Then there are two backburner projects I really like, manuscripts where the execution didn't work before, but I have great plans for fixing them. It helps that I'm a better writer now than I was a few years ago, or even last year! (Good old practice makes perfect, live and learn--choose your cliche, but they're so, so true!)
But my favorite of the two is a retelling of a fairy tale, and I just found out yet another retelling of the story is coming out very soon! This is a bit daunting.
Maybe I should follow up with the short story I just wrote, which is threatening to turn into a middle grade novel.
I guess it's a good problem to have, all kinds of intriguing possibilities. The thing is, I'm still sort of grieving for the project I just finished. I lived with it for over a year, and I miss working on it. I miss the intense creative drive I felt as I moved toward the end of the book, and then--well, it's kind of like when you read a good book and come to the last page. You feel a little bereft.
I suspect one of these projects will grab me soon, but in the meantime, I'm feeling just a little blue. It's not writer's block, it's more like writer's gap. Or withdrawal from a very NICE drug called Creativity.
- Mood:
melancholy
- Mood:
cheerful
Did I mention Hallelujah? That, too!
- Mood: ecstatic
Yet I feel I should cut. Prior to the aforementioned edits, I did a round of revision adding more detail, more "show, don't tell"; but later on, it's a good idea to do a round of revision that's focused on cutting. And this is a lo-o-o-ng ms, the longest I've ever written. Yes, it's YA, but still--it's 105,000 words right now!
The problem is, do I cut for the sake of cutting, or are there places where cutting really makes sense? I can only think of one scene that I know needs a rewrite and cuts. There must be more...
I confess, I'm tempted to think, Well, that's what an editor's for! But is that just me being lazy, or maybe too attached to my words, or even simply wanting to be finished?
Some of my best revision over the years has definitely been cutting, and not just the scalpel kind--I've used an ax with great results.
But now, I'm not so sure. I guess I'd better do the proofreading, and while I'm at it, ask myself every step of the way, Do I really need this scene?
I'll sharpen the ax just in case.
- Mood:indecisive
- Mood:intrigued
Lately I've heard rumblings in the writing community that "show, don't tell" is oversold, but I would say it's more often misunderstood. For example, one of the students in my children's book writing class this summer said she was afraid to write any description or exposition at all because of "show, don't tell," yet she felt that books need some of each. My response is that description can be done either as telling or as showing, and should definitely be the latter. Exposition is trickier, but can also be more specific vs. more general.
The lesson I teach my high school students about writing is that their word choices should be specific and concrete most of the time. This usually results in evoking the five senses and "showing," or painting a word picture. I give the example of Albert Einstein's thought experiments, in which complex ideas are made clear through simple analogies or stories.
Which brings us to another erroneous assumption--that only fiction needs to rely on "show, don't tell." In fact, good science writing is an excellent source of strong sense-based models and analogies. If telling is the hypothesis, then showing is the evidence! This is also true of writing in business and the social sciences, where points are illustrated with case studies and other examples. Take a look at articles in magazines such as Time, Newsweek, Psychology Today, Forbes, or Discover to see what I mean. There's a sense in which all writing is storytelling, and stories need to pull readers into the frame of the narration.
Of course, "telling" is sometimes used as a transitional tool, an introductory tool, or a means of expressing a character's thoughts. But while this type of telling may use a higher percentage of abstract or even general words, it shouldn't muddle into the realm of vagueness. Implemented at length, the condescending or editorial "telling" voice tends to loses the attention of readers.
Note: I am struck by the irony that this post leans toward telling! Sigh. Perhaps if I didn't want to go off and work on my revision, I would add more detailed examples to illustrate the above points. Instead I will simply say "Mea culpa" and depart.
- Mood:
contemplative
For those of you who grew up on stories of R.L. Stine's, J.K. Rowling's, and now Stephenie Meyer's wealth, please know that very few children's book writers support themselves entirely out of their writing. Some have the privilege of being married to rich, supportive spouses, some spend a lot of time on the road doing school visits and other (mostly) paid presentations to supplement their income as writers, and then there are those of us who keep that other job going to pay the rent or the mortgage.
