The KWL Quill – December 2023

Hello writers! 

With 2024* on the horizon, we’re feeling equal parts reflective and excited. A new year offers a good opportunity to look back—so in this issue of The KWL Quill, we’ve got a piece on the fun and function of modern retellings of classic stories. It’s also a fine time to look ahead—so we’ve got some excellent planning tips from author Sarra Cannon. Plus a stocking’s worth of other goodies, including tips on writing unreliable narrators, a round-up of award-winning covers, and a primer on getting started with KWL audiobooks.

But first:

* To quote comedian Nate Bargatze: “The world is so future now.”

Bethany Lopez on getting real with readers

As an author, Bethany Lopez is a chameleon, genre-hopping between YA, new adult, and paranormal romances (the latter under the pen name DJ Bryce). With more than 30 self-published books to her name, she’s had to learn—sometimes very quickly—what readers of different types of books want, and need.

In a recent episode of The KWL Podcast, Bethany gets into what resonates with audiences. Gone are the days when readers expected authors to be on a pedestal—today’s audiences want to relate to the people behind their favourite stories, to get honest and open views into their lives, their inspirations, and their processes. It might not be the natural default for a lot of authors, but in Bethany’s experience, flexibility and willingness to try new things go a long way:

“There has been a lot of learning as I go. It’s been interesting and things are ever changing, so you just kind of go with that.”

Here is some of Bethany Lopez’s best advice on how self-published authors can forge authentic connections with their audiences:

• Be honest in your newsletter: “[My readers seem to] love just having, like, personal notes in there about what I’m doing. That’s usually where I get the most responses back back to my newsletter—when I’ve talked about something just going on in my life, or a trip, or just anything like ‘Oh, hey, I’m struggling this month with this.’ I’ll get a lot of responses back for that.”
• Get real on BookTok: “Sometimes I’ll look at other authors and they’re beautifully coiffed, and I am like ‘Good golly.’ But I think nobody really cares what I look like. They’re not going on there to get makeup advice from my TikTok, right? So, I just jump in and try things… I try to be organic with it, wherever it goes, and see what happens.”
• Show your influences by sharing playlists: “Sometimes it’ll be just what I heard on the radio that inspired me to write the book in the first place, and sometimes it’s just something the character would listen to or just something that really fits the mood that I’m in. Maybe I’ll listen to that when I’m not writing just to get myself in the mood to write it.”

Listen to our full podcast interview with Bethany Lopez

ICYMI, a few more recent KWL podcast interviews:

• Elena Armas on writing small-town sports romance
• J. Sterling on (among other things) the fun of BookTok
• Brett Riley on writing compelling YA thrillers

Your Craft: How to write an unreliable narrator

There’s a reason unreliable narrators are such a popular device: They keep readers on their toes, and—by default—engaged in the story. “Fiction that makes us question our own perceptions can be powerful,” this Reedsy primer explains. “An unreliable narrator can create a lot of grey areas and blur the lines of reality, allowing us to come to our own conclusions.”

Writing narrators with suspicious judgment, motivations, and/or memories takes a bit of finesse, but there are many tactics you can use to craft a messy lead with messy intentions—and keep readers guessing right to the end. Here are a few: 

1. Muddle motivations: Unreliable narrators work best when what they want is not quite clear to the reader, says author Deb Caletti in a post at Writer’s Digest—think of the conflicted mother at the core of Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin, or the possibly-obsessive lead of Claire Messud’s The Woman Upstairs. “Provide your narrator with conflicting desires and disparate drives. Keep the reader guessing about your character’s true mindset,” Caletti writes. “When those motives shift, so does the ground under your reader’s feet.”
2. Plant breadcrumbs: To hearken back to dramatic irony—the reader has to know things the protagonist does not in order for the device to work. “Readers do not always understand that a narrator is not the final voice of truth and authority. They may even confuse the narrator with the author,” writes author Bridget McNulty in this blog at Now Novel. “It’s important to plant clues along the way to ensure that the reader understands and perceives the situation in a way the writer does not.”
3. Inject some sympathy: Readers want to root for the characters they read. If your unreliable narrator can’t be likeable, try to at least make them relatable. As this post on the All Write Alright blog puts it: “People don’t like to be lied to, so it’s important that your narrator is a character the readers will be willing to forgive (or at least put up with until the end of the story).” 

