What are You Trying to Tell Me?

You write and write and write...

You end up with 3000 words when in reality you need to have 500 or less. Clearly you are in need of a MAJOR edit. 

Major Edit

There are two possibilities:

• You have far too much information (too much junk) in your story and need to do some real soul searching to decide what can be cut.
  

• Your target market has changed and you should consider writing for an audience that will accept a higher word count.

Let’s first explore the “junk option”.

Let me start by saying editing from 3000 words to 500 words is going to be painful. 

There is no getting around it. The more junk you have, the more junk you have to get rid of. Also the more junk you have, the more likely it is that your objectives are getting lost.

i.e.This is a very necessary step.

People can only retain so much information, keep track of so many characters, relate to so many relationships… your goal is to make the stuff in your book all important stuff.

When I got stuck in the editing process, the most helpful exercise for me was to write my query letter.  I talked a bit about query letters last time, but they are a necessary evil if you are going to get an agent; so let me expand on it a bit.

The first paragraph of a query letter: write a description of your entire book using no more than a sentence (maybe two, if you must). 

This is a great way to pair-down what is really important.  It is very likely that you won’t be able to include all of your characters, all of your plot twists and all of the wonderful, magical, details and nuances that you spent so much time perfecting… that’s the point. If nothing else, that sentence will help you decide what the essence of your story is and what to absolutely, without a doubt, unarguably you need to keep. Think of what you read on a book jacket cover. 

Here are a couple of examples:

When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson's farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience that will haunt them forever. 

A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.

As you can see, not all characters and plot lines are included, however, the main objective is made clear. If these sentence don’t interest you, then you will most likely not be interested in the rest.

Next you get to turn that magical sentence into an entire paragraph.  Wow! An entire paragraph!  Three to five sentences! Oh, the luxury.

Finally, a bit about you. What makes you qualified to write this story. Have you won any awards? Have you been published anywhere ever before?

Once you have that query letter finished, you should have a better grasp on what is most important and what information you need to support that "most important". You are able to better edit your manuscript. 

Still struggling?  

• Try this – First, go through and get rid of everything that you know can go.  Individual words, entire sentences, whole paragraphs.  
• Second, highlight anything that you might be able to get rid of if someone made you; if someone came and said – get rid of this stuff or I will steal your dog, dye all of your shoes hot pink and put a sign in your yard that says “I love Scott Walker!”
• Third – get rid of that stuff.  You’re at 2000 words. Nice work!

You are now in a good place to move on to: 

• Step four. Put the manuscript down for a few days.  Not hours, DAYS. 
  

There’s no need to rush this. There is a very (very, very, very) good chance that once you have been separated from your story for a bit, you will see it with fresh eyes and it can only get better.

• Step five: Whittle away word by word until you are at 1500 words. 
• Step six: Repeat step four.
• Step seven: Repeat step five. (you’re at 1237 words)
• Step eight: Repeat step four.
• Step nine: Repeat step five. (you’re at 989 words)
• Step ten: Repeat step four.

You see where I’m going with this.

You will eventually get to a place where you absolutely cannot get rid of anything else.

Your story is only wearing underwear at this point. Getting rid of any more will make your story cold and hard to look at and fairly awkward. 

That means you are done! Yea!  Even if you didn’t make it all the way down to 500 words, you have made it through the hardest part.

Now, let’s consider option #2. 

A true story: After getting my story to a place I was fairly happy with, I was close to 4000 words. I was shooting for a max of 2000 words. Well darn-it all… After going through the previously mentioned (painful) process, I settled at 2300 words. I was running out of time before this self-inflicted date of “local writers conference weekend”. I hesitantly took it to pitch to a couple of agents. After convincing them this was the greatest book ever, we talked a bit about some of the challenges I was having with word count. They both (as if it were the obvious solution) told me that instead of a children’s picture book (a very long winded and possibly unsellable picture book)  I should ADD words and turn it into an early reader’s chapter book.

So, that is exactly what I am doing.  I do not at all regret the deep edit that I did however – my story is much more readable. My characters are much more believable. I was forced to take a good look at the story's main objective and realy dig deep and decided what it was really about.

