Your First Novel

Your First Novel: A Published Author and a Top Agent Share the Keys to Achieving Your Dream
By Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb
Foreword by Dennis Lehane
ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-388-3
ISBN-10: 1-58297-388-1
$16.99 paperback, 304 pages

“Superb advice on writing a great novel and getting it published.”

—Harlan Coben, author of Promise Me

“Throughout the whole book, I found myself constantly nodding my head in agreement with what it stated. By the conclusion, I couldn’t help but feel that I’d been treated to sound advice for novelists in book form.”

—Dave Kuzminski, editor of Preditors & Editors

Exclusive Online Content!

Click here to view quick tips and key points for each chapter.

About Your First Novel

In Your First Novel, novelist Laura Whitcomb and seasoned literary agent Ann Rittenberg team up to provide you with the skills you need to write your dream novel and the savvy business know-how to get it published. In this all-in-one resource, you’ll discover essential novel-writing techniques, such as:

  • How to best structure your research so that you can save time later
  • How to card your story before you start writing
  • What to consider when developing your cast of characters
  • How to adapt classic story structures to fit your own ideas

… and insider information on what it takes to get published, including:

  • What agents do at those three-hour power lunches, and how it affects you
  • What makes an agent instantly reject a manuscript
  • How to correctly translate submission guidelines
  • What happens if you get multiple offers, or no offers at all

About Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb

Ann Rittenberg, the president of her own literary agency (www.rittlit.com), has worked in book publishing for more than twenty-five years. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and three daughters. This is her first book.

Laura Whitcomb (www.laurawhitcomb.com) is the author of A Certain Slant of Light. The novel was chosen for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program, and the movie rights were sold to Warner Bros. studio. The book was also recorded as an audio book for Listening Library and will be published in Italian, Chinese, and Japanese. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Dennis Lehane

Part I: Writing Your Novel
Chapter 1: Preparations
Chapter 2: Beginning to Write
Chapter 3: The Bones of Your Story
Chapter 4: Fleshing Out Your Story
Chapter 5: Making Your Story Vivid
Chapter 6: Being Unforgettable
Chapter 7: The Nuts and Bolts
Chapter 8: Repairs
Chapter 9: Making It Shine
Chapter 10: Preparing to Be Read

Part II: Publishing Your Novel
Chapter 11: What a Literary Agent Does and Why
Chapter 12: Before You Submit Your Manuscript
Chapter 13: The First Steps on the Path to Publication
Chapter 14: Query Letter Babylon
Chapter 15: The View From the Other Side of the Desk
Chapter 16: Becoming an Agented Author
Chapter 17: Working With an Agent Through Thick and Thin
Chapter 18: Getting to Yes
Chapter 19: Becoming a Published Author
Chapter 20: Publication Day and Beyond

Epilogue
Index

More Praise for Your First Novel

“The advice in Your First Novel rings so true that I found myself sighing through its pages, thinking ‘If I’d been told this earlier, what a lot of trouble I’d have saved myself.’ This book offers the spark of inspiration that gets a writer both mentally and physically geared for the task. Then it delivers something equally vital: clear-headed, positive advice about the business side of writing a novel. It’ll inspire you to create, challenge you to be great, and bolster you with the wisdom of two seasoned professionals.”
—George Hagen, author of The Laments

“This book is essential reading for anyone impractical enough to try to write a first novel and anyone practical enough to do what it takes to get published. Ann RIttenberg and Laura Whitcomb offer just the right amount of encouragement and common sense. And Dennis Lehane’s foreword should become to writers what the Breyer’s Pledge is to ice cream.”
—Peter Blauner, author of Slipping Into Darkness and Slow Motion Riot