My first novel was about a talking dog. GASP. Sounds awful, doesn’t it? The classic newbie mistake?
Read on.
When I showed up to my first conference, I was petrified. I had brought the first five pages with me for open mike and peer critique. I had already heard a zillion times I should avoid writing anything with talking animals in it. But I, like many other newbies, didn’t get what the big deal was.
Let me clear up a myth about talking animals. You might have heard it before. “You shouldn’t write about talking animals. That’s a big no-no.” Yet you see hundred of books come out, starring them. What gives?
According to some, talking animals are hard to do.
I credit the lovely Kelly R. Fineman for writing this article. I stink at talking about poetry so I leave the task to Kelly who is quite good at it.
1. Read it to yourself.
See if the words make sense and tell a story you can follow.
Look in particular for any words that seem like they were chosen specifically to fit (or force) the rhyme.
So things haven’t gone as you’d hoped. Your manuscript went off months ago, and your phone didn’t ring off the hook with five editors or agents vying for your awesome book.
You find yourself wondering – what are they doing with my manuscript?
Did it get lost in the mail?
Did my dog Rufus eat my rejection letter?
Did I even include my manuscript in the submission?!
Status queries are a touchy subject where people will have different opinions.
Say you’ve just realized you made a bunch of typos in your manuscript or you forgot to enclose an SASE AFTER you sent the whole thing off. Should you try to contact the editor or agent and correct your mistake? Um….no.
Why? Mistakes will happen no matter how hard you try to make it perfect. RESIST THE URGE TO MAKE IT RIGHT. Trying to apologize will only point out your error and demonstrate to the editor/agent how neurotic you are.
No one can read more into words than a writer. It makes sense. Why? We write. We play with context and permutations of words every day. So it’s perfectly logical we’ll analyze any letter from an agent or editor better than a forensic analyst working for the FBI.
DOORS ARE CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!
You saw what happened yesterday. Cynthea offered RESERVED slots for free-tiques. Unheard of. Well guess what? Our friends overseas gave up TWO slots when the doors closed. That means, we can do a BONUS ROUND.
BUT WAIT – before you email me, YOU MUST READ THESE RULES. If you already have a reserved slot, you cannot participate. I am offering 1 retiquee slot. 1 new-tiquee slot. You will not need to attach anything as this is a reserved slot.
Hey everyone, here's my contribution to fellow mankind:
anatomy of a children’s book synopsis
I'm going to reward myself with a cup of coffee and jog around the kitchen to get my foot back into shape! ALSO, please leave me some nice words on my website if you read any article and enjoy it. I'm beginning to wonder if more than two people find the information useful. If I don't see comments pouring in soon at http://www.cynthealiu.
*UPDATE: You may now download this article to your Kindle! *
Here it is: the DREADED synopsis. A synopsis is a one-page, single-spaced, summary of your book (beginning, middle, end). Typically written in third person, present tense. This is the C LIU rule of thumb. You’ll hear all kinds of different answers on this one. But when guidelines don’t say anything more than “synopsis,” this is my definition. NOTE: synopses should only apply to chaptered books/novels.
DOORS ARE CLOSED!!!!!!
Yup, the cast is off. My foot is so small I could wear Thumbelina’s shoe. BUT LET’S NOT THINK ABOUT THAT. Because it’s time for JUNE JUMANJI JUSTICE. (it was too hard to come up with a free-tique alliteration for J).