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About Noah Lukeman
Noah Lukeman is President of Lukeman Literary Management Ltd, a New York based literary agency, which he founded in 1996. His clients include winners of the Pulitzer Prize, American Book Award, Pushcart Prize and O. Henry Award, finalists for the National Book Award, Edgar Award, Pacific Rim Prize, multiple New York Times bestsellers, national journalists, major celebrities, and faculty of universities ranging from Harvard to Stanford. He has worked as a Manager in the New York office of Artists Management Group, and has worked for another New York literary agency. Prior to becoming an agent he worked on the editorial side of several major publishers, including William Morrow and Farrar, Straus, Giroux, and as editor of a literary magazine.
He has been a guest speaker on the subjects of writing and publishing at numerous forums, including the Wallace Stegner writing program at Stanford University and the Writers Digest Conference at BookExpo America. He currently teaches a course online at Writers University. He earned his B.A. with High Honors in English and Creative Writing from Brandeis University, cum laude.
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Whether you are a novice writer or a veteran who has already had your work published, rejection is often a frustrating reality. Literary agents and editors receive and reject hundreds of manuscripts each month. While it's the job of these publishing professionals to be discriminating, it's the job of the writer to produce a manuscript that immediately stands out among the vast competition. And those outstanding qualities, says New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, have to be apparent from the first five pages.
The First Five Pages reveals the necessary elements of good writing, whether it be fiction, nonfiction, journalism, or poetry, and points out errors to be avoided, such as
* A weak opening hook
* Overuse of adjectives and adverbs
* Flat or forced metaphors or similes
* Melodramatic, commonplace or confusing dialogue
* Undeveloped characterizations and lifeless settings
* Uneven pacing and lack of progression
With exercises at the end of each chapter, this invaluable reference will allow novelists, journalists, poets and screenwriters alike to improve their technique as they learn to eliminate even the most subtle mistakes that are cause for rejection. The First Five Pages will help writers at every stage take their art to a higher -- and more successful -- level.
"Takes the straitjacket off punctuation…Lukeman's wit and insight make this an instant classic." —M. J. Rose
The first practical and accessible guide to the art of punctuation for creative writers. Punctuation reveals the writer: haphazard commas, for example, reveal haphazard thinking; clear, lucid breaks reveal clear, lucid thinking. Punctuation can be used to teach the writer how to think and how to write. This short, practical book shows authors the benefits that can be reaped from mastering punctuation: the art of style, sentence length, meaning, and economy of words. There are full-length chapters devoted to the period, the comma, the semicolon, the colon, quotation marks, the dash and parentheses, the paragraph and section break, and a cumulative chapter on integrating them all into "The Symphony of Punctuation." Filled with exercises and examples from literary masters (Why did Poe and Melville rely on the semicolon? Why did Hemingway embrace the period?), A Dash of Style is interactive, highly engaging, and a necessity for creative writers as well as for anyone looking to make punctuation their friend instead of their mysterious foe.
As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman hears thousands of book pitches a year. Often the stories sound great in concept, but never live up to their potential on the page. Lukeman shows beginning and advanced writers how to implement the fundamentals of successful plot development, such as character building and heightened suspense and conflict. Writers will find it impossible to walk away from this invaluable guide---a veritable fiction-writing workshop---without boundless new ideas.
“One of the best-ever books about the craft of writing. It is a book that can change the world of every writer who embraces Lukeman's ideas. His classroom on paper should be on every writer's shelf to be read again and again.” --Authorlink
--James Frey (regarding The Plot Thickens)
"This will certainly help writers of any kind defeat rejection and possibly score."
--Writers.com (regarding The First Five Pages)
Many books have been written about the query letter. But few have been written by literary agents, who receive thousands of queries each year and who grapple with them on a daily basis. Even fewer books have been written by literary agents who are currently active, who are willing to write from the trenches and offer their perspective on why they reject query letters, and why they accept them.
During his last 16 years as a literary agent, New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, President of Lukeman Literary Management Ltd and author of three critically-acclaimed books on the craft of writing, has read thousands of query letters. Now, for the first time, he offers his insights on the query letter, sharing an insider's perspective, giving insights and practical tips about what works and what doesn’t.
"Lukeman’s advice is practical—and often entails multiple, time-consuming steps—without a hint of the flakiness that creeps into many writing guides."
--Publishers Weekly (regarding The Plot Thickens)
This 100,000 word file also includes for free two of Noah Lukeman’s other books--How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent and Ask a Literary Agent.
--James Frey (regarding The Plot Thickens)
"This will certainly help writers of any kind defeat rejection and possibly score."
