Behind the Scenes of Harvester

Behind the Scenes gives you a closer look at the process of writing a manuscript. This edition features Rachel Russell and her manuscript, Harvester. Rachel is a YA author who loves dirty martinis and eating pickles on her pizza. She is the Submissions Coordinator for Month9Books, as well as an editorial intern for Swoon Romance. She regularly posts giveaways, interviews, and submissions tips on her blog.

Inspiration for Harvester:

the cute seven-tailed kitsune, the rustic charm of cowboys in dusters, the mysterious sidhe faeries, blue fire, underground cities, and beautiful - yet creepy - caves

About Harvester:

"I recently completed Harvester, a YA fantasy about a sixteen-year-old headstrong girl named Catalina. She's a mage and lives in a city hidden underground. In the story, there are some mages who go around murdering faeries and harvesting the body parts to increase their own power. Which is why these few mages are called Harvesters. Catalina ends up being framed for one such murder. With the help of a scarf-loving best friend, a boy who’s dying from a curse, and an outlaw faery, Catalina must work to stop the serial killer and prove her own innocence."

A piece of Rachel's writing process:

"I’m a plotter like whoa. If I don’t map out my entire story, I inevitably end up petering out halfway through. Or screaming 'SHINY!' and abandoning the manuscript for a new idea. So, yeah. Like I said, I plot. If you’d like to try my method of plotting, you’ll need: an array of colored pens or markers, index cards, and a corkboard.

First, I start by jotting down a one-sentence summary of the main plot for each chapter on a regular ole sheet of paper, from start to finish. Once I’m certain about the outline, I break out the index cards.

On the index cards, I re-write the one-sentence summary of the plot for that chapter. Beneath that, in a different color, I write a summary of the scene.

Beneath that, in yet another color, I map the emotional journey. Character emotions shouldn’t be stagnant, but rather flow from negative to positive and vice versa. If the main character starts off in a positive emotion at the start of a scene or chapter, I try to ensure in the following portion they’re in a negative state. If you do this right, the emotional journey should form a wave-like pattern, always rising and falling.

Beneath all of this, I also record what the core conflict is in that scene.

After I’ve finished filling out all my index cards, I tack them onto my storyboard (corkboard). This allows me to take a step back and evaluate the entire story for any weak spots. Scrivener has an awesome version of this, but I prefer handwriting and actual paper at this stage."