Mark Andrew Edwards

I have more to talk about and think about from PNWA but I'll weave that into future posts without directly referencing last weekend's conference.  It just occurred to me that a week of post conference posts would be a bit silly.  It was a good conference but not life-altering. (or was it?)


I sent off my first 50 pages of Angel Odyssey to Ginger Clark and Amy Boggs.  Now I'll wait and see what they have to say about it. Tonight I'm going on to edit the rest of chapter 3 to send the lot off to Brian Hades.


I suspect I'm going to have to do some serious cutting to get AO down to 100k words.  There are two contingency plans in my head: one word count if this sells as traditional epic fantasy and one for if the publisher decides to go YA with it.  They might, Jacob is teenaged, after all and coming of age is a major theme.  I suspect I know what I need to cut but I need to do so in a way that doesn't cripple the second and third books in the series.


But back onto the conference.  One thing that stood out to me was the keynote speech Deb Caletti (http://debcaletti.com/) gave Saturday night. She got a standing ovation, a spontaneous standing ovation* and it was just the antidote we needed after the disastrous Jane Porter address the previous night.  She and I come from very different backgrounds and we tell very different types of story**. But what struck me as she spoke was how similar we were. We both have a love of books and a love of writing that almost made me thing she was a female version of me.  That's a weird and wonderful thing. 

That is the best reason to go to these conferences.  Not to meet famous authors, most of them have their own peers and you can only enter their circles by attaining similar levels of success.  Sucks but that's the way it is.  But you will meet other writers there and only other writers understand us.  Only they know the ecstasy of being in 'the zone', where the words flow.  Some bitter old men call that 'typing, not writing'.  As if that were a bad thing.  Well, some writers need to believe writing is painful. It's hard, oh yes, but it doesn't need to hurt.


I met writer there.  Unpublished writers, mostly but we can encourage and inspire each other. That is one of the best reasons to attend.  We can meet people and grow friendships that hopefully will last.


Kay Kenyon, oddly enough, was talking about this same thing over on her blog () though with an eye towards WorldCon next weekend.  Oy. How I wish I could go.  But, there's only so much money. I can afford two expensive Cons a year. WorldCon didn't make the cut this year.


But if you can, go.  Go, meet people and enjoy the recognition.  Oh and buy Deb Caletti's books.  Anyone who loves books as much as she does deserves some love in return.




*And not just for her legs.  Which are a lot of wow, just sayin'.


**(I just read her book 'Stay' and liked it a lot but I couldn't help thinking how different it would have turned out if the main character or her father had owned a shotgun. Or baseball bat.  Or frelling golf club)

I spent most of the night after work hammering away on my submission package for Ginger Clark, Amy Boggs and Brian Hades.  For the most part, the first 50 pages is in darn good shape.  I was surprised by how quickly I got into the story.  I have about 25 more pages to look at and I should be good to go.


The real time sink and hair-puller (if I had hair) was the synopsis. I did write a three page synopsis for Norwescon. I have no idea how.  But since that didn't attract any attention from Pyr, I thought I'd re-write it from scratch.  


Stupid, stupid writer.


Synopsis writing is hard.  Choosing what to put in and what to leave out.  Trying to tell all the plot elements or even just the main ones in three pages is very difficult.  I got it down to 3 1/2 pages. I may try again tonight or I may just send out what I have. I got the impression that the length isn't an issue (withing reason), at least talking to the agents.  What they want is concise and readable plot outlines.


Synopsis writing is one area  I really wish the PNWA Conference would cover in depth.  They had a session on query letters, which is good.  But I think the best related seminar was by Chuck Sambuchino (www.guidetoliteraryagents.com).  His seminar on how to pitch to agents and editors was brilliant.  I'm trying to take his advice and apply it to my synopsis.


First of all, he says the goal is to be clear and concise.  That sounds simple but we writers can tend to ramble or go off on tangents or just not realize what the important part of our pitch is.  His guideline was to have two pitches, the 'elevator pitch' and the 'sit down' pitch.


The 'elevator' pitch is a one (two at most) sentence description of your story.  If you can't summarize your story in one sentence that may be a sign that there are plot problems with your novel.  I started my second novel, Angel Odyssey with a one sentence description.  If you haven't started your novel yet, I highly recommend doing that. If you can hook someone with one sentence, you may have a salable novel.


My one sentence pitch for Angel Odyssey was: My novel is a secondary-world Fantasy called Angel Odyssey. It is the the story of a boy who finds a wounded angel and his journey to return her to her home before she can be stolen by a Sorcerer and before the bond connection the two of them kills them both.


Maybe not the best in the world, needs some polish and practice, no doubt but it gets the job done.


The 'sit down' pitch is three to ten sentences outlining the plot and theme of your book.  Again, the goal is to be concise and clear.  That means leaving out side characters, sub-plots and what the novel is 'about'.  (if that makes sense)  Again, you want to hook the reader. You dont' give away your novel's ending.  The pitch is designed to raise good questions in their mind and entice them into wanting to read your actual work.


