Wordy Girls

Yesterday, Laura talked about the spreadsheet she’s created for her novel, listing each scene and indicating with xxxs whether various themes and characters and subplots are in the scene, so she can make sure all the threads are woven correctly.

 I do something similar, but not as a spreadsheet. For some reason, it’s one of the few things I do by hand. I jot down the scenes sometimes down a page, sometimes across several pages turned horizontal. And I’ll redo this list over and over. If I change something then everything ripples out in a slightly different way, right? So I constantly need to chart the new ripple and see what that affects and so on. As Laura did, I do this only after I’ve written most or all of the book—which is probably a slow and backward to do this—but I feel too constrained by a set road-map to the story.

 The other big thing I do is note the emotional state of my main character (and others)—maybe that’s the same as Laura’s theme notation. Here, broadly, is the emotional arc, I look for:

 I’m usually looking for unhappiness in the beginning—something’s wrong with my hero’s life. Then a spark of hope or desperation that sets them off on their story journey. I especially want to see varying levels of hope and despair as they move along. This is the middle and there should be both victories and defeats here that keep affecting my character’s feelings and convictions. Otherwise there’s no suspense.

 Toward the end, there’s a “last straw” emotion that means they have to deal with the the thing they’ve feared or avoided or been unable to reach for most of the story. And then a moment of realization, conviction, decision before they can finally take up arms to defeat the antagonist.

 At the end, I return them to the world we saw them in at the beginning, but now their emotional state has changed for the better. If each scene isn't doing something to my main character's emotional/inner journey--well, I start tinkering!

Today in the paper was a story about a Portland writer whose first novel, Clown Girl, is getting a lot of buzz. And I thought about Laura’s last column about finding ways to make your writing stand out.

 The author Monica Drake says in her earlier drafts, her main character had “clownesque tendencies.”

 “I was erring on the side of subtlety,” she said. She quickly changed her character into a woman who is an actual clown. “I shifted the novel’s focus, playing up the character as a clown, amping up all the clown language and references. That made it funnier, but also played up the sadder riffs, too.” (You can see the full interview in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, here.)

 She pushed her concept to the envelope’s edge and then beyond.

 The other night, there was a re-run of The Simpsons annual Halloween show. In one segment, Bart is replaced by a robot boy, who outclasses Bart in everything.

 “Hey, that’s my story!” I protested. And it was. My book, My Brother, the Robot, which is now out of print, is all about the main character getting a robot for a brother and how much cooler the robot is than he is.

 In The Simpsons, Bart tries to show up the robot by squirting milk out of his nose. The robot promptly dispenses soft ice cream out of his nose and distributes cones to all the kids (chocolate and vanilla swirls even!) I have my robot do cool things—like instantly read and memorize a book in seconds, play the radio through his ears, clean up a room with laser like precision. (Hey, it’s funnier in the book!)

 The thing is he’s supposed to be like a real kid, only better. As Simon, the robot, says their programming is deliberately “fuzzy.” “This gives our new family the joy of ‘teaching’ us, as if we are not actually perfect, which we are, but still there is the illusion that we are like human sons, who, of course, need a lot of instruction.”

 Not being able to fly and things like that was part of the idea, but even so, maybe my robot just had “robotesque tendencies.” Maybe he should have dispensed Oreo ice cream with sprinkles out of his nose.

 Maybe it would still be in print.

Periodically, I get emails saying, "I want to write for children.  Where do I begin?"  I thought I'd post my general tips so that next time someone emails me, I can point them to this post.  I think the other Wordy Girls are also going to join in with some advice, and we'll put all the posts together and link to them from the sidebar (I say "we'll," but that really means the wonderful Susan Taylor Brown, who takes care of all things tech related to this blog!).

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Congratulations on wanting to write for kids.  It's an exciting but challenging thing to do.

I'll give you a few resources that I think are absolute requirements for beginning writers.  I hope you'll find useful information in them--I think you will.

