kais

Agree completely!

Most people run their queries through a crit group, similar to their actual manuscripts. You could just sub it here one week and get plenty of feedback! There are a number of guides online, but I'd say only 25% of agents actually request them. It's another thing you could put through the group, too. Nope! If your story is salable, it doesn't matter where you live! I do exploratory writing almost exclusively. When I put in something specific, like a name or description of a character, or a type of ship, or some new term, I add it to a Word document under different headings (like 'characters', or 'weapons', or even 'timeline'). Then I always have the reference to look at it. And those reference docs are so important if you're writing a series. The greatest thing I ever did was make a stable, coherent timeline after writing book one. It is a reference for all things now. Also, maps. Making a simple map of your world or galaxy or whatever before you start writing means far less editing to blocking later!

@Mandamon has self-published, so he could talk to you about the process. I'm with an indie press, which has some similarities as well. Generally, and this is just my opinion, I like self-publishing in that it allows authors the absolute freedom to write whatever they want. It has given a lot of diverse manuscripts a voice and a chance to be read that were 'too challenging' for an agent or publisher. With that said, it is often used as a route for people who don't write well to skirt the normal subbing to agents/editors system, which can make people wary of self-self-pubbed books because some are poorly edited and not very good. Of course, just because something is well written and with a big publisher doesn't make it good. See the discussions over The Continent, the racist book that somehow made it all the way to ARCs before someone called them out. Self-publishing isn't right for everyone, but it works for some people. I would advise all new authors to try agent subbing first. Spend the year sending out subs and looking at feedback. If you are getting Rs with no feedback, or the feedback is saying things like 'not marketable, poorly written,' etc, that's not an indication to self-publish. That's an indication to hone your craft and keep editing. But if you're subbing and you're getting feedback like 'not right fit, unsure who to sell to, too controversial, loved your writing but the piece isn't for me', and you go through a year and still don't find a match, that's telling you that your work is probably salable. You can either keep trying to find the right match (and it can take years), or you can self-publish and try to find that market yourself. The benefit to subbing is that if your work is close but not quite there, you will get detailed feedback from agents. And that feedback is gold. AFD went from newbie writing to marketable product once a few agents took the time really detail what needed changed. If I would have self-pubbed, I would have lost the opportunity to really make the manuscript shine. Rs are hard, so hard, and it takes 3-5 years to get your work published, usually, but that first journey means so much and really helps you become a better writer. In addition, and in defense of self-publishing, sometimes when your writing is almost there, having a few self-pubbed titles and your marketing info (sales, etc) can help agents feel more comfortable about your ability to produce something that sells. At this point, it is very hard to land a big publisher as a newbie. It does happen, but your work needs to be outstanding. Having published before in indie or self-pub gives an indication that you know how the game is played, and you're ready for more. That was a lot of text, and sort of rambly, but I hope it helps.

I agree, but if you want to see objections to this thought from marginalized voices, there are some authors on Twitter who have very strong opinions about 'staying in your lane, no exceptions'. While you may not agree with their opinions, it is nice to read their thoughts and try to understand why they feel so passionately about keeping their experiences their own, under all circumstances. Sorry, this was a response for @TKWade

Fun with scissors, eh? Overall The writing got much tighter the farther into the narrative I got, and flow picked up as well. Unfortunately, since I don't have a grasp of the stakes, or the characters and their motivations, it mostly read as a faceless, plotless fight. A neat one, to be sure, but all meat and no bones. Complicated bluff scene: bluff only makes sense if I have a feel for the world, the stakes, and the characters, all of which I don't have grasp on yet. Flow of combat: rough, very rough, early, especially with lack of blocking and scenery. Got better as you progressed, and was enjoyable towards the end. However, the witty banter served to kill the tension every. time. As I go - The word 'bridge' is redundant in the first full paragraph. Also info dumpy. - The start doesn't really hook me. What are the stakes? Plot direction? Emotional connection? - Is there a POV shift between pages one and two?? Confused. - He led four members of the swarm this sentence and the one proceeding it do not go together. Need fill between for a transition. - tense issues in first sentence on page three - page three: too much talking, not enough blocking. The Hello Captain comes from nowhere. Generally we'd get to read about an approach, with a physical description and maybe some scenery description, before the dialogue. - end of page three: I don't understand what they are talking about and since I have no feel for stakes, I don't much care, either. - page four: still no idea why they are... attacking? defending? going in guns blazing? - page five: wood nerd alert! weak timber grumble grumble specifics grumble - page six: you skim over blocking in the battle, which makes me a sad panda - page eight: has more blocking but with the forced witty dialogue looses tension - page ten: so the mercenaries were bogus but... their ship got stolen? Yes? - page ten: too many uses of 'quickly' - by page twelve I'm bored. I need to know stakes to care why they are wandering and killing still - what how typo on page thirteen, first paragraph - page fourteen: the witty banter kills tension

I'm back! Well, on a treadmill, so typos will abound, but back nonetheless. Overall Enjoyable, and good pace. I had no issues following and liked the tidbits dropped. Reverse Bechdel not so much a concern of mine. As I go (I had to double space to read while walking, so take that into account with page numbers) - ooh, Adrichel is delightfully scummy - page three: ah, this is what I was missing in previous drafts. Solid plot and foreshadowing. Lovely - The paragraph starting with this: Eshrin's lips deepen into a more noticable gets a little too navel gazing. It was hard to stay focused.

