THE RAVEN'S TALE Updates

I just wrapped up the first round of revisions for my newest book, The Raven's Tale—my novel about Edgar Allan Poe's teen years—which Amulet Books/Abrams will publish in Spring 2019. This was the editorial letter stage of the process, in which my editor, Maggie Lehrman, sent me her comments and suggestions for the book, and I revised the novel accordingly. I spent over 2 1/2 months gutting and rewriting about 70% of the manuscript—an intense yet, ultimately, exciting process—and I'm ecstatic to now have a little break.

Next up will be line edits, which will involve Maggie going through the entire manuscript and marking suggestions ranging from grammar fixes to additional story changes.

Because the plot of the book might still get affected by future revisions, I'll only share a few more details about the novel at this point.

• The Raven's Tale opens shortly after Edgar Allan Poe's 17th birthday in January 1826 and ends in May 1827 when he's 18.
• Poe himself is a point-of-view character, which has been a challenging but ridiculously fun and entertaining viewpoint to write. 
• I'm calling this book my "literary rock opera." As I've hinted before in an Instagram post, there are certain scenes in the novel that unfold like musical numbers.   

I haven't yet seen any signs of early cover plans for the book, but if the novel stays on track for a Spring 2019 publication, I'll probably get to look at a design this summer, and, of course, I'll share the finished cover as soon as I can!

Pre-order links aren't yet available, but you can go ahead and add The Raven's Tale to your Goodreads shelves.

Me and "Eddy" at The Poe Museum in Richmond, VA.

My Number One Tip for Revising a Novel

Over at The Lucky 13s today I'm sharing a revision tip that proved to be crucial for my In the Shadow of Blackbirds edits. I'm also sharing the book's fluctuating word count, which dramatically rose and fell as I cut scenes/characters from the story and added new material.

I always think of book edits as a complicated jigsaw puzzle: you have to figure out which pieces fit where and what parts don't belong before you end up with your final, satisfying picture.

Here's my post:

http://thelucky13s.blogspot.com/2012/05/my-number-one-tip-from-revision.html

The Editorial Letter Stage... and How I Immersed Myself in the WWI Era While Revising

On March 23, 2012, my brilliant editor, Maggie Lehrman of Amulet Books/Abrams, sent me a seven-page letter detailing her suggestions for In the Shadow of Blackbirds. I was on vacation at the time, which was probably for the best. I tend to want to jump directly into revisions once I receive them, but a long car ride between northern Washington and Portland, Oregon, helped me process the changes and let ideas marinate.

Fast forward to May 8, 2012. My manuscript and I came to an agreement that we had spent enough time together during the past six-plus weeks. I was starting to fuss over minor word choices, which will be tackled during the next stage of revisions anyway. My major changes to characters, plot, and setting were done, and it was time to see what Maggie thought of the revisions. I sent her the book that afternoon.

I don't know yet what she thinks, but I can say I survived the editorial letter stage! It certainly wasn't the first major edit for this book, but it was the first time I revised the manuscript knowing the novel will actually be heading into the world for others to experience and judge. I honestly had a blast digging further into my characters' lives and expanding my fictional world, and I can't wait to share the book.

Here are some of the ways I immersed myself in my 1918 setting while I worked:

1. I Devoured WWI-Inspired Entertainment.
Just ask my husband, the nighttime TV viewing in my household turned a little WWI-centric during the past weeks. We started watching Season One of the 1920s-set HBO series Boardwalk Empire on DVD, and I was thrilled to discover that WWI veterans play key roles in the plot. Young gangster Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) turns to the dark side after fighting in the trenches of France, and lost soul Richard Harrow (John Huston) suffers severe facial injuries that cause him to come home from war wearing a chilling mask. I loved the plot points involving these two damaged anti-heroes.

Also on TV during my revisions: the BBC adaptation of Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong. More life in the trenches for my husband and me.

 2. I Read Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider."

Not only did I pull out all my WWI nonfiction books during my edits, but I checked out a copy of Katherine Anne Porter's "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" from my local library. During my research of the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic, Porter's name always came up as a famous sufferer of the deadly, life-altering illness that gripped the world in the fall of that year. "Pale Horse, Pale Rider" is an emotional, fictionalized account of Porter's experiences during the flu and the war, and I'm so glad I finally read her haunting passages.

