Querying Author: Jessica Bucher

Happy Monday, one and all! Today we have with us the lovely querying author Jessica Bucher!

Jessica Bucher

blog: www.jessicabucher.com

twitter: @JessicaB_writer

How long have you been writing?

I've been more of a story enthusiast than a writer all of my life.  Once upon a time, I nearly attended film school to be a film maker or screen writer.  That didn't exactly pan out, so I switched gears and threw myself into novel writing.  I switched my major to Creative Writing, and dedicated myself to becoming a full-time writer.

What inspired the project you’re currently querying?

I honestly cannot remember what inspired this novel.  I just know that it's been a story in my mind for over a decade.  It wasn't really until I started writing it that I discovered my characters and their story. The whole idea just came from this notion that love has no boundaries, not even death.

What’s your elevator pitch for the project you’re currently querying?

Nin can't remember her death. She remembers her cruel boyfriend, troubled father and absent mother, though she'd like to forget. 

Dylan doesn’t need to remember his death to know that he deserved it.  He expects the worst in the afterlife, but he doesn’t expect to meet Nin, a girl who makes him hope that it’s not too late. Given the chance to change the past, they must decide if saving themselves is worth losing each other.

What are you working on in the meantime to keep yourself from checking your email every three seconds?

I have a completely different project in the works.  It's still YA but more steampunk and fantasy.  It was inspired by a trip I took to Prague last year.  It's about a band of magic-wielding street performers, and a fiddle player who falls in love with a living statue. It's a trilogy, and the first book is currently in revisions.  I can't wait to query this project.  It's so fun and quirky.

What are three books that have shaped you as a writer?

The three books that have shaped me as a writer are actually just novels that taught me what real story telling can do.  The first is My Name is Memory by Ann Brashere.  That book showed me that a powerful love story doesn't have to be cliche or cheesy.  The second is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  That book taught me about imagery and creating a world so fantastic that I refuse to believe it's not real.  And the third is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusack.  That book taught me about voice and the power of perspective.

Are you a plotter or a pantser or an all-of-the-above-er? What is your writing process?

I'm a plotter, through and through. My plotting process is intense, color-coded and all.  I create binders for each of my novels complete with character cards, timelines, back stories and more.  I learned the hard way with my first novel.  That thing was all over the place, and it took me twice as long as it should have to wrangle it all back together. 

I also use Scrivener to plot. I love the notecard option and the binders to keep all of my inspiration and loose thoughts. I do sometimes stray from the course, but it's important for my method to have a roadmap to keep me on track. 

What advice would you give to a writer about to take the plunge into querying?

Persistence is key.  You can do all the research in the world and read a million different versions of do's and don't's, but at the end of the day, the only thing that will work is persistence.  Keep writing, keep querying, keep reading, keep learning.  It's a discouraging business, but it's discouraging for everyone, not just you.  So keep going!

How do you take your caffeine?

 Coffee in the morning and tea in the evening.

Best of luck to you with your querying, Jessica!! Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Home Again, Home Again

Happy Tuesday, all and sundry! I'm back from spending eight glorious days in the Lands of Green and Growing Things—super proud that I managed to hit four states (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Virginia) as well as Washington D. C. on our trip. It was so lovely to see tons of flowering trees, daffodils galore, and just in general PLANTS THAT GROW BY THEMSELVES! Kinda hard to return to the desert after that………

I'd like to do a proper post about the trip at some point, but I wanted to geek out about meeting my awesome critique partner Jen Fulmer and her lovely family in person!! We had tea at a cute little coffee shop in Lancaster. It was just the best!!! Now plotting how to go back and stay for good this time… We had an awesome chat, and I wish we didn't live across the country from each other! SO GLAD I got to meet her. :-) :-) :-)

Jen & I, with future novelist Lyra. :-)

I shall leave you with some links!

The wonderful Virginia McClain interviewed me on her blog last week about my writing journey and choosing between four offering agents HERE, and my dear friend (and also recently agented!) Hanna Howard blogs HERE about her Deep Breaths, More Tea mugs she is now offering for sale on Etsy. Do check them out!

One last thing: If you are a self-published/small-press-published author or a querying author who would like to take part in my interview series, please feel free to drop me a line via email—I'd love to feature you on my blog.

