Mystery Writers Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Please read this important notice about the November 2018 outage.

collapse collapse
* Search



* User Info
 
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

* Who's Online
  • Dot Guests: 185
  • Dot Hidden: 0
  • Dot Users: 0

There aren't any users online.

Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Query Shark: #192-FTW  (Read 15765 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

MWF Bot

  • Administrator
  • Cub
  • *****
  • Karma: 0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 34
Query Shark: #192-FTW
« on: June 17, 2011, 02:04:50 AM »

#192-FTW

Dear QueryShark:<br /><br /><br />One week ago, Claire's cousin Dinah slit her wrists.<br /><br />Five days ago, Claire found Dinah's diary and discovered why.<br /><br />Three days ago, Claire stopped crying and came up with a plan. <br /><br />Two days ago, she ditched her piercings and bleached the black dye from her hair.<br /><br />Yesterday, knee socks and uniform plaid became a predator's camouflage.<br /><br />Today, she'll find the boy who broke Dinah.<br /><br />By tomorrow, he'll wish he was dead.<br /><br />Premeditated is a 60,000 word contemporary YA novel. Chapters or a synopsis are available on request. <br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="color: blue;">oh hell yes.&nbsp; Send pages, send the entire manuscript NOW.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">Here's why this breaks all the rules and still works:&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">It's got menace in the very rhythm of the writing. It's short and not-sweet.&nbsp; We know who the main characters are because she SHOWED us, not TOLD us.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">And by god, there's nothing better than revenge for the New Year.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">Yes, this breaks all the rules I've been yapping about, except the one that really counts: it entices me to read on.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">Now, how the hell do you know if you've got something that breaks the rules but works?&nbsp; First, you write something that doesn't break ANY of the rules.&nbsp; You write a query that shows, doesn't tell. That's concise, and conveys what the book is about.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">In other words, you write to the form of a query letter before you write something that ISN'T to form.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;">And you pay attention to rhythm.&nbsp; More than anything else stylistically, it's that rhythm of good writing that's toughest to teach and learn.&nbsp; When I'm editing manuscripts, I say the sentences out loud a lot. Hearing them helps me see where there are extra words, or too many beats, or misplaced beats.&nbsp; It's very very slow editing when you are down to moving syllables in sentences, but it's what makes the difference between gorgeous writing and so-so sentences.</div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div style="color: blue;"><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4812909700950069050-2928857941677503039?l=queryshark.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
Source: #192-FTW

This automatic post courtesy of the Query Shark RSS Feed.
Logged

Eikanox

  • Cub
  • *
  • Karma: 0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2
Re: Query Shark: #192-FTW
« Reply #1 on: November 28, 2019, 04:29:34 AM »

I love it so much If it is useful and knowledgeable, then this is my first place to come.

VetteRanger

  • Cub
  • *
  • Karma: 0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5
Re: Query Shark: #192-FTW
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2021, 01:24:51 PM »

It really needs all that markup edited out to be useful.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up
 


* Calendar
March 2024
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 [29] 30
31

No calendar events were found.

Paying the bills...

* Forum Staff
admin Bob Mueller
Administrator
admin MWF Bot
Administrator
gmod MysteryAdmin
Global Moderator
gmod laurihart
Global Moderator

Page created in 0.016 seconds with 42 queries.

SimplePortal 2.3.3 © 2008-2010, SimplePortal