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Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Meet Ally Shields – Avoiding Rookie Mistakes

June 24, 2013 By Jessica Ferguson Leave a Comment

I can’t help but wonder how many of us receive a couple of rejections and give up. More importantly, how many of us actually make serious changes as a result of our rejections? Ally Shields has some excellent tips that will help us strengthen our stories.

Avoiding Rookie Mistakes by Marketing Too Soon

                                             by Ally Shields
Writing is fun. It’s the publishing end that makes us tear out our hair. I made many mistakes in the process, but I’m only highlighting those that resulted putting my work out there before it was ready.

My first query letter was vague, something about a witch who solved crimes, nothing about the specific plot. A more experienced writer suggested I follow this checklist:

·        Condense the story to a one-page synopsis.

·        Condense it further to an elevator pitch.

·        Write a logline.

I couldn’t believe how difficult this was, and I didn’t understand the term, logline. It also became clear I didn’t understand my basic plot. If I didn’t get it, how could an agent, editor or reader? I went back to the story, adding and deleting, to clarify the storyline. (For help with loglines and elevator pitches try this site: http://writingnorthidaho.blogspot.com/2011/10/blurbs-for-success-loglines-elevator.html. A good discussion of the synopsis can be found here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-robinson/book-synopsis-tips_b_2426724.html.)

As soon as I passed the plot check, I jumped into the query process and received good initial responses. Unfortunately, my writing didn’t live up to the query, and interest dwindled. Why? Because the first round of editing was up to me, as the writer—not the grammar and typos that everyone looks for—but passes through my manuscript looking for specific problems.

1.  Point of View: Is it consistent and clear throughout, without head hopping? Check here for an in-depth discussion: http://www.dbjackson-author.com/blog/index.php/2012/03/01/writing-tips-point-of-view-and-voice-part-i-overview/.

2. Five senses: Is each major scene grounded with as many of the five senses as possible without becoming artificial? Sight and hearing are easiest, but smell, taste and touch can often be added with just a little effort. The payoff is adding a richness that allows readers to share the experience.

3. Backstory/narrative: Backstory and narrative slow the pace of your story. Limit both to only what is necessary and dish it out in small amounts.

4. Over-used and/or weak words and phrases: Skipping this pass can ruin a good story by making it seem amateurish. I’ve found a program that helps (Cliche Cleaner), but my editor finds other words I’ve missed. My over-used words change: in one book it was eyebrows, in the next stared. My next word obsession was well. I use the Find function to ferret out weak, tired, or vague words: just, that, few, several, most. A longer list is on this website: http://goinswriter.com/weak-words/.

5. Pacing: Are the scenes in the right order with enough variation in intensity to keep the reader turning the pages? Take a look at structure forms, such as Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet: http://www.blakesnyder.com/tools/.

I spent three years writing, submitting, rewriting, and abandoned the project twice. I changed names, POV. Gradually, I figured out the issues, but failure was a harsh teacher. I burned a lot of publishing bridges and collected 167 rejections. Finally, I sat down and rewrote the manuscript from the beginning using everything I learned during all those required passes. When finished, I submitted Awakening the Fire, a Guardian Witch story, to three small presses. Two responded immediately, and I signed with one.

The book became a series: two books are published, a third coming in July. I have an approved story-arc for seven. It was a rough journey with a big payoff. I guess I learned a thing or two along the way.
Ally Shields is the pen name of Janet L Buck, a writer born and raised in the Midwest, along the Mississippi River, the setting for her urban fantasy series. After  a career in law and juvenile justice, she turned to full-time writing in 2009, and Awakening the Fire, the debut novel in her Guardian Witch series, was released in September 2012.  The author still lives in the Midwest with her Miniature Pinscher dog, Ranger. When not writing, reading or visiting her grown sons, she loves to travel in the US and abroad. Way too often she can be found on Twitter.

Contact links:

Website: http://allyshields.com

Blog: http://allyshields.com/blog.html

Twitter: http://twitter.com/ShieldsAlly

Facebook: http://facebook.com/AllyShieldsAuthor

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6527209.Ally_Shields

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/allyshields

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/13LH078
Barnes & Nobles: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=842187

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Ally Shields, Be A Real Writer, Praise, Prayers and Observations, Rookie Mistakes, Uncategorized

Meet Judy Hogan – A Real Writer?

