How NOT TO Scare Away Publishers & Agents

Publishers and Agents are like deer. If approached quietly and with respect, they will stick around and may even let you ‘feed’ them. But move too suddenly or too fast and you are likely to send them fleeing.

I’ve been submitting to publishers and agents for longer than I care to remember – and I’ve learned a lot along the way.

Since I’ve adopted this acquired wisdom, I’m happy to say that my number of acceptances seems to be increasing every year.

But where do you go for advice about author/publisher/agent etiquette? There are so many unwritten rules. Being a writer, I thought it was time someone wrote them down.

My writerly friends at KWD agreed, and they have generously chipped in and given me their tips as well. (Thanks everyone at KWD).

THE LIST OF PREVIOUSLY UNWRITTEN RULES

1.            NUMBER OF MANUSCRIPTS COMPLETED

Never admit to having 80 manuscripts in your filing cabinets  (like I did). I’m not sure whether it makes publishers and agents think you’re a little unhinged or perhaps it’s the thought of taking on an author who has a complete slush pile of her own. (I never said they had to read them all, lol)).

Now I’m going to admit something to you here (but don’t tell on me)…my pile is actually closer to 90 now. See I can’t stop writing…even if I try…characters keep bursting into my head and begging me to tell their story.

Of course many of these manuscripts aren’t publishable. I look on the earlier ones as my ‘training wheels’ – they are the ones I wrote when I was ‘learning to write’ – the ones I never sent out.  I’m still learning, but I had a lot more to learn back then.

So if you’re a high volume writer, it’s definitely best to keep some of your manuscripts a secret…at first.

2.            BEHAVIOUR AT CONFERENCES

The following are definitely out:

• Getting drunk and whispering sentimentally to a publisher or agent that they remind you of your mother.
• Following publishers/agents everywhere and offering to buy them drinks.
• Following them to the bathroom and talking to them through the cubicle wall.
• Following them full stop.
• Pitching to them in a social environment – if a publisher has just consumed a large and sumptuous main, there’s nothing that will cause them reflux more than an author pitching their 200,000 word sci fi, thriller, mystery romance over dessert.

I never tell a publisher or agent what I am working on unless they ask. If they ask, that means want to know. It means they will listen to my pitch rather than smiling through gritted teeth as they try to disguise what they are really thinking (I wish this pesky author would leave me in peace).

Before the conference I always think about what piece of work I might want to pitch (if requested). Then I write out a 25 to 30 word spiel, which I memorise. This stops me rambling with nerves till the publishers/agent’s eyes glaze over and it soon becomes clear that they are sorry they asked.

• NEVER abuse your friendship or relationship with another writer. If they want to introduce you to their agent or publisher, that’s their choice. But it’s really bad form to march up to a well-known author’s agent or publisher and ‘drop their name’; making out you are their ‘bestie’, and that by association, this makes your writing irresistible.

3.            THE ‘QUERY’

Advising a publisher/agent that they are missing the opportunity of a lifetime if they don’t take you/your manuscript on is enough to cause them reflux all over again.

Don’t think you can con an agent into believing that they requested your manuscript. Most of them keep very good records, and if you’re not on their list of ‘requests’, you have the potential to make them dislike you before they’ve even read a word of your query.

Telling a publisher or agent that your manuscript is a ‘fiction novel’ is a dead giveaway that you are a newbie. ALL novels are fiction…that’s what a novel is…a work of fiction.

Glitter and stickers on envelopes are also things that may induce nausea in publishers/agents.

4.            ONLINE BEHAVIOUR

Many agents now have blogs, chat forums and a presence on twitter. It’s fine to keep up with what they are doing and gratefully receive their tips BUT ‘interesting person’ is okay, ‘stalker’ is not. Harassing anyone won’t ‘endear’ you to them.

