It’s November so that means a lot of y’all are trying to write an absolutely bananas number of words over the next few weeks. Remember to drink water, take naps, and go outside. It recharges the think meats with the proper humors for creative work.
I’m starting an open thread for November. Ask me craft questions, process stuff, or even just for a pep talk!
How do you know when your shit is good? I think I’ve got some good work, but it usually gets torn apart by editors and beta readers. How do you know the difference between a a compelling story and getting high on your own farts?
Any advice on how to read for critique quickly? I've swapped NaNo outlines with CPs and would like to return them quickly, but it always takes me hours just to read and critique a small section - 10 pages in an hour is a really good session; sometimes it's half that if I have a bunch to say on a page. That's a lot of hours for a full MS! I'm not even reading for grammar/line edits; it just seems to be the speed my brain goes at when critically processing what it's reading. I'd love any tips to improve my speed or work more efficiently. I figure as an agent you must have a good system in place! :) Thanks for taking questions!
How do you know when to give up on revising something?
I finished my first novel draft this summer, and as I've revised and gotten feedback I've realized that I wrote it from a really anxious/self-doubting place. I was trying to be clever and follow the rules more than I was trying to write something that works.
Is it worth it to keep working on it throughout NaNo, as a way to hone my revising skills? Or is it cool to shelve it for now and draft something new, now that I know I can actually write+finish a full work?
Hi! This thread is great, love reading your answers to other people's questions. Thank you for your hard work! I have one great doubt (right now): what's an appropiate scene lenght? Does it depend on the author? the style? the type of event you're describing? the mood you want to convey? According to google results my scenes are too short (usually around 500 to 1000 words, when apparently the norm is 1000-2000). I'm rewritting my first finished manuscript so now it's driving me crazy! Is it intrinsically wrong that they are short or does it really depends on [variety of motives]? Main thing that keeps me up is that I read that "character driven" stories need longer scenes and mine is a character driven story so.... oh no!? Lol! Thank you for your input on the matter!
Thanks so much for doing this! Do you have any recommendations of books written in first person with super strong voice? My NaNo novel is the first 1st person book I've written in awhile, and I'd like to read some great examples. I've read ones like Permanent Record by Mary HK Choi and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and would love to be able to write with a strong voice like those.
Thanks for this thread. How do I know if a scene has enough tension, and if that tension is compelling enough to get readers turning pages? What kind of tension keeps even "slow" scenes between major action scenes and plot developments interesting?
So horror plot twists. Better to keep the information secret from the reader until the protagonist would find out or let them in on it so they can have the morbid fascination of watching the unknowing protagonists stumble ever closer to it?
I've been hearing "don't reveal any backstory until act 2!" a lot recently (not necessarily re: my own work, but it's a piece of advice I've come across in conversation or online a weird number of times in quick succession). Thoughts on this? Advantages, disadvantages, when not to follow it?
Hi DongWon, thanks for holding an open thread! I have a question about plotting that I’ve been struggling with a lot. Often I find that I’ll create characters, thematic elements, and character relationships easily, but have a hard time figuring out the actual moment to moment events in the plot that get them from Point A to Point B. For example I might know that someone needs to go on a test that tests their dedication, but have trouble constructing the actual obstacle that will test that. Do you have advice for working through the difficult middle section of a plot?
So I know I'm at the last day but here I am, discovering that my novel is actually maybe a novella.
So my question is, do novellas by debuts do okay? Should I be trying to make this novel shaped? Or try to query with a different project?
Also, thanks for this thread! I haven't participated till now because I didn't feel like I had anything to add, but reading along really helped me to keep going.
Can you expand on this please? If I'm writing a YA-ish thing, but with a male protag and no sighing girls and love triangles do you mean I should edit to lean more heavily into YA tropes?
