After many years blogging with Bad Girlz Write, we’ve closed our doors and shut down the site. But I didn’t want all those posts to go to waste, so I’m going to be reposting them here where they can live forevermore. LOL

This particular post was the most visited on BGW and the one I referenced the most while I was part of the Pitch Wars contest. Three years have passed since I wrote this, but every bit of it is still applicable to each and every writer I know—published or unpublished, with one or fifty books under their belts. Keep on keepin’ on, friends.

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Since I already did my post on what I constantly screw up for this month’s theme, I’m going to use this post to write about something that’s important for any writer: Perseverance.

If you want to make it in this business, you need it. There’s no denying that. You will constantly face obstacles and challenges—not to mention rejection—and it’s important you keep on keeping on.

This is the second year I’m a mentor for Pitch Wars, a writing contest where hopefuls submit their work to a limited number of potential mentors, vying for a slot as mentee. If chosen, there’s two intense months of rewrites and revisions under the guidance of a mentor, leading up to the agent round.

Right now, it’s selection period. The mentors have been researched (hopefully), their wishlists scrutinized. The submission window has closed, during which the hopefuls submitted their polished work, and now they’re all waiting with bated breath, hanging on the tweets of the mentors to see if their MS will be selected.

As I was trying to figure out what to write for this post, I put out a call on twitter (as one does) and asked what the Pitch Wars hopefuls would like to see. I got several tweets, but the one that stuck with me was, What should we do if we don’t get picked?

Well. I’m glad you asked. Grab your marshmallows, gather around the fire, and let Auntie Brighton tell you a little story…

Illustration depicting a green roadsign with a rejection concept. Sunset with clouds background.

August 2013, I submitted my query and the first 250 words of CAGED IN WINTER to a contest (I can’t remember which one…I thought it was Pitch Madness, but the timing doesn’t work, so just make one up) and then I waited. And I hoped. And hoped some more. I was so sure I’d get picked.

And then I didn’t get in. (Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn)

Did it suck? Hell, yeah, it did. Did I give up and never write again? (Spoiler alert: my sixth [now tenth solo, eleven co-written] book released last month.) So, uh, no. I didn’t give up. I picked up my bruised ego and my dented pride, and I kept going. I continued on the path I’d intended. I was fortunate in that my path wasn’t much longer. Two weeks after that rejection from the contest, I received the first of four agent offers on CAGED IN WINTER.

So what does this tell us? A few things: one, everyone’s path is different. Some get in contests and land an agent immediately and their book sells at auction. Some get in and don’t get any requests. Some don’t make it in and get a dozen. Some don’t do contests at all and query for a week and get an offer. Some find an agent after years in the trenches. No two paths are the same–your path is your path for a reason.

Two, some manuscripts just aren’t made for contests. There’s not enough room for them to breathe. They can’t shine. From 140 characters to 50 or 250 words…or even one chapter, sometimes that’s not enough to get to the gold of your manuscript.

Three (and this goes for more than just contests, but for errrrrrr’thing in publishing), reading is subjective. Ridiculously so. Every person who reads your MS is bringing their life circumstances and their baggage with them, and that affects their reading experience—for better or worse.

Lastly, the power of positive thinking didn’t kill me. It hurt a little after my hopes got crushed when I didn’t make the cut, but the main reason I was able to wallow for an hour, then shrug it off and keep going is because I believed in my work. 

I feel like I need to repeat this while putting it in all caps, bold, italic font, so I think I will: I BELIEVED IN MY WORK.

If you want to persevere in this business, you have got to have faith in what you write. Because if you don’t? Who’s going to?

During the 48 hours, give or take, since the submission window closed for Pitch Wars, there has been an influx of tweets on the hashtag, most mentees biding their time chatting while they wait to hear. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of negative thinking hanging out over there, too. Many are certain they’re not going to get in. So certain of it, they’ve pretty much written it off. Meanwhile, I still have approximately 30% of my subs to even open, let alone read. They’ve thrown in the towel before we’ve even had a chance to read their name on a submission form.

