I’m on day three now of the first rewrite of The Shoestring Proposal (adult novel for 2012 – working title), and it was all going along nicely until I hit a major plot hiccup and had to start all over again.
I’m trying to focus on the overall structure of the story this time but it’s very tempting to tweak at the dialogue and the sentences too. I’ve gone over the first six chapters about five times now and it’s time to let go and move on to the next section of the book. I’ll come back to the first section again later and then start the whole process all over again!
But rewriting is an interesting process. To give you some idea of what I’m up to, below is a short section of a scene from near the opening of the book, with notes (in italics) as to why I’ve added or changed things.
Read it if it interests you. I’ve given you both the original version and the new version.
But first – Other things I’m working on during the rewrite – some of these are minor, some are big:
Changing the name of a secondary character…
I’m on day three now of the first rewrite of The Shoestring Proposal (adult novel for 2012 – working title), and it was all going along nicely until I hit a major plot hiccup and had to start all over again.
I’m trying to focus on the overall structure of the story this time but it’s very tempting to tweak at the dialogue and the sentences too. I’ve gone over the first six chapters about five times now and it’s time to let go and move on to the next section of the book. I’ll come back to the first section again later and then start the whole process all over again!
But rewriting is an interesting process. To give you some idea of what I’m up to, below is a short section of a scene from near the opening of the book, with notes (in italics) as to why I’ve added or changed things.
Read it if it interests you. I’ve given you both the original version and the new version.
But first – Other things I’m working on during the rewrite – some of these are minor, some are big:
Changing the name of a secondary character from Rebecca to Jessica – I had a Rachel and a Rebecca – mother and daughter, and I was getting confused as to who was who – so I’m sure a tired reader might confuse them also.
Making my main characters – Jules and Pandora – stand out more. Adding lots of detail – clothes, mannerisms, giving them each a very particular way of speaking. A lot of this was in the first draft, but it wasn’t consistent enough. It needs to be perfect.
Making sure I’ve got all the continuity correct – Pandora was 14 when her mum died, Jules, nine; birthdays; childhoods. Is this all consistent throughout the book?
Upping the drama – making the reader FEEL is vitally important in popular fiction. Have I made the most of each and every scene?
Fact checking – lots of fact checking. I need to talk to a medic for a start – luckily I have a friend who’s a surgeon who will be able to help me. All the facts need to be 100% accurate.
Adding a rabbit (don’t ask).
Making Pandora’s meltdown BIGGER.
Putting in two new scenes – taking out other scenes, ones I know are not working.
And that’s just for starters – once my agent and my editor get their hands on it, the work really begins! Fun, fun, fun. But all part of every writer’s life.
At the end of the day, the more work you put into a book, the more love and passion and enthusiasm your pour into the pages, the better it will be.
The Shoestring Proposal (First Draft)
Old version: (Bits in talics are my notes)
I knew I’d get a mixed reaction when I first suggested the trip to Paris.
(I deleted this line as I want the Paris bit to come as a surprise to the reader.)
I’m standing behind the till at Shoestring, the second hand designer shop I run, along with my sister, Jules, and Bird, our spritely eighty-four-year-old granny. It’s a quiet day and Jules has wandered over for a chat.
(all a bit bla – needed more of a sense of who Jules and Pandora actually are – and I haven’t actually given Pandora a name – I want the reader to know her name early on as she’s the narrator)
‘Have you thought any more about your birthday present?’ she says without preamble, leaning over and plonking her elbows down on the desk. ‘How about hand-made leather gloves? There’s little place in town that makes them to measure and you can choose the leather and the lining. I know you like practical presents and it’s something a bit different. I’m not giving you a voucher again, not for your thirtieth.’
It’s now or never, I decide.
‘I’d much prefer a weekend away, Jules,’ I say, trying to keep my voice light. ‘How about Paris?’
She twists around and stares at me. ‘Paris? Are you sure?’
She has every right to be surprised. I’d spent three months studying at the Paris Institute of Fashion and Design in Montmartre in my early twenties and I’d come home with a lot more than notebooks jammed with dress ideas, and conversational French.
OK problem here – Paris is a big deal – Pandora left Paris in a hurry and has never been back – so wanting to go there for her 30th is a HUGE deal – which isn’t clear her – and also would stop the conversation – it wouldn’t just be – Paris . . . Jules in shock . . . then back to the previous conversation – wrong, wrong, wrong!
