M. Stevenson (she/her) 🌈
@mstevensonbooks
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Author of speculative fiction ✨ Round Table mentor ⚔️ Often found swing dancing or talking to birds and plants 🌿Dual citizen 🇺🇸 🇮🇪 Rep: @madsphyllis
Joined March 2020
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✨News✨ I'm now offering editorial services! If you're preparing to jump back into the query trenches this year, or have been there awhile without luck, I would love to help you get your query package into the best shape to catch an agent's eye!
#WritingCommunity
#amquerying
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"I don't mind cutting scenes," I say, while copying every cut sentence into a separate document
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People say it all the time: vet your agents!!!
But how? That advice was something I found super frustrating as a baby queryer, because so much of this information is only available on the whisper network, which can be really hard to access.
So, how to vet your agents: a 🧵1/
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Querying in 2022 (and beyond?): A 🧵and some thoughts
I’ve been thinking about my querying experience as someone who queried actively during most of the last two years and signed with an agent in July. This thread isn’t “tips” so much as things I encountered/what to expect. 1/
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When I get an agent I’m going to buy myself a dagger letter opener. Just because it feels epic. 🗡
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#amquerying
Okay world, I did it: I sent out my first round of queries!
I would love some positive thoughts from the
#WritingCommunity
! Gifs and well-wishes much appreciated❤️
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One of my poems was accepted for publication! It will be printed on actual paper in an anthology! I'm so happy! (Can you tell from all the exclamation marks?)
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I’m seeing lots of frustration over outdated querying advice and confusion over what to do now. So, here’s my most basic querying advice for 2022:
If you get two or more requests from cold queries, your query package is working. Ignore request rates. Go at it full force.
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I am thrilled to announce that I'm now represented by
@madsphyllis
of
@MMLitAgency
! Working with Maddy is an absolute ✨dream✨ and I can't wait for our next steps together!
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Let’s talk about the difference between tropes and premises. I think most of the writing community already knows this, but trope=/=premise.
A short🧵 1/
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I’ve been mulling over this idea for awhile: what if we had a Twitter event to help each other find comp titles? Kind of like
#cpmatch
except authors post a pitch or other parameters and we give each other comp suggestions.
What do you all think?
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I’m going to attempt to draft two short stories this weekend to submit to competitions. Wish me luck
#WritingCommunity
!
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That feeling when you start a new book and the writing is ✨gorgeous✨ and you know you’re in good hands
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I gained a lot of new followers recently so wanted to introduce myself! I'm Marina. I am currently querying an adult fantasy inspired by Irish mythology and drafting a novel featuring swordplay and sorcery that I've always wanted to write. Thank you for following me!
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Me: Agents are probably not responding to queries until January, no need to keep refreshing my inbox.
Also me: Maybe in the last three minutes I’ve gotten a new email.
#amquerying
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And with that, the first draft of my seventh novel is complete at 74k!
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I never thought I’d be the sort of person to have *three* WIPs, yet here we are 🙃
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Lots of new people, so it seems like a good time to reintroduce myself ✨ Hi friends! I’m Marina (or M, either is fine). I’m on submission for the first time with an adult fantasy novel. I mostly tweet about writing and querying. Always happy to make more writing friends 💜
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Hi friends!
Probably many of you already knew this (I haven’t tried to make a secret of it here) but for Pride Month, here’s a little announcement:
💖 I’m bi
💜 all my books are queer
💙 please admire my wonderfully comfortable bilociraptor shirt
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I was debating whether I’m “disabled enough” for PitchDis.
Then I remembered the only thing I’ve seen approximating celiac disease rep is authors using gluten free to indicate that a side character is snobby and unlikeable.
That’s not the rep I want. I’m pitching.
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It’s official. My sapphic shapeshifter fantasy has been in the querying trenches for exactly one year.
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Aaaaand she's done! 10th manuscript, 1st contemporary rom com, 67,000 words 🎉
Can't wait to revise this one and get it out to beta readers!
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Me chanting to myself before opening my querying email: please I need some good news please please please
Hey, it worked! 👀
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I’m probably going to stay off this app for a couple days. As a teacher in the US, sometimes the only way I can make myself go to work and be there for my students is by dissociating.
Sending love to everyone who needs it 💜
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Just got a full rejection that was… strangely affirming? It’s odd how some of my most positive feedback has been from rejections.
