Lines that stick with you

Rarely do movie lines stick with me, unless I find them hilarious and I try to memorize them for comedic use later. But on Christmas Day I saw the English version of “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” It was fantastic. One line stuck with me. And I just rewatched the movie this week, it’s just as powerful.

“Let me ask you something. Why don’t people trust their instincts? They sense something is wrong, someone is walking too close behind them. You knew something was wrong. but you came back into the house. Did I force you? Did I drag you in? No. All I had to do was offer you a drink. It’s hard to believe that fear of offending is stronger than the fear of pain. But you know what, it is.”

Wow. It gives me chills. There’s such truth in that! It’s amazing how much sentiment one sentence can capture.  It speaks to so much – about politeness and society, not trusting instincts, believing in the goodness of people. Well done, writers. Well done. I hope I can create a line that sticks with people in my books. I’ve seen the Swedish movies, read the first book of the series. That line isn’t in either of those. But what a great addition to this film!

And…am I the only one who will never think the same about Enya’s “Sail Away”? If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I recommend it.

Are there any great movie or book lines that have really stuck with you?

Finding your own editing method

A post I saw on Twitter today got me thinking about editing and revision strategies. This is something *super* topical for me right now. I’m making some solid progress on my WIP (cue: applause). And I’m trying to figure out my editing process. I used to think my style was vomiting out a first draft then going back to edit it. Nope, doesn’t work for me. I’ve also tried editing as I go. Nope, doesn’t work for me either. I think the best solution for me is writing a few chapters, then editing those. Writing another chunk, then editing. Repeat. I think this process will also work well in terms of my search for critique partners. If I have some polished chapters for critiquing, I can work on new chapters while they are being critiqued. Then if I’m making certain mistakes repeatedly, I can try to fix those as I continue writing.

I’ve done a read-through on the first 30,000 words of my WIP – trying to catch the glaring issues. Then I decided to give Margie Lawson’s Deep Editing: The EDITS System a go. Part of the system involves lots of highlighting with purrrrrty colors! I like colors. It’s hella time consuming, but I absolutely see the value of it.

I think I need a system like this, or some sort of layered editing system, to tackle my writing. I know a lot of writers who read through there work and fix all the things as they go. I’ve tried to do that…but…I just can’t. I need to do a pass thinking about dialogue vs. internalizations, then setting, then active voice and showing vs. telling, etc. I think it stems from my day job. I work in PR and do a lot of editing, but I also edit for design issues (inconsistent bolding, missing colors, etc.). I can’t edit text and design at the same time. I think I’ve gotten used to doing targeted editing and that’s carrying over to my fiction writing.

Another thing I’ve learned about my editing style is that eventually I need a print-out. On my initial read-through, reading on the computer works fine. But when I change the font and spacing, my eyes read it fresh and I find all sorts of things. And I mean all sorts of things.

I own the book Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. Have I read it? No. Should I? Yeah, yeah I should. Here’s a great post with tips on writing tight. And this post breaks down all the things you should look for (and would be helpful for layering). And this fantastic post reminded me of taking the time to edit the scenes for purpose, not just content (probably a good idea to do that before you get down to the nitty gritty editing in case you need to cut or majorly overhaul a scene).

What’s your editing style? Do you follow a certain method? Enlighten me!

Finding a good CP is like looking for Mr. Right

Searching for a compatible critique partners is like trying to find your soul mate. For reals.

I’ve decided that I need to find a critique partner or two. I’ve been so wrapped up in the writer-as-a-solitary-activity thing. But you know what? It doesn’t have to be. I see friends who are very successful writers and have an AMAZING crit partner relationship. They have someone who cheers them on, brainstorms ideas, tells them when they are acting insane, all the things I’d want in a writing buddy. You know those folks whose parent’s have incredible and loving marriages? They often grow up and expect the same in their own relationships, having experienced it. That’s how I feel about a CP relationship. I’ve seen the incredible partnerships of several writers, including friends Elisabeth Naughton and Joan Swan. I have seen the good, and I want it.

So I decided to go on the hunt. If I’m left to my own devices, I stall, procrastinate, etc. Maybe if I had someone to keep tabs on me, and had someone to keep tabs on myself, I may be more successful. This week, I reached out to a couple of people looking for CPs. Holy moly it’s like online dating! The hope, the curiosity, the anxiety. The parallels are endless.

