Writability

End of Year Countdown: 5 Top Fives of 2016

Photo credit: Vicky Brock on Flickr

It's the last post of 2016! Which is a very strange and surreal thing to write, but also means it's time for Writability's annual tradition. Without further ado, here are my top fives of 2016. :)

Top 5 Most Popular Posts (On Writability)

I actually finally figured out a way to use Google Analytics to show the most popular posts for this year, rather than the most popular posts of all time, which don't change much. Interestingly, none of the most popular posts of this year were written this year either. Also the kissing post got a huge boost this year for reasons unknown. Cool. :)

Top 5 Most Active Commenters

As explained every year, I use Disqus’s very nice widget on my sidebar to keep track of how many comments every lovely commenter makes. The system isn’t perfect and only keeps track of accounts, so if you comment on multiple accounts, it thinks you’re more than one person, but regardless, these five fabulous readers are the most active commenters of the Writability community—thank you!

Note: Those with one asterisk were on the top five list last year, three asterisks have been on the top five list for three years, and those with four asterisks were on the top five list the year before that! Thanks for being part of the Writability community, everyone!

Top 5 Favorite (Writerly) Tumblr Blogs of the Year

I really love tumblr. I've learned so much from so many incredible people over there, and it also remains a great place to just find nice—and nerdy—awesomeness.

These are my top five favorite writerly and bookish tumblr blogs, calculated by tumblr off which blogs I reblog and like the most.

Top 5 Favorite Books of the Year

I've read a lot of really incredible books this year, and these especially stuck with me and earned their place in my favorites list.

Strong Signal by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell
A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
Saga Deluxe Edition, Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Top 5 Favorite Twitter Accounts

I spend too much time on Twitter, but there are some pretty amazing people there. This favorite list has taken a political emphasis for obvious reasons—the following accounts are mostly all excellently writerly and political with a great balance between the two, except Judd Legum, who is just a great reporter. In no particular order, you should follow these amazing people:

So those are my top fives of 2016—do you have any favorites of the year you'd like to share?

Happy New Year, everyone!

Twitter-sized bites:

Writer @Ava_Jae shares her top fives of 2016—what are some of your favorite writing resources of 2016? (Click to tweet)

Fixing the First Page Feature #30

Photo credit: hharryus on Flickr

We're now in the final days of 2016. I've got a lot of mixed feelings about it, but the one definite positive thing is it's now time for the last Fixing the First Page Feature of 2016!

As usual, I'll start by posting the full first 250 excerpt, after which I'll share my overall thoughts, then my redline critique. I encourage you guys to share your own thoughts and critiques in the comments (because I'm one person with one opinion!), as long as it's polite, thoughtful, and constructive. Any rude or mean comments will be unceremoniously deleted.

Let's do this.

Title: MOONCHILD

Genre/Category: YA Fantasy

First 250 words:

"The priests are always telling me that my mother should never have bathed me in the moon. It sets a girl up for mischief, and worse as she gets older. Now that I’m nearing sixteen, I’m far too old to be forgiven for knowing things no natural person should.

I remember the moon-baths clearly enough, even though I wasn’t quite four when my mother was found out and taken away to Temple. I remember being cold and cranky, whining and stomping as she stripped away my overdress and tunic.

'No, moma, no!' I would shout, my cries echoing off the garden walls. I must have woken up half the compound with my yelling, but no one ever shouted back or lit a lantern to see what all the commotion was.

'Calm down, Luna, just calm down,' my mother would say. She tried to distract me with special full-moon songs, and showed me how the light played in the big, round basin. I did like to watch the silvery ribbons dash around the polished bottom, swirling like watersnakes. Sometimes she could win a giggle from me before I remembered that I wasn’t going to like what came next.

It wasn’t just the icy feeling of the night air against wet skin - I didn’t like the squirmy feeling the bright water woke in my belly. I’d thrash and protest the whole time, even though mother would promise better and better treats each time if I would just be good.

I was never good."

