Holly Black

HOLLY BLACK is the best-selling author of fantasy books for kids and teens, including the SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES. Her latest is the CURSE WORKERS series, which begins with WHITE CAT. RED GLOVE, the second in the series, was just released.

"I believe that characters are the beating heart that animates the plot."

Holly has found herself asking these questions when writing and thinking about plot:

-How do you KNOW what scenes are the right ones?

-How do you CHOOSE what your character does?

How do you figure out what happens next?

And, if you don't what happens next, how the hell do you figure out what happens AFTER THAT?

When you are deep in the character's head you can get stuck. When you're plotting sometimes you need to figure out how to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

If you look at most books, they begin and end with subplot. It's the interaction between the plot and subplot(s) that makes the story.

"Talking out loud made me think differently than I actually thought." Holly realized this was how she could get at the shape of story. She's using her brain differently while speaking out loud and talking plot through. It also allows people to ask questions. She also feels more freedom to try out a crazy idea.

Holly Black has just called E. Lockhart on stage to talk out plot! Too fun.

It helps to talk plot out because you don't feel committed to as much as you do when you write it down. It frees you.

For your weekend reading pleasure

I've posted conference roundups as a teaser to the printed CHINOOK that's arriving in your mailbox soon (well, if you signed up for regional benefits, that is).

Enjoy!

Tim Gillner Samples, Websites, Agents, Contracts & Sourcebooks

Reported by Dana Arnim

Tim Gillner offered illustrators a specific look into his job as art director at Boyds Mills Press: what he looks for from an artist in terms of samples and websites, how and when an agent comes into the process, what types of contracts Boyds Mills offers, and where he looks for artists.

Tim came prepared with many “how-not-to” samples of samples. Don’t send glitter, ornaments, originals, view-masters, beribboned dummies, or other gimmicks. It doesn’t help sell your art. Do send postcards with one image, your name, website, and phone number. Send samples each quarter. If an image grabs him, he’ll go to your website—having a website or online portfolio is a must. Make it easy to navigate so viewers can find the art they’re looking for. Fewer great samples are better than many weak or undeveloped styles.

Tim works directly with illustrators as well as with art representatives and agents. They can be “the devil and the angel”. Whether it’s better to have one or not is up to the artist.

Boyds Mills Press offers two kinds of contracts: work-for-hire, and advance against royalty. Spot illustration, nonfiction and black-and-white work for poetry books is often acquired on a work-for-hire basis. Picture-book contracts are based upon payment of an advance plus royalty. Boyds Mills never remainders their books, so the royalty timeline is usually extensive.

As for artist searches, Tim relies heavily on the website http://www.picturebookartists.com. He also uses and keeps source books, such as PICTUREBOOK. Although somewhat expensive to advertise in, these source books do get into the hands of people who use them, and usually provide the artist with tear sheets, and an online presence as well.

Tim Gillner: Picture Books, from Conception to Birth

Reported by Dana Arnim

Art Director Tim Gillner walked his audience through the picture-book process at Boyds Mills Press, starting with submissions. Over 500 manuscript submissions are received each month, but perhaps only ten are read, and then maybe just one of those gets to an editor.

Once the editor wants to acquire a story, and if he/she can "sell" the manuscript to the publisher, then the art director partners with the editor to find the right artist for the job. Tim usually chooses at least three possible artists, because time and work conflicts can prevent an illustrator from saying yes. Once an artist has been secured, the schedule and price are negotiated.

The working relationship between artist and art director involves allowing the illustrator to bring his or her own interpretation to the manuscript. During the approval and revision stage, Tim has often "fought" to win the publisher over on artwork that the publisher at first rejected, such as black and white illustrations for a picture book. Once the sketches are approved, then the artist creates the final art. Tim stressed that this must conform to the sketches. He also stressed the importance of leaving space for text.

The lengthy process of producing a book involves scanning the art, designing the text, creating an F&G (a folded-and-gathered mock-up), performing color checks, producing plates, and conducting sometimes exhausting press/color checks. Tim cautioned illustrators that the original colors of their art will never be perfectly reproduced. Boyds Mills Press prefers to have its books produced in the U.S.—the publisher has more control over the production timing and transport time. From manuscript acquisition to printing and binding, the picture-book process will usually take at least a year and a half, and can easily take up to three years.

Suzanne Selfors: How a Reincarnated, Middle-Aged Dwarf Became an Immortal 16-Year Old and How it Almost Killed Me

Reported by Brenda Winter Hansen

After finishing the revisions on her last book, Suzanne Selfors described the experience as the most hellish of her life. With eight books published in four years, she's a veteran at revisions, but she admits that every book she writes gives her a different set of problems when it comes to revising. Revising often requires gutting your rough draft, maybe even killing off a character or two, so keep your chin up and hang tight.

