Reading you under the table since 2012

A Tale of Two (or Twenty) Titles

May 18, 2012 in Writing Life by Leigh Bardugo

by

Leigh Bardugo

—

Recently, Savannah at SeeSavRead.com posted about how confused she was by the similarity of these three book titles:

 

As the author of one of those books (Shadow and Bone, on the far right), I had to admit, even my head got a bit muddled. But if you take a look at the YA shelves, you’ll notice quite a few words in heavy rotation: shadow, bone, fire, crown, dark, stars. The trends seem to come in waves. For a while, it was all about adjectives: Abandoned, Marked, Matched, Tangled, etc. There’s the aforementioned “and” trend that includes not only the books above, but others like The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Now longer titles seem to be cropping up, such as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and For Only Darkness Shows the Stars.

I don’t know how trends like this get started, but I can tell you how Shadow and Bone got its name.

 

Early Days

The author ponders: Why does everyone keep confusing me with Laini Taylor?

My working title for the book that would become Shadow and Bone was The Darkling. Then I discovered a little book called Graceling and wept quietly into my coffee cup. I considered changing the character’s name entirely, but in the end, I couldn’t. The Darkling was just the Darkling and no other title suited him. Still, I knew better than to query that way, especially since I write high fantasy.

I mulled long lists of titles. I had quickly learned that high fantasy was a tough sell and that most agents wouldn’t even look at it, so I wanted to avoid anything like The Shadow Fold or The Sun Summoner. Last Light was a contender, but it sounded too much like a wannabe Twilight. In the end, I was torn between The Grisha (the name of my kingdom’s magical elite) and Ravka (the name of the kingdom itself). I felt that both carried a bit of the flavor of the world I had built and that either of them would be distinct enough to stand out in an email’s subject line. In the end, The Grisha felt truer to the thrust of the story, so I crossed my fingers and hit send.

 

After the Sale

Even before we sold to Macmillan/Holt, I knew they wanted a title change. I wasn’t particularly attached to The Grisha, and though I liked the look of it on the page, when I said it at parties, people always came back with, “The Grecians?” Not ideal. You want people to be able to talk about your book without needing to spell it out to each other.

Early on in the process, I pitched Shadow and Bone to my editor, Noa Wheeler. I LOVED this title. It sounded just sinister enough and it touched on two vital elements of the plot.

Then a friend pointed out that Laini Taylor’s working title for her new book was Daughter of Smoke and Bone. On her blog, she’d talked about changing it, but Noa and I decided to see if we could come up with another alternative. We generated lists of words, quotes from the book, quotes from other books. We stayed on the phone brainstorming into the wee hours (more wee for her as she’s on the East Coast).

Anyone who has been through this process knows how crazy-making and frustrating it can be, but oddly enough, it was also really fun. For a while I was sure that the book had to be called The Black Shore, but both Noa and my UK publisher pointed out that it had a decidedly nautical feel. I also went through a brief phase where it seemed perfectly reasonable to use the Russian word Otkazat’sya for the title. Because, you see, that’s easy to spell and pop into a google search. What can I say? It was late. I was punchy.

But we kept coming back to Shadow and Bone. We liked it and so did the rest of the team at Mac Kids. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was set to release six months before my book, and the stories were so different that it didn’t seem like it would be too much of an issue. We didn’t know about The Book of Blood and Shadow, so it’s hard to say how that might have impacted our decision.

 

Right now

The author pouts: Why don't I look as good in pink as Laini Taylor?

Okay, so now that I know how much confusion the whole Smoky Book of Blood and Bone thing has engendered, would I do things differently? I won’t lie, as a debut author, it’s a little nerve-wracking to have my book compared directly to work by amazing writers like Laini Taylor and Robin Wasserman. Still, who knows what might have happened if we chose another title? My UK publishers opted to call the book The Gathering Dark, a phrase lifted directly from the pages of the story. But as it turns out, Christine Johnson has a book coming out later this year titled, yes, The Gathering Dark. That Black Shore title that had me so smitten? Elizabeth Richards’ new book is called Black City. Admittedly, there are no books called Otkazat’sya, but there’s probably a good reason for that.

