Maybe you first heard of the “story spine” from Stanley Williams’ book, The Moral Premise. But I actually thought of the concept all by my lonesome the winter of 2011 at the first Deep Thinkers Retreat. Because it became clear to me we HAVE to know what the story is about in order to develop the character and the plot. The pitch is that one or two lines, the concept, of the story that you tell editors or agents. Or you friends when they ask, “What’s your story about.” You must be able to tell it in one or two succinct sentences. If you ramble or start telling too much, then you’re not nailing the core of your story. For example, my pitch for Dining with Joy was “It’s about a cooking show […]
Read the RestArchive | Delivering Convincing Proposals RSS feed for this section
Time on the couch with Your therapist
Over the past few weeks, some interesting questions have come my way from readers, up and coming writers, and published authors. I thought I’d take today’s blog to answer their questions publicly so we can all learn. Here we go: Q: As an unpublished author, am I shooting too high when I query well-established, wise agents? Should I instead look to get in on the ground floor with a newer agent? A: This is a great question. There is no reason for an unpublished author not to shoot for his or her dream agent. Or publishing house. Start at “the top” and see where you land. I had a saying when I started out, “Aim small, hit small. Aim big, hit big.” I figured if I shot for the stars […]
Read the Rest
Quick Skills: Ways to get your Story Summary onto the page
I know that people panic about writing a synopsis. The fact is, there are many different synopsis styles and deliveries. There is no one right way – but there are few principles. Let’s start with Delivery: You can write the synopsis a couple different ways. First, you can tell it is if you are the narrator – telling yourself the story. e.g. This story is about Maggie, a former Red Cross nurse who lives in World War 2 New York City. More than anything she wants to get over the grief of losing her fiancé during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but her life seemed to stop the day she got the news and she doesn’t know how to start it again. Until, one day, she runs – literally – […]
Read the RestBefore You Submit a Proposal
You can’t help it. It’s time. Really time. You’ve been writing and rewriting this book for eons. Or at least it feels like eons. You want to submit it, get going on your stellar writing career. Time’s a wastin’! Maybe you haven’t been working on it for eons, but you went to a conference and you heard an editor say she was really looking for the next great romance author to groom and you have just the story. Or finally, one of the BIG PUBLISHERS is actively seeking speculative fiction and your space navy story is ready for the picking. Perhaps your story has been through a critique or edit of some kind. A reader (mom, dad, sister, best friend, hubby, wifey) LOVED it. They want more! […]
Read the Rest
