Writing With AI: Editorial Sidekick or Genre-Mannequin? You Decide.

By Eliana Fulton

Introduction: A Bit of a Disclaimer

In the early days of fiddling around with ChatGPT, I once asked AI to rewrite a sample passage as if Amy Tan had written it. The result was a soulless amalgamation of metaphors she had used in previous works thrown together into mediocre mush. Although it was cool that the AI could make something with an aftertaste of such a fantastic writer, I would’ve rather reread “Fish Cheeks” or The Joy Luck Club. Only a human being can conjure up a world through art that is vivid and real enough to feel as though you are seeing it through their eyes. That is my disclaimer for why this post focuses on using AI as a tool for advancement and efficacy and not for large scale generation.

Last year I personally wrote a more extensive analysis of AI’s role in the publishing field at large, and YellowBird’s founder, Sara Kocek, provided a very insightful interview. One comment she made that really stuck with me was:

“What makes writing good is that it reminds us what it is to be human, and right now, AI can’t do that.”

Since then AI technology has advanced, and the broad conversation on how people in the publishing industry might use it has increased. While ChatGPT still can’t write with the emotion that a human being can, it gets a lot more convincing with every update. In fact, there is a social media trend of comparing the outrageous and easily spotted AI videos from a year ago to the scarily convincing deep fakes that are not circling the internet.

Don’t fret. AI is not going to replace creative minds any time soon because 1) AI can never be as inventive as real people who are influenced by their unique cultures and experiences and 2) there have been enough adverse reactions to the “uncanny valley” feel of AI to keep it from mainstream media.

In every evolving industry, successful people need to adapt to changes, and publishing is no different. By keeping an eye on the standard that larger publishing houses set for their editors and writers, those looking to publish in the future can stay ahead of the game. For example, Yellow Bird Editors do not submit unpublished works from clients into public AI chats to prevent risk of copyright infringement. Copyrighting literature from AI’s training programs is already a firm standard Penguin Random House has put forward.

Many people in creative fields are scared of AI, and while I would personally prefer that we aim to use human creativity, it’s becoming an important part of this field. If we ignore it disdainfully, it will overwhelm us in the near future, so we should learn how to manage it as a tool.

Things to consider before using AI

1. AI is using other people’s recycled ideas, so remember that you are already 100 times more creative than it is.

2. Every 20-50 queries you submit to a chatbot costs data centers about 500 ml of fresh water to cool down their server—so there is a significant environmental impact.

3. The information you are putting into this chat to ask a question can be used to train the large language model to answer other users' questions.

4. The large language model that trains accessible models like Chat GPT uses the entirety of the internet. This can lead to false information and/or unintentional biases (racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, etc.).

5. Most media literate readers can spot AI’s writing.

Writing is Hard. Grab Some Training Wheels!

Despite what some poets may say, writing doesn’t come naturally to most people. It is a skill that you have to develop through study and practice. English is full of inane idiosyncrasies, so think of AI as your free writing tutor— a grammar and craft know-it-all that is happy to correct you at any time. Additionally, AI can give you introductory advice on how to improve the quality of your writing.

The most obvious use for AI in writing is checking grammar and mechanics. I recommend using programs that are designed specifically for that because chatbots are not very good at taking and changing long blocks of text. They can give you general feedback but cannot replace an editor!

I’m sure most of us already know, love, and appreciate Grammarly, so now for the good stuff: How can AI help me while I’m writing?

When it comes to drafting, the best quality of AI is that it can do a lot of grunt work really quickly. For example, take a look at this sentence I wrote:

“Townes laid sleeping on my purple comforter as he cuddled my cardigan, his backside on top of my black pleather purse.”

Now, there’s a lot I don’t particularly like about this sentence, but I’m not sure how I want to change it. Instead, I’ll see if my good friend Copilot has any bright ideas.

I showed the AI the sentence that I wrote, but I didn’t make it very clear what I was unhappy about. Let’s try again:

Now I have around 15 versions of this sentence with different descriptors and details, but none of them quite feel like my voice. To remedy this, I’ll combine a few that I really like:

”Townes, the ever purring Maine Coon, lay fast asleep against my plush purple comforter, his paws wrapped around my cardigan and his back pressed into my black pleather purse.”

Notice that there are certain details that the AI can’t accurately expand on, such as the exact breed of my cat or the quality of my comforter. However, AI can recommend synonyms, adjectives, or help you find that one word that’s just on the tip of your tongue. The more specific you make your request, the better.

