I mentioned yesterday that I will be on faculty at the Pacific Northwest Children's Writing Conference this year. This is a fabulous, nurturing, energizing conference, one I was delighted to attend two summers ago and am so honored to be a part of this year.

(It's at Reed College. It looks like this.)
photo permission of Reed College

Those of you who looked into this conference earlier may want to know about one change. Due to the sad passing of Craig Virden, the special guest speaker is now Arthur A. Levine. Otherwise, the faculty remains the same: Marla Frazee, Susan Goldman Rubin, David Gifaldi, Ann Whitford Paul . . . oh, here's a link to the faculty list so you can see for yourself.


Earlier this year, I talked with Linda Zuckerman about why she created the conference. I asked this:
When I was at the conference as a student two years ago, I was struck by how nurturing the whole thing was. There’s a very different vibe from most of the other conferences I have attended, very retreat-like. Very non-competitive. And very much focused on the betterment of craft. I suspect that is by design. Is it?

And she said this:

Thank you for noticing and yes, definitely by design. When I was in publishing I attended and participated in many conferences over the years and I was often struck by the impersonal quality of some of the classes and lectures. (It wasn’t simply a function of the number of participants, although that is always a factor. ) Occasionally a speaker seemed more interested in promoting his or her own books than teaching; some speakers were marvelously entertaining but rarely gave specific suggestions or information about writing or illustrating; sometimes it seemed the conference was being used as a stage to highlight the charm and brilliance of the speakers.

So when I started our conference 10 years ago I consciously decided to do something different. I tried to find charming and brilliant people - of course! - who were not only published authors but experienced teachers who loved to teach .I wanted people who really cared about helping other writers and illustrators make their work better, regardless of whether they were beginners or published. I wanted people who loved children’s books for what they are and what they can be. I think the “different vibe” you describe is in large measure due to the warmth and generosity of our faculty.

Also, as an editor, I’m very much aware of – and interested in – the various aspects of the craft of writing. There is so much to learn about it!

You know Linda was an editor at Harcourt, right? She knows what she's talking about. Her first page workshop brings that out in spades.

But Linda is also an author now. She's written a novel, A Taste for Rabbit, and a picture book, I Will Hold You Till You Sleep. I wondered if being an author changed things. If she viewed conference differently now than she did before she was writing. She said:

Having worked with writers – and illustrators – all my life, I feel a great deal of sympathy for the creative struggle, (although I have to say my understanding of that struggle was more theoretical than real.) So in planning the conference I have always tried to keep the needs of the writer and illustrator in mind. But now, when I think about what the sequence of sessions should be and who should talk about what, I often ask myself, “Would that have helped me?” I learned a lot about writing from actually writing – it seems obvious, doesn’t it? - so I try to encourage our faculty to incorporate hands-on exercises in their sessions whenever that’s possible.

One of the interesting things that happened after I started to write was that I found myself addressing the group as “we” instead of “you,” as in, “We have to pay attention to what’s happening in the publishing business if we’re going to be professional writers.” I don’t think I’ll ever go back to “you.” And that’s a good thing!

Actually, nothing about the conference feels like "You". It all feels like "We". The year I attended, Kirby Larson talked a lot about her about-to-be-released novel Hattie Big Sky and her struggles. David Gifaldi talked about fear and overcoming it. Linda herself shared the challenges with getting a book accepted for publication. The whole thing is We.

I think there are still a few slots open if you want to be part of the We this year. I'm not sure. Check here.

Next installment: talking with fellow faculty member Ann Whitford Paul, who this year is doing a three part picture book workshop that I cannot wait to be a part of! You'll love what she has to say . . .

Let's start, though, with five:

1. Thank you Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for this neat look at Henry Cole's art. Henry is the artist who illustrated this:



Not to mention this:
and this:
and about four dozen other books. Nice to see him get the credit he deserves.

2. Thank you Becky Levine, for your sweet endorsement of Mouse Was Mad earlier this week. Becky won a copy of the book in Cindy Lord's contest.

3. I am grateful for Cindy Lord. For her book, Rules, which has brought such joy and understanding to kids. For her conference talks and workshops, which have helped writers improve their craft. For her friendship, which is solid and true. And for her willingness to overlook the dust and disarray in my house both time she has visited.

