Such Beautiful Writing . . .

  

The Underneath

by Kathi Appelt

Right off the bat I want to say, if you have not read this book, READ IT. Even if you don't like the storylines (and you will) you should read it to study Kathi Appelt's mastery of craft.

I don't know anyone who has read The Kite Runner or A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and not marveled at the beauty of the language and the cadence of the sentences. The Underneath is the upper MG equivalent of The Kite Runner. Seriously. Within the first chapter, I was captivated by the originality and beauty of the writing. I fell under the spell of the sentences and the words and the rhythm of this book. I did not want it to end. But wait - there's more...

In addition to the magic of the individual sentences and language choices, Kathi weaves together three seemingly unrelated storylines. She gets and holds our attention while shifting between characters and their stories, and then expertly brings them together for a stunning conclusion.

I can't explain the overall beauty of this book. When I think of it or share it with someone, I'm never sure whether I love it more for the story or for the beautiful way the story is written. It is a masterful example of craft.

What book/s have you read that blew you away because of the beauty or power of the writing?
 

DEADWOOD - New MG modern fantasy from Kell Andrews

Twelve-year-old Army brat Martin Cruz hates his rotten new town. Then he gets a message from a tree telling him it's cursed -- and so is he. It's not just any tree. It's the Spirit Tree, the ancient beech the high school football team carves to commemorate the home opener. And every year they lose. But the curse is no game, and it's about to get a whole lot worse.

Martin teams up with know-it-all soccer star Hannah Vaughan. Together they must heal the tree, or be stuck in Deadwood Park at the mercy of the psycho who cursed it.
 

I’m delighted to have author Kell Andrews here today to tell us about herself and her recently released middle grade modern fantasy/mystery, DEADWOOD. First of all, I wanted to say how much I love the cover. Perfect atmospheric setting for the story!

Kell, I don’t want to provide a spoiler, but your use of modern technology as part of the plot was terrific. I’m always curious to ask fantasy writers how they choose their settings. Why did you choose a modern world setting rather than a traditional made-up fantasy world?

I was inspired by real places where I’ve lived. I tried to imagine fantastic events happening there, but I never imagined a portal or a second world. I wanted to invent magic that took place in the real world among kids who were simultaneously tackling realistic middle-school stresses.

I thought a lot about the reaction my characters would have to facing magic – would they just accept it? Would they freak out? Would they try to seek a logical explanation for the impossible things they witnessed firsthand? So that’s why I brought in technology and a really loose interpretation of some scientific phenomena.  

What I loved most about the book is what I love about all the best middle grade fantasies set in the modern world. Kids reading it can absolutely believe such a story could happen to them, if they were only in the right place at the right time. When you were growing up, were you one of those kids? Did you wish there was a magical world somewhere close by?

I wrote about magic that seemed like it could really happen in real life because at that age I always wished it would. I believed in magic part of the time, and the rest of the time I pretended to myself that I believed. Life was more fun if anything could happen.

During the middle-grade years, kids have given up on Santa and the Tooth Fairy, but they are at least partially convinced that other kinds of paranormal occurrences could be real – telepathy, precognition, light as a feather, stiff as a board. Not many 10-year-olds can face a mirror at midnight without worrying, at least a little, that Bloody Mary might look out at them. So why not a tree that sends text messages?

Your love of plants comes through very strongly in this book. I’m a fellow plant person myself, so can you tell us more about how you researched the story and what influenced it?

Just about every culture has stories – from fairy tales to religious beliefs -- about tree spirits and beings. When a belief is that universal, I wonder if there’s something to it.

That led me to looking at some of the ways plants defend themselves and interact with their environments. Over the years many people, including serious scientists, have trying to prove that plants have feelings, with mixed results. My reference manual was the 1973 alternative science bestseller, The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, which explores the idea of plant sentience and popularized the 1970s idea that you should talk to your plants to keep them healthy. While most of those studies have been debunked, plants do have remarkable mechanisms for survival. I drew on both the science and pseudoscience for DEADWOOD. 

An added dimension to the story is Martin’s worries about his mom, who is deployed in Afghanistan. Why did you choose that for his character?

From a practical, plotting perspective, I needed to put Martin in a new, strange environment where he had to act independently. There’s a reason that there are so many orphans and boarding schools in middle grade fiction! So I tried to find a realistic reason that Martin would be separated from his mother, and right now many children face the absence of a parent during extended military deployment. Despite the distance, I wanted him have a strong relationship with his mother and I tried to use technology to make her a presence in the story, despite the distance. 

And for the writers among us, you do an extremely good job with character development. All your characters were very distinct from each other and seemed real to me. Any tips on writing good characters?

