Hey guys, hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Over here, we are super stoked about Stef's beautiful daughter and Andee finishing her Master's~ *diploma and baby confetti everywhere* so go on and congratulate them!
Today I want to get into NA, aka the New Adult category. My latest manuscript is a NA fantasy and I sort of went on a Twitter Thing a while back about some of this, but I wanted to collect things ~*coherently*~ in a post. So gather 'round the internets, kiddos, bust out the snacks, and let's talk NA.
First, a quick primer if you're unfamiliar:
Wait wait, so what is NA?
Okay, so this is a legit question and it's one that we're still answering as writers, truthfully.
New Adult is an age category (similar to MG, YA, adult, etc) with protagonists in their "new adult" years, aka the free space after high school where you start work in the professional world, go to college, enroll in the military, or any myriad of life options. Part of the beauty of the category (and also this point in life) is its infinite possibility.
What makes a manuscript NA vs. adult is actually similar to what makes something YA vs. adult: it's the perceptions of the characters and the lens through which the story is told. You can easily (and it's def been done) tell a story about characters in college meant to be read by adult audience, just like how stories about teenagers are not necessarily YA.
Okay, cool. But why are people saying NA is a trend?
This comes back to our age-old adage here on the ranch: publishing changes slowly/is just slow, period. It's hard to tell what's an emerging, permanent thing and what's the latest life-fast-die-hard trend in the market.
I, personally, would like NA to be a permanent thing. I think that it's been around long enough to justify this (keeping in mind that I've just been a literary agent intern and editorial intern and Not a 100% Vetted Industry Professional), and I think it's a category that people are approaching cautiously but optimistically. You look around, you see NAs getting snapped up in PM, you see literary agents listing NA as a category they rep. Indie authors are doing fantastically with NA.
Still, there's a chance it could be a trend, a bubble that will burst, and that we're just riding it out and reaping the benefits of the NA market until it gets over-saturated/the same thing that happened with Paranormal happens.
Okay, primer over. Let's get down the to heavy lifting.
What is NA, really?
Again, no one is really satisfied on this yet. Search for new adult stories on Amazon, and you'll find that the bulk of them are about kids in college, tend to be contemporary romance, and almost always feature sex.
Which, in itself, is fine! I like those kinds of stories, and I think they are necessary and great. I am glad we have them in NA and I don't want them to go away.
What I don't want is for them to be the entirety of the category.
Imagine if YA were only dystopians. I know I wouldn't read it as much. (And I have nothing against the dystopian genre or its writers-- I just got Way Freaked Out that one time in junior high when we read THE GIVER and my paranoid self has been ruined ever since. Same thing with mysteries. I do read an occasional one and really dig it, but only reading those? Nope nope nope.)
It's the diversity of genres that makes me love YA. Fantasy is my heart and soul, but I've loved getting to explore contemporary, paranormal, and tons of other stories in there. I like reading about Hazel and Augustus navigating the real world with a very real disease, and then seeing June and Day face off in one of the most epic games of cat and mouse I've ever read.
I think NA can have the same breadth, but I also think it's up to us as writers to make that happen.
Is sex a requirement of NA?
This comes back to how we define NA, what it is now and where it could be going. Right now, it does feel like a requirement to have sex in a NA book, especially graphic sex.
I've heard NA described as "finding your place in the world" versus YA's "finding yourself." I don't think that's wrong, but I also don't think that's totally accurate. As an NA (does 25 still count? I'm still inexplicably in college?) or a former NA, I don't consider myself totally figured out. I view NA as more "finding yourself around other people" or as learning to be interdependent in contrast with learning to be independent as a YA.
Sex is an important part of interdependence. Is it always necessary in an NA? I don't think so. I think it's something that should be addressed, like if a character is choosing to wait, or knows they're asexual, but if we're talking about how NA protags fit into their worlds, then I definitely want to know how they fit into another, most significant other's world, too.
And like in YA, I want to see a variety of sexual experience and levels of explicitness. Right now, the scope is pretty narrow: most NA veers toward graphic of-course-they-have-sex romance. Again, not a problem on its own, but real new adults-- aka the people whose lives we NA writers should be imitating through our art-- have a wide scope of interactions. Sometimes you have a terrible break-up in high school, a fun fling at a house party, and then you're alone again for months.
To sum it up, I really want to see NA exhibit a greater breadth. I know some writers are looking in that direction (and I have my eye on you, 2015 and 2016 releases), but what do you guys think?
What do you want to see in your NA?
Showing posts with label Alex Yuschik. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alex Yuschik. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2014
#YAlaunch and the Secrets of Writing Retreats
Hi from Omaha!
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
 |
| Omaha, Omaha! |
My good friend Kate Brauning whose debut HOW WE FALL releases tomorrow, is holding a massive release party with Nikki Urang of THE HIT LIST called YA Launch. Nine other authors and I are working on our projects (you guys, I love mine) on the retreat part and are gearing up to launch these two fantastic books.
I love writing retreats. One of the best things about these is getting to meet people who are as passionate about their work as you are. Still, it can be a little intimidating, especially if you're a) traveling to a new state b) an introvert who only knows like three of these ten people c) going on your first retreat, or d) all of the above.
 |
| A typical day on the ranch |
The thing to remember is that everyone probably feels the same way. So, having survived most of my first retreat, I'm dropping by with a couple tips before Kate and I roadtrip back to Iowa for the livestream tonight.
1. Bring business cards
If you don't have business cards for your writing, consider making them. One of the good places that we talked about was Moo, and there are many others. Even though a lot of us have our laptops here, it's still nice to be able to hand someone a card and be like "hey, think about me if you need a crit partner, okay?"
They'll also come in handy if you go to conferences later, where everyone and their mom will be asking for your card.
2. Bring your A-game.
Come prepared to work hard and play hard. We've been working on WIPs, revising, coordinating launches, and comparing publishing stories. On the flip side, we have re-christened Omaha as "Omaha, City of Dreams" and had an excellent time playing with fridge poetry.
 |
| "ask for fire/this was her mad war" |
3. Be willing to explore.
You're in a new place with cool people-- it's time to make things happen! Go out on a limb. Last night we all shared snippets from our WIPs (with the caveat that these suckers are all highly unedited, etc) and that was awesome. It's really neat getting to see what's in the pipeline for other writers, even if it means putting yourself a little out of your comfort zone.
Even better, we got to brainstorm together and talk about how to handle first pages, helping balance out conflicts and tensions, and a whole lot of other things, like whether or not we prefer writing via laptops or by hand.
 |
| look for adventure! you too could find a grain elevator! |
I've got to split and get ready for the launch, but if you have some free time this evening, then def stop by the twitter party tonight! We'll be livestreaming, interviewing each other, giving away one hundred books, celebrating our friends' debuts, and being goofy on the internet. You can find us here on twitter or check out this page for the list of events.
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Friday, October 24, 2014
Setting is a Ghost
So I've been trying to think up things that fall under the categories of "secrets," "Halloween-y," and "cool, hopefully useful writing knowledge" but most of what I've got is: well, I traveled a bit this summer.
You got me-- it's not really a secret and not useful writing advice. It's not even Halloween-themed.
