Writing from the Immigrant Experience Author Panel: Paula Yoo (moderator) / Zahra Marwan

Paul Yoo is an accomplished writer. RISING FROM THE ASHES: LOS ANGELES, 1992. EDWARD JAE SONG LEE, LATASHA HARLINS, RODNEY KING, AND A CITY ON FIRE (Norton 2024) won the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award & SCBWI Golden Kite Award/Nonfiction Older Readers. FROM A WHISPER TO A RALLYING CRY: THE KILLING OF VINCENT CHIN AND THE TRIAL THAT GALVANIZED THE ASIAN AMERICAN MOVEMENT (Norton 2021) won the Horn Book Award, longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award and was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist. Other books include the YA novel GOOD ENOUGH (HarperCollins 2008) and nonfiction picture books from Lee & Low Books about Dr. Sammy Lee, Anna May Wong, and Dr. Muhammad Yunus. Paula’s TV credits range from NBC’s THE WEST to The CW’s SUPERGIRL and multiple pilots. She enjoys playing violin & with her 4 cats!

Paula starts by noting how nuanced talking about the immigrant experience is. She holds up all the panelists books and her enthusiasm for all of them is contagious. She even made the potato curry recipe in the back of The Spice Box by Meera Sriram (panelist) and brought it to make us all salivate.

During conversation about language, Paula shares for those who might not know, that there has been a movement in the last 20 years to stop italicizing words written in a foreign language as not to other them. 

Fun fact and connection with panelist Edwidge Danticat: Paula was a huge fan of Edwidge's adult short stories, and when Paula was writing for The West Wing, episode 414, they were sitting around the room, with Aaron Sorkin, pitching ideas for a revolution happening, and Paula had read Edwidge's story Children of the Sea which Paula used as an example and that's what lead to the storyline for that episode. How cool is that!

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Working as a traditional artist with watercolor and ink, Zahra Marwan creates work that reflects her cultural roots in Kuwait as well as her life now in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She loves poetry and independent cinema and how quiet and mysterious the night is. She is deeply fond of the sea.

Her debut picture book, Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, was published by Bloomsbury Books and named one of the New York Times / New York Public Library’s 10 Best Illustrated Books as well as NPR’s Best Books of 2022. The week before receiving the Dilys Evans Founders Award from the Society of Illustrators, she was honored with an award by the UN Human Rights Commission for creating art that brings visibility to statelessness, indigenous groups, and minority rights.

Where Butterflies Fill the Sky about not wanting to leave her home as a child and the luck of coming to New Mexico. And Zahra's latest book The Sunflowers relates to the art our ancestors have left us in a way to connect with family. 

In discussing language, Zahra shares that she grew up speaking Arabic. Now living Quebec, she speaks to people in both Arabic and French, and she notes that when she is in public and speak Arabic, she feels more scared than if she was speaking French. Simply introducing herself and saying her name prompts questions from people. For Zahra, the personal is always political, and she is alway navigating how to survive in countries that don't want her. 

Zahra believes that Arabic language is so rich and inspires her art. Her art is stunning, and Paula (our moderator) notes that there are so many easter eggs in the art that Zahra let's us know about in the author's note. Do take a look!

Her book iWhere the Butterflies Fill the Sky received an award from the United Nation Human Rights Commission for brining visibility to statelessness, indigenous, and minority rights. 

Zahra has felt really lucky to work with editors she has. They have taken her, and what she wants to do, seriously--the stories from her culture and what she understands her culture to be as opposed to constant Ramadan stories.  Zahra says, "There's more to the Middle East."

This panel discussion is deep and personal, and one you'll want to listen to. I hope you will.

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.

Breakout Session #1 - Telling the Truth: How to Combine Research and Storytelling Strategies to Craft Compelling Narrative Nonfiction with Paula Yoo

Author Paula Yoo  talks about all genres from picture book, middle grade, and young adult nonfiction for today's session focusing on 'narrative' nonfiction. For clarification she offers Melissa Stewart's wonderful essay (and her book out about it!) that explains the differences between the five established types of nonfiction: active, browsable, traditional, expository literature and narrative nonfiction.

