Category Archives: Literary

The Next J.K. Rowling Contest

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The Independent has begun a nationwide search (in UK and Ireland only) for the next J.K. Rowling. Meaning, they want a brilliant-ass children’s writer. The winner can not have current literary representation and must never have been published (traditionally). This prized person still qualifies even if self published. If chosen, the announced winner will receive a publishing deal with a £5,000 advance, literary agent representation with LBA and a trip to Venice to visit the home of luxury pen-maker Montegrappa.

All the details are here.

Pass this on to all your friends living in the UK and Ireland. Good luck and happy writing!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and Writer of MG/YA Fiction

“DEAR LUCKY AGENT” CONTEST presented by Writer’s Digest

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Sorry for the late notice, but I just learned “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest is in full swing and about to wrap up. However, the window for submission is still open. So let’s not panic people! Writer’s Digest presents this contest on the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS blog by Chuck Sambuchino.

Agent Andrea Somberg from Harvey Klinger Inc. will be the judge. She will pick three winners to receive a critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work and a one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value). She reserves the right to request your manuscript for consideration to represent your wonderfulness!

• Your story must be complete and polished.
• Submit the first 150-200 words of your book.
• Submit a logline (one sentence description of the story).
• You can submit as many times as you wish. (I assume they mean more than one story.)
• Only YA fiction this time around.
• Submission window is live thru April 9th, 2014, PST. (Yes, you need to hurry!)

For further information, head over to the “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest announcement. Or visit Harvey Klinger Inc. to direct query Andrea Somberg.

As always, good luck and happy writing!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and Writer of MG/YA Fiction

WORD WEDNESDAY

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With several days of the week behind us, Wednesday is when we tend to get sluggish as we long for Friday. I thought it’d be a good day to try a word exercise and wake our minds. Today’s word:

DOORKNOB

In one sentence, tell a story using the word above. You can post to the blog or you can do it in the comfort of your home (or work, I won’t tell). It can be any genre. But absolutely no erotica please. Here’s an example:

Ellen’s hand withdrew from her younger brother’s doorknob when she noticed a small glob of something resembling a booger.

Gross, I know. But remember, I write MG people! Here’s one more:

Jack shivered in the corner of his room watching the doorknob rattle, a demonic groan coming from the other side.

Okay. Your turn. Be creative and enjoy your day no matter where you are.

 

P.D.Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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Although St. Patrick’s Day began as a religious holiday in Ireland, people across many nations now celebrate March 17, the day believed to be Patrick’s death. Here are some noted facts:

  • St. Patrick was not Irish.
  • Born a nobleman in Britain about 400 A.D.
  • An atheist in his early years
  • Kidnapped by Irish pirates at age 16
  • A slave in Ireland for 17 years
  • Rediscovered his faith while in Ireland
  • Returned to Ireland as a missionary
  • Legend states St. Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain Christian Holy Trinity. (But it’s said no evidence proves he ever did.)
  • Still unclear if St. Patrick died in Ireland

And for those who are Irish, know someone who is Irish, or just want to help celebrate for their own pleasure, put on your green clothes, green hats, green glasses, green everything, and have some green beer, or green cake, or green potatoes, or anything drinkable/edible green…but pah-lease don’t call me later when you are feeling oh-so green!

Be safe and have fun! And again, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

HORROR IN TWO SENTENCES

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After seeing a writerly friend, Colin Mulhern, post a link on FB titled 20 SCARY HORROR STORIES WRITTEN in TWO SENTENCES, I thought it’d be a great exercise. But not just for me, for all my writing buddies. Click on the link above to read examples.

This caused me to be torn between two versions I wanted to write.  But I decided this could be part two of this fun practice.

Here is my first reflex:
After proclaiming his love, my boyfriend pressed the warmth of his moist lips against my face. The blood dripped from his tongue as I removed the knife from his throat.

Upon thinking further:
After proclaiming his love, my boyfriend pressed the warmth of his moist lips against my face. I licked the blood from his tongue as I withdrew the knife from his throat.

