How I Kill My Darlings

I’m going to assume that most of Middle Grade Minded’s readers have at least a passing familiarity with writing and books, and that most of you will recognize the ages-old reference in the title to trimming the fat from ones writing.  That also assumes, maybe foolishly, that no one is tapping out 9-1-1 on their cell phone right now with a shaky hand, filled with terror that my family is in some sort of dire peril.

The only peril they’re in is that I might forget to take the recycling out and can we please all agree that this shouldn’t be my job alone?

But enough of me. Let’s talk about revision, which is what I meant with the reference to killing those darlings. It’s a old adage about writing that I believe with all of my heart, regardless of who said it first.

The act of writing, of taking an idea and giving life to it with mere words, is a process that’s as individual as those of us who attempt it.  What works for me may not work for you. Heck, what works for me today may not even work for my next book.  With that in mind, then, there are exceedingly few generalities that I believe apply to every single writer who ever set a troll-topped pencil to a sheet of lined paper.  Revision, though, is the exception. When it comes to that, there is but one hard, inescapable truth: as a writer, you will never escape the need to revise your work.

When I wrote my first novel, an adult fantasy horror called Famine, I thought I’d be smart. I’d take my time and go over every word I’d written every day, slicing, dicing, and julienning the story in such a way that when the draft was done, most (if not all) of my revising would be In. The. Bag.

Fast forward Slow, excrutiating trudge to 18 months later, and I had a finished novel.  But then I had to reorganize a bunch of it, and even after, it was still a sloppy mess. So much so that I had to make two more passes before I was comfortable letting anyone else look it, lest they think I had the reading comprehension and writing ability of a 9 month-old water-borne toad.

When I started my second novel, Longshots, a MG Sci-Fi adventure, I impressed myself and others (okay, mostly just myself) by using what I’d learned from Famine to make things easier on myself. It was also a NaNoWriMo novel, which means constantly re-sculpting the words I’d just written would work about as well as trying to build a LEGO Death Star with mashed potatoes and Thanksgiving stuffing. So I gritted my teeth, opened up Google Docs, and hammered out 48,000 words without bothering to make sure they were any sort of recognizable English, be it American, British, Olde, or what have you.

Believe it or not, Longshot ended up needed not even half the revision time that Famine had taken, and a few months later I landed my agent with it.

Putting the lessons those two books taught me together, I’ve adopted the following five steps, which have become the My Way of novel revisions.

1. Shut Up and Wait. Type “The End”, save my document, and go fishing, sailing, baking, canoodling, or, (more likely) napping for, at minimum, two weeks.  A month is probably better, but sometimes I’m not that patient. This is called a “cooling off” period. It’s at least twice as awesome as a “sleeping it off” period, because after cooling, you’re excited to see your work again and also not harboring a  headache that could only be the fault of a wrathful demon. Well, that is, until you actually start reading your work back, and then you realize you’d rather take the demon headache.
2. The Big Sweep. I take my manuscript out of the drawer and sharpen my pencils, and then go page-by-page, paragraph-by-paragraph, sentence-by-sentence and fix whatever feels broken. Does every paragraph say something new and unique, or can it be cut? Does every sentence stand on it’s on or is it redundant? Whatever isn’t necessary gets the machete. Then I consider the dialog and all the character’s traits. Are they speaking and acting like that character should? You know, because it’s important you don’t write a scene where Batman crashes into a room with a fully automatic rifle, and then guns down everyone inside while singing show tunes. I’ll scrutinize and polish every page until I’m happy with it.
3. Auxiliary Sweeps: Death to Adverbs and Overuses! It’s time for the long, tedious, exhaustive searches for words that end in “ly”, the overuse of “somehow”, “just”, or “though”. Usually I have a text statistics tool look the manuscript over for me and tell me if something other than “a” or “the” is the most commonly used word in the draft.
4. Performance For One: I read the manuscript again, out loud, to myself.  I cannot stress enough how much this helps to shine a beacon of red light on words that don’t “ring”" true.
5. Beta Readers. I have two or three beta readers that I would trust with the keys to my house, the future of my children, or even my beating, dripping, disgusting heart, should it for some reason find its way outside my chest cavity.  They get copies of the manuscript next. At which point, I scurry off to bide my time thinking of The Next Project. Which is to say, I go binge watch some shows on Netflix while stress eating Smartpop laced with M&Ms.  Before long, they (the beta readers, not the M&Ms) invariably have comments and suggestions when they finish, which I then weigh and incorporate as necessary. But they’re pretty smart people who read a lot, so I rarely ignore anything without a rock solid explanation of why things needs to stay the same.
6. Getting Tweaked for Class Pictures. When I was a kid, no matter how perfectly prepared I was for picture day at school, my mom could always find something that needed a bit of a nip or tuck.  My collar would be off or my glasses would be dirty, sometimes my cowlick was unruly and in desperate need of a tamping down. My manuscripts are no different. Just when I think they’re ready, I’ll think of a sequence that could be stream-lined or a better line of dialog than the one I had used. I’ll make sure the chapter titles are margined properly, the cover sheet is clean and accurate, and the Table of Contents looks just the way I expect. When all of that’s done…
7. You’ve Got Mail: I click send and push that manuscript out into the world, where, with any luck, someone will fall in love with it as much as I have.

