#saturdayscenes

One of the many incredible writers I have met along my journey is +John Ward .  He is the moderator of the Google+ communities 'Writer's Discussion Group' which is 18,000+ strong.  I picked that group to join because it had a very active group of regulars, one of whom is John Ward.  I am amazed John has time to do anything else with how active he is as the groups co-moderator.

But somehow, in his plethora of spare time he came up with a brilliant idea.  He created a hashtag for writers called #saturdayscenes.  

Saturday May 3 was the inaugural roll out of #SaturdayScenes.  I was not able to post but there were some great pieces posted that I enjoyed discovering.

So if you are a writer who wants to post a scene from your work, published or not or a scene you are looking for comments on post it with #SaturdayScenes and participate.

If you are looking for a few quick reads type #Saturdayscenes to find some great scenes to peruse and enjoy.  It is always helpful to leave comments for the writer.  We love all the feedback we can get :) 

I look forward to seeing your work up there!

Happy Writing!

X is for X-factor

The X-factor is that something that makes you special and different.  This (X) is the reason that an agent or publisher should sign you, why a consumer should buy your book.  Your uniqueness.

This X-factor is also something you need to discuss in your query letter.  But what is it?

To figure out what makes you special you have to be well read in your genre and find what makes your work and what makes you different from the rest and what makes you sale-able?

Make a list of your best qualities focusing on what makes your writing different and then one for what makes you different; both aspects are important because you are a packaged deal.  Make a list of all your best qualities that you think would appeal to an editor, agent or publisher and then use these attributes to your advantage when you market yourself and your work in your query letter.

If you have a hard time coming up with items ask your friends and your writing group what they think your best qualities are or for some adjectives they would use to describe you.  They may come up with items you would not.

Good luck and happy writing!

Q is for Question

Looking  for the Like a Virgin Blog Hop please scroll down to the post below this one.  Thanks.


Q was going to be for query but since I changed P to pitch, which is a key part of your query I thought I would go with a less repetitive post.  So Q is for Question.

A lot of books that I like, including the one I am currently unable to put down, Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers started with a 'what if' question.  What if.. half the people on the planet just vanished, what if super heroes had to go into hiding?  Let your mind wander and embrace these wacky trains of thought you never know where they might lead you.

I was asked by a fellow author if I had questioned if my story would work better in the first person point of view, instead of the third person.  I thought she was nuts to suggest changing how it was written, especially when I was already 50k words into it, but taking her advice seriously and running the exercise proved to be an incredible help to my story.  Sometimes we are so close to what we are doing we don't question the basics and these things we take for granted may be exactly what we need to change to let your work soar.

Ask your beta readers and writers specific questions.  Don't just ask what do you think?  You know where your concerns are and unless you ask very specific questions you won't get the answers you need.  Is the pacing okay?  Are the main characters names too similar or hard to pronounce?
What do you think motivated my main character to leave her true love?  You get the point.

Happy Writing!

M is for Manuscript

 If you started following my blog after theme reveal day in March you are unaware that my theme was tossed out the window by some wonderful news (which caused me great elation, which I quickly tempered with realism) that there is a person, a professional in the writing world, who is willing to review my manuscript and if he judged it worthy, he would pass it on to an agent, who would only look at me thanks to his say so; so after that extremely long sentence, if you are still with me... I felt it was time for a manuscript update.

I set, what I thought to be a completely realistic goal of, a month to get back to him, however I forgot that I was compelled to complete a blog a day so a month really is not realistic in April, any other month yes.  I could not drop my second A-Z because I really need to have a platform for when the agent sees my manuscript and wants to check me out.  Of course you know the more followers I have the better it will look to the agent so I am hoping and praying for an A to Z miracle and adding at least 100 new followers in this month, slow going so far I must confess but there is still time. (Hint, hint, nudge nudge, wink wink ;) Just click on the little follow link to the right please.)

I have also been reading other novels like crazy.  My pitch for my manuscript was compared to works by Nick Hornby so I have been reading two of his books and one by Tom Perrotta (a fellow New Englander) as he came up as similar to Nick Hornby. [You can visit my previous post about comparison authors http://katloveswriting.blogspot.com/2014/04/c-is-for-comparison.html for more information.]   I have to stop and say I am in love with the concept behind 'The Leftovers' by Perrotta and while I have only made it 80 pages in I would recommend picking up a copy.