I’ve two different reasons for the killings in both examples. How do you read them? In the first, it’s self defense against an obsessive lover and unmasked serial killer. The second, the murderer is the serial killer. Now, give me your two sentence horror story. Can you rewrite it slightly to have a completely different meaning for the history behind the same story?

Ready. Set. Go!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

SHOW DON’T TELL

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If you’re a writer, you know I’m not talking about things your partner says to you in the bedroom. Pah-lease, don’t get me started on that! I’m talking about the ever important sentences explaining your character’s emotions. This lures the reader into the characters head feeling the moment with them, instead of being told how they feel.

Telling: Anna was excited about going outside after seeing the sun shine through the window.

Showing: The sun beamed through the window of the door, warming Anna’s face. Her eyes sparkled as she reached for the knob and unlocked the bolt in a rush. Darting outside, she spread her arms allowing the sun’s rays to bathe her.

Sometimes it’s hard to think of ways to describe emotion, especially without using clichés. (I know, I know.) Although some overused phrases will be tolerated, most readers yawn if they see them used over and over in your writing, so get creative. A friend, Natasha Neagle, told me about a wonderful book to help authors. It’s called THE EMOTION THESAURUS by Angela Ackerman. And because I was too daft to think about it myself, I needed another friend, Susan Roebuck, to tell me to visit Angela’s website because she offers a lot of freebie advise. Her site is called Writers Helping Writers.

Show all three of these wonderful authors some love and follow their websites, maybe even buy a book or two! (That was a shameless plug that none of them asked me for. But ladies, I’ll gladly except cheese as payment on future sales resulting from this post. Just sayin’)

Seriously though, following writers that share the knowledge of things that often took them months or years to learn is always worth a new authors time. Research and follow those that interest you, or those that write in the same genre and category as your stories.

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

REQUERY: SHOULD YOU DO IT?

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You submitted to an agent and got a rejection letter. Since then, you’ve learned better skills to hone your craft and edited your manuscript completely…again. Maybe you realized your hook didn’t work in the original query and, after help from betas, perfected it. Now you want to submit to the same agent. Should you?

In most cases, the answer is no. Some agents even post directly on their site not to submit the same projects.  If the hook in the first query didn’t make them ask for more, then the agents probably didn’t want to represent that type of story (not that the story was bad), and most likely still won’t want to represent it.

But what if you sent sample pages with the previous query? The agent might have liked the query but didn’t connect to the characters in the story, or the opening was weak, maybe starting in the wrong place, etc. Sometimes they tell you this. Mostly, they don’t. But if they do, this is a good opportunity for sending a new query after major rewriting. But I suggest asking if they would allow a resubmission. Why? Because most agents can see through weak pages and will still know if they don’t want to rep the story. If they didn’t connect to those, you can risk looking like a pest. You don’t want them remembering your name for the wrong reasons.

And for the love of scrumptious cheeses, DON’T ask every agent if you can resubmit. Read the last sentence of the previous paragraph if you don’t know why.

With that said, here are some hints for sending a query to an agent for the same manuscript:

  • Don’t rush the rewrite. You can make new errors, like leaving half sentences from deletions.
  • Have betas read EVERYTHING. Just because they read the original, don’t be overconfident you can make the adjustments without them. You’re too close to the story by this point and may read things the way you hear them in your head and not the way they actually present themselves on paper.
  • Alert the agent this is a resubmission. This is especially important if they gave you some hint to why they originally passed, or approved sending them a new submission Let them know briefly that you feel your query/manuscript better conveys your hook and characters after rewriting.
  • Wait six months. If you didn’t know why the agent passed, this is a good rule to follow only after making your massive rewrites. Give them time to forget your original query. In this case, you don’t necessarily have to tell them it’s a resubmission. NOTE: If you didn’t rewrite the manuscript DON’T RESEND! And remember, if they decline for a second time DON’T RESEND!

And I think this is worth repeating, DON’T resubmit to every agent. I’m not the best with numbers but I think you should keep this down to like a five or ten percent ratio. No one wants to be known as the Madman-Query-Dude. Just sayin’.

As always, best of luck!

