How to make the most of the read-through (Editing Your Novel: Part One)

This post is part of the Editing Your Novel series. Click through to read about beta readers, the macro-edit, and the micro-edit.

After you’ve taken a step back from your novel (however long that needs to be for you) you’re ready to jump back into it with the read-through. This step is pretty much summed up in the name: you’re reading through your novel. Seems easy, right?

It might be a little harder than you would think. As you’re reading, don’t stop to make changes. Okay, I’ll admit that I couldn’t keep myself from fixing typos and little grammar mistakes that stood out to me. But other than that, really really really don’t spend time on trying to polish your sentences, fix character arcs, or anything else, big or small.

Why? Because you’ll likely end up wasting time. You may spend hours tweaking and editing a scene, only to eventually realize you need to delete it altogether. Or start trying to correct a character arc at the beginning of the story, and then get to the end and realize it needs something else entirely. Which is demoralizing, to say the least. And not a good use of your precious writing time!

The other reason not to edit as you go is that you’ll inevitably end up getting bogged down. You’ll notice mistakes and want to fix them all, but without a clear plan, you’re likely to get frustrated, become stuck in a cycle of editing and re-editing, and fixing things that aren’t the heart of the problem. And none of that sounds fun!

So how do you create a clear plan to guide you through editing? With lists! (insert cheering sound effects)

As you read, keep a list of all the changes you want to make. I had several categories that I put my notes into: Plot, Characters, Research, General, and Chapter By Chapter. The notes in Plot, Characters, and General were things I noticed that would affect things throughout the story, not just in that scene. Research was full of questions and little facts I needed to double check. Chapter By Chapter had notes about details in each chapter. They may have been as big as “add a scene here” or as small as “why does this character say that.” You might have a totally different way of organizing your notes, but this is what worked for me.

As you’re making your list, you don’t necessarily need to write things like “change ‘but’ to ‘however’ on page 126.” If something comes to you easily as you read, just change it. BUT MAKE SURE you don’t get bogged down in trying to figure out how to fix it! If you have to spend more than a couple seconds thinking about what would sound better, just add a note like “change wording on page 126” so you know to come back to it later.

Once you’ve finished reading through and making notes of what you want to change, it’s time to organize your list of edits. I pretty much left my Chapter By Chapter and Research edits alone, but I compiled my Plot, Character, and General lists into one, giant master list. It’s a little scary to see everything in one place, but it’s an important step to coming up with your plan for editing.

As you’re making this list, don’t just throw everything together willy-nilly. Instead, organize it by size of change, with the biggest things to fix at the top, all the way down to the smallest. Why, you ask? The same reason you shouldn’t edit as you go: this keeps you from wasting time. When you start with big issues like plot, pacing, character arcs, and theme, you may realize that some scenes or even chapters are unnecessary. And when you delete them, you’ll be glad you haven’t spent hours rewriting them!

In the next couple weeks, I’ll talk more about the macro-edit and the micro-edit, but this revisions list is where it all starts. The bigger changes will fall under the macro-edit, and as you get smaller, you’ll transition into the micro-edit. After you’ve compiled your master list of edits, read through your Chapter By Chapter and Research list. There might be things that should fit into your master list, so go ahead and add them in. Mostly, though, they’ll probably work best to stay in their own categories.

The read-through may sound like something to speed through so you can get to “real” editing, but it will form the foundation that the rest of the process depends on. Give yourself however much time you need to read through it thoroughly and make all the notes you can. And, when you finish, be sure to celebrate! Even if you haven’t changed a single thing in your manuscript, you’ve still made a big step toward making your story the best it can be.

Have you reached this step in the editing process? How do you organize your edits? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this post, pin it to share and save it for later!

Featured image by Nicole Honeywill

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He: An intricate plot & stunning debut

Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, dreaming of an unremarkable life. But when her beloved father is found dead, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of a surprisingly unstable kingdom. What’s more, Hesina believes that her father was murdered—and that the killer is someone close to her.

Hesina’s court is packed full of dissemblers and deceivers eager to use the king’s death for political gain, each as plausibly guilty as the next. Her advisers would like her to blame the neighboring kingdom of Kendi’a, whose ruler has been mustering for war. Determined to find her father’s actual killer, Hesina does something desperate: she enlists the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death, since magic was outlawed centuries ago.

Using the information provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of Yan at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

Book cover and synopsis from GoodReads.

I had heard talk about Descendant of the Crane on book Twitter for a while, so when the author decided to do a giveaway, I figured: why not? When I won, I was thrilled, but completely unprepared for the masterclass in storytelling that I was about to receive.

It is hard to believe that DotC is Joan He’s debut novel. The story is so well-crafted that it feels like something made by a seasoned author, not someone who was a SENIOR in HIGH SCHOOL when she first started it. (It’s fine, I’m not jealous or questioning what I’ve done with my life…) The story quickly sucked me in, and I read this roughly 400-page novel in just a few days because I simply couldn’t put it down.

