Of shoes and ships and sealing wax-- Of captcha and kings (who stand on platforms)

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Guys, I'm not planning a huge post today. Rather, I thought I would catch up with you all. How are you going? We're two months into 2012 now - is everyone meeting their writing goals? I must confess that I've been struggling a bit, though that's starting to turn around now. I've been trying to re-plot FROM THE OTHER SIDE, which I've renamed REVENGE, ahead of a giant re-write. You know the feeling, when you've got such a huge task ahead of you that it all seems too daunting...

But I've been taking inspiration from this passage of Mary Kole's:

So if you feel like you’re just tinkering, shoveling text like a kid pushing peas around his plate, be brave and try starting over completely. You know what you want to accomplish with the section, so just take a brand new run at it. Or maybe you’ll realize that the section wasn’t working and trash it entirely, or find another, better part that fits. Change is tough, especially when you’ve been working on something for years and are eager to see it in print. But it’s once you kick the ladder out from under yourself completely, I’ve found, that you discover resources and ideas you never could’ve imagined.

If you're facing the thought of big revisions ahead, Mary's post might give you some helpful insights - it did me :)

Talking about motivational posts, did you catch this post by the legendary Angela Ackerman of The Bookshelf Muse (in a guest post at Write to Done)? It gives a number of practical ways in which you can turn your writing weaknesses into strength, and is a must-read for all writers. And Angela was kind enough to mention me and my Beta Matches in her point about finding critique partners to help identify your weak areas and offer strategies to improve.

Captcha

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It used to be bad enough, but the word verification (now commonly known as captcha - "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart," according to Wikipedia) at the bottom of many bloggers' comments boxes is causing all of us huge headaches! In their quest to trick spammers, the writing has become almost indecipherable to us mere mortal humans. So we're forced to squint, guess, re-enter words over and over again, all of which is a waste of time. Many bloggers refuse to comment if they know you use captcha, so you might even be missing out on comments if you use it!

Did you know you can turn word verification off? While I can't speak for other blogging platforms, Blogger does a pretty good job of filtering spammers. True, you receive an email telling you exactly what the spam message is, but the message isn't seen on your blog. So I guess it's worth considering. Anything to make things easier, right? Here's a recent post by Siv Maria, who's definitely not feeling the love. She tells you how to turn word verification off, with step by step instructions for those of us who are more technologically challenged :)

Writers' Platforms

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You know I'm all about platforms, right? Well, it's important to build one, of course. But have you thought about what happens then? And what a platform is anyway? Sher A Hart has written an awesome post about what exactly a writers' platform is, and more importantly, how not to fall off once you've built one. Check it out - I think you might find it useful.

Well, my not-so-huge post has gone on a little longer than I planned. So that's it me for today :)

How about you, any thoughts or helpful links you'd like to share? Do you just want to tear captcha to shreds? Have you got the philosophy *behind* your writers' platform in place?

Physical Telling - Do you do it?

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It came as a complete shock to me one day when my critique partner told me: "you're still telling." I'd already had this conversation, of course, so I'd thought I was going along swimmingly. That night I stared at my CP's email, mouth open, eyes bulging while I tried to work out what she meant. I'd spent months learning all about the "show not tell" rule, and even more months eradicating it from my writing. And I'd even added in more interiority as the doctor (*coughs* my critique partner) ordered. Of course, I dived back into the piece of work I'd sent her, and read it all over again. And again.

I still couldn't see anything wrong with it. So I began to research. And here's what I found.

"Physical telling" means something along the lines of the use of the actions of a character to convey their emotions. For example: "I took a deep breath," "I sighed," "I wiped my eyes," "I tapped my foot."

At a superficial level, these phrases aren't necessarily "telling" for the purposes of the "show not tell rule". The phrases are not saying "I was flustered," "I was annoyed," "I was sad," or "I was impatient." The problem is, however, that these types of phrases also aren't showing the reader what the character is actually feeling. They're just telling about an action the character is performing. And they're usually cliche, turning up in most peoples' manuscripts (and numerous times at that). So two big problems, actually. See Mary Kole's post on Physical Cliches here for her take on it.

