https://algonkianconferences.com/authorconnect/index.php?/rss/1-author-connect-activity.xml/A sampling of AAC content.enThese are my answers to the Algonquin Questions. Not sure If I'm posting this in the right place, but it doesn't seem to be appearing anywhere, so here it is! Algonquin Questions FIRST ASSIGNMENT: STORY STATEMENT My protagonist Blake Symington is a reluctant hero, a blind high school teacher living in a town that, although he doesn’t know it, was created for him, but he is now being destroyed by it. He must survive a dangerous living substance that, in a bizarre experiment, was implanted in him years ago, and now is hell bent on leaving, which apparently means his death. His best friend tells him he’s in great danger, but before he can reveal what is going on, mysteriously disappears. His initial goal is to figure out why all this is happening, learn who he really is and to stay alive in the process. He has no memory of his childhood before the age of eleven. Now because of the near-death experiences, slivers of it are returning in dreams and flashes. He sees his birth mother and how she might be tied in with the mystery in a very dark way. He believes every clue is bringing him closer to understanding himself. But the more he learns, the more he realizes the stakes are infinitely greater than merely him, that indeed the shocking long-hidden genesis and purpose of human existence is part of the answer, and that he is headed toward a decision of personal sacrifice that could decide the fate of the world. SECOND ASSIGNMENT: in 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them. My story has two antagonists. One is a mysterious force living secretly within the main protagonist Blake,a blind school teacher. It’s apparently hostile, yet inscrutable in intent with murky origins bordering on the supernatural. The other is rich and powerful Grigory, who sets out to stop this situation before it happens but ultimately causes it, corrupted by his own power and the choices he’s made. The story occurs in two different time periods that run consecutively and inform each other. Grigory Tarasov is a Russian professor of mind science in 1991 who defected to the U.S. after inventing a device that detected consciousness. He located a huge concentration of it in an aquifer beneath the tiny woodland town of Tolson, Washington, and proceeded to build an institute to study this phenomenon. Meanwhile, in 2032 Tolson, blind teacher Blake Symington suddenly finds himself compelled to leap off a bridge into a treacherous waterfall. The entity within calls for him to join it in death. Blake flees for his life, trying to learn what’s happening and who he actually is. Eventually the story from the past meets up with the present and he confronts his true antagonist face to face, with devastating results. THIRD ASSIGNMENT The title of my novel is THE RISE AND FALL OF WATER Others I’ve rejected over the years: I Was Water, The Eye of Water, FALL OF WATER FOURTH ASSIGNMENT Comps: THE RISE AND FALL OF WATER combines The Truman Show small town paranoia with the metaphysical themes of In Ascension by Martin MacInnes and echoes of the hive mind concept from Pluribus, although with a unique twist. FIFTH ASSIGNMENT Dramatic conflict THE RISE AND FALL OF WATER - by David Wildman A professor of mind science invents a machine that detects consciousness, leading to protagonist Blake becoming embroiled in an experiment that will turn his world upside down in a fight for his life. SIXTH ASSIGNMENT Inner conflict Blake has no memory of the first eleven years of his life, and has a deathly fear of water. His foster parents took him to numerous psychiatrists, but were never able to figure out the missing pieces. As the story develops, Blake has suicidal urges, with a mysterious force inside trying to make him drown himself. Each time this happens it opens up a crack to terrifying memories of his missing past, including things he’s done that he is unwilling to face. FINAL ASSIGNMENT Setting Setting plays a vital role in the novel. It opens with the Russian scientist and his wife in 1991, using his consciousness detector, finding a huge reading in an aquifer beneath Tolson, Washington, an isolated logging town. The presence of this, and the location itself, will drive all the events in the novel. It then shifts to Blake the protagonist in the year 2032, long after the professor has taken over the town in an extremely dangerous experiment for which Blake is the victim. The chapters continue concurrently, shifting between time periods as the reader gradually learns the startling truth of the mystery that has controlled Blake’s life, and how it will ultimately threaten all of humanity.Wed, 10 Dec 2025 04:55:49 +0000Revision is Emotional “Revision! Whatever that is.” And thus Gotham’s own Arlaina Tibensky kicked off our Fiction Writing Conference a couple of weeks ago, with a panel on strategies for revising. Which was perfect, because by asking, “What even is this?” Arlaina freed the other writers in the room to come back with an unexpected answer. Revision is… emotional. “The first thing is accepting that even though you’ve been working on your book, and you think you’ve finished it, it’s really not your book yet,” said Kate Fagan, sportswriter and author of the novel The Three Lives of Cate Kay. “You’ve got to mourn that.” When she first sends a book to her editor, Fagan—who has also published two nonfiction books and is working on her next novel—indulges the fantasy that the draft is perfect, or nearly so. When her editor instead responds with notes, Fagan takes two days to mourn, “the loss that I didn’t deliver the perfect book.” “You have to build the emotional space inside yourself for the realization that your first draft is only holding one little space in your heart,” Fagan said. “You have to create room and emotional energy for subsequent versions—it’s a very real thing.” The emotional roller-coaster doesn’t end there, though. Matt Bell, novelist and author of a craft book all about revision called Refuse to Be Done, said he goes through a stage of revision where some characters don’t know who they want to be yet. They move in and out of drafts, existing sometimes “almost as a kind of alternate reality character that lived in the book, or maybe didn’t.” “Living with uncertainty is another revision skill that gets stronger over time,” Bell said. “You learn it’s OK to have multiple things still in flux, that maybe that’s actually kind of joyful, even if it feels frustrating at time.” For Gotham teacher Katherine Taylor, revising her second novel involved facing down demons, writing through heartbreak, and summoning no small amount of courage. Because, one day after going through a bad breakup, Katherine went to lunch with her editor, who told her she had to throw away her entire first draft. “I literally boo-hooed for probably an hour, and my editor sat there, and we talked, or I talked and she listened, and finally, when I said, ‘I’m ready to talk about the book now,’ she just said it: ‘I need you to throw out this entire draft and start again,’” Katherine said. The editor liked the characters and the story. But the voice and point of view were not working, and so everything else had to go. Katherine briefly tried to salvage something from the draft, asking if there were even any nice sentences in it that she could keep. But once the shock wore off, she plunged in and started fresh. “I think I was like every writer with their debut novel, traumatized by the response to my first book. I was trying to make the second one so different that I squashed out all the warmth and all the humor and all the stuff that makes my work, work,” Katherine said. “I took a breath and let all that stuff back in. And I did totally rediscover the book. I had fun writing it, which of course showed in the draft. Suddenly the voice was alive and not stuffed down and dead. And everything in the book was a total surprise after that.” If all this makes revision sound like a wrenching gauntlet, I apologize, writers. If you re-read their comments, you’ll notice a common thread among all these writers. After each one made peace with their own demons, they all found another emotion—joy. Kelly Caldwell Dean of Faculty/Gotham WritersSat, 08 Nov 2025 17:19:52 +0000Revision is Emotional “Revision! Whatever that is.” And thus Gotham’s own Arlaina Tibensky kicked off our Fiction Writing Conference a couple of weeks ago, with a panel on strategies for revising. Which was perfect, because by asking, “What even is this?” Arlaina freed the other writers in the room to come back with an unexpected answer. Revision