Saskia E. Akyil's Blog
May 7, 2013
http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/shelftalker/?p=10803&cpage=1#comment-80641
Author writes children's book.
Nobody wants to publish it. It remains unpublished.
A string of events brings the manuscript into the hands of a child.
Ten years later, child (now young adult) writes an e-mail to the author telling her how the book changed her life.
Get some tissues ready.
Author writes children's book.
Nobody wants to publish it. It remains unpublished.
A string of events brings the manuscript into the hands of a child.
Ten years later, child (now young adult) writes an e-mail to the author telling her how the book changed her life.
Get some tissues ready.
January 26, 2013
Novel plots and pitches follow pretty predictable formulas, but it's not so easy to find those formulas summarized simply. This website does a fabulous job of it: http://www.iggiandgabi.com/2010/05/abcs-of-writing-a-pitch/. Yep, the ABCs of writing a pitch. It makes the incredibly difficult job of summarizing your 40,000-100,000-word novel in 300 words much less daunting. I still haven't figured out how to summarize any of my novels in one sentence, though. Any pointers?
December 27, 2012
And here's my interview revisited...
http://morgensauthorinterviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/author-interview-no490-with-ya-writer.html
Tell all your friends and family to download my book for free. It would be even better if they read it!
http://morgensauthorinterviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/author-interview-no490-with-ya-writer.html
Tell all your friends and family to download my book for free. It would be even better if they read it!
December 14, 2012
The name of my new novel is Mystic Grounds, and here are a few words about it:
Have you ever wondered if your fate has already been written? MYSTIC GROUNDS is a 39,831-word YA novel in which three friends, Esra, Anjali, and Sage, try to figure out who they are, who they’re not, and whether it’s even up to them. Esra is just your average geeky hypochondriac haiku-writing high school junior until she and her friends discover that she can decipher the future in mysterious patters formed by coffee grounds. When good and bad predictions start coming true, everyone starts to wonder whether Esra is simply predicting the future or if she’s actually manipulating it. Are Esra and her friends in control of their own destinies, or has the future already been determined?
I'm querying it at the moment, hoping that an agent will like it enough to sign me, and then sell it to a traditional publisher. I know, I know, there are lots of arguments against traditional publishing, but I'm going to try anyway. Why? Well, there are some arguments for traditional publishers, too:
They can get my book into bookstores. It's something I can sort-of do, maybe, but not really. Especially because I live abroad.They can organize translation rights. I cannot do this.Agents have a relatively good idea of what sells. If one believes in my book well enough to take on the project, they can help me make improvements to the manuscript. Traditionally published books can get reviewed by all, not just some, review organizations.One must admit that it would feel really good to hear that an agent, who reads thousands of manuscripts a year, liked mine. So I hope that happens.I've now queried 15 agents. One has already sent me a rejection letter. I'm past the point of the rejection hurting too much. Most authors have to be rejected many times before finding representation. It's part of the process. Oh, and in case you're wondering, a query letter is a one-page letter that you send to agents. In that letter, you have to introduce your book and yourself. You get one page to spark their interest. It's incredibly hard to do. I've done my batch of 15 and now I'm going to stop and wait. Because if there's no positive response at all, I'll have to go back to the drawing board with the letter. You don't get a second chance with agents - once you've sent them a query letter for a project, you don't get to send them a revised query letter for that project unless it's years later and you've massively revised the manuscript. So you don't want to write to a hundred agents only to realize that your letter is rubbish and that you should have written something else.
It's been said that it's unfair for agents to make judgements this way, but I do think it's perfectly fair. It's no different than how we judge books we're going to buy at a bookstore (or on Amazon). We see the title, we look at the cover artwork. That's step one. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but covers do tell us a lot. I definitely judge books by their covers (though I don't think I judge people that way. Well, maybe a little). Manuscripts don't have covers, though. The next step in knowing whether you'd like to read a book is to read the back of the cover. In a query, you're essentially coming up with hypothetical back-cover text.
