Alex Slater
Literary Agent
Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
Literary agent @GreenburgerLit @GreenburgerKids . Black Lives Matter. he/him.
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Literary Agent
"You are the CEO of your book." I heard this on a podcast yesterday and it stood out to me. Meaning: you know your book best, you have the most at stake, you know the audience and you've got to 'take the reins.' just a #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Cheo Hodari Coker @cheo_coker
Dialogue has a rhythm to it. That’s the secret to writing it. Treating it like music.This is why I like to tell writers to read their work aloud to themselves. Hear the rhythm of the narration, the speech, etc, and find the shape to the voice. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Keah Brown @Keah_Maria
It feels like a brag when people ask me how I found my agent (@abuckslater) and I say he found me. But it’s true he did. And it’s also true that I didn’t have to query him so like I can’t give you advice on how to query an agent because I don’t know how lmao. Sorry!Agents find clients all kinds of ways! If you're a journalist like Keah, make sure your contact info is easy to find within your online presence...you never know if an agent is reading your material and thinking: there's a book here. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Axe Slaughter @abuckslater
This video about GONE GIRL in particular highlights the work that goes into pacing and tension. Think of scenes the way you think of your chapters - end them with that jewel box click that drives home the point and progresses the story. #Pubtip pic.twitter.com/3VWagoAAqpHow you craft your chapters will affect everything about your book. Look at them individually. Could, say, ch. 12 stand on its own? Does it have a beg/mid/end? A rhythm? Most importantly: does it make your reader want to know more? #Pubtip
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Literary Agent
Axe Slaughter @abuckslater
Repeat what OG @johnmcusick said a while back: these videos from @michaeltuckerla at LESSONS FROM THE SCREENPLAY provide excellent insights to screenwriters and novelists alike (been watching him for a while, along with @TheeNerdwriter, catch them both): youtu.be/CF3lFPW4E1oThis video about GONE GIRL in particular highlights the work that goes into pacing and tension. Think of scenes the way you think of your chapters - end them with that jewel box click that drives home the point and progresses the story. #Pubtip
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Literary Agent
#Pubtip: Thinking a lot lately about the 2+2 theory. The best characterization happens off-the-page, in your reader's own imagination. For your main character, don't just tell us "4"...show us what adds up to it. We will determine what is says about them.
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Literary Agent
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Literary Agent
"Readers are having problems thinking into the future when the immediate present is so f---ing daunting."-@paulbogaards with today's #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Evan Puschak @TheeNerdwriter
In a new video, I rearrange the movie PASSENGERS to see if I can make it more compelling: youtube.com/watch?v=Gksxu-…Must watch if you're drafting a novel & contemplating structure. Supports my theory that some 1st drafts actually begin in Chapter 2 #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Spent some good time in @BooksofWonder this afternoon. If you're an aspiring writer, PLEASE make time to haunt your bookstore. #pubtip #READ
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Literary Agent
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Literary Agent
Your narrator's voice becomes 100% more convincing when you cut out, "Yeah," from your prose. e.g. "Yeah, mom's mad." < "Mom's mad." #pubtip
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Literary Agent
The best books are not written with any specific age group in mind. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Everybody says they want a manuscript with strong "voice." What does that actually mean? Credibility. Originality. Heart. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Avoid overusing images, e.g. "The rain fell in sheets, and waking up, I pulled my own sheets over my head." This weakens your prose. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Read. Your work. Out loud. Find a rhythm. Find the distinctions in the voices. Where you trip up reading, we trip up reading. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
Avoid redundancies. If a character recaps an entire scene that the reader has already witnessed, you lose the sense of urgency. #pubtip
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Literary Agent
There's no need for your narrator to add "at that" to describe reactions "I frowned at that...I smirked at that" #OmitNeedlessWords #pubtip