Paula shares fascinating details and backstory about the subjects of her books in this session with tons of detail that will make you want to read the full stories. She gives us examples of how she turned facts on a timeline that read like a Wikipedia entry into emotionally resonant stories built around life-changing moments that make for compelling kid nonfiction reads. Information plus evidence (wikipedia facts) plus an emotional reaction give Paula 'the truth' the emotional core of what gets readers into the story. Paula gives examples from her own books as well as authors like Don Tate and Christina Soontornvat on how they combine biographical truths and emotional reactions to make great narrative nonfiction picture books.

Paula gives behind the scenes details of the making of her books including Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire and From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement sharing her experiences speaking to first hand witnesses, survivors, and family members touched by these events and gives session attendees tons of great advice on ways to research the best primary sources.

Paula's time spent working writing for Hollywood has also informed how she writes narrative nonfiction and she shares additional tips particularly on how screenwriting and storyboarding techniques can help authors build up, among other things, better dialogue within narrative nonfiction.

Paula went on to share her actual nonfiction book proposals showing attendees all the ways in which these initial sales documents must sell not just the subject of the book but the emotion in it as well. Even if you are not interested in writing nonfiction this whole session is an incredibly thoughtful and fascinating talk for anyone remotely interested in civil rights issues and American history.

Paula Yoo: Keynote

Paula Yoo is a book author, screenwriter, and musician. From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement (Norton Young Readers) was nominated for the 2021 National Book Award Longlist: Young People’s Literature. Her book won the 2021 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and was selected as a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard and the 2021 Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best YA. It has received 5 starred reviews and national coverage in The New York Times, TIME, NPR, The Today Show, NBC News, and Good Morning America. From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry is also the National Education Association (NEA) “Read Across America” YA book selection for May 2022. Her other books include Good Enough (HarperCollins), Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story, Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story, and Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank (Lee & Low Books). Her TV credits range from NBC’s The West Wing to The CW’s Supergirl, and she has sold TV pilots and feature scripts. She is also a former journalist (The Seattle Times, The Detroit News, and PEOPLE). When she’s not writing, Paula is a professional freelance violinist. Website: https://paulayoo.com

Paula Yoo, presenting at #scbwiWinter22

Paula tells us she never saw Asian American representation in school or books as a child. No AAPI history was taught, and that erasure had an impact: "I felt cheated. I had lost a valuable part of not just my childhood, but my identity."

The Asian stereotypes of martial arts, being whiz kids at math and science are harmful, diminishing individual achievements and de-humanizing people. And Paula explored those ideas in her debut YA novel, "Good Enough."

Researching NF for children and teens. "Go beyond Google," and newspaper articles. For From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement, Paula visited libraries, poured through court records, newspaper articles, letters, flyers for protests, and most importantly, conducted interviews. 

Through those interviews, she met Jared, the son of Vincent's fiancée (who had married someone else after Vincent was killed). Jared's discovering his family's secret became, as Paula put it, "the emotional spine" of her book.

The book has two threads - one the historical retelling of Vincent's murder, the Civil Rights trials, and the start of the Asian American rights movement, and the other Jared's perspective of discovering and uncovering his family's secret history - his Mom's connection to Vincent Chin.

Paula advises that it's really important to try to interview subjects, or people who knew them. When you interview in person, on zoom, or on the phone... you pick up tone, the light in their eyes, their emotions -- and it will infuse your work. For her book Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story, interviewing Dr. Lee showed her his positive spirit which helped him cope with humor rather than anger.

And for her book Twenty-two Cents: Muhammad Yunus and the Village Bank, meeting Professor Yunus in person led to him opening up about his childhood, how his mother would share their food with homeless people, and how that inspired him to come up with his economic theory to fight poverty.

Setting becomes a character. Paula discusses how visiting the sites of her books gives her a visceral sensation to include in the writing.

Paula asks us to consider: What happens when we are erased? In the middle of this pandemic, research is showing that 1 out of 4 AAPI youth say they have experienced racist bullying. 

