Mima Tipper on Character: Part 2

 This is such a great series on discovering character. Check out what Mima learned about viewpoint here.

From Mima:

Welcome to part two of my post about the process of writing my YA short story “Waiting for Alice”.  ***Spoiler Alert*** Just to tell you, this blog post contains story spoilers. Read the full version of “Waiting for Alice” in the first issue of Sucker Literary Magazine at http://suckerliterarymagazine.wordpress.com/.

Can You Hear Me Now? When Characters Speak Through Revision, Part Two

(In which Mima continues her search for the story’s ending)

 ...What I did know in this draft was what Mia saw Angie doing at the dance: 

Out in the hall, tucked into the dark space between a corner and a bank of lockers, she is wrapped around a junior boy she called “sorta cute” a couple of times. Their faces press together joined with suction cup mouths. Angie’s arms twist high and tight around his neck. But his hands, fingers spread, move freely, writhing and sliding over her boobs, then slip down, down and around to hike up her short skirt…(“Peer Pressure,” 9)

I also knew that Mia’s response (as in the original bit in  “Faerie Games”) was to find the Edmo character, and rush into an ill-fated kiss that would make her “run to the bathroom and scrub…[her]…mouth over and over” (“Peer Pressure,” 10). These images were as clear to me as my memory of the actual event. What was not clear was where the progression would lead Mia. Ideas surfaced, but none gelled to an ending.

The unfinished story draft, now titled “The Alice Effect” (Mia’s initiation to high school seeming very like a down-the-rabbit-hole experience) went to my VCFA first semester advisor, Uma Krishnaswami. She suggested I read more stories with a second person viewpoint, advising me to “go a little deeper, think about your reasons for using…[second person]…, justify them and it will deepen the work” (Krishnaswami, Letter, 5/6/08). I followed Uma’s advice, and continued to revise.  

The changes I made, however, were all about the first two of Kaplan’s revision definitions: style and structure. What I didn’t change about the story, and I believe it is important to note this here, was my instinctive feel that second person was the right viewpoint. Three other aspects of the story also did not change: Mia still watched Angie’s every move closely; Mia still had the brownie kiss encounter; and finally, Mia’s story still had no ending. What this—both what I changed and what I did not—shows me is that even though revision pushed me to get at the heart of Mia’s self-alienation, and even though her story did not have an ending, there were character and story elements that I didn’t change because deep down they felt right.     

The next draft, still unfinished, went to VCFA as my fall, 2008 workshop submission, and I determined not to work on it again until I’d received comments. My writing journal shows, however, that the story was on my mind: “July 10, 2008…It freaked me out to hear…[two of my VCFA workshop-mates, pre-workshop]…talk about my YA short that way. It was like I had to get away from them fast” (Tipper, Journal).  During the encounter this entry details, I believe one of my workshop-mates asked me if Mia was gay, or possibly told me she was gay.  I remember being dumbstruck—as my journal shows—but later being curious.  Here’s the next day’s entry:

July 11, 2008…I thought about “The Alice…” and maybe my character will turn to her journal at the end—take back that I voice in writing that will reclaim her soul.  Is she a lesbian?  Is she worried about that? Will she gain a sense of humor?  Write a rap song? I’m not sure, but she will want to get out of the rabbit hole. …Is she in love with Angie? I don’t think so, but she is curious about her and where her head is. Why it seems so easy for her just to grow and feel and be, where she cannot. Mia stands back and watches. (Tipper, Journal)

The ensuing workshop discussion about the story was vivid, and often heated. People made the more expected comments: about whether the second person voice worked; about the structure; about wanting more of Mia’s feelings as opposed to her observations about Angie, etc. etc. But what really struck me was that many of my colleagues, including the two from that earlier encounter, talked about Mia in a way that was completely not as I’d thought of her. Like a window cracking open, I realized that something was going on with my character; something of which I, her creator, was very possibly not aware.   

