Pushing Back on Edits to Maintain Authenticity as a Marginalized Author by Agent/Author Jennifer Wills and Lillie Lainoff & One for All & Query Critique Giveaway & IWSG Post

Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m excited to have debut author Lillie Lainoff and her agent Jennifer Wills here to share a guest post to celebrate the release of Lillie’s YA fairytale retelling One for All. It sounds like a fantastic retelling of The Three Musketeers, and I’m excited to read it.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

An OwnVoices, gender-bent retelling of The Three Musketeers, in which a girl with a chronic illness trains as a Musketeer and uncovers secrets, sisterhood, and self-love.

Tania de Batz is most herself with a sword in her hand. Everyone in town thinks her near-constant dizziness makes her weak, nothing but “a sick girl”; even her mother is desperate to marry her off for security. But Tania wants to be strong, independent, a fencer like her father—a former Musketeer and her greatest champion.

Then Papa is brutally, mysteriously murdered. His dying wish? For Tania to attend finishing school. But L’Académie des Mariées, Tania realizes, is no finishing school. It’s a secret training ground for a new kind of Musketeer: women who are socialites on the surface, but strap daggers under their skirts, seduce men into giving up dangerous secrets, and protect France from downfall. And they don’t shy away from a swordfight.

With her newfound sisters at her side, Tania feels for the first time like she has a purpose, like she belongs. But then she meets Étienne, her first target in uncovering a potential assassination plot. He’s kind, charming, and breathlessly attractive—and he might have information about what really happened to her father. Torn between duty and dizzying emotion, Tania will have to lean on her friends, listen to her own body, and decide where her loyalties lie…or risk losing everything she’s ever wanted.

This debut novel is a fierce, whirlwind adventure about the depth of found family, the strength that goes beyond the body, and the determination it takes to fight for what you love. 

 

Before I get to my guest post by Lillie and Jennifer, I have my IWSG Post.

Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group Day.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts this month are Joylene Nowell Butler, Jacqui Murray, Sandra Cox, and Lee Lowery!

Optional Question: Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn’t around anymore? Anyone you miss?

I knew the answer to this one right away. It’s Rudy, my late husband. who supported me in my blogging and writing. He read a lot, but it was always nonfiction. Even though we really didn’t have time to for me to spend writing or blogging because I was so busy working as an attorney, being his caregiver, and raising our daughter, he gave me time to pursue these interests.

I think he knew that writing and blogging would help me if he didn’t have a long life, which he didn’t have because he died a few months after he turned 60, and I was left alone. It’s one of a number of gifts he left me with that helps me go on and feel his love and support even though he’s not here anymore. I can’t express in words how much I miss, love, and appreciate him and our time together.

Do you have someone who supported you who is no longer around?

Lillie Lainoff and Jennifer Wills Guest Post

I always tell my clients that edits should be a collaboration, a conversation; that my intent isn’t to come in with my red pen blazing and start demanding changes. Neil Gaiman said, ““Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” I take that to heart on every project, and while I offer suggestions on how to fix something that I don’t think is working, my favorite moments are when authors understand what I’m getting at but come up with a different, better, way of addressing my concerns. Since I’m not disabled myself, I try to bring an extra amount of sensitivity to the table when approaching edits on Lillie’s – and my other marginalized clients’ – work.

I definitely agree with this! Jen’s approach to editing is very much a conversation rather than a monologue. Obviously, I don’t have the same kind of editing experience as Jen, but I was a partner at the Yale Writing Center for over three years and was the managing editor of the Yale Daily News Magazine (and have read/marked up SO MANY pieces in workshop settings), so I know what it’s like, to some extent, to be on the other side of the equation. I never like it when writers I give edits to accept my comments without question. I’m not always right, and I want writers to tell me when I’m not right! But I always do my best to point out what I think needs work and offer up multiple possibilities of how to address that—there is always more than one answer to a problem. Editing (and writing, for that matter) isn’t arithmetic!

