You've Finished Your Novel! Now What?

So you've finished slaving over your novel and now you have no clue what to do.  I've been there. I'm there right now!  As I find myself done with my revisions and am now sending my new chapters out to be edited; I have nothing to do right?  Wrong!

Writing is never just finished! Sure, one novel can be complete; but your next one is just itching to be put on paper.  As soon as you finish writing, querying, and start your waiting; it is now time to start your next great American novel!

I have three, (that's right! Three,) novels in the works just to keep my creative juices rolling! And that is my advice to you. Once you are finished with one project then it is time to start on the next.  For a writers job is never done!

Happy writing!

Query Time!

As of last week, I have finished the revision of my very first novel.  What does that mean?  That's right!  It's query time!  I was lucky enough to be one of 5 winners of Shelly Watters' critique part of her wonderful contest that she hosted; and while I am waiting on her critique, I decided to write this blog and also gather things that will help in the querying process.


Writing a query is not the easiest thing to do.  I've written mine many times and I'm still not sure if it's good enough to catch an agent's attention.  In fact, I'm not sure if anybody truly knows until they are picked up by an agent who just loves what they are reading.  I can only hope that I have gotten it right.


When writing my query, I researched samples and how to's so I would have a shot of getting it right.  What I've realized is that it's a hit and miss kind of thing.  It takes some finesse and critiques to get it just right.  Truly, I do not believe that anyone has written the perfect query on their first time.  If they have, I would love to know their secret!


So now as I get ready to start the querying process I find myself making lists of agents/agencies that are looking for my novel's genre.  That is something that I recommend doing.  That way you can research them and make sure that they are exactly what you are looking for and that you are exactly what they are looking for.


I hope that this post has helped somebody in some way in the querying process.  Since this is my first time doing it; I am sure I have a lot to learn & I will pass my experiences along.  I'm sure that some will get you a good laugh!  Now happy writing and querying! :)

The Plot Bunnies Have a Theme Song Now!

Epic Follower Blogfest/Contest: 140 Character Twitter Pitch

POST EDITED!


After all of the critiques that I have received & a good nights rest; I have finally written a pitch  or two that I'm happy with & love. Thank you all for the helpful hints & comments! :)



So in an earlier post I mentioned that I was entering Shelly Watters' awesome contest.  Well...today is the the day to post my 140 character pitch entry!  I've worked long & hard to make this be the best that it can be.  I've even slaved over my novel just to revise things that make me a little...nervous so IT is worthy of the grand prize.

I made sure that my entry is 140 characters or less by using twitlonger.  I found that it was an easy way to make sure that I didn't go over the limit.

Please comment or suggest anything you would like.  I'll accept any help that makes this be the best that it can possibly be!

After a few comments; I have rewritten my pitch.  You can still find the old ones from before.  I have answered/said everything that I can without giving too much away.  I hope that you enjoy it!  Thanks for all of your comments! :)

Made more revisions & I thank you all for the help! Below is TWO different versions of the pitch. Please tell me which one you like better! Thanks for the help guys!! :)

So now for your reading pleasure...I give you....my entry! (Dramatic enough? LOL!)

Title: The Demon Chronicles: The Black Light Of Purity
Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Romance






We have a winner!!  With the help of Brenda Drake I was able to write what I believe is a really good pitch! 







#1: When Taisie moves to a new town, she finds not everyone is human, not even her. & to survive, she must embrace her soul's powers & past.


#2: When Taisie moves to a new town, she learns that not everyone is human, not even her, & only with her new powers can she stop an apocalypse.

Old pitches round #3:

#1: Not another vampire book. Taisie finds that some people aren't human; not even her. & together with her friends she must stop an evil force.


OR


#2: Taisie moves to a new town after her mom dies & finds that not everyone is human; even her. & with her friends she must stop an evil force.


After a friends helpful suggestions; we have a new pitch to consider! Sorry there's so many!


#3: 16yr old Taisie moves to a new town & finds not everybody's human; even her. & with her friends she must stop an evil foe that's after her.

Old pitches round #2:

#1: After Taisie's mom dies, she moves to a new town where nobody's what they seem, evil is seductive, & she's forced to save the one she loves.

#2: After Taisie's mom dies, she moves to a new town where nobody's what they seem, evil is seductive, & she's forced to save them all.


#3: Taisie moves to a new town & finds that nobody's what they seem, she is pursued by an evil force, & that she is the key to save them all.