Today's pandemic has seen a parallel pandemic of anti-Asian stereotypes and violence, and Paula tells us of her own experience with racism today and how it motivates her. 

"Like history repeats itself, so does hope."

Just like coalitions formed back in the protests of Vincent Chin's killing and the injustice of the killers walking free, Paula cites the AAPI community joining with the Black Lives Matters movement. And today, New Jersey and Michigan are the first two states to mandate teaching Asian American history in K-12 schools.

#StopAsianHate

Finally, Paula puts out a call to our action in writing nonfiction books for kids and teens:

It is more important than ever that we make sure they know the whole truth. What happens in our past, influences our present, and what we do today influences the future - and who better to shape our future than our young readers?

Authors Panel: Nonfiction Writing as a Personal "Journey"

Moderated by Melissa Stewart, the panelists for this session are Sarah Albee, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Laura Purdie Salas, and Paula Yoo.

top row, left to right: SCBWI's Lin Oliver who introduces the panel, interpreter LynneKelly, Laura Purdie Salas
middle row, left to right: Lesa Cline-Ransome, panel moderator Melissa Stewart, and Sarah Albee
lower row: Paula Yoo

Lin explains that the panelists were pulled from the soon-to-be-published anthology of 50 nonfiction authors* that was edited by Melissa Stewart, Nonfiction Writers Dig Deep: 50 Award-Winning Children’s Book Authors Share the Secret of Engaging Writing

Melissa starts out by saying that the panel is really "about the heart and soul of nonfiction writing."

Explaining the inspiration behind the book (and the panel), Melissa speaks of the moment she, Candace Fleming, and Deborah Heiligman were on a panel discussing what makes nonfiction engaging, and the insight that "Each of our books has a piece of our heart at its core."

Some highlights from the panelists:

Sarah Albee

Sarah talks about how her book topics are all over the map, and looking for the thread through her books like "Poison" and "Why'd They Wear That?" She tells us that social history is what fascinates her. "The history of ordinary people."

"I like to write about how stuff works."

Sarah says, "My brain goes straight from the plot line, like Juliet drinking the poison, to knowing how poison works on a molecular level."

Lesa Cline-Ransome

Lesa speaks of writing the missing pieces of history, growing up as one of the only African American families in her town and not getting the history. She considers the disservice this does, not just for the young woman she was, but for the white students who also missed that history. 

"I'm looking for ways to uncover parts of my subjects lives that reveal not just what they are, their accomplishments... but who they are."

She tells us about her "outside-in" research method, trying to gain an understanding of what happened outside of her subject's early years that played a role and would have affected their life choices. One example is that Lesa reads newspaper headlines from the time and place of her subjects' young lives.

Lesa uses examples from her own work, including "The Power of Her Pen: The Story of Groundbreaking Journalist Ethel L. Payne" and "Game Changers: The Story of Venus and Serena Williams" 

Lesa's advice: "I don't think anyone wants to read about perfect, flawless human beings."

Laura Purdie Salas

"I had a pretty unhappy childhood...feeling never good enough." It gave her the motivation to appreciate the little things. "I look at a lot of ordinary, every day things in my books, and try to share with my readers the awe and wonder of them." 

Like in her books, "A Leaf Can Be" and "If You Were The Moon."

Laura's advice: "Don't just focus on the facts... get your personal connection to a topic in there from the very start."

Paula Yoo

Paula tells us of starting writing in Kindergarten and getting her first rejection at age 5! With a masters in journalism, she wrote fiction and kept getting rejected until she wrote a YA novel based on her life, "Good Enough." Up until that book, she'd been writing from the POV of a white man or white woman. This was her epiphany, "Wait. My voice does matter."

This lead to her writing "Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story," her first published picture book biography.

Paula tells us her motivation: "My Asian American education has been me on the internet. This is stuff that should have been taught in school."

She shares more about her own work, including her latest, "From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement."

__

*Full disclosure: I'm one of the fifty authors!