Descendant of the Crane takes place in a Chinese-inspired fantasy country called Yan. Joan carefully and cleverly builds this world layer by layer, giving us all the information we need without dumping in chunks of expository text. As the main character, Hesina, learns about being queen of Yan, we naturally learn more about the country itself. There are a few times when it seems like Hesina gets a little nostalgic solely for the benefit of telling the reader something about the world, but since Hesina’s father was killed, it also makes sense she’d be a little more reminiscent than usual. And I would always rather learn about the world through the eyes of an interesting character, rather than having a narrator drop in paragraphs of information.

On a similar note, the magic system was so unique and such a fresh take on what could have been a tired trope of fortunetellers. The sooths are the strongest fantasy thread in the book, and they hold up this responsibility well. At the start, we only know that sooths can See into the future, and they have been demonized and systematically executed because of their abilities for centuries. Rumors swirl about other powers they may have, but neither the reader nor the characters know what is true, what is gossip, and what might have once been true but now no longer is. I don’t want to talk in too much detail about the sooths, because spoilers, and it would just be me fangirling over the cleverness and ingenuity of Joan’s creation anyway. So once you read it, send me a message and we can freak out together.

By far the strongest component of the book is its plot. Ultimately, it is the story of political intrigue, and a young queen trying to do what is best for everyone in her country, while still crippled from grief over her father’s death and conflicted about the treatment of sooths in Yan. I don’t watch/read a lot of political dramas, but this one kept me rapt. It is the perfect balance of political maneuvering with action scenes. We don’t spend the entire novel inside the castle, allowing both us and the characters to breathe and explore the world more. And when we are in the castle, it is so hard to know who’s on which sides, it’s just as suspenseful as any of the fight scenes.

That said, I didn’t find it hard to follow. One review I’d read mentioned making a sort of character map to keep all the characters and who they supported straight, so I was bracing myself to have to focus hard on keeping track of everything. But while the plot is intricate and some characters are duplicitous, since we see everything through Hesina’s eyes, I thought it was relatively straight-forward to know who was on which side, at least in the moment until things changed. Maybe also reading it in just a couple of days helped…

The one thing I did feel the book was lacking was some character building. The narrative is first person from Hesina, so we do get a good sense of her character arc, but I kept finding myself wishing we could just take a beat and spend some time with the other secondary characters. Probably the relationship that shows the most growth is between Hesina and her brother, Sanjing, which is interesting because he spends much of the book away leading the army as Yan’s general. Hesina’s relationships with her adopted brother and sister, Caiyan and Lilian, her half-brother Rou, or her mysterious representative, Akira, aren’t given very much page time to develop. It feels a little bit like the reader is expected to care for them simply because Hesina does, rather than giving us moments of pure character interaction to truly allow the reader to care for them because of what we see them doing. It was a very packed book already, so I understand that the focus is on the plot and weaving everything together, but if a little more time had been spent on helping the reader connect with the characters, the stakes of the plot would have felt even heavier as it moved toward the climax.

Overall, this was a spectacular debut, and I gasped several times while reading it. Joan’s writing style is also beautiful, and I was taking mental notes of how she creates gorgeous descriptions with just a few words so I can try and emulate in my own novel! I am already itching for the second one in the series, and can’t wait to read more of Joan’s work.

Click here to find Descendant of the Crane in a bookstore near you!

Are you planning on reading Descendant of the Crane? Have you already read it? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this post, pin it to share and save it for later!

What to do when you finish your first draft

So. You’ve done it. You had an idea, then sat down and did the work to turn it into an actual story. You wrote a first draft!

Now what?

Finishing a first draft, especially if it’s your first first draft, can seem like a daunting task, so that when it’s finally over, many writers are left wondering what to do next. Can you submit it to agents? Should you start editing it immediately? Why not send it out to all my friends and family to read?

To help you navigate the exciting but murky time post-first draft, I’ve got some simple steps of what to do next. In the coming weeks, I’ll dig deeper into many of these aspects to give you a better picture of what to do with the story you’ve just written. While everyone has their own process and what you do with your first draft is totally up to you, there is a basic structure of what to do that seems to work best for most writers.

1. Take a break

This is an important step! You might be totally burnt out on your project after pushing through to the finish, and taking a break sounds great. Or maybe you’re itching to dive back into your novel and start editing. Either way, you need to put it aside for the moment.

Taking a break from your manuscript allows you to come back to it with fresh eyes and renewed creative energy. If you start editing it ten minutes after you finished it, it’s going to be much harder to be unbiased about what your novel actually needs. Letting your manuscript breathe for a little bit is the best thing you can do to gain the objectivity necessary to edit it.

How long your break should be depends on you. I took a month off when I finished my first draft. Some people recommend several months; others say just a couple weeks is enough. Ultimately, it should be however long it takes you to let the story fade a little bit in your mind (allowing you to approach it with fresh eyes) and for you to get excited again about working on it (particularly if you were feeling burnt out before). But just because you’re taking a break from your manuscript doesn’t mean you have to take a break from writing! You might need to, and that’s fine. Read a book or watch a well-written TV show. If you’re still feeling that urge to write, work on another project. In my month-long break, I read fiction books in the same genre as my work-in-progress, and wrote a short story. Do whatever you need to do to keep growing your skills and refill your creative well.

