Readers are Smart CONTEST

Child readers are even smarter.

"Whenever you write, whatever you write, never make the mistake of assuming the audience is any less intelligent than you are." -Rod Serling

"The audience is not only amazingly sensitive, but as it settles into a darkened theatre its collective IQ jumps twenty-five points. When you go to the movies, don't you often feel you're more intelligent than what you're watching?... The audience is not only smart, it's smarter than most films...It's all a writer can do, using all the craft he's mastered, to keep ahead of the sharp perceptions of a focused audience." - Robert McKee

You often hear the platitude of not "writing down" to kids, but McKee's quote, from his book on screenwriting, struck me. Is it true? Do I really get smarter when I walk into a movie theatre?

I think the answer is yes.

The reason lies in the amazing capacity of the human brain to synthesize information and find patterns. Sometimes that intake of information happens on a subconscious or purely emotional level. We sense danger, but we're not sure why. A slight change in ambient sound, and we're running to the bathroom, convinced the toddler's gotten into the shaving cream again. A small quirk of a man's smile, and we're certain that he's hiding a dark secret.

Movies are a tremendous barrage of information, and we are captivated by them, fully immersed in an alternate world for a couple of hours. Images, sounds, dialogue, facial expressions ... a thousand bits of information a second, and our brain soaks it up, processes it, and spits back out a pattern, an organized understanding...a story.

Books are captivating in a different, but similar, way. The movie plays in our heads, created by the script we read on the page. But it's even more powerful, because we fill in our own nuances, expressions, motivations. And we can dive into the character's heads, something movies don't allow. We KNOW what that character is thinking as he sneaks down the darkened hallway, creeping up on the rusted shut door with the ominous looking key dangling in the lock. Don't open the door! we shout, because the writer has led us to believe there's something wicked that way.

How do you stay one step ahead of this terribly brilliant person, the reader?

Master the craft and form of storytelling. Layer in clues, but not too many. Raise the tension and pace, so they don't have time to think before the twist is upon them. Make it impossible to predict, but obvious in retrospect.

These things are hard, but no one ever said writing was easy.

And never, ever assume your reader isn't smart enough to figure it out. Especially if they are children.

"You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children." -Madeleine L'Engle

Speaking of smart readers, I have some of the most erudite in the blogosphere! To celebrate reaching my 300th follower mark, I'm hosting a giveaway this week!

PRIZES!
1) A book of your choice. No, it doesn't have to be erudite literature. Yes, it can be brain candy. It's your choice. No judgment here. :)

2) A twenty page critique of the opening of your WIP by yours truly.

Those are TWO separate prizes, so please indicate which one you want to be entered for (or both! Also an option!).

RULES!
1) Be a follower (this is a follower celebration after all).

2) Tweet if you like, Facebook if you can, but you MUST leave a comment. Else, how will I know you were here? All comments, in any post this week, count! But leave one by 9 am EST Friday, when I will pick and post the winner.

3) Use a big word today. Out loud. Or I'll send a sparkly vampire after you. (Also, you could share it in the comments, if you would like to broaden our vocabularial horizons. Yes, I made that noun an adjective. Have a problem with that?)

Most importantly ... THANK YOU to all my delightful followers! You help make this ethereal piece of the blogosphere a writerly home, and I love you for it!

p.s. As if ONE giveaway isn't enough, check back tomorrow for another cool contest announcement! :)

Point of View in Kidlit

Boundless

Tagging onto our discussion of Big Words on Monday, this happened yesterday ...

Mighty Mite (7yo): "What four words do you think describe me?"
Me: "Um...short, jumpy, fun, and cute?"
Mighty Mite: "Unbelievable, Boundless, Exciting, and Radical." (reading from the YMCA camp brochure)

The Moral: Point of View is Everything.

That Mighty Mite can read those words shows he's an advanced reader, but more importantly, I love the way he self-identifies as someone strong, capable ... "Boundless." What a perfect word! He reads those words and thinks of himself, which is one of many reasons why we shouldn't strip those complex words out of kidlit. By only allowing our young protagonists to think in words a "typical" seven year old would use, we limit the world they can imagine. (I'd like to know where that "typical" seven year old is, because the seven year olds I know are all unique.)

This little exchange is also a case study in Point of View. What we see as adults (children are short) is not at all what they perceive (I. AM. BOUNDLESS.). This unrestrained, unlimited view of the world is one of the things I love about kidlit, and why I write it. Everything is new. Anything is possible. The jadedness of the world has yet to set in. The most dire things can happen, and yet there is a thorough expectation that good will triumph over evil.

