With finals behind me, and the holidays before us, I believe it is time I give you an update...also I may have started over—again—and I wanted to let you guys know what I've learned as a writer by slowing down and starting over.
So to begin, yes I've been absent from my website and blog for a while. I would love to make the excuse that I have two jobs, and school, and a ton of homework that has kept me from writing, much less updating my blog, I know that I haven't been on my blog for other reasons than just that (although I really haven't been able to spend a time writing, which is a crying shame).
One of those reasons has been an interior argument I have been having with myself about what I want to do with New Generation. I have been trying to send out queries to find agents, and if I have heard back from the agents I have queries (the subtext is that some just haven't replied) they have all been rejections. Now my sister actually told me at the beginning of the summer that she though that was unfair, since the story that I have written is much better than some of the ones she's read, and they got published. But that's not how it works. The agent has to fall in love with my story, and obviously they aren't. There has to be a market for the book, and maybe people don't think there is. There is also the issue that publishers don't like picking up the second book in a series especially when the first one doesn't look successful, telling me that since I've already self-published the first one, I'm going to have to self publish all of the series, and with 5 books in that series, plus two 5-book-spin-off-series ideas, as well as the cross over books with my brother, I don't think that is the best idea.
My options moving forward were limited. The first was to give up on the series and start over with all new characters, but these characters have really grown, and I can see them going great places. The second option was to scrap Royal Beginnings, remove it from the series and make Promising Generation the first book. This was hard for me because I spent so much time arguing with myself in the first place about whether or not I should keep it, ultimately investing the time to make it a book I was willing to work on, and a book readers were willing to read. But since my decision was either to sacrifice the book or sacrifice the entire plot of the series, I decided to make the sacrifice.
I then started playing with ideas of how to let you, the reader, know what went on in Royal Beginnings so Promising Generation made sense without reading it. That has resulted in me writing a mission report style summary for Royal Beginnings (you may have seen the post on Instagram) accompanied by MI6 Personnel files. While that was fun, and let me discover more about the characters, it still didn't read right as the beginning of a novel. I played with a few different ideas, but none of them I really liked.
I had already started to rewrite Promising Generation when I decided to do the rewrite, so I started playing with what I had. Then, Fall 2017 semester, I took a Writing Fiction class at the U. The teacher, as one of our writing assignments, gave us this exercise where we had to start big, then move in on a location, then move to character. I, being predictable and obsessed with my books, used Kimball High School as the setting I would move in on. Since I used to live there, and have been using it as the setting for Promising Generation since the books inception, I knew quite a bit about the setting, and wrote, arguably, my best work of the semester. When I wrote the scene, the character I moved into was Peter, but as I was looking for a new beginning for Prom Gen, I ended up changing it a little bit, and opening the book with a description of the first day of school at Kimball, moving in on Alyx. Right away, it was a great way to set up Alyx as a character, but also introduce the idea of something life-changing happening the summer before through conversation with her friends.
In the rewrite I had been doing, I had realized that I was trying to sell the book as Alyx was bored from the summer before, but I realized that I had jumped write into her seeking out her next adventure, not really showing her boredom. I had decided to introduce some of her friends to show her boredom through conversation. These friends were witty, and they teased Alyx, much like my group of friends in high school. Because I had decided to play with that scene over the summer, this last summer, I was able to write a first day of school scene between the five of them. The rumors that exist in high school, the iconic "What did you do last summer" question, I was able to incorporate all of them, while also introducing my main character, and four of her friends.
But it was more than just scenes that I really like that I gained from starting this rewrite. I mentioned that I was trying to sell the book by saying Alyx was bored, but never showed Alyx bored. I sold her as a busy person, balancing many things, but still feels like she isn't reaching her full potential. The rewrite of the book caused some time changes, which means I have to shift the timeline. I realized looking (in my head—I don't have it written down) at the plot chart of Promising Generation, that I shoved two potential plots into one book, because I thought that the first one was a complication, was a way to introduce her to the people she would need to rely on in the second struggle. So with a timeline shift, and the need to show Alyx's boredom, I split the plot. I had been so worried in the first draft about making sure that it didn't get too long, and making sure I got to where I wanted it to end, that I neglected certain scenes, that I thought might be fun, but that I ultimately deemed unnecessary. By splitting the plot, I have more time, and I can include those scenes. Since I am adding so much more, and moving the book back in time to Fall, instead of the spring semester it originally took place during, I started doing more research to make sure I got things like Peter's football schedule, and Alyx's tennis schedule correct. By doing so, I discovered how much Alyx was actually doing.
I started telling my mom the other night about everything I was doing with Alyx, and how I could make my book better by using a technique called juggling which I just learned about in Writing Fiction, she warned me about making it unrealistic. I considered this, then realized, everything I have Alyx doing is realistic; I had classmates who did it.
Alyx is taking 5 AP classes in her Junior year, throwing in a TA class to lighten the rest of the load a little.
Alyx works for her Uncle as a translator (high school job, albeit unconventional)
Alyx plays tennis.
She has her plate full, sure, since tennis has two matches a week for 11 weeks, pulling her out of class early on those days, and the strain of keeping up on homework in those AP classes, and balancing that with her job of translating, but it isn't anything that high school students already do. I couldn't find a job until after I graduated a semester early and moved to Utah, but I had plenty of classmates with a full load of AP classes, a job, and still participated in a sport. Showing her doing all of these things makes her more relatable for my target audience, and it creates a better, deeper character. I have given her a bunch to do, but I've also given her a struggle, a conflict. When she decides she's still bored, that the challenge isn't enough, I will be able to emphasize how different she is.
By challenging myself as an author (and asking a bunch of people for feedback) by asking myself if I am achieving what I was trying to, I have found a much better story to tell. I have unlocked a better story. I have found it's potential, and set it free of my worries and doubts.
