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Title: The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile
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Manufacturer: Fireside
List Price: $13.95
Our Price: $7.99
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| Customer Reviews: |
| The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside About 50/50 | It's worth buying if nothing else. But if you have any experience under your belt, some of the information will be givens to you.
Fair warning.
Wolfe | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside Wow... time to rewrite... | | If you never want to do another rewrite DON't BUY THIS BOOK - if you want to get published and be professional - buy 2 copies! Great book, enough said. | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside Intelligence Report for Authors - Top Sacred | | This book goes beyond telling authors what to look for and correct to get agents to pick their manuscript from the many, but it reveals the secrets to create superb writing period. It goes beyond the first five pages. It takes you to the final credits on good writing that sits well with those that publish. | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside If you don't know the difference between a comma and a semicolon | or if you're in the sixth grade, you might need this book. Trite, silly, so basic and ridiculous, it's insulting. Maybe if it were the least bit well written, it might be sort of worth it. But, please, let me SHOW you rather than TELL you what I mean.
The first sentence of chapter 4 (Comparison) reads: "A picture is worth a thousand words..." No, I'm not kidding. He wrote that. Then, I choose this from many, many examples of bad grammar, only because it's in the same paragraph: "Comparison is one of the few devices that really put (sic) a writer's skill in the spotlight...." Turn the page for this bit of poorly phrased wisdom: "Bad or cliche comparisons jump off the page. They indicate imprecision or laziness in searching for the right picture....If a writer doesn't care enough about his work to paint precisely the right picture, why should the reader waste his time reading it?"
My point. Exactly. | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside A must have for any writer!! | I so loved this book. I have read it twice, and will keep it for a reference.
Problems found in writing are grouped in chapters. I. preliminary problems: presentation, adjectives and adverbs, sounsd, comparison, style, II dialogue: between the lines, comonplace, informative, melodramatic, hard to follow, III. the bigger picture: showing versus telling, viewpoint and narration, characterization, hooks, subtlety, tone, focus, setting, and pacing and progression. Solutions are given to problems and exercises are presented at the end of each chapter. | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside Product Description | | IF YOU'RE TIRED OF REJECTION, THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages. The First Five Pages reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as * A weak opening hook * Overuse of adjectives and adverbs * Flat or forced metaphors or similes * Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue * Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings * Uneven pacing and lack of progression With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher -- and more successful -- level. | | The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Fireside Amazon.com | | The difference between The First Five Pages and most books on writing is that the others are written by teachers and writers. This one comes from a literary agent--one whose clients include Pulitzer Prize nominees, New York Times bestselling authors, Pushcart Prize recipients, and American Book Award winners. Noah Lukeman is not trying to impart the finer points of writing well. He wants to teach you "how to identify and avoid bad writing," so that your manuscript doesn't come boomeranging back to you in that self-addressed, stamped envelope. Surprise: Agents and editors don't read manuscripts for fun; they are looking for reasons to reject them. Lukeman has arranged his book "in the order of what I look for when trying to dismiss a manuscript," starting with presentation and concluding with pacing and progression. Each chapter addresses a pitfall of poor writing--overabundance of adjectives and adverbs, tedious or unrealistic dialogue, and lack of subtlety to name just a few--by identifying the problem, presenting solutions, giving examples (one wishes these weren't quite so obvious), and offering writing exercises. It's a little bizarre to think about approaching your work as would an agent, but if you are serious about getting published, you may as well get used to it. Plus, Lukeman has plenty of solid advice worth listening to. Particularly fine are his exercises for removing and spicing up modifiers and his remedies for all kinds of faulty dialogue. --Jane Steinberg |
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