Dan Krokos

Last night my agent tweeted a link that gave me chills.

http://www.inkygirl.com/scbwi-2009-notes-reasons-why-your-manuscript-got-rejected

7 reasons why manuscripts get rejected. The chilling part was number four:

“4. The writer seems like a difficult person to work with. Wendy always Googles an author’s name before offering a contract. She says she may be prompted to change her mind about signing up an author if they share too much information in their blog, if they tend to blog a lot about how hard writing is, if they blog about being rejected many times, if they publicly bash a book she’s worked on, or if they bash a colleague in the business who is her friend.”

At first this shocked me. Then I went DUH!

Something to think about.

Since I decided I wanted to be a published author, the debate on outlines has been one of the most fascinating to me.

Two sides, both firmly entrenched. Which was right for me? Taking into account I have the attention span of someone who has no attention span at all.

I went with the headlight method, something I discovered in a book called Plot and Structure. It’s a decent book on writing, as far as those things go. I’ve read about twenty books on how to write and learned maybe three things. This was one of those things.

The headlight method means you plot a little bit, then write a little bit. Plot a little more, write a little more. The headlight comes in because you can only see so far into the story. Much like . . . a headlight.

Right now I’m 35 pages into the Ford Kelly sequel. I have enough plotted for the next two or three days. If I don’t come up with more stuff, like FORD TAKES THE HOOKER TO MCDONALDS AND A GUY WALKS IN, I’ll be out of stuff to write.

And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s sitting down with nothing to write. Because it’s too easy to come up with garbage. Just to fill the page up so everything isn’t so white It has happened exactly zero times, because of the headlight method.

Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t have an idea of how it all ends. I’m pretty sure Ford is going to win. He’s probably going to beat the bad guys in a really cool way. But maybe not.

I guess the point in all this (I’m rambling here at work, no customers) is that sometimes it’s nice to use things from both sides. Write freely, but have that structure to keep the story moving along. Go on that tangent the story is begging you to follow, but be ready to cut it when it leads to nowhere.

Most importantly, keep an open mind.

Thinking out loud.

d

I discovered a link on twitter today, with the help of a few friends.

It shows who has sent you messages by adding @DanKrokos. Little did I know, nearly four thousand people sent me messages of congratulations or questions about my book. I didn’t respond for days.

Now I know how twitter works. Now I can be a real author.

Which got me thinking about other things.

Like what’s the difference between a writer and a writer who has an agent?

Not much.

Before last week, I labored under the delusion that writers became writing gods upon landing an agent. I expected a little fairy with my contract, one that would sit on my shoulder like a parrot, whispering brilliance I could then transfer to the page.

It didn’t happen.

I’m still me. I still have to think about cool stuff for hours and hours, hoping a story blooms from the mess of ideas. Disappointing, but a relief at the same time. Having an agent just means a professional has validated my work, has said, “Yeah, you’re all right.”

Another myth shattered. What’s next?

I started work on a sequel today. That means I wrote things in my little notebook in between customers at work. Maybe a line here, a little crumb of dialogue there. Possible main conflicts. Stuff like that.

I know that doesn’t mean much considering the first book hasn’t sold yet, but I heard the number one Writer’s Rule is BE READY. It bears an eerie similarity to the Boy Scout motto.

I must say it’s nice not having to create another world from scratch. However, relying on the same world without any changes is not an option. This won’t be seven years of Hogwarts.

Possible locations for book 2 include: the moon, an underwater base filled with ninjas who are pissed because they’re in an underwater base, or the Matrix.

Also, a website is in the works. That way you can leave out the .blogspot when typing in the address. Huzzah.

Finally, do the three of you reading this have any questions, or things you’d like me to blog about? Give me ideas. I am a fresh fish. I’m not exactly brimming with ideas for things to write about here, considering I am a novice in all things publishing.

My main concern is: what’s relevant? Let me know.

THE ONES WHO MADE ME is now THE BETTER GUY.

I really liked TOWMM (can I abbreviate my own titles yet?) but it’s a little long.

Also, it sounds like the story is about the ones who made Ford. This is false.

The story is about Ford Kelly, who is the better guy. It’s from a line in the book, one of my favorites.

I tried for ONES WHO ARE MAKING A BETTER GUY, but Janet said nay.

I signed with Janet Reid today.

I know, that’s what I said too.

Maybe I should say a few things about myself. I’m twenty-three. I work at a gas station. I go to school for English (shocker).

I write books when I’m not at either of those places.

My favorite writers are Jeff Somers, Charlie Huston, and Josh Bazell. There are many others, but they are the triumvirate. R. A. Salvatore inspired me to write in the first place.

I write in present tense. But I like past just fine (wrote my first three in past).

What else? I know this is a little choppy–I’m still shell-shocked.

I plan on writing about my path to publication on this blog. I like reading about other authors and how they do the things they do. Plus when I’m writing I like lots of distractions, and this blog will provide another one.

That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Ford Kelly spends his days driving an ambulance and his nights driving the getaway car for his uncle the contract killer. But when his uncle dies mid-contract, Ford has two choices: also die, or convince his new employers he knows more about taking lives than saving them.

The contract? Snuff out a ring of dirty cops who demand hush money after stumbling across a new drug being prepared for the street. The problem? The last cop on the list is Ford’s wife, who left him after the death of their son a year ago. That’s when Ford discovers how good at killing he really is.

THE ONES WHO MADE ME is 75,000 words. It is my first novel. Thank you for your time and consideration.

queryshark.blogspot.com #124