Interview with Sara D'Emic

by Daisy Willis

 

Sara D'Emic is an Associate Agent with Talcott Notch Literary and is actively extending her client base. She will be taking pitches at this year'sWrite Stuff conference and is interested in adult or YA mainstream fiction, fantasy, horror, sci-fi, mystery, and any and all sub genres of those categories.

 

GLVWG member Daisy Willis got in touch with Sara to ask her some questions.

 

Have you always wanted to be an agent? Have you ever been a writer?

 

It's the other way around: I've always wanted to be a writer, and I didn't seek out agenting specifically. I always wanted to work with authors and their books, so when the opportunity to become an agent came I took it. I still write in my spare time.

 

How have your internships prepared you for your career as a literary agent?

 

My first internship was reading the slush pile for a literary magazine, at my second I edited a manuscript. Both helped me develop a critical eye and a business sense.

 

As a relatively new agent, how do you build a great client base?

 

With less clients I have more time to spend on reading submissions and editing, and so I can find authors who might otherwise get skipped over. Plus I mostly attract authors who are just starting their careers, who have a lot of books in them.

 

What have you sold recently that you're excited about?

 

To sort of twist the question, there is a sequel in the works for R.F. Sharp's No Regrets, No Remorse which I'm very excited about. Because I love working with series. You connected with certain characters and their world and it's so fun to revisit them. I didn't sell the original but came on to negotiate Sharp's contract which I'm glad for since I love his work. He always has a classic hard-boiled tone with an unorthodox cast.

 

What do you wish you would find right now in your submissions?

 

An awesome fantasy, adult or YA. I also want, and this is a little abstract, stories with morally ambiguous, conflicted, or anti-heroic characters.

 

What really catches your attention in a query letter (good or bad)?

 

In a good query it's something that makes me really want to read the book. It's the same feeling you get when you start a good mystery: you know enough to be intrigued and are curious enough to continue. On the other end of the scale, usually when someone is trying to get my attention it ends up being bad. Just because I remember it doesn't mean I'll represent it. The worst are queries with that informercial feel: "this book will sell a centillion copies, but wait there's more, my mom said she loved it."

 

What are the benefits for writers going to a boutique agency like Talcott Notch Literary?

 

We give the same level of service as the big agencies! I'd say we're more willing to work with new writers; a lot of what we do is going through the slush pile. We also work as more of a team, so you're not just getting one individual's expertise.

 

Best piece of advice for writers?

 

Do research, use social media for it, google everything. A lot of people shoot themselves in the foot at the query stage because they don't know what to do or who to query or even what an agent does. There are ins and outs and facets of publishing in general that authors should know about to make the best career decision. For example, most people realize self-publishing is an option but don't know how to be successful at it, or if their work is better suited for a traditional deal or not. A novella about a talking cuttlefish told partially in iambic pentameter won't sell to the Big Six, but that doesn't mean it won't do well on the kindle store. There's no shortage of information about publishing, and you'll only help yourself by seeking it out.

 

 

Jordan Sonnenblick returns to The Write Stuff a well published author

By Kathryn Craft

It is a special thing to witness the birth of the career of a really good writer. Those of us who attended the first year of GLVWG’s Writer’s Cafe were able to do so. It was there that Jordan Sonnenblick, a middle school English teacher, read from his first book, DRUMS, GIRLS & DANGEROUS PIE. Jordan says he was as surprised as anybody when the book took off: it received several starred reviews and was named to the American Library Association’s Teens’ Top Ten List. Since then, the book has sold over 300,000 copies and been translated into eleven foreign languages. The Italian translation won the prestigious Premio Cento prize.

Soon Jordan held the Writer’s Café spellbound while reading from the opening of his second novel, NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER, which went on to become an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Some of you may recall the premise: a teen begs attention from his dysfunctional parents by taking his mother’s car, crashing it while driving drunk to the house of his father’s girlfriend (his third-grade teacher, no less), then slumping from the car only to puke on a cop’s shoes. For these unfortunate choices Alex, a jazz guitarist who is typically a good kid, must fulfill a most unusual community service: he must play companion to the Egbert P. Johnson Memorial Home for the Aged's most cantankerous resident, Solomon Lewis.

