My Latest Favorite Book Debuts at #7 on NYT Best Seller List!

Can you guess what book I'm talking about?

Okay, go ahead and read ahead, then.

It's pink and black.

It's in my side bar.

I've been blahging about it for months, even before I actually read it.

I read it last week and fell in love.

I've got a pending interview with the awesome author.

On September 24th, I'll be breaking down characterization based on this book.

I'm recommending it to everyone I know, male, female, adult, or teen.

It has a special place on my bookshelf.

I have a huge platonic author-crush on the writer.

You guessed it (or maybe you cheated and checked out the links) :-)

It's...

Congratulations to Kiersten White on making the New York Times Best Sellers List in her first week of publication!! This book has already been optioned as a film (and it's looking like it's really going to happen) and the second book in the trilogy has been written (it's called Supernaturally). This series is sure to inspire excitement for a long time to come!

Are you feeling it?

Interview: Literary Agent Natalie Fischer

12/03/10 Update: Natalie Fischer has joined the Bradford Literary Agency. The quote below is from an email written by Natalie and posted on querytracker.com. 

Effective February 22, 2011 I will be leaving the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency to join the Laura Bradford Literary Agency. 

During the transition period, I will not be accepting any new submissions. 

Today I have a rare treat. Natalie Fischer of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency is here to answer a few questions about her agenting style and literary preferences.  

Natalie Fischer (pic from her agency web site)

 From her blog:

Natalie M. Fischer is a Literary Agent and office assistant at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. An honors graduate of the University of San Diego, California, Natalie holds a B.A. in Literature/Writing. She started as an intern at the Agency in 2007.... Natalie is actively seeking new clients, and is especially interested in talented, hard-working new authors with a fresh, unique voice and hook. Her specialty is commercial fiction, with an emphasis in children’s literature (from picture book-YA/Teen), romance (contemporary and historical), historical fiction, multi-cultural fiction, paranormal, sci-fi/fantasy in YA or romance only, fairy-tale/legend spin-offs, and “beautiful dark” novels. She will also consider select memoir (has to be really unique) and that amazing project she never even knew she was looking for! She is always drawn to an open and positive attitude in an author, good grammar, and fantastical, engaging and sexy plots.

Katrina Lantz:     What is it like working at such a respected agency as the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency?

Natalie Fischer:  Busy and rewarding! As a new agent, I have the invaluable advice and history here to turn to, as well as the opportunity to work with more established clients on sub-licenses and contracts I wouldn’t otherwise have had. Sandra is an incredible agent, and I feel so lucky to be learning from her!

Katrina:     Aside from your love of felines, what is the most important thing queriers/aspiring authors should know about you?


Natalie:  I’m tough, but I’m not unapproachable.

Katrina:   You've put out the rallying cry on twitter for Romance queries. Is there a specific type of romance you crave? Nicholas Sparks? Sarah Dessen? Twilight?


Natalie:  Adult romance, actually! Steamy, steamy, steamy! Good question though; for YA I would say the tension in Twilight is more my thing, though I’m also a fan of the slow-build! It’s really a matter of connecting with the characters, and caring enough about them to care about their relationship.

Katrina:    What is the strangest book you have ever read? What is the most beautiful?

Natalie:  I have been stuck on this question…forever…I have no idea…

Katrina:    Besides starting with a rhetorical question, what is the single worst mistake you see in queries?

Natalie:   Improper word count. If I see anything over 100,000 words, I usually don’t read.

Katrina:    Both you and your colleague Taylor Martindale represent the YA category. What is the primary difference between the books you seek to represent?

Natalie:   I’m a bit more fantastical than Taylor, I think; more unicorns and princesses and sci-fi for me. I’m less inclined to take on a contemporary than she is unless it has an absolutely amazing voice (snarky, usually), a really stand-out plot, or is really dark and literary.

Katrina:     What is your take on tense and POV (point-of-view)? Do you prefer past or present? Third person, first person, limited, omniscient?

Natalie:  I don’t care what tense or POV it’s in as long as it’s done well. That said, I find that present tense is almost impossible for most people to do well. Too many grammar issues – they lapse into past for a few sentences etc. I almost NEVER like omniscient; I really like to connect to the main character, and along with that, I don’t like multiple POVs usually (two is my limit).

Katrina:     As far as online presence goes, what is the biggest mistake new writers are making? What should they be doing to catch your eye in a positive way?


Natalie:   A lot of new writers don’t realize they have an audience, and whine whine whine. This bothers me to no end. No matter how much you think your query/agent search story is the WORST EVER, there’s another one out there that is WORSE. I admire the most those who stick it out and do their ranting and meltdowns in private.

