Twittequette Tips Part 2

by Jemi Fraser

Last year, I posted some Twittequette Tips (Etiquette on Twitter). If you're new to Twitter, you might want to check some of these out, especially if you're considering interacting with agents/publishers.

Today's rant topic is DMs. DMs are Direct Messages, private conversations between 2 Tweeps.

If we've only just met (meaning you followed me, and I followed you back), there's probably no need for us to have a private conversation yet. Let's get to know each other first!

I've had plenty of DM conversations with people I know well on Twitter, but for the most part (for me at least), Twitter is about having fun and making connections with other people, and most of those conversations can be carried on in public. DMs are a great way to warn Tweeps when their Email accounts have sent me spam, to ask/send email addresses, along with other more obvious uses.

(Warning: Personal Pet Peeve Rant Ahead)

If we've just met, please don't send me a DM and:

• ask me to buy your book or other product
• link me to where to buy your book or other product 
• ask me to give you money through a fundraising link
• ask me to like your FB page

If you met someone in a coffee shop, on the street, or at a friend's house, would your first sentence to them, your first conversation, be to ask them to buy your stuff???? I sincerely hope not!

Don't do it on Social Media either.

I've bought dozens of books written by friends I've met through social media, probably well over a hundred by now. NOT ONCE have I bought a book by someone asking me to do so via a DM.

Marketing is tough. Lots of our authors here at FTWA have posted advice on that, and will continue to do so (click on the Marketing link in the sidebar!). Maybe this seems like an easy way to promote, but, for me, it has the exact opposite effect.

(Okay, rant complete)

What do you think? Are automated DMs requesting a new follower buy something okay or annoying? Have you bought anyone's book that way? Or (like me) have you unfollowed people who pester in DMs?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Query Verb Power!

by Jemi Fraser

Verbs are awesome!

Oops. Are.

Not so awesome.

Obviously, we need to use 'to be' verbs in our stories. I imagine someone somewhere has written a story without using any 'to be' verbs, but I'm never going to attempt it. Contrived exercises like that drive me batty.

The being verbs can be passive. Boring. Not always, of course, but sometimes. And, in our writing, we need to avoid the boring. This is especially true in a query. Passive verbs and boring writing will both turn off agents - quickly. I've pulled out an old query to find out what verbs (in order) I used at the time...

surviving
turns
protects
torment
save
books...

If you're querying, or planning on it, check out your verbs in a list like this without the rest of the query. Do they convey action and/or the flow of your story? Do they match the style of writing in your story? Do they implore the agent to read on?

If not, maybe it's time to change it up.

Like many of my fellow FTWAers, I've learned a lot of my writing/querying tips from the awesome people over at Agent Query Connect. There's a forum for query help if you're so inclined.

Anyone willing to share the first 3 verbs of their query or story?

Jemi Fraser is (ACK!! Time to rewrite the bio!) an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Learning to Rewrite

by Jemi Fraser

For me learning to rewrite a draft was NOT an easy road.

Stage #1 - Complete Ignorance

• in my first rewrite, I had no idea what I was doing. I went through the draft, fixed all the typos, tweaked some sentences, and was daring enough to eliminate a couple of paragraphs here and there
• then I met some amazing folks over at Agent Query Connect and learned that a rewrite should be a slightly more intense process

Stage #2 - Gaining Confidence

• the next step in my journey was realizing that everything I'd written in my first drafts didn't have to be included in the final draft. I could take out entire scenes. I could move entire scenes. Change pov.
• these realizations actually shocked me, and took me a while to wrap my head around 
• at this point, I carefully saved each new 'draft' with a date indicating the changes

Stage #3 - Gaining Crit Buddies

• this changed my world and burst my naive little bubble. And I will be forever grateful.
• I learned that a rewrite involved more than the tweaking I'd been doing.
• reaching deep down into the story was pretty tough. I was faced with some big realizations. Probably the biggest one was that external conflict isn't enough. There needed to be internal conflict too. For both my MCs (I write romance).
• this involved re-reading and re-writing scene by scene, making changes, keeping track of changes, making notes, deleting favourite scenes & lines, adding conflict (lots and lots of adding conflict)
• I no longer saved drafts, only the main one, with a folder (I'd discovered Scrivener at this point) with the very few scenes I though I might want to reuse or rescue somehow

Stage #4 - A Real Rewrite

• I tried my Stage 3 version of rewriting for several of my novels, and found it very discouraging. Several stories I know have tons of potential were languishing. I also discovered Stage 3 is HARD. Very hard. For me, a million times more difficult than writing a first draft.
• brainwave!
• I decided to dump all my chapters and scenes into a new Scrivener folder titled Draft 1
• because I love (LOVE!!) writing first drafts, I decided to treat Draft 2 like a Draft 1
• I rewrote the draft from scratch. At first I found it tough to not peek at the first draft, but it definitely got easier. The changes I needed to make were core changes and because of that, the story changed dramatically, while keeping the same basic plot elements, and I already knew those plot elements, so I didn't peek.