5.            OTHER ‘UNWRITTEN RULES’

• If the answer to your query is “No”, don’t write back and ask for specific feedback on your manuscript. Frustrating I know…as writers, we are desperate to know why we are being ‘rejected’ BUT if publishers/agents responded in depth to EVERY query, then they might never have got around to reading yours in the first place. Publishers/agents may give feedback if your manuscript nearly made it over the line.
• NEVER tell them that your kids/grandkids, local school children/neighbour’s dog etc LOVE your manuscript. Publishers/agents make up their own minds and trying to influence them in this way, might invite the obvious response.

If your kids/grandkids, local school children/neighbour’s dog etc LOVE your manuscript, perhaps they should be the ones publishing it.

• Telling publishers/agents that you have self-published already and everyone you know has bought a copy is something else that WON’T persuade them to take you/your masterpiece on.

Recently, my writerly friends and I were discussing this very topic and we realized that something we have to accept is that publishers/agents and authors work within different urgency scales.

Writers are URGENT PEOPLE; ‘desperate’ for an answer on will my book be published? When will it be published etc?

But publishers/agents would succumb to a nervous breakdowns if they felt this same level of urgency towards ALL their authors. They are involved in a business where what they do has to form part of a plan; where they have to prioritise.

The writers’ solution: A virtual waiting room where we meet to pass the time. We repaint walls, hide in cupboards, tear our hair out (virtually of course), and talk about how much patience you need to be a writer. We do what it takes to keep us motivated and put out of our mind the fact that we are waiting for someone else to make a decision that’s going to have such a huge impact on our lives.

You’re welcome to come and wait with us if you like:-)

I hope you found this post useful.

Thanks to all my writerly friends at  KWD for their contributions to this post, and for being such good company in ‘the waiting room’.

Dee:-)

P.S. If you’re a publisher, agent or author with a tip we haven’t covered, please feel free to add it to the comments section of this post.

TUESDAY WRITING TIP – REVIEWING vs EDITING SKILLS

Tuesday Writing Tips is back here today! I’m so excited because my writerly friend, Claire Saxby is visiting  RIGHT NOW to talk about her gorgeous new book baby.

Today is the day that Claire Saxby’s There Was an Old Sailor, and my Tuesday Writing Tips blog tours cross over. This is a first for me and my blog, so I hope you enjoy the journey with us.

I’m reviewing Claire Saxby’s beautiful new book, There Was an Old Sailor, and I’ll be talking about reviewing vs editing skills. Claire has a reviewing tip of her own which I’m sure you’ll find useful.

But first, she agreed to answer a few questions for us.

1.    What is your favourite sea creature in the book?

I like the way the squid swirls through the pages, but I think my favourite in the book is the ray, with his green and spots. He looks as if he’s planning to keep himself as broad as possible to try to avoid being swallowed. He doesn’t look panicked, just resolute.

2.    What is the worse thing you ever swallowed?

Ooh, you’ve brought back memories of my early childhood. I did like to chew things. I swallowed several plastic eyes from toy cats and other toys. All with no ill effects!

3.    I believe this story is a real favourite in classrooms. Can you tell us why?

I think it’s because of the absurdity of it, the idea of a sailor being able to swallow all these sea creatures. Children also enjoy the rhythm and soon join in. It also doesn’t hurt that I take in a three-dimensional sailor with a wide open mouth, and a set of the sea creatures for him to ’swallow’.

4.    Do you have any tips for new authors interested in doing classroom visits?

Moo. Perhaps in private. I was once told to ‘moo’ before any classroom visit. It does two things. It helps to warm up your voice and the very act of mooing tends to help break through nervousness.

And this might sound obvious, but read your book to them. Even if they’ve asked you to talk about your process or story writing, they still want to hear an author read their story.

NOW FOR THE REVIEW OF THERE WAS AN OLD SAILOR

Okay, I’ll admit right from the start that Claire is a writerly friend of mine, but that has nothing to do with how much I love her new picture book, There Was an Old Sailor.

It’s based on the well-loved There Was an Old Woman who swallowed a fly, but this aquatic version puts a whole new slant on things, and has a happy ending.

The rhythm of the text moves the reader along at a cracking pace, but it’s the action and descriptions and the amazing drawings by Cassandra Allen that make this picture book such a wonderful addition to any library.

