December 25, 2022

You're writing a fantasy novel, and you've established a little bit of your world building so far...but you've run into a  problem. You don't know why your world is the way it is! This is when you start thinking about the history of your world.

Some great ways to establish history is to start asking yourself certain questions. Some that helped me begin to establish the history of my world:

1. Why is the current government in power? How did they come to be in power?

2. What is the social structure? Is there discrimination or certain people who are marginalized? What happened to make this the case?

3. What kind of stories would parents tell their children? What historical fact or event is that based upon? What lesson does it teach that the people of your world find valuable?

I've found creating children's stories or folktales is the easiest place to start when trying to establish historical events for your world. They're simplified, and often boiled down or twisted versions of the truth.  Start with trying to establish one or two common folktales and expand from there. Where did this story originate? What details have been left out or glossed over? What lesson is it trying to teach kids, and why pull it from that particular event? Has the story been pushed by your world's government? Do different countries tell the same story differently? All these are questions to ask yourself in order to get a grasp on why stories for children may have developed the way they did.

Propaganda is another great way to establish depth in the history of your world, too. History that is taught in schools isn't always correct - it will probably be the same in your world, too, especially depending on the government and how they choose to rule their people. Propaganda-ed history may have some similar traits to the folklore or children's stories you've established. What details were purposefully left out? What has simply been lost to time? Why did they twist the truth to fit a certain narrative? What is that narrative? 

Of course, you won't necessary divulge all these details while writing your story. Sometimes, the history you create won't ever make its way into the pages of your book. But it's still a good exercise in making your world richer, and can even help you build more believable and unique characters. After all, we are all influenced by our world whether we want to be or not. The history you create can help shape your characters motivations, desires, and flaws.

With that being said, next time we'll talk about how world building can affect your characters and how to incorporate all that hard work into building unique and interesting characters people will love.

I hope you have a wonderful new year!

-Tia

We're back again to talk about my writing process, and this time I'm going to tackle the arguably hardest part of my process in conjunction with the easiest—plotting and drafting.

Obviously, this works differently for everyone, and no two writers have the exact same processes. Mine is... chaotic, at best. But during the process of writing Of Blood, Bones, and Truth, I've learned a lot about me and what works best. 

I tend to find the first draft the most exciting! As I said in my previous blog post, my ideas usually form during this first "half-draft." I let myself daydream, I dump everything I can possibly think of in that draft and I don't hold myself to a specific set of scenes or plot points. I just write. For the ADHD side of my brain, this is helpful because it lets me cool off the little tangents my brain wants to go down when I'm writing. I get the itch for those out, and sometimes even help myself narrow down the plot.

But once that half-draft is written? I need to narrow the focus. With OBBT, I used a technique I learned from the queen herself, V.E. Schwab called the story skeleton. This involves writing a massive laundry list of all the scenes you want to include in your story at the most basic level. This worked great for OBBT, but it also left me with a lot of questions and gaps. 

As I began more fine-tuned edits of OBBT, I discovered a new drafting process (thanks to a beta reader, Gina!) that works even better than the story skeleton, and helps me focus on character arcs rather than plot (which I am guilty of focusing on the plot more than the character, oops). This 5-act structure gives me prompts to figure out character arcs while framing it within the lens of plot—a perfect balance for me.

The 5 acts are as follows:

1. Catalyst (pursuing goal, encounters problem).

2. Collision (antagonism that raises stakes) 

3. Change (conflict leads to new reality, choice changes everything) 

4. Change (conflict leads to new reality, choice changes everything) 

5. Climax (hero makes a sacrifice or loses goal) 

I find the 5 acts much easier to break down than the 3 act structure. It's more detailed, yet still high-level enough to let my pantser brain feel like I'm not totally corralled. It helps me focus on character arcs within the plot, rather than trying to figure out arcs AFTER I've already written the plot.

My ramblings when I try to talk about writing tend to go off the rails, but I hope this was focused enough for you to get a grasp on my chaotic writing process. And maybe I've given you a new drafting process with the 5 act structure? One can hope.

Next time—character arcs vs plot!

-Tia

I recently ran a Q&A on my Instagram about the querying process, and it felt like a good opportunity for a blog post.

What is querying, anyway? Long story short, if you're looking to be published by one of the big U.S. publishing houses (Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster), or any of their imprints (smaller publishers that are still technically part of the big 5), you first need to find a literary agent to represent you and your work to those publishers. Of course, there's much more to the process than that, but that's the basic idea.

So what does the querying process look like? Well that's where it gets slightly more complex. Your first step is to finish your manuscript! This is, arguably, the hardest part of the process. You want to have a pretty polished piece of work. Of course, this doesn't mean it needs to be perfect. You don't have to hire an editor before sending your work to agents. What polished really means is that you've gotten your work to a point where you feel like you can't take it further on your own. Some agents will give feedback, which can help you polish it even more. Don't count on this though - your best bet is to find critique partners and alpha readers who can help you polish before you send it off.

