No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript That Sells

Rating:
Summary: Witty, helpful, and practical
Review: First things first--you should know up front that this book is aimed at writers of novel-length commercial fiction. If you write thrillers, mysteries, romances, or other genre work, this is the perfect book for you. If you don't, it will still hold a lot of value, but some of the more sweeping statements won't ring as true. The title of the book sounds gimmicky, but the book itself isn't. I thought from the title that this would be one of those books that would promise you publication if only you followed these simple rules, but it doesn't.

Author Alice Orr is also a long-time editor, so she knows what editors look for. Her "secrets" run the gamut from ideas, to beginnings, characters (both primary and secondary), drama, middles, writing style, endings, and even submissions and self-promotion.

Many of these ideas won't be new to writers who've been around a while. We know we need strong protagonists, dramatic beginnings, and so on. However, Orr does more than just give us a rule to follow. She backs up those rules with directions, examples, exercises, questions to ask ourselves, and more. She takes abstract concepts and turns them into concrete practices. She tells us how far editors want us to take our dramatic beginnings and strong characters, as well as how far they *don't* want us to take them.

In short, any writer of commercial fiction who is unsatisfied with her acceptance rate will probably find something of value in here. Regardless, Orr's witty style makes this a fun book to read!

Rating:
Summary: Full of practical application
Review: This is a very hands-on kind of book with clear examples, thorough explanations, and lots of thought-provoking questions at the end of each chapter. It will get you thinking about your story and how to really give it dimension. The first time I paged through it, I started getting all kinds of ideas for my story - and particularly the characters - that hadn't occurred to me before. If you're afraid of writing a flat, boring, predictable or cliched novel, you need this book!