My friend, Ray, just lent me a book. She thought of it when I was on my search for books about authors writing for my Going It Alone query letter.
The book is called The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It was #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. And it has a wicked cool cover of old books piled up, which is actual what interested Ray about. Yes, she judged a book by it's cover but she says it's because she's an artist, thus she judges everything visually to some extent, and therefore is excused. Or something like that.
Anyway, I'm only a few chapters in but I'm intruiged already. I'm excited that it's not only about stories an author wrote but it's main character helps run a used/antique book store. There's lots of talk about selling old books, which definitely interest me since owning a successful book store is right up there with becoming a successful writer.
I'm curious to see if this book will be something to mention in my query letter. I'm not sure that the Golden Notebook is the right thing, seeing as how it's older and gives very high standards to live up to since it was written by a Nobel Prize winner. So maybe this book will be a better reference.
Showing posts with label queries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label queries. Show all posts
Friday, June 13, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
What was your name again?
A while back I gave a pseudo-description of the style in which I wrote Going It Alone, in hopes that someone would be able to suggest a book written in similar fashion, that I could then reference in my query letter. One of the suggestions was The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing.
At the time I was still absorbed in the Sword of Truth series but I figured I'd get around to reading it once I was done.
I kind of forgot about it until I was at the library today looking for Magic Study, the sequel to Poison Study, but that was checked out. Since I'm a little financially challenged at the moment buying the book I wanted was out of the question so waiting on that book was the only option. But what to read in the meantime? How about the Golden Notebook, which is not only reading but research to see if it really was the book I was looking for.
They had it and I started reading it and I was flustered by the first page of the story. Why, you ask? Because the book's main character, who is writing about writing a story, her name is Anna. Guess what the main character's name, in Going It Alone, who is a writer writing about writing a story, is? Anna.
And yes the book does seem to be written in similar fashion, so it would be a good reference in a query. I just don't know if I should use it now. Should I change my character's name?Or reference it without changing the name. After all it was mere coincidence. Of course, they could assume I'm doing a The Hours/Mrs. Dalloway thing where one book is written about the other. That assumption would be wrong since I hadn't even heard of the Golden Notebook until Going It Alone was finished. Hmm... something to think about.
I guess I should finish the book and look for any other similarities before I stress about this.
Just watched: Disturbia
At the time I was still absorbed in the Sword of Truth series but I figured I'd get around to reading it once I was done.
I kind of forgot about it until I was at the library today looking for Magic Study, the sequel to Poison Study, but that was checked out. Since I'm a little financially challenged at the moment buying the book I wanted was out of the question so waiting on that book was the only option. But what to read in the meantime? How about the Golden Notebook, which is not only reading but research to see if it really was the book I was looking for.
They had it and I started reading it and I was flustered by the first page of the story. Why, you ask? Because the book's main character, who is writing about writing a story, her name is Anna. Guess what the main character's name, in Going It Alone, who is a writer writing about writing a story, is? Anna.
And yes the book does seem to be written in similar fashion, so it would be a good reference in a query. I just don't know if I should use it now. Should I change my character's name?Or reference it without changing the name. After all it was mere coincidence. Of course, they could assume I'm doing a The Hours/Mrs. Dalloway thing where one book is written about the other. That assumption would be wrong since I hadn't even heard of the Golden Notebook until Going It Alone was finished. Hmm... something to think about.
I guess I should finish the book and look for any other similarities before I stress about this.
Just watched: Disturbia
Monday, February 25, 2008
Another crappy post for now
It's getting worse and I still don't want to talk about it. Life, that is. I know I'm very fortunate and should not be complaining. It's just that I feel like I'm getting repeatedly smacked in the face and it's hard to be perky and upbeat about that.
I'm tired. I'm broke. There aren't enough hours in the day. And I feel really alone right now.
In the few seconds that I'm not at the hospital, looking for future employment or trudging through the little bit of a job I have left, I have been querying Going It Alone to agents but so far no takers. I'm also constantly making updates to it. And somehow I got inspired to write another novel. I know I am working on a few different novels but this one has really been on my mind and it just seems time to write it. It's not the same characters but it's almost like a sequel to Going It Alone. That may seem crazy since I can't even get anyone to take a look at Going It Alone but writing is my free therapy right now so I'm putting down what pops into my head.
Anyway, hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll have a coherent and interesting post to write. Until then I'll try to keep up with life and remember it could be worse.
I'm tired. I'm broke. There aren't enough hours in the day. And I feel really alone right now.
In the few seconds that I'm not at the hospital, looking for future employment or trudging through the little bit of a job I have left, I have been querying Going It Alone to agents but so far no takers. I'm also constantly making updates to it. And somehow I got inspired to write another novel. I know I am working on a few different novels but this one has really been on my mind and it just seems time to write it. It's not the same characters but it's almost like a sequel to Going It Alone. That may seem crazy since I can't even get anyone to take a look at Going It Alone but writing is my free therapy right now so I'm putting down what pops into my head.
