The key to building a team is to draw on real relationships. If you try luring people in to help you for entirely self-serving reasons, they will know. Be a real friend and a good literary citizen. Give as much as you get, and, hopefully, your team will emerge organically. Here’s a peek at my dream team:

1. The Cheerleader

The Cheerleader is that friend who believes in you. The one who had faith in you before anyone else did, maybe before you believed in yourself. She tells everyone she knows about your books. She not only introduces you to her book club, but shares all your good news on social media and slaps your book into every hand she can.

2. The Editor

This craft-focused friend reads your manuscripts carefully and writes detailed notes. She starts her edit letter like this: “I know you were hoping this manuscript was closer to being ready, but …” She is laser-focused on helping you find your flaws and guiding you to possible solutions. 

I’m not referring to your editor at your publishing house. I’m talking about a friend who is invested in your writing from the first draft to the final product. This is the wordsmith friend who will notice your writing tics and challenge you with questions about theme, motivation, and desire.

3. The Therapist

The Therapist is one who always takes your calls and listens to you whine even when (especially when) you are being a brat or overly sensitive. Because let’s face it, bad reviews and rejections hurt. Writer’s block can feel like a dark hole with no ladder out. Sometimes you just need someone who is willing to listen and commiserate but not necessarily try to fix things. 

4. The Critic

The Critic is the friend who doesn’t sugarcoat anything. He gives it to you straight and tells you if he hates a character, if the ending is too contrived, or if the writing is too flowery. I’d rather hear the tough stuff while I’m editing, than when it’s already on shelves. As opposed to the Editor friend, the Critic critiques like a reader would, not an editor. If he was rating you on Goodreads, he would leave you a two-star review if he thought your work wasn’t up to snuff.

Don’t take it personally. This friend cares about your work or he wouldn’t bother reading it. (And If the tough love is too much, you can always call your Therapist friend afterward.)

5. The Petty Friend

I’m not above admitting I can be petty, and it helps to have a friend who sees my pettiness and matches it with her own. The key to this relationship is recognizing boundaries. What you discuss with your Petty Friend stays in the vault.

But why do you need to be petty, you ask? Being an author can be stressful. Having a safe place to dump your insecurities, hurt feelings, disappointments, jealousies, and regrets without fear of judgment is priceless. This is the friend who always sides with you and unquestioningly hates your nemesis on your behalf. The one who detests the book that beat yours for a big award and will shred reviews critical of your novel. (Just to be clear, my Petty Friend is one of the most kind-hearted people I know. She would never act on the pettiness we discuss, but her willingness to get angry on my behalf makes me feel less alone.)

Who is on your team? Are you a Cheerleader, Editor, Therapist, Critic, or Petty Friend? Do you play different roles for different writer friends?

As a journalist, Julie Carrick Dalton has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Orion Magazine, Electric Literature, and other publications. A Tin House and Bread Loaf alum, and graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, Dalton holds a master’s degree in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis. A mom to four kids and two dogs, Dalton is an avid skier, hiker, and kayaker. A former beekeeper, she also farms a gorgeous tract of land in rural New Hampshire.

For more information, visit her website, or you can follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

The post #5onFri: The Five Friends Every Author Needs appeared first on DIY MFA.

As a journalist, Julie has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Electric Literature, and other publications.

She contributes to Dead Darlings, Writer Unboxed, and The Chicago Review of Books. A Tin House alum and graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, Julie holds a master’s in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. She is passionate about climate fiction and is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of the climate crisis.

A Mom to four kids and two dogs, Julie is an avid skier, hiker, and kayaker. She also owns a small farm in rural New Hampshire, which is the backdrop for her debut novel, Waiting for the Night Song.

In this episode Julie and I discuss:

• How Julie initially wrote her story, the parts she omitted to get to the heart of it, and how she used Scrivener to put it all back together. 
• What made one of Julie’s childhood friendships so significant that it inspired the plot of the story.
• Why Climate Fiction is an important, budding genre that Julie believes needs fostering.

Plus, her #1 tip for writers.

About Julie Carrick Dalton

As a journalist, Julie Carrick Dalton has published more than a thousand articles in The Boston Globe, BusinessWeek, The Hollywood Reporter, Electric Literature, and other publications. She contributes to Dead Darlings, The Writer Unboxed, and The Chicago Review of Books. A Tin House alum and graduate of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator, Julie holds a master’s in literature and creative writing from Harvard Extension School. She is a frequent speaker on the topic of writing fiction in the age of climate crisis. Mom to four kids and two dogs, Julie is an avid skier, hiker, and kayaker. She also owns a small farm in rural New Hampshire, the backdrop for her debut novel, Waiting for the Night Song.

You can find Julie on her website or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Waiting for the Night Song

Waiting for the Night Song is a book club book with elements of suspense and environmental themes that will appeal to fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and Barbara Kingsolver novels.

Cadie Kessler has spent decades trying to cover up one truth. One moment. But deep down, didn’t she always know her secret would surface?

An urgent message from her long-estranged best friend, Daniela Garcia, brings Cadie, now a forestry researcher, back to her childhood home. There, Cadie and Daniela are forced to face a dark secret that ended both their idyllic childhood bond and the magical summer that takes up more space in Cadie’s memory than all her other years combined.

Now grown up, bound by long-held oaths, and faced with truths she does not wish to see, Cadie must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to protect the people and the forest she loves, as drought, foreclosures, and wildfire spark tensions between displaced migrant farmworkers and locals.

A moving and timely debut, Waiting for the Night Song is a love song to the natural beauty around us, a call to fight for what we believe in, and a reminder that the truth will always rise.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 342

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The post Episode 342: Multiple Timelines, Climate Fiction, and a Childhood Code of Honor – Interview with Julie Carrick Dalton appeared first on DIY MFA.