I recently enjoyed another Laura Kalpakian class at the local community college. Several things in the class jumped out at me as new information so I thought I would share with you.
First, we were asked to research literary agents to find a suitable agent for our query letter. Several people mentioned the website of the agent they chose was one of the primary reasons. Issues like inviting design, easy navigation, and word choice were mentioned. As a website developer, I ignore the design unless it seriously stinks or the functionality doesn’t work. But I’m jaded. It was nice to hear how other writers are impacted by a good website. Be careful — you literary agents out there. We are watching.
Second, two members of the class mentioned they specifically wanted local (to Washington state) agents in case they wanted to meet the agents at some point. I didn’t know there were agents in this state so that was a nice surprise. Also, I think of the world as getting smaller with twitter, email, and websites but I guess not everyone feels that way.
Third, I must admit before I took her other class, I didn’t know who Laura Kalpakian was. In the first class, a self-editing class, somehow the author’s flair for word choice didn’t stand out. I probably wasn’t paying attention. However, that wasn’t the case this time. She listened to our query letters (without a paper copy in front of her), and gave an oral critique then went so far as to suggest wording, sentence, or paragraph structure changes. This editing on the fly (up to a thousand words at a time) is a skill people. I was in awe watching a true wordsmith. I had yet to met one until last night.