Beginning in Middle Grade Fiction

[Johanna]

I just joined this discussion board and am looking for some advice.  I would like to write middle grade fiction, but so far I have only published one short story in Cricket.  To gain more experience, is it better to write more short fiction and try to get it published in magazines to build a bigger resume?  Or just go for it and write the longer fiction?  I am a little intimidated by longer fiction/novel and I think it keeps me from getting started.  Any tips on how to get past this?   Any advice would be great! 

[olmue]

Hi Johanna, and welcome! It's great to hear that you have a published story--congrats!

I think there is no one silver bullet answer on this, but in case you are feeling pressure to have a resume before you can publish a book, it's not actually necessary. What will attract attention when you are shopping a middle grade novel is the story and the quality of writing, first and foremost. So don't feel like you have to rush out and get a lot of short story publications before you are allowed to write a novel. Of course, if you love to write short stories, there is no reason not to do that as well! It's like weightlifting versus running a marathon. Yes, both will help make you fit, and will give you some cross benefits--you'll be able to write great sentences and be concise!--but in the end, they are different sports/genres, with quite possibly very different readers. And it's okay to just do one or the other or even both.

Basically, if you want to publish short stories, write lots of short stories. If you want to publish novels, then throw yourself into writing a novel.

If you are feeling a little intimidated on how to create an entire novel, you could always do a project sort of halfway between the two--a collection of related stories set in the same world, happening to a common set of characters? Or, you could think of a novel as similar to a short story, with the same kind of overarching plot backbone, but in a novel you get to fill in all of the details for why characters who do this or that thing.

[Vijaya]

Johanna, Rose is spot on with her suggestions. I'm a reluctant novelist because like you, I was intimidated by the length of it, but I discovered that you learn to write a novel by writing one (or two or three novels). However, I did hone many techniques writing short stories, articles and poems. My suggestion is to do both and allow yourself to meander at this stage--there's so much to discover even after 20 years so I think I'll die pen in hand. Enjoy the journey.

[Debbie Vilardi]

I write some of everything. For me, it's about what the piece needs to be, not what it is I'm trying to write. The key really is just to write and see what that story or poem needs. Sometimes they need to be longer works and my starting place turns into an outline. Other times, they need to be tightened to the bare bones of emotion and it's a poem or the whole story finishes in 800 words and I know it's a short story or maybe even a picture book if the main character is young enough and there's room for the visuals. There's no reason to pigeonhole yourself.

Good luck with whatever you try next.

[dewsanddamps]

Johanna, first novels tend to be on the short side--perfectly normal learning curve. (And it doesn't mean they can't be good.) But since there are usually some bugs like that to work out, I'd go ahead and write a novel if you have an idea that can take you that far.
 

[Johanna]

Thank you to everyone for their replies!  I think a lot of my hesitation with novel writing is anxiety.  Did anything hep you when you were first starting out?  I like the idea of writing short stories that all take place in the same world.  🙂

[Debbie Vilardi]

I started by writing in a notebook a half hour per week. I didn't know enough to know I needed help or anything else about the industry or writing. I just did it.

[Vijaya]

Johanna, I didn't know the first thing about writing fiction when I started. Telling stories, yes. Been doing it since I was a kid. I wrote in an old half-used biochemistry notebook. I bought a writing book: Bird by Bird by Anne Lammott. I bought a couple more books--Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. Stein on Writing by Sol Stein. I realized I could make a quantum leap if I could take a class and looked for one at a community college and that's how I fell into writing for kids. It was the perfect fit. But throughout the reading and studying, the most important thing I did was write at the kitchen counter--15 min at a time while my babies played on the floor and supper simmered on the stove.

So, maybe the secret is to BEGIN. Even if you're scared. Write scared. Write about why you're scared. Why you want to tell *this* story. And remember you are not shooting for perfection. I think writing longhand can help with that. You cross things out, X out entire pages because it's crap but you're putting down your thoughts into words. And you'll get better at it, the more you do it. 

Easing into novel writing by writing vignettes with the characters in your story is an excellent way to get to know them and will suggest the conflicts they'd get into, how they'd resolve them. Explore! Enjoy!

