Monday Movie - What I Learned From Watching RED RIDING HOOD

This movie had potential, it really did, with some unique elements added to the classic tales of Little Red and the Wolf (of which the werewolf idea is actually not one of them -- that's been done before, centuries ago).

My favorite part of this movie was the mystery thread. It truly kept me guessing until the very end, and that's not an easy thing to do, especially when all the hints are right there in your face... you just don't see them for what they are.

That, in my opinion, was brilliant.

But the brilliance stopped there. So, unfortunately, this "what I learned" post is going to highlight some things to avoid rather than emulate.

Before we get into that, though, I want to emphasize one very important thing that was done right. If you're going to do any kind of fairytale retelling, you have to keep a certain familiarity that the audience expects from the story.

Kudos to the filmmakers for including:

* grandmother's house in the woods
* the wolf speaks to Little Red
* the wolf disguises himself as someone Little Red can trust
* a woodsman comes to Little Red's aid at the end
* stuffing the wolf's belly with rocks and dumping it into a body of water
* the "my what big eyes you have" scene (even though in the movie it was just a dream, but still, it was there)
* Little Red carrying a basket of "goodies" to her grandmother's house (different goodies in the movie -- not food -- and major points for creeping me the f*** out with what she had in her basket, even though, really, I should have seen it coming)

Also, I need to make clear that I like the story this movie told (that's what I was referring to when I said it had potential). Whoever wrote the basic story line did an excellent job. For example, the initial kill at the beginning was not just something used to show that the wolf is dangerous and blood-thirsty, but the person killed has a clear link to solving the mystery of who the wolf really is, and what the motives were for killing her.

It's worth watching just for the structural aspects, if you're a fiction writer.

Now. Onto the not-so-great stuff.

Who's afraid?

"Not I," said the disappointed viewer.

One of the biggest issues I had with this supposedly scary movie was that it came across more hokey than anything else.

The setting and costumes/makeup looked fake. I'm not sure if it was intentionally inauthentic, but the overall fakeness of everything really turned me off. I had the overwhelming feeling that I was on a movie set instead of an historical village.

All of the women were in full makeup. For an historic piece like this, I would expect the makeup to be done in a way as to not be obvious. But, for example, Valerie's (Little Red's) mother had perfectly styled hair and bright rouge and lipstick. And come-hither eyes, wtf?

Just... NO.

It felt more like a stage play than a movie, because when you watch a play, not only are the actors in heavy makeup because of the stage lights, but you also don't usually get the sense that you are anywhere but inside the playhouse, watching a play on stage. But when you watch a movie, you can be mentally transported inside that movie and feel like you're living it.

Good movies have just the right blend of realism and imagination.

The costumes, if you can believe it, were even worse than the makeup. Just about every character had their upper chestal region exposed in the dead of winter. Some of them even refrained from covering their arms. And hoods, apparently, only exist on bright red capes made by your grandmother. More form than function, really.

Because who in their right mind would cover up hair like this, just to prevent wind-chapped cheeks and frostbite?

Snow. Blustering winds. Exposed skin? Maybe it's because I've lived in or near the Snow Belt of Ohio for my entire life, but I got painful shivers every time someone went outside.

Which was a lot. Like... every ten seconds of the movie. I again refer to the image of Valerie's mother above. You might notice there is snow in the background. You might also notice that her arms are looking a bit purple.

Then there was the "movie set" setting. I can't really pinpoint exactly why it felt that way, but it was all so fake. Maybe it had something to do with the lighting. Or the fact that there were deciduous trees in the center of town with brilliant autumn foliage... in the middle of winter, while the bordering forest of deciduous trees were bare.

Uhm...

Much of the lighting and overall color scheme were too bright for both the dark/scary mood of the piece and the time period itself. It didn't match. It just felt wrong.

And maybe it seems like I'm being extremely picky here, but it's little details like this that have the power to either fully engage you in a story or leave you shaking your head on the sidelines. They're important.

Moving on...

The characters were too shallow, unsympathetic. No depth to anyone's personalities whatsoever. Which, among other annoying things, made the love triangle downright pointless.

This was supposed to be one of the main draws of the story, and it really could have been. Like I said earlier, whoever wrote the screenplay knew what they were doing, and they had a good foundation laid for an intense love triangle.

But something got lost in translation.

Peter's side of the triangle -- his connection with Valerie -- is very well developed. Solid. Henry's side is undercooked, at best. Lopsided and weak. He has this thing for her, but we don't really know why he likes her. He's been forced into an engagement with her, but when he realizes how much Valerie likes Peter, he kind of gives up the fight too easily and breaks it off.

While Henry is definitely one of the more likeable characters in the story, there was never really any threat from him to Peter and Valerie's relationship. He's just there. You don't even want him to be with Valerie. They're clearly better off as friends, stupid as that sounds.

And as important as love triangles are in teen-focused entertainment, I'm surprised that this one had such an epic fail.

Moving on...

Probably my biggest peeve was the complete and utter lack of humor. I still can't wrap my head around this. Not one bit of jabbing dialogue, not one pun, not one prop joke.

NOTHING.

Now, I understand that this is supposed to be a scary movie (even though it failed at that), but come on, even Silence of the Lambs had humor. And that movie scared the cheesecake out of me.

