A Celebratory Giveaway From FTWA!

It's summer, and while the dog days are not quite upon us yet, the initial relief of sunshine and warm breezes may have lost their allure as those exact things sometimes heap guilt upon writers when they hole up inside their cave to crank out words.

We want to celebrate an upcoming pub date for one of FTWA's own, S.L. Duncan, whose sophomore novel, THE SALVATION OF GABRIEL ADAM, releases next month. What's that? You haven't read the first one yet? No worries, we're giving away 10 Kindle copies, internationally.

And by the way, those e-readers can go outside, too. ;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plot Like Christopher Columbus

by Stephen L. Duncan

In 1453, the Ottomans finally conquered Constantinople (not Istanbul) and so fell the safe land trade route that was the Silk Road from Europe to China and Southeast Asia.

Thus arose a need to reestablish the stream of commerce by nautical means.

Enter Christopher Columbus. With a comprehensive knowledge of trade winds and a negligent understanding of the size of the Earth, he blundered into the Bahamas on October 12^th, 1492 and changed the world.

I like to think that, as writers, we all sometimes set out with expectations of where our words will take us and what we expect to find at the end of our journey, only to arrive at a completely different – and often better – destination. The Columbus connection is a natural and obvious notion, first because it's Columbus Day and I'm trying to be timely here, and second because writing a story is at its core simply about discovery. After all, are authors not also explorers?

Scenes, and even sometimes characters, often arrive because of a need in our story structure, much like the need of a route to the Indies set the Santa Maria, the Pinta, and the Santa Clara on their journey west. And surely like Columbus must have also prepared, we may plot and outline meticulously, detail every character and setting, and order scene after scene, trying to keep the story within our tightest limits of control. But how often does it seem that, while on our journey, the winds fill our sails and take us into unfamiliar waters and lead us to land not found on any of our maps?

Don’t be afraid of making these mistakes. I say let go and embrace the unpredictable whenever you feel the story steering away from you. Flesh them out and see where they take you. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Who knows? You might find gold. Happy Columbus Day!

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Mind the Gap

by Stephen L. Duncan

One of the nice things about landing a book deal is that you’ll be afforded some time to bask in all the glory and excitement that has built up during the grudge of getting the darn thing published. Usually, it's enough time to foster a healthy and inevitably debilitating fear of your book being ‘Out There.' But it's also a good time to prepare for the madness of your book's release and your debut as an Author.

For me, that stretch of time is two years from contract to publication.

Did I hear a penny hit the floor somewhere out there? (BTW - where did that phrase come from? The penny dropped? Well, then, pick it up.)

So after you tell all the people that two years ago you drunkenly let in on your dirty, little book-writing secret (the same ones who, every day since, have been asking with only the hint of Schadenfreude, “Hey – what’s going on with your book?”) and once you’ve had a moment to reflect on what any of it means in the metaphorical sense, you might find that the days between contract and publication dwindle down both at a molasses creep and faster than Mario Andretti in a cocaine-powered Ferrari.

Slow because, TWO YEARS! And quick because if you’re like me, you’ll procrastinate during all of them, wake up on the eve of publication and realize you haven’t done squadoosh to prepare yourself for authordom.

A Lesson: Don’t be like me. There is a lot to do.

So what all needs to get done?  I’ll throw out a little of what I know. My agency, Dystel & Goderich, sent me a nice little ‘How To’ booklet on things that are helpful. Let’s discuss some of what I’ve ventured into.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Right. So, Facebook, Twitter, that Google thingy, Pinterest and tumblr. Those are the main ones, right? Am I missing any? I’ve opted into Facebook and Twitter with personal accounts. One of the stupid things I’ve managed to do is not open author accounts for both earlier in my quest for publication. Now, most of my friends and followers are following the wrong account. Another idiot move? I’m on the fence with my author name. I’m thinking about using S. L. Duncan to separate my legal career from my author career.

Some more advice: think ahead.