Alex's voice is a hoot, yet the tone never downplays the serious situations—and the bond that grows between these two during the end stages of Sol’s life will touch readers both young and adult. Jordan’s third book, ZEN AND THE ART OF FAKING IT, was a BookSense Pick and a Family Circle Book of the Month. He has since written three middle grade books. His new YA title, AFTER EVER AFTER—the sequel to DRUMS—will be published in February by Scholastic.

It has taken three years of invitations to jive schedules, but Jordan will be joining us as our featured young adult and middle grade presenter for the 2010 conference. Pretty cool, huh?

Conference Chair Kathryn Craft recently spoke with Jordan about his work.

Kathryn: NOTES FROM THE MIDNIGHT DRIVER, among other things, is about the consequences of drunk driving. Your first book was about a character whose life is reeling from his little brother's cancer diagnosis. So you haven't shied away from the tougher situations teens might face today. Did you encounter any obstacles with your publishers about this subject matter? What kind of feedback have you gotten from your readers?

Jordan: I have to say, my publishers have been hugely supportive of my work and everything in it. In all honesty, when I started my first book (DRUMS, GIRLS AND DANGEROUS PIE), a lot of my friends thought I was nuts when I told them I was writing a funny book about childhood cancer. Once the book came out and sold really well, though, that all went away. Now my readers expect to laugh and cry when they pick up one of my books, and I would expect to hear criticism if I didn't deliver that high-intensity experience.

K: I love the reluctant relationship between Alec and crotchety Mr. Lewis, the patient he is "sentenced" to be a companion to. Did you have a relationship with an older person that was important to your own growth?

J: Oh, yes. Solomon Lewis's personality is completely modeled on the persona of my maternal grandfather. I adored Grampa Sol, but he had a biting wit and a flashing temper. I tried to capture both my grandfather's great warmth and his difficult side in the book, which was hard. You want to paint this flattering picture of a person you love so much, but part of his lovability was his crotchety nature.

K: Have the books you've written since then continued to explore difficult issues?

J: Well, all of my teen books have. I have also written the DODGER AND ME trilogy for elementary-school readers. Those books are considerably lighter.

K: I love the voices of your characters. Are they hard to come by?

J: No, I have absolutely no trouble regressing back to my teen self. In fact, when I got my first book advance, my wife congratulated me on finally putting my immaturity to good use. And I know she meant that in the warmest possible way!

K: You used to be around kids all the time as a middle school English teacher, but now you write full-time. Is it any harder to come up with characters and plot ideas now that you are shut away in an office?

J: So far, I've been okay in that regard. I would say the source of my inspiration has shifted, and that now maybe 60% of my stuff comes from my own children. The main trouble with being shut away in an office all day is that one has to be careful not to get hugely fat. Other than that, it's been all good!

K: Alex plays guitar, and your author photo shows you with a guitar. Can you really play it? Does your interest in music feed your creativity as a writer?

J: Yes, I can really play the guitar, bass and drums. I don't know if that feeds my writing, but I think all inspiration comes from the same place—whatever that is!

Bill Kent on his passion for mystery

"To me, a mystery is a journey to the truth, a defiant, triumphant insistence that human beings can use their brains to solve the big questions of superstition, crime, punishment and redemption."

~Bill Kent

Today we feature the last part of conference chair Kathryn Craft's interview with Write Stuff 2010 presenter Bill Kent.

Kathryn: What about your interests/attributes led you to the mystery genre?

Bill: I started off enthralled with science fiction and fantasy, and I still am. I consider it imaginative literature, that is, writing in which the quality of the author's imagination, and the author's ability to stimulate the reader's imagination, bring us to a sense of wonder about who we are and the universe we inhabit.

I approached mysteries and thrillers as a way of adapting experiences I had as a journalist. Art Bourgeau, a mystery writer who owns the Whodunnit bookstore in Philadelphia, loaded me up with authors I should read, and to my early love for Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie and John D. MacDonald I added stories by Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammet, Donald Westlake, James Ellroy, Robert Parker, Ed McBain, Lawrence Block, Ross Thomas, Robert Campbell and even Mickey Spillane, whose crude storytelling had its powerful moments. From there I went to Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, and many others. To me, a mystery is a journey to the truth, a defiant, triumphant insistence that human beings can use their brains to solve the big questions of superstition, crime, punishment and redemption.

