Tag: Young Adult Fantasy

Willamette Writers Conference, 2011

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

I got good news and bad news at this year’s conference. The good news was that Miriam Kriss, an agent with Irene Goodman Literary Agency, asked to see a synopsis and the first ten pages of Forging the Blade. She was the only agent I pitched to because I’d already pitched to all the other agents there that were looking for YA fantasy. The bad news also came from Miriam Kriss. After carefully listening to my pitch she said:  You’re book isn’t really young adult fantasy because you’re main character doesn’t have the same concerns and problems that young adults have and she spends most of her time with adults.  Your book is high fantasy, which doesn’t sell as well as urban fantasy.  Your second book should never be a sequel to your first book (mine is), because if you don’t sell your first book, or if it sells poorly, you’ll never be able to sell your second book. Ah well, maybe… Read More »

Three Bits of Advice from a Pro

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

The opening chapters of The Remaking needed something. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, but they weren’t ready to send out to agents. The best thing for me to do when I get stuck like this is talk to another writer, so I invited Kris out for a lunch of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We watched the weather do what it always does in Portland in late May—dither about raining and then raining. We also talked about my manuscript. Because she is my friend as well as an English teacher and a writer, she listened to me as I drowned my sorrows in Coke and cholesterol and rambled on about the plot’s back-story. When I was all done she said:  You need to include more of that back story right up front so I have a better understanding of your character. By golly, I thought, she’s right. Figuring out how much back-story to include is tricky. The reader doesn’t want to wade through… Read More »

The Fry Graph—No, You Won’t Find It in a Cookbook!

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

When my friend, Kris, who teaches English and Writing at a community college, critiqued the first few chapters of my manuscript, one of the first things she did was analyze them using the Fry Graph readability formula. Unfortunately this formula doesn’t tell an author how much his readers will enjoy his writing, but it does calculate how easy or difficult his writing is to read. The Fry Graph result is a grade level. If the analysis result is 6.4, that means that most sixth graders would be able to read it. It counts the number of syllables and sentences in a hundred-word writing sample, and plots words vs. syllables on a graph. The more syllables and the fewer sentences there are, the higher the grade level. It’s best to use descriptive or narrative parts of a piece of fiction, not dialogue. The analysis is simple. This is how to do it. So that’s great, you say, but what good is it? Edward Fry developed the… Read More »

Wish Me Luck!

Posted C. LaVielle6 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Synchronicity, Young Adult Fantasy

The rewrite of the first few chapters is complete. After several back and forth e-mails of suggestions on her part and revisions on mine, Jessica, my editor, says it’s “in good shape.” She wanted me to tighten it a bit more, and I tried, I really did, but I was only able to pare it down by a sentence here and there. She doesn’t like the title either. She says it needs to be more active and let the reader know that this is a fantasy. I’ve thought about shortening it to The Remaking, or possibly Forging the Blade. I also had Kris, a friend who teaches English and Writing at a community college, take a look at it. She critiqued the manuscript in a totally different way than Jessica. As an English teacher, she mostly looked at sentence structure and length and word usage. And because she’s only read the first three chapters she was able to give me a viewpoint of someone who’s… Read More »

Six more Steps Along the Road to Finding an Agent

Posted C. LaVielle5 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Young Adult Fantasy

1: Go over the OryCon critiques and rewrite the first three chapters of The Remaking of Molly Adair and Molly Adair, Beware. Ron Root, a writer friend, gave me a valuable piece of advice about rewriting the first chapter of The Remaking. We were sitting in a bar at OryCon and I was whining to him about how I was having trouble figuring out how to fix the damn thing. “The reason the chapter is weak is because Tracy’s character is flat and no one understands who he’s supposed to be,” Ron said. “I’d go back and do an in-depth character profile on him before I even thought about rewriting.” So I got out the trusty Character Template he’d sent me and filled it in for Tracy Bliss. It covers everything from physical description, to mannerisms, to fears, to desires, to religious philosophy, to strengths and weaknesses. By the time I was done, I knew just what I needed to change in the first chapter.… Read More »

OryCon and Lake Oswego High School

Posted C. LaVielle2 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Tarot, Young Adult Fantasy

And what, you may ask, do OryCon and Lake Oswego High School have in common? They both are sources of critiques for my manuscripts. OryCon is a huge Science Fiction/Fantasy convention that’s been around since the late seventies. I’ve never been before and I can’t imagine why, it looks like fun. How could it not be with over 1,500 sci fi/fantasy lovers all in one place? At the OryCon Writer’s Workshop I’ll get a fellow writer’s and a pro’s critique on the first 7,500 words of both my manuscripts for just $10 apiece. Such a deal! Of course, this means that I had to critique two manuscripts. The ones I received were Vampire Seminarian by Jeff Nichols and Tales from the Curr’s Head by Anna Lewis. They were fun to read and I was surprised at how inspiring and instructive it was. Looking at another writer’s work, seeing what they do well and not so well, and thinking about what it needs to make it… Read More »

Vampires and Synchronicity

Posted C. LaVielle1 CommentPosted in Getting Published, Synchronicity

So how’s this for synchronicity? I submitted the first 7500 words (about three chapters) of both “The Remaking of Molly Adair” and “Molly Adair, Beware” to the Orycon writer’s workshop. This is a great deal. You meet with two published authors and another writer who has submitted a manuscript. One pro critiques your manuscript and the other critiques the other author’s. The two submitting authors critique each other’s manuscripts. So you get two valuable critiques and the chance to ask two published authors questions about your manuscript. The whole thing costs $10. I have been dithering about my second manuscript. Much as I hate to join the throng of YA fantasy authors who are writing about vampires, I’ve decided to add one to my cast of characters. The piece of information that Molly needs will have more impact and drama if it comes from vampire’s cold, red lips. However, I know nothing about vampires, and started plotting a quick and painless way to learn about… Read More »

Announcing: THE REMAKING OF MOLLY ADAIR, a YA Fantasy and Tarot Primer

Posted C. LaVielle24 CommentsPosted in Getting Published, Tarot

At last! After countless revisions, The Remaking of Molly Adair, a young adult fantasy I’ve been working on for the past five years, is finished–I think. The tale begins when 16-year-old Molly Adair falls into a parallel universe with only a deck of tarot cards and a cranky, black cat for guides. She knows she doesn’t belong there, but she’s not sure she really belongs in her world either. She is still in shock over the loss of her parents; she’s just moved in with her prickly grandma, who’s a total control freak; and she’ll be starting her junior year in a strange high school. As she struggles to return to Portland, Oregon, Molly confronts the archetypes and challenging lessons of each major arcana tarot card. The first person she meets is Tracy Bliss, a young vagabond who pulls her clawing and screaming out of a black limbo and into Damia. Asmodius, a large black cat, who is a powerful mage, offers to be her… Read More »