Okay, so what the sailor does is actually a bit icky (although kids love icky) but his kind eyes and jolly demeanour brought to life by Cassandra Allen make him totally endearing.

This book is full of humour, and text and illustrations that will enthral young readers. It also introduces them to the amazing creatures that inhabit the sea. The Old Sailor is a great character and the resolution is satisfying for the reader. It’s a great book for the classroom – especially for those grades studying sea creatures.

My favourite bit:

There was an old sailor who swallowed a shark.

It must have been dark when he swallowed the shark.

MY TIPS ON REVIEWING vs EDITING SKILLS

In my experience, editing skills and reviewing skills are not that different. That’s why it can be so useful for a writer to review other people’s books. It teaches you what to look for…what are the things you like/dislike in what you read?  What draws you as a reader to a story.

The similarities I see between reviewing and editing are that both require you to look at:

• Does the opening grab the reader’s attention?
• Does the story maintain reader attention?
• Are the characters well drawn?
• Is the dialogue realistic?
• Does the story appeal overall?
• Is the voice unique and appealing?

These are all questions worth asking yourself when you are editing your own work.

CLAIRE’S TIP ON REVIEWING

You don’t have to love a book to review it favourably. Imagine the target audience for the book. Will it satisfy them? Let that guide the review.

It has been so much fun having Claire visit us today.

You can also catch up with Claire at some other great blogs on her tour:

Monday 8 February: Sally Murphy’s Writing for Children <http://www.sallymurphy.blogspot.com/>

Tues 9 February: Dee White’s Tuesday Writing Tips <http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/>

Wed 10 February: Dale Harcombe’s Read and Write with Dale http://www.livejournal.com/users/orangedale/>

Thurs 11 February: Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s books <http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com/>

Fri 12 February: Lorraine Marwood’s Words into Writing http://lorrainemarwoodwordsintowriting.blogspot.com/>

Sat 13 February: Mabel Kaplan’s Tales I Tell <http://belka37.blogspot.com/>

Sun 14 February: Sandy Fussell’s Stories are Light http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/>

Our Tuesday Writing Tips tour continues next week at Sandy Fussell’s blog where we’ll be talking about what writers need to read. Hope you can join us then. Here’s the itinerary for the Tuesday Writing Tips tour:

DATE	BLOG	TOPIC
2ND February 2010	Claire Saxby’s bloghttp://letshavewords.blogspot.com	Writing Picture Books – Leaving room for the illustrator.
9th February 2010	Dee White’s bloghttp://deescribewriting.wordpress.com (That’s here:-)	Reviewing ‘There Was an Old Sailor’Reviewing vs Editing skills.
16th February 2010	Sandy Fussell’s blogwww.sandyfussell.blogspot.com	Writers Need to be avid free range readers
23rd February 2010	Robyn Opie’s blogwww.robynopie.blogspot.com	How to make your story longer – adding layers.
2ND March 2010	Angela Sunde’s blogwww.angelasunde.blogspot.com	More about Point of View – head hopping.

Thanks for dropping in Claire. It has been great to talk with you about your beautiful new picture book,

There Was an Old Sailor.

The Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour continues next week. If you have a writing question, feel free to leave it in the comments section of this post.

Happy writing.

Dee:-)

P.S. Don’t miss tomorrow’s post at http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com It’s all about How “NOT TO” Scare Away Publishers and Agents”.

TUESDAY WRITING TIPS – TOMORROW’S TIP – REVIEWING vs EDITING SKILLS

Don’t miss tomorrow’s interview with author Claire Saxby, and a review of her gorgeous new picture book, There Was an Old Sailor.

This is a pioneering event in blogging; two blog tours will cross over. In a post about Reviewing vs Editing skills, Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour will cross over with Claire’s blog tour for There Was an Old Sailor.

Catch the writing tips and info this Tuesday (that’s tomorrow) at http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com Meet Claire and find out about her brand new book.

Hope to see you here.

