flags.

• Communication—sometimes writers are afraid to ask questions about their work. Ask your agents questions, you have a right to know! Follow-up with agent and make sure they follow-up with you.

• Agent should have a plan (proposal package), should know editors/people that would be interested in your work.

• Agents can secure advance for you, negotiate contracts, review royalties, make sure publisher sticks to their deadlines. Handles foreign rights. Works as a middle man to resolve issues between writer/publisher

• Agent should be open-minded, creative, and flexible. Be open to new possibilities/change and grow with the times since the publishing industry is always changing.

• Is agent committed to your work? How persistent and dedicated are they? Do they know when to cut their losses and move to Plan B?

• Make query letter short/brief. Give an idea of command of language.

• What is author’s plan? Do you want to have a career? Do book tours?

• Contract red flag—excessive bias/favor towards publisher, publisher tries to take all the rights

• Ask agent for references, check to see who they have published, what books they represent

• 10%-15% commission for agents

SCWC: The Road to Publication—Theme and Genre

My notes from the Southern California Writers' Conference.

·         Publishing vs publishing a best-seller—1 in 300 becomes a bestseller.

·         Exercise—write down your daydreams

·         Secrets (theme/hook gets you word-of-mouth, gets readers to share your book)

o   What is your favorite genre?

o   The “what’s it about” question.

o   What secrets have been buried on your journey?

o   Does your hook connect with your theme?

·         What compels people to share a story?

·         Entertainment

o   Theme and entertainment (the book needs to be entertaining!)

o   Readers want romance, mystery, thrillers, YA, and sci-fi

o   Formulas (rules) of genre fiction can stretch/flow free

§  They have a positive and negative energy

§  They inspire character (flawed), plot, depth, interest

·         Read other writers in your genre to get ideas.

·         Challenge is to give publishers what they want to sell.  Stretch the rules!

·         Goals

o   Do your stories have a moral?

o   Exercise: write one sentence that would make someone buy your book (keep it simple, create emotional appeal)

o   The pre-eminent theme of great literature is the human heart in conflict with itself. – William Faulkner

·         What is different and unique about your book?

·         Wisdom is based on doubt, don’t be too full of certainty.

·         Voice

o   Theme links voice/imperfection.  You find the voice through imperfection (idiosyncrasies).  Let a little imperfection in, it’s a good thing.

o   Why do you write?  To kill old enemies?  Without an emotional desire to write, it will be difficult to sustain for the long-haul.  What drives you?

o   Repressed emotions/dominant emotions (you can edit your own life!)

o   Writing helps us understand and rewrite

o   Themes are universal stories with appeal

·         Stick to the point, don’t meander.

·         Tone

o   Theme in your tone?

o   “If writing has a morality it is expressed through tone.” – Philip Gerard

o   Word choice, what’s between the lines, insight, not easy judgment and “a great humanity.”

o   Steinbeck—“Then the hard, dry, Spaniards came passing through.”

·         Assume your readers are more intelligent than you, don’t explain everything to them.  Cut out excess.  Let tone do the work.

·         Spine

o   Theme is the spine of your story.

o   Write with courage

o   The ghost in the machine—are we whole/part?

o   Primitive theme—inner struggle.  Which is the better path?

o   Exercise 2: what is your main character’s problem? (make it short and sweet)

·         Nesting

o   Are you’re themes nesting (themes inside each other/subplots)?

o   Big picture themes are plot driven

o   Character themes need an arc

o   Endings need a payoff

·         Theme-Tension

o   Start with the ending in doubt

o   What is your favorite use of tension?

o   Four types—task, relationship, mystery, surprise

o   Which fits your theme?

·         Cohesion

o   Does each chapter matter?

o   Does the ending twist? (element of surprise)

o   Does the twist reflect the theme?

o   Can we sense something coming?

o   Write down a twist that reflects the theme.

·         Mood

o   Everything’s related to theme

o   Dialogue, action, exposition

o   Cover, website, title, marketing online/off

o   What is the mood of a novel?

o   Hopeful, sad/tragic, romantic, exciting, mysterious

·         Endings

o   The final battle provides answers to the story questions

o   The denouement ties up the loose ends.

o   Should endings serve the theme?

o   Does your climax prove your point?

o   Consider outer problems and inner problems

·         Beware!

o   Surface gloss does not a bestseller make

o   Overload your theme and it will break apart

o   Lurid language lacks power

o   Subtext provides needed depth

o   Resist the urge to explain!! (“RUE”)

SCWC: Self-Publishing Savvy: Why, How, Where, What You Need to Know

My notes from the Southern California Writers' Conference.

• Why self-publish? Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

• What is your project? Self-publish if it’s hobby writing; you like telling stories but don’t expect to make a living; a personal record meant to be shared by family

• When you start treating your books like business, then you’re a career writer.

