Long Absence

Hello everyone! First of all, I would like to apologize for not posting for several months. I have indeed been busy, and one of the things I have been busy with is this...

Yes – I recently signed a contract with L-book to publish The Second Sister in both E-book, paperback, and audiobook format. I’m so incredibly excited!!!

As of now, it’s a 5-year contract, and hopefully they will be interested in the three other books in the Amendyr series as well. A redirect/link will be posted on this website as soon as the book comes out.

I want to thank all of you for your support throughout my writing career. Getting e-mails in my inbox is the highlight of my day, and they always make me smile. I try to respond to most of them and all of the comments you guys leave. I also want to thank Lee, my awesome Beta reader, and my Mistress, who has encouraged (read: tolerated) my writing from the very beginning even though it drives her slightly insane.

Item of business one: OMG!!!!! *spaz* I am so excited!

Item of business two: new website - http://raedmagdon.com

Item of business three: Should I continue to run this site (with much more frequent updates) as a separate entity or combine it with my new website? Tell me in comments.

Hello, everyone! Christmas break is over, and I am feeling much better now that my wisdom teeth are taken care of. (Yes, that's a hint to my embarrassingly young age, but at least I am several years older than the 18 years technically required to be able to read the smut I write)... Oh well, moving on. Four items of business today.


First of all, I should be hearing from L-book.com soon about The Second Sister. If they think it isn't right for their publishing house, I'll be disappointed, but I'll certainly keep looking for a home because that book is good, and it deserves to be shared.


Second item of business is this: Thank you to Brooke R. Busse. Check out the award lists she included me on!


Number three - I usually don't plead for reviews, but the third book in my Amendyr series got lost in a big glut of story releases on a wonderful site called The Athenaeum. If you all could go leave a review here on The Witch's Daughter (if you've read/will read it), that would make me feel all kinds of warm fuzzies! I don't usually ask for reviews, but on this particular site, more reviews means more people will see the recommendations on the updates page and maybe check it out.


Number four is slightly longer and different. Yes, I'm giving you a grammar lesson...

I've noticed a disturbing trend in Alex/Olivia fanfiction lately. No, it's not the torturotica. I just avoid that. No, it's not the lack of spanking stories. I cry about that at night, but I get over it because I know it's not everyone's kink. It is, in fact, the incorrect use of capitalization in dialogue after a comma!

Now, two of the BEST A/O fanfic writers I have ever encountered make this mistake, so if you do as well, don't fret. You're in good company. But technically, when you add dialogue to the end of a sentence, you should NOT capitalize the first letter of the clause. For example, let's examine this sentence.

To the surprise of both women, Christine actually grinned. “Hey, I know the effect of those glasses, Agent Hart,” she said, giving Tess’s reflection an appraising look, “They only add to her sex appeal.”

Do you spot the problem? Yes, the T in They should not be capitalized. When you are connecting two pieces or dialogue or adding a dialogue tag at the end of a sentence, you do NOT want to capitalize the first letter. Here are two other corrections for that sentence.

To the surprise of both women, Christine actually grinned. “Hey, I know the effect of those glasses, Agent Hart,” she said, giving Tess’s reflection an appraising look. “They only add to her sex appeal.”

Here, I used a period to separate the last piece of dialogue. Because I ended the sentence, I can now start the dialogue tag with a capital letter.

To the surprise of both women, Christine actually grinned. “Hey, I know the effect of those glasses, Agent Hart,” she said, giving Tess’s reflection an appraising look, “they only add to her sex appeal.”

I kept the comma this time, but used a lower case 't' in they. This sentence is also correct.

(Just for those who are curious, option 1 is the original sentence from my latest novel. I purposely wrote it incorrectly to demonstrate the problem, and the second correction, even though it is not actually used, is a perfectly acceptable option).

Back on the Horse

Well, it's been a while, eh?

Here are some things you should know:

1. I won NaNoWriMo!
2. No, I'm not ready to post it yet. The novel isn't done even though I hit 50K.
3. I am getting surgery soon so I will probably be grumpy.
4. I finished The Witch's Daughter! Congratulations to me.
5. I'm submitting The Second Sister to L-book.com

Wait, backtrack. WHAT?

Yes, it is time for me to get back on the horse. I decided to give it another go and submit my baby, the first full-length novel I ever completed, to a publishing house that I very much respect. I have purchased stories from L-book in the past and was very pleased with the content. Although I was originally leaning towards print media, since most of my fans are online anyway, I think this might be an even better option! I am sure they would give my story a good home and hope that they like what they see.

I would like to thank all of you for your continuing support and all the lovely feedback and e-mails I get. I save them all and read them when I feel depressed, and it just really brightens my life. You guys all rock so hard!

It's back into the big, bad, scary world of publishing for me.

By the way, in the event that L-book doesn't think The Second Sister is right for them (I really hope they do!), I might need some other good ideas for publishing houses. I am NOT giving up until I get this baby in print one way or the other. It's a damn good story and it's worth putting out there for people to read! It took me a while to overcome my shyness, but Rae is back, baby, and she really wants to make a go of this whole novelist thing.