4. I am also grateful for my email writer buddies who just endured a week of whining from me. Their responses were the perfect balance of encouragement and "shut up". Exactly what I needed.

5. There are a million-billion more meaningful things to be thankful for . . . but I'm going to go frivolous: I am grateful for the garage door man who just today replaced the old one that I backed into. (Another story, another day, 'kay?)

Here's a quote from yesterday's notebook entry:

. . . the first thing you have to do is let go of the fear of looking like an idiot to people who don't know you . . .

Under which I have added: . . . and to people who do.

The quote is from one of Christine Kane's blog posts. It is regarding the formation of Mastermind Groups (or success groups or whatever you want to call them), but I think it applies just as well to critique groups and workshops. And it was important to me because this summer I'll be doing that twice amidst people who are complete strangers to me.

In a few weeks, I'll be heading to the Pacific Northwest Children's Book Conference at which I will be faculty.* One of the things I look forward to most is leading afternoon workshop/critique sessions. It will be my job to set the tone for these sessions, as well as guidelines for how critiques will operate. I want this to be as useful as it can be for the writers involved, and I also want it to be as safe as possible. I want each participant to know that it is okay to look like an idiot, if doing so will lead us to write better, bolder, braver books.

A few weeks after that, I'll be on the flip side of things, a participant in Vermont College's Summer Postgraduate Seminar in a workshop led by Printz medalist An Na. Soon I need to submit the pages I want to workshop. ACK! This is a work in progress. I mean IN PROGRESS. And yet, if really want to get the most out of it, I have to be okay with looking like an idiot. (or a hack. or whatever the fear word is for today.) I'm gonna say it again: It is okay to look like an idiot, if doing so will lead us to write better, bolder, braver books.



*More about this Conference tomorrow -- including an interview with Linda Zuckerman in which she explains how she created this conference to be challenging, but wonderfully nurturing of artists and their work.

I have been intrigued by odd things of late. Desks, for one. What sorts people use and what they keep on them. If I get some good snaps this week, I'll show you mine. But first, let me show you Oliver Sacks's desk. You see that row of rock-like things? Those are elements.
Yeah, like from the periodic table.
Oliver Sacks keeps elements on his desk. Except the ones that are missing, because he gives them as birthday gifts.
I love that.

I'm also rather caught up in notebooks. Not the electronic kind. The paper ones. What ones people keep and what they put in there. Look at this article from Design Observer.
It inspired me to start keeping notebooks, which has been good, because the MC in my WIP keeps one, too. And we share a feeling about those notebooks, me and my MC.
We want to share what's in there, while simultaneously being petrified that someone will see.
How about that?

Both these things interest me because I think our desks and our tools can sometimes tell us a lot about our process, our goals, and, yes, our fears.


Here, I'm going to get over a small fear right now and share something that is in my current notebook. I'm not going to worry what you might think about me or what I'm writing or what struggles or glories I might be having because I'm posting this. I'm just going to lift it from my notebook and share it with you, because currently it is making a difference to me and it might help you, too.

This is from a podcast on Merlin Mann's website 43 Folders. I edited it just a tiny bit, down to the part that mattered most to me: "As long as you are half-assing your creative projects, you are constantly forgiving yourself. It takes courage to take yourself seriously." Here's the link to the podcast, which is otherwise about bundling up your tasks and making real chunks of time for creative work.

Do you keep a notebook? Is your desk simply a workspace or is it a source of inspiration/collection for you? Want to share one thing that is in your notebook or on your desk that matters to you Right Now?

CONGRATULATIONS JEFF KINNEY!
Once again, that Wimpy Kid rocked the kid reading world. Diary of a Wimpy Kid was the overwhelming choice for Best Book of the Year among Vermont school kids. Unfortunately for those kids, Mr. Kinney is in huge demand these days and wasn't able to get to Vermont for the big state-wide celebration. Unfortunate for the kids, yes. For me? A huge lucky break.

