Sheepgate — Emily H. Jeffries

Working on a Manuscript? How to Crank out a Complete Draft

Here's a made up statistic for you: 99.9% of published authors had to work around full-time jobs to write their first book. In other words, it is well within your grasp to finish a manuscript, even if you already feel your time is fully consumed. All it takes is dedication and a realistic set of goals.

So for all you lovely readers with Word documents on your laptops filed under "To Be Continued, Never," I have put together a very simple program to get your manuscript from secret status to query-time status.

7 Easy Ways to Avoid Writing Like a Newb

Some people write for years and years making the same mistakes.

The mature writer takes a good, hard look at her writing and identifies the weaknesses. The immature writer fights to the death for every word she wrote as though it was inspired scripture. The latter might die with all her self-confidence in tact, but she won't die a better writer.

Revising, Story, Writing, Book BusinessEmily H. JeffriesJune 16, 2015Comment

First Pages: Will Agents Like How My Novel Starts?

So far, my biggest hurdle in writing a novel has been the first few pages.

There is an insane amount of pressure to make the first pages of your manuscript mind-blowing, and more than a few "guidelines" have been provided by literary agents and publishers alike. The problem is, these guidelines aren't exactly a recipe for a brilliant book so much as they are ways to cut back on the number of pages a member of the publishing industry has to read before he feels justified in shooting the manuscript down.

Here are some classic rules for the first ten pages of a novel that I have come across in my research:

The Most Frightening Writing Term I Know: "High Concept"

The title of the webinar was "Writing and Selling Young Adult Fiction." Sounds pretty perfect, am I write (heh)? It was hosted by a literary agent, and the fee included a critique of my first 750 words.

Let me tell you my overall feeling once I was finished with this webinar: utter hopelessness. You want to know why? Two scary words: HIGH CONCEPT.

Where Have all the Good Books Gone? (Doo doo doo)

Here is a sampling of the sub-categories I was horrified to find.

ADVENTURE & SURVIVAL, CHOICES & TRANSITIONS, HORROR AND SUSPENSE, SEXUALITY, SUBSTANCE ABUSE, and my personal favorite, PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

There is so much wrong with this picture.

Writing, Book Business, Young ReadersEmily H. JeffriesApril 21, 2015Teens, Paranormal Romance, Barnes and Noble, YA, FantasyComment

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