Weekend Workout: Prepping fo NaNo (or not)

I still haven’t decided whether I’m participating in NaNoWriMo this year, which begins, according to the ticking clock on their website, in 19 days, 12 hours, and 42 minutes, and 30 seconds (29… 28… 27…)

Regardless of whether you are going for NaNo 2012, starting a new project, or editing an old, I cannot stress enough the fabulousness of the Sequence and Beat Sheet. It is both inspirational and practical. I used to be much more of a “pantser” when it came to writing, but being organized beforehand has done wonders for my writing process AND saved heartache while editing.

I posted about this last year before NaNo and wanted to do so again for those about to begin. So, pardon the repeat post, although it has been edited and updated.

THE SEQUENCE AND BEAT SHEET

Basically, this is a form of outline for a story. Because of my screenwriting background, I tend to think of stories in sequences, beats, scenes, etc. Studying screenwriting is extremely helpful when learning about story structure.

After I’ve done copious amounts of prewriting (i.e. I basically know what the story is about and where I want to go), I write my first Sequence and Beat Sheet.

SEQUENCES are series of scenes that act as mini-movies. They have a set up and pay off and end in a change in status quo. Large “reversals” and “reveals” can happen at the end of a sequence to make the story go in a new direction (extremely important if you want readers to keep reading).

Writing out the sequences breaks a story down into manageable “chunks.”  In novels, those chunks usually turn into chapters, although you don’t really have to worry about that just yet.

Beats are the smaller steps inside each sequence that get you from the beginning to the end. For example, in one sequence these might be your beats:

-Anna gets a horse for her birthday.
-She starts riding lessons and has natural talent.
-Anna’s father loses his job.
-Parents can’t afford to keep the horse, or the lessons, Anna devastated.

See the change in status quo? Anna started happy and optimistic, praised for her natural talent, the world is her oyster. Then, boom, no more horse, no more lessons, no more rosy future, and new tensions in the home.

The next sequence might be like this:

-Anna convinces parents to wait one more week before selling the horse.
-Anna gets a job at the stables to support her horse-riding.
-Anna falls from a loft and breaks her leg.
-She learns her leg will never heal properly without surgery, which they can’t afford. Good-bye horse-riding.

In this sequence, Anna goes from a new optimistic and rosy-future, only to crash even farther than the first time (also important for storytelling, intensify the complications as the story enfolds). These changes from the character getting closer to her goal, and then the goal being yanked from sight, are called “reversals.” This is how we empathize with characters – we want them to get their goal, and something gets in their way.

Sometimes I know exactly what’s going to happen in a sequence and my beats are more detailed. Other times I get to the middle of a sequence and I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I know something must happen, so I write something vague and add in some questions:

Anna makes an ally at the hospital (male/female? a love interest?)

For an even more detailed post about the Sequence Approach, CLICK HERE

art by Jose Manuel Merello, click for source

APPROACHING THE SEQUENCES AND BEAT SHEET

When writing out my sequences and beats, the first thing I think about is how the “status quo” is going to change at the end of the sequence, then I write out the beats it will take to get there. I also name my sequences (what is the mini story I am telling here?)

I use this Sequence and Beat sheet as an outline when writing the story, AND I rewrite it before I do my first big edit.

Here’s the second sequence of Intergalactic (the YA Sci Fi story I wrote for NaNoWriMo last year). This is the rewritten version, not my original.

SEQUENCE 2 – The Rethulan Gig
For this sequence, I wanted IdoLL to start nervous and impressed with the palatial quality of this venue, only for something major to go wrong so that the gig is a bust.

I came up with main beats for this sequence:

*IdoLL and the Intergalactics land on Rethula and meet the intimidating queen, who immediately dislikes IdoLL.
*IdoLL learns that she playing a private birthday party for the princess, and she’s not the main act.
*When they arrive at the venue, it is filled with children.
*An obnoxious mini-com call interrupts her tribute to Rethula.
*IdoLL storms out of the concert.

