Welcome all my new followers. And thanks for all the comments!This weekend I spoke at a local workshop for the mystery writers group, Sisters in Crime. My topic was “Introducing the Protagonist.” I thought I’d post some of my nuggets of wisdom here.But remember: these are rules for the final draft. When you’re first diving into a novel, you’re not introducing your characters to a reader; you’re introducing them to yourself. All kinds of information about your MC will come up, like she eats cold pizza for breakfast, grew up next to an adult book...
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Monday, 25 January 2010
DON'T SHOOT YOURSELF IN THE FONT: KILL THAT PROLOGUE!
Posted on 11:16 by Unknown
Beginning writers love prologues. My first novel had one. I’ll bet yours does too.And why not? Prologues are the quickest way to set the scene and establish the mood and tone of your novel. They allow us to snuggle into a fictional world and get comfy before the action takes over, like listening to the overture of a symphony. We’ve read lots of good novels with prologues.Although maybe we kind of skimmed them. Or skipped them. At least until after we got into the story. Or never read them at all. A recent poll of my writers’ group found only one...
Thursday, 21 January 2010
OMG I'M A GUEST BLOGGER ON NATHAN BRANSFORD'S BLOG!
Posted on 11:43 by Unknown
This has been hard to keep under my cyberhat all week, but Nathan asked that winners keep the info off the internets until the big day. Which is TODAY.So here it is: I'm one of the three winners of Nathan's guest blogger contest. You can read my post on Nathan's Blog.In honor of any new readers who might tiptoe over here, I'm posting an updated version of one of my popular oldies. Following is additional information from comment on the initial post by blog-goddess/agent Janet Reid.BEWARE BOGUS LITERARY AGENTSSeven Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed,...
Sunday, 17 January 2010
Listing Publishing Credits in your Query
Posted on 15:40 by Unknown
Today agents Janet Reid and Colleen Lindsay have both blogged complaints about writers including extraneous publishing credits in their queries, so here are some guidelines:Contests: Ms. Reid says agents do NOT want to hear about your 3rd place or hon. mention “wins”. It’s first place or nothing. She says if you didn’t win, you LOST, and it isn’t something to brag about.I guess that makes sense, although I’d use discretion here. If it’s a prestigious contest and you won something that’s an equivalent of an Olympic “Bronze,” I’d say go ahead and...
Sunday, 10 January 2010
WRITE YOUR AUTHOR BIO NOW!
Posted on 14:55 by Unknown
You’ve been sending out queries. Lots. And you’re getting rejections. Lots. Or worse, that slow disappointment of no response at all. It's getting to be routine.But one day, you open your email and there it is: “I’m intrigued. Please send the first fifty pages and an author bio.”OMG. Author bio? Is that like a resume? CV? A chronological history? A book jacket blurb?You dash something off in 20 minutes so you can send your pages and show this agent what a great writer you are so she’ll offer representation and get this career on the road!Whoa....
Friday, 8 January 2010
Genre Wars Anthology
Posted on 09:38 by Unknown
I just heard one of my YA stories, The Big Ones will be included in the Literary Lab’s new anthology, Genre Wars. Nice, since it looks as if the competition was stiff. It’s only my second venture into the genre, and short stories are a stretch for me. My muse likes big, juicy novel-sized plots.The anthology will benefit the Writers Emergency Fund.They've designed a great cover, but I can't figure out how to copy it into this blog. I'm such a cybermoron. But you can check it out at http://literarylab.blogspot.com/. Literary Lab is a great resource...
Monday, 4 January 2010
WORD COUNT GUIDELINES UPDATED FOR THE NEW DECADE
Posted on 11:01 by Unknown
How Long Should A Novel Be?A lot of agents have been complaining about queries with inappropriate word counts recently. If you're getting a lot of form rejections, this may be why.Today Fineprint agent Colleen Lindsay has posted an update of contemporary word count rules on her great blog, THE SWIVET http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2008/03/on-word-counts-and-novel-length.html. She’s concerned that many writers’ sites have been giving out wrong or outdated information. Word count guidelines have been trending down in the last decade. She says most...
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