maryhigginswriter.com

Feedback and advice from Seth Harwood

higlet — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:38:46 +0000

Prize comes home to roost

You might remember that I recently entered and won a competition run by author and podcaster, Seth Harwood. As my prize I choose to have a chapter reviewed by Seth. I know I have work to do on my novel “Turning Left at Albuquerque” and who better to set me on the right path than someone who is already published and runs (with author/podcaster Scott Sigler) “Author Boot camps“?

Editing in the land of crazy

I was nervous, excited and downright scared. I mashed my very short first 5 chapters into one longer chapter and proceeded to edit the crap out of that first chapter. I put a pivotal point from near the end of the book right at the beginning to show that Jason (the protagonist) had a long way to go. I chopped out over 1000 words of descriptions and non-relevant sidelines. All the words I thought I had needed fell away and I was cutting like a thing possessed. I read and re-read and cajoled opinions out of my loved ones and eventually I took the plunge and sent it to Seth. And then I tried to forget about it.

Seth emailed the next day to say he had received it and I would hear back in about a week. I turned my attention to other matters like my non-fiction book proposal and awaited the verdict.

Helpful, inspiring and so much work to be done.

I checked with Seth and he said it was fine to share his comments here, because I think what he says will be helpful to other writers, too. He didn’t amend much of the except to remove unneeded words like “had”, “coming”, and “going”.

“Wow! That’s some puke! [Please Note: In the comments, below, Seth confirms he is talking about the action in the chapter and not my writing!]

I like Jason, despite myself and despite the fact that he’s really in a bad place here and doing nothing about it.

From what I understand of these sections, you’re starting out on new years, a while after Jason’s life has left him. He really wants her back but can’t do anything about it because he’s paralyzed by inability to act. Let’s be honest here—this kind of character is a really hard one to start out the beginning of a first chapter with. A reader will really want to tell him to get off his ass and ACT! Sorry, it’s just that way. When people work hard all day and drop into a book, they want a character they can relate to/escape in, not something they want to scream at.

From the New Years’ morning, we jump back 5 months to Jason getting fired. It seemed odd to me that the first section mentioned him going to work as a part of his life, no interruption mentioned there. So I was confused for a moment, just. I was also surprised in this section that he was so rude/dismissive of Trixie when she called. Has he had a big change of heart in these 5 months? I guess so. But doesn’t he have some idea here that he misses her? (Who’s Andy?)

Guess this seems so far like I’ve got a lot of questions. When you get Jason up to bed and then back downstairs, you’re really starting to create a fine scene that I’m picturing and imagining in my head as I read. That’s really successful writing—you’re taking me beyond words on the page into a co-creation of a movie in my head, a visual narrative starring Jason. Dynamite. Sure there’s a lot of puke in it and imagining that is a bit of a downer, to say the least, but you’ve got me! I’m here with you in his house.

Plot/action wise, let’s look at what happened here in this chapter: in a highly boiled down version, guy sits on New Years’ morning. Flash. Guy gets fired and punches bathroom stall, wakes next day very sick. Pukes. Back to bed. Cleans up puke. Drinks tea. Goes and gets groceries. Comes home. Cleans.

This might be worth re-considering. Are there ways you can get more action in here? Is there a later chapter that’d be better to start the action with? Think about it. A very compelling beginning is essential.

Did you know I cut the first chapter of JWU before podcasting or publishing it? I did. Turned out nothing had happened. This is a common occurrence among writers. It’s like stretching before a long run. Just takes a little while to get warmed up.

In any case, your writing here shows great promise. I like your sentences, your sense of movement and character and what’s most important is you’re doing it! Keep this going, keep working at it and find Jason’s story for yourself. That’s what’s important!”

Eep! There’s a lot of information there.

By which I kick my ego into touch

“Who the heck does Seth Harwood think he is, all judgementy on my fine piece of writing? Doesn’t he know genius when he reads it?”

Of course these were not the first thoughts I had when I read what Seth had to say because I want to learn and be a better writer. The only way I can do that is to actually read and listen and understand what people are telling me about my writing. Imagine if Seth had replied: “Hey, Mary, that was great. Keep up the good work and best of luck.” On the face of it that would have been great but how useful would it have been?

Seth also referred me to his videos – a fantastic resource for anyone looking to improve their writing. This one in particular was very useful to me because here Seth talks about internal dialogue.