But I can talk about setting.
 |
| BALCONIES maaaan I love balconies |
Over the summer, I went to New Orleans and it was kickass. I had a scene in my last manuscript set there, and I really wanted to capture as many details of the city as I could. I'd never been that far south before, and while I'd done a ridiculous amount of research on the city and the culture before visiting, it was still really interesting seeing what stood out about a place versus what I was writing about it.
Setting, in many ways, is like a ghost. It follows you through the pages of a book. It never contacts you explicitly or anything, but you see traces of its presence as the characters go about their business-- balconies housing dangling plants, strings of lights, and deck chairs, and the rank oyster smell loitering outside some of the bars and restaurants.
 |
| PALM TREES IN ACTUAL REAL LIFE |
As a reader, I love seeing the ways that a book's setting influences the plot. As a writer, I subscribe to the idea that the setting has to be integral enough to the book that the story can't be set any other place and still be the same thing.
I visited the French Quarter during nights when it wasn't even Mardi Gras (aka the middle of May) and the streets still get closed to through traffic during the late evenings because the foot traffic is just that intense. It's crazy! And it's those weirdo, super-specific details that draw people in and make your setting a compelling one.
Characters that are from certain regions of the country (or from different countries!) may also behave differently, or even if they don't adhere to their native region/homeland's mores, they'll still see a certain set of behaviors as normal/acceptable and others as rude.
And it all comes from setting.
 |
| fun fact: tiny birds will perch on your table here and try to eat your grits (not cool, bro) |
The setting can also collude with you in making characters' lives harder. Protag need to go somewhere immediately? Have the cab get snarled up in traffic around a tourist trap or monument. Two characters gearing up for a fight? Find either the worst or most interesting place for them to do it-- what cool environment can they use in battle?
In last ms, I had one character chase after another. Simple enough, yeah? Then I set that scene on Bourbon Street at night, and suddenly, tons of conflict: one character is breaking curfew, he can't see where he's going because there's too many people, his own personal phobias start kicking in, he gets cheap drinks spilled on him-- it kickstarts a whole mess of details and tensions.
And you don't have to campy with it-- while I believe that details do help ground us in a setting, most of what a setting is is the feeling it invokes in us. A ghost's goal is to make you feel something.
 |
| another fun fact: over half the pictures I took are balconies |
The specifics matter less. It's less important that there are foreboding knocks on the bedroom wall and more that the person sleeping there feels threatened (though obvs to do this, you'll want to include some specifics to show it). Ultimately, it's up to you to choose the details that stand out to you as touchstones of a location-- short, sweet punches that capture the essence of wherever your story is set.
Especially in contemp, I think it's important to let the setting shine. Places, like ghosts, have their own histories. Nowhere stays the same forever.
Same deal for fantasy--setting can add a unique spin and flavor to old tropes. What about your particular fishing village makes it an interesting/terrible place for the protag to grow up in? I adore Jodi Meadows' INCARNATE books for a ton of reasons, but one is that her world and setting are so interesting and constantly affect the characters.
My current WIP is an urban fantasy and I'm researching geology, mine disasters, and all sorts of esoteric facts and beliefs about rocks for its monsters and magic system. I want the history of coal mining and those specific details associated with it to haunt my readers-- not beat them over the head with HEY COAL HELLO but to give that story a specific flavor.
And yeah, I had an awesome time in New Orleans and I promise I was not thinking about setting 100% of the time, though I did occasionally split off to wander Bourbon Street or prowl the WWII Museum. Moment of drooling for the memory of the beignets we consumed.
~*they were so good*~
And I got to meet Leah!! (You guys, she is every bit as amaze in real life as she is online.)
 |
| Leah's phone is also nine zillion times cooler than mine |
So what do you guys think? What are some of the best examples of setting that you've come across in books? I also really adore ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD and (duh of course) THE SCORPIO RACES and THE RAVEN BOYS for this as well. Share your favorites and we'll tweet recs through the day! :)
Alex Yuschik writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Monday, May 5, 2014
So You Want to Write an Ensemble Cast
Happy Cinco de Mayo, Secret Lifers! (: In the spirit of parties and the number five, I've got five tips for writing a great ensemble cast for you.
I have this thing about ensemble casts. A lot of my projects feature teams, secret organizations, or groups of people working together for a common goal, and one of my biggest issues as a writer has been "how on earth do I get a number of people to work together without a) overwhelming the reader and b) actually helping people keep all these characters straight?"
Okay, let's do this.
1. Each character has a certain base set of skills.
If you, like me, enjoy RPGs and D&D, this will probably come naturally to you. Think of each of your characters as fitting into a certain class.
Using classes as an underlying way to sort characters is useful-- you can balance out skills more easily. There's the people who can take a lot of physical damage and then the more vulnerable, magical characters. The magician's spells hurt more than physical attacks (often) but magicians cannot take a lot of physical damage. Perhaps it's most easy to see this working in a fantasy setting, but it can be applied to any group of characters.
As an example, there's this one military drama I love that takes place on a submarine. Maybe the people in the command room have some hand-to-hand combat training, but the sub's chief engineer is unlikely to be able to hold her own in a fight, even if she's the smartest person on the boat. Likewise, the ace mecha pilot might be able to accomplish his missions on the ground in record time, but he lacks the strategic foresight to always avoid falling into trouble.
One of the keys to getting the group to work logically together is having them cover each other's weak spots-- figure out ways for them to all balance each other out, with each person being useful. The flirty sniper isn't good at all with hand-to-hand combat, the brilliant strategist captain is actually terrible at fighting of any kind, and the mysterious lieutenant just lives through anything.
2. Ensemble casts are a system of interchangeable parts.
Sometimes it's not necessarily that someone has a certain skill-- a lot of people in the story could have that same skill-- it depends on how good the characters are. Lots of people can drive a car, but maybe there's only one person good enough in your heist story to be the getaway driver.
Likewise, in the submarine drama, it's not hard to find someone can set the submarine's course-- the lieutenant commander can do it, the XO can do it, the captain can do it. But, if the submarine has to evade missiles and be pushed to its operating capability, then the captain (who's designed the sub from scratch and knows it better than anyone) has to be one giving orders.
This also helps you avoid falling into the chosen one trope, if you're not going for that. If a lot of people can fight an enemy but your protag is just trained to be the best at it, or if there are a lot of tacticians but your main character is the most resourceful, then we're more inclined to cheer for them on their merits than on their mysterious powers.
3. Your main conflict is a ripple across character arcs.
Here is a kind of ugly picture that I derped up in mspaint to illustrate this point.
Okay, so the letters that are closest to the center of the ripple? Those people should be my main characters (this project had a lot of people running around it). I have my protag (D), the love interest/mentor (S), and the antagonist (J), right at the center. The conflict between them defines the book. The people at the center of the circle are the people whose lives change drastically based on this conflict (D becomes a coward, then re-learns how to be brave, always-honest S finds a reason to lie, D's best friend J finds a reason to hate him). Characters on the next ring out are ones that are more indirectly affected, and so on.
The closer you are to the center conflict, the more I need to see you change/evolve as a character across the story. The people on the outer ring may change a little, but for the most part, they're pretty constant-- they're the most minor of the characters. But on the four inner rings, each character changes in some way (the closer to the center, the larger the change) based on the main conflict.
4. Help your reader remember all these great people.
One of my favorite tricks for helping keep characters straight is associating different letters with them. If all your characters start with the letter J, it will be much harder for a reader to keep them all straight, especially the minor ones.
