Reading Wednesday
Oct. 2nd, 2019 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhHow to Write a Book Proposal (5th edition) by Jody Rein, Michael Larsen. A nonfiction step-by-step guide to, well, writing a book proposal. Since there seems to be some confusion over this: a book proposal is a lengthy pitch (not uncommonly 50+ pages) used to sell nonfiction books to agents and/or publishers. Fiction mostly does not use proposals, or, at most, uses extremely short and simplified ones; instead, fiction is primarily sold via a complete manuscript. Nonfiction writers can get away with having written only one or two chapters of the proposed book and still have it picked up on the basis of the idea. As a result, How to Write a Book Proposal has almost no advice for fiction writers, simply because they're not a relevant audience.
How to Write a Book Proposal divides potential nonfiction writers into two groups: those who write what they dub "promotion-driven books" (things like inspirational books, cookbooks, business books, celebrity books; books where a great deal of the sales are going to come from the platform the author already has) and those who write "prose-driven books" (memoirs, historical narrative, literary journalism, science writing; books where the drive is less the author's name and more the power of the story itself). Although both groups need to write a proposal to sell their books, the proposals for each differ slightly, and Rein and Larsen go into plenty of detail on how to adjust an ideal proposal to your book's specific strengths.
How to Write a Book Proposal is organized around the potential proposal itself, with chapters going in-depth to each particular part of a proposal (author bio, comps, detailed table of contents, etc) and how to write it, what to include, how long it should be, and any other information a writer could possibly need. Rein and Larsen even offer advice on what order to work on the proposal – different from the order in which it should ultimately be assembled! – to provide the most efficient use of research, planning, and writing. It's wonderfully up-to-date (particularly compared to another proposal advice book I'm currently reading, in which emailing agents is a new concept), with plenty of links to websites for agent contact information, or further advice, or additional sample proposals. There are dozens of examples of actual proposals included in this book itself, which I loved; sometimes it's just so much easier to see something than to have it explained.
One drawback, for me, was that I felt How to Write a Book Proposal is slightly more geared towards promotion-driven books, whereas I was most interested in advice for prose-driven books. Though I suppose this is fair enough, since promotion-driven books require a more complicated proposal (prose-driven books, being a bit closer to fiction in appeal, lean harder on the sample chapters – which is also a bit like selling fiction).
Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone looking into writing a book proposal.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey. Book Eight in The Expanse series. I complained in my review for the previous book in this series, Persepolis Rising, it was unbelievable that none of the main characters had died despite the extremely long passage of time and many, many dramatic adventures.
Welp. I guess I got my wish, because Tiamat's Wrath is killing off characters left and right, including in literally the very first sentence.
The Laconian Empire, established on the shoulders of Martian military prowess and a bunch of alien technology even they don't quite understand, has a stranglehold over all the many solar systems where humanity has established itself. There's a Resistance, of course – there's always a Resistance – but given Laconian superiority in weaponry, communications, government, trade, education, and pretty much every other field, it's a Resistance that's dwindling and feels increasingly futile. Of our main characters, Holden has been imprisoned in the Laconian capital for years; Naomi is a leader of the Resistance's spies, focused on gathering and disseminating information; Alex and Bobbie are on the only warship the Resistance has that's maybe capable of winning even a minor battle (a ship stolen from the Laconians, of course); and Amos has disappeared while on an undercover mission, not heard from in years.
The Laconians have better things to worry about than this petty Resistance: primarily figuring out what happened to the protomolecule builders and how they can avoid the same fate. Towards which goal they proceed to declare war on physics-defying, unknowable, deadly... things. Great choice, guys. Unsurprisingly, this immediately has devastating consequences for the Laconians (shocking consequences – I literally gasped), though I suspect most of the ramifications won't make themselves clear until the next book.
