I’m just not sure how I feel about this. I so love the story with its simple truth. I fear when too much is added to it – the truth will blur, and the children who read the book after seeing the movie might lose the ability to put themselves in the story – the quality of the book I find most endearing. What do you think?
View Where the Wild Things Are trailer now.
When I’ve finished reading Les Edgerton’s HOOKED: WRITE FICTION THAT GRABS READERS AT PAGE ONE AND NEVER LETS THEM GO, I plan on writing a review – a stellar review – because I’m completely taken with his pin-point logic, instruction and examples. I’m about halfway through so you’ll have to hold your breath.
But in the meantime, I’ve begun incorporating Edgerton’s advice in my own process.
I’m currently revising a very rough draft of one of my MG novels. I’m back on those first few pages and first scenes – always the toughest for me – trying to get them just right.
Yesterday I focused on clearly defining what Edgerton calls the “inciting incident.” He describes it as “the event that creates the character’s initial surface problem and introduces the first inklings of the story-worth problem.” Essentially, it’s where the real story begins.
Thankfully, early in my revision process, I spent some time crystallizing my story into one sentence – an exercise I recommend to every novel writer. That sentence beats in my brain as a constant reminder of the heart of my story as I rewrite. But it also revealed a buried treasure. Because there in that 15-word sentence lies the inciting incident. Hurray!
Problem: In my draft I had broken up that incident into two scenes separated by a few other surface problems. Consequently my inciting incident lost the power it could have to really get the ball rolling in my story. I needed to clarify it, rev it up and spend more time with it early on.
How will I accomplish that? I’ll couple the two separated scenes into one in my opening chapters and rearrange those other surface problems – which really have nothing to do with the inciting incident – by moving them to later chapters. Then I’ll work on energizing that opening scene with more humor and higher stakes for my MC.
When I’m done that scene should shout from the pages “THE STORY STARTS NOW!”
And hopefully my reader will be hooked. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
SOUL ENCHILADA is on the shelves!!!
With the upcoming (we’re talking minutes folks!) release of David Macinnis Gill’s SOUL ENCHILADA, don’t miss this fab reading guide.
Gas up the car and get ready to roll to your favorite Indie because David Macinnis Gill’s (my crit buddy) SOUL ENCHILADA is hitting the stores on 4/7!!
I LOVE this book. But don’t take my word for it.
Here’s what folks in the know have to say:
“Delightfully wacky” –Horn Book
“Gill knows what will make teens laugh” –Publishers Weekly
“Bug is a refreshingly gutsy female protagonist…that will win over
readers.” –Booklist
“A powerful voice of young adult literature” –Chris Crutcher
“Wonderful and unexpectedly touching…” –Melissa Marr
“Tasty” –Teri Lesesne
“Warm, funny, and full of grace….Highly recommended.” –Greg Leitich Smith
Last week I spent 4 crazy-busy but completely fun days in New York with my husband and kids for Spring Break. Yup, we’re weird that way. We don’t often rocket south like heat seeking missiles this time of year. And having lived in the Big Apple in my long ago past, I still consider East 46th Street one of my beloved homes. So it was wonderful going “home” again.
Of course, we visited the Belmont as well as other favorite haunts, and took in an eclectic trio of shows. But I also budgeted time for two “business” stops.
The first was for coffee with one of my editors, Michelle Nagler. Rather than meeting at one of the ten bazillion Starbucks dotted around the city, we chose to visit in her office among her shelves and shelves of children’s books. As a matter of fact, every angled wall in that editorial division was filled floor to ceiling with books. It seemed fitting that the famous, funky Flatiron building housed this creative commune called Bloomsbury.
And for an hour, we talked about my books, her books, funny books, award-winning books, best sellers, illustrators, art – pulling examples from the shelves as we discussed, oohing and aahing over color schemes, word choice, diorama art, perfect titles. She mentioned a bit of happy news – TOO PURPLEY! will also be released in the U.K. Hurrah! And I even got a peek at her slush pile. Sigh! We both agreed, we could have chatted all day.
My second “business” stop was at none other than the Children’s Center at the 42nd Street New York Public Library. Nostalgia flooded me as this was my first child’s very first library – not to mention his favorite from Ghost Buster fame. I stopped there to soak it all in once again, but also to meet that blogging rock star librarian from Fuse #8 – the kid lit guru Elizabeth Bird.
The Children’s Center buzzed — toddlers on computers, babies teething on board books, school age kids combing the shelves, parents chatting and reading and enjoying this warm, rainbowed refuge on that misty New York day. And wouldn’t you know it, Elizabeth was sitting right there at the front door as if to eyeball each little entering patron and pair him/her with a perfect book match.
