At Musetracks, I am hosting fellow Dorchester paranormal romance author Ann Marsh. She discusses RWA writing contest and has some great advice to share on how to succeed on the contest route.

Check it out at Musetracks

by Marie-Claude Bourque

Some of you know I was at Steamcon last week in Seattle. Now it was not all about me squeezing into a corset and searching for the perfect pair of googles (did that thought! Awesome googles!).

No I also attended two great pannels/meeting with Steampunk authors that got my brain in gear. The first was with Tim Powers (author of  the classic novel THE ANUBIS GATE) who basically took all kinds of questions from the audience. The second included Cherie Priest author of the latest steampunk novel BONESHAKER who discussed the post-apocaliptic nature of some Steampunk stories.

Cherie was quite frank. First, she said, if you are not having fun while writing your steampunk novel, then you’re not writing steampunk. And she was also very open about the liberty she took in rewriting history a little bit. This is fantasy. Her civil war is a little longer than reality and that’s ok.

In fact, “Steampunk needs historical accurracy like an airship needs a goldfish” was the motto at Steamcon (and I have the t-shirt to prove it!)

Tim Powers however had a great method for his research and inspiration and it was quite different.

In fact, Powers told us that he loves to read biographies. He just keeps reading all kinds of biography from interesting people and with an eye on the quirky, looking for small details that may be unusual and… perhaps caused by some supernatural or “spooky” little glitch somewhere.

Then his imagination does the rest.

The next step is what caught my attention and fascinated me. Once he found the biography of interest, say Einstein, and some key events of interest in the life of his subject, he researches what is going at the time, day by day. Let say Einstein makes a particular discovery one day, then Powers will look at all that was happening in the world on that day, and perhaps that time period (or even at the hour timescale if applicable.

He may add some contemporary of Einstein and line up the dates. Then he makes connections. So and so had a accident on that day, another important person died on that day and so.

Then it’s only a matter of connection the dots and with a little imagination, all these events are not random, but caused by one thing.

I thought that was particularly clever. I am not so good at research (unlike our own research queen Jenn) and I am paralyzed at the though of writing historical romance. But I though Powers methid might be one more tool for the writer’s tool box.

Hope this sparks your imagination as well!

Notable links of last week!

At Witchy Chicks, a good take on Nanowrimo with “Not now, write more”

Scott Eagan on Teacups and Toasts!

How not to act as an author/writer by Susan Adrian

A really sweet candid must-read about the whole Angela James saga (from Samhain to Quarter and her great new job!) In her own words at Dear Author

and of course support our own Candi, if you like her stories, please please go tell Leah Hultenschmidt at Romantic Reads to help Candi make the cut as a finalist in the Best-Celler Dorchester contest!

by Marie-Claude Bourque 

I am hosting fantasy author Robin D. Owens today at Musetracks. She talks about the working space of a writer and a lucky commenter will win one of her book!

by Marie-Claude Bourque

I was blogging at Musetracks today! Here is what I had to say:

Career Track: Frantically writing away to finish Nanowrimo (hopes: career author!); Volonteering at the local high school (hopes: High School Math teacher!); catering and running after two little boys (reality: mom!)

Let’s Brainstorm! So here we are all of us Candi, Jenn and I attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days during the National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo). It is my first and if I am not wrong it is also a first for both Candi and Jenn (although every month is Nano month for our very prolific Candi it seems!)

To prepare for the month, I spend last week brainstorming. And even though I am a very analytical (polite way of saying anal) plotter, my brainstorming is anything but organized. I crank up the music (Nine Inch Nails and Tool work real well for me), walk around Seattle and daydream!

And I make lists, scene lists usually.

It is still a shock to me that I sold my fist manuscript but I have to say that if I hadn’t found THE brainstorming weapon, that manuscript mat have turned pretty flat. My favorite brainstorming tool is Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by agent Donald Maass. And I specify the workbook because that is what is most useful to me. Tons and tons of page full of questionnaire from how to make your character bigger then life to how he/she sees the settings and how to create more tension.

The workbook is also a great tool to define all your plot, plot layers and subplot. I never realized what all those meant until I read and work with this book.

So there I was last week, taking the path of least resistance and just answering question.

