1. What is The Big Idea?
It’s a feature presented here on Whatever, up to twice-weekly, in which authors discuss their latest books, to the delight and edification of Whatever’s up to 45,000 daily readers.
2. Why would I (or the writer I represent) want to be part of it?
Because Whatever readers love books (hey, they’re visiting the blog of a professional writer), there’s lots of them, and because The Big Idea feature is linked to all over the Internet, drawing in readers from elsewhere — all of whom like hearing from the author what it is that makes their book so damn interesting. As Leverage television show writer John Rogers recently wrote:
[T]his series of blog posts… has allowed me to discover more fine new fiction in a year than all the online reviews I’ve plowed through in the five previous.
I Am In the Air Right Now from Greg Lytle on Vimeo.
Stevenson, Wash. - (May 3, 2010) - Skamania Lodge, an all-season mountain resort in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, announces its Bed & Book-fest event with best-selling local children’s author Trudi Strain Trueit, Saturday, July 10, 2010. Trueit will host a reading from her newly-released book “Secrets of a Lab Rat #2: Mom, There’s a Dinosaur in Beeson’s Lake” as well as lead children in a trilobite bookmark-making workshop and creative writing exercises. The activity will also include a milk and cookie reception with the author.
Skamania Lodge’s Bed & Book-fest event featuring Trudi Strain Trueit includes a copy of Trueit’s book “Secrets of a Lab Rat #2: Mom, There’s a Dinosaur in Beeson’s Lake”, participation in Trueit’s trilobite bookmark-making and writing workshop and a milk and cookies reception. The event is available to Skamania Lodge guests for $15 per child. For more information about Skamania Lodge or to make reservations, please visit www.skamania.com or call (800) 221-7117.
Are you brimming with picture-book drafts after NaPiBoWriWee? Do you have a drawer full of stories clamoring to be completed and polished? Then I have the class for you! Together, we’ll explore your ideas for their marketability, review your drafts to make them the best they can be, discuss the importance of making a dummy book even when you’re not an illustrator, and tackle submission guidelines. All in four weeks! The class will be conducted online, with up to eight participants. I will send out an email at the beginning of each week with information, guidance, and writing prompts. Then as you send in your work, I’ll send each of you feedback. We’ll work on one story a week. I encourage all participants to critique as well. We learn best from each other. Come write and revise some stories with me!For me, picking out a new book is as simple as reading its first page. Does it grab me? Do I want to read more? Do I want to read it badly enough to: a) check the book out? b) spend my hard-earned money on it?
As writers, it’s our job to draw the reader in, to make them care enough to keep turning the pages. One of the tricks-of-the-trade is to ask a story question. Story questions are statements that beg answering, situations that must resolve. Story questions can be monumental or minuscule and are woven throughout a story from beginning to end. When a story question is posed at the beginning of a book, it is called a hook. In general, hooks should occur within the first few sentences of the beginning of a story. Here are three examples of hooks (all first sentences):
* “The morning the wagon came to take Monette away, the air was biting crisp and a sheen of frost covered the canefields.” — The Dreaming by Michele Torrey (manuscript) (The hook: Why is a wagon coming to take Monette away, and where is it going to take her?)
* “When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.” – To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (The hook: How did Jem break his arm?)
* “It was almost December and Jonas was beginning to be frightened.” — The Giver by Lois Lowry (The hook: Why is Jonas beginning to be frightened?)
Kirby Larson has an interview today with two-time Newbery Honor Award winner Jennifer Holm about her newest historical novel, TURTLE IN PARADISE. (Jennifer is better-known around our house for her BABYMOUSE books--is there anything this woman can't do?)Our next issue of The Chinook will focus on submission and promotion.
Who among you has an interesting insight into the vast and somewhat confusing world of submission? Perhaps an unusual path you took? Some interesting and diplomatic perspectives on some of the newer publishing houses and imprints? Creative ways to handle rejection letters, such as using them to repaper the bathroom? Tips on how to handle THE phone call--the one we all wait for with the juicy offer?
And does anyone have suggestions from personal experience on unique ways to promote oneself as an author and/or illustrator in this busy world of social media and instant communication? We want to learn from you!
Please send your articles and ideas to me at tfttnw AT gmail.com. Even if you're not quite sure how to formulate your thoughts into an article, drop me a mail. We'll work on the piece together! I look forward to reading your sage advice.