Stage #5 - Unknown

• as I'm evolving as a writer, I know my style will change too
• I've got 5 or 6 stories begging for rewrites (I was stuck fast in Stages 2 & 3 for far too long) and at this point I'm nearly salivating wanting to do a Stage 4 rewrite for each of them
• I wonder if I'll have discovered Stage 5 by the time I get to them all?

Learning to write well (and to rewrite well) is a personal journey. My journey will probably look nothing like yours, but I hope by sharing mine, you might find some ideas to help you move along to the next step. Or suggestions as to what Stage 5 might look like for me!

Do you rewrite? Do your rewrites look anything like mine?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

7 Basic Blogging Tips

by Jemi Fraser

I've come across a few things in the bloggy-verse lately that have made me curious, a few things that have made me grind my teeth, and a few things that have made me roll my eyes. I'm most definitely not an expert on blogging, but here's what's been standing out to me lately.

• Tip #1 - Tell Us Your Name 
• Why would you run a blog and not tell people who you are???? Sure, you may not want to share your real name, but you need some kind of name. People connect to people. We remember names. When you put out your book, you're going to put a name on it. Start using that name now!
• in the same vein, use that same name across all your social media platforms. You don't want to be Crazy Hazy Harry on one, Harold Hazar on another and HH on a third. Consistency is important if you're trying to build a presence.
• Tip #2 - Photo Time
• for your avatar, a photo of yourself is best. (Yes, I know I don't have one! For more on my struggles with that, pop on over to my blog.) 
• head shots appear to be the most popular - and for good reason. In a head shot, it's easy to identify the person. And suddenly, you're no longer Crazy Hazy, but a real person with a real face. As humans, we connect to faces. Take advantage of that. You don't have to be beautiful or handsome or tall or short or thin or chubby or anything except YOU. You're special and unique. Show that off!
• Tip #3 - Sharing Buttons 
• It's hard to build up an audience. One great way to accomplish that is to have your current readers share your posts to their friends and contacts. Blogger has a handy-dandy bar of icons people can click on to share your posts to various social media (Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and more. Check the bottom of this post for an example.). All your reader has to do is click and your audience has grown. 
• Some non-Blogger blogs have buttons that you can customize to include your twitter handle along with the post title and link when you share to twitter. This is awesome because that tweet will show up in your Mentions stream and you'll see exactly who is helping you out. (If you can do this in Blogger too, let me know how in the comments!)
• Tip #4 - Subscription Options
• make these easy to find and preferably near the top of your blog. The easier it is for people to receive your posts, the more they will read your posts. 
• offer as many different options as you can. Don't know what RSS is? Add it anyway (although I'd suggest a simple Google search to solve that problem). Don't eliminate an avenue for people to find you simply because you find blog posts in one way and you assume everyone does it the same way
• Tip #5 - Lure Your Audience to Your Other Platforms
• make it easy! Include links to your presence on other forms of social media. Again, near the top of your blog is best. Don't make people work to find you.
• don't worry about joining any and all social media. Not only will you be exhausted, but you'll spread yourself too thin and not do any of them well.
• Tip #6 - Easy on the Eyes
• avoid dark backgrounds with light fonts. These are very difficult for some eyes to read
• keep your blog uncluttered. When an eye is drawn to too many areas, it tires out the reader and there's a sense of relief when the blog disappears - NOT what you want! Less clutter also makes the blog load more quickly.
• Tip #7 - No Tunes Please
• I'm a huge music lover, but please, please, please, don't have music playing automatically when someone opens your blog. First off, you might turn off some readers with your taste in music. Second, it makes your blog slower to load. Third, like many other bloggers, I often have music playing in the background as I'm blogging. Two competing songs at the same time does not equal double the fun. 

(Stepping down off my soap box now!)

I think the key is keeping things easy for your reader. Think of them rather than yourself as you're setting up your blog, and make them look forward to coming back.

How about you? Any of my pet peeves match yours? Any tips to add? 

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

5 Reasons to Read Your Draft Aloud

by Jemi Fraser

As a teacher, I'm pretty comfortable reading aloud. I know not everyone is, but I think there are some really valid reasons why you should read your story aloud to yourself. Not the first draft, but when you're nearing the end of the process, when you suspect the story is almost there.

Here are some of the benefits I've found from reading aloud my own stories - and the stories of others.

Read Aloud Benefit #1 -- Stilted Writing

• what may sound okay on paper, might reveal itself as stilted once you read it aloud
• of course there are different levels of formality in writing and in speech, but generally, we want our writing to sound accessible and comfortable
• if you feel even a little awkward reading a certain section, rethink it because your readers may feel just as awkward when they're reading it

Read Aloud Benefit #2 -- Sentence Structure

• as you read, you'll notice if your sentences aren't working
• sometimes, they're just too long -- you should be able to breathe easily as you read
• you'll also be able to hear if you've got a variety of sentence lengths. If many of your sentences match structure-wise, you'll probably find yourself sounding mildly robot-like. Mix it up!

