Planning a Critique Group Retreat

My post about planning a critique group retreat is live at The Mitten today. Thanks to Debbie Diesen for the photographs. 

Expressing Character Emotions - Over at The Mitten

An overview (with additional examples) is over on The Mitten Blog today. 

Here are the links back to my original posts.

Introduction

Describe what the character experiences

Characters’ thoughts

Body language and gestures

Unique characters 

Check Out The Mitten

I'm over at The Mitten Blog today, talking about the Youth Literature Seminar in Kalamazoo. 

Begonia Leaves and Blogging

In the fall, the sun comes through the window by these begonias around lunch time. I like the way the red undersides of the leaves light up. 

I am still unable to post comments on other blogs. I can't figure out what settings to change on this blog or how to contact Google Blogger. I'm thinking about switching to my WordPress site. If I do change, the past posts on this blog won't be transferred to WordPress because the formatting issues are likely to be gigantic. Certainly, nothing will happen before I leave for a writing conference at the end of the week. 

Note to Other Bloggers

I'm having trouble posting on several blogs. I write a comment, do the little number/word puzzle if necessary, hit post, and my words evaporate. So, to my friends on Swagger, The Writer Interview, Frog on a Dime and several others, please know I've stopped by. 

If anyone knows how to fix this problem, please let me know. 

I'm Still Running Late

I forgot to mention that Kim Van Sickler's blog hop post went up on June 30. Please visit Swagger to read her answers to the questions. 

And Kristin Nitz blog hop post went up today. Please visit Nitz Bitz to read about her writing process. 

Tagged, I'm It!

The Writing Process Blog Hop is taking kid lit by storm. I was tagged by a talented writer named Vicky Lorencen. Hop on over to Frog on a Dime to see her responses to the four questions.  I am tagging two great writers, Kristin Nitz and Kim Van Sickler. You can read more about Kristin and Kim at the end of this post. Kristin will post on Nitz Bits on June 24, and Kim will post on Swagger on June 30. 

And now, on to the questions. 

What am I working on now?  

I’m finishing a YA fantasy novel that involves time travel. My next project will be a contemporary YA novel about a girl who learns about herself by discovering her mother’s and grandmother’s secrets. While my current project is an action-packed adventure, the next novel will be a character-driven story with a smattering of mystery and intrigue to keep the pages turning. 

How does my work differ from others in its genre? 

I hope my characters’ voices, their relationships, the plot twists and the details I’ve gleaned from research will help my novels stand out. 

Why do I write what I do? 

When writing for teens, I find the transition years most interesting. Moving from middle school to high school is hard, and I wrote a couple manuscripts that explored that time period. Lately, my characters have been facing the end of high school, the year when they leave the security of all they have known and become independent. 

How does my writing process work?
My favorite time to write is in the morning. My brain seems to be most active early in the day, but when I’m engrossed in a project, new ideas pop up all day.  My younger son’s metal band used to practice in our basement. Some of my best writing occurred when they were jamming, and the house was literally vibrating with creative energy. Unfortunately, the band no longer practices here. I’m a member of The World’s Greatest Critique Group. We meet once a month to get feedback on our projects, share successes, and support each other through tough times. My critique group has a writing retreat every summer where we spend a long weekend writing and sharing our work. 

I tagged Kristin Nitz and Kim Van Sickler: 

Kristin Nitz 

While Kristin Wolden Nitz will read almost anything from cereal boxes to the classics, she tends to avoid horror and extremely edgy YA. In her own work, Kristin is a bit of a genre hopper. Saving the Griffin is a contemporary fantasy for younger middle grade readers. Suspect is a young adult mystery.  Defending Irene, a sports novel, has been shelved in the children’s and YA section. Her books have been nominated for such things as the Kentucky Bluegrass Children’s Choice award and YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults. 

Kim Van Sickler 

At the urging of a human trafficking expert at OSU, Kim Van Sickler is in the midst of self-publishing her debut novel, Snatched in Gullybrook. Some of her short stories are published and have won awards. Visit her group blog, Swagger.

Kid Lit Blog Hop

On Friday, I'll be participating in the kid lit blog hop. In the mean time, check out my talented friend, Vicky Lorencen who tagged me in the blog hop.

Blog? What Blog?

I have not abandoned Words and Pixels, but life has been busy. My older son graduated from the University of Michigan in Pure Math. My younger son completed his first year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston – and needed us to drive him back to Michigan. I’m doing the penultimate revision (before submission) of THE WIND DJIN, tutoring for the ACT, and noticing my garden is full of weeds. 

While I’m contemplating a real blog post, I’ll direct you to agent Jill Corcoran’s blog. Martha Alderson is offering a video series, “How to Revise Your Adult, YA or MG Novel.” I haven’t seen this video, but I did watch an excellent YouTube series by Martha on plotting.  

Also Deborah Halverson’s blog, Dear Editor, has a series of interviews with such luminaries as Marla Frazee, Jean Ferris, Joni Rodgers, Warren Fahy and Denise Grover Swank. These are definitely on my to-read-soon list.

The Query Critique

I entered a contest on the YA Fusion blog and won a query critique from Manuscript Critique Services. My awesome critique was from Paula Stokes. Here are some of the things I learned. 

