Tag: Getting Published

Vampires and Synchronicity

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Getting Published, Synchronicity

So how’s this for synchronicity? I submitted the first 7500 words (about three chapters) of both “The Remaking of Molly Adair” and “Molly Adair, Beware” to the Orycon writer’s workshop. This is a great deal. You meet with two published authors and another writer who has submitted a manuscript. One pro critiques your manuscript and the other critiques the other author’s. The two submitting authors critique each other’s manuscripts. So you get two valuable critiques and the chance to ask two published authors questions about your manuscript. The whole thing costs $10. I have been dithering about my second manuscript. Much as I hate to join the throng of YA fantasy authors who are writing about vampires, I’ve decided to add one to my cast of characters. The piece of information that Molly needs will have more impact and drama if it comes from vampire’s cold, red lips. However, I know nothing about vampires, and started plotting a quick and painless way to learn about… Read More »

The 2010 Willamette Writers Conference

Posted C. LaVielle8 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

The Willamette Writers Conference is a smorgasbord with enough fabulous offerings to tempt even the most fastidious author. First and foremost, there are hundreds of other writers wandering around. The ones I got to talk to were more than happy to tell me what they were writing about. I heard one amazing tale after another, told by the very person that dreamed it up—the best entertainment in the world. For example, Dylan Romero is writing a book about his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, one of the top three Christian spiritual journeys. He came to the conference in a pair of rock climbing slippers with a compartment for each toe, the very shoes he wore as he hiked over the Pyrenees Mountains and through the northern Spanish plains. He isn’t Catholic or even particularly spiritual. He didn’t have any epiphanies. But the simple act of getting up and walking everyday healed his soul. I hope he writes it like the amazing Hero’s Journey that it… Read More »

Four Steps to Finding an Agent for THE REMAKING OF MOLLY ADAIR

Posted C. LaVielle9 CommentsPosted in Getting Published

1: Pitch to Agents and Send out Query Letters. I attended the 2008 and 2009 Willamette Writer’s Conferences and pitched to several agents. Five of them asked to see the first few chapters of the manuscript and all of them rejected it. I’ve also sent out about 15 query letters—all of which were rejected. 2: Rewrite! Rewrite! Rewrite! After much soul searching and many sleepless nights, I decided that it was possible that all those agents weren’t pretentious Neanderthals. Maybe my precious manuscript that I’d rewritten and revised so many times still needed work. So, with the help of a merciless editor, Jessica Morrell, and a marvelous writer’s group, I rewrote the manuscript a few more times. Their sort-of-gentle criticism, insights, and encouragement transformed me into a better writer and The Remaking of Molly Adair into a vastly improved story. Since lots of beginning writers make the same mistakes that I did, it might be useful for me to confess my literary sins.  I… Read More »

Announcing: THE REMAKING OF MOLLY ADAIR, a YA Fantasy and Tarot Primer

Posted C. LaVielle24 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Tarot

At last! After countless revisions, The Remaking of Molly Adair, a young adult fantasy I’ve been working on for the past five years, is finished–I think. The tale begins when 16-year-old Molly Adair falls into a parallel universe with only a deck of tarot cards and a cranky, black cat for guides. She knows she doesn’t belong there, but she’s not sure she really belongs in her world either. She is still in shock over the loss of her parents; she’s just moved in with her prickly grandma, who’s a total control freak; and she’ll be starting her junior year in a strange high school. As she struggles to return to Portland, Oregon, Molly confronts the archetypes and challenging lessons of each major arcana tarot card. The first person she meets is Tracy Bliss, a young vagabond who pulls her clawing and screaming out of a black limbo and into Damia. Asmodius, a large black cat, who is a powerful mage, offers to be her… Read More »