My (genius) critique partner once told me -- even the darkest of stories can have humor sprinkled here and there. Humor is what keeps you engaged, feeling a human connection to the characters. The best stories have at least a trace of humor threaded throughout. And there is this thing called "comic relief" that is often used in suspenseful/scary stories to break the tension once in a while.

So you don't lose your cheesecake too many times.

Humor is essential. The story doesn't have to be an outright comedy, or a farce, to have humor. It makes us like or dislike characters. It keeps us entertained. It helps us to enjoy the story more than we would if it were absent.

So the absence of humor in this movie, coupled with the overall fakeness of everything, made it seem like everyone involved in the story was taking themselves far too seriously (which, ironically, was laughable). It made me not like them and, more devastatingly, it made me not care what happened to them.

Bottom line? Red Riding Hood is an example of a how to take a good concept and ruin it with poor execution. (How to execute it, haha.)

A moment of silence, please, for what could have been an amazing movie.

~Lydia

On Behalf of Literary Agents

I really don't want to get into a self-publishing vs "traditional" publishing debate (and I'm not going to here, even if it seems like I am), but since I'm currently riding the query-go-round for the third time in less than two years, I feel a need to express why I continue to seek representation from a literary agent rather than pursue publication for my novels independently.

Even after all the rejections. So many rejections that I've honestly lost count.

Because rejection, in my opinion, is no reason to get in a huff and go on a "down with the current publishing model" tirade. Rejection happens at every step of the way, whether you have an agent or not, and whether you have other novels published or not. It will always be there. If not from agents, editors, etc., then at the very least, you will have readers who don't like your novels. Writing fiction is an art, and art is subjective. Even the "best" artists have people who can't stand their work.

I've never held the view that literary agents are evil gatekeepers who feel their opinion is law. And it actually hurts me when I see authors insinuating (or outright stating) that literary agents are the bad guys in publishing. Yes, there are bad agents out there. But as with anything else, we should analyze things on a case by case basis. Blanket statements are good for no one.

I've also never held the view that whatever novel I'm offering to agents at the time, that novel must be published and it must be published now.

It's all in the attitude, really.

And this is what I want to focus on today. Because (aside from those who had valid awful experiences, which happens) I think a lot of the negative views of agents stem from the author having unrealistic expectations.

Here are some things I've learned as they relate to publishing, writing, and my personal decision to continue seeking an agent:

1. Write within your means.

This mantra was taken from the one I use for my personal life, to live within your means. Having to file for bankruptcy in your 30s because you royally effed up your finances in your 20s just plain sucks. I learned that lesson the hard way. And I promised myself I'd never let that happen again.

This means maintaining a steady paycheck, even if it's less than a hundred dollars per week. This means you will often put novel-writing in second place behind taking care of yourself and your family. This means not putting all your writing eggs in the publishing basket. This means having a realistic, yet optimistic, view of the financial aspect of your writing career.

This means not viewing it as a failure if your main source of income isn't from selling fiction 100% of the time.

This means having a concrete understanding of the difference between a want and a need.

For my novels, of course, I want them all to be published. But do I need them to be published? Only if I'm expecting my fiction sales to support my life. If they do at some point, great. But I will never expect it.

When you have the unrealistic expectation that selling a novel will be the answer to your financial struggles, the rejections hurt a lot more. And then you get bitter, and you make the agent your scapegoat.

But the agent isn't paying you for your novel, anyway. The money comes from the publisher. Which is why, I think, a lot of authors think the answer is to then skip the agent-getting altogether. The less people between them and their money, the better.

Oy.

Because I don't put undue pressure on the acceptance of one novel or another, I can see rejections for what they are -- the agent had reason to believe they were not a good fit for this story at this time. That's it. And that's what a good agent should do. If they have anything less than passion for a project, they aren't the right agent for it.

Their rejection is really a favor to you.

Move on. Keep querying until you find the right person. And if that doesn't happen, then...

2. You always have the option to write another novel and query the same agent. Unless that agent specifically told you to stay away. But that's extremely rare, and you'd likely have to be a complete douche to garner such a reaction.

If you plan on writing for the length of a career, then you'll always be writing another book, anyway. I've seen so many authors get hung up on their first novel (or second), so unhealthily attached to it, that they cannot fathom their masterpiece not being loved as much as they have come to love it. They cannot fathom the thought of it NOT getting published. And if it doesn't get published (and odds are, it won't), then they come to the conclusion that the fault is NOT with their lack of writing experience, but with the person who rejected the piece.

Again, since literary agents are usually that first step toward professional publication, many authors pass the blame onto the rejecting agents rather than where it belongs -- on themselves.

Not only is this the wrong attitude for someone seeking publication, but it also prevents the author from taking a necessary step back to evaluate their own skills and work toward improvement.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm currently in my third go-around for querying agents, each time with a different novel. And when I look at each of those novels, I see a subsequent improvement in one area or another. If I'd let myself get hung-up on novel number one, or number two, or even number three, I wouldn't be where I am now, writing a fifth novel that is exponentially better than my first.

This is a hard truth to accept when you're just starting out. And you have to view each of your novels as "the one" or you'll lose the necessary motivation that gives you endurance. But realistically, many authors don't break out with a debut novel until they've actually written three or more.

Maybe even ten.

Case in point, watch this video from Beth Revis (who debuted on the bestseller list, just saying).




