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There is nothing more frustrating than when someone critiques your work and says, “Your character wouldn’t do that!” or “Your character wouldn’t say that!”

I must admit, hearing that totally grates on me. How can anyone possibly tell ME what my character wouldn’t do or say? Hello. It is my character. I made them up and they do what I tell them to do. End of story.

I admit, this is something I’m not happy to hear. But I’m in a critique group for a reason and I need to keep an open mind. So even though I don’t initially agree with this statement, I do try to take a closer look at the problem. Although I don’t fully understand the concept of other people telling me what my character would or would not do, I do realize my critique partners aren’t totally wrong in their assessment. Very often what they’ve pointed out, is an area where my voice has come through instead of the character’s. Either the adult me has made an appearance or the 80’s teenager from my past has honed in on my contemporary protagonist. Usually it is a quick fix and I move on. But again, this is an issue that I couldn’t fully comprehend. Until recently.

A few weeks ago I was reading a book that nearly had me pulling my hair out. It was a sequel to another book I had read and enjoyed. I can honestly say I was pretty invested in the main character. Enough that I liked her and wanted to read more about her. However, in book two she consistently did things that totally made no sense to me. At least no sense in the terms of who she was or who I had perceived her to be. I really struggled to finish the book and found myself yelling at it often. “No! Why would you do that?” I think my husband was ready to have me committed. And it hit me. This is what my critique partners were talking about. I was finally able to wrap my brain around the concept of being true to your characters.

It is quite an easy concept if you think about it. For example, if your character is afraid of dogs then it is obvious she is not going to pet someone’s dog in passing or hang out in front of the pet store window fawning over the puppies. In fact, she will probably cross to the other side of the street when confronted by a dog walker and may even steer clear of the block where the pet store is located.

If your story has an "a-ha" moment where the character overcomes her fear of dogs, it must come at a price. For example, your character can not just suddenly decide she likes dogs now and happy, happy, joy, joy she heads to the pet store to get one. Something has to happen to change her opinion. And it has to be big. You can’t just have some guy with a nice dog come up to her and say, “Look, not all dogs bite. Pet mine and you’ll see.” It has to be something significant and it has to ring true to your character; her fears and her personality. A life threatening situation might come in handy for this example. What if a rescue dog saved her from a flash flood or a burning building? But even so, it can’t be easy. She can’t simply overcome her fear of the dog in order to be rescued. You’d need to show that her fear of the rising water or deadly flames has become greater than her fear of the dog. This isn’t easy to do and should impose a lot of inner as well as outer conflict. The situation must get more dire. (Outer conflict) Flames and smoke choke her. Parts of the building is collapsing all around. Meanwhile, she is struggling with herself. Should she trust the darn dog? (Inner conflict.) Finally, the situation comes down to a do or die moment where she makes up her mind to take her chances on the dog who of course, pulls her to safety.

I realize the above example is pretty easy and straightforward. The places in your manuscript where you might find yourself being less than true to your characters will probably be more subtle. But whether your dishonesty is big, like my example, or small, like a morsel of your own voice shining through, an invested reader will still pick up on it. And if they lose faith in your character, they will lose faith in you too. An unhappy audience doesn’t bode well for selling books. You can take that to the bank but leave your dog at home.

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I did it! I finally did it!

 What am I talking about? Why, my novel of course. You see, as a predominant picture book writer I write in short bursts. It may take months to get a picture book “just right” but it only takes a few days to get the “bare bones” on paper. I like that. Within a few days, I have a manuscript in front of me. It is not a polished manuscript, but it is a manuscript nonetheless. Something I can work from. As someone who loves the revision process, this is my favorite part. I have lots of fun dissecting my work and making it better.

 But a novel is a whole different animal. It is like comparing a kitten to an elephant. A novel takes waaaay longer than a few days to pump out a first draft. Compared to my 500 word picture books, a 50,000 word novel is a huge undertaking and a daunting task. Here’s what I see in my mind when I sit down to write one.