Granted, if you have a truly huge cast of characters (think Game of Thrones size), then sure, you're going to run through the alphabet very fast. In cases like this, it's probably better to look at family or clan names, and trying to make those unique, then assigning unique letters within them. (Where I'd normally think, "oh that's that T-named character from before!" then I can think "oh that's T-whatever of House S--")
Unique names are cool, but keep in mind what will stand out and what will make your characters blend in. A lot of unusual names together makes more common names stick out (in a sea of Haven's, Pierce's, and Asa's, a Thomas stands out). Likewise, in an expensive preparatory school setting in the US, it's more likely that characters with names like Rohit and Yosuke will stand out and be more memorable than Ashley and Jax. However, if your story is set in Seoul, then a character named Rosalie sticks out more than In Hwa Lee.
5. Quirks win the day.
What defines a character? Sometimes it's just as simple as being the guy who takes himself too seriously and acts snooty, or the specific way that a character opens a door and inexplicably stubs her ballet flat on things. If you can give us something specific, some human detail to associate with a character, something that they do different than anyone else, then we'll remember them more easily.
Good luck!
I have this thing about ensemble casts. A lot of my projects feature teams, secret organizations, or groups of people working together for a common goal, and one of my biggest issues as a writer has been "how on earth do I get a number of people to work together without a) overwhelming the reader and b) actually helping people keep all these characters straight?"
Okay, let's do this.
1. Each character has a certain base set of skills.
If you, like me, enjoy RPGs and D&D, this will probably come naturally to you. Think of each of your characters as fitting into a certain class.
Using classes as an underlying way to sort characters is useful-- you can balance out skills more easily. There's the people who can take a lot of physical damage and then the more vulnerable, magical characters. The magician's spells hurt more than physical attacks (often) but magicians cannot take a lot of physical damage. Perhaps it's most easy to see this working in a fantasy setting, but it can be applied to any group of characters.
As an example, there's this one military drama I love that takes place on a submarine. Maybe the people in the command room have some hand-to-hand combat training, but the sub's chief engineer is unlikely to be able to hold her own in a fight, even if she's the smartest person on the boat. Likewise, the ace mecha pilot might be able to accomplish his missions on the ground in record time, but he lacks the strategic foresight to always avoid falling into trouble.
One of the keys to getting the group to work logically together is having them cover each other's weak spots-- figure out ways for them to all balance each other out, with each person being useful. The flirty sniper isn't good at all with hand-to-hand combat, the brilliant strategist captain is actually terrible at fighting of any kind, and the mysterious lieutenant just lives through anything.
2. Ensemble casts are a system of interchangeable parts.
Sometimes it's not necessarily that someone has a certain skill-- a lot of people in the story could have that same skill-- it depends on how good the characters are. Lots of people can drive a car, but maybe there's only one person good enough in your heist story to be the getaway driver.
Likewise, in the submarine drama, it's not hard to find someone can set the submarine's course-- the lieutenant commander can do it, the XO can do it, the captain can do it. But, if the submarine has to evade missiles and be pushed to its operating capability, then the captain (who's designed the sub from scratch and knows it better than anyone) has to be one giving orders.
This also helps you avoid falling into the chosen one trope, if you're not going for that. If a lot of people can fight an enemy but your protag is just trained to be the best at it, or if there are a lot of tacticians but your main character is the most resourceful, then we're more inclined to cheer for them on their merits than on their mysterious powers.
3. Your main conflict is a ripple across character arcs.
Here is a kind of ugly picture that I derped up in mspaint to illustrate this point.
The closer you are to the center conflict, the more I need to see you change/evolve as a character across the story. The people on the outer ring may change a little, but for the most part, they're pretty constant-- they're the most minor of the characters. But on the four inner rings, each character changes in some way (the closer to the center, the larger the change) based on the main conflict.
4. Help your reader remember all these great people.
One of my favorite tricks for helping keep characters straight is associating different letters with them. If all your characters start with the letter J, it will be much harder for a reader to keep them all straight, especially the minor ones.
Granted, if you have a truly huge cast of characters (think Game of Thrones size), then sure, you're going to run through the alphabet very fast. In cases like this, it's probably better to look at family or clan names, and trying to make those unique, then assigning unique letters within them. (Where I'd normally think, "oh that's that T-named character from before!" then I can think "oh that's T-whatever of House S--")
Unique names are cool, but keep in mind what will stand out and what will make your characters blend in. A lot of unusual names together makes more common names stick out (in a sea of Haven's, Pierce's, and Asa's, a Thomas stands out). Likewise, in an expensive preparatory school setting in the US, it's more likely that characters with names like Rohit and Yosuke will stand out and be more memorable than Ashley and Jax. However, if your story is set in Seoul, then a character named Rosalie sticks out more than In Hwa Lee.
5. Quirks win the day.
What defines a character? Sometimes it's just as simple as being the guy who takes himself too seriously and acts snooty, or the specific way that a character opens a door and inexplicably stubs her ballet flat on things. If you can give us something specific, some human detail to associate with a character, something that they do different than anyone else, then we'll remember them more easily.
Good luck!
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Monday, April 21, 2014
Writing Prompt and a Contest
Hey guys! We haven't done a writing prompt/exercise in a while, so I figured it might be fun to bring that back. I'm a big fan of daily writing exercises, and one of the easiest things to help me flesh out characters, back stories, or ideas for plots is using prompts. If you haven't tried writing with prompts before, it's really fun. Currently, I'm working a lot with photo prompts, but words/phrases and songs are also great to use.
Today's prompt is the picture below or this song (or both, for you overachievers out there). Write up a response as long or short as you like, leave the link in the comments, and I'll choose one person to win their choice of a query critique or crit of their first five pages Tuesday night. Don't worry too much about editing-- the purpose is more to write, have fun with it, and see what cool things other people can come up with given the same prompt.
My take on the picture's below. It's a scene after my WIP's protag Gemma bargains her way out of captivity and things don't go quite as she'd planned. Good luck, and have fun!
 |
Clouds cut into the air and blur the horizon line, and the mid-morning humidity weighs down her clothes. Escaping should feel better than this-- less damp and cloudy, but windier, warmer, clearer.
This is nowhere she recognizes, and Gemma's hands curl up into themselves. Of course. This is just what happens when you bargain with stars, and Bet wouldn't have done it any other way. He's one of them, after all.
She hears the sound before the pain snakes up her arm-- the staccato slap of flesh on metal, her palm stinging from where it smacked the yellow fence overlooking the gully. Bet. She'd even nicknamed him, because Betelgeuse was a mouthful. Even now, she can recall his easy smile, dark eyes, the way he shrugged acquiescence when she'd laid out the terms for their trade. He'd seemed so good, and that should have tipped her off from the start.
Gemma leans over the railing and looks down. Brush and woodland debris, a railroad, a factory whose smokestacks reach high enough up to hold the fog in place like a low ceiling. She has eleven dollars in her pocket, a dead phone, and keys to a car and house that may be hundreds of miles away for all she knows.
It's not uncommon for people to come back like this: in the middle of nowhere or stumbling through foreign cities like addicts strung out between fixes. That's just how stars work: they screw you over. Gemma closes her eyes and breathes in the wet air. So what if Bet wasn't any different? She got out. She may have no idea where she is, no easy way home, but she got out, and that's all that matters.
