The holidays and the end of the year are bringing out the generous nature of agents!

The 2nd Sort-of-Annual Stupendously Ultimate First Paragraph Challenge

• Deadline: 7pm. EST, Thursday, December 11, 2008.
• Who: Literary agent Nathan Bransford, Curtis Brown, San Francisco office
• What: Post the first paragraph of your WIP and compete for the prize of a partial critique, query critique or a 15 minute phone call.
• How: Skip over to Bransford’s website and post your paragraph in the comments.
• Warning: The competition is stiff. With 10 hours left, there were 1176 comments/paragraphs.
• Attention: This is a learning opportunity. Read through at least some of these paragraphs and see which you like and which you don’t. What grabs your attention? Check back when Bransford posts the winners and vote on the finalist. Do you agree with his choices or not? Why or why not?

For more on opening lines:

• Opening Lines: The Story in Miniature
• Openings: 5 Ways They Go Wrong
• Prophetic Openings

Take a Holiday Break from Queries and Submit a Chapter Instead

• Dates: December 15 to January 15
• Who: Firebrand Literary
• What: Firebrand agents want to read your first chapter and will forego the usual query. This is a big task for those agents and a great opportunity for writers of all kinds. For those of you who have never got a request for a partial (probably because your query was weak), this is your golden chance. Let your writing speak for itself.
• How: Go to the Query Holiday posting on Firebrand’s website.

For more on opening chapters:

• Take the Scene Box Test
• Begin at the Beginning

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Creative writing tips, courtesy of the season:

• Peppermints! When you add sensory details to a story, the most common is visual details. The two most neglected are olfactory (smell) and gustatory (taste). Flavors of the season are peppermint, cinnamon and cloves.
• Gifts! Give your character something to hold in his/her hands. It’s one of the easiest and best ways to characterize someone, while providing you, the writer, with great verbs. Put an iron skillet in Grandma’s hands and watch her rustle up a meal for the 30-odd relatives coming by tomorrow.
• Trees! The setting of a story can add to the mood, if you choose the right details. A pathetic, sad tree is aluminum, thin, sparse, leaning. A cheerful tree is straight, full, soft fir needles, well-lit, glowing, radiant. Be precise in the details you use and you’ll evoke a mood to support (or contrast) with your character’s inner life.
• Worship! Just as the Wise Men, shepherds and angels worshiped the birth of the Christ, so we should remember to keep life in perspective. Writing is fun and consuming, but there’s more to life than just writing. Take time off to enjoy your family, attend a madrigal feast (I’m going Thursday night!), go caroling with friends, and ponder the Deep Magic of this special child.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

I’ve been reading a great new psychology book that should help in developing characters, especially the settings which reveal so much about a character.

Snoop

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling, Ph.D. is a fascinating book by a psychologist who studies a person’s environment and what that environment says about you.

For example, in a bedroom:
Variety of books, magazines, music — this is a person who is open to new experiences.
Well-lit, uncluttered and organized books and music — this is a conscientious person.
Inspirational posters — this is a negative or anxious person.

In an office:
Distinctive decor, stylish, unconventional, varied books — this is an open person
Good condition, clean, organized, neat, uncluttered — this is a conscientious person
Decorated, cheerful, inviting — this is an extravert
High-traffic location — this is an agreeable person
Decorated — this is a negative or anxious person.

Not only does he tell you what to look for, he also details the things that people mistakenly look at when trying to evaluate a person’s psychology.

Examples of things people tend to rely on, but shouldn’t, in a bedroom:
Stale air does not indicate a negative or anxious person
Cheerful and colorful does not indicate an agreeable or a conscientious person
Decorated and cluttered does not indicate an open or extraverted person

In an office:
An uninviting office does not indicate a negative or anxious person
A comfortable office does not indicate a conscientious person
An inviting office does not indicate an agreeable person

The nuances of our Stuff are fascinating to read about and the book is easy to read. It’s a good resource when you are creating new characters.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Western Washington SCBWI Retreat: Voice

The retreat was great. There were about 40-45 people there and they were split into two groups. Group A came to me, while Group B went to Patti Gauch, then we swapped for the same presentation again. I sorta knew how Patti would approach voice (and I might have done many of the same things if she hadn’t been there), so I deliberately took a different tack and I think it enriched the experience for the participants. Then, I did a short intro to writing with scenes, more a reminder that this is an option than an indepth study.

The Alderbrook Resort was a great venue, right on the Hood Canal. From the restaurant, you could see a small stream feeding into the canal and we watched salmon swimming up the stream to spawn. Wow! Amazing to this land-locked Arkansan!

Thanks to Jolie Steckly and Sara Easterly for a fabulous job putting this together. (And to Sara’s new daughter, Violet Grace, for giving great cuddles.) And of course, thanks to Jamie Temairik, their assistant and fabulous illustrator.

And Thanks to all those who attended and inspired me with their energy, love of words and attention to detail!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

NaNoWriMo is in full swing! That means over 50,000 writers are slugging out 50,000 words, working on the first draft of a novel, in the 30 days of November. But I’m thinking ahead to December when that first rough draft needs revision. Here are 3 things to keep in mind as you’re writing that first draft, so you make your life easier later.

• Character bible. Either open a new file, or keep a notebook beside your computer to keep track of character particulars. Does the character have blue eyes and red hair in the first chapter? You’ll make life easier if you jot this down, so you can keep track of it. Of course, you may want to totally change that in revisions, but a character “bible,” will help you know what you’ve got.
• Timeline. Every time you type a time word, make it bold. This will help later as you scan for bold (or red or underlined or whatever you want) to see if you can straighten up the time line.
• Voice. Take the liberty of writing different chapters in different voices. No revisions allowed until December, so this is a time where you can play as you get the story line down on paper. You could try three or four different voices as you write, and by December, one will emerge as the strongest, most interesting. Word count is important, yes, but so is the spirit of exploration.

And when you’re ready to revise, come back for more tips!
Good luck! Write fast!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

When I’m writing or revising a novel, one of the fun games I like to play is the search for an apt phrase.

An Apt Phrase

Lately, I’ve been listening to recorded books of Rex Stout’s classic detective series about Nero Wolfe, the overweight, orchid enthusiast. His sidekick, Archie Goodwin, tells the story and does all the legwork for Wolfe. In Some Bury Caesar, Goodwin is smitten by a femme fatale and calls her “Trifle.” At one point, he mocks himself and says that he’ll gladly buy her “a string of cellophane pearls.”

“A string of cellophane pearls.”

Wow! What a phrase. It captures the playfulness of the relationship, how Goodwin tries to downplay her effect on him, her love of jewelry. In fact, as most apt phrases do, it says more than you can say by dissecting it.

Metaphors, simlies, descriptions, great verbs — where ever I can work it in, I try to have at least one apt phrase in every story. Sometimes, the phrase just happens; other times, I have to work at it. But I make it one of my revision goals to search for the perfect apt phrase.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win