I struggle with banality. I struggle with reading it; I struggle with writing it. I struggle constantly with how to avoid it so that everything I write is interesting, crisp, original and effective. I fail constantly, I know.

In the week that I became a fully feathered member of Twitter, the challenge is there on a daily basis: how to craft something that short, that fast, and yet be illuminating and important.

In what has been my personal TweetWeek, a story has been going round and round my head.

There was a girl. Strikingly attractive, with strong, clear eyes, she made you turn towards her when she entered a room. Smart and just a bit flirtatious, she was full of panache and sparkle, despite the rigid grip of her corsets and the grab of clips on her long dark hair.

She ‘walked out’ with a man called Joe. He was quite a few years older than her, tall and upstanding. His stiff collar emphasized the ramrod of his back, the restraint of his speech, the frown of his considered manners. Joe was a catch, with ambitions far away, a world to conquer, and he needed a desirable young woman at his side. How could she say no? It would have been a dereliction of duty, of common sense, to say no when it was high time she stepped away from her father’s protection.  A ring was given and accepted.

And then she met his brother. Ten years younger than Joe, Wilfrid was a young doctor – an obstetrician and anaesthetist - who spoke with his hands and smiled with his eyes.  He was so much more . . . like her? Or perhaps just so much more in general. Somehow, in this world of formality, they knew. How could this happen? It was never expected, and it could never be accepted. In trepidation she asked her father – could she change her mind? Could she be with Wilfrid and not Joe? She had made a mistake – surely she would not have to pay with the rest of her life?

Her father, all mutton chops and implacable as an oak, told her straight. ‘Daughter, you gave your word. There is no way out when you’ve plighted your troth.  You are Joe’s, and Joe is yours, until death do you part.’

They married, and war broke out. Wilfrid volunteered immediately and headed to France, now a temporary captain who would lead a team of medics and stretcher bearers into the vilest hell-holes on earth.  Through the Somme, Arras, Messines Ridge, to Passchendaele and Ypres, he toiled in the mud among mangled men with their limbs blown off , corpses impaled like rotting rats in the filth. Wilfrid’s life seemed charmed as he dodged and dived, and he became known as a man of great courage and humanity, even under fire, and he had total dedication to gathering in the wounded who lay gasping in the earsplitting loneliness of night. He was awarded the Military Cross, one of war’s highest honours.

A few weeks later, on October 1, 1917, at around dusk, Wilfrid set off into No Man’s Land, a sergeant at his side. They were the nearest aid post and men were out there, terribly injured; a few minutes or maybe hours would decide whether they lived or died. Ill-prepared, the two men stumbled in the gathering dark, losing their way – and found themselves much too near an enemy position. Flinging themselves into a shell-hole they pondered what to do. Run like crazy – or wait till nightfall and slip away. Wilfrid as captain was the decider, and he was always going to run rather than wait.

Five steps out of the hole and he was hit, straight in the chest, by a sniper’s bullet. There were no words, no grand ending – just instant death in the dark slop of mud.

The girl was devastated when she heard. She wrote to everyone she could think of to find out what had happened to Wilfrid. Exactly how he died, where he was, what he said, and where his last resting place would be. And answers came back – from his commanding officer, the sergeant who had been there and lived, from the men with whom he served. Wilfrid was someone special and irreplaceable and it was a terrible blow.

The years went by. Joe left the girl, and their three children, for someone much younger. She struggled home alone from India, impecunious, striving to make ends meet in a time when women generally didn’t do things alone. Joe didn’t really honour his commitments, he proved elusive, and the endless shuffle for resources became a defining mark of the passing years.

My grandmother – because that’s whom the girl was – died on Armistice Day in 1985. I often sat and listened to her stories – of two world wars, two men called Joe and Wilfrid, her years in India, the sinking of the Titanic – and so much more.  But I was always fascinated by the decisions she had to make and the life she might have had with her young doctor, if he had lived, if she could have followed her heart and not the cold conventions of her time.

And now I have an envelope of letters – so flimsy and aged I must handle them with the utmost care. Letters from that sergeant who was with Wilfrid when he fell. Cuttings from the newspaper, including a photograph of Wilfrid, looking out at me with his kind, steady eyes.

