1) Hearing again and again that "You'll never get published so don’t even try."  That was the number one piece of advice.  I really got to resent the advice to just enjoy writing for the writing and forget the business end.  Well, of course I enjoy it!  What surprised me was how accessible the business is if you listen, learn, and keep on keepin’ on.  Never let the negative people get to you.

2) Publishers have a different calendar. This was a surprise.  When they talk about reading your work, or putting your book in their catalog, they’re talking about months and sometimes years from now.  Advice:  Always have something else in the works.

3) Not everyone will like your book. This was a shock.  I loved my book.  My agent and editor did, too, so I assumed everyone would.  My first review was from Kirkus and it was good.  It wasn’t starred, but it was close.  Then came Booklist, also a good one.  But then came a negative review and it wasn’t just negative, it seemed designed to hurt me.   Yes, of course I knew this could happen.  I totally get that not everyone will like it, but being mean or careless publicly is above and beyond.  When Buried won the Edgar Award, and made NYPL and ALA’s BBYA list, I felt better, but still…  That review was so mean.

4) Published doesn’t necessarily mean publicized. I’d heard a lack of hooplah and party atmosphere might be the mood when Buried came out and that I would need to fill in the gaps and do book signings, workshops, school visits, and conferences. I did and was excited and happy to do so.  What is surprising is how little assistance I got from The Big House to launch my book.  I’m still surprised at how much I’m supposed to be doing.  I don’t know how to work full time while being a mom, wife, friend, writer, and publisher of my book all at the same time.  I’m doing what I can and that’s all I can do.  I am from a big house, but I was published under an imprint and that’s the way they do things there.  Which leads me to my next and last surprise:

5) Publishing is a business.  Well, duh. But I find I have to remind myself again and again that the decisions made in the House regarding my book are mostly business related.  I still love, love, love writing and will always make up stories.  The business end is hard to keep separate from the creative end sometimes, but I do keep them separate because Writing is not a business.  That’s the biggest surprise of all—that the writer has to handle BOTH sides.

~R.M.M.

1) Everyone told me that "they'd" change my title, but "they" didn't. I proposed my story as "Black Tuesday" and, a year and a half later, it was still "Black Tuesday." So there goes that myth.

2) I thought asking for 10 advanced copies would be enough. It was a default number in my contract, and I didn't think to change it (this was pre-agent). I would've asked for 30, had I been more savvy about the amount I'd need for book reviewers, reader contests, and writers conference giveaways.

3) I thought my book editor would be like the editors I'd had as a journalist. She has been more like the flipside of my conscience, brainstorming ideas for problem scenes, giving me inspiration for solidifying the theme of my story. So far, there has been no fire-breathing, ego-crushing, ghoul-like behavior that I've experienced with prior editors. Then again, I think my hide is part rhinoceros and part Kevlar, thanks to all those years of fire-breathing, ego-crushing ghouls.

4) I thought I'd know the exact date of when my book was published months and months in advance. You know, so I could engrave it on everything from bookmarks to the back bumper of my car. But the date changed multiple times (from Fall 2006 to Fall to 2007 to Summer 2007), and then when Summer 2007 came, it wasn't until summer was almost on me before I had a concrete date (June 14).

5) I thought I'd read my book once it was in print. I haven't. I've never read a magazine or newspaper article of mine, either, once it was published. There's just something about not being able to correct those misspelled words or bad transition sentences that would mock me forevermore.

~S.C.

The following is an unabashed look at what has made up my experiences with the publishing world--both post-published and pre-published. Take what you will from these experiences; I know I have, and I'm the better for having experienced them.

The following are some of the surprises I've encountered with writing my first book (the biggest one, which isn't mentioned below, is that first books don't usually bring in those Hanna Montana-sized fanbases):

1) That my book wasn't on the shelves on June 14, it's publish date. I went to the big city near us and casually browsed Barnes and Noble, butterflies in my tummy. No book. I went to the counter. They had hundreds in the warehouse, but nothing in stock--and nothing on order. Ditto at Borders. I went to the local independent bookstore, tail between legs, feeling like a self-published author who has to tell family and friends that they could only order the book from Amazon. Lo and behold--two copies at River Run Bookstore! I was officially a published author. But it wasn't until calls to my editor and woe-is-me e-mails to writer friends that I found out hardcover YA books aren't as coveted as paperbacks. Unless you're Rowling or Dessen or Meyer or [INSERT BIGGER NAME THAN ME HERE THAT WROTE A BOOK KIRKUS LOVED AND THAT IS GOING TO BE MADE INTO A MOVIE WITH ANNE HATHAWAY OR DANIEL RADCLIFFE OR LINDSAY LOHAN'S YOUNGER SISTER].

P.S. My book was in a ton of libraries, though. Libraries LOVE hardbacks.