I’ve always been a believer in the power of positive thinking. I get excited over things that may never happen, but I do it because it makes me happy. I like looking forward to something, thinking about all the good possibilities. Is it disappointing? Well, sure, sometimes. But, hey, life is disappointing sometimes. At least this way I got some genuine happiness from hoping.

Here’s the real truth: this industry is chock-full of disappointments and rejections and many, many no’s. That’s just a fact. You are going to face it every leg of this journey from finding agents to publishers to working with editors to readers’ reactions to your book baby. The good news is it’s also full of lots of good news! But you’re sometimes going to have to wade through the bad to get to the good. One thing that helps is to remember you’re not the only one to go through this. Head on over to the good ol’ google and search for famous author rejections. There are a lot. Pages and pages of them, and many of them are classics or beloved books, ranging in category and genre. But what do they all have in common?

Not a single one of them gave up when they got that inevitable ‘no’. Will you?

Your next assignment goes hand in hand with assignment 3. GMC (goal, motivation, conflict) is another peek at into the mind of your character. It’s also a great reference point to make sure each scene is moving the story forward based on these things.

I’m going to be honest and say I have a really hard time wrapping my brain around GMC before I write. I can tell you the GMC of any of my characters in books I’ve already written, but when it comes to characters I haven’t written yet or am writing now, I just can’t get GMC to work for me. That’s not to say I don’t know them in some roundabout way, because I do and it’s what I work toward while writing. But condensing it into three key pieces before the book is done is really difficult for me. If this is you, too, that’s okay! I’m a firm believer in trying new crafting tools, but not forcing anything that’s obviously not working for you.

That said, I have a lot of friends for whom this works fantastically, and you might be one of those. If that’s the case, let’s get down to it.

GMC is really very simple at its base. It consists of:

S/he wants X (goal) because Y (motivation) but Z (conflict).

My friend, Ellis Leigh, likes to use this very basic example:

He wants to get laid (goal) because it feels good (motivation) but his pants are in the way (conflict).

She also says, “But that example is super shallow. Some GMCs should be deep. Like, if a character wants to be married, the writer needs to unpack that. What does marriage represent to them? What is it that fuels that need? There’s a base desire at hand, more than love. Usually it’s something like security (physical, emotional, financial).”

I have smart friends.

So delving deeper into your characters’ goals and motivations could come directly from the character questionnaire you filled out, or vice versa. See how all this stuff works together?

For a more in depth look at GMC, check out Debra Dixon’s book. It’s something I own and a book that comes highly recommended. This blog post also goes much more in depth on GMC and may be helpful to some of you!

If you have a favorite GMC reference, don’t be shy! Share it in the comments.

In case you missed the first two assignments I posted last year, you can find them on my blog. Assignment 1 is on beat sheets (super important for everyone, as I’ve yet to have a mentee who didn’t need help in some form with pacing. It’s a very common problem.) and assignment 2 is on finding a CP (also super important so you can find your tribe). For this assignment, we’re going to talk a little bit about character questionnaires. What they are, how they work, and why you need them.

What are they?

They’re pretty simple. It’s a list of questions you answer as your character. If you google character questionnaires, you’ll find loads of examples on questions you can use. I have a total of 300+ questions covering almost twenty pages. Yes, it’s a lot, but it has always helped me get in the mind of my characters. I use Scrivener and a couple years ago tackled the project to break them down into categories for ease of finding the answers I need at a later time.

How do they work?

The idea is to answer the questions rapid style (remember playing the word association game by saying the first thing that came to mind? That’s exactly what you’re doing here.). You don’t want to think about how your character would answer it; you just want to answer it. Another cool tidbit: the questions you leave unanswered sometimes tell as much about the characters as their actual answers do.

Why do you need them?

For one major reason: deeper and more consistent POV. If you know your character inside and out (which you will by the time you’re done answering these), you’ll have an easier time portraying that on the page and you won’t get as easily stuck when you come to a part in the book in which you’re not sure how your character would react.