I think this essential character of youth - that the world is filled with endless possibilities - is a key part of getting the middle grade Voice down. More than a "smaller word" vocabulary or childish way of speaking. It is this Viewpoint -  a fresh vantage point, gazing up at a boundless universe - that determines a child's Point of View.

p.s. the reading level of this blog post (as well as Mighty Mite's words) is 6.5 (sixth grade, fifth month). He's in second grade. Even if those words had to be read to him (as opposed to reading them himself), there's great value in having them a part of his world.

p.p.s. Awesome regular commenter Darby Karchut is my 300th follower! Which makes me think we need a follower contest to celebrate ... I shall ponder that over the weekend. Have a great one!

Ink Spells talks Dogsled Dreams

Dogsled Dreams is a debut novel by Terry Lynn Johnson about a girl who dreams of racing her dogs in the frozen north. This middle grade novel is fast-paced, stuffed full of doggy goodness and racing lingo, and charmed the anorak off me from the very first page. Johnson has created a story that will appeal equally to 7-year-old boys who love puppies and 12-year-old girls who dream of being on American Idol. That is quite a feat, and mark me impressed.

Rebecca lives with her dad and step-mom, raising their Alaskan Huskies. She dreams of being a champion musher and doesn't shy away from the hard, cold work of caring for the dogs she loves. But will her dad ever let her run her own team? Or even race? One doggy adventure after another pulls Rebecca and her team toward the fame she imagines in her hilarious daydreams of success. And throughout, Rebecca's love for her dogs shines as bright as the northern snow.

I wish I knew the reading level of this book, but it doesn't shy away from the Big Words we discussed on Monday, with beautiful descriptions of the dogs and their snowy world. There's even a glossary in the back with all the dog mushing terms, and a teacher's guide on Johnson's website. But I'm sure this would be a challenging read for young advanced readers, and a simply delightful story for the older ones. Except for the occasional porcupine quill encounters, there's no violence to speak of in this lovely book. I highly recommend Dogsled Dreams for advanced readers as young as five.

RL: n/a CSM: n/a Rating: G Content: good, clean fun

See this interview of Terry on KarenG's blog.

Tiny Word Demons and Using Big Words

Writing It Sideways has a great post on filter words ... those sneaky little words that put space between the reader and the protagonist, keeping the reader from being immersed in your story world. Words like to wonder, to think, to touch ... The post has fantastic examples of how not to use these words in your prose.

Word choice strongly influences how we sculpt the world of our story. Creating slang or lingo for your world can add word choices that pull the reader in even more, but even subtle changes in words can flavor your story. Words like luster instead of shiny or tenuous instead of weak. Of course picking the just right verb turns jump into spring or pounce, which are entirely different things. I'm not suggesting using aphotic when murky will suffice, but writers shouldn't be afraid to use "big words" in children's literature. How else will children learn how to use these words, if authors don't use them in gloriously well-drawn context?

(picture) Sue Me! Haha. Ok, I'll stop.

Some middle grade (and young adult!) authors (and possibly editors?) believe that the language in these books must be "dumbed down" to be accessible to kids. But I look to the masters for examples in this regard.

One of my favorite authors, Lemony Snicket, outright teaches vocabulary:

Eavesdropping - a word which here means 'listening in on interesting conversations you are not invited to join' - is a valuable thing to do, and it is often an enjoyable thing to do, but it is not a polite thing to do, and like most impolite things, you are bound to get into trouble if you get caught doing it.

Another favorite, Scott Westerfeld, blithely rolls the vocabulary list out and mixes with generous helpings of political intrigue and adventure:

Dr. Barlow looked away. "Yes, the loris was designed with a high degree of nascent fixation. Like a baby duck, it bonds with the first person it sees."

Glorious, I tell you! Makes me want to go around saying, nascent fixation. That, or barking spiders, because Westerfeld is a master of lingo as well.

Kids love these words - LOVE THEM. Especially lingo, because they have an innate love of something shiny and new that leaps out and captures their imagination. I don't shy away from using big words, but I think I'll be more intentional with them in my next middle grade novel. Because kids slurp them up like ambrosia stolen from the gods.

Do you intentionally choose your words, or do you write in your native vocabulary, the one you naturally carry around in your head? Do you try to dumb down or smarten up your word choices, depending on your audience?

Questions Answered: Writing and Family

I asked for questions, and you came up with some great ones! This is the last one...

Margo asks: Do you feel as a writer that non-writing world (e.g. family, friends, co-workers etc) just don't "get" you? What's the first reaction you get when you tell people you're an author? What kind of reaction do you get when you tell them you write SF for kids/teens?

Lots o' questions!

First, I don't expect my family and friends to "get" me as a writer, any more than I expected them to "get" me as Ph.D. engineer studying global warming. My family and friends each "get" a certain aspect of me, and that's why we have the bonds that we do - I don't expect all of them to get all of me. The hubs will attest that I'm impossible to figure out anyway, so it's probably best that they don't try.

