Author Heather McCorkle

This week's top tweets that I caught are all over the board of writing topics, which is kind of where I'm at right now, all over the board. I'm wrapping up the final read through edit of The Secret of Spruce Knoll , am searching for an agent for Trouble With the Dragon Empire , and am writing The First Dragonwatcher  which just tipped over 75,000 words! Whew. This first one is a link for those of you who need help on your synopsis: @ inkyelbows  Excellent synopsis-writing tips from @ Becky_Levine : http://bit.ly/9S7dLK This one is an interview by Chuck Sambuchino of a new agent that is searching for children's books: @ alicepope  Today on the @ SCBWI blog --Agent Interview: Mary Kole @ Kid_Lit   Andrea Brown Literary Agency. http://tinyurl.com/2busdd5 If you haven't heard about the Wylie agency e-book deal with Amazon you have to read this! It's huge news in the publishing industry and affects all authors: @ WeronikaJanczuk Have you heard? Wylie-A...

It seems appropriate that my muse has taken me to a frozen island just as the weather has decided to change and remind us that winter is around the corner. In this week's chapter my main character discovers that the path he has chosen is controversial enough that it could cost him his life if he isn't careful. Despite the dangers he realizes it was what he was meant to do. Though I outlined the novel it continues to surprise me with where it takes me and I love that. The book that's feeding my muse this week is Shadow Hills  by Anastasia Hopcus . From the very first sentence this book yanked me in and wouldn't let me go. I love the main character's voice, the setting, everything! I can't wait to get deeper into it. The song that inspired me this week was The Sting Of The Bumblebee  by Manowar. This is the first novel I will have written that has its own soundtrack of sorts! This is so much fun that now I'll have to put together a playlist for every book ...

As I step into the query coliseum again I do so with a heavy appreciation of what agents go through. Impressing an agent is so hard that sometimes we writers forget their job is hard too. Being patient while waiting for someone to judge the culmination of your hard work can be difficult. Agents sometimes receive thousands of query letters a month. If you work a forty hour work week that's 50 queries a day. If that sounds easy don't forget agents also have workshops, conferences, retreats, and book fairs to attend. Not to mention they have other clients who's work they have to sell which means meetings with editors, as well as phone calls and e-mails to those clients and editors. I actually heard a few complaints from writers who were rejected that the agents responded too fast. If you don’t understand how an agent can decide so quickly then you need to read The First Five Pages  by Noah Lukeman. That book explains how an agent can tell so quickly and from such a small s...

Your novel should be like the nature of water. It should rise, fall, speed up, slow down, and rush toward an inevitable end. But above all, it must be a ride the reader doesn't want to get off of. To create the perfect ride you must perfect your pacing. If your scenes are filled with page after page of description then your pacing may be too slow. Maybe your novel is the opposite, so fast paced that the reader is going to end up with whiplash. The sweet spot is somewhere between description and dialogue, a perfect balance of the two. When I'm finished writing my outline at the novel's beginning stages I go through and what each chapter is. In the margins I write action, tension, or development . Action means the chapter is fast paced with a fight scene or something exciting happening. Tension means a tense point in the story that isn't necessarily action but isn't down time either. Development might mean character or plot. It's a point in the story where so...

I'm back in the trenches battling to land a new agent and things are different this time. Why? For one, I didn't bring a knife to a gun fight this time. In fact, not only am I wearing my armor~see Slaying a Titan  ~I'm armed with a weapon that is not only polished to a high shine, but is top of the line. And I know how to break through the defenses. Querying is a battle where only the best are left standing. Anyone who's been at it for a while or has done it and been successful knows that it is one of the hardest challenges an aspiring author faces. So how can I have such a positive outlook? Read on and I shall share my secrets with you. First you must write the best possible book you can, then you have to make it even better. Hone your skills until that novel is absolutely top of the line, not just good enough. Then write a great query letter. The second part is often harder than the first for some mysterious reason, yet many people rush through that part as if it ...

Since I'm now back in the agent querying pool I've been quite busy and my Twitter time has suffered for it. This means I didn't get a lot of links for you this week and the one's I did get are, you guessed it, query related! The good news is, if you need help on your query these links are really good! The first one was written by super agent Nathan Bransford   with Curtis Brown LTD . If you don't know who Nathan is then you need to find out! @thecreativepenn How to Write a Query Letter http://dld.bz/s7Hn  via @NathanBransford This one is by a new agent, Weronika Janczuk   with D4EO literary .  Those who have been querying a while know that a new agent is great for new writers because they're building their client list. Not to mention, Weronika is awesome. You definitely want to check her out. @WeronikaJanczuk New blog post! A Note About Reading Queries: Since, in addition to being an agent, I am also a writer, I am a memb... http://bit.ly/a6upK1 T...

Of course this picture is from the amazing James Cameron film Avatar . If you haven't seen it and you love the fantasy genre, crawl out from under your rock and run, don't walk, to the store to buy it. It's one of those movies that is so amazing they are re-releasing it in the theaters. As with every great vision, there are critics who don't agree with my take on the movie and that's okay. It inspired me and that's what was important. This week in particular it inspired me while I wrote my latest chapter in which my main character risks everything for the sake of his friends. The chapter was another huge turning point for him, one that changes him forever. It was hard to write because it was hard for him. My reading muse this week was You Wish  by Mandy Hubbard . It was a blast to read! It took me right back to the magic and pressure of being sixteen. If you love YA you’ve got to make time to read this book! The song that helped keep me inspired while writ...