The Value of Alpha/Beta/Gamma, and Proof Readers for the Indie Author

 Your mom!

My youngest should appreciate me starting a blog post like that. For everyone else, I'm sorry, but your mom shouldn't be your only reader before you hit "Publish". 

The Blood of Crows releases this month (I'm low-key freaking out), and since the initial draft it's had what I call Alpha Readers (friends and family), Beta Readers (in my case, other writers), and a Professional Editor (the wonderful Fiona McLaren). Every step has been invaluable. They helped with the story, the characters, and the clarity of my writing. Mistakes have been caught, loop holes closed, and pacing improved. 

I cast the net wider and wider for each round of people (except my Editor, that was laser focused). And I did that with intent. It's profoundly important to get as varied and diverse a pool of readers as you can. Each reader brings their own perspective, reading style, and likes and dislikes. And having conversations with them during and after they finish reading your book can help hone in on parts of your story that work, and parts that don't.

I don't think I'm saying anything new or revelatory here: They're even more important if your work covers any characters that aren't "you". 

I'm a firm believer in the #OwnVoices movement. I also believe imagined worlds should have room and representation for all kinds of people, and writers shouldn't completely avoid writing the "other" from themselves. But if they are writing someone of a different backround, gender orientation, sexual preference, or a character that's neurodivergent, it's imperative that they try to include representatives in kind in their reader pools.

I've seen it referred to as "sensitivity readers", and I'm certain there are places to find them if you don't know someone who is representative of what you're writing, that's also willing to be a reader for you. Though, I feel it should be noted (and this is purely my opinion) if you don't even know someone representative of what you're trying to represent, maybe you shouldn't write something that far outside your wheelhouse until you've made some more connections.

From a purely business/writerly perspective, the last thing you should want is to make a charicature instead of a character. Bad representation is arguably worse than no representation. And if you're one of those people who wants to denigrate (it means belittle, or attack) marginalized groups? Well, there's the... digital representation of a door... or something... I guess... just... go.

In the run up to the release date, I've been sending Digital ARC's (Advance Reader Copies), to a number of people in the writing circles I frequent who wanted to give it a read, and I ordered print proofs to make sure I hadn't bungled the formatting, and to catch any last-minute issues.

Those people... nay... those saintly beneficent beings of light and glory...

They...

Found...

Errors...

And not just new errors brought on by formatting in different reading apps on different devices, or introduced in that last round of edits... No... those I could live through without withering into a tiny stress-ball sized anxiety person. They found errors that have persisted in the text through all the above edits and passes. One error... in the first paragraph of the first page, has been around since 2015!!!

They're the little errors... "though" instead of "through", or little extra or missing instances of "the" or "to". The annoying little "nothing" words that our brain fills in on its own and Word's spelling and grammar checker seems to ignore (Hey Microsoft, I'm not even mad. Just... disappointed.).

Thankfully, there's still time to correct these ginormously, massive, apocalyptic disasters before they're inflicted on the people paying for a book by an author they've never met.

In the meantime, I'll be over there... trying to remember what sleeping soundly feels like...

A Glitch in the System

Note to self: Don't trust Blogger.

In an effort to be more consistent and reliable in updating my blog I wrote a "series of posts" about my writing process, where it's been, and where it's going. I had 3 more posts written up and scheduled to drop, but instead of posting them on their scheduled Fridays, Blogger appears to have eaten them instead.

Blogger... This is why we can't have nice things. And I hope my words tasted good... and give you indigestion... you monster!

So... I'm going to have to rewrite them. Which means there's a great big ugly gap in time in the middle of the series. For that I apologize, because regardless of Blogger eating them, I still should have been checking that they actually, you know, posted. Instead, I was getting into the groove and learning to (not) enjoy getting up at 5am every morning to write.

I'll try to have the next post, about Outlining vs Pantsing (which was, and likely will be, a doozy) up sometime soon, if my paying day job doesn't intercede on the Internet's behalf.

-Grumble

Brainstorming: Building on The Idea

Let's pretend you have an idea. Don't be alarmed! It happens to the best of us.

Walk it off.

As I've pointed out before, sometimes you can't shake the idea off. It sticks to you. It won't go away. It keeps you up at night, like a dryer that squeals because it's lost that little felt ring that stops the metal drum from rubbing against the housing as it goes around and around and around squeaking and squealing intermittently until you jUSt cAn'T TAkE iT aNy mO.... ahem.

So. There's that. What do you do with the idea once you have it and it won't go away? What if, and this is a big if, What if you like the idea? As in, cute little kitten or puppy "like" the idea? I've found one of the best things to do in that case is to hide around a corner until it sticks out it's little head and then BASH IT IN with a crowbar!

The idea!!!! Not the puppy or kitten!!! NEVER the puppy or kitten!!!! You MONSTER!!!!

Now that you've subdued the idea, it's time to shape it into what you want it to be. Whether that's a soul-stretching, heart-wrenching, teary-eyed horror novel, or a pulse-pounding, hair-raising, can't-sleep-without-the-lights-on romance comedy, or any other sort of compound-modifying hyphenated-verbing, run-on-sentencing goodness... is entirely up to you. It's your idea to inflict upon the world.

Let's dig into the meat on how you could go about the exercise of expanding and improving on that idea.

To be fair, some of these processes will work better for Outliners than they will for Pantsers. Others should work just as well for anyone. I'm not covering how to build your entire story, only how to go about brainstorming a single idea. Of course, that idea could be a character, plot point, scene, world, what have you.

The key to story brainstorming is to ask questions, and then keep on asking questions. The same principle questions we were all taught in Primary School. Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How. Take your idea and expand it by asking those questions. As for where you get the answers, there are a few avenues you can take. In all cases though, you should always consider looking past the first and obvious answer for a deeper, less expected answer.

