Writing An Effective Fiction Query

Writing An Effective Fiction Query Writing An Effective Fiction Query Writing An Effective Fiction Query By Maeve Maddox Id rather write a 60,000 word novel than a one-page query letter, but I know that a query letter is my chief tool for winning the attention of a literary agent. Here are some things to consider when pitching your novel in a query letter. Keep It Brief One page is best. Two pages are acceptable unless the agents guidelines ask for one page. Then it had better be one page. Using 8-point type to fit more on a page is not an option. Use at a minimum 10-point type in a standard font such as Times or Times Roman. Bookman is good, but keep in mind that 10-point Bookman is larger than 10-point Times. NOTE: Many editors and agents prefer manuscripts to be typed in 12-point Courier. Thats what I said, COURIER, the font that looks like old-fashioned typewriter type. Keep it Professional Some agents accept email submissions, but they will not accept attachments. That means everything you send must be dumped into an email. Unless the agent specifies email submissions only, I prefer to send my query packet the old-fashioned way so I can control the formatting and presentation. Letterhead: With a computer you can make your own letterhead, but if you send a lot of queries, you might want to treat yourself to a professional print job on quality paper. Even if you make your own letterhead, use quality paper for the query you send, and not the cheap copy paper you use for drafts. Content: In a query letter you have about five paragraphs with which to pitch your project. The agent doesnt want to know how much your mother likes your book, or how many cats you have. The agent wants to know: 1. What the genre of your novel is, its title, its word length, and the gist of the story. 2. Why you are competent to have written it. Observe my choice of tense here (to have written): if your project is a novel, dont query an agent until the novel is as complete and as error-free as you can make it and has been critiqued by at least three competent fellow writers from your writers group. You dont belong to a writers group? Why not? 3. Your writing background and experience. If you dont have any published writing to mention, then include some other indication of your professionalism: writing conferences attended, writing courses taken. If you have absolutely zilch, remain silent on the subject. Your writing will have to speak for you. 3. How they can contact you if they are interested. Believe it or not, some people send queries and even entire manuscripts to agents without including a return address. Keep it on a Rational Plane Avoid being either arrogant or subservient. Dont announce that your novel is the next DaVinci Code or that you write better than Toni Morrison. On the other hand, dont whine about how little youve had published, or how deeply, earnestly, eternally grateful youll be for the agents consideration. After you have provided a brief synopsis of your project (paragraphs 1 and 2), an indication of your novels genre and length (paragraph 3), some information about yourself and your writing credentials (paragraph 4), close the letter with a final paragraph in which you thank the agent, offer to send your completed manuscript, and sign off. If you are sending queries to several agents, you may wish to tell the agent that your query is a simultaneous submission. NOTE: Before writing your query, while writing your query, and after having written your query, study the agents submission guidelines. Make triple-sure that your query conforms to them, and that you have spelled the agents name correctly. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:What Is Irony? (With Examples)Precedent vs. Precedence90 Verbs Starting with â€Å"Ex-†

Poetic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Poetic Analysis - Essay Example And, there is a proportion among poets who bring these situations and incidents into a written form, using the realistic or fictionalized version of the real life happenings as the base. Beautifulness and tragedy in poem comes out in the words that are used, objects that are handled, concepts that are discussed, etc. Likewise, the English poets, Felicia Hemans and Lord Byron have penned poems bordering on both beautifulness and tragedy, particularly about human relationships influenced by the events they knew. So, this paper will contrast and compare the treatment of relations between men and women in Hemans’ â€Å"Indian Womans Death Song" and Byron’s â€Å"Don Juan†. Felicia Dorothea Hemans is the 19th century English poet, who wrote a lot of poems basing most of them on the travails of women. In her works, she brought out the different problems faced by the women of those times, both in their personal fronts and from the society. So, most of her works bordered on sentiments, with â€Å"Casabianca,† being the well known one. In her other famous work, â€Å"Indian Woman’s Death Song†, Hemans again focused on the tragic problems faced by a married Indian woman due to the extra martial relationship of her husband. Driven to despair because of husband’s abandonment, the woman with her child takes a deadly ride in a canoe down the Mississippi river. While rowing the canoe only, she sings a mournful death song. The death song gets overpowered by the river’s sound, as she gets drowned in the raising water. On the other hand, George Gordon Byron, the English poet, focused on the travails of a male protagonist. Lord Byr on in his poem â€Å"Don Juan† discusses the legend of Don Juan, but with a slightly different perspective. That is, he portrays Don Juan not as the stereotypical womaniser but as a gullible person, who can be easily seduced by women. That

Information System Analysis of Developing Parking Systems Assignment

Information System Analysis of Developing Parking Systems - Assignment Example This paper illustrates that management information has been used to improve parking systems in most many corporations. The principles of Management Information Systems in relation to car parking is to develop efficient car park systems. There is a current parking problem at MUN and it is affecting the operations of the organization. The parking spaces are assigned to specific individuals and they cannot be used by any other individuals. Furthermore, if the individuals are not available his or her parking slot cannot be accessed. The organization is looking for an intelligent parking system that will be used to address the current parking crisis. Management will help develop a method to improve transportation in the enterprise. On the other hand, intelligent car parking has been successfully used to reduce congestion near car parking areas. The parking area will help students and staff members at MUN. It will increase the range of parking convenience and vehicle security in the instit ution. The individuals at the faculty will be able to share their parking in the institution. This will allow them to take advantage of the different peak periods. Students will be able to park once and do their activities efficiently. The parking area will control by a barrier at both the entrance and the exit. The barriers will have CCTVs installed on them that capture the occupants of the vehicle. Vehicles will be issued with parking tickets that allow shows the time of entrance. Individuals will use the ticket to pay for the parking online or manually. Wireless sensor networks are used globally to collect and monitor information for the purpose of decision making. They can be used in different environments to monitor information for car parking. The sensors are low cost and are deployed in a car park field whereby each parking lot has a sensor node. The sensor node monitors the activities of the car park slot and sends a message to a database. The database is accessible by the u pper layer management system that analyzes the information.