Thursday Thoughts
Are You Giving Your Reader What They Want?
Spoiler alert! If you were one of the eight people that read this blog following its previous publication, you are experiencing de ja vu. I thought it was a good blog, but one thing I’ve learned over the last few years, is the title can make you or break you.
It was initially titled ‘Show Don’t Tell’. I guess that sounded kind of boring or maybe just to repetitious. Goodness knows how many ‘Show Don’t Tell’ blogs are out there. So I decided to repost it under a new name 🙂
Here goes!
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the phrase – show don’t tell. You probably saw the title and questioned even reading this blog. Everybody knows you are suppose to show and not tell. You want the reader to experience the scene as if they are one of the characters walking through the story beside the hero/heroine.
If you’re like me, you understand the expectation, but you don’t really know what to do to make it happen. How do I show and not tell? It’s a lot harder than it seems, or if you’re an overachiever, you’re thinking it’s a lot easier than it seems :-). Once you start writing that novel, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
There are 5 tools for showing
- Dialogue
- Action
- Interior dialogue
- Interior emotion
- Description-Sensory
If you’re doing anything that’s not one of these 5 things, you’re not showing.
Why is it so important to show versus tell? Showing provides your reader with a powerful emotional experience. If you want to be a best selling author, that’s what you have to do.
It doesn’t matter how great you do everything else in that novel, if you’re missing that emotional experience, you lose. If everything you did is bad, but you have a great emotional experience, you may still win.
It all comes down to the take away. Every great novelist will tell you, you have to give your reader that powerful emotional experience, or they wont be coming back.
-Something to think about 🙂
-Jan R
Perseverance Is The Key!
I wrote this blog a few years ago, but for you newbies who haven’t been around that long, I thought it was worth another go round. Hope this offers some encouragement, and a reminder to never give up. For those like myself who have walked around the block a few times, I hope this puts writing into perspective for you as well. I know how easy it is to become discouraged.
I received two rejections this week, and while they were nice well written form letters, that’s what they were. You know the ones that thank you for considering their agency, and assure you that they will give your work a thorough going over before they make a decision. And then they add, if you haven’t heard from us in two weeks, assume we are not interested, and your work isn’t a good fit for us…
I have to admit besides being a little disappointed, I was skeptical and mad. I’ve put a lot of work into my manuscript. I’ve edited so many versions, that it doesn’t even look like it’s former self. It really is that much better than the original completed work. So what’s the problem?
I’ve heard over and over not to take it personal. It’s business, and truth be known, it may have nothing to do with your manuscript. If there are no obvious flaws with your work, send it out to other agents. Just because you were rejected by one agent, doesn’t mean you will be by the next.
The New York Times best selling author of “The Help”, was rejected by 60 different agents. You read that right. Her 61st attempt was a success. The book was on the best seller list for the entire year and eventually made into a movie.
So why do books get rejected?
Maybe your manuscript just isn’t ready.
- The author can’t format, spell, and doesn’t understand grammar. The result is incomprehensible sentences that leave the reader confused, pulling them completely out of the story.
- Dragging dialogue, head hopping, poor character development, plot holes, info dumping…
- Maybe your work isn’t that bad and with competent editing, it’s publishable. Staff editors don’t have the time and sometimes don’t even have the necessary experience to clean your work up. Hire an editor before you send your manuscript out for consideration if self-editing isn’t an option.
Maybe your manuscript is ready but….
- The agent/agency has an abundance of the genre you just submitted, and they are not accepting anything new in that genre until their inventory decreases. You really weren’t a fit for what they were looking for.
- Maybe the agent/publisher reviewing your work is in such a bad mood, they would turn down Nicholas Sparks “The Notebook”, even if it was handed to them on a silver platter – twenty four did. Agents make mistakes.
- Maybe the storyline/subject matter you’re writing about isn’t selling right now. Zombie books are getting old. People want something new.
- The publisher could literally be in a cash crunch, and no matter how great your book is, they can’t purchase it right now. They have a freeze in place until some books start selling, and they can build up their reserves.
What I’m trying to say, is there are a lot of reasons books get rejected, and they may have nothing to do with your work. I’ve read more than once, that perseverance is the key.
