Michelle I. Mason
Books for young adults
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Posted September 29, 2016 by Michelle I. Mason & filed under .

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Before the Draft: A New Approach to Outlining in Scrivener

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Welcome to my blog, where I review* books I love, offer writing tips, and share thoughts about reading, my writing journey, and other random stuff. If you subscribe, you’ll also receive news about my books and upcoming events. Check out the categories in the sidebar to narrow down some of my older blog posts, or if you’re a writer pursuing traditional publication, visit my Resources page for more targeted links. If there’s something I haven’t tackled on the blog that you’d like me to address—including questions about my books!—please contact me and I’ll do my best.

*Please note I do not review books by request.

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The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson

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Day 27 of #debutauthormonth for #th21ders: If your Day 27 of #debutauthormonth for #th21ders: If your book were a meme, which would it be? Well, I tried searching for one, and then I found out I could just make my own 😉. I think this sums up YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED nicely: When they say your plane disappeared… 25 years ago. 😲 #kapwing #bookmeme #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #iwriteya #writewritewrite
Day 26 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favo Day 26 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favorite moment in this journey so far. There have been a lot of amazing moments, but one that really sticks out to me is the first “I would love to talk about your book” email I received. It was really significant because I queried for seven years, and while I had a lot of close calls during that time, with agents sending me very lovely, personalized rejections (including after a few R&Rs), this was the first time an agent wanted to talk about my book! I was so shocked I screamed into my empty house and scared my cat. I ended up talking to three more agents (two more were offers) before I signed with my amazing agent, Elizabeth Bewley. A few months later, we received a similar email from my editor at Bloomsbury, wanting to chat about YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED in advance of making an offer. So these are pretty magical words. May you all have someone who wants to talk about your book 😉.
Day 25 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: How Day 25 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: How do you tackle edits? Oh, revising… my favorite part! By far the most popular writing topic on my blog (link in bio). For the purposes of this prompt, I’m going to assume the question refers to how I approach edits from my agent or editor. 1. Read through all the notes and set it aside for a few days so I can mull them over. 2. If there are questions to answer, write out the answers. If there are big issues, brainstorm how to address them. 3. Make a revision checklist. 4. Tackle the little things first. 5. Tackle other items that thread throughout together. For earlier revisions, when I don’t need to track changes, I use Scrivener as I can use the Collections feature to go through and focus on specific subplots. 6. Address anything I’m not 100% sure I want to change. I’m in the camp of unless I am violently opposed to a change, it’s worth trying it to see what happens. 7. Go through and make sure everything has been addressed. 8. Read through the manuscript on another device (usually my Kindle). Often I read it aloud as I am more likely to catch inconsistencies that way. I’m skipping steps, but that’s the streamlined process. I also have a process for editing when I’m doing it on my own, after first drafting a novel. But I would ALWAYS rather be revising than drafting 😀. #igauthors #igauthorslife #igauthorscommunity #amwritingya #amwritingchallenge #amrevising #ameditingya #yawritersofinstagram #writerscommunityofig
Day 24 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Plo Day 24 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Plotter, pantser, or both? Many years ago, I started out as a pantser, i.e. I just wrote whatever came along until I got to the end. Except… it took me FOREVER to actually get to the end. Then I moved to plantsing, which for me meant I made a rough outline using the cork board tool in Scrivener (love this feature!) and wrote to the end. That worked pretty well. Then I discovered the book STRUCTURING YOUR NOVEL by K.M. Weiland and became an all-out plotter. It made drafting so much easier. Yes, plotting everything out takes a while, but once it’s finished, the drafting goes so quickly! And yes, I do also allow the story to diverge from the outline if needed. Just to affirm how well this process works *for me*, last year I tried to pants again when a story wasn’t coming together, and I ended up having to set it aside. You can read about that experience on my blog (link to post in bio). This manuscript is the one I’m once again outlining and should be back to drafting shortly 😉.