So, without stalling for another paragraph, here’s an example of the query letter that I wrote for my upcoming children’s book:  

The Beautiful Weeds

A Harvest Hollow Tale

As told by me, Pumpkin Lou 

(a small sprightly fellow)

(Addressed to specific agent)

Getting lost in the forbidden fields was admittedly not a well thought out plan. But in a twist of fate, Pumpkin Lou’s adventure yields an unexpected encounter with a smelly ally and an intriguing new world among The Beautiful Weeds.

Harvest Hollow is an idyllic place for a young garden sprite like Pumpkin Lou to grow up, but being volunteered for some unwanted responsibility is the corn kernel that pushes him over the edge. In a snap-pea decision, he decides to run away but soon finds himself lost in a world that has only been seen in his nightmares. While trying to get his bearings in this strange place, he meets The Beast. Although a smelly, unsightly lady at first glance, she teaches him that things are not always as they first appear. Lou learns new details of his homeland and his family’s past. He realizes that what is considered beautiful and useful in life will change depending whom you ask. And he learns that a new view on the world is sometimes exactly what you need when you are feeling stuck.

This easy reader, picture book is 2300 words for children ages 6-10. An engaging story with thoughtful characters and a roller coaster of emotions, The Beautiful Weeds is the perfect book to introduce children to the magical world of a garden. It creates intrigue for the possibility that other tiny worlds live and thrive among us.

I am a technical writer by day and a creative writer by night. I have been drawn to the small, hidden details in nature my entire life and am no stranger to gardening. I strive to write stories that challenge the imagination while teaching something new. A full copy of my manuscript is included. I appreciate your time and consideration.

(closing and signature)

Thanks for reading and happy Easter!

All Good Things in One Place

This week I'm taking a break from the "Top Five" to discuss a few things that have become much more important over that past month.
There is a writers conference coming to town and in preparation, I decided to brush up on what getting a book published actually involves. 

Let me tell you, it's no small task.  The learning curve on this one has been unexpectedly gimongous.   To demonstrate my point I have include some pictures of other huge, giant and enormous things. 

And now, so all you other aspiring authors don't have to scour the interwebs like I did, here is a collection of very helpful information. 

All good things in one place

Number the first:

The difference between self publishing (or indie publishing) and traditional publishing.

The simple answer is this. With self publishing, you pay a publisher up front to put your book together for you. You get exactly what you pay for (and nothing more).  Depending on the company you hire to publish your book, you may have extra options available (for purchase) such as paperback and hard cover, full color or black and white, help with marketing, etc. It is generally your job to market your own book: setup your own radio interviews, schedule your own book signings, make your own school visits, hire your own marching bands, design your own parade floats...  (i.e. - more money up front and more work). 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-publishing

     So what are the benefits?  
Royalties are higher. The timeline to publish is MUCH (much, much) faster. And the big one - You own your own materials. There are no contracts, and no obligations. This seems to work great for authors who have already made a name for themselves. Or actors who have decided to moonlight as authors.

http://www.amazon.com/John-Lithgow/e/B001ILMA0S

http://www.jamieleecurtisbooks.com/

With traditional publishing, a publisher decides they love your book and works with you to mold it into what they want it to be (hopefully without compromising your story). You pay nothing up front, but it takes months or years of putting yourself out there, sending letters, asking (begging) someone to give you a chance and publish what you know is going to be the next Harry, I mean Larry Potter. 

The benefits: you pay nothing up front and someone else deals with the marketing end of the industry. You get to focus on writing or illustrating, and still have time for your day job. 

Luckily, there are people that can help you with this tough journey to greatness, they are called agents.  These agents know the industry inside and out. They know which of the thousands of publishers are looking for a romance, meets sci-fy, meets teen vampire thriller picture book for ages 13-47. 

Two:

Why you might want to hire an agent:
     See previous paragraph. 
They are awesome and once you prove yourself and find one you love, you'll be besties forever. (or so I assume.) After self publishing my first book, I've decided to go this longer, more difficult, and seemingly more profitable direction. 

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/09/what-do-literary-agents-do.html

Two-B

finding the right agent

Google has served me fairly well, but is very time consuming.  It's shocking I know, but it seems that the more people you talk to, the more conferences you go to, the more classes you take, the more you learn. There are agents hiding in the woodwork and they will reveal themselves once you know where to look.  

