How to Plot a Novel in 27 Simple Steps

While perusing literary agent Jill Corcoran's blog, I discovered a series of 27 YouTube videos she recommends every writer watch. They are by Martha Alderson, also known as The Plot Whisperer. I watched the first few videos last night and they're really informative.

Whether you're planning a story from scratch, or seeing if your plot holds up during revisions, these videos can help you. Alderson makes the process digestible by breaking it down into many simple steps. She uses examples from all genres, including kid lit. It's nice to hear someone speak out loud, instead of reading craft books or articles like I usually do. It's like attending a conference workshop, but for free!

Below is the first of the 27 videos. Happy plotting!

p.s. Here's another set of plotting videos by author Dan Wells.

YA Book Club: The Fault in Our Stars

I'm participating in the YA Book Club, hosted by Tracey Neithercott. Today we are discussing The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This post contains spoilers.

The Fault in Our Stars is a love story. About two teens. With terminal cancer.

Though I love every single one of John Green's prior novels (as well as his YouTube videos), I wasn't initially excited to read something so...depressing. Teenagers with terminal cancer? How cruel!

As I dove in, I quickly realized this wasn't a typical cancer story. It's so much more. Yes, there are sad moments but there are also funny (yes, funny!) and heartwarming ones.

There's so much I loved about this book, but for the sake of keeping this post short, I'll focus on my two favorite parts:

The Love Story

Anyone who's read my blog for a while knows that I love contemporary YA, and I'm a sucker for romance (hello, obsession with Anna and the French Kiss). The romance between Hazel and Augustus develops quickly but Green does a fantastic job of portraying it in a believable way. Hazel and Augustus know time is running out, so they choose to get caught up in each other and live life to its fullest. The romance adds hope to an otherwise grim story. The scenes in Amsterdam are wonderful. I care about Hazel and Augustus immensely and makes me happy to see them happy together.

The Deeper Themes 

This book covers some heavy topics, besides mortality. For example, Augustus fears oblivion, the idea that when he dies, people will forget him. This causes a debate between him and Hazel about what our worth is as humans, and whether you need to have done something huge in your lifetime to be remembered after you die. Hazel thinks that even having one person, one loved one, remember you when you die is enough. Regardless of who you agree with, it's an interesting discussion point and I enjoyed exploring it with the characters.

Also, there was one passage toward the end of the book that really stuck with me. Augustus says:

"If you go to the Rijksmuseum, which I really wanted to do--but who are we kidding, neither of us can walk through a museum. But anyway, I looked at the collection online before we left. If you were to go, and hopefully someday you will, you would see a lot of paintings of dead people. You'd see Jesus on the cross, and you'd see a dude getting stabbed in the neck, and you'd see people dying at sea and in battle and a parade of martyrs. Not. One. Single. Cancer. Kid. Nobody biting it from the plague or smallpox or yellow fever or whatever, because there is no glory in illness. There is no meaning to it. There is no honor of dying of." (p. 217)

Because of this book and particularly that passage, I'll never think about cancer, and those who go through SO much to fight it, the same way again. My mom is a cancer survivor and I now see what she went through in a new light. What she did was honorable. I read the above passage aloud to my husband and told him he had to read this book. He recently read the Pulitzer Prize winner, The Emperor of All Maladies, which is a non-fiction history of cancer and apparently a fascinating read.

I could go on and on but will stop here. I'm excited to be part of this book club so I can hear what you all think! Did you love the romance and deeper themes too? What stuck with you the most?

Scenes from a Writing Retreat

This weekend, I went on my first ever writing retreat in the Pocono Mountains, PA, and it was amazing! The trip came to be after I chatted with two of my critique partners (Ellen and Corrie) and one of my Write Night buddies (Gina), and we all said how much we'd love to get out of the city for a weekend full of writing. Thus, planning began. We rented an inexpensive and cozy cabin over President's weekend, and I drove us down. 

We got there Friday night and left Monday morning. It was a fun AND productive weekend. We all got a ton of writing/editing done. Here's how we spent our Saturday and Sunday:

Wake up

Write/edit

Breakfast

Write/edit

Take a walk

Write/edit

Lunch

Write/edit

Dinner

Write/edit

Read our work aloud/play a game/chat in front of the fireplace/sip wine

Write/edit

Bed

There was also quite a bit of snacking involved. Mmm, hummus. When we needed a break, we went on walks. Our cabin was in a gated lake community so it was peaceful and quiet. On Saturday afternoon, it snowed, which made our winter retreat even more perfect. It was beautiful! Here are some photos from the weekend:

During our first walk on Saturday. The girls look very New York in black. :)

It started snowing on Saturday afternoon. This is the view of our cabin's backyard.

Our snowy cabin. It was so cute!