With both online dating and CP searching, you’re first and foremost looking for compatibility. Are you looking to date or trying to find a spouse? Do you want a CP to just edit your current WIP, or do you want someone who will be a partner in your career? Then there’s the content compatibility. Can you and your significant other enjoy an evening of American Idol? Will your CP love reading 50,000 words of a romantic comedy, or do they only read paranormal? Compatibility is important.

You’re hunting around on OkCupid ads, or critique partner listings on the Romance Writers’ Community. It’s easy to bypass most listings because immediately there’s something you find incompatible. Maybe they don’t want kids, but you do. Maybe they write short stories, but you only like single title length romance. But then magic happens! Someone catches your eye. You read about their favorite books, movies, music, romance genres. You seem to have some things in common and you want to take it to the next level.

First contact. Writing that initial message can be stressful. You want to make a good impression, test your compatibility, and leave things for the other person to respond to – extending the conversation. Writing that first message on OkCupid is nerve-wracking for me most of the time. I rarely initiate contact with someone, but when I do it’s because I’m sincerely interested. Putting myself out there to be judged is anxiety producing. Trying to find a significant author is stressful enough, but looking for a CP? Yowza! That’s even more challenging. That’s sharing intimacy on a whole new level – sharing your words, thoughts, creations.

So you write them, then wait. Are they dating someone else? Did they give up hope and stop signing in to the dating site? Did they already find their writing soul mate and they are off in line editing land? But then you hear back and they are interested! YAY! Happy dance! Okay, game on. But…now what? I think that’s the hardest part of all. Often you meet people organically and it (dating or critique partnering) just slowly develops. But when you’re creeping around the internet looking for someone, you have to be intentional and push things along.

That’s where I get stuck, trying to figure out how to build that relationship. Do you chat for a bit? Set up a coffee date? Send off a chapter to see if you like each other’s writing? Do a brainstorming session via instant messenger to see if you click? So many options!

Do you have a critique partner? How did you find them? What are your tips for establishing a relationship?

I’m Finally Legit

There’s a small part of me that has felt like a poser since I became involved in the romance writing/reading community. I love reading romance. I love reading romance. I enjoy talking with other writers and readers. I believe in the message of happiness and love that is found in this genre. So, how am I a poser at all? I’d never read, nor cared to read, any Jane Austen.

Did I just hear a pin drop?

It’s true, never an ounce of interest in Jane Austen books, or books of that period. I recall being fond of the BBC Pride & Prejudice when I was younger, but that’s as far as my fascination and interest went. As I became more involved in the romance community, I learned that being fond of Jane Austen seemed somewhat of a prerequisite. I sat silent during many conversations about Jane Austen’s books, movies or miniseries based on the books. It felt like I was the lone Star Wars fan at a Star Trek convention. The only rule: keep my mouth shut.

The Jane Austen Book Club

I had an impression that the works were dry and humorless. And how could they be romantic when they were forced into such strict societal rules? Don’t worry, I’ve since learned the err of my ways. And I should say, I never understood the appeal of Mr. Darcy. That all changed a couple of weeks ago. I had been working through my Netflix queue and came across Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow. I didn’t realize it was based on an Austen book. As I watched, I was surprised to see that there were some instances of humor and definitely romance. I could relate to the stories even though they took place a couple of centuries ago.

Much like learning to like certain foods as I’ve grown older, I decided it was time to give Jane Austen a try. I should mention that last year I watched The Jane Austen Book Club when I was on a Hugh Dancy binge. I loved the movie and I’ve since seen it many times, but it didn’t suck me in to Jane Austen. After watching Emma recently, I rewatched it and decided to embark on a Jane Austen journey.

 

Next I watched Persuasion. I liked that one even more than Emma. I preferred the character of Anne to that of Emma,

Northanger Abbey

I found her more sensible and agreeable (giggle). After that, Northanger Abbey was up. This story sold me. I loved Catherine and Henry. Oh, Henry. I loved the gothic elements. I loved the minimal deceit, treachery and lengthy love triangles. I loved the honesty of Catherine and the humor of Henry. I would have never expected an Austen novel to include such humor. After watching this movie, I decided it was time to read Austen. I started with Northanger Abbey and LOVED it. I know I bored my coworkers with blabbing on and on about how amazing it is and reciting the funny bits. I’ve just started reading The Mysteries of Udolpho, we’ll see if I actually finish it 🙂 I also read Persuasion and started Emma. And I’ve since watched Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility (I adore Alan Rickman) and Pride and Prejudice. Northanger Abbey remains my favorite and I’ve watched it a couple of times.

