Not, not, not a box!

August 26th, 2008 by Sara

*First off, apologies to Antoinette Portis and her modern classic picture book, Not a Box for leaning on her wonderful pictures and themes. Go buy Not a Box! *

A box is a cozy place to be. It’s dark and quiet, with plenty of corners to curl up in. You can touch the walls around you and make certain they are there. You can make up all kinds of stories in your box in complete safety.

The box can be very important for stories just starting out life. The kind that will be vaporized under the hot sun. But if you stay in the box, that’s all they’ll ever be. Never sizzling, incredible, best-selling novels. Just stories.

Right now, I’m working hard on revising my young adult novel. I’m digging deeper to find my character’s voice. I’m pushing harder to make the world a scarier and more rewarding place for my characters. And it’s working. But when I’m try to get those characters from Point A to Point B, I’m still relying on my box.

I just keep doing it over and over. Moving my pawns around efficiently, but without regards to what builds tension or plays better for the reader. I’m just making making my story happen and working around my obstacles the easiest way possible. And easy does not make a good read.

So, I’ve started to keep a few things in mind, hoping that these tricks will help me cut some holes in my box so I can see my way out of it. One of these tricks I learned in Julie Strauss-Gabel’s revision class at the SCBWI summer conference (Thanks Julie and the class for your excellent advice!) and it was a big Aha! moment for me. Obstacles can be solutions.

Often, when I come up against a plot point that doesn’t make sense, I’ll ignore it… hoping maybe the readers won’t notice. An example: My main character, Faye climbs up to a roof to escape. A security guard is standing nearby, so she has to be quiet. Later, a roof tile breaks free and smashes on the ground. Problem: Why doesn’t the security guard react?

I came up with all kinds of rationale for this in my mind. Was he rocking out to his favorite Britney Spears song? Were the clouds so interesting that he got distracted? Did a venomous scorpion sting him, plunging him into a coma? Come on, these are very realistic scenarios! But for some reason my readers weren’t buying it.

Solution: The scene actually works better with the security guard noticing. It gives Faye someone to interact with. It builds tension. And it grounds the scene in reality. And voila! The obstacle is the solution.

I guess in the same way, the box is the solution. If you get yourself out of it, flip it over, and stand on top, you can reach higher or use it to go farther than you have before. Then it’s not, not, not a box! Vroom! Vroom!

Posted in Conference, Authors, SCBWI, Revision, Books, Writing

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Conference Karma

August 11th, 2008 by Sara

Recently I’ve been really feeling good about my writing. I’ve had quite a few “Aha!” moments and, slowly but surely, my story is transforming into a novel. By this, I don’t mean that I’ve been making it longer or writing the acknowledgements page (don’t worry, you’re totally mentioned).

No. What I mean is that before, my manuscript was the story of a character, Faye, that I loved and crafted and who was very much alive in my mind. Now, Faye and her world is strong enough to live in other people’s minds. To capture their interest and make them ask the most important question in the realm of books. “What happens next?”

I can’t express how grateful I was that my suspicion, that Faye was finally alive and kicking, was confirmed at this summer’s SCBWI conference. One editor assured me that my ‘voice’ was strong enough. Another editor expressed interest in looking at the whole book and asserted that she really thought there was something there. Topping it all off, on Sunday I found out that I was nominated for the Sue Alexander Award for most promising critiqued manuscript at the conference.

Well, aside from bragging and shouting from the rooftops, what I’m trying to say is… “She’s Alllllllllive! She’s Alllllllive!” Now, if she only would stop clomping around all night and eating brains!

Posted in Conference, SCBWI, Revision, Nifty happenings, Writing

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Warts and All

April 17th, 2008 by Sara

Well, instead of groveling for bloggle forgiveness for my inexcusable absence, I’m merely going to chalk it up to an excellent example of how I write.

What an great idea, you’re saying. Why didn’t I think of that excuse myself, you wonder. Why? Because I’m simply BRILLIANT and full of sh…arp ideas!

So, here’s the thing. This past weekend was Writer’s Day here in the LA chapter of SCBWI and one of the speakers was Gail Carson Levine. Someone asked her what her writing schedule was like. She stalled for a moment, then revealed the awesome truth.

I have a laptop, she said in Sara’s fairly accurate paraphrase, and I write when I eat breakfast. And lunch. And I write while I eat dinner. I tend to fall asleep while I’m writing and at least I can’t sleep while my mouth is moving.