Read: Three classic novels with unreliable narrators

• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Atonement by Ian McEwan
• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

2024 planning tips from Sarra Cannon

Do you have a writing plan for 2024? Do you want one? While we’re big advocates for writing at your own pace towards your own milestones, there’s no denying that there can be value in setting some goals—and figuring out how you might get there.

Our final KWL Live Q&A of 2023 was a deep-dive with bestselling author, planning expert, and indie publishing evangelist Sarra Cannon on all things planning, preparing, and productivity for writers. As an independent author responsible for both the art and business sides of her career, planning is both a necessity and a hobby for Sarra—and she has heaps of advice to share about organizing her writing life. 

Here are a few of our favourite takeaways from our conversation:

On physical planners:

Sarra is a major advocate for keeping separate paper notebooks for different parts of writing: Some for business affairs, for instance, and others for individual books. “It becomes a focus tool for me,” Sarra said, “because when I sit down to work in this particular notebook, it’s like my mind gets triggered to say, ‘Oh, we’re plotting now,’ or ‘We’re working on the story now.’ So I have multiple planners and I like to plan that way, which is not true for everyone but it is something that has helped me.”

On setting goals:

Sarra is a big believer in the value of taking stock and setting goals for a writing career, but she cautioned writers to do so with clear eyes: “As you go into your plan for the new year, be careful that you don’t plan for the person you wish you were instead of the person that you are in this moment,” she said. “I think New Year’s resolutions have taught us to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to be a brand new person on January 1, I’m going to write more words, I’m going to finish three full books next year.’ And while that could be possible—people make big leaps and big changes in their lives, for sure—those types of over- planning or unrealistic expectations or intentions, from ourselves, can very quickly lead to disappointment.”

On the pitfalls of “procrasti-planning”:

For a certain type of person, planning can be fun. More fun, say, than sitting down to take on your WIP. And at a certain point, the balance can tip away from getting anything done. “In the planner community we have a word for this—it’s called ‘procrasti-planning,’” Sarra said. “I think there is a fine line—because it kind of depends 100% on your personality—but if you love to plan and you love to strategize and love that daydreaming, you can get stuck there. But none of those plans are actually going to ever come to life if you don’t actually sit down and do the work that you said you were going to do.”

Watch a recording of our KWL Live Q&A with Sarra Cannon on YouTube or Facebook

Want to read more Sarra Cannon? Start here:

• The Trouble with Goodbye (book one in the Fairhope series)
• Beautiful Demons (book one in the Shadow Demons Saga)
• Death’s Awakening (book one in the Eternal Sorrows series)

Your Tools: Your KWL audiobook starter pack

So, you want to release an audiobook? Great! There’s never been a better time to do it—audiences can’t stop listening. Plus, technology has evolved to make the recording and distribution of audio content relatively quick and painless, especially (OK, we’re biased here) using Kobo Writing Life.

But before you hit “record”—and well before you press “publish”—there are a few things to consider. 

Step 1: Study the fundamentals. Publishing an audiobook is nowhere near as daunting as you might think, but it is different than releasing an eBook in a lot of key ways, including pricing and distribution. It’s important to know the lay of the land, which is why we recommend you start by reading our KWL audiobook guide and browsing our FAQs.  

Step 2: Go in with clear eyes. There are lots of misconceptions about audiobooks, and earlier this year we got into many of them in our KWL Live Q&A on audiobooks with Karen White—audiobook narrator, author (as Karen Grey), and founder of the Home Cooked Books agency. For instance, many people underestimate the time it takes to actually record: “It takes a narrator an average of two to four hours in the studio to get a final hour of recording—and that does not include preparation, or the time to read your book and take notes,” White explains. “So if your book ends up being eight hours long, that narrator was in the studio for anywhere from 16 to 30-something hours.”

Step 3: Optimize your audience. Once you’ve recorded your book, small details can make a big impact on its success. For example, taking a moment to link the audio version to its corresponding eBook gives your audience choice—and some superfans will buy both! Review our handy checklist of things to do before pressing “publish” to cover all your bases.