However, I do expect my close friends and family to respect and support my writing endeavors, and they uniformly do, even if they only vaguely know what I do with all my time. 


Exhibit A: My father-in-law read my teen love story. I think it was the first romance he had ever read.


Exhibit B: My mother-in-law isn't a big reader. She gave me this bag instead (aw, isn't she cool?)

Exhibit C: My friends often ask about my writing.

Them: "How's the writing going?"

Me: "Good! Really good. I'm working on the new teen novel. Also drinking tea." 

Them: "Uh, ok. Cool. Do you write at Starbucks?"

Occasionally, I'll try to dive into a writing topic with the hubs. 

Me: "I'm trying to rewrite the opening, but I just can't find the exact subplot I need to carry it to the Inciting Incident. I mean, I know that it has to matter to my MC, something vital to her character and that gives her a choice to make, so I can totally SHOW her reaction, but I'm just not clear yet on what would really hook and compel the reader forward."

Him: "Uh, ok. Cool. Do you want to go to Starbucks?"

Mostly, I talk shop with my writing buddies. WHICH IS WHY I LOVE ALL OF YOU.


When people first find out I'm a writer, it usually goes something like this...

Dental Hygienist (chatting me up): "So do you work?"

Me (wondering when the dentist is going to show up): "Well, sort of. I'm a writer. I don't make much money, but it is a lot of work."

DH: "Really? Wow! That's cool."

Me: "Yeah, I like it."

DH: "What do you write?"

Me: "Books for kids and teens. My first novel came out last summer. It's a teen love story."

DH: "No way! I have a niece who's a teenager! She would totally love that!"

Me: "Here, you can see if she'd like it." (hands her a postcard of the book)

DH(looking over the postcard): "Can I keep this?"

Me: "Sure. I hope she likes it."

DH: "She'll be so excited! I'll tell her I met a real live author!"

(enter dentist)

I'm stunned that people think it's a big deal, but they do. Which is awesome. Most people that know me and my background as a scientist/engineer/elected official are surprised to find I write at all. But once they do, they're surprised I write anything other than science fiction! But writing for kids seems to make sense to them, since my public life on the school board and my private life as a mom all rotate around kids.


I'll admit that it helps to have a book they can hold in their hands. I didn't actually come out as a writer (like it's something to hide!) until I started to get serious about it. But even before I had a book under contract, the reactions were about the same. People thought it was vaguely cool, and then wanted to talk about something else.


Which is fine with me. But I can't imagine writing in a time when I didn't have access to some of the finest writer-friends via the interwebs. I am sure that I would never have made it this far.

Ink Spells talks with Kai Strand, Author of The Weaver

Today, I'm delighted to have Kai Strand, author of the newly released middle grade book The Weaver on Ink Spells to talk about moving, writing, and publishing with her small press, Guardian Angel Publishing.

Serendipitously meeting Kai on Twitter and FB is one of the reasons I love the blogosphere. And her novel The Weaver - just out with a small press - fits nicely in with our small press theme from last week. 

Me: I read from your bio that you moved to California and fought to lose your Midwestern accent. I did the same thing in reverse (trying not to stand out as a Valley Girl in downstate Illinois)! What was/is the favorite place you’ve ever lived?

Kai: I have fond memories of each place.  You can’t find nicer people than in the Midwest. The weather and the shimmering ocean made California worthwhile and the blue, blue sky and stunning Cascade vistas of Central Oregon are a daily treat for me.

Me: Do the places you’ve lived inform your novels?

Kai: Yes, absolutely.  One advice in writing is, “Write what you know.” I think drawing on familiarity when developing setting in a novel can free your creative juices to make up the character and conflict.  When creating the village of The Tales for, The Weaver, I used aspects of a small village in the French Alps that I visited when I was thirteen. Quaint, close-knit, isolated community.

Me: Cool! And that adorable French village looks like it came to life on the cover of your book. Your bio also said that Harry Potter inspired you to write, which I find all kinds of awesome! Whatever happened to that first novel completed? Trunk? Deleted? Lovingly bound and shelved?

Kai: I still love that novel. And I have a special place in my heart for the very first fantastic character I thought up.  A “Molly.” A cross between a mole and a trolley. No better way to get around in the Underworld.  As a matter of fact, that manuscript is currently sitting on my Kindle awaiting a re-read. I’m not one to give up easily.

Me: Maybe we'll get to see a Molly come to life some day as well! Congratulations on your debut novel, The Weaver. It sounds like an entrancing tale! Tell us a bit about it…

Kai: Thank you! I’m so excited to see my little book out in the world.