Even though I tried to bribe her with Dylan’s candy and threatened to rearrange her Dewey Decimal System, she wouldn’t reveal the contenders in her Top 100 Picture Book Poll. She only hinted at a few surprises. NYPL is certainly lucky to have Elizabeth in their kid’s court.
So in addition to chance meetings with The Take Home Chef and Ed Norton (no kidding) I got to meet these two lovely literary stars. And both further affirmed that the folks in children’s publishing and children’s literature are among the kindest in the world. I can’t wait to go back.
Yippee! Here’s the official announcement:
CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK: THERE’S A CORNER IN MY HOUSE by Jean Reidy, to be illustrated by Robert Neubecker, creator of WOW! CITY and WOW! SCHOOL! A subversive look at what might happen when a kid with a big imagination is stuck in time out, to Tamson Weston at Disney Hyperion, by Erin Murphy at Erin Murphy Literary Agency for Reidy and Linda Pratt at Sheldon Fogelman Agency for Neubecker.
And please check out my fabulous illustrator at http://illoz.com/neubecker/.
I’m jumping for joy on the couch! Yikes! I might need a timeout.
Believe me, this was tough. Because my choices depend on whether I go back to my childhood, my children’s childhood or my recent reads. Elizabeth made it a bit easier by limiting our choices to pure picture books (which kept THE CAT IN THE HAT BEGINNER BOOK DICTIONARY off my list). 
4. THE STINKY CHEESE MAN –– Think both child and adult cracking up side by side on the couch. This book took “quality time” to a whole new level.
5. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE – WTWTA is often touted as the perfect picture book and the one to study if you’re an aspiring PB writer. I remember finding Max’s naughtiness distinctly refreshing. His smirky little face could be found on any one of my kids. This is a must-have for anyone who was once or has loved a naughty kid.
6. THE POLAR EXPRESS – My family loves trains and we love Christmas. Even though my kids are old now, we still read this every Christmas Eve out loud before we head to bed.
7. THE RUNAWAY BUNNY –– And isn’t security so important? There’s good reason children tuck themselves right into a parent’s arms when read this story.
8. MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS — A charming tale in a classic city with a perfect theme – family and a mother’s love.
9. SCAREDY SQUIRREL — When I picked this one up at the ALA convention I had tears of laughter streaming down my face. 
Okay, I know Elizabeth said 10. But as soon as I sent off my list I began to have regrets for not including:
STREGA NONA – Oh gosh. I wonder where I learned the tune to “Bubble bubble pasta pot …” Did I make it up? Or did I hear Tomi sing it somewhere?
MADELINE– I received two books in the series one Christmas and instantly loved them. I remember feeling the necessity of including a collection of these stories on my own daughter’s shelf.
MIKE MULLIGAN AND THE STEAM SHOVEL – my all-time Captain Kangaroo favorite.
After this past week of blogging about perfect picture book words, a message board buddy asked me to critique her picture book manuscript today. It’s always fun to let the text tumble around in my brain where it can be met with illustrations from my imagination. That’s why they’re called picture books after all.
But with young reader’s in mind, I think there’s so much more that goes into a great picture book — such as pacing and page turns and payoffs.
That’s why I love this article and hope you do too!
http://www.write4kids.com/blog/2009/03/09/writing-picture-books-how-to-captivate-a-young-reader/
Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor at Arthur A. Levine Books (an imprint of Scholastic) blogged on “voice” in preparation for her upcoming talk. Cheryl, who’s so generous with her advice to writers posts many of her talks on her website. I urge you to check them out.
And for anyone writing or revising and perhaps struggling with voice, this blog post is not to be missed.
In my current WIP I’m using a lot of freewriting to find and stay in voice throughout the story. And it’s very much in line with several of Cheryl’s points, particularly:
“Start out writing everything that comes to mind—all the backstory, internal monologue, etc., you want. Then you have it all laid out before you and you just have to choose what’s truly necessary and cut the rest.”
I think in the past I worried about too much naval-gazing and consequently couldn’t stay in the head of my MC long enough to maintain her voice. Writing everything that comes to mind creates surprising thoughts, turns of phrase, and humor that allows me to enter more deeply into my MC’s first person voice. So for now, I’m turning off my internal editor knowing I’ll be cleaning and cutting late.
Another trick I love to use is talking out scenes, even before they’re written — sometimes with a little voice lilt or accent going on. (I might have to start carrying my voice recorder in my car!) This is a great help in developing the rhythm of a character’s voice which seems also key. And it happens to be really fun!
Thanks again to Cheryl for sharing wise advice that keeps us rolling, whether through first drafts or 4th-round revisions.