Last Friday, it was me up on the stage at the Vermont Technical College talking to 700 fourth through seventh graders about fear and writing and dreams and hard work. And I had a blast! The kids were so smart and funny and brave -- shouting out answers to my questions from the far balcony seats, laughing at my jokes, and sharing their thoughts about books like Love That Dog and Donuthead and Maniac Magee and Sarah, Plain and Tall.*

After the talk, there was a receiving line of sorts, and I got to talk with kids from all the schools that attended. Some kids showed me their toe sock, others told me about the instruments they played or the stories they write. Mostly, though, we celebrated books. What other books on the DCF list did you like? The most common answers: Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata, Schooled by Gordon Korman, and Blue Lipstick by John Grandits. But I loved hearing one boy tell me all about this great book of nonfiction that he thought was the absolute best book on the list -- Tracking Trash. When I told him that I knew the author lgburns, I earned about a thousand cool points. "Tell her she wrote a good book," he said.
Loree? You wrote a good book. :)



* In my talk, I tell about finding models for what it is you want to do. The books mentioned here were my middle grade models when I began working on A Crooked Kind of Perfect.

I'm heading to New Hampshire and Massachusetts this week.
If you're in the neighborhood, I hope you'll come by!


Thursday, May 14
10 am Mount Washington Valley Children’s Museum
2936 White Mountain Hwy, North Conway, NH 03860

3:30-5:00 p.m. Conway Public Library
15 Main Street, Conway, NH 03818


Saturday, May 16
10:40 a.m. Children's Book Week Celebration at the Boston Public Library (also on the schedule: Sarah Pennypacker! Megan McDonald! and more. Click the link, friends. Clickety click!)
Copley Square at 700 Boylston Street

Sunday, May 17
12:00 p.m. Eight Cousins Bookstore
189 Main Street
Falmouth, MA

3:00 p.m. Titcomb’s Bookshop
432 Route 6A
East Sandwich, MA 02537

Picked at random by daughter Seven, the winner of this:


and this

is this: cloudscome

Email me through my website with your address and I'll send them right off to you!

You are some Zen-ny kind of people, my friends. So many of you are water under the bridge types. You don't get mad about stupid petty things like potholes and inept cashiers. When you get mad its over the big stuff! Not stompin' mad or hoppin' mad -- World-Changing Mad.
Makes me proud to know ya'.

(Okay, I was relieved to see a few of you who, like me, get to stompin' about laundry and people messing up your space. Whew! I am very very glad to know you, too.)

Tonight, late, I'll do the drawing and tomorrow I'll post the winner.

In the meantime, think of me at Bear Pond Books today, stompin' and rolling' and hoppin' with the toddler set, signing copies of MOUSE WAS MAD for the lot of them. Oh, and if you have any good wishes, I'll take them. My voice is still on the croaky side.

Tomorrow, I'll be at my neighborhood independent, Bear Pond Books reading and signing copies of Mouse Was Mad. My daughter, Seven, is quite excited about the whole thing. She and a friend, daughter of the store's children's book buyer Ms. Jane, will be greeting guests and handing out cookies and pouring punch. She is also willing to sign books, if asked.

Also tomorrow, I'll post the winner for the the What Makes You Mad drawing. If you haven't yet added your comment telling what makes you mad and what makes you feel better, and you want to be in the drawing for a copy of Mouse and a box of these:



then get crackin'. Time is running out.

It's my party, right? So I'm changing things up.
You don't have to post about what makes you mad on your blog (though if you do, I'll give you two entries). Instead, just post in the comments.

Tell me what makes you mad and your favorite way to feel better and I'll enter you in a drawing for a copy of this:



and a box of these:


Deal?
Okay.
You've got until May 9th.
Ready? Set? Get mad.

(I mean publication, but should any of you want to take me to the local irish beerjoint, I'd be fine with that. Mouse is a little young, I think, but he won't mind if we bring him back some chips.)


The official release date of Mouse Was Mad is here!
Already, the little fellow has had some super birthday notes.

From SLJ: Through playful language and expressive watercolors with colored pencil and ink, this story about anger management proves to be both entertaining and therapeutic.

From Kirkus: A star and this: Cole’s terrific watercolors reflect Mouse’s emotional growth in spreads and spots brimming with movement. Who knew standing still could be so dramatic? Well-pitched for preschoolers just learning social skills, this would be equally excellent for family reading, classrooms and storytimes.

And also, I've been getting reports from across the country that Mouse has been showing up at storytimes, making quite a row and encouraging large groups of toddlers to do the same. He couldn't be more pleased. (I couldn't either, really.)

