Ten Writing Tips from Janet Fitch

Each Friday on literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog he writes about "This Week in Publishing." Last week he posted a link to author Janet Fitch's blog, where she shares "10 Writing Tips That Can Help Almost Anyone."

I'm always interested in discovering ways to improve my writing, so I popped over to Fitch's blog and found some insightful writing tips. Her suggestions cover: the importance of writing good sentences, picking the right verbs, varying the length of sentences, writing in scenes, and much more.

The suggestions that got me thinking the most were:

#1: Write the sentence, not just the story. I especially like her suggestion at the end.

#5: Explore sentences using dependent clauses. I need to work on this.

#9 Write in scenes. Successful writers know how to do this. I've attended workshops where award-winning writers (Dusty Richards and Pat Carr are two that come to mind) have discussed the importance of writing in scenes, so this is definitely one I need to focus on when writing.

#10: Torture your protagonist. This isn't easy for me because I want to protect my characters, especially the likable ones, so it's another aspect of my writing that needs attention.

Thanks, Janet, for sharing your writing tips and for getting me to think more not only about what I write but how I write.

If you're the curious type whose always searching for ways to improve your writing, pop on over to Janet's blog and check out all ten of her writing tips. If you do, which ones caught your attention and why?

Critique Suggestion: Don't Mess with Voice

My weekly critique group meets on Tuesdays at the Rendezvous Cafe and Wine Bar on Main Street in O'Fallon, MO. We are a mixed bag of writers including novelists, short story writers, memoirists, essayists, journalists, columnists, and what have I missed? Poets--actually we don't critique poetry, but we have critiqued song lyrics.

Everyone in our group brings something to the table--one even occasionally brings his guitar. Some are strong on plot, others on characterization, grammar, structure, etc. While we use our individual strengths to try to make suggestions to improve each other's works, one thing we stress is: Don't mess with voice. Most, but not all, heed this suggestion.

A few weeks ago one writer suggested another's work wouldn't sound as good if someone else read it. Interesting observation. So the following week we asked writers to have someone else read their work. We discovered that although some of the rough spots were highlighted when another writer read someone else's work, writers with distinct and strong voices still shined through, warts and all, no matter who read.

While we're on the topic of voice, this morning I read an excellent post on literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog on "How to Craft a Great Voice." His post brought out some great points. If you get a chance, check it out.

I believe a writer's voice is a unique gift, akin to grace; it's something we are blessed with and a gift we should cherish. What are your thoughts? What do you think about Voice? Let your voices be heard.

Pitch Perfect

With the MWG conference this weekend, the topic of pitching to an agent came up at lunch after critique group last Tuesday. I mentioned that I had recently read some helpful posts about pitches on literary agent Nathan Bransford's blog and acquisitions editor Alan Rinzler's blog.

A critique buddy, Claudia, who will be at the conference this weekend, asked me to post links on my blog. So, here are the links:

Mr. Rinzler's March 29 post "Insider's Tips for Preparing and Delivering a Winning pitch," discusses preparing for the pitch and delivery. The main points that stick with me are: be short and convincing, talk about the book first and self second, practice, be polite, and listen.

Unfortunately, for some reason, the video of Nathan didn't show when I revisited his site, but if you read the comments in his April 1 post about "The Importance of the Pitch" you can get the gist of what he said.

Wishing you a "pitch perfect" weekend at the MWG conference, or wherever your path to publication takes you.

Query Stats from Nathan Bransford

Today in St. Peters, MO: Sleet and snow, high 33 degrees.

Over on literary agent Nathan Bransford's January 28 blog, he posted some interesting query stats. Nathan is an agent with Curtis Brown and one of the two agents mentioned in Chuck Sambuchino's article from yesterday about word counts. I am among the almost 3,000 who follow Nathan's blog. I've found a lot of useful news and information about writing and publishing on his blog--plus it's very entertaining.

In one week while Nathan was on vacation, he received 327 queries, which he has broken down into genres, word counts, and miscellaneous factiods. Genres include the usual, plus mangst (I had to click on that link) and "no freaking clue." Word counts for manuscripts ranged from fewer than 25,000 words to 200,000 plus. Some factiods mentioned in his post are: the number of queries that begin with a rhetorical question (which he does not like), the number of queries addressed to another agent, and the number of queries that misspelled the word "query."

It's an interesting post, if you want to check it out.

Literary Agent Nathan Bransford's Publishing Glossary

Forecast for St. Peters, MO: Chance of thunderstorms, high 80 degrees.

Last week, Curtis Brown Literary Agent Nathan Bransford posted a thoughtful glossary of book publishing terms (The photo of Nathan on the left is from his blog.)

Bransford's list starts with:

"Advance - The money a publisher pays an author to publish their book. This money is an advance against royalties. This means that the author does not receive additional money from the publisher until the book earns an amount of money equal to the advance (see "earn out"). As long as the book is published the author does not have to pay the advance back, even if the book does not earn out. Large advances are typically paid in installments, such as a portion on signing, a portion on delivery and acceptance, and a portion on publication. Advances range from $1 to $1,000,000 or more.

and wraps-up with:

"Wholesaler - Companies that get books to bookstores, libraries, etc. Unlike distributors, which fill orders for one or a few publishers, wholesalers fill orders for basically everything under the sun. Prominent wholesalers include Baker & Taylor and Ingram."

In the middle of it all he gives an example to a link of a good query letter. To read the complete glossary, visit Nathan Bransford's blog. I visit his blog several times a week because of all the helpful information he generously shares with writers. The glossary is just one gem you will discover on his "gold mine" of information site.