In 2002, clad in a bright-yellow rain poncho, I squelched through a monsoon up a muddy hillside in Sri Lanka’s northern tea country. After a quest of several weeks, and guided only by one cryptic letter and a cracked sepia photograph, I had tracked down Joe’s grave.  As I stood there, a world away from everything I knew, I felt profoundly moved. I had come so far and in some way had found my grandfather, a man I never knew but who had such a deep effect on my family for so many years. I wanted to know him and understand him – and perhaps thank him, because whatever else he did or didn’t do in life, I wouldn’t have been me without him.

And now, thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, I know exactly where Wilfrid lies too, in a small cemetery down a quiet lane in what was Flanders, now Belgium. I know that before too long I am going to find him and tell him I bring love from several generations of our family, including my sons whom I’m certain he would have liked. Wilfrid is not forgotten, we have handed on his story, and to be remembered and talked about three generations after his death is the only and best gift we can ever give him.

This is one of my stories. What are yours and how will you tell them? Because from this texture comes the novels we will write and how we will choose to write them.

So perhaps you can see my problems with Twitter. A few ‘characters’ – 140 - to tell the story?  My lip curls. But I’ll keep trying, so please be gentle. And should you wish to join me in my quest, you can find me here - http://twitter.com/SarahGreenhouse.

(Photographs:  Flower - Meadowlark Gardens, Northern Virginia.  Candles:  The Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence, Italy.)

It’s summer time, and the livin’ is easy.

Well, sort of. Actually, Julia and I are very hard at work, with record numbers of submissions, lots of interesting projects circling, and, as you know, some fine deals under our belts in the last few weeks. This is a business that never sleeps!

But just for fun, we thought we’d ask ourselves some of the questions you might ask us, if you could. We know that lots of you wonder, ‘Who are these agents? How do they think? Would I like them?’ Well, here are a few fun tasters into what makes us both tick.

As some of you will know, I’m also just back from vacation, so the photos are just a few of the characters I met on my travels this summer. Enjoy!

What sort of student were you at high school and how have you changed since then?

SARAH:  Shy, diffident and lacking in confidence – which made me appear very lazy. Then at 16 I started to bloom. I found one thing I could do well (English) and it was transformative. I was not expected to achieve anything, and I determined to prove everyone wrong. That has motivated me ever since.

JULIA: A bit naughty but solid. Nothing’s changed.

Think of one individual who has had the greatest impact on your career path. Who was it and why.

JULIA: My mother: a great businesswoman and entrepreneur. She left Holland when she was 16, came to London and set up a business that became one of the top PR firms in Europe. 99% of what she says is right.

SARAH: Mrs Cowley, my English teacher from ages 16-18. She was completely different to any teacher I’d had before – passionate about her subject and aiming very high. She showed me a vision of my future, which was literature.

What novel has had the greatest effect on you in your life and why (only allowed one, sorry we’re ruthless!)?

SARAH: Tolkien’s LORD OF THE RINGS in my early teens. I was awestruck. How could it be possible to write something like this???

JULIA: THE RATS by James Herbert. I read it much too young and the effect wasn’t wholly positive. Nightmares for years. But it did give me a love of horror that has proved useful.

What job would you have done if you hadn’t become a literary agent and why?

JULIA: Chef. I love that the deadlines during service are twenty minutes at most. And a walk-in fridge is a great place to cool off.

SARAH: Singer or psychotherapist. I performed a lot as singer-songwriter in the early 90s (complete with leather pants and long red hair). I also studied psychotherapy to diploma level.

What do you love most and dislike most about your job?

SARAH:  I love telling a writer they have a deal – especially a debut author. I get as emotional as they do. I hate it when things don’t work out with a publisher but you come so, so close. You need nerves of steel in this business (or you need to pretend you have them).

JULIA: Giving the good news and giving the bad news. Also finding those books in my submissions box: The manuscripts that get you cancelling your dinner plans and keep you up till dawn.

If I had a debut author’s manuscript and a red pencil in my hand I’d be most likely to . . .

JULIA: Take out the ‘telling’. It’s amazing how red-penning all the telling can bring a scene to life.

SARAH: Cut out a lot of adjectives and adverbs. Writing more sparely can give your story greater impact because both your characters and world have some breathing room.

You’re sitting at your desk, banging your head on the wall with frustration. What is most likely to be the cause?

