I Got Rhythm

I'm all over the place when it comes to my writing. However, my first love is and always will be rhyming picture books. Four of mine have been published; more are in the pipeline. If you, too, have been bitten by the rhyming bug, this post is for you.

The trouble with rhyming picture book stories is that, when done well, they look easy – like anybody could dash one off in an afternoon. But when you actually try writing one ... whoa, baby. As much as I enjoy writing rhyming stories, once I finish one I am absolutely drained, creatively. I need a break, need to work on something completely different. Else a certain person's writing desk would be in splinters from all the head-banging.

In today's tough picture book climate, selling a rhyming picture book story is more challenging than ever before. What are editors looking for? Near perfection. Even then, there are no guarantees. So what makes a stellar rhymer?

The rhythm is perfect.
The story is original and appealing.
The rhyme is spot on – and doesn't get in the way of the story.

Since I don't have enough space to write about all of those things in one post, I'll tackle them individually. Up today? Well, you saw the title of this post. So, when it comes to the rhythm in your rhymer:

1. Keep the pattern (meter) consistent.

Establish a pattern, and then stick with it. When somebody begins reading your story, they'll quickly settle into whatever pattern you've provided. Here's the opening line of one of my rhyming stories, I Am Cow, Hear Me Moo!, due out from Dial in 2014:

Nadine was a truly remarkable cow.

There's really no wrong way to read that. I mean, English speakers would all pronounce those words in the same way. Read this line, and, even if you aren't aware of it, your mind is already anticipating the rhythm of the next. Here it is:

There was nothing she feared–
so she claimed, anyhow.

That said, I have to add that it's fine to use an alternating pattern if there is a reason for doing so – as a refrain, perhaps, or as a purposeful thud for comedic effect – and if it doesn't trip up the reader. It's also perfectly okay to use a more complicated rhyme scheme than the one above, of course. The goal? Any Joe Schmo off the street should be able to open your book and read it without stumbling.

2.  Take advantage of a word's natural stresses.

Have you ever read a rhyming line which, in order for the rhythm to work with prior lines, required that you mispronounce a word, stress a syllable you ordinarily wouldn't? Ugh. Pay attention to each word's natural stresses, both light and heavy, so that doesn't happen in your story.

I've seen writers bent over manuscripts, doggedly counting syllables to be sure each line matched up. (Okay, I've been that writer.) If you do that, you'll see that my first line in the example above has 11 syllables and the second has 12. Horrors! But try not to think in terms of syllables. Instead, look at the stressed beats. Most of the population would read those lines above as:

NaDINE was a TRUly reMARKable COW.
There was NOTHing she FEARED–so she CLAIMED, anyHOW.

Yes, some of those stressed beats are subtle, but they're there. Four beats per line, so it works. Once you think your story's rhythm is perfect, have a friend read it aloud, cold. If she stumbles and has to back up and reread a line to make it work, you have revising to do.

3.  Match the story's rhythm to its subject to help create a mood.

This one's fun. Let's say you're writing a bedtime story. In that case, you'd want a soft, sleepy, swaying rhythm, right? You wouldn't use the same exuberant, galloping meter you'd use for a story about a horse race. Unless, you know, your objective is to get kids revved up at bedtime. Go for it. Parents would love you. *cough, cough*

Work on these three steps to refine your rhythm, and you could be one step closer to doing the I-got-a-contract happy dance. I'll talk soon about story. In the meantime, happy rhyming!

Jill Esbaum

And remember to enter our Guest Teaching Author book giveaway to win an autographed copy of Forget Me Not by the lovely and talented Carolee Dean! [Note from Carmela: there was a typo in April's original giveaway post, so you have until NEXT Thursday, 10/11, to enter the drawing. Good luck!]

And speaking of rhythm and rhyme, happy Poetry Friday! Today's round-up is at Laura Salas's blog, Writing the World for Kids.

Rx for Any Writer's Spirit: KEEP CALM AND QUERY ON

I couldn’t have picked a better week to post my Thumbs Up review of Luke Reynolds’ KEEP CALM AND QUERY ON (Divertir Publishing, 2012), a veritable Rx for Any Writer’s Spirit.

The book’s subtitle says it all:  “Notes on Writing (and Living) with Hope.

Like my fellow TeachingAuthors Jeanne Marie, Carmela and Jill who so generously shared their Writing Lives these past two weeks, Luke Reynolds pulls back the curtain on his magic-making too, in honestly examining his Writer’s Life, letting us see and know the goings-on.

Because that’s what writers do, Reynolds reminds us in this two-part collection of personal remembrances and essays: they go on!