A lot of word processors already have AI writing tools built into their software, but those tools simply offer suggestions. A chatbot, on the other hand, can help explain why your writing is too drawn out, not engaging, or at the wrong reading level. Understanding the “why” is what improves your skills as a writer.

As you’re reviewing your draft, AI can help you bulk up frail ideas or themes, adjust your tone to set a certain mood, and suggest structure or organizational styles. For example, if you’re working on a different type of project than you’re used to, you could ask the bot to give you an example outline. I always find it best to ask for several variations on answers, like I did with my cat query.

In fact, when I asked my favorite chatbot, Copilot, what it could do for my writing, it responded, “Think of me as an editorial guide rather than a ghostwriter—I help shape your words rather than replace them.” (By the way, this is not a plug for Copilot–I just like that it’s free, big, and links its information to real websites.)

Creative Projects

One thing most creative writers have in common is that you can find really weird stuff in our search history. Now AI can answer all of those strange hypothetical questions for you! It can explain how someone with certain psychological conditions might react to an event, or how someone with a rare ailment might be cured. I remember one of the first fiction writer questions I had to ask the internet was, “If you hit someone over the head, how long would they be unconscious for?” I’m glad my parents never found that in my search history. They would have been very concerned.

The good news is, you no longer have to turn to weird subreddits or Quora, because AI can probably tell you the answer. However, I recommend fact-checking most of what it tells you, which is why any AI that links its sources (like Copilot) is preferable.

If you need a setting, have your AI list out five different environments and see if any of those spark an idea. From there, the chatbot could tell you what animals live in those habitats, what adaptations humans would have to survive in those habitats, or what kind of weather would be the most common. At this point, you could probably turn to the internet, and return to your AI conversation whenever Google fails to answer the more niche queries.

If you don’t know where to start your creative writing project, AI can remind you what elements you need to consider. Tell your chatbot about what you’re writing and what your concerns are. It can give you an itemized list of ideas for a solution, but it’s up to you to apply them effectively.

Throughout this process, it’s important to remember that writing is supposed to be hard. Practicing creativity is important, so try to use AI as a moving walkway rather than a crutch for idea generation.

Final Thoughts

There is a certain book—I won’t say the title—rounding out some best sellers lists, that I am convinced was at least partially written by AI. I refuse to read it after reading several reviews that describe the extremely generic world building and passages that eerily resemble other popular books. However, the book is popular online because it is an echo chamber of its genre, and there are many young readers who cannot yet discern the unoriginality of this story within the genre.

I don’t know for a fact whether this author used any AI to generate their writing, but the book's existence paints a grim picture of what the future of literature will look like if we let AI do the writing.

Let’s think of literature as we do the Met Gala red carpet. When you’re writing, you want your product to be like Zendaya or Bad Bunny. Your book is unique to you and stands out while still fitting within the theme or genre you’re writing in. You might make stylistic choices that remind us of other books or even add small accessories that reference specific icons, but the outfit altogether is distinct, and how you wear it makes it yours. You could ask AI to help you come up with color combinations or explain the theme in more detail, but if it designs the outfit for you, you’ll be a black suit with a fun pocket square that you threw in for a pop of color.

As writers continue to experiment with AI, I want to encourage you to not let robotic writing outputs make you self-conscious of imperfections in your own writing.  When we write, we make mistakes, and that’s OK. Comparing your first draft to AI’s writing would be like comparing Michelangelo’s “David” to a mannequin. One of them is cleaner, more uniform, and made faster, but no one is lining up to see a mannequin.

The Art of Promise-Keeping: Paratextual Clues and the Reader Experience

By Jack Kaulfus

We all know that books are more than just words: they’re little worlds between covers. As writers, we’re often mostly concerned with getting our stories to reflect the visions we’ve been working out for months on end. We’re hoping to keep our reader so engaged on the page that by the end of the book, they’ve had a highly curated experience with our specific little world. We want our characters to be perfectly rendered through dialogue and action, our settings to be expansive and meaningful, our themes to emerge with beauty and grace. 

However, if you’re only thinking about words, you might miss opportunities to create a more fully realized experience of story for your reader. Readers have been trained, over the course of their reading lives, to expect certain aspects of books to reveal information about the story inside. This means you have a unique storytelling opportunity to meet, enhance, or completely subvert their expectations. 

