Category Archives: Ace Jordyn

Last week, the World Fantasy Convention (“WFC”) was held in Toronto, Canada. For all of you who may not know, WFC is a convention for fantasy and science fiction writers, artists, agents, editors and other professionals. The four day conference has seminars/panels on craft issues. There’s a dealer’s room for hard-to-find, and rare books, and an art show. The price of admission includes a swag bag full of free books, and use of the convention suite. There’s also lots of time for networking, including nightly parties often hosted by publishers, and a closing banquet.

Four of the Fictorians (Evan Braun, Ace Jordyn, Nancy DiMauro, and Frank Morin, from left to right in the photo) attended this year. Evan asked us to share our thoughts about the conference with you. So, here they are:

Nancy: I attended my first WFC last year, and through the introduction by fellow Fictorian Colette Vernon met Celina Summers the head editor at the newly formed Musa Publishing. WFC opened doors for me that I never knew were there. I knew I wanted to attend this year’s WFC to connect with friends, further my writing career, and help others do the same. Why did you attend?

Ace: I wanted to see writer friends from all over the world, and WFC makes connecting with friends easy. It’s also a great place to meet new people from writers, editors, agents and publishers.

Frank: I attended for two main reasons. First, to meet with my agent, John Richard Parker from ZENO, in person. He’s based in London, so this was a rare opportunity. Second, I feel it’s vitally important to interact, socialize, and network with other industry professionals. WFC is a great venue to do that.

Nancy: What was the best thing about this year’s WFC?

Ace: Shanghai Steam, an anthology I co-edited, was launched at the con. The anthology authors had a blast at the autograph signing session and readings at the launch. It’s wonderful to see the excitement, and feel the energy of so much creative pride.

Frank: At my first WFC two years ago, I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily, I connected with several other new authors. We spent the conference looking for and talking with agents and editors we wanted to talk with. This year, I still focused on networking and meeting new people. For me, it was deeply rewarding to mentor newer authors at this WFC and continue to learn from more experienced professionals.

Nancy: The best thing about WFC is the conversations I had with people. I spent hours talking with editors and writers, both well established and new. Brandon Sanderson met with the attending Superstars Writing Seminars alumni, which most of the Fictorians are. Brandon spent about two and a half hours with us. We talked about his outlining technique, working on the Wheel of Time, talking to and working with agents and editors, dealing with deadlines, book tours, writing, Writing Excuses, and so much more.

There were so many great things that I’d be hard pressed to single out anything “bad” about the experience. If I had to though, I’d say that there never is enough time, and the hotel NEVER staffs the bar right. Even though the Con officially lasts 4 days, those days fly. There’s so much to do. The Con runs from 8am when the Con Suite opens until 4-ish am, when the last party goer has returned to his room. A lot happens unofficially at the bar, and you can find people there at all hours. Despite being warned that there will be anywhere from 50 to 100 people at the bar at any given time, the hotel never has enough staff. When they can finally get you your drink (whether spirited or not), tip well as those few staff members are working hard.

Ace: All the activity means that my least favorite thing is the lack of sleep. There’s so much to do. So many people to see and meet. It’s electric and the conversations go long into the night.

Frank: For me, it’s the travel distance.

Nancy: One of the reasons I love WFC is you can accomplish more there than you can in two years outside WFC. What was the most useful thing about it for you?

Frank: This is tied closely back to question about the best WFC-related thing – the connections we make. WFC is a wonderful place to network and interact with professionals representing all aspects of writing, including other authors, agents, editors, and publishers. The first several years of writing, I didn’t attend conventions. I wish I had. There are so many benefits to rubbing shoulders with others in the same business. People at WFC have consistently proven their willingness to share their knowledge, mentor newcomers, and provide opportunities.

Ace: Getting my finger on the pulse of what direction the industry is moving not only with writing trends but on the publishing environment.

Nancy: Next year’s WFC will be in Brighton, England. Other than buy your membership now since it will likely sell out, any tips for those attending future WFCs?

Ann: Relax and enjoy yourself. Have fun. Talk. Attend panels, readings and parties; not only do you learn lots; you never know who you’ll meet.

Frank: Get to know the hospitality suite. It’s a great place to mingle, and to eat. This year’s hospitality suite (or con suite as it’s often known) was well stocked with surprisingly good food. I made some good contacts there and met a lot of people.

