Middle Grade Rewind: A Day in My Life at 9 by Donna Galanti

As middle grade writers, we find joy in putting ourselves into the young characters we write about. One way I love to do this is re-visit pictures of myself as a kid. 

I stare at them, sifting through specific memories connected to that photo. What was I excited about? What did I most want? What made me sad? What made me happy? What was my biggest worry?

Then I journal in that moment, bringing in all the details on the edge of that photo and just out of reach. Often the details outside the picture are the ones that tell the story of that photo.

I did this recently with this photo.

Bethel Woods Campground, Holderness, New Hampshire, 1978

Bethel Woods Campground, 1978

Every day I dream about getting my first dog. I imagine she is so real that when I come home from school I run to meet her (her name will be Beauty after Black Beauty). But not yet…so while I wait, I keep busy roaming the campground we own.

It’s fun to wear my strap-on roller skates and hunt the woods for dead butterflies and shotgun shells. They make cool noise makers when you put them in old coffee cans. 

I'm lucky because there are always kids here to play with and swim with at the pool (awesome for an only child like me!).

I especially love to hang out in the recreation hall and play pinball machines and records on the juke box. My favorite song is Escape by Rupert Holmes. I asked Dad what a Pina Colada is and he said it’s like a party in a glass for grownups.

Each morning as I pick rotten apples in the orchard to feed our fat hogs, I get to pretend I’m my favorite hero, Laura Ingalls from Little House in the Big Woods. Mom says we’ll even be butchering the hogs soon – just like Laura did!

Mom wants to make head cheese Like Mrs. Ingalls did (ewww!) but I want to blow up the pig’s bladder like a balloon and roast its tail over the fire, just like Laura did. Little House on the Prairie is my favorite show and sometimes I even pretend that Mr. Ingalls is my dad.

After hog feeding time, I get to gather the eggs in the chicken coop. Today I found a double yolk egg without a shell.  It was see-through and wobbly just like a Weeble. Although, I think it would fall down if I wobbled it.

Tomorrow is dump day. I get to collect the trash with Dad from all the campsites (we even saw a bear last week!). It’s a totally smelly chore but the best part is that I get to stand up in the back of our 1965 Ford truck and hang onto the wood sides as we cruise to the dump. Wheeee! It’s almost as fun as snowmobiling on the camp trails in winter.

If I help Dad out good, he even promised to take me fishing on Squam Lake this weekend to use my new tackle box. I caught my first pike there last month. Dad almost crashed the boat up on the rocks just so I could reel it in!

Heading out fishing with Dad and friends, in his Boston Whaler

Well, time to go practice my after-dinner show for Mom and Dad. I’m singing and dancing to The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and On The Good Ship Lollipop on my record player. I even made my own sailor and Tigger costumes (I’m a blue fuzzy Tigger in my one-piece footed pj’s, Dad’s striped tie for a tail, and Mom's wig).

Oh, and there’s a big thunderstorm coming tonight so I plan to sleep on the screened-in porch and watch the lightning all night long (just don't tell Mom, okay?)

Being nine is the best. Getting a dog would make it even better.

Me and Beauty's son, Windsor. I got to pick him out from her litter. 

Borrow From History To Create New Stories by Donna Galanti

When I write, I return to the magical worlds of being a kid, where monsters and faeries roam the land. Through my stories, I become these characters – and assume their powers. Mythology is a great place to find such inspiration!

As writers, we don’t have to limit our imagination and it’s also okay to “borrow” from history. Borrowing from history or even mashing up different cultures and times in history can bring on new story ideas (students love hearing this in my school visits). Many authors do it from fantasy to real life.

Here are a few examples of books that borrow from mythology...

K. L. Armstrong and Melissa Marr with The Blackwell Pages series – Norse Mythology

Peter Lerangis with the Seven Wonders series – Atlantis mythology

Michael Northrup with the Tomb Quest series – Egyptian mythology

Cindy Pon with the Serpentine series – Chinese Mythology 

Rick Riordan with Percy Jackson and the Olympians series – Greek mythology

Dianne Salerni with The Eighth Day series – Arthurian mythology

I am a sucker for mythology and fell in love with Greek mythology long ago in school. In my Lightning Road series, the Greek Olympians fell from Mount Olympus, had to relocate, and lost their power – and their descendants desperately want it back. In creating this world I took many parts of mythology and made them my own. Remixing culture can be fun, to use ideas from different cultures and history to create a new story that is uniquely yours.