SARAH:  The server going down. Or editors not replying.

JULIA: Technology going wrong.

What would you most like to do if you had a day off work?

JULIA: Get my boots on and go for a hike. Or go to the cinema twice in the afternoon.

SARAH: Hiking in a wild place or going round an ancient castle or historic building. With my faithful Canon at the ready, of course.

Yum, yum. Favorite food and drink?

SARAH: Cake!  Apple cake. Blueberry muffins. Chocolate roulade. Carrot cake. Even scones, with fresh raspberry and walnuts.  Sadly, I also like wearing my jeans so I eat a lot of fantasy cake. (And by the way, Julia is weird. See below.)

JULIA: Raw herring, soft roll, chopped onions.

You’ve won a prize of a vacation in any place of your choice. Where would you pick and what sort of trip would it be?

JULIA: Up a mountain. Any mountain. Go Capricorn!

SARAH:  Somewhere with big views and wild scenery where I can think about the meaning of life.  I’d love to go out west and see the really big mountains.

If you could find three great new novels to represent right now, what genres and age groups would you pick?

SARAH: I’d love to find a thriller with a fantastic ‘what if’ concept that turns on a dime.  A great, spare, amazing love story that does something new. Stylish, quirky, brilliantly voiced younger fiction.

JULIA: I’d love some horror with a great premise. A thriller with a great premise. A love story with a great premise! Any age.

There are tons of agents and agencies in the world. Tell us why you think an author should choose Greenhouse to represent them? 

JULIA: We both work hard, and creatively, editorially. We share each other’s skills. We are the only transatlantic children’s book agency. If I was an author, I’d want to have an agent on both sides of the Atlantic – and Greenhouse offers that (with incredible results).

SARAH: We’ve made Greenhouse fly in just 2+ years, in an intensely competitive environment and from a standing start. I believe that underscores both our energy and our skill. Plus we have a passion for subsidiary rights (vital in today’s marketplace) and a wealth of transatlantic knowledge which can be highly advantageous to clients.

With which fictional character (adults as well as children’s books) do you most identify and why?

SARAH: Kay Scarpetta (Patricia Cornwell). I’d always been fascinated by her, and then some years ago one of my publishing staff said I reminded her of Kay (tough on the outside, gentle on the inside, apparently!).

JULIA: According to those facebook quizzes: Jack Bauer!

What is the one writing tip you would choose to share with a new writer?

JULIA: Keep at it.

SARAH: Be at peace. And listen.

Publishers – love ‘em or hate ‘em?

SARAH: Love ‘em, a lot. On a professional level we must hold them to the highest standards. But on a personal level I know the huge workload, the unrelenting meetings, the financial constraints they are under. It’s a tough job and it’s getting tougher, with fewer staff, higher targets for books, every decision under a microscope. We try hard to be collaborative rather than confrontational.

JULIA:Love ‘em. As an agent, I have the publishing teams that I love to work with, from editor right through to sales and marketing: The dream teams. And those dream teams come because everyone works together and there’s trust, respect and openness. We’re all on the same side after all.

Which novel(s) published in the last year would you have most liked to represent (but didn’t)?

JULIA: GONE by Michael Grant. Oh, and THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin. That is an epic book.

SARAH:  THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Obviously not YA, but somehow I’d have made a case! In YA, I’d have loved to land MATCHED (Allie Condie) which pubs this Fall.

Greenhouse is a relatively young agency (2+ years old).  Where would you like the agency to be in five years time?

SARAH: The top destination in both US and UK for authors seeking representation in children’s/teen, and a byword for author care and great results. Ambitious? Moi?

JULIA:Unchanged in terms of our values and strengths - but bigger.

Describe yourself in three words.

JULIA: I asked my best friend for these: Enthusiastic, supportive and creative.

SARAH:  Driven, energetic and contemplative.

Name one thing you do that really annoys your nearest and dearest.

SARAH: Looking at my Blackberry constantly. Chewing Orbit gum and leaving it in disgusting places when the phone rings. (I know, it’s repulsive.)

JULIA:  A taste for trashy magazines.

Describe your style of agenting in one sentence.

JULIA: Honest. I don’t like the feeling of being ‘handled’: I always want the truth. That’s what I seek out and expect from others so that’s what I give my authors. The job is a huge privilege: I’m on the front line of people’s careers, seeing and knowing things that they might not, so it’s only right that I say things as they are.

