You Can't Win if You Don't Play the Game

There are a few things that a necessary in order for most people to get published.

First, you need to put your butt in chair (or stand up for those who like to go old school) and write.

Second, you need to reread and revise your book. Very rarely does every word that lands on the page deserve to be there. This is a good point to bring in critique partners, beta readers, and others you trust to provide feedback.

Third, you need to submit your work to professionals, such as agents and/or editors to find out if it is traditionally publishable.

Most writers probably love the first step... yeah, writing!

Some of us aren't as enthusiastic for the second step... revising? Really?

And a few of us are a bit intimidated by the idea of sending our words out into the world, fearing our books might get rejected.

However, you can't get published (traditionally) if you don't put yourself out there. You've got to risk rejection if you want to eventually hear:

, your book just sold!

Now, if you're like me. You might not want to go directly to agents or editors. Well, you're in luck. There is an option available to writers that is fun, community-building, and a little less stressful.

What is it? Writing Contests and pitch parties! That's right, during any given month there is a myriad of writing contests and pitch parties held around the internet on blogs, online magazines, Twitter, etc.

These offer writers the ability to put their stories out there and test the waters before sending the book off to professionals. Consider them your stepping stones to success!

I got my agent by participating in the Picture Book Party held over at Michelle4Laughs- It's In The Details. It wasn't my first contest, it was probably somewhere between my 6th and 12th. However, those first few failed contests taught me a lot about how to hone a pitch, perfect my writer's voice, and got me into contact with a lot of fellow writers who were in the same boat as me.

If you haven't tried a writer's contest or pitch party yet, I recommend giving a few of them a shot. You might not win any, but if you follow them closely, learn from the winners, make new friends, and grow as a writer, you'll eventually build up the confidence to start submitting to agents and editors.

If you're not sure where to start, one great resource for keeping track of upcoming writing contests and pitch parties is the Sub It Club. A great resource and community!

And if you want to get the opinion of a published author about whether your story is ready for submission, you can use Rate Your Story. The feedback I got from this site really helped me figure out which of my stories were the strongest and best to submit to contests.

Hope these websites help you like they did me.

Best Wishes,

Joseph

PS: Are there any websites you recommend that helped you get ready to submit your stories to agents, editors, or contests?

Learning to Sing "We've Only Just Begun"

Sharing horizons that are new to us.
Watching the signs along the way.
Talkin' it over, just the two of us.
Workin' together day to day .

And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead.
We'll find a place where there's room to grow
And yes, we've just begun.
-Carpenters


Okay, so the title, song, and lyrics are a bit sappy... like molasses, but I feel that getting "the Call" means learning to share your horizons with someone else. It means talking your work over, working together, hopefully smiling, and growing and knowing that your professional journey with your agent has only just begun.






So, what does this journey look like? Well, I can only speak from my experience, but here's what happened for me.

After accepting representation, Nicole and Danielle came up a story plan for my book, gave me feedback on where I could improve the manuscript, and made a few suggestions about possible directions I could take.

The biggest items on their list were

1) Give the story a more child-friendly focus. The draft I sent them was very parental in tone and probably would appeal more to adults than kids.
2) Improve the plot. My story was full of witty banter, but  funny isn't enough to carry the story to publication.
3) Strengthen the characters. The ones in my first draft were a bit flimsy to say the least.

So I spent three months revising and re-revising and trying to figure out how to fix these issues. I hit a few dead ends, but with weekly-and-encouraging phone calls and emails from Nicole and Danielle I eventually figured out my character's GMCs and broke through my stalemate with the story.



I wouldn't have improved my manuscript nearly as much if I'd been revising on my own. I doubt I would've realized how much my plot was over dependent on humor and lacking in underlying emotions. Sure, it was a fun and breezy read, but it wasn't a memorable one. It lacked impact, but now I feel the characters are much more alive on the page. They are still funny, but there is more to them than just a running gag.



So, when you get "the Call", remember your journey has only just begun.

Good News with a Side of Humble Pie

As an aspiring writer, I've read a few "Getting the Call" blog posts over the years. They were always gave me hope that one day I'd climb out of the slush pile myself like a zombie from the grave.



To pay-it-forward, I'm writing about my experience of "the Call" from the perspective of someone who got three Calls.



This is not a situation I expected or prepared for, but it was an experience I learned a lot from and I want to share the lessons I gleaned from it with you.

