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Agent Q&A Day!

By Nephele · Comments (10)

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

It’s time for another Agent Q&A session. For those of you unfamiliar with how this works, it’s very simple. Post whatever

questions you have regarding publishing, submissions, writing, etc. in the comments section of this thread. Try and make

them at least a bit general, and not something that only applies to your specific project. Then late tonight or early tomorrow morning, I’ll drop by and answer at least three of the questions — more if I have the time. That’s all there is to

it!

Don’t feel bad if I don’t answer your questions. I run these sessions around once a month, so you’ll have the chance to ask again. Or else check back through previous Q&A sessions to see if it’s been answered already.

So, what do you all want to know?

~Nephele

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Tags : Agenting, education, publishing, queries, submissions, tips, writing

After NaNoWriMo: What Comes Next?

By Nephele · Comments (4)

Wednesday, December 5th, 2012

A big congratulations to those of you who completed NaNoWriMo this past month. But now that the buzz of accomplishment has worn off, and you’ve had a chance to sleep and eat, shower, maybe tal

k to your family and take the dog for a walk, you might be scratching your head and wondering what comes next.

What you do now depends heavily on what you did during NaNoWriMo itself. Did you scramble for 50,000 words in any way possible, using endless descriptions and extra characters to plump up your word count? Or did you work methodically to an outline

and end up with roughly three quarters of your story once you hit that 50,000-word goal? Or maybe you didn’t finish, but have many thousands of words anyway and would like to know how to proceed.

First, a few things to keep in mind.

Most novels are not 50,000 words; they’re more like 80,000 to 100,000, give or take, depending on genre, etc. So if you’ve written 50,000 words, unless you’re writing for younger readers, the chance are your draft is still incomplete.

Which brings me to the next really important point. Your Nano novel is not a finished manuscript, it’s a draft. A first draft, no less. And for most writers, that is just the starting point. You need to revise and rewrite, add and delete, polish and hone. There will be more drafts in your future before your manuscript is ready to launch out into the world.

A down-and-dirty draft is an excellent way to start your novel. Writing quickly gives you the chance to get all those ideas down, to see where you need to think through you plot some more, to determine what parts of your story are slow or unnecessary. It helps you discover who your characters are, how they behave in certain situations, and what they want. First drafts are exploratory.

So maybe you have a complete first draft, maybe you need a few thousand more words. But NaNoWriMo is over, and you’re feeling a loss of momentum. Besides, the holidays are coming up and those pesky New Year’s resolutions, and maybe you’re thinking you can just table that work in progress until after January first. Worry about it in 2013, along with those extra fifteen pounds you’ve picked up and the hall closet that needs cleaning and the trip to the dentist you’ve been putting off and your contribution to your IRA.

Beep! Wrong answer.

The beauty of NaNoWriMo is it trains you to make writing a priority. You have to write every day, or close to it, in order to achieve your final goal. Don’t let inertia creep in and rob you of your wonderful new writing habit. Keep going! Celebrate your achievement by shooting for more. Set yourself some new writing goals, for the month, for next year, and strive to meet them. Do not allow yourself to backslide into procrastination mode.

For those of you looking for the ongoing encouragement of NaNoWriMo, I have a December Writing Challenge going at my blog. Don’t worry that you’ve missed the start of the month; just pick up and stick to it going forward. If personal contact is more your thing, look into local writing groups at your library or YMCA or other community meeting place, or ask at your nearest bookstore. Find an online writing forum where you can check in and chat and help cheer other writers on while getting the support you need.

Some of you may be thinking, “But I do all that already.” Fair enough. Not every NaNoWriMo participant is a newbie, or trying to develop a writing practice. Many are already dedicated writers. So where does your Nano novel stand? Did you finish your draft? Are you ready to revise? Or are you still plowing forward toward the end? The same advice applies; keep writing, stick with it. Don’t let the holiday insanity distract you.

Take breaks, yes. Enjoy the season, do things with friends and family. But make sure to schedule time for your writing. This time of year more than any other it is easy to relegate our needs to the back burner in our efforts to please others. Remember to make time for yourself. Writers write. Writers write all year long. Stand up for your right to be a writer.

