#graphei

[fixyourwritinghabits]

I'm editing my first book and really wanna get it published, but I know nothing about the literary world. I'd like to find an agent who can best represent my interests, because my biggest fear with my work is it getting stolen or losing creative control. Any advice on how I can find an agent?

There’s a couple different ways to find an agent. You can Google for literary agents, go to conferences, or find them on social media. Many agents are extremely active on Twitter, so check out the tags #pitmad, Please note there are some rules around #pitmad so be sure to read up on those.

There are a few general rules:

Do your research. Read the blurbs on the website to see what genres they want, or follow them on social media to see what they’re looking for. Some may say they want specific types of stories. Make note of that. Ultimately, do not send your sci-fi thriller to an agent who wants romance or non-fiction.

Follow the damn rules. Read their submission/query letter requirements very carefully. There may be particular instructions they want you to follow and a quick way to have your material NOT read is to ignore them.

Apply to several. Keep a spreadsheet with names, emails, genres, and when you applied to them. That way you can stay organized and know who you applied to and when.

Do not send them money. Any agent that is asking you for cash up front isn’t a real agent. They will get paid when your story gets picked up for publication.

As for people stealing your work, in the US, you can get copyright. It costs about $75 and requires you to fill in some forms and send in some proof that you’ve actually done the work. The truth is, the likelihood of people stealing your idea and writing the exact same story is low on the literary side.

As for losing creative control, unless you sell the rights to your story (which you wouldn’t do unless you’re selling film rights, and then they can only change the movie not the book), you remain in control. They cannot force you to make changes. With that said, if you refuse to make certain changes, they are well within their rights to drop you as a client.

P.S. For those of you wondering, for TV and Film agents, you (generally) do not find them. They find you.

-Graphei (who’s back from the long hiatus)

[fixyourwritinghabits]

PSA: Boundaries Are Good

I’m sitting in my favorite coffeehouse, in my favorite chair, with my favorite drink. The sun is shining and I’m listening to two writers (published, folks we’d consider to have ‘made’ it) talk, and I hear:

You know how it is. You need to live in your writing.

You do not need to live in your writing.

Boundaries are wonderful things, friends. It’s one thing to work on your story 24/7, it’s another when you cannot and/or do not want to separate your character’s emotions from your own.

If you are writing non-fiction, if you feel you have to be in toxic situations because “I mUsT sUfFeR fOr My ArT”, log the fuck off and go talk to someone, ideally a therapist, because that shit’s not healthy.

IF someone tells you that you shouldn’t have emotional boundaries or psychological safety to be a real writer, tell them to get fucked and run--not walk--away from the talking toxic waste dump.

Did I totally put up with toxic shit and not have good boundaries with my characters early on? Correct you are. Did I joke about being a method writer? Yeah. I’m dumb af. However, I learned it was unhealthy and stopped that crap.

Writing is hard enough without deliberately doing harmful crap to yourself on top of it.

Be kind and take care of yourselves.

-G

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Hey there! I was wondering if I could have some advice on villain writing? I'm trying to show that this character is shady and absolutely the villain here, but I'm worried its breaching into cliche? Any tips on how to keep the character of an unsettling and malevolent person, while avoiding cheesy pitfalls? Sorry for all the question marks I'm a very confused kiddo.

The best way to avoid cheesy pitfalls is to know them. TV tropes is a fabulous resource. Tropes are not necessarily a bad thing. If you’re aware of them and how they work, they can be a powerful tool of critique and satire. However, when used poorly or unintentionally, you could wind up in hot water.

A couple of my golden rules:

People don’t wake up and decide to be evil. What're their motivations? 

You can do the right thing for the wrong reasons, and the wrong thing for the right reasons. Remember, they’re usually the heroes in their own story.

Be brave enough to give them a fucking point. It’s quite possible to be despicable and be absolutely right about something. What is your hero wrong about that the villain can call them out on?

Mental illness is not adequate reason The truth is mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of horrific crimes than commit them. Avoid this trope.

