Taboos for Aspiring Writers

(Picture from this website)

Confession: I'm a nerd.

This won't be a surprise to my friends who have been following this blog for any length of time. I've always been a dweeb, but now it's getting dangerous.

Because now the cool kids are actually waving to me in the halls and signing my yearbook. And now they're going to notice if I do something horribly taboo.

So, I need your help to compile a list of taboos for aspiring writers. What are the common-sense no-nos that dweebs like me don't have the common sense to avoid?

I'll start it out with a few I've heard of (or maybe at some point actually committed myself). I'll let you guess (silently, in your head, please) which ones I've committed. Add your own suggestions in the comments. Here I go.

TABOOS FOR WRITERS

1. Complaining about writing/querying/agents/publishers/bestsellers in the public eye. Jonathan Franzen, I'm looking at you.

2. Responding to a rejection or a bad review, even politely.

3. Being too familiar or chummy with an agent or editor in email, blog comments, twitter, or facebook.

4. Querying a book that hasn't been written (unless it's non-fiction, of course).

5. Querying a non-fiction book without a platform.

6. Talking about yourself more than your book in the query letter.

7. Giving agents parenting advice using twitter @ replies.

8. Fangirling (fanboying?) over favorite authors/books/movies with excessive squee-ing and OMGoodness-ing on your writing blog.

9. Posting bad writing on your blog.

10. Publicly disagreeing with the mainstream of agents or others in positions of power ("And that's why, you see, agents should be querying writers.").

11. Querying a novel in a tweet.

12. Pitching an incomplete book idea in a tweet.

13. Proposing marriage to an editor in a tweet.

14. Emailing an agent at more than one email address, for any reason.

15. Putting a smiley face in an email to an agent or editor who hasn't first smiley-faced you.

Okay, that's a good start. I'm relying on you guys to fill me in on what I've missed. 

Other interesting links and tidbits: 


Operation Awesome (always something fun going on there)


Elana Johnson (she's been writing about her writing process--good stuff)


My logline contest has closed. THANK YOU to everyone who entered. My final decision will be posted Friday. I'm excited to read somebody's awesome Nano novel this December!


And my Nano update: 8,360 words


Yes, I am some odd-8,000 words behind. I'm aware of the problem, and technical representatives are standing by to.... I'm working on it, okay! :) Have a nice day, and happy writing!

POLL Analysis: Biggest Turn-offs in a Romantic Lead

Biggest Turn-off in a Romantic Lead

Let's talk about Romantic characters. Who's hot and who's not? Or rather, what's hot and what's not?

Nerdiness is apparently HOT. Nobody voted for it as a turn-off. 

Disloyalty, on the other hand, is NOT.

Here's the breakdown in order of notness:

First, Disloyalty.
Second, Hygiene problems.
Third, a tie between Disrespect and Playboy persona
Fourth, Know-it-allness
Fifth, a four-way tie between Shyness, Bossiness, Addiction, and Indecisiveness

And Nerdiness, as we've already established, is hot.

So, pay attention, people who want to write a book only to the six people who answered this poll (hee hee). Your next romantic lead needs to be a loyal nerd who respects women and showers, isn't too smart, shy, bossy, or indecisive. And he must not drown his sorrows in alcohol or World of Warcraft. There you have it, people. I hope that helped.

Too small a sample, you say?

Posh! If you write this book, I will post a link here and you have six potential buyers pseudo-guaranteed. That's a pseudo-guarantee! It just doesn't get better than that!

In all seriousness, my friends. I need more poll participation. Or maybe I need a new poll-writer. Hmm... Must contact Obama's people.

What's the biggest turn-off in a romantic lead? We may never know. But we know it's not nerdiness. With 100% pseudo-certainty. Six out of six people declare Nerdiness super-hot.

Am I reading too much into this? Discuss below.