HEY, FU??

by Jenny Ramaley

Nah, that header is not really meant as a cursing come-on. FU is short for a new documentary (Fed Up) on food and sugar, and the evils of processed foods and the companies behind the products.

What can I say? If you love children’s books you probably love children and want the best for them. So find a way to see this film. It will make you think twice before you ‘reward’ a child for a good act with something sweet and sugary.

In a nutshell, the way the body processes sugar is that it converts it right into fat. It doesn’t matter if it’s high-fructose corn syrup or cane sugar or fruit juice. Right to fat. And on top of that, all the processed foods that have become a big part of the American diet are filled with sugars, which also have preservative properties and create addictions in our bodies to crave more . . . sugar. To make things even worse, kids (heck, everybody) are surrounded by these products at every checkout aisle in the nation. Which is why we have such a huge obesity epidemic among children (and adults).

In our newspaper today, the front section of the lifestyle section, Section C, has an interview with Laurie David, the producer of Fed Up, the documentary. On the front page, Section A, is an article about ‘fatty liver disease, an accumulation of fat in liver cells associated with poor diet, a sedentary lifestyle and obesity.  . . . If caught early, exercise and improved diet can slow or reverse the disease.”

Perhaps the article about the film and it’s message should be on the front page.

For more about the documentary or to try the sugar free lifestyle, go to Fed Up Movie .

Hollywood and a John Green Story Come to Town

by Jenny Ramaley

From Sisters of the Traveling Pants to Harry Potter to Twilight to Hunger Games, Hollywood loves kidlit fiction. Hollywood also loves Pittsburgh. Did you know that?

 

My out-of-state sister and brother-in-law were visiting the day I read in our local paper that film crews would soon start filming John Green’s book, The Fault in Our Stars, right here in our area. We were all in the living room when an older pickup truck stopped in front of my house and watched two lanky young guys lope up my sidewalk. Turns out they were scouting locations for the main character’s home, and thought my house looked homey – but more importantly – noticed our flat front yard, a rarity in the hilly Pittsburgh area. Could they take a look at the inside of my house?

Hmmm. Normally that answer would be “are you out of your mind, buddy”, but ‘Greg’ volunteered his driver’s license while my brother in law slipped out and photographed his license plate, so I let him come in. He went through every room taking pictures – he was a real nice guy. Since my sister was visiting, some rooms were picture perfect – while other rooms were piled with all the detritus from the neat rooms. Greg swore he could see past the mess and assured me he’d seen a whole lot worse. It was kind of . . . exciting. But having had some past brushes with Hollywood from my screenwriting days, I knew not to get my hopes up that Shailene Woodley would be roaming my hallways with an oxygen tank anytime soon.

Not to go on and on, but our house just wasn’t what they needed. We heard later that they found a house about a half hour away with flat terrain that better suggests the Indiana location where the story is set.  Cynthia, a Route 19 Writer who lives on my street, had her bathroom scouted – yep, they just needed a specific bathroom layout – but she didn’t meet the location needs either. She did, however, sell the services of her environmental company to the location scout, and a few days later was overseeing water sampling in a mucky pool that was being used for a different film project - a horror story where 'bodies' were floating in the water, and they needed to make sure the water was safe for cameramen to stand in. Ah, Hollywood.

 

Although our houses didn’t meet the bill, the church at the top of our street did get the nod for filming the scenes where the teens’ cancer support group meets. The crew is keeping things low-key, but I suspect they’re filming today – street parking is blocked off with orange cones, and guys were off-loading crates that look like camera equipment in the back corner of the parking lot.

Best of luck to the film project – John Green does such a great job capturing teen angst, and this story has the added challenge of intertwining cancer and the specter of early death into the characters’ lives. Shailene Woodley did a great job with George Clooney in The Descendants. I can’t wait to see how this story is brought to the big screen, and how hilly Pittsburgh is transformed into suburban Indiana.