Put yourself out there. Most people were very outgoing and eager to talk with others. I saw a few who seemed to be lingering on the fringes, and managed to draw a couple of them into conversations. They were new authors with few connections, who felt a little lost. Many of us authors are introverted people, but we have to set that aside at conferences and take the initiative to meet people. The connections are invaluable. Once you have a base group of friends and acquaintances, it makes it that much easier to reach out even further.

One way to start getting to know people is to attend other writing seminars or workshops. For example, there were 8-10 of us who were alumni of the Superstars Writing Seminars. Those events were excellent in and of themselves, but now provided a secondary benefit. We all came to WFC already having a large group of friends to socialize with, share advice with, and to help us maximize our WFC experience.

Nancy: To build on what Frank was saying, the benefits of WFC or any seminar or convention might not be immediately obvious, but there are long-term benefits. Every relationship you maintain is one where you can help someone else’s writing career, and that person, in turn, can assist you. Just remember to pay it forward.

Speaking of which, any tips on how to approach editors/agents at WFC?

Frank: Remember, relationships come first. We all want to meet editors, agents, other authors, etc. They want to meet people too. Relationships open doors both ways. But before we can make that pitch, before an editor will do more than look for a way to excuse themselves at the first opportunity, we need to establish a connection. Be friendly, but not desperate. Ask them about their projects, what they’re interested in, what books they’ve been reading. Look for things you have in common that can help build that connection. If you’re successful, they’ll ask for a pitch or give you a card. If you’re not, they’ll slip away no matter how hard you try to chase them. DON”T CHASE THEM. This is a business, and we are successful when we act like professionals.

One thing I had not understood prior to my first WFC is that many agents don’t really want a full pitch, although some do, so be prepared! I butchered my first live pitch, but thankfully the agent took the time to explain why I was so awful. She wouldn’t have if I hadn’t made a solid connection first. For those agents who do not want a full pitch, they’ll give you their card. This is a good thing. It opens the door to then send them a query per whatever guidelines they have posted on their website, and reference that meeting at WFC in the query. My agent was one of several I queried after WFC in 2010.

Ace: My nervousness at meeting editors and agents disappeared when I realized I wanted to buy their services. Yes, getting my novels published is the ultimate goal but it’s important to me that I find an agent who will work hard for me, and a publisher who has access to the appropriate markets who will work with me to make us both successful. An attitude of selling means I know my product; I have questions I want to ask and so all that makes me less nervous. And yes, my pitches are all prepared.

Nancy: I saw your pitch sheet. It was really impressive. If you have a story that’s looking for a home, it helps to be prepared because you never know when someone will ask what you are working on. Having a prepared pitch helps reduce the nervousness. And I can’t emphasis what Frank said enough. Make a connection first and be a professional and polished version of yourself. Be courteous. Manners matter.

Frank: Also, if you are too nervous to approach an agent or editor, rely on your friends, or people you’ve made a connection with at the Con. Have another author you know introduce you to an agent or editor. Chances are someone helped that person out when she was getting started, so she’s happy to help you, just like you’ll be happy to do it for someone else down the road.

Nancy: What do you know now that you wished you knew before attending WFC?

Ace: I think I’d make plans with writer friends to stay an extra day or two to either hang out or have some writing time together. The con generates great energy that’s worth hanging on to for as long as possible.

Frank: I wish I had taken more time to research people I wanted to talk with. Work was very busy prior to WFC so I didn’t have enough time to do the research I needed. For example, I wanted to talk with a couple of editors, but I didn’t manage to learn the names of the other editors at the publisher. I had a productive time, but there were definitely opportunities missed due to lack of preparation.

Final thoughts from all of us:

For those who have not attended WFC, we can’t recommend it highly enough. The publishing industry is small, and, in some ways, getting smaller as it changes. It’s important to become known and make connections. Unlike, say some of the conventions where people walk about in costumes, WFC is a primarily professional convention. People attending WFC are, generally, those in the industry who we, as writers, will do business with. Making connection with people at WFC may mean the difference between publishing or not since people want to do business with someone they know.

See you in Brighton next year!

What Does Your Dialogue Say About Your Characters?

October 5, 2012

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Character Craft & Skills Dialogue Rewriting 2 Comments

Sometimes life has a way of sitting you down hard, making you take stock and reevaluating what you took for granted. During one of these angsty periods, I found myself rethinking life goals and roles. Then came the hard part – articulating it. Somehow I had to find the words to define my feelings but I also needed the proper ones to express in a meaningful way what I was learning.

