Using prompts

I regularly practice my writing skills by doing prompts - coming up with short blurbs about my life, my characters' lives, anything that pops into my head upon seeing the prompt. I try to let the words flow naturally without constraining the narrative to fit into any WIP or thinking of it as something I may want to use in the future. I write from prompts just to flex my writing muscles and imagination, and to break out of writer's block if need-be.

Sometimes the prompt inspires me to write about the main character in the work I'm currently querying. I've written scenes that took place in his past, long before the book takes place. These scenes help me better understand my character's thoughts and motivations as I move the story forward. They also help to better understand the side characters and how my MC interacts with them on a regular basis.

However, there has been a time or two when a prompt has inspired a scene that's actually made it into the book. I'll be writing from the prompt, as per usual, and I'll suddenly see how it ties into the story and can actually build upon the work I've already written. It can help tease out relationship dynamics. It can create a new tension between characters. It can help me see a side character in a new light that I want to bring out more in the book. I'm always surprised when a prompt inspires an actual, usable scene.

I highly recommend doing prompts to anyone struggling with their writing. You just never know what you're going to get.

Breaking up is hard to do

I'm working on a scene for a book that's a sequel to the YA novel I'm currently querying, and I'm getting stuck. Two characters have to break-up because they're about to go off to college in different states and don't see how they can maintain a serious relationship while apart. They've seen their friends try and fail and don't want to get to a point in their relationship where they're angry with each other or resentful that one or the other is unavailable or too distracted with school, etc.

They both know that a break-up is the best thing for them. Despite loving each other, they do understand that they're not "in love" - like the forever, get married kind of love. But they care very deeply for each other. On the one hand, that makes it easier to accept that they want what's best for each other, and give each other the chance to meet someone great in college and find someone that they could be "in love" with. But at the same time, they really don't want to give up what they have, because it's so special to both of them.

I've been running through possible scenarios for how they break-up, and all I know for sure is that it's a very emotional and difficult decision for the two of them to come to, but they both saw it coming. I can't decide who brings it up, though, so I'm having a hard time sitting down to write the scene. 

... 

Maybe I should just write out the dialogue without assigning lines to either person until I figure out who's saying what.

I think part of my hesitation is that I don't want to split up this couple. They've been really good for each other and supported each other through difficult times. It's been a healthy relationship from the beginning. Sure, they had their ups and downs, but they always worked through things because they cared about each other more than getting their own way. After previous relationships I've put both these characters through, it was a big step, emotionally, for both of them.

But now they need to move on. They have to continue to grow on their own so they can be ready for the next relationships I have planned for them.

I've never personally experienced an amicable break-up. I'm not still friends with anyone I've been involved with in the past. I'm using my imagination to write the emotions each character is going through during the break-up. I wish I had a bit more to go on, but I wouldn't be a writer if I wasn't decent at extrapolating from my limited life experiences to create life experiences for fictional people in fictional situations I can only barely relate to. So, that's my plan for this scene - don't write what I know, write what they know. Because my characters have a tendency to run the story themselves anyway.

"Manly" friendships in fiction

 

Fiction does men a great disservice when it comes to showcasing friendships. Too often, close male friendships are given homoerotic undertones that give off the impression that there is a romantic or sexual tension between the men, when they are just platonically bonded. In modern shipping culture, fans frequently create ships and fanfiction/fanart that depicts these close friends as being "more than friends". This perception that two men can't be platonically close without there being more to the relationship can make it difficult for men in real life to want to form close bonds with other men, for fear of being misjudged.

In the YA novel I'm currently querying, my main character is a gay teen who's two best friends are both straight boys. Throughout what will likely be at least a 3-book series, he is thought to be dating one or the other on multiple occasions. I considered leaving out this misconception, due to my desire to promote healthy male friendships, but I had to contend with what might realistically happen at a modern high school environment.