If the day job is really, really stressful, you may find it sucks all the creativity out of you and leaves you a whimpering blob, the kind that rolls on home to rest on the couch watching "reality" TV instead of writing. If your day job is really, really boring, then maybe--well, maybe you're Albert Einstein, who came up with his theories while working as a clerk in the patent office. The point is, it's up to the writer to wrestle the day job into some kind of submission so as to be able to come home at night or on weekends and write--in many cases while also meeting the needs of a family.
Thank heavens for the concept of "working well under pressure"!
Going back to work has been a bit of a shock this week, but I do find myself turning to my current manuscript and thinking about what to do next, which revision task to tackle today.
Everybody's life is a balancing act one way or another; I'm just glad that part of what needs to be balanced in my life is the rich and joyful and highly personal task of writing children's books.
- Mood:determined
Yesterday I broke open the box of author's copies my publisher sent, only to find that I'd been given a box of books about Archimedes written by a very serious academic type. So somewhere in Vermont, there's a college professor in a tweed jacket with elbow patches looking at a book about dragons and princesses, baffled.
I will, of course, be going by the bookstore to see if my book is happy, well fed and taken care of. I do not expect top billing, but I do feel like I've written a good book. Happily, the critics seem to agree. Everybody gave me nice reviews, two of them mentioning my multidimensional characters, so that's heartening.
After that, I'll come home and work on my current manuscript. The secret is that your heart always belongs to your work in progress--it has to.
- Mood:euphoric
In two and a half weeks, I'll be back at my job of teaching sick students for LAUSD in their homes. I've actually been in the school office as a teacher trainer/acting librarian/curriculum specialist for the past four years, so I'm looking forward to working with kids again. I've missed them! However, I feel like I'm time traveling or dimension traveling (shades of Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci books!) as I anticipate switching gears from this luxurious writer mode.
My current revision has become much more complex, which bodes well for the outcome, but which means a lot more work up front. On a practical note, I had been dreaming about getting a half advance to help with this year's property taxes, but that may not happen, after all. Obviously, no amount of money is worth diminishing a project's full potential, but it's a bit of a disappointment.
That said, I'm feeling so joyful at this point in the revision. Everything I'm doing is making the book better and better, which is exhilarating!
- Mood:inspired
I have posted three days' worth of notes about the conference on my blog, Book Aunt, and might even get to the last day soon. I don't know if this year's conference was just particularly good, or I was in a particularly open mode for hearing the speakers and presenters, but I do feel like my mind's been altered.
As I mentioned a few posts ago, I wrote a new passage for my WIP that seemed to take it to a new level, or maybe made me feel like I was being dragged in a new direction, one that would make the book better but would feel less manageable from an emotional standpoint. It would also be a lot more work!
That same voice showed up in an even stronger form in a short piece I wrote for a workshop on YA voice given by Ellen Hopkins. I read it to the group, crying halfway through (and I am not one to cry subtly). In other words, this voice will not be ignored, and neither are the demands it is making on my new book. Which is a good thing and a bad thing, heady and frightening at the same time. Never let it be said that writing is a predictable or cutesy experience. I suppose that's why the analogy that came to mind as I left the conference was a little dark: I felt like I'd been mainlining the muse.
- Mood:iridescent
Tomorrow the SCBWI Conference begins here in L.A.; it lasts for four days. Sometimes I think about not going, and then I remember that it always gives me a creative jumpstart. Plus the keynote speakers are superb every single time. I'm also going to be having breakfast with various members of the Enchanted Inkpot crew on Saturday--that should be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, I have to get the blog post written. Finding time for my own little WIP feels challenging right about now. I'll have more time next week, I hope!
- Mood:frenetic
I've been out of town, staying at my mom's. This was a wonderful thing in the sense that my mom is a warm and intelligent person; it was less wonderful in the sense that she has a Mac. Much as I admire Macs (I had one long ago), I wish they were more willing to acknowledge the documents on my flash drive. My brother finally got the conversion up and running, but I had only entered about two pages' worth of revision notes when the computer completely shut down. It started up again after I removed the flash drive and pressed the power button, but I knew: The Mac Had Spoken. Chastened, I acknowledged that I should simply give my tendinitis-prone arms a rest and wait till I got home to continue working on my book. Of course, I cheated a little--I wrote a List of Characters and sent it to myself on e-mail! (My Runaway Princess editor used to tease me about my "cast of thousands"; well, he should see the bunch in this new book!)
