She Writes! She Critiques! She Does It All: Interview with Joyce Sweeney

Remember that saying: “Those who do, do. Those who don’t, teach?” Well, Joyce Sweeney has blown that cliché right out of the water. Not only has Sweeney helped mentor 26 writers to publishing success, she is also a published YA author herself. Her first novel, Center Line, won the First Annual Delacorte Press Prize for an Outstanding Young Adult Novel. She has published thirteen other books, as well as a poetry chapbook.

But Sweeney’s real passion lies in helping would-be writers become successful. As Sweeney herself puts it: “Even more than writing itself, I love helping and mentoring writers.”

WordHustler sat down with Joyce Sweeney to discuss agents, editors, and the teenager inside every YA author. Grab your journal, some junk food, and get ready for the most informative [virtual] sleep-over you’ve ever attended!

WordHustler: How did you get your first big break? What was the first piece of writing you ever published?

Joyce Sweeney: My first novel, Center Line, won the first annual Delacorte Press Prize for a New Young Adult Novel in 1984.  I had an agent and had been submitting the novel for a year…over 30 publishers had rejected it.  Then it won first prize in the contest and I won a contract and got some good publicity for the book.  A good example of why writers have to be persistent and ignore rejections!  The very first piece of writing I ever published was a short story in a magazine called NEW WRITERS.  I was 18 and I got paid $25.  I thought I was on my way!  Then came the decade of hard work to get to 1984!

WH: As an author, why are you drawn to YA novels? Do you pull from your own childhood or from kids that you know today?

JS: All the children’s writers I know seem to have some kind of strong inner voice that reflects a certain age group.  The really great picture book writers have an inner child who’s about five.  The middle graders think like eight to eleven year olds.  All of us YA writers have a strong teenager inside us…we just think that way.  When YA authors get together, it’s totally like teenagers…all we do is complain, make sarcastic remarks and laugh too loud.  For inspiration, I pull from my own adolescence a lot…all my main characters are aspects of me…but I learn a lot from the teens I talk with now.  Often my story ideas come from them or things they are going through, but the emotional core of the book… that has to be me.

WH: Now for the part everyone wants to hear about: how did you land an agent? Was your first book finished at the time? How many agents did you approach before landing one?

JS: I got an agent so long ago it’s irrelevant to today’s world.  I got my first agent in the early 80’s. I wrote a query letter and started sending it out (snail mail of course) in batches of five to all the agents I could find. This part of my story was easy. I got two yeses from the first batch…Dominick Abel and Marcia Amsterdam. I chose Marcia.  She was my agent for the first ten years of my career and it was a great relationship for all those years.  But it took years working with her to sell my first book.

WH: How long did your agent take to get you a book deal with Henry Holt? Or did you just go to Macmillian/Henry Holt directly?

JS: This is a different agent now, George Nicholson.  He found my current editor for me, Kate Farrell at Henry Holt.  George is a genius at matching authors and editors.  Kate is perfect for me and I love working with her.  My new book, The Guardian, is coming out now to really good reviews and I know that’s because Kate and I worked together to make it the best it could be.

WH: Now, you focus mainly on helping other writers get published by running a series of workshops and offering manuscript critiques. What kind of writing do most people come to you with? Fiction/non-fiction/other?

JS: I work with all types of writers. A lot of children’s writers because I’m active in SCBWI and that’s where people meet me.  But I have 26 people I’ve worked with who’ve been published and that’s a mix of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, adult, kid, mystery, general…you name it.

WH: What would you say are the three most common problems novelists have and how do you help them?

JS: Problem number one is point of view. Beginning writers try to structure a novel like a movie and jump all over the place in POV.  In fiction, it distances the reader to not hear from one narrator you care about, so the overall narrative is weak.

Second biggest problem is not writing in scene.  Third biggest problem is plotting.  For all those large problems, it’s a matter of education and practice.  Some people can grasp these things very quickly, others need years of trial and error. But when they get those three things right, they usually have a good novel.

WH: Do you ever have a client who you feel just can’t be helped? On the other end of the spectrum, have you ever been wowed by the first draft someone has shown you?

JS: Once in a great while, I am wowed.  Usually everyone needs some work in some area.  I remember being incredibly impressed by Alex Flinn’s Breathing Underwater when I first saw it.  It went on to be a best-selling YA.  She still did a lot of revision before it was published, but I recommended her to my agent on the spot because the book was so good.

The only clients who can’t be helped are those who won’t learn.  Sometimes people don’t want to do the hard work it takes to get published and when you tell them all the things they might have to do, they look for an easier way, usually self-publishing. And that’s fine.  Not everyone wants to put in the years it takes to write a really great novel.  Sometimes it’s my job to help people realize that.

WH: I know you have also had a chapbook of poetry published- what is the difference between getting fiction published and doing the same with poetry? Is one harder than the other?

JS: I like to write poetry because it’s hard for me and I like the challenge after all these years of writing fiction.  But every genre has its challenges and I think it’s hard to write and publish any kind of book.  Anyone who does it should get a medal!

It’s much harder to publish poetry than fiction.  Poetry is all about the language. Every word had to be perfect.  And none of it makes money for the publisher. So they aren’t saying, okay, it’s not perfect, but it’ll sell. They publish poetry solely on merit.  I was completely stunned to have had a chapbook published.  (Impermanence – Finishing Line Press – 08).  It’s forced me to take myself much more seriously as a poet.

WH: What are your personal tastes as far as reading material?

JS: My tastes as a reader are all over the place. I read YA because I write YA. I read poetry because I write poetry.  I like genres that have a lot of suspense: thrillers or horror novels, for instance. I like general fiction if it’s edgy.  I like stories where people break the rules or do unexpected things.  I also read a lot of non-fiction.  Probably because my job involves reading a lot of fiction and it “clears my palate.”

WH: What are three things you’d advise aspiring writers to do?

JS: Read extensively in the genre you want to write in.  Many people want to write picture books because they love children, but they don’t know how to construct a picture book and don’t know what’s selling.  So know your market.  Study the craft of writing.  If you’ve never read a book or taken a class, I can’t imagine you can write a whole novel and hit all the points. It’s a very complex task and there are lots of aspects that require study and practice.  And in case you’ve already written the most wonderful book ever, advice number three is the hardest. You have to be resilient and persistent and keep submitting long after the rejections have made you want to give up.  The process takes much longer than anyone thinks and most people give up way too soon.

WH: What are three things you’d advise aspiring writers to NEVER do?

JS: Don’t get taken advantage of: there are plenty of fake agents and fraudulent writing services out there. If you are getting the feeling you have to be rich to get published, someone is taking advantage of you.  Don’t start submitting to agents and editors before you know you have something that’s perfect and amazing. If you’re still learning your craft and perfecting your voice, stay in that phase. Don’t waste your chance with everyone in New York when you’re not really ready.  Don’t self-publish just because you’ve encountered some rejection.  You can’t take that back and it affects how the industry sees you.

WH: Shameless plug alert: Do you think WordHustler is a valuable resource in helping writers successfully get their work out there, professionally and effectively?

JS: Yes, I can shamelessly say that WordHustler is a great resource.  You help writers with all aspects of writing and everyone should have you bookmarked!!

She speaks, we listen, people. Now let’s take some of Joyce’s fantastic advice and get our manuscripts up to snuff so we can send them out to the world. Remember, it takes time to make your work really shine. Why not submit to the Delacorte Press YA Contest just like Joyce did? Once your masterpiece is ready to go, WordHustler will take care of the paperwork so you don’t have to. It’s the least we can do!