Wow, interesting! This definitely has a cool fantasy feel and I'm super intrigued by the moon baths and what that means and where this is going. This is, however, a prologue, so I'm immediately wondering whether this is the right place to start. It's hard for me to really say one way or the other without reading the full prologue and checking out the first chapter, but generally, I tend to recommend flashback prologues are integrated into the story rather than starting way before the story starts and then jumping into the present day.

So props for an interesting opening, but be careful with prologues—I suspect you may be better off starting with the start of the story and incorporating this elsewhere. But either way this does set up some nice world building and intrigue so yay.

Now for the in-line edits.

"The priests ~~are~~ always ~~telling~~ told me ~~that~~ my mother should never have bathed me in the moon. Beautiful opening line and image—I also like how it sets up tension right away. Well done. It sets a girl up for mischief, and worse as she gets older. Now that I’m nearing sixteen, I’m ~~far~~ too old to be forgiven for knowing things no natural person should. Iiiiinteresting. :D

I remember the moon-baths clearly enough, even though I wasn’t quite four when they found my mother ~~was found out~~ and ~~taken~~ took her away to Temple. Adjusted to make the sentence active (vs passive). I ~~remember being~~ was cold and cranky, whining and stomping as she stripped away my overdress and tunic. Adjusted to remove filtering (I remember).

'No, moma, no!' I ~~would~~ shouted, my cries echoing off the garden walls. I must have woken up half the compound ~~with my yelling~~, but no one ever shouted back or lit a lantern to see what ~~all~~ the commotion was.

'Calm down, Luna, just calm down,' my mother ~~would say~~ said. She tried to distract me with special full-moon songs, and showed me how the light played in the big, round basin. I ~~did~~ liked to watch the silvery ribbons dash around the polished bottom, swirling like watersnakes. Sometimes she ~~could win~~ won a giggle from me before I remembered ~~that~~ I wasn’t going to like what came next.

It wasn’t just the icy ~~feeling of the~~ night air against wet skin - I didn’t like the squirmy feeling the bright water woke in my belly. Adjusted to remove some filtering and wordiness. I’d thrash and protest the whole time, even though mother ~~would~~ promised better and better treats each time if I'd ~~would~~ just be good.

I was never good."

Okay, after reading this a second time, I'm more sure that the flashback part should be moved. However, I think I'd recommend the first paragraph was kept. It really sets up great tension and kicks off with some early world building, and I could easily see it used as a transition into the present day story rather than the flashback. I don't know exactly where the story actually starts, but I suspect it'd be easy enough to keep it as the opener even if the flashback is moved later in the narrative.

Other than that, the main thing I'm noticing is some wordiness and filtering, which I adjusted above, but I definitely recommend the author check the rest of her manuscript for both, because if there's this much in the first 250, it's a good signal there's probably plenty more throughout the book.

If I saw this in the slush I'd skim through the rest of the prologue and jump to the opening to see if it grabbed me.

I hope that helps! Thanks for sharing your first 250 with us, Juniper!

Would you like to be featured in the next Fixing the First Page critique? Keep an eye out for the first giveaway of 2017!

Twitter-sized bite:

.@Ava_Jae talks prologues, great opening paragraphs, wordiness and more in the 30th Fixing the First Page Feature. (Click to tweet)

Vlog: My 2017 Resolutions

Last vlog of 2016 means it's time for resolutions! What are you resolving to do next year? I share my resolutions for 2017.

RELATED LINKS:

What are you resolving to do in 2017?

Twitter-sized bite:

What are your 2017 resolutions? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. #vlog (Click to tweet)

2016 Year in Review

Photo credit: Dru! on Flickr

So back in 2014, I started my annual tradition of reviewing all the things that happened over the past year, which I continued last year. 2016's been one prolonged garbage fire, but some pretty big positive things did happen for me. So let's take a look at 2016!

January was a pretty quiet month. I started my last semester of college while silently gearing up for the impending release of my debut two months later. I took both a fantasy and a kidlit class which was truly the perfect way to tie off my college experience.

February I had my birthday and the best birthday present ever: I got my author copies. It was a really amazing moment that I thankfully had the foresight to capture on camera so I could turn it into a happy vlog.

