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During the SCBWI conference in Orlando, FL, I also attended the Young Adult workshop. This was led by Noa Wheeler, editor for Henry Holt, and Nancy Werlin, bestselling author of numerous books including Extraordinary. These two ladies did an excellent job exploring ways to tackle issues we face as young adult authors.Noa Wheeler talked about how to deepen our characters by asking questions about them. One of the best questions she asked was “Is my character active?” She says we should be asking ourselves this question all through the book. She also had us create 100 questions for our characters. I was really excited after I finished because these questions helped me build a more three dimensional character for my current WIP. In the afternoon, Noa discussed how to write a flap copy and gave us specific examples from the books she’s edited. She said that usually the assistant editor writes these for the books, but they are a great exercise to find what the big issues of our stories are about.Nancy is currently revising the third book that will come after Extraordinary. She broke down the revision process she is undertaking right now which I found fascinating in how she tackled her revisions. She also explained how she used the feedback from her critique partners to write another revision.Overall, I came away with some new ways to revise and a stack of answered questions I hadn’t known about my main character. Have you ever interviewed your characters? Did you find that helpful and if so, which questions did you find to be the most helpful?
Today I'm pleased to post my interview with Sarah Nicolas who attended the SCBWI Orlando, FL conference with me. She is a young adult writer who is famous for her youtube channel, YARebels.
In this interview she shares about her best conference experience. Sarah is also the acquisitions intern for Entangled and in this interview she shares common mistakes writers make.
This past weekend I attended the SCBWI conference at Disney World in Orlando, FL. I had an amazing time and got to learn under brilliant editors and talented authors.
Here's a short video clip of what I'm planning to share with you about the conference:
I have 18 more school days left. 18!!!! And I can't deny that I'm just a teeny, tiny bit excited. Because I can't wait for summer to begin.
I'm kicking off my summer by attending the Florida SCBWI Orlando Conference on June 16th at Disney.
Here's the line up: Holiday House Associate Editor Sylvie Frank, Scholastics Trade Vice President and Executive Editor Andrea Davis Pinkney, Tracey and Josh Adams of the Adams Literary Agency, Henry Holt Editor Noa Wheeler, Simon and Schuster Art Director Laurent Linn, Artist Agent Christina Tugeau, Tammi Sauer (Chicken Dance, Bawk and Roll), Florida SCBWI Illustrator Coordinator Linda Shute, Donna Gephart (How To Survive Middle School), Nancy Werlin (Impossible), Tracy Barrett (Dark of the Moon), Nancy Rosenthal Stewart (One Pelican at a Time), Deb Noyes Wayshak, editor-at-large at Candlewick Press, and Gaby Triana (Backstage Pass, Cubanita).So you see, it's going to be awesome.Then I'm jumping in a plane with my boys and spending a week in Germany and then another week in Austria. The main request from my boys is to see lots and lots of castles. It's going to be such an inspirational trip and I hope full of adventures.Then come July, I'll be attending the Quill Track at Ascendio 2012 at Universal Studios. And guess who's going to be there? Beth Revis! I can't wait! Here's the line up for the Quill Track:Lev Grossman (author)Beth Revis (author)Veronica Roth (author)Aimee Carter (author)Michelle Hodkin (author)Molly O’Neill (editor)Ben Schrank (publisher)Joanna Volpe (agent)Lindsay Ribar
I’m continuing to share highlights from the 2011 SCBWI Florida Regional Conference. I’ve already posted about some of the presentations in Part One Highlights. Now I’m going share some information from the workshops. There were several workshops to choose from and it’s a shame that I couldn’t attend them all.
One of the workshops I attended was “Opening Paragraphs that Pack a Punch” presented by Katherine Jacobs, an editor at Roaring Brook Press. In the workshop, we reviewed opening paragraphs from novels such as Feed by MT Anderson, The Giver by Lois Lowry as well as adult novels such as The Posionwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.
All of these opening paragraphs had at least one or more of the following qualities that made them work according to editor Katherine Jacobs:
- Concept or Hook
- Character
- Details
- Voice
- Setting or Place
- Emotion
- Mood
- Anticipation or Foreshadowing
- Problem
We were then asked to craft our own opening paragraph, and I was amazed at what some of the writers came up with. SCBWI Florida definitely has a nestful of talent.
I also attended a workshop led by Sarah Davies, “From Ordinary to Extraordinary: The Art of Creating a Great, Saleable Story.” I had already heard some nice things about this agent and now that I’ve had a chance to meet her and hear her speak, I must say she is a class act.
