Category Archives: writing

Editing Agents

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I did a ton of research before querying agents and learned something interesting. There are, apparently, two types of agents: ones who offer editorial suggestions/revisions and ones who don’t. What I wanted most was for my MS to be good, so I decided to only query agents who mentioned that they would work with me to perfect my MS, and offer editorial suggestions prior to submission.

Let’s just say that it was the best decision I could ever make.

My agent is amazing. After agreeing to work with her, within a week she sent me a document that basically outlined a few areas I could beef up and/or improve. I loved reading her advice, and loved applying it to TNWSY. Because everything she suggested was spot on. They made my book so much better, deeper, more complex. It’s like she opened up my idea and fluffed it up a bit.

Now i’m onto line edits and while opening my track changed document was a bit jarring at first (what? so much is bad?) I saw quickly that her changes were all for the better, and, honestly, there weren’t that many big ones. (It’s like seeing the red pen on an essay. You just assume everything written is bad, and don’t look for the compliments buried within.) She had grammatical suggestions, places to emphasize, places to stretch out. And as I accepted the changes, I saw how it all worked really well. And how she’s totally right about nearly everything. And I know it’s not required to accept every suggestion, every edit an agent offers, but I actually love everything she’s done. Truly.

So! My advice is this – when looking for agents, decide which kind you want to work with. If you’d rather just go straight to submissions, that’s fine! But if you’d rather get down to the nitty gritty and uncover diamonds in the rough, perhaps go with an editing agent. I adore mine, and I hope you’ll like yours, too.

Easter Eggs

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I love inside jokes. The little things that mean so much to just a handful of people, and nothing at all to others. Small mentions or glances that can tell a whole story. It makes you feel in on something, makes you feel part of it.

I suppose that’s why I love when authors make references to previous works in their novels. Paige Toon is fantastic at it. In each of her books, she’ll have one of her previous characters show up. It’s never an important role, and it doesn’t mean anything if you haven’t read her other books, but for those who know, it’s phenomenal. Sometimes it’s just a mention (for instance, in one book, the main character picks up a poster of a rock star. Simple enough, right? But if you know, the rock star was the main character from an earlier novel.) and sometimes they’ll actually show up and answer a question lingering from a previous book (one book ends with the question of who’s the father. The question is actually answered one book later when the mom and child walk down the street. Merely pass by, but there’s one sentence that details the child’s eye color and that makes all the difference.).

(That was the longest, most run-on sentence in the history of sentences, wasn’t it?)

Sarah Dessen does it really well, too. Instead of just mentioning a character, though, she creates a whole world. The same shops and restaurants are visited. Characters pass through, unremarkable unless you know. I love it so much. Vikas Swarup did it too, bringing his two main characters of Q&A (the book Slumdog Millionaire was based on) into his second novel, Six Suspects.

I guess, much like inside jokes, I enjoy these Easter eggs because they make me feel in with the book. Like I’m sharing a joke with the author and becoming more connected to their world. Perhaps i’m the only one who feels that way, but every time I see another reference, it’s like a wink in my directions, a thank you for sticking around.

So i’ve decided to do that, too. In a very minor way I’m making a small mention of a main character from TNWSY in Book2. If you get it, awesome. If not, it doesn’t matter. But man, writing that scene? It was so much fun. It was like bringing my character into a new world, and seeing how he’d do. And I loved it. And I hope others do, too.

As a reader, do you like when authors do it? What are some other examples? (And as a writer, have you ever thought of doing it?)

I’ll Cover You

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In high school I was the drama girl. I wasn’t planning on that life, but after signing up for Drama 1 freshman year, I was kind of hooked. It was within that crowd that I met some of my best friends (fun fact: 2 of which were my test readers for TNWSY!), and became, well, me. I loved the people, and I loved the ability to turn into someone else completely just by reading a few lines.

I wasn’t a terrific actress but I was okay enough to score a monologue for district/state competition, and get a few decent roles throughout my four years. (favorite: Simba in The Lion King. Because…sure, I can be a lion cub.) But my singing? My singing was atrocious. And I’m not saying that in a “please don’t make me sing” Kristin Wiig character sort of way, but more so in a I was called back for the role of Baby Louise in Gypsy solely because of my terrible singing voice kind of way. Seriously.

Anyway, drama helped me open up a bit more and towards my senior year I became more comfortable within myself. One day in the drama room, with a few people still milling around despite the fact that the school day ended an hour prior (we had a tendency to just stick around), a friend (note: my first gay best friend, of which I’ve had many) started singing “I’ll Cover You” from RENT. He took the Angel part, swung me around, and demanded I be his Collins.

But, yeah, remember my voice? Right.

But in that moment, with him twirling me around, I just couldn’t help it. So I took a leap, and bubbled out the lyrics. (Because, let’s be honest, I love that song.) People were around, but they didn’t notice. He was there, and didn’t care about my voice. And for a second, I just lost myself in lyrics and melody and laughter. Because we were having so much fun, and ability didn’t even factor into it. Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?

I can’t say I became a dedicated singer after that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve really sung in public since (with the exception of karaoke nights and shouting out lyrics with my friends in cars – who doesn’t do that?), but that one moment was exciting and – as it turned out – memorable.

I think my writing is a bit like that. I kept it private, untouched for so long. But once I finally braved an audience and put it out there, I felt great. Sometimes you just need a little push to do something that’s frightening. Or, I guess, a twirl.

All Together Now

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After I started sending TNWSY out to agents, I immediately started Book 2. I was told it was the smart thing to do – concentrate on on my second attempt to distract me from rejections. And it worked! Here’s the thing, though – aside from writing and editing my query letter, I didn’t do any additional work on TNWSY. It’s been a while since I’ve been in that story.

So I was a bit worried when I had to jump into TNWSY edits for my agent. What if I couldn’t find the voice again? What if I didn’t like something? What if she didn’t like something?

But a funny thing happened when I opened the Word file – I felt at home. I felt like I was revisiting old friends, ones who never really left me. While I was still worried that my edits weren’t perfect enough, I gave myself into them and had fun. It was really quite cool. The edits let me explore my characters more, and discover new aspects of them. And I loved that. Each edit in the past added in that way, too, but for some reason this one felt different. Perhaps absence does make the heart grow fonder.

It’s really weird now going back and forth between stories, between characters and voices, but I like it. Because I love TNWSY, and I don’t mind saying hi to it again every once in a while. See how its been doing. Ask if it has any advice for Book 2. You know, I think they’d get along  quite well.

Have you ever worked on two stories at once? How did you deal with it? 

High Five for Friday

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Writing news:

Sent in my first revised manuscript to Agent. Crazy, right? I’m both nervous and excited. Nervous because…what if she doesn’t like my changes? Excited because…what if she does? It’s a weird profession, it really is.

Personal news:

As of last week my mom’s been cancer free for a full year. A full year! I wrote about her struggle with breast cancer when she was first diagnosed, but since then she’s recovered remarkably well. All of her surgeries were successful, including the reconstruction. And now it’s all totally gone. I’ve always believed in the possibility of miracles, but now I also believe in medicine.

Dinosaur news:

Saw this guy on my way to Sarasota. I’m 99% sure he waved to me.