Here’s a nice article about character develop. It explains an easy way to ensure that your character develops throughout the story.
via Writer’s Digest – Motivate Your Characters Like a Pro.
Simon & Schuster will be releasing an online, serialized novel, Loser/Queen where readers (young adults) get to vote on what will happen next. Having been a huge fan of the choose your own adventure books, I can see the appeal to such a format. But as a writer, it stresses me out.
The Plan
Readers vote by 5 pm Thursdays. A new chapter is posted on Mondays. That’s pretty quick turn around. I assume that, like a television show, multiple chapters are already written, but the fact that there are two choices at the end of the chapter, and who knows how many chapters means that a lot of content would need to be pre-written that will never see the light of the computer screen. Additionally, based off of reader responses, minor characters could take on a more major part if the readers are particularly drawn to a character, which leads to even more changes. If writing a traditional book often seems like an out-of-control beast, I can’t imagine what this project must feel like to the author, Jodi Lynn Anderson. That’s a lot of creative control she is giving up. But then, the price is a huge platform ready and waiting when the book publishes. It’s not even finished and you can already pre-order the paperback edition.
Will Readers Buy a Book They’ve Already Read for Free?
I’m inclined to say yes, because people like owning something they were a part of. The readers voting on the book will feel that they invested something into it, and they will want the hard copy to show their hard work. But will those who didn’t vote, or who came in on the final chapter, feel the inclination to buy it? Will potential readers who did not have the opportunity to vote feel left out? And isn’t this just adding to the technology addiction that’s running rampant across society?
I’ve gotta say though, Simon & Schuster did grab my attention, and I will definitely be following along with Anderson’s readers to see where it goes.
This is a question that has been plaguing me for a while – when is it appropriate for me to start looking for an agent. As a first time I author, I have been inclined to wait until the book is complete. After all, if I’m not even sure I can finish it (though I’ve been working a lot harder as of late), how is an agent supposed to know if I’m a waste of time or a sure thing? Not only would the agent be gambling on my ability to craft a good story that people want to read, but they would have to throw into the mix my discipline and whether I could even produce a final product.
But I’ve gotten mixed reviews. I’ve been told that so long as I have three good chapters, I should be good to go, or that I shouldn’t waste my time writing unless I get positive feedback on a query. The following article, Book Writing and Publishing FAQ – Do I Need to Write My Book Before I Try to Get an Agent or Publisher?, made me feel a lot less conflicted. Turns out my initial instinct is the way to go, or at least according to the author of the article. At least that removes the pressure of finding an agent right now and instead allows me to continue focusing on finishing the darn book.
One of the biggest losses to the book community is that of small, independent bookstores. I love them so much that one of my dreams has always been to open an independent bookstore of my own. While the fancy coffee drinks and perfectly placed chairs at the large chains contribute to the book shopping experience in their own way, there is a generic feel to them that takes away from the experience. Give me a ratty chair, shelves crammed with books, and good cup of coffee or tea and I would be far happier, even if I am paying a bit more for my books.
The following article from Boston Business Journal, Independent bookseller at ‘War and Peace’ with e-books, questions whether e-books are further exasperating the problem of the loss of the independent bookseller. The conclusion suggests that the average customer of the independent bookseller is not the average customer of e-books. Do you think this is actually the case?
Ebooks vs. Real Books
I still love a real book, but frankly I don’t have the space to buy any more unless I find them to be extremely readworthy. The younger generations are growing up storing all of their data electronically.Why waste the space storing CDs, DVDs, or books when there are devices that can hold it all and them some and barely take up any space? I bet if we could store our clothing inside an electronic device and have it projected onto our bodies, most of the younger generations would buy into it in a heartbeat.
This is not to say that I think e-books will wipe out real books. There will always be those who love real books, myself included. Perhaps, though, the e-books will work in favor of the independent booksellers by shifting the focus of the large chains towards carrying more and more e-books and less and less hard copies. Maybe e-books are actually the resurrection of the independent bookseller. Wouldn’t that be something?
