The Autograph Party

Almost the moment Mo Willems' keynote speech ended, people started lining up to get their books signed and we kid you not, the line ran the length of a football field (that's 100 yards, for those of you unfamiliar with the sport, or 91.44 meters if you're Canadian).

It's no wonder people are so excited to have their books inscribed, when you share the room with the likes of Julie Andrews, Mo Willems, Shaun Tan, Jane Yolen, Tomie dePaolo ...

We could and should go on, but we'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Mo Willems

Shaun Tan fans standing in a queue (do they say that in Australia?)

Shaun Tan

Mark Teague and Floyd Cooper

Meg Rosoff and David Ezra Stein

Lin Oliver and Theo Baker

Tomie DePaola and Jane Yolen

Margaret Peterson Haddix and Matthew Kirby

Arthur Levine is a full-service editor. Here, he's opening
the book to the right page for an inscription.

Pre-#NY13SCBWI Interview with Matthew Kirby

Matthew Kirby is the award-winning author of The Clockwork Three, Icefall, and book five of the forthcoming Infinity Ring series. He was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, and has been nominated for the Edgar Award, the Agatha Christie Award, and won the Parents’ Choice Award Gold Medal.

He'll be on faculty at the upcoming 14th Annual SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City, February 1-3, 2013, presenting as part of the sold-out Friday intensive ELEMENTS OF THE NOVEL: A WORKSHOP FOR WRITERS, giving a talk titled: "Form Not Formula."

In this excellent interview with Matthew, Jolie Stekly found out about his shift from writing for adults to writing for young people, how Ursula Le Guin has influenced him, and gets Matthew to describe the best and worst parts of his writing process. There's even a quote from Richard Peck!

While the Friday Intensives are sold out, there are a limited number of spaces still available for the Saturday and Sunday of the 2013 SCBWI Winter Conference.  You can find out more details and register here. 

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee

A Taste Not A Transcript: Blogging Advice In Latin

Thanks, Matthew!

SCBWI Success Stories: How I Did It

MATTHEW KIRBY

After seven years of continuous rejection in the adult writing world, Matthew thought about how many of his joys involved children. That's when it seemed clear that he should be writing for kids. He began to google and look for an organization that could help him do just that, which is how he discovered SCBWI. His publishing connections started with his regional chapter in Utah, where he connected with his agent.

One of Matthew's biggest mistakes is that he almost gave up when he met his agent. Meeting him gave Matthew the burst he needed to keep going.

A great piece of advice Matthew received was to give himself permission to treat writing like a career.

JENNIFER BOSWORTH

Jennifer says the theme of her journey has been, "Fake it 'til you make it." Jennifer took what she learned from writing screenplays, and the idea of high concept, and used it as she wrote her debut novel, STRUCK. 

Jennifer had an interesting strategy to her pitch: she listened to a song to get her psyched beforehand. She had ten minutes to pitch.  She only took about one minute to talk about the book and she used the rest of the time to have a conversation, and ask questions.

Since, her involvement with SCBWI has started. "This organization is so great because it gives you a community of people who understand."

PAMELA WELLS

Pamela's story starts in college with a guy. A guy who broke up with her. She wanted to tell her story. So she began to write it, pouring the story out on the page. In writing her story, Pamela didn't realize many of the rules, but she met with an editor at an SCBWI conference who was interested, and it snowballed from there.

Pamela is the bestselling author of the HEARTBREAKERS and CRUSHES. The movie adaptation of Heartbreakers is scheduled for release in 2013, starring Selena Gomez.

Pamela suggests writing the book you would write for free and you can't lose.

EUGENE YELCHIN

In 2006, Eugene received a Tomie de Paola award at the SCBWI winter conference. Since he's had great success include receiving a 2012 Newbery Honor for BREAKING STALIN'S NOSE.

Eugene says he started with beginners luck. "If you write to please other people you won't get published." Eugene believes publication can't be the goal. You need to write for yourself. You will get an agent, you will get an editor if you write something that will resonate with readers.

"Don't stand in the way of your intuition."

Matthew Kirby on Narrative Structure: Form, Not Formula

Matthew Kirby, who appears
in color in real life

Matthew Kirby is the award-winning author of THE CLOCKWORK THREE, ICE FALL, and the fifth book in the forthcoming INFINITY RING series. You can learn more about him at his website.

The former school psychologist talked to a packed and exuberant room about ways to "tap the universal" in storytelling.

He started by saying that Lin asked him to do a presentation on “plot.”

"Plot has a negative connotation in some circles," he said. "So I kind of was switching from thinking of plot to thinking of form. “That somehow feels a little more respectable when you’re talking about literary qualities in fiction.”

What is form in story? 

He showed us a photo of a winding road, and the structure holding up a house. In the images, you see what’s in place, but you’re aware of what’s missing.

“When I think of form, structure, plot, this is what I think of it," he said. "It’s the armature, the structure to give your story a shape and a direction. It communicates to the reader what kind of space they’re going to inhabit, but it’s not a story until you’ve put somebody in that structure, on that road.”

What gives a story meaning to Matthew?

• It has to resonate with me. I can read something about it and I identify with it. I find something familiar in it.
• It illuminates, challenges, and expands our understanding of the world around us.
• It helps us to ask questions, and maybe arrive at the answers to our questions.

He reminded us what Richard Peck has said: The story should be the QUESTION, not the ANSWER.


To understand story structure is to have talent. 

Matthew quoted the science fiction writer Samuel R. Delaney: Talent for writing is the ability to:

• Perceive
• Internalize
• And submit to models.

What he means by that: Whatever it is you’re trying to write, there are models of that thing. Talent begins when we perceive these models. That means we have to read a lot and then perceive the core of that. You have to internalize it to such a degree that you no longer think of it in specifics. You might run into trouble if you violate the terms of the contract (veer from the model too much).

A few great quotes:

• "Create a character people love, and then make life as hard for them as you possibly can."
• “There are only so many [plot models] but there's no limit to the..stories that can be told within those models.”
• “Story is an act of meaning-making in all of its forms. It's an attempt to contain some aspect of life."
• "Trust the characters and events you've set in motion."
• "It all comes back to characters. Without them, you have an empty building, an empty road."