Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
Why an Aspiring Novelist Needs a Bunch of Books that are Good to Go by Anne R. Allen Most writers I meet are desperately trying to get a first novel published. Most will fail. Here’s the bleak truth: almost no writer gets a book deal on the basis of a first novel alone. “Yeah, but…” […]
by Anne R. Allen Beginning writers love prologues. My first novel had one. I’ll bet yours does too. And why not? Prologues are the quickest way to set the scene and establish the mood and tone of your novel. They allow us to snuggle into a fictional world and get comfy before the action […]
by Anne R. Allen Today agents Janet Reid and Colleen Lindsay have both blogged complaints about writers including extraneous publishing credits in their queries, so here are some guidelines: Contests: Ms. Reid says agents do NOT want to hear about your 3rd place or hon. mention “wins”. It’s first place or nothing. She […]
by Anne R. Allen Hundreds of folks weighed in on the great literary vs. genre debate on Nathan Bransford’s blog last month (He says good writers need to read both. I agree.) A few days later, in a Writers Chronicle thread more writers debated the subject. But nothing much got resolved—I think because the […]
by Anne R. Allen If you’re a diligent, talented writer who’s done your homework—and you have the good-luck fairy on speed-dial—sometime during your novel querying process, your phone will ring and you’ll hear the voice of an agent—a real, honest-to-goodness publishing industry professional—who’s impressed enough to spend money and time ringing up little old […]
by Anne R. Allen Recently I cautioned against scam agents, but also noted that the ratio of legit agents to newbie novelists is approximately one to twenty-five gazillion. So what do we do—throw mass queries at big-name agents, perhaps employing the services of a Mafia henchperson or Voodoo practitioner? That would be a […]
Six Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed by Anne R. Allen I belong to the generation of women who were told we were more likely be shot by terrorists than find husbands. Several decades later, we’re all writing books about our fabulous single lives—as desperate now for literary representation as we once were for the […]