Soon, she will walk down the street to the police officer and ask him for the date, place, and time in her most affable manner. He will look at her over the rims of his dark glasses, like Bet looked at her with his black hole eyes, tell her what she asks for, then mutter aw hell, another bright one when he thinks she's too far to hear.
And soon she will wander through this city without a name, shrouded in fog and decaying letters, and somehow, slowly, she will find her way home again.
---
Entries:
none yet!
(picture credit: me)
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Monday, April 7, 2014
Six Tips for Writing Your Synopsis
Haha, I know. wow you mean it's not only Monday but also the day the secret life talks about writing synopses??
If you've queried, are querying, or are planning to query in the near future, chances are you have heard people being unhappy about synopses. It's not entirely without reason: these things are hard. Because Susan Dennard is amazing at life, she wrote a super handy guide on making a synopsis paragraph by paragraph. Today's post isn't meant to replace that, but more to talk about the in-between steps, or strategies for helping you make the most of that guide.
tl;dr: if you haven't read her guide yet, read it and then come back here. Done that? Awesome. Now let's get into the nitty-gritty how-to-tough-out-writing-a-synopsis-when-all-you-want-to-do-is-not part
1. Be prepared to revise/ less is more, but writing more at first can help you get to less.
The problem: Yeah, okay, this isn't a fun thing to admit, so it goes at the top. When I tried to write my first synopsis by making each paragraph perfectly mirror what was happening in Susan Dennard's guide before moving on to the next, I got super frustrated and quit a lot.
The fix: It's not going to sound elegant, but it is going to work: word vomit up your main plot and streamline it. Give yourself permission to make it a first draft and realize that the synopsis is not going to come out of your head fully formed. Granted, this means that you will probably end up with three pages worth of synopsis when you finish. This is okay. This is normal. You do need to get it to at least half that length or so (more or less, depending on what length is acceptable) but having the full musculature down will help you pick out where the bones of the skeleton are.
2. Focus on the main conflict and tell the ending.
The problem: You have all these great subplots, and you are super sad that you don't get to include them all. Also how on earth are they even supposed to want to read the full if they know how it ends.
The fix: Honestly, getting agents/editors to want to read more (or all) of your manuscript is the query's job. The synopsis' is to convince your readers that you can incite, build, and resolve tension-- that you have the skills to both write this book and to break down how you wrote it for a reader. This is also an important skill! It's not that the people asking you for this are spoilsports and don't want to read your nine million fun subplots (because they so are not and likely would enjoy the subplots), it's because they need to see that you can develop a character and raise stakes across a book. If you look at it that way, then yeah, it makes sense to tell the ending-- otherwise, how would you show how much the character changed or that the plot resolved?
3. Be wary of including too many named characters.
The problem: It's like a party up in here! You know all these characters by heart, but you also are aware that agents and editors are incredibly busy people are not likely to be able to keep ten different characters straight over your synopsis. But all these characters are important! I have an ensemble cast.
The fix: Step back and go through #1 again-- streamline. A good synopsis rule of thumb is to aim for three named characters (but like all good rules of anything, you can bend them a little when it's for a worthy cause): your main character, the antagonist, and then either the best friend/sidekick/mentor or the love interest. Notice how Luke and Ben are named in Susan Dennard's synopsis but Han Solo and Leia aren't. They're instead referred to as "the pilot" and the "the princess" which hey, it does what it says on the tin.
If you absolutely require a lot of characters, then consider mentioning them by their titles/what they do instead of by name. It's easier to keep track of that way and it's a little reminder to the reader that this person is a recurring character but perhaps not quite important enough to make named status. If it sounds too stupid like that, like there actually is a fourth character that you cannot live with calling "the princess" all the time, then okay, name them. Obviously, there are no hard and fast rules in writing, but my personal rule is no more than five named characters and you better provide me with an excellent reason for naming the last two.
4. Don't worry about being descriptive or not voicey enough.
The problem: I have so little page space and word count leftover, but I really need to convince this person that I've built a sweeping world and/or that my protag is fun to be around and engaging enough to stick with for a full book.
The fix: Again, voice and caliber of writing is going to help you the most in your query and then your manuscript. You're absolutely right: you don't have a whole lot of page space, and you do have to limit yourself. The way I worked it was that I allowed myself a paragraph at the beginning to sketch out my characters with a few choice adjectives, and then a few sentences to paint an ending scene/to talk about the scene I ended on in a little more descriptive detail--but, detail that related back to the main plot. Young wandering lord reunites with his countrymen, fights epic battle, looks out on ruins of his ancestral home glistening in the dawn.
The purpose isn't to sell us on the book-- it's again #2, show us that you can develop tension and resolve conflicts. Ending on a pretty scene is alright, but it's not like every single line of your synopsis must be gold-plated. It is literally just the facts.
5. To thine own self be true.
The problem: You need to stop. You hate this synopsis, you hate this story, and you feel like you're killing all the magic by writing out the ending and you never want to work on it again.
The fix: Take a break. If you've stuck with me thus far (yay!) and you seem to like the advice this girl from the internet is giving you, then listen to this one especially: this is not easy, it does not make you a bad person/incapable writer/whatever negative noun if it takes you a while or it is hard. Ask my CPs: I told them I was going to start my synopsis for a week, like every day of that week. I just didn't. I was worried I was going to suck all the coolness out of my story by writing it down. Like saying oh hey did you know the narrator is actually Tyler Durden before someone watches Fight Club. It would be lame.
That being said, you still have to buckle down and write it later. Take a deep breath, find your ass-kicking music, crack your knuckles, and when you get on fire getting the first draft of it down, absolutely do not stop. It's is so much easier having something on paper to work with than not.
6. The right time to write a synopsis-- before you even write the first draft, in the middle of drafting, or at the end of revisions-- it when you know what happens in your story.
This is less of a problem/fix situation and more of a hey, this all sounds very overwhelming and how on earth do I start? situation.
You start whenever it's right for you. I wrote my query for my latest manuscript when I was, what, about halfway through drafts or so? (I guess I am a halfway person) I probably could have written the synopsis at the same time. I do know some people who love to write the synopsis first, before writing anything in the story--actually, I am going to try this for my WIP-- so that you work out a basic framework for yourself plotwise and you have a skeleton to start from rather than digging the skeleton out of the story later. Or, you can do the tried and true write-it-at-the-end approach. All of these are valid, and all will work-- all you need to do if you revise your manuscript after writing your synopsis is just to make sure that the main conflict is still the same between synopsis and book.
And there you have it! Got any synopsis tips or tricks to share with us? Drop them in the comments below!
If you've queried, are querying, or are planning to query in the near future, chances are you have heard people being unhappy about synopses. It's not entirely without reason: these things are hard. Because Susan Dennard is amazing at life, she wrote a super handy guide on making a synopsis paragraph by paragraph. Today's post isn't meant to replace that, but more to talk about the in-between steps, or strategies for helping you make the most of that guide.
tl;dr: if you haven't read her guide yet, read it and then come back here. Done that? Awesome. Now let's get into the nitty-gritty how-to-tough-out-writing-a-synopsis-when-all-you-want-to-do-is-not part
1. Be prepared to revise/ less is more, but writing more at first can help you get to less.
The problem: Yeah, okay, this isn't a fun thing to admit, so it goes at the top. When I tried to write my first synopsis by making each paragraph perfectly mirror what was happening in Susan Dennard's guide before moving on to the next, I got super frustrated and quit a lot.
