February 2022 Newsletter

This one is packed full--read on...

I am so happy to introduce you to Danielle Daniel, a past student. I am thrilled about her new book, released just days ago! So some Q&A to enjoy…

Alison: Danielle, your excitement over writing MG (middle-grade… so ages 9-12 or so) stories shines right through emails! Yet, MG is a tricky thing: how do you pin it down to describe what exactly it is? (How it’s different from YA and chapter books, say...) And what is it about writing for this particular age group that has just grabbed you?

Danielle: Middle Grade is hands down my absolute favourite genre. Having now written a novel for both adults and children, I can firmly say that both of them are equally challenging. A novel is a novel. However, there is a great tenderness and heart in middle grade that you don’t often find in other genres. MG doesn’t shy away from difficult subject matter, but the main thing that differentiates it from YA or adult fiction, is hope. Hope is at the core of a MG novel and I personally enjoy writing from a place hope. Those who write middle grade know how special it is. It has become the genre I most prefer to read as well. The world is scary enough. We should all read more middle grade.

Alison: MG books are particularly tough to sell right now—can you share a bit of the process in finding a publisher and/or working with the editor?

Danielle: Publishing is not an easy process. My memoir was rejected thirty times before it was published by a local publisher and my first picture book was self-published, and then went on to win a national literary award. So, let’s just say I don’t have a “traditional” publishing story. It is humbling and often crushing to submit your work, but I do believe that if you keep trying and developing your craft, you will get there. You will.

I am very lucky to have a literary agent who offers editorial notes and line edits on my manuscript drafts. I naively thought it was nearly ready when I initially sent it to her, but we went through three rounds together before we submitted to a publisher. Three huge rounds. It was overhauled. I grossly underestimated the effort and time it would take to complete a novel. In the end, I probably did 10 INTENSIVE drafts to get it to a place to submit, and each time was hard. Each time. This is why it’s so important to love your story, to feel a fire when you begin, because your excitement and dedication can/will eventually fizzle out after so many drafts. Nobody will care about this manuscript more than you, so you really have to care.

I realize that finding an agent can be just as difficult or even more difficult than getting published. But, you don’t need an agent, not in Canada, however you do need someone to read, someone who is not your friend, someone who will put red lines across it and want to see the story shine. An expert. Choose this person carefully. Truth be told, some of them have very poor delivery and can set you back for months and have you question your self-worth, your confidence, your actual life purpose! It’s not cheap so make sure your manuscript is as far as you can possibly get it before you pay for editorial feedback. I can almost guarantee you will not like what they have to say, but writing is rewriting. Rewriting is the only way to getting published.

When we submitted my middle grade manuscript, four years after I started writing it, I was certain it was ready, that I had done EVERYTHING I could to make it the best it could be. And 24 hours after submitting it to multiple publishers I received a message from my agent that a pre-empted offer was going to be made. It was one of the BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. The editor who made the offer loved the book as much as I did. It was a match made in heaven. It was worth every single painful challenge. And, on January 18th 2022, FOREVER BIRCHWOOD will finally be published!

Writing is hard. It’s an extremely lonely profession. It’s also magical and euphoric. For me, it is a deep spiritual practice of listening and trusting. I want to quit half the time and the other half, I know that if I did quit, I’d be the most miserable person in the entire universe. Most of us write because we have to. That’s why it’s important to find one person who you can share your daily writing/not writing misery with, so you can say it out loud, and then promptly return to your writing.

Keep hope alive by reading Middle Grade and believe that if a girl from Sudbury with 30 rejections and who originally self-published her first book can get there, then every good thing is possible.

Website: danielledaniel.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielledaniel/

A huge thanks, Danielle, for this! The work you’ve put in, and then the reward for that work, and your passion for the age group, are inspiring!

Readers, please consider buying and ordering Danielle’s book from your local independent bookstore. HarperCollins is a wonderful publisher with solid distribution, yes, but all of us can do our piece to support the work of writers we know. And that means buying books, reviewing and sharing, and READING.

To make ordering easier, know that the ISBN (international standard book number—the barcode on the back of the book—is 978-1443463348.

Wrap it up and hand it to a tween you know and love (but first, read it yourself :)

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January articles - a recap

I’m taking reader-writer questions seriously, and working through to build and respond to them. “World-building” was just such a question, but when I went to tackle it, I had to bring in historical writing and contemporary realism as well as the more obvious of sci-fi/fantasy/speculative work. So I posted this in three separate pieces.