The problem is, only 2% (not a real number) are actually looking for the book that you are trying to sell.  However, the biggest waste of your time is sending book proposals (i.e. query letters - see section "not to B".) to agents who do not represent what you are trying to sell. 

Not to B

writing a query letter

This is where I'm at today. I have query letters written to each of the two agents that I will be approaching next month - yes, customize your query letters.  You are trying to sell your book and yourself.  You need to prove that you are not only serious about the industry, but that you can write.  

     You have one chance to prove all of this: your query letter. 

A query letter is an agents first glimpse into if you can write. This may come as a shock, but not everyone who wants to write a book, can actually form a complete sentence. 

For a good PG-13 rated laugh, click here.  

There are dozens of sample query letters out on the internet. But I will once again direct you to one of my favorite bloggers/authors, Nathan Bransford (i.e. Vicky)

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-query-letter.html

I'll let you know in a couple of months if this advice gets me anywhere. 

(wish me luck!)

More you say? You got it: here for your reference is an ongoing post by the Writer's Digest with examples of successful query letters. 

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/successful-queries

Third:

pitching to an agent

(not this kind of pitching)

This may be the hardest most intimidating part of getting your book published. If you have the chance to pitch your book, live, to a real agent sitting in front of you, you should absolutely take the chance. I figure it's harder to reject someone who is sitting directly in front of you, so you already have that going for you before you even open your mouth. 
The problem is, we are writers (not actors) for a reason. The best advice I have gotten so far is that passion is contagious.  If you are passionate about what you have written (and finished), if you really know your characters and your story inside out, If you are dreaming about the future adventures of your characters and cannot wait to tell others about your book, then you already have half the battle won. Your passion will be infectious and even if you stumble over every other word, the agent will see that this is something you believe in and have put a lot of thought into. People (even agents) want to be involved in a good thing.  Your honest passion for your story will make it hard for them to say no.  And that is great for you. 
YouTube is full of great examples of how to pitch to a literary agent, and this is one area that behooves you to do some actual interwebs research.

To get you started however, here are two more helpful website I found on the topic. 
  
http://thewritelife.com/tips-for-pitching-a-literary-agent-at-a-writers-conference/

http://www.writing-world.com/publish/pitch.shtml

And a few more helpful things:

Two things that I had a hard time finding reliable data on were word count and page count. I figured there had to be industry conventions that were followed and if I didn't figure it out and tried to pitch a book that turned out to be waaaay outside the realm of reality, I'd get laughed at and rejected and have no idea why. So, to save the rest of you from certain embarrassment, here's what I have found. 

Word count:  
Picture books average 1000 words, though many are shorter. 
Easy readers for ages five to nine are 50-2500 words depending on level of reader and publisher.
Chapter books or short novels for ages seven to ten run between 10,000 - 12,000 words. 
Middle grade novels for ages eight to twelve come in between 20,000-25,000 words and 
Young adult novels round off the pile at 35,000-45,000 words. 

http://www.writing-world.com/children/backes1.shtml   (this is another extremely helpful website that falls into the helpful tips and tricks section of this blog.) 

Page count

The best resource I found on page count and layout was on a this website:

Tara's website is also one of 2013's top 10 blogs for writers.  (see link below for the full list)

These graphics are in fact stolen directly from Tara's website - so thank you Tara for being so helpful!

And finally, the 2013 top 10 blogs for writers to follow.  Every one is worth checking out at least once. http://writetodone.com/top-10-blogs-for-writers/

Next time I'll get back to the Top Five with "What is your main message".  Here I'll give you the first glimpse at my current plot and some of the issues that I am encountering along the way.

Balance

BALANCE

'balans

noun 

• an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady. 
• a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions. 

verb

• offset or compare the value of (one thing) with another.

Balance is not a word that is foreign to any of us.  Whether you are talking about a life vs career balance, or a literal yoga balance, we all get it.

• Don't fall 
• Stay focused 
• Don't let anyone else fall.  

And you'll be fine!

Balance can be found in nature. 

Balance can be created from nature. 

 


These are awesome, I know.  I'm totally going to try rock balancing once it warms up around here. 



Balance can be  used as a way to pass the time in your Australian private school (you should click on this one, it's a little ridiculous, but I kind of wish I had been part of it.) 

