Quest to find some street art

I live in Banksy's home city, and Bristol has embraced street art over the years. I have no idea who created the following pieces, but I'm in awe at the sheer size of the images and impressed by the designs. (This is the kind of street art that gets a big thumbs up from me - it doesn't look like vandalism/graffiti, but shows the artist's talent on an epic scale.)

A YA book I've read that features spray cans and tags is HE'S AFTER ME by Chris Higgins. The blurb on the back cover says:

Anna meets Jem when her life is falling apart. And he's everything Anna needs him to be. As long as she has Jem, she knows everything will be OK.

But Anna's about to find out that not all love stories have a happy ending...

This book also gets a thumbs up from me.

Do you have any street art where you live?  Do you consider it graffiti or a work of art?

Quest: successful!

Season of mists...

...and mellow fruitfulness.

I love autumn. The colours of the leaves. The slight nip in the air. The early morning mist across the fields. For some reason, I always feel more inspired to write during this time. I guess it's the thought of snuggling up in the warm, my trusty laptop at hand, heading off into the unknown through the creative power of words.

Spook-tastic scenery!

My fingers a-tingle, longing to send another heroine out into the realm on an awesome quest. Magic and princes and danger and love will dance across the pages with her. Who knows where it will end?  (Actually, I know.  Now, I just have to figure out the beginning and the middle.  Oh, and I guess figuring out all the characters, too, wouldn't go amiss, eh? ;o) )

Is one season more inspiring for you than another?

Quest to write a synopsis

So, you've written your book (yay - congrats!). You've sent it to beta readers for feedback. You've worked on your book again to iron out the issues they had problems with. You've sent it back to beta readers. (Rinse and repeat until you're happy with your manuscript.) You've also been working on your query letter in the meantime and *gulp* received feedback on that. You're ready to dive into the query trenches - almost! What else do you need? Well, you'll probably need a synopsis. Some agents ask for one in your initial email along with a query and the first x number of pages of your manuscript. Some agents might ask for one if they want to see your full manuscript. My advice? Be prepared! You might target agents who don't ask for a synopsis initially, but they could still ask you for one later down the line. There's nothing to dim the joy of receiving a full request like a mad panic to condense your 80k book into a one or two (or more!) page document in the space of a few days (cos who wants to keep an agent waiting when they've asked to see your book, right?).

The last time I wrote a synopsis I picked out the main points and built them into a cohesive (one? two?-page) story. This time around, I tried a different approach. First, I wrote a rough chapter breakdown, picking out the salient bits from each chapter. It ran to about seven pages. Then I went through the document and edited out the not-quite-so-important bits until I'd reduced it to six pages. I saved the document as a rough six-page synopsis (always save. ALWAYS!! And back-up your files, too). I then did the same again until I had a rough five-page synopsis, and rinsed and repeated all the way down to a one-page synopsis. The beauty of this method is I now have varying lengths of a rough synopsis which I can polish until the rough edges are shiny and tailor accordingly to fit the agent's request (some might want a short one-page synopsis, others might want you to expand over several pages).

So, that was my method.  Do you have any tips for writing a synopsis?  Do you find them easy?

WriteOnCon 2014

WriteOnCon is an online children's writers conference that takes place in August each year. It began in 2010 and had over 11,000 attendees that first year (my mind can only boggle at the number of attendees in subsequent years as word spreads).

This year the conference will take place on August 26th and August 27th so clear the date in your diary. The schedule hasn't been announced yet, but I imagine they'll have lots of sound writerly advice with posts from published authors, agents and editors. They usually have live Q&A events, and last year they featured Twitter pitches with literary agents for the first time (my Twitter pitch was commented on in a session - it felt a bit surreal to see my Tweet onscreen and know hundreds or thousands of other people were seeing it as well).

Half of the fun is interacting with other writers in the forums (which usually open ahead of the conference itself). If you're a brave soul, you can post your query, first 250 words and/or first five pages for critique. You might have a Ninja Agent pop into your thread and make suggestions, or even PM you with a request to see more.

The conference & forums are well-worth a visit, so I'll hope to see you over there. (My username in the forums is 'Netz', if you're looking for me.)

Quest to finish my WIP this month (Part 2)

No, you can't read what comes before those last two words - spoilers!

After burning the candle at both ends for more times than was good for my sanity, I'm pleased to report I finished the second draft of my WIP at the end of June - hoorah! Afterwards I spent a few more days reading through and making minor changes before sending it to beta readers to pick up on whatever plot holes or typos (or anything really!) they could find that I'd missed. Sometimes a writer is too close to the story to see things that are obvious to others, so it's best to hand your polished manuscript over to someone else for feedback. Ideally it's best to get a range of opinions and it's also a good idea to save some beta readers for the next version of the manuscript (you know, once you've incorporated the feedback from your first round of beta readers).