 In the case of OFA, I remember at least one instance – I’m sure there were more – where I suggested a change and Lillie immediately shot me down and came up with something better. I think I wanted to change when Tania started training. She starts when she’s very young, I think age 4, so that by the time we meet her on the page, she’s already quite proficient with a sword. I suggested seeing her starting her training on the page at an older age, 12 or so, after she started having her dizziness. I don’t even remember why I felt that was a good idea… it must have been to add extra interest to the beginning, and to show the reader what she looked like when she started training vs how much better she was later on. Silly, right? Sigh.

Just going to briefly butt in here to assuage readers’ concerns: Tania at 4 only had wooden swords! She wasn’t that small child running around with a knife in the ‘A KNIFE!’ video. Okay, back to Jen…

Fortunately, Lillie explained how that wouldn’t be possible with POTS, that Tania needed to have started training at a young age before POTS took hold, otherwise she wouldn’t have had the strength. I just know that the solution that came out of that discussion turned out to be an incredible first chapter, which was far better than whatever it was that I had suggested. Lillie, I’ll never forget when you sent that revision back to me and I actually screamed “YAAAASSSSSS!” at the first line.

Oh my goodness, the first chapter! Truly though, I have no idea which version we settled on—we went through so many different ones. I stopped counting at ten.

But this editorial moment is one of my favorite memories of working on ONE FOR ALL with Jen, because it encapsulates why she’s such a good editorial agent. This kind of experience, one where I felt comfortable pushing back against an edit because it didn’t feel authentic to the story I was trying to tell or the characters I portrayed, gave me the confidence to work in the same way with my editor, Melissa Warten (who has a similar editing style to Jen’s— they are both open to listening and are committed to maintaining authenticity).

This is why it’s so important for every author, and especially those from marginalized communities, to have the confidence to stand up for their work. You know your story, your world, your characters better than anyone, and you have to stay true to your work. Don’t be afraid to challenge an editorial suggestion that you don’t buy into. Hear your editorial team, whether that’s your critique group or your agent or your editor, but don’t feel like you have to do every single thing that every single person suggests. That’s why it’s so crucial to have that trust in the agent-author relationship and the editor-author relationship. You have to feel comfortable enough to say thanks for the suggestion, but I’m going to do it this way instead.

One of the things I talk about a lot with other disabled authors is the fear of being ‘too much.’ Asking for ‘too many’ accommodations, writing books that are ‘too focused’ on disability, etc. And when we finally get an agent, an editor, etc. that fear is magnified, because what if someone decides you’re not worth all the ‘hassle’?

But here’s the thing: an agent does not sign you as a client if they do not love your book. An editor does not offer for your book if they do not love your book. They want to collaborate with you on making your book the best possible version of itself. And yes, there are exceptions to this statement, but, at the end of the day, you don’t want to be in a situation where you feel like you’re being asked to compromise on the authenticity of your work. Which is why, when you receive an agent offer, it’s important to ask about editorial style, collaboration, etc. I don’t think I asked Jen about anything like this on The Call, baby author that I was, so I seriously lucked out in that regard.  

Social media:

Jen (Twitter): @WillsWork4Books

Jen query manager: https://querymanager.com/query/JenniferWills

Lillie (Twitter/IG): @lillielainoff

ONE FOR ALL Preorder links:

Macmillan: https://bit.ly/3pfUD0Y

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3uOCEje

IndieBound: https://bit.ly/3ccUiXl

Bookshop: https://bit.ly/3cz1fCD

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2TJD2Tz

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3uR88oZ

Giveaway Details

Lille has generously offered a pre-order hardback of One for All and Jennifer has offered a query critique for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment by February 19th. If you do not want to be included in the 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 the contest. Please be sure I have your email address.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway the query critique giveaway are International.

 Upcoming Interviews and Giveaways

Monday, February 7th I have an interview with debut author Lisa Stringfellow and a giveaway of her MG fantasy A Comb of Wishes

Wednesday, February 9th I have an agent spotlight interview with Ginger Clark and a query critique giveaway

Monday, February 14th I have a guest post by Leigh Lewis and a giveaway of her MG nonfiction Pirate Queens: Dauntless Women Who Dared to Rule the High Seas

Wednesday, February 16th I’m participating in the Wish Big Giveaway Hop

Monday, February 21st I have an agent spotlight interview with Paige Terlip and a query critique giveaway

Hope to see you on Monday!