Huckle Backstory - Jade

Bevin’s Spring Break

“Bevin, are you ready for the meeting?”

That was an excellent question. Was I? I sat on my bed staring at all the clothes strewn around my floor. Mostly flannels, but a few gay pride shirts as well. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest as I gripped the side of my bed. The meeting started soon. I wanted this. It was just information. Why was I nervous?

José made his way across the room and sat down next to me. He gently placed his arm across my shoulder, and I closed my eyes, trying to take the comfort he offered. He was one of my best friends. I leaned into him, dropping my chin to my chest. “Why am I scared?” My voice came out so softly, I didn’t think he’d hear me.

His head came down on my shoulder as he squeezed me in a half hug. “I know, it’s something you’ve always wanted, but it’s also surgery. Something huge. Let’s go, jump in. It’ll be great. Afterwards I’ll get you ice cream.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at his incentive. “I’m not Jade.”

He pulled me up. “So, no on ice cream?”

“Too late, it’s been offered.”

Once standing, José stared up at me, his dark eyes giving me comfort. Ever since I could remember, he’d been a rock in my life. We’d grown up together, but we’d only really become close when I’d entered high school. He introduced me to the GSA, gay, straight, alliance. He’d always supported me, though I think he never quite understood me. He got gay, he was working on trans. Despite that, he always supported me.

We headed out to the driveway. I smirked at him. “I’ll drive.”

“Sweetheart, you know I love you, but no, I want to survive today, I’ll drive.”

I didn’t know why none of my friends thought I could drive, it irked me, but, whatever. On the way to the meeting I got a text from Jade, who was in Florida with Sarah. I snorted. “They’re camping. They’re with that British family, hope they have fun.”

We got to the meeting. It was at a local Youth Outreach Center. I stared at the door and froze.

José grabbed my hand. “You’ve got this, Bev. It will be great.”

Slowly, I got out of the car and we headed in. The gatekeeper, the person at the desk was a young man with a nametag Joe (he/him). He pointed us in the right direction. There was a small room with a circle of chairs. A few were empty so we took two. At eleven the meeting started.

For the next hour the group of six transgender people spoke about their fears of surgery. Two had been through it, four of us hadn’t. They asked that José not remain, as he wasn’t transgender, and José agreed to go and wait by Joe. I was amazed at the information given and the freedom they felt in giving their stories. They agreed to set up another meeting in the summer, and we shared online contacts.

Oh my gods…this was all so real! This really could happen!

José took me out for ice cream. We each got a sundae and I told him about my fears. “I just want the surgery over with, but I still have over two years to wait. I don’t turn eighteen until next year, May eighth.”

José grabbed my hand. “You know, that’s barely a year and a half more. You’ve got this and we’re all here for you.”

Relaxing, we finished our dessert before he brought me home.

The next morning, I woke up with a series of texts from Jade. She’d been attacked and was in the emergency room. What the hell? I always though it was Owen who caused the family to end up there.

Huckle Writing

Book’s Done, Now What?

The first time I got to this point, I was shocked. I wasn’t sure what I had accomplished. I sent my document to a friend, and she informed me that, once it was published, she’d put the book in her library. What?! 

I want to begin by saying I am not an expert. I don’t know if that there are experts out there. Maybe there are, but I’ve gotten so much advice and some of it is so different, I’m not sure. We are talking about people, and everyone is different. 

I was dumbfounded. I started Googling. The first site I found said: now that you’re done and excited, start your second book. The implication was, it was all downhill from there. I did start my second book, if you’re wondering…

I was at the start of the editing phase. If you’ve followed all my advice, you’ve already gone through alpha readers, critique partners, beta readers, and an editor. You are way ahead of where I was then. So I’ll fast forward in my story. About a year and a half later.

My book has been edited…twice. A good editor will do this. 

Next, publication. I wanted (and still want) a traditional publisher. If you’ve read my book you may know how my book was published whereas I, sitting here writing this today, have no idea. I am still in that hazy unknown place that I’ll be writing about in this post. This may be where you are, the unknown point of how I get my work published. If my book is published and you’ve read it: Hi Future! From the past! Hope things are well!

If you want to publish traditionally, you will still need to do a lot of the marketing yourself. Read that last sentence again. It threw me when I first learned that fact. You may want to go and create your own website, instagram, twitter account, tiktok, or whatever the latest in social media is to catch people’s attention. I’ve always hesitated in mentioning the specifics, but I did here since three of the four I’ve mentioned are ones I have. 

Some publishers will accept your work, your manuscript, directly. That isn’t common. I wouldn’t expect it. The ones I did find said that if you sent them your manuscript, only query with them, and give them three months to get back to you. That means, you are in limbo for three months and are agreeing not to show your work to any other publisher or literary agent. 

