A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
Anonymous asked: I’d like to know the specifics of what goes into a query letter, and if that should be the very first thing I send to an agency? Thank you.
For your pleasure, a smorgasbord of links on the wide world of queries and agents! But first, what are these things?
Query letter (n): a single page cover letter, introducing you and your book.
Agent (n): a professional who represents writers and their written works to publishers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the work.
It is important to understand both queries and agents if you’re interested in publishing your material. Queries are indeed how you first reach out to agents, and here are a bunch of things to consider in the process.
That’s a start, at least. Like all things in writing, querying agents involves a lot of research and a lot of revision, but if you’ve made it through a whole novel, you’re probably up for that task. Or, as Pat Walsh put it in his book 78 Reasons Why Your Book Will Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might:
The single biggest reason good writers with good books have trouble finding an agent is they submit queries and samples before they are ready. The elation of typing “The End” seems to inspire writers to slap on a cover letter and hit the post office, not wanting to wait another moment to begin their careers. It’s the wrong thing to do, and premature submissions can have long-lasting ill effects.
Thanks for the question; if there’s anything you want to know about writing, send us a message!
- O
Writer’s Block
In one sentence is the spark of a story. Ignite.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a memory about this sentence. Write something about this sentence.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes a full panoply of supporting characters. There was Dr. Watson, the quintessential “sidekick,” to act as a sounding board; Scottish landlady Mrs. Hudson, to cook and clean and fuss over Holmes; Scotland Yard Inspector LeStrade, to provide a foil for Holmes’ intuitive brilliance, as well as access to official investigations; the Baker Street Irregulars, to ferret out information; and Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s politically powerful older brother, to provide financial and strategic support. Like Doyle’s, your cast of supporting characters should reflect what your protagonist needs.
Balancing Character Traits
An amateur sleuth needs a friend or relative with access to inside information—a police officer, a private investigator or a crime reporter will fit the bill. A character who’s arrogant and full of himself needs a character to keep him from taking himself too seriously, maybe an acerbic coworker or a mother. You might want to show a hardboiled police detective’s softer side by giving him kids or a pregnant wife.
The most important supporting character in many genres, though, is the sidekick. Virtually every mystery protagonist has one. Rex Stout’s obese, lazy, brilliant Nero Wolfe has Archie Goodwin—a slim, wisecracking ladies’ man. Carol O’Connell’s icy, statuesque, blonde Detective Kathy Mallory has garrulous, overweight, aging, alcoholic Detective Riker. Robert B. Parker’s literate, poetry-quoting Spenser has black, street-smart, tough-talking Hawk. Harlan Coben’s former basketball-star-turned-sports-agent, Myron Bolitar, has a rich, blond, preppy friend, Windsor Horne Lockwood, III.
See a pattern? It’s the old opposites attract. Mystery protagonists and their sidekicks are a study in contrasts. Sidekicks are the yin to the protagonists’ yang. The contrast puts the protagonists’ characteristics into relief. For instance, the thickheaded Watson makes Holmes look smarter.
The place to start in creating a sidekick is with the profile you developed of your sleuth, so think about what kind of opposites will work.
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
consortium \kuhn-SAWR-shee-uhm, -tee-, noun:
1. any association, partnership, or union.
2. a combination of financial institutions, capitalists, etc., for carrying into effect some financial operation requiring large resources of capital.
3. Law. the legal right of husband and wife to companionship and conjugal intercourse with each other: In a wrongful death action the surviving spouse commonly seeks damages for loss of consortium.
A consortium of companies that make radio-based identification tags, scanners and related software said yesterday that they planned to pool their patents in a venture that would provide one-stop licensing and royalty management.
— Barnaby J. Feder, “Consortium to Pool Radio-Tag Patents,” New York Times, August 10, 2005
This new foundation would assist the consortium to make policy, and advise the U.N. on Mars-related matters.
— Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars and Green Mars, 1993
Consortium entered English in the 1820s. It comes from the Latin word for partnership, consort.
Music is love in search of a word. Find the words.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this song. Write something about this song .
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