If I need more information, I sometimes go back and fill in a few details (bitty beats), to make sure that each scene has TENSION (as well as set up and foreshadowing). For instance, in the scene where she meets the queen – I added the following smaller beats:

*IdoLL meets the Rethulan Queen:
-IdoLL is uber-impressed with the palace and all the pomp and circumstance
-The Queen appears and has a creepy way of gliding on one foot.
-She mauls IdoLL’s face with her finger nodes to make sure IdoLL is “non infectious.”
-She throws IdoLL and her bandmates into a cell-slash-greenroom and won’t let them leave due to security reasons.

The character of IdoLL is a bit of a brat, so I wanted to create a sequence where we would sympathize with her, where she is devastated and we are devastated with her. There are bits of unexpected foreshadowing with the way the queen moves and her mauling IdoLL’s face with her finger nodes, which come to fruition later in the story when the princess stows away on IdoLL’s ship. Everything here is intentional and serves a purpose in the larger story.

handwritten Sequence and Beat Sheet

Does this sound like a lot of work? It can be. But when I’m writing the story,  I’m always SO glad I have my beat sheet to follow. Even if there are some blank spaces and vague ideas. I can always fill them in when I get to that sequence.

Let me know if you have any questions about any of this! And let me know if you try your own beat sheet and, if so, how it goes.

NaNo Hangover Episode 3.5

I realized that I may have been a bit hasty letting you all go for your rewrite without checking to see how much of your story needed to be rewritten! If it’s going to be quite the overhaul, I recommend you go back to an outline or, what I use, a sequence and beat sheet.

Don’t attempt one until you have done your This is a Story About exercise and can put your story into a logline. One or two sentences. If you can’t do that, you don’t know your story’s focus yet.

I cannot stress enough how helpful a sequence and beat sheet is. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking of designing a novel prep class solely about creating one of these.  It’s your map, your guide, your blueprint.

HERE IS MY POST ABOUT WRITING A SEQUENCE AND BEAT SHEET

I mention changes in “status quo” in the above post. This can be a change in power, a solution that leads to a new mystery or change in plans, a mystery uncovered to reveal a new mystery underneath, a major setback, a traitorous act, or something else that turns up the “we’re in deep doo-doo” factor.

You must, must, must have these things to keep your story moving no matter what genre it is. And if you think of your story in chunks at the end of which is a change in status quo, you’ll find the plot practically writing itself (okay, maybe not, but that’s a nice idea).

Here are a few examples from my first novel:

SEQUENCE ONE: At the beginning I set up the status quo for the White Forest. The faeries live a pretty simple life, Brigitta’s friends are getting their wing changes before her, she is in charge of her pesky sister, her parents (and every other adult faerie) are in the middle of prepping for the Festival of the Elements. Poor Brigitta. At the end of this sequence, after we’ve learned about the forest and who she is, BOOM, a curse hits and her entire world is turned upside down. Change in status quo.

SEQUENCE TWO: It becomes more and more clear that Brigitta and her sister are the only ones untouched by the curse. They explore their forest to find every single faerie and beast turned to stone. They have no idea what to do and B is getting frustrated and scared. Then, when looking through her Auntie’s things, she remembers that there is one faerie left who was banished long ago. Their only choice is to leave the forest and find her. (change in status quo)

If your NaNo suffers from runaway plot, I highly recommend taking time out to do this.

NaNo Hangover: What to do between your first draft and second (Episode 2)

At the moment, I’m actually doing my final Ruins of Noe rewrite for my editor and can’t start rewriting my NaNo until my homework is done. Boo hoo. New projects are always more fun.

The below may seem obvious to some of you, but perhaps there’s someone else out there going through their very first rewrite  and feeling overwhelmed. If you are a more experienced / published writer, be sure to add your 2 cents about how you approach your rewrite.

First of all, rewrites are overwhelming. For all of us. You’re not alone. And you can do this.

So, the rewrite . . . First, print out your entire manuscript. If you have an aversion to paper waste, use recycled, scratch, or scratch recycled paper. All my paper gets used twice (and then recycled). I don’t like waste either.

Put it in a binder and then give it a big hug. I’m serious. Don’t skip this step just because it sounds too silly for the likes of you. It feels really good to have a physical manifestation of all your hard work. Yay.

Read the entire manuscript with pen in hand and in the shortest amount of time possible so you can stay in the flow of the story.

