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Meet Sue Lawson, author of Freedom Ride Thanks for talking to Boomerang Books, Sue. It’s a pleasure, Joy, thanks so much for asking me. Where are you based and how involved are you in the world of children’s and YA lit? We moved to Geelong two years ago from a smaller regional town. Though we […]

IN the on-going series of Thinking Like a Writer, everyone can recite the plot diagram of rising action which ends in a climax and denouement. But writers can’t just recite the particulars of a diagram; instead, we must create a plot that changes a character in some way.

One way to get at that change is to start by writing the Before and After character sections. Where is the character at the beginning of the story and how have they changed by the end.

For example, in the Before section of “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge is miserable and miserly in three ways: toward the poor, toward his nephew, toward his employee and his family. He meets three ghosts, which leads to the After section, where he is kind and generous in three ways: toward the poor, toward his nephew, toward his employee and his family.

You may have a character moving from shy to bold.
What scene, description, and/or character set-up will Show-Don’t-Tell that this character is shy? How can you contrast that with the After scene?

First, identify the character arc for your character.
Then write a Before and an After.

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As 2009 comes to a close, I guess it's time to look back and review. During last night's #kidlitchat on Twitter, we were discussing goals for 2010, so that's all on my mind too.

Yes Virginia, I have been a blog slacker this year, and that is number one on my list of resolutions.

1. Stop being such a blog slacker. You know what I want to know? I want to know how people like Maureen Johnson can Twitter all day and keep up a blog and write bestselling books. Oh, AND winning the Most Interesting Twitter Person to Follow on Twitter in the Mashable Open Web Awards this year. Congrats!! Maureen! Are you out there? What is your sekrit? Do you not need to eat or sleep or perform unmentionable bodily functions? Now, I believe Maureen does not yet have teenage children, so that probably eliminates the need for her to spend a goodly portion of her life in a car chauffeuring them places. Or arguing with them. Or cooking for them. Or taking them to the mall to buy them clothes that they already have but NEED more of of they will be social outcasts. But still. I can't help wondering if when she wrote the scripts for the Harry Potter video games they snuck her one of Hermione's Time Turners. Me want one. Me NEED one.

2. Stop making myself crazy by comparing myself to other people. Yep. To do anything else is crazy making. My life is my own and has its own challenges and limitations and opportunities. It's up to me to make the best of it.

We talked about this one on #kidlitchat last night and it's a biggie

3. Focus on the things that are within my control A lot of what happens after we write out books is out of our hands. Recite the Serenity Prayer and work your butt off where you can make a difference. Such as:

4. Keep trying to learn and refine my craft. Keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone. That's definitely something I'm working on now with the new project. It's all about the journey, and each book has taught me something new along the way.

5. Do a better job at keep track of the books I've read Inspired by my middle/high school friend Peter Conway, who has lists of what he's read going back decades I decided I was going to start keep track of my reading. I ended up with 32 books on my list which didn't include any of the books I read for research and left out a huge swath of books I read during the summer and fall when I forgot to put them on the list. Must come up with a better system. Or a better brain.

6. Karma counts. As publishers cut back, unless yours is the big book they've chosen to promote that season you're pretty much on your own publicity wise. And so are all the other authors out there. Lisa Schroeder did this wonderful post about Supporting authors when your heart is bigger than your wallet. So shout out for your friends and celebrate. Help network each other. We are each other's community.

And as such, I just want to give a loud and very public SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
I was in the Barnes and Noble at the Stamford Town Center the other day (Connecticut's LARGEST Barnes and Noble, FYI) and lookee what I saw:




Lots and lots of copies of EIGHTH GRADE SUPER ZERO by our very own

I've been doing a lot of workshops and programs lately at area library events. It's something I really enjoy doing, although I still get nervous and consider myself a beginner on the circuit. If you've been to any of my events you've probably heard me rave about a book I recently finished. I brought the book up not only because I LOVED it, but because it's a great example of realistic fiction and because I always tell writers to never hold back. Amy Efaw's AFTER is about a teen who gets pregnant, but she's one of those rare girls you occasionally hear about in the news. She's so far in denial that she doesn't really show and her fam and friends have no idea. When she delivers the baby she goes into complete shock and breaks down. She takes the infant, puts it in a garbage bag and throws it away. The baby is found and the teen mom is arrested and put in a juvie center. The story is about her coming to grips with what she's done and it masterfully shows her psychological unraveling as her denial slowly slips away. I was in awe of this book. Amy made me FEEL Devon's shock from the very first scene and took me on a journey of fear, self-discovery, regret and hope. I call myself a popcorn fiction writer. My stories are entertaining, but I don't know how impactful they are. For me, Amy's story resonated and affected me enough I wanted to pass on my recommendation and I wanted to elevate my own storytelling. I thought she was fearless and did amazing research, which is why I find it HUGELY irritating to learn that she's getting bashed by commenters following an NPR article and interview. In no way do I have the reach that NPR does, but I'll do my part to recommend this to everyone I know. And maybe those commenters on NPR might consider reading the entire book before tearing it and the author apart. And, no, I don't know Amy, but I've written to tell her how much I love her book. :)



Publisher's Weekly
Starred Review
"It's an emotionally wrenching story that will keep readers' attention through its surprising conclusion."

VOYA 
"Chilling, realistic and horrifying, this book examines clinical denial in a young girl. Graphic and heart-wrenching, this book belongs in every high school and public library."  Reviewer: Nancy K. Wallace

SLJ
This is a skillfully written, emotionally raw story detailing one girl's difficult journey from denial of her circumstances to acceptance and redemption.—Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK

 

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at the Brooklyn Book Festival where I had the pleasure of hearing YA authors Gayle Forman (If I Stay), Laurie Halse Anderson (Wintergirls) and G. Neri (Surf Mules) talk about the challenging themes covered in their... Read the rest of this post

I was finally able to finish this one up last week. Overall, I don't hate it. Is it the best in the series? Naw. Is it the worst, Naw. It's decent, and decent is good enough for me at the moment.

It was sort of an uneventful weekend for me. The wife and I didn't really do much. I've had to take a bit of a break from writing the book in order to get some other stuff done, but hopefully I'll be able to get back to it sometime this week. I'm at a point (somewhere in the middle of the story) that has me a bit stumped. I know how the story is going to end, but I've written myself into a bit of a corner and I'm having trouble getting over a hump. I had hoped that taking some time away from it would help me sort things out in my head, but it really hasn't worked.

Not exactly the most well thought out plan, I know.

I saw a really good movie called "Son of Rambow" over the weekend. A really sweet little story, well directed, funny, had everything really. It didn't change my life or anything, but without a doubt it was a good flick.

Steve~