[Ree]

Be okay with it not being very good. Everyone's process is different. And it can take a while to find out what works for you. I used to write page by page and try to be perfect. That didn't get me very far. Finally, I wrote a long draft and didn't think about it. It was sloppy and messy, but I had my story idea. Then I revised and revised. I found that I loved writing that first messy draft as it let me go anywhere with a story, even if most of it didn't show up in the end.

Have fun with it!

Ree

[Johanna]

When you were first starting out, did you write from an outline?  And do you still write the first draft long hand? 

I'm also trying to figure out the best way to take an idea and turn it into a story/novel.

Thanks again for all of your support!

[Vijaya]

Johanna, when I first started, everything was first written longhand. And in a way, it was an outline--this happens, then that, why, oh because of X, etc.--I call it a narrative outline as I told myself the story. After a proper draft on the computer, I'd make an outline.

I also write a great deal of nonfiction and I always wrote an outline first to make sure I'm presenting things in a logical order.

Most of my fiction begins with a character in a pickle. How did he or she get into this? Rarely with an abstract idea, though I did write my first novel, BOUND, because I was puzzling over a sentence in the Bible during our conversion: Am I my brother's keeper? (Genesis 4:9) but the main character had been talking in my head off and on for decades and suddenly this sentence applied to her!

Here's a simple way to start a story if you have a character.

Who or what does your main character (MC) want?
Who or what is standing in the way?
How does MC overcome the obstacles? Or not?
(Not all stories are about getting what you want; sometimes you get something even better that you didn't see before; sometimes it's bittersweet)
What does MC learn? How does he or she grow?

Here's a post I made about how I write: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2014/08/my-writing-process-blog-tour.html

[Debbie Vilardi]

I started with a story idea based on my husband's life. I knew parts of the middle and the very end. Really, I just knew a few scenes that were necessary. The beginning changed over the years o working on it, but the end has remained the same. That was the middle grade I still haven't sold.

I also write picture books, poems, and short stories. Some start from prompts or a random thought that I run with. Usually I don't outline these at all, but the first draft is sometimes an outline. Some have been expanded into longer works.Some have fallen flat. Sometimes I 'll have an idea I'm not sure about and I'll leave it in a notebook. If my brain goes back to it with no prompting, I know it has legs. (I may revisit if I just need something fresh to work on and see if it develops legs too.)

My YA started as a story I've been telling myself since I was a YA. I've had to pick the parts of it that make sense and deal with things like continuity, which doesn't matter if you're the only audience. More ideas come as I write and get stored in notes on the computer. (In the old days, this was in notebooks.)

So much of writing can be experimentation. And not everything works. But you learn from it all.

[Johanna]

Thanks again!  This is very helpful.  😊

[KathyC]

I was intimidated, too. I kept psyching myself out. It took longer than I'd like to admit to get going. I had all these worries over writing perfect, editing, and of course, the length of the book. It all melted away when I got firm/strict with myself and just wrote. Just write, even if it's pile of crap. When you're through, pick out the jewels in that pile and begin again.

[Johanna]

I was intimidated, too. I kept psyching myself out. It took longer than I'd like to admit to get going. I had all these worries over writing perfect, editing, and of course, the length of the book. It all melted away when I got firm/strict with myself and just wrote. Just write, even if it's pile of crap. When you're through, pick out the jewels in that pile and begin again.

This is it exactly!  I keep psyching myself out!  Was there something in particular that got you going?  I was thinking of trying NanoWrimo, just to have some kind of goal.

[Debbie Vilardi]

A goal can help. I set a schedule of when I'd work and then stuck to it. Other people (and Nano) use word count goals. I now try a scene or two a week as the goal for my revisions. (But this depends on where I am with a piece and what format it is.)

[KathyC]

This is it exactly!  I keep psyching myself out!  Was there something in particular that got you going?  I was thinking of trying NanoWrimo, just to have some kind of goal.

I didn't discover Nano until after I started writing. What got me going was, me. I decided switching scenery might do the trick. It was Spring at the time, so every morning at daybreak (literally, 5am  ), I'd grab my coffee & writing bag & go write outside. It was just me & the birds & I loved it, still do.

I've seen many, many writers accomplish their goals by doing Nano. Give it a try & see if it works for you.