2006-09-06

Onward...and Forward

I'm continuing with Cats of Manhattan, my urban fantasy. I'm writing short character bios for the main protag and other denizens of my weirdo mind. (Trust me on the weird mind bit. Or is it the characters that are weird? Or both?)

As I continue doing that and allowing my mind to come up with more vivid scenes to write on index cards, I came across something on the Writer Beware Blog that made me sit up and take notice. This is not something to concern me at the moment, but it is something for me to consider down the road, after I've revised my manuscript several times (and had the entire thing critiqued at least once).

Research on agents.

On the sidebar is a link to the blog entry (Little Known Resource). What is it? Publishers catalogs and rights listings. I read through a few and found the story blurbs (mostly) interesting. However, for those of us who want to be published novelists, the important thing that Victoria talks about is that many of the listings have agent's names attached them. Not all of them do; many have the literary agency. But it does sound like an excellent, extra resource for those who are doing the Agent Research Rag.

Click on the link. Read the entry. Go to the websites and absorb.

Many, many thanks to Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin for providing such a valuable resource.

Keep writing!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, more really informative instruction, Nancy! I wonder if I'd ever need an agent if I became a successful blogger. Of course that may never happen but who knows? I'm really looking forward to "Cats."

Mike Vecchio said...

Nancy -

Followed you over from Snarkland! We both liked that coffee shop submission.

I LOVE your title "Cats of Manhattan" and if your research delivers - especially that Egyptian feral stuff it should rock!!

Don't worry about being too linear in your development.

Yes, plotting is critical, but so it that excitement in voice when you really want to get a scene on paper. You need to balance the two.

The way your mind works (based on your blog entries) you should have no problem handling it.

I see everything you are doing going in the right direction for this story. You sort of multi-task your way through. This story may just require that kind of an approach.

For my second novel, I kept wanting to write a scene where a hit is attempted on the central character. I have a rule where I won't let violence injure people and here I want to kill the central character. So ... I let it rip ... when I was done you could smell the smoke from the hit car tires rising from the page. The scene fit perfectly into the plot and I managed not to hurt anyone!!!

So ... you go girl. I'm excited about your concept.

By the way used to live in North Jersey and went to school in Hoboken!!

Nancy Beck said...

MTV,

Thanks so much for your kind words! :-) They're much appreciated!

What is that old saw about writers? That they work in obscurity? That's what I thought when I started this blog...with only (to this point) my husband leaving comments. (And I've left comments on his blog.)

Yeah, my mind is quite linear...with just enough abstractedness (is that a word?) thrown in to allow my imagination to flow.

Well, got some a tad more research to do, and then I'll start writing the thing.

Good luck to you! :-)