Announcing Good Story Company

It is with great excitement that I’m announcing several new things today for helping writers! This has been in the works for a while, so if I have seemed busy or stressed or looked tired, this is why! Without further ado, I present to you Good Story Company! Please take a second to watch this video and subscribe to my new YouTube channel (yes, I’m that guy now).

My new idea for a company helping writers craft a good story is, for now, threefold. First, we have GSC, the umbrella company that my team and I have put together.

Good Story Company

A content company providing services for helping writers. Most of them are free, for example, a blog, a podcast, workshops, and lots of inspiring and craft-focused content.

You can check out the Good Story Company website here. As well as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Good Story Learning

Good Story Learning is a membership community that collects all of our “deep dive” educational content, video courses, workshops, and webinars in one place for on demand viewing. Join for a month and binge. Stay longer and really work your way through the many classes we’ve taught over the years about querying, first pages, picture books, novels, self-editing, marketing, and more. You’ll find more than one hundred hours of content and fifty downloadable handouts and resources.

In addition to this wealth of information and curriculum, Good Story Learning provides that community housed on a Discord server (combining the functionalities of a forum and a chat room). Here, we have questions of the day, AMAs (“ask me anything” sessions with the faculty), and separate chat rooms for all of the main writing and publishing categories that our students are involved in. We’ve even had members host writing get-togethers, where they work in solidarity and companionable silence.

The Discord server represents a great opportunity to connect to other writers, get advice and close personal attention from the Good Story Company editors (myself included), and hold yourself accountable to learn and write. Give a little community, get a little community in a safe and supportive place.

Good Story Podcast

Finally, for now, I’d love to introduce you to the Good Story Podcast. People have been bugging me for years to do a podcast. And in the last year, I have done some awesome interviews in webinar format. But one thing I don’t like about the webinar format: only registered students get the content. I want to give this content to EVERYONE because I work hard to interview amazing writers and thought leaders.

So now I’ve launched a podcast called Good Story Podcast. Absolutely free, absolutely interesting, all about writing, revision, the craft, and the business. And to show you that I mean business, I’m kicking it off with my first interview: Chris Baty, founder of NaNoWriMo and writing teacher. Have a listen here:

I’m working on getting the podcast listed everywhere that you get your podcasts. In the meantime, let me know what you think!

I’m so, so, so excited to present all of this to you. I have been talking to writers, teaching writers, and helping writers for over ten years now, and this is absolutely my life’s work and passion.

THANK YOU for all of your support over the years. I would be nowhere without you guys, my Kidlit readers, the original crew. We’ve been through so much over the years together, and I really wouldn’t be the person or the editor I am today without you. Yes, beautiful YOU!

I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING!

Story Mastermind Online Writing Workshop

It’s that time again! Many of you have asked whether you should get a creative writing MFA. I have one. I also have opinions about it. That’s why I created Story Mastermind: an online writing workshop, taught over six months, in the comfort of home. Applications for cohort five are open until April 8!

Six-Month Intensive Small Group Writing Workshop

As many of you know, I’ve been devoted to teaching about writing and publishing for over a decade now (this blog started in 2009!). I have been blogging here, I’ve written a book of writing advice, and I work on over one thousand one-on-one freelance editing projects per year.

But I have always—ALWAYS—wanted to host a writing workshop. In fact, I was making plans for one during late 2019, and thinking about holding the inaugural event in 2020.

The world had other plans!

I realized that I could do more good, dig in more deeply, and truly offer a unique experience for the writing marketplace by instead pivoting to an online writing workshop intensive held over six months. This fits somewhere between a really craft-focused weekend or weeklong writing conference (there are a lot of those) and a two-year MFA program.

And so, Story Mastermind was born. On Zoom. Just in time for the pandemic.

A Mini-MFA in the Comfort of Home

We have now run four cohorts of Story Mastermind and I am loving it. Not only the process of teaching and making my own dreams come true, but seeing our writers commit to and craft their novel drafts and picture book portfolios.

The rich discussions, guest visits from agents, editors, and published authors, and the group accountability and support have all been a wonder to behold.

So have the deliverables! Novel Mastermind students emerge from our time together with a pressure-tested and peer-workshopped novel draft, complete with submission materials. Picture Book Mastermind students have a full collection of at least six picture book drafts that they can submit confidently. If you’re looking for something more bite-sized, we also offer a six-week Outline Intensive in the summer.

