Finding Your Voice

We all know it when we read it, but how much we enjoy it can also be a very subjective thing: 

The novel's voice.

When querying to get an agent, problem with voice is some of the most common feedback an author can receive:

Thank you for giving us a chance with this. I’m sorry to say I don’t think it’s one for me. While this has some nice points, when I take a on a new project I need to feel such a strong connection to the voice, I’m afraid I’m not quite there with this. Of course, it’s a really subjective business. Another agent may well feel differently. (an actual rejection letter I received in early 2014)

Thank you for sending me your query. I am sorry not to invite you to submit your work or to offer to represent you. The material just didn’t grab me, and you deserve an unequivocally enthusiastic agent as your advocate. (another actual rejection letter!)

Sometimes, authors' submissions get rejected because of the plot — for example, submitting a book in which the heroine falls in love with a vampire or a book discovers he's actually a wizard — most often it's not the book's plot, but the author's voice.

Other books, I pick then up and can't stop reading. And in many cases, that's not simply because of an excellent plot or a well-formed characters, it's because of the author's voice.

For example, I could read Erin Entrada Kelly all day long.  Her latest book, YOU GO FIRST, sang to me from the first paragraph onwards:

Twelve-year-old Charlotte Lockhard balanced an unopened Dr. Pepper upright on her hand and thought: This is what it feels like to hold my dad's heart.

Same as the Dr. Pepper.

Brilliant huh? Well, she is the most recent Newbery Medal winner, so no great surprise there.

How about Jason Reynold's fantastic voice in GHOST:

CHECK THIS OUT. This dude named Andrew Dahl holds the world record for blowing up the most balloons . . . with his nose. Yeah. That's true. Not sure how he found out that was some kind of special talent, and I can't even imagine how much snot be in those balloons, but hey, it's a thing and Andrew's the best at it.

These authors and their characters do not sound remotely alike, but you know straight away that these are characters you want to get to know. And you can tell you are in the hands of experienced authors who make the cadence of their words a joy to read.


Easy for them, you think. How do I make my own voice better?

First of all, YOUR voice is your way of looking at the world. And while your characters' voices will change from book to book, once you mast voice, your readers will always have a sense that they are reading a book by an accomplished author with a point of view.

How can you improve your voice?

1. READ VORACIOUSLY

Sometimes I run into authors who don't read in their genre. Which a) I don't really get at all, since I assume that if you want to be a middle grade author you love middle grade books; and b) doesn't allow them the opportunity to learn from other authors.

My best advice is to read widely within your genre, with a special focus on award-winning or critically acclaimed books, and an equal dash of the popular.

Early on, I'd even copy a page out of a particular book, so I could get a sense of the cadence, or rhythm of the story. I highly recommend this, because it will help you with your writing immensely.

2. READ YOUR WORK ALOUD

Everyone tells you to do this, but not everyone does this. It is critical. When you read your work out loud, you immediately find the awkward syntax, the boring bits, the unresolved nature of your writing. I also read drafts on my kindle. For some reason, seeing it in book form makes a tremendous difference to how I perceive my own work.

3. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY

Early on, writers stumble around in the dark, unsure of how specific to be. Their work lacks thematic direction and that shows in their voice. The more you understand what it is you want your story to convey, and who you think in the story should convey it, the easier it will be to find your voice.

4. EAVESDROP!

Yes, I know it's not polite to listen in on conversations, but if you're writing about eleven year old girls, you're going to want to get a handle on them. I've been known to wander the mall and pause now and then to listen to a bunch of kids talking. And though I remember my own kids at that age very well, I also rely on my friends' kids, too.

And finally:

5. KNOW WHO YOUR CHARACTERS ARE

In my latest book, I have a girl from 1915 who cannot sound like the kids from 2018. At the same time, there are things about being twelve or thirteen years old that will always be universal. The most important thing is to know who your characters are. What do they love, hate, worry about, are afraid of, and cherish? What motivates them? Are they shy or boisterous? Are they frustrated or happy-go-lucky. Your characters' personalities and the kind of story you are telling (see #3) will shape the right voice for your story.

In the end, it all comes down to writing with authenticity and clarity, and then writing and writing and writing in order to make your work as excellent as it can be. If you do all that, I promise: your writer's voice will strengthen!

Good Luck!

The Playlist Process

I have a slight problem with the manuscript I’m working on.