is… emotional. “The first thing is accepting that even though you’ve been working on your book, and you think you’ve finished it, it’s really not your book yet,” said Kate Fagan, sportswriter and author of the novel The Three Lives of Cate Kay. “You’ve got to mourn that.” When she first sends a book to her editor, Fagan—who has also published two nonfiction books and is working on her next novel—indulges the fantasy that the draft is perfect, or nearly so. When her editor instead responds with notes, Fagan takes two days to mourn, “the loss that I didn’t deliver the perfect book.” “You have to build the emotional space inside yourself for the realization that your first draft is only holding one little space in your heart,” Fagan said. “You have to create room and emotional energy for subsequent versions—it’s a very real thing.” The emotional roller-coaster doesn’t end there, though. Matt Bell, novelist and author of a craft book all about revision called Refuse to Be Done, said he goes through a stage of revision where some characters don’t know who they want to be yet. They move in and out of drafts, existing sometimes “almost as a kind of alternate reality character that lived in the book, or maybe didn’t.” “Living with uncertainty is another revision skill that gets stronger over time,” Bell said. “You learn it’s OK to have multiple things still in flux, that maybe that’s actually kind of joyful, even if it feels frustrating at time.” For Gotham teacher Katherine Taylor, revising her second novel involved facing down demons, writing through heartbreak, and summoning no small amount of courage. Because, one day after going through a bad breakup, Katherine went to lunch with her editor, who told her she had to throw away her entire first draft. “I literally boo-hooed for probably an hour, and my editor sat there, and we talked, or I talked and she listened, and finally, when I said, ‘I’m ready to talk about the book now,’ she just said it: ‘I need you to throw out this entire draft and start again,’” Katherine said. The editor liked the characters and the story. But the voice and point of view were not working, and so everything else had to go. Katherine briefly tried to salvage something from the draft, asking if there were even any nice sentences in it that she could keep. But once the shock wore off, she plunged in and started fresh. “I think I was like every writer with their debut novel, traumatized by the response to my first book. I was trying to make the second one so different that I squashed out all the warmth and all the humor and all the stuff that makes my work, work,” Katherine said. “I took a breath and let all that stuff back in. And I did totally rediscover the book. I had fun writing it, which of course showed in the draft. Suddenly the voice was alive and not stuffed down and dead. And everything in the book was a total surprise after that.” If all this makes revision sound like a wrenching gauntlet, I apologize, writers. If you re-read their comments, you’ll notice a common thread among all these writers. After each one made peace with their own demons, they all found another emotion—joy. Kelly Caldwell Dean of Faculty/Gotham Writers ________________________________[url={url}]View the full article[/url]Sat, 08 Nov 2025 16:51:00 +0000Assignments for 2025 NY Write to Pitch RT Bentley.docxAssignments for 2025 NY Write to Pitch RT Bentley.docxThu, 30 Oct 2025 16:47:09 +0000This is an update to what I submitted a week ago. I have improved my title choices. If I find better comps, there will be another addition. Life is a work in progress, and we were told we could edit so I did. Thanks for understanding. 10-21-25 REVISED Algonkian Assignments-.docxWed, 22 Oct 2025 02:55:47 +0000NEW YORK CITY AS A LOCATION.pagesTue, 02 Sep 2025 22:30:58 +0000Here's a limerick summary of my masterpiece-in-sort-of-progress: Two experts drawn into the fold To save a rare species, they're told, Find they're helping the villain With his plan to keep killin' Until all the beasts are stone cold.Tue, 02 Sep 2025 22:07:24 +0000ANTAGONIST FORCES.pages 2-PAGE SYNOPSIS.pages GENRE AND COMPARABLES.pages STORY STATEMENT.pagesTue, 02 Sep 2025 19:03:57 +0000CONJURING YOUR BREAKOUT TITLE.pages LOGLINE or HOOKLINE.pagesTue, 02 Sep 2025 17:50:26 +0000Pinny Bugaeff’s-7 Algonkian Assignments Assignment 1 The Act of Story Statement Save newborn baby Zoe, before she’s sold as an infant heart donor. ASSIGNMENT 2 THE ANTAGONIST Cybelle Chambers is the director of Riverview, a shelter for homeless, pregnant women. She wears her thick auburn hair in a bun and has a habit of pursing her cupid bow lips as if she’s smelling something rancid, add to that her zaftig figure, and she looks like she just stepped out of a Botero painting, Cybelle isn’t just your run of the mill psychopath. She also possesses the superficial charm and skillful manipulations of a narcissist. Like most narcissists she is able to feign emotion to get what she wants. Her smooth public persona, as a woman who funds a non-profit shelter for women, hides the fact that her real business is selling new born babies destined to be used as infant organ donors. For her, it’s all about the money. Cybelle has no more compunction about her business than a farmer who sells a crate of carrots to a baker, who’ll then use them to make carrot cake. ASSIGNMENT 3 BREAKOUT TITLE SUGGESTIONS Since baby selling in a core theme of my book, before selecting my proposed title, I explored a variety of titles featuring the word Baby. I considered the following titles: Bye, Bye Baby, Buy Baby Bye and Red Market Baby. What I discovered was, there are currently 128 Romance novels on the market with the word Baby in the title. Next I considered using the word Heart in my title: Heart to Heart- Heartless and Have a Heart. Goodreads lists 1,233 books with the word Heart in the title. Therefore, I have tentatively thought of using MAD as my book title. Although there are 667 books with Mad in the title, I couldn’t find any that use just the one word- Mad. Here’s my reasoning on this title. For starters, Maddy Brinker, (her friends call her Mad) is the protagonist in a story that features a cast of characters that to one degree or other evidence a variety of mad psychological personalities. Cybelle Chambers, the major antagonist is a toxic narcissist. Her husband, Harlin is a murdering psychopath, Cybelle’s sister Trudy is a sociopath with psychopathic traits. And the theme of selling infants as organ donors certainly skirts the edge of madness. Note: If Mad doesn’t seem appropriate I am very open to changing it. But if Mad does indeed become my official title, the next book in the series will be: Still Mad. ASSIGNMENT 4 COMPABLE BOOKS AND MOVIES I make no claim to even be on the same writing planet as Chelsea Cain but her courage and skillful writing featuring Gretchen Lowell, a vicious female killer with a taste for torture, gave me the courage to feature a truly vicious female psychopath- Cybelle Chambers, whose business is selling new born infants to be used for organ transplants. Beginning with her first book, Heartsick, right through the other 5 in the series by Chelsea Cain, Gretchen Lowell, became wildly popular. Gretchen’s pursuit and torture of Detective Archie Sheridan which I would have assumed would have been distasteful to a large number of readers, garnered a readership that has resulted in multi-million dollar sales. * Again I have no illusions that my writing is on a par with Jeff Lindsay’s, author of the Dexter series, but beginning with Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Lindsay found a way to make psychopath/ anti-hero, Dexter, a sympathetic character whose motive for murder is not only understandable but is a service to society. I think of his mission as taking out the garbage, and judging by his vast audience a lot of people see it that way, I’m a retired social worker. I’ve worked in the New York City Juvenile Hall, and the Forensic unit of a state hospital. I was a child protective services worker for the State of Connecticut and a psychotherapist for female felons. Jeff Lindsay’s courage and talent in writing so graphically about pedophile perverts gave me the courage to write about the equally despicable characters, the Chambers. I found real fellowship with Dexter because, truthfully there are some folks who need killing. No amount of therapy will ever touch some of the psychopaths and deviants I’ve met. And I think it’s a vote of public agreement from the millions who have read and then enjoyed the Dexter TV series. ASSIGNMENT 5 HOOK LINE FOR ALGONKIAN Social Worker, Maddy Brinker, deeply guilt ridden because