For anyone who read my previous post, bad news. It was all a lie. Well, maybe not all of it, but certainly anything relating to a certain somebody's query letter being "done," and especially anything about it being "good."
While testing the waters of the AW community (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.php) I was attacked by a creature I had only heard about in legend. As a beginning writer (imagine me standing with my safety floaties and boogeyboard) I had never encountered this thing in its truest form. It was always the domesticated versions, such as polite schoolmates or writing group peers who don't really care, that I had dealings with. But this new beast appeared in its truest form.
What beast, you ask? Of course, I'm talking about the dreaded Snark, a creature native to the oceans of the literary world.
Now you might be thinking...snark? Don't you mean shark? No. Sharks don't know how to read. Sharks are not attracted, or even remotely interested, in your crappy writing. And for the record, a snark bite is much worse than a shark bite-- when a shark bites you, you lose a leg, so what? Get a peg leg, and everyone will think you are awesome. When a snark bites, it not only makes you feel ridiculous, but makes you look ridiculous, as well. And nobody will think you are awesome.
Nobody likes a snark-- at least, nobody with pride, or inexperience in the writing world. (Pawns have no pride, of course-- check AW identity for reference.) But snarks are an important part of the ecosystem. Without them, crappy writers or writers who know nothing about the industry would have no indication that they need improvement. If the snarks didn't appear as soon as we stepped into the water to let us know our writing was sub-par then we would be saturating the market with our horrible queries, articles, and boring short-stories, closing doors that we will (later) really wish were still open.
There are two kinds of snarks that I have seen. One snark is offering criticism because he, or she, wants you to succeed. The other is just being snide for the fun of it, and the best way to deter this kind of snark is a good punch in the face (or a harpoon.) Both types, however, offer important feedback on your work-- even the truly malevolent snark, who may bring some details to light that an equally cantankerous agent or editor might notice as well.
Anyways...with that, I had better quit stalling and get back in the water. The snarks are waiting.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Synopsis
I have finally honed my query letter from the fat blob of a creature it started out as to the sleek, informative, and straightforward form a query letter ought to have. Hopefully this will increase my chances of capturing the attention of a literary agent, which is, of course, my ultimate goal at this point in time. However, if I am to succeed in enticing agents to read my full manuscript, I will eventually need more than a query letter-- I will need a synopsis that condenses the story without robbing the reader of any enjoyment the story may hold.
A helpful article on writing the synopsis for your manuscript can be found in the Guide to Query Letters, chapter 4-- and specific instructions for compiling a synopsis for fantasy and other forms of speculative fiction can be found on page 139. A piece of information that I learned from the author, Wendy Burt-Thomas, was the importance of starting off with the setting and a few sentences of backstory that would be superfluous for other genres. But when writing a synopsis about a speculative world, it is important for the agent reviewing your synopsis to get a sense of what this world is all about before you tell her about the story designed to take place within it.
Unfortunatley, while I would love to finish my synopsis tonight and submit my completed package to a few more agencies, I need to spend the rest of my night signing up to take the GRE-- and finding out how to study for a test that might get me into grad school. PERFECT 800 VERBAL SCORE-- fingers crossed. I've got to get that M.A. in Creative Writing...it would look so much better than my bachelor's degree.
A helpful article on writing the synopsis for your manuscript can be found in the Guide to Query Letters, chapter 4-- and specific instructions for compiling a synopsis for fantasy and other forms of speculative fiction can be found on page 139. A piece of information that I learned from the author, Wendy Burt-Thomas, was the importance of starting off with the setting and a few sentences of backstory that would be superfluous for other genres. But when writing a synopsis about a speculative world, it is important for the agent reviewing your synopsis to get a sense of what this world is all about before you tell her about the story designed to take place within it.
Unfortunatley, while I would love to finish my synopsis tonight and submit my completed package to a few more agencies, I need to spend the rest of my night signing up to take the GRE-- and finding out how to study for a test that might get me into grad school. PERFECT 800 VERBAL SCORE-- fingers crossed. I've got to get that M.A. in Creative Writing...it would look so much better than my bachelor's degree.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Starting Out
My first post. Alright! Now I have to think of a way to make this blog useful to anyone who might be reading it.
