Sunday Inspiration--Doing the Work

Whoo, where did the day go? Where did the weekend go? I actually have an answer to those two pointed Sunday night questions. The work. Well, there was also rest. The week of work left me exhausted and that exhaustion and Saturday's snow storm both conspired together, leaving me spending much of Saturday lounging on my couch, intermittently napping, snacking and watching a Will & Grace marathon. It was wonderful. But this morning, feeling the guilt of spending a Saturday not working, especially when per usual, I am so, so behind on everything, I got up early and went to work, taking inspiration and direction from Cliff Thompson's Guest Blog on what matters. But as I got to work editing I also found myself inspired by the work itself. I'm lucky in that I get to pick the projects I acquire and edit and I don't pick something unless I really, truly love it, so I love all the projects on my desk, but each novel I work on is its own world, if you will, with its own particular brand of challenges and troubles. Part of the joy of editing is to work with the author to tackle those challenges and ease those troubles until the narrative is the absolute best it can be, and when the author and I reach the end of that process, I always marvel by how much a narrative has changed, evolved and grown. It's pure inspiration.

Though, with the manuscript I was working on today, I am at the beginning of this editorial process, not the end, and reading the manuscript one last time before finalizing my first editorial letter for the author and turning over the manuscript and letter so the author can get to work revising. Even though this author and I are at the beginning of the editorial process, as I read today, I found myself completely inspired, as inspired as I would be and will be at the end of the editorial process. The writing in this particular book is fast-paced, the characters so well-rendered and the story is fresh and because of these strengths and many others, I couldn't help but to become caught up in the storytelling, so much so that I had to remind myself to edit. This is not to say the manuscript is perfect and not in need of editing. But putting together as strong a manuscript as this author has without the benefit of an editor does not happen by accident. I found myself inspired by the work and care and love this author has put into this narrative and because of that, as an editor, I'm compelled and yes inspired by this author to put just as much work, care and love into my edit of it. And in this way, editing this narrative became its own joy. It's near midnight and I finally had to pull myself away from the manuscript to get myself ready for the week and sleep. As I worked, I had my eye on the clock, but just kept telling myself one more chapter, one more page. Being this inspired by a manuscript, by the work is a magical feeling and one that reminds me just how lucky I am to do what I do and just how much I love my job. So my Sunday Inspirational thought for you? Find the inspiration in your own work. Inspiration = joy. If you're not caught up in and excited by you're own work, you're doing it wrong.

;-)

What Matters by Clifford Thompson

Today, EditingGenius welcomes Whiting Award winner, Clifford Thompson, who has some very poignant thoughts on the work of writing.

 

This year I won a Whiting Writers’ Award in the category of nonfiction. Theaward has greatly improved my outlook. It has also — this is not a complaint — left me feeling a little strange, for reasons that at bottom have to do with the strangeness of being a writer. To be a writer is to want two things: to create good works and to receive the balm of recognition. It is to tell yourself that only the first of these truly matters and to have your words fall on your own deaf, or at best unbelieving, ears. It is to be a nation of one, operating with both a surplus — the drive to create, and the joy that brings — and a deficit, a lack of the normal person’s capacity to be satisfied with the ordinary good things of life. I used the word “balm,” which suggests a relief from suffering, and most often to be a writer is (I know how maudlin this sounds) to suffer. For me, the Whiting Award has gone a long way toward relieving that special brand of suffering.

 

This brings me back to feeling strange. It is difficult to comprehend a situation fully when you’re still in it, and it is only now, as I put one foot outside my predicament, that I begin to understand just what was happening to me in there. At fifty, I am the oldest of this year’s Whiting winners by a wide margin. The award, by far the most significant measure of recognition I have ever received, is given to writers of “accomplishment and promise”; the word “promise” points to the future, but, to face the stonehearted truth for a moment, the majority of my days are most likely behind me. That doesn’t mean that I can’t accomplish much more as a writer —  I am very, very excited about the possibility of doing just that — but it does mean that I spent a lot of my life in the hell of waiting for something that showed few signs of ever coming. I can see that now, and it is a strange thing to realize. But I can see something else too. I wasn’t just waiting; I was working. In getting the telephone call telling me I was to receive the Whiting Award, I did nothing — nothing — that I hadn’t done before I got the news. What this proves is what I used to tell myself: What matters is the work. Now that I no longer need to hear those words, I finally believe them.

Clifford Thompson is the author of Love for Sale and Other Essays and a novel, Signifying Nothing.

For More Information about the Whiting Award, click here.

On Agenting--Professional Spotlight

I'm very happy to today to welcome Kent Wolf, an agent at Lippincott Massie McQuilkin. As far as agents go, Kent is the gold standard: he has great taste and he works extremely hard for his clients. He's also just one of the nicest people in publishing and his interview is full of valuable information, especially for anyone interested in pursuing this career path.

