Karen Cushman: Courting Surprise

Lin Oliver does not throw the world glorious around when she introduces just anyone, and this morning she is certainly not introducing just anyone. The SCBWI crowd will be starting off on the perfect note, better than any of the best cups of coffee could ever deliver, with the spectacular Karen Cushman.

Karen is the award-winning author of many books for kids, books that will stand the test of time. THE MIDWIFE'S APPRENTICE received the the Newbery Medal, and CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY  a Newbery Honor.

"A beautiful writer, a beautiful person, who lives on a beautiful island, is here to speak to us on this beautiful morning," Lin says, welcoming Karen to the stage.


When Karen writes she feels she offers her heart to her readers, and as she stands and speaks to us, she also offers us her heart.

Wow! Karen has just offered to be available to each and every person in the room, to help them attain their heart's desire.

Karen shares the many contradictory rules of writing. "Rules, rules, rules," she says. "Make your own rules. Or better yet, have no rules."

Karen believes we often give ourselves unconscious gifts when we write. A surprise.  "Read and reread your drafts, looking for the surprise."

"I learn a lot from reading other people's books."

"I suggest you read 100 books like the one you want to write. Or a thousand."

Now Karen admits she does have rules. Two of them.
1.Tell the truth.
2.Write with passion.

On a personal note, I feel as if Karen Cushman is sitting next me, holding my hand and giving it a pat, as she mentors me with great sincerity.

Melissa Sweet: Swinging Out: 10 Ways to Open New Doors for Designing Picture Books

If, like me, you misread this session's title and only saw a few keywords, let me correct you: this was NOT forty-five minutes of a Jim Morrison swingers sexcapade tell-all. But don't despair, Melissa's talk was just as saucy, only illustration focused.

Melissa with her Jim Morrison inspired adult toys.

No... those are PG-rated marionnettes, my mistake!

Truthfully, my Melissa Sweet love knows no bounds. I can't get enough of her! Melissa Sweet, you will remember, is the incredible dynamo behind Clementine, Balloons Over Broadway, A River of Words, The Boy Who Drew Birds, and on, and on.

Lee Wind did a great interview with her here, right after the Golden Kites were announced.

Here's what you missed if you didn't get to attend in person: 45 minutes of pure, dear genius, a complimentary copy of the new drawing book made by Melissa, full-color handout on color, live demo of watercolor/color theory, a bibliography on how to begin to be as awesome as Melissa, and her ten steps PLUS action items for improving your illustration work.

Team Blog will share two tips! But they're really just the tips of the amazing Melissa iceberg.

Tip #1 WORK EVERY DAY
Melissa read years ago that Joyce Carol Oates worked for four hours every day. That may not sound like a full day, but over the course of a year a significant amount of work gets done, and Oates is a ridiculously prolific author. Melissa thought she could do four hours, too, and she believes though it is not a possibility for everyone, it's a goal to work toward. She also advises that you don't think of this as cracking the whip on yourself, but as giving yourself four hours every day to engage with your materials and have fun, the work will flow from that.

Melissa's action item: Create a space and a time to practice (even if it's only a few minutes each day) with a material or medium you've been dying to try. Take a class! [Melissa is an admitted class junky]

Tip #8 JUST YOUR TYPE
Melissa's books are full of gorgeous, inventive, hand-lettered letters. She says if you're having trouble with a scene or spread in your book, try adding some hand lettering to it and see what happens.

Melissa's action item: Write out (hand-letter) a simple picture book slowly... In the spirit of onomotopoeia, write out "Baa-baa black Sheep" and make the letters feel the emotion with color and size.

Or Team Blog would give you this phrase to practice hand-lettering:

MELISSA SWEET IS THE SUN AND THE MOON AND THE STARS!

I'm sure all the other attendees of the session will join me in saying Melissa was amazing as usual, and any chance you get to see or hear her, take it.

LGBTQ Q&A

I'm so excited to be back covering the LGBTQ Q&A hosted by Lee Wind. This year the panel members included Arthur Levine, Sonya Sones, Natalie Fischer, and Neil Porter.

