The Rest of the Crap I Did in Seattle

I'm just going to try to wrap the rest of it up in this last post. I'm helping a friend with a query tomorrow and Friday, and then perhaps we'll get into other things next week. We'll see.

First I have an announcement: the winner of Tawna Fenske's Making Waves is Heather M. Gardner. She got 4000 points, so it was basically a mathematically forgone conclusion. I have your email address, Heather, so I'll be in touch about your snail mail address. Thanks for playing, everyone.

Okay. So, back to Seattle. We did lots of different things, some of it very touristy like visiting the Space Needle and touring Pike Place Market, and other stuff more personal, like visiting my cousin in beautiful Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula (it's not far from Port Angeles for you Twilight lovers).

So here are some more photos, in random order:

The girls and I in front of the Market.

This photo pisses me off because Mount Rainier was prominent and majestic, hovering behind the city to the right, but you can't see it at all in this photo.

Madison with a silver statue man outside the market.

Madison in front of the Post Alley wall of ABC gum. Disgusting. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Kylie is shy like her dad, and Madison is a ham sandwich.

Madison playing giant chess in Occidental Park, against a street person. I didn't give her any help, and she lost, but you can learn just as much from losing as you can from winning, sometimes more. Right, Ted?

Tree huggers.

That's the Chief Seattle fireboat, but more importantly this is what it looks like outside Ivar's where you give your french fries to the gulls. I thought Andrew would like this, because he likes gulls.

Funny story: the day we were walking to the monorail, I literally saw a gull trying to bomb Kelly. I told her to watch out, she jumped back, and the bird shit seriously would have hit her if I hadn't saved the day. I'm her hero.

Once There Were Birds.

This is a sculpture outside the Science Museum.

This one's a little blurry, but I helped Madison make this shirt with bubble paint for when we finally went to see Harry Potter.

This is basically the view from my dad's house. Looking at this really makes me hate Georgia.

Finally a decent photo of Mount Rainier.

What a beautiful city.

This thing is called the Fremont Troll. You can't see it, but it has a Volkswagen in its hand.

This is a plaque outside the elevator to the grid inside the Seattle Opera House. Marcus Rush was my dad. Rest in peace, pop.

This is this really weird but kind of awesome old fort in Port Townsend. You would think it was from World War II, what with the war in the pacific and everything, but it was built around 1911. I don't know who we were scared of then, but it makes for a cool place to explore.

And that's it. Is that enough photos for you guys? Sorry the post is so long, but I wanted to squeeze the rest in, so we could move on to other things ... like, oh I don't know, talking about writing.

Anyway. Have a great Wednesday, all!

The League of Ordinarily Surly Men

That's the name of my critique group. Actually it's not. We don't have an official name, or a group blog or anything like that. We're pretty informal about the whole thing actually. Plus, we're not even very surly. Most of us are really nice. Simon is probably the only one who is so mean it's scary sometimes.

Just kidding. Anyway, I've got a lot of reading that I owe my crit group, and I'm really behind on it. So I won't be doing a real post or reading many blogs today. Instead you should visit the blogs of the other members of my crit group.

Ted Cross is the original member. Ted and I met, where else, on Nathan's forums and have been friends and writing buddies ever since. We connected as soon as I found out that not only does Ted love Fantasy as much as I do, but unlike me, has the courage to write it.

Simon C. Larter was a silent partner for a long time, then he got more involved, and now he's back to less again. We're not mad at him at all though, because even when he doesn't have pages to share with us he still critiques our work. Can you imagine a nicer thing to do? Plus he's hilarious, even if a little surly when he's out of vodka.

Ryan Z. Nock is the newest member, and the youngest, but he's a damn fine writer and came highly recommended by my mentor, Bryan Russell. Ryan actually lives in Atlanta, well just outside, but a lot closer than me, and we still haven't actually met yet. We need to get on that.

Anyway, please go visit their blogs and follow them, you won't regret it!

Five Cities to See Before I ...

