You're an editor. You have arrived at your desk and sigh when you see the pile of letters awaiting you. You have an important meeting with your managing editor in half an hour and you can't put off going through what you know is a bunch of query letters from hopeful freelance writers. You have to look at them but you don't have to read right through each letter. You quickly scan through the pile but if the letter is more than two pages, you put it aside; if you aren't interested in reading on after the first paragraph, you put those letters aside too. If you're lucky, you are left with one or two interesting queries.
As a writer, your aim is to have the editor notice you, to take your letter and read it right through, and to hopefully offer you a commission - or at least, a promise to look at the finished work. You've begun with all the right tools - clean white paper and a good printer with plenty of dark ink so you don't strain the editor's eyes -and have targeted the right market and know the editor's name; now you have to actually write something.
Editors are busy people and they want experienced writers. Experienced writers know that the query letter is as important as the finished article and they will work on that letter until it is everything it should be. What should a query letter be? What information should it contain? How can you phrase it so that any editor reading it will want to know more?
Your idea is only good if it grabs the reader from the very first words. Your query letter is no different. Editors read a lot of letters and submissions and they learn to scan quickly; your aim is to stop that scanning, to make them linger over the words, to read them all, and with excitement. Yes, it's the same thing that you do with your article or story - hook the reader.
Clearly communicate the topic of your article or book. You can be straightforward, or you can open with a surprise, a question, or something about you, the writer and your expertise, if you feel that this is more important to your topic.
Be succinct and clear; don't let a good opening paragraph deteriorate into waffle. The middle section of your query letter is where you sell your idea, and the ending is where you sell the fact that you, and only you, can tell this story or write this article. Tell the editor what s/he needs to know to whet their appetite, but don't reveal the whole thing. This part takes practice; tell too little and you've lost them; tell too much and the article is already written! Don't forget to mention how many words your article or book manuscript will run for.
An experienced writer will send a few copies of similar published work with their query letter. If you don't have any publishing credits, don't despair. Life experience counts as well and you can mention these, either in your closing paragraph, or throughout the whole letter. Just make sure that these revelations blend in naturally with your topic.
Friday 19 January 2007
Writing a Query Letter
You're an editor. You have arrived at your desk and sigh when you see the pile of letters awaiting you. You have an important meeting with your managing editor in half an hour and you can't put off going through what you know is a bunch of query letters from hopeful freelance writers. You have to look at them but you don't have to read right through each letter. You quickly scan through the pile but if the letter is more than two pages, you put it aside; if you aren't interested in reading on after the first paragraph, you put those letters aside too. If you're lucky, you are left with one or two interesting queries.
As a writer, your aim is to have the editor notice you, to take your letter and read it right through, and to hopefully offer you a commission - or at least, a promise to look at the finished work. You've begun with all the right tools - clean white paper and a good printer with plenty of dark ink so you don't strain the editor's eyes -and have targeted the right market and know the editor's name; now you have to actually write something.
Editors are busy people and they want experienced writers. Experienced writers know that the query letter is as important as the finished article and they will work on that letter until it is everything it should be. What should a query letter be? What information should it contain? How can you phrase it so that any editor reading it will want to know more?
Your idea is only good if it grabs the reader from the very first words. Your query letter is no different. Editors read a lot of letters and submissions and they learn to scan quickly; your aim is to stop that scanning, to make them linger over the words, to read them all, and with excitement. Yes, it's the same thing that you do with your article or story - hook the reader.
Clearly communicate the topic of your article or book. You can be straightforward, or you can open with a surprise, a question, or something about you, the writer and your expertise, if you feel that this is more important to your topic.
Be succinct and clear; don't let a good opening paragraph deteriorate into waffle. The middle section of your query letter is where you sell your idea, and the ending is where you sell the fact that you, and only you, can tell this story or write this article. Tell the editor what s/he needs to know to whet their appetite, but don't reveal the whole thing. This part takes practice; tell too little and you've lost them; tell too much and the article is already written! Don't forget to mention how many words your article or book manuscript will run for.
An experienced writer will send a few copies of similar published work with their query letter. If you don't have any publishing credits, don't despair. Life experience counts as well and you can mention these, either in your closing paragraph, or throughout the whole letter. Just make sure that these revelations blend in naturally with your topic.
As a writer, your aim is to have the editor notice you, to take your letter and read it right through, and to hopefully offer you a commission - or at least, a promise to look at the finished work. You've begun with all the right tools - clean white paper and a good printer with plenty of dark ink so you don't strain the editor's eyes -and have targeted the right market and know the editor's name; now you have to actually write something.
