So, I’m a bit late with this month’s GUESTOPIA
interview – I blame NaNoWriMo, the excitement of Pitch Wars, and all the other
things that life throws at us at this time of year. But, I’m here! I’m back! And, best yet, I have a
wonderful middle grade author who I’m delighted to introduce you to today.
STACIE HAAS
Stacie Haas is an award-winning professional and
creative writer with background in business communications, public relations,
and reputation management. She has been repeatedly honored with national MarCom Platinum
and Gold awards for writing corporate social responsibility reports for a
Fortune 500 company.
Her writing has appeared in national magazines
like St. Anthony Messenger and Skipping Stones. She has
degrees in English and American History and is a graduate of the Institute of
Children’s Literature.
Stacie's debut
novel, Freedom for Me: A Chinese Yankee, was published in
November 2017 by Melody Press, an imprint 5050 Press.
She is currently hard at work on her next project. Stacie resides
in Northern Kentucky with her husband, Michael, their three children, and
chocolate lab mutt.
And off we go with the interview!
Is this your first published book?
Yes!
What’s it called?
Freedom for Me: A Chinese Yankee
Which genre?
Historical Fiction
Which age group?
Upper middle grade/young adult. It’s written
for ages 10 and up.
Is it a series or standalone?
Standalone (for now).
Are you an agented author?
No.
Which publisher snapped up your book?
How involved have you been in the whole publishing process of your book?
I feel I have been involved every step of the
way, but am certainly grateful that I had the guidance of my publisher and its
owners, Stephen Hall and Megan Cassidy Hall.
Do you have another job?
Yes. I am a senior public relations manager
for a Fortune 500 company.
Did you receive many, if any, rejections prior?
It was about 10 between publishers and agents.
The agent rejections were hard to take, but those that took the time to tell me
why were helpful in retrospect. I didn’t receive responses from any of the
publishers I originally queried. I waited and waited for a response, but didn’t
receive one. Those are the worst, I think. I understand the sheer number of
queries they receive, but to hear nothing is a rejection without closure. It’s
hard to take.
What created/what were you doing or watching when the first idea for
this book sneaked up on you?
My novel is based on a real-life Chinese Yankee named Joseph Pierce. I
first learned of him many years ago when a friend of my father’s gifted me an
old stack of his Civil War magazines. I have a degree in American History and
have always loved studying the American Civil War. Being of Chinese heritage, I
was thrilled to learn about a Chinese Civil War soldier because I’d been under
the mistaken impression that the Chinese didn’t come to America until after the
war was over. I was fascinated and started researching deeper.
A few years later, I decided to pursue my love of creative writing and
started taking courses at the Institute of Children’s Literature. My third
course was designed to help with writing a first manuscript. I decided to give
it a go.
How long did you plot/plan until you started writing it?
Not long, but I had many starts and stops. I
originally intended to write a non-fiction book. Once I got started, I realized
that I simply didn’t have enough historical facts to do justice to a non-fiction
work. My instructor at the Institute suggested that I turn it into a fiction
story. I jumped at the chance to base my story on the real soldier, and to fill
in the historical gaps using my experiences as a person of Chinese heritage. I
did plot out the story chapter by chapter originally. The general direction of
the novel is the same today, but there were many changes and additions to the
story along the way.
Once you started, did the story flow naturally or did you have to step
in and wrestle it into submission?
It flowed very naturally in the first draft.
The words appeared on paper, but the writing wasn’t very good at that point. As
a first-time novelist, I had a lot to learn about the process of writing. I
started with a major issue, which I’ll call adverb-itis. I wrote with too much
filtering and got bogged down in historical details that slowed the pace of the
story. Then, in later drafts, I worked on dialogue and tagging properly and so
forth. I found that editing with one particular issue in mind made a huge
difference for me.
How many drafts did you write before you let someone read it? Who was that someone?
With my first draft, I was writing as part of
a class assignment so my instructor read every chapter along the way. Once I graduated
from that course, I had an unpolished manuscript that was complete but nowhere
near submission ready. Of course, I didn’t know that at the time. I submitted
to my first publisher shortly after the course was over and didn’t get a
response. After that, I ended up getting a test edit done on my first few
chapters and learned a great deal. The most significant thing I learned was
that the editing I’d done to tighten my language actually took me way below the
standard word count for my upper middle grade/teen audience. What a rookie
mistake!
Did you employ an editor/proofreader or did you have a critique
partner/beta readers before you started querying?
Yes, and across several years. After the
initial test edit and a rewriting, I had some beta readers give me feedback,
which proved invaluable. Several years and several drafts later, I felt I was
getting close to a submission-ready manuscript so I had a professional critique
done. It ended up being very encouraging because the issues identified were
minimal and easily fixed. Prior to submitting my novel the final time, I
employed a proof reader who was able to find those little errors that my eyes
had simply stopped seeing.
