The Art and Craft of Children’s Book Writing: my recap at last

photograph by Krista Dondero Rausin

On July 5, I arrived in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard for a week-long workshop with Emma Dryden. It was held at Noepe Center for Literary Arts, a non-profit organization that offers both writing residencies and workshops.  I was delighted to be part of the first Thursdays in the Garden at Noepe when they open the doors to the public for evenings of music, readings and camaraderie.

On the first day of the workshop, Emma led us through a discussion of first pages. I was confident about my opening when I walked in. Since then, I’ve rewritten it at least six times, and it’s not done yet. The second day was devoted to voice. Emma gave us worksheets and exercises to help us discover the unique voices of our characters. I have worked through the questionnaire for every character in my novel. I learned much about the people who have lived in my brain for over a year now. The third day was devoted to world building. How hard could that be? My characters live in modern day Michigan. Again the workshop and worksheets pointed out many ways I can enrich my novel. The fourth day was all about revision. I plan to leap into these techniques during my upcoming writing retreat with The World’s Greatest Critique Group. The last day was questions and answers, but not until we delved into the inner reasons why we wrote our stories.

Best of all, I spent a week at a beautiful place, got to know nine fantastic writers, and had the privilege of being tutored by a genius editor who knows how to get authors to dig deeper and find new meaning in their writing.

And I ate some lobster.

Thanks to Krista Dondero Rausin for generously sharing her photograph. My camera is broken, so I have no pictures of hydrangeas, lighthouses or sailboats.

An Adventure

This blog has been neglected. My photography has too. I've been writing a lot (revising actually), riding my bike and playing my harp. I am now supposed to use two fingers and the thumb on each hand. Sure.

Tomorrow, I embark on a grand adventure!

First, I fly to Boston to spend the Fourth of July with Jeremy. On Sunday, I take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard for a workshop called The Art and Craft of Children's Book Writing, led by Emma Dryden. I'm very excited and a bit nervous. Certainly, I will learn much. I hope to post some pictures when I get back.

Mackinac Dahlias

The gardens on Mackinac Island were also an inspiration for me. I don't have the space, sunlight or time to recreate such lavish displays, but I did get some ideas for color combinations for next spring's annuals. One of the B&Bs on Main Street had gorgeous dahlias. 

I don't grow dahlias. In Michigan, the bulbs need to be overwintered inside, and that seems like too much trouble. I am fond of the flowers at least partially because they remind me of Aunt Dahlia from the P.G. Wodehouse stories. 

Mackinac Butterflies II

I had too much fun at the butterfly house.

another orange one

hanging by one foot

Mackinac Butterflies I

The Somewhere in Time conference included a plein air painting session with Lori McElrath Eslick. Due to inclement weather, we met in the butterfly house on Mackinac Island. I took lots of pictures and will post my favorites over two blog entries today. 

Some species of butterfly pose better than others. There was a beautiful striped green one that simply could not stop beating its wings while it slurped nectar. Some butterflies had electric blue on the tops of their wings. We could see them flying around. When they rested, they shut their wings so only the brown outsides with an eye pattern showed. We got to see a defensive mechanism in action. 

Mackinac Meadow

I think that's a little spider. 

a touch of purple in the fall palette 

I'm probably never going to photograph a fly in perfect focus.

Mackinac Island

I just returned from SCBWI-MI’s fall conference, “Somewhere in Time,” on Mackinac Island. A huge thank you goes out to all who worked to set up this conference. I’m feeling inspired and motivated. 

My YA fantasy novel, THE WIND DJIN, won second place in the mentorship competition. My pitch for an old trunk novel, GEEK AND CAPTAIN BONZO STEEL, received positive comments from the panel of experts. I couldn't be more thrilled.

I took almost 200 pictures, and I’ll be posting a few of them over the week. Today’s selection includes the bridge that connects Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas, the ferry and a couple lighthouses. As I sort through the pictures, I’ll post some wildflowers and insects, some dahlias and formal gardens, and butterflies from the butterfly house. Please stay tuned. 

from the ferry

funny effect through a lake water-splattered window

I was fooling around with a very deep depth of field. A different lens would have worked better. 