Week 6 – Double Duty and More — Thought Italics! from Seth Harwood on Vimeo

In my next post I’ll talk about where I go from here and Seth’s advice about the podcast of “Turning Left at Albuquerque”. Until then let me thank Seth once again for his time and expertise. Don’t forget you can find out all about Seth, his writing, Author Boot Camps and his books on his website, SethHarwood.com.

Editing, FTW. And Winning…FTW!

higlet — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:12:28 +0000

I’m in the process of editing my novel “Turning Left at Albuquerque” at the moment, which is a job I have long put off. I did some initial editing last year and pared it down from over 142,000 to just about 110, 000 (I know!). I then started to podcast it on turningleft.podbean.com with some very positive feedback.

As I learned more about publishing, though, it became apparent I needed to edit more and focus on the main conflict (Jason and Trixie) to get the word count down. The Masterclass by Donald Maas I attended at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference gave me the impetus to actually sit down and edit.

I’m a winner!

Then, last month, I took part on one of the great competitions that Seth Harwood (author of “Jack Wakes Up” and “A Long Way from Disney“) runs on his website and twitter. Seth is passionate about writing and podcasting, and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The prize I won was critique of a chapter by Seth himself – what an opportunity! I’ve reworked Chapter 1 and sent it to him this week and I’m really looking forward to hearing his feedback.

I had put off the editing for so long, but why? Do you find editing easy?

Writing is so easy

Truly it is. The words flow, the ideas pour onto the page and before you know it you’ve written a masterly-crafted tome. Easy. The moment you finish your book you know – just know – that it is single-handedly the most brilliant piece of fiction ever created. EVA! Just wait until the public get a load of your prose.

Taking the time

And then the rush to submit to agents, publishers, friends, your friend’s dog on Facebook is heady. Everyone needs to read this story. And fast. Okay, so it might be a little on the long side, but more words are better, right?

Oh wait!

After the initial thrill has worn off (and possibly after the first few rejection letters have been received), your mind might (be) turn(ed) towards the idea that perhaps you could afford to trim your story a little. Not much, of course! But a little snippage here and there. Eventually it dawns on you that, in fact, you need to go into major editing mode. Fear not! This is not as bad as it seems to be.

I put off the inevitable. Guess what? Because it was inevitable, I had to do it anyway.

Editing can be a horrible, endless, grinding task. All those precious words! How can you simply delete them? After snipping at the edges, coming to terms with the fact that you actually need to take whole chunks of text out of your work can be a traumatic idea. But take heart. Your manuscript with actually be SO MUCH BETTER when you’ve finished. The simplest way to approach editing is to keep asking yourself: “Does this passage/scene/chapter/ progress the story or heighten or resolve a conflict? If the answer is “No.” then it’s gone. Suddenly all those wonderfully descriptive passages drop away leaving a lean story behind.

Is it that simple?

Yes. And no. Of course there is more to it than that. There are whole books devoted to helping you edit – and professional editors make their living because it is very hard to do. A good editor is worth their weight in gold because they know how to balance structure, form and pace of a book. Querytracker.net has a great post about editing which really helps to break down the process into doable parts.

Your favourite editing tricks

Do you have a method for editing that works for you, or links to other good articles that helped you set about editing? If so please share them here. It’s always good to hear how other people go about their work.

More Query help from Querytracker

higlet — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:49:44 +0000

I’m a big fan of Querytracker.net. It makes the business of keeping track of the queries you send out actually manageable. There is also the querytracker.net blog which has a wealth of information for writers and those seeking agents. Today Mary Lindsey wrote about how important it is that you do your homework before sending out a query – even when you are using Querytracker – in her article “Research Before Hitting Send“. It’s well worth reading and coming back to on a regular basis.

What’s in a name?

I think we have established that agents are busy people. Very. Busy. People. Having said that, most of them want to read a well-crafted query because it could be the start of a beautiful relationship. But if you don’t send your query to the right person, or misspell their name, or use the wrong method to submit, then you are making it so much harder for them to want to read what you have sent them.

Do you have any rituals that you do before sending off queries?

Come on, I won’t judge! After once sending a query to an agent with COMPLETELY THE WRONG NAME ON IT because I had used the same query twice and forgot to change the name, I always quadruple check that the email address and the name at the top of the email match up. And if I do anything more, like offer up a quick prayer or pat the dog’s head three times then there is no proof of that. No proof at all.