Also, as I hurtle toward launch, I’ve come to realize that it’s not worth fretting over situations well beyond my control. At least, I’m trying. Deep breaths, stiff cocktails, an agent willing to put up with my outrageous mood swings– these all help. Plus, it’s hard to get too angsty about titles when Rich Deas and Jen Wang gave Shadow and Bone a beautiful, distinctive cover that I adore and that makes me swoony every time I look at it. (I look at it a lot. I should probably acquire a fainting couch.)

Noa and I recently sat down to pitch new titles for Books 2 and 3 of the Grisha Trilogy. Hopefully, we’ll end up with something unique that won’t turn up all over the shelves next year. I’m inclined to take preventative measures. How do you guys feel about Shadow and Fat Man Eating an Eclair?

(Many thanks to Carrie Lawler Arcos for the loan of her pink wig!)

—

Leigh Bardugo was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Los Angeles, and graduated from Yale University. As a makeup artist, she creates glamour and ghouls under the name L.B. Benson. Her debut novel, Shadow and Bone, will be published on June 5,  2012 by Holt Children’s/Macmillan. 

Posted in Writing Life | Tagged | 5 Comments

Revealing Character through Details

May 17, 2012 in Beginner Resources, Writing Life by Juliesh

by

Julie Eshbaugh

—

Is creating a character like designing a building?

Mies van der Rohe (German born, American architect, 1886-1969,) famously said, “God is in the details.” This quote is a reference to the fact that it’s the small, subtle design elements that can make a building (or even a book, perhaps?) transcend the common to become something unique and beautiful.

Interestingly, Mies van der Rohe is also credited with having said, “Less is more,” a reference to the theory that a few strong design elements will always outshine an excess of lesser details.

Mies van der Rohe may have been commenting on architecture, but it can be argued that his ideas apply just as well to fiction writing.

Put these two quotes together, and they add up to a valuable philosophy for revealing character in fiction: one clear and memorable detail can reveal more about a character than page upon page of general description.

Consider this example:

The woman was tall and had clear blue eyes. Her hair was a shade of blond that made her always seem to have just come from the beach, and her skin was liberally freckled. Her smile was wide, and she smiled often. She was slim enough to wear whatever she liked, but she favored blue jeans and t-shirts. She was almost never seen in a dress. Although she had passed her fortieth birthday two years earlier, she gave the impression of someone much younger.

There’s nothing too terrible about the above paragraph. It succeeds at creating a picture in the reader’s mind of the woman it means to describe. But what if we add one small detail?

Over the years, she’d perfected a certain posture, in which her right hand was almost always clasped over her left wrist. Practice had refined it to a shy, feminine gesture. Almost no one knew the truth – that the habit had been adopted in order to conceal a pale, fading, yet still distinct scar that crisscrossed her left wrist – a scar she’d given herself at the age of sixteen.  

This detail tells us more about what makes this character unique than all the information about her appearance that preceded it.

The physical description, of course, is still valuable. Hair color, eye color, height, weight – they all play a part in revealing character. But tell me what’s written on the folded paper the character keeps constantly in his pocket, and you’ve told me a whole chapter of the character’s life story in just a few lines.

The perfect piece of information about a character can be physical (such as the scar on the woman’s wrist in the example above,) or behavioral (such as the woman’s well developed affectation used to hide the scar.) The type of detail given matters less than the type of information the detail reveals.