Back home (and determined to find the story’s end) I turned to my next revision, again focusing on style and structure. I thought about the possibility of Mia’s being gay, but clung in the end to the belief that I would have known that about her at the beginning. This choice comes through clearly in the following passage from a letter Martine asked me to write from my protagonist’s viewpoint about the yearnings of her secret heart. I chose Mia’s letter to be to her best friend, now renamed Stacey: 

The thing is I’m stuck in my head. I wish I could stop thinking about how weird everything is, how weird I am, but I can’t do that either. I’m this freaky eyeball who watches everything and everyone around me like I’m outside my body. I don’t want to be like that. I want to be like you and “just be”. You know, experience stuff without getting all twisted up inside. I just don’t know if I can do it. (“Mia’s Letter,” 8/28/08)

Choosing Mia’s letter to be to Stacey told me more about Mia’s fixation on her friend, but I chalked that element up to: first, the story being mostly about the two girls, and second, that it seemed a natural teen choice to confide in a best friend. 

With the letter before me, I continued revising, still focusing on style and structure, and now including: the image of a scrutinizing eyeball dogging Mia; lines indicating how her parents’ divorce exacerbated her feelings of depression and isolation; and dialogue and narration to give the whole story a more active tone. I also found the following ending:   

Snap—the night and everything that’s come before—tastes, smells, touches, Stacey, Mom, Dad, Alec—crowd in, all alive inside you. Makeup drips into your eyes and you rub at them, at your cheeks, until all that’s left is your face staring into the mirror, pale and shiny and clean.     

Three girls you don’t know come into the bathroom. They smile at you like they’ve never seen you before. And, you realize, they haven’t. You smile back, looking beyond them to the door. Snap—Come on Mia! 

Out. (“The Alice Effect,” 12)  

This ending’s great revelation supported my initial presumption of the story’s meaning: that Mia, as a sexually awkward teen pressured by a newly sexy best friend, chooses in the end to stay on her own awkward path. Here’s part of Martine’s response, particularly to the ending:     

I kept thinking that something big would be revealed at the end, something that explained this blue funk, this out-of-body eyeball thing. I really thought she was going to tell us she was gay! Because… because why does she act jealous when the boy shows up with Stacey? And why does she watch Stacey undress and get so affected by it? Why does she stand so long watching Stacey and the boy making out? And then… it ends. Are you sure she’s not gay? When I read the letter from Mia, I thought, maybe I just missed it and she will confess it in her letter… (Leavitt, Letter, 8/28/08)

Martine’s words surprised me. Not the part where she thought Mia was gay—after all, I’d heard that before—but how she focused on Mia’s actions. I’d described Mia’s observations as effectively as I could but hadn’t truly examined how Mia watched Stacey. Was she jealous when she observed Stacey in her new clothes the first day of school? Why was she focusing on Stacey being undressed? Or making out in the hallway? I’d thought Mia was both depressed and fascinated by her friend’s changes; what I wondered now though was, what was the true nature of this depression and fascination? 

            Next: find out what Mima discovers about Alice in the final installment!

This series ran originally on the Hen & Ink Literary Studio blog last January at http://henandinkblots.wordpress.com/. Also a freshly updated version of my interview with Sucker’s editor-in-chief, Hannah Goodman, is up this week on Through the Tollbooth at http://www.throughthetollbooth.com/ and I’m also guesting on Lindsey Lane’s blog for “Quotable Tuesday” this week at http://www.lindseylane.net/blog/

Guest Post: Mima Tipper - "When Characters Speak"

  

Today it's my great pleasure to welcome fellow Vermont College of Fine Arts grad Mima Tipper. Mima has written a terrific three-parter (look for parts 2 and 3 on Wednesday and Friday of this week) on "When Characters Speak Through Revision."

Thanks for inviting me to guest on your blog, Janet! And just to tell your readers ***Spoiler Alert*** This blog piece (the first of a three-part series) contains story spoilers. The full version of my YA short story “Waiting for Alice” is in the first issue of Sucker Literary Magazine at http://suckerliterarymagazine.wordpress.com/.

Can You Hear Me Now? When Characters Speak through Revision, Part One

                     (In which Mima’s writerly epiphany begins)

    

Writing my YA short story “Waiting for Alice,” the story-epiphany moment came as I stood in line at my local public library. Here’s what happened: I was waiting to check out books I’d picked specifically to help me with my revision of “…Alice,” and imagined having the following conversation with the librarian: 

Her: “Are these for one of your kids?

Me: “No.  They’re for my character… (motherly pause)…she thinks she might be gay.”

A silly idyll yes, but one that in a single, astounding moment opened my eyes, or better my mind, to what my Alice had been trying to tell me for the almost year I’d been working on her story. 

