Writer's Digest October 2016

1 Query Confused? The submission FAQs and deconstructed query letter rounding out our agent roundup should get you started (Pages 26–32), but you can hop online for another real-life example of a query that worked—for The Interminables by Paige Orwin—complete with agent commentary and tips. 2 Full-Page Spread If you prefer to write from a detailed outline, an ideal organizational tool may be hiding in plain sight on your computer. View a full-sized version of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet author Michael J. Martinez used to plot out his novel MJ-12: Inception (as explained on Pages 14–15), and consider creating one for your own work-in-progress. 3 And the (Real) Winner Is … Apologies to Suzanna Myatt Harvill, whose name was misprinted in the July/August issue’s 16th Annual Short Short Competition winner’s…

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH When it comes to book promotion, many authors struggle for visibility. Writer Dorit Sasson shares how she managed to draw attention to her memoir on a local level. bit.ly/local-promoWD HYPER TENSION Every writer seeks to pen a page-turner. Author Eileen Cook reveals how she approached pacing in her thriller With Malice to ensure readers wouldn’t be able to put it down. bit.ly/hyper-tensionWD JUDGING BY THE COVER Learn what every author should know about book covers when working with a publisher—complete with a fly-on-the-wall look at the design of WD Editorial Director Jessica Strawser’s debut novel, Almost Missed You. bit.ly/book-coversWD…

The Lay of the Land Even when you think you understand the landscape of something, you see it differently once you get down on your knees, gloves on and trowel in hand, and start digging in the dirt, planting things, trying to make them grow. The nuances of every spot of sun and shade appear respectively brighter and darker. The slightest shifts in climate now seem urgent and glaring, though you know that the irresistible act of fretting over them will make no difference in the temperature or rainfall. You search for answers to your questions and are frustrated when they all begin, “Well, it depends …” You reach out to others who are tending to similar soil. You watch. You listen. You do what you can, and hope for…

TERI BROWN (“Making the Agent Switch” Page 38) is the proud mother of two children, in addition to being a wine-sipper, head-banger, slow-runner, book-reader, rule-breaker, food-fixer, novel-writer, kitty-keeper and mountain climber. She writes young adult books (Born of Illusion and Velvet Undercover), as well as adult historical fiction (the Summerset Abbey series). Brown lives with her husband and way too many pets in Portland, Ore. ANDREA HURST (“Look Before You Leap” Page 34) is president of Andrea Hurst & Associates Literary Management and has more than 25 years of experience as a literary agent and editor for publishers and award-winning authors. An Amazon bestselling author and webinar presenter for WD, she teaches workshops at conferences and Master of Fine Arts programs, and helps bestselling and emerging authors alike get published.…

Creating the illusion of intimacy will reward you tenfold with a ready-made community who can be mobilized when you have a new book. It’s worth the time to cultivate it well. A woman once drove more than 100 miles to meet me at a book signing. She carried with her copies of every novel Id written, along with a special present, one that was so personal, so closely aligned to my tastes and loves that I almost felt as if shed been spying on me. Of course, all shed done was read my books, which—much as I might resist the idea—reveal a great deal about me. It’s impossible to write good fiction without millions of specific details, and every detail comes from within the writer. Which leads in a roundabout…

I wore a pink-towel turban on my head, but opened the door anyway because the woman outside was holding a paper-wrapped vase full of flowers. A florist’s van idled in the driveway. When I read the handwritten note, it included both congratulations and an apology. My second novel had just been published, but the sender wouldn’t be attending my book event that evening. We had already been through two failed attempts at a relationship over the past decade. Each time, it had been like a roller coaster ride—but not the kind that releases adrenaline and makes you get in line to ride again. This was the kind that makes you throw up and vow to never go on another roller coaster for the rest of your amusement-park-hating life. Unless you’re…