If you have a great, publishable piece of work, don’t give up, submit it to other agencies for review. If you have less than perfect work, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Don’t expect someone to fix it for you. They won’t.
Don’t give up!!!
-Jan R
These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things :-)
What are your favorite reference books on writing? We all have them. I learned following my first very rough draft, that I didn’t know a thing about writing a publishable novel. I thought I did, but the rejections and the one agent who responded set me straight.
Like many of you, I learn from my mistakes, but I am totally hoping I can keep some wannabees from making the same ones that I made.
If you follow me, you know I’ve said many times, ” You don’t know what you don’t know.” So needless to say, I began to research various sites and successful authors. I had to learn how to write a novel.
This led me to three of my favorite resource books.
- The Elements Of Style William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White
- How To Write Best Selling Fiction Dean R. Koontz
- Eats, Shoots & Leaves Lynne Truss
I found The Elements Of Style and Eats, Shoots & Leaves at a library book sale. They cost me a dollar. Unfortunately, the Koontz book is highly recommended but nowhere to be found. I purchased mine from a dealer on eBay for $65.00. I do believe it was worth the price, but you can find all of the information contained in the book on the web.
I didn’t include the Dictionary or Thesaurus. I think they are a given.
These are a few of my favorite things. Yes, I do like Mary Poppins 🙂
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about.
-Jan R
What’s Your Biggest Obstacle-Revisited
Writing can be both rewarding and frustrating. I’ve been around the block a few times and have had my share of rejections. Don’t judge me, get used to it. If you are out to write that best selling blockbuster, and I’m cheering for you, you’re going to have to develop some tough skin.
I’ve stated in previous blogs, that there are a lot of reasons why your manuscript was passed over, and many have nothing to do with the manuscript itself, but I thought it would be nice to hear it from an agent.
You just submitted a query for an awesome piece of work. You’ve had several agents request full manuscripts and one even gave you a call, but just like that it was over. What happened?
You may have submitted an amazing piece of work, but the submission before yours hit the ball out of the park, and the one after yours did likewise. Those two works raised the bar and affected the impact you novel had on the agent.
Maybe you presented a very well written novel, but the market is saturated with the genre you are offering. Agents may have manuscripts for the particular genre you submitted on hold for the next few seasons.
You made it to the personal phone call. Where did you go wrong? Maybe you were missing the synopsis or logline for your next novel. Agents don’t want to just sell a book, they want to represent a career. Another guess would be that you were resistant to editorial thoughts presented by the agent.
The biggest obstacle one can have in getting a novel published is quitting. If you’re going to do a little bit right, have that little bit be the fact that you don’t quit. – Barbara Poelle, agent
Something to think about.
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about.
-Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
-Jan R
Don’t Muddle Through The Middle
It’s been a while, so I have to ask. Are you muddling through the middle? If you’ve been around the block a few times, you know exactly what I’m talking about. We all experience it. You have a great idea for a novel, which includes in detail the beginning and end, and you have to figure out how to connect the two without putting your reader to sleep.
I call it the mayhem in the middle. The problem is, you haven’t thought about what happens when you get there.
Most people who fail to complete their novel, become lost in the middle. They bail when they realize they don’t have enough cool stuff to fill the pages. They may attempt to add scenes, but become bored, and know readers will be too.
Every book becomes a challenge a few chapters in. You’re not alone. Trying to keep up the tension and pace gets harder and harder. But don’t panic or do anything rash, like give up.
What can you do? If you’re one of those people who hasn’t developed an outline, thinking it would just come to you as you muddled through, maybe you should consider backing up and doing one.
An outline to set every scene gives you a blueprint of what will happen next. If the action starts to wane, think about a subplot, or introduce tension between your main characters.
Maybe there was a misunderstanding, or maybe that one minor character that was supposed to be the good guy isn’t what he appears. Maybe the butler did it, but nobody knows.
You can have so much fun with subplots. Just keep them believable and resolve them all in the end.
I hope this helped.
Jan R
Thursday Thoughts
Something to think about. Maybe you should put that thesaurus away 🙂
-Jan R
Writing your first novel-Things you should know 