Finally, a Writer's Group!

Finally, a Writer's Group!

On 18 July I made it to my first meeting of the Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer's Group. The group meets in a conference room at the local library in Chula Vista. We have a nice library. Not only are there the books to check out, there are large, comfortable spaces for reading, listening to music, watching movies, getting online, and other activities.

There were eight members at the meeting. For three of us, counting me, it was our first meeting. At first glance the outfits of a couple of members were, well, somewhat outlandish. Did I wander into a group that operated "in character" or something, like a World of Warcraft toon? It only took a few seconds for the light bulb to come on. This is the annual Comic-Con week, one of the biggest comics conventions in the country. Most everyone comes in costume for the event, and a couple of members had come to the meeting from the convention.

We all made introductions. The organizer, Robert, then gave a great presentation on what to do when that novel is finally finished. Talk about great timing for my first meeting! There was a lot of great information and I took copious notes, even though my cat bitten left hand (my writing hand) burned and complained at the abuse I was putting it through.

Three members gave readings from some of their work, which I enjoyed. I spoke up to tell the group that Robert had "ambushed" me on the night we met at the play writing evening by asking, "What is your book about? In one sentence." I didn't do so well that time, but I was prepared for this meeting and got to say my line, even if I did have to cheat from the back of my business card a little. 

One new member, Melody, came as a proxy for her son, who has written more than one eBook novel and was looking for advice about improving sales. He and his family recently moved to Hawaii. Melody offered to do some reading of my novel and give a reader's opinion, which I was happy to accept. I also took a look at her son's most recent novel, Blood Brothers, and decided to give that a read and provide some feedback as well.

I came away from the meeting with homework. Should I ever get to pitch my novel to an agent/publisher, there is a list of things I must have ready to go at a moment's notice. Here is the short summary:

The one sentence story description - that I have
The five sentence summary of the book
The two page synopsis
Sample Chapters (1-3 usually)
The Complete Novel (in the correct format, of course)
A Character Synopsis (have it, but use only if it's asked for)

Out of the above comes the formal Query Letter.

There is a lot more information about what to do/prepare for if asked for a complete proposal.

My next task is to find out when and where the upcoming Writer's Conferences are being held. The best way to contact an agent is to run into one at one of the many conferences that are held. Agents are at these conferences to find talent. It doesn't come cheap, though. Typical conference fees run $300-$400 and up depending on which events you want to attend. If you manage to interest an agent, reading fees of $50 for each reading are pretty common. I am a bit fortunate (or unfortunate from a billfold perspective) that between now and February 2014 there are five Writer's Conferences scheduled within a two hour drive.