As an author, how do I balance modern shipping culture and expectations with what I would like to showcase in my work? How do I show healthy, platonic relationships between men without people trying to "read between the lines"? I haven't come up with an answer to that yet, but it's something I do consider while writing.

Today's Trope: Private Schools

When writing YA novels, why is it so much fun to set them at private schools? In fantasy novels, you frequently see kids with special powers being carted off to these schools to learn to use their abilities. But even non-fantasy works use private schools as a way to segregate the cast of characters from the "real world."

I actually attended a private school all through middle school, so I have some personal experience with the culture there. It is very different than public school. The teachers are different. The expectations on grades and extracurricular activities are different. And the mindset of the students is different. I wasn't immune to it - when you get in to a private school, you automatically think a little better of yourself. "I'm special." "I'm better than the public-school kids." "I deserve to be treated better." It's really hard not to think like that at first. Some kids grow out of it, depending on their interactions with the outside world. Some just don't.

Currently, in the novel that I'm querying, I refer to the kids who think grandly of themselves as the "plastics." I know that term has been used a few too many times already, so I'm open to suggestions on what else I should call them. But the truth of the matter is, there are a LOT of them at private schools. Usually they come from upper-class families and have been told they were special since the day they were born. Some of them are academically gifted or particularly good at sports, and may have gotten a scholarship to the school, thus "proving" they are better than those kids still stuck in public schools, and even better than the kids at the private school who aren't on scholarship but simply paid their way in. However the mindset was formed, they persistently think they are better than others, and lord it over them whenever possible.

These plastics (or whatever I end up calling them) make for excellent villains in YA novels. Some have the chance of being redeemed, if shown the error of their ways. Some remain "evil" throughout the story and must be defeated in some way. But they stand opposed to the "good guys" in the story by their very nature. You see some of this in public schools, as you always have bullies and those who think highly of themselves, but the tight-night environment at private schools, and the addition of socioeconomic disparities, make these schools much more intense when it comes to bully culture.

Today's Trope: Stereotypical gays vs "shocking" gays

We all know that anyone on the planet could be of any sexual orientation. It doesn't matter what their looks suggest, or their hobbies or mannerisms. Anyone can be anything. But we still see stereotypes in fiction.

Take, for example, the artistic gay. The guys who do drama or dance or paint. They are often depicted as being of either a gentle or dramatic nature. They may have a certain lilt to the way they speak. They may care an awful lot about their appearance. And, frequently in fiction, they are canonically not-straight.

Then we have the jock. The guy who's most comfortable getting sweaty and a little dirty. The one who actually enjoys working out and will still run a few laps for fun after a long practice in the gym. These are the guys who are naturally attractive, even if they don't try. Their fit bodies are attractive to the girls in their circle, and they're never short on options when it comes to dating. Which is why fiction writers love subverting stereotypes by making these characters gay. Though, usually their storylines focus on coming out of the closet and dealing with any backlash from the public that thinks jocks must inherently be straight.

What happens, however, when you have a character that is both artistic and a jock? That is a dilemma I'm exploring in the novel I'm currently querying. My main character is a gay teen who is both an artist and a basketball player. How does he balance the expectations his schoolmates place on him from each side? It's been a fun journey, figuring this out with him, and things get very hairy as the series progresses. How will things shake out? Hopefully I'll get picking up by a publisher soon so you can find out!

Today's Trope: Single Mother

Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting really tired of single mothers in books. Sure, lots of couples get divorced these days, that's totally normal. But where are the books about single DADS?

It's a strange occurrence in this country that fathers don't usually get primary custody of their kids in a divorce. There are some states, or so I've heard, that the courts don't even bother asking the divorcing couple what their plans are, they just automatically award custody to the mother, and the father has to petition to change that.