My name is Brandon Daubs. I am a fantasy writer with a B.A. in Creative Writing and a lot of hope for the future of my books. But right now I am faced with the most daunting stage (it seems to me) in a writer's career-- and that is getting my foot in the door. During my time at university I learned a lot about writing. In my free time, I produced about 4 novels. The first was terrible, the second was only bearable, and the third was more like a rambling mishmash of everything I wanted to write about-- but the fourth emerged from the ashes of the third like a pheonix, almost. Except it wasn't on fire.
Now that I have a book that I think might actually stand a chance in the markets, I need to find an agent to represent me in today's competetive market-- but I am faced with several immediate problems. Let me spell them out for you so that you, in case you have aspirations of becoming a novelist, can avoid my mistakes.
1) All that time I spent writing novels meant I didn't have a chance to write many short stories, much less get them published. So when I write my query letters to various agents I don't have a lot of other projects they can refer to. My qualifications paragraph is rather unimpressive-- it pretty much reads "B.A. in Creative Writing." I sure wish I had something else to put there, and if I could go back and do it again, I would be a little more prolific in my writing so I would have something to add.
2) My second major problem is rather similar to my first problem. When I was still at university, I made the mistake of spending too much time on my work-- and not enough face-time with the professors. All those opportunities to meet professors of creative writing with experience in the publishing world, who might have even known agents and editors and could have spread my name around when I was finished with my book, have passed me by. If I could go back and do it again I would make it a point to socialize (and there are a great many other reasons to do this, not the least of which is to secure letters of recommendation.)
3) Agents appreciate work experience in the field. If I had known this, I would have spent a lot more time searching for internships anywhere stuff was being printed. The local newspaper, even the school newspaper, could have given me the experience I needed to beef up that last paragraph, to put something next to "B.A. in English."
Don't make the same mistakes I did. Now, when I am searching for agents, the best I can do is explain why chose them, write a killer synopsis, and hope they overlook the final few lines where I mention my B.A. and my solemn vow that my writing is worth their time. It is, of course. But an agent is far more likely to believe that if I have had some work experience in the industry, a few recommendations from professors who have some clout in the publishing world, and already published projects to my name.
In spite of these obstacles, my hunt for representation continues. Leave some comments. Maybe you can learn something from my exploits...or maybe I can learn something from you.
My name is Brandon Daubs. I am a fantasy writer with a B.A. in Creative Writing and a lot of hope for the future of my books. But right now I am faced with the most daunting stage (it seems to me) in a writer's career-- and that is getting my foot in the door. During my time at university I learned a lot about writing. In my free time, I produced about 4 novels. The first was terrible, the second was only bearable, and the third was more like a rambling mishmash of everything I wanted to write about-- but the fourth emerged from the ashes of the third like a pheonix, almost. Except it wasn't on fire.
Now that I have a book that I think might actually stand a chance in the markets, I need to find an agent to represent me in today's competetive market-- but I am faced with several immediate problems. Let me spell them out for you so that you, in case you have aspirations of becoming a novelist, can avoid my mistakes.
1) All that time I spent writing novels meant I didn't have a chance to write many short stories, much less get them published. So when I write my query letters to various agents I don't have a lot of other projects they can refer to. My qualifications paragraph is rather unimpressive-- it pretty much reads "B.A. in Creative Writing." I sure wish I had something else to put there, and if I could go back and do it again, I would be a little more prolific in my writing so I would have something to add.
2) My second major problem is rather similar to my first problem. When I was still at university, I made the mistake of spending too much time on my work-- and not enough face-time with the professors. All those opportunities to meet professors of creative writing with experience in the publishing world, who might have even known agents and editors and could have spread my name around when I was finished with my book, have passed me by. If I could go back and do it again I would make it a point to socialize (and there are a great many other reasons to do this, not the least of which is to secure letters of recommendation.)
3) Agents appreciate work experience in the field. If I had known this, I would have spent a lot more time searching for internships anywhere stuff was being printed. The local newspaper, even the school newspaper, could have given me the experience I needed to beef up that last paragraph, to put something next to "B.A. in English."
Don't make the same mistakes I did. Now, when I am searching for agents, the best I can do is explain why chose them, write a killer synopsis, and hope they overlook the final few lines where I mention my B.A. and my solemn vow that my writing is worth their time. It is, of course. But an agent is far more likely to believe that if I have had some work experience in the industry, a few recommendations from professors who have some clout in the publishing world, and already published projects to my name.
In spite of these obstacles, my hunt for representation continues. Leave some comments. Maybe you can learn something from my exploits...or maybe I can learn something from you.
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