Some agents let you attach some of your manuscript. Sometimes it's the first page, sometimes the first 50 pages, sometimes the first chapter or the first three chapters. Of course they'll get a better sense of the book by reading three chapters than by reading one page, but how many times have you picked up a book and read the first page and thought no, this is not for me ? I have. So I can't fault agents.
This month, I was supposed to read a book for book club, for example, and I liked page one. But by page two, I already didn't like it. I read 30 pages, at which point I hated it. I will not torture myself and read on. I'm not taking some literature class that I will get a grade on. The author had written other highly-acclaimed novels. After deciding I hated the book, I read some reviews of it. Some were glowing, but many (perhaps most) were along the lines of "I loved _______s other books, but this one is awful." One reviewer even went on to say that if this had been the author's first book, rather than the 3rd after 2 highly successful books, he would never have gotten published. That made me feel really good. I'm not entirely sure why.
All I can do is cross my fingers and hope that someone likes my book. One agent has the entire manuscript. She had read my entire other manuscript and loved my writing but not the characters. I'm hoping that this time, she'll love both.
How do you choose what you're going to read?
Have you ever wondered if your fate has already been written? MYSTIC GROUNDS is a 39,831-word YA novel in which three friends, Esra, Anjali, and Sage, try to figure out who they are, who they’re not, and whether it’s even up to them. Esra is just your average geeky hypochondriac haiku-writing high school junior until she and her friends discover that she can decipher the future in mysterious patters formed by coffee grounds. When good and bad predictions start coming true, everyone starts to wonder whether Esra is simply predicting the future or if she’s actually manipulating it. Are Esra and her friends in control of their own destinies, or has the future already been determined?I'm querying it at the moment, hoping that an agent will like it enough to sign me, and then sell it to a traditional publisher. I know, I know, there are lots of arguments against traditional publishing, but I'm going to try anyway. Why? Well, there are some arguments for traditional publishers, too:
They can get my book into bookstores. It's something I can sort-of do, maybe, but not really. Especially because I live abroad.They can organize translation rights. I cannot do this.Agents have a relatively good idea of what sells. If one believes in my book well enough to take on the project, they can help me make improvements to the manuscript. Traditionally published books can get reviewed by all, not just some, review organizations.One must admit that it would feel really good to hear that an agent, who reads thousands of manuscripts a year, liked mine. So I hope that happens.I've now queried 15 agents. One has already sent me a rejection letter. I'm past the point of the rejection hurting too much. Most authors have to be rejected many times before finding representation. It's part of the process. Oh, and in case you're wondering, a query letter is a one-page letter that you send to agents. In that letter, you have to introduce your book and yourself. You get one page to spark their interest. It's incredibly hard to do. I've done my batch of 15 and now I'm going to stop and wait. Because if there's no positive response at all, I'll have to go back to the drawing board with the letter. You don't get a second chance with agents - once you've sent them a query letter for a project, you don't get to send them a revised query letter for that project unless it's years later and you've massively revised the manuscript. So you don't want to write to a hundred agents only to realize that your letter is rubbish and that you should have written something else.
It's been said that it's unfair for agents to make judgements this way, but I do think it's perfectly fair. It's no different than how we judge books we're going to buy at a bookstore (or on Amazon). We see the title, we look at the cover artwork. That's step one. They say not to judge a book by its cover, but covers do tell us a lot. I definitely judge books by their covers (though I don't think I judge people that way. Well, maybe a little). Manuscripts don't have covers, though. The next step in knowing whether you'd like to read a book is to read the back of the cover. In a query, you're essentially coming up with hypothetical back-cover text.
Some agents let you attach some of your manuscript. Sometimes it's the first page, sometimes the first 50 pages, sometimes the first chapter or the first three chapters. Of course they'll get a better sense of the book by reading three chapters than by reading one page, but how many times have you picked up a book and read the first page and thought no, this is not for me ? I have. So I can't fault agents.