When working on my debut novel, the parents of my teen main character had just gotten divorced. The mother wanted custody so she could move her son with her out of state. But the teen had a scholarship to an elite school in his hometown and the father wanted to make sure he could stay and finish out his school years there. So, Dad gets primary custody. Ta-da! Trope averted. I didn't do it that way to intentionally go against the trope - it happened to make sense for the characters and I needed to create tension between the teen and his mother.

I'm enjoying the challenge that comes with writing a single father. He has to contend with his ex-wife butting in on how to care for their son. Eventually he will begin dating - though probably not until book 3. And there's very little in the way of examples in literature on how to do this. It's minimally-charted territory!

My parents divorced when I was in high school, which is part of the inspiration for my book. My mother got primary custody of me, and there are many times when I wished she hadn't, for reasons that I will not be putting in this blog. I enjoy the opportunity to fix my family’s mistakes in my fiction. That's part of why I write, I guess - to make the world that I wish I could have lived in.

Writing by hand

Part of my writing "process" - if that's what I should call it - is to write my first drafts by hand. I have dozens of notebooks, many of them still empty, that I keep close at hand so that I can write when inspiration strikes. I have a hard time coming up with brand new material when I'm typing into my computer. If I already have a good idea of what I want to say, or I'm continuing a scene that is nearly done, I can get fresh material on the computer. But writing by hand is so much easier for me.

Maybe it's because I don't get distracted by typos. Maybe it's easier to strike through a thought and rewrite it rather than delete and try again. But I feel a lot more connected to my writing when I do it by hand.

So, I've been editing a manuscript that I've recently started querying. There was a scene that just plain didn't work. Every time I tried to edit it on the computer, I felt like I was making it worse. Then I'd try stepping away from the computer and rewriting the scene just by hand, but that made the scene go a completely different direction than I'd originally intended. I felt that the answer was somewhere between the scene as it stood in the computer and the scene I'd just free-written. So I copied the scene from my computer into my notebook and looked at it beside the reworked scene I'd written. I began rewriting the scene, combining elements from each version, but doing it all by hand. Finally, I ended up with something I was happy with.

Writing by hand definitely helps unlock my creativity in ways that typing just can't.

Be careful what you query for

I've been querying my debut novel for almost two weeks. So far I have sent out 23 query letters and received 8 rejections. I take each rejection as a chance to improve my querying ability. I take a good look at the letter I sent and the other requirements they asked for, and try to figure out where I might have lost them. A couple of agents have provided some feedback, which I greatly appreciate, but do not expect as I continue this process.

As I was studying how to write a query letter, the number one thing all the advisors said was to personalize the query to the agent. Research their existing clients. Read their wish lists. Stalk them on Twitter/X. Find out what it is that each particular agent is looking for and show how your work meets their desires. I'm trying to do a good job, but it's hard to sell myself - I've never been too good at that. 

But, in doing my research into the agents I've chosen to query, I've also researched the agencies they work for. I read their mission statements and look at their overall clientele, trying to gauge what's important to the company in general. So far, I've come across a couple of companies that I just don't like the sound of. Even if a particular agent on their roster seems like they might be a good fit, the company doesn't.

Granted, I'm still very new to this querying thing, so I don't always trust my instincts on this. There was an agency I queried last week that I was rather dubious about. The agent I selected to contact said that they were open to young adult novels from characters of diverse backgrounds with unique voices. My YA novel has a queer protagonist and a cast from a wide range of ethnicities and sexual preferences. The main conflict in my novel centers around family dynamics, parental pressure, and expectations that come along with going to an elite school, not the diversity of the cast of characters. So, I looked through the authors that the company represents and found a couple of books that had similar conflicts and family dynamics, and mentioned them in my query letter. But, while I was looking through the books they'd gotten published, I noticed a distinct lack of LGBTQIA+ materials. In fact, I couldn't find a single one with a queer protagonist.

I received a rejection the next day, saying it wasn't what they were looking for. Now, my instinct after reading through their clientele was that the "diverse voices" they were looking for did not include non-straight people, but, as that's not the focus of my story, I decided to try them anyway.

