This week's tips are on Creating and Revising – things I wish I'd known back when I was starting out, and that I'm happy to pass along to you now.
1) What you bring is YOU. You are the special sauce.
It isn't having the best idea (ideas are important) but it's how you execute the idea that makes it work or not work.
Ultimately, the thing you're bringing to every project is the thing no one else has... YOU.
So make your work as YOU as you possibly can. This is the secret to "voice." Tell your story in a way that is uniquely yours. That was the turning point with my own writing, and I wish I'd learned it sooner.
Cheers to Esther Hershenhorn, who asked me when giving me an incredibly kind critique of one of my first picture book manuscripts, which was about manners (with a burping frog and princess) if that was really what I was passionate to write. It wasn't. And I'm proud to now have three picture books (and counting) published about things I truly am passionate about.
Red and Green and Blue and White is about community.
Love of the Half-Eaten Peach is about love.
And
Like THAT Eleanor is about allyship.
Those are all things I am really passionate about.
And they're all uniquely "Lee" -- while each picture book is very different from the others, they all are stories told with my unique voice and take. Which is probably a big part of why they found publishing homes.
2) Collect the tips that work for you, and don't sweat the rest.
Everyone has a different take on how they approach doing their creative work. I've listened to so many different approaches, and over time I've figured out what works for me.
Perhaps the best advice that's worked for me is from Linda Sue Park, who shared that when her own writing time got more limited, she started doing 12 min writing sprints. She sets her timer for 12 minutes on her phone, and then tells herself she just has to focus for 12 minutes. If it's going well, and she has the time, she'll do another 12 minutes. The most she'd done in a row was 5, meaning 60 minutes.
This changed my creative life. I have a pretty demanding (and awesome) day job, and often I was holding off on writing until I had big blocks of 3 hours or more to really dig in. This meant, though, that I was only writing once every week or two.
Doing the writing sprints, repeating it nearly every day, has made me SO much more productive. What I've found is that by doing a little bit, every day, it really adds up. Also, the project seems to always be in the back of my mind, with my subconscious working on it, and getting back into it is much faster.
The secret of this is that I don't have any internal resistance to 12 minutes. I can nearly always say, okay, I have twelve minutes to write. And I can sit and do it, even at the end of a long and challenging day. (Though I do much better work if I'm doing my 12 minutes before everything else.)
Also, I don't do this 365 days a year. My creativity needs time off, sort of like seasons. Sprout, grow, harvest, plant the seed and wait to sprout again...
It's what works for me. Figure out what works for you, and don't worry about the rest.
3) Know your category. Read books in the area you're working to publish in.
Credit another tip (or maybe it was a challenge) to Linda Sue Park. She said if you're going to write a picture book, you should read 1,000 picture books. That's a LOT, but when you are really well-read in your category, you start to understand it all much better.
You can see the structure behind the words, you can figure out which stories resonate, and why, you can see patterns.
And it helps you see how your own work might fit in, push the boundaries, be pitched and sold.
It's also really helpful when someone (agent or editor) asks for comps.
4) You can always learn more and get better.
I will never forget the moment at an SCBWI conference intensive when there were a whole bunch of famous authors teaching and giving us exercises, and after teaching her section, Jane Yolen comes and sits next to me to do the just-assigned-by-someone-else exercise, just like I was.
I looked at Jane and, knowing she had hundreds (no exaggeration) of books published, asked, "Why are you doing the exercise?"
And she said something along the lines of 'The minute I stop learning I'll be dead.'
I can't recall the exercise we were doing, but I do hold onto this gem -- we can always learn more and get better at our craft.
5) The publishing business is cyclical.
"Picture books are dead!" ... "It's the golden age of picture books." ... "Picture books are impossible to sell right now."
"Middle grade is hot!" ... "You can't sell middle grade right now." ...
Just wait. It comes around. Work on what you're most passionate to work on. Let your agent sweat the merry-go-round of what's hot.
Maybe a manuscript can't find a home now, but will find one in a few years.
Know that you're more than one story,.
And the business is cyclical.
6) Think of revision as Re-vision.
This word play may come off a little corny, but don't get stuck in the words of your story. Allow yourself, in the process of revision, to pull back and see more than the sentences. Look at the story behind the words, the character arcs and motivations, the journey of the reader's emotions.
Kate Messner shared a very cool spreadsheet she uses to track elements chapter to chapter, and for longer work I've found that really helpful.
For picture books, sometimes it takes coming at the story from a whole new angle.
Play with it.
Revision is your time to make your story even more you, even more the story you want to tell.
7) Enjoy the adventure. Celebrate every moment you can.
There are going to be hard moments on this publishing journey, and in the face of our very human negative bias (where we focus on the bad rather than the good) it is so important to celebrate the wins.
The kind/personalized rejection.
The revise-and-re-offer request.
The expression of interest.
The manuscript going to acquisitions.
The offer.
The signed contract.
The editorial letter.
The revised manuscript sent in.
... all the steps towards the book being a reality: the editing, the interior and cover design, the marketing, the kind reviews, the accolades your book does get, and then your book reaching adult readers, and librarians, and booksellers, and teachers, and parents, and kiddos themselves...
and every so often, hearing from a reader, with their thanks and appreciation.
Take a moment to hold onto and celebrate those positive moments.
A reader I don't know called Like THAT Eleanor:
"A Perfect Pride Picture Book" and "a fantastic age appropriate story about how a kid can be an ally."
That's a win right there, and worth celebrating!
I hope you'll take the time to celebrate your wins, too. Every one of them. They'll sustain you.
I keep a file of nice things folks have said to me about my writing, with a few printed out and posted on my wall. Just to remind me: I've had wins. I can do this.
And you can, too.
**
That's this week's tips. Next week, my seven tips on getting published.
Until then,
Illustrate, Translate, and Write On,
Lee
No comments:
Post a Comment