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Joined: 4/7/2014
Posts: 141
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Book Country member Alex Rosa has just published TRYST, her New Adult novel, with Penguin InterMix!
Have any questions for Alex about the overall editing and publishing process? Post your questions below and Alex will answer them next week!
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I have a question! 
Alex, how much of the book did they want edited? Small sections (E.g., tweaking sentences and such), or whole scenes? How much did they want changed?
Newbie Writer, Amber
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Joined: 6/7/2013
Posts: 1356
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My question for Alex is about the cover--what was the process of that like for you? It's such a cool cover--I love it!
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I have several questions for Miss Rosa! 
How did you become a published author?
What steps did you have to take in order to be published?
Is it expensive to get published?
What do you recommend to aspiring authors who want to be published?
How do you increase the amount of people your stories reach on Wattpad or Book Country?
What has been your motivation through the publishing process and writing in general?
Thanks for all/any answers!
-Noelle, Aspiring Author
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Joined: 6/14/2012
Posts: 194
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Hi, Alex! Sometimes I have a hard time finding a title that works for me and the publishing team. Was "Tryst" your first choice? Did you have help coming up with it?
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Joined: 4/28/2014
Posts: 40
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Alex, what is your overall process when you write a story? Do you begin with an idea and expand it into a novel by writing it out, or do you first outline the story? And after you completed your manuscript, did you take a break from it before you began editing?
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Joined: 4/25/2013
Posts: 14
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Awesome question Amber!
I had originally posted my work online, and as you can imagine, it was quite a rough draft, but I did give it to an editor once I had finished writing it. This involved general clean up, e.g. run ons, grammar, etc.
So, TRYST was as clean as I could make it before it was requested by an editor here on Book Country, but my word count was still pretty high (Over 100K, which is over the genre average of 90K). Generally, my editor Kristine, liked the story already, but we knew we had to get this word count down. As a writer, you kinda freak out because you love every word you've written, but this was actually a great process. You learn what it means to tighten up a manuscript, making the story more devourable  We did reduce the appearance of one character to help strengthen other relationships in the novel, which involved cutting a couple entire scenes. (ow). In turn, this of course helped get that word count down! I was reluctant at first, but having an editor help explain how certain plots might effect your choice audience definitely made me understand the necessity of cutting. What is that Faulkner quote? " In writing, you must kill your darlings." This for sure happens. We definitely tweaked and cut sentences, but that was to help the flow. Sometimes when editing you have to remember the readability part along with continuity.
As far as what I did/did not want to change: There was a specific scene I was reluctant to cut/change, and I felt as the author it was important for the reader to witness. It was suggested I cut it entirely or change the character interaction. Although I agreed to 98% of all suggested edits on TRYST, this was one I did not accept. I stood by this entire scene, and explained why we shouldn't cut it. My editor had no problem with it, and it remains in the novel. So, I always like to tell aspiring authors that if there's a scene you FEEL is right, go with your gut, but still try to keep an open mind. There's a difference between being "too attached to your own words" versus "this helps the prose", but never forget you know your characters better than anyone.
Thanks for question Amber! I wrote an essay. haha. Sorry about that. <3
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Joined: 4/25/2013
Posts: 14
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"My question for Alex is about the cover--what was the process of that like for you? It's such a cool cover--I love it!"
My dear Lucy! <3 Great question!
The cover process was fairly simply, but I think I'm lucky that we had a good idea what we wanted to do with the cover from the start. We wanted California vibes, a dreamy color scheme, and a guy on the cover that captures book-boyfriend material, Blake, in TRYST. My editor had sent over covers of other books to show me the look/colors she was thinking for TRYST, and we worked from there. I loved the starting point we had and felt confident moving forward. With all these notes and ideas, she took this with her to a meeting with the cover designer, and really, the rest is history. I think I got lucky that we were all on the same page. I love the vibe of this cover, and the guy on it is definitely somkin'
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Joined: 4/7/2014
Posts: 141
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"We wanted California vibes, a dreamy color scheme..."
The cover definitely captures that California vibe!
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Joined: 4/25/2013
Posts: 14
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Elizabeth Moon:
Hi, Alex! Sometimes I have a hard time finding a title that works for me and the publishing team. Was "Tryst" your first choice? Did you have help coming up with it?
Thanks for dropping this question Elizabeth! I adore word play in general, and have my favorites. I like the "one word" title experience, too, where the definition of it can say a lot.
I had been stewing over this title for awhile, and knew in my mind bank of words I had a good one somewhere. I suddenly remembered when I was planning a trip to Vegas that there's nightclub I like, and it's actually called Tryst. I loved the idea of this word immediately and that it was ideal for a forbidden-romance book. TRYST was the perfect title, it seriously wraps up the book so perfectly for me. I mean how amazing is this definition:
tryst
noun
1.
a private, romantic rendezvous between lovers.
"a moonlight tryst"
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Joined: 4/25/2013
Posts: 14
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Marlin55
Alex, what is your overall process when you write a story? Do you begin with an idea and expand it into a novel by writing it out, or do you first outline the story? And after you completed your manuscript, did you take a break from it before you began editing?
Hi Marlin55! Thanks so much for the awesome questions! Umm, for me, with any story, TRYST included, usually blossoms from a key scene that's popped up in my head. I tend to latch onto it if I love the scene, and build around it. It can be a fun rough-and-tumble mind game when I have a general idea of a goal/scene, and even a picture of the characters involved, then build a plot or storyline around it. For TRYST, it was the first chapter I had in my head that introduces the characters that had me hooked. Lucky for me that was a starting point of the book. I've had other novel ideas where I have a scene right in the middle of a plot, and I have to rework the way of thinking and build a starting point. It can be fun creating a plot this way!
I consider myself a pantser and not much of a plotter/outliner, but I do like to talk out my plot ideas, but I don't necessarily like writing them down. Sometimes, just hearing the ideas swirling around in my head out loud helps me move forward in the writing process. In way, that's my form of plotting. Usually this comes at the half way point of writing a book because I tend to feel that I need to make sure the story pulls in tighter and starts concluding everything I've been building. I'm lucky enough to have a great writing partner who will talk a plot over the phone, skype call, or when she cruises into town we can discuss our current writing projects. I find having a writing partner in the plotting/outlining process an invaluable tool!
I'm not a huge fan of editing. haha. I wish I could clone myself and give that clone the sole purpose of containing the essence of me and my ideas, but editing all of my manuscripts. Haha. I'll take a solid break after finishing a novel. I need to break away from a manuscript once it's completed. Usually I'll go read a book from an author who I know will give me some creative inspiration and a fresh look at words, and then re-approach my manuscript with renewed eyes
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Joined: 11/6/2014
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Thanks for all your great answers, Alex. Hope I'm not too late to add another question! You had self-published a book before Tryst got picked up by Penguin Intermix. Aside from getting a lot more promotion for this book, how have the experiences varied? Do you plan to continue being a hybrid author? --edited by Jayden Abello on 3/26/2015, 9:51 AM--
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Joined: 4/28/2014
Posts: 40
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Alex, thank you for all of the replies. They are a wealth of information for me.
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Yes, Alex. Thanks so much for answering our questions
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Joined: 6/7/2013
Posts: 1356
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Hehe. Thanks, Alex!
Follow up question if you don't mind: What do you think separates New Adult covers from other Romance covers? Is there a quality that really makes them distinct?
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