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| It's time to get serious about writing!
Here are 19 sites to visit to stir you up and get you moving. It's too easy to say, it's too hot. I'm too tired. Here's a variety of topics of interest to anyone writing for kids. From self-publishing to thinking about dialogue to best books.
12. http://www.ruccl.org/application_%20information.html (Only a couple days left to sign up for this fabulous conference!!)
(The Children’s Literature Web Guide –Canadian)
Kay Vandergrift’s Page
Writing YA
Ever wondered what a McGuffin is?
Go to the PW site for new summer books, read the first
paragraphs, but read this first!
19. http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com THIS IS A RUDE, BUT FUN SITE!!!!
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Friday, June 28, 2013
19 POSTS TO PONDER!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Beach Work
Check off beach reading for the day. My book, tucked away next to the tube of sunblock, requires that I put on my readers, under my sunglasses--a very uncool look that doesn't work very well anyway. It's one lens too many. I've finished my traditional miniature beach village built of natural materials littering the sand. This year, it's just a simple fort constructed of smelly, stacked reeds surrounded by a moat. A gull feather and a grass frond decorate the entrance (though there is an impressive shark trap in the rear that might provide the tiny beach people with meat for the rest of the summer). Once our son and his family arrive we'll create something much more vast and impressive. So, with an hour or more of collagen destroying sunshine left, I've decided to work in the shade of my umbrella. The work is around the same issue that always plagues me when I'm considering a new project. I can get hightly motivated by my chosen setting, era, and general story line. But until I get a bead on my main character and what it is they want, I'm fighting the undertoe. So I've decided to study my fellow beachbums, all of whom suddenly appear to be packing up and leaving. It seems the beach patrol is ordering everyone from the water. I can't figure out why until I glance behind myself at the bank of low slung, gun-metal gray clouds that have blown suddenly in from nowhere and appear to be positively filled with electrical charge. As my beach neighbor's straw hat blows past our shark trap, I decide that tomorrow I'm not opening my book until I've found my main character somewhere on this beach and realize what it is they're searching for.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Character Vs. Plot: A Riddle
by Cynthia Light Brown
Here’s a riddle. Where does this come from (and NO USING
GOOGLE to find out)?
“A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better
we know a person, the better we understand his actions.”
If you guess it, leave a comment that gives a hint.
The dichotomy between character and plot is a false one. To
speak of whether one is more than the other is to miss the point that you can’t
really have one without also fully developing the other. Indeed, why would you
want to?
The best way for us to know and understand a character is
through what she does. Yes, her internal thoughts can be revealing. But what
she does (which includes what she
says, by the way) is even more important. “Telling” has its place in good
writing, but it’s rarely a good method of revealing character in a novel.
But it doesn’t just work one way. To understand a plot – why
things are happening as they do, we must understand character. Certainly it’s
true that we only care about things that happen if we care about the
characters, but it’s even more than that. The plot only makes sense in light of
understanding the characters that are driving the plot. And if your characters
aren’t driving the plot…they need to. Even in a murder mystery, where the
precipitating event may not be related to your main character, from then on in,
your characters—especially your main character—need to drive what happens.
And then we come full circle. The things that happen in your
story (your plot) also will change your characters. If they’re not changing, we
as a reader aren’t interested.
The quote in the riddle is referring in particular to
someone shrouded in mystery. Which is what your characters are to your reader:
shrouded in mystery. You as the writer must reveal your characters, and your
best method of doing that is use action. As we know and understand your
characters, their actions will be understandable (even if they sometimes
surprising).
Saturday, June 22, 2013
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| Deadline Approaching! The Rutgers One on One Conference One of the best kid's writing conferences out there, has a deadline for entry: July 1st!!!! This conference is for the advanced writer who is ready to publish. You should have several manuscripts completed. The one you submit (although you only give 3 pages) should be finished and gone through peer review. Go here for more information. |
Friday, June 21, 2013
At the Young Writers Institute, A Good Time Was Had by All!
I recently had the pleasure of poetry workshopping with the Mt. Lebanon contingent of this summer's Young Writers Institute. What a delightful experience! I can honestly say that it has been quite a while since I witnessed such unbridled enthusiasm. For each workshop the students arrived eager and excited, their notebooks and pencils ever at the ready. Their enthusiasm was infectious and made me hope that I could match their level of excitement. The pencils flew, the students driven by the goofy outside-of-the-box writing requests I made of them. Each one was eager to share, eager to do more, eager to create.
