Thursday's Tips: Preparing for Writers' Conferences

I’ll see some of you at ACFW in Dallas in a couple of weeks. Getting ready takes courage, especially if you’ve signed up for agent or editor appointments. Here are some tips to help you get ready:

First, make yourself familiar with what that house is looking for. Read up on their books, especially in your chosen genre. Make sure you’re targeting the house that will be the best fit for your manuscript, and be prepared to tell the editor why you think that is. Go to the house's website and read their writers' guidelines. If you're meeting with an agent, familiarize yourself with their agency and the authors they already represent.

Next, find out what that specific editor/agent would like to see. At the ACFW conference website, they’ve listed information about what each agent or editor wants to see during your appointment. Some prefer to see the first few pages. Others, the first three chapters. Some want that, plus a one-sheet. If you’re scheduled to meet with me, please bring a one-sheet and the first few pages/first chapter of your manuscript. Here's a link to Pelican Book Group's writers' guidelines as well.

While the days count down, create your one-sheet, polish your first few chapters, and prepare your proposal. Have your critique partners take a look. Let other writers peek at the first few pages of your manuscript too.

Craft and practice your elevator pitch. Get it down to twenty-five words or less. Some editors and agents will want to hear this pitch. You may want to include it in your proposal or on your one-sheet. The concise summary you pen may one day be used as part of the back cover copy or on your press release. You may even use your pitch in an actual elevator. You never know.

Also, most houses require unpublished writers to have the manuscript completed before submission. The same is true before you query Pelican Book Group. (Though at conference, I will be glad to discuss your work-in-progress.) So, write on, and finish that story!

Finally, and most importantly, pray. Pray for divine appointments. Pray for God’s timing. Pray for grace for both you and the other professionals with whom you’ll meet. Be courteous and kind. Put others first. And relax. All those editors and agents are as human as you are.

Enjoy the conference!

Make-A-Story™ - Monday's Writing Prompt

Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term.  It means writing what the publisher wants.  Can you do it?  In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements.  The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view.  

A box of vintage handkerchiefs
A disputed piece of land
A family legend 

Make-A-Story™ - Monday's Writing Prompt...


Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term.  It means writing what the publisher wants.  Can you do it?  In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements.  The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view. 

A bonfire
A snowy day
Roasting marshmallows
  

Thursday's Tips: A Likable Main Character

Do you read for pleasure? Of course, we writers are also students of books after we take on the study of the craft. I’m reading a book “for pleasure” right now that isn’t working for me. Why? Because I can’t relate with the heroine, which means I don’t sympathize with her. Why is it important to relate to and sympathize with a main character? Because character sympathy helps keep readers hooked and wanting to finish the story. It also provides an emotional connection that the writer can exploit to help bring about profound change in the reader. The best fiction is life-changing. And the way to impact lives is to elicit an emotional response. And the key to doing that is to write relatable, sympathetic characters. 

So, what makes us relate to and sympathize with the characters in a story?

Universal themes. These are themes that stretch around the world. Things like a mother’s or father’s love. The love of family. The instinct to protect the helpless. Compassion for children. The desire to help those who are hurting. Hatred of violence and evil. The need for forgiveness and acceptance. The list is nearly endless, and granted, some of these themes are more universal than others. (Villains don’t hate evil, for example.) If your MC (main character) champions a cause that touches on a universal theme, readers are more likely to defend and support your main character. 

Relatable emotions. Even if your MC champions a worthy cause, s/he may still not be “likable.” Character arc demands that the character start out with some rough edges that are hopefully smoothed out a bit by the end of the story. So, making your MC relatable at the beginning means giving her a weakness or heartache or wound that readers will relate to. Maybe she’s crabby because her grown children never call or visit. Maybe he believes the world is out to get him. Show us their inner workings,their secret heartaches. Help us see behind the gruff exterior. If you give us a relatable reason for their behavior, we’ll probably advocate for them, even if they’re irritable. (All while we await change.) The key is maintain balance. If your MC dislikes another person, give us a corresponding reason of equal weight. If she hates someone else, the reason must be weightier and may be harder to justify. Be proportionate. Remember: readers are logical and emotional. So we must balance those two too.

A Worthy Cause. I’ve hinted at this above under themes. Readers will forgive an MC’s rough relational methods if they believe in the MC’s cause. In other words, show us the MC’s nobility. Sure, she’s as snarky as piranha, but she fights for the rights of children. Readers will overlook the sharpness, even believing that trait might help the MC’s cause. Ironically, readers begin to admire those traits as the MC sees victory. Be careful though. Don’t let harsh, rude characters always win without ever changing. Readers won’t put up with rudeness forever. They also like that universal theme of redemption and change. 

What are some other ways you can make readers sympathize with your MC? How do you make your hero or heroine likable, right from the start?

Write the Vision ~ Wednesday


Have you ever asked yourself why should I write Christian Fiction...what’s the point...should I keep going? Take a look at Nehemiah. Those close to Nehemiah probably never expected the mild-mannered man to ever step out of his comfort zone, leave the safety of the king’s palace to go on work detail. Add to that the fact he was in captivity. He served a foreign government. He also didn’t have a background in planning or building that we know of...he was the king’s cupbearer. Yet this man became instrumental in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. We can look at that wall both literally and figuratively. Nehemiah is a role model today of a man who listened to God and followed His guidance and make a great impact. Nehemiah was a builder.
But how does Nehemiah’s wall compare to writing Christian fiction?
·         He saw a need. Maybe for you it’s a personal burden or maybe someone has shown you the need.
Nehemiah 1:3  And they said unto me, “The remnant who are left behind from the captivity there in the province are in great affliction
·         He had dual purpose. The people who build the wall had one hand at work and one hand on a sword. Don’t Christian writers do this too? Your story is on one hand from you and on the other, filled with God’s word (the Sword of the Spirit)

Nehemiah 4:17-18  Those who built on the wall and those who bore burdens with those who loaded — every one with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one, had his sword girded by his side, and so built.

·         He desired to be used of God.  Nehemiah had his conflict. He had people who didn’t want that wall built. There was opposition within his group and externally but he didn’t quit. He prayed and he perceived that his work should keep going, that God was behind him. He finished the task.
Nehemiah 6:15-16 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen who were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought by our God.
Read the whole book, it is really is amazing.
So built we the wall...for the people had a mind to work. Nehemiah 4:6

Make-A-Story™ - Monday's Writing Prompt


Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term.  It means writing what the publisher wants.  Can you do it?  In our new feature - Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements.  The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our guidelines and have our standard Christian world view.    


A family antique
A secret passageway
A long ago crime

Write the Vision ~ Wednesday


Ps 138 6 - 7 KJV
Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly: but the proud He knoweth afar off.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: 

It is very easy as a writer to feel alone and isolated...insignificant,  remember "God has respect unto the lowly." Even if that current WIP is dead in the water, life is intruding, etc. when we are at the weakest God is ready to administer His assistance. He will revive us.

Ps 45:1 NIV
    My heart is stirred by a noble theme
    as I recite my verses for the king;
    my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.