write « Robin Writes

Thought I’d talk a little today about the creative process – or rather, my own process because I imagine that everyone’s is different.

And there’s that word: imagine. Imagination, if you will. Writers seem to often be cursed with too much imagination. The constant “what ifs” of daily life can really wear you down, especially if it gets out of hand. Then, I suppose, you’re off to your friendly local shrink for a new Xanax prescription!

I’m not going to get on a soapbox, but having an active imagination doesn’t make you a writer – you also have to know/learn how to write. How to temper your dialogue to fit the conversation, how to pace the action, how to write love scenes without dying in agonies of embarrassment. Oh, and that last bit is exactly why I don’t write romance….

People joke about those “voices” in their heads, but it’s true – writers hear things. Don’t get me wrong, if your characters truly ARE arguing with each other in your mind, and ignoring you as a popular meme recently stated, you might have a problem. Seek help.

However, if your characters merely come to life inside your skull, and you can channel their personalities in order to write a more effective scene, that is imagination. And you need it, or your book will fall flat. For example, when you read a book, do you take on – temporarily – a habit or mannerism or way of speech of one of the characters? That’s imagination. That’s why people read. Well, that’s why I read. I’ve seen some pretty awful stuff that other people read and frankly, I just don’t get it. But it’s a personal choice, and heaven forbid if I discourage anyone from reading!

Now for the “process” part. You don’t just imagine a world, peopled by imaginary characters, and type them out into a readable form. I wish! It would make writing this next book so much easier! Why, I could knock out an 80K novel in, oh, about ten days – that’s spending just eight hours a day writing, like a full-time job. That could be – wait a minute – 26 books a year, assuming I didn’t take a vacation. Which I don’t. But hey, wouldn’t that be swell?

Here’s how it really works:

Thinkthinkthink. Typetypetypetypetypetype. Thinkthink. Backspacebackspace times 14. Think. Type…………typethink…….thinktype…..backspace times 10. Thinkthinkthink. Typetypetypetype.

Of course, I’m not counting the ringing of the phone, the ding of new email, the cute kitty pics and vids you MUST watch. Or the moaning and lamenting you do on Facebook, your page and those of all your writer friends. Or the kids. Or errands. Or housework. Or, you know, actually marketing and selling your book!

Pretty good summation, huh? Anyone? Is this how your day goes?

I’ve been hearing a lot about query letters lately. Writers’ Digest had an article recently, and even had a contest of sorts to have your query letter read and critiqued. Is that really necessary?

I know writers who spend months on a query letter; I know some who spend a week, at least. I think I wrote mine in about 20 minutes and spent another ten or so checking it over. Of course, I didn’t get any agent nibbles, but neither did those who focused so intently for such a long period – actually, one or two did get requests for a few pages. I suppose I can’t compare mine to that because all the agents I queried asked for 10 pages or the first five chapters from the start.

So what’s in a query letter? Is it worth agonizing over?

The short answer is “no.”

A query letter’s purpose is to pique interest in your book, to pitch your story to an agent. It should, of course, include a brief synopsis of your book, a proper greeting and a signature, and a call to action, i.e., what you want the agent to do which, of course, is represent you.

Remember learning how to write letters, formal ones? Do that. Start with “Dear So-and-So:” and then close with “Yours Truly,” or something similar. Simple. The body of the letter should start with an introduction, be fleshed out with your synopsis, and end with a request. Beginning, middle, end, get it?

Many authors have trouble with the synopsis, but it’s not that difficult. To type it out. It can be very, very, very difficult to actually write it but hey – you just wrote an 80K+ word novel, come on, how hard can a synopsis be? Pretend you’re writing the blurb for the back of your novel. You’ll likely need one anyway, so just get it done now. Just a few paragraphs. YOU CAN DO IT!

Agents get a lot of mail. A lot. And sure, some read it all, some read until they reach a point where they know your book isn’t a good fit, some have others read queries for them. Sometimes they request a partial or a full ms. Usually they don’t – why? Because they don’t have to, they have plenty of authors from whom to choose to represent. If you’re unknown, you’re more likely to stay that way.

Guess my point is why spend so much time and angst on writing a letter asking someone to represent you and your book? Especially if that person is likely not even going to read the whole letter? Or read it and delete it, without a response at all.

In spite of the query letter, this agent doesn’t know you at all – so it’s not personal. It comes down to whether or not he likes the synopsis of your book; that, too, is not personal, but it IS subjective. Here’s one last thought: it’s also possible that your letter and (your synopsis suck), and it’s full of misspellings and grammatical errors or just plain boring. Delete.

You wrote a book. It took a long time. Sure, the query letter is important, but your book is MORE important. That query letter should NOT take as long to write as the novel itself. Put it in perspective: 300 words versus 80K+.

Now go write the darn thing.