By the way, here's the Bio I sent them, just in case you were curious:

********* **********, writing under the pen name Rae D. Magdon, is a music student at the *** ***** ****** ** ***** in ********, **, working towards her undergraduate degree in Flute Performance. During the past two years, she has chosen to share her writing on such websites as The Academy of Bards and The Athenaeum, where she has received recognition and several awards for her first novel, The Second Sister. Its two sequels, Wolf’s Eyes and The Witch’s Daughter, were also well received upon completion, and the last book in the series, Mirror, Mirror, is outlined and half-completed. She has also written several non-fantasy novels, including Chopin at 3:00 in the Morning, a modern-day romance; Death Wears Yellow Garters, a light, “tea-cozy” lesbian murder mystery; and My Name Is Brianna, a young-adult novel about the struggles of a MTF transsexual and her lesbian sister. In her spare time, she enjoys dabbling in Alex Cabot/Olivia Benson Law and Order fanfiction, spending quality time with her girlfriend of six years, and hiding from her best friend’s purebred Flatcoats so that they do not eat her.

Character Letters

Today, as an inspirational exercise (and also to vent my frustrations), I am going to write Dear Character letters. These can be fun to write from either point of view, Author or Characters. Hehe



Dear Tess,

You really need to trust Robin more. I know you just met, but she's an FBI agent and she'll help you find your blackmailer, I promise! Oh, and she's handy with a crop, if you're interested by the end of the book... *coughcough*

Love,

Rae


Dear Robin,

I promise Tess isn't really a jerk. Cross my heart. She doesn't mean to keep leading you on and then dumping you, she's just scared. Ignore everything she tells you! IGNOOORE.

Love,

Rae



Dear Samantha,

You are a fun character, but you are supposed to be a supportive friend, not a romantic lead. Please try to be in less scenes. And I know you are a former prostitute, but please stop sleeping with my FMC so she can hook up with the love of her life. Do it or I will come up with something horrible to happen to you!

Love,

Rae



Tomorrow, I am going to post some of the novel "framework" planning I have done for my NaNo so you can see how I did it using the Snowflake Method, a method I have never tried until this month. It is working great so far and I feel really prepared.

Word Wars, Websites, Software, and an Exercise

First of all, I would like to apologize for the long break. I have been getting ready for NaNoWriMo! So far, I made my first day's quota and I'm about to get started on day 2. If you are not doing NaNoWriMo, shame on you. Everyone should try. Worst thing that can happen is you don't make 50K, but you still have some writing done that you can save for later. There is no downside as long as you don't put too much pressure on yourself.


Word Wars:

NaNo is all about the word count. It is a great motivator - it gets you past that annoying rough patch where you want every word to sparkle and shine, so you never get past the first page of your project. It encourages you to spit out whatever is in your brain regardless of whether you actually use it later. Word Wars are a wonderful way to spark your creativity.

Find a friend (or several) who are doing NaNo. This is easy to do, because the NaNoWriMo boards are full of them. Pick a generic time (:30 after the hour, :45, ect) and get going. Post your results and share snippets. This can be done on a forum, over AIM, or even on Facebook. If you'd like to do some Word Warring with me, feel free to IM me at RaeDMagdon and challenge me. Of course, it doesn't matter who wins, no one really remembers or cares anyway. It's all about boosting your wordcount and sharing the results!


Websites
Also, I would like to give all of you NaNo-ers some references that I think will help you on your quest to write the Next Great Novel.

1. Language is a Virus www.languageisavirus.com

A great prompt site with lots of fun word games to get you typing away.


2. www.hollylisle.com

Check out this awesome author's website and read her treatises on style, plotting, and worldbuilding.


3. www.nanowrimo.org

This one is obvious. I cannot recommend the forums here highly enough.


4. www.oneword.com

Self-explanatory once you go there.


Software:
Now for the software. Against my better judgment, I purchased some writing/novel plotting software today that, despite my reservations, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. I am sure that many of you have heard of the Snowflake Method, a system developed by Randy Ingermanson. It is based on the idea that you expand your novel's plot out like a snowflake until you have it down to the minute details. I was not a fan of the Snowflake Method, preferring to ride by the seat of my pants, but I have changed my tune since buying this software. I am enjoying it immensely so far and have come up with a bunch of different plot points that I had not thought of before! Check it out at www.advancedfictionwriting.com

The software is fairly expensive at $100 (I got it for $50 because I already owned the book Fiction Writing for Dummies). For ME it has been worth it, but only you can decide which writing software is the best for you to use, if any. I am still a huge fan of good ol' pen and paper/Microsoft Word.


Exercise:

I have discussed this before, but I'd like to re-share one of my favorite inspirational writing games. Take a poem (I like Christina Rossetti). Choose a vivid word from each line of the poem. If you really want to, you can skip a line, but not doing so makes the game more fun. Then, write a few paragraphs and include all the words you chose. It's that easy! It will stretch your imagination, and you get to use some very fun words. Great for getting started on a scene for your NaNo.