Drafting (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Process)

So, you've got an idea. Maybe it's a small, simple contemporary. Maybe it's a sprawling epic fantasy. Maybe it's somewhere in between. Regardless, it's draft week here on For Love of YA.

...doesn't that make me sound really cool? No? Well, *censored*

Anyway, here are seven steps (in no particular order) you planners/outliners out there should take before you dare enter the world of The First Draft.

Pick a tense.
Past? It gives a sense of reflection. Present? It gives a sense of immediacy. Future? It gives a sense that you're an idiot. (Don't do future.)

Flesh out your characters.
You don't have to know every single thing about your characters at this stage, but there are some basics you should know. Name? Appearance? Personality? Relationships with other characters? Quirks? Home life? These will probably be important, some more than others, so you should definitely know them.

Pick your POV character(s).
I have some qualms with using multiple narrators in one book— mostly because one POV is usually stronger or more interesting than the other. That aside, if you're going to use multiple narrators, decide now.

Know your premise.
Your premise is very important at this stage. You can go into a project with no semblance of a premise, but if you're a planner, this will complicate things greatly.
(By the way, if you don't know premise vs. plot: the premise of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is "a boy goes to a school for wizards." The plot would be "at Hogwarts, Harry has some general shenanigans before Voldemort tries to kill him.")

Know your basic plot.
You should have a general idea of what happens in the story. You don't need to know every subplot at this point (unless you want to), but knowing your basic story structure is helpful.

Know the main characters' goals.
What do they want? Does he want to win the girl or score the winning touchdown or ace the math test? Goals tell us a lot about the characters, and it's important for planners to know them.

Know the stakes.
What happens if the characters don't reach their goals? Does he die? Does she fail the tenth grade? Stakes tell us what kind of story it's going to be.

What do you like to know before you pick up your pen/begin typing? Did I miss anything?

Overwriting Overkill

So, you’re an overwriter. You ramble. You rave. Trust me, I know. My first manuscript was 80K. My second was 125K. My third was 167K (I wish I were kidding). Obviously, being succinct is not one of my stronger areas.

Chances are, if you’re an overwriter, you will be cutting up your precious manuscript. You will be pressing the delete button over and over and over again. You will be highlighting entire paragraphs and passages and pages and trashing them. And it will hurt. A lot. But it’ll be worth it.

Recently, my agent asked me to cut 20K words from my manuscript. And I had absolutely no idea how. At all. My first day of Project Manuscript on Diet consisted of me staring at my computer screen, whimpering (again, I wish I were kidding). But lo and behold, three weeks later, I had turned a 115K manuscript into a 95K one. So for all of you overwriters out there with overweight manuscripts, I’ve compiled those three painful weeks into a few (succinct-ish) points.

Look for Repetition: You might have scenes that mirror each other in terms of setting, character development, plot development, etc. Those scenes have made it this far because you’re attached to them. So, detach yourselves from them. In the back of your minds, you probably already know that they aren’t necessary. You just like them. Trust in yourself as a writer—you will write such scenes of breathtaking beauty again. Then press delete.

Don’t be Redundant: One of my first critiques I ever received hit on that. The man pointed out that since I already wrote, “he spun around,” I didn’t need to add, “he demanded furiously” as a dialogue tag. It was already implied. It was a great piece of advice. But cutting those, my writing became a lot tighter. I think. *frowns at writing*

Combine Scenes: Some of your scenes actually must be kept, not for gorgeous writing, but for some less-major but very important things such as characterization, foreshadowing, etc. These scenes can’t be deleted, but they can probably be combined. If you cut half of the first scene and half of the second, you have cut a whole scene without losing anything important, correct? Then again, math is not my strongest subject…

Make a Commendable/Expendable Chart for your MS: Go through every chapter and write down what things are commendable, what things are expendable, and rate the importance of the chapter on a scale of 1 to 10. This will help. A lot. Seriously. It’s basically creating an overall plan to cut down on your novel. You don’t have to stick to everything, but it’ll definitely give you a place to start.

Cut a Line from Each Page: This is something I started doing during my last round of revisions. Basically, I made myself cut between six words and one line on each page. You realize that a lot of what you've written is actually unnecessary--clunky adjectives, overly dramatic passages, adverbs. It's amazing how many words you lose, without actually sacrificing any scenes.