I think its because the females are described sort of all at once in a large dump, but the Vasin is here and there. So to me, that reads as 'I immediately comment on women appearances because that is what I first notice because they are not the norm,' in contrast to the Vasin, which is much more 'here is this male character and implied appearance of normality except where I select small areas to call out'. To be fair, it's minor male gaze, and not something that would make me put the book down. But it would make me read more cautiously and be concerned about if the female characters were going to have agency or not. Weekly Reader Syndrome One of the issues with WRS is that unless the characters make a really strong impact upon us, the readers, we don't remember them, their goals, or their names from week to week. You can use WRS as an indicator of when your writing isn't having a strong impact. We should be able to trigger remember once we're a page or two in to a story, at the very least. Your narrative wanders when there is no longer a clear flow or purpose. In LoTR, this is just part of the writing style, but in modern writing agents, especially of new writers, like a tight, well focused story. If your plot is about saving puppies from a fire, and then you spend half of a chapter chatting up a bar owner (who is in no way able to help you, or the puppies, and isn't forwarding your character), your narrative is wandering. It is usually the result of a writer not really knowing where the narrative is going, and doing exploratory writing. I only flag it so you can clean it up in edits. Lord knows I do plenty of exploratory writing myself so I have wandering narratives all over the place.

Going to have to do these in chunks, due to forgetting I had other obligations this evening. Chapter five reads cleanly. I have no quibbles with it save that I'm not sure what it adds to the story. The chapter with Melqueth is so dynamic and interesting, and could probably stand without this excerpt. Are you maybe trying to lay the groundwork for these two ladies to have a relationship? It would give an additional interest thread. More tomorrow on the other document! As I go - (chapter five first): still enjoy the bit about her ex-girlfriend

Oooh, revisions. I always get excited about revisions! Overall This is much better than last time, for sure! It flows better, and there was decent tension until the last two pages. I did notice though that you're writing in 'male gaze' (which isn't exclusive to men, plenty of women do it, too). At first I thought it was because Makyn only dialogues with women, so it would make sense for him to see them in more detail, but then the torturer isn't details at all, nor is Makyn. The women, on the other hand, are well detailed on their beauty but not much else. Something to be aware of, for later. On showing, not telling Getting better! Still rough areas, but you're making progress Tension holding Pretty well until the last two to three pages. I agree with @Hobbit that the wake up scene was by far the weakest. I was unconvinced he had been tortured at all. Punctuation I detailed an area below for you. As I go - you're still struggling with your when to use a period after a dialogue tag, and when to use a full stop. "This is an instance of when you would use a comma," she said in an authorial tone. "This is an example of when to use a full stop." She continued typing. "Now, there are some nuances, of course. Sentences that end in question marks, for instance, are confusing." The author cleared her throat. "Can you spot the differences?" she asked. - page 1: He tried unsuccessfully... is telling, not showing. Show me that he isn't in control of his emotions. - page two: so, I'm confused. It might be WRS, or it might be that the characters didn't grip me enough first time around to remember them. But these names and characters... who are these people? Where are we? I'm so confused. - page four: the inevitability of his death should be brought out more in actions and thoughts, I think, before it is so broadly stated - page five: redundancy on 'subtle' - page eight: skimming over the torture is fine, but waking up in a cell and not getting any sort of lingering information on pain and experience loses all the built tension - page ten: tension is gone at this point. Narrative wandering

I'll disagree on this. There's actually been an amazing movement to push for ownvoices fiction, and because of it, agents and publishers are actively seeking ownvoices authors. It has amazingly diversified YA (sadly, not as much in adult), and is really a beautiful thing.