#4: After Taisie's mom dies, she moves to a new town where nobody's what they seem, she is pursued by an evil force, & she must save them all.


#5: After Taisie moves to a new town where nobody's what they seem, she is pursued by an evil force & she must save the ones that she loves.

Old pitches:
#1: Taisie moves to a new town where secrets surround her, evil is seductive, & she is forced to make a choice that affects everyone...even her.

#2: When Taisie's mom dies, she moves to Isabel where nobody is what they seem, evil is seductive & she must make a life or death choice.



To fill everyone in on Taisie. She is a sixteen year old girl in my novel. If that helps anybody with imagining what the sentence is talking about! Thanks once again for the comments & help! :)

Poem: Daddy Can You Hear Me?

I wrote this last night after thinking about some things.  Decided that I would share it with the world.  I hope you like it!



DADDY CAN YOU HEAR ME?
BY: Jamie Corrigan

Daddy can you hear me?
As I sit crying on the floor.
Daddy can you hear me?
I don’t see you anymore.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I call out wanting you here.
Daddy can you hear me?
Wishing you were near.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I scream out your name.
Daddy can you hear me?
When I admit it’ll never be the same.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I finally see that I am strong.
Daddy can you hear me?
Now that I’m finally moving on.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I no longer speak your name.
Daddy can you hear me?
Knowing that I’m tired of the game.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I become someone new
Daddy can you hear me?
I no longer care what you do.
Daddy can you hear me?
As my wings spread ready to fly.
Daddy can you hear me?
I no longer want to cry.
Daddy can you hear me?
As I become so free.
Daddy can you hear me?
 I no longer scream
Daddy can you hear me?

Shelley Watters Epic Follower Blogfest/Contest

I have mentioned before about using contest to their fullest. Lately I have been practicing what I preach.  A lot! In the post below you will see one of those contest at play.  Though I have not won anything; it hasn't dampened my spirits or hopes when entering any of the contests' that I have!  It's one part luck and two parts talent that gets you noticed in the literary world or in a literary contest!

The title of this blog is about a new contest that I have thrown my hat into its ring!  It is a wonderful contest that I encourage all of you to participate in!  The winner will get a full request; which is an awesome prize to win!  I have included the link below so you all may find her blog easily!

Now like I said before; get out there & work it!

http://shelleywatters.blogspot.com/2011/03/epic-follower-blogfestcontest.html#comment-form

Another Sample of My Writing: The Reunion: The First 255 Words

Yesterday I decided to send the first novel that I ever wrote to a few friends and family who had been asking to see my work.  It takes a lot for me to allow people in to my creative world because I do not believe that my writing is anything worth being seen.  At least not at this point.  It is a first draft; which means it needs revising and rewriting.  I've been told by a close friend that the feeling of your writing not being good enough comes with the job.  Just an occupational hazard is how I believe she put it.  I know this to be true.  Any how, I decided that if I was going to let them see my work that I might as well let you all see a sample of it.  Below is the first 255 words of my novel. Enjoy and feel free to comment!

It's coming out a little funny. I've tried my best to fix it; but it won't cooperate with me. Oh, well! 

Name: Jamie Corrigan

Title: The Reunion

Genre: Romance

The Wall

“He’s married.” And with those two words, my world stopped spinning. 

I hadn’t thought about him in years. Yeah, maybe a memory would come to mind; but only for a 

second or two.  Nothing special about that.  It happens to us all.  It doesn’t mean anything.  It’s just something that happens.  But what if that’s what we tell our selves?  What if it means everything?  

I’m just being silly.  Of course it doesn’t mean anything.  We were kids.  We were too young to

know what love was.  What real love was.  I have that now, so I know what that love feels like.  What we 

had was puppy love.  It was what kids do.  It was never going to be real.

So why am I finding it hard to breath ever since Katy told me the news?  Why is this affecting me so much?

“Morgan.  Are you alright?”  Katy was looking at me concerned.  “I’m fine.  I just wasn’t expecting that.”  I forced a smile.  She wasn’t buying it.  “Morg, I know how much yo-”  “Crushed on him.  Yeah, that was a long time ago.”  “No, I was going to say cared about him.  It’s understandable.  He was your first love.”  I waved my hand and shook my head, “It’s fine Katy.  I’m fine.  Besides, I have my own wedding to plan.”  I forced another smile.  This time more convincingly because Katy seemed to believe it.  “Ok.  That’s my girl!  Now let’s get to planning this wedding!”