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Truly, no one knows the secret to successful querying. We’re all throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping it sticks. Take care of your mental health, keep at it (if trad pub is what feels right for you, anyway), find your joy, and best of luck. 23/23
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I got a partial request today, so that’s a great start to the week!
Querying is tough, but occasionally there are candles lighting the way towards the end of the tunnel.
#WritingCommunity
#amquerying
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I continue to be blown away by how supportive the
#WritingCommunity
is here. I was wary of joining Twitter for a long time, but it's been 100% worth it for the connections and support. Thank you all for the follows, RT's, and kind words!
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Similarly, don’t get too fixated on “dream agents.” Your dream agent is the one who will champion your book. You don’t know what an agent is actually like until you talk to them. 15/
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Here it is: the official "How I Got My Agent" blog post!
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Every time I reread parts of the book I’m querying I’m reminded how much I love it, and that’s absolutely the best feeling. ✨
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Weeks like this are a reminder of why we need speculative fiction: to show us the possibilities of different worlds, and to let us escape this one when it fails us.
Anyway, I’m still doing
#SFFpit
. Looking forward to seeing your pitches when I’m home this afternoon, friends 💕
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This is on my mind since I’m currently revising a second world fantasy book, so I wanted to do a quick thread on how to weave in world building through simile and metaphor. It’s subtle, but it’s a way to elevate your prose, and it’s also fun! 🧵1/
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Aaaand it's done! Messy first draft of my eleventh manuscript is finished! (Yes, I had to count)
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Things you can do!
1. Have they made sales? Great agents will list recent sales on their websites. Most don’t. If you have Publisher’s Marketplace, look up an agent’s sales history. If you don’t have PM, ask someone who does. If you don’t know someone who does, consider 2/
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4. Don’t wait on feedback from agents–and don’t expect it.
I’ve seen advice telling writers to wait for personalized feedback before sending more. My experience was that I got little to no actionable feedback, even on fulls.
Instead, get feedback from CPs and beta readers. 8/
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Finally, I’m not an expert by any means, but I’ve done a LOT of research on agents and agencies over several years of querying. If you’re querying an SFF agent, chances are I’ve researched them. If we’re mutuals, my dms are open for querying questions ❤️ 11/11
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That’s 50 queries sent for this latest book. Manifesting that Friday the 13th energy ✨
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So... about that.
When I get an agent I’m going to buy myself a dagger letter opener. Just because it feels epic. 🗡
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One of my longstanding writing goals has been to publish a speculative short story, so I’m delighted to share that my piece THE SWEETNESS WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT will be part of the
@PhantomHPress
Exquisite Poison anthology! Coming in August 2022 ✨
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A full ms rejection rolled in today. And friends:
Working on another project while querying is the BEST thing ever. Because for a couple hours after that, I immersed myself in a beautiful other world and entirely forgot the rejection even happened.
#WritingCommunity
#amquerying
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I'm not Twitter-savvy enough to have figured out how lists work on here, but I will do my best to RT your
#PitMad
pitches!
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5. Related: Expect long response times and ghosting, on both queries and fulls. I got requests 9-10 months after I queried, and multiple agents ghosted me on fulls, even after I nudged with an offer. (And this was after I narrowed my list to avoid agents who I knew ghosted.) 9/
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For the
#amquerying
crowd, here's my best advice for preserving your mental health:
✨Have a separate querying email and only check it when you're prepared for the emotional roller coaster
✨Work on something new while querying! This is a great distraction and it also puts 1/
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I have written new words on a WIP for the first time in almost a month, and it feels so great✨
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Thanks to Google Docs for bringing my attention to the fact that my spelling is a wild mix of British and American English and apparently I don't know which is which
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purchasing it for a month ($25) and checking all your agents at once.
2. Who are they selling to? This depends in part on your author goals, but if an agent is selling only to publishers who don’t require agented submissions, that’s probably not a great sign. 3/
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We have a new puppy and our cat has Opinions
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-Work on something else–something that gives you joy. Ideally, something you can query if this one doesn’t pan out. The book you’re querying is not your only shot. I aimed to have the next book ready to query by the time I finished my query list for the previous one. 6/
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10. Participate in pitch contests. Even if you don’t get any agent likes, you’re getting yourself out there, and it’s a great opportunity to connect with other writers.
