ABNA's Next Round

Just an announcement: My husband's novel made it to the second round in the ABNA contest!

What that means is that his pitch was in the top 20% of all pitches submitted.

What that really means is that his pitch was much better than last year, since he didn't make it past round one last year (and it was the same book).

The next round is the hard part; they actually base the judging off the first 15 or so pages of the book.

Who I Was

I've started substitute teaching on Mark's off days. It works out well for us both; he gets to stay at home with the kids for a few days, and I get to leave the house and make money and talk to teenagers about Perilous!

Yesterday I taught a keyboarding class. The first student in carried a thick, 6 or 700 page New York Times bestelling novel in her hands. She sat down at the computer a few minutes before class started and immediately opened her book. Her frizzy brown hair fell in uncombed waves around her round face. Plastic glasses framed her eyes, which didn't look up from her book until class started. The moment she finished her assignment, she was back in her book. Her long jean skirt and green t-shirt were an incongruous pair that fit poorly on her short, overweight body.

I was drawn to her. I stopped and asked her about her book. to which I received a 1-word response. She didn't like to be interrupted, apparently. The other kids talked and laughed among themselves, and she ignored them as much as they ignored her.

I couldn't believe how like me she was. My college roommates will remember the picture I have from 6th grade, with the t-shirt tucked into my too-tight jeans, the long ratted hair and the thick plastic glasses. I had no idea that I was such an awkward pre-teen, yet I was.

I wanted to take this girl aside and tell her this. Tell her how similar we are. But she didn't need that information; not yet. She had no idea how on the outside she was. Probably next year or the year after, she will realize it, just like I did. And then she'll need the encouragement, the support, someone to tell her that she doesn't have to be like everyone else. That if she's just herself, she'll find her niche. She doesn't need anyone to tell her what she should wear, look like, or be.

I'm out of that stage now. But I remember it.

Autographed Copy of Ghost Waves

W. Everett Prusso made this announcement on his blog weeks ago, but I only now have the money to do it! Let me share the good news: You can buy an autographed copy of this debut author's book here.

Ghost Waves is on my list of debut authors to read for this year, so getting my hands on his book is a must for me. I couldn't get my local indie to order it, or the library, so what the heck! I'll just order it directly from the author! It's very easy to do, as he has it all set up on his blog to order. (I need to get someone to help me do that in a few months!) Exciting! I'll do a review of this book after I get it. Debut authors need all the support they can get! (Hint, hint!)

On another happy note, I had a doctor appointment today. And I'm still pregnant. Yay! I'm almost sixteen weeks. One more month and we'll know for sure that we're having a girl. (Or we'll find out that we're having a boy.)

And speaking of debut authors, I still need suggestions for my debut authors list! I'm about twenty away from my thirty! Suggestions, anyone?

Countdown: 8: Final Submissions

After I killed off my character in April, 2009, I ran Perilous past my various critique groups. All in all, it got better feedback than it ever had. The beginning gripped my beta readers and made them want read more, as well as letting them know what kind of a ride they were in for. (They also caught all the times I referred to them as 'the four girls' instead of 'the three girls.')

This time, I was certain my novel was a winner. I resubmitted to the company I'd sent it to in October, as well as carefully selecting four other publishing companies to submit to.

Right away, I heard back from the company I'd previously submitted to. They wanted to know if this novel was the same one they had in their review committee. Oops! I told them it was, though I had made substantial changes. I also admitted to them that I thought it had been rejected, since it had been more than six months since I had submitted, with no response.

The editor responded saying that though it was taking longer than usual, they had not yet rejected my novel. It was in committee. She told me they would continue to review my previous submission, since they had already invested so much time in it. She also said if it were to be rejected, I could resubmit with my new version.

Boy, I felt like an idiot!

And that was that. The submissions were away. I sat back and waited, absolutely confident that this time, someone--maybe everyone!--would want my book.

Proofreading Errors

I'm reposting this from Writer in the Pines blog because it is so funny. Hope you all get as good a laugh out of it as I did.

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter
This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this. It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!! They put in a correction the next day.Too funny.

Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
Really? Ya think?

Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
Now that's taking things a bit far!

Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
What a guy!

Miners Refuse to Work after Death
No-good-for-nothing' lazy so-and-so's!

Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
See if that works any better than a fair trial!

War Dims Hope for Peace
I can see where it might have that effect!

If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile
Ya think?!

Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
Who would have thought!

Enfield (London) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
They may be on to something!

Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?

Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge
He probably IS the battery charge!

New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Weren't they fat enough?!

Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
That's what he gets for eating those beans!

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!

Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!

And the winner is....
Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?

Pondering POV Again

When I first joined my critique group at writing.com, I discovered my biggest mistake as a novice writer: Point of View. I had written both of my novels in omniscient POV. One critiquer asked me what POV I was writing in. And me, being the stuck up English major that I was, replied, "Omniscient." (Duh.) "It's where the narrator knows everything and can reveal thoughts for everyone."

It turned out that the critiquer knew what omniscient POV was. She just wanted to make sure that was actually what I was writing in before she informed me that that POV style is archaic and unwanted these days.

I had a hard time believing her at first. I could think of many books off hand that were written in the omniscient POV. But I quickly noticed a pattern: all of these books were at least 40 years old. And none of them were YA.

My next challenge was deciding in whose POV should the novel be. That meant I had to pick a main character. Or, at first, several main characters.

Then I realized that most readers/publishers frown on having more than four POVs in one novel.

Or so I thought. After all of these theories and realizations were carefully ingrained in my head, I then started reading YA novels that had up to 8 different PoVs. One novel started out in the POV of a character that was killed two pages later, never to be heard from again in the rest of the series. Another novel stayed between three different POVs, except for four pages in the middle of the book, where it jumped to another character's POV. The character stayed, but we never, ever got his POV again.

Now wait a minute. I thought that wasn't okay. I thought readers/publishers saw that as 'author manipulation' or what not.

I took a chapter out of Perilous because it was a different POV than the rest of the novel. For only one chapter.

Why can some authors do it and no one notices? Or do we notice and say nothing? I didn't think these authors handled it any better or differently than any other author I know. It was just a POV, juxtaposed against the flow of the novel. Honestly, I thought the novel would have been better without all ten POVs. And it's not because I couldn't keep track.

What do you prefer?

Killing a Main Character

A few people expressed curiosity in the mental process that I went through to kill off one of my main characters.

For me, it was a culmination of two things:

#1: I had two characters that were very similar. Many of my reviewers commented that characters A and B had very distinct voices, but C and D sounded the same. They couldn't tell who was saying what without the names, and neither one of them stood out strongly. Several chapters in to the novel, one reviewer said, "We finally got to see a little bit of C's personality when she and B had a heart to heart talk. Up until now, she's been kind of a shadow character. This was nice to see."

Nobody likes hearing that they have a character with no voice, and I was particularly attached to this character. At one point, she was THE main character. But slowly character A became larger and larger, taking over the role of main character. As A's character developed, C became smaller and smaller. When enough people commented that C and D were too similar, I made the difficult decision to get rid of one.

#2: The book needed something to jump-start it. My readers started chapters 1 and 2 thinking they were reading a 'slice-of-life' novel, when in actuality it is a psychological thriller. Right away, I needed to let my readers know what was at stake. I decided to start the book with a murder scene.

But who to murder? Well, that was pretty easy, since I'd already decided that character C needed to go. I had two choices: simply have the girls be a trio, or have them start as a quartet and kill of C. I decided to kill her off.

I knew that I would instantly accomplish two things: alienate some readers who couldn't handle the murder of a teenager, and reel in everyone else when they realized this is a high-stakes novel. Even main characters can die.

It was hard to take away C's future. She had plans in the novel, and the moment I killed her, I took all of it away. There were lives she would no longer touch, people who would no longer love her. I mourned for one boy in particular, who was supposed to find his soul mate in C, and instead he ends up alone.

But it was also far too easy. Almost every part she played in the novel, I could assign to character D. That's how I knew I'd made the right decision. My critiquers are usually spot on.

Have you ever had to make a life or death decision with a character? How did you deal with it, especially if you decided to kill the character? And if you're not a writer, what color socks are you wearing?