Author Archives: Courtney Koschel

I’m going to start off with a disclaimer. This post is for writers pursuing publication. If you write for a hobby, that’s awesome. You can do whatever you like. If you’re writing for publication, there are some things you may want to consider in order to enhance your chances of landing that agent and book deal. This isn’t meant to stifle anyone’s creativity; this is strictly guidance. Take it if you think it’s useful, but discard it if you think it’s not. Either way, I hope it gets you thinking about your story, which is always a good thing.

The first twenty-five pages of a story are extremely important. A writer has to hook the reader, introduce the conflict, and move an entire story and plot forward. This is no easy task. Because of the amount of queries agents and editors receive, they are only able to read a sample to see if they’re interested. Maybe they’ll read the first chapter, two chapters, twenty-five pages? It depends. Then based on those pages, they’ll either request more pages or pass. Hopefully the magnitude of the first twenty-five pages has sunk in.

One of my go to books on beginnings is Hooked by Les Edgerton. Edgerton say, “An opening scene has ten core components: (1) the inciting incident; (2) the story-worthy problem; (3) the initial surface problem; (4) the setup; (5) backstory; (6) a stellar opening sentence; (7) body language; (8) character; (9) setting; and (10) foreshadowing,” (page 23).

If you’re newly starting out, and you want to look for some examples, go to the bookstore and look at current releases—I’m talking books released in the last one to three years. Read over the first thirty pages of books in the genre you’re interested in writing. The reason I say to look at current books for reference is because the publishing industry is forever changing. What was acceptable ten (even five) years ago may not be acceptable today. Of course you can take books that are wildly successful that don’t have these things in the first twenty-five, but you can’t always take the exception as an example for the norm.

One of the most important parts of the beginning is the inciting incident. The inciting incident is the action that pushes the story forward. I’ve heard some industry professionals say they’d like for this to happen anywhere from the first seven pages to the first twenty-five. It’s important to understand what the inciting incident of a story is. It doesn’t always have to be a car wreck or a murder (although it very well could be). But it can be subtler than that. I know I said you shouldn’t use exceptions as examples for the norm, but since the wildly successful books are the ones most people are familiar with, I’m going to use two big name books as examples. Harry Potter. The inciting incident in Harry Potter is when the first letter to Hogwarts is delivered to Harry. This happens on page thirty-four. That’s not far off from the first thirty pages. Let’s look at another one. The Hunger Games. The inciting incident of this story is on page twenty, when Primrose Everdeen’s name is chosen during the reaping. It’s important for the reader to care about the characters and to be emotionally invested in them enough to care about what happens to them, so when you introduce the inciting incident, the reader will follow your character on their journey.

I could talk about beginnings for a very long time. This is just skimming the surface. Hopefully it entices you to go research and read more to improve your craft.

In honor of our one year anniversary at Hugs and Chocolate, and for our February workshops, I’m offering a twenty-five page critique to one of the followers. All you have to do is follow the blog and leave a comment and make sure to include your email address. The winner will be chosen using random.org, and they will be notified via email. The critique opportunity is open until Friday, February 15, 2013.

How often do you read a book’s jacket copy? Probably every time before purchasing one.  The idea is fresh, original. The main plot point sounds like something you could devour in one sitting. But then you get home and start reading it. You’re waiting for the author to deliver, but … you keep waiting. While the book may be good, the story is not what you thought it would be about. The plot point you were so looking forward to reading is glossed over. It happens so quickly you’re left wondering if you missed something.

The jacket copy is pretty much the query letter. Sure, it’s tweaked some, but oftentimes it’s the same. When I’m editing, and I ask for the query (or the summary), I expect the main conflict in the query/summary to play a big part of the story.

Example (and this is a completely made up, terrible example): Jane Doe leaves home to follow her dream of becoming a circus performer, only it’s much more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. When one of the trapeze artists is brutally murdered, Jane must decide if she should stay and live her dream, or go home where it’s safe.

