I'm Taking an Indefinite Break

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry to announce that when I finally get around to completing my historical fantasy novel THE DARK AND THE SAPPHIRE (sequel to THE RED AND THE SCARLET), I will be taking an indefinite break from writing. This may mean for good, it may not, hence indefinite. I will probably still blog here, as I'm happy to share the loads of advice I've gathered and hunted down over nearly eight years of writing, but I myself will not be writing. This includes dropping my pursuit of getting published and continuing on my unfinished projects other than TDATS and a story my sister and I hope to get around to co-writing. Before y'all protest, there's a number of factors in my decision.


1. College

I simply don't have time for anything these days beyond occasionally decompressing with my friends in the library or over a movie, and that usually involves homework anyway. I'm projected to have close to twenty credits every semester except when student teaching, and y'all who have student taught know how much time that leaves you. I tried to reboot my writing habits (I went from writing a thousand words a day to maybe ten words a month) with Camp NaNoWriMo, but it's just not working. I ended up losing sleep trying to catch up with the word count goal. I'm too busy.

2. Lack of Interest

I've written nine novels, queried three, and out of them all, THE RED AND THE SCARLET is the finest thing I've ever written. Normally, every time you write something new, it becomes the finest thing you've ever written, but my recent works, though polished and possibly more advanced technically, are just not working for me at all and do not have the depth and development of TRATS. Knowing my limits, I doubt I'll be able to top the TRATS and TDATS duology. As it is, I'm struggling to keep the end of TDATS up to par with the rest of the work. That said, I've been querying TRATS and though it fits the market beautifully (diversity, female POC lead, historical fantasy in a non-European setting, upper YA, siblings and pirates and revolution and politics and slow-burning romance), I essentially have been told the same thing about fifty times: "This is amazing, but I don't want it. But don't give up on it! I KNOW someone else will love it!"

Unfortunately, despite the gatekeepers' promises, no one else wants it.

I've revised TRATS and edited the heck out of it according to people's advice, and I dare not go further trying to groom it for the market. It's as marketable as anything (I always get plenty of favorites in pitch contests and plenty of requests), and I've combed it over a span of three years now for what exactly is wrong with it, and I've found my answer: nothing. It's just not my time to get published, apparently, or it may be that it's just not in my future at all. As hard as it is, especially with people encouraging me that I'm destined to get published, it's time to come to grips with the reality that it's just not happening.

That said, it's exciting seeing everyone who has helped me out and vice versa get picked up by agents and publishers. A good deal, if not all, of my #YayYA friends, fellow contest entrants, and pitch swappers have signed deals, and I'll gladly stand on the sidelines to offer feedback and wave pompoms for those of you still looking for a bite. Personally, though, for me, it's time to hang up the towel. I do still have a couple queries out there in the blue, and if I was to suddenly get an offer on TRATS, I'd undoubtedly pick up the pen again, but otherwise I am not planning on continuing to query.

3. Next Stage

Yes, yes, I know, I'm young. But I think this moving on is just an unfortunate part of growing up. I've been writing in chapter form since I was 5 and hoping to get published almost just as long, but there's a difference between being an excellent teen writer in a world of excellent adult writers and getting attention for that and then being another adult writer in a overcrowded market. It's kind of like going from being the most top-notch student at your high school to being just another scholarship winner at your college full of other former best-in-their-school kids. Sometimes being a prodigy doesn't mean success later in life, and it seems this is the direction my talent in writing is going.



That all said, I just want to make a couple things clear :)

1. No, I'm not considering self-publishing 

2. I will still be blogging on both of my blogs

3. I will still hold #YayYAs in the future

4. I'm still happy to read your work before you sub to contests/agents

5. I'm immensely grateful to everyone to put their time and effort into me and my work and trying to help me. Your efforts were not in vain. They just helped in ways unrelated to publishing (I now have a wonderful community of online friends!)

Thanks everyone, again! If you have questions, I'm happy to answer.

Happy Writing! I'll enjoy hearing about how you all are progressing with your own writing journey.

Mine is seemingly drawing to a close.

New Vlog!! What She Wrote Episode #005: Six Resources for New Writers

Sorry for the hiatus, y'all. Too many pre-collegey things happening. But here you go! Episode five, in which I share my favorite resources for new writers. The links to the aforementioned resources are in the video's description. Don't forget to subscribe, if you haven't!


Next week will be on the topic of fantasy world building. Also, hit me up with questions! I hope to do a Q+A video sometime soon.


Enjoy!!

Why You Should Write Characters with Drive

This post is the first in a series on character development. 

I once read somewhere that a writer should "make their characters want something, even if it's just a glass of water, and your readers will relate to them."
While this is entirely true, and sometimes giving your characters a simple desire like breakfast (Bilbo Baggins) as opposed to changing the universe for the good of humankind, is more relatable, I would add this: creating determination and drive in a character, focused on achieving their goals, makes them more relatable and memorable.
I say, write passionate characters! Write characters who care about what they want and for what they strive for, and have them reach for it.

In fact, I believe that the reason Les Mis minor character and Barricade Boy torchbearer Enjolras is so popular in the fandom is because he fights with adamant determination and command for his aspirations. I don't know too many people, even among those who have read Les Mis, interested in setting up a non-Napoleonic French republic out of a wine shop with their college friends, and yet here we are cheering Enjolras on, because we can relate to his drive and admire his charisma as a leader.


Not all characters with such drive, though, have to be leaders. I don't know anyone who has read Lord of the Rings and didn't admire Sam Gamgee. Sam has a simple but noble purpose: he wants to help his friend, and to be a friend, putting aside his hopes for a peaceful, domestic life in the Shire, and instead helping Frodo reach his own goal of saving Middle Earth. Not only does he make this personal sacrifice, but he never gives up.

Liesel Meminger in The Book Thief is determined to read books. Any books. At first, this is out of self-interest and loneliness, but it soon becomes an obsession, as she wants to do something, anything, for her sickly friend Max. Something so commonplace becomes something personally important. Because Liesel, eager, spirited, and committed, goes far out of her way for the books, we, the readers, relate to her struggle and want her to find them.

Sometimes, having a group of characters with the same goal is even better, because it bonds them and amplifies their cause, such as the aforementioned Barricade Boys of Les Mis and their political dreams, or the Gladers in The Maze Runner and their desperation to leave the Maze.

To give a character such drive, you must give them something that they want. It can be liberty, it could be a dog, it could be a glimpse of the stars. It should be personal. Personal desires hit closer to home with readers than great and lofty goals for the universe. And then you must make your characters fight for it.

What a character wants doesn't have to be central to the plot, though it can be a part of it. Take Hugo's notebook in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, or Ender's desire to write his sister Valentine in Ender's Game. Both characters learn they have to work to gain their wishes, Hugo by sweeping floors, and Ender by competing in Battle School.

Write characters with determination, and those ever-elusive stakes will arise on their own. Liesel wants
to find books, but these books condemned by the Nazi government and she must keep them hidden for the sake of her family's safety. Enjolras wants to start a revolution, but if it is unsuccessful, it will be at the cost of his friends' lives. Ender wants to contact his sister, but any leaked information from Battle
School could jeopardize the institution's defense program. The Gladers want to get out of the Maze and rediscover their past, but to do so puts them, one by one, at risk of death, narrowing everyone's chance of survival. But if a character does not have personal wants and dreams, stakes won't arise, because they will not care about "bad things happening" if it doesn't affect them or what they want (especially this) directly. And if the character doesn't care, neither will the readers.

What do your characters want, and how do they fight for it?