reading like a writer: what is at stake for y-o-u, you?

All month we’ve been examining our main characters personal stakes. We have been raising them, amping them up, creating ultimate stakes, and making our main character face a moment of irrevocable commitment, a point where there is no turning back. We’ve turned to Donald Maas—read his words. We’ve read my words—in the form of my main character in Between Us Baxters, Polly and we’ve read and examined the stakes of Lisa Railsback’s main character in Betti, in Betti on the Highwire.

 

But what about us—as the writer and creator of these words and worlds? What is at stake for us?

I began writing and studying fiction in 1998. It is now 2011. I published for the first time in Cricket, the literary children’s magazine in 2004. I published my first novel in 2009. What was at stake for me then is different than what is at stake for me now, but I believe strongly though that what is at stake for us as the writer/creator may change with each project we take on, it is very important  for us to access and think about. 

When I work with my private students I ask them a zillion questions. Mostly about their main characters, what the character wants and but eventually I ask the writer what is at stake for personally in the writing of the project they are currently working on. One of my students was very brave in answering, what was at stake for her as she tackled drafting her first novel:

…Getting it right – giving this theme the attention it deserves, in a real and organic way, without having the novel seem preachy or lecturey (I just made that word up, sorry!) I guess another thing at stake is whether I can actually do this – whether I can actually be a writer that tackles real issues (sometimes I have moments where I don’t think I’m smart enough or deep enough or intellectual enough or creative enough to do this…) or whether it’s just a pipe dream and I don’t really have the guts/courage to do it. 

Ah, living up to the potential the story demands of us. That coupled with personal belief is always at stake. Can I do this? Am I up for the challenge? Am I smart enough? Talented enough? Do I have what it takes? What if I fail?  It doesn’t matter if one has an MFA or is published these niggly fears still come up but we writers are brave. We face our fears over and over. We bring them to the page. We create and infuse our characters with the same such human fears and only in the process of putting ourselves in touch for what is at stake for ourselves do we make progress, on the page and in life. 

I am writing my first older YA. What is at stake for me in this project is not relying on my developed Southern voice. Also at stake is accessing personal and raw emotions I am not sure everyone I know and love will approve of. I am creating characters, not passing off real life as fiction, but I am putting on the page something of my life experience. I am writing older. I am writing from a boy’s point of view. I am scared and I am attempting to be patient and brave at the same time. Is it working? Some days, yes. Some days, no. But I am glad to have a new things at stake for me in this work. 

Take Away:

Consider you work-in-progress, what is at stake for you as the writer? What are your fears? Can you use them in the writing of the manuscript? Can you “be” with the fears and not let them stop you? How do you feel about the work after being honest with yourself about how much you want it—to get it right, to do it well, to be read, to use new muscles? (My guess is after being clear with yourself about what is at stake you feel braver and bolder and more ready to keep at it, no matter what.)

Inspiration:The Ether of Ideas

Authors are often asked by kids and by adults—“Where do you get your ideas?” Most authors usually respond back with something like, “Where don’t I?” For me, that is and isn’t true. I will let you in on a little secret—I am obsessed with figuring myself out. So my ideas usually—not selfishly—but usually start from me. They come from a place of personal pain, personal joy, the desire to figure families out, how to cope in hard circumstances, from my belief in loving who we love, and standing as firm as we can in the truth that we have come to know. When I was a student at Vermont College of Fine Arts, one of my advisors, the well-respected Marion Dane Bauer advised from the podium, “write from your unhealed places.” And, that’s what I do. Even when I write a picture book.

Well, maybe that is not totally true. I write from an unhealed part of me, or from a hope filled part of me.  Like the Libra scales (that is my sign after all) I search for a precarious balance between hope and healing. For healing to work, one needs to face the pain. And for hope to abound, healing needs to occur.