Why we write

higlet — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:08:23 +0000

Sometimes you need it spelled out…

I’ve been doing much soul-searching (some might call it navel-gazing) recently and trying to really get to grips with what being a writer means. Focus, productivity and results are things I am looking forward to concentrating on more in the future. And then I saw a link on Literary Agent Janet Reid’s blog to a wonderful post by Myra McEntire called Dream Chasers (Throw Strikes).

It’s moving, heart-warming, personal and a timely reminder that for many writers (me included) having the time (and motivation) to write is possible because of other people. Even if you are not a writer it’s a great read and is guaranteed to give a warm glow however cold it is outside. I’m really glad I saw this today. I know how lucky I am.

THANK YOU, hubby. You are amazing.

Upgrading versus messing (delete means it’s gone)

higlet — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:14:12 +0000

So, last night I upgraded Wordpress to the latest version. If you run Wordpress you need to keep it updated because if you don’t you leave yourself open to security risks (like most other software). Even tech bloggers can be caught out by this. Robert Scoble recently had this problem. So if you have it, keep it updated. And before you update make sure you do proper backups, just in case.

And then…..

So I updated last night, figuring if there was any problems I could fix it without causing disruption. I use the automatic update and let Wordpress handle everything, and I’ve never had a problem before. Last night the update went smoothly with no problems. But then. There were some comments that needed to be deleted. They had got past Akismet and, wanting everything squared away, I thought I’d tidy them up. I was not looking carefully and managed to delete all the comments on this blog. I know – pretty amazing, huh?!

So sorry if your comment was deleted. Please come back and leave another one. This time I promise not to start messing late at night. I’ve learned my lesson. Delete means it’s gone forever and although I could maybe restore the database and get them back, at this stage I’ve done enough messing. Ooopsie.

Surrey International Writer’s Conference 2009

higlet — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:42:20 +0000

Surrey International Writers Conference 2009 logo

I went to my first Writer’s Conference this week. The 17th annual Surrey International Writer’s Conference (SiWC) is being held at the Sheraton Vancouver Hotel in Surrey, BC, Canada (it’s running from 23-25th Oct 2009).

I’ve been to business conferences before, but nothing could quite prepare me. I only attended on Friday but I manage to pack in a lot into those few hours and came away with a renewed sense of purpose. As a warm-up to the Conference I went to a Master Class with Donald Maass (from the Donald Maass Literary Agency on Thursday night entitled “The Irresistable Novel”.

What makes a Master Class?

I’m probably not qualified to answer that, so instead I’ll tell you what I took away from it. Apart from a slightly numb posterior (3+ hours on a dining chair can do that to you), this was definitely a hands-on and Mr Maass really did what he said he was going to do. He took us through a series of exercises intended to help us identify what *we* found to be compelling in our own favourite books. Then he took us through another set of exercises where we self-analysed our current work and showed how it could be changed to become ‘irresistible’.

There was a lot of audience participation and it was intense work, but I found it to be very rewarding. Some of the suggestions weren’t relevant for what I’m doing at the moment, and I was pleased to see that some of the things I’m already doing. When I’m writing my next book (which will be very soon – NaNoWriMo FTW!) I will definitely be referring back to the notes I made and incorporating elements into my writing.

Raymond Maass was very personable and humorous in his presentation. He is very widely read (as you would hope a very successful agent would be) and illustrated his points with examples from many books. Well worth the money and time.

What the Conference was all about

Writing! And writers, agents, publishers, illustrators…everything to do with the business of books. The opening keynote speech, by author Anne Perry, was very inspiring, and from then on it was non-stop with workshops, appointments and connecting with fellow conference-goers. There were several workshops running simultaneously all day so there was enough variety to please even the most fickle person. While they were going on there were also Pitch Session with agents and publishers, and Blue Pencil sessions with experienced authors.

I’ll talk about the Pitch and Blue Pencil sessions in my next blog post. They were very interesting and I can confirm – agents and publishers are real people, too! That, in itself, is worth finding out for yourself

For now I would like to congratulate the organisers for a such a wonderful event. There was a great atmosphere and a palpable feeling of work being done. I made lots of connections and it was liberating to be among so many other writers, sharing stories of query letters, rejections, Twitter, making time to write….If you are heading there tomorrow then I wish you all the best (and wish I could be there). I’m already making plans to attend next year and I hope to go for the whole weekend then.