And make notes (while you brainstorm, not while you read this post... unless you want to)! This is where I usually break out Scapple if I have my MacBook, or Google Keep if all I have is my phone.

Research
I used to think research was boring. Ok. In so many cases it still is. However! I've found that researching a topic that I'm genuinely interested in can be exciting. So much so that I've lost entire weeks worth of writing time digging into actual, real-live history research! I passed history in high-school with a 51%, exactly what I needed to never do it again!

That said, history isn't the only subject you can research. There's plenty of science, psychology, economics, and so many other things. I urge you to find reputable sources of information for any research you do. It's great to dig into something on the black hole that is Wikipedia, but make sure you source anything you intend to use. I'm not saying you need to put a bibliography at the end of your work (ugh). Just be warned that if you do put something that is both real and inaccurate into your story, people will call you on it.

Remember to take whatever you find and expand upon it even further by asking the principle questions, not only for how they fit the subject of the research, but for how it fits into your story.

Discussion
It never hurts to talk it out. I use this one all the time. My wife and kids hear about sticking points and ideas in my stories constantly. Often they don't even have to respond. Simply throwing it at them seems to help. That said, no one will find gaps or flaws you need to fix in an idea faster than someone who doesn't have a whole lot of context.

Try it. If they're paying attention, I guarantee no matter how much you explain it, they'll have some of those principle questions at the end. Those questions can be the grease that keeps your wheels turning.

A small caveat: One experiment I've tried that you may, or may not, want to avoid is picking a subject of debate and choosing a fixed and intentionally contrary point of view to present to people. Without proper framing and context, this can lead to some very heated arguments (which can still be good). Chances are you want the person you're discussing your idea with to still talk to you afterward.

Theft
Last week I covered some methods of kick-starting your idea engine (oooh, idea engines... sounds cool! I'm going to write that down). One of those methods involved theft. Theft is a fantastic way to expand upon an idea, but here you have to be careful, especially if you stole the idea in the first place. But as I always say: A little larceny is good for the soul. So let's work with theft.

You've got your idea. Find things that have something similar to that idea in it. If you stole the idea and you aren't intending to write fan fiction (and there's NOTHING wrong with writing fan fiction, it's a great way to exercise your writerly muscles), you should really look for similarities in something unrelated to your original source.

That doesn't mean you can't use the same source, but you're only making your work harder on yourself than it has to be. Oh! And comic books or adaptations/sources count as the SAME source, so no you can't claim that the Serenity comics are a different source than Firefly or the Serenity movie.

So, once you've found your source, dig in. Ingest a bunch of it, just like you did for finding the idea. Unlike that searching process, take notes on the ideas and tropes that flow through it. But try to stick to the points that directly relate to your idea, you don't want to steal more than you have to, or you're going to let someone else build your playground for you. You don't want that for an original work.

Then walk away from it and try to think of everything you loved and hated about it and write it down, but in this try to be non-specific.

For example: I've been watching a lot of Buffy and Angel on Netflix lately (I'm not justifying that here, Whedon is a master!). Taking the idea of "My main character is a monster hunter." my following lists could work for one or both.

Loved:
Tight-knit group of friends
Witty banter
Kick-ass fights (yes, they're cheesy, but fun)
Protagonist who just wants to be normal fighting against insurmountable odds
Real-life complications

Hated:
Chosen one
Destiny/Fate overtones
Whiny protagonist
Dumb predictable villains
Same old monsters

From that I get some pretty nice launching points that come back to the principle questions.

• Who are their friends?
• Where did they meet?
• Do their friends know what they do?
• What sort of conflict do these friendships create for the protagonist?
• What do they talk about?
• How do they fight? 
• Where did they learn to fight?
• Are they good at fighting?
• What do they want to do with their life if it's not fighting monsters?
• What sort of hobbies do they have?
• If they're not a "chosen one" how did they end up a monster hunter?
• Why do they do it?
• Why don't they stop?
• What kind of monsters are they fighting?
• What special methods are needed to fight those monsters?
• Are they killing the monsters or trapping them?
• What do they do with them once they're killed/caught?

And so on.

Last but not least...

Blending
This is one of my personal favourites. Take two ideas from wherever it is you hide them, and mash them together to see how they taste. Without such a genius method of creation we wouldn't have the wonders of Dark Chocolate covered Pretzels, Dinobots, Firefly, Star Wars, or Jim Butcher's Codex Alera.

The ideas don't even need to be similar to be made into something fantastic. The total can absolutely be greater than the sum of its parts. It may take some work to get two (or more) things to fit together, and all things likely won't fit together without getting a little bit creative. But you're a writer. That's what you do.

I use some or all of the above methods to build on things before I start writing, while I'm writing, and sometimes just for fun. Whatever methods you use, always chase the answers deeper. That's how you make a unique and compelling story.

Let me know what methods you use to expand upon your ideas down in the comments.

-Alex

This is the third entry in a series of posts about my evolving writing process.

The Tools I (mis-)Use

I'm kicking things off by laying the groundwork. These are the tools that I currently (mis-)use to go from idea nugget to final draft (well, as final as I've made it so far). I may come back and update this post in the future, if/when I do I'll be sure to highlight any changes and why they've occurred.

Software:
Scrivener 2
I first started using Scrivener for NaNoWriMo. I'd seen a web demo of it as part of the NaNo prep and instantly fell in love with ONE feature, the full-screen "Compose" view that I still use to this day. Literature and Latte often (if not always) provide a free NaNo demo version and a hefty discount on the full version as one of the NaNo rewards.

What "Compose" does is put you one on one with your words. It clears away all the other parts of the UI (except any floating Scrivener windows you pull up such as Project Targets). It was exactly what I needed to be able to concentrate on getting words down.

