Author: Writing your first novel-Some things you should know

Writing a Proposal!

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Writing a proposal sounds easy enough. I recently sent out queries for my second novel and received a request for a complete proposal. No problem. At least that’s what I thought. I’ve sent out proposals before and I had all the information saved. All I had to do was cut and paste.

Well, I got that one wrong. Something to keep in mind, different agents have different requirements. One agent’s idea of a proposal is completely different from another’s idea. Read their submission requirements before you respond.

This is not the time to be cute. If they are asking for a complete proposal, you piqued their interest. You don’t want to blow that by ignoring their request and providing what you think will give you the best shot. Your proposal idea will more than likely end up in the trash. You just proved to that literary agent/publisher, that you either can’t follow instructions or are going to be difficult to work with. Give them what they want!

So, what did my literary agent request in the proposal?

The Hook – 50 words or less. It was to include a concise summary and why a reader should buy the book. 50 words!

Synopsis – A summary of the story 1-2 pages long with a clear presentation of the plot outline and action. That was an easy one. A definite cut and paste 🙂

Market – Who will buy the book? How can you contribute beyond your circle of friends? Do you have a blog or website where you can post a teaser chapter? This is where the platform comes in. Most of us have a twitter or Facebook account, which is good, but be prepared to explain how far your reach is. Start that blog and work on building your platform.

Uniqueness – What makes your book different from other novels out there? Name 3-4 similar titles. Easy enough, you just need to be prepared to explain.

Author Creds. – What qualifies you to write this novel? Education, Journalism, or Writer training? Research? Reading patterns? A short biography about yourself in relation to your work.

Characters – A list of the key characters with brief descriptions. Probably the easiest question of them all to answer. You wrote the book. You know your characters, so just spit it out 🙂

Expanded Table of Contents – I definitely didn’t see this one coming, and it was probably the hardest for me to complete. What the agent wanted was a two to three sentence summary of each chapter. Well, I have 26 chapters in this novel and if that isn’t bad enough, I had no idea how I would break a chapter into 2-3 sentences when there was so much going on.

Why do literary agents need all of this information? If they accept you as a client and are presenting your work to a publisher, they need to be able to pitch your premise and support its marketability.

Something to think about.

-Jan R

Writing a Proposal!

Sentences – Length and Cadence Matter!

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When you’re writing, you need to mix things up.  You don’t want to be the one that puts your reader to sleep.

You know what I’m talking about. We’ve all had teachers or sat through sermons that literally put us to sleep. How embarrassing! You can’t hide the little jerk of the head when you catch yourself and attempt to shake it off. You know what I’m talking about.

There are many different things you can do to add a little excitement and keep your reader’s attention, but one thing you have to avoid is monotony. Change those sentences up.  Use structure and length for change of pace to slow down or speed up your prose.

WHAT NOT TO DO!

Suzie entered the boutique. She looked around for dresses. She walked over to the semi-formals. The store owner said hello. She picked the one she liked. She walked over to the counter. The owner rang her up. She handed her the money. She left with a smile.

Now there’s a lot of things wrong with this paragraph from the style perspective, but there are no grammatical or structural errors, I hope :-). It has strong verbs and nouns. They are both good and necessary elements, but something isn’t quite right.

It’s a string of segregated sentences that can stand on their own. It’s also composed of sentences similar in length and cadence.

You need to vary the length. Change the beat every now and then. 7-14 word sentences are recommended as they feel more natural. Nobody talks like that paragraph was written. Well, nobody except that boring teacher or preacher that put you to sleep 🙂

By the way, did you finish reading that short paragraph? 🙂

Something to think about.

-Jan R

Sentences – Length and Cadence Matter!

Settings Are More Than a Place – Revisited

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When you hear the word setting, you think of a time period and place, but settings do so much more than that.

With sci-fi and historical novels, the setting becomes an important part of the story. The setting doesn’t have to be real but it does have to be believable.

Writing historical novels, do your research and throw in some things that you would expect to see during the time period.

Writing Sci-Fi, you’re creating a world. Your setting needs to be detailed. Help your reader to visualize it. Draw them in.

Settings should be visceral and vivid and allow us to experience the world the author is building as if we are one of the characters within the narrative.

Settings evoke a mood. In horror stories, your description of a haunted house should evoke fear in your readers.  In a mystery, your setting should evoke suspense and curiosity. In a comedy, your setting should evoke laughter or an anticipated thrill.

Settings provide information about your characters. How does their home look? Is it messy, neat, compulsively organized? Do they surround themselves with darkness or light?

Settings can also be used to evoke the passage of time and movement. The saplings we had planted in our youth towered above the two-story house. This was home, at least the house that I remembered.

Who knew there was so much to writing. I hope this evoked thought and helped you better understand the use of settings in your novel.

Something to think about.

-Jan R

Settings Are More Than a Place – Revisited

Narrative Vs. Exposition – Tell Vs. Show

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I remember when I first started taking my writing seriously. I did a lot of research and read a lot of information on how to write a publishable novel. Somewhere along the way, I missed the part were narrative and exposition were not the same. As a matter of fact, I used the two interchangeably.

In response to one of my earlier blogs, a fellow blogger commented that she thought I was wrong in reference to a statement I had made concerning exposition and narrative. She, of course, was right, and as a result, I took a closer look at these two concepts.

Narrative

  • Narrative is your voice as the writer sharing information with your readers.
  • It tells the reader instead of showing.
  • Narrative lets you set the scene and give background information.
  • Used for transitions, it moves the reader from one scene to another.
  • It slows the pace.

Exposition

  • Exposition provides the detached, third-party perspective on a story.
  • Shows the reader what is happening, doesn’t tell them.
  • Uses description to inform and move the story forward.
  • Exposition gives the reader more information, more emotion, and helps with active scenes by quickening the pace.
  • Allows us to hear character thoughts.

In a nutshell, narrative is telling, exposition is showing. I found the following example during my research and thought it did a good job of showing what I am trying to explain.

Exposition: Brian stopped and reached into his pants pocket. He pulled out a lighter. Then, he reached into his lapel pocket for his pack of cigarettes and took one out. He placed the cigarette between his lips, cupped his hands, and lit it. After putting his lighter back in his pants pocket, he resumed walking.

Narration: Brian stopped to light a cigarette and resumed walking.

So much info on this subject. It still can be confusing, and it seems everyone has a different opinion. I would encourage you to do your own homework and think twice about using the two concepts interchangeably. They are not the same.

Something to think about.

-Jan R

Narrative Vs. Exposition – Tell Vs. Show