Editors are busy people and they want experienced writers. Experienced writers know that the query letter is as important as the finished article and they will work on that letter until it is everything it should be. What should a query letter be? What information should it contain? How can you phrase it so that any editor reading it will want to know more?
Your idea is only good if it grabs the reader from the very first words. Your query letter is no different. Editors read a lot of letters and submissions and they learn to scan quickly; your aim is to stop that scanning, to make them linger over the words, to read them all, and with excitement. Yes, it's the same thing that you do with your article or story - hook the reader.
Clearly communicate the topic of your article or book. You can be straightforward, or you can open with a surprise, a question, or something about you, the writer and your expertise, if you feel that this is more important to your topic.
Be succinct and clear; don't let a good opening paragraph deteriorate into waffle. The middle section of your query letter is where you sell your idea, and the ending is where you sell the fact that you, and only you, can tell this story or write this article. Tell the editor what s/he needs to know to whet their appetite, but don't reveal the whole thing. This part takes practice; tell too little and you've lost them; tell too much and the article is already written! Don't forget to mention how many words your article or book manuscript will run for.
An experienced writer will send a few copies of similar published work with their query letter. If you don't have any publishing credits, don't despair. Life experience counts as well and you can mention these, either in your closing paragraph, or throughout the whole letter. Just make sure that these revelations blend in naturally with your topic.
Thursday 18 January 2007
What is Poetry?
There are many definitions of poetry. Coleridge said that, "Poetry = the best words in the best order." Pasternak, more poetically, said that it is, "the crunch of jostling ice floes, it is two nightingales duelling." Basically, and more mundanely, poetry is prose written down in specific line order on a page. "If prose is walking," someone said, "poetry is dancing." The language poets use, the words, are under a stress that gives them beauty and meaning. The poet gives the reader, in few words, a story and a feeling, an emotion.
Here's a little exercise for you. Take a blank sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. (Don't use your keyboard; you need to feel the pen or pencil slipping over the paper.)
Now, close your eyes and picture your mother's room, your baby's room, your boyfriend's room - the room of anyone dear to you. When it's clear in your mind, write: In my ...................'s room...
Don't stop now, keep writing what you see or feel about that room, and don't worry about line length, rhyme or rhythm just yet. Break the lines where you feel it is right, and begin a new line. Keep going until you run out of things to write.
When you have finished your first draft, look at what you have written. Is there anything in there that brings something back to you, some forgotten memory, some feeling? Rewrite it, focussing on that one point. Keep it short.
For your next draft, you will look at the words you have used. Are they the very best words for that thought, for that feeling? Is there a metaphor you can use to convey the thought without stating it so clearly? What words can be cut out without affecting the whole? How do the line endings work and are the pauses in the right places. Look now at rhythm; rhyme is not necessary but even free poetry must have rhythm. Tap out the rhythm as you read the words to see how it fits ... dah, de dah, de dah, dah....
Keep writing and rewriting until you feel that it is as polished and as fresh and new as you can possible make it. Compare it with your earlier drafts before deciding that this is your final draft though. Sometimes, in the constant redrafting, the freshness of those first thoughts and words can be lost.
When you are happy with it, make a clean copy and send it out to find a home in some anthology, or book of poetry.
Here's a little exercise for you. Take a blank sheet of paper and a pen or pencil. (Don't use your keyboard; you need to feel the pen or pencil slipping over the paper.)
Now, close your eyes and picture your mother's room, your baby's room, your boyfriend's room - the room of anyone dear to you. When it's clear in your mind, write: In my ...................'s room...
Don't stop now, keep writing what you see or feel about that room, and don't worry about line length, rhyme or rhythm just yet. Break the lines where you feel it is right, and begin a new line. Keep going until you run out of things to write.
When you have finished your first draft, look at what you have written. Is there anything in there that brings something back to you, some forgotten memory, some feeling? Rewrite it, focussing on that one point. Keep it short.
For your next draft, you will look at the words you have used. Are they the very best words for that thought, for that feeling? Is there a metaphor you can use to convey the thought without stating it so clearly? What words can be cut out without affecting the whole? How do the line endings work and are the pauses in the right places. Look now at rhythm; rhyme is not necessary but even free poetry must have rhythm. Tap out the rhythm as you read the words to see how it fits ... dah, de dah, de dah, dah....
Keep writing and rewriting until you feel that it is as polished and as fresh and new as you can possible make it. Compare it with your earlier drafts before deciding that this is your final draft though. Sometimes, in the constant redrafting, the freshness of those first thoughts and words can be lost.
When you are happy with it, make a clean copy and send it out to find a home in some anthology, or book of poetry.