Querying Author Interview: Lise Fracalossi

Hi everyone, and happy Monday! Today's querying author is:

Lise Fracalossi

Twitter: @lisefrac

Blog: lisefrac.net

LJ: lisefrac.livejournal.com

How long have you been writing?

Longer than I remember. I know I was writing stories from prompts out of a jar in my second-grade classroom, but it might even have been earlier than that. Words have always been how I process stuff and make sense out of the world. 

What inspired the project you’re currently querying?

A song lyric -- and not even a particularly memorable one. A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I was listening to Voltaire's "When You're Evil" for the zillionth time, and the line "what I'd do to see you smile/even for a little while" struck me like it never had. It inspired in me this idea of an evil prince raising to adulthood a daughter who he had kidnapped, who smiles at him because she has never known him as anything but "Papa."

What’s your elevator pitch for the project you’re currently querying?

Gods and Fathers is an adult fantasy in an Indian-inspired setting, concerning a god-touched prince, his adopted daughter, and what happens when her birth family, and a certain god, conspire to come between them. It has bookish apes made sentient by divine word-magic, prostitutes who double as priestesses, and a couple of love stories with same.

What are you working on in the meantime to keep yourself from checking your email every three seconds?

I'm currently drafting A Lioness Embarked, which I bill as my genderqueer fantasy retelling of The Three Musketeers from the perspective of the villains, with thread magic. I'm about 49,000 words into it now.

What are three books that have shaped you as a writer?

Oof. A tough one, this. Instead I'm going to direct you to this old post of mine about my ten influential books: http://lisefrac.livejournal.com/720331.html

Are you a plotter or a pantser or an all-of-the-above-er? What is your writing process?

I used to be a pantser, but then I learned that doesn't really work for me. When I started writing outlines, I started actually finishing stuff. Without an outline, I don't have the forward impetus to actually finish anything... asking myself "what comes next" again and again just makes me lose interest in the story.  So yes, I'm a plotter. 

That said, I'm a very intuitive writer in a lot of other ways, and so if something feels like the right choice for a character to make, or the right direction for events to unfold, I'll follow that garden path, and outline be damned. Outlines can be changed. 

What advice would you give to a writer about to take the plunge into querying?

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE. 

You know, I feel terrible giving advice, because I suck at the query dance, too. I've been querying for about a year now and I've only sent twenty queries, which is hardly a drop in the bucket. At the end of the day, rejection hurts. It's incredibly disheartening. You need to keep believing in your story even when no one else does. 

Hubris helps. It also helps to believe that there are all kinds of untalented assholes out there submitting the manuscript equivalent of red crayon on brown paper bag. If they have the unmitigated gall to do that, then you can man up and do it, too. 

How do you take your caffeine?

Coffee (hot or iced) with half-and-half and Splenda.

Thanks so much for participating in the interview series, Lise! Best of luck with Gods and Fathers!

Querying Author Interview: Misa Buckley

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's querying author is:

Misa Buckley

Website: misabuckley.com

Twitter: @MisaBuckley

How long have you been writing?

I started writing 1999, with fanfic. I was challenged to write original for the National Novel Writing Month in November 2010 and though I "lost", I decided to write to towards publication. My first novella was released in July 2011.

What inspired the project you’re currently querying?

I was raised on a steady diet of Star Trek and Doctor Who, which turned into a love for all things science fiction. I'm a fan of many shows, such Stargate SG-1, Farscape, and Andromeda, and this love of starships and relationships came together to form GENESIS DUSK.

What’s your elevator pitch for the project you’re currently querying?

On a generational starship with a strict caste system one technician will rise above her status to change the fate of a galaxy.

What are you working on in the meantime to keep yourself from checking your email every three seconds?

Most the day job, but I also have steampunk stories on the go. Not sure how long they'll be yet.

What are three books that have shaped you as a writer?

Douglas Adams' The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy was the first sci fi novel I read, and I loved the quirky humour of it. I also loved how Arthur was a real everyman, with no real skills or specialised knowledge.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC by the late, great Terry Pratchett was another quirky novel. I loved how clever it was. I think my favourite character was the Luggage. 

Gay Gavriel Kay's TIGANA is a beautiful, lyric fantasy with deep worldbuilding. It also made me realise that there isn't such a thing as good and evil, and that even the "bad guy" is the hero of his own story.

