The demand for SHORTER middle grade novels (and how I'm editing mine!)
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2023
- As I jumped into agent edits to get my middle grade mystery ready for submission, I got a very relevant email asking about the current demand for MG books with shorter word counts. Let's get into it!
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Middle grade has absolutely taught me to be more economical with words. Not every story can be short because all stories need different things to come to fruition and it depends on the author's vision. However, whether you're writing a 30k or 300k word book, every word should earn its place!
Very well put!!
I really, really love the premise to this book. It's so clever and cute and feels very fresh given how popular mystery/thrillers are. This is like a kid-version of what's popular in mystery/thrillers.
Thank you so much!!! :)
That last bit about being more economical with words reminded me of when Kronk in Emperors New Grove was talking about Kuzco's poison. "Oh, right. The poison. The poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco's poison."
EXACTLY
Hi, Michelle. I love when you share editorial feedback and your revision process. It's interesting you mention the bloated first quarter, because I was actually seeing a pretty big budget film over the weekend that was so slow my mom (who will watch literally anything - while i am the more, let's say, pickier viewer), stopped watching it. Later, she asked what I thought of the movie, and while thinking on what I liked and trying to figure out what turned her off, I realized that the film, like your story, basically had three "beginnings" and it also involved switching characters and situations. So, the inciting incident happened almost into the 2nd quarter. And then the slow paced continued, and I was telling her it was a pacing issue more than likely caused by the first scene being a key change event, which the author may have thought was their inciting incident, but it wasn't. So they may have thought they could take their time after this short teaser, but in reality, they were boring audiences. The movie was actually beautiful, cinematic, had some new ideas, and pretty big budget, but the rating was something like 5 on IMBD, which is so low for that type of big budget film and most reviews were saying it dragged on too much and nothing happened. I'm pretty confident had they simply placed their inciting incident 10-15% earlier, and saved some of the intro-stuff for the 2nd quarter, it could have had a much better rating. Anyway, the point is: Even people at the top of their game, probably getting millions, make these mistakes.
What a fantastic observation! I think sometimes writers want to be experimental and break form - and that's awesome, truly. But story beats exist for a reason. They resonate, we recognize them and they're compelling, you know? Even if someone has no idea what a "catalyst" is, they know if they're reading/watching something and that moment doesn't hit.
I'm so excited you're in revisions! I'm totally living vicariously through you, btw. 😂I probably won't have the awesome experience of an agent any time soon, but I think its awesome to basically have a "pro" look at your work and give you feedback.
Thanks!! I'm happy to share and hope it's helpful!! :)
Thank you for being so honest and sharing your experiences as a published middle-grade writer. As an aspiring writer who’s had a similar note after an unsuccessful submission to an agent. I found your approach to solving the editorial notes really helpful. Thank you and I hope the rewrites go well and the mystery is published soon.
You're so welcome, and thank you!!
I'm so worried about the literacy of our future...everything being shorter, simpler, with more pictures just dumbs down what is presented to them and they don't know to expect or strive for more. I get it that some need that, but man it makes me sad. Books are one of the most beautiful things ever. I'm old, but I was reading adult novels in the 3rd grade. I would have devoured a 30K word middle reader in an hour at that age.
I would have, too! :) But one thing to remember is that the printing crisis is temporary. How long it's going to last, I don't know, but print books aren't going anywhere (kids/teens actually prefer them to ebooks!). There are lots of kids out there who love big fat books, and publishers will keep putting them out!
Yup. I'm a huge, huge fan of rewriting. I used to see it as a problem, that I'd do 25% of a draft (for example). Then stop, rewrite the first 25% to this time get to 50% and over until the draft was finished. I saw it as a problem because of that caution not to keep rewriting the beginning. But for me, rewriting, as in starting from scratch was always faster than revision. I will say that now being 3-ish years into writing, I'm much better at revision, and I won't default to rewriting all the time, boy do I love the thrill of starting a novel from scratch and that awesome momentum you get.
Well I love this!!! Usually writers are so afraid of rewriting - but you have the best attitude about it!
Comics and graphic novels absolutely help reluctant readers. They see exciting artwork, and to fully grasp the story, they need to read the words. Unfortunately, traditional comic book publishers are in flux. They had an opportunity to become the viable media they’ve always wanted to be and opted for Hollywoodinstead. So the idea of graphic novels being frowned upon by some folks isn’t anything new. It’s just that the industry, like most other things in our current climate, has backpedaled into a previous time and lost some of the progress so many people worked hard to gain.
That's such a great point, Robert - and such a bummer, too.
Your MG mystery sounds like so much fun! And I love that. I've really been enjoying shorter books lately, especially in MG!
Thank you so much! :)
Rewriting can be scary but like you've said before its easier than trying to revise what you already have if its not working! I just had a similar thought about my current revision project and had to rewrite/cut a lot of the start but happy its done and it all flows better now!
That's awesome, Joey! Sometimes it's just what needs to be done!
Thank you for sharing the tips for writing MG! And I think your MG mystery sounds like a lot of fun and I love the concept of telling part of the story through comics. I have read one MG this year with one POV told through mathematical graphics and diagrams, which I thought was a very interesting and fun way of telling the story as well. Can't wait till your new book will be published.
Thank you so much -- and that MG sounds so cool!!
Talk about kismet! I just started a second draft of a MG SF novel, where the first draft ended up at 50k words. But what I wanted as the midpoint came way too late so I was struggling with how to either cut the first half or expand the second half. Of course, I was worried about the length going either too high or too low, so the trend for shorter works gives me a lot to think about! Thank you!