2. The Read-Through

Once you’ve taken some time off from your book, it’s time to start editing. Again, the process will vary from writer to writer, but there is a general path that most people would tell you makes the most sense. The first step in this path is to just read through your novel, beginning to end. Do your best not to make any edits (though I couldn’t resist fixing typos and simple grammar mistakes when I did my read-through!), and instead just read your book like it’s the first time you’re seeing it.

Instead of changing things as you read, make a list of all the edits you’d like to make. Once you finish reading and taking notes, organize that list from the biggest changes to smallest. The reason for this is that you don’t want to spend forever tweaking the descriptions on one scene, only to end up cutting it later. This will probably happen at some point anyway, but organizing your edits in this way will at least prevent some of this.

3. The Macro-Edit

Now that you know what you want to fix, it’s time to dive into the edits. The first rounds of editing should be focused on the big stuff. As I mentioned earlier, this is to cut back on the amount of times you fix the details of a scene and then later delete the thing altogether.

In the macro-edit, you’re looking for big picture issues like plot, characters, and theme. Do the character arcs make sense? How is the pacing of the plot? Does the theme tie it all together?

If you’re an outliner who did a lot of prep work before writing, this edit may not take you as long, since you hopefully planned out a lot of these things beforehand, and were able to smoothly incorporate them as you wrote. If you’re not a planner and just wrote freely to see where the story takes you (or if you’re a plotter who didn’t actually plot very well like me…), then this stage might take longer. Neither way is right or wrong! It’s just a matter of figuring out what works best with your process and how to support whatever weaknesses you may have.

4. Finding beta readers

This step doesn’t necessarily come after you’ve completely finished macro-edits. Each type of edit will take you several rounds (each round creates a new draft) and so somewhere in the midst of your macro-editing rounds, you’ll want to find other people to take a look at your draft. At this point, you’re looking more for people with writing skill and an eye for editing, not just the average reader. You want them to be able to critique your work (without being too harsh, of course) so that you can know where it gets boring, when the characters don’t make sense, which scenes are unnecessary, etc. No matter how many times you read your work or how long you try to take a break from it, you can’t be completely unbiased, so it’s important to bring in other people to give you their opinions as well. You’ll also want to bring them back in some time during the next phase of edits to help you find smaller details to correct.

5. The Micro-Edit

Once you feel pretty confident that all the big stuff in your novel is ironed out, it’s time to wade into the weeds with the micro-edit. This involves going through your manuscript line by line to make sure every sentence is as polished and strong as it can be. You’ll need to ask questions like would this character use this word, can this verb be stronger, should this be in active voice instead of passive, etc. Keep an eye out for any “weasel words” of yours—these are words that you personally tend to overuse—or any other bad habits you know you slip into (I too frequently start dialogue with “Well…”). I won’t lie to you: it’s a long process. And it’s not one you can rush. But I sort of enjoy it, as it feels like I’m truly polishing my draft into something that is shiny and book-like.

The micro-edit will again take several passes through your manuscript, but after that point it should feel pretty solid, and maybe even ready to start sending to agents. That’s a whole other round of posts, and I’m sure I’ll do them once I start querying agents! But it takes a while to get to that point—I finished my first draft in May 2018, and if things go to plan, I’ll finish my last round of micro edits June of this year. Revision may not be your favorite part of the book writing process, but it is a crucial part to make sure your story is the very best it can be.

Have you finished a first draft? What is your method for editing and moving forward? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this article, pin it to share it and save for later!

Featured image by Mikhail Pavstyuk

Three questions to ask to create compelling characters

Characters are the heart of your story. If readers don’t connect with them, there’s almost no better way to guarantee they put your book down and never pick it back up.

So how can we create characters that are compelling, yet believable? Likable, but realistic? It may seem like a lot of pressure, but there are three questions you can ask when crafting a character that will cut through the fluff questionnaires and show you the heart of your character.

What does your character want?

First, you need to figure out your character’s goal. At the end of the story, what are they hoping to gain? Maybe they want to escape their kidnapper. Maybe they want to be popular. Maybe they want to travel to new planets. Maybe they want to save the world. No matter what genre you’re writing, your character wants something, and this is the driving force of both the plot and your character’s arc.

What does your character actually need?

Just because your character wants a thing, doesn’t actually mean they need it. Maybe your character wants to be popular, but what they need is to realize they already have great friends and are perfect the way they are (yes, it’s cheesy, but you get the idea). Or maybe how they want to achieve something needs to change. If your character wants to save the world, it probably wouldn’t turn out so well if they decide what they actually need is a good nap (#relatable). But if they start out wanting to save it on their own because they think they’re strong enough and don’t need anybody else, they may need to realize that everyone is stronger when they receive help and work together. The world still gets saved, but the character grows and changes along the way.