But physical telling was all I knew how to write. If I couldn't say, "Verity was sad," then how else did I show she was sad if I didn't have her wipe tears off her cheeks?

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It was back to the drawing board for me (well, to the internet for some research, anyway).

And here's what I came up with:

• it's ok to have telling in your manuscript, as long as it's the "good" kind
• "good telling" involves using story context and interiority to paint a three-dimensional picture where you make your reader feel like a part of the story experience, but you don’t exclude them from participating either (per Mary Kole)
• for the most part, whenever you start to feel the urge to use a physical cliche, replace it with interiority instead (see here for how to do this and a definition of "interiority")
• when you're narrating a story, particularly in first person, you're in the character's head anyway. So just tell what they're feeling, rather than trying to show it through physical telling and cliches
• strong dialogue should convey the meaning that physical telling would otherwise give

In summary, read this amazing post by Cristin Terrill. Your writing will thank you for it. It's what finally crystallized everything in my mind, to the point where I'm finally confident I (nearly) have the showing and telling balance right in my manuscript.

How about you: Do you use physical telling in your manuscript? Have you found ways to avoid it (and does it even need to be avoided from your perspective)? What's your best tip on showing not telling?

Evaluating Full Manuscripts - Mary Kole

Did everyone see Mary Kole's recent Kidlit post describing how she evaluates a full manuscript? For me, it is such a useful insight into how this mysterious process works. For example, I had no idea that agents have their own readers to help give opinions on manuscripts...

It must be an interesting dilemma for agents - do you wait to take only the strongest manuscripts (which will probably involve competing against other agents for representation of an author), or do you hunt out those with potential and work to make them stronger?

Definitely worth a read.

Winner - Mary Kole's Agent Pitch Contest - Market My Words

I'm so excited to share with you that I was the joint winner of the agent pitch contest on Market My Words.

I told you my 140-word pitch in an earlier post, so I'll just add Mary's comments on my pitch here. Mary said: "This query kicks ass. It has punch and voice, which is really hard to do in 140 characters. This sounds like something I might really like." I really appreciate Mary's feedback, and can't wait to get her comments on my query letter (the prize for the winner).

Shelli Johannes had some fantastic advice as she announced the winners of the contest:

If there is nugget you take away from this - whether chosen or not - it is this: I cannot stress how important it is to FOLLOW THE RULES when querying agents. Sometimes it can be the difference between a rejection or a request! They go through hundreds of queries a week and have to look for ways to say no. DON'T GIVE THEM A REASON to reject you just because you are going to fast or don't pay attention to the details/instructions!

Mary Kole's Agent Pitch Contest - Market My Words

For those of you who haven't heard about this fantastic contest on Market My Words, I thought I would give you a heads-up. The contest allows you to submit a 140 character "pitch" for your MG or YA novel (or select picture books if you think they meet Mary Kole's requirements as listed on the site). The prize - a query critique by Mary Kole, associate agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc. Deadline - Sunday 22nd, noon EST.

The best thing is, you can enter even if your book is still a work in progress.

I've entered my "pitch" for the Young Adult novel I am currently writing, and I thought I would share it below:

Title: From The Other Side

Genre: YA Paranormal

Misfit Verity is murdered by the boy she loves and awakens with strange powers, uncontrollable rages, and an unquenchable desire for revenge

Wish me luck!

Critique Partners

With the WriteOn Online Conference taking place at the moment it seems quite timely to talk about critique partners. Do you have a critique partner for your work?

I've recently met a fantastic woman who shares picture book manuscripts with me, and it's made me realize just how useful it is to have another person who you can sound out for ideas, who can tell you that this particular sentence just does not work, and who can give you a much-needed reality check.

The interesting issue, though, is how you find your critique partner to start with? Do you get together with family or friends (always a tricky one, as you can never be sure they're being honest with you)? Do you try going through your local writers center? Or do you search the internet for other people who want to find a critique partner?

I'm aware of Mary Kole's Kidlit blog, where she has occasional Critique Connections that aim to give readers the opportunity to search for like-minded critique partners. This is a fantastic initiative and is actually the place where I found my own PB critique partner.

Let's bring on more of these types of initiatives!