Another WriteOnCon is over, and once again I feel energized and ready to get back out there with my manuscript. It’s amazing to me how different the conference is from one year to the next. The organizers do a great job coming up with new topics and presenters. In case you missed it, here is my post from last year as a comparison before I jump into this year.

Live Google Hangouts

I loved the addition of the Live Google Hangouts, during which agents reacted real-time, on-screen, to Twitter pitches. I attended three–Suzie Townsend/Kathleen Ortiz, Danielle Smith, and Tamar Rydzinski.

Here are some of the takeaways:

1. If your pitch could apply to dozens of stories, i.e., “She must figure it out before it’s too late,” it’s too generic.
2. Avoid cliches.
3. If you can, use comp titles. It’s a quick way to give a sense of the story, particularly when you only have 140 characters.
4. It’s still a matter of taste. The Suzie Townsend/Kathleen Ortiz hangout was particularly great on this point, as one could be totally intrigue by something while the other would shrug and go, “eh.”
5. Be clear, specific and inject voice.
6. Make sure the pitch includes a plot in addition to a premise. Agents want to know what’s going to happen, not just the situation.

Danielle Smith also mixed in great info about the market for picture books and middle grade. I admit I was a bit distracted after she talked about my pitch (!!!), but here are a few things I caught:

1. PBs about princesses are a hard sell
2. The market is saturated with PBs about farm animals
3. MG science fiction is a hard sell (:() but can still be done if the voice is fantastic

Whether you plan to query Danielle or not, the info she shared was fantastic, so I recommend you watch the replay.

Middle Grade

As primarily a middle grade writer, I’m always interested in the posts/events that focus on middle grade, and two stood out to me this year: the vlog by Frank Cole and the Q&A with Peggy Eddleman. Here are a few of the points they touched on:

• Violence–Scary is good, but creepy is better. Although there are exceptions, if you start killing off characters, it’s no longer MG. The more violence you include, the more you narrow your audience, and fewer gatekeepers will buy the book.
• Romance–Younger MG boys make fun of girls they like, while older MG boys will do things to try to impress them. However, boys are more likely to guard their crushes closely, while girls will tell their friends.
• Relationships with adults–Most 8 to 12-year-olds have a lot of respect for adults, so if your character doesn’t, it should be noticed as out of the norm by other characters.
• The market–Middle grade doesn’t generally have the saturation / burnout on genres like YA does. With MG, platform doesn’t matter nearly as much as it does for older age groups, although you will need a website post-deal. There’s less of a market for upper MG for girls because many of them are already reading YA.

Agent/Editor Thoughts

The agent and editor chats are always enlightening as well. Here are a few of the things I tweeted during the conference.

• On breaking rules in queries: “Is the voice, character, or concept good enough to get away with the rule break?” Victoria Marini
• Common query problems: “Often a query is soooo vague it could apply to 3-4 books…that have already been published.” Katie Grimm
• On queries for books with dual POVs: Generally, one character per paragraph. An Inciting incident. Wrap-up. Victoria Marini
• On how to write a strong query: Grab our attention with a compelling or witty logline then explain the larger conflict. Brooks Sherman
• On what an editor will take on: “You can fix a plot, but it’s…hard to fix something as subjective and as personal and intrinsic to a writer as voice.” Sarah Dotts Barley
• On world-building: “You need a hook or a voice that pulls readers in and makes them ask questions without feeling lost in this new world.” Andrew Harwell
• On pop culture: “If your references are all pulled from the headlines, your book will become dated very quickly.” Andrew Harwell
• On the same issue, Lindsay Ribar added that it depends on whether the references will be relevant when the book comes out in 2-5 yrs. Disney and Elton John are probably ok, but “Call Me Maybe” not so much.

Everything Else

Obviously I can’t recap the whole conference, so when you have time, I urge you to go through and read the other articles or watch replays of the events. Here’s a link to the full program.

If you attended, what were your biggest takeaways?