It isn’t related to plot; I feel like I’ve got the mental outline pretty much put together, leaving enough room for the story to continue evolving as I write. It isn’t really about character, either; even though this story has a lot of characters, I have a decent grasp on who each of them are, who they’ll become by the end, and how they relate to each other. The problem definitely isn’t about voice; that’s coming through well so far, maybe because I’m allowing myself to write with a voice I’ve wanted to use for a long time, but haven’t found the right project for until now. 

My problem is I still haven’t put together a writing playlist.

Now, do I need a writing playlist for this? Thankfully, no. The story is coming along surprisingly well. Would I like to have a playlist providing the soundtrack for this journey? Most certainly yes. Finding the right music has always been an important part of the writing process for me. I wrote my first manuscript while listening to nothing but the same thirty Bruce Hornsby songs on shuffle, usually during the time of day when light from the sunset poured in the front windows and filled my house, just because all of that gave me something close to a tangible expression of the tone I was trying to create. I wrote another manuscript mostly after dark with all the lights off, listening the scariest Iron Maiden songs I could find, as well as a few others that matched up with that creep factor. One year during NaNoWriMo I had a playlist of over two hundred songs that dripped emotional catharsis, to help me get in the head of a character pulled in nine different directions by everything she was struggling to understand. I’ll use these songs and the feelings they inspire to guide my voice, and, if I’m being honest about it, to help visualize what it might be like if, say, my story ever became a movie and needed a soundtrack. After all, isn’t a good part of the writing somehow tied to trying to live out hopes and dreams and speculation?

Truthfully though, I’ve never needed much of a reason to assemble playlists. I’ll put them together for road trips, or school work days when the students aren’t around, or to have playing in the background when I have guests, or even just because it feels like a day to listen to nothing but music released between 1997 and 2004. Applying this hobby (habit?) to my writing seemed natural.

Back before I found my way to the online writing community, I thought it was mildly self-indulgent to be so insistent about finding the perfect music to pair up with whatever I was writing. Then I started connecting with other writers, and discovered many had similar habits. A lot crafted playlists just as I did, but others didn’t stop there: They made Pinterest boards based on what their characters looked like. They compared different aspects of their characters to other well-known characters from books and movies and TV shows. Some even tried matching up settings with appropriately scented candles. They had favorite locations to write, rituals and routines they followed, and reward systems to keep themselves motivated. It seemed that nearly everyone populating this magical online writing domain was, in one way or another, searching for and leaning on the same kind of creative self-support I had been using all along. 

That discovery made my propensity for playlists seem, if anything, less like an idiosyncrasy and more like a legitimate part of the writing process, at least for me. That circles back to the simple truth that everyone approaches their writing differently, and whatever process works for each individual is just as legitimate as anything else. 

Of course, this still leaves me working without a playlist for this new project, or even any first steps in the direction toward finding one. I still have a long way to go though, so I know the right songs will eventually present themselves.

I’m just really looking forward to finding out what they’ll be.

The Jigsaw Process

A few months ago, in the closing weeks of December, I was questioning whether or not I had it in me to ever finish another manuscript. Most writers have to confront their self-doubt at some point; I’m pretty sure if the insecure writers of the world formed a club based around that particular quality and started electing officers, I’d at least make it as high as treasurer.

My issue back then had to do with external factors becoming internal: A longtime friend of mine had passed away, and the dark manuscript idea I had been developing and outlining and was just beginning to work on in earnest suddenly held absolutely no appeal for me. I figured if wasn’t enjoying writing it, why would anyone want to read it? So, for the first time in a long time, I decided to stop writing.

I had no intention of stopping permanently, but even pausing the work and depriving myself of a creative outlet was uncomfortable. I hoped divergent thoughts would continue to work in the background and eventually resolve themselves, but I needed something else to keep my mind busy in the meantime. 

One day while doing some holiday shopping, I wandered into a game store and decided to buy a jigsaw puzzle. It was a panorama shot of London at night. I just finished it this past week.

I unboxed it as soon as I got home. It had been a good decade or two since I’d last tried to assemble a serious jigsaw puzzle, so the sight of all 1,500 of those tiny cardboard pieces spread out on my kitchen table was a little daunting. I began sorting by color and pattern (orange lighting; distant buildings on the skyline; the pink streak of the remaining sunset; street lamps reflecting on the river) and worked it in sections. I knew all the blue pieces made up the sky, so I focused on getting just that part done and not thinking of the puzzle as one whole project. When that was finished, I switched to the bridge with all the bright streaks of light from passing traffic. Then I searched for pieces that made up the London Eye, as well as the colorfully lit buildings surrounding it. 