Links:

SiWC website

SiWC on Twitter (they are using the #siwc2009 tag)

Query letters part 2 – who/what/why?

higlet — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:44:04 +0000

In Part 1 I looked at the query letter business. You probably feel it is the work of the devil while you’re writing it, worrying about it and working out what you need to send (see above picture for the snowy wind-swept wasteland you can feel you’re living in). But it’s the only system in use at the moment so you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. In trying to formulate my query letters I have done lots of research, so I’m setting it out here as a starting point. And it is only a starting point. You will need to really get to grips with the whole concept of querying in order to do it right. That WILL take time and A LOT of effort.

And remember, there is a different query process for fiction and non-fiction. If you are querying for fiction then the work must be completed, edited, polished and really ready. For non-fiction you usually need to write a detailed proposal.

If that seems too much then you are not ready. Seriously. After months of writing and then editing your work the last thing you want to hear is that there is another hurdle to jump. I know – because it took me a long time to realise there is no way around it. If you don’t put the time in you will not get the results. Even if you do put the time in, you might not get results – but let’s not dwell on that. As ever, it’s the person who stays in the race the longest that wins. Hold on to that thought.

What agents say they want in a query letter

Okay, prepare yourself for the shocking truth. Not all agents are looking for the same thing. Shock! Horror! Swoon! Before you send out a letter to an agent you MUST check on what it is they are asking you for. Some want only the query letter. Some want a query letter plus five pages (double-spaced, Arial font size 12, 1 inch margins). Some want the query letter plus the first three chapters….You must research and find out what the agent wants because if you send the wrong thing, your lovingly-crafted query will be consigned to the trash without even being read. And that would be a great pity.

If you use QueryTracker to research agents and keep track of your queries (I use it and it has made the whole process bearable – possible, even) then they usually have a link to the agency website. On those websites you will undoubtably find a ‘Submissions’ or ‘Contact’ page which will give you all the details of how to send a query to them. Some agents also blog, and this gives you a whole other avenue of research – one that you would do will to explore.

Some real-life example of what two agents want taken from their blogs:

Nathan Bransford

Mr Bransford is an agent with Curtis Brown and has been agenting and blogging for a long time. His blog is chock-full of information for writers. and is an example of why you need to do your research.

First of all, he has a FAQ page where lots of common questions about agents and queries are answered.

He has also given a simple formula for creating query letters (you need to read the whole post to understand it properly) that gives you:

“Dear [Agent name],

I chose to submit to you because of your wonderful taste in [genre], and because you [personalized tidbit about agent].

[protagonist name] is a [description of protagonist] living in [setting]. But when [complicating incident], [protagonist name] must [protagonist's quest] and [verb] [villain] in order to [protagonist's goal].

[title] is a [word count] work of [genre]. I am the author of [author's credits (optional)], and this is my first novel.

Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best wishes,
[your name]“

This is what he says about formatting your query letter:

“This is all you need to know:

The amount of time you spend formatting, coloring, bolding, italicizing, and adding pictures to your query is inversely proportional to how professional it looks when you’re finished.”

However, formatting your manuscript (your actual book) is another thing entirely and there is a standard for that. This is also set out by Mr Bransford in this post.

And this is what Curtis Brown says on their ‘Submissions’ page:

“Curtis Brown represents adult and children’s authors of all genres, including illustrators. If you would like to submit a manuscript or proposal, please send us a query letter, a synopsis of the work, a sample chapter and a brief resume. Illustrators should send 1-2 samples of published work, along with 6-8 color copies (no original art).Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope for our response and return postage if you wish to have your materials returned to you. We typically respond to queries within 6 to 8 weeks.”

From this we know that we need a good quality query letter, synopsis, sample chapter and a brief resume in order to query Mr Bransford. [Note: At some stage he also had a little post about what to send him which appears to have gone.]

Janet Reid

Ms Reid is an agent with Fine Print Literary Management and She has a great deal of information on her blog and, again, you should spend time reading it if you are serious about wanting to have an agent and be published. At the top of her blog is a link to ‘How to send me a query‘ which does exactly what it says on the link. Here’s the first part of that post:

“Here’s what I want:

A query letter addressed to me (not me as part of a bcc list, nor Dear Agent)
The first 3-5 pages of your manuscript if it’s a novel or a memoir (in the body of the email, not as an attachment)

The premise for your non-fiction book that isn’t a memoir: why the topic is important, why you’re the one to write the book, and your platform. Include the introduction in the body of the email (again, no attachments)

Email these, or send by snail mail with an SASE.

