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I’ve long been a fan of mysteries. Trixie Belden was my BFF as a third and fourth grader. Nancy Drew was another favorite. Veronica Mars updated the teen sleuth idea, bringing the storytelling form to a new generation.
When I got the chance to work on Valynne Maetani’s Ink and Ashes, our new YA mystery which comes out in June, all of those mysteries and more were going through my mind. Claire, the main character, has the spunk and curiosity of Veronica Mars and all of her predecessors, but she’s also a little different. And to honor those differences in the editing process, I needed to refresh myself on what’s out there right now in the teen mystery/suspense genre, and the mystery genre in general.
As I was editing Ink and Ashes over the course of about a year and a half (which spans two developmental edits and a line edit), between edits I was reading mystery after mystery. I stocked up on Agatha Christie, I rewatched Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and read the first book of the series it’s based on (Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood), I read multiple YA suspense, spy, and murder mysteries.
Miss Fisher from the TV show “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries”
That reading reminded me that a great mystery read requires the same elements as any good read: well-paced plotting, characters the reader cares about enough to want to know what happens next; even world-building, though that’s a term we generally associate with speculative fiction, is tremendously important in setting the stage in a mystery. But my rereading of classic and contemporary mysteries also showed me that more than in any other genre, a sense of suspense and danger must permeate the mystery book, must drive the reader to breathlessly wonder what will happen next.
Ask probing questions
One of the biggest challenges in this edit—with any edit, really, especially with an author you’ve never worked with before—was discovering how to bring the author’s vision of the characters fully to life. An editor’s job is often to just ask questions: Why is this happening right now? Why would that character decide to do this? What is the goal here?
In that way, figuring out the goal allows the editor to ask further probing questions on what the solution might be—figuring out how current plot points and character decisions hamper the desired effect.
“The plot thickens” turns out to be true
The biggest thing I learned while editing Ink and Ashes and reading all these mysteries is the importance of plot escalation. In the original draft, clues did of course build up into a frenzied final few pages of conflict that were very enjoyable—that’s one of the reasons the book won our New Visions Award. But comparing the early manuscript to mysteries I enjoyed the most, I realized that there were so many ways that the narrative could be complicated. (Valynne was on the same page. As she waited for the results of the contest, she was also already thinking of ways to improve the manuscript. That kind of editor-writer synergy makes a huge difference in any book project like this.)
We looked at the end goal, and discussed the plot points that got Claire and her friends to that point. In particular, we discussed how the inciting incident—the moment that gets Claire to veer her course to investigating whether her father and her stepdad ever knew each other—might be complicated and how those complications would have a ripple effect that would improve multiple other plot points, and increase the pacing.
In other words, escalation. If the reader didn’t feel the suspense at every page turn, we had work to do.
Valynne worked very hard on making that happen, and I’m very happy with the results! In answer to all my probing questions, Valynne improved on an already-well written manuscript to bring what was an interesting read to the level of an exciting page-turner that’s getting readers hooked. That’s the end goal for any editor and author: Creating a final book that readers can’t put down. I’m happy to say, we succeeded with Ink and Ashes.
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers.
0 Comments on Case Cracked: The Process of Editing Mystery Novels as of 5/29/2015 10:35:00 AM
I am thrilled to introduce Stacy Whitman who has provided us with an incredible interview.
Stacy Whitman is the founder and publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books that publishes diversefantasy, science fiction, and mystery for children and young adults. Books she has edited include Joseph Bruchac’s AILA YA Award and Top Ten Quick Picks titleKiller of Enemies, and Summer of the Mariposas by Guadalupe Garcia McCall, which received a starred review from School Library Journaland has been placed on numerous lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, School Library Journal’s Best of 2012 List, and the Lone Star Reading List. Stacy holds a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College.
1. What drew you to publishing? Why specifically diverse books? I’ve always been a big reader, but I didn’t know that publishing was possible for me as a kid. I spent most of my after-school time at the library or up a tree, reading a book. Or riding a book on the back of a horse. Getting my first job in children’s books was a long, winding road. I actually grew up poor, on a farm, and was an animal science pre-vet major my freshman year in college. No one I knew worked in publishing—I had no idea it was a viable career choice. When you come from where I come from, practical majors in agribusiness or engineering are generally what you’re encouraged to study.
And even in college when I started seeing writing and editing as a viable path, I didn’t realize books were a possibility for me until much further down the road. It took me almost 8 years within my undergrad journey (I took time off to work several times during my undergrad years) until I came to the point of realizing that working in children’s books was something I could and would want to do. By that time, I nearly had a bachelor’s in child development, and a really great teacher helped me realize that all those part-time and full-time jobs I’d been holding down just to pay the bills because office jobs were easier than shoveling manure at the college dairy farm—working for the local paper, transcribing overland trails journals for the college library special collections department, typesetting college textbooks, and proofreading phone books for a living (yes, I used to edit the phone book)—would combine with my degree to give me the chance to do something I actually wanted to do: create books for children and teens, the kinds of books that made such a difference for me as a kid.