You’ve all heard the warnings. Please don’t rush off and submit your Nano novel this month. Give it time to breathe. Work on revisions. Put it in a drawer for a few weeks, then read it again to determine what’s working and what needs further attention. Be professional. NaNoWriMo attracts writers of every level, from the curious and the casual writers to those aspiring to make this their career. If you fall into the latter category, develop those professional habits now. Like writing regularly, they will help you go far.

Happy writing, editing, revising, etc. And best of luck with your projects.

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Tags : craft, nanowrimo, publishing, submissions, writing

Agent Q&A

By Nephele · Comments (11)

Wednesday, November 7th, 2012

Welcome to another Agent Q&A session! For those who have not participated before, this is how it works: You leave your questions about writing, publishing, submissions, etc. in the comments of this thread. Then I will drop by late tonight or e

arly tomorrow morning to answer some of them. I will answer at least three of the questions, more if time allows. Don’t feel bad if your question does not get a reply — there’s always next time. Also, you can check the previous Q&As (click the q&a category) to see if your question has been answered previously, as we do get quite a few repeats.

I only answer once per thread, so if

you drop by late, make sure you check out the comments to see if I’ve

~Nephele

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Categories : q&a

Tags : agents, publishing, queries, submissions, tips, writing

When Disaster Strikes: Creativity Under Pressure

By Nephele · Comments (1)

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

Much of the east coast is picking up the pieces this week in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Millions of people are still without electricity, many have lost their homes or had sufficient damage that they’ve been forced to relocate temporarily. In some cases, clean up will mean literally that — moving fallen limbs, sweeping up debris, cleaning out the freezer of defrosted food. In others, however, recovery will be protracted and emotional, as it will include sifting through the wreckage of a life, rebuilding or relocating entirely. These are tragic circumstances for anyone,

The first thing you need to do is cut yourself some slack. Hurricanes happen. Disasters strike. Extreme circumstances arise. And while life must go on, no one expects a writer to be a superhero. When something out of the ordinary takes place, such

as a Perfect Storm sweeping through town, it is important to take an honest look at your situation in the aftermath and determine what you can handle. If you’re too rattled to write, or too busy taking care of your family and personal situation, try to get a fix on how long that will last. Do you need a few days to calm down and clean up? Are you going to be juggling insurance adjusters and contractors? Estimate a time frame for your own recovery.

Next, call whoever else is involved, if necessary. Are you an author with a book due to a publisher? Call your agent, or editor if you don’t have one, and discuss that pending deadline in light of your current circumstances. Be reasonable in your request for an extension, but try to avoid underestimating the time you will need. Editors and publishers understand that life can veer out of control, and that those detours have repercussions. And in the case of something such as a hurricane, they might be facing the same challenges themselves.

But what if you’re not working to a deadline, or your deadline is far out? What if you simply can’t focus to write? If that’s the case, again, give yourself a break. Some people find their creative endeavors comforting in times of stress or trouble, burying themselves in their work as a distraction. But not everyone feels the same way. If you’re the type of person who has difficulties writing when faced with extreme circumstances — hurricane damage, death in the family, loss of a job — allow yourself the time it takes to work through the situation before heading back to the keyboard. It might be a few days, it might be a week or two. Again, be realistic in your expectations of your own abilities to push through your experience and get back to work.

Sometimes, creativity is the cure for what ails you. If you are one of those people who use work as a distraction, or even if you just feel the itch to write despite lacking the ability to focus on your WIP, writing can be cathartic. Try writing about your experience instead of diving right back into your current project. Blog, write a letter, journal — just get the words down. What happened? What did you see, hear, feel at the time? What thoughts ran through your head? What emotions churned through your gut? Get it all down on paper or in pixels, and see if that makes you feel a little more like your normal self. Writing about an extreme experience can serve as a bridge back toward normality, combining your thoughts about the disaster with an everyday, comfortable action.