Mostly, I got my writing fix by making extensive notes for the online class I'm teaching in August, about making your children's book more marketable.
Of course, nice as it is to get away, it's very nice to come home, too. I am quite sure my gorgeous new computer actually missed me. It all but purred when it saw me, like a gleaming black cat.
Now, for the past several weeks, I've been working on my website with my website designer, Barb Aeschliman of Jaleroro Web Design. Barb is not only talented, she's easy to work with. She is very good at turning my vision for each page into reality. And her squirrel bullet points are way too cute!
I find that my website is--let's say sprawling. I got the idea for the different book support items from the concept of DVD extras. And hey, it's just so fun to have a canvas like this to paint on! So for The Runaway Dragon (due out September 1), the new pages are: "Naming a Dragon," "Squirrel Stuff," and "Malison's To Do List." (Malison is an evil teen sorceress in the new book.) We also added the short story that was a large part of the inspiration for The Runaway Princess in that section of the website, plus the main page for the The Runaway Dragon.
Barb and I e-mail back and forth as she shows me what the pages will look like. I send her small corrections, mostly proofreading stuff, along with a few layout issues. For example, I wanted the two drops of blood on the right side of "Malison's To Do List" to drip off the points, not the loops, of the letters--but I hadn't been clear about that, so we fixed it yesterday.
If you do look at the pages, note that I drew the evil dress and crown designs, also the dragon (which Barb then put on the computer and colored for me). Plus I drew the tree design for the squirrel page, which Barb then turned into a forest.
The plan is for the new stuff to go up this weekend, August 1. Hooray!
One last happy thing--when I got home from the airport yesterday, the first hardcover copy of The Runaway Dragon was waiting for me, in my little patio garden of all places. (Apparently the mail carrier didn't want to leave it on the doorstep.) This is my third book, but I still haven't gotten over the thrill and shock of seeing my name on the cover and turning the pages. Lovely.
- Mood: cheerful
- Mood:indescribable
These are the passes I have planned:
1. Weed out any passages where I am telling or summarizing; turn these into scenes, showing the action. (Or cut them altogether.)
2. Work on consistency with the magic--or in this case, the paranormal power--throughout the manuscript.
3. I have a rather large cast of characters, so I want to go through and make sure each one sounds unique, saying and doing things specific to that person. There are two secondary characters I'm particularly focused on "fixing."
4. Make sure I've included sufficient setting details and dialogue tags. Sometimes I just write a bunch of dialogue and it floats off into space, so I know I need to pin it down visually. I may deliberately add metaphors in spots during this round, as well.
5. Work on the inclusion of cell phones and text messaging in the manuscript.
About the last item: Sunday at church I talked to a couple of teenage girls about text messaging. I had also spoken to my middle school-age niece the day before. According to these sources, kids text message in class a whole lot unless the teachers are really strict about it. I asked, "At any given moment in a class where the teachers aren't policing it, how many students are texting?" The middle schooler said 20 kids out of 35; the high school girls said 50%. (For those grown-ups out there who haven't realized we're living in a new world, please try picturing this scenario!)
When I asked my sources if kids still talk on the phone, say in the evening, they said no, they mostly text instead. A father of teens told me that he's seen kids texting back and forth in the same room rather than talking.
Further insights: the middle school kids have lockers, but they're not very big. All of these students (at two suburban schools) said they have two sets of textbooks, one in the classroom and another to keep at home. So kids don't carry backpacks as much, or they carry small, dressy backpacks. Just as often, if not more often, they carry purses and totes.
Times to talk and hang out? Nutrition and lunch.
Fortunately, my contacts expressed their willingness to translate some pieces of dialogue into text-speak for me, so I'll be taking them up on that later (and thanking them on the book's acknowledgment page, of course). Yeah, I can write a YA novel, but I know better than to think things haven't changed since I was 15!
