Congratulations to fellow ACFW/OCW member, Jill Williamson. for her one-sentence pitch winning in literary agent Rachelle Gardner’s contest – see full post here. Also, one of my fellow critique partners was an honorable mention! I’m so proud – out of 500 submissions! A one-sentence pitch is often the most important and most difficult part of selling a manuscript. It must be concise but convey the important parts of the entire novel. Try to cut 80,000 words into 25. It’s tough. These are just more pieces in the novel writing process! Again, congrats!
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Caution: Changes Ahead
Nothing is for certain. Except uncertainty. The same is true for the creative process of writing. In the past few weeks, I’ve received some reader feedback, critique group feedback and contest judge feedback. That’s a lot of feedback to take in all at once. So, after several weeks of thinking, musing, planning, re-planning, re-working and tweaking the novel in my head over and over, I have come up with several important changes to my manuscript and possibly my career. Truth Unbecoming, the novel I wrote during National Novel Writing Month this past November, is soon to be re-titled and cast into a new genre of Historical fiction. There are also...
Thoughts on characters
What makes a great character? The Elizabeth Bennetts, the Scarlett O’Haras, the Harry Potters…What is it that captivates the audience and molds those characters into literary history? My official conclusion: it’s the quirks. There must be something unique about the character that sticks in your mind. The stereotypical characters are quickly forgotten. But when it is a stereotypical character with something so unforgettable, he or she becomes exactly that. Unforgettable. One of my favorite examples: Violet from Lynn Austin’s A Proper Pursuit. This Christy-Award winning book is full of rich historical detail surrounding the 1893 Chicago World Fair, but what makes it a truly beautiful read is the characters. We’ve...
The English language is very precise…
“The English language is very precise.” It’s a phrase I’ve heard many times from my father-in-law to my husband. Usually it is in jest and has now become a running joke. But it is completely true. I’m launching a new website that will host three separate publications at one place. The construction, introduction and application of this project has been far beyond what I expected. It has come down to conveying clearly what I intended. Thus, being very precise. The. English. Language. Is. Very. Precise. Precise. As writers, there’s nothing that describes our job better. We tell a story and it must be clear. If the reader gets lost, they’ll...
the joy of layout and design…
A few weeks ago, I helped map out the story selection and layout for my college’s alumni newsletter. It brought me back to the days of newsroom banter and magazine mayhem. Those late nights of caffeine highs and echoing laughter are a close, fond memory. We’d spend hours on a single headline alone. Arguments over whether “brouhaha” was appropriate for a news story, front page. (The verdict was no.) Speaking in news-ese: “inches,” “art,” “spreads,” “cutlines…” It was a world of chaos and perfect synchronization. Well, on good days. There’s something unique about determining the perfect place for every story, photo and caption. Correcting every widow, checking every spelling. Working...