Pinterest and tumlr are both media-oriented social platforms. Lot’s of pictures, see? Videos, too! I haven’t figured out a decent way to incorporate either in a way that would draw attention to my books (Read: The Whole Point), but I can see them being very effective if my stories were more subject matter oriented. Like, if I had a book that was about pretzels, I might showcase the different knot styles. Like a Windsor. I think they do that. Or whatever. You get the point.

BLOG

I started a blog and have failed miserably at keeping it up. But – TWO YEARS, right? I’ve got plenty of time. Still, it’s never too early to get a following. But what to write about? The old stand-by is the process of getting published. That’s cool, I suppose. The thing is, there are loads of authors with really good publishing blogs. What if I blogged about me? Boooooring. I’m not interesting for another two years. And even then…snooze.

Industry stuff? This is good, too, but again – lot’s of people are out there doing it and doing it well. L.L. Cool J style, I guess. And really, unless you’re in a position to be an actual journalist, you’re kinda just reposting stories from Galley Cat and Publishers Weekly.

Have you got any good ideas? I’m hovering somewhere around a behind-the-scenes blog and the author’s life.

If you can, jump into one of these Author Commune type blogs, like From the Write Angle. It’s a great way to connect with other writers (and their followers) and the Kool-Aid is FANTASTIC! Matching Nikes, too! Another popular trend is to start is a debut blog with authors who are releasing their book in the same year. Because everyone knows 2014 authors are better than 2013 authors. Oh, snap. Come at me, bro!

WEBSITE

If you’ve got nerd skills, use ‘em. I, on the other hand (and being a mere lowly dork), have trouble plugging electronic things into power sockets. A website, for me, is going to cost. Luckily, publishing houses like to shower their new authors with some spare scratch to pay for it all. Oh, wait. They don’t .

What I have done, while waiting to win a website from an unsuspecting digitally competent friend in a hand of Texas Cheat’em, is minimal but important. I’ve reserved website names. INKROCK.com. StephenLDuncan.com. SLDuncan.com.  See what I did there? All bags covered. As for character names - I’ll leave that to the publishing house’s prerogative.

OTHER STUFF

Conferences. Writer conferences are good for meeting people and glad-handing. You might even grab a few readers. If your genre allows for it, comic book or fantasy conventions are very good ways to get your name out there.  There are big conferences and little ones. I’ve managed to squeeze into a panel or two at a local regional. You’d be surprised at the popularity of the literature tracks.

Right. So, what am I missing to get done during the gap years? (TWO YEARS!!!) Any ideas?

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Attention to Retail

by Stephen L. Duncan

I recently stopped by a Twitter chat with DGLM agent Michael Bourret to pilfer some of that publishing mojo he was slinging and while I was there, ended up sharing in some mutual hate with agent Lauren Abramo for our detest of Manchester United.

Really? You like the Reds? How original. How trendy.

What many of the tweeps (who’d eagerly stopped by for more serious reasons) wanted to know from Michael was, what was next? Basically, what’s going to be the next Hunger Games? His response in tone had a little more in common with my conversation with Lauren—understandable from someone in his position. Imagine getting five hundred dystopian pitches on a Tuesday afternoon when all you really want is a dirty tell-all on Dan Cathy.

I’m kidding. (Sort of.)

Obviously I don’t speak for Michael, but I imagine his point in advising his tweeps to not worry about what's next is that by writing to trends, an author misses an opportunity to tell a story that’s original and, more importantly, inspired. There’s no heart in stories written because it's the new hot thing. There's no drive. No passion; their author merely another American in a Manchester United shirt. A literary tourist.

While I share in his distaste of trends, at the same time I think it’s important to be aware of what is selling in the marketplace, and sometimes more importantly, what isn’t—if only to temper your expectations of the fight your manuscript will face to get to a bookstore. Maybe you’re contemplating a cyborg mermaid romance in space, but it just so happens that there are several cyborg mermaid romantic space books out there on the shelves. If that idea is competing in your head with a quiet historical story about a boy in the War of 1812, which story do you think the market would better support a year or two from now when the book gets released?