2) That, crazily enough, I didn't feel like selling my eggs to run an ad in Seventeen. As I said, two big chains weren't carrying the book. And I'd just brought a new human being into the world. So I wasn't exactly primed for doing a cross-country book tour. Heck, a tri-city book tour seemed like the equivalent of flapping my arms and flying to Mars to sign books for the natives. So I did what I could with a new dependent in my life--I wrote letters to libraries and newspapers asking them to promote my book. I had family and friends ask B&N and Borders to stock Black Tuesday each time they went into one. I started this website. I go to YA conferences. I'm not setting the world on fire, but at the same time, I'll be a little more publicity-savvy come Book #2.

3) That I didn't need an agent to sell a book. I didn't get an agent until I'd sold my second book. In fact, it was a lot easier getting a publisher than an agent, at least for me. You might ask, "Why split your advance with an agent if you already have the book deal in place?" Beyond the obvious (higher advances, more savvy contract negotiations), they're there to help you think about the things you didn't (such as, oh I don't know, self-promotion, for instance). Publishing is first and foremost a business. And agents are great about pulling your writer's head out of the clouds and focusing on that aspect.

4) That selling the idea for the second book was harder than the first book. The first book was relatively easy. It was three months of back-and-forth with Dutton, honing the idea and going over my first few chapters. Coming up with a second idea took a bit more brainstorming on the treadmill. Granted, I was busy writing that first book and moving 3,000 miles across country, so a second book was sort of not a priority. But once I actively started going back and forth with my editor with the new idea, it took about five months to sell her the idea. Originally, I was pushing hard for a story about a girl bully. But she was seeing too many of those on the shelves, and stubborn me, I kept sending her revised chapters and synopses trying to sell that girl bully. When I finally cut myself from that idea (using the Jaws of Life, I might add), my next idea was snatched up in about two weeks (a girl whose family wins--and then loses--the lottery).

5) That winning essay contests, not fiction contests, probably made me ready for the publishing industry. I have a little, well, not secret, but tidbit to share. I put myself through my bachelor's with essay contests. I started in fifth grade, winning first place in the local Daughters of the American Revolution contest. It was an essay on Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr and their duel. There was lots of research. And rewriting. And sleepless nights with Mom as she told me to rewrite again, to cut down on the "flowery" language I was using. I won lots of essay contests, thanks to working hard and writing on everything from Arizona mining to world geography. And guess what? I never once won a fiction-writing contest, even though there are a ton of them, especially if you're a member of Romance Writers of America (which I am). But I think I got a better taste for persistence and constantly improving my writing (and not just rewriting the first chapter 100 times for 100 contests) with those essay contests.

~S.C.

1) I thought starred reviews equal big time face-outs in bookstores everywhere. Nope. Well, everyone does want starred reviews, but it doesn’t mean your book will get faced out on the shelves or even stocked. I’ve heard more than one author lament that their books—with multiple starred reviews—weren’t on the shelves in the big chains because they were hardcover YAs.  Yes, the big chains do stock hardcover YAs, but a starred review isn’t a guarantee—even a healthy sales history for previous novels won’t necessarily mean your next book will be stocked. I don’t know the mystery behind the choices, but I was floored that the big chain can and do overlook starred reviews.

2) Speaking of the big chains—did you know they can influence the cover of your book as well as your name? One recent middle grade release got a whole new cover before publication because Big Chain X said they would buy more copies if the publisher agreed to change the cover. Another author interviewed in the Connecticut Post cackled madly in an interview about pulling the wool of the Big Chain X’s eyes—they weren’t buying many of his newer titles anymore, and due to lackluster preorders for his last few books, he and his agent decided to give him a new name. Using a pseudonym, this new author got a huge preorder sale. I was also surprised the author was bragging about it in print, but apparently fooling the big chains was one secret he couldn’t keep—or maybe he had already come up with a new name for his next book.

3) Publishing houses are constantly evolving and changing staff. OK, not a huge surprise—editors quit, get fired or jump houses all the time—but because of this, authors are frequently caught by surprise. The sale of my first novel was a dream come true. Three weeks after my agent sent my story out, we had an offer. My new editor called me on the phone to chat—she was so enthusiastic I couldn’t help but love her. Two months later she quit the business to relocate with her husband, and Uninvited was an orphan. I was devastated wondering who would love my book as much as my first editor?

In the following year, Uninvited was assigned to two different editors, and then moved to a new imprint after a S&S restructuring. I lucked out—I got a fabulous new editor and my pub date got moved up a year. On the other hand, one friend went through three editors—one fired toward the end of the revision process--and another author got her pub date moved back three years! Expect the unexpected.

4) Speaking of revisions—the amount of time you have to revise a book can be very surprising. A friend spent almost nine months going back and forth over revisions with her editor; they finished up a little less than a year before her book was to debut. Me—I got four weeks—boy was I surprised! The amount of time you have to revise can vary wildly depending on the publisher and your editor’s schedule, but be prepared to hustle! On the flip side, selling a novel on a partial can mean completing it in short period of time—two to three months—a far cry from the leisurely pace many of us completed our fist novels in.

5) Figuring out how many books I'd have to sell to cover my advance was a mathematical headache. Just before my book was released, I was going to get out a calculator and figured out how many books I needed to sell to earn back my advance. Before I wasted my time, my agent informed me that it’s not a straightforward formula based on the percentage listed in the contract. Whatever discounts various stores sell my book for cut into the percentage I earn. And then royalty statements can also factor in books that might be returned. Surprise! Perhaps some of you authors with a few statements under your belt can shed some more light on this—I’m still waiting for my first—but I’ve got my fingers crossed that my third printing might do the trick.