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 5/12/2010 2:00:00 PM
As if severe budget cuts weren’t enough, Washington’s Kitsap Regional Library has suffered another huge blow—someone stole 1,348 picture books valuing nearly $23,000 from its Port Orchard branch.
“Nearly all of the titles stolen were newer books or new copies of classic titles,” says Branch Manager Kathleen Wilson. “From Barbara Abercrombie’s The Show and Tell Lion (S & S, 2006) to Charlotte Zolotow’s A Father Like That (HarperCollins, 2007), the entire alphabet of picture books was picked through by the thief.”
Here's proof that even a book that’s been out more than a year can still get a little attention: Joni Sensel’s THE FARWALKER’S QUEST (Bloomsbury, 2009) was just named on the 2010 Bank Street Best Books list and will also be featured on Education.com’s 2010 Summer Reading Guide, which highlights only 10 titles per age category. (See that whole list here.) 
I'd been corresponding here and there with author Chris Barton for probably over five years--and by "corresponding" I mean that he would send me a manuscript and then I would decline it, but invite him to send more. During that time he eventually found a fantastic agent, who sent me a manuscript titled "Shark vs. Train." I was intrigued by that title. And when I read the manuscript, I was intrigued even more. Heck, I was more than intrigued, I was in love. It was so wacky, so deliciously random and bizarre, and best of all, it was so childlike and child friendly.
The concept is this: a train and a shark battle it out in different environments. For example, who wins when they're underwater, in Shark's natural habitat? Shark, of course--Train helplessly sinks to the bottom of the ocean. But Train wins on the train tracks, while Shark struggles to pull heavy cars. But then Shark wins at a pie-eating contest, and Train wins in a burping contest. The battle goes back and forth until towards the end you realize that neither one is winning. This is one of my favorite "nobody wins" pages:
Poppy is in for big surprises. She loves tending to the dogs, cats, and even a bird, and she discovers the fun of newborn puppies and the satisfaction of doing a good job. But she learns that there's more to caring for animals than the stethoscope and cotton swabs in her Deluxe Veterinarian First-Aid Kit. She's not prepared for quirky pet owners, gross stuff, or scary emergencies. With help from a boy named Hawk, a chunk of seaglass, and a touch of intuition, Poppy gains a deeper understanding of the pain and joy of working with animals.
Join us as COLUMBIAKids e-zine turns two! This year we’re exploring “the story behind the story” with amazing PNW authors Kirby Larson (Hattie Big sky, Nubs, COLUMBIAKids “Sayonara”), Randall Platt (Hellie Jondoe), Anjali Banerjee (Looking for Bapu, Seaglass Summer), Mindy Hardwick (COLUMBIAKids “Pigs Go To Market” and “Tales of the Lighthouse Keeper”), and the editors of COLUMBIAKids.
If you’re curious about researching and writing history for kids, don’t miss this program. If you’re intrigued with homesteading, ghosts, orphan trains, internment, animals, or mummies, this night is for you. It’s a fun and enlightening evening for readers and writers of all ages. The program is FREE and the museum is open to the public until 8pm. Book signing to follow the program.
"In English," she says, moving her hand toward the cup, "if I knock this cup off the table, even accidentally, you would likely say, 'She broke the cup.'" However, in Japanese or Spanish, she explains, intent matters.Read the rest of it (it gets really interesting where she reveals that a Spanish speaker is less likely to remember key details about accidents--perhaps precisely because the language doesn't provide a structure for that).If one deliberately knocks the cup, there is a verb form to indicate as much. But if the act were an accident, Boroditsky explains, a smile dancing across her lips as she translates from Spanish, the speaker would essentially say, "The cup broke itself."
The question is: Does the fact that one language tends to play the blame game while the other does not mean speakers of those languages think differently about what happened? If so, what might linguistic differences tell us about cognition, perception and memory—and with what implications for such perennial debates as the influence of nature versus nurture? Welcome to the intensely spirited academic debate on which Boroditsky has spent the last decade shining a bright new light.
Voice is one of the most difficult writing terms to define and pinpoint. We might know it when we see it, but what's voice made of, really? You hear so often that agents and editors want "new voices" and "compelling voices" and voice voice voice. So what is voice? How do you cultivate it? And how many rhetorical questions do you think can I fit into one post?Find out on Nathan's blog.