Dee:-)

P.S. Don’t miss Wednesday’s post “How NOT to Scare Away Publishers and Agents”.

DISCOVERY OR DESECRATION

If you’ve read my YA novel, Letters to Leonardo, you’ll have discovered that I have a long-held fascination with the amazing and talented Leonardo da Vinci.

In Letters to Leonardo, my main character Matt writes to the long dead painter as a way of making sense of what’s happening in his own life. He relates events and people to Leonardo’s paintings.

Dear Leonardo,

…they never fooled you with their lies did they, Leo? You just have to look at your paintings to know, “There’s someone who sees right to the heart of everything.”

So, as you can see, my interest in Leonardo da Vinci probably falls under the ‘obsession’ category.

Which is why I was dismayed to hear that ‘they’ are planning to exhume his body so they can study his skull to determine whether the Mona Lisa is based on Leonardo himself or his mother.

Now I’m no scientist, but wouldn’t his mother’s skull be a similar shape to his?

So, what will all this really show us?

That some people will go to any lengths to ‘prove’ something.

As a writer, I can understand this quest for discovery. As a person, I cringe at the thought.

I say,”Leave Leonardo in peace”.

Dee

TUESDAY WRITING TIPS – CLAIRE SAXBY’S PICTURE BOOK WRITING TIP

I had such a wonderful time visiting Claire Saxby at http://letshavewords.blogspot.com today. Claire had some great advice for picture books writers.

Here’s her final tip:

Keep description to a bare, bare minimum. Include only descriptive details that absolutely have to be there. eg if the plot happens in a backyard, let the illustrator imagine it.

Next week, Claire is coming here to http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com to talk more about picture writing and her new picture book, There Was an Old Sailor, which was released by Walker Books on 1st February.

Hope you can join us then.

In the meantime, happy writing!

Dee:-)

TUESDAY WRITING TIP – PICTURE BOOKS – Leaving Room for the Illustrator

One of my writerly friends, Claire Saxby creates the most beautiful picture books. (Ebi’s Boat, A Nest for Kora, and Sheep, Goat and the Creaking Gate.)

Oh and of course there’s her wonderful new book, There Was an Old Sailor – just released yesterday!  (More on that at deescribewriting next week)

Claire manages to say so much in so few words. Today as part of the Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour, we’re off to visit her blog http://letshavewords.blogspot.com

Today Claire will talk to us about how to write picture books that leave room for the illustrator – so that pictures and words work together in perfect harmony.

So, come with me! Let’s talk picture books with Claire at http://letshavewords.blogspot.com and find out how she creates her beautiful books – and she has some great tips for picture book writers.

See you at Claire’s place.

Dee:-)

P.S. Claire is going to give us a great writing tip that will be posted here later.

CROSS BLOG TOUR FOR TUESDAY WRITING TIPS

Tuesday Writing Tips is going on a blog tour tomorrow. It’s a cross blog tour… nothing to do with anger management or people getting narky with each other. In fact, it’s a very happy occasion where two blog tours are going to interconnect.

Children’s author, Claire Saxby has a wonderful new Picture Book out today called There Was an Old Sailor. So, to celebrate its release, I’m going to visit her as part of my Tuesday Writing Tips Tour and she’s going to talk about writing picture books and Leaving Room for the Illustrator. Claire will have some great tips for Tuesday Writing Tips followers.

In the forthcoming weeks, I’ll be visiting other great blogs and collecting more writing tips along the way.

TUESDAY WRITING TIPS BLOG TOUR

This is what’s happening on the Tuesday Writing Tips Tour:

DATE	BLOG	TOPIC
2ND February 2010	Claire Saxby’s blog http://letshavewords.blogspot.com	Writing Picture Books – Leaving room for the illustrator.
9th February 2010	Dee White’s blog http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com (That’s here!)	Reviewing ‘There Was an Old Sailor’ Reviewing vs Editing skills.
16th February 2010	Sandy Fussell’s blog www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com	Writers Need to be avid free range readers
23rd February 2010	Robyn Opie’s blog http://robynopie.blogspot.com	How to make your story longer – adding layers.
2ND March 2010	Angela Sunde’s blog www.angelasunde.blogspot.com	More about Point of View – head hopping.

