Tag Archives: Stories

Adult & YA/MG Interns Needed

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The Bent Agency

Once again, The Bent Agency is searching for an adult intern, as well as a YA/MG intern. The internships are a great way to learn more about an agent’s work and decision-making process. Past interns have been writers for children, children’s librarians, elementary school teachers, MFA students, and passionate readers. This is an unpaid internship which will require a ten hour per week commitment and you do NOT have to live in New York.

For complete details, go here. As always, good luck!

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

Need A Sensitivity Reader?

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book-spines

Writing In The Margins has helped writers create appealing words to readers for awhile. What I didn’t know, they also have dedicated time to help writers find sensitivity readers. With publishers understanding the need for diverse voices in today’s world, there’s been a push for these types of manuscripts. For those unfamiliar, the diversity push means publishers are looking for stories told by the minority voices.

But, what if you’re a male or female heterosexual Caucasian in perfect health who has a great story idea for a Muslim main character, or a fabulous manuscript for a lead character with autism? Does this mean you shouldn’t write it? Of course you should. However, what this really means is you’re possibly not the best person to write the story. But wait, I just told you to write the story. Of course, you can absorb yourself into research. After all, you can find nearly everything on the internet these days, and writer’s have done so with secondary characters. But, there is something else they do, which I recently learned about during WriteOnCon.

If you want to write a story with a diverse leading character and you’re obviously not what our culture considers to be a minority, then getting a sensitivity reader might be what you need when writing outside of your own culture and experience. Writing In The Margins has a list of sensitivity readers of Muslim, Judaism, Autism, African-American, Japanese, LGBT, Deafness, Latina, Transgender, and more!

This is how the site defines the sensitivity reader: A sensitivity reader reads through a manuscript for issues of representation and for instances of bias on the page.  The goal of a sensitivity reader isn’t to edit a manuscript clarity and logic, although that may be an additional service offered. A sensitivity reader reviews a manuscript for internalized bias and negatively charged language.  A sensitivity reader is there to help make sure you do not make a mistake, but they are also NOT a guarantee against making a mistake.

If you want to write a story with leading diverse characters and aren’t a minority, use someone from the site’s list to polish your script. As always, good luck!

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

James Patterson Masterclass and Co-Author Competition

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james-patterson

With New York Times Bestselling author James Patterson‘s net worth at $700 million, who wouldn’t want to take a MasterClass with him? There will be 22 video lessons and exercises for $90. Super afforadable peeps! Even better, he’s choosing someone from the class to co-author a book with him!

Say what?

Yeppers, you heard right. James Patterson will choose someone to write a novel with him. During the competition, each stage is designed to help you craft and pitch a novel. And the prizes are:

  • 10 Semi-Finalists: Ten students will win $1000 based on book hook and sample chapter.
  • 3 Finalists: Three students from the ten semi-finalists will be chosen to submit outlines for their books and will win $2500.
  • 1 Grand Prize Winner: Opportunity to co-author a book with James Patterson. In addition, $5000.

If you’re interested, get your words polished. The deadline for the competition is March 1, 2017!

As always, good luck!

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

Discovering BookBub for Readers & Writers

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bookbub

I recently discovered BookBub and have been piling up books to read! If your an avid reader, you’ll want to subscribe to this site because most of the deals are below $1.99 (US) or FREE! The site allows you to build a profile based on the genre of books you like to read and when they find deals, they’ll email to let you know. A lot of what I’ve been receiving in my inbox are from New York Times Bestsellers and USA Today Best-Selling Books. They even let you know when a book has had raving reviews from Kirkus Reviews or Publishers Weekly, or gained five star reviews from places like Goodreads, and more!

If you’re a writer, reading more of the genre you write in can only help hone your craft. Industry professionals don’t hold back telling writers to read more. Even famous authors, including Steven King, preach to read more to improve writing skills. It’s kind of a no-brainer, right?

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I discovered BookBub! (No, they didn’t pay me to say this stuff.) They even supply links to where the deals are: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple, or Google. Let’s face it, most of us don’t have time to search the web to find the deals we want. Why not let BookBub do it for you? So, get purchasing and happy reading!

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

Curtis Brown and Conville & Walsh’s #PitchCB on #Twitter

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This Friday (February 24th) will be the first pitch event of 2017 for Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency and Conville & Walsh. These events are held on the fourth Friday of every month (so you can catch the next event if you miss this one), hosted by Rebecca Ritchie and Richard Pike of Curtis Brown

In order to submit, prepare a 140 character pitch including #PitchCB hashtag for your completed manuscript. The window will be open for 24 hours and remember to only pitch once! If your pitch is “liked”, submit directly to that agent following the agencies’ submission guidelines.

As always, good luck!

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

Monthly Mumbles: Book Covers (or Lacking)

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MEH.

Please note, these are solely my thoughts and nothing more. But, I had to share, regardless of how shallow my readers might think me to be. Recently I got asked to select a free book from a publisher to read. It was my choice, so I could’ve selected anything. I was slightly familiar with the publisher, since I know someone that edits for them. Thus, I was thrilled to take my freebie! (Besides…booooooks people!)

Now, we’ve all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”. And sure, this holds true for many things, especially humans. But in marketing, what’s in front of a consumer must be visually stimulating. And I confess, I am a consumer that needs roused to pick up a book before I’ve ever read the blurb. But from a marketing standpoint, this is just smart business!

