I loved the movie The Proposal. It has so many good story elements. And who doesn’t like to look at Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds? Yes, there were a few cliche’s in the movie. But the director made them work, added a twist or something to make the cliche not so much the cliche. Susie didn’t like the movie as much as me. So, I sent her an email on why and how the movie worked. See my exhaustive (and brilliant 😉 list below. Spoiler Ahead! Be warned. *** 1. Great casting with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Despite their age difference, they had chemistry on screen. I believed in the relationship and I wanted to stay with them through the end. 2. Sandra (Margaret) created, at least for me, […]
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Note from Susie: So….here’s the deal. I’m so excited to say that I’m writing a brand new book – a “vintage” story, an epic romantic suspense set in the roaring twenties through World War 2. However…didn’t know I’d be writing this when I set out to do Blog-A-Book. Unfortunately, there is only so much room in my brain for stories…and right now dapper dans, flappers, bootlegging and the European theater are taking up all the space. Rachel and I talked, and agreed to put B-A-B on hold for bit as I work on this new venture. But not to fear – expert book therapist and pal Rachel is taking over blogging for a season and she’ll be walking us through some craft and publishing industry elements you won’t want to […]
Read the RestLet’s talk Query Letters!
A query letter may be sent separately, before you send in your entire proposal, or it may take the form of a cover letter. It can be sent via email (check to make sure your intended recipient – agent or editor – accepts email format!), or hard copy. A query letter is your pitch…the what, why, and how’s of your story. What makes a good query letter? 1. A compelling, succinct first paragraph hook (aka, premise/big bang) 2. A summary of your book in two-three sentences 3. An explanation of where your manuscript fits into the publishing world 4. Who you are and why you can successfully pull off this book 5. The mechanics of the manuscript – where you’re at in production. Again, I cover this in […]
Read the RestThe Plotting Roadmap…or scribbles about how I put a book together
The Plotting Roadmap Now that we have three chapters written of our story, I wanted to flesh out the plot to the end so you could see where we want to go. One of the voices asked me – do you always write a story by “the Seat of your Pants?” Uh, NO. I hate that, actually, because it gets me all blocked and wandering the house in a fog. I like having a plan, a roadmap. In my workbook: From the Inside/Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you, I have a plotting roadmap template – and of course explanations of each step in the journey and how to determine them. If you want deeper explanations, you can either pick up the book, or search […]
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