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Welcome back to Upcoming Titles, our monthly feature where we highlight books releasing this month. As always, this is by no means a comprehensive list of forthcoming releases, just a compilation of titles we think our readers (and our contributors!) would enjoy.
Summer is in full swing and two of our PubCrawl contributors have books coming out this month, including our very own Jodi Meadows and Julie Eshbaugh! Julie’s debut will be coming out this month and we are so, so, so excited for her book to finally be out in the world!
I’m on the road a lot this month, so I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about packing all the worldly possessions I need to survive away from home. And since I neglected to schedule myself a post for this month until this very morning, packing for events is what you get to hear about today. Yay, right?
Here’s what a Jodi-author carries with her on tour:
A carry-on suitcase (the biggest the airlines will allow while still calling it a carry on), and a duffle bag. It used to be my suitcase and a purse, and then I noticed a mom with a diaper bag and a) became very jealous of her giant bag, and b) realized I could put bags inside of bags.
In the suitcase:
A tote bag with my box of swag inside. It’s pretty heavy, so it goes on the bottom, or tucked into the bottom side along the telescoping handle tubes. I just wrap the top of the bag and the handles around everything to keep it in place. The whole bag comes with me to signings, so extra signing stuff goes in here too — my copy of Incarnate, quote cards, whatever else I need to bring.
Compressible bags with different kinds of clothing in each. Shirts in one, pants in one, underthings in one. Though now that I’m thinking about it, maybe I should get more of these bags and separate entire outfits by days. This would be useful for trips with multiple stops. Hmmm.
I always carry at least one extra of all the clothes I need, just in case something horrible happens. And speaking of emergencies, I always include Feminine Supplies, a small first-aid kit, and a back-up battery for my phone.
Since I usually wear knit socks, and those are a little bulkier than store socks, I stuff those into the corners of my bag when it’s all packed. Shoe people would manage to fit shoes in here. I feel lucky when I get to an event and I am wearing sneakers.
Two vacuum bags. They’re just the Ziplock kind that you can press the air out of (I do this by sitting on them), but they’re really handy for keeping dirty laundry separate. I’m going to admit, on longer trips, I fold my laundry before putting it in there, but that’s because it compresses better than if I just shove it all in there.
My human form / aka makeup.
And in one of the outside pockets — my bag of liquids. I have a reusable quart bag with a zipper that’s pretty sturdy and fits perfectly in the top compartment.
Liquids:
I don’t have three ounces of anything in there; all my liquid containers are either in one- or two-ounce leakproof, BPA-free bottles, some with wide tops, others with narrow.
I wear contacts (gas perms, which require more liquids than soft or toric lenses), so I have to make sure I can fit a lot in there. I have dropper bottles for my contact stuff, but since they have flip tops and I’m afraid they’ll leak, I replace the flip tops with a solid screw top and change them over when I reach my destination.
If I’m going to be somewhere for a longer period of time that will require more, say, shampoo, then I usually will go in with my travel-mates to buy a bottle. But that only works if we’re going to stay in the same place for a while.
I get as many things in non-liquid form as I can. So makeup remover, even though I use a liquid or semisolid at home, I bring face wipes when I travel. If I had any dry shampoo that worked well for me (the quest continues), I’d probably bring that, too.
In my duffle bag:
Computer in its sleeve, with charging cables for it and my phone (as well as my headphones).
My purse. Sometimes, once I get through security, I’ll move my hand sanitizer and other small purse liquids back here, that way I can access them without wrestling with the overhead bins.
My knitting bag with a small project inside. On my last trip, I taught two people to knit socks.
A BPA-free leak-proof plastic bottle so I can fill it up with water rather than buying a bottle of water once I get through security.
A book or two.
A light sweater or cardigan, and perhaps one of those neck pillows if it’s a long/overnight flight.
Everything goes in the same place every time, that way I can find things while I’m on the plane without having to look.
Packing started out as an elaborate game of Tetris, and while I’m sure there are still a lot of improvements I could make to my routine, I have definitely gotten better at this since I first started out!
What about you guys? Any great tricks you want to share?
Years ago, a friend told me that getting published was the easy part. It was staying published that was difficult.
I laughed a little. I died inside.
I was still trying to get published the first time, let alone a second or third time, and I wasn’t having a whole lot of success.
But perseverance won, and eventually I did get published. And because I was one of those annoying overachievers, I’d already written first drafts of the second and third books in my trilogy by the time I turned in my first book, which meant that I had some free time.
I wrote another — unrelated — book, revised it a bit, shared it with a few critique partners and my agent, and when I had another stretch of free time, I went back to it to make the manuscript shine.
But something was wrong. There were huge parts of the book that I loved, but I knew it had problems, and I wasn’t sure how to fix them. I knew the book wasn’t strong enough to give to my publisher, so I put it aside to wait for a spark of brilliance to tell me how to fix it.
That book is still waiting. I had to move on. So I finished writing my first series (again), and I wrote another new book. I gave it to critique partners. I gave it to my agent. I revised the snot out of it. And I thought it was ready, so I gave it to my publisher. They said they didn’t think this was the very best followup to my first series.
Crushed.
I started thinking about that thing my friend had said years before. I started wondering if maybe she was right. I’d been published! People liked my book! But I’d put one new book aside because I knew it wasn’t ready, and I’d had to put the other new book aside because my career wasn’t ready.
But because I had no desire to starve to death and a very strong desire to keep my career in motion, I wrote yet another new thing (while finishing working on my first trilogy). All the necessary people liked it and approved it, and that book became my second series. (For those wondering if that pattern continued, it did not. There were no books between that one and what will be my third series.)
I’m sharing all this because I think a lot of writers believe that once you’re published, you can hand in new books and a couple of years later, they appear on shelves. Not true! New books must go through the same rigorous acquisitions process as the first one, but this time with sales records of your previous books as a key factor in what the publisher decides to do.
I know a lot of authors who’ve written new things after they’ve been published, and for one reason another, had to trunk them. Maybe they knew from the start it wasn’t ready. Maybe their agent said it wasn’t ready. Maybe their publisher said it wasn’t ready.
And you know, there’s no shame in that. Trunked manuscripts — no matter what stage of your career they were written — are still useful creatures. There are no wasted words in writing, even if those words never make it to the bookshelves. All that experiences goes into the next new thing, which will be even stronger than the last ones.
We all have trunked manuscripts. Lots come before getting published the first time, but they happen after, too. For a lot of writers.
And it’s totally okay. Just keep writing. Keep looking forward. (And hopefully one day, you can resurrect the trunked manuscripts you particularly love. That is my plan!)
Happy New Year! Can you believe PubCrawl is four years old this year? How time does fly! This little blog will be toddling off to grade school before we know it, sniff.
Anyway, to start off another awesome year with us, we thought we’d let y’all know what we PubCrawlers (current and alumni) are publishing this year!
E.C. Myers
Against All Silence
Available May 23, 2016!
After being a key figure in the exposing of government corruption, Max Stein has spent a quiet semester abroad in Paris, studying, staying off the Internet, and looking for his long-lost mother. But just as he is about to fly back to the United States for the holidays, trouble manages to find him once again.
Max receives a call from Penny, his on-again-off-again girlfriend who is part of the expert hacking duo DoubleThink. She wants him to meet with Ada Kiesler, a high-profile whistleblower hiding out at a foreign embassy in Berlin. Max has no interest in getting drawn into another corporate conspiracy. But when airport security suddenly detains him on suspicion of cyber-terrorism, he has little choice but to get involved. Soon Max and Penny are tangling with a new group of shadowy figures who are determined to control how the world shares its information. And some figures from Max s past resurface, including his own mother, whose life has mirrored his own in more ways than he d realized.
In this action-packed follow up to The Silence of Six, Max and his hacker friends must fight to expose a corrupt corporation that has been systematically taking control of the Internet.
E.C. MYERS was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and the public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of the Andre Norton Award–winning young adult novel Fair Coin and Quantum Coin, as well as numerous short stories. His latest novel, The Silence of Six, is a thriller about teenage hackers and government conspiracies. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at ecmyers.net and on Twitter @ecmyers.
Stacey Lee
Outrun the Moon
Available May 24, 2016!
From the author of the critically acclaimed Under a Painted Sky, an unforgettable story of determination set against a backdrop of devastating tragedy. Perfect for fans of Code Name Verity.
San Francisco, 1906: Fifteen-year-old Mercy Wong is determined to break from the poverty in Chinatown, and an education at St. Clare’s School for Girls is her best hope. Although St. Clare’s is off-limits to all but the wealthiest white girls, Mercy gains admittance through a mix of cunning and a little bribery, only to discover that getting in was the easiest part. Not to be undone by a bunch of spoiled heiresses, Mercy stands strong—until disaster strikes.
On April 18, an historic earthquake rocks San Francisco, destroying Mercy’s home and school. With martial law in effect, she is forced to wait with her classmates for their families in a temporary park encampment. Mercy can’t sit by while they wait for the Army to bring help. Fires might rage, and the city may be in shambles, yet Mercy still has the ‘bossy’ cheeks that mark her as someone who gets things done. But what can one teenaged girl do to heal so many suffering in her broken city?
Breakout author Stacey Lee masterfully crafts another remarkable novel set against a unique historical backdrop. Strong-willed Mercy Wong leads a cast of diverse characters in this extraordinary tale of survival.
Stacey has two books coming out in 2016!
Catch a Falling Heart
Pub date not yet available
A 16-year-old aromateur with an extraordinary nose, the last in a long line of love witches, scrambles to reverse the effects of a love elixir after giving it to the wrong target—all while trying not to fall for the woman’s attractive son. Publication is set for fall 2016.
STACEY LEE is a fourth generation Chinese-American whose people came to California during the heydays of the cowboys. She believes she still has a bit of cowboy dust in her soul. A native of southern California, she graduated from UCLA then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. After practicing law in the Silicon Valley for several years, she finally took up the pen because she wanted the perks of being able to nap during the day, and it was easier than moving to Spain. She plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes YA fiction.
Jodi Meadows
The Mirror King
Available April 5, 2016!
Wilhelmina has a hundred enemies.
HER FRIENDS HAVE TURNED. After her identity is revealed during the Inundation, Princess Wilhelmina is kept prisoner by the Indigo Kingdom, with the Ospreys lost somewhere in the devastated city. When the Ospreys’ leader emerges at the worst possible moment, leaving Wil’s biggest ally on his deathbed, she must become Black Knife to set things right.
