A rush of adrenaline coursed through my veins as I hit the final submit button. After months of frantically editing, rewriting, and revising my novel, I submitted it to Pitch Wars. And then I waited.
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Wondering how to write evocative descriptions that don’t drag on and weigh down your prose? Remember to use the five senses and choose one or two memorable details, rather than a laundry list of general information.
For example, when describing a person, instead of saying your male hero is “average height, with a slim build and brown hair,” (forgettable) say, “my head barely reached his shoulder, he smelled strongly of cinnamon, and his hair looked as if he’d run his hands through it many times already.” (Memorable).
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SP: Hi Kara! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to know a bit about you and your writing journey?
KM: Hello! Thanks so much for having me! My writing journey began in earnest in Summer 2016. I’d spent the last year lackadaisically querying agents with the contemporary YA novel I’d written in the Spring of 2015. I was getting requests followed my rejections, and I knew my manuscript needed more help than I knew how to give it. I entered Pitch Wars and my manuscript was selected! I credit the program with changing my writing life. Not only did it teach me how to revise a book, but also it connected me with other writers, which has been so important to my journey. A few months after Pitch Wars, I signed with my first agent. A few months after that, my debut novel JUST FOR CLICKS sold!
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Didn’t get a chance to attend Yall Write? Still hoping to go back and watch the replays? I don’t know about you, but the holidays are already hitting hard and I’m barely finding time to check all the boxes on my mile-long to-do lists. In case you don’t have time to go back and listen to the full replays, I’ve taken notes for you. Skim the day one notes here. For the day two cheat sheet, just keep reading!
Here’s the lineup of what you can expect:
Continue readingSP: Hi Shannon! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to know a bit about you and your writing journey!
I’m originally from Pittsburgh, PA but now live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband and kids. I’ve worked as a business writer for a long time, but am definitely a dreamy creative person at heart, so I always had this idea that I’d try to write a book “someday.” And I did spend a couple of years kind of trying it but not really committing – I’d start something and put it away when I got stuck and then I’d do that again and I guess at some point I realized that if I didn’t commit to finishing and seeing it through it was never going to happen. So, when I had the idea for this book, I just tried to turn off the self-doubt as much as I possibly could and I kept going, while simultaneously learning all I could about craft and the writing business. I was introduced to my agent, Nicki Richesin, through a mutual friend. Nicki has a great editorial eye and this made all the difference for me in prepping the book for submission. And I couldn’t be happier about the book landing at Candlewick Press – it’s been a great experience working with the entire team there and especially working with my editor, Kaylan Adair. After going through the debut experience, I will say that persistence and patience are key – taking a book from concept to publication is a loooong process. It was two years between when I sold my book and when it came out and that’s not counting drafting, prepping for submission, waiting while on sub. It’s good to have more than one project to think about because there’s a lot of waiting involved.
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This past weekend was the virtual version of Yall Write conference. I’ve never been before so I don’t have a baseline to compare with, but the virtual version was great! I could meal prep, deep clean, even do a little yoga, while listening to some of my favorite authors. Who knew 2020 would provide such flexibility!
I know several of you were working or had other obligations and couldn’t make it but have no fear! I have taken copious notes for you. Well, mostly copious notes. There may have been a few sessions where my meal prep was burning or I was distracted…so those sessions are a little sparse and/or nonexistent.
Continue readingPen Friends ~ So happy to introduce you to a good friend and YA author, Chelsea Bobulski, author of The Wood and Remember Me, (out with Macmillan) who recently announced her new 4-book deal, with Wise Wolf Books!
SP: Hi Chelsea! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to know a bit about you and your writing journey!
CB: Thank you so much for having me! My journey has been ten years in the making if you can believe it (although, really, it has been the trajectory of my entire life). I’ve always loved storytelling in all of its various forms. Whether it’s a good book, TV show, movie, play, or even video game, I’ve always loved exploring human nature, both through reading and through writing, although it wasn’t until I took a class at the Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio my senior year at The Ohio State University that I ever thought I could really make a career of writing. Before that class, I’d put my favorite authors on a pedestal, thinking they must have been born published authors, because there was just no way the average person could write a 300+ page book, let alone dozens of them. But taking that class with YA author Lisa Klein opened my eyes to the fact that every author, whether on their first book or their one hundredth, starts the same way: with an idea and a blank page. To make a very long story short, I began pursuing traditional publication right after that, although it took me five books and five years to get my very first book deal, and now, in my tenth year of pursuing this career, I have two books published and countless others that may never see the light of day, some due to the fact that I wrote them early in my career when I was still learning and growing as an author, and some due to the market just not being right at the time for that type of book (although I’m hopeful that I may get the opportunity to pursue them someday).
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I am so incredibly excited to share with you all the cover for my debut young adult novel, CALCULATED!!! Isn’t she stunning?
Three important things!