Nice article about writing a series: Guide to Literary Agents – Some Tips for Writing a Series.
In my attempts to enter the minds of kids, I’ve been spending a lot of time perusing children news sources, which are surprisingly abundant. One recent find was an article in National Geographic Kids, Beelzebufo: A Giant of a Find. Talk about great inspiration. After all, what’s cooler than a frog the size of a beach ball?
In other news, a bear in New Hampshire ‘rescued’ a stuffed bear being held captive by humans. Read about it here.
Finally, a boat made out of plastic crossed the Atlantic.
You’ve gotta love the inspiration you can get from bizarre happenings in the world.
Is it wrong to make my overweight characters evil and mean? Is this playing into stereotypes? Is this too much of a cliché? Does this teach children to view overweight people negatively? So often with writing it becomes difficult to see past the works of those whose footsteps we walk in so that we can forge our own path. I worry that I will inadvertently play into the stereotypes created by my predecessors, and that my work will suffer as a result.
Kids Come in Every Size
Certainly obesity is something that shouldn’t be encouraged in children, but children who are overweight, or those with body issues, may become more self-conscious about their weight if characters physically similar to them are villanized in stories. Equally, the kids who would pick on overweight children may feel their behavior is justified through the negative portrayal of overweight characters in books.
The Harry Potter series instantly jumps to mind when I think about negative portrayals of overweight people. Dudley is fat, unintelligent, and a bully. Malfoy, on the other hand, while evil, is intelligent and conniving. He is also thin.
Stereotyping Obesity
There are many other children’s books that also portray overweight characters in a negative light. Of course, overweight characters are equally portrayed as jovial, yet simple. Rarely do you see a normal, run-of-the-mill overweight character. Rarely do you see an overweight hero (one of the refreshing things about Disney-Pixar’s UP).
But would we want to write an overweight hero? Aren’t we trying to encourage weight loss and exercise? Do we want children to associate being overweight with being dimwitted and/or mean? Or are we inadvertently excluding an increasing population or readers? According to the CDC, 17% of children in 2006 were obese. This is double the amount found in 1980. With these numbers rising, maybe we should not treat obesity in such a negative way. Certainly we can show an overweight character struggling with their weight, or facing obstacles they would not face were they more fit (again to reference UP : Russell faced obstacles brought on by his lack of fitness), but to make every overweight character less than the fit characters may not be the best message to send children.
When I was in 8th grade, I showed my English teacher some poetry I had written, thinking it was amazing. I was pretty heartbroken when he came back and informed me that it was “adolescent rubbish.” Those words, while hurtful at the time, stuck with me. Although I was an adolescent, I wanted to write like a grownup, like the grownups whose writing I loved and respected.
YA Does Not Equal Sloppy Prose
I think many YA writers miss the mark when they write for the YA audience. Just because someone is a young adult, or an adolescent, it should not be assumed that they are uninterested in reading adult constructed prose. Quite the opposite, unless teenagers are so very different now than they were when I was one. If you look at the hugely successful young adult books, there seems to be some correlation with the quality of writing and the popularity of the books.
Harry Potter
Take, for example, the Harry Potter series. While these books began at a younger reading level, they spanned into the YA realm. One of the greatest things about these books was that they did not dumb down the writing. Even from book one the plot had twists and the characters were engaging. And most importantly, they did not yell all the time or appear to be in a constantly foul mood. Because the writing and plots were constructed in a sophisticated, though age appropriate, way, the books appealed to a much larger audience, contributing to their success.
Twilight
The Twilight series had a similar appeal. Although many would argue that the writing was less than ideal, the characters were constructed more real than what you see in similar YA vampire books. Whereas many YA vampire books are full of characters who hate their parents and stay out until odd hours of the night or run away entirely, characters that my old English teacher would describe as “adolescent rubbish,” Stephanie Meyers constructed characters who grew irritated with their parents, but still loved them, who snuck out, but knew the consequences. These characters were more real and more sophisticated. Because of these, like with Harry Potter, these books were able to reach a larger audience.