Want to help me celebrate?
Tell me what makes you mad. And what you do to feel better.
Treat it like a meme.
Or a writing prompt.
Or something.
Post on your blog in as much or as little detail as you like the answers to these questions and then comment here to tell me that you did. Deadline: May 9th.
I'll enter your name in a drawing for a copy of Mouse Was Mad and a box of Lake Champlain Truffles (the devouring of which just happen to be one of my favorite "feel better" strategies).
I can't wait to read your answers!

Today I'll be at The Flying Pig in Shelburne, Vermont -- one of the very best childrens' bookstores in the country. The owners, Josie and Elizabeth, have a deep appreciation of kidlit, and an equally deep knowledge of the field. Elizabeth is a writer herself (Her book My Father The Dog, is a favorite around here.) and a graduate of Vermont College. Even more importantly, she's one of those connector people you read about in The Tipping Point, the kind that bring people together around the things they are passionate about.

So it is a real pleasure for me to be signing this:



at the Flying Pig today, at 11am. Come by if you can. If you can't, take comfort in the knowledge that such a fabulous place exists, that in it kids are finding books they will connect with, and people like Josie & Elizabeth are doing the work that they love.

Last of the dialogue posts.

One of my all-time favorite middle grade novels ever is Sharon Creech's Granny Torrelli Makes Soup. There are a million-billion reasons it ranks as a favorite. I love the structure. I love the characters. I love the very simple story told with all the complications and confusions and threads that make up a person's life and thoughts about that life. And as a dialogue study it can't be beat.

How come?
Cuz.
You want more than that?
Okay. Look how Rosie talks. She's a twelve year old American kid. You can tell that right off. But she's being raised in close proximity to her old world italian granny, and you can hear that in her dialogue, too. And she's got an agenda. She's mad at her pal Bailey and she suspects maybe she is in the wrong about that, but she wants her granny to side with her anyway. And underneath all that, she's confused about growing up and growing apart from a friend and also what it means to be a growing-up girl with a growing-up boy as a friend -- but she'd never say that part. Not out loud anyway.
And yet it comes through in the dialogue.
The spicy, specific, funny, heartfelt dialogue.

And watch, too, how Creech pulls layers away from Rosie's story. You want to call it peeling the onion -- and it is -- except that rather than getting smaller and smaller and nugget-y, the story seems to grow larger instead. And all that comes through in what the characters say to one another.

I could tell you more, but that would be stupid.
You should read the book.
You should read the book out loud, that's what you should do.
Do it.
Okay?
Okay.


Lastly lastly lastly. My notebook.
When I started preparing for this dialogue workshop last fall, I started a dialogue notebook. All my research notes are in it, from all those resources that I mentioned earlier. I also started copying bits of dialogue that I love into it. Yes, there are bits from all the books I recommended. There are also pages from Tony Early's Jim the Boy and Edward Eager's The Knight's Castle and a few other things.

Do you have such a notebook?
No? You might try starting one. Few things make me pay attention to a subject more than starting a notebook for it. Once I have a place to collect something, that something seems to emerge out of noplace and dang if that didn't happen for dialogue examples.
Let me know if you do start one.
And if it works for you.
And if you have any favorite dialogue bits. I'll be giving this workshop again in the summer and am always looking for new examples.


Next week:
I'm going to talk a little about "giving this workshop again in the summer" and exactly where that will be.
And also, in honor of the official release date for Mouse Was Mad a cool way for you to get yourself a copy.

And those of you coming to the Flying Pig on Saturday -- I can't wait! We're going to have some fun!

My voice held out -- but just barely. It is ragged and raw and inclined to squeaking, but it is there. Thanks for all your good wishes from yesterday.

Dialogue Examples
I won't go into detail about these ones, like I did with the Russo from Tuesday. Instead, I'll just make the recommendations:

Toys Go Out
by Emily Jenkins
A plush stingray, a "toughy little buffalo", and a plastic ball. Those are your characters. So ditch a lot of that stuff I said in the workshop about race, religion, and the influence of parents on character. But these characters do have histories, and the most decidedly do have character traits, and they have STRONG agendas -- only some of which they will share directly. And the dialogue is killer and as honest as any written anywhere. You should read the whole book, but to get an extra keen look at what I'm talking about, study pages 84-87, in which Lumphy the bufflo is pondering a strategy for getting The Little Girl to take him up on the high bed to sleep at night. Brilliant.

