Revising My Middle Grade Novel with Jennifer Thomas
I graduated from Hollins in 2018, the same year I retired. The exhilaration of having an MFA in Children’s Literature, a first draft of a middle grade novel, and time to revise filled me with untold optimism.
The cover that holds my degree.
Because I switched from an MA to an MFA, I missed out on some of the basic craft classes, so I’ve never felt confident with my skill set. Unlike gymnastics and dance, where I learned skills that provided a solid foundation from beginning to advanced, I found no such structure in writing books. I felt like I was in one of those stories about a kid being tossed into a pool and left to sink or swim. I’d read thousands of books, so I intuitively knew what a compelling story should look like, and I wanted to get my story to the next level.
I contacted Jennifer Thomas, one of my former gymnasts who is an award-winning writer and editor. I’ve known Jen since she was ten years old, so I knew we would work well together. We slipped into our new places seamlessly with Jen in the role as my teacher. There was one funny moment after Jen had done her first reading of my manuscript. She wanted to soften the blow and told me not to be concerned by all the comments, corrections, etc. I laughed and said, “I was a gymnast, remember? I’m used to being corrected. I am not fragile.” To which she replied, “Oh, yeah. I forgot.” She often works with people who aren’t used to being corrected and who view being corrected as being criticized, so she feels the need to create a buffer before returning someone’s MS.
One of the books Jennifer Thomas worked on with her husband, Bill Hayes.
Another book Jennifer edited with Italian gymnast, Sophia Campana with a foreword by Geza Pozsar. Jennifer edited Geza’s memoir as well.
Jennifer’s most recent book took years of hard work.
During the phase where I focused on telling Luci’s story by getting the words down on paper, I forgot to be creative. Working with Jen allowed me to take a step back and have fun with the story. In my first version, I simply numbered the chapters. It was Jen’s idea to connect some of the titles back to the sport of gymnastics: A Blind Landing; Leaping Ahead; An Upward Swing … you get the idea. We didn’t overdo it—just a sprinkling. Working with an editor gave me the confidence to begin querying for an agent, and the experience reinforced the importance of constructive feedback. If you would like to see if Jennifer is a good fit for your project, you can contact her at https://www.beyondwordsghostwriting.com/.
In a future post, I’ll write about my process for finding an agent and how DREAMS, SCARS, AND UNEVEN BARS: THE STORY OF LUCI COLLINS continued to evolve with each submission.