Here are some of people, places, and beasts I made my own…

ARTEMIS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Goddess of the hunt, chastity, and the moon. She is the protector of nature and the hunt; both wild and tame animals are under her protection. 

ARTEMIS IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Not a protector. Not only does she hunt beasts, she hunts children as well.

Artemis excerpt:
“Her nose and lips were thin like the rest of her, a face more handsome than pretty. She wore matching plum-colored velvet pants and a hooded tunic that fell to her knees with open slits on either side. A rough-made bracelet of polished braided wood encircled her left wrist. Her white shirt was flecked with gold threads, and billowy sleeves puffed out above her slender hands resting on a burnished metal belt hanging low across her hips. A dagger with an intricate handle dangled from her belt. Form-fitting black leather boots laced up her legs and one foot tapped the floor. The strangest thing about her was the black sunglasses she wore. They had round frames, and the lenses flickered alive with torchlight.”

KORAX IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Or Corax, means raven. Corax was also a scholar.

KORAX IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: These are ravens but no ravens we know. They are monstrous beasts that can transport people and act as spies for Artemis.

Korax excerpt:
“As the swarm drew closer, they appeared as monstrous black ravens with a giant wingspan that filled the sky’s empty spaces. Their massive beaks opened and closed with gurgling croaks, but it was their eyes that terrified me. They burned a bright green, shooting us with a mean glare as they torpedoed down. Chanting words echoed across the dark land: light bringers, light bringers. Imagined words? The whirring of wing beats throbbed in my head as they grew closer, matching the beat of my own thudding heart.”

  

ZEUS’S LIGHTNING BOLT IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: A sign of power and of Zeus’s power to rule the sky.

ZEUS’S LIGHTNING BOLT IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES:  Zeus’s lightning bolt created the Lightning Gate, a portal between Earth and Nostos, the world where the descendants of the Olympians have relocated to as their home. Zeus still rules the sky through this gate as he steals people from Earth along the lightning road that connects both worlds.

Lightning Gate excerpt:
“The gate’s blaze spun a web of brilliance then dimmed and died out, leaving us in deep shadows under a rising orange moon. The massive portal filled the small meadow like a tarnished bronze statue that had weathered many storms. Its two Greek columns stood on round stone blocks, and another wider slab overhead connected them. Carved figures and animals moved through the gate’s ancient metal as if alive. The scent of blistered tin blew off the door to another world, still standing after 2,000 years. Built with lost Olympian magic, I’d once again traveled through it to rescue another friend.”

THE CADMEAN BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Known as the Teumessian Fox or Cadmean Vixen, is a gigantic fox that preyed upon the children.

THE CADMEAN BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Giant beasts with red eyes and flame-throwing breath. Used as guard dogs to watch over captive children, and chase them down when necessary.

Cadmean Beast Excerpt:
“Their heads were even with the shoulders of the men and their legs were as big as a horse’s. Fur covered them in slicked back, shiny spikes. They sniffed the platform and panted, thick tongues pulsing out of their mouths, and saliva dripped down in big gobs. Muscles rippled up and down their bodies  like quivering arrows as their bushy tails swished back and forth. I flinched with each swish, my feet desperate to run, but they were frozen in place. The foxes jerked their heads up in unison, and it felt like spiders skittered up my spine. Red eyes glowed bright like lava and burned fiercely into mine, hungry for what I feared was me.”

  

AGRIUS BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Is one of a pair of twins, half-man and half-bear. Agrius and his brother grew to immense strength and size and were feral creatures, attacking strangers to eat.

AGRIUS BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: A giant black beast bearing a bear’s body and a wolf’s snout that is hunted by Artemis in the Wild Lands, but also known to befriend some people.

Agrius Beast Excerpt:
“Luck seemed to be all we carried for the moment. I jumped on the back of the creature behind Ash, sinking into its thick fur. She urged Charlie on who stood frozen, mesmerized by the beast’s boulder-sized, shaggy head. Its pointed ears and snout twitched as it trembled, eager to be on the run.”

CRETAN BEAST IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY: Known as the Cretan Bull, it was the bull Pasiphaë fell in love with, giving birth to the Minotaur. The Cretan Bull was feared and eventually captured and sacrificed.