Why do they need to change?

Figuring out what your character needs versus what they want will reveal the end of your story. But why do they need to change in the first place? What is the starting place that makes the character want one thing, when they need another? Maybe they want to be popular because they were teased as a kid, and so they need to learn to accept themselves. Maybe they don’t want to allow anyone help them save the world because they feel responsible for a friend’s death in some way and don’t want to harm anyone else, so they need to accept that it wasn’t their fault and learn how to let people in. We all have baggage, and so giving your character a relatable backstory that continues to affect them will bring them to life and cause the reader to sympathize with them.

It might take some time to wrestle out the answers to these questions. They may seem straightforward, but the answers should be interlocked with the plot and theme of your story to truly make it cohesive and compelling. Once you’ve got them figured out, your character should start seeming like a real person ready to carry the weight of the story.

Want to take your characters to the next level? Click here to sign up for a free, five-day course on building better characters. I’ll break down the most important aspects of creating a compelling character using detailed examples from movies and books to make sure your next character is unforgettable. And if you have any questions, I’ll only be an email away.

If you like this post, pin it to share and save it for later!

Featured image by Eunice Lituañas

I visited an Amazon Books location and this is what it’s like

As a bookworm, I’ve always loved exploring bookstores.

I do my fair share of ordering books online, of course, but there’s something special about wandering through a bookstore and being able to physically hold (and, okay, smell) the books. I recently became a member of my local indie bookstore to help support the store (and because I now work just down the street so buying books is inevitable. Might as well get that membership discount!)

So when Amazon announced it was opening brick-and-mortar bookstores, I had mixed feelings. Isn’t the whole point of Amazon the convenience of ordering online? If you’re going to go into a physical bookstore, why not support your local book shop? Was Amazon going to drive more bookstores out of business (RIP Borders)?

Needless to say, I was cautious about Amazon Books. When they announced a new location not far from me in Denver, I decided to visit and see what it’s all about.

First Impression

When I walked in, it sort of seemed like any other bookstore experience. It was certainly smaller than a lot of the bookstores I’m used to, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Two full walls were windows, so the space was really light and airy, which was refreshing. I have to admit, I kind of liked that vibe better than the often dark, closed-in experience that Barnes & Noble often provides.

I can only describe the music that was playing as “trendy.” Like, annoyingly so, as if it were trying too hard. It became distracting from the experience of browsing shelves for me, but I was also on alert for the little details, so maybe it wouldn’t have bothered me otherwise.

As I began to walk around more, I did notice some weird differences between Amazon Books and other bookstores I’ve visited.

What’s Different

There were only a few genre shelves
Amazon Books only had three genre-specific shelves: fiction, non-fiction, and children’s books. This was, of course, a departure from most bookstores I’m familiar with that divide these overarching categories into more specific genres. Even these three categories really didn’t have that much shelf space. Obviously, it’s a smaller store than something like Barnes & Noble, but most of the floor space was dedicated to tables arranged by more “Amazon-y” categories such as Top Rated (books rated 4.8 and higher), Most Wished For, and “Unputdownable,” which was defined as “books Kindle readers finished in three days or less.”

A new way of pricing
Many of the shelves (but not all?) had digital price tags, which I assume is so the price stays current with the online Amazon pricing. I noticed that some of the books had lower prices for Prime members, so I asked an employee how that worked. Similar to Whole Foods, you can use your Amazon Shopping app when checking out to get discounts if you’re a Prime member. He also told me if you pay with a card you have associated with a Prime account, they’ll be able to look it up and verify your account.

Why so much non-book stuff?
I think the biggest difference is all the non-book items for sale. I know every bookstore sells things other than books, but Amazon Books seemed excessive. Did they really need a whole corner devoted to selling robot vacuum cleaners?

There were also several tables with categories like “Today’s Deals” that featured items such as vases, coffeemakers, and other Amazon devices, but almost no books. I understand the business strategy, but it left me feeling like if you’re going to be a bookstore, just be a bookstore.

In Conclusion

Overall, it wasn’t too different from a normal bookstore experience. I even liked some of the things they did, such as the physical version of “Other customers also liked…” by having signs indicating “If you liked this, read this.”

But I don’t think local bookstores have much to worry about from these new Amazon locations. They don’t feel very cozy (there was nowhere to sit and read), and just have a very “Amazon” vibe instead of feeling like a regular bookstore.

If you’re going to physically visit a bookstore for the experience of buying a book, just stick to your local bookstore. As always, the best part of Amazon is being able to buy stuff from the ease of your couch and having it delivered quickly. Amazon Books doesn’t have that convenience, or the atmosphere of a traditional bookstore, leaving me wondering what the point of it is.

