On May 16 and 17, Anne Sowards, associate editor of Ace Books, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of the Berkley Group/Penguin Putnam, interviewed thirty-three members of the DFW Writers Workshop.

Members who wished to be interviewed were asked to submit three pages of their manuscript ahead of time, then discussed them during a fifteen minute interview. 

When I asked her what she looked for in those three pages she said, “Whether or not I liked the characters and wanted to find out what happened next.”

Anne has been with Ace seven years July 15th and when I asked her what brought her into a career in editing, she replied, “I love books!”. 

During lunch at Spring Creek Bar-b-que, Anne talked about what she looks for in a manuscript and what catches her interest.

“I look for characters I care about and a story that interests me. I just think most people who have invested several hours of their life in reading a novel don't want all the characters to die at the end. So I like there to be some hope, even if it's not all sunshine and light. The best books are ones that can be enjoyed on multiple levels. They have a gripping story, with characters I care deeply about, and can be enjoyed on a surface level. But if underneath the enjoyable story there is symbolism and theme and that sort of thing then the book becomes much stronger.”

Anne said she preferred not to get outlines. Outlines, she said, should be about five pages or less because “I just think a traditional outline form (with roman numerals and A, B, C) is more appropriate to nonfiction than a novel (plus it looks silly).  A novel is a story, and is better told in the format used for fiction.”

On the synopsis she said, “If a synopsis is too long I get bored. I don’t know who these people are yet, so I don’t care enough to know every detail. I just need a short synopsis that will give me a general idea of what happens in the book.”

“I prefer to see the first three chapters, a synopsis and an SASE for the reply.”

Anne mentioned she is also looking for mysteries.  “At Berkley, we do well with cozy mysteries, that often include recipes or knitting patterns. Lillian Jackson Braun, Susan Wittig Albert, Claudia Bishop, Monica Ferris, Nancy Fairbanks, Emily Brightwell and Earlene Fowler are examples of these types of mysteries. My personal favorite authors (published by others) are Sharyn McCrumb, Anne Perry, and Laurie R. King. And then just for fun, I love Nancy Martin's series about a broke socialite who's working as a society columnist to pay the bills, encountering dead bodies along the way.”

 “I have about 90% science fiction & fantasy to 10% mystery, but this may change as I discover more mysteries I love. “

The Workshop entertained her Saturday night at Workshop President Jackie Weather's home with a Tex-Mex dinner catered from Miguelitos' in Bedford for members and their spouses.

Sunday morning we brunched with Anne, our last chance to chat with her before returning to New York.  The weekend was a productive one, for both the Anne and the Workshop, with quite a few members with requests for manuscripts. ■
“Our visit with Anne Sowards was a definite success,” says Jackie Weathers, Workshop President.  “We've made a friend of someone who will be in the business for a long time . I was impressed with the professional and friendly way she interacted with everyone and with her short seminar at the restaurant. She actually gave me some editors to contact for my own book.”