As a writer, I write. I constantly have book ideas rolling around in my head. Many of them are too mature for the picture book scene. So I thought, why limit myself to just picture books? When an idea hits me hard and strong I have to run with it. As always, the story starts off fast and furious. I type like a madwoman in my attempt to get it on paper before I lose it. But with a novel, this goes on for days. And as I sit at my computer, that looming shadow grows bigger and bigger. I try to ignore it, but it hangs over me with dark claws and glowing eyes. At this point I recall that character Glum, from the old Gulliver’s Travels cartoon and I hear his mantra floating over me. “You’re never gonna make it!” Then the self-doubt takes over and I find myself avoiding the computer because, well, ITS SCARY!

 So I meet with my critique buddies. They remind me that I am not alone. They tell me to put on my big girl panties and confront my demons. I sit back down at my computer. My drawing of the big scary shadow sits over my desk to remind me that he is a figment of my imagination, and I type. And I type. And I type. Sometimes, without thinking, I glance up at the Demon of Daunting and a shiver runs through me, but as the word count grows the monster gets smaller and smaller and smaller . I finally type the last word and POOF! The demon is gone!

 Hooray! First draft!

 Then I let it stew a while. I let all the flavors mesh with the characters and the plot. Then, because I am a picture book writer and I write short and to the point, I go back in and add my meat and potatoes to the mixture. This is my favorite part. Like a puzzle I go through it and look for inconsistencies. I add new ideas. I flesh out my characters and wrap up all the storylines until the whole thing feels like it has come full circle.

 Hooray! Second draft!

 Now this is the draft I’m willing to share. Is it finished? Of course not! When is a book ever finished? Right up to the time it is printed, changes can still take place. But for my novel, the Bones and the flesh are here and if I’ve done my job right, only cosmetics are left.

 After a round with my critique group I am ready to tackle draft number three. Nothing major, but changes definitely have to be made. I’m excited. I’ve accomplished something. I CAN write a novel. I beat the Demon of Daunting and survived to write again. So I do. As the first paragraphs of my new novel appear on the blank page, the demon arrives. He takes his usual spot to loom over me, but this time I’m ready for him and he isn’t half as scary. Bring it on!

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On June first, a line of devastating storms sped through the state of Massachusetts bringing with it numerous tornados. My home town of Ware, sitting snug in the valley was spared, but much of the surrounding areas weren’t so lucky. In fact, Monson, a neighboring town will be picking up the pieces for a long time to come. As news of the destruction played out across our television screen and family and friends posted pictures on Facebook my four year old daughter became worried and confused.

“Was it a real tornado, Mommy? Or just a make-believe one like in the movie TWISTER?” she asked.

Now keep in mind, TWISTER is one of her favorite movies. Something about the storm scenes amazes her much more than it frightens her. Maybe she is destined to become a Storm Chaser or Meteorologist. Either way, at four, she is confused by the images she is seeing so close to her grandmother’s home. Of course this prompted a discussion of what is real and what is not real. This is a difficult concept for a young child to grasp. The “real” images from the June first tornado are eerily similar to the “fake” ones from the movie. I tried to explain that the movie is fiction; a story somebody made up.

“Why does it seem so real?” She wanted to know.

And herein lays the real root of the problem. As a fiction writer myself, the answer is simple. After all, if it didn’t seem real, it wouldn’t be believable. Who wants to watch a movie or read a book that isn’t believable? The key to writing good fiction is making the reader believe it. Whether you’ve brought your reader to a post-apocalyptic country where children are forced to play deadly games to win food for their village, or, like in my upcoming picture book, you introduce your reader to a slipper wearing bedbug who doesn’t want to share her bed with a human, it must draw the reader in.

If the tornados in the movie TWISTER looked like the funnel in a soda bottle science experiment it certainly wouldn’t have been nominated for an Academy Award and the effects department would find themselves standing in line at the unemployment office. The realistic feel of the movie is what made it a hit. It is what drew audiences to see it.

But not all fiction is cut and dry. Of course my smarty pants daughter wanted to know if the recent documentary we watched on Pompeii was real or fiction.

“That was real,” I said.

“You mean they videotaped it while it happened?” she asked.

