USA Today Best of 2012

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

'Tube Tuesday

I'm pretty sure this video was intended to be an actual lesson on how to write a novel. It might be useful to students, as a guideline. Her graphics are cute and I can totally see this clip being shown in a high school literacy class as an intro to a semester-long project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LxqmHQFyR8

However. For anyone who plans to actually publish their completed novel, this plan has a few holes.
  • Writing a 10-30 page synopsis and using it for submission. In all my querying, I never saw a single agent or editor who wanted to read more a synopsis more than 5 pages long, and the shorter, the better.
  • Writing a first draft, rewriting, and then submitting. (I do appreciate that she used the word "polished", but she failed to recommend writing partners or critiques) A self-edited file does not a polished manuscript make!
  • Unfortunately, writing a novel and selling a novel are two entirely different processes. Thus, they probably belong in different videos. From watching this piece, a novice might believe that writing the book is actually the hard part, whereas both the editing process and the selling process are much more involved.

But hey, the graphics were cute!

Piper Denna

Romance is sexy!

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