I walked home in a daze, imagining myself sitting with Alice at the kitchen table. Sitting with her, as I would with one of my children, her looking into my eyes in that hesitant way that asked if I was ready to listen.  When she did speak, there was no hesitation, “It’s true,” she said, “I think I’m gay.” Her words left me speechless. I hadn’t set out to write a story about a young girl’s first realization that she might be gay, but that’s where the writing path led. What held my hand, tugging me along until I could hear Alice speak (more like a remembered conversation than one imagined) was revision—a kind I hadn’t experienced before (Kaplan, 27).

My Alice-epiphany made me re-examine my knowledge of revision. David Michael Kaplan offers these words in his craft book Revision:

I think you revise for style (saying it in the most graceful way, which is often all people think revision is), and you revise for structure (saying it in the most coherent and dramatically effective way), and you revise—and here comes the way you might not have thought about it before—for meaning, for discovering what you really wanted to say in the first place, what the story’s really about. (10)

I was familiar with (and practiced heavily) Kaplan’s first two revision definitions. Regarding meaning, however, until “…Alice” I’d always presumed I knew the essential meaning of my stories before I started writing. So what had happened with my Alice?

     To understand, I had to go back to the beginning. 

     The seed of “…Alice” came from one of my high school experiences. My best friend and I, tenth graders at an all-girl boarding school, decided to go to the first dance of the year, meet a boy each, and kiss him. Fueled by vodka-laced grape soda, off we went. There, each of us found a boy. By evening’s end, my friend had disappeared with hers, but I hadn’t even managed a peck on the cheek with mine. I watched him get on his return bus, and something in me snapped. I rapped on the bus window. He got off and, before I lost my nerve, I threw myself at him. He’d just had a huge bite of brownie, and well—yuck! Amidst raucous cheers from bystanders, both of us had a good laugh and, as the bus zoomed off, I forgot all about him and the brownie kiss. 

     Fast-forward twenty-some years to my fantasy novel “Faerie Games,” where in a first chapter draft, I drew from this memory to illustrate my fourteen year-old protagonist Selena’s sexual awkwardness at witnessing a friend’s behavior at a school dance:

And she had found her. Out in the hall, tucked into the dark space between a corner and a bank of lockers, wrapped around a junior she’d called “sorta cute” a couple of times. Their eyes had met over junior-boy’s shoulder, and for a long, drawn out heartbeat, Selena hadn’t recognized her best friend. It was like in that moment, Selena saw clearly that the Stacey she’d lived next door to and been best friends with forever had run away to a place where Selena wasn’t sure she wanted to follow.

But that night, Selena had tried to follow. Like a hound scenting a fox, Selena stalked around the gym until she’d spotted Edmo’s hunching back standing at the refreshment table. Without saying a word or even looking at his face, she’d grabbed his hand and dragged him out into the hall. In one swift, blurred move, Selena had pushed him against the wall and with no thought about what she was doing or how she was doing it, shoved her open mouth on his. (“Faerie Games,” 15)

I submitted the chapter to my first Vermont College workshop, and it was workshop leader Martine Leavitt’s comment “What did she see?” written in the margin next to the first paragraph quoted, that sparked me to explore in a short story what Selena saw Stacey doing.

     As I began to think of this short story, I remembered Dennis Lehane’s short story “Until Gwen.” Lehane used a second person viewpoint, and I’d found the voice both disturbing and intriguing. Freshly out of prison, Lehane’s narrator was detached, yet watched himself with an intimacy laced with self-loathing. This viewpoint spoke to me as authentic for my self-scrutinizing, awkward teenager.

     My story, now tentatively titled “Peer Pressure,” quickly took shape around the awkward narrator Mia and her newly sexy best friend Angie. With Mia’s second person viewpoint, her voice naturally came out full of observations about Angie’s blooming appearance and aggressive behavior; also natural was that Angie’s looks and attitude would be in stark contrast to Mia’s. Though the initial novel-flashback was morphing to a short story, the essential meaning—a young girl’s sexual awkwardness—still drove the heart of my writing. Then an unusual (for me) turn: I got two thirds through a first draft and didn’t know how Mia’s story ended.

Next: Mima searches for the story’s ending!

Note: This series ran originally on the Hen & Ink Literary Studio blog last January at http://henandinkblots.wordpress.com/. Also a freshly updated version of my interview with Sucker’s editor-in-chief, Hannah Goodman, is up this week on Through the Tollbooth at http://www.throughthetollbooth.com/ and I’m also guesting on Lindsey Lane’s blog for “Quotable Tuesday” this week at http://www.lindseylane.net/blog/

Happy, Happy Winner!

