Finding character names

Sometimes characters' names leap out at you. Often, they're named before you've even begun to write their story. But there are times when a suitable name just won't come, especially for minor characters.

Traditional advice was to open the phone book or newspaper randomly, or combine two halves of different names to make a new one.

Now, these names are emailed to your inbox on a daily basis if, like everyone else in the world, you receive sp*m mail. For example, I today received mail from:-

• Jonathan Richardson
• Hayden Scott
• Xavier Reed
• Dusty Rutherford
• Barbara Simon
• Edwin Leonard

To me, these names conjure up very definite mental images of particular kinds of characters and I'll be noting a few down for future reference. However, one word of advice - before you turn Xavier Reed into a master-criminal or Barbara Simon into an officious librarian, double check that these characters only populate your imagination and that their alter-ego isn't walking the streets in a town near you!

Writing a submission letter

At the London Book Fair, Simon Trewin of United Agents gave some insight into what he would like to see in a submission letter.

He suggests one side of A4 and not a dozen pages. Tell the agent about yourself, your influences, whether you're a member of a writing group or have attended conferences. Focus on the project you're working on and mention what you want to tackle next.

Be professional and confident - although there is a very fine line between confidence and arrogance. And don't mention previous failures. If you begin your letter with "I've sent it to fifteen agents already and been rejected" it doesn't make a great first impression.

Although we're often told not to, Simon suggested sending it to more than one agent at a time. If you wait for each agent to reply before sending it out to the next, you could be a year down the line before finding someone. Publishing a book is a long process anyway so save yourself the time wherever you can.

London Book Fair

This year I attended the London Book Fair Masterclass where a panel of guest authors and publishers gave some great advice to authors on writing technique, content and how to submit manuscripts. My next few posts will pass on the enlightening advice given by these industry insiders.

The first speaker was Simon Trewin, literary agent of United Agents in London. He receives 4,000 to 5,000 approaches every year and every single one of these is read before it is returned.

Simon loves his job and can't imagine doing anything else so he is necessarily drawn to authors with the same amount of passion for their work. Half-hearted approaches, detailing your failures to date won't impress him much. He wants hard working, committed, enthusiastic authors as clients who are willing to take good advice and work with the team that will eventually bring the book to the shelf.

He also said that authors approach agents far too early in the process. Don't send in the only two chapters you've written because it might be another year before you reach the end. Finish the book first and make it the best it can possibly be before you send it out. With the high level of submissions, agents don't always have time to provide a detailed literary critique.

More next time on how to prepare a letter approaching an agent.

Elaine Saunders Complete Text

Special offer on Fiction Writing Exercises e-book

Fiction Writing Exercises has previously been offered as a writing course - a paperback book and email critique on the scenes you write with the exercises.

To celebrate it's first year of publication, the e-book version is now being offered as a stand-alone writers' resource at a considerably reduced price.

You'll still have 120 exercises on 30 themes but not the email feedback, although there's always room to upgrade to the full course.

Free writing prompts and resources will still be available here so sign up for regular updates.

Don't forget to write!

Love is in the air

Here in the UK we've had enough of the snow so we're going to focus on something a little warmer today.

Saturday is St Valentine's day when greetings cards manufacturers and growers of long-stemmed red roses have a very profitable time of it. Therefore, we're going to buck the trend and have a St Valentine's writing prompt that doesn't focus on cards, flowers and chocolates.

Write a 500 word love scene that isn't necessarily something from a weepy movie. Make it a bit different by putting your couple in a situation that isn't outwardly romantic or have your hero and heroine be something other than lantern jawed or small and pretty. Perhaps your couple are elderly and celebrating 60 years together. Or there could be a disparity in their ages. Anything that doesn't make them a cute, photogenic twosome.

If you really can't face it, write a scene with St Valentine as a theme. Maybe it's the name of a church, hospital or road. There was even a gang shootout involving Al Capone in Chicago on this day.

February 14th also saw the death of Capt James Cook in Hawaii (1779), Alexander Graham Bell applying for a patent on the telephone (1876), Arizona becoming the 48th State (1912) and the Ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia.

Plenty of scope for those of you who want to avoid the romance industry this week.

As always, save your scene, email me your results and post it to the blog. Good luck!

Elaine Saunders

Snow day inspiration

I hope that everyone in the UK is taking advantage of the snow - inspiration-wise.

Not only can you add realistic descriptions of snow-covered roads and frosty mornings to your writing arsenal, but there are very many more situations a snowy day evokes:-

• What does it feel like to be cold? What colour are your hands when you've finished clearing snow off the car? How does the wind creep in under your scarf? Describe the sensation of cold feet warming up again. What's it like walking through deep snow.
• Describe the elation of schoolchildren released from lessons for a day
• How stressful is it driving to work and how do drivers around you react to the queues? You could write this one in the car as you stop-start along.
• Do you feel guilty about keeping warm when other members of your family have to struggle out of the door?
• What's it like to have the entire country on shut down?
• Maybe you need to be somewhere but can't reach it. How will this affect you or your story?
• What's it like to race downhill on a sledge and what memories does it stir?

Don't forget that a thaw will follow the snow so be ready to record the dirty colours of slush, the despondent faces of children returning to school and the relief of being back to normal.

File everything away so that, when you come to write your crucial winter scene at the height of summer, you'll be able to recreate the atmosphere perfectly.

I'd be glad to read any thoughts via email or on the blog itself.

Keep warm!

Elaine Saunders

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Inspiration coming to your desk

This week I caught an interesting podcast with, amongst others, Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass.

Mr Pullman is often asked where his ideas come from and he said,

"I usually answer it with, I don't know where they come from but I know where they come to. They come to my desk and if I'm not there they go away again. In other words, if you sit there for long enough, you'll think of something. If you sit there day in, day out, being prepared to put up with the long stretches when nothing in particular occurs to you, eventually something will."

It's reassuring to know that even an author of Philip Pullman's calibre doesn't find writing easy. Even he needs to put in the time, sit at his desk and make himself available to ideas. If he doesn't, the ideas don't reach him.

This is a valuable lesson for all writers - both beginning and experienced authors. There's no substitute for sitting down and thinking about your stories or characters for a set time every day. Even half an hour can give you a page of dialogue or scene setting that will quickly build into a longer manuscript.

Make writing a priority and build it into your daily routine to have any hope of success. It cannot be undertaken half-heartedly or haphazardly.

To get yourself in training for your novel why not follow some daily writing exercises that will almost certainly produce usable scenes or situations? Click here for a free extract from Fiction Writing Exercises and start writing today.

You can catch the entire interview with Philip Pullman by following this link to Random House and looking for the podcast entitled On Inspiration And Good Reads.

Elaine Saunders
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