TASK #1: Watch: 5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel with Diane O'Connell (3 min)
J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success (9 min)
In the COMMENT section below, what is ONE thing you found valuable about each video (that means you want to find something valuable in both videos and write this personal remark in the COMMENT section of this blog post (for participation credit).
TASK #2: Query Letter Assignment:
Complete the following:
J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success (9 min)
In the COMMENT section below, what is ONE thing you found valuable about each video (that means you want to find something valuable in both videos and write this personal remark in the COMMENT section of this blog post (for participation credit).
TASK #2: Query Letter Assignment:
Complete the following:
- Prepare your literary magazine submission. Proofread and edit and make it worthy of considering.
- Write a short query letter to your publisher. Let's use this information:
- Agent: Brad Craddock
- Creative Writing Publishing Inc.
- School of the Arts
- 45 Prince Street, Rochester, NY 14607
- Paragraph #1: Introduce yourself. Share any connection you have with the agent (you met him at a conference, you were a student of his, you took him out to dinner, OR you're a fan of specific authors that he or she represents.
- Paragraph #1: Name the title, genre, and word count of the work you want the agent to represent.
- Paragraph #2: Summarize your story/poem briefly. Discuss your main characters, themes, what happens, what choices the protagonist makes, what kind of poem/story it is, etc. Leave the agent with a cliffhanger ending. What will happen? Read to find out! (that sort of thing...)
- Paragraph #3: Add your writing bio. Name other works you have written or published and where/when they were published. Name any awards or related writing experience, perhaps courses taken or workshops attended, writing jobs held, etc. Keep this sort (about 1-2 sentences).
- Paragraph #3: Finally, thank the agent for his time and consideration.
- Proofread your letter. Correct your mistakes/typos.
- Use short specific sentences & paragraphs. A query letter should never be more than a page in length!
- You can use a similar tone to your writing. If you are writing humor, it's okay to crack a joke if you can. If your work is serious, your letter should have a serious tone, etc. The default is professional.
- Submit your letter.
- Prepare your literary magazine selection but do NOT attach it just yet. You will receive a letter from the agent soon indicating whether or not he wants you to submit it to the acquisitions editor.
Remember to format your letter in proper letter writing format! See here for help--NOTE: Please use the BLOCK letter format for this letter. For even more help check out the OWL as well.
TASK #3: Best seller blog post
Aim to complete your bestseller by next week. Hopefully, you have read some (or all) of it by now. During lab time, find out a little about the book you read by researching when and where it was originally published, how much money did it make, how it might have been sold as an option for film or tv, or other media sources. Present this information in a blog post on YOUR blog. Before you finish, comment on the book. Compare/contrast the book to other "school" books that you are forced to read. Is there a difference? Can we learn just as much about writing (in your opinion) from reading blockbuster bestseller, as opposed to "classics"? Isn't this just commercialism? Your opinion? Answer these questions on your blog.
TASK #4
What Makes a Bestseller Best? Use the graphic organizer and take notes on the videos.
TASK #4
What Makes a Bestseller Best? Use the graphic organizer and take notes on the videos.
HOMEWORK: If you did not complete one of these tasks during the lab, please do so as homework. Otherwise, none.
1) In "5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel with Diane O'Connell," I think that finding a book's purpose and reasoning is an important aspect to go over. I never really thought about a specific theme that my story should address but mainly plot and main characters. When she said that story making wasn't only about those two aspects, I mean, I knew it wasn't just that... but when you add theme into the process of creating a story it gets complicated right after. At least for me. That's why I typically stay away from theme until I'm halfway into the story and realize that I can go in a different direction. Nonetheless, I like how Diane focused on the view of the story.
ReplyDelete2) What I found remarkable in "J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success" was that she found emotional roots in her story writing and where she began. She teared up being in the room that started her career and fondly remembered her struggle and that it was because of these hardships that led her to creating the renowned series. I think it's admirable that she's that devoted to her writing so much that she can be moved very easily. It shows her passion. Going through many struggles in life to have an earnest outcome by the end is really heartwarming and even though she may be a little dumb sometimes, I can't really deny that she knows what she is doing when she is writing and the amount of love she has for being an author.
In the first video I definitely found the fact about the flop in the back of the novel, a piece of valuable information. I'd always known what a flop or blurb was, but I never knew just how precise it had to be. It is preferred to be written before the novel to act as a blueprint or layout for the novel, and what is to come. With a minimum of 250 words, it is clear and concise, and gets right to the point.
ReplyDeleteIn the second video I definitely offered my undivided attention from tip one, which happens to be in my opinion an extremely valuable tip. "Failure helps you discover yourself." Ms. Rowling went on to elaborate that when you "fail" or when you don't achieve your exact goal it clarifies who is still there, who has always been there; it enlarges your errors so that you may fix them, and it is a reflection of human mistake. I can definitely relate to such a tip/quote because I've experienced as much.
Both videos were very helpful and provided a rich amount of information.
Maybe it was her accent, but she meant "flap" not "flop"--that's something else. The word comes from the dust jacket (flap) that covers the book. The inside flap usually has the blurb.
DeleteWhat I learned from Diane O'Connell's video was that writing a novel is very easy as long as you have your vision and a clear one at that. I also learned that it's okay to take things to the extremes, like Life and Death or Good and Evil. From J.K Rowling, I learned that as long as you believe in yourself and in your dreams and work hard, that anything can be possible.