Then I got to thinking ... would I want to be repped by a company that regularly dismisses books with non-straight main characters? Even if they were willing to take a chance on my book, perhaps because sexuality is not the main focus, would I want to be associated with a company that's less inclusive than so many other companies that specifically request queer voices?

This is only the first manuscript I've completed and am ready to publish, but I have a ton of stories left in me, just begging to be put on paper. Many of my main characters fall under the category of non-straight. I want to be repped by a company that celebrates that kind of diversity, not just puts up with it. So, I'm going to be a little more careful when researching companies for my upcoming query letters. It's not just about finding an agent willing to take a chance on me, it's about finding a company that I'd be proud to stand beside.

Today's Trope: Tall, Dark, and Broody

 

Some tropes are so popular that the mere mention of Tall, Dark, and Broody makes readers assume they know exactly what's going to happen as the story progresses. Does that mean the trope is overdone, or is in need of reworking?

In the queer YA novel I'm currently querying, my main character is introduced to the new guy in the neighborhood, and I intentionally write him as the tall, dark, and broody type. This makes him incredibly appealing to my main character, and ready to overlook the possible dangers of falling for someone who's so hard to get to know. But I feel like I strayed far enough away from the trope that the readers will still be surprised by the outcome. Did I stray far enough? Did I stray too far? Is there such a thing as straying too far from a trope? Hm. Guess I'll have to wait for the book to get published so I can get feedback from the readers.

Writing a good pitch

 

I've been querying my debut novel for little over a week now, and I'm thinking my hook and pitch aren't strong enough to really grab the attention of a literary agent and could use some feedback.

Part of the problem is that my story has a bit slice-of-life. There's no fantastical element, no sci-fi, no world-building. It's contemporary and realistic fiction. But it's a story that means a lot to me and deals with issues that young people can certainly relate to. How do I put that in a pitch that will make it stand out from other slice-of-life books already out on shelves?

This is the pitch I've used thus far: "A gay former-jock must tackle parental expectations and high school shipping culture while dealing with distractions of old hobbies and new flames."

Boring, I know. It doesn't convey the emotional turmoil he's dealing with or the stakes of the decisions he must make throughout the book. But how do I summarize all the tension of a 79K word book into one sentence?

"Setting himself up for the future his mother envisions wasn't in his plans for his sophomore year of high school, neither was coming out of the closet, but expectations at home and pressures at school mean difficult decisions must be made, and soon."

Better?

Ugh. Why does this have to be so hard?

Why writers have fuzzy pets

As an aspiring writer, I find myself spending a lot of time alone in my room. I write best in near quiet, usually on my bed, by hand in one of my many many notebooks, but sometimes on my laptop. I need the quiet in order to hear the voices of my characters telling me what happens next. This means that I spend a lot of time away from my family and the heart of the house.

Writing can be a lonely process. I have to have a day-job to pay the bills, so I don't get to see my family during the day. Then I spend the evening writing and researching (or getting distracted by the internet while attempting to write or research - let's be honest). So it's nice to have a companion. Wiley Coyote is a total snuggle bug and loves to just sit next to me while I work. He's quiet and gentle, but his constant presence is reassuring. I'd love to be able to curl up on the couch downstairs and hang out with my family while creating new worlds, but at least I don't have to go through this whole writing process completely alone.

Description vs Dialogue

Since I've started querying my first novel, I'm going through it and trying to read it from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about the story or my characters or this world. It's set in the real world - no fantasy element - but I made up a private school and set it in a real town that I've never been to.

I always thought I was particularly good at writing dialogue. I was even complimented for it by my creative writing teacher back in college. Now I wonder if I might be too good at writing dialogue and action and not good enough at writing descriptions. I seldom include vivid details of rooms people are in, smells they experience, distant sounds, clothes they're wearing. Unless those details directly matter to the plot, I naturally omit them.