 

I get it now. I get why people love Jane Austen’s books. What is your favorite Austen book? Who is your favorite leading man? Am I the only woman in the world who isn’t on Team Darcy?

And P.S. there will be an entire post about the skill and wiles of JJ Feild another day. *swoon*

Steamy Sunday

Today I’m kicking off a segment on the blog: Steamy Sundays. Basically, it’s a lame excuse for putting up photos of sexy men who serve as fantastic inspiration for determining the physical description of my male characters. I hope you like it. I know I will 🙂 I can’t think of a better form of research to do. We’ll start with a man who I’ve only seen in one movie, My Life in Ruins. Let me present…

Alexis Georgoulis

From his website, Alexis Georgoulis was born in 1974 in the Greek town of Larissa. Between 1988 and 1993, he took guitar lessons at the conservatoire of Larissa and in 1993 he enrolled in the Civil Engineering program at the National Technical University of Athens.

In 1996, he began taking acting classes at two different drama schools: ”Stage-Craft” and the ”Theater of Change”. During that time, he also took classes in phonetics.

In 1997, he was accepted at the prestigious “Jasmine” school of acting, which was established by the pioneering drama instructor, Vasilis Diamandopoulos. Alexis Georgoulis graduated from “Jasmine” earning the highest honors. While in “Jasmin” school of acting, Alexis Georgoulis teamed up with a dance group called “Heresis” and took part in the production of “Carmen 33” (1997) and of “The Return” (1998).
During that time, Alexis was also cast in the TV series “Alice in Wonderland” (1997 ET CHANNEL) and in “Death Agony” (1998 ET CHANNEL); he was also cast in the short live action film “No one’s Rose”.

In 2001, he co-starred in the sitcom “You are my mate”, which became a huge success and propelled his career to the top of the Greek TV and theater scene. To this day, Alexis Georgoulis remains one of the top leading men Actors in Greece.

Never underestimate life experience

If you’d have suggested to me when I first started working on novel-length romantic fiction (at the age of 23) that I still needed a bit more life experience before being able to write successfully, I’d have rolled my eyes (in my mind at least) so hard that they would have stuck that way. I had life experience. I’d been to college. I’d had relationships. Hell, I had just gotten married to a guy I’d been with for about 8 years. I’d had friendships come and go. I’d held jobs. I’d traveled a bit. I’d had family issues like any other human being. These were life experiences. Right? Of course they were. But the question is, were these life experiences strong enough to pull from to write an engaging and honest novel?

Nearly six years later, I’ve changed my tune. I’ve thought a lot lately about my writing journey, my obstacles, my struggles. I’ve pondered what has led to these obstacles. I’ve considered whether they are excuses or rooted to more serious issues. This has led me to conclude that one of my problems has been a lack of life experience. Don’t worry, I’m not blaming it all on that. I realize that most of my problems have related to time management, motivation, etc. However, sometimes I have come across situations where the conflict doesn’t seem deep enough. 

When I compare my work from then to now, it doesn’t make me want to stab my eyes out. I still enjoy it, enjoy the story and the characters. But the main difference is that they aren’t very deep. My characters had shallow problems, my conflict couldn’t sustain a whole book. Now? My characters have stronger backstory, more intense conflict, truer flaws. I truly believe that it took those few more years of life experience, especially such a transitional time in my 20s, to get to that point. Since I was 23 I have held the same job and developed relationships at work, dealt with conflict, had successes. I have gone through a (fortunately quite amicable) divorce. I have traveled more. I have studied more. I have set more goals. Experienced more disappointments. These are all experiences I can use in my stories to make them better.

What’s the lesson here? My books can’t be full of puppy dogs, rainbows and unicorns. How important is life experience to your writing?

