Galleys - and not the cooking kind

Camy here! As I write this, I have just finished going through the galley proofs for my November humorous romantic suspense novel, Protection for Hire. But as soon as I finished it, I started on my galley proofs for my January 2012 Love Inspired Suspense novel, Stalker in the Shadows, which are due in less than a week.

So what are galley proofs? For those of you who don’t know, they’re the typset version of your book--the manuscript has gone through a special software that changes it into the special file format used by the printing press. No, the printing press doesn’t use Microsoft Word documents! Galley proofs are also sometimes referred to as copy edits.

For Zondervan, the galleys look almost exactly like the book, with extra space around the edges where the pages will be cut:

I got the hard copy of the galley proofs--yup, a huge manuscript mailed to my door in a box. I made changes to the galleys--but because this is such a late stage of the manuscript production process, the only changes I can make are very small, which will not alter the layout much. So I’m mostly changing any errors I catch like typos or misspellings, or any story consistency errors that need to be fixed.

I also type out the corrections in an email to my editor. For example, for the page above, the corrections look like this:

page 7 line 16. Change "Glock" to "gun"
page 7 line 17. Delete "any more"

For my Love Inspired Suspense galleys, I get them as a .pdf file. They look different from the Zondervan galleys since Love Inspired uses a different program for their printing presses:

Since I got the .pdf file, if there was a change I wanted to make, I printed out the page in question, made the change by hand (which you can see I did above), and then scanned the page using my scanner. Authors don’t always have to do this, but since I had a scanner, and since it makes it easier for my editor, that’s what I did.

Like my Zondervan galleys, I also had to write out the corrections. Love Inspired has a form to fill out called AAs (Author Alterations). Here’s what mine looks like so far:

(AA = author alterations, PE = printer’s errors) Also like the Zondervan galleys, I can’t make major changes, only things that won’t alter the typesetting--errors and story inconsistencies, and I made a few changes above because the reading flow was confusing, but all the changes are only minor and necessary.

When I self-published my fourth Sushi novella, Weddings and Wasabi, I went through lots of galley proofs also, but they were all in .pdf files, not hard copies. Below is a page from the galley .pdf file:

I caught an error near the bottom, so I filled out an action required sheet for WinePress that listed page, line, and change:

So there you have it, more information than you ever wanted to know about galley proofs from three different publishers, Zondervan, Love Inspired, and WinePress. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!


Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is the fourth book in her Sushi series, Weddings and Wasabi. She is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

Click here to find out how you can join my Street Team—it’s free and there’s lots of chances to win prizes!

My Self-Publishing Experience

Camy here! I just recently self-published the fourth novel in my Sushi Series, Weddings and Wasabi, and it came out a few weeks ago in both print book and ebook formats:

After finally graduating with a culinary degree, Jennifer Lim is pressured by her family to work at her control-freak aunty’s restaurant. But after a family dispute, Jenn is determined to no longer be a doormat and instead starts her own catering company. Her search for a wine merchant brings John into her life—a tall, dark, handsome biker in form-fitting black leather, who’s Hispanic to boot. It would be wonderfully wild to snag a man like that!

Shy engineer Edward tentatively tries out his birthday present from his winery-owner uncle—a Harley-Davidson complete with the trimmings. Jennifer seems attracted to the rough, aggressive image, but it isn’t his real self. Is she latching onto him just to spite her horrified family? And if this spark between them is real, will showing her the true guy underneath put it out?

And what’s with the goat in the backyard?

PRINT BOOK: Order from:
BarnesandNoble.com
Amazon
Winepress

E-BOOK: Order from:
BarnesandNoble.com
Amazon
Winepress

The book is only a novella, about 30,000 words, but because it’s Print on Demand, the price of the print book is a bit steep. So I made the ebook cheaper, only $2.99.

The self-publishing process was very eye-opening for me. I definitely made me appreciate my publishers even more because I didn’t realize how many things I had to do that my publisher did for me.

I had very specific motivations for self-publishing. I wanted to have the fourth Sushi book available to people because my publisher only contracted three books, but there were four cousins (five if you count Mimi). However, I knew that the number of people who would want the fourth book would probably be small--a niche market. I also didn’t have time to write a full length (90,000 word) novel.

So I decided to self-publish for purely marketing purposes. I am not expecting to make tons of money off of these books, but I did want to have it available to people to buy, or as giveaway items for when I launch my next two books (Protection for Hire in November and Stalker in the Shadows in January).

To begin with, I chose how I wanted to self-publish. I was willing to pay to have a company do everything for me, so I went with Winepress, which is a bit more expensive than some other avenues, but for me, time was more valuable to me than money.

Next, I hired a freelance editor to do a substantive (macro) edit on my book before I submitted it to Winepress. This is the job of my main editors at Zondervan, Love Inspired, or Guideposts. I know that no matter how spectacular a writer you are, every writer needs editing. So I paid a trusted freelance editor, Meredith Efken at the Fiction Fix It Shop, to do this for me.

I also asked my Street Team members if any of them would be willing to proofread my manuscript. At my publishing houses, there are at least a dozen people who look through the manuscript before it goes to print, so I wanted to approximate the same number of people. I ended up having about 15 people look through my manuscript, which included three English teachers and a freelance copy editor, since they were on my Street Team.

Each self-publishing house has their own “packages” and submission formats, so here’s what I had to do with Winepress. I bought a “package” that included a graphic designer to do the cover and exterior layout. However, I wanted to hire my own graphic designer to do the cover since she knows and understands my books. The graphic designer at Winepress only has a limited number of hours of work on my cover, plus he/she also hasn’t read all three of the previous Sushi books and doesn’t know what the character Jenn is like. So I hired Dineen Miller to do my cover, but it ended up being a bit complicated because of some miscommunication with the Winepress art department. Eventually it got sorted out, but it took a bit of time.

I submitted the manuscript to Winepress and it went through several phases. They require all manuscripts to go through their own editor, who can then recommend you hire a developmental editor at Winepress if the book needs it. For some reason the Winepress editor suggested I hire a developmental editor to further go through my book, for about $600. I said no because Meredith had already done that, and from the Winepress editor’s notes about what needed work, I didn’t think that the book needed more editing.

Then the book went through typesetting and a proofreader. I was very unhappy with the Winepress proofreader (it became an issue that I had to resolve), but their typesetting editor was fantastic, and most of the people I dealt with at Winepress were very nice to work with, plus they have excellent communication to keep me up to date with every step of the process.

The print book and ebooks are available at all major booksellers, which is very nice. Overall, from the time I turned in the manuscript to the time it got on the websites for sale, was about 5 months, although I had contacted them 4 months earlier to schedule my book, and I also opted for a slightly accelerated process to make sure the book was out before my November release and all the promotion I will have to do a month or two before that.

What Winepress also did was give me a coupon code to enable me to give the ebook away to my Street Team members. I will do that with my newsletter subscribers in October sometime as promo for my November release, Protection for Hire. I haven’t worked with Smashwords or any other ebook self-publisher, so I’m not sure if they can do that for you. I didn’t want the book to be free for everyone, just certain people, as a promotional tool.