For those of you unfamiliar with YWI, it is a University of Pittsburgh program for young people in grades 4-8 and 9-12 who like to write and who want to develop their craft in a community of writers. The summer institute locations are the University of Pittsburgh (Cathedral of Learning), Mt. Lebanon, and Pine Richland. The cost of the two week experience is $295 though scholarships are available. I encourage you to visit their website for more detailed information as well as videos of participants sharing their experiences.
In my first group I want to thank Ryan, the sole male in a room full of delightful middle school young ladies, who did not hesitate to share any of his writing with all of us.
I also want to give a shout out to the young lady who coined the clever term for a collection of ogres as a 'roar.'
I want to pat on the back the other young lady who claimed her notebook was "exploding with write-citement".
And to the little girl who literally took my advice to get up and do jumping jacks as a way to combat writers' block, I hope it helped.
Thanks to all of you for a lovely morning, as well as for your enthusiasm. You made me proud to be a writer and hopeful for the future.
Respectfully submitted by Andrea Perry
For those of you unfamiliar with YWI, it is a University of Pittsburgh program for young people in grades 4-8 and 9-12 who like to write and who want to develop their craft in a community of writers. The summer institute locations are the University of Pittsburgh (Cathedral of Learning), Mt. Lebanon, and Pine Richland. The cost of the two week experience is $295 though scholarships are available. I encourage you to visit their website for more detailed information as well as videos of participants sharing their experiences.
In my first group I want to thank Ryan, the sole male in a room full of delightful middle school young ladies, who did not hesitate to share any of his writing with all of us.
I also want to give a shout out to the young lady who coined the clever term for a collection of ogres as a 'roar.'
I want to pat on the back the other young lady who claimed her notebook was "exploding with write-citement".
And to the little girl who literally took my advice to get up and do jumping jacks as a way to combat writers' block, I hope it helped.
Thanks to all of you for a lovely morning, as well as for your enthusiasm. You made me proud to be a writer and hopeful for the future.
Respectfully submitted by Andrea Perry
Monday, June 17, 2013
Thank You New Jersey SCBWI - 19 Reasons to Attend the New Jersey SCBWI Annual Conference
by
Dave Amaditz
1) An unbelievably friendly and helpful staff - beginning with
Leeza Hernandez, regional advisor, as seen here giving the welcoming address on
Saturday, June 8, 2013
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| Leeza Hernandez |
2) An amazing, kind and welcoming membership that made me feel, as
a first-time attendee to their conference, like I'd always been part of the
group.
3) The ability to communicate with talented writers who have won
numerous awards, such as Ame Dyckman, winner of this year's crystal kite award.
4) Access to agents, such as my one-on-one critique mentor,
Stephen Barbara, from Foundry Literary. Other mentors that I had the privilege
to sit with at lunch, Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Agency and Jessica Regel of
the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency Inc. All were pleasures to speak with, and
all, a wealth of information.
5) Access to editors, such as Connie Hsu, from Little Brown Books.
I enjoyed finally being able to meet her in person, after not being able to
attend the spring retreat hosted by WPA SCBWI in 2011 because I'd taken ill.
Jenn Abramowitz, Senior Editor, Scholastic was also there, as was Melissa
Faulner, Editorial Assistant, Abrams, and many others.
6) Fantastic and up-to-date sessions -some of my favorites, listed
below.
7) Sitting in on a wonderful session by Kathy Temean. Her tips for
how to market yourself before you have sold your book, after you have signed a
contract, four months to launch, one month prior and launch date were
fantastic. There's no doubt I'll use each and every one of them should I be
fortunate enough to land a contract.
8) Sitting in on book trailer session by Kim McDougall. Wow! I
knew I'd watched some good trailers and some that were awfully bad, but I never
knew everything that went into making the really good ones. I'll use all of her
fantastic tips.
9) Blueprinting a novel by Wendy Mass. She gave a super interesting
approach to outlining a novel. She made it sound so easy, and although I've
never had success with outlining before, the whole idea made me think that it
might be worth a try.
1 0) Battling your inner censor with Jen Hubbard and Kit
Grindstaff. All of us have had scenes we had difficulty writing, some more so
than others. We received a few strategies, among them visualization, to help us
push through the block.