From the start, Arthur brought out a box of books from Scholastic featuring queer content and characters that he’s published just this year. Some of the titles include ABOVE and THE LETTER Q.

And although everyone was encouraged to see the increase in LGBTQ lit, the panel stressed that there is both room and need for more.  

Sonya and Arthur told the audience that to make authentic characters, find the related feelings--"love is love"--and make the connections. Arthur doesn't want authors to use the excuse of "getting it wrong," and that as writers we shouldn't be afraid of perception--there are all types of queer people. 

The audience was not only engaged, but having a lively and deep discussion about why and how to write LGBTQ content. Arthur really tried to encourage writers to set aside their worries and consider that their feelings aren't much different than that of the characters they want to write. If you're concerned that your character might be offensive, check your stereotypes and just write a good character. 

All in all, this was a great, safe space for authors to share what they're working on, and hear different perspectives.

Pizza Party & Book Sale!

For this year's SCBWI book sale honoring published attendees, we all gathered for a few hours of chatting, book shopping, and pizza eating! It's exciting to get a moment to talk with some of your favorite authors!

Some pictures!

                                                                     Kevin Emerson

 

Linda Joy Singleton

 

Stacey Jay

 

Wendy Higgins

 

And so many more!!

Dan Gutman Keynote: How A Dumbass Like Me Got 100 Books Published

Dan Gutman published his 100th book this year, and starts off his keynote with an informal poll - what's funnier, "nose hair" or "ear hair."

Nose hair wins.

With that burning topic settled, he launches into his

13 Keys to a successful career in children's books.
(Better than those 12 step programs. It has a whole extra step!)

And he's giving them to us in reverse order, to build suspense.

I won't share the stories and explanations of all of them (they're funny and profound) but here's a taste:

#13. Ignore all advice, including mine.

#11. Be a boxer. You gotta be tough.
He goes to schools with 100s of his rejection letters in a big binder to share with kids - he wants them to know that not everyone is successful right off the bat. You have to be like a boxer, take punch after punch. But then when you do achieve success, you get to laugh in the faces of those who rejected you. Ha!

#9. Don't get stuck in a rut. Try a different genre, shake it up. That's how he started the My Weird School series, but trying something new (and reverse-engineering Junie B. Jones...)

#6. Never write on an empty stomach. Always use paper. (okay, that one was a joke, but it was so funny, I had to share it!)

The rest of his tips have us laughing, and thinking, and applauding!

Gary Schmidt on Layering Characters

People. Gary Schmidt is a made of strong stuff. The man had back surgery three days ago. He flew cross-country to the conference--without pain meds--because he didn't want to seem loopy behind the lectern. Despite his discomfort, he hoisted a chair, acted the role of angry adult, and delivered mysterious manila envelopes to us, along with a stern warning NOT to open them.

I've never seen Jack Nicholson in "About Schmidt." But I'm pretty sure it's the Gary Schmidt biopic. And I'm even more certain that there's no one better than the Newbery Award-winning honor to show us a thing or two about developing character.

Some Gary Schmidt facts: It takes him about three years to write a book. A year for the draft, and two for the revision. As he works, he speaks with no one about it. Not even his wife. "This sometimes stresses us," he jokes.

"We need a slow accumulation of detail. We need that time," he says. "We live in a Mcdonald’s culture where everything should come to us in 45 seconds or less. Despite what American culture tells us, speed is never the friend of the writer."

Once we were finally allowed to open the envelopes, we found old photographs inside. He walked us through the process of creating a character based on the person in the photo. We generated a name. A way of walking. A way of sitting. A greeting and a farewell. How a character does these things reveals a great deal, he says.

He also talked about "idiolect," language that's specific to each character, as well as setting, which isn't a backdrop but something that reveals character and responds to what's happening. And he talked about what a character wants, an object that can sometimes be invested with metaphoric significance.

The hour flew by, highlighted by a Thanksgiving story featuring closed eyes, a prayer, and a dog's tongue.

If you have a chance to hear him speak, don't miss it. He's just as wonderful as his books (a few favorites below).

Ruta Septys' PROtrack Workshop: Media Prep: Author Tips for Radio, TV and Print Coverage

Ruta Sepetys is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Between Shades of Gray.”

