On Word Count and Querying

Image borrowed from: www.nurseryeducationonline.com/-c-62.html

Attempt One:

Before I started on my manuscript, I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to write enough words for a full length novel. I tried writing a novel when I was 15, and it ended up being 3,000 words. I did a little better on a fan fiction that ended up in 74,000 words (16 chapters), which I think is quite amazing. It's packed with adverbs and other no-no's, but it's a good story with a good plot and sub plots. I was 26 at the time. Today I find that the more I write, the longer the word count. It is a challenge for me to keep it low enough, because there's just so much to write about. The first attempt at full manuscript ended in 125,000 words. I queried it as such, and got an auto-rejection. It may have been because of the word count, or because the query letter was horrible, or because the writing was terrible and packed with no-no's. Probably all of the above.

Attempt Two:

At the time, I had no idea there was such a thing as "appropriate word count" for young adult fiction (or any other age group, for that matter), I just thought that more words equaled better writer. I compared my manuscript length with Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, by doing formulaic count of words I was taught while learning to type. I remember the day I learned about appropriate word counts. I sat in the black chair in my office, curtains pulled closed to shield the tiny room from light, desk cluttered with books, print-outs and stationary. The silly little text on my screen said 110,000 max for YA novels. I felt like giving up. How could I possibly cut a single word out of my novel? Every single word was important. But after a lot of research, a reading of a book on how to write, and a second look at the manuscript, I realized that there was quite a bit I could cut out. The revised 125,000 worded manuscript became 111,000 words. Much better, or so I thought.

At WriteOnCon, I discovered that 111,000 is way too much. There was an agent who went over queries live. She began by plucking out all the manuscripts over 90,000 words and tossing them into the bin. She said that the manuscripts with higher word count have to be truly exceptional. She said that 90,000 words +/- 5,000 is max in YA (apparently opinion on this differs, possibly because my novel is Fantasy, which means a little more leeway with some agents). That means I'll have to cut it down to at least 95,000 to avoid such auto-rejections from agents. Before the WriteOnCon, I had submitted queries to a lot of agents. I also received quite a number of rejections. The reason could be because of the word count, or because the revised query letter was terrible, or because the revised writing wasn't quite up to snuff yet. Probably all of the above.

Attempt Three:

I learned from this that you should only query a few agents at a time, because of the learning curve. If I had submitted to all the agents I've now submitted to with my horrible first query - all of them would reject it. If I would submit to all the agents I have yet to query with my terrible second query - all of them would reject it.

In other words, to avoid auto-rejections based on word count, I have to slice my manuscript even further. I'm doing that with the aid of critique partners - something I never had before - something I should have had before. I have also tried to be honest with myself, and cut out pieces that I knew, deep down, were not supposed to be in the story. With the first 6 chapters rewritten/revised, plus a whole chapter later in the manuscript removed, the word count is already down to 104,000 words. After WriteOnCon, I have a formula for a fantastic query, along with amazing critiques from Elana and Casey that I won at the conference, so I'm hoping I'll be able to produce a kick-ass query before I continue my agent querying next year. I also realized, during WriteOnCon, that I have to take a second look at adverbs, and other tics that are frowned upon. The reason I'm not querying until January next year is not only because agents are generally less likely to sign new authors late in the year, but also because I'm taking Creative Writing at university, and I'm learning heaps.

We're reading Sol Stein's Stein on Writing. Chapter two is so inspirational that I had to put down the book and jolt down ideas. He talks about the importance of the first line and first paragraphs in a book. He gives fantastic examples (real examples are so rare in those educational books on how to write!), and I now know that I have to change the beginning of Book of Black. In fact, I've been inspired to change the whole first chapter with a whole new concept to dive the kids into the other world faster. He helped me see how my first chapter is a bit distracting. It's a good chapter, but there's a misleading story that doesn't set the tone for the rest of the book. I see now that this first chapter is material for a different story.

