Scott Tracey's Blog, page 14

Eerie Query Week: Monday Tips about Query Writing

Okay, so I promised that this week I would do a series of blog posts about queries.  Why?  I'm pretty sure the answer to that is that I'm a masochist.  So every day this week, I'll post advice that I would give, I'll answer questions if you have them (hint: leave them in the comments!), and I'll even offer a query critique to anyone who wants one (within reason), provided you let me post it on the blog.

Also, Query week needs some sort of name.  What about Eerie Query Week?  Yes?  No?

Up first, I want to do a post with my query writing tips, but I also want to try and give different advice than the usual stuff you see.  So bear with me.  If you're struggling with your query, here's some suggestions of things to try.

A suggestion I saw recently (I think it was on the Query Shark blog) is that you should always write a normal query letter first.  Summarize your novel.  Just get it down on the paper and down to a manageable size.  Once you can do that, you have something to start with so that you can play around with it.

Keep it simple.  You have 1-2 paragraphs to summarize your whole book.  If you spend all that just describing the characters, or the themes in your novel, agents are going to lose interest.

I definitely agree with writing several different versions of the query.  Try writing one focused just on the main character's journey.  Try writing one that covers just the sub plots.  Heck, try one that uses Beach Boys lyrics to explain everything that happens.  Shake your personal Boggle and mix up the words.  Give yourself permission to try different things.

Pick out your five favorite lines from your novel. Now, why are they your favorite?  Is it the way you play with language?  Is it a particularly enchanting turn of phrase?  Or maybe you just like the way the voice comes across the page.  Keep in mind how many times you probably worked on those lines.  It's okay to work on polishing the query just as much.

Good.  Now take these lines, and try to inject your query with the same kinds of lines.  Look at how you're describing things.  Is everything dynamic?  You want the query to pop, so actions are louder than words (I mean, I guess technically your query is all words and not actions….)  Ahem.  Moving on.

Only use a comparison if it's going to make someone stop and stare.  I write books about magic.  The last book I'm ever going to compare myself to is Harry Potter.  Witch Eyes was pitched to editors as 'Smallville meets a modern, gay Romeo and Juliet.'  When I queried Moonset, it was Party of Five meets The Craft.  (Please tell me you know what Party of Five is.  Otherwise, I'm going to have to dip into Bailey's secret stash of booze).  (If you got that joke, you are cool).

I use the comparison heavily when I'm working on a book.  All of my books have a "It's like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory meets Alien Versus Predator" attached to them.  Or "it's like Stephen King's Firestarter meets The Amazing Race." But not everyone can or should do this, of course.  I mean, I also write a query for every single project I work on, even though I already have an agent.  It's just how I process my concept.

If you use a description, it also has to FIT.  Don't include one just to have one, or just to link yourself to bigger projects than yours.  If you declare that your book is "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause meets Nightmare on Elm Street (the 2010 version)" then by god, I'd better see Jack Frost wake from a nightmare in a boiler basement with his pajamas shredded.

Long story short, only use a comparison if it's really going to work for your particular novel.  It may not, and that's okay.

Have fun with your query. Think about lines and descriptions that would make YOU smile.

The query for my first book references Corey Hart.  And if you don't know who Corey Hart is, you're either not American, or you're young enough that I'm going to sob quietly in my corner.  Explanation:  Corey Hart sang the classic 80s tune "Sunglasses at Night." You know…about how he wears them.  His sunglasses, I mean.  At night.

When I have to describe the feud plaguing Belle Dam in the book, I explain that "each side wants to use (Braden) to achieve a final, vicious victory."  A final, vicious victory.  That just SOUNDS fun.  (Err, you know what i mean – a vicious victory doesn't ACTUALLY sound like fun).

My second query referenced Maleficent.  (yes, THAT Maleficent).  Now if I was an agent, I think anyone that referenced Maleficent would immediately get my full attention.  But I also grounded my reference in history.  "If Maleficent and Joseph Stalin had started a coven, the result would have been Moonset."  Wait, you don't know who Stalin is?  Sigh.  Crack a history book and YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN.

Query your friends first. I wouldn't have gotten the Witch Eyes query where it is without writing friends on the Querytracker boards.  One thing I would strongly suggest is pick one or two friends to start with.  Send them your query.  Ask them what they think.  If they tell you it's perfect, discard their opinion.  Because a query is never perfect, and there's always improvements you can make.