As I said before, though, the process of writing a novel is an individual as a snowflake. Okay, I didn’t say that exactly, but I same something along those lines. The point is that while My Patented 5 Step Method works for me, it may not be the best way for you get your best work onto the page. It’s also actually 7 steps, but we’re just going to pretend math isn’t important.

As luck would have it, I’ve got a manuscript in a drawer right now, waiting for some a raging torrent of red ink. So, Good luck with your own manuscripts, and more importantly, your revisions. Because remember, writing is rewriting, and those darlings aren’t just going to off themselves.

Pud’n

Got questions? We might have answers! If you’ve got a question you'd like MG Minded to spin around, don’t hesitate to email MGMinded@gmail.com.

Revisions...OH....REVISIONS...How do I handle thee?

We all know this image....all to well.....it's how we feel when we are knee deep in the process of revisions. It drives us absolutely...IN.....SANE.

Here's the deal. We all get to the point where we think what we write initially is absolute gold. We're sort of blinded by these headlights of writing prowess where we think to ourselves "Holy hell. I am a crafting genius." Until you let someone else read it, and they say to you, "Hey, um...you've got some issues."

It's there, that the revision process truly begins.

So what do I do to handle this revision scenario? Well, a few things --

1) Hand your MS over to other readers.

Beta Readers, Friends, Colleagues, Agents, Editors, ANYONE and EVERYONE. The more feedback you can get on your writing the better. In fact, I want to give a special shout out and props to the beta readers of my latest MS for my new MG novel because they have helped transform it into something truly special. The key is, these people will be able to see things that you otherwise can't. They can point out repetitious words or phrases, plot inconsistencies, poor prose, etc. It all comes down to the "blinders" or "high beams" of writing that we suffer through during the first run of MS writing. We need that extra set of eyes. SO..BADLY. If you haven't gotten yourself one, two or three uber-awesome beta readers, get on that now.

2) Exchange MS - CANT STRESS THIS ENOUGH.

You've just handed your MS over to some beta readers, so what do you do while you wait for them to rip it to shreds? Why, you READ THEIR MS! I can't tell you how helpful it is to read other people's writings. Not only can you recognize common mistakes that you may be making as well, but you can also recognize key strengths that the other author is capable of doing that you can try to learn from. What better way to learn from each others strengths and weaknesses than by reading each others work?