CRETAN BEAST IN THE LIGHTNING ROAD SERIES: Half lion, half bull. It’s held captive in the Wild Lands and hunted by Artemis.

Cretan Beast Excerpt:
“I skidded to a stop, riding wet leaves. Charlie’s eyes blinked with surprise as I shoved him aside and turned to face the unleashed creature. It flew over my head—an exploding mountain of fur and legs and tail—and slammed onto the ground. It turned to face me, panting. Pacing back and forth, its massive paws glinted with curved nails as it smashed the mud. Steam bellowed from its giant nostrils and horns protruded from a head covered in a shaggy brown mane. Tinted burnt orange, the beast raged part lion, part bull. I backed away from the monster, hauling Charlie with me.”

I love to write about monstrous people and beasts as I face my own (monstrous) fears by writing about them.  I’ve always loved Greek mythology which has lots of monstrous creatures in it.  And sometimes the monsters we fear are not the ones we should be afraid of – it’s the ones who don’t appear monstrous that can be the most evil.

Do you enjoy borrowing from history to tell stories? What are some of your favorite stories that borrowed from mythology or other history? 

*All Lightning Road illustrations owned by Donna Galanti, courtesy of illustrator Al Sirois

What fiction most influenced your childhood and your writing today? by Donna Galanti

My love for writing and reading went hand in hand ever since I was a little girl. I began writing plays and acting them out with the neighborhood kids when I was seven years old. My first play was a murder mystery (no surprise!). At the time, I lived in England, where I attended a Harry Potter-like castle school.

Progressing from plays to stories, my first short story was about a flying ship, wizards, and Dodo birds. I even put in writing (in the “author’s bio” at the end of my story) that I wanted to be an author when I grew up.

At that same time, I vividly recall the first book I fell in love with: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I read the entire Narnia Chronicles in my very-British school, curled up in a nook in my itchy gray and pink woolen school uniform as you can see (bowler hat and tie included!). 

For a time, I would sneak into people’s coat closets when visiting with my parents, hoping to find a Narnia world on the other side. I would huddle in the dark beneath winter coats in hall closets, imagining myself sent to an older world long gone as I hid among musty wool. If I sat long enough would I be transported there?

After that I gobbled up all of Roald Dahl’s books and especially loved Fantastic Mr. Fox and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The tooth fairy brought his books. I still have them all.

I went on real life adventures with Enid Blyton's the Adventurous Four gang. As an only child, it was like having brothers and sisters to join in with. They made me feel less lonely as we explored our world from the sea to the farm. Then it was on to The Phantom Tollbooth and I was a little boy named Milo traveling into The Lands Beyond.

After England, we moved to rural New Hampshire where my parents owned and operated a campground and along came Laura Ingalls Wilder’s the Little House Books. We had barns and hogs and chickens, and how I loved gathering the rotten apples in the orchards to feed the hogs. My mom even made me a prairie dress outfit. I so wanted to be Laura! 

One fall day we rounded up the hogs for slaughter and I dreamt of blowing up the pig’s bladder like a balloon and tossing it about and roasting the pig’s tail – just like Laura did! Although, my mother was not so thrilled with scooping out the eyes to make head cheese as Mrs. Ingalls did!

When I became a teenager, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings came into my life and I was swept away to Middle Earth. One Halloween at school I even dressed up as Aragorn (what I envisioned he looked like at the time long before the movies) and of course no one knew who I was in my cloak, boots, and dirt-grimed face.

As a child, fantasy was my reality. I read fantasy then and created fantasy worlds in my imagination to live out my favorite books, so it’s no surprise that I write fantasy! From that first story about a flying ship to my most recent book, Joshua and the Arrow Realm, fantasy has always claimed me. 

My son has a love for fantasy too, sucking up the Charlie Bone books by Jenny Nimmo (“The best author EVER Mom!” So, he was thrilled when she blurbed my first book, Joshua and the Lightning Road). When my son was younger, he loved to create his own fantasy worlds by extending his dreams. He would wake up and play with his cars and character figures to bring his dream to life again. He kept the story going because he was sad he woke up and it had ended. He found a way to keep it going.

When I was a little girl the woods were my playground. Growing up on a mountain as an only child after we moved to New York, I spent much of my time roaming the forest with my notebook in hand, putting stories on the page in hidden glens and the nooks of trees (and acting them out when no one was around).

The tree house world from Joshua and the Arrow Realm. Illustration by Al Sirois.

