INGRID LAW, "Creating a Strange Voice in a Namby-Pamby, Willy-Nilly Way"

INGRID LAW, "Creating a Strange Voice in a Namby-Pamby, Silly-Nilly Way"

Another packed panel session, this time with Newbery Honor ("Savvy") novelist Ingrid Law. SHe had a fantastic handout called "Ingrid's Voice Toolkit" that conference goers found incredibly helpful. Some highlights for you:

Books she recommends include:

-- "Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style" by Arthur Plotnik, Random House Reference, 2005

-- "DARE - Dictionary of American Regional English"

-- "Rhyming Dictionary" (http://www.rhymezone.com)

-- "Idiom Dictionary" (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com)

When it comes to using the dictionary, she stresses that "You should never use a thesaurus randomly or without cross-referencing in the dictionary." She lists an example such as, "Her bangs were uneven." What other words could you do to elevate this sentence? She also adds, "Better yet... find a way to SHOW the reader the bangs are uneven before simply picking a different word."

Other handout highlights included samples of long, lyrical sentences in kid's lit versus short and quirky sentences, repetition, similes and metaphors, etc. 

Pictured above is also a fun writing exercise Ingrid have everyone do - she listed a setting (apartment), two characters (young and old woman), and the action of a woman dropping her groceries. She had everyone write a scene using those plot points and trying to employ a unique voice to it.

Overall, a very thorough and meticulous lecture that inspired conference goers with new tools to use to improve their writing and create a unique voice and point of view.

Plus, she had a cake for us to eat with the words SCBWI on it!

Posted by Paula Yoo

Kathleen Duey - How to Build a Novel

"Art and craft have to hold hands."

Duey doesn’t outline and doesn’t plot.

She suggests, ask yourself what the character would do next. Ask your character the questions, like: “So when you got home, how’d it go with your mom?”

Duey will sometimes sit down and think of the milestones in the story. They could be two chapters apart, or twenty. But she usually has an end in mind (although not always).

Now chatting about the importance of being on Twitter! She has challenged all who are not on Twitter to sign up.

Kathleen has two blogs. She is on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Awesome!

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Frank Portman, "Cultivating Your Teen Voice"

Second morning panel I'm attending is:

FRANK PORTMAN, "Cultivating Your Teen Voice"

(Pictured above is Frank and his trusty guitar!)

Some quick highlights:

Frank Portman began his panel by performing one of his songs on guitar called "You're the Only One." He talked about writing in an authentic teen voice and read an excerpt from his novel KING DORK that made everyone laugh.

Funny moment: One conference goer asked, "Are you texting?" He smiled and held up his cell phone and said, "No, I'm keeping track of time." :)

What books did he like? "I was very interested in comics when I was a kid. But I did read several books, so I kind of know what I'm talking about."

"YA is great because it's wide open. It's a tradition that goes back a long way. That said, I think it's a terrible mistake to tailor your writing to a demographic in any kind of direct way because it will be fake."

He warned aspiring writers NOT to think that "because you're writing from a teen POV, it must be less complicated - simpler, dumber - than a regular book. That will not produce a good book."

He discussed the conundrum of how "sex sells" but it also frightens publishers because of the age group (his book is hilarious and very candid - he jokes about his editor called once and said, "Frank, we have to talk about the nipple problem." LOL!) But he says there's a difference between overt vulgarity and a realistic sense of how to approach the topic of sex in YA literature. In fact, his next novel will be from the point of view of a female teen character!

Overall, a packed room that loved Frank's music performance, honesty, and humorous presentation.

Posted by Paula Yoo

Steven Malk: Advice for Illustrators

Steve says postcards are still an effective promotional tool. Getting a good promo postcard is a refreshing change from all the digital images they see daily. Also, postcards can point editors and art directors to your website.

(Latest bobblehead: Popeye.)

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Krista Marino-Establishing your YA voice

Fabulous editor Krista Marino (Delacorte) is giving a super in-depth workshop on how to establish your YA voice. After 5 minutes of listening, I thought, "Wow. I still have a ton to learn!"

This workshop required preregistration and it's obvious that Krista worked very closely with these writers and will do so over the next four days. I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for some serious editorial advice.

Some of her great points were focusing on finding your authorial voice. If you read a Meg Cabot or Stephen King book, you know the author without having to look. How do they do that? She offers a handout with several elements that are key to establishing your voice.

I wish I had that handout!!!

