WriteOnCon is Back!

If you've been part of the online kidlit writing community for a while, you may remember WriteOnCon, an amazing, completely online writer's conference that ran from 2010-2013. Putting on the conference was a TON of work, including boatloads of planning, setting up and monitoring forums for sharing work, and hosting live agent chats and keynote presentations. The organizers (understandably) decided to take a break after the 2013 conference, and it wasn't certain whether it would be held again.

I learned so much from the conference back in 2013, and I even got a couple of ninja agent requests after sharing my query and pages in the forums. So I was delighted to see that there's a shiny new WriteOnCon for 2017! It begins tomorrow, February 2, and runs through the end of the day on Saturday, February 4.

One of the big changes this year is that there's a nominal $1 fee to attend the conference. This gets you access to the blogs and vlogs. If you want to attend the live events with industry professionals, the cost is $5. This money helps defray the cost of web hosting and the time of the organizers and industry professionals.

And guys, it is TOTALLY WORTH IT. You'll pay a minimum of several hundred dollars to attend even a very small conference in person—and this one you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home! If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that all of us here at Thinking to Inking are huge fans of writing conferences (in fact, that's how we all met!). WriteOnCon is an awesome way to mingle with like-minded people and benefit from the wisdom and experience of industry professionals, even if you don't have the time and/or money to go to an in-person conference.

Interested in checking it out? The main WriteOnCon page is here. There you'll find links to register, FAQs, schedules, and more.

(Psst: you can post your query and pages in the WOC forums for other writers to read and critique for free, even if you don't want to attend other parts of the conference. I have it on good authority that there will be secretive ninja agents and editors prowling around, so you may even get a request to see more pages if they like what they see!)

How to Give Good Feedback

I just started to read a friend's current work-in-progress, so the topic of how to give good feedback for a critique partner is on my mind! I've been reading manuscripts for writer friends for years now, so I'm starting to get a handle on what kind of notes are most useful.

In no particular order, here are some tips for giving good feedback to a critique partner.

1. Critique work you like.
This may sound obvious, but it's important. Before you agree to critique for someone, make sure you like their writing. It can be a genre you don't write and a completely different style to yours... but if you don't respect and enjoy the writing, the whole process will be painful, and your notes will be less than useful.

And on the flip side, this is also important if you're exchanging work. How can you take someone's critique notes seriously if you don't respect his or her work? I suggest starting with a small sample first. If you don't feel you would be a good person to critique the whole novel, just say so—and save both of you a lot of time and trouble.

(Luckily, I've critiqued for my current partner before and love her writing!)

2. Catalogue your reactions.
Some of the most valuable notes you can give your critique partner are your reactions to various parts of the novel. Were you stunned by the big twist? Say so! Appalled by something the hero did to the point where you kind of hate him for the rest of the book? That's important information for the writer to know. They may have intended for you to have that reaction—but they may not have, which would indicate that some revision might be in order.

It's also a good idea to make note of times when you put the book down or had to force yourself to continue. Spots where the story is dragging should be prime targets for revision.

3. Make suggestions, but don't be offended if they're ignored completely.
When I point out a problem, I'll often offer up a suggestion for fixing it. I never worry about whether that advice is taken, though. It's not my story! If my suggestion sparks some other idea for a fix in the mind of the writer, I consider it just as good as if they took it outright.

4. Note typos.
You might get different advice from different people on this one. I've heard some say that at this stage, typos are the last thing to worry about, but I don't agree. I'd be mortified to send work to an agent or publisher with typos, so I'm always grateful when beta readers point them out to me. It doesn't take long to note them as you read for bigger issues, so why not?


Finding good critique partners is one of the best things you can do to take your writing to the next level. Return the favor by giving helpful critiques yourself!

Writer's Resource: Twitter Pitch Contests

You probably know that Twitter can be an excellent resource for writers (if not, this earlier post might change your mind).

But did you know that you can regularly find pitch contests on Twitter, where agents and/or editors peruse a certain hashtag at a certain time to find material they'd like to request?

One of the big Twitter pitch contests, the one affiliated with the blog contest Pitch Madness, is coming up next week on March 25th. If you're interested in participating, the details are on the contest organizer Brenda Drake's blog here (scroll down to find the section about the Twitter contest).

I've personally participated in three Twitter pitch contests, and I received several agent and editor requests to see my partial or full manuscript. Even better, I connected with like-minded writers when they complimented my pitch, or when I saw one that looked similar to mine and complimented theirs. I got a great critique partner that way!

Of course, a Twitter contest means that the entries have to be formatted so they're under the 140-character limit for a tweet. If the very idea has you screaming in terror, this post might be helpful: Writing a Short Pitch.

Twitter contests are often associated with blog contests like Pitch Madness. Follow writers like Brenda Drake (@brendadrake) or read threads like this one on the Absolute Write forums to find more!

Getting Out of a Writing Slump

Before I get into today's post, I want to say a huge congratulations to fellow Thinking to Inking blogger Lauren, who signed with Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency! If you haven't read her "How I Got My Agent" post, go read it. I'll wait.

I hit a writing slump recently.

As anyone who's ever experienced a writing slump (or writer's block) knows, it's not a fun state of affairs. I don't know if everyone does this, but after about a month of not writing a word, I started withdrawing from my writer friends. I didn't check in with them as often as I normally do. I wasn't on Twitter much either, because it just kept reminding me I wasn't writing.

But last week, I met up with a group of writer buddies. We had a six-hour conversation about writing and life and lots of stuff in between.

That was the kick in the pants I needed to jump back into my WIP. Now I'm rolling again!

This points out two things:

1) The importance of having writer friends.

