Ingrid Jonach's Blog, page 2

Why I would HATE to be superman

I have an EPIC fear of flying. I’ve been to a psychologist (she was a hang-glider in her free time). I’ve tried hypnotherapy (apparently, I can’t be hypnotised). I’ve tried over the counter sleeping tablets (no effect). I’ve been prescribed anti-anxiety meds (mixed results).

Let me explain what happens to me when I board a plane. The amount of adrenalin that starts to course through my body makes it feel like my fingernails are lifting up off my fingers and my teeth tingle like I’m being elec...

How do you SEE your characters?

I consider myself quite a visual person. My mother and step-father are both visual artists (my step-father sadly passed in 2010). I also used to draw a lot when I was younger (I think I went to my first nude drawing class when I was about ELEVEN!). This included illustrating a lot of my own stories.

Now when I write, I keep a folder on my computer which has sub-folders full of photos of the settings and characters in my manuscript, most of which I source online. The physical appearance of the...

My TOTALLY RATIONAL irrational behaviours

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, but there was probably no need for a test. I think I started having panic attacks about dying from about the age of seven or eight.

My grandparents were living with us while my grandpa battled terminal cancer and I suddenly started worrying I was going to be buried alive (being buried alive and dying in a plane crash are probably my two biggest fears). Apparently, in Ye Olde England they started tying bells to the wrists of f...

My MUSE is addicted to prescription pills

I had a middle ear infection last week (I know, totally TMI), but, in addition to discovering I have a dodgy eustachian tube, I also found out there’s something to be said about lying around, doped up on promethazine, to light the spark of inspiration.

The infection had been festering (EEW!) for about six weeks, which had slowed me down considerably. My hand eye coordination was about a good as a newborn foal’s (which isn’t good at all when you consider they have hooves, not hands) and my bra...

When I was a teen I got ALL SHOOK UP over Elvis

You would all know by now that I can be a little obsessive… A friend introducing me to the song All Shook Up was all I needed to launch headfirst into a love affair with Elvis Presley.

Since then, I’ve owned every piece of Elvis memorabilia and merchandise you can think of—and then some. I currently have an Elvis fobwatch, doll, keychain, sunglasses, umbrella and beach towel. Oh—and magnets, shot glasses, mugs and posters.

But who cares? No big deal. I want mooooooore!

I’ve owned every song h...

Writing the ALL IMPORTANT query letter

SO, you’ve fallen in love with an agent. Nothing creepy. You just check their twitter, facebook, instagram, tumblr and website a thousand times an hour and have their profile pic as your desktop wallpaper. Now you just need them to fall in love with your manuscript.

Heeere’s my manuscript!

If you’ve followed my tips for finding an agent, then you won’t be trying to submit a story about cowboys in space to an agent who represents contemporary romance. In your query letter you should tell them...

I met my dad when I was SEVENTEEN

My parents separated when I was six months old and, when I was three, he left the country to start a new family in the US.

Even though single parent families were not the norm at the time (this was the 80s), it was MY norm. I remember a girl at school finding out my parents were divorced and asking if I was OK, as if it had just happened.

Hey. I just found out your goldfish died when you were two!

I was actually A-OK. My mother was both nurturer and protector, and with two older brothers I wa...

How to snare a literary agent (be VEWY, VEWY quiet!)

Before I go ahead and blog about how to write a query letter, I thought I should (or would?) cover the process of submitting to an agent.

I read somewhere that in order to snare a literary agent, you need bait (a blow-them-out-of-the-water query letter) and a trap (a kick-ass manuscript). Even though hunting makes me want to throw up, this is SUCH a good analogy. You might have written a manuscript that will knock the RIGHT agent’s suitably hipster glasses off, but unless they request a parti...

When I was a teen… I stalked a boy until he became my boyfriend

I’m an obsessive person—just ask my mother or my husband. I used to collect pencil leads—jars and jars of them—as a kid. When I was 12, I decided primates were my favourite animal, so I spent an entire week on my haunches pretending to be a chimpanzee (and I wonder why I had so few friends…) I also once grew a rattail in honour of my favourite member of boyband Hanson. I know. Eew.

So, when I developed a crush on a guy at school who looked like he belonged in the aforementioned boyband there...

How to find the RIGHT literary agent

SO you want a literary agent… (if you could still go either way, you might like to check out my previous post on all the good stuff about agents).

To get an agent, FIRST you need to FIND THEM. There are a few ways to track down the right literary agent for you—RIGHT being the operative word. You’ll just be wasting your (and more importantly THEIR) time if you approach agents who don’t represent your genre or demographic (if you think YOU get a lot of emails…). That means if you write romances...