tips
FAQ: Do I Need an MFA?
May 20, 2011
A question I see pop up a lot from aspiring writers has to do with creative writing MFA programs, and whether they’re a necessary or even recommended step toward getting published. Someone just asked me this question the other day, and after I rambled at the poor girl for a while I realized that it was a subject on which I have a lot to say.
Interview over at Adventures in Space!
Jan 06, 2011
Hey guys! My awesome friend Caroline has posted an interview with me over at her blog, Adventures in Space. I met Caroline a couple of months ago while I was doing agent research. It turns out we live really nearby, when I’m in the U.S.–so it figures that we’d meet when I’m living half a world away!
Caroline gave me a ton of advice while I was querying, so I was really excited when she asked if I’d share a bit about my experiences.
The interview is a “How I Got My Agent” story, but it focuses on what to do when you have multiple offers of representation. I was caught by surprise when I was in that situation, so I’m hoping by sharing my experiences with it, it’ll help people to make that choice when they get there!
What is Dystopian Fiction?
Dec 02, 2010
Just tonight, a brand new twitterfriend asked me, “What is a dystopian novel?” I’m guessing that she read my bio on Twitter, which says I’m working on a dystopian novel, and was curious about the term. I answered her as best I could within 140 characters, but as I lay wide awake in bed trying to sleep, I kept thinking of everything I wanted to say about the subject. So instead of flooding Twitter, I decided to do the next best thing: blog about it!
Often the first question people ask me when I say I’m a writer is, “What do you write?” The second question tends to be, “What the hell is a dystopian?” I think that sometimes even those who do feel familiar with the term don’t have a complete understanding of the genre. I’ve come across more and more people who think dystopian fiction is brand spanking new, because of the huge swell of popularity in the genre with writers like Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games) and Scott Westerfeld (Uglies) making waves in the YA market. And it’s definitely true that the genre has exploded recently, which I love because it’s one of my favorite genres of literature. But it’s been around a LOT longer than a lot of people new to the genre might think.
Tips for the Querying Writer
Nov 29, 2010
It’s a weird feeling, starting a new book while querying the previous one. Part of this is because I’m new to querying in general, and that is weird in and of itself–but the biggest strangeness is having my brain split between two projects. I’ve never been someone who can read multiple books at once, and certainly not someone who can write multiple books at once. I have to work on One Thing, and then if I need to stop and do something else, it’s very clear in my mind that I am officially pausing work on this One Thing and starting up on something else.
It remains to be seen how long I will stay sane. So far, so good. Although my housemates may argue otherwise, they don’t realize just how much worse it could get. (Cue dramatic music. Dun dun DUUUUHHHHN.)
Anyway, I thought I’d share some helpful information and pro tips garnered from my very first week of submitting queries, for anyone who might find themselves in a similar position in the future.
The Pitfalls of Passive Protagonists
Oct 09, 2010
As some of you know, last year I attended an absolutely phenomenal workshop, the Odyssey Writing Workshop up in New Hampshire. I had no idea when I applied just how great it would be, though. In all honesty? I went thinking to myself, “Well, I already know how to write. But this will be great for making connections and learning about the publishing world.”
That delusion lasted approximately twelve minutes into the first lecture on the first morning of the first day.
I encountered a lot of surprises in my own writing over the six weeks of the workshop, but the one that was by far the hardest to swallow was this:
I wrote passive heroines.
You know, there might just be lots of extra pesky words cluttering up your manuscript now and then.
Oct 03, 2010
See what I did there? Haha.
Anyway. It’s no big secret I’m trying to cut my manuscript right now. It needs to drop about 12,000 words to fit within the YA fantasy word limit of 100k. I’m getting a lot of help from other writers who’ve taken a look at my manuscript, especially Amie Kaufman and more recently Kat Zhang. Ultimately, though, I’m the one who has to make the call on the cuts.
Do I stand by my manuscript, and query agents with it even though it’s over the magic word limit? Or do I cut it, potentially at the expense of the story, so that it fits, and make certain I don’t alienate agents who are turned off by the high word count?
10 Things I Have Learned About Revising (aka, how not to die)
Aug 02, 2010
In no particular order:
1. If you’re writing along, plowing ahead in order to finish a draft, and you think of stuff you want to change later but don’t right at that moment because you want to finish, MAKE A NOTE OF IT SOMEWHERE. You aren’t actually going to remember later, no matter how sure you are at the time that you will.
2. Outline outline outline. Even if you’re a writer who abhors outlining ahead of time (like me), do try outlining your plot after having written the first draft. This makes it so much easier to see the problem points, and visualize the pace of your plot.
3. Try to leave the house sometimes.
4. Take a break between the first and second drafts. Even if you think you’re on a roll and should keep up the momentum, you are going to want to die in about a week.
5. Start the new draft with a clean document, rather than saving a copy of the previous draft and making changes to it. If there are sections that aren’t getting rewritten, then copy/paste them from the old draft to the new one in SMALL chunks. This forces you to actually look at what you’re putting in, and keeps you from glossing over it.