Breaker


Breaker by Lori L. Clark

I’ve been busy this week with editing Tyler Falls and doing some final polish work. And when I haven’t been doing that, I’ve been putting together bits and pieces for my next book.

Using the directions below, (AKA The Snowflake Method), I’ve come up with my sentence!

Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.

When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should appear very early in the proposal. It’s the hook that will sell your book to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!

Some hints on what makes a good sentence:

*Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
*No character names, please! Better to say “a handicapped trapeze artist” than “Jane Doe”.
*Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.

“While grieving the loss of her mother, an overweight songbird struggles to find her voice.”

Have you tried the Snowflake Method yet?

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Time To Begin Again


Breaker by Lori L. Clark

Having finished with novel number 3 last weekend, I am going back through it chapter by chapter. Since I tend to edit each chapter as I go, my editing isn’t hard to do. Sometimes I catch a forgotten word or something sticks out or tangles my tongue while reading it through, but for the most part it’s minor stuff. Maybe I’ve said someone’s eyes were blue and decided they’d be better green. Just niggling little annoyances. I think it’s easier to write a 65k word novel than it is a query letter!

I have the next book’s basic premise in mind and I’ve written a few paragraphs to sum up what the book will be about. I even have the working title, Breaker. I’ve been having fun with my graphics program, designing a mock-up cover in as well — which I’ve posted above for your entertainment. :)

Since I’ve got a basic idea for the book, it’s time to write that all-important one 15-25 word sentence summary the novel. Based on the snowflake method. He says shorter is better. I’m having issues getting it squeezed into 25 words, let alone 15. But it is a great way to get the ball rolling.

I did it with my third book, Tyler Falls, and that single sentence was re-worded into the initial hook of my query letter for the book. So, I think the importance of crafting a well-thought-out short summary sentence is high.

Go ahead, try it. What’s your summary sentence? If you’re not writing a book (yet), try summarizing your favorite book or movie using the one sentence method.

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Inquiring Minds Want to Know

Inquiring minds want to know. Here are some particulars about my writing. The first book I wrote is “Beauty’s Beholder” which is available as an e-book through various e-book retailers. The 2nd book is being published by Walrus Publishing. A small publisher in St. Louis, MO. An exact release date has not been given, but we are looking at early 2014. The working title of this book is: Between the Moon and Shine. I’ve also started the query process on book #3. Seeking agent representation for Tyler Falls!

Also, on a side note… The URL for this page is www.clarklori.com. A search for www.loriclark.com took me to a place where if I wanted the URL for my name, I could bid on it. So I figured, why not? Indeed. For the low, low price they would sell me the URL for MY name for $1500. It’s a scam. It’s a sham. And it annoys me through and through.

A word of advice for those of you who want to purchase your own domain name, do NOT search for it until you are 100% ready to purchase said domain. Apparently, searching (but not purchasing) for a domain shows up somewhere and those crooks who swoop and squat find out which domain names are potential money makers and snap ‘em up.

So, I spent around $10 and got www.clarklori.com and those squatters out there on my page can just keep it for $1500. Domain Market: Market this…

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To E-publish or Not to E-publish?


Between the Moon and Shine by Lori L. Clark

I have to tell you. I used to be an e-book snob. What do I mean by that? I have always thought that anyone who couldn’t get published through “traditional” channels probably wasn’t a very good writer. I’m learning this is wrong. Very wrong.

I’ve also been very anti Kindle or e-reader. I have been known to scowl at those Kindle holders and blame them for the demise of my favorite book store — Borders.

I subscribe to Pixel of Ink and get a daily email from them with free and/or bargain e-books. Some of the descriptions of the books sounded like pretty good reads and I figured if I spent .99 or so for a read and it wasn’t very good, I wouldn’t be out much. Even at $3.99 a book, it’s still very affordable.

I still didn’t have a Kindle to read them on. I was reading them on my cell phone. Pretty soon, after reading 4 or 5 e-books on my smart phone, I decided e-books were okay but reading them on my cell phone left something to be desired. Yesterday, I went to Target and bought a Kindle Fire.

