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Karen Cushman’s talk was another of my favourites at the 2009 SCBWI Conference. Karen’s 1995 novel The Midwife’s Apprentice won the Newbery Medal for children’s literature, and her 1994 novel Catherine, Called Birdy won a Newbery Honor.

Here are some of the notes I took away from her talk, “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.”

Karen didn’t read many classics when she was young, choosing only what touched her. As a child, she tried to read every book on the shelves, from A to Z. When she discovered a subject that interested her, she’d study it obsessively.

She didn’t start writing until later in life, mainly because she felt she didn’t have much to say. She only started thinking about writing shortly before she turned 50. I like the term she used here: “post-menopausal zest.” Heh.

She advised us to ignore writing advice, even hers.

Here are some typical writing advice standards which don’t work for her.

WRITING ADVICE THAT KAREN CUSHMAN IGNORES:

Keep your butt in the chair.

Karen disagrees, saying you don’t have to be at the computer or at your desk to be working. She’s working when she sits doing nothing, or when she’s taking a walk, etc. Inspiration often strikes when she’s nowhere near her writing chair.

She usually writes reclining with a cat in her lap.

Write every day.

She says this may work for some people, but not for her. It takes her a long time to get started, and she’s learned that she can’t force herself to write if “it’s not coming.”

Karen says it’s important to make room for other life stuff: work and non-work — it’s all part of the writing and living process. Both production and repose are imporant.

Never edit your first draft.

Again, Karen doesn’t follow this advice. She edits and polishes as she writes.

Karen starts every day by reading over what she’s written and then polishing recent pages before doing new writing.

Her analogy: the long jump. It’s important to take a few steps first before you make the jump.

She finds the first draft always the most difficult. It’s slow going, and she sometimes has to stop. Revision is far easier for her, so she’s gotten into the habit of trying outlining first instead. She lays out the chapters, then adds a few sentences to each chapter, then expands on those sentences. This makes the process more like editing, which is easier for her.

You need to differentiate between your editor’s hat and your writer’s hat, and you also need to differentiate between when you’re doing editing and when you’re in critic mode. Don’t try to do both at once.

Don’t read other books while you’re writing.

Karen ignores this advice. She says she HAS to read.

Her own advice: read 100 books like the one you want to write. Read what you love, then ask yourself why you love it.

She also recommends:

Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott
Making A Literary life by Carolyn See
Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft by Jane Yolen

Write what you know.

Karen disagrees. She says you should write what you want to know. Write to find out what you believe in and value.

Cut 10% of what you’ve written.

Karen says she usually adds to her first draft. “I am, to a fault, concise.”

Her first draft is usually only 50-60 pages (”a bouillion of a book”). She learns what her story is about AS she writes the book.

SUMMARY:

Karen advises writers to make your own rules but suggests some of her own:

1. Show up.

2. Differentiate between your mundane and your writing life.

3. Slow down. Let ideas percolate.

4. Keep showing up.

5. Keep submitting.

6. KEEP WRITING.

7. Pay attention. Look around, stuff yourself with sensations. Look for what you love or hate, and put this down on paper. Find out what stimulates your creativity and do more of it. Join writing groups, attend conferences, read writing blogs. If you pay attention, you’ll be ready for serendipity.

8. Tell the truth. Karen says she loves doing research. She only ends up using 10 percent of what she finds, but the other 90 percent gives her “a place to stand.” Strive for emtoional truth, things you are morally certain of. Books ought to be hopeful.

ON PUBLISHING

Karen still wonders “What if I fail?” when she’s working on a new writing project.

Publishing is pretty much out of our hands. It doesn’t matter how brilliant your book is — it may still be rejected.

If publication is the only reason you’re writing, then you shouldn’t be writing.

“We write because we’re writers.”

Also see:
SCBWI Conference Blog notes on Karen Cushman

One of my favourite talks at the SCBWI conference was Wendy Loggia’s keynote speech, “I Wanted to Love This: Seven Reasons Why Your Manuscript Gets Declined.” Her talk focused on reasons she rejected manuscripts that were almost accepted but not quite ready.