Get a Taste of the Workshop

If you’re at all interested in applying for Story Mastermind before applications are due on April 8th, 2022, I want to invite you to matching two-part workshops for the Novel Mastermind track and the Picture Book Mastermind track.

The Novel Mastermind workshop is April 4th, at 6:30 p.m. CT.

The Picture Book Mastermind workshop is April 4th, at 7:30 p.m. CT.

I hope to see you there, and I can’t wait to share the magic of Story Mastermind with you.

Novel Outline Template

By very, very, very popular demand, here’s a PDF download of a novel outline template. You have been asking for one for years, but the closest I’ve ever written is this short article on a novel synopsis. Well, I’ve rectified that!

You can also grab it directly via this Google Drive link. (To use the document in your own Google Drive, simply make a copy of it by going to the File menu, then to “Make a copy”. You won’t be able to edit the original because I want everyone to have this template.)

Novel Outline Template Preview — Fill in this template to start charting your own novel outline. It’s good stuff!

To download the PDF version of this file, please click here: Novel Outline Template

Writers want to see examples of a novel outline template because there are so many ways to achieve this. What goes into a novel outline? How do you format it? This is certainly one way to organize an outline, but there are many other writers and writing teachers who have put together comprehensive advice and their own novel outline templates. (Two of my favorites are Fool Proof Outline and Outlining Your Novel).

Start here and see where it takes you. Most of my readers know that I’ve been teaching the concept of interiority for years, and so this outline goes into character arc a lot, not just plot arc. I think it’s the best of both worlds, but would love to hear your reactions in the comments when you use it!

If you’re looking for a deeper dive into outlining and crafting your novel, check out our six-month writing intensive at Story Mastermind. This program is for serious writers only—the ones who want to invest the time and effort it takes to make their work the best it can be, and to help others do the same.

Story Mastermind Outline Preview — You’ll get a detailed outline template as soon as you begin Story Mastermind.

As a freelance editor, I do the novel outline edit all the time. Do all the hard thinking ahead of time. Kick the tires of your idea. Pressure test your plot and character arcs. I can do one or multiple rounds to make sure you have a road map for your future draft nailed down before you sit down to write. This is honestly one of my favorite services to do because we can anticipate a lot of issues ahead of time and save you so much revision heartache.

Manuscript Submission Timing

Not every part of the year is made equal in terms of manuscript submission timing. Of course, it’s true that agents and publishers sometimes go “open” to submission and then wink “closed” on their own schedules. That’s why doing rigorous research is so important—you will want to check everyone’s submission guidelines before you send your query or submission package. Sometimes an individual is overwhelmed, on maternity or paternity leave, deciding to scale back on signing new clients, etc.

But there are definitely times of the year that are generally considered to be poor submission targets.

Times to Avoid Manuscript Submission

We are now deep in the no-go zone: Thanksgiving through New Year’s. Agents and publishers are vacationing, sleeping, or, more likely, catching up on submissions and slush from the rest of the year. Most are either officially or unofficially closed to submissions. Most agents won’t even go out with client projects after November 1st because a publishing decision requires consensus—and consensus is out of town.

The same could be said about the end of summer. Traditionally, August has been a slow time in publishing, though I’ve heard over and over that the 24/7 business environment has gotten in the way of this summer idyll.

You may also want to be cognizant of some of the bigger publishing trade shows, which happen in March (Bologna—specific to children’s books), June (London Book Fair), and October (Frankfurt), and whenever for whatever is happening to Book Con/Book Expo. Obviously, a lot of these events have been up in the air since the pandemic, so publishing people aren’t traveling all over creation.

A note about the last few mentions, though: You cannot predict what a person is doing right down to the second, or when they will sit down to read submissions. You don’t know if they’re going to Frankfurt. You don’t know if they’re having a baby. You don’t know if they just got the flu.

Manuscript Submission Timing Takeaway

You can only do your best to prognosticate about when to submit. Just avoid Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Sometimes this means that the agent you were hoping for will go closed to submissions suddenly. That’s okay. I’d recommend having a favorite and a Plan B at every major agency, just in case.

