Writing

Jul 31

The next best thing to attending the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference is reading the conference blog. One blog post caught my attention today. It is an interview with Carolyn Mackler on Creating Characters That Come to Life. In the interview, Mackler stresses the importance of:

Thinking about your characters quirks – what makes them special? Does your character twirl his/her hair when nervous? Does he/she trip a lot? Is your character prone to worrying?
Reading your books/story out loud so you can hear your characters – the way a character speaks says a lot about who the character is
Research – talk to real life people who share traits similar to your character’s. If you’re writing a nurse, talk to a nurse.
Imagine what your character’s closet looks like.

The third point was probably my favorite. Usually I try to imagine what a character’s bedroom looks like, but a closet is even better. While a bedroom is private space, people do occasionally wander into them. A closet, though, is completely private space. Are the clothes organized by season and/or color? Does your character use hangers or is everything piled on the floor? Perhaps a secret alter is hidden away in the closet, or a stalker collage? Maybe it is so crammed with things that the door barely opens, like that wonderful scene in Mary Poppins when everything comes spewing out of the closet as the door slams shut (or did I imagine that scene). A closet can reveal so much about a character, bringing that character from words on a page to a living, dynamic being that your readers can engage with.

What questions do you ask about your character to gain insight into his/her life?

Jul 31

I read an interesting article last night called Prime Real Estate. The articles looks at the key areas you need to pay special attention to so as to keep your reader engaged. The prime real estate areas are:

The first page of your novel
The first paragraph of a new chapter
The last paragraph of a chapter

I’d always kept the first page and the last paragraph of a chapter in the back of my mind as important sections, but somehow I’d never put much thought into the first paragraph of a new chapter, but it makes sense. Your last paragraph of a chapter will only keep the reader reading if the first paragraph of the new chapter is equally engaging. Otherwise, the reader will just put the book down, the last thing you want. I know I’ve put several books down and never returned. Now I feel like I should go back and reread the prime real estate parts of books I’ve abandoned along with books I couldn’t put down so that I can see how other writers handle their prime real estate.

Jul 31

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.

Jul 29

Nice article about writing a series: Guide to Literary Agents – Some Tips for Writing a Series.

Jul 28

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.

Jan 06

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.

Dec 30

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?

Dec 26

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.

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More on creating characters

Engaging the Reader Through ‘Prime Real Estate’

Developing your Character through Motivation

Guide to Literary Agents – Some Tips for Writing a Series

News for Kids

Overweight Characters in Children's Books

Kids Come in Every Size

Stereotyping Obesity

Writing adolescents in a non-adolescent way

YA Does Not Equal Sloppy Prose

Harry Potter

Twilight

Reading to Stay Current

Books on Writing ~ The Procrastinator's Tool