Her advice:

#1. Finish your story before you revise any of it.
#2. Write your first draft behind closed doors (don't give it to your critique group during this time).
#3. It's okay if your first draft is sh*t.
#4. Let the first draft marinate at least 6 weeks, but give it to your critique group while you take a break from it.
#5. When you begin to revise, take everything out that is NOT the story.

The revisions that transformed her adult novel into a YA novel were traumatic, and Suzanne had to remind herself why she was writing the book and what she loved about it in order to keep going.

She suggested that writers keep asking themselves the most important questions: What does your character want? Is there conflict resolution? Has the main character changed by the end of the novel?

The single most important takeaway from her talk was: "Don't feel like you're a failure!" It's the revising that makes or breaks a book, so don't give up.

Sara Crowe: My Favorite First Pages (or How to Make an Agent Fall in Love with You in Four Pages or Less)

Reported by Angelina C. Hansen

Sara Crowe, literary agent with Harvey Klinger Inc, a full-service literary agency in New York, shared with us examples of first pages that caught her eye and then explained why. Of the projects she represents, most of those first pages haven’t changed.

Sara loves to see first pages that establish voice. Voice includes an engaging emotional truth and sets a tone for the rest of the novel. For Sara, it must be endearing and honest.

The second element she looks for is the character. She wants to meet the main character by means of a description that shows who they are. She looks for word choice and again, the voice. She warned, though, that too much description is “not good”.

After character, Sara looks for the hook. This is the element that makes the reader ask, why?

The fourth element that will make her fall in love with your first pages is authenticity. She recalled spending teen summers in Nantucket when the police would send out decoys to find out where the party would be that night. They could always spot the fakes by what they wore (touristy T-shirts) and how they spoke. “Dude, where’s the party?” Not authentic. Teens will easily detect a fraud.

Sara concluded by warning her audience of three first-pages turnoffs: clichés, lots of dialogue in the opening, and prologues that aren’t really prologues.

Paul Rodeen: Behind the Book

Reported by Kerri Kokias

Paul Rodeen, the founder and president of Rodeen Literary Management, spoke about his path to becoming an agent. He developed from a self-described jock who hid his interest in literature, to the editor of the student-run fiction magazine at his college, to a graduate student at Denver Publishing Institute, to an agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, and finally to being the founder and president of Rodeen Literary Management.

He currently represents between 20 and 25 clients and would like to build his list up to about 50. The five things that Paul looks for when reading submissions are: conflict, voice, character development, setting, and pace.

Michael Bourret—Social networking

Reported by Alison Weatherby

According to Michael Bourret, social networking is a tool writers can use to create a voice online and develop a community around their books, ideas, and more. Your first job as a writer is to write good books; it is important not to waste time on social networking if it interferes with your writing. That said, there are two things to consider when exploring social networking: How does this build my brand, and who am I reaching?

Start networking as soon as possible. At minimum, start with a website (professionally created to be sleek, not slick) and make sure that your website has rotating content on the home page.

After that, explore the various social networking tools by seeing what your favorite authors are doing on Twitter, MySpace, or Facebook, and reading what others are saying. You don’t have to be everywhere, just make sure that you’re creating a positive brand and identity online.

If you blog, post regularly and re-post links to create community. Most important, always consider your audience and be professional. Agents will explore writers/illustrators with no presence on the web; they will not explore people with a negative presence on the web.

Lynne Polvino: Writing and Publishing Picture Books in a Challenging Market

Reported by Kerri Kokias

Lynne Polvino, editor at Clarion Books—an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt—spoke about the additional responsibilities and challenges involved with writing and publishing picture books in a challenging market.

She gave tips on how authors and illustrators can best position themselves for success and stressed the importance of being knowledgeable about the market by providing relevant resources. She also talked about the importance of creating an online presence through author websites, blogs, and social networks such as MySpace or Facebook.

Elizabeth Law wants a big, juicy tomato

Reported by Martha Brockenbrough

She promised us a talk titled “more cowbell, less vampires,” and Elizabeth Law—Vice President and Publisher of Egmont USA—delivered. Never mind that there was no audio in the room and she had to do the Christopher Walken bits herself.

We got some insight about what she’s looking for in submissions, and she gave us the analogy of a “big tomato”: something juicy, specific, and personally identifiable. She's not looking for a formula or to fill a slot on her list. Rather, she's looking for something she recognizes and likes.

