Holly Jennings's Blog, page 3

A Follow-up Message to my Readers

It's been a little over a month since I released the post about all the changes in my life, how I nearly gave up on writing, and about the Arena series getting dropped by my publisher. If you haven't read it yet, here's the link.Since then, I've felt compelled to write a follow-up but wanted to give it some time so I could also give you an update about what's going on with me and my writing.First of all, you guys are awesome. The amount of love I received in messages, emails, tweets, and even in person was phenomenal. I spent a good few days crying (happy tears) after the incredible response to that post.As for my writing, it's taken me a lot longer to heal and get back on track than I thought it would. These last two weeks, though, have been huge for me.There's one thing I want to be clear about. I worry this may have been misconstrued in my previous post.I love Arena.But I've recently realized why I didn't love the book as much as I should have, why I've felt so unfulfilled as a writer, and why I nearly quit writing for good.I didn't push myself enough.I'm going to repeat that, because it was a critical revelation for me.I didn't push myself enough.Nearly everything about Arena was familiar to me. I've played plenty of video games ever since I was a child. I've followed eSports on and off for years. I was even a teenager once, many moons ago.The only aspect of Arena that I didn't really have any experience in was diversity. I'm not particularly diverse myself and neither were my characters. So I pushed myself to write about a diverse group of people, researched until I nearly broke the internet, found beta readers who weren't afraid to tell me what I did wrong, and so on. However, this was the only way I pushed myself to grow as a writer and as a person.The rest of the book wasn't much of a challenge.In fact, it was easy. All of it. From the initial concept to a book deal just over a year later, it was one smooth ride. Never did I feel like quitting. Never did I doubt myself. I thought this was a good thing.It wasn't.Once Arena was on the shelf, I felt strangely empty for having accomplished a lifelong dream. For the next year or so while writing Gauntlet, I felt like I was floating around in space: getting places but without any direction or destination in mind. Eventually, getting dropped by my publisher was the wakeup call I needed.  That's when I took a giant step back from my life and re-evaluated everything that had gone wrong. I slammed the door shut on the super-logical voice in my mind that was telling me to pump out another Arena look-a-like as fast as possible.Instead, I listened to my heart. What did it say? To slow down and write a passion project I've had in my head for years. It's a story that I love but never thought I'd be good enough to write. The plot, characters, and world-building are… complex, to say the least.I've been at it for about a month now and it's not easy. Not one bit.There are multiple narrators, each with a distinct voice. It's fantasy, which I've read a lot but have hardly written before. It's a completely made-up world with nine different humanoid races, each with their own history, geography, powerful families, and even bigger power struggles.Every single sentence is a challenge. And that's exactly why it's working.Last week was the first time I literally cried tears of joy over my writing since January 2015. It took days for me to understand why.It's because it's hard.Those tears of joy were coming out because I finally felt myself growing again as a writer. Every day I sit down at the computer is overwhelming. It usually only takes about ten minutes before I run away from the screen, just to get pulled back in again a few minutes later.Write me, it whispers. I'm beautiful.I tell people this is my bestseller. Now, even if it doesn't hit the NYT list, even if it's poorly reviewed across the board, even if it never sells to a publisher…It won't matter.Because I'll know exactly what it took for me to get it down on (digital) paper. I call it my bestseller not because I think it'll actually trigger a floodgate in sales (it may or it may not). It's my bestseller because it's the book that's changing my career and perspective on writing. Whether anyone else thinks so is out of my hands.I really hope that one day I get to share this book with all of you, but for now, I'm just enjoying the ride.

A Message to My Readers

So, I've been off the grid for a few weeks and I feel like I should explain what's going on with me, my writing, and the Arena series.Okay, painful part first.I hate to have to tell you this, but my publisher has decided to discontinue the Arena series. Additionally, a new series I was developing was also rejected and I'm now without a publisher. I know it might be disappointing for some of you to hear, but please don't blame publisher for their decision.I'm forever thankful to Penguin/Ace for giving me the chance in the first place. My editor was fantastic and I'll miss working with her. The decision to discontinue the series has mostly to do with logistics. There just simply isn't enough buzz around the books and they have to move on to new things.I found out about two months ago, but I wasn't sure how to break it to all of you. I considered explaining things on the stream, but I worried I'd get too emotional or overwhelmed. If you make it all the way through this post, you'll see there's a lot to tell you and I didn't think doing it live was the best way.Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot I can do about the publisher's decision. Had I thought this would be the end, I would have given Gauntlet a stronger, more final ending. I don't feel right about leaving the series as is and I do have a concept for a potential third Arena novel. Under the guidance of my agent, I'm exploring what options I have at this point. Regrettably, I can't really go further into that right now.While completing the Arena series is still something I'm looking into, it's best for my writing career if I stick it on the back-burner for now. I have to focus my time into developing new books. I need to keep writing and moving forward, and signing with a different publisher on a new series is my best option.So, that's what I've been doing over these past several weeks. Or at least, what I've been trying to do. After discussions with my agent, other authors, and friends, I started to work on creating a few different books in hopes that one of them would snag a new publisher.This is when things went really, really downhill for me. I tried working on new books, but my passion for writing was gone. I had no enthusiasm to write anything at all. I very nearly quit.I'm talking, hardcore quit.Don't get me wrong. I "quit" writing all the time just to come back to it later the same day, or the next. But this was different. I wasn't coming back to it later in the day. Or the next.Or the next.Whenever I forced myself to work on a book, I miserably etched out a few hundred words to just walk away again for several more days.That's when I realized something was very wrong.And I knew I had to figure out what.To do that, I needed time. Time away from everything. I went dark on social media and deleted all the apps off my phone (except my email). I put the stream on hiatus. I didn't try to write at all, other than what I had to do for my freelance work.After a few weeks, I came to a conclusion. Maybe it's not the right one. I'm still not sure. But I feel like I'm finally moving forward.I realized that, while disappointed by my publisher's decision, part of me was also relieved—because I never had to write another book again. There was no contract stating I had to complete a manuscript by XX date.You see, at some point writing was therapeutic for me. It wasn't always fun, but it was never unbearable. Writing was an outlet for my creativity, emotions, and passions. But I had slowly started losing sight of that once I decided I wanted to become a Traditional Published Author™.As much as I love Kali and the gang (and really, really love video games), I wrote Arena solely because I thought it would sell to publishers. And it did. I wrote it to accomplish a goal, and while there's nothing wrong with that, I wasn't doing it enough for myself. All I wanted was to see my name on a book at Barnes & Noble.I didn't care if I was happy.That led to another realization: If I was ever going to write another book again, then that had to change. In fact, it already has.I'm writing a new book. For me.Well, it's kind of new. It's one I've had in my head for years and have been slowly jotting down whenever I had a break from other novels. Think about that for a second. It was the book I was excited to write whenever I didn't have to be working on anything else. Maybe it's pretty obvious to you, but it took getting dumped by my publisher and nearly throwing a six year dream down the toilet for me to realize this is what I should have been writing all along.It's completely different than Arena, or anything else I've written (that's probably not entirely shocking, if you've been paying attention). Don't worry. It's still something that can be categorized under the Science Fiction & Fantasy section at your local bookstore – I am still a nerd, after all. Who knows if it will sell or not. The point is: I LOVE IT and that's what I need right now.Please don't take this the wrong way. I don't hate Arena. Not by a longshot. Getting published was still a dream and it opened the door to some amazing experiences. Authors like Ilona Andrews and Chloe Neil read the book and loved it (I still have trouble believing that.) I went to ComiCons in various cities where people ran up to me and shouted: "Favorite classic video game. Go."Most of all, I got to meet all of you.Whether it's been through social media, the stream, or in person, having all of you in my life has made me happier. You make me smile. And you make me work harder, because I want to write awesome books for each and every one of you.But to make that happen, I have to be a little selfish right now.I hope you understand.I'll probably keep the stream on hiatus for now, but I will slowly return to social media. It will be limited, though. I'm still struggling. I probably will be for a while. That's not a bad thing, however. Difficulties define character, and behind my Hufflepuff exterior is a hard-working, determined, five-foot-one monster tank who's forever creating new goals or reaching for new dreams.I finally have one now. I won't talk too much about the new book at this point, but I'll definitely keep you up to date as things progress. The concept? Think L.A. Confidential meets high fantasy. It's third person, multiple POVs with several characters and lots of world-building. My favorite part: it's so densely noir that the fog and neon lights practically waft off the page.I do owe a special thank you to my agent who has been extra supportive during this time, and as always, full of the right advice for my writing and my career. Also, to everyone who has enjoyed my books, I appreciate your patience with me, and all your support so far. You are the reason I keep going.Now, if you'll excuse me – I have to get back to writing. 

The Query that Landed Me a NY Agent and a Big Five Publisher

Photo Credit: Alexander Pierce You asked for it. By popular demand, here it is: the query for my novel ARENA. Look, I'll be the first to admit it's not perfect, but it still bagged me several requests from agents, an offer of representation, and a two-book deal with Ace (Penguin). In less than six months. That's right. I started querying and entering contests in April 2013. By August I had an agent and by September I had a book deal on the table. In the industry, it can take up to a year to land

16 Ways to Plot Harder: The Walking Dead Edition

  All images copyright of AMC.   I often hear famous writers say they plot by asking themselves: "What's the worst thing that can happen next?" and then they do it.   Sounds like a great idea, right?   But, wait a second. Back up. How do they even decide what IS the worst thing that can happen?   Even more, have you ever read a book or watched a movie and thought, it's the same thing going wrong all the time. So, even with things going wrong, a story can still be boring.   Why does this happen?

Five Reasons Why Your Query Isn't Getting Requests

 image by stockmedia.cc - stockarch.com        This is meant as an advanced guide to query trouble-shooting. If you're looking for a basic guide to writing a query letter, check out my guest post at Enchanted Spark.     In the summer of 2014, it began.   When I first started drafting my query letter, I set myself on the most epic of all quests: discovering what it would take to get an agent drooling to read my book. Every spare minute I had was spent hunched over the computer, reading blog after