New Agent for MG and YA...Plus Writing This Week

In case you missed it, Tara Gonzales, a new agent at the Larsen Pomada Literary Agency, accepts submissions for picture books, middle grade and young adult works. For more details, check out Introducing Agent Tara Gonzalez over at Kris Asselin's blog.  

How was your writing this week? Sometimes when I’m working on my own writing, it's like I'm a magnet for new strategies and ideas that I don't really have time to try out. This week I ended up with lots of ideas and fuel for my own writing. Here are a few of the things that caught my interest:

1) James Scott Bell at the KillZone on How to Work on More Than One Book At A Time.

I'm always on the lookout for ways to get more writing finished. After reading this, now I’m determined not only to make sure I finish at least one scene of my work-in-progress every day (my latest middle grade novel) but also to spend a little time working on a different project (even if it’s only doodling in my notebook while I watch TV).

2) People Who Are Not Like You by author Patricia C. Wrede, on how to write characters that are not like yourself.

It’s much easier to assume a character has some of your own background and experiences. I realize I need to examine my characters even more closely to make sure the non-me parts are believable.

“The greater the differences between the writer and the character, the more aware the writer has to be of how the differences affect everything else in the character’s life.”  

3) Since my new not-yet-started project has some fairytale elements, I found the latest Writing Excuses podcast on Retellings and Adaptations so useful I listened to it twice. I especially liked the idea of playing around with a plot that already works to create a new story.

 

Did you come across anything that gave you a new perspective this week?

 

What I Learned This Week: Story Development

I recently discovered this blog: How To Plan, Write, and Develop Your Book by Mary Carroll Moore.

It's packed full of information and strategies for developing a story. It's like an entire writing course online. I recently watched her video about storyboarding and came away with some new ways of looking at the writing process.

I liked the way she described the purpose of the three-act structure as a way to give your book a shape that other people can understand.

And I also like her suggestion about brain-storming before beginning a new writing project. I usually start with a character or a problem that catches my interest and then I start sticking stuff to it and asking "what if" questions to expand on it.

But I'm intrigued by the idea of taking a bunch of elements that I'd love to see in a novel (or that I'd love to write about so I can learn more about them) and then trying to develop a structure around them. I might try this sometime as an experiment. I'm also going to look for the book A Writer's Time by Kenneth Atchity, which she mentioned in her video.

Have you ever sat down and thought about the specific things you'd like to put into your book before you begin? Or do elements of the novel appear as you're writing?

Friday Fun: Stuff I've Found This Week

Is it me or did this week seem to drag on longer than usual? I think one of the hardest weeks of the year is the first week back after the holiday break. Here are a few interesting things I came across this week:

1. In an interview for the Globe and Mail, Daniel Handler, author of Why We Broke Up and the Lemony Snicket series, says he thinks adults have always found children's literature appealing. "What happened with Harry Potter is that people started to admit it."

 But maybe it depends on the book format (see the comments on Adults Reading Children's Books?) Commenter Karen Strong says, "This is why I love reading on my e-reader because now people don't know!"

2. Have you heard these podcasts by Katie Davis? I just discovered them! Now I have something else to listen to while I'm mopping the floors. I'm always looking for more good writing or children's lit related podcasts.

3. Snow! After a weirdly rainy winter so far, we finally got a little snow. My kids were hoping for a snow day, but the grass isn't even covered yet.

4. Dog duvets that let you recycle old blankets -- I'm definitely getting one of these for my dog!

Hope you had a great (and productive) week!

A New Year = New Realizations

At the beginning of a new year, I always wonder what new challenges lie ahead. I'm almost afraid to look back on my accomplishments for the past year, thinking it will be depressing when I discover I haven't met any of my goals.

What looking back does do is remind me of all the interesting things I've done and learned, which might be even more valuable than analyzing those goals that I have (or haven't) completed. The most important thing I've learned for my writing this year is this:

The plot is nothing until the main character's experiences and thoughts make it come alive.

Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but one of the things that has happened in my writing this year is that I've gained a deeper appreciation for how critical the main character's perspective is to the story (thanks to Mary Kole, Cheryl Klein, the Plot Whisperer, countless blogs I've read, and working hard on my own writing). It seems like something obvious and basic, but the more I think and work on this, the harder and more challenging it becomes.

Now, if only I could stop obsessing over whether each individual word fits the way the character thinks or acts, I might actually make some progress.

What important thing did you learn about your writing in 2011? What aspect of writing do you hope to get some insight into in 2012?

What I Learned This Week

This week there were a lot of blog posts that got me thinking, and I printed out a few to save for my writing notebook (for those moments when I need to look back and be inspired or remind myself that I need to be doing something productive). What I learned this week:

1. How to create an elevator pitch from agent Rachelle Gardner. I always get tongue-tied when someone asks me about my novel, so it's probably good to have something prepared.

2. Things to consider when thinking about writing a sequel, from Amparo Ortiz's blog, No Rest for the Lazy,  Sequels: What I Like as a Reader.

3. How to take a step beyond reading middle grade books and learn more from them, from a guest post by Carmelo Martino called Reading Like a Writer on agent Mary Kole's blog KitLit.

