Free Online ‘Contests’

Are you looking for a way to get some feedback and maybe even get noticed?

Well, lucky for us, it is the Internet Age, baby. Yeah!

Here are three things that have come under my nose lately that might interest you:

The Knight Agency is having a ‘Book in a Nutshell’ contest. What you do is find out what they represent and then submit your pitch to them if you have a project that fits their interests. What’s a pitch? Basically, sell your story using a maximum of 150 words  limit  and 3 sentences to make these primo agents sit up and select your story from the undoubtedly thigh high pile of submissions they will be receiving. They are only choosing 20 pitches for which they will be provide feedback. Agent feedback on your writing! That’s golden! You have until April 20th.

Along the same lines (okay not really) is agent Nathan Bransford’s ‘Be An Agent for a Day’ contest. Basically, a bunch of people–probably at least a thousand knowing the pull Nathan’s blog generally has from his readers–send Nathan their queries. He then selects 50 queries which he will post on his blog (April 13th). Now here’s where we come in, over the period of a week, we comment on the posted queries. We can also ‘make requests’ (up to 5) for the queries we like. So what’s the catch? He’s going to slip in queries from published books. Ha! If you pick the ‘real’ winners (the queries that lead to a story being published) you win! That easy. I think it’ll be a great way for those who complain about agents to get a real taste of what it is like in their shoes.

And last, but equally exciting is another ‘Secret Agent Contest: Are You Hooked’ sponsored by Authoress aka Miss Snark’s First Victim. I have looked in on some of the contests she’s had in the past and they’ve been great. This time she is looking for the first 250 words of a completed novel falling under the genre of women’s fiction, commercial or literary middle grade/young adult. She opens the submissions on Monday the 13th and only takes the first 50. The feedback is great–from readers as well as a ‘secret’ agent. Again, another fantastic chance to improve your writing.

So go forth and enter my friends!

Enjoy and good luck.

10,000 Hours

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Outliers, claims that ‘geniuses’ like Mozart were not simply handed their genius status at birth, but in fact, worked really hard to achieve their status. Gladwell claims you have to spend 10,000 hours at something to become truly good at it, which is what happened in cases such as The Beatles, Mozart, and Bill Gates.

If you consider this theory, it could explain why there are no real ‘sudden’ writing geniuses. For example, the ‘geniuses’ who have burst onto the publishing scene with stellar first novels, aren’t an actual sudden success. They have worked long and hard to become this overnight success. In fact, it is rare for these ‘amazing first novels’ to be a true ‘first’ novel. Generally it is simply their first published novel. The writer has, in reality, been working at their talent for years and years and often have a stack of discarded manuscripts and accompanying rejection letters to prove it.

Let’s say you decide to put in your 10,000 hours. How long will that take?

At one hour a day, five days a week = 260 hours a year. 38.46 years. Gulp.
At three hours a day, five days a week = 780 hours a year. 12.8 years. That’s still a lot.
At eight hours a day, five days a week (remember, no holidays) = 2080 hours. 4.8 years.

Yowzers, it’s hard to get in those 10,000 hours, isn’t it? You have to live it, breathe it.

I’ve been writing for 2 ½ years and I can see the difference that time has made in my skills. Over time, they have improved dramatically. But, have I put in 10,000 hours yet? Not likely! In the past 912 days (2 ½ years), I know I haven’t put in 76.3 hours a week to make 10,000 hours. Say you put in your 10,000 hours, then are you a genius? I would argue, not necessarily. Look around a typical office. Is the guy who has placed himself at his desk day after day for the past ten years further ahead than that newer guy who lives and breathes his work? You know, the one who jumps at every chance to go to a conference, who reads work magazines and puts intention behind his professional growth?

Although I am not drawing in on 10,000 hours as of yet, I would say the hours I’ve put in thus far have been full of intention. When I sit down at my laptop, it is with the intention of learning something new, of adding onto my skill set. There is an unreal amount to learn as a writer. HUGE amounts. It isn’t simply about plot and grammar, there is the business aspect and the personal growth. Challenging yourself. Building on your strengths, working on your weaknesses. If you aren’t spending your hours with intention, how far do you really expect to go?

In the past two years, I have sat down at my laptop and read agent blogs, editor blogs, publisher blogs, joined online communities, participated in online chats with authors and agents. Made friends, critiqued the work of others, had my own critiqued. Mulled over tons of advice and integrated it and shared it. I have reworked a 300-word document over 60 times, each time bringing something different and new. I’ve written five manuscripts, each time getting better and better. Stronger, more succinct. I learn a new word everyday to build my vocabulary. I read books on writing, I’ve attended workshops and taken classes. I look up grammar rules when I’m in doubt. I’ve built two blogs and a website. Even when I read for pleasure, I am working on my writing, seeing how the author has slowed the pace, described something, built a character or plot. How they made me laugh. Their sentence structure. It’s all there. Intention.

