This week I received some feedback on my thought-I-was-so-close-to-being-finished WIP. The feedback pointed out a problem that I knew was there but I was hoping wouldn’t matter. Grrr. Lesson here? Listen to your gut.
In this case, I had made certain choices because I was trying to keep my manuscript in the realm of middle-grade novel instead of pushing it up to YA. I ended up with a weird timeline and delayed action (read: long boring section before getting to the good stuff). Even though I can name a dozen MG novels where the protagonist starts out as a teenager (think just about any fairy-tale story), I set an age restriction on myself and it changed the story from what I had originally envisioned.
I should have known better. The advice “write what you love” trumps “the protagonist should be _____” advice. Or the “a MG novel should start out with ______” advice.
So, what would happen to my story if I went back in and took off those restrictions? And how much work will it be to fix it? Will the fix change the category and if so, should I care?
I took my printed WIP, some scissors, and a stack of index cards, and set to work. I divided all my scenes and stapled them together. I wrote one scene summary on each index card.
I separated the cards that I am pulling out of the timeline. I may use them later as flashback, or as slivers of backstory.
Today, I will shuffle the cards around until I have the order that makes the most sense, adding in new notecards for the new scenes I’ll need. Then I’ll write out a new synopsis using these notecards. After that, I’ll need to let everything rest so I can look back with a fresh mind and determine if I’ve made the story better or worse!
(Note: these photos are of various note card tools from Levenger. You can click on the photos to go to the Levenger website. I saw them on Darcy Pattison’s Fiction Notes blog where she is talking about Plotting with Scenes.)
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Oh the letter tray is so fabulous.
Shonna, I wonder if you could answer a question about Margie’s class. I am really interested in them, but what slightly concerns me is peer critique. Are students expected to critique everyone’s work? I simply don’t have a lot of time to spend, hard enough trying to sort myself out. I would really appreciate it if you could email me about your experience, or just leave a message on the blog.
Thanks.
Lost Wanderer, good question, so I’ll answer it here in case there are more people wondering. Here is my experience:
At the beginning of the class we were asked to find a critique partner. Some people chose to go solo, but I wanted the full experience so I put my name on the list of people needing a partner. I actually ended up with two.
Margie gives assignments with each lecture. Between classes you do the work and trade it with your crit partner for feedback. IF you choose, you can also post this critiqued piece to the entire loop. This is how Margie sees your work and gives you feedback. I may have done this once before slinking back to my introvert shell.
Although, you do not HAVE to have a crit partner, having one will certainly help you get more out of the class. And NO, you do not have to read through all the posted writing samples, just your crit partner’s (though you will learn from Margie’s comments on the online pieces.)
If all you have time for is her lectures and doing the assignments on your own, you will still find the class is well worth your time.
BTW, I still keep in touch with my two crit partners! We all speak “Margie” now so when they look at my work and say it needs more “green” or that a sentence should be “backloaded” I know exactly what they are talking about.
Hope that helps!
Shonna, I feel your pain. I’ve done this, too, with the note cards. I’m dying to find out what you decide to do with the story! In any case, you’ll choose what you like best anyway, so you’ll still be happy with how it turns out. Yay for that!
Thanks Shonna. That was very helpful. I think I’ll probably go with lecture packet this time, because I would have preferred getting comments from Margie without having to put work in the whole loop. And I don’t really feel sharing work with complete strangers because you never know whether you would hit it off or not.
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