All in all, it was extremely expensive, a little over $4000. However, when you take into account my advances, I think it was money well-spent to promote not just my Sushi books but also my upcoming releases.

So there’s my self-publishing saga. Have any of you self-published or will you self-publish? I’ve heard of several authors who have self-published their backlist and it has turned out great for them.

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is the fourth book in her Sushi series, Weddings and Wasabi. She is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

Click here to find out how you can join my Street Team—it’s free and there’s lots of chances to win prizes!

Guest blogger Kim Watters: Setting is Important

Camy here, and I'm very pleased to be able to introduce Love Inspired author Kim Watters to you all here on Seekerville! I met Kim a couple months ago at the RT Convention in Los Angeles, and she's a totally fun person!

And now, here's Kim!

Setting is important

Whether you write about urban settings or small towns, the setting is important. LI readers like a sense of family and community, and a sense of place. Small towns or tiny communities seem to fit that perfectly.

My impression is that for most people, the idea that the place you came from is a fond memory. Even more the older you get because you remember the good. You remember it as unchanged, pure and still wholesome. Always a good setting that captures the imagination. I think it’s also part of the American dream that you can always go home again. I’ll have to keep you updated as I’m attending two reunions this summer; the high school I graduated from outside Chicago and the high school I would have graduated from outside Philadelphia had my family not moved in 7th grade.

That said, LI has published books that take place in mid-sized and big cities. Home is anywhere you live-and you can certainly have a community of family, friends and neighbors in a city. Take Chicago for instance, where I moved into the city after graduating from college. There are pockets of ethnic areas all over the city. Greek Town, China Town, Little Italy to name a few. A sense of community could easily develop there and create the type of atmosphere that LI is looking for. A sense of community in the big city. You could even do it in a condo building along the lake, or in another proposal I have ready to go, the story takes place in a hotel for a week with a group of people who have come together for a contest. They form a family and rely on each other to get through that week.

My first LI book, On Wings of Love, took place in Scottsdale Arizona. Definitely not small, but not too big either. Since the book is about organ donation, I used the tight-knit group of medical personnel to create the community feel.

In my second Home Sweet Home, out now, I used a small fictitious town in Northern Arizona. By combining the two real towns of Prescott and Flagstaff and a bunch of creativity, I created Dynamite Creek and brought in the best of both towns into the story.

Some authors use real towns, other fictitious ones. I’ve done both but I prefer to use made up ones.

Real towns provide real places, streets etc. but I find they can limit you to what is really there. I strive for accuracy and nothing pulls me out of a story quicker when I know the location and the place they are talking about isn’t there. In On Wings of Love, I did create a fictitious hospital and businesses set up in Scottsdale to protect the real businesses from any errors or liberties I took to write the story.

Creating fictitious towns allows you to make up whatever you want or need. Even though my towns were based on real ones, the shops lining the main street were made up. Need a bowling alley or a central park? Put it in. It’s your town, you can do what you want.

No matter where the story is set though, you’ll notice the sense of community. It plays an integral role in your characters, their struggles and ultimate resolution to their conflicts so they can have their own Happily-Ever-After. Thanks for stopping by.

Kim Watters

Stories From The Heart

www.kimwatters.com

www.muchcheaperthantherapy.blogspot.com
www.loveinspiredauthors.blogspot.com
www.craftieladiesofromance.blogspot.com

Camy here: Thanks for joining us, Kim!

How about you? Is the setting for your current manuscript real or fictional, and why did you choose one or the other?

Update: I forgot to mention earlier that Kim will be giving away a copy from her backlist.

What I Learned from Reading

Camy here! I’m in the middle of finishing a proposal for Love Inspired Suspense, and I’ve been doing a lot of reading of the most recent Love Inspired Suspense novels (all downloaded onto my Nook!)

Why do I do this? To keep up with the line. I need to know what storylines have been used recently, what character occupations have been written, what types of spiritual arcs have been described.

It’s true that there is nothing new under the sun, but I also don’t want to turn in a proposal with a storyline almost exactly like what was just published, or with character occupations that were just on the shelves last month.

Reading for market research seems a bit like cheating because it’s FUN! And yet you need to do it for your career. Your family rolls their eyes when you say that, right? (At least, mine does.) But it’s totally true. You need to read extensively in the line you’re targeting to make your proposal/manuscript fit in with that publishing house as best as you can make it fit, while at the same time being different enough to wow an editor.

So here are my tips for Reading For Market Research:

Ignore your family if they don’t believe you or understand. Don’t give in to the guilt. You really do need to do this.

Read in the line you’re targeting or read in your genre, or read your genre of the publishing house you’re targeting. If you’re targeting Historical Romance and Revell, then read all Revell’s Historical Romance novels, but you don’t have to read their Contemporary Fiction or Contemporary Romance novels.

Read the most recent books. The ones published 10 years ago are going to have different publishing standards than the ones published this year.

Look for trends. What types of storylines have been done? What character occupations? What story elements? Are any of those too similar to what you’re writing? Then either change up your manuscript or target a different house.

Don’t compare yourself to the writing. That will only lead to poor self-esteem and that shows in your writing. You’re only reading for story and character elements. Don’t compare yourself!!!

Keep up with the line/publishing house. Since houses can change what they want so quickly, don’t fall behind. Keep up with things so you’ll see when there are any changes.

If you’re targeting Love Inspired or Heartsong Presents, aim for the atmosphere of the line, but keep your unique writer’s voice. Since category romance has massive sales through their book clubs, they try to target the books toward that reader demographic, which is very specific compared to the reader demographics of some of the other larger houses. That means that Love Inspired and Heartsong need each book to have a specific reading atmosphere that will be what their readers are expecting. Don’t muffle your writer’s voice, but don’t write in a style that doesn’t fit with the line in general. If you read all the Seekers’ books for Love Inspired, each one has their own writer’s voice, but you’ll notice a certain “atmosphere” that carries through each of the books, too.

So let us know--what line or house are you targeting? If you don’t know, some of us might be able to offer suggestions so you can read for market research!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger. She is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

The Best of Seekerville From the Archives and First Five Pages Critique

Contest Judge Comments by Camy Tang


Camy here, your friendly neighborhood Genesis contest coordinator, talking about contest judge comments.

Now, I have to confess, I peek. I look at the comments of the judges as they return their entries to me.

In addition to being head coordinator, I’m category coordinating the Women’s Fiction category of the Genesis contest, so obviously I’m not looking at ALL the judged entries for ALL the categories, just my three categories.

But I’m not judging any entries in this contest (conflict of interest), so I figure it doesn’t hurt to look at the comments. And it helps me to evaluate if a judge tends to score high or low, or if they give lots of comments or only a few.

Here’s the facts—most judges in a contest are not habitually low or high scoring judges. Judge #A might happen to score Entry #1 lower than the other two judges who got that entry, but Judge #A will NOT typically score ALL her entries low—just that one entry will happen to be a low score.

In fact, the majority of judges are very temperate in their scoring. The maximum number of points is 100, with 60 being all 3s—average. Most judges might score one entry in the 90s and one entry in the 40s and the rest will range in between.

