First I discovered a new editor blog - Evil Editor. Right now the editor has two main types of posts. One is a usual Q&A, the other is Face-Lift where he shows original and revised versions of query letters. Most interesting. If you go the April archives there are posts about agents, synopses, queries etc.
Then, I found myself nearly on the floor by Paperback Writer. She wrote about LagTime but explained it in the form of prose. Hilarious. Here's a little example:
"No, dear." John shook his head in such a way that required a paragraph of hair movement description.
And you know what they say, what goes up must come down and that's exactly what John Baker's article on How To Sell Your Book did to my mood. In the article John explains the insides of recommended book lists. Apparently there is a lot of money involved.
To have your book '‘chosen'’ as Waterstone'’s book of the week, the publisher will have paid £10,000 for the privilege.
A very good piece from Writing Fiction about Dialogue and Detail caught my eye after that.
Interviewing 101 from A Newbie's Guide to Publishing was also interesting and I thought it could teach a thing or two both the interviewee and the interviewer.
Finally, I settled on a subject dear and close to my heart - The Literary Value of Science Fiction. This one got me into angry mode again. So many sci-fi writers have proved themselves recently and overtime with regards to their literary merits, why is this still going on? Why is sci-fi still regarded as second rate?
Vonnegut pointed out that, when he went to teach at Smith college (I wonder if Andrea Hairston met him) as a creative writing prof, he did not find himself in the library stacks. If Vonnegut is as ubiquitous as dirt, that must be a snub.
Categories: writing, publishing, dialogue, elements, freelance, queries