SCBWI Conference Tip: Try Not To Piss Off The Editors

And here, as a public service announcement, we share with you the inestimable Arthur A. Levine, Vice President of Scholastic Inc. and the Editorial Director of Arthur A. Levine Books, taking a momentary break after a full day at a SCBWI conference:

Starring:

Paula Yoo, as the befuddled what-not-to-do-er

And

Arthur A. Levine, as Arthur A. Levine

Behind the camera "evil" mastermind... Lee Wind

--Posted by Lee Wind

Farewell and Autograph Party

Farewell & Autograph Party

After Kathleen Duey's inspirational farewell keynote address, conference goers enjoyed the Farewell & Autography Party where they were able to meet and greet the authors and get their autographs! Fresh lemonade, pretzels, and candy treats were provided for everyone as they headed out the door and back to their homes.

It was clear that close friendships had blossomed between conference goers over the past four days and that everyone - from aspiring newbie writers to published veteran authors - were inspired to rush home and WRITE WRITE WRITE.

The room was full of camaraderie and everyone enjoyed the celebration at the farewell shindig. Tonight, the faculty will meet for a final celebratory wrap-up party.

The entire SCBWI TEAM BLOG - Alice Pope, Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, Lee Wind, Paula Yoo, and Suzanne Young - would like to thank SCBWI for giving us this opportunity to share the highlights of the 2009 national conference with everyone. We had a blast attending all these panels - our one regret was that we wish YOU were there! :) If you would like to find out more about SCBWI and join as a member, please go here for more info: http://scbwi.org

Remember, we are an interactive forum, so please comment away on our blogs. We look forward to the dialogue between SCBWI members about this year's conference.





Posted by SCBWI TEAM BLOG

SCBWI Team Blog - Hard At Work, for YOU!

From Right to Left: Alice Pope, Team Captain! Lee Wind, Paula Yoo, Jolie Stekly, Jaime Temairik, and Suzanne Young!

DONNA GEPHART: "12 3/4 Ways to Tickle Young Readers' Funny Bones"

DONNA GEPHART: "12 3/4 Ways to Tickle Young Readers' Funny Bones"

Some hilarious higlights from 2009 Sid Fleischman Humor Award winner Donna Gephart's panel:

-- She provided handouts for everyone with a list of techniques and details to hone one's humor skills.

-- She advises taking risks. "Mine your embarrassment," she said, discussing how writers should not be afraid to talk about real life embarrassing moments.

-- "Embarrassment is funny but humiliation is not," she said. "You want to empathize with your character. Readers want to laugh, not cringe."

-- She gave a writing exercise in which conference goers had to do: List embarrassing things that happened to you or list things that embarrassed you as a kid.

-- She suggested paying attention to the "sound of language" as another tool to write humor. For example, the "K" sound is funny, such as "Chicken is funny. Roast beef is not. Pickle is funny. Cucubmer is not. Twinkie is funny. Pie is not."

-- She also advised using exaggeration and understatement as tools for writing humor. Examples included "Exaggeration: referring to a tropical breeze as a hurricane" and "Understatement: referring to a hurricane as a tropical breeze."

-- Ultimately, she says writers should not TRY to be funny. "Forced humor is no fun for anyone."

-- She also gave a handout listing funny picture books, early readers, chapter books, and MG/YA novels.

It was a packed room where people participated with a lot of enthusiasm to Donna's writing exercises. And yes, there was much laughter!

Yet another shining example of great lectures provided by award-winning writers at the SCBWI national conference.

Posted by Paula Yoo

MICHAEL REISMAN: "What Hollywood Wants With Your Book"

MICHAEL REISMAN: "What Hollywood Wants With Your Book"

(Pictured above: Michael preps for his lecture by providing not one, not two, but THREE handouts!)

Michael Reisman, author of the bestselling SIMON BLOOM middle grade novel series, discussed the behind-the-scenes tips on why and how Hollywood options books, based on his own experience for more than ten years as a story analyst for movie studios and television networks, including Nickelodeon. His own SIMON BLOOM book was recently optioned as a movie.