Perfect Pitch

Today's weather forecast for St. Peters, MO: Foggy, cloudy, high 65 degrees.

(Cari and Michael)
Michael's baseball game was a rainout last night, but there's no worry about the weather this evening for Cari and Michael's spring musical because it's going to be held inside their school auditorium. Cari's eighth grade class is doing "Grease" (we ran out last night to buy stuff so she could make a special tee-shirt), and Michael's fourth-grade class is doing "Dreamgirls," (easy one, just a new pair of dress pants and a dress shirt for him). Our second-grade carpooler's class is doing "Oklahoma"; the seventh grade carpooler is doing "Hairspray," and our first-grade carpooler is doing "The Sound of Music," so I've been hearing show tunes in the van for a several weeks now. It's been fun, and tonight should be a blast!

The kids' concert got me to thinking about "perfect pitch"--not in music, but for writers--in having a good ear for dialogue, a unique voice in stories, and a strategy for pitching to an editor or agent. Spring is not only the time for school concerts; for writers, it's a busy time for conferences, where opportunities to pitch your novel abound.

As writers with hopes of one day publishing a novel, pitching is something most of us dread. I've pitched ideas at several conferences, and my anxiety level always increases just thinking about what I'm going to say.

As luck would have it, yesterday literary agent Nathan Bransford posted on his blog about "How to Maximize Pitch Sessions." He recently attended Pike's Peak Writer's Conference, where he participated in pitch sessions. He talked about his experiences on his blog, where he also gave some suggestions for pitching.

The following list his five suggestions. For complete explanations of each, visit Nathan's blog.

1. Spend as little time as possible talking about your project.
2. Go in with questions.
3. Focus on making a personal connection.
4. Listen to feedback.
5. It's okay to be nervous.

So, even if you are not musically inclined and have a tin ear, as a writer you can give the perfect pitch--just remember: don't be nervous because it's all about the writing.

Nathan Brandsford's Ten Commandments for Happy Writers

Today's forecast for St. Peters: Right now it's 72, but it's expected to reach degrees. "Oh, what a beautiful morning!"

Sorry, no Friday Freebie today, but I believe I've got something better. Yesterday, literary agent Nathan Bransford, a literary agent with the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown, Ltd., posted his "Ten Commandments for the Happy Writers."

I'm amazed and gratified to read so much wisdom from such a young man. Here's the list of Nathan's commandments. To read his wonderful explanation for each of his happy-writer commandments, visit his blog.

1. Enjoy the present
2. Maintain your integrity
3. Recognize the forces that are outside your control
4. Don't neglect your friends and family
5. Don't quit your day job
6. Keep up with publishing industry news
7. Reach out to fellow writers
8. Park your jealousy at the door
9. Be thankful for what you have
10. Keep writing

My personal favorites are: #2, #4 (although I would put family first) and #9.

How about you, which are your favorites?

Query Letters - What's Your Opinion?

Today's forecast for St. Peters: Mostly sunny, high 31 degrees, partly cloudy this evening.
I'm glad it's not supposed to snow tonight because we're going to see Disney on Ice at the Scott Trade Center. (I won free tickets, Yay!)

Now, on to query letters.

There's a discussion on two agents' blogs--Kristen Nelson's Pub Rants and Nathan Bransford's blogspot--about query letters. Kristen's site shares a successful query letter from one of her writers. That same writer has posted on her blog the query letter in the original version and revisions written with the help of someone else--along with the reasons for the suggested changes. The final version is what led to a book deal. I found it enlightening to read all of the versions to see the changes and what worked and what didn't.

Someone on Nathan's asked how he felt about it. The debate centers on the ethics? of having someone other than the writer compose your query letter, or writing a query letter "by committee" in a critique group. There are more than 130 posts on Nathan's blog, so there are some strong opinions on both sides.

Because I belong to a critique group and know how helpful they can be, I think it's a good strategy to run a query by a critique group (or a trusted reader) before submitting it to an agent or editor. In fact, several members of critique groups I've belong to have done just that before sending out their queries (or synopses).

But . . . while getting advice and suggestions from others, such as members of a critique group, can be helpful, I advise writers to be prudent about which advice they use. The bottom line is: the writer should "own" his query letter, and it should reflect the writer's voice so the agent or publisher knows what to expect in the book.

Anyone care to share an opinion on this?

First Paragraph Contest

(Logo courtesy of Nathan Bransford's blog)

Today's forecast for St. Peters: Partly sunny; high 31 degrees.

First, thanks to Bea Siros for pointing out the typo in the last sentence of my blog heading. I must've read it 100 times and glossed over it. If your curious, the word "know" should have been "knows," but it's been corrected.

***

Now, for all you intrepid souls who want to get the attention of a literary agent, here's your chance. Nathan Bransford is a literary agent with the San Francisco office of Curtis Brown Ltd., a New York based literary agency that has been representing writers since 1914. On Monday he began inviting writers to post the first paragraph of a work-in-progress on his blog. The invitation expires at 4 p.m. Pacific time Thursday. Finalists will be announced Friday.

As of this morning, more than 900 people have posted their first paragraphs (or comments) on his site. It's interesting to read what writers are posting as their first paragraphs. I read about the contest the other day and figured: With so many paragraphs to wade through, what's one more? Why not give it a shot, so I did. You can too!

The grand prize winner will have the choice of: a partial critique, query critique or 15 minute phone conversation with Nathan. Runners up will receive query critiques and/or other agreed-upon prizes.

To read some first paragraph entries and complete details, here's a link: http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2008/12/2nd-sort-of-annual-stupendously.html

Good luck,

Donna