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To follow on from my review of Penny & Jelly: The School Show last Friday, I am very happy to have the author, Maria Gianferrari on the blog today to share about the inspiration for her debut picture book and offer … Continue reading →

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I first met Nancy Viau at a workshop she presented for the NJ chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference in 2011.  Her middle grade book SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD (Amulet 2008) had been published.  She, along with some fellow authors, were talking about their books and the group they’d formed called the Kid Lit Authors Club. Here’s Nancy:

First give me some of your own background and how you came to be a children’s book author.
I started writing down ideas and creating silly rhymes when my youngest was about three. I wasn’t sure what to do with the picture books (I use that term loosely because they weren’t even close to being picture books!) that rolled out of my head onto paper, so I joined SCBWI and sat in many, many sessions where I soaked up info on how to write, what to write, and where to send manuscripts. Early on I had success with Highlights, Highlights High Five, Babybug, Ladybug, etc. but no picture book acceptances. A friend encouraged me to write for an older audience so for a while I wrote Op-Ed articles for the Philly Inquirer, popular anthologies, and a mish-mash of parenting magazines. An idea for an older character lead to my middle-grade novel, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head, and even after that was published, I never let go of the dream to be a picture book author.

Where and when did the idea for KIDLIT AUTHORS CLUB originate? What’s the philosophy/premise behind the group?
A year after my middle-grade novel came out (2009), I came to the realization that it’s not easy to promote a book and get author gigs. Publishers do not do a lot (*sigh), especially if your book is not a best-seller. Another author, Keri Mikulski, and I thought it might be a good idea to band together with a diverse group of picture book, middle-grade, and young adult authors to help spread the word about our titles. We wanted a book-signing or a general visit to be fun and interactive, an event the entire family could enjoy, and that we could enjoy, too. We wanted to make an irresistible buzz for our books, and never again find ourselves sitting alone at a book signing.          

How many members and from what genres?
Membership fluctuates every year, but we try to keep a balance between PB, MG, and YA. Some years we have 20; sometimes we have as many as 26. We try not to go over 25 or 26 because what happens then is that people step back and let a select few do the work. We all work to find opportunities for signings and presentations by reaching out to librarians, booksellers, teachers, conference directors, festival organizers, and others.

How has being a member of the group changed the way you present and promote your books? What are the advantages of such a group?
I feel like I have a marketing team behind me. Whereas I am one individual who may find a way to promote my books, with the KidLit Authors Club behind me, I have 20+ others who are also promoting my books. Sure, I still do events by myself, but at those events I talk up members’ books, and hand out the club’s bookmarks and marketing materials. We share the love. Big time. A picture book author may come across an event suitable for YA authors and will pass it along. A middle-grade author may find an opportunity to appear on a panel, but picture book authors are needed as well. Voila, we’ve got that! We provide a multi-author resource for bookstore owners and conference or festival organizers looking to fill program spots.

What advice would you give other writers looking to collaborate and form a similar club?
Find others who enjoy getting the word out about their own books, but would be open to helping others do the same. Get together and hash out a plan of action. A marketing group made up of authors can take many forms. Look at groups such as the Liars Club or the “Class of” groups that started with the Class of 2k7 and continued on with the Tenners, Elevensies, and so on. I saw how successful my class was–the Class of 2k8, but felt that limiting a group to authors of novels was not in our best interest. Members of our club all benefit when seasoned authors mentor debut authors, older titles are mentioned in the same breath as current ones, and new titles are celebrated and given a presence.

Any final thoughts?
Working with a group of wonderful people who have the same passion and vision as you is priceless. (I sound like a MasterCard commercial…) It’s really hard being an author—harder than most people think, but it’s much more enjoyable when you don’t have to go it alone.

http://www.kidlitauthorsclub.com
Making every event a celebration of children’s books!     

Nancy Viau
Nancy Viau is the author of City Street Beat, Storm Song, and Look What I Can Do! (nominated for the 2014-2015 Keystone to Reading Book Award). Her middle-grade title, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head, was published in 2008. Viau enjoys presenting assembly programs and writing workshops, and along with the young writers she meets, she finds inspiration in nature, travel, and her job as a librarian assistant.
Website: http://www.NancyViau.com

Facebook: Nancy Viau
Twitter: @NancyViau1

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Last month we had the pleasure of discovering some amazing literary devices found in the humble PICTURE BOOK thanks to PB writer Beth Ferry.  Beth is back this month with more techniques you can use to enhance your writing and raise it above the mundane. Here’s Beth:

Asyndeton. This involves leaving out conjunctions, such as Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. It is a great way to lower your word count. In the same vein, Polysyndeton is the use of many conjunctions close to one another – “He ran and laughed and jumped with joy.” I use the latter much more than the former. I really like conjunctions.