The first call I got was from Danielle Bailey from the Seymour Agency (Nicole, her boss, had something come up at the last minute). Danielle told me they both really enjoyed the concept of my picture book, but felt it needed further development.



To be honest, a part of me wondered why they were so interested in a picture book that "needed" more work, but I was happy they enjoyed the story enough to offer representation.

A part of me wanted to say, "YES!" right then and there, but I knew enough to ask for some time to inform other agents about the offer of representation so they could have a chance to do the same. So, immediately after getting off the phone with Danielle, I sent out an email to all the agents who were interested in the story. Two more agents asked to have phone calls and so I set up times to talk with each of them.

Agent #2 was a joy to speak with and knew some writers I was friends with. When we got to talking about my picture book she told me it was unique and interesting, but... (why is there always a but!?) she felt something was missing and I needed to push the story further.

Now, I must admit, when Danielle told me the story need work, a part of me got a little prideful and said, "How can a book that has so much interest from agents need more work? Obviously, the story is good enough as is because people are interested in it."

Yeah, stick a pitch fork in me. 

Obviously, I had gotten on a high horse with all the attention my story received and let it go to my head, but thank goodness Danielle and Agent #2 deflated my ego balloon.

The next call was actually a follow-up call from both Nicole and Danielle. With my new insight into the fact that my story wasn't perfect even though people liked it, I had a much more receptive attitude to their feedback.

The last call before making my decision was with Agent #3. Can anyone guess what she said about my picture book?

If you said she thought the story was fun, but needed work, then give yourselves a pat on the back or even better your favorite snack. Go ahead! You deserve it!

s for everyone!

After these three Calls, I finally understood the vast difference between story potential and execution. Whereas before I got the Calls, I thought an agent offer equaled a good story, I came to realize this is not always the case. Agents don't only offer representation for polished, publication-ready stories. They also look at the potential of a story and when they see a manuscript, even a flawed one like mine, they can look past the bad and the ugly and see the good seed under all that dirt.

If I had only gotten one "call," I might not have realized this important difference and had a much bigger ego about my story. Thankfully, the agents who talked to me made sure I had a triple dose of humble pie to go with my "Good News." And for that, I am very grateful because everything they said was right-on-the-money. My story did need more work.

So, here's one piece of advice:

Check your ego at the door before, during, and after "the Call". Just because someone likes your story enough to offer representation, doesn't mean it's ready to be submitted or published. It means the agent(s) sees something in your work that they believe will bear fruit.

It's up to you to put in the work and nurture the story seed so it yields something good.

Would a Character By Any Other Name Smell So Sweet?

"Words have meaning and names have power" -Cervantes.

Recently, I realized a lot of my story ideas start with character names.

For example:

Trixie Thimble the Pixie Nimble: Any guesses as to what her character and story is like? That's right! She's brave, quick-witted, and energetic! As for her story, it's a light-hearted, fun adventure.

Avery Mann: the name of the main character in my first-ever-totally-completed MG novel. The inspiration for this one came from my exposure to everyman plays and my desire to create a character everyone could identify with. However, can you spot the problem with this name?

The downside to Avery's name is it's nebulous and can belong to either a boy or girl, which means it became important to establish Avery's gender as early and clearly as possible since it's a first-person narrative. So keep in mind that using ambiguous names (like Pat!) in your stories will require extra work on your part.

Domino Sparks: He's a genius tinkerer, who loves making things (including a new robot friend). Something about the name brings him to life in my mind... like a little Einstein inventor. Domino Sparks might also make a very good jazz singer name, too. Hmmm... 

Lastly, my latest creation:

Finnegan Fife: this one is from a new YA fantasy I'm working on. The name came from brainstorming a title: The Forgettable Life of Finnegan Fife. I wanted to write a story about someone who is forgotten by his friends. Ironically (or not), the alliteration and rhyme help make this a memorable title. The name also inspired me to use a leprechaun curse as the reason for Finnegan's troubles.

These names came to me in a variety of ways, but they all have something that makes them stand out. Some are alliterative, others rhyme, a one has a deeper literary meaning. Most importantly, all of them are evocative (at least to me) in some way. They conjure up a picture for me as a writer and hopefully you as a reader that we can latch onto. They hint at the inner personalities for these main characters or at the tone of the stories they are involved in.

Not every story needs such names. In fact, some stories should have plain name heroes. Probably the best example I can think of is Harry Potter.

