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Messages - CynDe

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Author Craft / Re: Author In Progress
« on: January 30, 2008, 07:21:38 PM »
I have been off the boards for a while, so here's an update. A wonderful agent accepted my manuscript and most of my free time has been spent editing and getting it ready for evaluation by an editor. Wish me luck!

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Author Craft / Re: Agents - Yea or Nay?
« on: April 13, 2007, 04:52:40 PM »
I don't have an agent yet, but I would rather have one than not, since an agent is an expert in the field. Granted, both Maryjanice Davidson and Holly Lisle got their agents after a publishing offer...but both of them got agents to do the actual deals with the publisher.

I made lists of agents from the internet, searching under "speculative fiction agents" and cross-listing who I got with preditors and editors to make sure they were legit and recommended.

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Author Craft / Re: Problem with passive verbs
« on: April 13, 2007, 02:30:42 PM »
I have had "had had." Now I have had "had."

Actually, grammar aside, I try to avoid the repetition because it makes my brain stutter. In fact, I need to go and "have a lie down" from the brain seizure of writing the first of this post. :P

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Author Craft / Re: Why Do You Write?
« on: April 12, 2007, 05:18:01 PM »
I think Alexander Pope wrote:
Why do I write?
What sin unknown
Dip't me in ink
My parents or my own?

I write because I need to. I have a very practical job that is all-too steeped in reality. I use a lot of creativity in my teaching, but sometimes stories and characters fall into my brain and demand to be expressed.

I completely understand what Terry Pratchett wrote about ideas floating through the multiverse and lodging in people's brains.

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Author Craft / Re: A small snag
« on: April 12, 2007, 05:12:22 PM »
I would take a notebook to someplace like the library, or a laptop to a coffee shop and work there. No one will care what you are doing; you can write in anonymous bliss.

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Author Craft / Re: help..someone...please....
« on: April 12, 2007, 05:07:00 PM »
I force myself to finish at least a preliminary outline of each story as it falls into my head. With outlines, I can build several stories at once, and switch when a story becomes uncooperative.

Did that make sense? Basically, I try to pin the stories on paper as soon as they come, rather than let them rattle around in my brain, clamoring for attention.

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Author Craft / Re: Dealing with Rejection thread
« on: April 12, 2007, 05:01:43 PM »
Rejection is hard. It's hard to send something out there knowing that it will most likely be rejected. My solution has been to keep writing and soon I will do another round of queries.

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Author Craft / Re: Problem with passive verbs
« on: April 12, 2007, 04:43:45 PM »
Quote from: Daoine on April 12, 2007, 02:21:39 PM
what about these guys, because this drives me crazy. 

"There was a shocked and sudden silence as he met her eyes.  Thirty years ago, she had had an encounter with his father, in which her uncle's best man had been mortally wounded....etc etc."

what's the cure for that?
I would go with "Thirty years ago, she had an encounter..." the other "had" is not really necessary. I had a problem with that until a friend who is a grammar fiend corrected me.

Or, better yet, "Thirty years ago she encountered..."

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Author Craft / Re: The Long Wait Thread (For Literary Agents, Publishers, etc)
« on: April 12, 2007, 02:29:15 PM »
I am waiting for a response from the agent I really want right now. She asked for a full submission, and I e-mailed it to her 6 weeks ago. Now I am paranoid that the e-mail didn't go through, or that something went wrong, or...the mind boggles!
 :P

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Author Craft / Re: Problem with passive verbs
« on: April 12, 2007, 02:08:46 PM »
I used the "find/change" function on my computer to locate and bold all the uses of "was" and "were." It helped me edit and replace the passives whenever possible.

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Author Craft / Re: Oh crap - I'm stuck...
« on: March 06, 2007, 03:06:32 PM »
I understand the panic when the end looms on the horizon...it is scary to see such a big project end, especially if it is your first really big piece of writing.

Are you seeing the climax of the story, or the end of the book? They are not necessarily the same thing. When I got stuck on the steps to the climax, I wrote it first, then worked backwards to the point where I was stuck.

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Author Craft / Re: Write What You Read?
« on: March 06, 2007, 02:36:20 PM »
I try to read authors with a very vivid style when I am writing.  Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Guy Gavriel Kay, Lois McMaster Bujold, and P.G. Wodehouse tend to get a workout when I write. I try not to read in the genre I am writing when I am writing.

 

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Author Craft / Re: Any WriMo's out there?
« on: February 16, 2007, 09:04:29 PM »
I did nanowrimo this year, more as a joke than anything else. My friend that challenged me dropped out at about 1,000 words, but my story kept flying out of my fingers, and I managed to finish by the deadline. Now, after adding 33K words, I am shopping for agents.

I was a little intimidated by the writers that sailed past with 100K words in a month or more. I work full time and have a 3 year old son, but mananged the 50K. Maybe it would be easier if I had heard about it more than a week before, and had done some prep work...

I am looking forward to next year's nano!

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Author Craft / Re: Author In Progress
« on: February 16, 2007, 08:59:31 PM »
Hey! My name is Cyndy and I am proud to join this group of aspiring novelists. *waves*
My current project is agent shopping for my paranormal urban fantasy. I am proud to announce that I have two rejction e-mails (but one directed me to try a specific other agent) and one agent who is reading my first 50 pages and summary. My goal is to send to several more agents and collect 25 rejection letters by Summer vacation, unless someone accepts the book first!

 

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