FAQ
Memoirs of a Drowning Man
Hey Gang. Yep, it’s really been 7 months since my last update. SIGH…
THEN
I gotta be honest with you. It’s been a crazy year, and, unfortunately, my site maintenance fell by the wayside. Since my last update, I was:
- Laid off from my day job of 10 years (Boo! Hiss!)
- Given a new title for my
Summer 2013YA debut novel. WHISPERTOWN is now FAKE ID - Bumped. Meaning my Summer 2013 YA Debut novel got pushed back to early 2014 (not necessarily a bad thing)
- Asked to revise said novel twice (1st time was a MAJOR overhaul, completed in July, 2nd time is LESS MAJOR, currently in the works)
- Getting my ass kicked by my demanding new day job
- Completing 2 new novel proposals that I can’t talk about yet
- Blogging here and here (doesn’t mean I don’t love you all)
- Catching up on my sleep deprivation (Yes, I am fully deprived now)
Like I said, CRAZY!
NOW
Going Forward: As soon as I get an idea of what the FAKE ID cover will look like, I’m going to hire a designer to redo EVERYTHING! Obviously, there will be announcements when these changes are in the works.
I want you to keep coming to the site, but I don’t want to make empty promises about how often you’re going to see updates here. I’m struggling to keep up right now. I can guarantee you’ll see big changes on the site this year. In the meantime, if you haven’t LIKED my FB Fan Page, or followed me on Twitter, I kindly ask that you do so.
I provide a lot of micro-updates through those social media sites because it’s easy for me to send a short message from my phone, as I’m much more mobile these days.
So, I apologize (again) for the neglect, and if you’ve enjoyed my work in the prior years, I ask that you stick with me a little longer. Big things are in the works, but big things aren’t always fast things. Your patience and support is always appreciated. I wouldn’t be here without you.
Soon, gang. Soon.
Speak up:
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books, L.R. Giles, publishing, revisionsWhat’s it worth to you?
My friend Aimee Salter recently posted a year-by-year breakdown of what it took for me to score a book deal with HarperCollins. It’s a lengthy piece, though, and I’m often contacted by people who are looking for more condensed answers. I’m going to tackle a few of the questions I’ve received lately (look for some of this to make it to the FAQ section of this site), and I’ll continue to do the these brief Q&As as I get more diversified questions. Here we go:
What does it take to be successful in publishing?
I can’t say for sure yet. I’ve been selling fiction for a little over ten years, I’ve been an independent publisher for less than a year, and since my YA Thriller Whispertown won’t debut until 2013, I won’t know how that’s going to measure on the success scale for awhile. Also, the term ‘success’ is relative. I won’t feel like I’m successful until I’m generating full-time income from fiction. I’ve got a long way to go. However, some writers are happy to see just 1 of their stories in print. There’s nothing wrong with that. Just understand that you first need to define success before you can achieve it. Anything else is a dart game in a pitch black room.
What do I have to do to write a book?
The most obvious answer is ‘write a book’. But, that’s a smart ass response and more than a little condescending. I bring that up because I remember being a teenaged newbie and having the opportunity to ask a respected writer about the mysteries of being a novelist. The guy was a total jerk. He actually called me a stupid college kid who asks silly questions which were a waste of his time. He’s still respected among his peers, but I never bought another of his books (I didn’t like his writing that much anyway). My point: I will never treat you this way, Dear Reader. You’re not stupid and there’s no such thing as a silly question. If you ask, I will try to answer. Please note, if you ask me a question that I get a lot I may refer you to the FAQ…it’s just a matter of logistics; I’m not blowing you off. Now, about writing that book…
There’s no concrete method. It takes persistence and consistency, and much like success, you have to define what that means to you. When I’m in the middle of a project with no deadline I shoot for 1,500 – 2,000 words a day, written in the morning under the influence of 1 cup of coffee until it’s done. Once I have a 1st draft I print it, revise on paper, then key in changes until I have a clean 2nd draft. I send the 2nd draft to a handful of trusted readers, wait for their notes, then make more changes. I keep at this until I’m satisfied. I speed it up and write in the evenings if a deadline is pressing. Your mileage may vary.
I have trouble finishing the writing projects I start, do you have any advice?
This is one of those questions where the answer seems so simple to me that I have to be careful how I answer it because I may SOUND like the jerk I described above without meaning to. The problem I have here is that everyone sees the world through a slightly different lens, and it’s easy to fall into a trap of thinking your lens is better than the next guy’s when nothing can be further from the truth. There’s no better or worse…there’s just ‘is’. So, when I hear writers say they have trouble finishing projects, I see the problem through my lens, and from that view the answer reads like this: You don’t want to finish.
It’s not fair to tell others what they want or don’t want, for only they truly know that, but I do believe action is a better indicator of a person’s desires than what they say. In this regard, I’ll speak about my own actions, and the times in my life when I had trouble finishing projects.
When I was in high school I was more concerned with my clothes, shoes, and girls to spend time fully fleshing out a project. In college I had to study and maintain my GPA. After college I had a job and that bit into my time. Through all that, I kept saying to myself and others that I really wanted to write a book. I’ve got good ideas. I’ve started stories. I have the tools, but…I’m just so busy.
