And if perfectionism demons (this is an ongoing battle for me) get in the way of your writing, I can recommend Hillary Rettig’s The 7 Secrets of the Prolific. Sometimes you need to find a new way to approach your writing in my last big revision, Donald Maass’ The Emotional Craft of Fiction helped me do that. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission to step away, take a break, fill the well. I think every writer faces doubts like that, but the important thing is not to let them set up shop in your head and derail you. My writing friends kept me going through those times with their love and encouragement. There were many dark days when I thought I wasn’t smart enough to write this book. At the outset, it seemed like a straight-forward story, but of course it turned into something with multiple threads, what felt at times like hundreds of characters, and tons of research.

Gita: It took me about 2 ½ years from inception to querying. Tell us about your experience writing Enchantée. Gita: Exciting! But unfamiliar, like moving from behind the camera to standing in front of it. A MONTH! Here’s the scoop.įirst of all, how does it feel to be interviewed for The Winged Pen instead of writing a post? Gita is too modest to tell you this herself, but when she queried Enchantée, she rocked it! She had an 80% request rate, got her first offer after 16 days, received one request from an agent who’d heard about her novel through the rumor mill, and ended up with offers from six agents.

It’s full of magic and romance, struggles to get by, and the excesses of Versailles. Gita Trelease’s Enchantée (Flatiron/Macmillan, 2019) is a gorgeously-written YA historical fantasy set in pre-revolutionary Paris. We’ll get an agent and sell a book…eventually! When revisions needed in our work-in-progress seem endless or a rejected query has us ready to give up, they’re the reminder that the next step will happen.

Enchantée by gita trelease