The fix: It's not going to sound elegant, but it is going to work: word vomit up your main plot and streamline it. Give yourself permission to make it a first draft and realize that the synopsis is not going to come out of your head fully formed. Granted, this means that you will probably end up with three pages worth of synopsis when you finish. This is okay. This is normal. You do need to get it to at least half that length or so (more or less, depending on what length is acceptable) but having the full musculature down will help you pick out where the bones of the skeleton are.
2. Focus on the main conflict and tell the ending.
The problem: You have all these great subplots, and you are super sad that you don't get to include them all. Also how on earth are they even supposed to want to read the full if they know how it ends.
The fix: Honestly, getting agents/editors to want to read more (or all) of your manuscript is the query's job. The synopsis' is to convince your readers that you can incite, build, and resolve tension-- that you have the skills to both write this book and to break down how you wrote it for a reader. This is also an important skill! It's not that the people asking you for this are spoilsports and don't want to read your nine million fun subplots (because they so are not and likely would enjoy the subplots), it's because they need to see that you can develop a character and raise stakes across a book. If you look at it that way, then yeah, it makes sense to tell the ending-- otherwise, how would you show how much the character changed or that the plot resolved?
3. Be wary of including too many named characters.
The problem: It's like a party up in here! You know all these characters by heart, but you also are aware that agents and editors are incredibly busy people are not likely to be able to keep ten different characters straight over your synopsis. But all these characters are important! I have an ensemble cast.
The fix: Step back and go through #1 again-- streamline. A good synopsis rule of thumb is to aim for three named characters (but like all good rules of anything, you can bend them a little when it's for a worthy cause): your main character, the antagonist, and then either the best friend/sidekick/mentor or the love interest. Notice how Luke and Ben are named in Susan Dennard's synopsis but Han Solo and Leia aren't. They're instead referred to as "the pilot" and the "the princess" which hey, it does what it says on the tin.
If you absolutely require a lot of characters, then consider mentioning them by their titles/what they do instead of by name. It's easier to keep track of that way and it's a little reminder to the reader that this person is a recurring character but perhaps not quite important enough to make named status. If it sounds too stupid like that, like there actually is a fourth character that you cannot live with calling "the princess" all the time, then okay, name them. Obviously, there are no hard and fast rules in writing, but my personal rule is no more than five named characters and you better provide me with an excellent reason for naming the last two.
4. Don't worry about being descriptive or not voicey enough.
The problem: I have so little page space and word count leftover, but I really need to convince this person that I've built a sweeping world and/or that my protag is fun to be around and engaging enough to stick with for a full book.
The fix: Again, voice and caliber of writing is going to help you the most in your query and then your manuscript. You're absolutely right: you don't have a whole lot of page space, and you do have to limit yourself. The way I worked it was that I allowed myself a paragraph at the beginning to sketch out my characters with a few choice adjectives, and then a few sentences to paint an ending scene/to talk about the scene I ended on in a little more descriptive detail--but, detail that related back to the main plot. Young wandering lord reunites with his countrymen, fights epic battle, looks out on ruins of his ancestral home glistening in the dawn.
The purpose isn't to sell us on the book-- it's again #2, show us that you can develop tension and resolve conflicts. Ending on a pretty scene is alright, but it's not like every single line of your synopsis must be gold-plated. It is literally just the facts.
5. To thine own self be true.
The problem: You need to stop. You hate this synopsis, you hate this story, and you feel like you're killing all the magic by writing out the ending and you never want to work on it again.
The fix: Take a break. If you've stuck with me thus far (yay!) and you seem to like the advice this girl from the internet is giving you, then listen to this one especially: this is not easy, it does not make you a bad person/incapable writer/whatever negative noun if it takes you a while or it is hard. Ask my CPs: I told them I was going to start my synopsis for a week, like every day of that week. I just didn't. I was worried I was going to suck all the coolness out of my story by writing it down. Like saying oh hey did you know the narrator is actually Tyler Durden before someone watches Fight Club. It would be lame.
That being said, you still have to buckle down and write it later. Take a deep breath, find your ass-kicking music, crack your knuckles, and when you get on fire getting the first draft of it down, absolutely do not stop. It's is so much easier having something on paper to work with than not.
6. The right time to write a synopsis-- before you even write the first draft, in the middle of drafting, or at the end of revisions-- it when you know what happens in your story.
This is less of a problem/fix situation and more of a hey, this all sounds very overwhelming and how on earth do I start? situation.
You start whenever it's right for you. I wrote my query for my latest manuscript when I was, what, about halfway through drafts or so? (I guess I am a halfway person) I probably could have written the synopsis at the same time. I do know some people who love to write the synopsis first, before writing anything in the story--actually, I am going to try this for my WIP-- so that you work out a basic framework for yourself plotwise and you have a skeleton to start from rather than digging the skeleton out of the story later. Or, you can do the tried and true write-it-at-the-end approach. All of these are valid, and all will work-- all you need to do if you revise your manuscript after writing your synopsis is just to make sure that the main conflict is still the same between synopsis and book.
And there you have it! Got any synopsis tips or tricks to share with us? Drop them in the comments below!
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Monday, March 10, 2014
Make it Hurt
 |
| credit: Cinema Fanatic |
I watched Roman Holiday last night with my mum-- there's a local theatre showing some classics during the spring, and we caught this one. I forgot how much I liked it, both for the actors, but also its last scene.
It made me think about how much books and films get characterized by single moments that showcase character change. Harry Potter would not be Harry Potter without Harry walking to his death in book seven. The Great Gatsby wouldn't be the same without that scene where Nick is calling people from the wake, wondering where on earth people are.
But without the emotional build-up behind these scenes, what are they? Just a boy with a rock walking in the woods, and a man with a phone by a casket.
So too is it with any manuscript.
One of the neat things that being in poetry workshops and working with poems in undergrad taught me was to focus on an image. And yeah, oftentimes there's a particular scene that captures everything about your characters that have changed in a single perfect moment.
Come back to Roman Holiday. What makes this last scene hurt so much? Joe Bradley's just revealed to Princess Ann that he's a member of the press corps and that he's not going to publish his story about the fun times they had running around Rome yesterday, even though it would enable him to move back to New York and show up his boss.
His character has changed-- he knows who Ann is and, whatever his feelings are towards her, they've changed since he first found her on the park bench. She's no longer some royal kid he's happy to screw over for a quick buck.
What I love about the last scene, though, is how much the power dynamic has changed. All throughout their trip around Rome, it's always Bradley in control, following Ann places, setting things up with his photographer friend to score pictures of Ann in un-regal situations. In the last scene, it's Ann giving the press conference, meeting people, and then leaving. Bradley waits for her to come back out, but she doesn't. The holiday is over.
He walks the whole way to the end of the embassy hall by himself, turning back at the end to see if she's behind him before he leaves. She's not.
This is what a pivotal scene in a manuscript needs to do. It's got to show a character acting in a way that is different from how we meet them (Bradley gives up the money, Ann accepts the rigors of royal life) and punch us in the gut (having the power to destroy someone's life, where both you and the other person know it, it would be to your advantage, and then not).
The nice thing about these scenes is that you don't have to explain them-- it's your job for all the manuscript that comes before them to make them plausible, and then let the reader work it out on their own. All you have to do is lay the groundwork for the pivot point, and when the reader gets there, make it hurt.