3. Agents are in the business of helping their authors.

Although my experience is limited, I've already seen this point in action. When you have something that is "close but not quite there yet" many agents feel compelled to tell you so. And they will usually do this with the basic sandwich method.

*bun* Good points.
*meat* What I didn't like/ here's why I passed.
*bun* Another good point at the end.

They know you worked hard on this project and they really don't want to piss you off, but at the same time they want to help you. It's actually a very brave thing for an agent to go beyond the form rejection and offer specific feedback. I take note of every agent who has done this for me and bump them up to a higher position on my to-query list for the next go-around (if there is a next go-around).

That's the type of person I'd want to work with. Brave and honest and thinks I'm a good writer, even if this particular story didn't speak to them.

Querying is not just about "I have this novel I wrote and I think it should be published and I think you could get it published for me." Yes, that's a huge part of it. But querying is also about finding someone who is a good fit for you, as a career partner.

And this is where agent research over a period of time can do wonders for your to-query list. I've been "watching" and interacting with certain agents for over two years. Some of them have been deleted from my to-query list because of this.

But not because they are bad agents. They just aren't the right agents for me. And a lot of times you can't see that just by doing a quick background search, or looking up their sales history.

So again, if the author errs on the side of impatience, they are more likely to query the wrong agents, which results in more rejection... which could lead to the author blaming this on the agent and thinking they are better off without one.

4. Agents know more about publishing and the market than I do.

Sarah LaPolla recently did a series on her blog about self-publishing and publishing with small presses, and how this is sometimes a better answer than going with the big houses, depending on the individual project. What did I learn from this? That I don't know as much as I thought I did, and I could really benefit from someone's advice who knows more about this than I probably ever will.

My expertise is in writing and storytelling. Yes, I know a bit about marketing and contracts and publishing in general. But do I know enough? Hmm...

It's okay to admit that you need someone's help. Really it is.

5. I've seen more good experiences about author/agent relationships than bad. The bad ones just get more attention.

In addition to highly successful authors praising their agents up and down all over the Web, in almost every novel I've read, an agent has been thanked in the acknowledgments. If that doesn't prove that agents are worth their salt, I don't know what will.

~Lydia

Recommended Read: CLEAN by Amy Reed

Clean by Amy Reed
Young Adult Contemporary
Simon Pulse, 2011

Olivia, Kelly, Christopher, Jason, and Eva have one thing in common: They're addicts. Addicts who have hit rock bottom and been stuck together in rehab to face their problems, face sobriety, and face themselves. None of them wants to be there. None of them wants to confront the truths about their pasts. And they certainly don’t want to share their darkest secrets and most desperate fears with a room of strangers.

But they'll all have to deal with themselves and one another if they want to learn how to live. Because when you get that high, there's nowhere to go but down, down, down.

image and blurb from goodreads


Why I love it:

* Hardcore topic without one speck of sugarcoating. That's the only way to do something like this any justice.

* The delivery of the story. It is a blend of narrative and dialogue (standard story format), personal essays, straight-up dialogue (like a script without the asides), and questionnaires.

Without this varied format I don't think it would have been possible to get to know each of the five main characters as intimately as I did. Beyond brilliant.

* Each of the characters were in rehab for drug addiction, but they all had different stories. They were each unique in their own way, like real people.

* Shirley. She is not one of the five listed above because she is their Group counselor, so she's technically a minor/supporting character. But she's amazing. You will love to hate her, and hate that you love her.

* Amy Reed's writing style makes this a quick, gripping read. I had a hard time putting it down, even for necessary things. Like eating. And even though I read it fast, the story has stuck with me for weeks after finishing.

_____

About the author:

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Clean was recently nominated as a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Readers. Congratulations, Amy!

Starting a New Trek Up a New Mountain

(in completely unrelated news, I've (finally!) updated my profile pic. click HERE to see the shiny)

Last week I began working on the first draft of a brand new novel (my fifth, if anyone's counting). After working on my last novel for 10 straight months, starting a new one is like standing at the base of a mountain and looking up.

And getting dizzy, wobbly. Wanting to give up before you even take one step.

In a word, overwhelming.

This is normal, and unfortunately, it doesn't go away no matter how many completed novels you have behind you. Creating something out of nothing is a daunting task.

So here is how I, personally, ease myself into a new project.

The first thing I have to have, before I can do anything, is a character and a conflict. Without those two basic things, I have no story to develop. At this point, the character should at least have a name, but the conflict does not have to be anything hugely conceptual. I'll fine tune that later.

Once I have a distinct character in mind and a basic problem they must overcome, then I can test out their voice by writing a bit of story through that character's viewpoint. It takes no more than a single scene, just a few pages, to know whether or not I've got a character I can work with for the length of a novel.

A few things I look for during the initial writing test:

* do I really feel like I'm living the scene through her eyes, not mine?
* is her unique personality clearly discerned by the words coming to my mind to express her?
* does she have a distinct starting view of herself and her situation, and others? (something that is able to change by the end of the story)
* how does she interact with the other characters? is it fluid, or does it feel forced?

If my new character passes this test, then I move on to the tougher issues of building a novel -- the story and structure.

This is when I pull out my handy dandy beat sheet. I seriously don't even know how I wrote a coherent story of any kind before I started using Blake Snyder's beat sheet. It's that vital. (the beat sheet is found on p. 70 of Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder, and should be used only after reading the book and coming to an understanding of how all the elements work together)

This early in the game, though, I usually can't fill in much past the midpoint, because a lot of the second half of my story is dependent on what happens in the first half. And the details of that are unknown to me until I start writing it in story form. That's the beauty of letting the majority of your story develop organically.

