Tag Archives: writing challenges

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY: When Your Book is Having an Identity Crisis

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Did you play the game Guess Who? when you were a kid? There were these pictures of people’s faces and each player had a set of multiple faces on their board. Each player would ask questions to describe the character they have in front of them. All questions needed to be answered with yes or no. Were they brunette? Did they have freckles? Did they have brown eyes? Players would continue to ask these questions until they could make an educated guess if they think they knew the exact picture the other player had. Seemed like a simple premise.

What about when you’re writing a story? Do you know what kind of story you’re writing? Do you know the audience you’re writing it for? What happens when you’re confronted with such questions that challenge the identity of the story you thought you knew?

I mean, come on. It’s your story. It started as an idea in your head and blossomed into what you hope is a beautifully crafted work of art.

What happens when you think you know what you know but discover you’re not sure if what you know is what the reader needs to know, you know? Ain’t so simple now, eh?

This is the current challenge I’m facing with the revised draft of a manuscript (formerly known as the MG Fantasy) that I so brazenly believed I could whip into shape in a couple of weeks to shove off for querying.

Well, shove off is right. Right off a cliff. I’m certainly grateful I asked the questions and had those questions give me pause. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I were to toss this manuscript into the sea, as is, and hope a literary agent somewhere in the big blue yonder would bite.

I’ve certainly made progress in this work in progress, but it begs the question, how do I proceed with what I’ve learned? Well, there are many avenues to explore, as I touched upon in my Camp NaNo Week Two Roundup.

I’ve since connected with MG/YA author, Michelle Schusterman, who had a similar issue with her manuscript when she ran it by a critique partner. What she believed to be an MG book was actually YA and thus, the author had to rewrite the entire story with this in mind.

So what is the difference between MG and YA?

In her presentation on “The Magic of Middle Grade” on reedsy, Schusterman was told this distinction between the two categories: “it isn’t about the physical age of your protagonist. It’s about their emotional age. A Middle Grade protagonist is discovering how they fit into the world. A Young Adult protagonist is discovering how they can change and affect the world.” 

You can watch the reedsy video here and check out Michelle’s YouTube channel here to learn more about the writing life of an author from draft to publication.

When it came to my WIP, the various feedback received included:

  • MG stories shouldn’t have adult POVs because children don’t want to read what the adults are doing/thinking. They want the kids to be the focus of the story.
  • You should only have X amount of POV shifts, and only written in a particular sequence.
  • Make sure you have recent comps when querying.

Then, I also heard the following:

  • Why wouldn’t you want adult POVs in the story? MG kids are the perfect age where they eavesdrop on what the adults are talking about, especially if they try to keep the kids out of the conversation.
  • The POV character should have a character arc and stakes that move the story forward. You can have over two POVCs, but they need to deserve their chapter. Don’t just give them one because you like the character.
  • Recent comps are nice when querying, even if you do a combo with a show or film. However, they’re not a deal breaker. A literary agent is interested in a strong query and synopsis that appeals to them.

I can take any, all, or none of the feedback shared. The goal would be to take these elements and analyze how they would best serve my story. Right now, I’m leaning towards MG Urban Fantasy because I feel that the MC’s age works in how I want to tell the story. I have considered experimenting with scenes and aging the MC. This could serve as a workaround if I were to change the POV to a single character (his) and not include some adult POVs that were necessary in my original draft because they involved those adults in scenes needed to move the plot forward.

What I have, at the moment, is a draft that has a mix of POV shifts. Some, I agree, can merge into other existing POV chapters and admittedly, I thought it would interest the reader to have scenes from those characters’ perspectives. However, if they’re only going to have one or two chapters in an entire book, then it’s unnecessary for them to take the reins of a chapter. Other than that, there’s no particular sequence of who’s POV comes next. Each POV follows the organic progression of the story.

While it’s a great compliment to be told I’m a visual writer, it also worked against me, in this case, because I wrote this cinematically. In a movie, you can easily switch to a scene that doesn’t have the MC (who is a child) and the story still makes sense. However, in literature, there are a lot more conventions to keep track of to ensure I immerse the reader in a solid story.

All this is before I’ve even begun working in the possible Asian Folklore into the narrative. I just might table that for another story idea and focus on polishing this draft even further. Maybe when it’s gone through more beta reads, other writers will tell me if that other layer is even necessary for this story.