Here are three distinct examples:

He has Dad’s eyes, but Soda is one of a kind. He can get drunk in a drag race or dancing without ever getting near alcohol. In our neighborhood it’s rare to find a kid who doesn’t drink once in a while. But Soda never touches a drop – he doesn’t need to. He gets drunk on just plain living. And he understands everybody. ~ S.E. Hinton, THE OUTSIDERS

I wasn’t looking at her face, but at the part of her I could see with my head lowered: her blue waist, thickened, her left hand on the ivory head of her cane, the large diamonds on the ring finger, which must once have been fine and was still finely kept, the fingernail at the end of the knuckly finger filed to a gentle curving point. It was like an ironic smile, on that finger; like something mocking her. ~ Margaret Atwood, THE HANDMAID’S TALE

To my surprise, my mother has  laid out one of her own lovely dresses for me. A soft blue thing with matching shoes. “Are you sure,” I ask. I’m trying to get past rejecting offers of help from her. For a while, I was so angry, I wouldn’t allow her to do anything for me. And this is something special. Her clothes from her past are very precious to her. ~ Suzanne Collins, THE HUNGER GAMES

These three examples describe widely varying details – a boy’s natural state of intoxication, a woman’s manicured fingernail, a mother’s dress. But each description packs a lot of information into a short passage.

God is in the details. Less is more.

True of architecture. True of characterization.

Thank you Mies van der Rohe!

