October is so, so close…

Can you feel that?

It’s palpable.

The excitement is building. The thrill of discovery hanging in the air. It’s getting closer every day.

The 21st Annual South Carolina Writers’ Workshop Conference is less than four weeks away.

I’m getting excited. I can’t wait to meet our attendees. And I can’t wait for you to meet our outstanding faculty members.

We’re enthusiastic about our silent auction; did you see Kim Hyclak’s post from this past Saturday? Scroll down and check that out. There are a few terrific trips on the menu of items for this year. I hope to win one of those great getaways, so get ready for a little competition if you plan to bid. Let’s not forget to mention our faculty member’s post-conference critiques up for auction. How can you beat a top agent or editor reviewing your work and offering insight?

As you start packing your bags and planning your schedule, I have a few additional reminders to help you get the most out of your weekend.

1) Bring your questions. But try to avoid being too specific: “I’m writing a suspense, romantic epic poem and my main character May is waiting tables in Abilene, Texas, and encounters her brother Roy who died twenty years ago? What should I have her do next? Should she tell him about their mother’s kidney transplant? Or should Roy tip her big before he leaves since he finally won Powerball?”

2) Prepare ahead of time. You don’t have to read everything by or about every faculty member or review every website they’re mentioned on. I’ve mentioned this before, but I once met a conference attendee who read at least one chapter of a book by every published faculty member. I thought it was a great idea and have employed that technique ever since.

3) Practice your elevator pitch, just in case you get that frightening question we all dread but secretly can’t wait to be asked: So, what is your book about? You’ll hear it a lot over the weekend; hopefully you’ll have a great answer.

4) And have fun. Conference weekend always goes by so quickly that I never know where the time went. Relax, enjoy meeting some new friends and have a great time. The conference is always a fun and we really want you to enjoy yourself.

See you in October!

Building a Solid Weekend – How to Get the Most out of Your Conference Experience - Part 1

These days I find that I’m often thinking about the conference. And lately I’ve been thinking about what some of our attendees will be doing all weekend. Conference veterans will be reconnecting with old friends, waiting impatiently for their critique or pitch and hoping to find a bit of inspiration along the shore of the Atlantic. You’re also likely to be looking for a bit of wisdom from one or several of our faculty members. This series of articles is for you.

If you’re new to writing and even conferences you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the options in front of you. You’re weekend may be a blur of information and opportunities. It’ll be over before you know it and you’re going to wish you’d planned the time a little better. This series of articles is also for you.

I’m here to help. No, really I am. It can be a bit overwhelming and I would hate for you to miss out on something because you’re not sure what to expect from a particular class. Of course, we want you to have a great time and learn as much as you can.

This is the first blog I’ll post on the topic of how to get the most out of your weekend in Myrtle Beach. The list below is all about the beginning. Facing down that blank screen or blank page may be a little less scary after you’ve sat in on one of the following sessions:

Just Getting Started

Friday 9:00 –

Seeing and Hearing is Creating: Character and Plot Development Using Point of View and Voice – David B. Coe

Saturday 9:00 –

(1) It’s Not Just the Story: Learning Ways to Tell the Backstory to Your Characters – Lisa Tucker

(2) It Really Happened: What Agents Expect in Your Non-Fiction Proposal – Stephen Barr

Saturday 1:30 –

Using Your Head to Touch Hearts: Crafting Gripping Scenes – Lisa Tucker

Saturday 3:00 –

Don’t Forget the Details: Developing Fantasy Settings and Magic Systems – David B. Coe

Sunday 9:30 –

Narrative Strategy: How Important is the Opening of a Manuscript? – James Frenkel

Conference Alert! Looking for some one-on-one faculty time?

As I pause from conference registration prep a few minutes ago, I pinched myself. No, it wasn't just to make a new bruise... I just can't believe it's the third time I've been behind the scenes of the SCWW conference registration launch. Each time I'm amazed all of the time the faculty gives SCWW to help members reach their writing goals.

Which brings me to a very popular part of the conference, one-on-one appointments. There are three types again this year -- critiques (standard and extended), pitches and real-time queries. Here's a cheat sheet of which faculty members are offering each type of appointment. In the coming days, we'll also have a cheat sheet on the faculty members -- what they're looking for and what they're teaching.

Agents

1. Bernadette Baker-Baughman: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


2. Stephen Barr: Standard and Extended Critiques and Pitches


3. Sorche Fairbank: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


4. Alyssa Eisner Henkin: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


5. Melissa Jeglinski: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


6. Sarah LaPolla: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


7. Jessica Regel: Standard and Extended Critiques and Pitches


8. Eddie Schneider: Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


9. Jon Sternfeld: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


10. Stephanie Sun: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries

Editors

1. James Frenkel: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


2. Molly O'Neill: Standard and Extended Critiques and Real-Time Queries


3. Toni Plummer: Standard Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries

Authors

1. David B. Coe: Standard and Extended Critiques, Pitches and Real-Time Queries


2. Lisa Tucker: Pitches and Real-Time Queries

Editor Chuck Sambuchino and writers MJ Rose, Matthew Frederick and Bill Starr are also on faculty, but won't have any one-on-one appointment times.

