AGENT BARBARA POELLE AND DEBUT AUTHOR TRACI CHEE GUEST POST & 3 CHAPTER CRITIQUE AND THE READER GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! I've got a treat for you today. Debut author Traci Chee is here with her agent Barbara Poelle with a guest post and special giveaway to celebrate the release of Traci's debut YA fantasy THE READER. It sounds like a fantastic combination of a fantasy and mystery.

Here's a blurb from Goodreads:

Sefia knows what it means to survive. After her father is brutally murdered, she flees into the wilderness with her aunt Nin, who teaches her to hunt, track, and steal. But when Nin is kidnapped, leaving Sefia completely alone, none of her survival skills can help her discover where Nin’s been taken, or if she’s even alive. The only clue to both her aunt’s disappearance and her father’s murder is the odd rectangular object her father left behind, an object she comes to realize is a book—a marvelous item unheard of in her otherwise illiterate society. With the help of this book, and the aid of a mysterious stranger with dark secrets of his own, Sefia sets out to rescue her aunt and find out what really happened the day her father was killed—and punish the people responsible.

Now here's Traci and Barbara!

DELICIOUS, DEVOURABLE FIRST PAGES

with Traci Chee and Barbara Poelle

CHEE: Beginnings are one of those things that I constantly struggle with. Where do I start? How much is too much exposition? How do I get the reader invested in a character they just met? Can I sneakily include this prologue or do I have to cut it?

But beginnings are of utmost importance--to readers, to editors, and to agents! So let’s talk writing strategies for those first pages and get some super-secret insider perspective from agent/warrior Barbara Poelle!

With The Reader, I went through about 5-10 different beginnings before I finally landed on the version that Barbara and I signed with (and that ended up in the final book). Some beginnings started too early. One started too late! Others dragged on for chapters before I realized I had to quicken the pace. B, what kept you turning the pages when you were reading my manuscript?

POELLE: Ohhhh man. It was like…like… an endless bag of salt water taffy: each page, sometimes each WORD, was so satisfying and SUCH a delight to unwrap, the prose so lush and yet so accessible, it was a joy and a privilege to read. I am super jealous of folks who get to read it for the first time.

CHEE: Aw shucks. Thank you! Prose is one of those things I work on incessantly--trying to hone in

on the right image, the right phrase, the right word to elicit just the right emotion or action or nuance. Is that always what you notice first, or is there something else that jumps out at you?

POELLE: Voice! I want to feel invested in the voice. This doesn’t just mean a connection to a first person narrator but the overall narrative construct no matter the execution. In THE READER, for example, there are several “voices” within the pages but the overall architecture of the read is so unique while still being accessible within the tapestry of the plot.

CHEE: Ahh, that makes so much sense! For me, prose--diction, syntax, figurative language, where to break a sentence or a paragraph, all these things--are all part of voice. In some respects, I think voice is dictated by character--what a character notices, how they talk about things, places their mind goes as they move through their world. So in The Reader, which is told through limited third-person perspective, there’s one narrator, but the one narrator kind of hovers over the shoulders of eight different point-of-view characters, and each of them has a slightly different way of engaging with the world. Some characters, for example, use more clipped, fragmented sentences. Others have a bit of a drawl even in their descriptions. Still others tend toward fanciful figurative language.

All these pieces are intricately connected, I think--prose and voice and character. Tell us, what makes you want to follow a character into their story?

POELLE: That perfect marriage of the layers of accessibility and uniqueness. I can follow and connect with a stubborn minotaur as a protagonist as equally as I can a young girl in modern day Tehran if I can not only already see myself in them but also expand my journey of self at the same time. And let’s not misunderstand: accessible doesn’t necessarily mean “likable” but always needs to mean “relatable”. A conflicted and dangerous character is just as viable a touchstone in a great story as long as they are authentically crafted in their motivations for action.

CHEE: That’s a great distinction. I try to give each character (and especially point-of-view characters) a sort of charisma, something that’s really compelling about them. With regards to first pages, I think that means we need to hook readers with our characters as soon as possible. For example, in The Reader, we have Sefia’s aunt Nin, who’s got 5-10 pages to be engaging and memorable before she’s kidnapped. To that end, I gave her what my always-brilliant editor calls “salient traits”--character details that are strong enough to be recalled pages, even chapters, later. Nin has the quick hands of a thief and a bear skin cloak that makes her look like a “hill of dirt: dry, brown, ready to crumble in the humidity of the rain forest.” She’s a gruff and begrudging guardian, but a guardian nonetheless--her last words to Sefia are a warning, and the last thing we see her do before she’s abducted is protect Sefia from being discovered.