As far as diversity in the books I publish, part of that was personal experience with all the college roommates I had along the way (many of whom were American POCs or from other countries), who taught me how to see the world from a different perspective, combined with a desire to learn about the world through books and seeing a glaring gap in the stories I was reading—I started noticing the stories I *wasn’t* reading. At Mirrorstone, which is the imprint of Wizards of the Coast I worked at right out of my master’s in children’s lit—my first editorial job in children’s books—my senior editor emphasized that she wanted to see diverse characters in the books I acquired because librarians were always asking what we had in the way of diversity at library conferences. It felt natural to seek diversity, but I was pretty clueless at first about white privilege and centering the stories of people of color. The more I’ve learned over the years, the more I’ve been passionate about diversity in the books I publish.
Starting Tu Books was a natural extension of that learning process, borne out of a desire to use the power I have as an editor for good, to help make fantasy and science fiction, in particular, a more welcoming place for readers of color. We’ve expanded out to other genres since starting in 2010.
2. What do you look for in a submission?
I look for good writing first and foremost—strong voice, in particular. I also want to see strong worldbuilding, characters I want to root for (which is not the same as “relatable,” which I don’t want to use—sometimes characters aren’t relatable, but you still care what happens to them, and root for them to succeed). I like culturally specific content, as appropriate to the story being told—whether the book is “about race” or “about culture” doesn’t matter so much that what content there is is specific and accurate. So whether there’s a lot of cultural content (such as the Slovak content in VODNIK by Bryce Moore, which is about a boy who can see characters from Slovak folklore, one of which is trying to drown him and save his soul in a teacup) or really not that much (such as the Chinese and Nordic content in CAT GIRL’S DAY OFF by Kimberly Pauley, which mentions the main character’s heritage very briefly and moves right along with the rest of the story about a girl who can talk to cats saving a celebrity blogger from kidnapping), as long as it works for the story, that’s what matters.
3. Do you feel that representation of diversity in YA is gaining ground? Is there a particular group that is more often ignored, misrepresented, or avoided?
That’s a hard question to answer right now. It’s definitely a hopeful sign that the CCBC numbers that just came out indicate a nice boost to certain groups’ numbers, as far as characters who are being written about. But the gains in authorship by people of color aren’t nearly as big. (And, note, those numbers are all children’s books—picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and YA, so it’s hard to pin down exactly how we’re doing in YA.)
So as far as representation of authors, we have a long, long way to go. I’m very happy that white authors are just as excited these days about We Need Diverse Books as authors of color, but I think it’s also important for me and my fellow editors to be seeking authors of color and publishing them. And we in publishing—from the marketing and sales staffs to the booksellers on the other end—need to be promoting a wide variety of voices so that new voices of color aren’t lost in the shuffle. We’re nowhere near equity yet.
As far as groups you rarely hear from in YA, I am seeking Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander voices in particular because we don’t see much of them out there even in comparison to other groups. In addition, Native American representation is often hard to find, and even today, much of what you find in new books relies on stereotypes. So I seek to change that in the books I publish.
4. How do you feel about authors writing characters of different ethnicities and backgrounds?
If the writing is great, awesome!—with a few caveats. I have no problem publishing a wonderful book by a writer who is not from the background they’re writing about, as long as the author has done the necessary research, and done a good job. We evaluate that not just in the quality of the writing and of any sources the writer depended upon, but also by sending manuscripts out to expert readers from those communities, who give us critical feedback.
However, I also feel very strongly that should center the voices of marginalized writers. In fantasy and science fiction, that can be a challenge, so I reach out to those communities and share calls for submissions, and I’ve started a writing contest, the New Visions Award, to seek new writers of color. We just announced our most recent finalists, and will be picking this year’s winner in April. Debut authors of color who missed this last year should be working on their manuscripts for when we open again in June.
5. What do you recommend for authors nervous about writing a diverse character because of a fear of not being able to do her justice or accidentally misrepresenting something in a different culture?
First of all, no one should be writing diversity if they don’t feel qualified. The first step for writing cross-culturally is to *get* qualified, whatever that looks like for you. I’ve forgotten who said it, but someone said that you shouldn’t feel qualified to write about a community until you’ve “held their babies.” Sometimes that’s not possible in a literal sense—especially when you’re talking about writing about history; your research might involve more library time than holding literal or metaphorical babies—but the principle of spending time in the community you want to write about, really coming to understand people from the inside rather than from an outsider’s perspective, is hugely important.
A great place to start when thinking about writing from a cultural perspective not your own is Nisi Shawl’s excellent essays, “Appropriate Cultural Appropriation” and “Transracial Writing for the Sincere." In an ideal world, you want to be at a “guest” status—and not an imagined one. I’ve known a few white writers who have trampled on cultures they consider themselves a part of, who say that the people in the culture are fine with what they do, when in fact the culture is not known for telling someone to their face that they’re being offensive. No one wants to be in that position. No one wants to be the person who has committed a microaggression or outright aggression—few people go into writing about another culture intending to cause offense or pain, but it happens. So understanding power dynamics, understanding what microaggressions are and how not to culturally appropriate, and how to politely learn about a culture not your own—these are all really important before you start writing.
Don’t let fear of blundering hold you back, either—accept that you will likely blunder, and that to err is human. We all make blunders, but learning how to apologize and do better next time is also very important. Learn to listen and respond politely to feedback before you publish, and to change what needs to change. And learn that even after doing all you can, you will make mistakes. Learn from them and move on to do better next time.