Before you gasp, think about it—it’s a bell curve. Only a few will have high scores and go on to the finals. Only a few are bare beginning writers. The rest fall in the largest area of the bell curve.

Granted, once in a while you’ll get that one judge who scores everything a 20, but also remember that once in a while you’ll get that one judge who scores everything 90 or higher and it might help propel you into the finals. And I’m certainly not going to complain about a high scoring judge when it benefits me. :)

Anyway, I was going to talk about judge comments.

Some judges have obviously taken at least an hour or more to score that 15-page entry, because they’ve got Track Changes comments and suggestions all over the place.

Some judges have a bare handful of comments.

As a coordinator, I kind of wish judges would write more comments, or longer comments, but as a writer, I also have realized that my own editors don’t wax poetic on a point.

They say something once, like “The heroine is not likable in the opening chapter.” And they expect me to fix it. They don’t tend to give me long paragraphs about WHY my heroine isn’t likable.

Here’s one thing all the Genesis judges have done (or should have done)—they filled out the Summary sheet on the scoresheet that lists five different areas of writing craft (Professional Impact, Story, Characterization, Conflict, Dialogue) and an overall Strengths/Weaknesses section. The judge comments in that Summary sheet are all typically rather useful.

What you have to do is realize that some judges say a LOT in very FEW WORDS.

It’ll be up to you, the entrant, to read carefully and figure out how to fix things.

“The story confused me in chapter two.” (Maybe too much going on, or too many characters, or inadequately explained motivations and actions)

“The dialogue was stilted.” (Maybe the entrant needs to have people read her dialogue so she can hear them herself.)

“I don’t know who the main character(s) are.” (Point of view might be muddled, or the main characters simply aren’t even in the first chapters, which could be a problem since most editors want to know who the book is about fairly quickly. There was the First Three Pages column in the March 2011 RWR that illustrated that point.)

“There’s no romance in the entry.” (The entrant entered the manuscript in the wrong category, or if the book really is a romance, they need to put some of that in the first 15 pages—this is typically a requirement of the romance genre.)

“Character was not sympathetic.” (This usually means there are several things in the first pages that make the reader not like the character—actions, or thoughts, or attitude, or inaccurately explained motivations. Here’s where crit partners instructed to look for where the character is unsympathetic can point out nuances.)

These comments are similar to what my editors have told me in their revision letters. When you enter a contest and get your entry back, realize that the comments can be very useful even if they’re not profuse.

Sometimes, you see the same comment on the same entry given by two different judges. That’s usually something to pay attention to. If Judge #A says she didn’t like your heroine, and Judge #B says he couldn’t relate to the heroine, that’s saying the same thing—make your heroine more sympathetic.

Some judges say completely disparate things—“great dialogue” and “stilted dialogue.” Well, it could be just personal preference—one liked your dialogue and one didn’t.

However, if another judge agrees and says you have “stilted dialogue,” then maybe it’s something to address.

Or if another judge says you have “great dialogue,” then just don’t stress about the “stilted dialogue” comment and just work on constantly improving your dialogue skills.

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

This post first appeared in Seekerville March 20, 2008.

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More info here.

Guest blogger Dream about the Love Inspired Historical pitch session

Camy here, and I'm happy to host my friend Dream, who is guest blogging today about the Love Inspired Historical pitch session! The picture above is me and Dream in this awesome British High Tea restaurant in Denver, Colorado.

And now, here's Dream!

Good morning, friends in Seekerville! I'm so excited to be joining you today, especially because I'm offering some of you a chance to finally escape Unpubbed Island! Well, okay, I can't personally make any offers, but I do have a wonderful opportunity to share with you.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Dream, and I'm one of the hosts on Harlequin.com. I mainly work on the Love Inspired area, and I spend a lot of time chatting with authors and would-be authors as well as our readers. In fact, some of your Seekers (waves at Camy and Cheryl) hung out with me there long before they were published. It's been fun watching my friends on this incredible journey.

Which leads me to the great opportunity. Love Inspired Historical is having an online pitch session via Harlequin. Over the past several years, Harlequin has been committed to changing the unpubbed status of our members to published! We've had close to 60 of our online pitchers go on to sell the book they pitched in our chat room. What makes this newest opportunity unique is that this is the first time Love Inspired Historical has ever offered an online pitch.

Here are the basics:

If you have a completed manuscript targeted at Love Inspired Historical, you can enter the editor pitch challenge.

Out of all the entries received, senior editor Tina James will choose her five favorite, and those five entrants will be selected to join us in a special online chat where those entrants will each spend time talking with Tina about their books.

If you think you've got what it takes, you can find the full details on Harlequin.com here: http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/write-stuff/editor-pitch-challenge-steeple-hill-love-inspired-historical
I also encourage you to join our community, where we have a lot of great folks who love Love Inspired books. You can find our community here: http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/steeple-hill


Some specific tips:
1. DO make your log line and synopsis compelling. Be sure to hit on the key elements in the story, including your characters' goals, motivations, conflict, and of course, the romance!
2. DON'T leave the ending a surprise. Make sure it's clear how the story ends.
3. DO take the time to make your entry shine and have others read it before you hit send.
4. DON'T send an entry that's not targeted for Love Inspired Historical. Check the guidelines to be sure.
5. DO try!! You never know, this could be your big break!

I'll be here all day to answer your questions about the online pitch process, as well as anything else you might want to know about our community. The only caveat I'm going to issue here is that I'm not an editor. I work from home (mostly in my jammies), so I have no access to anything in our editorial department. I can't answer anything specifically about your stories or ideas.

Thanks for coming! I've got a basket of Love Inspired Historicals to give away, and we'll draw a winner from everyone who comments. Winner announced in the Weekend Edition.

You can also find us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/LoveInspiredBooks), Twitter (LoveInspiredBks), as well as on Shoutlife, MySpace, and Goodreads.

--Dream

Camy here: Thanks so much for guest blogging with us, Dream!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

The Power of a Deadline

Camy here, and I just finished a deadline on February 15th. It was for revisions for my October book, Protection for Hire. (For those of you who watch the TV show Human Target, yes the similarities to the opening credits is deliberate. I love Human Target! Action and humor. My kinda show. :)

Anyway, in finishing my revisions, I realized how much more efficiently I work when under deadline. Somehow my focus becomes narrower, my brain starts firing faster, and I work harder and more efficiently.

I was like this when I was working in biotech research, too. Deadlines helped me plan experiments better, and work efficiently and accurately.

I’m serious. All the sticky problems I’d been mulling over for a few days suddenly became clearer and solved in a few minutes the day before the revisions were due. I ended up trashing what I’d written earlier and writing stuff that was ten times better. I was able to make firm decisions about what I needed to cut and what I needed to flesh out.

How do you work under deadlines? Some people are NOT good with deadlines. Other people are like me and thrive under them.

I know that not all of you have an editor who will chew you out if you don’t turn in your manuscript on time. But if you’re like me and work better under a deadline—or if you don’t know if you work better or worse under a deadline—here’s an idea for you: How about setting a hard deadline for yourself to see if it helps you?

The consequences have to be as momentous as pissing off your editor. The person who saw your jewel of a manuscript and fought for you in pub board and believes in you and who tells accounting to cut you a check. You wouldn’t want to piss her off, right?

