Discouragement

                Another Monday comes and here I type, wondering if Project Mabus will ever see the light of day.  More rejection letters came today from two agents.  While I do appreciate them responding back to me (be it formally or informally), it’s becoming a bit disheartening at this stage of the game.

                I completed my manuscript almost 2 months ago.  Since then, I’ve been querying agents.  Some have gotten back to me and others remain silent.  I knew this was to be expected.  All of the books I’ve read about the publishing industry had warned me about the nature of the business.  But, I was excited to try it and see what would happen.  I even called my fiancé with the excitement of a 6 year old on Christmas morning when I got my first rejection letter.  She wondered why I was so happy about being denied to which I simply replied:

                “Because, someone noticed me.”

                And I really believe that is what this is all about.  Now that I have been trying my damndest to get my novel onto consumer shelves, receiving all of these rejections is doing tremendous damage to my thoroughly developed ego.  Of course, I know all fiction writers say this but I truly believe my concept is brilliantly unique.  I can safely say this because after scouring the internet and various brick and mortar stores, I haven’t found anything published quite like Project Mabus.  It is a story that needs to be told and one I want to share with everyone out there.

                When I began writing fan-fiction in my earlier writing career (that might sound a bit pretentious since I don’t have much of a writing career to begin with anyways), I always told my readers that I only wrote these stories for their enjoyment.  To be honest, I don’t need to write these stories for any personal sense of fulfillment.  I already know what’s going to happen, from beginning to end.  The Agent M series has been planned out as such.  I could tell you everything you want to know right here and now.

                But where’s the fun in that?

                The truth of the matter is that I can’t enjoy my work the same way the public can. To me, the Agent M series is a project I’ve been itching to write for over 8 years.  It’s been on my mind since I was a freshman in college and it continues to haunt me in many ways.    Finishing the first book in this series is a milestone.  I honestly never thought it would ever come to exist beyond my memory and imagination.  Yet here it stands, ready and waiting to be consumed by the masses.

                Well, I just needed to vent a little bit.  This bump in the road may have weakened my confidence a little bit but is far from destroying it.  I’ll look back at this post a year from now and laugh…  Or cry (haha).  I will continue to remain optimistic.  After all, unlike Agent M: Project Mabus, the future has not been written.

From Slumping to Hunting

                As an official sociologist (that's what is says on my diploma and I'm sticking to it), I thought it would be fun to mix things up a bit and share some insights in all of my years and experiences in this crazy thing we call life.

                The desire to write something like this came about after I had a discussion with my fiancé a couple days ago.  I had read an article on MSN about a man doing a study about the women who go to Ashley Madison (a sleazy site allowing married people to meet, mingle and ultimately indulge in some forbidden fruit if you catch my drift).  He wanted to find out why women chose to break their "vows" (I use the term loosely because they are so easily broken apparently).  The results were very interesting.

                Almost every women he talked to and met with state their reason for infidelity was due to the fact that their husbands had "lost the passion" for the relationship they once had.  Many of them stated that their husbands were so full of love at first that the women almost drowned from the excess romance and attention.  Then, over the years, it dwindled into nonexistence.  It was a great study and one amazing article to read.  Which leaves us to ask, who are we left to blame?  The cheating wives or the loveless husbands?

                So, in my expert opinion, I will attempt to answer.  At the behest of my fiancé, I've got to go with my gut on this one.  Of course, both parties are essentially to blame but sadly, I'm going to lay a tiny bit more fault at the women on this one.

                Before you go smiting me with words, hear me out for a second.  My reasoning isn't based on manly pride but on simple logic.  Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?  Before couples are even married, they have to go through a "courting process".  This is the part where one party (90% of the time, it's the men) tries their hardest to sway their desired lover into agreeing to an exclusive relationship.  Women are practically pampered day in and day out.  Of course they remember the good old days of "passion" because men had to try so flipping hard to get their attention in the first place.

                Now let's turn the tables.  We men are simple creatures.  Feed us, entertain us, and you have our eternal loyalty.  It's not hard.  We're fairly superficial as well.  I'll be the first to admit that I love the fact that women have to do so much (make up, working out, selecting clothes) to make themselves appear desirable.  This is supposed to be a give and take.  But when you really look at it, men are doing the majority of the giving in the early stages of the relationship.

                Don't believe me?  I'll pose this question just to the ladies?  How many times have you paid for the entire meal on a first date?  How many times have you paid for a meal over the course of your current relationship?  I know what you're thinking now.  Trying to jam "gender roles" only strengthens my argument.  Men practically kill themselves to win the favor of the opposite sex.  Depending on the girl, the process can stretch out for years.  After a while, don't you think we get exhausted, even for a little bit?