So, now you know who you could meet with, but what do you need to do to make it happen? Register early! Conference registration will open at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, 2011. You must be registered for the conference in order to make an appointment. Also, please note that critiques will be held on Friday this year.

Do Your Homework

As you prepare for the upcoming conference you probably have lots of questions. One of those questions may be: how do I prepare for a conference? The answer: Do Your Homework.

At a conference a few years ago, I spoke with a first timer who bragged about having read a book by each author attending the conference. How clever, I thought, I wished I’d had the forethought to do the same. Later, she confessed that in some cases she only read the first two or three chapters of a book. Even then she was far ahead of my own pre-conference homework.

You may not have time or the money to read a book by each member of the faculty, maybe not even two whole chapters. But you should make time to read websites and blogs by each faculty member. If you have a library at your disposal, at least read a few pages of their books. At least then you have some frame of reference when selecting sessions to attend or the person best suited to critique your manuscript.

We’re writers; that’s what we tell ourselves as we pour over the tenth revision of our roman a clef. One thing writers do is research. We research things so we sound like we know what we’re talking about, even when we don’t. If you’ve never been to Pocatello, Idaho, you’ll have to research it before you can credibly write a scene that takes place there.

Treat your conference experience the same way. While you make your plans for the conference also take a few minutes and look over the list of faculty members. On the conference page click on each name and you’ll find some basic background information. For more details, visit the websites and blogs of our faculty members. And of course, there is always Facebook and Twitter. You can learn a lot about faculty members from their social networking presence on the web.

This post is titled “Do Your Homework” that’s what you have to do, your homework. Write down your questions, all the crazy and not-so crazy things you’ve always wanted to ask an editor, agent or published author. If you come prepared, you’ll be less likely to forget to ask that one thing you most want to know.

Find out what books the authors have available, you may want to purchase these for the book signing we have on Saturday afternoon. Review agency websites to see what books an agent sold and decide how closely it may match your own genre of manuscript.

Research the faculty members, you don’t need to know their favorite colors or how they eat their eggs, but you should know what genres they write in or what genres they represent. If you do nothing else I’ve suggested, at least find out the names of the books the authors have written and the name of the firm where the editors and agents work.

Also, work on that elevator pitch. If you can get it down to less than a minute, you’ll be ready when someone asks, “What are you writing?” If the past is any example, you’ll get to answer that question a lot over the weekend. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll get to answer that question for the editor or agent of your dreams.

Critiques and Pitches Day 3: It's Prep Time

In the first part of this three-part blog, I offered advice on why writers need critiques and pitches. In the second part, I looked at suggestions on what to include in your critique package and pitch preparation, and what to avoid in your critique package and pitch preparation. For the final installment, here’s some advice on how to prepare for the one-on-one time of a critique or pitch.

1. Know your stats. What’s your word count? What’s your genre? When can you get a copy out to an interested agent or editor?

2. Know your publishing goals. Is your dream to be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond? Have you completed a marketing plan for your manuscript? Is your primary goal to concentrate on writing more or on working as many sales angles as possible on this manuscript?

3. Relax. It might sound easier said than done, but take a minute and enjoy the beautiful beach surroundings. Or, if that isn’t working, listen to a few minutes of ESPN or CNN. Take your mind off any anxieties you might have.

4. Practice your pitch. Even if you’re preparing for a critique, it’s good to have a five-minute pitch ready. Who knows, an agent or editor might ask for you to submit.

5. Bring pencil (or pen) and paper. This is a time when you’re going to want to take notes, as well as listen.

Still have questions about pitches and critiques? Feel free to ask via a comment on the blog (you can be anonymous) or send an e-mail to conference@myscww.org.

Critiques and Pitches Day 2: What you should include (and avoid)

In the first part of this three-part blog, I offered advice on why writers need critiques and pitches. Now, let’s look at suggestions on what to include in your critique package and pitch preparation, and what to avoid in your critique package and pitch preparation. These suggestions are based on what I saw while I was a publisher and what I’ve seen in the past three years that I’ve been a publishing consultant.