My love of the woods and fantasy both fueled the wooded world of Joshua and the Arrow Realm, where Joshua must survive the hunt and discovers a hidden tree world of other kids. 

I wish there was a closet I could huddle in now to travel to my favorite made-up worlds, but my imagination must do. I have all my childhood books on my shelves and know I can visit them anytime. And I don't even need a closet to get there.

What fiction fueled your fantasy world as a child and if you write, does it enrich your stories today? Do you still re-read your favorite books from childhood like me? 

Celebrate the Power of Kids by Donna Galanti

Today I’m asking you to help celebrate the power of kids.

Photo by Chris & Karen Highland via Creative Commons

As grownups we shape and guide kids – as parents, as teachers, as leaders. We are their models. We don’t always do the right thing. We don’t always make the right choices. But we don’t give up trying – and that’s what kids see. You are the reason why a kid didn’t give up. You can make a difference. And as a parent, we carry this awesome gift that is scary and wonderful all at the same time!

When we think of heroes we may think of police officers, firefighters, and doctors. But kids can be heroes too – and it’s up to us to help them see that. They can be heroes sometimes in big, noisy ways and sometimes in small, quiet ways. We all have the power inside to be our own hero!

My (kid-hero) son giving the gift of time to listen to the life stories of his great-uncle

I’ve met and read about so many amazing kids lately that are overcoming obstacles, big and small, and letting the power of their voice shine through. Like Caine. At nine he built his dream and didn’t give up, even when no one would share in it. You’ll be so inspired by what he started. Read the story. And Mason, a seven-year-old who gave up birthday presents to feed an animal shelter. And Erik, an amazing teen author, book blogger (This Kid Reviews Books), and super reader. Get to know him!

Kids matter. We need to let them know they matter. We need to let them know their voice matters. As writers, we can do that through books. You've got the power!

Image by Pixabay

Some of my favorite middle grade reads where kids find their own power within themselves:

Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Wonder by R.J. Palacio (after reading 3x, my son would go in the book store and ask, “Do you have any more books like Wonder?”)
Holes by Louis Sachar
Surviving Bear Island by Paul Greci
Ungifted by Gordon Korman
Almost Home by Joan Bauer
The Ruins of Gorlan: Book 1 (Ranger's Apprentice) by John A. Flanagan

I wrote my first children’s book, Joshua and the Lightning Road, for my son Joshua. It’s a story about finding super powers, but also about finding your own special power inside that no one can take away.

In the book, Joshua discovers he has magical powers, but he quickly discovers that sometimes the power he’s had all along within himself is even bigger than magic. He tells his friend Charlie, “You don’t need powers to do the right thing. All you need is to believe in yourself.”

I’m reading an amazing manuscript by one of my novel critique partners right now, Joe McGee and former Mayhemmer, about a young disabled boy who lives as a regular kid. His life challenges don't hold him back from doing what he loves. I don’t want to give anything away J but he inspires me to believe we truly can overcome anything. Words matter – and especially to kids. I hope this manuscript is soon on book shelves everywhere!

One of my favorite childhood heroes was (still is) Anne Frank, who, as we know, lived for over three years in an attic with her family trying to survive during the Holocaust. Anne Frank inspired me as a kid with her words. She taught me that I could be my own hero (we also share the same birthday!). It was because of her that I started my first diary that helped me find my own power through writing.

Anne wrote in her diary, “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” She was a quiet hero but her quiet words had the power to affect the world.

A few of my journals from childhood

And I want kids to know they can affect the world too, so I'm sharing my Kid Heroes series that features kids doing heroic things – in big and quiet ways. And for each feature I donate $10 to Kids Wish Network, a special program that grants wishes to kids who face remarkable challenges and are in desperate need of hope.

Nominate a special kid today and help them keep flying on their own special journey  J .

What are some of your favorite books that empower kids (and you too!)? Do you know any kid heroes? 

Writing Thrillers for Kids by Donna Galanti

Do you love to be scared? I do (when I know it’s safe)! Haunted houses. Hayrides. Rollercoasters. Adventure rides. (and yes, that's me with my family on a ride!).

I got so scared once in a haunted house that I whacked the “ghosts” with the teddy bear from my costume. The management turned on all the lights and asked me to leave. Oops.

Just last Halloween my friend dared me to do Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary, a haunted house at an abandoned prison. I was very proud that I didn’t whack anyone this time!