Her debut novel is published in over 30 countries and 26 languages, is a Carnegie Medal nominee, a William C. Morris finalist, a New York Times Notable Book, a Wall Street Journal Best Children’s Book, iTunes Best Teen Novel, a SCBWI Crystal Kite Members Choice Award Winner, and the 2012 winner of the Golden Kite Award for Fiction. (She'll be awarded that statuette on Sunday at the Golden Kite Luncheon!)

In 2007 Ruta won SCBWI’s Work-In-Progress grant for Between Shades of Gray, and she credits SCBWI for her path to publication.

Ruta has become a master at Media, and has lots to share with us from doing press and media (radio, TV, print) in 20 different countries.

You need a one sentence description of your book, that covers character, setting, and time.  Hers for Between Shades of Gray is:

"My book is about the journey of a 15 year old Lithuanian artist who is deported to Siberia during World War Two."

Some of her advice:


90% of time, the host hasn't read your book, MAYBE they read the press release, but you need to drive the discussion.

Have at least three message points, which you can formulate by answering these questions:


What is the point that you want to make about your book?
What is unique about your book?
What do you want the world to know about your book?


One of her message points is:  

This is an untold story and the world knows very little of Stalin's purge of the Baltic region.

She also explained how message points need their corresponding sound bytes, 


the match for the above message point is:

"history holds secrets"

Ruta works with attendees on OUR message points and sound bytes, then goes into the dos and don't, nuts and bolts of being interviewed on radio, TV and in print.


She explains about Bridges and Pivots (Techniques to communicate your point without waiting for the perfect question and how to get to one of your message points.)


Ruta gives us her advice on how to be memorable, stay in control, what to realize when you're being translated, how to avoid being quoted for something you didn't intend, and even how to respond to aggressive questions from audiences.


The session is masterful - we're laughing at all the mishaps that happened to Ruta and the horror stories she's sharing, but at the same time we're learning that we're the beneficiaries of her experience... as she said at the session's start, this is the workshop she wishes she could have taken before she sold her book...


It was, in a word:


Invaluable.

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."

Christina Gonzalez—A Book Like Me: Diversity in Children’s Literature

Christina Gonzalez is a SCBWI success story, and she is the author of the award-winning novel THE RED UMBRELLA, and the upcoming A THUNDEROUS WHISPER. Christina shared that THE RED UMBRELLA was originally a picture book, then turned novel with Random House. 

From the get go, Christina had the audience engaged. How is multi-cultural different? Secret-it’s not different. You have to write a good story with strong characters. The nuisances are what make it special.

Readers should be able to see themselves, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a reflection. Write what calls to you. Make it YOU as you write it. 

Christina talked about how 90% of books have white protagonists, while 50% of kids today are not. It’s our job to show the different stories. Not just in ethnicity, but also in sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

Ethnicity can be found anywhere-a "white" woman in Iowa could have an amazing family history of a grandmother who immigrated from Germany, marrying a Jewish man. There is ethnicity in her life—different cultures.

Christina then had the audience work on a writing exercise where they had to think beyond their life—imagine a character of a different ethnicity, and think about some of the challenges or triumphs. But here’s the difference of how to write outside of your comfort zone—look at the emotions the character experienced, and relate it to an emotion you felt that was similar.

 

It was an inspiring session that I highly recommend to all writers. 

Patricia Maclachlan: Revising My Life

Lin Oliver tells us we are all in for a the treat of a lifetime, and I'm certain we are.

Patricia Maclachlan is the celebrated and beloved author of many books for kids, including SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL which won the Newbery Medal.

Patricia starts with, "I'm sorry I have no scandals or murders. It's just really boring in my books."

Okay, Lin was right, we are in for a treat. Patricia already has the crowd is in stitches.

Patricia reads us a picture book called THE WRITER and the crowd busts up.

She now enjoys spying on her young grandchildren and listening to their conversations, and she's written a great conversation down to share with the audience. Her personal stories are lovely and hilarious, and truly can only be relayed through the lips of Patricia Maclachlan.

This, my friends, is just one of those times when I have to say, "I'm sorry you're not here to listen to this."