Are you a plotter or a pantser or an all-of-the-above-er? What is your writing process?

Mostly a pantser, though I do a little planning. I tend to write a back page blurb and go from there. I also keep notes as I go.

What advice would you give to a writer about to take the plunge into querying?

Don't query every agent going – search those who represent the genres you write in and then read their submission guidelines carefully. It helps to have a folder of documents – basic query, synopsis, first three chapters, first five pages, full manuscript – so you have everything to hand before you start. And fill in the email address last just in case you hit 'send' by accident!

How do you take your caffeine?

I don't. I prefer flavoured water. Or cider!

Thanks so much for participating in the interview series, Misa! Best of luck querying GENESIS DUSK!

Indie Poet: Brittany Ward

Happy Friday, one and all! Today we have with us indie poet Brittany Ward, who has just released her first book of poetry A Planet-Sized World Layered in the Brain.

Brittany Ward:

A Planet-Sized World Layered in the Brain

www.facebook.com/brittany9ward

How long have you been writing poetry?

I’ve been writing poems since about junior high school.  I used to primarily stick with short stories and figured poems were too difficult and obtuse and therefore I couldn’t possibly write them. However, once I began I realized writing them came more easily to me than writing prose.  My poems at that age were wretched of course, but writing them seemed to come naturally.

What’s the most rewarding thing about going indie?

 It’s probably the freedom it allows me to include everything I want and have the book look exactly the way I want it to.  Since this was more of a personal project for me, I really wanted it to be comprehensive. When you try to get poems published in a magazine for example, the editor will typically advise you what the publication is looking for and what they do and do not want, which is good and challenging in of itself and not to be dismissed.   However, if you want complete control and the freedom to experiment without any boundaries, self-publishing is the route to go.

What inspired your poems?

Science, particularly astronomy, is what tends to inspire me, and I like to use scientific analogies for the landscape of personal thoughts and emotions.  The interconnectivity between macro and micro worlds (the cosmological, biological and quantum), as well the unfathomable distances and timescales involved in cosmology, come with their own suite of inspiring emotions for me, so it comes somewhat naturally to me to draw from those emotions and the imagery they evoke. Simple things like a photon  (the elementary particle of light) being in a sense eternal and unaffected by time (since it travels at the speed of light and time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light) is a very beautiful and poetic concept to me.

Is there any connecting theme/anything you can tell us about the collection of poems as a whole?

I suppose one connecting theme is the synthesis of the micro and macro words, and how it relates tohuman understanding and emotion.  To paraphrase Carl Sagan, the Universe coming to understand itself.  I hope that’s somewhat of an emergent theme, however since this is a collection of poems I’ve written over the course of years, they’re a little bit all over the place. (I’m so adept at plugging my work. “All over the place.” “I HOPE there’s a theme!” Haha.).

We wants it, precious! Where can we buy your book?

Lulu at the following link is where you can currently get it: http://www.lulu.com/shop/brittany-ward/a-planet-sized-world-layered-in-the-brain/paperback/product-22068596.html.  From there, you can preview some of the poems as well as the gorgeous artwork Danielle Pajak created for the book.  We’re also working on getting it on Amazon Kindle in an e-book format, and it’ll be at the Dimi Espresso Coffee Shop in Payson, AZ in June of this year.  There will be updates on my Facebook as far as specific dates (https://www.facebook.com/brittany9ward).

What project are you working on now?

I’m just trying to write more poetry! I really only have amorphous ideas right now and I’m hoping they gel into proper poems soon!

Can you tell us about any particular poets/poems that have shaped/inspired you as a poet?

This is where I’m going to sound a bit uncultured unfortunately, but I actually don’t read a lot of poetry! The majority of my inspiration came from popular science writers and communicators who were able to express scientific concepts in an imaginative, poetic way (namely Carl Sagan, astronomer Phil Plait), or just from reading about science in general.  The one poet who has probably influenced how I strive to portray landscapes of the mind is Sylvia Plath. I admire how she can create a sense of beauty or interest in the otherwise grotesque or mundane.   I also aspire towards an economy of words and simplicity like from that I’ve read in Japanese tanka (court poetry) and haiku, although I’m not always successful!  

What is your writing process? Do you plan your poems beforehand or just wait for inspiration to strike?