Do you choose unique details to reveal the nature of your characters? What about your favorite fictional characters – are there unique details that make them stand out in your mind? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

 ~~~

Julie Eshbaugh is represented by Natalie Lakosil of the Bradford Literary Agency. You can add Julie on Goodreads and follow her on Twitter.

Posted in Beginner Resources, Writing Life | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Writing critiques

May 16, 2012 in Beginner Resources, Writing Life by jodimeadows

by

Jodi Meadows

–

When I’m between drafts and revisions for my stories, I like to catch up on critiques for my crit partners. (Guess where I am right now.) So I thought I’d tell you a little about how I do critiques.

Keep in mind, this is just how I do critiques. Everyone has to find what works best for them — and their crit partners — but in the *mumble mumble* years I’ve been critiquing like this, people tend to say it’s useful.

1. Introduction.

I always begin my critique letters with some kind of praise (usually vague, like “I really enjoyed this” because I’ll get into specifics later) and thank the writer for allowing me to read their manuscript. As I’m sure you know, sharing a manuscript with someone — even a trusted friend — can be a scary thing. You want them to like it! The same thing goes for your crit partner. They want you to like their manuscript. They’re trusting you, not only to keep that manuscript to yourself, but to critique it with respect for the story they want to tell.

With long-standing crit partners, I usually write a short reminder like, “All usual disclaimers apply,” but what that really means is this: the contents of the critique are my opinion. The writer doesn’t have to take my advice. Heck, if it doesn’t work for them, they can ditch the whole thing. Both sides need to remember that.

Also, since I like to write in-text notes as I read the manuscript, I usually remind my crit partner how to find those. (I use Bean, a small word processor for Mac that has “notes mode,” which allows you to type in a different font and color at the insertion point, that way you don’t have to click back and forth when you want to add a note. So all my notes show up in [red brackets].)

2. The critique.

As I mentioned, I like to make comments in the text as I read. These are usually specific to the location in the text. Things like, “that’s not how gravity works!” or “LOL! This character is hilarious.” I love getting reactions to exciting/romantic/scary/whatever emotional points in my stories, so I try to make sure I give my emotional reactions in my critiques to others. It’s useful for writers to be able to tell whether they’re getting the right kind of reaction out of their readers. If you love or hate a character, that’s useful information! If you’re laughing and the scene is supposed to be sad . . . that’s also useful.

I also spend the first couple of chapters doing a thorough line edit, if I think the writer wants it at this stage. I correct grammar, point out redundancies, and generally get really nit-picky about everything. I also try to make sure the writer knows what questions I’m asking and whether I feel grounded in the character and world.

But I stop the super nit-pickiness after fifteen or twenty pages. Those kind of comments can be soul-crushing and boring to read (and make) after a while. Besides, I’m not editing the book for my crit partners. If what I’ve pointed out is actually a problem to them, they’ll have learned how to fix it after fifteen to twenty pages. The rest of my in-text comments tend to be things like, “I don’t understand why Joe Bob jumped down the well. Can you clarify his motivations?” Or, “I know Joe Bob is supposed to be the love interest but I’m really not feeling it. I think his affinity for beets is why.” I also try to make lots of smilies and show them places where I’m enjoying the story, because that is just as important as showing them the weaknesses.

What about comments about bigger things, like story arc and character development? Or even issues I just bring up a lot throughout the story? As I’m reading, I make a list of notes to talk about in my crit letter. If I think the writer doesn’t know a grammar thing, I’ll write a quick paragraph about that. If I have a problem with a character or plotline, I write about my feelings on those.

Sometimes I suggest fixes, if I know the author well and know what they’re going for, but as I said before, I’m not editing the manuscript for them. I’m not writing their book. At this stage, the story belongs to the writer. My job is only to help them tell the story they want to tell, and tell it to the best of their ability.

3. Their feelings.

While writing out paragraphs of criticism, you may be worried about your crit partner’s feelings. After all, this is their baby. They trusted you with it, and you’re shredding it. Well, remember, the point of getting a critique is to improve the manuscript. Once they stop hating your guts, hopefully they’ll appreciate what you had to say.

In the meantime, there are some things you can do to lighten the tone of your critique.

A) Be funny. I mean, be natural about it, but if Joe Bob starts out the book by jumping down the well and later on he leaps off a cliff, then an airplane, then a dragon, you might be thinking there’s no way a guy who does taxes for a living would be that cool about jumping off all those things. You can rant about how that’s so unbelievable . . . or you can make a joke about Joe Bob having the taxes part down, and now he’s looking for death. (Death and taxes. Haha. Get it? Heh.)

B) Whatever you say, don’t be hurtful. If you’re frustrated with the manuscript, take a break and come back to it when you’re feeling better.

C) While you’re keeping track of what doesn’t work in the manuscript, keep track of what does work. It’s just as important for the writer to know what they’re doing right, that way they can keep doing it. Besides, a mushy “all this stuff was great!” will make a nice end to your crit letter, especially if you’re known for bringing people to tears.

4. The ending.

If you’re like me, you’ve written 1,000+ words of a critique by now, plus whatever line notes you left, and — like this blog post — it’s time to wind down to a graceful ending.