she blames herself for her mother’s suicide, tries to assuage her guilt by rescuing others. Maddy must save newborn baby Zoe, from being sold and used as an infant heart donor. ASSIGNMENT 6 SKETCH INNER CONFLICT-AND ANXIETY (This scene follows Maddy’s therapy session with Zee Perez, the pregnant mother of about to be born baby, Zoe.) Zee left the therapy session precipitously because she had to find boyfriend Leo’s python, Sissy, who was missing. Zee was afraid that when Leo found out his snake was missing he would blame her for leaving the cage open, then beat the snot out of her. Maddy is snake phobic, nonetheless she feels compelled to drive over to Zee’s tenement to check on her. Before Maddy leaves, she meets with Cybelle, and has an intense confrontation with her because Cybelle refuses to support court ordered inpatient treatment for Zee. The meeting ends in an angry standoff. * Anxiety knotted my belly. I knew challenging Cybelle was going to cost me. I didn’t know how yet, but her methods of revenge tended to be well thought out. She’s a narcissist. I figured she’d have the whole week end to plan my comeuppance. But I couldn’t help myself. Although I had to be back at Riverview for group by seven, I needed to at least drive by Zee’s tenement. I was worried sick about her. If Sissy hadn’t yet slithered back to her cage, I was sure Leo would take it out on Zee. And if he did, what would happen to baby Zoe? Leo had done time for battery on his last girlfriend. I had no illusions that he wouldn’t do the same to Zee. The fact that Zee was pregnant with his child wasn’t going to be any source of protection for her. It was drizzling when I left. As I drove towards Zee’s. I was hoping maybe I’d catch her outside but in case I ran into Leo, I’d have to have a reason why I stopped by. Stomach clenched, I pulled up in front of a triplex that looked like the set for The Addams Family. I’d dropped Zee off there once and watched her take the outside staircase up to the second floor apartment. I parked across the street from their driveway. If I wanted to check on Zee, I’d have to walk down the muddy drive in the dark and take the outside stairs up to the second floor. All I could think about was Sissy. What if she’d gotten outside and was coiled around a banister? What if she was stretched across the driveway, lurking in the mud? Heart pounding, I crossed the street and started down the shadowed drive. At every step I expected to feel a snaky coil around my ankle. I was wound so tight, if I’d stepped on a garden hose, I’d a dropped dead. I noticed a sliver of blue light shining through a crack in one of the driveway-level basement windows that had been painted over. I hesitated. My stomach turned over— what if Leo was breeding pythons in the basement? I decided not to check. Thunder rumbled in the distance. The air was charged with ozone. Fat drops of rain spattered the mud puddles. Starting up the stairs, I was still trying to think of a plausible excuse why I’d stopped by to see Zee. As I reached the first landing of the outside stairs, the back door to the first-floor apartment flew open. A hairy guy in a wife-beater undershirt thrust a ham-sized fist toward my face. “Hey, votch’yu doin’?” “Uhhhh . . .” I could hardly talk. “Uhhhh . . .” I figured this was Leo’s father, Stash Jenks. “You get the FUCK off my porch.” Damn. Trying to think how to get past the guy I heard footsteps coming down the second-floor stairway. I looked up. Leo, head shaved, shirtless and tattooed neck to waist, stepped out onto the landing. Sissy, fat as a fire hose, was draped across his bare shoulders. Cradling her head in his hand, he took a step toward me “Well, well, wel . . .” He was smirking. Before the third “well” left his lips, I leapt off the porch. A blinding crack of lightning spurred my retreat back down the drive. Heedless of oncoming traffic I dashed across the street, threw myself into my truck and laid a block-long strip of rubber. As I peeled away from the house, my Inner Bitch, her voice dripping with contempt, started in on me: You gutless wonder. I took a deep breath and screamed back, “You shut up!” She stopped. I was amazed. Dr. Sydney kept telling me to “stop colluding with the enemy.” Maybe he was right. The Bitch had stopped. Breathless and drenched to the skin, trying to regain some kind of control, I pulled into a CVS and parked catawampus across two parking spots. I consciously tried to slow my breathing. Trying to talk myself back into as semblance of sanity, I started my Dr. Sydney prescribed mantra for regaining sanity after a PTSD freak out. I started to repeat the safety sequence out loud. “I am safe. I am safe in my truck.” I made myself rub my hands together to create warmth and also to help remind myself that I was alive. I continued to slow my breathing. Trying to feel grounded, I started to name objects out loud. “I see the steering wheel. I see the numbers on the gauges on my dashboard. I see the signs in the windows of the store. I made myself read one out loud. Ex-Lax. Well I sure didn’t need that. I began to feel my heart rate slowing. My breathing got more regular. Still worried about Zee, I thought about calling the police and asking them to do a well person check. In Connecticut, even if there isn’t any particular emergency, you can call the police and ask them to go check on a relative or someone you think might need help. But in this case, if the police showed up while Leo was there, Zee’d deny anything was wrong, and as soon as the police left Leo would beat the crap out of her. ASSIGNMENT 7 SETTING DETAILS FOR MAD Local- Just off Connecticut Route 84, a wide bridge spans the Connecticut River and is the route one takes into the(fictional) town of Greenport. The Chambers Riverview Estate and Maddy Brinker’s fixer-upper farm lie on the near side of the bridge. One crosses the bridge to get to the town of Greenport, where the State Police barracks, the Jenk’s triplex, and the hospital are located. Maddy’s friend, Tyler’s Peale’s home is located just out of town on Swan Lane. Riverview Estate-now a maternity home for homeless, pregnant, women, once belonged to General William Williams, a shipping magnet and whaling merchant. Set on bluff overlooking the Connecticut River, it is now owned by Dr. Harlin Chambers and his wife, Cybelle Chase Chambers. There is a gated entry lined with ancient maples and a charming stone gate-house which marks the beginning of the property and serves as the Chambers residence. Further down the lane lies the main house, Riverview. It’s a grand, pale yellow, Second Empire, Victorian with a wraparound porch. It serves as the residence for the women living at Riverview, there is a small parking lot behind the house and from there Maddy can easily get to her office which is set in an alcove of the wrap-around porch. Close to the river, a windowless 3 car garage, once a stable, is located at the far end of the lane. There is an attached coach house, which has been converted into a home for the house- manager, Cybelle’s sister, Trudy Chase. Inside the locked garage is a very basic delivery room. A door from inside Trudy’s kitchen leads into the “delivery room.” A van and the Chambers car are parked inside the other spaces in the garage. Maddy Brinker-Her “fixer upper” farm lies east of the Chamber’s estate. A rutted dirt drive leads to her house which has to be redone top to bottom. A tired red barn sits behind the house and other issues aside, it badly needs a new roof. Maddy’s 4 acres’ end at a stand of pines at the back of the property. Just beyond the stand of trees is a steep embankment that leads down to a pond that lies in a protected cove of the river. Leo and Elsa- Zee and Stash Jenks –A rundown Triplex on Furnace Street, located at the far end of Greenport, is home to the Jenks family. Leo’s father, Stash Jenks and his wife Elsa live on the first floor. Leo and Zee live in the second floor unit. The roof of the place is leaky and no one lives in the top floor unit. A line of beat up garbage cans sit on the sidewalk. Attorney Tyler Peale-Maddy’s best friend, Tyler lives across the river from her, just on the outskirts of Greenport. His beautiful home is located in a quiet and well established neighborhood located on Swan Lane Firestone Construction-Home Remolding- Owned by Mary Jane Pietroinferno and Fran Low and their adopted son Rob. (Years before Maddy had rescued 3-year-old Rob and had been instrumental in placing him with Mary Jane and Fran who later married then adopted Rob.)Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:27:32 +0000SECOND ASSIGNMENT-ANTAGONIST Cybelle Chambers- isn’t just your run of the mill sociopath. She possesses all the superficial charm and skillful manipulations of a narcissist. Like many narcissists she can be overtly charming and is able to feign emotions to get what she wants. Her smooth public persona, as a woman who funds and supports a non-profit shelter for homeless, pregnant women, hides the fact that, her business is selling new born babies that may be destined to be used as infant organ donors or toys for pedophiles. She has the classic profile of a high functioning psychopath. She is ruthless and has a profound lack of empathy, remorse or guilt. She views her innocent victims as objects to be used for her financial pleasure. Female serial killers often differ from their male counterparts in their methods and motivations. Male serial killers are usually driven by sexualized motives in their murderous endeavors and may pick their victims at random, female psychopaths are likely to know their victims, usually targeting vulnerable individuals in their care. Many have worked in caregiving professions, such as nursing or home health. Financial gain is often a central motive for their murderous endeavors.Sat, 09 Aug 2025 21:45:50 +0000Assignment 1 Rescue a newborn baby before she’s sold as an infant heart donor.Sat, 09 Aug 2025 21:29:43 +0000Assignment 1-Act of Story Statement Rescue a newborn baby before she’s sold as an infant heart donor.Fri, 08 Aug 2025 15:40:29 +0000Moving to Arlington, VA this summer after being an expat for more than a decade. Would love to connect with fellow writers. My email is tracyKmacdonald@gmail.com.Thu, 03 Apr 2025 16:04:41 +0000Self-published my first novel Beneath the Draper Moon in February 2024. Currently 4.8 on Amazon and 4.7 on Goodreads. I especially enjoy attending book club meetings and signing events as well as speaking to high school students about writing fiction.Fri, 28 Feb 2025 10:50:08 +0000ARC Sign Up Form: https://form.jotform.com/250337306612045?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaamsCsZmYEA5hW_X61TI1H85x13PABg5c7UCGTSoqfViTvBIlAUBBYk3Wo_aem_m6CUjcddyCxwd046tOeipQWed, 05 Feb 2025 17:33:01 +0000Upcoming Release...Sun, 02 Feb 2025 20:00:56 +0000Antagonists are quite often the most memorable characters in literature, regardless of genre. Without them many of the best selling novels of all time would simply cease to exist, their supporting beams cut away, the shell of remaining "story" quietly imploding to ignominy and self-publication. Consider the impact on a scene, any scene, as soon as the author moves the chess piece of antagonist onto the page. The mere presence of a Javert from "Les Misérables," Assef from "The Kite Runner," or Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," immediately energizes the environment. The narrative and dialogue literally crackle and groan with antagonist. What chances do you as a writer have of getting your novel manuscript commercially published, regardless of genre, if the story and narrative fail to meet reader demands for sufficient suspense, character concern, and conflict? Answer: none. But what major factor accounts for this debilitating condition? What precisely makes for a quiet and dull manuscript brimming with insipid characters and a story that cascades from chapter to chapter with tens of thousands of words, all combining irresistibly to produce an audible thudding sound in the mind? Such a dearth of Élan vital in narrative and story, more often than not, results from the unwillingness of the writer to create a suitable antagonist who stirs and spices the plot hash. And let's make it clear what we're talking about. By "antagonist" we specifically refer to an actual fictional character, an embodiment of certain traits and motivations, and one who plays a significant role in catalyzing and driving the plot, or at bare minimum, in assisting to evolve the protagonist's character arc - and by default the story itself - by igniting complication(s) that the protagonist, and perhaps other characters, must face and attempt to resolve. Writers new to the fiction game often shy away from creating an effective antagonist. If you are an editor, you see this time and time again. But why? Is it because they can't accept that a certain percentage of cruel and selfish humans are a reality of life? Is it because they live in an American bubble surrounded only by circumstances that reinforce their Rockwellian naivety? Do they not watch Sixty Minutes or even a shred of film footage portraying the latest repressions of the downtrodden by tyrannical government? Or is it because they don't understand the requirements of good dramatic fiction (no good guy without a bad guy, folks)? Or some combo thereof? Whatever. Though you would think after watching hundreds of films (even comedies), and reading God knows how many novels, they might catch on. And this doesn't mean they have to reinvent the black hat cowboy. We're talking about prime movers of social conflict and supreme irritation that come in wide variety of forms, from relatively mild to pure evil. Antagonists are often the most memorable characters in literature, without whom many of the best selling novels of all time would simply cease to exist, their supporting beams cut away, the shell of remaining "story" quietly imploding to ignominy and self-publication. And what drives these antagonists? Whether revenge, zealotry, ruthless ambition, hubris or just plain jealousy, the overall effect on the narrative and plot in general is identical, i.e., a dramatic condition of complication (related to plot) and concern (related to character) infuses the story. True drama demands they exist. Imagine ANTIGONE without the dictator to stir her into plot. And consider the impact on a scene, any scene, as soon as the author moves the particular chess piece of an antagonist onto the page. The mere presence of a Javert from Les Misérables, Assef from The Kite Runner, or even Marilla from Anne of Green Gables, immediately energizes the environment. The narrative and dialogue literally crackle and groan with antagonist. Below we see five antagonists from very different novels--all multimillion sellers (and successful films)--also noting their vital roles in the development of the story. Consider them ranked from sufficiently annoying to genuine super bastard. First, but not worst, we have Marilla Cuthbert from ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. Author Lucy Maud Montgomery intended for Marilla to be a source of tension and obstacle for Anne, not a plot-swinging major like the four mentioned below. You might call her, an "antagonistic force" or temporary antagonist, remaining an irritant long enough to provide verve to the story and suitable growth arc to the protagonist. Marilla begins as a woman with the personality of a falling guillotine. Only a barely perceptible sense of humor shows itself. Marilla’s state of being clashes markedly with Anne’s romanticism and imagination. She scolds and criticizes Anne, and like Javert of Les Misérables, is equally harsh on herself. Even when she finds herself agreeing with Anne's brazen thoughts, she rebukes herself, and whenever she feels a fleeting rush of affection, she quickly suffocates it. Later, she changes, but she played her role long enough to help keep the reader on the page while at the same time provoking the evolution of Anne's character. And what decent discussion of antagonists in literature fails to comment on the role of Tom Buchanan in THE GREAT GATSBY? Tom falls fourth on the intensity list. He doesn't qualify as a dangerous zealot or a vengeful junkyard-zilla, but without Tom's endearing personality, Fitzgerald's novel of love and loss falls to pieces. Playing in a love triangle that includes his wife, Daisy, and Jay Gatsby, the wealthy Buchanan displays himself time and time again as an arrogant and bullying schmuck, enough that by the time Fitzgerald needs us to cheer for Jay, and desire freedom for Daisy, we are more than ready to do so. In comparison to Buchanan, Jay Gatsby, despite his faults, appears like a Lancelot, while Daisy, despite her shallowness, becomes the distressed damsel. If Buchanan did not exist, or if Fitzgerald had depicted him as a decent fellow, the faults of Jay and Daisy would have burned in high relief, and as readers, our sympathy for them would be zero. Fitzgerald's only chance would have been to render them both irrevocably detestable, as Emile Zola did for his murderous couple in THERESE RAQUIN--so much so that as a reader you turn the page in hopes they will both soon be wearing prison orange (or whatever color of rag they wore in those days). Next comes the infamous Javert