Then March! March was an enormous month. Beyond the Red published and shortly thereafter I flew off to Maryland to speak at SCBWI MD/DE/WV and do a mini-book tour with some lovely fellow Sweet Sixteeners. We had an amazing time and I did my first ever book signings and school visits and did so many panels and all in all it really was a blast. It was the perfect way to welcome my debut to the world and step into Professional Author shoes in an undeniable way. All the while I was working on a secret project which became important a few months later.

April then was finals time. I finished up my last semester of college and graduated with high distinction, in the top 10% of my graduating class. So that was really exciting and felt pretty amazing. I also launched my freelance editing services, which was thankfully welcomed with open arms.

May and June were pretty quiet. I first drafted a manuscript, plotted another, Beyond the Red went into its second printing (yay!) and I also got some fantastic bookish news I couldn't talk about, which meant sitting on my hands until I could talk about it and in the meantime continue working on that secret project. Come to think of it, I guess those months weren't so quiet after all. :)

Then in July I finally got the go ahead to announce my amazing news: Beyond the Red is getting not one, but two sequels! And the first will publish next year! I was over the moon happy about the news, and I finished first drafting Into the Black, a book I'm already very proud of.

August was another quiet month. I started revising Into the Black and joined the Pokémon GO craze, which was fun and actually got me out of my writer cave from time to time. It was, however, a pretty bad month health-wise, so that was unfortunate—and a sign to my doctor and I that I need to move to a stronger treatment regimen.

September and October were full of revisions and multiple rounds of critique partners and sensitivity readers while preparing for NaNoWriMo. At the end of the month I sent Into the Black off to my agent, applied for—and landed—a seasonal part time job, and then...

NaNoWriMo! I mean, November! November was an especially rough month, but the good part is I started and finished my NaNo novel before declaring myself exhausted and swearing not to write for the rest of the year. I'd never first drafted three manuscripts and revised one in the same year before and it was tiring but also really gratifying.

And now, December. This month I've (so far) kept to my not-writing promise while trying to catch up on my Goodreads reading challenge, which I am currently three books away from completing and totally determined to manage it, even if two of those books are comics. I also got the laptop I've been saving for forever, and I sent in an application to grad school for a program of my dreams, so I've got my fingers crossed while awaiting the new year. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. :)

How was your 2016?

Twitter-sized bite:

.@Ava_Jae shares her 2016 year in review. Did you have any big moments this year? (Click to tweet)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

A fun yearly holiday (re-)post tradition, with apologies to Clement C. Moore, written by yours truly.

Photo credit: Joe Buckingham on Flickr

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the night
Not a writer was writing, not word was in sight.
Blank pages were scattered on desks and on floors,
In hopes that the manuscripts would leap from their drawers.
The radio was humming a song of good cheer,
Yet I, tortured writer, wished a muse would appear.
And I with my coffee and family asleep
Did stare at the page trying hard not to weep.

When out in the snow there came such a noise,
I fell from my chair, disregarding all poise.
I ran to the door, my heart in my throat,
And did throw it open, forgetting my coat.

And Christmas lights glowing on glittering snow
Seemed just for a moment to put on a show.
When to my astonishment—I’ll admit I did shout,
Came a sleigh from the sky led by reindeers on route.

A driver with eyes spilling over with laughter,
His face I did know I’d remember thereafter.
With a beard so white and his cheeks set aglow,
He waved and he smiled, “It’s me, don’t you know!”

I gaped for a moment and stuttered and said,
“This cannot be real—it’s all in my head!”
But Santa, he snickered and said with delight,
“I hear, my dear child, that you love to write.”

“It’s true,” I said, looking down at my feet,
“But a writer I’m not—I’ve admitted defeat.”
And Santa, he frowned—looked me straight in the eye,
And he said, “You’re a writer, don’t let your dream die.”

So I told him my troubles, how the words wouldn’t come,
And he said, “It’s a gift—it won’t always be fun.
It won’t always be easy or simple or kind,
But for writing, my girl, is what you were designed.”