4. You have to keep things in perspective (in life as well as in writing). My in-laws are visiting, need I say more? Actually, I loved this post from Kerrie at The Writing Bug called No More Rejections. A quote:

We send our work out to see if an agent, editor or publisher is interested and they respond with a "yes" or a "no thank you."

They are not rejecting us or our work, they are simply responding to us.

5.  You'll never get a "Yes" if you don't keep trying.

I read a comment on someone's blog with this message (sorry, I didn't get the source, and the wording was slightly different) and it has stuck in my head. I'm going to put it on one of my computer stickies. Sometimes writing can be so discouraging, because it's hard. But the more writing and submitting I do, the stronger my writing gets. I am definitely deepening my understanding of what it means to be persistent.

I hope you had a great week. Did you learn anything interesting this week?

Learning About Writing from Harry Potter

Last night, I saw the last Harry Potter movie -- what an awesome experience! [Don't worry, I'm not going to reveal anything about it in this blog post.] The Harry Potter series has been such a huge part of my childrens' lives, both through the books and the movies. Even at ages 15 and 12, they still play "Potions class" in the backyard with mysterious kitchen ingredients and potions kits made from spice bottles from the dollar store, and we have an impressive collection of Harry Potter themed Lego. I think we're all a little sad, now that we've seen the last movie. 

I'm always impressed by J.K. Rowling's plotting. There are so many different elements to the plot that are woven through the entire series, and they are mostly all wrapped up by the time the ending rolls around. However, I've never read the Harry Potter books with an eye to learning something about writing, because I get too involved in enjoying the story. (Plus, these books are my daughters' treasured possessions and if I have one too long on my night table, it gets reclaimed.)

But there are lots of places to go if you do want to learn about writing from the Harry Potter series. Here are a few to get you started:

Harry Potter for Writers is an entire blog dedicated to learning from the Harry Potter books.

Writer's on the Brink also has a whole series of posts, Learning to Write by Reading Harry Potter

Editor Cheryl Klein gives us  A Few Things Writers Can Learn from Harry Potter

Maybe now that I've read the series a couple of times, I can read it again with more of an eye towards learning. Have you learned anything from reading any of the Harry Potter books?

****** I appreciate your support for my blog. Don't forget, I'm giving away 3 "mystery" middle grade novels, and there are still two books to give away! You can still enter to win this week's prize! Get your entry in by the end of Saturday! *******

What I Learned This Week

Some of the most interesting and helpful things I learn about writing come from reading other blogs. Here's what I discovered this week:

1. There can be blog contests with surprising twists. I love the Epic contest of Epic YA author Beth Revis is running to publicize her debut novel Across the Universe. I've heard a lot about this book and have been waiting for it to come out. But the contest itself is awesome - there are 100 prizes! If you haven't heard about it, you should check it out.

2. Writing seems so much more focussed when you keep the big picture in mind. This great post by Janice Hardy sums up the two key things you need for a good story: have a hook and be entertaining. And Laura Pauling expands on Sarah Davies' Unique Concept + Voice + Craft. Great stuff to read while revising. It helps keep you on track.

3. I love these tips for creating dialogue by Shannon Whitney Messenger. Definitely will be trying some out.

4. Sometimes you can only get past a tricky place in your novel by making a big change. But it's a good idea to save it with a new file name BEFORE you begin making the changes, just in case you need part of that earlier version. Duh!

5. Holiday treats provide great fuel for late night writing sessions. Sugar rush leads to better thinking, right? (Or maybe not. See previous point.) But I am on track to finish my revision of Novel #4 by the end of December.

What I Learned This Week

My brain is stuffed so full of what I'm learning about teaching (I teach kindergarten and I'm trying out some new approaches this year), sometimes it doesn't feel like there's any space for my writing. It's hard to get a good balance between writing and the rest of my life sometimes. That's why I love reading other people's blogs to help me focus on the writing process. Here's some great things I learned this week:

1. What it really means to start a story with action. In a recent blog post, Jill Corcoran discusses how intriguing the reader is not the same as being thrown into the middle of an action scene.

2. How writing for different age groups might affect the process of getting an agent from Mary Kole over at kidlit.com.

3. Some benefits of going to a writing conference. Between getting the time to do it (anything that happens during the school year and involves travel is out) and the cost, I always let them pass me by. But after reading this blog post by Jennifer Hubbard, I'm thinking about it again.

4. It is possible to get past Chapter 2 in revising Novel #4 (still no title). What I needed was someone to talk with about my ideas and help me to feel okay about taking the simpler, more obvious path instead of a more complicated, less logical one. I'm learning not to create unnecessary complications for myself when writing a story.

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving if you're celebrating this weekend!

What I Learned This Week

I love blogging because it helps me feel connected to the writing community. Even better is all the stuff I learn from reading blogs. A few things I learned this week:

1) Some mistakes that get in the way of establishing a strong POV in your writing (Kathryn Craft over at the Blood-Red Pencil )

2) Tips for writing a synopsis of your story in a query letter (thanks to Meganrebekah’s blog)

3)  Different approaches agents have and how they might affect your writing career (another great post by Rachelle Gardner)

4)  A recipe for a good coconut cookie (from CakeSpy)

I also read a great article about critique groups and how they benefit writers, though it’s not new to me, because I have an awesome critique group that does all these things (guest post by Maurissa Guibord over at Adventures in Children’s Publishing).