Week #40 – Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

Welcome to 2023!  On Mondays this year, let’s discuss and have fun with books. No I’m not writing book reviews. But this website is for writers, and writers like books right? So let’s have FUN with books!

Week #40 – Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, 1597

Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, is about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. Along with Hamlet, it’s one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Juliet is just 13 years old and the couple’s romance lasted just 24 hours.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet

Twelve facts about Romeo & Juliet, including that the Montague’s and the Capulet’s were referenced in Dante’s Divine Comedy which was written more than 250 years before Shakespeare was born.

https://www.howlifeunfolds.com/learning-education/12-facts-about-william-shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet

West Side Story (1957), an American musical, is a modern retelling set in the 1950s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story

https://www.westsidestory.com/

There are several film iterations, including 1961 [directors Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise] and 2021 [director Stephen Spielberg]. The 2021 version stars Rachel Zegler who also plays Snow White in the new Disney movie.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055614/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3581652/

Have you read Romeo and Juliet? What about West Side Story? Tell us in the comments!

Query Friday: The total (submission) package

                     

 

 Okay. You've written the best book ever. Your query letter is amazing. And you've even conquered the dreaded synopsis. What could possibly be left to do?

A few things.

1) You can create documents with all the standard number of pages that are requested. For example, 10 pages, 25 pages, 3 chapters, 50 pages, the full, and so on.

2) I also create these for QueryTracker and format them for easy pasting- like cutting out the white space between chapters.

3) After you've sent a couple of queries (especially in QueryTracker) you might notice that some agents ask for additional info, just for fun or otherwise.

Some of the more common examples include

- Asking for a log line

- Asking for target audience

- Asking for a mood-board or playlist

 I paste these things into the bottom of my query so I can paste them (or links to them) as needed.

4) Title all your submission pages appropriately. The formula I use is TITLE_Last Name_Amt.

So for the full it would read TITLE_Last Name_Full

For fifty pages it would be TITLE_Last Name_50pages

and so on.

5) Avoid labeling your drafts V3, V37, REALLYFINALTHISTIME and so on.

6) Make sure none of your pages have track changes or comments. 

7) Finally if you are really fancy,  you can change the properties on your documents so you are reflected as the author. I have heard this is especially helpful for agents who download to Kindle to read. 

If your document is saved a word doc, go to File > Info > Properties

For some folks below Properties will be a line titled AUTHOR and you can enter your name there.

For others, click on Properties and and there will be a drop down for Advanced Properties

Now a little pop up will appear that will allow you to enter all the data you want to appear for your file:

And you can fill it in with whatever details you'd like.

Hope this was helpful! If you have any query tips tech or otherwise please drop them in the comments below.

Happy Writing!

~B