Anyway, hopefully things will settle down soon and I'll have a coherent and interesting post to write. Until then I'll try to keep up with life and remember it could be worse.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Now if I could only get a copy
My plan was to be able to query potential agents today but I'm still looking for that one missing piece of query letter. Where does my book fit in? I've had suggestions that I'm looking into but it seems like the library doesn't have anything I'm looking for. For now queries are on hold. Not just because of my unfinished query but also because I once again bought inferior envelopes that are thinner then paper. They are also being returned to me taped together. I should never have sent them out in the first place but I figured it would be okay. Now I see I was wrong. No more mailing until I get new envelopes.
I've been reading The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and it's driving me nuts. It's good but the books are so long and I usually average one every two weeks which is just way too slow for me. I'm used to finishing novels in one or two days. I want to know what happens now, not two weeks from now. It's almost as bad as dealing with t.v. shows with episodes that end "to be continued" all season long. I'm too impatient for this.
Currently listening to: Layla-Eric Clapton
Just watched: Superbad
Went to see this weekend: Cloverfield
I've been reading The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and it's driving me nuts. It's good but the books are so long and I usually average one every two weeks which is just way too slow for me. I'm used to finishing novels in one or two days. I want to know what happens now, not two weeks from now. It's almost as bad as dealing with t.v. shows with episodes that end "to be continued" all season long. I'm too impatient for this.
Currently listening to: Layla-Eric Clapton
Just watched: Superbad
Went to see this weekend: Cloverfield
Sunday, January 13, 2008
I Need A Book
I'm taking my bad experience and turning it into motivation. This weekend I've been making a better, stronger query letter for Going It Alone. In the process I've been trying to think of novels that are written in similar formats for reference. I can't think of anything. To me this is a good thing that I have such a unique story but to an agent that may sound like it wouldn't sell. I believe innovation is the key to great art so I'm not giving up but I'm trying to find one or two novels that have a similar aspect other than it has words.
It's a framing story, where a large story pulls a bunch of short stories together. Parts of the story are the writer's journal and other parts are the fiction the writer is writing.
I'm out of ideas. I can't think of anything remotely close except for one short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which bounces from reality to fiction and one graphic novel story, Maus, which goes from a writer writing a story to the story he was writing. To be honest I didn't even come up with those, D.B.Echo did. Either way I'm not sure if referencing short stories or comic books are enough.
I have no idea. I'm so confused.
It's a framing story, where a large story pulls a bunch of short stories together. Parts of the story are the writer's journal and other parts are the fiction the writer is writing.
I'm out of ideas. I can't think of anything remotely close except for one short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which bounces from reality to fiction and one graphic novel story, Maus, which goes from a writer writing a story to the story he was writing. To be honest I didn't even come up with those, D.B.Echo did. Either way I'm not sure if referencing short stories or comic books are enough.
I have no idea. I'm so confused.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
QUIRKY but not in a good way!
After sending out the first pages of our novel to the possible agent, I sat by my computer checking my e-mail every second. Just as I was getting ready to go to work an e-mail arrived. I was too nervous to open it so I went to work.
Then I called Jenni later to tell her I was dying to know what it said and she thought I was nuts for not opening it. So we agreed that she would call me or have her internet hooked up by the time I got home and we would open it together.
All night I kept thinking that I wished we had gotten a chance to edit it and it would probably say the same thing as the Writer's House letter.
Jenni kept me waiting six minutes past scheduled time, which nearly killed me.
I finally opened it and this is what it said.
"....I took a look; it's hilarious and the fragmented structure works really well. But it's a tad quirky and I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to secure a publisher."
Now you can see how reading the first part can get your heart going a mile a minute only to have it smashed the next second. But it was better than the last response so it's encouraging and it made me feel way better about not having edited it.
The Writer's House letter had said they didn't think the fragmented style worked, which makes it clear that writing is very subjective. And I almost fell out of chair laughing when he said quirky after last night's post. Although he used quirky kind of negatively and it was actually the positive choice for my question.
I considered begging him to reconsider and just try to find a publisher but instead Jenni's going to send a nice thank you note.
Now our plans are to finish editing chapter 5 and then we'll go back and read through 1-5. We hope to make a list of notes and questions that we can give to a few samples readers and get some feedback, seeing as Liza Dawson Associates thought it was pretty good and Writer's House was more toward the not-so-great side. We're a little confused about what we should be fixing.
That's the plan for now.
Then I called Jenni later to tell her I was dying to know what it said and she thought I was nuts for not opening it. So we agreed that she would call me or have her internet hooked up by the time I got home and we would open it together.
All night I kept thinking that I wished we had gotten a chance to edit it and it would probably say the same thing as the Writer's House letter.
Jenni kept me waiting six minutes past scheduled time, which nearly killed me.
I finally opened it and this is what it said.
"....I took a look; it's hilarious and the fragmented structure works really well. But it's a tad quirky and I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to secure a publisher."
Now you can see how reading the first part can get your heart going a mile a minute only to have it smashed the next second. But it was better than the last response so it's encouraging and it made me feel way better about not having edited it.
