Tips for Young Writers
QUESTION:
I'm trying to write a story of my own. I've been thinking about all the different parts in my head for the past few months, but after writing the preface and part of the first chapter, I just lost interest, and haven't given it any thought at all. I'd like to ask if that's a common occurence?
I also write for fanfiction, mainly for the Twilight Saga, and whenever I try to write one of the stories I'm working on for fanfic, the words just flow, and before I know it, I've written about three chapters.
Should I just stick to fanfic, or do I just need to write about something else?
MY ANSWER:
The story you mentioned sounds really interesting. It's a very good idea, and it will be shame if it's never finished. I'll share a secret about my work: I always 'lose interest' after the first chapter or two and want to move onto another story, or just read a book/watch TV/listen to music instead. The reason is that this is the point where it dawns on me that the story isn't that perfect, brilliant, flawless thing that I had imagined it would be. Just like all the other stories I've tried to write, it's hard work, and the characters and plot and setting probably won't turn out to be exactly how I wanted them either, no matter how much I try.
Fan-fic is fun to write because someone else already did all the work for you. You get to come into their complete world, with all the characters fully formed, and with the plot perfectly displayed, and fill in extra bits - tell the missing, exciting stories that you wish had happened. It's like playing an RPG video game; it requires your energy, but not your imagination. That's why it flows and is effortless. You're playing, having fun. Not working. And writing IS work. It's work that most writers love, but work just the same.
Here's another secret through: when Stephenie Meyer wrote the Twilight books, I will 100% guarantee you that she felt just the same as you and me. I bet she wrote a bit, looked at it, realised it wasn't perfect and that she had a lot of hard work ahead of her and thought, 'Oh heck, what have I gotten myself into?' The books that you love are all the result of authors pushing through that feeling, telling themselves, 'If I don't write this story, it will never be written. If I don't give these characters life, they will never live,' and getting on with it.
If you find that you do not really enjoy writing original fiction of your own, then that's one thing. But if you're not working on your own story because you think it should feel like writing fan-fic and something's wrong with the story (or even you) when it takes effort and feels like work, then you can stop worrying about it. You're feeling the same feeling as every writer does.
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QUESTION:
I’m 15 years old and I want to improve my writing, but I don’t know how. My question to you is how can I improve my writing-I always forget the ‘big’ words that I should use-and my mind feels empty every time I try writing. So if you have any tips I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
MY ANSWER:
Well, writing is like any other skill, or craft. Some people are naturally good at it, but just because you have a talent, that doesn't mean you're perfect right away. You have to practice writing to get better at it: even when your head feels empty and you can't seem to find the right words (and 'big' words aren't always the best - sometimes simple language is best) you have to keep trying.
How I work is this. I sit down somewhere quietish (although I've done this on a train surrounded by people, and just put my iPod headphones in) with a pencil and a notebook. And then I stare at the notebook and think about what I *want* to write. After about five minutes of staring, words start to come.
Now, before you start thinking, 'Is that supposed to be magic or something?' that doesn't mean they're GOOD words. Oh no! Sometimes I just write three pages of complete nonsense. But at least I've written something, and exercised my writing muscle. And sometimes three lines in those three pages might be good, and you can take those and make something useful out of them. Sometimes writing something that isn't right will make you realise how you *do* want to express yourself.
When you sit down to do this, you'll know that what you're writing is not perfect, but that doesn't matter. Just like an ice-skater might have to fall a hundred times before she achieves a perfect triple toe-loop, or a painter might have to throw away fifteen sketches before he gets just the right angle and shading, you'll have to scribble a lot before your work is so good people will want to publish it. You have to keep going, and little by little you'll realise you are getting better.
You'll find it easier to get straight to the heart of what you want to say. You'll be quicker and write more in a shorter amount of time. You'll look at a page and get a singing feeling in your chest and think, 'That's it. That's just what I wanted to say'. Not all the time, but enough to know you're making progress. I'd say I'm at the point where about three quarters of my scribbling is good now.
Because you're just starting out, it's probably a good idea to set yourself a time limit when you sit down to scribble. Tell yourself you've got twenty minutes or half an hour. You mustn't put your notebook down until that time has passed, even if you do nothing but stare at the page and write 'The' five times. Just think about what you want to say, let those ideas flow, and you will be using your time productively. You'll be surprised how quickly you do start to find words coming, and how quickly half an hour will not seem like enough time; but don't pressure yourself. Don't expect yourself to be writing pages and pages. Just expect yourself to sit and think about writing and stories and characters and other interesting things like that for half an hour.