A lot of the characterization came on revision. On the first draft, I concentrated on getting the story down, and Hannah and Martin were less distinct. But as I revised, I got to know them, and I followed each character’s POV and speech during a separate revising pass. I tried to make sure they were distinct in speech and mannerisms and that that everything they said and did was consistent with their character, not just something that moved the plot forward. 

Because I like to know this about everyone: What was one of your favorite books from childhood?

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald were two of my all-time favorites. I reread them both recently and every word was still just as familiar – I knew them nearly by heart.

You can find Kell on Tumblr: http://kellandrews.tumblr.com/
and at Operation Awesome: http://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/
and on Twitter: @kellandrewsPA

Kell, thanks so much for being here today!~Dee Garretson

The Art of Inconsistency

As writers, we hear a lot about the importance of consistency. A character who is cowardly on page 1 shouldn’t suddenly turn into a reckless daredevil on page 30. Or should he? I personally think there’s a lot to be said for inconsistencies. They’re a wonderful way to add richness and dimension to any character. I think they make characters a little more genuine, too. No one is one hundred percent consistent and predictable in everything they do. Even the nicest person in the world has a bad day once in a while or can encounter a situation that pushes them to a breaking point. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If a nice person is being taken advantage of or treated poorly, then perhaps it’s time they did speak up for themselves. Inconsistencies are a great way for a character to grow.

But yes, you have to use them carefully. If inconsistencies are too wild or extreme, or happen too frequently, they don’t come across as natural. (In fact, your character might just seem a little unstable if you get too carried away.) Even when used judiciously, inconsistencies can still feel a little out of place. I’ve found the best way to deal with that is to address them directly in the narrative:

On any other day, Marvin would have never, ever considered venturing into the old abandoned house on Maple Street—especially on a day like today, with dark clouds gathering on the horizon, a sure sign of a storm blowing in. But Emma and Jesse’s laughter still rang sharply in his ears, and he cringed when he thought of the looks on their faces as Brandon had shoved him to the floor outside the cafeteria that afternoon. Again. Wimp, they’d called him, their singsong voices making it into a kind of chant. Teeny-tiny, little scaredy cat wimp.

I’ll show them, he thought, trembling as he climbed the crumbling stone steps leading up to the crooked door. No kid in town has ever been brave enough to set foot inside the old Stallworthy House.

They said the Stallworthys disappeared so suddenly all those years ago, a teakettle was still whistling on the stove when their housekeeper came back from the market, but the family was never seen again. Nothing, not even the shoes in their closets, had been touched.

Maybe some of their old stuff is still inside the house, thought Marvin. If I can grab something to prove I’d been there—an old photograph in a frame or a knickknack off a shelf—no one would laugh. No, they’d never be able to call me a wimp again.

By acknowledging that your character is acting out of nature and giving a reason for it, you take away the awkwardness.

What do you think of inconsistencies in characterization? And how do you handle them?

-Dawn Lairamore

photo credit: Big Grey Mare via photopin cc

A-HA! NOW I GET IT! by Hilary Wagner

What is the best piece of writing advice you ever received? It can be something exclusively concerning the craft of writing itself, something that motivated you to keep moving forward with your writing or the road to publication, or something that changed everything in relation to you as a writer. It can be from a famous author, a critique partner, your spouse, your dog (my dog gives great advice)! What was YOUR "A-HA Moment" and how did it help you improve as a writer?

My A-HA moment: Never buying into trends and sticking to my gut. After I wrote my first book and began the long journey of getting published, I had no idea how competitive the markets were for certain types of books. I believed we should write what moves us--as that will be our best writing. I got nervous about that for a while, thinking maybe I should think more about the market, but then I realized if I'm not fully invested in what I'm writing, my readers won't be either. When I finally landed my agent, I was so happy she agreed on this. Write about what you're passionate about and you can't go wrong!

What was you’re A-HA moment??

To MFA or Not to MFA?

I’m on a listserv of writing teachers, and the question recently came up of the value of MFA programs. Though none of us are questioning that people get a good education – and often great networking with publishing professionals – these programs can be expensive. Like $36,000 plus travel expenses for one of the best-known low residency children’s book writing MFA programs.

Obviously, that’s not realistic for everyone, especially if you don’t want to go into debt for your education. And although you occasionally hear about six-figure deals, advances for children’s books are much more likely to be in the $5000-$20,000 range. You’d have to sell several to make back the money you put into the MFA. There’s no guarantee you’ll sell a book just because you have an MFA, and I’ve heard of people getting so burned out and stop writing altogether.

So what if you feel like you need a better education – or the contacts that come with a respected MFA program?