~A.M.

1) What is your writing day like?

Intense. On the days I am writing, I write fast and barely stop for air, much less lunch. It all starts at precisely 8:22 a.m. when the last family member leaves the house for school, and it usually goes until 2:30 or 3 p.m. I drink a couple Diet Cokes in there, maybe stand up a few times to stretch, or go outside to sit in my thinking chair if my brain needs a breather. I love days like these.

2) We've heard about "the call" when someone gets an agent/a publisher. What was "the call" like when you heard you were on the NYT Bestseller List?

My agent called me on a Wednesday afternoon and said that Jen, my editor, wanted to talk to us both. He then hooked Jen up with the three-way calling thing and while I was waiting for Jen to come on the line, I was just sitting there, wondering what was up – I actually thought she was calling to say that they were disappointed in sales or something, or that maybe there was a problem and they no longer wanted to publish FADE...of course I’m as neurotic as any author.

So when Jen came on the line, she says something like, “I just wanted to let you know that I am talking to a New York Times bestselling author!!” only she kinda screams that last part and I absolutely can.not.believe it. So I said something like Shut. Up. and we all three were talking at once, so excited, and I said “No WAY!!” about a hundred times.

And it was the absolute best day of my entire life. (My husband doesn’t mind that it was better than our wedding day, which really sort of sucked.)

3) What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?

Editing the rough draft.

4) What is the easiest part of the writing process for you?

Writing the rough draft.

5) I know you've mentioned publicity in another interview. Specifically, you mention your MySpace page. How exactly does a writer or wannabe writer create a MySpace page that gets people to go there?

This is a GREAT question. And I don’t have the answer. I only know how to have a Myspace “presence,” whereby I go out and find people who like to read YA books, and hang out and talk with them.

A lot of authors feel like it’s up to the fans to find them. I love it when fans find me, but those people already know about the book. I want to find future fans, too. We as authors need to be humble enough to seek them out.

So you find an author who 1) has a lot of fans on Myspace already and 2) writes similarly to what you write, and you find readers on their pages. I prefer to befriend people from their “new friends” list and comments rather than their top friends so I don’t end up wasting time befriending people who haven’t logged on since June of 2006.

You send a friend request to them. If the person accepts your friend request, a thank you is in order. Please don’t start the conversation out by saying, “Hey, I have a book coming out that you might like!” I hate when people do that to me. If they want me to buy their book (or CD or whatever), they need to court me a bit. At least pretend like they care, you know?

You might want to mention that you found them on Cassandra Clare’s (or whoever’s) Myspace page and you wonder if they’ve read City of Ashes yet. Or comment on another book in their “favorite books” section that you’ve read too. You have a conversation with a fellow book lover.

Be a friend first. Your page should have all the info about your books on it – when your friends come to like you, they’ll naturally grow curious about your book and ask. And they’ll read your bulletins and blogs, too – that’s where you sell your book. And over time, they’ll be pulling for you! They’ll spread the word about you and your book, forward your bulletins to their friends, all because you took the time to establish a reader-in-common relationship with them.

Yes, it takes a ton of time. And it’s not for everybody – you have to enjoy interacting this way. But when I see teens posting on blogs, “Lisa McMann’s book WAKE is amazing and she’s really nice too – she’s my Myspace buddy!” I sort of melt a little. And I know that my effort paid off not only in word of mouth advertising, but also in a loyal friendship with some pretty amazing, invisible people.

For more Lisa, visit her website and blog.

1) What if your life had hit such a low that when your ex-boyfriend/new vampire shows up, you actually consider inviting him in? This is the premise for my first book, Uninvited. Uninvited is not a vampire romance—it’s about a teen who has two options—clean up the mess she’s made of her life or open the window—and we all know what that means. After I banged out that first chapter, I pondered for quite awhile about the frame of mind someone would have to be in to actually considered inviting a vampire in. To echo Angie—next come all the subplots. How had things gotten so bad? What obstacles, besides the vampire professing his undying love, were in her way? What if her friends were keeping her life back on track? What if her ex-boyfriend’s true motivations for coming back for her—over all of the other girls he’d dated—were not what they appeared to be?

2) My next what if came to fruition after eight years of pondering! When my daughter was a baby, I’d rock her at night as I looked out her window. One evening I wondered what it’d be like if a girl lying in bed saw four people fly past her window on broomsticks. I imagined she’d be scared, and while I loved the idea, I couldn’t figure out why these people were out to get her. Eight years later the next what if question came to me—what if the night fliers were her friends? I got to the keyboard and wrote the first chapter for Revealers. While I was typing, the what if's kept coming. What if hunting werewolves and vampires is not the public service the girls think it is? What if their coven is keeping a huge secret from them? What if the girls rebel?

