Having just dug myself out of a small pile of contest entries (2 contests that happened to overlap, bad planning on my part), I come with a new appreciation for slush pile readers. Reading slush is not like reading a book you bought at a store that has a description and a cover blurb. I know these (as all stories do) represents someone's blood, sweat and tears. I also know that things that work or don't work for me, will elicit different reactions from others. And, as is often said in the review business, there are quite a few things that just make you think, meh. But here are some things I discovered put me in a not favorable frame of mind towards an entry.
1. Clip art. There should not be clip art or graphics or cute drawings in your manuscript or synopsis. If you have something that you stuck in there to inspire you while you were writing, take it out before you submit it.
2. Unorthodox capitalization. You may be writing Contemporary, or fantasy, or Something Else entirely, but this does not Give you license to invent New capitalization rules.
3. Pointless scenes. I am a terrible violator of this rule, so, much like that dieting friend who's always counting your calories for you, I am easily irked by this. Here's the thing, if the scene is really fun, most readers will let it slide, but early on* if the first three scenes only teach me the same two things about the main characters, well, this is me getting bored.
4. Overuse descriptions. Now this is one that I am terrible about doing, but I think people tend to fall into a writery sense. I think your average person does not meet someone and think, "Wow, their eyes look like the sea after a summer storm." I think people go, "Huh, gray eyes" or possibly even, "Nice gray eyes." Now sure, there are people who think in more artisic terms, and if your character is one of those people, I am fine with that, but I read a lot of entries where people looking at other characters suddenly turned into some sort of poet.
5. Excessive cliche use. Look cliches are a great shorthand and can be very useful, but there is a limit. Just like you can't overuse a pet word (or six) don't have everything be a cliche, unless of course, there is some character specific reason for them to think in cliches.
6. Have characters say things that constantly have to be explained. I have read entries where someone would say something and then the thought following it would explain what it really meant. Again, there are times when this is necessary, but if it happens too often, then I start to wonder why your characters never say things that just make sense.
7. An insane synopsis. Now insane is in the eye of the beholder, but I read a few entries where the pages I had were good (not great, but good) and I flipped to the synopsis and it turns out what seemed like a nice little cozy story took eight or nine left turns and landed us in the city of ridiculous coincidences.
*These entries were mostly the first 30-50 pages.
Rants About New (and old) Things
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
7 Things: The Random Edition
Note: Contains reference to a racist sports team name.
This list lacks a theme, mostly.
1. The answer to where are all my stitch markers appears to be in my couch.
2. While I love being a nice, charitable person, the side effect of receiving more and more letters from charities I have never given to demanding money is sometimes less fun.
3. I have broken a lot of size six needles in the last year. Not sure why, unless sixes are a particularly vulnerable size. (The breakings have all been my fault.)
4. I seem to have a surprising lack of red in my wardrobe.
5. I remember when people said chocolate was bad for you, now it looks like it's great for you. (Unless that's all you eat.) I am awaiting similar discoveries about french fries, red licorice and ice cream.
6. I wonder if the Redskins would look any different if their ownership was spread out amoung many part owners like the Packers.
7. I want a dragon like the ones in "How to Train Your Dragon".
This list lacks a theme, mostly.
1. The answer to where are all my stitch markers appears to be in my couch.
2. While I love being a nice, charitable person, the side effect of receiving more and more letters from charities I have never given to demanding money is sometimes less fun.
3. I have broken a lot of size six needles in the last year. Not sure why, unless sixes are a particularly vulnerable size. (The breakings have all been my fault.)
4. I seem to have a surprising lack of red in my wardrobe.
5. I remember when people said chocolate was bad for you, now it looks like it's great for you. (Unless that's all you eat.) I am awaiting similar discoveries about french fries, red licorice and ice cream.
6. I wonder if the Redskins would look any different if their ownership was spread out amoung many part owners like the Packers.
7. I want a dragon like the ones in "How to Train Your Dragon".
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
7 Things: Guide to Coffee Shop Seating
It became very clear to me this weekend that some people are a little confused about coffee shops*, so, please let me explain.
1. Some coffee shops provide seating as a courtesy to be used by customers. The seating is generally open seating which means that it is provided on a first come first serve basis to customers who wish to utilize it.
2. Sometimes the coffee shop will make some basic requirements about seating, such as requiring that you have purchased an item there today or limiting the length of time you may utilize the free wi-fi.
3. All such restrictions are up to the establishment, they are not up to other customers to attempt to enforce or otherwise decide that certain other customers have outstayed their welcome.
4. No matter how often you visit said coffee shop, the contract that you enter into when you purchase food pertains only to receipt of such food. The coffee shop is under no obligation to also provide you a table. If you want a guaranteed table, they have other types of establishments called restaurants that arrange their seating based on the number of customers and they would be happy to provide you a table.
5. If things are crowded, or if the remaining seats don’t quite fit into your group, it is acceptable to ask patrons who may appear to have unused seating if they would be willing to spare a chair. The key word there is ask, which you do not only to be polite, but because the person may have a plan for said chair that is not visible to you, and as winner of the first come first serve contest, they have first rights to said chair.
