  Noticing Newbies
This week: Getting to Know the site and the Lingo Edited by: esprit  
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It doesn't take an agent five pages to know if they want to request more. They'll know after the first page. Dan Lazar, an agent from Writers House, said he knows after the first two paragraphs. He can rip through a first page in less than 30 seconds and point out every error.
All five pages are important. A good agent or editor can usually reject a manuscript after reading one page, or even one sentence, but knowing you want to look at the full can take at least five pages. Knowing you want to represent or buy the full often takes reading the entire manuscript.
You can spot bad writing, grammar errors, unnecessary clutter, a bad opening sentence, etc., instantly. Telling whether the novel works as a whole, however, usually takes reading the entire beast.
The most important pages in any manuscript are the first five and the last five. As Mickey Spillane used to say, "The first chapter sells this novel, and the last chapter sells the next novel."
A good book to have: The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman. |
| ASIN: B00KN0JEYA |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Getting to Know the Forums
Have questions about the technical side of things? "Technical Support Forum"
Are gifted memberships really free?
I'm new here and am fifteen years-old. I don't understand what is going on. I got an email saying someone sent me an upgraded paid membership. I'm sorry but I'm really confused. Can you explain what this means? I still don't have to pay anything, right?
It only means that someone has 'gifted' you an upgraded membership, so you can enjoy its benefits until it runs out. You are not going to pay for it, neither are you obligated to maintain it once it's expired.
Just be sure not to use any items outside of the free membership limit (10 items, no books, images, etc) and you'll be fine. When the paid membership expires you'll revert to free. During the paid membership, though, you're sure to enjoy the ad-free use of the site an Upgrade provides.
Introduce yourself in this Discussion Forum. Meet other members, discuss any topic, and make friends. Ask questions and answer someone else's. "Writing.Com General Discussion"
Hello! I'm a novice writer but an avid reader and looking to improve my skills. Hope to meet and talk to lots of you and get the most out of my experience here. It pleases me to recognize that on the 25th of January I will pass through the middle of the eighth decade of my life. Attached to that is the recognition that I am deciding to start new adventures. This writing adventure being one and public speaking the second.
Hello--I'm glad to be here. I am so happy to be trying my hand at different writing resources. I took a few online courses and now I am hoping to finish my memoir. I really enjoy reading the work of others and trying to give good ratings to their work. My goal is to enter a contest and see how well my work will be received.
Meet the new guy-- Hi all. There's not much to say here except that, although I've had an interest in writing for some time, I'm just getting serious about the craft. My favorite authors are Stephen King (who doesn't like the King?) and Bentley Little. I hope someday to follow in their footsteps and write great horror fiction. Well, that's it. I hope to post stories very soon. Thank you all for helping me to improve.
New to the group -- Hi all. I am new here and I am a bit confused, but that doesn't take much...lol Kidding. I am a passionate writer who hopes to be published someday. I am almost done with the book I am writing now. Very excited about it. The book means so much to me. It quite literally saved my life. I was in a bad place in my life and I started to write and didn't stop. A lot of my own emotions are on the pages so it would mean a lot to have it published.
I hope to get to read everyone's work and get some good feedback on my own. I am not sure where to begin so any helpful hints would be awesome.
A new guy has a question. The site seems pretty cool, albeit a little confusing at first. I'll trudge through and figure it all out sometime. So, how do you get people to view your portfolio? I need some constructive criticism to get better.
Is it a good idea to post unfinished work? I have just started to write a novel and I'm only about 7 pages in and I would love feed back on what I've written so far. Should I wait until the work is complete to post it to my portfolio for public readers?
I have a book published on Amazon.com, how do I get it reviewed here?
Congrats! You can list your book in our Authors In Print area by going to Site Navigation > My Places > My In Print> and adding your book in the manage area.
Member readers can add a review of your book by clicking Product Reviews on their My Portfolio page down in the creation area - OR by going to their Site Navigation > My Places > My Product Reviews and clicking Add a new Product Review. They will need the ASIN number from the Amazon.com product detail page to complete the review.
