Last Minute Reminder!

You still have time to submit your first page for our first Are You Hooked? I will accept pages until 9:00 AM EDT on Thursday (tomorrow), and will then post the pages on Thursday afternoon.

Remember that this is all about constructive feedback, so even if you haven't sent in a page for critique, please be sure to cast your "yes" and "no" votes on Thursday!

Query Querulousness

I've read it time and again on agent blogs hither and yon; most recently, Nathan Bransford has emoted upon the subject.

In short, there seems to be a continual influx of inappropriately, unprofessionally written queries from hopeful but short-on-savvy writers.

Ladies and gentlemen. I am sure that none of my esteemed readers are among the offenders!

I think what befuddles me the most is the fact that there is so much readily available information out there, right at our literal fingertips. Agents are blogging, whipping up web sites, and submitting their information to the snazzy folks at AgentQuery. Want to double check the spelling of an agent's name? Click. Want to make sure your Most Favorite Agent accepts your genre? Click. Want to find out exactly how to write a concise, professional, attention-grabbing query letter? Clickety click click click.

And amazingly enough, everybody (at least every reputable body) appears to be saying the same things.

Things like, don't write a vanilla "Dear Sir/Madam" query and send it en masse to five hundred hapless, overworked agents at once.

Would receiving a letter like that make you want to sit up and take notice?

And things like, don't try to impress an agent by the use of rampant name-dropping (check out this post by Kristin Nelson) in your query. And you might want to refrain from pompously proclaiming that your novel is Sure To Be The Next Best Seller, so Ms. Agent had better Scoop It Up Right Now before she Misses The Opportunity Forever!

This is not an Alex Mandossian teleseminar, folks.

But, truly. Truly none of you actually do these things.

What ever so slightly miffs me about all this is that there are those of us who really do take this query thing seriously. We read up on it. We carefully research agents. We write intelligently. And we wouldn't dream of sending a nasty email to an agent who sends us a form rejection email.

Perish the thought!

Seriously. I would like to think of myself as a professional. I am sure you would like to think of yourself that way, too. And it's frustrating to think of all the yuckity-yuck clogging the inboxes and mailboxes of agents -- yuckity-yuck that detracts from the carefully written, thoughtfully mailed letters from the rest of us.

Not that we're going to automatically float to the top. We're not. In the end, it's always about the writing. But wouldn't it be nice if every query was a quality one? No "junk mail" queries, no crayon-and-watercolor queries, no mass mail queries, no queries rife with typos and completely lacking in emotional intelligence.

*sigh*

So. The best we can do is to offer our best. Always. And the more of us who make this commitment, the nicer the "writing world" will be. It's not just about making agents' lives easier, either. That's a nice side effect, to be sure. But what I'm really talking about is self-respect. Honor. Integrity. Giving our all because it's important to do so. Aiming high. Checking our spelling.

You get my drift.

Will you make the pledge along with me? My queries will be a reflection of who I am: An intelligent, thoughtful, professional writer who has taken the time to write an excellent letter and send it to precisely the right person, one letter at a time.

Onward!

First Page Feedback: Are You Hooked?

So in order to just jump right in, here's the deal:

If you'd like some feedback in the comment box on whether or not the first page of your latest (or not so latest) manuscript "hooks" the reader, here's what you need to do:

Email me your first page (up to 250 words) at AuthoressMail (at) gmail.com between now and Thursday at 9:00 am EDT.

Beginning Thursday afternoon, I will post each entry as a separate blog post. Readers are invited to post "Yes, I'm hooked!" or "No, I'm not hooked" in the comment box beneath your entry. It would be most helpful if the "no" answers are accompanied by reasons why (kindly stated, of course).

All genres except erotica are okay by me.

And remember, nobody's giving a "professional opinion" here (unless, of course, you happen to be an agent or editor yourself). This is all about "testing the waters;" seeing if we can "hook" readers into wanting more of our stories.

Are you game? I hope so! Post any questions in the comment box here.

Organic or Outline?

I tend to be an organic writer.

In other words, I conceive an idea and begin writing. I don't spend weeks or months carefully plotting out what-happens-next. I simply write.

There's a downside. I sometimes write myself into a corner. I seem to be particularly adept at writing a knock-out, leave-you-breathless chapter ending, only to have no idea what's happening next.

What was that unusual sound? Why was Mr. Blankensnort standing by the lake without any clothes on? Who screamed? What's around the bend? How is this all related, anyway?

It can get messy.

Naturally, I've always got a notebook on hand. Notebooks are for working out plot points, scribbling down backstory, making sure everything works. In that sense, I suppose I'm not one hundred percent organic, in that I do need to stop from time to time and get back to my little notebook.

But there are those writers who plan down to the last quotation mark exactly what's going to happen, chapter by chapter. They've got a beginning, middle, and ending, all roughly outlined and ready to be developed into a well told tale. Once the grunt work is done, it's a matter of letting those words flow.

I admire writers like that.

But I also admire writers who can sit down and spin a tale without having to work so hard before they start. For some, the gift of storytelling comes easily. Complicated plots and subplots are a matter of course, like eating three meals a day and putting gas in your car. They're part of your day, and you don't have to think really hard each time you do one of them.


For me, the writing part comes more easily. It's the storytelling that makes me sweat. Even still, I'm at my best when I'm writing organically, trusting the details to work themselves out as I go. And when I do have some behind-the-scenes things to figure out, I actually enjoy crawling into bed early with my notebook and pen, in order to work out my latest story, develop my latest character, solve my latest problems. Dozing off notwithstanding, it can be a highly productive time.


So tell me -- are you organic or outlining? Or a synthesis? Or neither?

What are SECRET AGENT contests?

By far the most popular event on Miss Snark's First Victim, the Secret Agent: Are You Hooked? contests run monthly (more or less) and include a literary agent on the "critique panel" whose identity remains secret until the close of the contest.

Here's how it works:

There will be a call for submissions. When the call comes, follow the guidelines carefully and submit your excerpt before the deadline. All submissions will then be posted (anonymously) on the blog, and all readers are invited to leave critiques/feedback. Everyone who has entered the contest is expected to crit a minimum of five entries -- it's the mutual backscratch thing.

Our Secret Agent will join the panel of critters (that is, you) and will leave feedback for every entry. When the contest has ended, the Secret Agent will choose a winner or winners.

That's it in a nutshell!

Here are the basic guidelines for each Secret Agent contest:

• All excerpts submitted to a Secret Agent: Are You Hooked? contest must be the first 250 words of your COMPLETED manuscript.
• Your submission must include your screen name and the title and genre of your novel.
• By emailing your submission to me, you are giving implicit permission to have your work posted and publicly critiqued.
• No submissions will be accepted prior to the opening of the contest. The maximum number of entries per contest is 50 submissions.
• Winners of previous contests may not submit the same manuscript in future contests.
• All contest entrants are required to critique a minimum of five other entries.
• No attachments are accepted. Your 250 submission must be pasted into the body of your email.

Questions about the Secret Agent contests can be emailed to Authoress at facelesswords(at)gmail.com.