P.D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA fiction.

WRITING CONTESTS: WHY I FOLLOW THEM

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NOTE: CONTESTS SHOULD NOT BE YOUR ONLY PLAN TO REACH AGENTS. NOTHING REPLACES THE DIRECT QUERY!

Phew! Got that out of the way. So, why do I follow them? Because I see:

1) What’s circulating.
2) Pitches/Opening lines that work.
3)  What agents are requesting.

Let’s start with number one. Why should I care? Well, if I thought about writing a dystopian, for example, I’d notice the market is currently over saturated, making my chances to get noticed slimmer. The novel had better be extremely unique if I choose to move forward. I like bettering my chances, so I’ll look at the next idea on my list!

As for pitches and opening lines, they need to be amazing to hook an agent/publisher. I can’t peek into their “Inbox” to see what they’re accepting, so contests are the next best thing. I can read those amazing entries and see what lines are working to attract their attention.

And nothing excites me more than seeing what types of stories agents/publishers request. Some even give reasons for the desired material with comments they leave. This helps me see what is currently being favored and sometimes I find clues to polishing a work in progress.

What am I currently watching? Brenda Drake’s Pitchwars

What contest did I win? PitchMAS #71

So, why did I open with “NOTHING REPLACES THE DIRECT QUERY”  if I won a contest? Because only a handful of agents participate in contests. If I only submit to these adrenaline pumping outlets, I close the gap on a huge market I could submit to. For example, I direct queried a few agents before entering PitchMAS resulting in a request for a FULL. I believe in the direct query, but contests can be excellent educators. (For help finding an agent go HERE and for query advise go HERE.)

There is one more tidbit about contests I’d like to leave you with: Some participating agents are closed to direct queries. In this case, the contest IS the only way to reach them when I don’t know a friend, who has a cousin, that has an uncle rep’d by said agent.

As always, good luck and happy writing!

P. D. Pabst
Blogger and writer of MG/YA Fiction

Interview: Geoffrey Gudgion, author of SAXON’S BANE

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While deciding which book to read, the cover of SAXON’S BANE by Geoffrey Gudgion beckoned me to peruse its pages. The medieval jousting helm bearing a stag promised a tale of ancient past while the paved road below hinted of present times. It had a dark and eerie vibe. I didn’t hesitate to open the intriguing book and was hooked with the first few sentences.

Saxon's Bane
Saxon’s Bane

 

 

(To read the interview, go here)

 

YA CONTEST ALERT-NO PITCH NECESSARY

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Having trouble writing a query or a pitch for that YA novel you’ve written? I know. I hear you screaming, “my brain rips in two trying to condense my story into a few sentences!” I feel your pain and send you a virtual hug! I understand an unfinished pitch keeps you from entering contests. You avoid them like dog poop on your sidewalk, curse them even. But I’ve discovered the perfect contest for you!

Here’s the scoop. I follow the wonderful @ChuckSambuchino (Editor of GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and author of HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK) on Twitter, who often contributes articles to WRITER’S DIGEST. Yesterday, he tweeted a link to Tell It Slant regarding a contest for your YA manuscript AND no pitch required! That’s worth repeating…NO PITCH REQUIRED!

Woo-Hoo!

You do need to have the first 250 words polished to submit and a $15 entry fee. But look who they say will be reading:

“YA literary agent Regina Brooks and her team will read all of the entries and determine the top 20 submissions. These submissions will then be read by Deidre Jones Little Brown, Nicole Raymond Candlewick, Annie Nybo Simon and Schuster, Mercedes Fernandez Kensington, Erica Finkel Abrams Books, Monica Jean Random House/Penguin , Stacey Friedberg Penguin Group, Catherine Laudone Simon and Schuster, Laura Whitaker Bloomsbury, Kendra Levin Viking, Anna Roberto Feiwel and Friends.

These judges will whittle the top 20 down to five, and each of the five winners will be provided commentary on their submissions.”

Go to Tell It Slant to read more about the contest guidelines and the benefits of winning. Good luck!

P.D. Pabst

Blogger and Writer of MG/YA Fiction