Internal rhyme. A rhymer at heart, I love all rhyme, but this type of rhyme is my favorite and I try to pepper some internal rhyme even in my non–rhyming stories. It is also known as middle rhyme because a word in the middle of the line usually rhymes with the last word of the line.

Homophones. I love to use these to add depth to my writing. It is easy to confuse homonyms and homophones, so just to clarify: All homonyms are homophones, but not all homophones are homonyms. Homonyms look the same and sound the same, but have different meanings such as bear and rose. Often one version is a noun and the other is a verb. Homophones, on the other hand, SOUND alike, but have different spellings and different meanings. These will seem the most familiar to you (to, too, two). My favorite use of a homonym is this one: “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” –Groucho Marx.

Euphony. This is basically just the loveliness of sound and the opposite of cacophony, which, I must say, is an amazing word to say out loud. Euphony is created by the use of some of the aforementioned literary devices, especially alliteration, assonance, consonance and rhyme. And just a little tidbit: “Cellar door” is supposed to be the most pleasing sound in the English language. Something to consider and possibly say out loud a few times.

Lastly, there is one literary device picture book writers should absolutely, completely avoid: Periphrasis, which is the use of excessive language and surplus words to convey a meaning that could otherwise be conveyed in fewer words and in a more direct manner. Stay away from this one. Stay far away.

So, picture book writers, pull out your works-in-progress and see if you can identify any of these literary devices in your writing. Then experiment with some new ones. Add a little assonance. Sprinkle in some polysyndeton. Pop in a homophone. It may make a fun and beautiful difference in your writing.      

 

Beth Ferry lives and writes near the beach. Her debut book, Stick and Stone, will be released on April 7, 2015 by HMH. Land Shark (Chronicle) will be released in Fall 2015 and Pirate’s Perfect Pet (Candlewick) follows in Fall 2016.

 

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The Use of Literary Devices in Picture Books: Part 1       
by Beth Ferry

As parents, we are constantly teaching our children about the world: rules, facts and essential life truths such as: Be kind. Be patient. Bees sting. Eat your vegetables. Don’t eat the sand. Say please and thank you. Don’t step on that ant. As they grow older, teaching can morph into school related lessons: spelling tools, vocabulary words, and math tricks such as Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. As they grow even older, teaching becomes somehow more life affirming: Don’t drive and text. Be kind. Be true to yourself. Do your best. Hold your head up high. High school only lasts for four years.

In return, our children teach us how to be patient and forgiving. How to be creative and inventive. How to be happy. Watching them grow and learn has taught me a lot about myself, and I am a better person because I am a parent. But it is a rare event that I learn something academically new from my children. There are plenty of instances where I’ll encounter something I absolutely once knew, but have lost on the journey to adulthood, like, you know, the sum of interior alternate angles or how to balance a chemical equation. My college major was English after all. So imagine my surprise when, while reading aloud my new work-in-progress, my teenage son says “That’s anaphora.”

Stop the merry-go-round. What is he saying? Is it Latin? Text-talk? A new girl in his class? He explains it is a literary device he is learning about in AP English concerning rhetoric. What? He shows me his list of literary terms and I suddenly morph into a kid in a candy shop, marveling over this plethora of devices that I am unconsciously using and about which I have heard nary a whisper. I scurry off to devour this list, to taste each device and explore my own skill in using such lofty literary language without even knowing it.

There are reasons that these literary devices exist. It is because they work. The use of these devices makes writing stronger, more lyrical, more beautiful. Without even knowing it, I bet you will find your work peppered with polysyndeton, anadiplosis and euphony. Here are some of my favorites:

Alliteration. This one you will know as it is very common in picture books. I love alliteration and I’m sure you are familiar with the repetition of similar sounds in the beginning of successive words. I use them a lot in titles such as Stick and Stone or Pirate’s Perfect Pet.