Oh boy, this kid never allows for an easy answer. I explained the film we saw was a reenactment of the true story, which is called non-fiction, and the people were all actors. That seemed to appease her for the moment, but now, every story she comes across, either in print or film, spurs a burning need to know if it is fiction or non-fiction. This whole episode had me second guessing my own take on fiction. Therefore I did a little research. Webster’s definition of Fiction is, literature made up of imaginary events and characters. But as I mentioned earlier, fiction is not cut and dry. I came across a few sub-categories which will help straighten out my daughter’s confusions and hopefully yours too.


1. Realistic Fiction: A s

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If you're a children's writer or even a fan of children's literature you surely know who Jane Yolen is. To me she is the ultimate children's book diva and a woman who is very respected in her field. When Jane talks books, people listen. Recently, an infuriated Yolen penned a letter to administrators in the LA area regarding an issue where the Board of Education and their lawyers questioned school librarians to assess their "teaching" skills. Here it is in Jane's own words:



Letter to the administrator in charge of firing LA school librarians who had the Board of Ed's lawyers take the librarians into the school basement and asked them to prove they were teachers with such questions as "Do you take attendance?".



Dear Mr. Deasy:


As the author of 300 published books (yes, that is not a typo!), many of them winners of the highest awards given for children's and adult books,

I have to commend you for closing libraries. You are turning out the lights in children's minds. It will make them much easier to recruit as cannon fodder,much easier to move them on conveyor belts, much easier to treat them as cattle.

Of all the people who work in a school, teachers and librarians are the heart and soul of the place. Not administrators. My late husband

was a professor and later on an administrator. You should have heard what he had to say about top-heavy administrations. I suggest you

take the administrators (yourself included) and ask them the same questions the lawyers are asking the librarians in the basement: do YOU take attendance? Do YOU teach in the classroom? Perhaps you should fire the administrators first. And the overpriced lawyers. And when you do, you will no doubt find you have the money to keep the librarians.

And the library.

The ones who turn on lights in children's minds and guard the flame in their hearts. With or without taking attendance.


Yours very truly and to tell the truth angrily as well,


Jane Yolen




At this point, all we can do is hope that Administrator Deasy sits up and takes notice. As far as I am concerned a library is the heart of any school. Can you even imagine a school without books? Thanks for your efforts Jane!

-Niki Masse Schoenfeldt

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There is nothing more frustrating than when someone critiques your work and says, “Your character wouldn’t do that!” or “Your character wouldn’t say that!”

I must admit, hearing that totally grates on me. How can anyone possibly tell ME what my character wouldn’t do or say? Hello. It is my character. I made them up and they do what I tell them to do. End of story.

I admit, this is something I’m not happy to hear. But I’m in a critique group for a reason and I need to keep an open mind. So even though I don’t initially agree with this statement, I do try to take a closer look at the problem. Although I don’t fully understand the concept of other people telling me what my character would or would not do, I do realize my critique partners aren’t totally wrong in their assessment. Very often what they’ve pointed out, is an area where my voice has come through instead of the character’s. Either the adult me has made an appearance or the 80’s teenager from my past has honed in on my contemporary protagonist. Usually it is a quick fix and I move on. But again, this is an issue that I couldn’t fully comprehend. Until recently.

A few weeks ago I was reading a book that nearly had me pulling my hair out. It was a sequel to another book I had read and enjoyed. I can honestly say I was pretty invested in the main character. Enough that I liked her and wanted to read more about her. However, in book two she consistently did things that totally made no sense to me. At least no sense in the terms of who she was or who I had perceived her to be. I really struggled to finish the book and found myself yelling at it often. “No! Why would you do that?” I think my husband was ready to have me committed. And it hit me. This is what my critique partners were talking about. I was finally able to wrap my brain around the concept of being true to your characters.

It is quite an easy concept if you think about it. For example, if your character is afraid of dogs then it is obvious she is not going to pet someone’s dog in passing or hang out in front of the pet store window fawning over the puppies. In fact, she will probably cross to the other side of the street when confronted by a dog walker and may even steer clear of the block where the pet store is located.

