Gabe Cole Novoa's Blog, page 71

Discussion: What Books Will You Be Asking for This Holiday Season?

Photo credit: me (maybe I went Christmas shopping early, okay?)It’s no secret by now to my family and friends that if there’s a gift-giving occasion coming, I’m going to want books. Or gift cards so I can buy books. Because books.

For fun, and because I obviously don’t have enough books on my TBR shelf (you know, only 185 and counting), I thought it might be fun to share the books I’ll be hoping for this Christmas and see some of the books you guys want to get. 
Here are (some) of the books I’ll be crossing my fingers for this season! 
Some Assembly Required by Arin Andrews Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor The Infinite Sea by Rick YanceyPantomime by Laura Lam The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater The Winner's Curse by Marie RutkoskiCrown of Midnight by Sarah Maas Through the Ever Night by Veronica RossiInto the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu White Space  by Ilsa J. BickBeautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills  The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse AndersonSekret by Lindsay Smith We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
How about you? What books will you be asking for this holiday season?
Twitter-sized bite: 

.@Ava_Jae shares her Christmas book wish list for this holiday season. What books will you be hoping for this year? (Click to tweet)

Vlog: On Trunking Novels

While I've talked about false starts before, I thought it important to focus on what happens when you put away a manuscript you've written, possibly for good.


RELATED LINK:

On Immediately Trunking Manuscripts
What do you think? Have you ever trunked a manuscript?

Twitter-sized bites: 

"I stopped looking at trunked MSs as failures...[&] started looking at them as learning experiences." (Click to tweet) 

"Sometimes manuscripts need to be written just for you: the writer." #writetip (Click to tweet)  

Have you ever trunked a MS? @Ava_Jae vlogs about her experience with putting (many) MSs in the drawer. (Click to tweet)

So You Want to Write NA Contemporary Romance?

Photo credit: idea ablaze on FlickrNote: The inevitable has happened, my friends. After 600+ posts, I've accidentally re-written a post. The original is here, and this one is slightly different (since, you know, I wrote it thinking I hadn't written it yet). Think of it as having 1.5x the resources if you want to write NA Contemporary Romance. :) 

What is it? 

College (or college-age, at least), swoony book boyfriends (and girlfriends), awesome voices, awkward moments, stepping into adulthood, there are so many components of NA Contemporary Romances.

What do they have in common? They all feature college-age protagonists, are in a modern day setting, and the plot largely revolves around a romance.

Pros/Cons of Writing NA Contemporary Romance: 

Pros: 

Wonderful voices. Like YA, one of my favorite things about NA are the incredibly diverse and powerful voices. There’s a very distinct sound to NA and some really wonderful voices that set them apart and absolutely fit the age range of their protagonists. 
Adorable (or heart-wrenching) romances. The tone in NA novels varies greatly, but in the end, the romances are really great. From the light, fluffy and adorable to the darker, emotionally-ridden conflicts, the romances stick with you long after the book has ended. 
Very popular (right now). Which means there’s so much to choose from! And it’s pretty good from a marketing standpoint, because books in popular categories and genres generally have a better chance of selling well. 
Cons: 

Stigma/common misconceptions. There are a lot of people out there who still believe (and say) that New Adult is Young Adult with sex. Or that New Adult is the same as erotica. Neither of which are true, but it is an assumption a lot of people make about the category, particularly NA Contemporary Romance. 
Mostly digital. I mean, this is really only a con if your dream is to be traditionally published in print. NA is actually doing really well in the digital marketplace, and some NA authors have gone on to be traditionally published after their digitally published books took off (see Tammara Webber, Cora Carmack and Jennifer Armentrout, for example). But at the moment at least, NA is mostly a digital phenomena, and while it’s (painfully) slowly breaking in the traditional print sphere, it’s not quite there yet. 
Very popular (right now). Which means it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. Being part of a popular movement definitely has it’s pros and cons. 
Recommended Reading: 


As I’ve said in every other So You Want To Write post, reading in the genre (and category) you’re writing in is mandatory. Lucky for you, there are loads of awesome books out there to enjoy and learn from.