Despite Jobs, Families, Life, Emergencies.

Despite Failures, Rejections, Turndowns, Turn-backs.

Reynolds has the kind of resume our readers love.

A former teacher of grades 7 through 12 and writer of children’s fiction, he’s the editor of the forthcoming book for teens and tweens BREAK THESE RULES (Chicago Press, 2013).
He co-edited BURNED IN: FUELING THE FIRE TO TEACH (Teachers College Press, 2011) and DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR (Rutgers University Press, 2009).
Teachers College Press also published this year his latest book for teachers, A CALL TO CREATIVITY: WRITING, READING, AND INSPIRING STUDENTS IN AN AGE OF STANDARDIZATION.

In Part One of KEEP CALM AND QUERY ON, “On the Path,” Reynolds shares his journey, past and present.  Each chapter's title is the stuff of a cross-stitched sampler.

Be a River, Not a Swamp

Follow Your Delight, Trace Your Despair, Fight Your Demons

Writing (and Living) Through

Don’t Think; Begin!

Learn to Love Middles

When I finally sold my first trade children’s book, I crowned myself (deservedly) “The Susan Lucci of Children’s Books;” I proudly wear the title.

But reading Reynold’s story, warts and all, calmed me, emboldened me, encouraged me – GO ON!
Oh, to have had his words mid-way in my writing career.
It always feels so good to know we’re not alone.

In Part Two, “Finding Footsteps,” heralded writers (Daniel Handler, Jane Smiley, Ann Hood, Robert Pinsky, John Dufresne, just to name a few), answer Reynolds’ thoughtful questions, thus giving peeks inside their writing lives.

What inspires you to craft prose, and what deflates you (if anything)?

Can you share a particularly difficult rejection story and how you overcame the emotion of that experience?

How do you feel before you write, while you’re writing, and after you write?

What kinds of writing support do you need or greatly appreciate as you work?

Honest bon mots made me sit up and listen.

Oh, to have read these authors' words mid-way in my writing career.
Once again, I was calmed, emboldened, encouraged – GO ON!
I repeat: it always feels so good to know we’re not alone.

The truth is, no matter when or where or how we work, at some point in the process, our Writers’ Spirits are bound to lag.

Except now, thanks to Luke Reynolds, we can keep calm and query on!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

To sample Reynold’s graceful writing and earnest Writer’s World vision, check out Hunger Mountain, the Vermont College of Fine Arts Journal of the Art.

And, stay tuned for a TeachingAuthor Book Giveaway somewhere down the road of this Rx for Any Writer’s Spirit, KEEP CALM AND QUERY ON.

My So-Called Writing Life

This past week, the Teaching Authors have been visiting the subject of best practices when it comes to our writing schedules.  Anyone looking to this post for tips on how to lead a productive and/or well-organized writing life had best look elsewhere.  If you'd like to make yourself feel better about your own work habits... read on.

I am an unabashed night owl.  My dad says that I was born in California four decades ago and never quite got my body clock on EST.  My most productive writing time (even when I lived in California, I must admit) has always happened between the hours of 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.  However, when I got married, I began waking with my husband at 5:30 a.m.  Our children are also early risers.  Bye-bye productive writing time.  Some nights I will try to take a brief nap at my kids' bedtime and then get up and work.  More often than not, given the busy-ness of our days, I wind up sleeping straight through.

My day job is a writing job, so there's always the matter of getting my paid work done first.  Typically I get up, get the kids ready, and drive the morning carpool before I get down to business.  On a good day, I will then spend half an hour on the elliptical with a book (or at least a few Days of Our Lives outlines -- there's always soap reading to get out of the way).  Then I plop my laptop in my lap, snuggle with the puppy, and start writing -- or at least make a stab at it.

My current job function is "scriptwriter," and I usually write one complete script each week.  (Every few weeks, there will be two.)  I have seven days to complete the week's assignment(s), so if I write and edit an act per day in a typical week, I'm in fine shape.  In practice, I usually spend at least a day reading and a day at the end of the process on editing and polishing.  We write from detailed outlines, and some scripts go much more quickly than others.  Also, if I could force myself to ditch my habit of Internet surfing every time I get stuck (approximately every five minutes), I would add an additional two hours of productive time to each day.

Afternoons are for kids' activities and homework.  This semester I also teach three mornings of the week, as well as one evening.  Besides the scriptwriting, I have to squeeze in time for lesson planning and, of course, grading essays (for example, 40 this weekend).  Every other Sunday night I also remember in the nick of time (at least so far) that I have a blog post to write.    