Read Aloud Benefit #3 -- Dialogue

• dialogue should sound like people talking (obviously), so, if you've got a problem, reading aloud makes this one easy to spot. If you automatically change your words to their contraction form as you read, it's a good idea to do that with the written form too. Same with sentences, words, or phrases. If you say it differently from the actual text (good readers do this all the time because their eyes are tracking ahead), consider if what your brain substituted is actually a better choice
• when you're reading aloud, it's also easy to spot when you have too much dialogue with too few physical actions or reactions between. If you get confused as to who is saying what, your reader is going to be confused as well

Read Aloud Benefit #4 -- Humour

• humour is tough! I'm not talented in this area at all, but I've read aloud a lot of books by authors who are
• when you read aloud, you'll hear & feel the beat of the humourous sections, and it's easier to tell if it's working or falling flat
• you'll find there are better places for humour than others (in the sentence, in the paragraph, in the chapter)
• you'll hear what works directly after that beat of humour - sometimes the silence of a chapter ending is the perfect finish for the punch line

Read Aloud Benefit #5 -- Practice

• one day, you might be asked to read aloud some of your own work - at a book club, a book signing, on TV, or to a group of movie directors asking how you want to play out a scene (hey, if you're going to dream, dream big!). You want to be comfortable doing that. 
• as with anything else, reading aloud takes practice. I would NEVER ask a student to read aloud something they hadn't had a chance to rehearse and I'd suggest the same to you. The first time we do anything, we tend to not be very good at it. So, don't make an important read aloud your first time. I advise students to read aloud the section at LEAST ten times before they present. 
• the more you read your own work, the more natural your voice. You'll know when to pause, when to inflect, how to pace yourself. And you'll actually find yourself having fun!

Hope some of those help you decide to try this out! I've found it a very helpful and effective editing technique. Have you tried it before? Any tips or reasons to add?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

5 Tips for Fleshing it Out

by Jemi Fraser

Last month, my post talked about 5 Tips to Trim Your Writing. This month, I'm tackling the opposite. With my current rewrite, I attempted to plot (kaboom!) and ended up with a shorter story than I expected (15k shorter).

So, now I'm focusing on how to flesh out a story without padding it. Some of the things I've discovered:

Fleshing it Out Tip #1 -- Emotions

This one I'm having a blast with. I write contemporary romance, so it's all about the emotion, but I think that's true for most stories. It's the emotions that pull me in and make me gobble up those pages, no matter what the genre is.

Delving into the character's emotions helps the reader connect and makes the writing much more interesting. For me, plot is obviously important, but it's how the characters respond to the plot that intrigues me. So, show that!

Fleshing it Out Tip #2 -- Show, Don't Tell

Another fun one, and very connected to #1. Telling removes the emotion. Wasn't it Mark Twain who said, "Don't tell me the old lady screamed, bring her on stage and let her scream"? Looking for those telling words/sentences in the draft helps me find places I can strengthen my story and make it longer/more compelling at the same time.

Fleshing it Out Tip #3 -- Dialogue

Connected to #2! I love dialogue and tend to include a lot of it in my writing naturally, but there are still places I find where I can have my characters really showing...by telling. Dialogue infuses the story with life and lets the readers hear your characters talking. It also gives the reader a visual--and mental--break from narration, thus increasing the pace of your story.

Fleshing it Out Tip #4 -- Description

Blech. I'm not an especially visual person or writer. My descriptions tend to be focused around the emotions of the characters. And I'm not a fan of reading paragraphs of description either, so I tread very, very carefully when I do this.

For people, I sprinkle in the description. A mention of hair colour by another character here, a comment about height there. Nothing obvious, certainly no looking in the mirror and offering up a self-evaluation. For example, rather than saying my character is short, I'll have her drag a chair over to reach something off a high shelf.

For places, I don't mind stringing a sentence or two together to anchor the reader in the setting, especially when it's a new place. I try to focus on what the character would notice, and only on what is relevant to the story.

I'd rather leave most description up to my readers, but I'm learning I need to include those anchors and let the readers fill in the rest.

Fleshing it Out Tip #5 -- Character Arcs

This one is more complex than the first four. Here, I'm looking for the pace of how my characters are growing. I want them to slowly learn to change, have strategically placed AHA! moments, and obstacles tossed in their paths to have them second guessing their realizations. This is another instance where I find Scrivener invaluable. I can colour code, or use the side bar, or make another file to put side by side in order to track the arcs. Then I can spot where the arc needs some help, tweak a scene here, add a scene there, throw in another obstacle, or three.

There are many more ways to flesh out a story (adding in a subplot and looking for plot holes to fill in come to mind), but these are the 5 I'm working with. Any tips to add? Do you like fleshing it out or do you prefer to trim?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

5 Tips to Trim your Writing

by Jemi Fraser

Many beginning writers end up with enormous word counts. (If you want to check out my story, it's over on my blog today).