At the end of scribbling, you'll read through what you wrote and think, 'Eugh. Wrong, wrong, wrong.' But that's good too, because it means you're seeing what you've produced with objective eyes. If you want to write notes and corrections all over the page, you can (I do). And then you can type it up, and a lot of the time you find that what you eventually put on your computer is not much like what you originally scribbled. It will be better. Much closer to what you actually want to say. That's part of getting better as a writer too.
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A new question today from Iben Toftgård Laursen (by the way, you don't say where you're from, Iben, but I think your name is extremely cool).
Iben's Question:
I have for maybe 2 or 3 years had the same story in my head. I would like to write it down and I have begun a little, but I keep changing it so that the things I have writen can't be used anymore. Have you ever tried that? And what would you do? Whould you just set your mind on something and stick to it even if something better came along in your head that ruined what you allready had?
My Answer:
Gosh, this happens to me ALL THE TIME. About half-way into writing The Swan Kingdom I ground to a complete halt for three months: the changes to the beginning of the story had been so drastic that I literally had no idea to get to the end that I'd planned. Finally, I realised that I didn't need to. The ending I'd originally planned simply didn't work for the characters that had come to life in the book. So I thought about those characters, and came up with a new ending, that worked far better than the first one (which I'd imagined before I ever understood the characters). So it's probably a good thing that it's happening to you, because when the story and characters keep changing on you, it means you're getting to really know them. Often the changes will really improve your story; they spring from your improved understanding of the world you've created. Sometimes they won't - but there's no way of telling until you've finished. Which is the key. If possible, don't do what I did, and grind to a halt. Keep writing. Follow your story and characters where they want to take you, even if the timid little librarian in page one has transformed into a leather-clad princess by page 23, and your setting of Medieval France has become steampunk Victorian England. You can always fix it when you get to the end. The really important thing, I think, is to *get* to the end, so that you know you can.
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Rachel has sent me a really lovely email, to which I am unable to reply for some technical reason beyond my Ken (and my Barbie and all my other action figures). So I'm posting the question she asked me here, along with a thank you for reminding me that I need to put Shannon Hale's lovely books on my Books I Love page.
Rachel's Question:
...Should I attempt to write a story now or should I wait until I have left school? I am doing my GCSEs at the moment so perhaps not? It would be great if you could write back!
My Answer:
Rachel, you've said that you really love writing and that it's more of a need than a want for you, so you absolutely mustn't try to give up writing during your exams. You'll make yourself miserable! But obviously your exams are also really important - and you probably have lots of other things going on at school as well, which means this is probably not the time to try and stick with one story and finish it.
Unless you have a story inside you which is clamouring to be written, and which you desperately need to get down on paper, there's no rush. When I was in school I tried to write several books but I never managed to make it to the end. It doesn't mean you never will. It just means now is not the right time, and this is not the right story. I wrote poetry instead - filled books and books with it and won quite a lot of competitions. It kept my writing muscle flexed but didn't demand weeks of concentration and discipline from me like a full-length story.
I didn't manage to actually finish a story until I was sixteen (and, let me tell you, it was pretty rotten - a romance aimed at Mills and Boon of all places!) and I didn't then finish another until I was twenty. Don't worry about it, don't put any pressure on yourself. Just do what seems right and what helps you to get through your exams. When the right story and characters pop into your head you won't have any trouble finishing a story - in fact, it'll be more than anyone's life is worth to get between you and your notebook!
The very best of good luck with both your writing and your GCSE's Rachel, and thanks again for your wonderful email, it really brightened my day.
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Today I recieved an email from Adam Wollerton who is sixteen and has recently finished his first fantasy book. Very well done Adam. Another prodigy! Makes me feel a bit old really. Adam has a few questions for me, some of which I've actually already covered further down the page, so I'll answer in a slightly different format than normal, with Adam's questions first and then my answers in bold type. Here goes:
1) How long was the first book that you finished and how long did it take to get published?
The first book that I finished was about 49,000 words when I finished it. I tried to get it published for almost two years, but eventually gave up and moved onto my next project (which found a publisher within a few months). My first book (like many first books) has never found a home, and I'm doubtful now that it ever will, especially in its original form. The secret is not to let that stop you, but to keep writing and trying to find a publisher.
2) How old were you when you finished it?
