Holly Cupala Interview

Our own Michele Torrey has recently interviewed Holly Cupala on her blog. Holly's novel, TELL ME A SECRET, debuts June 22, 2010 (just one week away).

You can find the interview on Michele's blog. While you're there, read more about Michele. She's a well-traveled writer, and has a non-profit called Orphans Africa. Just one fun fact about Michele; she's had to scrub the flagstones of a castle courtyard all by herself!

Michele Torrey: story beginnings, part 2

She's continuing the lesson at her blog with a discussion of hooks:

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?)

Read the rest.

Michele Torrey on story beginnings

Looking over the first pages of your story? Michele Torrey has great advice on where to start:

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:

• 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.

You would be surprised at how little information is really needed before the story is off and running.

 Read the rest. 

Sweet news from Michele Torrey

I posted a call for donations to benefit Orphans Africa, a terrific charity Michele helped found. She has a very sweet blog post about the success of the endeavor:

Maybe I’m tootin’ my own horn here, but I just have to say that the writing community here in the Pacific Northwest is pretty dang awesome. Not only are we a creative, friendly, and professional bunch, but we’re generous too.

Not long ago, I asked my local writing community for book donations to help orphans in Tanzania. (Orphans Africa, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 charity which I co-founded, was having its first gala dinner and auction and we needed auction items.) Two days after I broadcast my plea, I received some beautiful autographed books. That was only the beginning. Over the next few weeks, autographed books flooded into my local post office, eliciting raised eyebrows from the postmaster as I walked out each day, arms piled high. Picture books, novels for children and adults, self-help books, inspirational books, chapter books for young readers . . . the writers of the Pacific Northwest sent their very best. Their generosity literally brought me to tears.

So this is my official group hug. To each of you who gave, thank you and God bless you. And for those of you who attended the auction and purchased book baskets, wow! We raised over $17,000 at our auction, enough to nearly complete a kitchen and dining hall at our nursery and primary boarding school for orphans!

Check out the list of people who gave; you'll see some familiar SCBWI folk.

Techno hate and ink pots

Michele Torrey has a blog post that's fun to ponder on a Thursday. Here's an excerpt:

All this has got me thinking. Just how and when did my life became so interconnected with computers, the Internet, and email? Just when did my entire day get flushed down the loo if my computer froze or had to spend a week with Dr. PC? Anymore my days consist of dozens of emails, electronic manuscripts, copyedits in WORD, htmls and pdfs and jpgs and tifs, chirps and tweets. In fact, there’s so much techno “support” for my career that I can hardly get any writing squeezed in there.

Check out the rest.

Books to benefit orphans in Africa

Here's an opportunity to help via our colleague, Michele Torrey:

As many of you know, in 2007 I co-founded Orphans Africa (OA). Part of our mission is to educate some of the 2.5 million orphans in Tanzania, East Africa. On February 27, 2010, we are holding a benefit dinner and auction at the Liberty Theater in Puyallup to help raise funds for OA. These funds will go toward building a kitchen and dining hall and finishing construction on the dormitories for our Marilynn Primary and Nursery School. The dormitories will house 72 orphans, ages 3-12.

So, I'm pulling in any and all favors from all my dear writer-friends and asking you to please donate at least one signed copy of one of your books. I'd like to create book baskets according to age; the baskets will be auctioned to our guests. (Books for adults are fine, too! New books only, please.)

Please send books to: Michele Torrey, PO Box 1371, South Bend, WA 98586-1371. Please try to get them to me no later than February 10; if you want your donation listed in our evening program, I must receive them by the 1st of February.

You can read about my work in Tanzania by visiting my spankin' new OA website! And I'd LOVE it if you'd come to the benefit! Consider this an official invitation! We'll be auctioning such things as photo safaris in South Africa and vacations in Maui, as well as TONS of other cool stuff! For more info on the benefit, including how to order tickets, visit our OA Benefit Blog.

How to research historical novels

Our own Michele Torrey has a great blog post about how she researches her historical novels, including pitfalls to avoid and sources to use. Here's the start:

As a writer of historical novels, I must conduct a lot of research. Over the years, I’ve become quite adept at finding what I need and separating the wheat from the chaff. Recently, I was asked some in-depth questions by a colleague regarding historical research. As they were common questions, I thought I’d share the Q&A for those of you who also struggle with research. Hopefully it will be helpful. If you still have questions, post them to me here and I’ll try to answer as best I can.

Remember, these are only my opinions. Have your grain of salt handy.

Q: My main question is what do you do when reliable sources disagree?

A: First of all, make certain that they ARE reliable sources. Are they experts in their field? Is it current scholarship? (Scholarship is much more objective than it used to be, with even more resources available to draw upon.) Is it a primary source? If two or more reliable sources disagree, and if you can’t find any kind of agreement out there as to who is right, then you can feel free to make your own decision as it suits your novel.

And here's the rest.

Michele Torrey on retreats

She has a lovely post on the value of retreats (just in time for ours next month). You can read the whole thing at her blog, but here's the start:

Writing must be the loneliest occupation on the planet. Okay, maybe working in the space station is lonelier, or captaining a sailboat after all your crew has drowned, but it’s got to rank up there somewhere. Just you and the computer . . . just you and (gulp) the blank page. . . . We writers don’t get out much. And when we do, it’s often frantic– booksignings, school visits, speaking engagements, and the like, where we blink like moles in the sun and afterwards climb back into our holes more exhausted than when we left.

Enter writers’ retreats. A place (usually somewhat remote) where writers gather together to cheer, inspire, and laugh (okay, okay — occasionally to moan, complain, and go comotose). A place where they can be with others who well know the torture of staring at a blank page for three hours straight, the quiet desperation when opening that 537th rejection slip, who are masters of procrastination, and who, most of all, can create in rich, magnificent splendor.

Read the rest.

Tips on finding an agent

Michele Torrey, one of our dear PALs, has a great blog post on finding an agent--and specifically, how to make that list of people you'd like to query. Here's the start:

Finding That Top Agent - Part I
Face it. It’s a jungle out there. Finding a literary agent can be a confusing, agonizing, and frustrating ordeal. This ordeal is made even scarier by the fact that there are plenty of not-so-savory agents, ready to take advantage of the unwary, aspiring writer. Take Robert Fletcher at Writer’s Literary Agency, for example. In a current lawsuit, it is alleged that Fletcher made $600,000 per year on fees solicited from over 20 websites, yet sold only a few books. Fletcher admitted to having no background as a literary agent. (AG Release) (FYI — there is no “degree” or particular experience required in becoming a literary agent. Anyone can hang out his/her shingle today, and charge you a reading fee tomorrow. Downright scary, if you ask me.)

So how do you know if you’re sending your precious manuscript to a top agent (who will, of course, adore it and sell its socks off), or to a bottom-feeding pseudo-agent that sucks the life out of you (and the money out of your pocket)? After spending the last nine months hunting for a top agent (and landing one), I’ve learned a few tricks of the trade that I’m happy to share.

Click here for the rest.

An Interview with Author Susan Marlow

Michele Torrey sends this along:

I first met Susan Marlow at a writers' critique group, where we took turns critiquing one another’s book excerpt or short story. I immediately “took a shine” to Susan. She was down-to-earth, insightful, and funny, her writing strong and resonant. Although at the time she’d not been published in the book publishing world, I felt confident that it was only a matter of time. . . . (Read more at Michele's blog.)