Since that fateful November I've come to use more of Scrivener's features such as labels, notes, synopsis cards, the binder, text statistics (including a handy word frequency chart), and its more than robust compiler that lets me turn my MS into various other formats (epub, mobi, docx, rtf, etc.).

There's so much more to this software that I haven't even begun to experiment with, but working without the tools that I use already would seriously hamper how quickly I write (which still isn't fast enough).

Scapple
Another Literature and Latte product, I've replaced my previous mind-mapping/whiteboard software with Scapple because of some of its integration with Scrivener 2.

Scapple, while simpler than other mind-mapping software, provides me with all the features I need, which is a very basic free-form mind-mapping software that I can drop text, documents, and images into.

 I use it for outlining, detailing scenes, and connecting plot-points and characters during my brainstorming sessions. It also does a great job of making confusing and busy-looking spider-webs of text that scare people away when I'm working on them... but that has more to do with my (dis)organizational methods than the software itself.

Google Keep
I'm an Android user, plain and simple. I prefer Android phones and tablets to iOS. In that vein, when I went looking for a light-weight note-taking app that allowed me to fire off quick cloud-based notes from a browser or app, using a keyboard or voice dictation (with both an audio recording and passable speech-to-text), Google Keep was exactly what I needed.

Instead of carrying a trendy little Moleskin notebook in an oversized pocket or an equally trendy satchel carrier bag, I can simply carry my phone. Which I can shout at in the car. It doesn't look that crazy.

Google Keep also syncs it across all my various devices (yay cloud) so I don't have to go searching for whatever device I made the notes on.

Apple Pages
Like Microsoft Word, Apple Pages is a fairly full-featured word processor that's available on my iPad Air 2 and MacBook Pro.

With the addition of Handoff, a Mac OSX 10.10/iOS8 real-time file-in-progress push between the two, and I can start writing on one device and immediately pick it up on another. Throw in that Apple made it free on both platforms (with the latest OS updates) and I was sold.

Microsoft Word
Word is what I grew up on and use on a daily basis in the day job. When it comes to revising and reviewing feedback and markup Word is still where I'm comfortable and I know the formatting won't be screwed up when I send the files to other Word users. Someday Word may fall off this list, but for now it has a pretty comfortable and safe spot.

Dropbox
A life-saver. Combining Dropbox, which is a cloud-storage service, with Scrivener and almost all the rest of these tools, means I can work practically anywhere with any device. It also gives me the peace of mind I need, knowing that not only is my data backed up, but if I somehow corrupt or otherwise blow up my MS I can restore a previous version.

On top of those benefits, unlike certain other cloud storage services, Dropbox leaves and updates local copies to my various machines, so in the event that the internet isn't accessible I can still get my work done.

TiddlyWiki
This is the latest addition to this list. TiddlyWiki is a local (or online) light weight personal wiki. I picked it up when I started working on the sequel to Crow's Blood, and it's a far superior method of tracking semi-important details consistent (character descriptions, magic systems, fictional history, place descriptions, etc.). Because keeping all your details straight is important for some reason.

As with any wiki language, there's a bit of a learning curve to get going, but TiddlyWiki keeps it easier than some of the other ones I tried, while offering a robust enough base to do what I need.

Twitter
Twitter gets an honourable mention because it's an integral part of what stops me from losing my mind or running in circles of self-doubt. Writing is, by nature, a solitary craft. Twitter lets me find and chat with a community of writers at all stages of the process for support and conversation.

Hardware:
MacBook Pro
My MacBook Pro is my workhorse! I love the keyboard because typing on it is effortless. There's no "clack" (which I know some people love) and the resistance is just right. Then there's the trackpad, which is something you'd think one of the myriad of OEM's in the laptop space would have come close to, but they haven't. It's true what they say once you go Mac you never go back...

Unless it's for games, but even then you can't find better laptop hardware to run Windows...

Moto X
As I said earlier, I'm an Android user, and this is my phone (one of them anyway). The dedicated voice processing unit built into this phone does WONDERS for taking dictation in my overly noisy commute.

iPad Air 2 with my Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard
Wait... what? Didn't I say I was an Android user? Well... I am. My "play" tablet is, and always will be an Android tablet (currently an Asus Transformer).

But my iPad makes for better productivity. It's lightweight and mobile in ways that even my MacBook Pro isn't. And unlike my Android tablet, it has everything I need for writing, even its limitations play into making me more productive (here's looking at you frustrating one-task-at-a-time UI). It also has Pages which I mention above, and very few games that I want to sink a lot of time into (which means less distraction).

It makes for interesting trips through airport security. I have to explain why I carry 2 tablets, a laptop, and 2 phones (personal and business). Every. Single. Time.

Other:
Coffee
Because staying awake is important.

These are the tools I currently use in all aspects of my writing. Looking at them I'm sure there are plenty of more efficient ways to do what needs to be done. Maybe someday I'll find them.

Let me know what tools you use, or think I could put to better use, in the comments.

- Alex

This is the first entry in a series of posts about my evolving writing process.

***Warning: Incoming Blog Posts***

So. Here's the deal:
I've been mulling and tumbling ideas for a series of blog posts around in my noggin  for a LONG time about how my writing process itself is developing and changing. Both as an insight into how I do things now and how much work goes into my writing, and as a possible source of feedback.

That's right, comments and feedback on this upcoming series of posts will be greatly appreciated. I'm looking to as much to learn and improve my craft and processes as I am to tell others about them. As much as I may play at being awesome and perfect, the truth is that I'm not.

No, no! Stop weeping and tearing at your hair. It's true.

