Query Generator!

I’ve just launched a new website called Query Generator!

Query Generator is a tool for fiction writers in the early stages of drafting or reworking their query letters. The Generator helps you identify important aspects of your story and gathers them into a standard query structure.

The main feature of the website is the Generator itself, which has a form that’s divided into five sections:

Section 1: The Protagonist

Section 2: The Plot

Section 3: Meta Data

Section 4: You!

Section 5: The Agent

The Generator looks something like this:

Every single item has both an explanation and a few examples of how you might fill out the item, which should help to guide you in filling out each section. Some of the questions are extremely simple (ex. ”Full Name”) while some might take a bit of thinking (ex. “Initial Challenges”).

Once you’re done, your query will look something like the ones on the Example Page:

The example page features the “blank” template and two examples of filled out forms. This will help you see how everything actually fits together, and should provide you with some further help before you start with your own query - or, if the Generator produces an incoherent mess - will help you see how it was everything was meant to come together in the end. You can really see here that there are very few words the Generator actually adds to your project. The longest string is six. The Generator is meant to help you find your own words as you draft your query.

Finally, there’s an Advice Page:

This page is meant to help you:

understand why the generator functions the way it does,

provides tips for further editing your query, and

helps you look toward next steps once you finish revising your query.

Why the Generator Exists

I’ve noticed, doing some query critiques here and in workshops with friends, that many first-attempts at queries are missing some fundamental story elements: protagonist ages, word counts, inciting incidents, setting, etc. No matter how well written they were, they weren’t fulfilling all of the functions required by query letters.

I have my writing the perfect query letter post, but as I was helping a friend rewrite her query, I realized that some elements were just so formulaic, that there had to be a way to just… make a query generating form.

So I decided to build, basically, a Query Ad-Libs. You fill out a form that asks for your story elements, giving you examples and explanations to help you along the way. Once it has the information, it puts everything together, and hands it back to you in a standard query layout.

It won’t be well-written, but it’ll be a starting point for you to take back to your Word Doc and hopefully use to make something amazing.

A Simple Website

This website was created by me (concept, content, & design) and my boyfriend (qualified, professional computer programmer). We didn’t have a team or testers or any outside help along the way. Just a drive to combine our skills and do something with our time besides binging Netflix (and many, many cups of Starbucks.) It’s not a professional or moneymaking endeavor, either. There are no ads or fees.

However, if you find the site useful and would like to show your appreciation, donations of cups of coffee via Ko-Fi would be greatly valued, and spent coming up with additional content, either for this site or a new one: https://ko-fi.com/letswritesomenovels.

Also, if you come across any bugs, please let us know, so we can fix them for future visitors to the Query Generator!

I hope you check it out, and - if you do - I hope you find it useful to your writing endeavors, whether you’re getting ready to query, dreaming of querying, or just having fun.

https://www.querylettergenerator.com/

xx Julia (letswritesomenovels)

Echoes of Thunder TDP Anthology Needs Help

HEY GUYS.

So, some of you may know about the Echoes of Thunder art anthology. If not, it’s a big anthology of a bunch of TDP art from the show @dragonprinceofficial, over 100 artists, and you should check it out on INDIEGOGO (I want to link it, but then tumblr won’t let it show up on mobile). As of writing this, they are almost $24,000 and they need $33,000. They have 3 days left and unless some cash really starts pouring in, they won’t make it.

So, please, please, go and donate, get a perk, check it out, there’s LOTS of great merch in it including a sketchbook! If you can’t donate or buy anything, please reblog this and get it out there! This anthology can be really great and anything Dragon Prince, of course, helps show interest for future seasons. Please, support it!

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galaxy62

6 years ago

I love how Callum gave real thought to this question despite the circumstances.

Callum, about to die: “Well, huh, wait, DO I like her ears??? I need to think about this.”

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galaxy62

6 years ago

This is literally just my math class hfghfjgjg

Every single odd number has an “e” in it.

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galaxy62

6 years ago

when I am listening to love songs, it doesn’t mean I’m thinking about me being in a relationship!

IT MEANS I’M THINKING ABOUT MY SHIPS IN ROMANTIC SETTINGS!!!

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galaxy62

5 years ago

THE RANDOM DRAWING IDEA GENERATOR 3.0! Now With Less Than A One In Five Thousand Chance To Get Batman

THE RANDOM DRAWING IDEA GENERATOR 3.0! Now with less than a one in five thousand chance to get Batman Being Batman!

This time around, it’s got it’s own little mini site where you can click and get your results! It should be even easier now to mulligan until you get a result that actually makes you NEED to draw it. And when you do draw it, please remember to share you creation with the tag #randraw. I’d love to see it!

All thanks go to Alexander Lozada for putting the code together. It’s been really swell working it out. And you should go check out their other projects, including the awesome Creativity Cards you might’ve seen going around.

This is the best, but certainly not the last you’ll see of the Random Drawing Generator. There are over 5000 possible results, and many prompts are infinite by design. But there’s still room to grow. As always, I’ll be polling for ideas on what else to include. So, guys, what’ve you got?

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galaxy62

6 years ago

college is, like, really important. but if you don’t do well, remember you can still get paid to run a tumblr for a restaurant.

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galaxy62

5 years ago

Join Our #InstaWrimo Instagram Challenge in September!

NaNoWriMo is coming up in November, so this September, we want to help you prep for the months ahead and develop your novel idea with our annual month-long #InstaWrimo challenge. We designed a month of photo prompts (both concrete and abstract) to get you thinking about characters, setting, and story. All you need to join in is an Instagram account!

Participating in our Instagram Challenge will also give you a sneak peek into this year’s theme! Can you guess what it is from the prompts? We’re officially launching our NaNo Prep activities (and our brand-new website!) the week of September 10, so you can find out more then! To join the Challenge, follow these steps:

Follow @NaNoWriMo on Instagram.

Use the 30 photo prompts listed in the graphic above to start thinking about your novel. We’ll post the full challenge prompt on Instagram, but it will also be available in this post if you need to refer back to it.

These prompts are just suggestions—you can interpret them as literally or as whimsically as you like. You can post a photo for each of the prompts, or choose just a few. You can post one every day, or all at once. There aren’t any strict rules—the most important part is having fun!

Make sure to tag any posts with the #InstaWrimo hashtag so we can find them. We’ll pick photos from the challenge to feature on our own Instagram account throughout the month. Follow the hashtag to see what our awesome community is up to, and to get inspired. You can also tag a friend you think would like to join you in the challenge!

Use your imagination, get creative, and get ready to write!

Keep reading

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galaxy62

4 years ago

Some words to use when writing things:

winking

clenching

pulsing

fluttering

contracting

twitching