F.Anna is a writer who also wears many other hats (educator, academic researcher, novelist, and poet). Read her official blog, snippets from her books and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
10 Query Letter Tips for Writers
You can find hundreds of pieces of advice on querying an agent, but when push comes to shove there are really 10 main tips that you need to know before testing the waters of the literary agent pool. Here they are.
1. If you write across categories (let's say you write both picture books and adult fantasy), look for an agent who handles everything you write. She might just be your perfect fit.
2. Mass mailing (or e-mailing) agents without considering each one's specialties is a waste of time and postage. Not every agent listed here will be a good fit for you. In fact, the fewer true matches you find, the more you've done your research. Agents love when you query them individually and provide a reason, such as, "Because you represented such-and-such book, I think you'd be a great agent for my work."
3. Make sure your work is edited, revised and polished. Rewriting is a crucial step to bettering your work, so be sure to have trusted peers give you an honest critique, or consider seeking a professional freelance editor to evaluate it. And never query an agent for a novel until the work is complete.
4. Single-space your query letter, and keep it to one page. Double-space your manuscript and synopsis.
5. If you lack a good opening for your query letter, just give the facts. A simple yet effective opening line would be, "I am seeking literary representation for my 75,000-word completed thriller, titled Dead Cat Bounce." In one sentence, you can tell the agent the length, genre, whether it's complete and the title. After that, follow with the pitch and a little biographical information.
6. Follow submission directions to a T. If an agent requests "no attachments," your query will likely be deleted should it arrive with an attachment. If they say "query first," do just that. If they reply to your query and ask for an exclusive read of your manuscript for four weeks, make sure you give them that exclusive look.
7. If you have an automatic spam filter, turn it off. If you're lucky enough to garner a reply from an agent interested in your work, the last thing they want to deal with is a spam filter requiring them to prove their existence.
8. Remember that publishing is a business and there's much to learn. If you've finished a novel, make sure you know how to construct a good synopsis. If you're pitching nonfiction, you'll likely be asked to submit a full proposal detailing the book and how you intend to sell it. If you don't know everything that goes into a book proposal, now's the time to learn.
9. Realize that listings are an excellent start, but there's still work to be done. Research the agent's website to confirm that he is indeed still seeking "electronic queries for romance novels," etc. Also, remember the frustratingly sad reality that the publishing industry is constantly in flux. Agents quit; they switch agencies; they suddenly stop representing fiction and move completely to nonfiction. The best way to deal with this is to cast a wide net.
10. Be persistent. Every famous author has a story about how many agents rejected their work before they made a connection. Work hard, work smart and don't give up.
Source:
- Chuck Sambuchino
Writersdigest.com
DEAR MUSE...
Dear
Muse,
You have
asked that for the duration of the epistolary novel revision, I discuss with
you all issues arising, following similar format. Sounds like a perfect idea to
me! So, here….
I saw you laughing hysterically at my inept effort to daily manage all my
social media outlets and still find time to keep my appointments with you. I
know I have been slacking in the latter – due to no fault of yours. Thanks for
the reminder that writers write and procrastinators…. That’s not to say that I haven’t
been writing; though, not as much as we’d like and you are willing to go.
After
careful thought, I have decided to focus on writing every day
and do social media updates every other day. To resist all Facebook, twitter, Goodreads, LI, B, PI, etc temptations, I’ll
keep the windows and related tabs closed on both my electronic writer's best
friends.
What’s your take on that? Nice compromise, I would think.
Okay,
I can see you’re already nodding your head in agreement.
Could I
ask that weekends….
No? No
problem. It’s all good. Just remember that if I don’t get to spend quality, fun-filled time unwinding,
I won’t be fun to work with. What’s with the nodding now? Cool! We can be
flexible at weekends to create a healthy balance.
You’re
the best muse ever!
Let's see how it goes :)
FAB
P.S.: I took these pics with my phone upisland
Subverting Adverbs and Clichés
Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don’t tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace!
Yada yada yada … it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel
overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It’s hard
enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them
there.
In Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, she says that in order to not be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If aspiring writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, the process will seem less daunting.
Today I’d like to draw your attention to one of the most common criticisms aspiring writers face, to “absolutely avoid adverbs and clichés like the plague.” But see, right now, I just used one of each. Because they come naturally, and we frequently utilize them in everyday speech. But in fiction, too many adverbs and clichés weaken your prose. It’s considered “lazy writing,” because it means we don’t have to show what’s happening.
If your manuscript has too many adverbs and clichés, it most likely means that the emotion you felt while writing it is not going to translate to the reader in the same way. Never underestimate the weakness of adverbs and clichés. You’d be surprised how vivid your writing will become once they are subverted.
Sure, clichés exist because they stem from things many of us experience in real life, and you may argue that they are “relatable,” so why not use them? But the way in which one experiences things isn’t always the same. As writers, it’s your duty to make readers experience your story from a unique point of view. Your point of view.
Before we go into details about how adverbs and clichés weaken prose, and how you can subvert them, first you need to understand that they aren’t always going to be a problem. In fact, you don’t need to go overboard trying to eliminate every single adverb and cliché in your manuscript. Because sometimes, they just work. They serve a purpose. Especially in dialogue. Of course, it also depends a lot on your character’s voice.
For example, sometimes it’s more concise to write, “She lightly knocked on the door.” Not every single action needs to be poetic and unique. Sometimes you need to write exactly what someone is doing because it’s not important enough to draw attention to. Also, if we just wrote, “She knocked on the door,” we’d have no idea whether it was loud or not. And if this action wasn’t all that significant, it would be a bit too wordy to say something like, “She knocked on the door as if her hand were as light as a feather.” (Look, cliché again, they creep in so easily, don’t they?)
