On Rick Walton, REMAKE, and a Supportive Writing Family

Recently Alison Randall and I had the chance to visit with Rick Walton. I took my favorite of his picture books (PIG, PIGGER, PIGGEST) for him to sign. More important, I wanted Rick to know he’s a major reason I keep writing. At WIFYR a while back, Rick talked about how writers sometimes give up too soon, and said if we’d just keep trying, eventually things would work out.

Rick has also influenced the other reason I keep writing: He and Carol were a major force in making the local writing community what it is: a group of talented writers who encourage and support each other. Alison told Rick that it’s like being part of a big family.

I agree. So when I see my writing “siblings's” success, I feel like cheering. Last month, for example, I took Ilima Todd’s book, REMAKE, on vacation. Sitting on a beach, reading about an ocean, was wonderful. And REMAKE was fabulous. I hated to leave the characters when the book ended, and can’t wait for the sequel. The bonus: I’d read the first fifty pages of Ilima’s earlier draft in Ann Dee Ellis’s WIFYR boot camp. It was excellent then, and I loved seeing the changes that made her final story even better.

I look forward to writing conferences, especially WIFYR, not just to learn, but to see all of you, my writing family. My real family, wonderful as they are, don't always get my writing compulsion, but I know you understand. Your support buoys me as I go back to finish that next edit, write that next book, and continue to hope that someday we’ll all be on the bookstore shelf together. Maybe we’ll even claim our own section!

Getting Published--Is there a Secret?

Today I read two great blogs by two great friends, and just had to share.

I've known Amy Finnegan for quite a while. It started when we were both members of the Utah League of Writers, and I took over for her as chapter president.
Since then, I've been impressed with Amy's networking skill, her efforts to plan some terrific writing retreats, but most of all, her hard work. After some setbacks (we've all had them, right?) she now has an agent and a great book contract with Bloomsbury. Her book is terrific, and I'm so excited for her!

Last fall, she published a great post, "The Secret Formula for Getting Published." It's really, really worth clicking the link and taking a look. https://emusdebuts.wordpress.com/2013/11/28/the-secret-formula-for-getting-published/

Another one that you really, really can't miss (I know, too many word repeats--cut me off), is this one from my friend Alison Randall, another terrific, hard-working writer who has won awards for her writing, including and award for her picture book, The Wheat Doll. She's a guest blogger on Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog, Cynsations. http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2014/02/guest-post-alison-randall-on-resolve-to.html

Creating a Book Children Want to Read

I've mentioned it before. My children read my books.

Don't peg me as the type to send a query stating, "my family loved this book." I have a critique group (two  now, actually). I go to writing conferences. I send my work out for others to read. Okay, now that we've cleared that up, back to why my kids read my books.

Adult writers are kind. They, like me for them, appreciate the bundled hours of labor, worried effort, rejection and grief that go into creating a book.

Kids just want something great to read. It has to be fun. They have to like the characters, and stay interested.

So while my critique partner may politely suggest I might want to add a little more drama to a section, kids have too many other distractions to stick with a book that stops making sense or stalls. Unlike in critique group, at home I'm competing with Percy Jackson and Goose Girl. My kids are avid readers, and they know books well. If my daughter puts my book down, I know my plot just hit a sinkhole.

That's when I beg her to stop being nice and tell me what's wrong. So far I've heard, "I hate [Insert name of character I thought complex and fascinating]. She's too whiny."

"You didn't make the scene with [insert what I thought was a scary situation] bad enough. You need to add a whole bunch more, and make it last longer."

Sometimes my daughter asks about a part that didn't make sense. Then I'll say, "What about where . . .?"

And she will say, "Oh. I didn't know that happened." Uh-oh. In other words, I'm not getting that part of the story out of my head and onto the paper. It might need more sense of setting, or clarified language.

If my book is getting as boring as math class, they'll tell me. And if I'm going to write a book that's going to keep my kids attention, I really have to step it up. A bit like this photo of my youngest, trying to stand tall enough to fit this Bahamanian mask.

This book will go back to more beta readers. It might get a professional edit after that. But for now, I'm enjoying the fresh and honest perspective of my kids. Because if they want to read it, really want to, when they have the option of picking up a bestseller instead, then I know I'm off to a good start.

WIFYR Recap #1: Jennifer Nielsen on Creating a Memorable First Chapter

I just got back from a terrific week at the WIFYR Conference. This year my workshop instructor was Martine Leavitt, award-winning author and faculty at Vermont College of Fine Arts. We all had an amazing experience in her workshop. Martine taught us how to look at our own manuscripts in a totally different way, and I know many of us had important plot epiphanies. Our workshop group was also full of terrific, talented writers, and the critiques were both positive and helpful.

I've got a manuscript to revise following Martine's specific instructions for me, and I thought as I go over my notes, I could post some of what I learned on this blog.

In no particular order, I'm starting with Jennifer Nielsen, author of THE FALSE PRINCE series. In her afternoon lecture, she gave us tips on how to make our first chapters stand out.


Include at least one of these elements for a good first chapter/scene:

• emotions—fear, anxiety, worried about character’s outcome. 
• anticipation
• curiosity—mystery element—get hero in such a bad fix, don’t know they’ll get out of it.
• surprise
• use one of these in first pages to hook agent
• the moment right before the first kiss, holding breath kind of anticipation. 

Ways to do this include:

10 ways:

1.Make a great hero. (protag) 

• in trouble, but not stupid trouble they could have/should have avoided
• likely to lose
• goal
• fatal flaw

2. Great villain

• no villain is ever just crazy. round character.
• likely to win.
• have an advantage the hero lacks.

3. Add mystery or a big question

4. Foreshadowing of something bad that might happen. 

Game of Thrones: because viewer knows author is willing to kill off his good characters, increases suspense that main guys won’t always be safe. 

5. Exploit relationships

• romantic tension
• friction between characters
• betrayal
• suspicion
• loss of Mentor (the hero’s journey)
• has inner demons

6. Raise the stakes. You should constantly be looking for ways, in each scene, to make things worse. 

Caveat: heroes fortunes must rise and fall. (but mostly they are falling). A steady decline from bad to good is boring and predictable. The inconsistency is what makes a story unpredictable. 

7. Shorten the timeline—like Dorothy and wizard of Oz, the big hourglass, timeline builds tension. constantly remind hero of the time limit, then cut timeline in half. slow down key scenes. 

8. Create unexpected turns—perfect example—Katniss and Peta, can let two people survive, but then the capitol changes it and says only one. Twists and turns must be logical. If use a gun in act 3, better be on mantle in act 1. and if it’s in act 1, have to use in act 3.

9. Setting

10. Dilemmas –Jean Val Jean—Mayor of town, people rely on him, but if I speak I am condemned, if I stay silent, I am damned. 

Great suspense comes from cruel authors. Be willing to be tough on your characters—I noticed Jennifer Nielsen does this in her first book, which I'm reading—she kills off one of the boys early on to show the uncertainty of an antagonist who is willing to do that.