First, here’s my advice on what you should include in your critique pages:

1. A synopsis. While this is optional for you to include for an SCWW conference critique, I encourage writers have one in their materials.
2. Formatted manuscript pages. When you register for your critique, you know you’ll only be turning in 10 pages or 30 pages. You want to make the most of those pages. Don’t fall for the temptation of taking out paragraphing. Don’t change it to single spaced paragraphs. Don’t delete the page breaks between chapters. Keep it formatted as a manuscript – double spaced, correct paragraphs, 12-point type, single-sided printing.
3. Your best, edited version. You’ve gone to all the trouble of registering for a conference and a critique. Make sure yours are not the only set of eyes that have looked at the pages. It’s impossible to edit yourself. Your eyes will fill in words you haven’t typed and will automatically correct errors. Whether you ask a friend to look at your package or you hire an editor, make sure you aren’t the only one who has seen your submission.

Here are a few things to include in your pitch prep:

1. Know your genre and make sure you state it. Sometimes that’s easier said than done. I’ve run into many proposals that start with “My novel is a thriller, with a touch of women’s issues and a sub-genre of fantasy.” The problem is, if you don’t know what you’re trying to sell, how will a marketing guru at a publishing house pitch it to book buyers?
2. Time your pitch. With the SCWW conference, an attendee will have five minutes to make a pitch. Then, the faculty member will provide five minutes of feedback. An agent or editor might even ask to see your work, based on the pitch. Use a stop watch. Force yourself to weigh each word. Be sure you’re speaking at your normal, conversational speed. An agent probably won’t ask for a submission from someone who speaks faster than a chipmunk or slower than a turtle (though, in all honesty, they likely won’t ask for a submission from any talking animal).
3. Watch yourself prepare in a mirror. It might sound silly, but this is a good way to make sure you’re going to make eye contact. You’ll also notice if you’re smiling, if you’re excited about the project, if your body language shows how confident you are about your manuscript.

Now, a list of things to avoid in your preparation for critiques and pitches:

1. Don’t break the rules. If you’re supposed to submit 10 pages, don’t submit 12 pages. If you’re set to submit 30 pages, don’t submit 35 pages. If you’re preparing a pitch, don’t prepare a 15-minute pitch.
2. Don’t send or pitch work that isn’t ready. If you don’t feel confident about your submission, switch to one of your manuscripts you feel is ready. Your lack of confidence in a work will show. If you aren’t excited, why should anyone else be excited? Also, if agents or editors say they’d like to see the entire manuscript, will you be able to provide it within 30 days?
3. For a critique, don’t miss the deadline for submitting materials.

Remember, all critique materials must be received by September 1, 2009. Mail your critique materials to:
Lateia Sandifer
SCWW Board
PO Box 503
Bamberg, SC 29003

In part three, I’m going to offer my advice on how to prepare for your one-on-one time during your critique or pitch.

Still have questions about pitches and critiques? Feel free to ask via a comment on the blog (you can be anonymous) or send an e-mail to conference@myscww.org.

Critiques and Pitches: Why you need these, what you should include (and avoid) and how to prepare for it all! Part 1 of 3

Recently, a handful of writers have asked me if they should add a critique or pitch to their registration, which is better, what they need to do before their meeting at the conference, and how to format their critique. Luckily, most attendees don’t ask all those questions at once – what a mouthful! But you get the idea. Since I have a publishing background and have sat on the “other side” of the critique table several times, I have a different perspective that some of the other conference volunteers. I’m going to split my suggestions into three days and three posts – Day 1: Why you need critiques and pitches; Day 2: What you should include or avoid; and Day 3: How to prepare for your one-on-one time.

Here’s my advice on why writers need critiques and pitches:

1. If you crave input, feedback and suggestions, you should add a critique. Some writers are content writing for the pure joy of putting words on paper. However, most writers want to know what they’re doing right, what they need to improve and what they can do to make their work more competitive in the market.

2. If you’re ready to shop your manuscript around to agents, editors and publishers, a critique would really help, but definitely add a pitch. While you should be sending out query letters and manuscripts (while strictly following the submission guidelines of each professional you query), critiques and pitches at the conference afford you face time and reading time you can’t guarantee with a query. In 2008, about fifty manuscripts were requested by faculty members. At least one of those requests has already resulted in a published book. Several attendees from last year have shared news that even if their manuscript wasn’t a match for the faculty member who critiqued it, they got suggestions of agencies and houses to query. Some attendees even got introductions to these agents and editors.

3. If you’re tweaking your query and synopsis and need feedback on how you describe your story, a pitch session would help. Have you ever had someone ask what your book is about and it takes 30 minutes to explain? Do you dread putting together a two-page synopsis? Do you feel like you’re living in a vacuum and need to bounce your query approach off someone? That’s what you’ll be doing in a pitch session. You’ll have five minutes to describe your project. Then, the faculty member will have five minutes to ask questions and provide feedback. The faculty members won’t have any prior knowledge of your work. An agent or editor might ask for more of your work if you grab his/her attention during the pitch. In fact, publisher Karen Syed says most of her requests are based on one-on-one interactions with writers.