 Snowier backyard

Winter wonderland

What do you do in a cabin when it's snowing outside? Light a fire, of course!

That's what I'm talking about...

Time to roast marshmallows on sticks!

Roasted marshmallows on top of chocolate chip cookies = YUM.

On Sunday, we visited the nearby lake during our afternoon walk.

The semi-frozen lake.

 It took many attempts to get a decent shot of all of us!

Gina and Ellen

Corrie and Me

This is where I spent a lot of my time. 

There's nothing like writing in front of a fire.

I miss this already!

Since we got so much work done, had fun hanging out together, and spent little money, we're already planning to do this again sometime later this year. If you've ever wanted to go on a writing retreat, I highly recommend planning something informal like this with your writing friends. 

For more about our weekend, check out Ellen's recap here and Corrie's recap here. 

Have you ever gone on a writing retreat? 

Friday Five

1. This weekend I'm off to my first writing retreat! Three other writer friends and I are staying in a cabin in the nearby Pocono mountains for three days. There will be plenty of first drafting/revising, reading, chatting, snacking and tea-and-wine-drinking (though not all at once). I'm really excited to get away from the hustle and bustle of NYC for a few days and fully concentrate on my writing. I'll share a recap next week!

2. I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green last night. It was incredible. That's all I'll say about it for now because next Friday, I'll discuss it as part of the YA Book Club (hosted by Tracey Neithercott). If you've read the book, you should join in! All the details are here. If you haven't read the book, DO IT. It will change you for the better.

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3. Next on my reading list is Ditched by Robin Mellom. It's really fun so far. It's a debut so I'll post about it for the 2012 Debut Author Challenge when I'm done.

4. Last weekend I started Couch to 5K, one of my Thirty Before 30 goals. It's a 9-week program for beginners who want to work their way up to running a 5K. I first tried it a couple of summers ago but stopped when it got to hot to run outside (me and the gross NYC summer temps don't get along). This time, I'm starting out on the treadmill at the gym and will move outside when it gets warmer out. The hardest part so far is finding the time to get to the gym, since the program has three runs a week. But I highly recommend it if you want to get into running.


5. I'm really behind on my TV viewing (which is probably a good thing), but the one show I'm really excited to catch up on is Smash. Have you seen it? Here's the premise from the show's website:

"Smash" is a musical drama that celebrates the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater as it follows a cross section of dreamers and schemers who all have one common desire - to be a "Smash." The series centers on a desire to create a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.

My teenage self (who dreamed of being on Broadway) is rejoicing over the existence of this show.

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What have you been reading/watching lately? Have an awesome weekend!

When is the Best Time to Share Your Story?

While at the 2012 Writer's Digest Conference, I attended a session called "Making Good Ideas Great" by Jack Heffron. His words of wisdom included:

• Write passionately, in a way that feels natural to you.
• Suspend disbelief and withhold judgment. Don't be the editor/reviewer when you write your first draft. Focus on the story and the way to pull the best ideas for it.
• Writer's block isn't a block; it's writing. True love with your book happens when it starts getting hard. It means your idea is asserting its independence and letting you know what it wants to be. Give yourself time to explore the story's possibilities and let the relationship with your story blossom into something deeper. 
• Creativity is in exploration and execution. It's 100 little epiphanies that evolve into something bigger, not one big "aha" moment.
• Readers don't care as much about what happens as what it happens to. If your critique partners are saying your middle is boring, it could be that they haven't connected enough to the characters.

He also said something that got me thinking. According to him, when your idea is new and fragile, you shouldn't share your story with others. He warned us against telling our critique partners about it too soon because it will stifle our creativity. Keep your idea a secret, he advised.

It got me thinking. When is the best time to share your story with your critique partners? As you're writing your first draft, or once it's complete?

I wrote the first 1/3 of my book while getting an MFA so I got feedback on it from the very beginning. I'd write a draft of a chapter, send it to my workshop, receive comments, revise it and send it again. Then I'd wrote more of the book and they'd comment on it throughout the program.

Once I graduated, I took time to finish the draft before sharing it with anyone else. It was nice to not have constant feedback while writing. I joined a critique group soon after finishing that draft, and started getting feedback again.

With my next book, I wonder if I should try writing the whole thing before letting my critique partners read it. Maybe Heffron is right and I'll be more creative because I won't have critiques in the back of my mind. I can see how an unfavorable comment received in the beginning of the process could stop you from seeing an idea through. This happened to me in my MFA program with another story idea.

If I write an entire first draft secretly, I won't have to worry what people will think of it, and can explore the story's possibilities without judgment. I can see the pros and cons of both sides, but I might give this approach a try.

What about you? When do you share your stories? Do you keep them under wraps until they're completely written?

