Dame Kaz
I love talking with the people who visit the Deadline Dames, but I often feel that I don’t get to do it enough. When I run giveaways I think I’m being smart asking people: “Tell me what you’re reading right now. Or, what did you just finish reading that you loved?” I adore talking about books, so what could be better? But then it gets sort of complicated to reply to those who comment because… well, it’s a contest, and if I’m constanly chattering in the comments it could just mess up the the results!
So, yeah. Let’s talk. Do you have a burning question you’d like to ask me? Something about writing in general, or perhaps about Moth’s story (‘Falling to Ash’) in The Eternal Kiss. Or maybe you’re curious about The Iron Witch, which will be out one year from now (*cue excitement*)? (I won’t be able to reveal too much or anything that might be a spoiler, but there are probably plenty of things I can share.)
Maybe you want to ask about what it’s like working with an agent or an editor… or you’d like some advice on queries. It could be a question about reading, writing, or something else – as long as it’s not too personal. 
You don’t have to be 100% serious, either; if you want to have fun with this that’s totally fine.
Hit me with it! The questions, I mean… *g*
If you guys ask a question that I don’t feel I can do justice to – I’m not very experienced at this gig yet, remember – I’ll refer those things to the other Dames and we’ll keep them for future blog posts. But if it’s something straightforward that I can give you my personal take on, I’ll reply in comments.
Please keep in mind that I live in the UK, meaning I will probably reply to most of you tomorrow – so remember to check back then!
Related posts:
Tags: Karen Mahoney, Questions
Hm. Let’s see. A good question. *poking temple* Think, think, think. Ah!
Well… a writer MUST have willpower to be able to sit down and write instead of surfing (the web) or watching Telly (Savalis)… how do you keep yourself in the chair? And what happened to giving up coffee?
Hi Kaz! Good evening to you (in your time zone, right?)
Questions, questions, questions. Seems like I’m full of them, until it comes time to do the actual asking! LOL Okay, here’s one that’s been burning in me for awhile. I hear other writers talk about doing ‘scene sheets’. They tell me they do these sheets, and then use them while doing their writing. What can you tell me about them? Is there a good link where I can go and look up, read some more about doing them? Learning a new process for doing bothe book and character outlines was so beneficial to me in November, it makes me more open to trying another new process.
Thank-you very much for any information you can offer! Have a great day
Hi, I was wondering about critiquing. Do you critique? If so, do you have a special way of going about it? I’m critiquing for my friend for the first time ever, and I want to make a good job of it. Do you go through it once, twice, or multiple times? Do you focus on different things every time, or do you try to point out anything that bothers you on the first sweep and that’s it? Oh, and how long does it usually take to critique a 60 000 word novel?
Hey. What’s it like working with an agent and what’s the process your book goes through before you go into submitting to publishers?
Also…exactlty what is the Iron Witch about?
I’m currently editing a work I think would do well in the current market and I was wondering if you had any tips about querying you’d like to share. I’ve gone over the query-go-round posts several times. Is there anything you’d like to add to them? Was it easy for you or difficult? Were you happy with yours?
Hmmm, what I’d be really interested in, is your querying process and how many queries you sent out, before you got your dream agent.
Oh and a not so serious one, what’s your favourite snack?
I envy you for your salt and vinegar crisps, I always stock up on them when I’m in England. *g*
Do you think about whether you’re writing for a British or American audience when you write?
-Sheela
an American writer
Okay, so this is kind of serendipitous, I was sitting here this morning wondering; “What would the Dames suggest are the best how-to books on writing for a newbie writer?” Please feel free to pass along the question to the other Dames as well!
Wow there’s some good questions on here! Hmm Questions, lets see. At the start of your writing career, did you enter competitions or what not to build your confidence and sort of put your work out there? and .. How did you know you found your unique “voice/style”? (i think that’s what they call it
)
Thanks
one more .. (sorry can’t help it) What is your favourite Author and why?
Ok thats it I promise
42!!!
Er, wait, you wanted a question.
Is one year a firm date for the Iron Witch? As in January 2011? I’m super excited!
Hi Kaz, hope the snow hasn’t been too bad for you;D.
I’m with the query questions: any good website suggestions on how to write one? Also, any suggestions on researching how to write a synopsis?
Thanks.
Tina
G’morning, Kaz. Get your tea and settle in.
