Kidnapped!

Clearly, I have been kidnapped.

"By what?” you might ask, as you have undoubtedly noticed my pathetic failure to blog over the past month.

I could lie. I could accuse sixth graders, the flu, or fall report cards.

I could even be more creative by accusing Title I meetings, state testing trainings, make-up conferences, collecting special materials for students’ Egypt projects, pre-observation forms, fighting with the copy machine, post-observation meetings, SIOP inservices, cutting squares for Roman mosaics, IEPs, baking chocolate chip cookies for family meetings, or ordering flashcards.

“You could not,” Aurelia says, “I would never allow you to neglect our blog on account of these trifling excuses. Tell them what you have been kidnapped by.”

Ambition.

This year I am both a freelance writer and a freelance teacher (a profession often maligned & more often described as “substitute teaching”). Ultimately, this frees me to do a lot more writing-related teaching, writing events, and venturing into the great unknown.

AKA earning more writing-related income.

Sadly, blogging does not fall under this category and has, therefore, been woefully neglected as I work my way up the steep learning curve of applying for writing events, following-up on e-mails, signing contracts, and even braving the world of subbing in kindergarten—yikes!

However, fear not! My characters have been collecting plenty of ideas for us to blog about in the future.

See you again soon!

Interview

Sending you all over to Readinista for my recent interview! Meant to post this link last week, but . . . well . . . there were three days of substitute teaching, followed by a trip to the vet, an author presentation for the Patrons of the Gilliam County Library Night, a journey to the coast for my grandmother's ninetieth birthday, and Wordstock--the largest literary festival in the Pacific Northwest.

Readinista interview

Folding Paper—It’s All About Character

Twain needed to fold a piece of paper this week and put it in his pocket.

You haven’t heard from Twain before. (I have a feeling you might hear a lot. He’s in one of my book proposals, and he has a reputation for yakking).

Anyway, he had to fold this piece of paper. And it had to be folded into fourths so that it would stay flat. This is not because he is anal—he was very definite about this—but because he had to show it to someone else. Who might flip out if the paper was a mess.

Which made me think about Beth. Who is a mess. And would probably lose the form before it ever made it into her pocket.

And Dane. Who would probably crumple it up and shove it in his pocket. In order to make someone else flip out.

And Salva, who would no doubt put it in his folder so there would be no creases.

And Robert, who would fold the paper carefully.

And Aurelia who would argue about having to show it to anyone at all.

Because every character is different. And that dictates action.

As an author, I really believe you don’t have to know everything. You could spend years doing research. And research is helpful, but it won’t tell you how Twain folds his paper. Or crashes his bike. Or pops it over a mud puddle.

For that you have to know Twain.

It’s all about character.

Simba

I have another new kitty! His named Simba. He is a small orange kitten with long fur. Here is what I have learned about him so far.

1. He is very smart. He mastered the use of the litter box, drinking milk from a bowl, drinking water, and eating dry food all in his first week of living in a house. (Prior to this he had been quartered in the rafters of a shop and the inner hidey holes within a combine).
2. He has sharp teeth. He gnawed off three rubber bottle nipples in three minutes prior to mastering the skills above.
3. He is a fantastic climber, believes in heading for high ground, and likes to scale the back of the couch.
4. He loves to play.
5. And play.
6. And play.
7. He snuggles!
8. He hates being locked in the cat carrier.
9. When hiding, he heads directly for the deepest darkest corner of the room. Which in a kitchen, means the back of an open cupboard.
10. He is totally unafraid of my other cat, Charlotte, which FYI is more than I can say for my parents’ kitty, Billy, or the one-eyed tomcat she pestered—i.e. yowled at—for two hours the other day in the jungle next door.

Hope your kitties are all doing well!

Paranormal Romance with HUMOR

Me: It is time to introduce you to the Blossom Culp books.

Aurelia: The what?

Me: Four novels by Richard Peck starring the main characters, Blossom Culp and Alexander Armsworth. Four books which, BTW, are A. Fabulously entertaining reading for anyone between the ages of 9 and 99. B. The best teacher read-a-louds I have ever come across. And C. Technically examples of paranormal romance published way ahead of their time. With superior humor.

Book 1: The Ghost Belonged to Me—in which seventh grader, Alexander Armsworth, has the unfortunate experience of . . .


-Becoming trapped in a fire escape with his classmate, the spidery-legged girl from across the tracks—aka Blossom Culp.
-Finding a small wet dog in his family’s barn, and . . .
-Discovering that the dog belongs to a ghost.



Book 2: Ghosts I Have Been—in which the narrative is now taken over by the vibrant voice of eighth grader, Blossom Culp. Who has the remarkable experience of . . .


-Scaring the pants off her neighbor, Alexander Armsworth, and the “low-lifes” he has regrettably teamed up with for the night of Halloween.
-Been invited—against ALL likelihood—to attend one (and only one) exclusive meeting of the Sunny Thoughts and Busy Fingers Sisterhood, and . . .
-Begun seeing a small ghost boy who appears to be on the recently sunk Titanic.

Book 3: The Dreadful Future of Blossom Culp—in which our heroine . . .

