Your First Novel

In Your First Novel, novelist Laura Whitcomb and seasoned literary agent Ann Rittenberg team up to provide you with the skills you need to write your dream novel and the savvy business know-how to get it published. In this all-in-one resource, you'll discover essential novel-writing techniques, such as:

   • How to best structure your research so that you can save time later
   • How to card your story before you start writing
   • What to consider when developing your cast of characters
   • How to adapt classic story structures to fit your own ideas


…and insider information on what it takes to get published, including:

   • What agents do at those three-hour power lunches—and how it affects you
   • What makes an agent instantly reject a manuscript
   • How to correctly translate submission guidelines
   • What happens if you get multiple offers—or no offers at all


Plus, learn about the publishing process from the firsthand accounts of such noted authors as Dennis Lehane, Kathryn Harrison, Jim Fusilli, Kathleen George, and others!Ann Rittenberg has been in publishing for twenty-four years, six as an editor and eighteen as an agent. She's worked on the first novels of Dennis Lehane, Kathleen George, and more, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.



Laura Whitcomb is the author of the acclaimed A Certain Slant of Light. She lives in Portland, Oregon.