Wednesday Reads: A Hunger Like No Other

Every Wednesday (or most Wednesdays, or some Wednesdays) will bring you book reviews. Of a special variety. Yes, I am telling you which books are awesome and totally worth reading. But the point of my reviews is to hopefully make you conscious of the market and why this particular book was published: quality of writing, character and plot development, unique quirks of writing, characters, and plot that make it stand out. Take my tips to your own reading and writing, and through Constant Vigilance, will you succeed as a writer.

A Hunger Like No Other is the first installment of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. (Some lists will list it as the second installment, but the first is a novella, and Hunger stands well on its own as the first--plus, I didn't read it as I am, in fact, listening to the series, and the novella's readers did not receive good reviews).

Synopsis: From the synopsis of any book you read, you can teach yourself how to write a query letter. This section will both tell you about the book, and what you should learn from the back cover blurb.
 
This is my favorite structure for romance, first one of the lovers (male or female) then the second, and if you need a third paragraph, it sums it all up so nicely. Note here, how you get a sense of the world without a dedicated sentence to world building. Yet you still know what and where and especially the who. Romance lovers are immediately sold on the why we care.

A mythic warrior who'll stop at nothing to possess her…

After enduring years of torture from the vampire Horde, Lachlain MacRieve, leader of the Lykae Clan, is enraged to find the predestined mate he's waited millennia for is a vampire. Or partly one. This Emmaline is a small, ethereal half Valkyrie/half vampire, who somehow begins to soothe the fury burning within him.

A vampire captured by her wildest fantasy...

Sheltered Emmaline Troy finally sets out to uncover the truth about her deceased parents--until a powerful Lykae claims her as his mate and forces her back to his ancestral Scottish castle. There, her fear of the Lykae--and their notorious dark desire--ebb as he begins a slow, wicked seduction to sate her own dark cravings.

An all consuming desire...

Yet when an ancient evil from her past resurfaces, will their desire deepen into a love that can bring a proud warrior to his knees and turn a gentle beauty into the fighter she was born to be...?

Brownie Points: I feel there is a stereotype developing about Paranormal Romance, especially with the upsurge of YA ParaRom and it's this: Mortal girl meets immortal male, he possesses her, her life changes to accommodate his. And what I love about Kresley Cole is that most of her novels take place solidly in The Lore (we are aware of the humans, but we are very much in the paranormal world with the paranormal creatures). So there's that Brownie Point. Another is Emmaline, a beautiful example of a Weak Female Lead who becomes sure of herself in the end, learning how to accept herself and trust in her own strength. But never at any point during her WFL moments is she a weak character--we know her quirks, her unique voice, everything that has made her who she is and will become.

Beefs: Honestly, none come to mind.

The Narrator's Performance: I give the narrator of the audio book, Robert Petkoff, a 9 out of ten. I became engaged in his story telling, his accents were spot-on, he didn't read too slow or too fast, inflections and pauses were great. The only thing keeping his performance from a 10 is he is male and I remembered it every time he read the woman's voice (very few readers, male or female, can get a 10 out of 10 for this reason).

Who should read it: Anyone who loves ParaRom, obviously. I was recommended this book after I'd complained I had read all of JR Ward's novels. KC is a true contender for the top spot on my "Favorite ParaRom Authors." High praise if you know my love of Ward. So if you compare your writing to Ward, you have to read KC (among others of course).

Happy reading!

Grammar Manners: Plural or Singular

Since we all love Mondays and we all love Grammar and the minutes of writing, Mondays are hereafter dedicated to things we'd rather leave in the dark. Might as well start the week with a kick in the pants. I'll bring to you common mistakes I think writers should just know. Tips will range from first-grade knowledge of the English language to Master's Degree expertise. 


I recently received this question:

"Do you refer to a band or a crowd (multiple people) as a single entity or multiple entities?"

Answer: A band or a crowd is a single entity, even though it is made up of many entities. So you would say "The crowd is getting rowdy" rather than "The crowd are getting rowdy."

For many verb-subject agreement in number, just read it aloud and you will hear which one to use, like the above crowd example. No English speaking native would make the mistake of saying "The crowd are". In this instance, the subject is clear: "crowd".

But the real trick is deciphering which is the true subject (only then do you get to decide whether the subject is singular or plural).

Consider our sample sentence with "people" instead of "crowd."

"The people are getting rowdy."

Yes, "people" are plural. But if you combine them together:

'The crowd of people is getting rowdy."

Whoa! The true subject here is "crowd", not "people." I could get way more technical, but let's keep it simple, shall we? Because things can get really complicated after that. For example, money is always singular (Two million dollars is a lot of money), "everyone" is always singular (Everyone has more money than me), two separate nouns is singular if they can be considered a unit (Fish and chips is best with beer batter), a singular object followed by a plural modification is always singular (The bear, as well as her new cubs, is in good health).