He provided three handouts that were extremely helpful. They were:

-- A sample of "script coverage" on Lisa Yee's novel, MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS. This showed Michael's synopsis and analysis of her novel and whether or not he considered potential movie/TV material. He wrote "CONSIDER," which means "Worth a serious look; needs varying degrees of changes."

-- A handout explaining what points story analysts consider while reading and covering book properties. (Examples include "Characterization: Asks how realistic and multi-dimensional the characters are. Will audiences identify with them? Will they care about them?")

-- A handout explaining coverage "jargon." ("CONSIDER" was just defined above, but another example includes: "CONSIDER CONCEPT: Too many problems to adapt directly, but may be worth purchase for core ideas or key elements" and "RECOMMEND: Buy; needs no or almost no changing.")

Some highlights from Michael's extremely informative talk:

-- "Don't write what will make a movie deal. Write what makes a good book." He emphasized how different these genres are and you should simply concentrate on writing the best book possible, period.

-- Retain your movie and TV rights. "I'm a happier man because of my movie deal" given that he retained his own rights.

-- Get a movie agent or manager to help navigate through the Hollywood world.

Overall, Michael delivered a very thorough lecture on how Hollywood approaches book properties and why they option or do not option books. But the information he provided in the handouts and in his advice/examples during the lecture were both applicable not only to published authors interested in trying to get their works optioned but also for aspiring writers because the points brought up about how Hollywood story analysts critique premise, dialogue, storyline and premise ideas was very helpful. Another example of the excellent informative lectures provided for writers at SCBWI's national conference!

Posted by Paula Yoo

SCBWI Regional Advisors Word Parade

SCBWI is great not just because of all its resources for writers and book lovers, but it's also a wonderful professional organization because of all its AMAZING REGIONAL ADVISORS!!!

These hard-working men and women work tirelessly day and night to make sure the SCBWI organization runs smoothly. From offering regional newsletters with helpful articles on the craft of writing, to hosting parties, to lots and lots of xeroxing, emailing, and arranging events... these brave Regional Advisors keep SCBWI moving!

As Aaron Hartzler, SCBWI Director of Communications and Creative Director likes to say:

"That's how we roll..."

These RAs hail from all over the country and from as far away as Spain, Russia, and Australia!

Some inspirational words uttered at this year's RA Word Parade included "Success," "Newbie," "Chocolate - because you can never have enough chocolate," "Kick-awesome" (inspired by American Idol), "Embrace," "Percolating," and "Horizon."

LA regional advisor Claudia Harrington wanted to say "klutz" because her arm is in a cast, but instead, she decided her word would be "Bravery." Brava, Claudia!

Here's some live video of the RA Word Parade!



On behalf of all the members of SCBWI, Thank you, awesome SCBWI Regional Advisors for all that you do for us!


Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

Elizabeth Law Color Commentary, Part 5 - taking it home

Lee: Biggest mistake writers make according to ELaw is following a trend.

Paula: Oh, she's sharing some great books that she loves that came out recently. "Hunger Games." "Wintergirls."

Lee: I'm adding them to my To-Read pile right now.

Paula: She's also talking about knowing your book's hook.

Lee: You've gotta be able to hook your book.

Paula: You're rhyming, aren't you?

Lee: Thank you for noticing.

Paula: She's giving a good pitch example - not 2 minutes long, but for Egmont's "Leaving the Bellweathers," she's saying it's "The Addams Family meets Cheaper by the dozen."

Lee: That's really interesting that those aren't book references - they're TV series and movies!

Paula: Cheaper by the Dozen was originally a book. Often, using TV and movies is an effective way of getting across a high-concept idea.

Lee: And I certainly have an idea of what tone is of "Leaving the Bellweathers" from that.

Paula: Oh, now she's saying how she relies on agents to screen for her. They're weaning out a whole level of stuff before it gets to them. You know, she could go on the road doing a one-woman show.

Lee: ELaw. On Twitter. @EgmontGal. Get her while she's HOT!

Paula: And we're finishing with a huge round of applause for ELaw!

Lee: She has a motto! "No Nonsense!"

Applause...


Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

Elizabeth Law Color Commentary, Part 3

Lee: ELaw just said, Competition is stiff, so the writing has to be great. Oh, she reads on kindle - and just re-read "A Wrinkle In Time."