You see, I've been having a bit of performance anxiety. Before Crow's Blood I'd never written a novel before. I was an infrequent short story writer. And people that have seen CB seem to like it. It even got me an awesome agent! I'm terrified to my bones that CB2 won't live up to it. That it'll be my sophomore slump. And I don't want that (who would?).

What that all means is that I don't have a solid process to work from. I have pieces here and there, tools that I use and have found immensely helpful, and very specific ways that I do certain things. I'm looking to improve on it all, and the best way to do that is to write it all out and (hopefully) get feedback.

Topics I intend to cover (and this is by no means a static list, things may be moved around, added, or combined as I go along):

The Tools I (mis)Use
The Idea: Something from nothing.
Brainstorming: Expanding the idea.
Characters and Characterization: Who are these people?
Plot: Where are we going and why are we in this hand-basket?
Outlining vs Pantsing: Why choose just one?
Worldbuilding: It's in the details.
Revising

A Matter of Queries and Representation

What a week and a half it's been!

I apologize in advance for any meandering, poor spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors you may find in this post. I don't sleep well on a normal day (what is a normal day anyway?). The past 10 days my abilities to ward off restful sleep have been exceptional. This is a superpower you do NOT want.

Before I get into my big news (and it's big, let me tell you, it's BIG), let me give you a bit of background.

I don't query randomly. Every single agent that I've ever queried is someone that I genuinely think would be a great fit for both my writing and, more importantly, me. That's of course all based on the limited information I can gather by Googling, reading interviews, stalking on Twitter, and chatting them up.

There are a LOT of fantastic agents out there, of all stripes (and spots, and paisley, and I suppose houndstooth...).

That said, everything has to click in both directions. I have enough rejections from those same agents citing "wonderful writing/world building/characters/other words describing stories" but they just didn't "make the connection" (or some variant thereof) to wallpaper my office and some surrounding surfaces.

They came fast and fairly consistently at first. I'd query, and then receive a rejection the next day or week.

I went back and rewrote my base query letter (I tweaked it a little for every agent). Responses went from generic forms to personalized responses (not all of them, but some). I even had a few requests for partial submissions.

Following that path I continue to tweak and tinker my query, all the while continuing to get further input on CROW'S BLOOD from my awesome Alpha/Beta Readers (including my wonderful wife, who put up with so MANY drafts) and Critique Partners (Colten,
Rachel, and Clare) and worked to make it better.

I entered CROW'S BLOOD in contests. You know the best part about contests? The community and support that comes out of them. They're a fixed point. Everyone entering is (in theory) at the same point of their writing process and/or career as you are. They know what you're going through, they're doing it too.

Renee Ahdieh chose to mentor me in Brenda Drake's Pitch Wars. With her helpful pokes and prods I polished CROW'S BLOOD even further. Trimming out a few scenes that were so necessary in my head (I'd done so much world building to support them!) that weren't actually needed in the book. She's also a master at spotting my Shatner Commas and teaching me to identify them as well (I've removed 3 from this paragraph alone).

Last week I got wind of an agent I really liked reading my full... MY FULL!!! Excitement warred with dread. What if he didn't like it? What if I didn't stick the landing? I wanted to scream (politely) "If you find anything drastic, I'll fix it!". But I didn't. Because I am a professional! (stop laughing!)

I waited, and slept poorly, and waited.

Thursday was a normal day (there's that "normal" word again). Things teetered on the edge of going oh-so-perfectly and/or blowing up spectacularly at my day job. I was packing up to go home when my phone sounded the "email in the writing mailbox" notification (it doesn't say that, but it is distinctive).

It was an Offer of Representation! He wanted to have "The Call".

I hyperventilated for the first (and hopefully last) time in my life. I had an offer! From an agent!!! I remember thinking "Ok I need to get my head on straight before I reply so I don't come off as a complete idiot..." I barely remember the drive home.

After dinner (I have no idea what, or if, I ate) I painstakingly crafted my reply. It took me 35 minutes to write and edit that email.

"I'd love to chat." (I'm paraphrasing, but that was about the level of awesome I was functioning at). We scheduled for the next morning.

The call was awesome. I acted like a complete noob while trying to be all professional and cool. The agent in question handled the situation like I was a sane and perfectly functioning adult.

He answered all of my questions and asked a few of his own (which I think/hope I answered).  I let him know I had some other Fulls out and needed a week to get those settled before I signed (because it's the right thing to do), which he was completely cool with. We ended the call, and I sat there, stunned, for a good 30 minutes before reaching out to the other agents with my full.

Here we are, a week after that call. I've badgered several agents with questions and clarifications, and I've communicated and settled everything with each and every agent that had my full, a partial, or even a query. I won't go into details on all of that here, they're not the point.

Today, I'm proud/pleased/excited to say:

I am now represented by Leon Husock of the L. Perkins Agency!

P.S. Leon said to save some of my celebratory antics for when we sell CROW'S BLOOD.
To which I say:
Leon, this is nothing. When that happens, the world won't know what hit it!

I'm going to sleep now.

The Writer's Voice 2014

The inimitable Brenda Drake is running another contest called The Writer's Voice. I entered the Rafflecopter. I sang to it. And I got selected.

Without further ado, here's my entry:

Query

Dear Writer's Voice,

Ren is the best thief in the walled realm of Lenmar. Which is no small feat when everyone from the queen to the lowliest peasant has some level of magical ability—everyone except Ren, that is.

Instead, Ren has the rare ability to identify the kind of magic wielded by others. Given his chosen profession, this should be a boon . . . especially since everything worth stealing is protected by spells and bindings. 

Yet, he’d trade it in a heartbeat to be normal.