SARAH:  Energetic, straight, and caring.  I have worked with authors ever since I graduated from college (that’s a long time ago!) and I understand what this precarious industry feels like. Writers want my best efforts, they want to be able to trust what I say, but they also need kindness. Courtesy is a big word with me.

What are the hallmarks of the query email you’d most like to find in your inbox?

SARAH: It will follow our guidelines (see website) and be clear, straightforward and concise. It will also entice with a short outline of an irresistibly compelling plot.

JULIA: I think the strength of a query is all about the strength of the premise. So I’m looking for a great premise that has focus, clarity and freshness.

What is the biggest no-no you are likely to find in a query?

JULIA: Starting with an alarm-clock, waking up and then breakfast. In most cases, the decision the writer has made is to start their story on the morning the action starts, rather than to start in their story.

SARAH: I agree with Julia on alarm clocks. In terms of the query, I don’t like bragging. The best writers don’t, I think, boast constantly about their brilliance because they’re too busy thinking about how they might be even better.

Animals are important to both of you. What was your first pet and how did you feel about him/her?  If you could get any new pet now, what would you choose?

SARAH: First pet was a hamster called Hamlet. Now we have two dogs (standard Dachsunds) who are very loving, funny and unbelievably stubborn. My husband is dog crazy and we have to speak every pooch we meet in the street. We’d love another Golden Retriever one day – probably a boy called Nelson.

JULIA: Bertie (real name Alberta) was my first pet. She was an English Bull Terrier. Really tough looking and all muscle. I was a baby when she joined the family and I used to pull her tail, try to ride her and eat her food and she never got annoyed. And she once attacked a flasher at the playground. She was very cool.

Sarah’s in deepest Cornwall on holiday this week, so I’m taking over blog duty.

I thought I’d pose some revision questions to help with any self-editing that some of you might be doing. I’m just back from holiday myself, so as a treat, I’ll cut my questions with some snaps from the Canaries.

Does your main story arc take off soon enough? In those first pages and chapters a reader is looking to see where the story is pointed. We’re looking for intent.

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME, which I’ve just reread, has a great first scene. Christopher finds a dead dog, speared with a pitchfork on his neighbour’s lawn. If the reader knows where the story is pointed, it’s much harder to get lost, lose interest and put the book down. Show your reader due North right from the start.

Do you start with backstory? If so, do it with caution. With backstory you might have trouble hooking your reader. Start in a scene, with a character and a challenge. Browsing first chapters in a bookshop, you’ll see a lot of books start with jeopardy: A chase, a crash, an argument, a dilemma – a mini-drama to hook the reader in.

What do you reveal about your main character in the first few pages? Make a list of what is shown about this character. They should be compelling. Why do they matter? Why are they unique? If there’s a baddy, what’s their USP? My all-time favourite baddy is Cruella De Vil: A woman who makes coats from Dalmatian puppies. What a motif! Give your baddy something extra.

Does every scene need to be there? Does everything develop story, character or theme? Don’t give your reader a chance to look away. John Grisham gives a great piece of writing advice. He says imagine that your reader is sitting opposite you as you write, and you can’t let them look away for a second. If a scene can come out without having an impact on the plot, then question its role. Keep the pedal to the metal!

Do you end your chapters at a good spot – a hook or a high point maybe? Are you entering scenes at the right moment? Take a look at each scene. What’s the latest point you could start? And the earliest point you could leave? Those could well be the cut points.

Have you read your dialogue aloud? Or even better, get someone else to read it aloud and listen to them. If they stumble over it, so will you reader. Does it sound like something your character would say? Maybe highlight and read one character’s dialogue to make sure you’ve pitched each voice just right. Dialogue is difficult. Master it.

Are there too many characters? Is there an overload early on that might bamboozle the reader? If you think there could be, maybe combine two people into one. Do your character names stand out or are they samey?

Is there enough conflict? Conflict holds pace. What is at stake in your story? If the main character doesn’t achieve that goal, what will happen? Does it matter? It must. Is there a cause and effect relationship in the storytelling, in the achievement of the goal? Do actions have consequences?

Have you trusted your reader? I bet the best books you’ve read have made you feel clever, and made you stretch and occupy some space in the reading. Show, don’t tell. That gives the reader a place in your story.