3. I Repeatedly Listened to a 1960s Folk Song.
What? 1960s? Yes, I fast-forwarded several decades past my characters' time period for musical inspiration. In January of this year, I shared my In the Shadow of Blackbirds playlist over at The Lucky 13s, and one of the songs I discussed was Donovan's "Catch the Wind" from 1965. The lyrics perfectly epitomize my two main characters' struggle to be together while enduring the darkness of a troubled world. Each day after I'd drop off my kids at school before diving back into revisions, I'd play "Catch the Wind" in my car to get into the right mindset for deepening my characters' emotional connection.

Here's a taste of the song:



I also researched additional images from 1918 that I hadn't yet explored, but I'm not going to share any of those. Yet. In the Shadow of Blackbirds is slated to include early-twentieth-century photographs and artwork, so you'll just have to wait until the book debuts before seeing my pictorial inspiration.

On May 30 I'll offer tips for revising a novel over at The Lucky 13s.

My Dear Teen Me Guest Post & Other Exciting News

I'm thrilled to be a guest today over at Dear Teen Me, a website where authors write letters to their teen selves. I've written a message to the fourteen-year-old version of me, when I had just moved to a new city and still hadn't recovered from my middle school-era insecurities and often-crippling shyness.

If you're arriving here from Dear Teen Me, welcome! Please make yourself at home. I have links to my Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads accounts all over the place, as well as info about my newsletter, which I'll be launching this summer when I have more In the Shadow of Blackbirds tidbits to share. 

In other news, I'm ecstatic to announce that I finished the first round of revisions for In the Shadow of Blackbirds! I just sent the book back to my amazing editor, Maggie Lehrman, yesterday afternoon. The next stage will be line edits, where Maggie goes through each page more thoroughly instead of concentrating solely on the bigger issues like character relationships and setting. I'll write an in-depth post about how I made it through the editorial letter stage later this week, and on May 30 I'll offer some revision tips over at The Lucky 13s.

More news: I'll be launching a website with other debut kidlit authors in the near future. If you're a fan of historical fiction, you'll want to check back for more info on that particular endeavor.

Speaking of historical fiction, Veronica Rossi, author of Under the Never Sky, will be moderating Let's Chat! Historical Settings in YA Fiction, this Saturday, May 12th, at 9PM EST. Here's the info from The Apocalypsies website:  

We’ll be featuring J. Anderson Coats and Katherine Longshore, authors of THE WICKED AND THE JUST and GILT, respectively, with guest appearances by Jessica Spotswood, author of BORN WICKED, Jay Kristoff, author of the upcoming STORMDANCER, Genn Albin, author of CREWEL, Suzanne Lazear, author of INNOCENT DARKNESS, and more!

That's all the news for now. I'll be back soon with tales from the revision cave.

Revising!

My editorial letter for In the Shadow of Blackbirds arrived last Friday, so between now and mid-May I'll be nearly nonexistent on the web, aside from taking some Twitter/Facebook breathers now and then.

If you're unfamiliar with editorial letters, that's the stage of publishing when the main editor for a book sends the author several pages of notes suggesting how to make the book stronger. Here's a picture of the seven-page In the Shadow of Blackbirds letter the brilliant Maggie Lehrman of Amulet Books/Abrams sent me:

Okay...admittedly, the letter may not be all that visible. I may have discreetly covered the contents with a printout of a 1918 calendar I'll be using to help map out my changes. For what it's worth, you can see one of the numerous stickies I've been using to jot down notes when ideas hit me as I'm walking around the house.

I will say that the bulk of my revisions will involve strengthening my characters' relationships and making my unsettling historical world become as palpably alive as it can possibly be. I had heard nothing but praise about Maggie's skills as an editor from other Amulet authors, and I completely agree: her work is amazing. I'm so excited about digging into her suggested revisions and coming out on the other side with a book that makes me beam with pride (at least I'm hoping that's what happens when I get to the other side!).

I'll be back with more info about the editorial letter stage once I'm done. Until then, look for me at Dear Teen Me on May 9.

I'll be in 1918 if you need me.

Crawling into My Writing Cave Again

This blog is going to be pretty dull and quiet for the next two months... but that's actually a good thing. My editorial letter will more than likely arrive in the coming weeks, which means I'll be busy revising, beautifying, and polishing In the Shadow of Blackbirds in preparation for its release next year. Before the letter shows up, I'm going to try to get my novel-in-progress to a good stopping point so I can pour my heart and soul back into my beloved Blackbirds.

If I have time, I'll share a post about what it's like to be entrenched in the post-contract revision stage. The behind-the-scenes steps of publishing are often shrouded in mystery, so I'd love to offer a sneak peek behind the authorly curtain.