Step 4: Get inspired! Many authors—even some very well-known ones—are learning how to embrace audiobooks as they go. Check out our Listening In series of interviews for some advice and key learnings from audiobook authors, including: 

• YA thriller author Marie Hoy-Kenny on the joy of hearing your words out loud
• Sci-fi author C. M. Alongi on the accessibility of audio
• Romance author Dominic Lim on collaborating with a narrator

Your Next Genre: Modern retellings

Tell me if you’ve heard this before: A young man, born into generational poverty, survives systemic adversity, encounters loss, loses his innocence, and—improbably—survives into adulthood with a sense of resolve to build a better life. 

It is the basic plot of David Copperfield, one of Charles Dickens’s most indelible tales. It’s also the basic plot of Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead, a modern retelling of the Victorian classic that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction this year (alongside Hernan Diaz’s Trust). 

If an endorsement from the Pulitzer peeps doesn’t prove it, we don’t know what will: Your story doesn’t have to be new to be great.

A retelling is a fabulous way to make a classic story feel fresh and relevant, and they can be as fun to write as they are for readers to consume. (Ask us how many updated versions of Pride and Prejudice we’ve read. And ask how many more we’re willing to read. The answers? Many, and many more, respectively.)

If you want to try your hand at retelling, here are a few things to consider:

• Choose your origin story: Pick a classic to adapt and update. Consider how well-known the story is, and how well its key themes would work in different contexts. At Pro Writing Aid, speculative fiction author Hannah Yang recommends four types of source material: fairy tales and fables; myths and legends; classic novels; and Shakespearean plays. As long as it’s in the public domain—which, depending on the country, generally applies to titles 50 to 80 years after the author’s death—it’s fair game.
• Find your point of view: The best retellings use familiar plots and characters to say something that resonates with contemporary audiences. “Mine is a modern retelling of David Copperfield, which Dickens wrote to protest the ravages of poverty on the children of his time. I wrote mine for the same reason,” Barbara Kingsolver told O Magazine in an interview about Demon Copperhead. “I spent years wondering how I could get readers on board with such dark material before I hit on this device. It was challenging and also fun to transpose Victorian characters and situations to my own place and time.”
• Pick your twist: Effective modern retellings update the source material in an interesting and/or unexpected way. “Think about what you can do to make the story different. Perhaps you can change the sex of the main characters? Perhaps you could set the story on a spaceship? Perhaps you could change genres?” advises Amanda Patterson over at Writers Write. “Have fun with this. Make a list of ‘What ifs” and choose the one you like the most. Choose a new title for your book.”
• Do your homework first (to have fun later): In our recent KWL Craft of Writing blog post on retellings, we talked about the value of homework in an effective retelling. It’s important to re-read the source text you’ll be adapting and updating, of course; but it’s also helpful to brush up on the origins of the story, the time period (both of the original story and the setting of your version), and the author’s background. As we advised: “Make sure you do the work before you begin so that you don’t have to stop writing to Google something in a panic! Your future self will thank you later.”

Related reading: KWL Craft of Writing Series: It’s all in the retelling

Three fresh spins on classic tales:

• Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron, a romcom retelling of Emma set in present-day Toronto 
• Neon Gods by Katee Robert, an ultra-modern retelling of the myth of Persephone and Hades
• These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai

Your Inspo: Music to inspire your holiday romance writing

Any romance aficionado will tell you that vibes are everything—and that’s especially true for love stories set around the holidays. In film, the right music can set the tone for a memorable first date, or a gratuitously over-the-top gesture, or that “hell, yes!” moment when two characters finally snog, already. 

The same sentiment holds true when writing books. A carefully curated playlist can get in the exact right headspace to write the cozy, twinkle-lit, hot cocoa-fuelled festive romance of your dreams. Whether your seasonal love story is sweeter than eggnog or spicier than gingerbread, our our playlist of tinselly tunes will get you in the mood.

Listen to our KWL playlist: Writing cozy holiday romance 

ICYMI: We published a little primer on festive holiday romcoms in our November issue of The KWL Quill—check it out here. 

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