When one of the realm’s most powerful noblewomen is murdered in ritualistic fashion and no trace of the killer’s magic can be found, Ren becomes the prime suspect. Hunted by magic-eating Inquisitors and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Ren’s life becomes one of flight and fear in a battle to prove his innocence.

If Ren wants to clear his name and protect the people he cares about, he’ll have to catch the real killer. To do that, he needs to pull one more high-stakes heist—

And steal the proof he needs from the very people who want to catch him.

Complete at 90,000 words, CROW’S BLOOD is a Fantasy Thriller in the vein of Robin Hood. With dementors. It is a standalone with series potential.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Alex Pierce

First 250 Words

A sharp crack echoed in the silence. Ren winced. Without special tools or a talent for Fire to heat the lead around the pane, breaking in this way couldn't be done quietly. He had neither, and that much heat might set off the binding sigils and raise the alarm. Besides, it seemed louder than it actually was. He'd tested.

He lifted the segment of colored glass and settled it to one side, leaving a gap a scene depicting the Goddess and her four Scions holding the Adversary at bay. No hordes of guards or swarms of librarians boiled out of the hole. So far, so good.

A shaft of the Other's pale moonlight lit a small circle on the intricate mosaic near the center of the floor far below. 

To Ren, it said something about the Praetorian Order. They lavishly decorated their inner sanctum—where select few ever went—while leaving their public libraries grim and barren. Stealing from them was less than they deserved.

He had a job to do. 

The silken black rope uncoiled into the opening with a whisper. Ren swept his satchel so it hung behind him and sprung into the gap, dropping along the rope's length. 

He ignored the butterflies in his stomach and their vain attempt at flapping to slow his descent. Catching the rope at the last possible moment, Ren guided it with his hands and wrapped his legs around it, halting his free-fall.

Righting himself, Ren touched down into the silence with a flourish and a bow.

Don't Ever Stop!

So... This little thing called PitchWars happened. It's what triggered this particular post, but it's not what this post is about so I'll cover it very briefly.

It's a contest where writers submit their first ~250 words and a Query to the four mentors of their choice and hope to get selected. In short (because I'm rubbish at being brief) I was selected by the Awefantabulous Renee Ahdieh.

Renee is exactly what I want and more importantly need in a mentor. Her feedback has helped me add layers of depth to CROW'S BLOOD that I knew were missing, I just couldn't see where. I've learned some of my pet phrases, identified some comma issues I have, and so much more, and I've exterminated them with prejudice.

Anyway!

Seven weeks later, our part in PitchWars wrapped on January 22nd as it went to the Agent Round. The first 250 words were posted with a 35 word pitch (here in case you're interested), in hopes of Agents commenting and making requests.

It's those requests that bring me to the point of this post. I had 0 requests. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Let me tell you a bit about how this little writer's ego works: I'm a brash, cocky, confident bastard. Except when I'm not, which is often. The key is that I try not to let that side show to the world at large too much. The only person who sees that side of me most often (my wife) does a great job of propping me up so I can continue being the confident bastard that I am.

I'd be lying if I said getting zero requests didn't sting. It cut pretty deep. Those are my words! Right there, with that zero looking me in the eye, I could have quit. Packed it all in and reclaimed my TV and video games. I could have given up the dream and driven my wonderful wife insane.

I could have listened to the mean voice in the back of my head that kept whispering "Zero, that's how many people give a damn about your words. That's what they're worth. That's what your worth. Give it up. Go home. Loser!"

I've heard that voice before. That's the voice that comes around any time I put myself out there, whether I'm public speaking, writing, tweeting, or posting on my blog. I don't like that voice. I made the decision long ago not to listen to that voice. That voice is an asshole. The things it says aren't true and are designed to cut us where it hurts the most. That voice is borne of fear.

We all have that voice. The difference between those who go on and those who fold isn't a matter of skill, or worth, or ego. It's a matter of will.

So here's what I have to say, not only to those who didn't get requests in PitchWars, but to those who have ever queried, or submitted, or done anything that brought around that voice:

Don't. Ever. Stop.

Do what you love, whether it's writing, drawing, dancing, singing, building life-size models of X-Wings out of Lego, whatever it is, as long as you love it (and it doesn't hurt anything).

As for PitchWars... Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! I've learned so much, and met so many wonderful, dedicated, and helpful people.

Until next time, I'm going to go write and revise, because that's what I do, and I love doing it.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me." - The Bene Gesserit

Circling, Spinning, Twisting, Turning.

And that's just my stomach!

It's been a busy couple of weeks.

You see, I finished CROW'S BLOOD and started querying, which is no small task on it's own.

Researching Agents:
There are plenty of websites (such as QueryTracker) to find out the basics about agents, what they represent, who they represent, what their query guidelines are, etc. But the best source is always going to be the agent's website. It's maintained by them (or someone on staff) and they direct what goes onto it. It also doesn't hurt to dig through their trash (I'm kidding, don't dig through their trash!).

It goes beyond just finding the agents that represent what you want to publish though. It's important to find an agent that fits YOU. They don't represent your book (ok, some do), the best agents (in my opinion) represent their authors and their authors' careers.

On Querying:
It's incredible how much time agonizing over and rewriting a single sentence in your query letter can be. I mean, it has to be perfect. Take that and multiply it by the number of personalized sentences, then the number of agents I queried and that's a LOT of time!

Then there's the matter of following submission guidelines. Beyond the query letter itself, and doing research on what the agents had for breakfast the last six days running (research is important) following the submission guidelines is key. If you don't submit your query, pages, and/or synopsis to the agent you've carefully selected in the exact method (e-mail with or without attachments, font, spacing, size, content, specific data points, etc.) that they prefer you could have the next best-seller and they won't even read it!

After you've queried you get rejections. They're guaranteed. For the agents it's a subjective thing, not every book is perfect for every agent. They have to be excited enough to invest in it and "sell" it to editors.