The winner of my "happy-happy" contest is (drumroll)...

Malvina!

But I want to thank you ALL for coming by, and for your kind words, and please watch for more contests in the near future!

Happy-Happy! Time For a Giveaway!

I'm approaching a Twitter follower milestone and thought the best way to celebrate is to...host a giveaway!

And because there are things in my life right now I'm really happy about, I'd like to follow Bhutan and honor happiness. (In case you didn't know, Bhutan's economic model takes into account the country's gross national happiness. I just love that.)

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of one of my books - FAITHFUL or FORGIVEN - you just have to comment on this post.

*ADDED - The winner will also receive a pre-pub eyes-only chapter of my next novel, SIRENS, a 1920s "noire romance" due out next year!!*

First point for the giveaway is your comment. And just to sweeten the idea, tell me one thing that makes you happy.

Extra points are given for:
- if you are a new follower and follow me on Twitter and mention it in your comment, plus one point.
- if you are a new follower for me on Facebook and "like" my Facebook author page and mention it, plus one point.
- if you Tweet and/or Facebook this post and mention it, plus one - or two! - points.

Please include a contact in your comment (so I can contact you should you win).

I'll start off the happiness. I have a new novel coming out in 2013, and I'm really, really happy about it.

Your turn!

Debut Authors of Class of 2k12: Lynne Kelly and CHAINED

Note: Follow the rest of Lynne's debut author tour here.

I'm delighted to host my good friend Lynne Kelly, here to talk about her debut novel CHAINED. I predict this sweet story will garner major kudos as well as charm many kiddos. Here's Kelly:

Congratulations on the publication of your novel, CHAINED. Can you tell us a bit about the story and what inspired it?

Thanks! CHAINED is about 10-year-old Hastin, who leaves his home in the desert region of Northern India to work as an elephant keeper at a run-down circus. He becomes best friends with the elephant, Nandita, and soon realizes that they're both captives. He wants to run away and return home to his family, but doesn't want to abandon Nandita. 

I got the idea for the story when I heard that a young elephant who's tied up will try and try to escape, but once it gives up, it gives up forever. So, years later when the elephant is full grown, it's still tethered by that same rope, not knowing it could easily break free if it tried. Elephants have always been my favorite animals, so I knew I'd love writing about them too.

I adore elephants, and can't wait to read this story. How long have you been writing for children/teens? Have you written other books or is this your first effort?

I started writing in 2006 when I got the idea for CHAINED. It's the first book I've written, although it's changed so much from the first version I feel like it's also the 2nd book, the 3rd, the 4th...

Can you describe your path to the publication of CHAINED?

Yes, I spent about three years writing the book and learning as much as possible about writing. In 2009 I started submitting to agents, and in June that year I heard from an agent who was interested in representation but wanted to see a lot of revisions first. I spent the summer working on her revision suggestions and submitted the manuscript to her again in September. Then she said no after all. Even though the story was better, something about it still wasn't working for her and she wasn't able to place what it was. So that was a bit crushing. But I knew the manuscript was much better, so all the work I did wasn't wasted. I think it was the next day that I started submitting to agents again. Like before, there were some rejections, some partial requests, and some full requests along the way, and in February 2010 I heard from another agent who was interested in representation, and we set up a phone appointment for later that week. Coincidentally, Joanna Volpe called me that same day and said she'd like to see the full manuscript if I wasn't represented yet. I replied back, "I'm not represented yet, but I have a phone appointment with an agent in two days!" She read the full manuscript right away and wrote back to say she'd also like to set up a phone call to discuss representation. I talked to both agents that week and loved them both, then took a couple days to think about it and decided to go with Joanna. (And she's fabulous so I'm really happy with the choice I made!) After doing some revisions for her, she sent the manuscript out to a few editors, and called me about three weeks later to tell me that a publisher was interested in acquiring it. Soon after that, she let me know there was another interested publisher, so she set up an auction, and the book sold that April to Macmillan/FSG.

 

What a great story! Do you have any advice for beginning writers?

Read as much as you can. Read about writing, and read great books in the genre you want to write. And even if you think you don't have time to write, try to get in a few minutes here and there throughout your day. It helps to keep little notebooks with you so you can jot down ideas or some dialogue you've overheard. Plus little notebooks are fun to buy. 

