How To Name Your Characters: Tips To Creating A Memorable Name 

A character’s name can be very significant to your book. Names can have a symbolic meaning and clearly depict your character’s personality, ethnicity, age, social status, and more. They can also differ based on your book’s genre. Darth Vader might sound like a great name for a sci-fi character, but it can seem confusing and unsuitable for a character in a rom-com novel. 

Outside of characters, it is also important to properly name your countries, places, locations, etc. This helps paint a consistent picture of your story and also evokes the appropriate feeling in your readers. 

Don’t know how to pick the perfect name for your characters that hooks your reader? Here are some of my favourite name-picking tips. 

How To Get Out Of The Slush Pile And Make Your Agent Say Yes 

In the literary world, the term slush pile refers to a stack of unread, unsolicited manuscripts or queries from aspiring novelists. Authors can often find themselves in the slush pile due to cold queries, unprofessional letter formatting, or a generic pitch. 

Are you facing constant form rejections to your queries? Here is everything you need to know to get out of your publisher’s slush pile. 

Customise Your Query 

if you approach an agent as just another name on your list, they will treat you the same way. Agents and publishers receive an ample amount of queries every single day, many of which are cold queries that are automatically rejected with form responses. As an author, it is your job to create a compelling query that hooks your agent in. 

The easiest way to do this is by customising your query letter. 

I have already talked about easy ways to do this in some of my earlier blogs, but here’s a quick rundown of how to customise your query to hook your literary agent: 

Start with their name

Queries that start with ‘dear agent/team’ have a higher chance of ending up on an agent’s slush pile. It’s important to address your agent by their given name both at the start of the query letter and somewhere in between it (something as simple as ‘this is why I chose to work with you, their name’ can work wonders). 

Avoid using any terms like miss/mrs/mr since you might end up using the wrong term for an agent and get off on the wrong foot. 

Why them? 

When trying to convince your agent why they should pick you, it’s important to show them why you picked them. This helps create a bond of trust and makes your agent know you aren’t just blindly sending out queries to every agent who works in your genre. 

When I was querying agents, I would always make sure to include a line that went as follows: 

I found out about you on manuscript wishlist and decided to get in touch with you since you expressed interest in the genres and themes The Traitor’s Throne incorporates.

I would then make a quick nod to anything they might have said on their MSWL, agent page, or Twitter. A great way to do this is by scanning their manuscript wishlist for certain phrases that fit your book. Maybe they showed interest in a ‘high stakes murder mystery’ or ‘swoon-worthy romance’. You can use these short phrases to customise your query, so long as they fit your book. 

Mention their past projects 

Can’t find anything on their MSWL that fits your book’s themes? Instead just mention a past project of theirs that follows the same themes as your book. A quick line such as ‘your previous work with (author name) for (book name) encouraged me to get in touch with you’ can seamlessly customise your query without feeling too overbearing. 

Remember, only two to three lines of your query letter should talk about your agent. The rest is supposed to be about your book and your experience as an author. I would recommend putting this section at the end of your query letter, right before your synopsis and sample pages. 

Follow Their Guidelines 

Most literary agents and publishers have a set of guidelines in place for authors looking to query them. These guidelines help them sort through the queries and also ensure your query isn’t marked as a spam email. 

Some agencies will ask you to customise your subject line a certain way, others will ask authors to answer a set of questions that help them gain insight into your project. 

When querying an agent or publisher, remember to always check their website’s submissions or contact page (even if you’re reaching out via query manager or query tracker) and follow the guidelines mentioned there. 

This helps your agent know you were genuinely interested in reaching out to them and also ensures they actually read your query.

Keep Things Simple 

One of the most important things to remember when querying is to keep things simple. Don’t overstuff your query with information, don’t dive into a detailed analysis of what happens in every chapter of your book in the synopsis (unless the agent asks you to). 

The point of your query letter is to hook your agent, not bore them with the details. Make your query simple, short, and intriguing. Drop an introduction, hook your agent with the first paragraph, and end your query letter strongly. 

Here is how to format your query letter to make your agent say yes: 

Stay Professional 

Always remember to be courteous and professional when you’re interacting with an agent or publisher. Start and end all of your emails properly, make sure your query doesn’t have any SPAG mistakes, and always treat your agent kindly. Even if they reject you. 

Imagine how embarrassing it would be if you did end up getting an agent but they called you up one day and said their friend or colleague mentioned you sent them a very rude email after getting rejected! 

Maintaining a positive impression of yourself is always important. Remember, these agents might end up being important industry connections in the future. Or, they could casually mention your poor mannerism to other agents which could ruin your chances of getting traditionally published. 

It is good practice to follow up rejection emails with an email thanking the agent for their response and asking them whether they have any colleagues or fellow agents in mind who might be looking for a project like yours. 

Some agents might just ignore this message, but others will provide you with at least a couple of agents you can get in touch with. This gives you the advantage of a referral, and also makes the agent see you in a positive light, which can be beneficial when building industry connections. 

Conclusion 

I hope this blog on how to get out of the slush pile and make your agent say yes will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment any tips of your own to help your fellow authors prosper. 

Want to learn more about me and my writing journey? Visit my social media pages under the handle @hayatheauthor where I post content about my wip The Traitor’s Throne and life as a teenage author.

How To Build A Realistic Magic System

Whether you’re a five year old watching Disney movies or an adult reading fantasy books, everyone loves magic. It is the heart of fantasy and the favourite trope of many authors. A good magic system should be both visually appealing and work to enhance the mood of a story. But it can be hard to make your own realistic world of magic with so many different types of magic at our disposal. 

