by NatashaDeen | Apr 23, 2014 | Author Questions, Writing
When I first began in this industry, I was alternately exhilarated and (to quote Anne Shirley) “in the depths of despair.” Publishing is ever changing, evolving, and the information about getting (and staying) published, conflicting. What was a new writer...
by NatashaDeen | Mar 2, 2010 | Author Questions
Q: When you have a character with a long monolouge and you want to break up the paragraphs, where/how do the quotations go?A: When you have the paragraph change, don’t put end quoations on the last sentence of the paragraph, but do put starting quotations on the...
by NatashaDeen | Feb 18, 2010 | Author Questions
Q: When do you use a scene break, and what’s the format?A: I asked a few editors/authors about this. So, you designate a scene break with four asterisk, centered, in between the two scenes:End of scene one*****Start of scene twoUse them any time there is a...
by NatashaDeen | Jan 31, 2010 | Author Questions
How important is it to tell the agent/editor the length of your story, the genre, and the audience it’s intended for?In a word: VERY. Think of your book like a house. How thrilled would you be if you were searching for a house with four bedrooms and the agent...
by NatashaDeen | Jan 24, 2010 | Author Questions
Got an interesting question the other day: “If the heroine ends up with her ex-boyfriend’s best friend, does that discount the story as a romance?”The short is “no,” the longer answer is “it depends.” The relationship dynamic...
by NatashaDeen | Jan 6, 2010 | Author Questions
A lot of query letter templates say to mention other novels that are like yours, but how many stories should be listed?Asked writers and a friend who has connections with the agenting business, and the consensus seems to be: more than 1, not more than 3. If you only...