Paula: Is that a kindle in time?

Lee: You're Funny. Make that Punny.

Paula: Now here's a quote, "Man, I thought these books were so hot when I was a teenager..."

Lee: And she's saying that Now, for her to look back on them, the passion is there, but those books seem so chaste.

Paula: She's saying that the passion is the same, (even if we're a little more candid about it now.)

Lee: I love that she just admitted "I sort of am, kind of an eleven year old." That goes with my whole theory of we all write the age we arrested in our development. What age did you stop, Paula?

Paula: 15. No, actually, make it 12.

Lee: But wait a minute. You write picture books AND YA. Do you have two ages of arrested development?

Paula: That's my evil twin.

Lee: Oh, that explains it.

Paula: Stop - she's giving us some information now!

Lee: Well, let's go to a commercial break - we'll be right back for Elizabeth Law Color Commentary, Part 4

Disembodied Voice Over: Do you miss the moments of insight and laughter that actually attending an SCBWI conference can deliver to you? Do you follow our twitter feed, #SCBWI09, yet long for the one-on-one awkwardness of pitching ELaw while she's taking the up escalator? Are you reading this post with the hope that you'll get every single wonderful detail of being here, but you know there's 90 percent of the experience that can never be translated digitally?

Well then, get yourself to the next SCBWI conference. It's a career-changing, life-changing, tribal experience. And we hope to see you at the next one.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming (our color commentary, part 4).

Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

Color Commentary on Elizabeth Law's Keynote!

Hello! I'm Lee Wind, and welcome to this special edition of the S, C, B, W, I Team Blog coverage of Elizabeth Law's Keynote address to the multitudes. I'm joined here by the effervescent and insightful Paula Yoo. Paula, can you tell us what the official title of the speech will be?

Paula: From Johnny Tremain to Edward Cullen: How Children's Publishing is Changing, and how to meet the challenges head on.

Lee: While we're waiting for the crowd to simmer down, and for Lin's intro, what are some fun facts that our audience might not know about Elizabeth?

Paula: She was a girl scout leader. She was also a life guard.

Lee: Good skill set for her current gig, huh?

Paula: She's certainly keeping her head above water. She's really able to dive into her work.

Lee: And I bet she's a wiz at selling cookies!

Paula: I wonder what her favorite cookies are?

Lee: Hmmm... Rubber chicken cookies, perhaps?

Paula: With mushroom sauce.

Lee: lovely. Lin's taking the stage, let's tune in. Oh, the new joke category's being announced.

Lin: For this contest, think of a funny or hilarious psuedonym to go with a classic i.e. The Harry Potter series by Paige Turner.

Paula: I have a new nickname for her. "ELaw" Like JLo. Get it?

Lee: Okie-dokie then. Here's the ELaw intro. Let's listen in.

Click here for our Color Commentary, part 2



Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

Elizabeth Law Color Commentary, Pt. 2

And... we're off! Elizabeth Law is now speaking. (I have nicknamed her "ELaw," like JLo.)

LEE: I like the pink sweater and the chunky jewelry. It's a nice touch.

PAULA: I agree. The pink really shows off her lovely complexion.

LEE: Oh, she's now talking about Egmont. Did you know their profits go to a children's charity? She's feisty, fashion savvy, AND generous. Talk about fabulous!

PAULA: Only eight people in their company? Wow. I thought WE had a tough job. SCBWI TEAM BLOG is a picnic compared to the hard work ELaw and her staff does!

LEE: I like that she doesn't whine or complain. She's very positive. She says YA hardcover is growing and children's publishing is the growth area of publishing. Oh, and she's seeing better manuscript submissions now. That's awesome! But she says we have to up our game because the competition is stiff.

PAULA: Hey Lee! Where are you going?

LEE: (Running away) I have to go revise my manuscript!

PAULA: You have plenty of time for that! Come back for more ELaw jewels of wisdom!