His name is "perfectly normal, thank you very much," which is exactly what it needs to be to drive home his starting disconnection with the Wizarding World. It allows readers to connect with him as an "ordinary" boy. We all know a Harry... maybe even a Potter.

If he had a strange name like Albus Dumbledore, Hermes Hendrickson, or Angus Beef, I think there would've been a different feel to Harry's whole character and our response to him. So, here's to J.K. Rowling... the woman-who-knew-how-to-name-her-characters.

So, what are some of your character's names and why are they evocative to you or good for your stories?

The New Hotness (Or Blogging and Writing with Voice)

Last time on this blog, I mentioned my awesome critique group. Right afterward, I asked them if they sneezed (see Sneeze Cut for more details) and told them about how I had started blogging.

They immediately checked out the blog and told me what they liked and disliked about it.

Ah, you can't take the critique out of critique partners, can you? 

Anyway, the thing they didn't like about my blog was its lack of me-ness. The Profile and Blog descriptions were all factual and 100% boring...



They caught me... being lazy. It's easy to write facts and statements without any voice. We can sometimes fall into a toneless voice in the midst of our creative writing, too.

I admit, I wrote my initial profile and blog description in boring business-ese. So, I judged myself guilty of phoning in those two aspects of my blog and so I want to say



To make it up to you, I've rewritten both the blog description and my profile with 100% more voice-y action.

Here's the before and after of each:

Old Blog Description:

My name is Joseph Miller and I'm an award-winning writer for the game industry, who switched over to writing for kids. This blog will be my means of letting the world know what I'm currently thinking, writing, and doing in my life and my writing. I plan to focus this blog on a discussion of my current projects, children's literature, my life as a librarian, and anything else that suits my fancy.

---



BORING!

New Blog Description:

Blog of children's book author Joseph Miller containing his off-the-wall, outside-the-box, tongue-in-cheek, (and heavily-hyphenated) thoughts on writing, children's literature, and life.

---

What can I say? I like hyphens!

Now for the Profile:

Old Profile:

My name is Joseph Miller and I'm a part-time librarian, fulltime dreamer, and love to write children's books. While in college, I played and wrote for the Dungeons and Dragons game system, but for the past decade, I've been focused on learning how to write for kids and young adults.

In 2015, Nicole Resciniti of the Seymour Agency became my agent and we've been working together with Danielle Bailey to make my dreams become a reality. So I hope you'll join me on this adventure around the world of children's literature.

---

Yeah, I'm pretty certain this is entertaining to 0.1% of the population. 

Bad author 

New Profile:

Name: Joseph Miller

Profession: Cool-as-a-cucumber librarian with a side order of zesty writer.

Goal: To become a zesty writer with a side order of librarian.

Motivation: I love writing and want to make a living at it… or at least pay for the occasional chicken-and-bacon pizza with it.

Conflict: I like to goof off, play games, watch TV, and surf the net, which generally equals no writing done.

My Not-so-Sordid Past: I was an award-winning writer for the Dungeons and Dragons game system… you might still find some of these books in a bargain bin somewhere.

Closing thoughts: Success in life and writing is about stick-to-it-tiveness. Or in words borrowed from Galaxy Quest: "Never give up! Never Surrender!"

---

Much better... IMHO. Which goes to show you how important it is to remember voice in everything you do... whether it's blogging or writing.

Anyway, which versions do you prefer? The old drabness or the new hotness?*

*Note: This is what lawyers might call a leading question. 

I'm a Feedback Junkie (or Dreams are Easier to Reach with a Little Help from Your Friends)

I admit it.

I'm a feedback junkie. 

I love receiving critiques from other writers, literary professionals, and good readers as much as a large bar of dark chocolate.


I feed off other people's comments on my WIPs. Their thoughts, ideas, and criticisms inspire me in many ways often leading to a much better story.

One of the best decisions I ever made when I first started out on the journey to become a children's book writer was to create an online critique group with some like-minded individuals.

I'd read up on critique groups and heard many good stories about them... but also warnings. These warnings mainly focused on how critique groups fail. This is usually because there is 1) a lack of leadership, 2) bad, entitled, superior, or overly sensitive attitudes, 3) poor critiquing (such as back-patting without any meaningful comments on other members' work), 4) weak or non-existent support or sympathy for members going through tough times (in life or in writing).