Last month, I wished I had more of those types of chart to fill out and, miracle, Mary Buckman and Dianna Love new book Break into Fiction came out. With a foreword from Sherrilynn Kenyon, I knew I couldn’t go wrong. I took some workshop with Mary (she is awesome!) and her workbook really didn’t deceived. I love it.

It starts with questionnaires on characters and conflict and move on to climax and turning point. I found it a great complement to the Donald Maass book. So if you are like me (slightly lazy) I do recommend starting with Breaking into Fiction, then moving on to Writing the Breakout Novel. It’s easy, it’s fun and you might get some real cool ideas!

SOME USEFUL READS FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE, LAST WEEK:

• On themes by agent Nathan Bradford
• Why agents ask only for 3 chapters by agent Scott Eagan
• How Unpublished Authors Can Build Name Recognition by editor Leah Hultenschmidt at Romance University
• How not to act by writer Susan Adrian

MUSETRACKERS NANO STATS – Nov 2th:

• Jenn (The Bruised Sky): 413 (Hey, she just had a baby!)
• Candi: (On Lupine Ridge): 4,227
• Marie-Claude (Ancient Secrets): 3,017

 Urban Fantasy author Jessa Slade is visiting Musetracks today with some inspiration of her own for writers.

Visit, leave her a comment and you can win a copy of her latest novel: Seduced by Shadows.

At Musetracks Blog

Last week-end, I was very lucky to attend the wonderful Emerald City Writers Conference in Bellevue, WA. It’s great that I live so close.

The conference was a success as described here at Barbara Vey’s Blog (Publisher’s Weekly) .

I sat at a panel of impressive agents and editors and though I’d share what I heard from them here at Musetracks. So present at the panel, where agent Alexandra Machinist of the Linday Chester Literary Agency agent Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency, agent Steven Axelrod, editor Megan McKeever from Pocket Books, Wanda Ottewell from Harlequin (she edits the Superromance line) and editor Peter Senftleben of Kensington.

So here we go (disclaimer, this is what I heard, and maybe not what they actually said!)

On being asked about submission and pitching and what they hate, Senftleben said that if a book is not finished at the time of pitching, just don’t mention that. Pitch the book as is it is finished then send the whole thing if requested. And please don’t CC to all your agents on your list while doing an email submission (yes, he said, it did happened to him.) Axelrod said he will forget any mistake in pitching and submissions if he thinks he can sell your book, Ottewell doesn’t like receiving manuscript that are not targeted to Superromance. Machinist cautions against saying that you are a cross of a all famous authors at once. Perhaps a name or two to get the flavor of your writing but not go overboard. McKeever loves authors who are excited about their book while pitching and that have creative ideas. She also remind writers to always include the ending of the story in the synopsis.

On romantic comedy, whether it is a dead genre or not, Senftleben said that nothing is ever out but some things are more in favor at times and romantic comedy is still equated with chic lit which is down at this time. Axelrod commented that romantic comedy come and go and that is very hard to write universal romantic comedy, a humor that will please a lot at once. Spencer said that it doesn’t help to say it is funny in a query. She recommends calling it contemporary. Your humor will be obvious at first read and she suggests focusing on your voice while writing.

On epub, Senftleben said that sales for electronic books at Kensington are not that big 5-7% of total sales. Axelrod said the market was about to explode and that it was a fabulous way to distribute books, especially for commercial books. He pointed that it would be harder for literally fiction who depend on independent bookstores for their distribution and promotion. Ottewell mentioned that the good thing about ebooks was that books would not go out of print and Spencer mentioned that we do need to pay attention to that trend and that 5-7% of Dan Brown latest sale was still a large number of readers out there willing to buy electronics.

On what they are looking for, Senftleben takes all kinds of romance including erotica, Axelrod is looking for wonderful storytellers, Ottewell wants depth, complexity and emotion for her HQ Superromance line. McKeever tell writers to write what you want to write and what you are good at. In romance, she takes paranormal, suspense and historical. She also said she likes sexy book. Nothing sweet.

So there you are. Get writing, and pitch and submit.

I was lucky enough to do a group pitch to Megan McKeever and she basically started our meeting by telling everyone to send their first chapter and synopsis. It seems to be the norm these days as far as I can see.  So next time you pitch, I suggest you relax and just show why you are so passionate about your story!

I was at my group blog Musetracks today. For more post like this to help aspiring authors on their journey visit Candi, John, Jenn and I at Musetracks!