Is your character growing? Does he/she have an emotional arc as well as an outer journey? Do incidental characters have an arc? Kurt Vonnegut said “every character must want something, even if it’s only a glass of water”. What do your characters want?

Is there too much description? As Lombardi says, “There’s a fine line between lush description and the kind that chokes the reader”. Avoid clichés. Don’t overwrite.

Is your point of view consistent? Decide from the outset who is telling the story and stick to it. Be aware if you’re writing from multiple POVs, you’ve set yourself a big challenge. When it works it’s wonderful, but often a reader will favour one POV/ character/story and then come to resent the other(s). If you favour one storyline, your reader probably will to. So address that head on. And remember that each POV needs to feel and sound different.

At the key moments – the pivots, the shocks, the thrills, the bits with feeling – have you squeezed the juice from the fruit? You know where the buttons are in your story. Press them.

And a piece of computer advice. Back everything up! Twice!

People often ask me for advice on how to find an agent. My number one piece of advice is finish the book. Two reasons for that. First, agents operate at top speed when something great comes along. The last author I signed up was Jeyn Roberts who wrote the storming thriller THE DARK INSIDE. I signed her up at four o’clock in the morning after taking her manuscript home seven hours earlier. She was in Korea though, so it wasn’t her four o’clock. The point is we can be like truffle pigs on the scent (see picture), and once we’ve got that scent we charge.

The second reason I say wait before submitting work to an agent: If you’ve finished your book, taken a break from it, worked on it, looked at the whole and improved it as whole, those first pages and first chapters are going to be stronger. You will know clearly what your book is and where it needs to go – and you’re going to get there more effectively.

Hope this provides some help. It’s been a great month for Greenhouse so far: The transatlantic double for Jeyn Roberts, a picture book deal, GOGGLE-EYED GOATS, for Stephen Davies and a few great things in the cooker…

Happy holidays. And don’t work too hard!

Julia

Is this how the agent search makes you feel? Like a rather bruised ‘second’ – a soft fruit just a little past it sell-by date? Maybe you’re even tempted to include a PS in your latest query: ‘Please, please buy me. I won’t cost much, honest!’

Finding an agent for your work must be like the seventh ring of hell. Every knock, every well-placed kick makes it just a little harder to struggle up again, but somehow you know you must keep venturing back into that fiery torment.

What you may not realize is that everyone in this industry – author, agent, editor, publisher, scout – has experienced the pain of an arrow to the heart. Many. And probably more recently than you know. This is a business that is intensely competitive at every level. It is not a science, but a mixture of business and art. Opinions can be very subjective, and decisions can be influenced by very subliminal, often unconscious factors.

I have administered pain to a number of people this week – and I’m talking editors – as I resolved a very big deal (more on that soon). Not everyone could get this book and author, however hard they tried, however good they were. Some people had to lose in order for one to win.

It is hard to administer rejection – and it is hard to receive it (and I have).  Look, in the world of publishing, we all bleed some time. And you might not believe how involved, how committed, how emotional, we professionals can get when we want a particular book and author. We may tell you that it’s all business, but the truth is – we really, really feel it. We’ve just trained ourselves to kick the wall in private and sound philosophical in public!

But to every rejection there is an antithesis. The one who wins. And don’t we all want to be that winner! Courted and admired, the centre of everyone’s attention, success is a fabulous feeling – even if we know we can’t stay forever in that circle of light.

With ever more agents on the children’s/YA scene (I can count 10 new ones in the past year without even trying), the most standout new writers will increasingly experience the thrilling, bewildering fluster of The Agent Battle.  When a number of us – the biggest one I’ve been in so far has included NINE agents - turn our guided-missile charm on a debut author.  We all want her/him, we all know how well we could sell him/her, and even more importantly – we have fallen in love! This person has beguiled us, seduced us, thrilled us with their story – AND WE JUST HAVE TO HAVE IT!

For the author this can feel like a ‘be careful what you wish for ‘situation. Look,you wanted an agent – but how do you decide between five or TEN? And what happens when you realize you haven’t a clue how to make the decision and don’t even know what questions to ask?

And perhaps, horror of horrors, you realize these agents of ice-cold repute are actually REAL PEOPLE who FEEL THINGS. Perish the thought, but (let’s whisper this) they are actually quite nice! How will you say no to them?