11) Online registration. It may sound so simple, but the process
of registering via computer was made so simple. Paperless. Effortless. Thanks.
I hope we soon implement something similar to this with my local chapter.
12) Early registration. I received my initial e-mail on March 10.
The preplanning for this conference was fantastic, one of the reasons, I
believe, for its success.
13) The ability to select agents you wish to meet. A list of
agents willing to give critiques were made available. Applicants were taken on
a first-come, first-serve basis, and because I registered early enough, I was
able to get the one-on-one critique from my agent of choice.
14) Electronic submissions for all manuscripts needing to be
reviewed and a cut-off date for uploading the documents. This gave ample time
for the editor or agent to thoroughly review your material. By the way, it was
made quite clear, that if you were late uploading the document your timeslot
would be lost. Very fair, indeed.
15) Dining arrangements - Editors and agents were seated at
various dining tables. All attendees had the option, especially if they
registered early enough, to choose the table where they wished to sit. Once
again, early registration allowed me to sit with my agents of choice. I learned
a heck of a lot about the business while enjoying a couple fantastic meals.
16) Critique groups. Peer critique groups were made available to
those who wished to participate. I knew I would've run out of energy, so I
didn't sign up for those, but I understand from other attendees that they were
fantastic.
17) First page sessions. Editors and agents listened to first pages,
which we know are the most important part of the manuscript.
18) Fantastic keynote speakers - Peter Brown, author illustrator -
Tara Lazar, (seen here during her keynote speech) picture book author - Lauren
Oliver, New York Times best-selling author. All three gave uplifting speeches.
My notebook is full of their words of wisdom.
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| Tara Lazar |
The bottom line is: I was promised by two of my Route 19 fellow
writers, Marcy Collier and Kitty Griffin, that I would have an amazing
experience if I attended the June 7-9, 2013, New Jersey SCBWI conference.
Wow! Promises kept.
Now, just like them, I recommend this conference to anyone looking
for a fantastic learning experience with a fantastic group of people. And... I
plan to join them again next year.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Kids Love Animal Stories!
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| My ferret, Cece |
I’ve decided to put a ferret in my latest novel. Why?
Because over the years we’ve been owned by four ferrets. You’ll note that I say
WE WERE OWNED. This is true. You don’t own a ferret. They are in charge. They
are the most charming, destructive, curious, destructive, delightful,
destructive, pets ever.
You’ll notice the repetition of a word in that last
paragraph. Destructive. Ferrets are amazingly destructive for being less than
two pounds. After the last one passed we were able to have every (EVERY) screen
in the house repaired. There wasn’t one screen than wasn’t clawed through. We
were able to keep inserts in our shoes. I now am able to have TWO earrings.
Yes. Shoe inserts. Why? I don’t know.
Earrings. Why? I don’t know.
Ferrets don’t wear earrings. Nor, do they wear shoes.
But that was a small price to pay for little critters that
made us laugh until we cried. They had more personality than some people I’ve
encountered. They are thieves. They are clowns. They are incorrigible. They
make terrible pets because they are so curious they get into dreadful trouble.
I won’t tell you how much we spent on emergency surgeries or emergency visits
to the vets. They are escape artists of the most amazing sorts.
They make wonderful pets. They make terrible pets.
See why I want one in my novel?
Kids love animal stories. Going all the way back to the
“Just So Stories” or even further back to Aesop’s Fables, animals have been
used to help children understand the world around them.
There are stories that are purely animal, like the Brian
Jacques books. There are some that blend human and animal, like “Charlotte’s
Web.” Sniff, that still makes me tear up. There are books that involve animals
like Walter Farley’s horse books (The Black Stallion) or Marguerite Henry’s
Horse stories (Misty of Chincoteague).
Are you thinking about writing an animal story?
Here are some good ones to read, these are classics:
The Wind in the Willows
Stuart Little
The Trumpet of the Swan
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
Dr. Doolittle
The Black Stallion Series
Here are some more modern ones
Wooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester
Bear Snores on by Karma Wilson
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert O’Brien
This one may be hard to find, but it is so worth the read:
Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Kids love animal stories. I’m sure you can probably think of
a bunch that I haven’t mentioned.
Just remember, stay true to the animal.
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