of LES MISERABLES by Victor Hugo. Unlike the first two antagonists, Javert's primary flaw might be defined as dogged zealotry, and at times, he behaves as hard on himself as on others. After the character Valjean, a victim of mistaken identity, appears in court and loses both his business and his position in Montreuil-sur-mer, he escapes long enough to hide his fortune. He spends more time in prison, working aboard a ship. Eventually he escapes again and retrieves the character Cosette from the evil Thenardiers. Then begins a decade of hiding, moving from place to place, always staying just ahead of the implacable Javert. Will Valjean save the farm and live to tell the story? Are we not concerned enough for brave Valjean that we want to know? Regardless, no Javert equals far less misery, and what else? ... No story. A close second to Assef below, for reasons of sheer despicableness, is good ole boy Bobby Ewell of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. Shunned by the entire town, and terribly embittered, Ewell’s raison d'etre consists of being antagonistic towards every living thing. As Atticus Finch does his best to defend Tom, the rancor and hatefulness exhibited by Ewell at the trial manipulates the emotions and fears of those present, raising the heat on Tom to lynch mob intensity. Ewell is determined to see Tom hang, and following the trial, Mr. 666 stokes up his inner dragon for yet another bellow. He seeks revenge on those who desired a fair trial for Tom, and doing harm to Scout and Jem seems like a great way to destroy Atticus. Without Bob Ewell, would you have ever heard of Harper Lee? Rising like a bad moon to the bottom of the list is the human monster known as Assef, antagonist from THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini, a novel that has sold millions of copies in dozens of languages. A vicious and bigoted childhood acquaintance of the likable characters, Amir and Hassan, he torments them whenever the mood strikes, but devolves to subhuman status upon attacking and raping Hassan. And at such time the Taliban gain control of Afghanistan, he gravitates to their culture, thus placing himself in a position to indefinitely torture others he considers inferior. As a brutal cherry on the sociopath milkshake, Assef turns the character Sohrab into his sex toy, and Amir must defeat Assef to bring Sohrab home. Assef certainly doesn't possess the globe-spanning ambitions of Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, but what if you handed this megalodon a magic wand? Power equals opportunity equals "enthusiasms" as Al Capone might say. Bottom line here: writers of manuscript-length fiction must create and deploy a suitable antagonist, allowing them catalyze the plot line and throw obstacles in the way of the protagonist and other characters, or at least become an "antagonistic force" of some type, like Marilla Cuthbert, a source of tension and character development. Or perhaps, you need maximum verve in the novel and wish to create characters who assume the roles of both a Marilla and a Bob. Whatever you do though, plan to make them an integral part of the story, or rather, allow them room they need to define the story. ________________________________[url={url}]View the full article[/url]Mon, 06 Jan 2025 19:55:00 +0000By Christine Stewart Many years ago, I took a workshop called Writing the Ideal Heroine, which was taught by Rebecca Smith, a novelist, a former writer-in-residence at the Jane Austen House Museum (Chawton Cottage), and the great, great, great, great, great niece of Jane Austen. Pretty good credentials in my opinion. There's another tip - if you can find a writing workshop wherever you're going, take it! How cool was it to sit in her garden doing writing exercises? It's harder to write a sympathetic female lead character than a male one, I think. Sorry if that sounds like a double standard, but in my experience as a reader and writer, it's true. Most have certain expectations of female characters related to emotions, actions, desires. Whether you meet these expectations or subvert them and how you do so, will affect whether or not your readers (especially women, who often identify with the female character) like them or hate their guts and throw your book in the fire or out the window. Wait, that could be just me.... If you don't care if they like them, no need to read further! I'm a writer that believes in both likable and unlikable characters. I've written characters who were hard to like and I enjoy those characters too. But your reader must at least respect them and care about their conflict(s) and obstacles, enough to read through the entire book. If you make your character too unlikable and difficult, readers will toss your book aside. We're talking about the likable ones here, so the best formula, I believe, is this: for every subversion, meet an expectation. For balance. No one is perfect. We make exceptions for people we care for and they for us. Who am I kidding? We make exceptions for everyone, including coworkers for which we should receive an Oscar for our performance of a person who doesn't want to kill them. Again, maybe just me. If your reader is introduced to a character they like, they are more willing to follow her, even when she does something stupid, mean, or inexplicable (the explanation will hopefully come by the end of the book). So start off with reasons to like them, then feel free to jerk that rug out from under the reader at your earliest convenience. In the workshop, we talked about our favorite heroines (in books and films) and made a list of qualities they possessed. Here is the list - but remember that you only need to pick a handful of these! Whatever will make your heroine appealing. -interesting backstory -vulnerable -a survivor -solitary (even if in marriage, with kids, etc.) -stands by convictions -loyal -mature (can be learned in the story) -talented (in large or small way)/physically adept at something -can hold her own in the world (can be learned in the story) -makes mistakes but learns -willing to fight/struggle/sacrifice -feisty/witty -gets involved/speaks up -overturns stereotypes -flawed -doesn't need to be the center of attention -determined -can be headstrong -must have capacity for change -moves out of comfort zone -has quirks (struggles with some - perhaps they make things worse?, proud of others - set her apart) -examines emotions and actions (at some point), self-aware -outsider -inquisitive/curious -unassuming Here are some exercises we did that yielded pretty fabulous results from everyone. I'm a tough critic and I found something admirable in everything I heard, and there were many different styles and genres among the dozen of us there. I've tweaked the exercises a little because one or two I found rather bland. I'll tell you why you should write them after you give them a try. 1) Introduce the character as we would first come upon/see her. If this is too broad and difficult, write about some aspect of your heroine's routine. How she starts or ends her day. How she arranges flowers, writes a letter, organizes her desk, (gosh these sound so soft and girly - okay, how she cleans and arranges her knives, in case she's a serial killer. Better?). 2) Write a scene where you draw out one of the above characteristics in your heroine via an argument with another character. One where she has to defend herself - for example, defend a belief, an action, a possession, a goal, a desire. 