HER MAGIC IS UNCONTROLLABLE. Wil’s power is to animate, not to give true life, but in the wraithland she commanded a cloud of wraith mist to save herself, and later ordered it solid. Now there is a living boy made of wraith—destructive and deadly, and willing to do anything for her.
HER HEART IS TORN. Though she’s ready for her crown, declaring herself queen means war. Caught between what she wants and what is right, Wilhelmina realizes the throne might not even matter. Everyone thought the wraith was years off, but already it’s destroying Indigo Kingdom villages. If she can’t protect both kingdoms, soon there won’t be a land to rule.
In this stunning conclusion to THE ORPHAN QUEEN, Jodi Meadows follows Wilhelmina’s breathtaking and brave journey from orphaned criminal on the streets to magic-wielding queen.
Jodi also has two books coming out in 2016, plus an e-novella!
My Lady Jane
Available June 7, 2016!
For fans of The Princess Bride comes the comical, fantastical, romantical, (not) entirely true story of Lady Jane Grey.
Lady Jane Grey, sixteen, is about to be married to a total stranger—and caught up in an insidious plot to rob her cousin, King Edward, of his throne. But that’s the least of Jane’s problems. She’s about to become Queen of England. Like that could go wrong.
JODI MEADOWS lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the Incarnate Trilogy and The Orphan Queen Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen).
*A Kippy is a cat.
Julie Eshbaugh
Ivory and Bone
Available June 14, 2016!
The only life seventeen-year-old Kol knows is hunting at the foot of the Great Ice with his brothers. But food is becoming scarce, and without another clan to align with, Kol, his family, and their entire group are facing an uncertain future.
Traveling from the south, Mya and her family arrive at Kol’s camp with a trail of hurt and loss behind them, and hope for a new beginning. When Kol meets Mya, her strength, independence, and beauty instantly captivate him, igniting a desire for much more than survival.
Then on a hunt, Kol makes a grave mistake that jeopardizes the relationship that he and Mya have only just started to build. Mya was guarded to begin with—and for good reason—but no apology or gesture is enough for her to forgive him. Soon after, another clan arrives on their shores. And when Mya spots Lo, a daughter of this new clan, her anger intensifies, adding to the already simmering tension between families. After befriending Lo, Kol learns of a dark history between Lo and Mya that is rooted in the tangle of their pasts.
When violence erupts, Kol is forced to choose between fighting alongside Mya or trusting Lo’s claims. And when things quickly turn deadly, it becomes clear that this was a war that one of them had been planning all along.
JULIE ESHBAUGH writes young adult fiction. She is the author of the upcoming Ivory and Bone (HarperCollins, 2016.) You can visit Julie’s website, add her on Goodreads and follow her on Pinterest and Twitter @JulieEshbaugh.
S. Jae-Jones
Wintersong
Available September 13, 2016!
Beware the goblin men and the wares they sell.
All her life, nineteen-year-old Liesl has heard tales of the beautiful, mysterious Goblin King. He is the Lord of Mischief, the Ruler Underground, and the muse around which her music is composed. Yet, as Liesl helps shoulder the burden of running her family’s inn, her dreams of composition and childish fancies about the Goblin King must be set aside in favor of more practical concerns.
But when her sister Käthe is taken by the goblins, Liesl journeys to their realm to rescue her sister and return her to the world above. The Goblin King agrees to let Käthe go—for a price. The life of a maiden must be given to the land, in accordance with the old laws. A life for a life, he says. Without sacrifice, nothing good can grow. Without death, there can be no rebirth. In exchange for her sister’s freedom, Liesl offers her hand in marriage to the Goblin King. He accepts.
Down in the Underground, Liesl discovers that the Goblin King still inspires her—musically, physically, emotionally. Yet even as her talent blossoms, Liesl’s life is slowly fading away, the price she paid for becoming the Goblin King’s bride. As the two of them grow closer, they must learn just what it is they are each willing to sacrifice: her life, her music, or the end of the world.
S. JAE-JONES (called JJ) is an artist, an adrenaline junkie, and the author of Wintersong (Thomas Dunne, 2016). Before moving to grits country, she was a YA fiction editor in New York City. A southern California native, she now lives in North Carolina, and many other places on the internet, including Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and her blog.
Stephanie Garber
Caraval
Available September 20, 2016!
An original world. A legendary competition. A mesmerizing romance. An unbreakable bond between two sisters.
Welcome to Caraval—the spell-casting first book in a fantasy series that’s perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles series and The Night Circus.
Before you enter the world of Caraval, you must remember that it’s all a game . . .
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their ruthless father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the legendary, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
Then, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation to Caraval finally arrives. So, Tella enlists a mysterious sailor’s help to whisk Scarlett away to this year’s show. But as soon as the trio arrives, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nonetheless soon becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with her sister, with Legend, and with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.
STEPHANIE GARBER loves Disneyland because it’s the one place on earth where she feels as if the fantastical stories she loves to write about could actually come to life. When she’s not writing young adult fantasy, she teaches creative writing a private college in northern California. Her debut novel, Caraval, will be published by Flatiron Books/Macmillan (US) and Hodder & Stoughton (UK) in fall 2016.
And of course we couldn’t let the publication of our dear PubCrawl alumni pass without a mention! Here are some forthcoming books from PubCrawl members past!
Alexandra Bracken
Available now!
Susan Dennard
Available now!
Sarah J. Maas
Available May 3, 2016!
Sarah J. Maas
Throne of Glass #5 (no pub date available)
Marie Lu
The Young Elites #3 (no pub date available)
Amie Kaufman
Gemina (Illuminae #2) (no pub date available)
(with Jay Kristoff)
Leigh Bardugo
Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) (September 27, 2016)
Sometimes, terrible things happen to characters. It’s just a fact of fiction.
But as authors, sometimes we want pull back before things get too awful for our sweet, precious characters. Sometimes we want to make things easy because we love them.
My dear writer friends, that is not how our characters grow. Like mama birds shoving their chicks out of the nest to make them fly, we must make everything just awful so their true potential can shine.
Here are a few ways I like to shove my character birdies out of the nest:
Take away something they love.
Give them something they want. Take it away.
Make it impossible for them to have something they want because of their own action/inaction.
Do the opposite of what they want. If they want to go right, force them left.
Make someone else want the thing your character wants so they have to race for it.
Give someone else the thing your character wants.
Use one goal against another in a battle of What’s Most Important?
Destroy the thing they want so that no one can have it. (Cackling encouraged.)
Okay, lots of my ways to ruin lives involve waving what they want in front of them—then snatching it away. That sounds really, really mean, but believe me, properly motivated characters are characters willing to take action. And the closer they get to what they want, the harder they work.
And if the thing they want is gone/impossible to get, the character might have to reach higher for a new goal— something they didn’t know they wanted until everything else was stripped away. Maybe they couldn’t see it before. Maybe their focus was divided.
Don’t limit their goals to one thing, though! Give them a few things to desire, even if they mostly take action toward one thing. Keeping loved ones safe is always a good goal. Going after their personal dreams is another good one. Family and dreams can be good at conflicting with one another. (Sometimes families want characters to be a blacksmith, but the character wants to be a candlemaker! And sometimes characters have to choose between saving the blacksmith family from a tragic goat stampede . . . and going to the chandler convention in the next town over.)
And heck, definitely use combinations of the above list. Don’t limit yourself to one trick. Push until those little character birdies fly.
How else do you like to ruin your characters’ lives motivate your characters to take action?
Hey PubCrawlers, JJ here on a special Tuesday post. Today our very own Erin Bowman has a new book out! Come, raise a glass, toast our friend, and celebrate!
Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, it’s finally here!
If you guys have been living under a rock, then you might not have heard of Erin’s awesome new YA Western pitched as True Grit meets the legend of the Lost Dutchman. I’ve wanted this book ever since I read the synopsis:
Vengeance Road
Welcome to the Wild West.
When Kate Thompson’s father is killed by the notorious Rose Riders for a mysterious journal that reveals the secret location of a gold mine, the eighteen-year-old disguises herself as a boy and takes to the gritty plains looking for answers and justice. What she finds are devious strangers, dust storms, and a pair of brothers who refuse to quit riding in her shadow. But as Kate discovers more about her family’s secrets, she gets closer to the truth about herself and must decide if there’s room for love in a heart so full of hate.
In the spirit of True Grit, this novel makes the cutthroat days of the Wild West come to life for a new generation.
If that doesn’t make you want to read this, then just check out this trailer!
If you’re still not convinced, then look at the heaps of praise piled on to Vengeance Road!
★ An unflinchingly bloody tale of the Wild West…Thoroughly engrossing.
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
A vivid portrait of a lawless world…The book demands the same stoicism from its readers as the heroine herself possesses.
—School Library Journal
Refreshingly believable. Readers will be entranced by Bowman’s swiftly paced, romantic revenge drama.
—Booklist
Fast-paced [and] entertaining.
—VOYA
A story of grit, love, and deadly revenge that climbs off the page and into your heart–saddle up for a thrilling, harrowing ride!
—Alexandra Bracken, NYT bestselling author of The Darkest Minds trilogy
Vengeance Road is a page-turning, unputdownable story of revenge. Bowman paints a thrilling, vivid picture of 1877 Arizona, and Kate is a heroine to be reckoned with.
—Jessica Spotswood, author of The Cahill Witch Chronicles
Gritty and honest, Vengeance Road captures the heart of the Wild West.
—Mindy McGinnis, author of Not a Drop to Drink
A take-no-prisoners heroine with a bloody debt to settle. I’m still breathing in the dust and hot Arizona sun.
—Megan Shepherd, author of The Madman’s Daughter
Relentlessly readable, Vengeance Road is a perfect western. You won’t be able to turn in until you get to the very last page!
—Saundra Mitchell, author of The Springsweet
Flinty and fierce, Kate is a formidable addition to the pantheon of tough young adult heroines. Her story and voice crackles to life.
—A.C. Gaughen, author of the Scarlet trilogy
Gold madness, a good-for-nothing posse, and frontier justice: Vengeance Road is everything you could want in a Western.
Jodi Meadows, author of the Incarnate trilogy
Vengeance Road had a bit of everything I love most in storytelling: a kick-butt heroine, life-or-death stakes, action to make my heart pound, and morals that go gray around the edges. This is the kind of book I’ll re-read again and again.