I was anything but obsessive about working on it and only made progress in spurts. Several weeks later, so many sections had been completed that, without even realizing it, I was nearly halfway done. That’s when the writer brain switched back on. I saw that one of the biggest reasons I had actually put aside my manuscript idea was because I had planned it into a corner. I knew all the characters, their motivations, the settings, the chapter titles — nothing had been left to chance. I realized I had prepped this way because it was the first new material I had started, for real, in a long time. It wasn’t just “Hey, I have a cool idea for a story! This would be fun!” and then sitting down to play with it, but more like “Okay, Mr. Serious Writer: You’re going to start with this, then go to this part, then this, and then maybe, if you're lucky, you will have earned the right to begin a first draft.”

I have never in my life written that way. My manuscripts have always come together outside the chronological order, with different sections finding ways to connect, like assembling jigsaw puzzles.

The basic idea arrives, and the earliest parameters of what the story should do are set, just like putting together the puzzle frame. There are always ideas or scenes that stand out as the strongest beats in the story, and those are the first to be drafted and explored and developed — just like sorting the puzzle pieces by color or pattern can suggest the easiest places to start. Once the most obvious parts of the story are done, I understand the rest of it well enough to know how to bring those big sections together. Before long, there are only a few holes remaining. And yeah, finding the right piece to put in those empty spaces can sometimes be a living nightmare, but eventually everything ends up where it needs to be.

I went looking for an alternative creative outlet, and was lucky enough to accidentally find one that reminded me what I needed to do to write again. When I started the puzzle, I had one manuscript idea that I had no interest in tackling. By the time my London panorama was complete, I had four solid ideas competing to be the next major work in progress, including the one I put on hold in December that had found some new life.

I’m having a lot of fun exploring each of these ideas now, and I’m excited to discover which will get the nod as the next project. When it happens this time though, I know enough to start with the big parts, and let the gaps fill themselves in along the way.

Gail Nall Interview and Out of Tune Giveaway!

Today I am excited to interview Gail Nall, author of OUT OF TUNE, a super-fun tween road trip adventure, which hit shelves November 8. Gail's other middle grade novels include BREAKING THE ICE and the YOU'RE INVITED series (co-written with Jen Malone), all from Aladdin/Simon & Schuster. Gail is also the author of the YA novel EXIT STAGE LEFT (EpicReads Impulse/Harper). Her upcoming book, the co-authored BEST.NIGHT.EVER, will be published this August.

Here’s a quick synopsis of OUT OF TUNE:

When twelve-year old Maya’s dad brings home a junker RV, she knows she’s in trouble. Sure enough, her parents sell their house, move the family into the RV, and set out for road trip adventure. Maya has to leave everything behind—her best friend, her cowboy-hatted crush, and her chance to audition for Dueling Duets, a reality singing competition that’s surely going to propel her—and her singing partner/crush—to stardom. As Maya’s family travels west, visiting natural beauty and historic national parks, all she can think about is OMGH, or Operation Maya Goes Home. In true middle-grade fashion, Maya devises several schemes to get home—none of which work as anticipated. (Bears, bison, and an RV named Bertha complicate Maya’s plans.) As Maya sets out on a secret bike ride through Yellowstone National Park with her little sister, a cute boy, and a blue-haired girl named Shiver, she wonders if it’s possible to find home in the last place she ever expected.

Gail, thanks for stopping by Middle Grade Minded today to talk about OUT OF TUNE. I loved Maya. She was such a spot-on middle grade character, from her voice to her motivations. Like any tween, her BFF, her crush, and her dream of stardom are foremost in her mind. (When I was twelve, I was certain I would become the next Olympic figure skating champion, so I could totally relate.) How do you develop such well-rounded middle grade characters? Any advice on nailing that elusive middle grade voice?

Thank you! I really loved writing the characters in OUT OF TUNE. (In fact, they're probably my favorite set of characters I've written so far!) Usually, I have an idea of the main character as I start the book, but I add to that idea as I write and go through drafts. It's almost as if they're created in layers. I learn more about them as I go. I always start with the main character's goal and then slowly build her personality as I work through drafts of the story. Bits of Maya that I added along the way are Hugo (her cat), her love of reading, the backstory between Maya, Jack, and Lacey, her signature “Holy Potatoes!” exclamation, and the little things she keeps with her that tie her to her dream, such as the posters and giant book about music.

Where did you get the idea for a road trip adventure story?