I nod. ‘I’d prefer to be out of the country when I turn thirty. That way I can pretend it isn’t really happening. Thirty’s so ancient. I can feel the crow’s feet coming on already.’ My hands flutter to the outer edges of her eyes and I start rotating the skin gently under my finger tips.
New version:
(Second draft – and still a long way to go yet!)
I’m sitting behind the till at Shoestring, the second hand designer clothes shop I run, peering at the computer screen when my sister, Jules wanders in the front door pushing her road bike in front of her with one hand. She’s only ten minutes late which isn’t bad for her.
My mind’s all over the place this morning; I’m supposed to be updating our website before the shop floor starts to get too busy – adding new stock and taking down anything we’ve sold – but I’m finding it desperately hard to concentrate, so I’m glad for the distraction.
‘Hey, Pandora, have you thought any more about your birthday present?’ she says without preamble, propping her bike against the desk, swinging her bag off her shoulder and dumping it the floor, and then leaning over and plonking her elbows down on the desk, making the bracelets on her wrist jangle down her arm. She’s wearing a very odd-looking outfit today – nothing new for Jules – red knitted leggings, yellow cut-off denim shorts and a purple bat-winged top.
‘I had an idea on the way over,’ she continues, oblivious to either my stares at her get up or the fact that she’s late for work. ‘How about hand-made leather gloves? There’s little place in town that makes them to measure and you can choose the leather and the lining. I know you like practical presents and it’s something a bit different. I’m not giving you a voucher again, not for your thirtieth.’
I’ve been mulling over how to work my birthday into a conversation for a good week and now that Jules has given me the opening, I may as well get it out there.
Trying to sound as breezy as possible I say ‘I’d much prefer a weekend away than a present, Jules. A city break maybe. I’d like to be out of the country when I turn thirty. That way I can pretend it isn’t really happening. Thirty’s so bloody ancient. I can feel the crow’s feet coming on already.’ I start to rotate the skin at the corner of my eyes gently under my finger tips. ‘You have to massage your face several times a day, apparently,’ I add, trying to make my ageing-concern believable. ‘And do special exercises.’
It still isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it was. Several more rewrites and I might actually be brave enough to show it to my agent. Maybe . . .
Right, back to work.
Yours in writing,
Sarah XXX
And So I Come to the Final Day
I’m procrastinating. My book – The Shoestring Proposal (working title – The Shoestring Club is book 1, this is Shoestring book 2) – is one chapter away from completion. Yes, it’s only the first draft and a fairly loose one at that. Half way through writing it I changed all kinds of things: the name of one character, another character’s motivation, the age of a child. So it’s all up for grabs in the second draft.
After writing the book solidly since Thursday 3rd February (I keep a writing diary with daily output including a word count – it’s a way of staying motivated and it’s really interesting to read back over the entries too) I know exactly what I want the book to be, what I’m trying to say on the pages, how I want the reader to feel while reading it. I just have to re-write it now and craft it into the best novel it can be, the closest I can get to my vision of the book.
I love the rewrite stage. I love tinkering with scenes, making them stronger, cutting away the fat, leaving…
And So I Come to the Final Day
I’m procrastinating. My book – The Shoestring Proposal (working title – The Shoestring Club is book 1, this is Shoestring book 2) – is one chapter away from completion. Yes, it’s only the first draft and a fairly loose one at that. Half way through writing it I changed all kinds of things: the name of one character, another character’s motivation, the age of a child. So it’s all up for grabs in the second draft.
After writing the book solidly since Thursday 3rd February (I keep a writing diary with daily output including a word count – it’s a way of staying motivated and it’s really interesting to read back over the entries too) I know exactly what I want the book to be, what I’m trying to say on the pages, how I want the reader to feel while reading it. I just have to re-write it now and craft it into the best novel it can be, the closest I can get to my vision of the book.
I love the rewrite stage. I love tinkering with scenes, making them stronger, cutting away the fat, leaving the good, lean stuff, the muscle if you like. Tightening the dialogue, making the characters BIGGER. Making sure each person’s dialogue is distinctive. It’s an exciting stage of the writing process and one that isn’t (as far as I know) taught in schools, which is a shame. The re-writing habit should start early.
A few weeks ago I was corresponding with a writer who wants desperately to be published. I asked her how long it took her to write her book. Nineteen days she said. I was impressed and slightly taken aback. She must have been going at it full tilt.
‘And the re-writes?’ I asked.