LEE returns... click here for Part 3


Posted by Paula Yoo

Golden Kite Awards: Sid Fleischman Award Winner Donna Gephart

GOLDEN KITE AWARDS: SID FLEISCHMAN AWARD WINNER DONNA GEPHART

Donna Gephart's middle grade novel, As if Being 12¾ Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President!, won the 2009 Sid Fleischman Award. This award is for authors whose work exemplifies the excellence of writing in the genre of humor.

Although Sid Fleischman wasn't able to attend today's award, he wrote a speech in her honor that Stephen Mooser read out loud. Fleischman wrote, "This year's recipient knew at age 14 that she wanted to be a writer. She saved her babysitter money to buy a typewriter."

Fleischman praised Gephart's "irrepressible humor" which was not simply full of "ornamental quotes." He said she understood the true aim of comedy, that it was "tragedy wearing a putty nose."

Fleischman joked that Gephart "... also wins the award for the longest title."

Here are some highlights from Donna Gephart's speech:

-- She screamed so loudly after getting the congratulatory phone call from Lin Oliver and Stephen Mooser that "... I lost my voice for three days."

-- When describing herself growing up, Gephart said, "I was the quintessential nerd... and I still am."

-- "This is the only award of its kind to honor humorous children's books, and it's pretty special. Even though I've been writing humor of different sorts for over twenty years, sometimes it's nice to be taken seriously."

-- Her advice? "If you've ever heard the words 'never' or 'can't,' I have three words for you. 'YES YOU CAN!'"

Posted by Paula Yoo

Golden Kite Awards: SCBWI LA 2009 Portfolio Award Winners Announced

Congratulations to the winner and honorees of the SCBWI LA 2009 Portfolio Award contest! The Grand Prize winner and two Honor recipients, their art work, and websites are listed below:

Grand Prize: Israel Sanchez, http://www.israelsanchez.com/



Honor: Brian Ormiston, http://brianormiston.com/



Honr: Stephanie Roth Sisson, http://www.stephanitely.com/index.htm



Posted by Paula Yoo

DAN LAZAR: "How to Craft a Winning Query Letter: Secrets to Keep You Out of the Reject Pile"

DAN LAZAR: "How to Craft a Winning Query Letter: Secrets to Keep You Out of the Reject Pile"

Highlights from Dan Lazar, Writers House agent, panel on query letters:

-- Website recommendation: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com (his bio is listed here: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/DanielLazar/)

-- Want some of Dan's secrets to writing a query letter that ROCKS? Here are a couple tidbits:

1. "If you can write the Next Great American Novel, then you can write a great query letter. Period." Dan brought two real query letters to demonstrate what worked for him, and one "fake" letter to show what doesn't work. One letter showed the writer's voice, which intrigued Dan who wanted to see the writer's voice in the actual manuscript. So if your voice comes through in a query letter, that can help get you out of the "reject" pile!

2. If you have never been published and do not have any publishing credits, don't worry. No need to apologize or even bring that up. You don't need logos or colored paper to impress. And it doesn't hurt to open with "a specific familiar reference. "I'm a human being and I have feelings, so you should appeal to my vanity," he joked.

3. Do NOT start with "To whom It may concern"!

4. MAIN THEME: BE SPECIFIC. Dan cannot stress this enough. He says you should be as specific as possible in your query letter, from stating why you are interested in pursuing Dan as your agent, specific details about your bio, your manuscript etc.

5. Try to avoid "What if?" when describing your book's story in a query letter. It's a "good tool" he says for sparking plot ideas and brainstorming, but not for a query letter. He recommends being MORE SPECIFIC and using more original language instead of starting off with "What if..." when describing/introducing the plot of your book in the query letter.

6. For email queries: He says find out first if agents accept these - he does, FYI. Technical note: Do not include any HTML coding because that can result in inconsistent formatting and invite spammers.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Dan offered dozens of tips and secrets on how to write an effective query letter. It was a packed lecture hall and it was clear everyone appreciated Dan's helpful advice. Again, another reason to join SCBWI and attend these conferences for fantastic advice from veteran industry experts!