Even if you have other people you talk to about your writing (your best friend, your spouse), it's different to talk to people who are also writers and know what you're going through. This holds true even if they don't write what you write. Writers get other writers.

Meeting up with one, two, or even ten other writers periodically is also a great way to keep yourself accountable. Do you really want to be the one showing up at every meeting and saying you haven't made any progress since last time?

2) Sometimes you just need a little time off.

I've been writing continuously for years, and I have to say--taking the time to focus on other things for a few months wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm coming back to my WIP with fresh eyes, and I'm already seeing things to fix that I didn't notice before.

This post from Write it Sideways has another good tip on how to break out of a writing slump: have multiple projects to work on. When you're blocked on one, you can switch over to another. Bonus points if it's in a totally different genre or format (a short story instead of a novel, for example).

Have you experienced the dreaded writer's slump? How did you get out of it?

Writing Isn't for You

Upon the urging of several friends, I recently read this blog post by Seth Adam Smith: Marriage Isn't For You.

Despite the provocative title, it's actually a very romantic look at marriage from a different perspective. The author argues that marriage is about wanting to make the other person happy, rather than thinking about what you can get out of it.

After I read the blog post (which I agree with wholeheartedly), I got to thinking about how much this applies to writing, too. There's a tendency amongst writers (aspiring ones, anyway) to focus on how writing makes them feel.

Sure, writing can be fun. It can also be exasperating, cathartic, joyful, hilarious, heart-wrenching, and infuriating. But to some extent, this is missing the point.

Writing isn't for you. It's for the reader.

That might seem fairly obvious, but it immediately hit home with me. How many times have we heard phrases like "kill your darlings," or been told by critique partners, agents, and editors to change things we loved? The truth is, they are assuming the point of view of the reader. You are the writer, and no matter how good you are at putting your manuscript aside and coming back to it with a fresh perspective, there will always be things you want to keep because they were fun to write, because they have personal meaning for you, because you think it's a particularly good turn of phrase.

In the future, I'm going to try to keep this idea in mind. Writing is for the reader. If a reader who understands the genre and the mechanics of writing doesn't think something should stay, I'm going to try to curb my knee-jerk reaction (What? But I love that part!) and look at it more objectively. If it interferes with the reader's understanding or enjoyment of the book, then out it goes.

I think keeping the end goal in mind will help me accept legitimate criticism, and therefore be a better writer.

Writer's Conference Survival Guide Part 3: Networking

The third and final installment in my Writer's Conference Survival Guide is all about networking.

By networking, I mean meeting like-minded people who are attending the conference with you. If you've been following this blog for a while, you might have read the story of how I got my agent. As I said in that post, I attribute most of my growth as a writer to the critique partners and support group I've built up over the past few years.

Conferences are fantastic places to find critique partners and groups. Case in point: I met Jenn, Stacy, and Lauren, my co-bloggers here at Thinking to Inking, at the first conference I ever attended. Especially if you don't have a critique group or writer friends who live nearby, you'll definitely want to network when you go to a writer's conference.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of your networking:

1. Bring business cards. You might feel a little sheepish about passing out business cards made before you're a published author, but trust me, they are really useful at conferences. Mine just have my name, contact info, and "writer" on them. You can make your own on your home printer, or order them online. Moo.com and Vistaprint.com are inexpensive, good places to start. 

Tip: order a matte finish on your cards so you can jot notes like "writes adult SF/F" on them to remind you of details.

2. During the conference, be friendly and interested in the people around you. If you're in line for food or waiting for a workshop to begin, start up a conversation with the person next to you. Ask them what they write. If you find someone who writes in a similar genre and your communication styles seem like a good match, don't be afraid to mention you're looking for critique partners.

3. If you're attending the conference with a spouse, best friend, or a whole group, make an effort to branch out. It's tempting to sit in the corner whispering with the person you know instead of meeting new people, but this is a golden opportunity that you don't want to waste. If you really want to force yourself out of your shell, sit apart from each other at mealtimes and talk to the people around you instead.

4. Sometimes the best connections are formed after conference hours, since most conference days end in the early evening. Networking is a lot like dating--if you feel like you're making a connection with someone, suggest you continue the conversation over dinner or drinks.

I'm off to the Midwest Writer's Workshop this Thursday for the second year in a row, so I'll get to put my own conference survival tips to work. Maybe I'll see some of you there!

How to Criticize Constructively

If you've ever been involved in a critique group, put your work up for public critique in a forum, or submitted to contests, you're probably familiar with the term "constructive criticism."

The definition of constructive criticism, from Dictionary.com: "criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions."

Raise your hand if you've experienced criticism that was not, ah, quite so constructive.

Yeah, I thought so.

If you're getting your work out there, bad critiques are unavoidable. But you can take steps to make sure your notes on others' work are as constructive as possible.

One method is the sandwich technique. This means to buffer each piece of negative feedback with two compliments.

Okay, maybe not quite like the graphic. But the sandwich method can be a way to soften the blow of relaying legitimate problems with the manuscript. If you don't tell the writer anything but the parts that weren't working, he or she will probably feel like you hated everything about the work, which usually isn't the case.

Another important point to remember when critiquing is to be specific. There's very little worse than getting notes back on your chapters or manuscript like "I just found the main character very unlikeable" or "the plot seemed unbelievable." 

Of course, it's great to give the writer your gut reactions, but then follow it up by pointing out specific parts in the manuscript that caused that reaction (e.g. "After he punched his grandmother in the face, I found that I didn't like him much anymore"). Rule of thumb: specific feedback gives the writer things to fix.

Be specific. Very specific.

And finally, be polite. Apply the golden rule and ask yourself honestly how you would react to notes like the ones you're about to send. Are they helpful? Do they mention what you liked as well as what you didn't? Are they specific?