Can you share with aspiring authors some of the biggest changes your lit. agent and publisher made to your book on the path to publication? As an aspiring author, I'm curious about how much I can expect my plots and characters to be changed.

In comparing the version of SLA that I first sent to my agent and the book it is now…it’s QUITE different. But the differences that come between versions of books aren’t changes made by agents/publishers – the author always has control over what edits they choose to incorporate. 

Basically, you can expect your books to change a LOT. But change for the better – your agent and editor are there to help you make your book the best version of itself. Yes, getting edit letters sucks sometimes (okay, every time, but one trick is to read the letter, give yourself a few days, then read it again – when I do this, I ALWAYS spend the first day raging mad, but then by the second read, I realize all the stuff I was mad about was really just me going “GODDAMMIT SHE’S RIGHT”), but your agent and editor aren’t there to thwart you – they want you to succeed as much as you do. They’re as invested in your career as you are. So when they suggest huge edits, and when you look back and realize the book you submitted to them is night and day different from the book that gets published, it isn’t a mark of them changing stuff – it’s a mark of how much they’ve helped you grow as a writer.

But right now, the best thing you can do is write the best book YOU can write. Give it your all. And when you get an agent (if that agent is an editorial agent – some agents prefer not to edit books, which is fine too), together, you’ll make it the best book the two of you can. Then, when you get an editor, you’ll make it the best book you can all over again – it’s all about growing, and becoming a stronger, more developed writer, and putting forth the best material you can!