Starting Nov. 1st,
it’s National Writing Month. This is when writers around the globe write
furiously for one month with the goal to reach 50,000 words. It’s not an easy
task and it’s not for everyone. But there is no doubt that NaNoWriMo encourages
writing and bonding among writers.
If you are a writer, you can
sign up for NaNoWriMo here. You can keep track of your daily word counts on
their site, buddy up with other writers, join forums to get encouragement and
help when you’re stuck. There are even threads on suggested music to listen to
as you write.
If you’re a student or a
teacher, check out NaNoWriMo for young writers here. There are tips
on how to bring NaNo into the classroom and getting student’s work published
here. I’m going to be attempting
NaNoWriMo myself. I’m a little terrified, but mostly excited to tackle a new
project. I’ll be videoing my experiences throughout the month, including how I deal
with each part of the process as I come to it. Here’s my first video for you
to check out!
Every book begins with an idea. So often we talk
about how to write a book, but we don’t look at the development of the actual
idea.
Before you begin writing, it’s helpful to make sure
your idea is fully developed and thought out. Is it marketable? Are there
similar books out there already?
Stage
1
I have a document I call ‘Possible Proposals’ where
I put all my crazy and good ideas into one place.
For each idea, I write:
1.The title, genre and category.
Example: GILDED, fantasy, YA
2.Tagline:
One Girl. One Destiny. All Defiance.
3.Pitch: A girl with a
black belt and a deadly proclivity with steel-tipped arrows discovers an
ancient Korean god has been kidnapping the first-born daughters of her family
for generations. And she’s next.
4.Synopsis:
Here I write about three paragraphs that explains the general idea of the
story. It’s a lot like a query.
Now I have my ideas all laid out. I’m excited about them,
but I can’t decide which one to write next. This is when I move to Stage 2:
Stage
2
1.I
go to Amazon and Publisher’s Marketplace to check if this idea has already been
published. If it’s too similar to what is already out there, I know my idea
will instantly be at a disadvantage. My idea must be fresh, new and enticing to
an editor.
2.Thankfully,
I have awesome crit partners. I rely on them to tell me THE TRUTH. If you don’t
have these kind of peeps, go find them. They’re hard to find, but they exist. I
send them my ‘Possible Proposal’ document and they give me the low down. They
tell me which ideas are good, which are crap and which have possibilities.
3.They
will also offer suggestions on how to refine and make my ideas better.
4.I
listen and make adjustments.
Stage
3
1.I’m
lucky I have a supportive agent who will read my crazy idea list and give me
more input. He sees my ideas from a different perspective than my crit partners
and I would.
2.He
looks at the market, takes my career into consideration and gives me advice
accordingly. Once again, I listen and make adjustments.
3.You
may also have an editor who is willing to brainstorm ideas with you. This is huge
because they know what their house is buying, what their editorial list needs,
what kind of projects they are willing to read over and over again, as well as
what’s selling.
At this point, I take the idea I feel is the
strongest and the one I’m most excited to write. (Because essentially, your
story will flop if you as the writer aren’t passionate about it.)
The other day I was rattling off to my husband my favorite
books of 2013. These weren’t necessarily the ones I expected to be my favorites
and some I knew would never become best sellers. But they were books that spoke
to me and lingered in my mind for days afterwards.
So what makes a story become a great story?
A picture book I love reading to my students, THE BEST STORY by Eileen Spinelli, really hits the arrow into the bull’s eye. The character in
this story tries to bring in all the elements of great storytelling: ·Humor ·Romance ·Action ·Heartbreak In the end, the girl realizes her story is horrible. She’s
trying to put together all of those elements and it only becomes a jumbled
mess. Finally her mom speaks up and tells her that the best story “comes from
the heart.”
Whenever people ask me what they should do to become a writer, my first answer is write as often as they can and write what they love.
My second answer is to read, read, read.
You can discover a lot about a writer by what they read. I love asking other writers this question: What are your favorite books? And if they start mentioning some of my favorites it's as if we are connected in some way.