This month, I was supposed to read a book for book club, for example, and I liked page one. But by page two, I already didn't like it. I read 30 pages, at which point I hated it. I will not torture myself and read on. I'm not taking some literature class that I will get a grade on. The author had written other highly-acclaimed novels. After deciding I hated the book, I read some reviews of it. Some were glowing, but many (perhaps most) were along the lines of "I loved _______s other books, but this one is awful." One reviewer even went on to say that if this had been the author's first book, rather than the 3rd after 2 highly successful books, he would never have gotten published. That made me feel really good. I'm not entirely sure why.
All I can do is cross my fingers and hope that someone likes my book. One agent has the entire manuscript. She had read my entire other manuscript and loved my writing but not the characters. I'm hoping that this time, she'll love both.
How do you choose what you're going to read?
November 22, 2012
The following photos were taken at the Boulder Bookstore by a friend who stopped by to see my book there. How I wish I could see that in person!
October 4, 2012
Who has enough time? Nobody. The truth is that often, there really is enough time every day, but one does need to sleep. And to be honest, I spend most evenings responding to e-mails, looking at Facebook, and watching movies. But I also feel that winding down is an important part of my day - it's downtime, and without it, I don't function well and I certainly don't sleep well.
What I need more of is morning time. I am so productive first thing in the morning, when the air is cool and the birds are singing. I feel refreshed after a night's sleep, the phone doesn't ring, and my creative juices flow. Sure, sometimes I do write at night, but when I do that, I often find that the quality of my writing is poor, so most of the time, it's not worth it.
Recently, I accepted an invitation to write three articles for a book that is being put together for (new) expats in Germany. The articles were on raising multilingual children, raising multicultural children, and trailing spouses. In order to do the topics justice rather than simply writing up articles based solely on my personal experience and knowledge, I did a lot of research for the articles, and also conducted two surveys. I read as much as I could, made sure I included references from the most well-known and important books and websites on the subject, and tried to write great articles. It had been a long time since I'd written anything non-fiction (other than a blog), and I had to use a part of my brain that, unfortunately, had some cobwebs on it.
Great exercise, glad I took it on, but also glad it's over! I only had a couple of weeks to turn in the articles, and having a deadline imposed by someone other than myself was rather difficult. In those two weeks, I also had to organize my son's first day of school (quite a lot of preparation here in Germany), attend two parent-teacher conferences, two women's group meetings (they always take the entire day), book club (needless to say, I didn't finish reading the book!), and to top it all off, I had three days of debilitating migraine right smack in the middle. How I got those articles written, I do not know.
I had been toying with the idea of exploring more freelance writing as a side-job, but I think this latest experience has extinguished that possibility. I really loved the experience, but between regular commitments, such as laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc... and other commitments that one makes, it is very unlikely that I'd find enough morning time to do good writing. And my second book? That collected dust while I was working on the articles. I also lost the momentum I had, and am struggling to find it again.
Now, I'm back to writing my book on my own schedule, as slow as that has to be sometimes. I've got a self-imposed deadline of a completed first draft by the end of October, but it doesn't make me feel stressed, because if it's not finished by my deadline, nobody will be disappointed but myself. If a great freelancing project falls into my lap again, I may take it, but I won't be seeking out any projects, at least not for now.
What I need more of is morning time. I am so productive first thing in the morning, when the air is cool and the birds are singing. I feel refreshed after a night's sleep, the phone doesn't ring, and my creative juices flow. Sure, sometimes I do write at night, but when I do that, I often find that the quality of my writing is poor, so most of the time, it's not worth it. Recently, I accepted an invitation to write three articles for a book that is being put together for (new) expats in Germany. The articles were on raising multilingual children, raising multicultural children, and trailing spouses. In order to do the topics justice rather than simply writing up articles based solely on my personal experience and knowledge, I did a lot of research for the articles, and also conducted two surveys. I read as much as I could, made sure I included references from the most well-known and important books and websites on the subject, and tried to write great articles. It had been a long time since I'd written anything non-fiction (other than a blog), and I had to use a part of my brain that, unfortunately, had some cobwebs on it.