Typically it’s just whenever the inspiration strikes. Sometimes a specific concept will inspire me and I’ll build the poem around that, however usually it’s just about being in the right mood and letting the poem evolve as I write.

What advice would you give someone about to take the plunge into indie publishing?

I would advise to temper your expectations and not to expect a lot of sales. Since you’re self-publishing, all the promotion rests on you and you will need to do a lot of work to get noticed. I would choose indie publishing with the aim of obtaining more exposure and getting noticed and not with the aim of making money.

How do you take your caffeine? 

5 hour energy shots .  Sometimes two a day. I may have a problem.

___________________
Despite growing up and living in the light-polluted Metro Phoenix area, the cosmos have been inspiring Brittany Ward's writing since viewing Comet Hale-Bopp from her background as a junior high school student.  Her work also appears in the May 2013 issue of Scifaikuest.  She is continuing to submit her work to magazine publications while residing in Tempe, AZ in a small apartment she shares with a neurotic black cat and a ton of books.

Query Stats!

Hey, all! I'm off to explore the wilds of Pennsylvania and Washington DC next week, and won't be blogging again until after I get back (although I do still have some posts from my interview series scheduled, so expect those!).

I wanted to leave you with my stats from the recent happy conclusion to my Adventure in Querying. So, without further ado, here they are:

Time Queried: 8 months, from August 2014 through March 2015

Agents Queried: 71

Rejections: 42

No Responses: 19

Partial/Full Requests: 18

Offers of Rep: 4


Worthy to note: this was my fifth time querying (with different versions of two separate books). This time out I told myself I would query until 1) a year had passed, or 2) I reached 100 agents. I was gearing up to query a new project this summer!

Personalization: My request rate from personalized versus non-personalized queries was about 50/50, which I think is interesting. When I did personalize, I put a sentence at the beginning of my query along the lines of "I saw on your website that you're seeking XXX specific thing…" or "I really connected with your interview about XXX specific thing…" Otherwise, I just started right off with my pitch.

Guidelines: Different agents require different things—some want you to structure your query in a very specific way. A handful even want sample chapters as attachments! Always always always ALWAYS double-check before you send!

Rejections: I got a lot of them. They sucked, especially the ones for partials and fulls. But I had lots of people to demand hugs from, and always sent out a new query or two to keep myself out there!

To conclude…

Don't give up, you guys! It's a hard road, but it IS possible. Keep writing, keep submitting, keep hoping and dreaming! YOU CAN DO IT! **hugs**

Querying Author Interview: Jenna DeVillier

Happy Monday, all! Today's querying author is:

Jenna DeVillier

blog: www.jennadevillier.wordpress.com

Twitter: @jenna_devillier

How long have you been writing?

I have been "writing" since I could tell stories and realized I enjoyed it! Some of my earlier works were almost of the screenplay variety and were invariably "cool" Star Wars ripoffs. I did enjoy building new worlds and inventing new alien species, though. I've always been drawn to fantasy/sci-fi storytelling. I wrote my first actual novel during NaNoWriMo 2012 (first participated but didn't finish in 2011), and as they say, the rest is history! I've written one more NaNoWriMo novel since then, and another completed book (83k words as opposed to 50k). For some reason, my NaNoWriMo projects tend to be set in the real world, unlike my thought-out projects. My first book was urban fantasy (sort of? I guess? More like magical realism, maybe...I don't even know! Think If I Stay meets Lost), my second sci-fi, but the first half is on earth.

What inspired the project you’re currently querying?

Colton Dixon's face, oddly enough (if you don't know who that is, look him up! He's a Christian rock singer who was on American Idol a few years back). I saw one of his album covers and an idea popped into my head for a story about a vampire hunter named Xavier Peters who falls in love with a female vampire. Well, by the time I got around to doing something about it, I knew vampires weren't in vogue, and I wasn't interested in that storyline, anyway. Instead, I thought of assassins in the desert. That was my first spark for what became Soulreader. The story has changed so much from that initial concept, to first draft, to sixth draft. The character's name is still Xavier, though! But he's not the main character.

What’s your elevator pitch for the project you’re currently querying?

Grave Mercy meets Shatter Me when a young assassin must choose between avenging her mother's murder and staying loyal to the assassins' clan which has taken her in, all the while grappling with her newfound empathic ability.