Wednesday 17 January 2007
Recipe for The Muse
All writers and artists think that they are the only one who struggles with their muse. In the case of writers, they see the finished book of a published writer and compare that to their own work-in-progress. They don't get to see the early drafts of that book; if they did, they would sometimes barely recognise it as the same work. Only the published writer of any particular book knows how many drafts, how many long hours were spent bringing it up to publication standard. We've all heard of an 'overnight sensation' who points out that it didn't happen overnight at all, that they had been there all along, polishing their craft so it gleamed amongst all the other struggling artists, until they were finally 'noticed'. It's the noticing that seems to happen 'overnight' not the polished performance, or book, or work of art.
A word of warning here: do not show your early drafts to family. If they love you, of course they are going to think it is wonderful. Generally, friends don't work either, so unless you know someone whose opinion you truly value, don't show it to friends either. Until your work is in book form you should not be seeking readers who will only offer you approval. When you are getting to final draft stage, and you need constructive criticism, you need other writers. At the beginning of your writing career, a writers circle or club is ideal. My post tomorrow will talk about these, and other options.
Forget about other writers and their muse and concentrate on the job at hand, the draft of the manuscript you are working on right now. In my opinion, muse is just a term that covers many aspects of writing. Here's my recipe for you to create your own muse (the proportions are my own; yours may be different. Experiment until you have it right.):
Creating a Muse
10% determination
10% commitment
1% inspiration
1% motivation
Add to the above - 78% perspiration and a sprinkling of passion
Use this mix on a regular basis, daily or weekly, whatever suits your program. Applying it in the same location each time will help your muse rise to the occasion.
As you progress, you will discover that you need less of one component and more of another. Everyone's muse is different; you just need to experiment to find your perfect mix. It's natural to feel insecure about your work, everyone does and just knowing this helps me over those days when my muse mix is a little off. I just adjust it and move on.
As you write, remember that nothing worthy of creation happens overnight.
A word of warning here: do not show your early drafts to family. If they love you, of course they are going to think it is wonderful. Generally, friends don't work either, so unless you know someone whose opinion you truly value, don't show it to friends either. Until your work is in book form you should not be seeking readers who will only offer you approval. When you are getting to final draft stage, and you need constructive criticism, you need other writers. At the beginning of your writing career, a writers circle or club is ideal. My post tomorrow will talk about these, and other options.
Forget about other writers and their muse and concentrate on the job at hand, the draft of the manuscript you are working on right now. In my opinion, muse is just a term that covers many aspects of writing. Here's my recipe for you to create your own muse (the proportions are my own; yours may be different. Experiment until you have it right.):
Creating a Muse
10% determination
10% commitment
1% inspiration
1% motivation
Add to the above - 78% perspiration and a sprinkling of passion
Use this mix on a regular basis, daily or weekly, whatever suits your program. Applying it in the same location each time will help your muse rise to the occasion.
As you progress, you will discover that you need less of one component and more of another. Everyone's muse is different; you just need to experiment to find your perfect mix. It's natural to feel insecure about your work, everyone does and just knowing this helps me over those days when my muse mix is a little off. I just adjust it and move on.
As you write, remember that nothing worthy of creation happens overnight.
Tuesday 16 January 2007
A Pearl of an Idea
Where do ideas come from? How does a writer fill a pile of blank pages into a story or a book? These are questions most aspiring writers ask but the answers they receive will be many and varied.
"There's nothing new under the sun," the old saying goes; ideas are not the be all and end all of writing. You - the writer - need to present story and book ideas in a fresh and new way to your readers. Just as perfect grammar and a pristine manuscript will not ensure publication, neither will a good idea if it is not giving the reader a new look at something they usually know quite well.
Ideas are the fuels that feed our writing. How do you find them? Once you begin to look for ideas, you will see them everywhere. At the beginning of your writing career, you might keep an ideas notebook. Look at newspaper headlines for germs of ideas. Brainstorm on paper, letting the thoughts flow, writing until the flood dries up. When one thing doesn't work, try another. Change your location, and/or your method. If you write sitting down, try standing or walking as you scribble. You could even lie on your back and study the ceiling, or the clouds. Change the times that you try reaching for ideas. Do you need to be in a busy place, or do you prefer to be alone? Keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
Most of my ideas come from my own life experiences. Often, I use one moment of an event and build a fictitious story around that. At other times, I turn an actual event around and say: "What if I, or he, or she had done this, instead of that? What might have happened?"
Sometimes I feel that my idea is not worthy, that nothing will come of it. That's when I remember the oyster. A pearl begins life as a little piece of grit that worries the oyster so much that it covers it with layers and layers of its essence. An idea that grows into a story is like that little piece of grit -it's when it is finished that it is a thing of beauty so don't worry your ideas into extinction before you see what they might become.