I might be only half way to 10,000 hours, but imagine what I can learn in the next 6,000 if the first 4,000 are any indicator.

I can hardly wait.

New Year Writing Workout #8: My, His, Her, Their

Ha! I lied. I have one more writing exercise for you. I was doing edits yesterday and this HUGE flaw leaped out at me. I couldn’t make myself wait a whole year before sharing it with you guys. So put on your warm-ups, it’s action time!

Whether you’re writing first person, third person or whatever, sometimes it’s easy to slip a few extra possessives in there. In my first person stories, I noticed that I use ‘my’ a lot. As in: I went into my kitchen and got out my pots and pans to make my Killer Brownies. Yeah, Stop the bus on that one. With a little rearranging, we can make it stronger. Sometimes, you need the odd ‘my’ in there. For example, say this was the beginning of a new scene. We might want one ‘my’ in there to demonstrate that this is her house. You know set the scene for the reader and all that good stuff. However, those three mys in one sentence are killer.

After edits: I wandered into the kitchen and slowly brought out my pots and pans. It was Killer Brownie time. There are many different ways to rearrange to eliminate the ‘mys’ as you can see above. Play around and see what works for your story and your voice and what you want to achieve in your scene.

What about ‘his’, ‘her’ or ‘their’? Same thing. She went into her kitchen and got out her pots and pans… Blah. Fix it up! She stormed into the kitchen and began slinging pots and pans…etc.

Now that you know what to watch for, see if you fall victim. Some places, you can’t get around those possessives, but in some places you can eliminate the excess. Go forth and eliminate, it’s always reduction time.

Enjoy!

New Year Writing Workout #7: Comparison

Okay, last writing workout and then I’ll let you off the hook until next January. Maybe. No promises as I may circle around to check up on you. If you haven’t kept your writing butt in shape, I may be forced to post more exercises.

Moving on…comparison. Similes. Metaphors. Analogies. They all have a place in writing.

To quote Noah Lukeman (my hero) from his book The First Five Pages, “Comparison is one of the few devices that really put a writer’s skill in the spotlight because it offers the most room for a writer to “turn it on”, to indulge the limits of his creative expression.” A picture is worth a thousand words and at times, you want that reader to see exactly what you or the character sees. Paint that picture. Lukeman claims that “the proper use of comparison will enable you to cut a tremendous amount of description (which inevitably slows the book down). It will save you literally pages of work and make for a much tighter read.”

Have I sold you on the idea yet?

Some things to watch out for when you are placing comparisons in your work: too many comparisons or not enough (about one every two to three hundred words or so is probably okay); bad, cliche or overused/common comparisons (although they could have a place depending upon your work); comparisons that are not specific (make distinctions in your comparisons to aid in the picture you are painting–such as what type of tree or what type of bug?); using the wrong word or an imprecise word in your comparison.

Here’s an exercise borrowed from Noah Lukeman. Pick an item from the room you’re in and come up with five similes and five metaphors for that item. Examples: The fig tree looked like a man reaching out to grab the passerby. (Simile) The fig tree was leafless, like a stake in the ground. (Metaphor) If you want more exercises on this, check out his book, it’s great.

To add to the feel and tone of your work, you can ensure that your comparisons echo the theme of your book. For example, if one of the themes is death, your comparisons can echo that. (Just don’t over do it.)

Enjoy!

New Year Writing Workout #6: Simply the Action (Suddenly and Before)

This one isn’t an exercise in the true sense of the term, it is more like a tip to simplify the action in your writing to make it clearer and stronger.

Search through your work for ‘suddenly’ and ‘before’. You can use the ‘find’ feature to help you locate them.

Let’s start with ‘suddenly’. How do you use suddenly? Are you using it to modify a not so exciting or weak verb? Are you tapping your reader on the shoulder and saying, ‘hey, this is where things get exciting’ instead of letting the action build and explode before their very eyes?

To borrow an example from rsmellette over on AQ, which is stronger?

“Suddenly the room was full of bullies.” Or “Bullies crashed into the room.”

Which is going to move the pace of your story and get your reader on edge? Is ‘suddenly’ going to surprise them, or is the action happening before you eyes going to do it?

In most cases, writers find that they can cut ‘suddenly’ and make their sentences stronger and more compelling. Give it a whirl. How many can you cut?

Today’s other action tip came in yesterday from my brilliant critique partner and deals with ‘before’. As she puts it: “You might search for the word “before” and rewrite the sentences where you use it in the middle of an action. It seems like you write “He stood before walking to the door” when you could just say, “He stood and walked to the door.” Good call, eh? In my 30 pages I had a whopping 21 uses of ‘before’. That’s just wrong, wrong, wrong. Simply the action.