When I went out for coffee with my editor, I thought it was so ironic when she asked me this very same question! Of course, I was so excited and nervous to be sitting with my editor (okay, so maybe I was kind of FREAKING out) that my first answer was something like, "I love that new fantasy book with the girl with those powers and it was so awesome."
* Yeah, that was the crazy in me because in my head I was really thinking: "OMG, I'm sitting in a coffee shop with MY editor! I've completely died and gone to writer's heaven."
** The book I was trying to talk to her about was Shadowand Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
Why is it important to read?
1. Read within your genre.
I try to actively read books within the genre I write. Some people say, "No, I don't want to do that because it will influence my ideas." And I do get that.
My advice is to segregate your reading time and your writing time. Either separate your mornings for writing and evenings for reading. Or do what I like to do where I fast draft a book for a month, then I take a week and read everything I can get my hands on, then go back to revising.
2. By reading within your genre, you are keeping up with the market.
The market is ever changing. As a mom, I love to read my boys the classics such as The Boxcar Kids and LittleHouse on the Prairie. But I also read to them newly released books such as the Percy Jackson series and The Fast and the Furriest. Both types are brilliant, but the books of fifty years ago are far different than the ones being printed today.
3. Study the craft of other authors.
It always takes me longer to read books than my husband. Why is that? Because I'm studying the book's plot structure, analyzing why certain characters ring true to me while others don't, looking at how sentences are arranged and even how long the chapters are.
As an author, I'm always finding ways to make my stories stronger. So when I expose myself to great storytelling, I push myself to become a better storyteller because I'm seeing it in action.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on reading and writing and how the two are connected.
"Oh rubbish! You have no power here. Be gone before someone drops a house on you, too." **
The MiGs have been discussing reviews this week. Reviews are strange, often crazy-making things. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t read what people write about my books. It’s human nature to peek. But I try not to lose myself. Here’s why:
The Top 10 Reasons I Don't Put A Lot of Stock Into Reviews
1. Sometimes a review says more about the reviewer than it does about the book.
2. It’s one person’s opinion. Maybe I didn’t write the book for that one reader. In all likelihood, I wrote it for another reader.
3. In the big picture, a few lousy reviews won’t hurt sales. Or future book contracts.
4. All I can do is write the best book I can. I can’t control - or change - anything else so why should I think I can by pouting or having a pity party?
5. While I check reviews when I’m deciding on which books to buy, I usually take them with a grain of salt. I’m fairly sure people reading reviews of my books are doing the same.
6. Half of what poor reviews say is wrong. The same goes for the good reviews.
7. Letting a stranger into my head -whether she is saying something unkind or positive - is not a good idea. It can mess with my ability to write.
8. Searching the internet for reviews is time consuming. I could be using that time to read or work on my next project.
9. Reading a snarky review will only tempt me to defend my work. But acting on that (very human response) would never end well for me. I must remain professional. Plus, I need to remember they are attacking my work, not me. My book can stand up for itself.
10. Of course my family and friends are going to say nice things about my books. That’s their job.
** These are my "ruby sneakers" and this is one of my favorite Wizard of Oz quotes.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Dear Readers,
I ran out to get the newspaper yesterday and found a package on my doorstep. I’m not sure how it got there - my dogs have poor manners when it comes to someone walking up to our house. (Ax murderer, UPS guy - eh? It’s all the same to them. Bark! Bark! Bark!)
I wasn’t expecting anything so I eagerly scooped it up and brought inside. It was from my new publisher, Holiday House - a book on the house’s first sixty-five year history. Tucked inside, there was a dated, handwritten note:
Dear Carmella,
Welcome to Holiday House - and thank you for being a part of this story.
It was signed John Briggs.*
Wow. How cool was that?
