Cara's Cabinet of Themes and Curiosities
Best of AAC. A collection of ravels and unravels, combed feed, and worthwhile nuggets plucked from many sources here at AAC. Cara carefully selects only the best and presents them in an array certain to illuminate and entertain... Cara comments also. We can't get enough!
Ready to Get Published? Part I
Ready to Get Published? Part II
29 topics in this forum
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I know it is only September, but I decided to start my Halloween season now. Usually, I don’t plan ahead, but I am married to a Halloween fanatic, so I was gently encouraged (insert eye roll) to book activities every weekend. We started by going to a horror movie convention. Then, we booked a paranormal convention and a ghost hunt, not to mention haunted houses and haunted trains we are taking part in. We have solid plans every weekend. Somehow, I overlooked this past weekend, so we watched the new James Wan movie. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but it seems like it needed a thorough analysis, few more revisions, a critique group and a beta reader. There were pl…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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My kids went back to school in person this week. It has been a time of setting new routines and schedules and a brand new normal. I forgot what it was like to wake up at five-thirty so the kids could be at the bus stop by six-thirty. They forgot too. They also forgot how loud the hallways were and how they had to walk from the basement of the high school to the third floor in two minutes between classes. Nobody ate dinner after the first day back to school. They fell asleep by seven. As much as we craved going back to our new normal, I can say with certainty it was confusing, it was tumultuous, and sometimes traumatic. Confusion in our life is really upsetting …
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I don’t watch a lot of television. I write and I read, but my wife told me I should watch American Horror Story and Nine Perfect Strangers because they featured writers and imposter syndrome. I looked up from my computer screen, cocked my head to the side, and gave it a whirl. Now I can’t get either out of my head. We, as writers, knew imposter syndrome was a force to contend with, but these stories bring it to a new level. If you don’t know what Imposter Syndrome is, it's essentially the sense of not being accepted, the feeling of being a fraud. For authors like us, we feel we are not truly writers and that when we use the name “writer”, we feel it’s a fabrication.…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I was outside with my brother trimming back branches from my house (you know I had to make room for that monstrous fence I mentioned in previous posts) when I noticed the trees looked tired. Every once in a while, a leaf tumbled across my lawn, not from my trimming,but because it made an autumn test run. Soon, an onslaught of leaves will be upon me, unless my brother and I can prune them all. Regardless, the trees want to start anew. After a tumultuous year with the pandemic, I can relate. I bet a lot of people can. I know my colleagues do. My phone has been blowing up because nobody knows what to expect when we return to work. Many of us had been home. We don’t kno…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I took my kids to the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, NJ. For you that don’t know what that is, it’s the East Coast’s answer to the Mall of America... only bigger. It boasts of having a waterpark, amusement park, aquarium, and ski park. The day had endless possibilities. I didn’t know what to expect, so I packed a bit of everything... swimsuits, change of clothes, hats… how do you dress for a day that brings two weather climates together at the same time under one roof? We decided on the waterpark. Of course, my sons picked the highest, longest family slide to tackle first. The first flight of stairs was no problem. The second flight was also not a pro…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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What is high concept fiction? I am going to boil it down for you. It’s a premise that has not been done before but still attracts an audience, therefore, having high market ability. This is a much different opening line than my usual life reflections from my back porch, isn't it? Don’t worry… I’m about to get my coffee. This weekend, I had to read another book to help my son trudge through his English Lit. This time, it was A Separate Peace by John Knowles. As I got to the sixth chapter of A Separate Peace, I knew I was reading a Knowles's version of Lord of the Flies. It conveyed the premise that every human being is capable of displaying a darker side of themselve…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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It’s that time of year again where parents, like myself, are in a crunch to get their