We’re still relatively new (we are 5 years old in March), so if a writer wants to know what we’d be interested in, take a look at the list of books we’ve published so far and make sure that your submission isn’t *too* close to what we’ve already published. And be aware of trends that are waning. For example, I’m not terribly interested in dystopias right now—we’ve published a 3-book dystopian series and an anthology centered on dystopian stories, and right now, with so many dystopias out there, it’s just not something I’m interested in right now.
I am looking in particular for books with a strong adventurous streak, whatever the genre, and possibly a strong romance storyline. We’re open to science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction—and I love genre mash-ups. I love, for example, historical fiction set in a real-world setting but with a magical or steampunk twist. I’d love to see a steampunk set in colonial India or Hong Kong, addressing colonialism from a native worldview. I’d love to see more African American and African diaspora stories of all stripes, particularly futuristic (not dystopian—perhaps set in space!) or a contemporary fantasy drawing upon Gullah or Creole cultures and folklores. There’s such a wide variety of possibilities.
Most of all, I am looking for writers who are people of color themselves. While I welcome writers of all backgrounds who write well cross-culturally, I want to boost the voices of marginalized communities.
7. What are some of your favorite books and why?
This is one of the hardest questions to answer, because I have SO MANY. Can’t pin them all down! Growing up and through college, I loved Diana Wynne Jones, Robin McKinley, Robert Jordan, and other high fantasy authors of their ilk. One of the biggest reasons is the folkloric connection in high fantasy. I used to reread Franny Billingsley’s THE FOLK KEEPER in college because I just LOVED the connection to Irish folklore. My own ancestry includes Swedish, Irish, Scottish, English, Prussian, and German roots, along with—I discovered later—a very tiny connection to Cherokee and Choctaw people (though those ancestors could well have been lying about their deceased mother’s ancestry to gain land in Indian Country, so I don’t *identify* as that). I tell you that because I am a family historian and I loved to read books connected to the culture of the people I come from. But reading that high fantasy voraciously also brought out to me just how little I know about the folklore of other places in the world, and how much I’d love to read fantasy set in those cultures.
So, more recently, one of my favorites is Cindy Pon’s SILVER PHOENIX, which opens that kind of world to me in a Chinese-related setting.
On the science fiction side, a recent favorite is Shannon Hale’s DANGEROUS, which stars a Latina character who also has a disability who saves the world from aliens. I’m all about superheroes! On my list up next is Gene Luen Yang’s THE SHADOW HERO for that reason.
8. What book/author are you most proud of working with?
It’s really hard to pick any one particular book! I am very proud of the recognition that KILLER OF ENEMIES by Joseph Bruchac has gotten in the last couple of years—it was a QuickPicks Top Ten title, as well as winning the American Indian Youth Literature Award for YA book—as well as the starred review and multiple lists that SUMMER OF THE MARIPOSAS by Guadalupe Garcia McCall has been recognized with. These accolades are great because many of them are showing a connection to the readers themselves, at how these books have been hitting a gap our teens need filled.
I am also very excited about our new spring title, INK AND ASHES by Valynne Maetani, which is our first mystery title and the winner of our first New Visions Award contest. It’s already receiving wonderful blurbs from other authors, and is a Junior Library Guild selection.
But as far as an author I’m most proud of working with, they’re all important. They have each made excellent books, no matter the accolades received.
The prequel to the award winning Killer of Enemies is finally here! Rose Eagle by Joseph Bruchac is Tu Books’ first e-novella.
Ten years before the events in Killer of Enemies, before the Silver Cloud, the Lakota were forced to work in the Deeps, mining for ore so that the Ones, the overlords, could continue their wars. But when the Cloud came and enveloped Earth, all electronics were shut off. Some miners were trapped in the deepest Deeps and suffocated, but the Lakota were warned to escape, and the upper Deeps became a place of refuge for them in a post-Cloud world.
In the midst of this chaos, Rose Eagle’s aunt has a dream: Rose will become a medicine woman, a healer. She sends Rose into the Black Hills on a quest to find healing for their people.
Gangly and soft-spoken, Rose is no warrior. She seeks medicine, not danger. Nevertheless, danger finds her, but love and healing soon follow. When Rose Eagle completes her quest, she may return with more than she ever thought she was looking for.
In this series, Tu Books Publisher Stacy Whitman shares advice for aspiring authors, especially those considering submitting to our New Visions Award.
Last week on the blog, I talked about the importance of following submission guidelines and basic manuscript format. This week, I wanted to go into more detail about why a reader might stop reading if they’re not hooked right away. Here are some comments I’ve heard our readers make about manuscripts that didn’t hook them:
Story does not captivate in first few chapters
Boring
Writing not strong, or not strong enough to hold a young reader’s (or teen’s) interest
Parts of the writing are very strange (not in a good way)
Sounded too artificial
Reminds me too much of something that’s really popular
Too Tolkienesque or reliant upon Western European fantasy tropes
Concept cliche
How do you get your writing to have that “zing” that captivates from the very beginning? This is a little tougher than just following the directions—this is much more personal to each reader and each writer.