Find a good critique group and take the time to listen to their feedback. Join the SCBWI and attend workshops or conferences in your area-- even if you can't afford the expense of a national conference right now, local chapters have fabulous conferences where you can meet other writers and listen to presentations from agents and editors.

Can you tell us something about your personal life – inspirations, plans for the future, goals, etc.?

I plan to keep writing books! 

For my "day job" I work as a sign language interpreter, and I'm really lucky to have a job I enjoy doing. 

Do you have any new writing ventures underway?

Something completely different-- a humorous young adult novel that's close to home! I've just finished a revision of REASONS FOR LEAVING for Joanna, so I'll find out soon if it needs more work or if it's ready to send out to editors yet. I'm excited about being on submission again even though it's a bit nerve-wracking, waiting for an email or a phone call. But, what helps with that is turning off the Internet and writing the next thing, so I'll get going on my next midgrade novel, about an amateur forensic scientist with cryptozoologist parents.  

Fun! Do you have a website where readers can learn more about CHAINED? 

Yes, my website is http://www.lynnekellybooks.com. There's a "Books" tab there with more about CHAINED and the other books I'm working on. 

Guest Post: Debbie Davies "Look But Don't Touch"

Today I'm hosting author Debbie Davies on a singular aspect of romance...

Look but don’t touch – can this ever work in love?

“You can look but don’t touch” is a statement often uttered by frazzled parents trying to control their children. I have said this plenty of times to my toddler and it goes completely unheard.

In a different context, though, would it be so easily ignored? What if someone was telling you to look but not to touch someone or something you loved? Someone you felt a burning need to be with, to speak to, to touch just once?

Perhaps you are being told to look only because the object of your affection is forbidden to you. Some cultures have caste systems; some prejudices are openly discussed, while others are buried in our subconscious and we blindly follow them. We might see someone we could potentially love but we never dare to touch. Or do we?

An emotion as powerful as love encourages us to take risks. In Any Love But Mine this is the conflict facing Acacia. She has been banished and ordered to help others fall in love but to never allowed do so herself. But a life of loneliness is not one she can live, and now she has to choose: love and live with the risk of destruction or live and die from the pain of never knowing.

Any Love But Mine can be found at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk and you can also read more about it at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13541721-any-love-but-mine

Debut Authors of the Class of 2k12: Sarvenaz Tash & THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST

Introducing another member of the extraordinary class of 2k12, debut author Sarvenaz Tash, author of THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST. Once again a fascinating title - I love magical realism! - and I'm thrilled to have Sarvenaz on my blog.

Congratulations on the publication of your novel, THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST. Can you tell us a bit about the story and what inspired it?

This is going to sound very Stephenie Meyer of me, but my main character really did come to me in a dream. I woke up with the name Goldenrod Moram in my head and wondered who would have that name: immediately, I thought of a young girl who was annoyed that her name sounded like she should be a fairy tale princess.

I was also inspired by things from my own childhood, namely The Goonies and the books of Roald Dahl and the very kid-centered magical realism vibe that they both share.

I'm a big believer in dreams! How long have you been writing for children/teens? Have you written other books or is this your first effort?

I’ve long wanted to do it and I wrote some kid-oriented TV scripts in college. It was almost 5 years ago that I decided to focus on writing novels for kids by taking a Gotham writing class. THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST was technically my first effort, but I wrote another MG in between starting that one and selling it. I’ve also completed one more MG and have bits and pieces of other works, including an adult novel and a YA.

Can you describe your path to the publication of THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST?

I started taking Gotham Children’s Writing classes in 2007 and that’s where I started the first draft of THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST (to give you an idea of how different it was, there was no ghost in any of the first 26 drafts of this book – seriously).

In 2008, I attended the SCBWI conference in New York and I got some much-needed encouragement from superagent Jodi Reamer, who read two pages of the book and was very, very kind about them.

By 2009, the teacher at the Gotham class I was continuing to take had decided to become an agent. She (very excitingly) offered to take me on as a client. At that point, I had written MG #2, which is what we went out on submission with.

MG #2 didn’t sell, but a few editors were interested in my writing and one, in particular, liked my voice in a humor blog I was keeping at the time. I suggested we submit my original humorous MG (MAPMAKER) to her, since the voice matched.