The Writer's House letter had said they didn't think the fragmented style worked, which makes it clear that writing is very subjective. And I almost fell out of chair laughing when he said quirky after last night's post. Although he used quirky kind of negatively and it was actually the positive choice for my question.
I considered begging him to reconsider and just try to find a publisher but instead Jenni's going to send a nice thank you note.
Now our plans are to finish editing chapter 5 and then we'll go back and read through 1-5. We hope to make a list of notes and questions that we can give to a few samples readers and get some feedback, seeing as Liza Dawson Associates thought it was pretty good and Writer's House was more toward the not-so-great side. We're a little confused about what we should be fixing.
That's the plan for now.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Quirky not crazy, right?
Today has been CRAZY!
To start everything off I hadn't heard from Jenni in a while. I figured that she was moving and starting her new teaching job so she was probably just busy. Part of me also thought maybe she was mad at me for saying that perhaps she was overly intelligent in my comments on chapter 5.
Since I was assuming she was just busy I tried not to stress that we were suppose to be editing chapters 1-5 and then sending them to a sample audience. After all there was no rush.
I woke up today and I felt like hell. I tried getting out of bed but when I threw up while showering I figured I'd better get some bed rest. (Sorry I'm sure that's more than anyone wanted to know).
I'm resting peacefully when I'm woken up by the phone ringing. I almost didn't get the phone call because they asked for Jennifer, not Ashley, but luck was on my side. It was an agent calling that I had sent a query to last week, he wanted to see our first 50-100 pages. I felt like a moron because he had to call since I forgot to put an e-mail address on the letter. Not to mention I got busted screening my calls.
You'd think now I'd be happy but I'm in serious distress. After our Writer's House rejection we decided to edit our first chapters. That hasn't been done and I have to get the e-mail out to the agent right away. I'm thinking I could wait until tomorrow morning but would that be enough time to edit? Of course, it was Jenni's first day at her new job (Yay Jenni!) so I left a few messages and she got a hold of me later at work. We decided to just send what we had and not try to rush edit it. After all writing's a subjective business; one person may like it and another may not.
Once I got home from work I hopped on-line and typed a nice cordial e-mail. When I went to put the book title in the subject line it occurred to me that I had not changed the book title, to "Behind the Naugahyde", when I sent out the last batch of query letters. So rather than confuse the guy, since he was already thinking I was nuts after the phone call fiasco earlier, I just stuck with Shoe Crew for now.
I send it off and ten seconds later I get a note saying the mail can't be sent because the address doesn't exist. I double check and find I had typed it in wrong. Okay. I re-type the address and send it off....without the attachment. Once I realized what I had done I kept hoping I would get another e-mail saying I had put in the wrong address but not this time. Now I had to send another e-mail apologizing for my incompetence and with the file attached.
Hopefully, he thinks I'm quirky rather than insane.
That's my crazy day folks.
To start everything off I hadn't heard from Jenni in a while. I figured that she was moving and starting her new teaching job so she was probably just busy. Part of me also thought maybe she was mad at me for saying that perhaps she was overly intelligent in my comments on chapter 5.
Since I was assuming she was just busy I tried not to stress that we were suppose to be editing chapters 1-5 and then sending them to a sample audience. After all there was no rush.
I woke up today and I felt like hell. I tried getting out of bed but when I threw up while showering I figured I'd better get some bed rest. (Sorry I'm sure that's more than anyone wanted to know).
I'm resting peacefully when I'm woken up by the phone ringing. I almost didn't get the phone call because they asked for Jennifer, not Ashley, but luck was on my side. It was an agent calling that I had sent a query to last week, he wanted to see our first 50-100 pages. I felt like a moron because he had to call since I forgot to put an e-mail address on the letter. Not to mention I got busted screening my calls.
You'd think now I'd be happy but I'm in serious distress. After our Writer's House rejection we decided to edit our first chapters. That hasn't been done and I have to get the e-mail out to the agent right away. I'm thinking I could wait until tomorrow morning but would that be enough time to edit? Of course, it was Jenni's first day at her new job (Yay Jenni!) so I left a few messages and she got a hold of me later at work. We decided to just send what we had and not try to rush edit it. After all writing's a subjective business; one person may like it and another may not.
Once I got home from work I hopped on-line and typed a nice cordial e-mail. When I went to put the book title in the subject line it occurred to me that I had not changed the book title, to "Behind the Naugahyde", when I sent out the last batch of query letters. So rather than confuse the guy, since he was already thinking I was nuts after the phone call fiasco earlier, I just stuck with Shoe Crew for now.
I send it off and ten seconds later I get a note saying the mail can't be sent because the address doesn't exist. I double check and find I had typed it in wrong. Okay. I re-type the address and send it off....without the attachment. Once I realized what I had done I kept hoping I would get another e-mail saying I had put in the wrong address but not this time. Now I had to send another e-mail apologizing for my incompetence and with the file attached.
Hopefully, he thinks I'm quirky rather than insane.
That's my crazy day folks.
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