Plot from Query:
When seventeen-year-old Gwen Masterson finds an enchanted book that whisks her back in time, she has no idea she’s about to become the most wanted woman in Camelot. As a modern girl in a medieval world, she is the key that will allow the golden age of King Arthur to flourish.

What starts out as fun and games turns into a nightmare when she becomes trapped in Camelot. Gwen unravels the larger plot – engineered by Merlin – to change the past by finding find a strong woman who will remain loyal to the king. However, such a plan can only work if the participants are willing and Gwen certainly is not. She loathes living in this male-dominated society and wants nothing to do with the arrogant boy-king. The idea of falling in love with Arthur the Neanderthal is ridiculous and yet she’s betrothed to him! To make matters worse, thanks to Merlin’s meddling, Gwen’s life hangs in the balance as she finds herself at the top of Morgana’s ‘people to kill’ list after several assassination attempts.

As Gwen’s unwanted wedding day grows closer, all she wants to do is leave Arthur at the altar and find a way home. She refuses to be anyone’s pawn – but when her brother Leigh finds the book and becomes trapped in the past as well, Gwen no longer has a choice. With Leigh now in Morgana’s clutches, Gwen will have to follow a new destiny in order to save not only her brother, but her future and all of Camelot.

First 250 Words – *UPDATED to Chapter 1 Pages*

She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry today.

“I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“He was such a good man.”

Their words blended together as the mourners passed her by in single-file. Gwen Masterson could barely respond beyond a tip of her head in acknowledgement, her eyes staring straight ahead. Seven years ago, she had stood six feet to the right of this plot of grass on the day they buried her mother. The landscape hadn’t changed much in the intervening years, though the trees were a bit taller and there were a more headstones dotted around. Gwen remembered that day being much the same as it was today: unseasonably cold with dark clouds hanging low in the sky, threatening rain at any moment. The bright flowers resting on the lid of her father’s casket stood out in contrast to the ominous backdrop.

“He was so young…”

“I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”

Gwen clasped her hands in front of her black patterned skirt, squeezing them as hard as she could. She was burying her father after his long, and ultimately unsuccessful, battle with cancer. The last thing she needed was to cause a scene, though all she wanted to do was scream and shake the nearest person until they showed some bit of genuine emotion. Her nails imprinted red crescents onto her palms as she tried to hold her tongue and keep the plastic smile on her face.

So I was tagged earlier today to do this, and just got home and so here is my offering! If you haven’t seen this around and about, here’s what you do:

1. Go to the seventh or seventy-seventh page of WIP.
2. Count down seven lines.
3. Copy the seven sentences that follow and post them on your blog.
4. Tag seven other authors (on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr–up to you!).

So… here we go, from AVALON RISING. I chose the seventh page to give you a nice teaser from Chapter One.

Seven years ago, she had stood six feet to the right of this plot of grass on the day they buried her mother. The landscape hadn’t changed much in the intervening years, though the trees were a bit taller and there were a more headstones dotted around. Gwen remembered that day being much the same as it was today: unseasonably cold with dark clouds hanging low in the sky, threatening rain at any moment. The bright flowers resting on the lid of her father’s casket stood out in contrast to the ominous backdrop.

“He was so young…”

“I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”

Gwen clasped her hands in front of her black patterned skirt, squeezing them as hard as she could.

So there you have it!! Now, instead of tagging folks (as I know mosts of my friends have already been tagged), if you wind up doing this, I will link to you if you comment with your link!

Awesome QTers:

Sarah Ahiers
Jane Lebak
Abigail Schmidt
Kimberly Ann Miller

Other Awesome Folk:
YOU!

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So this is definitely not a post on writing. I have one of those coming up soon, mind — plus a thought for a feature every other month for you guys (if anyone IS reading this thing) if you’re interested. BUT. More on that later.

I want to talk about etiquette in the theatre, be it the cinema or a b’way one.

1. Cell Phones: Sorry? But NO one is so important that they can’t go two and a half hours without actually looking at their phone and texting. Yes, I know there are the exceptions like when you’re a doctor on call or the like. However? I think it’s very unlikely that as a 14 year old you need to constantly be on your phone. Also? The size of your screen means whenever it lights up it’s like a little mini beacon in the dark. And as a little caveat? When they say please silence your phone — they really mean it. I don’t want to hear your ringtone going off in the middle of the show. Not only that, but please do NOT answer your phone and proceed to explain to someone that you’re seeing a show and can you call them back later?