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.wordpress.com
Monday, February 24, 2014
Third vs. First: Perspective and Intimacy
Probably one of the most divisive questions you can ask writers is whether they prefer to write in third or first. It's like choosing a starter pokemon.
In the pokeball on the right is third person. On the left is first person. Choose.
At the start of a new manuscript, this is always rough. What's going to tell the story best? Does a lot happen outside the knowledge of the main character? Do I need to be in her thoughts to make sure my readers feel a connection with her, or will they be cool if I'm just kinda floating behind her head all the time, or flitting to other narrators?
With first person, it's easier to be more intimate with your narrator. I mean, how can you not? You're literally riding around with them in their head. With third, you have more distance. Even in third limited, your narrator can take a deep breath and observe things more detachedly. Both intimacy and distance are double-edged swords, though. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your starterpokemon perspective is helps you avoid overwhelming your reader with personal details or pushing them away with an inhuman protagonist.
For an easy example, Twilight absolutely wouldn't work the same as a third person book. Think about it. A lot of the big conflicts, a lot of the juiciness of that series (whether you like it or not) comes from being right there in Bella's head as she meets Edward and angsts over their doomed romance. Try it in third person. What do you have? Moody teenager goes to school, sits in her room, at night there are weird noises, she gets dumped and then sits around some more, make-outs, etc.
Could it be pulled off? Sure. But it would be a very different Twilight. It wouldn't have the same immediacy or let readers slip into Bella's head as easily, which is a major attraction to the original. It might actually be a fun exercise, trying to rewrite it as literary fiction in third person.
Same goes for third. Say your narrator's mourning the loss of someone close to him when you open your story. You absolutely cannot expect your reader to try to connect with the depth of his sadness on page one; it's just not realistic. (This is why a lot of first-chapter deaths or funerals fail to connect with readers-- we need more of an emotional connection to a character before we can feel as sad as they do when someone they love dies.)
This is where distance comes in handy. I can open on a guy who is absolutely heartbroken and not let you know it if I'm in third. Maybe my protag is cagey and doesn't like talking about his feelings in his interiority, maybe instead he's going to show you that something is majorly wrong in his life by the way that he sneaks through his house, steals his dad's car keys, and goes out on walks late at night in winter in only a t-shirt.
Can you do this in first? Sure. It's just going to be trickier, because you start out with that close degree of intimacy, and pulling away is something that your reader will notice. Of course, you can also just choose to have your narrator not pursue thinking distressing things when they came up until we as readers are ready to deal with that with her (one of my CPs did this, and it turned out awesome).
Intimacy is great because it connects us right away with your character. "Forks was literally my personal hell on earth." Say what you will about Bella Swan, but right here, boom, connection. Who among us have not felt like the place we were living in sucked?
The downside to intimacy is that it makes it too easy to TMI. It's really easy to re-interpret events that just happened in your narrator-character's thoughts, and that's exhausting to read. This took me ages to figure out on my first first-person manuscript. I would literally be like "why am I so exhausted reading this wow gosh I must be working hard" without even realizing that it took me half a century to move from one chunk of action to the next.
To help fix it, add some distance. Consider letting your reader work out more in their head. Keep in mind that you don't need to give us every single thought that runs through your protagonist's head--often, we can work out what their feelings are from how they react to things. Your reader is smart. Cut the interiority down to the bare basics. Look at what makes ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD's Cas such a compelling narrator-- he keeps us enough in the action that we're not suffocated, and his sparse, tell-it-like-it-is moments just reel us in.
Distance is great because we have room to observe without getting caught up in anyone's head. There's more mystery. We know some of what the character is thinking, but at no point are they an open book. There's always more for us to find out about them.
The downside to distance is that sense of removal. Why should I bother caring about your character if I can't forge a connection with them right away? This happens a lot in fantasy books, though it's by no means limited to that genre-- a lot of times, third person books open on setting up a scene or something not at all related to the main character. Here, your handicap is that you're constantly farther away from your audience-- from the first paragraph, the onus is on you to bridge the gap throughout the book.
To help fix it, add some intimacy. These things work in balance, much like starter pokemon. Have your protagonist get into all sorts of scrapes, throw in some lines of interiority as needed, and be leery of purple prose or over-describing things for the sake of description. Kami in UNSPOKEN is a great third person narrator-- even though we're not in her head all the time, it's okay because she's hilarious, doesn't linger, and constantly is getting into trouble. You don't feel like you're held at a distance, you feel like you're watching your best friend crash majestically through all her problems.
And that's all I've got! Your turn: what POV is your favorite to write in and why?
(P.S. Get pumped for Heather's cover reveal tomorrow!)
 |
| art by: jonathanjo (deviantart) |
At the start of a new manuscript, this is always rough. What's going to tell the story best? Does a lot happen outside the knowledge of the main character? Do I need to be in her thoughts to make sure my readers feel a connection with her, or will they be cool if I'm just kinda floating behind her head all the time, or flitting to other narrators?
With first person, it's easier to be more intimate with your narrator. I mean, how can you not? You're literally riding around with them in their head. With third, you have more distance. Even in third limited, your narrator can take a deep breath and observe things more detachedly. Both intimacy and distance are double-edged swords, though. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your starter
For an easy example, Twilight absolutely wouldn't work the same as a third person book. Think about it. A lot of the big conflicts, a lot of the juiciness of that series (whether you like it or not) comes from being right there in Bella's head as she meets Edward and angsts over their doomed romance. Try it in third person. What do you have? Moody teenager goes to school, sits in her room, at night there are weird noises, she gets dumped and then sits around some more, make-outs, etc.
Could it be pulled off? Sure. But it would be a very different Twilight. It wouldn't have the same immediacy or let readers slip into Bella's head as easily, which is a major attraction to the original. It might actually be a fun exercise, trying to rewrite it as literary fiction in third person.
Same goes for third. Say your narrator's mourning the loss of someone close to him when you open your story. You absolutely cannot expect your reader to try to connect with the depth of his sadness on page one; it's just not realistic. (This is why a lot of first-chapter deaths or funerals fail to connect with readers-- we need more of an emotional connection to a character before we can feel as sad as they do when someone they love dies.)
This is where distance comes in handy. I can open on a guy who is absolutely heartbroken and not let you know it if I'm in third. Maybe my protag is cagey and doesn't like talking about his feelings in his interiority, maybe instead he's going to show you that something is majorly wrong in his life by the way that he sneaks through his house, steals his dad's car keys, and goes out on walks late at night in winter in only a t-shirt.
Can you do this in first? Sure. It's just going to be trickier, because you start out with that close degree of intimacy, and pulling away is something that your reader will notice. Of course, you can also just choose to have your narrator not pursue thinking distressing things when they came up until we as readers are ready to deal with that with her (one of my CPs did this, and it turned out awesome).
Intimacy is great because it connects us right away with your character. "Forks was literally my personal hell on earth." Say what you will about Bella Swan, but right here, boom, connection. Who among us have not felt like the place we were living in sucked?
The downside to intimacy is that it makes it too easy to TMI. It's really easy to re-interpret events that just happened in your narrator-character's thoughts, and that's exhausting to read. This took me ages to figure out on my first first-person manuscript. I would literally be like "why am I so exhausted reading this wow gosh I must be working hard" without even realizing that it took me half a century to move from one chunk of action to the next.