Let's face it, balancing can be exhausting and terrifying...

where is this guy's mother?

...but if we do it right, it can create a calming, peaceful effect on us and those around us. 

So what, you rightfully ask, does this have to do with children's stories?
Well, intelligent friend of mine, I am glad you brought that up!

Point #1

Visual Balance

There are several things that can be done as an author and illustrator to improve your reader's experience. Not least of which is balance.

The appearance of your pages must give some semblance of balance.  Let's think waaaaayyyy back to the yoga guy (five sentences up). There is a center and a balance to this photo that is relaxing, calming.  For those of you following along, you'll remember I have mentioned the reader's experience before. Well, here it is again. (must be important.)

There is a classic children's book that shall remain nameless, but includes a small choo choo that may or may not make it over the mountain unless some help arrives quickly.

I often wonder if the author of this great story composed his own pages, or if they were composed by his publisher. For those of you who are not familiar, or aware of my subtleties as to which book I'm referring to, each page is comprised of great images of kids and candy and trains. It is one emotional roller coaster after another for small kids.

     Will they make it over the hill? 

           Will the kids get their food and good candy to eat?

Ahhhhh! The suspense! My three year old brain is going to explode!

Yet it contains one major downfall, each page starts a sentence and each page makes you turn the page to finish the sentence. Start sentence, turn page, finish sentence.

Once upon a time there were three...(turn page) bears.


There is no time to linger and absorb the pictures, or let little minds ask questions or point out the things that excite them. Nope, must finish the sentence and plow through the book as fast as possible!  In my house this leads to a lot of, "Wait Mom, just go back, I just have to show you one thing!"Mary had a little lamb who's fleece.... (turn page)  was white as snow.

Now I don't care if your story is about how Mother Nature allows wolves to befriend (read: eat) little bunnies. The actual meaning of the words has very little to do with my point here.  Take for example, a page like the one below. You can see how your eye is drawn to certain portions of the picture. The sentence starts and ends. Your eye moves across the page before you even know what the words say - there is a natural movement. This is no accident folks.  This is art.  Beautiful art none... (turn page)   -the-less.

Although it's safe to assume that most authors are not illustrating their own stuff, I'd like to think it's a collaborative proces. So, for this team, a few things to keep in mind:

• color balance
• words vs. images
• symmetry

Point #2

Cut out all the extra stuff!

The best way to achieve life balance is to evaluate what is most important to you and get rid

of all the stuff that isn't. I have to admit, I'm not very good at this.  When I start to feel like I have a little extra time, I immediately fill it up, and usually with long term projects.  This means that two months later, I'm again feeling like a plate spinner, desperately trying to get rid of something and put down some of those proverbial plates. 

So if you too are feeling overwhelmed, clean up your life, gain some relaxation time. Set down some of those plates on the table in front of you. Get your family or friends together and eat a meal off of those plates. Hopefully there wasn't food on the plates when you were spinning them, that could get messy. You don't want egg on your face.  But then again I guess life is messy at times so maybe putting down a plate before you are ready to put down a plate will make a mess... this analogy is going downhill very quickly so I am abandoning it. I am setting down my plate balancing plate.

The same goes for your writing. Cleaning up a story is one of the hardest things to do. The editing process (which we will talk more about later) is one of the hardest and most important things you can do for your book. This is true of children's books, novels, screen plays, etc.  The extra stuff will cause you (and others) to loose site of your point very quickly. Extra details do not always help and extra words can be your worst enemy.  

When I figure out a formula for eliminating all the junk from a story, I promise to share, but until then... it's a process.  A long process.  

In the end, you will be a better writer.  Guaranteed.

Keep asking yourself why - why did my character do that? Why do I need that sentence? Why did he run and hide if he wasn't scared? 

If you can't answer intelligently, then my guess is that whatever it is, is worth cutting and will make your story stronger in the end. Sometimes that's a sentence, sometimes an entire paragraph, sometimes an entire side plot.  

You will find your story to be more balanced (and improve the reader's experience) when you: 

• Stick to your point
• Stay true  to your characters 
• Leave out unecessary fluff

Good luck and happy writing! 

... and reading, hopefully for all of you non-writers reading this blog, you are gaining a greater appreciation for what you are reading as well.