Writers in the Storm

Sierra Godfrey

Remember when you booked a flight to Marseille, France for research purposes? You toured Fort Saint-Jean, strolled around the Vieux Port, and lunched on bouillabaisse at a charming little café in Old Le Panier? Or how about the way the fishing boats sounded when they chug-chug-chugged into the harbor and the fishermen poured their catches into light-blue tables for people to come and buy right off the boat? Remember how you stepped back, wary of the fish heads and live eels slithering around?

Yeah, neither do I.

I haven’t been to Marseille, although I’d love to go—I hear their football team is quite good.

But just because I haven’t been is no reason not to send my characters there.

I don’t know how writers managed research before the Internet. Well, they probably went to places like Marseille. Experiencing a place and then writing about it is preferred, but if you’re like me and must save for several years to move an inch, then you’re glad we have the Internet. And luckily, there are several tools that make wading through information easier. Here are a few of my favorites:

Google Maps

Okay, you’re thinking, duh. Who doesn’t know about Google Maps? But did you know that you can create custom maps and save them to Google Drive? I love this feature. I wanted to track a character’s movement from Italy to France. Google Maps allows you to create custom pins. This was especially helpful in visualizing my character’s movement--so that I could see whether it made sense for her to travel from Rome to Marseille, and where she might stop along the way.

And nothing beats zooming in to the street view. I needed to be outside the Chanel shop in Paris (of course I did) and while that little Google car with its rotating camera hadn’t yet gone down the Rue Royale, they do have panoramic pictures from the street that I used, taken some other way (I don’t question The Google). I needed my character to come out of the shop after purchasing some gorgeous little ballet flats and have a look around the street where she may or may not have seen someone watching her from across the street. I assumed she would blithely look up and see him staring at her, but according to Google Maps, the Rue Royale is a busy street and there’s a ton of delivery vans, cars, and cyclists going by at any moment. So nobody was going to be staring at her without visual interruption. Good to know if you’ve never walked down the Rue Royale.

Pinterest

You probably already know about Pinterest, or maybe you’re wary of it and not sure what use it could be beyond repinning tasty-looking, professionally-shot food that you would never in a million years be able to replicate (I tried the cookie-in-a-bowl once and it looked like a sewer explosion).

Pinterest is simply a digital bulletin board, but it’s a bang up tool for people who are visual thinkers. For writers, pinning pictures of locations and people who look like their characters is priceless. Not just places, either, but fragments: an old barn. A shady strip of beach. A forest stream. Anything that evokes the feeling of the scene you want to write.

One of the best things about Pinterest is that it allows you to create “secret” boards, which means only you or people you invite to it can see it. In the manuscript I’m working on, I have a particular famous male in mind for the main love interest, and I need pictures of him in order to describe his face. But I don’t want people thinking I’m all fan-girl about him. Secret board! Or maybe the guy (or girl) isn’t a hot celebrity but someone in a different field. Maybe someone you know. Maybe someone you work with. Secret board!

Pinterest also has a robust word-search function, so that if you’re looking to see what the fishing boats look like when they come into the harbor in Marseille (the harbor that you learned about on Google Maps), then all you need to do is type in “fishing boats in Marseille,” et voila.

Blogs

We don’t always think to look for insider blogs and they’re not always easy to find. They’re out there—personal travel blogs, ex-pat blogs, foodie blogs—and all offer personal looks into a place. I always think that travel blogs with personal experiences of a place (with photos!) is much better than an organized travel site. But know your location. I figured that Marseille probably gets a large share of UK tourists on account of its proximity. Therefore, UK media sites like The Guardian are likely to have features on Marseille—and they sure do. (http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2013/aug/20/top-10-restaurants-marseille-france)

When I was researching Stockholm for another story, I found the blog of an expat American who had married a Swedish man and blogged about her experiences learning about the culture—invaluable for an American perspective.

Travel books and sites

I’m including this as a caution. I find travel books to be hit or miss; a good way to tell whether they give a flavor for a location is to read about someplace you’ve been or live and see if it’s right. And you have to know what you’re getting. For example, Rick Steves guides are going to be geared toward budget experiences. For a city like Marseille, you often find travel info buried in larger tomes like a general France one, or Provence, so they may not be as broad or deep as you need. The best travel books I’ve found is the Wallpaper City Guide series published by Phaidon. They gives an obsessive level of information—that’s what we want—and they are focused on a full cultural experience. My copy of guide to Marseille is fantastic. They have an impressive library of these guides for major cities that aren’t always concentrated on, like Osaka and Sevilla, Spain. (http://www.phaidon.com/store/travel) I highly recommend them.

What about you? What tools do you use for research? Do you read books, search the web, or travel to places? I’d love to hear about your methods!

About Sierra

Sierra Godfrey writes fiction with international settings and always a mention of football (soccer) or two. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and a quarterly contributor to the Writers in the Storm. Her non-fiction essays have been featured on Maria Shriver’s Shriver Report and Architects of Change website, and in the anthology, Nothing But The Truth So Help Me God: 73 Women on Life’s Transitions (Nothing But the Truth Press, 2014). She writes weekly for Football.com and other blogs, and is also a freelance graphic designer. She lives in the foggy wastelands of the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Come visit her at www.sierragodfrey.com or talk with her on Twitter @sierragodfrey.