Great exercise, glad I took it on, but also glad it's over! I only had a couple of weeks to turn in the articles, and having a deadline imposed by someone other than myself was rather difficult. In those two weeks, I also had to organize my son's first day of school (quite a lot of preparation here in Germany), attend two parent-teacher conferences, two women's group meetings (they always take the entire day), book club (needless to say, I didn't finish reading the book!), and to top it all off, I had three days of debilitating migraine right smack in the middle. How I got those articles written, I do not know.
I had been toying with the idea of exploring more freelance writing as a side-job, but I think this latest experience has extinguished that possibility. I really loved the experience, but between regular commitments, such as laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc... and other commitments that one makes, it is very unlikely that I'd find enough morning time to do good writing. And my second book? That collected dust while I was working on the articles. I also lost the momentum I had, and am struggling to find it again. Now, I'm back to writing my book on my own schedule, as slow as that has to be sometimes. I've got a self-imposed deadline of a completed first draft by the end of October, but it doesn't make me feel stressed, because if it's not finished by my deadline, nobody will be disappointed but myself. If a great freelancing project falls into my lap again, I may take it, but I won't be seeking out any projects, at least not for now.
September 14, 2012
I was recently interviewed on a writer's blog. It was sooo fun to be interviewed, I must say! Find the full interview here: http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/author-interview-no-490-with-ya-writer-saskia-akyil.
Since the actual interview took place in May, some of the information is old, such as the subject of my next book...
Since the actual interview took place in May, some of the information is old, such as the subject of my next book...
September 7, 2012
I've never really had a good writing space before. I just sort-of picked up my laptop and brought it wherever I wanted to write. A desk, I had. It was otherwise known as my dumping spot. I complained that it was not a real desk, just a table. I am not the least-organized person in the world. After all, I manage to keep up with the personal appointments, laundry, nourishment, and paperwork of four people. It has been mentioned that I could do a better job, yet I haven't been fired yet because nobody else is willing to do the job. My desk really made me look bad, though. Things would come in the mail, I'd collect our company's paperwork, the kids would bring home pictures, I would start writing holiday cards, and it would all end up in a pile on my desk until I sorted through it. I was only somewhat aware of what was even on the desk. My husband's desk, on the other hand, always looked very neat. He also occasionally put papers on my desk. For me to sort through and take care of. I was not very happy with the system. One morning, our 6-year-old son got up at seven, and "neatened" my desk. The organized piles of papers were now one disorganized pile of papers, but at least the desk could be seen. "Don't mess it up again!" he warned me.
As you can probably guess, writing at my desk was not an option.
Well, now it is. Presenting: the. coolest. desk. ever.
Now, my stuff is organized, as there is a place to organize it. I cannot dump stuff on her because she doesn't have much dumping space. I plain old have to file things when I get them. And for the other stuff, it has a place. My cards, my colored pencils, my paint, my pens, my office supplies - they each have their own drawers. Whether or not I will actually sit at my desk and type there as opposed to bringing my laptop to the most comfortable spot is yet to be seen. But one thing for sure is that I will feel and be more organized, which will hopefully save me time. And I will surely hand write cards there, because she's begging me to.
As you can probably guess, writing at my desk was not an option.
Well, now it is. Presenting: the. coolest. desk. ever.
Now, my stuff is organized, as there is a place to organize it. I cannot dump stuff on her because she doesn't have much dumping space. I plain old have to file things when I get them. And for the other stuff, it has a place. My cards, my colored pencils, my paint, my pens, my office supplies - they each have their own drawers. Whether or not I will actually sit at my desk and type there as opposed to bringing my laptop to the most comfortable spot is yet to be seen. But one thing for sure is that I will feel and be more organized, which will hopefully save me time. And I will surely hand write cards there, because she's begging me to.