I'm obsessed with road trips! A huge part of this book came from my own travels out west and the places where I left my pieces of my heart. And I love (LOVE!) reading road trip travel blogs. I stumbled across blogs from young families who do what Maya's family does in OUT OF TUNE – sell pretty much everything to live in an RV and travel the country. The whole idea fascinated me – everything from the downsizing to how the parents actually earn money to the utter freedom of it. And then I started wondering if I'd be as interested in this whole idea if I were twelve years old (short answer: no way!). That's how the idea behind the book was born, and I set the biggest chunk of it in one of my favorite places in the world – Yellowstone National Park.
 
OUT OF TUNE is fast-paced, with a constant ticking clock. (“35 days until Dueling Duets auditions, 16 days until Dueling Duets auditions…") The sense of time running out kept me reading late into the night. How else can middle grade writers keep readers turning pages?

This is something I struggle with! Ending a chapter with a cliffhanger works really well. I'm awful at ending chapters, and I almost always have to go back and either fix my chapter breaks or add something to the end of the chapter to make the reader want to turn the page. But for most books, this doesn't work for every chapter. A compelling character with a goal the reader can sympathize with is key. And never underestimate your secondary characters! If you make them as well-rounded and interesting as your main character, readers will be eager to keep turning pages. A mystery can help, too, even if you're not writing a mystery novel. Holding a little something back from the reader, dropping clues, and then setting up a big reveal is a great way to keep readers hooked. I tried to do this with Shiver's character in OUT OF TUNE, and found it really fun to write. (Although adding clues is not easy. It took me a few drafts to get those put in the right places.) And finally, pacing. It's crucial to create ebbs and flows in the action of your story. If it slows down for too long, readers will lose interest. At the same time, if it's constant action, readers never have time to identify and sympathize with your main character.

Can you share your publication story with OUT OF TUNE? How many drafts did you write? Did you face any rejection on your road to publication?

No rejections on this book, but don't worry – I have many, many war stories of rejections on other books. So if you're piling up the rejections right now, I empathize. I wrote the original drafts of OUT OF TUNE before I had an agent. When I signed with Julia for BREAKING THE ICE (and EXIT STAGE LEFT, which is its own crazy publication story!) in 2013, I was still working on OUT OF TUNE. I went through several drafts of the manuscript before I even showed it to beta readers, never mind my agent, and I rewrote the last half twice before Julia ever saw it.

The biggest challenge with this book was making the second half match up with the first. Originally, Maya and her friends got lost in the woods about halfway through the book. It ended up reading much more serious than the first part of the book, so I had to decide what kind of book I was writing. I opted for something lighter, in the vein of the two books I'd already written, and rewrote the second half to make it more fun. Except, there's only so much you can do to make getting lost in the woods fun . . . so I finally scrapped that idea altogether and added in the hundred-mile bike ride. Julia liked it, and sent it to Amy, my editor at Aladdin. Amy loved it, but thought Maya needed a stronger motivation to get back home. That's when Maya went from a knitter to a singer! OUT OF TUNE is a very different and much stronger book now – eight drafts later.

 
Thank you, Gail, for taking the time to stop by Middle Grade Minded.

For a chance to win an ARC of Out of Tune, leave a comment below before midnight on November 15. A winner will be drawn at random.

Make Your Own Inspiration

Like most writers, or at least those still primed at the starting gate of their careers, I have another job — I teach at an elementary school. To call teaching a job almost feels like I’m trivializing it; teaching is arguably one of the most important jobs in our society, and I’m proud of the differences I’ve made in the lives of so many throughout my career. I consider it my privilege to have been a part of the education system for as long as I've been.

However, like any other profession, there are pros and cons to it. On the plus side, spending my work days in an elementary school gives me a front row seat to everything about the real world of middle grade and allows me to (hopefully) write my stories with an authentic tone. As for the not-so-plus side? It’s an incredibly difficult job. Any given school day can end with me feeling somewhere between exhilarated and accomplished or exhausted and frustrated, if not absolutely broken. When I show up at school in the morning, I need to be ready for anything to happen, because it’s going to. If I were able to share examples of some of the problems or events that comprise that unpredictable anything, a lot of people would either think or hope I was making it up.