So without further ado...

Thanks for joining us today, Kent. I'm really excited to talk to you today. I just recently learned that you began your career as a Scout, which is a fascinating way to begin in the business, I think. But Scout is also a publishing career path that people don't know much about. So can you give us a bit of a primer on Scouting and also share with us the progression of your career post-scouting and what you do now?

My pleasure, Stacey! I’m glad you asked about Scouting, as it’s an aspect of the publishing business that few outside the industry know much about.

I moved to New York in 1998 from Illinois, where I had spent a little over a year as an editorial assistant at a pretty amazing literary press, Dalkey Archive. Like many young twentysomethings with book-biz dreams, I envisioned a career in editorial, but after pounding the pavement for four months and countless interviews, I was down to $200 in the bank and was beginning to regret dropping out of grad school.

About ready to throw in the towel, I managed to snag an interview with a scouting agency. I’m embarrassed to admit that in my first days on the job I still wasn’t quite sure what the agency did. Thankfully, I’m a quick learner!

Basically, we were under contract to foreign publishers and Hollywood studios/production

companies, and I established relationships with agents, editors, and foreign rights professionals in order to report on upcoming books for possible translation or film/TV adaptation. When I heard about a book on submission to editors that might be of interest to a client, I would do my darndest to get a copy of the manuscript to read and review. The job was invaluable in making great professional contacts and it allowed me a bird’s-eye view of the industry.

From there I landed a job in the subsidiary rights department of Harcourt Trade Publishers. I spent over eight years there selling foreign and domestic rights (UK, translation, audio, large print, book club, etc.). It was at Harcourt where I learned how to sell, but the only drawback was that I was selling someone else’s books! I was pulling in over $2,000,000 a year in revenue but my salary, sadly, didn’t reflect it.

It was a blessing in disguise when I was laid off in the wake of the Harcourt/Houghton Mifflin merger, and I was finally free to pursue a career in agenting. I’d been wanting to take the leap for a number of years but needed to be pushed into the deep end to start swimming. I sold my first
book four weeks after donning my agent’s hat and never looked back!

What has been one of the biggest challenges of your career as an agent?

Honestly, the biggest challenge for all agents is selling books! Much of it has to do with the changing landscape. The big publishers continue to consolidate, the bookstore chains are shrinking, and playing Candy Crush now trumps reading as the preferred activity for morning train commuters. Like our writers, we’re suckers for punishment, but our love of the written word keeps us fighting the good fight!

What has been one of your biggest successes?

I’ve been quite lucky to have a number of bestsellers under my belt. My first, OOGY: THE DOG ONLY A FAMILY COULD LOVE, spent over ten weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and to date has sold over 300,000 copies. I’m also quite proud of a debut novel published this year, THE CLOVER HOUSE, which was a Boston Globe Bestseller and a Target Emerging Author
selection.

What have you not yet done as an agent that you want to do?

I’m still waiting for my feature in The New York Times Style section! Seriously, though, I have yet to see one of my books hit the big screen. Titles have been optioned but nothing’s been greenlit. Hollywood, get on it!!

How has the changes in technology affected your job?

I don’t edit on paper anymore, for one. I’m all about “track changes” these days. And I read all manuscripts on my iPad, only printing out proposals. There’s tremendous pressure right now to maintain a strong social media presence (Authors, I feel your pain!), and it can be a chore to Tweet sometimes.


What are some of your books we should look for in the marketplace?

In May 2014 Thomas Dunne Books will publish a debut by Natalie Harnett, entitled THE HOLLOW
GROUND. It’s a dark and haunting voice-driven novel based on real events—the underground coal-mine fires that ravaged Pennsylvania and displaced entire towns.

And next fall be on the lookout for BEHOLDEN by Martina Boone, a YA debut from Simon Pulse. It’s a gorgeous Southern Gothic full of magic and romance. It’s the first in a trilogy and is perfect for lovers of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, but Martina creates a world all her own.

Are you taking new writers? What sorts of submissions are you looking for?

I sure am! I encourage those interested in querying me to visit our website at http://www.lmqlit.com for submission guidelines.

I’m pretty wide open to be honest. I represent literary fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, multicultural lit, literature in translation, YA, memoir, pop culture, smart thrillers, long-form journalism, and history (the non-stuffy kind). I don’t have a handle on self-help or feel compelled to
represent anything that proselytizes.

I’m dying to get my hands on something like Lev Grossman’s THE MAGICIANS. I’m such a sucker for genre-bending books! I’d love to discover a rollicking historical in the vein of Emma Donoghue, and a strong family story like THE MIDDLESTEINS would send me over the moon. Oh, and novels
that shed light on little-known figures or historical events are my catnip!