The very first e-book I bought was a brand new release. The publisher had posted the first two chapters online. I read those two chapters and was hooked. I HAD to have the book. I had two choices. Get in the shower. Get dressed and run a few miles down the road to Barnes & Noble and get the book. Order the book from Amazon and wait for it to arrive. OR!!! Download the e-book immediately and commence reading the rest of the book. That is how I came to read my first e-book.

What does this have to do with Between the Moon and Shine? I’m so glad you asked. At the beginning of this past week, I decided since I had not had any nibbles on getting an agent to publish this 2nd book of mine. Since there are literally thousands of fabulous books out there just dying to be read with an e-reader and because uploading a book and selling it through Amazon is free — what did I have to lose?

I started formatting the manuscript. Getting it ready to upload. I was getting ready to design my own book cover with my graphics program. Thursday when I got home from work, I found out that I made it through to the 2nd round of finalists with the ABNA. On top of that… I also got an email from the owner of a local publishing house who is very interested in discussing publication of the book. I submitted the manuscript to her way back in October and assumed since I hadn’t heard anything it was a no-go. Imagine my surprise?!

Look for some author interviews on these pages very soon. Specifically, e-book authors. Inquiring minds want to know!

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On Writing: POV

I’ve written two complete novels. Both of them with 65-75k words each. I’m currently working on my third novel (Tyler Falls) and expect it also to be about the same length.

Each book has been written in First Person Point of View. I’ve heard that writing from this POV is difficult, but honestly, I can’t imagine writing them from any other point of view.

What else is there? I’m glad you asked!

First person – the “I” voice; all narration written as if the narrator were speaking directly to the readers. The narrator is one of the characters, not the author as in omniscient p.o.v.

Example:I’m not sure how long I sit and stare at Ethan. Silently willing him to move. Just an eyelash flutter. Anything. But nothing happens. Nothing except my tears. I guess it’s okay to cry. I dare anyone to tell me I’m not supposed to cry or that I need to toughen up — I don’t give a damn if people think I’m weak. They can kiss my ass.

Third person – the “s/he” voice; a mix of the other two, a compromise between first person and omniscient p.o.v.

(Third person multiple means your viewpoint is from more than one character. You’ll need at least one other viewpoint if you include scenes in which your protagonist is not present. But always confine yourself to one point of view per scene. Try not to switch viewpoint unless you’re starting a new scene to avoid confusing the reader.)

Omniscient – a point of view not written from “inside” anyone’s head; unseen narrator (the author) knows what all the characters are thinking.

Here’s an example of omniscient third person :

“Emma wasn’t sure how long she stared at her brother. “Please Ethan, just an eyelash flutter,” she said. Willing him to give her a sign that he was still inside the body on the hospital bed before her. But nothing happened. Nothing except her tears. No matter how hard Ethan tried to squeeze her hand and tell her not to cry, he couldn’t. He was stuck somewhere between heaven and hell. Angry that his botched suicide attempt had left him in this way. Not quite dead, but not really alive either.”

We started out in Emma’s head, left it, and then we’re in Ehan’s.

Now, here’s the same paragraph in limited third person, solely from Emma’s point of view.

“Emma wasn’t sure how long she stared at her brother. “Please Ethan, just an eyelash flutter,” she said. Willing him to give her a sign that he was still inside the body on the hospital bed before her. But nothing happened. Nothing except her tears. Ethan was stuck somewhere between heaven and hell. She knew he had to be pretty pissed off at his botched suicide attempt.”

See the difference? I’m probably not the best person to describe anything other than First Person, since that’s the way I prefer to write. Not sure what POV you should use? Try writing a few paragraphs using different POV’s and see which one flows best for you.

With “Tyler Falls,” I’m writing in First Person POV. Only I’m writing alternating chapters from two different people’s POV. One chapter is Tyler’s POV, the next chapter is Emma’s POV. Alternating between the two. You get to see/hear/feel her thoughts and his — both from their first person POV.

Don’t think it hasn’t been challenging to switch around and get inside their heads along the way. They have two distinctly different voices inside my head when they tell me what to write. :)

 

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On Writing

Outlining A Manuscript

The book above is “Eddie’s War” by Carol Saller.