If they're not telling you it's perfect, that's great!  Now look at their suggestions.  Ask them point blank: if they were an agent, would they request?

You want the answer to be yes, but you also want the answer to be honest.  Public boards like Absolute Write and Querytracker are good places for a mix of pat-on-the-backing and brutal honesty.  Someone may tear your query apart, but just look at it as an important life lesson.  You're going to get your heart torn out on a daily basis as a writer.

Okay, so that's all my advice for today.  If you're querying, or hoping to query soon, good luck to you, and I hope something in here was helpful to you!  Remember, if you want me to critique your query (and maybe some of my friends will point out that I helped them out in the comments) then email it to me at scottshouldbewriting at gmail dot com. And if you don't want me using your real name, let me know in the email.  Any and all queries sent to me will get critiqued and posted on the blog this week, so look out for that.

If you have any questions you want me to answer, or you want me to blog about something specific, leave me a comment!

The Bookanistas: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

I'm doing another Bookanista review!  Finally!  One of my non-resolutions was to get back into the habit of reviewing things, and so I am.  This is a resolution I can actually stick with, I think!

First off, a note.  You don't know how emotionally difficult this review is for me.  Because whenever I write about Beth Revis, my brain automatically adds that extra e.  And then it's staring at me.  Revise.  Revise.  You should revise.  And then I delete the E, but my brain still knows it's there.  So then it's Revis(-e).  Silent, but there.

And in less crazy news, let's talk about Across the Universe.  First, the fact that Beth has taken what's essentially Sci-Fi, and made it both completely approachable, and yet utterly fascinating at the same time, had me in awe.  I knew I was going to be hooked with this book when I read the chapters in the beginning about cryogenics.  I had NEVER thought about being frozen like that before, and the image would not stop haunting me as I read the book.

It's interesting, because reading it, I thought Elder was the more approachable of the characters.  I don't know if this was because he was a boy, and I'm a boy, or if it was something on the part of the storytelling, but Elder's the one for whom the strange life aboard the Godspeed is NORMAL.  He doesn't need things explained like the rest of us do.  Or like Amy does.

There were little details in the book that absolutely fascinated me.  I'm a sucker for world-building, and I especially love when an author can give you a throwaway line that gives you SUCH a strong sense that the world is so different than the one you know.  It's like on Fringe, when they first introduced the alternate world, and you learn that coffee is rationed.  (Can you even IMAGINE???  I think I would die).  There's a line about a historical figure in Across the Universe that really made me stop and ponder over.

Across the Universe also gives you a full story, one that comes full circle.  When someone asked me about it, I said that it was a little like The Hunger Games in that regard.  The Hunger Games is a trilogy, and so is Across the Universe.  But when you finish The Hunger Games, it's a full story.  At that point, you couldn't possibly imagine the events that were going to take place in Catching Fire and Mockingjay.  And I think Across the Universe has the same fascinating position.  I don't already know where the series is heading (which is ironic, in a series about a spaceship), but it's totally fascinating.

Across the Universe comes out THIS Tuesday, so you should drop whatever you're doing, and pick it up!  And check out the other Bookanista reviews:

Michelle Hodkin gushes about The Near Witch
Elana Johnson schools us on The Education of Hailey Kendrick
LiLa Roecker celebrates XVI's book birthday
Christine Fonseca raves about Wither
Shannon Messenger travels Across the Universe with a special giveaway
Shelli Johannes-Wells gets Lost in the River of Green
Beth Revis is captivated by Prisoners in the Palace
Carolina Valdez Miller is mesmerized by The Healing Spell
Megan Miranda takes a peek through The Marbury Lens
Shana Silver is digging Delirium
Jamie Harrington tells the truth about The Liar Society
Jen Hayley dies for a Touch Mortal
Bethany Wiggins dotes on Paranormalcy

Wtf Wednesday Edition – How to Novel a Guy in 10 Days

So I'm slightly blocked on The Sequel (which if you'll remember, I was planning to finish by the end of the year).  I'm at a pretty heavy part, and I just needed to step away from it for a few weeks.

But then, Monday I decided I still wanted to WRITE something.  I wanted to do something productive with my time (because despite everything, there should be more to my day than Twitter and Tumblr).  So I started working on a little project called The Dream Thief.  You may or may not have read the short story I wrote on the blog a few months ago, or the ensuing controversy when someone started a petition demanding a full length novel.

With Leah on vacation, I swore I was going to write a novel during the ten days she was gone just to mess with her head.  And now I'm actually making some progress on that front.  A story that was less than 2K is now currently 10K and rising, in just two days.

Last year, around this time, I started a project simply because I needed to throw myself into something.  I had this idea for a book, and my personal life had exploded with badness, and I just needed to lose myself in the writing.  And so I did, and I wrote a 120K word draft in six weeks.  That's about 3K words a day, every day, for those playing at home. That book became Moonset, which is currently with my agent.

And right now, I'm averaging about 4500 words per day.  And Leah gets home in 8 days.  If I maintain this pace, that's 45,000 words of a novel in 10 days.

Think I can do it?  Or am I biting off more than I can chew?  I mean, wtf am I thinking?

Pillsbury Done

Somehow over the course of yesterday, I formed a band with Karsten Knight, and together we titled and wrote our first (sure to be) hit single.

Here's how it started.  One of my New Year's resolutions (the fake kind) is to step up my game as Karsten's personal archvillain slash nemesis.  This is a lofty position, and one that I take VERY seriously.  I have spent whole MINUTES of my life plotting against him.  And then I eat a donut and forget what I was talking about.

One of the challenges I have accepted has been the Goodreads competition.  As of right now, Karsten's Wildefire is kicking my Witch Eyes' booty (not to be confused with Witch Booty – the unofficial post-companion soliloquy prequel afterthought novel).  So my new purpose in life is to see that change, and see Witch Eyes victorious over dormant teenage Polynesian goddesses.

So it started off with:

Scott: my revenge will be sweet. The butter pecan of vengeance


Karsten: The creme brulee of retribution
That would be a great name for a band

And then that turned into Karsten tweeting:

@scott_tracey and I are starting a band called "The Creme Brulee of Retribution."

So I responded with:

Our first single is going to be titled Apple Pie Girlfriend (you're high in saturated fat and unfaithfulness). @KarstenKnight

And Karsten brought it on home with the lyrics of amazingness.  Seriously, you'd buy that song on iTunes, right?  It's only $.99.

@scott_tracey I like it. Potential lyrics: "You're the flakiest crust / under the sun / You may be Pillsbury dough/ but I'm Pillsbury done."

@sharpegirl @scott_tracey "Beneath the cinnamon lie/ when the nutmeg fades/ You're just a frozen-food aisle pie/ pretending to be homemade."

These are the things I do when I'm supposed to be working.  But really, I think I'm almost ready for my American Idol audition.  Do you think J-Lo will ask my advice on her outfit?

New Year, New Digs, New Plans

Holy hell, I hope I remember how to do an actual blog post!  Otherwise, I'm in some trouble.

I'm always weird around the holidays.  December's got a lot of baggage, but it's also got my birthday and Christmas.  But I'm not a big Christmas person – I'd much rather give people random presents as I think of them, than to be pressured into finding the perfect gift for someone.  This might be why I always default to gift cards.

So anyway, I was supposed to Get Things Done in December…and not so much.  So now January has become Get Things Done month.  I'm not setting major goals for myself this year, aside from my writerly goals.  Last year I wrote two novels, and revised two novels (one for myself, one for my editor).    So this year, I'm going to try to write three novels, and I'm only sure of the first one.  Plus, I'm going to try and revise at least two, if not three projects this year.  Again, one will be for the editor, but getting other things polished up is a good idea.

Leah has gone on vacation with her brother, which means that the angst levels around here will be going down significantly for the next ten days.  So I'm hoping I really WILL get a lot of things done.  I may have suggested that I was going to write a 50,000 word novel while she was gone.

I have a few ranty-type things lurking in the back of my head that I might be doing soon, but the big project I'm working on next is going to be a week dedicated to query letters.  I LOVE working on query letters.  So if you know someone that's getting ready to query, or someone whose looking for some help, send them my way.  I don't know if anyone would actually SEND me their query, but I'll totally work on them (provided I can also post the query on my blog).

So that's that for Monday.  Nothing interesting in Scott-land (haha, see what I did there?  Oh I'm so witty, I don't know how I'm not writing for TV).  Rebels will be back the week of the 17th – everyone's traveling right now, or joining the circus.

Oh yeah.  And congrats to EVERYONE who has a book coming out THIS YEAR.  You can say that now.  THIS YEAR.  It sounds so strange to your ears, I promise.  I've been saying it for 3 days (while staring at my cover).

Favorites of 2010

I started writing this post approximately two weeks ago, a few days before my birthday.  And then I thought about it, and thought about it, and thought about it some more.  And as I poured over Goodreads to look at all the books I read this year (which is deceiving, because I read and reread books that never make it onto my Goodreads list), I realized a few things that were interesting.

Aside from one notable exception (Changes by Jim Butcher) everything that stood out as one of my favorites from this year was not part of a series.  Even though Mockingjay and Last Sacrifice came out (and I loved both), I didn't love them with the fervor that I loved the books I did pick.  And Changes can be explained by the fact that I'm a hard core Dresden Files fan, and he could write about Harry becoming a beach bum in Acapulco and I'd read it.

Second, I noticed that not all the books I really loved are dark (as I would have expected).  And even the ones that WERE dark were dark in different ways.  Paranormalcy had dark elements, but it was a fun read.  White Cat had dark characters, but it was gripping.  Blood Magic had dark visuals, and The Replacement had a dark town.

And finally, I realized that I like urban fantasy way too much.  There were lots of contemp books that I loved this year, but they just didn't capture my imagination the way that the urban fantasies did.  Maybe because they were too real?  I don't know, but it's definitely something to consider.  My opinion skews heavily towards the fantastical.

White Cat - I think this one is hands down my favorite of the year.  The book was exactly what it promised to be – a book about con men and curses.  I absolutely loved the world building, I was fascinated by the characters, and at the end of the day, White Cat was exactly what I wanted it to be.  Cassel was one of the most interesting boy-narrators I read this year, and the whole book felt "fresh" to me.  Totally in a good way.

Paranormalcy – This one was fun in a way I wasn't expecting.  First off, it's another one of those covers I simply love – I always go back to the way Evie's hand is almost grabbing her dress.  The voice in Paranormalcy is fantastic, too.  It's refreshing in a different way – instead of the dark and jaded books I was used to reading, this one was more light and fun.  And there was a pink Taser.  You can never go wrong with a pink Taser.  I mean unless you're at the receiving end of one…

Blood Magic – Technically, this one doesn't come out until April.  But this is one of two books that I've been dying for ever since I saw the PM announcement.  I have a soft spot for witches anyway, and the entire premise of Blood Magic is gory and delicious.  Like I said to Tessa, Blood Magic is what I think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory would have been if Tim Burton had been suffering from delusions and rage blackouts.  And, y'know….blood instead of chocolate.

The Replacement – This one was super creepy in the same way that Poltergeist 3 was the creepiest of the movies (to me).  In Poltergeist 3, all the creepy things are happening in a skyscraper with tons of other people around – but no one finds any help or solace.  It's one thing to have a creepy plot happening to beleaguered characters, but it's another to have an ENTIRE TOWN turn a blind eye while this is going on.  Gentry absolutely fascinated me.

Side note, but seriously Merry Sisters of Fate?  Must all of your books be so fantastic?  Honestly, you're making the rest of us look bad.   But if you ever decide to add a Zeppo to your coterie, feel free to give me a call.

Honorable mentions:  The Tension of Opposites, The Vast Fields of Ordinary (which was also the very first book I read this year), Hate List, Deception, and Before I Fall.

What were some of your favorites in 2010?

Thank you!

I just wanted to take a minute on this post-Xmas Monday to thank everyone for all the cover love.

It's kind of scary when you get something like your cover, and YOU love it, but you don't know how anyone else is going to feel.  Are they going to love it?  Are they going to hate it?  What are the masses going to think?  The night before my birthday, this worry seriously kept me up until way late.  At the end of the day, I still love my cover, and would even if no one else did, but it was totally excellent to hear that so many people liked it, too.  The Flux art department did an absolutely amazing job – far better than I would have done with my markers, glitter and gluesticks, that's for sure.

So thank you to everyone who left a comment, who added the book on Goodreads, or blogged about the cover.  It was definitely the most excellent birthday present I could have asked for.

And just in general, thank you to everyone whose left a comment on the blog, gotten to know me through Twitter, or watched my vlogs on the Rebels.  It's definitely been a year to remember, and I appreciate all the good stuff that came out of 2010.

Working on a "favorite books I read this year" post, which is surprisingly hard.  Now I know why I'm not a professional book reviewer.   That'll go up later in the week, I think.  But once again, thank you all so much! I hope your holidays were excellent, and you got everything you wanted.

The WITCH EYES Cover Reveal

Normally, having a birthday near Christmas sucks terribly.  But THIS year, I got the best present ever.  I get to reveal my cover.

So this is the moment that all of…well, me, have been waiting for! My response to the cover was pretty much, "YES.  YES YES YES."  And then a few minutes later, "Oh, I see what you did there."  Flux did an AMAZING job – it's everything I could have asked for in a cover and more.

Look right there.  That's my name!

Tell me what you think?  Don't you love it?

A 'So Roecker' Mystery

Okay, so first you need to read this, a post that Lisa and Laura Roecker did on their blog on Friday.  Leah and I had the ever-fabulous Victoria Schwab come to visit for a few days, and the shenanigans we got into were kinda epic.  Mostly, it was a chance for us to create a real life mystery for the fantastic Roeckers to try to solve, hence the 'So Roecker' designation.  (Tangent, but wouldn't a Lisa and Laura mystery show, a la Scooby Doo, be amazing?  I'm telling you.  'So Roecker'.  Get on it, ABC Family.).

Now you need to know that Victoria already came to visit us once – that visit was SUPER spur of the moment.  So when we couldn't meet up with Lisa and Laura, we were all bummed but it was understandable.  This time, however, we had to make a meet up happen.  And since Lisa and Laura are a part of the amazing Cleveland YA book club, it was the perfect time for Victoria to visit, come to a book club meeting, and shmooze with everyone.

Until the Roeckers bailed on us, just a few days before Victoria's visit.  Our plan in crisis, Leah wisely arranged a secondary meetup, for the next day, but we refused to name names.

We even went so far as to stage tweets.  The fab Myra McIntire and Victoria collabed on their fake plans for coffee, despite the fact that Victoria was actually in Ohio.  We even got a few of the Rebels in on it, with Karsten tweeting about luggage and Gretchen tweeting about the freezing weather.

We went all out.  We even lied about the timeframe when we were picking up our mystery guest specifically so that Victoria could be tweeting while Leah and I were 'in the car driving'.

End result?  Epic dinner party, pizza, and lots and lots of great conversation.  And the Roeckers?  Despite all their investigations and intimidations, were clueless when the time came.  And I'm sure there's going to be a 'So Roecker' Mystery follow up on Monday on their blog (especially since they were the only ones wise enough to bring a camera and get photographic evidence), so be sure to go check that out.

So thanks to everyone who helped keep the secret, who helped lay a false trail, and who generally egged on Lisa and Laura during the process.

I sense disturbances in the Force

Some fun things I get to announce.

First and foremost, I've accepted representation from Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown.  I'm so, so excited.  I queried Ginger with my new project, MOONSET, which was pretty scary at the time.  Even if you've had an agent before, it's just as hard and stressful to go through the stages of  querying again.  But I know I'm in good hands, and so excited to get to work with her.
WITCH EYES has been added almost 500 times on Goodreads.  Probably by the time most people read this, it WILL be over 500.  That's weird to me, because I think of my book as this nice little niche book.
I'm almost finished with the sequel to WITCH EYES, which has gone back to the original title of DEMON EYES.  I'm writing the finale right now, and I have so much love for this book it's not even funny.  I'm not someone who shares scenes or snippits with other writers while I'm still writing, but I cannot stop talking about some of the dark and creepy moments in the second book.
I'll get to share my cover for WITCH EYES (which, if it's anything like the cover comp I saw a month ago, is going to be AMAZING), probably sometime after the first of the year.  The cover is hands down exactly what I would have wanted had I designed my own cover (except way better, because as we know, my way involves crayons…).

I have been a slacking little blogger in the last few weeks.  But I'm going to change that after the first of the year.  So I'll be back and blogging more regularly then.  In the meantime, I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season!  Don't do anything I wouldn't do!