K.L. Going's Blog, page 4

I've been privileged to know Cameron McClure for a long time - ever since our days as assistants at Curtis Brown, Ltd. Since then she's risen in the ranks at the Donald Maass Literary Agency. I'm very pleased to introduce her to all of you!




1) How did you become a literary agent? Did you always [...]

As an author, I'm often asked to write blurbs for up and coming books. Quite often. Of course, it's a huge honor that an author or their editor would value your work enough to ask you to provide a blurb for them. It's especially touching when it's someone's debut novel and they write you a [...]

A teenager once wrote to me wanting to know something about me for a report. She fired off the usual litany of questions – what kind of pets do you have, where did you grow up, why do you like ketchup so much. But she included one that I couldn't answer [...]

Some lessons are learned once. With speed and finality, the light bulb blinks on and – just like that – we know something new. Other lessons take longer to process. We learn them in bits and pieces, gradually building up our understanding until finally we move from 1) knowledge to 2) taking action to 3) [...]

I'm pleased to introduce Whippany Park Productions! They're producing the Fat Kid Rules the World movie along with Whitewater Films. These guys are great, and they've just started a Facebook page, so after you read the interview, be sure to show them some love, and "like" their page: Facebook. You can also follow them on [...]

Just found out that the Fat Kid Movie has now cast the role of Troy's dad! This is extra exciting because this is a role we've talked about since the idea for the film first developed. Troy's father is a character that so many people name as their favorite from the book - and the [...]

Okay, let's start by admitting that no real work is going to get done today by this particular author. There will be Facebook posts and Tweets, to be sure, but can I count this as work? It's a stretch. But I'm letting myself off the hook for my lack of productivity because this is one [...]

Refine (ri fin) 1. to free or become free of impurities 2. to make or become more polished or elegant
A huge part of a writer's job is to refine. I love this word because it sounds like what it means. It's an elegant, polished word. It's also the perfect description of what we strive for [...]

Before I begin, let me say that this blog post definitely falls under the category of, "Do as I say, not as I do." Or better yet, learn from my mistakes. One of the things I struggle with the most is gaining momentum in my writing process. And once I have momentum, treating it like [...]

As part of my manuscript critique service, I invite my clients to submit their query letters for review. If you don't know what a query letter is, here are some resources to learn more about them. I cover the basics in my book Writing and Selling the YA Novel. Writing-Selling-Young-Adult-Novel And you can always find [...]