2. Flash Photography: Um. This should be self-explanatory? But theatres are dark places, so when you’re taking pictures in the audience? It’s not only distracting to other audience members — but it can be dangerous to the performers. Furthermore? Taking a picture of yourself because you’re crying over someone’s death in a film and then giggling, then trying to take a few more photos to get one EXACTLY right? Not cool. Especially for the half of the theatre setting behind you.

3. Insert-Name-of-Hot-Character-Here: Y’know. I get it. He’s hot. Even as I’m approaching my 30s (*shudder*) I can still agree that certain characters are hot. Really, I can. And you know, I don’t mind teenage squealing the first time an actor comes on stage. But after squealing the SIXTH time (or the twentieth time. Or even if we only see a FLASH of the actor’s face?) it gets really old. Particularly when the squealing and shouting “He’s so hot!” continues into dialogue.

This public service announcement has been brought to you by one very annoyed girl who saw HUNGER GAMES at a 7pm showing and had to complain to a manager because she missed 80% of the movie Friday night.

This PSA (namely the talking on the phone in the middle of a show bit) is also brought to you by the stupid women behind me at Priscilla Queen of the Desert today who not once, but TWICE did this.

All I ask? No matter what your age, be considerate to people at the theatre. That is all.

So right now, it’s been fairly slow going. My opening is polished and I’ve been steadily editing while trying to balance my fun work, my internship, and that pesky thing known as law school. I’d send out a couple of queries once a month, just to see how I was faring.

And I’ve been rejected.

Yes, rejection is the name of the game, but it still sucks when you wake up to an email that says “your query was engaging, but I didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would”. Hell, you get to the point that a personalized rejection is better than the hated form rejection! Still, rejections suck. You soon realize that no matter how thick you think your skin is, everyone has that one area of vulnerability and they manage to slip beneath that skin and gnaw away.

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve entered several contests as well — and got no love from the agents. At that point, I started re-thinking things. Contests, I will say, are fantastic ways to get some good insta-feedback. At that point, I took a step back and changed things. The title changed. The prologue changed. I started going back over the opening chapters and fixing things, especially when I began to realize just how much my voice has changed over the course of a 76k novel.

Then… came March Pitch Madness, hosted by the amazing @brendadrake, @CA_Marshall, and @Shelley_Watters on their blogs. Still stinging from the last contest rejections, I made a last minute decision to sign up — and I am so glad I did. I waited on pins and needles to see if I got accepted into the final round. Out of 198 entrants, I was one of 60 chosen. OH MY GOD!

I tried not to get my hopes up after the last contest. So when I hit refresh on my entry at noon yesterday, I was shocked to see not one, but TWO requests on my entry for the query and the first 25 pages. I wanted to do a happy dance, but since I was at work, I had to settle for the dance in my head. It looked something like this:

Hugh Grant Does a Happy Dance in LOVE ACTUALLY

Okay, so the .gifs are a little large. So sue me. I want to use things from LOVE ACTUALLY.

At this point I entered the awesome CHALLENGE ROUND. I sat at work, obsessively hitting refresh to see which agent would come out on top. In the end, it was the amazing and awesome Sarah LaPolla who won the day with a 150 page request. It’s safe to say the happy dance I was doing in my head looked something like this:

Laura Linney Flail from LOVE ACTUALLY

So yes. I waited until today to write this post, because I’m afraid that if I wrote it yesterday, it was going to be nothing but a VERY long line of SQUEEEEEEE. So right now is the last set of eyes going over the first 150 pages to make sure they sparkle as much as I know they can. I’ll release it from my hands this weekend. But for right now, I leave you with one final .gif — because this is how I still feel, even as I sit in my law classes and try to do work.

KERMIT FLAIL

I’ve been working at the literary agency for about 8 weeks now, and I have to say I absolutely love every minute of the day. It’s a reminder that I’m happy as all get-out to be in the publishing industry and just hope I can get a good job when this internship is over!