Hint: There isn’t a right answer.

The weird thing about the market is that there’s room for anything, and there’s room for nothing. You play the odds and hope that your brilliant mastery of language and pace of plot carries your idea to the next level and gets published, regardless of what the market will bear. It is likely, though, that if your manuscript involves a subject matter that is currently saturating the market, it will have a difficult time getting attention from agents, editors, and ultimately, readers. Do we need another love triangle-bad boy–good guy–pushover girl romance? No. Would one sell to a house right now? Possibly, if it was told really, really well.

Now, look. I’m not suggesting that you let the market dictate what you write. I mean, I kinda, sorta just did, but that’s not really what I meant. The reality is, the gravity of inspiration rarely lets us writers choose which story grabs hold of our imagination. Instead, we tend to free-fall toward ideas, subjects, and plots, unable to pull out of the dive until we’ve either finished writing the book or our inspiration breaks apart and crashes into the ground.

So, let the market be persuasive if you like, but never binding. Learn what you can from it, but don't let the market overrule an idea choice that carries with it your passion of the moment. Because lacking passion is why following trends will only yield a hollow endeavor.

And for the love of Alan Shearer, take off that Manchester United shirt.

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Avoiding the Writer's Wall

by Stephen L. Duncan

In my fairly limited existence as an author, there have been many truisms that I’ve run across while trying to get the words onto the page. More often than not, these little bits of advice on the dos and the don’ts of being a writer get stuck somewhere in the back of my mind, only to be quickly forgotten. I'm just stupid like that. One, though, rings truer than others and I try to keep it in mind whenever a distraction attempts to call me away from the work.

Writing a novel is all about momentum.

You stick a word down, then another. Soon you have a sentence, and a paragraph follows until a page is filled. You do this over and over, and eventually you'll have all the pages your little spark of an idea needs to be a story.

That’s fairly simple, isn’t it?

Indeed. Yet there are always obstacles in our way. You’ve heard of one, no doubt. The dreaded Writer’s Block. I’ve never suffered from it, but it sounds horrible—a sort of frozen paralyzed state where words just don’t exist in the mind. Momentum can help prevent this little hiccup, because words are like water and a book, after all, is merely the result of a broken dam. The faster the flow, the harder it is to stop.

What I have experienced recently with the novel I just tuned in to my agent is the Writer’s Wall. If Writer’s Block is this leaded state of being that weighs you down, immobilizing you, Writer’s Wall is something you crash into.

In a way, it’s the opposite of Writer’s Block. You have too much going on in your writing life, too much spilling out of your head onto the page. And then, like something out of NASCAR, you hit the wall. (Hey, I’m from Alabama. I can only go so long in a day without a racing metaphor.) Your words are broken, not working, and your story seems futile. Worse, you're no longer certain you should be writing it.

The symptoms are these: From an abnormally confident valuation of your own work, often joined by a heightened productivity, you will experience a sudden onset of fear of publication characterized by a consuming doubt in your own taste and talent. Every word choice will be in question, every sentence’s worth made suspect. You will begin to negatively compare yourself to notable successful writers. While ideas and stories may flourish, you will encounter a paralyzing lack of esteem that prevents these ideas and stories from being realized.

A lot can steer you into a Writer’s Wall. Rejection. Negative feedback. Too much momentum. The list could go on and on. But the trick to pulling out of the crash is to take some time away from your work. Let it marinate in your head a little. Slow down. Live some of your life away from your computer.

Of course, if you’re like me, you might read this and then quickly store it in some recessed part of your mind, ready to be forgotten.

Write hard, y’all.

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

by Stephen L. Duncan

I had this whole post ready for you about the Writer’s Wall inspired by a fairly brutal editing session I had last week. No, not Writer’s Block; this is something totally different. Writer’s Block you suffer from. Writer’s Wall you crash into.