Katrina:   Since there's some cross-over in literary and film preferences, I find it helpful to know an agent's favorites. What are some of your favorite T.V. shows and movies?


Natalie: TV: Supernatural, The Ghost Whisperer, Bones, House, Family Guy, Futurama, South park, CSI: Los Vegas, NCIS, Law and Order: SVU, Eureka…

Movies: Anything with Hugh Grant, The 10^th Kingdom (technically a mini-series…), The Fifth Element, Taken, etc.

Katrina:     You're currently in the high 700s for twitter followers. Do you still plan to accept e-queries once you reach 1000? Or might that switch happen earlier? (The obsoleteness of this question just proves how popular Natalie is on twitter!)

Natalie:  Just did! J

(Submissions should be directed to: nfsubmissions@dijkstraagency.com)

Thank you so much to Natalie for being here today, and congratulations on your recent engagement! 

Querying friends, be sure to check out her submission guidelines and 

Other interviews:

Agent Spotlight
Teens Writing for Teens Interview
Let the Words Flow Interview 

Angels and Demons and Portals Interview

WriteOnCon queries livechat

WriteOnCon livechat video

Follow Natalie on twitter

Don't miss her very helpful blog: Adventures in Agentland

PARANORMALCY: My Review (finally)

Paranormalcy

The Blurb:

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal. 

My Rating: 5/5

My Thoughts:

This book rocked my socks off, and I went into it--like everyone else--with super high expectations. It's hard NOT to expect greatness when you've been reading the author's work (okay, just her blog, but still) since you first discovered her existence. I just knew I was going to love her book because her blog made me fall in love with her voice from day one. 

I was not disappointed. Somehow Kiersten White succeeded in melding her blog voice with her novel voice, which I think is pretty rare. (I know I use a slightly different version of my voice for my blog than I do when I'm penning manuscripts.) Because of this, if you've been reading Kiersten's blog for any length of time, you will feel like you are coming home when you crack open the spine of Paranormalcy. 

Aside from a delightfully genuine teen voice, there are many other reasons I drank this book up, root beer, ice cream, and all. 

• Holy Pacing, Plotman! It was perfectly paced, taking me from introductions to inciting conflict to serious complications without once seeming contrived. This kind of seamless continuity suggests a master storyteller, and was certainly not something I expected from a debut novel. Kudos to Kiersten White again! 
• Prophecy, Foreshadowing, and Clues, Oh My! For people who like a little mystery to solve, Paranormalcy has that, too! How are the paranormal beings dying? Who is doing this and why? Will Evie give into Reth's seductive powers or go for Lend's more wholesome mischief?  
• Blend of Dark and Light: Even though some serious sad stuff is going on in her life, Evie's story never got too dark because Evie's just not a dark person. She is too busy relishing the novelty of high school lockers or feeling tingly crush-love or comparing real life to her favorite high school soap opera. As easy as it is to fall in love (okay, love is a strong word and I'm not trying to get a restraining order--we'll say author-crushdom) with Kiersten via her blog, it was that easy to fall for Evie's strong-yet-vulnerable, spunky personality. 
• The Paranormal Beings! Oh, the Paranormal Beings! There were some super interesting creatures in this book that I did not expect to find, like water elementals! And something truly and wonderfully bizarre that I'm not going to give away. I'll just say it was a brilliant creation and served as a brain-tingling, heart-tingling metaphor as well--about love and emptiness and the difference between using people vs. loving them.

So, to recap, five things I did not expect:

1. super pacing
2. deep metaphors
3. obscure paranormal beings
4. ethical dilemmas
5. twists galore

You are not likely to find this one in your local library (checked in, at least), so I recommend you hurry to your favorite bookstore and buy this pink and black book before it sells out and you have to wait until the next printing. Because you will be so sad if that happens. 

Now, because I can't resist a fun contest, here's my entry in the At Home with Paranormalcy Contest at Kiersten's blog:

Reading my Children's Bible with PARANORMALCY (and little guy)

The Allure of the REFRESH Button

Some very exciting things have been happening in my inbox lately. You'll see what I mean tomorrow (and the next day, and the next day, etc.) if you follow Operation Awesome.

If you can't get enough of the Operation Awesome ladies, there's also an interview about cultural considerations and writing with Amparo and Lindsay over at The Best Damn Creative Writing Blog today!

With all the excitement, the allure of the REFRESH button has been too much to resist.

But when I think about it (which I did, recently), I realize that this addiction extends beyond busy inbox days to ghost town inbox days as well.

Why?

Why must I know the second something comes in? Wouldn't it be better to get it all at once and have a set time to email? "NO," says the voice in my stomach. (You don't have a voice in your stomach, you say? Hmm. That head-voice thing is totally overrated!)

"No," my stomach growls, "because if you did that, you wouldn't be able to respond to the twitter DM or the interview answers, or the forum post, or the blog comment--until much, much later. And later is bad.

Very bad.

So instead I'm doing the cyber equivalent of tapping my friends' shoulders a million times:

Did you say something? No? Oh.
Did you say something? No? Oh.
Did you say something? Yes! *Furiously types an answer*
Did you say something? No? Oh.

Man, cyber me is annoying sometimes. I need to get a hobby. Oh crap. I have a hobby. It involves a computer 24/7. Sorry guys.

*Refresh*

My tummy wants Nutella.

It's Like @Thmafi KNOWS Me

Have you SEEN this blog post?

HOW TO WRITE A NOVEL (in 100 easy steps)

I want to post it on every telephone pole in the world. Just think how many hundreds of pages could have been saved from my ignorant pen.

Hundreds! Hundreds of pages of unmarketable slosh. Umm, at least 450, probably more like 500, though, because my first two books were a two-part series.

Still, all joking aside, my early ignorance of the publishing industry was a natural part of the process of becoming a writer. Are there actually people who go out and research everything about the publishing industry before they lift their proverbial pens? I don't think I've ever met one. The hilariously tragic process outlined in @Thmafi's post is almost universal (not to the T, of course). For instance, I really don't think I ever said "fiction novel."

*casts eyes around to see if she's believed*

I can't recall ever using that redundant phrase, anyway, so it must not have happened. Other things I'm not so proud of: the same-socks-for-a-week thing. Gross. And pretty much steps 81-100:

81. reread your book and decide it's perfect. beautiful. brilliant. a million adjectives.

82. decide you're ready to google the publishing industry a bit more. it's time to make money.

83. discover AbsoluteWrite.

84. discover Nathan Bransford.

85. discover Janet Reid.

86. The Rejectionist.

87. Pimp My Novel.

88. Kristen Nelson.

89. Rachelle Gardner.

90. read until your eyes bleed.

91. stare at your book.

92. stare at the internet.

93. stare at your book.

94. stare at the internet.

95. STARE AT YOUR BOOK.

96. STARE AT THE INTERNET.

97. cry.

98. cry.

99. cry.

100. BEGIN TO EDIT.  

Yyyup! Pretty much.
Tahereh is a genius.

The good news is that the writer's journey doesn't end there. Well, it can end there--but that is entirely up to you, the writer.

For me, it goes on to

101. Share your work with strangers.
102. Get ripped apart.
103. Feel misunderstood, dejected, sick.
104. Keep writing anyway.
105. Write another (shorter, not series) book.
106. Send 8 query letters.
107. Get 6 rejections and wonder for months about the ones who didn't bother.
108. Get distracted by huge life events (babies, marathons).
109. Dally with writing until you find your VOICE.
110. Write another book (even shorter).
111. Send more than 8 query letters.
112. Get some bites.
113. Find critique partners.
114. Become part of Operation Awesome.
115. Meet an actual, real life agent in person.
116. Attend WriteOnCon.
117. Keep. Writing.

Forever.

What has your journey been like?

Critics Declare Operation Awesome Launch a Hootin' Success!

If you missed it, check out the pitches HERE.

Lindsay led us all in a one-line pitch contest, judged by our amazing MYSTERY AGENT (to be revealed along with the winner)! The launch was...

Well, I'll just let Lindsay tell it:

My voice is sore from all the excited squeeing done today. How will I be able to manage a cookie now :) A huge thank you to everyone who entered, tweeted, blogged, commented and made Operation Awesome's launch, well, awesome. The contest is full for this month, but stick with us because we've got more to come...this won't be your last pitch chance. Again, from all of us here at OA, hugs! 

Indeed, there is much more to come, and not just for MG/YA writers. We've got a full docket of awesomeness, including guest authors, interviews, and more contests (of both writing and goodies). In between--so you can catch a breath--we'll blog about writing, books we love, and how much we love Nutella.

Follow along at http://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/

SIXTEEN spots left in the Mystery Agent 1-line Pitch

HURRY!! 16 spots left! UPDATE: ALL FULL, thanks for playing!!

Do you have a completed middle grade or young adult novel?

Hurry over to the Operation Awesome blog launch and post title, genre, pitch in the comments to be included.

We cap it at 50 (not all the comments contain pitches).

See you there!