Memoirs

What makes a good memoir?  Not just a good story, but you have to remember in the case of memoir, the reader needs to be able to relate to your story.  Ironically enough, my first rule of memoir is, actually it is NOT all about you!  It's about the reader.  When you think about putting out your experience or your life to the world, think about not just what happened to you, but think about what your story can mean to your reader.  What will the reader get out of the experience of hearing your story?  It's that age-old question, why you?  Feel free to post on the comments here and we can open up a discussion on memoir writing...

My friend Kim does it perfectly with her memoir, just out from Random House.  It's an amazing combination of personal story with reflections on self-esteem, self-respect, and as she puts it, 'learning to love yourself.'  Read it!

Again, it's Been Way too Long!

Wow, I did it again, disappeared from here.  So sorry about that.  Sometimes, I just get too waylaid by life as we know it.  I've been working on a novel, though, so that's a good thing.

Here's a writing exercise dedicated to my disappearance.  Think about somewhere you used to go all the time, whether it's your old school or a neighborhood you used to live in or a town you came from, maybe even an apartment or house you used to live in.  Fictionalize you as a character and write a story about what it would be like to return there now.  Who is still there; would you be recognized, or would you be a stranger?  I recently walked through a neighborhood I used to live in, it used to be home to me.  I don't know what's more striking: the things that have changed or the things that haven't.  The dentist's office on the corner, who catered to welfare recipients, is now a very chic trendy bar, but the nasty little dirty pizza place across the street is still there.

Think first about where it is you would be returning to.  How long ago were you there regularly?  So, the bottom line is, what would happen to you if you went back now?  And how would you feel about the place?

Writing Exercise

OK, bad joke.  Here's a writing prompt for you.  Dialogue between two characters can be the perfect launching pad into a good piece of writing.  So here's a scene for you...

Two women are in the group fitness room at their gym, laying out their mats and starting to stretch in preparation for a yoga class.  They are the only ones there, and after a few minutes, they find that odd, because the class is usually packed.  The instructor is no where to be found either.  Turns out they're the only ones who don't know the class was canceled.  Write the scene and their dialogue as they first wonder what's going on, are confused, then figure it out, and then does their conversation move on to something else?  What are they each going to do instead of the class?  Did they realize they know each other in some way?  Do they become friends?  Do they end up fighting?  Do they share their thoughts about the instructor, other people in the class?  Do something with the set-up.  Anything you want.

If you love your results, let me know or post a comment here.

Getting Local

You know, it's not all about getting your novel published.  There's a lot of writing to be done, down to the local level.  Are you doing any of it?  There's very small area local newspapers wherever you look.  Now there are even ultra-local web portals and blogs popping up.  There are regional periodicals and newsletters.  There are local charities and organizations that could use press releases and feature articles written about them.

Do you belong to any clubs?  Do they ever email their membership?  Are you involved in putting the email together?  Keeping their website fresh?  Do they have an event coming up that they'd like the region to know about?  Keep your writing chops sharp.  Volunteer to write for them.  Pitch article ideas to your local newspaper (don't offer to volunteer for that, charge!).  You don't have to wait for Alfred A. Knopf to come calling... besides he's dead.

Happy Comic Con!

OK, to celebrate Comic Con, see how I didn't make this 'all about me?'  I could have done 'to celebrate my birthday' today, but I didn't.  I could have done to celebrate 10/10/10, but I didn't.  Nope, I didn't have to start this out by pointing out it's my birthday today.  I said, 'to celebrate Comic Con.'  See how humble I am?

To celebrate Comic Con, let's do a character profile.  Come up with your own superhero or comic book character.  Do they have a special power?  How did they come by it?  Are they from this planet and were infected or poisoned by something?  Are they some other species or are the from another planet?

Is their superpower particularly useful?  How would you use it to fight crime and evil?  What if your hero were actually a villain?  How would they use their superpower for personal gain, committing crime, subjugating the masses, etc?

If you enjoyed this, then do it up a full second time with... who is this superhero arch-nemesis?  OK, you're writers, so antagonist.  What is their superpower or what makes them able to fight the other.

We could take this a lot further, so if you want to, DO!  Oh, and I give you my blessing to make this really silly.  Enjoy....

Back to Writing - Exercise

This time I want to bring you a prompt that sets you up for writing something that could become a pretty lengthy short story, even a novel.  This is one inspired by the fact that next week it's my birthday.  Yes, on 10/10/10!  And also, I guess I should give a shout-out to Mrs. Dalloway, though I don't really want to.

Your main character is having a party.  Is it later today, tomorrow, in a week?  A group of people (1, 2, 8, 50?) are going to descend on the character's (his/her) home.  Well, she (okay, I'm sick of writing him/her/character, I'm just gonna go with she, but you choose the gender) has to prepare!  Does she wake up, look around the house and realize it's a mess, so she starts cleaning?  Is it a garden party, so she has to mow and rake and tend to the yard/patio/garden?  Is she alone in her preparations, or is it she surrounded by family/children/spouse/partner?  Maybe the other person/s is the problem, not being ready?  Is she going about the prep nervous, happy, calm, frantic?  Guess that has a lot to do with when this party is too.  Is the party expected, surprise, did she forget about it, major life event or simple get-together, tea, brunch, garden party, photography shoot or interview?