• Self-publish if you are you a perfectionist and an outgoing person who likes things your way and doesn't mind doing all the work if it means you’re control.

• Make sure you build up an internet/social media presence (blog, website).  Are you involved in your genre’s organizations? Learn from them, get involved in their activities.

• Write a damned good book, be in a critique group, get beta readers, hire a professional editor…create a damned good book cover!  Pay for it unless you’re a graphic designer, make sure it looks good as a thumbnail.

• Release plans: build anticipation on website/social media/blog, do giveaways, have a release party (online or in person)! Café press/zazzle

• ISBN makes your book unique since titles can’t be copyrighted. Createspace will assign one for free, but the publisher will always be “Createspace”.

• Formatting books: booknook.biz, other companies, Createspace. Lulu.com does hardcopies, Createspace does not.

• Smashwords formats for multiple e-readers

• Multiple books require structure—brand each genre (consistent cover schemes), consider creating your own publishing imprint if you write a lot of books.

• You must learn to market without marketing—no one wants to hear “buy my book!” Everyone wants to hear, “How are you today?”

• Resources: createspace.com, kdp.amazon.com, smashwords.com, bowker.com, booknook.biz, mobipocket.com, APE: Author, Publisher, and Entrepreneur

SCWC: Plotters vs. Pantsers: To Outline or Not?

My notes from the Southern California Writers' Conference.

• Plotting can help alleviate excessive re-writes.

• Set milestones to hit (road trip analogy)

• Build plot twists into each milestone, build empathy for characters

• Pantsing enables you to get it down as fast as possible

• Backstory (side trips) helps fill in ‘road trip’

• Turning the characters loose can change the course of a book (despite your best outlining/planning)

• If you want someone to read your book, you have to be willing to hear what they have to say about it

• People can teach you how to write, but in the end you just have to write.

• Risks to both plotting and pantsing—plotting can create too much structure, make the story seem too pre-planned. The ‘life’ of free thought disappears in structured thought. How do you amble while staying on track and not wandering off?

• Conflict drives the story, not the characters.

• Story-telling “beatsheet” in Excel

• Writer’s block – keep a positive outlook. Write through it or work on another story. Just KEEP GOING!

• Figure out what works for you. Beat sheets, flash cards.

• Take risks—don’t worry about what the reader thinks

• Don’t neglect your fact-checking, people live to nitpick. But don’t include TOO much. Just make it sound plausible.

SCWC: How to Find and Keep the Right Literary Agent

• Find someone that you click with that is genuinely interested in your work and will help you work toward your goals and grow with you. Most important is that you need someone that absolutely believes in your book.
• Find someone that has a good reputation and has successfully sold books
• Background experience: many come from editing background, which is good because they will read fast and can help edit your book. Make sure they have contract experience so they can successfully negotiate a contract and fight for you. Some agents also come from legal backgrounds and sales backgrounds.
• Chuck Sambuchino – Writers' Digest, guide to literary agents. Look for agents that are representing your kind of work, then check out their backgrounds. Make a list of the ones you like, then check out their websites and see if they're open to submissions. Read their submission guidelines. http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents
• Be sure to mention if you've been referred from another agent/agency.
• “Preditors” and Editors: http://pred-ed.com/
• Have a COMPLETE manuscript peer-critiqued (beta-read) and cleaned up before submitting to agent
• Jeff Herman guide to publishers, editors, literary agents: http://www.amazon.com/Hermans-Publishers-Editors-Literary-Agents/dp/140226061X
• There are a lot of good agents that are not listed on the AAR (Association of Author Representatives). http://aaronline.org/
• genre/word count needs to be in query letter, brief description of story, talk about yourself, who you are
• http://thoughtsfromaliteraryagent.blogspot.com/
• http://www.corvisieroagency.com/
• http://querytracker.net/agent.php?agent=2966
• What not to do for queries: don't go straight into the novel contents. Agents want to know genre, word count, and about the author. Don't ramble, agent might lose interest. START with the hook, then get into the synopsis.
• 85,000 words for fiction
• sci fi/fantasy/paranormal 120,000 words
• YA 75,000 words
• NEVER GIVE MONEY TO AN “AGENT”
• Talk to an agent's clients to get a feel for their reputation
• It's not an agent's job to promote a book. Their job is to get your book read by editors/publishers.
• Always be prepared to keep changing your book
• Query multiple agents at the same time, don't waste time and opportunities by querying one at a time (they understand and encourage this). But PERSONALIZE your query letter and DON'T mass-email them all at once.
• Editors pay attention to Amazon/USA Today/NY Times ratings and will scout for self-published authors based on those ratings
• Join/read blogs for your genre. Join communities because they promote each other!!!
• Social-network your ass off
• How do you help your agent help you? How to be a good client: learn as much as possible. Keep writing, go to conferences, take workshops, keep writing, ask your agent how you can help, keep reading. Never too early to start building a platform (why your target audience should read/buy your book).
• Advances are dictated by the size of the publishers. Look up publishers marketplace to see deals that have been made and which agents were used
• Publishers' Weekly releases the advances/deals that were struck