So what happens on those days when I know I’m not going to be functioning at 100%? What if it’s all I can do to drag myself through the day and I end up facing any number of crises that life decides to test me with? I don’t get to toss aside my lesson plans in favor of a spontaneous six-hour kickball tournament because it would be easier. I can’t just give the kids a few sheets of drawing paper, then tell them to get out their colors and “impress me.” The mere idea of taking a long lunch so I can catch my breath is science fiction. I have responsibilities to fulfill and expectations to meet. I have a job to do, and it’s important that I do it well.

How is writing any different?

I guess that depends on what kind of writer you consider yourself. If it’s a hobby for you, as it was for me for so many years, you have some flexibility. You can wait for the perfect idea to tap you on the shoulder or whisper in your ear, and then play around with it at your leisure. If that’s your situation, I wish you all the luck in the world in your endeavors, and hope you enjoy every moment of the work you do.

I don’t think that describes most of us, though. I think most writers are caught up in that cycle where they keep writing because they simply have to. Maybe your drive comes from financial concerns, or general ambition, or just the necessity of protecting your peace of mind. Any of these could mean you might not have the luxury of waiting for perfect inspiration to come knocking on your door and offering to buy you dinner.

Real inspiration has more to do with the culmination of the work you put in to begin with. Sure, sometimes you get that idea that seems gift wrapped and fully-formed upon arrival, but once the real work begins, it’s inevitably going to evolve. One idea spawns another, which opens up other possibilities, which introduce new directions to explore, and before you realize what’s happened you have so many ideas spread across so many notes to work with you have to find a way to organize them all.

If you’re looking for inspiration to nudge forward a work in progress you're struggling with, or something that will help light a fire under that new project you’re thinking about? Make it yourself, first a word at a time, then a sentence, then a page or a chapter. And if what you’ve done isn’t lighting you up? Set it aside and try again. The inspiration is there, just waiting for the right time to come out and flick you behind the ear. Keep pushing, and trying, and trying again, and writing, and rewriting, and restarting, and revising, and revising again, and whatever else you need to do to find your way there. Put it the work and the inspiration will follow.

So get out there and get it done, people! You have a job to do! You have responsibilities to fulfill and expectations to meet. You owe it to your story. You owe it your characters. You owe it to your friends, and family, and critique partners, and all of the people making up your support system.

Above all, you owe it to yourself.

Synopsis /səˈnäpsəs/ (n). the bane of any writer's existence.

I tried NaNoWriMo once.

And I failed.

Miserably.

I started out writing between 1500-2000 words a day, and then somewhere around mid-November my brain became a stew of ideas and twists and new character arcs that sounded a heck of a lot better than the ones I'd started out with.

So since many of you are currently halfway through your own NaNo projects (imagine me applauding you at this point because I am, I promise), I thought I'd pass along what I learned from my month-long stint in a creative hell. 

The Super-Simple Synopsis Strategy Sure To Satisfy Your Storytelling...Stuff.

Don't judge me. Titles have never been my forte. 

Anyway, this strategy is going to be absolutely priceless for those of you who will be querying your newborn manuscript in January (imagine me hugging you and telling you it'll be okay at this point because I am, I promise) and hoping no agent you decide to query asks for a ONE PAGE SYNOPSIS OH MY GOD.

But we all know agents will. They have to. And after this post, you're going to be prepared to write one. All thanks to my TS-SSSSTSYS...S technique. 

It's really quite simple. I use it to teach writers of all ages how to write the world's most simple and complete synopsis. And all you have to remember are five words: somebody, wanted, but, so, then.

That's it! When you fill in the responses to those, you've got a full-blown synopsis that'll easily fit on one page. So let's take a look at each of these words so you'll know just what to include.

1. Somebody: Tell us who the main character is, where she lives, her age, and anything else that you feel we should know.
2. Wanted: Tell us your main character's biggest inner desire. What's her biggest external goal?
3. But: Tell us the obstacle standing in her way of achieving these. There might be more than one or there could be one single challenge. This is going to be the biggest portion of your synopsis because we need to see how your character struggles and fails, struggles and fails, struggles and fails, and nearly gives up.
4. So: Tell us the method she uses to finally overcome this obstacle.
5. Then: Tell us the internal and external reward she obtains for solving this problem. 

That's it! As an example, we'll write up a quick (less than one page) synopsis for Bridge to Terabithia. Warning: major spoilers ahead if you haven't read the book.