Now, after all that dreaming, you finally have to put your eggs (or melons) in one basket.

So, here are my thoughts – as objective as possible – on what you should look for when choosing between agents:

1 Do you like this person and feel comfortable chatting with them? Is there some level of personal chemistry?  If the agent feels seriously intimidating to you, analyse it (don’t mistake intimidation for your natural shyness in this new milieu) and if you know in your heart that you’re always going to be scared of this individual, they’re not right for you.

2 Don’t go ga-ga just because of a Big Name (agent or agency). Small agencies can do a great job; start-ups can be powerhouses. You could be a big star on a boutique list, but a little overlooked on a list of huge clients.

3 Trawl online for interviews and information about the agent. Most of us are all over the web. Talk to the agent’s client(s) – BUT please remember we can’t be constantly putting people in touch with our clients, so be considerate. [I once asked a client to email a prospective author on my behalf – at the author’s request. My client’s message was never even acknowledged.  This is embarrassing and time-wasting. Please be respectful.]

4 If you know in your heart of hearts that you’ve had an offer from the agent you want, don’t put the rest of us through flaming hoops that can take several weeks of work and stress. Be thorough, analyse your own heart and mind, and then make the decision.

5 Make sure you go with an agent working in your area – but don’t think because your book is YA, you should go with someone who exclusively sells YA. At Greenhouse we like to represent a range of ages and genres within children’s/teen fiction – look, we all sell to the same editors. Just because an agent reps five major authors doing the same kind of thing as you, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily the best home for your book. I like to take on people who are contrasting and offer something a bit different within the agency.

6 VERY IMPORTANT - CONTRACTS: Prioritize asking about contracts. I have concerns over the lack of contracts knowledge around. At Greenhouse (and all other good agencies) contracts are hugely important. I work closely with a contracts colleague (Kevin – aka The Smiling Assassin) who has 20+ years of corporate transatlantic contract experience. And I myself have been negotiating contracts at least that time (big and small, with publishers and media lawyers). Every line is important to us. A deal is not just about up-front money; you need precision and detail throughout your agreement. It should optimize your success – and protect you if things go wrong.

7 VERY IMPORTANT – FOREIGN/SUBSIDIARY RIGHTS:  At Greenhouse we put great value on all foreign and subsidiary rights, including both halves of the English-language equation North America/ UK and Commonwealth (depending whether you are a Brit or American reading this). There are very, very few occasions when we will grant more than North America to a US house or UK/Comm to a British house. Why? Because reserving the other rights for you and selling them ourselves will make you considerably more money in the long run, particularly if your book is likely to be of international interest.

This is a complicated argument and I’m happy to return to it later in more detail, but I worry when I see agents giving away World rights every time. Again, a deal is not just about that up-front advance.  Will your agent approach your interests with care, patience and meticulousness – not just a mad rush to agree terms and post a deal?

8 Look for an agent interested in your long-term career, not just your first book.  Of course, we can’t guarantee you will follow up with a second (or third etc) as commercially viable as your first, but listen to whether the agent talks about ‘representing authors’ or just projects. You want to stick with this agent for a good, long time – they will become one of the most significant people in your life.

9 I forgot this first time around, so just doing an ‘edit’ to make sure it’s included. VERY IMPORTANT: Will the agent return your phone calls and emails?  I see an increasing number of ‘exiles’ from other agencies appearing in my submissions inbox. Why? The biggest reason cited is non-communication. Non-communication during submission process, and on ordinary follow-up stuff. The writing life can be anxious, isolated and stressful - you need someone who will be your ‘professional friend’, reassuring you and answering you in a timely way. Obviously that doesn’t mean you pester your agent constantly about nothing (balance, people!), but if your question/request is reasonable and necessary then your agent should reply fairly rapidly - if only to say, ‘Sorry, I can’t get to it now, but I should be able to get to it next week - or whenever.’ You are not the only star in the firmament, but your agent should make you feel like you are!

So, the Big Decision. Are you going to be in a safe pair of hands? Will your agency help you grow into a ripe and delectable fruit?  Nothing in life is guaranteed, but if you feel a strong confidence that they will, then banish paralysis and jump with bold excitement.

