3 Steps to Overlording Your Plot Forward

Writing is a lot like being an evil overlord. Your readers are your subjects and you have control over them - you control their emotions, their bedtimes, and their day dreams. You create new crushes and new frenemies for them. So. Much. Power.

Here's the great part about this: you can use your readers to help you BEFORE THEY EVEN EXIST.

Whaaaat?!

That's right. While you are still in the process of writing, you can channel your readers to help drive the plot forward. How? It's as easy as 1-2-3!

1. Know who your readers are. Are you writing for children or adults? Men or women? Adventurers or homebodies? (Caveat: people who are not your "intended audience" will read and love your book. I don't think there are books out there that are exclusively for one group of people and that no one else could enjoy. That is not where we're going here. But having an idea of the target audience is going to help you, not only during your writing time but also when it comes time to query that sucker.)

2. Answer this question: What do my readers want to see next/see more of? Do they want a confrontation between your protagonist and antagonist? Do they want your MC and her crush to end up with some unexected alone time? Do they want to learn more about the diabolical workings of the King? Once you know what your readers want...

3. Give it to them. Or don't. This is the part where you get to play evil overlord (mwa-ha-ha!). Your minions have made their requests and, like God, you can respond in one of three ways: Yes, No, and Wait.

        A. Give them the Yes. You want your readers to enjoy this, afterall. You want them to get their wish of crush-ey alone time. Give it to them...sometimes.

        B. Give them the No. Have you ever wanted to throw a book through the window out of frustration or cried when a favorite character died? Sometimes aswering with "No" is the best way to evoke personal response from your readers and get them truly invested. Afterall, in a world of "yeses," where would the story be?

        C. Tell them to Wait. Your MC is going to end up with Crushey-Mc-Crusherson. But not now. This is where you get to build suspense and tension, and your plot will grow for it.

So there it is, Friends. Three easy steps to Overlord your plot forward. If you're ever stuck, try using this process. Better yet? Keep a list of things you think your readers want and plan out what their answers will be (Yes, No, or Wait). You might get some new devilish plot ideas while you're at it!

Happy writing!

Currently Reading: Enders by Lissa Price
Currently Listening To: Alias Soundtrack, Season 1

The Online Writing Community Acronym Dictionary

There is a beautiful online writing community that I have recently found and am quickly falling in love with. It is amazing to connect to other writers, editors, and book lovers! I have been visiting blogs, vlogs, and twitter feeds just basking in all the great information and support that is available. But there is a bit of a secret language going on in these places, so I decided to create a dictionary to help out any other newbies like me who may feel a little lost.

General Terms:

ARC: Advance Reader Copy. This is when readers get their grubby little mitts on a book before it's officially released (the lucky ducks!)

CNR: Closed No Response (I have also heard people call this: Closed No Rejection?). This is a term used during querying when an agent doesn't respond to your query at all and you decide to close out the "open" status on the query knowing they will likely never respond.

CP: Critique Partners. These are the people who help make your rough work into awesome work and kindly point out which darlings need slaying. And vice versa, because turn about is fair play.

ER: Email rejection. When an agent emails a rejection to your query. (Be strong!)

EQ: Email query. When you sent a query via email to an agent, then crossed your fingers, toes and eyes and prayed for a good response.

FR: Full request. When an agent you queried requests to read your full manuscript (Congratulations!)

MC: Main Character

MS: Manuscript

POV: Point of View. The point of view your story is written from

PR: Partial Request. When an agent you queried requests to read a portion of your manuscript (congratulations! Here's hoping for an upgrade to a full after the partial!)

QT: Querytracker.com. If you are planning to query agents, ever, visit this website. You can read up on the agents, hear other author's experiences, and (you guessed it!) track the status of your own queries.

WIP: Work in progress. This is whatever project you are current working on (aka: your baby)

Age Ranges:

A: Adult

MG: Middle Grade

NA: New Adult

YA: Young Adult

Genres:

CB: Chapter Book

NF: Non-fiction

PB: Picture Book

R: Romance
SFF: SciFi (Science Fiction)/Fantasy
UF: Urban Fantasy

I'm sure this isn't exhaustive, but I hope it is helpful! Let me know what I missed...perhaps a part two will be in order!

Happy writing!

Currently Reading: Enders by Lissa Price
Currently Listening to: House Carpenter by Nickel Creek

My 2015 Resolutions (No, they're not late.)

I never was big on New Years' resolutions. They always felt disingenuous
to me. What I do like is making resolutions on my birthday. It's more personal. It means something to me. And, friends, yesterday was that day.

So here we go: 

Resolution #1: Finish my first draft and first edit of Silver Gray [the title's going to change]. 

This is a rewrite of the first book I ever finished. The initial draft was over 200,000 words long.

Let me give you a little perspective: the average young adult book (like this one) is 55,000-70,000ish words long. We're talking something that's three times the average...and I guarantee you most of those 200,000 words are completely unnecessary. Hence: rewrite.

In fact, I'm keeping very little of the original, even down to plot. Many of the characters are sticking around though. (I spent 200,000 words getting to know them. I can't let them go now.) So even though I'm calling it a rewrite, it's more like a brand new creation.

Resolution #2: Have an idea ready to go for book #4 
Once I finish the first draft of Silver Gray, I'll need some time before I can look at it objectively enough to edit. I don't want to waste my time during the cooling phase, so I'm going to get my idea tank filled up for the next project. I have a file on my computer full of ideas already. Maybe I'll flesh out one of those, maybe I'll come up with something new. Who knows? Such wonderfully free possibilities. This resolution will probably result in me watching a lot of great documentaries (one of my favorite sources for inspiration).

Resolution #3: Secrets secrets! I can't share this one publicly (yet) but I will when the time is right.

25 years old. A quarter of a century. I plan to make it a good year.

Who doesn't love a good dragon selfie?