Writing Tools - Queries

I checked out How to Write a Query Letter, Everything You Need To Know Explained Simply by Donna Murphy and found a few things to share with you guys.

The usual structure for a query letter is:

Paragraph 1: The Hook - Open up with a hook (statement) that grabs the attention of the reader so they are instantly interested in your project but it has to be relevant to your story (even a quote from the manuscript can work).

Paragraph 2: Supporting Details - This is where you start giving basic ideas that build the hook into the main premise of your story line or plot arc. (When-What-Where-When-Why)

Paragraph 3: Qualifications - Here you focus on your qualifications to write the piece you are submitting. Don't make it lengthy but make sure to explain why you are the person to share this story.

Paragraph 4: Closing - Make sure to thank the person using their time to check into your manuscript. Also make sure all ends are tied up and they have several ways to reach you for any further information.

TIPS - There are personal pieces of yourself that you can add to these but make sure it stays professional. You can add a quote from your book (as stated above) or add something that makes your story relevant to something going on in pop culture. If your book relies heavily on certain emotions then add touches of that into you query, like humor if it's a romantic comedy or a few powerful phrases if it's an impactful or dramatic story, etc.

I hope this helps anyone who is struggling with the basics and be sure to share anything that you have found to be helpful in your own query letters.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

)))Corset Hugs(((

Ginny Lynn
Wench Writer

Soap Box - Queries/Submissions and Marketability

I know this may come across as a rant but I really want this situation to be explained to me. I don't have a wide enough knowledge of the publishing industry to read between the lines nor do I have an agent on a friendly enough basis to go to on this subject. So, if you have some knowledge on this, or have a person I can ask, please hit me up. (BTW - I will not be giving any names as it isn't about the person/company but the actual meaning of what I need to do next.)

"It's not marketable." OR/AND "We wouldn't know how to properly market that?"

I have two complete manuscripts and I'm sending them to agents and publishers for a possible contract. One of them is a Gothic Paranormal and the other is a Paranormal/Urban Fiction that has actually been plotted out to be a series.

The Para/UF
          The characters are several different breeds between witches, shifters, sirens, vampires, and such so if that's the problem then I have no idea on how to narrow it down without completely trashing the series plot line. It's based in a southern town so I know that isn't the problem. I do have a few different things for the outer conflict but they're all relevant to pop culture. Maybe as some are buzz words that can be a negative or a positive, it's too touchy for them to deal with. I'm not being told anything specific other than the above and a couple of people stating that if it was YA they might consider it more.
          My critique partners from then and my more recent betas have all "fallen" for it and want it published but the stories aren't being grabbed up by the professional publishing community. Why? It even won a WETA award, so I'm totally confused. Yes, I'm debating on making it self published as I have no intention of killing the story.
          There HAS to be a market out there since Best Selling Authors like Kim Harrison, Laurell K Hamilton, Carrie Vaughn, Keri Arthur, and Charlaine Harris all wrote novels containing more than one breed of preternatural plus included pop culture avenues in their story lines. Yes, some of these ladies entered in the older market, when things were hot, but many of us read these items so why not publish more of them?

The Gothic
          It is set in a small southern town, so that should be okay. What I have with it is a psychic mixing with two preternatural beings (one is the villain) plus the mansion/eery happenings/dark secrets that are typical in a gothic novel. As it's the newer of the two manuscripts, it hasn't gotten as many responses since I just started putting it out at the end of June. I've gotten good reviews on it from my beta readers and critique ladies (that write the same subject), so I need to see if it's my story line or the market isn't ready for another novel in this genre.

Well, there you have it, my latest quandary. Can you offer me any news or info on these?

)))Corset Hugs(((

Ginny Lynn
Wench Writer

Second Week Snippets - From the Fur (Unedited)

This is the opening of a manuscript that I started and I'm letting it stew for a bit to see if I need to progress further. Set in an older time frame, the heroine is a wolf shifter who's been bullied all her life and the hero is a closed hearted man who has taken himself away from the world and it's drama. This will throw the two together in a heat of passion and fight for survival.

***

The blood was ambrosia to my panging stomach but it was also terrifying in it’s delivery. How could he have killed the female peasant? He didn’t need to as there was game migrating into the forest. He could’ve taken us farther into the limbed depth to fill our vast emptiness. But he chose to kill a virgin who had mistakenly came across his prowling steps.

He’d even rubbed red against my muzzle after making the killing blow. I knew by the scent that she had been a virgin, untainted by the darkness that had just taken her soul. I heard footsteps rumbling toward us, knowing we were about to be confronted. Blast his hide for crossing this line, with so many of us here to pay for this crime. My instinct told me not to look any further upon the body at his paws and to run for cover, as the devil himself would be upon us quickly.

I yipped a cry to the others as I turned my tucked tail toward the hills. Hearing the shuffle of my escaping pack, my heart leapt as the human neared us. We’d all been caught by surprise and would pay for it dearly. A few were frightened enough that their bodies rode too closely to mine. It was a momentary tangle of limbs and then a missed step that had me lagging behind the others. Fear rode the air as I fought to recover, but I wasn’t quick enough.

I heard a bellow just before I felt the ripping pain in my hip. I faltered further, hitting the churned earth, as my pack left me there. I was shot and would be sacrificed for someone else’s crime. God help me.

***

Would that grasp your interest? It's from her point of view and I can put his point of view on next's month Second Week Snippets.