June 17, 2013 By Jessica Ferguson Leave a Comment

Judy Hogan’s contribution to Be A Real Writer packs a wallop. If you want to write a novel you’ll learn a lot from this short piece. If you’re a time-waster/procrastinator, you’ll feel embarrassed and guilty. If you whine that you ‘ve written two or three novels and can’t sell them so you aren’t going to write any more–publisher’s loss–read on, and learn. Judy Hogan is a perfect role model for all of us.

A REAL WRITER?
            For twenty years I debated: am I a real writer?  I finally decided I was.  I’d been writing: diary, poetry, even a novel.  Nothing published, but it finally hit me: a writer is one who writes.  Then at age thirty-one my first poem was published in a poetry journal a friend, Paul Foreman, and I started, Hyperion Poetry Journal.  My writing life now, at age seventy-six, is more settled, confident, and ritualized.  I have five poetry books out, two non-fiction, and a mystery, Killer Frost.  I expect another mystery, Farm Fresh and Fatal, and a new poetry book, Beaver Soul this fall.

            I have about seventy unpublished books.  I have a great drive to write and feel best when I’m writing.  I use a schedule, spend two hours each morning writing in my diary, then, when I can free the time to write a book, two hours in the afternoon, and two hours in the evening.  I set aside two months when I won’t be teaching or otherwise distracted, this year, July-August.  I’ll do my farm work, a good break from the intensity of creating, let my mind go slack, pick figs, preserve soups for the winter, read mysteries. 

            Elizabeth George’s Write Away gave me my model.  Once I get my basic idea, I use George’s character prompt form to brainstorm new characters: what they look like, how they talk, what their goal is, in life and in the story, significant events, etc.  I want them to become alive for me.  Then I start sketching out the scenes.  I can usually rough out the whole novel.  Some chapters have several scenes; some only one. 

            Then I start composition. If the story moves in an unexpected way, I trust that intuition and follow it, even if the killer changes.  I often draft the whole novel in six weeks, normally 60-70,000 words.  I write by hand and revise as I type it on the computer.  Generally, I don’t change a lot.  I compose like a Japanese painter–study what I want to make vivid, see it clearly in my mind’s eye, and when it is quite real to me, then I describe what I see and hear.  I hear the dialogue better than I see the people.  The roughed out scenes are a guide, and I always reread what I wrote my last session, or more if I need to get into the flow of the novel.  Then I send it to two readers who like my work and help me find inconsistencies or more detail I might need.  Typing and later getting it published and promoted I can do with more interruptions, but composition needs me to become immersed in my book.  It’s work, but very gratifying, and it uses all of my mental life: feelings, experiences, personal history, concerns for justice.  I’ve been active in my community to improve conditions, but my best gift to other people and to justice is the books I write.
 
Judy Hogan’s first mystery novel, Killer Frost, was published by Mainly Murder Press in CT on September 1, 2012 in both trade paperback and e-book formats.  Her second novel in the Penny Weaver series comes out October 1, 2013. Beaver Soul, a poem written about her early experiences in Russia, will come out from Finishing Line Press, in KY, on September 1, 2013.  Judy founded Carolina Wren Press (1976-91) and was co-editor of Hyperion Poetry Journal, 1970-81).  She has also published five other volumes of poetry and two prose works with small presses. She has taught all forms of creative writing since 1974. She joined Sisters in Crime in 2007 and has focused on writing and publishing eight traditional mystery novels.  In 2011 she was a finalist in the St. Martin’s Malice Domestic Mystery contest for Killer Frost.  The twists and turns of her life’s path over the years have given her plenty to write about.  She is also a small farmer and lives in Moncure, N.C., in Chatham County near Jordan Lake.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Be A Real Writer, Beaver Soul, Farm Fresh and Fatal, Hyperion Poetry Journal, Judy Hogan, Killer Frost, Uncategorized

Reality Faith.
Reality Fiction.

"As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:20

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