As I mentioned earlier, The Weaver is set in a fictional town named, The Tales. The villagers are known as word weavers.  Mary’s mother, Abigail, is the most renowned weaver of them all, yet poor Mary suffers through her third year of Novice Word Weaving. Mary thinks her troubles are over when she meets a gnome-elf who grants her a wish.  But instead of weaving a better story, she's weaving strange yarn charms to accompany her still pathetic tales.

The Weaver is a lyrical story with a little magic and a lot of storytelling.

Me: Where can we find The Weaver?

Kai: The Weaver is offered electronically as well as in both hardcover and paperback. You can order it:

• Direct from the publisher, Guardian Angel Publishing, where you can also read an excerpt from the book
• From Amazon, where you will find some really nice reviews
• Or online from Barnes and Noble if you happen to be a member.

Me: I’m a fan of small publishers, so I was intrigued by the fact that your debut novel came through a middle grade (and picture book) small publisher. Guardian Angel Publishing is a young company, riding the wave of e-book publishing by offering both middle grade and picture books as e-books, including some that are “enhanced” e-books with music! Guardian Angel also publishes in hardcover and paperback. Can you tell us about how you found Guardian Angel, and the journey of The Weaver to publication?

Kai:  I’m going to whisper this next part, I used to be a bit of a snob about small publishers. I really thought the big publishers were where it’s at.  Then I met the owner of Guardian Angel and several of the authors and artists at a local book signing.  Hearing them talk about the vision of the company was so inspiring. It was just before they launched their interactive online magazine Guardian Angel Kids which is a wonderful, safe place for kids. GAP has always published electronically (pdf, .epub and now .mobi for Kindle) and is already publishing picture books for the Ipad and is poised to launch them for color readers (if they haven’t already, honestly I can’t keep up).  And of course it also does the traditional print, so as not to leave anyone out.  It struck me as so forward thinking and the group is close and supportive.  I’m so blessed to have found such a great home for The Weaver.  I want my book to do well for GAP as much as for myself.

Me: I know what you mean, that sense of wanting the publisher to succeed as much as your own book, because of that family feel with a small press! In Michelle Argyle's series of posts about small publishers, she talks about the different distribution channels for small publishers. What kinds of distribution channels does Guardian Angel Publishing have access to (i.e. do they mainly go through online distributors like Amazon and Barnes&Noble, or do they partner with other distributors like AtlasBooks?) Does Guardian use print-on-demand technology, or did they make a print run for your book?

Kai:  The print and ebooks are available through the standard online retailers, Amazon and B & N. They are also offered direct from the publisher.  Wholesalers, such as libraries, bookstores, schools and churches can order through the wholesale link on the book’s page, on the publisher’s website, or through Ingrams.  I think there are a few more distribution channels – especially for ebooks, but those are the main ones.

Guardian Angel does use a print on demand distributor.  There seems to be some old wives tales about p.o.d. or something, because many people hiss when they hear “print on demand.” I’ve even heard of bookstores refusing to carry books because of it.  I simply don’t understand the logic and hope to help change the bad reputation of p.o.d.  The books GAP puts out are beautiful, high quality books. There is a return policy. And there isn’t a warehouse stuffed full of books that may never end up shipping anywhere.  For today’s green and sustainable world, p.o.d. is really practical.

Me: In addition to The Weaver, you also have several middle grade short stories published. Did you write short fiction at the same time you were working on The Weaver? Or did the short fiction come first? Which form do you prefer and why?

Kai:  I work mostly on my novels now, venturing into the world of shorts when the spirit moves me.  However writing short stories as well as picture book manuscripts (which I’ve written a number of) have been an important process to learning my craft.  Writing for children -- whether a picture book or a young adult fantasy – needs to be tight and concise. You really learn a LOT about making proper and strong word choices when you are trying to fit an entire story arc into 1000 words or less.

Me: What other books (or short fiction) do you have in the works?

Kai: Oh, there is always something, isn’t there?  I’ve got a couple out on submission right now, a middle grade, contemporary fiction (my first contemporary) and a young adult fantasy.  Send up extra good wishes on those, please.  My current WIPs (works in progress) are a middle grade about a young girl who wants to be princess material, but isn’t quite made that way, and a paranormal young adult novel about a couple who is separated by death and how their attempts to reunite define the lives of their loved ones.

Me: Wow, that sounds exciting! Please keep us in the loop, especially about that middle grade book! We're always looking for good middle grade reads here on Ink Spells. Thank you so much for sharing your book and journey with Ink Spells! Best of luck with The Weaver!

Kai:  Thank you for having me, Susan. I always love talking about The Weaver and it’s been a pleasure chatting with you and your readers.

Questions Answered: Writing Epiphany

I asked for questions, and you came up with some great ones! 


Laura asks: What's been the biggest writing epiphany you've had that you remember?