What To Do With Downtime

As we near the biggest submission blackout period of the year, you might find yourself wondering what to do with your submission/writing/manuscript energy. Here are three suggestions:

Plan the future! Work on another project. After you submit, you’ll want to keep your creative wheels spinning, so plan your next move.
Revise! If you want to shoot your best shot, you’ll want to have the strongest possible manuscript to go out with. Authors admit that they tinker with already-published works in their heads as they read. You can always do another revision polish. Why not now?
Read! If your writing or revision work needs a break, catch up on your reading pile. This may not seem like “active” writing or revision work, but you are gathering information about the craft and the market by reading—inside and outside of your category.

When the new year dawns and it’s time to submit, you will be that much of a stronger candidate.

If you’d like advice on your Submission Package Edit in the meantime, consider working with me as your freelance editor.

Unusual Marketing: The Great Big One by J. C. Geiger

I wanted to share a really cool video made by my old pal and partner in crime (and fabulous writer in his own right!), J. C. Geiger, whose book THE GREAT BIG ONE is out now!

This is a downright intriguing, indie-bookstore-boosting project that about from a desire to make the ultimate mixtape. Scavenger hunt. Mixtape-scavenger-hunt-old-school-throwback. Well, actually, it started as the ultimate indie music festival. In 2020. Well, that didn’t quite pan out the way J. C. had hoped. So instead he approached all of his favorite bands (hey, why not!) and asked them to write songs for his project.

And they DID.

And the project described in this video was the result. (And maybe the beginning of some exciting things.) Please check out his work, this project, and THE GREAT BIG ONE! I can’t wait to see how this plays out. If only I had something that played CDs, let alone cassettes … 😉

Happy NaNoWriMo!

Hello everyone! As you potentially embark on a NaNoWriMo adventure today, I wanted to share my interview with the founder of NaNoWriMo, Chris Baty himself. Take a listen!

Show notes and transcript can be found here: Good Story Podcast Chris Baty Interview

Story Mastermind Small Group Writing Workshop

This is a post about Story Mastermind, my small group writing workshop, taught over six months, in the comfort of home. I realize that not everyone here has heard of it, and so I wanted to let you know that applications for cohort four are now open!

Six-Month Intensive Small Group Writing Workshop

But I have always—ALWAYS—wanted to host a writing workshop. In fact, I was making plans for one during late 2019, and thinking about holding the inaugural event in 2020.

The world had other plans!

I realized that I could do more good, dig in more deeply, and truly offer a unique experience for the writing marketplace by instead pivoting to a remote workshop intensive held over six months. This fits somewhere between a really craft-focused weekend or weeklong conference (there are a lot of those) and a two-year MFA program.

And so, Story Mastermind was born. On Zoom. Just in time for the pandemic.

A Mini-MFA in the Comfort of Home

We have now run three cohorts of Story Mastermind and I am loving it. Not only the process of teaching and making my own dreams come true, but seeing our writers commit to and craft their novel drafts and picture book portfolios.

The rich discussions, guest visits from agents, editors, and published authors, and the group accountability and support have all been a wonder to behold.

Get a Taste of the Workshop

If you’re at all interested in applying for Story Mastermind before applications are due on October 8th, 2021, I want to invite you to matching two-part workshops for the Novel Mastermind track and the Picture Book Mastermind track.

The Novel Mastermind workshop Part I is tonight, September 13th, at 7:30 p.m. CT.

(Part II will be a workshop of your submissions, two weeks later. You can register for that here.)

The Picture Book Mastermind workshop Part I is on Tuesday, September 14th, at 7:30 p.m. CT.

(Part II will be a workshop of your submissions, two weeks later. You can register for that here.)

I hope to see you there, and I can’t wait to share the magic of Story Mastermind with you.

How to Work With Character Backstory

One of the questions I find myself discussing all the time is the issue of character backstory. When do we add it? How much do we add? How much is too much? Too little? Are flashbacks okay?

How Much Character Backstory to Use

The bare minimum of backstory that you should include in your novel or picture book or memoir is this: enough to get readers plugged into the character. Maybe that amounts to ZERO backstory, if you start right away with some kind of conflict or action.