If you don't get rejections (yay!) you might get requests. Requests can take a few different forms (usually in the following order):

• Partial Requests: A request for a set number of pages or chapters
• Full Requests: They want the whole thing
• You might also get... nothing. The silence of no response is maddening!

Revise and Resubmit Requests:
If the agent likes your Full they might send an R&R. A Revise and Resubmit means they're excited about it, but it has a few problems. It's an opportunity for them to let the writer know that, while at the same time see how the writer takes criticism and direction as well as their work ethic.

Now, I've never made it so far as an R&R (yet), but it's my opinion (and my understanding from talking to others who have been there) that you don't have to just go along with it. If you have reasons for some things in your story, you can stick to your guns (or swords, or spells, or magical necromantic chipmunks, or whatever).

Could pushing back against changes hurt your chances with an agent? It could, but that doesn't mean it will. One of the key points of the whole query process is to find an agent that you can work with. There's going to be points of disagreement (unless you're both robots trying to STEAL MY JOB!!!). It's the points of disagreement and how you handle them that's key.

What Else?
So, aside from going through the query grind and getting started on a Rejection Letter wallpaper, what have I been doing?

• High-level outlining the sequel to CROW'S BLOOD
• Brainstorming ideas and starting to outline them. 
• I'm sitting on 6 full book ideas at the moment with 2 of them pushing to the forefront.
• Writing vignettes on those ideas to get a feel for the characters.
• Slowly working my way through 2 of my CPs latest drafts.
• Reading (for fun)

So... What have YOU been doing?

So... Yeah. This writing stuff is work!

See the progress meter down to the right? That's right: Revision 4 is complete!

It took very near two full months to go through this revision, and that's with someone else's notes guiding me and helping me along. A big THANK YOU (again) to my Critique Partners  Colton Hibbs, Clare Mitchell, and Rachel Russell! Rev 4 would have been a whole lot faster, and mostly useless without you. I can only hope I've lived up to your notes, direction, and help.

That said, I didn't cave on everything suggested, and not just because there were conflicted opinions between my CP's. Rather because I didn't necessarily agree and writing isn't a democracy!

I've also posted a few things here and there for critique: A 35 word pitch and the first 250 words of the manuscript for #PitchMadness. You have NO idea how hard it is to fit the concept of an entire book into 35 words while keeping it compelling and interesting! NO IDEA!!! (unless you've done it with your own).

In undertaking these public critiques I kept getting one piece of feedback over and over. You see, CROW'S BLOOD is a book about...

WAITAMINUTE!! I have a 35 word summary to tell you what it's about. What am I doing writing it from scratch?

A noblewoman is murdered and Flynn, a talented thief, is being framed. Hunted by monstrous Inquisitors and Royal Guards, Flynn needs to pull one last daring heist to catch the killer and clear his name.

Do you see the problem? I do... now. How could I not.  

Here's a hint:

ARGH!!!!

So, back to an old problem that I've covered before, names! There is no part of writing that induces panic in me faster than coming up with a name for a character. It has to fit! Worse still, this is my Main Character we're talking about!!! CRISIS!!!!!!

So I've wrestled, and whined, and annoyed my friends and loved ones to the point where they want me to go lock myself in a room for hours on end (so I have!).  I've come up with a new name for my MC. Everyone, say hello to my new MC, he's identical to the old MC with a different name: Ren! It's short, simple, mono-syllabic (which I like for this character). In Old English it means Raven. In Welsh it means Ruler. And in Japanese it means Lily (and is a boy's name).

.

.

.

F###!

FYI: For those not in the know about the character Flynn in Disney's Tangled: HIS REAL NAME IS EUGENE!!!

One Third of the Way

I'm well past my due date for checking in. I haven't even blogged in July!

That little progress bar at the right is moving along though. Slowly but surely, and as fast as it can with only an hour or two on most nights.

I've just come back from visiting my father in Winnipeg, which is a truly, uh, flat place. He's lived out there most of my life, doing his thing, which I have to admit is doing a lot of good for a lot of people. I know my kids miss seeing more of him though. I do too.

Winnipeg has one thing I definitely do NOT like: Mosquitoes. Mosquitoes that were likely the cause of any and every mass extinction since they came about. That mosquito in amber in Jurassic Park? Yeah, my money is on IT being the reason dinosaurs were wiped out.

Pterodactyl-mosquitoes aside, we had fun spending time with family and seeing the sights out there.

I've updated the Movie List a few times recently. Between writing and other Real Life™ stuff this year I haven't seen nearly as many movies as I'd have liked. I'm hearing that Pacific Rim is good fun though, so I'm working on seeing that.

On the writing/revising side of things (because, really, that's the point of this blog), things are going relatively well... I think. That's the problem with being a first time writer, and a really good reason to have Critique Partners: You're too close to your own work, and you simply don't know what you're doing wrong!

No! Really! One of the major points of this revision is to give more depth to Flynn, the MC. I know I'm giving some more depth, but is it enough? Can there be too much? I really have no idea...

So I plan to forge onwards until this revision is done, then send it to my Alpha Readers and CP's (and 1 or 2 new sets of eyes) for more feedback. I hope that they won't shun me...

I do know that I've cleaned up some of what my CP's and I found were real pain points plot/story wise. I only hope I haven't opened more in doing so.

As for a deadline? I aim to be done this pass before the end of August, mostly because at the end of September I'll be reaching a year on this book and I think I should be moving faster.

Carefully Stacked and Marked Electrons.

Electronic Data. It rules everything these days. It's our money, our jobs, our entertainment, and our memories.

So much of our lives revolve around little 1's and 0's flitting about on the merry tasks we set them upon.