We’ll come back to it next time, once the bruises fade a little.

It’s a happy week and I’m in the mood to focus on something positive and Writer’s Wall, dear friends, is not something positive. Therefore, I'm calling an audible.

So this week I came across Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats' Twitter feed. On it, she has listed out, one post at a time, Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, as you might have guessed from my title. Probably not Official in the sense that these rule are laid out in some company policy manual somewhere, but there is wonderfully sound advice here that is definitely applicable to us hopeful scribes. If there is anything Pixar gets right, it's a great story.

Here Emma is in all her 140 character glory:

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.

#2: You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.

#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually about til you're at the end of it. Now rewrite.

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.

#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You'll feel like you're losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.

#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?

#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.

#8: Finish your story, let go even if it's not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.

#9: When you're stuck, make a list of what WOULDN'T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.

#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you've got to recognize it before you can use it.

#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you'll never share it with anyone.

#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.

#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it's poison to the audience.

#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What's the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That's the heart of it.

#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.

#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against.

#17: No work is ever wasted. If it's not working, let go and move on—it'll come back around to be useful later.

#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.

#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.

#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d'you rearrange them into what you DO like?

#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can't just write ‘cool'. What would make YOU act that way?

#22: What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

And lastly, just to keep with the Pixar/quality of storytelling theme, here's a link to Kelly Flynn, my wife's cousin (and recent Ringling College of Art + Design graduate) with her amazing thesis film STONE COLD. The storytelling is brilliantly done and follows every rule above, hitting all the right notes (though she does not work for Pixar). I dare you not to smile.

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Be Brave

by Stephen L. Duncan

I’m not going to lie. Preparing for my Debut Post here at From the Write Angle kept me up at night. Literally. It’s 4am as I finally write this.

This is a writing and publishing advice blog, and I’ve got loads of writing and publishing advice to offer, but that Debut Post sets a tone. It sets expectations. And that makes me cry just a little bit.

Okay, not literally on that last bit.

So as I floundered on a topic, I looked back at what I might have needed to hear at the beginning of my own journey and what I needed to say here became obvious. Sure, we’ll get into the nuts and bolts of being a writer and publication in my later posts, and I’ve got some good stuff to share (if not only from the lessons learned from the many mistakes I’ve made), but for now I want to reinforce something that you already know if you taken just one step forward on this path to see your work in print.

Be brave.

I’ve tried my hand at many a trade in my life. From grinding metal in a steel factory to trying cases in front of a jury. Writing is the hardest of them all. As an author, you are an exposed nerve, baring your soul for other’s bemusement or contempt, often getting no better than the peel of an apple gets from a knife. Understand: the lows will be crushing sometimes.

Be brave.

You will feel unworthy. You will believe, as we all have many times over, that this pursuit is in vain. That you don’t have The Right Stuff. That you have faultered in your belief that you have something to offer through the written word. You will question your talent. You will question your faith. You will question your taste. And at least once, you will quit this dream of making it in an industry that undervalues talent even at the highest peak of success.

Be brave.

Because the feeling of being rewarded for your effort outweighs all else, whether you self publish or land the big contract. We dream big, us writers. It’s part of the job description. We reach for distant stars and to do that we must have courage. We must be strong. In our way stands gatekeeper after gatekeeper. The Great Wall of No. We share in each other a camaraderie—a kind of common bond that is only forged through mass rejection and constant defeat.

Be brave.

This can be done. You can achieve. The goal can be reached. Even as cries of the end of this industry echo down upon us from the apocalypse du jour publishing journal, people will keep reading. Even as rejection after rejection accumulates like drifts of snow upon your desk, know that you may still become an author. Even as you retire a defeated manuscript only to begin again, determined to better your effort, to sharpen your raw talent, believe that your words may well be read one day by those who love books. And authors will always be needed. You, like me and everyone else that has stood in a bookstore and imagined their name on the shelf, can make the dream happen. It is within our power.

