Happy Wednesday Everyone! Today I’m
excited to have debut author Rimma Onoseta and her agent Kari Sutherland here
to share a guest post to celebrate the release of Rimma’s YA contemporary debut,
How You Grow Wings. It sounds like a powerful story about the lives of two
sisters, and it’s set in Nigeria. I’m really excited to read it.
Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:
An emotionally riveting novel for fans of Ibi Zoboi and Erika
L. Sánchez about two sisters in Nigeria and their journey to break free of an
oppressive home.
Sisters Cheta and Zam couldn’t be more different.
Cheta, sharp-tongued and stubborn, never shies away from conflict—either at
school or at home, where her mother fires abuse at her. Timid Zam escapes most
of her mother’s anger, skating under the radar and avoiding her sister whenever
possible. In a turn of good fortune, Zam is invited to live with her aunt’s
family in the lap of luxury. Jealous, Cheta also leaves home, but finds a
harder existence that will drive her to terrible decisions. When the sisters
are reunited, Zam alone will recognize just how far Cheta has
fallen—and Cheta’s fate will rest in Zam’s hands.
Debut author Rimma Onoseta deftly explores
classism, colorism, cycles of abuse, how loyalty doesn’t always come
attached to love, and the messy truths that sometimes family is not a
source of comfort and that morality is all shades of gray.
Before I
get to Rimma's and Kari’s guest post, I have my IWSG Post.
Posting: The first Wednesday is officially Insecure Writer's
Support Group Day.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns
without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire
can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of
all kinds!
The awesome
co-hosts this month are Tara Tyler, Lisa
Buie Collard, Loni Townsend, and Lee
Lowery!
Optional Question:
When
you set out to write a story, do you try to be more original or do you try to
give readers what they want?
For me, it’s some
of both. I want to create a unique magical world, but I want to create a story
that readers would want to read and would expect in the fantasy genre. It
wouldn’t be worth writing something really different if I didn’t think readers
would like it.
I also think it’s
harder to make some genres super unique. For example, I think this is true of
mysteries, where you can make them really interesting by creating unique
settings and memorable characters. But you do have to follow certain rules
about how to create and solve the mystery.
What do you try to
do?
Getting R&R
Requests From Publishers by Rimma Onoseta and Kari Sutherland
RO: Hi everyone,
I’m Rimma Onoseta, and my contemporary YA debut, How You Grow Wings,
releases from Algonquin Young Readers on August 9, 2022. Today I’m talking with
my agent, Kari Sutherland, of KT Literary Agency.
KS: Hi everyone! Hi
Rimma, it’s an honor to be here with you today. The topic we’ve chosen is
R&Rs which stand for Revise and Resubmit. This is when an editor enjoys a
manuscript, but feels as though changes need to be made before they can bring
it to acquisitions and offer editorial suggestions with that goal in mind. I
think it’s reassuring for authors to hear that an R&R can have a happy
ending. Like yours did!
RO: As an agent, when
do you advise an author tackle a revision after getting an R&R request from
an editor?
KS: A lot of it depends
on where we are in the submission process. If it’s really early, I’d advise
holding off and waiting to see if anyone else is invested enough in the story
as it is because I don’t want my client to edit it to one editor’s
specifications if there might be others who wouldn’t want the changes that have
been suggested. So unless it’s the author’s dream editor and publishing house,
if it’s the first round, I’d hold off.
RO: What is the
editor’s expectation when they ask for an R&R?
KS: Sometimes an
editor will ask for an exclusive R&R before they spend a lot of time and
energy providing detailed feedback. We might hop on a call with the editor,
make sure the editor and author click and get a rough idea of the scope of the
changes they’d request. Or we might have feedback from multiple sources or more
than one R&R request, so we won’t agree to an exclusive and don’t get
detailed notes as a result. If we do give an exclusive first look, if that
editor winds up passing, then we can take that revision out wider. Often an
editor only gives topline notes and doesn’t ask for an exclusive, and then we
can take it out wide once it is ready.
KS: I know it’s
easier for me, as an agent, to agree to an R&R, but you’re the one doing
the work! Including the emotional work. What advice would you give to an author
when they get an R&R from an editor?
RO: It depends on
how the author sees it. I love feedback. Even when I was querying looking for
an agent a lot of times it was just passes then sometimes an agent would say
I’m passing on this, but this is why and then I’d know I was on the right path.