So your deadline has to be as momentous as that. I can’t involve your mother, spouse, or any soft-hearted friends who will forgive you. And it helps if it involves cold, hard, cash, although that’s not very effective if it’s your spouse and not you who’s bringing in income. It has to involve a very personal, painful sacrifice on your part if you don’t make your deadline.

Randy Ingermanson had a deal with John Olson—in order to improve his productivity, Randy told John he’d pay him ten bucks for every minute he was late getting to his computer in the morning (I think that was it. Regardless, it involved money exchanging hands, and it wasn’t a slap on the wrist, it was a painfully expensive consequence). He set a time, and John kept him accountable, and if Randy was late, John got paid. After Randy paid John a time or two, he started being better about getting to work by a certain time.

Your deadline has to be just as painful. Like if you don’t make your deadline, you have to do babysitting duty every weekend for two months for all your husband’s friends, so they could go out and do what they wanted.

Be creative. But be painful. Then make your deadline and try to hit it. See if making yourself a deadline helps you to write better—or worse.

I will be the first person to say that some people DON’T work better under a deadline. I happen to turn into SUPERWOMAN when under a deadline and I fully believe in the power of stress. :)

How about you?

GIVEAWAY: Thanks to Tina for this idea. I’m giving away a free 30-minute telephone mentoring session. To enter, answer this question: Do you write better or worse under deadline? Do you know? Also please leave your email address or some way for me to contact you, otherwise I’ll pull another name.

Winner will be announced in the Weekend Edition.

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

The Best of Seekerville from the Archives and First Five Pages Critique

Some Deep Point of View Tips with Camy Tang

I’m breaking my own rule about short blog posts because I got a few questions recently about deep point of view, and I thought it might be nice to give a few quick and dirty tips for how to deepen your character’s point of view in a manuscript.

(For those of you not familiar with the phrase, “deep point of view,” the point of going deeper in your limited third person point of view is to stick the reader in your character’s skin. This will often result in a more powerful emotional experience for your reader.)

Don’t name the emotion.

Many times, when a writer names an emotion, it distances the reader from the character. For example:

Anxiety trembled in her stomach.

Anger coursed through her.

She shivered as fear tiptoed down her spine.

Readers don’t fully feel the emotion when they simply read the words anxiety, anger, fear, etc.

They feel the emotion when they’re in the character’s body and head, feeling the physical sensations, acting with the character, thinking their thoughts, speaking their words.

An electric mixer in her stomach scrambled her insides.

Her body went rigid and her clawed hands trembled, a thread away from ripping the smile off his face.

A ghostly fingertip drew down her spine, freezing her shoulder blades together.

As with anything, moderation is the key—if the sentence flows better and is more powerful by naming the emotion, there’s no rule that says you can’t do it.

Eliminate “telling” verbs.

By “telling” verbs, I mean phrases like “he wondered,” “she realized,” “he saw,” “she felt,” etc.

He wondered if he’d ever return to her.

She realized he wasn’t the man she thought he was.

He decided to follow her.

She felt cold.

These “telling” verbs tend to distance the reader from the character rather than sticking the reader in the character’s skin.

Would he ever return to her? (By eliminating “he wondered,” the reader is thinking his thoughts with him.)

He wasn’t the man she thought he was.

He turned around and followed her. (This combines action with decision, which draws the reader along because something is happening.)

Cold. Her feet had disappeared. Her fingers wouldn’t move. The shivering had taken over her entire body. (Here, we d help the reader actually feel the character’s physical sensations.)

Show immediate emotional reactions in physical, thought, dialogue, action.

This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but often a character’s reaction to something usually follows this order:

(1) physical (gut or involuntary) reaction
(2) thought
(3) dialogue
(4) purposeful action

If you write a character’s reaction in this order, it will usually give a stronger visual picture in your reader’s mind, and the reader herself will almost feel the reactions with your character.

You don't have to use all four reactions. Go with the flow of the scene. Sometimes I only use one or two (like physical and thought, or thought and dialogue, etc.), whatever "feels" right to me when I write the scene.

One thing to remember--use vivid imagery for your reader and avoid clichés.

Don't have your heroine’s heart leap for joy. Instead:

For a wild moment, she thought, He's come to see me. And her heart twirled in a riotous dance." –Moi, Deadly Intent

Don’t have your hero go on red alert. Instead:

Follow your gut, Pete's first sergeant used to remind him. Right now, his gut was screaming that something wasn't on the up-and-up about this late-night rendezvous. –Debby Giusti, Protecting Her Child

Look at your own character's emotional reactions. Are they in the right order? Are they vivid?

Rewrite thoughts to be more immediate.

Many times, meandering thoughts are “telling” the reader information purely for the sake of the story.

Sarah wondered why he wanted to see her. She was only the housemaid, not a member of the family, and Lord Griffith hated her.

Sarah wouldn’t be likely to say to herself, “I’m only Josephine’s housemaid, not a member of the family, and Mr. Griffith hates me.” She knows all that already so she wouldn’t tell it to herself.

But she’d emotionally react to her knowledge of those facts, and her emotional reaction will draw the reader into her emotions, too.

Why would Lord Griffith want her, of all people? To further humiliate the housemaid? Her gut involuntarily clenched at the fleeting vision of his spit flying in her face, his gaze blacker than the coat of his prize-winning horse.

Don’t make it easy for your reader. Instead, make the reader work to discover clues about the characters.

Describe things as your point of view character would describe them.

Think of your character’s personality and life experiences. The language of the narrative—even though it’s in third person—would still closely reflect the character’s own word choices.

My heroine, Naomi Grant, wouldn’t describe her own father as Mr. Grant (unless they had a different sort of relationship and she was used to referring to her father as Mr. Grant, which would be a whole other set of neuroses). She’d be more likely to think of him as “Dad” or “my dad” or “my father.”

Word choice, descriptions, and grammar styles should differ from character to character as you switch point of views in your story.

Eat and leave. That’s all she had to do.

If Grandma didn’t kill her first for being late.

Lex Sakai raced through the open doorway to the Chinese restaurant and was immediately immersed in conversation, babies’ wails, clashing perfumes, and stale sesame oil. She tripped over the threshold and almost turned her ankle. Stupid pumps. Man, she hated wearing heels.

--Camy Tang, Sushi for One?
(forgive me for using so many of my own examples, but it’s just easier for me)

Compare to:

Andrea O’Malley paused on the threshold of the Chinese restaurant. She wasn’t sure if she liked the exotic smells that teased her nose—spices she couldn’t name, as well as nutty sesame oil, salty-sweet oyster sauce, pungent soy sauce. She patted her French twist, which didn’t need fiddling with. She couldn’t help it—she was a golden-haired alien in the midst of these black-haired party guests. At least she hadn’t dressed inappropriately—the other guests stood talking in clusters, the women in short silk dresses like her own.

Don’t describe things/people/settings—instead, experience them through your viewpoint character.

If you write nice sentences of colorful description of a person, setting, or object, there’s limited emotional involvement since the description could be coming from another person in the room, not necessarily your viewpoint character.