3) Another what if came after visiting the amusement park, Story Land, in New Hampshire two years ago. I watched the kids working there—many of them bored to tears as they repeated the same instructions over and over again. I watched toddler meltdowns, fellow park goers getting sunburned in long lines, and costumed characters sweating in the July sun. I thought—who would want to work here? And then came the what if. What if someone got a job there just because her boyfriend did? What if she did it because she knew his best friend—a girl named Alexa—was also working there and she didn’t want to leave them alone?

I wrote my first chapter very quickly, but then I ran into trouble. My editor likes my paranormal stories. Would she like my teen romance without things that go bump in the night? So I pondered some more, and a year later I got another what if. What if the owners of the park are the descendants of the real Snow White? What if Snow White didn’t get her happily ever after, and the repercussions of that are still affecting her descendents? I added a few more what if's to develop the subplots, and I ended up with my paranormal partial Devoured.

4) Here’s the what if that most likely won’t go farther than the first chapter I wrote. Aliens Online. What if Aliens can read our emails? What if a sci-fi loving boy emails a friend saying he’d paying a million dollars to have the aliens in his favorite book series take his annoying older sister away? What if the aliens take him seriously and he has to rescue his sister? What if his sister doesn’t want to be rescued?

After thinking about this story for a few months, I finally decided I wasn’t invested in finding out all the answers to my what ifs, and the story is tucked away in a folder just in case some new and better what ifs pop up.

5) So if you’re stuck for ideas, start asking yourself questions—each what if can lead your plot in a new direction. Some will stick, and others will lead to more questions and hopefully a fully realized story!

~A.M.

Jackie Kessler as Jezebel interviews Jeri Smith-Ready as Ciara over at Cat and Muse.

Stephenie Meyer has posted an excerpt of The Host here.

Its Demon Week over at The League of Reluctant Adults. The Book Club is discussing Personal Demons by Stacia Kane.

BOOK REVIEWS

Jes Battis reviews Greywalker by Kat Richardson.

Angieville reviews The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

Gladiolii reviews Uninvited by Amanda Marrone.

That said, I feel like I am one of the most receptive people out there in terms of getting inspired--sort of like a lightning rod for all things inspirational. I get inspiration from just about anything, and these ideas are scrawled on check registers, gum wrappers, even those subscription cards in the middle of magazines.

For instance, I get inspiration from the mom at Target threatening that if the five-year-old doesn't put down the Elmo bathsoap, Santa's not going to come. I get inspiration from the line in a magazine article that talks about Charlize Theron getting discovered while throwing a temper tantrum in a bank line. I get inspiration when I stand on the side of the road, getting offered a glass of water from a woman who lives in a trailer twenty feet where I just had a car accident. But here are a few ideas about how to become a lighting rod for inspiration you may not know about:

1) I get inspired while I'm, uh, using the facilities. Or on the treadmill. Or at a stoplight. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in our stories that our brains are constantly churning and we can't figure out how to solve a plot point/fix a character flaw/come up with a title that will make our publisher smile with relief. I find my best thinking time is when I have a clear mind, such as when I'm thinking about getting to the post office before it closes (i.e., at a stoplight) or trying not to die as I sprint the last two minutes (i.e., on the treadmill) or praying the lock holds while someone outside is pounding on the door (i.e., using the facilities). The point I'm trying to get to is that you have to allow yourself to have a blank mind. It's okay. You're not doing your story a disservice by putting it on a back burner. You know what they say about a watched kettle, after all... (Cliches are my drug of choice, people.)

2) Hello. I'm Susan, and I'm a collager. I know that other writers admit to this--namely Linda Lael Miller and Jennifer Crusie--but I became obsessed with collages when I was about 10, cutting out my favorite dresses/houses/furniture from magazines and splicing them together into those static-cling photo books. I now do that for my stories, and I do them in my cheap paint program that my husband made me download for free off the Internet (Gimp--it does the job, but I miss my namebrand paint program!). Anyway, I find the actors that most resemble my hero and heroine, and then I find the heroine's house, the heroine's town (or at least a town that would resemble hers), maybe the dress she wears during a pivotal scene, possibly the candy she's obsessed with, or the jalopy she drives to school. The point is to spend an afternoon making your protagonist real. And once you have, turn it into your desktop so that it's constantly there to nudge you when you're blocked and need an idea about what your protagonist's world needs in order for it to be torn asunder.

3) One day, I really, really, REALLY want to give a workshop about why writers should watch more TV. Inevitably, I find a way to dig myself out of a go-nowhere scene by watching an episode of True Life or Dr. Phil and I get struck by a nugget of gold. The key? Watching documentaries (or, more aptly, documentary-lites) helps me round out characters. For instance, where else can you get inspired by an overweight girl who enters beauty pageants and dates a guy 50 pounds lighter than her (True Life)? Then again, maybe this is the curse of the new mom who lives in Small Town, America. I can't exactly get out too often to experience real life. I know a lot of people like this, actually. So c'mon, people, live your life vicariously through TV! It's not like I'm asking you to do lines of coke or watch Barney or anything.