Find your little piece of grit and cover it with enough words to change its shape so that it becomes more than it was. Like the oyster, you just might end up with a thing of beauty.
"There's nothing new under the sun," the old saying goes; ideas are not the be all and end all of writing. You - the writer - need to present story and book ideas in a fresh and new way to your readers. Just as perfect grammar and a pristine manuscript will not ensure publication, neither will a good idea if it is not giving the reader a new look at something they usually know quite well.
Ideas are the fuels that feed our writing. How do you find them? Once you begin to look for ideas, you will see them everywhere. At the beginning of your writing career, you might keep an ideas notebook. Look at newspaper headlines for germs of ideas. Brainstorm on paper, letting the thoughts flow, writing until the flood dries up. When one thing doesn't work, try another. Change your location, and/or your method. If you write sitting down, try standing or walking as you scribble. You could even lie on your back and study the ceiling, or the clouds. Change the times that you try reaching for ideas. Do you need to be in a busy place, or do you prefer to be alone? Keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
Most of my ideas come from my own life experiences. Often, I use one moment of an event and build a fictitious story around that. At other times, I turn an actual event around and say: "What if I, or he, or she had done this, instead of that? What might have happened?"
Sometimes I feel that my idea is not worthy, that nothing will come of it. That's when I remember the oyster. A pearl begins life as a little piece of grit that worries the oyster so much that it covers it with layers and layers of its essence. An idea that grows into a story is like that little piece of grit -it's when it is finished that it is a thing of beauty so don't worry your ideas into extinction before you see what they might become.
Find your little piece of grit and cover it with enough words to change its shape so that it becomes more than it was. Like the oyster, you just might end up with a thing of beauty.
Monday 15 January 2007
Discipline, Determination, and Commitment
It takes discipline to be a writer, particularly if you are freelancing or working from home. There's always something lurking nearby that is screaming out for attention, such as lawns to be mowed, washing to be done, the house to clean. This is where determination and commitment come in. Having your own 'work space' helps; I find it easier to get to work if I treat it as a separate environment. After breakfast and necessary chores, I get ready for work, then I go to work. I give myself regular breaks for tea and lunch, and I structure my work day to get the most out of it.
Deadlines help too and if I don't have a deadline from an editor, I set one for myself. Some people work well under pressure and will leave the work until the very last thing, rushing to beat that looming deadline; for me, deadlines spur me on in a different way. I have to beat them and will do everything in my power to make sure that my work is finished well before time. To my mind, this allows me the freedom to leave my 'completed' draft alone for a day or two, or even a week in some cases, before I come back to it with a fresh eye for a final edit. If I put myself under pressure, I make silly mistakes.
Keeping a work diary also helps me with commitment. In it I record what work I began on a particular day, with a note as to when I expect it to be completed. I then write a note ahead in my diary on the selected date for that deadline. When the work is finished, I note the date it was actually finished, where I sent the finished article, and when I expect to receive a reply from that editor or competition organiser. If the work, in my opinion, is not good enough to be sent anywhere, I file it in a folder in "my documents" and may come back to it at a future date, to work on it some more.
Reading through my diary now and again shows me where I can improve my work practices - and there is always room for improvement. I know that if I commit and am determined, and if I discipline myself, my writing will improve. Success breeds more motivation, and if inspiration is lacking, I'll work without it.
Deadlines help too and if I don't have a deadline from an editor, I set one for myself. Some people work well under pressure and will leave the work until the very last thing, rushing to beat that looming deadline; for me, deadlines spur me on in a different way. I have to beat them and will do everything in my power to make sure that my work is finished well before time. To my mind, this allows me the freedom to leave my 'completed' draft alone for a day or two, or even a week in some cases, before I come back to it with a fresh eye for a final edit. If I put myself under pressure, I make silly mistakes.
Keeping a work diary also helps me with commitment. In it I record what work I began on a particular day, with a note as to when I expect it to be completed. I then write a note ahead in my diary on the selected date for that deadline. When the work is finished, I note the date it was actually finished, where I sent the finished article, and when I expect to receive a reply from that editor or competition organiser. If the work, in my opinion, is not good enough to be sent anywhere, I file it in a folder in "my documents" and may come back to it at a future date, to work on it some more.
Reading through my diary now and again shows me where I can improve my work practices - and there is always room for improvement. I know that if I commit and am determined, and if I discipline myself, my writing will improve. Success breeds more motivation, and if inspiration is lacking, I'll work without it.
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