Trimming Tip #1 -- Adjectives & Adverbs

Cut. Cut. Cut. Sure you need a few adjectives, and sometimes they enhance your prose, but be careful! I'm not an especially visual person or writer, but I was floored when I first learned this tip and realized how many adjectives I had in my draft. Nearly every sentence was sprinkled with writerly words that screamed AMATEUR!

Ditto the above advice for adverbs. It's a little easier to edit for these though. Use that handy-dandy Find tool (CTRL F) and search for 'ly'. We all know not all adverbs end in ly, but many do, and this tool makes it easy to spot them. It also takes you out of the flow of reading the story, which is very important when editing. Often replacing your verb/adverb combination with a stronger/more explicit verb makes your sentence stronger.

Trimming Tip #2 -- Cutting Scenes

Whole scenes. As you're editing, ask yourself about the purpose of the scene. If it's not moving the story along, not increasing the tension or the conflict or the stakes, bring out the sword and slash away. Painful, yes, but maybe you can keep some of them as bonus content for visitors to your website. (Make sure the quality is high, after all, there's a reason you're cutting in the first place!)

Trimming Tip #3 -- Filler Words

We all have them. Some of them are more obvious than others. Once I feel pretty good about a draft, I dump my story into Wordle and eliminate all the proper nouns (right click then delete). The bigger the word, the more times it appears. Then use that CTRL F tool to help you find and eliminate as many as you can.

Some words that often appear as fillers:

just, suddenly, again, eyes, look/looked/looks, seemed/seems, feels/felt, smiles/smiled, really, very, maybe, quite, started to...

Trimming Tip #4 -- Qualifiers

Eliminating words and phrases like 'a bit', 'a little', 'sort of', 'seemed to' 'felt like', can all make your writing stronger and, as an added bonus, make your characters less wishy-washy at the same time. If someone's mad, let him/her be all the way mad!

Trimming Tip #5 -- Echoes

This is my Achilles' heel. As the self-proclaimed Queen of Redundancies, I've literally cut thousands of words by eliminating phrases and sentences where I'm repeating information already provided. Trust your readers not to be idiots, they'll get it the first time. (<-- Which is a great example of a sentence including an echo!)

Trimming the fat out of that draft will do nothing but enhance your story. Don't be afraid of that delete key. If it helps, imagine Legolas or Aragorn at your side, sword in hand, as you slash your way to a stronger story!

Do you enjoy the Slash 'n' Burn rounds of editing?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Plotting Without Explosions

by Jemi Fraser

Have you heard any explosions lately? No? You must not live in Northern Ontario. My brain has been exploding randomly and quite loudly recently.

Why?

I'm attempting to plot out a rewrite of a story.

KaBoom!

Problems:

• I'm NOT a plotter
• I need more tension between characters
• the external tension needs some polishing to make it more realistic
• the characters are too sweet

 Solution:

• I came across a post by Rula Sinara over at Kelly Steel's blog the other day talking about the synopsis
• Hmmm. I could write a synopsis BEFORE I start the rewrite
• this worked out pretty well, and helped me add in some tension between the characters, BUT it also pointed out new...

Problems:

• saggy middle
• most of the conflict comes to me as I'm writing. How am I supposed to know the middle before I get there???

Solution:

• google 'visual plot outlines'
• find this post by Chuck Wendig
• celebrate a little because writing the synopsis first is there (proving I'm not completely losing it!)
• find new ideas (writing backwards sounds BRILLIANT!!! I always know my ending before I begin so this might work)
• feel better when I see story bibles (I've done those - maybe I can do this plotting thing after all!)

Problem:

• not sure if any of this will work

Solution:

• give them a whirl! I won't lose anything by trying (plus I LOVE trying out new things)
• if I can't deal with the explosions any more, maybe I'll just Pants out a new version and hope all this thinking helps me make that version stronger!

So how does any of this help you out?

• some new ideas on plotting
• a reminder to keep open to new ideas. You never know when something will send you scurrying in a new direction. For me, the best learning experiences have been when I learned something I'd never even considered before
• another reminder that none of us work the same way -- and that's okay. Writing is a creative exercise and we should approach it that way. There is no one tried and true method that works for everyone. Don't be afraid to be unique! And, conversely, don't be afraid to borrow from others.

How about you? Are you a plotter? What has sent you in a new direction lately? Any other non-linear plotting techniques that might help me out?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. In between cranial explosions, she blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

5 People Watching Tips

by Jemi Fraser

Summertime is here (at least for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere) and many people will be heading out on vacation sometime in the next few months. As a writer, one of my favourite things to do on vacation is people watch.

1. Spot the Tourist

Or business person or teacher or musician or pilot or artist or... Switch it up to find different kinds of people during different parts of the day. Look beyond the obvious clothing and check out some of the less obvious clues: head up/down, eye movement, fluid/jerky body movements, facial expressions, accessories, hair, jewelry, hand gestures... Think about the vocations of your characters and find someone who does the same job. How do you know?

2. Eavesdrop

So much fun! Love hearing bits and pieces of conversations and wondering about what happened before to create that particular snippet and what will happen afterward. You can capture great hints for dialogue: length of sentences, tone, pauses, interesting speech patterns and so much more.