In the Inspiration issue of Poets & Writers that kicked off 2011, Kevin Nance writes in “The Greatest Mystery…Where Writers’ Ideas Come From”:

“As useful as they are, the ideas that come to writers, in whatever way, almost always have their limitations. They almost never arrive fully formed, as id from the head of Zeus; they perform the necessary task of showing us the keyhole, but are usually not themselves the keys; they don’t get you through the door. ‘Anyone can get into a poem’ Robert Frost said, ‘but only a poet can get out of one.’”

So whether the ether of ideas comes from pleasure, pain, history, recent events— one thing is sure. An idea is where you start not where you end.

How to Succeed in Children’s Publishing, Without Really Trying In Six Easy Steps

Hmm. That doesn’t sound right does it?

The movie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) directed by David Swift or the newly remounted Broadway show, starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and John Laroquette is a comedy but is pursuing a career as a children’s author a comedy or a tragedy? Maybe creating a career in the kid’s biz of publishing is a dramady—a bit of the comic and a bit of the tragic. But the only real tragedy, as we read last Monday, is not trying.

But how do we create a career? You got me? I am still figuring it out but I have learned a few things in my ten year pursuit to publish and my now two years on the shelves.  And here they are:

  1.  Put writing first.             

No, this doesn’t mean to ignore your family and friends, to not do well at your day job, or to let the laundry pile up until it buries you alive. But what it does mean is keep creating as a top priority.

2.     2.  Keep reading.

It can be hard to find the time to read when there are school visits to book, presentations to create, blogs to write and read. But keep reading. Read critically. Read for pleasure. Just read.

3.      3. Attend the biz of writing workshops/read biz of writing blogs

Do we twitter? Facebook? Blog? V-log? Create fliers? Audio clips? Podcasts? Social media is here and it is here to stay. Go learn from PR professionals but remember your first priority is not to run a social media empire. It is to write. So write and pick the couple of business tools that feel good to you. 

Greg Leitich Smith works the tech for the Holler Loudly About Alien Invasions and Truth with a Capital T Book Party

4.   Create Community.

We are not in this alone. Even if you live in the Artic tundra or on the equator and you think there are no other children’s authors or illustrators around, look. Are there any in your town? Your state? Becoming an Austinite was easy. We have a thrilling and thriving kid-lit community here but even if you aren’t in Austin tap into the creative people in your area. Together you can lick wounds, celebrate successes and keep the solitary confinement to times when you are deep in the cave. 

5.     5.  Pay it forward.

All artists have mentors. When a writer whose work we admire sees something in us—believe them. They have been where you are. They are lending a helping hand. Take it. Listen. Be grateful and don’t forget to pay it forward. When your time comes, and you see a talented newer writer—reach out.

6.       6. Develop a split personality. 

Author Jenny Shank, who I mentioned in last week’s post on perfectionism, advises:

“You can’t stop looking if you want to publish a book; you just have to compartmentalize the looking. I turned my publication-seeking activities over to a fragment of my personality…let’s call him Johnny Business—while the rest of me didn’t think about it, worry about it, and went about my days without pining over it. What Johnny Business does is none of my business.”

So how does that work?  Well, the business side of you keeps sending out work while the creative side of you is creating. The business side of you thinks about ways to raise your profile while the creative side is creating. The business side of you works a business plan, makes contacts, follows them up, while the creative side of you is creating. Think of it as the yin and yang or rather the Biz and the Whiz. The biz side of you is necessary but without the inner whiz- kid creating there would be nothing for Biz to do.

Creating a career is not a knee-slapping musical comedy—not even if Harry Potter appears and dances across the stage.  The title of this post should be: How to Succeed in Children’s Publishing, While Really, Really Trying.

 It takes more than six easy steps. It takes a lot of trial and error. It takes a lot of chocolate and wine. It takes a lot of work and even more access to one’s inner whiz-kid.  Simply put, it takes what it takes.

And speaking of community, check out the Awesome Austin Goings On:

From Publisher's Marketplace:

Jo Whittemore's D IN DRAMA, about a group of drama school losers who are perpetually cast as trees and nameless villagers, but hatch a plan to upend the status quo and create their own starring roles, again to Alyson Heller at Aladdin, by Jennifer Laughran at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Philip Yates's A PIRATE'S TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS, companion to the popular A PIRATE'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, to Sterling Children's, for publication in Fall 2012, by Quinlan Lee at Adams Literary (World).

