3 Simple Tips on Writing the First 5 Pages of Your Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel
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Loading... - Juarez Jose
- 28 Apr 2023
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If you’ve decided to write a science fiction or fantasy novel, then I can really only offer you two words: good luck. Thepublishing landscape is not for the faint of heart, especially to new writers seeking to break into the industry. If you want to publish a book one day, you have to prepare yourself for rejection. Not everyone is going to fall in love with your story on the first draft–some may not get it on the final draft.
Don’t believe me? Check out this excerpt from an Amazon review: “Everything from its banal and totally meaningless plot to its incredibly idiotic and unimaginative characters miserably fail in masking one of the worst books of all time.”
The book in question was The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.
More than 60 years of genre-defining acclaim and a billion-dollar, Oscar-winning film franchise couldn’t convince one reader that Tolkien knew what he was doing.
How, then, are you supposed to prove your literary worth with just five pages? Because that’s all you get when pitching your book to agents: a five-page writing sample and an introductory query letter.
These agents and their assistants are often flooded with submissions to the point that they can’t respond with individual feedback to each prospective author. Some don’t respond at all, choosing to let their silence speak volumes. Nearly all of them call their ever-growing stack of unsolicited writing samples the “slush pile.” That is, a loose group of pages with questionable quality, to be sifted through at your own peril. Agents are too busy and too distrusting to give an author the benefit of the doubt. Read More…