—Susan Dennard, author of the Something Strange and Deadly series
Based on all the excitement over Erin’s cover reveal, I know I’m not the only one dancing to read this. I love a good western. Growing up in California, my family history was shaped by the Wild West, gold mining, and cattle ranching, and the cowboy mystique holds some shiny for me still. I can’t WAIT to share this book with y’all!
To celebrate Erin’s release, I am giving away one hardcover copy of Vengeance Road. Tweet us a message, visit our Facebook page, add to your Goodreads shelves, or leave us a comment letting us know what your favourite Western is! Contest open until September 8, 2015 (sorry, US only!).
ERIN BOWMAN is a YA writer, letterpress lover, and Harry Potter enthusiast living in New Hampshire. Her Taken trilogy is available from HarperTeen, and her new book Vengeance Road is out now from HMH. You can visit Erin’s blog (updated occasionally) or find her on Twitter (updated obsessively).
ALSO! Two other PubCrawlers (one current, one alumna) also have books/novellas out today! Congrats to Jodi Meadows for the release of The Glowing Knight (an Orphan Queen novella) and Sarah J. Maas for the release of Queen of Shadows!
Lately, I’ve been building a proposal for Cell Story, my work in progress.
Proposals are a surprising amount of work, mostly because there’s so much that I need to address that I don’t necessarily know about yet. Mine tend to be really detailed and have a lot of things others might not need, but my agent and I are on the more-is-better side of the fence when it comes to these things.
Here’s what we always include:
1. A sample of the writing.
Contracts for option projects generally say they require three chapters and a synopsis, but three chapters just isn’t enough for me. Again, I’m in the more-is-better camp, so for this project, I have about 30,000 words written and revised. That’s a third of the book. (I think. I hope only a third.) I figure, the more of the actual story I can offer them (editors and acquisitions people), the better idea they will have of the story I’m trying to tell.
And it’s not just for them. I want to make sure I’m enjoying the story enough to keep going. It’s a huge commitment, agreeing to write an entire book! I don’t want to get a few chapters in and discover it’s not a project I want to spend at least the next two years with. So I write as much as I can, because I want to be sure of it for myself, too.
2. Elevator pitch.
It’s important to be able to tell someone quickly what the book is about. When you’re doing a signing in a store and someone walks up to your table and asks what the book is about, they want a sentence, not a speech. Hook them with a short description to make them want to hear the longer version.
I try to hammer these out from the very beginning, because it’s useful to know how I’ll describe the book–and also because it’s something I can always refer back to if I lose focus.
3. Query/flap-copy description.
I usually write a query-style description of the book even before I start–it helps me get a better idea of the story I’m wanting to tell–so all I have to do for a proposal is get it polished up. (And make sure it still lines up with the story I’m going to tell. This time, it didn’t. I had to rewrite the description from scratch.)
Again, this is something I often refer back to any time I start to lose focus in the story.
4. Synopsis/es.
Synopses are one of the things most proposals will always include. Again, it’s to give the publisher people a sense that you know where you’re going with the story.
I try to have a good, detailed one for the first book. Sequels usually have something shorter and broader, closer to a query description but with an ending point, because I don’t always know how I’m going to get somewhere, but I need to know where I am going, at least.
5. Character list.
These are useful for giving a sense of the size of the cast, and simply as a reference for later. In my character lists, main characters get detailed descriptions, while minor characters get a line or two about their role in the story.
6. Location list.
Since I write fantasy, this is really useful as a reference–and for getting a quick idea of the scope of the world. Again, more important locations get longer descriptions, while minor locations get briefer descriptions. And in worlds that have a lot of moving parts and characters traveling places, this can be extremely useful for showing that there is a difference between the locations and they’re not all Generic Medieval Fantasyland.
7. Comp titles.
Comp titles are always a challenge for me, but they’re really useful for publishers when determining how to position the book and how to market it. “If you like X, then you’ll like Y!”
So there I was, buried under all these things I needed to put together when I realized how completely weird putting together proposals is. I dashed out a quick email to my agent, who responded that this needed to be a blog post. It’s a bit short for an entire post, so you get the above as a bonus. But here’s where this post began:
Proposals are kind of like announcing I’m going to decorate for Christmas.
Here’s a tree that’s decorated on one side, and I’m going to do the whole house like this! No, better than a partially decorated tree! I’ll finish decorating the tree, too, once I know what everything looks like and how the tree needs to fit in. I might have to move the tree over there. Or do you think it looks good here? I can’t tell anymore.
Scattered around are more decorations, some for the tree, but the rest for the house. It’s kind of a mess and it doesn’t look like much, but don’t worry, I have another order coming in any minute now. And a plan! This house is going to look ah-mazing. I swear. It’ll blind passersby and put all the other houses to shame. Now if only I could find the lights for the reindeer I want to put in my yard. Wait, did I order lights for that? I’ll just order some more.
Writing a book isn’t easy. I think we can all agree on that. So the realization that you might need to cut chunks — not just little pieces, like I talked about here, but big things — can hurt. I mean, after writing all those words, it can feel like a big waste to cut them!
Here are some reasons to go for it, though:
1. It’ll make the book stronger.
If you’ve already decided that a certain subplot isn’t necessary, or a scene isn’t doing enough work to deserve to stick around, or a conversation has too much blah blah and not enough interesting stuff, then you already know the story will be stronger and better paced without it. I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.
2. You’re not wasting words.
I know it can feel like that, but you’re not. Sometimes you need to write something just so you know what you don’t need in the story. Or, in my case recently, I needed to see several parts of my characters’ history, but aside from a few important moments, it wasn’t big or interesting or important enough to deserve to stay on the page. I needed to get that part of the story out of my system so could know, but that was iceberg stuff — and not the tip that shows.
As for how to make the cuts?
1. Identify what you need to keep.
Be extremely honest. If there isn’t anything that needs to stay, just highlight and cut the whole thing. (I assume you have a different draft saved somewhere else that has all this stuff. Or, if you’re using Scrivener, you’ve taken a Snapshot and have plenty of backups.)
You probably already know what needs to stay, but some general advice:
a) Can the reader understand the story without this part? If not, keep it! b) Does it move the story forward and reveal something (motivations/worldbuilding/theme) in a new way? If so, keep it!
In my case, I was cutting a bunch of flashback scenes down to the most important moments. Down from over a thousand (or two thousand!) words to under five hundred. I looked for the meatiest bits. The big, pivotal moments. The one, most important thing I needed to share with the reader.
2. Make the cut.
Yeah. It’s a big step. It gets its own number.
3. Smooth out the edges.
Chances are you chopped up some transitions and messed with your pacing when you snipped out a huge chunk of text, so go through and fix them. Take a careful look at the beginning and end of the cuts for transitions. Read the whole thing through and see how it sounds. Is it too fast now? Maybe add a beat or two to make it feel more natural. (But not too many! You cut for a reason, after all!)
Don’t be shy about going through it a few times! You’ll probably find more and more places to smooth out. It’s a delicate process, so take your time.
4. Eat a cookie.
What? You worked hard. You deserve a reward.
What do you guys think? Any tips I missed? What other advice would you give to someone who’s looking at cutting a huge chunk of their beloved book?
Years ago, when I was in competitive dance, my instructor often told the group we should practice like we meant to perform. Which meant that from the very beginning of putting together a new routine — learning new steps and memorizing choreography — we had to smile (or make whatever facial expressions were appropriate for that style of dance). We had to dance “full out,” including jumps and turns, and other things that we could have “marked” that early in the process. In the months and weeks leading up to performances, we put on a show every time. We gave it our best even when we’d done the whole dance twenty times that day and had twenty more to go.
The idea was that we’d get so used to doing the dance correctly every time, right down to replacing expressions of concentration with whatever was appropriate for that style of dance, we’d unconsciously do the same during the performance.
We practiced like we meant to perform.
Writing is not a performance art (as author Elizabeth Bear says). And thank goodness for that. But writing as if someone’s going to read this draft still benefits me. Here are some things I like to keep in mind, even as I’m writing my first draft:
1. I have a plan before I go in.
This doesn’t mean The Plan can’t change. It usually does. But The Plan gives me an idea of what the whole thing should look like — what moods and feelings I want to convey to the reader. When The Plan has to change, I don’t just adjust that one spot. I go through everything I have and figure out how the one change affects the rest. I revise The Plan accordingly.
2. I research as I go.
For big things I know about ahead of time, I research during The Plan stages. (Sometimes research will change The Plan if what I originally thought I’d do doesn’t actually work like I thought it should.) But you know those sentences where you realize you don’t actually know what grows in that climate, or when the harvest is, or . . . how the whole situation works? And it’s really just one line, so maybe it’s not that big a deal. . . .
I research it right then. It’s one of those details that will make the world feel more real. More believable. And I do it then so I don’t have to do it later. You know, after I’ve forgotten that I wanted to research something. I don’t want to risk leaving in a lazy line. (Sometimes I really do need to move on, so I leave myself a comment on that detail.)
3. I keep a critical eye on my first drafts as I write them — and I fix things.
Some days, it’s important to just write through and not look back. It can be easy to get caught up in a revision loop, never moving forward. Fixing as you go may not work for people prone to the revision loop. I’m not one of them, though. At least when it comes to the first draft. I like to push forward and see that wordcount rise.
So when I notice that the last few paragraphs I wrote feel emotionally thin, I go back. I layer in the emotion right away. This is useful for me because it puts me back in touch with my character, but it also makes that first draft better. Same with choosing the right word, making sure the motivation is clear, grammar and punctuation issues — whatever. And the more aware of any particular problem I become, the more able I am to spot it sooner.
That sort of awareness eventually becomes second nature. I don’t have to think as much about going back to cut weasel words because I didn’t write them in the first place.
Yes, this does slow down my first-draft process. Gone are the years when I could write 7,000 words a day without breaking a sweat. Now I’m more unconsciously critical of my own work, even before it hits the page, but my first drafts are stronger. Getting those things right the first time — and continuing to make them better with every revision — makes my final manuscript that much better.
Note that I still said revision. I don’t expect to have a perfect first draft. (If only!!!) The first draft is only a foundation to build the real thing off, but if I have that first draft in good shape, I can focus on more interesting story issues. I work on spotting higher-level issues that I didn’t notice in the first draft. That way, when I start my next book, I can keep those things in mind, too, and fix them as I see them. They, too, can become things I unconsciously fix before they’re ever a problem.