Elizabeth learned this the hard way by publishing something she didn’t like but thought would make a lot of money. She’ll never do that again, she says.

There are a number of questions she has to answer every time she buys a book. Here are a few:
• Who is the audience?
• Where will it sell?
• What is it like and how have those books sold (she doesn't love this part)
We should know what the selling points are for our own books. "Tragically, 'this book is really great' does not work."

But it can once a book is published, and this is her strategy for helping a good book do well.

“You get behind it and bang the drum for it,” she says. “WHEN YOU REACH ME was not an easy book to sell into bookstores. It just kept on selling, and then Rebecca Stead went on NPR, and it sold 40,000 copies in a month.”

Note to any NPR producers who happen to be reading: Elizabeth says she’d sleep with one to be able to sell that many books.

Sundee Frazier: Believable Boys

Reported by Angelina C. Hansen

Sundee Frazier, born and raised in Washington and proud of it, won the 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. The main character of her first novel, BRENDAN BUCKLEY’S UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN IT, was originally written as a girl, Brenda.

Changing the gender of her main character led Sundee to question whether or not there were actual differences between the genders. She asked dozens of children’s book authors for insight, filmed their answers, and shared that video with conference attendees.

Boys versus girls? Sundee shared a handout which included information from an anthropological study of how boys tend to express their emotions. She warned that the study was only partially useful, and potentially harmful to writers of boy characters. She cautioned against reactive writing. “The most important thing to do,” she said, “is to capture the essence of complex, quirky human beings.”

Her advice to writing believable boys? Write characters from the inside out. Find emotional authenticity. Recreate experiences from our own emotions. Sundee shared a writing exercise to help us break through our emotional prison walls.

She concluded by sharing a couple of practical tips for writing believable boys, reminding us that it is the “emotional core” of the main character that connects him to the reader.

A photo from the conference

Stay tuned for more conference photos in the printed Chinook, but I have to share this one shot of Chadwick Gillenwater as a gnome.

He might not have had his dramatic entrance with the faculty parade, but I'd put him in a wheelbarrow and cart him around, all the same. (Note: that was a compliment.)

Thanks to Bill Trueit Photography for the camera work.

Congratulations to the 2010 Outstanding Work-in-Progress winners!

This year, we again asked each of our manuscript consultants to nominate one or more of the manuscripts they critiqued at SCBWI Western Washington's 19th Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference.

Here are the authors whose manuscripts received special recognition from our faculty consultants:

Congratulations, winners!

Please understand that some consultants chose not to participate, so if yours didn't get a shout out, it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't promising! Everyone who received a consultation is working on improving their craft, and each and every one of them should be commended.

Congratulations to the 2010 Juried Art Portfolio Display winners!

Great job, Western Washington illustrators! I have to tell you that several of the conference faculty made a point of telling us how impressed they were with the overall quality of all the portfolios in this year's juried art portfolio display, so everyone who participated should feel proud of his or her work--way to represent!

That being said, there were a few that stood out as exceptional...

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Matthew received a $20 gift certificate to The Secret Garden Bookshop, our wonderful conference bookseller.

Click here to see more from Matthew Atkins!

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Lisa will receive complimentary Western Washington regional programming benefits for the entire 2010-2011 season.

Click here to see more from Lisa Mundorff!

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Aree will receive full tuition to SCBWI Western Washington's 20th Annual Writing and Illustrating for Children Conference next spring.

Click here to see more from Arree Chung!

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Congratulations to the winners!

Illustrator Panel: Secrets for Success at Every Stage #scbwiwwa

Dana Arnim, Jim Di Bartolo, Paul Schmid, and five stolen candy bars joined me, Jaime Temairik, Sunday afternoon.The panel had been asked to divulge three secrets -- career secrets, not political secrets, although I think Jim knows things...

PERSONAL:
The Chinook Update blog had a round up of local studio tours a few months ago. You may have noticed framed quotes populating these places and the panel was asked if they had any particular rituals or mantras they turn to while working.

Dana: She has a pair of Addidas Tokyo track spikes hanging in her studio from her running days. "They remind me there is no substitute for putting in the work. Before you can race, you have to train, so craft, craft craft."

Jim: Laini and Jim work in the same room and they have signs above their computers. Jim's says "Mr. Fresh" and Laini's says "Mrs. Wonderful." This only proves that they are indeed superheroes. BUT seriously. Jim surrounds himself with reference books and does Mental Apprenticeships -- when looking at other artists' work analyze how they made a piece and see if their approach could help your work. "Always be studying, always be willing to try new styles, especially if you aren't getting the work you want."