Instead, give your character’s emotional reaction to the description. Several things will happen:

(a) The description become more interesting because it will be from your viewpoint character’s eyes.

(b) The language of the description will reflect your viewpoint character (versus your own author voice).

(c) The reader becomes more involved in the description because it will have a more emotional element.

Here’s an excerpt from the original version of my manuscript, The Corinthian Rules (which got completely rewritten into Only Uni):

“All right, you lovely single ladies, come on up for the bouquet toss.”

Rats. She should have sneaked off to the restroom earlier.

Trish Sato ducked to hide from the sweeping gaze of the Master of Ceremonies, her skeletal Uncle Charley. He stood at the front of the large banquet room in his rumpled black tuxedo, his wisps of wiry grey hair floating several inches above his near-bald head. Light from the overhead fluorescent fixtures glared on his oversized glasses as he swung his head back and forth, seeking innocent maidens to capture.

(Not the most original of descriptions, I’m rather embarrassed at how cliché much of it is. But hey, I wrote it 6 years ago.)

You’ll notice a small bit of emotional involvement in the description, because Uncle Charley is shown as “seeking innocent maidens to capture,” and only a single woman like Trish would think of him that way—her mother or aunties certainly wouldn’t think that.

However, the emotion there is minimal at best.

Here’s the rewrite for a short story I’m working on (I offered the new, revised short story as a freebie for my newsletter subscribers, which was why I revived this monstrosity):

Rats. She should have sneaked off to the restroom earlier.

“All right, you lovely single ladies, come on up for the bouquet toss.”

Trish Sakai dropped her head to hide behind Aunt Amber’s permed curls, nearly dunking her chin in her rice bowl. Had Uncle Charley seen her? Hopefully he couldn’t see much of anything through his oversized glasses and the glare from his near-bald head.

She peeked around Aunt Amber, risking a quick glance at the front of the large banquet room. The skeletal Master of Ceremonies hovered in his rumpled black tuxedo, so she ducked back before he saw her. Why hadn’t someone stopped him from those last few shots of sake? Then he wouldn’t be so aggressive about the bouquet toss now. He swung his head back and forth, seeking innocent maidens to capture.

You’ll notice more action and more of Trish’s emotional reactions (primarily through her thoughts) to the description sentences.

Go through your own manuscript and look for descriptions. Are they simply descriptions, or do they spring from the viewpoint character’s eyes and thoughts?

Go deep in revisions, not first drafts.

This will vary from writer to writer, but in general, it’s usually best to deepen point of view in your revisions. In your first draft, just slap those words down on the page and don’t worry about point of view at all.

Just lay it down and come back to revise it later. You might even be surprised at the kinds of things you come up with.


Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Her latest romantic suspense from Love Inspired Suspense is Formula for Danger! She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for giveaways!

This post appeared on Seekerville November 4, 2009.




Don't forget...

Today is the last day to be considered for our weekly critique.

OFFICIAL RULES HERE!

18,000 words in 13 and a half hours

Camy here, and yes, you read that correctly. I recently wrote 18,000 words in 13.5 hours and I’m blogging today about what I think helped me to do it.

I was on deadline (but you guessed that already, right???) and trying to finish my novel so I’d have enough time to revise it before sending it in. At the time it was only 15,000 words I needed to write before Sunday so I’d have all day Sunday to do any last minute tweakings, but I ended up needing 18,000 words to finish all the scenes I’d had mapped out.

Let me preface all this by saying that I knew exactly what scenes I had left to do and what I needed to accomplish in each of those scenes. I knew the ending (I’d known the ending from the moment I started the book) and I just needed to write the climax as I envisioned it and tie up loose threads.

How to write a heck of a lot of words in a really short amount of time:

1) Pray really hard. I know some of you may not be Christian, but I am, and I did a lot of praying. That didn’t mean I spent an hour on my knees before I started writing, but before I wrote and while I was in the bathroom on a potty break and while I was eating lunch, I prayed to God and asked for His help. Relying on Jesus’ supernatural assistance is really the only way to go.

2) Make sure you’re comfortable. I had my chair adjusted so I could sit for long hours, but I also got up to walk around every hour.

I even had a timer go off every 60 minutes so that I’d remember to stand up and stretch (and go on a potty break). However, I also had a second timer set for only 10 minutes so I wouldn’t let my break take longer than that.

I turned the heat up so I wouldn’t have cold hands, I had a blanket on my legs, and I made sure my water bottle was close by.

3) Prepare the rest of your family. I had already told Captain Caffeine that I had 15,000 words to write that day and could he please get his meals on his own. He also walked the dog for me and washed dishes. I had leftovers in the fridge that were ready to heat up for both him and for me, so I wouldn’t have to waste time cooking my own meals.

If you have kids, arrange for babysitting by the spouse or someone else. If your kids are older, make sure the office door (or bedroom door) is locked and they cannot disturb you unless they are bleeding and burning.

4) Prepare yourself. This is not a cakewalk. Don’t lollygag around. Sit down and focus your mind and prepare yourself like you’re going to war.

5) Surround yourself with things that will help you to focus. I tend to write better when I have snacks, a mug of tea, and music without words playing. It will be different for you. Some people like scents, some don’t. Some people like music, some don’t. Surround yourself with what you need to focus.

6) Get rid of all distractions beforehand. I didn’t realize until only a few months ago how incredibly distracting it was for me to have so much clutter around me. I spent 3 days cleaning my office and discovered I have a much easier time writing now than I did before.

Clutter might not be the same type of distraction for you, but whatever your distraction is, get rid of it. Do not tolerate distractions because they will break your focus and reduce your creativity and your efficiency.

This is not to say you shouldn’t take breaks—by all means, take breaks if only to keep yourself from injury (see above about a timer set for every 60 minutes). But get rid of distractions that will take you mentally away from your goal of High Word Count.

Only you know what your distractions are, but be completely honest with yourself about what your distractions are. It doesn’t help your efficiency if you lie to yourself.

7) Get off the internet. This is what really helped me, but I’m not saying it’ll work for everyone. Anytime I had a research question I needed to look up on the internet, I made a note for myself in the manuscript to look up what I needed later, and I moved on. I labeled my notes with [xxx] so that I could do a Find for “xxx” and find all my notes to myself easily.

NO EXCEPTIONS. If I needed a name for a minor character, I named him Character A and used that for the entire scene. Later, I did a Find and Replace for “Character A” and changed it to whatever I determined his name should be.

Anytime I needed to look something up on the internet, no matter how small, I did not let myself do it, because even if I didn’t check email, the time taken for internet research could take as long as 30 minutes sometimes, and I wanted to focus on writing, not on research.

Research and writing use different sides of the brain (left and right, respectively) and for me to switch back into right brain creative writing mode is hard. So I did my best not to move out of that right brain creative writing mode, even for research.

In the end:

I wrote 18,163 words in thirteen hours, twenty minutes (give or take a few minutes). This included breaks. Quite frankly, this is the fastest I’ve ever written in my life.

If I can do it, you can too—you just need to prepare both your family and yourself for what you need to do.

