character development

4 Stages of Character Development
When you write a first draft, there are really two novels at that point. There’s the one on the paper and there’s the one in your head and they are not the same.
I know this. But I’m experiencing it again as I’m working through this revision. In order to put on [...]

boring characters in novels

I’m worried. :-/
Are my characters boring?
One-Note Characters
One common difficulty is to create characters with a wide range of emotions. Yes, your character may be chronically sad or mad; but

Plot: My personal approach

My Plotting is Messy
This week, we’ve discusses 9 ways to plot. So, how do I plot?
Basic story line. Two of these are probably worthless for me:

All Ages

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 well. [...]

J.T. Dutton: 2k9

This entry is part 7 of 10 in the series 2k9Introduced first in 2007, authors debuting children’s books have formed a cooperative effort to market their novels. Last year, I featured many of the stories of how the 2k8 Novels Were Revised. This is part of the ongoing stories from the Class of 2k9 authors [...]

Transitions

Transitions: Filling in the Time Line
I’m at a tricky place in my revision where I need a good transition. There’s a time gap. Certain events need to take place in late October and November, but I’m at about the 4th of July on the story’s time line. I need to get on with the story [...]

Measuring Progress Poll Results

Last week, I asked how you measure the progress of revising your novel, or of a writing session. Here’s the results:
Word Count and Page Count Indicate Progress
Word Count edges out Page Count by one vote. It seems the ease of counting words with word processors has made Word Count one of the easiest statistics [...]

muttering

Re-Reading: The Basic Revision Strategy
I’m always amazed at how much the revision process depends on re-reading what you wrote.
It’s an obvious statement, of course. Yet, when I ask people about their revision process, re-reading is seldom mentioned. It’s one of those assumed things.
Suggestions for Re-reading to Re-envision

Re-read an entire section, not just half a page. [...]

Test Submissions

Submit, Then Revise
At our spring conference, Jen Rofe, literary agent at Andrea Brown Literary spoke about sending out manuscripts.
The one thing that surprised me was her attitude toward submission and revision. Rofe said she usually sends out a mss to about five editors. Then, depending on the feedback, she’ll often ask the writer to [...]

fall retreats

Speaking Schedule
Here’s an update on my speaking schedule for the rest of the year.

Novel Revision Reteat. SF & North & East Bay SCBWI, San Francisco, CA. July 16-19, 2009 (SOLD OUT)
Novel Revision Retreat. Louisiana SCBWI. St. Joseph Abbey, Covington, LA. Download flyer for the LA retreat.
Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat, Ft. Smith, AR. September 25-27. [...]