3) Write about your heroine's room or an object that is important to her. She can be straightening the room, packing or unpacking a suitcase before or after a trip, figuring out where to hide this object in her room from someone (make sure we know why), or better still - have another character be snooping in her room. The object and room should highlight one or two of the characteristics in the list. 4) One of the big ones in the list is 'must have the capacity for change.' Without it there's no story. Write a scene where a character has changed and learned something - the crisis/climactic moment or the moment of realization. A scene of self-examination. I wrote quite a few fine scenes that really surprised me from these exercises. I learned a couple of things about my character that I hadn't known before. I highly recommend doing separate writing exercises on your character, especially if you write in a linear fashion as I do. I write each scene one after the other. Writing scenes out of order is too chaotic for me. But it also means that, in the first draft, my main character can become rather suffocated. I don't see, and therefore dig into, her cracks as much as I could because we are both looking straight ahead. And the cracks are where it's at. By looking at her from different angles via exercises, I look at her obliquely, and make inspiring discoveries that can make her fuller and richer in the book itself. It's called 'averted gaze' and it's how one looks at the stars in order to get a sense of their shape and see how brilliantly they shine. _____________________________________ Christine Stewart is program director for literary arts with the Maryland State Arts Council. She writes, teaches, and edits in Baltimore. Check out her Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ChrisStewartTheRealWriter. ________________________________[url={url}]View the full article[/url]Wed, 01 Jan 2025 16:52:00 +0000From the desk of Richard Curtis. If you do something so horrendous as to provoke your agent to declare, "Life is too short," you'd better start looking for someone else to handle your work. It means you have tried his or her patience beyond its limit. You're a walking dead author. We recently described good timing as one of the most important virtues a literary agent can bring to the job. There's another that most good agents possess, and that's patience. If timing is the art of "when to," patience is the art of "when not to." Unfortunately, that often means when not to knock my head against a wall, wring an author's throat, or hop in a taxi, race over to a publisher's office and trash it. Although some people are born patient, for most of us it's an acquired quality. We attain it only with experience, and it is arguably the only significant benefit of aging. If you are constitutionally incapable of practicing patience, you are definitely not cut out to become a literary agent. Despite the appearance of furious activity, and notwithstanding such timesaving innovations as multiple submissions, computers, email, laser printers, cell phones, high-speed printers, overnight mail, instant books, and quickie releases, the truth is that just about anything of importance that happens in our industry happens slowly. Good books are written at a snail's pace, submissions take ages, negotiations drag on, money flows like cold lard, and the building of an author's career from first sale to bestselling masterpiece is about as dramatic as watching a lake evaporate. Difficult publishers test our patience, as do difficult authors. If agents seem to have a higher per capita ratio of weekend homes than other professionals, have pity on them: they must have a place to go to chop wood, bay at the moon, and otherwise relieve the strain of holding their natural impulses in check during the other five days a week. I do not own a weekend home, but I do have a set of molars that have been ground down close to the nerve endings from restraining the desire to commit a variety of felonies in order to make things move faster. Behind a demeanor that one of my clients once described as "judicious" (it was not a compliment) seethes a cauldron of emotions, energy, grievances, and heroic fantasies. I smile, I speak moderately, I behave politely, I move deliberately. I polish my buckler and hone my sword, ear cocked for the call to arms. It may come in the form of a letter, a phone call, an offer, an opportunity, an insult. But I am ready for action. Meanwhile, I wait. I wait, for instance, for you to finish your book. Because my agency does a lot of business in paperback original series, I have to wait only a month or two for many books. For most mainstream ones, however, I have to wait nine months, a year, or longer. The potential in these books presses heavily on my consciousness; I'm dying to wheel and deal. But with few exceptions there is little to be done to convert that potential until the manuscript has been turned in, reviewed, critiqued, and revised (once, if I'm lucky). However much I am dying to go into action with that book, I cannot advance the calendar by one day, the clock by one minute. I grind my teeth and wait. I wait for publishers to make up their minds about my submissions. Decisions on manuscripts can be forced by means of the auction, and when agents have to move fast they can elicit decisions virtually overnight. But most material does not command that kind of attention. The more conventional approach of one submission at a time, or at best two or three simultaneously, is what is usually called for. Like most agencies, we have a reminder calendar and regularly write or phone publishers prodding them to keep the property in question at the top of the pile. Despite every measure taken to make editors respond to submissions promptly, it is unrealistic to expect decisions in less than six weeks, and quite realistic to expect none in less than three months (at the end of which you discover the manuscript has been lost). If a work isn't placed on the first or second round of submissions, therefore, a year or more can pass with relatively few responses to show for all one's investment of time. So we wait. We wait to make deals. Deals can be struck in a matter of minutes, but many negotiations take days, weeks, or even months to unfold. With the evolution of publishing from an individual entrepreneurial enterprise to a bureaucratized corporate one, seldom do agents end up negotiating with the principals of a publishing company. Instead we discuss terms with editors, who refer them to superior officers or editorial boards. Several weeks may pass if the appropriate executives are not available to formulate offers or counteroffers. Often, figures have to be worked up by a variety of departments to help the company determine its negotiating strategy. During which time we wait. We wait for contracts. The people who work in the contract departments of most publishing houses are among the most professional in our industry. Nevertheless, it is seldom possible for them to produce contracts for signature in less than six or eight weeks. After the editor reaches agreement with the author or agent, he prepares a deal memo summarizing the terms of the contract for approval by the head of the company. After approval has been rendered the deal memo goes to the contract department where it serves as the basis for the formal agreement. This agreement is reviewed by the acquiring editor and an officer of the company, then returned to the contract department for final issuance to the agent. After signed contracts are returned to the publisher, they are circulated for signature and a voucher is issued directing the accounts payable department to prepare the check. We now wait for the check. We wait a long time for the check because in many cases the accounts payable department is not in the same building or even the same state as the contracts department. After receiving the voucher from the contracts department, accounts payable prepares a check that must be reviewed and signed by the treasurer or other officer of the company. It is then forwarded to the contracts department to be issued with the contracts, or sent to the payee directly from the accounts payable office. If form follows function, publishers could not conceive of a better structure for attenuating the time it takes to release money. Even with all hands working at maximum efficiency - not a very desirable state from the publisher's viewpoint, you must realize, when there is interest to be earned - I figure two to three months is now the industry average for payout from the time check vouchers are issued (add thirty days if it's an emergency). Agents who have managed to map and penetrate the system can keep things moving with phone calls to various departments along the paperwork routes goading delinquent bookkeepers to press on with their tasks. (I am not afraid to alienate the CEO of a publishing company, but I never, ever speak unkindly to clerks in accounting offices.) And of course, we wait for books to be published and...well, you get the idea; just about everything concerning publishing is a test of an agent's patience. I wish that didn't include authors but why should they be exempted? One of my colleagues in a fit of pique wailed, "Publishing would be great if it weren't for authors." And another, with tongue somewhat in cheek I suspect, created an index for rating his clients. He calls it the PITA factor. PITA stands for "Pain In The Ass." He assigns his clients a rating from one to ten, depending on such factors as how often they hit him up for loans, how many times they call him at home at six o'clock on Sunday mornings, how many editors they insult, and in general how much maintenance they require beyond routine care and feeding. Their PITA factor is then divided into the