GIVEAWAY: Thanks to Tina for this idea. I’m giving away a free 30-minute telephone mentoring session. To enter, answer this question: What would you need to do in order to prepare yourself for a writing marathon? Also please leave your email address or some way for me to contact you, otherwise I’ll pull another name.

Winner will be announced in the Weekend Edition.

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger. She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Visit her website to sign up for her quarterly newsletter.

2011 ACFW Genesis contest

Camy here, and I'm already gearing up for the 2011 ACFW Genesis contest for unpublished Christian writers!

The 2011 Genesis opens on January 1st, 2011, and the deadline is March 4th, 2011.

I realize not all of you are targeting the Christian market, so I'm begging your forgiveness in advance, but this is one of the highlights of my year and I wanted to share some new guidelines for the Genesis for 2011!

The major thing for the 2011 contest is that we've added a Semi-Final Round. The top 20% scoring entries in each category from the First round will advance to the Semi-Final round, where the entries will be read and scored by multipublished authors.

The top three Semi-Finalists in each category will be named as Category Finalists and will be sent to the Final round judges, who are all agents and editors in the Christian fiction publishing industry. (In previous years, it was five finalists, but this year it's only three finalists.) Each Finalist will receive a Genesis Finalist pin and a certificate.

The Category Winners will be announced at the 2011 ACFW Conference in September! Winners each get first pick of editor/agent appointments at the 2012 ACFW Conference, a plaque and a Genesis Winner pin, plus one hour of telephone mentoring time with a published author!

The Genesis guidelines are here:
http://acfw.com/genesis/
And the Genesis Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are here:
http://acfw.com/genesis/FAQ.shtml

You can also email me at genesis@acfw.com.

I've copied the full guidelines below.

2011 ACFW GENESIS Contest Rules

The Genesis Contest is the ACFW contest for unpublished Christian writers. The contest has a number of categories/genres to enter, the opportunity for unbiased feedback on writers' work by published authors and experienced judges, and the chance for the Category Finalists to have their work read by Christian publishing house editors and literary agents. ACFW has been pleased to see previous Category Winners and Finalists move further in their writing careers to become published authors.

Eligibility - The 2011 ACFW Genesis Contest is open to ACFW members unpublished in adult or young adult fiction or unpublished since September 1, 2004. If you have been published by a small press or electronic book publisher, see the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for more information about your eligibility.

Any author contracted for publication before March 4, 2011 is not eligible to enter the Genesis Contest. If an entrant receives a publishing house contract for a manuscript entered in the Genesis between March 4 and August 15, they must withdraw that entry. If an entrant receives a publishing house contract after August 15, which is after the close of the judging on Genesis, then their entry is not disqualified. After March 4, 2011, if an entrant receives a contract on a manuscript other than the one(s) entered in the contest, the uncontracted manuscript(s) may remain in the contest. See GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for a more detailed explanation.

Self-published authors are eligible, however they may not enter a manuscript that is in print or that was/is available for purchase at any time between September 1, 2004 and September 1, 2011.

Previously entered manuscripts may be entered again, but Category winning manuscripts from previous ACFW contests or FaithWords finalist manuscripts may not be entered again. Manuscripts that have been finalists, not Category winners, may be entered again. See GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for a more detailed explanation.

Prizes - Each category will have a first place winner. The first place entry in each category will receive a winner's plaque, a gold Genesis lapel pin, and first choice for editor/agent appointments at the 2012 ACFW National Conference, plus one hour of telephone mentoring time with a published author. The winners will be announced at the 2011 ACFW Conference. The finalists in each category will receive a certificate and silver Genesis lapel pin. Finalists will be announced by May 13, 2011.

ACFW and the Genesis Contest do NOT guarantee that a winning or finalist entry will receive a publishing contract.

Fees - $35 per entry for current ACFW members. Multiple entries will require multiple entry fees.

Writers who want to join ACFW and enter the Genesis may do both online at the ACFW website. Make checks or money orders payable to American Christian Fiction Writers. Do not use pseudonyms on the entry form.

Any break in membership during the course of the contest will result in withdrawal of the entry and forfeiture of the entry fee.

If an entrant must withdraw from the contest for any reason they must forfeit their entry fee.

Guidelines - Please enter using the Genesis Online Entry Form. Entrants must fill out one entry form for each manuscript they enter.
All entrants are required to check the "accept" box on the entry form for the Contest Release, indicating acceptance of terms. If the "accept" box is not checked for the Contest Release, entry will be disqualified and returned.

This is an all e-mail contest. Do not send hard copies of manuscripts. They will not be returned. Only entries from novel manuscripts (completed or projected manuscript word count at 45,000 words or longer) will be accepted, not short stories or novellas. No co-authored entries will be accepted.

All contest entries and contest fees must be received by 8:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on March 4, 2011. If any entry and/or fees are received after 8:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time on March 4, 2011, entrant will be notified of disqualification and fees will be returned.

All entries will receive a confirmation e-mail of receipt of their entry. If an entrant does not receive a confirmation e-mail by March 8, 2011, the entrant should e-mail the head coordinator, at genesis@acfw.com.

Each entrant must upload their entry as an .rtf (rich text) or .doc (Microsoft Word document) when filling out the Genesis Online Entry Form. PLEASE DO NOT UPLOAD .DOCX FILES (WORD 2007 OR LATER). The entries will be judged using Microsoft Word's Track Changes feature. If the entrant does not have Microsoft Word, the judged entry can be returned as a .pdf file instead. See the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for more information.

The entrant must submit the first 15 pages of their manuscript, double-spaced, and a one-page single-spaced synopsis. The manuscript and the synopsis must be in the same file, not in two different files.

NEW THIS YEAR: If an entry does not have a one-page single-space synopsis, the entry will be disqualified.

The entrant may enter a maximum of 15 manuscript pages (not including the one-page synopsis) even if this is more than the first chapter. Prologues are acceptable. An entry may be shorter than 15 pages, stopping at a logical concluding point. If the manuscript portion of an entry (not including the one-page synopsis) is longer than 15 pages, the excess pages will be discarded before judging.

Manuscript must be in Courier New, or Times New Roman 12 point font, double-spaced, with margins 1-inch or larger. For more information, see the Manuscript Formatting article.
The Genesis coordinators highly recommend that entrants submit their entries by FEBRUARY 21, 2011, so that if the entry is lost in cyberspace or if any aspect of the entry is unacceptable, the entrant can mail a replacement entry before the deadline.

Categories -

• Contemporary Fiction
• Contemporary Romance (includes romantic comedy)
• Historical Fiction (not romance)
• Historical Romance
• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
• Romantic Suspense
• Speculative Fiction
• Women's Fiction
• Young Adult

For definitions of the categories, see the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page.

If a category receives fewer than 10 entries, it will not be judged as its own category. On the entry form, entrants may designate a second category for their entry in the event the entrant's first-choice category does not receive 10 or more entries. If the second-choice category also has fewer than 10 entries, the entrant will be contacted.

Entrants may enter multiple manuscripts in multiple categories. They may also enter multiple manuscripts in the same category. Entrants may enter as many categories as they wish. However, entrants may not enter the same manuscript in more than one category. Also, entrants entering multiple manuscripts in the same category may final with more than one manuscript, but they may only place (Category Winner) with one manuscript. See the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for a more detailed example.