What's your best advice to new writers currently looking for an agent?
Work on those query letters! Agents can get upwards of a hundred queries per week, so your pitch should be as finely honed and targeted as possible. For me, the best queries are those that mimic the jacket copy on a published book. Give me an engaging, concise description. Flat queries leave me cold. Let me know where your book fits on the shelves. Who is your audience? What makes your book special? Do your homework to make sure that the agent you’re querying represents in your category. And for the love of God, avoid clichés when describing your work. I’m allergic to them.

What's your best advice to a recent college graduate thinking about a publishing career?

Don’t limit yourself to editorial positions. There are so many great jobs out there—from scouting to publicity to marketing to foreign rights—that are just as important and rewarding as an editor’s. Just get that foot in the door!

And get some internships under your belt. Literary agencies, especially, are always looking for interns. Entry-level positions are competitive and the more experience you have, the better. I’ve seen applicants for assistant positions who have upwards of three internships on their resumes. Most internships are unpaid, which stinks, but that’s the way the business works. Sorry, kids!

Living YA

Earlier this week, The Barnes & Nobles Book Blog (yep, B&N has a book blog), posted a funny bit called "9 Signs You Might Be Living in a YA Novel". Take a look here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/9-signs-you-might-be-living-in-a-ya-novel/

Just another reminder that the whole world seems to have gone YA (that's Young Adult if you're among the uninitiated). And nothing wrong with that. Despite all the drama (and there's plenty of it in a YA novel), if you have to live somewhere, a YA novel isn't a bad choice. Not bad at all.

So why all the focus on YA and children's books in general in recent years? Well, primarily because more adults (who aren't teachers or librarians or moms and dads) are now reading books intended for children. Thanks Harry Potter. Thanks The Hunger Games. Thanks Divergent. Oh and let's not forget Twilight. Thanks, Bella and Edward...

But even adults reading YA thanks to these blockbusters still don't realize just how diverse and varied a world YA is. Some might not even realize that many of their recent favorite or most anticipated movies were actually YA novels before they hit the big screen. The Spectacular Now, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and the highly anticipated The Book Thief are just a few examples and none of these books have witches, vampires or hunger death matches.

What these books do have are well-realized characters, emotional depth and honesty that is just as compelling as any vampire romance and meaning that will stick with you.

So while this bit from B&N Book Blog does poke fun at the similarities in themes, character elements and narrative devices, and the outlandish or just down right sad things about YA, make no mistake there is plenty of great and even groundbreaking things happening in YA, too, and there's more to this world than you might think. For every Dystopian or Fantasy blockbuster, there are also classics in waiting. A Separate Peace, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn all have wonderful heir apparents. 

If you'd like to find yourself living in a YA novel sometime soon, and don't know where to start to expand your reading beyond the  recent trend of Dystopian, here's a reading list for you of some of my recent favs:


Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth



You can thank me later. Careful, they're addictive...

On Dialogue

Say what you will about the veracity of A Million Little Pieces and its author James Frey, the man knows how to write. And even the very first page of A Million Little Pieces attests to it as Mr. Frey for my money nails one of the most difficult aspects of narrative: dialogue. Why is dialogue so hard? Most don't know how to use it. Most beginning writers use dialogue to advance the plot when the most effective use of dialogue is really to reveal characterization. The sharpest, most keenly observed and thus most compelling execution of dialogue does this seamlessly and effortlessly, though I grant you, it's no easy trick, but Frey manages it. The opening page of A Million Little Pieces contains, hands-down, some of the best and most memorable dialogue I have ever read and it's no wonder why so many were absolutely riveted by this story from word one. Mr. Frey's dialogue is concise (he doesn't waste words), purposeful (again he doesn't waste words), and very clearly and immediately reveals character. My favorite thing about this opening dialogue is that it's delivered sans quotation marks.

So without further ado...

I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut. I open them and I look around and I'm in the back of a plane and there's no one near me. I look at my clothes and my clothes are covered with a colorful mix of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. I reach for the call button and I find it and I push it and I wait and thirty seconds later an Attendant arrives. 

How can I help you?
Where am I going?
You don't know?
No.
You're going to Chicago, Sir.
How did I get here?
A Doctor and two men brought you on.
They say anything?
They talked to the Captain, Sir. We were told to let you sleep.
How long till we land?
About twenty minutes.
Thank you.

Although I never look up, I know she smiles and feels sorry for me. She shouldn't. 

