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What Age Do you Have to Be to Write a Novel? The question of the perfect age to write a novel comes up sometimes when I do school visits. Too young? At what age are you too young to write a novel and have it published? I’ve seen a 13 year old published and published [...]
How I Shrunk my Picture Book Manuscript – and Why I’ll Do It Again! by Lee Wind At a schmooze of the SCBWI Tri-Regions of Southern California, discussion ranged far and wide, pulling info and tips from many sources. Lee Wind showed a shrunken manuscript of a picture book, complete with glitter, colors and stickers. [...]
7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge. Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009 Overall: This was an interesting exercise that I’d like to repeat in a slower month, not May. Why is the Nanowrimo in November and this had [...]
Learn to Listen to Critiquers Listening to critiques is hard! I have to remind myself that writing is communication, with a writer and a reader. When I get feedback, what I’m really doing is checking to see if I communicated what I wanted to. Well, no. I didn’t. I have two choices: Ignore the feedback. [...]
Writers Plan Around Life Events Do you plan your writing year? Do you plan a month or a season ahead? How do you deal with stressful periods of life? I view my writing as my work, something I am privileged to do every day. I do try to plan ahead and make sure I’m accomplishing [...]
It’s well know that I don’t want an honest critique on my novels or picture books! But for some reason, people keep giving me exactly what I don’t want. Conflicting Emotions of Receiving a Critique Yesterday, when my local critique group talked about my latest picture book manuscript, three emotions held sway. Embarrassment. I am [...]
When do you start revising your novel? I start by revising the first draft of my novel’s plot outline, synopsis or treatment. Revise Early and Late As soon as I’ve written the first sketchy outlines of a novel, I’m revising. I’m looking for many things: Does the climax resolve the setup? Are the main characters [...]
Sensory Details Put Readers On-Location Where? Where does your story take place? If it’s in Barrow, Alaska, then I’d better see the Arctic Ocean, the ice jutting up in sharp columns as it is pushed against the shore. If it’s on a horse ranch, when you walk into the barn, I’d better smell that horse [...]
What is the Best Length for Novel Chapters? How long are your chapters? How long is long enough or too long? In his book, , action/adventure author, David Morrell (creator of the Rambo character, among others), says he tries to write short chapters, so that a reader can complete one chapter (or structural unit) at [...]
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