While I’ve been at the agency, I’ve been doing a lot of read reports for some of the agents. What these are, are short summaries and critiques of manuscripts. I have to say? Doing these have been, quite possibly, the best exercise ever. I have one to two pages to both summarize the novel and also give my critique/recommendation which… isn’t a heck of a lot of space. However, the exercise of summarizing something I’m not familiar with has been such a great learning experience when drafting my own query letters and synopsises. (Synopsi??)

I challenge you this. If you’re having trouble figuring out your query/synopsis, pull a book down off the shelf — either one you know well or one you don’t. Read it again. (because if you’re not reading, you can’t write!) Then sit down and try to do the following: write a 35 word pitch, a query, and a synopsis. Then do it again for another book. And if you could use more practice? Do it again. Focus on the main character and the plot. What drives them forward?

We do this all the time when we sit down to tell a friend why they OMG have to read this book. But when we go to write a query letter and impress an agent, it’s hard — mostly because we start second guessing ourselves. We want to make it shine and be that diamond in the slush pile.

I say? Take a step back and work on the fundamentals and if you can easily summarize a story that belongs to someone else? It’s not so hard to do it to your own. Sure we want to include every miniscule plot detail, but that doesn’t work. I look at my new query and synopsis and I’m very, very happy with them both — but they also have been written after I started at the agency.

Good luck and query on!

So… I thought it was about time I posted a little ditty of mine up here. Most of what I’m writing at present is tied up in projects and what-have-you, but this was a quick one off from a weekly contest on the Tin House blog. Didn’t win, but I loved the piece enough to share it!

It’s a flash fiction piece, under 500 words.

Female protagonist finds that the knob and lock on the door of a hotel bedroom are in disrepair; the lock apparently locks itself, and the knob will not turn.

Time. I’m running out of time.

Bolted. Locked. No matter what I do, the door remains firmly stuck and there’s nothing I can do to open it. Believe me, my torn fingernails are a testament to my efforts. So much for the manicure I finally indulged in.

Outside my small prison masquerading as a hotel room, the scent of freesias wafts through the open window on the tropical breeze. In the distance, the soft sound of bird calls reach my ears and somewhere beyond that are the legions of guests who have come to witness this day. Unfortunately for me, those people known as my friends and family are on the far side of the resort and I could scream myself hoarse and no one would come running. On what should be the biggest day of my life, I’m utterly alone and not by choice.

Why hasn’t anyone come for me? Hasn’t anyone noticed I’m missing? Or is everyone so busy that not even the bride’s absence is noted?

My hair is in disarray and I don’t want to think of the three foot rip in my dress — the one that took me six months to save up enough money to even put a down payment on the damn thing. The faux-diamond tiara I coveted is now in pieces, thrown across the room in a fit of anger. Countless bobby pins litter the floor in a semi-circle around the door, bent in every direction when they failed to provide escape. One end of the metal prong that once belonged to the tiara is bent into an unrecognizable shape after being used, with no success, to jimmy the lock.

The fairy tale princess has been transformed back into Cinderella long before her time was set to expire.

My hand is bleeding from pounding on the door, trying to catch the attention of someone who may happen to walk outside my door. I’m still in this cursed room with a blood stain marring the pure white dress. Maybe it’s a good thing no one can see me now. I look like a zombie bride from hell, not the pristine woman everyone expects. I wonder what the guests will think… what Kevin will think. Will he come running for me or will he accept my absence with silent resignation? I don’t bother to wipe the tears from my face as the drip from my chin and onto my dress. It’s already ruined.

And somewhere, in the distance, a clock chimes one.

I have to say, at the start of this journey, critiques were hard to take. Honestly, I think it’s hard to hear “hey, this sucks” (though, hopefully told a bit nicer than that!). It’s something you’ve put your heart and soul into and something you’ve been living with for a very long time. Looking at the calendar, I have been living with this current novel in some form or another for about ten years now. It’s only within the past six months that I stopped putting it off and actually did something about writing it.

So yes, I’m protective of my baby.

The last time I wrote about critiques, it was hard to get the first major one from someone I really trusted — but after some licking of the wounds and letting the dust settle, I took an objective look and realised there was a LOT good there in what I was told. So I edited and moved on.