So, with all these new discoveries, and with the aid of the amazing WriteOnCon, that was a revelation to me, I hope that when I start querying again, I won't get auto-rejected because of word count, I will have a catchy query letter, and that I will get a contract because of my new and shiny writing skills.

Lord of the Rings meets Me

My twins are on a month’s vacation from their kindergarten and they’re wearing me out! Due to this fact, I won’t have as much time to blog (or write *whine*), but I’ll try to get in two-three blogs a week.

I‘ve been reading a lot of books in my genre (YA fantasy), and I‘m especially interested in the vampire series. It is important to read a lot in your genre to be able to compare your work and see what works and what doesn‘t. While I read, I also try to think about what makes the book interesting, what keeps me reading, how chapters end, the much important “voice” (which is something I hadn't heard of until two months ago), how each chapter is constructed, and I look out for hints throughout the book and then guess at the ending (which has spoiled books for me, since I can often guess at the ending in the middle of the book). I then compare these things to my novel. I can say this: I read books in a whole new way since I started writing.

It‘s hard for me to find exactly what I need to compare my books to, other than the technical factors. If I were writing a vampire book, it would be easy to explain how it is different from other vampire books. I’d like to be able to do the “meets” thing—you know: Lord of the Rings meets Ella Enchanted meets Morganville Vampires, but all I can come up with is the Lord of the Rings because my land is medieval and there are wizards. There aren’t even dwarves in the land or dragons (which is why I can't use Eragon as a “meets”).

I suppose I could say Lord of the Rings with a dash of humor, pinch of romance, two spoonfuls of mystery and three cups of sexy darkness. That’s still not a good way to give people an idea of what it is. I intend to do a lot of reading this month of exhaustion and maybe I’ll come across a book that I’ll be able to use as a “meets”.

I’m often disheartened when I read really interesting books and I think that I’ll never get there, but then I remind myself that a) Stephenie Meyer was a miracle case and most writers have been writing for years before getting published, b) their manuscripts go through serious changes and rewrites with the aid of the publisher’s editorial team before they are ready, and c) my manuscript is darn good, so there’s no reason to put myself down. Again, I wonder if I should change the first chapters, but I decided two weeks ago that it was good as it is and I’d just have to have some faith.

I’ve also been thinking more about e-books and Kindle. If I would publish the series that way, I could just write and write, and it would urge me onwards just to have the next book out there. I know myself and know that even if I only had one reader out there, I’d finish the series because I’d know that there’s a person out there who likes my story.

I figure that if I continue to write a lot and publish books on Kindle, eventually some people will like what I write and will want to read the other books as well. They’ll tell their friends and so on. Of course I’d try to market myself on the internet, but I’d have to promise myself to be patient and not to be worried about slow sales to begin with. I want writing to be my career and this is one way to start it. Who knows, maybe an agent/publisher would notice my work out there and offer me a deal. I know that’s a dream-case scenario, but it has happened and will happen again.

The rejection toll is up to 14 now. All polite form rejections (which I appreciate). I respect that those 14 had the courtesy to reply; I know that many won’t. I’ll also have to sort through which I’m allowed to re-query (a different agent within the agency). I already re-queried the very first one that I queried over a month ago, but I haven’t heard back from her since I sent the re-queried letter last week.

Task for the day: Read.

Writing a Synopsis is Fun!

I have finished sending out all the queries that didn't require a synopsis. I had already written a synopsis, but I didn't think it was good enough. I spent yesterday afternoon writing a very detailed 2,400 worded synopsis -- which is way too much (should be around 1,000 for a two-page synopsis, and 500 for a one page synopsis). One agent requested detailed synopsis and I'll send this one to her. Then I'll print it out again and hack and slice until I have 1,000 and then 500 words for the others. There are 14 agents on the synopsis list and I'll query them next week.

I still haven't made a list of the snail-mail ones. The reason is that I live in Iceland and I haven't been to the post office yet to see about SASE's or IRC's (Internation Reply Coupon). Most snail-mail agents request SASE, but some mention that if you live outside the USA, you might need an IRC. There are two agents in particular that I want to query via snail-mail, so I have to get going on this.