During the workshop she challenged us to make an extraordinary story and that all extraordinary stories have high stakes. Sarah Davies described herself as a “midwife to writers” and shared during the workshop some of the following gems:
“All protagonists must deal with the impact of their choices.
Writing is an emotional response to the world not intellectual thinking.
A writer’s vocation is deeply set in the chaos of being human. Writers must get order and meaning to create a unique story framework.
An extraordinary story has a great beginning — a build up to something. A strong sense of place. Landscape of character. Voice with language that has color and cadence. Every word is necessary and focused.
A good novel will have readers finding out more about themselves as they do about the characters.”
What I also found interesting is what Sarah Davies says she sees in her submissions. She sees too many of the following scenarios in opening pages: characters waking up, characters dressing for school, characters moving to a new town, characters at the airport, and characters getting into a car crash.
The Greenhouse Literary Agency can get up to 70 submissions a day. Sarah Davies shared some reasons why she rejects work:
- Confusing writing
- Superficial writing
- Writing in manuscript is trying too hard
- Too many adverbs and adjectives — overwritten
- Idea is not fresh enough
- Weak writing
- Lack of a focused “What if?”
But the biggest reason that she rejects work is because the novel doesn’t engage her emotionally.
One thing that I’ve noticed at this conference and other recent conferences that I’ve attended is the agent message of “Take Your Time.” The consensus is that you make your work as strong as it can be before submitting.
I’ve also noticed more “open-ended” submission deadlines offered by agents, which
So now I’m back in Atlanta from the fabulous 2011 SCBWI Florida Regional Conference. I’ve attended several conferences hosted by this chapter and they have always been top notch, so I knew this year would be no different.
Today I’m going to post some highlights for you and share some really great gems of inspiration and information from the conference.
First off, The Novel Intensive was a full day of learning about the craft with agent Erin Murphy, author Joyce Sweeney, and executive editor Krista Marino (Delacorte Press). Topics ranged from scene structure, voice, and revision as well as first page critiques.
Voice is such a cloudy and hard to define craft tool to conquer, so I thought I would share what editor Krista Marino had to say about the elements of voice:
Elements of voice contain a combination of the following:
- Diction: Choice of words and phrases.
- Perspective: Mental view or outlook of the experience.
- Characterization: Reveal of information about a character.
- Dialogue: Verbal exchange between characters. Many writers can mistake voice for dialogue but it is not the same.
At the basic level, a writer needs to convey the teen perspective. Get into the mind of the character. Don’t use “teen speak” and brand names can date a work.
The interior dialogue of the character can sometimes be the biggest thing missing in a manuscript. Interior dialogue need to have three facets — thought, feeling, and reaction — to be effective.
Remember that teens make decisions based on their limited experience. Writers need to erase their own worldliness and experiences from the teen character. Since a teen’s life is limited, an event can trigger the “end of the world” for them.
To officially open up the conference, author Bruce Hale did a phenomenal presentation, “Writer’s Mind, Warrior Mind — Toughing it Out and Getting Published.”
To say that everyone enjoyed the presentation is an understatement — especially since it ended with Bruce Hale serenading the conference with his own version of the great 90′s song “You Gotta Be” by Des’ree.
Not only is Bruce a good singer, he’s also a great dancer as personally witnessed during the Dragon Slayer Ball later that night. :)
It was the perfect way to open up the conference with some inspiration to tackle the hard task of creating art in writing. Here are just a few gems from Bruce Hale:
“Writing is a game of head and heart.
You are only at war with yourself. You need to get in the mindset of a warrior.
It’s okay to be a little neurotic as a writer because no sane person would do this.
We are nothing more than the sum of our habits. Think about your habits and how you get stuff done.
Writers write with heat and passion. Passion is what will set your work apart. Passion is the key.
When you tell a story that matters to you, the planets align.
You can get to the heart of the story by asking why. Ask questions like a 3-year old.
Facing the fear in your writing will help you conquer it. Fear is resistance.
Persistence beats talent any day.”
Bruce Hale also referred to one of my favorite books, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. It’s a great book to have if you find yourself struggling with resistance and procrastination.
So that&rsq
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See this? The sun glowing in a warm climate? Right now, this is a phenomenon that has been very rare for me lately.
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you may have heard the South has endured one of the WORST winter storms in over a decade. Let me tell you, being stuck in the house for almost 5 days is not as glamorous as it sounds.
Today, it’s slightly better. The airport hasn’t canceled my flight and it seems going to Florida — the only state that does not have snow on the ground — should be a go.