Using a beat sheet does not confine you to a strict pre-planned plot. It simply helps you focus on those critical beginning elements in a way that results in a story worth writing.

Going back to what I initially started with -- a character and a conflict -- I can start to fill in some of those beginning beats.

Inciting Incident (opening) -- the character's starting point and what change I want to introduce in the opening chapter that sets the plot in motion

Theme -- (blank for now. I don't usually know what this is until I'm nearly done with the first draft)

Set-up (from opening to the catalyst) -- aside from emphasizing the character's starting point, I don't focus on this too much until revisions, when I know exactly what it is I need to set up, and the best way to do it

Catalyst -- STOP

This is where you really need to stop and think about your premise and the strength of your story's hook. Because the catalyst is what will thrust your character into the decision-making that inevitably leads to the premise. You can't come up with an appropriate catalyst if you don't know what you're pushing the character toward.

So now is the time to do a bit of brainstorming and fine tuning of your premise. There are a few ways you can go about this, but in my experience, the most effective is to simply craft a pitch for your idea, half-baked as it is. It's okay. You're the only person who will see it at this point.

Write a one-paragraph description of your idea, then whittle it down to one sentence. By doing so your hook becomes sharper, and you can then see clearly what elements you need to put that concept into action.

This is also the point where I do my best to think up a snappy title, one that fits my premise. And speaking of titles, it's a good idea, once you have a solid premise, to search for what you feel are comp titles to your project. Read the jacket blurbs and compare their story hooks to yours. This, again, will help you pinpoint weak spots, and fine tune until you come up with a stellar premise -- one worth the time and effort it requires to finish a novel-length project.

So. Once you've done all that, you're no doubt feeling a surge of confidence in this new project. Enough so that you email your CP at 3am with the longest, most rambly bunch of garbage ever that basically just says, "I'm excited about this one! here's why!" Except with about ten zillion more exclamation points. And then you refresh your email every hour on the hour until she reassures you with a simple, "sounds good!" and that's enough to keep your mojo going for weeks.

Or is that just me?

Anyway. Back to the beat sheet.

Now that you've come up with TEH BEST PREMISE EVAH you should have a better idea of how to get your character into the meat of that premise by way of the catalyst. At this point, you're still just brainstorming the flow of the story, so don't think that just because you fill in something specific by "catalyst" that it is now set in stone to happen that way.

Nope. Anything on this beat sheet can change, at any moment. All you have to do is think it up.

After the catalyst comes...

Debate -- this beat is peanut butter cup cheesecake once you know your exact premise and your catalyst, because it's basically just a bridge between the two. It's your character's final chance to back out of the forward momentum of the plot, but of course she won't back out (or there'd be no story).

This section ends with the decision to go through with whatever it is that your main premise is made up of. Best example of this is the "red pill or blue pill" decision in The Matrix. Neo has one last chance to back out in that scene. He doesn't. There's no reversing what's been set in motion now.

And so begins the second act... enter the matrix.

It's at this point in my beat-sheeting that I pause and reflect on the beast I've created. Now that I know more details about the story I want to tell, I can get some actual writing done -- with confidence.

It is much easier to write the first act when you know what the major turning points of that act are. I will still have a lot to go back and fill in and/or change during revisions to ensure the set-up is correct, but at least now I have a basic foundation to work with.

And in my experience, once I've written the first draft up to the second act, there is less chance of me NOT sticking with it and finishing the entire novel. Something really major would have to go wrong for me to give up on the story at this point. I'm invested in the characters and I want to see how it all works out for them.

For my current work-in-progress, I'm at the "fine tuning the premise" stage. My main character passed the initial writing test and I've just begun filling out a beat sheet this week. I'm up to that crucial point of the catalyst and I've taken a step back to make sure my idea is as good as it can be (at this stage of development).

I like the title and how it connects to my main story idea and one of the main characters. That's a good start. This may end up being a keeper.

Happy Writing,
~Lydia

Monday Music - "Beautiful Ending" by BarlowGirl

I really don't have much to say about this song other than "just listen to it." The music and lyrics are one of the most near-perfect pairings I've ever heard.

Take from it what you will. Relate it to your storytelling or to your life. Either way, I dare you not to love it.

Embedding has been disabled, so please click HERE to view.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday and a happy, productive week ahead of you.

~Lydia

The Plight of the Jack of All Trades

I'm going to talk about something today that I don't think I've ever discussed on this blog. Which makes it unbelievable scary for me. Especially since it involves my ongoing search for an agent.

You have to be careful what you share on a public venue, such as a blog. But frankly, I'm tired of pretending that this issue doesn't exist (for me personally, not in general), and some of you might be in the same situation. So here it is.

I write too many different types of things. And that horrible, horrible cliche' keeps repeating in my head -- jack of all trades, master of none -- which gives me the impression that I'm not allowed to write everything I want to write. I have to focus on one thing, master it. And then maybe down the road, after I've established myself in one area, I can risk branching out into another.