For now, I apologize for the lack of chattiness over here. The fun, promotional stages of In the Shadow of Blackbirds are yet to come, and I can assure you I'll be loud and talkative for those.

When to stop revising a manuscript

This afternoon I finished the revisions my agent requested.  To celebrate, I took myself out to lunch at Arby's and read the Golden Globes wrap-up report in today's Entertainment Weekly (cue Puddy from Seinfeld saying, "Feels like an Arby's night").

Here are the telltales signs I'm ready to submit a draft: 

1. When I read the scenes that don't require heavy revisions, my mind starts to drift.  I find myself heading over to Twitter to see what's going on with people I don't even know, checking in with IMDB for new movie trailers, and snickering at viral videos I'd normally ignore when I'm submerged in a writing project.

2. The wording that's been bugging me finally sounds right to my ear.  I spent over an hour working on three short paragraphs in a scene the other night, fussing and polishing, and by the next morning the section finally read the way I'd hoped.  Typically, when I reach the later stage of revisions, there will be about five or so key scenes that bug me until I pick at them and get them just right.

3. I finally stop rewriting sentences in my head in the shower and instead remember that I did indeed use the shampoo before I applied the conditioner.

4. I feel like I've fully endured my characters' journeys with them and physically experience their emotions.  Yesterday, I felt queasy when I read a newer scene in which my protagonist vomits.  I had been struggling with the sentence mechanics, but when I finally got the scene right, I honestly felt sick to my stomach.  Today I also teared up in a place where I've never done so before.

5. I get the tingly sensation in my stomach that's telling me it's time to submit.  The possibilities are wide open; optimism is high. You reach a point where you have to force yourself to stop obsessing over phrases and send that puppy out the door.

BLACKBIRDS update & 2011 books on my must-read list

I think Blackbirds will be ready to send back to my agent around the last week in January. I'm doing my second-to-last read-through and still tweaking some key scenes, but I feel it's almost there. :-)

As far as recreational reading goes, here are three books on the top of my list of must-have 2011 novels:

THE VESPERTINE
by Saundra Mitchell
I've read Mitchell's enjoyable first novel, Shadowed Summer, and featured her on my Suburban Vampire blog. Not only does she write about ghosts, which makes her a must-read author in my eyes, but she's now entered the world of historical fiction, which makes her über-cool. The Vespertine involves a teenaged girl who experiences prophetic visions during sunsets in 1889 Baltimore. I love the cover and the premise, and I've already pre-ordered my copy through Powell's.

SWAMPLANDIA!
by Karen Russell
The book is adult fiction, not YA, but one of the narrators is a thirteen-year-old alligator wrestler named Ava who journeys through the swamps of Florida and the Underworld to save her sister from a ghostly lover. The book will be available February 1, and I can't wait to join Ava and her eccentric family on their adventures.

THE NEAR WITCH
by Victoria Schwab
I learned about this particular YA read a few months ago on Susan Adrian's blog. Described as "part fairy tale, part love story," Schwab's novel includes "a boy who seems to fade like smoke," children who disappear from their beds, and "a witch that just might be more than a bedtime story." We'll have to wait until August for this one, but I'm looking forward to its debut.

I'm sure many, many more books will make it on my must-read pile soon. Happy reading to everyone in 2011.

I guess I'm officially a full-time writer

Since the 1990s, I've been sharing my writing career with other aspects of my life: working full-time, raising two children, freelance editing, co-owning a publishing company, managing a vampire blog, laundry (the latter of which wasn't usually a high priority until I reached the point of desperation). Writing time has always been something I've squeezed in between everything else. I couldn't even fathom having endless stretches of writing hours lying in wait before me.

Until today.

My youngest child just started going to school for six and a half hours each day. He was in half-day kindergarten, so I had been juggling my writing time, Suburban Vampire, and everything else within three quick hours of the morning. However, our school district allowed my son to advance a grade, and as of Monday, he started full-time school. (I'm not going to even go into the pros and cons of skipping a child; I'll just say we did thorough research for years and this decision is right for this particular kid).

Anyway, I joined him at school during parts of the day on Monday and Tuesday, but today I'm home, working. I've got plenty of Suburban Vampire work waiting for me, but I told myself today would be devoted to Blackbirds. I met my daily work goal before lunch even hit. And then I sat down for a lonely lunch...missing the kid I'd been juggling between writing for the past six-plus years.