I am looking forward very much to finish this rewrite, and hopefully in the not too distant future, I will be able to tell you it's been picked up for publication!
Love,
Aly Kay Tibbitts
One of those reasons has been an interior argument I have been having with myself about what I want to do with New Generation. I have been trying to send out queries to find agents, and if I have heard back from the agents I have queries (the subtext is that some just haven't replied) they have all been rejections. Now my sister actually told me at the beginning of the summer that she though that was unfair, since the story that I have written is much better than some of the ones she's read, and they got published. But that's not how it works. The agent has to fall in love with my story, and obviously they aren't. There has to be a market for the book, and maybe people don't think there is. There is also the issue that publishers don't like picking up the second book in a series especially when the first one doesn't look successful, telling me that since I've already self-published the first one, I'm going to have to self publish all of the series, and with 5 books in that series, plus two 5-book-spin-off-series ideas, as well as the cross over books with my brother, I don't think that is the best idea.
My options moving forward were limited. The first was to give up on the series and start over with all new characters, but these characters have really grown, and I can see them going great places. The second option was to scrap Royal Beginnings, remove it from the series and make Promising Generation the first book. This was hard for me because I spent so much time arguing with myself in the first place about whether or not I should keep it, ultimately investing the time to make it a book I was willing to work on, and a book readers were willing to read. But since my decision was either to sacrifice the book or sacrifice the entire plot of the series, I decided to make the sacrifice.
I then started playing with ideas of how to let you, the reader, know what went on in Royal Beginnings so Promising Generation made sense without reading it. That has resulted in me writing a mission report style summary for Royal Beginnings (you may have seen the post on Instagram) accompanied by MI6 Personnel files. While that was fun, and let me discover more about the characters, it still didn't read right as the beginning of a novel. I played with a few different ideas, but none of them I really liked.
I had already started to rewrite Promising Generation when I decided to do the rewrite, so I started playing with what I had. Then, Fall 2017 semester, I took a Writing Fiction class at the U. The teacher, as one of our writing assignments, gave us this exercise where we had to start big, then move in on a location, then move to character. I, being predictable and obsessed with my books, used Kimball High School as the setting I would move in on. Since I used to live there, and have been using it as the setting for Promising Generation since the books inception, I knew quite a bit about the setting, and wrote, arguably, my best work of the semester. When I wrote the scene, the character I moved into was Peter, but as I was looking for a new beginning for Prom Gen, I ended up changing it a little bit, and opening the book with a description of the first day of school at Kimball, moving in on Alyx. Right away, it was a great way to set up Alyx as a character, but also introduce the idea of something life-changing happening the summer before through conversation with her friends.
In the rewrite I had been doing, I had realized that I was trying to sell the book as Alyx was bored from the summer before, but I realized that I had jumped write into her seeking out her next adventure, not really showing her boredom. I had decided to introduce some of her friends to show her boredom through conversation. These friends were witty, and they teased Alyx, much like my group of friends in high school. Because I had decided to play with that scene over the summer, this last summer, I was able to write a first day of school scene between the five of them. The rumors that exist in high school, the iconic "What did you do last summer" question, I was able to incorporate all of them, while also introducing my main character, and four of her friends.
But it was more than just scenes that I really like that I gained from starting this rewrite. I mentioned that I was trying to sell the book by saying Alyx was bored, but never showed Alyx bored. I sold her as a busy person, balancing many things, but still feels like she isn't reaching her full potential. The rewrite of the book caused some time changes, which means I have to shift the timeline. I realized looking (in my head—I don't have it written down) at the plot chart of Promising Generation, that I shoved two potential plots into one book, because I thought that the first one was a complication, was a way to introduce her to the people she would need to rely on in the second struggle. So with a timeline shift, and the need to show Alyx's boredom, I split the plot. I had been so worried in the first draft about making sure that it didn't get too long, and making sure I got to where I wanted it to end, that I neglected certain scenes, that I thought might be fun, but that I ultimately deemed unnecessary. By splitting the plot, I have more time, and I can include those scenes. Since I am adding so much more, and moving the book back in time to Fall, instead of the spring semester it originally took place during, I started doing more research to make sure I got things like Peter's football schedule, and Alyx's tennis schedule correct. By doing so, I discovered how much Alyx was actually doing.
I started telling my mom the other night about everything I was doing with Alyx, and how I could make my book better by using a technique called juggling which I just learned about in Writing Fiction, she warned me about making it unrealistic. I considered this, then realized, everything I have Alyx doing is realistic; I had classmates who did it.
Alyx is taking 5 AP classes in her Junior year, throwing in a TA class to lighten the rest of the load a little.
Alyx works for her Uncle as a translator (high school job, albeit unconventional)
Alyx plays tennis.
She has her plate full, sure, since tennis has two matches a week for 11 weeks, pulling her out of class early on those days, and the strain of keeping up on homework in those AP classes, and balancing that with her job of translating, but it isn't anything that high school students already do. I couldn't find a job until after I graduated a semester early and moved to Utah, but I had plenty of classmates with a full load of AP classes, a job, and still participated in a sport. Showing her doing all of these things makes her more relatable for my target audience, and it creates a better, deeper character. I have given her a bunch to do, but I've also given her a struggle, a conflict. When she decides she's still bored, that the challenge isn't enough, I will be able to emphasize how different she is.
By challenging myself as an author (and asking a bunch of people for feedback) by asking myself if I am achieving what I was trying to, I have found a much better story to tell. I have unlocked a better story. I have found it's potential, and set it free of my worries and doubts.
I am looking forward very much to finish this rewrite, and hopefully in the not too distant future, I will be able to tell you it's been picked up for publication!
Love,
Aly Kay Tibbitts