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Writing Resources
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 Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Can You Start a Sentence with "Because"?
Q: My grammar school teachers always told me that it was wrong to start a sentence with the word “because,” but I commonly see it in books today. What’s the rule?—Roger AllenA: Grammar teachers across the U.S., please don’t hate me, as I’m about to expose the awful truth you’ve been trying to hide for years: It’s not poor grammar to start a sentence with “because.” That’s right, there’s no rule or law in grammar books that denies you the right to start a sentence with this conjunction. A sentence such as, Because I needed money, I sold my body to science, is not only grammatically correct, it’s also more effective than if it were the other way around ( I sold my body to science because I needed the money). So why do teachers parade this nonexistent rule to our youth? They want to prevent the future scholars from writing in fragments, and kids have a tendency to write incomplete sentences like Because I can or Because he’s smelly. Instead of telling kids that they can’t start a sentence with “because,” it’d be more proper to make them complete their sentences. But I know how difficult it is to get kids to complete anything. Brian A. Klems is the online community editor of Writer’s Digest magazine. Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwmedia.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line. Looking for more?
Grammar
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 6:10:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Do Agents Steal Your Stamps? (The SASE Conundrum)
Q: Do agents steam off the stamps on self-addressed, stamped envelopes (SASEs) and resell them?! The agents demand pages, SASEs, that sort of‑thing, but—and I know this sounds cynical—many of my queries disappear.
—Don B.
A:Of course agents don’t steam off stamps from SASEs and resell them. They steam them off and use the stamps themselves!
Actually, they don’t steam off anything (as far as I know), and really do try to respond (unless, of course, they state specifically in their writing guidelines that they only accept e-querys and don't respond to snail mail). To gain further insight on the matter, I called Donald Maass, president of Donald Maass Literary Agency. He represents more than 100 fiction writers.
“If you’re certain that you wrote to the agent’s current address and the SASE had sufficient postage, then you can conclude one of three things,” he says. “Either the agent is rude, the agent is busy or the agent just isn’t interested.”
Now, I doubt that agents try to ignore you, as their profession and income are based on finding great writing. With the mounds of submissions they continually receive, they probably don’t have time to respond to everyone (though that would be nice).
Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.
Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwmedia.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line.
Looking for more?
Agents | Query Letters
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 6:23:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Can I Query Before I Finish My Novel?
Q: I'm currently writing my first novel and am about halfway finished, but I have completed an outline and synopsis. Can I start querying agents now?
A: Being a first-time novelist, it's important to finish your book before sending out any query letters. Without a track record, you have no proof that you can finish a novel. And the number of folks who finish writing novels is dramatically smaller than the number of folks who start them (I'm certainly guilty of having three unfinished novels taking up valuable space in my underwear drawer.)
Agents are inundated with submissions and they don't want to deal with unfinished work. From their perspective, it makes no sense to waste time getting excited about a story that may never get completed (or may not fulfill the promise made in a query letter).
So spend the next few weeks/months completing your book, including edits, rewrites, more edits and more rewrites. Do the same with your query letter. Make sure everything is in tip-top shape. Once you feel confident in your work—or as close to confident as any writer can be—it's finally time to slap a stamp on the envelope and drop the query in the mail (or send it via e-mail, depending on the agent's guidelines).
Brian A. Klems is the online managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine.
Have a question for me? Feel free to post it in the comments section below or e-mail me at WritersDig@fwmedia.com with “Q&Q” in the subject line.
Looking for more?
Agents | Business | Query Letters | Writing Advice
Tuesday, September 01, 2009 2:43:06 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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