I subscribe to a newsletter called: Fiction Notes by Writing Teacher and Author Darcy Pattison

What do these two things have in common? Glad you asked! On September 30th, I received one of Ms. Pattison’s newsletters entitled: Shrunken Manuscript X-Treme. You can read it here: Fiction Notes. I also recommend signing up for her newsletter if you are a writer/author.

I won’t copy the whole article here, but here is a little something that happened to catch my eye:

The idea is to write a single sentence for each scene or chapter in your book. Include the main plot point and the name of every character who appears in a memorable way:

January 1934, Eddie learns to read newspapers at the library.
May 1937, Eddie and Thomas find some baby foxes and Dad tells them to kill them.
July 1938, Eddie and Gabe argue a moral point.
July 1938, Gabe becomes a hero when Curtis Ray falls out of the tree fort.
September 1938, Dad tells a story about an early experience with a shotgun.
September 1938, Eddie remembers Grampa Rob in the duck blind.
(and so forth)

The reason this captured my attention is because I am in the beginning stages of writing a book in diary format (Tyler Falls). I think Ms. Saller’s idea is a fantastic way to outline a book like this. This is just a snippet of the post here, and I highly recommend you stop over to read the whole article and sign up for the newsletter… TODAY. Ha!

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Tyler Falls

Tyler Falls by Lori L. Clark

Have you ever tried the “Snowflake Method” of writing a book?

If you visit the linked page, here’s what he tells us to do:

But before you start writing, you need to get organized. You need to put all those wonderful ideas down on paper in a form you can use. Why? Because your memory is fallible, and your creativity has probably left a lot of holes in your story — holes you need to fill in before you start writing your novel. You need a design document. And you need to produce it using a process that doesn’t kill your desire to actually write the story. Here is my ten-step process for writing a design document. I use this process for writing my novels, and I hope it will help you.

Step 1) Take an hour and write a one-sentence summary of your novel. Something like this: “A rogue physicist travels back in time to kill the apostle Paul.” (This is the summary for my first novel, Transgression.) The sentence will serve you forever as a ten-second selling tool. This is the big picture, the analog of that big starting triangle in the snowflake picture.

When you later write your book proposal, this sentence should appear very early in the proposal. It’s the hook that will sell your book to your editor, to your committee, to the sales force, to bookstore owners, and ultimately to readers. So make the best one you can!

Some hints on what makes a good sentence:

  • Shorter is better. Try for fewer than 15 words.
  • No character names, please! Better to say “a handicapped trapeze artist” than “Jane Doe”.
  • Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win.
  • Read the one-line blurbs on the New York Times Bestseller list to learn how to do this. Writing a one-sentence description is an art form.

I had the seed of an idea for a book tugging at my consciousness begging to be written. Here’s the sentence I wrote for my idea: “After his parents are brutally murdered, a young man suffering from severe depression schedules his suicide.”

It’s sixteen words. I am not sure how to cut one word! I’ve always been a little wordier than necessary!

Try it! This sentence could very well be the hook of that all-important query letter you have to write later…

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MG or YA? That is the question!

Middle Grade or Young Adult?

I wrote my book with every intention that it was a YA Fantasy. I wrote 74K words believing it was a YA Fantasy. I went back and cut out the first three chapters because I felt it was too much back story and by the time everyone got to the “meat” of the book, they would either be bored to tears or wouldn’t have gotten that far to begin with. I needed a better place to start it, so I re-wrote chapter three and that became my new first chapter

I sent out a few queries, including one to Joanna Volpe for the “Can You Handle the Truth” query contest at her blog: Coffey, Tea, And Literary.

