October Newsletter

Q&A with Cristy Watson; post from Laura Nicol; "setting" exercise... and more

photo: from my kitchen window

I’ve had a number of paid sign-ups this month, which has been most encouraging. So a brief note here to say Thank you for that!

Substack is part of a movement to decrease the bombardment of ads and pop-ups… and it’s good to be here! More and more this is feeling to be a personalized magazine: writing and pulling together a breadth of articles, reading and sharing thoughts, experiences, and questions.

Announcement: Mini-course in Holiday Writing*

*holiday includes everything from summer vacation to Halloween, all the mid-winter celebrations of Light and light, Saturday afternoons—if you are so lucky—and Sabbaticals of all sorts. In other words: wide open.

This is set to go on October 15, and will be in a section for paid subscribers only—I will be sending out instructions for how to sign up closer to the time. I’ve taught this course before, and it always proves fun. You will be posting a short story, and I—and hopefully others who take part—will be weighing in with thoughtful feedback.

I am really excited about taking The Unschool in this direction, and hope you join in!

Below:

Check out a Q&A with a writer—Cristy Watson—who wrote 45,000 words (yes!) during the 3 Day Novel Labour Day Weekend. Also, a post from Laura Nicol, on getting an agent!

October Prompt/Exercise

Setting!

Review the post on “setting,” if you want. Then work with either a setting that comes to mind OR the setting of your work-in-progress.

Exercise: create a short descriptive passage that illuminates your setting—write with a particular emotion in mind without naming the emotion.

Post in the thread I set up, and let’s see if others can share their responses as to what is the emotion evoked.

September Posts - Summaries

I posted 5 pieces with the 3 Day Novel contest in mind—pieces to support that process of 72 hours… but the topics do pertain to writing in a more general way, OR you might want to choose your own period of time to create a personal writing retreat and wade deeply into a project for a short period of time. Perhaps you have access to a cabin, or family or house-mates are going away, and you have an urge to book off Writing Time… review these posts with that in mind.

We started with a “kick-off” piece, then went on to coming up with story developing ideas QUICKLY, followed by pragmatic concerns: sleep for the writer, exercises for long hours at the desk, and “fruitful” breaks—which we need! (These are now all in the 3 Day Novel section on the Index, if you need in future!)

The grammar piece this month looked at Who vs. That… something that can make me a bit grumpy! Your thoughts?? Tell me to “snap out of it!”??

And the “business” piece—because “business” is a part of what we do—took a look at traditional publishing and self-publishing.

Setting is such a huge piece of writing fiction, for all ages, all genres. It’s a great source of both plot and what forms a character before they even pop into our lives—a source of inspiration.

For writing for younger readers, I wrote about the difference between YA fiction and adult fiction.

And finally, a review of two of the best books on writing memoir. Really, both of these books look at a lot of questions and issues about writing, period. Even in fiction, there is so much of our very selves. Take a look.

Q&A with Cristy Watson

Alison: Cristy! First, I have to say HUGE congratulations on writing 45,000 words in 72 hours. Actually I believe it was 70.5 hours. Until asking you if you would consider doing this Q&A, I did not realize this was your first go at the 3 Day Novel contest!

What do you think was key in your preparation that made this possible? Both in practical ways, and in creative/artistic ways?

Cristy: Thank you for inviting me to share my journey with the 3-Day Novel Contest this year. In previous years, though I ached to join, I was preparing for school on Tuesday morning and the thought of spending all weekend (with less sleep than usual) and then being present for students, seemed daunting and impossible. But being newly retired from teaching, meant I could finally take this artistic plunge.

Just before the long weekend, I offered a workshop on ‘Getting Started with Writing’ and the participants inspired me with their first steps as writers. Being reminded of why I love to write, was a great motivator for this contest. I have previously participated in several contests, such as NANOWRIMO, the POETRY MARATHON (I do the half-marathon), and the CV2 2-DAY POEM CONTEST. These experiences helped me understand what it takes to finish a written piece in a short time span. I baked peanut butter cookies (no sugar, no salt); having snacks on hand that are both nutritious (veggies and cashews) and fun, can keep one going during the rough patches. I told friends in advance that I would be doing this, to limit phone calls and social media.

Because I used this contest as a way to write book three in my fantasy trilogy, I prepared by reading books one and two in the days prior to the contest. I used poster boards and printed my character’s names and traits into boxes on each page and kept them in view while writing. I also researched topics, in advance, that I would be covering in the story. Being immersed in my previous books prepared me for writing the third novel. For those folks writing an original story, I would suggest having a sense of some of your characters in advance – though I was familiar with my main characters, I added several to this book and just having a preview of who they were before I began writing, helped me to jump into their character and storyline.

Alison: What thought or advice could you offer to anyone thinking to do this next year?

OR (because I said I did not want to ask for too much of your time!)

What did you learn about yourself as a writer that you didn’t know?

Cristy: Honour your process! I am a morning person, so I got up early and began writing each day at 5:30 a.m. I would strongly suggest getting out into the world every day of the contest; for a walk, or to sit in your yard and take in the sights and sounds around you. For one, that will help you to remember to infuse your writing with sensory details, making it come alive for the reader. Secondly, the fresh air and exercise will help you have energy for the next bout of sitting and writing. Oxygenated air does wonders for the brain!