That’s it.”

The post actually contains more information than that, but it’s clear that Ms Reid has different requirements than Mr Bransford in terms of what to send. Ms Reid also has much more information about queries and the whole process on her blog, including ‘What’s NOT a query letter‘.

I picked these two agents out of the many I follow because they have different requirements. Most of the agents that blog are very clear about what they want and post information to make things easier for writers. Contrary to what it seems – agents actually do want to see queries! If you follow instructions when they are given then you can guarantee that at least they will read your query, even if they then decide they don’t want to take it further. This puts you ahead of the game because agents frequently lament that writers do not send what is required of them. If you are going to query on agent, do it right.

Okay, I’m sending out queries – now what?

I’d love to be able to say that if you are seriously querying agents because you have a polished manuscript, a compelling query letter and a correctly-formatted partial/full manuscript all ready then you can relax and sit back. Because you can’t. And, if you are serious about writing, you shouldn’t want to. After all the toil getting your ms ready and your queries going out the next thing is – start writing the next book. Yes, the best advice is to get on with the next project. Many agents suggest this and I’ve found it to be true. It keeps you creating, keeps you focussed on the fact that writing is what you want to do, and it gives you more to offer an agent when they do make that call. In my case I switched directions to a non-fiction book and an agent is now interested.

Final thoughts

Rejection is hard. I have a set of polite form rejections and I would be lying to say they didn’t sting. At first, it was tough but you do get more used to it. The thing to hold on to is that a rejection does not mean your work is useless, only that it was not suitable for that agent on the day they read your query. Keep querying, keep refining your query letter and submission package and persevere.

Chin up – the last one standing wins!

Exciting developments, blogging on PinkRaygun.com and more

higlet — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 06:38:34 +0000

Well, it’s been an exciting time!

“Query Letters Part 2: What Agents Say They Want” will be up in the next week or so but you’ll have to forgive the delay. I’m working on several projects at the moment and making time to blog here is proving challenging. Last week I was very excited to hear from an agent about a non-fiction proposal I queried about. They want to see the full proposal, sample chapters and writers biography so I’m busy polishing them all up so I can mail them out. I’m not going to say who the agent is, but I’m so happy they want to know more because I can really see the book sitting well with the other authors and books they are representing. Fingers crossed!

The PinkRaygun.com logo

PinkRaygun.com and The Guild Season 3

The Guild Art By Jeff Carlisle

In addition to my ‘writing-writing’, my blogging is also kicking up a notch. I regularly blog as WorldofHiglet over on “the last geek bus home” and many of my recent posts have be about The Guild, an award-winning webseries I’ve been following for the last eighteen months. Created, written and starring Felicia Day, The Guild Season 3 starts on MSN video/Xbox live /Zune on Tuesday 1st September 2009 and I will be reviewing each episode on PinkRaygun.com in a new series of articles. I’ve been a fan of PinkRaygun for a long time and I’m really looking forward to combining writing for them with watching my favourite webseries – it’s a win-win!

And after their massive music-video hit “Do you wanna date my avatar?” I can’t wait to see what surprises this new Season will bring. For one thing – it has Wil Wheaton! And as this stunning artwork from the brilliant artist Jeff Carlisle shows – there be dragons…

“Turning Left at Albuquerque” audiobook podcast surges on

And we are continuing to serialise my novel “Turning Left at Albuquerque” on turningleft.podbean.com. It started as an experiment and originally we were only going to do the first five chapters, but it’s been very well-received and Omnibus 11 (Chapters 51-55) will be published on Monday 31st August. That’s over four hours of excitement, geeky fun and heartbreak so make sure you check it out!

Okay, it’s back to work for me – how are your plans coming along?

Great review of “Turning Left at Albuquerque” (Back from Summer Break)

higlet — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:26:14 +0000

AlwaysGoRight.com reviews “Turning Left at Albuquerque”

Since first starting to podcast “Turning Left…” as an audiobook I’ve received some very encouraging emails and comments. A few weeks ago* the audiobook podcast was reviewed on AlwaysGoRight.com, a well-established website that covers all things geek. I meet the author, Karnatos, through our shared love of the webseries The Guild. We’ve been in contact for a year or so and I always appreciate his finely-honed sense of humour. We talked via Skype about the podcast, but I hadn’t realised at first that he intended to officially review it – that was a more-than-pleasant surprise!