Again, thank the writer for allowing you to read their manuscript. Reassure them that you did enjoy it. And if you’re willing to discuss your critique or brainstorm with them later, let them know.

5. Last things.

Never, ever corner the writer about whether your critique was useful. If they want to tell you it was useful, they will. Chances are they’ll just thank you and move on — or ask questions if you’ve invited them — because they’re probably smarting from your comments. Don’t worry. This most likely does not affect their love for you. But lots of writers have a knee-jerk defensive reaction to criticism. Let them get it out of their system.

Once again, remember that you’re helping them tell the story they want to tell — not the story you want them to tell. It’s an important distinction.

So, that was a long post, but gold star if you made it this far. Questions? Comments? Let’s discuss crits!

–

Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut.
*A Kippy is a cat.

Posted in Beginner Resources, Writing Life | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Bringing Your Baby to Editorial Board

May 15, 2012 in Industry Life by JJ

by

JJ

—

Have you ever heard the phrase “they’re taking your project to editorial board” before? Have you ever wondered what that meant? Well wonder no more, my friends, as I’m going to take you through the dreaded and frightening Acquisitions Process.

It seems that everyone at every level in the industry has a “gatekeeper” they feel they must need to pass: writers think of agents, agents think of editors, and editors think of their publishers. I might be misrepresenting things a little, but we all face occasional rejection in publishing, even those of us on the “other side of the desk”. Just like querying writers and submitting agents, editors have put their best foot forward when trying to convince the “grown-ups” (as it were) to give them some pocket money to spend on a project.

Just who are the “grown-ups”, you might ask? In the majority of publishing houses, the editorial board consists of the publisher(s), the other editors, the sales department, publicity, and marketing. Ideally, everyone will have read the project before the acquisitions meeting, so during the meeting itself everyone can chime in with their thoughts and opinions. It’s important to get as many points-of-view on a project as possible. Editors can give you their thoughts on the content, the sales department can give you hard numbers on how similar titles in-house have sold, and publicity and marketing can give you an idea of how they might be able to promote the project.

But first, let us go through the basic timeline of acquisitions (illustrated with GIFs because I spend way too much time on Tumblr):

1. Editor receives project.

2. Editor reads project.

3. Editor likes project.

4. Editor wants project.

5. Editor sends project to members of the editorial board for second reads and opinions.

Ideally, you want to get in-house readers who 1) understand the potential market of the project and 2) would give you a favourable opinion to share with the editorial board. These second readers can be other editors, the publicity department, the marketing department, and the sales department. These second readers can be a good barometer of how well the project might be received by the rest of the house.

6. Editor starts to pull together comparable titles, sales figures of said titles, and other bits of information that might convince the editorial board to acquire the project.

This is the most stressful part of acquisitions–and we haven’t even gotten to the meeting yet. At this point, there is a lot of pow-wowing with your colleagues at work, trying to figure out which editors to send the project to for second reads, and researching comparable titles and their sales figures. Comparable titles (or “comp titles”) are books published in the same genre with similar subject matter and content. For example, say your project is a time-traveling YA with a light, whimsical tone of voice. I would ask around and go on Google to look for other time-traveling YA novels with a light whimsical tone of voice. This is where the X meets Y formula can help a writer: it makes it easy for editors to research comps!

Then the editor does a little digging into sales figures. Most often she will check on Bookscan to get a rough ballpark number of how well these types of books sell. Given these ballpark figures, the editor then starts to form an idea of the size of the offer she might be able to make, providing that everyone else is on board.

7. Editor presents at editorial board.

Armed with your sales figures and in-house reads, you go before the board and present your argument. Light, whimsical time-traveling YA has sold some decent figures! This project is similar, but different in ways that will make it stand out in the marketplace! It’s got some KILLER writing and I couldn’t put it down!

At this point, things can fall out in a number of different ways.

Everyone likes it! Let’s put together an offer!


Yay! Everyone seems to love the project and wants to make an offer! The ecstatic editor will return to her desk and put together a P&L (a profit & loss statement), a magical Excel spreadsheet with all sorts of fancy formulas that will spit out a number when you plug in the right bits of information. There are a lot of variables that go into a P&L: the number of units you think the project will sell, the format, the page count, and the potential list price, all of which factor into a guesstimate of how much money this project has the potential to earn. There might be some quibbling and adjusting to get to a number you hope will buy you the project while still making money for the house, but once everyone has signed off, the editor can go ahead and make the offer.

Reads are mixed: some love it, others do not. Go do some more homework, speak with the author about possible edits, and come back when your case is stronger.


If this happens, there are a few things the editor can do to strengthen the project. She can speak with the agent and author and discuss possible editorial changes that might make it more appealing to the rest of the house. She can also cast a wider net of second readers who might give her a favourable review.