To help fix it, add some distance. Consider letting your reader work out more in their head. Keep in mind that you don't need to give us every single thought that runs through your protagonist's head--often, we can work out what their feelings are from how they react to things. Your reader is smart. Cut the interiority down to the bare basics. Look at what makes ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD's Cas such a compelling narrator-- he keeps us enough in the action that we're not suffocated, and his sparse, tell-it-like-it-is moments just reel us in.
Distance is great because we have room to observe without getting caught up in anyone's head. There's more mystery. We know some of what the character is thinking, but at no point are they an open book. There's always more for us to find out about them.
The downside to distance is that sense of removal. Why should I bother caring about your character if I can't forge a connection with them right away? This happens a lot in fantasy books, though it's by no means limited to that genre-- a lot of times, third person books open on setting up a scene or something not at all related to the main character. Here, your handicap is that you're constantly farther away from your audience-- from the first paragraph, the onus is on you to bridge the gap throughout the book.
To help fix it, add some intimacy. These things work in balance, much like starter pokemon. Have your protagonist get into all sorts of scrapes, throw in some lines of interiority as needed, and be leery of purple prose or over-describing things for the sake of description. Kami in UNSPOKEN is a great third person narrator-- even though we're not in her head all the time, it's okay because she's hilarious, doesn't linger, and constantly is getting into trouble. You don't feel like you're held at a distance, you feel like you're watching your best friend crash majestically through all her problems.
And that's all I've got! Your turn: what POV is your favorite to write in and why?
(P.S. Get pumped for Heather's cover reveal tomorrow!)
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.blogspot.com
Monday, February 10, 2014
Gutting the Sagging Middle
I was up late last night and wondering why this manuscript has taken the longest to write and revise-- because it's frustrating, right? It's like hellooo, I can totally write this book, watch me.
It takes time to write a story, and sometimes it just takes a lot of time to learn how to write the story you're writing. Most of my problem with this can be summed up as the Sagging Middle. Which yes, sounds mad gross and makes my manuscript seem like a forty-something-year-old man, but it's true.
The Sagging Middle is when starts strong out of the gate-- you open on the day that it's different, you're roaring for the first four chapters, and then you're like yeah and here we're gonna steer off into some happy green pasture while I Subtly Prepare these other important conflicts. And sure, it picks back up by the end, but what's the guarantee that a reader's going to get to the end if they snooze out in chapter eight?
Granted, not every single book ever has to be the most action! packed! piece of literature out there ever, but the stakes have got to keep getting higher on some level, preferably multiple levels, or it won't be compelling enough to continue.
Most times my CPs will catch scenes that seem to be lacking something, but when you're anxiously tapping your keyboard waiting for their brilliance to be made manifest, here's a few things that have worked for me that might also help you out.
Look at it in a new format.
Change the font, read it out loud, print it out. Do something to the manuscript that forces you to engage with it in a manner that's not your usual. If you're as hilariously bad at reading out loud as I am (I wish I were kidding--I read aloud with music on in the background so humans within earshot don't make fun of me), then concentrating on not stumbling over all the words is going to be your first priority and you forget about how you wrote the words to sound and focus on how they sound now. Then it's easier to see where the dissonance between sounds picks up or the language feels blockier, or you'll realize that yes, you are totally having this poor character push her sunglasses on top of her head and two lines later try to look over them. *contorts*
Two birds, one stone? More like one flock, one scene.
You don't have a lot of scenes or a lot of words to make everything happen that's got to happen-- and much like words in your query letter (oh no), each scene is most effective when it's moving multiple conflicts forward. Is it possible for you to mash scenes together? Can your hilarious coffee-on-pants scene be mashed up with the so-and-so-likes-protag hint scene and protag-meditates-on-life scene? Basically, look for ways that a single scene can heighten conflict in multiple areas-- most immediate is how the scene advances the main character's conflict, but how are things changing for the minor characters, or the environment? It's layering in conflicts, and ultimately it will make your story more full even though it's a pain in the butt revising to make it happen.
Say it the best way, once.
Sometimes in my dialogue I notice that I do all this build-up to an Epic Line and then two replies later I say the same thing but More Epically later. Consider cutting the stuff that's not doing it for you and making the thing you lead up to be the most epic thing. There are some situations (as with any writing advice, lol) that you'll want to flagrantly disregard this for style purposes, but do it sparingly--as a reader, how boring is it to read the same thing over and over again?
Read through from the perspective of a minor character.
Pretend you're a different character than your protagonist for one read-through and go through your draft, keeping their conflicts in mind. Sometimes when I read subs, I come across minor characters that feel more like vehicles for conflict than human beings. Are your minor characters saying things that you would expect a real human to say (or humanoid creature, depending on your setting)? Are they too understanding (because maybe you need your protag to get off easy this scene)? Ask the tough questions. Sure, maybe your protagonist will still sashay away from a conflict scott-free, but at least the reader will know that that was a hard-won victory.
So what about you guys? I also like finding new music for a scene and getting inspired that way, but I wasn't sure how to tie that in to any specific strategy. What are your favorite tricks for keeping your stories moving in the middle?
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: www.alexyuschik.blogspot.com
Monday, January 27, 2014
Query Prep
Hey guys! Hope you're busy rocking January. :)
I'm a huge fan of planning. (Like, as in Andrea's organization posts make me green with envy and also really impressed, kind of in love with planning.) So today I'm collecting up some of my favorite tips for planning out querying and managing where and how you go through submitting a project.
I've read submissions for a literary agent and currently read for Entangled, and after seeing two of my CPs successfully query projects and land agents, I've put together a list. Disclaimer: these are suggestions-- obviously, different strategies work for different people on some of these, some are just good sense, and others I've cited agent/editor opinion where I can. Ultimately, you're the best judge of what works for you.
Revisions.
Yeah, okay. You've heard this before, probably lots of times. Agents and editors only want your polished manuscripts, and polishing may mean tacking on a few more months or weeks to your querying schedule. Are revisions worth it? YES. In querying, you're auditioning to work with someone for possibly the rest of your writing career, or at least a large chunk of it, ideally. NaNoWriMo's even got a Now What? section dedicated to revising.
Part of showing an agent that you'd be a good client (or an editor that you'd be a good author to work with and publish) is showing them that you take the time to revise and develop your work on your own before passing it off to them. When I read a sub, it's pretty clear how much effort a writer put into it. If it reads like a bonsai (as in, it is sculpted and the branches are all nicely accounted for), then the more likely I am to love it.
Is this going to take more time? Yes. Is it going to be worth it? Take it away, Epictetus.
Gather CPs and betas, bring them into the manuscript party.
Sometimes to create your great thing, you need some help from other people. And it's cool. If you have CPs already, then get them to read your manuscript and give you some feedback. If you're looking for a fresh eyes on a project your CPs have already been through the ringer with, consider reaching out on twitter for betas.
Don't have a CP yet, but interested in finding one?
How About We CP is probably my fave resource for this (beyond our own kickass Buddies Project, obviously), because it's how I found one of my good friends. There's some awesome people out there and it's got helpful tags for easy genre-matching. Go forth and make friends!
Draft a synopsis and query letter while you revise.
