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Let's Get This Thing Started

So I have been doing some research and I think I have decided to put some of my stories both new and old up for sale on the Amazon Kindle store. Because of that decision, I've decided to pull down all of the content posts here at Waiting at the Crossroads and this blog will now focus on my thoughts on writing.

I also intend to publish my novel on Kindle as well and have been spend some time finishing it.

I will be posting more often now. So for those of you who still look at this blog, you should be seeing more of me now.

Another great blog post from Nathan Bransford…

I read Nathan Bransford's blog almost every day and think he is one of the better agents putting out information for us aspiring types. Today, he talked about what to look for in revisions, but I also think that it might be useful to think about some of these things while you're writing…

Nathan Bransford-Literary Agent

Revision Checklist

- Does the main plot arc initiate close enough to the beginning that you won't lose the reader?

- Does your protagonist alternate between up and down moments, with the most intense towards the end?

- Are you able to trace the major plot arcs throughout the book? Do they have up and down moments?

- Do you have enough conflict?

- Does the reader see both the best and worst characteristics of your main characters?

- Do your characters have backstories and histories? Do these impact the plot?

- Is the pacing correct for your genre? Is it consistent?

- Is your voice consistent? Is it overly chatty or sarcastic?

- Is the tense completely consistent? Is the perspective consistent?

- Is there sufficient description that your reader feels grounded in the characters' world?

- Is there too much description? (David R. Slayton)

- Are momentous events given the weight they deserve?

- Look closely at each chapter. If you can take out a chapter and the plot will still make sense, is it really necessary? Should some events be folded in with others?

- Do the relationships between your characters develop and change and become more complicated as the book goes on?

- What do your characters want? Is it apparent to the reader? Do they have both conscious and unconscious motivations?

- Do you know what your writing tics are? Do you overuse adverbs, metaphors, facial expressions, non-"said" dialogue tags, or interjections? Have you removed them?

- Do you overuse certain words or phrases? Is your word choice perfect throughout?

- Does your book come to a completely satisfying conclusion? Does it feel rushed?

- Do your main characters emerge from the book irrevocably changed?

- Are your characters distinguishable? Does it make sense to combine minor characters? (Kiersten)

Queries and Pitches

I have been thinking a lot about pitches and queries as well as reading a whole lot about how best to create a query. I think I want to throw out a h draft of the summary part of a query I have been working on. If anyone is out there and would like to comment on it, I would appreciate it. WARNING—THIS IS A VERY ROUGH DRAFT!!!

 

So in few years from now, magic makes a comeback. I'm talking faeries, demons, and whole bunch of violence and chaos that hasn't been seen since God told Noah to count them two by two.

Yeah, it kinda sucks for a while.

It's okay though, after several years we get it under control.

The world's a little different now, technology and fossil fuel have been replaced, and a whole new economy has been created around magic. It's also created a whole new set of problems.

My names Whitaker Morgan. I'm an Agent for the Internal Power Agency, a government group like the CIA or FBI that deals with all of the new magic related issues.

Do you have coven of witches stealing children in your neighborhood, or maybe you know about terrorist planning to ues a demon to blow up a building – we're the one who get called in to take care of it.

But right now, I have got bigger problems.

I just found out that my ex-partner has gone all nutty and decided to start opening gates to Hell, prepping the world for an apocalypse that makes the last one look like two brats fighting in a sand box.

When I catch-up to him, it isn't going to be pretty.