I've seen this sort of thing discussed between agents, editors, and published authors quite often, and they all seem to agree on my conclusion above -- you can't break into publishing as a "jack of all trades." Meaning, your sophomore novel is going to be very similar to your debut, because that's how you build a loyal readership, and without those loyal readers, those fans, your sales won't be high enough to warrant releasing a third book. And so on.

I completely understand this. On the business side of my brain it makes sense.

But the creative side of me is on the brink of cardiac arrest.

I've always been a multi-tasker, and I've always been immersed in artistic pursuits. That's why I excelled in fashion retail management. I could do a billion different things at once, yet my attention to detail was crucial to maintaining an eye-appealing merchandise presentation. I could rearrange an entire department floorplan in my head and then plot the steps needed to make it happen, how much time I had to do it, who I had available, what their strengths were, etc. I'd even troubleshoot possible issues ahead of time so they could be dealt with quickly or (better yet) avoided.

My work in that career field was a combination of strict business and artistic freedom. I still work for the same company, but not on the management side of things. I will never look at retail the same way again. I will never complain that there is only one cashier ringing on a busy night at (for example) Wal-Mart because I understand how payroll works in conjunction with previous sales (not the sales of that particular day), and how much of what is done at the store level is mandated by the corporate level. Etc. Etc. Etc.

All of that is to say, I've taken my experiences in a different business and applied them to how I view the publishing industry. I feel I have more understanding of (or perhaps compassion for is a better term) why certain things are the way they are in publishing than the average unpublished novelist. I understand...

But I don't like it.

Here's the dilemma I've been having for a few years now.

Science fiction and fantasy are my first writing love. My very first novel (now trunked) is a space opera. It still holds a very special place in my heart, even if it never again sees the light of day. I'm a science nerd. Always have been, always will be.

I also enjoy writing fantasy because I can be as "unreal" as I want to and somehow make it plausible for the story. I have fantasy short stories published. You can look me up in the sff database, and I think that's really quite awesome.

But... I'm also a contemp writer. My second novel, which I discussed a bit here, is contemp women's fiction.

Oh and, let's add YA to the mix, too. Because it's the bomb-diggity. (stole that phrase from my 10 y/o step-nephew. love it.)

Historical? Sure. Why not? I love historical fiction.

And just about everything I write, whether it's a novel or a short story, has a splash of romance.

Oy my goodness. What is all that?

It doesn't take much to see there's a problem with this. You cannot market yourself as a SF/F-contemp-historical-YA-romance author.

So I had to sit down with myself and ask some tough questions.

Q: What do you enjoy writing the most?
A: young adult

Q: What have you already proven you can write well enough to be published?
A: fantasy

Q: Have you finished anything in the other genres/types?
A: Yes. I finished a women's fiction novel two years ago, and the YA novel I finished this year is technically considered historical. My first completed YA novel is contemp. My first novel ever is science fiction.

That may not seem like it helped, but it did. I realized that, although just about everything I write has romantic elements, I've never actually written a true "romance." So I felt I could, in good faith, knock "romance author" off the list.

Q: If you had to give up one thing (in the publishing arena, that is -- you can write whatever you want "for yourself"), what would it be? This doesn't mean you're giving up on it forever. Just for now.
A: anything considered "adult" fiction (in novels), which would include women's fiction, even though I've finished a novel in that area. Through experience I've learned that my best writing is in my YA novels, and I know exponentially more about the YA market than I do about the adult fiction market.

At this point that I felt I was finally getting close to a solution. I decided to focus my novel-writing on YA. This was a huge step for me. It meant I could rightly call myself a YA novelist and not feel I was leaving out anything vital.

But there is still a problem with this. YA is not a genre.

So when I have a YA novel that I feel is ready for an agent's review, I'm not just looking for someone who reps YA, but I'm looking for someone who reps YA contemp, YA sci-fi/fantasy, and YA historical. No matter what the novel is that I'm querying, I need someone who is going to consider ALL of those other things.

Because (and this is just my personal approach) I'm not interested in publication for ONLY this project that is ready NOW. I'm interested in finding someone I feel I can work with for my entire career.

I often see conflicting advice on the matter. On the one hand, you can't be too focused on the long-term because you haven't even sold one novel yet, and this industry is so very uncertain. You never know what tomorrow will bring. You never know what sudden trend might work for or against you.

On the other hand, you want to be optimistic and you want to be prepared. What if your novel does sell?

Let's say I'm querying a YA contemp novel. Let's say the novel I'm working on while I'm querying (because you should always have something in the works) is a YA sci-fi.

What happens if I query an agent who has absolutely no interest in SF/F, but they are all about YA contemp? And what happens if that agent offers me representation? And what happens if that agent brokers a two-book deal with an editor for that YA contemp novel, and suddenly I have to drop my work on the SF novel and write another contemp -- one that wasn't organically inspired, but forced? And what happens if the agent later wants to know what I'm going to offer next, and the only thing I have finished is a YA sci-fi?

Those are a lot of what ifs. This is the trouble-shooting part of my brain going into overdrive. But I want to be prepared. I really don't want to have to NOT work on something that I'm really loving simply because my agent is not interested in it -- even if they were interested in my other stuff.

I just can't do that.

Fortunately, there are a lot of agents who have multiple genre interests. But this is still a problem because it isn't likely that you're going to partner with an agent based solely on your shared genre interests. Within each genre there are sub-genres (sub-genres for historical fiction, in my opinion, are divided by time period/era). And you may both enjoy YA SF... but maybe you write only time travel SF and the agent hates time travel stories. They actually prefer alternate history.