Anadiplosis. This is the repetition of the last word of the preceding clause in the beginning of the next sentence. So it is almost like a word-segue between sentences. It’s hard to do, but very effective. The most recent and perfect example I can think of comes from the lyrics to the song “Glad You Came” by The Wanted:
Turn the lights out now
Now I’ll take you by the hand
Hand you another drink
Drink it if you can

Anaphora. This device is like alliteration but involving words instead of sounds. It is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of every clause or sentence. The opening of A Tale of Two Cities is the perfect example: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. . . It was the epitome of anaphora.

Anastrophe. Using this device allows the order of the noun and adjective to be reversed – think Yoda. It is also knows as hyperbaton, from the Greek meaning ‘transposition’. Poe uses this device to great effect, “Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing.”

Assonance. Like alliteration, assonance repeats sounds, but the sounds produced by the vowels only, such as “purple curtain”. In the same vein, consonance is the repetitive use of the consonant sounds, usually at the end – stuck, streak, luck. You probably use both of these without even knowing it.

Beth will return with MORE LITERARY DEVICES next month.  Rest assured…there are LOTS more!

Beth Ferry lives and writes near the beach. Her debut book, Stick and Stone, will be released on April 7, 2015 by HMH. Land Shark (Chronicle) will be released in Fall 2015 and Pirate’s Perfect Pet (Candlewick) follows in Fall 2016. 

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THE AMAZING STORY GENERATOR
By
Jason Sacher (Chronicle Books 2012 $14.95 hardcover)    

“Longing for a simpler life, famous Children’s Book Author joins a cult.”
“Penniless after years of rejection, Picture Book Author wannebe, dons a cape and mask to fight crime.”
“During the hottest summer on record, an out- of -work writer refuses to leave the bathtub.”

Are these tabloid headlines or stressed out writers looking for easier ways to earn a living? The answer to those questions just might be the basis of your next story.
The concept of THE AMAZING STORY GENERATOR is unique and simple. You choose a prompt from each of three sections set up in a flip-book style – a setting, a character, and a conflict. Written down, it becomes your “elevator pitch” and the start of a story, novel, screenplay or picture book.

This book is entertaining to read in and of itself. Passing it around among family members left all of us laughing and contemplating all sorts of possible scenarios. At its best, this book is a perfect when you need a jump start for a story, a new idea, or a way out of writer’s block. It’s a useful format for summing up your own stories or novels that are ready to be “pitched” to editors and agents. You can create thousands of different prompts and storylines. I found that practicing the format opens up endless ideas.       

Here’s an example using one setting, one character, and several conflicts:
“Suddenly able to hear others’ thoughts, a spoiled teenager solves a ten year old murder, OR robs a series of banks, OR wakes up in a strange house.”
Do the same thing by varying the settings or characters and you can see the endless possibilities. Who knows, you could have the formula for the next mystery/sci-fi/YA thriller.
THE AMAZING STORY GENERATOR is the perfect addition to any creative writing program and should be part of every storytellers library.
“Inspired by THE AMAZING STORY GENERATOR, a children’s author writes the next bestseller.”
It could happen. Even if it doesn’t, think of what a great story it would make.

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First a synopsis of Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly:
Seventeen-year-old Arlo Santiago lives in a dusty corner of New Mexico where his two passions are riding dirt bikes and playing a video game called “Drone Pilot.” He’s so good at the game that the military hires him to fly real drones over Pakistan. However, Arlo is reeling emotionally from a violent death in his family. Will he take the military’s money and commit violence against a terrorist leader half a world away, or find another solution to his troubles? He’s got a lot of them, including a father who drinks, a sister with Huntington’s Disease, and a girlfriend who won’t let him run from his past.    

How did the idea for Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly originate?
It grew out of my interest in—and concern about—drone warfare, which offers today’s militaries “capability without vulnerability.” As Arlo’s dad says, “Capability without vulnerability! Where are the heroics in that?” I was interested in several themes. One was the idea that violence against the individual is, in fact, violence against society as a whole. Another focused on the importance of friendship and family in dealing with grief. A third was the tendency of technology to outpace human wisdom.
Tells us a bit more about the story.

Arlo’s mom was a victim of violence. His father, a laid-off newspaper editor, is a pacifist. The family desperately needs money to help Arlo’s younger sister, and Arlo is poised to become a major breadwinner. He joins the drone-missile program as an adventure, without considering the moral ramifications. But he grows increasingly troubled at the thought of the violence he might commit.