All that said, there is no wrong way to write. Everyone writes differently, and this is simply what works for me — writing like someone’s going to read that draft. (And someone usually does. I have a friend who likes to read my stories as they drip out of my head. She’s brave. Crazy, but brave.)
What about you guys? Do you watch your first draft, like I do? Or do you power forward and do the real heavy lifting in the revision? What works best for you?
Right now, I’m in the planning stages for a new series. I’ve barely started writing — just enough to get a good feel for the voice — and I’m making lists and lists of things I know I want to include. It’s a weird part of the process. There’s not a lot to say, “Okay, I did this today.” Ideas come randomly, and there’s not much to show for it besides a lot of daydreaming. Here’s how I’m trying to harness it all. (And make myself feel better about all that daydreaming time.)
1. A notebook.
I picked out a pretty notebook for this story. a) Pretty notebooks make me happy. b) It’s proven very useful for jotting down random ideas. (You know, those ideas you think, “There’s no way I’ll forget this!” and then immediately forget them. Know thyself. Write down those ideas.)
To be honest, getting a notebook for this story started out as an excuse to buy a notebook. But while traveling last month, I stuck the notebook in my purse — then found myself reaching for it when I experienced something that might fit with the book. I wrote down things I saw, heard, felt — and wrote lists of questions for myself. Almost out of nowhere, I wrote descriptions of fictional places I’d previously had no thoughts on.
I’ve been making note of title ideas, figuring out the story structure across the series, and stories about the world’s history. Every story-related thought that occurs to me ends up in this notebook. Unless I have my computer with me, and . . .
2. Scrivener.
I know it isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely for me. I vaguely remember how I wrote before Scrivener, and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.
One of the first things I do when I open a new Scrivener project is make a bunch of chapters, character sheets, and location sheets. They don’t need to be filled in right away. It’s just nice to have them. I also open a bunch of documents under the “research” section with things like the original idea for the story (whatever it was that intrigued me enough to write a whole novel/series about it!), any notes I’ve taken, broken down by subject, a query-style pitch, and a synopsis.
It just makes me feel good to have all those things there, ready to be filled in when I know what needs to go there.
For this particular project, since the structure is a little different than I typically write, I pulled out the index card function and used the labels to help me keep track of point of view and timeline. (So some say “so and so’s past” while others say “present.”) And because it was difficult for me to wrap my brain around writing a synopsis for such a weird timeline, I began filling in the index cards with a chapter’s worth of story each. It may not stay that way in the end (few things do make it until the final draft), but it really helped me settle on how the various stories would work and overlap and influence each other.
3. Time.
This one has been difficult for me. I get excited about projects and want to dive right in, but I’ve been forced to take this one a little more slowly. (Mostly because I haven’t had the opportunity for diving. Every time I vanquish a deadline, two more take its place.)
But taking my time with the planning stage of this project has also been incredibly useful. In my experience, the more I try to force story to happen, the less likely I am to be pleased with the results. I’ll forget details. Skip the sort of depth that I want to write about. Cause the characters to do uncharacteristic things.
Giving myself the space to dip in and out of the story — forgetting about any self-imposed deadlines — is letting me dig deeper. After all, the goal isn’t to win some imaginary race, but to write a book I’m proud of.
So, what do you think? Anything to add? Anything you do differently in this weird pre-writing stage? I want to hear it!
For the last couple of months, I’ve been posting about revision. You can find part one here, and part two here, moving from the macro to the micro.
So at this point, the biggest parts of the story should be in line. The plot, motivations, worldbuilding — it should all be in shape. You should know your characters pretty well, and the things they do should make sense. The structure of the story should be pretty sound, without too much action grouped together, or too many talky scenes grouped together . . . any of that. The story should move at a good pace that fits with the kind of story you’re telling.
But what else?
3. On to the micro.
This might seem like the tedious part, but it’s what’s going to separate the good and the great. Don’t stop just because the big stuff is in order. Dig in deeper and make that story shine. If you want to bring this back to our house analogy, imagine putting in the furniture, hanging the curtains, and picking the countertops.
a) Sentence structure.
If you notice that your sentences are all structured the same, it’s probably time to introduce some variety. Because reading the same type of sentence over and over gets boring. The reader starts to hear it in monotone. There’s no voice. It’s easy to skim.
So go ahead: make it interesting,
b) Word choice
If you’re writing a historical set in the 1500s, the characters probably won’t say “whatevs” and call one another “bro.” (And if they do, why? Make it believable.) Make sure the words your characters use are appropriate for the time period, the world, and their backgrounds.
Also, keep in mind that the words your characters use can do cool things like reflect mood, secret hopes, and whether they think the glass is half full or empty.
c) Cut the fluff.
You know those lines you thought would be important but ended up . . . not? But you still like them so you kept them? Yeah. Cut them. Sorry. This is another round of “if it doesn’t add to the story, chop it.”
So sometimes we’ll write things with a character picking up a glass in the middle of a conversation, just to give them some sort of action. But beware — sometimes those little throwaway lines can be more distracting than anything. When you’ve given yourself some space from the story, come back and chop out anything that makes you do a double take, or wonder if it’s going to be important.
If you have a block of description, figure out how to incorporate it into your characters action. Make it real. Make it tactile.
Also, cut out repeated information. Trust your reader to remember it. Unless you have a really good reason for keeping it in. There are always exceptions, of course. But a lot of times, writers will add the same information several times because they’re reminding themselves. All that is useful in first drafts, but not in the final.
d) Be consistent.
Watch out for places where your character is wearing a green dress at the start of the scene, and a blue dress by the end — without changing her clothes. Common places to look for continuity errors are distances, times, clothes, dates, character/place descriptions, and other smaller things. These can be hard to notice when you’re so close to a manuscript, so give yourself some time away. Eventually those things will pop out.
Also, try to be consistent in your words, too. Of course, spell your characters’ names the same way every time. If you call Sarah Sara a few times, the reader might wonder if they’re two different people. And, one that got me recently — I meant to capitalize House every time, but at some point thought I’d decided otherwise. As a result, I had a weird mix of both in my manuscript and had to make a lot of changes in copyedits to fix it!
So watch out for spellings, capitalizations, punctuation — other things like that. Your publisher will probably have a house style and the copyeditor will look for those things, too, but it’s a whole lot easier if you’re consistent about something. (It also makes you look more professional/careful.)
Well, I could keep going, but again this is getting pretty long. And I think I’ve covered most of what I meant to. Of course, general disclaimers apply. What works for me might not work for you, etc.
So was this helpful? Anything to add? Anything you’d like to take issue with?
With the macro, we talked about the foundations of the story. Or of a house, in our analogy. (Which is going to get pretty wonky, since I’ve never built a house. You’ll just have to roll with it.) So we’ve got the character and motivation, the worldbuilding, and the major conflicts, goals, and stakes.
For me, everything is interconnected. Characters and their choices drive the plot, the world affects how they behave — that sort of thing. So while I’m talking about everything separately, it’s important to remember that adjusting one aspect of the story will likely impact several others.
And what kind of things am I looking at on this level?
a) Characters and their motivations.
I know we did this one in the last post, but since the characters are the driving force of my stories, I check this in every step until there’s no question that my characters are behaving as they should. I take a closer look at individual scenes to make sure the character development is natural and progressing at a reasonable pace. Or regression, as the case may be. I also go through to make sure that they’re never the same person they were at the start of the scene or chapter.
What’s that mean? I mean the characters need to be active. They need to make decisions. Their situation need to change, even if it’s subtly. They can learn something that changes the way they view a problem. They can take action and be faced with the consequences — either good or bad. Action can be taken upon them, and they’ll be forced to react. Or it can be as subtle as an interaction with another character, and maybe the way they view that character is a little different now.
And that needs to happen in every scene.
b) Plot and conflict.
Speaking of scenes, let’s make sure they’re all useful. A long time ago, I was on the receiving end of some advice. Every scene needs to do two things: plot, character development, worldbuilding, or theme, and one of those things always needs to be plot. If plot is not happening, it either needs to be shoved into that scene, or that scene needs to be removed from the story. Every scene has to earn its place, after all.
Furthermore, does the plot make sense? If at any time there’s an easy solution that my characters aren’t taking, it needs to be really clear why. Someone’s breaking into their house, but they’re not calling the police — WHY? Maybe the characters are hiding a dead body in the basement and it would be a shame for the police to find it. Or whatever. But it needs to make sense why they don’t take the obvious actions.
In general, people will look for the simplest solution possible. Plots that could be solved within a few pages, if only the characters took the natural action, don’t make for good books. It’s not believable.
That said, simple, natural solutions can cause further problems. Going back to the stranger breaking into the house with the people who call the cops (because they don’t have a body in the basement after all), what if the cops come and make things worse? What if they’re on the robber’s side? Or the intruder leaves and the police don’t believe that someone broke into the house? What do the characters do from there? We have all kinds of opportunities to make things worse for the characters and find a plot that both makes sense and will fill an entire book.
c) Balance and movement.
Sometimes, I find my drafts have too many discovery scenes in a row. Or too many action scenes in a row. Or whatever. Too much of one thing at a time gets boring. (Yes, even if it’s action.) When you ride a roller coaster, it’s the steady drag upward that makes the steep drop even more thrilling. And if all you did was roll down the hill . . . even that would get boring. Stories need motion. Up and down. Side to side. They need change.
I like to go through my manuscripts to make sure I don’t have too many talky scenes in a row — or if I have several, make sure they all mean different things to the character, or are about different plots. They need to build tension.
Same for action scenes. (Which doesn’t have to mean sword fights, necessarily. They can be sword fights, of course, but they can also be car chases, kissing scenes, or characters putting their plans in motion.) Constant action, without highs and lows and change is pretty boring. A ten-page sword fight is only interesting if the reader cares about the outcome, and the situation changes rapidly. Maybe people are coming to watch. Maybe there’s money riding on the outcome. Then, an airplane is on a collision course with the fighters. And a meteor! And then someone’s delivering a baby! And more things that escalate the tension.
You get the idea. Things change. There’s movement. And there aren’t a lot of back to back talky scenes, or back to back action scenes without some kind of relief.
d) Structure: Beginning, middle, and end.
For this, I can mostly link to other blog posts about beginnings, middles, and ends. But this is another thing I take a look at when I’m revising. Do I have a solid beginning? A solid middle? A solid end? Have I resolved everything that needs to be resolved?
And that’s all I have room for this time. More next month!
