Kidlit Writer in Progress & Resource Blogger

In my previous blog post I had mentioned I registered for the live edit workshop hosted by Rosie J. Pova in hopes my manuscript (MS) would be one of the ones chosen. The agent, Carter Hasegawa, would edit up to three. Unfortunately, there was only time for one MS to be read and edited live. I was a little disappointed; however, I see why three would have just been too much. Most of the workshop focused on the edit itself, with room for questions after. The MS shared was a picture book and, without giving much detail away, was about an animal in the desert.

Every edit may be different depending on who is doing it. Either way, it’s always a great opportunity to get professional insight. I will write this out similar to how I wrote my notes and elaborate. The first set of notes is before the live reading and a telling of how Carter edits.

MY NOTES:

To start, different kinds of editing are done at different points.

Is it a good read? Did the person like reading it? Does it have something to say, and/or is it unique?

The focus then shifts to the structure of the MS. There is no worry for word choice at this point.

Does it have a beginning character want, and is there an obstacle?

What’s driving the character?

Is there a point in the story where the reader is worried the character is not going to become successful? There should be.

Does the ending work? It HAS to work.

After structure, the focus shifts to lines and pacing. What feels irrelevant or redundant?

Make sure readers want to turn the page. The MS is then paged out, and moments are looked for in the MS that could be illustrations.

Do sections feel balanced?

Finally the focus shifts to words and punctuation.

It is noted that stories take place in one day.

POST LIVE READ:

There seems to be a stanza sameness that feels expected and tiresome. Here the main character (MC) is making their way through the desert, encountering different characters and reacting with the environment in some way.

Middle of book breaks this pattern or sameness because of a storm.

Does the latter half of the book need to reflect the chaos of the storm? Here, this is a question posed by Carter as a suggestion to perhaps give the story more intention or ask what is the intention.

The other suggestion is to have the MC interact more with the other characters written in the MS.

Although there seems to be some sort of closure with the MC, Carter asks if there needs to be closure with the other characters who are also part of the environment?

The only interaction seems to be at two points when verbs like “hide” and “scamper” are used.

More action suggests more intention.

Be careful with words that feel the same.

Is there room to break the pattern once or twice?

Some words put together may not seem like enough of a moment.

Takeaway:

Although my MS was not chosen, it was still great to hear from a professional. Take everything into account when reading aloud your MS, apply those same questions and suggestions, take accountability for everything you write, and give it purpose.

If you’re interested in a publishing company and a specific agent, make sure you read their MS wishes and see if your MS applies like the one shown below.

If you made it this far, someone in the workshop DID have a great MS and it was suggested they may have had the opportunity to move forward with it! I do not know who is was but it was very inspiring to hear Carter say he would be a fool not to reach out to this person.

Put yourself out there!