Mark Charan Newton

So, yesterday I took the train down to the Big Smoke to see my agent and visit the offices of Macmillan. It was one of those really, really cool moments. I met up with John for a coffee before hand, and had the usual chat about the world with him. Then, we meandered to the [...]

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This section should really start off with the sub-heading: “Dodgy Agents”.
Well, firstly, I want to state that you should never part with any cash. There are some scumbags people in this industry that want to prey on aspiring writers. They say, “Yeah, I’ll represent you. Oh, there’s just this processing fee” and away they go, [...]

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I’ve steered away from the technicalities, but I think it’s worth dropping a few words of wisdom. I saw some advice from my agent, John Jarrold, on a forum, and it was 10 thing to avoid, basically:

Awful dialogue - read it out loud, does it sound natural, coming from your mouth?
Hackneyed plots. No discernable focus to [...]

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What makes a good synopsis? Well, these are just my opinions, but worth thinking about. 

Be concise as you can for the length of the work. Three or four pages should be the limit, although it’s useful to include a general one paragraph summary at the start. Unless you’re doing a chapter by chapter breakdown, which [...]

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Continuing the path to publication discussion, here’s the follow up from having an idea of the types of books that sell.
Now you’ve written something. You’ve chucked out your TV, trimmed your social life so you can get things down on paper. It’s a full novel now, not a patchwork of ideas. It’s all the way through. [...]

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Darren, master of UKSF Book News, mentioned that I ought to blog about the process of my path to publication and what happens when the book is bought. To shed light on things in the industry. I’m all for this.
One of the things I’ve learned from writing, as well as being an editor at Solaris, and [...]

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