August 31, 2012
On this rainy Friday, full of laundry, ironing, and paperwork, this review improved my day!
4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets of a Summer Village, August 31, 2012 By M. Reynard "kairosdreaming" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Secrets of a Summer Village (Paperback) *This book was received as a free advanced reader's copy*
This was a charming book. Highly appropriate for middle school aged children and even high school children it tells a very relateable story of a young girl and her exchange student trip.
Rachel is all set to go to Mexico for an exchange program. The only problem, there is no room for her. But then at the last minute a spot opens up for a trip to Turkey. At first she's not sure if she should go, she knows nothing about the country and their customs. But the more she thinks about it the more appealing it is, especially compared to working at a coffee shop all summer. So off she flies to meet her new host family, who has a daughter her age and one a little older. Turkey is nothing like she expects, the women are stylish, the food different but good, and the language hard to learn but worth striving for. She enjoys her new sister Aylin and her family and even develops a crush on Aylin's cousin. The summer is flying by with Rachel enjoying all of her experiences, so much so that she isn't sure she wants to go home.
Rachel is a very nice character. She has a few flaws and seems very shy, but in a way she is also open too. My only complaint about her would be that she is written a little younger seeming than seventeen. I actually pictured her more around thirteen or fourteen years old instead of almost being a legal adult. Perhaps she was just a little too naive. Aylin on the other hand was more believable with her naivete. Perhaps it was just because of her culture, but it seemed that she reacted more in an age appropriate manner to different things. The rest of the characters really fleshed out the story and I enjoyed being "introduced" to each one. Especially the adults as they represented a different side of a culture compared to just the exchange story.
There was no real strife in this book, and that was fine. It was more just a growing up, exploring kind of tale rather than something that had to have an antagonist. It was almost like sitting down with a friend, or reading someones journal on their trip to Turkey and you felt as if you could almost know Rachel in real life. I do think that the language in this book and the writing style is highly appropriate for the younger age ranges. There was nothing inappropriate and there were even some very helpful lessons on Turkish culture thrown in. And the "voices" the characters used were authentic enough to replicate a new learner of English. An adult could read it and enjoy it as well (I did and I consider myself an adult some of the time) but I really do think this book is a prime target for the 12-18 range. Or anyone who is considering a school trip abroad. I do think the ending was a little abrupt though, I wanted to know what was going to happen in the future. Perhaps that means another book coming?
A very nice book, one I enjoyed reading. I can only hope that Akyil continues writing.
Secrets of a Summer Village
Copyright 2011
293 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
4.0 out of 5 stars Secrets of a Summer Village, August 31, 2012 By M. Reynard "kairosdreaming" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Secrets of a Summer Village (Paperback) *This book was received as a free advanced reader's copy*
This was a charming book. Highly appropriate for middle school aged children and even high school children it tells a very relateable story of a young girl and her exchange student trip.
Rachel is all set to go to Mexico for an exchange program. The only problem, there is no room for her. But then at the last minute a spot opens up for a trip to Turkey. At first she's not sure if she should go, she knows nothing about the country and their customs. But the more she thinks about it the more appealing it is, especially compared to working at a coffee shop all summer. So off she flies to meet her new host family, who has a daughter her age and one a little older. Turkey is nothing like she expects, the women are stylish, the food different but good, and the language hard to learn but worth striving for. She enjoys her new sister Aylin and her family and even develops a crush on Aylin's cousin. The summer is flying by with Rachel enjoying all of her experiences, so much so that she isn't sure she wants to go home.
Rachel is a very nice character. She has a few flaws and seems very shy, but in a way she is also open too. My only complaint about her would be that she is written a little younger seeming than seventeen. I actually pictured her more around thirteen or fourteen years old instead of almost being a legal adult. Perhaps she was just a little too naive. Aylin on the other hand was more believable with her naivete. Perhaps it was just because of her culture, but it seemed that she reacted more in an age appropriate manner to different things. The rest of the characters really fleshed out the story and I enjoyed being "introduced" to each one. Especially the adults as they represented a different side of a culture compared to just the exchange story.
