Bonnie Crow's Blog

New Year 2012 NOT the end like some are thinking BUT the beginning. And I’m beginning it with a class taught by Pat Kay which I’m really looking forward to. It’s suppose to help me get motivated and WRITE daily. The class she taught in November on Conflict and Motivation was awesome!

 

Hope everyone has a great 2012 and looking forward to 2013!

Time to get with it and follow through. Nothing like setting goals to do this. One picture book a day for thirty days.

So this picture book marathon is really working out for me. I’ve never been as productive. Four books in four days! Wow. Okay so I know they need work. A LOT more work but at least I have the words down. Write fast and let the words flow…that’s one of my mottos these days!

So I came up with a plan yesterday after I wrote my blog about webbing. (check it out, it’s pretty good) I decided I would write my story every day…then later I would web a new idea for the NEXT day so the ideas had a chance to ‘incubate’ over night. Well, it worked for me today for sure. I studied the web I made last night then added new thoughts and insights…sat down and wrote. VIOLA out popped a story. Dang, this is working. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.

Ta-dah for today  )) Happy Writing

Bonnie

Having taught 30 years I knew all about the use of webbing. But I’m finding it so helpful to do this as a prewriting exercise. I did it ALL the time with my students…wonder why it took me so long to start using this tool for my own writing.

How to do it: Get a huge sheet of paper that you will use to make circles and then ‘web’ off of them for one or two word details. Make a circle and in the center write: CHARACTER. List all of the  traits your character might possesses…don’t limit yourself…write fast and get as many ideas down as you can…you probably won’t use them all…that’s okay. Make another circle and in the center write PROBLEM: web off of it and list as many problems as you can think of that this character may have. Decide which of those problems is the one your character is going to solve…maybe it’s not a problem…maybe it’s a goal…but whatever you decide make another circle and write ATTEMPT ONE in the center: list all the ways they may attempt to solve the problem, which of course has to end in disaster so they can make another attempt. They have to make at least 3 attempts before they can solve the problem. After the crisis and last attempt to solve the problem you need to come up with a good resolution.

 A twist seems to be what editors want to see these days. Well, good luck with that one because I’m still working hard on endings with twist. I LOVE TWIST! If you know of a trick to write a twist, please let me know.

Hope this helps someone with their writing. Happy writing this month. It’s going to be fun, fun, fun.

Bonnie

I recently attended the Houston YA meeting on January 14, 2011. Kimberly Ivey gave a workshop on “How to Write Compelling Story Openings that Hook Your Reader in Thirty Seconds or Less and Keep Them Reading.” She is an excellent speaker. I happened to be sitting next to Gordon Rottman who has 106 books published. He gave the group this great piece of advice: You know how when you go to conferences and the editors says you can send him the first three or so many chapters…Make sure that whatever you send him ends with a BANG so they request to see the rest of your story. That makes great sense to me. Thanks Gordon.

This cautionary tale is wonderful. My four year old grand-daughter is totally amazed by it. I think she can see how a little kid looks when they get really mad (and that’s not a pretty sight…even for a princess ha). I love this story and my grandchild does too. The illustrations by Michael Chesworth are perfect. Great job or matching pictures to text. If you have a young one (even up to eight years old) I suggest you buy this book today.

Julie Ham critiqued a manuscript for me at the San Antonio SCBWI conference in September 2010. She actually sat down with her pencil in hand and line edited my manuscript…right in front of me! I am so lucky. At the time I couldn’t believe she was cutting words from my sparse story…it was only 556 words long. I didn’t think it could be whittled down more. But I was wrong. She showed me how some of my sentences (that I loved) slowed the pace of the story. I was amazed when I got home and read it over a few more times how right she was. (Guess that’s why she get paid the big bucks.) So remember to cut those words you love and just maybe it will make your story even better. Those words are not lost. I still have them and just maybe they will show up in some future story. Thanks, Julie Ham!

Julie Ham and Sarah Shumway spoke at the San Antonio SCBWI conference in September 2010.

Julie Ham, Editorial Assistant, Charlesbridge Trade Division

Sarah Shumway, Senior Editor, HarperCollins Children’s Books

Ms. Ham spoke about about character and voice. The basic elements of story are: character, voice, plot, setting, and tension.

Ask yourself: is your character unique and relatable? Does he/she grow or change in the course of the story? What is important to this character and what motivates her? To get to know your character better Julie suggest making a list of  how your character would react in different situations: How would she react if she got caught outside in the rain…what is it your character would DO? Make a huge list so you get to know your character well.

Voice remains consistent throughout your story. Now a character grows and changes but your voice remains the same. Voice is the attitude your story has toward plot, setting, tension and character. Voice doesn’t have to be a strong dialect or speech pattern (often it’s better when it’s not). Voice should be recognizable, consistent, and appropriate to the audience. Voice isn’t necessarily what your characters sound like.

Write about something you’re PASSIONATE about and your voice will come through.

She recommended reading PRINCESS JUSTINA ALBERTINA as an example of a story that made it from the slush pile due to its voice.

Sharah Shumway talked about revision being a process to make the story better. Revision is a craft and you must develop the skills to make your piece better. You need to look at everything: audience, timeline/pacing, logic, voice, characters, themes, etc.

Pacing–does the action flow logically. 

Logic–does logic hold up through out the story and every sentence make sense?

Ask yourself: what’s slowing the story down and how might I revise to fix this?

The San Antonio SCBWI conference was a great learning experience.

I learned a lot from attending the VCFA day in the Lone Star state on October 2 and 3, 2009.

Kathi Appelt and Sharon Darrow spoke. Uma Krishnaswami did not speak as much as the other two but she is Good.