kids to complete their summer reading. This year, my son’s reading list included The Great Gatsby, to which I replied, “Oh, I hated The Great Gatsby.” I couldn’t stop the words from leaving my mouth, but I had a flashback. I was sitting in my English class faced with the challenge of writing about Jay Gatsby and the green light. Besides traffic, what did I know about a green light at fifteen? I couldn’t connect and neither would my son. I prepared my fifty-year-old self for the long nights ahead, explaining the green light, Jay Gatsby and the American Dream. But, as usual, I…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I had surgery in March. It wasn’t a big deal, but I had to take a week off from work. When I returned, I did not receive the warm welcome I was expecting. I didn’t know why I thought I would get one. After all, everyone’s attendance at work was spotty, with COVID restrictions. Instead, I publicly scolded by the front end secretary who lambasted me for not following a procedure that was put in place during my absence. I explained it was my first day back, and I didn’t know, but she informed me I should have called ahead to find out. She then stood up, turned her back to me, and raised her hand in dismissal. Anyone who knows me knows I do not anger easily. Maybe it was…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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Last night I was laying in bed watching a T.V. series where a person falls in love online. The person procures the services of a dynamic duo to search for the love interest, hoping it’s not a sham. Sometimes, it works out but, in my opinion, the chances that the meetups work out are far less than what the love seeker intended them to be. It’s a display of hope and rejection laid out for the world to see. After another predictable outcome, I scrolled through my social my media feed. There, in one serendipitous moment, was a picture of a person who wanted to date me in an embrace with one of my friends. I also know that the intention of the post was to stir up some dra…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I really wish I had something to report from my porch, but I don’t. My neighbor’s home has been quiet since he left the comfort of his not-so-carefully tailored sanctuary for the Jersey Shore. The fox has been quiet too, as he was locked out of his protected den. Consequently, the deer feed off the smorgasbord of plants in front of the neighborhood homes. Personally, I don’t mind. The deer have to eat. My other neighbors, however, have taken to feeding the deer as an attempt to divert them from eating our plants. Now, if I looked at this situation as a reader, an observer of a story unfolding before me, I would note this crucial moment of when characters were at a crossro…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I come to you from my porch of inspiration once again. As I sit here, I am thinking about how August makes way for the fall and soon my porch sitting will be over. I will have to suspend my neighbor’s fence updates. I will find another seat of inspiration to write from. Besides, how long can I go on about a fence? Just because Home Improvement used a fence successfully doesn’t mean I can. Speaking of, my neighbor has put Jacktop fencing around the bottom of his porch. He is trying to block the fox, who eats his meals there quite regularly, from taking up permanent residence. I had to chuckle because it’s quite comical. There is a direct correlation between my…
Last reply by MichelleHenrie, -
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Yes, it is much later than my usual post time, but I had a change of plans. I was supposed to be on vacation but because of a Covid spike; we canceled it. My kids were very upset. We have been going to the same place every year for seven years. We meet up with the same people and have developed a circle of friends from all over the United States. When I speak about our vacation week, I always say, “It’s like a different world.” I watch my children become risk takers without the watchful eye of the neighborhood peer pressure. I take in the sighs of relief from all the parents who I think of as family as they relax on the beach. Together, we watch our children explore how t…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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Much to my chagrin, I am a little late in my morning post and coffee. I am sitting on my porch and I am staring at my neighbor’s fence again. I can’t help but wonder how the world outside his fence helps build his world inside his fence. Yesterday, there was an obvious breach between the fox, its meal, and my prying eyes. Were those three things part of the reason he put up such a huge fence? When I say huge, I mean huge. Totally goes against town code and is high enough for Jurassic Park, but I digress. I came across this article by Stina Leicht which does a great job at explaining worldbuilding with negative space. I enjoyed it and I’m sure you will too.