I was twenty when I finished my first book. I started it when I was about eighteen, I think. I had a bit of a problem with finishing things when I was younger - I started dozens of projects but always gave up on them midway through, either because I couldn't stop myself from tinkering endlessly with the first chapter or two, or because I had no idea about how to plot things out and just didn't know what to do when I got to the middle!
3) Is it easier to get published when you're older?
Look a little way down the page and see my answer to Grant's question for all the information you need on this question.
4) Did you decide to get an agent straight away, or did you try publishers first?
I wanted whatever I could get - an agent OR a publisher, whoever wanted me! I sent queries for my first book to lots of agents and lots of publishers, but while I recieved many encouraging letters from editors, I only ever recieved form 'Thanks but no thanks' slips from agents. I was a bit luckier when I finished my second book - the very first publisher that I sent it to liked it and offered to pay me to do some re-writing (they call that a development fee). Then a little while after that the very first agent to whom I had sent some sample chapters of my second book called me and offered to represent me.
If you'd like a bit more general information, Adam, you could read all the way down to the bottom of this page - most people have asked some varient of the questions you've put to me, and you might find it interesting or useful. The best of luck with your book, and please let me know if you have any good news.
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Grant has emailed me again, wanting a bit more information. He's a bit worried that his book might be too short - it's seventeen A4 pages.
My Answer:
When it comes to books, the right length is determined by who the story is written for. Who do you see reading your story? If it's people of your own age, then you need to find out the normal length of books which are published for people in your age range. If your book turns out to be much longer or much shorter than that, you might have problems interesting a publisher in your work. In that case, you would need to find a way to either add something to your story, to increase its length, or else trim it down to make it shorter. If you can't think of any way to do either, then you have a choice: decide to submit it anyway and hope for the best, or put it to one side for a while and work on something else until a solution presents itself to you.
So you need to figure out just how long your book is. You need to know the amount of words, because that is how publishers measure your story. If you haven't written your story on a PC or word processor that has a word count facility, don't panic - you don't have to count every single word.
First, count the words in ten average lines of your story, then divide the total by ten to give you the average number of words per line in your story. For this example, we'll say the average comes to 10.
Count the average number of lines of writing on a page. Usually this will be more or less the same on each page, but if it varies from, say, 28 to 30, pick the middle number (in this case 29).
Now multiply the average number of words per line by the average number of lines per page, like this:
10 words per page X 29 lines per page = 290 words per page.
Then multiply that number by the number of pages in your story, like this:
290 words per page X 10 pages = 2900 words in the story.
You can work out the word count of published books in the same way, though you'll need to take into account any blank pages or ones where a new chapter starts halfway down a page. This is how you can compare your story to others which you like. Then you'll know if your story is too long, too short, or just about right.
I hope this is useful, Grant, and once again, the best of luck to you.
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Today I've had an email from Grant, who is twelve and has written a book (well done!) which he would like to get published. He'd like to know if there are any publishers who publish books written by children.
My Answer:
Yes, there are publishers who will publish books written by young people. Publishers want good books, and if you've written one, they don't care how young or old you are. Catherine Webb had her first book 'Mirror Dreams' published when she was just fourteen, by Atom Books. In fact, any publisher would be happy to find a really good book by a young person because it makes for such good publicity, and practically guarantees good sales for the book! You haven't said what kind of thing you've written, but since you've asked me for advice on it, I'm going to assume that it's a children's book, and offer advice accordingly.
Basically you need to do your research, and find a publisher who will want to publish the kind of thing that you've written. Your first resource is your own book shelf. Look at your favourite books, and see who published them. The address of the publisher can be found on the first few pages with the copyright information. Check your local library and bookshops too. Once you've got a few publishers on your list, search for them online and see what their guidelines for submissions are. Be prepared for disappointment - some of them may say that they don't accept 'unagented submissions'. That means you would have to get an agent before they'd be willing to look at your book (for advice on getting an agent, see the information further down the page). However, a lot of children's publishers are still happy to look at work that comes directly from an author, so don't give up.
If you can afford it, try to get hold of one of the books I've recommended further down the page: 'The Writer's Handbook' or 'The Writer's and Artist's Yearbook'. The best one for a beginner is probably 'The Writer's and Artist's Yearbook'. It offers you information on all the publishers in the UK and most of the ones abroad, and also helpful articles about how to put your submission (that is, the package you will send the publisher) together. Details such as how your story itself should be laid out on the page, and what sort of thing you should put in your letter to the publisher, are very important.
