Personal stuff
This year has held a lot of transitions. I quit my teaching career; I moved states, back to a previous hometown; I did a lot of soul searching and questioning about what I want to be doing with my time; and I dealt with a bit of a health crisis. It’s been a lot.
I don’t regret most of it (though not the health stuff). I think I’m in a much better place than I was at this time last year, both physically and mentally, and while I don’t have answers (or a new job) yet, I’m optimistic about the year ahead.
Also, I’m back in a place that has a real winter! I’m not really a fan of the cold, but I have to admit there’s nothing quite like taking a quiet walk through the snow. There’s a trail through a small patch of forest I’ve been taking in the mornings that’s brought me a lot of peace (and some great brainstorming sessions).
My year in writing
2023 has been a big writing year for me. I haven’t kept track of how many words I’ve written, but this year I:
Finished the first draft of three new books (a MG horror, my first contemporary rom com, and an adult fantasy I’ve been drafting since early last year)
Revised three books (the MG horror and two other adult fantasy novels) multiple times each
Wrote four short stories
Had my first big publication for a short story (you can read it here)
Made the difficult decision to leave my first agent
Queried and signed with my amazing new agent
Did a lot more revising to get ready to go on submission
Became a mentor with Round Table Mentor, another long-term writing dream
In 2024, I’ll be going on submission (!!), doing still more revising, and hopefully drafting a new novel. I don’t expect I’ll be able to write as much (because hopefully, I won’t be unemployed for half the year—I’ve been very lucky to have this time to write, but it isn’t financially sustainable), but I’m hoping to make progress nonetheless and I’m excited for what’s to come.
Craft talk
New! I decided to add a little section to my newsletter in which I talk about a piece of craft advice (feel free to disagree with any of it).
This time I’m talking about how to hide a piece of information from the reader.
Let’s say you have something that will become relevant later as a bit of a twist—an object disappearing to show up later in the enemy’s hands, a bargain someone made whose cost will be shockingly revealed at the climax, a person who isn’t actually dead after all… you get the idea. It’s tempting (and I’ve done this myself, and been called out on it) to simply let that thing disappear from the page. To stop mentioning the object, or gloss over the bargain, or never let us see the body.
The problem with just letting the thing disappear is that it reads like a plot hole.
The reader will hit that section and go “but wait… what happened to X? The author must have forgotten about it.” And then when X reappears later, instead of a dramatic reveal, the reader feels a little disappointed.
So instead of glossing over it, call attention to the mystery. Instead of letting the Knife of Glory disappear, have your characters—either to themselves or to someone else—ask what happened to it and speculate on the answers. Instead of not mentioning the cost of the bargain, have your character ask what their lover traded, only to be told with a wink, “Nothing you’ll ever need to know about.” Instead of letting the body disappear, have your characters wonder where it went, and why, and why no one will let them see it, and draw (probably wrong) conclusions. Whatever fits your story!
Now, instead of what reads as a plot hole, you’ve set up a mini mystery that the reader will be wondering about, too—a source of micro tension that will be all the more satisfying when the answer is finally revealed.
Book recommendation(s)
I was tempted to do an end-of-year wrap up where I list my top ten books, or top five, or some such arbitrary number… but honestly, it would be an exercise in futility. I hate choosing favorites because it eliminates so many other books I love. So in no particular order, here are a few books I read this year but haven’t called out in previous newsletters that really stuck with me:
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose: an indigenous dragon rider fantasy with an extremely cool magic system
Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake: a contemporary enemies-to-lovers romance about a late blooming, high-aiming bisexual (do I identify a little bit with Astrid? Maybe)
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty: an extremely fun historical pirate fantasy about a middle aged female captain who comes out of retirement for one more job
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher: at atmospheric portal horror that legitimately creeped me out but is also funny. I’ll never look at taxidermy the same way again.
The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem: a powerful enemies-to-lovers slow burn fantasy with an Egyptian-inspired world; this was just a super fun and intense ride!
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi: a gorgeous romantic literary novel about finding love after grief
The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater: a Gothic Victorian fairy tale with mystery, spooky fae, a demon butler, and a dash of romance
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohammed: a dark fairy tale of a novella with a creepy forest and a tired protagonist tasked with saving a villain’s heirs
Thank you for reading, and may your holidays be bright as we approach the darkest days of the year!
~Marina