So the story raises moral questions for Arlo?
Yes, it hinges on the moral dilemma between what seems right at a universal human level—one that values all life—versus what would provide immediate help to Arlo and his struggling family. It’s the tension between what he wants to do and what he feels he should do.
Like Arlo’s dad, you worked in northeast New Mexico as a newspaper editor. Is the book autobiographical?
Only in small ways. For example, Arlo owns a scruffy standard poodle named El Guapo. I own a scruffy standard poodle named Django.

What path led you to writing novels for young adults?
Years ago, I met the acclaimed young-adult author Scott O’Dell (Island of the Blue Dolphins, Sing Down the Moon, and many more). I shared my literary dreams with him, and he urged me to start writing a novel immediately, not to concoct excuses or bog down in planning. That day is one of the most important of my life. It set me on the path to writing YA fiction.

Why do you write for young adults?
I thought it would be easier than writing for grownups. (Man, was I was wrong.) Also, I had three teenagers in my life. My son, in particular, liked to bring home a pack of “big-personality” buddies whose collective voice mixed confidence, arrogance, enthusiasm, laziness, courage, cowardice, cadence, and more. I’d be doing dishes or driving them somewhere and these boys would be handing me golden nuggets, so to speak. They became role models for “The Thicks” in my first book, Adios, Nirvana.

How would you describe your writing process?
Kurt Vonnegut divided all writers into two groups, “bashers” and “swoopers.” I’m a basher, a slow writer who tries to perfect each paragraph before moving to the next. (Swoopers are fast, yet a bit sloppy.) In the morning, I pour some coffee, and get to work. I bash and bash. Only when I’ve bashed all the bumps down to practically dust do I move to the next chapter. I wish I bashed less and swooped more. The best I can hope for is “swashing.”

What have you learned about yourself through the process of writing both Adios, Nirvana and Dirt Bikes, Drones and Other Ways To Fly?

I’ve learned that metaphor can be good medicine. Sometimes, it’s difficult for me to deal directly with emotional pain. In writing fiction, I’m able to project my shadow onto the wall of a different cave and, in doing so, work through my issues. As the story unfolds, the characters and I journey toward greater self-understanding. It’s a roundabout process, but it works.

Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly is a novel that clearly provides hope for the future. How important do you think it is to have that note of hope in a novel for young adults?
Hope is extremely important. I choose themes that are important to me. Foremost among these are hope, healing, family, and friendship. These are themes I’d like my own children to embrace. Life can be hard and seem hopeless, so as a writer I choose to send out that “ripple of hope” on the chance it may be heard or felt, and so make a difference.

And finally, what advice would you give to teens struggling to break away from peer group-imposed identities and create a sense of self?
All of us are great people in the making. One doesn’t have to be rich, famous, brilliant, beautiful, or an outward success to be great. One of my favorite examples from fiction is the fisherman Santiago in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. (Trivial fact: I named my main character Arlo Santiago after Hemingway’s old man.) In the Hemingway book, Santiago starts out poor and ends up poorer. However, in the course of the story, he tests himself to the limit. We see his strength, courage, humility, nobility, and hopeful spirit. Each time we take a step closer to who we really are we get stronger. So my thought would be, if you can’t take big steps toward your goal now, take small ones. As with all goals (including writing YA fiction), time is your friend. So to teens who are struggling, I say be patient, practice, persevere, believe in yourself. Never give up.

Conrad Wesselhoeft worked as a tugboat hand in Singapore and Peace Corps Volunteer in Polynesia before embarking on a career in journalism. He has served on the editorial staffs of five newspapers, including The New York Times. He is the author of the young adult novels Adios, Nirvana (Houghton Mifflin, 2010) and Dirt Bikes, Drones, and Other Ways to Fly (Houghton Mifflin, 2014).

 

 

 

 

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Today’s post comes from a fellow writer, Johanna “Jody” Staton about how she finds and keeps ideas for writing. Here’s Jody:

Even when we enjoy writing and want to do it, we always seem to have excuses not to be doing more of it: school, jobs, family plans and obligations.
For me, there was one more excuse: no ideas that grabbed me by fingertips and dragged me to the keyboard.  Until I read a column in a writers’ magazine that suggested keeping an “idea dump.” So I started one.

