Agent tip of the week, month, whatever

Agent Amy Tipton has left FinePrint Literary Management to join Signature Literary Agency.

Go forth and query.

Monster Blood Tattoo

This book is so good it makes me want to throw down my pencil and give up. (Not that I write with pencils, mind, it just sounds better than computer.)

D.M. Cornish's imagination is so huge, I don't see how he keeps his head from exploding.

Brilliant stuff. Charles Dickens meets Gormenghast.

Go read it.

Why artists matter

Beautiful. Uplifting. Melancholy. You have to see it.

And also check this out.

Can your story do this?

It's Freytag's Pyramid. You know old Fry, right? No? I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with it from writing courses or school.

Take a look at your novel and see if it follows this structure. I would think that, even if you've never heard of it, your novel can't help but follow this pattern. If you're a reader, and I certainly know you are, it's instinctual to follow this structure when attempting to write a book. (Even if you didn't know you were.)

So, how about you? Are you adhering to the doctrine of Herr Freytag?