Creative Lab: Kate Messner - Revision Half-Marathon: Revision Strategies to Get Your Novel to the Finish Line

This conference features two opportunities for deep dives in Creative Labs. While we can't share that deep dive in this space, here's a little taste of what we were up to. 

In Kate Messner's Revision Half-Marathon, we're off and running. Kate has us working on many elements related to character, story, and writing. 

In mile one, Kate share's a tip I've personally learned from her before, and still use with all my writing.  Complete the following sentences.  

These sentences will be a guide to the work you do as you revise your manuscript. The choices you make should connect to one or both of these, and often to the second. 

Happy revising! 

#SCBWIdigital Launches with Kate Messner's "Big Picture Revision for Middle Grade and Young Adult Novels"

As a member benefit during this global health crisis, SCBWI has organized a series of eight free workshops - today, April 2, 2020, was the first, and it was taught by Kate Messner.

A screen shot of Kate Messner beginning her #SCBWIdigital workshop from her home.

Kate is a former TV news reporter and middle school English teacher, and her award-winning books span genres and categories. Kate is

“passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too.” 

Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Pond, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, The Brilliant Deep, and How to Read a Story; novels that tackle real-world issues like Breakout, All the Answers, and The Seventh Wish; mysteries and thrillers like Capture the Flag, Eye of the Storm, and Wake Up Missing; the Fergus and Zeke easy reader series; and the popular Ranger in Time chapter book series about a time-traveling search and rescue dog.

Who attended? As Lin Oliver shared in her introduction, just on today's digital workshop “We are 3,000 people strong.” And she encourages all of us to know that we're part of this wonderful community.

Kate starts out by sharing that, in this extraordinary time,

“Expecting normal productivity in a period that isn't normal just isn't going to work out. Be kind to yourself.”

Her first 3-minute exercise is for each of us to write two sentences about our current work-in-progress:

The first is to answer "My book is about ___________________."

This is the cover copy.

The second is to answer "But underneath that, it's really about ________________."

This is the heart of the story.


As an example, Kate shares that for her book The Seventh Wish, her first answer is:

"My book is about an Irish dancer who catches a wish-granting fish."

Her second answer is:

"But underneath that, it's really about accepting the things we can't change instead of holding on to wishes."

A screen shot of one of Kate's very helpful slides.

The next exercise was about finding your character's knot, the thing that makes them tick. Example: For Harry Potter, his knot was "what happened with his parents," and his being "desperate for their love."

Kate advised us to consider not just our protagonist's knot, but our antagonist's knot as well. It's what drives their actions and motivations, too.

There are more revision exercises, covering point of view and narrative distance, and with the use of multiple examples, we're urged to have the structure we choose serve our story.

Kate also answers attendee questions, including 'How do you know when your manuscript is ready to submit?," and offers ideas for getting back into a manuscript that you've put aside.

There's so much more, including multiple ways to use (and select) mentor texts, and Kate's favorite revision tool, "The Big Picture Story Chart."

It's a session packed (PACKED!) with great information, exercises, and tips to get us revising our middle grade and young adult manuscripts.

Thank you, Kate!

Stay safe, all.
Lee

Scenes from Saturday's Book Signing

Sandwiched in-between Jerry Pinkney's keynote and and the Networking Buffet Dinner, Beth Kephart, Kendra Levin, Rafael Lopez, William Low, Kate Messner, and Linda Sue Park signed their books for appreciative attendees!

Kate Messner Keynote: The Creative Superpower of Curiosity

Kate Messner begins her conference-kickoff keynote

Kate has been widely and successfully published across age categories and genres, and has twelve books coming out just in 2020!

Her secret?

She tells us about finding this quote,

"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." —Albert Einstein

And how much this quote resonates for her. She shares stories about her curiosity as a child, and as a teacher, and how her curiosity lead to writing her first picture book, Over and Under the Snow.

She shares the habits she's developed to help generate ideas, to follow her curiosity to different books she's written, in different genres.

"I've found that I can always afford fifteen minutes of idea chasing." 

Kate's inspiring stories about the power of inspiration to find her projects includes how curiosity influences other authors and illustrators, including Martha Brockenbrough, Don Tate, and Nikki Grimes.

The power of

I wonder...

She speaks of courage, and the power of speaking up, and the long journey to telling her latest novel, and "the fire behind" Chirp.

How curiosity is the opposite of fear. And how curiosity and empathy go hand-in-hand.

She even offers us a "license to chase curiosity."

With moments of reflection and deep feeling, poetry and power, Kate's keynote is open and energizing and so, so inspiring!

And it ends with a rousing standing ovation!


**

Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and How to Read a Story; novels like The Seventh Wish, Breakout, and Chirp; the Fergus and Zeke easy reader series with Candlewick, Scholastic’s popular Ranger in Time chapter book series; and multiple works of nonfiction, including Insect Superpowers, The Next President, Tracking Pythons and the soon-to-be-released History Smashers series with Random House. Before becoming a full-time writer, Kate was a TV journalist and National Board certified middle school English teacher. Follow her on Twitter @KateMessner and check out her website, www.katemessner.com.

Pre-#NY16SCBWI Interview: Award-Winning Author Kate Messner Speaks with Team Blog's Martha Brockenbrough

Kate. Martha.

It's a powerful combination.