And even within sub-genres there are different types of stories that will dictate a person's reading tastes. For example, in YA contemp you have issue books, music books, romantic comedy, etc, etc, etc.

So everything else about this agent might be perfect, but you can already sense a future conflict. For me, that would be enough to not bother querying the agent at all. Others might feel that is a moot point, though, if the conflict doesn't involve the novel you're currently pitching. Why miss out on an opportunity because of something that might happen?

And therein lies the plight.

The business side of my brain and the creative side of my brain are at odds. I'm used to them working together harmoniously to achieve the desired goal. And this isn't only about finding the right agent -- this is about my entire career plan.

I don't have an answer for any of this (and maybe I never will). I'm still in the process of figuring things out, hence the reason I've been avoiding discussion of this topic for so long.

Have any of you been (or are you currently in) the same situation? What would you do?

~Lydia

Recommended Read: THE ATLAS OF LOVE by Laurie Frankel

The Atlas of Love by Laurie Frankel
Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
St. Martin's Press, 2010
(debut novel)

When Jill becomes both pregnant and single at the end of one spring semester, she and her two closest friends plunge into an experiment in tri-parenting, tri-schooling, and tri-habitating as grad students in Seattle. Naturally, everything goes wrong, but in ways no one sees coming.

Janey Duncan narrates the adventure of this modern family with hilarity and wisdom and shows how three lives are forever changed by (un)cooperative parenting, literature, and a tiny baby named Atlas who upends and uplifts their entire world

blurb and cover image from goodreads


Why I love it:

* The characters. All of them. But especially Janey, the viewpoint character. I had an overwhelming urge to hug her throughout this entire story.

* The realism. There is one instance in particular that really stood out to me, involving the gay couple who is in their circle of friends. The reaction of one of the main characters to their proposal was completely unexpected, but at the same time, completely realistic. The book is full of moments like that.

* The humor. It's not your typical "funny ha ha" humor, it's more dry and matter-of-fact. And that's exactly the kind I like best.

* The writing style. It has a distinct literary quality (which to me, means that it has more intellectual depth than the average "commercial" novel -- it makes you think and reflect on your own life), yet it still reads quickly. My favorite combination.

* Tough choices -- the kind that have no clear right or wrong path. This makes for a gut-wrenching, compelling read.

Don't be deceived by the cute baby on the cover. This is not a shallow, chick-lit-y type book. I would even go as far as to say that, even though I've labeled it "women's fiction", I believe men would enjoy it just as well.

It is, essentially, a story about life and discovering what your true family is.

_____

About the author:

bio
website
facebook
goodreads


The Atlas of Love will be released in paperback on November 8, 2011.

On Creative Awareness and Finding Your Optimum Time to Write

Hey. It's Joe.

Since so many of us have jobs--either out of or in the home--it's not always easy to find the time to write. And even if we do find the time to write, it may not matter when it comes to moving toward our writing goals. Why? Let me relate an exercise my psychotherapist had me go through to explain our creative awareness.

"Creative awareness" may not be something that will be found in textbooks or taught in classes. It's just what the two of us called it.

Expressing oneself creatively or artistically is a common therapy for those with bipolar or other mental illnesses. We're often told to focus on one art or hobby, and throw ourselves into it. Many take up painting, others instruments, still others tying flies for fly fishing. I used writing--something I was good at--and softball. These are often escapes that we fall into when stress or mood swings or just life are threatening to overtake us.

But to go beyond that, to use art as more than a therapy and actually accomplish something with it takes more. Part of that is creative awareness, literally an awareness of when we're creative.

It's pretty easy to find, too. This is how I did it:

* I made a daily log (doesn't need to be elaborate--I literally used the back of a piece of the Cleveland Clinic's prescription paper for mine), and separated each day into sections. Early morning. Late morning/early afternoon. Late afternoon/evening. Night.

* Then, for a week, I marked how I was feeling in each section. If I'd been alert or tired. Relating it specifically to creativity, I noted if I had had moments where story ideas were flooding my brain and I had to write them down. I noted if I just vegged out and played XBOX. If I was too tired to even concentrate on how I was feeling.

Most of us would be surprised. Some of us may know exactly when our times are. Before all of my meds, mine was night. 10pm to 1am was when I wrote the fastest, and when I was manic I could stay up all night pounding away. Not so much anymore. The meds have me sleepy by 9 and out by 10 or 11. I barely wake up from them and am still mildly sedated throughout my morning. For me, now, it's evening. On the car ride home from work is usually when my brain would tackle plot twists and character actions and choreograph fight scenes. I'm usually the most playful and funniest in the evening, too.

Now, though, my evening is taken up by my son. If I could spend every minute of every evening for the rest of my life with him, I would gladly never type another word again. I hardly ever write now, enjoying my time with him before he grows up.

Our creative times can change based on circumstances, too.

Some of us are occupied with other pursuits, maybe even work, at the time during our creative peak. This is why many of us keep a small notebook or something so we can jot down all those plot twists and such when they come to us.

Why is this even important? My psychotherapist says that, creatively, 90% of our inspiration comes from 10% of our time. Again, not something you'll find in a textbook. Just an estimation he threw out. If we can write during that 10%, it will be time better spent than staring at a blinking cursor with no idea where our current WIP is heading from that point.

