I make things up and write them down. I hope one day someone will read them and believe me, and then print out a copy for someone else to read. Until then, would you believe me if I told you
Think of backstory as a precious commodity of which you are the guardian. You will release it on a need-to-know basis. Only give the reader what they need for that moment of the story, just little bits here and there. Be stingy with it. Keep the forward momentum of the story going.
- Rachelle Gardner, literary agent.
(Source: cba-ramblings.blogspot.com)
Since we can’t please everyone with our work… since readers (like movie watchers) bring their own expectations and subjectivity to their experience of our work… it doesn’t make sense to try and predict what people want to hear and write that. You’ll never get it just right. Instead, simply write your own truth. Say what you want to say. Be honest in your writing—honest about who you are, what you think, what you question and doubt, what you fear—and eventually, as you master the craft, you will connect with readers.
(Source: mlmjrcollective)
… And I’m back.
By the way, wanted to direct you to a post from Rachelle Gardner. If you don’t know her, she’s a literary agent.
Her frustration-suggestion: provide a way for an agent to contact you. This doesn’t mean via a post-comment. An email address. She mentioned there are times when she’s visited a writer’s website only to find no way to start a dialogue (not necessarily to represent but to connect).
To be honest, I am surprised but happy to hear agents make contact outside of usual submission processes.
So do yourself a favor, make it easy on them. You might be opening more than one door.
One of the most interesting things to observe in people is how their self-image contradicts the image others have of them.
Almost all powerful characters can be described as hypocrites to some extent, because few are so self-aware that they understand all their own flaws and foibles.
Let your characters show themselves through what they do, and let their words contradict their behavior whenever possible to reveal even deeper character.
- Rachelle Gardner, literary agent, WordServe Literary.
(Source: cba-ramblings.blogspot.com)
By the way, remaindering is not always a bad thing. It’s a profitable part of a bookstore (and we like when bookstores are profitable) and it can even benefit an author (the same way free Kindle books are now benefiting authors). Many readers won’t take a chance on a new author for $25 but will at $4.98, and if they love the book, they just might become a fan and buy more of the author’s books (hopefully royalty-bearing copies).
- Rachelle Gardner, literary agent, on, “What are Remainders.”
I’m not so sure this is a dilemma.
Had I written this piece, I would change the title to, “Prolific Writers: Piss Off Help Me.”
I think the ongoing challenge of the writer is to persist even with no guarantee of reaching your goal. This is where it’s really important to have deep reasons for writing that go far beyond financial success or notoriety. The challenge of persisting even without guarantees can be so difficult that you probably won’t persevere unless you simply can’t NOT write. It really has to go deep.
- Rachelle Gardner
(Source: cba-ramblings.blogspot.com)
![Fun post by Rachelle Gardner on rejections, and if you’ve ever received one, it might not be all that bad compared to these… (a few examples below):
“…a long dreary tale full of unlikeable people doing pointless things…”
“[character] comes across as clueless and it is hard to be sympathetic when she misses obvious signs like the decaying body in the trunk of her husband’s car…”
[Amazon reader-review about The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis]: “I bought these books to have something nice to read to my grandkids. I had to stop, however, because the books are nothing more than advertisements for “Turkish Delight,” a candy popular in the U.K. The whole point of buying books for my grandkids was to give them a break from advertising, and here (throughout) are ads for this “Turkish Delight”! How much money is this Mr. Lewis getting from the Cadbury’s chocolate company anyway? This man must be laughing to the bank.”
… or laughing from the grave?](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lauvbkKXbA1qbto1zo1_400.jpg)
Fun post by Rachelle Gardner on rejections, and if you’ve ever received one, it might not be all that bad compared to these… (a few examples below):
“…a long dreary tale full of unlikeable people doing pointless things…”
“[character] comes across as clueless and it is hard to be sympathetic when she misses obvious signs like the decaying body in the trunk of her husband’s car…”
[Amazon reader-review about The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis]: “I bought these books to have something nice to read to my grandkids. I had to stop, however, because the books are nothing more than advertisements for “Turkish Delight,” a candy popular in the U.K. The whole point of buying books for my grandkids was to give them a break from advertising, and here (throughout) are ads for this “Turkish Delight”! How much money is this Mr. Lewis getting from the Cadbury’s chocolate company anyway? This man must be laughing to the bank.”
… or laughing from the grave?
5. Slide your proposal under the bathroom stall at a writers conference. (Though this would be considered a kind gesture if the agent’s stall happens to be out of toilet paper.)
- Rachelle Gardner’s “10 Ways to Annoy a Literary Agent.”
“Yes, the index is, believe it or not, the author’s responsibility. You can hire a professional indexer or DIY (but it’s specialized and tedious work, so I wouldn’t recommend it).”
Rachelle Gardner quotes the index cost between $500-1200. See her post for a few other things we might have to cough up for.
Hmm. I’m in no real position to critique since I didn’t enter the contest, but I’m not sure I’m blown away by the winners. I would really like to know what Rachelle thought to herself while sifting through nearly 500 entries.
Remember that little exercise I put forward to you a little while back? The one where you try to put together a sentence, a paragraph, and two-paragraph summaries on your book? Yeah, that one… the one you bagged.
Well, Rachelle Gardner’s got a little ditty going on and the deadline’s tomorrow (SATURDAY, June 5th, 11:59pm ET). Too little time? You should consider yourself unprepared if you’ve finished a draft of your book and you don’t even have a one-line summary of it.
Come to think of it, I’m unprepared too.
The general innards as explained by Rachelle Gardner. Note the items with asterisks.
Continues:
Gordon Parks: 100 Years
International Center of Photography (ICP)
1133 Avenue of the Americas, NYC @ 43rd St.
To commemorate...
A depressed copywriter
dogspeed
Château Lafite Rothschild
Oliver works it on Tumblr, Beckett theme by Jonathan Beckett