Interview with author C.G. Drews

Today I am absolutely thrilled to bring you an interview with YA author, C.G. Drews aka Cait aka PaperFury! If you’re a writer, you may recognize Cait from her informative blog, her colorful bookstagram, and her witty Twitter updates. I followed Cait for a while online before I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of her debut book, A Thousand Perfect Notes. Her beautiful writing and vivid characters brought the story to life, only for it to rip my heart out in the best way possible. Cait’s next book, The Boy Who Steals Houses, releases on April 4th, and if the blurb is any indication, it’s going to be just as wonderful as her first book:

Can two broken boys find their perfect home?

Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he’s ever known. Now Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he’s caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing – each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.

But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

Cait lives in Australia, so she was awesome and answered some questions via email. Without further ado, here they are!

What’s the first memory you have of realizing you were in love with storytelling?
I remember writing and illustrating my own stories (proudly stapled together and done in colourful construction paper) when I was about six or seven years old. But I knew I truly wanted to be an author with books on the shelves when I was 15.

You signed with your agent relatively young, at age 19. What advice do you have for young authors?
Firstly that there’s no time limit to success! I had the wild goal of being a published teen author, but it was not to be (A Thousand Perfect Notes came out when I was 24!) and I did feel like I’d “failed.” Which is just so untrue! So write as hard as you can, but be sure you are ready and your manuscript is ready. You can totally do this.

You are known for your witty and colorful Instagram and Twitter accounts. Aspiring authors frequently receive advice that an online presence is an important part signing with an agent. Do you think your social media following played a role in getting an agent, and what are your thoughts on that advice to new writers?
My social media following played zero part in my getting an agent! I signed back in 2013 so I didn’t even have a colourful following back then. And even when I landed my book deal, there was no point where my editors considered my Twitter followers over my actual writing. So I do believe it’s good to have a strong online presence (not to mention it’s a lot of fun…I have a good time!). But your writing is way more important. If you have to choose between social networking vs writing an amazing and solid book = choose your book.

One thing I’ve noticed from following you on Instagram is that you read a ton of books. Do you have any tips for reading more books and making time to read?
Eh just don’t sleep. Sleep when you’re dead. (I’M JOKING. DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, KIDS!!) Although I confess I read a lot, but not 600-page epic fantasies! I read a lot of 300pg contemporaries (which I adore) and they do go a bit faster.

What has been different in releasing your second book versus releasing your first? How do you feel like you’ve grown?
It doesn’t feel long enough between them, eep, just 10 months! So I’m still in a hazy daze of being a debut author trying to find my feet. I do think I have more of an idea of how to promote and network my second book, though!

Can you talk about the inspiration for The Boy Who Steals Houses?
I’ve always wanted to write a Goldilocks genderbent retelling! I also love going on long walks and so I pass by a lot of empty houses…which left me to imagine what it would be like if a teenage burglar was there to steal the house and live in it while the real families were away.

Both A Thousand Perfect Notes and The Boy Who Steals Houses have amazing, attention-grabbing first lines. Did those come later on in the process of editing, or do you know how your stories will start when you begin writing them?
Aw thank you! I’m really proud of these two first lines and ATPN’s never changed from the first time I wrote it. When I open up a fresh document to start a new story, I want a powerful first sentence right away. I’ll think about it for days before I start drafting.

In A Thousand Perfect Notes and, from what I’ve seen, in The Boy Who Steals Houses, you experiment with how the words actually look on the page, occasionally arranging the lines in unique formations. What inspired this?
I am just a little too extra haha. (Also I played with word art, and turned it into poetry at times, because I love how depth can be added to a story with visual elements.)

YA fiction is often looked down upon, and recently has been caught up in a bit of drama. Why do you think it is important to continue writing YA?
As long as there are teens who crave books, there should be YA books to put in their hands. I also adore writing YA because it’s such a deeply emotional avenue to tell stories about growing up and losing innocence and learning who you are as a person. It’s invaluable and applicable to anyone who wants to read it!

What is one writing resource (blog, book, program) you would recommend?
I learnt a lot from goteenwriters.com when I was a teen trying to understand the publishing world! I also think books themselves are our best teachers. Read, read, read. Everything you can!

If you could choose one character from either of your books to go on a road trip with, who would it be?
I would choose Sam from The Boy Who Steals Houses because he’s very reliable and street-savvy and hopefully would stop us getting lost.

A big thank you to Cait for taking the time to answer some questions! Be sure to preorder The Boy Who Steals Houses, available on April 4th!

Have you read A Thousand Perfect Notes? Are you excited for The Boy Who Steals Houses? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this post, pin it to share and save it for later!

10 books to read for Women’s History Month

March is already here, and that means it’s Women’s History Month! I love learning about all the important women in history who have been overlooked, and this happens in spades in March. Plus, this March brings us Captain Marvel, and I am here for all the women superheroes! If you’re looking for more pop culture that features complex, interesting women created by women, I’ve gathered some of my favorite books that are perfect for celebrating Women’s History Month.