I also haven't made a list of the one-agent agencies (excluding a couple whose blogs I'm following). My three-year-old twins are taking their kindergarten vacation next Monday and will won't be back there until a month from now. That means that I'll have less time to query and write. It also means that I've been pressed for time this week to try to do as much as I can before next Monday, and making the one-agent list was one of the things I haven't had time for. Again, this doesn't mean that I don't want to work with them, it just means that I haven't had the time (I have them bookmarked). Apart from two snail-mail agents, I'll probably do the one-agent agencies first.

I know that many writers bite their nails when it comes to synopsis writing, but I enjoy it. It is all thanks to Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy, who wrote Writing Fiction for Dummies. How new a writer must I have been to have bought a Dummies book to write? I had actually written the manuscript before I bought it (along with other books), but this one was my best-buy. Their very simple advice on how to write a synopsis has helped me a great deal and makes writing it fun. I also feel that now that I have written the synopsis twice, I know my book better and I didn't have to look at the manuscript once to write the very detailed synopsis yesterday.

Randy and Peter's synopsis is made from the three-act structure one does when following the book. I seriously recommend this book if you're having trouble writing a synopsis.

I think that one other reason I think writing a synopsis is fun is because I'm a rule-girl. By that, I mean that I'm good at writing instructions and have a good eye for details. This is one of the things I have to do at my job, writing rules, guidelines and such. I also used to run a Harry Potteresque website and wrote all the rules and instructions there + I used to lead a guild in World of Warcraft (hey, I'm a geek and proud of it!) and wrote the rules and instructions on our website. So I have experience in writing sort of guide-like texts.

In other news:

I got one more rejection yesterday and one "we don't represent fantasy anymore". Still no tears. These rejection are mostly from big agencies and I sort of expected them. There are still a few big agencies who haven't answered, but I know that not all of them will answer. Might I mention that I think it's rude when agencies don't send form rejection letters to all they're not interested in? Writers spend months waiting and hoping and here the agent has deleted the query weeks ago without a word. How hard is it to reply with a standard text? I'm sure it's no harder than getting follow-up emails and re-queries, having to read through those and delete-again.

I highly respect those who reply to their emails (even if they're form rejections). I sort of think that the ones who don't reply to all queries sound kind of way up there and we are way down there.

Fun Facts about Iceland

http://morris108.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/

Since I’m still working on my agency list, which is sneaky, time-consuming work, I thought I’d mention a few little facts about Iceland. They’re not all scientifically proven; this is just stuff from my head.

- If you walk through a field of tall grass, it is very unlikely that a bug will stick on you.

Garin Hay at MySpace

- Up until recently, Iceland only had very small spiders. A contractor I know of imported machinery and with them came rather large spiders with red and yellow bellies (eugh!). The contractor couldn’t be bothered to have them exterminated and so they’ve spread (thanks a lot).

- I have never seen a cockroach in Iceland. I’ve heard that there are some back at the old American base, and that they were discovered after the Americans left (thanks a lot).

- There are no ants in Iceland.

- When the American soldiers and their families left, they also left behind a lot of useful stuff, including playgrounds and gym equipment (thanks a lot!).

- There are not many rats in Iceland. In fact, I’ve never seen one with my own eyes. If I saw one, I’d probably think it was a big mouse.

Budget Baby: 10 More Ways to Live Green for Less by Rachael Brownell

- The largest wild animals (not including the very occasional polar bears that float on blocks of ice from Greenland/North Pole) are reindeers, but foxes are the second largest.

- Yes, I’ve seen a live polar bear. Not a wild one though. I’ve also seen live Orcas. The Orca was scarier.

http://myanimalblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/09/orca/

- “Orka” is an Icelandic word for “energy”.