I know, a lot of these things are easier said than done. Being an overwriter sucks because you end up having to cut A TON from your manuscript. But hopefully, these tips will help you create a tighter, faster-paced manuscript. And who knows, maybe one day, I'll figure out how to stop overwriting...

Okay. That's ridiculous. Sigh.

Five Tips for Underwriters

So if you're anything like me (Mark), you underwrite. A lot. You underwrite so hardcore it'd make a picture book look like a phone book by comparison. Your ms, printed out, would be mistaken for a pamphlet. Your word count is lower than your weight.

Luckily, you have me to help you. I'm so nice, aren't I?

Five Tips to Turn Your Underwriting-Self into a Master of Life, the Universe, and Everything Writing-Related:

1. Describe.
Descriptions bring your setting and characters to life. They allow us, the readers, to view the world the way the author intended us to. Underwriters frequently leave out descriptions, allowing the reader to interpret the way things look and feel in their own fashion. I don't recommend this. I recommend appealing to all of a reader's senses. What does your character feel, see, hear, taste, and touch?

2. Details.
Too often, underwriters forget to include the deets. Without details, we as the reader can feel lost or disconnected. So long as they're relevant, never forget to include the small things— the streak of gray in the mom's hair; the love interest's slightly endearing lisp; the MC's nervous ticks.

3. Prose.
We underwriters love literary fiction but could never write it. We cower in fear at the five-letter word that starts with P.
...anyway.
Even if you're writing something totally commercial, try infusing your work with some prose. Just try it. Describe the way the rain on the tin roof feels like a heartbeat or whatever. You have express written permission from me to delete all that prose as soon as you write it, but who knows? Maybe, even if it doesn't fit, you'll find you like describing the leaves dancing as they fall like cigarette ashes. Or something.

4. Pacing.
I know, I know. We underwriters just have such amazing plots and characters we want to get right into the heart of them.
Slow down, killer.
We need to make sure we have the five basic story parts (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, conclusion). But we don't have to neglect everything else to get our stories there. Make sure your novel isn't moving along at breakneck speed. If you find it is, refer to tips 1, 2, 3, and 5.

5. Secondary stuff.
These include subplots, deuteragonists (protagonist's posse), secondary characters, etc. Though you don't need 4,192 characters (you're not George R. R. Martin, my friend), it's a good idea to use more characters besides the main ones as supports or foils for your MCs.
Also, subplots (side quests, getting the girl before the big football game, etc.) should enhance your overall story. They shouldn't be like in sitcoms, where they have nothing to do with the main storyline. If a subplot isn't contributing to the main plot, delete it.

Are you an underwriter or an overwriter? Leave your answer in the comments and make sure to check back on Saturday for Amy's tips for overwriters!

—Mark

New Twitter!

Hi, everyone! We just wanted to let you all know that For Love of YA is officially on Twitter! *pause for cheering* Follow us at @forloveofya. We'll be tweeting about giveaways, interviews, updates, posts, writing tips, everything but the kitchen sink!

...you know, I never understood that expression...

So You Think You Can Query (Part 2)

Yodles, everyone. Thank you for not questioning my wordchoices.

So. Querying. Often defined as: that long, painful, slightlymasochistic thing that aspiring authors do to drop that pesky ‘aspiring’ partin their titles. (Here’s a fun fact: I started querying on yesterday’s date,last year. And started getting rejections on today’s date, last year). So Ithought I’d share a few things I wish I had known at this time last year,before I sent out my first batch of crap-queries. I’ve even compiled it into a verynice DO and DON’T list and everything!

1. Don’t: rush. You probably want to send out ten queries today, twenty tomorrow, and thirty the day after that. Trust me, I know. DON’T. Why? Because once you start getting rejections, you’ll want to sit down and revise your query, then crumple it up and throw it into a virtual trashcan, and rewrite it entirely.
2. Don’t: send out your query without reading it over at least once or twice. Don’t be an idiot and send out an email without replacing the Dear with agent’s name. Um…not that I ever did that. *cough*
3. Don’t: use clichés. Avoid them in all writing, but especially in your query. If you start your hook with “In a land of…” or introduce your conflict with “a sudden twist of events,” the agent reading your query will start drooling and reject you in her sleep. (Trust me on this. I used both of those painfully unoriginal phrases in various versions of my query. I will go hide in the closet of shame now).