Paul: He's got a quote hanging above his desk that says "Quality is not job one, being totally, frigging amazing is job one." What Paul wants to do every day is amaze and stand out. He thinks this boils down to content, not style.

Jaime: I spend most mornings having existential crises and low confidence. Running has helped that. Especially running up a hill which makes me feel like I've accomplished something for the day even if I end up scrapping all my drawings. Taped to my computer is "What's the opportunity in this?" I always wonder if I'm good enough to handle a new job or responsibility, but taking a leap into the unknown can be great. If I get a rejection, rather than cry into some Ben & Jerry's, I have to remember there's got to be something in this that will make me a better author or illustrator.

LOCAL:
This mostly comes down to Seattle/Portland opportunities for illustrators.

Dana: Dana works in watercolors and has a Kinko's secret for us. She brings in her 140 lb. watercolor paper (up to 13 x 19) to a Kinko's and has them use their color laser printer to print her line work on the paper. Knowing she has multiple copies to practice painting on frees her to try new things and not be too careful.

Jim: SCBWI!!!

Paul: SCBWI!!!

Jaime: Printing postcards at Costco (see their website for locations with Copy Centers) and taking Brenda Guiberson's summer UW Extension class on Illustrating Children's Picture Books. It is like book dummy boot camp and I've taken it three times. Shameless plug -- I'll be teaching it this summer and Paul Schmid is one of the guest speakers!

NATIONAL/GLOBAL:
Since world domination is the goal of most illustrators.

Dana: Online tutorials. If you need to beef up your digital art skills, check out lynda.com.

Jim: Conferences. Jim attends the SCBWI International Conferences and has made many work connections. Jim also attends other industry conferences like ComiCon.

Paul: The internet. Paul loves to look at other illustrators online and is especially enamored of European ones. You can look at covers on Amazon.fr or see if any of the Bologna Book Fair illustrators have websites.

Jaime: Alyson B. Stanfield has a mini-monopoly on art business advice. Though geared toward gallery artists, her book, podcasts and classes offer advice easily applied to illustrators. I loved taking her online "Blast Off" class.

Elizabeth Law (@egmontgal) talks more cowbell and less vampire #scbwiwwa

We're having some technical difficulties in Salon 1. In short, we have no audio. So Elizabeth Law is acting out this SNL skit on cowbell. I'm now a fan of having no audio, because it leads to performance art by Elizabeth. Outstanding!

(And now, she just gave the A/V guy a cowbell. Zing!)



Elizabeth's twitter name is @egmontgal. Do yourself a favor and follow her there.

All an editor is looking for is the big tomato: juicy, specific, and one that she identifies with when she's reading. She's not looking for a formula or to fill a slot on her list. She's looking for something she recognizes and likes.

Her regrets are publishing things she didn't like but thought would make a lot of money. She won't do that again.

The way to build a hit is to find a good book that you really like and get behind it and bang the drum for it. WHEN YOU REACH ME was not an easy book to sell into bookstores. It just kept on selling, and then Rebecca Stead went on NPR and it sold 40,000 copies in a month.

Elizabeth disclosed she'd sleep with someone at NPR to sell that many books, which is a beautiful show of dedication, isn't it?

Egmont USA is a tiny company, just eight people.

There are a number of questions she has to answer every time she buys a book. Here are a few:

• Who is the audience?
• Where will it sell?
• What is it like and how have those books sold (she doesn't love this part)

We should know what the selling points are for our own books. "Tragically, 'this book is really great' does not work."

(Fascinating E. Law trivia: She shampoos with Alpecin Caffeine Shampoo, which apparently isn't legal in the U.S.)

Laini Taylor on big, juicy plots #scbwiwwa

Here are a few highlights from Laini Taylor's breakout section on plot:

Everything we do in writing is a balance between dramatization and narration.

Plot is the answer to the question, "What happens?"

"What is the story about" is not a question about plot. That is about premise and themes.

The plot is the sequence of events over which your themes, your premise, your conflicts, and your character growth play out.

Plot is, by definition, the stuff that happens. It's true that there are a limited number of basic plots because our wants and needs are simple and rather primal. Humans need food, shelter, and love--"clothing optional depending on climate."

Readers need connection, enjoyment, and satisfaction.

For readers to connect, character or characters to care about or even be. Think about all the Pride & Prejudice movies and remakes. Or even Twilight. To be passionately loved by someone amazing is a primal need. The unlikely hero is also compelling.

Plot is driven by your characters' desire and action. What do your characters want? Characters must have a desperate goal that is thwarted. The author is a rascal, rooting for his protagonist, even while thwarting him.

