Monthly Archives: October 2016

The Book Pitch and Characters’ Names

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In preparation for Authorpalooza on October 20 at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita, I am updating my novel pitches. Of course, I couldn’t resist doing a search for advice and spent an hour reviewing articles. My top choices included two with conflicting ideas on whether characters’ names should be included in the pitch. The Friendly Editor had a pitch checklist and some excellent examples of pitches that did not use names. On the other hand, Rachelle Gardner said in an evaluation of one pitch, “I don’t care about her if she doesn’t have a name.” This point is seconded by another blogger.

What do you do? Post a comment here or on Facebook, and if you have a pitch with fewer than 25 words, you might post that as well.

New Directions

new-directionsWhen I started this blog, I was teaching composition at a community college and envisioned the site as a place to answer students’ questions about writing. Now I have expanded the purpose of this site and added editor and writing coach to my services, so in the coming days, you will see new blog topics for writers at varying levels of accomplishment. Have a look around and let me know if you have questions.