Aim for minimum viable product (from the business world), the leanest version of your character who can possibly fly. Maybe we learn one or two things about the character via telling, as is sometimes what happens at the beginning of a picture book. Maybe we don’t get any backstory at all and concentrate on present action. Maybe we get a piece of context (it’s the first day of school, the character just moved to a new place, they’re off to a practice to impress a college scout), and the rest is filled in over time.

What you categorically want to avoid is a big block of character backstory or flashback right away. My advice is always this: if you find yourself leaving the present moment to fill in backstory (even short backstory, like, “we’ve been best friends since kindergarten”), you may not be starting in the right place.

The key questions you want to answer with any backstory you include are: “What makes this character tick, and why should I care about them?”

When to Use Character Backstory

Your opening chapters or scenes should be action-heavy (with some nice introductory conflict) to get agents, publishers, and readers into your story. Once you feel that is established, you can start weaving in backstory or flashback starting in the second or third chapters. Why is the character’s situation XYZ? What is the significance of their objective and motivation? Which characters do we need to know more about in order to understand the present conflict?

BUT! Remember to keep up the balance of action and information, a crucial idea in keeping your pacing lean and mean and compelling. Whenever you give us a scene or paragraph of backstory, surround it with action, scene, and dialogue on either side.

Readers only perceive a story to be backstory-heavy and slow-moving when there aren’t injections of action and conflict to give the dense information a much-needed “lift.”

How to Fill in the Rest

Another thing to consider when you wonder how much character backstory to use, where, and when, is that you don’t have to use absolutely everything that you’ve developed. You may have done your homework and discovered where your character went to middle school and who their first crush was and how they like to relax after a long day. Some of this could wind up in your story, but some of it is for your edification only.

Sometimes, you will find that you need more depth. In that case, whole flashbacks of scenes and memories that not only flesh out your protagonist but the secondary characters in the story will become useful. But make sure these pull a lot of weight and deliver a lot of insight. The fewer and tighter your flashbacks, the better.

On the whole, it’s perfectly okay to leave elements on the “cutting room floor” as you prioritize action and conflict over heavy character backstory, especially at the beginning of your story.

Your opening pages are crucial for agent, publisher, and reader engagement. Hire me as your book editor for a Submission Package Edit, and I will give you insight into your query, synopsis, and first pages.

Picture Books That Show Character Change

One of the biggest challenges I encounter in my editorial practice is picture books that show character change in a clumsy or overbearing way. Picture books, more than any other category of kidlit, are about character change, a moral, or a lesson. A strong takeaway is expected because we want our young readers to be eating a little bit of medicine (the moral) with their syrup (the story). Like those cookbooks for moms who want to sneak veggies into brownies. But how do we do this effectively, without turning readers (and agents and publishers) off with too much lecturing? It’s all about character!

Picture Books That Show Character Change

As you may know from other posts about picture book lessons and writing child characters, I am not a big fan of morals delivered in a didactic way. I’m not alone. Agents and publishers cite moralizing as one of the main reasons they pass on a picture book project.

So how do we write picture books that show character change without explicitly stating the lesson? It’s a rather simple answer: let the character have some realizations and then act upon them. At the same time, do not explain what the character is learning.

Bad: “And Kim realized that sharing IS caring!”

Better: A scene of Kim sharing with her friends and finding satisfaction in it, but without this satisfaction being explicitly explained.

Better: Kim encouraging a younger sibling to share, but also without explicit explanation. (Kids love to play the teacher role, so showing a child passing on their new knowledge to someone else is a great solution!)

Use the moral you’ve come up with as a starting point. Then write three scenarios where the character can actively learn the lesson, enjoy the lesson, or pass their wisdom on. One of these will invariably be better than a straight explanation of the moral.

Unrealistic Character Change

One thing to keep in mind about picture books that show character change is that they should also be realistic. Even preschoolers know that people don’t change 180 degrees overnight.

Yes, we all hate bullies, and we all want kids to share, and we want our preschoolers to tell the truth. But you aren’t going to get anywhere near a realistic and nuanced character if: your bullies vow to never bully again; kids always share forever and ever from this day forward; and your character will never tell a lie in their whole lives, not even a little harmless one.

Honor your reader by not feeding them an overly idealized view of the world. This practice sets up false expectations. Kids are humans, too. They shouldn’t be held to these impossible adult standards for Victorian-era good behavior, not even in picture books.