Hey DongWon! The month is about to end, and I have another question if you don't mind. What can you tell me about publishing in english even though it's not your native language? I don't want to sound greedy lol but I would like to have a long term career writing, and I feel like publishing in english could potentially make it easier for me to reach wider publics (as in: selling translation rights and whatever), while publishing in my own language might leave me only published in the spanish speaking market (I assume I will not be the next Liliana Bodoc). Thoughts?
Do you have any tips for staying sane while your book is on submission? The total lack of information except from the occasional, “no sorry, haven’t heard anything yet” from my agent is making it hard to focus on new projects. I’m still so concerned about what’s going to happen with the project on submission!
Hi DongWon, got another one for you. Well, actually two.
First, I'm writing a YA Horror that could also be classified as post-apocalyptic (though I think of it as a horror). Any suggestions on how to label this thing when I query it? I'm just not sure if YA horror is too narrow and maybe I should just call it a horror? It's hard to find good intel on this piece of the market.
Second, and this is a heavier question, my protagonist is physically disabled. Should I make mention of my physical disabilities in my query under the bio portion? Thanks!
This is so great! Thanks for taking the time to do this. I've been working on my wip for a while now, and I've almost finished the first draft (priority task during nanowrimo). I had planned on querying with it after a few rounds of revisions, but now I'm thinking that maybe it wouldn't work as a debut ('m wondering if maybe I was too ambitious with my first novel). Should I shelve it after finishing my draft and work on another piece that could potentially be a better debut novel, potentially a safer choice for an agent, or should I try to query with it anyway? I appreciate it!
Thank you for doing this :) When querying, is there any way to know whether a) your submission materials are good but your work isn't the right fit for that agent, or b) your work / submission materials need improvement?
I'm using nano to revise my dark comedy, but I'm starting to get a little concerned about my word count. It's hovering around 57K, which I understand is short for an adult novel. However, the pacing is tight and since it's a comedy I feel like the pacing is extra important. It's also important to me that this manuscript is a fully-functioning story in it's own right, and not just a string of jokes. Do I need to worry about a low word count at this point? Also, would love to hear any thoughts you have on dark comedy in general, because this is a venture outside of my typical genre. I'm so excited about it, but very aware that I'm new here.
Thanks so much for offering this! I'm doing a half-nano of a book that's outside my usual genre but still keeps certain elements of my writing style and humor. I tend to write deeply researched alt-historical novels, and right now I'm working on a contemporary soccer novel that takes my love of research deep into soccer culture instead of a historical era. It has me thinking a lot about writing books to build an author profile over a career. (I listened to your Writing Excuses podcast on this the other day, too, which was excellent!) Anyway, I had a friend lose an agent not too long ago because they couldn't seem to see eye-to-eye on this topic once the author turned in their second manuscript. So I guess I'm wondering, when the thing that ties a writer's projects together is more her quirks of writing style than her genre or age group, do you have any tips on little ways to pull them together? How can an author help an agent build that possibility into their career from the start?
What do you think makes an interesting magic system? I've written nine manuscript and generally avoided magic systems as a whole. I loved "Magic for Liars" by Sarah Gailey and saw your name in the acknowledgements - do you have any suggestions on where to start?
What, in your view, is the best querying strategy? Do I carpet-bomb lots of lit agents (selected for my category/genre, naturally) at once, or go in batches?
I'm using NaNo to finish a novel, not to start one. That said, I assume agents get flooded with queries in December? Does it make sense to wait unit, say, January to start querying?
I've been struggling with the elevator pitch for this novel. I realize a pitch for agents will sound rather different than one for a normal reader. For an agent, I will obviously want to summarize all of the most important points, even including spoilers. For a general reader, I'm thinking more in terms of what the back of the book might say to get them to read my story. What do you think is the most important thing to include in a pitch? Do you have any suggestions for composing both types of pitches?
Hi Dong! Thanks so much for your newsletter! I'm new to following you, but so far, am really enjoying your Twitters.