Baby
by Patricia MacLachlan
Less well known than the books in her Sarah, Plain and Tall collection, Baby is no less stunning. Twelve year old Larkin's family is shocked to discover that a baby has been left in their care by an unknown woman. In a note, the woman pleads with them to care for the child. "I will come back for her one day. I love her." The family takes in the child -- each member conflicted about doing so for his or her own complicated reasons. As far as dialogue goes, this book is a lesson in noting what gets left unsaid and the delicate ways that deep longing tendrils through short, simple language. For an example, turn to pages 88 and 89.
Oh, and one other note. Just as she did in her early novel, Unclaimed Treasures, MacLachlan employs dialogue repetition with powerful results -- whether the mimic is a child just learning to talk, or a rebellious parrot.

A few more examples tomorrow, and then I'm done, 'kay? Kay.






UPCOMING EVENTS!
This weekend I'll be at The Flying Pig in Shelburne, Vermont signing copies of Mouse Was Mad for tots and friends. Come by on Saturday, May 2 at 11. Bring your mad face.

Next weekend, on Saturday the 9th at 11, I'll be at my neighborhood indie, Bear Pond Books. Ms. Jane says there will be cookies and punch. I know there will be a great time.

Those of you who came to my workshops at the NESCBWI over the weekend know that I was losing my voice throughout. This NEVER happens to me. At least, not when I'm not at cheerleading camp. Which I haven't been at in about 25 years. I'm gonna call that never.

My voice is almost back.
But I have a full day school visit today! I'll be at the East Montpelier Elementary School (go Roadrunners!) all day, doing two large presentations -- one for the upper grades, one for the lower -- and THREE writing workshops.

Wish me luck and wish me voice.

I'll try to get back to dialogue examples tomorrow.

Until then, talk amongst yourselves. . .

At my workshop on Dialogue, I mentioned a few authors who I felt excelled at doing a whole lot in a small space. One of these masters is Richard Russo who, yeah, writes for grown-ups. But don't think less of him for it, okay?

I recommend all of his books*, but am especially fond of Straight Man, Mohawk, and Nobody's Fool. I'd like to talk about Nobody's Fool for a moment. The book is peopled with characters who have grown up in the dying industrial town of North Bath in Northern New York. Most have high school educations. Many have never even left the state. They've all gone to the same high school. Drink at the same bars. Work at the same sorts of jobs. And yet, each one is completely unique -- and that comes through in their dialogue.

Want an example?
Here's an exchange between our MC, Sully, and his small town sad sack of a lawyer, Wirf. Basic set up? Sully is on disability after a construction accident that ruined his knee. In order to keep getting his checks, he has to go to the community college, which he doesn't feel like doing -- even though he kind of likes the things his philosophy 101 class is covering. As this dialogue opens, Sully and Werf are at a restaurant/bar hangout. Sully has just mentioned how angry the judge seemed during the last time they went to court together.
Got a copy in your home library? This is page 102 in the paperback edition. Follow along if you like.

"When they start getting bent out of shape, then you know you're getting somewhere. Intro Law 101."
"You ever take 102?"
Wirf dropped his fork. Looked hurt.
"I just wondered," Sully grinned.
"I can't do this without you," Wirf implored. "I'm way the f**k out on a limb here, and all I can hear is you sawing away."
"I been telling you to quit for months," Sully reminded him. "I'm tired of watching you get beat up. I can't pay you what I owe you now."
"Have I asked you for anything?"
"Yes. Just now. You just ate half my linguine."
"I never asked for that. You offered."
"I can't stand to see you look starved. I wish you'd go away and do something profitable. If guys like you and me could beat insurance companies there wouldn't be insurance companies. Common Sense 101."


Pretty swell huh?
What conclusions can we draw from the details in this exchange?
If you didn't already know and there weren't any pronouns, would you guess these characters were male or female?
How old? Can you find any dialogue details that make you think so?
Class? (I know, I already told you, but can you see it in the text?)
Financial status? (and how they feel about that. And yeah, that's different than class.)
Education levels? Attitude toward that education?
Familiarity with one another?
Can you see any differences in the way Sully and Wirf express themselves?
How do they deal with difficult subjects?
What's Sully's world view? Does he see himself as lucky or unlucky?
What agendas are at play? What is going unsaid?

