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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: meg_evonne on May 01, 2009, 10:58:28 PM
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play it cool. play James Dean. play some Enya music. Re-read them one more time, call my editor to cry on her shoulders, and click the button. EEECKKK!!!!
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Calm down.... Have some dip.....
;D
How can we help you today? BTW, how do you get in touch with an agent anyway? Are they expensive?
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Hey congrats! Play it cool. Remember, you're a professional. :)
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MEG!!!!! How freaking awesome!
*Sends virtual flowers*
(http://cutrose.com/pics/bouquet_of_roses.jpg)
Just take a deep breath. You're good, darlin' Better than half the writer's who are already published. You can do this! ;) :-*
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Wish Bob was here to hear the news. *sigh* Yes, I sent them off, with a very cool and simple 'thank you' It probably won't go anywhere, but hey--that was my goal for the year, just to get someone to ask for them. It might even be a pity act by a kind agent! Still, I can check that off my to do list.
And thank you all. I did get a fortune cookie that said I had a book in my future. I thought karma meant my Turn Coat shipment.
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:: Offers you congratulatory goodies of your choice::
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YAY! *Does happy dance around Meg Evonne* I am so proud of you. And Bob knows.
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Wish Bob was here to hear the news. *sigh* Yes, I sent them off, with a very cool and simple 'thank you' It probably won't go anywhere, but hey--that was my goal for the year, just to get someone to ask for them. It might even be a pity act by a kind agent! Still, I can check that off my to do list.
Just keep reminding yourself that you're one up on more than a few folk on this board, and in the rest of the world. That an agent has requested thirty pages from you is definitely worth at least one extra dessert of your choice.
Although I might suggest promising yourself two servings of said dessert if you finish writing the book before the agent calls for it. :D
And thank you all. I did get a fortune cookie that said I had a book in my future. I thought karma meant my Turn Coat shipment.
Ah, the flexible language of prophecy.
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play it cool. play James Dean. play some Enya music. Re-read them one more time, call my editor to cry on her shoulders, and click the button. EEECKKK!!!!
Oh, well done. My congratulations, and wishing you luck for it going further.
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That's great, Meg! Congratulations!
Lindt truffles are always a great way to celebrate:
(http://www.globalchocolates.com/images1/813_Lindt_Lindor_All-truffles-gift_basket.JPG)
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Although I might suggest promising yourself two servings of said dessert if you finish writing the book before the agent calls for it. :D
In that case, I'll take two pieces from the chocolate pack above. It's ready to go, but there is always more to polish. The first quarter is finished and past editor, re-written and returned and back to me once more. The 2nd quarter will be back to me by tonight. Remember that I wrote this in an internet class and the instructor is an editor from a publishing house--so it has been roughly edited already. (The trick is not to go back and tweak the edited, re-edited, and final approved pages... Who knew that was going to be the hardest part of the whole thing? No one mentioned that to me.. :-) Itchy fingers--bad news.)
Also agent's time line is up to two months before they get back to me. Even if they take half that time--the last and final editing will back. They know that I am multi-submitting so I'm still sending out queries. The internet is an amazing tool!
I've four queries running at all times. It's like playing cards, if you lay one down, you draw another one after tweaking the query yet again.
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Also agent's time line is up to two months before they get back to me.
Gosh, that's moving fast. (I have had things out for years; still do, in fact.)
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That's great, Meg! Congratulations!
Lindt truffles are always a great way to celebrate:
(http://www.globalchocolates.com/images1/813_Lindt_Lindor_All-truffles-gift_basket.JPG)
"...nothing in his pockets but knives and Lindt."
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Well, I think I might have figured out a good query letter. I've had another agent ask me to e-mail the entire manuscript to them AND also send a hard copy manuscript. Sent the e-copy within an hour of the request and printed and mailed off the hard copy before 5 the same day. Crossing fingers.
My work with my editor continues to be a great relationship. I'm so lucky to have her assistance!
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Congratulations.
So what tips can you give us writing query letters ;D
-paul
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truthfully? I think the answer was grounded in my first steps writing it. The online instructor is an editor at an imprint of Harper and Bray and before we started, she asked that we post ideas. I posted seven and she liked this one. "DaVinci Code style young adult with magic. Brother (11) and sister (15) arrive in Rome to find their parents missing and people are dying in ritual killings at famous sites in ancient Rome. Tenacious Eve must find and solve the clues and gain control of her new powers to reunite their family against a ticking clock. Oh and add in a 17-yr-old boy, whose father is also missing that joins the hunt."