I've had several along the way, but the biggest was the realization that I had to write worse to write better.


Let me explain.


I had written a couple of novels a chapter at a time, revising and revising that chapter before moving on to the next. Not only was this a slow way to get through the first draft, I didn't really have a concept of drafting (or outlining - those were later epiphanies). But most importantly, when it came time to rewrite (or even substantially revise) those chapters, I faced it with dread. I had invested so much time in them, it was painful to make structural (and necessary) changes.


The epiphany came when I was near the end of a novel and I decided to just speed-write to the end. I didn't want to stop to polish, revise, etc., I just wanted to get the story out. When I went back to revise those chapters, I found it easy to slash and cut, to reshape whole sections of text, because I wasn't heavily invested in it - I had written it too quickly to get attached. I knew it was bad when I wrote it, so when I came back to re-write it was easy to tear it to pieces.


When I was done, those chapters shone brighter than the rest of the MS.


That was when I realized that by writing worse on the draft, I could write better on the revision. That is also the official day my internal editor died. I'm sure it was natural causes, but the autopsy was complicated by the lack of a body. Anyway, nobody can prove I did anything.


Question for you: When did your internal editor die? What were the circumstances of her demise? Or is she still straggling along? (I performed a service for one of my critique partners one day and shot hers. I'm also available for hire.)


p.s. check out my shiny Tweet button in the bottom corner! Click on that, and you can tweet this post with twitter's auto-shortened links. (Yes, I'm proud of myself for figuring out how to do this. No, it's not really hard.)

Advice from Holly Black and Call for Guest Posters

One of my favorite authors gave some great advice for NaNo-ites last year (thanks to Margo Berendsen for the link), but there's one point that jumped out at me:

Holly Black:

There aren't good books and bad books. There are finished books and books that still need more work. Please don't let wondering if there's a market for your book or wondering if the book you're writing is genius or evidence that you should be heavily medicated get in the way of the writing. Remember, right now you are not writing a good book, you are writing a good draft. Later, you will have lots of time to kill your darlings, make the suspense more suspenseful, to add foreshadowing and subplots. Later you will have time to change the beginning or change the ending or change the middle. Later, you will have time to cut and polish and engooden. For now, trust the process and write (that said, if you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and realize what's wrong with Chapter 7, then by all means, jot that down for later).

Considering the talent that Holly Black has (and her finished books rock!) it's reassuring to me to hear this!

Holly has spent years (and years) on her craft, because writing takes time. In that spirit, I've decided to move Ink Spells to a M-W-F format. Because my books still need more work, and I want to make sure I spend time writing them. So this is a nip (Tue!) and a tuck (Thur!), but not a retreat. I love you guys too much to stay away!

However, if you'd like to guest post on Ink Spells, I'd be happy to have you! Just send your post to susankayequinn(at)comcast(dot)net. If you've been with Ink Spells a while, you know how we roll. If you're a newbie (*waves!*), I'd love to see guest posts about reading or writing kids books (middle grade and young teens), especially for advanced readers or any kind of boy-centric topics (because we have a fondness for the boy readers).

Or, you know, cats. I'm easy.

Questions Answered: NASA and Cheese

I asked for questions, and you came up with some great ones! I'll be sprinkling the answers over the next couple weeks.
Sharon asks: Sorry, but I have to know what your favorite cheese is...mine is Irish white cheddar. (YUM)

There really is no bad cheese, just as there is no bad tea. Unless the stink is enough to kill small animals, I'm up for putting it on a water cracker. But I do have favorites.  Like Jean-Luc, I favor my Earl Grey hot, and Wisconsin Cheese Curds (yellow) reign at the top of the cheese pyramid. 

Robin asks: The NASA employment caught my attention. Can you talk about it? (or if you tell me, will you have to kill me)

Known as "the worm logo."

The X1E, the experimental aircraft Chuck Yeager used to crack the sound barrier. I’m the wacky one on top, with my fellow interns at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

I won't have to kill you, but I may inadvertently bore you to death. There were actually four separate NASA phases to my life: 

1. The Young Adult Phase, where I interned at NASA Dryden in the Mojave desert, designed hypersonic engines, crashed the test pilot's bar, and hitched glider rides from world famous test pilots.
2. The Get Serious Phase, where I lived off a NASA grant for my graduate studies in supersonic engine simulations, which funded a studio apartment at University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana that was the size of my kitchen (note: I have a small kitchen).
3. The Get Crazy Serious Phase, Part 1, where I interned for a summer while working on my Ph.D. at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, studying satellite imagery and looking for aircraft contrails and cloud patterns from space. 
4. The Get Crazy Serious Phase, Part 2, where I used a NASA grant for my Ph.D. research and lived on-site at NASA Langley Research Center, designing test-rigs for measuring jet-engine exhaust and running experimental and computational simulations of the effects of high altitude aircraft engine exhaust on global warming, in particular the formation of sulfur-oxide and poly-aromatic hydrocarbon aerosols.