Enter The Paratext

According to Allison Parrish, French literary theorist Gérard Genette introduced the term "paratext" to describe elements like prefaces, introductions, dedications, and epigraphs. These can also take hypertextual forms, such as footnotes, tables of contents, indices, and bibliographies.

Think about your own habits when choosing a new book to read. Where do you look first? Despite the adage, a lot of us do judge books by their covers. We’re all aware that cover trends exist, and that the artwork often relays both genre and tone. Where do you look next? I’m in the habit of reading the summary on the back (or inside flap), glancing over the names of writers who have offered blurbs, finding the picture of the author (or noticing when there is none), and taking note of the publisher. All this before I even open it to see what the writing is like. 

Once I open the book, I flip through the pages to see if there’s anything interesting happening formally. I love to see footnotes in a fictional work, or what looks like a random illustration in what otherwise seems like a traditional narrative. These little details build readerly anticipation in me, and pique my curiosity about what the writer has in store.

Table of Contents + Chapter Titles

Your reader may not be consciously aware of it, but the table of contents plays a big part in setting expectations around narrative structure, tone, and pacing. Many novels don’t include a table of contents and don’t necessarily need one, but because the table of contents are at the beginning of the book, and are likely one of the first pages your reader will see. You can use those first couple of pages to your creative advantage if you like.

Consider The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois, by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers. Her table of contents provides insight into genre-defying, generational themes in the book. Each section is an unnamed song, and each chapter title reveals information about the family structure at the heart of the narrative.

You can also make decisions about pacing by separating your book into parts. Most readers have been primed for traditional narratives with three acts: the setup, the confrontation (challenges, etc), and the resolution. Your book does not need to follow the traditional narrative structure – plenty of fantastic books don’t – but you have an opportunity to either effectively telegraph Checkov’s gun, or pleasantly surprise your readers by upending their expectations about what comes when. 

Prologues, Epilogues, and Epigraphs

Framing devices fall in and out of favor, and they fit some narratives better than others. They tend to show up in sprawling novels with a lot of world-building, and provide a formal sense of structure. Prologues are not useful when they’re used as an expositional catch-all or a gimmicky hook. Most readers want to get started right away, and may skip the prologue altogether if it is overly long or seems to have nothing to do with the story. However, if your book has some experimental elements in it – if it slides into meta-territory or follows a nonlinear timeline – the prologue is a good place to creatively introduce some of those elements. 

Epigraphs are those quotes that show up at the beginning of the book (or sometimes at the beginning of chapters). They’re usually from familiar or historical works, and the aim is to provide allusive weight to whatever’s coming next in the book. Epigraphs can provide context, frame your book as part of an ongoing literary conversation, or prepare the reader to look out for upcoming themes. If you’re thinking about including epigraphs in your book, consider what you’re imparting the reader. Are you communicating something personal you want your reader to know about you as an author? Are you aligning your work with the one in the quote? Are you adding depth to character? Courtney Maum has some interesting viewpoints on why and how some epigraphs work better than others on her substack.

Footnotes and In-Story Artifacts

The first time I came into contact with footnotes in a semi-fictional work, I was enthralled. I found an airport read in the early 90s, and as my plane took off, I dove head-first into David Eggers’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Since then, I’ve been partial to works that use this conceit. Fictional indexes provide a similar thrill for me. The reason is simple: though obviously a work of popular literature, I begin to employ some of the same critical reading practices that I use with scholarly works. I’m no longer a passive reader – I’m entering into a kind of collaboration with the writer, and it feels like we have a tacit agreement that I’m going to find more inside this book than I expected. Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir In the Dream House brought footnotes to a whole new level – one that rewards readers who revisit the book.

I feel similarly about other artifacts that pop up in unexpected places: random-seeming illustrations, a harried-looking grocery list, or text thread between side characters. Though N.K. Jemisin doesn’t love maps in fantasy novels (they’re basically spoilers), she did end up posting one for The Fifth Season series online, and now the maps are included in all her books. 

Doug Dorst’s and JJ Abrams’s novel “S” uses paratextual elements to create a story within a story – an alternative narrative between characters who are only communicating through margin notes. As their relationship deepens, so does the reader’s understanding of both stories. And because we’re living in a time when our access to media allows for stories to  develop both in-universe and on virtual platforms, paratexts may now easily jump from page to screen to headphones. Plenty of books, especially in the romance genre, now include song playlists so readers can create story-specific ambience each time they crack open the book. 

