You later started your own literary agency. What kind of training does one go through to become an agent?

After working as an editor for several publishing houses, I decided to make the switch to literary agent. Being an editor is excellent training to being an agent, but to really learn what agents do, it's extremely helpful to work at an established literary agency. I got a job as an agent at The Sterling Lord Agency, where I learned that agents do much more than editors and writers think they do. After three years there, I started The Evan Marshall Agency, now in its fifteenth year. To get back to your question, anyone can be an agent, and working as an editor or as an agent with a large agency aren't mandatory, but they sure helped me.

Your book, "The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing," is a 16 step "blueprint" for writers. Why did you write this book?

My other life goal was to write novels, and since my early teens I'd collected and devoured writing guides. Though I enjoyed them and found them inspiring, I invariably felt they were too abstract, too vague. They didn't tell you exactly WHAT TO DO! So, over the years I began to develop a concrete, practical, step-by-step "system" for creating a novel. Once the system was firm in my mind, I tried it out on a novel of my own--and quickly sold it! It was "Missing Marlene," the first book of my Jane Stuart and Winky mystery series. For a number of years I had written articles for "Writer's Digest" magazine, and one day I mentioned to my editor that I had developed this novel-writing system. He was very interested, and eventually I signed a contract to write this book, which became "The Marshall Plan For Novel Writing." From the responses I've received since the book's publication from writers all over the world, I know I've struck a chord with this book. It's still one of the best-selling writing guides on the market, and it's used in many writing courses at universities and high schools. The companion book, "The Marshall Plan Workbook," has just been published and is also selling quickly. Helping people this way makes me very happy.

How do writers determine their "target genre," and why do you suggest that they stay committed to it?

To put it simply, a writer should target the genre he or she most likes to read. I recommend staying focused on a specific genre because it's the easiest way to sell a novel to a publisher, and to keep selling--to both publishers and readers.

Is this an extension of the "write what you know" axiom?

Yes, because if you've been reading books in a specific genre, you know what kinds of stories have been done to death and what kinds haven't. So you know if you've got a fresh new idea. An added benefit is that if you're writing what you love to read, you bring that passion to your own books.

What are "Supposes?"

A Suppose is a "what if," but more specific. You take the Lead you've created and present him or her with a life-altering crisis that becomes the catalyst for the novel.

You suggest that writers actually write down basic notes every step of the way-- their target genre, the age and gender of their lead character, character "fact lists," etc. Why is this important?

Writing down the target genre and having it tangibly visible simply serves as a reminder--"This is what I'm doing and I must stay on track, not get distracted." Keeping notes about main characters is important because it helps make the character real in the writer's mind. Often a writer doesn't use a lot of the details on the Character Fact List, but they still help the writer create someone more "real."

In determining a lead's impetus for pursuing his/her goal, you suggest "worthy, high-minded" motivations. Why do negative motivations, especially revenge, not work as well?

By definition, a story's lead is bigger than life, the kind of person we wish we were. It's easier to make readers/movie viewers/etc. want a lead to achieve a worthy goal than a negative one fueled by greed or a desire for vengeance. A skillful storyteller can pull this off (the movie "Death Wish," for example), but it's harder for a new writer. You want to sell that novel! Why make life harder?

When writing a novel, does length matter?

Yes, making your novel the correct length for its genre should be important to a writer because it's important to agents and editors. When a writer submits to my agency a historical romance that's 55,000 words long, I know I can't sell it. I also know the writer doesn't really know this market.

In a romantic subplot, can you give us examples of internal and external conflicts?

An internal conflict would be that the heroine's family was murdered by Comanches, whom she therefore despises, and the hero is Comanche. For the hero, the internal conflict would be that he has been taught that white women don't see Comanche men as human beings but as animals. The external conflict would be that the heroine's dear father, a Philadelphia banker, would die of heartbreak if his daughter married an Indian. For the hero, the external conflict is that he can't go near her without being run out of town by men with shotguns. Internal conflict = psychological stuff keeping them apart. External conflict = outside forces keeping them apart.

Many readers complain about predictability. How can a writer tell if his or her "surprises" are going to truly surprise the reader?

One good trick is to make a list of all the possible surprises you can come up with. This way, you get on paper the most predictable ones, which you can then reject. A good writer has to ask him- or herself, "What would the reader expect to happen at this point in my story, and how can I twist it around to deliver something totally opposite--yet logical?"

Why should a writer never break from viewpoint writing by using phrases like "little did he know" or "she did not hear the ringing of the telephone?"

Breaking from viewpoint shatters the illusion that the reader is living the story through the sensibilities of a specific character. When you tell us the phone rang but the character didn't hear it, you're reminding us that there's a writer pulling the strings and that this is really all just made up. When we're reading a novel, we want to believe it's "real."

Let's say I get an offer from an editor before I get an agent. Should I handle the negotiations myself, or is it truly important for me to bring an agent into the deal at this point?

It's best to bring in an agent from the start. The agent can prevent you from agreeing to terms that could haunt you for many contracts to come. For example, I recently spoke with a writer who negotiated his own first contract and agreed to an option clause that said the publisher could publish his second book ON THE SAME TERMS as for the first book. An agent would never have let that pass.

"Missing Marlene," "Hanging Hannah," and "Stabbing Stephanie," the first three books in your popular Jane Stuart and Winky mystery series, feature a literary agent who solves murders with the help of her nosy tortoiseshell cat. You put in a lot of interesting details about Jane's work as an agent--dealing with writers, editors, etc. Do these details come from your own work?

Definitely, though I leave out the boring parts! Over the years, I've seen some pretty funny, amazing, and outrageous things in publishing. In my mysteries I get to reveal all of these things to my readers, who tell me they can't get enough of this juicy behind-the-scenes stuff. The response to my mysteries has been extremely gratifying, to say the least.


To learn more about Evan's writing guides and mysteries, visit his Web site at http://www.TheNovelist.com. 

To keep up to date on Evan's tools for writers as well as his upcoming novels, you can join his mailing list at http://evanmarshall.listbot.com/.