If your story has an "a-ha" moment where the character overcomes her fear of dogs, it must come at a price. For example, your character can not just suddenly decide she likes dogs now and happy, happy, joy, joy she heads to the pet store to get one. Something has to happen to change her opinion. And it has to be big. You can’t just have some guy with a nice dog come up to her and say, “Look, not all dogs bite. Pet mine and you’ll see.” It has to be something significant and it has to ring true to your character; her fears and her personality. A life threatening situation might come in handy for this example. What if a rescue dog saved her from a flash flood or a burning building? But even so, it can’t be easy. She can’t simply overcome her fear of the dog in order to be rescued. You’d need to show that her fear of the rising water or deadly flames has become greater than her fear of the dog. This isn’t easy to do and should impose a lot of inner as well as outer conflict. The situation must get more dire. (Outer conflict) Flames and smoke choke her. Parts of the building is collapsing all around. Meanwhile, she is struggling with herself. Should she trust the darn dog? (Inner conflict.) Finally, the situation comes down to a do or die moment where she makes up her mind to take her chances on the dog who of course, pulls her to safety.

I realize the above example is pretty easy and straightforward. The places in your manuscript where you might find yourself being less than true to your characters will probably be more subtle. But whether your dishonesty is big, like my example, or small, like a morsel of your own voice shining through, an invested reader will still

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Wow, what a bad blogger I've been. I admit THE FRACTURED KEYBOARD has been severely neglected over these past months. I can come up with a whole lot of excuses (That's excuses, not lies.) but none of them are really good enough. I think we can all agree that sometimes life gets in the way and that's the best I've got. So rather than dwell on the aspects of my personal life I'd like to remind you, as well as myself, that this is a place for writers. It is a place to discuss the craft, the biz and the whole writing journey; from pen to publisher if you will. So let me tell you what's new in my journey rather than waste your time on what isn't.

First of all, the release of my new picture book, DON'T LET THE BEDBUGS BITE!, has been moved back. Instead of coming out sometime this year, it will now debut in spring of 2012. Most folks assume this is depressing news. But if you are a seasoned writer, you know it isn't. Writers have the patience of Job when it comes to waiting. We wait for the muse to hit and make the words flow correctly. We wait for the mail to come. We wait for responses from editors and agents. We wait for edits & revisions to come through. We wait. This business is a big game of hurry up and wait. That's just the way it is. Deal with it. So therefore, this little setback isn't a major crisis. What's another few months in the grand scheme of the birth of a picture book? If the extra time is used to make it better, than I'm all for it. Piece of cake.

In other news, things are a little different on my side of the rainbow in 2011. Some of you may recall my post entitled "THE SUBMISSION PROCESS AS I SEE IT." If so, then you know I've been on the search for an agent. Well recently I struck gold when Agent Louise Fury, of the L. Perkins Agency, tweeted that she was looking for character-driven, humorous picture books. I thought, Hey! I have one of those! Of course I immediately jumped into action and as luck would have it, she liked what I sent. Let me just say it is wonderful to find someone who is as excited about your work as you are. It is, well,
E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G!

Of course having an agent takes some getting used to. I mean, for many years I was always on the lookout for submission opportunities. I scoured the bookstores for similar books and their publishers, I explored the internet looking for articles and interviews of editors and agents who were still open to submissions and I hunted through business publications searching for new or smaller imprints that might be a good fit for my work. All in all it has been a very consuming task and one I have worked hard at. Now, thanks to my lovely and oh-so-wise agent, I no longer have to be so vigilant. I can relax a little. I can focus more of my efforts on my writing and stop stressing about the submission process. This is wonderful. I feel so free and unrestrained! Well, not really. Old habits die hard and I still find myself wondering if this publisher might like that manuscript and would now be a good time to send it? But then I picture Louise. And very much like those folks who realize they could have had a V8, I clock myself in the head and remind myself to relax. There is no reason to stress. My work is now in extremely capable hands. Hands much more capable than my own. And I’m happy.

Apparently my family is happy too. My little one surprised me while I was working one day with this little ditty. Luckily I had my video camera handy.