Vote for it: Would You Buy it? (Would these 25 words of distilled hope compel you to pick up the book?)

Elevator Pitches are being honed here! 

Welcome to our Thursday feature where we share our impressions and suggestions, and vote on one brave author’s 25 word blurb – those words that we hope will prompt the editor or agent to ask for a partial.

So this is how it works. Read the pitch/blurb below and then vote as to whether you’d buy the book and tell your friends about it. If you have constructive crit to offer, do so in the comment section.

A caveat.

Don’t vote ‘No’ because you don’t read or want to read the genre. If the genre is a negative bias for you, please refrain from voting unless you are able to be objective about the quality of the blurb.

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Vote for it:

Title: Fly into the Dark   Author: Rainy Kaye

Genre: Paranormal Fantasy

A young man must risk his life–and the rest of his world–to save a woman from the apocalypse his mother created. 

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What about you?

If you want to put your 25 words to the test, email me your pitch/blurb (25 words or less) at the addy over there on my right hand side-bar.

Be forewarned. 25 word summaries are difficult! I struggled with mine for days. Okay. I’ll be honest. I’ve struggled with mine for a while now…months, even. But I think I finally have one that’ll work and when there’s a lull in the pitches I’ll throw mine out there to be slaughtered, too.

You’ll be welcome to run yours again later when everyone in queue is done, and you’ll especially want to do this if you’ve made changes. Plus, as the campaign runs for while, word will spread and we’ll get more views and votes.

At the end of the week I’ll email you with the results.

The poll will stay active indefinitely, so if you want to direct people to your link to cast their votes, you’re free to do so.

If you need some ideas on how to distill your large blurb down to 25 words, here’s a great link from David B. Coe (fantasy author published by Tor): http://www.magicalwords.net/david-b-coe/on-writing-and-publishing-refining-your-elevator-pitch/ He took pitches one day and gave feedback to a bunch of us.

Pitch working and cleaning house

I’ve been working on my pitch again, refining it to use some of what I learned during the pitch-slapping altercation, er, opportunity, from a while back with the one of the Canaries.

She recently guested here, in case you missed it: Entering the Coal Mine.

If you’ve been working on your pitch, I’d love it if you’d share yours in the comment section today.

I’ll be around the house cleaning until I leave to procure food, hay and propane. Seems like I just did that last weekend, and I did, but it’s one of those recurring things. This weekend I have my son and his friend to help with the heavier propane tank.

Here’s my pitch so far. It’s a little longish, but I have trimmed a lot already:

SYMBIOSIS – The Last Tree-Feeder

Kali thinks she’s human but Jesse knows she’s not. He kidnaps her to save her life, but disguises and hides her right under the nose of his father, the god Neti who wants to kill her.

When she’s forced to participate in a ritual sacrifice, her true nature quickens. She is mortified when she realizes what her heritage means. The Feuer Tree needs the life energy of willing sacrifices and as the last Feuer, only Kali can feed the tree.

If she refuses, all life on earth will die as sacrifice at the altar of her values.

Once she is found out by Neti she won’t have to choose if he catches up with her. A dying Feuer tree means he can continue becoming a more powerful god. A healthy tree restores the balance of energy to the earth and he doesn’t intend to allow that to happen.

I think what it also needs is a ‘comp title’. According to Jungle Red Writers, a comp title gives the agent or editor or reader an idea of what kind of existing book it is like. This is a problem for me because I haven’t read anything like mine yet and it’s hard to find time to read to the extent I’ll need to read to find one. Do you have any ideas?

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Added at 1617 after considering feedback:

Okay, so I’ve gone to a bullet point system to find the kernels of the story:

• The title of my novel is SYMBIOSIS-The Last Tree-feeder
• Kali’s not human but thinks she is.
• Neti is searching for her so he can kill her.
• Jesse, Neti’s son, kidnaps her to save her life.
• She’s forced to participate in a sacrifice.
• She awakens to her true nature as Feuer.
• Feuers tend the Feuer tree.
• The Feuer tree maintains the balance of life energy on earth.
• The Feuer tree requires life energy of willing human sacrifices to live.
• Kali doesn’t want to be the tree-feeder but she’s the only one who can.
• If she doesn’t feed the tree, it’ll die.
• If the tree dies, all humans will die.