Ok. Hands down one of the best answers to that question EVER.

So, inspired by that wonderfully bizarre and revealing answer, I realized that this blog is clear proof of my writing style and schedule. Sometimes I write consistently. Sometimes erratically. Sometimes I seemingly abandon my writing all together. But no matter how my ‘active’ writing process is going, I am always, _always_, ALWAYS thinking about my stories.

When I go to the Battlestar Galactica concert featuring the amazing music from that amazing show, I find in the music a soundtrack to my novel that uncovers the sense of urgency I’ve been trying to inject into my key scenes.

When I go to the bookstore to peruse the new picture books, I find a book that uses page turns in just the way that will give my picture book the added momentum it needs.

And when I get angry at the world because my writing is stalling out, and I’m no closer to reaching my goals, I realize that rage is the exact emotion that is missing from my final scene.

Sometimes I feel like I lose my way, but the truth is, I’m walking the writing path every minute of every day. Even when there are these spells of seeming dryness. I’m really just one of those toads who lives in the desert. They bury themselves, sometimes for months at a time. They just sit there and sit there, existing. Waiting. Then it rains and they emerge. They splash and drink and eat and sing and well… you know. They party until the rains stop and the desert dries up. Then they burrow back down into the dark to wait.

So, I’m a toad.

Except for one huge difference. When I’m in the dark, I’m never waiting. I’m dreaming and plotting and planning exactly what’s going to happen when I finally do reach the world up above.

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Hook, Line, and Sinker

December 12th, 2007 by Sara

I once caught a book contract that was THIS big… but it got away.

The Westside Schmooze topic this month is all about beginnings and hooks. To be exact:

“Are You Hooked Yet?
How can you use your first pages, first lines, and queries to hook readers and editors? Join us as we try to define the seemingly indefinable something that glues readers to the page. Learn from other schmoozer’s openings and share your own.”

Opening hooks are very tricky. You gotta show a little leg, but not look like a tease. It all has to look accidental, discrete. Flutter your eyelashes, but don’t wink. There’s a reason that I used the phrase ‘indefinable something.’ How do you grab the readers attention without showing off or misleading them? How do you make your beginning exciting without giving too much away? How do you make the reader ask, “Why?” and keep on reading to find out the answer.

Yeah. How? I don’t know. But I know people do it. So, even though I know you’d love to hear me wax poetic about something I don’t really have the answer to, it might be a bit more insightful to actually look at some beginnings instead.

“She scowled at her glass of orange juice.” What do we know from that one sentence? Our character’s female. She’s upset. She’s probably having breakfast. It gives us mood and a setting. It’s active. As a reader, I’m not wowed, but I’m willing to sit down at the breakfast table with her and find out why she’s scowling. (The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley.)

“When Hayley arrived at the big house in Ireland, bewildered and in disgrace, rain was falling and it was nearly dark.” This sentence paints a distinct picture. I imagine Haley standing in an immense, cold, dark stone entryway dripping water from her clothes and looking scared. I may not be right about those things, but I’m already empathizing with the character and feeling a little chilly. In one sentence, we are given who, what, when, and where. And it leaves us asking Why? Which is the most important question you want your readers to be asking. ‘Why’ is what moves the reader forward. The tone is also more passive than the ‘orange juice’ beginning. Hayley seems to be acted upon, by the house, the rain, her disgrace, instead of acting herself. (The Game by Diana Wynne Jones.)

“It wasn’t much, really, the whole Jessica Feeney thing.” This opening sentence tells us there’s been an incident, maybe a something unpleasant. But more importantly, it immediately alerts the reader that the narrator is biased, that he or she isn’t telling us the whole story. This is vital information for the reader. Now we can take the narrator’s words with a grain of salt and draw our own conclusions. Like any good opening, this makes you ask why. Not about the ‘Jessica Feeney thing’, but why is the narrator lying about it. (Firegirl by Tony Abbott.)

As you can see, there isn’t just one approach to hooking the reader. People who do it well are able, in that one sentence, to set the tone for their whole story. They’re able to ground you in the landscape and character, so you get a sense of the trip you’re about to take. And, above all, they make you want to know why.

Happy fishing.

“All children, except one, grow up.”