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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After a few days of torrential rain, I’m back to porch sitting with my coffee with my Edgar Allen Poe mug but this time I was surprised to see that a fox had taken up residence under my neighbor’s porch enjoying a righteous kill. The irony of the situation was that my neighbor put up a ten-foot fence to keep the wildlife out. He wanted to do what we, as writers, do: worldbuild. Just like Poe in “The Descent into the Maelstrom”, my neighbor wanted a space where his story could take place. Unfortunately, the fox had other ideas. Maybe my neighbor should have read this great piece by M.D. Presley. https://algonkianconferences.com/authorconnect/index.ph…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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Today I'm trading my seat of inspiration that sits on my porch for my couch of contemplation in my living room. Why might you ask? Because a storm rolled through last night...figuratively and literally. As it rained I worked on my MS and asked myself a crucial question..."What in the world do I write for my synopsis?" and in so doing, revealed that my MS had an identity crisis. Check out one of AAC's Cathy Hall's article "Do you know what your story is about, I mean really about?" https://algonkianconferences.com/authorconnect/index.php?/topic/16886-do-you-know-what-your-story-is-about-i-mean-really-about/&tab=comments#comment-25101
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I used to think that I had to sit in my room for a weekend with no distractions in order to write. I'd isolate myself, surrounded by nothing but my dogs. I would even abscond from all digital connectivity. The horror! But then, like Matthew Norman so eloquently writes, sometimes inspiration doesn't come from within, but from engagement with the outside. So enjoy another one of AAC's best and excuse me while I sip my coffee on my front stoop. https://algonkianconferences.com/authorconnect/index.php?/topic/18637-when-in-doubt-look-around/&tab=comments#comment-26813
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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Many authors find it difficult to categorize their manuscripts because they believe book genre is an insufficient mechanism to do so. They feel that using book genre parameters to define what you should write is detrimental to the creative spirit because it doesn't describe the essence of a book. For example, the manuscript I just finished is a suspense novel with romance at its heart. I thought it was great until I was asked by an agent, "Well, which is it?" I chose romance, then changed my pitch and title. I pitched it again to another agent as a romance, and during the conversation, I spoke about the book in more depth. He recommended I change it to suspense. There was…
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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All around us, inspiration is waiting to be discovered. Hacks like us (insert humor here) have to be conscientious watchers and recorders of what they see and experience. We always seek new and fascinating things, and we don't rely on memory to do it. If you're like me, you jot things down on a drink napkin, then make sure the drink stains a circle around important things to remember. I'm kidding. I never rest my drink on the napkin. We writers build a practice of contributing to the "idea file" regularly. A place where we write, sketch, record thoughts, save photos, or anything else that we want to save for future reference. Check out one of AAC's best on idea files! …
Last reply by Cara Cilento, -
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I suspect that most writers have “Get Published” on their list of goals for the year. Given that this assumption is correct (and I’m pretty sure it is), I’m dedicating this week’s post and next week’s to getting published and what to expect in the process. Whether you’re looking into the traditional route or self-publishing, I’ve got something for everyone. Without further ado, here are my top five picks for this week: #1: Podcast 365. Sunrise, Sunset, and Behind the Scenes in Publishing: Hanging out with Abby Zidle Abby Zidle is the senior editor and associate director of marketing at Gallery Books. While this podcast is mostly geared toward the romance genre, …
Last reply by Kathy LaFollett, -
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Last reply by KaraBosshardt, -
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Writing Hacks. Are they helpful or hurtful? I, for one, have never cared for the word hack in this instance because it makes it sound like you are potentially BS-ing your way through your writing goals, thus leaving your integrity at the door. I’ve also never really understood the entire “hacking” trend because in so many instances they are just using the word hack in place of the words tip or advice. However, with all that being said, we’ll say that hacking is a good thing for our purposes today because it helped me find some new techniques for novel writing that I couldn’t have found any other way. So, here are my top five writing “hacks” for the week (the titles are pr…
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My very first manuscript was horribly cliché and pretty much plotless. In fact, it didn’t even have an ending to it. I never bothered writing one. It was clear to me that by 80,000 words there was no point in wasting my time on devising a resolution because there was never even a climax. It literally turned into one very lengthy exercise in getting to know my main characters—because I hadn’t bothered doing that before I started to write my novel. And this was okay at the time. I was brand new to creative writing and I just wanted to test my hand at being a writer since I’d never done anything like it before, unless you count the horrible required writing assignments in En…
Last reply by KaraBosshardt, -
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When it comes to my all-time favorite fictional character it will always and forever be Andrew Wiggins, better known as Ender. I have loved fictional stories ever since I could read. I especially love fantasy and sci-fi. However, I had never really connected with a main character very deeply in a novel until I read Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, when I was in the latter part of Junior High school. I have since read that story multiple times and my 14-year-old self connects just as deeply every time. Every author’s dream, right, to have their stories cherished for decades? But why did I completely fall in love with this particular character? I was a teenage girl w…
Last reply by KaraBosshardt, -
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Truthful, authentic, honest. All these words mean roughly the same thing, but in this case, I’ve chosen these words to describe writers and the stories they create. I’m sure you’ve all heard phrases such as “find your own authentic voice,” or “write your truth,” or “be true to your craft.” Or even “be honest with your readers.” I realize that these phrases are ambiguous at best and are usually tossed around at writing conferences to make a speaker sound like they know what they are talking about. So…what am I getting at? To be honest in what you are writing, or to be truthful in the story that you create means showing a side of yourself that you may not want to. To b…
Last reply by KaraBosshardt, -
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Conflict should be at the very heart of every story you write. Its presence throughout your manuscript, or lack thereof, can literally make our break your ability to get published. Your main characters need internal conflict, they need conflict between themselves and other characters (more than just the conflict raised by the antagonist). There should also be conflict within the setting of your novel like a picturesque countryside that isn’t entirely what it seems, etc. etc. etc. Without conflict, or tension or raised stakes for the main characters, beginning with the first scene and ending with the resolution, stories meander, they are quiet and your readers get bor…
Last reply by KaraBosshardt,
WTF is Wrong With Stephen King?