Pen Friends ~ Please welcome YA Author JUNE HUR talking about her upcoming novel, THE FOREST OF STOLEN GIRLS, publishing journey, writing the second book, and so much more! I’m beyond excited to have June here with us today. Her books are gorgeous and the kindness and knowledge she shares with the writing community is priceless! 
SP: Hi June! Thanks for joining us! Before we get into book stuff, we’d LOVE to know a bit about you and your writing journey?
8 years and two failed rounds of querying later, I put aside my first book and decided to work on a new project. A Korean historical mystery. I didn’t think anyone would be interested in a police drama set in 1800s Korea, but I didn’t care at this point and just wrote the book for myself. Fortunately, as I was browsing through Manuscript Wish List, I found an agent who was passionate about diverse literature, and so I decided to send a query her way. I didn’t think Amy Bishop would actually offer. But then on September 20, Amy emailed me with an offer and shared that my debut was a book she wished had existed when she was a teen.
SP: The Stolen Girls will come out April 2021 by Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan. Please add on Goodreads and check out her amazing debut, The Silence of Bones, while waiting!
Here’s the blurb for The Stolen Girls:
1426, Joseon (Korea). Hwani’s family has never been the same since she and her younger sister went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest near a gruesome crime scene.
Years later, Detective Min—Hwani’s father—learns that thirteen girls have recently disappeared from the same forest that nearly stole his daughters. He travels to their hometown on the island of Jeju to investigate… only to vanish as well.
Determined to find her father and solve the case that tore their family apart, Hwani returns home to pick up the trail. As she digs into the secrets of the small village—and collides with her now estranged sister, Maewol—Hwani comes to realize that the answer could lie within her own buried memories of what happened in the forest all those years ago.
SP: The book cover is outstanding! I’ve never seen anything quite like it! What were your thoughts when you first saw it?
When I first saw the cover, I was absolutely blown away! I thought it was so intriguing that the cover wasn’t saturated in green, as I assumed it would be, since my book’s title has the word ‘forest’ in it. Instead, in choosing white as the main color, I feel like it creates a sense of mystery and makes the word ‘forest’ pop out more due to the contrast. I also love the two girls hidden in the cover, as it really reflects the heart of the story—the search for thirteen missing girls.
SP: How long did it take you to write The Stolen Girls and how did this story come about? Was the second book harder to write than the first?
I began brainstorming this novel around two years ago, but never got around to doing anything much with it until I realized I needed to get started on my second book in the contract ASAP! I began writing it in earnest during the last half of 2019 and sent the polished draft to my editor by the spring of 2020. Writing the second book was so hard, and it was probably one of the most stressful experiences I’ve ever had to go through, mainly because I lacked the luxury of time and the freedom to fail. I spent years writing then ditching one version of THE SILENCE OF BONES for another, playing around with plot and character until I finally felt confident enough to commit to the story. But with my second book, as I was under contract as well as a deadline, I had less time to play around with ideas, and definitely not enough time to ditch one idea for another. When I wrote the first draft, I was devastated, because I wasn’t sure I liked the characters, or the plot, or the historical aspect I was focusing on. But I had to commit and it was terrifying—investing that much time into a work you know will end up getting published, but a work you’re not certain you’ll love and be proud of. In the end, THE FOREST OF STOLEN GIRLS turned out to be one of my greatest achievements. Mainly because I watched this manuscript go from being a hated second book to being a book I’m immensely proud of.
SP: Are there any characters that surprised you along the way?
Maewol, the youngest sister, surprised me. She infused the book with touches of humor, and humor is something I thought I’d never include in my books, as I tend to be very dark and melancholic when storytelling. My favorite part about writing this book was writing the last chapter, mainly because there’s a particular scene in it that I was writing toward for months.
SP: What part of the writing process do you most enjoy? The first draft? The development in revision? The final touches?
Development in revision!
SP: Any writing tip you’d like to share?
Write what scares you. The only way to grow as a writer is to constantly challenge ourselves.
A few fun questions. Is June a…
Plotter/pantster?
Plotter.
Last book you read?
If I had your face by Frances Cha
Current dream vacation spot?
Scotland
Current favorite K-Drama?
Kingdom
Would you rather be a professional: Marine Biologist? Spy? Opera Singer? Brain Surgeon? OR?
Spy.
Favorite childhood book?
Anne of Green Gables
Ellen McGinty, signing off.
SP: First of all, congratulations on your 3 book deal with Disney to write a series of villains and their first love!
LL: Thanks so much! I’m thrilled to finally share the news!!
SP: In your social media reveal post you asked the question, do you think villains can be redeemed by love? So what do you say?
LL: As to villains being redeemed by love, I have to say that entirely depends on how far they’ve gone the dark side (so to speak). But more often than not, a true villainous character cares about something more than love. Which means they will always put that passion or obsession above other’s needs, keeping them from experiencing the redemptive power of true love.
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The Spinning Pen 