@alanr
Active 4 years, 3 months ago-
Alan Rain replied to the topic New title needed for 'Snatched' – help! in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
Exhilarant
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Titles in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
I think, Philippa, you’ve come near to a good title yourself in your post above. How about:
‘Unmeshed’I have a thing for 1-word titles.
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Alan Rain replied to the topic The disclaimer jar – advice on attitude to one's writing in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
If it’s good enough, I prefer my MS to do the trumpet-blowing (show, not tell).
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Alan Rain replied to the topic The disclaimer jar – advice on attitude to one's writing in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
No, I wouldn’t express doubts either, but neither would I be boastful. I want my cover letter to lead the agent to my MS, not give him/her false impressions about me as a person.
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Alan Rain replied to the topic The disclaimer jar – advice on attitude to one's writing in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
It’s either in your nature to be self-deprecating, or confident of your ability and happy to tell the world. I’ve always been self-deprecating. I wish, sometimes – when writing a cover letter, for example – it wasn’t so, but there it is.
I was also an art student, and could never promote my work.The only advice I’ve received recently was from…[Read more]
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
@elle,
Most likely they won’t, but not because my novel is commercial. I describe it as supernatural / slipstream / literary (and too long for commercial).
I’ll comment more when I’ve read some of their published books, and I think ‘Half-formed Girl’ isn’t necessarily typical. -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
@elle, crossed with you. Yes, I must try Eimear McBride. I’m a very self-disciplined writer, the type who procrastinates over a comma, and who might benefit from loosened chains.
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
I was at the FoW18 literary talk run by Galley Beggar Press, and was impressed by their focus on prose. Not sure if mine is quite what they’re looking for, but I’m interested to try. They do stipulate in their submission guidelines that you need to have read existing books they’ve published, so I have Anthony Trevelyan’s ‘Weightless World’ on…[Read more]
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Anyone read any Galley Beggar Press Books?
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi @philippaeast, I’m half-way through ‘Ice’ and yes, there are some similarities in how hallucinatory passages flow in and out of the reality.
What did you think of it?
I’m thinking it’s the result of a troubled mind. And the style – sentence fragments, arbitrary punctuation, vagueness – isn’t for me, tbh. Interesting that in my kindle version…[Read more] -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Agent Samantha Wekstein reopening for subs in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 5 years, 7 months ago
This agent is based in Manhattan. Does she want submissions from here?
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Help with setting in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
If you do go for ‘middle class pretty’ then Oundle is a candidate, and it’s also quaint. It’s not far from Lincolnshire.
(It’s on the river Nene, so you could sail to it on your barge.) 🙂 -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Den monthly competition September 2018 in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 5 years, 7 months ago
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi Philippa,
Yes, I think this version is considerably better, and the point you make about when the possession occurs is a good one.
The trick is condensing a fairly comprehensive physiology. I’ve made the manananggal a species that can reproduce, rather than a single entity. Galina is first possessed in her mother’s womb, and the spirit lies…[Read more] -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Help with setting in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi Philippa,
The tension in the child / parent relationship could be enhanced by creating a similar displacement in the setting.
For example, an ugly estate next to a historic castle, or by contrasting the conditions: a pretty village suffering some extreme weather, like flooding / gales.
Similarly, have poor people in an affluent area.
(For me,…[Read more] -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi @philippaeast
Here’s my revised letter:Dear xxxxx xxxx,
I’m pleased to submit the opening 10k words of my novel, AnGal, a 137,500 word supernatural / slipstream thriller. Set in the Philippines, its focus is the manananggal, a mythical, winged half-woman that grows within the one possessed.I’m writing to you specifically because of the mat…[Read more]
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi again, Philippa,
You’ve been really helpful and thorough here. Thanks so much.
I’m waffly about the genre because I can’t pin it down. I looked up ‘Ice’ and notice it’s described as slipstream (the fiction of strangeness). I think slipstream could fit mine, maybe more so than thriller. It’s been said that AnGal is a book like no other (also…[Read more]
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Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Ah, the difference is the crash / crush. The story I read was def. the former and it was long before 2015, so certainly not yours.
My novel is about a manananggal possession.
This is my current cover letter:
Dear xxxxx xxxxxx,
I’m pleased to submit the opening 50 pages of my completed first novel, AnGal, a supernatural of 137,500 words, which I…[Read more] -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
You know, since I read that cover letter earlier this afternoon, a memory has resurfaced, and it’s of familiarity with your work. I think, quite some time ago, I read an opening chapter about a Tube crash and a young girl that could have been Jess or Nancy.
I can’t remember when, or the circumstances, or the writing site. It might have been in the…[Read more] -
Alan Rain replied to the topic Example Cover Letter in the forum Blogs 5 years, 7 months ago
Hi @philippaeast
I’m sure it hasn’t done any harm, and you’ve probably corrected it now, but it’s ‘elusive’, not ellusive’.Is this the novel Sarah asked to be dual pov?
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