The ABCs of Writing Fiction Section Q-R

ABCs of Writing Fiction
Section Q-R
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Q – Quest for an Agent. I have often heard it is now harder to find an agent, than an editor. That may be true, but don’t give up hope. Persistence pays off. Refine your craft and keep submitting. First, do your research. Don’t waste time submitting to agents who don’t represent your genre. Save that stamp money for filling your gas tank. While building your agent wish list, ask questions. That’s one reason we network at meetings, conferences, and on loops. Don’t be afraid to submit to more than one agent at a time. If you get a rejection, don't take it personally and don't be afraid to submit to that same agent with a new project in the future. Many writers were once rejected by their current agent. Here are links you might find helpful. Before you submit, check the agent’s website for guidelines. Also, you’ll find more and more agents blogging. Check out what they have to say.

http://www.aar-online.org/mc/page.do
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/
http://agentquery.com/genre_descriptions.aspx
http://querytracker.net/
http://anotherealm.com/prededitors/pealb.htm
http://www.invirtuo.cc/prededitors/
http://www.writers.net/agents.html
http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ Get help on that query

editorsagentsandblogsohmy@yahoogroups.com Join this group to find agent interviews.

You can find The Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents on Amazon, at your local bookstore, and in your neighborhood library.


R – Research. We all know writing historicals requires months of research. I’m here to tell you, writing contemporary fiction doesn’t exempt you from the great fact hunt. For example, I once needed to know if the company my heroine worked for would most likely be privately owned. Would it have a CEO? Does a cell phone work in an elevator? I now write suspense/mysteries, so I stroll through bookstores and belong to the Writer’s Digest Book Club https://www.writersdigestbookclub.com/
I love collecting books like The Criminal Mind, Fakes & Forgeries, The Handbook of Practical Spying, The Private Investigator’s Handbook, and of course, The Elite Forces Handbook of Unarmed Combat. All I need now is a hunky guy to practice those moves on. Ask questions on your writing loops. For those of you writing mystery/suspense try joining
crimescenewriter@yahoogroups.com

I'll post the next lesson a week from today. Until then, I need to get back to my manuscript.