Judging - FIRST ROUND: During the First Round, three judges (published authors or experienced writers trained in judging the Genesis) will score each entry, up to a maximum of 100 points per entry. All three scores will be averaged. Discrepancy judges will NOT be used due to the logistics of the contest. See the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for a more information.

A copy of the scoresheet is available as a .pdf download here: GenesisScoresheet.pdf
(You can download Adobe Reader free: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)

SEMI-FINAL ROUND: The top 20% of entries from each category will then move on to the Semi-Final Round. The Semi-Final judges will be published authors who will read and rank the entries.

FINAL ROUND: The top three Semi-Final Round entries in each category--Category Finalists--will continue to the Final Round. In the event of a tie for third place, the first round scores of the tied last place entries will be used to break the tie. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Finalists will be notified by May 13, 2011. Finalists will be allowed TWO DAYS ONLY to polish and resubmit their entries before the entries are sent to the Final Round judges.

For non-finaling entrants, score sheets and manuscripts will be e-mailed back to each entrant between May 15 and June 15. Entrants are asked to please be patient as coordinators return entries, due to the sheer volume of entries and emails. Questions can be emailed to genesis@acfw.com.

For the Final Round, the Final Round judges (editors and agents) will not use the score sheet used in the First Round of judging. Instead, Final Round judges will simply give a numerical score of up to 100 points for each Final Round entry. Final Round judges have the option of giving comments on the Final Round entries but are not required to do so. All three scores will be averaged.

If any Finalist is disqualified or withdraws for any reason after March 4, 2011, the next highest scoring non-finaling entry will NOT be moved up to fill the vacant spot as a Finalist.

Final Round judges:

• Contemporary Fiction: To be announced
• Contemporary Romance: To be announced
• Historical Fiction: To be announced
• Historical Romance: To be announced
• Mystery/Suspense/Thriller: To be announced
• Romantic Suspense: To be announced
• Speculative Fiction: To be announced
• Women's Fiction: To be announced
• Young Adult: To be announced

During the Final Round, three Final Round judges (see above) will score each entry, and the three scores will be averaged. Discrepancy judges will NOT be used. In each category, the entry receiving the top Final Round score becomes the Category Winner. The Final Round scores alone determine the Category Winners. If any Category Winner is disqualified or withdraws for any reason, the next highest-scoring finalist will be moved up to become Category Winner.

Under no circumstances should comments given by a judge be used for publicity purposes without the express consent of the judge.

The Category Winners will be announced at the 2011 ACFW National Conference. See "Prizes" for the awards designated.

All Finalists (top 3 entries in each category) will be asked to e-mail a digital headshot photo for the awards ceremony at the 2011 ACFW Conference and publicity purposes. Contestants are encouraged to complete contest manuscripts in the event they are requested by a Final Round judge.

For more information, see the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page on the ACFW website.

Submission Instructions

See the Sample Manuscript page (.pdf) and the Manuscript Formatting article (.pdf) both available as downloads from the ACFW website.

(You can download Adobe Reader free: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.)

1. Use 12 point font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. The contest requires the use of Courier New or Times New Roman.
2. Include a header on each manuscript with the title, category/genre, entire manuscript word count, and page numbers. NO entrant's name or pseudonym should be in the header.
3. Send the first 15 pages of your manuscript, even if this is more than your first chapter. Prologues are acceptable. Start the first page of each chapter one-third to halfway down the page. DO NOT send more than 15 pages of your manuscript and a one page synopsis (16 pages maximum).
4. Send a one-page single-spaced synopsis, included in the file with your manuscript. Do NOT send a separate file for your synopsis. See GUIDELINES AND FAQ page for more information.
5. Category coordinators are listed below.
6. Fill out entry form, upload entry file, and pay contest fee using the Genesis Online Entry form. Do not use your pseudonym on the entry form. If joining ACFW, include application and membership fee as well.
7. Do NOT place your name or pseudonym anywhere on the manuscript.

Entries not fulfilling the above specifications will be disqualified. Entry fees will not be refunded.

For more information, see the GUIDELINES AND FAQ page on the ACFW website.

If you have any questions, please e-mail the contest coordinator, Camy Tang at genesis@acfw.com.

Category coordinators:

When e-mailing coordinators, please put "Genesis" in the subject line.

For Contemporary Romance:
To be announced
For Contemporary Fiction:
To be announced
For Historical Fiction:
To be announced
For Historical Romance:
To be announced
For Mystery/Suspense/Thriller:
To be announced
For Romantic Suspense:
To be announced
For Speculative Fiction:
To be announced
For Women's Fiction and Young Adult:
To be announced

Checklist for your entry:

• Is your font 12 point?
• Is your font Courier New or Times New Roman?
• Do you have a margin of one inch or larger on all sides?
• Is your entry double-spaced?
• Is your chapter heading one-third to halfway down the page?
• Do ALL pages in your manuscript have a header with the title, category, total manuscript word count, and page number?
• Did you make sure your name, personal information, and/or pseudonym is NOT in the header or anywhere on the manuscript?
• Is your entry 15 pages or less, not including the synopsis?
• Did you include a one-page, single-spaced synopsis with the same format as the manuscript except single-spaced?
• Is the synopsis included in the file with your manuscript, NOT in a separate file?

Entries not fulfilling the above specifications will be disqualified.
Timeline for the Genesis contest:

Genesis opens: January 1
Genesis closes: March 4 (8am Pacific time)
First round judging ends/(Semi-Finalists announced): April 8
Semi-Final judging ends/(Finalists announced): May 13
Category Winners announced at the 2011 ACFW Conference Awards Banquet in September.

Click here for the 2010 Genesis winners list

Click here for the 2010 Genesis finalists list

Camy here: I hope many of you will enter the 2011 Genesis contest! Feel free to email me at genesis@acfw.com if you have any questions!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger! She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for giveaways!

NaNoWriMo tip: tactile stimulation

Camy here! Sorry I've been AWOL, but I've been on deadline for several books, which takes up my blogging time!

In honor of NaNoWriMo, I thought I'd post a tip for writing while on NaNoWriMo that can help you achieve your goal of 50,000 words written on your novel this month.

This is one of the best weapons in my arsenal:

Tactile Stimulation

This might not work for everyone, but of all the people who have tried it so far, it has worked for them all, so chances are, it'll work for you, too.

Basically, when you stimulate your hands (or your body, really) with tactile, kinesthetic stimulation, it enables you to think creatively and focus on thinking creatively.

When you're trying to write a novel in a month, you don't have time to sit and stare at the blinking cursor. Trust me, I've done that for HOURS. Hours of wasted time.

I discovered that if I have something in my hands that doesn't require too much brain-power, I can suddenly focus on my novel better and think of what to write next.

For me, I knit. For you, pick something easy for you to do, and tactile, but it can also be relatively boring.

I will sit in front of my computer and knit a sock, say, and think of what my characters are going to say next. When I think of something, I drop my knitting in my lap and type on my computer. When I don't know what to type anymore, I pick up my knitting again and knit until I think of something.