Hope you can join me on tour  every Tuesday for the next few weeks for some great Tuesday Writing Tips. Just visit http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com each Tuesday and follow the prompts and I’ll direct you to the next stop.

On Tuesday 9th February, Claire will visit my blog as part of her There Was an Old Sailor Tour. I’ll be reviewing her book and talking about editing vs reviewing skills. Claire will also have  a tip for us on reviewing – so this will also be a Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour visit.

Sound complicated? I thought so too, but really it’s quite simple. Here are some other great places you’ll be able to catch up with Claire on tour:

Monday 8 February: Sally Murphy’s Writing for Children <http://www.sallymurphy.blogspot.com/>

Tues 9 February: Dee White’s Tuesday Writing Tips <http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com/>

Wed 10 February: Dale Harcombe’s Read and Write with Dale <http://www.livejournal.com/users/orangedale/>

Thurs 11 February: Robyn Opie’s Writing Children’s books <http://www.robynopie.blogspot.com/>

Fri 12 February: Lorraine Marwood’s Words into Writing <http://lorrainemarwoodwordsintowriting.blogspot.com/>

Sat 13 February: Mabel Kaplan’s Tales I Tell <http://belka37.blogspot.com/>

Sun 14 February: Sandy Fussell’s Stories are Light <http://sandyfussell.blogspot.com/>

SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR TUESDAY WRITING TIPS FOLLOWERS?

• Twice the tips!
• Twice the fun!

Hope you can join Claire and I on our ‘interconnecting’ blog tours.

Happy writing.

Dee:-)

TURN YOUR STORY UPSIDE DOWN – CREATE THE UNEXPECTED

I know we already had one ‘bunny’ post this week, but I’m afraid I couldn’t resist this one.

My bunnies have regular toe nail trims, and up until recently it has always been a bit of a trauma for everyone. Bunnies have powerful legs and it’s hard to hold a kicking bunny still while you trim their toe nails.

But recently I discovered that if I lay them on their back to do it they become mesmerised…completely docile…completely co-operative.

At the time, I was working on a book that kept throwing up problems for me. That’s when I realised that I could apply the same principles to writing stories as I did to bunnies.

Turning your story upside down can actually HELP you get it under control.

Don’t be afraid to make your good characters a little bit bad, and your bad characters a little bit good.

Don’t be afraid to introduce something completely unexpected into your story. I have found it’s a great way to invigorate a tired story line or show you a completely new dimension to your main character.

I guess it comes back to the same thing – as writers we are always taking risks – always prepared to try something new.

Happy writing.

Dee:-)

(and the bunnies)

TUESDAY WRITING TIP – Networking for Writers

Pickachew bunny had his paws crossed that another rabbit would drop by one day;

I did warn you that the rabbits were going to hop into a blog post some time soon – and today’s the day.

It seemed appropriate to bring the bunnies into the conversation because we’re going to be talking about networking – and that’s something they’re very good at. They are the gentlest, most sociable animals I’ve ever known.

We started life with one bunny – a white fluffy boy called Pickachew – and when a stray brown girl bunny (Cosi) arrived on our doorstep, it was love at first sight.

We all fell in love with Cosi the stray bunny from the minute we saw her.

Up until then, Pickachew had been doing very well on his own – he wasn’t actually alone – we already had two cats, a dog and two goats – all of whom accepted Pickachew into the fold. But once Cosi arrived, Pickachew soon realized how wonderful it was to be amongst company of his own kind – and that’s the way it is with writers.

We work alone, but many of us love to meet with other writers to talk about what we do and the industry we work in.

That’s how we learn about so many things – not just about writing. We learn who is publishing what, we learn about what agents want (and don’t want). We learn how to deal with the dreaded ‘rejection’ and how it’s one step closer to being published. We learn that we are not alone – that what we do isn’t some bizarre type of brain cleansing ritual – it’s what people are doing all over the world – and it’s okay…even great…to be a writer.