So I really enjoyed R&Rs because it made me feel like there was hope and I
just need to focus on certain things and just hearing that feedback made me
think about what was working and what wasn’t working and why is a particular
editor seeing something this way and whether it wasn’t what I wanted to convey.
RO: When you and a
client do decide to take on an R&R what are the steps?
KS: I look at the
notes from the editor who has requested an R&R and I also look at all the
other feedback that has come in from editors who passed. Did they point out
something similar or something that can work in tandem with the notes? If
you’re going to revise then you may as well go in and do a bigger massaging of
the book because if it came close enough, you want to make it as strong and
irresistible as possible. I coalesce all the feedback and take my own notes
from my read and put them together in an edit letter. But as with all my edit
letters I really want my authors to be the guiding force of the manuscript and take
only the notes and directions that resonated with them. RO: From your
experience, have you seen any patterns in R&Rs in terms of what issues come
up? Is it the pacing, the characters, the general vibe of the story? What do editors
typically give R&Rs for in terms of what’s not working for the story?
KS: Oh, wow, I
should look through some notes to see if there is a pattern! But it won’t be
voice. If an editor is going to ask for an R&R, they already love your
voice. And plot is often something they’d be willing to tackle in a revision
themselves, post-acquisitions. A common one is chemistry between characters. So
an editor might say, “I don’t believe the relationship between these two
characters.” Sometimes it’s an age-related market concern: “this felt young for
a YA to me, can you make it edgier, bring it up to be truly YA because there’s
a romance storyline so we don’t want to put it in middle grade.” Pacing is
another one because it’s really challenging to edit. Would you agree?
RO: Oh yes, for me
pacing is such an issue with my writing because I want to spend so much time
getting to know the character so it slows down the storyline.
KS: I love your
characters! But yes, it can be so tricky to pinpoint where the pacing is off.
I’ve had feedback from multiple editors on the same project where some thought
the pacing was too slow and others thought it was too fast! When you’re given
revision notes, how do you tackle a revision?
RO: I typically
start at the beginning or focus on the section that note is tackling. For me
personally, when I get notes I take some time with it and think about it and look
at different directions it could go in. If I do revise it in this way, how is
it going to affect this character, this situation, this scene? I really take my
time with it to see if I necessarily agree with the notes. There’s certain
notes where I’d thought about it, but I hadn’t been able to pinpoint the point
I was trying to make and then I’ll get feedback and it’s exactly what I was
feeling but I couldn’t put it into words or into action and so the feedback is
seeping into those original thoughts so I finally know where this is going.
Other times I’ll say “No, I want to keep this.” And if I do want to keep this
or I didn’t agree with that note, why, why didn’t I agree with it?
KS: I’m really glad
you brought that up because I want to remind authors that their stories belong
to them and feedback is important because it helps show what the audience reaction
is going to be and how readers are going to perceive the story. So if someone
says this scene didn’t feel necessary and I didn’t want to get back to the
story. Then you say okay this scene maybe isn’t compelling enough and how can I
make it compelling? Or do I need it? Is it essential to the arc? What can I add
to it to pull the tension into this chapter? But their voice is the most
important in deciding what revisions to make.
RO: When would you
not recommend an author revise based on an R&R?
KS: First and
foremost, when the editorial notes don’t align with the author’s vision, as we
discussed above. But I want to be candid there are some times when I have
noticed a particular imprint or publisher is asking for R&Rs a lot and if I
feel like a revision request wouldn’t carry through to acquisitions in the end,
I look at those notes very carefully. Because I don’t want to waste my client’s
time on a revision that I don’t think will result in a sale or that doesn’t
make the book stronger. For any editor feedback I pass along, I always try and
provide context for my clients. Sometimes if I get an R&R and I know
it’s not what an author is going to want to do because it changes the heart of
the story too much, I’ll say “hey, this is this editor’s vision of the book,
but I don’t think it lines up with yours so let’s discuss.”
RO: Worst case scenario,
you get a bunch of R&Rs and the author revises but it doesn’t sell. What
comes next? Do you keep working on it? Work on something new? What comes after
the R&Rs if there is no sale?
KS: It’s going to
depend on what the reasons were that it didn’t sell, or the reasons we can
pinpoint anyway. If it’s a book that the editor acknowledges that we addressed
what they wanted addressed, but they are passing then we’d take it out on a
wider submission because it’s already been acknowledged that it’s a stronger
book. If it still doesn’t sell, I’d recommend the author channel their energy
into something new. Even while it’s out on submission, I’d suggest my author be
working on something new both to distract them and also so we have something
else to take out if the previous one doesn’t sell for some reason.