My 'sit down' pitch for Angel Odyssey went along the lines of: JACOB is a teenaged boy with two bullying older brothers, a suffocating mother and a terrifying father.  He finds an angel, wounded from a battle with a god and rescues her.  She bonds them together to heal herself but the god-caused wound on her back instead endangers them both.  Now Jacob must return Jael to her home before a Sorcerer from his village can steal her away and before the bond connection them, kills them both.


Kinda sloppy but it touches on the main conflicts but doesn't give away the ending. I'd want to do more work here.  A big theme of the novel is the transition from childhood to adulthood.  I'd like to work that in.  I ended up mentioning that in the post-pitch follow up questions, so there's room for improvement in my pitch, obviously.  But, again, it got the job done.


Check out Chuck's site and his book, the Guide to Literary Agents if you're ready and willing to start pitching your book to editors and agents.

Well. That was an intense three-and-a-half days.  I'll be blogging about what I saw and what I learned but I do have to say that the PNWA Conference was worth attending.


I pitched to Ginger Clark and Amy Boggs and both asked to see 50 pages.  I pitched Angel Odyssey to Brian Hades at Edge and he asked for three chapters. I was pretty much walking on air after that. Particularly after the appointment to see Amy Boggs literally fell into my lap (though I had to be in the right place for my lap to receive such largess.  More on that in a minute).  I WAS walking on air until Bob Mayer got up to give his rapid-fire closing address.


Bob said that almost every agent there at the conference was going to ask for 50 pages.  Almost no matter what.  That made me feel a little less special.   He said the reason why the agents and editors will almost always say 'yes' to a pitch was because 90% of the people they talk to, won't follow through.  


90% of people won't follow through with an invitation to send in their novel?  Is that possible? I couldn't believe it.  And then the part of my brain the clicks around to see all sides of an issue got into gear.  Oh yeah. Yeah, I can see that.  


We as writers can be our own worst enemy.  We reject ourselves long before anyone in New York or California ever can.  We second guess how good our work is, how good WE are.


I mentioned, loudly since the dining room was also loud, that being a published author takes a certain amount of arrogance, a thick skin and determination.  This was just before we heard from someone with low self-esteem, a thin skin but compulsive stubbornness.  But it's true. We need to believe in our own work with stubborn faith and confidence.  Stupid stubbornness.  We need to SEND THE WORK OUT.


Woody Allen is quoted as saying "80% of success is just showing up".  Just showing up. Just putting your work out. Just saying 'hello' with a smile.  Just being willing to take a chance.  Here's what's written on my computer monitor on a yellow sticky note.  "Be bold.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."  That is from Goethe.


Amy Boggs works for the Donald Maas agency and if there is one agency in the world I'd like to be at, it is the Maas agency.  I wanted to meet Amy but I almost didn't.  I saw her at dinner but I didn't go up to her and introduce myself.  I didn't want to interrupt her conversations or her dinner.  I didn't want to stalk her though the hall.  I was giving up.  I was losing without even trying to fight.


But then, I was sitting, waiting for my editor appointment.  I got up and got into the line to add or change agent appointments.  There was almost no line, for the first time in days, literally.  I had the vague idea of asking if I could be put on a waiting list to speak to her.  There was one person in front of me.  That person gave up. They gave up their agent appointment.  With Amy Boggs.  Literally, while I was standing there, the volunteer got up and wrote on the white board 'Amy Boggs, 1 appointment left'.  I was the next person in line. I took that appointment.  Met her. Pitched her. Liked her.


But that only happened because I was in line.  Because I was taking a chance, even though I did NOT expect to succeed.  I knew what I wanted and I tried.


Keep trying.  Keep sending your stuff out.  Show up.  Maybe I am not a special snowflake and my invitation to send pages isn't unique to me.  But I am a stubborn snowflake and I AM going to send out my stuff this week.

I'm going to my first true writer's conference tomorrow, the PNWA Conference in Bellevue, Wa. (http://www.pnwa.org/)  I've been to Norwescon several times, mostly for the writing panels and I've been to World Fantasy Con once as well.  This is going to be a conference instead of a convention.  So I'm guess there will be fewer people dressed up funny (which ruins my chance for the author cosplay* I had in mind).


It is going to be pretty packed with panels non-stop from 8am to 9pm some nights.  Oy.  At least I'll be able to sleep in my own bed, after a 'quick' commute back home.  


As a result, blogging will be light to non-existent but I'll try to make up for that by giving a nice, long debrief after its done.  I will also try to keep turning out a few pages of this story or that but the page counts will likely be much smaller than average.  Still, forward momentum.


I am also having my first pitch meetings, so tonight I'm going to hone my 'elevator' pitches for Angel Odyssey, Smooth Running and my YA Supernatural Thriller.  Smooth Running's going to be the tough one, it was my first completed novel and as a result is wasn't as tightly plotted as it could/should be.


Anyway, if your'e there, look me up. I'm the burly, bald man in black.  


What do you mean there's a thousand guys like that in Seattle? I'll be the one wearing the sportcoat.







*In a word: sportcoats. I swear, every author signing I go to (GRRM excepted), the guy is wearing a sportcoat.  I'm heading to Men's Warehouse after work just so I can blend in.