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Take the February 750word challenge. The website 750words.com challenges writers every month to write every day that month and make it at least 750 words. Now, think about it. February only has 28 days; except this is a leap year, sorry. Still, that’s one day less to win this challenge. You can write 750 words [...]
This month, I am trying to Think Like a Writer and write 750 words a day, practicing my writing, much like a musician plays scales daily. Today, I will be a Grinch, a mean one. Why? Because fiction is built on conflict: without bad things happening, the reader is bored. A bored reader equals failure! [...]
Tone is the overall feel of a story. Does this sound depressed, joyful, or hopeful? Beyond that, though, tone can determine the audience for your story. One of the main differences between a middle grade and YA, or a YA and an adult story, is the tone of the piece. Tone reflects the author’s attitude [...]
In celebration of National Picture Book Month and Veteran’s Day: Give a Military Family a Free Book In celebration of National Picture Book Month and Veteran’s Day and to honor of our military families, download and give a free children’s picture book to a military family. THE STORY: “11 Ways to Ruin a Photograph” When [...]
After flirting with the idea of doing NaNoWriMo, I decided instead to do PiBoIdMo, or Picture Book Idea Month, the 30 days of November in which I am supposed to come up with 30 picture book ideas. It makes sense. I am attending the SCBWI Eastern NY Falling Leaves Master Class retreat where five picture [...]
I’m sending out my novel today. Long ago, when submissions were paper, writers and authors often went through rituals to send out a manuscript for their novel or picture book. A lucky cat had to sit on the manuscript. It had to mailed with certain types of stamps. You kissed the envelope for luck. IN [...]
Writing is rewriting Guest post by Anastasia Suen For years I have been saying that writing is rewriting, and now I have a book that shows it quite clearly, my new picture book, Road Work Ahead (Viking 2011). This picture book is short, like most of my books. It’s only 120 words, but those words [...]
Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11. Class of 2008 Class of 2009 MORE 2k11 On Revisions and The Pull of Gravity Guest post [...]
30 Days to a Stronger Scene What has the most potential for improving your writing? Learning to write a strong scene; then making sure every scene in your story is strong. Because it’s so important, we’ll spend the next 30 days breaking down scenes and trying to write the strongest possible. 30 Days to a [...]
Using the Hero’s Journey to Plot At the Michigan SCBWI conference two weeks ago, I was asked to teach about the Hero’s Journey. Taken from Joseph Campbell’s classic work on folklore, the hero’s journey is a classic paradigm for plot, especially for quest stories. The best book for studying the hero’s journey is The Writer’s [...]
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