Back In Town

I'm actually back in town guys, but I took today off from work, just to catch up. What I need to know is:

Do you want Step Three? Or do you want to hear some stuff about my trip? I'll be up by noon so early risers let me know!

Step Two

Hi. My name is Matthew and I'm a blogaholic.

I can't stop reading and commenting on blogs. I get a huge adrenaline rush when a blogger responds to one of my comments.

Today I am on Step Two.

I have come to believe that a Power greater than myself can restore me to sanity. His name is Nathan Bransford.

Tomorrow I may share about Step Three.

Disclaimer: This post is satirical. It is not meant to offend anyone, or to belittle the integrity of 12 Step Programs anywhere, which have saved countless lives since their inception.

That is all.

Blogaholics Anonymous

Hi. My name is Matthew and I'm a blogaholic.

My drug of choice is comments but I also fiend for followers. You can often find me on the corner at 5 am, trolling for guest posts.

Today I am on Step One.

I admit that I am powerless over blogging and that my life has become unmanageable.

Tomorrow I'll share about Step Two.

Disclaimer: This post is satirical. It is not meant to offend anyone, or to belittle the integrity of 12 Step Programs anywhere, which have saved countless lives since their inception.

That is all.

Katherine Camp Interview

I can't believe this week is over. I've had a great time hosting Katherine and her query for DRAGONSAYER and my hope is that she's learned a lot. I know I have.

Now we're going to take a little time to get to know Katherine better. By way of author interview. If this happens to be your first day here this week be sure to visit Katherine's blog and become a follower.

Now, to the questions!

When did you first decide you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve always loved storytelling. I made up my first story when I was 6 about these people who lived on a prehistoric island with dinosaurs, and they had to hide in a network of caves and store up food for the winter when the T Rexes attacked. I started writing stuff down and telling people I wanted to be a writer at age 8.

How long have you been writing seriously?

I began writing with the intent to publish about 3 years ago. DRAGONSAYER is the 4th novel I finished, and the 2nd I queried.

What is your favorite thing about writing?

Being finished with the book… haha. Actually, I love creating worlds and characters and then seeing how other people breathe life into those things as they enjoy them. Someone cried once reading something I wrote, and that stunned me. It was amazing to move someone that deeply. That’s my favorite part.

What is the most difficult part?

Probably the writing itself. I am a champion procrastinator and I have a very, very short attention span, like a squirrel.

Did you ever play Dungeons and Dragons, the real pen and paper tabletop game?

My husband used to be a devoted D&D player in college, but I’ve never played. We haven’t been able to get a group together. I get to keep my geek card though b/c I have a WoW account. Also I play a lot of geeky board games like Settlers of Cataan.

What about computer or video games based on Dungeons and Dragons?

I played a lot of PC games as a kid, but I’m actually more of a sci fi person than a fantasy person. I played a lot of Star Wars PC/video games … I really like technology and the challenges it introduces.

Ooh I hope you played Knights of the Old Republic. Both iterations are two of my favorite all time games, on X-Box, PC or anything.

If you had to meet one of your characters in a dark alley who would you last want to meet, and why?

Anabis, one of the Seekers. They’re like evil Jedi/wizards plus mind control.

And which character would you want there with you for protection?

Kael, the leader of the Monarchist “task force.” He has enough magical ability to give him an edge in his reflexes, and he’s an excellent physical fighter. But he acts bookish and quiet, so people underestimate him initially and that gives him the advantage. Also he’s a good-looking dude.

Can you tell us a little more about DRAGONSAYER than what is revealed in your query? For example, a little about your characters, where the idea of them came from, what sparked your initial idea, and how you decided what genre it would be?

I first made up Kael and Briand when I was 17, and since then the story’s evolved a lot. There’s a bunch of characters… Kael is a member of the Monarchists. He’s made some mistakes and he’s sort of in trouble, so he’s been sent on this crazy mission to find this person who can control dragons.

Briand is this kid who Kael & Co knew while they were looking for the dragonsayer. Then she turns out to be the dragonsayer, much to everyone’s surprise/dismay. In my mind, the story is both about Briand finding her own strength/figuring herself out as well as being vindicated in the eyes of the group who doesn’t trust her or like her at first.

There’s a bunch of other characters—my favorite is Tagis, a snarky, insult-wielding fencing tutor/Monarchist rebel who HATES Briand but ends up having to teach her to fight.

Eventually when the Seekers ambush them, Briand has to make some choices about whether she’s going to save her own skin or help these people who used her. I really like stories about enemies who become friends, so that’s sort of what I’m going for with DRAGONSAYER.

Are you working on any other projects right now? If so, could you tell us a little about them? If not, have you got any ideas marinating?

After writing DRAGONSAYER I wrote three other books while I was query/waiting on replies, one of which is a DRAGONSAYER sequel called CROWNBRINGER. I tried to make DRAGONSAYER stand-alone since I have no guarantee I could sell 3 books even if I sold the 1st one, but ideally it would have sequels, so I plotted them out and stuff. I am currently working on a sci fi dystopian thriller and another fantasy that’s more of a secret spy/court intrigue involving shape shifters and assassins.