This is related to how people often come up with great ideas while in the shower or washing dishes or driving. I think it's partly the tactile stimulation that enables their creative brain side to wander and, well, get creative.

(I think this is also why I tend to write better when I have snacks. Eating is tactile and it's mindless and it totally works for me, but my behind expands with every book. Oy!)

The key is that the activity has to be relatively mindless. No complex lace knitting projects, in other words (and trust me, I've tried it. It wasn't a pretty sight.) I've also tried card making/stamping/scrapbooking, but I need too much brainpower for that and I don't get any writing done. I have tried crochet, but it has to be a super easy crochet like single crochet all the way--no complex crochet stitches or a pattern to follow.

I usually knit an easy garter or stockinette stitch scarf, or a pair of stockinette socks, or an easy blanket that doesn't require a pattern (just enough stitches to make your eyes cross). Those projects typically are so BORING that I don't do them unless I don't have anything else to knit -- OR unless I need something tactile but boring so that I can unleash my creative right brain power.

I discovered that when I knit and write, I average about 500 words an hour (there are some people who write more, some who write less. If you write more than that, go away. Just kidding. If you write more than that, you probably don't need this tip!)

When I don't knit and write, I can go as low as 100 words an hour. Yes! I am pathetic.

When I'm on deadline for a book, I can't afford to be writing only 100 words an hour. That's really when I get going on my knitting (so if you want me to knit you socks, tell me when I'm on deadline. :)

For you, pick some activity you can do while writing and try it out. You might find your productivity really increases!

I tried to list some activities below but came up woefully short on ideas, so I asked some other bloggers who contributed (their ideas are added below). If you have more ideas on what tactile activities writers can try, let me know and I'll add it to the list.

knit (easy projects)
crochet (easy projects)
Tunisian crochet
hand quilting (easy)
English Paper Piecing
mending
polishing silver
pedicure (manicure if you can type with stuff on your fingers, but my M key has a stain and sticks b/c--you guessed it--I tried it and it didn't work well for me)
stress therapy ball (Martha Ramirez)
bike ride/walk/drive in the car/(swim???) -- bring pen and paper and/or digital tape recorder for ideas) (Koala Bear Writer)
jigsaw puzzle (Jill W)
playing an instrument (sasafras)

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. Out now is her romantic suspense, Formula for Danger! She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for giveaways!

A Telling Example

Camy here, talking a little about Showing and Telling today.

I was thinking about it the other day on my run (I don’t really know why I think about writing craft when I’m running … hmm, is there some deep meaning behind that? LOL). I had a line from my story that was pure telling, and I was thinking how I could change that to showing.

Now don’t get me wrong, Telling Is Not Bad. Yes, say that again: Telling Is Not Bad.

There are lots of reasons why you should Tell instead of Show in a manuscript. I wrote a few examples here. And another really good reason to Tell is if your editor tells you to insert some telling in order to make the story make more sense to the reader.

But you also should have as little Telling in the manuscript in the first chapter or three because it really makes your writing look much more professional. If an editor tells you later to add telling, that’s so much better than being rejected because you have too much telling in the first chapter.

So I try to avoid telling as much as possible. Even if I’m tight with my word count (sidebar: I had to cut 15,000 words from my last manuscript before turning it in! Yikes!) I will still cut other words or tighten my prose rather than transforming my lovely Showing into Telling. Because darn it! I spent a lot of time writing that Showing and I’m not going to trash my hard work! :(

Anyway, I thought this example might be useful/helpful/mildly entertaining for you guys today.

My heroine Monica is at a posh business banquet and she’s just met Mr. O’Neill again, an old acquaintance who grew up with her father.

Monica turned, but the light from the chandeliers above glinted on glass right under her chin a microsecond before she felt the touch of a champagne flute at her throat. “Oh!” She recoiled, hoping it didn’t spill.

“Miss Grant! I’m so sorry.”

The low voice made her smile and look up rather than look down for champagne on her dress bodice. “Mr. O’Neill, how nice to see you. I didn’t realize you were back in Sonoma.” Patrick O’Neill was a modern-day hotel baron—he bought struggling hotels and turned them in raging successes before selling them to hotel chains and moving on to his next project. He’d been working on his latest hotel, the Fontana, for the last five years and it was rumored he was raring to sell it and buy another one.

Camy here: Boldface is Telling. I’m pretty sure most of you realized that, right? It’s as if you were watching a play, and the actor suddenly stopped acting, turned to the audience, and “told” you what’s going on as opposed to showing the information through dialogue and action on the stage.

So I thought, How can I change that into Showing?

The low voice made her smile and look up rather than look down for champagne on her dress bodice. “Mr. O’Neill, how nice to see you. I didn’t realize you were back in Northern California.”

His light blue eyes creased deeply at the corners. “I’ve only been back for a few days, spending time with my new grandson.”

“I heard rumors you’re about to sell the Fontana Hotel to buy a new project.”

A smile hovered around the edges of his mouth. “Would those be the same rumors that your father’s going to expand his spa and add a hotel?”

“And why would you be interested in Dad’s project? After all, it’s not a struggling hotel you can sweep in and buy up, transform into a raging success, and then resell to the Hyatt.”

Camy here: Better, right? But even that last paragraph of dialogue is kind of like Telling, don’t you think? It’s like a character saying to her husband, “Charles, Mrs. Smith, the woman who stole your father away from your mother and ran away with him to the Bahamas, has called asking to speak to you after fifteen years of silence.”

Uh … a little obvious, no?

Let’s try this again:

The low voice made her smile and look up rather than look down for champagne on her dress bodice. “Mr. O’Neill, how nice to see you. I didn’t realize you were back in Northern California.”

His light blue eyes creased deeply at the corners. “I’ve only been back for a few days, spending time with my new grandson.”

“I heard rumors you’re about to sell the Fontana Hotel to buy a new project.”

A smile hovered around the edges of his mouth. “Would those be the same rumors that your father’s going to expand his spa and add a hotel?”

“You stay far away from Dad’s project.” But there was a teasing note to her voice. “I thought you were only interested in struggling hotels.”

He winked. “So I’ll come back in five years. O’Neill to the rescue.”

Monica laughed. “No way would Dad let you buy his hotel and make it a raging success where he couldn’t do it himself. It’s a matter of pride.”

“I’ll sell it back to him,” he offered generously.

“You wouldn’t sell it to Hyatt? I heard that’s who’s interested in the Fontana.”

His mouth worked, but he didn’t answer her.

“Hmm, not the Hyatt. Hilton, maybe? I heard another rumor that they edged out the other buyers for your Monterey hotel by offering double your asking price.”

Camy here: It’s a little long, I’ll have to think about if I want to keep it or make this information come out in some other scene or section of dialogue. But I’ve included all the important information, and even used the dialogue to imply the hotels are raging successes rather than saying it outright.

Your turn! In the comments, copy a line of Telling from your manuscript, then rewrite it!

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. You can now preorder her September romantic suspense, Formula for Danger! She runs the Story Sensei critique service, is a staff worker for her church youth group, and leads one of the worship teams for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, running, dogs, and Asiana. Sign up for her newsletter YahooGroup for giveaways!