Now, scriptwriting is by far the least onerous and time-consuming paid writing job I've had in a decade.  But it has been so long since I've made my own writing a regular practice, I am having a hard time finding my groove again.  While in theory I think it would be better to work for an hour every day, I seem to do much better with larger chunks less frequently.  I had a vacation week a few weeks ago and did pound out lots of pages.  That felt good.  But it's like exercise -- the feel-good result is only so motivating in comparison to the difficulty and discomfort of the undertaking.

A fellow scriptwriter told me that she spends four hours every week working in a quiet room with a friend who's studying.  I have noticed that I am much more productive when someone in the room can see how much I'm goofing off. :)  I do think Carmela's on to something with her writing buddy idea.  Now I just need to find mine! -- Jeanne Marie
***
Don't forget to enter our Guest Teaching Author Book Giveaway to win an autographed copy of FORGET ME NOT by the fabulous Carolee Dean.
***
This week's reading recommendations:
Patrick (grade K): anything Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold
Kate (grade 2): The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies
me: Capture the Flag by Kate Messner

Book Giveaway! The Author's Name Rhymes with Halloween: FORGET ME NOT by Carolee Dean

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Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday! Info about how to enter today's Book Giveaway is far, far below.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by the Paper Tigers--thank you!

Years ago, I attended an informal farewell lunch after speaking at a writers' conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I was tired and wasn't feeling well and very nearly skipped that lunch.  Luckily, I didn't. That's where I met the dynamic and sparkling Carolee Dean.

I have since had the great pleasure of being on a panel Carolee put together for this year's International Reading Association Convention in Chicago.  (That's where I learned how generous, well-organized and cool-under-pressure she is.)

Carolee keeps a gazillion plates spinning in the air at once.  She not only works in public schools as a speech-language pathologist, she also teaches writing, helps sponsor middle school and high school poetry slam teams, and is the author of three young adult novels all including original poetry.  They are: COMFORT (Houghton Mifflin), TAKE ME THERE (Simon Pulse), and the JUST ABOUT TO BE PUBLISHED paranormal verse novel FORGET ME NOT (Simon Pulse, Oct. 2, 2012)--which you, yes you can WIN in our Book Giveaway--woo-woo (details below)!

So let's meet Carolee in person.  Hey, Carolee--how did you officially become a TeachingAuthor?

I've spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist with students of all ages and a variety of challenges. The most difficult thing for most of them is writing, and understandably, many of them hate doing it. I'm always trying out activities to inspire my reluctant writers. Sometimes the activities work. Sometimes they don't. When they do work I like to share them with other educators because I know how difficult it can be to continuously come up with inspiring lessons.

Among some of my better ideas is a twelve step story analysis method I call The Secret Language of Stories. I've given presentations on it at several state, national, and international conferences including the International Reading Association 2012 in Chicago where I co-presented on an all day panel with you and TeachingAuthor
Esther Hershenhorn. I have a description of the twelve steps
on a tab at my blog.

What's a common problem your students have and how do you address it? 

It's easy to get stuck staring at a big white page or a blank computer screen. I can't tell you how many times I hear the words, "I don't know what to write."  I reply, "writing isn't about knowing. There is no magic right or wrong answer as there is in other subjects.

Writing is about choosing, about considering the infinite possibilities and picking one." To this the student inevitably replies, "I still don't know what to write." Then I usually give the stumped pupil a whole list of suggestions which he or she usually doesn't like because that blank computer screen is still just so darn intimidating.

One strategy that has worked extremely well for me is to create a PowerPoint with directions on each slide for what part of the story to write on that particular slide. I also include suggestions about what kind of accompanying images to select. I usually let kids choose the images first since the pictures often inspire their writing. This has worked extremely well with even the most struggling writers. Kids love power point and they love Google Images.

I have some high school students who read and write at first and second grade levels and they have come up with some of the most amazing stories.

(Directions for Carolee's PowerPoint story along with a downloadable PowerPoint can be found under the Teacher Resources section of her blog).

Would you share a favorite writing exercise with our readers?

I like to get kids talking about stories before they write them. There is a strong connection between oral language and written language and it often helps to verbalize ideas before putting them down on paper.

One of my favorite activities is to cut out unusual pictures from magazines. Advertisements often contain images that may be interpreted in a variety of ways. I play music and then ask students to walk around the room. When the music stops I tell them to sit down in front of a picture and describe to the class what they think is going on.

We do this several times and I've found that the random nature of the activity takes off the pressure to think of something good. After they've all come up with two or three ideas, we sit down to write. I often use the structure of poetry for this stage of writing because the focus is on ideas rather than grammar.