On many occasions, networking has saved my sanity – and in the case of Letters to Leonardo, attending a SCBWI conference led to publication.

I am also a member of a couple of yahoogroups for writers and you can find these on the yahoogroups home page www.groups.yahoo.com

(There are quite a few to choose from.)

FACEBOOK GROUPS

There are many, but these are some of the ones I belong to that offer writing tips and resources for writers are:

• Authors, Agents and Aspiring Writers http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=204725947524
• DeeScribe Writing Tips and News (That’s my group)  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=205664860085
• The Childrens Book Council of Australia http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=91641366798
• Fans of SCBWI http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=115619215382
• The Well Read Rabbit http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=172823807141

OTHER GROUPS I FOLLOW OR BELONG TO:

• Scribblerati http://liakeyes.ning.com/
• #ScribeChat – Scribblerati’s new chat for writers, airing every Thursday on Twitter at 6-7 pm PT/9-10 ET.
• YAlitchat – http://yalitchat.ning.com/

ON TWITTER, I FOLLOW:

• #yalitchat
• #litchat
• #kidlitchat
• #wordchat
• #scribechat

I am also a member of my local writer’s centre and several writer’s groups, Jacketflap, the Australian Society of Authors, the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and Linked In http://au.linkedin.com/pub/dee-white/12/3a8/b13

CONFERENCES

Conferences are great for meeting publishers and agents, learning from other writers – and feeling like you belong.

I attend conferences whenever I can. I fund my attendance by:

• Being a speaker
• Being a volunteer
• Interviewing international authors and writing pieces about them for magazines
• Doing whatever I can to earn the money to go.

AUSSIE AUTHORS

Seeing as it’s Australia Day today, I thought I’d prepare a special list for my Aussie Writer friends.

• ACT Writers Centre www.actwriters.org.au
• Australian Centre for Youth Literature www.slv.vic.gov.au
• Australian Society of Authors www.asauthors.org
• Australian Horror Writers Association www.australianhorror.com
• Children’s Book Council of Australia www.cbc.org.au
• Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre (WA) www.kspf.iinet.net.au
• NSW Writers Centre www.nswwriterscentre.org.au
• NT Writers Centre www.ntwriters.com.au
• Queensland Writers Centre www.qwc.asn.au (Publisher of the Australian Writers’ Marketplace – a great resource for writers)
• SA Writers Centre www.sawriters.on.net
• Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers www.kspf.iinet.net.au
• Tasmanian Writers Centre www.tasmanianwriters.org
• Sisters in Crime (Australia)
  http://www.facebook.com/l/6bec9;home.vicnet.net.au/~sincoz/
• The Romance Writers of Australia www.romanceaustralia.com
• The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators www.scbwi.ampl.com.au
• Victorian Writers Centre www.vwc.org.au

ONLINE NEWSLETTERS (For Kid’s Writers)

Both these newsletters have great reviews, publishing industry news and writing articles. I have found out all sorts of useful info here:

Pass It On – http://jackiehoskingpio.wordpress.com

Buzz Words – http://www.buzzwordsmagazine.com/

Twitter list of Australian Children’s Authors www.twitter.com/katrinagermein/aust-children-s-authors

I hope you’ve found this useful. The bunnies have enjoyed ‘hopping in’.

I know there are probably stacks of groups and forums that I’ve missed. If you’re a member of one that you’d like to let other writers know about it, please leave the name and URL in the comments section of this post.

Thanks.

Next Tuesday, I’m starting the Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour. I’ll be visiting some great sites and collecting some very useful writing tips.

Here are the tour details:

DATE	BLOG	TOPIC
2ND February 2010	Claire Saxby’s bloghttp://letshavewords.blogspot.com	Writing Picture Books – Leaving room for the illustrator.
9th February 2010	Dee’s blog (that’s HERE:-))http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com	Reviewing ‘There Was an Old Sailor’Reviewing vs Editing skills.
16th February 2010	Sandy Fussell’s blogwww.sandyfussell.blogspot.com	Writers Need to be avid free range readers
23rd February 2010	Robyn Opie’s blogrobynopie.blogspot.	How to make your story longer – adding layers.
2ND March 2010	Angela Sunde’s blogwww.angelasunde.blogspot.com	More about Point of View – head hopping.

