So last month, January, I got into this free writing workshop for the first 1,250 words of my MG / kids lit manuscript. It's only open to MG and YA writers, not adult, picture book or chapter book authors. This was my second time doing the workshop. The first was with my lower YA, Dragon's Leap, more than a year ago, and this time, it was with a rough draft of my MG, Dragon Scales. (Yeah, I have dragons on the brain.)
This is a new format for the workshop than what I'd done previously, but it was around the same time of year (last time, I did it in October, versus January this year).
It runs once a month. You just missed February's lottery pick. If your MS is selected by the participating agent, you get to query them. Yeah! I didn't get that this time; the level of writing was fantastic! One Pitch Wars mentee participated and all the writers were just so good at the craft, which is exactly what you want, because you know they're giving you their very best feedback, as well.
In the past workshop, you sent in an email and hoped you were one of the first five received. (Hence the name, First Five to enter their first five pages...get it?). Now, entry is by Rafflecopter. You get one entry for each way you promote the workshop in advance -- Twitter post, FB post, Instagram post, blog post, etc. Those entries change each month, and I assume they go into a big pot and Rafflecopter picks five participants.
You are notified via email if you're picked and the work starts right away. This was consistent with what I'd done previously, so I knew what to expect, in that sense. As always, expect to revise.
Each week, for three weeks, you post the first 1,250 words of your opening, and you get feedback from mentors (generally, published authors), your fellow workshop participants, and once from an agent who's also participating. The agent critiques the body of your query letter, the story blurb part, and ideally the last revision you offer. Ours the timeline got a bit messed up, and the agent saw / critiqued the first revision, which for me was not ideal, but still very helpful. When I did this a year-plus ago, I had no idea which of the many mentors who participated in the workshop were assigned to critique my opening. This time, mentors were assigned, via an email from the coordinator. So I knew who to look forward to re: critique each week!
I had a wonderful mentor in author Sheri Larsen. She critiqued each of my openings, and was absolutely wonderful with her advice and revision tips. All of the mentors were very helpful and supportive, overall.
Teaching Aside: Upon Googling Larsen, I found an absolutely FANTASTIC Spooky Middle Grade Reading List offered by a cooperative of MG authors like herself and 19 other horror writers, with -- SQUEE!! -- FREE teaching resources!! There are several for specific books, and more general "Writing Tips for Kids" that are general creative writing classroom resources, as well. Larsen offers several that look wonderful for 4th-6th grade classrooms, such as Create Your Own Character and Mind Mapping bookmarks.
Ok, back to the workshop review. ;-)
All mentors are volunteers, and not all can participate each week, which is disappointing but the luck of the draw. My other mentor commented once, the first time, and never rejoined the critique cycle. But the first time I did this workshop a year ago I had no expectations for mentor feedback at all, so I was quite pleased with the feedback I did get.
There was a second big difference this time around. On the previous workshop platform, critiques were posted online, where everyone and their grandmother could see them and track how the selections changed, from week to week, and what mentors and fellow participants had to say about them.
Now, the platform for both revision and critique is hidden behind an account with a username and password, which you set up once you're accepted. Then you can see the postings and revisions of your group, which you need to critique their posts each week (or get disqualified), and previous participants, so you can have some idea of what to expect. I do believe being able to see what's been done before is key for setting expectations, just like in the classroom. In that sense, this time was very different. There was something about the open format that I really liked, but...I can see others having concerns with having their work critiqued out in the open, like it had been.
Some participants enter with the goal of being picked by that month's participating agent. If your opening is picked, you get to query. Although the workshop is for MG/YA, each agent of course has their own MSWL and it's worth it to figure out if your MS is on their list, in advance. I checked ahead of time and knew my MS fit nothing on her list, so... querying that agent wasn't my primary goal for entering. Again, whether you get in on a month with an agent that's a good fit for your MS is the luck of the draw (or Rafflecopter). Transmedia Mutts posts the participating agent in advance, but you never know if you'll get chosen, so I don't recommend that be your (primary?) impetus for entering.
My purpose for participating was two-fold, but both centered on writing / craft reasons:
1) I had an opening I loved, and critique partners and beta readers of my MS kept telling me they loved it, too, but... I needed to cut the story, overall, by about 10K and I've been through this revision process before (with Dragon's Leap -- 120+K to 80K). I knew I could spend a lot of time picking at it, finding lots of little places to trim, and that's a worthwhile edit. In the final version, I'll do that, too. But my writing's tighter than in my first MS (I've learned a lot). And I learned from cutting that one down to size, the one place that's probably the easiest to cut from is the beginning. How much of your set-up can you sacrifice and still grab / hook readers and not lose them? For that purpose, going into the workshop I had a second opening in mind, but in keeping with the workshop's spirit, I didn't write it before entering, although I probably could've. Maybe even should've, who knows? So with my first revision, I fulfilled my other objective, which was...
2) To get feedback on a second possible starting point for my MS. It was at the end of my Chapter 3, beginning of Chapter 4. And this is what I love about this workshop. You actually get to get feedback on alternate openings, if you're not wedded to yours. And I'm never particularly wedded to my text; I'm always open to revision.
Overwhelmingly, the participants, including Larsen, preferred the second opening.
So that's where I'm starting a revision of the MS. I'm in the process of beat sheeting a tighter plot which is closer to what I originally envisioned for the story, and what a wonderful pair of Pitch Wars mentors suggested I do to the story to make it stronger. I'll end up rewriting it, from scratch, saving a few key scenes. I always end up rewriting, it feels like. Sigh.
This is a fantastic workshop to try out. You get free, professional opinions on your novel's opening, and if you're open-minded, you can try out alternative beginnings, or just work on refining what you've already got. Most mentors were very active with their participants and very supportive of suggesting specific, actionable changes and edits that will make your writing stronger.
I'll continue to recommend this workshop at the end of every month, just to remind you to enter! It's a true gem for budding kids lit authors! Go ahead. Enter!
