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by Darcy Pattison I am trying to write a short story mystery. Mysteries have always been mysterious to me until I read one day that mysteries are really two time lines: there’s the time line of what really happened and the time line of the detective finding out what really happened. So, here’s my current [...]
Openings are incredibly important. This was brought back to me recently as I was judging a contest. Those manuscripts that kept my interest for three pages were rare. Usually, they lost me by the middle of page two! Am I harsh? I don’t think so. Grab the Reader with Your Opening Lines Noah Lukeman has [...]
by Darcy Pattison I just received copies of 19 Girls and Me (Philomel) in Arabic from an Egyptian publisher. I’m now published in eight languages. Or, I will be when the German version of this book arrives sometime later this year. And here’s the cover in Chinese from a Taiwanese company!
by Darcy Pattison Star Wars as a Model for Hero’s Journey Have you ever used the Hero’s Journey to plot? Last night on the History Channel, I watched, “Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed.” Essentially, it went through all the elements of a hero’s journey and talked about how the six Star Wars movies epitomized the [...]
Recap: We’ve spent three weeks talking about how words affect voice. Voice Friday: Word Choices Voice Friday: Word Connotations Voice Friday: Word Sounds Today, in discussing voice, I want to return to the two examples with which we started the discussion of words. But now, we’ll look at sentences. Voice Friday: Sentences Voice Friday: Sentence [...]
This was sent to members of the Author’s Guild his afternoon. As you can see, The Author’s Guild still objects to the new S&S rights reversion clause. UPDATE ON SIMON AND SCHUSTER Simon & Schuster is irked that we went public with our information about their unannounced new contract language. They’ve sent a release (you [...]
by Darcy Pattison I am working on my teacher resource book. One topic is how to plan a mystery. Oh, my, gosh! Mysteries are so complicated. Two time lines: what really happened;the detective’s timeline of figuring out what happened in the first time line. Three characters: victim, villain, detective. I had broken it down into [...]
by Darcy Pattison Do you listen to music while you write? I find that music with lyrics takes my mind off the words that I’m writing. Instead, I like soundtracks from movies. Something about that kind of soundtrack works. I think it’s because the music is echoing the narrative arc of the story. But I’m [...]
Novel Secrets Series Author Nancy Sharp has designed a series of three retreats, which is unique in the writing world. It takes writers from an initial idea to a finished manuscript and an evaluation by an agent or editor–in JUST ONE YEAR. Awesome! Cynsations website is running a series of interviews with the speakers. One [...]
I love children/s literature. It’s the best of the best of writing that’s out there. Those who get published are not always the best writers and storytellers. I hate to revise. Novel revision or picturebook revision–they are both hard. But it’s the only way I can get a publishable mss. One of the best moments [...]
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