She seemed puzzled for a second. ‘The editing you mean?’ she said. ‘Oh, they’ll do that at the publishing house. I don’t have time for all that.’
I was about to explain how you might only get one shot to impress an editor or an agent etc etc, but I kept my mouth shut. She’s clearly a very busy woman!
Next week is the West Cork Literary Festival and I’m speaking to young readers about the Ask Amy Green books and also hosting a workshop, again for young readers. After that, my holiday proper begins. Two weeks to read, eat, sail, swim and read. Did I mention the reading? Monday’s post is all about the books I’m taking with me. After that, in August, I’m back on Ask Amy Green duty, writing book 5. I can’t wait! It’s all about a young Irish ballerina and is set in Dublin and Budapest. See – my job is so much fun!
Then, when I’ve written the first draft, it’s back to The Shoestring Proposal. I’ll read over the manuscript in hard copy, make copious notes and start rewriting, by hand in notebooks and also directly onto my laptop (shell pink Sony in case anyone’s interested). It won’t go near my agent or editor until I’ve done at least three rewrites. Then – probably half way through this process – my Ask Amy Green editorial notes will wing their way back to me and I’ll get stuck in to them quickly as that book is out next year. Shoestring 2 won’t be published until 2013. Phew!
But look at me now, still procrastinating. I’m due at the page but the honest truth is I don’t want to finish this book. I’ve had so much fun writing it. Typing The End means saying goodbye to Pandora and Jules and Iris and Bird and all the characters I’ve had so much fun writing about over the last 2 years. God knows what I’ll be like saying goodbye to Amy and Clover after 5 years! But such is the writing life. And it’s a good one.
Yours in writing,
Sarah XXX
PS Look out for the shiny new sarahwebb.ie website in September – it’s only beautiful!
PPS My book is now finished – yes! *sniff, sniff*
More on Titles
On March 14, 2011 · In Children's Books, Editing, Getting Published, This Writer's Life, Writing a Series
The title for the next Ask Amy Green book – book 4 in the series – has recently changed from Party Drama-rama to Love and Other Drama-ramas. And it was difficult enough to find a new title.
The story changed quite a bit at editorial stage, so the old title didn’t really fit anymore. Originally Sylvie’s hen party (Amy’s mum) was a big part of the book, but now it plays a less important role. So ‘party’ didn’t work. Back to the drawing board.
The book is mainly about a boy called Bailey Otis who is Mills’s new boyfriend in the first few chapters, but (spoiler alert!) something happens and he changes utterly and lets her down.
So it’s about family ties, boys, the nature of friendship, and loss. Here are some of the titles I came up with:
Friends and Other Drama-ramas (from the start we were all keen on the word drama-rama)
Double Drama-ramas
Dublin Drama-rama
The Friendship Drama-rama
Dates and Other Drama-ramas
Disaster/Dizzying Dilemma (and a lot of other d words!)
Double Dilemma
Friends and Frenemies
Boys and Other Drama-ramas
But none of them were quite right. So…
The title for the next Ask Amy Green book – book 4 in the series – has recently changed from Party Drama-rama to Love and Other Drama-ramas. And it was difficult enough to find a new title.
The story changed quite a bit at editorial stage, so the old title didn’t really fit anymore. Originally Sylvie’s hen party (Amy’s mum) was a big part of the book, but now it plays a less important role. So ‘party’ didn’t work. Back to the drawing board.
The book is mainly about a boy called Bailey Otis who is Mills’s new boyfriend in the first few chapters, but (spoiler alert!) something happens and he changes utterly and lets her down.
So it’s about family ties, boys, the nature of friendship, and loss. Here are some of the titles I came up with:
Friends and Other Drama-ramas (from the start we were all keen on the word drama-rama)
Double Drama-ramas
Dublin Drama-rama
The Friendship Drama-rama
Dates and Other Drama-ramas
Disaster/Dizzying Dilemma (and a lot of other d words!)
Double Dilemma
Friends and Frenemies
Boys and Other Drama-ramas
But none of them were quite right. So then my lovely editor, Annalie came up with Love and Other Drama-ramas. And I breathed a sigh of relief. It just seemed . . . right. The book is – at its heart – about love and all the drama that goes with it. The search was over.
Some titles come easily. From the very start the first Amy Green was Boy Trouble, simple. The next one – Summer Secrets – again, easy. Although the word ‘Summer’ can be a tricky one as sometimes bookshops won’t stock ‘summer’ books in the depths of winter. A discussion for another day. And Bridesmaid Blitz – again easy!