SCWC: Using "What-Ifs" to Flush Out Story

• Really important to get all the questions in your story answered/addressed
• Read your story aloud, record it, and play it back. You will catch a ton of mistakes
• Write quickly so you're always producing. If you have inspiration, you can write quickly. Publishers might want a deal that includes multiple books, even if you don't even have ideas yet for the sequels
• Idea vs inspiration
• Don't skip around in genres when you're first starting out. Have a love for the genre you're writing in. What are you going to bring to the genre that someone else hasn't? Use ideas that create conflict in the story. Be able to differentiate your ideas from others writing in the same genre.
• Shape your idea into a story (slow evolution).
• Layers and ideas – using “what-ifs.” You can save time on world-building by using well-known locations as the setting (Miami, LA, etc). Layer conflicts. Different decisions can be made by characters depending on conflict. Start with “what would happen if...”
• “What then?” Pose questions, then answer a couple or provide more conflict. Everything must have closure at the end unless it's a series!
• Ask more “what ifs” towards the middle of the book. Create a fresh way of looking at your story. (ex: werewolves...what if...there are 2 different types of werewolves?)
• Conflict must be in the first chapter. Book should also end with conflict.
• Readers love questions – pose questions in the book.
• History can be fodder/inspiration. Strange facts in the world.
• “Put your character in a tree, then throw rocks at him.” Think of the worst thing that can possibly happen, then make it happen.
• The “what-if” actually has to do something for the story, don't just toss a bunch of questions out there. Every what-if must be answered.

SCWC: Historical Fiction - How Much Look Up, How Much Make Up?

• What's the attraction of historical fiction? Why did you pick the era you're writing in? Why is it better for the story to take place in this era rather than in present day?
• It has to be plausible in order for a certain amount of disbelief to be suspended
• Write what you know, not what someone else writes
• Pick an era you already know and love
• If you pick an era not a lot of people are familiar with, you can make up a lot more stuff and get away with more.
• If you pick something based around known events, you better make sure you get your facts correct
• Stories are written, books are re-written. The more you re-write them, the better they get.
• Don't do lazy research; don't use hearsay or urban legend as historical “fact”
• How do people communicate in the era you chose?
• Older movies can be more historically accurate than modern movies set in that time period
• Old people are a great source of info! Memories from people that were actually there. Their memories also extend past them, because they have information from others (their parents, grandparents, aunts/uncle etc). Old folks have memories that exceed past their own age. Depending on how old they are, they could have info going back 100+ years.
• Research people that also write in the era you're interested in. Steal their stuff! Not their plots/characters, but their historical info.
• Visit museums that specialize in the period you're interested in
• If you're going to make something up, don't mislead your reader. Is it plausible?
• Don't forget that multiple events can be occurring within the same era, but different parts of the world. Contemporary/parallel events could be interesting together in a story
• Don't put modern idioms/figures of speech/slang into the mouth of a 3^rd century monarch. Don't make speech too modern. It can be tricky to understand vocabulary from the era you're writing about.
• Don't go out of your way to use certain words just to show off
• Less is more—if you use the right words, you can eliminate a lot of extra description (try to take a descriptive paragraph and get the point across in one sentence). Compact your writing.
• You don't have to put everything you know about the era into the book. Keep it relevant/in context to the story. Don't show off how much you know; don't think people will be impressed with how much you know about the era. The point is to write a story, not a compendium of the era (that's what the Notes section is for in the back of the book).
• Only put in the details you need to move the story along, that would put the reader into the story.
• There's only so much you can do when it comes to research and accuracy; if a reader is unhappy with it, oh well.
• Get into a writers' group; but remember that your writing can only be as good as the best writer in the group (so make sure the “best” writer in the group isn't an unpolished putz). If you don't feel like you're getting help from the group, move on.
• You need someone with a critical eye to read your stuff – NOT family/friends
• Put yourself in your characters' heads and think like they would in that time period. Try not to impose modern values/biases on people that thought/believed/behaved differently in their time. Don't fret over being offensive or politically incorrect. People owned slaves, that's just the way it was. Romans crucified Jews, that's just the way it was.
• Previously published works from other eras would likely be extremely difficult to get published in modern day. You have to figure out how to appeal to modern day readers.
• DON'T EVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY. Even the stuff you think is crap.
• Learn your craft and be patient
• Don't expect a big advance from the publisher (if your book does poorly and you don't “earn out,” you could end up owing them money back!)