Go forth and simply my writer friends. You can do it.

Enjoy!

New Year Writing Workout #5: Shopping List

How are you feeling? Are those exercises getting your writing muscles limbered up?

Today’s exercise is odd, but fun. First things first, take a peek in your fridge and cupboards, then grab a pen and paper and write out a grocery list. If you want, you can borrow mine:

sour cream
eggs
bananas
cucumber
bread
crackers
milk

What we’re going to do is make that grocery list stand out. We’re going to make it evocative. Ready?

We’ll get ourselves started with a few themes to help us get in a ‘mood’. To make it simple for our first go around, we’ll use some of the main story genres; romance, science fiction, mystery and literary.

Let’s start with romance. Pick an adjective (or verb) for each of the items on your grocery list that shows your genre/theme. By the time you’re done your list, there should be a feel for the theme. For example, in romance you might have passionate milk or caressing sour cream, maybe some doe-eyed eggs and swooning bananas. My list is a bit silly, but it gives you an idea, particularly if you compare it against the adjectives you pick for another genre.

How would your list differ for science fiction? And mystery? Maybe you’d have screaming crackers, murdered eggs, stealth bread.

When you’re done your lists, compare them. Can you get a sense of the genre/theme or emotion you are trying to convey in each list? (Ignore the genre title.)

When you are done laughing at yourself and your list, check back with a few scenes in your manuscript and see if your adjectives and verbs are doing the work you think they should to evoke mood.

Enjoy!

New Year Writing Workout #4: Progression and Focus

Okay, I’m going to get evil today. We’re going to make your writing bones ache, but it is going to feel soooo good afterwards.

One of the biggest issues I’ve had with my writing has been progression and focus. Part of this is a result of me grabbing an idea and just going for it without much forethought or planning. Here’s an idea. Off I go. Then I find myself in edit hell for ages and ages while I try to pull it all together into one tight little package.

Then I took a class from Susan Meier last fall. It saved me! She taught me a golden little nugget that I’ll share with you here. As you write, edit or even plan your story, think of this: every scene must have at least an ‘action’, ‘reaction/consequence’ or ‘decision’. And they must flow. In other words, an action sets off a reaction which creates a decision. That decision causes a new action and onward. You may have a scene that involves one aspect, or all three, depending on the ‘size’ of what’s happening.

Here’s an example: John hits his brother in the mouth (action). His brother hits him back (reaction) and breaks his jaw, sending John to the hospital. John decides (decision) to get even with his brother. John lies to his brother about a girl the brother is dating (action). The brother has a fight with his girlfriend and they break up (reaction) and decides to leave girls aside and travel to Africa (decision).

When I wrote my latest story (during NaNoWriMo), I used Susan’s tips again. This time, as I wrote my story, I kept my handy story notebook beside me and wrote down a few words describing the scene I was writing or about to write. Naturally, I included whether it was an action, reaction or a decision. This was huge in helping me keep the story focused as well as helping me move forward when I felt stuck. And at the same time, I got to keep writing and dreaming up the story as I went, which is pretty much my favourite way to write. (I usually know the ending and some of the major plot points before I start writing though. It isn’t all totally moving forward in the dark.)

I can’t say enough for this method. For me, it was a golden nugget of wisdom. It opened that door, allowing the light of writing knowledge to shine down on me after months of struggle. So, now it is your turn to go forth and work that writing muscle. You can’t lose.

New Year Writing Workout #1: Adjectives and Adverbs

Happy New Year everyone. If your resolution (made in the wee hours of last night and fuelled by the optimism of Vodka) was to get fit this year, I can help you out. That is, of course, you mean exercising your writing muscle.

For the next few days, I’ll be posting some of my favourite writing exercises from 2008. I encourage you to take the time (Don’t cheat! Some of them can be really telling and helpful.) to try the exercises. There’s always something that can be improved, tweaked or strengthened. Sometimes, you only need your eyes opened.

Without further ado, here’s the first one (borrowed from Noah Lukeman):

1) Take your first page and remove every adjective and adverb, listing them separately.

2) Look at your first page without all these adjectives and adverbs. Does it read faster? Are your major ideas still being conveyed?

3) Look at your removed adjectives and adverbs lists. How many are boring, commonplace, cliche? Try and find a stronger replacement. (Get out the thesaurus!) If you have two or three clumped together, see if you can find one strong adjective/adverb that could replace the two or three. The idea is to aim for stronger imagery and a faster, cleaner read.

4) Try placing your replacements in your story. How does it read now?

This exercise really opened my eyes in terms of adjectives that I overused–I still find myself falling into overuse from time to time. In fact, I went and did a ‘find’ for words like ‘look’ in my ms and tried to find other ways to convey the same idea without ‘look’ or in some cases, remove the whole sentence, creating a better flow.

Good luck and see you tomorrow.