What are the essentials needed in a query letter? These query letter must-haves are the most important pieces a query letter needs. Tips for Query Letter Must-Haves In the course of my work (as an agent, as an acquisitions editor, now as a publishing consultant, I have found that writers often overlook a few important…
Do you struggle with not taking rejection personally? Let me share some thoughts… An online writers’ group I belong to recently had a discussion about saying no – how to do it, how to mean it, how to deal with people who try to negotiate after you’ve already said no, and so on. That got me…
Are you dealing with creative burnout? I know the feeling and have some thoughts to share. A writer sent me an email saying she felt creatively drained. She said, “My book is good. How can I convince others?” Reading between the lines, I figured she’d written a book she felt was excellent but agents/editors were…
Writers need to know how to grab readers’ attention, and I have a few thoughts on this. Give your novel its best shot. Few readers will read beyond ten or fifteen pages if a novel doesn’t engage them. Agents and editors—even if interested in the manuscript—almost never go beyond thirty or forty pages before finding…
Writers’ Topic: Character Inspiration Can writers get character inspiration from other writers? Using an existing character can be a good jumping off point to a new character. A student once asked, “I often find B characters in novels more interesting than the leads, yet they’re never fully developed (hence the B aspect). I wonder if…
Need help finding story ideas? One of the most common questions I’m asked is, “Where do you get your ideas?” I’ve always said that if you ask me to write a story about a woman in a red dress sitting at a bar, I can do that without batting an eye, but ask me to write…
Do you really need an agent to sell a book? (What is an agent, anyway?) What is an agent? Agents negotiate book deals with editors on behalf of writers. They know the editors, the publishers, and the markets far better than a writer could – because that’s their only job. A great agent can do…
Writer Question: Exactly how long does querying take? I’m often asked how long it takes to hear back from editors or agents. Maybe a writer has an agent who has submitted a proposal or a manuscript, and she’s biting her nails waiting to hear back, or she’s submitted the full manuscript of her novel at an agent’s request…
Feedback for Writers I’ve been an Indiana Jones fan since Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I went to see The Dial of Destiny. When the opening credits showed four screenwriters, I knew the movie was going to be a mess even before . . . well. When you see more than two people with…
Omniscience for writers. Writers sometimes understand omniscience only as it is shown in television and movies, which is dramatic omniscience. It is not narrative omniscience. Dramatic omniscience really, really sucks when applied to narrative. That’s because dramatic omniscience lingers on the surface of things. It cannot penetrate below the surface unless some clunky device like…