We all know people who will grab at any excuse not to write. But true writers, those who are diligent and committed to their craft, understand that sometimes life forces you to take a step back and focus on something else, no matter how devoted you are to your work. There will be days you need to push through and carry on regardless, but when circumstances are extreme, you need to breathe deeply, assess the situation, and give yourself the space you need to recover.

Wishing everyone a safe, warm, dry Halloween, wherever you are.

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Tags : deadlines, disasters, hurricane sandy, recovery, tips, writing

Do You Nano? Writing a Book in a Month

By Nephele · Comments (10)

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012

November l

urk

s around the corner, and in the publishing world, November means Nanowrimo, or National Novel Writing Month, an annual event where writers all over the world scramble frantically to write a novel in thirty days, from start to finish.

There are some caveats, of course. By novel, the originators of the event mean a 50,000-word manuscript, which falls short of novel length unless you’re writing for a younger audience. The challenge works primarily on the honor system. Although participants submit manuscripts for word-count verification at the end, no one can be certain some of those words weren’t written prior to the November first kick-off.

But it’s all in good fun, anyway. There are no prizes beyond the bragging rights of having completed the challenge. Nanowrimo is more about the journey — the excitement and entertainment value of sharing word counts with other writers, meeting up in cafes or bookstores for “write-ins,” and the joy of having permission to write crap because this is just a draft and the idea is simply to get to the finish line.

Over the years, Nanowrimo has produced some manuscripts that eventually (with added words and many rewrites) went on to be published books. Most recently, bestselling author Erin Morgenstern has discussed how her novel THE NIGHT CIRCUS got its start as a Nano manuscript, written over two separate Novembers and then polished endlessly before it went on to delight readers everywhere. Published writers still participate in Nano, using the challenge as a way to jump-start new projects, brainstorm ideas that have yet to be fleshed out, or just to muscle through to the end of a work in progress. The emphasis on word count can be a great motivator.

Still, why participate? It sounds a bit crazy to write a novel, even in rough form, over the course of thirty days. Surely it’s better to take your time, think about word choice and sentence structure and all those good, writerly things.

Nanowrimo never claims to be encouraging the production of art. Art can come later. The goal is just to add words. If you’re stuck, throw in some ninjas, follow a character off on a tangent, bring in a new love interest, send everyone to outer space (or the circus). The challenge encourages writers to write. To take that first draft less seriously and simply put in the time. If you write every single day for a month and force yourself to get the words out, yes, much of the result will be awful. But some bits won’t be awful. Some might even be quite good. And more importantly, you will learn how to silence (or ignore) that mean-spirited internal editor who constantly tells you what you’ve written is bad, stop, delete, go back. Because good really isn’t the point.

For writers who have already passed certain milestones — finishing a manuscript, publishing a book — Nanowrimo combines a social outlet with getting the work done. Writers lead solitary lives, even those who have families and day jobs. When it comes to the writing, it’s great

to have a community, and Nanowrimo provides one. People to write with over coffee, or — for those who can’t work in public — people to chat with about troublesome plot points or writing life in general.

Is Nanowrimo for everyone? Of course not. Some writers balk at the idea of writing every single day, due to schedule constraints or the way their creativity flows. Others can’t imagine producing some 1,700 words per day for a month. But if you’re having difficulty moving forward, if you stall out somewhere around 100 pages, if you feel like you’re writing in a vacuum, Nanowrimo might provide a much-needed boost.

If you’re considering participating in Nanowrimo this year, you can certainly go in cold and just start writing November 1st. But a game plan can be useful, and the Nano organizers encourage writers to have one. That doesn’t mean cheat by writing ahead. But you can certainly pull together some rough notes — character names, setting, maybe a plot point or two. In other words, coming to the party with an idea can only help the process. That way, when the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. on Nano Day 1, you can dive right in and start to type.

The Nanowrimo site offers all sorts of support for participants, from online forums to local meet ups to pep talks from famous authors sent to your inbox. There are even writing tips — suggestions for developing your characters, writing aspects of different genres, and more. Even though the challenge emphasizes word count, they also provide tools to hone your craft.

