Knowing when to rewrite

There comes a time when a rewrite -  a complete tossing-away of the original MS - is necessary. In fact, it's been my experience that most successful authors do this at some point. The first draft is the draft you write to get into the world. The first draft is for YOU. Yes, you can revise. Yes, sometimes it's successful.

But more often, it requires multiple revisions to shape a story. I did six revisions before a rewrite of my latest MS. SIX.  Believe me, the idea of a rewrite after all that time and hard work did not make me jump for joy.

So, how do you know when to start over? Here are the four biggies:

1. There's a major plot hole. It could be the villain's motivations (or lack of). It could be the premise is too impossible for readers to swallow. It could be a major character isn't strong enough to carry the action.  Fixing this plot hole will cause your entire MS to shift as if the earth has moved. A revision won't cut it.

2. Readers don't connect with the voice OR the main character is unlikable. Perhaps it's too snarky or removed from the action, or there's not enough deep POV to keep a reader engaged. Perhaps the main character has a flaky personality that doesn't lend itself to overcoming the tension in the story. Either way, this problem is a draft-killer.

3. You have a serious structural problem (aka your pacing is too slow). This is where pantsers realize that outlining isn't optional in certain genres. Pacing is key in any story. Each chapter should build to a peak while still leaving a reader hanging. This is a delicate dance that is akin to brain surgery on a MS. If your draft's brains are screwy, it might be time to jettison your Frankenstein and start fresh.

4. An agent has given you an R&R with instructions that go far beyond a revision. 'Nough said.

If your MS has one or more of the first three, is it worth a rewrite?? That's the million-dollar question, right?
Well if you...

love, love LOVE this story, go for it.

If there's nothing else on the market, or that you've seen queried in contests similar to yours, go for it. 

BUT if you haven't ever:

gotten a request, had anything more than a form reject for a full submission, and if the market is saturated with your premise, it might be time to shelve. Seriously, don't beat a dead horse. Moving on may be the smartest career move you'll ever make.

Hope this helps!

Critique winner and how I got my agent

The winner of the full MS critique offered by Tawdra Kandle is: Suzi!! Congratulations!

And now, I'm very excited and happy to announce that Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency is my agent!
Honestly, as I type this, part of me feels like I'm living in an alternate reality. I'll wake up tomorrow and realize it was a dream and I'm still querying. :)

Anyway,  huge thanks to Patrick, the mastermind of  QueryTracker and everyone who posts on the forums. Without QT, agent Ammi-Joan Paquette wouldn't have seen my query posted there for advice and she wouldn't have passed it on to Tricia. (EMLA is closed to queries except for referrals or conferences.) Read all the deets here.

Moral of the story: Post your query for critique. Enter contests - especially those over at Miss Snark's First Victim or Mother, Write, Repeat. Agents troll the Internet, people, and they're always hunting for gold.

A few of my statistics:

Started querying: Mid-October
Queries sent: 25 or so
Response rate: around 45 percent  
Stopped querying: beginning of Dec. with 10 fulls or partials out. I worried it would take too long to hear back from everyone if I got an offer.
Offer: Dec. 23 from another, wonderful agent.

Dec. 23 was when everyone went away for the holidays. The offering agent and I agreed to speak after the holidays, and then I gave the other agents another ten days to respond. Tricia emailed me, we talked the next day and I signed with her immediately.

Because when it's right, there's no point in waiting.

She's suggested some great revisions for SA, which I can't wait to tackle. And I'd love to introduce her to you...perhaps through a pitch contest or something else fun? Hmmm. *mental note to strong arm convince Tricia to play along*

For those of you wondering when this news will be your news, I'm sharing this post from one of my favorite blogs. I don't talk about my faith much here but today I must say this: God keeps His promises. Always. And not just to me.

Mindy McGinnis and the query giveaway

Today is a conversation with a Queen Blogger (kinda like a queen bee but virtual). She moderates on Agent Query, contributes to The Write Angle and has her own blog she somehow manages to keep updated without breaking a sweat. If you've spent any time in Queryland, you've run into her and probably benefited from her advice/encouragement.
Because she knows a LOT about Queryland. She was a resident there for TEN - yes, that's 1-0 - years. She puts the 'e' in perseverance, she shames the Energizer bunny, she never quits...she's Mindy McGinnis!! *cymbals, confetti, happy dance*

Ten years is a whole lot of perseverance. Why didn't you quit?