That got me thinking about dialogue in fiction and how we use it to convey information about characters like how they truly see the world.

The tendency is to make our protagonists the hero with a few issues who overcomes them and saves the day. As they are the point-of-view character, we learn a lot about how the character sees his world and reacts to it. With good writing, all the senses can be engaged. But, what about dialogue? Good dialogue is a window to a character’s soul. It is an opportunity to reveal, not tell.

‘Please, sir, I want some more.’

Who can ever forget that one famous line from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens? Not only does it convey a little boy’s desperation, his starved state and his courage, it also informs us about the society in which he lives. The repetition of that simple phrase first by Oliver, then by Bumble who runs the workhouse and finally by Limbkins, Chairman of the Board of Guardians, firmly places Oliver’s words in our minds thus forcing us to live the horror of the statement from several points of view. This one simple piece of dialogue allows us to see and feel several aspects of a society.

This is followed by an equally simple phrase uttered and repeated: ‘That boy will be hung,’ said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. ‘I know that boy will be hung.’ There are no exclamation marks and no grandiose gestures, yet that simple statement followed by the simple speech tag said leaves us horrified.

There is a tendency to want to make characters appear smart and witty with that great comeback we would have liked to have when we ourselves were in an awkward situation. As writers, we must take care not to be helicopter parents, hovering over our characters, making them experience their lives the way we’d like to if we were them. Helicoptering can lead to sitcom dialogue – flat, witty characters without real depth – with purpose perhaps but not with depth.

Of all the books I’ve read and all the movies I’ve seen, my favorite dialogue, all 131 minutes of it, comes from the screen play of Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe? starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The first time I saw it, I was a kid off the farm in first year university. I was appalled. For over two hours, these characters did nothing but fight. To me, it was simple, ordinary, and all too familiar. How could this movie be critically acclaimed?

Yet, it is the one movie which I remember vividly. That script keeps me spell bound. Using simple dialogue, Albee captures failed marriages perfectly. The characters are vile – definitely not sympathetic – yet I’m riveted to the script. The dialogue is not mannered, not witty – it is ordinary yet perfectly captured. It rolls quickly. It’s fast paced. The reveal, the show, are perfectly executed as demonstrated in this exchange between Martha and George:

M: (swinging around) Look, sweetheart, I can drink you under any goddamn table you want … so don’t worry about me!|
G: Martha, I gave you the prize years ago… There isn’t an abomination award going that you….
M: I swear … if you existed I’d divorce you….
G: Well, just stay on your feet, that’s all… These people are your guests, you know, and…
M: I can’t even see you… I haven’t been able to see you for years….
G: …. if you pass out, or throw up or something…
M: …. I mean, you’re a blank, a cipher….
G: …. and try to keep your clothes on, too. There aren’t many more sickening sights than you with a couple of drinks in you and your skirt up over your head, you know…
M: …. a zero…
(Script excerpt from: C/file/view/Script+for+Who’s+afraid+of+Virginia+Woolf.pdf)

Take the time to understand not only what motivates your characters, but what their fears, their disappointments, their hopes and aspirations are for that will not only determine their actions and reactions, but it will give them unique and strong voices which will reveal more about them than any well written prose can tell.

Happy Writing!

Critiques ““ Part 2 ““ What? How?

August 29, 2012

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Craft & Skills Critiques Making Progress as a Writer Rewriting The Writing Life The Writing Process No Comments

In Part 1, we talked about why critiques are needed and how hard it sometimes is to accept the feedback. But what exactly is a critique? The word itself reminds us of critics – you know, those dreaded experts who review movies, theaters and books, who are known to publicly humiliate artists. It also reminds us of those nasty teachers who rarely said anything positive except how good their red ink looked scribbled across your work.

A critique is about critical analysis but unfortunately, some focus only on the critical part. A critique is about feedback, providing constructive criticism which makes every facet of the unpolished gem shine. Sometimes it means explaining why certain things don’t work well to help the writer see and understand where the writing can be made stronger; plot holes, logic gaps, unsympathetic protagonist, craft issues. Other times it’s about pointing out the things that work well because those are the writer’s strengths and they must be encouraged so the writer doesn’t lose sight of what he does well.

