From Idea to Bookshelf: Two YA Authors on the Writing Process
Authors have processes that are specific to how they work best. These “processes” can include anything from how they build an exciting plot down to details like what they drink while they’re writing.
Peachtree Teen authors, Kat Higgs-Coulthard (piping hot caramel macchiato, please) and Christine Webb (mango ceylon tea, thank you very much) sat down to talk about their respective processes and discovered that each of their writing systems tend to follow four consistent stages: idea generation and development, drafting, revision, and pre-publication or pitching.
Your process may be a bit different, but hopefully their experiences can help you consider what works best for you.
Idea Generation & Development
Christine: Authors have a lot of different opinions when it comes to the best way to start constructing a story. For me, the beginning of my process starts with developing the main character. I have a list of around 40 questions that I ask myself in order to “get to know” this character. What does she want more than anything in the world? What is his biggest secret?
I focus on questions that will help me create challenges and victories for this character to experience. For example, it’s great that my character’s favorite color is orange, but that doesn’t give me a lot of plot. But if I find out my character had a past as a spy before she started teaching kindergarten? That’s interesting. Once I know my character, I build a plot on how to help him or her grow as a person in a thought provoking (and hopefully entertaining!) way.
Here’s a fun fact: I had such a good time writing the character of Ella in The Art of Insanity that I used a few of her foundational traits to start building my protagonist Skyler in Shooting for Stars. They’re very different characters, but Ella inspired Skyler and kicked off that entire story.
Kat: Most of my writing begins with seeing an unusual situation in the real world and thinking, hmmm…that’d be a great story. But to paraphrase Stephen King, the situation is just the cup. The story doesn’t come until I find the right handle with which to pick it up. The handle is usually a specific character relationship that comes alive when paired with that situation. For instance, back in 2008 several unhoused individuals were involved in a turf war over copper piping that led to four of the men being murdered. Questions about that situation percolated in the back of my mind until years later, when I noticed the way my nephews watched out for one another and suddenly I had the handle for that story–what if the father of two boys went missing due to his involvement in a criminal scrapping ring? That is the premise of Junkyard Dogs.
Drafting
Christine: Every time I draft a novel, I have to continuously remember that “I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” (Quote by Newbery-honor winning Shannon Hale). In my experience, the better I’ve gotten at writing, the more I realize how bad my first drafts are. Sometimes it’s discouraging to keep writing when I’m pretty sure what I’m writing is total junk. I can’t revise a blank page, though, so I need to get the words out there in order to be able to have something to work with upon revision. If it’s any comfort to you, at least once in every novel I’ve written, I’ve been 100% sure that the story is totally awful and I’m a terrible writer. This usually happens multiple times. The important part is to keep moving forward and get those words written. If you’re the kind of person who can set deadlines for yourself, this can be helpful. When writing The Art of Insanity, I challenged myself to write an average of 1,000 words a day for thirty days. After accomplishing that, I had a huge bulk of the novel written. Sure, some of it needed serious revision, but at least I had a solid start. You might be surprised to find that, in the end, the writing is not nearly as bad as you thought.
Kat: I love that idea of putting sand into the box! Drafting is my favorite part of writing because it allows me to simply imagine without putting too many restrictions on myself. There are two main camps when it comes to drafting–pantsers (who write by the seat of their pants, building the story as they write it) versus plotters (who plan everything out, creating a blueprint in advance of writing the story). For me, it’s actually more of a continuum and different projects require different approaches. I primarily pantsed my way through my first three novel attempts, only realizing once I had the opportunity to revise with an editor, that pantsing did not provide the structural integrity necessary for deep revision. Now, I at least add a belt and suspenders to my pants in the form of a structural outline. A genre-specific version of Blake Snyder’s beat sheet helps me know where I should be hitting specific marks as I write, but I still love to play my way through putting those words on the page.
Check out Katherine Higgs-Coulthard’s Junkyard Dogs here:
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Revision
Kat: Fresh eyes are vital in this stage. As the author, your familiarity with the story allows your brain to fill in details that might be missing from the page. This is where beta readers come in. A beta reader reads and responds to the story like a critical reader, catching gaps, errors, and repetitions. It is especially helpful to have betas familiar with your age category and genre. I write primarily YA, so I use a mix of adult and teen betas. Often a teen reader will catch something that an adult overlooks. One teen pointed out that in Junkyard Dogs, Josh saves half his sandwich for his starving little brother, but never gives it to him. Another teen identified a gap where a dog that was deathly-ill in one scene was trotting happily along in the next. (Note: the dog does NOT die.) Adult readers had missed both of these issues. Editors Michelle Barker and David Griffin Brown offer a free feedback template on their blog, The Darling Axe.
Christine: I echo Kat on this one – beta readers are a great idea. Once you’ve spent 300 pages with your characters and plot, it’s very difficult for you to see what’s missing. For example, maybe you know the reason why Calvin hates dogs is because he got bitten by one as a toddler. But when all the reader sees is Calvin fleeing from a box of adorable puppies, they might wonder what’s wrong with Calvin. A beta reader is not someone looking for where you missed a comma or a capital letter (though perhaps they’ll mark that for you). The point is for them to see what information is missing or needs expansion in order to help the story make sense and flow logically. When you’re too close to your own work, it can be nearly impossible to see these things.
Pre-publication or Pitching
Kat: How many times have you had someone ask you what your story is about, only to find yourself rambling? In getting ready to pitch or publish your work, it is imperative that you can summarize your story succinctly. Many writers use Pixar’s Pitch template of ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS ___. EVERY DAY, ___. ONE DAY ___. BECAUSE OF THAT, ___. BECAUSE OF THAT, ___. UNTIL FINALLY ___. That’s a great start, but you should also be able to give a five minute synopsis that helps potential readers understand the major plot points through the lens of the primary character arc. The words ‘major’ and ‘primary’ are key here–leave out subplots and minor characters and describe the focus of the story in a way that makes your audience want to know the full story. Book jackets are great models for how to do this well.
Christine: When your book is all shiny and ready to go into the world, you need to decide which publishing track you want to take. If you’re hoping for traditional publishing, you need to work on what’s called a “pitch package.” This includes a query letter, a synopsis, and usually the first chapter or ten pages. If you aren’t familiar with these terms, I strongly recommend spending some time researching them and studying examples before you begin. I actually construct my pitch package before I start drafting a novel, which may seem a bit backwards, but it works for me. I want to make sure the plot, stakes, and character arc(s) are immediately clear and definable – these are things agents and editors will want to see. If you’re self-publishing, you still need to make your storyline attractive and engaging to readers. Figuring out how to pitch it before I even write it has been very helpful for me. I didn’t use this method while writing The Art of Insanity, but I used it for Shooting for Stars and also the book I’m drafting now. It gives me such a clear picture of where I am going and what guideposts I have to hit along the way, and I have found it to be effective.
Whether you prefer sandboxes or beat sheets, caramel or mango ceylon, finding your own process and leaning into what works for you can boost your writing productivity.