|
|
|
|
This week at WD,
we're focusing on advice on publishing, genre, and following the heart
of your story from award-winning authors.
|
|
|
|
|
|
What prompted you to write this book?
As an undergraduate student in college, Africana
studies was my minor area of study. During that time, I had read many
historical works about the African diaspora, especially
African-American experiences, and I was struck by the dearth of
information about Black queer people prior to the Harlem Renaissance.
If Black queerness was represented, it was only ever represented in the
context of rape and sexual assault. As a Black queer person myself,
that, of course, prompted a question: What about love? Read
the full article...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From certificate to terminal
degree, Spalding’s School of Creative and Professional Writing
low-residency model provides intellectual rigor, emotional support,
affordability, flexibility, and community. Our diverse, socially
engaged faculty of prize-winning mentors offer East and West-coast
sensibilities for TV, stage, and screen.
spalding.edu/schoolofwriting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Want to know the 9 best ways you can make a career out
of writing?
Get AWAI’s free
guide that walks you through each one and shows you where you
can find these opportunities, how much you can make, and how to get
started.
Discover how everyday people—who have a real LOVE for
writing—were able to finally make writing their career ... and how you
can do it too.
Download
your free guide today to get started.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Querying for Success: What
Attracts an Agent to Your Submission
Your query letter is the first interaction you and your book have with
an agent. If getting an agent is a job, this is your job interview. In
this live webinar, instructor and literary agent Carlisle Webber will
show you how to grab an agent's attention with your query letter. A
critique of your query letter comes with your registration and the
final part of the webinar will include a live, anonymous query critique.
Learn
More!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12 Weeks to a First Draft
Writer's Digest University
Make your 2021 goals a reality! Dive into the world
of writing and learn all 12 steps needed to complete a first draft. In
this writing workshop, you will tackle the steps to writing a book,
learn effective writing techniques along the way, and of course, begin
writing your first draft. Learn
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moriah Richard is an
editor at Writer’s
Digest with a particular interest in discussing craft and
genre. As a reader, she’s most interested in horror, fantasy, and
romance, although she will read just about anything with a great hook.
Find Moriah on Twitter @MoriahRichard93.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Perfecting Submission Materials
Agents get literally thousands of submissions a year, including query
letters, sample pages, and synopses In this WDU boot camp, each
attendee will have the opportunity to have their first ten pages
critiqued by an agent along with their work in any combination: query
letter, manuscript pages, and synopsis..
January 19-22,
2021
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming Virtual
Conference
|
|
|
|
|
Novel Writing Virtual Conference
Gain expert insights from SEVEN award-winning and best-selling authors
on the finer points of how to write a novel. Then (if you choose) pitch
your novel via query letter to a literary agent.
January 22-24,
2021
|
|
|
|
|
Querying for Success
In this live webinar, instructor and literary agent Carlisle Webber
will show you how to grab an agent's attention with your query letter.
A critique of your query letter comes with your registration and the
final part of the webinar will include a live, anonymous query
critique.
January 28,
2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your query letter is
the first interaction you and your book have with an agent. If getting
an agent is a job, this is your job interview. Writing a novel is hard,
but writing a query complete with a strong hook seems even harder.
You've got to distill your book into about 200 words, convincing an
agent to read it while not spoiling them on the major plot points.
In this
live webinar, instructor and literary agent Carlisle Webber
will show you how to grab an agent's attention with your query letter.