1. Somebody: Jess Aarons is a fifth grader at Lark Creek Elementary School. He's been training all summer long on his farm because...
2. Wanted: he wants to be the fastest runner in the school. He knows if he can do this, he'll earn the respect of his friends, his rivals, and more importantly, the respect of his dad.
3. But: But when Leslie Burke, Jess' new neighbor and classmate, challenges the boys to a race, she leaves every one of them in her dust...along with Jess' dreams. Second place isn't good enough to brag about. Not to the other boys at school. And not to his dad. When Leslie attempts to befriend Jess, he resists at first. But somewhere along the way, he realizes she's not so bad. And her family is more than ready to welcome him as their new neighbor. Jess and Leslie quickly become friends and together they create Terabithia, an imaginary world in the woods, just across the creek beside the old crab apple tree. The more time they spend building their castle stronghold, the more the other boys tease him about having a girlfriend. And the more time he spends with Leslie, the more his parents worry about him not doing regular "boy things." But Leslie brings out the best in Jess--his creativity, his curiosity, and his willingness to see a world outside of Lark Creek. And Jess inspires Leslie, too. She tells him she's never been to church, so when Easter rolls around, she tags along with his family. Jess worries that her lack of understanding about the Bible will come to haunt her one day, but he quickly forgets about it. Soon after, Ms. Edmunds, Jess' music teacher, invites him to visit an art gallery and Jess accepts the offer. They spend the day exploring the different paintings, talking about imagination, and enjoying their time in the city. But when Jess gets back home, his parents are waiting for him with some devastating news. Leslie is dead. She drowned trying to cross the creek into Terabithia. At first, Jess refuses to believe it. He becomes angry at his family, at himself, even at Leslie. He runs away to the woods, ready to tear down the world he created with Leslie. Jess' father finds him. Jess confesses that Leslie's death is his own fault because he didn't invite her to go to the art gallery with him. And what's even worse, since Leslie never went to church before Easter, he's worried God sent her to hell. 
4. So: For the first time ever, Jess' dad consoles him. He tells Jess not to worry. That it's not his fault and that God doesn't send little girls to hell. They sit quietly together in the woods remembering Leslie and having their very first honest father-son moment. The next day, Jess finds the strength to revisit Terabithia. He decides to build a bridge across the creek and invite his little sister along.
5. Then: Together, they will keep the memory of Leslie alive so that Terabithia can live on forever. 

There ya go! Obviously, the synopsis I just wrote can be modified and greatly improved, but it at least gives you the idea of how you can use the somebody, wanted, but, so, then method to at least get your started in the right direction.

But until then, happy writing! You're only halfway through November, so there's plenty of time to finish and worry about that synopsis (imagine me giving you plenty of caffeine and chocolate at this point because I am, I promise. Except for that donut. I'll take that.)

How NaNoWriMo Made Me a Better Writer

I’ve participated in National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) every November going back to 2008 (even though I’ve recently decided to remain on the sidelines for this year). For anyone not familiar with this event, people commit to putting forth their best effort to write an entire novel in a thirty-day span. If you reach that goal and report your word count to the NaNoWriMo website for verification, congratulations! You’ve won!

Producing that many words so quickly might seem like a daunting task, at the very least, but I promise it can be done. I’m seven-for-seven on NaNoWriMo wins myself, so I’m living proof. I’m not saying everything from those collective 350,000+ words has been brilliant, but I’ve managed to drag my tired bones across the finish line every time I started, and each of those wins was very satisfying.

Some people would probably tell you that’s half (or all) of the fun in participating — diving in head first with your eyes closed, writing with a process that isn’t even in the same area code as your comfort zone, and discovering if you really can meet that goal. I suppose those things are true, but I think a much bigger take-away from NaNoWriMo has been what I’ve learned about myself as a writer, and not just how I operate under the self-imposed pressure of a month-long sprint. 

I think anyone who decides to accept that challenge and manages to learn something about themselves or their process, whether they “win” or not, can say the experience was valuable and worthwhile. If you’ve never taken on the challenge before, I’d certainly encourage you to try. And if you do, here are a few bits of advice I have to offer: 

Set the Stage

A lot of writers create playlists to listen to for writing certain scenes, specific characters, or for entire projects. Anything that will help you find your way into the story more quickly is a useful tool. For a lot of us, that’s finding the right music to establish the scene, or define the character, or complement the entire book. If you aren’t a music fan, maybe you need the right drink, or the lucky sweatshirt, or perhaps a collection of various scented candles that perfectly reflects the personalities of your characters. Whatever gets you where you need to be is worth cultivating.