Short answer: Because I knew I didn’t suck. Long answer: But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have periods when I was completely convinced I sucked. Humility is a must for a writer. I can’t tell you how many agent interviews I’ve read where they say that cocky writers are almost always bad writers, and a cocky query goes into the trash before they even get to the pages. So in a way, it’s a great thing that I went through a decade of rejections on multiple mss. I needed to learn that lesson.
Conviction played a huge part in my decision to push through the sh*t and keep going. Writing is what I do. I double-majored in English Literature and Religion, which made me pretty popular when it came to decoding LOST but other than that I’m not a useful person. My brain is a fun place, but ultimately, not a practical one.

Talk about the MS that landed you an agent. How was it different from the others?

There were a few factors at work. I’m definitely a much better writer than I was, so the ms itself was stronger. But also the market was in my favor, as it’s a dystopian title, and I also managed to totally click with Adriann Ranta over the phone so it was a big rolling ball of positive happiness that week. NOT A DROP TO DRINK is about a time in the near future when our freshwater resources have been exhausted, and people will literally kill for a drink. It’s bleak and realistic, no magic, creatures, or sci-fi elements, which sets it apart from a lot of dystopian. Adriann liked that about it, and hopefully an editor will too.

Is the writing life different with an agent? In other words, is the pot of gold really at the end of that rainbow??

At first it felt odd, I admit, when I sat down to write after being agented. I thought, “OK Mindy, this actually matters now.” But once the fingers started moving across the keyboard I was still me, agented or not. The thing that is awesome about being agented is that you don’t have to agonize some decisions quite as much. For example, if I think, “Oh man, I don’t know if this plot twist is going to totally sink the whole ms,” I can answer that with, “If it does, Adriann will tell me and we can fix it together.” Having a professional in your corner makes your corner a more comfortable place.

You are a super blogger - you have your own and you contribute to another (From the Write Angle) as well as serve as a site moderator for the writing community at AgentQuery Connect. What kind of time does that require?

Great question. I started up Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire intending to post once a week, but my brain is an active place, so it turned into three times a week, and now I’m posting daily. I tend to churn out five or six ideas at a time for blog posts, so I front load like crazy.
Team blogging on From the Write Angle is a real treat. We’ve got everything from middle school teachers to erotica writers to lawyers and a former XENA writer, so we have a good time. We each contribute once a month so it’s not a heavy load, and the return is incredible. I get so many redirects to WriterWriter off of FTWA it’s amazing.
And AgentQuery… I can’t say enough about that community – and obviously I’m a talker. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have never landed an agent without the support and advice of my fellow AQ’ers, and while it might sound lame, I’m all about giving back. It’s a kind, welcoming community. We host a weekly chat there on Thursdays @ 9PM (EDT) and newbies are always welcome! I’ve never clocked it but I’d guess I spend about seven or eight hours a week over there, and I don’t resent a second of it.

How do you avoid being sucked into the social media machine?

Getting swallowed by and losing my soul in the social media world? I’m not really worried about it, I’ve got so much to say I need to spread it around a little!

Explain AQ to newbies, and then share how you became a contributor.

AgentQuery is an online writing community designed to help aspiring writers tone their queries, find agent information, connect with other writers, share their thoughts on the industry… just about anything, really. I stumbled across it about three years ago while searching for agent contact information. I lurked, then joined after seeing the quality of the responses the veteran members provided for newbies. I got up some guts and approached a few vets personally and asked them to look at my query – which they did – and shredded it for me, politely. I posted the revised query on the forums, and it went through a positive transformation in a matter of days. I went from a collection of form rejections to a smattering of requests.
The site moved to a new software system about a year ago. A few of the veterans were asked if we’d like to be more involved with moderation on the revamped site. We immediately said yes and were handed a few of the keys off the kingdom’s keyring.

What are some unwritten blogging rules you've discovered over the past few years?