I LOVE that idea, Carolee. I can see using it in my classes for adults writers, too. Okay, so tell us...what's on the horizon for you?

I'm in the process of writing up The Secret Language of Stories as a teacher sourcebook and I just wrote an article for Cynsations exploring the history of verse novels going all the way back to Homer and the Iliad and the Odyssey.

In the immediate future, FORGET ME NOT, my paranormal verse novel, is coming out October 2! It's about a girl who has been cyber bullied and hides out from her tormentors in a deserted part of the school only to find herself stuck in a hallway full of ghosts.
(Read the great Kirkus review of FORGET ME NOT here and another terrific review of her book here.)

Sounds wonderfully SPOOKY, Carolee--and just in time for Halloween! 

And finally, since it's Poetry Friday in the Kidlitosphere, would you share a poem from your new book with our readers?

Absolutely.  Here is an excerpt from FORGET ME NOT:

WRITE IT OUT

That's what Ms. Lane,
my writing teacher,
would say.
Spill it out onto
the page.
Sometimes it's
the only way

for thoughts heavy
as bricks
to become feathers
and fly away.

I could go
to her class.
Get my head
together.

I'd sit next to
Elijah.

I wonder if
he's heard.

Even if he has,
I know

he
wouldn't say
a word.

poem © 2012 Carolee Dean. All rights reserved

Wonderful!  Thank you SO much for stopping by to talk with us, Carolee!

Here's the exquisite book trailer for FORGET ME NOT:


Campers!  Join Carolee's Ghost Tour which starts Oct. 3, and check out the original jewelry made especially for Carolee's book launch!

Carolee has generously offered to autograph a copy of  her about-to-be-published book for our BOOK GIVEAWAY.  Yay!  To enter, just follow these rules:

You must follow our TeachingAuthors blog to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Forget Me Not by Carolee Dean.  If you're not already a follower, you can sign up now in the sidebar to subscribe to our posts via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs.

There are two ways to enter:
1) by a comment posted below
OR
2) by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line.

Just for the fun of it, tell us a true ghost story of your own in 50 words or less. This is optional!

Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your name AND tell us how you follow us. If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted this way: youremail [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment. Contest open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded.
Entry deadline is 11 p.m. Thursday, October 11, 2012 (Central Standard Time). The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on October 12th. [Note from Carmela--the original deadline was a week off. These are the corrected dates.]

Good luck, Campers!

My Typical Writer's Day

We had LOTS of great entries in our latest giveaway contest--see the end of this post to find out who our winner is. 

As Jill shared last Friday, for our current TeachingAuthors topic we're talking a bit about our daily lives/routines as writers. Before I discuss my routine, I have a confession to make: I don't want to be writing this blog post right now.

It's not that I mind the topic, or that I dislike blogging, because I enjoy these posts and the opportunity to connect with you, our blog readers. It's just that I've been working hard, keeping "butt in chair" for the past few weeks, trying to finish the revision of my young-adult historical, and I'm almost done--"almost," as in, to start this blog post, I had to stop at page 274 of a 280-page manuscript! I really wanted to keep plugging away without interruption until I reached the end AND worked through Chapter 1 again so I could send it off to my Beta readers.

Ironically (given today's topic), I would easily have made it through those last pages if regular life hadn't intervened with a minor household crisis this afternoon. But that's a topic for another day.

However, since I'm being brutally honest here, I should also note that these last few weeks have really been more "fun" than "work." That's because I FINALLY got through the revision of Chapter 12--the pivotal chapter where the two formerly antagonistic main characters realize they're falling in love! Once I had that chapter working to my satisfaction, I was on a roll: tweaking scenes, pulling threads, deepening sensory details, adding imagery, polishing language, etc. The stuff I love to do!

If you've been following this blog for awhile, you know it's taken me a LONG time to get to this point with this current work-in-progress. In fact, I've been ready to give up on this novel countless times. Back in June 2011, I blogged about how having a "writing buddy" turned out to be the key to my getting a finished draft. But that draft still needed a lot of work--work I hope to have finished by the end of this week. Hooray!

[By the way--my blog post about having a "writing buddy" led me to write a freelance article on the topic for the 2013 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market (Writer's Digest Books), edited by Chuck Sambuchino. The book was just released on September 21, and is also available in ebook form.]

So, what IS my typical day like? I blogged about my "ideal" day back in June, 2009, and that ideal hasn't changed much, though I rarely live up to it.