I tend to write very fast and then take much longer to edit and revise, that’s why I have all these MSS lying around. I’ve been told to work on other projects while I’m querying, so that’s what I’m trying to do. But querying is a long process.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

THANK YOU everyone who offered comments and especially to everyone who said they liked my idea! It’s very encouraging to see interest. Sometimes I feel horribly depressed because the kind of things I want to write (steampunk, blended fantasy, crossovers) aren’t seen much in the market. I’m just writing the kind of books I want to read. Hopefully other people like them too.

Fun Random Questions for The End (I stole this interview idea from Jen at Unedited, though I made my own questions up). Which would you rather be?

Wizard or Warrior? Wizard. Magic is cool and I’m a total wimp when it comes to hacking people’s limbs off. Blood of any kind scares me, really.
Airship Captain or Dragon Rider? Dragon rider. I guess either way you get to fly, but hey, dragons are really cool and I imagine the whole process of dragon riding is a lot more autonomous than having command of a ship.
At the Lake or In the Woods? Woods.
Reading Harry Potter or Writing Twilight? Ahahaa … Harry Potter. I’m a pretty shy/reclusive person, and the idea of being Stephenie Meyer with all the negative attention and rabid fandom … that terrifies me.
Drinking a Fine Wine or Eating a Gourmet Cheese? Ooooo cheese. It’s my favorite food.

Fun! Katherine and I would both really like to thank Candace, who made this all possible with her amazing Joy to the World Contest. The contest is over but you can still get t-shirts!

I would also like to thank Katherine for being such a good sport. It's scary putting you artwork out there publicly for people to judge, especially if you're relatively new to blogging and all the judges are going to be complete strangers.

Any questions?

Katherine Camp's New Query

Katherine is going to share a re-written version of her query with us today, but first I have a couple of selfish announcements to make:

1) I'm going to be out of town this weekend and half of next week. I'm going to Minnesota to celebrate Kelly's Grandmother's 80th birthday. We're both huge Vikings fans so I'm a little upset that it will still be pre-season, but oh well. I really wish I could stay longer or that I wouldn't be so busy while I'm there because I have two writer blogger buds (you know who you are Falen and Palindrome) who I would really love to meet someday. There just won't be time this trip unfortunately.

2) I shared another of my flash fiction pieces with Bryan Russell (Ink) the other day and he liked it well enough that he is posting it on his blog today. Bryan is my writing mentor as well as being the moderator for the illustrious forums on Nathan Bransford's blog, so it is truly an honor to have my writing posted on his blog, The Alchemy of Writing. It never gets as much traffic as it deserves though, so please stop by, follow and comment. You can read my new piece: Babysat by the Man in the Moon, and for newer followers you should also please check out the older one: The Deafening Silence. If you have the time you can read all the short stories here. I suggest you do so.

3) Wow. Man, that's a lot of links.

4) Elana Johnson took the time to comment on my blog 7 times yesterday. That's how badly she wants to help other writers. Is there a more awesome being in the universe? No.

Now to Katherine's re-written query. Katherine has been very busy this week and she may not have time to come by to comment today, but she has been reading your comments and asked me to thank you all profusely on her behalf. She had plans last night and was unable to take part in the intensive rewrite session that I suggested, but she has changed her query to this current version based on our advice. This is not necessarily a final version as she has not had time to mull things over for very long as it stands.

So here it is:

Seventeen-year-old guttersnipe Briand Varryda can control dragons with her mind. She’s a dragon talker, an ancient role from a time before electricity, steamships, and airships. But Briand doesn’t exactly want this “gift,” because it brings her nothing but trouble. It’s the reason both the Tyrant Prince and his rival, the leader of the Monarchists, are hunting for her. It’s the reason a band of Monarchists kidnaps her. A war is coming, and the Monarchists know they cannot hope to defeat the Prince’s airships and technology without the help of old magic from the far north—dragons.

And for dragons, they need Briand.

She’s not even close to the blue-blood aristocrat the dragonsayer was supposed to be—not to mention she’s female. Her kidnappers don’t like her, and she doesn’t like them. She’d rather knife them all than help them. But the Monarchists weren’t exactly asking.

But when someone in their company betrays them during their journey to the find the dragons, Briand and the survivors must flee to a place called the Stronghold to avoid being captured by the Prince’s elite Seekers. With the Seekers gaining on the group, and a traitor in their midst, Briand has to learn how to handle her gift and call up a dragon before they’re all killed.

DRAGONSAYER is 70,000 word YA fantasy novel. It contains elements of historical fantasy as well as elements of steampunk, blending dragons, castles, and swords with guns, clocks, and airships.

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

Katherine Camp

This is so much better. You're so close with this Katherine. I don't think it's quite done, and I especially think you need a slightly more colorful hook, and a shorter first paragraph, but this is already a good improvement. Since you were getting some requests with your original query I'm guessing that this one is going to start working even better right away. As I've mentioned before I think the strength of your premise can almost sell itself.

What do you guys think? Better right? Is there anything that still glaringly needs to be changed? I don't think so. I think there are only subtle updates left at this point.

Please keep the comments here about Katherine's query. I really really really want you to read my flash fiction and comment and let me know what you think, but please do that at Bryan's blog. I promise I will be stalking it and reading every one of your thoughts.

Thank you so much everyone for all your help yesterday. That was an amazing example of what this community is all about.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Katherine's interview.