Although she liked the submission, it was too short for her to buy as is. So she very, very benevolently agreed to edit on spec with me. Incorporating her ingenious notes, I handed it back to her in March of 2010. And by August 2010, I had an offer!

What a great story. I love both the persistence you showed and the coincidences that worked. Do you have any advice for beginning writers?

If writing fulfills you and makes you happy; if even when you try not to, you can’t stop doing it; write and work hard and don’t be afraid to dream of it taking you places. But don’t do it as a means to an end. For it to be worthwhile, the writing itself should be enough of a joy (even if sometimes it’s the most horrifyingly frustrating thing in the world) -- everything else that might come with it is gravy!

Can you tell us something about your personal life – inspirations, plans for the future, goals, etc.?

Well, I got engaged a couple of months ago and am getting married in the spring. I’m finding wedding planning a welcome distraction from some of the anxieties of launching a book. J

Congratulations and best wishes to you both!! Do you have any new writing ventures underway?

I have a completed MG that’s out on submission and am (very slowly and painfully) chipping away at another MG and YA.

Do you have a website where readers can learn more about THE MAPMAKER AND THE GHOST? 

Yes, indeed! They can find me at sarvenaztash.com.

Debut Authors of the Class of 2k12: J. Anderson Coats & The Wicked and the Just

I'm so delighted to bring you another interview with a debut author of the Class of 2k12, J. Anderson Coats, about her novel THE WICKED AND THE JUST. This novel is just my cup of tea - historical - and that cover is so appealing!

Congratulations on the publication of your novel, THE WICKED AND THE JUST. I’m so excited to be able to read historical fiction set in Wales. Can you tell us a bit about the story and what inspired it?

THE WICKED AND THE JUST takes place in 1293-1294 in north Wales, ten years into English rule.  Cecily is an unwilling transplant to the English walled town of Caernarvon, and she’d like nothing better than to go home.  Gwenhwyfar, a Welsh servant in Cecily’s new house, would like nothing better than to see all the English go home.  The ruling English impose harsh restrictions and taxation on the Welsh, and conditions in the countryside are growing desperate.  The rumors of rebellion might be Gwenhwyfar’s only salvation – and the last thing Cecily ever hears.

Medieval Wales doesn’t get a lot of attention despite the fact that it was a complicated, dynamic place.  The native rulers managed to resist outright conquest by their English neighbors until 1283, but then the victorious English fast-tracked a series of castles and walled towns to maintain control of the area and the people.

What interested me was this question: Even when granted a lot of special privileges - including significant tax breaks - how did English settlers live in a place where they were outnumbered twenty to one by a hostile, recently-subjugated population, and how did the Welsh live so close to people who’d done the subjugating, especially given the burdens placed on them by their new masters?

How long have you been writing for children/teens? Have you written other books or is this your first effort?

I wrote my first novel at age thirteen.  It was about a hundred pages long, typed, single-spaced, and it was really bad.  By age eighteen, I’d written five more, each slightly less bad than the last.  I started querying at age twenty, and I queried four novels over ten years before I wrote and sold W/J.  Ray Bradbury famously said that your first million words don’t count.  I think it was more like two million for me.  So while this definitely isn’t my first book, it’s the first one that’s ready to go into the world.

Thirteen!! That's such an inspiration to young authors. Can you describe your path to the publication of THE WICKED AND THE JUST?

As I mentioned, I queried four different books over ten years, and I queried like it was my second job.  The Erin Murphy Literary Agency was always at the top of my list, but they don’t take unsolicited queries.  I queried like crazy all around them – I have something like two shoeboxes filled with rejections - and I came close to getting an offer of representation a number of times, but I always kept one eye on EMLA’s requirements for any change.

So when I got the chance to query Joan Paquette, I leaped on it.  What followed was a sort of courtship over nine months where she kept on asking for revisions and I kept making them, preparing for the eventual “no.”  But that “no” never came, and the ink wasn’t quite dry on my agency contract when W/J sold to Harcourt.  It was something like ten days between being unagented and my first sale - quite a whirlwind!

Do you have any advice for beginning writers?

Give yourself permission to write crap.  Everyone’s first drafts suck.  Your favorite writer?  Her first drafts suck.  Your other favorite writer?  His first drafts suck.  It’s more important to just write.  Get it on the page and repeat after me: “It’s a first draft.  It’s supposed to suck.”  You can fix things in a badly-written first draft, but it’s impossible to fix what doesn’t exist.