ReplyDeleteIn '5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel' I learned that not every plot in a story has to come from some vivid idea and or situation, it can be about simple things, just taken to an extreme to create an interesting plot. I found that somewhat helpful because I sometimes struggle trying to think of a story idea that would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteIn 'J.K. Rowling's Top 10 Rules for Success' I learned failure can help you discover yourself. It can help you improve and it can help you to discover who you are. If you fail at being a certain way, you can steer yourself to another way and if that way fails, keep steering until you find one that doesn't.
One thing I found valuable in 5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel with Diane O'Connell was the idea that the most important step in writing a good novel is having a good vision, meaning you have to know what your novel is about; what is the deeper meaning.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found valuable in J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success was that it is important to stick to your beliefs and views on the story and where it should go, rather than what others think, even if "others" means millions of fans.
Something valuable about...
ReplyDelete1. 5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel with Diane O'Connell:
I think that Diane O'Connell is giving a rather valuable piece of advice when she says to define your book before writing it. If you think about what exactly it is that you're going to write (as opposed to just going with the flow when you're writing), it is highly likely that your book will be better written and neater overall in terms of how each idea progresses to the next, and so on. Even though you may have a general idea of what it is that you'd like to write, it's much more efficient to map out the entire story before actually writing it.
Something valuable about...
2. J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success:
J.K. Rowling says that in order to be a good writer, you have to read a lot. Of course, most people recognize this, but it's still a good piece of advice nonetheless. The more you read the more types of writing you are exposed to, and this expands your knowledge of literature. By doing so you're also expanding upon your ability to write, in a sense.
In the video "5 Secrets to Writing a Bestselling Novel with Diane O'Connell" I found it very interesting how she tells you to sort of plan ahead despite previous writing advice I've heard before such as just write and keep writing. Different from that standard to just write and keep on writing, a best seller has to have a pre set vision and I found that valuable in understanding the way a bestseller works and is made.
ReplyDeleteIn the video "J.K. Rowling's 10 Tips for Success" I found that all of her tips were surrounded by the idea of mistakes and perseverance. Her tips were saying that in life there are going to be setbacks and criticizing, but you still have to push on and believe in order to truly be successful, and I agree with this 100 percent, so I found it to be very valuable life advice.
The first video it tells you 5 different steps when writing which comes in handy because its a guide you can follow. It always good to have a guide. The second video tells you basically what to expect when you're writing a book/novel. Its good to know these steps because if you just go into writing without these steps you might not be successful. I think its great that people are giving out tips for writing is good because its basically giving back to someone who's position you've been in before.
ReplyDeletediane: so the thing that i found most important in her video was the concept of the thing at the back of the book. the portion of the book where readers decide if the novel is good enough of being read. diane said that whether or not your 250 paragraph is a clear vision of what you want in the book is what you should be focusing on. if you can see what your novel is about just from reading the back, then its good enough to continue building on.
ReplyDeletejk: in her video, the most important lesson that i see is trial and error. as she speaks about her experience talking to young readers/writers, she acknowledges the fact that there absolutely will be drafts that you do not like. this is completely fine, since when you get done with writing horrible writing, then you are able to move on to pieces of literature that are written better.
1. in the first novel i learned that to make a successful novel you need a vision. a vision witch is clear and interesting to the plot. also you need a flap copy its helps you knowing if your story is good enough or not.
ReplyDelete2. a key tip in being a good writer is becoming stronger from all the set backs and knowing yourself without facing adversity
One thing I found to be really valuable from each video is that they both were telling writers to pretty much be confident in their work. The process may not be very easy to get to accomplished writer but it isn't impossible as long as you're confident in your work.
ReplyDeleteI learned in "5 secrets to writing a bestselling novel" was in order to write a compelling story you need a vision. Planning your story out before writing it will prevent writers block and will help the process better. 3 steps to encounter a vision is to ask why? Why does that theme work or why does it fascinate you. The next step is think big. Think of something that you wouldn't expect other people to write about. No detail is too small. The last step is to wrote a draft so you can go back and make it better.
ReplyDeleteTwo things i learned in J.K Rowling's 10 tips for success was that "failure helps you discover yourself" i find that important because when you fail at something it teaches you things about yourself. The other thing is "you will be criticized" I find that one big because no matter what you write there will always be people who has criticism towards it but it is up to you if you want to stand by it or look the other way and stand for what you believe.
For the video about the secrets, what i found interesting was the overall gist( developing a vision). I enjoyed that she explained how many writers or published authors themselves forget this step and most of the time their story leaves the reader in confusion. She also explained that by learning this you will have a better chance of coming to an end in a story or just having a plan itself is a great award.
ReplyDeleteOne thing i found interesting about the J.K Rowling video is that she said expect to be criticized. I like how she explained that there is no such thing as a first time success. Also, that if you are not criticized, something is wrong. I enjoyed hearing that no one is perfect and that everyone is more the same than we are different.
For the J.K Rowling video I found it interesting that she started Harry Potter with this random idea she got on a train when I find that those are the ideas I easily forget. I’ll have to start running with those then.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I found interesting about Diane O’Connell is the idea of taking ordinary everythings around us and making them and extrodibary basis for our stories.
ReplyDelete