 

A Dose of Vitamin E (for Emma)

What a great weekend! The Route 19 Writers invited Emma Dryden of DrydenBks to come work with us and critique our work. And boy, did she! In this and future blogs, we’ll share some of what we learned from Emma. But first we want to share some pictures and give you an idea of how much info, fun and food 11 writers and one editor can cram into a weekend.

 

This is Emma. In every single picture taken of Emma, she’s talking with her hands. Cynthia does that, too. Wonder what that means  . . .

 

We gathered on Friday night at Judy’s house for a salmon dinner, conversation and the first critiques. Emma reviewed the synopsis and first 10 pages for two novels, both YA contemporaries. While we are a darn good writers group that provides supportive, constructive but kind criticism for each other, it was so helpful to have a seasoned pro arrive and nudge us to work harder and smarter.

Emma has edited nearly five-hundred books for children and young readers. She understands the challenges of writers who want to create great, compelling books for children and young adults. But before a writer can reach an audience, she/he has to get published. Emma helped us step back and ask ourselves some basic questions – who is your audience for this book? Do toddlers want to see a book with a little baby main character or do they prefer to see toddlers like themselves? Or if your characters are graduating from high school you'll be losing some of the YA high school audience and venturing into NA (new adult). Is that who you want to reach? 

Basic writer/craft topics were also addressed. Even though our group boasts published authors and fairly advanced writing, Emma informed us that we were missing the mark on synopsis writing. Oops!

E Tip #1: A synopsis is not a pitch, a tease or an outline – it’s meant to communicate your main character’s emotional journey – their want – and major plot points. Don’t just jam in a bunch of details about time and place. And you can’t forget to put the category (picture book, YA fantasy) and word count in the upper right hand corner.

 

On Saturday, Miss Kitty hosted all of us at her house. She read us a book to get us in the right mood. We had a fab lunch after a morning of reviews. We finished up crits in the late afternoon despite bombarding Emma with questions all day. One of our poets is considering getting into self-publishing so Emma pointed out pros and cons about that route vs. traditional publishing.

 

Coriander kept Emma’s seat toasty whenever Emma got out of her seat. That’s western Pennsylvania hospitality.

 

This is Miss Kitty capturing the ever present Stinkbugs that plague western Pennsylvania. They're an odd little bug – harmless, stinky if squashed. Maybe they're writing little stinkbug novels and wanted some tips from Emma, too. Emma assured us that New York has bugs, too. They have cockroaches. Which makes stinkbugs seem sort of okay.

We ended the day over glasses of wine and hanging out at the kitchen table. Having Emma there chatting about the market and social networking do’s and don’ts felt totally comfortable. It felt like all of us had made a great new friend.

E Tip #2: Quit stalling. Get a website. Get a Facebook. Follow Tweets from your favorite agents. It’s called social networking for a reason - be social and network!

Thanks for a great weekend, Emma.

 

If your writers group is ready to get nudged to the next level and would like to talk to Emma for a dose of Vitamin E, she can be reached through her website .

 by Jenny Ramaley

 

Creating Room to Read: Doing a World of Good

by Jenny Ramaley

If you are interested in children’s literature, there’s a good chance you’re also interested in making sure children have books to read.  On Sunday, February 17, Nan Cappo reviewed John Wood’s latest book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy (Viking). Wood is a former Microsoft marketing exec who quit his job to focus on bringing books to young people. He created the nonprofit organization called Room to Read. “The group operates in cultures where contempt for women keeps girls poor, and much worse.” Since 2000, the organization has built 13,000 libraries in 10 countries, published millions of books by local writers, built schools, and funded 17,000 girls to finish secondary schools.

If you’re looking for an organization worthy of your donations, Room to Read gets good marks for being an efficient and well-run organization.  If you’d like to check out Ms. Cappo’s article see Creating Room to Read

Five YA Story Starts-- Do they work magic for you? by Kitty Griffin

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

How do stories draw you in? Do you appreciate the quick slap, the story that drops you into the volcano as the earthquake cracks the world? Or do you prefer Hoovering-- the slow pulling and when you go to look away, you can't you just have to find out what happens next?