An Algonkian Success Story
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AAC Content Stream
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Angelo Esposito - LIVING IN SAINT'S HOOD - Crime Drama
Comparables: World Gone By meets Who They Was in this 90,000 plot-driven and character-rich debut novel set in modern day New York. Hook: A gun-runner for an urban gang sets out to uncover the mystery of his best friend’s death and triggers a chain of events that jeopardizes everyone in his orbit, including him. Short Pitch: Marlon Brown is a gun-runner for the Bloods, whose best friend has been gunned down outside of the gang's established territory. Though the whisper stream comes alive with speculation about who did the deed and why, conjecture isn't enough for Marlon. He ha -
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How To Stop Time: Don't Lose the Story in the Concept
If your book is all concept, it's all boring! First of all, I will admit to having enjoyed this book when said and done. Even though I'm about to use it as an example of what not to do, it was still a heartwarming read about love and loss and how trust can conquer fear if we let it. But... This novel is a classic case of the concept getting way, way ahead of the plot. So first, the concept: How to Stop Time revolves around a man named Tom Hazard who ages slower than normal people. He's not immortal exactly, but his body takes so long to grow old that he might as well be. B -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
The act of the story statement Shadow Baelfiyer is a thief living on Chicago’s South Side. She is plagued by dreams of a world that has magic and dragons and a family she knows to be dead. Her aunt tells her these are just dreams. However, on a daily thieving hunt Shadow runs into two strangers who make her rethink all she has known. They are from a world called Elspeth where magic roams, people transform into lions; a world where she was born, and was taken away from, where she too has magic. These strangers take Shadow on a journey to find her past, but a great threat is uncovered -
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Books by Sylvia Day, Sophie Jordan, & More
The Queen’s Bargain The Queen’s Bargain by Anne Bishop is $1.99! This book was mentioned in a previous Hide Your Wallet and is part of the Black Jewels series. I didn’t keep up with the series as a whole, so I’m unsure how this fits in. I think it focuses on secondary characters now, but correct me I’m wrong? POWER HAS A PRICE. SO DOES LOVE. Return to the dark, sensual, and powerful world of the Black Jewels in this long-awaited new story in the New York Times bestselling fantasy saga Af -
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Active Protagonists are a Tool of the Patriarchy
I feel like I’m committing a grievous writerly sin by even typing these words, but I must speak my truth: I would like to see more passive protagonists in fiction. While the title of this post is tongue-in-cheek, I do think that passive protagonists are unfairly maligned in part because of the unspoken association between passivity and femininity. I’ll get into why I think so a little later, but let’s discuss what “passive protagonist” means first. The importance of intent Passive protagonists are the antithesis of what we’re told makes a good story. A good story, says common wisdom, is dr -
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Book Beat: Crafting, Middle Grade Graphic Novels, & More
http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/WP/wp-content/themes/smartbitches/images/posts/hide-your-wallet.jpg Welcome to Book Beat! Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster. Artie and the Wolf Moon Author: Olivia Stephens Release -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Story Statement Jeremy Peoples must do whatever it takes to find forgiveness and make peace with the past. The Antagonist Plots the Point Stacy Ramone is a former marine, married, with one son, a flawed family man with a heightened sense of loyalty and a rapidly declining mental state. His ultimate plan was to use the money he and his wife were making by selling narcotics and stolen pharmaceuticals to buy a local bar until he is betrayed by Jeremy. Several years later, Stacy remains unseen, a dormant facet of Jeremy’s complicated and violent past, until a series of even -
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The Review’s Review: These Were the Angels
Illustration: Liby Hays. Courtesy of Hays. Liby Hays’s Geniacs!, a graphic novel out this summer from the art book publisher Landfill Editions, takes place at a hackathon—truly inspired material for slapstick comedy, body horror, and philosophical reflection alike. This tech competition’s goal? Invent a new life-form. “People always think my ideas are dumb … but they’re purposefully so! Their failure is coded within them! It’s like when scientists artificially reanimate the cells of a dead pig’s brain. The brain becomes trapped in an infinite loop reliving the terror of its final moments. But -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
