Tag: #amwriting

Creative Writing, Writing, Writing Inspiration, Writing Process

A Writer’s Life

Mona Alvarado Frazier

So, that’s me up there in the center circle!

For years, I’ve written flash fiction, short stories and novels. Sometimes they are published and most times they are not.

But, I celebrate the wins along the writing way. I’m a finalist for SheWrites Press and SparkPress fourth annual contest. There will be two winners: One for the Adult category and one for the Young Adult (YA) category. My submission is for the YA. We’ll find out soon and I’ll post something either way.

Any writer who seeks publication knows how difficult the road to birthing an article, essay, short story or a novel can be. But like the ant going uphill, we persevere.

After twelve years of writing, shelving, and revising stories plus collecting books on the craft of writing, and participating in critique groups and writing organizations, I ask myself:

Just why do I write?

Many of my stories have an element of my life experiences and talking about them on paper is like a release. I have a need to write, to find out and process what I’m feeling or thinking. Sharing struggles is my means of supporting others by letting the reader know that they are not alone. Others have faced similar challenges and made it out alive.

I’m usually thinking and writing about what girls and women go through. Events from my past bounce around in my head and want out. More than a few times, I have a voice talking to me: “Remember when … ?” And then I remember and process the incident on paper.

The act of sharing my writing is scary sometimes. I wonder will I be judged, will someone think I’m writing about them, will someone get angry? But most of the time, I don’t care, because the act of writing is a release that I need. And for an introvert like me this sharing is a relationship with one reader.

Writing is an intimate act. It’s risky. But there’s something about the flow on words onto a white slate that invigorates a writer. Each page is a new creation.

I like the way I get lost in writing, how I go into a deep hole or a far away tangent and then reread my stuff and laugh. Or cry. Or erase.

Mostly, I write to highlight the experiences of love, loss, and other challenges of women and girls. I write to amplify their strength and resilience in the face of obstacles and dire circumstances.

I know I’ll keep writing whether I publish a novel or not. Because that is not the end game, but I can’t lie, it sure would be nice!

“It is the deepest desire of every writer, the one we never admit or even dare to speak of: to write a book we can leave as a legacy. . . . If you do it right, and if they publish it, you may actually leave something behind that can last forever.”

Alice Hoffman

Encouragement, Writing

Seven of Many Reasons Why Lit Agents Reject Your MS

Mona Alvarado Frazier

Reasons Why Lit Agents Reject MS (iWriterly)

In my neverending quest to move my manuscript (MS) to a literary agent and onto publication, I read info from a few ‘writerly’ resources. One of these stores of knowledge comes from Meg La Torre of iWriterly YouTube videos. I love that she gets to the point, the videos are brief but cover the subject, and she puts out new info every week.

One of the latest videos features seven lit agents who give their top three reasons why they reject manuscripts. Now, a few of the items are what we writers often hear: show don’t tell, character voice, and info dumps, but this latest video (December 4, 2019) gives us many more points.

The following are a few screenshots of the video:

The first page means the first 250 words

  1. Strong first page. Here are some criteria developed over at Flogging the Quill:

    A First-page Checklist

    • It begins to engage the reader with the character
    • Something is wrong/goes wrong or challenges the character
    • The character desires something.
    • The character takes action. Can be internal or external action: thoughts, deeds, emotions. This does NOT include musing about whatever.
    • There’s enough of a setting to orient the reader as to where things are happening.
    • (Go to the site for more)

  1.  Editorial Vision

Does the Lit Agent have the Editorial Vision

This area also includes editing issues: too many problems with pacing, issues with point of view, talking heads, or amateur writing.

 3. Expectations. Did the writer deliver on the query representation?

Your query highlighted specific goals, stakes, or story, but your first ten pages don’t reflect your representation. This may be a problem of not starting in the right place, a slow pace, or an info dump instead of starting in the now.

4. Is Your Story Idea Unique Enough?

Is Your MS unique, fresh?

What distinguishes your novel from the hundreds of other fantasy, sci-fi, or mystery novels out in the bookstores. Is your book told in a fresh way? What makes it new and exciting in an oversaturated genre? Remember, the agent has to ‘sell’ your MS to an editor and team.

5. Problematic Content. Harmful stereotypes, offensive representation.

Problematic Representation

If this area isn’t clear to you, perhaps you can read about the need for a sensitivity reader.  The person should be able to spot cultural inaccuracies, stereotypes, bias issues, or problematic language. This doesn’t cover only ethnicities, but areas of gender, abilities, etc.

In my writing group of seven women (a diverse group of Anglo, Latinx, bi-racial, and multi-ethnic), we spot problem areas and learn from each other, including having a sensitivity reader if we believe this will improve the MS.

   6.  Plot and Character Arcs

This can be anything from a lack of change in the character, plot holes, inconsistencies in the timeline, or jumping around too much in the storyline. Does your novel have enough conflict, does the conflict raise the stakes in the story, does the character act and react through the story, so we know what she’s thinking or why she’s taking action. Do we care?

7. World Building

Building the world begins on the first page. This is difficult because you don’t want to dump a whole lot of info but enough to provide context to the reader. The setting allows your reader to visualize the environment and characters better. This is a critical area for fantasy, speculative, sci-fi writers who must construct an imaginary world.

To learn more about the reasons, lit agents reject an MS, watch the presentation. If you click the “Show More” beneath the video on the iWriterly YouTube page, you will see a list of the participating agents and links to their agencies and social media.

Thanks for reading and I hope this is useful for any of my blog followers who are writers. Keep on writing!