Anyone can call in and ask questions: At the appointed time, dial 1-857-232-0155 (long distance charges may apply, depending on your phone plan). Enter the Conference Code: 245657. To raise your hand and ask a question, dial 5*.To Mute yourself, dial4*.
UP NEXT
New interviews are being scheduled. Watch this space for details.
Our guest tonight writes as J. Scott Savage, mainly because "Jeff Savage" was already taken (by another Middle Grade author who writes about sports--not fantasy). He goes by Jeff, but answers to just about anything now. He is friends with James Dashner and Nathan Bransford. They have a podcast together, called WordPlay Podcast.
Jeff is amazingly knowledgeable about the Middle Grade genre, and shared with us his tricks of the trade. Among these are:
Middle Grade spans from about 3rd grade to 7th grade, and the protagonist should be at the upper end of those ages
Short chapters equals happy kids who might get mom to read "just one more" (1500 words or less)
Each chapter should be a complete story
Kids are fanatical about the rules of the worlds they play in, so you better get it right ALL THE TIME or they'll call you on it
You have only a few paragraphs to catch a kid's interest... and you can lose it just as fast
Girls and boys are much more similar at that age... but girls still like a bit of romance
Kids like scary stuff, but make it safe scary
He has a new series coming out in 2013: CASE FILE 13, starting with ZOMBIE KID.
For about an hour and a half, Jeff shared his wisdom with us. You can download the MP3 here, listen to it below, or subscribe to the Authors' Advisory podcast here.
Steven Savile writes religious political thrillers (SILVER), Germanic and Celtic fantasies, projects for Sci-Fi TV series (including Stargate, Torchwood, Primeval and Dr. Who), Golden Age Sci-Fi (TAU CETI in collaboration with Kevin J Anderson), "Fabulist Victoriana," Arthurian Historical novels (BLACK CHALICE), YA Paranormal (THE MOONLAND DIARIES), Horror, and "Weird Western." He describes himself as: ".. the bestselling author you've never heard of". Part of that is because he lives in Europe, but part is because he's like a magpie when it comes to genres. He likes bright, shiny new things, and can't stay put in just one.
Steven told us about his drive to genre-hop, why he doesn't use a pseudonym, why he's an agent's worst nightmare, and why he's able to defy the odds as an author. He's planning to take a couple of years building a brand in a single genre, but he'll inevitably return to... whatever strikes his fancy next.
If you've ever wanted to write in more than one genre, this is the call for you.
Tonight for the first call of the official Second Season of Farland's Authors Advisory Conference Calls, we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming two time World Fantasy Award and Philip K Dick Memorial Award winning author Tim Powers as our guest. Tim is the author of such award winning novels as: The Anubis Gates, Last Call, The Stress of Her Regard and On Stranger Tides. Tim shared with us a literary concept that has been in existance for a long time and has become connected with his works. The concept of "Secret Histories", which is defined as a " revisionist interpretation of either Fictional or real (or known) historical events which claim to be deliberately supressed, forgotten or ignored by established scholars".
Tim answered such questions as:
What makes real world history a good starting point for writing a Fantasy novel?
How much of your historical research is used in your novel?
How would you accurately portray an historical figure and have them as a character in your novel?
For over an hour of answers to these and even more intriguing and insightful audience questions, press "Play".
Tonight we heard from four amazing, enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable newly published authors. They're fresh from the querying/submission trenches and have all sorts of advice.
Tyler Whitesides is the author of JANITORS, a middle-grade fantasy book inspired by his own experience as an elementary school janitor. Unsurprisingly, the janitors help the kids battle the creatures who suck kids' smarts out and make them sleepy in class. JANITORS came out in August, and Tyler is currently on an extensive tour, courtesy of his publisher Shadow Mountain.
Amber Argyle is the author of WITCH SONG, a YA high fantasy about the last untrained witch standing against an evil witch who has steadily taken over all the other witches. Amber's magic system, uses singing to help the witches manipulate the forces of nature. WITCH SONG launched September 1, and Amber has been busy presenting at local conferences. She is published through Rhemalda.