So it's not just about what's on the page, it's about everything around it too. As writers, embracing the power of paratext offers a fantastic opportunity to deepen our connection with our audience and craft an immersive literary experience. While our primary focus will always be on crafting compelling narratives with well-wrought prose, paratextual elements offer us subtle and meaningful ways to actively shape the reader’s journey through each little world.

Take Your Writing to a New World: Tips for World-Building in Fiction

Hi writers! We kicked off 2019 with a new 4-part blog series called “Craft Q&A.” In this series, we tackle real questions submitted to us by Yellow Bird clients. Each question pertains to the craft of writing fiction. Without further ado, we present today’s question about world-building for Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Dystopian, and even Historical Fiction novels.

QUESTION: What are some pointers for writers who are working on a story that takes place in another time, place, or fantasy setting?

As exciting as Earth is in the 21st century, sometimes the best setting for a story is another world altogether. Many great stories take place in different timelines and dimensions, places where there are different rules and creatures, where the impossible becomes possible. Why limit your stories to the laws of physics and the history that’s already been written when you can make up your own laws and history?

High fantasy fiction takes place in secondary or parallel worlds, which can take an endless variety of forms. One of the best examples of a richly detailed world is J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, a diverse world filled with many creatures, lands, and languages that makes it the perfect setting for adventures. It’s a world containing different villages, kingdoms, and landscapes, from the peaceful Shire to the declining kingdom of Gondor to the desolate volcanoes of Mordor. There are elves and dwarves and hobbits and goblins and many more peoples and races that have their own history and personality. This world takes on a life of its own, and it’s an exemplary model of how you want to build your fictional world.

If you’re writing a story in another time or place, you have the power to develop everything from scratch. Creating these immersive and complex worlds can be a complicated process, but by following these steps when building your world, you can ensure your new fantasy setting becomes a believable and engaging place that your readers will never want to leave.

• Read other works. Learn from the best works of fiction already written. See how other authors show the elements of their world. As mentioned above, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are critical works to study. Examine how Tolkien develops the setting, characters, and the logic of Middle-earth, granting everything in his made-up world a believable explanation and a consistent history. Other classic fictional worlds include the universe of George Lucas’ Star Wars (and the Extended Universe that sprang up in other media over the years) and “The Known World” in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Find your favorite fantasies and note how they make the world work.

• Plan ahead. Writing about this world is difficult as it is. Creating a whole new world requires elaborate histories and backstories that involve thorough planning. You want to have a general idea, as well as specific details, of this world ready to go before you write a single word. Be able to rationalize why things work the way they do in your world. You need to have a complete grasp of the inner workings yourself before you can hope to depict this world for others. The more intimately you know your world, the more intricate your writing can be. Here is a quick list of things you should have fully considered before you start writing.

  • The people: What are their language, practices, and customs? What do they value?

  • The geographical layout of the world: How big or small is your world? Are there different regions, and if so, what are their defining characteristics?

  • The history of the world: How did the present day reach its current state? Are there any historical conflicts that affect the present? What was the most recent event that happened before your story begins? How technically advanced is the world?

• Make the world a character. Just as your characters grow throughout the story, so can the characters’ environment. Think of this new world as a character of its own. It should have its own feel, look, sound, and smell. The setting is your own creation that serves an integral role for your story, and it can grow as stories evolve. However, the world shouldn’t be the central character. Each detail you insert about the setting should serve a purpose, whether it’s building imagery or advancing the plot, so it’s best to avoid including superfluous details that don’t enhance the story in the long run.

• Use dialogue appropriately. It can be tempting to divulge all the details and histories about your new world in a character’s monologue, but dumping this information all at once is boring and unnecessary. When used sparingly and smartly, dialogue and diction can reveal much about a character’s nature, as well as the society and world in which they live. Aim for a healthy balance that equally favors descriptions, dialogue, and action.

• Double check the logic. If you’re writing a story set in an alternate timeline or a brand new world, that naturally means there are more loopholes that your story could fall through, especially as you find yourself taking your story in new directions you didn’t anticipate when you first started writing it. An event may be out place or a fact may contradict something you previously mentioned. Just as you should take the precious time before your writing to map out the details, take some extra time at the end to review what you’ve actually written. It’s important your details line up logically or else the invalidity of your world will undermine your writing.

Just as these tips advise what you should do, here is a quick list of things you shouldn’t do: Don’t write excessive descriptions. Don’t rely on high fantasy clichés. Don’t create stock characters. And don’t stress!