So yesterday Ted pointed out to me that none of my destinations were vibrant romantic cities with rich histories. He was right. I called them natural wonders, but he corrected me, stating that 4 of the 5 destinations were actually ruins. He was right again.

So today I am going to cover 5 cities that I feel I must see before I ... hit the NY times best seller list (thanks Nate). Okay, maybe shortly after, but that's not the point! To the cities!

London

Ding! If I were filthy rich and could live anywhere in the world it would be London. No I wouldn't stay there year round, but still. The history. The culture. The diversity. I mean come on? Westminster Abbey? Big Ben? The Tower of London? Trafalgar Square? Piccadilly Circus?

What is a Piccadilly Circus anyway? Talli?

Kyoto

I have always been fascinated with Japanese culture, especially with the Samurai and Shogun of feudal Japan. During that period Kyoto was the imperial capital. It still contains some of the most beautiful and well preserved ancient architecture in the world. About 20% of Japan's National Treasures and 14% of Important Cultural Properties exist in the city proper. Kamigamo Shrine. Shimogamo Shrine. Nijo Castle. The Ryoan-Ji Zen Rock Garden.

Plus, Iwatayama Monkey Park. Look this one up. Have you ever heard of a cooler place? Nathan?

Prague

Prague is a central European city full of rich history, and according to Ted, one of the most beautiful cities on the continent, if not in the world. It's been the seat of two different Holy Roman Emperors, and has been the economic and cultural center of the Czech state for over 11 centuries. It is also host to some of the most amazing architecture in Europe, from church spires to castle walls, and even modern museums. There is much to see in Prague.

Plus some of the best beer in the world comes from there. Ever heard of a Pilsner?

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg was founded by Tsar Peter I and was the capital of the Russian Empire for hundreds of years until the Bolshevik Revolution. It is sometimes referred to as Russia's most western city, and is a large port on the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. Saint Petersburg, also formally known as Leningrad, is home to The Hermitage, the largest art museum in the world.

Can't get much cooler than that.

Reykjavik

I don't actually know much about Reykjavik, but something has always fascinated my about an island in the middle of the bitterly cold North Atlantic, so removed from the rest of the world. This city is the northernmost capital of any sovereign state on planet Earth. Ted also names it as one of the most interesting cities in the world, and Ted knows, he's pretty much my go to guy on all things international.

Besides, who doesn't like Bjork?

So that's it. Man these posts take a long time to put together. Whew. So what are your dream cities to visit? You can steal some of mine, and you don't have to come up with five.

THE SHARD

Today's guest blogger is my good friend Ted Cross. He is in my critique group but I promise to try not to let the fact that I have read some of THE SHARD affect my thoughts on his query.

You know the rules. Follow his blog, then come back and read his query.

I'll let him take it away but first I should point out that I went with dark green for Ted's thoughts, and doo-doo brown for my own. The reason for this should be clear but if not the green represents wise elves, and the brown? Stupid Orcs.

Go ahead Ted:

Dear Nathan,

I’ve been an avid follower of your blog for well over a year; you might recall me (knight_tour) as being the person who would have won your last March Madness Challenge had Butler won instead of Duke. I am seeking representation for my epic fantasy novel, The Shard, which is complete at 130,000 words.

I decided to go with my letter to Nathan since I think the letter sounds too dry without the personalization that I do for each and Nathan is the one agent that I think doesn’t mind us all trying to learn from each other. I wouldn’t do this with any other agent. I knew up-front that Nathan had never signed up a fantasy novel, but he is so awesome that I had to give him a try.

Ahh, I remember that March Madness chaos! What fun. I was on the first page, but had picked Kentucky. What were we talking about? Oh, Ted's query. Right. Well personalization is HUGE I think, especially with a young, hip agent like Nathan. Is hip a hip word still? Was it ever?

Three years after losing a son in an ambush by a troll, the minor noble Midas’s marriage is crumbling and the Known Lands are threatened by an invasion from a mysterious race of dragon men (called wyrmen). Midas is torn between his duty to raise his two remaining sons to be proper leaders and the insistence of his wife that he keep the boys safe.