Monday Movie - House of Flying Daggers: Using a "Set Piece" to Wow Your Audience

The following scene from one of my all-time favorite movies is a set piece. Meaning, the filmmakers needed a fight scene here against the government soldiers that brought two separated main characters back together and led them to "the flying daggers" (you'll see who those people are at the end of the scene), but the setting of the scene did not have to be at any particular place. No matter where this scene had been set, the same basic events would have taken place and the story would not change, just the details.

What this all boils down to is that they could use any setting they wanted for this part of the movie-- almost anywhere in the story world-- so a good filmmaker/storyteller (depending on the budget, too) will select a setting that can be optimized to wow the audience.

The bamboo forest did just that, in my opinion. Watch the below clip and you should see why I feel that way.




Can you think of any set pieces used in novels? Have you ever made use of a set piece in any of your stories?

Happy writing,
~Lydia

Recommended Read: Honor the Pack by Kaycee A. Looney

Honor the Pack by Kaycee A. Looney
Historical Fantasy Novella
Gypsy Shadow Publishing, 2011

Honor the pack without question.

It is the only life Eshla has ever known, but her wolf pack is starving and a single hope remains. One of them must leave the forest and bring back easy prey—human prey. Chosen by the pack elders to shed her wolf form, Eshla sets out for the nearest human settlement to walk among them and gain their trust.

Yet when Eshla meets Connell, she can’t decide if she’d rather run from him or be near him. As she struggles to comprehend her feelings, she begins to question her ability to fulfill her duty to the pack. Then Connell reveals that he is the son of an adopted aunt she never knew existed, and everything Eshla thought she knew about her transformation, and honor, dissolves into chaos.

blurb from goodreads


Why I love it:

* It's a fresh twist on the werewolf legend. Anything that makes the old feel new = win.

* Eshla is exactly what I love in a female lead -- she has just the right combination of bravery, loyalty, curiosity, and naivety.

* The historical setting gave it the feeling of a Disney fairy tale. It reminded me of familiar stories like Beauty and the Beast, and The Little Mermaid. Stories that stand the test of time.

* The pacing and tension keep you on the edge of your seat, yet the language is still beautiful and fluid. 

* Since this is a novella (about 23,000 words), it has the deep character development and plot layers akin to a novel, but you can easily finish it in a single sitting. 

Honor the Pack is an ebook, available through these venues:

Gypsy Shadow Publishing

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

_____

About the author:

bio (plus excerpt)
blog
facebook
goodreads 

Do You Have a Spectator Passion?

Today I'm spotlighting Stasia Ward Kehoe's debut novel, Audition, at the YA Contemps blog. This is a "ballet book", and as a reader I love ballet books so much that I've given them their own shelf on my goodreads account. I just can't get enough of them, no matter what the backdrop -- YA, adult, contemporary, historical, anything.

I consider ballet books my "thing." I've never in my life so much as touched a pointe shoe, or even a leotard, let alone taken a single ballet lesson. But I love it. All of it. It's one of those things that I have a spectator's passion for. And the best thing about having a passion for something that you will only ever be a spectator of, is that I believe you can thoroughly enjoy it.

Once you learn the mechanics of any type of art, you lose some of your ability to enjoy that art without analyzing it. For example, I love going to the orchestra and listening to, especially, violins and cellos. But since I played violin for nearly half my life, it's impossible for me to watch someone play or listen to someone play without imagining how their fingers are moving across the fingerboard, maybe shifting positions -- 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.; or wondering just how many hours they had to practice this particular piece before it became a part of them and they no longer needed the music in front of them to play it perfectly.

It's the same way with writing, as I'm sure you already know. Once you learn how to write fiction, not only can you not read a novel without an ongoing analysis in the back of your head, but you also can't watch movies anymore without the same thing happening. Story is story is story. Anything that tells a story has now been somewhat ruined for you. You can still enjoy it, definitely, but not in the same way you did before you gained a certain amount of knowledge of the craft.

Which is why I'm glad I'm too old now to ever begin a career in ballet. It will forever remain a spectator passion for me. And as such, I will never be able to write through the eyes of a ballerina, because to do so would require me to research this artistic sport to the point of losing my naivety for it. You can tell me that pointe shoes hurt, for example. But I won't know what it feels like to push past that hurt and keep practicing. I can imagine it, sure, but I won't know.

Not in the way I know how it feels to keep pressing your fingers against wire strings when they're tipped with raw blisters that haven't calloused yet, or how it feels to have your conductor bark at you to "straighten your wrist! keep playing!" despite your wrist being so cramped your hand is going numb, or to stand flat against a wall and play for hours on end to train your bow arm to hinge at the elbow not the shoulder, or to just be so freaking sick of playing that you want to quit every day. But you can't. Because no matter how much you hurt, physically and emotionally, it would hurt you more if you didn't play.

If I ever want to write a novel through the eyes of a violinist, I have no doubt I can do it well. But I'm content to read ballet books, never write them. I don't want to know how they're doing it. I just want to admire its beauty.

So what's your thing? Has it affected your reading choices? Has it affected what you write about, or what you choose not to write about?

~Lydia

Monday Music - "Someone Like You" by Adele

This is why I love women's fiction, both as a reader and a writer. I love YA, so much so that it is the main thing I write. But today's song isn't a story that is possible to tell through YA because it takes years to form experiences that lead to these kinds of feelings, situations, and conclusions.

