Category Archives: advice

September 11, 2012   John   advice, John, pitch sessions, writing  
5

Every Book Deserves a Hook

It’s always struck me as an odd paradox that writers sometimes have the hardest time describing what their book is about. I’ve sat through any number of pitch sessions at writers conferences where a writer with good publishing credits will start to describe her book, and in no time flat she’ll lose me with an overly detailed plot summary or a tortured explanation of what she was trying to achieve.

Do you ever find yourself struggling to sum up your work in a compelling way? Well, then I strongly suggest you check out the writers’ blog Through the Tollbooth, where they’ve got an excellent two-part post on crafting a “hook.” Not only do they provide a persuasive argument for why all books need a hook, but they offer good, concrete steps for coming up with one. I have to admit, I’ve led a number of workshops with authors on how to shape a hook or pitch, and while I’ve been able to suggest ways to improve the pitch they’ve presented, I’ve never had a good answer for how to initiate the process. From here on out, the hundred words and three questions are definitely in my toolbox!

The one point I’d love for them to explore a bit more (and maybe this is a post to come) is where in the writing process do you start thinking about your hook. While the authors talk about how a hook can be a tool in the writing process, they seem to suggest it’s not where a book begins. And most of the focus seems to be on crafting a hook once the book is done.

So, I’ll put it to you: at what point in your writing do you start thinking about your pitch? At the start? Along the way? At the end?

September 05, 2012   Stacey   advice, organizing, Stacey, writing  
12

Confessions of a digital hoarder

Years ago I represented a memoir by a man writing about his mother who had a habit of stealing rocks from famous places around the world. Think Stonehenge. She was a compulsive collector of things, and might today be described as a hoarder. This is a topic of interest, as evidenced by a book Jane represented called The Secret Lives of Hoarders by Matt Paxton, as well as the successful TLC show Hoarding: Buried Alive.

I was intrigued by this recent piece in a Publisher’s Weekly blog by Barbara Vey that talks about digital hoarding. We are all immersed in technology, even those of us who fight against it, and it does threaten at times to take over our life (my client Dr. Larry Rosen talks about these things in his books like iDisorder about the “psychology of technology”).

Just last night, I was trying to share pictures from our vacation in Maine and was so frustrated that we have over 11,000 pictures on our new computer and no way to easily organize them. At last glance, I had over 50,000 e-mails in my in-box!

So, how do you writers handle digital storage when you’re writing? Do you save each draft of a novel, or just the current one? Do you organize by book so you have all your drafts and notes in one place? Do you back it up so you don’t risk deleting or losing your work? I imagine that this is a fear that keeps many writers up at night, the thought of losing your life’s work! And how does it all compare to the days of writing by hand? I recently talked about writers who still work that way, hard copies only, which can lead to a whole other kind of hoarding, not to mention all those trees that give their life for the paper trail.

Please do share your thoughts on digital hoarding, as well as any suggestions you have on  organizing your work electronically to avoid it. I, for one, could use some advice!

August 27, 2012   Jim   advice, Jim, reading, Twitter  
6

Jim opens the flood gates.

If you happen to follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this last Thursday:

Jim McCarthy ‏@JimMcCarthy528 Okay authors: we’re entering the quietest weeks in the publishing year and I’m caught up on slush. Thinking of querying me? Try now!

And it’s true—the last two weeks of the summer leading up to Labor Day are pretty much dead. It seems like everyone is either on vacation or pretending they are, so submissions aren’t going out, contracts are taking longer, and maybe there are SOME new deals, but less than any other time of year barring the stretch from Christmas to New Year’s.

It’s that magical time of year when I feel like I’m almost up to date on everything. So since I haven’t signed on many new authors in the past year, it seemed like a nice time to remind people I was still (and always am) looking. Said tweet had some interesting results. Let’s discuss.

First, a lot of people replied to let me know they were sad that I don’t represent any middle grade fiction. That took me by surprise, because while I certainly haven’t done much of it, I don’t believe I’ve ever said no to the category across the board. I also don’t do much memoir, but the last new project I signed on is just that. It was an interesting reminder to me that as we encourage authors to focus more and more on researching agents before they contact us, we ourselves have to be extra certain that we’re putting good information out there.

Let’s take a quick moment to clarify what it is I’m looking for: just about anything. I know, I know. That’s not helpful. So let’s say this: it seems I’m known for YA fiction and paranormal adult fiction. And I certainly am always looking in those categories. I’d also love to find some wonderful middle grade, more literary adult fiction, and any breathtaking narrative nonfiction. Just because I don’t do something all the time doesn’t mean I’m not game to try it out (note: this is not a rule that applies for ALL agents).

Beyond that, I learned that sometimes it’s possible to be too encouraging. I’ve actually requested a ton of manuscripts in the past four days and got some great, great queries seemingly in direct response to my call for submissions. On the flip side, there were a fair number of queries that clearly weren’t ready to go yet. People saw an opportunity and jumped on it. I get that; I really do. But here’s a safe rule going forward: if it isn’t ready, don’t send it out. No matter how appealing the circumstance is, whether it’s an editor you met who asked to see it or just little old me saying to send a query, it will never pay off to rush material out if you don’t believe it’s in the best possible shape.

All in all, though, I’m thrilled with the response. There’s something so wonderful about digging through and seeking out the books that I’ll fall in love with. Even if that excitement is ever so slightly tempered by the fact that more queries equal more rejections. I know a lot of you think we agents love a power trip and really enjoy saying no. I promise that isn’t true. I’m a whole lot happier to extend an offer of representation than to send a rejection. Let’s hope that I have the opportunity to do so in the near future!

August 20, 2012   Jane   advice, goals, Jane  
3

Establishing goals

I used to hate thinking about and writing down goals, probably because when I first had to do them it was as part of a budget plan I was assigned to create annually when I was a Publisher. That all changed when I first became an agent, though. One of the very first authors I worked with was writing an unusual book on achieving one’s dreams. In order to do that, the author advised, you had to write down ten goals that you were reaching for – things you never thought you would achieve. He demanded that I as the agent on the project go through this exercise just as a reader would. At the time, I was a single mother of a young daughter beginning a new career and not in the mood for dreaming about anything. But I went along and wrote down things I just knew would never happen: increase my gross book sales threefold by the end of the year (in terms of dollars); meet and marry the love of my life within the next two years; buy a house in the next three years; have another child in the next five years…. And every week, he demanded that I review my goals.

Well, the upshot is that I never sold that book (that actually wasn’t one of my goals). But, incredibly, I did achieve every other goal, and within the time period I had laid out. I did sell that amount in advances and more; I did meet the love of my life and we are about to celebrate our twenty-fourth wedding anniversary; I did buy that house in the country; and my handsome son has just turned 20.

So, when I began my own company, I asked everyone I worked with to set short term goals each quarter; these were almost wishes – they should be reaches – and they should be reviewed monthly. Recently, Miriam told me that she has always hated doing goals “with the burning intensity of a thousand suns,” but she has become a believer because the process really does work.

I have now begun asking my newer clients what their goals and wishes are. It’s an exercise that is energizing many of them and they are realizing that setting short term goals enables them to strategize about their entire career.

I wonder whether you set goals for yourself already. And, if not, don’t you think you might begin now?

August 08, 2012   Stacey   advice, editing, grammar, Stacey, words, writing  
15

Which or that and other gripes about grammar

The question of “which” versus “that” came up when I drafted my last blog post and the person editing my post took a stab at which one she thought it should be but then suggested I double check. Here’s the sentence: Aimee Bender, the talented author of most recently The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, has this enlightening piece in the latest O Magazine that talks about her decision to create a writing contract with a friend that would allow for each of them to maintain certain very specific writing rules complete with confirmation e-mails that each had stuck to their previously agreed-to commitments.

What do you think it is? I was happy to come upon this article about the subject in a recent writersdigest.com piece, and I thought it was a useful topic to cover since it’s a common challenge to get right, and like the questioner, I think many people do feel the two words are interchangeable. The explanation given here by Brian Klems is clear and anecdotal, making it easy to digest. Based on his advice, I’d say we got it right in my blog post (thanks, Rachel!).

I started digging around to read more about common grammatical mistakes, and came across this fun and snarky piece from litreactor.com that highlights the 20 most common grammatical errors (or word usage mistakes, as many of them are, and happy to say Which and That is right at the top). And I’d like to add to the list “I” and “me” — how often do you hear someone say “Between you and I” which should be “Between you and me”?

What’s your biggest grammar pet peeve? Is there a grammatical faux pas that drives you crazy? Oh, there are so many. Please share with us some of your favorite grammar gripes.

August 02, 2012   Michael   advice, chat, Michael  
2

Twitter chat at 9:30 EDT/6:30 PDT

A quick reminder that I’m doing a chat tonight on Twitter. Bring your questions, and maybe an adult beverage, and we’ll have a good time. Just follow the hashtag #dglm. I’ll do my best to keep up!

July 31, 2012   John   advice, controversy, John, nonfiction  
4

It’s all over now, Baby Blue

Oh, Jonah…

I’m sure most of you saw the news yesterday that somewhat-discredited writer Jonah Lehrer is now fully discredited, having resigned from The New Yorker after admitting he fabricated some Bob Dylan quotes for his book Imagine and then lied about it. It’s a shame, because, while I haven’t read Imagine, I’ve been impressed by his writing on-line—he’s clearly a smart guy. But while I was willing to let it slide earlier when it seemed like he was self-plagiarizing due to feeling overwhelmed/over-committed, it’s a lot harder when he’s putting words in Bob Dylan’s mouth.

Anyway, I bring all this up just as a simple plea: if you’re writing nonfiction, don’t make stuff up!

I know, it seems self-evident, but there’s a long history of smart writers plagiarizing or fabricating material for a variety of reasons. And while publishers can protect themselves to an extent with the warranty clauses in their contracts, which place the burden of truth squarely on the author, as an agent all we really have is the author’s word. Yet if a problem arises, we certainly catch our share of the blame (witness the silence of Lehrer’s agent on this).

So, for my sake and yours, please don’t pull a Jonah—otherwise, to quote (accurately, I hope) the man in question, “a hard rain’s a-gonna fall…”

July 26, 2012   Jessica   advice, vacation, writing  
6

Not long ago, I was listening to a radio interview with an author who had penned an article in (I think) the New York Times, explaining how we must practice disengaging from technology in order to enjoy our vacations properly. We are, as many have pointed out, so addicted to our devices that laying them aside is challenging. I returned from a holiday last week in which I put some of those recommendations into play.  I resisted the urge to check my smart phone each time it flashed its come-hither signal. I limited my screen/keyboard time, and also—like Ulysses tying himself to the mast to resist the sirens–chose a destination where my cell phone coverage is uneven at best, and so avoided temptation by default. I had a lovely family vacation, but I could not go cold turkey. I still carried some submissions with me, a contract or two, and a proposal in need of very light editing. Happily, work reading is rarely so onerous that I need to leave it entirely behind.  (True, I did not get to the Hilary Mantel novel I had hoped to read, but I did read Richard Ford’s Canada and Martin Amis’s Lionel Asbo: State of England. In the future, I will not leave best for last). As I fired up my laptop to read a revised proposal, I wondered whether vacations for writers means taking a vacation from writing or if the computer/typewriter/legal pad travels with you?

 

My treacherous, self congratulatory musings on quitting technology were overheard by my computer and my phone, and I was summarily punished with a bad tech day. My e-mails ran afoul of the spam filter of an entire publishing conglomerate.  My own spam filter unaccountably waylaid important messages. My Blackberry’s battery has, seemingly overnight, lost the ability to hold a charge, and so I was dismayed to discover my quiet morning was not so quiet after all. Thereafter, I saved the wrong version of a proposal, overwriting its edited predecessor.  Even now my computer is functioning at a molasses-like speed, each letter moseying its way to the screen.

 

Have you ever suffered a day in which it seemed all your technology was rebelling against you? It seems to me that writers, who rarely have the benefit of an IT department to rush to their aid,  are especially vulnerable to tech melt-downs. If so, I’d welcome any suggestions for placating and propitiating the digital gods.

July 25, 2012   Stacey   advice, creativity, Stacey, suggestions, timing, writing  
5

A contract for creativity

I minored in psychology in college, and I’m a huge fan of anything that makes me feel more organized, more in control, and better able to manage the 10,000 things I have to do all the time. Lists help a lot, as do deadlines, but what about creating a self-imposed contract? An intriguing idea.

Aimee Bender, the talented author of most recently The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, has this enlightening piece in the latest O Magazine that talks about her decision to create a writing contract with a friend that would allow for each of them to maintain certain very specific writing rules complete with confirmation e-mails that each had stuck to their previously agreed-to commitments. I love her line about the parallels between writing and psychology: “Although psychotherapy and writing are distinct in many ways, they are two fields whose great resource is the vast plains of the unconscious mind and how this landscape gets translated into words.” So true.

For many writers, the ability to work in solitude is both liberating and daunting. Sometimes it’s hard to motivate when there isn’t anyone there to encourage you. And when you’re feeling a spell of procrastination coming on, the water cooler at work is a good way to get a few minutes of down time before heading back to the task at hand. When you work alone, you don’t have that luxury, and when the Internet in many cases  is your sole companion, it becomes way too easy to get sucked into an unproductive cycle. Then again, you can get sucked in anywhere really, but that’s another story (see my recent post about technology).

A contract makes you accountable for your own time and how you spend it. When you commit to writing for a certain period of time each day, or 5 days a week, or whatever works for your own life and schedule, it allows you the time to breathe outside of that without the nagging feeling of always feeling like you should be doing more.

What do you think about this for your own writing, and would you consider doing it? Would you want to team up with a partner to check that you are meeting your contractual obligations? Let us know what you think, and if you’d be willing to experiment and give it a try. I suspect the act of creating the contract alone would make you feel more in control, more motivated, and more productive.

 

July 19, 2012   Michael   advice, chat, Michael  
3

Talk to me on August 2!

It’s that time, friends: time for another DGLM Chat Live, and this time, I’ll be answering your questions for an hour. I considered having a theme or focus to the chat, but then realized that sort of defeats the point of letting you direct the conversation with your questions. In other good news, the chat will start at 9:30 Eastern/6:30 PM Pacific time, which I hope is when most of you are home but not yet asleep.

The other difference this time around is that I’ll be holding the chat on Twitter, with the hashtag #dglm. (If you’ve never followed a chat on Twitter before, go take a look at TweetChat, which provides a really easy way to do it.) I’ll be moderating the chat myself, and the questions that have the best chance of being answered are the ones that apply to the most people. The more people will benefit from the answer, the more likely I am to pick the question. I’m really hoping that this will be helpful, informative and fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing your questions.

So, mark your calendars: 8/2 at 6:30 PM PDT. See you then! (Thanks for the suggestion, Jaclyn!)

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