Archive for December, 2008
A New Year: Looking Ahead
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008 | Once It Is Sold, The Writing Life | 2 Comments
As 2008 draws to a close, I, like so many, think not only of the year just passed, but of what the new year might bring. With my book sold, I have hope for more progress with my work: more sales, building a readership, finding the people who will benefit the most from my novel, and who will find the most joy in it. But I am also grateful for the year just passed, for its challenges as well as its benefits. Changing agents, learning more about my work and how to make it better, were all challenges that at first seemed like obstacles. But each led me to new places, places I would never have gone, to country I would not otherwise have seen.
Before I Could Read, I Wanted to Write
Monday, December 15th, 2008 | The Writing Life | No Comments
Before I could read, I wanted to write. Or at least, to type. When I was four years old, I asked for a typewriter for my birthday. I am blessed with amazing parents. They never asked me why I wanted something…if it was a possible request, no matter how odd, they would do what they could. So on my fifth birthday, I unwrapped my first typewriter. A bright sunshine yellow machine, perfect for the mid ’70’s. And no sooner was it out of the box, that my mom and dad gave me a fistful of paper, and helped me roll it into the typewriter. They took a photo of me as I sat beside it on the kitchen floor. Already, I am looking off into the distance, one hand on the keys, thinking. I can only imagine that even at that age, I was listening for the Muse.
Staying in the Chair: How Many Drafts Are Enough?
Friday, December 12th, 2008 | Selling Your Work, The Writing Life | No Comments
Yesterday, I wrote about what the idea of “high concept” means. Basically a marketing term, a high concept idea is a story that editors and agents can not turn their back on. But once inspiration has struck, once a stellar idea has come to you, what then? How does a writer begin to flesh it out, transforming a marketable idea into a well written novel?
Elana Roth of the Caren Johnson Literary Agency mentioned that while she has received many solid query letters outlining marketable ideas, often when she reads the first pages of the manuscript, the novel falls short. Essentially, the writer has honed her idea to a sharp point, but has not finished crafting the novel itself.
High Concept: Where Art Meets Commerce
Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | Once It Is Sold, Selling Your Work, The Writing Life | No Comments
Last night, a couple of friends took me to dinner to celebrate my long-awaited sale. One of them was Elana Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. We had an interesting discussion of what makes a “high concept” story. Elana works with Children’s fiction, Middle Reader’s fiction, and YA fiction. My focus is adult historical fiction, but storytelling is storytelling. What makes an agent or an editor hear a pitch or an idea and say, “Yes, I have to read that”?