The comfort food of books

Last weekend I watched a few movies that pushed me toward picking up my first Jane Austen novel. The Jane Austen Book Club, Emma (with Gwyneth Paltrow) and Lost in Austen. All great movies, especially the first one (Hugh Dancy is so on my list). It’s time to admit this in public. I’ve never read a Jane Austen book. Or a Bronte. Or a…(you get the drift). Not a huge classics person. So Sunday night I get ready for bed and pick up my Nook. I looked through the books on there, ready to start reading Emma. But I saw A Girl’s Guide to Vampires by Katie MacAlister while looking.

My mac ‘n’ cheese of fiction. My ice cream of novels. My any-form-of-cooked-potato of romance. My comfort food of books.

I adore this book. I’ll tell you why, it’s story time. After I graduated college I found that I had quite a bit of extra time on my hands in the evening. Imagine that? No homework = more time. I remember being on a vampire kick. I don’t recall what started it, but I then read through Anne Rice‘s Vampire Chronicles from start to finish for the first time. I also remember that Elizabeth Kostova‘s book The Historian was coming out at the time and getting tons of media coverage (even a 60 minute TV special about her research for the book). It was all vampires, all the time. I loved it. I’d been a bit obsessed with the fang-wielding since I was a very young child.

There are two things you should know about me at that point in my life: 1) I’d never read a romance novel. I was one of those poor misguided souls who scoffed at them. It was all history books or true crime for me, baby. With a mixture of some horror fiction and other things; and 2) I had NO idea that vampires were in romance novels and that they could be heroes.

A Girl's Guide to Vampires by Katie MacAlister

I’m bopping along on my reader journey, devouring Rice’s books. Then, I finish all of her vampire-related books and decide I need something else to read. I decided to take a chance and looked on Amazon for vampire fiction. Do you ever read guides that people make on Amazon? Well, one woman’s list changed my life. Literally. (I’m pretty sure it was that guide). I don’t recall how I came across this guide, I’d never used guides before. But I liked the idea of the “lighter fare” of vampires. At this point, I had no idea that Katie MacAlister’s vampire books were romance.  I decided to buy A Girl’s Guide to Vampires and give it a try.

It arrived. I read. I laughed. I read more. I laughed more. I read faster. I laughed harder. My eyes bugged out. Woah, woah, woah. What kind of book is this? Fully described sex scenes? Heavy emphasis on a budding relationship? Hell, main focus on a relationship? What kind of vampire fiction was this?

ROMANCE! *gasp* I literally had no idea I was reading a romance novel until I was beyond the halfway mark in the book. I went searching online and my suspicions were confirmed. It just never occurred to me that vampire romance existed and that I would have come across a romance novel. It didn’t fit the Fabio image I had at the time.

Okay, wait, wait, wait a minute. Sure, it’s romance. But hold on to your knickers. Was I actually liking it? Oh, god! I was! I was reading romance and loving it. I’M A ROMANCE READER! Ummm…now what? Read more Katie MacAlister, that’s what! So that’s what I did (her entire backlist in a ridiculously short amount of time). Then I found more romance writers who wrote about vampires and read their books. I joined book clubs and stalked ebay, Amazon, Half and local shops for missing books in series I collected. I read several books a week. I couldn’t get enough. Romance wasn’t at all what I had believed it to be. The variation was greater than I could have ever imagined. The laughter, the relateable characters, the happily ever afters. Romance novels were exactly what I’d always wanted to read, I just never knew it.

But they were more than I wanted to read. I’d finally found a genre that suited my writing style, ideas and desire. I’d always tried general fiction or horror, never straight up romance because I didn’t understand it. My first book ideas always included vampires, castles and Europe. I imagine that’s the same for a lot of vampire-loving writers. So last weekend when I was looking for a Jane Austen book to read and passed by A Girl’s Guide to Vampires, my reaction was…Austen who? I needed my comfort food of books. I needed the vampires, the brooding heroes, the sassy attitudes, the European setting. Each time I read this book, it serves as a reminder of why I love to read and write romance. But even more than that, it reminds me that it’s okay to seek out joy and happiness in life. It’s okay to do what makes you happy. It’s okay to spend a whole day curled up with a blanket and reading a book if that’s what makes you happy. It’s okay to want a little romance and happily ever after in your life. This book and Katie MacAlister, and subsequently all of the fantastic books I’ve read and incredible authors I’ve met, have made an immense mark on my life. One that I’m thrilled to have.

When did you start reading romance? Any book or author stand out? What’s your comfort food of books?

