Dear Scared Writer

Dear Scared Writer,

This post stems off my last post: Dear Lazy Writer because while some may not do certain things after their book is published because it’s too much work, others may just be scared. If there are certain things about publishing that scare you, but you still want to publish your book then take a deep breath and read on.

Fear #1 - Beta Readers / Critique Partners

When you’ve edited your book as much as you can by yourself it is necessary to seek help by asking talented writers for their eye. Doing this can be so nerve-wracking (I know it is) but it is a MUST. I promise that you’ll learn a lot and your book will be all the better for it.

First, only approach writers you admire and know through blogging or other writing communities. After they agree to look at your book, send it to them with your expectations (What do you want them to do? Check for grammar, look for plot holes?). And there’s nothing wrong with letting them know how nervous you are. They’ll understand. Then keep busy with another WIP or hobby until you hear back.

Before you open their email, take a deep breath and try to slow your hammering heart. Read what they have to say while keeping in mind that it’s their opinion and the things they say are suggestions. Also scroll through the document to read any comments. Seeing all the red can be discouraging but once you buckle down and focus, you’ll see many of their suggestions make sense. When you finish revising, you’ll feel more confident in your story. You just have to get over that initial fear.

Fear #2 - Querying Agents

Many writers are afraid of submitting their book for consideration. If you let this fear consume you, you’ll never realize your dream of being a published author. Don’t let the fear of rejection stop you. We are all rejected. It’s true. JK Rowling and C.S. Lewis received many rejections before publishing their first book, but they didn’t give up. The same is true of every best-seller.

Take the time to perfect your manuscript and query letter, research agencies, find the appropriate agent for you and read their guidelines. When you submit, remember that you don’t know them and they don’t know you. As much as they're faceless, you’re faceless. Any rejection you get is NOT personal. They are only looking for the book that they can be invested in and love even after reading it a few times.

Your book could be great but not right for that specific agent. Keep looking, keep believing, and keep submitting! Chalk up each rejection as a badge of honor. Once you get enough, you’ll move from aspiring writer to agented writer.

Fear #3 - Reviews

Reviews of our books can make us bite our nails, especially if they’re one or two stars. The same faceless rule for agents applies for reviews, as does the opinion rule for beta readers. Whatever is said by a reviewer won’t be shared by everyone. What one reader hates another may love, and vice versa. That’s the beauty of individuality.

Don’t ever let a bad review bring you down. It can be painful but it’s also selective. Read a good review you got for the same title. Better yet, hop on over to one of your favorite books by another author and read their worst reviews. See? Every author gets them.

CONQUER YOUR FEAR!

QUESTION: What about writing and publishing scares you?

Author of Hurricane Crimes, 30 Seconds, Ghost of Death, and Witch of Death. Blogger. Reader. Auntie. Vegetarian. Cat Lover.

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Fearful Critiques #1

Vesper's Call
Sci-fi/Action/Adventure
336 Words

I've reworked this several times already, but something just seems off about it still. I can't quite capture the anguish and helplessness, and I'm not sure I managed to portray the psychological transformation from mother and doctor back into assassin.

This scene is toward the beginning. So far, there's been a bombing while Kallen is on the way to lunch. She is a trauma surgeon, so she works her way through injured people back to the hospital. After a while, her twin daughters are brought in, but one is already dead and the other dies in her arms. In her peoples' traditions, she burns the bodies at sea. Before this piece, we get a small hint that she was an assassin, but nothing big. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

Long after the last of the ash had descended below the water, the lone woman trudged slowly back up the dunes, ignoring the sand between her bare toes and the wind knotting her red-blond hair. The hem of her battered and bloody scrubs tore how did they tear?, but she didn’t even notice. She mounted the steps and entered the cozy, fortified cottage that had been home to the small family for the past four years. Wispy memories surfaced, became tangible, touchable, the voices of the past drowning her in familiarity, in joy, in misery. I love this sentence. I can see her looking around and seeing the past.  Sweet little voices stabbed her ears; soft little fingers raked sharply over her skin; saintly little faces burned her eyes. I understand what you are trying to accomplish here, but the contrasting words felt forced to me. It might work if you just choose one set. Also, consider showing us a real memory instead of telling us what she's experiencing. Perhaps show the girls kneeling at the table making something for their mom, or giggling over a game. Let us experience the joy so the pain is all the more real for us too. It was all real and all imaginary; concrete but incorporeal. It was too much and not enough. LOVE THIS LINE.

Her lungs burned; too many breaths, too little oxygen. Suffocating, drowning, buried alive—hands reached out of the floor. Accusations, past sins, failures, shortcomings, they all reached out to trip her, kill her. She tripped and stumbled and was dragged down, but slowly, eventually, made her way to the rooftop terrace. There is so much going on here that I don't know what to focus on. Burned, suffocating, drowning, buried, accusations, sins, failures, shortcomings. It's telling as well. See my notes below for my suggestion of how to fix this paragraph. She crawled on torn-up hands and knees what happened to her hands and knees? Was she also in the explosion? closer to the sky, now tainted red with I suggest saying like since it isn't actually their blood in the sky the blood of her daughters. Slowly, painfully, as if moving through mud, all three things convey the same thought. she pulled herself to unsteady feet. Then, of course, there was only one thing left to do.

Head thrown back, arms flung wide, she screamed.