Here are five story starts. These are recent YA fantasy stories with an anchoring to a familiar fairy tale.  

Just by looking at the covers to "Cinder" and "Scarlet" you can immediately find the anchor story-- Cinderella and the slipper (only look at that ankle, what's up with that?) and Red Riding Hood.

Here is how "Cinder" starts-- see what you think, the slap or the suck...

     The screw through Cinder's ankle had rusted, the engraved cross marks worn to a mangled circle. Her knuckles ached from forcing the screwdriver into the joint as she struggled to loosen the screw on gritting twist after another. By the time it was extracted far enough for her to wrench free with her prosthetic steel hand, the hairline threads had been stripped clean.
     Tossing the screwdriver onto the table, Cinder gripped her heel and yanked the foot from its socket. A spark singed her fingertips and she jerked away, leaving the foot to dangle from a tangle of red and yellow wires.

   Does that grab you?

   How about the pitch line?

   "Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population.  From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl...Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg."

Let's look at the sequel, "Scarlet"

     Scarlet was descending toward the alley behind the Rieux Tavern when her portscreen chimed from the passenger seat, followed by an automated voice: "Comm received for Mademoiselle Scarlet Benoit from the Toulouse Law Enforcement Department of Missing Persons."
     Heart jumping, she swerved just in time to keep the ship's starboard side from skidding against the stone wall, and threw down the brakes before reaching a complete stop. Scarlet killed the engine, already grabbing for the discarded port screen. It's pale blue light glinted off the cockpit's controls.
     They'd found something.
     The Toulouse police must have found something.

A livelier start, but are you drawn in? You decide.

Read each of these openings. Which one do you want to keep reading? Why? When you understand why, then you are on your way to understanding what you like. When you know what you like to read, you'll know what you'll like to write.

Believe it or not, some writers never understand that lesson. All they want to do is write something that sells, not realizing that if they don't like it, no one else will. If your heart isn't in it, people will know. Especially editors. 

A Long Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan

     I'd try to hold on to my stass dreams as long as I could. It's a game I would play, struggling to keep track of those misty images that were so easily lost. I'd try to keep mysef in stasis, keep my heart beating to slow to feel, refuse to wake up my lungs. Once or twice I managed to hold on so long that Mom panicked and turned on the resuscitator.

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

(Please note: "Fathomless" has a long prologue, but for this exercise, we're starting with chapter one)

     My sisters love this place.

     It smells like sand and cigarettes and cotton candy, like sunscreen and salt. The scent builds up all summer, and now, at the height of tourist season, it's so thick that I think I could wave an empty bottle around and it would fill with liquid perfume.

     We cut through the Skee-Ball parlor and emerge on the main drag of the Pavilion, lights and sounds everywhere, crowds of people with terrible sunburns. My sisters giggle to each other, the two of them perfectly in step ahead of me. We are triplets, but they are the twins, a perfectly matched set with high eyebrows and pretty lips. To most people, we look identical; to one another, my features are a little different. A little off, a not-quite-right replica of Anne and Jane.

Dust City byRobert Paul Weston

          Once upon a time, fairy-dust came from where you'd expect. From fairies. I was only a cub, so I don't remember much of what the City was like back then. But I have a strong sense that things were different. Dreams could come true. You read about it in the paper. I've seen the clippings. Mrs. L. has some of them pinned up in her office: PAUPER GIRL GETS A FAIRY VISIT, ELEVATED TO A LIFE OF LUXURY! 

     PUMPKIN INTO PARLOR CAR OVERNIGHT! 

     Then one day, the miracles dried up. The fairies stopped drifting down to bless us with their charms. All at once, they were gone.

     What draws you in? What excites your imagination? What feeds your dreams?