K: I know you have a love for a well-developed character, but you also write in a plot-heavy genre. Do you have a particular plotting device you use, such as index cards, outline, wall diagram, etc.?

B: The best device is no device. You start somewhere, end up somewhere else. Though the journey is never a straight line, it should feel as if it has been worth the trip. The best description I ever heard of plotting came from a man I consider to be master of it: Lawrence Block. "I know my characters, I come up with a setting and then I go away. I get lost and find my way back." He meant this literally and metaphorically. Block lives in New York City but does most of his writing while traveling. Some of his best work has given us a view of a placeless America of sprawling suburbs, modular motels off highway interchanges, fast food meals and killers who look like anyone else you'd see in a shopping mall.

Before I start a novel, I usually have a good idea of the hero and a few good scenes and maybe a glimpse of the ending. Usually, but not always. Sometimes I just let the characters show me what they want to do. My goal in plotting is to have things that happen flow purposefully, and have the action adhere to a logic that is believable within the context of the story. What that means in plain speaking is the best plots are plots that you don't notice: you're swept along and you don't look back.

Next post will include an agent announcement!

Days until Write Stuff registration opens: 84! 

Sustaining your career

It's time to introduce another Write Stuff 2010 presenter! Meet Bill Kent from Philadelphia. Bill is a journalist (including Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer), writing teacher (University of Pennsylvania, Temple University), critic (New York Times Book Review), and author of seven crime and mystery novels as well as two non-fiction books. The following is an excerpt from an interview with Bill conducted by conference chair Kathryn Craft.

Kathryn: You have a long and varied resume. What do you consider, so far, to be the highest peaks of your writing career?

Bill: The best moments occur when you're not thinking about your career, when you feel privileged, if not blessed, for having had an amazing experience and then being able to share it with people. You get a double whammy: the genuine, unique experience and the peak that happens when you've turned that experience into a work of art. All experiences, good, bad, boring, indifferent, painful, shocking, ecstatic, neurotic--have that potential. When I say work of art, I include all writing. We forget what an astonishing gift we've been given, until we give it away.

But you asked for a peak: I met a Philadelphia political insider who read one of my novels in which I discussed how corrupt things are, and said, "How did you know?" I didn't tell him that I made the stuff up. I just mentioned that I did research.

K: Do you find that your fiction and nonfiction/journalism feed one another?

B: They don't feed on each other as much as they are different voices in a larger, narrative tune. I'm aware that many writers specialize. Some of our greatest literary masters can't pound out a basic newspaper inverted pyramid lede, and many journalists are so dazzled by what they've personally experienced that they can't find their way to the greater truth that fiction provides. I can do both and, in doing so, I tend to avoid authors who include too much research in their novels. If I want journalism, or fun facts, I know where to get them. What I love to do in my fiction is fake facts, come up with things that should be true, might be true, could be true.

K: I once heard you say that the time to do research is when you are looking to start a new project. Why do you say this? And has this technique worked for you?

B: What I said was, the time to do research is when you are bored with what you're doing, or when the fire that burns to tell a story has been reduced to a few flickering cinders. The goal of research, then, is not to find out the facts about an aspect of reality so you can better trick the reader into believing the lies you're telling are true, but, rather, to invest in your own curiosity, your own spirit of adventure so that you may rediscover the sense of wonder, or experience an imaginative lift, or get a glimpse of the "wild side" and wallow in that soaring emotional epiphany that makes it easier to go back to your writing.

No techniques work all the time. Too much research can overwhelm the story. Say you want to tell people about all the cool things that happened when you went to Toronto. People who want to know about cool things in Toronto can get them elsewhere. What people want from a novel is a sense of being in a city that could be Toronto, even if the street names are different, the skyline is unrecognizable and the people don't say "ay" and "aboot."

For more from this interview with Bill Kent, check out the October print issue of GLVWG Offline or stay tuned for next week's post!