4) People need people--specifically, writers need routine meetings with their critique groups to brainstorm and trip over a spark of inspiration. For instance, it was while I was at a face-to-face meeting with my critique group in Phoenix (who have been my online group ever since I moved 3,000 miles away two years ago) that one partner told me something that would've resonated with her as a girl with no money and no hopes (which is the gist of my protagonist in my second book). My oh-so-wise partner said, "A trip to the grocery store used to be painful, looking for generics, sales, dented cans, and never getting to buy what you really wanted." (This is a paraphrase, but you get the idea.) Her heartfelt words drawn from her own experience gave me a better opening scene. And perhaps, just perhaps, a stronger theme. Thank you, S4.

5) And here's one more cliche for you: I get ideas while reading writing books. But don't become a writing book obsessive compulsive. I've known some people who just read writing books and haven't really put finger to keyboard to actually write anything. I pick up a writing book probably twice a year, when I'm stuck. Lately, I've been reading Write Away by Elizabeth George. It was while I was reading her book aloud to my baby (hey, it helps her fall asleep AND mommy gets some reading done) that I fell onto these words: "To avoid merely reporting on a setting, to render it instead--which implies bringing it to life--the craftsman puts place into action, knowing that the best use of details comprises details in motion." I actually slowed down over these words since I'm trying to world-build a small New England town, and these words came at the exact right moment.

Here's hoping you get struck by inspirational lightning soon. Just be receptive. And wear a lighting rod.

~S.C.

1) This is your second YA book. Why write YA, especially after your success as an adult writer?

Someone in publishing who loved All We Know of Heaven said, “You know you could have gotten more money if you had added a few more pages and wrote it as an adult book." And indeed, I could have. But I believe, strongly, when you capture a kid…especially a middle schooler and teenager, that the habituation for loving reading really happens or doesn’t happen. And it isn’t going to happen with issue books that are about adult fears…or books that are sort of a compilation of pop cultural references to TV, shoes, and clothes. It’s going to happen with the kinds of books—and I’m not comparing myself to this!—like a Tree Grows in Brooklyn, which my mother gave me. That’s a really gritty book, far more so than Angela’s Ashes [an adult book]. A smart 12- or 13-year-old isn’t going to pick up an adult book and read it. But she would pick up the equivalent of All We Know of Heaven or This Lullaby or Speak or some other YA book because they feel manageable.

2) What do you want to convey in your YA books?

The love of one mildly sane adult. The most harrowing things happen in my books, but they happen in a context of a community and family who offer support and offer at least the hope of at least someday the world making sense. I think there’s a place for that. I want for books to be both a challenge and a refuge.

If there’s a take home message, it would be that--with few exceptions--to be human is to both suffer and to be enormously resilient. And long as there’s someone’s hand to grasp, there is hope. It’s my feeling that if you’ve loved another person, you’ve seen the face of God.

3) Do any of your seven kids want to be a writer?

None of my kids are making any noises in that direction. They see how hard it is or like it’s doing a term paper every day. And it is discouraging to see me getting these pages back and see “While there is much to love about XYZ, you have to take 50 pages out and then rewrite the beginning, the middle, and the end.”

4) How has your relationship been with your agent?

I wrote a nonfiction book in my 20s about infertility and my struggles to have children. That was a relatively new topic 24 years ago. I had an agent who, at the time, had just started being an agent (she used to be an editor). I’ve had the same agent for 24 years, even though sometimes we disagree about some things. I think that if [my agent] had written Romeo and Juliet, the people would’ve had a nice brunch together and would’ve worked everything out and the kids would’ve gotten married when they got old enough and there would’ve been no poison or sword fights. She doesn’t like my stories to be as harrowing as I’d like them to be.

5) What is a good writing day for you? A bad writing day?

A good writing day would always include a break from writing that would be exercise or some other head-clearing and diverting endeavor. A great writing day would be if I was at a writing residence and had my coffee and oatmeal and then would write until the first Law and Order came on. Generally, what ends up happening is I get up really early, like dawn, and we make breakfast for the kids and see the kids to the school bus and get the little kids sorted out for the day and the dogs fed and then I answer my correspondence, which warms me up, and do any interviews I have to do and then go up to my room and the reading pillow in my bed and write for four or five hours. [When the interviewer asks if she writes longhand, Jackie laughed: “Are you nuts?” Jackie has a learning disability and could barely read her own writing if she wrote longhand—the last letter of a previous word attaches to the next word, such as: He remembere dthe wal kin the woods. To clarify, she uses a Mac Book, “Which, to me, is as dear as a pet.”]

All of my writing days are good and bad, just as my human days are good and bad. I never come down to dinner at a writer’s residence and say, “I wrote 30 pages today and it was like I was taking down dictation from the universe.” It’s more like you’re walking along and see a rainbow in the oil. I like to finish ten to twenty pages a day. But I don’t always. Sometimes it’s just six or seven. Sometimes I struggle with those six or seven over and over and over. I revise as I go along. I can’t really move on to the next thing until the revision is completed. Once my book is completed, it’s a completed book. To my editors, it’s a first draft. But I try to turn in as clean a first draft as I can. I feel like if you’re building a church, I can’t see just throwing down a foundation and starting the walls when the foundation isn’t there. I don’t believe in just puking it all out and going back to fix it. That’s very discouraging to me.