Voice, at its most basic level, is the sensibility with which an author writes. It's a perspective, an outlook on the world, a personality and style that is recognizable even out of context. You could drop randomly into a David Sedaris story or an Ernest Hemingway novel and probably guess the author within a few paragraphs because they have strong, unique voices. An author's voice is often imitated (think: Tolkien), but a truly original voice can never be duplicated.
So what makes a good voice? How do you cultivate one?
We’ve all read them: books that stupify the senses for the first few pages or — ack! — the first few chapters. Like the literary troopers we are, we wade through those mind-dulling pages, meanwhile muttering incantations, It will get better . . . Any minute now something wonderful will happen . . .
If even the pros fall prey to such yawningly slow beginnings, how much more susceptible is the novice writer? Very, as it turns out. Often novice writers begin their stories thinking that they have to tell us everything up front in order for us to understand what’s going on. I’ve read middle grade manuscripts in which twenty or more characters are introduced in the first chapter alone, not because those characters were necessary to the chapter, mind you, but because the writer was under a “can’t-leave-anything-out” evil spell. The irony is, these tell-all openings are less intelligible than if the writer used a “need-to-know” approach.
So where should you begin your story? The general rule of thumb is to begin your story at the moment your character experiences a dramatic life change:Read the rest.
You would be surprised at how little information is really needed before the story is off and running.
- On the day the girl’s father mysteriously disappears.
- On the day the high school valedictorian opens the letter from Harvard, declining him admittance.
- On the morning of the fire.
The following is said to be an exact translation of the letter sent by a Chinese editor to a would-be contributor whose manuscript he found it necessary to return: ‘Illustrious brother of the sun and moon: Behold thy servant prostrate before thy feet. I kowtow to thee, and beg that of thy graciousness thou mayst grant that I may speak and live. Thy honored manuscript has deigned to cast the light of its august countenance upon us. With raptures we have perused it. By the bones of my ancestors, never have I encountered such wit, such pathos, such lofty thought. With fear and trembling I return the writing. Were I to publish the treasure you sent me, the emperor would order that it should be made the standard and that none be published except such as equaled it. Knowing literature as I do, and that it would be impossible in ten thousand years to equal what you have done, I send your writing back. Ten thousand times I crave your pardon. Behold my head is at your feet. Do what you will. Your servant’s servant. The Editor.’– The Literary World, March 23, 1895
Now that it is official, I can let you know that Emily Van Beek has left Pippin Properties to join Folio Literary Management and help them build their children’s book division.
Pippin Properties is still alive and doing great with Holly McGhee at the helm, so this just gives all of us more opportunities in the industry.
Here is what Emily says she is looking for:
I am exclusively interested in acquiring projects for young and teen readers, from picture books by author / artists, to authentic and fresh middle-grade fiction, to lyrical and daring YA.
I am especially interested in representing young adult novelists. I’m looking for voices that won’t be ignored. I am open to considering all sorts of YA from dystopian fiction to paranormal, mysteries to well-written chick lit, coming-of-age, “I’m not dead, but I’m not alive either”, the lyrical, the literary, and the laughable.
I believe it was Ursula Nordstrom who once wrote (of the process of considering a manuscript) something along the lines of: “If you can resist it, do.” A tough love sort of approach to the process, but it’s a litmus test I often use to help me decide if I am the right agent to represent a particular project and to help an author achieve his or her publishing goals.
Emily officially starts on May 24th.
These days it seems like everyone's book marketing budget is a little tighter. If you're feeling the pinch, or if you're just looking for some great free stuff to do on your own, here are some tips that could help keep you on track.
1) Buy your domain name as soon as you have a title for your book. You can get domain names for as little as $8.95. Tip: When buying a domain always try to get a .com and stay away from hyphens, i.e. penny-sansevieri.com - surfers rarely remember to insert hyphens.
2) Head on over to Blogger.com or Wordpress.com and start your very own blog (you can add it to your Web site later).
3) Set up an event at your neighborhood bookstore. Do an event and not a signing, book signings are boring!
Kim Baker, our assistant regional adviser, asked her some questions about her writing process. Read up on them here.
A bear forages for food, climbs into its tree nest, and scales the snow-capped Himalayas in Moon Bear by Brenda Z. Guiberson, featuring cut-paper illustrations by Ed Young. Out this month from Holt, the book spotlights the Asiatic black bear, also known as the moon bear, for the white crescent-shaped marking on its chest.
