Happy Wednesday, everyone! Time for my run-down of the July/August issue of Writer's Digest. I love this magazine, folks, and if you're a writer, it's worth the annual subscription. It has content for writers of all kinds, all genres, at all steps of the publishing journey. Definitely worth its weight in information!
5 Things Novelists Can Learn From Screenwriters talks about focusing on dialogue, tension, and cutting out the non-necessities - this from the screenwriter of Life of Pi whose first job was reading books & then abridging them for audio.
What "High Concept" Means in Any Genre dissects 7 key qualities that make a book that elusive "high concept" that editors and agents are looking for. Among them: high entertainment value, originality, highly visual, highly emotional, and possessive of mass market appeal. (Sure. Easy, right?)
"New Adult": The Next Big Thing looks at this new YA+ genre, what it includes plot and character-wise (18-24 year olds and their dating/first jobs/first apartments/money issues/identity/self-sufficiency issues), why readers like it, and why it's more than just sexually amped-up YA. The article also mentions 4 agencies currently seeking NA works (check the websites first to see which agents to target!):
Foreword Literary Agency
Nelson Literary Agency
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
New Leaf Literary & Media
How to Write and Sell the Cross-Genre Novel is a great look at how many successful authors are blending genres and targeting multiple audiences, following their own hearts and interests in doing so. Charlaine Harris's best-selling Sookie Stackhouse novels (inspiration for the TV series "True Blood") combine paranormal with traditional romance and mystery. Advice from agents in this article included focusing on your strong genre first, and then adding in a second and creating characters that don't fit the typical genre stereotypes. Sounds interesting but challenging...but filled with potential, right?
Be inspired, folks - and write on!
No comments:
Post a Comment