This weekend was…wow. I implore everyone who is able to afford it, please go to a writing conference. Even if it can’t be the Writer’s Digest Conference which was AMAZING, go and soak up what it’s like to be around people with the same passion as you do. Learn all of the different facets of writing you’ve never thought to explore. Feel the inspiration that pours off of the keynotes. And dear god, if you can, attend a pitch session—but that’s a blog post for another day. There are some sessions about craft that I would love to get into more detail about, and that will come, and I’d like to write about the Pitch Slam, but today I want to talk about the experience as a whole. I’ve never been to a writing conference. Sure, I’ve attended conventions—San Diego Comic Con, Anime Boston, New York Comic Con, etc—but this was my first writing conference, and I didn’t know what to expect. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m not great at striking up conversations with strangers. I want to, but it’s difficult for me. The people at this conference didn’t care—they helped me through the hardest part by reaching out to me. So many strangers tapped me on the shoulder, and offered smiles and kind greetings. They asked me about my genre and my book, and when I found the words to talk about it, I was only met with encouragement and excitement. More than that, I got to meet people from all over the country, and indeed, the world. I got to hear about their stories, and get glimpses into their experiences, and it was so beautiful. As for the sessions, I learned so much. I learned about crafting characters through setting. I learned about the publishing process. I learned about how to enhance your voice. I was part of a session about dissecting a well-written first page to learn about why it has such an impact. Plot twists, conflict, pacing—I could go on. I learned more in three days about writing than I think my head can fully hold. More than that, these sessions were inspiring. I can’t WAIT to look back at my manuscript. Scenes jumped to mind that could be strengthened by a sensory detail here, or by taking out a cliché there and replacing it with something more nuanced and concise. This post comes down to this. Open yourself up to experiences. Please, please, open yourself up to them. Be vulnerable. To people. To lessons. To the writers who came before you who want to pour all of their experiences into you so that you can achieve the most with your writing. I paid to have Annalisa Parent, a writing coach, and the dictionary definition of a sweetheart, read my first five pages. Afterward, she would give a fifteen minute session to critique them right there at the conference. I was nervous. I was afraid that the words I’d poured my heart into were going to get torn apart, but I allowed myself to be vulnerable to it—it’s the only way to grow. Annalisa ended up filling me with confidence, and the advice she provided me changed my entire conference and pitching experience. She challenged me to push my pitch in a different direction, and with only two hours before my session. If she hadn’t, and I hadn’t followed her advice, I would have undoubtedly not had the success I did. Writers, be vulnerable. Open yourselves up to everything this community has to offer, because once you get past how scary it is, it’s eye-opening. Of course, maintain your identity. Your work is YOURS and it always will be, but let what you glean from opening yourselves up influence and strengthen your words. You won’t be disappointed—I know I wasn’t.
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The 2017 Writer's Digest Conference in NYC is four days away and coming fast! With all of the Pitchwars prep, and the wedding, I feel like I blinked and suddenly it's here, looming in the not-so-distant future and waving at me. It's my first writing conference, and I'm going at it alone. Not only that, but I'm pushing out of my comfort zone and trying out the Pitch Slam. For those not familiar, the Pitch Slam is speed dating with agents and editors. You get three minutes to sit down and tell the agent/editor why they should be interested in your work, and then they get to ask you questions. So how did I pick the agents I want to pitch to? Well, I started by narrowing it down to agents that wanted Young Adult Fantasy. No sense pitching to an agent who isn't interested in the genre you write, right? Well, that still left me with about thirty agents. It's like the real world of querying, but on a smaller scale. There's lots of options, but only a handful will be able to provide you and your MS what you need. So how do you figure out what you really need? I decided to think about what was most important to me in an agent. What did I want in the person who was going to be representing me and my manuscript to the big world of publishing? God I miss Bernie... ANYWAY: Diversity! I want an agent who actively seeks diverse works by marginalized authors about marginalized characters. Especially given the place the United States is in today. This country is trying to strip POC and LGBTQ+ voices, and I want an agent who will hold up a megaphone and let marginalized people scream through that silence. To me, if an agent lists that they're seeking writers of color, and LGBTQ+ writers, that means that the diversity in my story will be celebrated rather than washed. That, for me, is the most important thing an agent can offer me. NOW, I am in no way implying that an agent does not value diversity if it is not directly listed in their MSWL or bio. To know if an agent is right for you requires a ton of research. It means:
That's the takeaway here, folks. When it comes to picking agents to query, or Pitchwars mentors to sub to, or who to pitch to at a writing conference, find the most important piece of your MS. Boil it down to its essence. Is it about disability? Overcoming adversity? Love? Joy? Conquering fear? Find the theme in your story that would leave your words empty if you stripped it, and then find an agent who will nurture that. Sure, I don't have representation yet, so maybe it's not perfect advice, but I feel as though I've never been closer once I realized that. Don't settle for any agent that offers representation. This manuscript is your baby, so find someone who will love it just like you do. Have any other advice on how to narrow down if an agent is right for you? Leave it in the comments! |
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