Reading to Stay Current
To stay current with the 6-8 and YA trends, I read a lot of books in these areas, and few of them grab me. The stories that really grabbed me as a child and teenager are stories that I still read to this day, and that still capture me. It is not the nostalgia that grabs me. It is the story. It is because the writers, while writing age appropriate, did not dismiss the standards of good writing. Writing for children and YA should not be viewed as easier. The literary elements necessary for all good literature still need to be there, and the stories that will stick with a person throughout their life are going to be the ones that are well written. And after all, isn’t this what every writer strives for?
Like many book lovers, I fought against the e-book revolution currently sweeping the literary world. But, like many, I have given in. While packing for a 10-day, overseas trip, I was torn as to which books I should bring. I didn’t want my bag to be too heavy, but I wanted to make sure I had enough material to keep me entertained, especially on the 18-hour plane ride. This dilemma is what finally won me over to e-readers and e-books.
Having gotten a Kindle for Christmas, I have already loaded it up with books. I will still buy and check out real books (I still cannot consider an e-book to be real), but the ease of traveling with as many books as I want is this book lovers’ dream come true.
In addition to the ease this device offers in supplying a vast amount of reading materials, just in the few days I have owned my Kindle, I have discovered another advantage to this technology. E-readers provide exposure to authors. I have already discovered several new authors (some I like, some I could do without). While libraries are great at allowing you to sample someone new, the wait for a book often means that you are forced to read on the libraries schedule, not your own. When I want a book, I want to read it now. This is an advantage of the e-reader. Additionally, Amazon, along with the other e-book venders, offers many free books (not just the classics). This has allowed me to sample new authors with no financial commitment, just as the library allows only now there is virtually no wait.
This is not to say that libraries and bookstores should become obsolete. I think there is something magical about entering a room full of rows and rows of books, holding a real book in your hands, smelling the paper, listening to the sound as you turn the pages, and I will continue to buy books the old-fashioned way and wait for my name to move to first place on the library waitlist, but I am no longer opposed to this new medium for book delivery. If it makes books and literature more accessible, that’s good enough for me.
Books on writing – you walk into the bookstore and there sit shelves and shelves of books, all promising to make you a better writer. Sitting for hours on the floor of the bookstore, you feel like you are accomplishing something as you peruse the content of book after book. Then you decide on one or two and as you pay for them, a warm feeling washes over you. This book will be the one that works. This book will provide you with the secrets you need to succeed.
Weeks go by and you have yet to finish reading the book, or finish much of anything else. Slowly you begin to realize that this book was not the cure to your writer’s block. It did not provide you with the secret to quitting work so that you could find the time to write. It did little more than provide you with a couple weeks worth of a false sense of accomplishment.
Not all writing books, though, are created equal. For Christmas, I got a new writing book. Whereas the others were how-to writing books full of inspirational stories and writing prompts, this one is nothing more than a reference. As an aspiring children’s book writer (grades 5/6), I felt that Mogilner & Mogilner’s Children’s Writer’s Word Book, 2e would be different than the other books. This book does not claim to provide some secret to success. Rather, it is a thesarus set up to help writers choose appropriate words for young audiences. Writing for adults, any word that naturally comes to my mind should be at the appropriate reading level. Writing for children, though, its hard to say. Looking back on my childhood, I like to think that I knew all the words then that I know now. But deep down, I know that this is not the case.
This book also provides information about what subjects children learn in school at various ages. I must say I was extremely relieved to see that environmentalism (the underlying theme of my novel), was cited not only as one of the big topics from 5th grade on, but also as a topic that will continue to be published for years to come.
In addition to this book, I have also found Karen Weisner’s First Draft in 30 Days to be equally useful. While I have always resisted outlining, her outlining techniques have really helped me to work out some tricky plot points, such as how to end my novel and who the protagonist will be. I was also able to work in some really good subplots. Now all I have to do is sit down and turn those outlines into stellar prose!
Books on writing may be the procrastinator’s best friend, but there are a few gems out there that can really aid one’s writing.