Is your writing boring readers?
There are a couple different issues in the list above. Some readers lost interest simply because they were bored. If you find yourself telling readers of your book, “Don’t worry! It gets really good in chapter five!” consider whether you’re starting your book at the right moment in time. The phrase “late in, early out” is one to remember—perhaps you don’t need all the information that leads to the “really good” part. Or perhaps you need to revise to make that information more interesting and faster paced.
I don’t recommend simply dumping this information into a prologue. Many young readers skip prologues entirely, and many more readers will lose interest if your prologue is long and boring—it’s the same principle as saying “just wait till chapter five!”
If the information in your first few chapters are crucial, yet readers are getting bored by it, consider spooling that information out little by little over the course of the book. You need to find the balance between giving enough information for the reader to be intrigued and wanting to know more, without overburdening the reader with so much information that they become overwhelmed or bored.
For example, take the first few pages of Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. On page 1, Taylor sets up the scene: it’s an ordinary day in Prague (interesting point number one: how many books are set in Prague?) and Karou is walking down the street toward school, minding her own business. It’s an active scene—something is happening—but it’s more about Karou’s internal mundane thoughts. However, it doesn’t stay mundane for long. By page 2, she’s been attacked.
But it’s not your average “you have to have an action scene in the first scene!” attack. The author plays with expectations, intriguing the reader and making you want to know what happens next. We get some ex-boyfriend banter (also against expectations) and the promise of interesting, embarrassing things to come by the end of the chapter.
It helps that the book is well written. But it’s more than good prose that hooks the reader here—she spools out just enough to let you know that this is a unique book, and that you want to know more. The next two chapters do the same thing, and bit by bit, the reader comes to know Karou’s intriguing magical background.
What she doesn’t do is infodump in a prologue or the first few chapters about Karou’s history, the history of the world, and the history of the strange beings who raised her. Save those details for when they matter.
Look at your favorite books and read like a writer. For hooking a reader, look in particular at excellent examples of the first five pages of a wide variety of books. There are many ways to effectively open a book, and you need to find the way that works for your story. Reading other books like a writer will help you to zoom in on ways to perfect your craft.
Another great resource for writers trying to figure out how to hook readers is editor Cheryl Klein’s essay “The Rules of Engagement” in her book Second Sight. It’s no longer available online (and I don’t believe the book is in e-book form), but it’s worth the price of the book for her discussion of various ways to hook readers via character, insight, action, and other methods. (Bonus: you also then get access to all her other thoughts on writing and revision.)
Over-reliance on common tropes
Several readers commented that several books relied too much upon Western European fantasy tropes (elves, fairies, etc.). There are ways of hooking readers with familiar story elements, but often most high fantasy tales boil down to “my elves are better than yours.”
Look for new inspiration. (We’ll cover worldbuilding more in full in a few weeks.) But especially in the first few chapters of your book, avoid leading with ideas that have been-there-done that.
If your story concept relies on tried-and-true tropes, it’s not the end of the world. Take a look at books coming out now that are successfully changing the mold—books like The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, who has revamped (haha) the vampire genre, for example. The Coldest Girl in Coldtown updates the genre, makes vampires scary again. In what ways can you update and revamp the concepts in your book to hook readers?
The solution to your writing being “not strong enough”: practice
The number one complaint as to why a reader wasn’t hooked was that the writing wasn’t good. Once you get past obvious grammar and punctuation mistakes, this comes down to a greater need to practice your craft. Write regularly—it doesn’t have to be every day, but do it consistently. If your problem is time, you might find useful this advice from New Voices Award winner Pamela Tuck on how to carve out time to write on a regular basis. She has ELEVEN children, who require a lot of time and attention, especially because she home-schools them.
The more you practice, the better you’ll get. And next week, we’ll begin to drill down on elements that you can work on in the whole book, such as voice.
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers.
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers. Parts of this blog post were originally posted at her blog, Stacy Whitman’s Grimoire.
Last week, I discussed why worldbuilding in speculative fiction can be so challenging for authors. How do we introduce a completely new world without infodumping or confusing readers? I gave some examples of worldbuilding done well in popular YA science fiction and fantasy: The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Twilight. In all these cases, the starting point is in some way relatable, or there is something about the character (Tris, Katniss) that hooks the reader. First pages should be character- and plot-driven, and worldbuilding should support rather than dominate. That gives these books an easy entry point and wide appeal.
There are three primary approaches to worldbuilding:
Reader learns world alongside character
Readers of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and Twilight figure out the world alongside the main character. Information is spooled out as the character learns it, so the reader doesn’t have to absorb everything at once. This is a low bar for entry, not requiring much synthesis of information. The character is almost a stand-in for the reader.
Exposition: questions raised, then answered
What about Hunger Games? Now it gets a little tougher. Suzanne Collins starts out with a perfectly relatable (if a tiny bit cliche) situation, the main character waking up and seeing her family. We get some exposition on Katniss’s family and the cat who hates her.