As an agent, I encourage writers to work on all aspects of their manuscripts, and to take their time to produce the best work they can. But at the same time, I am all for using whatever tricks and tools it takes to get to that end result. Writing a down-and-dirty draft can help a writer push past some of the hardest aspects of producing a novel — fear of the empty page, and the tendency to let doubts stop the writing process before it starts. So if you feel the need to shake things up, writing a draft in thirty days might be the answer for you.

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Categories : nephele tempest

Tags : challenges, tips, writing

Agent Q&A

By Nephele · Comments (10)

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

It’s time for another Agent Q&A session! Do you have burning questions about how to get an agent? Publishing? Writing? Just post them in comments on this thread, and I’ll come back at some point either late tonight or early tomorrow and provid

e answers for at least three of the questions — more if time permits.

Previous Q&A sessions offer a great resource if you’d like an overview of what people have been asking. Just click on the q&a category below to see past posts.

So? What do you want to know? Let those questions rip.

~Nephele

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Categories : nephele tempest, q&a

Tags : Agenting, education, publishing, queries, submissions, tips, writing

Texture: Using Details to Make Your World Unique

By Nephele · Comments (4)

Wednesday, September 19th, 2012

One of the more prevalent issues I see in submissions, with the actual manuscripts, is a certain sameness to the feel of the worlds. Publishing professionals harp on the fact that you need a hook, need a stand-out concept, but I think we talk far le

ss about wanting work that feels different at every level. We want to see a fresh new angle on the commonplace and originality in the make believe.

When you read in bulk the way agents and editors do, you become conscious of writers viewing the world around them through jaded or lazy eyes. Not everyone, of course, but there is a tendency toward a hive-mind attitude when it comes to certain things. High schools are all long halls of lockers and bad florescent lighting and every teen hangs out at a quirky coffee shop or small-town greasy spoon. Urban fantasy protagonists travel through big-city alleys that smell like trash and have bad guys lurking in the shadows. Romance writers are sure to mention if the heroine’s undies are cotton or silk.

There’s nothing wrong with these details, of course, in and of themselves. It’s just that we see the same sorts of things pointed out over and over. In reality, if a dozen people walked into an ornately decorated room, most would home in on a different set of details. Visually, one or two major pieces of furniture are likely to stand out, but when it comes to the little things, people will be attracted to what catches their eye, what appeals to their own taste and sense of style — or, conversely, what they find ugly or garish. Likewise, two people walking down a street in

Manhattan might notice different aspects of their surroundings, one focusing on the way the light filters through the buildings while the other can’t see past the crowds on the sidewalk.

Make your writing stand out by focusing on what makes your world special and different at every level. You don’t need to describe a setting down to the last blade of grass or photo on a mantel. Instead, imagine the details that would pop out for you if you were the one stepping into the world on the page. Mentioning or describing a few things that give a true flavor for your particular setting is far more effective than telling the reader what they already know about a type of setting. We want to see your high school, not any high school; your Chicago street, not any writer’s Chicago street.

Look for ideas as you research your project. Collect photos and sketches and articles to give you a starting point and then make them your own. Writer Malinda Lo blogged earlier this week about some of the places she found inspiration for her latest young adult novel, ADAPTATION, and many of the things she researched offered up visual cues to help her create the settings for her story. And don’t limit yourself to the obvious choices of travel guides or maps or decorating magazines. Check out museums and galleries, drive through new neighborhoods, explore stores you might normally avoid. You never know when something might spark your imagination.

Offering readers fresh, new writing is not always about mining brand new territory. Some stories have to take place in New York or London; some have to be set in a suburban high school. The key is to finding a new angle on the setting, seeing it the way only you can, and bringing that vision to the page.

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Agent Q&A

By Nephele · Comments (8)

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012

Time for another agent Q&A. Do you have burning questions about the publishing industry, getting an agent, writing, etc? Ask away!

For those of you new to this, simply post your questions below in the comment section of this

thread. (You mi

ght want to scroll back to previous Q&A sessions to see if your question has already been answered.) I’ll be back either late this evening or early tomorrow to throw out some answers. I will reply to at least three questions, more if time allows. Don’t be upset if I don’t get to your question — there will be more Q&As in the future.