Did I kill you yet?

Known as "the meatball logo."

Now the real question you're probably wondering is why on earth someone would spend that much time working for NASA, where the dress code and technology are permanently stuck in the 70's and the male:female ratio is approximately 100:1 (note: that wasn't always a bad thing)? The short answer: I wanted to be an astronaut. Also: they paid for school. But eventually NASA and I parted ways - about the time they decided that stellar individuals that happened not to be me should fly in space, and I decided that my big pregnant belly probably wouldn't fit in a spacesuit anyway.*

WARNING: here's where I get serious
*You would think that having spent all that time, getting advanced degrees and working for NASA, only to apply and not be accepted to the astronaut training program would be devastating. After all, it was a childhood dream being crushed! (Ok, I'll admit I was a tad disappointed.) But here's the thing: all along, I knew that being an astronaut was a high-stakes, long-odds dream. Being a practical person, I was determined that every step on the path be one I would have taken anyway, even if I never ended up in space. 


In other words, I enjoyed the journey - and quite a journey it was! 


By the time I reached the application stage, I had already decided that being strapped to 6 million pounds of fuel and oxidizer wasn't necessarily the best of options. (Note this was related to being a young mom, not the Challenger disaster. I was in college when that happened, and more determined afterwards to pursue the dream. My mom was not pleased.)


There are some obvious analogies to writing (although writing is slightly less hazardous). Whether or not you "make it" in writing - however you define that - make sure you enjoy the journey. 


I don't regret pursuing my childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, just because I failed to achieve it. Failure beats the alternative: 


(70 year old me, talking to the grandkids): Well, when I was a kid like you, I wanted to be an astronaut.
(dimpled darlings): Why didn't you, Grandma?
(Me): I never tried.


Never regret the trying. It's the only thing we're truly here to do.

The Small Press Experience

I recently lucked into winning a full MS critique from author Michelle Davidson Argyle. Not only did she give me an outstanding critique, but I quickly realized we had much in common as small press authors. I've learned a tremendous amount about the business of publishing during the publication of my book with Omnific Publishing. But until I talked to Michelle, I hadn't really appreciated how similar my experience was to many other small press authors.

Michelle is running an excellent blog post series, Should you Consider a Small Publisher? (Part 1, Part II (full disclosure, I'm in there), and Part III ) I encourage you to check it out!

It keeps getting better, folks! Don't miss Part IV (An Agent's Perspective on Small Presses) and Part V (A Small Publisher Weighs In and More Testimonials from Small Press Authors) and Part VI (where she answers my questions about Distributors).

Questions Answered: (Not) Childhood Books and Giant Turtles

I asked for questions, and you came up with some great ones! I'll be sprinkling the answers over the next couple weeks.


Jemi Fraser asks: What was the first book you remember really catching your attention as a kid? Star Wars or Star Trek? :)


Aliens wiped my brain of all memories before age 12, so I'm not really sure if I read children's books. However, I remember being enthralled with Asimov's Foundation series and Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land around that age. These are not children's books, but I was already an advanced nerd. What fascinated me was the building of an entirely different universe, with strange social constructs and different philosophical understandings of how humans should relate to one another. I probably didn't use those words at the time ... but then again, I might have. Nerd, I know.


And Star Wars or Star Trek? What kind of Sophie's Choice is that? How about Star Trek the Reboot and Star Wars the Original Series? Seriously, don't make me pick ...


LeishaMaw asks: If you had ten minutes to save the world from a giant turtle, what would you do?


followed by Danette asking: Why would a giant turtle want to destroy the world? I think he's just been misunderstood... How would you, Susan, find a way to communicate to the turtle that he may be causing some destruction so that he will quit? Do you speak Turtle?


I speak the universal language of all giant invading creatures: SAMs (surface to air missiles). If that doesn't get my point across, or the Turtle has an unusually hard shell, I would scramble a launch of the world's supply of watermelons. I hear turtles are quite fond of them:

While the Turtle is busy chewing, I'll recruit a delegation of Earth based turtles to negotiate a treaty on the behalf of the humans. I'll be sure to include conditions about not using humans as food, and I won't be tricked by some silly cookbook that says To Serve Man.


That should take care of it. Don't you feel safer already?


p.s. The gracious Kai Strand interviewed me, over at her blog Strands of Thought.

Stories are like Air for Children ...