If you were to read that, you’d expect there to be a lot of tension since “it’s much more dangerous than she could have ever imagined,” and then there’s the murder. We would see all these dangers, and Jane struggling to decide what she should do. But what if when you started reading it, there aren’t really any dangers. Jane meets a cute clown-boy she falls in love with. Sure she may fall off the tightrope every now and again, but it’s nothing so dangerous you, as the reader, would think she’d consider giving up on her dream. And then there’s the murder, which doesn’t happen until almost the end of the book, and Jane doesn’t really struggle with her decision. She decides it’s what she loves, so she stays. You’d be disappointed, right?

While this may be a grossly exaggerated example, this is something I often see. The query will focus on something that is glossed over or not really touched on in the manuscript.

You have a certain responsibility as a writer to hold reader’s expectations. If one of your critique partners, or someone who has read your query/summary and your story tells you it’s not what they expected based on the query, your plot may lack focus. Take a good look at your query and decide if you need to rework your query or your story.

Chances are, the real conflict lies in the big issue you’ve pulled out in the query, it’s just not pulled out in the story. When you pull out the main plot point, your story will be much stronger, cohesive.

Have you ran into this before?

Wow, it feels good to be back. I’ve had the dreaded flu for the past three weeks, and it is miserable. If you haven’t gotten it yet, please, wash your hands and stay away from sick people so you don’t get it. It’s not fun, and I want all of you to stay healthy.

It’s a new year. There’s something refreshing about going into another year, but don’t forget about all the things you accomplished the previous year. If there was something you didn’t get a chance to finish, then what better time than the present?

I’ve always wanted to paint, but I’m not that good at it. One of my good friends wanted me to go to a painting workshop with her, so last weekend, I did. You know what? I loved it. Am I as good as Picasso? Um…no (see owl). Is my creativity as brilliant as Dali? That’s a negative. Did I have fun? I had a blast. Will I do it again? I’m going again this month.

Painting is not writing, but it’s still using my hands to generate a piece of art. It can be good for us writers to step out of our comfort zone and focus our creative minds on other tasks. Painting was good for me because I didn’t put any pressure on myself to be amazing; I was being silly. If I messed up, I laughed at myself. Do I have fun when I’m writing? Of course! It’s where I’m the happiest me there is. It’s my passion, my calling. But it’s what I want to do as a career, not a hobby, and every job is stressful at some point. When I make a mistake in my writing, I don’t laugh. I get frustrated with myself and want to make it perfect. That doesn’t mean I don’t love it. That just means I’m taking myself, and my job, seriously, and I want my story to be the best it can possibly be.

I’m very close to making writing my job, and the closer I get, the more stressful it is. I’ve done the hard part–I’ve written my novel, rewritten my novel (probably a hundred times or so), workshopped my novel, revised my novel, etc. This is my dream, and I’ve done the part I have control over, and not having control over whether or not an agent picks it up (not to mention sells it to a publisher), is stressful. But I won’t quit. I’ll keep at it until I land this job, and I know it’s going to happen…soon.

What other creative outlets do you use for expressing yourself?

Formatting can age you by ten years, create gray hair, and you may end up in therapy after trying to get your manuscript to behave, but it’s a necessary part of every writer’s life. I’m going to touch on some basic formatting rules using Microsoft Word, and I’ll also touch on some other basic formatting rules for you to apply to your manuscript.

When submitting to agents, be sure to follow their instructions for formatting. Some may be different than others. If you’re submitting to publishers, be sure to adhere to their style requirements. Every publishing house will have a house style, but the publishing industry as a whole follows the Chicago Manual of Style.

I’ve included screen shots of my Microsoft (which is for Mac, but the things I’ve included should look the same across Mac an PC platforms) for your enjoyment.

The Basics

• One inch margins all around.
• This is under the “Layout” tab in your ribbon. Set all margins to 1.

• Times New Roman font
• 12 point font
• This is under the “Home” tab in your ribbon. Change the font type and size here.

• Double space your document
• Indent the first line by 0.5”
• This is under the “Paragraph” setting. Your screen should look just like this.
  • Set the left indention to 0″
  • Special: to First line
  • By: to 0.5.“
  • Set your line spacing to Double with 0 pt Spacing before and after.