3) Take a break

Going back to the fresh eyes bit. Your eyes need a break too. Once you finish your first draft..take a break. Then once you finish your first round of edits...take another break. Second round? Another break...THIRD ROUND...another break. Keep taking breaks away from your MS to keep your eyes and mind fresh. You want to go into it each time with a new outlook. Constantly ripping your manuscript to shreds will drive you nuts, and you'll end up most likely hurting it rather than helping it. Sure, it may take longer, but it is worth it in the end.

4) Knowing when revision are done

They are really never done. Sorry. LOL. I could say they are done when your book is published, but even then I know I will look at my own writing and say "God Dammit...I should have changed that." Revisions are done, when you can't stand to look at it anymore. Beyond that point, you will just end up hating your MS. Keep that love strong. It's your baby!

5) You don't have to listen to everyone's advice, but handle criticism well

The industry is subjective. We all know that. Everyone has a different opinion on writing and a proper way of doing things, but nothing is concrete. Well, certain things are, but you get what I'm saying. Ultimately, when you get notes back from an editor, or a beta reader, or whoever, you don't have to listen to every word they say. But take their criticism, and put it in your back pocket and think about it. Let it stew a bit before jumping to conclusions. Remember, they are only trying to help. And they can't help you by being all fluffy and nice about your writing and saying you are the greatest thing since JK Rowling. It's a constant work in process, and we all screw up and need improvements.

I know my other MG Minder bloggers are going to be writing similar entries so I don't want to write EVERYTHING about my process. Hell, I need to get back to my revisions for my latest book because I wan't that bad boy on submission..oh yeah, which reminds me...DON'T RUSH. The last thing I WANT to do is send a book on submission that isn't 100% ready.

Good luck everyone, and remember, BREATHE.

NO! IT WASN'T!

Dear MG Minded — On MG and Profanity

Dear MG Minded,

I would like to use the idiom 'shot to hell.' The question: Is the mild curse 'hell' appropriate for a MG contemporary fantasy? Thanks!

This week's question is one I've seen come up in discussions many times. And it's a tough one to answer, because both sides offer up equally good points. Since that's the case, I could just give the same advice my dad did when I came to him with a question he didn't know the answer to:

Go ask your mom.

But I won't do that to you all. Not today anyway. No, today I'm going to pitch in my own two cents on the subject. I've had this discussion with many writers, my agent, and my editor, so I've got several people who are much smarter than me to guide me. 

*clears throat, pushes up glasses, looks all professorly*

There have been many successful MG books which have shows us that mild profanity in kidlit can work. But that doesn't mean every MG book needs it. If you're faced with a word or phrase you're on the fence about in your kidlit story, there are some things you have to consider.

1. Character
2. Story
3. Gatekeepers

Let's take a closer look at each one.

Character

I guess the first thing you need to think about is whether or not the character would need to use mild profanity. If you're writing for a lower MG crowd, then I'd say no. Never. Nuh-uh. There is no need. But if you're writing a character who's thirteen, then there might be a chance he or she might. And when I say need, I'm talking about the need for authenticity. And that encompasses a lot of things like where the character's from, what time period the character lives in, what the character's family is like. That kind of stuff. However, there's a lot to be said for made-up profanity. Words that'll get the point across without stepping over that line. Again, that comes down to your characters, their age, their lives, and their experiences.

Story

Our job as writers is to tell a compelling story. And if our compelling MG story can survive without the use of profanity, no matter how mild, then why not go that route? But sometimes, a story won't be light and fluffy. Sometimes a story is going to be heavy and dark. And sometimes the characters caught up in the situations within those types of stories are going to express themselves accordingly. However, as a writer, I edit heavily while I write my first drafts. And if there's ever a line or a word that I can take out and still keep the scene as good as I want it, I'll remove it. So that might be a good way to think about mild profanity in MG stories. If the scene can survive just fine without it, maybe it's not needed after all.