But it becomes non-cliche by page 2, when we learn about the Reaping. Ah! What’s the Reaping, you ask? We don’t know yet. Now the bar for entry is raised. There is a question, the answer for which you’re going to have to read further to find out. The infodumpage level is low, but there is still some exposition in the next few pages, letting us know that Katniss lives in a place called District 12, nicknamed the Seam, and that her town is enclosed by a fence that is sometimes electrified—and which is supposed to be electrified all the time.
Collins’s approach to spooling out a little information at a time is to explain each new term as she goes, but some readers think that feels unnatural in a first person voice because the narrator would already know these things, so why is she explaining them to the reader?
It depends on the story, in my opinion—Collins makes it work because of how she crafted Katniss’s voice. It is a very fine line to walk—I can’t tell you how many submissions I’ve received that start out with, “My name is X. I am Y years old. I live in a world that does Z,” an obvious example of how this approach becomes downright clumsy when not handled with Collins-esque finesse.
“Incluing”: questions raised, then reader infers answers bit by bit
Then there is the opposite end of the spectrum, in which the reader is given clues to work out rather than having any new terms explained to them. This approach needs just as much, if not more, finesse. It’s a process that some readers who are new to speculative fiction might stumble over the most, which is why I think there’s so little of it in middle grade and YA fantasy and science fiction. I’ve seen it called “incluing,” which is a silly word, but I don’t know of another name for it and the description of incluing in that Wikipedia link is exactly the kind of worldbuilding I—as a lifelong fantasy fan—prefer to see in the beginning of a book, particularly one set in a world that has no connection to our own, or if it’s in the future of our world far enough into the future that the society is unrecognizable to us, such as the society in Tankborn. Karen Sandler does a wonderful job at incluing readers as we read chapter 1 of the first book in the Tankborn trilogy.
The prominent example I like to give writers for this kind of worldbuilding is from The Golden Compass. Check out the first paragraph of that book:
“Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. The three great tables that ran the length of the hall were laid already, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was, and the long benches were pulled out ready for the guests. Portraits of former Masters hung high up in the gloom along the walls. Lyra reached the dais and looked back at the open kitchen door, and, seeing no one, stepped up beside the high table.”
Pullman jumps right into the scene, with Lyra sneaking down the dining hall with her daemon. We’re hooked—she’s doing something sneaky, and we don’t know what. And we want to know. We don’t even know what the daemon physically looks like until paragraph 4, and even then we don’t know why he’s called a daemon or what makes a daemon special.
What is a daemon, anyway? We don’t know! In fact, this is one of the major conflicts of the book—we need to read more to find out about daemons, and further mysteries are revealed as we read that deepen our understanding of daemons and of Lyra’s world in general. As we discover more clues that intrigue us, we want to know more, and keep reading.
But the line between intriguing the reader and confusing the reader is very thin, and I would argue that for some readers it’s in a different place than for others. Those of us who are familiar with fantasy might be more willing to patiently wait for more information about daemons because we trust that this author will let us know what we need to know when the time is right. We know that they’re teasing us with this information so as not to overburden us within the first few pages of the book (or, in the case of The Golden Compass, because the reader can’t know what the majority of people in that world don’t know, either).
In situations in which you need to establish a world that’s entirely different from our own, I find that putting a character in a situation that’s somewhat familiar to the reader can help with establishing the unfamiliar. In Karen Sandler’s Tankborn, for example, Kayla has to watch her little brother instead of going to a street fair with her friends. While Kayla calls him her “nurture brother” instead of just her brother, it’s still a situation to which a lot of readers can relate, even if it is set on another planet and her brother is catching nasty arachnid-based sewer toads instead of familiar Earth frogs and toads.
M. K. Hutchins, author of Drift, approached it in a completely different way. She starts with a dangerous situation—a family on the run from authorities, splitting up. The mother, our main character Tenjat, and his sister Eflet are embarking on a terrible journey that’s almost certain death, setting off on a raft in the middle of the night into an ocean full of snake-like monsters, and leaving the family’s father and smallest brother behind to face unknown punishment. While perhaps no reader has been chased by authorities in the middle of the night, it is a dangerous situation and a parting of family—mixing the familiar (family) with the unfamiliar (a dangerous situation in a completely new setting).
It’s the difference between showing and telling. Philip Pullman, Karen Sandler, and M. K. Hutchins all show us how their worlds works, rather than pausing to tell us how it works (“in this world, all people are born with an animal companion called a daemon”).
Telling can work, though, especially in small doses—Katniss’s voice is so conversational that the brief moments of telling in the first few pages of The Hunger Games work, particularly because Collins is mostly showing what Katniss is up to. The brief pauses to “infodump” feel like the reader is being told a story by a storyteller, like a friend telling a story over the kitchen table after a nice big meal would pause and explain something you didn’t understand (a friend who’s a very good storyteller). It’s an awareness of audience that most speculative fiction doesn’t have the luxury of.
Showing isn’t always better, and telling isn’t always bad, when done right and mixed in with showing. Whichever method you use, remember that sometimes readers will trip over new words so you need to give them as much context as possible without over-infodumping.
And here is where the art comes in. I can’t tell you what that balance is, but if you look at examples like the ones above, you’ll get a better feel for how much to reveal and how much to hold back in your first few pages—revealing enough to orient your reader and give them a sense of the differences of this world (while grounding them in something familiar like Lyra’s hallway or Katniss’s humble home) while seeking to avoid overburdening them with too much all at once.
