“He drinks WHAT?” Product placement in novels

At one point near the beginning of my work-in-progress (a contemporary romance set in a small mountain town in California), my hero sits in a greasy-spoon cafe and thinks about how much he misses being a Starbucks customer. I didn’t put that thought in his head on a whim. You see, he’s a small-business owner,… Continue reading “He drinks WHAT?” Product placement in novels

How agents think

A couple months ago, I wondered out loud what kinds of questions agents and editors ask themselves about your manuscript when they’re reading it for the first time. As if they’ve been pondering my post for several weeks,* three agents wrote blogs this week giving insight into how they think.

My first readers

On Friday I sent my synopsis and first three chapters to a few trusted friends. It felt like a truly momentous occasion. These were, after all, the very first people who would see anything I’ve written (well, for this novel, at least). In return, I got the sound of crickets. Nada. So I emailed them… Continue reading My first readers

Questions to ask your manuscript

If you do get a critique partner (or, say, you have a wonderful PhD-candidate husband who’s studying literature and who looks at your last post lamenting the lack of a critique partner, and says in his most sympathetic voice: “I’ll be your critique partner”), what exactly do you get them to comment on? It seems… Continue reading Questions to ask your manuscript