Thinking of Entering PitMad? There Are Some New Rules You Need to Know

This is a great explanation of #pitmad!

Paving My Author's Road

It’s that time again and the first PitMad session of 2016 is only 10 days away. And if you’ve never participated or heard of PitMad before, then I’m here to help you. First let’s get into a bit of history about PitMad.

PitMad is a pitch party on Twitter to help writers like yourselves get out of the slush pile. And into the hands of agents interested in your manuscript(s). Now remember your manuscript must be completed, polished as polished can be and unpublished. And you only have 140 characters to pitch it.

You can thank its creator, Brenda Drake, for this opportunity.

In the past you can pitch your book twice an  hour from 8am to 8pm on the day of the pitch party. And that you can RT your favorite pitches to show support to the writer. Well things have been a little different since the last…

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The Nine Elements of Worldbuilding

Great observations! Worth the read!

M.E. Kinkade

This awesome fictional map of “Clichea,” created by Sarithus. Might want to avoid this sort of thing.

I attended a really interesting lecture by prolific fantasy author Kevin J. Anderson on the fundamentals of worldbuilding. I don’t want to crib too much from his lecture—and the pending book on the same topic (keep an eye out for it; he can explain a lot better than he can!)—but I figure it’s still fair for y’all to benefit from my conference-attending.

The nine elements of creating a realistic, or at least believable, fictional world are: geography; climate; politics; economics; society; religion; intellectual/scientific; arts; and history.

When considering the setting and general plot for your totally rad fiction work, ask yourself some questions (and maybe more, as you put the pieces together):

• Geography—could this landmass exist in the real world? Should it?
  • Make sure the actual structure of the land a) makes sense…

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Writer Friends–the Greatest Gift Ever!!

I love my writer friends.

I have several now. Some are just twitter acquaintances who tweet little gems of wisdom. Some are well-recognized, writing world powerhouses, whose capacity to blog profoundly helpful and hilariously funny gold mines is beyond impressive. But this morning I am specifically thinking of three amazing ladies who saw me hiding in the corner at DFWCon two years ago. Call it kismet, karma, or providence, these lovelies scooped me up and said, “You’re a part of our pack.” They’ve included me in their writing pursuits ever since, and I will be forever grateful.

When I entered the labyrinth that is writing, I discovered you need people around you who will tell you the truth. Your mama is probably going to tell you your MS is genius, and she always knew, ever since your first ‘How I Spent My Summer’ essay in third grade, that you would become a world-famous author. As much as we need a mama’s love and encouragement, that’s just not going to help. It makes me think of all the people who have tried out for American Idol and made fools of themselves because their mamas said they sing like Whitney Houston, when they really sound like a dying cat (not that I have any personal interaction with a dying cat–but I can imagine).

Cue writer friends. They know what you are pursuing. They read books on improving the writing craft. They stay abreast of writing competitions to enter to help build writing experience and add legitimacy to a query letter. They tell you the truth and make you a better writer.

If you haven’t surrounded yourself with writing friends yet, you need to. They will make the difference between an interesting exercise in putting words on paper and a story that isn’t cliche, overdone, or a plot-less, hot mess. Yes, they will tell you the truth. But you CAN handle the truth, and you need it.

If you’re just starting, may I suggest a few big names to follow (not even close to a complete list but some of my faves):

The Indefatigable: Kristen Lamb.  The Champion of Hook: Les Edgerton, The Not Safe, But Good: Query Shark

I am super grateful for Diana Beebe, Nicole Grabner, and Liza Caruthers for taking me in that day. You guys are awesome!

WRiTE CLUB ROUND #1 — PLEASE VOTE

If you will click this link: WRiTE CLUB 2015, you can vote on the first two competitors. I’ll comment on my favorites at the end of the week.  LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

DL Hammons WRiTE Club to Commence Tomorrow!!!!

Please click the link to WRiTE Club so you can participate in judging the competition!!  Whoo Hoo!