Don’t talk about yourself too much. Don’t treat your blog as a ME billboard. No one cares. Offer your followers something in your content that isn’t just about selling your book.

Are there types of posts that get more responses?

And now I’ll contradict myself – the posts featuring interviews, queries that worked, advice from bloggers and agents tend to get the highest traffic, but the posts with the highest comments are almost always the ones about something silly – like me falling down the stairs and cracking my head open.

Speaking of responses, in your experience, what kind of queries get good ones?

The ones that show they’ve done their homework. Yes, it’s frustrating to hear that. You want your talent to take you through to the top, not your research skills. But it is what it is.

What are some good guidelines for tailoring a query?

I always start with the hook, put my title, genre, brief bio and word count at the end. As far as personalization, if the agent has requested something of mine before, I do mention it. Other than that I’ve not had a lot of luck off queries that I put a lot of time into personalizing.

When do you know your query needs reworking?

I sent out batches of ten, and if I didn’t get at least two requests of some sort (partial, full, etc.) I’d rework. The exception to that is if I had rejections that were obviously personalized, but the agent was passing for some reason. In that case I knew it wasn’t the query, but a matter of subjectivity. If you’re getting form r’s – sign up at AQ!

Agreed - AQ and QueryTracker are the best tools on the web for Queryland. Bar none.

Fast five:

Celebrity you would marry:
Oh, I have to marry them? In that case, Edward Norton. I could have conversations with him the rest of my life.

Oh, agree! Edward Norton is totally hot in a cerebral way.

Biggest pet peeve while driving:
Being pulled over.

Um...does this happen a lot to you?

Word you hate:
Penalized – when it’s pronounced like “penal colony.” Pretty much anything with “penal” is just not a good one to toss out there often.

It's just too close to penis. There. I said it. (You were all thinking it!)

The first thing you'd wish for if you had a magic wand:
A book deal. But I also want a zero turn mower, so that’s kinda tough.

Hmmm...book deal...zero turn mower...eh, not that tough.

Favorite movie you saw last summer:
Well, I don’t get out much. I only saw one movie last summer. I’ll say that my favorite things I watched late summer were shows on streaming. I don’t have cable so I have to catch up on DEXTER and BREAKING BAD a season late.

Netflix streaming movie selection isn't great. :( But I'll definitely check out those shows the next time I sign off.

Thanks so much for having me, it’s awesome to be on this end of an interview!

Now that you know her street creds, wouldn't it be great if Mindy looked at your query?? I know! It would be awesome! So comment below w/ your email address and a link to how you shared this (FB, tweet, blog, etc.) for a chance to have her read, critique and suggest ways to improve. If Blogger doesn't let you comment, drop me a note at: rewrighter (at)gmail. Who knows - with her help, your stay in Queryland may be short!

A slice of life with Cole Gibsen

The wonderous Cole Gibsen joins me today fresh from a weekend at DragonCon, where she witnessed some amazing costumes, popped up in odd places and resisted using a window squeegee for self-defense. She's counting down the days until her debut release, Katana, comes out in March, after which she'll be world famous and able to retire her squeegees in favor of brass knuckles. Or maybe a super sophisticated sewing machine because she's also a bit of a fashionista in her spare time.


1. Your blog says you first picked up a pen because you love super heroes. Explain that a little more, please!
My childhood was rough. I had strong negative influences on my life at a very young age. What I loved about comic books was, that the good guys always won. No matter how bleak the situation, how tough the bad guy, the heroes always persevered. That really hit home with me. I knew that I wanted to inspire the same type of hope with my writing that comic books gave to me.

2. How long have you been seriously writing?
I always wanted to be a writer. I’ve been writing little bits of stories, poetry, and songs from the moment I learned how to form words. Unfortunately for me, I had a person in my life who delighted in telling me how stupid I was and how I’d never amount to anything. And, being a young, impressionable child, I believed this person. So I never took writing seriously. It was nothing more than a creative outlet. But in 2007, the economy ate my small business. Without a job, I had to decide what I was going to do with my life. My husband was the one who told me that losing my business was a blessing. It was an opportunity to do what I wanted with my life—to pursue my dreams. And so, with literally nothing to lose, I decided to do just that.