This was tough for me this week as I was working long days and on set. But having a print copy in a binder meant I could take it everywhere. I read/marked this sucker while I was on public transit (that’s how I commute most of the time), during my lunch breaks, and when I got home each evening.

Don’t worry so much about spelling, grammar, punctuation, or even word choice. Sure, if you see an obvious mistake, circle it and move on. But, trust me, you’ll be rewriting this thing four, five, six or more times and that run-on sentence you wanted to fix will probably magically disappear along the way. If not, it will get fixed in your final copy edit. Focusing on the little details (what we call “polishing your buttons”) is not helpful at this point.

Think big picture. Which is why you want to read it as quickly as possible to see if it all holds together.

How do I mark it as I read? Generally, I ask myself a lot of questions in the margins: what is this character’s motivation? does this match something I said earlier? do I need to reveal more here? etc. I also mark places where I need to expand something – more info, description, detail, etc.

When an idea bounces into my mind, I immediately write it down on the opposite page. OR, if my scratch paper doesn’t allow room, I keep lined paper in the back for chronological notes/ideas.

Other things you can ask yourself while you read:

• Does my protagonist have a character arc? Does it grow naturally over the course of the story? Is it believable?
• Is my protagonist an “active hero in conflict” (meaning, does she solve her own problems or does someone or some coincidence solve them for her)
• Is there a clear dilemma?
• Have I put obstacles in my protagonist’s way of achieving his goal?
• Do my other characters sound flat / one-dimensional? Are they “too good” or “too evil”?
• Does the story keep moving? Is it bogged down anywhere?
• Are all my plot set ups paid off? Are any subplots left dangling? (If this is a series, some things may be left dangling, but you want the story to satisfy)

Please feel free to add suggestions for the things you look for in your rewrites!

NaNo Hangover: What to do between your first draft and second (part 1)

I don’t know if my NaNo is the best thing I’ve ever written, or the stupidest. It’s certainly the weirdest, and was definitely the most fun.

I think one of the most helpful things you can do after you finish a first draft is write a query letter.

DON’T SEND IT, for Pop’s sake, you manuscript is not ready. Not by a long shot. But writing the query letter does amazing things.

First off, it’s fun and you can ride the energy of finishing your first draft.

Second, it forces you to figure out what your story is really about because you have to summarize it on one page. Who is your story about? What are the stakes? What must she learn/do/experience in order to redeem herself? How is it resolved?

When I teach this I always ask: what MUST protag do BEFORE / OR ELSE what will happen?

Third, I like to try to capture the tone and voice of the story into the query letter itself to make it stand out. Be careful not to fall into a GIMMICK, though. It has to sound authentic.

There are tons of great web resources for writing query letters. Here are a few of them:

How to Write a Query Letter (AgentQuery)

The Complete Nobody’s Guide to Writing a Query letter (Sci Fi / Fantasy Writers of Am)

Query Shark (An anonymous agent who crits queries online)

Miss Snark’s First Victim (a repped/published author who has lots of query info and links)

Chuck Sambuccino over at Writer’s Digest who has a feature called Successful Queries that posts the letters that landed agents. Then the agent discusses why he/she liked the pitch.

REMEMBER – I am not saying you are ready to start sending your pitch letters out. I just think this is a fun way to help focus your story and prepare for the rewrite.

NaNo Blog Party! Put Your Hands in the Air. w00t! w00t!

Hello fellow NaNo writers and bloggers! The month is at a close and it’s time to celebrate. Some of you I haven’t “spoken” to in, uh, days while we all shut out the world and typed away.

Whether you wrote 5,000 or 50,000 words you can celebrate, because it’s that many more words you have towards a finished novel than you did before.

Not that a party should have any rules, let’s make it more like a game. You have to bring something to share and you have to bring something to eat.

To share:  links to your favourite blog post you wrote during NaNo, your favourite line from your NaNo, a summary of your story, a link to a sample from your story, etc.

To eat: you may only bring what food and drink that are actually in your kitchen right now (cuz I’m assuming many of you did not shop during November)

I’ll start!

All I can offer you to eat is leftover carrot cake from my husband’s birthday (but it’s really good carrot cake. Just ask hubbaby. I made it myself) and some eggnog. If you’ve never tried it, eggnog is really good in coffee.