Next time, I’ll provide suggestions on what to include in your critique package and pitch preparation, and what to avoid in your critique package and pitch preparation.

Still have questions about pitches and critiques? Feel free to ask via a comment on the blog (you can be anonymous) or send an e-mail to conference@myscww.org.

Agent or Editor?

Lots of you are trying to decide whether to pick an editor, publisher or an agent for your critique at the conference. This isn't always an easy question to answer because it depends on a lot of different factors. Let's consider the scenarios below.


Q: I intend to sell my book to a small press. Who should I choose?

A: Most small presses will accept unsolicited manuscripts. Since you likely don't need an agent to work with these publishers, consider meeting directly with an editor or publisher from a small press. It's always a good idea, whether you're coming to the SCWW conference or another one, to check out the publishers website before you pick them for your critique. Make sure your work fits into the parameters of what they publish.


Q: My book is commercial fiction and I think it would appeal to a large publishing house like Random House. Who should I pick for my critique?

A: Most of large publishers don't accept unsolicited manuscripts. By unsolicited, I mean non-agented. They prefer your agent send your manuscript to them. It's not a bad idea to meet one of their editors because it's a unique opportunity to introduce them to your work. If your work is polished and revised to the point that it's sellable, this is one viable option. Keep in mind, though, most editors representing large houses prefer to work with agented writers. For most writers in this spot, it's likely best to meet with an agent. Agents often work with the writers they represent to make a manuscript ready for the editor's eye. If you think you've got a great story, but it needs some revision, you might want to consider meeting with an agent.


Q: I have no idea where my manuscript would fit into the market. It needs a lot of work---especially when it comes to craft. Who should I meet with?

A. It might be best to schedule a meeting with an editor because he/she can tell you what is and isn't marketable about your manuscript and what flaws or bad habits that need to be addressed.

I hope this helps. A little. It's a big pond out there and you need to make good decisions at each step of your writing career. Thinking honestly about your work---where you are, what you're willing to commit to writing, and how far you have to go to make your work publishable---will insure you get the most for your money when it comes to choosing a faculty member for your critique.

Who do I pick to Critique my Novel at the Conference?

Who do I pick to critique my novel at the conference? That was the question that I faced when I registered for the conference. Figuring out the answer took more time than I anticipated. I bet that I’m not alone in this struggle so I’m going to share my process and the key questions that I asked myself to make the decision.

What do I write?

This one is easy. I write what I love to read – romance. Specifically, I write historical romance. The person I picked to critique my novel needed to know something about what I was writing. They needed to represent, write, or edit romance. This leads to the next set of questions.

What genres do the agents attending the conference represent? What genres do the authors critiquing write? What genres do the editors edit?

These are three related questions. The list of faculty from the conference is available on the facebook group and google is my friend. I googled the names of all the faculty to see what they represented, what they wrote, and what they edited. I picked three faculty members that said they represented historical romance or wrote historical romance.

If I pick an agent, who do they represent? If I pick a writer, have I read their books?

Knowledge is power. You want to pick a faculty member that is a good fit for you. If you look at the list of books that they have sold or written and love the books, then you probably have found a good match for you. If you look at the list of books that they have sold or written and you dislike them, then you should move on to the next person.

Ok, I know that the faculty member that I pick to critique my book is under no obligation to request my work, but I want them to. Picking someone that represents what I write, gives me a better opportunity than picking someone that doesn’t represent what I write.

How did you pick your faculty member?

A Writer's Journey

I’m in revision hell now. If I’m being completely honest, I’m not even revising. I’m rewriting. In the first 10 pages, I’ve kept one line of my manuscript. That’s right one line. Sigh. When I wrote the novel, I knew that my first draft was bad. I knew that my characters needed work. I knew that it would take me months to get it in a viewable-by- human-eyes-other-than-mine state. I was right. Even longer sigh.

My name is Vikki Perry and I’m a member of the Columbia II chapter of SCWW and I’m getting my historical romance ready to be critiqued at the South Carolina Writers’ Conference. If my math is correct, I have 132 days to remake my novel into something that I wouldn’t mind an agent or editor seeing, to remake my novel into something that has potential to catch their eye and make them think, I want to read more of this. One hundred and thirty-two days is a very short period of time in which to turn a really horrible first draft into a manuscript worthy of their consideration. Fear. Anxiety. Absolute terror. I feel all of these things, right now.

Can I finish my revisions in time? Can I avoid making my characters unlikeable idiots? Can I pick the right agent or editor choices for critique purposes? How do I talk up my novel without making the agent mad? Should I even try? I don’t know the answers to these questions and I may not find them, but for the next few months, I’m going to be blogging about how I’m preparing for the conference. I would love to hear what you’re doing as well, so leave a comment and tell us about your process.

Are you revising your novel for the conference? What are the problems that you are facing?