Okay, peeps! Laura Wardle is up today, so please leave you thoughts in the comment section. Remember: all snark will be instantly incinerated! Oh, and spread the word so Laura can get lots of helpful feedback. Also, be sure to check out Janet Reid’s latest post on query letters. Lots of great information to be […]
So, I decided to go ahead and throw my friend Yahong‘s query up for community feedback! Please leave your thoughts in the comments (nothing snarky — it will be instantly deleted). Spread the word so Yahong can get as much quality criticism as possibility! ~~~ Dear [agent]: When a bizarre circular imprint appears in the […]
UPDATE: All queries must be received by 12:00 AM Friday (Jan. 21, 2011) — so Thursday night! I am (no surprise) receiving a lot of these, and I don’t want to be SO inundated that I can’t give everyone a quality-critique. So, I said I’d be open until Friday, and I’ll wait until the very […]
Last Friday’s QOTW was about avoiding a contrived plot. At the time, I took this to mean a copy-cat plot, but the responses of Mandy and Julie made me see what the question could have meant: how do you avoid a forced plot — a turn of events in the story that doesn’t feel natural. […]
Heroes. Real, genuine heroes — the people who live and breathe like the rest of us, but somehow stand apart. Stand taller. Earn our admiration and respect. In Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook, Donald Maass starts off by asking you to list your heroes. Why are they are your heroes? What about them is heroic […]
~TRY~ What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? This next year, 2011, I really want to try speaking more German. Honestly: it’s embarrassing how bad my German is after living here 1.5 years. I never […]
Queen Duma here. I have confiscated the computer from Little Sooz today. Now that her book has sold and she is being bathed in congratulatory praise, ’tis time I confess the ugly truth behind Sooz’s books:
MY BOOK SOLD!!! MY BOOOOOOK SOOOOOOLD!!!! I KNOW, I KNOW, I KNOW I’M SCREAMING AT YOU, BUT I’M JUST SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS NEWS. ::takes deep, calming breaths:: Yes, so The Spirit-Hunters sold. Two weeks ago, HARPER FREAKING COLLINS BOUGHT IT. The amazing super editor Maria Gomez is now my amazing super editor. And […]
I recently read (but failed to finish) an ARC for a book attracting a ton of hype. I won’t name the book, but I was really disappointed… I had high hopes for this upcoming young adult novel, but alas, my hopes were dashed! My main problem was that I could not connect to the story. […]
I realize that I’m not the norm — that I was incredibly blessed to have 4 agents want to represent me.* BUT, I also feel most of my luck can be attributed to the fact that I Worked my butt off to have a Perfect Product. Did my homework before querying. DREAMED REALLY BIG AND […]