When you have your list of possible publishers or agents, and you know how to send your work into them, take a deep breath, pick the top three or four on the list, and send your book off (remembering to include a stamped addressed envelope so your story can be sent back to you). Again, be prepared for disapointment. Chances are that those packages will come back to you with a polite note of rejection. Don't give up! Remember that nearly all writers get rejected many, many times before they find a publisher - my very first book was never accepted by anyone. Work your way down the list until you have tried all the possibilities. Take note of any personal or encouraging words and think about what they mean to your work.
I know this sounds very depressing, but the answer is to make sure that while your first book is out there braving the world, you are writing something else, which will take up your attention and enthusiasm. That way any rejections for the first project will sting much less.
And if and when you find a publisher for your work, you must come back and tell me all about it! I'll have my fingers crossed for you, Grant.
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Two more good questions today. Nicholas asks how long a book for children should be (his, aimed at children from 10-13, is 27,000 words long) and also asks for some help in telling a blurb from a synopsis.
My Answer:
Most authors (myself included) worry that our work runs too long - but Nicholas (and probably many others) worry that it might be too short. So first of all let's get it straight that these days - as J K Rowling, Phillip Pullman, Patricia McKillip, Margaret Mahy and many other authors have recently proved - there's no real rule on the length (or otherwise) of children's books. Editors want you to use exactly the amount of words that it takes to set up a compelling story, concrete world and 3D characters. That's the only hard and fast rule.
However, having said that, if you're a new author you want to give your book the very best chance of getting published, which means asking about the optimum length is a very wise thing to do. If you plonk down a 100,000 word manuscript for five-year-olds you're just making life harder than it needs to be. Obviously that's an extreme, but it can - and has - happened.
Publishers tend to separate their lists of books into quite strict age-groups, such as 5-7, 8-12, Young Adult...and each one has it's own optimum lengths. But these optimum lengths vary from publishing house to publishing house, from imprint to imprint within those houses, and from editor to editor within the imprints! Nightmare! How are you supposed to find out the right length?
The only sure way to find out is to check the Writer's and Artist's Yearbook or the Writer's Handbook (or the children's versions of either of these) and the website of the publisher if they have one, and see what they ask for. Then you'll have some idea and you can make an effort to perhaps persuade your story into the right shape.
But what if your story won't fit the shape? Well, I've heard my editor talk about this and he thinks that the ideal length for a children's book is between 30-40,000 words. How come, then that The Swan Kingdom - the book he bought from me - is 65,000? That's a pretty big discrepancy. This goes back to what I said first of all. It makes life easier if you can fit your story the optimum length for its genre and age group, but if your work is strong enough, a few extra words won't stop them from accepting your book. So do your research and then go for it.
As for synopsis versus blurb...this one is easy. A blurb is a short, colourful paragraph that usually goes on the back flap of a book, that doesn't tell you much about the story itself but tries to entice the reader into wanting to buy it. Publishers have their own people to do this, so its nothing for you to worry about.
On the other hand, the synopsis is your job. It's there so that, if an editor likes the sample chapter you've sent, they can get an idea of the shape of the rest of the book. It's a complete run down of the story from beginning to end, written in chronological order (that is, the events take place in the same order they do in the story), usually in the present tense in no more than about four pages. It's not your job to hype things up here. You write it in an engaging style, make it entertaining, but it's not the time for 'selling' the story or making grand claims about how it's the next Lord of the Rings. Just say what happens to who, how, when and why, and your work is done.
Another email, with a very good question: 'If I submit the synopsis for my book to an agent and/or publisher, what's stopping them stealing my ideas?'
My Answer:
Nothing, I'm afraid. There is no copyright on ideas.
There is a law against 'plagiarism' which is someone actually using the words that you've written and claiming credit for them. So if you take any part of that chapter I've posted on the My Books page and claim you wrote it, then I can sue you. Of course, I'm far more likely to hunt you down and remove your bones from your body one by one - but if that option was not open to me for some reason, you'd be toast in the courts.
However, I cannot even convey to you how unlikely it is for anyone to want to pinch your story idea - seriously, it's just not going to happen. Not if you send you work to any reputable agent or publisher, anyway. And, having taken my advice and read those books below, you won't be sending your work to anyone disreputable, will you?
