To start, I want to second what I read on a new writing friend's blog last week: if you can go to a conference, go. If people ask what you want for your birthday, tell them you want to go to a conference. BEST GIFT! Not only do you get all the amazing information from the speakers, have the opportunity to meet with other wonderful people who share a love that you have, but you can have a day or two that your only responsibility is what you want to be doing. I had so much time in the morning since the only one I needed to get ready was me. Such a difference I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself!
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| Beautiful view from the Conference Center! When there was no wind it was comfy too! |
Starting the day off in a great way was T.A. Barron. His talk was inspirational to many as evidence by the fact that all of his books sold out of the book sale area!
A few tidbits that stuck with me:
- There is always more to learn, more to explore and more to create.
- "Just the right word" is what we all strive for
- Place must rise to the height of character.
- It is just as important and should be treated as such.
- Not consumers, be creators.
Up next was Jill Santopolo, an Executive Editor at Philomel Books, who focused on the importance of a great main character. She suggested we ask ourselves these four questions about our main character:
- How are they interesting?
- How are they imperfect?
- How are they vulnerable?
- How are they kind?
Ammi-Joan Paquette, an agent with Erin Murphy Literary Agency, talked about beginnings, how they are read and the expectations of the readers. She started right at the top with the title that must entice you and hook you into opening that cover. Then the first sentence which must pull you in and get a sense of what your are getting into! And it continues on up: first sentence gets you to read the first page which gets you to read the first chapter. Hopefully, by then the reader is hooked in and asking for more. Since the first chapter is likely to be what will be seen in submission, a writer needs to make them ask for more!
One of the co-founders of SCBWI and current society President, Steve Mooser, was our next speaker and he was a treat! I admit I didn't write many notes during his talk because I was so interested in what he was talking about. His talk focused on the changes to children's book in the upcoming years due to digital technology. He shared a number of statistics that made us all cringe, like there are over 4300 new ISBNs created everyday and the average American reader only reads 17 books a year. So how, in this new digital world do we get someone to read our books? Chance plays a gigantic role in which course to take, he said. While explaining his website based on his book Class Clown Academy, he offered a few suggestions on how to bring our stories into the digital age and perhaps push some traffic to our books:
- Turn your story into a mini-movie via You Tube
- Website about book character or world
- can it attract advertisers?
- store with books and merchandise links
Paul O Zelinsky was up and he shared some insight into the illustrators world. And it is fascinating. He commented on how technology has changed how books can be illustrated and he even used a handy tablet during his presentation and created some simple pictures I wouldn't be able to do if I tried. It was fascinating to learn his process on illustrating the book "Z is for Moose" (which I was lucky enough to get signed by him for our three!) "Nonsense has to be logical," he said. This makes so much sense when you think about it. If it was just nonsense with no sense it wouldn't be very interesting.
Sylvie Frank, an associate editor at Paula Wiseman Books, spoke about ways to write a picture book that is "not quiet." One that would not get lost in the pile. She explained the importance of plot in picture books. If your story has a plot, you will always have the answer to "What is your story about?" She cautioned everyone to remember the audience and when possible use real kids as test subject for our stories. Format of picture books is also very important. "Something new must happen on every spread" with new action on each page. "Has this been done?" is what she told us to ask ourselves. And if the answer is "no," why hasn't anyone?
A little aside: "Picture books are a form not a genre,"was another tidbit Sylvie Frank shared that has stuck with me. It definitely got me thinking. Within the form of picture books, there are fiction, nonfiction, humor, educational, the list goes on and on. They are our children's first interaction with books and they reflect so many of the interests we have as adults.
Evelyn M. Fazio, an award-winning publisher and literary agent, spoke about writing believable dialog within a middle grade and young adult novels. She cautioned us all to make it believable and authentic, but to many monosyllablic words in a row becomes hard (and boring) to read. "Show, don't tell," she said. It's not a big difference, but it makes a difference.
More tidbits on dialog:
- Use contractions
- Be realistic about profanity
- Use a thesaurus
- Read it aloud and record it to play it back to yourself
- Don't interupt dialog to explain something
- get all of the explaining out of the way before(or after) the dialog.
- Follow patterns of award winners.
I have to say it was a great day. Made me want to come back for another! Meeting wonderful people and having someone else make lunch is good by me anytime! haha. Sadly, this maybe my one and only this year, with a young one on the way at the end of August fall conferences are a bit out of reach I think. Maybe I'll make it to the one in Northern VA in October, we'll see as we get closer to that though!
Happy writings!