Is that a problem? Will readers have a hard time getting sucked into the world if they don't "see" it the same what that I do? I know what everything looks like, smells like, sounds like - I've lived this story for a couple of years now. I want to make sure my readers can experience it as well. But descriptive writing doesn't come easy to me. Sometimes it feels forced, and I worry that it looks forced when I include it out of context to the action. So, where's the line between description for description's sake, and description that advances the plot?

Reading Aloud

I've heard it said that you should read your work out loud at least once during the editing process. It helps to catch repetitive sounds, over-used words, awkward or overlong sentences, etc. I'd never tried it until today, but I'm finding I like this technique.

One reason for reading aloud that I haven't heard discussed is the fact that it slows you down and forces you to focus on each word throughout the story, beginning to end. I think I have a bad habit when rereading my work of just going too fast. I know what happens, so my eyes start skimming over the passages and I lose track of what it is I'm supposed to be editing. Speaking the words makes me pace myself and give just as much attention to chapter 12 as I gave to chapter 2. 

There's an unexpected downside to reading a 79K word book out loud, though. At least for a heavily introverted person such as myself. My voice isn't used to talking this much! I'm barely halfway through and my throat is incredibly sore. I've had two cups of tea, two cups of coffee, and a bunch of water, but nothing has managed to soothe my throat enough that I can continue for the day.

*sigh*

I'll probably have to save the other half of the book for tomorrow, or risk losing my voice for a week. I wouldn't mind losing my voice if I didn't happen to have a day-job that requires human interaction. No one at the office knows I'm trying to get published, and I'd like to keep it that way for now. Explaining that I lost my voice from editing my manuscript will lead to a conversation I'm not ready for. Though, that's a post for another day.

Getting ahead of myself

 

I'm still in the process of editing book 1 in my series, and I've already started writing draft 2 of book 3! Why am I doing this to myself? It's distracting me from doing the work that I need to be doing right now.

And yet, it's not.

There were things I didn't realize I needed to include in book 1 until I started writing books 2 and 3. There were relationships I needed to set up and characters I needed to introduce. Things that were relevant to later parts of the story that I didn't want to just show up out of nowhere. I've read some book series (that shall remain nameless) that made the mistake of not introducing a very important plot point until the last book. It was jarring. Any attempt to figure out where the story was going was dashed by the late arrival of new information. I don't want to do that to my readers.

I try to at least outline my stories before I write them. But my outlines tend to get ignored by my characters. They take the story where they want it to go and I have to scramble to keep up. Once I know where the story is going, then I can go back and set it up so it makes sense to the reader. Sometimes that means going all the way back to the beginning (book 1) to set up something important that happens much later on (book 3).

I just started querying literary agents with book 1 of my potential 6 book series. Days after I sent out my first query letter, I realized what the major conflict would be for book 3 - something I'd been struggling with for over a year. Now I'm looking back at my already submitted manuscript to see if there's anything I need to change in order to set things up just right. Maybe I jumped the gun with sending out queries. I know I have time to change the manuscript - it hasn't even been accepted by an agent yet, let alone a publisher. I'm glad I have the time to work on it some more. I want readers to enjoy the whole series, not just book 1. It all has to work together.

Proofreading vs. Editing

 

Preparing my manuscript to be submitted to literary agents involved a lot of proofreading. I wanted to show them that I can write clearly and precisely. After all, my day-job involves a lot of attention to detail, so I've gotten used to being exact with my written communications.

But maybe I spent time proofreading - looking through the story for grammatical errors and misplaced commas - and not enough time editing the story for content. Sure, I've fixed scenes that were awkward or more exposition than action. I made sure the characters that are supposed to be likeable are likeable. Now I'm worried that I overlooked something rather important to storytelling.

