This is a very helpful piece. I LOATHE writing cover letters. It's so painful to have to shift into sales mode, to have to encapsulate your baby in an enticing nutshell. To even think of it in that way somehow feels cheap. Also, I can never see the forest for the trees.
Something I tried recently was asking a few beta-readers to help me with an enticing little nutshell version of my novel. It did help me shift gears. A little.
Going now to try out your suggestions on a few ms I've got longing for homes. Thanks, Alison.
I’m still pondering my novel, but I was trying to describe my prose poem “Stay in your love bubble” and came up with a better first line “family & friends will burst it.” It’s advice I give to anyone just beginning a relationship.
Margie, that gets my attention! It's not something we hear--but has truth to it! And it juxtaposes with the title, which makes me think warm & fuzzy... but not so. Yes!
I've come to this useful article a little late – but better late than never. It's not something I've worried much about because I've discounted the idea of following the traditional publishing route for my fiction, at least in the short term. (After three decades in publishing, it just doesn't thrill me: I want to have a try at 'going it alone'.)
I now see how useful the exercise is in its own right, even if nobody else ever sees my 'cover letter'. This is going to be vital for my own marketing, and I can see the merit of drafting it while the MS is still fresh in my mind. You've also given me somewhere not-too-daunting to start, and for this in particular I thank you.
A first bash:
'Acheron' is a story about the joy and sorrow of first love and a fierce land.
It is my intention that the Unschool be all about dipping in and out as each writer needs, finding useful pieces, and setting aside others.
A post might speak to one at one point, and another even much later. Eventually I'd like an archive of pieces that serve multiple writers at many points in their paths!
Your one-line works well, with "joy" and "fierce" pulling and pushing. "First" and "fierce" has some good sound to it!
Yes, it is useful to push yourself to step back once a work is complete, and do these final pieces to get it out to the world--however it is going out. Much like making certain a child has shoes and a snack to go out to school--even after knowing they are mentally and emotionally ready :)
This is a very helpful piece. I LOATHE writing cover letters. It's so painful to have to shift into sales mode, to have to encapsulate your baby in an enticing nutshell. To even think of it in that way somehow feels cheap. Also, I can never see the forest for the trees.
Something I tried recently was asking a few beta-readers to help me with an enticing little nutshell version of my novel. It did help me shift gears. A little.
Going now to try out your suggestions on a few ms I've got longing for homes. Thanks, Alison.
"longing for homes" might be a useful way to think to get beyond the "business" piece, too, Cindy! Thank you for that.
I’m still pondering my novel, but I was trying to describe my prose poem “Stay in your love bubble” and came up with a better first line “family & friends will burst it.” It’s advice I give to anyone just beginning a relationship.
Margie, that gets my attention! It's not something we hear--but has truth to it! And it juxtaposes with the title, which makes me think warm & fuzzy... but not so. Yes!
Yes! Love is its own reward. When outside "influencers" make demands on it to soon, it is hard to see what went wrong.
For a submission to Syncopation Literary Journal, a journal about music and society:
The story is about a working musician who gets a chance to gig with a legend, but the date does not go as smoothly as he expected.
I've come to this useful article a little late – but better late than never. It's not something I've worried much about because I've discounted the idea of following the traditional publishing route for my fiction, at least in the short term. (After three decades in publishing, it just doesn't thrill me: I want to have a try at 'going it alone'.)
I now see how useful the exercise is in its own right, even if nobody else ever sees my 'cover letter'. This is going to be vital for my own marketing, and I can see the merit of drafting it while the MS is still fresh in my mind. You've also given me somewhere not-too-daunting to start, and for this in particular I thank you.
A first bash:
'Acheron' is a story about the joy and sorrow of first love and a fierce land.
It is my intention that the Unschool be all about dipping in and out as each writer needs, finding useful pieces, and setting aside others.
A post might speak to one at one point, and another even much later. Eventually I'd like an archive of pieces that serve multiple writers at many points in their paths!
Your one-line works well, with "joy" and "fierce" pulling and pushing. "First" and "fierce" has some good sound to it!
Yes, it is useful to push yourself to step back once a work is complete, and do these final pieces to get it out to the world--however it is going out. Much like making certain a child has shoes and a snack to go out to school--even after knowing they are mentally and emotionally ready :)