Posted in Hooks, SCBWI, Books, Writing

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One for my baby and one more (page turn) for the road

November 20th, 2007 by Sara

That last page can make or break a story. At the SCBWI Schmooze the other day, someone asked what I was learning from the Great Picture Book Read of ‘07. So here’s the biggest thing. It’s not enough to have a good story. You must have a great ending.

A ’sweet’ last page ends up feeling cheesy if it’s not combined with a giggle. The ‘quiet’ ending leaves you trying to turn one more page, sure that the story isn’t actually over. As a writer, it’s important to ask, is that final page going to deliver a laugh? A twist? A zing? At least a smile? If the reader is going to feel satisfied, it really needs to.

Marla Frazee and her editor, Allyn Johnston, talked a lot about this during the summer conference. Even for a simple book like Everywhere Babies, they sweated over the ending. The last page turn was originally super sweet. I think the picture was a parent hugging a baby and the text went something like this:

“Every day, everywhere, babies are loved…. for trying so hard, for all that they do, for being so wonderful…just like you!”

They wanted a zingier ending, so the text was changed to this and was paired with a baby taking her first steps.

“Every day, everywhere, babies are loved…. for trying so hard, for traveling so far, for being so wonderful…just as they are!”

This was definitely less sweet, but still didn’t give them that final zing they were looking for. So, they kept the new text, but changed the picture. Now, in the published version, the page spread before the final page is a kid’s first birthday party and the final page reads “Just as they are.” With a baby grinning proudly with cake all over her face. This change transformed the final page turn from an ‘ahhhhh….’ to a chuckle. And it makes for a much stronger book.

The perfect ending is definitely tricky to do. Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst brings us a laugh at the end by giving a twist to the repeated phase, “I think I’ll move to Australia.” The book ends with “Mom says some days are like that. Even in Australia.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett and Miss Nelson is Missing written by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall both use pictures and text to give us a tantalizing hint that everything is not exactly as it seems.

Often, the final zing is completely in the pictures. Olivia by Ian Falconer is a classic example of the visual last page turn. On the final page of the books, you get to see what grand dreams she is imagining. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems is the same way. Mo Willems even uses the end papers to show the Pigeon imagining himself driving the big rig. Pssst! by Adam Rex uses a visual twist masterfully, though I won’t ruin the surprise. David Wiesner is also a master at this in Tuesday and Sector 7.

Though this may sound a bit obvious, the entire book is leading up to the ending. The final page turn often determines whether the book will make a lasting impression on the reader. It’s your last chance to win over the reader or get that final smile. So make it a good one.

The End

Posted in Picture books, The Great Picture Book Read, Illustration, SCBWI, Books, Writing

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Flirting with inspiration

November 14th, 2007 by Sara

The Westside Schmooze, part of the LA SCBWI, is going to be talking about genres today. What is the difference between board books and picture books? Middle grade and YA? Is it smart to switch between these age groups?

This topic is especially relevent to my life right now. After being completely devoted to my young adult novel for several years, I’ve started cheating. At first, it was just a picture book idea scribbled down here or there. Then, at the bookstore, I would slow down as I passed by the picture book section on my way to young adult. Now I’m shamelessly reading picture books as a passionate obsession. I’ll admit it, I’m a two-timer and I really like playing around.

The advantage of dating around the genres is that when you get stuck on one thing, you can move on for a while. I love the angsty complexity of my YA story, but I’m relieved to indulge in the colorful, poetic world of the picture book. I’ve got a crush on the simplicity, the humor, the interactive nature of repetition and reading out loud.

So am I a picture book writer now? No. I still want to finish revising my novel. I still want to create graphic novels with Tony and try my hand at chapter books. This may not be the easiest or most traditional way to work in children’s books. But what can I say? I’m a flirt!

Posted in Genres, Picture books, SCBWI, Books, Writing

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100 days, 1000 books

September 23rd, 2007 by Sara

Linda Sue Park recently said, at the SCBWI Summer Conference, that before you can write a good picture book, you had to read 1000 of them. There was a similar equation for novels, 500 novels (or, she amended, any type of book) before you could write one yourself. Well, I’m fairly certain I’ve accomplished the 500 novels part, but I’m sorely lacking on the picture book front. So here I go!

I’ve decided to read 1000 picture books in the next 100 days. Yes, folks! That’s 10 books a day! By January 1st! Can she do it? Who knows? But it’ll sure be fun trying!

Click here to see what I’ve read so far.