I guess I never really thought about myself as being a part of something bigger, part of someone else’s story and history. It was a neat feeling and an unexpected surprise. **
Later in the afternoon, I got to thinking about it. You know, if we write for children and teens aren’t we ALL part of something special and bigger than ourselves? Most of us will never make the New York Times Best Sellers list or win an award. Shoot. Some of us may never be published. (Or be published again.) But that’s okay. We’ve got one of the greatest callings in the world. To inspired, teach, reach, comfort, delight, and challenge young readers.
So in case no one has told you this lately, thank you for being part of the story. Thank you for writing the books and poems and songs and for illustrating those stories that help make the world better and brighter.
Best,
Carmella
* He’s the current owner and president of Holiday House.
** I don’t mean to in any way suggest that my other publishers haven’t been awesome. Because they totally have. They show me love in different ways and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of their stories, too.
Today is a big day here at the MiGs. I'M BORED, written by Michael Ian Black and illustrated by our very own Debbie Ridpath Ohi, is released today!
To celebrate the release of I'M BORED, all week here at the MiGs we will be talking about what makes us bored or something related to I'M BORED.
And for every comment you post, you will automatically get entered to win a copy of I'M BORED! Tweet about this contest and tell us you did so to receive an extra entry. You can comment every day for more entries.
Check out what Publisher's Weekly has to say about I'M BORED here.
Follow Debbie on Twitter: @inkyelbows
Check out Debbie's website: http://debbieohi.com/
My story about being bored:
The other day, Debbie released her homemade book trailer (which is totally awesome) and I watched it while my boys were in their rooms finishing their homework. After I watched it I knew my boys would LOVE it.
So I had it all set up and I waited. Because I knew, KNEW what my youngest would tell me the moment he walked out of his room (because he's been saying all the time lately). Sure enough, he shuffled out and said, "I'm bored."
I said, "Really? That's great!" That was when he looked at me oddly. "Because I have the perfect video for you to watch."
And he loved it. In fact, both boys liked it so much we had to watch it over and over and over again.
Check it out!
So, what makes you bored? (and don't you just love that potato?)
Hey guys! It's been a while since I posted. I've been traveling a lot this summer and I went to two writing workshops. Plus I finished a massive revision on my latest YA (this book is trying to kill me) and played around with some picture books. So yeah, crazy!
I'm also a guest vlogger for August on Wednesdays at the YA Rebels. It's been a lot of fun so far. This week our topic is on Superpowers! And if you had a superpower what would it be?
Now I must admit I like this topic because I love to use superpowers in my books. So when creating characters with superpowers, where do you begin?
When I'm creating characters with superpower abilities, I first choose my character's superpower. This power will drive my character's motivations and conflict throughout the story so it's key that I pick the right one.
Superpower Categories (not comprehensive):
1.Energy Propulsion- these powers would control cosmic, gravitational, energy, or have telekinetic power 2. Mentality-based abilities- strong thinking powers 3. Physical or mental domination- think mind control for this one 4. Manipulation- can manipulate weather, temperatures, animals, plants, even reality warping 5. Travel and transportation- time travel, portals, omnipresence, summoning 6. Shape shifter- size shifting, elasticity, animal morphing, mimicry 7.Object based powers- like rings, amulets, books and such that give power.
Now once you have chosen a power for your character, your next step is:
1. Consider it's affects on your characters internal conflict and external conflict. How does this power affect your character in their daily life? Does it make them fearful of the world around them? Empowered? Does it limit them? How will this power change the character's life for good and bad?
2. Their antithesis- With every power you should bring in what stops their power. Think about Superman with his kryptonite. It's the object he knows that can neutralizes his powers and make him mortal. Now your character's kryptonite doesn't have to be an object. It could be a mental block or a fear. But by bringing in that antithesis, you are upping the stakes in your story.
So now that I've thrown some superpower fun ideas for your next novel, check out my vlog for examples of YA books that use superpowers.
Can you guess my superpower? And what do you think my antithesis is?
Christina Farley's debut YA, GILDED, releases March 1, 2014 by Skyscape/ Amazon Children's Publishing. She is represented by Jeff Ourvan of the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency, LLC. She blogs and vlogs about writing and traveling, and is often found procrastinating on Twitter