For now the revising continues. No one ever said writing was easy, but so far, it definitely hasn’t been boring either. We write on!

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY: Camp NaNo Week Four Roundup

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<cue Europe’s “The Final Countdown“>

Two more days and Camp NaNo closes for another couple of months.

Have a bit of bad news, then we’ll zoom into the good. First up, I got an email regarding my internship application to the literary agency. They said they were going with another candidate. It was a personalized rejection, and I appreciated the person taking the time to do that. While that would’ve been an amazing intro to the publishing industry, let’s look at the bright side here. The position would’ve been for three months. There’s no guarantee that they would ask me to stay on with the agency. Besides, this was literally my first attempt at diving into the biz and I’m 99.9% sure there were dozens upon dozens with more experience in the industry than yours truly.

Sliding into the good news? Well, more opportunity-fueled, really. Right after that email, there was one from an independent film school that is also hiring. I had applied for a remote position there with the same expectations as the literary agency. I’m inexperienced but eager to learn. This time, however, they would provide paid training will the possibility of the part-time position becoming something more permanent. I’m filing this in the “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” category, and I’ll apply for the position. When one door closes, and all that, right?

I’ve fallen behind on the two 5K short stories, but I’ve still got time. One’s due on Friday and the other one Saturday. Of course, as I was busy prepping for them last weekend, I happened upon another publication opportunity that was for 2-6K due last Sunday. I still had that file open and ventured into the potentially gainful territory. Since that deadline was first, I had to take my shot there. I’ll keep you posted on the progress for that and all the other submissions.

So, I went into the final week expecting to produce two short stories and have since hopped back on track after writing a third one to squeeze into the week because, why not?

All of this, along with the notes and recent information I’ve gathered for my MG Fantasy manuscript, and I have to say this has been the most productive NaNo I’ve every done.

I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied in the months to come. I’ll be sharing more details in upcoming posts.

I hope your April was as productive as mine, if not more. I’ve got to keep the momentum going and will head straight into May with a plan and positive determination.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY: Camp NaNo Week Three Roundup

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Welcome… and the beat goes on.

A flood of ideas can easily take you over when you’re super excited about your WIP. I spent a lot of time researching story technique, and consulted with fellow writers, agents, and other industry experts. It was important that I could see where things worked and areas that needed improvement. What I want to do can be done, but not in the amount of time I had to do it. Even after I complete the revisions, there is still the need for critique partners, beta readers, then further revisions before I could even query. Seventeen days just wouldn’t cut it and still produce a fully thought out story ready for publication.

After coming to terms with the magnitude of what I wanted to do in the short time frame I had to do it, I realized it was still a wonderful opportunity for me to learn and grow as a writer. I needed to respect all the new information I learned and the perspectives shared for me to reflect upon, that it wouldn’t be right just to cram everything into a couple of weeks and send it off. It almost feels like a “Meh. Good enough.” approach and that feels icky.

What it did help me with is provide a proper direction to work towards. That excites me. I went from thinking that I’d been the furtherest along on this writing project, to thinking I’d fallen off course, to being right back where I need to be to reach my destination. With all those ideas fresh in my mind. I’m going to return to it next month after I’ve worked on some shorter form submissions.

Here’s a quick look at what I’ve been up to on all things writerly this week during Camp NaNo:

  • Joined more writing groups with members who specialize in the field. We’re talking everything from medical procedures, fire and rescue, police interrogations, and all manner of death. They are truly aimed at helping writers stay accurate in their scenes. Hypochondriacs and potential criminals need not apply.
  • Connected with fellow writers to set up a time to beta-read/critique each other’s WIPs. Over the next couple months, I’m going to be reading my fellow writer’s amazing stories we’re all preparing to share with the world. It’s exciting.
  • Researched for upcoming short story submissions. It’s so tempting to go down the rabbit hole, but thankfully, I also asked questions in my writing groups to keep the queries focused.
  • Kept tabs on questions I threw out into the interwebs about my MG manuscript, so I know what steps to take to shine it up nice.
  • Had a great FaceTime chat with The Sestra. Caught up on what’s going on with her, spent some excited time discussing fandom, especially the highs and lows of both WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. We then brainstormed on the manuscript because she’s the one who’s the most familiar with it since its inception.