I’ve always gotten a daily newspaper, a habit learned from my grandfather and reinforced in journalism classes. Skimming the headlines gave me a general idea what was going on in the world. If the headline hooked me and the lead paragraph reeled me in, a whole article gave me insight into people and stories I didn’t know about before.
My mother had frequently clipped articles that she sent to me in college. Off on my own, I rarely cut anything out of the paper, until I read that “idea dump” column.
Space was made in a file cabinet. Out came the manila folders, the scissors. My husband read the newspaper first, because it developed holes once I got hold of it. Magazines were divested of entire pages.  

The folders multiplied like rabbits. “Characters” became a bigger hanging box-bottomed folder housing “Children,” “Teens,” etc. “Settings” got geographical divisions. For articles from the writing magazine, genres each had their own folder, as did various aspects of the writing craft.
The following outline is an example of just some of the folders in my “idea dump”:

Animals
animal behavior
birds
cats
dogs
farm animals
ferrets
horses
people who work with animals
shelters
unicorns
wild animals
working animals

Characters
children
clothes
cultures
disabilities
faces
language
men
names
talents
teens
women

Concepts
art
dance
government
learning
music
Genres
fantasy
humor
middle grades books
mystery
picture books
romance
science fiction
travel writing
young adult books
Settings
housing types
military
ocean
other planets
schools

Specific locations
America
England
Europe
my home town
my region
my state
other countries
other states
Writing advice
plotting
point of view
titles

Can I claim that each of those clippings resulted in a writings project—a story, an essay, an article, a novel? No. But what I do know is that once I followed the column’s advice and started my own “idea dump,” something must have gotten turned on in my brain, so that now I have enough ideas for novels to keep me writing forevermore.      

How do you organize/sort/keep your ideas for possible stories?

Jody Staton first realized she wanted to be a writer when she was twelve, and won an award at summer camp for the best writing of the season, a paragraph titled “God’s Symphony.” She worked for her high school and college newspapers, and was an English major. She has a graduate degree in magazine journalism. Jody was also an editor at Jack and Jill magazine, and had stories and articles published there and elsewhere. She does freelance copy editing, and has written several middle grade and young adult novels, all in various stages of development. None are published yet, but some have gotten favorable comments from agents and editors. She is currently working on a horsey historical for upper middle grades.                 

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Picture Book Writer, and workshop presenter extraordinaire, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallan is hosting a web-based workshop on using poetic techniques in Picture Book writing.   This 5 week, interactive and flexible e-Course is unlike anything else for enhancing the art of picture book writing.  The course begins on MAY 19, 2014.  To register and check out the details: Poetry Course Flyer.

Here’s the link to  the website and program: http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/the-great-discounts-pleasures-and-craft-of-poetic-techniques.html

You can visit Sudipta at her website: http://www.sudipta.com

 

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It’s good to write badly. Baldly, in my case. Back in the noisy days of  typewriters I was indebted to a strip of white tape that I placed on the paper to strike out mistakes. This was replaced in time … Continue reading →

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Pesky apostrophes. Writer‘s Block affects one person but we all know WB affects all writers at some point so maybe Writers‘ Block is more accurate. So how to cope with it? Easy. Never pick up a pen again and become a hermit atop … Continue reading →

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I'm back from L.A., where I attended SCBWI's summer conference. Talk about a whirlwind visit--and I didn't even get to eat at In&Out, or do any other Cali-type things, other than spend an hour in gridlock traffic.

But I had fun anyway. I was inspired by all the talented writers and illustrators, keynote speakers, and awesome hotel food. I made new friends. Told everyone about my book, and they graciously listened. Good stuff.

And then there were a few lessons I learned, which I thought I'd share with you fellow writerly people. In case you have conference on your calendar.

1. Get your friends' contact information
There were more than 1200 people at this conference--believe it or not, it's very easy to completely miss each other. Especially if you only know a person from web contact, and all you have to go on is a profile pic.

2. Bring tissues
The SCBWI organizers know how to pick their keynotes... I fogged up (read: tried to cover up my tears) during several keynotes, and you will too. No matter how hardcore you think you are.

3. Bring breakfast bars
L.A. is expensive, and a girl's gotta eat. Unless you like dropping enough money to feed your family for a few days on eggs and bacon, bring a box or two of granola bars. The kind with chocolate and nuts are recommended by the YA Sleuth.