Gatekeepers

Kids buy books, sure. But I'd say the majority of books kids end up reading are ones offered up by parents, teachers, or librarians. Not to say they're the ones who are choosing what our future leaders and novelists are reading, but they're certainly helping. That being said, it's a good idea to keep in mind that many adults won't want their children or students reading a book with profanity. We're writing for our target audience, but we've got a sort of filter we have to go through before our books ever reach the their eyes. 

All right, so . . . did I answer the question? Not really. Because it's not one for me to answer. It's up to the writer. Once a kid reaches a certain age, swearing becomes a part of the exploration of identity. That identity may end up being a non-swearing one, but that developmental stage is still there. We want authentic characters. We want compelling stories. And we want our audience to read them, which means we have to make it past the gatekeepers, so to speak. 

So I'd say write your story and decide for yourself. Just keep in mind that once it's out there, it's not yours anymore. It's theirs. So make sure it's going to be one they'll want (and get) to read.

For an awesome #MGLitChat Twitter discussion on this subject, click here.

If you have a question you'd like MG Minded to answer please email MGMinded@gmail.com.

Happy writing!

The Writing and Revision Process of a Complete Moron

That's me, complete moron. If you don't believe me, ask my wife.

I love hearing about the processes of other writers. When I first started writing, I thought I would learn a magical way for me to do my work.

I didn't find it.

In the end, every writer has her own process and what works for me will probably not work for you. But it's still fun to learn.

I usually get an idea. Maybe it's the title of a book. Maybe it's a character. Or maybe it's a "what if" question. It's happened each way with me. And I kind of noodle on that idea. I think- what about this idea, character, or question interests me?

At that point, one of two things might happen.

Some times, I just start writing. Stephen King talked about novelists being like archaeologists and our idea is to dig and uncover dirt until we 'find' the story. That's what I often do. I just write. I discover things about my character, the idea, the setting.

Then, after I've written anywhere between 1/6 and 1/4 of the book, I stop. I stop and I take a cold hard look at what I've got.

I started with a flash, and now I've written words. But this is my timeout, my opportunity to ask myself the all important question: I've got a whole bunch of words, but do I have the makings of a story?

Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.

Regardless of the answer, I ALWAYS do the SAME thing next. I pull out a piece of paper and I plot. I don't outline nor would I ever outline. Not because I'm fundamentally against it but because I'm fundamentally disorganized and, as I mentioned before, a complete moron. So, instead, I plot. I write down opening, inciting incident, break into act 2 (crossing the threshold), halfway point decision, dark night of the soul, climax, resolution.

And I start brainstorming what the plot points of this story would really need to be in order to look like a real story. Sometimes I can do this in a day, sometimes in takes me a couple weeks of just letting my brain roll the thing around in order to find the right solution.

If I don't find it, I don't keep writing. If I find my plot points, I go back into full drafting mode. Sometimes I start back at square one, sometimes I just pick up where I left off. But my job at this point is to bust out a first draft. And I do mean bust out.

I'm not precious with words. I'm under no delusion that I'm the H.P. Lovecraft of Middle Grade fiction. A wordsmith, I am not. I'm not poetic. What I am is a complete moron, with a decent sense of story and a desire to write funny stuff. So that's what I do. I write the first draft as fast as I can. And my goal at the end of the first draft is the following: I want to finally know what this story is. My job during the first draft is to tell myself the story.

I almost always move on to one of my other projects after I finish my first draft. Sometimes I return to it the following week but in most cases, I bet I wait 2-4 weeks before I start the second draft. My job during the second draft is very simple. I want to make the story I told myself in draft one DOES NOT SUCK AFTER DRAFT TWO.

That's it. Make it NOT SUCK.

Draft two usually takes me longer than the first draft. My job isn't to bust this draft out. It's to pay more attention to the words, to the characters, to the flow, to reversals in plot, things like this. And hopefully, at the end of the second draft, I have something I'm reasonably happy with. I read the whole thing and think about what I need to do to start making this a good story. Doesn't usually take me long and I'm ready to proceed into draft three fairly quickly.

