Monday’s workshop with supernatural romance and urban fantasy author
Keri Arthur was rather interesting and informative, and she’s a New York Times bestseller so she knows
what she’s talking about.
“First off, write the best damn book you can, put it in the drawer for
at least a month, edit it, then if you want to go mainstream get an agent,” she
advises. And preferably an American agent, especially if you want to get published in the U.S. Well, I think I’ve
ticked the first two boxes, and am in the process of doing the third.
Also, I think I may have improved my chances given the American setting of my
first novel Breaking Point and the one I’m currently working on.
We were also advised to check out such websites as The Publisher’s Marketplace,
Predators and Editors and hipiers.com. Keri also recommended having a
Facebook page and a webpage or fanpage; hmmmm... now to regularly update...
and to write about writing and other stuff besides current projects, give
a picture of oneself as an all-round person (and here I was thinking that was
what my general purpose blog was for)... I'm getting there *touch wood*.
Keri cited three major reasons why books get rejected:
1. Lack of a strong opening, or not opening with a hook;
2. Overloading the beginning with background or back story;
3. Rushing to submit a story before it's ready. "No first
draft is perfect. Good writing is rewriting but don't edit it to death."
As a challenge we were given two pictures to write about, as an opening
hook for a hypothetical tale. We could have chosen either picture but I
chose both. One featured a woman with frightened eyes and the lower half
of her face covered by her hands and turtleneck; the other a rather
scary-looking fellow with a six-pack contrasted by a painted or tattooed face
and hollow black eyes:
“Bewilderment and confusion etched themselves upon every fibre of her
being; bewilderment and confusion born of the simultaneous repulsion and animal
lust she felt as she gazed upon him, that rippling torso contrasted sharply and
jarringly with that hideously painted face and that penetrating stare.
Maybe it wasn’t repulsion she felt, but fear – fear of him, or fear of her own
carnal desire as her eyes fell upon him?”
I realise the prose was rather purple, and maybe it did sound a little
hammy when read aloud, and I could tell it was nothing special, but we can't win
them all, it was just an exercise and with practice and polish these things do
improve. If I ever do develop it it would have to be a comedy – it’s too
over-the-top to present as a straight narrative. Alternatively I could
drop the first sentence and simply open with the second…?
Oh well, I wrote a killer hook for Breaking Point; I’ll have to
work on one for the novel I’m currently working on though, but that's a given -
it is a work in progress after all…
She also said not to diversify at least until established in the
literary world. My short stories have been a mixed bag so far, though
they have included ones in a crime/thriller/noir vein, which is the category my
bigger projects so far fit into.
And now I direct you to Keri
Arthur's fanpage: http://www.keriarthur.com/
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