But I still get scared of real places as a grown up. Of our dark garage. Of our creepy old cellar. Of nighttime when taking the trash cans out. My heart pip-pops waiting for that creature or boogeyman to grab me. I know he could be. My imagination tells me so.

And thriller movies are fun to get scared by – but I think it’s even more fun for me to watch my son watching them. When he was younger he would yell at the characters, “save yourselves!” then jump up and down, cover his eyes, and hug me in fright – whether it was Jurassic Park, Twister, or Dante’s Peak. I think the same elements in thriller movies cross over into thriller books.

Basic elements of a thriller:

Incorporate plot twists to shock the audience

Tease viewers to keep them hanging on until the end

A hero, or band of heroes, opposing an enemy while on a quest

The threat of death or capture is always looming

Here is a snapshot of my favorite thrillers for kids:

The False Prince by Jennifer Nielsen
The Ranger’s Apprentice series by John Flanagan
Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Double Vision by F.T. Bradley

As my son became an avid and selective reader, I discovered that kids love to be thrilled not just in movies but in books too. I started reading some of the thrillers my son had on his bookshelf like Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan and Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. In doing this I began to see patterns in these kid adventure tales – and I began applying what I learned, along with general thriller elements, to create my own stories.

10-steps I discovered for writing kid thrillers:

•  Put the kids in charge. Kids don’t want to read about grownups having adventures.
• Which leads into…have the kids figure out how to take the bad guys down – not grownups. Kids want to see themselves as the hero, not Mom or Dad or their teacher.
•  Whatever scary situations the kids find themselves in – they must navigate their way out.
• Don’t dwell on the dark stuff. Make it happen fast without gory detail – kids can use their imagination.
• Give them friends in their travels. Life is hard without friends! And a kid needs friends to help him along his scary adventure.
• Through story events have the kids discover their own strength and courage to overcome the bad things happening to them.
• Make all seemed lost! End the chapters on cliffhangers to encourage kids to keep turning the pages and find out what happens next.
• Have it work out in the end, or at least partially, even if all seems doomed for a while.
• Add humor! Interjecting a dollop of funny can alleviate the tension in the scariest of scenes and lighten the moment.
• Make it a series. Have a final resolution to the story but leave it open for more stories down the road for the characters. Kids love to follow their beloved characters into new adventures.

As you can see, I love to read and write thrillers for kids. And that’s just what I did with creating the Lightning Road series. Here’s the book trailer for book 2 in the series, Joshua and the Arrow Realm. Do you think the story has the elements of a kid’s thriller?

What are your favorite kid thrillers to read? If you write kid thrillers, what are some thriller elements you include?

Mourning the Middle Grade Years by Donna Galanti

Just recently, it struck me that I couldn’t remember the last time I read a goodnight book to my 13-year-old son. I asked him if he knew. He couldn’t remember either.

“There was probably a night where you couldn’t read to me, Mom, because you were busy. And then the next night we forgot about it. And the next.”

“So it just faded away?”

“Yup.”

*Mom choke-up*

Since then I’ve been bothered by the fact that:
1. I desperately want to remember when and what that last goodnight book was.
2. If I’d known it was the last time, I would have cherished it.
3. Bedtime reading to my son is forever gone – and why am I just realizing the significance of this now?

I mourn something long disappeared that I had not known was even gone.

Along with the bedtime reading, has gone the picture books and middle grade books. Some I received as a little girl 40+ years ago. My mother lovingly wrote my name in mine, the year I received it, and who gave me the book. The Tooth Fairy brought me books from the entire Beatrix Potter series to all of Roald Dahl’s books.

The picture books have since been packed away in my office and the middle grade books collect dust on my son’s shelves.

“Mom, can we pack these books up now too?”

“Never!” I protest and gently dust them off and take them to my room where middle grade will never die. 

Books like Wonder, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Big Nate, Warriors, Flat Stanley, Goosebumps, Genius Files, Joshua Dread, Captain Underpants (the lunch signs are the BEST!), Charlie Bone (Mom, this is THE best series EVER! You have to read it). Oh, and how amazingly cool for my son that the Charlie Bone series author, Jenny Nimmo, blurbed my first middle grade book.

My son, pushing 14, has now moved on to sucking up darker novels like Marie Lu’s YA fantasy series Legend, Prodigy, and Champion.