6. If things are crowded, it is also acceptable to ask people if you may share part of their table, perhaps the end with just enough space for you to place your drink on it. Again, key word, ask.
7. It is not acceptable to suggest that since someone doesn’t really seem to be using the table maybe they could vacate it for your convenience. Or that they could move to another table with someone else so you could sit at their table. Again, the way first come first serve works is that people who get their first, get first dibs on the spaces they may wish to use.
*Yes, these guidelines will work in tea shops, and many other beverage or food based establishments.
1. Some coffee shops provide seating as a courtesy to be used by customers. The seating is generally open seating which means that it is provided on a first come first serve basis to customers who wish to utilize it.
2. Sometimes the coffee shop will make some basic requirements about seating, such as requiring that you have purchased an item there today or limiting the length of time you may utilize the free wi-fi.
3. All such restrictions are up to the establishment, they are not up to other customers to attempt to enforce or otherwise decide that certain other customers have outstayed their welcome.
4. No matter how often you visit said coffee shop, the contract that you enter into when you purchase food pertains only to receipt of such food. The coffee shop is under no obligation to also provide you a table. If you want a guaranteed table, they have other types of establishments called restaurants that arrange their seating based on the number of customers and they would be happy to provide you a table.
5. If things are crowded, or if the remaining seats don’t quite fit into your group, it is acceptable to ask patrons who may appear to have unused seating if they would be willing to spare a chair. The key word there is ask, which you do not only to be polite, but because the person may have a plan for said chair that is not visible to you, and as winner of the first come first serve contest, they have first rights to said chair.
6. If things are crowded, it is also acceptable to ask people if you may share part of their table, perhaps the end with just enough space for you to place your drink on it. Again, key word, ask.
7. It is not acceptable to suggest that since someone doesn’t really seem to be using the table maybe they could vacate it for your convenience. Or that they could move to another table with someone else so you could sit at their table. Again, the way first come first serve works is that people who get their first, get first dibs on the spaces they may wish to use.
*Yes, these guidelines will work in tea shops, and many other beverage or food based establishments.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
2010 - The Reading Stats
I begin to wonder if starting to track this in 2007 was a bad idea, since I haven't achieved that level of reading productivity since. Of course, it's nice to know I have done it.
For 2010 the total was 117, an average of almost 10 a month, which is actually the lowest since I started tracking. (A big slacker, I am.)
Highest reading month was a tie between March and August with 16 each. And lowest was October with 3. (Again, no consistent trends, especially since I did a lot of travelling in July, so wouldn't have been surprised for that to be the high month.)There were 83 different authors in that batch* which seems consistent with the previous years. There was a three way tie for author I read the most at 5 - Jennifer Crusie (helped by some re-releases and a re-read** on my part), Gena Showalter (in a repeat appearance) and Nora Roberts (also a repeater in this spot).
Series* were a little lower this year, clocking in at 32. Not surprisingly romance remains the leading category at 76. Some high other categories or sub categories (since most books fall into a few categories) were paranormal (30), category romance (21), contemporary (21) and young adult (20). And in the high for me (but not really overall), I read 4 non-fiction books.
I remain a new release junkie, although the total was a lower percentage than in the past and was skewed by some re-releases - 57 were from 2010.
And ebooks were a slightly higher percentage again at 97.
*I counted authors rather than pen names.
**I counted re-reads if I re-read the whole thing from start to finish rather than skipping to the good bits.
For 2010 the total was 117, an average of almost 10 a month, which is actually the lowest since I started tracking. (A big slacker, I am.)
Highest reading month was a tie between March and August with 16 each. And lowest was October with 3. (Again, no consistent trends, especially since I did a lot of travelling in July, so wouldn't have been surprised for that to be the high month.)There were 83 different authors in that batch* which seems consistent with the previous years. There was a three way tie for author I read the most at 5 - Jennifer Crusie (helped by some re-releases and a re-read** on my part), Gena Showalter (in a repeat appearance) and Nora Roberts (also a repeater in this spot).
Series* were a little lower this year, clocking in at 32. Not surprisingly romance remains the leading category at 76. Some high other categories or sub categories (since most books fall into a few categories) were paranormal (30), category romance (21), contemporary (21) and young adult (20). And in the high for me (but not really overall), I read 4 non-fiction books.
I remain a new release junkie, although the total was a lower percentage than in the past and was skewed by some re-releases - 57 were from 2010.
And ebooks were a slightly higher percentage again at 97.
*I counted authors rather than pen names.
**I counted re-reads if I re-read the whole thing from start to finish rather than skipping to the good bits.
Monday, January 03, 2011
Animals!
A montage of puppy presents!*
Polar bears think "disguised" spy cams are fun to play with.
And all this animal stuff, gives me an excuse to share this video about a suspiscious package.
*We are simply going to assume that all the people who received pets as presents had asked for them, and were totally prepared to take care of them. mmkay?
H/t to the tweeters who passed on the last two links.
Polar bears think "disguised" spy cams are fun to play with.
And all this animal stuff, gives me an excuse to share this video about a suspiscious package.
*We are simply going to assume that all the people who received pets as presents had asked for them, and were totally prepared to take care of them. mmkay?
H/t to the tweeters who passed on the last two links.
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