I’m already in the initial stages of drafting each short story, so I’ll be spending the final week of Camp NaNo drafting and polishing them for submission. Overall, it’s been an exciting and intensely productive April. There were pleasant surprises and new connections forged along the way. The writing continues and I can’t wait to see what stories I can conjure up by then.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY: Camp NaNo Week Two Roundup

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Greetings from the writerly trenches!

Buckle up, Campers! Camp NaNoWriMo had some unexpected twists and turns in Week Two. I already flipped the bird to my early Camp plans when I caught a case of “the new and shiny.” My April writing plan 2.0 involved moving up my MG Fantasy WIP revisions with the aim of being query ready by April 17. This new plan included the 3Rs: review, research, and revamp naturally went off with a handful of hitches, and sometimes laced my days with some Bizarro 3Rs: react, reconsider, and regret.

Well, maybe regret is a little too harsh. Let’s switch that last one to regression.

There.

Carrying on, my wayward ones…

What I did:

  • I re-read the 67K manuscript taking note of the POV shifts, catching the odd typo here and there, and did a quick run through on story flow.
  • Did a deep dive on Asian Mythology and Folklore with primary focus on Chinese and Filipino legends.
  • Took to the online writing community to talk about POV shifts in MG.
  • Watched MG/YA panels and sought out articles and forums on the nuances of each category and the sometimes fuzzy overlap, as well as sub-genres such as Fantasy versus Speculative versus Magic Realism.
  • Looked into character voice and how writing from a certain perspective can help or hurt a story.

What I learned:

  • I had a LOT of POV characters. POV characters should have an active arc throughout the story and move the story along. i.e. they should deserve their POV status. (Girl, this ain’t Westeros. Calm down.)
  • MG Fantasy rarely has multiple POVs, anyway. And my pickle? Aside from the B Team, the two other POV characters that had the most POV chapters were the MC’s father and another adult that works for the antagonist in the story. Since we need to provide recent comps when we query, this would be a hard sell. I was informed that an MG book where this POV combo existed, an outdated technique that isn’t used anymore, was published in 1994. (Erm, but who doesn’t love a good comeback story?)
  • If I stick to a single POV, that of the 10yo boy, I need to figure out a way to tell the story I want to tell, even though major plot points occur when he’s not there. At his current age, and where the story is set, it’s almost impossible for him to be involved in that portion of the plot. (This is why the child needs help from the adults.)
  • Something important to keep in mind is that reader age and protagonist age aren’t always mutually exclusive. Just because I have a younger protagonist doesn’t mean the themes of the story would make it a Middle Grade story. Also, any substantial amount of adult POVs in kidlit might make it less relatable to the intended audience. (But, I’m still going for enjoyment at any age.)
  • A lot of MG/YA books are written in first person, present tense. There’s some debate on the effectivity of urgency over lack of the ability to include ample foreshadowing if going with present versus past tense. Along with the magical elements, I need to figure out where my story falls on the genre spectrum. The current WIP is written in 3rd person, past tense. (I ended up with more questions than answers.)

What’s next:

  • I’m okay to whittle down the POV character list, if I’m able to determine what story I’m writing. What’s the genre? Who’s this book for?
  • There’s a lot of things to consider before I can do a deep revision. This includes which POV/tense I’m going to write in, along with how the Mythology/Folklore aspects work in the story.
  • Heading into Week Three, I’m going to take a bit of a breather on this behemoth, and work on a couple anthology submissions due at the end of the month. I already got the research covered as it overlapped with my folklore perusals. I think switching gears will help keep the momentum going. (And yes, I’ll probably tinker around with this project, as well. Can’t be helped.)

Again, I don’t regret the process, at all. I definitely learned a lot, but it left me with what I’ll call educational frustration. I know my novel should be a thousand times better, taking in all this new information, but I’m slightly frustrated because I thought I was farther along than what ended up happening. So, it’s a no to sending the query this Saturday, and thank goodness for that! All I need is a ‘kick me when I’m down’ moment, when it’s a hard pass because of so many industry requirements that I need to abide by–at least until I’m a more established writer. I need to learn the rules before I can break them. (In writing, of course.)

