Now that you are tying up your threads for your synopsis, and packing it with a punch, have written those amazing sample chapters…now it’s time to put it in a cheery, compelling package and knock on the agent’s door. Aka: the Query letter. A query letter is that first meeting, (unless, of course, you meet at a conference!), where you pitch your idea to an editor. It’s what will get your toe in the door, so it has to be something that makes the editor take notice, and shows them how your book will be the Next Hot Thing. What makes a good Query Letter? Let’s take it apart…. 1.. A compelling, succinct first paragraph hook 2.. A summary of your book in 2-3 sentences 3.. Where […]
Read the RestTag Archives | Happily Ever After
Highlight it! Synopsis writing day 4
It’s Christmas decorating day here at the Warrens – I love it when our house goes from dreary to dazzle! We already have the red wall, and I jazz up the rest of the house with ribbons and ornaments and pine boughs, suddenly the season doesn’t seem so…filled with to-do lists. It seems, well, jolly. Color adds life! Yesterday, we talked about adding color WORDS to your synopsis. Today I want you to add actual color. When I first started writing a synopsis, it felt so…overwhelming. Weaving in all those threads, and helping my editor see the main plot, as well as knowing whether I’d sufficiently explained all the turning points and the black moment…arrgh! For example…through your synopsis, you should have three different story threads […]
Read the RestDon’t stand in my way!
Welcome to the new look of My Book Therapy! I hope you like it – it took us a few months to create it – we wanted something elegant, yet the feel of sitting down with your journal (or your therapist) and scrawling out your characters, plots and stories. (BIG APPLAUSE goes to Margot at SwankWebDesign for her amazing talents!!) In the future we’re hoping to have some cool chats, a store with products like our classes on CD Rom and other writing helps, writing retreats and perhaps even a magazine…but until then, we’re sorting out a few kinks, which is what stood between me and posting this week. We started a discussion last week on ROMANCE, one of my favorite topics. We talked then about Virtures, ans in a […]
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