Katy had been my best friend for years

Show Me The Voice Contest

Below is the first 250 words of my novel. I welcome any critiques or suggestions you all might have. Thanks & good luck to all who have entered! http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-on-show-me-voice-blogfestcontest.html#comments

After taking in all of the critiques; I have revised my first 250 words. I left the ending since everyone has already read it though. Enjoy! 



Name: Jamie Corrigan

Title: The Demon Chronicles: The Black Light Of Purity
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Romance

Final draft:

Sixteen year old Taisie sat on the edge of her bed holding the last picture that she and her mother had ever taken together.  Slowly her fingers traced the image of the small black rose ring that her mother was wearing.  Before she knew it a tear was falling from her blue eyes. Quickly she wiped it away feeling foolish.  Suddenly Taisie looked around herself and saw that gone were the four walls of her bedroom and even her sixteen year old self.   She now found herself sitting in her family’s back yard holding that same ring.  What unnerved her the most though wasn’t that she was holding the ring; it was that she was now the six year old little girl who had found it.

“Mama!  Look what I found!”  Taisie said as she burst through the front door of her family’s two story red brick home.  It was a warm spring day and the most beautiful one of the season.  With the lush green leaves and bright sunny colored flowers; it was what Taisie loved the most about her home!  Since it was close to summer no one seemed to mind the heat that seemed to Taisie to feel like the kind of heat that you only felt in a sauna.  Hurriedly she ran into the kitchen where she saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table.  

Taisie loved her mother so much.  She knew at that moment that she would always remember her sun kissed skin, green eyes, and shoulder length wavy brown hair.  To Taisie, her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Her mother’s green eyes flicked up from where she had been looking at a magazine and asked, “What did you find dear?”  She smiled so sweetly as she held out her hand for her beautiful six year old daughter to hand her the special find she had for her.  Taisie squealed as she held out her hand grinning.  Her mother’s eyes lit up as she saw in her little girls hand a small silver ring with a small perfect black jeweled rose sitting on top of it.  “It’s for you mama!”  Taisie squealed again.

For as long as Taisie could remember from that day on her mother always wore the special ring she had given her.  She always told her that it brought her good luck.  Once when Taisie was twelve and was going on her first group date her mother made her wear it saying, “It’ll bring you luck like it does me.”  

1st draft:

“Mama!  Look what I found!”  Taisie said as she burst through the front door of her family’s two story red brick home.  It was a warm spring day and the most beautiful one of the season.  Since it was close to summer no one seemed to mind the heat.  Taisie ran into the kitchen where she saw her mother sitting at the kitchen table.

Taisie loved her mother so much.  She knew she would always remember her sun kissed skin, green eyes, and shoulder length wavy brown hair.  To Taisie, her mother was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Her mother’s green eyes flicked up from where she had been looking at a magazine and asked, “What did you find dear?”  She smiled so sweetly as she held out her hand for her beautiful six year old daughter to hand her the special find she had for her.  Taisie squealed as she held out her hand grinning.  Her mother’s green eyes lit up as she saw in her little girls hand a small silver ring with a small perfect black jeweled rose sitting on top of it.  “It’s for you mama!”  Taisie squealed again.

For as long as Taisie could remember from that day on her mother always wore the special ring she had given her.  She always told her that it brought her good luck.  Once when Taisie was twelve and was going on her first group date her mother made her wear it saying, “It’ll bring you luck like it does me.”

Once again a great big thanks to all that help! 

Networking & Working It!

Lately I have been hard at work polishing up three of my novels.  I have made use of all of the tools available to me and that includes people.  The one thing that most author's forget about when writing is that the actual writing is only half of the work.  Once you finish your great American novel; you then have to put extra work into editing, revising, and shopping it around.

Networking is something that is very important. I have been doing this by asking questions and participating in discussions on twitter with agents and other authors. The way that I see it is if the agent remembers you from questions that have been asked or discussions that have been had via the Internet; then you have networked.

Then of course there are workshops and conferences.  I for one have been unable to attend any conferences; but I look forward to doing so in the future.  They are a great way to introduce yourself to agents and you may even find the agent you have been looking for that will just love your book!

When I say working it! What I mean is that there are many ways to shop your book around. Let's face it; it takes money and time to get a book published.  The problem is that most working authors aren't made of money and can't afford to pay the piper to get their work polished so it will be noticed.