Most writers look for literary agents. There are people who have relationships with publishers. There are hundreds, probably thousands of literary agents and companies out there. Each one is a bit different in how you approach them and what they want.

Query Letter: This is the most basic request. There are many websites which will tell you how to put together a query letter. Most agree that it should be short, with a limit of 300-350 words. Start with a greeting, thank them for reading your letter. Don’t hide your twist. If the literary agent is reading 100 of these letters in a day, you want to capture their interest right away. What makes your story better then the next author’s? Include your title, word count, and if the work is completed. You should add something about yourself. I noted that I am a math teacher, and why I thought it was appropriate for me to write about the LGBTQ community. 

Synopsis: A Synopsis is similar to a police report of your story. It is a dry reporting of the story from beginning to end. Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts. You should bold the characters names (with the age in parenthesis). It should end up being about 500-800 words. 

The synopsis should give everything away about the story. Don’t hold back. The person reading the synopsis should know all of the spoilers by the end and have a good feel for your story.

Pitch: The pitch should be a single sentence that introduces your main character, your story’s title, your genre, and a brief introduction to what you wrote. 

Bio: Here they want to know something about you. If you have any background in writing and English, all the better. 

The last thing that is often asked for is comparable books to yours. Knowing a list of books that are similar is great. If you don’t have any, then you may need to just say that. 

Once you have all the pieces collected, written, checked over, you are ready to start. Just know that this part of the journey is long. Everyone gets a long collection of rejections. Everyone rewrites the query letter. It is all part of the process.

Start finding literary agents. They have websites. You can find listings in different collections as well. Then you read over what each agent is looking for and find one who would be interested in your genre. Figure out how they want to be queried, and go for it.

I kept a spreadsheet. This way I only queried each agency once. Most don’t like being queried multiple times, even after your rejection. Some say it is okay; if that is the case, then go for it. Some have one person read the queries and give the submission to the most likely agent. You really don’t want to upset the agencies. I’ve heard you should query anywhere from 25 – 100 agents. I don’t know the correct number. 

Good luck on this part of traditional publishing. It is the hazing that most writers who publish traditionally go through.

Cheers!

Huckle Writing

I Was Asked to Edit?

Once you join a writers’ community, you quickly learn it’s like a village. You can get a lot of help, but only if you are willing to provide help too. 

But Huckleberry, what do I know about editing? I can barely get my cool ideas down on paper in a coherent way! If it weren’t for my friends Angela and Wes I’d look a COMPLETE fool!

Trust me, this is how I felt too. There is a term for this: imposter syndrome. I didn’t believe I had the credentials to tell people with an English degree that their writing needed work. I am a dyslexic with a mathematical background. Who am I to tell them their writing isn’t perfect? 

This took me a while. I’ve always been an avid reader. I knew when a story was missing pieces, or there were loose ends that needed wrapping up. My confidence grew in messenger and text messages. Sitting down and discussing their work with the writer was scary at first, but more times than not it resulted in their appreciation. 

In the end, all writers want to share a good story. We have this world in our head, and we sometimes don’t communicate it as well as we wish. Having a reader tell us that something doesn’t make sense just lets us know we need to fill in those missing pieces. It’s better to be told early on in the process when the fixes are possible than finding out at the end. 

When a friend or a critique partner asks for you to read their writing, just be honest with them. Comment on things that don’t make sense, such as missing plot points. Let them know when you want more: more emotion, more detail. I usually miss out on that last one in my initial draft. My critique partners ask me to add more detail all the time. In contrast, I tell them to pull back on detail because they can go on forever.

Let your partner know if they’ve “told” you something that they could “show” instead by using character actions or other cues like dialogue. Often showing is more interesting and engaging, there is an example below. It pulls the reader in. Also, look for repeated words. I have had several words I’ve caught myself over using. I won’t let you know, or you’ll look for them in my writing, and I don’t need that pressure!

You aren’t there just to smooth out the pokey parts, either. Let the writer know if what you read made you laugh or smile. If what they wrote was good. Everyone wants to know what they did well. 

In the end, you’re there to partner up and share in the ride. The goal is to grow the good, and help smooth out the rough spots every writer has. 

Telling: I sat in the tree, afraid of what would happen next.

Showing: Sitting in the tree, my heart began to beat, I could barely breath around the lump forming in the back of my throat, my mind had gone blank. What had Dad told me to do when I was attacked? Where had everyone gone? Could I do this alone?

Huckle Writing

There Are How Many Editors?

As I separated from the writers group, I was nervous. There are many groups on facebook, and other social media groups, and it can be overwhelming. If you google for help, you will be swamped with information. I decided to join the group: Fantasy Writers Critique & Support Group. After being told by the member of my writers group, and seconded by a few others, that they didn’t understand my style of writing, I figured I needed to find people who understood urban fantasy, werewolves, and young adult. 