World building is not an easy task, but if planned thoroughly and executed carefully, you’ll enlighten your readers and bring them to a whole new world only you are capable of creating.

Show AND Tell: Navigating the Nuances of Showing vs. Telling

Hi writers! We thought we’d kick off 2019 with a new 4-part blog series called “Craft Q&A.” In this series, we will be tackling 4 real questions submitted to us by Yellow Bird clients. Each question pertains to the craft of writing fiction. Without further ado, we present today’s question about the nuances of showing vs. telling.

QUESTION: The classic writing advice is, "show, don't tell." But is that always good advice? Don't the best novels show AND tell? How do you know if you're "telling" too much, and what counts as telling?

As kids, we loved show and tell day at school. Proudly brandishing a souvenir from a trip or a prized family heirloom, we would capture the attention of our peers and then describe the object’s elaborate origin. Our description of its significance and why it’s special provided a glimpse into who we are and what’s important to us.

This simple presentation uses storytelling and visual aids to stir an interest in an object people would otherwise find insignificant. Show and tell relies on effective storytelling to take us into someone else’s world. Can we learn something from this grade school tradition in our writing techniques?

Writes always hear the mantra, “show, don’t tell.” Descriptions of scenes and dramatization of actions take precedence over the exposition and summary that simply take up space without accomplishing anything in an engaging fashion. Readers love to vividly imagine the characters’ expressions, feelings, and actions that remain unwritten in ink. This ability to stir a reader’s imagination is powerful, letting the story unfold with minimal hand-holding.

A story that simply tells its readers what is happening loses their attention fast. But that’s not to say telling is an inefficient technique that is completely forbidden. Rather, it is just one tool in a writer’s toolkit that can, and should, be used. Just like any craft, the best stories use a variety of tools.

The classic advice should be modified to say “show more than tell.”

Achieving this balance between showing and telling can be difficult. Learning exactly how to “show” a scene requires a lot of practice to begin with, but with practice makes perfect, so keep writing and rewriting to hone these skills. As you master the art of storytelling, keep these guidelines in mind.

• Avoid detail-dumping. When you are giving background information, make sure the details are necessary. Don’t overwhelm readers by dumping the entire backstory of a character or society in the first few pages. Weave these details in throughout the story when it is necessary to develop characterization or advance the plot. Write every word with a purpose, and make every sentence worth something to the reader.

• Make your writing cinematic. Evoke emotion with your writing and give your characters enough movement so you don’t have to explicitly list personality traits; instead, your readers can just tell who the character is from his or her diction and action, or lack thereof. Use all five senses in your writing so that your readers feel an emotional response without you telling them how they should be feeling.  

• Put your readers in the scene. This is a good technique to help minimize unnecessary telling. Prioritize first-hand information over second-hand by letting readers see the action happen with their own eyes (or the mind’s eye). No one likes to hear about a past event because they weren’t there when it occurred. There is no emotional attachment to the event or the character. Instead, if you’re giving important backstory, tell it through a flashback. Let the reader experience the scene in real time rather than read about something that’s already happened.

• Replace adjectives with actions. If your character goes through a tough breakup or suffers a major loss in the family, they would feel sad. But how sad do they feel, and what do they do with that sadness? Do they completely shut down and withdraw socially? Do they reach out for consolation and company? Do they continue functioning as if nothing happened? Not only do these details convey their sadness, they provide more insight into how the character acts during this sadness than if you simply said they were sad. By replacing adjectives with actions, you achieve the technique of showing, while revealing more about a character than you would otherwise.

• Believe in your readers’ abilities. By describing something rather than simply telling it, you’re giving your readers some credit to their ability to imagine what is happening. You don’t have to spell out every single detail for them. Instead, let their imagination take hold as you plant the seeds of emotion and action in their brains with your words. Push them in the right direction, but let them form their own conclusions and interpretations. With each word that adds to their mental scene, they’ll feel more invested in the plot and connected to the characters.

• Write. Write. Write. Revising and reworking scenes is the best way to practice this technique. Your first draft might consist of you simply explaining the scene, and that’s okay. On your second draft, start taking out the mechanics of the scene and adding descriptions. The third draft should involve more rewriting, and the fourth and fifth drafts even more so. Making mistakes is a normal part of writing, and only through trial and error will you be able to learn how to perfect the art of showing.

“Show, don’t tell” is important advice to consider, but don’t let it consume your writing. If telling works in the moment and conveys what you need, do that. Additionally, showing doesn’t mean never telling. Explore the nuances of your writing to discover how you can incorporate both into your story or when you need to utilize one technique over the other.