What about you? How have you found the right balance of introducing your world without overburdening the reader? What books do you recommend that do this particularly well?
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers. Parts of this blog post were originally posted at her blog, Stacy Whitman’s Grimoire.
During the first week of June, I attended the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore. At the conference, I met writers from all over Asia and the Pacific, discussing craft, marketing their books at home and abroad, and translation. I even ran into Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac, the Australian author/illustrator team behind the LEE & LOW picture book The Drummer Boy of John John. I enjoyed all the panels and the chance to see Singapore and meet so many people from the other side of the world—it gives you a perspective as an editor you might not otherwise have.
One of the panels I participated in was a First Pages event, in which I read about 20 first pages of picture books, middle grade, and YA novels and then gave feedback on whether the pages were working for me and if I’d want to read more.
Stacy Whitman with author Mark Greenwood and illustrator Frané Lessac
For the fantasy and science fiction entries, a common problem was—and is in any new writer’s writing—revealing enough about the world that you create interest and intrigue, but not too much. Too much, and you risk alienating your audience, confusing them, or simply not hooking them. Reader reactions are so subjective. One person might think there’s not nearly enough worldbuilding in a book (“give me more! MORE!”) and another might say of the exact same book that what worldbuilding there is was way too confusing (“I couldn’t keep all those made-up words straight!”).
So how do you, as the author, balance the needs of such a wide range of readers when you’re working in a complex world? And how do you balance the need to establish your characters, setting, and plot with the need to spool out information to your reader to intrigue them rather than confuse them?
This is a question that almost every author and editor of speculative fiction struggles with, particularly because we, as veterans of the genre, are already more comfortable with a lot of jargon than your average teen reader, particularly teen readers whose preference for fantasy runs more toward the contemporary paranormal variety.
Stacy Whitman at the famous Singapore merlion fountain
There are a number of reasons why I think Twilight was so popular on such a broad scale, but one of the biggest ones was the relatability of the initial situation. Not vampires showing up at school—before that. We start with a simple story about a girl who is leaving her mother behind in Arizona to live with her father in an unknown small town on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Relatable: divorced parents, fish out of water, adapting to a new school and a new climate.
Think about all the really big fantasy hits of the last decade or so in children’s and YA fiction: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent. Of these books’ beginnings, only the dystopian tales start all that far outside the everyday experiences of your average young reader, and even The Hunger Games starts with a relatable situation—a coal mining family lives in a desperate situation and must hunt for food.
While most kids who would have access to The Hunger Games don’t live under a despotic regime, it’s plausible that it could happen in the real world. Every kid has been hungry at some point, though perhaps not as hungry and desperate as Katniss. Every kid has taken a test in school, and sometimes it feels like those standardized tests do determine your everlasting fate, as they do in Divergent, even if Tris’s Abnegation explanations are a little tedious. Harry Potter and Percy Jackson are ordinary kids going to school, living somewhat normal lives (even if abusive ones, in the case of Harry) before their worlds change with the discovery of magic.
Stacy Whitman speaking on a panel at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content.
There are three primary approaches to worldbuilding:
Reader learns world alongside character
Exposition: questions raised, then answered
“Incluing”: questions raised, then reader infers answers bit by bit
Next Thursday, I’ll go into detail about each of these techniques and give some examples. In the meantime, think about your favorite science fiction and fantasy books. How do they bring you into their world? What works best for you as a reader? Answering these questions about your own reading preferences can help guide you as a writer.
I had two Korean roommates in college. Ever since then, I’ve said, “Someday I will learn Korean and visit Hyun Mi in Korea.” Last year, when I made new Korean friends here in New York City, I decided that “someday” needed to finally be today. I started to learn Korean from a book and a podcast, got addicted to Korean dramas, and this May, finally made that trip to Korea I’ve been meaning to make for over a decade.
On my way to Korea, I had a 7-hour layover in London, another place I’ve never seen in person before. I got to meet Cat Girl’s Day Off author Kimberly Pauley, who showed me 221B Baker St. and the whole area around Parliament—Big Ben, the London Eye, and Westminster Cathedral, for example (the outside—no time for the inside), and then we finished off our whirlwind tour with a full English breakfast.
(center) Kimberly Pauley and Stacy Whitman at Paddington Station with Paddington Bear; other sights in London
A subway entrance in Busan, South Korea
I didn’t get to visit my old roommate, but I did visit my new friend from New York, who had moved back to Seoul. I stayed with her and her family in Mokdong, a suburb of Seoul, which I loved not only because I was visiting my friend, but also because I got to experience Korean culture from a closer point of view, not as a tourist in a hotel but as a guest. I got to do normal everyday things with my friend, like going to the grocery store and post office, to the bookstore and to the repair booth on the corner run by the ajussi who might know how to fix my purse (sadly, he didn’t have a good solution). I was greatly impressed with the public transportation system, which got me everywhere I needed to be, and often had malls in the stations!
I also met up with the Talk to Me in Korean crew (from whom I’m learning Korean), who happened to have a meetup when I was in Korea. Here I am with Hyunwoo Sun, the founder of Talk to Me in Korean, and his wife, Mi Kyung. A few of us went out for a kind of fusion chicken, the name of which I’ve forgotten, and then patbingsoo—sweet red beans over shaved ice—after the meetup of over a hundred TTMIK listeners.
