The long and the short of it

Today, I drove down to Arlington for a joint MWA/Sisters in Crime lunch with Marcia Markland, an editor from New York. What an interesting lady! But I'll get back to that in a sec. This was my third trip to VA in the last 60 days or so - not a fan of that drive. If only Baltimore had more events! Or I had a helicopter. Or a chauffeur. Sigh.

I just realized that I started my blog post in a car! (see previous post)

Anyway, here is what I took from this experience:

• I am not the oldest person aspiring to publish my first novel - by a long shot.
• Shorter is better - Marcia thinks it's a good idea to write as much as you can while waiting for the book deal to happen. Short stories are much easier to get out there (at least four attending members shared that they had stories in various publications since the last meeting, not including the anthology featuring Chesapeake area stories). This applies to novels, too. 75,000 - 80,000 words - those 90k+ books are expensive to print, meaning they are harder to make profitable.
• She had interesting insights into what is considered a successful book. A larger advance might actually work against new authors if the publishers can't recoup before the books are returned to make room for the next big bestseller.
• She doesn't care if the agents who contact her are based in New York or not. She said she assumes that they are professionals and have a good sense of what will sell until they prove otherwise. In fact, she thinks that new writers will have better luck securing an agent who isn't in a huge firm. If we are looking at the big NY agencies, look for the agents at the bottom of the list - they may have more time to work with you.

So, while I plug away at my outline, I may take some time out to work on a short project for this year's Urbanite/Pratt Contemporaries contest. Last year, my story came in fourth - for the record, first, second and third were published. But it did gain me some name recognition - sort of. My story title was "The Bitch" which is what Roswell (the organizer from the Pratt Contemporaries)  blurted out when he met me in person at the Ben Mezrich event. My mother would be so proud. I'm hoping it will land this year's submission a spot near the top of the pile.

Marcia also recommended conferences and conventions that will get us newbies out there with our target reading audience as well as other writers, agents, etc. Also good news for me since I'm booked for Bouchercon this fall. Validation!

Tomorrow will be about my outline and a list of some questions for the chefs kind enough to volunteer their expertise to help me with authentic details.

Here are some resources to check out:

http://mysterywritingismurder.blogspot.com/
http://nailyournovel.com/
http://kmweiland.com/

Happy writing!

Getting out of the car

I recently attended a novel workshop that was all about getting published. While the the day to day drama of that experience may one day end up in my memoirs, there was an interesting moment when the facilitator asked the twelve remaining writers if anyone had started their story in a car. Clearly, this was bad - one step removed from "It was a dark and stormy night..." A sure fire, one-way trip for your baby to be sent to the circular file of despair. Also on the bad list:

• Waking up to the alarm clock
• Getting on or off a train, plane, bus - you get the idea.
• Gazing at the mirror

Because all our pitch practice was done together in one common room, we knew that at least one poor soul started his story in a car (although I think he gets a pass since his character was living in it and it was relevant to the story). Although no one was eager to 'fess up at the time, we learned the following day that four writers had committed this crime against fiction. Four of twelve had to get out of the car in order to get to where they wanted to go - an agent and then blessed publication. And they did get out of the car. In fact, nearly all of us made changes to our beginnings, some excising more than a mere setting. By the end of day four, all of us had improved pitches and feedback from two agents who had not been present for the painful bits earlier in the week.

"Getting out of the car" might mean avoiding cliche and the subsequent death of all dreams of a book deal, or cutting pages of unnecessary or ill-timed exposition (my challenge), or having the courage to decide where and when your story actually starts.  I'm starting a few new stories this year - one of them will take me to a completed novel - but not by automobile.

:) Carolyn