Craft and Story Beginnings

Previously, I attended the Writer Idol Event at Boston Book Fest. It was not for the faint of heart, but for those willing to brave public ridicule, it was a great way to get helpful feedback. This is how it worked: An actress picked manuscripts at random and read the first 250 words out loud for the panel and the audience. If at any point a panelist felt he would stop reading, he raised his hand. The actress read until two or more panelists raised their hands, at which point the panel discussed the reasons they stopped, or in cases where the actress read to the end, they discussed what worked. (This guest column by Livia Blackburne.) Read more

Engage your audience:
While I’m not a writer, I feel like I’ve developed a firm grasp on why some novels work and some simply don’t. Often during critique sessions, I find myself going over a concept that I think applies well across the board of all genres: ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE.

Jon Sternfeld is an agent with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency representing literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. Read more

In writing, characters should be like artichokes. You don’t get to the heart until you do some serious work peeling away the layers. What the reader sees, as well as what other characters see when they meet a character, be it protagonist or a secondary character, will be superficial at first. Perhaps the character was too good to be true, and as time goes on, faults are revealed. Or maybe it’s the other way around. An unlikeable character turns out to be golden inside.

Terry Odell is an author of several romantic suspense books. Her next book out is Where Danger Hides (June). Read more

People often ask me: “Where do you get your ideas?” Most of the time, I don’t know exactly how I came up with an entire book plot, but for someone who’s only been writing since May of 2009 (and yes, this is really true) lots of ideas have gone from my head to the computer in that timeframe. Some good and some kinda crappy.

Guest blog by Julie Cross, author of the YA novel, TEMPEST (Fall 2011; Thomas Dunne Books), the first in a trilogy about a 19-year-old time traveler who witnesses his girlfriend’s murder. Read more

Step 1: Is your protagonist an ordinary person? Find in him any kind of strength.

Step 2: Work out a way for that strength to be demonstrated within your protagonist’s first five pages.

Donald Maass is the founder of Donald Maass Literary Agency. Read more

Two years ago I began transitioning from my career as a journalist by tapering off my work for The New York Times. I took my debut novel through several edits and began to explore the complicated road to publication. Social Media provided an opportunity to write for others and vastly expand my network of friends and colleagues.

Guest column by Laura Novak. Laura was a television news reporter before writing for The New York Times on business, health and the arts. She is working on the Clari Drake Mystery Series set in Berkeley. Read more

So how’s your relationship with your significant other going? The one with your heroine or hero, I mean. In a writer’s life, a main character is a very significant other. Now that my first published novel is about to be released, I realize how much I’ve learned about the writer-main character relationship.

Guest column by Judith Rock, whose historical fiction debut, The Rhetoric of Death (Sept. 2010), received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist.
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Writers talk about the revision process, taking time to go back into their work to reconfigure, tweak or even burn and start again. But why can’t the brain just jump to the polished end in the first place? Why does there have to be a process?

Guest column by Laura Toffler-Corrie, author of The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz (middle grade, Aug. 2010, Roaring Book Press). Read more