I fill this out for my hero and my heroine in every single book I write. It’s a lifesaver for me and allows me to fast draft novels because I’m so in tune with how my characters think and act.

Any questions? Leave me a comment or head over to Twitter and fire away. And if any of you are super hardcore, Type A writers and want my ridiculously long character questionnaire, leave me a comment with your email and I’ll send it along. For the rest of you, just google “character questionnaires” and combine/cut/edit till your heart’s content to get something that works for you.

Now that this is my third year mentoring for #PitchWars, it’s getting a little difficult to gather up all past info I’ve shared. I figured it was a good idea to put it all in one place, as much for me as for any writers out there who are interested. While some posts are specific to Pitch Wars (and marked as such), most are relevant to all writers on their publishing journeys.

I’ll continue to keep this updated with any new tips and tricks I post, any blog posts that are relevant, etc, so feel free to check back regularly. And, as always, I’m available to answer questions on Twitter. (Please remember the underscore when tweeting me. The non-underscore WriteAsRain doesn’t like to be bothered, to put it mildly. LOL)

Editing:
Dialogue
Garbage/Distancing words
Beat Sheets
Formatting your MS
First chapter do’s and don’ts
Showing vs Telling

Synopses:
Yes, You Need One (Pitch Wars specific)

Random:
Critique Straight Talk
Find a CP
It’s Okay to Say No
The Power of Perseverance
Are You Ready (Pitch Wars specific)

Miscellaneous Writerly Things:
Ten Things I Wish I Knew
Finding the Perfect Agent (for you)
The Road to Publication: Twitter Question Style
Do You Really Know Your Characters?
Every Step is Worth Celebrating
So You Feel Like a Fraud, Huh?

Welcome to the Friday (plus one day) Round-up! I was so busy going, going, going yesterday that I just couldn’t fit this in. (that’s what she said) But, hey, this is my blog, and I do what I want, so Friday (plus one day) Round-up it is!

I didn’t save a ton on Pocket this week, and most of it was work related. But I know I have at least three writers following the blog (hi, friends!), so maybe it’ll be helpful to someone.

First up, a book series bible using Scrivener. I’ve been planning to start a series bible for a while now and am trying to figure out the best/easiest/most conducive to my brain way to do it. The reason this one popped up was because Aeon Timeline is on sale now through 4/25. Even if you don’t want or need a series bible, I’ve heard nothing but good things about this particular program.

Another thing I’ve wanted to try for keeping my book/series plans organized is One Note. I mean…some of the stuff I’ve seen people do with this is so awesome. And it totally speaks to how my brain works. I just need to sit down and dive in. That’s going on my to-do list for Monday. Also, did I mention One Note is freeeeeeee?

Finally, I’ve been contemplating a FitBit (or something similar) a lot lately. Mostly because my orthopedic surgeon wants me walking a certain number of steps every day and my piece of shit free phone tracker doesn’t work. But, listen, it doesn’t excite me to wear a plain black/red/pink/purple band all day every day. Even if you throw that color on there, it’s still just a band to me. Enter Funktional Wearables. I haven’t had time to really dig in and see everything they’ve got, but from what I have seen, they’re super cute.

Whoops! I said finally, but one last thing… Found out this week that Season of Second Chances, a second chance romance with a hot single dad (there may be nail painting in here, but you’ll have to read to verify), is on sale for only 99 pennies. I have no idea how long it will stay this price on Amazon, so if this sounds like something you’d like, snag it now! As I was sleuthing the pricing, I also noticed Plus One, a friends to lovers, best friend’s brother story, is also on sale for $1.24! That’s both of them for about half the price of one. Not a bad deal!

That’s it for this week! Have a great weekend. My oldest is having a sleepover tonight, so it’ll be hours of screaming/giggling/obnoxiousness in my house. Here’s hoping your night is quieter and filled with lots of books. See you Monday!