I’m still not sure if I will make it to the airport or not. I will give it a try. The ice is melting and if I drive very *carefully* I should make my destination.
But the FL SCBWI Regional Conference is going to be fabulous. You can just see by the conference faculty that it will be chock full of awesome.
The theme this year is “The Wizarding World of Writing” and there is even going to be a Dragon’s Slayer Ball on Saturday night where attendees can dress as their favorite fantasy character (I won’t be dressing up — after enduring the snow/ice apocalypse I will just be glad to be there, ha).
Worse case, I will fly in on Friday and miss the Novel Intensive portion of the conference but I do hope that I will be able to share some writing gems with you on Tuesday. :)
I’ll be sure to update my Twitter feed and let everyone know if/when I make it to the airport and fly out safely to Miami.
Today I’m wrapping up my series of the 2010 Florida SCBWI Mid-Year Workshop highlights.
For those of you who attend conferences, you might already know about First Page sessions. It’s where agents, editors, and authors read the first 250 words of anonymous manuscripts and then give their immediate reactions. This has become one of my favorite sessions because I always learn something that I can apply to my own work.
The following are responses and suggestions to First Pages from senior editor Alvina Ling (Little, Brown), Editorial Director Stephanie Owens (Disney-Hyperion), editor Brian Farrey (Flux), author Kathleen Duey and author Danielle Joseph.
Things that didn’t work in the First Page:
Passive starts with weather, setting, or character waking up.
Overly written paragraphs with too much narration.
Characters too precocious or too clever.
Flat character voice with no personality.
Too many characters introduced at once.
Characters that were too similar.
No conflict.
Too many adverbs.
Too much backstory.
Laundry-list descriptions. No need to “info-dump” all at once.
Too melodramatic. Action doesn’t necessarily mean explosions or death in opening scene.
Things that did work in the First Page:
Starting with a scene and showing character in action.
Good establishment of character within a setting.
Using specific details.
Sharp first sentence to pique interest to read more.
Getting into the character’s head and making the reader care or empathize.
Showing the story problem or hint of first obstacle.
Showing organic conflict without forced melodrama.
Intriguing character voice with unique characteristics and style.
Giving the reader credit by not over-explaining the novel world/setting.
These were only just a few of the reactions. The first page of your novel is the most important page that you may write. It’s the selling point for the reader to decide if they should invest time and money in your book.
I hope that you’ve enjoyed the posts this week. I had a really great time at the conference. I highly recommend Florida SCBWI conferences — they are top notch and well worth the trip.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Get some writing done!
I’m continuing my highlights from the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop and Intensives. Today I’m going to share what I learned from the editors and authors about query letters and how to construct one that is compelling and can result in a request for full or partial manuscript.
The following notes are from the Novel Intensive with senior editor Alvina Ling (Little, Brown), Editorial Director Stephanie Owens (Disney-Hyperion), and author Kathleen Duey and the YA Track Workshop with editor Brian Farrey (Flux) and author Danielle Joseph.
Part One - The Pitch
A one sentence pitch an be an effective opening in a query letter.
The most important part of the query letter is the synopsis — the plot summary of the novel. This is similar to the flap copy of published books.
A good synopsis highlights character and conflict. A good synopsis is short and to the point. Keep details to a minimum. Focus on why a reader would want to read the book.
Your synopsis should go into the first major conflict (usually this occurs in the first 50 pages).
Vagueness in the query letter is your enemy. Put in specific actions that affect your character.
No need to describe the physical characteristics of your main character in your query letter.
Try not to include too many secondary characters in your query letter. Only include secondary characters that are directly in conflict with the main character.
Part Two - Novel Specs
Try to keep “themes” out of your query letter.
Try not to repeat the title name in the query letter.
Show why you are querying the editor or agent. Use this opportunity to show that you’ve done your research but be careful of “buttering” up the editor with compliments.
Make sure you identify the age group and genre in your query letter.
Make sure that when you are comparing other books to your novel in your query letter that these books are in the same genre (don’t compare a children’s book to adult books and vice-versa). Also be careful when comparing your books to “classic” or “iconic” titles. Choose contemporary titles.
Part Three - Bio
Showing personality can be effective but be keep it in context to the contents of the query letter.
Listing conferences are not as important as listing a blog or any other kind of online Web presence.
It can be beneficial to list any writing organization memberships.
Professional credentials can be helpful if it is directly related to your novel.
Be sure to check back on Friday when I conclude the week with more highlights from the conference. I’ll be sharing comments on First Pages. I found this particularly helpful in what works and what could be improved when trying to capture an editor and/or an agent attention.