“And now,”cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”

Posted in The Great Picture Book Read, Conference, SCBWI, Books, Writing

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Lower your standards (conference continued)

August 15th, 2007 by Sara

Each and every morning, I have to get out of bed and choose, all over again, to be a writer. Sitting there at my writing desk, waiting for me, is Fear and his charming sidekick, Doubt. I don’t know about you, but my Fear is ugly. Massive chipped teeth, bad breath, twisted yellowing claws, not to mention his horrible paisley shirt. I have to walk over and kick him out of my chair, while he growls and shouts obscenities at me. But recently, I’ve been getting the upper hand.

How? you might ask.

“Lower your standards.” Lisa Yee imparted this sacred gem of knowledge at the SCBWI Writers’ Day this past spring. She didn’t mean that you should expect less from your writing. No. You have to lower you standards in the rest of your life, so that writing becomes your priority. Lisa lived this advice, somewhat humorously, by putting her kids to bed in their school clothes, so they were ready to go in the mornings. After all, she reasoned, the clothes were just going to get wrinkly anyway.

Lisa Yee’s not the first to suggest this radical priority shift. Donna Jo Napoli at the 2004 SCBWI Summer Conference stated that you could eat off her kitchen floor… for weeks without going hungry.

So at this year’s conference, when Elizabeth Partridge asked during her Sunday break-out session, “Would you rather have a clean house or a book?” my enthusiastic answer was, “A book!”

Now those of you that know me will also know that a clean house has never been a priority for me. While my bedroom was immaculate for an entire year once when I was 5, responsibility somehow lost its attraction for me along the way. But, I’ve taken the advice to heart in other ways.

I no longer apologize for my messy house. I’ve stopped using what other people might think about me as a criteria for the choices I make. And most importantly, since the conference, I’ve been setting tasks for myself or ‘manageable bites’ as Elizabeth Partridge put it. At the end of my writing day, I think about what I want to accomplish the next day and put them in my Writing to-do list. The list is purposely vague allowing me the flexibility that I need and love, but it lets me know what to do next, so I won’t wander off and start watching youtube videos. This has given me a tempting taste of success and I’m definitely ready for more. And Fear isn’t looking so cocky these days. He knows he’s not on my list.

Here’s a few of Elizabeth Partridge’s other pearls of wisdom (and a picture of one of her many books):

• Find 6 or 7 critical scenes in your book to be used as stepping stones. This way you know where you’re heading and how to get there.
• Barf on the page. Many people suggest this down and dirty outpouring of ideas for getting the first draft of your story.
• Write as many days in a row as you possibly can. Your story needs to be kept alive with your energy.
• Keep moving forward. Do not go back. Even if this means leaving large blanks or notes to yourself.
• Hang out with writers who have different skills than you, so you can strengthen each other.
• Make sure to take time to get re-inspired. Or as Julia Cameron puts it in The Artist’s Way, ‘Fill your well.’

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A meeting of equals

August 11th, 2007 by Sara

I’ve decided to do little mini entries about the conference as something strikes me. Here’s to the first of many. Also, click on Arthur Levine to check out the SCBWI website (where I shamelessly stole this picture, thanks!) for a great summary of the conference.

Arthur Levine is a genius.

And I don’t mean because he edited the Harry Potter books. He totally shifted my attitude about critiques with editors and agents. On Friday, there was a panel about how to deal with criticism and what to do with it. Well… we all know what to do with it, don’t we?

Ahem. Arthur said that critiques work best when they are a meeting between equals. But in what universe are Arthur Levine and I equals, you might ask? I, being a prepublished writer (kudos to editor, Dinah Stevenson, for that great term) and Arthur Levine having the power to buy my book and make me into a billionaire with a personal pool with a waterfall and twisty slide, my very own beautiful, italian espresso machine, and chocolates delivered daily from Switzerland. Sigh.

Actually, we’re equals in this universe. The one where a book is a creative endeavor between an editor and a writer. The editor, it turns out is just as excited about what your book can become as you are. They are also nervous, hoping you’ll like their advice about the story, hoping you’ll both work well together and have fun, dreaming of the possibilities that this new project will bring. (Not to mention the pool and the espresso machine they’ll get because of it making the NY Times Best Seller list for 5 months straight).

This advice was like fireworks exploding in my head. I didn’t have to pretend I didn’t care or summon some pseudo self-confidence. No, I just needed the right mindset. Find a way to remove the perceived power imbalance between editor and writer, so that you’re coming to the table as peers, both with the same goal of strengthening your story.

