ABNA discussion
ABNA 2013
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How's the second round of waiting?
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In a word, terrible. Absolutely terrible. I'm a nervous wreck. If I had gotten cut, I could have fooled myself into thinking, "Hey, so you're not good at pitches. No biggie." But if/when I get cut from now on, it's going to be for any number of reasons that are tad more personal. The farther you move on, the farther you have to fall when you get cut and that is truly scary.
There's an uneasy truth to the entire "fear of success more than failure" concept. I'm it. :D
There's an uneasy truth to the entire "fear of success more than failure" concept. I'm it. :D
Mod
That's exactly how I feel too K. R. After the initial..."yay! I made it!".. I realized, oh crap, they are going to read it and possibly hate it. A lot of self doubt going on over here.
Mikhail wrote: "K. R. wrote: "In a word, terrible. Absolutely terrible. I'm a nervous wreck. If I had gotten cut, I could have fooled myself into thinking, "Hey, so you're not good at pitches. No biggie." But if/w..."
Hey Mikhail! I caught your interview. Exciting stuff.
Hey Mikhail! I caught your interview. Exciting stuff.
Hi KR and Mikhail -- I didn't know you guys were nervous wrecks. I hope you are distracting yourself appropriately!Maybe cuz I've done so many ABNAs, I'm not that nervous. Though I do look forward to March 12!
Hey Dwight. I entered two years ago and didn't make it past the pitch round, so I knew what that felt like. This is entirely new for me so....ah well...back to the real world and work. That will have to suffice for a distraction. :D
Mod
Well, I can tell you that sometimes the reviews can be harsh. Especially if you get to the Publishers Weekly reviews in the stage after the next one. It just depends who you get. Or sometimes they're lovely.The PW review is great because it's a review of your whole book by a somewhat professional. I find that's one of the most valuable and useful parts of the contest. Plus it can make for a great blurb for your book.
Mod
Thank you Dwight, now let's all hope we get that far. Or at least one of us, so we can cheer each other on.
Good luck to you both. My view is whether I advance or not, I like to follow the contest and root for people. I can always learn something.And when the excerpts go up March 12, you will see there are some stunningly beautiful powerful unusual novels in the contest.
Hi Deena, I'm excited too. And that's ok.As I recall, I believe the next advancers are again announced through a pdf list on the ABNA home page. And I think the two reviews will be on our own Createspace homepage. I think shortly after that, the advancing excerpts are posted on the ABNA page.
March 12 is just under 3 weeks away! Time to start planning celebration/commiseration activities.
Mikhail and K.R. I'm nervous too, But I think you two are looking at the pitch all wrong. I don't know about you guys, but I had a hell of a time trying to knock my book down to 300 words or less. I had liked the back cover of my createspace book jacket, but there I couldn't "spill my guts". In the pitch I felt like we had to give a little more of the story away to grab the readers attention but not give the whole thing away. I wrote at least 5 different pitches and if my husband or friends had to read one more they probably would have choked me.
If you can write a good pitch you have talent as a writer. Now I know there's an element of luck to it - one person read it and they liked it or they didn't. It had to get into the right hands - but the viners got to choose their favorite genres so I didn't get someone who hates romance for example. And I'm certainly not saying those who didn't make it through aren't good writers, I'm just saying don't understate your accomplishment. Writing that pitch sucked. I pretty much wanted to throw up. The fact that someone liked it - I felt like my feet didn't touch the ground all day.
I have a feeling the second round is going to go the same way. A couple of people (2 I think but this is my first time so what do I know) will read your excerpt and love it or not. (I say love instead of like with the knowledge that they know they have to cut 300 per genre) There are so any people out there with different tastes in literature. That's what makes me nervous. My story crosses genres - it's paranormal romance, science fiction, and targeted to 18 - young twenty year olds. But, it didn't give me the almost nervous breakdown the pitch did. It was already written. You just had to read the beginning of your novel and decide where to stop it.
If I don't make it any farther than the pitch I'm ok with that. I know some people are going to love my story and some will hate it. Heck, my favorite book is The Catcher In The Rye and my best friend hated it so much she couldn't even finish it.
I'm rambling. My point is, you wrote a good pitch YEAH! Even if you don't make it to the next round still YEAH!
S.E. wrote: "Mikhail and K.R.
I'm nervous too, But I think you two are looking at the pitch all wrong. I don't know about you guys, but I had a hell of a time trying to knock my book down to 300 words or les..."