Books 5 and 6 are (at the moment) called Dancing Daze and Wedding Belles. But book 4 was always a sticky one for some reason. Sometimes titles are just difficult. Doesn’t mean the book isn’t brilliant of course. And I ADORE Amy 4. Hope my readers will do. It’s out in September so we’ll have to wait and see. With a brand new cover look for all the titles.
I think the best titles are simple, catchy, easy to remember and either sum up the book perfectly or give a taste or a mood of the book.
My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece is a recent example of a memorable title. It’s about a teenage who literally lives on the mantelpiece – in a jar – as she was blown up by terrorists. No, not subtle, but very, very strong image don’t you think?
Wuthering Tights – another good one.
Billionaire Boy – simple yet effective.
Names work well – especially unusual, funny or odd names – Skulduggery Pleasant, Judy Moody, Coraline. Alliteration can also work well – Bridesmaid Blitz.
For romantic comedy, song titles or well known sayings can be good – Always the Bridesmaid, The Loving Kind (yep, I borrowed them both!). My latest adult one (out next spring) is called The Shoestring Club. It’s about two sisters who run a second hand designer shop called Shoestring (designer clothes on a shoestring is their slogan). It’s simple and I think it works.
Above all, make your title interesting and make it say something about the book. The one title I’m not all that keen on of my own titles is Some Kind of Wonderful. It doesn’t really say anything about the book. I should have put more thought into it to be honest.
So do think carefully about your title, it’s important. And if you’re having problems coming up with something good, ask for help. Sometimes us writers are too close to our own work to see the wood for the trees.
Good luck with finding the right title for your own book.
Yours in writing,
Sarah XXX
Tagged with: titles
Remember the days of gr8 and l8r? Thinking of using them in your YA novel to make your teens ‘cool’ and ‘hip’. Think again! These days a lot of teens have iphones, along with predictive text, and they’ve gone back to using complete sentences. Using l8r will date your writing.
Other things date writing too – brand names that are popular at a particular moment in time, bands, magazines, radio shows, movies.
Looking back through my first Amy Green, I realise now that I should have used a fictional social networking site instead of Bebo. Most teens have shifted to Facebook these days, and in the US Bebo is practically unknown.
I also included Irish band, The Script, mainly because it’s one of my teen editor’s favourite bands (and she’s fab!). And luckily three years on The Script and still going strong. Along with the X Factor and other ‘brands’ I mentioned.
But in the latest book, Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct), I took care not to mention any brands at all unless they were ones with ‘sticking power’, or are widely recognised, like Coke or X Factor. In the books I now have made up…
Remember the days of gr8 and l8r? Thinking of using them in your YA novel to make your teens ‘cool’ and ‘hip’. Think again! These days a lot of teens have iphones, along with predictive text, and they’ve gone back to using complete sentences. Using l8r will date your writing.
Other things date writing too – brand names that are popular at a particular moment in time, bands, magazines, radio shows, movies.
Looking back through my first Amy Green, I realise now that I should have used a fictional social networking site instead of Bebo. Most teens have shifted to Facebook these days, and in the US Bebo is practically unknown.
I also included Irish band, The Script, mainly because it’s one of my teen editor’s favourite bands (and she’s fab!). And luckily three years on The Script and still going strong. Along with the X Factor and other ‘brands’ I mentioned.
But in the latest book, Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct), I took care not to mention any brands at all unless they were ones with ‘sticking power’, or are widely recognised, like Coke or X Factor. In the books I now have made up telly shows instead of real ones, and fictional bands like The Golden Lions and The Colts (these were also in books 1 and 2).
However I continued with the D4s (who are the mean girls in Amy Green), the Crombies (boys who wear designer gear and play rugby), the Emos and the Goths, as these all play an integral part in Amy Green’s life and hopefully will be around for a while to come.
In the adult book I’m currently writing, set in a second hand designer shop, I have lots of fictional labels – Faith Farenze, Maeve Fabien – and I’m delighted to report that my agent thought they actually existed, which means they must seem authentic. I have also used some real labels with sticking power – Gucci, Prada, Chanel.
So, are you dating your work? Have a look and see.
Yours in writing,
Sarah XXX
HI All,
This might be of interest – I wrote it for the National Guide to 3rd Level Colleges – and I whipped it up pretty quickly! Books to be written, don’t you know! Actually 2 of them!!!