As long as you know your basic sentence structure (subject, verb, etc) you should be able to identify the subject, and from there whether it is singular or plural. If in doubt, Google it! Or invest in a good Grammar guide. I refer to "When Words Collide" if I don't feel like Googling it. It lives on my desk just above my computer. It also makes for fun reading when I'm bored!

Happy writing!

A New Year Announcement

Hello Dear Reader!

I do hope everyone's holidays were wonderful and the new year has brought you all sorts of book and writing related resolutions!

As the new year dawns, I have my own announcement to make. I am retiring from agenting. I have loved working closely with writers, watching them grow and their careers bloom, but I will no longer be representing writers or their fabulous projects.

What will I be doing? I'm staying in the writing community as a freelance editor and remaining a close associate at Andrea Hurst Literary Management on the editorial side. (Yes, we have a department especially for the cultivation of padawans needing that extra push towards whatever their goals may be.) We have great things planned for the new year so please stop by the website and see what we're doing!

What does this mean for you? My blog will be getting a makeover (stay tuned for that), and new features that might include awesome benefits for you (interviews, insights, more Wednesday Reads, oh my!). You may have noticed from my blog, appearances at conferences, spending way too much time on blogs and contests, that I love immersing myself with writers. Most importantly, I love teaching minds that are eager to learn (that would be you). And that, ultimately, is my goal, to teach and spread cheer and wisdom.

What about the inbox? The inbox is empty. If for some reason I have missed your query or ms, I apologize for the oversight (or for my inbox eating your submission). Please consider another agent at the agency. Andrea Hurst Literary Management will no longer be representing YA, but we still have a talented pool of Adult and Non-Fiction agents. Visit the agency website for bios and more info.

Very happy new year to each one of you. This is not goodbye. This is...

Happy Making!
(because, in the writing business, that's what we do... happy writing, happy reading, happy making)

The Agent Answers: Paranormal vs Fantasy

You have questions? Do you constantly miss #askagent sessions on Twitter? Is it impossible, despite a hundred Google searches, to find an answer to your question? Then you've come to the right place. Ask a question either on any "Agent Answers" post or on Twitter, and I'll answer as many as I can. My answers will be subjective and should not be considered applicable to every agent (though I do like to assume my opinions are the majority).

I happen to be very particular about my genres. In my head, there is a definitive line between paranormal and fantasy. To me, the only* fantasy worthwhile is the straight, epic, high, king, queens, dragons, different realm, no world jumping type. Lord of the Rings instead of Chronicles of Narnia. And paranormal is set in our world with supernatural beings (and the sort I love best is with hot naked vampires--this doesn't apply to Twlight because we only see half naked werewolves, not vampires... not that I'm complaining Taylor!).

I was asked:

My WIP is technically paranormal but instead of creatures it has reincarnating soldiers from the crusades. To keep agents from rolling their eyes when they read my query, should I label it paranormal or fantasy? 

For me**, it depends. YA or Adult? I'm much more receptive to Adult Paranormal--if there are naked vampires (werewolves, harpies, Frankensteins, reincarnated badasses in history--I have one of those!--as long as they're naked). In YA I'm a little burnt out on the paranormal, not that someone somewhere won't buy it if it's good.

Honestly, label it what it is. Don't try to cheat, we will call you out on it (I do it by glaring at the wall then rejecting the query). To me, it sounds paranormal. Call it paranormal. This is where comparables help, they tell us so much more than a simple label.

Happy writing!

*There are exceptions to every rule.
**Everything is subjective.

The Agent Answers... Again. Word Count Take 2

You have questions? Do you constantly miss #askagent sessions on Twitter? Is it impossible, despite a hundred Google searches, to find an answer to your question? Then you've come to the right place. Ask a question either on any "Agent Answers" post or on Twitter, and I'll answer as many as I can. My answers will be subjective and should not be considered applicable to every agent (though I do like to assume my opinions are the majority). 

A few days ago, I answered a question about rounding your word count--do it to the nearest thousandth. And suddenly I got an influx of people asking about too long, too short, what if this?

I'm going to go on the record here--agents (most of us) hate answering questions about word count. Writers are obsessed. Follow the rules so you know how to break them. Google it. Most agents go with the same guidelines (Colleen Lindsay's post on the subject is a good one, here). One conference I was at this past year, I was on a panel with many other agents, in a huge room filled with hundreds of people. It was open season on the agents--ask anything and we answer. And a few people wasted everyone else's time asking specifics about word count (well, my manuscript is yadda yadda, is 275K too long?). We got tired of it and it became a running joke that most of the writers, but not all of them, got.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this. I will most likely reject anything over 140K. I *might* look at something over 110K. I won't look at anything under 50K for any genre. YA runs a little shorter, Adult a little longer, MG shorter still, best selling authors and Diana Gabaldon even longer.

Concentrate on writing the best you can. If that means writing 30K or 400K to achieve that, go for it!

Happy writing!