--Writers.com (regarding The First Five Pages)
Many books have been written about how to get published. But few have been written by literary agents, who receive thousands of submissions each year and who grapple with them on a daily basis. Even fewer have been written by active literary agents who are willing to write from the trenches and offer their perspective on why they reject manuscripts, and why they accept them. And no books have been written from an agent's perspective on what it's like, step by step, to work with an agent on a daily basis, and on how to assure that you maintain a long, happy working relationship with your agent.
How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent is the first book written from an active literary agent's perspective that teaches authors why agents reject or accept manuscripts; why they decide to represent certain authors and not represent others; the best way to approach agents; the best way to work with an agent on a daily basis; and that offers them dozens of specific resources to make the difference in their finally finding the perfect agents for their work.
New York literary agent Noah Lukeman, President of Lukeman Literary Management Ltd, has represented multiple New York Times bestsellers, winners of the Pulitzer Prize and American Book Award, National Book Award Finalists, and has himself written three critically-acclaimed books on the craft of writing, The First Five Pages, The Plot Thickens, and A Dash of Style. During his last 13 years as a literary agent he has read thousands of manuscripts and represented hundreds of book deals, and in this book he shares his insider's perspective, offers insight and practical tips about what works and what doesn’t.
How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent is a must-read for any author serious about getting published. Geared for a broad range of authors, its subject matter is relevant to authors of fiction and non-fiction, screenwriters, poets--any serious author--offering principles that will help lead to success no matter what your craft. Practical and engaging, filled with exercises, anecdotes and sidebars, this 200 plus page book takes you on a journey, and will bring you that much closer to finally landing a literary agent.
How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent includes:
* 10 Reasons Why You Need an Agent
* 9 Steps to Building Your Bio (for Fiction)
* 8 Ways to Build Your Non-Fiction Platform
* 13 Factors to Consider When Evaluating an Agent
* 24 Free Resources for Researching Agents
* 11 Fee-Based Resources for Researching Agents
* The 4 Musts of Submitting
* 4 Keys to Successful Follow Up
* 3 Resources to Protect you from Agent Scams
* 5 Ways an Agent Can Take Advantage of You
* To Use a Book Doctor?
* 7 Ways to Protect Yourself in an Agency Agreement
* To Hire an Attorney?
* What it’s Like to Work With an Agent (a Step-by-Step Timeline)
* A Publication Timeline Chart
* 15 Ways to Assure a Great Relationship With Your Agent
* 6 Reasons to Drop Your Agent
* To Self Publish?
"Lukeman’s advice is practical—and often entails multiple, time-consuming steps—without a hint of the flakiness that creeps into many writing guides."
--Publishers Weekly (regarding The Plot Thickens)
This 100,000 word file includes two additional books written by Mr.
--Jennifer Lee Carrell, Ph.D. (Harvard)
New York Times Bestselling author of Interred With Their Bones/The Shakespeare Secret
“Lukeman’s sequel to the Scottish play succeeds as both a fascinating literary exercise and an entertaining play in its own right….[A] poetic, well-paced drama.”
—Booklist
Recommended Reading, New York Magazine Fall Preview
In 1610, The Tragedy of Macbeth was first performed. 400 years later: the sequel, written as a five-act play in blank verse.
Ten years king, Malcolm sits on an uneasy throne. If Malcolm’s mind is haunted by the ghosts of his royal father (“gracious Duncan”) as well as the thane and lady who so bloodily betrayed him, Malcolm’s soul is sickened, as was Macbeth’s, by the witches’ prophecy that from Banquo’s seed would spring a line of Scottish kings: a prophecy that remained unfulfilled at the end of Shakespeare’s play. The witches also taunt Malcolm with riddles all his own: that sorrows will visit him from Ireland (where his younger brother fled upon their father’s death); that his love for Macbeth will breed fresh treachery. True to the Shakespearean model, its devious plot unfolding in five acts and its speech set to the measure of blank verse, Macbeth, Part II, draws bold the tragedy of a powerful man undone by the terrors he imagines and the truths he fails to see.
"Noah Lukeman's bold sequel to Macbeth, written in blank verse, is a fierce, memory-ridden love letter to Shakespeare, and an enthralling reminder that, in our imagination, Shakespeare's greatest plays have no end."
--Nigel Cliff, author of The Shakespeare Riots
“Lukeman did a top-notch job creating a fresh play in the style of Shakespeare. The story moves quite briskly, and takes quite a few intriguing twists....The rhythm of the words and the drama of the story would make for quite a suspenseful and entertaining show.”
—Fashionista Piranha
“Lukeman truly has mastered the Shakespearian art and created a play that can stand as a sequel to the great Shakespearian play.”
—A.M. Perez, Amanda's Weekly Zen