Here you go:
The Life of a Full Time Writer
By Sarah Webb
I have been writing full time for nearly eight years now, both adult novels and children’s books. I have three kinds of days – writing days, event days, and publisher/agent days. Most weeks I have four writing days and one event day. This might be a school visit where I talk to the children and/or give a writing workshop, a library visit or a book festival – often on a Saturday or Sunday. Once every two months or so I also have a publisher/agent day where I travel to London to meet with one of my publishers and/or my agent, or attend a party or launch. That’s is the glam bit!
I did absolutely no creative writing in college (OK maybe I wasn’t supposed to say that in a guide for colleges – oops – but it’s true!), but I did study English and read until…
HI All,
This might be of interest – I wrote it for the National Guide to 3rd Level Colleges – and I whipped it up pretty quickly! Books to be written, don’t you know! Actually 2 of them!!!
Here you go:
The Life of a Full Time Writer
By Sarah Webb
I have been writing full time for nearly eight years now, both adult novels and children’s books. I have three kinds of days – writing days, event days, and publisher/agent days. Most weeks I have four writing days and one event day. This might be a school visit where I talk to the children and/or give a writing workshop, a library visit or a book festival – often on a Saturday or Sunday. Once every two months or so I also have a publisher/agent day where I travel to London to meet with one of my publishers and/or my agent, or attend a party or launch. That’s is the glam bit!
I did absolutely no creative writing in college (OK maybe I wasn’t supposed to say that in a guide for colleges – oops – but it’s true!), but I did study English and read until my eyes fell out of my head, a great asset to any writer. After college I worked in several bookshops, including Eason and Waterstone’s, along with fellow writers John Boyne and Paul Murray.
There are less than twenty full time children’s writers and/or illustrators in Ireland and it’s not easy to make a living from writing for children. Saying that, many Irish writers have done exceptionally well worldwide, from Eoin Colfer (Artmis Fowl), to Darren Shan (horror), Michael Scott (fantasy-adventure), Derek Landy (Skulduggery Pleasant), Oliver Jeffers (picture books) and P J Lynch (illustrations). As well as the Ask Amy Green series for age 10+ (Walker Books and Candlewick US), I also write early readers for O’Brien Press, and adult novels for Pan Macmillan.
My adult novels are popular fiction, with plenty of dialogue and family and relationship dramas. I write to entertain and inform, and I greatly enjoy inventing characters and plots. My latest book, The Loving Kind, deals with plastic surgery, errant boyfriends, loyalty, and revenge. Ireland has an exceptional record when it comes to women’s popular fiction – with Maeve Binchy, Marian Keyes, Cecelia Ahern, Cathy Kelly and Sheila O’Flanagan – all huge worldwide. There are also newer names on the scene – Amy Huberman, Sinead Moriarty and Niamh Greene. There is always a market for good popular fiction but your voice and your style have to be original.
I start my writing day with a walk. Then I settle down at my desk and write from 9.30 until 1.30. After lunch I will edit what I have written, answer emails, write things for my website, do newspaper interviews or other media requests, answer readers’ emails etc. I also work three or four evenings a week – writing my two blogs, answering more readers’ letters, keeping up with my readers on my Facebook page, writing children’s book reviews for the Irish Independent and Inis magazine, and doing other admin work.
A lot of writing is actually re-writing, working on a book until you get it right. Each book goes through many, many different drafts before it is complete. And it can be hard graft. But when you’ve had a good writing day, when your characters really come to life on the page and pull the story along in a direction you never anticipated, then it’s all worth it.
Sarah Webb is the author of the Ask Amy Green series for age 10+, published by Walker Books, UK, Candlewick Books, US, and other international publishers. Her first early reader, Emma the Penguin has recently been published by O’Brien Press.
She also writes romantic comedy for adults and her tenth novel, The Shoestring Club, will be published in 2012.
She loves encouraging new, unpublished writers, and is a regular speaker at the Inkwell writing workshops and courses.
For more information see: www.sarahwebb.ie or www.askamygreen.com
Word counts – I’ll get straight into it, starting with books for grown ups. Popular fiction in particular.
My first book, Three Times a Lady was roughly 100,000 words. Here’s how I worked out the word count – I literally counted the words in a Cathy Kelly book, a Sheila O’Flanagan book and a Marian Keyes book and figured that 90 to 120k was about right! This was in 2000. (When I say counted – I counted the number of words on one page and multiplied it by the number of total pages – I’m not a complete lunatic! But you knew that, right? Someone in a writing class I once taught thought I was suggesting they count every word – honestly!)