And look at that repetition in the last line. Even though Wirf doesn't say it, the reader has to think it: "You ever take 102?" Which is rather a perfect question to ask a guy like Sully.

Oh, and look at the words that Russo uses: tired, starved, beat up, hurt. There are plenty of other ways to describe the situation, but this repetition of these details give us a clear picture of the mood, huh? And let me tell you, they are the same words you could use to describe North Bath.

In the context of the book, you can see even more going on. Things about money and whether or not you can "better yourself" (or if you'd want to) and even the role of family and history shaping our futures.

Read it. Really. Grab a paperback and read it. And then find a few random scenes and take your pencil to them. Dialogue 101.


More coming. Maybe tomorrow.


*okay. maybe not Bridge of Sighs. I read it and liked parts of it a lot, but I think you'd better be a big fan if you're going to get through the rest of it. Start with Straight Man, okay?

This weekend I was delighted to be a part of two workshops at the New England SCBWI Conference in Nashua, NH. One on dialogue called Who's Talking, Who's Listening, and Why It Matters and another, along with Cindy Lord, called A Theme Runs Through It.

What a blast!
My workshops always make me a little nervous beforehand, because even though I research and plan and figure and practice, they only work if the participants are willing to . . . well . . . participate. And boy were they! This is one of the reasons I love this conference. It is filled with really great writers who want to get even better, and they are willing to do what it takes to make that happen.
BRAVO to all of you!!!


Now, in each workshop, I promised folks I'd use my blog to fill them in on the resources I used for my talk. So, workshoppers and anyone else playing along at home, here goes:

RESOURCES FOR THE THEME WORKSHOP

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
Twyla Tharp
Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
2006 edition
We used an exercise from this book in order to see if we could surprise ourselves with description details related to theme.
Yes. An exercise in a book by a choreographer. That's the power of this book for me. It is about creativity. About hard work. About trusting yourself and finding your process and streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetching. And although she uses examples from all the arts -- including writing -- it is the fact that she is not a writer that lets us fiddle around with her suggestions and make them our own, instead of slavishly following her example as if it is going to be that magic bullet, you know? Check it out from the library (I did). If it works for you, you'll want to buy one. (I did.) You might even buy a couple more to give to friends or your kid's teacher (I did that, too).

I also mentioned this book:
Write Away: One Novelist's Approach to Fiction and the Writing Life
Elizabeth George
Harper Peennial
2004
When I said that even the most ardent of outliners and pre-planners is sometimes surprised midway through a draft by what their theme turns out to be, I offered the example of Elizabeth George. If you are a planner or you want to try your hand at writing a novel that way, I highly recommend Ms. George's book. She developed a strategy for writing her twisty-turny yet character-driven mysteries that worked with her teaching schedule, allowing her to do lots of planning and thinking and plotting during the school year and intense writing during the summers. The strategy has worked for her and the plan set out in this book might work for you.

I mentioned an article in the New Yorker about novelist Ian McEwan in which he is asked about theme in his writing. That article was by Daniel Zalewski and ran in the February 23, 2009 issue. It is called "The Background Hum: Ian McEwan's Art of Unease."
The line that McEwan quotes is from Vladimir Nabokov's Lectures on Literature and is included in an essay entitled "Good Readers and Good Writers". The full quote goes like this:
In reading, one should notice and fondle details. There is nothing wrong about the the moonshine of generalization when it comes AFTER the sunny trifles of the book have been lovlingly collected. If one begins with generalization, one begins at the wrong end and travels away from the book before one has started to understand it." Smart little fishy that Nabokov.

Charlotte's Web
E.B. White
Harper Trophy
original publication 1952
I suspect you have a copy of Charlotte's Web. Buy another. Buy a second copy to mark up and scribble notes on and circle things in. As Cindy said in our workshop, E.B. White is the master of details, but he does it so seamlessly that it is easy to miss how masterful he is. You won't miss it if you fondle those details.

Rules
Cynthia Lord
Scholastic
2006
Sigh. Such a wonderful book. You probably want to buy an extra one of these to scribble on, too. Start with that chapter where Catherine's dad is tending the tomatoes. Oh the mighty, mighty details.