And now Patricia is singing to us. Aww!

A boy once asked her, "Is there anything about your writing that surprises you?

Patricia has made connections with the words and actions of her kids, and her grandchildren. She's had many of the same experiences and emotions. She answered the boys question:

"I write and revise my books all the way from childhood."

And he responded with, "I know that."

The great educator, Maria Montessori, once said, "The child endures all."

Patricia Maclachlan adds, "The child knows all."

Sara Shepard: Scandals, Lies, and Murders: How to Maintain Momentum in a Series

Sara Shepard is the author behind the wildly successful PRETTY LITTLE LIARS--a fourteen book series--and THE LYING GAME. Her keynote focuses on the tips and rules she follows to keep her series fresh.

A few of her rules:
-Always know who the murderer is from the start
-Always incorporate the red herring
-You have to be willing to change






Sara spoke about how some of her ideas came about, how she got in the business, and where she plans to go with the series. Back when first starting out, Sara was a ghost writer--learning the craft from working on tight deadlines and being professionally edited.

Sara writes very detailed outlines to to keep on track. PRETTY LITTLE LIARS publishes about every six months, so she feels the outlines help with the tension, among other things. But then some of her ideas show up while she's writing. Sara tells the audience some of the things that she finds interesting about her characters, and how to create that interest in your own series.

It was fun to hear her thoughts on her books being adapted into the popular TV series. And then we were all treated to a few spoilers for PRETTY LITTLE LIARS!!

Lissa Price: How to Apply Screenwriting Techniques to Make Any YA Book Better

Lissa Price is author of the debut novel STARTERS, an international bestseller. She is hard at work on the sequel, ENDERS.

Lissa switched from writing screenplays to writing novels because there are advantages: You’re able to get inside a readers head; The industry is kinder; You can write a book from anywhere in the world.

Lissa believes her writing process, with a screenwriting background, made her debut experience much easier. Some of that ease came from the having a high concept book.

Lissa asks: What does your logline look like?

A logline is one or two sentences that encapsulates your book in a wonderful way.

Movie example: A lawyer cannot tell a lie for 24 hours. (Liar Liar)

A treat for the crowd: Lissa is taking loglines from the audience and helping to focus and strengthen them.

Some tips on building the pitch:

• ·      Identify the genre.
• ·      Who’s the main character?
• ·      What makes her unique?
• ·      What’s the inciting incident?
• ·      What is the main character’s goal?
• ·      Identify the major conflict your character will face.
• ·      What are the consequences if she fails?

Recommended reading:

STORY by Robert McKee

SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder

THE WRITER’S JOURNEY by Christopher Vogler

THE SCREENWRITER'S PROBLEM SOLVER by Syd Field

Neal Porter: Drawing Words and Writing Pictures

Neal admits he stole his title from Matt Madden and Jessica Abel's mega-awesome comics making series, but in this instance it's referring to picture books, not comics.

Neal gives us three case studies (Team Blog will just share one):

Ready, Stead, Go!

Remember the amazing Rukhsana Khan from last year's Golden Kite lunch? Here she is with Erin and Philip! From Rukhsana's website http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/

To start off, how Neal met Philip. Books of Wonder is a hotbed of creative energy, says Neal, many of the current and past booksellers there, like Nick Bruel, George O’Connor, Jason Chin, are now well-published book makers, Neal calls them the Books of Wonder Mafia. It was one of these mafiosos that introduced Neal to the work of Philip and Erin Stead.

The Steads, Neal says, they never argue! And work together all day in an airy, Midwest studio. 

Don't miss photographer Nicole Haley's awesome blogpost about the Steads.
http://www.nicolehaleyblog.com/behind-the-scenes-of-a-sick-day/

Neal relates a story about meeting Erin and how he secretly saw her work—some of this story you can find in the Caldecott speech for A Sick Day for Amos McGee (or in the back issue of a Horn Book, or two.)

Neal shares some before and after text of Amos, Philip’s original, with Neal’s edit requests, which brought Amos’s character to a deeper and sweeter level.