Can you tell us something about your personal life - inspirations, plans for the future, goals, etc.?

I’ve been told my origin story is somewhat interesting.  I had a kid at age 19, a BA from a Seven Sisters college by age 22, a first master’s degree by 24, a second by 30, and a book contract by 32.  The future is less knowable.  Can I propose absurd yet awesome things like being hired by the National Library of Wales or writing full time?

It sounds like you've lived several lives already. Do you have any new writing ventures underway?

I’m working on several projects right now.  One is a companion novel to W/J which follows Maredydd ap Madog, whose father is the ringleader of the rebellion of 1294, as he negotiates the future his father wants for him and the future he wants for himself.  Another project is a standalone novel set in twelfth-century Wales about a warband, an abduction, a charismatic but mercurial king’s son and a girl who’s willing to do about anything for a chance at a normal life.

Do you have a website where readers can learn more about THE WICKED AND THE JUST?

I do!  http://www.jandersoncoats.com - I also spend way too much time on Facebook, so feel free to stop by there as well!

Highlights Founders Workshops: A Novel Experience

A few weeks ago I had the fabulous experience of serving as a Teaching Assistant, along with Karyn Henley (see previous post), at a Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop. Our talented faculty were authors Kathi Appelt, Alan Gratz, Jeanette Ingold, and editor Martha Mihalick. Sixteen students brought completed novels to the workshop, with time to revise based on the individual feedback they received from faculty mentors and the group input as we workshopped the first twenty pages.

I was deeply impressed by the experience, and wanted to share some of it with you – including an interview (below) with author Helen Hemphill, who has taken the awesome responsibility of organizing and staffing the faculty portion of Foundation events (you can find a schedule of upcoming events here.)

Our workshop group in mid-March

The workshop itself ran as smooth as silk. There was plenty of time between one-on-one consults and group workshops for participants to work in their cabins or to walk in the gorgeous countryside or to socialize. The TA’s were given time to be available for consults and evenings were for the most part free.

The facility is lovely. Each participant is provided with a comfortable rustic but fully equipped cabin with its own bath (a main house was undergoing renovations but will provide extra rooms soon.) A brand new conference center - the "Barn" - houses the kitchen and dining areas, plus extra space for lectures and workshop; there are lots of lovely nooks for hiding out and working, reading, or meditating. The atmosphere lends itself to spiritual renewal. And the food...the Highlights folks have gone to great lengths to prepare gourmet meals (and they will individualize for those with allergies or dietary needs), from the wine and hors d’oeuvres before dinner to the nourishing breakfasts to the always-available snacks and coffee.

I heard rave reviews about the experience from participants, most of whom were unpublished and early in their writing careers. I saw many make huge leaps of craft and commitment during our five days together.

I’m turning the floor over to Helen who graciously agreed to answer a few questions.

Please tell us generally about the Highlights Founders Workshops – what your plans are for 2012 and beyond.

The porch of the cabin I shared with Karyn...lovely!

The Founders Workshops have been taking place since May 2000 at the former home of the Founders of Highlights for Children in northeastern Pennsylvania.  The location is a beautiful farm complete with cozy cabins and a new conference center called The Barn that opened last fall.  This facility has allowed the Highlights Foundation to expand our workshop offerings for writers and illustrators in 2012 with over three-dozen workshops during the year.  Our programming is broad based with workshops for writers and illustrators at all levels of experience and expertise.  Our hope is to continue to refine and expand our workshop offerings so that we may serve our mission to raise the level of the offering of writing and illustrating for children.

You have a great mix of classes for beginners and pros, for fiction and non-fiction, and for various genres. Will the template be the same for each year?

We are working on our programming for 2013 and have some interesting new ideas in store for both writers and illustrators!  The Barn gives us much more flexibility in our plans, but our aim is to offer tracks in both fiction and nonfiction each year so that writers of all levels may hone their skills. Of course, we will have specialized programming for illustrators as well! I’m excited about one of our possible offerings in 2013--a literature-based weekend where teachers, critics, editors, librarians, and writers gather to discuss the elements of what makes a good book.  I’m sure this weekend will offer up some great discussion!

A sweet spot to sit outside the Barn, cabins in the background.

I was so impressed with the thoughtful organization that went into planning the workshop schedule. Does each workshop demand an individual approach?

The Highlights Foundation is known for its exceptional level of hospitality and its dedication to good teaching.  While we like to make it look easy, it takes a great deal of planning and detail to make a workshop run well.  We do take an individual approach to each program to make sure the experience will be one of outstanding value to our attendees.  We talk a lot about the details and try to anticipate the needs and expectations of the writers and illustrators we serve.

The grounds are gorgeous. Kent (Brown, executive director of the Highlights Foundation) mentioned plans in the works. Can you tell us what is coming for the future?

We’re not quite ready to make a formal announcement, but there is more construction happening at the farm!  Currently, the original farmhouse is being totally renovated for use as a smaller meeting space.  But we also have some bigger plans in the works.  Your readers will just have to check out our web site, or better yet, come to a workshop to see for themselves! A Founders Workshop is the perfect place to focus on creative work, learn something new, and have a great time. A complete list of 2012 Founders Workshops is on our website at www.highlightsfoundation.org or you can call Jo Lloyd for information at 570-253-1192. 

Thanks so much Helen!

Karyn Henley Guest Post: "Writers as Weight Lifters: Keeping Characters Off Balance"

A couple of weeks ago I had the great experience of being a teaching assistant at a Highlights Whole Novel Workshop (more on that next week.) But I had the singular good fortune to room with and TA beside award-winning YA author Karyn Henley.

Karyn is one of the sweetest, kindest people I've met (and it's no easy task rooming with a complete stranger in what could be a stressful circumstance. This was the least stressful roomie situation ever.) She's also a Vermont College grad (go VCFA!) and a talented writer AND an accomplished and award-winning song writer. Her novel (BREATH OF ANGEL) is on my nightstand, calling to me, and her second novel (EYE OF THE SWORD; and check out the hunky guy on that cover...) launched while we were in Pennsylvania. Yay, Karyn!

Karyn wrote me the following guest post and I'm delighted to share this fabulous offering.

Novel writers are the nicest cruel people I know. As I write this, I'm at the Highlights Whole Novel Workshop with 21 other writers, all wonderfully nice people. But at this moment, with a morning free for writing, all these wonderfully nice writers are putting their characters in peril, pelting them with problems, and blocking their goals. Ah, but there's a reason for our madness. We're creating tension.

            

Agent Donald Maass is known for telling writers to put tension on every page. Keep the reader in suspense. Raise the stakes. While these axioms are simple to remember, they're not so easy to do. Some writers are reluctant to hurt their protagonists, which creates a boring story. Some writers throw every problem in the world at their characters, which makes the story either unbelievable and cartoonish or unrelenting and burdensome. So how do we create believable tension?

            

Tension comes in different weights. Writers test the weights to find what will keep the character – and the reader – off balance. The heaviest weights are fate-of-the-world suspense and life-and-death situations, although a child may experience the loss of a pet or an encounter with bullies as end-of-the-world heavy. Midweight tension comes from obstacles that delay a character or reveal a new problem to solve. Added together, several midweight obstacles can build heavy tension, especially with a clock ticking.

            

We usually know that our stories need at least one heavy weight problem and several midweight obstacles, but we sometimes forget the lighter weights. That's where we get tension on every page. Tension doesn't have to come from a fight or a chase or a disaster. Tension doesn't have to hit the page with a new problem or a ticking clock. Tension doesn't even have to come from facing an antagonist. As long as it keeps the protagonist off balance, it's tension.

            

Subtext between friends can convey tension. He wants to kiss her. She wants him to. Will they? In scene after scene they don't even touch. The tension builds. Once they kiss, the tension is released. So the writer keeps the tension going as long as possible.

            

Dialogue between friends can keep characters off balance. If one character says, "I'm applying for a job at Walgreen's," and her friend says, "Great idea," there's no tension. If her friend responds, "Why?" or argues, "You can't," there's tension. How-are-you-I'm-fine dialogue creates no tension. Delete it unless it covers an obvious, tense subtext, in which case the reader knows that the banter hides darker feelings and motives.

            

A character's goal is to bring some aspect of his life into balance. As you read, notice how writers deny their characters that balance. As you write, select the weights you need, and then shift the balance of your character's external or internal world in every scene. Keep your characters ­– and readers – off balance.


Find out more about Karyn here.