Stay tuned!
6 Comments on
2010 FL SCBWI: Query Letters, last added: 6/9/2010
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop. It was FABULOUS. Did I say it was FABULOUS?! Hands down best conference I’ve been to this year.
Attendees posted live tweets throughout the conference, so if you missed any of them, you can go to the Twitter #scbwifl thread to get the highlights.
The Novel Intensive was also AMAZING. I think with the smaller number of attendees (limited to 25) and of course having the dynamic trio of author Kathleen Duey and editors Alvina Ling (Little, Brown) and Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion) for the whole day dropping gems of knowledge also made it a great experience.
Okay, let me just take a brief moment to talk about Kathleen Duey. I’ve written on my blog about how phenomenal and down-to-earth she is — but ya’ll I’m telling you this writer shares so much great information and life experience from an artist’s perspective — and she has a gift of looking at a first page and/or query and making it better. I was very impressed with her suggestions — it was something to see. So if you have a chance to see this author present a workshop or critique pages at a conference, please try your best to do so. I’m just saying.
I also met some great writers in person that I’ve met either here on the blog or via Twitter like Sylvia, Harley, Medeia, and Larissa. It was great to meet them in person! So if you don’t already follow them on Twitter or read their blog you really should start. They are talented writers to watch.
Overall the conference was everything I hoped it would be. I also had a MAJOR epiphany at the conference so my summer revision is already kicked up a notch and I’m fired up to implement this new strategy to my WIP.
Here are some highlights of some of the great things I learned this past weekend from the authors and editors:
When you think of voice, think of voice per book not necessarily a voice per author - Kathleen Duey
A good entertaining story is always what editors are looking for - Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion)
Character is voice, beliefs, and experiences - Alvina Ling (Little, Brown)
Don’t stress about the query letter. Focus on the novel - Brian Farrey (Flux)
You have to decide whether you want to put art before commerce. As a writer this is a choice you have to make - Kathleen Duey
You have to know your character before you can introduce them to others - Stephanie Lurie (Disney/Hyperion)
Make a list of things most people have done and then a list of things most people haven’t done. This can be a starting point for your character - Alvina Ling (Little, Brown)
The most important relationship you’ll ever have as a writer is the relationship with your editor - Brian Farrey
The rest of the week I’ll continue to share highlights from the conference. On Wednesday, I’ll share information about query letters and then on Friday, I’ll share what the authors and editors said about the First Page critiques — hopefully they will be as helpful to you as they were for me.
Stay tuned!
On Thursday afternoon, I jetted down to Orlando, Florida so that I can participate in the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop and Intensives.
When I first found out about this conference, I knew that I wanted to attend. It is going to FABULOUS!
I’m most excited about the Novel Intensive. Author Kathleen Duey, editor Stephanie Owens Lurie of Disney-Hyperion, and editor Alvina Ling of Little Brown will be leading this workshop, which will focus on the craft of writing. I met Kathleen Duey at another SCBWI conference in 2008 and she was mesmerizing and so down to earth, so I can’t wait for this one.
Saturday is the Mid-Year workshop where I’m taking the Novel Track. There are several other tracks as well (Picture Book, Middle-Grade, Series, and even a Marketing track). Author Danielle Joseph and editor Brian Farrey of Flux will be spear-heading the Novel Track.
So just like I did with the 2010 SCBWI Springmingle conference, I’ll be sending out tweets when I can. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/KarenMusings.
Next week, I’ll delve into all the juicy details of what I learned at this conference — which I’m sure will include many gems of inspiration and information.
Stay tuned next week!
Everyone have a GREAT weekend! Try and make some time to work on your novel projects.
Christy, I think it's so important to keep making sure the main character is active all the way through (something I'm checking for as I revise). It's so easy to slip into having the main character just report on what's happening.
I haven't interviewed my characters but what a great way to truly get in their heads!
I have interviewed my characters upon occasion, particularly when something didn't seem to be going right with their story. Even if you don't use the information you get, it can deepen you understanding of a character's motives.
Thanks for sharing your workshop experience. :) Very interesting.
I find that I can get information when I interview my characters about current events -- I can get feel for their personalities.
These are such great comments. Lots of good ideas.
Love the idea to keep asking - is my character active! Sounds like a great scene check for me - thanks!! :)
Sounds like it was a great conference. I've done character profiles but never interviewed them. Such a good idea. I can see how it would be super helpful. Have a great week, Christina!
I've interviewed a couple of protagonists/secondary characters, but I don't do it often. Should probably ask more questions--it can definitely help realize characters more.