Meet-up with Talk to Me in Korean teachers and students
I love Korean dramas, which are often historical, so of course I wanted to see places like National Treasure #1, the Namdaemung Gate (officially known as Sungnyemun), which burned down in 2008 and was just recently restored and reopened, and Gyeongbokgung Palace in the heart of Seoul. The folk museum was fascinating, letting me see Korean history in person—for example, they had a living replica of a Korean street that brought you forward in time from the Joseon era to the 1990s.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea
A tour guide at Gyeongbokgung Palace wearing a hanbok, a traditional Korean dress
Outside the National Children’s Library in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea
I also went to the Namdaemun Market, across from the gate, and had my first real Korean market experience, and found a stylish purse. I rode a bike along the Han River (and saw cleverly disguised trash/recycling cans), discovered the national children’s library in Gangnam, watched the changing of the guards at Gyeongbokgung Palace, stopped off for a chocobanana smoothie at Starbucks for a quick wifi fix, wandered around in a park filled with fortune teller booths, got makeup samples in Myeongdong, and found bargains in an underground shopping mall at the subway entrance. What I didn’t do was stalk a Korean drama star, though that was tempting.
Cleverly disguised recycling
Cheonggyecheon River, Seoul, South Korea
Not too far from the palace was the Cheonggyecheon River, which is a reclaimed river that has been turned into a recreational area. It was my favorite area of Seoul—I loved to walk along it and returned three times while on my way to other places. The first time I discovered it (on the recommendation of Korean American library educator and friend Sarah Park Dahlen), it was decorated for Buddha’s Birthday, a national holiday in Korea. The next day, on Buddha’s Birthday, my Korean host and I went to the local Buddhist temple to discover how the holiday was celebrated among Buddhists, which neither of us are. That night, the Cheonggyecheon was all lit up in celebration.
Stacy Whitman at the Buddhist temple in Mokdong, South Korea
Cheonggyecheon River, Seoul, South Korea
Beomosa Temple, Busan, South Korea
I spent a total of two weeks exploring Korea, the second week of which was spent climbing a mountain on Jeju Island, discovering a Buddhist temple and a famous beach and fish market in Busan, and staying in a hanok (traditional Korean house) in Jeonju—where I also happened upon a famous Joseon picnic spot (Omokdae Terrace, famous for a king having once picnicked there), a famous royal shrine, and a Confucian school where one of my favorite dramas was filmed, and where I saw a delightful sight, a class full of toddlers in hanbok, learning about their country’s history. Jeonju also is the home of a traditional Korean paper (hanji) museum, where they have a hands-on room where I made a sheet of hanji! Later I met the driver of a truck full of garlic, who insisted I take a picture of his truck.
Schoolkids at Jeonjuhyanggyo Confucian School in Jeonju, South Korea
Truck full of garlic in Jeonju, South Korea
Then I rounded out the experience with my friend’s one-year-old’s birthday party in Seoul. (The first birthday is very important in Korean culture, a momentous occasion for which my friend and her husband rented hanbok to wear for family pictures, which I took for them.) However, I didn’t get to the top of 9 km-high Hallasan, the big mountain in Jeju (though I made it 7.5 km!), as I didn’t start early enough in the morning. I’ll just have to go back. Oh darn! (I did, however, get the rare opportunity to see a native deer.)
I ate loads of delicious Korean food, most of which was homemade by my host family, but I also discovered new foods like Jeju’s famous gogiguksu, a pork noodle dish very similar to good ramen. I also had the chance to try Koreans’ interpretation of Italian food, which is very popular—and was very tasty.
(clockwise from upper left) Korean street food in Busan, kimbap in Seoul, pizza in a cone & smoothie in Jeonju, Italian food in Jeonju
And I took a break from my vacation one day to work, because you can’t publish diverse books and travel halfway around the world and not take the opportunity to meet publishers in the country you’re so interested in. An agent at the Eric Yang Agency was happy to introduce me to several Korean publishers, who were happy to introduce me to their books and to learn about mine. Here’s a picture of the mural in their lobby, a testament to the love of reading in Korean culture and a great riff on the famous photo.
Lunch atop a Skyscraper, now with books!
It was interesting to see how similar and yet different the two country’s publishing styles were—often, we publish similar books, yet we market them completely differently because Korean parents/readers and American parents/readers are looking for different marketing messages in the books they buy. Young adult literature as a category is still relatively new in Korea, particularly in fantasy (though the age category’s storytelling is strong in dramas and manhwa, the Korean form of manga)—the emphasis in Korean children’s book sections of the bookstore is very much on educational supplements. I look forward to someday bringing Korean YA and middle grade voices to a US audience looking for diversity and new stories.
* And it was a bear trying to pare down my pictures. If you’d like to see more, follow me on Tumblr, where I will eventually be posting more pictures a few at a time.
I forgot to add, I also got the chance to meet up with a Korean librarian while I was in Korea. It’s always so much fun to listen to different perspectives and learn about how children’s literature and librarianship works in another country, and Korea’s system (all librarians are employed by the federal government, for example, if I understood her right) was fascinating to hear about.