2007 Children's Writers & Illustrators Market -- This annual book is put out by Writer's Digest and is carried by Barnes & Noble and other
major bookstores.  In addition to a comprehensive market listing of what kinds of publishers buy what kinds of books, it has lots of
helpful articles for the beginner.  It's about $25.  You might also be able to get it at your library.  I love to mark mine up, though, highlighting various publishers and tips, etc.  It's a constant reference book for me.

http://verlakay.com/pgartistwriter2.html - Verla Kay's website has lots of wonderful advice for beginners, including transcripts of live
chats with writers, editors, and agents.

http://www.susantaylorbrown.com/ - Susan Taylor Brown's site has tons of writing info in her Writing Nook.

http://www.laurasalas.com/ - If you're interested in writing poetry, check out my site's Poetry section and go to Writing Poetry.  There, I offer monthly columns on writing poetry.  I also plan to add a list of links to other sites with fabulous poetry advice.

http://www.underdown.org/ - Editor Harold Underdown's site is a treasure trove!  Check out the Basic Information, Self-Publishing, and
Writing Children's Books sections, for starters.  This should keep you busy for a long time!

Subscribe to a newsletter.  Three I've enjoyed are Once Upon a Time http://onceuponatimemag.com/, Children's Book Insider http://www.write4kids.com/aboutcbi.html, and Children's Writer http://www.childrenswriter.com/.

Take classes.  You might be able to take classes in your community or online.  Check out Anastasia Suen's classes.  I took one years ago--it was fabulous. http://www.asuen.com/workshops.html

Also, I recommend joining SCBWI if you're not already a member.  See http://www.scbwi.org/ for more info.  Attend conferences if you can.
Listen hard.  Ask questions, both of speakers and of fellow attendees.

Build a community for yourself.  Join an online list. This is a group of writers who communicate by email.  There are huge lists and small
lists and specialized lists.  I'm on a nonfiction list, for example. You can go to www.yahoo.groups.com and type "children's writers" in
the search box, and it will show you various email lists devoted to people who write for kids.  Joining one can be fun but overwhelming.
Childrens-writers, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/childrens-writers/, for instance, has more than 2000 members, so you might get 100+ emails a day.  It all depends on what you're looking for.  Read through the list, see which one might be a good fit for you, and join it!  You can
always unsubscribe if you don't like it.

Also build community through a critique group.  Establish a writing group with other writers who write for kids.  This might be in-person
or online.  You can join a crit group through SCBWI or through an email list.  Just keep telling folks, "I'm looking for a critique group to join."

Spend time around kids. I think this is crucial in order to stay in tune with what today's kids talk like and think like.  That really changes over the years.  You could volunteer at a school if you're not already around kids the age of your intended readers.

Write.  Write as much as you can, then rewrite.  My manuscripts go through many, many revisions before I ever submit them.  Once you have
the words exactly how you want them, proofread them or hire someone else to proofread your manuscript--or ask someone in your critique
group who has excellent punctuation and grammar.

In looking at all these resources, you will likely find some fascinating and some discouraging information.  Writing for kids, and
especially selling your writing for kids, is not easy.  But it's so worthwhile.  Welcome to this crazy journey!

As far as self-publishing, I'm not a fan.  Some few people have done it with great success, and those are usually marketers--people
who are born to sell.  That definitely doesn't describe me!  For 90% of people, self-publishing means you pay a lot of money and don't sell
a lot of books.  New, cheaper options are becoming available.  And for people who mainly want to share their book with friends and family,
then self-publishing is certainly a realistic option.  If you want your book on Barnes & Noble's shelves, though, self-publishing is not
the way to go.  But see Harold's site for more info.  I'm sure he has great info on the pros and cons.

There are so many other great places to go for advice that it's overwhelming.  Hopefully this list will give you a place to start.  I wish you good luck with your writing for children!

Best,
Laura Purdie Salas

Speaking of why we write, my daughter (who is a huge Tom Waits fan) showed me this clip the other night. The song is a Waits’ song played by a German musician and set to an animated clip from I don’t know who.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqfFWixG528

 It has cool look and feel, but the creative angst seems over the top. But when I told my daughter I couldn’t quite relate to such despair, she said, “Don’t you know that feeling of having something beautiful in your mind and you just can’t get it on the page?”

 I know that feeling well, actually. My frustration always lies in that gap between the story in my head and what comes out of my fingers.

 But back to the clip, even so, if it’s THAT painful. If the gap is that huge—sheesh, take a walk. Eat a corn dog. Go watch “The Office.” Most of us, no matter how good, aren’t Shakespeare. It’s a rare few where it will matter a hundred years from now. Oh, I want success. But even more than that I want to be good. That's the fun of it. That's the challenge.