After sharing the essentials of query writing and answering some
questions many writers have (such as How can I make my query stand out
if it's formatted just like everyone else's?), attendees will see
examples of great query letters. You'll also learn some of the common
mistakes that stop agents from requesting pages based on your query
letter.
|
|
|
|
|
- The
information that absolutely must go in your query
- How
to capture your novel in just one page
- The
dos and donts of presenting your characters and plot
- What
you need to accomplish with your hook
- How
to break query rules effectively (and when not to break them at
all)
- What
information to include about yourself when you query
- and
much
more!
|
|
|
|
|
- Writers
who have finished their novel and are ready to move on to the
query stage
- Writers
who aren't getting the responses they want to their query
- Anyone
who wants to learn more about writing queries
- Writers
who want a professional critique of their query letter
- Anyone
with questions about the query process
- Anyone
who wants to see what agents really think when they read a query
letter
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Instructor:
Carlisle Webber
Carlisle
Webber refused to major in English in college because she didn't
think there was anything fun to read on the required lists. After
college, she took her love of commercial, YA, and middle-grade fiction
to the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, where
she earned a Master of Library and Information Sciences. She worked as
a public librarian for years before deciding to move to the business
side of publishing. She attended the Columbia Publishing Course and
holds a Professional Certificate in Editing from UC Berkeley. She is
now an agent with Fuse Literary representing high-concept commercial
fiction for children, teens, and adults.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active Interest Media
5710 Flatiron Parkway Suite A Boulder, Colorado, 80301 USA
|
|
|
|
Plot
Twist Story Prompt: Compelled Duty
For today's prompt, compel a character to perform a
task. And by task, I don't mean washing the dishes or taking out the
trash. Like the title of this prompt, I mean the task to be more of a
duty. Like leaving their loved ones to go to war or to take care of a
distant relative in need. Or it could be going into a profession or
marriage that's decided for them by their family.
(2021
February Flash Fiction Challenge.)
There are a few ways
that compelled duty can impact a plot. In a romance, compelled duty is
a very common way to split up two people who feel they belong together.
If they do, they'll be together in the end. If not, then they both
probably found someone else while they were apart. But compelled duty
can help drive other stories as well.
In Dracula, Bram Stoker
sends Jonathan Harker from London to Transylvania to conduct business
dealings with an eccentric count and in the process puts his beloved
Mina in harm's way. In many dystopian novels, compelled duty is a way
of life for most of the characters involved, and it's their resistance
against that force that ultimately drives the story. Read the
full article...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Looking
for an excellent publisher?
Atmosphere Press is an
independent full-service publisher for books of all genres, from
fiction to poetry to non-fiction to children's picture books,
and beyond. Atmosphere’s exceptional editorial, design, and promotional
team embraces an author-friendly approach to getting your book out into
the world. They use a collaborative publishing model,
allowing you to retain your rights while Atmosphere helps make your
book awesome.
Submit
your full-length manuscript by January 31st
with no reading fee at
atmospherepress.com/books/guidelines.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Writing Mistakes: Oversimplified Characters
You open up your email one night and see that you have a
new message from your beta reader. Eagerly, you click it open and see
what they have to say.
“Really loved that
twist at the end!” you read, “But I have to say, the biggest issue in
this draft is your main character. There wasn’t much to her. Even when
we got to the climax, I didn’t really care how it was going to go one
way or the other.”
(20 ways
to write characters better.)
How can this be? You
adore your heroine. She’s spunky, tenacious, and always has the right
answer.
You open up your
manuscript and start re-reading. You still see all the things you loved
about your heroine … but now you’re seeing what your reader meant.
She’s not complex enough; there isn’t much to her beyond the surface
traits you needed to get your plot from point A to point B. Read
More...
|
|
|
|
|
|
This Week in Writing
1/11—William
James born 1842
1/11—Diana Gabaldon born 1952 (Gabaldon
WD interview outtakes)
1/12—Jack London born 1876
1/12—Haruki Murakami born 1949
1/12—Agatha Christie died 1976 (12 Agatha
Christie quotes for writers)
1/13—Horatio Alger born 1834
1/13—James Joyce died 1941
1/13—Lorrie Moore born 1957
1/14—John Dos Passos born 1896
1/15—Martin Luther King Jr. born 1929
1/16—Robert Service born 1874
1/17—Benjamin Franklin born 1706
1/17—Anne Bronte born 1820
1/17—Mary Oliver died 2019 (100
poetic forms for poets)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Robert Lee
Brewer
Robert Lee
Brewer is a senior editor for Writer's Digest and former editor
of the Writer's Market book series. He is also the author of Smash Poetry Journal
and Solving the
World's Problems. Find him on Twitter at @RobertLeeBrewer
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Active Interest Media
5710 Flatiron Parkway Suite A Boulder, Colorado, 80301 USA
|
|
|
|
Active Interest Media, 5710 Flatiron Parkway, Suite A,
Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Courses
Starting This Week:
Outlining
Your Novel
Instructor: G.