And I realized, sadly, he’s also moved on from all of our middle grade shows: iCarly, Good Luck Charlie, Pair of Kings, Drake and Josh, Sponge Bob Square Pants. My middle grade shows growing up included Little House on the Prairie, The Love Boat, Magnum P.I., Benson, Greatest American Hero, and re-runs of The Carol Burnett Show and Leave it to Beaver.

At nearly-14, my son's tv shows now consist of Arrow, About a Boy, Limitless, Dr. Who (okay that’s forever cool), and How I Met Your Mother (soooo not middle grade!). 

I nostalgically bring up our shared favorite episodes to him of middle grade shows buried in tv-land dust.

“Can’t we just watch a Sponge Bob episode tonight? How about the "Frankendoodle" one or "Pizza Delivery" or "Best Day Ever"?” I ask.

“No, Mom. That’s kid stuff.” *Josh sigh*

“What about iCarly where Spencer pranks everyone and does the prank song?” I start bopping around.

“No, Mom.” *eye roll*

“Okay.” *Mom sigh*

I’ve grown with my son as he’s grown, true, but in doing so I’ve also relived many of my own childhood paths – and I don’t want them to end. I’ve returned home to a place where I will always be young, laughing myself silly, whizzing through an adventure, and experiencing so many wondrous ‘firsts’.

As a kid growing up in the 1970s and 1980s there weren’t books categorized “middle grade” and so I downed Sidney Sheldon, Stephen King, Jack London, Paul Zindel, and V.C. Andrews (all soooo not middle grade). I still re-read many today. They were my middle grade. Now I have my son’s too. And someday I hope he’ll come back around to them, like I did. Maybe with his own child. He doesn’t need to relive his childhood now. He’s living it.

He also doesn’t need me to be home anymore after school. He has a job folding pizza boxes and can ride his bike to a friend’s house. He doesn’t need me to read him bedtime stories or cut up his meat. He doesn’t need me to do his laundry. He can do that just fine (good!).

Don’t misunderstand me; I am enjoying the new phase of things. Watching him work, open a bank account, clean his room because he wants to (faint!), be reasonable when things don’t go his way, and calm his frazzled mom down when deadlines loom. “It’ll be okay Mom. You’ll get it done. You always do.” *Josh hug*

He helped me years ago in writing my first middle grade book when I got stuck on plot and character. And soon, I’ll give him to read the YA fantasy I’m writing before I share it with my agent. Although, I still get thrills when he tells his friends that his mom’s new (middle grade) book out is the best book ever. *mom beam*

He may have said goodbye to middle grade for now, but I do love sharing in the new wonders with him. I just won’t ever stop loving middle grade, not since I fell in love with it through my son. I’ll wait for the day he comes back to it. *fingers crossed*

There is one thing that still remains: Mad Libs. Where middle grade toilet humor abounds because exploding butt nuggets, scrubby cow plops, booger blub, and crusty toe nail clippings make everything funny. Thank goodness for that!

Have you ever mourned moving on from a phase in your child's middle grade life? 

Let’s have fun creating & promoting book trailers! by Donna Galanti

Book trailers can be a great teaser for your book. Necessary? No. Fun? Yes! 

Video watching continues to rise. 300 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every single day. Here are more mind blowing YouTube facts. 

Last year I created my first book trailer for book one in my Lightning Road series. Trailers can run you from do-it-yourself bare bones price to thousands of dollars. I set a budget of $500 and came in around $400, all-inclusive. Most importantly, I wanted a trailer that had quality even within a small budget. What do you think?

I originally thought in creating this trailer that I could (ahem, meaning my techie husband could) create my trailer in a movie making program. But we had a learning curve and the clock was ticking with the book release, so I decided to create what I could and enlist a designer/editor to put all the elements together.  It worked out great! I had control of content and design and she put it all together with tech glitz.

With book two in my series releasing August 30th, Joshua and the Arrow Realm, I decided to re-visit the same process but go a step further with promotion and have a book trailer reveal. You can signup here for my book trailer reveal with giveaway on August 15th. But first, let’s talk creating.

WHAT I LEARNED ... TIPS TO CREATE:

Write a script and make it brief. Under two minutes. Read it out loud. Some experts say even less than one minute. View two well done examples here of a shortbook trailer and here, and an example of a longer book trailer. To see great book trailers done on small budgets by two of my friends, check out the booktrailer for Kathryn Craft and the book trailer for Kit Grindstaff.