Michelle Davidson-Argyle is the author of MONARCH, a spy thriller involving a framed spy, a lost love, and lots and lots of butterflies. MONARCH launched September 15, also through Rhemalda. She has one coming out next year and an anthology coming out in 2013.
Robison Wells is the author of VARIANT, a YA sci-fi with dystopian elements. Published by Harper Collins, VARIANT launched early on October 4 to accommodate Barnes & Noble's promotion schedule. It deals with a foster kid who goes to a strange new boarding school, which turns out to be more like Lord of the Flies meets Maze Runner. Rob, whose day-job is in marketing, suggests that you should promote our books in ways you enjoy. For example, he does a podcast with Sara Eden and Marion Jensen called The Appendix.
In other news, this 'cast marks the end of our first season here at Authors' Advisory. It's been an amazing ride, full of such powerful, informative guests and loyal callers. Thanks to everyone who has helped make Authors' Advisory a success!
Bestselling Epic Fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was our guest on this edition of Farland's Authors' Advisory. Along with a spirited question and answer session, Brandon gave us three guidelines to use if the magic in the magic systems of our works aren't qute as magical as we'd hoped. If you're writing a work that would benefit from having a magic system of any complexity in it, that is.
For nearly an hour of advice and answers from the author graced with the writing task of bringing a conclusion to the late Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series and the creator of such series as The Mistborn series, (Including the latest "Mistborn" novel The Alloy of Law which releases November 2011) and the novels in the Alcatraz Smedry series to name but a few, press "Play".
You can download the MP3 by clicking here. Or, new this week, at the top of the right sidebar, you can SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST through Feedburner.
Becca Stumpf is one of the nicest, most personable agents out there--but she still requires authors to send a synopsis as part of the query package. The synopsis isn't the most important part of Prospect Agency's query package, and it rarely makes-or-breaks the submission, but Becca finds it helpful--and it turns out she knows what she's talking about.
For the first half of the call, Becca gave us the skinny on what sort of submissions she's looking for, what goes into a great query letter, and what she does with those three chapters she asks for. For the second half, she treated us to an insider's view on exactly what she uses the synopsis for, what it should look like, what it should include, and why we should all stop worrying about it so much.
Some highlights:
For agents like Becca, a synopsis should be between 2-3 pages long. She doesn't want to read a lengthy synopsis for a query package--save the longer ones for when you're trying to sell your book on a proposal.
What Happens is the most important part of a synopsis--but include enough motivation so you don't lose the reader. It's usually not good if they have to stop and wonder why that happened.
There are good ways to sneak in sub-plot tidbits (just don't go crazy)
Include the ending, and don't worry about spoiling it. If she likes the book, she'll probably forget the ending while she's reading, anyway.
If she really likes the writing sample, she can overlook a less-than-brilliant synopsis. (Though it's probably better to be good all around.) She knows successful writers who aren't good at writing a synopsis.
Sarah's advice on Research is guaranteed to make you want to go out and research something yourself.
Some of the basics:
You should do research anytime you are writing about:
A character with a different job, religion, race, medical history, gender, family background, hometown, or place of residence than yours
A time period or location other than your own
You can start with the internet, but don't stop there
Sarah is unsure about Wikipedia
Verify important facts with three independent sources--though the US Mint likely has pretty accurate information about coins
Use the internet to point you toward primary sources, etc
Read books--they help with info, dialogue, little-known details, and they're all grouped together on the library shelves
Experience anything you can--wearing a corset you made yourself really helps you understand your characters. :)
Experts like to share--be professional and courteous of their time, then put them in your acknowledgments
Professional researchers can help--but you might have to pay them
Sarah also answered such burning questions as the worst mistake she's seen in a book that research would have fixed, the character that sprang from a couple of letters, and the quirkiest thing she found and actually used in a book.
She MC'd for LDStorymakers 2011 and was asked to do it again for 2012. You can see her awesome MC videos on her site.
Also, in case an hour of advice from Sarah isn't enough for you, you can hear her every Wednesday on her own podcast (with Robison Wells and Marion Jensen): The Appendix, where they give general writing advice and play writing-related games, perfect for getting the old writing juices flowing.
