jeriendhal | Building a Better Novel, Week 5

Mostly technical stuff last night, revolving around the finer points of writing cover and query letters (which are definitely not the same thing), mostly do's and don'ts. Do explain what the story is about in your query, Do compare it to other works the publisher has already handled, Do tell what you've had published if they're at all professional and especially related to your novel. Don't babble about how Reader X claimed this was the best thing they'd read and most especially don't do anything that might suggest to the editor "Well if you're so great, why aren't you published already?" Then it was on to a brief discussion of etiquette when asking whether they've recieved your manuscript and so on.

The topper was the series of cover letters that she handed out, which were real except for name changes, that were chock full of mistakes that would have caught any editor's eyes. Made hilarious and sad reading really.

After that we had some extra time, so she started going over how to write an extended summary of your novel's plot in a way to get it across clearly to the editor.

Next week: Critiquing How To, with an invitation to bring in the first ten pages of your work to show to the class. I'll probably take in the revised first ten pages of "Opening Shots". It isn't quite a novel, and still needs tons of work to scrub off the serial numbers from Peta's universe, but I would like opinions on it from people who don't have to worry about offending me.

Mmm, one further item. At one point she flat out said, "There are at least two people in this room who I believe will be published within the next year." Given how she liked the first five pages of "Opening Shots" I have to wonder if one of those people was me. :) Well, it could be just ego stroking for us, but who knows?