I'd love a pep talk! I am working on an epic fantasy novel that I started during last year's NaNoWriMo. The current logline is: magician samurai at magic school who need to learn to work together in order to defeat an invading empire. I'm 97,000 words into it, which seems ridiculous because I don't even think I've reached the halfway point in terms of plot. I feel like an idiot; my brain keeps saying to me, "No one's going to read anything that long!" and "What on earth are you DOING?" On the other hand, I'm enjoying the process of writing the thing and losing myself in that world (which kind of resembles Edo-era Japan), and I keep trying to encourage myself by saying, "Just finish the first draft and cut it down later!"
_Am_ I an idiot? Should I just keep going the way I want to, or does madness lie that way?
Hullo Dongwon! When you start querying, is it smart to send a letter to agents that aren't your dream agent first? A way to test the waters of your pitch. I've heard this advice a few times but it sounds a little disingenuous.
Do you have any recommendations for adult novels that have an ensemble cast? Preferably literary rather than sci-fi/fantasy. My Nano project is an ensemble cast "hangout" book modelled on some of my favorite films, but I'm realizing that of course the way an ensemble is treated in films is different than in a book. The narration I'm writing so far is third person, close on one person's experience within the larger group, but I'm having a hell of a time making the group work through just this limited lens. Maybe I need to widen.
(I'm also realizing that I've maybe never even read a "hangout" book per se?)
What’s your view on prologues, particularly if they’re being used the way Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast or Atlantis use them: to provide a legend or fairy tale for the main narrative to interact with?
First drafts don't have to be perfect, right? As I'm writing, I'm realizing that as I reach certain scenes there should have been more X or Y beforehand and then I feel this urge to go back but I know I could get stuck in the first three chapters forever. It's ok to just, make a note of it and keep going, right? It's like roughing in shapes for a drawing?
A pep talk would be nice. Doing my 7th Nano after 4 years of querying and 8 finished books feels like an exercise in futility right now
How do you know when your shit is good? I think I’ve got some good work, but it usually gets torn apart by editors and beta readers. How do you know the difference between a a compelling story and getting high on your own farts?
Any advice on how to read for critique quickly? I've swapped NaNo outlines with CPs and would like to return them quickly, but it always takes me hours just to read and critique a small section - 10 pages in an hour is a really good session; sometimes it's half that if I have a bunch to say on a page. That's a lot of hours for a full MS! I'm not even reading for grammar/line edits; it just seems to be the speed my brain goes at when critically processing what it's reading. I'd love any tips to improve my speed or work more efficiently. I figure as an agent you must have a good system in place! :) Thanks for taking questions!
Any advice on how to approach revisions, after November?
How do you know when to give up on revising something?
I finished my first novel draft this summer, and as I've revised and gotten feedback I've realized that I wrote it from a really anxious/self-doubting place. I was trying to be clever and follow the rules more than I was trying to write something that works.
Is it worth it to keep working on it throughout NaNo, as a way to hone my revising skills? Or is it cool to shelve it for now and draft something new, now that I know I can actually write+finish a full work?
Hi! This thread is great, love reading your answers to other people's questions. Thank you for your hard work! I have one great doubt (right now): what's an appropiate scene lenght? Does it depend on the author? the style? the type of event you're describing? the mood you want to convey? According to google results my scenes are too short (usually around 500 to 1000 words, when apparently the norm is 1000-2000). I'm rewritting my first finished manuscript so now it's driving me crazy! Is it intrinsically wrong that they are short or does it really depends on [variety of motives]? Main thing that keeps me up is that I read that "character driven" stories need longer scenes and mine is a character driven story so.... oh no!? Lol! Thank you for your input on the matter!
Thanks so much for doing this! Do you have any recommendations of books written in first person with super strong voice? My NaNo novel is the first 1st person book I've written in awhile, and I'd like to read some great examples. I've read ones like Permanent Record by Mary HK Choi and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and would love to be able to write with a strong voice like those.