commissions earned on their sales. Applying his criteria, an author who earns only $1,000 annually in commissions but is a model client with a PITA factor of 1 is as valuable to his agent as one who earns $10,000 in commissions but, rated at 10, is a raving lunatic. "Life," says my friend, "is too short to have to deal with 10s." Well, I don't know.As I said at the outset, if you do feel that way, the literary agent's trade is not for you and you should go into something less aggravating, like sewage management or emergency room administration. When it comes to dealing with artists, irritating behavior comes with the territory. And, far more important, think of what they have to put up with. With the rare exception of the author whose first book stuns the critics, sweeps the public off its feet, and soars to the top of the bestseller list, success for most writers is won only after decades of economic struggle, mental anguish, crushing loneliness and obscurity, and the consumption of murderous doses of pride. They spend a lifetime practicing patience, and if they do not always practice it very well, if conditions are difficult when they start out, difficult when they begin to make it, and difficult even when they finally arrive, a larger degree of tolerance is called for on the part of those who serve them, particularly if they've never tried that life themselves. And most agents haven't. A PITA scale that does not factor in the emotional satisfactions of midwifing first books, of nurturing authors careers as they gain skill and confidence and stretch to realize their visions, and the joy of attending their graduation ceremonies featuring smashing reviews and sales by the trainload, requires some serious rethinking. Life is not too short if an agent's patience is rewarded with such satisfactions as these. And so, when tried, the wise agent will count to ten, then - realizing things could be worse, that we've heard horror stories of agent-killers with PITA Factors of 20 or worse - we count another ten, sigh and go back to work. And if you're wondering about my clients? They're all saints. This article was originally written for Locus, The Newspaper of the Science Fiction Field. It's reprinted in Mastering the Business of Writing. Copyright © 1990 by Richard Curtis. All Rights Reserved. http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=98361363-496b-44d5-837b-f618ac1ffc89________________________________[url={url}]View the full article[/url]Tue, 17 Dec 2024 19:57:00 +0000Senior editor Charlene Castor of Algonkian Author Connect interviews Michael Neff, the CEO and Chief Production Editor of Algonkian Writer Conferences. Q: What made you and Algonkian decide to start this novel editing service? NEFF: Manuscripts to Market is a natural outgrowth of our writer events and programs. Writers are always asking for something like this, especially following the New York Write to Pitch. Over the years, I've spent many hours helping alums get published, in one way or another. CC: That makes sense, of course, but seriously, Michael, does the world need another novel editing service? NEFF: Yes and no. The world does not need another commonplace editorial service. Ours is unique, indefinite in length, customized for each writer, and finally, structured more productively than other novel editing services--the condition we're striving for in terms of method and final results. CC: That's a bold statement. So how does "Manuscripts to Market" really differ from other novel editorial services? I'm skeptical. There's a hundred of them out there. NEFF: Overwhelming evidence demonstrates that one-pass ms reviews rarely, if ever, result in publishable manuscripts. You'll see writers pay gobs of money to various freelance editors only to be left hanging with sweeping or confusing rewrites, and once done, the ms will require yet another layer of editing. Follow-up is always necessary. The writer must be guided as needed, depending on their skill set, and the project itself must be developed in stages. We provide a three-stage review of the manuscript. First, a preliminary "sell sheet analysis" of the story premise and other major elements that might well necessitate rewrites and a new draft from the start. Why begin a full edit of the manuscript if we know from the onset, for example, that crucial elements of plot are missing? Second, a core developmental review of the manuscript from first page to last, resulting in ms notes and a separate editorial report. Weeks or months later (depending on the author and ms) this is followed by a third and final review once the author has completed the necessary restructure and rewrites. CC: And that wraps it up? NEFF: Next, we assist with the search for agents and production of a superlative query letter. We also stick with the writer through the query process for an indefinite length of time, reality checking as appropriate and necessary. We also differ from the many editorial services in other ways. For example, our own combined skill set exceeds that of most freelance editors. Unlike the academic types, we've actually worked with commercial publishing house editors and agents, we have a track record, and unlike the majority of ex-editors from publishing houses who left the business to freelance, we are actual writers, published authors of fiction. CC: What about editor-for-hire bulletin boards like the one on Reedsy? Don't they have real editors there? NEFF: Reedsy means well. They host dozens of editors looking for jobs and freelance work. Why? Because they lost their jobs. The turnover in the industry is at an all-time high. A few might be of value but most don't pass the test of being writers themselves, plus those who claim to have worked with popular authors have done so only because they were warming the chair when that particular author at the publishing house needed a line edit. In short, dabbling at Reedsy can result in mixed results. Just be careful. CC: Why do you feel your novel editing method is more valuable or realistic than methods utilized by MFA faculty? I know you're not keen on advice that emanates from MFA programs. NEFF: For the most part, no. I totally reject the Conroy philosophy and approach began at Iowa decades ago and later cascaded into the bulk of MFA programs throughout the United States. They preach that writing can't be taught, and in keeping with that disproved absurdity, therefore eschew notions of discussing plot or story premise when it comes to writing a novel. What could be more ridiculous? Craft becomes a whisper after dark and the word "market" gains the status of Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter, i.e., becoming a word which must never be spoken in the presence of ivy. An academic whose beliefs about novel writing, or fiction writing in general, are rooted in that culture should never be consulted. It's a little like consulting with a home builder who doesn't believe in the basics of physics. If nothing else, the "professors" fail to understand the demands of various genres and their readerships, and that's just for starters. CC: Do you offer guarantees to writers? I mean, do you assure the writer they will be published as a result of utilizing Manuscript to Market services? NEFF: No editor, no matter how brilliant, by contract or otherwise, has sufficient control over a work to engineer it to guaranteed commercial publication. Why? Because no matter what you do, no matter what services you provide or what you say, it is ultimately up to the writer to rise to the challenge. At the end of the day, the writer must actually write or rewrite the manuscript. Also, given the reality and ease of social media interaction, you sometimes find yourself as an editor in a struggle to be heard over the din of readers and writer groups interacting with your clients--often telling them what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear. Any number of things will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I've witnessed long slogs to brass ring territory only to see a history of titanic effort go whooshing into the sewer because one single player in the writer's life, sitting beside her one evening at a theater, told her that her novel was perfectly wonderful, no more changes were necessary, and to just "follow her heart" to certain success. A tragic event for that writer, though it seemed so right and blessed with divine good feeling. CC: Anything else you would like to add on the subject? NEFF: Yes, I want to tell everyone out there to ask themselves the following questions before they ever decide to spend a penny on novel or nonfiction editorial services. As follows: Do