The best writing finds the perfect balance between showing and telling. Sometimes, as writers, we have to channel our inner child and see how show and tell still has its benefits.  

6 Tips For Fast Drafting

There is no reason to wait for November to bang through a novel draft. Nope. No reason at all. And while NaNoWriMo excels in getting writers to go butt-in-chair and pound the keys each Turkey Season, you should feel free to do your own draft writing months whenever you have the time. (Because seriously? November? Thanksgiving week messes up my word count every time I NaNoWriMo. Anyone else have this problem?)

To send you on your way, here are some tips to run your own fast draft any time you want:

1.     Perfection is unrealistic. You’re rolling your eyes, aren’t you? You know that you can’t write perfectly if you fast draft, and yet I have to type this. And it has to be number one. And when you hit page eighty and the muse is off taking a cat nap, you need to remember this. It’s not only that your writing won’t be perfect, but your scenes won’t be either. Neither will your plot. Your goal is to get to the end so that you know if this novel is a shoe or a houseboat. A barn or a skyscraper.

2.     Don’t write the stuff you don’t want to write. I often hear my writing coaching clients say, “I couldn’t get myself to sit down and work because the character had to go to grandma’s funeral and I didn’t want to write that part.” So? Skip it. You heard me. Skip to the next chapter, summarize or leave yourself bullet point notes if you must, but keep typing. Keep going!

3.     There is no such thing as a Plotter or a Pantser. The only way to keep your story from being underplotted or overplotted is to both plot and fly by the seat of your pants. So, try to write down all the important plot events on one piece of paper while drafting, but don’t get married to those plot events. This will give you the limitation you need to keep being creative as well as the permission to let your story evolve.

4.     Writer’s Block isn’t real. It should be called Character’s Block, because it’s not the writer who has hit a wall, but the character. If you get stuck, back up at least twenty pages. You’re not going to want to because you want to keep moving forward, but almost every case of writer’s block I encounter is because the character made the wrong narrative choice several scenes earlier. Fix the choice and keep writing!

5.     Leave the beginning alone. I can’t tell you how often I work with writers who have re-written the beginning seventeen times and the ending twice. That’s because whenever the writer learns something new about their character, the writer tends to double back to make sure that said epiphany is in the beginning. But you really don’t want to do that. Keep a running list next to your workspace of all the things you’d like to change about the beginning, but don’t backslide and go fix it. Writers who can’t avoid heading back to the beginning over and over tend to overwrite and stiffen up their opening into oblivion until it’s become unusable.

6.     Set yourself a goal and don’t let it go. The reason that NaNoWriMo gets novels written is that there is a support network. You can go on your social media and say, “Can’t talk now. I’m NaNoWriMoing.” So when you set up your own fast draft season, make sure you have your schedule and intentions arranged upfront. Meet those intentions no matter what, and make sure that the people in your lives know that you’re drafting and therefore busy with a capital B.

Remember that the first draft—the fast draft or shitty draft—is about embracing the calamity of inspiration. Let it be a mess, and it will launch you on your way. All you have to do is let it.

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Cori McCarthy is the author of four young adult novels and the middle grade category winner of the 2014 Katherine Patterson Award for her novel in verse. Cori’s books include the space thriller The Color of Rain (Running Press Teens, 2013), the near-futuristic thriller Breaking Sky (Sourcebooks, 2015), the contemporary mixed format novel You Were Here(Sourcebooks, 2016), and the forthcoming Now A Major Motion Picture (Sourcebooks, 2018). Breaking Sky is in development at Sony Pictures to become a feature length film. Cori holds three degrees in writing: a BA in Creative Writing from Ohio University (emphasis in poetry and memoir writing), as well as a graduate certificate in screenwriting from UCLA, and an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Cori lives in the Midwest and is the cofounder of the charitable initiative Rainbow Boxes. She has been writing fiction, nonfiction, screenplays, and poetry for 15+ years, and editing all genres for 5+ years. For more information on Cori, please check out her website www.CoriMcCarthy.com.

AREAS OF SPECIALTY: Speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy fiction (including high fantasy), poetry, novels in verse, contemporary fiction, humorous fiction, middle grade & young adult novels, screenplays, thrillers, unique memoirs, graphic novels, adaptations of fairy tales.

AVAILABLE FOR: Manuscript critiques, query letter editing, content editing, developmental editing, writing coaching.

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