Hypable speaks to debut author Lori Goldstein about spearheading an exciting writing contest with her fellow “Freshman Fifteen” authors and Wattpad.
Debut authors, newly initiated into the labyrinthine publishing process, often try and stick together. But the “Freshman Fifteen” – a group of young adult authors debuting their first novels in 2015 – have decided to do one better, and pay their mutual support forward in a contest for aspiring writers.
Spearheaded by Lori Goldstein, whose debut novel Becoming Jinn will be released by Macmillan next Spring, the “Freshman Fifteen” have come together for the Common Room, a writing contest for teens aged 13-19. Hosted on online writing website Wattpad, the Common Room contest will offer winners a chance to experience the publishing process, guided by one of the fifteen Freshmen.
The finished collection of short stories will be published as the Common Room anthology on Wattpad in January 2015.
Goldstein spoke to Hypable about the inspiration and process of the Common Room contest, and her hopes for aspiring authors.
Hypable: How did you come up with the idea for the contest?
Goldstein: Most of us have been writing since we were young, and we know how it feels to crave feedback. We still do! Agent, book deal, doesn’t matter, all writers thrive on getting smart critiques. It’s the only way our writing can improve. On our individual paths to publication, we’ve all been really lucky to have help from some of the generous authors in the writing community.
While we all had wonderful English teachers, we’d have jumped at the chance to work with a published author as a teen. So we wanted to give teens the opportunity we didn’t get: to work with and receive critique on their fiction writing from someone in the industry.
Not only that, as kids most of us were completely unaware of what it took to get a book published. The steps involved were a mystery (sometimes they still are!). We wanted to give teens who are looking at writing as their chosen career a taste of what it’s like to sell a novel. That’s why we devised the contest as we did to mirror the actual road to publication.
They’ll write their story, “query” us as you would an agent, then get selected like they would if a publisher bought their work, and work with their debut author as they would an editor. We’ll have a cover design contest, do a cover launch, and blog posts to simulate the book’s launch party in January 2015.
The immense depth of talent, particularly of teens, on Wattpad made it the perfect place for us to approach with this mentoring project.
How many authors will be participating in Common Room?
We’ve got 13 of our 15 [authors] participating. And this is the real-world reality of publishing right here. Deadlines are tight! So while not all of us are able to participate in the mentoring, those unable to will help out in other ways as the contest and the anthology take shape, such as organizing the cover design contest.
What do you think young writers need to learn about the writing and publishing process?
A key issue is for teens to understand just how many steps there are between you putting your fingers to keyboard and holding a hard cover in your hands. Today there are many ways to publish, but if teens are interested in traditional publishing, there’s great value in knowing what to expect. We designed this contest to be a mini course in what it’s like to go the traditional publishing route.
In terms of writing, I think it’s important for teens to know that writing is hard – for everyone. It’s easy to look at the work of published authors and compare it to your own writing and think “mine’s nothing like that” (I think this all the time!).
But young writers need to learn that writing is a continual learning process. We grow, we get better, partly with the help of those more experienced than us. As we like to say, 90% of writing is revising. Honing that skill is what makes a successful writer.
The contest seems to marry the traditional publishing world with independent movements like Wattpad. Do you have any thoughts on that?
I think the future of writing, and reading, is a mix of everything that’s out there now, like traditional publishers and Wattpad, and new things that will come that we can’t imagine right now. Flexibility is the future of publishing. I think it’s the best time to be an author because there are so many avenues open to us.
There are so many audiences to write for and ways to reach them. Which I find particularly exciting because I’m a writer but also an avid reader. This means there will be more stories for me to get my hands on, and in my mind, there can never be enough of that.
The “Freshman Fifteen” Common Room contest begins today, and will close on July 25. Visit the “Freshman Fifteen” Wattpad page, and check out FreshmanFifteens.com for updates, author information, and future projects.
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