The bane of my writing existence is…BLURBS. I hate them. But they are certainly necessary. Like I said on Twitter the other day, how can I be so succinct in 140 characters but writing a 40 word blurb for a Romantic Times ad leaves me banging my head on the keyboard.
Do you, or any of the other Dames, have a tried and true method for getting down to the nitty-gritty?
Thanks to everyone for the great questions. Right… here goes (I’m picking these randomly, so I hope I get to everyone!):
Brian: Trust YOU to be first! *g* Hmmm… but okay, I’ll try to answer your question(s). I am a VERY BAD example of having willpower, because I honestly have the attention span of a flea. I work best on first drafts out of the house; I take my Alphasmart to a coffee shop and power through 2 – 3,000 words in a couple of hours that way. (They are not very good words, of course.)
Revisions are much harder for me. I have to work on the laptop then, so I plug in at home & then have the dreaded broadband network constantly switched on. I try to offer myself rewards: Finish this scene & you can check email. Revise chapter 4 and you can go on Twitter for 10 minutes. Rewrite the entire ending & you can surf for half an hour.
I am an internet addict, but because I really can’t concentrate on anything other than first drafts for longer than an hour at a time, it sort of works for me to have my emails open so I can flip back and forth.
Um… that was a long reply!
Oh, and the coffee? Don’t be silly – you knew I wouldn’t give up!!
Irene: I’m actually not a great example where critiquing is concerned, because at the moment I’m not doing much.
However, based on the last time I DID crit stuff for writing friends, I can say that for me – and this is just MY way of doing it – it works better to do everything at once. Everyone is different though, and you have to find what works for you.
I like to get the Big Picture, so I’ll read through the entire thing on screen, slowly, using the ‘comment’ feature of word to insert my thoughts in the margins as I’m reading. At the same time, I have a new Word doc open, where I write thoughts about bigger issues: maybe if I think something isn’t working about a particular character, or if the voice feels ‘off’ or the POV doesn’t seem quite right. These are big, big issues that you can’t just leave a comment in the margin about, so I’ll write a paragraph explaining WHY I feel that way about whatever it is.
Then when I’m done with the whole thing, I email the document back (with my comments in the margins) and copy/paste the Big Issues into the body of the email to go with it.
Things that I think are important (again, this is just me):
- I like to write the things I think are good (or great!) as well as those things that might not be working. Personally, I find it important when *I* receive a crit to have a balance of positive feedback to lessen the blow of the tough stuff.
And apart from this, it’s actually helpful to know what your reader finds is working – so you can be sure to include more of it.
- It’s important to ask the person you’re critiquing for how THEY want to receive the crit. Some people don’t like comments within the ms, and would rather just get a long document/email with a list of points. Check first.
- Also, decide between you whether your crit is going to focus on issues of plot, character, structure, etc. or whether you’re also going to point out spelling mistakes, etc. Are you critiquing on a deep level, or does your friend just need a proofreader? (For me, I find it irritating to have my spellings corrected when I want to know the BIG issues that are ‘wrong’ with the book.)
So communicate beforehand and agree on:
1) The ‘level’ of critique.
2) How that critique will be delivered/presented.
I write my crit with 3 headings:
-Things I Love!
-Concerns/Questions/Big Issues
-Anything Else
I hope this helps but, as I said, everyone does things differently & it’s good to ask around.
Irene: Sorry, I forgot to answer your other question, but honestly I don’t think I can. It depends on SO MANY factors (the type of crit you’re doing, the amount of issues that you feel need to be talked about, etc.). Very rough average – for me – would be doing a couple of hours each evening over the course of a week, but that’s just me. And it’s also why I’m not doing much at the moment – I don’t have the time!
When I’m not critiquing for others I never ask for crits; I like to exchange, and right now I can’t do that so it wouldn’t be fair to ask for help with my stuff when I can’t return the favour.
Carolin: Hi! When I was querying agents I sent out 6 initial queries to my 6 ‘dream agents’. I should say that there is an inherent danger in thinking of ANY agent as a ‘dream’ agent, because you never really know who you’ll gel with, and you might even be surprised. There are pros & cons to being repped by a Big Name Agent, just as the same applies to newer agents.
Also, when querying, some people like to hold back all their ‘top choices’ in case they got lots of early rejections. This might indicate their query needs work, so they can then rework it and carry on querying – and then they haven’t ‘wasted’ their top choices with a less effective query. Personally, I didn’t go for this method! So in MY case I just decided who I would LOVE to be reppped by – my top 6 – and queried them all first. Heh. I knew my query was strong, though, but my pages DID need work (I revised twice more throughout the whole process).
