Writers’ Mill Minutes, Feb 16^th 2020

18 members attended our “3 checkmark” meeting, allowing the organizers to learn a bit more about whether emails are  getting through, and whether we’re fulfilling our goal of being “writers helping writers.” But far more important than checkmarks on clipboard was  the talk from Maryka Biaggio, author of Parlor Games, published by a serious, BIG 5 publisher, and a seriously helpful speaker. You’ll find notes from her talk at the end of these minutes. Meanwhile, thank you Maryka!

Gillian brought excellent snacks for the group, after which we celebrated February’s contest winners with awards from Karin. First place went to Judy for Not my Brother’s Bridge, second to David for Hide and Seek on Mars, and third to Zita for Who do I Get to Blame? You’ll find all the entries and results listed in the email with our March contest announcement.

Writers’ Mill contests are monthly events with everyone encouraged to enter, and everyone encouraged to read, comment and vote, even if you didn’t enter. You can find upcoming 2020 contests at http://portlandwritersmill.org/contests/upcoming-2020-contests/ on our website. Wordcount max is 1200 words and entries go to contest @ portlandwritersmill . org, to be received by the end of the first Sunday in the month. Voting continues from the following Monday to the Tuesday before the meeting, and meetings are (nearly) always on the third Sunday of the month.  Our next contest prompts are:

• March – the Storm
• April – chasing the rain
• May – peek into the future
• June – Seasons

Sheila made a few announcements before this month’s critique session.

• Becky Lovejoy—who started the Writers’ Mill in Cotober 2007 (yes, we’ve been meeting monthly ever since!)—is living happily in Hamilton, Montana, 40 miles south of Missoula; she’s a part-time personal trainer at a local gym, and oversees two large gardens at their local historic mansion. She also published a novel a couple of months ago, Be Epic or Go Home: A Triathlon Journey. https://www.amazon.com/Be-Epic-Home-Triathlon-Triathlons/dp/1650956177/
• the November, 2020, Kauai Writers Conference is open for registration and offering a discounted rate to members of certain writers groups, to help make it affordable to the most dedicated writers; enter WG789 when asked for a code on the check-out page (Don’t know the cost, but do know if I went to Kauai I might have further plans)
• Jean’s blog – https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/19399966-haiku-month-writing-conferences-and-challenges – has lots of great things going on, from haiku contests to 42 word stories, plus info on upcoming writing conferences
• Our website lets you find minutes from all the meetings you’ve missed, and notes from all our speakers. Just type something in the search box and see what comes up. portlandwritersmill.org And please let admin @ portlandwritersmill . org know if you suddenly stop receiving emails from us—our email server is causing trouble.
• Sheila has an editing blog – sheiladeethediting.com . What about the rest of you? What blogs and website should we be advertising for you?
• Maryka Biaggio’s website is http://www.marykabiaggio.com/ and includes both a “contact me” (bottom right) and a “subscribe” link to subscribe to her emails. She said we are welcome to contact her.

Matthew led the critique of Ria’s second chapter – the resistance. Things we discussed included:

1. What should happen in a chapter? how to balance excitement with information—the difference between a dynamite first chapter and a transitional second chapter and why both might be needed.
2. What helps us imagine a character/narrator without description? Words use in the voice, attitudes expressed, things the narrator notices and how they are described.
3. How does dialog convey what other characters are like? Word choice. Sentence structure.
4. The difference between world-building and character establishment
5. The value of details—board games for fun, apples being scarse…
6. The value of action—picking up the paper, tossing the chip…
7. The significance of color, and how touches of color in a gray world make it even grayer
8. What a secret group would talk about—rumors? Scares?
9. What creates emotional connection
10. How the reader can realize names are important before learning their importance. The value of timing perhaps?
11. The balance between concise snippets of background and the wealth of background known to the author.
12. What makes readers want to know more and keep reading

The meeting ended with a brainstorming/writing session on “storms” for March’s contest. But FIRST, Norm suggested we brainstorm (at home) good sentences from books and either bring them in or email them to admin @ portlandwritersmill . org. We’re looking for the sort of sentence that you read and think Wow! Then you want to figure out how you could do that, or where you could with a sentence like that as you’re prompt. Please send some in, then those people who don’t like writing exercises will have something else to look forward to on those rare occasions when we have time at the end of a meeting!