Good news, Random Readers! Jackie’s started a writer’s residence. For writers who can't conform to a traditional 2-3 week schedule, Jackie is offering a short-term residence in Brewster, MA. Stays can be as short as one week, Saturday to Saturday, or as long as four weeks. (The four-week stay can be only in November.) One Writer's Place is free; all you need to pay for is your travel, your food, and a cleaning deposit ($150). There will be two to three people at a time, and the residency will take place in the spring and fall. Fall 2008 is filled up, but Spring 2009 is still up for grabs. All genres are welcome, including published and unpublished writers of graphic novels, YA novels, and nonfiction. Writers who are interested will need three character references along with a four-page sample and an outline.

For more information on One Writer's Place, visit Jackie's blog. For more on Jackie and her books, visit her website.

1) I only queried five people for my first book, Uninvited—one at a time. It wasn’t because I did my research and thought these people were the best to target. It was because I wasn’t confident about my ability to write an effective query and I was really paranoid about the fact that I’d written a vampire story—like who needs another one of those? So, I queried one person at a time and hoped they were the one. (Feel free to mock.)

2) I only queried people I’d “met.” The first four people I queried were people I’d met at conferences—either from taking their workshop or from getting a critique. I figured mentioning we’d met at a conference would take up some space in the query, and bypass the need for a good hook. (Bad! Bad! Bad!) That’s not to say I sent a query to just anyone—but when an editor said he was looking for “sex, drugs and rock and roll,” I figured I had the first two in my story, and hoped he didn’t mind that the music I referenced was Broadway musicals and not Nirvana.

(By the way, at least all four of them asked for the manuscript—networking at conferences is a good thing!)

3) After three very nice rejections (I'm still waiting to hear from number four) I queried a class instructor’s agent. My instructor wanted to show her agent my story, so I bit the bullet and sent in this:

When Jordan’s charismatic ex-boyfriend, Michael—a new vampire—shows up at her window the night of his funeral asking Jordan to let him in, she’s torn between wanting to get her life back on track and opening her window and letting Michael take her away from the pain. Complicating her feelings are her desire to reconnect with a potential boyfriend, Danny Douglas, and giving one of her new friends, Rachel, the chance to become a real friend like her childhood friend, Lisa, was. When Jordan finally decides being with Michael is not what she wants, she struggles with her lack of willpower to say ‘no’ and continues making alcohol-fueled decisions. And Jordan didn’t count on Lisa finding out about Michael. Jordan didn’t count on Lisa thinking Michael is the answer to her own troubles, and Jordan didn’t count on Michael’s twisted agenda.

The agent asked for a partial, then a full, and then signed me on. I didn’t include the personal info in the above query, but as you can see there isn’t a hook here—it’s just a rundown of events—I even had a typo! (I lucked out and this agent wasn’t a stickler for typos, but some are—have someone proof your query!)

4) Compare that to my agent’s pitch:

Jordan can’t say no.

She can’t say no when faced with the option of drinking a bottle of her mother’s gin. She can’t say no when offered a line of coke. And she can’t say no when random guys bring her into the basement at parties to get with a girl who is known to be a sure thing.

But life wasn’t always like this, there was a time before Jordan felt like her entire life was completely out of control… before Michael. But when a charming, attractive guy wants to be with you, wants to love you… how can you say no?

Michael returns for her just when she thinks her life couldn’t get worse… and when he offers her a very seductive way for her to leave all her pain behind, permanently – will she finally be able to muster the will to say no? A quick read at 50k words – this strong, commercial project (with a slight paranormal hint) will suck you in.

My agent totally downplayed the vampire aspect—and as it turns out, she picked the perfect elements to talk about. Uninvited isn’t really a vampire story—it’s more about a teen’s life spiraling out of control and the vampire is the catalyst for to her to either get her act together—or not.

I think my agent did a fantastic job avoiding an “Oh, please not another vampire story” reaction from an editor. It never would’ve occurred to me to not put a vampire in the query. So if you’re writing about a topic that’s littering the bookshelves—try to rethink it. Give it a different spin—something that won’t make an editor or agent groan as they read the 50th hook that’s crossed their desk about a girl who discovers she’s really a fairy.

5) Confession: When I was querying new agents for my second book—one in which my editor said an offer was forthcoming—I was still paralyzed with fear. So I got help. Luckily for me, I have a friend who is not only a wonderful writer, but she’s also the queen of query letters. She helped me tweak my query and I hooked a wonderful new agent!

~A.M.

Here are my confessions regarding query letters:

1) I've only written a query letter for one of my manuscripts: the amateur sleuth book. The other two books--young adults--were bought off a synopsis.

2) That one query letter I wrote went through about 25 revisions. I'd hear back from one agent, saying my heroine was tired and cliched. So I'd rewrite my heroine (in the query letter, not the manuscript) to make her sound unique and sale-able. Then I'd hear from another agent, saying the chick-lit market was drying up; I'd then change the query stating I had a "romantic comedy." Don't change your query to address every single complaint from each agent who writes you back; however, do know when to take off your rose-colored glasses and go "Oh yeah. They have a point."