And he lifted my chin with his finger and said,
“These troubles you’re having—they’re all in your head!
So go back inside and rest for the night,
But know that tomorrow, you’ll write at first light!”

He climbed back on his sleigh and took off in the air,
The reindeers—they trampled the stars with their flair.
So inside I went and turned off the TV,
And sat by the fire with a hot cup of tea.

Asleep, there I fell, and I dreamt of the page
And when I awoke—my mind a golden age!
I rushed to my computer and typed until dawn,
His words, I soon realized—they were right all along!

In hindsight I suppose, I shouldn’t have been surprised,
For that day it was Christmas, true and undisguised.
And that man that I saw, whether he was Santa or not,
He brought to my mind things that I had forgot.

A writer’s a writer every day of the week,
On good days, on bad days, on nights that seem bleak.
But I do what I can and what I can is to write,
As Santa reminded me to my delight.

So next time your writing refuses to flow,
Remember what Santa said to me and know,
You’re a writer tonight and always will be,
For writing is truly what makes you feel free.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Fixing the First Page Winner #30!

Photo credit: The Uncommon Cakery on Flickr

Quick Thursday post to announce the winner of the thirtieth fixing the first page feature giveaway!

*drumroll*

And the thirtieth winner is…

JUNIPER NICHOLS!

Yay! Congratulations, Juniper!

Thanks again to all you lovely entrants! If you didn't win, as always, there will be another fixing the first page giveaway in January (whaaat), so keep an eye out! And happy holidays to all!

Lessons From a Year of Swag

Photo credit: me

Over the weekend I had my last author event of 2016—so it was kind of fitting that I ran out of bookmarks that day too. It was a little surreal to run out; when I'd ordered my swag in mid 2015, I'd gotten 500 bookmarks and 500 postcards, mostly because GotPrint was running a weird deal that made the upgrade from 250 each just a few dollars more, so I figured eh, why not? It turns out that was a good decision because bookmarks, apparently, are very popular.

You see, aside from giveaways, bookmarks are kind of gold at author events. Generally, non-panel author events go like this: you have a table at a bookstore, set up whatever swag you have and pile up your books, then smile as people walk past you and try to avoid eye contact and while you get people to talk to you so you can tell them about your book.

That actually sounds way more terrifying than it is, but I quickly learned a way to get people to engage: offer free bookmarks.

"Hi, would you like a bookmark?" I'd say, holding out a bookmark. Some people say no, but more times than not people say sure and take your bookmark. Then one of two things happen: either they eye your books and you have an in to talk about it, or they walk away with your bookmark.

My bookmarks have a pretty clip of my cover on one side, then on the other have a teaser and information about my book. This has worked well because I've had people come back after they walked away with my bookmark to ask about my book. Victory! As a bonus, I know even if people just take them home, they have a reminder of my book there.

So lesson learned: bookmarks are author gold. Now that I'm out, I'll definitely be ordering more.

Now postcards. So I kind of took a risk with my postcards in that I put information on both sides. This turned out not to work so well, because it made mailing them harder since I had to put them in envelopes which sort of defeats the purpose of the postcard. Because one side is just my cover, however, I use them more often than not to also give away at author events, but I've found they're not nearly as popular as bookmarks. I'll continue to bring them to author events until I'm out, but next time around I'm definitely keeping one side blank—or at least enough of one side blank so I can stamp/address without covering information—so I can mail them more easily.

Lesson learned: leave space on postcards for stamp and address.

Finally, I didn't have bookplates this year, but I found they were actually requested with relative frequency, so I'll definitely have to look into getting some before Into the Black's release. They're handy especially since my ability to get signed copies out is pretty limited, and shipping for a book is (understandably) a lot more than just mailing a bookplate out.

So those are some of the lessons I've learned from having and giving out swag over the last year and a half. Hope you guys find it useful when the time comes to get some swag for your books. :)

Twitter-sized bite:

Thinking about getting swag for your book? @Ava_Jae shares lessons she learned from a year of using swag. (Click to tweet)