There have been a lot of posts covering the revision process, but since every writer is different — and every book is different — there’s always room for anther revision post. The request for this post came with a mention of revising a Nano project, so I’ll start with sorting out the most basic first draft a person can write. Like, it’s just a collection of words on paper. Things happen. To people. Maybe it makes sense. Maybe it doesn’t.
1. Start with the macro.
That is, make sure the structure of the book is solid. There’s no point in moving furniture around a house that doesn’t have a stable foundation, or has missing walls. I mean, you can’t even put a window in when you don’t have a wall.
So first, identify the things that are important to you. Those will be what you come back to in order to ensure you’re staying true to the story you want to tell. What is the story you want to tell? What’s the most important aspect? What’s the thing that drew you to the story in the first place?
Once you know all that, you can work toward bringing what you have closer to your vision.
What are these macro things you need in place? (Since you’re writing a book, not building a house.)
a) Character and motivations.
Make sure you know your characters. When they take action — or react to something — make it consistent with what you’ve already set up. Or if someone acts out of character, be sure the reader understands why they’re doing that.
Deciding a few things early on might help. “Gabrielle never runs from a fight,” or “Alexia chooses sneakiness over directness every time,” or “Sarah always sees the good in people.” If you can figure out some basic, character-defining statements early on (just for yourself, not to state in the book), then you’re going to have a much easier time building (or reinforcing) the foundations of your character.
As you go through the draft, make sure that every decision your characters make is true to what you’ve laid out. If every single one of your character is doing this, then you’re more likely to have a solid foundation for the story, with fewer “but wait, I thought–”
b) Worldbuilding.
Speaking of “but wait, I thought–“, make sure your worldbuilding is in order. If you haven’t done so already, lay out your rules. Check them for logic. I don’t care if you’re writing space opera, steampunk, or contemporary: your world has rules and you need to know what they are.
If you’re writing something set in the real world (or real world with a twist), make sure you know all there is to know about the locations where your story is set. (Laws — written and unwritten — history, driving distances, etc.) Research is your friend for making the reader feel like they are living in your world along with your characters.
If you’re adding an element of magic to the real world, make sure your new rules are logical and consistent.
And if you’re building a whole new world . . . same thing, but you’ll have to go through and invent not just the laws and elements of magic, but the geography and cultures and even the stars in the sky. Get your macro worldbuilding solid so the micro makes sense.
c) Major conflicts, goals, and stakes.
Pull out the biggest problems for your characters. Is it getting a date to Prom? Is it saving the world? Something in between?
Make sure you’ve identified the main issues. Often you’ll find a few main plots — a couple external and an internal. (Obviously there can be more plots than that, but we’re talking main plots/basic structures.) Do your characters work toward their goals? Are the goals and conflicts connected?
A quick way to weed out useless scenes is to figure out whether or not the scene drives the plot. If a scene doesn’t get the characters closer to — or farther from — their goals, chances are you can cut it. (Or find a way to make it work.)
Sooooo . . . this is a lot of just identifying what you have on the page, and I’m already at a fairly good-sized post. I guess that means I’m breaking this topic up into parts. How many parts? I don’t know.
Anyway, I hope this is helpful for getting some of the big-picture items in order! Anyone have anything to add?
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and THE ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
A lot of times, when people get stuck in the middle of their book, it’s because they’re not totally sure what the middle is supposed to do.. Obviously the beginning sets up conflicts and the ending resolves them, but the middle? The middle is all opportunity to make things worse.
Here’s a handy numbered list.
1. Build on established conflicts.
Take a look at what you’ve already done. Build on that by reinforcing something the characters already know, or the reader knows, and show something in action.
If there’s a monster marauding through the city in the first part of the story but we haven’t seen it yet, this is a great time to give us a peek. (Cue JAWS theme.)
If someone’s threatened war, let them announce the war is on.
If there’s a plague, start killing side characters right in front of your main characters.
Show the reader that these conflicts you’ve set up are that serious by giving everyone a hint of what’s to come. The middle is the perfect spot for making everything real
2. Complicate established conflicts.
Yep, I’m counting this as different than building, because by complicating conflicts, you can use twists and reveals and other things to make everything worse.
Someone betrays our main characters.
Another character appears to shake things up.
The characters attempt to solve the problem and they make it worse.
Information is revealed and suddenly everything we thought was true is an awful lie.
I always feel like the middle is my last chance to introduce new complications to the story, be it characters or events. For me, introducing those later starts to feel a bit contrived, unless there’s a sequel and something at the very end happens to complicate the situation for the next book.
3. Nudge your characters toward the end.
You’ve just made everything awful. Give them something useful.
Information that can help them later (even if they don’t know it yet).
A hint about how they might solve the big problems.
Even give the poor characters a chance to plan to take some kind of action.
This is your chance to line up those last few dominos so everything can just go horribly (violently!?) wrong in the ending. Godspeed.
So, that’s my basic thoughts on middles. Anyone have anything to add?
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and THE ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
This month I polled Twitter for a topic and one that intrigued me was “author expectations vs. author reality.” I’m going to limit it to my top three (because wow, that got long quickly), and add how I cope with these differences, but I want to know what you guys think too!
Expectation: Publication Day is life-changing. Suddenly everyone is reading your book. Bookstore rankings are shining gold.
Reality: Nothing really changes on publication day. I mean, it’s really cool! But it’s also a little anticlimactic. There’s all this build up to the day of the book release, and then the day arrives and it’s just another day, albeit a day that people can now purchase the book you’ve spent so long writing and slaving over.
The day, while it feels like it should be all about you, isn’t really. Not totally. Other books are coming out too. Some of them might have more hype and promotion and therefore feel like they’re getting more attention. It’s a bummer. It’s really humbling. And it’s so easy to just sit at home and wonder why this life-changing event (your book is coming out!!!) feels like a let-down.
How I’ve learned to deal: The day my first book came out, I stayed at home and watched the numbers on That Retailer Site. (I was disappointed.) I answered lots of tweets! (That was great.) I went to a bookstore to find they’d lost two copies of my book and hadn’t put the other two out. (I wanted to shrivel up and die.)
The next two books, I decided to travel. And I will likely be traveling on release day for all the rest of my books if I can help it. Traveling gave me a sense of control, like I was doing something useful. When the airport small talk happened, I told people I was heading to my book launch party and I gave them my card (with my book cover on it). Traveling also keeps me from checking numbers or comparing myself to others. I don’t have time to look at those things! And, as self-centered as it may sound, it gives me the feeling that the day is all about me and my book.
And while I’ve learned to accept a slight anticlimactic feeling, I’ve also started reminding myself that things have changed. My books are out. People can buy them. People I don’t know, even. And that’s pretty great.
Expectation: I can totally write several books a year.
Reality: I’ve always been what a lot of people view as a “fast” writer. Before I was published, I often wrote two or three books a year, occasionally more. I thought a book-a-year schedule was nothing — maybe even too slow. But now that I’m on the book-a-year schedule, I realize just how difficult it actually is.
There’s not just writing the book, but editing and more editing and more editing. Crit partners get a crack at the book. So does the agent. And the editor. And just when you think you’ve spent more than seven months revising a book to death and you can’t look at it again, copyedits arrive and the book must be read yet again. And no, that isn’t all! Pass pages!
As if that wasn’t enough, while you’re getting those pass pages and copyedits, often you’re already writing a new book, so you must tear yourself from the new book, stick your head back in the first book for a week or so, and then jump into the new book again.
And then, you must promote the first book while you’re editing the new book and planning (or possibly already writing) a new new book.
And boy, if you want to write novellas or collaborate on another project in there, just forget about sleep or answering those emails piling up in the inbox.
How I’ve learned to deal: Planning and schedules has become very important to me. Also, communication. I give my agent an idea of what I have coming up, how long I think it will take me, and she doesn’t so much keep me on track (I’m an adult, after all) as check in every now and then to make sure I’m still good. That way, if I need more time on something, or I’m struggling with a book, she can help me out. I do the same thing with my editor, though that’s more limited to what is actually under contract, with harder dates for when I’d like to turn something in.
And any time I start feeling like the book-a-year schedule is too slow, I force myself to think about how busy I am this time of the year, when I’m editing a book, promoting a book, planning a new book (and in this year’s special case, writing four novellas and co-writing another book). Remembering that there insanely busy times keeps me from getting out of control.
Expectation: I can just write all day. In my pajamas. And eat cookies. It’s great.
Reality: Well, it is great, but it’s not all just writing in my pajamas and eating cookies. Sometimes people ask what a typical writing day looks like, but the truth is there is no typical day besides trying desperately to make sure you get enough writing done that you don’t feel like a failure.
There’s the never-ending emails to answer, social media accounts that like to be maintained, and all the non-book writing you do (like this blog post!) that doesn’t pay but is still useful. There’s traveling, school visits (and preparation for), bookstore visits, and festivals to attend.
While it’s true that a lot of that is fun (maybe too much fun sometimes!), it’s all time that’s spent not writing. And if you’re not careful, it can really pile up and end up with missed deadlines. After all, that stuff is work too. And writing can sometimes feel like a reward (other times punishment) that you do after all the hard work is done.
How I’ve learned to deal: I remind myself that writing is my job. Not tweeting (though how cool would that be!) or any of those other things.
When I get invited to places, or requests to do school visits/interviews/blog posts, I ask myself honestly: do I have time for this? Can I do all of this stuff around writing my book? If I feel like maybe I can’t meet my deadline and attend the fun book festival all my friends are going to . . . then I stay home and write.
For the day-to-day stuff that can make writing vanish, again, I make writing the priority. If I’m feeling distracty, I close everything else that wants my attention. And I just write. Then, after I’ve accomplished my goal for the day, I go in and take care of some of the stuff I missed.
And then I go do something fun and relaxing, because I am the kind of person who will easily overwork herself and by golly sometimes I just need to knit.
So, those are my top three expectation vs. reality. What about you guys? Any others up there? How do you deal with reality?
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and the forth coming ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much my other creative pursuits influence my writing — and even help me get through tough problems when I’m working.
There’s something about knitting, for me, that allows me to keep my hands busy and focus juuuuust a little, but frees the rest of my mind to work out a plot tangle or a question about character arcs. I’ve found the same thing in spinning (yarn, not exercise — ugh), and even calligraphy.
(Click to enlarge.)
I started wondering if some of my fellow Pub Crawlers had other creative outlets, as well. And yep. When I put out the call, they delivered.