Roughly how many drafts did it take before you sent the manuscript off
into the real world?
I honestly don’t know, but my best guess is
five. And that doesn’t include revisions to individual chapters along the way,
of which there were many.
How many drafts until it was published?
At least five, maybe more.
Has the book changed dramatically since the first draft?
Yes, and some of the changes were quite
significant. The first major change was the addition of a key character. I was
several drafts in before I realized that I was writing a book about the war to
end slavery and didn’t have any slaves in the story. The character of Sam is
integral to the book. I love the character and can’t imagine the story without
him now.
The other big change was to the opening scene
of the first chapter. The content didn’t change dramatically, but how it was
written did. I knew I didn’t love it, but it took me quite a while to figure
out how to make it better. Once I did, the rejections stopped and I got my
first requests for a full manuscript in a matter of weeks. Never underestimate
the power of your opening scene!
Are there any parts you’d like to change even now?
Now that I read it as a published book, I
still wonder about little ways to make the story stronger. I suppose that will
always be the case.
What part of writing do you find the easiest?
Writing after I have a plotline established.
What part do you find hardest?
Plotting.
Do you push through writing barriers or walk away?
Both. When I actually have a chunk of time to
spend on writing, I will push my way through because that uninterrupted writing
time is rare and priceless. When I struggle in those instances, I’ll pick a
chapter and do some polishing to get me back into a writing mode. If, on the other hand, I’m trying to sneak in
some writing time and it doesn’t happen, I usually let it go and revisit it
later.
How many projects do you have on the go at the same time?
For most of the time writing Freedom for Me it was just one major
project, although I participated in Flash Fiction contests for fun. I love the
challenge of creating a complete story in 250 words. I am always writing,
however, for my day job. Currently, I’m working on another middle grade novel.
Do you think you’re born with the talent to write or do you think it can be learned?
From an early age, I enjoyed putting pen to paper. I don’t know if I was
born with any natural talent, but I had a need to write to understand how I
felt about things. It was always a natural thing for me to do.
However, writing can definitely be learned and improved. My
twelve-year-old son doesn’t believe me when I say that practicing writing
really helps. It’s just like anything else. In the process of writing just this
one book, I think I’ve grown significantly as a writer. My early drafts of Freedom for Me are cringe-worthy, but I
treasure those drafts because I didn’t stop there. I tried to hone a new
skill—filtering, pace, characterization—with every re-write and edit. And in
the end, I know I gave it my best effort.
How many future novels do you have planned?
Two as of right now. One is in the works; the
other is in the idea stages.
Do you write other things, such as short stories, articles, blogs, etc?
I maintain a blog on my website,
staciehaas.com, and I enjoy Flash Fiction contests. I also write every day for
my day job—press releases, feature articles, and annual reports.
What’s the highlight of being published so far?
Holding the book in my hand and simply knowing
how many drafts (and years) it took to get it there.
Give me one writing tip that work for you.
Writing when the mood strikes and not stopping
until it ends.
And one that doesn't.
Trying to write within a set timeframe like
NaNoWriMo. I absolutely love the idea of a daily word count to accomplish the
monumental task of writing a novel in a month, but it doesn’t work for me or in
my daily life. It makes writing too much like work, and I already have a day
job. Writing for me is a purely enjoyable exercise and I don’t like to add the
pressure of that. I feel it stifles my creativity. (But, boy, am I impressed
with writers who can do it successfully!).
Can you give us a clue or secret about the next book?
It’s a middle grade novel about a nine-year-old boy who is obsessed with
impressing his dad with his baseball skills. An unfortunate injury and a
diagnosis that puts him in occupational therapy forces him to adjust his plans
and his definition of success.
What question have you always wanted to be asked but never have? What
would the answer be?
Now, that’s a good question! I don’t know. I
suppose the question I always want the opportunity to answer is why I like
studying American history, and the Civil War, specifically. And my answer is
that war brings out the best and worst in people. It’s the perfect time to
learn and understand a country and the mindset of its people because of those
two extremes. Plus, I’m a patriot at heart and always have been. If you want to
understand why a country is worth fighting for, I feel strongly that you should
“ask” those people who are willing to stand up and serve. They never fail to
teach us if we’re willing to “listen” to them.
Fantastic! Thank you so much for joining me today, Stacie, and I, and everyone else at YAtopia, wish you all the best with your book.
If you would like to follow Stacie's journey and connect with her, these links might help!
Publisher's Website
Twitter
Facebook
Freedom for Me: A Chinese Yankee debuted in November 2017 from 5050 Press. Buy it on Amazon.com in paperback or e-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077BSB7RP/
Freedom for Me: A Chinese Yankee debuted in November 2017 from 5050 Press. Buy it on Amazon.com in paperback or e-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077BSB7RP/
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