Thanks for this thread. How do I know if a scene has enough tension, and if that tension is compelling enough to get readers turning pages? What kind of tension keeps even "slow" scenes between major action scenes and plot developments interesting?
Best tips for those with short story success transitioning to longer work?
Also, what did you think of the Lighthouse?
Have any of your clients' work been noted as "written during NaNoWriMo"?
So horror plot twists. Better to keep the information secret from the reader until the protagonist would find out or let them in on it so they can have the morbid fascination of watching the unknowing protagonists stumble ever closer to it?
Also I will always take a pep talk!
I've been hearing "don't reveal any backstory until act 2!" a lot recently (not necessarily re: my own work, but it's a piece of advice I've come across in conversation or online a weird number of times in quick succession). Thoughts on this? Advantages, disadvantages, when not to follow it?
Hi DongWon, thanks for holding an open thread! I have a question about plotting that I’ve been struggling with a lot. Often I find that I’ll create characters, thematic elements, and character relationships easily, but have a hard time figuring out the actual moment to moment events in the plot that get them from Point A to Point B. For example I might know that someone needs to go on a test that tests their dedication, but have trouble constructing the actual obstacle that will test that. Do you have advice for working through the difficult middle section of a plot?
So I know I'm at the last day but here I am, discovering that my novel is actually maybe a novella.
So my question is, do novellas by debuts do okay? Should I be trying to make this novel shaped? Or try to query with a different project?
Also, thanks for this thread! I haven't participated till now because I didn't feel like I had anything to add, but reading along really helped me to keep going.
"Write for yourself, but edit to the market."
Can you expand on this please? If I'm writing a YA-ish thing, but with a male protag and no sighing girls and love triangles do you mean I should edit to lean more heavily into YA tropes?
Hey DongWon! The month is about to end, and I have another question if you don't mind. What can you tell me about publishing in english even though it's not your native language? I don't want to sound greedy lol but I would like to have a long term career writing, and I feel like publishing in english could potentially make it easier for me to reach wider publics (as in: selling translation rights and whatever), while publishing in my own language might leave me only published in the spanish speaking market (I assume I will not be the next Liliana Bodoc). Thoughts?
Just clarifying, at Morhaim is the policy that we can only query one agent and a no means no from the whole agency (Unless we write another book)?
Do you have any tips for staying sane while your book is on submission? The total lack of information except from the occasional, “no sorry, haven’t heard anything yet” from my agent is making it hard to focus on new projects. I’m still so concerned about what’s going to happen with the project on submission!
Hi DongWon, got another one for you. Well, actually two.
First, I'm writing a YA Horror that could also be classified as post-apocalyptic (though I think of it as a horror). Any suggestions on how to label this thing when I query it? I'm just not sure if YA horror is too narrow and maybe I should just call it a horror? It's hard to find good intel on this piece of the market.
Second, and this is a heavier question, my protagonist is physically disabled. Should I make mention of my physical disabilities in my query under the bio portion? Thanks!
This is so great! Thanks for taking the time to do this. I've been working on my wip for a while now, and I've almost finished the first draft (priority task during nanowrimo). I had planned on querying with it after a few rounds of revisions, but now I'm thinking that maybe it wouldn't work as a debut ('m wondering if maybe I was too ambitious with my first novel). Should I shelve it after finishing my draft and work on another piece that could potentially be a better debut novel, potentially a safer choice for an agent, or should I try to query with it anyway? I appreciate it!
Thank you for doing this :) When querying, is there any way to know whether a) your submission materials are good but your work isn't the right fit for that agent, or b) your work / submission materials need improvement?
Hi Dongwon!
I'm using nano to revise my dark comedy, but I'm starting to get a little concerned about my word count. It's hovering around 57K, which I understand is short for an adult novel. However, the pacing is tight and since it's a comedy I feel like the pacing is extra important. It's also important to me that this manuscript is a fully-functioning story in it's own right, and not just a string of jokes. Do I need to worry about a low word count at this point? Also, would love to hear any thoughts you have on dark comedy in general, because this is a venture outside of my typical genre. I'm so excited about it, but very aware that I'm new here.