JJ: I’ll start! When it comes to other creative outlets (or as I call them, other procrastinatory outlets ;-)), I tend to play my piano or guitar, draw, take pictures, or redesign my website. I think they all fulfill different functions; for example, I often redesign my website when I’m stuck or between drafts because fiddling with CSS and other types of code is soothing. There is something about typing one thing and have it show up as a concrete THING on the other end that is very, very comforting (especially when writing fiction, which is anything BUT concrete sometimes). I find it kind of mindless in the way algebra is mindless: simple enough to keep me occupied and let the subconscious wander free. (Which is why I am often redesigning my website when I am stuck.)
Music is less mindless to me, and I often play when I need to completely shut off and do something else for a while. I studied piano for 15 years, but when I play now, it’s less the classical stuff and more the “I just the heard the latest pop song and I want to do a cover” type of thing. Usually I cheat and figure out the chord progressions on my guitar first (I am a terrible, terrible, terrible formal musician. 15 years and I know fuck-all about theory.), or sometimes look up the tabs. Then I transfer the work to the piano. (Luckily, 99% of all the pop songs are the same four chords I-V-vi-IV.)
Sometimes, I doodle drawings of my characters. But that’s usually when I’m doing something ELSE and unable to write (that’s often at the day job). Doodling sketches of my characters keeps me in the right frame of mind for my story, but it also helps me figure out what they look like in my head. (I often post my doodles to Instagram and Tumblr. My doodles can also be found on my blog and Deviantart.)
If there’s a procrastinatory technique, then I will do it. Are you sensing a theme here?
Susan: I enjoy tap dancing, sewing, and blogging/newslettering. They all demand really different kinds of creative energy.
One thing that I started doing this year (and that I do a lot of now) is making my own body products and makeup. It’s like cooking crossed with chem lab. Lots of stirring and weighing and melting involved. Plus, you have to really understand how various butters or oils, oxides or clays interact–otherwise the consistency of the cream/lotion/lip gloss won’t be right. Or you might end up with a blush that’s TOO red or a pressed powder that’s so pale you look like a corpse. I find that all that mixing and melting and measuring requires just enough focus that I can’t totally zone out, but it also frees up enough headspace for my subconscious to work through story knots.
Erin: As most of you know, I was a web designer prior to jumping into writing. Design is still a huge outlet for me. Even though it’s related to writing, I absolutely love designing my own promotional materials (bookmarks, stickers, postcards, etc), as well as maintaining my website. I’m a bit type nerd, too, so I tend to collect (read: buy) way more fonts than I should.
Another huge distraction for me, while not necessarily creative, is getting outdoors. Walks, hikes, camping, canoeing . . . you name it. I find being outside, totally away from the computer/technology is one of the best ways to give my brain a break and reset the creative well, if you will.
Kat: I love all kinds of art, and I get really inspired watching people dance, or put on a play, or things like that. As for as things I actually do myself, though, I paint (mostly watercolor at the moment), and I’ve gotten into digital art (“painting” with a wacom tablet and photoshop) this past year or so. It’s a great creative outlet that’s not word-based.
I love photography as well, but since I’m mostly interested in portrait/lifestyle photography, my ability to do it is limited to the times when my friends are willing to play model
I post a lot of both my art and my photography on my Tumblr
Janice: I’m a graphic designer by trade, and I think that’s helped me a lot with being able to handle feedback without taking it personally. Clients always ask for changes and comment on my “art” and it’s helped me be able to see my creative work as a product and not just an expression of myself, and how the creative process can be a group effort to great success.
The last few years I’ve been drawing and painting for fun, and crazy as it sounds, I’ve been painting Nerf guns and toys. All of the guns were bright orange and yellow plastic when I started. My husband gave me a huge AT-AT toy for my birthday that I’m dying to paint. It takes hours, but it’s a lot of fun and very absorbing. It’s a combination of spray paint, fine detail hand painting and dry brushing.
(Click to enlarge.)
I’m not sure how “creative” this is, but I’m a gamer and I’ve feel having to make decisions about what to do it games and thinking about what that character would do (their motivations) has helped me plot my novels easier. It forced me to think about cause and effect and how character choices created effects and consequences. There’s also a lot of creativity in designing a game for friends and running one, almost like writing a book where you have no control over the characters, hehe.
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
Late last night, I remembered that I needed to write a blog post to go up this morning. I sat around for a good thirty minutes, refreshing Twitter and having one of those shouting-across-the-house conversations with my husband, because neither one of us wanted to get up. Finally, I asked a friend what to write about. She said, “Time management.”
So I thought this would be an excellent time to give you an idea of how I get through my day. I keep a very strict schedule that never varies so that I get all of my work done and never have to do anything at the last minute.
8 hours — sleep
2 hours — email
2 hours — Twitter/other social media
1 hour — lunch/TV
1 hour — email (again!)
1 hour — researching something that will affect only one sentence out of the entire novel, like what type of trees grow where
30 minutes — Twitter/other social media
1 hour — trying to find the perfect font
30 minutes — think about sleeping
2 hours — nap
2 hours — try to figure out what that word was that I couldn’t think of earlier
1 hour — dinner/TV
2 hours — realize that no writing will get done today unless I squeak out a few words right now
So there it is, my foolproof time-management plan. This is how I am never behind on anything and my writing is always done weeks before my editor starts asking me about my book. Deadline schmedline. I got this. And if you follow my guidelines, you can, too.*
*It’ll also make your hair shinier!**
**This entire post may be a lie.***
***Or some parts might be true.
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
Jodi Meadows, my fifth-cousin-by-marriage, asked me to write this. “It should be funny,” she said. Apparently, she doesn’t remember reading Rites of Passage or the fact that I don’t/can’t do funny. Just like I can’t write poetry. (She’s a lot like my mom that way—see told you we’re related.) Anyway, here goes. Remember: it’s not funny. Sorry/not sorry.
How Going to Military School = Writing a Book
Do it for yourself first—Military school is hard. It’s grueling. It’s like boot camp on crack because you add classes on top of everything else. If you’re doing it to prove something to yourself, then you’re more likely to succeed. If you’re doing it to impress someone else, it’s going to be hard to make it. There’s a lot of talk about trend in writing. What’s selling, what’s going to sell next. If you focus on that part, writing is going to be hard. Here’s the thing—the publishing industry moves slow. So by the time you’ve gone through writing, revising, subbing, selling…the trend is over. At its essence, writing is about telling a story. A story you can tell that no one else can. If you’re writing the story of your heart, then you’re more likely to succeed. If you’re writing toward a trend, it’s going to be hard to make it.
Determination—Military school ain’t no walk in the park. You get yelled at, woken up insanely early, yelled at more, forced to do millions of push-ups and other forms of physical torture, and then yelled at again. In the case of Sam, the main character in Rites of Passage, you might also get bullied and hazed. But if you (like Sam) have heart and can remember why you’re there, you’ll make it through. The same thing goes with writing. Writing a book from start to finish requires a certain amount of…chutzpah. There will be pages and pages of words you write/love/delete/rewrite/revise, etc. There will be rejection, bad reviews, and days you want to stick your head in the sand. But if you have heart and can remember why you’re writing, you’ll make it through.
Use critique but don’t sell your soul—When you’re marching/shooting/running an obstacle course, everyone seems to have a tip for doing it better/faster/more efficiently. The problem is, those tips work for them—they may not work for you. The tip-giver might be taller/faster/stronger/more daring than you. But think about what they said—don’t just toss it away. See if you can find something in there, however small, that might help. If you take what they give you and make it your own, you’re golden. Don’t feel bad if you don’t use it—this is your life. It’s a lot the same with writing. Everyone reads your book with their own background knowledge. They may want your character to do one thing while you don’t think it fits. It took me a long time to realize I didn’t have to please everyone when I write. As long as I stay true to the story and make it as strong as I can, I’ll be happy. Every critique helps in some way. If you can take what critique partners give you and use it to strengthen your story, you’re golden. Don’t feel bad if you don’t use their suggestions—in the end, this is your story.
It’s not you, it’s you ALL—In military school, it feels like a lot of attention is on you as an individual. To an extent, it is. One cadet out of step in a platoon is really obvious and looks pretty bad. But your platoon, your company, your battalion, when everyone works together and helps each other, it looks amazing. All you can do is your best and hope everyone else does their best, too. It’s the same way with books. At some point your book is out of your hand. Other people get input—your editor, your design team, your publicist—everyone looks at the book from a different angle, checking that it’s in-step, that the uniform is polished and looking its best. The goal is the same, though: to put out the best possible book. All you can do is write the best book you can. Then you hope that everyone else does their best, too.
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Sam McKenna has never turned down a dare. And she’s not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.
So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She’s even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won’t risk her future, or the dare, on something so trivial . . . no matter how much she wants him.
As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they won’t rest until she gives up. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active . . . and determined to force her out.
At any cost.
Now time’s running short. Sam must decide who she can trust . . . and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences.
RITES OF PASSAGE is available at bookstores and is also available at:
If you want an autographed copy of RITES OF PASSAGE, please e-mail or call Anna-Lisa at my local independent bookstore: Books & Co….Toys, too! Let them know if you want it personalized. They’ll even gift-wrap it for you for free if you ask nicely!
E-mail: orders (at) booksandtoys (dot) us
Phone: (540) 463-4647
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Joy N. Hensley is a former middle school teacher. She used to spend her twenty-minute lunch breaks hosting author Skype chats for her students. Once upon a time she went to a military school on a dare. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two children, finding as many ways as she can to never do another push-up again.
I’ve been thinking about how much I admire ferrets and how much they’ve taught me about being a writer.
Now, before you think I’ve finally lost my mind, hear me out. Ferrets have some great qualities we can all learn lessons from.
1. Be okay with going the long way around.
One of the funniest things about ferrets is how, rather than make a straight line from one point to another, they will almost always veer off and take the long way around. They’ll go under something, through something, and really make you wait for them to reach you even when you’re just trying to give them a treat. But ferrets like the scenic route, even when it’s less convenient.
Ferrets are not known for their efficiency, and they’re totally cool with that.
Writers are kind of impatient. We want to finish our manuscript now. We want to have the revisions yesterday. And when we send out queries, we hit refresh on our inboxes like no one’s business. We want that full manuscript request now. But things don’t always (haha, ever) happen on our schedule. We get rejections, a revision and resubmit request, or whatever. It feels like the long way around. It’s frustrating, but it builds character. (And, ideally, leads to a better book in the end.)