Thrill viewers in the first few seconds.

Introduce the main character and setting and focus on their problem or goal by creating a series of scenes that quickly show the story without summarizing it.

End with a cliffhanger. Don’t give away the ending!

Script it with the theme of the book in mind. Time each slide with the copy and music. My trailer for Joshua and the Lightning Road is 100 words. Think of how to show the story while keeping excitement levels high. Less is generally more.

On a budget? Simpler can be better. In Joshua and the Lightning Road trailer I used one video and one song. My editor added in a few other animated elements.

Purchase affordable video clips and music (or find for free. See resources below) to incorporate after you’ve scripted. Keep in mind the approximate length of your trailer before purchasing any clips. 

Practice reading the script aloud with the music, allowing a few seconds for each slide. Purchasing a longer music track is fine as you can use what portions fit the trailer best.

Include your book cover, blurbs, and publication information at the end of the trailer.

Bottom line: go for simple and classy vs. complicated and cheesy.

RESOURCES:

Music I use: 300Monks.
Can search by genre, mood, or setting. Most under $50.
For free music check out Free StockMusic.

Video/photos I use: iStock. For my recent trailer in production now, I purchased 3 video clips from Essentials Videos (lowest priced). The Signature Videos are more expensive. Total was $170 in credits purchased but I found a 20% off coupon and it cost me $136.
Other resources: ThinkStock, VideoBlocks, and Fotolia. For free photos search Unsplash and Gratisography.

Editor/designer hired:  Depends on time involved. It pays to have all of your elements, copy, and vision prepared before working with an editor as more revisions can mean higher cost unless you agree on a set amount. Feeling techie? Than try a movie making program like iMovie or watch a tutorial on Windows Movie Maker. Or tryFiverr!

Here is a great Pinterest board with 1,000 book trailer ideas and tips. Check outfour well done book trailers that are professionally done but provide great examples of what works well in a book trailer as far as timing, suspense, and music.

I highly recommend my designer, AmandaFroehlich. She also created my bookmarks, business cards, and poster!

PROMOTION TIPS:

Host an onlinebook trailer reveal. Ask bloggers to participate in revealing your book trailer on the same day. Include an excerpt and a Rafflecopter giveaway (participants can gain more entries by following you on social media. Extra bonus for you!). Here's an example of a giveaway in my book trailer reveal. All products I already have on hand for many uses, except for the gift card. See what you have on hand already of value to include!:

Upload your book trailer to  Vimeo and YouTube (it’s the #2 search engine in the world because Google owns it. Yup, that’s the world’s #1 search engine).

Link your trailer in these places:
Website home page (having it embedded on your home page boosts your SEO which increases searchability for your website)
Thunderclap campaign (see example of mine)
LinkedIn Profile
Twitter profile
Amazon author page
Email signature
Instagram
Other social media!

Promote your trailer in your social media outlets, author newsletter, and on your blog.

Play your trailer at book events and school visits, if a children’s author. From my experience, including your trailer in your presentation is a BIG draw at school visits and inspires students and librarians to purchase your book. Tip: request that the teachers/librarians coordinating the school visit play your trailer before your visit to introduce your book to them and get them excited about it! 

Research video distribution services. I haven’t used them but hereis an article reviewing services, some free and some paid. Here’s one company, COS Productions, that focuses on book trailer production and you can purchase video distribution separately if you create your own trailer.

Video has longevity. I still get mileage out of my trailer at school visits, re-posting on social media, and at book events.

Have fun! 

And don’t forget, if you have a blog, I'd love for you to signup to be part of my trailer reveal for Joshua and the Arrow Realm on August 15th! 

There is so much more to know about making book trailers and promotion out there. Authors and designers, share your tips here! Readers, what do you like in a book trailer? Share a favorite! 

The 3 Acts of Sound: Re-inventing How You Write with Audio by Donna Galanti

 photo by Jonathan Grado Creative Commons License 

Sound. It’s such an important part of our every day. Nature. Music. Machines. Heartfelt conversations. Heated arguments.

Writing requires digging into our senses to show what a character feels, hears, sees, tastes, and smells. But what about the writer? Enriching our own senses can enrich our writing. It can spur a mental and physical response that deepens our characters and setting.

Silence was once my friend and what I thought was required to write. This past year, my writing process has evolved out of necessity. My writing habits grew stale and the words lost their fluidity.