A few of us made it out for the Brooklyn Book Festival this weekend, so I thought I’d share a few shots of the event. It was a bright, beautiful fall day, and it was great to see so many people come out to celebrate reading (a record 40,000, according to this article).
Joseph Bruchac, author of Wolf Mark, Buffalo Song, and several other titles, was on a panel about sports stories for boys with Jon Scieszka and Gordon Korman, moderated by Lisa Yee. They were hilarious!
From L: Lisa Yee, Jon Scieszka, Joseph Bruchac, and Gordon Korman
When asked to tell one truth and one lie about himself, Joseph Bruchac offered these two facts:
A.) He once wrestled alligators in high school in upstate NY.
B.) He goes into jails to read/write with criminals, including serial killers.
So, which is true?
The audience guesses were about 50-50, but it turns out that Joe DOES work with a program that brings authors into jails to read and write with inmates. He actually was a wrestler and was asked to wrestle alligators in high school, but turned down the offer because, in his words, “I liked all ten of my fingers.”
Here’s Tu Books Editorial Director Stacy Whitman (right) with Nora de Hoyos Comstock (center) from Las Comadres, along with an author.
[Sidenote: Las Comadres Para Las Americas is a national organization that connects Latina women. And if you happen to be in the NYC area, their Comadres y compadres Writer's Conference is taking place on October 6 - and our very own Stacy Whitman will be there critiquing manuscripts. If you're an aspiring author, it's a great chance to get feedback on your work.]
From the looks of it, Bird illustrator Shadra Strickland had a pretty good time at the Brooklyn Book Festival this year too. All in all, a lovely day!
Stacy Whitman, Editorial Director, Tu Books (Lee and Low)
Lee and Low books prefers the word diversity to multicultural.
"About everyone. For everyone," is the motto at Lee and Low.
What questions can we ask as writers, whether we're writing from our own perspective or writing and doing research about a different culture? Here are a few:
Whom are people loyal to? Who gets respect? How do people manage their emotions? Who is in control? How does a culture view time? Am I in your space?
Here, at the end of 2009, it’s time to look forward to events in early 2010. These are recent announcements I’ve received.
Help a New Fantasy Publisher Get a Start
From Stacy Whitman. As you all know, I’m a children’s book editor. Since I was laid off at Wizards of the Coast, where I edited fantasy and science fiction novels, I’ve been freelancing, and I’ve decided that the next step will be to start my own company. If you guys are on Facebook, you might have already seen me posting about the small press that I’m starting, Tu Publishing. If you’re not, I’m working on starting a small publishing company that will fill a gap in the market, to publish multicultural fantasy and science fiction for children and young adults. Our website is http://www.tupublishing.com, if you want to know more about our mission.
To get started, publishing books takes a lot of money, even on a “shoestring” budget. That’s why I’m doing a Kickstarter campaign—to raise enough money to get started and give a reward to everyone who donates. If enough people donate $5, or $15, or $20, we’ll be able to reach our goal. For every donation through Kickstarter, the donator gets a reward: bookmarks, early copies of books we publish, books donated to libraries, etc. For a really big, pie-in-the-sky donation, I’ve even promised an author visit. :) So they get something for their money, and with enough people banding together, the project can become a reality.
The project has had almost 3 months to run. So far, we’re up to $4031 of $10,000, with just under a week left. So we’ve got some ground to cover—no money exchanges hands if we don’t reach $10,000.
Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page. It’s completely secure—payments are handled through Amazon payments.
Note: Scholastic editor Cheryl Klein also used Kickstarter to fund her book of speeches about writing for kids. It seems to be a new way of getting grass-roots support for a publishing project.
Fearless Writing by Crescent Dragonwagon
A Fearless Writing weekend — the Valentine’s Day/President’s Weekend (Feb. 12-13-14, 2010), Fayetteville, AR. Folks can get full details and register here but I’ll spell out a little more below.
We’ll begin Friday night, work/play together all day Saturday, all day Sunday, with a departure on Monday morning: about 12 hours together, plus informal times at meals — intense, but not at all tense. The workshop costs $895, and THIS INCLUDES ALL MEALS AND ACCOMMODATIONS. (Thank you, Mt. Sequoyah Conference Center!) You can pay all at once, or put $250 and down to hold your place.
IF FOLKS BOOK BY DECEMBER 15, THERE’S A $100 DISCOUNT.
I offer a full money-back guarantee (words you almost never hear about writing workshops, right?
I say them because I’m certain everyone who attends all the sessions will get every minute and every dollar’s worth put into Fearless Writing back ten- or twenty-fold, and because I really want people to come — I’m passionate about it).
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers.
Look for new inspiration. (We’ll cover worldbuilding more in full in a few weeks.) But especially in the first few chapters of your book, avoid leading with ideas that have been-there-done that.
Stacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of 
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I forgot to add, I also got the chance to meet up with a Korean librarian while I was in Korea. It’s always so much fun to listen to different perspectives and learn about how children’s literature and librarianship works in another country, and Korea’s system (all librarians are employed by the federal government, for example, if I understood her right) was fascinating to hear about.