Editorial Notes = clarifying information, additional insight, annotations

Hiya Reader,

Once upon a time, I dreamed of owning a used bookstore. I gathered all kinds of ideas to make it unique and profitable, three-ring binder and all. I semi-actively planned my special spot over the course of years: the way the shelves would look, the comfy chairs and good lighting.

As should be obvious, this venture never came to fruition. But this AP News piece, A Guide to the Bookstores Owned by Your Favorite Authors, started the kindling crackling for me again.

Have you been to any of these? Do you know of any that didn't make the list? Hit reply and let me know!

Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more!

Example of the Week

Sometimes this is a good example—or a great one. Sometimes this is a bad example—or just a funny blooper. Sometimes a combination. You never know.

I'm sharing this week's example with a couple of caveats, the most important being that there is a sprinkle of off-color language here. In diagnosing the meaning of Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol's comments on the price of his company's coffee, author Zac Cadwalader does drop a couple of words that might be offensive. If that's you, please skip it. You also might not agree with his cultural commentary. If you're easily triggered by the expression of opinions you don't shre, you also might want to skip it.

That said, I found this article "Is $9 For Coffee An Affordable Premium Experience?" an fantastic examination of language — what it means and doesn't mean, commas and all.

"An 'affordable premium experience' is not the same as an 'affordable, premium experience.'"

Actionable Tip of the Week

A trick to add to your self-editing toolbox right now!

Something I hear often from clients who write nonfiction of all stripes: I'm trying to stay objective.

Objective on whose behalf, exactly?

The impulse makes a kind of sense. We've all been trained, somewhere along the way, to distrust our own perspective, to treat it as something to be corrected along with those pesky typos. But what often happens is a passage that isn't working. When you sand down your writing so much that you can't possibly hurt or offend or reveal, you usually end up with a pile of sawdust.

We've all heard there are no original stories. (I promise you, as a grief writer, I've heard/read a comment twice this week alone that's something to that effect!) But any competent writer can report what happened, the "just the facts, ma'am. The thing that makes your writing irreplaceable is that only you can render what it was like to be the person it happened to or to be the witness. That particularity of texture is not a bias to overcome.

(Fiction writers aren't off the hook here, either, as the objectivity impulse shows up in character work as a kind of narrative fairness, an instinct to balance every flaw with a redeeming quality, to make sure no one comes off too badly, to give everyone their due. That's great! No one likes reading a flat, stock character. But neither do we enjoy reading characters who seem to somehow be...supervised.

In either genre, readers just want characters who are true and believable.

In your next self-editing pass, look for abstracted emotion: I was angry. It felt like a betrayal. Look also for places you've told the reader how to feel or react. Replace these with a vengeance!

Don't just focus on that one sentence, though. Go back to where the scene or passage begins, even is that's one hundred pages ago. What concrete detail is missing, or what sensory description? What did the character notice, avoid noticing, or misread entirely?

Reader Question of the Week

Kaylee wrote: One question I have about creating a query letter is how much information about the story should be included. I would want to give enough details to get someone's attention without giving away too much of the plot.

Kaylee! Query letters are tricky because despite what the self-proclaimed experts say, there is no one-size-fits-all. It's easier to approach them when you remember that the ultimate goal of a query letter isn't to tell the whole story but to make an agent or editor curious enough to want to read more. That's it! That's the only job it was!

If you're submitting a single piece rather than a full manuscript, a good rule of thumb is to focus on three things in a couple of sentences: your protagonist, the central conflict, and the stakes. You want them to finish your query thinking "I need to know what happens next" not "I feel like I've already read this."

Full manuscript queries should have two to three paragraphs for the story summary portion. Introduce your main character and what they want, describe the obstacle or conflict standing in their way, and hint at the consequences if they fail, all without revealing the ending. That's for the synopsis.

Want to Submit a Reader Question to Helene?

Give in to the urge.

Link of the Week

Speaking of bookstores, I present for your enjoyment a roundup of "14 of the Most Unique* Bookstores Around the World."

*MOST UNIQUE?????? How can some thing be VERY or REALLY or TRULY or MOST one-of-a-kind?

I ❤️ Hearing from You!

Comments? Just reply to this email or click this link. I respond to every email—that's a promise.

Thanks for reading!

~Helene, your writing sherpa