To use another example, in The Hunger Games, we have Prim, the main character’s younger sister, who we see for about 7-10 pages before, again, she’s whisked out of the narrative for the rest of the book. Unlike Nin, she has a number of endearing qualities--she’s kind to stray animals, she leaves that beautiful wrapped cheese for her sister, she’s like a “little duck” with the back of her shirt continually coming untucked (lovely detail)--and she leaves such a strong impression on the narrative that her presence can be felt many chapters later.

While we’re on the topic of characters, are there any characterization faux pas that will absolutely kill a manuscript for you?

POELLE: If I come across an inauthentic character- ESPECIALLY a character of diversity that is clearly there as a construct just to BE diverse-  I will not pick the manuscript back up. I also get very eye-rolly when an adult writer uses slang and or pop culture references from when THEY were a teen, thinking it still stands up. Like, no one today is going to talk about how “rad” something is (although now I think we should bring “rad” back. Who is with me?)

CHEE: I so feel you on the problems with token diverse characters and inaccurate/harmful representation. I think when it comes to beginnings, we’ve got such limited time, we absolutely cannot rely on tropes, stereotypes, and shortcuts. It’s a huge task to make characters unique and compelling and well-rounded all at once, so we’ve got to be very careful and very precise in what details we choose as well as what the characters do and say and think.

So far we’ve got prose, voice, and character. What else factors into your reading of a manuscript’s first pages?

POELLE: Micro-tensions within the plot. Of course, a surprising and unique plot can make for a real page turner, but the real craftsmanship comes within the micro-tensions created between the larger plot points. I want to feel like I am reading with a brain full of pop rocks- little bursts of surprise and intrigue peppered throughout the journey. (What IS it with me and the candy today?)

CHEE: I think one of your other authors, Renée Ahdieh, does this amazingly well! I actually studied her first book, The Wrath and the Dawn, while I was revising The Reader, because she’ll introduce a conflict, deepen it, then close it up again while simultaneously introducing a new, more complex conflict. Every time one question is answered, we find another question underneath it!

POELLE: Aw! Yay! Renée is so gifted at unspooling conflict and tension, right? And you now bring up the writer’s greatest tool: reading! Read all the time, across many genres, find what works for you and WHY it worked and then weave the technique into your own work.

CHEE: Yes! One of my other go-to resources for micro-tension is Writing 21st Century Fiction by Donald Maass, which has some great exercises for developing conflict on the level of story, scene, and sentence. That’s where I turn whenever I’m missing that pop rock feeling. Any last suggestions for all the writers out there?

POELLE: I know the writing can be a solo journey,  but craft can’t exist in a vacuum. Get in a class, even an online one, where you are sharing your work with others. Find a critique partner, get a group of first readers you can count on to be honest with you about what is and isn’t working. Enter first page contests and participate in things like Pitch Wars and Query Shark. Challenge yourself to marry any natural talent with the actual blueprints of great writing by reading things like BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott and ON WRITING by Stephen King. Keep working on the craft, technique and detail of the written word as well as the creative artistry of the story!

CHEE: I love this advice so much, and it’s just how I approach my own writing too. I try to learn something from every book I write and every book I read. In between drafts, I write short stories inspired by my favorite writers. I take classes. I read books on craft. I feel like there’s always a way to improve, and I’m continually seeking out ways to challenge myself.

Poelle: And it SHOWS!  I cannot wait for THE READER to become everybody's go to for a fabulous novel but also an exploration and expansion of craft. But, let me just tell you all, make sure to tie your shoes tightly as this book is gonna knock your socks off!!!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Traci and Barbara! You can find Traci at:

Get the book! Amazon, B&N, Indiebound

Add it on Goodreads!

Find Traci at her website, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

You can find Barbara at: 

Irene Goodman Literary Agency

Barbara Poelle and Traci Chee have generously offered a three chapter critique by Barbara and a giveaway of THE READER by Traci. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through September 24th. If you do not want to be included in the three chapter critique giveaway, please let me know in the comments. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter either contest.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The three chapter critique is international and the book giveaway is U.S.

Here's what's coming up:

On Wednesday I have an agent spotlight interview with Catherine Cho and a query critique. 

Next Monday I have an interview with debut author Jennifer Bardsley and a giveaway of her YA speculative fiction GENESIS GIRL

The Monday after that I have a special treat. Our follower and my friend Kristin Lenz is debuting as a YA author. I'll be interviewing her with a giveaway of her YA contemporary THE ART OF HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!