Hi there! I’m the author of over a dozen novels published by Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and Little, Brown, as well as a freelance ghostwriter and developmental editor for a book packager. My books have received starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly, and have earned honors including multiple Junior Library Guild selections, the CBCC Best of 2019 List, and the American Library Association’s Rainbow List and Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers List.
In the last eight years, I’ve led over 500 creative writing workshops and taught over a thousand writers. If you're looking for writing craft videos + activities to help you on your WIP, tips on becoming a published author, and fun creative writing exercises and prompts, you've come to the right place!
I'm represented by Rick Richter at Aevitas Creative Management.
Please note that this isn't a booktube/book review channel!
I'm not seeking sponsorships or brand partnerships at this time.
I know this video is 4 years old, but god it has helped me massively! Dialogue and voice are definitely my strongest areas, world building and descriptions my weakest. When I just let all of that go, my first draft flew onto the page (although it was mostly conversations between characters) - but I found it so much easier to go back and build the world around these conversations. Thanks so much!
Thank you for this sensible breakdown of the issue, and for giving so much context that is missing from some of the articles that are out there. I've been on the receiving end of the "you must be a moron to want trad pub" treatment more than once ever since that courtcase happened and the articles came out about it, and I'm pretty tired of it. Absolutely, the industry has problems, but like you said, there are still many things that trad can do for me that I can't do for myself and I don't think anyone should be shamed for that anymore than anyone should be shamed for choosing to go indie. I just want everyone to be able to put their books out in the world in the way that's best for them as individuals, so I love that there's more than one path to choose from. I really appreciate the comparison you made between the freakout that ebooks would kill physical books and the way people feel about what's happening now. That's exactly how I think about it and I'm just interested to see how everything plays out long term. To be honest, I hope the discussion surrounding this just pushes the trad industry to make the improvements that need to be made and authors will be the ones who get better deals in the end because of it.
I would strongly recommend people look at STORY GRID You-Tube videos relating to learning how to write a book that you can be proud of/ writing something that will leave a legacy for you and your family. I do not work for this company but I am a student with them. Their teaching methods are helping me write a quality story which as far as I am concerned is the whole point of writing. A good book sells by word of mouth and leads to year on year sales not matter whether you are traditionally published or self published.
the first time i ever expereinced a POV switch in a YA novel was the Breaking Dawn book where the middle third is in Jacob's POV instead of Bella's. I remember being so confused but really sinking my teeth into it once I understood what was happening. Another one that does it well is Hatched, one of my favorite books of all time.
😍THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I am so relieved that I have only started Ch1 of my book, will be incorporating this into my routine! I have a suspicion that even though I write 'better' at night, I MAY be more productive in the day... who knows? Maybe this night owl is a day owl.
THANK YOU SO MUCH This has saved me from year-long writer's fudge 💙 The best tip I've heard is to go for a looong walk and take on the life of inanimate objects. Practices a lot of empathy, especially if you weren't born a jam jar... 😜
Thank you so much Michelle for being so real. I can't begin to tell you how much your sharing the details of your ups and downs help me as an aspiring author. You've been a blessing and have encouraged me to keep going! I hope one day soon I'll have a lot more time to really sit down and focus on writing. Trying my best now though😅
Great, clear, and useful video. Thank you. I have a question, if that's okay: Can I switch POV scene by scene, within a chapter? Each scene is in one POV, but there are multiple scenes in one chapter. Thanks x
I watched sooooo many writer videos about writing but your videos are by far the most informative and helpful ones. Omg, thank you so much!!! Btw I’m writing an urban-fantasy novel but I can’t put the events in the right order (I’m almost at the end.) Do your have any advice? 😢😢
I actually love the cover. You got it down to every single detail ^^ if you have a strong audience, I think posting it in one platform is okay. It's also a benefit for you if you don't want to get confused with many platforms ^^
I worry about this too. I am a gray ace, but I love writing romantic subplots: gay and straight. I have a few characters that I would label as demi-sexual or gray aces, but they are no where near the majority of my main characters. I'm just not interested in writing nothing but ace characters. Also, I'm a white American from Mississippi; I write fantasy, and I do like to take elements of inspiration from other cultures around the world. Southern Gothic is great, but it's not what I am interested in writing. I like writing fantasy because it allows me to explore other world and cultures, like I cannot in real life. But I worry that if anything in my book is identifiably inspired by a non-European or White American source, someone will say I am appropriating. Like I heard people getting mad at T J Klune for taking some inspiration from the history of Indigenous kids being taken away from their families and being forced into boarding schools, because he's not indigenous and so he "had no right to tell that story." The book I'm querying now takes inspiration from how various minorities have been treated throughout history, and I'm terrified someone is going to say, "Yeah, but you are white. You can't write that. You didn't experience it." I have ADHD, I have dyslexia. I probably have pretty severe anxiety, but am too anxious to get to the doctors to get diagnosed. All of these technically count as disabilities, but I would feel really REALLY really nervous about trying to market myself as an ownvoices author. This is stupid, but even though I live with these things, I would be nervous to diagnose my own characters. I'm SURE some of them exhibit symptoms of ADHD, because we always take inspiration from our own lives, but I have never sat down and written a character to represent what it feels like to me. I don't want to. I don't want to write nothing but characters exactly like myself. But I also don't want someone to interpret me as trying to steal someone else's spot on the shelf.
And what sucks is I've been querying so long that I know I will ignore every red flag if I get a single offer of representation. Anyone who wants me, I'll probably take
Excited for you to venture into this! I love the cover, it's so 'of the time' that the book is set in. We're about the same age, so I totally feel you on the everything horror front. those old school books.
You had a really great point about self publishing being entrepreneurship. I am self publishing my first novel and have around 8 years of digital marketing experience to utilise. That being said I am still terrified. It's scary putting out a product that contains your heart and soul.
I love the way the webby stuff under the ground looks like a sinister grin, on your cover! And I think 90's nostalgia is huge right now. I'm interested!
I write serialized fiction, but I am not yet monetizing it. I would try both, but I recommend writing a full draft before you post unless it's a short story or interactive. Anything can derail an ongoing book. And I do recommend having a cover. And I do like what you made. I usually pay a family member or make it myself, but there is a site called Get Covers that specializes in stock image covers for serialized books. They are inexpensive, but I have never used them.
That's a badass book cover. No joke. I'm intrigue, I'm wondering what's going to happen, very good color contrasts, feels like I want to touch the actual book, no distractions, and it's simple but yet effective. I love it. Would be a cool poster on a wall as well. Granted, it's your cover and there will be bounds for changes. And yes, the 90s vibe. Awesome. 90s can be seen as historical fiction now? Oh dear lord......I'm feeling it a bit. lol. But it's pretty cool that you're wanting to go this serial fiction route. Which is actually the direction I'm going now for my serial fiction as well.
You nailed the look of the cover!!! As for your questions about releasing your serialized fiction in multiple places; it comes down to do you have the time and the bandwidth to post it in multiple places? I release my paranormal romance on Ko-Fi, Patreon, and Vella. And because members get episodes ahead of time plus additional things that are not in Vella is easy for me to post cause it’s not done on the same dates. It also doesn’t hurt to give readers options on where to read. At this moment I’m also researching Ream so I don’t know how much effort it’ll take for you to get an audience there or if it’ll help widen your readership. Good luck with whichever path you decide to go to and Im glad this is bringing joy to your writing!!