They’re not buying it. Literally.

Alas, this happens. No matter how much you love a project, the house might not agree with you for a number of reasons. They might be worried that there are too many books on the list similar to the one you’re trying to acquire. They might like the writing, but worry that light, whimsical time-traveling YA is too niche, or else too different from what’s currently on the market. They might like the project but fear that the market is getting too saturated (as can happen with popular trends). Whatever the reasons, you have to turn the project down and try again next time with something new.

That’s a very basic breakdown of the timeline of bringing a project to editorial board. The specifics, however, can vary from project to project, editor to editor, house to house. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I’ll try and answer them to the best of my ability!

—

S. Jae-Jones (called JJ) is an editorial assistant at St. Martin’s Press. When not editing books or jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, JJ can be found training for the NYC marathon (ha!), attempting to write a book, and obsessing over Doctor Who and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Other places to find JJ include Twitter, Tumblr, and her blog.

Posted in Industry Life | Tagged , | 28 Comments

Guest Post: Celebrate the Mass Market Paperback Series

May 14, 2012 in Giveaways, Guest Post, Industry Life by Sooz

featuring

Jordan Hamessley

—

Most publishing industry professionals have a pitch. The pitch is how you introduce yourself.

If you’re at a convention or a networking event, and you meet an author or agent for the first time, you launch into your pitch. My pitch goes something like this: “Hi! I’m Jordan Hamessley, an editor at Grosset & Dunlap, the mass market imprint of the Penguin Young Readers Group. Our list is half original paperback series fiction and half licensed tie-ins.”

Occasionally, when I get to the phrase “paperback originals” the author or agent suddenly spots someone across the room that they absolutely must talk to. I have grown accustomed to this phenomenon. Sure, mass market lacks the glamour of hardcover, but people sometimes forget that young readers crave series that they can go back to again and again, series that play in genres they love, and series that speak to their specific interests. What is most remarkable about mass market paperback originals is that there are so many varieties. Here are three examples.

1. THE PREMISE. A great mass market paperback series tends to have a solid hook that works across many books. Take a look at one classic paperback series, THE BABYSITTER’S CLUB. While each book focused on a specific girl in the club, the friendships and relationships that were set up in KRISTY’S GREAT IDEA continued to evolve throughout the series.  That said, even if I didn’t read books 5-15, I could easily read book 16 and pick up on the story and have an enjoyable read.

2. THE EPISODIC. I currently edit the FRANKLY, FRANNIE chapter book series about a young girl who is desperate to be a grown up and get a job. Each book follows Frannie’s attempt at a different career. She has been a restaurant critic, a veterinarian, a fashion designer, and more. While there is a small bit of continuity throughout the series, each Frannie book stands on its own by focusing on the job at hand. It’s kind of like a TV series, where you see the same characters you love solving a different problem every episode. The experience is best if you read each book, but you don’t have to in order to enjoy the series.

3. THE BRAND. In some cases, there is no continuity between books in a series at all. GOOSEBUMPS is the obvious example. Though the characters and the creepies are different in each installment, when you pick up a GOOSEBUMPS book, you know what you’re going to get–spooky stories. Scholastic’s Candy Apple books are one-offs about girls, friendship, rivalries, and crushes. Candy Apple even had a spin-off series called Poison Apple that featured similar stories with a paranormal twist.

Many authors hope for a big hardcover book deal, but there is something special about affordable paperbacks that young readers can find in a book club or at the store and buy for themselves. When I was a young reader, the majority of books I read I bought with my allowance. Mass market paperbacks were what I could afford. In elementary school, I was a competitive figure skater, so I read every book in the SILVER BLADES series. It was affordable and I felt like it had been written “just for me”. If you visit the paperback section of bookstore, without fail, you will find multiple series for kids who love horses/ponies, sports/camping, ballet/dancing, theatre/drama, etc. Mass market paperback is where kids can find a book that speaks to them AND is affordable.

When you were growing up, what were your experiences with mass market paperbacks?

Was there a series that you read every single book?

What are some of your favorite mass market books that are out today?

 

–

Awesome post, Jordan! I have to say, I never thought about mass market series–but I LOVED The Babysitters Club!

What about you all? If you leave a comment telling us, then you can enter into a GIVEAWAY for Angel of the Battlefield, the first book in The Chest Series–a series which Jordan works on! The contest is open internationally, and we’ll contact the winner in a week!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

—

Jordan Hamessley London is an assistant editor at Grosset and Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers where she edits Adam-Troy Castro’s middle grade horror series Gustav Gloom, Literally Disturbed (an upcoming collection of scary stories from Ben H. Winters), A.J. Stern’s Frankly, Frannie series and more. She is on the editorial team for Ann Hood’s middle grade historical time-travel series The Treasure Chest. When not editing, Jordan can be found on twitter (@thejordache) talking about books, scary movies, and musical theater.
Posted in Giveaways, Guest Post, Industry Life | Tagged , , , | 34 Comments

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