In lieu of anything profound, I'm just going to put the call out today for a list of things I would like. A wish list, shall we say? Here goes.1.Middle-grade novels. I have been reading a ton of awesome MG novels lately. When You Reach Me is perfect. I am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil... Continue Reading →
How to submit to Elana Roth
Elana tweeted this morning that she was receiving lots of queries without sample pages. In case that's people from our region doing that, here are the submission guidelines from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency blog.It's smart to check submission guidelines--and recheck them--with each agent you query. There is no one-size-fits-all rule and agents create guidelines... Continue Reading →
Elana Roth’s book recommendations
Caren Johnson Literary agent Elana Roth made good on her promise to recommend great craft books for us. Here are some of her favorites:Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante Story by Robert McKee (this is a screenwriting one, but good) Plot... Continue Reading →
Jolie’s tweets from last night’s meeting
The good news is, Jolie tweeted last night's meeting with Elana Roth, marking all her posts with the #Chinook hash tag.The bad news is, that is also the hash tag that people use when discussing a certain type of military helicopter. Still, to get a quick recap of Elana's points about plot (and some German... Continue Reading →
Getting to Know Elana Roth (and David Patneaude)
Sept. 8 will be here before you know it (and it's a Tuesday, people. TUESDAY!). Prepare for the meeting by getting to know our special guest Elana Roth, an agent at the Caren Johnson Literary agency.Elana has a big Internet presence:Here's the Caren Johnson Literary Agency site and blogOn AgentQueryAnd an interview on Alice's CWIM... Continue Reading →
Getting to Know Elana Roth
Yesterday I wrote that James Rollins had given hopeful authors bad advice. (He said to ignore certain submission guidelines when pitching agents and editors.)I said a better approach is to get to know the agents and editors who interest you. This is so you can see whether you're a good match. The Internet makes this... Continue Reading →