Outside of the many literal deaths, Tiamat's Wrath is a book hugely concerned with the idea of death; as the eighth book in a nine-book series, a sense of endings and wrapping-up hangs over everything. This theme is best encapsulated in a litany that first appears in Bobbie's memories of her dying father, but which she repeats over and over in her narration: Who am I? Did the things I accomplished matter? Will I leave the universe a better place than I found it? If I don’t come back, what are my regrets? What are my victories? Alex is confronted with the news that his son is marrying, and struggles with the next generation of Resistance fighters. Naomi considers what it means to fight a war that is, realistically, unwinnable. And everyone just wants to go home, whatever that means.
Tiamat's Wrath also brings up the question of, what even is death, anyway? We've already had Winston Duarte, literal immortal, and now there's consideration of expanding his one-man immortality club to include his fourteen-year-old daughter and theoretical heir (do immortals have heirs?), Teresa, or his pet mad scientist, Dr. Cortázar. In addition, there is a character whose body seems perfectly healthy but whose soul seems to have left the building – or perhaps the entire dimension. There's even a few reanimated corpses. But are the things living behind their eyes their former human occupants, or some sort of new protomolecule development? And how would you tell the difference, in what may be the highest stakes Turing Test ever administered? With all of this, the line between life and death is not as clear as it used to be.
This time around our POVs are Naomi, Alex, Bobbie, Teresa (spoiler alert: it turns out that growing up in the poisoned infighting of halls of power plus being around unethical experiments involving exposing humans to mysterious alien goo does bad things to your psyche), and Elvi Okoye (renowned scientist specializing in alien biologies; she's been unwillingly incorporated into the Laconian military as the only way to continue her research. She previously appeared in Cibola Burn, but I enjoyed her character MUCH more here). Yes, that does mean that for the first time ever, Holden doesn't have a POV! Okay, he sort of does – he gets the prologue, epilogue, and one chapter set exactly in the middle of the book. But still! Such a change from previous books, and a direction I didn't expect The Expanse to go in.
Overall, I didn't enjoy Tiamat's Wrath quite as much as some of the highest points of this series, but it's a very good book, and I cannot wait to read the conclusion. I don't where this story is going to end up, but I bet it's awesome.
Also, one more quote, since I loved this quip: This was the problem with thousand-year Reichs. They came and they went like fireflies.
What I Plan to Read Next
Happy October 2nd, everyone! AKA: the second of my thirty-one days of Halloween celebrations. I have quite a nice stack of horror novels to work through this month, but I could always use more. What I've already read is too long to list (you could start here, but that only covers the most recent three years or so), but if you don't mind that caveat, I'll happily take recommendations!
How to Write a Book Proposal divides potential nonfiction writers into two groups: those who write what they dub "promotion-driven books" (things like inspirational books, cookbooks, business books, celebrity books; books where a great deal of the sales are going to come from the platform the author already has) and those who write "prose-driven books" (memoirs, historical narrative, literary journalism, science writing; books where the drive is less the author's name and more the power of the story itself). Although both groups need to write a proposal to sell their books, the proposals for each differ slightly, and Rein and Larsen go into plenty of detail on how to adjust an ideal proposal to your book's specific strengths.
How to Write a Book Proposal is organized around the potential proposal itself, with chapters going in-depth to each particular part of a proposal (author bio, comps, detailed table of contents, etc) and how to write it, what to include, how long it should be, and any other information a writer could possibly need. Rein and Larsen even offer advice on what order to work on the proposal – different from the order in which it should ultimately be assembled! – to provide the most efficient use of research, planning, and writing. It's wonderfully up-to-date (particularly compared to another proposal advice book I'm currently reading, in which emailing agents is a new concept), with plenty of links to websites for agent contact information, or further advice, or additional sample proposals. There are dozens of examples of actual proposals included in this book itself, which I loved; sometimes it's just so much easier to see something than to have it explained.
One drawback, for me, was that I felt How to Write a Book Proposal is slightly more geared towards promotion-driven books, whereas I was most interested in advice for prose-driven books. Though I suppose this is fair enough, since promotion-driven books require a more complicated proposal (prose-driven books, being a bit closer to fiction in appeal, lean harder on the sample chapters – which is also a bit like selling fiction).
Overall I would highly recommend this to anyone looking into writing a book proposal.
I read this as an ARC via NetGalley.
