Meeting: August 2024 - Layer Cake: Add Depth and Flavor for a More Powerful Manuscript

“Writing a story is like creating a cake,” she said. “Every story starts with a plain batter, but with flavor, layers, and design, each story becomes unique.” The presentation demonstrated how to “layer themes, emotions, and other details into a manuscript, to make it stand out with agents, editors and readers.”

Samantha M. Clark is author of middle grade novel THE BOY, THE BOAT AND THE BEAST (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books, 2018), and chapter book series GEMSTONE DRAGONS (Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2022).

Also, our Austin SCBWI chapter was lucky to have her leading us as Regional Advisor for 10 years!

Meeting Highlights

Recipe for a delicious layer-cake manuscript:

• Gather Ingredients: Identify what you need—Characters, World, Setting, Ideas
• Mix: Flesh out the ideas; Write; Create a first draft
• Add Layers: Readers remember books with deeper emotions; Add subplots; Revise; Edit

Deeper emotions allow readers to feel: humor, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, danger, excitement, suspense, love, joy, awe, thrill, surprise 

Ask yourself: what do you want readers to feel?

“Show, don’t tell” (Let readers experience emotions via the characters)

Create opposing emotions by using action and dialogue rather than narrative

Build tension through secondary and nuanced emotions

Thrill through surprise by employing: 

• A countering of expectations
• Plot twists and turns
• Misdirection
• Holding back information (until the last possible moment a reader needs it to understand the story)
• Scene/setting/props

Connect through theme by using: 

• Symbolism (subtle and specific to your story)
• Motifs (repetitive ideas woven into the story)

Add flavor with language to:

• Set the tone in your very first paragraph
• Elevate the manuscript
• Enhance the reader experience
• Fit the story
• Evoke emotion

Tips for layering:

• Compile word lists
• Brainstorm/use mind maps
• Less is more (sprinkle in depth and flavor)
• Revise, revise, revise: word by word and sentence by sentence
• Keep it organic—so readers will eat it up!

For more information about Samantha M. Clark, follow the link to her website.