- Our clocks have 24 hours, meaning that we always write (and often say) 15.32 etc. Americans call it "military time"; we just call it "time".

http://images.channels.nl/images/hotel/org/736/736470.jpg

- The northern lights (Aurora Boreales) are so common that I don’t really think of them as anything magnificent. I just think they're "cool". I grew up seeing the green lights, and I, with my wild imagination, could see little human figures walking upwards in a row. They peak every eleven years, and I’ve twice been awed by purple, red, orange, and pink lights dancing wildly in the sky (I’m not being poetic here, they were literally dancing). The lights in the pictures, by the way, are very cool.

- There is daylight 24 hours in June. That’s when Icelanders are very gleeful and chipper. That’s also when Icelanders go camping and drink a lot. I don’t drink alcohol and I haven’t - ever. No special reason, I just don’t want to.

- I know one other person who has never tasted alcohol in his life, and he happens to be my cousin.

http://www.randburg.com/is/spaksmannsspjarir/

- People always dress up before heading to the pubs/nightclubs.

- There is maximum 3 hours of daylight in December, when it is darkest. That’s when way too many Icelanders are depressed. We go to work in darkness and come home in darkness – but then we have Christmas to cheer us up.

- There was winter celebration in Iceland way before people were forced to take up Christianity here. The purpose was to cheer people up the gloom of darkness.

- People also dress up for clubbing in the winter - girls don't let the cold bother them and if short dresses/skirts and tank tops are in, they wear it.

"Dreki í nýju ullarpeysunni sinni"

- After the 2008 economic catastrophe, new and innovative businesses have been popping up everywhere. Every woman, it seems, was suddenly interested in knitting (including me), and former career women published a number of knitting books. More Icelandic knitting books have been published in the last two years than the last decade, and probably a decade before that, too.

Cartoon at 2.bp.blogspot.com

I'll post more of these later when I have no news of my writing. I've compiled a list of 42 agents so far and I have some more to go. I didn't list the snail-mail ones and the one-man agencies, but I bookmarked them and I'll list them down later. This doesn't mean that I'm less interested in them, I just decided to work in this organised order: list big/medium agencies (tons), list snail-mail agencies (a handful), and then list one-man/woman agencies (a few more than the snail-mailers). I intend to query everyone.

Just for the record, it has taken me two whole days to list down the medium/big agencies and choose the right agent from each one. This is a lot more work than I thought it would be, and it'll be a lot of work to personalize every query (read the query guidelines from everyone and make sure everything's spiffy). I think I'll send the queries out in batches, maybe 5-6 at a time.

Task for the day: clean the apartment and continue listing agencies.

Dystopia: The New Utopia

There has been a lot of discussion about trends in the writing market recently. It seems that one can't really jump right into the current trend, because when one finally finishes the manuscript, agents/publishers are no longer accepting trend novels because the market is "filling up".

The YA trend has been vampires since Hurricane Twilight sent teenage girls racing to the bookstores. Everybody wanted to catch the gust and wrote vampire YA (books that I still greedily seek out). There is now an overflow of unpublished manuscripts and agents are rejecting all queries that have the word "vampire" in them.

The current and near-future trend seems to be YA Dystopia. I actually had to look up that word (anti-utopia), and I get it; I like watching movies where the world is inside-out after some catastrophe, and I should be able to enjoy such books as well. Of course, a dash of paranormal wouldn't ruin it for me.

When I read about the dystopia trend, I immediately thought that maybe I should try to write one, but by the time I'd get it done, everyone and their cousin will have sent out query letters and agents will be rejecting all queries containing the word "dystopia".

One might say that unpublished writers live in a dystopian world and are desperately trying to reach utopia. I think that the only chance writers have to ride the wave of trends is by either having manuscripts ready before the tide hits to be able to ship them out immediately when their genre is prophesied to be the next big thing, or to be abnormally fast at creating manuscripts, and risking the manuscript being rushed.

If you want to break into the market, you'll have to write what sells; and what sells is the current and next trend. Kristin Nelson recently talked about how most queries she's receiving today are about ghosts telling their stories, psychics solving a mystery, vampires (still, as she puts it), and people seeing things in dreams that lead them on an adventure. Apparently writers are expected to think outside the box and try to invent the next hype, but at the same time it is difficult to sell the manuscript because it involves a great risk to publishers.