On the list, we discussed other options. Kristi Holl said she interviewed MFA grads about what their program involved and how they learned the most. The three main components:

• Reading an extensive list of current and classic children’s books
• Studying craft books
• Writing and being critiqued

How about doing that on your own? You should be reading extensively anyway.

You can find many lists of “best” books. The American Library Association has many annual awards, including the Newbery (for middle grade books), Caldecott (for picture books), and Prinz (for young adult books). The international reading Association has the Children’s Choice Reading List. The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has the Golden Kite Award and the Crystal Kite Award, which is based on a vote by peers. Visit your local bookstore or library, pick up a stack of books, read, and analyze – perhaps with A Copy of “Reading like a Writer“ or this online guide to “How to Read like a Writer.”

The craft books Kristi found most helpful include:

THE ANATOMY OF STORY, by John Truby
WRITING SUBTEXT, by Linda Seger
WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT, by Karl Iglesias
WRITING 21ST CENTURY FICTION, by Donald Maass

Other books which are favorites of writing teachers:

THE PLOT WHISPERER, by Martha Alderson

ADVANCED PLOTTING, by yours truly, Chris Eboch

SELF-EDITING FOR FICTION WRITERS, by Renni Browne and Dave King

SCENE & SEQUENCE, by Jack Bickham,

MANUSCRIPT MAKEOVER, by Elizabeth Lyon

The WRITER’S JOURNEY: MYTHICAL STRUCTURE FOR STORYTELLERS & SCREEN WRITERS, Christopher Vogler
THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES by Joseph Campbell

And that’s just a small selection of what’s available. You can also follow blogs on the craft of writing. One of my favorites for craft is Janice Hardy’s The Other Side of the Story. Many of the members of this blog also have individual sites. I’m no longer regularly posting new information, but you can see past posts on topics ranging from developing secondary characters to improving your pacing at my Write like a Pro blog.

And finally, writing and critiquing.

Some people work better with deadlines and penalties for failure. If that’s you, consider starting a group with some other writers where you share your weekly word count and keep each other on task. Or get your family involved by making a schedule and “due dates.” Maybe your kids will like seeing you do your “homework” and start to understand that you need work time!

Getting quality feedback can be a challenge. But even if you live in a remote place, you can try to connect with a critique group online, perhaps through the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Chat Board, now run through SCBWI.

You may reach a point where your critique group can no longer help you. This often happens when your work is very strong – but not quite strong enough. Then consider hiring a freelance editor. Some of the big-name former editors from the publishing industry now work freelance. Or for lower rates, look for experienced writing teachers. (You can see my rates and recommendations here.)

There are also plenty of online classes, like those offered through the Institute of Children’s Literature, which pair you with experienced teachers at a much lower cost than MFA program.

As Kristi commented, “While this isn’t the same as getting an MFA, you CAN study and practice and do a reading list and get a critique group and create your own home-study pseudo-MFA program—and have no debt when you’re finished.”

But what about the business side of the industry?

The Idiot’s Guide to Children’s Book Publishing, by Harold Underdown, is an excellent overview of the business. It explains the different genres, the difference between a magazine story and a picture book manuscript, how to find a publisher, etc.

There’s a good book by Nancy Sanders called Yes! You Can Learn How To Write Children’s Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career. She points out that we typically write for three reasons—the emotional satisfaction of getting published, to make money, and for the love of writing. She suggests separating those three goals, so you don’t put pressure on yourself to sell what you are writing for love, and you find more practical ways of approaching the other two goals. She then addresses how to target each goal. This is a great book if you are interested in making writing a career.

You can find lots of other books on writing for children, or writing in general. SCBWI provides members with THE BOOK: The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children, with information on preparing and submitting your work, market surveys, and resources.

And then there’s networking.

This is an important part of being a professional writer. But you don’t need to go to an MFA program to connect. I’ve gotten lots of job leads from list serves. I’ve met editors and agents at writing conferences and retreats, such as those offered all over the country by SCBWI. Personally, I recommend the retreat format, as it’s typically a smaller group and you have more one-on-one time with the speakers. Check out events in your state, or where you have friends and family, to save money. Some people even successfully network by following editor/agent blogs or Twitter feeds.

There’s one final advantage to a degree program: It’s “legitimate” and therefore could be taken more seriously by the family. That might be a reason to set up a “curriculum” on one’s own, with twice a year events, time scheduled for homework, etc. – and to tally up the cost to show how much cheaper it is than a MFA program. That might help you protect your writing time and counter any grumbles about the expense of a few hundred dollar retreat.

I’ve heard great things about writing MFA programs, but if you want some of the benefits with little of the cost, consider creating your own. You might even get your critique group or other writing friends to join in. And then you can hold your own writing retreats! But that’s a topic for another post….