Miki Hayden
Writers often look upon outlines with fear and trembling. But when
properly understood and correctly used, the outline is one of the most
powerful weapons in a writer's arsenal. In this course, you’ll
brainstorm plot ideas, discover your characters, and explore what type
of outline is right for you.
Write
Great Dialogue
Instructor: Gloria
Kempton
Sharpen your writing skills and challenge yourself to craft engaging,
yet believable dialogue that will keep your readers interested. You’ll
discover how to write dialogue that advances your story’s plot as you
build your creative skills through weekly lectures, reading and writing
assignments, and group critiques.
Writing
the Picture Book
Instructor: Holly
Alder
Picture books are one of the most delightful—and important—genres in
all of literature. In this course, you'll learn how to write a winning
picture book narrative, envision it with illustrations, and put
together a picture package that a publisher will really notice.
Fearless
Writing
Instructor:
William Kenower
This workshop will look at several techniques you can you use to keep
yourself in the creative flow and out of the trouble and misery fear
always causes. It offers you a transformative experience from renowned
motivator William Kenower. Don't miss out!
Grammar
and Mechanics
Instructor:
Kelly Boyer Sagert
Do you remember the difference between the 8 parts of speech and how to
use them? Are you comfortable with punctuation and mechanics? No matter
what type of writing you do, mastering the fundamentals of grammar
and mechanics is an important first step to having a successful
writing career.
Writing
Online Content
Instructor:
Naveed Saleh
With the continued proliferation of online and virtual media, more
readers than ever before are turning to the internet for news and
opinions. This course will teach you how to effectively write online articles
of all types including news, feature articles, opinion articles,
alternative story forms (listicles, charticles, Q&As, and more),
and blog postings.
12
Weeks to a First Draft
Instructor:
Terri Valentine
Dive into the world of writing and learn all 12 steps needed to
complete a first draft. In this writing workshop you will tackle the
steps to writing a book, learn effective writing techniques along the
way, and of course, begin writing your first draft.
|
|
|
|
|
|
January Boot
Camp:
Perfecting
Submission Materials
with Fuse
Literary
January 19-22, 2021
Agents get literally thousands of submissions a year,
including query letters, sample pages, and synopses. Of those
thousands, they request a full manuscript from few and offer
representation to even fewer. Each attendee will have the opportunity
to have their first ten pages critiqued by an agent along with their
work in any combination: query letter, manuscript pages, and synopsis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
January
Virtual Conference:
Novel
Writing Virtual Conference
with 7
Award-Winning Authors
January 22-24, 2021
Gain expert insights from SEVEN award-winning and
best-selling authors on the finer points of how to write a novel. Spend
the weekend learning techniques for honing your craft skills, refining
your characters, exploring the future of publishing, and getting the
tools you need to advance your career. Then (if you choose) pitch your
novel via query letter to a literary agent.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upcoming
Webinar:
Querying
for Success: What Attracts an Agent to Your Submission
with Carlisle
Webber
January 28, 1:00 PM EST
Your query letter is the first interaction you and your
book have with an agent. If getting an agent is a job, this is your job
interview. In this live webinar, instructor and literary agent Carlisle
Webber will show you how to grab an agent's attention with your query
letter. A critique of your query letter comes with your registration
and the final part of the webinar will include a live, anonymous query
critique.
|
|
|
|
EXPERT INSTRUCTORS | CONVENIENT ACCESS
INVALUABLE FEEDBACK
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Agents get literally
thousands of submissions a year, including query letters, sample pages,
and synopses. Of those thousands, they request a full manuscript from
few and offer representation to even fewer.