3. How many books did you write and shelve before Katana? (Or write, query and shelve.)

Oh my goodness, I think I started and stopped at least a dozen different books. The first book I finished was this really clichéd paranormal romance. I made all the classic mistakes including querying as soon as I wrote the words, “The End.” Oy. Luckily for me, and all readers who enjoy good books, that particular novel is tucked safely away on my flash drive of despair—never to plague humanity with its awfulness.

You wouldn't be a real author without *whispers* a secret file of shame.

4. The quick pitch of Katana is: "Kill Bill meets Buffy," which sounds awesome. How did you come up with that?
I wish I could take credit for that, but that line is 100% the creation of my agent. Now if only I could get him to stop taking credit for my hair...


5. Did you do any martial arts research for Katana? Or if you drew from your own life, explain how that experience wove into your writing.
I’ve dabbled in various martial arts styles (everything from taekwondo to kickboxing) my entire life and used what I’ve learned to write the fight scenes in Katana. I had to stop when I became pregnant several years back and have been itching to get back into it. I’m also lucky to be friends with a third-degree black belt and martial arts instructor. If I have any technical questions or wonder things like, “How can Rileigh fend off a bad guy with nunchuku using only a window squeegee?” he’ll come over and show me (often multiple times) until I can visualize the scene in my head. Interesting fact: Window squeegees are pretty badass weapons. Who knew?

6. Talk about your agent, Chris Richman - why you chose to query him and what you think hooked him.
When I queried Chris, he was an intern at Firebrand who had just been promoted to agent. I read an interview with him where he stated he was looking for “fantasy that didn’t take itself too seriously” and I immediately thought, “That’s me!” So after I queried him, he immediately asked for the full. And a few weeks after that he asked for a phone call. When I was on the phone with him, one of the questions I asked was, “How available are you?” He answered, “Why? Are you asking me out?” It was right then, because of his quirky sense of humor and his obvious enthusiasm for my book, I knew he was the agent for me.

7. How long after signing did you revise? Did Chris give you any general revision suggestions you could share? OR do you have a tried-and-true revision technique?
Chris is a very hands-on editorial agent. He’s the Mickey to my Rocky. Something that really stuck with me was Chris’s fondness for action packed short chapters. If I had a chapter than went over ten pages, he either had me break it into two chapters or cut it for the sake of tension and readability.

8. Tell us how The Publishing Call is different from The Agent Call.
The Publishing Call is fun because it takes you completely by surprise. When I received The Agent Call, I knew it was coming. Chris had expressed interest through his emails and we had set up a date and time to speak on the phone. I was literally in the middle of painting my basement when Chris called me to let me know we had an offer. It was a definitely a punch to the kidneys—but in the best possible way.

9. Did you revise Katana again with your book editor? Was this process different than with Chris?
Chris and I revised Katana 729 times. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating, but it sure felt like that many times. And the edits that we did were very detailed and intense. This paid off because when it came time to revise with my editor, the edits weren’t as daunting as I was anticipating. My editor told me there wasn’t much that needed to be done because my manuscript was in such good shape upon sale.

10. So now you're gearing up for pub day. Tell us what you're looking forward to about that day, and what scares you the most.
Okay, so my biggest dream (no lie, just ask my husband) is to go out in public and spot someone reading my book. But, with the ever-growing popularity of e-readers, it’s going to be harder to spot. I think my biggest fear is getting the police called on me for ripping people’s e-readers out of their hands to see what they are reading.

Fast five: Fun, fluffy questions of no particular purpose to which you give witty, optionally truthful and erudite answers - pick as many as you want. Except 5. That one's mandatory bc I need suggestions for my Netflix queue.

1. If you were a vampire, which celebrity would you sink your teeth into?
Joe Manganiello. *Drooooooooooool* Sorry, what were we talking about?

I don't know who that is. *googles frantically* ooohhh.

2. What's your middle name? Your REAL middle name.
Cole. Little known fact, my real first name is Funky and my real last name is Medina. *sigh* Okay, it’s not really. But I’m seriously thinking about having it changed because how cool would that be? Oh, and the real answer is Renee’. With the ‘ because I’m exotic like that.

