Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 4 Comments

Lessons learned from Twitter pitch events

If you’ve been following me on twitter, or if you noticed my twitter feed to the right of this page (no, I’m not trying to make you follow me on twitter, but it doesn’t hurt to point out that I do have an account there, does it?), you probably noticed some strange things I posted. They were my pitches for the latest event, #pitmad, organised by Brenda Drake. Have you participated in any twitter pitch recently or in the past? If not, I can tell you they are fun. If you have, then you know it’s heartbreaking not to receive a heart icon (heart icon stands for “favourite,” which means the agent/editor who favoured your pitch wants to see more of your work).

BUT

Through rejection you can pinpoint some of your weaknesses, which in turn means you can improve your skills. For instance, a week or two prior to pitmad, I participated on #p2p16 for a chance to work with an editor for a month before a new round with agents would begin. Two out of the four agents I submitted my work to gave brief but very helpful feedback. They both said the same thing: my query sucked. But they also said another thing about the actual writing, which had me worked up to that moment. They said my sample pages were good. In fact, one of them called my writing “strong with great intensity.” Now, to a new writer like me, these are probably the best words any professional could ever say (yes, I did save that email for the rainy, self-doubting days). But they also pointed out my weakness, which is more important.

I’m not going to lie to you, I was angry at myself for not getting the query right after almost fifteen, if not more, rewrites. In fact, I honestly thought the last version was THE ONE.

Errmm… No! The joke was on me.

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Thanks to p2p16 I now know where I have to focus my efforts. Can you imagine what it would be like to constantly have that nagging feeling at the back of my head that maybe my writing was the one that sucked, which would mean I’d have to rewrite the whole book again? For the fourth time? As much as I don’t mind editing, I don’t think I’d be able to change the entire book again.

Thanks to pitmad I now know my twitter pitches also suck. The good thing is, I don’t fret over it much. Why? Because most people can’t pitch something nice in 140 characters, minus the characters for the hashtags. Likewise, most normal people can’t tell if something’s good or bad from 140 characters of text. I’m in the same boat as everyone. It’s also a small, albeit valuable, taste/lesson of the rejections that are bound to come once I start querying the agents on my list. It helps toughen up in ways that rejections from magazines could never do.

So even though I didn’t make it through to the next round of any of those contests, I still got to gain and learn something.

If you’re interested in participating in any twitter events like the two I mentioned above, have a look at http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.gr/2013/01/contest-madness.html for the dates of some of the upcoming pitching events. It’s not a complete list, so if you have found another one, please share with the rest of us here 🙂

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompt 16

She stood on the building’s entrance and spared a passing glance at the drenched and hunched figure that jumped gracelessly over the puddle of water, his coat flapping briefly behind him, one hand holding on to his wet fedora. She drew one last puff from her cigarette, flicked in the rain, and opened her umbrella. Well, the meeting could have gone better. If only she had pushed him more. She turned her collar to the damp breeze that found a way under her coat and forced the small hairs at the nape of her neck to attention.

Well, that’s my take on the picture. Have a go, see where it leads you 🙂

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos · 9 Comments

Staying focused while editing

I suck at multitasking. I mean, REALLY suck at it. Sometimes I envy people who at the same time can be on the phone dealing with an important client, signing and inspecting documents, whilst thinking about a problem at home or about the kids, and at the same time (!!) arranging things for an office happening. I wish I had a fraction of that ability. How do you people do that? Seriously, HOW?

When I have to do something, I have to focus every bit of me to make sure it works the way I want it to work. It’s the same thing with my writing. I find it impossible to write and edit other material I have queued for the same day. I think I’m programmed to finish one thing first, as best as possible (my perfectionist side doesn’t always kick in, thank God), and then move on to the next task. What this means is that, now that I’m editing my book, I find it very hard (if not impossible) to write. It’s not that I don’t have ideas. It’s that I feel that by doing one, I rob the other from the time and effort I should be putting into it. Why edit for 4 hours when I can edit for 6? Why write for 3 hours and edit for 2 more, when I can write for 5? Why is it that although I know how important editing is I feel that I should be writing instead? That I’m falling behind? I think my mind is weird or just messed up 😛

Last week I told you about my editing process. I think we can all agree that such a process is time consuming. I finished the first draft in 5 months (I wrote half of it on my cell phone, which is why it took me that much), but I don’t think I’ll have it edited in a year. Two is probably more like it. And in that time? Will I get no writing done? At all? That’s scary.

What about you? Do you write your WIP, edit another work, then read or do you only focus on one thing, no matter how long it takes you? Are you like me or am I the only one?

Posted on by Chris Sarantopoulos

Inspirational prompts

I’d like to start a new category, one that will (hopefully) inspire you to write more or at least evoke something inside.

I’m very much a visual person, in that I’ll see an image and a story will pop into my mind. Well, maybe not a whole story, more like a scene but the point is that things will start stirring in my head. I know that for others this happens when they read something or when they put together certain words or when they hear something.

So I want to start this new category called “Inspirational Prompts” where I’ll be posting a picture, a string of words, a full sentence etc, that hopefully will motivate you into writing something. It could be a completely new story or it could be a new take on a scene for something you’ve already written and want to reword.

Write down your stories or scenes that spring from it. If this idea of mine has helped you, write a comment and let me know. I’ll share your enthusiasm. Don’t send me your stories; they are for you, to help you if you’re in need of it or to simply increase your daily word quota. This is me trying to help the community by giving something back. Feel free to reblog whatever you think others may find beneficial.

I should also point out that since I write mainly horror, fantasy (dark fantasy mainly) and sci-fi, a good deal of the images I’ll be posting will be related to that. Of course I’ll have others, non-fantasy related.

So, this is the first image.

(Where possible, I will mention where I found each image from and who owns it. In this case, the pinterest image simply says Found in twitter.com)

What thoughts go through his mind? Why is he in the background? What about her? What could they say to each other if the image showed them in the exact same place but in a futuristic setting?

Let your imagination run wild!

Oh, yes, this is from my pinterest page, I started solely for these blog posts. If you have any more images to share with me or wish to give me a quick tour of how pinterest works, please do so 🙂