At this point, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to Amanda Panitch and Rubianna Masa who have been my faithful and supportive beta readers over the last few years. They have both been incredibly helpful with their comments, and my manuscripts have become much stronger as a result.  Thank you, ladies!

I'm currently incorporating feedback from my two fastest beta readers (thank you, Amanda and Mara) and hope to have finished this by the end of this month. No rest for that poor candle, eh?

Do you use beta readers? How many 'rounds' do you usually have?

Quest to finish my WIP this month (Part 1)

I don't often (read: hardly ever. Read: probably not at all) write about my writing journey on here. Where I am in the process. What I'm working on. How it's been a longer journey than anticipated (but all the detours have been so helpful).

At the moment I'm working on another YA Fantasy which I started last July. It's set in the same world as my other manuscript, but about 25 years before, and features some of the same characters (but younger versions of them, obviously!). Prior to that, I'd been attempting to plot another standalone book in the same world, but it just wasn't gelling so I switched to my current WIP. Due to health problems (I was quite anaemic) I didn't have much energy to write and only managed 738 words in the whole of July. I didn't pick up my keyboard again until October, whereupon I wrote 2386 words - progress! I knuckled down seriously in December (my anaemia was gone and I had much more energy) and started my first draft properly. By mid-April I'd completed it with a wordcount of 83k - not too shabby, eh? Since then (and with a bit of a time-out for an operation) I've been polishing my WIP and am currently about three-fifths of the way through. My goal for the last month or so has been to finish polishing by the end of June - I want to be able to say it took me a year to go from first conceiving the idea to having a beta-ready manuscript (plus it helps keep me motivated).

Time to crack on! (I'll report my progress next month.)

How about you? Do you set yourself writing goals/track your progress?

The Writer's Voice 2014 (Part Two)

Image used with permission

The Writer's Voice 2014 entrants are nervously awaiting the coaches' picks, and you can share their anxiety over on Twitter. The hashtag to use is #TheWVoice. (Of the 159 entrants, I'm only missing 23 Twitter names. If you haven't stopped by before, then let me know your details - I'm @AnnetteTDodd or you can post in the comments below, along with your entry number.)

Following on from my previous post, I'll update details of the teams here over the next few days. Already it sounds like some of the coaches will be slugging it out over entries, so stay tuned for a ringside seat!

COACH PICKS:

Brenda (#TeamBrenda): #6  #8  #15  #45  #56  #106  #120  #129
     #15   = Adult Historical
     #8     = Adult Romance
     #45   = Adult SF
     #6     = MG Contemporary Fantasy
     #129 = MG Magical Realism
     #106 = YA Contemporary
     #56   = YA Gothic Romance
     #120 = YA Urban Fantasy

Elizabeth (#TeamRockStar): #1  #7  #13  #51  #69  #142  #149  #155
      #149 = Adult Historical Romance
      #69   = MG Contemporary
      #7     = MG Fantasy
      #51   = UMG SF
      #142 = YA Contemporary
      #1     = YA Dark Contemporary
      #13   = YA Fantasy
      #155 = YA Western Fantasy

Kimberly (#TeamSuperNova):  #65  #67  #81  #89  #101  #118  #121  #145
      #89   = Adult Romance
      #101 = Adult SF/Political
      #65   = MG
      #81   = YA Contemporary
      #145 = YA Historical Fantasy
      #121 = YA Magical Realism
      #118 = YA Paranormal Suspense
      #67   = YA SF

Monica (#TeamMonicaFTW):  #27  #38  #83  #95  #97  #127  #132  #143
      #127 = Adult Urban Fantasy
      #27   = MG Adventure with light SF
      #95   = MG Fantasy
      #143 = UMG Contemporary LGBT
      #132 = YA Coming of Age
      #83   = YA Road Trip
      #38   = YA SF
      #97   = YA SF

FIGHTS!:
Brenda v Elizabeth v Monica (#13) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Brenda v Elizabeth (#142) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Brenda v Monica (#95) - WINNER: Monica
Elizabeth v Kimberly (#67) - WINNER: Kimberly

Additional pages have been requested by:

Brenda - #118
Kimberly - #60,  #118  #158  #81  #8
Krista (on behalf of Elizabeth) - #69
Monica - #10,  #37,  #77,  #132  #38  #145  #47  #17  #127