When you're eavesdropping, listen to the flow of the various languages and dialects as well. Can you identify the speakers' home regions? What makes their speech patterns special? Listening to people speak different languages to each other is especially fascinating - I love the blend of the languages and the brain's ability to think in both at once.

3. Big Crowds

If you have the chance to be in a big crowd at a sporting event, a concert, charity event or any other big venue, look for what stands out. Who's been dragged to the event and is bored beyond belief? Figure out why that person is there (obligation, business, love...). If it's a sporting event, spot the people who are cheering against the home team and watch how they handle it.

Look at the range of outfits in the crowd. Listen for the uncomfortable voice or the one that drips with sarcasm or the person on the edge of tears or temper. Find the most passionate fan. Watch the body language change as the event moves along. Find the couple most in love, the one about to break up.

4. Public Transit Footwear

When I'm on public transit (everything from subways to buses to boats) I like to check out footwear first. Then I build an image in my head of what else the person might be wearing. After I've got the image set, I check out the reality. It's often WAY different from my expectations. (You can do this anywhere, but for some reason, I like public transit for this  one!)

5. Clothing Fiascoes

(Disclaimer: I am one of the least well-dressed people I know!) As you're moving through your vacation, look for those folks with the wildly inappropriate outfits, then assess their emotional states and figure out how they ended up wearing the exact wrong thing. Are they over-confident? Oblivious? Obnoxious? Rude? Desperately uncomfortable? Superior? Again, body language, tone and eye movements are your friends and will tell you so much more than the person would expect.

So while I think vacations are the perfect time to leave your laptop at home and recharge your energy, there's no need to let your observational skills get rusty!

What's your favourite people watching venue?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Resiliency

by Jemi Fraser

Life is going to throw a lot of curve balls our way. That's part of life. It's how we handle those curve balls that defines us.

When that curve ball is heading our way, we've got some choices on how to handle it:

• duck
• close our eyes and swing
• keep our eye on the ball and swing
• jump out of the batter's box
• step into the pitch
• watch it go right on by

A writer's journey to publication is chock full of curve balls. 

• finding the right idea
• writing the first page
• finishing the draft
• finding a crit buddy
• sharing
• revising
• editing
• writing a query
• and synopsis
• sending out that query
• rejection
• more rejection
• marketing
• reviews
• contracts
• sales
• pressure of the next book
• ...

Resiliency is the key to survival in the industry. So how do we deal with those curve balls? A few suggestions:

• conversations and commiserations with writing buddies (this online writing community is incredible!!)
• always having the next idea ready to go - keep an idea bank
• critique the work of others - a great way to improve yourself & help out someone else!
• study your favourite stories to see what works in them to pull you in
• tears (but not for long!)
• time outs/times off (again, not for long!)
• chocolate (maybe that's just me)
• learn something new (this is my personal favourite. Not only is it productive, but it builds your skill set and your confidence)

There's nothing wrong with jumping out of the batter's box - as long as you're ready to learn something new and then jump right back in. 

How do you build your resiliency?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Avoiding the Voiceless Query

by Jemi Fraser

One of the biggest challenges in writing a query seems to be maintaining Voice yet this is probably the biggest key to grabbing the attention of an agent.

• What makes a query stand out from the rest?
• What gives the agent the best feel for your story?
• What is your best marketing tool (after all, your query is your first attempt at marketing your story)?

It's your Voice that makes your story special. And it's that Voice that needs to translate to your query. So how do you do that?

It works differently for everyone. Here are a few tips that might help:

• use the same kind of sentence structure you use in the novel - echo your tone and style.
• focus on the Show not Tell - Tell sucks the Voice out of queries.
• forget the details! Think big picture. What's your character up against? What's his/her biggest fear? What's in the way? What are the stakes?
• practice saying out loud what your story is about. Don't worry about making it sound like a query at first, just find out what sounds good, what sounds draggy or convoluted. Keep it short, sweet and interesting. 
• time yourself. Start with a one minute time limit. Then cut it back to 45 seconds. Then 30. 20. 15. This works well with pitches too.
• find the emotion. If your query doesn't evoke some kind of emotion in the reader then it's not doing its job. I think Voice elicits an emotional reaction in the reader and that's what you want here. A laundry list of plot points isn't going to attract anyone's attention. Punch them with some emotion instead!

Any other tips that you've used? How do you get your Voice into the query?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

The Non-Autobiographical You

by Jemi Fraser

Confused by the title? Stay with me!

• How much of you is in your main character?
• Is your story autobiographical?
• Did you ever do that?
• How personal are those love scenes?
• Do you really want to kill off your spouse/mother/brother/sister/friend/...

Writers often face these questions - beginning writers more so. A lot of people assume that our first books are about us. I don't know about any other writers, but I'm WAY too boring to be the main character of any story!

My main characters are NOT based on me, their experiences are their own and no, I've never done THAT!

However I do think many writers appear in their stories. Not as characters, but as a tone, an attitude, a belief system or even a moral code.