Read the rest.A concluding author’s note addressing the plight of this endangered species is accompanied by photos of moon bears living in a China sanctuary run by the Hong Kong-based Animals Asia Foundation, which will receive a portion of the proceeds from the sales of Moon Bear. The publisher has also launched an on-line campaign to adopt a moon bear—with readers’ help.
Most of you have heard, I'm sure, about the horrendous rains and flooding in Nashville and surrounding areas. As far as I know, all Midsouth members are accounted for. Cheryl's home was four houses away from the evacuation zone! Several of my friends have lost everything, and one had to be rescued from a second-floor window in a canoe.
Many people didn't have flood insurance because they don't live in a flood plain. This flooding is truly an unheard-of event, so this doesn't mean they were careless or lax. Two of the Midsouth's enterprising members, Amanda Morgan and Myra McEntire, have put together a relief effort called "Do the Write Thing for Nashville" where they will auction off all sorts of writing-related goodies, including critiques by agents and editors. I don't know who these agents and editors are, but Amanda reports that the site has had a great response. There will also be signed books and other goodies.
Please alert your readers to this site and to their Facebook page, as there will be some great services to bid on. It would be great if you or your members wanted to make a donation of a book or a critique too, of course!
Hey, everyone! Alice Pope has new SCBWI blog. Here's the start of her introductory post:“My story is about a man, a woman, and two dogs. It’s a modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice, except the characters of Jane and Mr. Bingley are a tad hairier than in the original.”
Confession time. That is an honest-to-God excerpt from the first query I ever wrote. And, yes, I actually sent it out the door. Ten times.
You probably won’t be shocked to learn I received ten rejections, and you’re probably wondering why you’re reading a post on queries from someone who’s unpublished. Well, thankfully, I’ve made some progress since that abysmal beginning. Although I’m still waiting for the life-changing phone call from Dream Agent, I am finally winning the battle of the query and getting more requests than rejections. Here’s a strategy that has helped me go from public humiliation to killer query.
Step One: Pull Out Some Quirk
Most agents seem to like some degree of weird. So don’t let their first impression be déjà vu. For example, rather than introduce your main character as a middle-aged high school teacher, focus on a weird quirk or trait, such as: “Mary Olson is a middle-aged drama teacher with a paralyzing fear of heights.”
My friend Jane* has a tendency to tell really boring stories. She inflicts you-had-to-be-there stories, I-find-this-to-be-funny-but-you-might-not stories, and this-is-interesting-but-not-well-told stories on us all the time.
In college Jane started noticing that when she was telling a story, people started picking their nails, looking past her for the nearest exit, or falling asleep on the spot. Even when she could feel that the story was dying a soporific, painful death, Jane couldn't stop herself -- she felt she had to finish it to the end. She so desperately wanted her stories to work that she grasped for something that could save them, any lifesaver that could bring them home. Jane peaked when she was telling a story and, just as my eyelids began to flutter, she blurted out: "And then there was a dragon!"
Don't do this in your manuscript.
As appealing as this may sound -- and as hilarious it is to picture a dragon in line with your character at the grocery store -- don't do it. Adding a dragon or a long-lost brother or slutty secretary or a conveniently placed key under the doormat to the castle is not the fix for a broken story.
"The Princess Diaries ... just not suitable for children."I’ve heard other writers say that when they get a rejection letter, they post it on the wall of their office. A well-known poet I know says his walls are just plastered in them. I have never understood this; it’s one of those things that fly over my head and I’m too ashamed to admit I don’t get it. My own office has hand-painted cards from people I love, art books and poetry books open and propped up. Do the rejection-plasterers find punishment inspiring? Maybe it proves to them that they exist, that at least they’re trying, seeing their name written over and over in print like that, on letterhead from coveted presses and magazines. I assume, maybe incorrectly, that writers who plaster their walls in rejections actually do so because they are in the what-doesn’t-kill-you-makes-you-stronger camp. It makes you stronger like a callus makes your hands stronger when you’ve worked with them awhile. But a callus of the soul or heart isn’t supposed to be a good thing.Read the rest.
When I receive a bunch of rejections (an inevitability as a writer) I am always left facing the reasons I’m writing in the first place, so I can know why to keep going. And I’m faced over and over again with the somewhat uncomfortable fact that one of the reasons I write is to get approval. But the reasons I write change, depending on which one I need. I’ve written them out below, and I’d love to know if anyone has anything to add to this list, especially those writers on who are further along in their careers, and know the feeling of holding their own book in their hands.