Wendy is executive editor of Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children’s books. She edited the Sister Of The Traveling Pants series by Ann Brashares as well as the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. In preparation for the talk, Wendy went through her binder of rejection letters and found that pretty much all the rejection reasons boiled down to seven points:

(Before embedding, see my cartoon licensing info.)

1. Nice writing but no story. The characters are at the same emotional place at the end of the book as they were in the beginning. Wendy found that this was a common problem with authors’ first books. She says that having a good plot is essential. Ask yourself, “Why would a bookstore customer choose and buy this book?”

2. The mss is too similar to other novels that the editor has worked on. Wendy warns authors against submitting books that very similar to others on the editor’s list; you may be setting yourself up for a negative comparison, especially if the other book is very good. Even worse if the other book didn’t sell well.

3. Your readership isn’t clear. Who will want to read your book? Your book is too “quiet” or doesn’t have enough commercial appeal.

4. The writer seems like a difficult person to work with. Wendy always Googles an author’s name before offering a contract. She says she may be prompted to change her mind about signing up an author if they share too much information in their blog, if they tend to blog a lot about how hard writing is, if they blog about being rejected many times, if they publicly bash a book she’s worked on, or if they bash a colleague in the business who is her friend.

5. The editor can’t connect to your voice. You may be doing too much telling instead of showing. Your writing may be too predictable.

6. You’ve submitted your work too early, before it’s fully polished. Especially in this economic climate, always take the time to present yourself in the best light possible. Make sure your work is ready before you submit it.

7. Your project won’t stand out on a publishing house’s list. Wendy said this is happening more and more. A book may be rejected to avoid in-house competition.

Hope this helps writers out there!

Manuscript critiques at a writers’ convention can be nervewracking, so I’m posting this entry mainly for those who want to know what to expect when they sign up. This year, it cost US$100 extra for a mss critique. While participants were guaranteed that we’d get a review from someone in the children’s book industry, there was no guarantee that we would get an editor; our critiquer could have been an author, for example, or a literary agent.

What to expect, from my experience this year:

When you pick up your registration packet on the first day, you’ll be given a slip of paper with the name of the person who will be doing your critique, plus a date and a time. Be prepared for the fact that you’ll have to miss some of the regular workshop programming because of your critique.

Make sure you show up on time, and check in with the volunteer taking attendance. When I arrived, there were already others waiting in chairs lined up against the wall in front of the critique room. To stave off nervousness, I chatted with some of the others waiting for their turn.

When my name was called, I was pointed to the table where my critiquer was waiting. We introduced ourselves and sat down. I already knew who she was, of course; as soon as I found out her name, I reread her bio in our registration packet and did some research online.

“So, I read your manuscript,” she said. She paused, and then said, “I’d like you to tell me, in your own words, what your story’s about.”

And this is where I realized I was woefully unprepared. Because I had to include a one page synopsis (which I had slaved over), I hadn’t expected this question. I had also been working on two other projects since I had mailed in my mss and synopsis, so my head was still wrapped up in those stories.

With a sinking heart, I took a deep breath and stumbled my way through the Worst Story Description Ever. I could feel myself starting to perspire as I rambled incoherently, cringing at how horribly I was conveying my ideas. From time to time she’d ask a question, and then a question about my reply to that question. She never once referred to my manuscript, and I realized that this was a critique of what I was saying, not what I had written.

From her questions, I could tell that she hadn’t read my story or synopsis that closely. Perhaps she had been short on time, or my mss had slipped through the cracks and was only noticed at the last minute. In her position, I know she must have had a ton on her plate from regular work, plus all the mss she had to critique for the conference. If mine -had- somehow been missed, however, she only had to tell me. I would have understood completely if she had to e-mail my critique after the convention, or maybe met me for a few minutes later in the weekend.

During the entire half hour critique session, she didn’t say a single positive thing about my submission. Based on my less than eloquent description of the story, the editor made some suggestions on how to improve the story. Because of my poor explanation, the advice wasn’t as useful as I had hoped. Some contradicted advice from another editor.

When our time was up, I thanked her for her time. It was only as we were walking to the door that she said in an offhand way, “You’re a good writer. I just had problems with the story.”