I find I'm most productive if I get up around 6-6:30 in the morning and get to work as soon after breakfast as possible, without checking email or Facebook. Since I have a hard time resisting email, I set a timer and don't allow myself to look at it until after I've put in 2-4 hours of work, depending on what else I have going on that day. After email and lunch, I work another 2-4 hours, though I take an exercise break in the middle of the afternoon on most days. (If you haven't read about the recent studies citing the dangers of prolonged sitting, you may want to read this Forbes article: Why Sitting at Work Can be so Deadly.]

I should clarify that "work" varies depending on my teaching schedule and my work goals for the week. I'm not currently teaching any classes, so the "work" time these days may include:

• writing/revising my current historical YA novel-in-progress (that's almost done!)
• researching/planning where to submit a novel I recently finished co-writing with another author
• writing a blog post, like this one, or planning future blogging topics
• pitching/querying new freelance writing projects
• writing/researching freelance writing projects
• updating my website with information about upcoming classes, publications, etc.

Weeks when I am teaching, my "work" time includes lesson planning, publicizing classes, and reviewing student work.

Depending on how much time I spend on email and social media, my typical work day is usually 5-8 hours long, Monday through Friday, plus 4 hours or more on Saturday. (I often teach on Saturdays.) If I'm on deadline, or on a "roll" as I have been the last few weeks, I may put in some extra time after dinner. But I can't do that for an extended period. I agree with what Jill said on Friday, that we need to have time away from our work to gather the material that will enrich our writing.

I know many of you have full-time jobs that make it pretty much impossible to spend 2-4 hours per day writing. The good news is, many writers who have much less time to devote to their writing are still able to have successful careers. Esther recently mentioned a new blog by Carol Coven Grannick called Today I Am a Writer. In one of her first posts, Carol talks about how productive she's been by following the simple tenet of devoting the First, Best Hour to her work. As Carol has discovered, knowing we have a limited amount of time can sometimes help us stay focused. I'm a believer in Parkinson's law--work often does expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.

But even if an hour is more than you can muster, you may be surprised at what you can accomplish by writing simply fifteen minutes a day. Every August, award-winning author Laurie Halse Anderson hosts the "Write Fifteen Minutes a Day Challenge" on her blog. Here's an excerpt from what she posted on the last day of the challenge::

Life happens whether you are writing or not. You don’t have to wait for the right time, or that Muse-blessed idea or a fellowship to a writing colony or a winning lottery ticket or anything. You just have to give yourself permission to take seriously your writing dream.

So I hope you'll give yourself permission to take your writing dream seriously. Why not start today, by setting aside some regular writing time?. Even if you missed Anderson's Fifteeen Minutes a Day Challenge last month, there's nothing stopping you from using her posts to work through your own month of writing fifteen minutes a day. Day one begins here.  

And now, time to announce the winner of Lisa Cron's Wired for Story: The Writer's Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence (Ten Speed Pess). Our winner is:

Mary Jo Campbell

Congratulations, Mary Jo! (Please respond to my email so we can get the book in the mail right away.)

If you didn't win, never fear--we have more giveaways coming SOON!

And now, I'm going back to my novel.
Happy writing!
Carmela

My Writing Life

This post is in response to reader Tara, who wanted to know more about the writing life.

Before I was a writer, here's how I pictured the job:  A wild-haired writer sits at a desk, typing madly, interrupted every now and again with a call from her agent, who wants to know how her book is coming along or report sales figures or discuss her upcoming book tour. Sometimes she removes her glasses and taps them against her teeth while gazing thoughtfully at the ceiling. She stands to stretch and yawn, looks out the window, maybe goes for a fresh cup of coffee or a contemplative walk before settling in for another few hours.

Confession:  I still think this is what life is like for blockbuster authors. Alas, I am not one of them (knock wood and never say never).

My writing life, by contrast, is very sporadic. I might write three to five hours one day, then not at all for two or three days. Or more. For years I felt guilty about that non-schedule. After all, a Real Writer would follow Steven King's advice (in his On Writing), which was basically:  1) have a writing space with a door you can close, 2) set daily writing goals, 3) don't come out until you've met them. I do have novelist friends who pretty much stick to this model.

But I've made peace with my own jackrabbit writing style because of two things:

1) I wholeheartedly believe that every bit of our lives away form writing – every book we read, every person we speak with, every place we visit, every hobby we enjoy – soaks into our beings and feeds our writing in ways big and small. Maybe some of us have wells that go dry faster than others? *shrug* So what might I be doing when I'm not writing? Lately, there's quilting, a hobby I'm just getting back into after years away. My latest project, a wall hanging:

I might be running errands. Seeing a relative. Dining out with friends. Reading. Traveling. Baking. Taking a class (right now:  Basic Drawing - loving it!). Participating in a church function. Watching a video or catching up on Facebook. Writing for this blog. Enjoying a writing retreat. Sitting in a board meeting. Answering e-mail. Visiting a school. Teaching a workshop. Walking the dog.