I have tried to be innovative in my manuscript and created paranormal beings that I haven't seen before. Now the big, hairy and nasty question is: are they too innovative for the publishers to take the risk?

Literary Agent Resources

The tough, rough, and ever so frightening agents.

I have finished reading the manuscript and make the minor corrections -- finally. I realize that I'll have to read the first 40 pages again, just to see if the deletion of the first chapter and minor changes to the second chapter has gone smoothly. I don't want to miss a significant detail from the deleted first chapter.

What's next? After I've read those 40 pages, I will personalize query letters to each agent on my list. I currently have 22 agents listed. I know that there are loads more, and I will look for them after I have sent out to those 22. These are also only agents who accept e-queries. I know that e-queries are easier to discard than paper queries, but I still think e-queries are the easier choice.

--> Compile a list of desirable agents.

I wonder if it's better to send directly to the agents, or to their assistants. Will the agents be quicker to discard a query? I know that it was an assistant to fished out Stephenie Meyer's query letter, so perhaps they are the better choice. Some seem to have assistants while others don't. Regardless, I'll have to choose an agent within the agency, one that represents my genre.

--> Decide whom to query within the agency.

The agencies only allow people to query one agent, so querying all won't work. Janet Reid, however, suggests querying the others if the first one rejects. She says that if you don't hear back from the agents within 30 days, one should re-query. She also says that one shouldn't assume that silence = no, even if it's written on the agency's query page.

--> Decide a strategy for querying.

I have downloaded Sonar, a little program that'll keep track of my queries. I haven't tested it yet, but it looks neat and useful.

--> Keep track of when you send out the queries.

I have found useful sites to find agents. There's Query Tracker, Publishers Marketplace, and Agent Query. I've briefly looked through them and listed some agents. I'll take a better look at them later. Then, of course, there's Google and links on various blogs. I also always check the acknowledgements in the books I read to see who represents the author.

Then I research the agent a little; see what books he/she has had published in your genre, and which of those books were a hit. I read that advice a long time ago, and I always check published books on the agency pages. I also run a search through Google with the agent/agency name + scam, to see if there's any negative discussion about the agent/agency. This can be done if the agent requests a partial or full, but I like to do it beforehand.

--> Research your agent; see what books he/she's had published and check for scams.

Task for the day: Read the first 40 pages.

When to Query

Querying

I was reading old blog posts from agents and came across an old post by Janet Reid. It has to be the most helpful post on how to keep on querying. I feel all perky and excited now, ready to take 'em on!

Ok, so I haven't actually sent out the query letters yet, but I'm going to...next Wednesday. I chose Wednesday for a strategic reason. After an hour of searching, I finally found theGatekeeper blog again. It basically says that an agent's inbox fills with queries over the weekend and on Monday they have loads to sort through. On Fridays they're too occupied with Friday-glee, that they're more likely to reject. The blog advises middle of the week. There are also lots of helpful advices in this post.

The Gatekeeper's The Middle Way: A new method of timing your queries suggests making a list of most desirable agents, medium ones, and the ones who just wound up on the paper. She also suggests to query first the medium desirable ones and see if you get any feedbacks. If you get only rejections or a few personalized feedbacks, you can work on your query letter before you query the ones who are truly desirable.

I like this approach; it's safe and you learn from it. What would worry me, however, is if some would want to sign me up and I wouldn't have queried the more desirable ones yet (a luxury problem, I suppose). Janet Reid suggest querying all, and not go by such a list. I haven't yet decided which method to choose; it's something I'll have to think about before Wednesday.

Gatekeeper is an excellent site with loads of information on querying. You can pick up on many hints on what not-to-do. This post has a pie chart on why she chose to say "yes" to a query, and another with a "no". I also love this post called Typical Day.

KT Literary made a really fun post where Daphne opens her query letters live and writes why they don't work. Lots of tips there.

I have studied these sites carefully, both for research on the market and agenting, and then for the dreadful querying.

Task for the day: Read a chapter and fix in the document.