Agents to Follow (Friday Five)

I’m doing the A to Z Challenge because I’m crazy committed to blogging. Oh, and I like to torture myself. No, no – this should be fun.

A is for Agent. Below are five Agents whose blogs are especially helpful and entertaining.

1. Vickie Motter of Andrea Hurst Literary Management

2. Jessica Faust and Kim Lionetti of Book Ends, LLC

3. Rachelle Gardner with WordServe Literary Group

4. Sarah Davies with The Greenhouse Literary Agency

5. Natalie M. Fischer at the Bradford Literary Agency

And you all know about this one right?

Friday Five: The never-ending conversation

I present to you, topics people can argue about for hours:

1. If the top stopped spinning at the end of Inception.

2. Whether LaBron James ruined his career by signing with Miami and interrupting regularly scheduled programming to announce his decision.

3. Who’s more attractive: David Beckham or Cristiano Ronaldo?

4. Whether Phil Collins is singing “Oh Lord” or “Hold on” during In the Air Tonight.

5. If the Kindle is good or bad for the publishing industry.

Cousin should be an editor

I don’t think (although I’m not sure, and hey-you never know), any publishers or editors tune into my blog... but just in case they do, I’d like to make an announcement.

My cousin is available for hire as an editor, despite the fact that she’s studying a completely different topic in school (a science, at that). I’m advertising her because she reads a ton and manages to find errors – lots of them – in several of the books she reads. And I think it’s her calling. Even if she doesn’t.

Yes, sometimes I hate her for pointing out a flaw in a story that I blissfully missed, but she’s talented truly. Like, who notices if the sun is setting in the wrong direction or if a character took off their shoes and didn’t put them back on before going for a jog? If something is wrong with a book, she will notice it.

Thus, any publishing house would be LUCKY to have her.

Am I wrong in thinking it’s rare to find mistakes in books – or do you guys find them all the time?

Friday Five: Selling the Query Letter

If you’re unpublished, than the most important thing you will do (other than writing an entire novel – but you WANTED to do that, remember?) is write a query letter enticing an agent to read your entire manuscript. That’s really the first step. I haven’t quite reached the query-stage yet, but I’m extremely well read on the subject. I’ve also taken a ‘how to query’ class and received a query critique from an agent. So instead of layering on more querying advice – here is what NOT to do: (don’t laugh, as I learned half of this list by being told ‘never do that again.’)

1. Don’t use the ‘imagine’ formula. Imagine: you’re a fourteen year old girl living in a post apocalyptic wasteland. To tell the truth, the ‘imagine’ formula draws me in completely. It’s good for movie trailers, but not so good for query letters.

2. Get rid of all hypothetical questions. How far would you go to save the one you love? Again, movie trailer glory – query failure.

3. Don’t claim to be a bestseller, when you haven’t sold anything. This is the next TWILIGHT. Except it’s not, there won’t be a next TWILIGHT, there won’t be a next anything – and that’s good. Your idea is completely original.

4. Do not explain WHY they need to read your novel. This one is tempting. My manuscript contains a love triangle that has yet to be tackled by the current paranormal romance marketplace... Of course you know WHY they should read your book. The trick is letting the plot draw them in.

5. Resist the urge to label your story. A coming-of-age-love story…. An uplifting tale… Agents will label your story later. And later, publishers will. And much later, the authors who blurb about it will. Too many cooks already, you see?

The British are coming... in a good way

Is it just me or is Alex Pettyfer the most wanted actor to play the on-screen roles of popular characters featured in YA novels?

It’s not just me. As I’m sure you’ve heard Alex has already scored the role in the screen adaptation of YA novel I am Number Four. He’s also been dubbed the ideal leading man for Jace in the up-coming City of Bones movie and Peeta in The Hunger Games.

Perhaps it’s because he’s attractive. Incredibly attractive. When describingAlex to my boyfriend I said, “He’s the male version of Brooklyn Decker.” He got it. Even when they ‘ugly him up’ in Beastly, he still manages to be the most attractive male cast member (no offense, Neil Patrick Harris).

Or maybe it’s because he’s British and YA novels-turned movies seem to always cast a British lead. Alex fits nicely into the category of British actor-turned YA heartthrob, like the late Robert Pattinson. Not late as in dead, but late as in, he’s no longer in style. I realized he was officially out of style when I heard teenage girls booing him at the theater during the Water for Elephants preview – to which I wanted to turn around and tell them that I hoped Rob Pattinson’s appearance on screen wouldn’t deter them from reading the book where they could picture Alex Pettyfer as the lead if they liked.

Others in this category include the boys…er…men of Harry Potter. I mean, Daniel Radcliffe is a heartthrob, isn’t he? Didn’t people pay good money to see him strip on Broadway? And Martin Scorsese hailed Rupert Grint the next Leonardo DiCaprio – and Leonardo DiCaprio DEFINED heartthrob when I was a teenager.

So, who else should Alex embody? Perhaps Ky in Matched (when it inevitably gets optioned – if it hasn’t already) or Will in Clockwork Angel (which I want to see in movie form ASAP). May I point out that Will would actually require Alex to use that pretty British accent of his? Although he’d have to die his hair black to truly personify Will. But hey - while he’s walking around with black hair, he could play Adam from If I Stay.

I’m cool with casting him as every YA male lead for the next five years until he’s officially “too old” and we discover the next Brit who will embody our YA heroes.

Who ELSE would you like to see him portray?

Friday Five: Rewards

Need to reward yourself for accomplishing that writing goal? Be it meeting word count, editing pages, or revising chapters – a reward, other than that ever addictive feeling of having accomplished something, is sometimes necessary.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Sleep for eight hours… haha – right. This never happens does it? Just sleep for the usual four hours, but feel as though you’ve earned eight.

2. Modern Family marathon.

3. Seasonal candy – candy corn on Halloween, conversation hearts on Valentine’s Day, and chocolate…any time of the year.

4. Shopping trip (Two words: Retail Therapy).

5. Guilt free twittering – er, tweeting.

A Bit on Nonfiction

“The one time I thought I read nonfiction, it was fiction!”

-BFF / PR Pro, referring to A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

So I have a friend who’s a PR pro and avid fiction reader – being in marketing and reading a lot myself – we always find ourselves with a lot to talk about. We would love our other friends to join in on the conversation, but no, they are what you might call exclusively-nonfiction-readers (this term is meant to be said with a plugged nose). But we just can’t get onboard with a no-fiction lifestyle.

Friday Five: Too many library books

I usually place a hold on a library book the second I hear about a book I MUST read. After waiting however long for my book to be available (sometimes I’m number 128th in line on 16 copies), then waiting even longer for it to be found, sorted, transferred to my library, and filed under my name – it usually takes a while for me to finally get my hands on it. Usually books filter in one or two at a time, and everything is just peachy. For some reason, this week I had five books to pick up at once. Most of these books are not renewable because someone else is waiting for them (that’s just my good taste), so there will be no pushing back the due date. Five books on top of a day job, workout routine, critique group, and writing and revising my own projects, seems a tad daunting. Thank goodness one – and ONLY one – is a book on CD. Despite the pressure, I’m pretty darn excited to get started.

Here’s what I’ll be reading the next three weeks:

1. Chasing Brooklyn
2. The Forest of Hands and Teeth
3. The Lying Game
4. Cracked Up To Be
5. The DUFF