Note: I’ve read (and enjoyed) all of these except for Unteachable, which is on my TBR list because I’ve heard great things about it.

Easy  (Contours of the Heart duology) by Tammara Webber  Faking It  (Losing It series) by Cora Carmack  Make it Count  (Bowler University series) by Megan Erickson Only the Good Die Young by K.K. HendinThe Sound of Us (Radio Hearts series) by Ashley PostonUnteachable by Leah Raeder
For more, check out Goodreads’s New Adult page (which includes more than just Contemporary Romance) and their Popular New Adult books books shelf (which are mostly, but possibly not all Contemporary Romance).

Helpful Links:


What is ‘New Adult’? Romance Editors and Authors Tell All by Natalie Zutter for bookish.com (partially) reposted on xoxoafterdark.com.RT14 Panel Recap: NA: Capturing the New Adult Voice by me on Writability.RT14 Panel Recap: NA: What’s Next in New Adult? by me on Writability.New Adult: No Sex Required by me on Writability.Young Adult vs. New Adult: What’s the Difference? by me on Writability. 
Do you enjoy reading or writing NA Contemporary Romance? Share your experience! 

Twitter-sized bites: 

Thinking about writing NA Contemporary Romance? Writer @Ava_Jae shares some tips, recommendations and more. (Click to tweet)  

Do you write NA Contemporary Romance? Share your experience at @Ava_Jae’s So You Want to Write series. (Click to tweet) 

First Drafting: You Don’t Have to Know Everything

Photo credit: larryvincent on FlickrOver the years, I’ve become more and more firmly entrenched in the plotter camp. This is something I definitely didn’t see coming when I first started writing, considering when I wrote my first manuscript, the thought of writing an outline was one that let’s just say didn’t make me happy. 
As I’ve started consistently fast drafting, however, I’ve found that I work best with loose outlines. (Loose, being the operative word.)

When I first started writing, a large part of the reason I was so against outlining was because the thought of figuring out every little detail about what will happen in the book before you’ve written a word not only seemed like it’d be a lot of extra work, but I also worried it would kill the joy of writing. After all, one of my favorite parts about writing is the discovery, so if you already know everything, what’s left to discover?

As it turns out, however, most of the time when writers talk about outlining, they don’t mean J.R.R. Tolkien-type book-on-its-own-outline.

For me, outlining means opening up Scrivener and using the cork board feature to plot out what’s going to happen in the novel from beginning to end. I’ve also taken to writing the rough draft of a logline (and sometimes a query-length summary, depending on the MS) to help me stay on track while I draft.

By the time I’ve finished outlining, I know:

Who the protagonist, antagonist, love interest and other important characters are. What all of the major plot points (inciting incident, point of no return, etc.) are. What the main conflict is.What my protagonist's goal is.How the book will end. The (general) setting (which can be as specific as “x building in x city” or as vague as “a college up north”).What POV(s) I’ll use.
When I’ve finished outlining, I usually don’t know:

How much of the outline I’ll actually stick to. What my characters’ personalities are like. What the voice of the manuscript/protagonist(s) will be like. How my characters will get from scene 1 to scene 2, etc. Whether or not the romantic part will go as planned (spoiler alert: it usually doesn’t). Whether or not the book is going to suck.
The point I’m trying to make is this: even after I finish outlining, there’s a lot I don’t know about the book I’m about to write. Hell, half the time I don’t even know if I’m going to like the book (as a rule, I don’t usually declare a WIP an actual WIP until I’ve reached 10,000 words. Before that, it’s an experiment. I’ve abandoned many ideas before (and some after) 10,000 words).

I tend to look at my outline as more of a guide. I frequently make changes to scenes or find that characters aren’t behaving the way I’d originally planned, and that’s totally okay—in fact, I love when that happens because it means the story has taken a life of its own, and usually, the ideas I get while writing are even better than I’d originally planned anyway.

