Ask Madge

As someone who seems to give too much advice, I decided it would be better if I had a place to funnel it, thus making it easier to avoid heaping it upon the usual suspects in my life (my husband, my brother, my grocer…) Madge is the nickname given to me years ago by my friend Tom, and it’s a solid name in that Madge sounds like someone whose advice you might actually take. My idea for this occasional feature is not to offer advice about publishing — there are plenty of better connected people who do that already. Instead I’m offering advice about things in my purview. The small things that might arise if you are newly or about-to-be published. Things like what to do if you show up at a book signing and the book store has purchased the WRONG BOOK (as happened recently to my friend Jim).

My first column follows. If you have a question that might fit, e-mail me. And if you have advice of your own, you can add that in comments.

Sagaciously,

Madge

Dear Madge,

One of my best friends just gave me a picture book manuscript to read. The short story is: It stinks!! She asked for editing advice AND she asked me to pass it on to my new agent. What do I say? Our friendship seems to be on the line.

Rock and a Hard Place

Dear Rock,

I remember spending a long afternoon on the couch a few years back, manuscript in hand and my housemate, Ron, looking over my shoulder. “You know you’re polishing a turd, don’t you?” he said.

Yup. I knew. But I couldn’t say that and you can’t either.

You probably don’t want to pass the story on to your new agent. Try telling your friend you just don’t feel comfortable enough with your agent yet — something along those lines, which can’t be far from the truth. If your friend wants to submit on her own, however, there’s no stopping her. Not to worry, though: Your agent is a big girl and well versed in the fine nuances of rejection. That’s her job. Your job, meanwhile, is NOT to reject your best friend, which is why you may want to at least partially fulfill her other request. Maybe you don’t need to edit the story so much as tell her how to get good editing, and that it usually doesn’t come from your best friends. (“As your friend, you know I’m biased so I’m not the best editor for this piece.“) If she’s serious about a future in children’s writing, direct her to SCBWI and she can find a critique group with other new writers there. Or she could always get a manuscript critique from one of the many experienced writers offering to do them for pay. You could also:

•Treat the story as you would a GOOD story that you were critiquing. Find something nice to say and something that needs improvement. For instance: “You know, I’m worried that there’s already a story out there about a very hungry caterpillar, but I really like your description of his grumbling stomach.” Don’t sweat the small stuff, especially if there’s lots of it.

•Try asking questions rather than making statements.

“How did you come up with this idea?”

“Did you consider using any insects besides caterpillars?”

“Are you sure your insect isn’t thirsty instead?”

•Remind her that she’s making a good start.

•Remind her that it took you TEN YEARS to get your first manuscript accepted. (Oh, wait. That was me.)

Madge