He takes his sons to war, but hopes to shield them from the worst dangers. His intentions go awry when a seer involves them in a plan to defeat the wyrmen by finding a shard of a shattered magical relic, lost centuries ago in the lair of Kathkalan, a dragon so vicious it has turned the entire eastern region of the realm into an abandoned wasteland.

After surviving the dragon, cannibals, ice-wraiths that can kill with a touch, and a chase through an underground labyrinth, Midas and his companions find the shard and join the armies of the realm to confront the superior forces of the wyrmen, only to discover that the magic of the shard doesn’t work as expected. Midas is faced with the most excruciating of decisions -- save his sons, or save the realm and risk losing everyone that he loves.

Okay, I have tried a few versions but they were all terrible. I’m not in love with this, but it has gotten me two partial requests (out of five responses so far), so I feel it can’t be that bad. I know some say we should only use one paragraph or two at the most for this part, but I couldn’t make it work that way. In fact, I already feel like a fraud since the above describes only a tiny part of what my story is about! I would love to see how George R.R. Martin would have queried his A Song of Ice and Fire series if he had to.

I'm going to get serious now (finally) because I seriously love this book. I've actually only read like the first 6 chapters because our crit group has been taking it slow, but I've known about the premise for a while and I LOVE it.

I would have to argue that for a story like Ted's a query much shorter than this would not do it justice. Yes short and sweet is generally best and the idea is to share just enough to get the agent to ask for more, but you also don't want to leave so much out that they feel betrayed when they do read your pages.

I want to talk more about Ted's story because it is in a vein that I love, but this post is really about his query. The only other things that I'll point is that while Ted's tale does contain some traditional fantasy elements he also has some highly unique aspects like these Wyrmen and his own take on magic.

The only other thing is that while this query may sound a little dry, lacking some of the stronger voice that makes others stand out so much I actually think it is highly appropriate for Ted's story. We talk about voice a lot when I critique his pages and without giving away the secret behind his twist I will simply say that there is a reason that his people speak the way they do, not quite in a medieval tongue, not quite in a modern one. It's subtle, but it works.

George R.R. Martin has shown with his A Song of Ice and Fire series how hungry audiences are for realistic epic fantasy. I believe that the forthcoming movies based on The Hobbit will form a renewed bubble of interest in this genre. Though my novel can stand alone, I have begun a prequel and also outlined two other novels within the series.

I know some won’t like this, but I get the feeling that agents are not as forward-looking as I would like them to be. I wanted to remind them about the Hobbit movies (and now the Game of Thrones series) that are forthcoming. How could there not be a renewed interest in epic fantasy after those come out? I also honestly feel that if someone like Mr. Martin wrote his down and dirty style of fantasy tale within a high fantasy setting it would sell like crazy.

I'm not sure I can talk about this. I keep hearing terrible things about what's going on with The Hobbit films and it makes me very sad. I can say that I think Ted's point to agents is valid. Even if High Fantasy like this never reaches the top of the bestseller list I feel like there is still a strong niche market. Novels of this kind will sell steadily for years I think, rather than like a blockbuster all at once.

I'm no expert on the industry of course but I know I would buy this book and I know several other fantasy fans who would as well.

Below are my first five pages. Thank you very much for your consideration.

Ted Cross

I’ve sent this to only eleven agents so far. I’ve had three rejections and two partial requests that eventually were rejected. Six haven’t responded at all even though it has been quite some time. I was encouraged by the fact that the two partial requests came from very well known agents, but I can’t wait to someday get a full request!

I can't wait either Ted. It seems tough to sell Fantasy right now, not that I've tried personally, but I think your novel stands out.

So what do you guys think? Can Adult Fantasy shine in the YA era? Should Ted give more away in his query about some of the more unique elements of his story?

I can't answer those questions except for with my gut. As far as Ted's query the most important thing is that it's working.

P.S. Yes I did win something over at WriteOnCon last night. I know some of you were hoping I would write about it today. I promise to do a post on the whole thing on Monday, but Fridays are for guest posts. Sorry.