Please note that while I do take non-paying subscribers questions and duly jot them into my notebook, paying subscribers have priority, and those questions will be addressed first.

Next I looked at the idea of “coincidence” in fiction. It does have a role. Elements that are “real life” are also elements of fiction—it can’t not be. Fiction is how we explore Truth and truth. For all of the posts this month, the level of discussion has been so good, and the comments section is really contributing to our thoughts. Do add yours thoughts, and further questions that grow from all posts.

Another writer’s question, about writing contests prompted a post about the pros and cons of entering. It also prompted an editor of another Substack newsletter to reach out to me to let me know about his monthly short fiction contests! I’ve written about this toward the end of this post… so keep reading. I like what he’s doing!

I added part 6 to our “Foundational” series, with a piece on the opening chapter of a novel, a checklist. Is this “foundational”? You may write for years before you write a novel. Sometimes, writing, everything feels “foundational”—as if we are perennially starting out. That’s okay; I’ve learned to live with it. I think.

Lastly, given the nuts-n-bolts nature of the chapter checklist, I thought it’d be good to go to the other side and delve into some real-life-relating-to-fiction and explore the topic of “gossip.” Or “human stories.”

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February Prompt

Let’s go with an image for this month. Whatever pops into your head, pay attention to it. It does not have to be “about” the image. (But can be, if that’s where you want to go.) Listen to what the image evokes in you. Might be the colour/s, place, mood… or something else entirely. The prompt thread will be published shortly for your pieces.

photo by Simon Berger for Unsplash

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Future podcasts

I’ve now had a few people ask about this possibility, people who want to be able to listen to the posts while driving about or with hands busy. In the near future, I will be doing this, though I won’t offer separate podcasts that aren’t available as text. Text first, with links to the podcast at the end for those who need it.

(Incidentally, my memoir of caregiving is about to go into audio-book production, and I’m so pleased as many people who would like to read it cannot do so as text. It will meet a need.)

In the meantime… a subscriber let me know that she has been having my posts read to her; I had to ask how she’s doing this.

Her words:

I use the accessibility feature on my iPhone. If you have an iPhone, go to Settings>Accessibility>Spoken Content and enable "Speak Screen". Then use two fingers and pull down from the top of your screen on whatever you want it to read. It's not perfect by any stretch and reads absolutely everything (alt tags, captions, subscribe buttons) which is annoying, but you get used to it. The voice is listenable enough, but lacks warmth, as robots do. :)

So FYI.

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The 2021 Index is always accessible on the home page. Do use it to revisit any 2021 posts. I’ll be putting together a 2022 one soon. The Unschool now has an archive of material, and I’m always adding. There will always be some free posts.

Decision

But I am going to begin to have paid-subscriber-only posts. It’s my way of saying Thank you! to those who have chosen to pay. About one in seven of you have made this choice, though there are many busy readers. I am grateful for all, but simply can’t do this without those who make this choice.

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Writing Contest!

As promised above. The editor of the Substack newsletter Short Story alerted me to his monthly contests. Do check out what he is doing. I read through a couple of works, and it looks solid. (I won’t share anything I haven’t checked out.) He says he’s open to anything that’s good!

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• Help! I’d love to post photos of your writing spaces. Writing is such an individual thing, an it can be inspiring to see where it happens. Alas, Substack has yet to make it possible for you to post your pics on your own, so please email them to me, with brief words about anything-related—maybe how long you’ve worked in the space… changes you’ve made over time, to meet needs… point out objects or lighting—whatever particularly works for you! And anything else you’d like to share about the space.

  I remember years ago seeing a photograph of the alcove where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind, oddly with three walls of… mirrors! Yes. Strange. But it worked for her. I need a window myself, or can’t do much at all. My email, to send, is alison at alison acheson dot com.

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March newsletter has another Q&A, this time with a writer with a linguistics background—I cannot wait to hear what she has to say!

You will write if you will write without thinking of the result in terms of a result, but think of the writing in terms of discovery, which is to say that creation must take place between the pen and the paper, not before in a thought or afterwards in a recasting... It will come if it is there and if you will let it come. 
― Gertrude Stein

Happy February writing—

Alison