Now as I have my little critique group formed, when I get comments or line edits, I can’t wait to open them and start going through. I’ve finally realised that it’s not a reflection on ME — it’s just my friends making my work even better. They’re removed from it and know when things need to be tightened up and smoothed out.

Critiques? Bring ‘em on! All I ask: don’t send them at midnight or so — because it’s hard to go to bed. It’s like knowing there’s a present under the tree that you can’t WAIT to open — but you have to wait until Christmas Morning.

So, since I’ve now gotten a handle on critiques, someone tell me when rejection letters get easier?

Last week I began my semester-long internship at InkWell Management. Let me tell you, it’s been amazing so far. Promise it’s not a conflict of interest as I’m not planning on querying InkWell until I’m done with my internship (unless they give me permission to do so this semester). Also, yes, going into publishing is something I’m interested in beyond just getting published. I guess you could say I want to work both sides of the aisle. ;^)

Hey — if I can use my legal career and be an agent (or at a publishing house) by day and do my authoress thing by night? I will be thrilled. But career aspirations are not for this post. XD

In any case, last week was spent wading through the slush pile and I was given several manuscripts to read as well! Which, I must say, was much more interesting than my law reading! Note to self, reading on my iPad is SO much easier than on my mac.

However, I can also say that going through the slush pile has been a bit of a wake-up call for me as an author.

I’ve sent out a couple of test balloons over the course of the past couple of weeks to try out my query. Learned what I was doing wrong, mind, but that doesn’t make the rejections sting any less either. Yet as I’ve been going through the slush pile and pressing send on the rejection letters it really sank in just how subjective this business really is. For me, the literary fiction isn’t my cup of tea — after reading cases all day long, I want to get lost in a book… not have to read and figure out what I’m reading. But, again, personal choice. Just as I have things that aren’t my favourite, so too do the agents I’m reading for. Doesn’t mean that my rejections mean I’m doing a bad job — just that, even with all my research, I hit agents who don’t like my premise.

Which is totally okay.

Seeing the submissions inbox pile up? Yeah, I see how many submissions agents get day after day — and if it doesn’t strike your fancy, you hit next. There’s only so many hours in the day and you can’t go for anything that doesn’t grab you and won’t let you go until you’re at the end and still wanting more.

So yes, after one week the internship I’ve gained a lot of perspective on the other side and what the agents go through.

Doesn’t mean the rejections won’t hurt when they come, however — but it still gives a bit of perspective from the agent side to the writer side.

As I get ready to start the submission to agent process in the next couple of months, I realized I hit a bit of a stumbling block: genre! Yes, I know when that magical time comes that I have an agent and an editor they will know best where to file my book — but at the same time, I need to have some idea of what my genre is for when I query agents. I don’t want to be THAT PERSON who queries 500 agents blindly without knowing what genres they do and don’t represent. I’ve done my research, baby.

However, that still leaves me with the question of what in tarnation do I call this thing? Fantasy? Paranormal Romance? Urban Fantasy? It’s So Good It Doesn’t NEED A Genre? Well… maybe not so much with the last one. Ahem.

The problem is, my book has a lot of elements of ALL those genres.

I’ve read on a lot of sites that, right now, paranormal and dystopian are a hard sell. Well, don’t care that much about dystopian as that’s not what I’m writing. However, I don’t know if I’d classify a book about magic and sorcerers as paranormal — it’s more of a fantasy book. BUT! on the other hand — my book does have romantic elements in it as one of the main plotlines… which doesn’t exactly follow fantasy either in my experience.

I also realize that calling it a paranormal fantasy romance would make me look like a right idiot trying to throw the manuscript and all the genres at the wall and hoping something would stick.

Tonight I was doing some reading over at the Query Tracker Forums and I came across a few interesting threads regarding genre — namely, one I hadn’t thought of: Urban Fantasy. I always had a preconceived notion that urban fantasy was the gritty fantasy set in the middle of a city… like, something that would be set in Harlem, NYC. Reading this thread, however, gave me a whole new appreciation for this genre.

In general, it seems like “paranormal” is generally applied to paranormal romances. Those are stories where the plot revolves around the failure or success of a relationship, so the conflicts and complications come from the interpersonal dynamics between the main characters. Urban fantasies can definitely have romantic elements, but in those stories, the main characters are generally teamed up and working together to overcome some outside obstacle bigger than their relationship.