Neal shares a photo of Erin’s bust of Amos, as well as the evolution of Erin’s sketches of the zoo animals, her woodblock process. I love Neal's parting words on the (surprise to them) success of Amos:

“It makes me a little teary that a quiet book, that doesn’t have sparkles on its cover or scream can still find success in this complicated market and world.”

Second Case Study: A Ballet For Martha

I don’t want to over share Neal’s session, but I have to mention Brian Floca’s superb artwork for this picture book, and how Neal refound Brian via Brian’s friend's website (another NP-er, the illustrious Johanna Wright!). And it was just a teensy thumbnail of a drawing of a fashion show in Brian’s online portfolio (very different from art Neal knew from Brian's books like the more technical Moonshot) that led to Neal picking Brian for this book.

Illustrators, never underestimate the power of virtual friendships and sharing a range of your best styles in your online portfolio!

E.B. Lewis' Workshop "Mastering The Visual Language"

E.B. Lewis presents to a room full of illustrators

E.B. Lewis has illustrated 57 books for children in the last 17 years!

His works include Nikki Grimes' Talkin' About Bessie: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman, the 2003 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award Winner; Alice Schertle's Down the Road, an ALA Notable Book; Tolowa M. Mollel's My Rows and Piles of Coins, an ALA Notable Book and a Coretta Scott King Honor Book; Bat Boy and His Violin by Garvin Curtis a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and Jacqueline Woodson's The Other Side, a 2002 Notable Book for the Language Arts.

Part of the Workshops for Illustrators series (twelve illustrator workshops across six time slots over the three conference days), E.B. is excited to take us on his journey of Mastering Story.

Toni DeTerlizzi's keynote was so resonate, E.B. started out speaking about the importance of imagination for illustrators, quoting Picasso,

All children are artists, the trick is to maintain that.

He talks about how illustrators have to develop a voice, and references the 10,000 hours to master something (a powerful idea from Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers.)

Like learning a spoken language, where you need to learn the parts of speech so you can articulate the finer details, the same is true for illustrators.  You're presented a manuscript and you have to visually tell the story, re-tell the story.

He talks about the importance of doing your research, that

"we have to dig so deep to the point where we actually smell it."

For his upcoming Trouper the Three-Legged Dog (written by Meg Kearney), E.B. had to illustrate a three-legged dog.  So he had to go find a three-legged dog, and when he did, he saw how it walked.  How the tail reached out to one side to compensate.  He wouldn't have known that unless he'd done his research.


He loves Texture.  Light.  Direction.  Nuance.  Putting his own emotions into it.  In fact, he defines his voice as an illustrator as "Emotion."

When E.B. sits to do a book, he figures out his beginning, middle and end images.  That way the story is being told sequentially, it flows.  He's illustrating that with the book he illustrated, The Negro Speaks Of Rivers.

And also with the classic picture book, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.  E.B. is explaining how the illustrations, page turn after page turn, tell the story, even without the words.  It's remarkable.

He shares a short film clip about passion and creativity, perception and inspiration...

And E.B.'s words resonate for us,

"Writers write.  Painters paint.  Dancers dance.  Don't do it to get published.  Do it because you love it."

And then,

"As long as you are true and honest in your work, they will come and find you."

Ari Lewin: Writing Fantasy

Putnam editor Ari Lewin took a different approach to her Writing Fantasy workshop—following the advice often given to writers: Show, don’t tell. 

Ari had members from the packed audience read the openings from books like THE GOLDEN COMPASS and ARTEMIS FOWL. Using the examples, she pointed out why they worked so well. It was an informative list of dos and don’ts. 

So what are some of Ari’s dos?

Number one, characterization. You have to make the reader care so that they’re willing to go on this journey. She gave the audience tips on how to achieve this, and pens were furiously scribbling down her suggestions.

One of her major don’ts is over explanation in the beginning of the book. Show us the world. Don’t tell us. We learn so much about characters from how they interact, what they say. Find the right way to work in the world building, otherwise the reader won’t be invested. 

She ended with a great Q&A session, leaving the audience with inspiration to use on their own fantasy novels. For me, her best advice was to be genuine—your fantasy should be transparent and honest.  And she also introduced me to instagram which I will start using non-stop.

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."