Check out this interview, where Kate shares some things she wishes she knew when she was starting out, tells us about bullet journaling, and there's even an under 6 minute animated video of Kate giving a TED Ed talk on "Building Fictional Worlds!"

Kate Messner will be giving a keynote speech at the New York SCBWI conference in February with fellow middle-grade author Linda Urban, "Music, Mountains, and Mocha Lattes: Sustaining a Creative Life" that promises to be amazing! We hope you can join us. Here's where you can get all the info on the conference and registration.

Kate Messner: The Spectacular Power of Failure

Kate Messner is the award-winning author of  over 20 books for young readers.

Kate says there's great pressure when you decide to give a talk on failure. Especially when you create a folder and document called FAILURE. Given the giggles she is receiving from this crowd, I don't think she needs to worry.

In 2012, Kate was invited to give a TED and she learned several lessons from that experience.

Lesson #1
Be Brave!
But it's okay to be afraid.

If you're not nervous, it's not worth doing.

There is a kind of fear we feel when we push the limits past our own boundaries, the ones that feel safe.

"You can’t have brave without scared." ~HOUND DOG TRUE by Linda Urban 

When Kate is scared, she's given an opportunity to be brave.

Lesson #2

Never underestimate the power of failure.

As writers and illustrators we set all sorts of bars for ourselves with the statement: "If I could just…"

If we keep moving the bar, we can turn anything into a failure. We cheat ourselves of our many successes. 

What small successes have you had lately? Celebrate them!

"You have to fall if you want to fly."

Athletes know they fall when they train and eventually they will get it and move on to a new challenge. It would be good for us to adopt some of these philosophies as writers and illustrators. 

"It's in doing the work, in writing the words every day...that my best work emerges."

It's important to use feedback to help us grow and not let it stop us. 

The Spectacular Power of Failure:

~Failure tells us that we're going in the right direction.

~Failure teaches us to ask for help.

~Failure brings us together as a community of writers.

~Failure teaches us to celebrate the dance. 

~Failure lets us be role models.

"A ship in harbor is safe. But that is not what ships are built for." ~John A. Shedd

Kate Messner: The Pre-#NY14SCBWI Interview by Jolie Stekly

Feb 21-23 is coming up soon, and in the ramp-up of excitement for the 2014 SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City, Jolie Stekly interviewed conference faculty member, award-winning author (of picture books and novels for teens) Kate Messner.

They speak about Kate having been a teacher (and how that influences her as a writer) and there's a lot of great insights into Kate's process, like this quote,

"Most days, after I write a scene or two, I go back and revise my outline, so it’s not a strict guideline but more of a fluid document that changes as I grow to understand my characters more fully."

Kate will be presenting as part of the Plot Intensive on Friday, and while all the Friday intensives are sold-out, you can still register for the main two days of the conference (Saturday and Sunday.)

Workshops are filling fast, and early registration ends tomorrow at 5pm Pacific Time.

We hope you'll join us! Go here for all the conference information.

Kate Messner Workshop: Picture Books: The Magical Unexpected

Kate Messner talking about the magic of the Unexpected

Kate Messner's picture book Over and Under the Snow, is a New York Times and ALSC Notable book, E.B. White Read Aloud Award finalist, and winner of the 2012 Golden Kite Award for picture book text.

Kate won the 2012 Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text for this!

Kate shared a beautiful poem in her Golden Kite Acceptance speech earlier, "What Happened To Your Book Today," in which the final line was a child responding to your book (even if you haven't gotten it published yet) in their hands and saying,

"It feels like it was written just for me."

and it was.

It's a moment of magic that still resonates, and the room is packed for Kate's session, all of us wanting to learn how to bring that kind of magic into our picture books.

She's telling us how her different picture books sparked for her, and how she's learned how to make them spark.  We're putting that into action, as Kate gives us exercises and activities, sharing her favorite "magic bullet" brainstorming technique and challenging us to try it.

Kate believes that

"As human beings, we are hard wired to be delighted by the unexpected."

Kate has us consider nine kinds of unexpected (talking about them and giving us examples.) Here are three:

Unexpected characters,

like in her own Sea Monster's First Day (a first day of school story with an unexpected Sea Monster character.)

Unexpected glimpses of hidden worlds,

like in her Over And Under The Snow

and

Unexpected endings,

like in Ugly Fish by Kara LaReau, illustrated by Scott Magoon

And now Kate challenges us to come up with our own kinds of unexpected unexpected techniques to harness the magic of "unexpected" ourselves.

A Golden Kite for Kate Messner

Kate Messner is the award-winning author of over a dozen current and forthcoming books for young readers. Her titles include picture books like Over and Under the Snow--winner of the 2012 Golden Kite Award for picture book text.

Kate opened her acceptance speech with a story of going to her first conference. It was seven years later when she submitted her first book, and she thanked her agent, Jennifer Laughran, who believed in her and vowed to find just the right editor for it.

Indie booksellers have been a huge support for Kate, and she stressed the importance of our supporting them back.Kate then said that although she was receiving an award, something incredible was happening to all of us. And that if just stick with it, we will succeed.

Kate read a lovely poem she'd written for authors, something to make us think about the beauty of writing, and more importantly, the meaning of writing.

"Somewhere a kid who has never read a book on his own... turned a page, and another. Then one more." 

Then that special moment where a child reads your book and thinks, "This was written just for me." And it was.