Mostly, I took walks when I was unsure of my next scene. Inevitably, as soon as I was out on the path without paper or phone and no way to capture my words, the next chapter would present itself. On the second day of the contest, I walked for half an hour in the morning and found my way out of a snag in the story, and later that day, I just walked around my back yard for fresh air and sunshine. It rejuvenated me and helped me to focus when I was back at the computer. I also took full supper breaks away from the story and when I returned to write after dinner, I didn’t sit at my desk, but instead put my computer on my lap tray and reclined in a comfy chair. Changing things up and supporting my physical body helped me continue writing into the evening hours.

I was surprised by how much of the story unfolded on its own. I am a pantser at heart and though I had a sense of where my book was going (being the third in the series), I didn’t know how things would unfold for my characters. I even backed myself into a time-line issue with having two POV’s, and suddenly one character was in the wrong place. The beauty of writing fantasy is that an answer presented itself to my character. I was just as shocked as my MC. Trust your process! I don’t know where the ideas came from, only that writing steadily for three days seemed to tap into a subconscious level of writing that was stimulating, exciting, and helped me to remain motivated.

Alison: Your published work is mostly for young adults, I believe (correct me if wrong!). How does this writing connect with that work? (This also can be optional—especially if your answers are lengthy! Trying to be aware of your time

Cristy: I have eight published novels, and while four of them are aimed at young adults, the other four are specifically for a middle-grade audience. This book leans towards lower YA. My books are hi-lo fiction that support readers who struggle with making time to read, with reading, in general, or who are not keen readers. I decided to write my fantasy trilogy in a similar fashion: mostly a linear time-line, first-person for each of my two main characters, and plot-driven. I hope this works for readers once I find a publisher for this trilogy.

Alison: And can you share with us something about one of your titles, and your website please… (or anything else along such promo lines, please!)

Living Rough (Orca Books) was released ten years ago this month! It is a story that is near to my heart. A few years after the novel was published, I saw a news story about a teen who lived in a tent and finished high school, just like my main character, Edgar Allan. This time, life imitated art! I have received countless letters from young people who read the story and thanked me for helping to expand their understanding of, and empathy for, those experiencing homelessness.

For more information on writing contests and my books, please visit my blog:

Cristy Watson Author and drop me a line. I am happy to connect and to answer your questions.

Alison: Thank you so much, Cristy. I (and we!) appreciate your time and sharing.

Below, I’m sharing a comment posted by writer and subscriber, Laura Nicol.

She shares her path to finding her agent, and I asked to share it in the newsletter.

From the “Find and Love Your Literary Agent” post and thread:

Hello Writers,

I’m a little late to the party here (story of my life), but I thought I’d add my experience to the discussion around getting an agent, for whatever it might be worth to others.

I finished the sixth draft of my novel in January of this year and started pitching to agents a few weeks later. I was in a strange place with a story that didn't sit squarely in either the YA or adult literary genres, and I also sensed that admitting in my query letter that I didn’t know where it belonged would be a *bad idea.* I realized I had to pick a horse and ride, secretly hoping all the while that someone might read it and say Hey! The author is pitching this as X, but I think it would be better as Y! or similar.

That didn’t happen. Due to woeful ignorance of the YA genre (and some complicated internalized rejection of my teenage self and by extension my protagonist), I decided to pitch the story as adult literary to about 14 agents across North America. Had one request for a full from an agent in Los Angeles (very exciting!) but was ultimately rejected all around. No biggie, I thought. Most of my Canadian writer friends don’t have an agent anyway and still manage to get their books out.

At that point I began pitching directly to Canadian presses. I made a top tier list of 7 and got to work, again pitching as adult literary with the same secret hope someone might recognize the story for what it truly was and tear after it before the train left the station like in some old romantic movie: Stop, don't go! You belong here, with me! Again, no.

Six months later and no one has yet responded with a stop that train email. However, in the meantime, I fell into some wild good luck. At my sister’s wedding six years ago I’d met a YA writer, Tash (non-binary), the partner of my sister’s best friend. We got to talking about writing and books and generally hit it off enough to become Facebook friends, though there was no further contact after that.

I'll skip to the climax here, but this summer, when my sister mentioned to Tash while they were visiting that I was now *finally* marketing my book, Tash offered to introduce me to a YA agent they knew. After a letter of introduction from Tash, this agent read the ms, diagnosed it as being stuck in a no man’s land between YA and adult, but said that if I was willing to make the revisions that would shift it clearly to YA, she’d be willing to represent me. To which I leaned out of the window of the train and gave a breathless, Yes!

Since then, I’ve been wondering what the lesson is here, if any, for my writer friends. I was done looking for an agent, I’d moved on, and yet Stacey would’ve been out there, presumably still open to this book. I have the fiction writer’s skepticism of luck, I suppose. To throw in bolts from the blue cheapens your plot and makes withdrawals on a reader’s goodwill. I’d much prefer to rely on simple causality and “hard work = results.” So if I were in conversation with the me of six months ago, I’d ask her if she had truly explored every avenue, or if she’d let her fear of rejection get the better of her and perhaps shut the agent search down prematurely in an understandable wish to move on?

Anyway, to those of you in this phase uncertain and nerve-wracking phase of marketing your novel, I hope this is of some use to you. And of course: GOOD LUCK.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A writer is a person for whom writing

is more difficult than it is for other people.

~~ Thomas Mann

Do email me with any questions. Always looking for topics, especially for the mid-month post —

Thank you for reading, taking part in community, and supporting The Unschool!

Peace—

Alison

alison@alisonacheson.com