But there’s this about the Feuer tree that I’d like to include somehow:

The Feuer Tree is the key to maintaining the balance of energy between earth’s realms. It has traditionally been the role of Feuers to tend the tree and conduct the rituals and ceremonies that keep the humans and Feuers conscious of the delicate and necessary relationships they’ve developed between each other since the beginning of time.

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Okay, it’s 1903 and I’m back at it for the final pass tonight. Aside from a small change in the title, here’s what I derived from my bullet points:

The Feuer Tree needs human sacrifices to maintain the balance of energy between earth’s realms. It is the role of Feuers to tend the Tree, but the old god Neti has killed all but one who was hidden. He’s going to kill her when he finds her. Kali doesn’t know it yet, but she’s the last Feuer. 

She thinks she’s human but Neti’s son knows she’s not. He kidnaps her and plans to use her to bring an end to his father’s reign by returning her to the Tree. She must come to terms with who she is and decide if she will do what it takes to restore balance and save the earth.

The title of my book is SYMBIOSIS.

Another review of the Cthulhurotica anthology, and a mention of my story too

If you were curious what my story was about… Just found this summary at:

RISE REVIEWS  written by HARRY MARKOV  FEBRUARY 14, 2011

http://risereviews.com/2011/02/14/cthulhurotica/

“Milleu from the story “Daddy’s Girl” by Madison Woods has inhuman heritage and trains tentacled creatures to perform sexual services.”

It’s a great review of the anthology edited by Carrie Cuinn. She’s doing another one next year and I’m sure it’ll be just as interesting. I’m excited to have been invited to contribute again, so I hope I can come up with another story she likes.

 

Women Writers of NWA – Ruth Weeks

Today’s interview is with another female author from northwest Arkansas. Some writers have unique voices. What’s interesting about Ruth’s voice is that hers sort of sticks in my head and I hear it even while reading through her answers to my questions. Not only that, but her voice changes according to whatever story it is she’s reading. Her stories have a lot of flavor! If you ever have the opportunity to hear her give a reading from her books, you should make a point to be there.

 

Ruth as Dixie Dandelion

WRITER/AUTHOR: ELEVEN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Author name: Ruth Burkett Weeks aka R.H. Burkett

Latest title: The Rook and the Raven

1. I’m always interested in the writer’s process. How often do you write? Do you have a daily word count goal? Give me an overview (or detailed if you really want to go there) of your writing life.

I work an eight-hour day outside the home, so I write at night and on the weekends.  I don’t have a set word count or page number.  I write until my back, neck, and wrists scream in protest, then I write some more.  I have been known to write until 2:00 in the morning  if the gremlin twins,  imagination and creativity come out to play.

2.  Do you also work a full-time non-writer job or career?

Yes

3.  How supportive has your family been of your writing time? Have you ever had to fight for your right to write?

Fortunately, I live with two cats who support me 100% even though at times I have to stop and scratch them between the ears, follow them into the kitchen to their food bowl, or shoo them off my keyboard.  My family is all for what ever I want to do, however I don’t think they took my writing seriously until my novel, Soldiers From the Mist was published.

4.  How long did it take to write (from start to finish) your novel?

The first draft took three months.  Fine tuning it, polishing it, and rewrites took three years before it was clean enough to submit to a publisher.

5.  What route to publishing did you take (agent, traditional, self-pub), and how long did it take from finish to publication?

I am charmed in this area.  I pitched Soldiers From the Mist to one New York agent and waited over six months for him to tell me it wasn’t a good fit for him. Because of the way this book came to me, I knew that my “Soldiers” would lead to me to the correct publisher, and they did.  Lou Turner at High Hill Press was a perfect fit.  I pitched it to her in October 2010 and my book was released in March 2011. I submitted The Rook and The Raven to The Wild Rose Press the first of this month (August ) and signed a contract a week later.  I realize how fortunate I am because some writers spend years before they find a fit, so I thank God for leading me in the right direction.

6.  Is there a theme, or premise you’d really like readers to connect with in your latest book?

With Soldiers From the Mist, the main theme is universal love and acceptance.  In The Rook and the Raven, the theme is “Love will always find a way, you only must believe to make it so. “ 

7.  Where are you going now, are you working on a sequel, or something entirely different?

I am working on a western romance novel called, “The Legend of Dixie Dandelion.”  I never thought I would write romance and at times it is quite a challenge, but I only have to believe to make it so. 

