Welcome readers new and old!
A warm hello to all the new subscribers from my recent City of Orange paperback giveaway. Thanks for being here! It means you really care.
A lot of you sent in great questions over the giveaway--too many for one newsletter! I'll answer a few for now, with some light editing for clarity.
Answer: Lots of people online have great advice on this, but in general: find an agent who'd be most interested in your type of story. (Don't send a romance MS to a horror agent!) Compare your MS to others she might already know, ie. comp titles, and make sure your synopsis reads like a good book--hooky and based on an act structure-- in very, *very* short form.
Remember that querying is a really tough business! I've written dozens of failed queries, and it stinks, but that's okay. Be kind to yourself. Some agents skip synopses and will (if interested) jump right to your MS. Every agent is different; you never know. Just don't give up.
Wife Nicola says hi and also wants to add that agent Eric Smith has a great guide on writing the perfect pitch, and bestselling author Susan Dennard has an exhaustive list of resources as well. These are YA-centric, but I'm sure there's plenty of stuff that everyone will find useful. Thanks, wife!
Answer: I used to be terrified of writing novels! I thought they were too big, that I didn't have enough ideas. But I followed Margaret Atwood's advice, which is to read, read, read, and write, write, write. Over like ten years, but still. :) Anyway:
Read, read, read is how you find out what kind of writing you like, and therefore what kind of writer you want to be.
Write, write, write is how you (at first) imitate your heroes, who you can later remix to develop your own voice.
I'd add finish, finish, finish. Most people don't finish what they start. If you happen to be one of the few who actually does, you're in great shape! Because when that agent of a friend of a friend at a cocktail party asks you "What kind of stuff do you write?", you'll not only have an answer, but proof.
Answer: When I was a kid I was obsessed with The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Amid the giants of ultra-nerdy "hard" sci-fi authors, Bradbury's stories stood apart because he always led with emotion and humanity first. Every story a parable full of suspense and mystery and sadness. I loved that book so much I even hand-drew a map of his Mars! (Fan art before fandom, lol.). I probably still use his work as a touchstone to this day, in subconscious ways.
Answer: I love setting. A forest, for example, will be different for a person depending on moods and personal drama. A happy person will find it lively and full of adventure; a sad person will find it menacing and maze-like. I love how setting reflects emotional states in ways that aren’t verbally spelled out, but rather felt.
Treat your setting like it's another character. Try anthropomorphizing its attributes as much as is tasteful, just to see what effect it produces. Don't just have your forest trees stand there--do they surround? Do they block? Do they welcome?
Answer: I actually suck at trends and slang! I tried to film a pzoom literally a year after it fell off TikTok. That's how much I suck.
Anyway. A kid once called Frank (from Frankly In Love) a simp, and I’d never heard the term. Slang fail. But on the other hand, I’ve gotten compliments that I write teens accurately and authentically. What gives?
I think teens talk about the world in a way that actually transcends slang—they’re openly philosophical, questioning of everything, and plainly honest about things they're noticing for the first time in their young lives. I used to stress out about keeping up with slang, but not anymore. I see it as something fun—a timely ornament—but not core to the human experience. That's what will resonate with readers.
I'll be back real soon to answer even more of your questions in the next newsletter. Until then!
-- Dave