After you've finished the herculean task of finishing a whole book (omg pat yourself on the back, that's HARD!) you now need to prepare a querying packet. In general, your packet should include:

1. A log line - this is what would go on the front cover of your book. Something quick, snappy, and accurately summarizes what the general theme or vibe of your story is. I recommend starting with the log line, then expanding into the query letter, which I'll talk about next. A log line isn't usually required for queries, but it's a great practice in boiling down your story into a short, consumable item.

2. A query letter - this is arguably the most important piece of your packet. The query letter is a few paragraph summary of your book (think what you'd find on the inside of a dust jacket or the back of the book) and a small paragraph about you as the author. The point of this query letter is to sell your work. This is also a great time to lean on your alpha readers - they've read your work by this point, they will know if you've hit the important points. Ask others who haven't read your book to review your query letter as well - they will have great insight as to how well you sell your work.

3. A 1-2 page synopsis - this is a full summation of your work, including spoilers. Most agents will ask for something like this to get an idea of if they want to read your work in more detail (aka a manuscript request). Keep in mind some agents will ask for a single page, while others may allow up to five. I recommend sticking to a single page! The synopsis is probably the most challenging thing to write out of all the items in your packet, so take your time. Perfect it.

4. 2-4 Comp Titles - comp titles are books that are similar to yours. That can be because of genre, overall vibe, certain themes, and many other factors. Try not to go too huge with your comps, but well-known titles give agents an idea of what they can expect from your work.

These items are not the rule, but rather, the common items I've found while making queries. Some agents will ask right away for snippets of your work (the first 5 pages, the first 2 chapters, etc) and some won't ask for anything at all. Make sure, before submitting to each agent, that you read their query requirements closely! They're working through thousands of manuscripts on a regular basis - adhering to their requests makes their work go faster.

But what happens after you get an agent? This is the fun part. Once you've found an agent for your work, they will represent you and your book to publishers! If you're writing a series, sometimes they'll try to sell a multi-book deal on your behalf, or they'll only sell the first and hope you get picked up for more. Here's a super important tip to remember - an agent will never ask you to pay them. They get paid only when your manuscript sells to a publisher. If someone is asking you for money to represent you, run.

So what happens if you don't get an agent? Keep trying! First, analyze what you've been including in your queries. If you find you've been getting a lot of rejections with no requests, something might be wrong with your query letter. If you've been getting lots of requests, but no offers of representation, it might have something to do with the story itself. If you've had a full request from an agent, some will offer feedback if you ask kindly. Even the smallest bit of feedback from an agent can spur you in the right direction.

Overall, querying can be a super stressful process as you're dealing with a lot of rejection, because not every book is to every agent's taste. You have to tailor your requests to people who you think will love your work, and who you would love to work with in return. A great way to find agents you might enjoy is to look in the acknowledgements of comp titles and books you enjoy in the same genre as your own. Since those people have represented similar books in the past, it stands to reason they might want to represent you.

There's a lot of information about querying, and I'm definitely not an authority. All my knowledge comes from doing a lot of research, spending hours on literary agency websites, and obsessing over querytracker. You'll learn what works and what doesn't as you jump in, and asking other writers how they've done things is always an option!

If you're considering querying but have been unsure where to start, I hope this helps you in your querying journey!

Best of luck!

Tia

The waiting game is the worst, honestly.

I'm writing this mostly for myself, but I figure my ramblings might help someone else out there if they're also waiting on submissions, queries, or whatever else.

Waiting is an inevitable part of the publishing process, and learning to be okay with waiting is a tough thing to do. Especially for someone like me, who has the patience of a squirrel and the attention span of a goldfish. I'm too jittery to be patient most of the time, but approaching this with the knowledge that I will be waiting has helped.

Going into waiting for Pitch Wars announcements with the frame of mind that I may not be picked and that's okay has done a lot for my mental well-being during this time.  

But how do you make this waiting time not feel like a month-long torture session? Personally, I've been working on other projects. OBBT 2, an entirely new project I dreamed up (quite literally), and letting myself relax.

The most important thing to remember when playing the waiting game is that this is the time to take care of you. You need to rest, relax, and if that means stepping away from the project that has consumed so much of your life for the past few months or years, then it's important to do so. I haven't touched my MS since submitting to Pitch Wars, even though I was so sure I'd be doing small edits during this time. It didn't feel right. And you know what? I'm really proud that I haven't.

American society has put a lot of pressure on "relaxation." You feel when you are taking time to relax or refresh or simply let the creative well refill that you aren't doing enough. That is a lie. Relaxation and rest is just as important to the creative process (and I'd even argue more important) than forcing yourself to write when you just simply can't. Letting yourself rest can give you more energy when you do hop back into the writing game. Giving yourself grace is such an important act of self-love, and when playing the waiting game, it's the perfect time to take advantage of time.

The most important thing I hope you take away from this is that it's okay not to be working on your MS or WIP constantly. That it's okay for you to give yourself a break, that it's okay to use the waiting period to not work on anything else. That listening to what you need is the best thing you could do while waiting.

See you later!

Tia