3) I made revisions to my query based on getting to know my story better. A lot of times, I realized that the story I was querying wasn't the one I wanted to sell. "Huh?" you ask. Some days, I'd look at the query I was about to send out and realized it didn't convey my fun and perky attitude. Revision. Another day, I realized that my "stoic" hero was actually an "anal retentive with a teddy bear heart." Revision. Really use the query to make sure your story is the one you wrote/want to sell.

4) I made a pact with myself--always have five queries out in the mail at all times. And as you get a rejection, send out another query. Always have five out there. It's sort of like the idea behind Christmas cards--you send them out so you can get something back. (Don't even try to tell me you send out cards "just because." Whatever. You know you want your house plastered with Thomas Kinkade landscapes and Precious Moment poses.) If you always have something out, you're always trying to get sold. And isn't that the point?

5) I didn't stress about the query letter, and you shouldn't either. (There's just so much else to stress over!) As long as you follow the basic tenets of query letter writing (one-page, discuss the agent, discuss yourself, SELL YOUR STORY in one or two paragraphs), you'll be fine. Turn on the grammar-check and the spell-check, and you've got it made. Your partial (synopsis and first chapters) is going to sell you. The query? It's just going to get you through the door. It's up to you if you're wearing patent leather Louboutins or newspaper-lined Payless slip-ons.

~S.C.

1) Queries are like advertisements. They should be short and smart.  Short, meaning that nothing is wasted.  Smart, meaning your talent for word choice and pitch should be memorable.

2) Queries should make the editor do one thing: Ask for your manuscript. When I finally got the attention of an editor it was because of my query.  She never mentioned the three chapters I’d sent.  She said, “You have a wonderful pitch and outstanding first line.”  They were one in the same.  I’d tell you what they are but that pitch gives away the entire book because the first chapter eventually became the climax.  (That should be another topic.  Revision!)

3) Queries should include a memorable pitch line. I used one book to learn how to write queries.  How to Write Attention-Grabbing Query & Cover Letters by John Wood (Writers Digest Books). It doesn’t have to be that book, but Wood was adamant about one topic: The pitch.  There wasn’t a lot for fiction writers in this how-to book, but the author was clear that for both fiction and nonfiction writers you need to have a pitch line before the body of the letter, as if it were a blurb.  It seemed hokey to me, but it worked.  I had many, many responses for the rest of my manuscript.   Here’s my revised pitch (we changed one word): How deep do you dig to bury your shame?

4) Queries are your first impression. Include a little (a LITTLE) about yourself and how you can help move this book.  I’m a language arts teacher, and at the time of my first queries that was all I could say.  It seemed so pathetic.  Then I got an honorable mention (not even official) in the Pen New England Discovery Contest.  I added that in the bio.   If you are a social worker and work with abused kids and your book is about that topic, that’s important. If it pertains, include it.

5) Queries are a formula, but there is room for creativity. At a recent workshop in Nashua, N.H., an editor said that along with an excellent pitch, summary/book description, author bio, and list of publishing credits, she liked the unique sound of the author’s voice in the letters.  Never underestimate your ability to reach across the page and grab the reader—even in a query.

~R.M.M.

Mostly a jumble of fear and worry. I don't want to let down my readers or my publishers, so I hope the book doesn't disappoint all of those people. I'm very grateful for the support, and I'm hoping I don't fail those readers.

2) Which do you prefer, writing the first draft of a manuscript or revising until it's ready for your editor's eyes?

I prefer whichever one I'm doing that day. I love the whole process. I'm a word geek. I like everything from conceptualizing to major overhaul to tweaking to comma checking. The only part that really evokes the angst is [the book's] initial release. Logic and memory say I'm a ranting fool in other parts too. [As I wait for Ink Exchange to come out], I'm going over revisions for Enthralled (book three) and first pass galleys for Love is Hell (an anthology), but that all feels like good fun.

3) Take us through a day in the life of Melissa Marr.

It's varied. This week:

-wake up, get Son ready for school, walk Son and Puppy Drusilla to school, tell Dru that we must leave Son there, walk some more, and go home.

-then I go with either Plan A (Make tea. Check email. Write.) OR  Plan B (Nap until afternoon. Make tea. Check email. Write.). This depends on whether I slept the night before or stayed up working.

-mid-afternoon, collect Son. Time with him. Collect Daughter. Time with her. Eventually dinner, and then working. If I'm not in revisions or away or dedicated drafting, there are pleasant workouts and bubble baths and roaming in there. Right now, I'm kind of hectic though. It's all relative to the deadlines and events schedules.

4) When you were a teenager, was there a book that had a lasting impact on you? If so, what was it that stuck with you, and why?

Probably the book that I cherished and was most influenced by was the biography of Jim Morrison.  It was through that book that I found Rimbaud, which led to Baudelaire, which led to Nietzsche, which led to Kierkegaard. After that discovery trail, I became a serious pattern reader. I used one book to springboard into others. I liked Faulkner, so I read Hemingway. I liked Rossetti, so I read Browning. I think that habit was first obvious to me when reading the Morrison bio.