S. E.,
No doubt about it, the pitch is far more difficult than actually writing the novel. I've never tried a synopsis, but I've heard those are even worse -- trying to tell your entire story with only the highlights, sans nuance, and still capturing the reader. If I never have to write a synopsis, I think I will be happy, indeed.
And technically, I was quite happy with my pitch. I thought it did a decent job of saying what my novel was about while also capturing my MCs attitude even though the pitch was written in 3rd person. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back too hard, because I'm not by nature a self-promoter -- Gah! I really should work on that, because self-promotion is a freaking requirement in writing. Bye, bye comfort zone, I suppose. But when I passed on to the second round, it was definitely a positive boost for the ego. However, if I hadn't moved on, I would not have thought for even ONE SECOND that it was a reflection on my story, me, even my ability as a writer. Since writing a novel and writing a good pitch are such vastly different types of writing, I am quite able to separate the two.
But now it's show time!
And the judging is no longer based on if we can capture the reader with a few words. Now we have to capture and retain their interest for 3K to 5K words.
Am I happy with my excerpt? You're damn straight I am! :) But there's no accounting for taste. Who knows what the reviewers are going to think? In fact, I am almost positive I'm going to get hammered on a certain part, not because it's awful or even written badly but because you just can't predict taste and my luck generally guarantees I am destined to run into the ONE reviewer that will absolutely hate the scene and think it's completely stupid.
Yet what I am most terrified of is the possibility that I might actually move on again. Because then the game is all about the story, all 84,000 words of it. Will it charm? Will it provoke? Will it crash and burn and end up a smoldering pile of poo on the porch of life? That is the true scope of my nervousness and I KNOW I'm only borrowing problems. I'm not even trying to be arrogant. I'm just trying to come to grips with the potential catastrophe that awaits me at every potential turn.
It would probably help if this story wasn't so personal for me. But I can't help that. And I took the risk, so I should probably just shut up and deal. But mostly I really want to avoid being so disappointed about being cut that I end up like the idiot who accused Penguin and Amazon of being a bunch of feminist anti-Semites one year because he entry got cut. I don't want to be THAT BOOB! So I'm trying to "hope for the best, while expecting the worst."
I'm nervous too, But I think you two are looking at the pitch all wrong. I don't know about you guys, but I had a hell of a time trying to knock my book down to 300 words or les..."
S. E.,
No doubt about it, the pitch is far more difficult than actually writing the novel. I've never tried a synopsis, but I've heard those are even worse -- trying to tell your entire story with only the highlights, sans nuance, and still capturing the reader. If I never have to write a synopsis, I think I will be happy, indeed.
And technically, I was quite happy with my pitch. I thought it did a decent job of saying what my novel was about while also capturing my MCs attitude even though the pitch was written in 3rd person. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back too hard, because I'm not by nature a self-promoter -- Gah! I really should work on that, because self-promotion is a freaking requirement in writing. Bye, bye comfort zone, I suppose. But when I passed on to the second round, it was definitely a positive boost for the ego. However, if I hadn't moved on, I would not have thought for even ONE SECOND that it was a reflection on my story, me, even my ability as a writer. Since writing a novel and writing a good pitch are such vastly different types of writing, I am quite able to separate the two.
But now it's show time!
And the judging is no longer based on if we can capture the reader with a few words. Now we have to capture and retain their interest for 3K to 5K words.
Am I happy with my excerpt? You're damn straight I am! :) But there's no accounting for taste. Who knows what the reviewers are going to think? In fact, I am almost positive I'm going to get hammered on a certain part, not because it's awful or even written badly but because you just can't predict taste and my luck generally guarantees I am destined to run into the ONE reviewer that will absolutely hate the scene and think it's completely stupid.
Yet what I am most terrified of is the possibility that I might actually move on again. Because then the game is all about the story, all 84,000 words of it. Will it charm? Will it provoke? Will it crash and burn and end up a smoldering pile of poo on the porch of life? That is the true scope of my nervousness and I KNOW I'm only borrowing problems. I'm not even trying to be arrogant. I'm just trying to come to grips with the potential catastrophe that awaits me at every potential turn.
It would probably help if this story wasn't so personal for me. But I can't help that. And I took the risk, so I should probably just shut up and deal. But mostly I really want to avoid being so disappointed about being cut that I end up like the idiot who accused Penguin and Amazon of being a bunch of feminist anti-Semites one year because he entry got cut. I don't want to be THAT BOOB! So I'm trying to "hope for the best, while expecting the worst."