2. Sometimes you will poop on the floor and your editor will have to help you clean it up. She won’t like it, but she will still like you. Probably.
Poop story: ferrets are sassy little things. Some ferrets (*cough*Todd*cough*) like to, ah, relieve themselves right next to the litter box. What? It’s close! It only takes a moment to clean up! (Todd has no idea how frustrating this habit is for me. Or maybe he does.)
The truth is, we’re not going to write perfect first drafts. Or perfect second drafts. And when we hand something off to our crit partner/agent/editor, it might look pretty bad, even if you didn’t realize that when you finished. Sometimes, it’s going to look like you got it close . . . but didn’t hit the box. Maybe you gave up early, or you just didn’t notice. Either way, your crit partner/agent/editor will see it and help you clean it up. It’s not always the most fun job (my draft = poop comparison is kind of falling apart, because I like doing crits for friends, but I don’t like cleaning poop), but your people will still like you afterwards.
Alternately: sometimes great things will happen to you and you will get all proud and thinking you’re Big Stuff . . . and then someone will come along and poop on the floor just to keep you humble.
3. Accept all treats offered.
Ferrets, like small children, will keep accepting treats until they explode. (I’ve never seen one explode, but I’m sure it could happen.)
As writers, we aren’t given many treats. Most of the time it seems like we get poop on the floor. (See above about humility.) So when you’re offered a treat, take it. And don’t forget about it. (Unlike a ferret, who, having devoured a treat in .3 seconds flat, will look at you like they’ve never had a treat ever, the poor thing.) Whether your treat is a book deal, a fantastic critique or review, or even someone tweeting that they loved your book — don’t forget about it. Those treats are important. Accept all of them.
4. If you’re going to nip at someone, do something ridiculously cute after so they’ll still like you.
We all have bad days. Sometimes we take out our frustration and anger on the people who love us (or love our books). But if you’re going to nip someone, apologize. Maybe do something nice for them.
But really, try not to bite.
5. Don’t be afraid to fall in love with Kippy.
I’ve now had two ferrets fall in love with Kippy . . . who is a cat. You might think this inter-species adoration is odd, but ferrets are totally cool with it. (You might have noticed they’re pretty laid back about weird things.)
Sometimes, writers fall in love with ideas or books other people say we shouldn’t. Maybe the idea isn’t marketable or it’s already been done a thousand times. Maybe the idea is outside of your normal genre. You know what? Go for it. Follow your writerly heart. It may not work out in the end (so far it hasn’t worked out for Todd and Kippy, but I will keep you updated), but go ahead and take the chance. You never know. It might work out perfectly.
6. Don’t give up!
Todd has this trash habit. He looooves old plastic water bottles, pill bottles, bubble envelopes, plastic bags . . . You know what he loves doing with his trash? He loves stashing it. Inside his Big Box, inside the cage, under the cage — wherever he feels is safe. But sometimes his pieces of trash are bigger than he is, or won’t fit when he’s trying to take them up to his cage. Or sometimes he grabs an envelope or something and . . . keeps stepping on it. This, of course, makes taking the envelope somewhere very difficult. Because he’s standing on it. But Todd doesn’t give up. He keeps trying to take his trash where it belongs, no matter how difficult it is. Even if the trash is bigger than he is! Sometimes he fails or needs help, but usually if he keeps trying, he succeeds.
(I really do wish I had a video of this, but I haven’t been able to get a decent one yet. Sorry. You’ll just have to take my word for it: it’s adorable.)
As writers, sometimes we see something we want and it’s just so, so big. Maybe you want to write a story that seems too huge and daunting for you to handle. Maybe you want an agent or publishing contract. Or whatever. Lots of times, the challenge seems too big and writers give up. But if you give up, you’ve already failed. You never know what you might accomplish if you just keep trying.
Yes, I know I said poop and trash like fifty times, but that’s beside the point. Ferrets! There’s a lot to admire there, don’t you think?
*wanders off to have more coffee for ferret bouncing practice*
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and THE ORPHAN QUEEN duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
I read a blog post from Abby Franquemont titled “Go Ahead: Be a Beginner” a while back, and it really stuck with me. Abby’s blog subtitle is “Because One Way Or Another, It’s All About Yarn.” I don’t disagree (being something of a yarn person myself), but I also think this post translates wonderfully to writing.
One of the biggest things I like about Abby’s article is that beginner yarn is not art yarn.
Because I suspect a lot of you don’t know what art yarn is, here’s a Google image search for you. (I’m not going to post specific pictures because I don’t own them. I haven’t made art yarn.)
A lot of times, new spinners will hold up their first yarn, proud of it, but confused. It’s lumpy and weird looking. It doesn’t look like the other yarns people show off. But then, someone comes over and says, “Oh, it’s art yarn.” This is intended to make the beginner feel better about their first yarn.
Art yarn can look haphazard and sometimes sloppy, like beginner yarn. True art yarn is anything but. It’s structurally sound. It won’t break when you use it. It won’t fall apart after a few washes. Real honest-to-commas techniques were used while making it, and the spinner knows what (s)he did and can reproduce it. A beginner cannot do those things.
There’s nothing wrong with beginner yarn. It’s wonderful and special and there’s nothing like it ever again. But it’s not art yarn.
Now replace “art yarn” with “great writing.”
Like art yarn, great writing isn’t an accident.
I think it sells a beginner short to tell them their novice efforts are master-quality (and let’s not even get into what it sounds like it says about master work). It sells beginners short, because it’s a lie. People do it in an attempt to be supportive, I know, but I think it’s better to praise beginner work for what it is, rather than to liken it to the work of people who’ve spent time and energy studying and practicing. Why? Because as a beginner, I think you have a right to know there IS more; that you can do better, and you will, and that all it takes is wanting to and practicing.
I’ve said before that I’m really grateful for all my rejections. Sometimes I think about what would have happened if I’d been told my first or second or even fifth book was ready to go, ready to be put through the publishing machine and onto bookstore shelves.
I mean, as great as that would have been for my ego, it would have been detrimental to my writing. In response to being told no, try again, keep working, I did work. I worked hard for years, with people encouraging me to keep working, and it wasn’t until my seventeenth finished manuscript that publishing said yes.
My early books were special, but they certainly weren’t ready to be published. (I wasn’t ready to be published.) They weren’t art yarn.
But as Abby’s post says, there is something wonderful about being a beginner. There are so many possibilities. You can write whatever you want, and take however long you want to do it. You can learn all the “rules” — and then learn when to toss them. You can explore stories in a way you might not be able to again, once you’re on a publishing schedule and have a “brand” to mind.
If you’re just starting out, embrace that beginnerness. Try not to be in a rush, because this is a great time. Being told your book is ready to be published (and signing that first contract!) is a great goal, but don’t let it be the only goal. Work on your stories. Master your craft. Know that when you do get a book published, it’s not an accident.
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and THE ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
Ever since I started writing, I’ve heard the following advice: start with action.
It makes sense, right? Who wants to read pages and pages of nothing happening except exposition?** Paragraphs upon paragraphs of description of the worldbuilding, the character’s backstory, the events leading up to the events in the story? So you start with action and get the reader’s blood pumping with a car chase. It works in movies, after all.
But in books, starting with action isn’t quite so straightforward.** It can be confusing when the reader needs to be not just hooked, but grounded in the world. That is, they need a sense of who the character is before they can really care about whether this car chase is going to work out. They need a sense of the world to know how to form the mental image, whether to put the characters on a deserted highway or a busy inner-city street at rush hour. And it needs to be written in a way that pulls in the reader, and makes them want to read more. That’s a lot of work for the first few paragraphs! While the movie can put it all out there in one shot — because it’s a visual and auditory medium and you can’t help but absorb it — the book has one tool: the words.
So I have a different suggestion for you. Start with a change. Start with movement.
One of my biggest issues with starting with action is that it’s incredibly difficult to both ground the reader in character, setting, and story, while still maintaining the pace required of an action scene. It’s not impossible, but typically something gets neglected, the pacing or the grounding.
Not starting with action doesn’t mean your beginning has to be boring. Hook the reader with an interesting first line. Put your character in a situation that shows who they are and gives the reader a hint that something is about to change. (In THE HUNGER GAMES, we get Katniss going about her day, but all morning she’s thinking about the Reaping and we know something terrible is going to happen.)
The change can be the first thing to happen and we get a few pages of attempted normalcy before it all goes sour. (I’m thinking of GONE by Michael Grant, when the adults vanish in the first line and all the kids try to figure out how to act now.)
It can be a decision to do something or go somewhere, or someone new coming to town, or an announcement that someone has died (boo) but they’ve left the character a ton of money (!!!), or whatever. As long as it’s interesting. As long as it advances the story. It can be a good or bad change, so long as the character’s situation is different on the other side of it.
**Of course, I’m not saying this can’t be done, or done well, even. As always, there are exceptions.
What are some of your favorite examples of beginnings that start with a change?
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Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). *A Kippy is a cat.
Seventeen-year-old Adriana didn’t always resent her dad. There was a time when he was fun and attentive and around. But years of working for the CIA have changed him, and not for the better. Over the years, his arbitrary rules, half-truths, and prolonged absences have taken a toll on their relationship.
Then she finds out that his identity has been compromised and his life is at stake. Criminals he put behind bars years ago want him dead, and put a three million dollar bounty on his head to make sure it happens. His rules, absences—a lot of things—make more sense now, and his sacrifices seem more real than ever. But soon he announces he has to flee, and he’s not coming back anytime soon. On top of everything else, the CIA is trying to frame him for laundering money for the same criminals who want him dead now. Adriana can’t stand the idea of never seeing her dad again, so when she comes across files that tell her where he might have gone, she decides to take off across Europe to find him. If she doesn’t get to her dad before the criminals, or the CIA, do, she risks losing him forever, just when she was starting to understand him. But what if she’s wrong about him? What if he was a double agent?
HOW TO CATCH A SPY is a young adult thriller with a romantic subplot that will get readers hearts racing almost as much as the adventure scenes do. It is complete at 54,000 words.
I’m an editor and freelance writer. In 2007, I published an anthology of essays with Speck Press titled GENERATION WHAT? DISPATCHES FROM THE QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS. I have also contributed freelance articles for several publications, including The Boulder Weekly and The Westword. I’m attending Antioch University’s low-residency MFA program. Thank you in advance for considering my manuscript.