... they need them to live and to grow. - Me

Stories are equipment for living. - Kenneth Burke

Fiction gives life its form. - Jean Anouilh

Our appetite for story is a reflection of the profound human need to grasp the patterns of living, not merely as an intellectual exercise, but within a very personal, emotional experience. - Robert McKee

In reading Robert McKee's Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting, I found myself nodding and saying "aha!" more than once aloud. Embarrassing, especially as the kids were home on Christmas break. But much of what I had only intuitively grasped about story is delineated so clearly in this wonderful text that it felt, at times, like a revelation.

Just the experience a good storyteller would provide.

If you are a writer - a storyteller - I highly recommend this book. If you're a parent, teacher, or writer, I urge you to think about the stories the children in our care read. Those books aren't just entertainment - they are equipment for living. In a sense, any book a child wants to read is a good book. If a child is starving, you can't be fussy about what food they eat. If a child doesn't read, then any book that feeds their mind will have to do.

But if your child's plate is full, you want them to have the best foods, the kind with nutrients that will help them grow healthy and strong. If your child loves stories, guiding them to the ones that will nourish their minds is a gift of time you won't regret. (And the occasional cupcake is fine too!) Your child's reading deserves careful scrutiny and selection, just like any tools for crafting a life. Because what we read, throughout our lives, does influence us.

One of my resolutions this year is to read more - not least through the 2011 Debut Author Challenge - so hopefully we will have more reviews here at Ink Spells, and more books to help guide parents in finding good reads for those great, little minds.

The Equation for Writing Happiness

From my Mission Statement 2.0:


To create a body of novel length works that reaches a large number of young readers, to provide the greatest impact on young lives.


Agent + Book Deal = Writing Happiness


or


Book Deal + 30,000 copies sold = Writing Happiness


or 


NYTimesBestsellerList + Hugo Award = Writing Happiness


What is your equation?


For me, it looks something like this:


WriteBook + PublishBook + SellBook + WriteMoreBooks + PublishMoreBooks = Writing Happiness


It may seem silly, but it is true.  Would I like an agent? Yes, please. Would I like a three book deal with Penguin? Absolutely. Would I like to win a literary award? Um, actually I would be shocked if that happened. Would I like to be on the NYTimesBestsellerList? Sure. But my writing happiness doesn't hinge on any of those things. As long as I'm writing and trying to publish, I'm good.


The experience of publishing with a small press has taught me several things:


1) The work gets a lot more intense once you're under contract.


2) Publishing a book is a heckuva lot of work, and almost none of it involves writing.


3) I like writing. More than I like selling books or marketing books or doing book signings. I'm a writer because I like to write, and I want to spend most of my time doing that. I do enjoy all those other things as well, but they are not my primary goals. If you look at my mission statement, there is nothing about publishing in there - it's all about reaching readers. 


4) Having people read your book, especially the target audience, rocks my socks. Getting feedback from readers is priceless. I heard someone say that the writing process is not complete until someone reads the work. This came home to me in a profound way at a book club meeting just this week, where a roomful of people had read my book and wanted to talk about it. Some had purchased signed copies, some had checked it out from the library (which has two copies, and still one of the book club members had to wait; I was strangely excited to have my book on hold at the library!), but all had read it and had their own reactions. Being erudite people, they had excellent questions about cruise ships and the Navy and how did I know so much about boot camp, because a military friend of theirs said my descriptions were dead on. They talked about the choices and motivations of my characters as if they were real people. One had publishing experience, so her questions went deep into character development and writing process.


My writing experience was completed by sharing my book with that roomful of readers.


Maybe you will only reach writing happiness if you have the cachet and reach of publishing with a large press. Or maybe happiness will come when you hit the bestseller list, or have sold enough books to quit the day job. Or maybe you will find your writing happiness as soon as you have a published novel in your hands or on a brick-and-mortar shelf. This you have to define for yourself.


If only a large press will do, don't chase publication with a small press. But if it's important to you to get your book in the hands of readers, sooner rather than later, then starting with a small press might float some writerly happiness as you continue on your journey. Just know that publishing with a small press is unlikely to land you on the bestseller list. Or garner any awards. (I'm not saying it's impossible, just unlikely.)


Simply holding my book in my hands is fantastic ... and insufficient. Calling myself a published author feels wonderful ... and doesn't satisfy my need for readers. As my mission statement says, I want to reach readers - not only that but large numbers of readers. This means I will strive for publishing through a mainstream press, not for the cachet or the advances or the book tour, but because they have the ability to connect with the most readers. In the meantime, I will happily pursue publishing through small presses (not least my publisher for Life, Liberty, and Pursuit), because getting books into the hands of readers is what drives me. It may take time to reach that undefined large number of readers, but if I keep on the path of writing more books and publishing more books, eventually I will get there. 


And most importantly, I will enjoy the path along the way.


Discover what makes you happy, then go for it with everything you've got. (It's worked for me, most of my life.)


What is your equation for writing happiness?

Belonging To The Writing Community

From my Mission Statement 2.0:
To be a leader and member of a supportive writing community, through blogs, critiques, and social networking. 


Oh, to be young in blogging and full of the heady steam of the online community! After a year of blogging, I have a more clear-eyed view of the benefits and drawbacks of blogs, twitter, and social networking (for me, Facebook).

Lesson #1: THE BENEFITS ARE POWERFUL

Some of my best story-saving critiques have come from writers I met through blogging. Some of my favorite author-friends I have met through blogging and social networking at conferences. Some of the most insightful craft advice I've heard has come from writers, blogging in the trenches as they learn the craft. The stories and inspiration of my fellow-authors have pulled me through the inevitable lows of writing many times. There are too many powerful benefits to opt out of the online writer community completely. 


Lesson #2: THE ONLINE COMMUNITY CAN KILL YOUR WRITING


Not directly, of course! Online writer-bloggers are some of the finest people I've met - varied and rich in their backgrounds and wonderfully positive in their support of each other! But social networking can be like drinking from a fire hose. I have to carefully control how much time I spend on it, or my entire day will be spent blogging and tweeting. More than that, though, the interwebs can be a massive distraction. I have steely eyed focus powers, and it still calls to me with a siren song of community and support and LOLcats. And there is no critique, no inspiration, no blog post that will get the writing done. No online help that will rewrite the opening scene of my WiP or distill my novel down to a single line hook.


Writing remains solitary.


It requires that I dive into my own head to fabricate the SpinNet and inter-dimensional faeries. It demands that I craft and re-craft the first chapter and spend half an hour conjuring just the right word. Because that is writing. It is easy to forget. If I am strong-willed enough to only partake of the pleasures of the online community as much as benefits my writing, and not detract from it, then I can continue to blog and tweet and facebook. Social networking is inherently giving - which is why the word "supportive" comes early in my mission statement - but I have to selfishly limit the time that I spend on it. But this limit allows me to continue to blog and not have Ink Spells fade into the sunset.


Which would make me very sad.


How do you keep blogging from interfering with your writing?

Focusing on Craft

From my Mission Statement 2.0:
To have every story be an improvement in craft. 


Pro: Hey, look! I'm improving my craft!
Con: Wow. My writing really stunk before.


How do you improve your writing? I was asked this question at a book club meeting. They specifically wanted to know if I took classes or got a degree in English or writing. My cheeky answer was that I had spent enough time in classrooms (getting my Ph.D.) that I had been excused for the rest of my life. What I really meant was that I fashioned my own craft-development program. It includes:

• Writing, writing, writing
• Seeking (and giving*) critiques from/to a range of writers, especially ones more talented than I am
• Studying writers that I admire, especially ones that write best-selling books
• Reading books about writing, but only when I can actively apply them to a draft I am working on (see this post about my latest read, Robert McKee's Story)
• Visiting writer blogs for tips and new perspectives on craft
• Attending workshops and conferences when available and affordable
• Writing, writing, writing

*thanks to Laurel for reminding me

I'm constantly searching for ways to improve my craft, but I go through some periods of craft development that are more intense than others. Jody Hedlund impressed me when she hired an editor to help improve her craft - even though her book was already under contract! She had accomplished what many of us are striving for, and yet was unrelenting in her pursuit of craft improvement. I don't believe a writer should ever stop looking for ways to improve - whether it's the basics of grammar, or nuances of storytelling, or methods of description, or dashes of style - words are a writer's tools, and we should always strive to be masters of them.


In the beginning, I assumed that at some point I would "master" fiction writing. In some senses, this is the wrong approach. One can master the equations of thermodynamics - they are objective and (for the last hundred fifty years or so) unchanging. Mastering something so inherently subjective as art (which writing and storytelling certainly are), seems like hubris. But a painter/writer friend of mine once said (I'm paraphrasing), Don't mistake inexperience for style. She was referring to painters who don't take the time to master the forms of painting, before developing their own method. They simply throw paint on the canvas and call it their style.


Simply because writing is art does not mean that one cannot strive for mastery. I can (and do) study people I consider to be masters. But, in the end, my style is my own. I will never write like Rowling or Westerfeld. They are wonderful writers, worthy of emulation, but I can only write like me.  I can only mature in my own individual understanding of storytelling and craft. Whether it's the Early Me or the Future Me, my writing will always be an incarnation of me-the-writer along my writing journey.


And that's okay.


Perhaps my mission statement should include a caveat: be urgent in craft improvement, but gentle with the writer herself. She's trying.


Note to Future Me: Don't be embarrassed by my writing today - it's the best I can do and a necessary foundational step to get where you are in Futureland. By the way, don't think you're all that anyway. I'm younger. 


Do you see yourself evolving in your craft?