Unsure how to build a realistic magic system? Here are six things you should consider when creating your magic world! 

1. Establish A Type Of Magic 

Authors and other creators have spent centuries establishing hundreds of different types of magic. There’s folklore, witches, magical creatures, demons, mythology and so much more. It’s good to create your unique brand of magic when world building, but there are basic facts you need to establish before you jump into your book. 

For example, in my WIP The Traitor’s Throne magic only exists in the realm of mages, however, it can be used or stored in every living being from that realm (including trees). The reason it doesn’t exist in the other realms (or the human realm, to be specific) is that there is literally magic in the air of this realm, something that the human realm lacks.  

Your readers don’t have to know all of this background information, but it’s important for you to have a clear image of your magic system before you jump into your book. 

 Here are some questions you should ask yourself when establishing your type of magic: 

Do you need help with how to properly pace your world building facts while writing? Check out my previous blog post today!

2. Create Limitations 

Nothing can exist without laws. Not even magic. 

Limitations exist to make your writing seem more realistic, but they also help you create adequate boundaries and rules for your book. This can look like a set of laws followed by a society of wizards or a rule book humans need to follow when they summon and use demon magic. 

Aladdin couldn’t ask the Genie to kill people or make someone fall in love with him, Harry Potter couldn’t create limitless food for him to eat during the summers, and Percy Jackson couldn’t control the water in a human’s body. 

Tell us the dos and don’ts of your world. Establish boundaries. Create a fantasy world that feels like it could be real and maybe even exist alongside our world. 

If you are a fantasy author writing a book about a character who accesses magic through another being (a human summoning a demon, etc.) then consider creating some limitations for the summons. Maybe the human can only summon the demon once every week, maybe they can’t ask the demon to interfere with another person’s death (bring someone back to life or kill someone). 

Unsure what magical limitations to implement in your WIP? Comment down below for some personal advice! 

3. The History Of Your Magic

Everything starts somewhere. Humanity didn’t exist during the big bang theory, fire didn’t exist until humans were made. Everything has a past, so what’s your magic’s history? 

Did it always exist in the society your character lives in? Did someone just wake up one day with newfound powers? When was your magic founded? How do your characters know how to use magic? What timeline are they in? What does their fashion, architecture or mode of travel look like? 

These might not seem like important questions right now, but you could find yourself wasting precious writing time in the future mulling over how your characters get light during the nighttime. (Lanterns? Candles? Magic balls of light?)

Do you need to create a list of all the monarchs who ruled over your world throughout the past five hundred years? Of course not! But would it be helpful to know who the first monarch was and why they possessed the power and influence needed to govern your world? Yes! 

Creating a concrete history can also help you when writing dialogue for your book. Make corny history jokes or comparisons, have your character’s mother dramatically talk about how her child is like a recluse from the dark ages. 

4. How Does Your Magic Affect Your World 

One of the most important things to establish when creating a magic system is how it affects your world. Do mythical creatures exist because of the magic? What about another world? Or another species? 

You need to create a concrete setting for your book to take place in, and establish how the living beings of your world are affected by this setting. Do the trees have black trunks in your world of demons? Do pixies exist in your world of elves? 

Creating a fantasy world is only the first step, you also need to establish how this world affects the species and characters in your world. 

5. Don’t Forget The Humans! 

One of the reasons books like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson got so popular is because they gave us an excuse to believe magic was real. Maybe magic really exists but we’re just muggles who can’t see Hogwarts. Maybe the Greek gods were real all along but we can’t interact with them because we aren’t demigods. 

Give your readers that childlike sense of hope that makes them believe in magic. Make them think they might be able to meet your characters one day, if only they discovered a door to your magic school or stumbled upon a demigod in action. 

This can be easy for fantasy authors writing about a human who accidentally ends up in a fantasy world, but if you’re an author writing about non-human characters (like me) then here are some ways you can establish the presence of humans in your book: 

Do you need help with how to properly pace your world building facts while writing? Check out my previous blog post today!

6. Sanderson’s Laws For Magic 

Still unclear on how to establish a proper magic system? Consider looking into Sanderson’s Laws for Magic. 

If you’re a fantasy author you’ve probably already stumbled upon some variation of his laws during your worldbuilding research, but I would advise looking at Sanderson’s blog and reading his original rundown of what the laws are all about. 

In their simplest forms, Sanderson’s laws of magic are: 

I hope this blog on how to build a magic system will help you in your writing journey. Be sure to comment your favourite writing tools to help your fellow authors prosper. 

Want to learn more about me and my writing journey? Visit my social media pages under the handle @hayatheauthor where I post content about my wip The Traitor’s Throne and life as a teenage author. 

Websites And Writing Apps Every Author Needs In 2023

In today’s day and age, technology is everyone's best friend, and the number one writing tool for authors. Gone are the days when writers would hunch over blocky typewriters and leisurely type out a manuscript. Authors are now evolving, and while typewriters and pretty journals might make for stellar aesthetically pleasing posts, they aren’t as accessible and convenient as the technological advancements that have taken the world by storm.

Modern-day authors have swapped out papers and ink for laptops and AI, allowing us to type out thousands of words without having to worry about our pens drying out.

However, this convenience comes at a cost.

Our app stores are flooded with so many options that it is easy to lose track of the best writing apps. This is why I have taken the initiative to compile a list of the websites and writing apps every author needs in 2023— categorized by different writing stages.