The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth

This debut novel was one of my favorites from 2018, and if you still haven’t read it, Women’s History Month is a great excuse to pick it up! This Narnia-esque story is told by sisters Evelyn and Philippa Hapwell and while it technically falls under the genre of fantasy, it is more about the messy, complicated relationships between sisters that rings true through all time periods and worlds.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

This book released at the end of February, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. The author has said it was inspired by a gender-swapped retelling of the legend of St. George and the dragon, and it has received rave reviews. Clocking in at over 800 pages, it’s not going to be a quick read, but everything I’ve heard about it says it’s worth it.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

This book was such a fun and exciting read, and I can’t wait for the next book in the series. Set in a fantasy world divided into castes, the Demon King keeps a harem of human (“paper”) girls as his concubines. When Lei is torn away from her family and forced to be a Paper Girl, she refuses to go along quietly, even if she has to start a revolution to defend herself, the other girls, and her newfound love.

Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is the genius behind hit TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder. I happen to be a huge fan of her shows, so when she released her memoir in 2016, I couldn’t wait to read it. Year of Yes did not disappoint. It follows Rhimes’ journey as she decides to say ‘yes’ to every question for a year, forcing her out of her comfort zone and encouraging us to challenge ourselves as well.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy

This beloved YA book was turned into a Netflix original movie last year (read my review!), but if you haven’t read the book yet, you’re missing out. It’s the heartwarming story of female friendships, mother-daughter relationships, and learning to be confident in your own skin, while still recognizing that we all have insecurities.

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

If I could travel anywhere in the world, Istanbul would be at the top of my list. So when I heard about this funny, heartfelt story set partially in Istanbul, I knew I had to read it. The Bastard of Istanbul spans from Istanbul to San Francisco, from the early 20th century to modern day. The two main characters are women whose stories seem separate at first, but as the book unfolds, we begin to realize there is much more going on, and more that connects them than we could ever realize.

Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo

Really any of Bardugo’s Grishaverse books could be on this list, but Six of Crows features Inej and Nina who happen to be two of my favorite characters in all of YA fantasy, so I’m choosing this one. This duology has so much diversity in it and it’s all wonderful, but the two main female characters are witty, clever, athletic, fearsome, and still grapple with weaknesses and insecurities. They may have magical powers, but they are still unbelievably relatable as women.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

You’ve probably heard about this book and the story of Malala Yousafzai, but if you haven’t actually read the book, now is the time to do it! This is a heartbreaking story of what women all around the world face regularly and a reminder of the work that still remains to reach equality.

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber

This book just released the same day I’m publishing this post, and this is one of my most anticipated March release! Sixteen-year-old Rhen longs to be a scientist, especially once a plague strikes her small town and afflicts her mother. To achieve her dreams, she’ll need to attend Stemwick University. The only problem is that only boys are allowed to attend the school, by competing and winning in a competition that takes place in a labyrinth. Undeterred, Rhen decides to disguise herself as a boy and compete to save her city and her mother.

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler is honestly one of my favorite celebrities out there, and reading her book only reinforced this. Poehler’s memoir is hilarious, insightful, and has legitimately good advice. It’s an honest look at what being a woman in the entertainment industry is like, and an entertaining read.

What are your favorite books by and about women? Have you read any of the books I listed? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this post, pin it to share and save it for later!

Should I go to college for writing?

As February comes to a close, spring is upon us. For seniors in high school, there is another level of pressure: it’s time to decide about college.

I’m 25 and I still remember the stress and crushing doubt of spring semester of senior year (both in high school and college—yay grad school!). Of course there are lots of good memories from those times, but deciding where to go to school and what to major in are big decisions. One of the biggest questions I hear from younger writers is this: should I go to college to study writing?

It’s a difficult and important question, and I’ll be honest that it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. I have a B.A. in English literature with a concentration in creative writing, so I thought I would take a moment to share my experience of studying writing in college and give you some more info as you make your decision.

Pros

You will learn a lot, if you’re in the right program
This is the most obvious reason to study writing in college. If you put in the work, your writing skills will improve and you’ll be a stronger writer when you graduate than when you started. But a big caveat is that you need to be in the right program. If you decide to major in English or creative writing, be sure to properly investigate what the program requires, how you get along with the professors, what their alumni have published, and other details.

You can find a mentor
When you go to college, you’ll be surrounded by professors and upperclassmen who are further along in their writing journey than you are. This means it’s a prime place to find a mentor to help guide you in your writing. While you can absolutely find a mentor outside of college, in many cases it is easier to find one in college.

Publication opportunities
The first time I had a short story published was in my university’s literary journal. There are, obviously, plenty of places to publish outside of a university, but college offers a unique atmosphere for publication. For one thing, unless you’re at an Ivy League school or something, it will be less competitive, even if it’s open to the public, as my school’s was. That doesn’t mean it’s lower quality however. I still had to go through a couple rounds of revisions to be published, and was rejected the first time I submitted. But it was a great way to learn about the process of publishing and how to take criticism. If you really love it, you’ll probably also have the chance to be on the editorial board which will also help improve your writing and editing skills.