• If you're a goofball in real life, your stories are probably full of fun twists and turns no matter the genre.
• If you think deep thoughts and wonder about the serious 'what ifs' in our world, your stories will likely have a darker tone and explore those questions
• If you're an optimist with a soft & gooey centre, you'll probably have Happy Ever Afters or Happy For Nows for all your books (romance or not!)
• If you like to challenge the status quo and make people think, your stories are likely to have more questions than answers with endings that stay with the reader long after the story is done

So for me it's not the characters, but the underlying message that gives me insights into the author.

What do you think? How much of you shows up in your stories?
Do you have another 'If... then...' to add?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance with one of those gooey centres. She blogs  and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

The Joy of Slow

by Jemi Fraser

Our world today is Fast. Everything seems to move at lightning speed - including us. I've found this extends to a lot of people going through the journey to publication as well.

But there's a very valid argument for Slow. Especially in the publishing world.

Most writers write because they love it, but few are adverse to making some money along the way. Most writers also want others to meet their characters and love their plots. I get it.

But rushing leads to too many mistakes. Too many regrets.

You don't get a 2nd chance to put out a debut. Make sure it's a book you'll always be proud of. A book that starts the brand you want. A book as clean and polished as you can make it.

Enjoy learning how to revise. How to edit. How to take that story down to the bare bones and build it back up again. Have fun with the slash & burn. Enjoy taking that risk with crit buddies and really listening to their opinions and learning how to share your own. Take your time and study the available paths you might take. Find the joys and the advantages of each but keep an eye out for the downsides too. Learn to deal with rejection until you realize it's not personal and it's often helpful (really!). Find the joy - not just the fleeting fun - in the process. If you hope to make this a career you need to learn to love it all.

There truly is joy in the journey, and the journey never ends. Don't rush. Savor. Be a kid again and play with your words, find the ways they flow. Learn from your mistakes and make new ones. Learn again.

The publication journey is kind of like the pursuit of education. Dropping out of school at 15 so you can work at a job will certainly give you more money in the short term. But, by staying in school your chances are much better that you'll find a job that pays you more. A lot more. Enough to make up for those early years and then some.

Is slow a guarantee for success? No.

Are there exceptions out there? Of course.

Are you willing to take the chance?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs (today about her personal slow journey) and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Twittequette Tips

by Jemi Fraser

I remember joining Twitter a few years ago and being completely overwhelmed. I've seen/heard/read a lot of questions popping up here and there regarding Twittequette lately so I thought I'd tackle that today.

Twittequette Tips for Interacting with Agents & Editors

• Is it okay to follow agents and editors on Twitter or do I need an invite?
• Absolutely okay to follow them!
• Is it okay to talk to agents and editors on Twitter?
• Yes, but don't be pushy. Start small - retweet what appeals to you, answer questions they ask. Personally I suggest doing a lot more lurking and learning than interacting.
• Is it okay to ask agents and editors business questions on Twitter?
• Not usually. If there's an #askagent #askyaagent or similar chat going on, go ahead, but don't be a pest at other times.
• Can I pitch agents and editors on Twitter?
• NO!!! Absolutely not.
• Unless it's a contest, then check out the rules and feel free to participate.

Twittequette Tips for Self Promotion

• Is it okay to promote my book?
• Yes.
• I sense a BUT... coming, what is it?
• But... don't do it very often.
• A standard tip I've seen is to have at LEAST 5 tweets (10 is probably better) about something and/or someone else in between your tweets about you.
• Don't promote every review you receive but when something genuinely excites you go ahead and post it! (Need I repeat... not too often.)
• If all you talk about is you and your books, you'll soon be talking to yourself.

General Twittequette

• Follow people because you're interested in them ... NOT because of what they can do for you.
• DON'T unfollow people shortly after you've followed them to inflate your numbers. Nobody really cares about numbers and this makes you look like a dweeb.
• Listen to Mrs. Rabbit. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
• having said that it's OK to be funny and snarky ... just don't aim at a person. I follow some hilarious people who are incredibly snarky but they're never mean. If you don't know the difference, err on the side of caution.
• Be yourself and relax. Twitter is all about fun and connections.

Any Twittequette tips to add? Any questions to ask of our knowledgeable readers?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Tips for your Query's Hook

by Jemi Fraser

After my last post on Query No Nos, I had several people ask me about query hooks so I thought I'd focus on that today.

The hook is the first line or short paragraph of your query. (Some agents like to have the 'business' paragraph up front, but I'm not talking about that bit.) The hook's job is to make the agent HAVE to read on. From reading agent blogs and Twitter comments, it seems to me that most agents decide within a few seconds whether or not to read the entire query. That's not a lot of time, so make your hook sparkle!

Do:

Include your main character's name (and age if your story is YA or MG).
 
Use active verbs, especially the first verb of the query.
 
Stay in chronological order. Don't give away a key point in the hook then backtrack to build to it - way too confusing!
 
Showcase what's unique about your story.
 