Specific Compliments

Vicky Lorencen does a fantastic job of explaining the importance of positive comments in critiques. This post continues with that theme. In the critiquing guide for this workshop, we were asked to name three positive things about each manuscript and to be as specific as possible. Consider the following: 

“You rock on voice.” 

“You do a great job of expressing Southern dialect.” 

“Your use of colloquial expressions and the rhythm of the speech let me know that the novel is placed in the South. For example, on page five, when you wrote ‘He’s as handy as a button on a shirt,’ I was immediately transported to Texas.” 

Since this imaginary writer is trying to recreate the world of a Southern teen living in the fifties, the third comment is the only one that will help her. 

The use of specific compliments is something I can practice before next month’s critique group. Instead of saying, “What a pretty sweater,” I could tell a friend, “The turquoise in your sweater brings out the blue in your eyes.”  

The key is to say what works and why.

Busy Week

I will blog about the Vermont Writing Workshop, but until I find the time and words, please check out Vicky Lorencen's post at Frog on a Dime.

Novel Writing Retreat

On Friday, I’m off to Vermont for the 2013 Novel-Writing Retreat for Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels. 

My homework is done. Each participant in the critique track received twenty pages from three other writers and a critique guide that I found quite helpful. I also read one novel by each of the published conference organizers and three novels edited by Andrea Tompa, the guest editor. 

I'll post a meeting report when I get back.  

The Eye of the Beholder

The final assignment at the Missouri retreat was to design a book jacket for our works-in-progress. It had to include flap copy, an author bio and cover art. Writing flap copy is fine practice for a query letter pitch, so I had no objections there. The author bio is also potentially useful.

But drawing cover art? You’ve got to be kidding. I pointed out that some books simply have the title printed in an interesting font. Nope. We all had to draw a picture. Everyone else accepted the assignment cheerfully, so I stopped complaining. The participant who is a published illustrator drew with her left hand so the rest of us wouldn’t feel bad.

In desperation, I remembered K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) and decided to draw a pawn from a chess set. My three-word title easily fit inside the pawn’s outline. When it was my turn to show my book cover, I told the group what it was supposed to be. Someone even said it was good. Obviously, she meant the idea of a pawn, not my artistic rendering.

When I got home, I showed my book cover to Jeremy. “Is that a light bulb?” he asked.

The SCBWI-MO Revision Retreat

I left home early on Friday morning and drove to Kristin Nitz’s house on the west side of Michigan. We continued on to the YMCA of the Ozarks in Potosi, Missouri. It was a long drive, but well worth the trip.

Each participant met twice individually with Jennifer Mattson of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. We were treated to superlative story telling and creativity exercises by Lynn Rubright. We had two in-depth writing workshops presented by Jennifer Mattson. In addition, there were two sessions of peer critiques, and we even had time to revise our manuscripts before our second meeting with Jennifer. We ended with a fun exercise presented by Stephanie Bearce on designing a book jacket for our works-in-progress.

WOW!

I’m full of new ideas, thanks to the helpful suggestions of Jennifer, Kristin and the other retreat participants. Having two sessions to meet with an agent or editor was so helpful. During my revision time, I brainstormed ways to address the issues Jennifer raised. In the second meeting, we discussed my ideas, and she suggested additional way to strengthen the manuscript.

I'll post more details later in the week. 

The retreat was awesome, the weather imperfect. I went out in the sleet to photograph the lake.

Spring in the Midwest

 

Revision Workshop

Tomorrow I leave for Missouri to attend a SCBWI writing workshop. I hope to return with inspiration both for my manuscripts and this blog. Maybe I'll even take some pictures. Please tune in on Friday and Sunday for regularly scheduled posts.

SCBWI-Michigan Spring Conference

On Saturday I attended the SCBWI-MI 2010 Spring Conference, The Tortoise and the Hare: Journey to the Finish Line. There was a star-studded line-up, and the conference was packed with useful information about writing and illustrating.

