I have this niggling feeling you’re looking for ways to set up your story before it happens. As in, Psst! Hey, Reader, let me tell you something about the character before you start. Don’t do that. You have plenty of time to slip them background info once they care about your protagonist and the problems ahead of her. If they don’t care about her, they won’t give a fig about the things that happened in her past to make her who she is today. Instead, open with your character doing something that reveals her personality and hints at her problems. Then sprinkle in the background essentials, teasing them out with little references and then doing a Grand Reveal in a clever, unexpected way. Flashbacks are often big backstory dumps, so use them sparingly and with caution. Prologues are okay as long as you’re not just looking for a dumping method that doesn’t being with the letter “f”. The prologue must be entertaining in its own right. It’s not a free Psst! Hey Reader! moment. That’s when prologues become “deadly.” Readers want action in the first words, not explanation.

Happy writing!

The Editor

It’s not unheard of to query before you finish your manuscript. This is one way to lessen your waiting time between query and response. You’re not really waiting if you’re still writing, right? However, while the logic is there, there’s risk in this maneuver. Should you get a speedy reply asking for materials, you wouldn’t have anything to send and would have to hem and haw or make up excuses for your delay. Or worse, you’d rush out with something before it’s thoroughly cooked. Leaving a request for more dangling is always a little hinky. The agent may wonder if you’re flaky or not as serious about him/her as you claimed to be in the query, and the last thing you want to do is give agents a reason to narrow their eyes suspiciously. Most writers send in their material within hours or days of the request for more.  If you’re going to query before your manuscript is done, make sure the ms is really really darned close to being done.

If the editors you queried for your picture book also handle MG fiction, then yes, query them for your novel. They didn’t reject you, just that particular picture book.

Happy writing!

The Editor

You’re in the clear. Fiction synopses follow the “literary present” axiom and are written in present tense, but it’s okay to break away, just for a sentence or two, to mention a past event that somehow informs the present happenings:

• Sarah hates jocks, who always stop and hassle her, wondering if she’s the girl who almost burned down the gym last year. Luckily, Sarah’s brother saved the gym—and her along with it. He even saved the spirit banner from the flames. Now, on the anniversary of the fire, her brother gets to strut down the hall like some super hero while she has to hide behind her locker door until the bell rings.

As long as you keep past tense breakaways short, sweet, and rare, no one will be confused or distracted.

Happy writing!

The Editor

In teen fiction, your primary responsibility is to your teen protagonist. It’s her story, above all else, and your readers care about her struggle to overcome a situation, be it one at school, one at home, or one that involves a murderous, abusive parent. Your story must end with your protagonist finding a new maturity or understanding of herself and how she can live her life in full knowledge of her father’s crime(s). It’s not about a tidy ending, with Dad making good. Sometimes dads don’t make good. If being true to the story, the era, and the culture means that Dad shouldn’t get rehabilitated, then don’t force it for the sake of a pat ending. You want a satisfying ending, and that satisfaction will come from your protagonist’s emotional empowerment.

Happy writing!

The Editor

You’ve come to the right person—I’m an em-dashaholic, and their overuse is an urge I constantly stifle. It’s just that they’re so darned useful! Em-dashes are those long dashes that indicate a break in a line of thought—and I love interrupting myself. You can use them to add dramatic emphasis or an explanation to the main clause as I have here. They have more kick than a comma, which is why I adore them. Em-dashes are the length of the “m” in your chosen font, with no spaces on either side. Their close buddies are en-dashes, which are half the measure of the “m” and signal a range, such as 1 – 4. En-dashes do have spaces on either side of them. Now, don’t confuse those little guys with the even shorter hyphen, which is a dash that separates numbers that are not a range, like a phone number (555-7676), as well as compound words such as “all-out.” Hyphens touch the letters or numbers on either side.

You can find both em- and en-dashes in your word processing program’s symbols section. Or make the computer do it for you:

• Em-dash: using your hyphen key, type two dashes between words with no spaces on either side and the program will automatically change the dashes to a single em-dash when you’re done with the second word. So “thoughtdashdashand” becomes “thought—and”
• En-dash: type a single dash with your hyphen key, with single spaces on both sides, when you want to indicate a range. Your program will automatically change your dash to an en-dash, turning “1 dash 4” into “1 – 4”

Happy writing!

The Editor