And then pin your best pitch to your profile–I’ve gotten likes this way well outside of pitching windows. 16/
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10. Remember your worth. Don’t get desperate. Your book is worth it. Your words are worth it. Don’t give them to someone who doesn’t seem like they would be your best champion. 10/
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agents, how can you trust that they will know how to position your book (and career) for success?
5. Ask a mentor! Many of the mentors for
@AuthorMentorM
,
@roguementor
, and
@ReviseResub
have open dms if you have questions about querying a particular agent. 6/
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I’m at the point where my local library sees me coming and has my holds ready at the circulation desk before I even get there, and honestly I love it. Libraries are the best. ✨📚💜
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2. The most important thing is to protect your mental health. Querying is TOUGH–self care is vital. Here are some things I did to help myself: 4/
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I’ve been cleaning up my follow list recently. I’m only mentioning it because I’ve heard that sometimes people unfollow everyone after getting agented.
To be clear: that’s not what I’m doing. I 100% support and want to connect with my unagented/indie friends. The reason 1/
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I’ve passed the halfway point of my second draft! ✨ This fantasy rom com is on track to head to beta readers near you around the end of this month 💖
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Personal update: M. Stevenson is now my pen name! I got married over the weekend and am changing my legal name, but I’m keeping my “author” name in honor of 9yo me who started signing my writing that way. One day my books will be on shelves and that little girl will be proud.
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Can anyone explain the psychology of loving your WIP and knowing you'll have a good time once you get into the session, but not wanting to actually sit down and start?
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If your goal is to sell to a major publisher, check that your would-be agent (or at least their agency) has made such a sale.
3. How many clients do they have? If a new agent is signing lots of clients within a few weeks, that’s a red flag. Stay clear. 4/
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11. How many agents to query? I kept going until I’d cleared out my list/all the remaining agents were closed. If you think an agent would be a good match, don’t worry about numbers. It might take a lot of queries. I sent 72 for the book I signed with. 17/
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14. Embrace your stubbornness. Querying is a game of persistence and luck. You can’t engineer the luck, but you CAN be persistent until it comes your way. 20/
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7. Ignore request rates. If you’re getting requests, your query is working. I actually found request rates to be UNhelpful–I would get so focused on the request rate that I was reluctant to send new queries because it would lower my rate. 11/
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Tl;dr: Tropes are part of genre expectations. Use them as you will, in your own unique way. But a premise is unique to the author, so that is not yours to borrow.
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12. Be aware that querying is really, really tough right now. If you’re not getting requests, it’s not because you’re a bad writer. Agents pass on great books all the time. This is especially true for marginalized creators. Sending all the love your way--we need your stories 18/
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7. Michael Mammay has an excellent blog post with much more detail on this topic:
8. Trust your gut. Really. If you get weird vibes from an agent or publisher, just don’t submit. 8/
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When you’ve been struggling to fix something in your WIP for YEARS and a beta reader solves it with a single comment 🤩
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1. If you’re basing your expectations on old querying information, alter them. Querying right now is really tough. Old metrics and strategies (such as what a successful request rate is, batching queries, expecting feedback) may not apply. 3/
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3. Keep a spreadsheet to track your queries. I used QueryTracker, but I also had a separate document with more details and notes.
Also, try not to obsess about QT. (Hard, I know.) It’s easy to lose yourself wondering why the next query got a response and yours didn’t. 7/
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I'm absolutely thrilled to share that my short story "Scales" will be published in
@PodCastle_org
later this spring!
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I’ve figured out how to simultaneously fix a plot issue and a pacing issue. Unfortunately, it requires renumbering almost all of my chapters. Please keep me in your thoughts at this difficult time
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13. Find your crew–CPs, betas, family, writing groups, Discord servers. Having support from people who believe in your writing is invaluable. I’ve found the Twitter writing community to be really supportive. 19/
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-Have a separate querying email. Turn off the notifications. Only check it when you’re mentally prepared. If you have the willpower, don’t put it on your phone. (I kept removing mine from my phone, only to put it back on when I lost my resolve.) 5/
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9. YOU should be seeking agents out, not the other way around. If an agent or publisher is soliciting MS’s, your red flags should be flying. Good agents are SWAMPED with queries–they won’t be seeking out more on Twitter (with the exception of well-established pitch contests). 9/
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(Exceptions: sometimes when an agent leaves, other agents at their agency will pick up several of their clients at once. This is usually specified.)
