Tuesday, July 26, 2016

What Literary Agents say NOT to do in a story: I am guilty

THIS WEBSITE

“The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land.”
Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary

LOL. This is so true! I think I might do it sometimes because I just want to show off my creative writing skills...eeps! GUILTY.

“Characters that are moving around doing little things, but essentially nothing. Washing dishes & thinking, staring out the window & thinking, tying shoes, thinking.”
Dan Lazar, Writers House

I keep laughing at these cuz it is so true and I really need to go back into my story to make sure nothing is tedious but I would like to say I don't like writing like that so I'm pretty sure I haven't done it. Literary Agents are the BEST editors, I swear.

“I know this may sound obvious, but too much ‘telling’ vs. ‘showing’ in the first chapter is a definite warning sign for me. The first chapter should present a compelling scene, not a road map for the rest of the book. The goal is to make the reader curious about your characters, fill their heads with questions that must be answered, not fill them in on exactly where, when, who and how.”
Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency

Uh huh, good advice. Yes. I've been having so MUCH trouble getting my chapter one right for this very reason. I want it to be compelling but I don't want to reveal too much but I want people to be interested but I don't want them to be able to predict the rest of the story...OH MAH GAWD the dilemmas.

“I’m turned off when a writer feels the need to fill in all the backstory before starting the story; a story that opens on the protagonist’s mental reflection of their situation is a red flag.”
Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management

Oookay, then. I shall say "bye bye" to my Prolog. Actually my prolog is just there for me to remember where everything else stems from. I don't HAVE to have it in there for the final version.

Getting to know characters in a story is like getting to know people in real life. You find out their personality and details of their life over time.”
Rachelle Gardner, Books & Such Literary

THIS IS SUCH GREAT ADVICE. Well, for me. I have a hard time putting in bits and pieces of information without using it as a part of the major story. I HAVE ACTUALLY had to get to know my story. Does that sound weird? Like, I started writing this story about 7 years ago. So like, I didn't even know where this was going! I had no clue, whatsoever and here we are! Omagud...

Happy Writing fellow writers! :D

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