Let's look at it sensibly. First of all, WHY would a publisher or agent want to steal your idea? To write it themselves? That's not what they do: they make a living from representing or publishing books. Your ideas are no good to them. Nor could they give your idea to another writer. Speaking as a writer myself (and I know quite a lot of other writers - we're all exactly the same), I have way more ideas of my own than I know what to do with. I've got notebooks full of ideas for stories that I hope I'll live long enough to write. If my editor or agent came to me with someone else's idea I'd be insulted and suspicious. Why on earth would I want to write someone else's idea instead of my own? So that's not going to happen.
Finally, if you've got an idea that's good enough that anyone would want to steal it...why wouldn't that agent or publisher just take you on and get you to write it? You're the one that understands the idea the best and will write it the best. It's your unique voice and way of putting story, theme and character together that will make the idea worthwhile anyway. Intriguing ideas are ten a penny - execution is the tough part. And because you're a first-time writer you'll be really cheap to get hold of, which makes it a win-win situation for the publisher.
If you're seriously worried that someone might make away with your brilliant idea, then put your synopsis or manuscript in an envelope, take it to the post office, get them to date stamp it across the sealed flap and then send it to yourself. When it arrives, do not open it but put it somewhere safe. Then if you see a book suspiciously like yours on the shelf and you have the time and money to pursue a suit for plagiarism you can prove you had the idea first. Except that you probably didn't.
There are about four other versions of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale 'The Wild Swans' that I know of. I own a picture book of it myself. Does that mean I stole someone else's idea to write the story? Nope. I took the bare basic bones of that story and re-arranged them into my own vision, then added the muscle of character and the skin of writing style and voice to come up with an entirely unique creature (like some kind of mad scientist, in fact - mwaaa-haa-haaa!). Each version of the story will be completely different from the others in the way it deals with the events, the themes it choses to emphasize, the characters depicted and the voice used to tell the story. If you didn't know that they were based on the same fairytale you might not even recognise it on reading them (well, the swans might give it away).
The same is true of almost every successful book that's been written...ever. J K Rowling's books are a mish-mash of old ideas which work because of her characters and ability as a story-teller. Meg Cabot's 'Mediator' and '1800-Where-R-U' books are both based on simple, much used ideas which shine because of the life Cabot breathes into them with her unique style. A dozen other people probably had similar ideas about wizard schools and ghost-hunters/psychics and wrote books on them, but those books either didn't get published because they weren't very well-written or did get published and didn't do that well because they didn't have the talent of Cabot or Rowling. Even Shakespeare's work is acknowledged to have been 'influenced' by that of another playright called Marlowe. His blazing talent as a wordsmith was what made Shakespeare a legend, not the ideas he used.
There are simply no 'new' ideas in the world. What's new is the way that you envision and write them. So stop worrying about fiendish agents or editors kidnapping your story and just get on with writing it.
My very first email asking for advice! This comes from a young writer named Jenny, who is seventeen and has just finished her first manuscript for teenagers. She's tried some agents but she's been rejected and she feels that she's caught in a 'catch-22' - she can't get published without an agent, but she can't get an agent without a publisher.
My Advice:
The first thing I'd say to you is that it's really no good trying to get an agent before you have a publisher. Not in my experience, anyway! You have to be very, very lucky to do that. But luckily (in another way) what you say about the catch-22 isn't really true when it comes to finding a publisher for young adults and children.
A lot of very, very successful writers in that area broke through on their own and continue to represent themselves to this day. Children's publishers generally have a more open attitude to new writers. Finding a publisher first is the best way to go - then you can go to an agent and say 'I have a publisher!' In fact, that's almost what I did. I found a publisher who paid me to do some alterations to my story, and THEN got an agent.
I recommend getting hold of the latest copy of whatever publishing journal or yearbook is the best in your country (I have listed a couple below that are good for the UK, and they do have lists of publishers for other countries). Look at the publishers there, and make a list of everyone you think might take your book on, starting with the best one and leading down to the slim chances (unless you're very unusual, you might just work your way right down to the bottom of that list - it's part of being a new writer).
Make sure your manuscript (that's your story on paper) or your query package is precisely that that publisher wants. Check their listings in the yearbook and their websites for tips. Then send it off, and start work on your next story.
I can't emphasize that bit enough. Keep working. If you're like me, your very first book might never find a publisher in its original form. But what really takes the sting from that realisation is that you're completely involved in your next book and you just KNOW this one will make it. It's saved my sanity on many occasions.
I hope this is useful to you. Good luck, Jenny, and keep writing.