I’ve posted the first 10 pages of my NaNo Intergalactic: A Pop Space Opera on their website.

Would love to hear about you and your experience and have an eggnog toast (unless you’re lactose intolerant. In which case, I do have one bottle of red wine around here somewhere.)

NaNo Workout: Coming in for a landing, aka Beat Sheet It!

Okay, so I meant to keep up with my NaNo AND blogging about NaNo, but that second part seems to have gotten away from me. As if doing NaNo isn’t ambitious enough on it’s own. And life has a tendency to place things in our way sometimes (like getting sick or having to go to WORK or make a birthday cake for a family member, sheesh.).

Hopefully, most people are “coming in for a landing” this week and have less than 10,000 words left (If not, this could still work. you can still do it. Just buy lots of snacks and frozen meals, hole yourself up somewhere, barricade yourself into an Internet free zone and leave a note for your family not to disturb you until Dec 1).

By the time the end is in sight (somewhere around 3/4 through), usually my story looks not much like my original outline/beat sheet. So, even through I’m still glancing at it for reference, it’s pretty useless.

When I’m looking down at the last bit of hiking trail, but the trailhead still seems pretty far away, I do what I call an “in story” beat sheet / outline. I find that this gives me the last bit of energy, insight, and momentum I need to finish the story. It makes the ending, and how to get there, more clear. And it makes it all seem possible.

I think it works best when you’re leading up to the climax of your story. That part can be a little intimidating b/c we so want it to bring all the elements together so perfectly.

All this means is taking some time to write out the beats until the end of your story INSIDE your manuscript. So simple, yet so effective.

So, go to the last thing that you wrote, and just type out the rest of your story in beats. Don’t worry about full sentences or punctuation or anything like that. It’s basically just a list, in chronological order, of the things that have to happen in the rest of your story. If inspired to do so, add a few notes to yourself (I usually put these in parentheses)

Then, as you write, just follow along, fill in the details, etc. It’s very inspiring to be able to see it all laid out in front of you. Yes, it takes a little bit of your NaNo writing time to do it, but I guarantee it will be worth it.

It might look a little something like this:

-The two warring planets come together and threaten everyone on the asteroid, pull it out of the neutral zone with a tractor beam (see! idoLL says, I knew someone had invented that)

-IdoLL can’t sit by and watch her friends get destroyed (she feels guilty, responsible for the whole thing)

-She contacts the Rethulans and says to take her, and her alone, instead – they agree.

-idoLL and the princess have a bonding moment in the shuttle (first time idoLL hasn’t been an asshat to her) while they’re floating towards the Rethulan ship

-idoLL punches “auto pilot” and they get stuck in a space stalemate

-idoLL’s parents show up! and negotiate with Rethulans, yay! they are very diplomatic (Queen has soft spot for AIP’s)

-idoLL takes princess to TREND to show her “something” (i.e. the purple planet)

-Jettison meets them there, she’s depressed because she now thinks she’s a fraud

etc. etc. etc.

Like I said, once you have this typed out into your manuscript, it makes getting to the end see doable. I always find it gives me that last motivational push to plow through to the end.

NaNo on!

NaNoWriMo Day 16 – Down the Other Side (aka Tips, Tricks, Inspiration to Get Through the 2nd Half of NaNo)

Today’s Goal: 2,000 words
Actual Words: 2,568 words
Total Words to Date: 36,142

I have two NaNo friends who chose to quit last week because they were too far behind. I’m not going to give them a hard time b/c I know life gets in the way, we all have different priorities and responsibilities, and sometimes it’s not the right time. That doesn’t mean it was in vain, though, because 6 or 8 or 10,000 words on a new novel is a great start.

If you are on the cusp of deciding whether to continue or not, I encourage you to stick with it. If you’re having procrastination issues, time management issues, focus issues, perhaps there’s a tip or word of encouragement in here to see you through.

Tip #1) Your Timer is Your Friend

I have had my Pillsbury Dough-boy Timer for almost 15 years. I use it in my writing classes for timed writing exercises and to keep my classes running according to my agenda for the day. I also use it as an anti-procrastination device and a way to stay focused.

Here are some of my own personal timer tricks.