But she did say that as adults writing for teens we should try to recapture our childlike outlook. Our perspective changes as we experience things, so it's important to be able to identify with that unaffected self.

All in all, I wish I'D PREREGISTERED! She sounded brilliant! Next year, I'm so in! Hope you wil be too!

Posted by Suzanne Young

Steven Malk: Advice for Illustrators

Steve says being a talented illustrator is only half the battle. It's really important to show art directors and editors that you understand picture books.

Common mistake: Illustrators don't tailor their portfolios to the children's book market. Don't make art directors make the leap--show them evidence.

More advice: every illustrator should have a web presence that reflects them and their work. He spends at least two or three hours a week viewing illustrators' websites.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

POSTED BY ALICE

Nancy Sanders, "Writing for the Religious Market"

First morning panel I'm attending is:

Nancy Sanders, Writing for the Religious Market

Nancy is a bestselling author of over 75 books including D IS FOR DRINKING GOURD: AN AFRICAN AMERICAN ALPHABET

Some highlights and quotes from her panel:

-- She started everyone out with a stretching exercise. "I need it!" said one concert goer. It was fun! Nancy said, "You'll hear a lot of doom and gloom forecasts, and I have some too about the religious market, but we'll do an exercise to remind us that April showers bring May flowers. We're going to make our own storm." Made us stomp feet, snap fingers, etc. It was very fun - we had to copy what she did by listening and observing here.

-- Her expertise is the Christian market but says her strategies can be applied to other religious markets 

-- "Focus on opportunities... but are you ready for doom and gloom? Publishers in religious market are a niche market which means little. If you have an alphabet book, every school and store and family could buy that book. But as soon as you go to Bible story or religious market, that picture book has a narrow audience. Only some schools, some libraries, and some families will want it." The problem? Sales. And in this economy, places like CostCo who want to buy these books at huge discounts and buy this book for $5. Or you could go to a bookstore and buy it for $20." Because of that problem, she says a lot of publishers are preferring manuscripts by celebrities because they have a well-known audience that will buy it, book packagers, and from other publishers.

-- The Triple Crown of Success; This is Nancy's step by step strategy from her book, "Yes! You Can Learn How to Write Children's Books, Get Them Published, and Build a Successful Writing Career." The main three points?

1. Write for personal fulfillment

2. Write to get published regularly and often

3. Write to earn income

She had a great handout and spoke in detail about these points in the "Triple Crown" for the panel. An overall very helpful and specific panel about approaching the religious market, especially during these economic times. Again, another reason to come to our national conference is because of panels like Nancy's - it was a very intimate, hands-on and interactive panel that all the audience members clearly enjoyed and learned a lot from.

Posted by Paula Yoo

Kathleen Duey - Rivets and Mist: How to Build a Novel

Don't neglect that initial spark. We can get so lost in craft (and all the things we’re told) but we lose the spark.

Duey's intent is to bend and blend genres. YA is one of the places this is happening.

Duey suggests that when you meet interesting people that have interesting jobs, write it down. Get their business card. Anybody you meet with a profession could be the source of your twist some day.

"There is a book in almost anything."

"Don’t lose site of artistic experiment."

“I have learned ways over time to not lose the spark as the wheels start to
grind…as I'm putting the rivets in to build the story.”

Duey says she does the following and suggest trying it: I don’t create characters. Instead, I first
interview people who are living the life like your characters.

"I don't create characters. I meet them."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Steven Malk: Advice for Illustrators

Steve's slides have included these bobble head figures thus far: Mr. Peanut; a Garbage Pail Kid; Mr. T.; Smokie the Bear; Snap, Crackle & Pop; Tim Gunn; and Tony the Tiger

David Wiesner Keynote Continued 2

Did you know David painted full-size paintings of all the photos in the pictures within pictures within pictures page in FLOTSAM? Gosh, he's lazy.



POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK

David Wiesner Keynote Continued

You guys. He just showed clips from THE SHINING and 2001.

The visuals of 2001 had a huge impact on David as a kid and the design elements and shot choices in the film have impacted his illustration sensibilities ever since.

Another thing that had an enormous impact on David as a kid was the concept of worlds within worlds. He read about it in science fiction and comic books, but what really got him were films like these:

The Eames's Powers of Ten

and NFBC's Cosmic Zoom



OMG David just mentioned one of my favorite movies! Stairway to Heaven and no, it is not that darn song.

POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK

Steven Malk: Advice for Illustrators

Agent Steven Malk is offering advice to illustrators on promoting their work: First--get educated.

Steve showed us picture of Lane Smtih's book collection and told us Marla Frazee has an exhaustive collection of back issues of the Horn Book.

David Wiesner Keynote

David Wiesner is following the tough act of Sherman Alexie followed by Lin Oliver telling a few jokes this morning. But superhero illustrators can always get the job done. Lin calls David "the master of creating picture book art."

You won't believe it but, his powerpoint is ALIVE!


(shot from David's opening image)

David talks about how his idea for TUESDAY came about -- as an assignment for Cricket Magazine. They asked him to do a cover with frogs on it. David turned to his sketchbook and noticed that a frog on a lily pad looks a lot like a UFO.

NOW David is showing us clips from THE SHINING... and how it influenced TUESDAY. No really. He is!



POSTED BY JAIME TEMAIRIK

Five Minute Break Time

Everyone's milling about.

Up next...David Wiesner!

Sherman Alexie Keynote Continued...

Alexie speaks passionately about those special librarians that hand you those special books, "a book about something beyond on themselves and they still identify with it. That's when the world changes."

"Our books will change lives in a way an adult book can not."

Now speaking about a letter Alexie received. It started, "I've lived in 29 foster homes..." And it goes on to detail the pain and trials of his life. Then there's that sentence "...and then I read your book." Later Alexie meets this kids (now an adult) who tells him that he loved Alexie's book, then read the other books written by Indian writers. He said he then thought he should go back and get his GED. He then told Alexie he now runs the GED program. WOW!

"It happens."

"Accept the responsibility...you are going to save at least one person. What more
could you ask for!"

STANDING OVATION!

Lin Oliver: "I love you, Sherman Alexie!"

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Sherman Alexie Keynote Continued...

Sharing his true story of having water on the brain. Serious topic, but in Alexie's words, it's seriously funny! He must be getting a laugh every minute (or more)!

Alexie grew up poor and sick. Invisible. His parents were struggling with alcoholism. He didn't have plumbing until he was seven, and he lived in a 125 year old house. But he loved books. And so did his dad. Because his dad read, his house was filled with books.

He was a veracious reader and adults were constantly bringing him books.

He says it's great to get huge packets from kids, the best letters being the ones that are so honest..."We had to read or book and I thought it sucked."

Common theme in letters (no matter who the kid is writing it):

"My choices are being made for me."

"You have to be really sure this is the career you want. People open up their
lives to you on a daily basis. They open up their chest and hand you their
heart."

Talking about banned books. Banners always turn the book into a treasure!

"I'm in the genre of young adult realism. The kids I'm thinking about are
the kids that are unprotected."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Opening remarks by Lin Oliver & Sherman Alexie - some highlights

(Pictured above: Bartlett Bear about to blog, Sherman Alexie speaking, and SCBWI TEAM BLOG ready to live blog!)

Hi! Paula Yoo and her stuffed bear Bartlett blogging LIVE at the conference. As a former journalist, this is bringing back nightmare flashbacks of my newspaper days. I thought I left that world behind! LOL! Please follow our Twitter feeds for constant live tweets as well. Mine is at http://twitter.com/paulayoo. I've been tweeting non-stop with live photos so check 'em out! And you even get such SCBWI TEAM BLOG exclusives like what Jay Asher ate for breakfast! (Cheerios, coffee, a banana) and my special "Elizabeth Law Fun Facts" sprinkled throughout the day (did you know she was a lifeguard in high school?)

Right  now, Sherman Alexie is speaking so please check everyone else's Twitter tweets because I'm just blogging instead right now at our blogger table. (We get our own extension cords etc. All the other conference goers are jealous of our hi tech status! LOL!) BTW, I will post a live shot of Sheman Alexie on my Twitter page as soon as I post this blog.

A quick recap so far... the faculty line-up did their traditional "WORD PARADE" where each faculty member said one word that they wanted people to remember and think about during the conference. Sherman Alexie just wondered what the adult authors would do since he is also, of course, a famous adult novelist as well as a YA author. (He ruminated about what word Jonathan Franzen would say...!) 

Some words from the faculty included: "Intertwinkieularity" by Ingrid Law; "Joint Collaborative Process" by Dan Santat, Lisa Yee & Arthur Levine; "Greenhouse fire" by Sarah Davies; "YES!" (with a fist pump) by Nancy Sanders. Please check the Twitter pages of Lee Wind, Jolie Stekly, Suzanne Young & Jaime Temairik for more funny words!