With these things in mind, I wrote up a vision statement for the kind of critique group I wanted to be a part of. The following is an excerpt from that document, which I hope you'll find helpful if you ever plan to join or create a critique group:

Core Values
Creativity in our ideas
Quality in our writing
Honesty in our critiques of each others’ works
Encouragement of our fellow members
Humility in our reception of critiques
Integrity in our dealings with each other

Core Purpose
We are an online group of children's book writers dedicated to reading and discussing the unfinished works of our members in an encouraging and honest manner so that we can help each other write quality children's books which will spark the curiosity of our readers and fuel their imaginations.

Big Hairy Audacious Goals
We want to become one of the premiere online children’s book critique groups by helping our members to become not only published authors, but also to have successful writing careers.

Vivid Description of the Future
We will create children’s books that are beloved by young and old alike. Our members will enjoy successful publishing careers in the genre of children’s books from picture books to young adult fiction. “The Dreamlings” will be known throughout the children’s book writing and publishing community and be synonymous with creativity and quality in children’s book literature.

So, you might look at this and say, "Pie in the Sky!"

But that's the point of a vision statement and having Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHags rule!). Businesses use these to make successful corporate identities... why can't writers do the same? Now, I wrote this six and a half years ago and you know what? We might not all be published, but most of us have agents, some of us have books out there, and one of us is super awesome and successful.

We haven't quite become "one of the premiere online children's book critique groups", but we're doing well and I think it's because everyone who came into the group shared in this vision.

So, if you're thinking of joining a critique group, but aren't sure, I say
 (or guy!)

Just make sure you have a good sense of the attitude and vision of the group members. Don't be afraid of trying a few out... the first one might not be the right fit, but somewhere out there is the right group of fellow writers for you.

To end this post, I'd like to say:

to all my Dreamlings out there. You know who you are and I've been very blessed to be part of your writerly lives... and hope to continue to be part of them for many years to come.

Best Wishes to All,
Joseph

GMC, It's Not Just a Car Company Anymore

Previously on this blog, I admitted to being a panster. Hand-in-hand with this is not really knowing much about my characters before I write about them. Pretty much all I've got when I begin a story are the hooks that compel me to write it.

For example, the first (and only) novel I ever wrote was about a boy named Avery Mann who was born on Friday the Thirteenth with terrible luck. That's all I knew about him. Ten years of experimentation later, I learned a lot about who he was. Some highlights include:

• He loves magic tricks and comics. A fact that affects and informs how I write his first person narrative.
• He feels inferior to his six older brothers and wants to find a way to stand out... and not as the brother with the most hospital visits.
• He prefers flight to fight, but when backed into a corner he has the ability to defend himself with his wits.
• He's book smart, imaginative, and adaptive.
• He's naive and a lacks self-confidence and people skills.

Now, not everyone has a decade to spend on 50+ versions of a story, but this is the way I learned about Avery Mann and writing children's literature. There were probably better ways to learn the craft, but this was my way of doing it. I'm glad I stuck with it and didn't give up because now I know I can finish a long story from beginning to end if I put my mind to it.

So, you might be asking why I mentioned GMC in my title post. What does a car company have to do with writing?

Well, you see before I met my agent, Nicole, I also thought GMC was only a car company. However, during one of our wonderful phone calls, she asked me to take a look at my characters' GMCs.

I was like... what 

But I didn't say anything about my ignorance because I'm a librarian and when I don't know about something I search for it... on Google. 

Lo and behold! A quick search for "character GMC" revealed that GMC is not only a car company, but also shorthand for Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts.

After reading some of the websites and blog posts I found on GMC, I realized this was an area of my writing where I was still weak. As a panster, I like to get to know my characters naturally and I often do so through tense, witty, or humorous dialogue. This might make for entertaining scenes, but some of those scenes lacked depth or didn't connect well with the overall plot .

I realized that because I didn't spell out my character's GMCs, I lacked the ability to make the best revisions to my stories. Engaging dialogue is all well and good, but it needs to serve the plot more and to do that I needed to define my characters' GMCs.

Will this change me from panster to plotter? No, but I will be making use of this tool in the future as I write and make revisions to my stories.

It's helped me make the picture book I'm currently writing a ton better than what it was when I first showed it to my agent.

So,  Nicole. You broadened my literary vocabulary and made me a better writer and all in three letters.

PS: For more information on GMCs, check out these helpful links:

http://www.publishingcrawl.com/2012/07/31/emergency-post-goal-motivation-and-conflict/

http://towriteastory.com/plotting-gmc/

http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/2010/09/gmct-goal-motivation-confict-tension.html