Micromanaging Myself

One of my continual struggles, nay, journeys in life is to determine my optimal organization method. Not just for my writing, but for everything in life. As my close friends know, I have a tendency to take on too much. Between work, freelance work, writing, school and my jewelry business, I need to be more organized. One thing I’ve learned is that my writing needs to be a part of my overall organization, including work for my day job. I’ve toyed with various methods. Palm pilots, cell phones, compact daily organizers, weekly organizers, computer calendars, Excel spreadsheets, web-based task organizers, and even no organization at all.

I’ve come to a couple of conclusions. First, I’m fickle. I love to try new methods, but most don’t stick with me. Two, there’s no magic secret for me. I just need to commit to something, stick with it, adapt it to my needs. Three, I can no longer separate my daily tasks and goals with writing, day job and freelance work. I need to house everything together. Fourth, and most importantly, I need to micromanage the hell out of myself.

I’ve used spreadsheets a few times to keep track of writing goals. Fancy ones that let you put in your wordcount goal and as you type in your daily totals, it calculates your approximate completion date at that rate. It’s super wicked and empowering to see that date grow closer and closer with ever word you type. The only problem is remembering to go back to those documents and update them. I always forget.

Another weakness I’ve identified about myself is that I often don’t give myself permission, or realize the importance, or taking a few minutes to jot down my daily goals and to do list. I know I would be more successful in all aspects of life if I devoted a few minutes each day to do this. I’ve been trying to get in to the habit for my day job by writing down my daily task list and jot down what I’ve completed that day – both for self-satisfaction and record-keeping.

I present my Super Awesome Always Efficient And On Top Of Things Plan to you.

Step 1: Create an Excel document that keeps my daily and weekly writing goals, actual wordcount written and networking plans in one place. Then write these daily goals on the corresponding pages in my paper planner.

Step 2: Write my daily calendar, to do lists and ta done (what I call the list of things I’ve completed) in my planner. Include writing, jewelry biz and freelance tasks.

Step 3: KEEP DOING IT! Update the spreadsheet every day, keep writing in my planner, keep track of things.

I expect that by micromanaging my time to death I’ll be more efficient by seeing all the stuff I have to do, I’ll be more self-competitive to complete those tasks, and I’ll probably discover that I can get more done. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll check back in a couple of weeks to share whether or not I’ve stuck with it.

Have you developed your ultimate organizational method? Did you have to sacrifice a goat for it, sell your firstborn child, or did it come to you in the form of a prophecy?

Building a Twitter community

Recently I’ve committed myself to building my Twitter community and interaction on my writing account. Building a community, that is relevant people to follow, is not an easy task. How do you find people? How do you know if they are worth following? This process will be different for each person, but I’ll tell you how I’ve been going about it and hopefully you will get something useful from it. This post is a bit text-heavy, but it’s written as more of a step-by-step than general tips.

First things first, don’t be a troll. That means, don’t just try and get as many followers or people to follow as possible. There’s no point in that. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. Okay, let’s throw in another cliché for funsies. It’s not the size that counts, it’s how you use it. Next, I recommend using a service that makes it easier to divy up who you are following and how to reply. I recommend Hootsuite or Tweetdeck. I first used Tweetdeck, but now find Hootsuite a much better fit for my needs. Tweetdeck is software that you download, whereas Hootsuite is Web-based, meaning that you just go to their website to use it. I prefer the Web-based because I only need to set up my preferences, streams and lists once, whereas with Tweetdeck I had to duplicate everything because I use two computers on a regular basis.

Once you start following larger numbers of people, your Twitter feed will become overwhelming. You look away for two minutes and have already lost track of where you were. To lessen this issue, I recommend setting up lists. You can easily do this by logging into Twitter through its website. Below the space to type your tweet, you’ll see a few options; one of those is “lists.” Click “lists,” then click “create a list.” Take a few moments to think about how you’d like to group the people you follow. For my writing account, I have a list for authors, agents, editors, publishers, bookstores, blog/writing sites, and reviewers (feel free to visit my profile to get a sense of what I mean). This lets me target the type of information I’m looking for and make it easier to keep up with things. Scrolling through the “agent” list to read updates is much easier than trying to find agent updates in your main Twitter feed. If you plan to follow a ton of authors, you may want to consider creating a list for authors you know personally or interact with the most, and ones you just want to keep tabs on what they’re doing/publishing/promoting. Another decision you’ll have to make is whether you want your lists public or private. If your list is marked public, then anyone who looks at your Twitter profile will see your lists and who is on them, and the profile for people you have included in these lists will show that they are on your list. For my writing account, I kept the lists public in case it helps other people find people to follow. But sometimes you may want to keep them private if you are using lists like funny people, people I like, people I know in real life, etc. That’s not necessarily an association people need to know.