Keep it short. Long convoluted sentences make for slow reading and that's the last thing you want.


Don't:

Start with your novel's title - way too tempting to describe the story if you say MY TITLE is...  Pretty soon you'll be telling all over the place.
 
Use the words 'about' or 'is the story of' or 'follows the adventures of'. Those are sure signs of telling!
 
Be generic. Make sure something about your hook is unique and that your hook can't match a dozen different stories.


As with everything else in writing, there are no ironclad rules that can never be broken and that holds true for these suggestions. There are always brilliant writers out there who can go against all the 'rules' and make it work!

Do you have any suggestions to add? In your opinion, what makes a good query hook?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

3 Query No Nos

by Jemi Fraser

I haven't talked about queries for a while here, so I thought I'd jump back in the pool with 3 things I've found DON'T work.

No No #1

Describing your story.

The Fellowship of the Ring is an epic adventure set in Middle Earth-a land of hobbits, wizards, elves and dwarfs. When an unlikely hero inherits an heirloom of awesome power he sets out to destroy it. Along the way he discovers life is more than second breakfasts and friendship is the most powerful weapon of all.

Yawn.

LotR is one of my favourite stories - definitely NOT yawn worthy! Don't tell your story, show it. Start with your main character and the trouble he/she faces. Draw us in!

No No #2

Character soup.

When Jonah Williams discovers a talking salamander named Leopold, he can't decide if he's losing his mind or about to make a fortune. When Leopold decides Starlight, the pet frog of Jonah's nemesis Charlie is his true love, Jonah needs to act quickly. Enlisting best friends Shari and Kyle, Jonah concocts a plan sure to not only bring him fame and fortune, but keep Leopold a single salamander heartthrob forever.

Who?

Okay, obviously that one's made up and way over the top, but limit yourself to the bare minimum when naming characters in a query. The main character (or characters if it's a romance) and the villain are the most important. If someone else is mentioned, try to stick to an identifier instead (his mother, her publicist, the police officer...).

No No #3

Sucking up.

From reading your fabulous and helpful blog, I know you're interested in Mermaid Gothic Romances. I want to thank you for taking the time to help new writers like myself. Working with you would be an incredible opportunity and I hope you feel Fin's Castle would fit your wonderful list.
 
*shudder* No one likes a suck up. Keep it real and honest. Be yourself.

Hope those help you out a bit! Do you have another Query No No to add?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Change is Good!

by Jemi Fraser

Due to a last minute job switch for this school year, change is on my mind. Looking back when I first started this writing journey, I had no idea how much change would be involved! I'm hoping reflecting on some of the changes I've made will help some of the newer writers out there.

Change in Time

• I used to squeeze in writing
• now I plan for it, even when my life is its usual crazy chaos, I plan for those 15-30 blocks so my subconscious is working for me & I'm ready to write when the time comes

Change in Balance

• I used to worry more about my social media presence
• now I let it happen after I'm done with writing for the day - if the writing doesn't happen, there's not much point in having a social presence to worry about!

Change in Genres

• then I wrote a SF novel, a mystery, a YA steampunk & a MG spec fiction
• now I'm focusing on one genre (contemporary romance)
• I took a couple of years off from worrying about anything other than finding my voice and my niche - I wanted to find a place I could write multiple stories without ever needing to stretch for ideas

Change in Editing

• I used to think of tweaking as editing
• now I know I need to sometimes rip that poor first draft to shreds and rework it from the bones up
• this has probably been the biggest change for me as it taken me a long time to believe I can really edit properly - that fear of knowing something is wrong and not knowing how to fix it doesn't freeze me up any more

Change in Letting Go

• I used to believe that every story would have a place in the world
• now I know it's okay that some of those stories won't (especially that first ms of about 180k!!!)
• those stories have taught me so much and helped me grow and I'm just fine with letting them languish in my heart and on my hard drive

What Changes have you faced in your writing journey so far?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

1 Piece of Advice 5 Ways

by Jemi Fraser

There is so much advice out there for aspiring writers it can sometimes be overwhelming. A lot of it can be boiled down to the same piece of advice given from different perspectives.

What's right for someone else may not be right for you

• Social Media
• There are about a bazillion options for social media interactions with more popping up all the time. You can't do them all - or at least I can't. You need to find which ones you enjoy and which ones make your skin itch. Pick and choose. Be selective. Don't join because 'everyone else is' or 'it works for everyone else'. It doesn't.

What's right for someone else may not be right for you

• Genre
• Write the stories you love. Write the ones in your heart. Of course you can keep a reasonable eye on the market and make some tweaks and twists, but if you're writing a genre you don't love, it will show. Don't worry about what's currently popular - by the time you're done and polished and ready to query that trend will probably be over. Create the next trend instead.

What's right for someone else may not be right for you

• Style
• Find your voice. Don't try to imitate your favourite authors. Be you. No one else can do it better. Warning: Finding your voice takes a lot of time and a lot of words. Be prepared.

