Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Question from a Writer

This may be a silly thing, but one word I noticed in this question was "idea", more than once. Maybe the story isn't finished. I know some aspiring authors do this, possibly because we hear published authors talking about pitching new story ideas.

I'd love to pitch my current wip, because I love the premise and I know where it's going (I could probably write a better query letter for it than I could for my completed work), but it's only about 10k in. So I continue to work on it and hope no one writes it before me.


There are two things to think of here. As far as pitching the story, don't do it. You need to know that sometimes editors and agents are looking for certain projects because they have a space to fill. I know that I have several projects I am always on the watch for and if something like that comes in, I will jump on it immediately and want to see the full. Only 10 K in means you would have to write like crazy and then the story isn't the best you can have. Take your time and make it good.

With that said, I would strongly encourage you, if you do see where the story is going, to both write the query letter right now, the pitch/blurb and even the 3-5 page synopsis. By doing so, you can lock in the goal of the story and use that, with your outline to insure the story stays tight and on target.

As far as pitching proposals, you will get the chance to do this when you are published but editors want to know you can produce first. Once they become comfortable with your style, they can know if your pitch is going to work or not.

Good question.

Scott

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