Find the Clay

I’d imagine some people might disagree with me on this, but I think writer’s block is a self-indulgent excuse for not getting words on the page. During NaNoWriMo, it’s not a luxury you have if you want to reach the goal. If you decide to make it a priority, you WILL find a way to build your word count. I tend to see writing a first draft as something similar to a sculptor getting her or his hands onto a nice new slab of clay, and all of the editing and revising that follows is when the artist molds that clay into the figure they carry in their head. You can’t sculpt until you have the clay. You can’t revise until you have the original words. No matter how tragically awful those words might seem at first, you need to give yourself something to work with.

Freeze the Lake

Forget chronology. You don’t have to start with “It was a dark and stormy night” on November 1st and finish with “They lived happily ever after” on the 30th. Write whatever part of the story is poking at you the most. I’ve described my NaNoWriMo process (which has really evolved into just being my process now) to non-writers by comparing it to how a lake freezes over in the winter: Big frozen chunks and ice floes begin forming independently of each other in the cold water until everything eventually comes together as one big sheet covering the lake. I’ll write the scenes that have the most energy, then let the gaps between them fill in along the way as those bigger scenes naturally develop outward until they connect. 

Work the Community

Writing is solitary. No news there. But encouragement can be motivating, and the writing community is (especially here in middle grade territory) very supportive. NaNoWriMo has different levels of social networking built into it, like writing buddies, online forums, and even local real-world events. You don’t have to go through it all alone.

Use the Tease

Try to end your writing day at a place when you would really like to keep going. That will make getting back to work the following day something to anticipate.

Ride the Flow

I hope a lot of writers out there are familiar with flow state, that mindset when everything feels effortless and your productivity is off the charts. You’re going to put in some serious hours if you want to write 50,000 words in a month, and sooner or later the flow is going to grab you. Try to recognize when it does, and take advantage of it for as long as you possibly can.

Take the Punches

Not every day will be golden and full of word count. This is okay. Remember that 1,667 words is an average daily pace and not a requirement. As long as you keep moving forward, you’re still approaching the goal. If a day doesn’t turn out to be a good one, take your hits and move on.

And Finally, Make the Effort

One month is plenty of time to accomplish some great things if you set your mind to it. The manuscript that first caught my agent’s attention began as a NaNoWriMo project, and I know I’m far from the only writer (or even the only Middle Grade Minded contributor) who can make that claim. Some of the bigger regrets in life come from the things we never dared to try. The worst thing that could possibly happen would be that you wouldn’t reach the goal, but would still walk away with some new ideas. 

Where’s the downside?

MG Minded Talks - WIPs

This month MG Minded is talking about WIPs. Here are the questions:

1.) What's your current WIP about?

2.) How do you decide when an idea has enough legs to turn it into a manuscript?

3.) A relationship with your WIP can be complicated. What kinds of feelings do you have as you work through writing your first draft. Give us the good, the bad, and the ugly.

4.) Anything else you want to share about your current WIP?

And now to the bloggers for answers! Feel free to add your own answers in the comments section.

Tom M.

1) I'm currently revising what I fully expect will be a very intense ghost story.

2) New ideas usually take a good amount of time to develop before I feel ready to take them on. I'll keep track of notes and ideas related to it, and when it gets enough momentum for me to have a solid overview of what the story will be like, I'll start working on it.

3) I love those moments when I reach the flow state, and everything comes so quick and effortless I feel like I can't do anything wrong. I'm not as fond of the times when I'm plodding through a problem and for the life of me can't find a way to make it work.

4) My WIP began as a short story close to twenty years ago and has gradually evolved in on and off spurts ever since. I'd call it a good example of why the ideas a writer feels strongly about should never be completely abandoned.

Brooks

1) My current WIP is a YA about a guy who catfishes his entire school with a blog he's forced to create for his political sciences class.
 
2) If I can come up with one line for each plotpoint outline (10%, 25%, 50%, and 75%) then I start writing.
 
3) I expect my outline to change. A lot. I'm a plantser, so I never get married to an idea while I write. I always have a roller coaster of emotions, from I LOVE THIS to WHY AM I EVEN BOTHERING. By now I'm used to it. :)




Jamie

1) My current WIP is a MG about a dragon changeling who doesn't want anything to do with her dragon side.

2) Usually when the idea can't leave my head and I have enough of an outline to keep moving forward. I almost never know exactly how a book will end when I start it, but if I know what comes next and after that and even a little beyond, that's usually a sign I have enough to help me write and learn about the characters and this story. As I progress through more of the later parts of the story become more clear until I finally know how things will end.