I queried around 50 agents in total, over a period of 6 months, but I ended up signing with one from that initial batch of 6! This was a lesson in patience…
My method was:
-For every request for materials, I sent another query out into the wild to ‘replace’ it.
-For every rejection, I sent out a further TWO queries to make myself feel better. *g*
Re. favourite snack… I actually DO love salt & vinegar crisps! But my favourite is probably going to be something sweet. At the moment, I am massively into blueberry muffins. Mmmm
Lisa B.: First of all, congrats on getting to the stage where you’re editing and getting ready to query!
I think the only thing I’d add to what has already been said (and check my reply above, too), is to make sure you keep your query simple. The ‘hook’ part where you sell the novel (like you’d see on the back of a book) really only needs to be a couple of paragraphs. Don’t go into too much detail. Set up the where, who & what – then leave the reader/agent begging for more!
Also, I can’t say enough: make sure you thoroughly research the agents you query. Try to personalise each query wherever possible & show the agent you’ve done homework on what they are currently interested in.
Good luck!!
Dawn Y.: Hi there – happy new year! It’s good to ask questions, as long as you’re writing too.
Okay, I am going to be HOPELESS on ‘scene sheets’. I haven’t got a clue what they are, though I’m guessing they’re just another form of plotting/outlining. I am not much of a plotter, I’m afraid.
I would recommend trying to google the term – I’m sure they’re very similar to character sheets (again, not something I use) – but also try:
http://pbackwriter.blogspot.com/
Lynn Viehl has a ton of stuff on outlining and plotting, and she also offers character sheets. I wonder if she might have scene sheets of some kind, too?
Amanda: Everyone has a different experience of working with an agent, but I am happy to share mine. I love having someone who takes care of the business side of things. I know I’m very early on in my career, but Dame Agent helps to guide me & we discuss projects before I embark on them. We talk about what has the best chance of selling. She is a hands-on editorial style of agent, meaning that she reads my work (once I’ve got it revised and ready for her – I never send her first draft stuff) and gives me feedback and revision suggestions.
With THE IRON WITCH, we did two rounds of revisions together – one quite indepth and the second just tidying up loose ends. Then we went out on a ‘first wave’ of submissions. Again, different agents work in different ways, but it’s quite common to go out to batches of say 6-8 publishing houses at a time. Your agent will pitch the book to their contacts, and then editors will request the manuscript if they’re interested.
And then… you wait!
Thanks for asking about TIW. I know it’s a bit vague on Goodreads, but that’s mainly because I’ve posted my query letter online before and this is what has been picked up for the site. I don’t have an ‘official’ blurb from Flux yet (we’re working on edits right now), but it’s basically the story of a modern-day 17-year old girl who is born into a secret society of alchemists. The alchemists are sworn to protect humans from the fey creatures that remain in our world – the only ones left are the wood elves (or dark elves) who got kicked out of Faerie.
So there’s this uncomfortable standoff between the dwindling remains of the dark elves & the aging alchemists who struggle to fill their ranks – which is why they want to keep hold of young people like Donna – while trying to protect the secrets behind their magic.
Donna has iron tattoos – magically forged by the alchemists – that cover her hands and arms, after a fey attack when she was a child. The tattoos ‘fixed’ her, but also give her enhanced strength. Lots of stuff goes on in The Iron Witch, but a big part of it is when Donna’s best friend, Navin, gets taken by the elves… she has a limited amount of time to rescue him, and the only help she can find is a (hot!) half-fey guy who has his own grudge against the elves.
Um… and now you can see why I suck at the ‘elevator pitch’.
Sheela: (Hi!! *g*) Yes, I definitely do think about the audience in terms of Brit/American. I specifically wrote THE IRON WITCH for a US audience. I have always wanted to live in the US (I dream of Boston!) and I adore so many of the TV shows – especially the ones aimed at younger audiences.
I got a helpful critique from a USian CP who really helped with my Britishisms with that first book! I’m getting better at ‘sounding’ American now, I think, although I sort of want to write in a way that appeals to everyone. Yes, I can have characters based in the US – so they should sound American – but The Iron Witch is told in close 3rd POV, which I think allows a bit of my own voice to sneak in there.
