After my last post where I talked about trying to embrace my dreams without feeling like I’m failing, I had my new year chat with my agent. This is when we set out our aims for the year and generally reflect on how everything’s going.
Me, being me, wouldn’t have said anything about those struggles. Except, turns out when you post something on the internet, anyone can see it. Even your agent. Oops?
But it’s a good thing really as she had some great ideas on how to break down big, scary dreams into manageable steps. The idea behind this was not only to help keep me on track for what I want to achieve, but also to give myself concrete steps to follow so at least it feels like I’ve achieved something concrete–even if I haven’t yet reached the final goal.
This was a really helpful exercise for me, so I wanted to share it as a lot of people mentioned on my last post that they had felt the same thing.
To explain the process we talked about, I’m going to use on of my long-term goals which was to sell a middle grade book. I usually write Ya so this would be a bit of a change for me, but as I’ve always loved middle grade it’s something I’d really like to do that would also push me out of my comfort zone.
To break this down we had to start at the very beginning. A really important thing when delving into a different genre or age range is nailing that voice, and as that’s something I’ve struggled with when experimenting with MG before, so that was our starting point. My agent’s idea was for me to go out and read (and study) a wide range of MG books to work out which ones fit in the voice and style that I’m interested in writing.
That gives me Tangible Task #1: actively read ten middle grade books, thinking about voice and style.
The next step was to think about ideas and market. This doesn’t mean to try to write to current trends or anything, just to have a look through the shelves and keep an eye out for announcements to see what’s selling at the moment or what is currently saturated etc. I’m also going to try looking at the MSWL tag as that’s always a great place to see what people are looking for.
So on to Tangible Task #2: Read five (different) middle grade books that came out in the last few months, this time thinking about understanding the market.
This would bring me to coming up with pitches. I know some people like to start with a kernel of an idea and just write from there, but I’ve found that writing a query style pitch before diving into the manuscript really helps me nail down the driving plot, what the character wants, and the basic world.
Which makes Tangible Task #3: Write three different pitches of possible ideas.
Once I have an idea where I want to go with the story, I’m going to work on some writing samples to run by my agent and critique partners. Something I’ve always struggled with in my attempts to write middle grade is the voice, so instead of doing a whole book without getting it right, I’m going to start with just a few sample chapters. Not only does this feel more manageable and like less pressure than a full book, but it also ensures that I’m making the best use of my time.
So the final one for now is Tangible Task #4: Write two different possibilities for an opening chapter with a focus on the main character’s voice.
I’ve only talked about four of the steps here, but I think it gives you an idea of how this works. I could go on and on, breaking this down into even smaller chunks if I wanted to just to make it even less daunting. And you can do this with anything, from writing something new to querying to trying to expand on your reading.
By breaking it down like this, what first felt like a potentially insurmountable pipe dream has become something I feel like I have more control over and is not nearly as intimidating. Of course all of these tasks will be a lot more challenging in reality than written out on the page, but this makes me feel like it’s something I can work towards.
I’ve always liked To Do lists–mostly the satisfying feeling of ticking something off–and this basically just makes my long-term dream into a To Do list. And that’s a lot less scary!