My writing has always been very action driven. I have a lot of dialogue, I show my main character's internal conflict through self-narration. But I don't do a whole lot of scene setting. Unless it's relevant to the action, I tend not to mention what anyone's wearing or the physical layout of spaces. I very seldom include scent. When writing the manuscript, I was so focused on explaining to the reader what happens, I'm not sure I did enough work on describing where it was happening. Will a reader be able to see the world I've created.

I'm not sure, and I'm not sure it my minimal descriptions hurt my storytelling.

I currently have 15 queries out in the world, waiting to see what literary agents have to say about my writing. I'm not going to send out any more queries until I go through my manuscript with a descriptive eye. Can a reader see what I see? I know the story so well. I can see every scene in my mind. I know what people look like, how their voice sounds, what they wear. Will a reader get enough of that to have a vivid experience of the story themselves? That's what I want to focus on right now. How vivid is my writing?

Welcome to the world of the Query

Apparently, there is an art to sending out query letters to literary agents. I haven't quite figured out what that art is just yet. I sent out my first wave of queries a few days ago and have already received a handful of "no thank you"s. Not surprising. I'm a nobody with no social media presence, and my manuscript needs editing help. But that's why I'm reaching out to them - to get the editing help my novel needs to prepare it for publication. There's only so much advice my beta readers can give me.

So, how do I get a literary agent to bite the hook that I've sent out? How do I make the bait more enticing?

The query letter is where you set the stage. It should certainly be personalized to the agent you're contacting. Researching their current client list is a good start - letting them know how your work will fit with what they already sell. If they've posted a wish list somewhere, show that you've read it and tell them how your work meets those wishes.

Next comes the hook. Think of any book you've picked up off the shelf at a bookstore. Something about the title or cover image has caught your eye. What's the first thing you do? Flip it over and read the back cover to see what the book is about. That's the hook. That's how you catch a reader, and it's how you catch a literary agent. Or at least get them to keep reading your query.

A lot of submission instructions ask for an author bio. They want to know about your writing creds. Technically, I don't have any. All I can say is that I'm college educated, neurodivergent, and a member of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet gang. Diversity is usually a welcome addition for debut authors, so you want to list out what makes you different.

Then comes the "sample" ... bum bum bum! They want to see your actual writing. Five pages. Ten pages. I just did one that asked for 25 pages. They want to get a feel for the story you're trying to sell them, your style of writing, your voice. 

I love my story. I love my characters. I tried so hard to bring my characters to life on the page. But did I do a good job? Is the story good enough? Is this the part of the query when I lose their interest? That's my fear. I can work on the query letter. I can work on drafting a better hook. But the novel is about as polished as I can get it on my own. I can edit it until my fingers bleed into my computer keys, but all I'm doing at this point is moving commas and trading out one word for another. If my work isn't evocative enough or my characters aren't likeable, I need someone to tell me so that I know what to fix.

I wish the agents that rejected me would tell me where I lost them. Give me something to go from! At this point, all I can do is guess ... and stress.

*sigh*

#ReadyToPubish ... dear gods help me

What little kid doesn't dream of being a published author some day? At least for a moment in time. There's probably some out there,  but most of us have had a story in us at some point or another that we wanted to share with the world. The hard part is sitting down, putting one word after another, and bringing the story from theory to actuality.

Well, I did that.

... Now what?

Oh, yeah. Get published.

Yikes!

The story that finally came out of me is not profound. It's not life changing. It may never be a best seller or turned into a movie. But I love it. I love my characters. I love the struggles they experience and how they overcome them. And, possibly most important of all, I loved writing them into existence. I loved spending hours upon hours staring at blank notebook pages and willing my characters to tell me what happens next. It really is their story, I'm just the one lucky enough to get to put it on paper.

But now I have the daunting task of trying to get published. Terrifying, I know. Anyone know a good literary agent that works with YA novels of the LGBTQIA+ variety? No? Didn't think so. Ah, well. I'll keep looking. Wish me luck!