So, imagine my dismay as I perused unpleasant cover art from various titles to select my awarded freebie. Most looked cheaply done or simply didn’t mesh with the title. And forgive me for this, but I judge the lack of detail given to a book’s cover as indication of the lack of editing probably given to the story. My eyes will roam over the cover and move along to the next. And with technology today, there simply isn’t a good reason to have bad cover art!

As authors, we don’t always have control over the cover art, but I’d stress to stand ground when something seems extremely off or comes across cheap in appearance. Should a writer want a lovely embracing couple on their horror book? No, this would lead readers to think it’s a love story and could result in bad reviews from romance readers. And authors wouldn’t want a picture of an ocean if their entire story is set within a magical forest. Why would authors expect anything less than perfect for their book baby? This is even more important for authors self publishing. Take the same amount of time on the cover art as you spend on editing. If you hire out the art, be sure to check previous work before settling on the artist or company. This is about proper marketing. Give the reader a reason to pick up the book BEFORE they’ve read the blurb!

That’s it. Rant over.

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

Iceland Writers Retreat

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The Iceland Writers Retreat states that over the course of the retreat, each participant is enrolled in a total of five two-hour small-group writing workshops (max. 15 participants) led by internationally acclaimed authors, a Q&A panel with all faculty, and numerous readings and social functions. But there are only a few seats left, so you better hurry!

Each of our Featured Authors teaches two different workshops, and you have plenty of time to interact with faculty, including those with whom you do not have any workshops. The retreat takes place April 5-9, 2017 and costs approximately ISK 289,000 (approximately $2479 US dollars). Prices exclude airfare and airport transportation.

Langjokull-Glacier-Mountaineers-of-Iceland

But between all the intimate workshops and lectures, writers will have the opportunity to tour the spectacular Golden Circle, sit in cozy cafes of Reykjavik, soak in geothermal hot springs, listen to new Icelandic music, meet contemporary Icelandic writers, and learn about the country’s rich literary tradition. And remember, if researching for a novel or just wanting the workshops to improve your craft, this retreat is tax deductible! For complete registration inclusions, go here.

As always, have fun and learn lots!

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

Encouragement for the Day!

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The difficulties of writing a novel can be tedious and more difficult than some people think. Writers don’t just pound out perfection in one sitting the first attempt. It can take days, weeks, months, or even years to get the first draft done, depending on other work obligations. Most writers have a day job not involving their writing career and have to squeeze writing in any free moment they can.

After the first draft is finished, comes the editing, and editing, and editing. A writer then sends manuscript to critique partners (CPs) or beta’s to help find plot holes, voice problems, or anything else they spot helpful. Hopefully, the writer has already caught most grammar and punctuation errors, but if not, CPs and beta’s can help with that too. And behold…more edits, and edits, and edits! If a writer is lucky, they’ll have funds to hire a professional editor to help with their manuscript, but this can get very expensive.

When a writer thinks the project is  at it’s best, they send off to literary agents. Sometimes these turn into requests for more revisions, so there is more editing involved. Now, I’m not going to get into the difficulties of landing an agent, or how long it can take to get a publishers to agree to publish EVEN if you have an agent. But, let me say, it can take years of writing new manuscripts and rejection after rejection before getting an agent or a publisher. And even after getting an agent or publishing contract, guess what? There are MORE edits! The process is loooooong! Writer’s know what I’m talking about.

What happens sometimes is a writer can get discouraged after so many rejections. Sometimes they want to give up. But, giving up is the only certain way to make sure a writer doesn’t succeed. The key is to surround themselves with like-minded people. The writing community is very supportive with each other. When they fell discouraged, they should reach out! But no matter what they do, DON’T GIVE UP! Let me repeat that…

DON’T GIVE UP!!!!!!!

Keep writing words to weave into fabulous stories. People want to read them. And they shall, if writer’s keep trying!

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

Writing Retreat to Corfu, Greece (Women Only!)

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The TLC Writing Retreats will be having a retreat/workshop in Corfu, Greece! There will only be eight writers permitted each week. This helps an attending writer get more one-on-one time with mentors.

  • Week 1: May 21-28, 2017.
  • Week 2: May 30th-June 6, 2017.

Just pick one week to attend. If you’re doing research on a story in Greece, this is your chance to vacation and write off that research on your taxes!

All-inclusive with single room              $4,500 USD
All-inclusive with shared room            $4,200 USD

• 8 days/ 7 nights
• 30+ hours of writing workshops
• All meals included (excluding alcohol)
• All transportation included
• One Full-day excursion
• Private cooking class
• Journal and all materials included
• A private tour guide with local insights into Corfu
Does NOT include airfare

They promise to help you tell your story with the included workshops, as well as access to a personal guide around Corfu, Greece. As always, have fun and learn lots!

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

Past Year Memoir Contest

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Gotham Writers want you to enter your 16-word memoir that reflects on 2016. The winner will receive a free class of choice from Gotham Writers. And writers should always be about honing the craft! Am I right?

The Details:

  • Submit a 16-word memoir (true story) that reflects on 2016.
  • Entry must consist of no more than 16 words. Longer entries will be disregarded.
  • Entries must be submitted online by midnight Eastern Time, February 20, 2017.
  • Only online entries will be accepted.
  • Entry is free. Limit one entry per person.
  • Entry must be original and unpublished.
  • Entries will be judged on originality, quality, spelling, and grammar.
  • Gotham will post the winning entry at GothamWriters.com
  • The winner will be notified by March 8, 2017.

So, don’t delay. Enter the Past Year Memoir Contest today! And as always, good luck!

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