)))Corset Hugs(((

Ginny Lynn

Wench Writer

Life's Fictional Plot Twist

Life's Fictional Plot Twist

I got some sad news this week in the Fictional World. My publisher had to close its doors and will be giving back all the rights to the books that I, and all the other dozens of writers, had with them. I had the following three:

Vampire Best Seller ANDROMEDA

Romantic Suspense JUST TO BE LEFT ALONE

Vampire Rom Suspense TO HAVE AND TOO BOLD

 My children will be coming back home to me but I have no idea what to do with them. They can't sit there and just stare at me while I battle my midlife crisis. So I now have to figure out whether I want to submit them to other publishers in the hopes that someone will contract them OR pay for the Covers, ISBN numbers, and copy rights before I try to see what web pages to place them on as self published books.

 With this being a type of career move for me, and without a critique group to lean on, I'm afraid  to make any decision without doing some research online and from authors who have been in this precarious position.

Since my budget is tighter than my jeans, I really don't have the funds to invest in the growth of these babies, so the world is getting smaller and smaller. 

I know that I won't stop writing as I have so many ideas that my mind can't even keep up with them. It's not in me to just give up but I'm just in a sea of tide changes and weather bulletins. Anyone have some life preserving info for me and my babies?

)))Corset Hugs(((

Ginny Lynn

Wench Writer

Can you describe parts of your life in five words or less?

I saw this idea on a blog from last year and have been wondering if I could actually do this justice. Well, here's my try at it.

In Five Words Or Less....

My day job - Crazy. I was crazy once.

My pets - Didn't you just go out?

My writing career - Why won't they publish me?

My thoughts on college - I made more before attending.

My body - Curves with intermittent weight fluctuations.

My mind - Wait, I have one? Dude!

My marriage - He loves me with flaws.

My sewing hobby - Where is my seam ripper?

My former dancing life - Evolved from tap to naughty

My car - She needs how much work?

My train of thought - Wait, I have one? Righteous!

Favorite color - Dark green is soul deep.

Favorite movie - The Wedding Date, my Yoda. (You'd get this is you've watched it)

My best friends - They know the real me.

My ex-boyfriends - Exes for very good reasons.

My hair - my best feature, mouth included

My skin - Was Morticia Adams my mom?

My villain crush - Can I keep you, Loki?

My point - Wait, I have one? Seriously?

)))Corset Hugs((( and Laughter

Ginny Lynn

Wench Writer

Writing Tips pulled from library books

Here are some of the tips I got from "The Book of Writing-The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well" by Paula LaRocque.

AVOID VAGUE QUALIFIERS

Try writing without using: Very, extremely, totally, completely, wholly, entirely, utterly, really, quite, rather, somewhat, slightly, fairly. - If you do then take them out because they are used to weaken a statement and no one wants that.

PRUNE PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions are vital but most be limited and controlled or they'll fill the sentence with chaff, disrupt flow, and force its rhythms into an annoying singsong.

QUICK, GET A CAMERA

Writers should be able to describe a person/thing/place as if it's been captured on film. Work on your strong adjectives to get your images to pop into the mind of the reader instead of a flat detailing that will be forgotten in mere moments.

WRITE FAST, EDIT SLOW

Write Fast - If a scene needs research then try to do it before you sit down to type the scene out. Reduce your scene down to the main goal and then expand from there. Do you have the beginning/middle/end to each scene, even if in your head? Did you make any outlines?

Edit Slow - Artists can be so passionate that they bore you to tears on a specific scene that doesn't move you as well as the artist themselves. After catching the picture from above, got back over it slowly so you can whittle it down to the pinpoint of what you need to show your reader. If it doesn't "move you" then it may not "move them".

For me, I need to work on prepositions and more outlines. What about you?

)))Corset Hugs(((
Ginny Lynn
Wench Writer

Shame On You

I'm human and I know that people tend to judge others. It's a fact, no matter how hard you try not to be that way. If you see an old man driving a sedan fifteen miles under the speed limit then you will wonder why he's even being allowed on the streets for being an inconvenience. That same man could be taking his wife to the retirement home and just needs a few more precious minutes with her before she moves away from him. If you pass a pregnant woman who has several kids tagging behind her then your mind will go to whether the woman knows what birth control is. But wait, is it part of her religion to not use birth control or could she be a foster mom? It does happen.

Recently I was fat shamed by someone who has seen me in very little and I wanted to cry. He may have seen me when my chemistry had gone insane and weight was piling on but he had never seen me when I was anorexic. Yes, they're two completely different things and I'm no longer a waif that moves with the wind. That morning I had to remind myself that my hubby sees my naked form all the time and he's proud to call me his. He was there when a slice of bread and a glass of water filled me for the day and he never wants to see me like that again. I'm not going to lie and say that my body is nice because I need to get back to what I was three years ago. That's when I was fit and curvy but now I have people telling me I'm over weight and give me dirty looks when I wear certain outfits. They can't hurt me anymore than I have hurt myself.
At this very moment, I can't do a f'ing thing about my body except make a conscious choice to treat it better because wishing it off simply isn't going to happen. My wallet isn't big enough to have fat removed by a trained doctor and it won't make me look at the judging people with new eyes. I'm a forty three year old mom and I've had 6 surgeries plus battled a few diseases that wanted to take my life away from me (plus been run over by a car). Guess what? I'm still here, no matter what size that may be.
So do me a favor the next time your mind starts to think for you, ask yourself if your opinion really matters and if your judgement could be completely asinine. Is the person crying for understanding and you're choosing to be deaf to them? We're all worth one second of thought.

)))Corset Hugs(((
Ginny Lynn
Wench Writer