There was no real strife in this book, and that was fine. It was more just a growing up, exploring kind of tale rather than something that had to have an antagonist. It was almost like sitting down with a friend, or reading someones journal on their trip to Turkey and you felt as if you could almost know Rachel in real life. I do think that the language in this book and the writing style is highly appropriate for the younger age ranges. There was nothing inappropriate and there were even some very helpful lessons on Turkish culture thrown in. And the "voices" the characters used were authentic enough to replicate a new learner of English. An adult could read it and enjoy it as well (I did and I consider myself an adult some of the time) but I really do think this book is a prime target for the 12-18 range. Or anyone who is considering a school trip abroad. I do think the ending was a little abrupt though, I wanted to know what was going to happen in the future. Perhaps that means another book coming?
A very nice book, one I enjoyed reading. I can only hope that Akyil continues writing.
Secrets of a Summer Village
Copyright 2011
293 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2012
One of the best things about writing is reviews. Obviously, good reviews are preferred, but just the fact that someone is reading the story I wrote and getting feedback - any feedback - is a lifeline. I am a SAHM. Stay-at-home-mom for those of you who don't know the acronym. It makes it sound like I'm always at home, and I'm not, but I do have contact with fewer people than I would if I worked outside the home. But my novel helps me reach out to the world, and sometimes people reach right back out. In the past few weeks, I've gotten a few new reviews on Amazon, both from people I don't know.
And the good reviews don't make me think yeah, I'm an awesome writer. I rock. They make me think wow, someone took the time to sit down and read the story I wrote. And it brought them pleasure. And maybe they learned something new. That rocks. So, reviewers, thank you!
Here are the two reviews that appeared on Amazon:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Gem! August 21, 2012By alisonwFormat:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified PurchaseA lovely gem! Secrets of A Summer Village is an innocent and lovely coming of age story revolving around two fast friends, Rachel Guo and her host-sister Aylin, and Aylin's host-family and friends in a summer beach village called Didum, Turkey. Secrets surrounding relationships are the theme of the story as are the customs and language of Turkey and commonalities between Rachel's American-Chinese culture and Turkish culture. This is a well-written, delightful story that brought back some nostalgia about my teenage years. Rachel's involvement with Aylin's cousin, Cem is short and sweet. I would recommend this book to my nieces and for any one interested in a page-turning nostalgic tale of falling in love for the first time in their youth, and to anyone interested in another culture.Comment |
Was this review helpful to you?
It is very clean but still interesting so safe for a younger teen to read without worrying about language and overt sexual descriptions. I enjoyed that, without knowing it, you learned a lot about the Turkish culture and way of life as well.
And the good reviews don't make me think yeah, I'm an awesome writer. I rock. They make me think wow, someone took the time to sit down and read the story I wrote. And it brought them pleasure. And maybe they learned something new. That rocks. So, reviewers, thank you!
Here are the two reviews that appeared on Amazon:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Gem! August 21, 2012By alisonwFormat:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified PurchaseA lovely gem! Secrets of A Summer Village is an innocent and lovely coming of age story revolving around two fast friends, Rachel Guo and her host-sister Aylin, and Aylin's host-family and friends in a summer beach village called Didum, Turkey. Secrets surrounding relationships are the theme of the story as are the customs and language of Turkey and commonalities between Rachel's American-Chinese culture and Turkish culture. This is a well-written, delightful story that brought back some nostalgia about my teenage years. Rachel's involvement with Aylin's cousin, Cem is short and sweet. I would recommend this book to my nieces and for any one interested in a page-turning nostalgic tale of falling in love for the first time in their youth, and to anyone interested in another culture.Comment |
Was this review helpful to you?
It is very clean but still interesting so safe for a younger teen to read without worrying about language and overt sexual descriptions. I enjoyed that, without knowing it, you learned a lot about the Turkish culture and way of life as well.