Hope that helps,
Leger~
Where are the In & Outs? When I go to my home page, the link for In & Outs is missing. Where did it go?
Updates to WDC Header... "Updates to WDC Header..."
Thanks for your patience throughout our many, many changes to the Writing.Com header. We hope that the current layout that we now have will help our newer members find their way around a little easier. This might even make some new areas pop out to our elder members who never knew they were there!
If you find something missing from there that you may have used before, please refer to the "Things To Do & Read" button within the left-side navigation. Every activity is listed there and you will find every single item type available on Writing.Com in one easy place.
We've also returned the "My Favorites" button into the top navigation. We're done for today, but don't be surprised if we do a bit more tweaking to this area.
Thanks for all your feedback today. We appreciate it!
-SMs
Are you able to put chapters in non-interactive stories and if you are how would you go about it?
You are not able to add a chapter to another member's static item. If it is your chapter story, you can either create a book item if you have a level of membership that allows it, or create static items labeled "Story: Chapter 1" etc. To help your readers link from one chapter to the next, you can include a ML tag to the next chapter at the bottom of the previous chapter.
Hope that helps,
Leger~
Handle size change What makes the handles change in size? I noticed that a case was like everyone else yesterday, now today it's been miniaturized, what made that happen?
When a paid membership expires, it reverts to a "Free, Non-Expiring Membership." Cases of members with free memberships shrink to that smaller size.
I clicked on search to find a forum, but my forum doesn't come up. Why not?
Private items, group only items, and unrateable items aren't listed on the public listings.
Here you'll find the non-tech support forum for members to help other members. "Non-Technical Support Forum"
If you want to buy a product with gift points how do you know how may gift points it costs, and will they bill you money too because they ask for credit numbers as well.
At the very end of the checkout, you can choose the option to pay with gift points.
100,000 GPs = $10.00 So it's easy enough to take the price and add two zeros to figure the GP cost $19.99 = 199,900.
Don't forget you'll need enough for shipping, also.
Regards,
Leger~
If you have questions about anything regarding Writing.Com, these forums are the place to go. Try searching the forums with key words of your questions--it has probably been answered somewhere because there is no such thing as a new question. 
Thanks for becoming a member of the WDC Community.
** Image ID #1528030 Unavailable **
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SUBMITTED ITEMS
Submitted Item:
Submitted Comment: This is a short story that I really need some people to read and review. Also, do you have any suggestions on coming up with a plot line before writing a story?
Writers--can you offer advice to this member?
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Helpful Links
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: B0CJKJMTPD |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Comments on "Invalid Entry"
Submitted By: Shannon 
Submitted Comment: Thanks so much for mentioning my story "The Legend of Uriah Johnson" [18+] in this week's NL, esprit. I appreciate it.
You're very welcome, Shannon. 
Submitted By: Cubby~Ready for the New Year! 
Submitted Comment: What a wonderful reminder for NaNoWriMo, esprit! I participated last year and completed a full draft novel, much to my surprise! It took a lot dedication with a fulltime job, but I did it! It's quite the accomplishment. I'm not sure if I'll do it this year or not, but I highly recommend it to those who are serious about writing!
~Cubby "
I've not tried it, but I imagine it would be a wonderful disclipline exercise.
Submitted By: sarahreed
Submitted Comment: Thanks for featuring my NaNo prep! I'm very excited and scared for November. I want to start now, but I don't feel completely ready. When I do sit down to write, I'm going to be keeping in mind your advice to write a novel one scene at a time. I believe that will help me get to 50,000 words and not feel overwhelmed by it all!
I'm excited for you too, Sara. I hope you let us know how it went for you. What you found difficult and what wasn't as bad as you expected it to be.
We always appreciate the feedback, thanks!
Editors:
Cubby~Ready for the New Year!
laurencia
Your host this week was esprit
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| ASIN: B01MQP5740 |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Noticing Newbies: November 18, 2009 Issue [#3394]
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