you get to review the credentials of the individual who will be working on your ms? Do the person's credentials include any real-time experience working in tandem with the New York publishing business, or at least with mid-sized or quality independent presses? Is there a demonstrable track record of commercial or literary publication of any kind associated with past clients of this person? Is the track record relatively recent or really old news? Is the proposed editor person an actual writer of narrative nonfiction or novels? Has the work been self-published or published? Are accolades or testimonials about the business itself focused rather on buzz phrasing than pointers to actual results, i.e., contracts with major houses or agencies? If you get positive answers to all these questions, you know with reasonable certainty that you and your manuscript will have a fighting chance. CC: Thank you for the interview, Michael. NEFF: Thank you, Charlene. _______________________________ Manuscripts to Market ________________________________[url={url}]View the full article[/url]Tue, 03 Dec 2024 18:05:00 +000011-30-24 Finally joined Publisher's Marketplace. Thank you Write-to-Pitch for the fire under my ass to do this. I've been avoiding for two reasons: 1. Ugh. Another user name and passcode and monthly credit card charge. 2. I didn't want to know- head in sand- if it was zero-skunk-nuttin as far as comparable book deals in my genre... Happy to report I was wrong! Easily found 12 comparable irreverent anti-self-help book deals signed in 2024- at least half with major publishers. Ya-fuckin'-hoo! I've inserted these 12 PM deals into the last pages of my book proposal. Here's the updated book proposal (safe Google Docs Link) for Go Bleep Your Self Help: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p0-3SS_rrfiut8VKmJdHYIt-cnl9vW_6/view?usp=sharing Thanks J.Sat, 30 Nov 2024 14:05:04 +0000For updates on the status of the comedic campus crime novel Pflug Figures It Out, please see my author websiteTue, 26 Nov 2024 21:14:40 +0000GOAL: Joanna Bannister goal is to stay in New York, never to return to her hometown in Hickory Oaks, Missouri. Introduce protagonist Joanna; Joanna’s stepdaughter Chauncy and her brother Sam, along with Lucia her food truck helper, antagonist, Sheriff William (Billy) Morgan IV, and the phone call that moves plot forward and throws Joanna’s life into chaos. SETTING: Opening Day in Central Park of her new business, The Perfect Picknicker TONE: From cheerful and happy to one filled with dread, fear, anxiety FORESHADOW: Questions: What choices and mistakes had Joanna made and why? Why didn’t Sam come for her opening? Why did she leave home and why? Why does Chauncy call her mother Joanna? Who was the guy who went to jail for her assault? Why did Billy testify on her behalf? How did he become sheriff? Who was his father that had the means to get Billy out of trouble, and why did he do it? This was the day Joanna Bannister had longed for. Finally, she felt as if her life were on track. Unlike with her other choices and mistakes, this one felt right. Perfect. The decision to open her mobile food truck, The Perfect Picnicker, in Manhattan Central Park was her dream come true. She hummed “New Day Dawning” by Wynonna as she raised the awning and turned on the flashing sign. “And . . . we are open!” Joanna took in the activity all around. Locals and visitors alike were taking full advantage of the last cool, crisp, sun-filled skyline and the final explosion of majestic colors of the park trees. People meandered along the park walkways and leisurely relaxed on quilts taking in the New York skyline. “ Couldn’t ask for a better day,” Lucia said. “Long time coming,” Joanna said. “And from now on, I intend to make the most of it right here.” She’d made her fair share of choices—and mistakes. Mistakes she did not intend to make again. “I just wish Sam would have come.” “Then why not take him up on his invitation to visit him?” Lucia said. Joanna shook her head. “No.” She’d refused his invite to come back home to Missouri. The place she’d left. Had vowed never to return. “Today, I’m going to make the best of my new life. So, let’s get this show on the road.” * Throughout the day, the phone rang constantly. She and Lucia and daughter Chauncy filled non-stop orders for picnic baskets, the iconic New York Hotdogs and the infamous Pastrami-on-Rye sandwiches. She couldn’t have asked for anything better. Again, the phone rang. “I can’t get that,” Joanna said. “Got to catch up with these orders.” “Me neither,” Lucia said. “Chauncy?” her mother said. “Get that, will you?” “Well, since I’m working for free, Joanna,” Chauncy said, “I’m not answering it.” She turned back to the window, all sweet and accommodating to the next person in line. The girl could turn her sweetness off and on like magic. Joanna gritted her teeth and picked up the phone. She answered with an upbeat voice. “Hello, The Perfect Picknicker; this is Joanna. How can I help you?” “Just the woman I wanted to talk to,” a man said. His voice gruff, his words, more like a snarl, shocked Joanna. She hesitated. That voice . . . strangely familiar. An uneasiness washed over her. Nonsense, she said to herself. Just my first day’s jitters. “Thank you for calling. What would you like to order, sir?” Joanna hugged the phone between her ear and shoulder and grabbed an order pad. Nothing was going to dampen her spirits. Not today. The man laughed. “I don’t want to order anything.” Silence followed. “I’m sorry?” “Just what I said.” Irritation washed over Joanna. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that.” In a snap, Joanna slammed down the phone. Damned pranksters. “Was that another order?” Chauncy said. “No, some kid with nothing better—” The phone rang again. “Damn.” Joanna blew out an exasperated breath. This time she looked at the number. The phone continued to ring. Sam? Chauncy handed her mother another order. “You going to answer that?” Joanna picked up the phone. “Sam, I’m so glad—” “Tsk, tsk, tsk, Joanna. It’s not nice to hang up on an old friend.” Confused, Joanna frowned and pulled the phone away from her ear. She was right. The call came from her brother’s phone. The muscles in Joanna neck contracted like a tightwire ready to snap. “Who is this?” “Why, Joanna Keller, I’m hurt you don’t recognize me.” “Look, mister . . . I don’t have time for your games.” She flung the order her daughter had just given her onto the counter. She clinched her fist around the receiver. “So, either tell me who the hell you are and why you have my brother’s phone, or I’m hanging up.” At the tone of her voice, Lucia and Chauncy looked over at her in surprise. “A-a-a-h, there she is. The Joanna I remember.” And there it was. That voice. From so long ago. Joanna’s voice flattened. “Billy Morgan.” The hometown bully, and an old nemesis. She wanted to reach through the phone and clock the guy. Just like her brother had done when he decked the brute and broke his nose when they were in high school. Joanna wanted to hang up but couldn’t. Why does Billy have Sam’s phone? Before she could ask, Billy continued. “Actually, I don’t go by Billy anymore. Infantile name, really. It’s William. William Morgan.” Now, as a matter of fact, it’s Sheriff William Morgan. Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?” Joanna seethed, then remembered he was calling from her brother’s phone. “Look—” “Now, now, Joanna. Do you, or don’t you want to know why I’m calling from Sam’s phone?” Joanna didn’t answer. That terrible phone call about her parents unexpected deaths resurfaced. No, not Sam. “That’s what I thought. I called you from Sam’s phone ’cause it’s the only way I knew how to get hold of you. You left in such a rush. Remember? And, in case you’re interested, I have some news. News you might want to hear.” Billy sniggered. “Actually, I have two bits of news.” Anything good had never spouted from Billy Morgan’s mouth. “Where’s Sam?” Joanna held her breath. The next words out of his mouth seared her soul like a hot poker. Without any manner of sympathy, he spit them out. “Your brother, he’s dead.” Joanna leaned against the counter and hung her head. He’s lying. I just spoke with him the other day. “Oh, and there’s one more thing. You remember that guy I testified against on your behalf? The one who supposedly assaulted you? Well, he’s out. Poor guy did the whole fifteen years. Thanks to you. “Guess it’s a good thing you are in The Big Apple instead of here in little old Hickory Oaks. He just might be looking for revenge.” Joanna’s tears spilled onto the counter.Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:16:30 +0000