And when I start draft three, my job is very clear. I want the story to be good enough to send to an editor.

That's it. I have to really make the words count, I have to make this damn thing funny, I have to make the climax work, I have to have my character grow, I have to get something done. Third drafts have gone quickly for me and sometimes they have taken F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  But at the end of that third draft, I need to do something with this baby.

Now, in case you didn't know, I self-publish. And my business model is to publish a lot of good books. I'm not writing best sellers. Remember, I'm a complete moron. My job, as I see it, is to write good stories, fun stories, funny stories...and to write and publish lots of them. So after the third draft, I send it to a freelance copy editor. I make those copy edit changes, then I read the entire story again and make any last minute changes that I think need to happen.

Then I send it to a proofreader.

Then I publish.

That's how I do it and if someday, you want to be a complete moron like myself, you might just copy my process exactly. But I think, much more important, is to find the process that works for you.

Last thing, I also draw pictures. My latest book is for 7 and 8 year-olds and has tons of pictures. It's called The Big Life of Remi Muldoon and you can buy the ebook now by following this link.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Life-Remi-Muldoon-Hilarious-ebook/dp/B00XV1Q5YU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432303161&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+life+of+remi+muldoon

Best of luck and happy writing! Daniel Kenney

Dear MG Minded

Dear MG Minded Readers,
You've got questions?

We've got answers.

Send us your questions about Middle Grade. Whether it's reading, writing, recommendations, you name it! We're here to help. Send them our way and one of our awesome bloggers might answer them in an upcoming post.

So what are you waiting for? Send your deep burning questions to MGMinded@gmail.com and then check back on the blog for all those questions and answers!

Looking forward to seeing them.
The MG Minded Team

Dear MG Minded - On MG and Romance

Middle Grade Minded received a really interesting question in our inbox last week about middle grade and romance. It's a great topic to address for middle grade writers, so I decided to share the question and my response with all of you.

Dear MG Minded,
I'm really glad I found this group because I write MG and YA novels myself. Can you guys help me with a pressing question? My character is a fifteen year old girl. I made her fifteen because the story has a strong romantic subplot where she meets her first real boyfriend and gets a first kiss. I thought twelve was too young for that experience and thirteen and fourteen are in the dreaded tween range, which I'm told is hard to market. Still, a lot of people who read my novel think the MC comes across a lot younger, in the tween years. If I move her age down to twelve, can she still have romantic experiences and would any middle graders be interested in that?
Chuck

Chuck,

I’m glad you found us too! We always love to see more MG/YA writers in this community. As for your question, there’s no 100% straight forward answer, but there’s a couple of things you should consider.

The first thing is the age of your main character. Fifteen can sometimes also fall in the no man’s land in terms of age and fitting in to MG vs YA. Kids usually read up so the characters they read about are usually, but not always, older than they are. That said fifteen typically falls in lower YA territory. If your character is presenting as young, you could consider reworking her to sound more age appropriate at fifteen.

On the flip side, the other consideration is the appropriateness of romance in MG. Middle Grade is very much about discovery and figuring out where one fits into a group. It also has a lot of firsts, especially when you hit the upper middle grade where the main characters are typically twelve and yes, also thirteen. Upper middle grade often deals with those tween/middle school years, where kids are learning to navigate their lockers, their classes, their friends, and their first crushes. In upper middle grade crushes and innocent first kisses can happen.

So if your character does in fact present as a tween and is experiencing her first crush and first kiss, but not much beyond that I would say you are squarely falling in that upper middle grade range. Making her twelve or even thirteen shouldn’t make your book unmarketable. In fact, I had an agent once recommend that I make my main character thirteen and pitch it as upper middle grade. So the market is there for that.