I also mentioned my novel. It is called A Crooked Kind of Perfect and it was published by the lovely folks at HoughtonMifflinHarcourt in 2007. The paperback hit bookshelves last month.



RESOURCES FOR THE DIALOGUE WORKSHOP

I said I'd tell you about resources and also cover a few Great Moments in Dialogue History. Today, the resources. Tomorrow: Great Moments (or more likely, later in the week . . . I'm still recovering from the conference!.

Writing Dialogue For Scripts: Effective Dialogue for Film, TV, Radio and Stage
by Rib Davis
A&C Black Publishers
2008 Edition
This is the book that led me to thinking about "agendas" and making sure that my dialogue really reflected what was going on underneath each spoken line. As the title says, the book is geared toward writing scripts, but most of the lessons apply -- especially those about "naturalistic" (not natural) dialogue and respecting the audience enough to let them do the work of drawing conclusions. This is a book you may not find at your library, but I was able to buy mine at my local independent bookstore. If you're really studying dialogue, the book is a worthwhile purchase.


Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott
Anchor Books
1994
Oh Ms. Lamott. How we writers love you.
If you don't know this book already, I encourage you to give it a look. Ms. Lamott is wise and funny and incredibly down-to-earth. Her advice about sh*tty first drafts and writing the postage stamp are well known amongst writers. Her chapter on dialogue is full of little gems like that, too. While Davis's book is long and detailed, Lamott's is more breezy and she has lots of easy to manage tips like "Sound your words" (read your dialogue out loud) and reminders ("Good dialogue encompasses both what is said and what is not said"). Talk about your smart fishys.

Write Away
Elizabeth George
see above
Ms. George has two full chapters on dialogue and she mentions things that few others do about the uses to which one might put dialogue. In particular, I love the way she discusses how dialogue might be used to foreshadow events -- especially good stuff if you're writing a creepy mystery. She's got lots of good nuts and bolts advice as well.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers
Rennie Browne & Dave King
HarperCollins
revised edition 2004
This book is great for final revisions and the four chapters on dialogue are terrific for helping you pare things down. No-nonsense practical, its a great reference for your writing shelf.




I hope you all find these references as helpful as I have. Workshoppers, thank you SO MUCH for making this such a terrific weekend!

Last week I was in my home state of Michigan, visiting schools and libraries and receiving the Michigan Library Association's Mitten Award for outstanding children's fiction. I'm still fairly glowing from the experience. What a joy it was to meet so many kids who had read my books and so many librarians who were responsible for foisting it upon them!

I had big shoes to fill. Last year, cynthialord won the Mitten Award for her beautiful book RULES and, as is typical of the big-hearted Ms. Lord, she turned her acceptance speech into an opportunity to share kids' responses to her novel. Here's the post she wrote about the experience. (BTW: Cindy's really good about taking pictures at her events. I stink at it. So do me a favor and in every snap in that post, imagine me standing there instead of Cindy. Even the one where she's posing with John Green. I didn't meet John Green, but I'd like to, and Cindy's photo might be the closest I'll ever come, okay? Thanks.)

Anyway, Cindy's speech made people cry.
I knew I would not make people cry. And I began my speech by saying so.
"But I do get letters!" I protested. And then I read part of one that landed in my email the night before. “I can burp upside down,” the writer told me. “I’m sure about it, because I stood on my head and my friend held my feet.” That, I said, is the power of literature.

Thankfully, the librarians laughed. Which made it easy for them to keep laughing during whatever else it was I said.

Yeah, I don't remember exactly what I said.
Don't get me wrong. I planned a talk. Had it all set.
I was told I'd be asked to talk for up to ten minutes. I was prepared.

But then, during the dinner, things got switched around. Could I do 25 minutes? asked the conference organizer.
Um . . .
Okay.
So I winged it. And dang if it didn't go swell.


Have to give credit where it's due, though. Just before the dinner I had met the smart, funny, brilliant storyteller Robin Brande who was at the convention to accept the Thumb's Up award for Teen fiction for her novel Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature. Robin and I spent 45 minutes in a joint book discussion about how we work and why we work and what we eat while we work. That discussion was so easy and fun that it made the later speechy part easy, too.
So thank you Robin. I hope we meet again soon.


My, I'm loquacious. This is what happens when you don't blog very often.