Once you have your lists set up (it really is easiest in the long run if you do this step before you start adding a lot of people), then it’s time to start finding people. First, if you already follow some folks, add them to lists. This is done simply by going to your Twitter profile and looking at the people you follow. It will show you a list of people with their photo, name, bio, a big green button that says “following” then a drop down menu. Click on the drop down menu to the right of “following” and you can assign them to one or more lists. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Now it’s time to find new folks. One way to do this, more slowly, is look at who people you follow are interacting with. If they send a tweet to someone or retweet something, click on that person and decided whether or not you want to follow them. Then assign them to a list. Or, if you’d prefer to add a number of folks at once, I recommend using Listorious. This site lets you use search terms to try and find other people’s public lists. You can search things like “literary agent” or “editor” or “romance author” and it will show you possible folks that fall under those terms and a selection of existing lists that meet your criteria. Once you have a long list of people in front of you, I think the best way is to have two tabs on your browser open; one on Listorious and one on Twitter. Copy the name of someone from Listorious, then paste it in the search box on Twitter. When results pop up, click “people.” Hopefully that person/organization shows up for you. You can click on their name and then a few of their recent tweets will appear, letting you make a quick decision on if you want to follow them (have they tweeted recently, is it just retweets or are they writing their own tweets). Then click “follow” if you’d like to. Then, without changing screens, you can click the drop-down box and add them to a list. Repeat this by going back to Listorious, copying the name, going back to Twitter, etc. Rinse. Repeat. It may seem time consuming, but when you do it and get into the groove, it’s the fastest way I’ve found to add groups of relevant people.

But remember, don’t be a troll and start adding tons of people just to follow them or hope they follow you back. You should never follow someone merely in hopes of a return follow.

Once you’ve got all of these great lists set up, you can go back to your Hootsuite or Tweetdeck and add streams of those lists. I love it now because I can see what authors are saying, or what publishing houses are promoting.

Did this make sense? Please comment, I’d love to hear your suggestions, tips or other comments.

 

Top three Twitter and Facebook tips

Social media and public relations are on my mind a lot because of my day job. Those thoughts don’t stop when I leave the office because I use it personally, often think about how to use it better at work, and try to help people use PR and social media more efficiently to reach their goals. Authors are using social media much more than they were (by in large) a few years ago. The rate of adaptation is incredible. I love watching as things evolve. Just over the past five years even, the changes in frequency and usage of e-mail loops, message boards, blogs, Twitter and Facebook. And now how people are trying to use them in harmony with each other to be efficient and strategic.

Efficiency is important as we’re all busy and social media can turn in to one of those never-ending time sucks. But you have to draw the line between efficiency and bad habits. There’s a tendency to sync and cluster things to get the most out of your time. However, it’s important to remember that these are different services with different goals and different audiences. So efficiency isn’t always better. Also, people are often shooting in the dark at how to best use these services. We tend to imitate what we see others doing, especially if it seems successful. But sometimes, what people are doing could be slightly tweaked to be more effective.

Three areas where I see the most room for improvement are: syncing Twitter and Facebook, getting the most from Follow Friday, and thanking people for the follow/add/friend acceptance. Check out those links for a three-part series on why you should reconsider how you’re using social media and a few tips on how to get more out of it, then come back here and tell me what you think! Do you agree or disagree with those posts? What are some of your pet peeves and bugaboos that you see on Facebook and Twitter?

Remember, there is not exact way to do social media. This post, and the three linked above, were not written with the intent to tell you you’re doing it wrong. They are meant as helpful suggestions. Like in writing, we go to craft workshops or query workshops and here that you must have a killer opening hook and you should never do any of these three things in your query letter. Well, people still have books with hooks that don’t KAPOW, but are still great books, and query letters that “break the rules.” Just take what is helpful for you.