Reviews matter

When you are creating something and putting it out there for people to enjoy it’s a pleasure and a risk. A pleasure because you hope that they will enjoy it as much as you do and that it will entertain and transport them, and a risk because they might not like it, or just plain ignore it. Being ignored is hard because you are creating in a vacuum. You need feedback to know whether what you are doing is having the desired results. I’ve been lucky because people have told me they enjoy the podcast and the story and when we’ve had to delay posting I’ve had emails asking why! A review, though, is different. It’s an assessment of your work and an opinion on whether it the reviewer liked it or not. This helps other people decide whether they are going to give it a try, too.

Which reviews matter the most?

At this stage in my writing career I know it’s unlikely that a well-established author with an impressive range of published books to their name is going to be commenting on my work. That’s okay, I can afford to wait for them to offer to do a blurb for “Turning Left…”. The review in AlwaysGoRight is important to me for several reasons:

Firstly, it is on a blog that is well-established and has a growing reputation for bringing the geek home to many people. There are reviews and opinion pieces about a wide-range of topics.
Secondly, it is a review from someone I respect as a writer and who wanted to review my work – this is incredibly powerful. Although I’ve known Karnatos online for a while and we have talked about writing, I would never presume to ask him to review my work. Yet he chose to do so because he enjoys the podcast. Wow!
Thirdly, it is a validation that we’re doing the right thing. Karnatos is enjoying the story, the narrator, the length of the episodes and the audio quality. If he had had any issues it would be an opportunity to look again and make improvements.

Luckily we seem to be on track:

“… At first I was not exactly sure what she was talking about when she started promoting a chapter from something she called “Turning Left at Albuquerque”, but as usual my curiosity wins and this time I struck gold – I am really enjoying this series…Mary certainly gets the feeling of dread that one experiences when they’ve been let go; having been through it myself, it’s both haunting and entertaining to listen to. And despite it being a very somber setting, her writing keeps things mostly upbeat by allowing humour to show through… You should add this audiobook series to your weekly podcast regiment; I really do feel that you are missing out if you are not tuning in to find out what is in store for poor Jason. Each chapter of this story is entertaining, and the 25 minute episodes go by fast….”

No spoilers

The review is quite in-depth but there are no spoilers, so please take the time to go and read it and then look around the Always Go Right website. It’s my first review and it made me feel very proud, and a little humble.

We’ll be publishing chapters 41-45 today of “Turning Left…” and you can listening to and download all the episodes so far on turningleft.podbean.com. You also subscribe in iTunes or any other podcatcher from there, too.

*Why has it taken me so long to publish this if the review was weeks ago? That is simple – I thought this had been published before I went on summer break and it hadn’t! I have no idea why – I would have sworn it was up already. So, a salutary tale in CHECKING THINGS.

Do you have an ‘elevator pitch’? Write one and enter this comp!

higlet — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:50:17 +0000

The June Agent Contest has been announced this morning on Query Tracker (QT):

Here are the contest details:

* Entries will be accepted by entry form on the main QueryTracker.net site.
* You may submit your entries during the 24-hour window beginning at midnight tonight MST and ending at 11:59 Tuesday night.
* Acceptable genres are adult fiction, YA fiction, and narrative non-fiction.
* Entries should be brief 1 – 3 sentence pitches and take less than a minute.
* Ms. Glick will select the top ten winning entries. Winners will be invited to submit a partial manuscript to Ms. Glick!

An elevator pitch is a short speech that encapsulates a product in a couple of sentences. For writers it would be the speech you would give if you were fortunate enough to be in an elevator with an agent and they actually wanted to a) talk to you b) listen to you tell them about your book (it helps if you can suspend disbelief. The chances of you recognising an agent and them not pressing the ‘emergency’ button the instant you reveal you are a writer with a book are, of course, very slight).

A great opportunity

Having a partial read by an accomplished agent is a brilliant prize, and Mollie Glick has years of experience (more details in the QT article and on her agency website). And more than this, creating an elevator pitch is a useful exercise. The next time one of your friends or family introduces you as a writer to someone new you will have something to tell them!

Query Tracker is a fantastic site for all book writers in the throes of querying literary agents and I am using to keep a track of all the queries I have sent and the replies I receive.

Get writing – there is only a 24 hour window for this starting at midnight TONIGHT!