I love Query Shark. Honestly, one of the things that got me more comfortable writing queries was being exposed to a LOT of them. When I was interning with Mary Kole, I read a ton of queries and that was really helpful for seeing what worked and what didn't. Read lots of them, either on QS or register for Write On Con, and check out the query forums there.
The reason I suggest drafting these up while you revise is that it a) gives you a break from revising, which is nice b) has you write about what's going on in the story while it's fresh in your mind and you're excited about it and c) affords you enough time to put the query/synopsis down and pick it up again to see if it's as good and accurate as it can be.
Research agents or editors, and choose which you'll query/submit to.
Research is pretty obvious-- you need to know who represents what genres, who wants your query, synopsis, and first five, ten, fifteen, chapter, three chapters, etc. I don't mean query an agent or an editor exclusively (exclusivity is rarely a good idea), but do choose whether you want to query agents or submit to editors. Dahlia Alder has a fantastic post on the subject for an idea how agents and editors feel when you query them simultaneously.
Again, ultimately it's your manuscript and I, as this tiny internet person, can do little to stay your clicky inbox hand. To me, though, these are different goals-- finding an agent for your career (who may not be able to sell the manuscript you signed with her) versus finding an editor for a specific manuscript (who may be less interested in your next story). Ask: am I trying to get agent representation for my whole career with this manuscript, or is this project something I feel would do best at a smaller publisher? Both are equally legitimate and make awesome books.
Have your CPs/betas read your query.
Maybe this seems obvious, but in case not: the people who've read your story are the ones you want to read your query. Are you focusing on the main conflict? Are you bringing enough of the voice in, are you setting the stakes? Your CPs and betas are awesome for help with this.
Send yourself a test email. Does it all look okay?
Paste your query and first whatever many pages into an email and send it to yourself. You'll see what agents and editors will see (if they use email submissions). Make sure that it formats nicely, and enjoy that peace of mind when it does.
Make it easy for people with e-readers.
This is one that I didn't know since I read submissions on my laptop. But, as more and more agents are using e-readers to read work, consider doing this to help them out:
Also, change the title/author of your manuscript in "Properties" in Word -- that's what I see as title/author on my ereader. #pubtip
— Hannah Bowman (@hannahnpbowman) July 22, 2013
It's also helpful to paste your query on the first page of the manuscript, too, so it's easy for an agent to remember which manuscript they're reading.
Collect up some inspiration, and prepare to move onto your next project.
Start thinking up what you want to work on next! This can be super exciting, spending time cultivating your TBR (who am I kidding everyone's TBRs are probably massive) or researching for your next writing project. Whether you plan, pants, or something in between, this is the time to start your creative mojo.
Start thinking up what you want to work on next! This can be super exciting, spending time cultivating your TBR (who am I kidding everyone's TBRs are probably massive) or researching for your next writing project. Whether you plan, pants, or something in between, this is the time to start your creative mojo.
Remember: querying/subbing isn't the final say on everything, but the draft honeymoon should be over.
Not getting any bites on a manuscript doesn't mean that it's the end of the line for it-- however, this is the point where the honeymoon should be over. (Revisions were the honeymoon, as awkward and perfect as that sounds.) You know the weaknesses and the strengths of this piece, you recognize that you have written a full and complete story, and you're ready to settle into moving onto the next phase of your writing life post-wedding/creating and forging manuscript. It doesn't mean that you never think about it, but more that the major creative showdown is done (until edit letters), you've taken it as far as you can go, and you're moving towards the next big challenge in your writing life.
Separate email accounts, social media as needed.
This is two-in-one. Your query email needs to be professional-looking. That means your.name@whatevermail or soandsowrites@ or your.name.writer@ if your name is already taken. It looks scads less professional if you're sending queries from queenofinfinity@gmail.com or fourfangirl4444@hotmail.com.
How much separation you want between your email is up to you. I have all my writing mail forward to one place, but I can also understand (for stress/anxiety reducing purposes) wanting to have a "safe" email where you don't have to see rejections until you're ready. (I have a separate account for school-related email because sometimes I just want to be a cool writer person without worrying about who's asking me to extend their homeworks or whatever for a few hours.) Whatever works for you.
You've already heard that you have to be careful about social media-- if your CPs use gchat or text, I recommend saving the rants and sadfacing for those outlets. If you must use twitter or something to vent, either do it over DMs, or make another account for venting and protect your tweets so that only your friends/CPs can see them. Agents will check.
This is two-in-one. Your query email needs to be professional-looking. That means your.name@whatevermail or soandsowrites@ or your.name.writer@ if your name is already taken. It looks scads less professional if you're sending queries from queenofinfinity@gmail.com or fourfangirl4444@hotmail.com.
How much separation you want between your email is up to you. I have all my writing mail forward to one place, but I can also understand (for stress/anxiety reducing purposes) wanting to have a "safe" email where you don't have to see rejections until you're ready. (I have a separate account for school-related email because sometimes I just want to be a cool writer person without worrying about who's asking me to extend their homeworks or whatever for a few hours.) Whatever works for you.
You've already heard that you have to be careful about social media-- if your CPs use gchat or text, I recommend saving the rants and sadfacing for those outlets. If you must use twitter or something to vent, either do it over DMs, or make another account for venting and protect your tweets so that only your friends/CPs can see them. Agents will check.
Batches, and the one rejection enters, another query leaves system.
Again, this is one of those your-mileage-may-vary dealios, but I feel like it keeps morale up to send out one more query whenever a rejection comes in.
Again, this is one of those your-mileage-may-vary dealios, but I feel like it keeps morale up to send out one more query whenever a rejection comes in.
The "Badass" label, aka, keeping up your self-esteem.
Hopping on the ego train again, because querying is Rough on self-worth-- prepare for it beforehand. My trick (and you're totally welcome to laugh at/with me in the comments about this) is to label emails that make me feel awesome-- from CPs or people telling me how awesome my writing is, to cool art that people send me, or even just emails that say that someone I admire is following me on Twitter (yes, I am that vain)-- with this label that says "badass" on it. So, when I'm feeling like I suck, I can just click the badass label and remember that hey, I am kind of cool after all.
Spreadsheets! Or, keeping track of your stats.
Okay, so no one is going to hold a gun to your head and force you to keep track of these suckers. But you should have some means/method of making sure that you didn't send a query to an agent who's already rejected the manuscript you're querying. I personally recommend a spreadsheet (because I am mathy and excitable), but for the excel-phobic there's also QueryTracker.
Any more suggestions or awesome stuff I missed? Share it in the comments!
Okay, so no one is going to hold a gun to your head and force you to keep track of these suckers. But you should have some means/method of making sure that you didn't send a query to an agent who's already rejected the manuscript you're querying. I personally recommend a spreadsheet (because I am mathy and excitable), but for the excel-phobic there's also QueryTracker.
Any more suggestions or awesome stuff I missed? Share it in the comments!
When Alex Yuschik isn't writing her next YA novel, she's working on someone else's as an intern at Entangled Publishing. She writes about lock picks, ghosts, the abandoned places in cities, and how not to strike bargains with stars. Between sneaking in time to game and rocking out to indie music, Alex spends the rest of her free time working towards her PhD in mathematics. You know, as one does.
You can find her on Twitter @: https://twitter.com/alexyuschik
Or drop her an email at: alex.yuschik@gmail.com
And also visit her website @: alexyuschik.blogspot.com