Ultimately, writing a villain is no different than writing a hero, or any other character for that matter. The only thing that’s different is their goals/motivations. Whatever time you’ve spent developing your hero, you should put just as much into your villain because the truth is, if you don’t have a villain that’s powerful enough to make your audience believe that they could beat the hero, you don’t have much of a story. Yes, we all know that in the end good wins, but what makes it work is the suspension of belief. That moment of doubt where we think all is lost so the hero can have this epic triumph.

Writing characters who’re gloriously horrible and malevolent can be a lot of fun. It can be emotionally draining and frankly scary to indulge that dark side of our imaginations. Here’s my favorite tips:

Limit your time in their headspace. I set a 2 hour limit for my most disturbing creations, but you may want to start with 30 minutes.

Make sure your environment is as peaceful and calm as you can make it. Have a favorite aromatherapy? Use that. White noise machine? Great. Whatever helps you chill, have that on stand-by.

If you’re going to be tackling a particularly tough session, let some people know and have them check on you when you’re done.

Depending on the material you created, give yourself a few extra days space between writing and editing.

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Read your shit out loud

It uncovers a multitude of sins.

-G

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Do you suppose there are resources out there for writing historical speech patterns? I’ve got two characters—a vampire, from Victorian times and a ghost, from the time of the Second World War—and I imagine they would speak just a bit oddly, given that dialogue evolves over time and naturally they would change. But I’d like to incorporate some of those old patterns and such in the way they speak to give more depth to their ages with respect to modern characters. Thank you!

Salutations!

Here’s some google results here to get you started, but let’s unpack this a little more. Is it the speech patterns or the vocabulary you’re really after? If you alter the speech patterns too much, you’re going to make it difficult for readers to get immersed. I’d suggest using the old timey speech patterns for things like letters or things the characters may read, so you can get a sense of their age, without it seeming entirely alien to your readers. Play around with it. You may need a few tries to find the right balance for your story and characters.

Good luck!

-G

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Guess who’s back?

So it’s been an extremely long time since I’ve posted on here. For those of you who that’ve joined while I was on hiatus I’m Graphei, one of the mods here. Chances are I’ll respond to a question if it deals with screenwriting, character development (especially villains or antagonists), technology, and military-related topics.

So, what have I been up to?

A TV show (not Stytch) is being pitched to Amazon and Netflix (eep!).

Stytch is back in development (will write more on that later), and I will hopefully fundraise for that series later this year.

Looking at my novels and short-stories lovingly and squeaking out time to work on them as more and more of my time is consumed with writing for TV.

Yelling about plot, pacing, and character development to film folks.

Anyway, let’s get some Qs in the box and get this show on the road.

-G

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Speaking of tv shows, how bad is it if I combine shows. Like stripping the plot and characters to basics and then combining them to make something with it? Is it considered inspiration then or am I just kinda crazy?

You can do whatever you want. It doesn’t mean you’ll be able to sell it. With that said, if it gets you writing and you love writing it, who cares! We all have our passion projects that help keep us sane because writing professionally sucks.

Think of it this way. It’s good practice for you to develop your skills as a writer. Overtime, you may branch out and work on an entirely original concept, and that may get your foot in the door and you may be taken on as an intern, or you may realize you have an entirely original concept and characters that evolve out of it, and that may end up getting shopped around. 

Also, TV is different in that writers mostly work on things they don’t create. They get the characters and series from the network/studio/powers that be and it’s their job to fill in the blanks. Can they make changes? Maybe. Film and TV are all about compromise. You are one of many in a writers’ room, and you’ve got a head writer, an editor or a show runner, a gaggle of producers, and a horde of actors who’re all gonna have opinions.

Ultimately, write the thing and don’t worry about selling it. Putting that kind of expectations on a project is a quick way to end up broke and disappointed.

-G

[fixyourwritinghabits]

Sometimes...

You write all night.

And others, you write two measly lines of dialogue then disappear down a Tumblr rabbit hole for 3 hours while you contemplate how crappy those two lines of dialogue were.

It happens. Tomorrow’s a new day. Don’t let today’s guilt overshadow tomorrow.

-Graphei