So? What do you all want to know?

~Nephele

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Submission Dos and Don'ts

By Nephele · Comments (9)

Wednesday, September 5th, 2012

Submitting material to an agent is a nerve-wracking experience, and despite all of the blogs and books and magazine articles on the subject, it still seems to have an air of mystery to it. So I thought I’d throw out a few quick tips today that will

– I hope — make things a little easier.

There are, of course, the obvious steps that start you off on your search for an agent. Assuming you’re an unagented author looking to shop your first book (or your first project with an agent, at least), you need to make sure that you have a completed manuscript (for fiction) or proposal/chapters/platform (for nonfiction), and that your work is as polished and perfected as you can manage. You need to do your research and make a list of agents who represent what you write, and who are also accepting new clients. And you need to read the submission guidelines for each of those agents before you start to query.

Then what? Send query letters out into the universe and cross your fingers?

Well, yes and no. First make sure that you have a strong query letter. Take your time with it. Do some rewrites. Get your critique partners to take a look. This is the first piece of writing an agent will see from you; make it representative of your abilities. Give

it the same level of care that you did to your actual manuscript.

Do try to personalize your query letter a bit for each agent. What does that mean? Tell the agent why you’ve chosen to query them. If you’re a fan of one of their authors and that’s how you heard of them, say so. If you’re excited to read a title they’ve recently sold, mention that. If you read their blog and or met them at a conference, be sure to add that in. Keep it short — don’t spend paragraphs on this — but by all means let the agent know that you didn’t just pick their name out of a hat.

Do be sure to follow those submission guidelines. Some agencies ask for a few pages of the manuscript or even a longer partial along with the query. Others prefer you simply query first and will request to see pages if they’re interested. Likewise, some agencies still accept paper submissions while others have gone strictly electronic. Follow their guidelines. Doing something else will not make you stand out — it will get you an automatic rejection, or worse, ignored.

Do try to be patient. Submissions are the last thing to get an agent’s attention. All client work, contracts, and so on come first. If they’re accepting new material, they’ll get to you as soon as they can, but most submissions are read in an agent’s “free time,” and even agents need to sleep and take the occasional day off.

Do follow up. If the agent has not responded within the time frame listed on the agency website, do follow up with a polite email to make sure the material was received and is still under consideration. Chances are the agent is simply swamped, but queries or responses do occasionally get lost in cyberspace, and snail mail still does go astray.

Do continue to send out submissions to other agents. Unless an agency website specifies that they don’t accept simultaneous submissions, or an agent has requested to see something exclusively for an agreed upon period of time, keep submitting elsewhere. There’s no way of knowing how quickly or slowly an agent will get to your material, or how they will respond. If you send your project to one agent at a time, you could be ready for retirement before you sign with an agency. Most agents expect that you’re sending multiple submissions.

Do keep agents informed regarding your situation. If you get an offer of representation from an agent, be sure to let any other agents you’ve yet to hear from know about the offer. At that point you can either state you’re accepting the offer and withdrawing your manuscript from consideration, or you can ask that they get back to you regarding your material and whether they’re interested within a few days to a week, depending on your decision.

So that’s a list of dos. What should you avoid when you’re submitting your material to agents?

Don’t hedge your publishing bets. If you’re looking to sign with an agency, you are looking to pursue a traditional publishing career, at least in part. Agents submit projects to publishers. If you want to self-publish, that’s fine as well. But don’t start querying agents and then self-publish the project in question in the middle of your submissions process. I’m not talking about self-published authors who decide to seek an agent after the fact, but writers who attempt everything at once. Decide on a direction and give it a fair shot before you change your approach.

Don’t lose your temper. This is a business and you need to treat it as such. It’s easy to get angry and frustrated over rejections and so on, but flying off the handle and shooting a rude email response off to an agent won’t help matters, and it could burn a few bridges.