2) I am primarily a picture book writer. Writing picture books is very much a process, and parts of that process work best if you take mental breaks. Every story needs a cooling off period, followed by a lot of revision. A lot. So the fact that I'm not in my office 24/7 doesn't mean my mind isn't still grappling with whatever story problem has me stumped. Some (most!) of my best ideas and aha moments come to me when I'm away from my computer.

All that said, I have had a totally different routine lately, thanks to a couple of short-deadlined projects. Here's the first, due out in mid-November from National Geographic:

I'm working on a companion book now, which means I'm researching or writing or exchanging e-mails with editors pretty much all day, every day. Truthfully I've felt more like a Real Writer, working on these books, than I have for a long time. I'm loving that.

Does that mean I'll be changing my usual writing style when I go back to working on my own projects?  Um...probably not. At least not for picture book writing.

But I do have a novel in my head, so when I tackle that after the holidays, I'll be following Steven King's advice for as long as it takes to pound out that first draft:

1) Close the door.

2) Set a daily goal.

3) Write my brains out to meet it.

Look into my office. I'll be the one tapping my glasses against my teeth, gazing thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Jill Esbaum

Reminder:  If you haven't yet entered to win a copy of Lisa Cron's Wired for Story, there's still time! Missed Esther's two-thumbs-up review? Just scroll down of follow this link to Esther's post.

WIRED FOR STORY: TWO Thumbs Up!

I’m a TeachingAuthor, right?

So, the Teacher and the Writer in me can combine their high opinions and enthusiastically award Lisa Cron’s WIRED FOR STORY (Ten Speed Press, July, 2012) two Thumbs Up!

Both parts of me were actively, indeed compulsively engaged while I read this book, subtitled “The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence.”

I’m happy to say: the book proved providential. I’d just begun what I hoped would be a final revision of a middle grade novel.  Thanks to the beginning chapters, I instantly saw I still had Back Story to discover.

Maybe that fact explains why my copy of WIRED FOR STORY is now inked and yellow-marker-ed from cover to cover, the “Aha!’s” circled and starred, the turn-me-around explanations of and insights into key story elements underlined at least twice.  Page corners are bent, both top and bottom. 

Just to make sure I truly got these Story Truths - Truths now showcased in a whole new neuroscientific light, Truths I know cold and fervently teach, I first copied them into my Writer’s Notebook, next into my ongoing novel revision, then finally into the body of emails I sent several of my writers and students presently immersed in their storytelling and revisions.

As a teacher, I relentlessly remind my children’s book writers to think about their readers. 

Where are they cognitively, emotionally, chronologically?
What questions are they asking at the end of the chapter?
What keeps them caring and turning the pages?
But now, thanks to Lisa Cron and WIRED FOR STORY, I’ll exhort them to keep in mind their reader’s brain!
It’s wired, it turns out, to grasp the architecture of story; it’s wired to expect its necessary building blocks.

“Fire,” the author reveals, “is crucial to writing; it’s the very first ingredient of every story.  Passion is what drives us to write……but there is an implicit framework that must underlie a story in order for that passion, that fire, to ignite the reader’s brain.”

Lisa Cron is an instructor at the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program.  She’s worked in publishing, as an agent, as a TV producer, as a story consultant for film. 

In other words, she’s a TeachingAuthor too.
And it shows.

The book illuminates “the intricate mesh of interconnected elements that hold a story together," while zeroing in on how the brain works.

Its twelve-chapter organization is pure Show, Don’t Tell, from “How to Hook the Reader” to “What Does Your Protagonist Really Want?” to “Courting Conflict, the Agent of Change” to “Cause and Effect” to “The Road from Setup to Payoff” to “The Writer’s Brain on Story.”

Each chapter begins with a Cognitive Secret and a Story Secret.  For instance, when digging up our protagonist’s inner issue, cognitively we see the world not as it is, but as we believe it to be.  Story-wise, Cron tells us, we must know precisely when, and why, our protagonist’s worldview was knocked out of alignment.

