Kathleen Duey--Transmutation: Books That Matter

Kathleen Duey on the benefits of SCBWI...

The give-and-take of SCBWI is epic, and it has grown. It's gone from a family to more like a small village. It's given us a place to send all the people to ask us how they can publish. Membership in SCBWI makes editors know you're serious about writing. You can make connections.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Kathleen Duey--Transmutation: Books That Matter

Kathleen is telling us that the first thing she does after a conference is write down her conversations.

Next, she goes over and annotates her notes--you'll never remember more about this than you will in the next two days.

Then she goes through her business card. When she accepts then she writes a note on them saying why she took them. If you haven't, go home and write notes on them.

Contact everyone you took a card from. Send a thank-you to editors and agents who took the time to talk to you.

She asks, how many of us are not on Facebook. To everyone who raised their hands, she says: "Shame on you."

Kathleen is talking about the marvels of Twitter, that people were tweeting on the streets of Iran after the election. That there are writers chats on Twitter. And that she's writing a Twitter novel.

Kathleen Duey--Transmutation: Books That Matter

The amazing Kathleen Duey is offering the final keynote session of the 2009 SCBWI Summer Conference.

Lin Oliver says she'll "Send us out on wings of inspiration."

Kathleen has published more than 70 book and was nominated for a National Book Award last year for Skin Hunger.

Kathleen starts out by saying how much SCBWI has done for her. SCBWI, she says, raised the bar and changed the business.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

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

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

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