Southern Califonia Writers Conference | San Diego 2007 | My Take (Part One)

A Quick Rundown Of The Best Tips From Authors, Agents, & Attendees

I woke up at 11:30 today. Three days of author panels, hanging with cool writers, drinking, networking, pitching, reading, and critiquing will tire a person out. In a good way.

Which is a lazy way to express that the 2007 Southern California Writers Conference, hosted here in San Diego, was a blast. This post marks the first in a short series highlighting my experiences at the conference.

(Seeing as how I'm a tad hungover, don't expect breathtaking journalism.)

I'll start with some of the more poignant take-home tips I gleaned from author presentations, barroom conversations with agents, and insights fellow writers were kind enough to share with me.

PITCHING YOUR BOOK by Bob Mayer

Bob Mayer, as usual, was a popular draw among conference attendees. I'd encourage all writers to attend his workshops at some point, and to buy his how to write book. He's an organized presenter, and speaks from long experience in the industry. He's also one of the few authors out there who can say they've earned their living from writing books for over 15 years. I won't try to list all of his wisdom, just the stuff I thought really stood out:

• The title of your book is your best marketing tool (Barry Eisler, who I'll talk more about later, made a similar point). It has to suggest what your story is about, and stand out from adjacent books on the shelf next to it.
• The number of inches of shelf space you occupy at a Barnes & Noble is a good measure of author success.
• Join the Romance Writers Association, even if you don't write romances. It is among the best of the professional organizations for writers (all the other authors in attendance echoed this advice).
• Your book's Original Idea is critical for staying focused during the writing of your manuscript, and later when you sell your book to agents and editors (see this website for more info).
• Every scene in your manuscript should have conflict. Otherwise cut it.
  

BLOGGING FOR AUTHORS by Alexandra Sokoloff

The multi-talented horror / supernatural thriller author of THE HARROWING (also known for her talents as a screenwriter) shared many great insights about blogging as it pertains to authors. Her list of the best writing and publishing sites to participate in was incredibly valuable. I'll list just a few here; there really are too many to list, and I can't do them all justice:

• Backspace.org
• Shocklines (a site for horror writers that has an even more active community than the HWA)
  
• DorothyL.com (to network with librarians)

Other tips she shared during this presentation, not necessarily limited to blogging, included:

• Volunteer at writing conferences in order to give back to the writing community and get to know the professionals in the industry.
• Want a link from an author's blog? Buy them a drink.
• Don't limit your audience to just readers in your book's genre. Instead, adjust how you talk about your book based on the audience you're talking to. Just because you write thrillers, for instance, doesn't mean romance readers won't appreciate the sexual adventures of your protagonist.
  

I'll have more to share about this generous, talented, and spirited author in just a bit…

AGENTS AND EDITORS PANEL

• Be professional. Never send out a query letter or manuscript with typos. Sounds obvious, but many authors get rejected for careless proofreading.
• Don't be so desperate for agent representation, or a publishing contract that you make decisions you'll regret later. Be patient, and find an agent / publisher that really believes in your book.

POINT OF VIEW IN YOUR NOVEL by Bob Mayer

• Too many viewpoints can lead to the reader knowing far more than your protagonist and other characters, thus killing suspense.
• Be careful when shifting viewpoints.
• One way to spot the difference between 3rd person limited omniscient and regular omniscient viewpoint is to look for the word 'the' (it signals regular omniscient). A common mistake is to mix limited omniscient and omniscient too much in the same scene.
  
• Your character's strongest defenses are built around their blind spots.
• The first time two characters meet is critical. Spend time getting it right.
  

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN AGENT AT THE BAR

• If your book is a hybrid of more than one genre (it contains dark fantasy elements, and thriller elements for instance), you still have to choose ONE genre when you first pitch it to an agent or editor. After all, it will only be shelved in one section in a bookstore. Good, yet painful advice if you happen to be genre mixing.
• An agent doesn't have to live in New York to be reputable, but they should have some experience working in New York previously in their career.
• Agents don't go to conferences to find new writers to represent (although it happens on rare occasions). Rather, they go to network with editors. An activity they're comfortable doing, and which has more bang for the buck from their perspective. Still, if you're sitting at the bar talking to an agent, it doesn't hurt to pitch them your story. Sometimes they're receptive.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM FELLOW WRITERS

• Snipers would never use a hollow point round because it would fuck up the barrel (T.J. Turner—a really promising writer who does bitchin' satire on the U.S. Military and the like)
• You can't reliably pinpoint the location of a sniper from the supersonic boom of a bullet in flight (from T.J. Turner again...THANKS!)
• Taste is very subjective
• Even a good hook needs to be integral to the story (author Ray Straight...thanks)
  
• If you read your story in a critique group, expect to be critiqued. They're not called "validation groups" or "praise for your genius groups"
• Even if you submitted a former bestselling book in manuscript form for critique, people are going to find plenty of stuff wrong with it. The same material in hardcover will garner praise. People don't want to knowingly criticize success.
• "Candy Flipping" is the delightful combination of the drugs ecstasy and LSD. In case you didn't know; i.e. if you went to Berkeley you probably had more fun in college than most people.
• (I'm saving the amazingly good tips from Barry Eisler and Alexandra Sokoloff for a future post)
  

More On The Way...

But before I go, just a quick shout out to some very promising and fun writers in attendance: T.J. Turner, Brendan Cody, Erin Glass, Carol Callicote-Belman, Grace Yang, Lauren Hartney, Craig Berger, Paul Methot, and Amy Lewis. More on these rowdy up-and-comers in the near future.

Also, a quick thanks to author Matt Palamary for his hard work during the late night rogue critique groups.

In Part Two I'll share more about the two authors, who, in my mind at least, were the true superstars of the conference, and who shared the most passion, wisdom, and all around good cheer with those lucky enough to attend: Barry Eisler and Alexandra Sokolov. Stay tuned.