Each chapter ends with a summarizing Checklist usable at any writing stage.
Cron parcels out the techniques and tips in delicious bites that build logically, using familiar examples from literature, movies and television for further concrete explanation.  Within each informational segment, she distinguishes between the Myth and the Reality.
Her tone is warm, friendly, personal, because she too is a writer who knows the challenges of story-telling.
Each chapter’s opening quote, many unknown to me, begs to be copied and shared.

Lisa now contributes to WriterUnboxed, a blog about the craft and business of fiction.

Visit her website to learn more about her and WIRED FOR STORY.

And, Good News:  YOU can enter to win an autographed copy of WIRED FOR STORY.  Be sure to see the details below.

So, thank you twice, Lisa Cron.

The Writer in me now embraces her current revision more confidently, knowing the story parts my reader’s brain expects in order to live and breathe and care (!) inside my novel.

The Teacher in me now has a new gift to bear.

Esther Hershenhorn

BOOK GIVEAWAY!

You must follow our TeachingAuthors blog to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Wired for Story by Lisa Cron.  If you're not already a follower, you can sign up now in the sidebar to subscribe to our posts via email, Google Friend Connect, or Facebook Network blogs.

There are two ways to enter:

• by a comment posted below OR
• by sending an email to teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line.

Just for the fun of it, see if your cortex is working.  Along with your name, share the name of a part of your brain!

Whichever way you enter, you MUST give us your name AND tell us how you follow us. If you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address (formatted like: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com) in your comment. Contest open only to residents of the United States. Incomplete entries will be discarded.
Entry deadline is 11 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 (Central Standard Time). The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on Sept. 26.

Good luck!

Jump Starts and New Beginnings

Last week, Mary Ann, Carmela, and April responded to an Ask the TeachingAuthors question submitted by Joanna Cooke about the pros and cons of getting an MFA.

Here's my story...

The summer after I graduated from college, I moved to Los Angeles to be an unpaid intern on my favorite TV show, Days of Our Lives.  That summer, I remember watching the Democratic National Convention and the Olympics, eating scads of S'Mores with my awesome roommate, Gretchen, meeting tons of soap stars (both nice and not-so-nice), and attending my first national SCBWI conference in Marina del Rey.  On the last day of my internship, when I'd already shipped my belongings home and signed up for a medical transcription course at the local community college, I was hired to be a lowly writers' assistant.

For four years, I made coffee, fetched lunches, made thousands (millions?) of copies, talked to brain surgeons, answered questions from fans and actors and writers alike.  I also negotiated a four-day, ten hour/day work week so that I'd have a full day each week to actually write.  I was hired to ghost write a Nancy Drew mystery and had the opportunity to work with the fabulous Olga Litowinsky.  I sold a children's biography.  And I slowly began to realize that I was never going to get a shot at writing for the show.

Ultimately, I decided that I'd given my soap writing dream a good go.  I didn't have to live in Los Angeles to write children's books.  It was time to go home.

In Maryland, I took a variety of part-time jobs.  I wrote some articles and two more Nancy Drew novels.  But the hard truth was, I was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of a top-tier college; yet I was in my late twenties, living with my parents, and working as a secretary (a job for which I was overqualified on paper but utterly underqualified in practice).  While I was a published writer, I did not feel comfortable calling myself "a writer" -- or much else, for that matter. 

Then one day I saw an ad in the monthly SCBWI bulletin for the low-residency MFA program at Vermont College.  The program was in its infancy then.  I'd never heard of it.  But when I saw the list of faculty, I knew that I must apply.  I was desperate for a jump start, direction, affirmation, anything!

Now, I fully realize what children's book writers typically earn in terms of salary.  I was quite clear that it was unlikely that I'd ever recoup the money spent on my graduate education. I told myself it would be a spiritual investment.

I could not have imagined how truly magical my experience would be.  During my second residency, I received an email (there was no cell phone reception, and only one pay phone on the whole floor) stating that Days desperately needed a writers' assistant, and would I come back ASAP?  I said only if I'd have a shot at writing, and they said fine.  I found an apartment, flew home from Vermont, packed my things, and a week later I was back at work in L.A.

The day that Marion Dane Bauer called to tell me that my novel had won the Houghton Mifflin Award was the same day that I learned I would get a scriptwriting contract on Days.

The year that Houghton Mifflin accepted my novel for publication was the year my now-husband and I started dating, and the year it was published, we got engaged.

To say that Vermont College changed my life would be like saying having kids changed my life.  I truly was a different person when I graduated.

Not to say that it was all perfect and wonderful.  Juggling the program with a full-time job was often exhausting.  I had one difficult semester where I did not really "click" with my advisor.  I had to take a semester off because my job did not allow four weeks of vacation in the same year.  I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer during my last semester -- had surgery, radiation, moved back to Maryland, and yes, still graduated! 