In this snippet we meet a man who in many ways is resigned  to his fate, feels he almost deserves it--there's no anger or any strong emotion at all; he's not mortified or distraught or even anxious. At most, he's just mildly confused by a set of circumstances that might send most others over the edge. And that tells us a lot about his characterization. And it's all there in very spare, efficient dialogue. And this is not dialogue that's needed to advance the plot. The next bit after this dialogue reads as follows:

A short while later we touch down. I look around for anything I might have with me, but there's nothing. No ticket, no bags, no clothes, no wallet. I sit and I wait and I try to figure out what happened. Nothing comes. 

Now here's how the first page would read without the dialogue:

I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut. I open them and I look around and I'm in the back of a plane and there's no one near me. I look at my clothes and my clothes are covered with a colorful mix of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood.

A short while later we touch down. I look around for anything I might have with me, but there's nothing. No ticket, no bags, no clothes, no wallet. I sit and I wait and I try to figure out what happened. Nothing comes.

The narrative doesn't really miss the dialogue. And the information we do get in the dialogue can be given elsewhere in another way. The point is that the narrative doesn't fall apart without the dialogue, except in one way. I care less about this man. I know less about him. I'm less inclined to see him through his journey, simply because he's less interesting to me.

And why am I interested in this solitary man? Because he is clearly alone in a set of extraordinary circumstances and not freaking out. There's also no sense of self-pity or despair (at least not in a traditional or cliche sense), he's not even self-deprecating, and the lack of these elements in and of itself is refreshing. This man is almost detached from reality and he also reads as a man with nothing left to lose and thus honest. No it's no wonder this story gripped us all, "fooled" us all. It's damn good writing. It's damn good characterization and we feel like we're getting an insider's take on that proverbial car wreck we can't take our eyes off of from someone who wouldn't lie to us because he can't be bothered to lie to us. He can't be bothered to think beyond where the plane he's on might land. This dialogue tells me so much about this man and makes him interesting, someone to watch. To a lesser extent I also can't take my eyes off the Flight Attendant. How calmly she answers the questions of a disheveled man sans his four front teeth and a hole in his cheek. What a way to open! And what a fantastic use of dialogue. Say what you will about Frey as a person, there are lessons to be learned from his book.

In the News--Can't Think of a Thing to Say

Monday is this blog's day to reflect on current news stories about the business of writing, but as I poured over the stories of the day, nothing really called to me. In truth, it has been a very slow news day. But I did stumble across this little tidbit: apparently, Stephen King has joined Twitter. (Big news, y'all.) And in three days, he has amassed 172,258 followers. Wow! Must be nice. (I should maybe think about joining Twitter, too, huh?) And the very first tweet from the prolific and beloved author: "On Twitter at last, and can't think of a thing to say. Some writer I turned out to be."

Stephen King delivers again. If I was on Twitter, I would have followed him no matter who he was just based on that one tweet alone. People have been asking me to blog for years. "You're so funny!" they would say. Or "You have such an interesting perspective." Or "People would love you." Well, I'm finally blogging and the pressure to be funny, interesting and loveable is exhausting, especially on those days when I truly can't think of a thing to say...Today is one of those days. Well, if Stephen King can admit to such a lack of inspiration in his very first tweet, I won't feel so bad.

Besides, sometimes, the day is not about the news, but about the work. Today was a day that was very much about the work.Corresponding with authors, responding to agents, reading, editing, building a website and schmoozing at the company party. Oh and life too: cats, when you have them, like I do, insist on being fed. And then there was the ice on the car that needed to be cleared. Life. And at the end of the day, when all that's done, nope, can't think of a single thing to say. Thanks to Stephen King for the permission to be quiet. And thanks to Stephen King for being on Twitter in the first place. I love when writers write no matter the medium. And no matter the medium their words affect in small, powerful ways. That's what's in the news today.

;-)

Sunday Inspiration

This has been a big week at Editing Genius. First, our first full week of blogging is in the books. Whoohoo! Thanks to Laura Klynstra, our inaugural Professional Spotlight, and Rakia Clark, our first Guest Blogger for making this a great week. If you missed Laura and Rakia, check out their posts here and here.You can also read Monday's In The News post here, Tuesday's Craft post here and Wednesday's Children's Publishing post here.

Secondly, we've been working furiously behind the scenes to get our Writing Community up and running and are now amazingly ready for beta testers. So if you're looking for a dynamic writing community and access to critique and feedback from industry professionals and support from fellow writers, please join us today. The Editing Genius Writing Community is a fee-based membership, but the fee ($10 per year for Basic Members/$20 per year for Membership Plus) is waived for the first 100 members. If you're interested please contact us at help@editinggenius.com. Learn about what our community can offer you here.

In the interim, here's some Sunday inspiration for you--a poem by Lucille Clifton that has always inspired me to be and do more. Enjoy. And be sure to make today count.

won't you celebrate with me


won't you celebrate with me
what I have shaped into
a kind of life? I had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did I see to see except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between
starshine and clay,
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that every day
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.