-Moves on to the frightening, and entirely unspiritual, hazards of high school.
-Rescues the entire freshman class from embarrassing themselves during the Freshman Haunted House, and . . .
-Fast forwards one hundred years into the modern day.



Book 4: Blossom Culp and the Sleep of Death—in which Blossom . . .

-Attempts to rescue Alexander Armsworth . . . from himself. And the clutches of the popular Letty Shambaugh.
-Spies upon Alexander, who appears to be scrubbing the library floor with a toothbrush.
-And, along with Alexander, is in serious peril of being cursed by the ghost of an Ancient Egyptian princess.



All in the average lives of two teens from the opposite side of the tracks in 1800’s Bluff City. Two teens with NOTHING in common. Except the ability to run into each other. And see ghosts.

Post-its, Paperclips, and Miniature Skateboards

Me: Ah! The beauty of the contemporary novel.

Aurelia: What?! I thought we were in firm agreement that fantasy and historical fiction are your favorite genres.

Me: They are, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some serious advantages to writing modern realistic fiction.

She growls behind her teeth.

Aurelia: Like what?

Me: Like description.

Aurelia: Hold on! That is not fair. Just the other day you were saying what a struggle it was to decide how to describe a realistic riverbank for a modern novel without actually choosing a real riverbank.

Me: That’s true. But generally the description in a modern novel is so much easier because you don’t need nearly as much. And when you do, you can usually just look in your own desk.

She rolls her eyes and sits down on a footstool.

Aurelia: Explain.

Me: Well if my character is a fifth grade boy and I have him sit down at his desk, the average reader already has an image. He or she doesn’t need me to go into vivid detail about the type of screws in the desk.

Aurelia: And you feel like describing screws when you put a desk in a historical novel?

Me: Maybe not. But I’d better research the type of desks that were around then, just in case I slip up. And how am I supposed to figure out what might be inside the desk? Quill pens, ink; those seem likely, but that’s nothing compared to the wealth of possibilities my student might have in a contemporary novel: glue sticks, number 2 pencils, sharpeners with annoying motors, miniature plastic skateboards with wheels, radically altered paper clips—

Aurelia: I’m sure students a hundred years ago had plenty of ways of distracting their teachers too!

Me: I’m sure they did. But I have to research them. And if I’m writing fantasy, I have to invent them. Which, don’t get me wrong, I love to do. Just not necessarily for every little thing or at 4:30 p.m. when I reach that scene or on a day when I’m in a bad mood. And this is when it comes in really handy to be writing a contemporary novel. Because you can just open your own mental desk, pull out all those random details from personal experience, and toss them into your scene.

Aurelia: Only if you’re trying to make a mess.

Me: Which is perfect for the average desk of a fifth grader. All hail the contemporary novel!

She opens my desk and flings about a hundred post-its at me.

Throwing Up and Climbing Down the Fire Escape

Writing is 1/10th first draft and 9/10ths revision. Or 19/20ths revision. Or 39/40ths revision.

You spend hours and hours and hours perfecting your story. You agonize over it. You mull over it. You dream about it.

But sooner or later you have to share it. This is the hard part. Because you have to take this story that you’ve agonized and dreamt and mulled over for what seems like forever. And give it to someone else. Who inevitably is going to suggest something wrong.

This isn’t your peer editor’s fault. It’s just that he or she doesn’t know how the story’s supposed to go.

As a writer, when you hear one of those wrong suggestions, you’re gut reaction is to say, “No. That’s not going to work because . . .”

And that’s the important word: Because.

Because obviously that because isn’t obvious to the reader yet. So your job is to make sure it’s clear. And that’s the beauty of an editor. They can point out to you where the becauses aren’t clear.

For example. Character A throws up in church.

This happens in Chapter 3. Character A (aka the hero) throws up in church. He or she leaves the building early to lie down in the car. While Character A is outside the building, Character B (the villain) pulls the fire alarm. Character A then watches in shock from the car as the entire church congregation climbs down the fire escape.

Your peer editor is concerned that Character A is missing out on all the action in Chapter 3. So he or she suggests you have character C (aka the sidekick) throw up instead. Because that will free up Character A to climb down the fire escape along with everyone else.

But obviously this isn’t going to work because Character A is afraid of heights and, therefore, would never climb down the fire escape, which is why you had character A removed from the scene early by having him or her throw up.

And of course, it’s very important that Character A is afraid of heights because the same character has to overcome that fear later on in Chapter 22 during the climax of your whole book.

Ha! Take that, peer editor!

But here’s the thing. Your editor didn’t know that. Why didn’t your editor know that? Because you didn’t make it clear enough that Character A is afraid of heights.

Maybe you mentioned it during the climax. But obviously that didn’t make a large enough impression on your editor. Or he or she would have known that Character A couldn’t climb down the fire escape.

Now . . . how can you make it more clear that Character A can’t climb down the fire escape?

You can have Character A try to climb down the fire escape and fail. Now you’ve accomplished the following:
1. Meeting your editor’s concern about Character A getting in on the action.
2. Making it very clear that your character is afraid of heights. And . . .
3. Strengthening your entire story by clarifying the challenge and conflict within Character A during the real climax of the book.

This is what having a peer editor is all about.