Some statistical highlights from SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver:

-- A new record of conference enrollment - 911 registered this year!

-- 712 conference goers are women

-- 120 conference goers are men (LOL!)

-- 40 of 50 states represented (normally South Dakota has never sent someone here but this year, finally, there is a conference goer from South Dakota! She stood up to great applause!)

-- More than a dozen countries are also represented at the conference

-- Almost half of the concert goers have been published

-- Some interesting full-time jobs among conference goers, including a professional beekeeper ("I'm sure she's very sweet," Lin quipped) and one brave man who claimed his job title was "a handsome rogue."

Okay, time to listen more to Sherman Alexie and post a live Twitter pic. He's hilarious and insightful and everyone is laughing at his jokes as he talks about his childhood growing up on the reservation, his education, and how books opened a new world for him. It's both hilarious and poignant. Will post more blogs later with quotes, and fellow bloggers are live Tweeting some of his quotes so check it all out via Twitter and #scbwi09. Stay tuned for more blogs! 

Posted by Paula Yoo 

Sherman Alexie

Things that perhaps only Sherman Alexie can make funny: pulling teeth, carrying the burden of his race, childhood diseases, alcoholism, goverment cheese, three-legged dogs, poverty...

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Sherman Alexie: The Partially True Story of the True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Our first keynote of the conference and SCBWI is doing it big with Sherman Alexie!

Lin Oliver introduces him as a: poet, short story writer, novelist, and now a writer joining our ranks in children's literature with THE ABSOLUTE TRUE STORY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN.

Huge applause.

He's already getting laughs.

Alexie has theories about the friendliness of the people who write for kids. "We were all freaks. The freak freaks."

POSTED BY JOLIE STEKLY

Words, Words, We'll Show You OURS - You Show Us Yours!

So in the grand tradition of SCBWI LA's Conference, the faculty are parading past, sharing their names and ONE word.

A word for everyone to identify with them for the next four days.

A word of intent - to focus your conference experience.

A word that's just plain fun to say!

Here's a mini- parade of SCBWI Team Blog and OUR words:



We've shown you ours - tell us YOURS in comments!

posted by Lee Wind

Summer Conference Coverage Begins Soon!

SCBWI TEAM BLOG begins conference coverage this morning! The 38th Annual SCBWI Summer Conference kicks off at 9 a.m.!

TEAM BLOG--Jolie, Jaime, Lee, Paula, Suzanne and I--will be covering the event all day long, so whether you're attending the event or not, you can enjoy a taste of it from our perspective right here on the official blog. We'll be blogging live, posting during keynotes and breakouts as we are attending them. Excuse our typos, follow along, come back often, and let us know you're here--and leave comments if you have them!

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Video Interview: Zombie Sock Puppet David Wiesner

Visit CocoaStomp for Jaime Temairik's latest exclusive TEAM BLOG video interview with illustrator, Caldecott winner and Summer Conference keynote speaker David Wiesner who takes the form of a zombie sock puppet (another undead illustrator!).

Two days from now: Blog-mania! Stay tuned...

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Video Interview: Zombie Sock Puppet Dan Yaccarino

Visit CocoaStomp for Jaime Temairik's exclusive TEAM BLOG video interview with illustrator and Summer Conference keynote speaker Dan Yaccarino who takes the form of a zombie sock puppet (who knew!)

It's just the latest teaser for our upcoming Blog-splosion which starts on Friday when the Summer Conference kicks off.

Exclusive SCBWI TEAM BLOG Interview with Kathleen Duey

Visit Alice's CWIM Blog for Alice Pope's exclusive interview with author and Summer Conference keynote speaker Kathleen Duey, the latest in our TEAM BLOG keynote interview series (with more to come!).

Kathleen offers lots of great advice for conference goers and talks about, among other things, fear (and why it's good for you).

Three more days until the Summer Conference Blog-apalooza!


photo: Sonya Sones

Exclusive TEAM BLOG Interview with Karen Cushman

Visit Jolie Stekly's Cuppa Jolie blog today for an exclusive TEAM BLOG interview with Newbery winner and SCBWI Summer Conference keynote speaker Karen Cushman.

We're counting down to the Summer Conference ... only four more days! More exclusive interviews to come this week, and then our conference Blog-o-rama begins.