Despite that, I do continue to outline, because that guide? It’s ridiculously helpful, and when I’m fast-drafting, it absolutely helps me avoid getting stuck because I don’t know where the story is going (something that happened to me frequently in my pre-outlining days).

And sure, I don’t know everything when I start first drafting, even after I’ve finished outlining, but the fun thing is you don’t have to know every detail. And that just makes the ride all that more exciting.

Do you do any pre-outlining before your first draft? Why or why not? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae says you don't have to know everything about your WIP pre-1st draft, even if you're a plotter. Thoughts? (Click to tweet) 

"Even after I finish outlining, there's a lot I don't know about the book I'm about to write." (Click to tweet)

Holiday Book Recommendations of 2014

So I came across Victoria Schwab’s holiday book recommendation post on tumblr the other day, and I immediately knew I wanted to do something similar, because what mixes better than books and Christmas gifts? (Rhetorical question. The answer is nothing).

The books listed below are the ten best books I’ve read (thus far) this year. Not all of them were released this year, but they’re all amazing and definitely recommended.

In the order I read them (from beginning of the year to end)!

For those looking for some really wonderful magical realism, with a non-binary protagonist: EVERY DAY by David Levithan.For those who love poetic prose, complicated character development, kissing and action: IGNITE ME by Tahereh Mafi. (Review here)For those who want a gritty, badass, non-Contemporary Romance NA read: THE WICKED WE HAVE DONE by Sarah Harian. (Review here) For lovers of fantasy, snark, memorable characters and epic worldbuilding with a steampunk-ish twist: RUIN AND RISING by Leigh Bardugo. (Review here)For those who love gory, action-packed dystopias: THE MURDER COMPLEX by Lindsay Cummings.For fantasy lovers looking for a fresh new take on witches and a haunting voice: HALF BAD by Sally Green. (Review here)For those looking for a unique magic system, imaginative setting and diverse cast:  OTHERBOUND by Corinne Duyvis. (Review here)For paranormal lovers who want awesome world-building, a strong female protagonist and a dark, captivating story: DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE by Laini Taylor.For contemporary lovers looking for great mental illness representation: FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell. (Review here)For those who want a thrilling QUILTBAG NA read: HUSHED by Kelley York. (Review here)
What are some of the best books you’ve read this year? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae shares her top ten favorite reads of the year. Have you read any of these excellent books? (Click to tweet)  

What are some of the best books you've read this year? Writer @Ava_Jae shares her top ten list. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Post-NaNoWriMo: Now What?

NaNoWriMo is over! Which means...what, exactly? In today's vlog, I talk about some things you should (and shouldn't) be doing in the Post-NaNo haze.


RELATED LINKS:
Why Writers Should Let Their Manuscripts CoolDiscussion: On the First Reading of Your WIPEditing Technique: ListsRevisions: Don't Be Afraid to Make (Big) Changes
Did you participate in NaNoWriMo this year (and/or get anything writing-related done in November)?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about what you should & shouldn't be doing in the post-NaNo haze. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: Post NaNoWriMo: Now What?

NaNoWriMo is over! Which means...what, exactly? In today's vlog, I talk about some things you should (and shouldn't) be doing in the Post-NaNo haze.

RELATED LINKS:
Why Writers Should Let Their Manuscripts CoolDiscussion: On the First Reading of Your WIPEditing Technique: ListsRevisions: Don't Be Afraid to Make (Big) Changes
Did you participate in NaNoWriMo this year (and/or get anything writing-related done in November)?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about what you should & shouldn't be doing in the post-NaNo haze. (Click to tweet)

Guest Post: Why Building Relationships Before Your Book’s Launch is Important

Today I've got a special guest post from YA author Vicki Leigh, whose debut CATCH ME WHEN I FALL was released this past October! Take it away, Vicki! 

A lot of time is invested in making a book launch successful, especially when it’s your debut. No one knows you yet, and you've only just begun to network with authors, librarians, the media, and other publishing professionals. And while a lot of energy should be put into marketing your book on social medias (hello, Age of the E-book), it’s those people you network with that can make or break your launch. Here’s just one example why:

About three months prior to Catch Me When I Fall’s debut, I contacted my local Books-a-Million about hosting my launch party signing; it was important this was solidified with ample time for the store to order copies of my books. I met with the store manager, and they had an opening the Saturday after my book released. They seemed legitimately excited about hosting me, so when I left the store, my launch party was a go!