Finally, I’m off on vacation this coming week until later in August. As you’ll see on our submission guidelines, Julia will be taking over the North-American queries inbox while I’m away. You are very lucky because she has fantastic taste, loves a great story, and you can be sure we’ll be discussing submissions of special interest on my return.

Enjoy a fruity, tasty, and very successful summer!

PS:  Photos taken at Del Ray Farmers’ Market, Northern Virginia

Last summer I ate pancakes with Jandy Nelson.

We were staying at Betsy’s, a delightfully eccentric guest house down the road from Vermont College of the Fine Arts in Montpelier. A group of us were round the homespun table, laden with Vermont-style breakfast goodies. I’m kind of rough that time in the morning, but raised my bleary eyes from the maple syrup long enough to say to my neighbor, ‘Hi, I’m Sarah, who are you?’

She beamed her big smile, swished her glorious hair and told me she was Jandy.

Jandy?! Jandy as in Nelson? As in author of THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE which everyone was talking about and which had just sold to Dial and Walker UK? The very same. 

Caramba, it was the breakfast motherlode!

That book has been on my wishlist for months, and I finally bought it the other day, along with a mouth-watering stack of others: Kathi Appelt’s KEEPER, Patrick Ness’s THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO. And one illicit pleasure – THE LITTLE STRANGER by Sarah Waters. (Illicit because adult reading is sequestered to vacations only – pressure of the industry forces this.) Even more slip-smackingly good, these are REAL BOOKS, all glossy jackets and creamy, strokeable paper. Take that, boring old Kindle, you utilitarian and dreary text purveyor!

I opened SKY with reverence. Jandy Nelson has an MFA in poetry; an MFA in writing fiction for children and teens. She’s loaded with learning, she’s smart as a whippet, beautiful as a flag – oh, and in her spare time she’s a literary agent. (Do you ever feel a little . . . inadequate?)

This book is gorgeous.  Every word is to be savoured. Every word has intent. If character were a suitcase waiting to be filled with language, then Jandy’s travel items are packed to the brim with brightly coloured garments.  You can tell she’s a poet – she writes with miraculous concision, and personality and originality burst out of every line like a peony.  Good grief, even her Acknowledgements are sumptuous!

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE is just one lesson among many in the art of writing.  Considering every word. Avoiding cliché as if it’s leprous. Not relying on overwriting – ie, barrages of adjectives and adverbs in an attempt to make the writing ‘powerful’. Deftly wielding your literary paintbrush to create character. Showing, showing, showing rather than just telling your reader.  Finding new ways to bring to life a subject (loss of a sibling) that has been fictionalized many times before, so the reader feels it’s brand new. Making us see the world in a different way.

If you’re a new writer, you won’t learn everything in this book, but you can learn a heck of a lot.

THE SKY IS EVERYWHERE has been retrospectively added to my list of ‘best books of 2009’.  And because I like supporting great new authors, here’s the Amazon link so you can flourish your credit cards: http://www.amazon.com/Sky-Everywhere-Jandy-Nelson/dp/0803734956/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279640688&sr=1-1

Reading excellent books is essential, I find. A kind of cleansing of the palate; a reminder of how a great claret really tastes. Why we are doing what we do, and how we can do it better.  And to that end I’m also starting to study the craft of writing myself, so that I can better help you guys who are toiling in the vineyards. I know lots of you enjoyed my HOW TO WRITE THE BREAKOUT NOVEL series (see back issues of blog) and have said how little access you have to this kind of advice. So let’s try to keep it going as and when we can.

I have just started on FROM WHERE YOU DREAM – The Process of Writing Fiction – by Robert Olen Butler. It comes highly recommended by many ‘serious’ writers, including Greenhouse clients, so I offer it up to you also as a learning tool.

I love this early quote: ‘Before I wrote my first published book , I wrote literally a million words of absolute dreck. Five god-awful novels, forty dreadful short stories, and a dozen truly terrible full-length plays. I made all those fatal errors of process I would bet my mortgage you’re making now.  I want to help you get around that. But you’ve got to open up and listen to me about this.’

OK, Mr Butler, Pulitzer-Prize winner. I am all ears – for the myriad aspiring writers who frequent this Greenhouse site. For the hundreds of manuscripts I read each year. For the thousands of submissions that arrive in the same timespan.  For the very, very few whom we can truly launch into a new career as a professional author.