Kathryn Craft

Turning Whine into Gold

When do we writers whine?

We whine when we feel put-upon by others, even when the obligations demanding too much of us are those of our own choosing.

We whine when our story will not behave; it demands craft and life experience we know nothing about. We feel unequal to the work of our own creation.

We whine when we don’t have enough time. So we lengthen our workdays, relying upon wine to induce sleep and, a few hours later, caffeine to shock us awake.

We whine when those we presumably love won’t stay out of our way. We whine when they fail to read our minds: they should fend for themselves for dinner and no you can’t explain why the pantry hasn’t replenished itself. Who needs nutrition anyway; you’ve been subsisting for weeks on trail mix from your bottom desk drawer.

We whine when constant sitting has removed us so far from our physical selves that the joy of human movement is but a memory and the only sensations of which we are aware are pinched nerves and aching backs.

We whine when we’ve sacrificed income to write and now we’re (again) skidding toward the mortgage payment with little in the bank.

We whine when we must market to our “target reader” and yet again when not every blessed soul on Goodreads appreciates our creative genius.

We whine when we have to write a synopsis and opening pages for a book we haven’t yet written, even though selling on proposal is an honor earned and so much more efficient than writing the whole novel first, and will help us complete the novel within the tight deadline that we’ll also whine about. We whine during final revision, when our brains are bruised and bleeding from eeking out five whole words (that we’ve added, then deleted, then added, then deleted).

We whine when we lose touch with the lives that once inspired us to write.

The writing life is tough. Its demands can be difficult for the sensitive creative soul to arise to again and again.

But that’s so hard to remember when we’re dug in deep and our inner well runs dry. What then is there to do but whine, and hope that a white knight will arrive to solve the problems you’ve been ignoring?

There is another way. The solution I’m about to share works for me 100% of the time. It’s super easy, and way shorter than the space it took me to present the problem.

Quit.

I don’t mean close out of your current document and start writing something new.

I mean give yourself permission to walk away permanently from the writing life. It is so darned freeing.

In whiner’s lingo, this is the big fat “You can’t make me.” You can’t make me (walk the dog, eat a square meal, go to the gym, finish this manuscript, give that library talk, revise this unwilling paragraph, write another book ever).

Quit. Just the word is so decisive, with its harsh consonants and slicing sound. It sends a clear message: I have taken action!

And done yourself a huge favor. Why become enslaved to a task that is so hard, so demanding, and that offers such uncertain rewards if constant misery is the result? Your whine was a cry from your soul: go pursue something that makes you happier.

If you’re anything like me, though, allowing myself to quit reminds me of a simple truth: this writing path was a choice. It turns out no one is making me do it!

Quitting allows me to shove away the load of obligation and commitment crushing my chest. Sweet air refills my lungs! My creative well refills! Love—a rush of pure, glorious love!—rushes back into my constricted heart.

I reconnect to the most fundamental emotion, the one every single writer needs to see her through: desire. It sparks again and soon its flames ravish me. I can’t possibly quit! I choose writing, again and again—and find the reserves needed to complete the dreaded task, fix a healthy dinner, and tweet about it all at the same time.

And those very challenges that yesterday felt thrust upon me? Now I say, Bring them on! These are the challenges I choose, that I relish, that promise a lifetime of inner riches. With renewed vigor I vow to find new ways to guard my physical, mental, and emotional health.

All because I allowed myself to walk away. When I quit, the whining stops and I fall in love again.

Do you need to reinvigorate your writing life? Permission to quit: granted.

About Kathryn

Kathryn Craft is the author of two novels from Sourcebooks: The Art of Falling, and The Far End of Happy, out May 5.

Her work as a developmental editor at Writing-Partner.com, specializing in storytelling structure and writing craft, follows a nineteen-year career as a dance critic. Long a leader in the southeastern Pennsylvania writing scene, she hosts lakeside writing retreats for women in northern New York State, leads workshops, and speaks often about writing.

Kathryn lives with her husband in Bucks County, PA.

Website: http://www.kathryncraft.com/

Chuck Sambuchino

(This column excerpted from Chuck’s latest book, GET A LITERARY AGENT, which was released in January 2015 and is available anywhere books are sold. Comment on this within 2 weeks for your chance to win a copy of the book. A winner will be chosen at random.)

I’m a big student of query letters. I collect successful ones to share with aspiring writers. I compose roundup blog posts full of query letter tips. And I’ve probably edited more than a thousand of them over the years at writers’ conferences and on my own. All in all, I’m a big fan of a great query, and I know that an amazing letter is your first key tool to getting agents interested in representing you.

But that said, I also know full well that writing a fantastic letter is extremely difficult, and some writers just have trouble with this step of the submission process. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a writer say, “Writing a query seems harder than writing the book itself!”

So, for a moment, let’s just say: Forget the query letter. Forget it. Just throw it out the window—and let me tell you about 4 side doors to getting an agent.