All right, those are a lot of questions, and I don't want to lead you down any one path.  I just mean to say before you launch into random nothing, put it out, who is she (okay he/she), what is this party, when is it, and what is it she needs to get done beforehand?  [And does she get it done?  To her own satisfaction, to those of her guests?]

Go write something... and please don't have her go walk to buy flowers... ugh!

How Do I Find a Literary Agent

More to the point, how do I find a literary agent that's right for me?

OK, I know, it's daunting, and you feel like it's another hoop you have to get through to get your book published.  So let me cut to the chase and answer that question first.  Yes.  Yes, it is.  It's another hoop between you and getting published.  But seriously, let's look at the math of it.  Say you were hiring for a position in your office.  And you got 8,000,000 resumes.  I think you're following me already.  But I'll continue.  Hit fast-forward through the commercials if you need to.  So back in the day, editors would field these submissions directly, because not everyone on your block thought they could write a novel, but these days, they just don't have the time to do all that and work with the authors they do have under contract to get the books out that they've already bought.  Let's face it.  If you write directly to an editor at a publishing company, or even a worse idea, if you send in your full complete manuscript unsolicited, and everyone else were doing that, too, it would go into a pile of 8,000,000 boxes.  Your chances of getting published wouldn't be any better than the process that the system has put in place: getting a literary agent to represent you and make the submission to the right editors at the right houses.  [And you NEED a literary agent for oh so many reasons I will get to later.]

So you want to get published.  So what do you do?  You've heard the answer so many times, but you just don't want to listen.  Well, sorry, you should listen.  Do not send your complete book out unsolicited.  Rule #1: There Is No Back Door.  You must get an agent to represent you in submitting your book to publishing companies.  'But they won't even read my novel.'  You're a writer.  You can write a pitch letter.  If after reading your letter, they want to read a few chapters, they'll ask you to send it in later.

So what literary agent should I write to?  How do I find a literary agent?  Sing praise to the Internet, kids.  Imagine how much harder it was in the olden days of 1987.  As I mentioned in a previous post about editors, literary agents have tastes, too.  They each like what they like.  First rule of thumb: they like what's going to sell.  Literary agents are even more focused on the bottom line than an editor at a publishing company.  They want what they think they are going to be able to get a deal for.  But yes, they have personal preferences.  If you've written a romance novel, you don't want Joe Dude agent who typically sells espionage thrillers representing you.  So how do you find the RIGHT literary agent for you?  You can Google for 'literary agents who specialize in romance.'  Or a myriad of other keyword searches.  You can get onto Publishers Marketplace or find other directories of agents.  All so easily these days with an Internet connection and a good search.

The best way to find the perfect agent?  Go onto your own bookshelf or into a bookstore.  Identify the novelists that you are most similar to.  The ones you will be compared to.  The ones you aspire to be like.  Open their book and read the acknowledgments section.  Every author thanks their literary agent.  If they don't, they're not very nice.  It's like, 'I'd like to thank the academy....'  That's the person who got you the book deal.  Guess what, ... you thank them!  So write to those agents first!

A great way to find a literary agent, or at least to meet several of them all in one place at one time is to go to a writers' conference.  Typically over a long weekend, these conferences offer industry professionals (editors and agents) who attend as well as other writers just like you looking to get their big book noticed.  But the conference will offer panel discussions, cocktail parties, meet and greets, and really wonderful: one on one meet and greets with agents!

So you found that agent you want to write to.  You're not supposed to just send your entire manuscript, so what do you do?  Here it is: a one page letter.  Yes, it's absolutely okay (and preferable) if you can get an email address and send that one page letter as an email instead of a physical letter.  Before you've even written this letter about your book, even before the first sentence, the agent is already thinking, OK, is this something that's going to sell... so even more important than what's in your book, what it's about, or how good your writing is, is this: who are you.

So in that letter tell the agent:

who you are

what you've already done

what you do as a writer

do you have any audience already (are you a blogger, journalist,... etc)

what genre does your work fit into; what already-published successful works would you compare it to

what makes your book unique; what is your big spin

In this day and age, in that letter, you can include links to your blog, Facebook page, links to articles you've written, etc.  But do NOT submit your entire manuscript!  No, really, don't.  Really not even the first chapter or a sample chapter or an outline or the TOC.  If they WANT to read it, they'll ask you to see more.

Those are the rules.  Let's face it.  You don't want to stand out because you DON'T know what you're doing or you're not doing it right.  Because people will think you're going to act like that through the entire process.

OK, that's my post on how to find a literary agent.  There's so much more, so much more detail.  But for now, that's what you get.  I'll next give you a post on 'what does my literary agent do for me.'  Maybe I'll go back to some writing prompts and exercises first.

For now, don't worry about it until you've actually WRITTEN SOMETHING.  So get back to work!  Email me at SMHIOF@gmail.com or just post a comment here if you have any questions...