Oh hey, that's so cool - if you're not sure either way, I definitely recommend going for shorter! :)
My second book "Hide and Seek" was meant to be 35.000 words but somehow it ended up as a 46.000-word count. It's sometimes said that middle-grade books don't have illustrations but mine do especially when the subject may not be so familiar to kids. ie the middle ages in England. From what I understand, The definition of "Short," when it comes to MG is more like Karen Inglis's book The Secret Lake which is 20.000 words and is very popular. Surely the 35k is not short but standard in MG fiction. f course, it also depends on whether it is upper MMG or Lower MG. My books are all lower MG.
Not being traditionally published,I haven't heard of these demands. For me, 35k is the ideal length. I understand your issue when it comes to re-setting your story. My first book,"The World of all things lost is now under review with another editor. The beginning is so full of fluff in the first two chapters that it needs to be redone. and how to do that is a real concern. It's not easy to do, so I empathise with you. on your re-setting of your book. I wish you success in redrafting your early chapters.
You hit it on the head with upper v lower MG! 35k words would be standard for lower (or even less - I think the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books are in the 20k range). Upper MG, like Harry Potter, can be upwards of 70k.
And thank you!! I'm honestly having fun with it. I enjoy rewriting. I hope you get some great feedback from your editor!
This video is giving me some nostalgic flashbacks to when I was a kid and I'd find all sorts of MG horror and adventure novels in my school's library. I wonder if they're still there. I don't even remember their titles anymore, but I remember the thrill I had reading them, and I just vaguely remember how the stories would roll.
To this day I feel I am not fit to write that sort of thing. I've become too deeply influenced by authors like Michael Crichton and Robert E. Howard. My writing's got too much gore for kids haha
But there's always time to improve things and maybe change. 10 years ago I would not have imagined conceiving let alone writing the stories I've been doing the last two years. 😻
Thanks!
Omg at 22 minutes...I relate. I don't read mystery reallt but got an arc from a publisher in a comp and the book had the repetitive point problem. I dnf'd. ( Aftert taking a pen the book). It was YA ( Australian) and I was surprised but then realised Australian editors at publishers houses must be more reluctant to push writers to edit or something. ( I'm Australian) . That stuff wouldn't have gotten past me as a CP, so I'm not sure why it got past the agent, let alone editor
You print because it provides a different perspective for reviewing. I get the same advantage sending to Kindle in my iPad, and I read it in a different room or location. It works.
Oooh, yes! I was thinking about the time change you're dealing with when I popped online and got a notification of the sprint. (I was trying to calculate when it had started and when it'd be over and weighing whether it was worth it to get my computer set up, realising it was likely in the last 19 minutes of what may have been the last sprint. Which got my ADHD brain pondering how early it was on for you. Lol)
Also, I loved hearing about your process, and what type of notes authors may expect to get. I definitely agree that something like that first one is easier to rewrite rather than pick apart and splice together. (Having tried just that with my own work and creating a disaster in the process, which spurred me on to biting the bullet and just getting into rewriting scenes.) But, I Just hope your timeline and continuity isn't skewed because of it, because that seems like a bit of a chunk to change. 😬
As for the comics bit and reluctant readers, it definitely sounds like you're hitting the market with this book at the perfect time and I can't wait to see how it all works out.
Good luck with your edits and rewrites! And I hope the rest of your week and the weekend are stress free. 💜
Ha!! Well, it's always 11am EST, if that helps (I'm not sure which zone you're in!)
I'm glad you aren't intimidated by the rewrite! And yeah, it's quite a chunk to change, but I know it'll work out. :)
Hope you have a great weekend too!
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor just googling our time differences says we're about an hour difference. It being 4:08 p.m now where I am, and Google saying your general area (unless I'm misremembering you saying Seattle or something when you said you moved) is 3:08 p.m. We've got "central standard time" in Sask, which makes it easy for us in the sense we never have to factor in daylight savings time and all that. Unless of course we're trying to keep up with shows or livestreams from other countries. Lol.
@@kanashiiookami6537 Ahh I'm envious that you never have to deal with daylight savings! It messes with me every time it comes around!
Ferrets! I foster old ferrets. ❤
Warp and Woof is a very cute title. Does Felix tell his POV with pictures 'he' has drawn?
Thank you!! Felix has a narrative POV but his comics are woven throughout the book :)
That premise sounds super-cool! We give our fur-babies (four cats and three dogs) voices all the time, and I love reading books where authors do the same thing! LoL #validation?
I love outlining! What I haven’t figured out yet is how to take that outline and use it to estimate word-count / whether or not the plot points are happening at (or near) the right spot in my story. Do you happen to have any tips on how to do that?
Thank you so much!! And that's such a great question. I think for me, it was really just writing a bunch of books and eventually figuring out how long my outlines are comparatively. For example, for a 40k word draft, the outline tends to be around 8k words.
@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor Thanks! I wasn’t expecting such a quick response. I’ll have to check my previous outlines vs. final draft and see if I can come up with an estimate! I didn’t start outlining until my second book, so no average 😂, but it should give me something to work with. Thanks again! I love your channel content - and Rosa is ADORABLE!!
I definitely understand wanting shorter books due to the paper shortage. If you wrote an MG fantasy or other genre that needed world building and more words-- would publishers still request that you cut words due to the shortage?
Not due to the shortage - at least, that's my guess. It's pretty understood that fantasy novels are going to be longer. They might suggest cuts just to tighten up the story, but I don't think it would be to hit a certain number of printed pages.
Short books to me are more for elementary than middle grade, and MG is longer as most kids in middle school read more or better or have longer attention span.