Nivian B

Is it okay to query different agents with different material? I have a few manuscripts that have had the snot edited out of them, sat for several months, reedited, proof read and edited once more before being proof read by several different people. I don't want to query different agents with the same material, but I'm not sure whether it would be considered bad or unprofessional to query different agents with different material.

Any ideas or suggestions?

write in the first person pov? I'm not talking about published authors- but the new generation of writers? Most of the questions on here asking to 'rate my story' or 'comment please' are written in first person? And all of the 'younger' (meaning tweens-teens) that I am currently helping to edit their stories- are in first person? Any ideas? I'd love to hear any opinions but especially from the tween-teen range.

In your opinion what makes a good fantasy novel. I am in the process of finishing my current novel and I want to make sure that it does appeal to the fantasy readers. It is geared so that any age might enjoy it, over the age of 13 of course. Younger than that might cause some confusion.

My question: What really gets and keeps your attention when it comes to fantastical writing?

In writing a query letter to a literary agent, I know that agents generally prefer a published author to inform them of this fact along with the name of the publisher. The problem is that I have had a negative experience with my publisher and am rather...well the only way to put it would be embarrassed that I was published through them. I found out after getting my book published, a rookie mistake on my part due to the excitement, that I had been bamboozled into a contract that didn't take care of the author how they advertised they would. In short, I fell for their pretty words. I do not want to make that or a similar mistake again due to my inexperience with publishers.

So my question is, knowing that the agents will want to know if you are published and who through, if I leave out that I am published that would hurt me if they found out, but if I put that I am published I am ashamed to put through who. What should I do?

Is there a concrete difference between shape shifters and lycans? I have read many different books that handle it different ways. One of the most prominent lore I have come across is that lycans are actually the first 'shape shifters'. That they are cursed/diseased and haven't a choice as to their change- that it is dictated by the moon. Shape shifters are the descendants of the true Lycans and have evolved to the point that hey can control their change as to the when and wheres, except under the full moon where the change is forced.

Any thoughts? Any actual right or wrong as to how to handle shape shifter/ lycan plot lines?

What are some qualities that people look for in a book? Qualities that would make a series popular? What do you look for in a series? Characterization? Depth? Meaning? Anything?

Craving salt. Not pregnant. Have headache. This is very different from normal. Any ideas?

We have these tiny little black flies. They are really small and when you squish one they leave blood splats kinda like a mosquito but they aren't mosquitoes. We have a bird and they seem to gather around the cage, even though we clean the cage every day. Any idea of what kind of bugs these are and any way to get rid of them?

How long should I wait to inquire about my submission to a magazine if the magazine hasn't posted a notice? Most will post a note saying that if you haven't heard from them in a set amount of time to inquire about it. This magazine doesn't have one of those, and I'm starting to get antsy.

I was a little disappointed when my first book came out because it was smaller than I had thought it would be. Trouble is now I am paranoid about my next book. It is going to be a novel....but I worried about word count. Is 55,000 word-ish make for a decent sized book or is that still on the small side?

**Note: I laugh about my first book being like pamplet. ~.~

My co-woker came to work with swollen irritated eyes, like she was having an allergic reaction. THe skin is dry, itchy and burning and she feels as if she has sand or an eyelash in her eye. Today one of my other coworkers came in with the same thing? Very possibly contagious...Perhaps some sort of virus?

Is it possible for an obsession like twilight, to become a problem addiction?

Here's what happened: My family is over at the house for a birthday party. My younger cousin brings up twilight (she's 14), I don't want to hear it because I hear it all, but I don't bother to tell her to shut up. She is talking and swooning over Edward and asks me what I think of him in the movie. I made the statement "He's okay, but I don't think he's hot." Conversation ended. After it's gotten off of my mind this little girl comes up behinds me and bites my shoulder! Not just a playful bite either. She drew blood. It pissed me off, so I pinned her to the ground and bit her back. I told her that she needed help and her parents needed to take the book away from her. SO I guess two part question, can a book become an unhealthy obsession/addiction, and was I wrong to bite her back?

This is a small opening paragraph that I was wanting to get reviewed. As the story progresses more details are provided. I just need to know if the decriptions are believable and the section as a whole invokes emotions, or at least thought. Thanks in advance!

Toni closed her eyes and let her forehead rest against the cold wall as the salty taste filled her mouth. Tears were hot on her face but she didn't care. The world was spinning and the shrill ringing in her ears refused to subside. Pain coursed through her to the very ends of her fingers from deep within her core. Burning sensations crawled over her back, and the gash on her forehead could have answered several questions regarding the psychedelic colors swirling her vision. She clamped her eyes shut as the rage and over whelming anguish washed away the shock that was still shaking her hands.

A jagged breath escaped her cold lips, as she tried to wish away the torrents of agony flowing through her. How could she have been so stupid? Why had she taken everything for granted? NO! No she would not put herself at fault. That's what he would want. That's exactly what it is he wanted her to believe. She swallowed back a sob as a wave of nausea hit the back of her throat, the acid coating her mouth, and that horrible smell of bile filling her nose.

She had been so in love with him. Her world revolved around him. Every breath she took consisted of making him her own. He was in her dreams at night and plagued her thoughts during the day. The first thing she thought of in the morning and the last thought to leave her mind as she laid down to sleep. To her, he was perfect. Her world didn't revolve around him. No, she was wrong on that. He was her world. That was all there was to it. Or at least that was the way things had been.

I wanted to get some feedback on this summary.

Her life was simple. That is, until the king died. The journey across the kingdom led her to learn things that had never even entered her most fantastical dreams. It wasn't soon before she was questioning the line between right and wrong, who she could trust, and what exactly it was that made a monster.

When writing/publishing and all of that is there one age group in particular that would be easier for a book to gain popularity in?

Vampires are once again popular. Would anyone out there read a story where the vampire, instead of falling in love with the obsessor(not picking on twilight, just the general vampire/romance genre) actually killed her in the end?

Our city just spent an outrageous amount of (tax payers) money on a new 'brand' name for the city, $432k to be exact, without allowing the people of the city to have a say. Tell me does this make sense?

Abilene: Frontiering