Here are some basic points to remember:

Ask the writer what is wanted? A readers critique that identifies what is and isn’t working in terms of plot and character? Or line by line polishing?

Ask what prevents this work from being salable? Asking helps both the writer and critique approach the work constructively.

Be respectful – DO NOT say – “Lousy writing’ or “You never seem to get it!’ We all have fatal flaws that we repeat. There may be a certain eloquence or lack of, dangling participles, dialogue, plot problems, setting or description issues, flat characters – most of us need to become aware of these things over and over until we get it!

Remind the author that this is your personal opinion and not gospel. Remember that your comments are only suggestions and the author has no obligation to put them into action.

Focus on how to improve the work rather than what’s wrong with it. State the problem. State why is it a problem. Provide example(s) of improvements.

Tell the author what works well (a line, a character, what made you laugh). When I started writing, I went to a workshop and felt like I’d been shredded to death. It was horrible. Yet, one person said that I wrote plot well. That was all the encouragement I needed to continue writing and to constructively use the other comments.

Focus on what is important. If addressing a major problem may cause several small ones to disappear, don’t spend time on the small problems.

Never dismiss the intended story. It can be fun to suggest alternate directions (constructive), but never dismiss an author’s intentions – they have their own story to tell.

Don’t overwhelm the writer. Too many nits can be discouraging rather than helpful. To this end, tailor your comments to the author’s skill level. For example, for new writers, focus on the main thing to improve rather than a laundry list of everything that’s wrong.

I’ve seen critiques which ruined a good story because the author didn’t have enough confidence in what his story was about, didn’t know the good parts, took everyone’s suggestions to heart and ended up with a mish-mash that incorporated everyone’s ideas but ended up pleasing no one. In Part 3, we’ll be talking about how such a disaster can be avoided.

Cheers and happy writing!

Critiques ““ Part 1 ““ Understanding the Process

July 18, 2012

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Craft & Skills Critiques Rewriting The Writing Life The Writing Process 2 Comments

Recently I gave a presentation to a local writers’ group on the art of giving critique. To fully understand and engage in the critique process we need to first understand why we write, what a critique is, how an author can help the process and how to give a critique. In this blog, we’ll talk about why we write and why receiving a critique can be so difficult.

Why do we write?

When we understand why and what makes us so sensitive to feedback, it actually becomes easier to absorb the information we receive in an impartial way.

I, like many of you, write because I’m miserable when I don’t. As others need to breathe, so I need to write. We all write because we are story tellers – we have something to say, we see worlds and creatures and characters the average person does not, we give commentary about the human condition, our politics, our society, our values, our relationships – we are observers with a unique way of expressing ourselves – BUT most important, for us, writing is fun and it is who we are.

We have an idea – that is personal. We think. We sweat, we write and rewrite hoping that the story we tell is understood by others. The crux is that we, the writers become so intimate with the process and the material that it feels personal – and it is because every fabric of our being has been poured into the story.

So when someone doesn’t like what we’ve done and how we’ve done it, it feels personal even when it isn’t. But, when we focus on the need to express the characters and world we see, it becomes much easier to accept feedback.

This is not dissimilar to mining for gems. We find the diamond. It is rough. It is uncut. We cut. We polish. We wanting to reveal the heart of the stone – the heart we know is there. We work with experts who can help us get the angle just right on every facet. Then we polish until it sparkles.

Writing is no different. We have a gem stone of an idea. We hone our tools. We dig. We scrape. Sometimes we cut and reshape, making every facet as stellar as it can be. And then we must ask if others see what we do.

The critique process should help us polish our gems, to make the story stronger, to make its heart shine brighter. And, if you have a good critique group, they’ll help you do just that.

When we understand that our goal is to express an idea, to create a story which is both entertaining and enlightening, the feedback feels less personal, more constructive because we know that everything we do makes our gem shine brighter.

There are two other things to remember:

1) learning that the gem we polished isn’t as bright as it can be, hurts. And it can hurt a lot. That’s part of being human. Part of being a writer is understanding that and gracefully going forward by thoughtfully considering the comments.

2) the person giving the critique can get it wrong. As the writer you must also figure that out. But generally, most don’t get it wrong if there are problems with grammar, structure, story arc and character development. And let’s face it, if we don’t solve these problems before submitting, no editor will read the story, let alone help you polish your gem.

The next time we meet, we’ll talk about what a critique is and how to give a good critique.