Links Around the Web

I apologize for the lack of Friday Fives last week. That was entirely my fault. Friday Fives will definitely be back this week -- with the topic: What are your top FIVE ideal writing locations? (Bonus points: if you include pictures!).

And here are some writing links for today:

• Have you wondered whether that one prologue in your manuscript should be there? Agent Mary Kole weighs in on prologues: A lot of writers lean on prologues because they don’t know how to otherwise make their beginnings exciting.
  
  
• What do you think is a writer's main objective? For Agent Mary Kole, it's to make your reader feel: Whenever I speak about queries at conferences, I always have one request: Make me care. This is the same idea. I want to feel my interest piqued with the query. I want to feel something, even if it’s just a stirring of feeling or concern or nervousness or longing. Most queries fail to elicit even one feeling (other than boredom).
  
  
• Two agents, Sarah Davies and Julia Churchill hosts a series of Q&A with great responses: Above all, I want to submit manuscripts that are well structured and satisfying, and a strong ending - whatever unique form it takes - will be part of that.
  
  
• Author Juliette Wade has a great post on how point of view and characterization means divorcing from yourself: Really I don't think characterization, point of view, and worldbuilding can be separated from one another. They are all deeply inter-related. Your character has to "come across" to readers in a particular way within the context of your world.
  
  
• Sometimes, by going out of their way to avoid certain words or phrases, writers can take things to the other end of the extreme. Janice Hardy has a fantastic post on the awkward things we do to avoid certain words: To avoid things we’ve been told not to do, we sometimes perform writing gymnastics that strain our creative muscles. Instead of making a sentence better, we mess it up. Adding words when we ought to be trimming them out.