                Now, I will also admit that there is no excuse for men to hide/suppress their emotions.  Husbands should express their feelings every day and not fall into a rut just because their married.  But if you look at the evidence, what choice do we have?  By the time men get married, they are emotionally exhausted but it doesn't mean they are not full of love.  As we get older, our romantic energy is on reserve power.  We begin to enter a state of routine.  And this is where the confusion starts.

                Men, in our earliest stages in maturity, are wild, unpredictable, and fairly uncontrollable.  What I don't understand is how women don't see that domesticating a man is one of the greatest achievements one can attain.  We're yours, hook, line and sinker.  Our love is in our dedication.  While we may not show it all of the time, sometimes all it takes is to read between the lines.

                Of course, women are somewhat justified when concerning infidelity (even though I personally don't agree with it).  Why men lose passion for the ones they chose to spend the rest of their lives with is beyond me.  Even though I am not married myself, I feel like I've been with my fiancé forever.  I honestly don't know what I'd do without her.  She's my best friend.  If I allowed the passion to slip from my relationship then I honestly wouldn't be surprised that she would seek it elsewhere.  That is why I use whatever energy I can to let her know just how I love her every second I can.

                Marriages are the ultimate form of compromise.  As the divorce rates dance around a coin flips chance, I really want my vows to mean something.  They are beyond words.  This is a conscious choice to spend the rest of my life with one person and one person alone.  Why people can break them so easily shows the true nature of their character.  I have neither empathy nor sympathy for those who follow the path of infidelity and if I had a weighted opinion, I would ban the Ashley Madison website.

                To those who've read this, I hope I've provided a little bit of perspective.  Now, before you do anything else, stand up, find your significant other, and tell them how you feel.  Do this each and every day.  Let them know how you feel.  If you don't communicate your feelings, you'll never know when something is wrong and only have yourself to blame if it inevitably happens.

                Never forget that feeling when you first fell in love.  You'll thank me someday.

Plot vs Premise - The Eternal Struggle

                Alright boys and girls!  This week's lesson is on the essential framework of your story, the plot.  Or is it premise?

                Wait.

                What is the difference between to two?  That's a damn good question.  To answer it, I would like to bring up something my marketing professor would always ask:

                "Are we looking or are we seeing?"

                Another good question.  Simply put, one perceives the issue from the outside and the other from within.  This can be extrapolated to deciphering the difference between the plot and premise.  A story's premise is a vague description of what is to be expected and the plot has much more details.  When describing your story, normally someone would ask "what is the premise of your story" which pretty much means, "tell me everything about your story using little to no effort." 

                Now that we have this useful information...  What do we do with it? Knowing the difference is actually a crucial step.  If you are going to pursue the professional path to becoming a writer, then knowing how to efficiently and effectively convey your premise to your potential agent/publisher is a must.  I'm not saying I'm the authority when it comes to this matter, but it definitely helps to know the difference.  The best way to think about the premise is essentially everything you would write in your query letter.

                Agents and publishers alike read hundreds upon thousands of queries from young and hungry writers (like mine!) every year.  If you want to sell your story, then you're going to have to create the best possible query letter/premise that will steal their attention (and hopefully their heart as well.  More on that later).

                Once you've sold them on your premise, then they're probably going to ask for a synopsis, usually about 1-2 pages or so.  And so we've arrived at the second portion of our less.  A synopsis is where you're going to describe your plot in as much and little detail as possible.  Agents and publishers are testing you yet again at this point.  They want to see not just how well you can tell a story but also if you can do so with such little space.  The demands of creativity are unforgiving at sometimes but hey, if everything came easy, then nothing would be worth having.

                Once you know what an agent and publisher wants to read, it is up to you to craft it in the best way possible.  Time to you let your creative juices flow.  Crafting a query letter and/or synopsis can be just as taxing as writing your story.  Of course anyone would love to be able to sit and talk with an agent, pitch their story in person, and allow the passion of their thoughts pour through.  Sadly, this is not standard protocol.

                But a guy can dream!

                Since we are unable to sell our stories in person (or give an agent/publisher our 'word' that it's a good story) we must show them our creativity in writing.  After all, how can they believe you're a worthy writer if you can't even sell them on a simple pitch?

                Well, today's lesson is short and sweet.  I hope we all learned something today.  Always think about your readers above all else.  The premise is your hook and the plot steals the show.  Even after your story is written, there is still plenty of work left to do.  Creativity never sleeps.   Now we've all learned something today!

                "Remember your training...  And you will make it back alive!" - Starship Troopers