Think of your
submission package as a job application for your book. You not only
want to apply to the right people, the ones who have a passion for the
books you write, but you want to present your book in such a way that
they will easily see what your book has to offer. This live Writers
Digest boot camp will teach you how to put together a dynamic yet
professional submission package that will show agents you take your
potential author career seriously and make them want to read your work.
In this
boot camp from Fuse Literary Agency, attendees will learn
how to put together a short yet effective query letter and a one-
to two-page book synopsis (fiction). They’ll also learn some best
practices for submitting their query, pages, and synopsis to agents.
Each attendee will
have the opportunity to have their first ten pages critiqued by an
agent along with their work in any combination: query letter,
manuscript pages, and synopsis.
Here's
how it Works:
On Tuesday, January
19, you will gain access to a 60-minute tutorial recording led by
literary agents Tricia Skinner, Michelle Richter, and Carlisle Webber.
This tutorial will show you what agents expect from your submission
package and how you can shape it to fit your needs.
After listening to
the presentation, attendees will spend the next two days revising
materials as necessary. Following the tutorial, writers will have two
days in which to log onto the discussion boards and ask your assigned
agent critiquer questions related to revising your materials. The
agents will be available for a discussion session from 1-3 p.m. (PT) on Wednesday, January 20 and from
1-3 p.m. (PT) on Thursday, January 21. By end of
day (11:59
p.m., PT) on Friday, January 22, attendees will submit
up to 10 double-spaced, 12 pt font Times New Roman pages for
review to their assigned agents. These pages can include any
combination of a double-spaced query, synopsis, or pages of their
manuscript.
The agents will
spend three weeks reviewing all assigned pages, provide relevant
feedback, and offer suggestions to help attendees improve upon them.
The agents reserve the right to request more materials if they feel a
strong connection to the work and want to read more.
- Tuesday,
January 19: Online Tutorials
- Wednesday, January 20: Agent Q&A 1:00 PM to
3:00 PM (PT)
- Thursday, January 21: Agent Q&A 1:00 PM to
3:00 PM (PT)
- Friday, January 22: Writers Submit Materials
- Sunday,
February 21: Agent Critiques Due
While we accept
requests to work with a specific agent, there are no guarantees that
attendees will be matched with their requested agent. All agents are
able to provide critiques for all genres.
Join the Boot Camp
Today!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Writer's Digest is
pleased to present an exclusive virtual conference for novel writers!
On January
22-24, our Novel
Writing Virtual Conference will provide expert
insights from SEVEN
award-winning and best-selling authors on the finer points of how to
write a novel. Spend the weekend learning techniques for honing your
craft skills, refining your characters, exploring the future of
publishing, and getting the tools you need to advance your career as a
writer from seven different published authors, then (if you choose)
pitch your novel via query letter to a literary agent. The agent will
provide you with a personalized critique of your query – and maybe ask
to see more.
Click
here to see the schedule of sessions!
All participants
will benefit from:
- SEVEN all-new, one-hour webinar presentations
provided by award-winning and bestselling authors, all examining
different aspects of writing novels. Each session will include an
opportunity for live
Q&A with the authors!
- A critique (with written feedback) of your
query letter from an agent with experience.
- A bonus 90-minute On Demand webinar covering how
to write a query letter so you’re prepared when pitching your
novel to agents. (A $79.99 value!)
- The
ability to network
with fellow writers via discussion boards
that will be open throughout the weekend. Share ideas, and even
your work if you choose.
- Unlimited OnDemand viewing! All conference
sessions will be made available for download in the week following
the live presentations. Even if you can’t attend every session
live, you will be able to view each lecture on your own whenever
you choose.
- Learn valuable techniques to hone your craft
|
|
|
|
Experience the education, camaraderie, and opportunities
provided by a live writing conference without ever having to leave your
home!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.png?width=1116&upscale=true&name=WDG-2020-NLMondayMotivation%20(1).png)
No comments:
Post a Comment