by Jamie Chavez | Aug 19, 2013 | The Book Biz, Your Editor Says …
It’s time we talk about the difference between a synopsis and marketing copy, because I’m sensing some confusion out there. When your editor asks you for a synopsis of your novel, what do you send her? There are lots of good reasons to have a polished synopsis of your...
by Jamie Chavez | Jun 6, 2013 | Your Editor Says …
I have said repeatedly—and believe with all my heart—that you cannot be a good writer unless you are a good reader. A voracious reader, in fact. This is advice you’ll see again and again. But before you start indulging yourself in that stack of Dan Brown thrillers or...
by Jamie Chavez | May 30, 2013 | Guest Posts, The Writing Craft
This topic came up over lunch a few weeks ago, and I begged Ramona Richards * to write it up for a guest post to run during my vacation. This is just what you need to know! Separating the Women from the … Other Women I recently had an author I admire a great deal try...
by Jamie Chavez | Mar 2, 2013 | Books You Might Like
By now you know I love Southern fiction. (We won’t get into my opinion about what constitutes “the South,” other than to say that I am pretty old school about it.) Eudora Welty, William Gay, Flannery O’Connor, James Dickey, William Styron, Ellen Gilchrist, Kaye...
by Jamie Chavez | Dec 6, 2012 | The Writing Craft
You’ve heard this phrase, right? Does it advance the plot? I ask it all the time. Remember, everything that happens in the novel you’re working on is supposed to be leading readers forward on a path (that is, the story arc) to the denouement. So as you’re rereading—as...
