I'm trying a new series here on WITS, where I'll crit a submitted first page. More on how to get your work considered below. In the meantime, let's jump right in!

I believe we learn best, by example.

The following is from a brave WITS follower who agreed to go first ~ Dilly dilly to her/him!… Read the post

Greer Macallister

A few years ago, if you’d asked me about the building blocks of great novels, I would have yammered on endlessly about sentences. They can’t be too long or too short or all the same; they can’t be so complex or descriptive that they get in the way of the story; they are demanding little creatures, able to reel readers in or drive them off, and you need to crack their code for each book all over again.… Read the post

Sierra Godfrey

I am a reader. Yes, I read books, but I mean an agent’s reader. I read requested manuscripts. I read your requested manuscript.

Readers are one of the secrets of the industry—most agents utilize them as there are simply too many manuscripts and not enough pairs of eyes.… Read the post

Les Edgerton

The writer who can master the art and craft of defining their characters by their actions is going to be the author whose work gets read. By lots and lots of folks… Enough, hopefully, that you’ll never again have to say to someone about the novel you’ve written that it’s “only available in my room.”… Read the post

By Orly Konig-Lopez

Querying authors know the feeling: Your email pings with an incoming message. It's from one of the agents who requested your manuscript. Your heart beats in your ears, you close one eye, tilt your head to a 35 degree angle and squint at the words.… Read the post