Some of my other books have been shorter – 85k, 86k, some longer. 126,000 is the longest – When the Boys Were Away. That year publishers were looking for longer books and my story luckily just naturally longer.
I have a feeling the next adult book will be shorter. It’s for a slightly younger age group – older teens, 20s, early 30s – and so far the story just seems to be zipping along and not getting sidetracked…
Word counts – I’ll get straight into it, starting with books for grown ups. Popular fiction in particular.
My first book, Three Times a Lady was roughly 100,000 words. Here’s how I worked out the word count – I literally counted the words in a Cathy Kelly book, a Sheila O’Flanagan book and a Marian Keyes book and figured that 90 to 120k was about right! This was in 2000. (When I say counted – I counted the number of words on one page and multiplied it by the number of total pages – I’m not a complete lunatic! But you knew that, right? Someone in a writing class I once taught thought I was suggesting they count every word – honestly!)
Some of my other books have been shorter – 85k, 86k, some longer. 126,000 is the longest – When the Boys Were Away. That year publishers were looking for longer books and my story luckily just naturally longer.
I have a feeling the next adult book will be shorter. It’s for a slightly younger age group – older teens, 20s, early 30s – and so far the story just seems to be zipping along and not getting sidetracked by sub plots, which can stretch a book out. So I’d say 80 to 90k.
I’ve asked a few of my friends who write popular fiction and they are mainly in the 90k to 110k category.
Children’s books are a little more complicated. I am constantly asked how many words should a children’s book actually be?
Now, this is a rather vague question. So I ask ‘What kind of children’s book?’ And they say ‘Oh, you know, a novel. Anyone would love it. I’d say age 6 to 80.’ My heart always sinks at this, as it means the writer hasn’t grasped one of the fundamentals of writing for children – and this is that you must know your audience.
Children of 6 do not read the same books as teenagers of 14. And yes, of course there are rare ‘crossover’ books like Harry Potter or The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, but in general different age groups have different tastes. And their stories need different word counts.
Knowing you audience and their needs is an interesting one – I’ll make a note to come back to it at a later stage. But for now – word count.
These are very much just guidelines, oh writerly ones!
Picture books are short generally, people, SHORT. Read some picture books, count the words and get a feel for it. Usually less than 400 or 500 words.
Early readers are also SHORT. My Emma the Penguin book in the O’Brien Panda series is 800 words long, and, I hope, not a word out of place. Most publishers will tell you what word count they need for their early reading series – contact then and ask. Just ring O’Brien Press – 01 – 492333 (Dublin) and ask them. They are very helpful. I’m not sure what they are taking on at the moment, but again, that’s useful to know too – again, just ask them. Friendly folk, the O’Brien gang.
Novels for age 8/9/10 – 30,000/35,000 is the norm. Of course some books are longer than that (Yes, yes, you don’t need to mention Harry Potter), but if they are going to be must longer they need to be pretty darned good.
Novels for age 10+ – my Ask Amy Green books are usually around 50,000 words which is quite long for this age group I am told. Judi Curtin’s are about 30,000, Cathy Cassidy’s about 30 to 40,000. But Amy just has a lot to say I guess!
Older teens – less than 60/70,000 would be the norm. But fantasy books do tend to be longer.
The best thing to do is always – ALWAYS – to read a hell of a lot of books in the age group and the genre you intend to write for. Get a really good feel for it and then with that in mind, write your own book. Won’t you get influenced by other people’s work? It’s a risk worth taking. If you are influenced by excellent children’s books – and note I said influenced, by which I mean inspired, I am not suggesting you write ‘like’ anyone else but yourself – surely this is a good thing as long as you stay true to your own voice and your characters and plot are wholly original.
Below I’ve posted a section from the blog of American literary agent, Mary Kole who has some darned good advice and comments on word count on www.kidlit.com – check it out.
She points out that these are just estimates gathered from her (wide) experience. And they relate to the American market in particular, but are also useful for the UK/Irish market:
Word counts –
• Board Book — 100 words max
• Early Picturebook — 500 words max
• Picturebook — 1,000 words max (Seriously. Max.)
• Nonfiction Picturebook — 2,000 words max
• Early Reader — This varies widely, depending on grade level. I’d say 3,500 words is an absolute max.
