How a Book Is Born, Part 12
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
In which I decide to kill off a character. And then rescind the decision.
Last week I talked about taking risks, about how sometimes you just need to get your work out there. This week I am going to talk about how sometimes you don’t. In my many years as a book author and freelancer, I have met hundreds of writers, professionals and wannabes, and it has struck me…
Some ideas to consider for making your book more appealing to agents and editors: Expand your niche. Sometimes agents and editors like a book but don’t think the primary audience for it is big enough. You can expand your niche by adding secondary audiences. A book for straight parents of gay teens can also…
A while back I was reading Christopher de Hamel’s Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, and for a time I was twenty-five again, heart, mind, body, soul, remembering my joy on first seeing an illuminated manuscript in the Morgan Library in NYC, a trip I took as a graduate student to attend a humanities conference. The first…
Writers are often encouraged to get in the habit of writing every day, whether it’s a journal entry, a blog post, a response to a random writing prompt — or actual work on a work-in-progress. The idea behind this is that by getting into a habit, you’ll accomplish something: you’ll become a better writer, you’ll…
All too often, we spend so much time behind our computers that we forget there=s a whole world out there waiting for us to explore it. If you feel isolated and bored, chances are, you=ll lose enthusiasm for your writing. So a little adventure — getting out from behind the monitor — can make a…