So with all these tasks demanding to be completed simultaneously I am only half way through the re-read and edit of my manuscript.  I have tense issues, a lot of tense issues.  I am working them out but every time I start reading my work I think it is not that great. Other writers are much better wordsmiths, they show don't tell, I am at a third grade level while they have achieved, what, if I remember my Aristotle correctly, would be called a wholeness or the thinghood of their writing.  It is the true form that we are striving towards, the central core of the item that brings it to be recognized for what it is, literature.

Then I pick up one of the 10 books I bought or borrowed from the library as comparison books and realize I am not a third grader I am writing the way I expect my characters would speak.  I am writing a book that is comprised of my writing style, shorter sentences (wouldn't guess it from this post would you!), dialogue and the human experience, for my main character in this manuscript that contains some second guessing and self-doubt.  My work is comparable to the work I am seeing here in published books.  So I am pushing on and hope and pray that I will achieve my goal and finish this manuscript by week end (notice the wiggle room I left there, could be Friday could be Sunday).

Happy Writing!

F is for Finding Life

'Finding Life' is the working title of my book.  I say working because if I go with a publisher that could change and there is one other book out there with this title.

I love this title because I think it fits the story perfectly and because it is what happened to me when I discovered writing.

I had given up so much of myself for my children, especially my creative endeavors.  I could not work on stained glass while I was pregnant, then I couldn't have trays with shards of glass around with a toddler nor could I have paints or an easel.  I also had to give up scuba diving when I was pregnant and constantly trying to get pregnant.  It is something we still haven't had added back to our life because it is a full day away and the cost of diving and the sitter are exorbitant.  Plus we would have to travel for the really good diving and that is out of our budget, thanks to kids sports and day care costs.  

It took me a while to notice that I no longer had creative endeavors.  The artistic photos I used to take had been replaced by photos, many photos, of my children doing everything.  All of my stained glass equipment had long since been forgotten and even if I dragged it out I didn't have time to sit around and work on it or any place safe to leave out projects in progress.  While sitting at one of my son's many long and boring practices I started writing.  The words poured out of me and when I was home and had time to think about my day I realized it was the first time in a long while that I felt fulfilled.  I was not tired and worn out I was anxious to get back to my notebook.

Writing itself has helped me get back my creative energy and fulfilled my life but then when I joined the community of writers I have met and made friends with the most amazing people.  Something none of my other creative endeavors had ever done to this extent.  The writing community is wonderful.

Even if I never progressed forward and published anything I am so fulfilled and happy with the time I spend writing and the people that I have met that is all the reward I need.

Thanks to everyone who has joined and helped me on this journey.

C is for Comparison

I know when I began writing I believed my work to be wholly and completely unique and my own. Why would I want to find other authors to whom I am similar?  Why would I want my book to be like someone else's story?

As I learn about publishing and what it will take to get my baby out into the world I discovered that it is actually important to know which authors and which books are similar to you and your story.  It is also very important to know how your story is different from these comparison authors and books.

When you are pitching your story to an agent, a publisher or a potential buyer you have to be able to tell them your story is like an author or book that they already know and love and then how your book is different so they know they have not already read your story and now they know why they want to read your book.

Take a moment to read the reviews of books, the book synopsis, the blurbs, and you will see many of them contain comparisons to other popular books or authors.

If you are an unknown author knowing your comparison author or story are very important to selling your book to the right audience and helping your audience find you.

Go to your local bookstore and ask the staff what books they have that are similar to yours.  Purchase them and start reading.   When you find the one that you think is the best comparison you can go back to the bookstore or go to Amazon and see the recommendations that pop up for people who bought that story. Then read those books.  Now you have your arsenal full and can talk with agents and publishers intelligently about how your book compares and is different to these other wonderful published books.

Happy reading.

A is for Authors, Wonderful Amazing Authors

Authors have always made my life wonderful.  The first books I read changed my life and started me on a path of wonder, escape, creativity, learning, enchantment, sharing, questioning and growing.

I never thought I would would be an author and that I would know so many.  My journey to become a published author has brought me in contact with some of the most amazing people I have ever met.  Writers as a community are wonderfully inclusive and helpful.  I love being able to call myself a part of this wonderful community.

I hope that everyone who stops by and joins me on this journey to finish editing my manuscript and get it out into the world while tripping through the alphabet in April will enjoy the journey and will find information to help them get their manuscript out into the world as well so that we may all enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy writing!
Kathryn Thornton