Well, today, I sent a meaningful and important stack of those 1's and 0's half-way around the world to someone I barely know. I finally finished my critique of a CP's work-in-progress manuscript, and I can only hope I've done it justice.

Here's the thing. I received it on April 7th. I've had it for two and a half months! I had to ask myself: Why did it take so bloody long? We're nearing the half-way point of 2013 and I've consumed 14 other books this year (1 of those is another WIP from a CP), so what was different about this?

Was it a hard read? No, it was quite enjoyable, considerably more enjoyable than what I imagine mine was for them to read. The characters were compelling, the descriptions and setting were simply beautiful, and the spelling and grammar were fantastic (you have no idea how important that is!).

So what was it? In a word: Fear. That's right, I'm a coward.

I hate making other people uncomfortable, and I know that my internal Editor is a complete asshole. I don't ever want to be as hard on other writers as my Editor is on me.

Would they hate me for pointing out how I felt about that sentence? That turn of phrase? That plot point?

Was I putting too many comments? Beating a dead horse? Nit-picking (GUILTY!)?

Was I missing things that I really ought to point out? Things that would help more than what I was catching? Things that actually mattered more than my hang-ups?

And SO much more. I was never an angsty teen. Why was this all coming out now? And over something like this?

I'm a cocky, self assured, smart-ass, bastard. Ask anyone who knows me, they'll jump right on that sucker.

Here's why: This is someone's soul. Yeah, yeah, touchy feely crap. I know! But it's true. Little known fact: Writing isn't easy.

It's a lot of hours pouring everything you have onto a page (that usually consists of those carefully stacked and marked electrons, and not so much dead trees and ink). And what you have when you're done that first round of effort is usually a great big steaming pile of electrons that need to be poked and prodded, and in many cases thrown away and replaced, before you have something you can even let anyone see.

I know how much effort I put into getting CROW'S BLOOD where it is now, and it still has a good ways to go (I have some Character Voice issues with my main POV to sort out, namely, I left too much of it out). Every mark I put on my partner's Word document made me cringe.

So I procrastinated. That's something that's easy, and I can procrastinate with the very best of them! And hey, no one's feelings get hurt by procrastination! Hell, I spent more time with my wife and family avoiding someone else's Word document than I think I spent with them in the entire 3 months while I was writing the first draft of my own.

Well enough of that. I needed to put on my space-marine helmet, and grab my magical sword, and get past the barrier I set for myself. I needed to find that fear and kick it's ass.

Did I mention this is also the first time I've done a full mark-up? I needed to finish it and return it on principle. The first is always the most difficult.

I can only hope I got it right, or that I can vastly improve my skill at writing carefully worded apologies.

- Alex

P.S. I didn't return a mark-up to Colten, my other CP, and dear friend, but we had a really good long talk where I outlined my thoughts and we discussed some of the finer points. I'm looking forward to what he's doing with the story and can't wait to see the next draft.

Critique Partner Adventures of the Nitpickasaurus

I've been looking for a Critique Partner as I do my Out Loud Revision pass, using CPSeek.com and Twitter. Both have brought me results of a sort.

There have been a few Critique Partners that I've exchanged chapters with (usually the first 3), and I've done my best to be fair and honest while critiquing their work. I'm always afraid I'll come off as a jerk or some sort of Nitpickasaurus. Given the evidence, my specific critique style is most definitely NOT for everyone.

I'm ok with that, as long as everyone who lets me see their stuff realizes I'm critiquing the WORK and NOT them. It's a hard separation to make as a writer, as our work is so much of us laid bare. It's our time, effort, love/hate/happiness/anger/lust, and a bit of our soul on those pages.

The key, I find, is to always keep the goal of critiquing firmly in mind, both when going over someone else's work, or reading their notes on your own. That goal is to help the writer become better at the craft, and to help them make that manuscript the absolute awesomest it can possibly be. I'll throw in the odd bit of "best practices" I've picked up from others in an effort to help on some of the pain points. There are some really helpful people out there doing podcasts and articles, etc. I'll link a few at the bottom of the post.

With that in mind, I try my hardest to give a critique without stepping on a writer's voice or style. It's not my business to tell someone what to write, or even how to write. I just try to tell them where what they've written doesn't work for me, isn't clear, or doesn't flow well. I may even catch the odd bit of problem grammar or spelling (though not as often as I probably should).

Well, whether I am a jerk, or a Nitpickasaurus, or some other hell-spawn made flesh to torment other writers, I've found at least one CP who doesn't run screaming for holy water at my mark-up notes on their work!

Colten Hibbs, say hello to my thousands (x .001) of blog readers! Colton has a wonderful writing voice and a good sense of character, and I look forward to both of us helping the other develop as writers.

I have a few other CPs lined up for when they're ready, and I'm really looking forward to seeing their stuff too. I'm still quite nervous about letting others see my work, but that's part of the deal. I still have an awful lot to learn.

- Alex

Links!

• Write About Dragons Youtube Channel: A fantastic video log of Brandon Sanderson's classes at BYU
• Writing Excuses: A ~15 minute/episode podcast all about writing with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Mary Robinette-Kowal
• I Should be Writing: Mur Lafferty's podcast that has launched so many others. It's the longest running writing podcast for a good reason.
• Dead Robots Society: Funny, informative, rambling, and a little bit blue from time to time, but a good resource for interviews and lengthy discussions on writing topics.
• The Roundtable Podcast: Their "20 Minutes With" sessions are invaluable insight into different Authors and their processes, and their Workshops often give real-world implementations of those processes.
• Wordplay: A wonderful series of videos and transcripts discussing just about every writing topic imaginable
• Nat Russo's Blog: Where Nat Russo does a great job explaining just about everything.
• The Daily Dahlia: Home of Dahlia Adler and where she shares her endless wisdom. 