I wasn’t too busy to become the best NBA Live player in my college apartment. Wasn’t too busy to catch a movie at the cineplex every weekend, or buy (and watch) the hottest DVD release every Tuesday. I made sure I caught all of my favorite TV shows. And I was always well-rested, 8 to 10 hours of sleep every night.
Underneath all those distractions was the core of the problem. I was afraid that I’d spend years and years toiling away on writing (and I did) only to fail (which is still a risk based on my definition of success), so I avoided the fear with manufactured tasks and too much leisure at the expense of my writing time. I didn’t really want to finish because I might then come face-to-face with my own inadequacies. At some point I had to ask what’s worth more to me? My prowess as a gamer, being up to date on the latest film and TV, or achieving my lifelong dream of being a professional writer (meaning I actually wrote things to completion then sold them)? Once I understood that the potential reward outweighed the risks, I had no problem finishing projects. That’s not to say I didn’t have slow days (or years), but I got over the first stumbling block of simply not writing enough, and once I started I quickly got over the second stumbling block of thinking I’m not good enough. Newsflash: there will always be someone who thinks you suck. Take constructive feedback from these people when it’s there, otherwise focus on those who like your work.
Once I flipped that switch in my head, I was on my way. It started with a question: what is my writing worth to me?
If you’re having trouble finishing projects, I ask you the same. What’s it worth to you?
Ongoing
Like I said, I’ll probably condense these and get them into the FAQ at some point. I hope you found some of this helpful. Feel free to send more questions to lrgileswriter [at] gmail [dot] com, or hit me up on Twitter. Later, gang.
Speak up:
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Advice, L.R. Giles, publishing, Q&AMy Winning Query
Quick post today. My new friend Aimee L. Salter does a really neat thing on her blog where she posts query letters that actually snagged agents or publishers. The query for my YA Mystery WHISPERTOWN is currently featured. Check it out here: Aimee’s Blog.
For more winning queries be sure to add Aimee’s blog to your RSS feed or some other preferred reader. Follow her on Twitter, too.
Speak up:
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Agent, Bloggers, queryWhat ideas are you looking for?
Want to know how I went to my “where” and found an original “what”?
In other words, how did I beat the odds to not only score an incredible agent, but get 70% of the agents I queried to request my full manuscript?
I focused on finding ideas that AREN’T like everyone else’s. You can, too. Listen up.
The question
“Where do you get your ideas?”
It’s the question pro fiction writers hear most often.
For the average reader, the question is simply the most concise way to discover how an author took them to another place, touched them, made them want more. For others, particularly the aspiring writer, the question might be seen as a key to a secret club (or Fort Knox if it’s Stephen King’s, James Patterson’s, or J. K. Rowling’s key).
Ask 10 writers and you’ll get 10 answers ranging from witty, to straight forward, to annoyed. Some are inspired by news stories, some by dreams. Ideas can come from anywhere.
The dutiful aspiring writer will likely try whatever technique their favorite author ascribes to, and if that doesn’t work for them, they’ll move on to the next. That’s great, they (and you) should keep going until they find what works for them. In my opinion, it won’t take most scribblers very long to find their “where”.
But, now that you’ve found this secret idea garden, with all of the possibilities in the universe buried just beneath the surface, another dilemma forms. Another mystery.
“What”, exactly, are you looking for? If you want to get past the gatekeepers (namely literary agents), your “what” needs to stand out. In order to find it, you need to understand the winning ideas in your market/genre. Study the “whats” that have made your favorite authors household names.
I did. Then I did something pretty simple. Once I understood what was selling, I wrote what wasn’t selling.
You wrote what wasn’t…huh?
It’s counter-intuitive, I know. Hear me out.
I took a look at the New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List awhile ago. Here’s what I saw in the Top 10: Twilight, Percy Jackson and Olympians, The Hunger Games.
All great series, the kind of fantasy stuff I wanted to write. Me and a million other writers.
Agents were harping on all the derivative fantasy getting pitched to them, and I knew my chances for recognition were slim if I went down the well traveled road I wanted to take. I needed to find a gap.
What was missing from the bestseller list?
It was obvious. None of the books in the top 10 were based in any sort of contemporary reality.
How could I spin that? How could I still write an epic story about a hero in a fantastic situation facing evil monsters/villains without any true fantasy elements? That’s the sort of “what” I needed to find. Once I had that framework in place, my ideas came naturally.
My novel WHISPERTOWN (repped by Jamie Weiss Chilton of Andrea Brown Literary) was the result. A noir-ish murder mystery, set in contemporary times, with a hero in a fantastic (but not supernatural or post-apocalyptic) situation.
I sought my idea, my “what”, with several specific goals in mind. 1) To be able to write a query that stands out from other queries 2) Get a top-notch agent 3) Get a book deal with a major publisher.
Right now, I’m 2 for 2. WHISPERTOWN will be going out on submission next month so we’ll see how number 3 works out then…
Notice that my goals weren’t to “write what I know” or “write what I love” (though I do love WHISPERTOWN). I’ve always wanted to be able to walk into my local bookstore and see a book with my name on the cover (that wasn’t in the true crime section). If you desire the same thing, it’s time to get past romantic notions about this job. My methods may sound mercenary to you, but even mercenaries have to start somewhere…
This post is long, but there’s a ton to discuss here. If you have specific questions, lay them out in the comments. Otherwise, I’ll continue in a separate post.
Keep Writing!!