Her response was immensely helpful and was as follows:

As for this query, it’s actually a great query, I’m just concerned about the target market.  Tuck Everlasting and Gremlins are good comparison titles, but they are more targeted toward middle grade these days than YA.  As I was reading the query, I was even thinking that this would make a great middle grade, but the sensibility seems too young for YA.  So it concerns me that you don’t know your audience as well as you think, and since both of your comparison titles are on the older side, I worry that you haven’t been reading in this genre lately.  The idea is great, but if you can’t target the right audience, then I can’t sell it.  Have you considered rewriting it for the middle grade genre?  Have you read some of today’s middle grade?  Based on this query, I would suggest you give CORLINE and THE GRAVEYARD BOOK both by Neil Gaiman a try–also A TALE DARK AND GRIMM by Adam Gidwitz and JUNIPER BERRY by M.P. Kozlowsky.
It sounds like BETWEEN THE MOON AND SHINE would fit right in there (and I love all of those titles, so I mean it as a compliment!).
I hope that’s helpful.
And so!!! I went back to the drawing board and have been nipping and tucking some more from the manuscript. I changed a few un-MG-like things and rewrote my query letter to target a MG audience. I’ve realized, in re-editing and re-reading the book, it is very much geared — albeit unintentionally — toward MG.
It’s not that I haven’t read a lot of YA — it is almost my sole reading genre of choice. But I like MG, too… so onward and upward. Follows, is my revamped query letter.

Dear AGENT,

Fourteen-year-old Bobbi Flowers wished on a falling star for a summer to remember, but when her twin brother vanishes and she discovers a portal to a strange world filled with pint-sized, vicious night creatures — she wonders if she should have been more specific with her wish.

Spending summer vacation in rural Shine, Missouri wasn’t exactly Bobbi’s dream destination. Shine’s a strange town where countless kids have been disappearing without a trace for hundreds of years. When her brother vanishes one night while out chasing fireflies, Bobbi fears he’s become another statistic. She soon learns he’s been kidnapped by a band of evil Trogs and her search for him leads through a portal into The Overthere where she meets sixteen-year-old Michael — who claims he’s been there for nearly fifty years and that people don’t age in The Overthere. When Michael’s little brother is savagely attacked by the same band of Trogs, Bobbi learns she’s inherited the gift of healing and saves the boy from certain death. Having this bargaining chip, she convinces a reluctant Michael to help her rescue her brother. It becomes a dangerous race against time, for each night spent in The Overthere, the more likely it is that years — if not decades — will pass before she returns home due to the portal’s random and unpredictable time-warps. “It’s something to do with the moon,” Michael warns.

Complete at 64K words and spanning nearly four decades, BETWEEN THE MOON AND SHINE is a standalone Middle Grade Fantasy, with series potential. Think Gremlins meets Tuck Everlasting.

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The End

Over the weekend I finished my book. Between the Moon and Shine is a 73,640 words and is a YA Paranormal Romance. Now comes the hard work… sending out query letters trying to garner the attention of an agent willing to take a chance on an “unknown,” yet talented writer. :)

I’ve been fiddling with my query letter and have sent out a few. I’m being selective in the process right now and only sending it to some agents that I’d really like to have represent me. Here’s is my query letter so far:

Dear AGENT,

Sixteen-year-old Bobbi Flowers and her younger brother Pip have always taken their normal, uncomplicated life in Iowa for granted. But when their Grandpa Moon dies and they go to spend the summer with their grandma in Shine, Missouri, life becomes as far from normal and uncomplicated as it can get. Shine is a small town shrouded in mystery and superstition where teenagers have been disappearing for more than a hundred years and it turns out the strange lights in Grandma Moon’s backyard are not your average ordinary lightning bugs.

When Pip is kidnapped one night by Mutant Pixie-Fair, Bobbi sets out to find him. Inadvertently crossing through a portal to another world, she soon discovers where the missing town folk have gone and why they can’t go back home again. In a race against time, Bobbi enlists the aid of the mysterious, yet magnetic Michael to help her rescue Pip so they can return back to Shine — while they still have something to return to.

Complete at 73,640 words, BETWEEN THE MOON AND SHINE is a standalone Young Adult paranormal romance, with series potential (I am currently at work on the second book in the series).

Born and raised in rural southeastern Iowa, I moved to the St. Louis, MO area in January 2007. I am a voracious reader of YA and paranormal is right up my alley, having worked as a professional psychic for several years.

I thank you for your consideration, and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Me

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I have high hopes. Translate: Delusions of Grandeur.

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Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop Winner!


Midsummer’s Eve Giveaway Hop Winner!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and entered!

I’ve chosen a winner and have emailed squiggles to let her know she’s won my ARC of Blood Red Road!

Until the next time…

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