There are many more out there if you look around (and several other people's blogs that I follow) that I haven't listed here.

I'll be over there, talking to myself...

They used to say that talking to yourself was a sign of madness. Lately the perception has been swinging the other way, with studies (don't go read that unless you're REALLY interested) saying that it's actually a great way to increase cognitive processes and intelligence.

Well, I don't know how normal it is, but as a writer I do it a lot, when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. I narrate a good deal of my own life and always have. It's gotten me plenty of strange looks over the years, but I've never quite understood the problem.

Lately, that habit has been paying dividends!  I'm doing my latest revision out loud. To break that down for you, I'm locking myself in a room and reading my last revision and fixing/trimming things as I go. It's been working fantastically so far, but I find I'm having discussions with myself, out loud, about how to fix certain paragraphs. No, I don't mean I'm simply saying the alternative sentences out loud (though I am doing that), I'm discussing the merits of certain word choices and sentence orders.

I only worry when I give myself completely awesome and unexpected answers.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

I've been reaching out and finding Critique Partners beyond my Alpha Readers (who are great), and sending them some sample chapters. Some of the folks I reached out to are busy and I want them to know I'm completely cool with that. You need to take the opportunities you get and run with them, I'm rooting for all of you.

I have had some luck finding people to look at my work and not cringe in disgust, so that's good. I won't shout out to them here until I know they're cool with it and whether or not we'll continue beyond some sample chapters. But I love what I'm getting from them so far.

This is an exciting and terrifying time for me, but I'm having a blast.

Surviving the Holidays

Well, I'm here. That means I survived. If you're reading this, then you too are a survivor. Congratulations!

The holidays, regardless of which ones you celebrate or why you celebrate them, are about tradition and bringing families together. Anyone who survives that dangerous mix deserves their due credit.

I didn't do it alone, my wife and children helped me through it all with a continuous flow of joy and rich foods. My wife is an artist with food and confection at a level that I strive for with words.

I'd have to say the hardest part of the whole holiday ordeal was not writing. It's not that I didn't write or revise at all, but it certainly wasn't to the schedule I've grown used to. It kept leaving me with a nagging sense that I was being lazy and leaving things undone.

I'm revising now, which means I'm learning a LOT about my bad habits and just how horrible and clunky some of my prose can be. 

I've got this fantastic thing I do, which likely comes from my personal speech patterns, where I use more complicated words when simple will do. I don't seem to let it creep into dialog, which is a good sign that I'm not overpowering my character voices.

I'm enjoying the experience so far. Granted, I've only revised 6 chapters in to a ~50 chapter manuscript,  but some of them needed serious surgery. I'm talking the "hit it repeatedly with an ax until it stops moving" kind of surgery. Messy, somewhat painful, but necessary. 

I've started to receive feedback from my Alpha Readers on some of what they have so far and it's been invaluable. It's really quite amazing how much some of them pick up on. I probably drive them batty with how I'm dropping, revising, and re-dropping the same chapters to them on Dropbox, and I'm trying to clean up that process so they'll have a frame of reference when I give them updated revisions.

I still aim to push it out to some Critique Partners over at CPSeek.com and on Twitter by end of January. The timeline from that to Agent Query Submission will have to be more flexible depending on feedback at that level.

This writing thing is a lot of work. It's a good thing I enjoy it.

Cleanup! Aisle Seven!

Just a quick update.

I've been cleaning up a few things on my Blog this evening. Ugh! It's like housecleaning but far more repetitive.

It started innocently enough... Oh look, the Twitter widget is broken, let's see if I can fix it! Uh, no, it's well and truly broken, likely because Twitter changed their API rules.

Well that led to me shuffling around a few things on the side-bar and taking note that my tag cloud had 193 tags in it?!?! You see, when I started this whole blog thing, I didn't really get the significance of labels and tags, I just used them like I would on Twitter and that clearly got out of hand.

The madness had to stop! So I've pared it down to 43 tags, and it only took an hour and a half... hopefully everything is tagged correctly, Blogger's toolset isn't exactly the friendliest.

If you find anything missing (because I know how much you all love poking around in the archived posts) or better still, find anything that's tagged improperly, let me know and I'll fix it.

Revision! Revision! Revision! (Alpha Readers!)

I had to travel on a commuter train today. I generally enjoy travelling on the train when I have to as it means I don't have to pay much attention to my surroundings. It takes all the stress of driving my commute and leaves them behind. At the same time, I get to sit on a crowded train with lots of people I don't know and their stinky sandwiches.

Focusing on the positive, it means I get to spend 2 hours (1 way) doing just about anything else, provided I have enough battery power. I spent today's train ride starting in on a clean-up pass on my book. I've run through the first 3 chapters and surprised myself at how much I cleaned up. I was either very sloppy, or my writing has vastly improved in the last 6 weeks (both are distinct possibilities).

I'm going to drop some PDFs in the Alpha Reader Dropbox for my Alphas to pick up and take a read over. I hope they'll be pleasantly surprised with what I've done, and give me hell for anything I've screwed up or dropped the ball on. I want you guys to know that I appreciate any and all feedback as long as you're honest and clear with me. I promise I won't take any of it personally (unless you target me personally :P)

I'm going to be taking at least a week or two off from daily writing related work to put some time in on some other things, that's not to say I won't be working on it at all, but it won't be every night for the next little while. I intend to have these Alpha drops fairly frequently and I'll be doing a full run through of all the chapters before going back to work on the feedback.

Let me know in the comments if you want something other than a PDF to mark up and get back to me and I'll do my best to accomodate. If you want to be an Alpha Reader, drop me a line in there as well and we'll chat.

- Grimm