+ If I’m feeling really unmotivated, I give myself a timed writing warm-up to get my mind going.

+ If I’m really dragging myself to the page/computer, I tell myself to just write for 20 or 30 minutes and see how it goes. I set my timer and GO. (usually after 20 or 30 minutes I’m so into the story I don’t want to stop). Setting the timer helps me to start and focus. I have no idea how PBD tricks me into writing every time. I must be very gullible.

+ Even if I’m totally motivated to get to the page, I set it for 30 minutes anyway so I’ll remember to get up and stretch or do some yoga sun salutations.

+ If I really feel like checking my Facebook or email after breakfast, I give myself permission to do so, but set my timer for 20 minutes and when the time is up, I stop. That way it’s a conscious choice and I don’t feel guilty afterwards.

+ Say my daily goals are to work on my novel, clean the kitchen, do some marketing, and write a blog post – I set my timer for each task. I can take 60 minutes to clean the kitchen if I’m not timing it. 20 minutes if I am. It makes a huge difference.

IMPORTANT: USE A TIMER and not a clock. Clock-watching is distracting. Timers go off when you tell them to. Do not use the one on your cell phone. I keep all phones away from my cottage when writing.

Tip #2) Don’t watch your word count

I’m typing my NaNo into a Word Doc. At the bottom of the page is the Word Count. It’s so easy to get obsessed with those little numbers down there, so I always scoot my Doc down enough so that the word count is off screen. I find that I go faster when I can’t see it and usually by the time I do check it, I’ve surpassed my goal.

Tip #3 ) Go for a WALK

If you are stuck, frustrated, foggy, unfocused then reread your last several pages and take a walk. Think about what just happened, what needs to happen in the next sequence, and where you want to go. Play out different scenarios in your mind. Run through some “what ifs.” It’s so safe when it’s all happening in your head.

Tip #4) Put Another Obstacle in the Way

At 20,000 words I panicked a little because I thought I was almost done with my story. What? I know I’m an economic writer, but that’s not even a novelette. But idoLL and Jettison had already reached their final destination, where I had imagined my profound climax. Oops. What did I do? I figured out a reason they had to leave the planet, then threw a new monkey wrench into their plans.

When you’re looking to make your story more interesting, throw something else in the MC’s way. Make their goal harder to attain. Never make it easy for them.

Tip #5) The Final Quarter Beat Sheet

When I’m about 2/3 or 3/4 into the story and closing in on the climax, I write a new beat sheet. Generally by this time my old one is useless anyway, b/c the story has taken a left turn at Albuquerque.

This is a great way to see what’s left to do and gets you out of overwhelm. It puts the end in sight and a map to get there.

I will go into this more on my Friday Weekend Workout (and guess what your weekend workout will be?)

INSPIRATION and TIPS from OTHERS

If you haven’t noticed it yet, there are writers out there who have published their NaNo novels. Some of them give pep talks on the NaNo website.

Erin Morgenstern, author of The Night Circus, which she wrote, yes, for NaNoWriMo, gave this little pep talk I enjoyed.

Author Deb Olin Unferth adds THESE TIPS.

Lastly, even though I know I’m in danger of giving you too many tips as to distract you from your writing, one of my favourite YA authors, Scott Westerfeld, reposted his NaNo Tips from 2009 if you’d like to check them out.

Weekend NaNo Workout: Here Sloggy! Goooood Sloggy!

Today’s Goal: 3,000 words
Actual Words: 3,114
Total Actual Words To Date: 26,481

All writers hit it. That point when you realize your characters have been crawling through air ducts for 20 pages or that the 5-page circular conversation you just wrote brought nothing new to the table. With no dramatic tension in sight, you’re starting to get bored of your own story.

That’s right. You’ve entered THE SLOG!

I definitely hit it last night, but for NaNo word count sake, I just kept going. It was mighty painful.

When I’m tired, like I was last night, I tend to slip into screenwriting mode and just start typing straight dialogue. I hit my goal, but felt completely unfocused and uninspired by my characters’ lackluster conversation.

After wallowing in the slog, I find it best to take a break, get a good night’s sleep if possible, then apply the following tools to rev things up again:

I go BACK to the idea of sequence and scene.