Tiamat's Wrath by James S.A. Corey. Book Eight in The Expanse series. I complained in my review for the previous book in this series, Persepolis Rising, it was unbelievable that none of the main characters had died despite the extremely long passage of time and many, many dramatic adventures.
Welp. I guess I got my wish, because Tiamat's Wrath is killing off characters left and right, including in literally the very first sentence.
The Laconian Empire, established on the shoulders of Martian military prowess and a bunch of alien technology even they don't quite understand, has a stranglehold over all the many solar systems where humanity has established itself. There's a Resistance, of course – there's always a Resistance – but given Laconian superiority in weaponry, communications, government, trade, education, and pretty much every other field, it's a Resistance that's dwindling and feels increasingly futile. Of our main characters, Holden has been imprisoned in the Laconian capital for years; Naomi is a leader of the Resistance's spies, focused on gathering and disseminating information; Alex and Bobbie are on the only warship the Resistance has that's maybe capable of winning even a minor battle (a ship stolen from the Laconians, of course); and Amos has disappeared while on an undercover mission, not heard from in years.
The Laconians have better things to worry about than this petty Resistance: primarily figuring out what happened to the protomolecule builders and how they can avoid the same fate. Towards which goal they proceed to declare war on physics-defying, unknowable, deadly... things. Great choice, guys. Unsurprisingly, this immediately has devastating consequences for the Laconians (shocking consequences – I literally gasped), though I suspect most of the ramifications won't make themselves clear until the next book.
Outside of the many literal deaths, Tiamat's Wrath is a book hugely concerned with the idea of death; as the eighth book in a nine-book series, a sense of endings and wrapping-up hangs over everything. This theme is best encapsulated in a litany that first appears in Bobbie's memories of her dying father, but which she repeats over and over in her narration: Who am I? Did the things I accomplished matter? Will I leave the universe a better place than I found it? If I don’t come back, what are my regrets? What are my victories? Alex is confronted with the news that his son is marrying, and struggles with the next generation of Resistance fighters. Naomi considers what it means to fight a war that is, realistically, unwinnable. And everyone just wants to go home, whatever that means.
Tiamat's Wrath also brings up the question of, what even is death, anyway? We've already had Winston Duarte, literal immortal, and now there's consideration of expanding his one-man immortality club to include his fourteen-year-old daughter and theoretical heir (do immortals have heirs?), Teresa, or his pet mad scientist, Dr. Cortázar. In addition, there is a character whose body seems perfectly healthy but whose soul seems to have left the building – or perhaps the entire dimension. There's even a few reanimated corpses. But are the things living behind their eyes their former human occupants, or some sort of new protomolecule development? And how would you tell the difference, in what may be the highest stakes Turing Test ever administered? With all of this, the line between life and death is not as clear as it used to be.
This time around our POVs are Naomi, Alex, Bobbie, Teresa (spoiler alert: it turns out that growing up in the poisoned infighting of halls of power plus being around unethical experiments involving exposing humans to mysterious alien goo does bad things to your psyche), and Elvi Okoye (renowned scientist specializing in alien biologies; she's been unwillingly incorporated into the Laconian military as the only way to continue her research. She previously appeared in Cibola Burn, but I enjoyed her character MUCH more here). Yes, that does mean that for the first time ever, Holden doesn't have a POV! Okay, he sort of does – he gets the prologue, epilogue, and one chapter set exactly in the middle of the book. But still! Such a change from previous books, and a direction I didn't expect The Expanse to go in.
Overall, I didn't enjoy Tiamat's Wrath quite as much as some of the highest points of this series, but it's a very good book, and I cannot wait to read the conclusion. I don't where this story is going to end up, but I bet it's awesome.
Also, one more quote, since I loved this quip: This was the problem with thousand-year Reichs. They came and they went like fireflies.
What I Plan to Read Next
Happy October 2nd, everyone! AKA: the second of my thirty-one days of Halloween celebrations. I have quite a nice stack of horror novels to work through this month, but I could always use more. What I've already read is too long to list (you could start here, but that only covers the most recent three years or so), but if you don't mind that caveat, I'll happily take recommendations!