1. Story statement. Reconcile with past and find self. 2. Antagonist. Tess begins the story at a low point; anxious, consumed by memories of the past. She presents as nervous, little confidence in herself. She places too much emphasis on what people think. Dominated by internal thoughts that belittle and degrade herself. Natural people pleaser who doesn’t speak up for wants and needs, would rather keep the peace. As the story commences, we see Tess having to start making decisions albeit it small; from paying by cash or card, to directions. Midway, we start to recognize her poor decisio -
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New York Pitch and Algonkian Pre-event Assignments - 2021
Greetings -- Attached is a first draft of Assignments 1-7 for the upcoming workshop in St. Augustine. All comments most welcome. Looking forward to meeting fellow writers and learning a lot soon. Cheers, Elizabeth EA_Nichols_PreWorkshopAssignment.docx -
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Eight Books Based on Real Female Spies
“Few suspected women of spying, and certainly no one expected a middle-aged knitter to be surreptitiously gathering intelligence.” -Elizabeth Bentley, A Most Clever Girl While researching topics for my next novel, I stumbled across Elizabeth Bentley’s name and was gobsmacked that I’d never heard of this American spy who once ran the largest Soviet spy ring in America. Because Bentley was a female NKVD-spy-turned-FBI-informer—a combination America wasn’t quite sure what to do with—she was overshadowed both in life and after her death by Joseph McCarthy and Whittaker Chambers. In fact, Whitt -
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How a Woman Becomes a Piece of Furniture
Gustave Caillebotte, Woman at a Dressing Table, 1873. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons My grandmother collected perfume bottles, a seeming whimsy for a woman of such plainness and ferocity. I have three of them, given to me when she was still alive. They lived in a drawer and then later, in a decorative moment, on the bookshelf, where I have since placed them higher and higher out of reach, as my daughter has attempted to climb up to play with them, a slow-moving game between us, until now they are so high up as to be out of view. I tend not to be sentimental about objects, but I at least -
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New York Pitch Conference - September 2021
Assignment enclosed. Sanders- NYPC Final.pdf -
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SPFBO 7 – The Sixth Quarter Final
On Wednesday, we announced our sixth trio of eliminations and revealed that this week’s two quarter-finalists from the “different” batch are SHADOWS OF IVORY by T.L. Greylock/Bryce O’Connor and WINDS OF STRIFE by U.G .Gutman. These two battle it out in our final quarterfinal of SPFBO 7 In treading a different path in fantasy fiction, our two quarter-finalists stretched our expectations of fantasy protagonists. One gave us a cruel man who finds and murders witches but considers that a mercy, even as his actions eat away at him. The other gave us a young woman gifted by position and wealth -
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Why do women love true crime podcasts so much?
The question we have been asked more than any other in our career as pro podders is ‘why are women so obsessed with true crime?’. And the numbers do stack up, we at RedHanded have been in the criminal fixation game for nearly five years, and we still boast an audience heavily swayed in the female direction. Eighty-two percent swayed, to be exact. So, the question is worth asking, but the truth is, true crime and the commercial consumption of it is nothing new. As far back as 1888, Victorian media moguls cottoned on sharpish to how much faster they could sell their papers if they recounted the -
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THE LAST DAYS OF HONG KONG by G. D. Penman (BOOK REVIEW)
I’VE JUST WORKED OUT THE TITLE. That’s so damn clever… The title obviously, not me. Damn I hope you gave yourself a proper pat on the back Gray. Anyway We’re off to a good start, aren’t we. You’ll have to excuse me, please, as I’m suffering from serious book hangover. The kind where… you’ve finished the book, so you stare off into space thinking about it, then your hands reach for it in an attempt to return to reading it. But there’s nothing left to read… The Last Days of Hong Kong is the third and final instalment of G. D. Penman’s Witch of Empire series (The Year of the Knife and The Wou
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