The trick that I have learned to get past this is easily summed up in one word. CONTEST!  Yes.  That's what I said.  Contest are great ways to have your work edited and/or critiqued for FREE.  Below is just one great contest that does just such.

http://www.editorcassandra.com/search?q=

Another thing that I have learned that's a big money saver is having my trusted family members and friends read my work and give their opinions.  Once you have done all you can do on your own or with contest then move towards using your wallet to finish making your work the best that it can be before you start the query process.

No matter what methods you use to get the word out on your novel/short story/fan fiction; just remember to make contacts and research everything.  Use the resources around you and do the best that you possibly can to make your work be the best that it can be.  And remember to just work it!

Keep It Simple Stupid!

Let me say first off that I'm not calling anyone stupid.  It's just a saying! Now that that has been said let me begin this post by saying that this is a motto that we all should live by.  I have to thank a surprise message from someone yesterday who advised me to keep it simple regarding a question in my last post about whether you should mention a book is part of a series or not.  After receiving this message it came to me that this is something that as authors we all should live by.  Keep it simple & don't over complicate things.

If when you are writing you yourself get lost then chances are that the reader will too.  It's okay to make your MS mysterious but don't go way overboard.  Fluidity is one major key in writing.  Even when writing a query you need to be fluid.  Not complicated.

When sending a query be clear and concise.  Don't be overly pushy though.  Let the agent discuss things with you and share their knowledge of the business.  After all they do do this for a living and know what they are talking about.  As long as you keep things simple when explaining your MS idea then the agent will understand what you are wanting and needing in an agent period.

Basically what everything boils down to is this. Keep it simple stupid!

Now go out there and write your heart out! But make sure to keep it simply mysterious!

Advice, Advice, and MORE Advice

This post is thanks to all of the questions that I have been asking recently since my novel's second revision is coming closer to its end and all of the answers those questions have received.  I have found that for every question I have asked there have been at least two different answers given. Here are just a few examples I and a few others have been given to their questions:

1. Should I mention that my novel is a planned series?

A #1: Yes!
A #2: Never!

2. Should authors blog about their novels?

A #1: Authors should write about their work and progress so that potential agents will see that they a) have hype b) their progress. (Taken from a website.)

A #2: No!

3. How many words should a novel of my genre contain. (ex: YA)

A #1: 50,000 to 75,000  Over that you probably won't be accepted for a first time novel.

A #2: 50,000 isn't enough.  80,000 seems more like it.



Confusing?  YES!


Most of the questions above's answers have come from websites that anyone can look up.  What I've found is that depending on the agent and genre of the novel and if the genre is popular at the time of submission that these answers can change.  One agent wants it one way while another wants it another.

I don't blame them though!  I know that I like to sit down to a really long novel and sink my teeth into it so why wouldn't the author want to write one like that?  We do!

What I'm getting at here is that sometimes you have to follow your gut.  Ask questions and research the heck out of EVERYTHING! Once you have all of the answers available then weigh the responses out.  Try to figure out what they are saying.  Most likely over 50% will agree with one another.  Then do your best to abide by the guidelines given to make your novel/short story/fan fiction the best that it can be!

Find Your Inspiration

Over the last couple of years I have found that wanting to be a published writer has become more of a need.  Since the first story I ever wrote I find that there are twice the stories that I never finished.  So finally the other day while my husband was asleep I decided to read over the ones that lay unfinished to see what was I thinking and why I never finished them.  What I found out was that I became uninspired.

Inspiration is a very important part of writing.  At least it is to me.  If I can't get wrapped into the story I am writing then I just lose focus and interest in what the story is about.  Therefore it will forever be unfinished.  I just can't seem to push myself into completing it.  To tell the truth I can't even see a reader finishing it and I really wouldn't blame them.

If the author isn't inspired by what they are writing then the reader won't be inspired to read it.  That to me is the greatest gift an author can give a reader.  Inspiration.  If the world we are building inspires us to create amazing characters that do unworldly things then our readers will be inspired to believe in that world and actually imagine and believe those characters could do those things there.  Without inspiration then the world would just be dull and grey which isn't any fun to read or even imagine.

So if you are a writer who has found it hard to write the next great vampire book or YA novel take a look at your work and ask yourself if you are really inspired by that subject.  If the answer is no then find what you ARE inspired by.  Once you do then the creative juices should start flowing!  Now go out there & get inspired!