A member said they were a beta reader. I hadn’t heard that term, or many, and in a few short weeks, I learned more about the world or writing, authors, and true support than I could have hoped for.

Let me start at the beginning of the types of editors you’ll find.

Alpha reader: My son is my favorite alpha reader, quickly followed by the person who was roped in to pre-edit my work when I was in a writers group. These are people who read the raw writings. You write your work. You read over it. You are happy and proud. They read it. They are your cheerleaders. They also will tell you the raw deal of when you’ve messed up with your characters. 

If you are lucky, these people can brainstorm with you when you need help ironing out areas of your story that are tricky. I will tell my son an idea and he’ll give me a thumbs up or down. Sometimes he’ll inform me he knows where I sleep…these ideas have not come to fruition.

Critique Partners (CP): Critique partners are similar to alpha readers, but more involved. Often you have more of the story written. You swap a couple of chapters on a schedule and dig down into the story. Usually they don’t worry about grammar. This is the point in which you worry about flow, characterization, and growth. Is the emotion strong enough? Do you have enough conflict? Have you shown enough or are you just telling the story? A good CP is amazing.

Beta reader: Once you have your story done. You’ve finished it. It is glorious. Your next step is a beta reader. You can pay for this service. If you go this route, make sure they are reputable and that the deal is you pay after services have been rendered. I have heard stories… However, I have found that agreeing to swap manuscripts with another writer is a great way to find this service for free.

Beta readers read the story beginning to end. They add comments every time they think something is funny, something is confusing, any time they have a question. They may note when you shift your verb tense, but again, their job isn’t about grammar, it is about flow, characterization, and overall readability of your book. 

Editor: Now is when you’ll probably have to start paying. Finding a good editor is important. If you are on a social media page for writers, you may ask for recommendations. If not, make sure the editor offers a sample. You have to make sure the editor enjoys the style and genre of writing you produce. You want to ensure you have a connection with the editor so that you get the highest quality editing for your work that you can get. You also want to protect your wallet. Editors can be expensive, so shop around. Don’t jump into an editor too quickly. Unlike all of my other suggestions, this one should be checking your grammar!

When I found my editor I lucked out. They not only could check the grammar, they could also sensitivity edit my writing of Bevin, my transgender character. Having this character at first was a whim. I wanted my characters to mirror the diversity of people in my life, but Bevin very quickly explained to me that he was going to be a major part of my writing. The advice of Gavin and my sensitivity editor has been priceless. 

Now, good luck. Find a writing community. Writers have a stereotype of being solitary hermits. With the invention of the internet that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone.

Huckle Writing

So You Think You Want To Write…

The first step: Write!

There is no magic recipe, you just need to start. 

To give a bit of background, I’m dyslexic and words can be hard for me. I spent most of my school career avoiding anything that dealt with words, which was mostly English and history. I always thought I was bad at these topics. I knew I wasn’t horrible, but I also thought they weren’t my forte. I could understand the classes, but struggled with showing the teachers, instructors, and eventually professors what I knew. 

I was lucky. One of my moms would always look over and edit my work. I would hand her my papers–back when writing was done on this crazy by-product of trees called paper–and a red pen. When I got my work back, the pages often resembled a crime scene. 

This leads me to a valuable piece of advice. Check your ego at the door when you ask someone to critique your writing. As my son would say, when someone critiques your writing there is a good chance they’ll beat it to the ground, but like a phoenix it will reemerge better. No writer is perfect at everything. Every writer has readers and editors who help them clean up their story. When people give you suggestions, edits, and criticism–assuming it is constructive–thank them. You can always decide their suggestions don’t work for your story, but if several people make the same suggestion, then they may be on to something. 

What makes criticism constructive? After I wrote my first book I had no idea what to do. I joined a writers group. Some of the people in the group were amazing and helped me grow as a writer. They challenged me in structure, word choice, plot, and my purpose in writing things the way I did. Throughout my year and a half of being in that group these people were supportive and helpful.

However, there were also people in that group who weren’t as helpful. There was one member whose specialty was poetry. I remember during the times when he shared that many of the group remained silent. I tried to comment once or twice, but poetry is hard for me. My genre was hard for him, as well. He told me that. One comment stuck out in my memory. On my last meeting with that group, over zoom because of the pandemic, he said, “Your paragraphs are like soggy oatmeal.” This is not a constructive comment. I don’t really know what that means. I don’t know how to fix that. 

What it did was get me to look up facebook groups. There are several out there for writers. The one that supported me the most was Fantasy Writers Critique & Support Group, though I joined others as well. On that site, I found a member who was also a professional beta reader. She read the selection I had been critiqued on that week. She not only said that she disagreed, she agreed to beta read my full book, as well. Since then, she has become a good friend. You can find her writing at www.katherinedgraham.com. 