While submitting cold query letters through an agency slush pile is the most frequent way writers find their agents (and therefore should be taken seriously and not ignored), it is by no means the sole way to get your work in front of agents. There are four other acceptable routes you can use. In fact, a certain percentage of agents in publishing actually close themselves off to cold queries altogether and only accept solicited submissions through such “side door” methods listed below.

1.  Contests. Agents—especially new/newer ones who are actively building their lists—judge online contests. Oftentimes writing-oriented websites will host writing competitions—such as for the first page of a manuscript, or the first 1,000 words, etc. The agent judge reviews the entries and sees your writing during the contest. If she likes what she sees, she will contact you and request more material.

Don’t believe me? Take Tamar Rydzinski of the Laura Dail Literary Agency. She judged a previous installment of the “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest on my Guide to Literary Agents Blog. The DLA Contest is a free, recurring contest where people submit the first page of their unpublished novel. Tamar’s top three winners won an agent critique from her. Tamar was so impressed by one winner that she asked to see the full novel. Soon after, Tamar offered representation to the writer and sold the writer’s novels in a two-book deal. Still skeptical? The exact same thing happened a few months ago when agent Paula Munier of Talcott Notch Literary judged a more recent installment of the DLA Contest on my blog. She signed one of the three winners as a client.

So whenever you see an agent-judged contest—especially if it’s free—jump in and see what happens! You could win a critique and even find your agent match. Following agents on Twitter is a great way to stay abreast of these opportunities.

2.  Critiques that come as part of some kind of class/instruction. Agents sometimes do critiques as part of a conference or class or online instructional session. A critique is a straightforward way to get your writing in front of an agent’s eyes. At minimum, you’ll get helpful feedback, but if she likes what she sees, you may just find your agent match.

 (Hi, everyone. Chuck here chiming in for a second. I wanted to say I am now taking clients as a freelance editor. So if your query or manuscript needs some love, please check out my editing services. Thanks!)

For example, Writer’s Digest runs instructional webinars each week, usually with a literary agent instructor. Typically each attendee gets a critique from the agent to help make their work better. As with agent-judged contests, if the agent really likes what she sees, she’ll request more. Agent Barbara Poelle of Irene Goodman Literary, for instance, found clients from the first two webinars she did.

(I know that my examples here have to do with WD, but, obviously, know that while WD has contests and classes and such, we are by no means the only fish in the water. Agents are teaching lots of classes and judging lots of contests that have nothing to do with us, so take advantage of any & all of them!)

3.  Referrals. When you query an agent, normally your unsolicited e-mail lands coldly in their inbox (the slush pile). It’s reviewed quickly as the agent tries to assess whether your writing or the story seems good enough for them to invest more time. In other words, submitting to a slush pile means your query/work will only get a quick look. Getting a referral usually changes all that.

A referral is when an agented writer passes your work to their agent with a stamp of approval. Referrals are often read very soon after they arrive—pushed close to the top of the agent’s to-do list. After all, if one of the agent’s trusted authors is giving this new writer’s work a thumbs-up, the agent will take a longer look at the writing, going beyond what they would do for an average submission.

So put yourself in a position where you can hope for referrals. The best way to do this is join one or more writing critique groups. You’ll need other writers in these groups to see your work and hopefully take a deep liking to it. In order for them to agree to critique your work, you’ll need to reciprocate and offer them editing feedback on their own writing. The hope is that some of these critique group writers either 1) already have a literary agent, or 2) will sign with one in the future. Then any of these writers who have representation and like your work will be ideal people to offer to refer your work. (And keep in mind that even if the referrals don’t pan out, joining a critique group is an excellent step for any aspiring writer.)

4.  Meeting agents at writers’ conferences. Every year, there are anywhere between 125 and 200 writers’ conferences in the United States and Canada. Plenty of these have literary agents in attendance, and those agents are present specifically to meet with writers one-on-one and hear pitches. Many times, the agents aren’t even making any money to attend events—so the key upside of their attending is to find that diamond in the rough who’s got an amazing book up his sleeve.

To prove my point, I’ll tell you this: I was once moderating a panel of about 10 agents at a conference, and I asked how many had found clients at a conference—and all 10 said they had. And if that wasn’t enough proof, know that I myself found my own literary agent at a conference after schmoozing with her. It’s all proof that conferences simply work. (By the way, if you want to attend a writing event but don’t know where to start, see a large list of writing conferences on my website here.)

I’ll close by kind of repeating what I said above: If you seriously want to find an agent, compose a great query—because a quality letter is one of your biggest and best tools. In other words: By no means should you ignore the query process because you find it difficult. But a bigger point to make here is that you should not ignore any opportunity to get yourself and/or your work in front of an agent. So consider these 4 side door options and pursue any that seem like a good fit for you!

About Chuck

Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest Books edits the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog is one of the largest blogs in publishing.

His 2010 humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures.  Chuck has also written the writing guides FORMATTING & SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT and CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM.

Besides that, he is a freelance book & query editor, husband, sleep-deprived new father, and owner of a flabby-yet-lovable dog named Graham.

Find Chuck on Twitter and on Facebook.