My oldest child is now eleven, and I played the balancing act with her, too. But the absence of this littlest one marks the end of an era. The downside is that most of my lunches will be much more solitary. The plus side--if I can keep earning money by writing for Suburban Vampire and eventually sell a novel, I guess I can call myself a full-time writer.

It's a lonely profession, and I do plan to head back out to coffee shops now and then just to have some white noise surrounding me once in a while. But what a bittersweet day this is for me. I'm guessing I'll finish my agent-requested revisions in the next two weeks--something I wouldn't be able to do without this full-time schedule.

I'll miss my kids, but, like them, I'm probably ready to take flight and skip ahead to the next stage. Once summer vacation hits and lunchtime is bustling with activity again, remind me to revisit this post and remember how I once became wistful about my empty house.

Revising again

I chatted with my agent about Blackbirds this morning.  She loves the book and the particular way I've portrayed the past (more on that later, for those of you who haven't yet read the novel).  But, as all fantastic agents do, she offered suggestions for making the book stronger.

Some alterations in the beginning will be tricky, but I think I can work them out with some tweaking and finessing.  I have too much flashback in the opening that needs to be moved into the main meat of the story.  Not impossible, but it'll definitely keep me busy over the next month or so.  As I've mentioned before, I love looking at plots as if they were jigsaw puzzles.  Sometimes the pieces need to be altered or moved to a different position to work just right.

Thanks for your input, Barbara!!  And thanks again to everyone who gave me suggestions before she read it.  Some of the aspects she liked best were the result of other readers' input.

Thank you, critique partners!

Two family members, three critique partners, and one young adult fiction editor have now read Blackbirds (the editor read the first ten pages; everyone else read the entire manuscript). My last reader, Ara Burklund, posted the following lovely words about Blackbirds on her website:

"Every chance I got this week, no matter how small, I rushed to my computer to keep reading. Her story questions had me right where they wanted me: stuck in their pages, frantic to find out what happened next. And the ending? It delivered. Big time. Totally didn't see it coming but in retrospect, it left me thinking, Of course! Just the way a good ending should."

Thanks so much! I just read Ara's YA contemporary manuscript, which deals with heavy issues in a story packed with page-turning tension, and had a blast switching books with her. Thanks also to my other readers, Kim Murphy and Francesca Miller--two fellow historical fiction writers.

I'm going to make some final revisions and read through the manuscript one more time, and then I think I'll be sending Blackbirds to my agent. I originally planned to wait until 2011, but I think I'm at the point where I'm ready for her input. I'm hoping to send the book her way by the end of November.

Blackbird artwork

I finished the latest batch of revisions and sent the manuscript off to my final critique partner yesterday morning (thanks, Ara!).  She and I are swapping manuscripts, and the break from obsessing over my book's ending is much needed.

I've come across some artwork to help inspire me when writing Blackbirds.  As I've mentioned in past posts, dark birds now play a larger role in the plot than when I first started out, so it's been fun tracking down images of blackbirds, crows, and ravens.

Sitting next to me while I work is a postcard of Anne-Julie Aubry's painting My Only Friend, featuring a dark-haired girl and a blackbird on a moonlit night.  Her artwork is beautiful, whimsical, and gothic.  You can see her entire gallery at www.annejulie-art.com/gallery.html.

I also found the following crow wallpaper, which I absolutely love.  It's become my new Twitter background.   


Crow Wallpaper by ~Tiger-tyger on deviantART

My manuscript and I have left the honeymoon stage

I'm almost ready to let Blackbirds head off to my next critique partner this weekend. I recently realized the book and I have reached a new stage in our life together. Even as recently as July, we were still in the honeymoon phase: I loved it unconditionally, we were inseparable, and I didn't feel a burning urge to change anything about it.

One critique partner and two months later, my viewpoint is different. We're now in the "paper anniversary" stage of our author/book marriage: I still love it dearly, I'm happy to be struggling financially with it, I'd never dream of abandoning it, but I've been living so closely with it that I'm now able to see some of the warts and pet peeves I didn't realize were there. Moreover, other people are alerting me to some of those warts and pet peeves and other faults that weren't so noticeable during the honeymoon.

But--as with every healthy bond--my relationship with my book is becoming far more rewarding because of the time I'm putting into it. I've been wrestling with some problem scenes and character weaknesses, polishing up sentences, and sealing up plot holes.  In some ways, this stage is better than the honeymoon because it's richer, more satisfying.

While my next critique partner reads Blackbirds, I'll be copy editing her novel, so I may not be posting updates much this month.  I'll be lovingly packing up my book and sending it out the virtual door for a mini-vacation.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, even with a manuscript.