I'll never write another book without first writing a catchy commercial premise that is interesting, different, and timely.
And no, neither of us had any idea that Angels and Demons was being made into a movie until half way through the class. I figured it doomed the book, but I persevered anyway. I use only two locations from Dan Brown's book, but how do you avoid St Peter's and Castl Sant d'Angelo--the others are all different and the final confrontation takes place at the Pantheon, which includes the Pieta, the goddesses Minerva and Isis, St Michael, martyrs, and a Narnia style battle between 4000 skeleton army raised from the Church of the Bones and reanimated lions, tigers, bears, gladiators from the Coliseum. Oh--and the open roof of the Pantheon is a gate to heaven and in Michelangelo's mystically completed sphere of the Pantheon in the mirror image is a gate of hell that will be opened unless Eve figures out the last piece of the puzzle.
All the sites make a pentagram (really!) and the Pantheon is in the exact center, all with obelisk's from Isis' temple. Definitely needs a map to go with the book. All have ties via art and history to Michelangelo... Yeah--tossed in everything but the kitchen sink and frankly the rituals are really gruesome.
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Couple things with the Pantheon. It does have a little part in Angels and Demons. And with the confrontation, is that, with all the creatures and everything, supposed to happen inside the Pantheon, or no? Cause it's sorta like the Sistine Chapel. Seems like it should be pretty big, but it's actually pretty small. Plus it has been turned into a church, complete with Crucifixion painting and a Pieta, or something similar.
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good question. I love the Pantheon. When I first walked into it, a choir was singing in the center--totally epic impressive! Each apse lines up with the ancient Roman sights that make up the pentagram, plus two more. The walls become opaque and only the pentagram buildings and obelisks are visible--the rest fade. Eve can't escape through the walls, but can see through them. The romantic interest brings the Colliseum army, while the evil lady brings the skeleton army--so it is visible to Eve as they battle it out.
I found a wonderful tour guide book that had the impressions of visitors to the different locations. Apparently if it ever snows in Rome, you have to run to the Pantheon to see the Pillar of Falling Snow. I've seen it rain through the occulus, but never snow. Perhaps one day, if I am very, very lucky.
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good question. I love the Pantheon. When I first walked into it, a choir was singing in the center--totally epic impressive! Each apse lines up with the ancient Roman sights that make up the pentagram, plus two more. The walls become opaque and only the pentagram buildings and obelisks are visible--the rest fade. Eve can't escape through the walls, but can see through them. The romantic interest brings the Colliseum army, while the evil lady brings the skeleton army--so it is visible to Eve as they battle it out.
I found a wonderful tour guide book that had the impressions of visitors to the different locations. Apparently if it ever snows in Rome, you have to run to the Pantheon to see the Pillar of Falling Snow. I've seen it rain through the occulus, but never snow. Perhaps one day, if I am very, very lucky.
Seeing it snow there would be cool. When I went, it was the beginning of June, so bright, sunny, and very humid. One of my favorite photos is of the fountain outside.
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Couple things with the Pantheon. It does have a little part in Angels and Demons. And with the confrontation, is that, with all the creatures and everything, supposed to happen inside the Pantheon, or no? Cause it's sorta like the Sistine Chapel. Seems like it should be pretty big, but it's actually pretty small. Plus it has been turned into a church, complete with Crucifixion painting and a Pieta, or something similar.
Has been turned into a church? *is confused* I thought "Pantheon" was a gathering place for the gods originally anyway.
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Has been turned into a church? *is confused* I thought "Pantheon" was a gathering place for the gods originally anyway.
Heh. What I meant was that it had been turned into a Catholic/Christian church, when it had originally been used as a polytheistic temple for the Romans.
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Agree with Starbeam. It has a layered past. When the Popes came in they removed all the bronze that covered it and the white marble to use at St Peter's. It was built, I think in the 300'sAD, by Hadrian. One of the speculation, probably true is that it was a group temple, but evidence that it was also a public meeting area with government functions. Eventually, some Pope renamed it Sant Maria Rotunde (for the shape obviously) but the term Pantheon regained acceptance during WWII.
None of my recent research shows that it is currently being used as a church, but concerts are common in it or in the Pantheon Piazza, where the fountain/obelisk are located. It's billed on line sites as a sort of the hip place to be as the sun sets.
Raphael is buried there and someone usually has left a single red rose on his memorial.
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I love history! ;D
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How can we help you today? BTW, how do you get in touch with an agent anyway? Are they expensive?