Finding a community
In college you’ll make a community, both with other writers and with people who have never written a word more than is required. Both of these groups are important! Just like there are plenty of potential mentors, your writing classes will be chock full of people who love to read and write. If you’ve never really met people like that before, it’s an amazing experience, and it’s great to make lifelong friends who share your love of writing. Likewise, it’s important to make friends who don’t study what you do. Some of my best friends studied math, physics, or Spanish. While I have no desire to major in any of these things, surrounding yourself with new ideas and various interests is a critical part of becoming a better and more interesting writer. And, of course, I just love these people and they are encouraging in all aspects of my life, not just writing.

Personal growth
This is the biggest reason, in my opinion, to go to college. Regardless of what you study, you’ll grow immensely, just as a human. College is full of ups and downs, and learning to navigate them all will teach you more than you can imagine. Additionally, you’ll likely be required to take classes outside your major. Although it can be frustrating to be forced to take math when you just want to be a published author, these other topics are important and can ultimately help your writing, just like having friends who are non-writers.

Cons

Money
I won’t lie: college is expensive. And only getting more so. The money should definitely be a factor when considering if college is the right choice for you. It may be better to take time off to save, or maybe go to a different college that is cheaper, even if it’s not quite as good. Or maybe not go at all and just focusing on writing and working. It will be different for each person, but don’t discount the cost when thinking of college.

Time
College, typically, takes four years, and might take more if you need to go more slowly or fail some classes. If your goal is to be a published author, going to college doesn’t mean you have to delay that goal (I interviewed author Katherine Ormsbee who got her agent at age 20 while in school), but it will mean you have to focus more to balance your writing with classes, having a social life, and the other parts of college.

You won’t just be writing 24/7
Especially if you’re an English major and not a straight creative writing major, you’ll spend a lot of your time reading classical literature and discussing it, as opposed to writing. This is an important way to improve your writing, but do realize that you may not spend all of your class time just writing and critiquing writing.

Some things won’t feel relevant to you
This is particularly true if you write “genre” stories. I was actually told at the start of a short story writing class that we weren’t allowed to write anything but “literary” fiction. I’d like to think that in some departments this negative view of genre fiction is changing, but if that’s where your passions lie, it will be important to 1) look for a department that will let you write all the fantasy/sci-fi/romance/whatever you want and 2) recognize that you’ll still probably spend a lot of time studying novels that are a different genre than what you want to write. This is still a great way to learn and improve your writing, but it’s helpful to know going in.

A degree doesn’t mean everything in publishing
Ultimately, when you’re querying agents and trying to get published, your story and your writing is going to matter most. Most agents aren’t going to read your manuscript and say, ‘Wow, they’re a great writer and I love this idea, but they don’t have a degree in writing, so I have to say no.’ So don’t believe that you absolutely must have a degree to get published. The benefit of a degree is that it can help you get your writing to that point of ‘wow I can’t put this down’ faster than working through it on your own might.

Whether or not you should go to college for writing will be up to each individual. You might figure out a compromise, like taking a gap year to work on writing and then going to school if you haven’t hit a certain writing goal. Or maybe you should go to college and major in something else, while still taking some writing classes. It’s a big decision, so take time to think it over and talk to your parents. But also remember that no decision you make is final. You can always change majors or even schools. You can drop out of college and rejoin, or not go to begin with and then go back years later. I say this to remind you that while it’s a big decision, it doesn’t have to be permanent.

What do you think about going to college to study writing? Did you get a writing-related degree? Do you regret it or recommend it to people? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked this article, pin it to share and save for later!

5 (more) podcasts for writers

Six months ago, I started this blog! Since then, by far my most popular post has been one of the very first: 10 podcasts to make you a better writer. As I said in the original post, I’m pretty obsessed with podcasts, so in the months since then I’ve discovered some more podcasts that I’ve found helpful as a writer. So, in celebration of my six month “blogiversary,” I decided to post a part two!

psst–stick around to the end of the post for a special giveaway!

The Well-Storied Podcast is part of Kristen Kieffer’s Well-Storied platform that every writer should be familiar with. The weekly podcast reinforces the blog post, featuring in-depth discussions of topics like character arcs, structuring a book series, writing voice, and more. Kristen is smart, talented, and generally wonderful, so her podcast is definitely a valuable resource for writers.

Run time: 15 to 20 minutes

While this podcast isn’t strictly focused on fiction, Writing Class Radio is still educational no matter what genre you write. The hosts, Andrea Askowitz and Allison Langer, share creative nonfiction essays from the writing class they lead and offer critiques. The pair have great chemistry, and the edits they suggest somehow always work for that specific essay, while also being applicable to whatever you’re writing as well.

Run time: 15 to 20 minutes

If there’s one thing every writer can stand to improve in, it’s grammar. Enter Grammar Girl. Her website is my go-to resource for any grammar questions, and so I was thrilled to learn she has a podcast. Host Mignon Fogarty is delightful and packs a ton of useful and interesting tips into a short span, making it the perfect way to improve your grammar and writing one episode at a time.