Anyway, this is the kind of research I'm doing these days! Revision brings up research issues, I've noticed.
- Mood:
curious
The number one question asked of all authors during school and library visits is "Where do you get your ideas?" Some authors come up with funny answers like "the idea store," but my answer is two simple words: "What if..."
I use these words deliberately, in fact. When I feel an odd antsiness that tells me to come up with a new writing project, I brainstorm using "what if." Because I'm often at my desk when this happens, I sometimes start off with the things around me. Fortunately, this does NOT mean writing stories about staple removers and printer paper. I have placed a bunch of cool/nutty stuff around my workspace, including a Japanese tray full of small seashells and polished stones plus one perfect sea-and-silver marble; little creatures made of wood, stone, plastic, or clay, among them a carved otter from the Northwest coast, a personable alligator, a pig, an owl, a monster, a hedgehog, a guileless monkey, and a dragon; a sliced and polished fossilized shell (utterly beautiful); a little jeweled sailing ship; a goofy witch doll hanging from the moon; a plaque that reads: "The world is waiting to hear your story "(a gift from a friend), and a painted box with frogs and houses on it. There's a lot more, but you get the idea.
What I've found about brainstorming, and what I tell other aspiring writers, is that my first idea or two are not always that great. It takes a list of 8-10 items to generate enough to produce something worth tinkering with in writing, and sometimes more. I've noticed while teaching that students will come up with just ONE idea and then stop. If they had just gone a little further, they might have found something waaaaaay better!
In deciding to use an idea, I have to consider length of the project, the F Factor, and marketability, on top of whether I love the premise enough to work on it for months. Is the idea a picture book concept, a middle grade idea, or a young adult novel? In many cases, I sit down with a genre in mind, but brainstorm ideas tend to dictate their own age ranges and genres, regardless of my original intent. For example, I am most comfortable writing middle grade fiction, so even when I'm trying to come up with picture book concepts, I find myself creating ideas more suitable for middle grade novels.
The F Factor is what I call "The Fresh Factor." It's what separates yet another book about kids and magic from a series like Harry Potter, whose quidditch and other fresh components captured the world's imagination. The freshness issue is is also noticeable when students brainstorm because they will first come up with repeats of their favorite movies and TV episodes (which could prompt a diatribe about how today's society crushes creativity, but I'll restrain myself). This is another reason to expand the brainstorming process: in order to move beyond the predictable into uncharted territory.
Marketability refers to what's out there as well as what's not out there. Ironically, in light of the F Factor, one aspect of marketability is "What's selling?" So then you end up with another 15 smoldering teen vampire tales, a la Twilight. I prefer to think of this as considering broader market interests, as well as specifically considering what the competition might be. For instance, I was inspired to retell a particular fairy tale about six months before another author came out with their version. By the time I found out that the other book was scheduled, I was too deep in the story to want to turn back. Yet I've already had one publisher reject my manuscript because of the competition. If you want to write about time travel, or the Holocaust, or dragons, it behooves you to see what else is out there and be sure you're not inadvertently sounding the same notes. (In this case, I'll hold my manuscript till the fuss has died down and then try again to sell it.)
So--where do I get my ideas? "What if" is merely a catalyst. My ideas are brewed in the volcanic soup of the hundreds (thousands) of books I've read, the people I know, the experiences I've had. This is true for everyone.
I'll give you just one example--The Runaway Princess. From a literary standpoint, that book was inspired by M.M. Kaye's The Ordinary Princess and by Terry Pratchett's wry, astonishing sense of humor (I own ALL of his books!). It was also a twist on a short story I'd written a few years earlier, "Half the Kingdom," in which I put a princess in a tower to be rescued by whichever prince could first complete three dire tasks assigned by the king, her father. After numerous failed suitors, a prince came after her who pointed out that she was clearly in cahoots with her father, the two of them bent on getting free labor in order to solve some of the kingdom's knottier problems (like draining swamps and removing witches). This guy had actually been in one of her college classes and knew she was an urban planning major. In fact, she was up there in the tower writing her doctoral dissertation!