Without realizing it, over the past few months I’ve organically infused new processes into my writing to combat this. When taking a closer look at them I realized they all had one thing in common: sound.

Here are the three ways sound has become a new foundation for my writing process.

                                          

Use real life setting to infuse your story setting

photo by Paul Bilca Creative Commons License

Act 1
Audio record 

I discovered the magical concept of recording on my new smartphone. Not since I was eleven years old with my push button cassette recorder, had audio story telling so claimed me! Back in 1980 I downed Kool-Aid and Nutter-Butters with my best friend as we created commercials on wishful products like … Pepsi Flakes Cereal (wouldn’t that be a cool breakfast?).

Now, strolls through woods suddenly became paths to other worlds. People in my story walk beside me, speak to me. They love, they fight, they suffer, they rejoice. Mountains loom, storms rage, rivers flow, and secrets tumble. My character’s words and their world spill out from me, the narrator, onto the story stage (and if no one is around I get theatrical and act my scenes out!). 

The earth and air around me weave into my story, crossing into fantasy. The whispering wind chills my skin, the burbling creek roars in my ears, the crackling leaves crush beneath my feet. And it all infuses my story. The real life world becomes my story world.

As I fade back to the solid world and my desk, I transcribe my words and embellish on all I’ve recorded.

Try this:
Place yourself in a similar setting of your scene (or one you can connect to for your story’s sake) and use it to your advantage incorporating the senses as an active participant in the story. See the story setting before you and use the real world to describe it. In transcription, you will have a second pass to edit what you’ve recorded and likely guaranteed to have extended thoughts that build on your audio file.

 My awesome critique group! 

Act 2

Critique Group 
I was excited to be invited to be part of a critique group of children’s authors this year that meets once a month. This was something I’d never ventured doing! I’ve used editors and beta readers, but never been held accountable to submit work and review work in a group.

Our rules state that a moderator reads the first page then the person being critiqued must wear The Sombrero of Silence for twenty minutes while the other members speak freely about their work (thanks former Mayhemmer Joe McGee!). Listening to others debate your scenes while keeping mum has been fascinating. I am a fly on the wall, scribbling notes as their words, passion, and ideas spew around me. This one-way audio sensory experience enables you to hone in on each spoken word with clarity and to seek its meaning. You are a receiver of sound but not a producer of sound.

Try this:
Paired with writers of the same level and mindset in a critique group keeps you accountable to your work and pushes you to see issues in other works that you may see in your own. Also, the camaraderie inspires community in a business that is very much solitary. Being a non-participant, hearing your work read aloud and discussed without your engagement, peaks the senses to pick up on each idea and word with total awareness.

The Sombrero of Silence

Act 3
Write to Music
I had always connected songs to characters and scenes in my previous novels, but I never wrote to the music. I would listen to theme songs prior to writing and then sit down to write, the melody and mood flowing through me to capture scenes on paper. Recently, stuck on my current work-in-progress, I decided to write to instrumental music. I purchased headphones and chose soundtracks to match the storyline and setting (Lord of the Rings and Gladiator) not knowing what to expect.

My first day I wrote with such fervor, the tears flowed and covers flew off two letters with my keyboard pounding. Like recording scenes outside in nature, I was transported to my world. I became this anguished character, witnessing the roiling sea before me and facing a life of desperate yearning. A new doorway had opened for me writing to music. One I never knew existed.

Try this:
Music sets the mood and our mood as writers. Having difficulty envisioning a scene? Close your eyes and listed to mood-inspiring music to see it and feel it on the page. Some writers I know use Pandora to create playlists. Try these directories to write by: Sound Fuel and 8Tracks.

I wonder what sense is next to be blended into my world of writing? They say the nose knows. New research proclaims that the nose can remember 1 trillion smells – far from the long believed 50,000. Smells are powerful memory triggers. When you first smell a new scent, you link it to a person or event. Like the scent of fresh cut grass can remind you of a summer day, even if it’s the end of autumn. And when you happen upon that smell again, the link is there, ready to pop that memory open.

Imagine popping open those memories to deepen character and setting. I love stewing apples with cinnamon all throughout the year. Why? The smell reminds me of childhood when my mom gathered apples in our orchard and stewed them for breakfast with homemade biscuits and sorghum. Up next – writing to scents!

Has sound transformed the way you create as an artist? If so, how? Share your experiences!