Thanks so much for offering this! I'm doing a half-nano of a book that's outside my usual genre but still keeps certain elements of my writing style and humor. I tend to write deeply researched alt-historical novels, and right now I'm working on a contemporary soccer novel that takes my love of research deep into soccer culture instead of a historical era. It has me thinking a lot about writing books to build an author profile over a career. (I listened to your Writing Excuses podcast on this the other day, too, which was excellent!) Anyway, I had a friend lose an agent not too long ago because they couldn't seem to see eye-to-eye on this topic once the author turned in their second manuscript. So I guess I'm wondering, when the thing that ties a writer's projects together is more her quirks of writing style than her genre or age group, do you have any tips on little ways to pull them together? How can an author help an agent build that possibility into their career from the start?
What do you think makes an interesting magic system? I've written nine manuscript and generally avoided magic systems as a whole. I loved "Magic for Liars" by Sarah Gailey and saw your name in the acknowledgements - do you have any suggestions on where to start?
Who’s your favorite villain and why do you think they work within the context of the story?
Do you have any favorite books on craft that you recommend for aspiring novelists?
What, in your view, is the best querying strategy? Do I carpet-bomb lots of lit agents (selected for my category/genre, naturally) at once, or go in batches?
I'm using NaNo to finish a novel, not to start one. That said, I assume agents get flooded with queries in December? Does it make sense to wait unit, say, January to start querying?
Thank you so much for opening a questions thread!
I've been struggling with the elevator pitch for this novel. I realize a pitch for agents will sound rather different than one for a normal reader. For an agent, I will obviously want to summarize all of the most important points, even including spoilers. For a general reader, I'm thinking more in terms of what the back of the book might say to get them to read my story. What do you think is the most important thing to include in a pitch? Do you have any suggestions for composing both types of pitches?
Hi Dong! Thanks so much for your newsletter! I'm new to following you, but so far, am really enjoying your Twitters.
I'd love a pep talk! I am working on an epic fantasy novel that I started during last year's NaNoWriMo. The current logline is: magician samurai at magic school who need to learn to work together in order to defeat an invading empire. I'm 97,000 words into it, which seems ridiculous because I don't even think I've reached the halfway point in terms of plot. I feel like an idiot; my brain keeps saying to me, "No one's going to read anything that long!" and "What on earth are you DOING?" On the other hand, I'm enjoying the process of writing the thing and losing myself in that world (which kind of resembles Edo-era Japan), and I keep trying to encourage myself by saying, "Just finish the first draft and cut it down later!"
_Am_ I an idiot? Should I just keep going the way I want to, or does madness lie that way?
Hullo Dongwon! When you start querying, is it smart to send a letter to agents that aren't your dream agent first? A way to test the waters of your pitch. I've heard this advice a few times but it sounds a little disingenuous.
Do you have any recommendations for adult novels that have an ensemble cast? Preferably literary rather than sci-fi/fantasy. My Nano project is an ensemble cast "hangout" book modelled on some of my favorite films, but I'm realizing that of course the way an ensemble is treated in films is different than in a book. The narration I'm writing so far is third person, close on one person's experience within the larger group, but I'm having a hell of a time making the group work through just this limited lens. Maybe I need to widen.
(I'm also realizing that I've maybe never even read a "hangout" book per se?)
Thank you for doing this thread. <3
What’s your view on prologues, particularly if they’re being used the way Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast or Atlantis use them: to provide a legend or fairy tale for the main narrative to interact with?
First drafts don't have to be perfect, right? As I'm writing, I'm realizing that as I reach certain scenes there should have been more X or Y beforehand and then I feel this urge to go back but I know I could get stuck in the first three chapters forever. It's ok to just, make a note of it and keep going, right? It's like roughing in shapes for a drawing?