Children’s Writing Web Journal

Back again with a fresh set of posts.  And we have some history — our very first repeat blog!  Yes, wow-Women on Writing is just that good. 

Also, many thanks for the kind notes.  Laura and I are so glad that folks are enjoying these videos so much.  It’s really our pleasure to give such excellent blogs the exposure they deserve, and we’re grateful that so many of you have taken the time to let us know that you’re benefiting from our efforts.

Now, here’s the video:

How Publishing Is Like Fashion Or What I Learned from Daniel Vosovic…

Tuesday Memory Challenge

When Writing For Children. . .

The Secret Life of Bees Movie/Book Comparison

A fine crop of blog posts today from a  diverse group of bloggers.  Have a look — and pay each blog a visit by following the links after the video.  A note:  I’m still trying to perfect the technical aspects of this.  As a result, the actual blog posts are now clearer, but your humble host shows up in postage-stamp size!  Ah well, I’ll get it all to work right one of these days!

Varying Perspective

All In the Name of Research

Books I Could Read A Million Times: Part 2

Creep Factor Anyone?

In November, those folks ingenious enough to have a subscription to Children’s Book Insider, The Newsletter for Children’s Writers, are continuing their paths to success by reading about:

Market News:

* Publisher Seeks Early Chapter Books and Nonfiction for Leveled Readers

* Magazine Accepting Fiction, Nonfiction Submissions for Early Elementary Grades

* Our in-depth interview with a new publisher that’s seeking young adult contemporary fiction!

Articles & Features:

* Grow a Funny Bone! How to effectively and memorably use humor in your writing.

* Evelyn Coleman: Writing About the Human Experience. The acclaimed author of Freedom Train gives her best advice.

* The Flexibility Factor. Author Carmen Anthony Fiore tells about an important and simple shift that improved her stories dramatically….and shares it with you!

* Produce Your Best Writing Without Straining Your Brain. Get your left and right brain together to become a better writer…with less effort.

* Getting Started as a Blogger. Don’t have a blog yet? You really should — and we’ll show you just how to get started.

What? You’re not getting Children’s Book Insider? We’ll have to do something about that!

Click here for a special offer and a free gift!

Back again with more terrific blog postings for you. There are clickable links to each of today’s featured posts below the video.

The Way We Were?

How to Break Through Mental Barriers

Five Favorite Fictional Rooms From Children’s Literature

The children’s literature blog world (or Kidlitosphere, as it’s come to be known) is filled with smart, clever and insightful folks.  So many, in fact, that it can be a bit overwhelming to keep up with all the genius being tossed around out there.  So, we’re doing our part, by highlighting the absolute best postings from the Kidlitosphere in this daily video series.

Have a look…and then pay the featured blogs a visit.  And tell ‘em Jon sent you!

Today’s posts:

Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Brian Lies

My Epitaph: Suh-weet TY Note

“LinkIn” To Opportunity!

Comment Challenge: Questions & Answers

Here’s a nice list of 100 useful search engines to help you find just about anything:

http://www.unixl.com/blog/2008/100-fun-useful-search-engines-for-writers/

Interested in writing stories and sending them to children’s book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

Let’s continue our series which will take us, step-by-step, from absolute beginner to published author. The topic of the previous issue: Who Is Your Reader? If you missed it, you can read it here: http://write4kids.com/update101008.html

Today let’s talk about what you should write about.

Perhaps it’s best to begin with a few things you shouldn’t write about:

• Subjects that have been beaten to death. If you want to write another alphabet book, or a book in which our hero learns that it’s OK to be different, or a story about a talking squirrel and his magical forest friends, you had better have a really fresh take on things, or else you’re wasting your — and the editor’s — time. The best way to determine over-covered topics? Ask your local children’s librarian about the kinds of stories she hopes never to see again. You’ll get an earful — and a roadmap of where not to go.

• Subjects that have been covered better than you can possibly manage. As far as I’m concerned, no one should ever attempt to record a cover version of an Otis Redding song. Really, what’s the point? Is it even remotely possible to do that song better than Otis did it? But yet, some have tried. And they’ve failed.

  If you’re inspired by a truly great writer, that’s wonderful. Generations of writers have been sparked by the work of Dr. Seuss, or Judy Blume or Gary Paulsen. But no one will ever succeed simply by copying what those extraordinary talents have done. If you read Hatchet and decide that you’re going to take a crack at your own story about a boy stranded in the wilderness after he has to land a plane on his own, you’re missing the point. If you read Hatchet and decide that you’re going to write an entirely fresh and original adventure story for boys, you’re on the right track.

