No Blank Pages

And Yet More Advice on Queries

I have been fiddling with my query, with great help from the folks at Backspace just after Noah landed on Mount Ararat and I could power up my notebook.  I've written about it before, linking to articles that I thought were useful, but after searching for new agents to harass yesterday, I came upon the blog for Wylie Merrick which also has some very useful information.

The problem, of course, is that getting agents to agree on the proper form of a query--or a bio or a synopsis--is harder than getting economists to agree on which direction the economy's going.  This is a bad thing for writers. 

It is not a bad thing for agents, and the fact that so many have gone to so much trouble to help us suggests that they really do care.  It's just that they don't agree.  I mean, It's not like building an airplane.  Put the wing on upside down, you've got only a slim chance of getting off the ground.  Queries are as much an art form as body piercing.  Chaque a son gout, as the French would say (which means "Check your goat."  I don't understand the relevance, but, hey, the French have a way with words.)

Is there a point here?  Well, of couse.   Research, resesarch, research.  One size does not fit all.  That's why if you can get two or three queries out a day, you're doing well.

Here's what the good folks at Wylie say about queries on their blog:

It's Time To Kill The Myth of the Muse

Vikk Simmon's, on his excellent site, Down The Writer's Path, recently wrote an article, "What is Your Relationship With You Muse?" 

Far too many writers are content to play the romantic courtier languishing on the sidelines while waiting for even the briefest glimpse of their Muse, the supposed supplier of their creativity. They love being caught up in the moment, dancing among the glorious stream of words only to fall exhausted at their Muse's feet. When they wake, their Muse has vanished. Distraught, they sit and pine.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy defines "muse" as, "Nine goddesses of classical mythology who presided over learning and the arts. They were especially associated with poetry. Ancient Greek or Roman writers would often begin their poems by asking for the aid of the Muses in their composition.   Writers and artists to this day speak of their “muse,” meaning their source of inspiration." It's time to kill the muse, an over-used, rhetorical device that gives writers an excuse to avoid doing what we should be doing--writing.  There are no goddesses who bestow some magical power that allows words to flow from our fingers.  We know that, yet we continue to use the word, and words have power--in this case, I would argue negative power. I responded to his post by suggesting a third path I laughingly call it my rhetoric machine...others would call it the unconscious. Scientists have determined that over 90% of our mental processes occur at the unconscious level--and these are sophisticated machinations.  The unconscious is where we form judgments, values, opinions, evaluate our world, decide what is dangerous or safe, and even form behaviors.  The bizarre thing is that we rarely have awareness of what's going on there.  All of us have had the experience of watching words appear on the page as if by magic having no idea where they came from.  Well, they come from the unconscious lying outside our awareness. Whether I'm writing fiction or non-fiction, I've developed a deep trust in my unconscious to lead me into surprising and wondrous realms that are as much as surprise to me as the reader.  I may have a conscious idea about the theme of a book, characters, and plot lines, but almost never does it work out the way I intended.  New themes and characters emerge unbidden, plot lines get twisted and sent along mazes I only can hope my unconscious is smart enough to get through. (O.k., this is arrogant stuff for an unpublished novelist, but the same holds for my business writing, and I've been very successful in that field using the same techniques.  For example, I cannot write from an outline.  A VP used to demand outlines of speeches I wrote for the CEO.  I'd write and edit the speech until it was ready, then do an outline and give it to her.  She finally caught on and gave up.) The verbalized theme of the current novel I'm trying to pitch to agents didn't really emerge until 3/4 of the way through the book.  It's Thoreau's quote, "Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."  When I found that as I was doing research for a scene, I thought it the saddest statement I'd ever heard.  Most of us have heard the first line, but I'd never heard the second.  But I also realized that that quote had been driving the entire novel, even though I'd never heard of it.

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My conscious mind has an important role to play--just making sure that, in the end, everything comes together, that the paths taken by my unconscious aren't self-indulgent but actually drive the work (again fiction or non-fiction.)  Particularly in the editing process, my conscious mind demands consistency and clarity, it rejects tired cliches and trite situations.  But then my unconscious most often has to find a way to rectify those problems. 

If you're not writing, it's not because your muse has abandoned you.  More likely, you've let the outside world distract you to the point where you don't write, where your unconscious is so wrapped up in garbage that the rhetoric machine is unheard.

There are no muses. I would suggest that that's a dangerous concept for a writer, as if the inspiration came from somewhere else.  There are only the wild and mysterious ways of the unconscious just waiting for permission to be released.

Technorati Tags: muse, creativity, writing, inspiration, conscious, unconscious
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New Writers Don't Despair

So you finished your manuscript.  It's edited, error free (LOL), and ready to greet the world and be received with open arms.

Now what do you do?  There are so many places on the web to get information and help.  I've listed some articles and sites here, but I want to highlight one today that helped me finally get a query that doesn't cause my stomach to churn:  Backspace.  It's listed over on the left under writer's resources.

I'd used Backspace regularly to search for agents, but recently decided to drop the $30 and join their forums.  Many of the members are published authors, and they are incredible helpful.  I submitted the two versions of my query, and within a day got great help.  In fact, one person went so far as to edit the "good" one to make it better.   I also discovered that sending out 20 or 30 queries is kid-stuff.  Be ready to sent out 70, 80 or more.  While that's a little overwhelming, it's also reassuring.  Great site.

Highlighting Backspace in no way is a move to diminish the other great resources--but it sure was worth the investment for me.

(Although we'll see when I post my synopsis...the most evil invention the publishing world ever imposed on writers, LOL.)

Technorati Tags: Backspace, Writing, Agents, Queries, Synopses
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Queries: God's Revenge

Queries are God’s way of saying, “I’m not done playing tricks with the human race.”  Let’s face it, take a 400-page book and distill it down into one page?  Capture both the humor and pathos, the brilliant revelations and tragic stumbles?

Imagine Omelet, a novel:  A depressed, perhaps crazed Dane whose father’s died of suspicious circumstances discovers that his mother has married his uncle who is implicated in the death of his father particularly after his father’s ghosts tells him he was killed by his brother—Hamlet’s uncle.  Moping around the castle incapable of making decisions and succumbing to long, self-flagellating monologues, Hamlet is either crazy or pretending to be crazy to take revenge—that is if he can find the energy to take revenge.

His girl friend, Ophelia tries to help, is rebuffed, and told to go a nunnery.  After demonstrating that she too can go crazy, she decides against the nunnery—apparently not a good Christian girl, and she jumps off a tree into a river and drowns herself. Her brother vows revenge.  Her father gives useless advice.

Hamlet stages a play wherein he’ll catch the conscience of the king—the new king, his uncle.  He overdoes it.  His uncles exits, stage left, howling.  Then Hamlet has his two best friends killed, and Tom Stoppard writes an award-winning play from their perspective.

Hamlet confronts his mother in what comes close to an incestuous encounter but the censors won’t let the author take the scene far enough to provide an answer.

Then Hamlet and Ophelia’s brother duel, but Hamlet doesn’t know that the brother’s sword is secretly dipped in poison.  Hamlet is wounded.  A fight ensues and they switch swords and the brother is wounded.  Hamlet then stabs the king.  The mother drinks wine laced with poison that was intended for Hamlet.  Anyone of substance at this point is dead or dying.

Hamlet’s last words: “The rest is silence.”

Be honest—if you were an agent, would you represent this book?   (Actually, told this way, it’d make a great comedy, so, sure, you’d take it on as a comedy, but as a tragedy?  Nah.)  Now that I think of it, maybe I should write the book.

The point is, queries may make agents' lives easier because they only have to read one page—but they tell you virtually nothing about the book.  I’ll bet they already know that.

And don’t even get me started on synopses. 

Technorati Tags: queries, agents, fiction, writing
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What Counts As Writing?

Many unpublished fiction authors have written about how difficult it is to keep writing while sending out query after query and waiting for some agent to see not another piece of mind-numbing drivel but a tender juice worm which they swallow with great excitement only to be hooked....Forget it, talk about stupid metaphors! 

My point isn't how to attract an agent--those mysteries cannot be revealed because they're beyond the ken of human understanding.  What I'm interested in is what constitutes "writing" while waiting.  Blogging is a form of writing.  I'm active on the political arena at www.blogcritics.org.  I'm spending way too little time editing an earlier novel that I believe has real potential.  I've written a couple of book reviews that are getting adequate play.

But I'm not writing any fiction.  I begun sequels to the current novel I'm pitching and the one I'm editing  I also have the beginnings of three other novels.  So, as a wannabe fiction writer, does the other stuff count, or should I be spending at least an hour a day or so writing fiction?  And why aren't I?

I don't know the answer.  Writer's write, and that's what I'm doing, but after years of occasionally writing horrible novels, I think I've found my voice, so is all this other writing a distraction or does it count as useful writing?  Comments would be appreciated.

What To Do When You Get Published

Another outstanding article by a literary agent, Jenny Bent of the Trident Media Group also found at BackSpace. Written specifically for first-time authors (a situation in which I hope to find myself...soon?) she tells the hard-edged truths we'd just as soon not hear, but must, but she also does so understanding the emotional roller coaster which is publishing these days.

Set in a Q&A format, Ms. Bent goes through those questions plaguing all of us:

--How long before I get an offer for my book?
--How much money can I expect? (Forget about half-million dollar advances, alas.)
--What's a book auction?
--Hey, I'm getting stiffed by this stupid publisher. I ain't working for beans. Do I have to accept the offer my agent brings. (O.k., I'm paraphrasing.) Answer: Yes. Reminds me of the first house I sold. The first offer was "offensive," and I derisively turned it down. Four months later, I took much lower offer. Get a good crystal ball.

Other questions deal with when you'll get your money, when am I going to see it in bookstores, the extent of editing one has to endure, what kind of marketing and publicity support you'll get (less than you want or expect), things you can do yourself, and what constitutes success.

It's a long article, and I urge you to read it here.

Her final thoughts are worth remembering if not tatooing on your wrist:

Don't take anything personally.It will take a long time to get your contract. It will take a long time to get paid. It will take a long time for your editor to read your book once you've delivered it. Your book may not get as much publicity or attention as you had hoped. Your book may not sell as many copies as you had hoped. Again, none of this is personal. It does not mean that you are not valued by your agent/editor/publisher. It does not mean you didn't write a good book. This is just the way the industry works. Be prepared to be patient. Be prepared to work as hard as you've ever worked in your life. Be prepared to encounter a few disappointments and set-backs along the way. Remember, this is only your first book. Think in terms of building a career, not in terms of overnight success. If you play your cards right now, there will be many more chances to publish in the future.

She also gives valuable tips on when you're going to need that guidance the most.

A Great Moment in Poetry

Great writers and poets create images that take up permanent residence in your mind to which one returns from time to time to savor again the experience, to feel the emotional or intellectual thrill the passage caused. Back in the early 70s, I attended a poetry reading by Richard C. Raymond, a true gentleman, thoughtful, profound, and gracious. Unfortunately, he died in 1980. Neither a poet nor a frequent reader of poetry, I have no idea if he ever received the recognition he deserved.

One poem he read that evening has lingered with me for over thirty years, and I can still see him standing there, weaving a web into which I willingly allowed myself to enter. His mother had always loved the ocean, and she asked that, when she died, that she be cremated and her ashes thrown upon the rocky shoreline where they lived. Like most of us, I suppose, Richard had thought that when one was cremated, the urn contained nothing but ashes--he never expected to see bits of bone in the urn when he opened it.

This poem is his tribute to his mother.

A MOMENT OF BELLS

The morning being fair--we left our pleasant
Harbor, in pursuit of our desired port.
--Wm. Bartram

Of all that floored and beamed my house,
A few and scanty handfuls left;
Of so much love, mere fragments
As pitted and pocked as bleaching coral,
And feathery light.

Enclosed, when born, in a caul,
She had no fear of drowning,
and in her blood the ghosts of clippers
Pitched their spars to the hungry Horn;
And so she prayed, trapped inland,
That she return to the sea
And not lie still in the smothering ground,
To go from her haven here
On a tide in spring.

The little I had I brought
To the plunging perch of rock
Where she, in the days of her sorrowless summer,
Dove from the lighthouse steps
To idle with gulls
Among the coveys of yawl and sloop,
Or match the strength of her mastering grace
With oceans beyond the wave-breaking wall,
While glory streaked her edge of sky
And the gun on the Parapet Green
Boomed down at the red-sailed sun.

I opened the hands that held
Her residue of ash
And she became, at the end of her death,
A moment of bells
To drums and winds of the sea she loved
As bits of her fire-scored bone
Rang on the rock in the harbor's mouth,
And over the reaching seaweed
Sang in a spray of waves.

With deepest appreciation to his niece, Gwyneth Walker, and especially his widow, Laura Raymond, for their kind permission.

To purchase this extraordinary collection of poems, follow the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0873681029/qid=1138387499/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3434062-8901426?s=books&v=glance&n=283155