by Joanne Wadsworth | May 28, 2012 | Author Blog
What an exciting week I’ve had being introduced to the world of editing. Content edits with my book titled, Protector, began–and I’m going to share with you three simple tips I picked up, ones which aided me and will do the same for you.
Sentence Length
When writing we can get so carried away with getting our words out, that our sentence length drags. Please read your long sentences out loud. I promise it will become obvious exactly where you’ve gone wrong. If you do this, you’ll find yourself chopping long sentences right down. Before you know it, your book’s pace will pick up, enabling your reader to become more engaged.
Telling as Compared to Showing
This can be an issue, and one we’re not even aware of it. What to learn is, don’t tell your reader what your character is doing, but show them with physical reactions. Add more dialogue if necessary. Below is an example of a sentence re-written, but let me give you some background for it to make sense. This character has been struck on the head and lost consciousness, and now she is awakening.
“I’ve been out for twenty minutes?” Confusion took me. ←(This is telling, not showing.)
Now it reads–
“I’ve been out for twenty minutes?” I scrunched up my forehead. “That’s not good.” ←(Yeah, this character has a sense of humor.)
Overuse of Adverbs and Adjectives
Do not overuse adverbs and adjectives. You don’t want your reader thinking too hard, not when they should be immersed in your story. Here’s an example of overuse–and all that’s necessary is to remove one word to allow the writing to flow easier.
Jack stepped away, quietly propping his back against the wide trunk of the tree.
Simply delete the word–“quietly” and read again. The sentence frees up–so simple.
Please tune in next week for some more tidbits. Simply click “follow” or “like” on the right-hand side panel. I’d love you to join me.
by Joanne Wadsworth | May 22, 2012 | Author Blog
The first page, the first paragraph, the first sentence, the first word–this is where every writer begins, where the all-important first impression must take hold, and it’s this first page I’m going to focus on in this post.
Writing is about a balance of style, generally run in the order of: dialogue, action, emotion, and thought. Yet this general balance can be switched up here and there, thereby giving the flow of your paragraphs greater reading appeal. Take a moment to study the first page of some of your favorite books. After you’ve done that, I’m sure you’ll become ultra-aware of this balance, spotting for yourself the natural flow and then the shifts which add appeal.
Another obvious point is to ensure your heroine and hero are clashing somewhere within the first few pages of your book. Don’t wait until the second chapter before we meet him. Sure, I’ve read many books where the first chapter is dedicated to her, and the second to him, and then the third chapter finally sees them coming together, but these authors have other published work and a reader base that knows they’re going to deliver. But for those new to writing, stick with the winning combination of building tension quickly and efficiently right from the first page.
Some great advice is to begin with a snappy first liner of dialogue. Don’t get weighed down with the description of your location or character or their history. Readers certainly don’t need to hear what he or she is wearing in that vital first page. Instead they want to connect to the characters and feel the tension, feel where your story is going to lead, because as they say conflict+conflict=story.
Also, make sure you become aware of the red flags in writing that turn editors off, and trust me they are very real. As an example these are issues like your first page beginning with backstory. This is a huge no-no as it immediately tells the editor you don’t have the skill to bring history in, as and when necessary, in the forward telling of your story. For more information google or bing “editors red flags in writing,” and see what others report as red flags.
In writing this post, I’m hoping I’ve been able to shed some light on making your first page shine. All the best, and please follow if you wish to stay tuned.
by Joanne Wadsworth | May 17, 2012 | Author Blog
For any unpublished writer the submission process eventually becomes a headache. Exactly how many submissions do you send out, and to whom, and how, and why, and when, and what. And oh yeah–did I say what???
Now, I hope you had a little laugh, because you’re going to need that light relief as you battle through the process of perfecting your submission. Below I have addressed these issues briefly because there is a ton of helpful advice floating out there on the web, but in a nutshell this is the way I see it.
Firstly, the “Query Letter.” This is a nice and precise letter addressed to the literary agent, and I mean personally addressed to the agent with their full name. This means you need to do your research on the agency and only submit to an agent who is looking for exactly what you’re selling. Now google or bing a search on “query letters” and see what everyone else is writing, because at this point in the game, you’ve got to stick to the status quo. Don’t go reinventing the query letter, because there is a standard and you must meet it.
