The Great Query Contest of October 2010

This is it!  Post your query below as a comment by midnight Sunday, October 17th.

The rules:
Post a query for a novel-length work of fiction.  Any genre is acceptable, although I have a greater familiarity with young adult, new adult, paranormal, urban fantasy, science fiction, and chick lit. While you should never query agents until your book is complete and has been polished through several revisions, this contest is aimed at helping writers improve their work, so feel free to enter if your work is nearly complete or still in an early draft.

By posting, you agree that I may re-post your query (in whole or in part) for the critique and the subsequent contest. 

You may post only one query per book, but you may post additional entries for additional books. 

No links or attachments, please!

Your query may be in any style.  While I have some suggestions (Writing Query Letters 101), you do not need to follow them if you feel that your letter will be stronger if you write it another way.

Your query letter must be suitable for online readers (high school age and older)--even if your book isn't. 

Once the first round of the contest ends, you'll have a chance to revise and resubmit your query letter, and we'll put these newly-polished gems to a public vote.  The winner will receive a vicious mauling partial critique of the first 30 pages of his/her manuscript by yours truly. 

Questions? Comments? Just ask below.

Let the games begin!

Cover Art Contest for MINDER

Personally, I love the cover of Minder, but that's an opinion not everyone shares.  So, if you think something else would've been better, now's your chance to show the world! 

Brandi at Blkosiner's Book Blog (she also just posted a review of Adversary) is having a cover re-creation contest. Check it out here: http://blkosiner.blogspot.com/2010/10/cover-re-creation-contest.html

How much fun is that?

Oh, and check back here tomorrow for the start of the query contest!

Writing Seminar

If I taught a character development seminar for writers, would anyone want to come?

Here's what I'm mulling over:

Time: Something 10am-4pm on two consecutive Saturdays, possibly in the late spring.

Place: Either a conference center or a college campus in the Boston area.

Specifics: This program would train writers to develop distinctive characters and narrative voices using Porter's Motivational Values System (MVS). MVS is like Meyers-Briggs, but it's much more intuitive and practically applicable (and very heavily protected by copyright. I had to take a training course to be certified to teach this stuff).

Participants would start by discovering their own MVS and how to identify MVS in others.  We'd use group exercises to explore how people react to different MVSs, how MVS identity changes under stress and in conflict, and how people of different MVS groups react differently to the same events or situations.

We'd work through the different ways that people speak, use body language, express emotion, react to change, etc. We'd discuss the advantages of the different narrative voices, and how they all impact the expression of action, character, and setting. 

That's the first day.  There'd be a few homework assignments over the week, and then the second Saturday would be workshops and critiques of those assignments, as well as how to grow and change characters as the plot progresses, how to compensate for the "blind spots" in our writing, and how to improve our existing and future works by making the characters more real, unique, and vibrant. 

Costs: To Be Determined.  The biggest factors are the location costs and the proprietary MVS documents I'd need to provide. Got any suggested price ranges? What if I throw in this lovely set of Ginsu knives--NOW how much would you expect to pay?

So, that's what I've go so far. Any interest?  Any suggestions? Feel free to mention other locations you'd like, other information you think should be included, etc.

Report from the Big Apple

First off, I am delighted to report that, as far as I can tell, my NYC hotel room is bedbug-free. Yes, I'm OCD enough to have looked up how to check for bedbugs before I left.

But don't follow the link unless you need it--it's gross.

Since Wicked was sold out, I needed to find a different way to throw money into the New York economy. I wandered the streets for a while, picking up that great, New York buzz (which was a bit frizzy because of the rain) and picking up little gifts for the kids. I ducked into a place and grabbed a slice of real pizza (don't get me started on the stuff they call "pizza" in New Hampshire.  I will rant).

I kept coming back along a side street just off Avenue of the Americas.  The third time I passed the "Psychic" sign (walk-ins welcome), I had made the impulse decision to get a reading.

Yes, I write about people with psychic abilities. I'm actually working on my fifth book about them.  But I'd never gotten a reading, and I was wicked curious. I figured that I might even be able to right the cost off as "research," but I think Mr. Bear would have an aneurism if I put "Psychic Reading" as a deduction on our joint tax forms.

Now, I'm a skeptic about this stuff like Harry Houdini was--he rigorously disproved fake psychics and mediums because he really, really wanted to find the one who wasn't faking.  I've written articles about psychic abilities and how to fake them, so I was pretty confident that I could spot a fraud. 

I went to the third floor walk-up. The psychic had me come right in. First off, she didn't do any of the hoaky stuff like wear a turban. She was dressed normally, and we sat in a bright, normal-looking room. She got points for this with me. She had me relax and concentrate on "someone or something important to me." When she started the reading, she had me put my hand on the table and she put hers on top of mine.

Now, many of her insights were pretty general, like, "You feel like you are being pulled in many directions at once." It's absolutely true, but it could apply to most women my age.  She had a few, more specific insights--some were spot-on, but others were pretty far-off. Nothing made me go, "Oh, my gosh--she really DOES know!"--but nothing that made me go, "She's faking!" either.

So, I'm still a skeptic who'd love to find proof.  My feeling about this particular psychic was that she had some special insight into people, and that she wasn't running a scam.  She genuinely believed in her abilities, and she did have enough insight into past events in my life that I choked up more than once. Could she simply be really good at reading my body language? Possibly. Could it be more? I can't rule it out. Was the experience worthwhile?  Absolutely. I'm a big believer in the immortal words of Weird Al, who said, "Sometimes you've just got to grab life by the lips...and YANK!"

BTW, she thinks that I should stick with the Ganzfield books, and that I will be able to find a balance between work, family, and writing.  I've got a long life ahead of me, but I've got to start eating better. And something amazing will happen at the start of the new year.

Ooh--I never told her that Legacy comes out in January. Hmmm...

Start Spreading the News

Hi folks,

I'm doing some training for my day job this week in New York City. I know it's a huge cliche, but I LOVE NEW YORK.

I get a contact high from the energy of the place. And, after about three days, I also come down with a serious case of potty mouth and my 'Jersey accent creeps back in.

So it's probably for the best that I'm only staying 24 hours.

But I plan to adore the intensity of it while I'm there.

Some people "recharge their batteries" at the beach.  Some climb mountains.  I traverse the urban jungle.  So, what place does it for you?

Oh, and here's another review that came out over the weekend: 
"I LOVED it!! I was totally caught up in the story and couldn’t wait to see what would happen next...Minder is a terrific read for both teens and adults." – Sidhe Vicious Reviews
http://sidhevicious.wordpress.com/2010/10/02/minder-spotlight-review/

The Sunday Edition

Here I am in my local paper this morning:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/218843/supernatural-situation?page=0,0

Make My Day

The wonderful crew over at Books Complete Me did a group review of Adversary.  Here's what they had to say: http://www.bookscompleteme.com/2010/09/review-adversary-by-kate-kaynak.html

I'm giddy over this one. I LOVE that other people are hanging out with my imaginary friends!

Now, as we get closer to the HUGE, INCREDIBLE, EXCITING contest that's coming late next week, I have another little piece of advice from the rock star of lit agents here in blogospace: Nathan Bransford.



Happy Weekend!