Top 5 Tips I Learned at the Writer's Digest Conference While 9-Months Pregnant: Guest Post by Gabriela Pereira

Today I'm excited to share a guest post from Gabriela Pereira. I first met Gabi in our MFA program and we've been good friends ever since. Last fall, she launched DIYMFA.com, an amazing resource for writers, and most recently she and her husband welcomed home their first baby. Just before her son was born, she joined me at the 2012 Writer's Digest conference. Take it away, Gabi!

In January 2011, I attended the awesome Writer's Digest Conference (WDC) and the day it ended, I began counting the days to this year's event.  You can imagine, then, my surprise and disappointment when I realized that the dates for the conference were precisely the three days prior to my baby's due date.  I mean, not to be narcissistic or anything, but couldn't they reschedule this amazing conference to... say... mid-February so that I could go?  This scheduling glitch was beyond unfair.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, whenever I talked to my writer friends I'd hear about how they were going to WDC12 and I got insanely jealous.  I checked the conference website obsessively, researching agents and choosing my sessions, completely in denial of the fact that I was nine months pregnant and probably wouldn't be able to go.  Finally, I couldn't take it anymore.  I decided baby or not, I was going and that was the end of it.  This is the story of that adventure and the Top 5 Things I learned.

Don't Try This at Home, Kids. Before I share my experiences, let me add a quick disclaimer.  Before arriving at the conference, I made sure I was cleared by my doctor and that I had a support network of people both at the conference and at home, just in case anything happened.  Also, the conference was in NYC, I happen to live in NYC and plan to deliver my baby in NYC.  Had this conference been anywhere else, I would not have tried to pull off this insane stunt.  (OK, I probably would have tried, but I doubt my doctor or my family members would have let me get away with it.)

Top 5 Things I Learned from Attending the Writer's Digest Conference While 9-Months Pregnant

1)  An impending baby is not something you keep to yourself.  First off, once you show up at a conference with your belly the size of a beach ball, there's no way you'll be able to keep it secret anyway.  Instead, you might as well make sure key people are aware of your situation before you show up than to try to tough it out on your own.

The week before WDC12, I called the conference line and spoke with one of the organizers.  I told her what was going on so that it wouldn't come as a crazy surprise to her or the rest of the conference staff should something unexpected happen.  This gave me a safety net and  meant I had a whole team of conference organizers aware of my situation.  Whether you're about to have a baby or you have any other special need that the conference people should know about, tell them.  The WDC12 conference staff was incredibly supportive and helpful and knowing that they were aware of what was going on gave me huge peace of mind.

2) Don't be a hero.  This is actually good advice for all conference attendees, whether you're about to have a baby or not.  When you go to events like this, the temptation is to squeeze every last morsel of awesome out of the weekend.  This is all well and good, but when you get to day three of a fast-paced conference like WDC, you'll be at the point of burnout and you may end up missing some of the best sessions.  I can't tell you how many people I know skipped out on Chris Baty's closing keynote (either because they had to travel home or because they were exhausted) and that talk was probably the best part of the whole weekend.

Don't be a hero, or you risk losing steam and missing the good stuff.  Instead, be strategic and skip out on sessions that are not as important to you.  Twice during the conference, I purposefully missed out on sessions so I could sit down in the comfy hotel lobby chairs and put my feet up for an hour.  I chose the sessions I skipped based on two criteria: how relevant the topic was to me and whether I had friends who planned to attend the session and could lend me their notes.  I'll admit, at the time I felt a bit like a sissy for having to skip out, but in the end I was glad I did it because I got much more out of the conference that way.

3)  Stay hydrated and eat.  Every conference I've ever been to has had water dispensers at the back of the session rooms.  Some conferences (not WDC, unfortunately) even offer nibbles for breakfast before the morning sessions begin.  Whether you're 9-months pregnant or not, take advantage of all opportunities to hydrate and eat.  If you have a water bottle with you, fill it before a session and keep it handy so you don't have to get up multiple times to refill your glass.  Tip: If they give out water bottles during lunch, grab one and refill it before the Pitch Slam so you can rehydrate while standing in line.

If there's no breakfast offered by the conference, make sure you eat something in the morning.  Many writers are often tempted to skip out on morning food in their rush to get to that first session, but that's a long time to wait for lunch if you haven't eaten since dinner the night before.  Take the time to take care of yourself and you'll be better able to focus on what's really important at the conference.  Like pitching your book.

4)  Be prepared.  When you're 9-months pregnant, there's no telling what might happen, so you have to prepare for a conference as if the baby could come any minute.  You also have to prepare as if the baby doesn't come and you are actually able to make it to the various sessions and pitch interviews with agents.  In the weeks prior to WDC, I honed my pitch, chose sessions and studied agent and speaker bios as if I were definitely going to the conference.  I think because I didn't know how much of the conference I would actually be able to enjoy, I was more prepared for this conference than ever before.  In the end, because I thought I might have to leave at any moment, I got much more out of the experience than at other conferences in the past.

