A Whole Novel Evaluation
In August I’ll attend my first ever Whole Novel Workshop at Highlights. I’m submitting my middle grade novel, No Dogs Die in This Book, the story that landed me an agent two years ago.
Feedback from Beta Readers
After I finished revising my MG zoo mystery based on feedback from a book coach in training, I sought out beta readers—people who aren’t professional editors or book coaches but who are smart readers.
Reading Aloud as a Revision Strategy
I’d never considered reading a whole novel aloud. I mean, how long would that take? I’m a fast silent reader, not speed reader fast, but fast enough to miss things.
Voice and Narration, Part 2: Philip Pullman’s Brilliant Use of Third-Person Omniscient
How do writers choose whether to write in first person or third person? From one character’s point of view or multiple characters’ POV? And what are the trade-offs? These are the kinds of things I think about with my own work and the kinds of things I discuss with my book coaching clients.
Voice and Narration, Part 1: First-Person Omniscient
In this post, I want to talk about one of the fancier options—omniscient narration. Kelly Barnhill’s middle grade novel, The Ogress and the Orphans (Algonquin Young Readers, 2022), is like a class in both voice and omniscient narration.
Revising a Novel—Where Do You Start?
Revising a novel can’t be as hard as drafting one, can it? [cue evil laughter] If you are lucky enough to have someone provide specific, actionable feedback about what is and isn’t working with your draft, then you have a huge head start toward revising.
A True Wolf Story
At first, I saw a blur of motion, but then time seemed to slow down. I saw three large canine heads, teeth snapping at Chip.
Feedback on Your Novel Can Be So Motivating
A week before Christmas I had a Zoom call with a book coach in training. I was serving as a practice client for her as she completed her practicum on a full manuscript evaluation.
Kenda read the whole draft of my middle grade zoo mystery, which is about 250 pages or 60,000 words. Her feedback included detailed comments and questions on the first 20 pages and an editorial letter.
Her editorial letter provided that big picture view that’s so hard to give yourself about your own work.
Revision Complete … For Now
Woo hoo! I have finished revising my MG dog novel and sent it to my agent. My goal was to finish by the end of August. I missed it by a day. I wrapped up on Sept. 1. It felt so good!
Revision: Like Driving in the Dark with Your Headlights On
Revision is my favorite part of writing a novel. Even so it can still feel like an overwhelmingly huge project at times.