Don’t assume an agent’s just being nice. If an agent rejects your project, but says they’d look at it again with certain changes, don’t ignore that advice. Unless you completely disagree with it, make the changes and resubmit. Agents don’t make that offer very often, and when they do, they really, really hope to see your manuscript again.

Don’t hide in your writing tower and think that will be enough. The writer’s job has changed. The internet has made marketers of everyone. Yes, a well written book with a great hook is the key to getting published, but you’re relying an awful lot on luck if that’s all that you have. While a “platform” is traditionally reserved for nonfiction writers, even novelists need to think of their careers in big picture terms and figure out a marketing approach to pursue. Do your research, learn about social media, etc., build a simple website, and get ready to market the hell out of your book. You’ll make yourself a more attractive prospect to agents and to publishers, and you’ll have a leg up on the competition.

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Categories : query letter

Tags : queries, submissions, tips

Agent Q&A

By Nephele · Comments (16)

Wednesday, August 1st, 2012

It’s

Agent Q&A day! Bring me your burning questions about publishing, writing, the submissions process, etc.

Simply ask your questions in a comment on this thread. I will come back either late today or early tomorrow and answer a minimum

of three of

the questions, more if time allows. Please note that I just answer the one time, so don’t leave any additional questions after I’ve chimed in with responses. I do these Q&A sessions about once a month, so you’ll get another chance.

That’s about it. So? Who’s got questions?

~Nephele

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Categories : q&a

Tags : Agenting, books, publishing, submissions, tips, writing

Agent Q&A

By Nephele · Comments (16)

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

It’s time for another Agent Q&A session! For those of you who haven’t participated before, it’s very simple. Just leave your questions about publishing, finding an agent, writing, and so on in the comments section of this thread. I’ll com

e back late tonight or early tomorrow and answer at least three of them — more if time allows.

Be sure to check back to see what everyone else has asked

(you may share a few of their questions) and to read my replies! You can also visit previous Q&A posts for a quick round up of information.

~Nephele Tempest

6/27/2012

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Categories : q&a

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But What Are You Looking For?

By Nephele · Comments (7)

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

It’s generally the first question out of a writer’s mouth when they meet me: What are you looking for? The phrasing can vary, of course. What’s on your wish list? What would you love to see? But the principle

is the same.

Agents are notori

ously vague when it comes to responding to this question. We’ll tell you what genres we represent, and if we’re more eager for submissions in one genre over the rest. Maybe we’ll mention a few recent releases by our clients and tell you “more like this.” Or we’ll start mentioning qualities of writing over types of story: Strong characters, a great voice, a unique hook. As a last resort, we get all vague and ethereal. We can only say what we don’t want, what we’re sick of reading. We want to fall in love. We’ll know it when we see it.

Yeah. Not so helpful, is it?

And yet, it’s all true. If we could imagine the perfect story, that book we truly want to read, we’d go write it ourselves instead of representing it for one of our clients. Our job is not to tell you what to write, merely to sign you on when you happen to write something that pushes all our buttons. The writer’s job is to write what makes their own heart sing, and to polish their manuscript for submission. If you do that, eventually you’ll find that agent who loves the same sorts of stories that you do.

All that said, what I can do is tell you some of the things I love about books. You all know at this point what a book needs – fabulous story, intriguing characters, solid writing, etc. These, by contrast, are some of the ideas and tropes that capture my imagination and suck me down into a story. These sorts of details are the reasons I love to read. Not the only ones, but they seem to show up with fair regularity.

Smart characters. I love a clever protagonist, someone who works things through and has realizations over the course of the story. I love characters who solve puzzles, whether they are physical, follow-the-clue sorts of situations or situations that require research or careful sifting of ideas. The thought process draws me in and I am with you for the ride. And this does not mean the book needs to be a mystery; all books require some sort of puzzle or level of suspense, even if it’s a will-they-or-won’t-they romantic scenario. And this isn’t limited to smart adult characters. Smart (and smart-ass) teen and child protagonists push my buttons, too.