The novel summary should follow the emotional sweep of the novel. It’s easy for me to succinctly summarize the plot points, but especially with action novels, the character arc is key. 

Aim for 250-300 words for the plot summary. While many query-writing experts expound on the benefits of an elevator pitch and caution against more than 50 words or three sentences, nearly every positive example of a compelling query falls within this longer limit. 

Include enough of the plot so the story makes sense. A seemingly unrelated string of events is not interesting. The reader needs to know why the character is doing things. See the first point. 

Don’t forget the hook. What is interesting about the novel? Why should an editor or agent scroll down to look at those first five pages?

I highly recommend Manuscript Critique Services.

I'm on Wordless Wednesday Again

Click on over to City Muse Country Muse. Juliet and Gina featured one of my pictures yesterday for their Wordless Wednesday feature.

On Blogging

Today while visiting Sarah Aronson's blog, Beyond Revision, I found this quote:

"As you teach, you learn. As you learn, you write. As you blog, you get to goof around."

Have a great weekend. 

The First 250 Words

This morning on the SCBWI Blog, I found a link to the Fifth Annual YA Novel Discovery Contest from Serendipity Literary Agency. Contestants are requested to submit the first 250 words of their novel. 

I opened my manuscript and selected a bit less than a page then checked the word count. After a few tries, I discovered that 249-words landed at the end of a sentence. Then I copied and pasted that section into a new file and tried to imagine myself as an agent or editor reading it cold. I asked these questions. 

Is opening compelling?
How many characters appear in the first 250 words?
Is it clear who these characters are and what their relationships are?
Is the reader given a clue about the novel’s main problem?
Is the genre of the novel obvious?
Can the reader tell where the scene takes place? 

This is a lot to be answered on a single page. Certainly the most important consideration is having a compelling opening. 

My answers are: 
The first paragraph still needs work.
4
Yes 
Maybe

Maybe
Yes  

I haven’t decided if I will enter the contest.

Need a Critique?

Deborah Halverson is having a contest on her blog, DearEditor.com. The winner gets a free 10-page critique. The contest is for any type of fiction.

Deborah's presentation at the fall SCBWI-MI retreat received rave reviews. I wish I'd been able to attend.

Useful Links

Here are two links to valuable blog posts on writing. Both were suggested by the amazing Shutta Crum on the SCBWI-MI listserv. 

The Writer Unboxed post by Lisa Cron explains how to trace your protagonist’s inner journey. The first time I read it, I stopped in despair at the words, “What they end up with is a narrative that’s basically just a bunch of things that happen.” I went back, read the article again and mapped my protagonist’s inner journey. Yes, she does change. As I revise, I can strengthen that.  

LaurieHalse Anderson’s post called Revision Roadmap is my next project. Anderson describes how to make a scene-by-scene roadmap of a novel, and ways to detect problems like unnecessary scenes, excessive dialog, misplaced subplots and pacing problems. My novel has already experienced a lot of cutting and significant expansion. Perhaps it’s time to see if it works.

In Case You Were Worried About Running Out of Insects

Adventures in YA Publishing has a great post by Sonya Sones on writing dialog.

First Lines and Last Lines

Yesterday at a writing day, I tried Anna J. Boll’s suggestion for analyzing the first lines of each chapter. The goal of the exercise is to keep the reader turning pages. 

I cut and pasted the first line of every chapter into a new document. Not only did I have a mini representation of my novel contained in a single page, I also got to compare patterns. I highlighted forms of the verb “to be” in yellow and references to time in purple. I underlined looser sentences. Then I started revising. In the end I rewrote most of the sentences. To be fair, I rewrote most of the opening paragraphs.  

Then I did the same thing with the last lines in each chapter, keeping an eye on how frequently I ended with a cliffhanger, irony or other enticements to keep reading. I found Anna’s technique to be an extremely effective revising tool. 

Also, thank you Gina and Juliet for posting another of my pictures on City Muse Country Muse.

Strawberries

Pop on over to City Muse Country Muse. Gina and Juliet posted another of my pictures for Writer's Block Wednesday. They called me a "guest photographer." How cool is that?

Submission Advice

Adventures in YA & Children’s Publishing has an excellent article on queries, synopses and first pages. Seven agents talk about the most common submission mistakes. 

My favorite query mistake was from Katie Grimm. She advised against writing a query that "Makes you sound mentally unstable. Maybe you think you sound quirky or that you’ve really done your research, or you’re just that enthusiastic, but show your feet are on the ground and you haven’t been stalking us!"  

It reminds me of an author event I attended with Ruth McNally Barshaw. The audience was small, so we had a chance to chat with the author. (I won’t mention her name here, but she’s a friend of Ruth’s.) The author announced that the second book in a series was about to be released, and I said I was looking forward to reading it. The conversation didn’t go well after that. 

Author: You’ve read [name of first book in series]? 
Me: I’ve read all your books. 
Author: stunned silence. The look on her face said, “Oh, no. It’s a stalker.” 
Ruth (trying to help): Ann reads a lot. 

That’s right. I stalk lots of people.

Another Rain-Soaked Peony

Gina and Juliet posted another one of my pictures today on City Muse Country Muse for their Writer's Block Wednesday feature. Thank you!