Bring it on, Mr Butler. We’re ready to learn about craft while kneeling in the vicinity of your shoes.

And here’s to you, Jandy Nelson, whose sky is spacious, glowing, and indeed everywhere.

We are ready to learn.

P.S. For those of you who are interested: The big-sky shots on this post are 1) me on the cliff path in Dorset, England, looking across to Lyme Regis.  2) Somewhere off the California coast, near Monterey.

The dog days of summer are here and temperatures are soaring. Early-morning mist hangs limpid over the meandering river. I could stare are the greens of the foliage all day and never count the colours. And even the dogs themselves – in this case, Greenhouse intern Wee Man – give up all frolicking in favour of a cooling snooze with a stuffed duck.

It’s time to drift off to sleep in a deck chair, straw hat clamped on head, frozen Marguerita in hand . . .

Or is it? Aha no, because the Greenhouse rarely sleeps, and the job of writing and revising, writing and revising, is never done for you writers looking to claim your spot in the publishing sun. In fact, what is clear is that since I was accepted as a member of AAR (the Association of Authors’ Representatives) a short while ago, even MORE of you are finding us and submitting to Greenhouse!  A big welcome to anyone reading my blog for the first time who discovered us via the AAR website – great to have you with us.

You join us as we’ve nearly finished my mini-series of posts on the huge issue of ‘writing the breakout novel’, covering the need for an inspired concept, larger-than-life characters, high-stakes plotting, a deeply felt theme and vivid settings. If you didn’t catch the earlier ones, just scroll back and you’ll find them.

In theory we’ve finished. But have we really, because in reality there needs to be something else. A magical extra. An X factor. A ‘je ne sais quoi’ that will lift your story into another dimension and pick it out from the pack. What I wonder, could that extra va-va-voom be?
Can you guess? It’s the word I mutter constantly. And the word the Greenhouse Husband is so weary of hearing that he’s actually promised to thump me with a frying pan if I say it again in his presence.

Yes, it is . . .

VOICE.

Doh, most of you guessed it, didn’t you.

VOICE. VOICE. VOICE. VOICE. That elusive individuality which makes a story sing. Which makes the text run musically through your head as you read. Which apparently effortlessly evokes a sense of time and place, underscoring what kind of story you are reading. Lyrical and strange? Staccato and breathless? Folksy and rural? Gritty, tense and urban? Almost subliminally you absorb voice as you read and it can give a whole other level of meaning to the words that run along a page.

And here things get tricky. Because you’re going to ask me to teach you how to create voice – and I wish I could, but am not sure I’m able. What I CAN tell you, from many years of observation, is that I believe it has something to do with ear, and with listening acutely. I believe that some people have a natural ear for language and its flavor - what language is DOING and the why and how of that.  And in some way I think this echoes musicality – some of us have great ears, naturally repeating any rhythm and melody - and some of us just find it much, much tougher.

But what I DO think is that we can all improve our ears as we practice listening! Try concentrating on a great sentence, how it rises and falls; its cadences.  Sit back and listen to it as if you’re listening to Chopin or Lady Gaga, The Doors or the Jonas Brothers (look, I am trying to be eclectic!) .

Language is not a lumpen clod-like thing (unless you want it to be for some particular literary reason). It is beautiful, persuasive, agitating, breathtaking, melodious, and subliminal in its messages. What is the subliminal sub-text contained within the writing of YOUR story?

And here’s some homework for you. What books stand out to you as having a particularly strong and significant voice?  Send a comment with any observations you have on voice and I’ll post it for the benefit of all.  And if any MFA or MA grads are reading this, please feel free to give us the benefit of your wisdom on the subject!

I’ll start things off with suggesting WAITING FOR NORMAL by Leslie Connor (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins USA), which I just read and loved. For me the simplicity and naivete of the voice perfectly carried this wise, heartbreaking, courageous story of a girl’s struggle to cope with an errant mother and uncertain future.  What a gem of a book, perfectly told!

So, voice.

Ears. Music. Listening. Capturing. Subliminal.

Keep your ears waggling and your heart on full alert to receive from the world around you. Then breathe it out, on to your screen, on to your page.

And here endeth our series of The Breakout Novel.

Enjoy this glorious summer and stay cool!