Our stormy brainstorming led to such suggestions as:

• Rainstorm
• Brainstorm
• Relational storm
• Ash storm (Mt St Helens perhaps?)
• A perfect storm
• The name of a hooker or singer
• The corona virus
• A temper tantrum
• The calm before a storm…

Do any of these inspire you to write for our contest? We added further inspiration by rolling the dice and came up with

• An airplane
• A shooting star and
• A house

There’s a theory that fitting disconnected ideas together wakes up the creative brain, so perhaps those will help. They certainly inspired some very cool snippets of writing before the meeting’s end.

So… next meeting is March 15, with Tim Applegate speaking about the importance of place in fiction and poetry. Jim will lead a critique of Norm’s much-anticipated chapter, and Karin will bring snacks.

Research, a talk by Maryka Biaggio

Historical research

Maryka writes historical fiction based on real characters, so her talk began with the world of historical research. First, how do you prepare to write your historical novel? You’ll need to delve into the past, perhaps using:

1. Period novels – read them and build your vocabulary lists
2. Newspaper articles – what were the scandals of the era? But also little things like what did a can of beans cost. Small details can mean a lot to readers
3. Historical societies – what they don’t know, they can usually point you toward. Find out about events, politics, etc. Look at records, e.g.
   1. The deed to a cemetery, who was buried, where, when
   2. The census, what sort of people lived in a neighborhood, what were their occupations and relationships…
4. Vital records and Census – find out about demographics, literacy, even names. Learn when and where real people were born, and what names they were given.
5. Libraries and librarians – they are much better than Google at internet searches. They find the details as well as the answers. And you just might stumble across a book about people you’re including in your novel.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean is a great book to inspire your love of libraries!

When should you research?

1. Research starts before or during the writing of your novel. It may take you in unexpected directions
2. If you’re writing something from your family history, you’ll need to research lots of details that might not have been recorded, like the cost of a can of beans…
3. If you’re writing about real people, you’ll need genealogy records, might find a family mystery and choose to write a novel to fill in a gap.

So, when is it fiction and when is it history?

1. The author balances between getting it right (facts) and filling in the gap (interpretation).
2. The facts are history. Everyday events, dialog, individual conversations etc are fiction – they’re made up.
3. The author interprets how someone would speak, based on records of how other people spoke
4. Fictional dialog, real characters – therefore historical fiction
5. We need to avoid inserting modern norms and local morals into different times and places. But some norms are global. The author needs to know the difference.
6. One suggestion was—if you feel like you’re judging, you might be on the wrong track.

Do you list references? Not in your submission to agents and publishers, but you will probably list them in the acknowledgments and author’s notes. What you submit to agents and publishers is… well, the next part of the talk:

Agent and Publisher Research

There are 5 major publishers (with many imprints):

1. Hachette
2. Harper Collins
3. MacMillan
4. Penguin Random House
5. Simon and Schuster

Mostly these accept only agented manuscripts, so you’ll need an agent to submit to them. They offer (increasingly small) advances, (decreasing amounts of) support in editing and marketing, and great book blurbs because they know (and probably publish) all the right people to ask for a blurb.

Small publishers include university presses, many other bigg-ish groups, and lots of tiny groups. You don’t need an agent to submit (but agents do submit to them, if they can’t get a Big 5 contract), you won’t get an advance, you’ll have to find your own blurbs and endorsements, and the editing and marketing support might be minimal.

What about those edits, and editors?

1. Do you need an editor? Yes. If you’re trying for Big5, or if you’re trying for a small publisher, you need to have your work well edited first.
2. What editing gets done after acceptance to a Big 5 publisher? Thorough review resulting in 16 pages (!) of recommendations perhaps? Then sleep on it, then think about it, then realize your book really will be much better with 90% of those changes.
3. What editing gets done after acceptance to a small publisher? Maybe they’ll run it through some editing software that checks for overused words, commas, sentence fragments… (Jim will talk about ProWritingAid again in April, so you’ll learn about such software then).

How do you choose to go for Big 5 or small publishers?

