writing

It’s been a while since I posted a blog! I’m back and ready to give some more writing advice. This topic came up with one of my editing clients (click here to see more about my editorial services!) and I thought it would make for a fun blog.

As a writer, you’ve probably heard that you need to up the stakes in your project. It’s a pretty common critique, because stakes are what make a reader want to read your book, and if a reader doesn’t want to read, why would anyone want to publish it?

So, what exactly are stakes? In your book, the stakes are literally what is at stake for the characters. (Okay, ‘stake’ doesn’t even feel like a word anymore, but I’m going to keep going.) If the main character succeeds, what will they gain? More importantly, what will happen if they fail? How would it hurt them? How would it hurt (or help!) the people around them?

A common misconception is that stakes always have to be Big. They don’t!

Of course, if you’re writing a high fantasy, then yeah, you should have really big world-ending stakes (as well as really small, world-ending stakes).

But, what about your YA romance? The two main characters getting together probably won’t save the world. But, it could save their world. If they don’t get together, they’ll miss out on a great relationship, lose a great friend, or it’ll save them from heartbreak later on. These are small things, aren’t they? Even so, they’re still stakes. It still matters.

Of course, there are going to be a ton of stakes throughout your book. There’s the main plot, which should have the highest stakes, and then a bunch of sub plots, which each have stakes of their own. Every character, even the minor ones, should have something they’re working towards, some end goal, and some reason they need to reach that goal (and consequences if they don’t!).

The stakes also have to matter, just like everything in the story. I’m a big fan of chopping as an editor, and it’s incredibly hard, but it makes for a clean, tight, and strong story. If you have something that can be easily cut without changing the story, that’s not good in terms of stakes. Stakes have to be something the reader believes in, and something important enough to hold on to. If you can cut it, it’s not important enough!

Unfortunately, this isn’t easy. If it was, you wouldn’t have to worry about it!

When I’m editing, one of my favorite things to do is ask questions, because I think it helps shape the story. I do it when I’m writing too! Even when I’m writing a blog post, I’ll ask myself, what do I want to say? What do I want readers to get from this? Why do I use so many exclamation points?

So, while you’re writing, or editing, ask yourself some of these questions:

Why is the character doing this? Why does it matter?

Where will the character be if they succeed? If they fail?

How does it impact those around the character? Who else will suffer, or gain, from the outcome?

If I remove this, how will it impact the character? Do they need to be doing this? Is it vital to the story?

Where does the character start, and where do they end? How did every choice they made up until now lead them from A to B?

If you want a really fun exercise (one I highly recommend!) try doing this from the character’s POV. Answer the questions based on what your MC would say. This can help you with your voice, and it also helps with stakes. The character has to know what they’re up against, and what will happen if they win or lose!

I hope this helps you to dive into your stakes!

xoxo Tia

If you like what you’ve read, consider buying me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/tiarosemele

So, you’re looking for an agent. You know that an agent helps you to get your book in the hands of editors, but what does that process look like?

Different agents handle submissions differently, but this is my process.

After I sign a client, we usually do at least one round of revisions on the book. While my author is revising, I’m looking through my list of editorial contacts and creating a sub list. I’ll also be looking at Publisher’s Marketplace to see if any new deals have similar themes to my client’s book. If I’m not already in touch with those editors, I’ll make the connection so that I can sub to them in the future.

I try to add about thirty editors to a sub list before we go out on submission with a project. I’m not sending the book to every single one of these editors in the first round! I usually break them up into tiers of ten editors. Some agents send to fewer editors, some send to more. For me, ten is a good, even number that makes me happy. I also think ten is a strong number for feedback, which I talk about later.

Once revisions are done and we’re both satisfied with the book, I’ll write a pitch letter. I usually share the pitch with my client as well as another agent at my agency to get feedback before I start sending it to editors. I want to make sure it’s strong, and that I’m representing the author and their book well!

The pitch letter then goes out to the first tier editors. Sometimes, I’ll get a response almost immediately from an editor either passing or requesting to see the manuscript. To the passes, I thank them and usually ask for an updated MSWL if I haven’t spoken with them in a while. To the requests, I send along the manuscript with a quick thank you.

On pitches, I follow up with editors who haven’t responded every two weeks. If the editor requested the manuscript, I’ll follow up every six weeks.

Now, the hope is always that one of these first ten editors will take the book to acquisitions, get permission to buy the book, and the process of selling the book will begin. That doesn’t always happen. As editors pass, they often give feedback as to why they decided to pass. If the feedback is actionable, I’ll talk with my author about doing another revision. As mentioned, my ten editor tiers are set up in the hopes that if the book doesn’t sell to one of them, we’ll get some actionable feedback before we move on to the next tier. If the passes are all “this just isn’t right for me,” then we’ll keep submitting to editors until we find the perfect home.

What if the book has gone out to a ton of editors and they’re all passes? Well, as soon as we go on sub, I encourage my authors to start working on their next book. If the book I signed them on isn’t selling, we’ll go on sub with another and keep our fingers crossed that it sells. I don’t sign books I don’t believe in, and I of course want to sell the book I signed my authors on, but sometimes it takes time and other books to get there.

As I said, agents have their own processes. I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak it as I learn and sell my clients’ works, but for now, it’s a process that works best for me!

xoxo Tia

If you like what I talk about on my blog, consider buying me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/tiarosemele

writing

What’s At Stake?

My Submission Process