Tomorrow I'm off to the New England SCBWI where I will listen to (and likely cry through) Ms. Lord's keynote speech. I'll also be presenting at the conference: a beginners workshop on dialogue called Many Voices: Who's Talking, Who's Listening, and Why It Matters and a joint presentation on theme with Ms. Lord herself. That workshop is called A Theme Runs Through It: Unifying your Novel Through Theme. Cindy is doing the first hour. Folks, it is dynamite. Practical. Hands-on. Eye opening. My hour is a little more loosey-goosey and should be a lot of fun. I'll be talking about Surprises and Opportunities. Bring your pencils, kids.

I'm really looking forward to meeting old friends and new at the conference. Will I see you?

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? I'm giving away copies of MOUSE WAS MAD at Lord & Taylor at the Garden City Mall in Long Island, NY!

I know!
How fun is that?

It's all part of a huge fundraiser that Lord & Taylor is doing for local charities. Here's a link to a listing of events posted by one of the charities that will benefit: the Samuel Field Y
You can come see me, and get a makeover, and some discounts on stuff, and get balloon animals for the kids, too. It should be a great time, so if you're anywhere nearby, I hope you'll come.


I'll let you know how things go on Wednesday. I'll also post my schedule for next week, when I'll be at the Michigan Library Association conference and doing a few school and bookstore events in my home state as well.

I'm glad that so many of you took the time to look at Kristy's book trailer and got a sense of the life that Christopher Denise breathed into those beautiful bears. Of course, Kristy had no idea they would be bears. Nor that they would be a grandfather bear and his sassy little granddaughter cub. Here, I'll let her tell it.

Kristy said: When I wrote ME WITH YOU, I had only a vague idea of how the story could be illustrated. It’s more of a poem really. Honestly, I wrote it for my husband, with each of the childlike scenes serving as a metaphor for aspects of our relationship. So I figured, if it ever made it to be an actual published book, that the scenes would be illustrated pretty much as I’d written them, and I assumed it would picture two little friends smiling over how happy they were to know each other. In the end, Christopher Denise illustrated the book with a grandfather bear and a granddaughter bear and the book celebrates the wonderful relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. And it couldn’t be any more perfect! I think the words will resonate about all those relationships that we hold dear and that make us who we are, but the illustrations add a specificity to the text, a context, which is of course what illustrations should do, right? They extend upon the original meaning.

Go here to see some amazing character sketches for Me With You. Make sure you come back, though. Kristy has more to say.

So, I asked when we were exchanging our emails last month, when you write a poem are you thinking about illustration possibilities? Are you imagining something? Or just letting the words go, without any images in your head?
Kristy said:When I write, I do envision page turns and numbers of scenes, but often, I’m wrong. Or rather, the illustrator envisions them differently or better than I do. So with ME WITH YOU, I did make sure I had enough stanzas for 15 or so spreads, remembering that some scenes would be one page and some would be a full spread. Personally, when a picture book is more poem-like it’s a bit easier to think in terms of numbers of spreads. It’s when I’m writing a straight narrative that I either end up with too few or too many.

And referring to the specific example I mentioned yesterday, she said: One of the most exciting things to me about writing a text that will be illustrated is leaving in the hands of the illustrator the decisions about whether “the character we called “Mike” will end up being a red-headed boy or a squint-eyed wombat.” I have a picture book coming out in 2010 that is being illustrated now, and when I wrote it I pictured the main character as a little boy, but I’ve gotten hints that perhaps it won’t be a human main character and that makes me so excited! I can’t wait to see what the illustrator comes up with and how she gives my boy animal characteristics. The fact that I’m allowed to write words that someone else would want to invest time in illustrating just knocks me flat. So while I think visually while I’m writing, and imagine how the scenes could be illustrated, I’m always hopeful the illustrator will see more than just my hints at what the illustrations could be from the text and extend the story even further with the illustrations. And I’m happy to give them the freedom to do that.


I told you she was smart.

SO, I'd love to hear from the rest of you picture book writers. How strongly do you "picture" what will go along with the text? Do you write with page turns in mind, even though you know that such decisions will not likely be yours? Do you envision a character? Or, if you write poetry without a main character, do you try to see what a page might look like? You can respond in comments or use my website: www.lindaurbanbooks.com to send me a response. I'll likely post a few in upcoming weeks as I continue to marvel at this guy: