Gabe Cole Novoa's Blog, page 46

Fixing the First Page Feature #19

Photo credit: hdes.copeland on FlickrSo February is nearly upon us, which means a lot of exciting things, but mostly importantly here means the next Fixing the First Page critique has arrived!

As it goes, I'll start by posting the full first 250 excerpt, after which I'll share my overall thoughts, then my redline critique. I encourage you guys to share your own thoughts and critiques in the comments (because I'm one person with one opinion!), as long as it's polite, thoughtful, and constructive. Any rude or mean comments will be unceremoniously deleted.

Let's do this!

Title: BLACK FOG

Genre/Category: YA Paranormal Romance

First 250: 

"I crumpled the exam and tossed it into the trash as I exited the school building. My A proving Lysol killed more germs than bleach was hard earned. I should’ve been proud, but the grade made me feel like Dad. Being a brainiac was a nerdy-coolness I needed to smother before I obsessed over science experiments like him. 

'You could fail intentionally, yunno?' Tara suggested, walking into the parking lot by my side. Of course, my best friend knew my score. She also knew my grades were important to me to get into college to escape this gawd-awful town—away from my absent-for-life father, where at least he’d have an excuse not to see me. 

I combed my fingers through my mop of hair. 'That’s stupid.'

Gravel crunched under our feet walking to her car. The sun warmed our skin. Tara stared past me and batted her lashes toward Anath. He gazed at me from a few cars down. 'Seriously Raeni, I think he’s crushing.'

I peeked over my shoulder at his tribal tattoo as his bronze arm swooped through the strap of his backpack. Long dark curls caressed his high cheek bones. It was hard not to look at him. His brown eyes locked onto mine. Caught, I turned away. 

'Stop ogling.' I laughed at Tara, dropping my backpack on her hood. He watched. 

'Talk to him, but not about your nightmares,' she whispered. 

Now she thinks I’m brainless? Telling a guy I’m a nut-job won’t ever be on my to-do list."

Hmm, okay! I kind of have mixed feelings about the wanting to fail to look cool thing, if only because I'm not totally convinced that's really a thing? It's been several years since I've been in HS, but when I went it was super competitive and kids who got As were definitely not looked down on. In fact, the popular kids kind of had to perform at least decently well because they'd get kicked off their sports teams otherwise.

On another note, I like the slice of life thing you've got going here, but I'm wondering if there'd be a way to inject more of a hint to the upcoming conflict. This all seems very normal and I'm not sure it's functioning as a powerful enough hook.

Now for the in-line edits:

"I crumpled the exam and tossed it into the trash as I exited the school building. My A proving Lysol killed more germs than bleach was hard earned. I feel like this is grammatically off in terms of subject/object. The "A" didn't prove Lysol kills more germs than bleach—the report did—but the way this sentence is structured is a little confusing. I'd reword this to avoid anyone tripping over it (like I did). I should’ve been proud, but the grade made me feel like Dad. Being a brainiac was a nerdy-coolness I needed to smother before I obsessed over science experiments like him. 

'You could fail intentionally, yunno?' Tara suggested, walking into the parking lot by my side. Of course, my best friend knew my score. She also knew my grades were important to me to get into college to escape this gawd-awful town I'd make this just "god-awful." To me, the "gawd" placement feels too much like an adult trying to sound teenager-y.—away from my absent-for-life father, where at least he’d have an excuse not to see me. This is great—really gets across her bitterness in a realistic way without drifting into woe is me territory.

I combed my fingers through my mop of hair. 'That’s stupid.'

Gravel crunched under our feet walking to her car. This is another place where the structure is confusing—it looks to me like you're saying the gravel is walking. I'd go with "Gravel crunched under our feet as we walked to her car." The sun warmed our skin. Tara stared past me and batted her lashes toward Anath. He gazed at me from a few cars down. 'Seriously Raeni, I think he’s crushing.' Do teens still say this? I would check with some actual teens to be sure.

I peeked over my shoulder at his tribal tattoo as his bronze arm swooped through the strap of his backpack. Long dark curls caressed his high cheek bones. It was hard not to look at him. His brown eyes locked onto mine. Caught, I turned away. There's nothing technically wrong with this protag checking out hot guy/gets caught looking encounter, but it's used a lot in YA, to the point where I feel like it's drifting into cliché territory. Be careful. 

'Stop ogling.' I laughed at Tara, dropping my backpack on her hood. He watched.  How does she know he's watching if she's not looking at him anymore? This may be a good place for some sensory details if she feels that prickly someone looking at you feel.

'Talk to him, but not about your nightmares,' she whispered. This kind of comes out of nowhere to me, in the sense that I don't see a logical reason why she would say that (and your protag doesn't seem to think there's a logical reason for her saying that, either). Like, telling a hot boy you have a crush on about your nightmares is not a common thing, so it looks to me that you're just trying to tell the readers your protag has nightmares, and if that's the case I think you may want to consider going about it in a more natural way. 

Now she thinks I’m brainless? Telling a guy I’m a nut-job won’t ever be on my to-do list." My thoughts exactly. :) 

Overall, I don't see too much technically wrong, but I feel like this is an opening I've read before. Not literally—I know I haven't read it—but these kind of set-ups are rather common and thus it doesn't really pull me in anymore. Spicing up the opening with a bigger hint to the upcoming conflict might help, or you may want to consider adjusting it to something a little less overdone. As is, if I saw this in the slush, I would pass.

I hope that helps! Thanks for sharing your first 250 with us, P.D.!

Would you like to be featured in a Fixing the First Page Feature? Keep an eye out for the next critique giveaway in February!

Twitter-sized bite:

.@Ava_Jae talks familiar openings and writing teens realistically in the 19th Fixing the First Page critique. (Click to tweet)

5 (More) Ways to Support Your Favorite Authors

Photo credit: Carlos Porto on FlickrSo back in July 2013 I wrote a post about five ways to support your favorite authors. And now that time has passed and I’ve learned a lot more about publishing and things involved in authoring, I thought it might be a good time to expand the list.

So without further ado! Five (more) ways you can support your favorite authors.

Cross-post your reviews. Goodreads is a great place to post reviews where bookish people will see them—but not all readers are Goodreads-savvy people. It is super helpful to cross-post your reviews to major retailer sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, because that’s where regular people shopping for books will look. As a bonus, it’s super super easy and takes maybe five minutes to copy/paste your reviews to other sites. :) 
Pre-order books. Lisa Schroeder broke down why pre-orders are so important better than I can, so I will refer you to her post. But the short version is pre-orders make publishers and bookstores more confident about the book, which ultimately means more book deals, support, and sales for the author. 
Request their books at your local library. I totally understand that buying books isn’t always possible at all times—but this is a way you can support authors without spending money. Requesting books at libraries encourages the library to purchase said book, especially if they get enough requests. And more requests or checking out of a book means more orders for the book, which is good news for authors. 
Read their book in public. Visibility s a great thing for books, because the more people who see a book, the more people are likely to get curious enough to check a book out. Which can lead to sales. Which are yay. 
Attend their events (when possible). Again, I completely get this is not always possible, but if you hear one of your faves is going to be near you, it can be very awesome to go to events. Both for you (because fun and signed books!) and for the author so the event is not lonely and awkward. 
Have you done any of these to help support your favorite authors? What other suggestions would you add to the list?

Twitter-sized bite:

Want to show some author love to your faves? @Ava_Jae breaks down five (more) ways to support them. (Click to tweet)

What Social Media is Right for You?

Photo credit: ijclark on FlickrFor writers in 2016, social media has become a thing that is pretty much expected of authors. While I suppose it would be theoretically possible to launch a book without any social media presence whatsoever, the days where that was the norm are long gone. But with so many social media options out there, it can be a little overwhelming when you’re trying to decide what to use when and what not to bother with.

So since I do a lot of social media-ing, I figured I’d talk a little about each one I use and particularly how you might utilize them as writers.

Twitter. So Twitter is what I started with and what I talk about most often, and I’ve written approximately a bajillion posts about it (here, here and here) so this will be a short entry. But basically, Twitter is where you go if you want to connect with other writers and publishing people (and you do, don’t you?). 
Blogging. Blogging has served multiple purposes to me: it keeps me writing, it’s allowed me to connect with other writers by helping, which is really nice, and it’s forced me to analyze my writing process which has actually helped me learn more about my own process, which is an extra bonus. Also, my blog functions as my author website, which has proved to be pretty valuable so far. 
tumblr. Tumblr is an interesting place. I cross-post nearly all of my blog posts there, so it’s given me extra exposure I wouldn’t have had otherwise, including several posts that have gone mini-viral and ended up with thousands more views than what I would’ve had just posting on Blogger. Tumblr also has some really incredible inspirational gems I’ve come across, and just really educational and helpful posts (I’ve learned so much from tumblr—you’d be amazed). Also, if you’d like to blog, but aren’t up for the commitment of having a static blog like Blogger and Wordpress, tumblr can serve as a great micro-blog with little commitment and a lot of versatility. 
YouTube. YouTube really surprised me. I started my vlog channel a year and a half ago or so, simply because I thought it might be a fun and different way to connect. I figured there were probably some writers there, but I never imagined the outflow of positive response and support I’ve gotten there. It turns out there are a *lot* of writers on YouTube looking for writing-related channels, and I am so, so glad I took the vlogging plunge. If vlogging is something you might be open to, I super highly recommend it—the writer community there is shockingly lovely. 
Pinterest. Pinterest I definitely haven’t utilized to it’s fullest potential—I mostly just use it to keep track of debuts, hair and clothing things I like, and also sekret inspiration boards that are helpful while I’m drafting. But if you’re a visual person, Pinterest can be a great source of inspiration and a creative way to get your writer gears turning. 
Instagram. I haven’t mastered Instagram either, but it’s a fun way to share pictures and bookish love and get to know people in a way totally different from Twitter and blogging. I use it casually and it’s been a nice way to remind myself to pay attention to stuff around me because there might be something I could share. 
Facebook. I’ll be honest, I rarely use Facebook at this point. I’ve only ever really utilized it to share my blog posts and like stuff from my writer friends—but I only use a fan page so I know there’s probably way more that could be done with an actual page. But eh, it’s just not really my thing, so I’ve kept it as a way to share news and posts and that’s about it. 
What social media sites do you use for writer-related things? Which are your favorite?

Twitter-sized bites:

Fixing the First Page Giveaway Winner #19!

Photo credit: looking4poetry on FlickrQuick post before today's post is up to announce the winner of the nineteenth fixing the first page feature giveaway! Woot!

*drumroll*

And the winner is…

P.D. PABST!
Woohoo! Congratulations, P.D.! Expect an e-mail from me shortly.

Thank you to all you wonderful entrants! If you didn't win, as always, there will be another fixing the first page giveaway in February (February!), so keep an eye out! :)

Vlog: How to Read More

It's shockingly easy to have books you haven't read pile up—I would know. So today I'm sharing some tips for squeezing extra reading in throughout the year.




RELATED LINKS: 

Why Writers Must Read (vlog)Why Writers Must Read (blog post version)2016 YA Debuts I'm Excited About (vlog)On Reading "Bad" BooksWhy Have a Yearly Reading Goal?Discussion: When Do You Read? What tips do you have for reading more throughout the year? 
Twitter-sized bite: 

Falling behind on your TBR pile? @Ava_Jae vlogs some tips for getting more reading time in throughout the year. (Click to tweet)

On Never Enough Syndrome

Photo credit: Raban Haaijk http://haaijk.prosite.com/ on Flickr

NOTE: Want a chance to win an ARC of Beyond the Red? For one week only you can enter the Goodreads giveaway via the widget on this page or on Goodreads itself! (US only)

It’s been a weird couple of months in my writer brain, lately.

As I’ve mentioned before, last year was the Year of Revisions for me—I spent my months heavily revising two manuscripts, ended up putting one aside and am full-steam ahead with the other and hoping it may one day be a Thing I can share. But last year was also the first year in a long time that I didn’t write a new manuscript, and that was kind of rough, in it’s own way.

Because even though, word-count-wise, I probably wrote enough during those revisions to equal up to a new MS anyway (did I mention how extensive the revisions were?), I still finished the year feeling like I’d failed, somehow, because I hadn’t written a new project.

Probably what compounded the issue was I’d wanted to write something in November, but my chronic illness disagreed and I ended up needing the time I would’ve been NaNoing to rest, instead. And even though I knew very well about the importance of rest (and hey, I’ve even vlogged about how important it is!), it didn’t stop me from entering 2016 from feeling kind of gross about it. Which is silly because I knew I’d progressed (revisions! were awesome!) but, you know, writer brains.

Combine this with experiencing my very first List Season, which even with the preparation of other authors talking about how List Season is tough and ultimately doesn’t mean much, even with the expectation of being left off a bunch of “upcoming” lists, I entered a kind of weird brain space.

The truth is, writers deal with a weird blend of imposter syndrome, the comparison game, and this pervading sense of standing still even when you’re progressing. This sense of you’re not doing enough spreads into so many aspects of the writer life, whether it’s drafting (you’re not writing enough), marketing (you’re not marketing enough), or stuff totally out of your control (you’re not on enough lists, you’re not getting reviewed enough, etc. etc. etc.).

I know, from listening to many other writers talk about this—writers who have been doing the career writer thing for wayyyyyy longer than I have—that this feeling never really goes away. And honestly, there isn’t really a lesson here at the end of this post, but you guys asked me to talk about the becoming a published writer thing, and this is a thing that is happening a lot lately, so here I am.

It’s a common thing for writers. And it’s not an easy thing. But I guess it helps knowing I am so not alone with this, and the best I can do is to just keep moving forward and try to focus on the really awesome things coming up, like my hardcover book in my hand (soon!), and my hardcover book possibly in many of yours. 
And even when my brain tries to convince me otherwise, that alone is a really incredible thing. :)
What cool writer things have you guys been doing lately?

Twitter-sized bite:

On the writer reality of never feeling like you're doing enough. (Click to tweet) 

Book Review: BURNING GLASS by Kathryn Purdie

Photo credit: GoodreadsSo I was really intrigued by the whole idea of empaths in a Fantasy setting, which is why I requested the ARC, and whoa. Did this book deliver.

But first! The summary:

"Sonya was born with the rare gift to feel what those around her feel—both physically and emotionally—a gift she’s kept hidden from the empire for seventeen long years. After a reckless mistake wipes out all the other girls with similar abilities, Sonya is hauled off to the palace and forced to serve the emperor as his sovereign Auraseer. 

Tasked with sensing the intentions of would-be assassins, Sonya is under constant pressure to protect the emperor. One mistake, one small failure, will cost her own life and the lives of the few people left in the world who still trust her. 

But Sonya’s power is untamed and reckless, her feelings easily usurped, and she sometimes can’t decipher when other people’s impulses end and her own begin. In a palace full of warring emotions and looming darkness, Sonya fears that the biggest danger to the empire may be herself. 

As she struggles to wrangle her abilities, Sonya seeks refuge in her tenuous alliances with the volatile Emperor Valko and his idealistic younger brother, Anton, the crown prince. But when threats of revolution pit the two brothers against each other, Sonya must choose which brother to trust—and which to betray."

Right from the start, Burning Glass drew me in with probably one of the most intense first chapters I’ve read in a long time. I mean, just look at my Goodreads status updates:


Burning Glass is the type of book that grabs you by the throat from the first page and doesn’t let go until the end. With fascinating court politics, very complicated characters (and no pure evil antagonist), intense conflict and so many fascinating layers of world building, I really loved reading this. The world vaguely reminded me of a Shadow and Bone Russia-type setting, but the magic was completely unique and soooooo interesting to read about. I loved some characters, hated others, was suspicious of many more and all in all really enjoyed reading this.

I will say there was one background mythology and a throwaway line about it that was kind of ableist, that I didn’t love, and the love triangle didn't work for me in that one character was...not a viable option to me at all for spoilery reasons. But neither of those points ruined the book for me, personally, and I still found it a very enjoyable read.

Overall, Burning Glass is a wonderfully written, very exciting and emotional YA Fantasy, and I can’t wait to read the next book.

Diversity note: Sadly, I don't remember there being much of any.

Twitter-sized bite:

Looking for an intense YA Fantasy with an unusual magic system? Try BURNING GLASS by Kathryn Purdie. (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Feature #19!

Photo credit: JLS Photography on FlickrIt is January 13th, which means we are nearing the midway point of the first month of the year, which means it's time to start gearing up for the next Fixing the First Page feature! Yay!

For those who’ve missed it in the past, the Fixing the First Page features is a public first 250 word critique. Using the lovely rafflecopter widget, anyone interested in winning a PUBLIC (as in, featured in a post on this blog) first page critique can enter.

For an example of what this critique will look like, here's the last Fixing the First Page post.

Rules!

ONLY the first 250 words will be critiqued (up to finishing the sentence). If you win and send me more, I will crop it myself. No exceptions.
ONLY the first page. I don’t want 250 random words from your manuscript, or from chapter 3. If you win the critique and send me anything other than the first 250 words of your manuscript, I will choose someone else.
I will actually critique it. Here. On the blog. I will say things as nicely as I can, but I do tend to be a little blunt. If you’re not sure you can handle a public critique, then you may want to take some time to think about it before you enter.
Genre restrictions. I'm most experienced with YA & NA, but I will still accept MG and Adult. HOWEVER. If your first page has any erotic content on it, I ask that you don’t enter. I want to be able to post the critique and the first 250 in its entirety without making anyone uncomfortable, and if you win and you enter a page with erotic content, I will choose someone else.
You must have your first page ready. Should you win, you need to be able to submit your first page within 48 hours of my contacting you to let you know you won. If 48 hours pass and I haven’t heard from you, again, I will choose someone else.
You’ll get the most out of this if it isn’t a first draft. Obviously, I have no way of knowing if you’re handing me a first draft (though I will probably suspect because it’s usually not that difficult to tell). I won’t refuse your page if it’s a first draft, but you should know that this critique will likely be of more use if you’ve already had your betas/CPs look over it. Why? Because if you don’t, the critique I give you will probably contain a lot of notes that your betas & CPs could have/would have told you.
There will not be a round 2 (unless you win again in a future contest). I hate to have to say this, but if you win a critique, it’s NOT an invitation to send me a bunch of your revisions. I wish I had the time available to be able to look at revisions, but sadly, I don’t. If you try to break this rule, I will nicely say no, and also remember to choose someone else should you win a second contest. Which would make me sad. :(
So that’s it! If you’re okay with all of the above and would like to enter to be the nineteenth public critique on Writability, do the thing with the rafflecopter widget below. You have until Tuesday, January 19 at 11:59 EST to enter!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vlog: About Pen Names

Today I'm talking about a very common publishing thing: pen names! Specifically, on why many writers choose to use them.



RELATED LINK: To Pen Name or Not to Pen Name? (blog post version)
What do you think? Would you ever consider using a pen name? Why or why not? 

Twitter-sized bites:

Wondering why some authors use pen names? @Ava_Jae breaks it down in today's vlog. (Click to tweet)  

To pen name or not to pen name? @Ava_Jae vlogs about reasons some authors choose to use pseudonyms. (Click to tweet)

Discussion: Are You a Plotter, Pantser, or Hybrid?

Photo credit: Innovation Lab on FlickrSo as I have frequently mentioned here on Writability, I'm a rather devout plotter—though I didn't start that way. When I first began writing, the idea of outlining my novel ahead of time gave me hives. I told myself it'd be boring and take the fun out of drafting, and I firmly stuck to that belief until I finally gave plotting a try.

Unexpectedly, plotting turned out to be a very effective method for me. I learned plotting ahead of time allowed me to write faster and helped eliminate most of my writers block, which turned out to be actually "don't know where to go from here" block.

While I don't necessarily stick 100% to my outlines while writing (as I've said before, I use them more as guidelines than rule books), I now don't start writing until I've fully plotted out the book idea. It's been an effective method for me so far.

That said! I am more than well aware that plotting doesn't work for everyone, or sometimes only works half the time, or only works up to a point for some. And if there's anything writing with the intent to publish for a decade now has taught me, it's that everyone's process is different. And sometimes one person's process is different book to book. And that's okay.

So since I haven't talked about this recently, I'm curious, and thus am making this discussion post:  How many of you are plotters? Pantsers? Somewhere-in-between-ers? What do your first drafting processes look like?

Twitter-sized bite:

What's your first drafting process like? Are you a plotter? Pantser? Both? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)