Posted by Paula Yoo

Blue Moon Ball: Paula's Party Pics

Good morning! Did everyone survive last night's insanely surreal and super fun Blue Moon Ball party? In case you can't remember what happened last night (LOL), here are three photos I snapped for evidence of the merrymaking... if you want to see more photos, please check out my website for a wrap up photo gallery later today at http://paulayoo.com

Picture No. 1: Jay Asher and I (Paula Yoo) found our Mojo! We did not plan out outfits together, but I was wearing a retro '60s blue velvet dress and white gogo boots (check out more pics later at my website), so I was delighted to discover Austin Powers himself was attending the Blue Moon Ball. Yeah, baby! :)

Picture No. 2: This was the official SCBWI drink this year - a Blue Moon Frozen Daiquiri! If you weren't able to make last night's party, don't worry, I made sure to have one for you! :)

Picture No. 3: This picture is proof that YES, men DO attend the national SCBWI conference. (The statistics are something like 10,297 women and 23 men at the conference. I found two of them, picture book authors, and had to snap their picture as proof of their existence. I call them the Blue Moon Prom Dudes. LOL.)

For more updates on the party and more pics, check out my website soon for more dish!

Posted by Paula Yoo

LAYAS Meet Up! (Los Angeles Young Adult Authors Drink and Cheer!)

Check out more about LAYAS (Los Angeles Young Adult Authors) here. And while they may not be very good acronym spellers (where's the other "a"?) their books are awesome!

And I know that, because our very own SCBWI Team Blogger Paula Yoo is a member!

Posted by Lee Wind

WENDY LOGGIA, "I Wanted to Love This: 7 Reasons Why Your Manuscript Gets Declined"

WENDY LOGGIA, "I Wanted to Love This: 7 Reasons Why Your Manuscript Gets Declined"

Delacorte editor Wendy Loggia's panel focused on the manuscripts that ALMOST were accepted but were not quite ready for primetime. (She was not focusing on manuscripts that were obviously not ready at all, she was focusing on the manuscripts that are ALMOST ready to go.) She felt these 7 tips would help SCBWI members and aspiring writers as they revised their manuscripts.

WENDY LOGGIA BIO: Executive editor of Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's books; the focus at Delacorte is almost exclusively on middle grade and YA novels. She is the editor of THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series by Ann Brashares, the GEMMA DOYLE trilogy by Libba Bray, as well as several debut novels by SCBWI members including Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT and Georgia Bragg's MATISSE ON THE LOOSE.

Wendy looks for a strong narrative voice, great stories, and for writers that display a clear authorial hand. She joked about spending "nine years crushing people's dreams" but then discussed the real reasons as to why she will pass on book submissions.

Some highlights from Wendy Loggia's panel:

-- She tells aspiring writers always to think about WHY someone will want to buy your book. They are going to pull out their wallet and spend 18 dollars or more, so make your book worth it.

-- She will pass on a manuscript that is "too similar to other novels I've worked on." Examples included writers who love THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series which she had edited, so they submit a novel just like it. She also says she will pass on books that are too similar to other books already in the marketplace. She says they have received a flood of similar Twilight vampire books, books about werewolves, etc.. "Instead of jumping on a trend, write what feels true to you."

-- Voice, voice voice. "I may love the concept, but I can't connect to the voice. The voice wasn't special enough, I don't see teens/tweens connecting to the voice, I think the voice is meant for adult readers. It may have great moments but if there's too much telling or not a compelling voice, I will pass on it."

-- Sometimes she will pass on a book if the author seems to be too much trouble to work with. "Working on a book is like a marriage," she says. "Editors and authors spend a lot of time together sharing ideas. It's not all fun and games. If person feels like trouble before process has even started, I don't want to get involved." She will google people who have submitted their work and read their blogs as part of her research to make her decision. She said "it's like a job interview."

These are just some of the tips she offered. All of Wendy's seven tips were all very helpful and telling to the standing-room only crowd at the main ballroom for both aspiring writers and published veteran writers. Again, another reason why this conference is so great - you get exclusive information that can really help you improve your writing and help you on your journey towards publication. 

Posted by Paula Yoo