KR, I hope the best for you in the contest. I can imagine how a very personal novel being in the running can make one more nervous.Before I became a Nichiren Buddhist, and before I heard of the law of attraction, I also would: hope for the best, expect the worst. But today at 54, I have come to believe that the energy of my thoughts can influence outcome. So now I just hope for the best. Personally I don't want to expect the worst because I don't want to pave the way for the worst.
And while I'm not nervous, I'm pretty excited. But I am also extremely impatient for March 12 to get here. Time is in slow motion. It helps me to picture all those readers reading our excerpts at this very moment, choosing which excerpts to put into the good pile or the bad pile, hoping that mine goes into the good pile.
Good luck to all, whether you are biting your nails, or watching the clock, or managing to keep the contest out of your everyday mind completely. March 12 will arrive and we will all still be alive and breathing March 13.
Thanks to the discussion boards,I've discovered Pinterest. This has proved a diverting way to spend a few hours, posting pretty pictures of book jackets and a couple of proposed pages from Ice Feathers, my ABNA entry! http://pinterest.com/kfaddle/
Pinterest is fun.Oh my! Less than 2.5 weeks till March 12.
Time has stopped, hasn't it? I feel like I'm caught up in a bad version of the movie Groundhog Day.
I keep hearing David Lee Roth's voice say "I think the clock is slow". I wish it would just get here one way or another!!!
2 weeks and 2 days to go!Academy Awards on Sunday.
Good luck to all.
So the official rules say "on or about March 12th." That's ten days away. Is everyone still holding their breath?
Yes, KR, it's almost here. Either way, advance or not, I've already made plans to go out to dinner with friends March 12.
I just found this group. And I guess I'm as anxious as anyone to find out about the next round. I nearly didn't submit at all. The last two chapters were unedited (and the contest closed--early--before I had a chance to upload my "finished" novel). Biding my time by taking MediaBistro's novel writing class. I'm finding it enjoyable and worthwhile. But--the instructor wanted everyone to start a novel from the beginning: pitch, outline, then write. So I started a new novel, which I've been immersed in, so that passes the time (and I like the new novel better than the ABNA novel).
So glad to find this place!
Dwight, if I have properly retained what I have read about you, you are a sociable Chicago guy. Isn't J.A. Konrath (whose blog I keep encountering in any discussion of self-pubbing) also a Chicagoan? If I have all that right, have you hung out with his crowd at all?
Haha, I am a pretty sociable Chicago guy. I didn't realize JA Konrath was from the Chicago area but you are right. We write different genres but maybe I'll say hi online somewhere to him.
Cool. I look forward to a full report!
How many more days? I'm trying to forget about it. I am glad to see that my blurb passed because that was the hardest thing to write! And I'm getting ready to fly back home to America for a visit over Easter, so I have other things to keep my mind off it.Five more days, right?
One day left. I keep hearing the Star Wars Empire theme in my head, followed by duh duh duh duh! It's quite unnerving.
When I think about it, my stomach drops. Can't wait... ugh!
Hey, I think it's starting! This showed up on Amazon a couple of hours ago!http://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Lega...
Wow, Darlene. I know in the past, sometimes ABNA tests things out. How did you find that link?
I'm on pins and needles. I hope this isn't a false report! Or a really sick joke. A friend saw it, and emailed me the link.
Hey J, you mentioned that yours is up. Please tell me where you looked to see it. Thanks!
I just went on Amazon and typed in the name of the book.
Interesting. They might be test loading the entries. Good luck to all!
Does anyone know how this works now? Do the royalties from the excerpt go to us? I see it has an ASIN but it's not on my bookshelf.
That's one thing that's weird on those listings. One never had to pay to download excerpts. So I think they're getting the kinks out of things. I'm sure one gets no royalties here. In the early year of the contest, they used to upload Edgar Allen Poe books and stuff that was clearly not in the contest.
I love the logo for sci fi with the flying saucers.
Yeah, me too re: flying saucers. Considering I sell the whole book for 99 cents, I can't imagine why anyone would pay 99 cents for 1 page.
So far about 9 excerpts have surfaced. The author's last names have all been from the first half of the alphabet. They just be loading them gradually. Talk about nerve wracking.
Thanks for looking into things, Dwight. Naomi, I don't want to jinx you by offering premature congratulations, so I won't say anything more just now than, "It seems like a great sign, and I am pleased for you."
Thanks Mike. Fingers crossed you'll show up before morning.
Hmmm...mine's up there (and apparently worth less, heh), but with J. Naomi's author info in the 'About the Author' section (Darlene's too)? Excerpt: http://www.amazon.com/Emancipating-Al...
How are others holding up?