Kathi Appelt spoke about feeling + action + plot. She wrote THE UNDERNEATH in prose form first because that is what she is good at. Of course, that means what you write you should do the same thing…use whatever form your best at first. Then you go back and revise…a lot.

 

YA fiction: stretch the boundaries. You need to study/look at the YA audience. They are developing new body hair/odor. They may be just beginning to show an interest in politics, experiment with sexuality, and of course then there’s the mood swings. For the 11-19 year age group—they are more into friends than family—trying on new skins. They are on a quest for illumination. There are lots of forms today even the graphic novels. Don’t lose sight of INTENTION—is it deliberate and appropriate for what you want to achieve? Many YA are written in first person. You may want to create the dizzy spiral feeling kids are experiencing. Some authors create this with the form of poetry. Ask yourself is the form I’m using doing justice to my story. Whatever you choose the author has to make the reader invest with the character.

Should you consider form or story first? Of course, story.

Be willing to experiment with form.

The white blank pages in the story “Winter Girl” show more than what the character could say. She dying because of anorexia leaving her speechless.

Form should enhance theme. Form would enhance words.

“Doing It” by Melvin Burgess is a story about a pack of four boys. Each rang true…disgusting but true—sex bending forms. (I need to read this to see what she means)

For graphic novel you can use the screen play format.

Some picture books are now written for teens. Ex:  “Show Way” by Jacqueline Woodson

Written as a narrative poem and the art reflects the text as a quilt. (I need to get this) Many picture books out there are for teens. Inherent in this form is the sound it makes, rhythm, thyme, alliteration, short usage catches the ear of the reader.

PUT YOUR HEART on the line.

“The Buffalo Tree” by Adam Rapp is a redemptive story of a boy lost in the system. Rough abrasive style about a rough abrasive boy…the form of language is full of feat. Teen represents every fear imaginable. (I need to study this)

 

You want your story to sound like you. A lot of people are writing: first person, present tense, the best friend commits suicide—predictable and everyone is copying this one…(Note: don’t do this one)

 

Sharon Darrow spoke about: What if? What Then? And Why? You need to braid the character’s emotional trajectory into the story’s’ events. The inner and outer plots unite.

 

Things NOT to do:

• have events that are out of character…need motivation

• Nothing is happening

• Talking heads…should have visual detail to ground your character in. Include what the character is feeling.

• You’re telling not showing

 

PLOT—where is it? You have to weave elements of scene into your story. Time, Setting, Conflict and what are these characters doing in your setting?

 

Three ways to accomplish this:

1)      Dialogue: functions to show character and further plot.

Inner dialogue = thought  Outer dialogue = spoken word

Tags, gestures, actions, expression

Include Feelings-both sensations (senses) and emotion—angry, sad, find ways to put it into words so reader can feel it. One word that shows sensation and emotative—try to replicate this response by showing it.

Show external stimuli

Feeling into narration—use active verbs and metaphorical writing

2)      Narration/Exposition

Narration sets the scene

Gives information

Deepens character

Summarizes

3)      Action moves plot

Gives the character something to do

Gives character a stimulus to which they must respond

 

Study other people’s writing to see how they move character through the plot. See how they weave all of these elements together.

 

The state of mind/ emotions have to be available to the reader. Must have obstacle after obstacle growing more perilous and this comes from the antagonist. Stakes have to rise and keep rising. This is a zig-zag line rising us and down throughout. You must keep the upward pressure on your protagonist. The pressure keeps rising until he can’t take it anymore.

 

Elements of Three:

She tries and fails..then pressure rises

Tries #2 and fails then pressure rises

#3 tries Climax

 

The way   present & past & future all meld into right now in the scene through snippets of visual memory.  Emotion + Events are woven together. The moves they made to veave these 3 elements togher.

 

**A story is the outer world colliding with the inner one. Through imagination and skill we bring it to our readers, which is our challenge and our joy.

 

Exposition…weave dialogue/action/narration

 

**Break scenes down and ask continuous and cumulative about cause and effect. What inciting event of that scene cause the next. Things happen because of previous events! (I need to work on that for sure)

 

Where do stories come from?

Appelt: Character, voice in your head, recall, premise, dream, problem/dilemma, What if….

Darrow: starts with a voice and then she sees a place or problem that may come with it. She follow intuitive path—lots of pieces—so she start diagramming. She goes from inspired (1^st drafts) to discovery draft to find the characters voice. It’s an evolving story by Trying different things that others suggest.

 

Uma Krishnaswami looks at a scene and makes a T chart with a positive and negative side. She writes her draft and sees where to balance it after the first draft. Uma uses incubation time and then writes.

 

Word Count

YA = 50,000

Appelt: for PB get the story down. Write about a character who is truly from your heart. Characters that are your heart’s love/work.

Darrow: write until you get the story..you can always cut later

 

First Drafts = Inspiration Drafts

 

If you write 5 minutes a day…5 minutes leads to 10 and then your on a roll. If you write one page a day that adds up to lots of pages in a year! (Hello, I need to remember that)

Wow, there was a lot more but that’s all for now. If I got any of this incorrect I apologize. The ladies from Vermont College are awesome, wish I could afford to attend.

My grandchild loves Cowboy Baby. I reckon all you guys with little ones should wander down to that ole “book-hole” and git you a copy. Your little ones will love it as Cowboy Baby puts off going to bed lookin’ fer  Texas Ted, Denver Dog and Hank the Horse. Now Riley has to go lookin’ for her toys before she goes to bed.

“Four Friends Together” is another great story. People who love reading stories will enjoy sharing this with their little ones. “Story time is more complicated that it looks! After some squirming and shifting, the four friends setting in for what they love best–a really good story enjoyed together.” Flap

Someday I hope to be able to write stories like Sue Heap and Deb Lund write.