What are you working on in the meantime to keep yourself from checking your email every three seconds?

Work? What's work? Kidding (mostly). I'm currently plotting out a Mayan culture-inspired fantasy (tentatively called In the Shadow of the Necropolis) about a princess trying to save her brother, the king, when the dark Shadow of the Necropolis pyramid sends him spiraling into madness. Large-ish cast of characters, plots, an imminent invasion...oh, and explosives. 

I'm also toying with a handful of other ideas, and I don't know which one to write after Shadow! There's a sci-fi Snow White retelling influenced by Asian Indian culture and Firefly (but I'm not sure if I want to work on it right now after reading the amazing R.C. Lewis's Stitching Snow!). There's also my time-travel book set in 2144 Japan/1944 Japan about the daughter of an inventor of an observation time-travel device who falls in love with a WWII kamikaze pilot. And just the other day a mashup came to me: the Babylonian Exile (Biblical) meets the story of Anastasia/the Romanovs (the real one). So many ideas! So little time.

What are three books that have shaped you as a writer?

1) Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly by Gail Carson Levine. As a child, on through the first years of high school, GCL was my everything. I was delighted to find that she had written a book on writing, and I picked it up at my local library. I own a copy now and, though I haven't read it in years, that definitely made me more enthusiastic about writing something of my own. 

2) Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson. Yes, I know. I was one of those people that picked up a For Dummies book. But this book has been an invaluable tool to me over the years. Through it, I was first introduced to the Snowflake Method of writing, which I still use in all my novels. It's odd, and not for everyone, but I love it! My copy of WFFD is sitting on my shelf, right now, at least a dozen colored flags marking important pages, the binding creased and lined. And you know what? I think my little sister (freshman in high school) uses the book more than I do now, which is AMAZING! 

3) No Plot: No Problem! by Chris Baty. This was a random Barnes & Noble buy, probably the same day I bought WFFD. I went on a writing-book-buying spree one day! The amazing thing about this book is that I was afraid of writer's block, and this tiny book looked perfect for getting me motivated. It was the first time I had ever heard the magic word: NaNoWriMo. I didn't know then that Chris was the founder! This book really started it all, writing-wise. I looked up NaNoWriMo and found my local chapter not long after that, and that amazing group of people are such fun to write with on cold Wednesdays in November. I never would have met them otherwise! 

Obviously, Stephen King's On Writing and Ernest Hemingway's book of quotes on writing deserve honorable mentions here. I only didn't include them in my top 3 because I've only read them in the last year, so while they are wonderful books, they didn't influence my writing in the way the others did.

Are you a plotter or a pantser or an all-of-the-above-er? What is your writing process?

I've tried everything! Since I like to be organized, I generally find I work better when I plot (I use the Snowflake Method), but for some reason, I've always pantsed my NaNoWriMo books. Lack of preparation, probably. But I prefer plotting, definitely. It's fun to see how everything is going to come together, even before a word is set down on paper (or Word doc, or Scrivener...).

What advice would you give to a writer about to take the plunge into querying?

Do your research, and make sure your book is the best it can be. I feel like I am qualified to give that advice, only because I've broken both of those rules by accident or overzealousness! I got two PitMad requests on Twitter last September from agents. I had been pitching my book all day even though I knew it probably needed another round of edits. Instead of waiting, I queried both of them anyway. I know! Not smart. And on doing your research, generally I'm pretty good about it, but somehow (I still don't know how), I managed to add an agent to my spreadsheet that doesn't rep fantasy! I just queried her a couple of weeks ago, still totally oblivious to that fact. It took someone on QueryTracker pointing that out to me for me to notice. Yikes! It doesn't happen often if you're prepared, but it can still sneak up on you. Do your research, stick to agents who rep your genre, and maybe don't work on your spreadsheets when you're tired or distracted...

How do you take your caffeine?

Any way I can get it! I love coffee and tea, but probably my favorite drink while writing is a soda. It can get annoyingly lukewarm, but at least it doesn't get cold like coffee and tea do! Unfortunately, caffeine seems to have no discernible effect on me. The addictive part? Definitely. The staying-alert-and-focused part? Not so much.

Thanks so much for taking part, Jenna! Best of luck with Soulreader and your future projects!!