I was reminded of ideas that had been put aside while I struggled with writing or revising, and the speakers organized information in a way that made it fresh. Here are the pearls of wisdom I gathered.

Jay Asher explained how to build suspense by creating overlapping subplots, so that when one problem is resolved, other issues remain to keep the reader turning pages.

Beth Fleisher advocated mapping arcs for plot, character, emotional development and setting.

Ruta Rimas discussed analyzing a manuscript word by word, at the level of sentences and by paragraph.

Donna Gephart suggested we fill in the blanks in this sentence for our protagonists: I’ll do anything to ___, just don’t ask me to ___.

It was an action-packed day, and unfortunately I didn’t get to hear all of the speakers.

SCBWI-Michigan Spring Conference

Yesterday I received the brochure for the SCBWI-Michigan spring conference. You can see the speaker lineup here. I’m sure the brochure will be on the website soon.

It looks like an action-packed conference. Here are some links about the speakers.

Author and Illustrator Websites:

Jay Asher
Donna Gephart
Dave Coverly
James Tobin

Agent Information:

Beth Fleisher
Agent Spotlight on Literary Rambles by Casey McCormick

Editor Information:

Ruta Rimas
Market My Words by Shelli (srjohannes)
Terry Pierce: Children’s Author
Day By Day Writer by Samantha Clark

Lisa Yoskowitz
Day By Day Writer by Samantha Clark
Jacket Flap

Honesdale!

This was my personal cabin at the Young Adult Novel Writing Workshop in Honesdale, PA. If you look closely, you can see my name on the sign in the window. It was so cozy. Check out the inside view and the private porch – complete with an electrical outlet for laptop charging.

I didn’t spend much time there though. Most of our time was spent in the farmhouse learning, critiquing and thinking. Rich Wallace is an amazing writer and teacher. I finally understand novel structure. Nancy Hinkel, Publishing Director of Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, was friendly, kind and nurturing. Our critiques were fabulous. I may even be able to fix what’s wrong with CBL.

I made some new friends and leaned about my novel. Someday, I hope I'll be able to go back.

Writing Workshop

Tomorrow morning I leave for the Highlights Founders Workshop on Writing YA Novels. I hope to:

• learn much
• accomplish a ton
• take numerous pictures for this blog
• generate ideas for future posts.

I won’t post for a few days, but please stop by on Sunday. I have one of my nature pictures scheduled to appear.

I Won the Lottery!

Two lotteries, actually, but not the monetary kind, the SCBWI-MI conference kind. The first page of TAoCBS will be analyzed by the panel of experts, and I will be able to participate in Jennie Dunham's workshop on writing a pitch.

I've been to several first page panels over the years, and I know the comments tend to be absolutely honest. I'm channeling my inner pachyderm, and reminding myself that if my first page is not compelling, I need to know ASAP, so I can fix it.

Each participant in the pitch workshop is supposed to bring a completed manuscript, and I'm not sure which novel to bring. I'll probably present this conundrum as a discussion question at Saturday's critique group.

The Fall Conference

I had second thoughts about attending the SCBWI-MI Fall Conference. Now that it's over, I'm not positive that I should have gone.

I didn't sign up for a paid critique or the first page panel. I chose not to read at open mike. Perhaps I should have.

I loved seeing old friends and meeting new people. I enjoyed hearing Paula Morrow and Barbara Seuling read inspirational excerpts from their favorite books. Matt Faulkner's art is amazing. Kate Sullivan's talk was full of useful information. I will follow her suggestions to plot tension vs. page number and to list the reason for every scene.

But, I left early - right after breakfast this morning. My younger son (Jeremy) turned 15 today and I was eager to hear from both boys about the parade, football game and dance.


Here are a few words of wisdom from the conference.

"Heart can't be taught, but it can be caught." -- Paula Morrow

"The one thing you have to put in a children's book is hope." -- Barbara Seuling

"Don't I have the right to tell an American story?" -- Matt Faulkner

"... Another amazing service provided by your librarian. I like librarians. I'm married to one." -- Bob Morrow

"The hard part is saying why I didn't like this part." -- Kate Sullivan