At the same time, I also had to make back-up plans in case the baby decided to show up during the weekend.  These things included: having family "on call" to come drive me to the hospital in a moment's notice and having my doctor's phone number memorized--in case my cell phone battery died.  Having several friends attending the conference with me was also a tremendous help because I knew there were multiple sets of eyes watching out for me and making sure I was feeling OK.

5)  Pitch Slam is great, but it's not the end-all-and-be-all.  I know that most writers attend conferences like WDC because they want to get their book idea in front of an agent.  Pitch Slam (like speed-dating for writers and agents, where you have three minutes to pitch an agent with your idea) is a great opportunity, but for me it's only the icing on an already incredibly tasty cake.  Because Pitch Slam involves standing in long lines, I wasn't sure how my endurance would be and if I would be able to pitch more than one or two agents at all.  Because of that, I ended up not putting all my eggs in the Pitch Slam basket and focused more on making the most of the conference sessions, which I knew would be much easier on me.

The result?  Not knowing how many agents I'd be able to pitch meant it took a lot of pressure off of the whole Pitch Slam experience.  Each agent I got to was another bonus and whether they said "yes" or "no" to my idea, I was happy just to get their feedback and hear what they had to say.  In the end, I managed to pace myself and pitch 8 agents, getting really helpful feedback from all and several requests that I submit my work.

But that wasn't the best part.  Since I invested so much more time in preparing for the conference sessions than the Pitch Slam, I ended up making great connections with several speakers, one of whom even offered to speak with me further about my book concept and give me input.  If I hadn't been 9-months pregnant and had invested my all in Pitch Slam, I would probably have never made those amazing new contacts.

Take-home Message:  When I got home after the conference ended, I collapsed into bed and was near-comatose for 24 hours.  Was the insanity worth it?  Most definitely.  Would I do it again?  Absolutely (especially now that I know the baby was taking his sweet time).

The biggest takeaway from the weekend?  Attending a conference three days before your baby is due is most definitely a conversation piece and this means you're probably going to be one of the most memorable attendees at the conference.  But when you're that memorable you have to also be careful not to be memorable for the wrong reasons.  The moral of this tale: If you're 9-months pregnant and attending a writing conference, whatever you do... don't do anything stupid.  'Nuff said.

Gabriela Pereira (AKA Gabi) is the founder and instigator of DIY MFA, the Do-It-Yourself "Masters" in Creative Writing.  Her mission is to help share the MFA experience with writers who otherwise would be unable to get the degree.  For more information on DIY MFA, check out DIYMFA.com or follow Gabriela on twitter (@DIYMFA).  Gabriela has an MFA from The New School with a concentration in Writing For Children.  She has published short stories and writes for two regular columns on writing.

YA Cafe/2012 DAC: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Welcome back to YA Cafe, an ongoing series where I chat about various topics relating to teen literature.

As I first mentioned back in December, I'm participating in the 2012 Debut Author Challenge, hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren. Cinder by Marissa Meyer was my first book and I really enjoyed it! Here's the summary from Goodreads:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

One thing the description doesn't mention is that this story is a re imagining of the fairy tale, Cinderella. You can read the Grimm's version here. Or you can remember dancing and singing along to the Disney version when you were a kid. (Was that just me?)

This was the first time I read a fairy tale re-telling, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I wondered how suspenseful it would be if the plot was very close to the Cinderella story, and I knew all along how it would end. But that wasn't the case. Many elements are the same - Cider's an orphan who lives with her evil stepmother and stepsisters (though only one of her stepsisters is evil). The budding romance between Cinder and Prince Kai is reminiscent of the original story. (I loved how Meyer tied in the glass slipper!) But the similarities end there.

The world of the story is totally different. Cinder takes place in a futuristic New Beijing, after the 4th World War. Cider is a cyborg, which is awesome in itself, but she's also a strong female protagonist who knows what she wants and doesn't take crap from anyone. Even when she does chores for her stepmother, she has an escape plan in mind. She's far from the submissive Disney Cinderella.

The plot strayed from the original story and took it in a totally new direction. And the ending was far from happily ever after. In fact, this is the first book in a series and it provided a cliffhanger that got me excited to read the next book, Scarlett, in 2013.

Overall, it was fun to read Cinder with the original Cinderella story in mind, but I'm glad it ended up being a unique story in itself. It made me want to read more books like it! I found lists of other YA fairy tale and classic re-tellings here and here. I'm going to add a few of these to my TBR list.

Have you read Cinder? What do you think of fairy tale/classic re-tellings?