1. Do: personalize your query. I can’t stress this enough. It took me over forty rejections to take this to heart. The second time around, though, I researched vigorously and started all of my queries on a personal note. For example, here is the beginning of the query I sent to Suzie Townsend:

Dear Ms. Townsend,
As you've expressed an interest in strong female protagonists and different fantasy worlds, I thought that you might be interested in my project, WILDFLOWER, a story about a subject that happens to share a name with your dog: Fate. I hope that the characters and their motives will appeal to the readers of your agency's client, Veronica Roth, though the plot and setting are very different

Brownnosing? Yes. Successful? Very.Full request in a day. Peruse blogs, hide in the corners of Facebook pages,stalk them on Twitter. Whatever it takes.

2. Do: have people critique your query. Any feedback at all is invaluable. www.agentqueryconnect.com is fabulous for getting responses. Remember, your query is like a step inside the door. Like how girls always send pictures of their prom dresses/shoes/hair/makeup to their friends before they finalize anything, right? (I have a conspiracy theory that boys do it, too… *suspicious glare at Mark*) That’s what getting critiques on your query is like. Otherwise, your prom date—um, agent—might slam the door in your face.
3. Do: make sure to make your query yours. Even if you’re following the traditional hook/conflict/bio three paragraph formula, make sure that your query will stand out of the thousands that an agent goes through every month. Make a list of reasons of why your story is different from all of the other ones in your favorite bookstore. Show that in your query.

What’s that? You want an agent’s perspective on queries, yousay? Well, it just so happens that the fabulous Emily Keyes wrote a blog post afew weeks ago about the queries she accepts/rejects…here. Go check it out!

So You Think You Can Query (Part 1)

Querying is hard to do, harder to do well, and impossible to do perfectly. Seriously. I've read virtually everything on querying available online, I've been doing this looking-for-an-agent business a while (six-plus months), and I've had my query critiqued to the core by fellow authors. Because of this, I have what is considered a "successful" query, meaning I have over a 25% request rate.

Do I still get rejections? Yes. All the freaking time.

Here a few basic tips that'll (hopefully!) reduce your rejection rate if taken to heart. Keep in mind, I am no expert. I'm just a guy who's been doing this a while.

•Query is spelled Q-U-E-R-Y. If you get this wrong, you should not be querying.

•Limit your query to one page (on Word).

•Agents' guidelines differ, so look at them first. However, the general format is a hook followed by one (or possibly two) paragraphs about your novel, and then your novel's info.
—•Hook: keep it short, sweet, and catchy. Introduce the main character(s) and their struggles. (Struggles is a funny word, don't you think?)
—•About the novel: be sure to include the main characters, their goals, what's keeping them from their goals, and what will happen if they don't reach their goals.
—•Housekeeping: use this format or play with it a little: "_______ is a xx,000..." (round to the nearest thousand) "...word (genre)." Be sure to say it's YA or MG if it is.
—•Bio (if applicable): can be the same paragraph as your housekeeping. Include PERTINENT publishing credits and a PERTINENT degree, if you have those things.
—•"Thank you for your time and consideration."
—•Contact info.

•Make us care about the characters, but paragraphs of "Sally is nice with long brown hair. Shaniqua is ghetto fabulous." are no-nos. (Unless you plan of juxtaposing Sally and Shaniqua and this is a plot point)

•Do not give away your novel's ending. Stop at a point that makes the agent HAVE to keep reading. Generally, this will be your climax or right before it.

•That said, don't be coy with information. Give us the plot points!

•You do not want to come off as an entitled jerk. Agents enjoy sanity.

•Incorporate voice into your query.

•If an agent asks for sample pages, paste them below the query. Make sure they are the first pages.

•Do not query until your book is complete and as good as you can make it.

Part two coming next week from Amy! In the meanwhile, is there anything we missed or anything you'd like us to cover?

Interview with a Vamp— err... Amy Zhang

Hey, guys! Mark here, bringing you my interview with the lovely purple hippo Amy! Yaaaay!

After much binding, gagging, and kidnapping, I got Amy to sit down with me, and she graciously answered my questions. (As if she had a choice!) Without further ado, (adoo? adieu?) here's our interview!

M: Tell me about your novel.

A: Hmmm...can I cheat by pasting my query here? No? Well, WILDFLOWER is set in a world in which peace is upheld through violence, and every year, nine hundred children are sent to fight a small, pointless, and brutal war that keeps everyone else safe. ((Fun!)) My main character, Faye, is captured during one of these Wars by a soldier named Aro, who turns out to be following orders from the man who murdered her parents. ((Ooohhhhhh...))

M: How long did it take you to find your agent, from the time you started querying to the time you accepted representation?

A: Well, the answer to that is actually rather complicated...I started querying a version of my novel last June, but was struck sometime in December with a major epiphany about my plot that essentially turned my manuscript into a new novel (with a new title and everything. Even my guy protagonist even went through a name change). ((I had this same thing with my second novel. The first draft was suckish, to be kind, but I've done rewrites that turned it into what is basically a different novel.)) I started querying again in January, and got my offer thirteen days later (yes, I counted. I got an app and everything :P). ((...*has been querying for a month and a half* *throws tomato, pretends it wasn't him*))

M: How many queries did you send?

A: Well, when I started back in June, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. ((Me too! I spent a hundred words complimenting the agents in my first batch of queries for my first novel.)) Which is my way of defending myself against the fact that I submitted a ghastly query to over forty agents, only six of which asked me for a partial or a full. ((Better than my request rate for my first novel. :P)) After rewriting my novel, researching the industry, and finally getting some feel for what I was doing, I sent out fourteen queries and got four full requests and an offer within two weeks. Which was, you know, very cool. ((2 kewl 4 skewl!))

M: Have you previously been published?

A: Not extensively. I've had a few poems and short stories published in a state high school literary magazine, but that's about it. ((Nothing to scoff at.))

M: How long does it take you to write a first draft? To write subsequent drafts?

A: The first draft of WILDFLOWER took...three months, maybe? Basically, I wrote it during the summer before my freshman year. Subsequent rewrites (twelve of them), have taken me up until now, so that's...nine months? Ish?

M: What inspired you to write WILDFLOWER?

A: This is going to sound a bit insane, but I was approached by my guy protagonist. ((That doesn't sound insane at all. The same thing happened to me with my MC.)) I had been on a mission trip in Arizona at the time, and it had been hot and dusty and I'd been a nosebleed every other hour, ((Fun!)) and while I had been lying awake one night, he sort of just...tapped on my mind and said that he had a story to tell me. Make sense? No?

M: What was your biggest challenge while writing?

A: Definitely finding the time to do it. When I first started writing, my parents were always yelling at me to stop wasting my time and go study for my SATs instead. Also, in the fall (during tennis season), I don't get home until pretty late, with absolutely no time for writing during the week. So, sometime this winter, I rearranged my schedule so that my writing time was in the morning instead of in the evenings. I started getting up around 4:00 a.m. to write (I'm a morning person, okay? Well...at least, I'm less misanthropic in the mornings than at night, after being around people for an entire day...), which was a pain before I got used to it. Honestly, it's nice to start my day with a few hours of writing. ((You wake up at 4 A.M.… by choice... *dies*))

M: What was your most awkward writing related moment?

A: Oh, gosh...did I mention that I didn't tell my agent that I was fifteen until THE CALL? Yeah...she was all like, "So...do you mind if I asked how old you are?" and I was like, "Um...uh...about that...ummmm...I'm kinda in...high school?" I was totally tongue-tied. And I sounded like a complete idiot, of course. ((*thinly disguised snicker*))

M: What is one the one piece of advice you would give a teen writer?

A: Don't let the condescension get to you. Ever. Seriously, you can do it. Come here and rant about it instead! ((Agreed! Bring us your rants, your raves...))



Wasn't that the bee's knees? Amy is so kind to have not screamed for help! What a sweetheart.

...no, Amy, I will not let you go now. Silly goose!

Come back next week, guys! We have more fun stuff brewing in the cauldron, if y'know what we mean.