Or so I thought.

I knew my book was going to appear in Ingram’s system one month prior to release. The moment I knew Catch Me When I Fall was in Ingram’s database, I contacted the store and let them know we were all set to order books. But little did I know, Books-a-Million cannot order through any other system than their own, store-specific warehouse. And there was at least a four-week processing time on book submissions—and they could still decide not to stock my book. Which meant my book would never be at their store in time for my book launch signing.


(You’d think that piece of info was something the store manager would’ve told me right from the start—when we had three months leeway. Or he could’ve at least corrected me when I repeatedly mentioned Ingram. But I digress…).

Yeah, I crashed and burned. After bawling for a good thirty minutes—which, for someone who rarely cries, is a lot of tears—I frantically called around to other bookstores to see if they could accommodate me within a month while my publisher contacted Books-a-Million’s corporate office and tried to convince them to bend the rules about Ingram just this once. (Obviously, they said no). When it seemed like I wasn’t going to have a launch party at all, my poor CPs listened to me vent and patted my shoulders and talked me off ledges. This was my debut, and I’d worked so hard to make it a success. Seeing it fall apart was like watching a beloved pet die.

Then my agent asked me, “What about the library?” And that’s when the light bulb clicked on.

See, in the three months leading up to my book launch, I’d also made a point to contact my old high school about stopping by for an author visit, and the week before everything fell apart with Books-a-Million, I’d spent the day with my high school’s book club—which was run by my town’s teen librarian.

Having already built a relationship with her, I called the teen librarian at my public library and shared what had happened. With open arms, she welcomed me to reschedule my launch signing and helped me promote it in newspapers and through word-of-mouth around town and at the high school.

And everything turned out to be a success, after all.

This is why it’s so important to build relationships with book lovers of all professions before your novel’s even on shelves—because you never know what will happen, and it’s the people in the writing community who can help reroute your plans when they take an unexpected detour.

So, next time you stop by your local library and bookstores, make sure you buddy up with the librarians and store clerks. You never know when those relationships might be the most important ones.



Adopted at three-days-old by a construction worker and a stay-at-home mom, Vicki Leigh grew up in a small suburb of Akron, Ohio where she learned to read by the age of four and considered being sent to her room for punishment as an opportunity to dive into another book. By the sixth grade, Vicki penned her first, full-length screenplay. If she couldn’t be a writer, Vicki would be a Hunter (think Dean and Sam Winchester) or a Jedi. Her favorite place on earth is Hogwarts (she refuses to believe it doesn’t exist), and her favorite dreams include solving cases alongside Sherlock Holmes. Her YA debut, Catch Me When I Fall. You can find her at her website or on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram.






Twitter-sized bite: 

YA author @vleighwrites talks about the importance of relationships with local bookstores & libraries. (Click to tweet) 

1 Million Pageview Giveaway Winners!

Photo credit: W Mustafeez on FlickrFirst and foremost! Thank you to everyone for entering—this was a really exciting giveaway and I had so much fun watching everyone else get excited about it.

There are a lot of winners, so I’m just going to get to it!

Writer critiques!

Query critique from Jennifer Blackwood: Kailey Query critique from Vicki Leigh (five winners!): Tiffany Dailey, Erin Beaty, Kimberly VanderHost, Sam Taylor, and Chris Owens First page critique from Riki Cleveland: Chris OwensQuery and first chapter critique from Rae Chang: MVB Query and first ten pages critique from KT Hanna: Julia Essenburg  First three chapters critique from Cait Spivey: Kelsey Simon Query and first three chapters critique from Kate Brauning: Ruth Mitchell Query and first fifty pages critique from me: JC Full MS critique (edit letter only) from Naomi Hughes: Annie Nilson Reader report from Kisa Whipkey: Fiona Full MS critique from Nicole Tone: Mel Stephenson

Reader prizes! 

