Tuesday, May 5, 2009

EDITLAND, SCHMEDITLAND...

MAN what is up with me lately? I've been slower than a slug with a heart condition on my editing. That's what happens when I write an entire novel in 30 days. I have to EDIT it for six months. When I take six months to write a novel, 30 days of editing are usually sufficient.

Funny how that works. But it makes sense.

I've got one submission out, and I'm editing said submission. Once I've finished it, I need to get started on the sequel, which is 25% written. I'm getting a pull from a different story, but I need to focus on my Evil Fairies for now.

So, I was reading the most excellent Nathan Bransford's blog the other day, and read how he hates rhetorical questions in his queries. Oooops. I have not one, not two, but THREE fabulous rhetorical questions in my opening paragraph of my query.

Here I was, thinking it was such a cute hook. Actually, I haven't gotten any critiques to the contrary, but who knows. Some agents might like (or at least not MIND) rhetorical questions as openers. My sub out there isn't to Nathan Bransford (he doesn't rep what I write) but it sure made me think.

I've also realized that these agents who blog are invaluable. They flat out TELL YOU what they like and don't like. How to do certain things. That's advice worth something.

But I still like my rhetorical questions! Let me know what you think:

Dear (Super Fantastic Dream Agent),

As Humans, we’ve all heard of Fairies. They’re magical, sweet, and grant wishes, right? What if Fairies were actually…bad? What if everything we’ve been told about them is a lie?


Yeah, boom boom boom. I sort of lay them right out there, don't I? ;-)

2 comments:

  1. My personal opinion is you don't need the rhetorical questions. You need a good hook (a logline) that will make them keep reading the next paragraph. We can work on it if you want. ;)

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  2. I like questions in a logline, although they aren't necessarily rhetorical. Agent blogs are great because you get more insight into that particular agent, and find out if it's the right person to pitch a particular project.

    Love the blog!

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