If you've read The Runaway Princess, you'll know that the story evolved quite a bit from there--Princess Meg's father is looking at the kingdom's economic development, but Meg is NOT in on the plan. She's not college-age, and I took out the more extreme anachronisms. But that's the beauty of writing; stories change and grow like plants shooting up, sending out leaves, and flowering.
As for how I first came up with the short story concept for "Half the Kingdom," I was obviously intrigued by the thought that the traditional "three tasks" might solve a kingdom's more pressing practical problems, and that perhaps that goal might matter more than the potential marriage. Can you see the "what if" there? "What if, in the traditional fairy tale 'three tasks for my daughter's hand in marriage and half the kingdom' scenario, the king and his daughter had a hidden agenda?"
Now, if you, like me, are one of those people who's driven to write, you will be able to draw on your own rich store of life experiences. You can also build a treasury of knowledge by reading and reading and reading. And of course, anyone can use that powerful incantation, "What if?"
- Mood: thoughtful
- Mood: ecstatic
Today is the first day of my summer vacation, and I've been looking forward to uninterrupted time to work on my new book. But I pause on the brink, thinking of errands and household chores instead. Maybe it's because people drown in pools sometimes, and a book is more than a pool, really an ocean, drop upon drop upon drop of possibilities. But then, it's probably nothing quite that complicated. I should go with a much smaller water analogy, and that's the skin on top of a drop of water or a pond, the surface tension that allows a water drop to roll around without breaking or a water strider to stride. All I have to do is physically break the surface of the water, and I'll be writing again.
The hesitation doesn't matter, as long as you start the session. And then you're striding, or swimming. Either way, once you're in motion, it isn't hard, and the water feels really good against your skin. That's when you wonder the most, Why did I hesitate?
What is it about telling your editor you'll send her a manuscript that you just know is completely polished, but then later that day, you suddenly feel compelled to start dinking around with it, revising (AGAIN)? And suddenly it's midnight, and you're wondering, what about that one scene? I could do a lot more showing vs. telling there, come to think of it. And maybe I should judiciously sprinkle in another 10-12 metaphors throughout the book, you know, for color. And...
And so here I am: it's 12:30 a.m., and I can't sleep, and I just thought of yet another thing to tinker with! Because a book is never perfect. Ever. And somehow, it feels like it should be!
- Mood:awake
Progress-wise, I'm at the point where I'm writing the climactic scene in the first draft, a draft I've been working on since last September. Fortunately, I have the summer off, being a teacher, and instead of teaching summer school in order to pay down my now-double-the-value-of-my-condo mortgage, I intend to stay home and write.
Of course, I'm not even done with the first round, and I have what seems like endless layers of revision already planned. Rewrite characters, rewrite scenes, rewrite my MC's paranormal gift and how she uses it... Why does this sound like so much fun when it's a ton of work?
As for the next scene, I can tell you that originally, I had a lot more of the good guys still standing when the villainess went down. Then I thought, Nah, that's too easy. I've now decided to decimate the playing field, making things as hard as possible for my MC before she wins the day.
- Mood:creative
So--I find most people think that being a children's book writer is cute, easy, and such a nice hobby. In fact, they say, I've been meaning to write a children's book myself; could you refer me to your editor?
Head shakes of its own accord, and I try not to show the dark side of our field as I'm flooded with memories of rejection notices and a good twenty-three years' of effort to get to this point. Thirteen years to make my first sale, and then the book didn't come out for nearly seven years. When I tell people that, they smile and say, "Oh, well, I'm sure it won't take me that long." Hmm. I hope not. Or do I hope so? Bwah-ha-ha.
But all this whining is a joke, because I would write even if I were living on a desert island using coconut husks and octopus ink, with nary an audience except the sea turtles.* Why does a person spend two decades writing stories, poems, and novels? Because she has to. Because even a few days without writing makes me feel like I'm not real, I'm insubstantial. I do it for the joy. Kind of like sky diving.
Yes, I would be very frustrated if I had never sold a story, let alone held the finished book in my hands and slowly turned the pages. But that wouldn't be enough to keep me from my heart's love of storytelling and wordcrafting.
*Note: I was looking for a metaphor today, not a blog theme, but I found both, not to mention a surprisingly apt play on words!
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