Because that bully in the preschooler’s real classroom will, unfortunately, bully again. I’d much rather you strive to teach that transformation happens with little choices and in small steps, as that honors the real life process of behavioral change.

Want personalized advice on your picture book manuscript? Hire me as your picture book editor.

Breaking Writing Rules

Many writers wonder whether breaking writing rules and engaging in unconventional writing styles or choices can still get published. I’m of two minds here and would love to explore it further.

Unconventional Writing: Breaking Writing Rules

For each writing rule, there exists an example of a project that breaks it. Look no further than the beautiful Everything Sad Is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri, which is a riff on storytelling itself, operating without a straightforward chronology.

So for the writer who asks, “Can I tell a story with a very loose, riffy chronology?” Or the writer who asks, “Can I write a 1,500-word picture book?” Or, “How about going into adult POV in middle grade?” My answer is, “Sure you can.”

But! And there’s always a but … it has to be done well. In my over a decade in publishing, I’ve realized that unconventional writing choices are made, and breaking writing rules happens all the time, but in these scenarios, execution becomes all-important.

Breaking Writing Rules

For the most part, fiction rules exist to help writers figure out how to tell stories in a way that invites readers in. Once you learn those rules, guess what? Then you can take a departure and indulge in some unconventional writing, should you desire that approach to storytelling.

However, the rules exist for a reason. Especially in children’s books. Some elements, like picture book word count, are common sense considerations. Preschoolers don’t have big attention spans and often can’t read on their own. A 2,000-word picture book might strain the boundaries of what’s palatable to kids this age. Chapter books full of advanced vocabulary might scare off or alienate emerging readers. Middle grade with adult POVs that go in depth about divorce and other adult issues from an adult perspective might be better off as stories for adult readers who can more easily relate to these issues.

If you do decide on breaking writing rules and guidelines in your desired category, be prepared to get some pushback. Make sure you’re making these storytelling choices for a compelling reason, rather than due to not being fully informed about the market. Make sure your unconventional writing is necessary, rather than a darling that might be better off dead.

Writing for the Agent or Publisher

I was talking to a client the other day and he remarked that he feels like he’s “writing for the agent,” rather than for the reader. And there’s truth in this, frustrating as it might be. A debut writer who needs to convince an agent or publisher that their work is worthwhile has a very high bar to clear. It’s harder to be a debut writer than an already-published one because you have to do so much to prove yourself.

And some unconventional writing choices may be off-putting to agents and publishers, who often want to traffic in what they can sell to the biggest possible market. Breaking writing rules in stories might come across as too niche, and this might scare gatekeepers in the traditional publishing framework.

So what? Well, there’s always the option to pursue a smaller (and often more experimental or artistically motivated) publisher, or self-publishing. Or forge forward and try to find a traditional home for the story.

It takes courage and determination to break the rules. Here’s to a little rebellion!

Is it a bold choice or a liability? Get a manuscript overview—including analysis of your market potential—when you hire me as your freelance editor.

How to Write a Manuscript That Succeeds

This is a survey of published authors that I did on here (mumbles) over a year ago. But now I finally have a beautiful infographic to share on how to write a manuscript that succeeds.

The key takeaway, I think, is that so many of you have written more than ten manuscripts on your journeys, and how many of you enlisted outside help in the form of online writing groups, critique partners, beta readers, and editors.

What I’m seeing here? A lot of encouragement and perseverance. While it’s true that approximately 20% ended up landing an agent or publishing their first manuscripts, between 38 and 43% of writers ended up breaking through on their 5th through 9th manuscript, or even their tenth+ manuscript! That’s the majority of responders to the survey.

These writers have also taken the time to leave some very important words of wisdom to those of you who are still struggling with how to write a manuscript that succeeds.

Please take this to heart: you may publish your current WIP, or you may not (check out examples of successful queries here). But a large determining factor of success is perseverance and self-education. That’s why you’re already ahead of the curve! You’re sitting here, learning about the writing craft, and adding tools to your toolbox.

Now all you need to do is keep going. Trust that one day you will crack the code of how to write a manuscript that succeeds, like the published authors who responded to the survey did.

If you’d like personalized advice on your manuscript, and to put rocket boosters on your learning curve, hire me as your manuscript editor. Or take every writing class I’ve ever offered on demand with the Good Story Learning membership!