4. Don't be a snob
I briefly talked to a few people (who shall remain anonymous) who were only there to suck up to the big shot attendees and ignored their fellow little people (that would be me). Don't be that guy. Little people will grow big, and they'll remember you...

5. Go
I always debate whether to go to one of these conventions, but then when I do, I wonder what I was moaning about. The inspiration is worth the cost, and then some--if you can afford it. If your budget doesn't allow, see about organizing a day-long powwow with your writer crew.

How 'bout you, fellow writers? Anything you've learned from conference visits?

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;!

Ah, the oft-misunderstood semi-colon.

It really only has three functions in modern punctuation.

1. Joining two independent clauses.* This implies the two clauses are related and/or equal, or perhaps one restates the other.

The boys and I are on our own this weekend; we'll eat too many hotdogs and watch cartoons.

2. Use semi-colons between items in a list that already involve commas.

I have lived in Clay Center, Kansas; Manhattan, Kansas; and Lawrence, Kansas.

3. Making that funny smiley thing I use too often.

;)

That's it.

Make peace with the semi-colon. Please. I hear the rapture is coming this weekend, and I wouldn't want semi-colon hate on my head.

Write Hard!

*independent clause is a fancy way of saying "sentence". An independent clause is a string of words which can stand on its own.

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• Listen and Learn Unless you isolate yourself from the outside world, conversations that you can learn from take place all the time. Call if eavesdropping, but if you just sit and listen to people talk, you'll learn to pick up speech patterns, key words, phrasing, and rhythm - all which will help you write a realistic scene. For example, I attended a comedy show last night and paid attention to the comedian riff with an audience member. The comedian used timing to his advantage, creating this natural conversation with the guy in the front row. As the dialogue continued, even the audience member seemed to pick up on the established rhythm the comedian employed. It was a perfect example of listening and learning how individuals talk and respond to each other. One of the best methods for improving dialogue technique may require popcorn. Watch a movie and discover how each character treats the dialogue. It's more than words. Dialogue also means you're creating a mood, setting up a reaction, and propelling a character into new situations.


• Precision Trumps Surplus Once you've mastered listening, put your skills to the test. Dialogue shouldn't provide full disclosure. Instead, writers need to discern which information should be offered through dialogue. Info overload makes dialogue sound stilted. What's the best advice? Precision. Precision. Precision. A character's dialogue should make a point. Otherwise, it sounds fake.


• The Rule of Three Repetition can be a writer's best tool to drive home a point. When writing stand up comedy, you give two examples and then bam! hit the audience with a twist the third time. It's the same "rule of three" idea with fiction. Writers employ a key word or phrase three times in a row to emphasize a point. Moderation is the key with the rule of three. Too much of a good thing makes dialogue sound phony.


• Speak Up Once you've completed a scene, read it aloud. Do the words match the intended tone and message? Or does the conversation sound bogus? Sometimes I'll record a scene as a .wav or MP3 file, play it back, and hear where changes are needed. If you're part of a critique group, read snippets of dialogue to group members and use their input to decide whether or not the words flow or if the conversation needs to be rewritten.

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock summed up realistic dialogue when he said, "Dialogue should simply be a sound among other sounds, just something that comes out of the mouths of people whose eyes tell the story in visual term

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Today I have a wonderful guest post from author and freelance editor Carolyn Howard-Johnson! Leave a comment for a chance to win an ebook copy of The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success!

GUEST POST:

Every once in a while I like to remind writers about how much information can be had by subscribing to blog. Free information. Most have a place to subscribe so you automatically get a copy of the blog in your e-mail box. But more than that, most blogs are set up so that you can comment or ask questions.

Some, like my The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor. even prefer a question and answer format. I came up with the idea of doing a blog a la Ann Landers when I started getting so many letters from readers with grammar and formatting and editing questions.

I am often thought of as The Frugal Book Promoter because that is the name of the first book in my HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. But I consider editing the single most important aspect of promotion. After all, a well-edited query letter is the first thing most agents, editors, publishers and producers ever see from an editor.

Though there are times when an author absolutely must edit her own work, only a foolish writer trusts the editing of her book entirely to a publisher. So knowing how to edit is important. And that means a whole lot more than being good at grammar.