Run time: 10 to 15 minutes

Listening to other writers further along in their journey is one of the most helpful things for learning writers, and Home Row offers just that. The writers are a mix of fiction and non-fiction, and host J.A. Medders is an excellent interview, digging into their careers and discovering helpful lessons they’ve learned.

Run time: 30 to 45 minutes

I only recently started listening to the podcast, but already Mom Writes is becoming a favorite. A part of the book coaching program Author Accelerator, the podcast features three hosts: Abby Mathews and Melanie Parish are writers, Jennie Nash is a book coach, and all three are moms. Season one covers the Abby and Melanie working on their first draft with the help and advice of Jennie. Interviews with other writer moms (and dads!) are sprinkled in, and each episode is chock full of great advice for writers.

Run time: 30 to 45 minutes

What are your favorite podcasts for writers? Have you listened to any of these? Let me know in the comments!

Now for the giveaway! I’m also celebrating six months on my bookstagram, so head over there for the chance to win two free books!

Romanov by Nadine Brandes: book review + free wallpaper!

Synopsis and book cover from GoodReads:

The history books say I died.

They don’t know the half of it.

Anastasia “Nastya” Romanov was given a single mission: to smuggle an ancient spell into her suitcase on her way to exile in Siberia. It might be her family’s only salvation. But the leader of the Bolshevik army is after them . . . and he’s hunted Romanov before.

Nastya’s only chances of survival are to either release the spell, and deal with the consequences, or enlist help from Zash, the handsome soldier who doesn’t act like the average Bolshevik. Nastya’s never dabbled in magic before, but it doesn’t frighten her as much as her growing attraction for Zash. She likes him. She thinks he might even like her . . .

That is, until she’s on one side of a firing squad . . . and he’s on the other.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I loved Nadine’s 2018 release, Fawkes, and so when I had the chance to read Romanov early, I was absolutely thrilled! Nadine doesn’t disappoint with another historical fantasy that explores the well-known story of the last tsars of Russia, the Romanovs, and Anastasia, the lost princess who was thought to have escaped their execution.

First of all, I absolutely loved the characters. I think one of Nadine’s strengths is creating characters that are somehow relatable even though they live in a completely different time period. Nastya, the main character who tells the story in first person, is so conflicted about her situation and doesn’t always make the right choice, but we can always empathize with her. We can see her love for the rest of her family and how she’s willing to sacrifice everything for them, but it’s also clear that she tries to be kind to the guards who are keeping her family in exile, even though it seems like she has no reason to do so.

Nadine has these great little moments of prose that just knock your socks off. I mean, the whole things is well-written, but sometimes she drops a sentence or description in and you’re just like WOW. When people look down on YA, I want to shove Nadine’s books in their hands and tell them to just read some of her writing, and then maybe they’ll understand that just because it’s written for teens doesn’t mean that the writing can’t be amazing.

The magic system in Romanov was also unique, and cleverly woven with the historical facts of twentieth-century Russia. It’s not the main focus of the story, but the idea of having special spell ink that must be used to create and use spells is so cool, and I wish we’d been able to explore it more.

That being said, that is one of my critiques of the story. Not even a critique as much as wishing we had spent more time learning about spell ink. At the very beginning of the story, Nastya talks about how Rasputin only taught her the basics of spellmastery and not even how to make her own spell ink. I thought a bigger part of the story was going to be about her learning how to do spells. That didn’t end up being the case, and even though I liked the direction that the story took, I wish we could have spent more time on the magical system.

My biggest issue with the story is the character of Zash. I loved him in the first half of the book. He tries to put on a brave face and act tough, but Nastya can tell he’s just a sweet kid that she might like to be friends with. Watching their relationship grow was so cute, and such a great representation of how, in real life, the Romanovs did make friends with their captors. In the middle of the book, however, Zash does something that, to me, seemed unforgivable, and I didn’t understand Nastya’s reaction to him after that. The paragraph below is in white text, so if you’ve already read Romanov you can highlight it to read a spoiler-y discussion.

On the night of the Romanovs’ execution, they’re lead into the basement to be shot, and Zash is one of the guards who shoots them. Specifically, he shoots Nastya, who we thought he loved?? And then he ends up helping them, and they do fall in love, and…I just didn’t get it. I know Nastya’s character arc was about her coming to forgive Zash and the Bolsheviks, who were her enemies. But it still seemed like such a big jump from Zash literally trying to kill her to them being in love. I’m okay with her forgiving him, but I just can’t imagine falling in love with someone who tried to kill me. I don’t know.

Overall, the book is a little sad, but still hopeful. There is some violence, but it’s not described in more detail than is necessary, so it’s not overly graphic or visual. Nadine creates a powerful story about forgiveness that manages not to be preachy, but instead resonates long after you’ve put the book down.

Romanov releases on May 7 this year. To pre-order it, click here!

(FYI–This post includes affiliate links. I promise to never recommend anything that I haven’t loved and think you should try!)

To download your free Romanov wallpaper, click on the image below.