Hope you can join me on tour.

Don’t miss next Tuesday’s Writing Tip. It’s all about writing picture books – and leaving room for the illustrator. And we’ll be celebrating the release of Claire Saxby’s gorgeous new picture book, “There was an Old Sailor” Hope you can join us then.

Happy writing.

Dee

TUESDAY WRITING TIP – Pondering Point of View

Jessica had  a great question for us at the DeeScribewriting blog. She said:

I’d be interested in knowing a little more about choosing point of view in a young adult novel. Are there different considerations for YA as compared to adult novels? Are omniscient and third person possibilities or do the younger readers need the immediacy of first person?”

This is a really interesting question, Jessica and there is no right or wrong answer – it’s what works for you. Third person and first person are both fine for YA novels – it depends on you and your story. Young readers can cope with either.

My early drafts of Letters to Leonardo were in first person because I felt that it helped me to get closer to my main character, Matt – and seeing he was writing letters to Leonardo da Vinci, it seemed kind of essential.

I was awarded a mentorship to work on the manuscript with an experienced writer, and she recommended that I change the point of view to third person. She felt that this would allow for more description and scene setting. I tried, I really did – it just didn’t work for me. It made me feel too distant from my main character.

The publishers must have agreed because nobody was interested in publishing Space, the version that was written in third person. Then again, there were plenty of other things wrong with that manuscript too – but that’s a story for another day.

One of the strengths of writing YA in first person is that it allows you to establish a unique voice for your main character. This isn’t impossible in third person, it’s just that it’s harder to do – and I think, requires great skill as a writer.

I have read some stunning YA books written in third person. They work because they are so beautifully written that the author still manages to make you feel that you are right there with the main character, and the setting description draws you into their world.  I can’t list all of the great YA third person books here, but if you are looking for a place to start you could try:

• Dodger by Libby Gleeson
• Marty’s Shadow by John Heffernan
• Ganglands by Maureen McCarthy
• The Singer of all Songs by Kate Constable
• Feral Kid by Libby Hathorn

Third person allows for more physical description of the main character – it lets you see them through someone else’s eyes. It also allows you to keep secrets from your main character which another character knows – and the reader knows that they know – and wonders what will happen when the main character finds out. This is a great suspense builder and such secrets can be an important part of the character’s journey.

When Choosing Point of View – Ask yourself this:

“Who do I want to tell my character’s story? –How much does that person know?” The answers to these questions will help you make your decision.

It’s also a question of your writing style. If you’re not happy with how something is turning out, try writing it from a different point of view – this could be changing from first to third person or vice versa – or it could even require you to get a different character to tell your story.

My novel, Shadows of Silence (yet to be published) started out as a kid’s book. It’s about a child with selective mutism who can’t talk outside his home. It’s based on a true story and has powerful themes, but I soon realized it was too heavy going for kids. I rewrote it as an adult novel from the mother’s point of view and it works so much better.

For me, first person seems to be my natural voice, but maybe that’s because it’s the one I grew up using. I think if you are using first person, you need to make sure that you maintain your action, description and dialogue and try where possible to minimize the use of ‘I’.

So I suppose my final piece of advice is to see what comes naturally to you – and don’t be afraid to try rewriting your story in a different point of view if it doesn’t seem to be working.

I hope this helps. Thanks for sharing your question with us Jessica.

Happy writing

Dee:-)

If you have a writing question you’d like answered, leave it as a comment on this post, and I’ll schedule it in as a Tuesday Writing Tip.

Next Tuesday we’ll be looking at networking opportunities for authors. Hope you can join us then.

*    *    *    Stay tuned for more about point of view. We’ll be discussing First person and Third person POV in more detail on 2^nd March, and looking at how to hop from head to head.