It's the motivation of the antagonist that drives the plot. The villain wants something and sets about making it happen. The main character's job is to prevent it.

Conflict is the elemental building block of plot.

Find more of Laini's essays on writing here.

Niche publicity ad marketing: how to tap into unusual markets #scbwiwwa

Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy are talking about niche markets and how you can get your book into them. Niche markets is a smaller, more focused area for targeted publicity.

You want to pursue niche markets because review outlets for books are shrinking rapidly. We're down to two major newspapers with a pull-out review section (NY Times and San Francisco Chronicle).

The beauty of niche markets is that your book doesn't have to be new, but it has to be relevant.

How do you identify niche markets: Find something related to the theme of your book. It has to be a major component (say, about dogs--there can't be just a dog in it).

• The regional niche: Local media love to talk about local authors. Community newspapers, TV stations, especially in small towns are going to be interested.
• The setting of the book can give you a hook. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, for example, is set in Texas and by a Texas author.
• Curriculum connections can be powerful. (And you can hire curriculum specialists if you're not up for writing that yourself.)

You can search online for organizations, clubs, and magazines serving people predisposed to love your book.

How do you get help from your publisher? Know whom to contact and when. Do it six months before your book publishes.

Even if publishers can't do something like send postcards, they might be able to help you pay for half.

A hopeful quote: "Publishers want your book to sell, just as much as you do."

Facebook and Twitter and other social media networks (Dogster, for example) bring like-minded people together. Too much blatant self-promotion doesn't work, though. Social media is about people. It's not about products.

Local success story panel #scbwiwwa

The stars of the panel this year are Robin Cruise, Holly Cupala, Kevin Emerson, Lois Harris, Paul Schmid, Suzanne Selfors, and Suzanne Young.

Suzanne Selfors: She wrote three adult novels first, all dense historical fiction set in Ancient Greece. She faced a lot of rejection. She found herself loving and reading a lot of middle grade novels with her kids. Had an idea that she couldn't get out of her head: the story of a brother and sister who found a baby mermaid. She got six offers in a week, and sold the book at auction.

Robin Cruise: She worked in children's publishing for almost 20 years. Was deputy publisher at Harcourt (but the job didn't come with a gun or badge, alas). She's publisher with the juvenile group at Becker Mayer in Bellevue. Even with her connections, it took her seven years to sell her first book, chewing up only one agent in the process. She actually sold her first book herself--The Top-Secret Journal of Fiona Claire Jardin.

Holly Cupala: She's been coming to SCBWI meetings for 10 years. She took Peggy King Anderson's class, the UW Extension Program class, and about six years ago, lost her first child. Everything changed after that. She couldn't write, and a few months later, went to lunch with Justina Chen Headley, another local success story. Holly found the door to the story start to open itself. She felt the story really land in her lap; then she won a WIP grant from the SCBWI, got interest from agents--and signed with one she met at a national SCBWI conference.

Kevin Emerson: Wrote novels in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades (as a way to pick up girls no doubt), but it wasn't until he was teaching and injuring himself with volcano experiments and experiencing delayed gratification with his rock star career that he got entranced with middle grade novels. He had a lot of near-misses with editors and contests with his first two novels. He started a third in 2003 when the first line popped into his head. That became CARLOS IS GONNA GET IT. He started seeking an agent again, and after some assorted finagling, signed with one and sold the book to Arthur A. Levine books, which published CARLOS in 2008.

Lois Harris: She wrote a soccer story and submitted to Highlights. They accepted it. Then she wrote another soccer story and another magazine accepted it. Her husband created her an office. She wrote a novel and ... got a rejection letter. At the time, she didn't know about the market, Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, or anything. She submitted to 22 publishers and gave herself a year to sell the manuscript. Meanwhile, she signed up to be an English major in creative writing at the UW, which she earned before having to go back to work full-time. She read in the newspaper about SCBWI and started coming to the meetings, soaking up information until she had time to write, in 2000 (when she took early retirement). She discovered her love of nonfiction and research and has sold two books.

Paul Schmid: One of Paul's first successes came from a failure--a rejection. He was working on an illustration for THE WONDER BOOK and a sketch of a porcupine running with a balloon was rejected. But he had to "fix" that character's problem. Next thing he knew, he had a story that an editor bought.

Suzanne Young: Her first success came after a huge disappointment--getting dropped by an agent. She decided to send her books out on her own. Razorbill contacted her (as did an agent). She sold four books. "It was me being stubborn after getting dumped."

Is your career over if you pitch an editor in the bathroom? #scbwiwwa

No, it is not. Mitali Perkins just confessed pitching Cheryl Klein of Scholastic in just such a venue.