Breakout Session 1: Smells Like Tween Spirit with Julia DeVillers

Julia DeVillers is a bestselling and award-winning author of middle grade and YA books, including: MEET ME AT WONDERLAND (Simon & Schuster), MEET ISABEL and NICKI (American Girl), and HOW MY PRIVATE PERSONAL JOURNAL BECAME A BESTSELLER, which was adapted into the Disney Channel Original Movie “Read it and Weep.” She also has sold a TV pilot to CBS inspired by her life and a true crime show to Oxygen. She has been featured in The NY Times, People, Good Morning America, NPR’s Weekend Edition, and USA Today.

Smells Like Tween Spirit

Julia asks us to think of one character you remember vividly from childhood, and then think of 3 adjectives that made you love them. 

Where does Julia come up with her ideas for your character? Often real life experience. Julia's job at Chuck E Cheese as Chuck E Cheese inspired her latest book, a middle grade romcom MEET ME AT WONDERLAND. Julia suggests mining your own experiences. 

An exercise, because middle graders often about experience many first. Pick one, and write about it in a couple of sentences.

• First huge embarrassment
• First big changes (moving, puberty, middle school
• First loss
• First betrayal
• First crush/ first time a crush like you back

Tip: If you have trouble getting back to that time, it can help to play music from that time in your life. 

3 key elements of developing your character, know their:

• desires
• fears
• quirks

Julia notes that voice isn't just dialogue. It's how they sound. How they think. It's their word choice, tone, and rhythm. It's how they sound in their thoughts and in their dialogue. 

Code switching. It's great to remember kids sound different depending on who they are with. 

Julia notes that our character should experience growth. They don't need to fix all their flaws or become a new person, but still earn some insight, especially about themselves. "We want to see your character mess up, learn, try again, and grow."

"Creating characters is about getting the slang term right or perfect, it's about capturing that wild, awkward, amazing smell of being a tween." Julia asks, "If we bottle teen spirit, what would it smell like?" Ha! Fun considerations. What does it smell like to you, reader?

If you want to view this session to hear the full content, along with the rest of the conference, register at https://www.scbwi.org/events/virtual-summer-conference-2025. Replays of the conferences will be available until September 14th, 2025.