Tidbits from CANSCAIP's Packaging Your Imagination 2014

There's nothing like a conference to inspire your writing! Last Saturday I attended the Packaging Your Imagination conference held by the Canadian Society for Authors, Illustrators and Performers. Not only did I get to see my super-amazing MiG Writer friend, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, I met lots of other aspiring writers, illustrators and reconnected with a writer/puppeteer I met last year.  I also got to soak in so much writerly wisdom it will take weeks for me to absorb it all. Some tidbits:




Details: How Little Things Bring Your Writing to Life
Erin Bow, author of Plain Kate and Sorrow's Knot reminded us: "Good details are the heart of good storytelling."

I loved all her strategies for using details to draw the reader's attention to what is important in the story. You can read about how she uses a ladder system to match the level of detail to the emotional intensity of a scene in an interview with Erin for the CANSCAIP blog.

After this session, I decided to add another level to my revision process!



Arc is a Four-Letter Word: Plot Structure for the Architecturally Challenged

Lesley Livingston, author of the Wondrous Strange series, the Never series, and the Starling saga provided another perspective on plotting and how it really all stems from character and setting.

"Make your setting a character. Use that to drive your story and your character's journey through your story."

She highly recommends drawing a map and finding interesting places in your story world to build into the plot.

This was a refreshing approach for many of us who feel overwhelmed by all the pointy triangles in traditional plotting diagrams.





Whose Voice Is It, Anyway?

According to Shelley Tanaka, long time fiction editor of Groundwood Books, one of the biggest distractions when reading children's book submissions is when the narrator steps out of the child's voice. An important question to ask is: "Would a child say or think this?"

She pointed out that adults are often more sentimental than children are and that's one way the adult perspective can intrude into the child's voice.

"Good writing is not random: It involves artistic decisions, big and small, and the decisions you make about voice may be the most important of all."


Lightning Rods, Agents & Book Deals: Building Your Personal Brand

Though I didn't get to attend this session with my writing buddy Debbie Ridpath Ohi, I heard it was very useful! You can catch some of the details on the CANSCAIP blog. Debbie is the illustrator of I'm Bored, Naked! and the author-illustrator of the forthcoming, Where Are My Books? She has also posted her take on the Packaging Your Imagination conference with lots of visuals.




Keynote: Confessions of a Word Nerd

It was so much fun to laugh along with Susin Nielsen, author of the forthcoming We Are All Made of Molecules as well as Word Nerd, Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom and The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen.

She talked about loving reading, emotional memories and perseverance.

"Everything we write, it only makes us better."

Writing Tips for Keeping Voice Consistent

Over the past couple of weeks, I've returned to one of my earlier novels to work on bringing out the narrator's voice. One of the biggest challenges I'm finding is keeping it consistent. Sure, there are times when it all flows naturally, but then I read other parts and know they aren't quite there yet.

Some tips that help me create a consistent character voice:

1. Re-read previous sections. By reading over a section of the story where you feel confident you've captured the voice you want, it helps you get the right "sound" for the character's voice into your mind.

2. Think about internal ways your character reacts. Like people, characters have their usual way of reacting or thinking about events. When this comes out in the story, it helps to strengthen their voice. For example, some characters tend to ask themselves mental questions. Others might make snappy interior comments. What does your character do?

3. Consider less common words. When you come to a larger, less common word in your writing, think about why you've used it. Would your character use that word? If not, what would they say instead?

4. Write a note from your character. If you're having trouble capturing your character's voice, try to put yourself in their shoes. Write a letter to another character, explaining any problem (doesn't have to be a problem in your story). This can help you discover the way the character puts words together, without the pressure of thinking about how it fits into the novel.

Do you have any other tips for creating a consistent character voice?

V is for Voice: It Might Sell Your MG Novel

Voice is tricky to define, and even trickier to pin down when you’re writing. But editors and agents often say one of the key things they look for in a manuscript is a strong or unique voice. What does that mean?

Voice has been defined as the specific way that you, the writer, put words together so that your writing shows some personality. In novels where the narrator has a strong voice, the writing sounds natural. As a reader, you don’t notice that you’re reading words on a page. You’re in the story and the mind of the main character.  And if that novel is a MG novel, the story sounds like it comes from a real kid, not an adult.

I know this sounds obvious, but if you’re not an eight- to-twelve-year-old yourself, it’s easy to write something you think sounds like MG, but actually doesn’t. How can you develop your middle grade voice?

Think like a kid as you write. When you’re writing, you really need to see the world of the story and the story events through the eyes of a middle grade character. Kids and adults don’t notice the same kinds of things. They don’t talk the same way. They don’t react the same way. As much as you can, you need to take on that “kid perspective”.

Read middle grade fiction. One of my best tips for writing MG fiction is to read a lot of it. It gives you a feel for the language structures and style of speaking that 8- to-12-year-olds actually use. I know my own writing took a huge leap forward when I started reading more books written for the age level I’m actually writing.

Practice. I practice writing with a MG voice. I write about issues relevant to kids from my character’s point of view. Even if I don’t use my character’s opinions on whether they should be allowed to play more video games in my novel, I find that writing about them really helps to build that middle grade reader perspective.

What do you do to bring out your middle grade voice?

Links:

Anna Staniszewski writes on finding your middle grade voice.

At the SCBWI 2010 Conference blog, you’ll find some thoughts on voice from Jennifer Rees.

Here's a great post on voice from Notes from the Slushpile called Finding Your Voice: An SCBWI Master Class with Beverley Birch by Addy Farmer (added September 2011)

Miriam Forster has an interesting series of blog posts on voice, beginning with the difference between a writer’s voice and the character’s voice.

At Word Play, K.M. Weiland also discusses the differencebetween author voice and character voice.

Alexandra Sokoloff began a great discussion about voice with her blog post That Elusive Voice.

Lynda R. Young gives some strategies for developing a unique voice.

At MiG Writers, Debbie Ohi talks (and draws) about writers and voice.

Jeff Hirsch writes about a strategy for developing voice at The League of Extraordinary Writers.

At Let the Words Flow, Jennifer Fitzgerald writes about the struggle to get the right voice.

And at Writer Unboxed, Juliet Mallier tells some of her thought processes for choosing the right voice.

Shannon Whitney Messenger offers some tips for finding your character’s voice.

Over at The Bookshelf Muse, Becca posted a list of three good reasons why you should work on developing the voice of your novel and some tips for creating a strong character voice.

For more tips and links on developing voice, visit Adventures in Children’s Publishing.

Creating a Consistent Voice

As I revise my novel, I'm trying to create a consistent voice for my main character. Some of the strategies I'm using include:

1. Adopting a consistent style of writing throughout the novel that fits with my character’s background. While I’m not using a dialect (since I often find them annoying to read), my character does have certain phrases and grammatical structures that are typical of her (made up) societal group.

2. Making a conscious effort to write more simply. Though I tend to be sparse when it comes to description, I do tend to use long phrases, which may be more suitable for older age groups. This time, I’m trying to keep my sentences middle-grade short and sweet.

3. Taking time to think as my character would. Writing every day helps me slip into my character’s mind more easily. Even so, I sometimes have to stop and think about her experiences and background, to decide if what I’ve written really fits. I've had to cut sections of my novel or change elements that don't make sense in light of her past experiences or cultural background. I guess this is why we need to know as much about our characters as possible.