Thank you Arthur. You made my critique and conference so much funnerer and infinitely helpfuller. Maybe an editor will want my book now cause I write so good.

Posted in Conference, SCBWI, Nifty happenings, Writing

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Learning how to be an elephant

August 10th, 2007 by Sara

“It kinda feels like being an elephant in a room full of elephants, speaking on the topic of how to be an elephant…. I’m not sure what I know about being an elephant.”

This is how John Green (author of Looking for Alaska) started his speech about writing at the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Conference.

In other words, I just spent 4 intensive days learning how to be a better elephant. It was a whirlwind of inspiration, brilliant advice, and Aha! moments. Also, I got a hard-to-take, but fantastically perceptive and mind-opening critique, had jealousy occasionally nibbling my feet like a hungry fish, and, at the end of it all, had the desperate and undeniable need for beer and french fries. As with any good children’s story, it held obstacles, moments of mystery, thrills, doubts, and, most importantly, left us with the eternal ray of hope.

In my mind, the whole conference can be distilled down to 2 moments. One happened on Sunday, just before my manuscript consultation with Jennifer Hunt, the senior editor at Little, Brown (she’s awesome, by the way). A half hour before the critique, I climbed out of the cave that is the conference and into the sunshine in order calm the writhing monsters in my belly. So much for harmless butterflies.

I sat, feeling the sun beam down on my face, breathing deep. I let myself grab onto that tiny, twinkling idea that this meeting could completely change my life. Then, I put that idea down, next to all of the infinite other possible outcomes of the consultation.

I’d always thought of these critiques as the end point of the path. I’d write and I’d write and I’d write, chugging down the tracks, then I’d step out of the train, look around and either see the creepy hotel from The Shining or a glittering, pearlescent paradise with a free spa and endless dark chocolates on my pillow. And if the critique was disappointing, if I’d just stepped into The Shining after all, then it felt like I’d lost this enormous opportunity. I’d have to get out my Fodors Guide and start all over.

This time, though, I realized that this consultation was jut one moment of possibility along my path. It was neither an ending or a beginning, but merely a bright moment of hope among other moments. Perhaps a little cafe, instead of the hotel of destiny.

That changed everything about the experience for me and I sat there in the sun enjoying a perfect moment. I sipped my coffee, listened to shouts from the pool, and savored that hopeful ache I have to get my book out into the world. It is that yearning that makes me a writer, not the outcome of a critique or a submission. The yearning to translate the visions in my head onto paper, to share my stories with the world, to affect kid’s childhoods and adolescences the way great books affected mine.

The second moment, one I tried unsuccessfully to capture on my broken camera, came on friday. After a long day of talks and workshops and meeting new people, we all came back downstairs for the final speech of the day. And there in the lobby was ice cream. Not just any ice cream, but chocolate covered, Cherry Garcia ice cream bars. 1000 grateful, joyous people gobbled up ice cream and the energy, chatter, and excitement rushed back into the room. It seemed to me, that this was exactly what the conference was about. A thousand adults, who somehow never outgrew their childhood, all together to share the pleasures and wonderful gifts that our extended immaturity gives us. A unique ability to fully enjoy ice cream, stories, and silly pictures.

Well, I meant to blog about Arthur Levine’s brilliant critique advice, Ellen Wittlinger’s moving speech, and meeting Tamora Pierce and maybe I will later, but for now I’ll just try my hand at new form of short poetry I learned from Linda Sue Parks. A Sijo, kind of the Korean equivalent to a haiku.

We don’t talk commas, parenthesis, dangling whatevers.
We share beating hearts, cold shivers, fear down in our bellies.
And now there’s a new flap to my ears and a spring in my trunk.

P.S. But… you don’t have to take my word for it!

SCBWI website’s pictures and summaries (click on summer conference)

Lisa Yee blogs with AWESOME pictures here and here.

rhcrayon’s fabulous slideshow (complete with x-rated santa!) 

See the entire SCBWI conference audience, Lisa Yee, Arthur Levine, and of course, John Green on his video blog (which then has nothing to do with the conference).

Ken Min blogs about the conference’s illustrators

GottaBook (4 entires, starting August 4th)

Linda Sue Park’s blog

More to come!!!!

P.P.S. thanks again to rhcrayon for the great Tamora Pierce picture. You’re my photography goddess!

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