Welcome to our monthly Ask a Pub Pro feature where a publishing professional answers readers and writers' questions regarding the stories they love or their work in progress. This month, Stephanie Diaz, author of the Extraction series, joins us to answer questions on chapter breaks and unusual time periods.
We'd love to have you send in your questions for next month's column. Please send questions to AYAPLit AT gmail and put "Ask a Pub Pro Question" in the subject line. If your question is chosen, you'll get to include a link to your social media and a Tweet-sized blurb of your WIP.
Come on! Get those questions in!
Ask a Pub Pro with Stephanie Diaz
From Farida Mestek:
My question about the book concerns chapters. My YA fantasy novel is divided into four more or less equal parts, each having its individual title, but there are no chapter breaks within the parts. How important are chapters in this particular genre and for this audience? Should I attempt to introduce them within the book even though I can't decide where to end one chapter and to start the next one or can I leave it like that?
Find Farida on Twitter at @FaridaMestek
Stephanie answers:
Chapters are helpful to readers because they allow for pauses in the book, places where the reader can take a breath or step away and easily come back. YA fantasies tend to be on the longer side, so not including chapters could make it hard for readers to get through the book. You don't necessarily need to have a new chapter every ten pages or even twenty, but I would recommend working some scene breaks into your novel, aside from the four parts. Look for the spots where scenes have a natural ending.
Check out some YA fantasies to get an idea of what scene breaks should read like, if you're unsure. The Shadow and Bone series by Leigh Bardugo has some great examples.
Anonymous asks:
I'm writing an historical in a very unusual time period and am not sure it will be marketable. Is there any way to sort of test the market to find out if agents/editors/readers would even consider this time and setting?
Stephanie answers:
There isn't any way to test the market other than to query your work once it's finished and see what agents have to say. However, I would highly recommend finding critique partners to share your idea with and read your manuscript before you start shopping it, so you can get a sense of whether it will appeal to readers.
There are also some really wonderful agents and editors who occasionally have #AskAgent and #AskEditor Q&As on Twitter. Keep an eye on those hashtags, and you may be able to get an answer by running the time and setting of your book by someone in the industry.
About the Author:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
About the Book:
As Clementine and Logan enter a desperate race against time to defeat Commander Charlie—and attempt to weaken his power within his own ranks--they find themselves in a terrifying endgame that pits them against a brutal enemy, and each other. With every step, Clementine draws closer to losing Logan...and losing control of herself.
Continuing with the mesmerizing saga that started with Extraction, Stephanie Diaz blends science fiction, epic romance, and heart-stopping adventure to create a world that no reader will soon forget.
Amazon | IndieBound | Goodreads
-- posted by Susan Sipal, @HP4Writers
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