A Question of Worth
Writer Unboxed
by Vaughn Roycroft
2d ago
The question should’ve been easy to answer and yet it left me thinking for days. Writing this post was my way of sorting it out. I blame Terah Shelton Harris, and her thought-provoking essay here on WU earlier this month. In which she asked, “What’s your definition of success?”  In the essay, Terah describes being taken aback when she was asked whether she considered her recent debut to be a success. Evidently I can relate! In the piece, Terah reveals that she’d once thought that success would include some tangible, public accolade, such as making a list, and cites the NY Times bestseller ..read more
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Shedding Light on Some Popular Publishing Myths
Writer Unboxed
by Diana Giovinazzo
3d ago
There are many hot takes on social media about how to write a book, what traditional publishers like, and what you need to do to make your novel a bestseller. There are some kernels of advice that are very useful, but others make you want to scratch your head and wonder where on earth they come up with that one? Below are some of my favorite myths about the publishing industry, and some truths about them. You have to have an MFA to be published by traditional publishers. While this one is new to me, it’s still fairly ridiculous. You don’t need to have an MFA, or even a writing degree for that ..read more
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Flog a Pro: Would You Turn the First Page of this Bestseller?
Writer Unboxed
by Ray Rhamey
5d ago
Trained by reading hundreds of submissions, editors and agents often make their read/not-read decision on the first page. In a customarily formatted book manuscript with chapters starting about 1/3 of the way down the page (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type), there are 16 or 17 lines on the first page. Here’s the question: Would you pay good money to read the rest of the chapter? With 50 chapters in a book that costs $15, each chapter would be “worth” 30 cents. So, before you read the excerpt, take 30 cents from your pocket or purse. When you’re done, decide what to do with those t ..read more
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The (Tribal) Politics of Character, Part II
Writer Unboxed
by David Corbett
5d ago
In her March 14th post, Polarize Your Characters, Energize Your Novel, Kathryn Craft made the following excellent observation: “[E]xtreme differences in perspective can provide what subtler conflicts cannot. The chasm that opens between your characters can expose deeply held morals and values that will make your story seem to matter more. Exploring a chasm’s many sides can give all persuasions of readers someone to relate to in your novel, even as you show the ways that each deeply held belief is relatable. A chasm allows your protagonist to fall into a deeper, darker place, allowing you to ..read more
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Narcissus
Writer Unboxed
by Dave King
1w ago
Narcissus, staring at his reflection, from a 14th century manuscript. Kepler’s Fourth Law of Planetary Motion:  The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know.   To write well, you need to get into other people’s heads – to understand that your way of seeing the world isn’t the only way there is.  This empathy can become such a habit that you can forget that some people just can’t do it.  Either these narcissists imagine that everyone who thinks differently from them is plain wrong, or they don’t even realize there are differences. Narcissists, though, can make for good ..read more
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The Struggle Between, Not Against: Hay, Water; Carrot, Stick
Writer Unboxed
by Barbara Linn Probst
1w ago
There is a famous paradox, attributed to a fourteenth century French philosopher named Jean Buridan, about a hypothetical donkey, equally hungry and thirsty, who is placed at the exact midpoint between a stack of hay and a pail of water. Everything the donkey needs and wants is within reach—yet he dies of both hunger and thirst, since it can’t decide which way to move. (The idea actually goes back to 350 B.C., when Aristotle wrote: “A man, being just as hungry as thirsty, and placed in-between food and drink, must necessarily remain where he is and starve to death.”) In another well-know ..read more
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Dig into Your Character’s Taboos
Writer Unboxed
by Kathryn Craft
1w ago
photo adapted / Horia Varlan I am drawn to the things that people won’t talk about. That may be obvious, if you know that my first two novels were about body image and suicide. When was the last time you asked a new mom about her poochy, post-baby abdomen, or what it was like for your neighbor to find her son dead by his own hand? Body-altering, life-changing events happen to us every day that most people just won’t talk about, even though staying mum feeds a churning magma of shame. Secrets and lies are everywhere in contemporary fiction, and will often drive the entire novel, as David Corb ..read more
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Rise of the Omniscient Voice
Writer Unboxed
by Guest
2w ago
Please welcome back multi-published author Henriette Lazaridis as our guest today! Henriette is the author of The Clover House (a Boston Globe bestseller), Terra Nova (which the New York Times called “ingenious”), and Last Days in Plaka, which was published just yesterday, on April 9th. Last Days in Plaka is Henriette’s most personal novel to date. A first generation Greek American and only child of expat parents, Henriette grew up speaking Greek as her first language and listening to her father relay Homer’s Odyssey. It’s no wonder that she has set her latest novel in Greece or that the stor ..read more
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Defining Success
Writer Unboxed
by Terah Shelton Harris
2w ago
A few months ago, as the buzz around my debut novel, One Summer In Savannah, began dying down, a question posed to me by a friend really rocked me to my core. “Was your book successful?” I opened my mouth to speak but no words materialized. I snapped it shut and opened it again. This time, the words came out all at once. “Yeah…I think…sure. I don’t know.” I had not given much thought to the question. For me, or so I thought, my debut was successful the moment I typed the last word, and, later, signed a two-book deal with Sourcebooks. Writing books is hard. It has been said 97% of people who s ..read more
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Book PR and Marketing Questions Answered Part XVII: Superpowers, Goals, Bestselling
Writer Unboxed
by Ann Marie Nieves
2w ago
This is a brief post because there is so much to think about, and I want to hear what you’re leaning into. Here’s what’s been happening in my marketing mind for the last few weeks. What’s your superpower? Last fall, when I was working with the brilliant and lovely writer Anne Gudger, author of the memoir The Fifth Chamber, she told me that grief is her superpower. This statement struck me. How? I’ve read that this is a common question in job interviews to ease the tension that interviews bring and to assess a candidate’s strengths. Makes sense. Anne wrote about the death of her first husband ..read more
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