That said, I’d be hesitant to go as far as calling it a full blown relationship even in upper middle grade. A little innocent romance is typically fine because kids are starting to feel that interest and those crushes. Do keep in mind, if the romantic subplot goes much beyond that point of the first crush/kiss stuff, you’re probably heading into YA territory. Romance beyond those innocent first couple of steps is fairly rare in middle grade. As long as you are sticking to that sense of innocence and firsts you should be okay in the upper middle grade realm.

Hopefully that helps as this can be a tough call.

Jamie

MG Minded

What do you guys think about MG and romance? How much is too much? Where is the line between romance in MG and romance in YA?

Thanks to Chuck for the question and allowing me to post it on the blog!

If you have a question you'd like MG Minded to answer please email MGMinded@gmail.com.

Cover Reveal! SOME KIND OF COURAGE by Dan Gemeinhart (that's me)

I'm so excited for this blog post.
We all know how important covers are. They are a reader's - or, a possible reader's, rather - first introduction to a book. Despite precautionary cliches to the contrary, most readers decide as soon as they look at a book's cover whether or not it's something they want to read. As an elementary teacher-librarian, I can assure you that middle grade readers are even more guilty of this than most. If a book's cover doesn't resonate with a kid, doesn't hook them or intrigue them or speak to them, it's almost a dead certainty that they will not check it out, regardless of how persuasively I try to sell them on the story. In some ways it's like shopping for a house; kids are looking for a story to move into for awhile, and they're pretty unwilling to look past a crumbling front porch, a broken window, or garish pink paint. Curb appeal matters.

Beyond selling a book, though, covers also really become a part of a book's identity. Permanently, more or less. I bet if you closed your eyes and thought of a few of your very favorite, most beloved books, you could probably picture their covers pretty darn clearly. Those covers are tied and tangled up with the stories now; the story is a book's heart, but the cover is it's face.

So, as a writer, covers feel pretty high stakes. It's the face of your baby. It's the visual identity of something you spent years of your life and gallons of your passion on. Seeing your book's cover - with oh my goodness YOUR NAME on it - is a beautiful, breathless moment. You can only hope it's a good one. A cover that readers will love. A cover that you will fall in love with.

I've been so lucky. My debut novel, THE HONEST TRUTH, came out from Scholastic Press this past January. The cover was designed by Nina Goffi, and from day one I absolutely loved it. I felt - and still feel - that she really "got" the book and managed to put it's very essence right there in the simple, stark images of the cover. A year in, and I'm still madly in love with it.

So I was thrilled when I heard that Scholastic was having Nina Goffi do the cover for my second book, SOME KIND OF COURAGE, which will come out January 26th, 2016. It's historical fiction, set in Washington state in the year 1890. It's about Joseph, a boy orphaned on the journey west. All that he has left of his life and his family and his past - of himself, really - is his horse, Sarah. When she gets sold away to a traveling horse trader, Joseph vows to follow her through all the perils of the wild frontier as far and as long as it takes to get her back.

It is not a sequel to THE HONEST TRUTH, but like that book it's an adventure story with heart and emotion. It's about family, and friendship, and home, and loss, and belonging. It's about doing whatever it takes to be with the one you love. I love this story...I love its characters, I love its setting, I love its beating heart and its racing pulse. So I really wanted to love its cover.
And I do. Boy, do I.
Here it is:

Oh, man. I love how it has enough in common with THE HONEST TRUTH - the font, the style, the simple color scheme - to clearly be connected to it, but is also different and distinct enough to clearly be its own book, its own story. I love the colors. I love the boy, alone but with his eyes on the horse that he loves. I love the presence of the setting, made clear without getting in the way or taking over. I love how she included the stars and the river - both thematic elements of the story that will mean more to a reader once they've finished reading and close the book to look back at this beautiful cover. 

I could not be happier with this cover. I feel so lucky to be with Scholastic, and so lucky that both of my books have been so beautifully handled by Nina Goffi. I can't wait for it to be out there in the world. 

I'm so happy that this cover will be readers' first introduction to my book, so grateful that this cover will be tied and tangled up with my story in their hearts.