• Only one space after a period
• Use the serial comma.
• This is the only part that may be a little different on the PC version of Word. You’ll want to find your Grammar Settings and go in and set them to your preference. There are so many things Microsoft Word actually does for you if you have it set up correctly. On Word for Mac, I went into Tools > Auto Correct > Show All > Spelling and Grammar > Settings and then modified my grammar settings.

• Only one space after a colon. I haven’t found a setting that automatically sets this for you, but if I do, I’ll post it.
• Punctuation goes inside a quotation mark in the US, but can go outside of the quotation mark in the UK.
• There are many ways to use ellipses (…) but the most common use I see is trailing off.
  • Example: She stood with her hands on her hips. “What do you mean you can’t go to … Oh.” The look on his face said it all.
• There are also many uses for the em dash (–). It can be used to interrupt dialogue.
  
  • Example: “I said go clean your room.” “But Mom–” “Now!”
• An em dash can also be used in place of commas.
  • Example: Because we haven’t packed–or even done laundry–we are unprepared for our trip!

Those are the formatting basics. There are so many other formatting tips and tricks. My biggest piece of advice is to get the Chicago Manual of Style and reference it; it’s a publisher’s go to guide.

Do you have any other questions about formatting? I’m happy to answer in the comments.

I’m keeping it short today. I know this is a crazy day for shopping, family, relaxing, and hopefully resting.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I want to just take a second to thank all of you for being amazing. I am so blessed and fortunate to have such a fabulous and supportive group of writers who are there to encourage me, hold me accountable, and listen.

May your weekend be full of writing, words, food, friends, family, turkey, pie, books, inspiration, and as much positivity as I can wish upon you. Know I am thankful for each and every one of you, and I can’t wait to ring in another new year with you all.

Some of my loot!

I have a confession…I’m a craft book junkie. Maybe it’s the editor in me, but I can’t stop buying them. I’ve recently acquired about six or seven new ones. Some of them I haven’t read yet, but I’ve browsed through many of them.

My favorite so far, and yes, this is because I write young adult fiction, is Writing Irresistible Kid Lit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers by literary agent, Mary Kole. I’ve been devouring this book. If you haven’t checked out her website, then you’re missing out. She talks about the ins and outs of publishing, how to improve your craft, and writing query letters. It’s amazing, and her book is fantastic. A must buy if you’re looking for a YA and MG craft book.

My second favorite (so far) is The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller by John Truby. On a side note, I’m not sure what the deal is with Amazon’s pricing for this book, but I bough the Kindle version. So far, I’m loving this. John Truby really takes you into how to craft a scene, work on transitions, and hook your reader.

I haven’t read this book yet, but I’ve heard so many good things about it: The Plot Whisper by Martha Alderson.  I can’t wait to dive in.

The next book isn’t really a craft book as much as it is an inspirational book. My husband got me If: Questions for the Game of Life by Evelyn McFarlane and James Saywell. We sat on the couch for hours asking each other these questions. Some of them are a bit weird, but they definitely get your creative juices flowing.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is a must have. Just get it. Don’t ask questions. It’s fabulous.

Okay. I think that’s a good start to my confessions as a craft junkie. What are some of your favorite books?

I’ve been staring at this screen for far too long, so I thought I’d write this sentence down to get the words flowing. You see, there are so many things I’d love to blog about, but I don’t know what the community needs, so I’m asking for your suggestions and opinions…what topics would you like to see discussed? I’ve got grammar posts I could do, editorial posts, personal posts, controversial posts, industry related posts–pretty much anything you’d like to see, I’ll do the leg work and research and write it up. I love research. I’m a huge nerd that way, so take advantage of it. I promise I’ll deliver.

This post isn’t a copout for writing a blog post. I’m genuinely interested in what readers want to see discussed. I know the H&C gang would love to see more discussions in the comments and have more open dialogue about issues that affect all of us writers. It’s a crazy world out there as is. If I can put together an essay blog post that will inform you, then I’d love nothing more than to do that and make your life easier.

So, fellow H&C commenters: what would you like to see discussed? What posts would you like to read about? What do you want researched?