An easy way to think of the difference is to ask yourself, “Are my main characters opposed and working hard to get together, or are they together and working hard to face an outside opposition?” — LisaAnn

I think I’m in love with this litmus test.

Urban Fantasy does have that little requirement of having a contemporary, real-world, urban setting (as opposed to Fantasy’s wholly imagined landscape), but I think most of us tend to have a sort of real-world setting… even if that real-world is imagined. Hm… a bit of a double-edged sword there, isn’t it? Don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t call LORD OF THE RINGS an urban fantasy novel, but I know I’d call THE FEVER SERIES (by Karen Marie Moning) a UF.

Looking at my plot, yes there are romantic elements in it — but in the end they’ll be working together to face an outside opponent. The romantic elements aren’t all there is to the story. A large part? Yeah, I’d say so — but the ultimate end is defeating the bad guy rather than the romance elements of “together-break-up-together-break-up-together-forever”… thing.

Of course, you read another blog and they say that urban fantasy is something dark and gritty — like how I initially pictured Urban Fantasy to be. *throws up hands*

Maybe it is time to throw a bunch of things at the wall and see what sticks.

Well, it’s December 31st and in a few hours I’ll be heading off to the theatre to perform in yet another New Year’s Eve concert. I’ve been a part of these NYE concerts for so many years, it seems odd to contemplate a New Year’s where I won’t play “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and ring in the New Year’s with actors I’ve known for more than a decade.

And yet, who knows where I’ll be next year?

This year has been such a roller-coaster of emotions for me, and I really don’t know where to start looking at what shaped me this past year. I’m embarking on a new and (I will admit) terrifying journey into the world of publishing. Yes, it’s scary to think of putting yourself and your work out there in the hopes an agent will like it and your writing and sign you on. My manuscript is going through edits with my wonderful critique group and my query letter is sitting, polished, in dropbox and waiting to be sent out.

Yes, it’s scary as all hell.

While I’ve been home, I’ve come across a few things I wrote in high school (ugh!) and even books I made as a child. I’ve been writing my entire life and honing my craft as I’ve gone from picture books in elementary school to fanfiction in high school and college — and it’s time I followed my heart and went back to my creative lifestyle. It’s where I’m truly happiest.

Since I decided to push myself to really make a go of writing, I’ve managed to complete a short story, an entire novel, plot out several more, and be asked to participate in an upcoming eZine launch. I’ve been invited to write for Bleeding Cool on several occasions, and will be one of the bloggers in an upcoming YA Blog to be launched in the new year. Let no one say that, when I finally set my mind to something, I go at it with both guns blazing.

Thus, as this year ends, I feel I would be remiss if I didn’t say a few thank yous to the friends who have helped me through these past six months to find where I need to be.

So first of all, the biggest thank you in the world goes to my bestie, Kris. I don’t know where I’d be without her, and I certainly know she’s the one who has pushed me to finish this draft and will make sure I don’t chicken out and not submit this thing to agents when the time comes.

Then there are my two Danas — same spelling; different pronunciation. One who is my guinea pig for reading and I’ve left completely in the dark; the other who I have talked and talked to in order to figure out what direction my plot is going in.

And then a huge thank you to my pro-friends: Aimee, Jules, and Jesi — who let me ramble on and are there to talk me down off the ledge and offer such wonderful advice. ♥ And a special thanks to Mr. Tony Lee — who introduced me to so many amazing people in London and also has always been there with a witty remark or kind word of encouragement.

To my critiquers: Erin, Alexa, Nuri, and Jate. ♥ Your suggestions are invaluable.

But most of all — thanks to you guys. My friends and family with all of your support, it means the world to me. To those of you who I’m just getting to know thanks to QT or other corners of the internets, welcome. Thank you… for everything. (And I’m sure I’ve probably left someone out, but that’s what I get for writing this after a 4+ hour rehearsal. So if I forgot you? I’m sorry. ♥)

When the clock strikes midnight, 2012 will be upon us. May those of us who are struggling to get noticed and find our niche in the publishing industry find everything we’ve wanted in the upcoming months.

Happy New Year!