I’m over at Pitch University today, reviewing queries and video pitches for authors gearing up for RWA Nationals, as well as answering questions in the comments from 10am to 12 noon (Mountain time). My interview is up now, and I’m just starting to post my responses to queries, with my reactions to pitches coming next.
In the meantime, you should read this great post from Diana Peterfreund on a great tool for writers in a scene. A taste:
You know the old adage that stories aren’t interesting if everything could be resolved with a conversation? One way to find out if that’s true is to make the characters have that conversation and see if you’ve still got problems.
Also, if you are going to RWA — or gearing up for ALA, LeakyCon, or any other conference where writers may find themselves in proximity to agents, here’s some great advice to bear in mind. Actually, I once posted something similar myself — worth a reread!
4 thoughts on “Pitch University”
Hi. I had a quick question. This has probably been asked before, but I've never seen it anywhere, so I hope you don't mind. Basically, if someone has already queried an agent and been rejected, would it be okay to approach that agent at a conference with a pitch if they'd made only minor changes to the story but had a better pitch than query letter? I would never want to inadvertently do something rude, so should I just stay away from any agents I already queried? Thanks for any information you can give me on this!
Having a character just spit it out works tremendously well for moving a scene on. I think sometimes, though, you have to be sure the character would do it.
Then again, a character that won't speak up could be sort of boring to read about!
Absolutely, Chelsey. The situation that prompted all this conversation (my agent, reading my manuscript, made a suggestion that a character could speak her thoughts out loud" is actually indicative of this issue — my character was a personality that DIDN'T speak up, that had been very, very used to keeping her thoughts to herself, and the whole idea was hat if she didn't speak up now, she never would.
Hey, Daph! Thanks for the shoutout, and congrats on Peregrine's success!