4. Have they received good mentorship? If the agent/agency doesn’t have plenty of experience under the wing of legitimate 5/
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8. Do your research before querying any agents. Don’t waste your time or theirs if they wouldn’t be a good fit.
I made a list of things I wanted in an agent. If an agent didn’t meet all those criteria, I wouldn’t query them. 13/
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9. MSWL matches only go so far. I’ve seen lots of writers say they’re heartbroken because an agent whose MSWL was perfect rejected them–please don’t read into this too much. 14/
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I hit 5k words on the new thing, so here's a mood board as a treat!
Five teens.
One target.
No one is trustworthy.
HeistWIP is a YA fantasy heist with found family, lots of banter, and a Tarot-based magic system. I'm aiming to draft this one in between rounds of edits!
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If we’re mutuals, I’m always happy to offer feedback on your query letter. I don’t have enough time for pages and I can’t guarantee response times, but my dms are open to you!
(This is me shining my little light as best I can 🕯)
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Hello
#writersoftwitter
! I'm Marina and I write fantasy and other speculative fiction, usually with lots of romance! I also dabble in contemporary romance and horror. Most of my books have bi and disability rep and I have more WIP ideas than I can keep up with ✨
can we bring back
#WritersOfTwitter
again? i would love to meet some new writer friends (& hype up the ones i’m lucky to know already) so go ahead and (re)introduce yourself! 👀💕
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I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be a mentor for adult fantasy manuscripts for Round Table Mentor! The mentor lineup is already 🔥
Writing a novel is a communal process. Round Table mentors focus on the whole life of a manuscript and their mentee's development of skill and craft. Uniquely collaborative, supportive, and diverse, RTM seeks mentors who come to the table ready to help, not just lead.
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I think cultivating the ability to be genuinely happy about other people’s successes is both one of the hardest and one of the most important things you can do for yourself as a writer.
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6. Batch sizes are not super helpful right now. Don’t get hung up on it. The right “batch size” is whatever works for you.
I usually sent queries 5 at a time because that was what I could handle. 10/
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First query rejection for my new project, from a single query I sent on a hopeful whim since I’m not quite ready to jump into the trenches with it yet.
It’s been baptized.
#amquerying
#WritingCommunity
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I would love some
#pitlight
encouragement for my sapphic fantasy on its last querying legs:
A hostage who fights for freedom.
A shapeshifter who battles the scars of her past.
A queen who would unite a broken country.
And a king who would own them all, or burn them down.
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Thanks to PitMad, new book and I are officially in the
#amquerying
trenches. Woop woop let’s go
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Draft one is DONE 🙌 Celebratory mood board coming tomorrow!
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Examples from published books:
Trope=star crossed lovers
Premise=R & J fight monsters in 1920s Shanghai
Trope=reluctant hero
Premise=girl learns new powers to bring light to the Shadowfold
Trope=found family
Premise=crew of six flawed outlaws must break into icy stronghold 5/
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Two more queries sent. Keeping at it 💪I can see the dream, and I'll get there!
#WritingCommunity
#amquerying
#amwriting
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Trope=The Chosen One
Premise=The Chosen One is a goat. When she tries to explain her mission to save the doomed humans, they lock her up, hearing only pitiable bleats. She must rally a goat army while avoiding her goatherd masters to save the world from evil. 4/
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American Gods x DnD: Honor Among Thieves
💜pansexual bard x nb paladin
💜alternate southwestern US setting
💜bodyguard romance
💜grump x sunshine
💜"oh no they're hot"
💜Mean Girls and LOTR references
#pitlight
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Check with the mentor first, of course, but they are lovely people who are there to help newer writers. They don’t need to be YOUR mentor to help you out.
6. Ask around on Discord servers and reddit. Take the answers with a grain of salt, but listen to people’s experiences. 7/
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Disclaimer: This information is based on my subjective, personal experience as a relatively young white writer who did not identify any marginalizations in my querying materials. YMMV.
Okay, here we go! 2/
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You can’t “steal” a trope any more than you can steal the concept of a happily ever after, but premises are IP. Let’s look at an example! 3/
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A trope is a genre expectation. It’s an element readers expect, even anticipate, in different genres. But a premise is the crux of the story–the unique way the author spins tropes and inspirations together. 2/
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All these tweets about which actor would you cast and here I am practically face blind when it comes to my main characters. I struggled so hard to describe them for an artist. They have eyes and hair and that's about all I've got
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