• Chapterbook — 10,000 words max
• Middle Grade — 35,000 words max for contemporary, mystery, humor, 45,000 max for fantasy/sci-fi, adventure and historical
• YA — 70,000 words max for contemporary, humor, mystery, historical, romance, etc. 90,000 words max for fantasy, sci-fi, paranormal, etc.
And here’s more useful stuff from Mary:
Now for the more practical, everyday truth. Personally — and this sounds extremely crass and judgmental of me, I know — the lower your word count, the more I like you, right off the bat. For example, right now, I’ve got about 150 queries and 8 manuscripts in my queue. And that’s from, like, the last couple of days. That’s a lot of words for me to read. When I get a query for anything over 80k words that sounds really cool, I groan a little bit inside. It’s not the word count, per se, because, if something sounds cool, I really do get excited to read it. It’s that I have so many other submissions on my plate, so I half-dread loving it a lot and having to read all those 80k words. And if I take it on, I’ll have to read those 80k words over and over again as we revise. It represents a big time commitment. I realize this is arbitrary and perhaps lazy of me but… welcome to the world of a very busy agent. Sometimes, we have these thoughts.
There are times, though, (and these are the rule, not the exception, I find) when an inflated word count isn’t earned, isn’t awesome, isn’t because every word deserves to be there. I usually find that first-time fantasy, paranormal or sci-fi authors are the worst offenders. They craft a redundant manuscript full of lavish description that moves at a snail’s pace. Then they send it to me and proudly say that there are 155k words and that it’s the first in a trilogy. I read the writing sample and see paragraph after paragraph of dense text with no breaks for dialogue or scene. These are the high word count manuscripts that are problematic. Because, clearly, the author hasn’t revised enough. And if I tell them what really needs to happen — that they need to lose about 50% of their words — they’ll have an aneurysm.
But, truthfully, if your word count is anything over 100k in children’s, it better be higher-than-high YA fantasy. And all those words better be good. Cutting words and scenes and “killing your babies,” as I like to put it, is one of the most hard-won revision skills any writer can have. And it usually comes after you’ve done lots and lots and lots of revision in your life. Many debut authors haven’t yet learned how to make — and enjoy — this type of word sacrifice. It shows.
Interesting, honest stuff! I’ll be keeping an eye on Mary’s blog from now on!
Yours in writing,
Sarah X
Word count of this blog – 1, 318!
Tagged with: word count
I’m just taking a short breaking from working through the line edits for Amy Green, Bridesmaid Blitz which will be out in October. The timing’s pretty tight so I’m trying to devote as many hours to them as I possibly can, day and night.
Line edits come after the structural edit (sometimes there can be more than one of these if the editor has encountered lots of things they’d like to see changed or worked through) and accompanying author’s re-write. It’s when the editor (or sometimes a different editor) goes through each line of the book, making notes and suggesting changes; some small, like changing a word or adding a line, some bigger, like moving a scene, or checking a character’s motivation rings true.
It’s a vital part of your book’s progression from manuscript to finished bound book, and it’s important to put everything you can into it. By the end of the editing process you should a/ know every chapter practically off by heart and b/ be ready to let your work go, knowing you’ve done all you can to make it the best book possible.
And yes, you can get more than a little sick of…
I’m just taking a short breaking from working through the line edits for Amy Green, Bridesmaid Blitz which will be out in October. The timing’s pretty tight so I’m trying to devote as many hours to them as I possibly can, day and night.
Line edits come after the structural edit (sometimes there can be more than one of these if the editor has encountered lots of things they’d like to see changed or worked through) and accompanying author’s re-write. It’s when the editor (or sometimes a different editor) goes through each line of the book, making notes and suggesting changes; some small, like changing a word or adding a line, some bigger, like moving a scene, or checking a character’s motivation rings true.
It’s a vital part of your book’s progression from manuscript to finished bound book, and it’s important to put everything you can into it. By the end of the editing process you should a/ know every chapter practically off by heart and b/ be ready to let your work go, knowing you’ve done all you can to make it the best book possible.
And yes, you can get more than a little sick of your own book by the end of things, that’s kind of normal. It drives you on to write the next book and start the whole process all over again. Like childbirth, you forget the hard bits and keep writing regardless.