Secondly, the “Synopsis.” This is sometimes referred to as the “sucknopsis,”–clearly because it’s incredibly sucky to write. Basically what you have to do is chop down your novel into easy to read paragraphs, ensuring your synopsis comes out at around 5-8 pages. (Ironically I always had 9, so don’t fret if you go a fraction over or under.) Now, when I say your novel is chopped down, I truly mean it. You must include the entire story’s plot, and don’t leave the ending out as a lure. Within these 5-8 pages the agent needs to be able to grasp the entire story from beginning to end and feel satisfied that they know exactly what’s going to happen within your book. Again google or bing a search on “synopsis” and see how other winning ones are written. Do not veer away from the norm.
Thirdly, the “Manuscript.” Please edit, edit, edit. No typos, and follow the industry’s standard protocols for 1 inch margins and double spacing, along with Times New Roman typeface. No pictures, no colors, no fancy gimmicks. Have your name and title of the book and recurring page numbers within a defined header at the top of every page. Do a search on “formatting your manuscript” to get this right.
Now, if there’s any advice I would have loved to have received, it would have been within the field of writing in POV 3rd person,and DEEP POV 3rd person. There is a distinct line between the two, and your work must be either written one way or the other, not a variation of both. Please search “DEEP POV 3rd” to discover the differences. Also a major no-no is Head-hopping. Sure, there are well-known authors out there who head-hop, but don’t go there. If you move from the heroine’s POV to the hero’s, ensure you section mark the change with **** and do not head-hop within these scenes you write. Again do a search on “head-hopping” for further clarification.
And lastly, I would recommend you begin submitting to around a dozen agents, following each agency’s submission guidelines to the precise letter, and of course you will find these on their websites without any problem. Once you start seeing some responses (and expect the negatives because that is inevitable) then begin the second round of 12. While you’re waiting for a positive response begin working on your next novel, and the next, and the next. Don’t stop writing, because what you’ll find is your work improves over time. You may even go back to an earlier manuscript and touch it up and begin the submission process on it all over again. For a good search tool on agents I used www.agentquery.com although there are many others out there, so have a good look around.
In writing this post, I’m hoping to provide the basics, because in truth I could write ten pages on the submission process due to how in-depth it is–so let your fingers do the walking and use the web as your guide. Check out what your favorite authors say regarding their road to publication, and soak in the information. For me, my first yes took three years–but I’ll tell you what, it was totally worth the journey. I’m so pleased with how my writing has developed, and I’m sure you will be with yours too. So in closing, if you have any particular queries, just use the comment feature below and I’ll be sure to respond.
The best of luck everyone! And I truly mean that!
by Joanne Wadsworth | May 2, 2012 | Author Blog
I love to write; I love to breathe life into my characters and see them exist in a realm outside of my mind. There is such pleasure in sharing my work, in allowing others to immerse themselves in the stories of fantasy and adventure I weave– Oops! Oh yeah, that’s right, my first novel titled, Protector, is releasing in November with Lyrical Press. And those readers I want to share with–I need to find them. Elusive critters–where are you?
This whole process of promoting your book, months in advance of release day, intrigues me beyond belief. In the course of researching how this is done, I am now even more in awe of authors who sells tens of thousands of copies and make writing a fulltime career.
Firstly though, I’d like to point out that I have the fulltime career portion of my writing nailed. Yes, I spend all hours of the day and night pounding the keyboard, my characters demanding they all be heard. It’s the second half that has me nibbling on my nails. Where are these tens of thousands of readers?
I can only say I’ve got five months still to find you. I have a wonderful network of family and friends, but it is those readers who truly love the “young adult fantasy romance” genre, I desire to meet. Yeah, and I thought writing was a solitary career–just me and my laptop. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
So if you’re reading this post–firstly I am immensely grateful you are. And secondly, feel free to “follow” future updates and spread the word. A friend of a friend, is a friend.
PS: I love giving away free stuff–that makes me an even better friend.
What an exciting week I’ve had being introduced to the world of editing. Content edits with my book titled, Protector, began–and I’m going to share with you three simple tips I picked up, ones which aided me and will do the same for you.