3) When I first get an idea there's usually a feeling of excitement, especially for those ideas that I'm able to turn into manuscripts. But as I write and get beyond the initial excitement the fear sets in. What if this isn't good enough? Why does this WIP suck so much? But as I plow through and get toward the end, I start to get excited again about finishing another story. And even more excited about getting to rip it apart during edits and make it that much better.

4) Current WIP stage, why does this suck so much. **KEEPS PLOWING THROUGH**

Stacey

1) my current WIP is a contemporary romance set it Haiti. I am loving getting deep into that setting because it's one that's close to my heart!
 
2) I always do 3 things before commit to writing the full thing. 1. Plot, even if it's just mentally. I need to have an idea of where I'm going and if it has enough meat to be a full novel (I write short) 2. Write a query for it. Even if I never use the query it's really important for me to have a full grasp of the tone and purpose of the story first 3. Write the first chapter. This helps get an idea of the voice and characters and I always learn something new. Once I do those three things and the idea still excites me I'm ready to go. 
 
3) I'm always super excited about it at first (otherwise I wouldn't be writing it). Then I start getting into the lag bits. Not always because the story is not exciting but because writing consistently is tedious. I quite often forget my passion for the story and consider giving up. I don't usually get the "omg this sucks" mentality, just a "is this really worth it?" "I want to write that other shiney book idea..." I have to push myself through to finishing a draft and at the end I have a mix of "What the heck is this thing? How in the world will I fix it?" And "YAY I FINISHED."
 
4) I'm writing a book on contract so my motivation is higher but so is my anxiety. "What if they don't like it?" And worse: "What if I don't end up liking it but have to let them publish it anyway?"

Tom T.

1) Current WIP is about a kid accompanying his father on a hunt for a missing Easter Island tribe, only to become trapped on the island they've vanished to.
 
2) Only way I'm able to determine if my idea is able to transform into a novel is if I can think of a legitimate, beginning, middle, and ending. Then I'll try to write up a quick synopsis to see if I can add enough filler, development, and plot twists to justify at least 50k words lol.
 
3) It usually starts off like "HOLY SHNIKEY this is the best thing I've ever written" - it's like what Ian Malcom said in Jurassic Park..Oooh, ahhh, that's how it starts. Then there's the running..and screaming. Yup, that's how it is. By the time I'm finished with my first draft, I love it..then i go back into it..and I hate it...then it's hours upon hours of endless editing that makes my head explode. If I'm lucky, I'll still love it after all that.
 
4) It'll be on submission in another month, and I'm pooping bricks

Dan G.

1) My current WIP is, terrifyingly, a series. A fantasy series. I've never written a series before, and I've never written a fantasy before, so I'm doing WAY more pre-writing prep than I've ever done (I'm generally a total pantser). It's been kind of scary, but a lot of fun and great brain exercise. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

2) I wish I had an answer to that! Stories usually sit in my head for a LONG time...my first book bumped around up there for a couple of years before I wrote it, and this new series has been on my mind for a couple of years as well. Other times, though, I've started a manuscript a week after the idea occurred to me. I guess when it's ready, it's ready!

3) Like most writers, my reaction to my own writing is fairly schizophrenic. I love it, then I despise it, then I'm totally numb to it...sometimes all within five minutes! Generally, though, during the drafting phase I'm riding a wave of euphoria interrupted by occasional sinkholes of crippling insecurity. During revision that dynamic reverses: I mostly feel like it just might be irredeemable garbage, with scattered moments of thinking I may have gold in my hands if I polish it enough. So, yeah, I'm just generally a wreck.

4) Right now, my predominant feeling toward my WIP is gratitude. I've been feeling a lot of stress in other areas of my life lately, and I've been loving the escape of slipping away and diving into my WIP. It's been a wonderful little refuge, and I'm happy I have it. 

Jason

1) I'm at an odd time for me. I have no current WIP (at least, not one in drafting stage). Instead, I'm working on revisions to two separate projects at the moment. One is about a unusual girl solving the mystery of a jewel heist with the help of her best friend, the town Sheriff's son. The other is about <redacted>.

2) I never really know until I finish it and let someone else read it. When they (hopefully) tell me it's not crap, I start to believe.

3) I go through the usual writer phases when drafting: THIS IS AWESOME. THIS IS CRAP. THIS IS AWESOME! Then, after I'm finished with the draft and some revisions, there's also some "Well, I like this...I hope someone else does too".

4) OMGOSH I'm SOOOO excited about it! It's <redacted>!