I get letters from people on the subject of editing, especially arguments about why they don't need to hire one. Here are my answers to a few of them:

I don't need to worry about an editor. My book will be traditionally published.

• You can't rely on the editor provided by your publisher—any publisher. I've seen even the biggest publisher let boo-boos in books slip through. And many small publishers hire inexperienced typo hunters, not real editors.

I'm hiring an experience editor. I'm letting her do the work. That's what I'm paying her for.

• You can't rely on even the best editor you hire. You need to be a partner with your editor. If you know little or nothing about the process, how can you know what to accept or what to reject? You need to know when you're sure you want to break a rule. You need to know when you want to consider what the agent is telling you, even if it goes against your pattern or makes you uncomfortable. "Partner" is the key word here. You want to be able to do that even if you're publishing with Harper's and your editor turns out to be a channeled Jacqueline Kennedy.

I'm just publishing POD for my family.

• No matter how you publish, you need an editor before you go to press. Regardless of how you are publishing or what you call the process. (By the way, many terms used for publishing these days have become almost unintelligible because so many are using them incorrectly. That adds confusion to an already confusing process! I guess that could be considered an editing problem of sorts.)

I know I should have an editor but I keep procrastinating...

The Frugal Editor gives you guidelines for the way to find a good editor. Those guidelines are there for people who have the best intentions and just don't get around

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About the author: Suzanne Lieurance is a fulltime freelance writer, children's author, and The Working Writer's Coach. She is the founder and director of the National Writing for Children Center and host for Book Bites for Kids, a talk show about children's books that airs LIVE on blogtalkradio.com every weekday afternoon at 2:00 CST.

For more tips to get your book written and published, subscribe to Build Your Business Write, a twice weekly newsletter, at http://www.fearlessfreelancewriting.com

Read more articles about the book writing process at http://www.buildyourbusinesswrite.com

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All of us who write have tools and rituals we consider essential to the craft of writing. Coffee, of course, is the main thing--the first thing!--and beyond that we have a world of books, social networking, and other opportunities that help make us better writers.

That's what we're talking about over at A Good Blog is Hard to Find. Come join us!

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What can be better than a FREE Writers’ Conference? Free is often a helpful thing, especially for writers, who often don’t have much money. And when the FREE conference is an online writers’ conference, where there is no expense for traveling or where to stay, AND there’s the added bonus that publishers and agents will be on hand to take pitches from writers, it sounds pretty amazing.

It sounds like the conference is open to all writers (so that’s one thing that’s missing for me–I like children’s/YA specific writing conferences, or genre specific). But good writing is writing, and we can all learn from it.

The 2009 online conferrence will take place on October 12-18, 2009.

Registration for the conference is now open.

DEADLINE for registering is AUGUST 1, 2009.

For more information, check out www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com

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We writers are always looking for techniques to improve our writing and revision of that writing, and tools we can use.

Darcy Patterson, writer and writing teacher, teaches a technique to revise your manuscript called The Shrunken Manuscript. I haven’t taken her course, but I read her blog regularly. If you’re a writer, check out her blog; it’s a valuable resource.

The Shrunken Manuscript sounds interesting–a visual way to see the tension in your manuscript, what’s working and what isn’t. I haven’t tried the technique yet–I only just stumbled upon it–but I’m intrigued.

Author Sarah Miller tried out The Shrunken Manuscript, and you can see the result below. It involves the manuscript printed in a tiny font (Sarah used 4 pt type), some scribbling, and lots of sparkles.

You can read how to use The Shrunken Manuscript on your own manuscript.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for the video.

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Do you want free feedback on your query letter from a literary agent? Then send your query
letter (for fiction manuscripts) to Query Shark blog. Not all queries will be critiqued, but even if yours isn’t, you can learn from the many critiques already posted on the blog. If your letter is critiqued,it will appear on the blog–and you can also send in a revised query letter based on her feedback. To send a query to Query Shark, email it janet AT fineprintlit DOT com. You MUST put “Query Shark” in the subject line. (Read the right-hand sidebar for more details.) (The agent is Janet Reid at FinePrint Literary, which I found through searching for her email.)

This is an incredibly generous offer, I think–and a fantastic way to learn about how to write a good query letter–even if you all you do is read her blog!

If you’re querying literary agents, you might also want to check out “10 Query Letter Tips” by Writer’s Digest.

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