Hilary Mantel, Lee Child, Elizabeth Day and more novelists reveal their secret writing habits
inews.co.uk – Saturday October 17, 2020
Anthony Horowitz is two chapters away from finishing his latest “whodunnit” murder mystery and something is worrying him. If anything should happen to him before he has finished, how will anyone know whodunnit? This week he revealed that, when a book is in progress, he puts the name of the killer in an envelope to be opened by his wife, Jill Green, just in case.
“I am terrified I will die before I actually manage to [finish a book],” Horowitz said at the Cheltenham Literary Festival. “There will be a car crash or a trip going down stairs or something. This is such a fear for me, such a paranoia that I actually write the solution to my murder mysteries and I put them in an envelope to be opened in the event of my death and stick it in my desk.”
DHH Literary Agency to host virtual pitching day
thebookseller.com – Thursday October 15, 2020
DHH Literary Agency is hosting a virtual event enabling aspiring authors to pitch their work direct to its team.
With the pandemic stopping agents from going on the road as in previous years, the agency is opening up its pitching sessions on 4th December. They will be held via a mutually agreeable online video platform.
Founder David Headley said: “In the past, we have had the most tremendous response to our pitching sessions, and we are counting on this time being no different, despite not being able to meet face-to-face. More than ever, we’re in need of good stories to make us forget about the current state of affairs, so we welcome the chance to have authors send – and perhaps pitch – their work to us.
New Literary Agent Listing: Emily Glenister
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 14, 2020
Looking for reading group and commercial novels, as well as diverse / own voices, with an emphasis on crime / thriller, upmarket women's fiction with a unique hook, post-eighteenth century history, and gothic novels / ghost stories.
David Higham reveals Open Week events
thebookseller.com – Monday October 12, 2020
David Higham Agency has revealed the line-up of top agents taking part in its events ahead of its New Writers' Open Week for under-represented talent.
The organisation is running a series of online events in November, which are open to all writers applying for its January Open Week. The deadline for the week has also been extended until 26th October.
New Magazine Listing: The Common Tongue Magazine
firstwriter.com – Thursday October 8, 2020
Writer’s submissions must adhere to our guidelines to be considered for publication in our magazine. While we allow our writers a vast amount of room for creativity and writer’s interpretation, we want to be sure that they support us in our quest for retaining that dark, dangerous tone that invokes our brand image.
We currently pay 0.03-0.06 cents USD per word for successful submissions.
We invite all writers, regardless of level, to submit their short story submissions. We appreciate everyone’s interest in the magazine and seek to honor that interest. While we are proud of being a leader in fantasy publications, we are also foremost writers and artists, and so we have extreme pride in supporting our contributors and those that make this all possible.
If you are interested in submitting short stories to be published in our quarterly magazine, please review the writer guidelines to be considered on our website.
Hollywood has gobbled up book rights during the pandemic. Here’s why
latimes.com – Wednesday October 7, 2020
Author Rumaan Alam kept his expectations low, even as the film rights to his upcoming book “Leave the World Behind” became the center of a bidding contest among Hollywood studios this summer.
During two brisk weeks in July, the Brooklyn-based novelist kept interrupting his family vacation on Fire Island to field phone calls from agents, producers and executives. Sam Esmail, creator of USA Network’s “Mr. Robot,” was on board to direct a feature based on the socially conscious thriller. Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington had agreed to star and produce. Studios including Netflix, Apple and MGM were making offers.
Alam remained skeptical until that Monday when, while on the beach with his husband and two sons, he got the call from Michelle Weiner, head of Creative Artists Agency’s books department, who was handling the auction, saying they’d scored a deal with Netflix.
“I was waiting for the day when Michelle’s assistant would have to send me, like, a consolation bottle of Champagne,” Alam said. “I was sitting there in the sand kind of dumbfounded.”
New Magazine Listing: Agony Opera
firstwriter.com – Wednesday October 7, 2020
We like things edgy, experimental (be it in language or form), surreal, magic-real, speculative, avant-garde. In short anything out of the box.
We have a soft spot for literature which makes a staunch stand on politics. And by politics, we mean the politics regarding the rights of the 99%, not the other way round. Though, we must admit socialist realism doesn’t excite us that much.
New Literary Agency Listing: Bright Group US Inc.
firstwriter.com – Tuesday October 6, 2020
Welcomes submissions from illustrators and authors who are looking for representation. Interested in children’s picture book texts, chapter books and middle grade fiction. Provide an outline with a synopsis and the first three chapters.
Penguin, Bloomsbury, Juggernaut can wait—Twitter is the new fiction publisher
theprint.in – Sunday October 4, 2020
Move over Bloomsbury, Penguin, and Juggernaut — Twitter is now the premier fiction publisher in the era of coronavirus.
When Twitter user Shiv Ramdas wrote a lengthy thread about his brother-in-law buying a truck of rice, his posts received 77,000 retweets and 3 lakh likes within days. That’s how starved people are for a quick, interesting read on social media.
Let’s be honest, it’s practically impossible to get through a 500-page book today when you have to respond to every text, Instagram forward, and see every video on Facebook or Twitter. But fear not, Twitter story threads are the new place to quench that bookworm in you.
And you thought Twitter is only a playground for trolls. After Black Twitter and Dalit Twitter became thriving virtual subcultures, fiction Twitter is slated to be the next big thing.
Anyone can tell a funny, evocative, romantic, or thrilling story on Twitter — 280 characters at a time. All you need is snarky vocabulary, internet inside jokes, and concise sentences. Each tweet becomes a chapter, and each thread, however long you may want it to be, becomes the tale.
New Magazine Listing: Cholla Needles
firstwriter.com – Friday October 2, 2020
We look for poetry that reaches readers, with a special emphasis on poetry that readers desire to return to. Each issue contains 10 distinctly different poets, and we are very happy to introduce new writers to our audience in each issue. We have no restriction as to writing style or format, but do expect that the work submitted is ready for an audience. Payment in US is by contributor's copy, and outside the US is by pdf copy.
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