What's right for someone else may not be right for you

• Promotion
• Don't piggyback on someone else's ideas. Sure, we all borrow bits and pieces, but find the promotion style that works for you. Decide what will work for you based on your comfort levels and your target audience.
• PLEASE don't fall victim to The Opera Disease.

What's right for someone else may not be right for you

• Your Journey
• A crit buddy signs with an agent after only 10 queries. A fellow blogger started writing 2 years after you and has pubbed 4 books already. A friend gets a 3 book deal with a big pub...
• Be happy & celebrate with them. Remember they're not you. Your Journey is uniquely You. Don't compare. Don't waste energy on jealousy (okay, go ahead, cry a bit and eat some Rolo ice cream. Then get over it). Your Journey is going exactly as it should be. Enjoy the journey because that IS the point.

Anything else you think that piece of advice might be good for?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

Tips for a Series Bible

by Jemi Fraser

I'm in the process of working on two different contemporary romance series and thanks to some brilliant blogger about a year ago, I've created 2 bibles for each series to help me save my sanity. I wish I could remember which blogger posted about this - if it's you, give yourself a shoutout in the comments!

If you're writing a series, you know how hard it is to keep track of the little things. Here are a few of the things I've had to ask myself:

• what's the name of the sheriff's wife?
• does the gossip maven wear glasses?
• what's the name of the hardware store?
• who's the crazy guy who believes in aliens?
• what's the meaning of the horse's name?
• what's the name of the bay off the northwest of the lake?
• what's his favourite fudge flavour?

I use spreadsheets to keep track of the information (I love my spreadsheets!!). If you don't use spreadsheets much, you might want to try it for this. I use Excel (comes with Word), although I've used Calc (Open Office) & Quattro Pro (Corel) in the past - they all work well.

One of the advantages of a spreadsheet is the ability to have different sheets within the same file. Currently I have 4 sheets for each series. Within each sheet I use the columns to create categories to help me quickly find the info. Here are my current choices:

• novels (title, main characters, season, major settings)
• main characters (name, nickname, love interest, height, hair/eye colour, body type, personality basics, job, quirks, food (faves, hates, allergies...), vehicle, important stuff)
• minor characters (books they show up in, job, connection to main characters, significant other, physical description, personality basics, important stuff)
• locations (building name, type of business, owners, moose (you'll have to read the series to find out about that one!), location in town, exterior description, interior description)

I may add more sheets and/or categories in the future, but for now this works to keep it all straight. Of course, if you want to try it, the categories may need a little tweaking depending on your genre and writing style.

It does take a bit of time to set it up - and it's SO much easier if you remember to add information to it as you're drafting! - but I think it's well worth the time you invest. Searching through your ms or multiple mss for the info you need is a big time waster - even with the Find feature. Much easier to open your spreadsheet!

If you write series, do you use a bible? Do you have any tips to add?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.

5 Tips for Busy Writers

by Jemi Fraser

This is one of those crazy busy times for me. We have provincial testing going on, then report cards and the year end wrap up (we're in school until the end of June here). Add in family, house, friends, coaching and volunteer obligations as well as life in general and I'm busy ... and completely wiped out most of the time.

Sound familiar?

I bet it does. Of course, the details are going to differ, but we're all busy, busy, BUSY. So, how do we fit in our passion for the written word? It's not always easy, but I've found some things that help me. Maybe they'll help you too.

1. Think of time in 10 or 15 minute chunks. Seriously. Looking for a continuous hour or two during the week is impossible for me. If I felt I needed a full hour in order to write, I'd never get anything done. But, if I have a 15 minute window, I grab it and feel good. It's amazing how those 15 minutes add up!

2. Eliminate those quirks. I've heard stories about what some writers need in order to get in the mood to write (a specific drink at hand, a tasty treat, 10 minutes to exercise/stretch/meditate/relax first, a favourite chair or special playlist, ...). Sure, there are some things that help us get into the ultimate writing mode, but because I rarely have time for them, I've learned to live without, and now it doesn't take any time at all to get into the scene.

3. Learn to write with noise. I know! This is probably really, really difficult for some of you, but I think it helps. Although I do find it awkward writing an intimate romantic scene with my son and his buddies in the living room, I've learned to sit in the corner, angle the laptop and type away while still participating in life around me. It probably helps that I prefer background noise to silence in the first place, but you might be surprised too. It's far easier to find a place with a hum of background noise than a place of silence. Embrace it!

4. Leave a scene hanging. It's much harder for me to start a new scene than to finish up a scene I'm in the middle of and loving. That unfinished scene won't let me go, and when I find those 10 minutes, my fingers are ready to fly! Sometimes I even leave myself mid-sentence. Stressful, yes, but I definitely don't need time to get back in the scene when I return to it.

5. Work on your project every day. Or as often as you can. I don't kick myself if I miss a day, but even if I can't get in actual writing time, I get in some thinking time on my story every day. It keeps it alive in my head and gears me up for the time I do have.

Do you use any of those tips? Do you have any more to add?

Jemi Fraser is an aspiring author of contemporary romance. She blogs and tweets while searching for those HEAs.