Renee? That's it? Why did everybody but my parents give their kid a normal middle name?
3. You're stranded on an island. You have a monkey and a ball. A ship passes by. How will you attract attention?
By screaming my head off because I’m on an island with a monkey. (see question 4)

Well, that behavior will surely allow the monkey to survive...

4. What secretly scares you?
Monkeys. Seriously. I don’t know what it is about them that freaks me out so much. If I were to guess I’d say it was because of their opposable thumbs. I mean, no good can come from that, right? We’ve all seen Planet of the Apes.

You definitely should not read Next by Michael Crichton, then. Definitely not.

5. What's the best movie you watched last summer?
No question, X-Men First Class. ;)

I think James McAvoy is weirdly hot. Not as hot as Hugh Jackman, bien sur, but James is definitely worth the rental. (snuck a little high school French in there, as I am wont to do when excited.)

Thanks, Cole! And thank you for stopping by! I'm off to buff up my Tae Kwon Do moves (yeah, I have moves) but would love to read your comments.

How I snagged my agent AND crit giveaway!!

Today I’m joined by the lovely Becky Wallace, an aspiring author repped by Jenn Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. I’ve been following Ms. Becky’s blog for a while, caught by her upbeat, positive attitude in the midst of raising three young children at home…including an adorable new baby. Her book, Saw it Coming, a YA paranormal romance, is currently out on sub and to keep her mind off this terrifying/mind-blowing exciting fact, she’s willing to crit the first 10 pages of YOUR MS. You lucky ducks! To enter, please do three things: be a follower of this blog and post a link of this opportunity to Twitter or your blog. Then in the comments, post your name, genre, title and email address. Becky will pick a random winner!

How long were you seriously writing Saw It Coming before you decided it was time to query for your agent?

I’m a super sloooooooooowwwww writer. It took eight months of real, hard-core writing to get through the first 30,000 words. Then I participated in NANOWRIMO and wrote 35,000 words in November and the first two weeks of December. I was very, very, very lucky to find a critique partner who believed in the story as much as I did. She pushed me to write three chapters every day. It was insane. I was insane (probably still am a little). I ordered all my Christmas gifts from Amazon and fed my kids grilled cheese or mac n’ cheese pretty much every day. Then I spent two months rewriting, revising, beta-ing, and rewriting some more.

And this will probably sound crazy-masochistic, but I’d do it all again.

Well, we writers are all about masochism enjoying the creative process.

How did you know your MS was ready for querying?

I don’t think a manuscript is ever actually ready. I wrote six drafts, read it aloud a half-dozen times, sent it to five different betas, poured over every word. When I got to the point where I was quibbling over adjectives (or debating whether or not to rewrite the entire thing) I decided it was time to query.

How many drafts of your query did you do? Did you use any sites for feedback or just beta readers?

When I say I wrote 27 drafts of my query, I’m not kidding. The craziest part: the query that landed Jennifer Laughran was almost identical to the very first one I wrote. I posted my queries on AbsoluteWrite, Nathan Bransford’s forum, and on Writer’s Digest.

What were your query stats? Did you ever go back and revise your query based on those stats?

I sent out 35 queries, had a lot of form rejections, ended up with ten requests for fulls, and six offers of representation. I sent out two different versions of my query. A really, really short one (180 words total) and an average length one (256 words). I got three requests from the short query, but also the majority of rejections. Then I sent out the longer query and had much better results.

Good to know! I’ve heard the best length for Qs is right around 250 words…


To enter Becky's critique giveaway, please do three things: be a follower of this blog and post a link of this opportunity to Twitter or your blog. Then in the comments, post your name, genre, title and email address. Becky will pick a random winner!

Check in tomorrow for part deux!

Pitch contest with Victoria Marini

Details available here. Deadline is July 29 - winners will be posted Aug. 1. Good luck!

Kathleen Rushall interview

In case you'd like to know more about our featured agent our last week of Deana's blogfest - besides the fact she's totally wonderful for casting an eye over our entries - check out her Writer's Digest interview.