Snarking

Living Well

I'm beginning to think reading other authors in my genre is a bad thing. For example, I have a lot of mysteries in my ten+ bookshelves that surround me in my work room. Most of the books in there don't start with a BANG, give a lot of description and backstory, and do all the things agents don't like, yet the authors got published. How do I explain this?

I can't.

What I can do is tell you how I got to this don't read idea...

One of the writing list servs I belong to has been buzzing about Miss Snark, Literary Agent, and her blog on blogspot.com

I'd pretty much decided not to procrastinate yet again and go to her web site, but this morning, maybe due to frustration with publishing events, Miss Snark drew me there.

Glad she did.

Miss Snark is indeed snarky, but in a good way. She even critiques 300 words of your ms and does so without resorting to the code used in the agent industry, e.g., "Not right for my list."

Miss Snark lambasts everything---unless of course it starts with a BANG, and doesn't overdescribe or give too much backstory. Some of her comments are forcing me to go back (yet again) to my stories and see if they start with a bang and don't give too much---well, you know.

Bye for now, I've got to get those ms fixed!

Keep on reading (you didn't really think I'd come out for real against reading, did you?) and writing,

Carolyn