AJ Super's Bloggy Blog

There's lots of pitching advice out there. I mean, a metric ton. (Not to be confused with the imperial ton, of course. LOL!) And I'm not purporting to have the end-all of advice, always use what works best for you. But thing is, when pitch readers (agents, publishers, editors, etc.) read a pitch, they are generally looking for four things. CHARACTER. PLOT. CONFLICT. STAKES/CONSEQUENCES. And the easiest way to write a pitch is to simply think: Character wants something. If cha

There's a lot of things to learn for a pitch party like #PitMad, #SFFPit, #DVPit, #ADPit, #KidPit, #PitDark, and others. There are a ton of unspoken rules on top of the rules set forth by the event itself. Of course, any written rule trumps any unspoken rule. And the first rule is always: READ THE EVENT RULES! No exceptions. Learn them, love them, follow them! Second, let's go over the whole 140 or 280 debate. Let's face it. 280 is here to stay. But it's a lot of words to get

Ready, set, START! Where do you you start your books? How do you get into your stories? There are many things that the first page needs to do. Two hundred and fifty words isn't a lot of time to get the attention of an agent, but generally, that's all you get. It's unfortunate, but most reject in the first paragraphs, so drawing them in within that first page is a MUST. But once you do, if your pages follow through on the promise of your first, you're sure to get someone's att

Every once in a while I do a one-on-one workshop for people looking to write pitches for pitch parties. It's a daunting task and lots of people just can't figure out the easiest way to come up with that one awesome pitch, let alone three to five that can work for parties. I've broken down the steps I take to writing a pitch and wanted to share. First, to start, write a quick blurb. Imagine you are in an elevator with your dream agent and you have 30-seconds to tell him/her/th

Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Indeed. But a writer's best friend? Is actually a friend. A good Critique Partner. And it's a feat finding someone that you can be honest, open, and friendly with for the duration of creating a novel, which sometimes takes years. So CPs must be compatible with so many aspects to a writer's life and personality. But what is a CP? What do they do? It's a question I get asked frequently... And it's actually not an easy one to answer, because in

Queries are hard. You say? Mind boggling. You say? Whoever decided that you had to sell a book in less than 350 words was a sadist. Then, to make authors tell the majority of the plot, include conflict, character, and voice. You want to die every time you have to write a query? But... there's a way to overcome this slow query death. It's a formula. A keep it stupid simple formula. "The hook, the book, and the cook." And whoever coined the phrase is a mad genius. I didn't real

It never fails. On hashtag games, during pitching contests, there's always this question: Who is your antagonist? And I'm always incredibly disappointed in many of the answers. Lots of people answer with "Well, my protagonist's fear is..." or "The memories of X are..." And there's nothing wrong with those CONFLICTS, but... Those aren't an ANTAGONIST. An antagonist can't be a concept. Character or characters, yes. But thoughts, memories, being haunted, those are things to over

Winning an editing contest the traditional way is hard. Submitting your book and getting feedback is the ultimate goal, but the odds aren't always in the submitters' favor. But it isn't hard to really win, when you don't win an editing contest. And it consists of doing only a few things. 1. Be positive. The knowledge that the odds are low completely goes against being positive, but at some point, you have to accept it. It's the same for the others that subbed. Yes, someone ha

1. Show, don't tell. This goes for the query, too! 2. Voice is gold. The judges want to hear from the characters, not the author. 3. Hook. There should be a hook in the first page. There should be a hook in the query. 4. Avoid info dumps. Queries with too much background, first pages with too much background equal BORING. 5. Industry standard is Times New Roman 12 pt. Learn it, live it, love it! 6. Make sure your idea is unique, and not something already on the NYT Best Selle

My non-writer friends are in awe about me finishing a manuscript. For me, it's just the tip of a very long iceberg, but they always ask "How do you do it?" Well... It was a lot of WRITING, for one. But really, I just did it. I decided one day that writing was important to me and started devoting my time to doing it. THAT was the start. Beyond that, there was a lot of head pounding, hair tearing, pacing, and general anxiety. For me, as a Pantser, planning along a plot line or