8.  Where do you find inspiration for your stories and novels?

The ghost that haunted my house was the inspiration for Soldiers. A dream sparked The Rook and the Raven. Writing for contests helps conjure ideas to mind as well.  Here again, I am blessed because ideas just seem to “pop” into my head when I least expect it.

9.  With all the focus lately on authors providing a lot of their own self-promotion, what are you doing in this respect?

I have a blog, Truthsbyruth. blogspot.com, that I promote which is linked to Facebook. I also do book signings and would love to start speaking at various organizations.  This area needs a lot of work on my part.

10.  Who or what would you say has been the biggest influence on you as a writer?

Velda Brotherton  believed in me from the get-go and keeps me going when I am down and out.  Also, Jan Morrill, Patty Stith, Linda Apple, “The Boogerettes” spur me onward and upward.  And my critique group, The North West Arkansas Writers Workshop gives me a gook kick when I get lazy.

11.  Where can we find your book? Is it available in e-format as well?             

Soldiers From the Mist is on Amazon.com, The High Hill Press. Com, and from me, rhbweeks@sbcglobal.net.   My publisher is busy formatting the book for Kindle  and it will be available in e-format shortly.  The Rook and the Raven will be an e-book available from The Wild Rose Press in the near future.

Suspending disbelief – input please #amwriting

Today between work tasks I’ve been mulling over my next story idea. Last night I wrote a very sparse outline. My problem is that is sounds cheesy!

So I feel kind of funny about it right now. I guess ambiguous is a good word to describe it. On one hand, advice from the likes of Donald Maass (Fire in Fiction) the more fantastic the better. Bringing the reader to suspension of disbelief is likely the key here. I think I can do that well enough, but I have to get past the giggles while writing my  outline to do it.

Actually, the parts I have written already don’t make me feel silly. It’s just the outline. So I guess I’ll keep going and see where it ends up.

 I write strange stuff. No one in their right mind thinks of this stuff as part of ordinary everyday life, so the challenge to making it believable is built-in. Do your initial outlines or notes, thoughts, or what-not about your stories ever sound cheesy to you or are they believable right out the gate?

#FridayFlash is posted. 100 words, Live or Die

If you wrote a flash story post a link to yours over on the page where mine is posted. Here’s the photo inspiration.

I try to stay focused on 100 words because it forces me to choose stronger verbs and better phrasing. It’s an exercise in setting a mood or scene in small spaces. It’s also good just to grease the writing gears, even when I don’t succeed at making it express what I am wanting to say.

Join us and have a little challenge fun

Photo inspiration for tomorrow’s #flashfiction

I love this picture, but wished I would have had my camera with me. Instead I had to use my phone to capture this moment. Click on it to make it bigger.

Symbiosis Elevator Pitch III

I like this one a lot better. Left out ‘thermodynamics’, but the story is still about the movement of energy on earth and how it’s affected by life, death, and sex. I’d like to somehow work that in, but by trying to keep it around a 30 second pitch, it makes it hard to include all the points I’d like to make.

Here’s my latest attempt. This one even sounds good out loud:

Kali meets her destiny in a convenience store parking lot. After that it’s all downhill until she figures out who she is and the role she plays. Will she become predator or remain prey?  In a primordial realm setting, her choice means life or death for humanity. The line she walks, and cannot cross, is one that determines the nature of her heart.

Elevator Pitch Redux #amwriting #amediting

Kali is not who she thinks she is. After a serendipitous encounter with her destiny, her perspective of the world falls like a tower of cards. To rebuild, she confronts her worst fears and reconciles herself to who and what she really is: a predator with a heart of prey.  Symbiosis is about Kali’s awakening to the first law of thermodynamics as it relates to sex, life, and death.

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That is much closer to the target.  As soon as I carve out some time to play in front of the camera again, I’ll try to get it right while speaking it out loud.

Picture for #FridayFlash inspiration 08-26-11

Here’s the pic I’m going to use for my 100-word flash this week. I haven’t thought of anything yet, so it’s likely to be an impromptu throw-down for me, too. If you participate, leave a link to your story in my comment section tomorrow so we can find it and comment on yours.