I am in a strange place about Ignite. It has two major issues that will not allow it to jump into the arms of it's beloved future agent right now.
I have used multi-familiar cliche to put the reader into a safe nice recognizable place only using subtle hints that it is more than girl meets boy of her dreams and gets popular. But, in the first few pages, her only problem seems to be that she is an outie wanna-be Innie. So the first impression is that it's been done before a quezillion times, which equals a pass. Add a prologue which views her from her first life threatening danger, unknown to her....except he's a vampire.
Every agent has a vamp story on the list now.....they are puking glitter and Mardi Gras beads and this one of eventual four main characters is an eye rolling pass no matter what else happens. Blood is too much a part of the central danger to intro it without the vampy connection. So my main story has shot itself in the foot for sale by the very fact that the surprises are......well....surprises. I get that It has to be different and needs to shine, but I don't know how to convey that to someone who is promised "different" with every other query only to find out on page two hundred that it is a copy of all the other "different".
I don't blame them in any way. It is my job to get them to think it's special. I have to find some way to convey special and twisty in 300 words without sounding like an ego-maniacal stalker freak or someone who doesn't know any better than to plunk every cliche known to man in the first few pages and go nowhere with them.
In other words, my frame seems boring and familiar to suck you in, not because it just sucks. The trouble is trust. We trust our proven favorite authors and will give them any amount of space to freak us out, knowing they have a good chance of being successful. We assume the new guys can't work the coke machine and don't have time for them until they prove they can keep from unplugging the whole thing or putting pennies in the quarter slot. Five pages and a query sound much like "May I have pennies for your coke machine?" Maybe I am planning to use the pennies to fix the machine's missing leg or penny lock the boss in his office and let some monsters out, but I don't have the solid history to be trusted with a roll of pennies right now. I am not whining, just facing that there are obstacles blocking me I have imposed upon myself.
So what should I do?
Change really good and mess it up? Or, say next myself and let the new people, open the door for the others . I have never been able to write on more than one at a time, yet I am doing that now. These are my three current WIP's
Unholy Spirit - Emma lives in a house with no rats and no roaches. It is better than the car or the shelter, but it's still infested. Sometimes meeting a prince is no fairytale. Sure, he can give her a new life and save her sister, but it comes at a terrible price. How bad will things have to get before she says yes? Ariton is asking for her body, that's what that sort of prince does. He isn't seeking romance or even a hook-up. Emma has met a prince of hell. (stand alone YA, Paranormal)
Ozark Howler - There is something in the woods at Grandpa's house. The old timers speak of legend and ridicule any government people thinking they can catch the monster. They laugh at all the Internet yuppies who want to traipse around the woods with the silly GPS and fancy cameras. Twelve year old, David thinks they are all a bunch of kooks. He's seen the spook light, but there's no such thing as a long haired panther with horns. These hillbillies will fall for anything. A summer with Grandpa will change David's mind about a lot of things. (MG Paranormal)
Book Four - Black Fire (continuing Ignite, Inferno and Incinerate series) (YA Paranormal with romantic, historical and fantasy elements) This is the hardest book to write so far. Natalie is older and has gone from observer to warrior. Will she get hurt playing football or will she finally become the thing she fears more than death. Are her friends her friends or have they lied about why they love her. Even her brother might betray her if he knew. The Mermaids are finally introduced and that world is really hard to keep in perspective. It is hard to keep it from turning into a fish tale, because the hidden world wrapped in those myths is so seductively fun to dwell on.
So I am querying Ignite right now, without any hope it will fly, but i am racing to finish something....that will make them see that they can trust me to not muck up the coke machine. That does not mean they should really trust me with the pennies.
I have used multi-familiar cliche to put the reader into a safe nice recognizable place only using subtle hints that it is more than girl meets boy of her dreams and gets popular. But, in the first few pages, her only problem seems to be that she is an outie wanna-be Innie. So the first impression is that it's been done before a quezillion times, which equals a pass. Add a prologue which views her from her first life threatening danger, unknown to her....except he's a vampire.
Every agent has a vamp story on the list now.....they are puking glitter and Mardi Gras beads and this one of eventual four main characters is an eye rolling pass no matter what else happens. Blood is too much a part of the central danger to intro it without the vampy connection. So my main story has shot itself in the foot for sale by the very fact that the surprises are......well....surprises. I get that It has to be different and needs to shine, but I don't know how to convey that to someone who is promised "different" with every other query only to find out on page two hundred that it is a copy of all the other "different".
I don't blame them in any way. It is my job to get them to think it's special. I have to find some way to convey special and twisty in 300 words without sounding like an ego-maniacal stalker freak or someone who doesn't know any better than to plunk every cliche known to man in the first few pages and go nowhere with them.
In other words, my frame seems boring and familiar to suck you in, not because it just sucks. The trouble is trust. We trust our proven favorite authors and will give them any amount of space to freak us out, knowing they have a good chance of being successful. We assume the new guys can't work the coke machine and don't have time for them until they prove they can keep from unplugging the whole thing or putting pennies in the quarter slot. Five pages and a query sound much like "May I have pennies for your coke machine?" Maybe I am planning to use the pennies to fix the machine's missing leg or penny lock the boss in his office and let some monsters out, but I don't have the solid history to be trusted with a roll of pennies right now. I am not whining, just facing that there are obstacles blocking me I have imposed upon myself.
So what should I do?
Change really good and mess it up? Or, say next myself and let the new people, open the door for the others . I have never been able to write on more than one at a time, yet I am doing that now. These are my three current WIP's
Unholy Spirit - Emma lives in a house with no rats and no roaches. It is better than the car or the shelter, but it's still infested. Sometimes meeting a prince is no fairytale. Sure, he can give her a new life and save her sister, but it comes at a terrible price. How bad will things have to get before she says yes? Ariton is asking for her body, that's what that sort of prince does. He isn't seeking romance or even a hook-up. Emma has met a prince of hell. (stand alone YA, Paranormal)
Ozark Howler - There is something in the woods at Grandpa's house. The old timers speak of legend and ridicule any government people thinking they can catch the monster. They laugh at all the Internet yuppies who want to traipse around the woods with the silly GPS and fancy cameras. Twelve year old, David thinks they are all a bunch of kooks. He's seen the spook light, but there's no such thing as a long haired panther with horns. These hillbillies will fall for anything. A summer with Grandpa will change David's mind about a lot of things. (MG Paranormal)
Book Four - Black Fire (continuing Ignite, Inferno and Incinerate series) (YA Paranormal with romantic, historical and fantasy elements) This is the hardest book to write so far. Natalie is older and has gone from observer to warrior. Will she get hurt playing football or will she finally become the thing she fears more than death. Are her friends her friends or have they lied about why they love her. Even her brother might betray her if he knew. The Mermaids are finally introduced and that world is really hard to keep in perspective. It is hard to keep it from turning into a fish tale, because the hidden world wrapped in those myths is so seductively fun to dwell on.
Hello! I clicked on over from Grab A Pen
ReplyDeleteThe good news is that even if Ignite doesn't fly with agents, you already have two others you've been working on. So you can skip the part where you sit around saying, "What should I do next? What should I work on next? Do I have it in me to write the next thing?" So, YEA!