UNETHICAL by Jennifer Blackwood (e-book): Heather DiAngelisTHE SIGHT SEER by Melissa Giorgio (e-book): Anne Rose BeckerUNLEASHED by Rachel Lacey (signed paperback or e-book): Jean Marie BrennanBEHIND THE SCENES by Dahlia Adler (signed paperback): JamieKINDAR’S CURE by Michelle Hauck (paperback or e-book): Gwen Burke DARKNESS WATCHING by Emma Adams (e-book): Renée PriceEVERLY AFTER by Becka Paul (e-book): Brenda KellerA IS FOR ANGELICA by Iain Broome (signed paperback): Carly BatesHOW TO DATE DEAD GUYS by Ann M. Noser (e-books): Kat Helgeson & Sharon GreeneCOME BACK TO TEXAS by KK Hendin (print or e-book): Gabryelle KonnTHE PAPER MAGICIAN (signed paperback + bookmarks): PaigeI SEE THE WEB & A SINGLE THREAD by Cait Spivey: Aimee HyndmanTHE WICKED WE HAVE DONE by Sarah Harian (e-book): Michelle DomeniciTHE SOUND OF US by Ashley Poston (e-book): Jessica HarveyMAKE IT COUNT by Megan Erickson (e-book): Heather DiAngelisCATCH ME WHEN I FALL (signed paperback or e-book): Nicole Zoltack
So that’s it! Thanks again to everyone who entered—and to those who see their names here, you should be receiving an e-mail very shortly (if it’s not already in your inboxes!). Keep an eye out today. :)

For Writers, Some Things Don’t Get Easier

Photo credit: sunside on FlickrSo after wrestling my WIP through another round of revisions, I’ve been thinking about how this latest WIP has been one of the toughest books for me to write yet.

I think there are probably a lot of reasons for that, but I found it interesting, because this is far from my first book. This WIP is, in fact, the twelfth MS I’ve written, and so you’d think that I’d have the whole book-writing thing down pat by down.

Except, you know, I don’t.

I mean, sure, I know my process now. I know I do my best first drafts when I fast draft and I need some air between first drafting and editing. I know my general cycle is first drafting, revising, CPing, revising, CPing, revising, maybe more CP/betaing, and maybe more revising before sending it off.

But the actual writing part? And the actual revising part? It is so tough sometimes, you guys, and I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I sat back and wondered if I was wasting my time with this MS.

Because the truth is, writing doesn’t get easier. And neither does having confidence in your work, at least, not all the time. And even after you’ve written WIP after WIP, you’ll still have some days (or even some entire MSs!) that spew out words ridiculously easy, then you’ll still have some days (or, again, even entire WIPs) where you have to fight for every single word. And it’s not because you’re a bad writer, or haven’t learned anything, or you’re doomed to never getting published—it’s just the way it is. And it’s something I’m about 99% sure every writer deals with, regardless of how many books they’ve written or published or not.

Pressing send doesn’t get easier, either. Whether that send is to your CP, or your agent, or the thirtieth query or whatever, sending your work out is scary every single time. And I mean, it helps that I’ve learned that the best thing for me to do is immediately distract myself after pressing send, and absolutely not looking at the manuscript or the e-mail (because, invariably, I will find a typo, or misplaced comma, or something equally horrifying). But it’s still nerve-wracking and I still glance at my e-mail more than I should wondering if today will be the day my CPs nicely tell me this WIP sucks.

So here’s the hard truth: some parts of the writing process really don’t get easier or less terrifying. But being a writer means buckling up and riding the emotional rollercoaster that is known as our careers. And it’s true that some things don’t get easier, but to me? Creating new worlds and characters and stories and sharing them with readers makes it all so very very worth it.

What parts of the writing/revision process do you find difficult? 

Twitter-sized bites: 

.@Ava_Jae says, "some parts of the writing process really don’t get easier or less terrifying." What do you think? (Click to tweet)  

What parts of the writing/revision process do you find difficult? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)