AUGH. Why couldn’t she have mentioned this at the beginning of the critique? It would have helped immensely.

When I looked at the mss she returned to me, there were only two brief notes written in pencil. One was to question the placement of a comma. The other questioned something one of my characters had said.

In the end, I realized that this mss critique session would have been much more positive and productive for me had I been better prepared. Even if I hadn’t signed up for the mss critique, I need to be able to describe my writing projects eloquently and briefly. ALL my writing projects, not just the most recent.

Even if the editor hadn’t had time to read my mss carefully, at least then I’d have a chance to “re-sell” my novel and get feedback that I could use. I should have come prepared with questions not necessarily related to my mss, in case it became clear that the editor hadn’t liked it or only skimmed it, perhaps about her publishing house or the industry or anything else I could take away with me and use.

I don’t blame the editor. Although it would have been nice to get at least a bit of positive feedback at the beginning, it wasn’t her job to coddle the writers she was critiquing. This particular editor is highly respected and I’m sure other critiques she did went well.

So here’s what I’ll do differently the next time I sign up for an mss critique at the convention:

- Be able to describe/pitch each of my writing projects in a minute or less.

- Reread the project just before the convention, esp. if it’s been a while since I’ve worked on it.

- Come with specific questions for the editor just in case it becomes clear that she either didn’t like my story or hadn’t read it that closely.

Also, don’t be disappointed if you don’t get an editor for your mss critique. I talked with many other writers at the convention who had authors or agents but were very pleased with their sessions, coming away with pages of detailed notes and suggestions, encouragement and references.

Hope this advice helps the rest of you! If you have any more mss critique advice or experiences to share, feel free to post below. All I ask is that you try to keep your comments helpful/positive. Thanks!

I had never heard of Sherman Alexie before the conference but after hearing his inspiring keynote talk at the beginning of the conference, I bought The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian.

Sherman could so easily be a stand-up comedian in another life; he gave such an entertaining talk. Yet he also moved many of us to tears with his story: he’s a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian born on the Spokane reservation with water in the brain (hydrocephalus). His mother was warned that her son would likely suffer severe mental retardation but against all odds, Sherman came through just fine.

He loved reading when he was a child, and read John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath by the time he was five years old. He’s won a ton of awards including the 1999 O. Henry Award, the 2000 inaugural PEN/Amazon.com Short Story Award, the Poetry Society of America’s 2001 Shelley Memorial Award and the National Book Award.

Some take-away quotes/info from his talk to writers and illustrators (from my notes):

“You have to be sure this is the career you want. People hand you their lives on a daily basis.”

Sherman says that if you really want to be a writer, you have to “be prepared to neglect your friends and family” if you’re doing it right.

Kids may not like your book, but one percent of them will be changed forever.

Also see:

SCBWI Conference Blog entries on Sherman Alexie

I lack the time to do detailed session reports, so instead I’ve decided to post excerpts from my notes that I think would be of most interest. The SCBWI, by the way, is the hard-to-pronounce acronym for The Society Of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, a wonderful organization I discovered through Lee Wardlaw.

Which reminds me, I really need to renew my membership for CANSCAIP, the Canadian equivalent!

Anyway, the conference always begins with Lin Oliver telling us about the attendees. This year, 911 people enrolled fulltime (as opposed to those who attended only part of the weekend), with 712 women and 120 men. There was some stats ambiguity because of certain names that didn’t make it clear whether the person was male or female (e.g. “Leslie, Pat, etc.).

Members were from 47 states, with exceptions including Wyoming, Delaware and Vermont, plus 12 countries outside the U.S.

Almost half of the attendees having already been published in the children’s lit field.

There were no public stats on ages but I noticed a very wide range in attendees, including a teenager in the YA Voice Masters’ Class Workshop I was taking with Krista Marino.

SCBWI Notes to be continued!

Other conference reports I’ve found so far:

Lisa Yee’s conference report
Rilla Jaggia’s conference report (includes a photo of ME!)
Elizabeth Dulemba’s conference report (lots of photos!)
The Official SCBWI Team Conference Blog