Last week I spent my free time in the company of two excellent novels. The first, I Always Loved you, written by Robin Oliveira, tells the story of the relationship between artists Mary Cassatt and Edgar Degas. It's a riveting fictionalized account that contains some of the best rendering of human emotion that I've read in a long time. The other, Once We Were Brothers, by Ronald H. Balson, takes the reader from the present day back to World War II Poland. It has much to s

A hook sentence, often called a narrative hook or literary hook, is a sentence in the first paragraph of the manuscript that either asks a questions or makes the reader ask a question and therefore captivates the reader. Frequently it is the first sentence of the book. Many different strategies work to grab the reader’s attention. The following are some examples: Begin with an actual question: How do you forgive yourself for destroying a life? Start with an exaggeration or ex

A common question I’m asked by debut authors is, “How do I find an agent?” In today’s market, it’s almost essential to find representation, particularly if you’ve written adult fiction and want to publish it with a large traditional publisher. I find that, even with the proliferation of self-publishing options, many authors are still seeking publication through the old, tried-and-true means. Having an agent makes that dream much more likely to come true. Personal introduction

Does your book feature a well-developed protagonist? The reader must feel as if he or she knows your leading character well in order to develop empathy and care about what transpires over the course of the book. Some of the essentials to make this happen are: 1. Give your protagonist a history. Not long stretches of backstory, but be sure that the reader knows something of the main character’s past that led him or her to the place in time when you open the book. This history

If you are a first time author, increase your chances of getting an agent by crafting your book so that it falls into the so-called “sweet spot”. So you ask, “What is this ‘sweet spot’?” For most adult manuscripts, the ideal length is 80,000 to 90,000 words, although some will say 70,000 to 110,000 words are acceptable. Chick lit tends to be shorter, so 70,000 to 75,000 may be fine. Science fiction and fantasy tend to be longer, with word counts up to 120,000 needed in order

Many new authors make the mistake of including so-called “filter words” in their manuscripts. Indeed, even many of us who’ve written published books find that these little words have inadvertently made their way into our first drafts and need to be cut. Filter words such as realize, seem, feel, see, hear, decide, think, and wonder are unnecessary and distance the character from the reader. For example, you might have originally written: I feel myself waking up, and I realize

Often I’m asked, “How do I come up with a good idea for a historical novel?” The answer is: “Ideas are all around you.” 1. Take an event that enthralls you and create a similar one. In her novel, The Lifeboat, Charlotte Rogan invents a luxury liner’s demise occurring only a few years after the sinking of the Titanic. Instead of focusing on the sinking itself, this intriguing novel focuses on the survivors in a lifeboat. You may also take real events and create fictional chara

One of the most exciting areas in publishing today is the YA novel. Many innovative YA novels and trilogies have achieved success beyond what the genre usually generated in the past. So if you have a desire to write YA, my advice is to go for it. But how do you know if your idea has the potential to stand out? This is the so-called burning question. Because so many authors, even established adult fiction authors, are stepping into this market, your idea has to be fresh. It mu