Rachelle Gardner

(And Other Annoying Devices) When I’m editing manuscripts, I somehow turn into the cruel and heartless eliminator of… exclamation points!!! Seriously, I’ve developed a hatred for them! People tend to WAY overuse them! Not to mention italics and bold, and that oh-so-effective use of ALL CAPS!!!!!!! Here’s a hint to avoid coming across as amateur: Use the…

I just returned from my summer vacation and am still trying to re-integrate into normal life so I don’t have any profound insights for today’s blog post. (My last seven posts were pre-scheduled before I left town. I love modern technology.) But I do have a couple of observations from my time away, and here they are: 1. People…

Dear Rachelle: You’ve blogged about how to write a good query letter, but what about the stage after a successful query, when several agents have requested partials or fulls? How many requested partials or fulls become clients? Could a dozen agents be interested enough to take a look, but none of them love it enough…

I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. I received a letter from a writer who said that one of the great joys of his life was creating ideas and playing around with characters in fantastic worlds. But when he decided to try transferring these thoughts into stories,…

I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. One of the biggest challenges for novelists—new and seasoned alike—is avoiding too much backstory in the opening of the book. A lot of people ask me questions about backstory, and often argue with me about it. So I wanted to…

I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. As I go through queries and partials, I’m often thinking about the two elements of a good novel: craft and story. Craft refers to all the mechanics of fiction: plot, characterization, dialogue, pacing, flow, scene-crafting, dramatic structure, point-of-view, etc. Story…

I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. “Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to…

I’m taking a blogging break this week. Hope you enjoy this post from my archives. When I decided to become a literary agent, I received advice from several wise people who knew what I was getting into. They told me it would be a steep learning curve, it would be challenging to build my business…

We talk so much about the business of publishing on this blog, but it always has to come back to the writing, doesn’t it? I can’t overstate the the importance of taking the time and effort to master the craft. So how does an author objectively know the quality of their writing? People are constantly…

Thanks to the 100 people who contributed poems in Friday’s contest! They were all very entertaining and it was difficult to narrow it down. First, let’s start with some honorable mentions. In no particular order… Best Concise Overview of Publishing:Glynis No thank you, thank you no,We enjoyed the giggle,Now off you go. Best Brief Rejection…

Most of you are probably a bit tired of reading about the e-book/self-publishing revolution, but today I’m going to jump into the fray with a question I’ve been thinking about. As traditional publishing is no longer the only or even the best option for writers to get their work published, more and more people will…

Dear Rachelle, I’ve heard you talk about how difficult it is to sell a “personal story of overcoming adversity.” You’ve mentioned you won’t consider this kind of memoir unless the author has a significant platform and the story has built-in marketing potential and an obvious media hook. Would this include being a cancer survivor (two completely separate cancers) at…

Whew, it’s been a grim week here on the blog, hasn’t it? All this talk about difficult conversations between authors and agents. I think it’s time to let you put your own spin on all of this. (And hopefully add some humor to the situation.) So I was thinking we should have a contest. How about…

“Don’t Take This Personally – But It’s Personal” So this week we’ve been covering “difficult conversations agents have with their clients.” We’ve already discussed “This book isn’t going to work” and “I shopped your project but I can’t get a publisher to buy it.” Phew, heavy stuff! Oddly enough, I dread today’s difficult conversation more than any of…