When Do You Know?

We had an interesting conversation during #kidlitchat last night about how you know when you've written or read a "winner" of a manuscript. Is it hook? Voice? Something else?

My take on reading from agents, editors, and fellow writers is that there's really an emotional reaction of some sort that lets you know - you want to tell everyone about it; writing scenes makes you laugh or cry (as appropriate!); your characters have a life of their own and you like spending time with them; you miss your subway stop to keep reading. There's also a difference between thinking you've written something fantastic and getting validation from others that proves the point - validation that usually produces an emotional reaction!

It was interesting for me, as I don't know that I'd ever spent time thinking about the question before, and it's hard to come up with a concrete answer. It really is kinda "I'll know it when I see it" situation.


You can find all the #kidlitchat transcripts here (including last night's, May 18th). I found it really interesting to see the different perspectives of what would let you know. And feel free to add yours to the mix, here, too!