Psst!  Wanna write a scorcher for the booming YA market? OK, here’s the secret: The first thing you need to do is create an authentic, quirky, true-to-life voice. The story and characterizations in Young Adult fiction are crucial too, of course, but the most important element is that distinctive narrative personality. The strongest and most [...]

I can’t help smiling when I read a good hook.  When it happens, it’s a rush, a little like falling in love. The hook — those critical initial sentences of a query letter from an author, or the opening of the book proposal itself — are the first and most important words that agents and [...]

“Writing a memoir is an act of courage. Be brave. It means exposing who you really are, which is hard to do, even to yourself.” That advice comes from a conversation I had recently with Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D., President of the National Association of Memoir Writers. She’s the author of a new book, The [...]