But consider this: What if this person’s light knocking on the door was paramount to the story? What if it was a moment of suspense? What if behind that door was a man this person was afraid of? What if this person was anticipating being verbally abused for the interruption? Then this ‘lightly knocking on the door’ would have a significant purpose, yes?
The action of lightly knocking on that door is no longer a simple transitional action that moves the character from A to B. It is in your manuscript for a reason. You put it there for your readers to feel the same apprehension your character feels. And no adverb or cliché, as you can see, is going to draw attention to that moment of intensity like something crafted for it exclusively.
So let’s try our hand at making this moment pop. How about, “She tapped on the door. It echoed in her ears like an axe to a carcass.”
So how does this better convey its intended sentiment? I’d say the fact that this person perceives their tap on the door as a deep, echoing, and unpleasant sound means that they are anxious about the reaction it is going to elicit. Also note that I’ve chosen the verb (tap) which means “a light knock,” so there is no reason for me to use the adverb “lightly.”
So how exactly can we approach the subversion of adverbs and clichés? For starters, play around with similes and metaphors when you’re trying to convey emotion, and for action, use strong verbs to show it happening in real time. For example, instead of using something clichéd like “the streets were so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” find a small detail to zoom in on that shows how quiet the streets are. Put a lonely-looking man kicking rubbish down an abandoned street, perhaps. Have him drag his feet. Perhaps the sound can be heard from two blocks away where your narrator is waiting for a bus that never arrives.
Most of the time, if you think of the small details, rather than the bigger picture, you’ll avoid adverbs and clichés naturally. And remember to be experimental. You never know what you might come up with.
Column by Jessica Bell, Australian-native contemporary fiction author
and poet who also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT
publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education,
HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage
Learning. She is the co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal,
and the director of the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek
island of Ithaca.
www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/subverting-adverbs-and-cliches?et_mid=615784&rid=235061519
In Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, she says that in order to not be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If aspiring writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, the process will seem less daunting.
Today I’d like to draw your attention to one of the most common criticisms aspiring writers face, to “absolutely avoid adverbs and clichés like the plague.” But see, right now, I just used one of each. Because they come naturally, and we frequently utilize them in everyday speech. But in fiction, too many adverbs and clichés weaken your prose. It’s considered “lazy writing,” because it means we don’t have to show what’s happening.
If your manuscript has too many adverbs and clichés, it most likely means that the emotion you felt while writing it is not going to translate to the reader in the same way. Never underestimate the weakness of adverbs and clichés. You’d be surprised how vivid your writing will become once they are subverted.
Sure, clichés exist because they stem from things many of us experience in real life, and you may argue that they are “relatable,” so why not use them? But the way in which one experiences things isn’t always the same. As writers, it’s your duty to make readers experience your story from a unique point of view. Your point of view.
Before we go into details about how adverbs and clichés weaken prose, and how you can subvert them, first you need to understand that they aren’t always going to be a problem. In fact, you don’t need to go overboard trying to eliminate every single adverb and cliché in your manuscript. Because sometimes, they just work. They serve a purpose. Especially in dialogue. Of course, it also depends a lot on your character’s voice.
For example, sometimes it’s more concise to write, “She lightly knocked on the door.” Not every single action needs to be poetic and unique. Sometimes you need to write exactly what someone is doing because it’s not important enough to draw attention to. Also, if we just wrote, “She knocked on the door,” we’d have no idea whether it was loud or not. And if this action wasn’t all that significant, it would be a bit too wordy to say something like, “She knocked on the door as if her hand were as light as a feather.” (Look, cliché again, they creep in so easily, don’t they?)
But consider this: What if this person’s light knocking on the door was paramount to the story? What if it was a moment of suspense? What if behind that door was a man this person was afraid of? What if this person was anticipating being verbally abused for the interruption? Then this ‘lightly knocking on the door’ would have a significant purpose, yes?
The action of lightly knocking on that door is no longer a simple transitional action that moves the character from A to B. It is in your manuscript for a reason. You put it there for your readers to feel the same apprehension your character feels. And no adverb or cliché, as you can see, is going to draw attention to that moment of intensity like something crafted for it exclusively.
So let’s try our hand at making this moment pop. How about, “She tapped on the door. It echoed in her ears like an axe to a carcass.”
So how does this better convey its intended sentiment? I’d say the fact that this person perceives their tap on the door as a deep, echoing, and unpleasant sound means that they are anxious about the reaction it is going to elicit. Also note that I’ve chosen the verb (tap) which means “a light knock,” so there is no reason for me to use the adverb “lightly.”
So how exactly can we approach the subversion of adverbs and clichés? For starters, play around with similes and metaphors when you’re trying to convey emotion, and for action, use strong verbs to show it happening in real time. For example, instead of using something clichéd like “the streets were so quiet you could hear a pin drop,” find a small detail to zoom in on that shows how quiet the streets are. Put a lonely-looking man kicking rubbish down an abandoned street, perhaps. Have him drag his feet. Perhaps the sound can be heard from two blocks away where your narrator is waiting for a bus that never arrives.
Most of the time, if you think of the small details, rather than the bigger picture, you’ll avoid adverbs and clichés naturally. And remember to be experimental. You never know what you might come up with.
Column by Jessica Bell, Australian-native contemporary fiction author
and poet who also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT
publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education,
HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage
Learning. She is the co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal,
and the director of the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek
island of Ithaca.
www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/subverting-adverbs-and-cliches?et_mid=615784&rid=235061519
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