Approaching the story in bite-size chunks helps to keep from getting overwhelmed. Refocusing on the purpose of your current sequence and scenes will help it flow faster.

I know some people at NaNo would say “Who cares, just keep writing! It’s quantity, not quality.” But I actually think that when your story gets sloggy, if you step back and re-enter your story you’ll actually write stronger AND faster. You’ll see where you need to go, how to get there, and be more motivated to make it happen.

Here’s exactly what I did this morning when I re-entered my story after a slog session.

1)   I asked myself, What is this whole sequence about? What has to happen in this sequence?

Well, I told myself, idoLL and Jettison explore the space station, come to the conclusion they are alone, and through some series of small events they open up to each other, share a beautiful moment, and basically see each other differently than they ever had before.

2)   Perfect. Okay, then I asked myself, At the end of this sequence, what happens? What reversal upsets the status quo?

At the end of this sequence, just when idoLL and Jettison are forming some kind of new friendship, they are interrupted by Doctor Baybee. The only other sentient life-form on the space station. The status quo changes because they are no longer alone and they have no idea if they can trust Doctor Baybee or not, but they need his help.

3)   Great. I know where this sequence of scenes is going, and I know what’s going to happen at the end of it. So . . .

I set my timer for 7 minutes and I freewrote using my favourite startline: The scene that needs to be written is . . . and off I went. (I actually figured out what I wanted to do in five minutes and switched to the computer when I was inspired enough.)

Personally, I think you should do all three steps, but if you are pressed for time, at least do the first two. It will only take a few minutes and it’s guaranteed to make you feel better.

YOUR NaNo Inspired WORKOUT

Wherever you are in your story, take a step back and see where you are in your sequence. Remember, a sequence is like a mini movie. There is a beginning, middle, and end and its strung together by scenes that have beginnings, middles, and endings.

My sequence starts as soon as idoLL and Jettison (separated from their crew/bandmates), land on the TREND space station. There is a series of scenes where they explore the station and decide they are alone. They share a moment in the atrium where we see a softer side to them both. The sequence ends as soon as Doctor Baybee interrupts their bonding session.

Set your timer for 5 minutes for the first two writing sessions and for 7-10 minutes for the 3^rd one:

In this sequence, Character A discovers . . .

At the end of this sequence, Character A is surprised when  . . .

The scene that needs to be written is . . .

And for another approach to getting out of the SLOG, CLICK HERE.

Have a great weekend!

NaNoWriMo Day 8 – Are we having fun yet?

NaNo Writing Goal Today:  1,800 words
Actual Words Today: 2,145
Total Words to Date: 19,248

One of my promises to myself this month during NaNo was that I was going to have fun doing it. I was not going to stress, I was not going to whine about the quality of my work, I was just going to write and have a good time. So far, it’s working. I’ve only had a few moments of, What the hell am I writing? This is awful!

As my GBF always says, “That’s the little you talking. Have big you tell little you, Thanks for sharing.”

I really wanted to jump into the NaNo community, rah, rah, rah, but I was overwhelmed by all the different forums and the sheer magnitude of participants, so I parked myself over at a friendly little thread in the “Age Group: 30′s and 40′s” forum called Blogging NaNo. It’s been a treat poking through all the NaNo Bloggers. There’s a HUGE list of them posted over at Knots and Anchors.

I think finding a manageable community is helpful. Participating in too many threads can be distracting.

In the vein of having a good time, I know it’s only a week into NaNo, but does anyone have any funny stories or want share a few favorite lines?

My story is silly. Very, very silly. There have been days where I think it’s only purpose is to entertain me personally. I was cracking myself up in a cafe today and the students studying around me must have thought I was a complete dork. I was seriously busting a gut. Coffee out the nose.

Here are a few of my favourite lines so far from my NaNo Intergalactic: a Pop Space Opera:

~~~

IdoLL wonders how much it would hurt to punch a robot.

~~~

“There was a princess in the trunk?” asks Monkey.

“Just a small one.”

~~~

“If we give the princess up and the Rethulans find out, they will destroy us. If we don’t give the princess up, the Burtuisites will destroy us.”

Monkey stands there for a moment waiting for a response from idoLL.

“AND?” she finally asks.

“Which way would you prefer to be destroyed?”