Sincerely,
THOUGHTS
JODI: The first line of this query immediately drew me in. She didn’t always resent her dad, and the implied “but now she does” really made me sit up and wonder what changed. Just in the first paragraph, there are some perfect, telling details about what it would be like for someone’s dad to work for the CIA. Frustrating. Lonely. And then we bring on the inciting event, full of scary.
KAT: I love the concept behind this, and I think it’s well-presented to the reader. We get the stakes early on, and although we don’t get a lot of details about Adriana’s plan to find him, we can see how it’ll be an exciting chase with her father at one end and the pursuing criminals at the other. I’m not entirely sure the bit about the romantic subplot needs to be there. Or maybe we need to hear more about the actual love interest, since he’s not brought up at all in the query.
JODI: Yeah, I think so. The line about a romantic subplot came as sort of a surprise, since the love interest wasn’t mentioned at all in the description of the story. So either the line can be cut, or we need to see someone romantical appearing partway through — without distracting from the really cool part of this story, which is Adriana chasing her dad.
What do you think?
And that’s our QUERYPALOOZA week! Did you all like this? Was it educational? We hope it was, because we had a ton of fun looking at all the great queries you guys sent.
[Reasons for query]. As such, I thought you might enjoy my 95,000 word young adult novel SHATTERHEART.
After fiendish Greyskins destroy her coastal village, Lacey Gracen flees the burning ruins of her home with only an outdated gun for protection and not a coin to her name.
She hopes to find safety at the prestigious Cloudbourne Academy, where she can hone her magic and gunmanship so that she will never again be a victim. Once exclusive to the winged avi race, Cloudbourne now admits humans like Lacey, and she finds friends among its avi and human students alike. But her dreams of escaping the Greyskins vanish when the monsters spread through the country. As refugees flee westward, bringing with them stories of ragged monsters wielding corrosive dark magic, Cloudbourne’s headmistress seeks Lacey’s knowledge of the Greyskins.
When the headmistress refuses to believe the Greyskins are corrupted avi, Lacey finds true allies elsewhere. Gruff avi Commander Morse is the military mind she’s been searching for, and her new friends—the witty mech Fin and the charming avi Bradyn—will do anything to save Alta. After discovering the Greyskins are the work of a mech—a human who creates technology with magic—they must track down the monsters’ creator before he murders more avi.
Lacey must travel across the country, running from Greyskins all the while, with only her friends at her side. However, worse than facing hordes of Greyskins is where her path leads: through the remains of her ruined village—a nightmare she never wanted to face again. But if she does not brave the horrors of her past, the Greyskins will overrun country, plunging it forever into ruin.
SHATTERHEART is a standalone fantasy novel that blends magic with technology. I believe it will appeal to fans of Kristin Cashore’s GRACELING or Leigh Bardugo’s SHADOW AND BONE.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
[AUTHOR]
THOUGHTS
KAT: My first feeling after reading this query is that I’m a little overwhelmed. I completely understand the difficulty of writing a query for a fantasy, in which there are so many new things, and terms, and a whole new world to describe in so little room. However, I think less is more in many cases. Figure out what is most unique and important about your world and talk about that. Otherwise, just focus on the usual query structure: character, stakes, plot.
JODI: One of the biggest challenges of writing and querying fantasy is giving the reader a feel for the basic worldbuilding without throwing too much at them. It’s a fine balance between too much and not enough, and this is a case of too much, I think. One trick I’ve found useful for writing fantasy queries is to give it to someone who hasn’t read the book and see if they can figure out what’s going on in just one read. (Because often that’s all a query will get from an agent.) There’s a lot in here that could be interesting, but right now I’m mostly confused.
KAT: I think it really all goes back to something we’ve mentioned a few times this week: stakes. For example, there’s the line that says: “When the headmistress refuses to believe the Greyskins are corrupted avi, Lacey finds true allies elsewhere.” Since I’m still not clear as to what avi are, or what their relationship with humans are, I can’t fully appreciate this reveal that Greyskins are corrupted avi. I really like the concepts put forth in this query, though. I’ve always been a fan of mixing technology with magic!
Seventeen-year-old Serendipity Tanner has given up on the past—but she hasn’t gotten over it.
Three years ago, when her ex-dad’s disappearance launched her into a nuclear blowout with society, Seri divorced her dreams of composing music for a shot at Harvard-bound success. Yet there’s always been a part of her that won’t let go of what could have been, and this summer, her best friend Charles is determined to restore that faith in the past.
But just when Seri’s starting to heal, an unexpected tragedy catapults her back into the great unknown. Scared and alone, she falls back on someone who’s been there all along: a boy called The Boy, her not fathomable, kind of gorgeous, definitely angry-at-life tutee at Mott’s Alternative School for Troubled Teens. And when she uncovers his terrible secret, she faces a whole new dilemma: coming to terms with the astronomical insignificance of everything that mattered before.
Complete at 73,000 words, THE THEORY OF THE METAPHORICAL GUTTER is the story of a girl whose summer begins and ends with the same five hundred glow-in-the-dark stars, the beautiful and catastrophic business of what transpires in between, and the theory that explains it all.
THOUGHTS
KAT: There are some critical elements to each query, and I think some of them are missing here. We need a salutation of some sort (Dear Mr/Ms. Agent Name), and possibly a reason you’ve chosen to query them (I see you enjoy YA fantasies about witches…). Also, although a word count is provided, which is great, we don’t know either the genre or the intended age group. Is this YA contemporary? Adult magical realism? I’m not sure.
JODI: Yep. We need to know those things in order to know whether the book is even something the agent represents! I’m also curious what this “unexpected tragedy” is, followed by a “terrible secret.” There’s some vagueness going on in here, and while specifics might be too much detail, I’d like to know the basics. What is the tragedy? A car crash? Spontaneous human combustion? I feel like we’re missing a lot of the key details of this story. They’ve all been replaced with big but vague phrases like “unexpected tragedy.”
KAT: There are some really great, strong lines in this query that make me think the story itself will have lovely language. The title is fantastic, too. I get the feeling that this story is much more about the characters and their growth than anything else, and that’s perfectly fine. But like Jodi said, I think we need to know more about these mysterious events. I totally understand the urge to “not spoil” anything, but you have to throw us a bone!
I would like to offer my completed 87,000 word YA manuscript for consideration.
CURE MY SOUL is a dystopian novel with never-before-seen paranormal elements. The story explores both what is means to discover who you truly are, and what it means to be human in light of the question: “What if the cost of saving mankind is its humanity?”
“For years, mankind has shunned the supernatural – but now they may be our only hope.
In the near future, the Old World has fallen to disease and only the Soulless have survived. In an effort to protect mankind, every seventeen-year-old human within the walls of the City– the futuristic version of NYC – is required to be de-souled and turned into one of these supernatural creatures. The process is simple: you live or you die.
Or, in one boy’s case, forget.
He is Luka Obbeck. The blank slate. Free from memories and emotions, which mean certain death for any human in the De-Souling Room, Luka is the poster boy for the Regime’s campaign. Their most prized possession – and most powerful weapon.
Until he is taken from them.
She is Clace Silver. The rebel human born in the secret society of the Underground. The girl who managed to kidnap the government’s most loved celebrity, and who dreams of only two things. One –being free. Two – saving her brother from the Regime.
As their worlds collide, both have reasons of their own to unravel the secrets and intentions of the Regime and the rebels. But when the battle lines are drawn, they must choose a side to stand on – or get caught in the crossfire…
The truth can burn down a city.”
Thank you for your consideration.
Yours sincerely,
…
THOUGHTS
JODI: While there are some really cool elements to this story, I always do a little eyebrow raise whenever someone says something is completely new. Sometimes I have seen certain elements before, and it makes me question whether the author has read widely enough. It’s almost never safe to make that kind of sweeping claim.
KAT: Yes, I agree with that. Even if you do have something that hasn’t been done before, it’s probably not a good claim to make. I also think that we need more concrete details here. Ideas like “discovering who you really are” and “what it means to be human” are pretty vague and apply to many, many stories. I’d focus more words on what makes your story unique. What exactly are the Soulless, for example? Are they humanoid? Are they like ghosts? Are they just people with emotions removed? You say “supernatural,” but does that mean they have special powers? What kind? What is the Regime? Is it run by humans or Soulless?
JODI: Agreed. And while there are some vague bits here, we also have a few too many disconnected details, like the “De-Souling Room” and the “Regime” — things I can’t quite figure out from this description. I think the details in the query need to be chosen with a bit more care, and remembering that the reader has no idea what is happening in this story beyond what we’re told in the query. We rely on it 100% to get the ideas across to us. I also don’t think it would hurt this query to adhere to a slightly more formal and recognized format without quotes from the story. When queries diverge from the standard format, they can get pretty confusing, especially when you’re reading several in a row.
KAT: I am getting a cool vibe from the story, with like a dark, almost noir feel to it. Very “Dark City” (the movie) kind of tone I think it would be very intriguing, but right now, the story isn’t entirely coming across.
E.C. MYERS was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and the public library in Yonkers, New York. He is the author of the Andre Norton Award–winning young adult novel Fair Coin and Quantum Coin, as well as numerous short stories. His latest novel, The Silence of Six, is a thriller about teenage hackers and government conspiracies. You can find traces of him all over the internet, but especially at 
STACEY LEE is a fourth generation Chinese-American whose people came to California during the heydays of the cowboys. She believes she still has a bit of cowboy dust in her soul. A native of southern California, she graduated from UCLA then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall. After practicing law in the Silicon Valley for several years, she finally took up the pen because she wanted the perks of being able to nap during the day, and it was easier than moving to Spain. She plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes YA fiction.
JODI MEADOWS lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the Incarnate Trilogy and The Orphan Queen Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen).
JULIE ESHBAUGH writes young adult fiction. She is the author of the upcoming Ivory and Bone (HarperCollins, 2016.) You can visit Julie’s 
S. JAE-JONES (called JJ) is an artist, an adrenaline junkie, and the author of 
STEPHANIE GARBER loves Disneyland because it’s the one place on earth where she feels as if the fantastical stories she loves to write about could actually come to life. When she’s not writing young adult fantasy, she teaches creative writing a private college in northern California. Her debut novel, Caraval, will be published by Flatiron Books/Macmillan (US) and Hodder & Stoughton (UK) in fall 2016.
Are you sensing a theme here?
I find that all that mixing and melting and measuring requires just enough focus that I can’t totally zone out, but it also frees up enough headspace for my subconscious to work through story knots.