As an adult, sometimes I just have to write about "adult" things -- things that could never happen inside the teenage world. Things like marrying your high school sweetheart, the only girl you've ever loved, having a family with her, and then watching her throw it all away with no hint of remorse. And then somehow continuing a normal life after that, only seeing your daughter on the weekends.

That's what happened to Jacob, one of the main characters in Sunset Rose, the novel I wrote two years ago. One of my favorite scenes is when his ex-wife meets Jacob's new girlfriend, Emma Lynn (the main-main character of this novel), and the reader gets a rare glimpse into what happened between them and what they used to have.

Laura, Jacob's ex-wife, is a minor character in this story, and I wrote the novel in 2009, but if Adele's song, "Someone Like You" had been around back then, I would have unofficially dubbed it "Laura & Jacob's Song."

If this song could be categorized using novel terms, I would call it women's fiction. And for the record, it highly annoys me when people hate on the term "women's fiction" and go on and on about how it makes no sense, because the people who do that are usually the ones who don't read or write it. Kinda like how people who don't read or write YA and think they can have an informed opinion about it are oustandlingly wrong.

If you want to know the perfect definition of what one avenue of women's fiction is, listen to this song.




~Lydia

4-Quadrant Marketing and the Unpredictability of Crossover Appeal

During my absence/illness I wasn't able to focus enough to do any writing, but I did do quite a bit of reading. I picked up my copy of Save the Cat! (just in case I'd missed something the first billion times I read it) and came across (yes!) something I don't remember seeing before:

The 4-Quadrant Picture (p. 186)

The big manilla. The whole ball of wax. The mother lode. Audience-wise, if you have a four-quadrant hit, you have won the lottery. The four quadrants are Men Over 25, Women Over 25, Men Under 25, and Women Under 25. If you can draw audience from all those quadrants, you are guaranteeing yourself a hit.

And oddly enough, shift+4 = $

When I first came across this little summary I was a bit deflated, to be honest, because I write YA novels. By default I'm automatically limiting my audience to only half of those quadrants.

But then I thought, no, silly Lydia, you are a "woman over 25" and you read and buy YA novels.

Hmm'kay...

So I kept thinking... and of course the first thing that came to mind was Twilight. Not because I personally like Twilight (I've actually never read any of the books or seen any of the movies -- vampires and werewolves just aren't my thing, sorry). The reason is because it was so wildly popular.

It was a blockbuster, both in the publishing world and the film world. No one can deny that. But how is that possible if it only hit, at most, three out of the four quadrants? The "men under 25" quadrant is possible-yet-questionable, considering the reactions I've seen from the general "men under 25" public, and the numbers within the "men over 25" quadrant that gave a hoot-toot about Twilight (except to complain about how much their daughters and/or wives were obsessed over it) are so insignificant as to not be counted.

But still... Twilight had that lovely crossover madness that pushed it to stardom. It definitely crossed the age barrier in the female quadrants, and possibly leaked a little into the "men under 25" quadrant. Even in non-writerly circles it seemed like every female I knew had read the entire series, multiple times (which made me feel like a complete outcast, but that's another story for another day).

This led me to the conclusion that not all quadrants are created equal. The female quadrants have more selling power.

However, Snyder states (in the same paragraph quoted above) that "the single most desirable age group [for movies] is Men Under 25."

Hmm...

Snyder goes on to cite a few specific reasons why targeting male rather than female is financially beneficial in the film industry. Okay, I get that -- books and movies are not the same, and men are more visually-oriented. But why not target all four quadrants? Didn't he just say that if you can pull in an audience from all four quadrants that you're guaranteed a hit?

Yes, yes he did. And this is where marketing gets tricky.

You will usually get better results if you target a specific quadrant than if you try to reign in all four. And if your work happens to have crossover appeal, proven later, then your popularity automatically bumps up a few notches.

But here's the key -- no one can accurately predict crossover appeal.

(unless you're George Lucas or James Cameron)

It reminds me of my work in fashion. The main area I work in is women's apparel. Within that section, aside from the divisions made by size (i.e. petite and plus), there is also a division by style. One section is for trendy fashion and the other is for the classics. On any given day that I work, I will see more "women over 25" shopping in the classics section than "women under 25", and vice versa for the trendy section.

But that doesn't mean they don't cross over. Daily. And although it is more rare, it also doesn't surprise me to see forty-year-old women shopping in the juniors' apparel department. For themselves.

BUT.

The marketing directors for this company still do not target "women over 25" in their advertisements of the trendy fashion. In the words of Spock, that would be illogical. Unprofitable. Because the majority of that age group probably won't set foot over there unless they're shopping for a daughter, granddaughter, niece, etc.

So any "crossover sales" the company has is really just a bonus. They benefit the company without the company even trying -- the customer just happened to drift into an adjacent part of the store and saw something that just happened to appeal to them personally.

Fashion marketing is not directed at the individual, but at a specific group. The same goes for books and movies.

My conclusion on the matter, then, is that 4-quadrant marketing doesn't truly exist. But 4-quadrants sales do. Very much so. Unfortunately it's all just a matter of the right person being in the right place at the right time.

What are your thoughts on this? Feel free to prove me wrong. I don't claim to be an expert, just a girl making observations.

~Lydia