So long as you are brave.

Stephen L. Duncan writes young adult fiction, including his debut, the first book in The Revelation Saga, due in 2014 from Medallion Press. You can find him blogging on INKROCK.com and on Twitter.

Welcome New FTWA Bloggers!

I know! It's the weekend and we're posting on From the Write Angle! Quick! Grab your emergency kits because this is an emergency broadcast.

No, not really. You can relax. This is a good, unexpected call in the middle of the night—kind of like those announcing the birth of a baby. And on this fine Mother's Day, we are announcing the arrival of our bouncing baby ... triplets! Three lovely, baby-faced writers who are joining our FTWA family don't look, act, or behave much like triplets, which is odd don't you think? However, you may just find that these new FTWA family members have enough things in common to give my claim a touch of validity.

Without further ado, I proudly introduce MarcyKate Connolly, Stephen L. Duncan, and Riley Regate!

MarcyKate Connolly

MarcyKate Connolly writes young adult fiction and has a passion for fantasy and sci-fi. She recently made it into The Writer's Voice contest. (If you haven't heard about the contest, don't worry, I hadn't heard about it until just the other day. Making a team in the contest is a pretty big deal from what I can tell—so a huge congrats to MarcyKate.) She also had a smashing story about fleeting moments and how meeting one person can impact your life in the Spring Fevers short story anthology. She composes music and has some surprising marketing and HTML skills.

Her first post will be on the topic of writing conferences and will air here on May 16th.

She also blogs at MarcyKate.com, and she can also be found on Twitter.

Stephen L. Duncan 

Stephen L. Duncan adds a little more testosterone to the FTWA mix and is also a young adult specialist. His first book in The Revelation Saga is due out in 2014. His stories are inspired by his travels around the world and the characters he’s met. His first book was pitched as "a sweeping adventure with elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Harry Potter." Yeah, that gets a person interested! Stephen is a new papa and enjoys playing guitar. (Real guitar—not that Rock Band stuff. Although that's fun too.)

His first post will be on following your dreams, meeting your goals, and reaching that finish line and will air on May 14th. (That's tomorrow!)

When he's not on FTWA you can find him blogging at INKROCK.com and also tweeting.

Riley Redgate 

Riley Redgate, the third born of the triplets, also writes young adult science fiction. While she doesn't have a special in with strange worlds (as far as we know), she does have a special in with the YA audience as she recently turned eighteen. While Riley is young, she already knows more about writing than many aspiring writers and is ready to take on the world and prove that if you have what it takes, age is irrelevant. She likes to play piano and is an optimistic kind of gal.

If you missed Riley's first FTWA post about coming of age last week, be sure to pop over and read it.

Riley can also be found blogging in her mighty little jungle, or tweeting.

______________

With thanks to these lovely new members, the From the Write Angle team is back up to a lovely fifteen. (For those less into math it means that you should see each of us roughly once every five weeks or so.) As well, we'd like to mention at this time that the lovely and talented Robert K. Lewis and Darke Conteur are taking a sabbatical of sorts from FTWA, but you can still find them hanging out on their own blogs. Check the About the Team page under "About the Alumni" for more information on how to contact them.

If you are curious about any of our FTWA members, we encourage you to check out our About the Team page where you will learn interesting things about who lives in money pits, the pitfalls of wooing pretty girls, and other surprising facts. Also be sure to RSS our posts using the nice "Posts" button on the right under "Subscribe to" so you won't miss a thing!

As well, we take turns tweeting under the @writeangleblog handle on Twitter and occasionally can be found stumbling around on our Facebook page. Join us! We don't bite—much. (And those of us that do have had their rabies vaccination updated. I checked.)

Only a few short months ago, I (Jean Oram) joined the From the Write Angle blog and it already feels like home. In no time at all, I am sure these folks will feel as at home here as they do thanks to our wonderful and loyal readers.

So, without further ado, welcome to our new members!