Another of the people in the writers group did two things which I would call hurtful, especially to someone who is dyslexic. First, he told me I had to get my work pre-edited. He said my writing was too hard to read and the group would have a much easier time helping me if an editor went through it first. Ironically, I don’t think my offerings had the worst grammar. I found a fellow writer who was willing to help with editing. You can find her work at www.cycleoftehara.com. 

But the group member’s lack of empathy didn’t stop there. A few months later, he returned my submission with highlights. At the top he left a note saying it was my job to puzzle out what was wrong with each highlighted section, and then fix it. It could be a spelling error, incorrect grammar, an extra word, anything really. The thing is, being dyslexic, such an undertaking was beyond my ability. 

I wrote him a letter explaining that this type of editing was beyond my abilities. I had a learning disability and if he wasn’t going to fully critique my work I would prefer that he didn’t edit my work at all. I had two people look over and edit the letter, and then I sent it. Well, for a couple of months it looked like he had decided to refrain from critiquing my work except  during our meetings. Then, one day, I got an email with four of my submissions, and each was topped with the same kind of notes. He’d done it again and again.

When you are writing, you want to find someone who will help your writing become the best it can be. A person or a group who will make suggestions to help you improve your writing, not make you doubt yourself. There are amazing groups of people out there who will help and support you if you are willing to search for them.

But first and foremost, if you want to become a writer, the first step is to start writing.

Huckle Backstory - Jade

Bevin…

            “Jade…um…Bevin…you two need to get to the basement!”

            Mom’s voice rang out from the main house. A snarl vibrated from her voice. I could tell she was close to shifting and wanted all the kids in the basement.

            Bevin was gazing at my photos up on my wall. “It isn’t that I don’t like these pictures, I just want them lost in new images…ones like I am now. Maybe we’ll have so many these will get lost and no one will ever notice these.”

            I stepped up to him, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I can take them down if you want.”

            A look of pain crossed his face. He scrunched his nose as he shook his head. “It’s our memories. We just need to make more, ‘k?”

            “Deal.”

            I knew Mom wouldn’t last much longer, so I grabbed his hand and dragged him to the basement. The hallway was dim and quiet. We got to the large living room kitchen area and there were a few people in the kitchen. Most were heading out through the attached dining room to the back yard where I heard a few howls. I saw José in front of us, heading towards the stairs to the basement.

            Halfway down he turned. His eyes narrowed as he looked at us. “Bevin? Right?” We’d grown up together, but we were all getting used to the new name.

            A smile blossomed on Bevin’s face as he nodded vigorously. José turned and slipped down the last few steps. When we got to the bottom of the stairs there were about a dozen kids milling about in small groups. A couple of high school aged kids were in charge.

Bevin and I were about to head to the games when Annie, the main kid in charge, came over. She stopped us and gave Bevin a questioning look. “I was told you two wanted to explain things to the group before you got lost in the fray.”

Bevin’s breath hitched and his shoulders curled in. Bracing himself, he slowly looked up into Annie’s eyes. “I’m Bevin and I want the group to all understand this.”

Annie searched his face, then gave a curt nod. “Got it, kiddo.” She rotated, taking in the room. “Okay, everyone. We’re going to play ‘pack meeting’, just like our parents.”

Estrella, José’s sister, full of confidence and sass, stopped playing with Heather, Bevin’s sister. “Will this take long? Pack meetings always take forever.” This word was said with all the drama of an eight-year-old.

Annie smiled indulgently. “No, hon, this won’t be that long of a meeting.”

The group scooted closer in together. I grabbed Bevin’s hand and checked out his expression. He stood statue still, but his eyes were wide, and I didn’t think he was actually breathing. I gave his had a few squeezes. He finally gave me a smile.

Annie looked over at us and smiled warmly. “Would you two like to have your say?”

Bevin froze. I rubbed his arm. He took in a ragged breath and nodded. “Okay, yeah. Hi.” He waved. “Um. I’d like for you to start calling me Bevin. It would be more…comfortable for me.”

Estrella shot up. “Why? That doesn’t make sense.”

José sighed and rolled his eyes. Being in seventh-grade he was almost a high schooler. He made his way over to his sister and whispered something into her ear.

As José made his way back towards Owen, my brother, Estrella made a sound of indignation, throwing her hands out to the side. “What was so hard about that? Your parents were wrong, again…aren’t they always? Bevin is a boy, duh! We all knew that already. Was all this really needed? Can we play now?”

Owen laughed. His butt hit the floor he was laughing so hard.

Everyone was gazing between Estrella and Annie. I shot a glance at Bevin. His jaw was practically on the floor in shock. I grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the games cabinet. “So, do you want to play Kingdomino or Bonanza?”