 

 And,

Alvina Ling at Little, Brown has bought world rights for Chris Barton and Tom Lichtenheld's companion picture book to Shark vs. Train, for publication in spring 2013. Erin Murphy at the Erin Murphy Literary Agency is the agent for the author, and Amy Rennert at the Amy Rennert Agency is the agent for the artist. 

For  an interview with Chris Barton about his latest non-fiction offering head on over to Kathi Appelt's blog where she has interviewed an in-depth interview titled: The Real Chris Barton.

Also, since March Madness is upon us look for an Inside the Writer's Studio Interview Tuesday through Thursday this week.

Inspiration: How to Succeed in Children’s Publishing, Without Really Trying

How to Succeed in Children’s Publishing, Without Really Trying

In Six Easy Steps

[Image]Hmm. That doesn’t sound right does it? The movie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967) directed by David Swift or the newly remounted Broadway show, starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and John Laroquette is a comedy but is pursuing a career as a children’s author a comedy or a tragedy? Maybe creating a career in the kid’s biz of publishing is a dramady—a bit of the comic and a bit of the tragic. But the only real tragedy, as we read last Monday, is not trying.

But how do we create a career? You got me? I am still figuring it out but I have learned a few things in my ten year pursuit to publish and my now two years (gee, that isn't a lot of time) on the shelves.  And here they are:



1.      Put writing first.               
No, this doesn’t mean to ignore your family and friends, to not do well at your day job, or to let the laundry pile up until it buries you alive. But what it does mean is keep creating as a top priority.
2.       Keep reading.
It can be hard to find the time to read when there are school visits to book, presentations to create, blogs to write and read. But keep reading. Read critically. Read for pleasure. Just read.
3.      Attend the biz of writing workshops/read biz of writing blogs.
Do we twitter? Facebook? Blog? V-log? Create fliers? Audio clips? Podcasts? Social media is here and it is here to stay. Go learn from PR professionals but remember your first priority is not to run a social media empire. It is to write. So write and pick the couple of business tools that feel good to you. 
 Create community.
We are not in this alone. Even if you live in the Artic tundra or on the equator and you think there are no other children’s authors or illustrators around, look. Are there any in your town? Your state? Becoming an Austinite was easy. We have a thrilling and thriving kid-lit community here but even if you aren’t in Austin tap into the creative people in your area. Together you can lick wounds, celebrate successes and keep the solitary confinement to times when you are deep in the cave. 
Paay it forward.
All artists have mentors. When a writer whose work we admire sees something in us—believe them. They have been where you are. They are lending a helping hand. Take it. Listen. Be grateful and don’t forget to pay it forward. When your time comes, and you see a talented newer writer—reach out.
6.       Develop a split personality. 
Author Jenny Shank, who I mentioned in last week’s post on perfectionism, advises: “You can’t stop looking if you want to publish a book; you just have to compartmentalize the looking. I turned my publication-seeking activities over to a fragment of my personality…let’s call him Johnny Business—while the rest of me didn’t think about it, worry about it, and went about my days without pining over it. What Johnny Business does is none of my business.”

So how does that work?  Well, the business side of you keeps sending out work while the creative side of you is creating. The business side of you thinks about ways to raise your profile while the creative side is creating. The business side of you works a business plan, makes contacts, follows them up, while the creative side of you is creating. Think of it as the yin and yang or rather the Biz and the Whiz. The biz side of you is necessary but without the inner whiz- kid creating there would be nothing for Biz to do.
Creating a career is not a knee-slapping musical comedy—not even if Harry Potter appears and dances across the stage.  The title of this post should be: How to Succeed in Children’s Publishing, While Really, Really Trying.

It takes more than six easy steps. It takes a lot of trial and error. It takes a lot of chocolate and wine. It takes a lot of work and even more access to one’s inner whiz-kid.  Simply put, it takes what it takes. And it is worth it, even the bruises.