No one said this was an immediate process. Heck, NaNos are a month long, so I know we all get that it takes time. How ‘about you? How are things in your neck of the digital woods? Hope your week has been just as eventful.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.

FRIDAY FX: Have a Literary Nosh When You’re Feeling Bookish

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Hello, people of the world!

Before we begin, might I make a small request of you? Something has been going wonky with WordPress for the last few weeks. Some of my posts, primarily the recent Writerly Wednesday posts, aren’t getting seen. I’m not sure if the stats are accurate or not, but I’m curious if people are getting the email notifications or seeing the links to the posts on my Facebook and Twitter feeds, as before. So, kindly blink twice if you’re getting the posts alright, or better yet, please contact me, if you can. It’s one thing if people are viewing the posts and just not commenting or liking them, but from what I’m seeing, the posts aren’t even reaching you guys like they did a couple months ago. Please and thank you!

On with today’s post.

Last week, I wrote about an opportunity for a summer internship program at a literary agency. While it did change my initial writing plans for Camp NaNoWriMo, and April, in general, I sent in everything on Easter Monday. Part of the submission requirements for the internship application was to provide a writing sample in the form of a book evaluation. We were allowed to pick a book, published in 2018 or later, in the genre we’d like to focus on, and to match my MG Fantasy WIP, I went with kidlit.

Given the limited desire to foray into the sometimes unmasked civilization, I decided to check for options online. I was perusing a half a dozen or so ebooks because that meant I’d get them instantly rather than waiting for a certain online store to accidentally ship my books to a different address–again.

Then it occurred to me to tap a resource that was right in front of me–and by “in front of me,” I mean, on the internet and some clacking of the keyboard and clicks to the right “in front of me.”

I’m loathe to admit that I haven’t picked up a book, physical or otherwise, in such a long time. The content I’ve read in the last few years were from medical websites and journals, non-fiction writing craft books or news and entertainment articles on the internet. But to grab a book for leisure and immerse myself in a different world? To escape from the insomnia, the stress and anxiety, from the frickin’ global pandemic? How in the frilly heck did I manage to go so long without reading a good book?

Right! Sure! But hang on a sec. It dawned on me that since being stuck in this geographical location for over a year now, I haven’t gotten myself a library card yet. *facepalm*

Onto the interwebs I searched and when I got to the public library’s website, I was tickled to discover that one could apply for a digital library card and instantly get access to a world beyond the daily doldrums.

I was a kid in a candy store. So what if most of the latest titles were already checked out? I now had the opportunity to discover new authors, especially writers of color and, for the first time in forever, I was excited about reading again.

Off I went and, naturally, checked out four ebooks. You know, to give myself a chance to dabble. Also, I always like to have options. Although I had only a few days to read a book, I checked the page count and figured I could get it done. Each book was an average of 200-300 pages. I gave myself the first two chapters to decide if I wanted to continue or not with that title. I ended up inhaling two books in as many days. I paused on the other two to keep going with my Camp NaNo plans already in progress.

Mind you, there were times that I might have been pulled out of the story because my Writer Brain activated. However, it’s interesting to read books again after years of learning how to become a better writer. You’re able to identify the writer’s specific tools, the word choices, the mechanics, that stitched their tale together. Unfortunately, it was for that same reason I was pulled out of the initial story I thought I’d review. The protagonist was young Asian girl who wanted to become a famous writer. And while I understand that precocious youngsters can have an expanded vocabulary beyond their years, I found myself unable to enjoy her world because she, an 8 year old, was talking like a 15 year old. It was too much an ask of which to suspend my disbelief.

What makes these analyses so important to me now, as a writer, is that I can see what my contemporaries are doing, what’s working and what isn’t, and how to craft my own stories to ensure that I effectively relay the desired message to the readers.

I’ll get back to that book, in question. I still have the third of the four to finish. When the craziness of April has settled, I’ll likely pop back on here and share some book reviews.

What books do you enjoy reading? If you’re also a writer, do you like to only read in your genre or prefer to dive into other realms of existence? Has the continued joy of reading helped or hindered your writing process? I’d love to know the hows and whys behind why writers read.

For now, I will continue to read in my downtime. I’d forgotten what a joy it was to do so. And being an avid reader will undoubtedly help me to become a better writer.

Stay creative, stay weird, be kind to yourself and others.

Until next time,

T out.