By contrast, I hate a stupid protagonist. And by this I don’t mean naïve or uneducated or possessing a low I.Q. A stupid protagonist is one who stares the facts in the face and then ignores them for the sake of keeping the story going, who could solve the book’s major issue by making a phone call or being honest or reading a note someone left on the refrigerator. In these instances, it’s not the protagonist who is really stupid, but the author who insists on insulting the reader’s intelligence.

Smart characters are not perfect characters. A character can be brilliant and still have many flaws. They can, and should, be wrong some of the time, and their intelligence can often stand in the way of their accepting or realizing that fact. Smart can still be real.

An intriguing setting. I’m all about the world building. I want to feel like I’ve stepped into the world of your story, which is one of the reasons I adore fantasy and science fiction and historical novels, but that sense of place is important regardless of the genre. (I’m a sucker for travel blogs, so you can see where my weakness lies.) I love well-done description that puts the reader in the scene, in the moment, but still keeps the story moving forward. Carefully chosen words that pack a punch over long, rambling descriptions of everything in a room or landscape. Settings that reveal character – details about someone’s décor or the state of their car trunk or the sort of small town they’ve chosen to make their home. Intriguing for me can be well-rendered and meaningful. It doesn’t have to be a glamorous cityscape to draw me in. Audrey Niffenegger’s HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY takes place primarily in Highgate Cemetery and a neighboring set of flats, and that setting is utterly integral to the story she tells. And if you introduce me to a place or a culture or a world that is new to me, all the better.

Themes of rebirth, rehabilitation, and resurrection. While I love a good coming-of-age story or rags-to-riches story as much as the next girl, I’m a sucker for the complete makeover. Characters who were walking on the wrong side of things and, for some reason, have decided to put their past to rest and start a new life. I love the idea of transformation, of being able to take control of your destiny, of not allowing past mistakes to set the path for the future. I’m also fond of protagonists who walk the line, gentlemen thieves, Robin Hood-type characters, and so on. I’m intrigued by morally complicated individuals. For anyone who has seen The Avengers in theaters this summer, it

won’t surprise you that Hawkeye and Black Widow intrigue me the most. A former circus performer and Russian assassin, respectively, they have complex backgrounds that make me want to know more about them, their choices, their motivations.

Adventure. I mean this both as a state of mind and as an actual story arc. I love characters that have adventures of some sort, they don’t have to be a long, winding quest or involve a battle against the forces of evil, though I love those as well. Someone starting their life over in a new city where they don’t know a soul can certainly have an adventure. It’s about their mindset and their willingness to experience something huge and life changing; or, conversely, about their lack of willingness to change and how life or external forces somehow force an adventure upon them. Unwilling adventurers can be just as compelling.

Psychological twists. This ties in to my love of smart characters as well as those who are morally complex. A protagonist with a mystery in their past, a situation that appears to have no solution, questions of identity, mind games, etc. I love it when these sorts of things are the focus of the story, but also when they creep in unexpectedly along the edges, adding color to a main storyline and making things just a little bit more complicated.

These facets of storytelling can be interpreted many ways, and combined to create fabulous stories. For frame of reference, I offer up a list of some great books that have sucked me in and kept me riveted from beginning to end, some recent discoveries and some old favorites. I can’t tell you specifically what I’m looking to sign on next, but if your book can make me feel the way any of these did, I look forward to reading it.

THE EIGHT by Katherine Neville

THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES by Deborah Harkness

THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield

THE GODS OF GOTHAM by Lyndsay Faye

THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by Scott Lynch

AMONG OTHERS by Jo Walton

WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead

THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern

THE SECRET HISTORY by Donna Tartt

Please note this is a very brief list of books I love – I could easily keep going for days. I’ve tried to steer clear of more obvious examples. Yes, I love the Harry Potter books and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, DUNE and PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and a host of other books that many, many other people adore. Also, it goes without saying that I have a soft spot in my heart for my own clients’ work. In contrast, there are a fair number of popular titles that I really dislike, but it would be rude to start listing those. So I’ll leave you with this food for thought, and wish you happy reading.

~Nephele Tempest

6/20/2012

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