Go for it @aeromancer

Oooh, a short story! Exciting! Overall Similar to @Mandamon, generally, I was confused. It read like the plot to Battlestar Galactica, which is in itself a plot to several hundred scifi books. I can't tell if you're trying to put a unique twist on it, because I'm not really certain what happened. I think with some cleanup it could be a neat piece. As I go - Title--intentionally leaves out women? Thoughts? - first paragraph and I'm pretty certain I'm in an episode of Battlestar Galactica - woah, tense changes on page one! - middle of page one: the italics areas are getting redundant by the third one, and highly tropeish - page two: rust doesn't indicate a long time of disuse. One decent rain could do it - end of page two: a lot of coincidences going on here. I'm finding this situation unbelievable - the info dump at the top of page three is awfully heavy. Suggest better insertion into the scene in small bits - the robot android things got acceptance in three months? The world can't even accept hybrid cars across the board, and its been a decade. - top of page four: the non-italics are starting to blend together with the italics. Voice is lost. I have no idea what is happening anymore - page five: they evolved something no one expected - individuality.... did these people not have access to the most basic science fiction book or television show? - they called themselves humans, with a disturbing level of patriarchy, and thought about killing themselves? Or their creators? I'm so confused

I think that's the point. It's ownvoices if you are coloring with the crayon of your own experiences. Whether that means black people writing black characters, or gay people writing gay characters, its supposed to give a sort of 'this experience is more authentic' label. Fiction could certainly fall into this realm, as our unique experiences can be tied into the characters and world. I don't have a history of flying spaceships, but I do of courting women as a female-looking person. This is an underrepresented area in fiction, especially as being written about from an insider perspective, so whether in space or under the sea, it is still ownvoices. I'd use the gendered pronoun for whomever was in control at the time.

Interesting read, @neongrey. Thanks for posting! I've been watching debates on Twitter recently about what constitutes 'ownvoices'. Some are saying that the book is only ownvoices if the main character has the minority status of the writer. I have mixed feelings about this--not that ownvoices shouldn't relate to the writer's minority--clearly it should, but that they only way to showcase that diversity is through the MC. For instance, I would consider the Ard series ownvoices, but my main character is cis. But the world is nonbinary, and some of the POV characters are nonbinary. I dunno. Surely flexibility is allowed when encouraging minorities to input their experiences into written works. To push us all the MC issues just seems... forced somehow.

Subbing on December 12th: @Tariniel, @neongrey, @TKWade, and myself. Any newbies wanting to sub, please PM me!

In for the 12th, pending space.

@Vreeah Hopefully works now. Sorry! I blame the fact that I was on a treadmill at the time.

Dear RE It has been three weeks since our last fridging incident. I don't know how to celebrate, except by sharing this link that was shared with me, and to say thank you all, for being awesome. Edited because I fail at hyperlinks, apparently. Edited a second time because I made a meme!

He got some good likes at a pitch event, which means his query will skip the slush pile for a few places and actually be read. It's a good helping hand up to getting signed by an agent/editor. I'm excited because I got my book deal through a pitch contest as well, so I'm sort of reliving the excitement of this time.

I'm just going to start compiling book cover ideas for you now, so I'm ready when you request ideas in a few months (EEEEEEEEEE!!)

Yeah, I just poked your Twitter. Looks like someone who makes money helping would be authors write better. Boo on them for taking advantage of hope. Sending you the manuscript now (noting that I'm not done with second read through, but should be tonight or tomorrow night). Send your query when you get a minute. I should be able to get to it tonight after the kid passes out. (and I'm going to keep squeeeing because this agent was on my radar too and he seems awesome!)

EEEEEEEEEEEEE @Mandamon! I usually query that night after the contest ends. Wait more than a day or two and it sends the message that you weren't really ready to sub. Does he want query and first fifty, or first chapter, or what? I am about halfway through second read through but can send you the current version. I actually snipped your first fifty to a really tight fit expecting you wanted to query soon. I can offer suggestions on your query letter too if you want. I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU! Saw you had a second <3 on that tweet as well. Was the other a good one as well?

Everyone's first draft is garbage. But you can't build a story without a foundation, so garbage > blank page always!

I think this is very much personal preference, and how much outline work you do. I don't outline well. I try, I do, but my characters do what they want, not what I want, which means my outlines look nothing like the final book. That also means too that I often can't write the end of a book until I have a really defined beginning and middle. Writing through from start to finish before revising would just end up with me in a forever case of writer's block. What works for me is to write as far as I can (usually in about 10K chunks), then go back and revise heavily until there is clear flow. When I have confidence in those bits I move forward another 10K or so. I don't really consider the first draft 'done' until it has an end though, which is why people have noted that my early chapters often seem refined for a first draft--I've been through those chapters usually ten or so times, trying to tease out the most important elements so I can finish the story. I also, and I don't know how many others do this, tend to over block in my first draft. I try to capture every movement, every gesture, every scene. Then in subsequent edits I cut it down for flow and tension. A first draft of a story might be 120K, and by the time it goes to press its 80K. I'm getting better at this with time (less overwriting to begin with). Basically, I think as long as you get words on a page, it doesn't matter how you do it. Everyone is going to have a way that works for them.

Anyone who is awake and online, help? I'm filling out the form for ASD's cover. Spam me with book cover designs you think might be a decent representation?