Contest Monday

Hmmm. Maybe I should move my photography tip day to Tuesdays, and designate Mondays to announcing all the contests my super cool blogger friends are having. What do you think?

Check out Elana Johnson’s blog for a chance to win some great YA novels. Trust me, they’re great. I’ve read (own) about half of them already. And the best part is they’re autographed by the author. What could be better than that?

Okay, maybe there is something slightly better than that. How about a chance to have Suzie Townsend (an agent from FinePrintLit) crit the first 50 pages of your manuscript. For more info and the list of other prizes, check out Suzette Saxton and Bethany Wiggins' blog, Shooting Stars.

You can stop drooling on your keyboard. Seriously, you’re gonna want to quit drooling, at last long enough to enter both great contests.

Striving To Be Better

As writers, we do everything we can to hone our craft. Our libraries are filled with books on writing. We tear our novels apart during the editing process, and submit our words (and egos) to be torn apart by our writer friends. We enter contests. We post our pages on forums such as Verlakay and Absolute Write. Everything to give us that edge, to get better.

But sometimes that’s not enough.

I recently landed a request from an agent for my novel. I was excited, of course. But I was also realistic. Fortunately I queried an agent who *gasp* doesn’t reply with a form rejection. Instead, she gave me feedback no one else had. In the past, I'd go back and fix those errors then query the next group of agents. My writing has grown a lot since my last book (according to those who’ve read both) because of this.

But this time that approach wasn’t enough.

This time I decided to take a writer’s workshop. That’s the only way my writing can really improve.

So I did the research and found two Writer’s Digest workshops I wanted to take. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I registered for them both. The one on writing a YA novel has nothing to do with my problem, but heck, it looked really cool. Plus the instructor is Gloria Kempton, who has written numerous articles and books on writing, and landed six figure deal for a YA series. Nice, huh? Fortunately I already had the textbook, Writing & Selling the YA Novel by K.L. Going.

The YA course started last week, and I’ve been working hard on the assignments. The other one will start in three weeks. I’ll get tons of feedback on my novel from published authors and from my class mates. Plus I can ask about the issue the agent pointed out.

And speaking of the agent. We somehow ended up having a conversation after I thanked her for her feedback. I mentioned I was going to take a workshop through Writer’s Digest and asked her if I could requery her afterwards (once I fix the problem). Normally I wouldn’t do that, but she’d been so supportive and encouraging about my novel. She was the one who told me not to give up it and to work on honing my craft some more. She was the one who inspired me to do whatever was necessary to become a better writer.

Her answer was yes!

So my question for you is: What steps have you taken to become a better writer? Remember, everything we do counts.

Update: I got back the comments on my first assignment which was based on a scene from my novel. I kicked some heavy duty butt on it. Yay!

Contests! Contests! Contests!

I have two great contests you definitely don’t want to miss:

You can win the book Paranolmacy by Kiersten White, due out in September, and a fifty page critique by Wernoika Janczuk. Wenoika is an intern at a major literary agency. What more could you ask for?

And

Check out Steena Holmes’ blog at Chocolate Reality for more info on her contest. Just make sure you polish your opening paragraph first.

My regular Wednesday writing post will be delayed 'till Thursday. See you then.

Tip # 64: Breathtaking Waterfalls

Last week I talked about making the most of the water in a scene when taking a picture. This week I want to discuss how to take cool shots like this one.

It’s simple, but you’ll need a tripod or something solid, like a rock, to keep your camera steady and at the correct height. Then adjust the camera to a slow shutter speed like I described in this post. If you use a fast shutter speed, you’ll freeze the movement of the water, but you won’t get the smooth effect shown here. Experiment with different speeds, but generally the slower the better. You'll also want to check out this post first.

If you’re lucky *waves at Nisa* and live near the ocean, try using both a fast and slow shutter speed during a storming day, and see the amazing pictures you’ll get when the wave surges. You’ll have to get close to capture the effect. Just try not to drown when the wave hits.

Which Comes First? The Character or The Plot

Some writers live to outline. They shudder at the thought of writing without the scaffolding. That would be, gasp, deadly.


Other writers love to live dangerously and write by the seat of their pants.


Each method works. And each comes with pros and cons. I’m curious though. How many writers come up with a detailed plot first, and how many focus on characterization before anything else?


For me, I’ll have an idea for a book and jot down notes. Maybe even the logline. I’ll then work on the characterization for the main characters (the protagonist and the key secondary characters). I have an extensive questionnaire, but I also work through a personalizing exercise described in Getting into Character: Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors by Brandilyn Collins. (Check out this post for more info)


It’s during this process that I come up with more ideas for my story. Then I organize my outline based on these. The end product might be different from what I’d first envisioned, but that’s okay. It still works with my logline and the story is way better than what I’d originally planned.

So for me, I definitely have to outline. But characterization comes mostly before plot. Of course, I still need to have some idea of the plot before I start; otherwise, the characters would be all over the place.


What about you? Do you outline? Do you figure out your characters first before the plot? Or do you just jump in and worry about your characters and plot as you write?

ps. This cool picture was created on Photoshop Elements. Now you know what I do when I'm procrastinating.

Spreading the Love

Check out the blog Shooting Stars. My friend Suzette Saxton and her sister, Bethany Wiggins, are hosting a contest. It’s a chance to get your first two pages critted by this wonderful (agented) duo.

Good luck to all who enter!

Tip # 63: Mirror Mirror On The Wall

If there’s water in the scene, see if there’s a way to make the most of it in your photo. Just watch out for the glare of the sun reflecting from it. Sometimes the effect is cool, sometimes not. Depends on the look you’re after.

Assignment: Locate a body of water (pond, lake) near where you live, and experiment by taking photos at different times of the day and under different conditions. A blue sky will give you different results compared to a cloudy or windy day. And the time of day will affect how much glare you’ll have to deal with. Remember to take notes of the conditions to keep with your pictures for further study.