KS: When we were on
sub for How You Grow Wings, what were you doing to keep yourself busy?
RO: I was trying to write and not quite writing. I was just so anxious
about being on submission and just wanting the book to sell so badly so I sort
of got in my mind too much: “If this first book doesn’t sell, why do I think
I’m a good enough writer to even write a second book?” So it stalled my writing.
I had also started a new job, so that was taking up more of my time.
KS: Your book sits between YA
and adult, there’s a lot of crossover appeal. Your characters are on the cusp
of adulthood dealing with things both in the peer world of the YA but also in
the grown-up world in how they break free from their past and their home life
and this dysfunction they’ve experienced all their childhood. So it was an
interesting title we could take out to both adult and YA editors and we had
several editors interested in it. For one it was new, but two of them had
actually seen the previous version and while they had reacted positively to the
earlier one and given some suggested edits, they loved this and both offered. That’s
a hopeful thing for authors to hear. How did it feel that editors who hadn’t taken
it before were offering now?
RO: The feedback that I had gotten from the editors was feedback that I
did agree with and there were notes that I could see working out so when it
panned out and they did want it, it reinforced my belief in myself as a writer.
Writing and revising are two very different muscles. I knew I could write and
after taking on those notes and then having editors be interested afterwards I
knew that I can revise, too!
KS: Even before revise and
resubmit notes from editors, how do you navigate feedback from readers you
know, critique partners or friends and family who read your story, etc.? What’s
your advice?
RO: Getting feedback from readers versus editors felt different in that
it felt more personal when it came from writer friends or family because it
felt like “You of all people should understand what I’m trying to do with this
story!” Try to take the personal out of it and look at it objectively and
sincerely. I feel like the first reaction is always defensive, to defend the
story or defend the characters, but taking a step back and looking at it from a
different viewpoint is helpful.
KS: When an author gets a
note that doesn’t resonate with them and they really disagree with – what’s
your advice for when to incorporate a note and when not to?
RO: I tend to go by a feeling. Writers need to be very honest with
themselves are they looking at the feedback objectively or are they taking it
to heart? It can be difficult when you really want something, like especially
if it’s an R&R and you feel like you’re so close, so you think “let me just
do this and I’ll get a book deal,” at that moment it can be hard to stay true
to yourself and your story. But be sincere and be honest when you’re taking in
the feedback and if it’s something that doesn’t feel right for the story, it
can be hard to say no, but your future self will thank you for staying true to
the story.
KS: Definitely. 😊
Thanks for sharing
all your advice, Rimma and Kari. You can find them at:
Rimma Onoseta:
IG: @rimmaonoseta
Twitter: @rimmaonoseta
Website: rimmaonoseta.com
Kari Sutherland:
Twitter: @Kari Sutherland
MSWL: Kari Sutherland - The Official
Manuscript Wish List Website
Query Manager: Query Submission (querymanager.com)
Website: www.ktliterary.com
Giveaway Details
Rimma
has generously offered a hardback of How We Grow Wings and Kari has offered
a query critique for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower
of my blog (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right
sidebar) and leave a comment by August 20th. If you do not want to be included in the
critique giveaway, please let me know in the comments. If your e-mail
is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the
contest. Please be sure I have your email address.
If
you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and/or follow me on
Twitter, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry for
each. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. The book giveaway is U.S. and
the query critique giveaways is International.
Upcoming Interviews and Guest Posts
Monday, August 1st, I'm participating in the
Apple a Day Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, August 3rd, I have an agent/author
guest post with Kari Sutherland and debut author Rimma Onoseta and a
giveaway of Rimma's contemporary YA How You Grow Wings and a query critique by
Kari and my IWSG post
Monday, August 8th, I have an agent
spotlight interview with Monica
Rodriguez and a query critique giveaway
Monday, August 15th, I have an agent/author
guest post with Marlo Berliner and debut author Refe
Tuma with a giveaway of Refe’s MG contemporary fantasy Frances and the Monster
and a query critique by Marlo
Tuesday, August 16th, I’m participating in the Old School
Giveaway Hop
Wednesday, August 17th, I have an agent spotlight interview
with Lynnette Novak and a query critique giveaway
Monday, August 22nd, I have a guest post by debut author Christyne
Morrell with a giveaway of her MG science fiction Rex
Hope to see you on Monday!
