Why is it that the agents I just love - Nadia Cornier, Rachel Vater, Kristin Nelson, Jenny Rappaport, Lori Perkins - don't rep my chosen genre, suspense? I'm trying to figure out if suspense is just not as popular a genre among agents or if agents who rep suspense just don't blog as much. I mean, there are a few - the gals at BookEnds, the Knight Agency - who do suspense, and I like them. But it's disappointing to see that so many of the agents I feel familiar with don't rep my genre.
And then there's Miss Snark, who seems like she would and who I feel like I'd love to have as my agent, but the whole not knowing who she really is thing makes it kind of difficult.
And, yeah, I just totally felt like whining.
And, an update on my post from a few hours ago. I put my political fiction on hold. I really think that, career-wise, starting out in the genre I ultimately want to end up in.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Genre troubles
Lori Perkins blogged recently about how your second novel should be published in the same genre as your first. The book I'm currently writing is political fiction. But I know that my second novel will most likely be a thriller. A political thriller, yes, but definitely not within the same genre lines as the one I'm writing now.
I'm considering... not necessarily putting it on hold, but putting it on the back burner, so to speak, to write something more in the genre I'd really like to write in and maybe write that in whatever free time I might ever have.
Holly Lisle, a fantasy writer, mentioned having another novel, outside her chosen genre, that she worked on once a week or so.
But I desperately don't want to set aside a second book in the matter of only a few months.
I'm considering... not necessarily putting it on hold, but putting it on the back burner, so to speak, to write something more in the genre I'd really like to write in and maybe write that in whatever free time I might ever have.
Holly Lisle, a fantasy writer, mentioned having another novel, outside her chosen genre, that she worked on once a week or so.
But I desperately don't want to set aside a second book in the matter of only a few months.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
In case anyone's ACTUALLY interested...
I've started a dumb little web site here, just to say I have one. It's quite boring and very free, and I have next to know web design ability, which is why it's quite boring and free.
Anyway, there it is.
Anyway, there it is.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Warning: character coming through
So, just by virtue of considering changing the POV in which my novel, it's taken off in a completely new direction. One particular character just took over the whole damn thing. The perspective has changed, the main character has changed, characterization of at least a couple people has changed, and parts of the plot have changed.
Huh.
Who woulda thought?
Huh.
Who woulda thought?
Monday, February 19, 2007
Focus
Why is it that I'm incapable of focusing on one project at a time? I have the book I'm working on -- that is going fairly well, mind you, save for the characters still being sorta flat (but I figure I can fix that on revision, once I know them better) -- but I've got a great idea for another book, that I've written half a synopsis for. (I'm sure the synopsis will change as I write but I figure this might give me some guidance for when I actually start writing.)
It's like I get bored with what I'm working on and want to move on to something else, but that isn't very conducive to actually completing a book and trying to get it published now is it?
It's like I get bored with what I'm working on and want to move on to something else, but that isn't very conducive to actually completing a book and trying to get it published now is it?
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Characters
I've realized that the part of my original writing I struggle with the most is the characterization. My originals seem stiff because I don't really know the characters.
The fanfic I've written in the past has been great for stuff like building a storyline, developing a plot, and expanding characterization. But by the time I'd decide to write fan fiction about a book/movie/tv show, I knew the characters I was playing with -- who they liked and disliked, what they did for a living and why, what their relationships were like.
Not so with originals.
I can't get myself engaged with my characters, because I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to write histories of the major ones but I stall out.
Why can't characters cooperate?
The fanfic I've written in the past has been great for stuff like building a storyline, developing a plot, and expanding characterization. But by the time I'd decide to write fan fiction about a book/movie/tv show, I knew the characters I was playing with -- who they liked and disliked, what they did for a living and why, what their relationships were like.
Not so with originals.
I can't get myself engaged with my characters, because I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to write histories of the major ones but I stall out.
Why can't characters cooperate?
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Been a while
So, it's been a while since I posted here, a combination of (1) frustration at abandoning my first work, (working title was Summit) because I had to face facts and accept that there was just not enough going on to carry the story, (2) crazy hours at work and (3) a resumption of fanfic writing to regain my confidence and work a little more on truly developing a story.
But I'm back, and with a new idea in hand. This is a political fiction, about a campaign for the Presidency (with a twist, of course, because otherwise who would care?) But I'm a little concerned because I'm just not sure it's the type of book that would sell, no matter how well written. It doesn't have a specific genre, other than (maybe) mainstream fiction.
And then there was this little article, Why Americans Can't Write Political Fiction," a long essay-sort of piece on the faults with every political fiction work of the 20th century, which even assails Joe Klein's famed Primary Colors, which doesn't give me tons and tons of confidence.
At any rate, the piece I'm writing now is something that I can care about, with characters who are already taking on their own souls, so to speak, so I'm going to run with it. You're supposed to write what you know, and write for yourself rather than just what you think will sell, right?
But the gist I get is that political fiction doesn't tend to leave room for character development, and I write character-driven work first and foremost, so maybe... you never know, I guess.
But I'm back, and with a new idea in hand. This is a political fiction, about a campaign for the Presidency (with a twist, of course, because otherwise who would care?) But I'm a little concerned because I'm just not sure it's the type of book that would sell, no matter how well written. It doesn't have a specific genre, other than (maybe) mainstream fiction.
And then there was this little article, Why Americans Can't Write Political Fiction," a long essay-sort of piece on the faults with every political fiction work of the 20th century, which even assails Joe Klein's famed Primary Colors, which doesn't give me tons and tons of confidence.
At any rate, the piece I'm writing now is something that I can care about, with characters who are already taking on their own souls, so to speak, so I'm going to run with it. You're supposed to write what you know, and write for yourself rather than just what you think will sell, right?
But the gist I get is that political fiction doesn't tend to leave room for character development, and I write character-driven work first and foremost, so maybe... you never know, I guess.
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