Important piece of advice I've been given by a couple of published authors - an author only signs checks on the back. If an agent or publisher asks for money, walk away. Quickly. They get a percentage of the profits, not a fee up-front.
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Realized that I hadn't updated you all. The excitement has continued. Another agent requested the entire manuscript in e-form and that I send it off in paper copy as well. The e-manuscript went off within a hour of receiving her request. I had it in four attachments and I had to combine and assure myself that the chapter headings were formatted properly etc. That agent requests a 5 to 6 week exclusive access and I am going to honor that--no matter what. This agent is one who has had over 24 deals in the last year or so and has worked with all the major houses that I feel would be a good mix with the work. Further her web site is requesting YA with puzzle and solve the clue type books... Two lines below that she was requesting sci fi/fantasy--I'm at least in her 'need' pile!
I'd love to send her my rough 8000 on the sequel that is already a really fun ride, but decided that probably would look a bit too... uhm pushy?
I've sent in six queries, running four at a time, replacing a name as the notices came back. I've only gotten two rejections, which leaves me flustered. One now has the entire manuscript and three others that I am still waiting for a reply. Last time I queried with them, the rejections came through within a week or two. So I continue to wait. One of them is Jennifer Jackson--so that is a long shot. I've one more ace in the hole agent that I think could be a good mix. I received a very positive rejection with interest on my last urban fantasy (first I've ever shopped) and he wanted to see the YA that I mentioned while I was still only half way into the first rough draft.
I finished my research on the sequel and am now 8000 plus words into the first draft. My editor is willing to continue to work with me on the 2nd book. I've two workshops at the Univ of IA writer's festival this summer.
I'm sure that I will take another mediabistro.com young adult class with Jill again this fall or winter, where I would be starting book III in the sequel. There were several sci fi/fantasy writers in the last class. It included a wonderful mix of already published authors as well from other genres--so there was a lot of knowledge to draw on.
Last week, one of my fellow students posted on our writing website we created, that she had signed her book (from the same class that I was in--still in rough draft form) with an agent! We are all feeling super charged.
I've never had an agent ask for money, but the mediabistro.com classes have taught me to be a wise shopper. I use publisher's marketplace regularly to research agents, editors, and houses so I'm not wasting their or my time. It also is proving an invaluable source of seeing what is selling right now that won't publish for six months or much longer. Students and teachers have been excellent sources of web site material, blogs etc.
I'm still sure that this will all fizzle out, but for a writer that in 30 years never let a soul read anything I wrote....I've now people stopping me in town asking what I've heard. It's nice, but odd. I prefer it under my rock to be honest...
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Meg! I am soooo happy for you!
How is your son doing?
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Son is doing well. We await to see if he gets the call for the 2nd stem cell harvesting. We all hope he does get the call, as we will know that the 55 year old man that received the bone marrow is still fighting... If not, we have to assume that what they managed to harvest in the surgery was sufficient to do the job. I don't think we will ever know. My friend Don, who has received two such donations insists that we all have to go the annual donor/receiver party---no matter how it turns out.
His summer internship is going well at the law firm and he is enjoying living in my daughter and son-in-laws spare bedroom. My daughter seems to be enjoying it also. Lindsay and he manage to be together at least two days a week.
take care and thank you for asking... Frogge wants to go horseback riding. I'll make sure she knows my schedule next winter and maybe she can sneak away. My Mom has room for her if she can make it, unless my other family members get away...
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I'll make room for her here, too, if your mom can't! Not a problem!
Good to hear your Son is doing so well. Still praying for him and the Don-ee.
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Hey all, just an update from an excited author. No, the dear sweet agent that requested the manuscript has declined with a lovely note and suggestions that I really appreciate. So it's back to the editing board for a bit and then start requests again.
I wanted to give you all a heads up, because you've been crossing your fingers for me! I'll keep you posted.
I know that I'm supposed to be down about it, but I'm thrilled. Onward and Upwards as Buzz Lightyear says!
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Good luck Meg, I have another friend Kimrae, going through exactly the same thing too.
I'm hoping the best for both of you. ;D
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Don't worry. You'll get there! You've already accomplished a lot and should be proud. :)
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Onward and Upwards as Buzz Lightyear says!
Isn't that "To infinity, and beyond!"?
Keep your spirits up, lady. I believe in you! You'll be a published and paid author sooner than you think!
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I believe you are right... but i've no intention of waiting until infinity.. so I'll let the misquote continue.
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Works for me! :D ;D
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Never give up, never surrender!
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Ahhs, ya warm my heart Captain. thank you