1. If you have an agent, they’ll choose for you. If not, ask yourself…
2. Does your book have commercial prospects? If so, might try big (and get an agent).
3. Do you need to release your book quickly? Then try small. Big publishers can take 1 ½ years to publication. Small ones are usually more like 6 months (though Sheila is still waiting, 3 years after acceptance with one publisher).
4. What’s your marketing plan? A Big 5 publisher will want to know about this, and a small one will want you to do it all yourself. You need a website, a newsletter (3 times a year is enough), Facebook perhaps… Look for what sort of social media suits you and your readers, and see how comfortable you might be doing it all yourself.

Learn about literary agents from agentquery.com – lots of useful resources there too. Or google, say, “historical fiction agents,” or ask at the library—they may have compendiums of names. Go to the website for any agents you like and ask questions:

1. How many authors does the agent work with? 25 might be okay. 50+ makes it sound like you won’t get any attention.
2. How would the agent want to work with you? Would you be comfortable with that?
3. What houses might the agent submit your novel to? Do you like their suggestions?
4. Then… if you get a contract, consider joining the Authors’ Guild and asking them to look over the contract for you. It’s a perk of membership and well worth while.

The best place to find an agent might be at a writers’ conference. Willamette Writers brings in lots of agents. You pay for a 10 minute pitch:

1. Don’t plan to grab an agent in the corridor. They know people have paid to talk to them.
2. Plan what to say:
   1. Start with pleasantries
   2. 2-3 minute pitch – try to sound natural
   3. Then debrief
3. Don’t bring anything. But be ready to send something within a month (sooner and they’ll just be busy, later and they’ll have forgotten you).
4. Send exactly what you’re asked for –
   1. 5 pages, first chapter, whole manuscript…
   2. Author bio, what books are like yours, why you’re unique…
   3. What your credentials are—have you won any prizes, been published in literary magazines…
5. Don’t pitch till you know you already have everything they’ll ask you for.

One thing they’ll ask is wordcount. How long should a novel be?

1. First novels should be less than 100,000 words long
2. Historical fiction typically 85-90,000 words
3. Family sagas 100-105,000
4. Mysteries and thrillers 70-90,000 words
5. Romance 65-70,000

How do you build up your credentials – submit to literary magazines. For poetry, maybe subscribe to Poets and Writers to find places to submit to. Try https://www.pw.org/literary_magazines

How many agents will you submit to and how will you keep track?

1. Query Tracker gives you a way to track queries, or agent query, or just use a spreadsheet. Name, how you found out about them, when you contacted them, when you heard back, etc.
2. Don’t expect to hear back from everyone. They’ll usually only reply if they are interested.
3. Don’t need to send a thank you note if they say no and offer suggestions. But should send one if you want to form a relationship with them.
4. Only follow up after they’ve followed up
5. Ugh… and when should you give up? Maybe when 50 agents have ignored you. Then concentrate on your next novel. You can always go back to this one. (Parlor Games is Maryka’s first published novel and her 4^th)

When are you ready to submit?

1. After your beta readers have read it
2. Or maybe your critique group (here, online, at the coffee shop, wherever…)
3. And a professional edit have edited it
4. It must be as good as you can possibly make it before you send it out, or you’ll be burning bridges instead of getting an agent.

What goes in the query letter?

1. Keep it to one page in length, even if you’re emailing it, or filling in an electronic submission form.
2. 1^st paragraph is the attention grabber, 2^nd tells a bit about the story, 3^rd gives the author credentials
3. But each agency has its own rules. Obey them. They might ask for just a letter, 1^st 5 pages of the novel, query plus symopsis, etc.
4. If you’re filling in an electronic submission it might ask lots of questions – they could become the blurb on the back of your book, so answer carefully.

How many agents should you query?

1. Query several at once. Send them out in batches of 5-10.
2. If someone asks for the manuscript, send it.
3. If someone asks for an exclusive and you’ve already sent it to someone else, tell them; it just might make them more eager to read it.
4. If you send to give them an exclusive look, put a time limit on it, so you can send it elsewhere afterward (and to make sure they look at it)

What about submitting to small presses?

1. Submittable helps you get organized and keep track.
2. Some places charge a reading fee. $20 is ok. $50 is too much.

And no, you don’t need to register your work before submitting it.

Maryka says we are welcome to contact her with more questions, and she’s willing to return to give another talk. So visit her website at http://www.marykabiaggio.com/ and click “contact me.” Or email us and tell us what you’d like her to talk about next time!

Meanwhile,
Happy Writing,
Happy Contest Entering,
Happy Submitting,
and we’ll see you on March 15th