There are several issues that are reoccurring throughout my Amy Green book, which is now in its fifth draft. The main one is my ‘beats’ or lack of. ‘Beats’ are (and I’m quoting a book on editing here by Renni Browne and Dave King) bits of action interspersed through a scene, such as a character walking to a window or removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes – the literary equivalent of what is know as theatre as ‘stage business’.’
So there you have it – ‘beats’. Bits that spice up the dialogue, and often, make sense of what’s happening when characters are talking.
My problem – this is book 3 in the series. I now know my characters so well that the action unfolds right in front of my eyes. But I have to keep remembering that my readers don’t know my characters the way I do. They may need some nudges in the right direction. They won’t know Amy is staring at her feet and mumbling unless I say or show she is.
But too many ‘beats’ and the dialogue starts to sound stilted and unnatural. It’s a difficult balance.
‘Beats’ – good word, isn’t it? Better get back to the line edit – it won’t wait!
Yours in writing,
Sarah X
A Word on Editing
Humble apologies for the lack of posts recently. What with Easter and friends visiting, it’s been pretty hectic the last few weeks. At the moment I’m working away on the edits of the third Amy Green book – Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct). I had an email from my editor today and I’d like to share it with you as it’s lovely.
Writers work away in this funny vacuum, not knowing if what they are producing is hitting the mark. I am very lucky to have two editors in Walker Books, both of whom really know their stuff. After a pretty stiff and thorough rewrite – after a very frank editorial meeting in London with both of them – I submitted Amy Green 3 mark 2 nervously, hoping they would like what I’d done.
I’d hacked the middle out of the book. It was veering away from Amy’s story and I had to bring it back and the only way I could do this was to rewrite a good chunk of the main plot. So I got rid of about 1/3 of the book (about 17,000 words) and created lots of new scenes.
There were a…
A Word on Editing
Humble apologies for the lack of posts recently. What with Easter and friends visiting, it’s been pretty hectic the last few weeks. At the moment I’m working away on the edits of the third Amy Green book – Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct). I had an email from my editor today and I’d like to share it with you as it’s lovely.
Writers work away in this funny vacuum, not knowing if what they are producing is hitting the mark. I am very lucky to have two editors in Walker Books, both of whom really know their stuff. After a pretty stiff and thorough rewrite – after a very frank editorial meeting in London with both of them – I submitted Amy Green 3 mark 2 nervously, hoping they would like what I’d done.
I’d hacked the middle out of the book. It was veering away from Amy’s story and I had to bring it back and the only way I could do this was to rewrite a good chunk of the main plot. So I got rid of about 1/3 of the book (about 17,000 words) and created lots of new scenes.
There were a lot of different subplots in the original draft and I got rid of several of these – including a school production of Grease that I was rather fond of – but by tearing them out, gave the main story (Amy’s story) room to breathe.
Luckily my editors liked what I’d done. However there are still three reasonably big plot problems/blips that I now have to iron out.
In the editorial letter (I didn’t get one for the 1st rewrite as there was so much to do!), my editor has broken it down into sections – bless – to make things easy for me.
I have to 1/ build up the Seth/Polly subplot – which I’ve just done.
2/ Work on a particular agony aunt letter that doesn’t quite click.
And 3/ work on Amy’s relationship with – look away if you’re an Amy Green fan, plot spoiler coming up – relationship with her new baby sister, Grace.
I spent this week working on the Seth/Polly subplot – researching breast cancer, treatment, drugs and clinical trials. Then I wrote new scenes using the research. But here’s the thing: I had no idea whether I’d overwritten the scenes (they are pretty sad – but cancer in all its forms is hardly a walk in the park!), used too much or not enough technical information; whether they held the reader’s attention or if they were too slow moving. I’m always aware that young readers have a hell of a lot of other demands on their time and, above all, I aim to hold their interest.
So I sent the new chapters to my editor for some feedback – and here’s a snippet of the email she sent me:
Wow! These new chapters are absolutely brilliant! I love them. There is so much emotion in there, and all the facts about the cancer/drug trial etc are really interesting – you’ve gone into just the right level of detail. It all feels so much more real now. Never mind Amy, I feel like Niagara Falls! (Amy cries a lot in the chapters)
Right, I’m off to mop up my mascara!
It made my week!
I’m lucky to have editors who care about my writing and who really get what I’m trying to do. I’m truly blessed. To the gods of writing up there, I thank you for bringing us together.
I wish you all such kind and thoughtful editors.
Yours in writing,
SarahX
Tagged with: Editing
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