Kaz
JackieP: Best how-to books on writing… There aren’t all that many I could wholeheartedly endorse, but speaking personally here are my recs for inspiration:
THE RIGHT TO WRITE – Julia Cameron
BIRD BY BIRD – Anne Lamott
Anything by Natalie Goldberg because I am a big fan! (Though the best of her books for ‘craft’ & not just inspiration, imho, is THUNDER AND LIGHTNING)
For craft & practical stuff:
YOUR FIRST NOVEL – Laura Whitcomb and Ann Rittenberg (a YA author & her agent)
ON WRITING – Stephen King
HOOKED – Les Edgerton
Cheers & happy writing!
Kaz
Wow. Thanks for all the advice, Kaz. That helped so much!
Melissa F: Thanks for the great questions! First of all, yes, when I first began writing with publication in mind I *did* enter some competitions. This was YEARS ago. However, I was pretty foolish back then and, even though I got shortlisted & was a runner up (in the David Gemmell short story contest one time), I took this to mean I Wasn’t Good Enough. I wish I could take my 26-year old self aside and have a few stern words with her!
Now, of course, I know that all of this REALLY meant that I was on the right track… I was just too stupid/crazy/insecure to realise it. Heh.
After giving up writing for 5 years, I got back in the saddle but this time followed my heart: no more literary short story contests, just novels!! And YA novels at that. You’re right that people talk about finding your voice, and there are all sorts of things online & in books that talk you through that. I think *I* knew I’d found my unique voice when I started writing THE IRON WITCH. Previously, I’d been bashing my head against the first draft of an adult urban fantasy in classic 1st-person POV. Something wasn’t quite working though.
When I switched to my YA idea, written in close-3rd POV, the writing flowed & for the first time I knew I’d found my writing voice. Huzzah!
My favourite author is Jonathan Carroll because his work is so incredibly OUT THERE and crazy and beautiful. I love it. He can make the surreal completely believable. His work makes me cry, think (hard), laugh, all while scaring the crap out of me!
Thank you so much! This is perfect. I now feel like I’ll do a better job.
Hopefully…
Firewolf:
Hehe… Thanks for that. 42 is the Answer we all need, for sure.
The last I hear re. The Iron Witch was a tentative date of Feb 2011. So I’m being a bit hopeful saying “one year from now”. But it’s more-or-less correct. We’ll see – publishing has a habit of changing things at short notice…
Cheers!
Kaz
Tina: Hey! Yeah, it’s actually been snowing a LOT over here. But I’m sure it’s worse where you are..?
Okay, so if you look through my replies above you’ll see some of my ramblings re. queries. There is also THIS amazing link that will save your life:
http://difrancis.livejournal.com/214545.html
And for The Dreaded Synopsis(tm), no writer should embark on writing a synopsis without reading the stuff here:
http://mizkit.livejournal.com/339428.html
These writers are SO generous & I salute them all.
Silver: I am drinking my green tea RIGHT NOW!
So, what you’re asking about is the ‘Elevator Pitch’, right? The few sentences that should neatly encompass what your book is about? Um… I am really not much help. If you look back through the previous replies here, I am hopeless at talking about my stuff in a concise way. Heh.
One of the best things I have come across is this old article by Jim Butcher:
http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/1308.html
This isn’t exactly what you’re asking, I know, but it’s a pretty good starting point. But yeah, this is a TOUGH one. I can mention it to the other Dames, but I think part of the problem here is that, once you get published, you often find that your editor (or someone else?) writes the back-of-the-book blurb for you!
Here’s a question. How big a role does music play in your writing? And what songs would you include on the “soundtrack” of any of your books?
Thanks for answering my questions. I will definitely be checking out Jonathan Carroll he sounds real interesting.
Hi Amy,
I am going to give you The World’s Most Disappointing Answer… sorry!
Music plays almost no role at all in my writing. When I work, I need silence – mostly. Sometimes I can write in coffee shops, and then you get the generic jazzy background music, but I just tune that out. I can’t write with the TV on or anything like that. I know people who write & watch TV shows at the same time! O.o Amazes me, but I couldn’t do it.
The thing that inspires my writing is art/images. I find images that match the mood of my work; photos and art that represents my characters; I’ve even made collages of projects before. But music just doesn’t move me – not when it comes to my writing. I *like* music, but I don’t *love* it. Other books, mythology, folklore, artwork… these are the things that fire my soul and feed my creativity.