J.K. Rowling’s Hand-written Plot Spreadsheet for THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

Need some inspiration? J.K. Rowling’s speadsheet for The Order of the Phoenix:

Q: Do you plot this extensively? Do you hand-write your plot notes?

Via @JohnathanGunson and @TheStoryMuseum

My Manuscript Evaluation Checklist

With all the submissions I get I use my intuition and my checklist to see how they fare. While it is mostly gut reaction I need the checklist to balance out my feelings so I can best evaluate the content and quality of the material I’m looking at.

I’ve received some great queries lately so if you want to know how to get from the query stage to me interested in taking your work further I share my checklist showing what I look for when I read your work:

• Does the beginning work? Does the ending work?
• Does the plot have good pace, does it make sense, and is it a natural outcome for the premise?
• Do I care about the outcome of the characters?
• Do the characters stick to their traits?
• How many subplots are there? Do they have appropriate attention with what you’ve set out to do in the novel?
• Is the writing of high, lasting quality?
• Is it special? Will it stand out on an editor’s desk and in a bookshop?

High Concept: What is it? Do you need it? And how do you know if you have it?

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, a high concept example.

High concept is something I repeated say I, and other people in the industry, am looking for. But what is it?

My succinct definition is highly unique concept with mass-market appeal. This also relates back to my post last week on agents and editors not knowing what they want until they see it. I, as an agent, do not do the creative portion of the job. The high concept book is one that revels in creativity and that ‘specialness’ that will bring the mass-market together in a way that we as readers didn’t know before. I don’t know I want it because you, the writer, haven’t written it yet. [If you have, send it over ; )]

What are the high concept key ingredients? 

• The premise is often bigger than the characters.
• You can easily explain it in an exciting two line pitch.
• The short pitch will raise eyebrows and immediately attract attention.
• High concept isn’t just a ‘big book’, it’s a big book that is based on premise.
• It can be controversial.
• It can have a big twist.
• It is something that seems so obvious and straightforward, but no one has thought of it before.
• High concept is usually commercial-literary, while ‘big books’ are commercial.
• The idea and themes are universal.

The trajectory of a high concept book looks like this: an agent sees it and must have it, knowing it is something special; the agent is easily able to write a great pitch letter to editors based on a short, succinct and very intriguing hook; once the book has an editor the editor is able to garner in-house attention through early excitement; sales staff are then able to impress booksellers with a book that will stand out and sell copies; the book is then stocked with front of store placement; and finally customers do the rest! The marketing and publicity opportunities for high concept are plentiful. And, simple and very intriguing hooks are what attract Hollywood attention.

Balance and Backstory

Still confused about backstory, how much to include, and where to add it? Think of the plot like an engine pushing the story along:

“Because fiction requires a mighty engine to thrust it ahead—and take the reader along for the ride—backstory if used incorrectly, can stall a story. A novel with too little backstory can be thin and is likely to be confusing. By the same token, a novel with too much backstory can lack suspense. [...] Remember this: The fantasy world of your story will loom larger in your imagination than it will on the page.