Breath after breath was drawn into clenching lungs, to be let out again, on its way serrating Is this really possible? Or do you just mean bruised? I don't know I'm just asking. vocal chords. The violence of the sound, of the act, was nowhere near enough to satiate the vengeful spirits of the dead and the blood-hunger within. I like the primeval feel to this, but it's getting buried in all the talk about damaged vocal chords. This is the important part in my mind. It merely uncovered the simmering, seething anger and hate that had been meticulously buried years ago. LOVE THIS! It merely...gave me chills. This is where I start to feel the change coming. I don't think you need the next sentences at all. It smothered the motherly gentility and the doctoral concern. It brought center and purpose.

Sometime in the passing hour she screamed for a solid hour?, the time it took to injure vocal chords enough to hinder usage, overkill on the vocal chords again. Dr. Kallen Phoebe died…and from the ashes, Vesper Phoenix, harbinger of the end, was reborn. LOVE THIS!

Quick note: After my initial reading, I was confused about a few things so I asked the author some questions in order to put the scene in context--that's where the second set up paragraph came from. Before digging into someone's work ask questions to learn what it is you are looking at and what the author may need from you. 

Thank you so much for sharing your scene with us. Please remember that all my questions and thoughts are simply my opinion and are subject to the fact that this is only a small look into your WIP. Reading what came before may have changed my thoughts on some of these things. Please use what is useful to you and toss out the rest.

Alright, there is a lot of great imagery in this selection. I think, for me anyway, what isn't working is that I feel distanced from the MC. Psychologically she's probably in shock, but as readers we want to feel everything with the MC. If she feels nothing, we feel nothing. Kallen is experiencing a lot of pain, but she has distanced herself from it, and the reader too.

Simplify. I got bogged down in all the description--which was excellent, but there was just too much of it. Close your eyes and put yourself in Kallen's place. You are standing by the water, the ashes of your daughters have settled and floated away from you forever. Would you wait to walk through the house and climb the stairs to the roof to scream?

I think I would sink to my knees in the sand, dig my hands in as deep as I could in an effort to root myself and let it all out. Heaving sobs into the void left by their death. I would scream, tears streaming down my face as I remembered my sweet girls. You can still show us a memory here as easily as in the house. Perhaps the girls playing in the waves or building a sand castle?

When the voice and tears are all used up you hit your transition from Doctor to assassin again with the best parts of the last two paragraphs.

All in all I can see where you are going and it's going to be awesome! There is mystery here about how she escaped the world of being an assassin in the first place, conflict that she is now running back to it for revenge. I don't know the details of the bombing, but I can feel that after this moment in time Vesper Phoenix is going to be walking death for anyone that gets in her way. And I LOVE that!

You are really close here, just simplify all the descriptions and pick those that best show the reader what Kallen is feeling emotionally and physically. Let us smell the dying embers mixed with the ocean air, feel the breeze carrying parts of her daughters out to sea or to the shore, basically immerse us in the senses. I think adding a few of these will bring it all together for you.

Links to check out:
Bookshelf Muse Sadness/Grief
Bookshelf Muse Physical and Emotional Pain

Dealing with the Fear

Let's talk about fear in conjunction with critiques. My guess is that since you're here, you know how important it is to get other people's eyes on your MS to catch typos, technical and grammatical mistakes, plot holes, character inconsistencies, etc.

In the beginning of my journey I felt it would be great to find a local critique group that I could meet with on a regular basis and talk about our books. There wasn't one to be found in my area. Not a free one anyway. I tried to start one. There's not enough time to tell you what a bust that was!

I knew other people swapped chapters by email, but the thought of sending an electronic copy of my MS to someone I only knew online terrified me.

What if they stole my idea and finished something better--faster than me--and sold it to an agent before I could? There were a few other fears, such as:

• what if they hate it?
• what if they love it?
• what if they tell me its utter trash?
• what if they laugh at me?
• what if they never write me back?
• what if I hate the chapters they send to me?

And many others. Fear convinced me that I couldn't find online critique partners. So I gave up.

Last October I participated in a free online conference hosted by a small publisher. (The Muse Writers Online Conference will be Oct 3-9 of this year.) They have classes on just about every aspect of the publishing world and you get the opportunity to pitch to small publishers.

Pitching was/is another huge fear with me, but I took advantage of the opportunity. It was a wonderful (and terrifying) experience. And I learned from it. I also received a partial and a full request. Let me share with you an email I received afterward.


The owners were very  nice and listed a few items I could work on. And then there was this.

For me, Charity, I suggest you expand your use of a critique partner or even a group. The more people (with critiquing experience) who get their eyes on your book, the more potential you will have for growth.

I believe this is true for all of us. Let's deal with our fears this week so we can start trying out critique partners.

For today, tell me what your greatest fear is about swapping chapters.

Tomorrow we will talk about HOW to give an honest but kind critique. I'll also open up my email box for submissions. You can send up to 350 words of ANY scene that you know something isn't working, but you just can't figure out what. This can be from a finished or unfinished WIP. Submit to charity.bradford@gmail.com and include Fearful Critique in the subject line.

Please include:
Name (will be removed before posting)
Title
Genre/Word count

Brief intro or question you would like us to look at while reading.

350 word submission.

Wednesday the submissions will go up on this site with my critique and be open for your critiques. Think of it as an audition for your future crit partners.

Thursday we will talk about how to deal with the critiques we've received. 

Friday I'll call for people who would like to try swapping first chapters and match you up.

Sound like a plan? Let's do this!