Day 22 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favo Day 22 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is favorite TV shows. I watch way too much TV. It used to say so in my bio, but I tried to make it a little more professional 😀. Anyway, I think the ultimate sign that you love a TV show is if you have a DVD box set, right? I mean, when that was still a thing… Pretty sure these Buffy and Friends boxes are now collectors’ items or something. I’ve watched through the Buffy Box (yes, it deserves to be capitalized) more than once. My husband had never seen Friends (!!!), so we watched that one together. Incidentally, I also have individual seasons of Alias and Ally McBeal, but they don’t look as pretty. Up until the very last episode, I was planning to buy Lost, and then—nope. When I was querying, it was one of my comp titles—I mean, a missing plane! One agent told me YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED gave her the ending she’d wanted for Lost 😉. #favoritetvshow #favoritetvshows #buffythevampireslayer #buffyfan #buffybox #friends #friendsbox #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #authorgram #igwriters #igauthors #writerslife #writinglife #amwriting #amwritingya
Day 21 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Wha Day 21 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: What would your character do during lockdown? Funny you should ask, since Jenny’s brother and then her parents essentially keep her on lockdown when she first lands in the future—or present, depending on your perspective. Jenny processes the way she always does—by writing about what’s happening to her as a news story in one of her many spiral notebooks. Ultimately, she hopes to publish her account in her school newspaper. She tries to keep it objective, but every once in a while her stories morph into ranty journal entries 😉. In a scenario in which local authorities have mandated residents stay at home, Jenny would follow the rules to the letter. As she’s in a new century and her friends are all 25 years older, she doesn’t have anyone to call, so she would just read her historical romance novels, saved by her parents since 1995. #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #authorlife #yaauthorlife #authorgram #igwriters #igauthors #amwritingya #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #writerscommunity #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #writerscorner #igwritersclub #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 20 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: Wha Day 20 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is: What four songs would fit your book? I know many writers make playlists or listen to music while they write, but I don’t, so this was hard! I looked through my whole playlist and then did some searching to find songs that fit YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED, and even then, I had to convince myself not to be too literal about the lyrics 😉. So here we go: Leaving On A Jet Plane - Because getting on a plane changes everything for Jenny. I personally like the version by Chantal Kreviazuk from Armaggedon. Run-Around by Blues Traveler - One of the top 10 songs the week Jenny left 1995! Back in Time by Huey Lewis & The News - Because… time travel 😳. 867-5309/Jenny by Tommy Tutone - If only it were just a matter of everyone knowing her phone number like the Jenny in the song… #yourlifehasbeendelayed #yatimetravel #lifedelayed #ylhbd #2021debut #bookplaylist #leavingonajetplane #runaround #backintime #8675309 #jennyigotyournumber #writingplaylist #yaauthorsofinstagram #yaauthorlife #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #writewritewrite #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
Day 18 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is all Day 18 of #debutauthormonth for #the21ders is all about my writing process. In an ideal world, it goes something like this: 
I take a shiny new idea and outline it in Scrivener (posts about my Scrivener outlining found on the Resources page of my website; link in bio). Then I fast-draft, writing about 1,800 words every weekday until I knock out the whole novel. If I stop, it’s very hard for me to get started again! *Ideally* I then let it sit for a bit before I revise. Once I can’t do anything else, I send it out to trusted critique partners and beta readers, incorporate their feedback, and repeat until it’s ready. In the case of YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN DELAYED—for which I was able to follow this process—that meant querying! Now it means ready for my agent 😀. Now that I’m in the pre-publication world, it’s been a little harder to follow this process. I’ve currently been stuck in PROCRASTINATION, which is where I end up if I don’t get all the way through that first draft right away 😉. #writingprocess #mywritingprocess #fastdraft #fastdrafting #ihatedrafting #loverevising #scrivenerforlife #scrivenerlove #authorsofinstagram #yaauthorsofinstagram #yaauthorlife #igwriters #igauthors #writinglife #writersofinstagram #yawritersofinstagram #writerlife #yawriterlife #yafictionwriter #amwritingfiction #writemore #lovewriting #iwriteya #youngadultauthor #yaauthor #yawriter
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