5) When you enter a bookstore, where does your automatic pilot take you: the YA section, or adult section? And which genre do you lean toward as a reader?

I go to whichever section is in front of me. I read across the store/library/genres. Aside from self-help or inspirational, I'm pretty open to most sorts of books. I like folklore, classic lit, romance, YA, urban fantasy, mystery, women's studies, world religion/philosophy, contemporary fiction, some military history, once in a while a horror or middle grade novel, every so often a chick-lit book. My tastes are pretty wide.

For more Melissa, visit her site or blog.

Instead of just saying that I didn't like it, let me do a quick summary and then say why I didn't like it.

Ok, so Jordan is one of those girls in high school that we either knew, was best friends with, or we might actually have been her. She's friends with girls, because well it's convenient. They don't really have much in common, they don't really talk to each other, they just hang and waste time. They aren't good influences for you, but who cares, right? At least you have someone to call "friend".

Jordan met Michael when she was babysitting. They spent the entire summer hanging out and having fun in the backseat of his car. But once school started in the fall, she realized that they weren't meant to be together. She was a loner that had few friends. She was shy and didn't like to be the center of attention. Michael on the other hand was the opposite. He was the classic jock, was famous for his athletic skills and infamous for being an ass to those he deemed unworthy. So, she breaks up with Michael.

After a couple of months, Michael is involved in an accident and is killed. Michael has been attacked by a vampire and has changed. Every night after this he comes to Jordan's window and pleads with her to let him in. He tells her how much he misses her and loves her and yadda yadda. Jordan doesn't know what to do. She never lets him in, but she is very tempted to let him in and see what he wants.

Ok, so this is the main plot. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but to get my point across of why I don't like this, I kind of have to do just that.

Michael gets to the point that he's getting mad, because Jordan won't let him inside. Jordan is getting mad because she can't go anywhere, because she is afraid what Michael might do to her.

Jordan eventually decides to go to a party that one of her friends has invited her to attend. She gets wasted and almost "hooks up" with a random guy. Instead realizes what she's doing is wrong and of course, Michael shows up. She runs from him and ends up spending the night with a friend making sure she gets home alright.

One thing leads to another and she decides to tell Michael that she doesn't love him anymore and that they never were meant to be together. Michael then admits that he isn't there because he loves her, but that he hates her for dumping him before he could get rid of her.

I was really into the book, until it started getting a little monotonous. Every night at the window, every night she says no. Not until the very last part of the book does she even start to do something about Michael. Yes, vampires are supposed to be conniving, and yes people hold grudges. BUT, I don't think the story unraveled well. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think it all just goes a little too slow for me. Jordan goes through things more on a mental level than actually physically doing something about her problems.

I don't know if I've gotten what I really mean across. I know that it sounds good in my head. (That's all that matters, right?)

Jordan is being haunted by Michael Green, her ex-boyfriend. A few nights after he died, Michael appeared at Jordan's window and asked her to let him in. He's done this every night for the past three months and turned Jordan into a recluse. She can't go out anymore because she needs to be home before dark. Because who knows what this undead Michael will do to her if he catches her outside. And Jordan's loneliness and her twisted conversations with Michael are weakening her, tempting her to maybe, just maybe, invite him in.

Marrone does a great job of setting up the appropriately moody yet believable atmosphere. The early chapters establish Jordan's isolation, slowly building tension that stems from both the fear of what Michael, now a vampire, wants to do to Jordan and nervousness about Jordan's psychological state. Jordan can't tell her friends the real reason she's unable to go out with them anymore—who'd believe her if told the truth?—and dropped cross country and the fall drama production. It's strained the few friendships she has, and her relationship with her mother has never been exactly healthy, so the possibility of Jordan giving in to Michael is strong. And Michael. What happened to him, and what plans does he have for Jordan? After they broke up, he seemingly slept his way through half the girls in school, so why haunt Jordan?

Unlike most vampire books you come across these days, in Uninvited, vampires = Bad! Evil!! Bad!!! This, more than anything else, first got me thinking that Uninvited was like the old horror stories I devoured 15 years ago. Add to that the lone girl being haunted by something, or someone, she can't tell anyone about (although, granted, in most old YA thrillers, Michael wouldn't be a vampire but some random pyscho with a vendetta against Jordan), the relative lack of blood, the hint of romance, and especially Marrone's writing style. I can't be the only one who thinks this is a story that fits right in with D. E. Athkin's Sister Dearest, Lael Littke's Prom Dress, and early (back when they were still decent) Fear Street novels, but is at the same time contemporary in its details. (Okay, judging by other reviews, maybe I am the only one.)

My one criticism of Uninvited is that the vampire mythology is rather cliched and not as developed as it could be. And, for anyone considering recommending this to teens, just so you know, there are numerous references to drugs and sex, and a *lot* of drinking. Think Christopher Pike's Chain Letter books plus Weekend and multiply it by ten or so.

Amanda Marrone has been featured at the YA Authors Cafe and interviewed at Cynsations.