~~~

“Why do I get the feeling I will regret going along with this.”

“Don’t worry, you wont,” idoLL pats him on the head. “Robots don’t have feelings.”

~~~

(conversation between 2 robots)

“The ship is playing very loud music.”

“Why?”

“For no apparent reason. No one is inside.”

“Perhaps it just likes to listen to music.”

The both stare at the ship and then look around the empty shuttle bay.

“It is a catchy song.”

~~~

“You know what I think?” idoLL asks the princess.

“Ooh, is this a guessing game?”

“I think this whole H.O.F.F.A. thing is a private collection of Madam C’s.”

“Oh, that’s not what I was going to guess. I was going to guess you were thinking that your knees were getting sore.”

“They are.” IdoLL stops for a moment and rubs them.

“Do I get a partial score for that?”

~~~

“Greetings,” he says to idoLL, Tara, and Ari. “I am custom diplo-synth data AIP #P29751H. I will be your cultural liaison, pop synthesizer,

and general information kiosk.”

“See?” idoLL says to Tara. “What’d I tell you?”

“You may call me Liam.”

“You look like a chimpanzee,” says idoLL. “Can I call you Monkey instead?”

“All right.”

~~~

“Is that our ship, idoLL?” asks the rebooted Monkey.

“It is the ship of pop star Jettison Prix,” responds Ari.

“Where is pop star Jettison Prix?”

“She has been captured by the Curator and the rainbow AIP’s.” Off idoLL’s look he says, “That is what they call themselves on the com. I am Captain Pink.”

“You’re not Captain Pink, you’re Ari spying on the rainbots disguised as Captain Pink. Now get the princess on board and I’ll put Monkey in a box.”

~~~

“Monkey!” idoLL tries desperately not to wring his neck. “Listen, we are in danger. Life-threatening danger. Pre-rebooted Monkey, let’s call him Awesome Monkey, the opposite of you, would do anything to save the Intergalactics and the tour. He was loyal. He was supportive. And he was much, much more fun.”

Middle Grade NaNoWriMo

Current NaNo Word Count:  15,072
Today’s Goal: 1,800 words

Actual Words Written: 2,031
Total Actual Words: 17,103

lol. I’m double dutying it today because I want to post about both NaNo and Middle Grade Lit.

I’ve seen several NaNo writers puzzling over whether their novel is middle grade or YA. I blogged about some of those differences in a post called Middle Grade Lit, What is it?

I also blogged about the difference between upper and lower middle grade HERE. Middle Grade has a lot of grey area because at that time in a young reader’s life, their reading, social, mental, and other skills are changing and growing so quickly.

I’ve been reading a range of middle grade and YA books geared towards different ages lately and here’s a sampling of how I’d categorize them, presented in ascending age level:

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz: younger middle grade – good and bad are more black and white, simple story and simple character arc, no sophisticated problem solving. I’d say for 7-9 year olds. Maybe some precocious 6 year olds, but the spider scene might be a bit scary.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik: middle, middle grade. lol. 8-12 year olds. More challenging than Night Fairy because of more mature themes. More complex story. Requires being able to visualize more.

Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck: slightly above the middle, middle grade. 9 – 12 year olds. There’s more subtlety here. A reader would have to be sophisticated enough to read between the lines an understand a more challenging POV, one of someone from the early 20th century.

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix: upper middle grade (11-14) – School Library Journal says grades 4-8 but I disagree. The time travel elements are probably too much for younger kids to wrap their heads around and some of the ideas are pretty sophisticated. There’s a lot more to puzzle out. (side note: this book classification actually confused me because it felt like it should have been a YA novel – I’ll review this later in the month)

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One thing people tend to fall back on is the age of the protagonist. Kids tend to read about characters who are slightly older than they are.

But this is not always the case. I am currently reading John Connolly’s Book of Lost Things (marvelous and disturbing). The protagonist is a 12-year-old boy and it’s definitely not a kids book. The writing is luxurious, sophisticated, and part fairy tale, part psychological study.

As far as NaNo goes, if you don’t know yet what age your target market is, just write the story and see what you have. You can decide then, or ask for help from fellow writers, and make any necessary changes in the rewrite.

Have a great week NaNoBots!