My Agent Told Me To Make A Blog

I thought I'd kick off this blog series with a few places I visited while in New Zealand, using my own photos. Firstly, an introduction to these posts: a collection of gorgeous or fascinating places that I think would make for great settings in sci-fi/fantasy novels (or anything else!). This is essentially EarthPorn , but I'm going to pretend I'm clever by putting a literary spin on things. These posts include places I have used in writing, will use, or simply admire. They can't all be my own photos because, for one thing, some of them are other planets. I also want to say loud and clear that I would be very excited for submissions of your own photos.  If you have pictures of a place that's unearthly, haunting, breathtaking, or otherwise memorable, please comment or tweet me and I'll see about giving them their own post. Now, with that out of the way, allow me to introduce our very first showcase: the geothermal parks in New Zealand!   Both of t...

In a fascinating example of science fiction meets reality, researchers have begun integrating electronics into plants. While I'm sure this is an expensive and impractical venture at present, it still amazes me that this is real research people are doing somewhere in the world, and not (strictly) the premise to a science fiction novel. This article describes a study that involved using plant physiology to suck up a gel into their xylem (like plant veins), which hardens into working wires. They also managed to stick it to a cell layer in the leaves, creating a slightly different effect. Here is a direct quote from the aricle: Led by Eleni Stavrinidou—a bioelectronic engingeer at Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden—the scientists employed a transparent, conductive gel that cut roses could naturally soak up into their stems and leaves. After a few hours, the gel material would harden and form flexible wires inside the plants' stems. Thanks to the fantastic pro...

Once, while I was talking to a writer friend about how she was stuck at a point in her plot, I found myself asking questions uncannily similar to those I ask at work. Now, I wasn't asking if there had been any sneezing or coughing, but the process was the same: try to narrow in on the problem, but also cast a broad net to pick up on any other potential red flags. In essence, I was trying to diagnose why she was stuck. This got me thinking. Could I apply the skills I learned in history taking to my own writing? In vet school, they taught us a series of bullet points to hit when gathering history. I'm probably missing some, but I still run them through my mind during every appointment. What happens if we apply it to a writing problem? I may have to be a bit loose with terminology, but let's see what kind of questions we can come up with. Onset: Did the problem come on acutely or gradually? Is it something that happens suddenly and all at once, like a transition th...

My querying adventures ended with one offer of representation that led to another. You might remember from last time that it came about due to #PitMad, where I caught the attention of a very well-known, big name agent--and you might also remember me admitting that wasn't the agent I settled with. (Warning: this post may contain more boasting than usual) While I had some other nibbles, ultimately I boiled my choice down to two agents. I can't tell you how much I agonized over the decision at first, but you know what? In the end, it was easy. To recap from last time, agent #1 is the president of a very well respected agency, a NYT bestselling author herself, with a hugely impressive client list and 30 years of experience. I actually would never have queried her, because she doesn't state that she represents science fiction. She's mainly known for women's fiction and romance. But you can bet I was psyched out of my mind that she loved my writing. She called the st...

Previously , I told you about my time in query-land, which actually drummed up very little in the way of results. I never would have anticipated how I finally ended up getting an agent. Whilst investigating agents, author blogs, and lord knows what else, I somehow stumbled upon Query Kombat, hosted by Michelle 4 Laughs, a few days before submissions started. It quite explicitly stated that if you're an unagented author currently querying, this competition is for you! So heck, I had to join. I didn't expect to make the cut, but I had nothing to lose by submitting, so I queried QK just like I queried everyone else. I noticed there were lots of haps going on over at Twitter, and it occurred to me that if I was going to be entering writing contests, I should really make a Twitter account. And I guess that's kind of important and helpful for publishing and reaching an audience and all that. Turns out it was the best decision ever. To my surprise, I made it into QK. They c...

As I talked about last time , I didn't ultimately spend very long in the query trenches. It was enough to get a taste, but not enough to enter the misery spiral of being sure no one would ever like my book and I'd never get published. I spent two months querying, which at the time felt like forever, but in reality is such a short period, I hope it speaks well for my story's chances. Initially, even the thought of emailing real agents gave me butterflies. Sure, I'd gone over the manuscript dozens of times, to the point where I was satisfied (or at least too sick of editing to worry about it anymore). I had a query letter and synopsis written. I was ready, technically. But when I tentatively googled "sci fi agents" and started reading a few bios, I got so overwhelmed with nerves and excitement I closed out of the browser. These guys are serious business! After a few days, the excitement part of that overcame the nerves part, and even though I still wanted to...

I'm not the most qualified person to be talking about the misery of querying. It only took two months from the day I sent my first query to the day I accepted an offer of representation. In retrospect, I spent practically no time querying. What is querying, you may ask? It's when you beg agents to read your book send unsolicited samples of your writing to literary agents in the hope that they will offer to represent you to publishers. The query itself is a short summary/teaser, and most agents also ask for the first few pages of the story. You then hope and pray they'll request to read the whole thing--and if they do that , you hope and pray they'll fall in love and offer to represent the novel and be your best friend and teach you everything they know . The unfortunate element here is that literary agents are notoriously swamped and therefore slow to respond. Slow as in, two months, three months... six months, ten months. First they have to get around to reading y...

My writing origins fit the typical pattern. I can't say I've ever not been writing. My mom likes to tell people how she has the first "book" I wrote when I was three. I still have an excellent illustrated saga about an Octapoos navigating the trials of marine social life, which I even stapled together and fashioned a cover for. It doesn't stop there. All through primary school, I wrote during reading time, a fact that irritated some teachers, while others humored me. It became a solid hobby through high school and college. For some reason, I never thought about it so directly or explicitly as I do now, even though it was always a part of my life. I didn't have goals or milestones, I just wrote when I felt like it, and spent the time in between daydreaming up stories. When I try to think back, I honestly can't remember how much writing I would do in an average week. In the middle of vet school, I stumbled upon Brandon Sanderson's free online lecture...

Blogging and I aren't the best of friends. We've had a few affairs over the years, but kept parting ways. Part of that is because I tried to keep up a vet blog. I had some fun stories from vet school, and really wanted a place to chronicle the positive and memorable moments as I progressed through my career... but after getting home from work at the end of the day, the last thing I wanted to do was talk about work. So I kissed it goodbye and let it slide into obscurity. I knew I'd still need a so-called "platform" for my writing career. I ignored that fact while working on my first MS, because it seemed so far off, it didn't really matter. And I didn't want to have simply Another Writer Blog with my completely unqualified ponderings on the same topics others have covered far more articulately and with far more authority. After all, I was just another aspiring novelist with an unfinished MS and not much else to talk about. Then I got an agent. I survi...