Some unexpected benefits: When my daughter comes home from school gushing over a book by Phyllis Root or Carolyn Crimi or Susan Fletcher, I get to say, 'I know her!'  And nearly a decade later, I am still in touch almost daily with my classmates. 

I also remember the MFA being touted as a "terminal degree" that would allow one to teach at the college level.  Being a total introvert, I didn't think I would ever pursue this course, but ta-da, here I am.  And now, yes, I can definitely say I've earned back my monetary investment.

Nowadays, there are other MFA programs as well as options for great instruction -- McDaniel College's online certificate program (highly recommended), UCLA Extension, and Mediabistro.com courses, for example.  But to this day, I crave the monthly deadline pressure and the immediate feedback of a large, knowledgeable, supportive writing community.

For anyone looking for a fresh start, a jump start, or a new beginning, the MFA could be for you.

L'Shana Tova -- Happy New Year! -- Jeanne Marie

MFA--Should I or Shouldn't I? Poetry Friday!

Howdy, Campers!

Happy Poetry Friday!  Today's poem is about making a decision and so is your poetry writing prompt, below.

So we've been discussing going for an MFA.  Mary Ann posted that it was the best two years of her life. Carmela posted that one of the biggest pros was that it definitely made her a better writer and forced her to make writing a priority.

So...should I go for an MFA or shouldn't I?

It's complicated.

When I was seriously looking into applying to one of the low-residency MFA programs, our only child was a sophomore in college.

I was worried, mostly because I'm a sloooow reader and didn't know if I could keep up with the evil and overwhelming reading assignments I'd heard about.  And worried because I finally had the quiet time I'd craved for years.   Was I crazy?  Was I rushing to fill up the space before I'd even wallowed in it for a bit? 

Was I was just raising my hand, signing up, because I had no other plan?  Did I need to sit in the hallway surrounded by closed doors a little longer and wait to see which one opened on its own?

I decided to go for it.  (Well, 89% of me did.)  Now it was just a matter of deciding where I would apply.  I asked lots of MFA grads.  I got lots of advice.

Meanwhile, it was a gentle, blossoming time in our lives.  My son, who had been nearly absent from the family, hanging out with a girlfriend since he was 14,  was suddenly single and actually calling and texting us. 

We were making up for lost time.  It was delicious.  It was thirst-quenching.  My mother roots were taking in all the rain they could soak up for as long as it lasted.

Even when my husband could not come with me because of work demands, I would use our frequent flyer miles to fly up to Berkeley now and then, if only to sit in on one of my son's cognitive science classes, share a pizza with him and his friends at the Cheeseboard Collective, and fly home.

I knew that if I added an MFA program, this extra layer, to my life, it would be, well, an extra layer.  How would I balance my aging mother who lives alone, my aging uncle in a senior residence who needs my attention more and more, my writing career, my political activism, and, oh yes, family and marriage?

My stomach hurt thinking about it.

Here's what turned me around.  My friend Julie.  She knows me.  This is what she said:

Oh, April.  Don't do it now.  Not now when you finally have such a warm connection with your boy.  You'll have time later, Dear.  Do it when he's in medical school, when he's in residency, when he's married.  Do it then.  Enjoy him now.

Hmmm.  MFA.  Family.   MFA.  Family.

For some, it's not this simple.  It's not either-or.  But for me, it suddenly it was that simple.

Two years later, I have my golden boy, my best friend husband, my teaching gig, several new manuscripts and no regrets.

Okay, look—it's not all tied up in a bow.  I've had lots of rejections. I have self-doubt.  but I have the morning glories in my garden and space to breathe.

Writing Workout: Decisions, Decisions.

There are thirty inspiring ideas about how to make a decision on this blog post.  Choose one as a jumping off point for your poem.

(Of course, you'll have to decide which of the thirty to use, won't you?)

I chose this one:
Imagine having made the decision. If you get a feeling of relief, that’s the way to go, even if it’s coupled with sadness. -Emma Gilding

MAKING A DECISION
MAKING THE BED
by April Halprin Wayland

Pull off the sheets
slip pillows out
pile in machine
then shut the door
hear it click shut
pour in the soap
hit button hard
watch the sheets whirl

sheets swirl in soap
just like my thoughts
round they go round

now they are warm
now they are dry
now they are clean

spread them out wide
pull them on tight
now I lie down
how do I feel?
Fresh. Clean. Relieved.
poem © 2012 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved

Thank you, Diane, for hosting Poetry Friday
at Random Noodling today!