• Subjects you don’t care about. So you read that horror for teens is hot right now, and you decide that your ticket into the publishing world will be a YA novel filled with frights and chills. That’s cool — if you understand and appreciate the genre. But, if you aren’t inclined to read horror books on your own time just for the fun of it, what makes you think you’re at all capable of doing the genre justice in your own writing? “Write what you know” is an absolute truism, but I would amend it to “write what you’re passionate about”. That’s the real key. (I have a simple and foolproof technique for determining this coming up at the end of this piece.)

So, with that in mind, here are my two tips for coming up with a story idea that will resonate with readers and give your talent the best opportunity to shine:

1. Write about something from your own life and make it meaningful to today’s readers.

In the last installment of this series, I suggested that you create two imaginary children to represent your readers. Here’s the key point from the piece:

Before you start your manuscript, create two “characters” to represent your potential readership. One boy, one girl. Give each one a name. Imagine their age, their physical appearance, the way they speak and how they dress. Think about what they do with themselves in the hours not spent reading your book. Who are their friends? Who are their antagonists? What else do they read? In what kind of house or apartment do they live? And, most importantly, what are they looking for when they pick up your book? To be entertained? Enlightened? Scared? Tickled pink with laughter?

Don’t start writing your book until these two youngsters truly become real to you. Now, start writing your book for them. Forget the publisher, forget the editor, forget the (hopefully) hordes of other kids that will ultimately read your book. Write this book for those two kids.

Now examine your own life and find the things that have the most meaning for you. Did you overcome a great obstacle? Accomplish something you never thought possible? Experience a tragedy? Have a family member who got ill or was disabled? Develop an unusual hobby or interest? Make a list and see what speaks loudest to you. Now go back to your imaginary readers, take yourself out of the event and place one of them into it. In one stroke, you’ve obtained the necessary distance to write this story. Set your story in the child’s world, not yours. Let the child deal with it in his or her own way, not necessarily in the way you dealt with it. Let go of the story and allow your new protagonist to take over. You just might find that your story is a heck of a lot more fascinating, unpredictable and meaningful than you’ve ever imagined.

2. Discover Your True Passions and Write About Them

Here it is, my foolproof method of determining the things that you truly and deeply care about. And it couldn’t be simpler. Just answer this question:

When you’re browsing magazine racks in a bookstore, to which section do you go first? Which section do you head to next? And after that?

You just listed your top three passions. Simple, right?

Me, I go to the music section first. Then I look at martial arts magazines. Then political magazines. How about you?

There, you’ve just discovered the subjects you should be writing about (unless, of course, your first three stops are Hustler, High Times and Soldier of Fortune, in which case I suggest you might reconsider this whole children’s writing thing).

Nice post from Yat-Yee Chong about her time at last weekend’s Big Sur in the Rockies conference in Boulder.  Apparently, she uncovered the superhero powers that lurk behind Laura’s mild-mannered facade:

And here I am with Laura Backes, writing teacher extraordinaire. Her superpower is way better than that of any fake super hero: she can get to the heart of any manuscript and make magic-wand type suggestions that any writer would want to immediately follow.

Here’s the post in full

There are elections that do little to change the status quo, and then there are seismic events disguised as elections.

We’re in the midst of the latter, and the results will impact future generations in ways we can only imagine.   I assume that, as children’s writers, every one of you is concerned about young people, the challenges they face and the future they will confront.  And yet, some of you will not bother making it to a polling place on Tuesday.

This is beyond senseless.  It’s tragic.

Please, vote.

If you’re not going to vote because it’s raining, bring an umbrella.

If you’re not going to vote because the lines are long, bring a good book.

If you’re not going to vote because the lines are really long, bring your laptop and write a good book.

If you’re not going to vote because you’re convinced your candidate is a shoo-in (or dead meat), you might be wrong, so go and vote.

If you’re not going to vote because you think your vote doesn’t matter, ask some folks in Florida circa 2000 about that.

On Tuesday night, I do believe that the tectonic plates of this republic will shift, and that we’ll find ourselves at the dawn of a challenging, exasperating but, ultimately, grand era in our nation’s history.  I’ve already had my say in the matter.  Will you?

Vote.

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To see what others in the kidlit world are saying about the importance of voting, visit Blog The Vote.

And here’s a video from children’s author Tina Coury on why she votes: