| guestspeaker |
Testing
|
| janfields |
February 6, Afternoon
Open Forum begins in 5 minutes. Bring your writing related questions
and we'll play "Stump the Jan."
|
| janfields |
February 6, Afternoon
Open Forum begins in 2 minutes -- it's open topic so any writing
related question is good. Come join us.
|
| janfields |
Welcome to Afternoon
Open Forum!
|
| janfields |
I'm glad to see y'all
here and hope you've come with questions.
|
| janfields |
I have one question
cued that a leftover...but I didn't get to it...so here we
go.
|
| charweb |
Can we use another name
to write, Jan. If yes, do we have..
|
| charweb |
to give our original name
also to the editors?
|
| charweb |
And the contract would be
which name?
|
| janfields |
Many writers use a
pseudonym
|
| janfields |
I have written things
under other names myself
|
| janfields |
The publisher ALWAYS
needs to know your name
|
| janfields |
And often the contract
will include your name and "writing under the name
..."
|
| janfields |
So that you have the
pseudonym on the contract.
|
| janfields |
The check will be to
your real name.
|
| janfields |
If you intend to write
under a pseudonym and it's to a magazine
|
| janfields |
you need to mention
both on the manuscript and in the cover letter than it's a
pseudonym
|
| janfields |
On the manuscript, you
do it this way
|
| janfields |
In the upper left where
you normally put your contact info
|
| janfields |
Put your real
name
|
| janfields |
Then, under
title
|
| janfields |
where you normally put
"by so and so"
|
| janfields |
You put "written under
the name "
|
| janfields |
And put in your
pseudonym
|
| janfields |
That way your
manuscript has your REAL name in contact
|
| janfields |
info
|
| janfields |
And your pseudonym in
the "byline" spot.
|
| janfields |
Is that fairly
clear?
|
| janfields |
Okay...onward...
|
| cmaurer |
Can you suggest examples
or rules for using internal
|
| cmaurer |
dialogue or monlogue
besides Toni Herzogs's The Funeral?
|
| janfields |
"The Funeral" which is
in the book many folks got with the course
|
| janfields |
is an unusual
example
|
| janfields |
Because it's hard to
sell that kind of piece
|
| janfields |
As it's pretty much all
telling
|
| janfields |
And a lot of it is
stream-of-conciousness
|
| janfields |
But, much teen fiction
today is written in first person
|
| janfields |
Which allows the teen
to "talk" to the reader
|
| janfields |
Either in a very direct
conscious way, like some of Meg Cabot's heroine's
do
|
| janfields |
Or in a more subtle, in
their head way like "The Funeral"
|
| janfields |
The problem with too
much inner monologue is that it can get dull
|
| janfields |
And it's blindingly
hard to keep the voice true
|
| janfields |
Because it's normally
not written by teens
|
| janfields |
So it tends to slip
into "pseudo-teen" where it sounds like adults
|
| janfields |
But for
examples...pretty much ANY teen novel will contain lots of internal
dialogue
|
| janfields |
So if you want to write
for teens, your best bet is to go to the library and cart home an
armload.
|
| janfields |
If you like a lighter,
more amusing touch...you might go for Meg Cabot and other chick lit
voices.
|
| janfields |
Darker, more dry humor
with a fantasy twist can be found in Holly Black
|
| janfields |
And there are many
really dark problem novels ...they will usually have many more
monologues
|
| janfields |
Your librarian should
be a big help in finding the kind of voice you like and will enjoy
studying.
|
| coloradokate |
How about inner monologue
for middle grades, first person?
|
| janfields |
You don't see much
inner monologue in middle grade...except in humor
|
| janfields |
We're seeing more first
person books
|
| janfields |
But I think it's
probably closer to 50/50...it's still not a first person dominated
field.
|
| janfields |
I think humor is a big
first person arena because voice is everything in
humor
|
| janfields |
You usually see much
shorter "monologues" because middle grade readers are more action
oriented
|
| janfields |
They aren't usual naval
gazers at middle grade age...so the protags won't be
either.
|
| janfields |
So it's more one-liner
internal monologue.
|
| janfields |
Maybe a little more in
scene transitions.
|
| coloradokate |
People tell me to submit
book queries to individual editors, but the larger houses say
"Submissions Editor" in their guidelines... What to
do?
|
| janfields |
If they tell you to
submit to the "submissions editor" then it really is okay to do
that.
|
| janfields |
The reason why folks
tell you to send to a specific editor
|
| janfields |
is because IF you have
some kind of personal connection with that house
|
| janfields |
like you saw an editor
at a conference
|
| janfields |
or read a chat with the
editor
|
| janfields |
or read her
blog
|
| janfields |
Then you can make a
connection because you "know" something about the
editor
|
| janfields |
But if you can't make
some kind of connection...
|
| janfields |
then putting a name on
the manuscript really doesn't accomplish much
|
| janfields |
It still tends to hit
the slush pile
|
| janfields |
Because today's
editorial assistants are smart
|
| janfields |
They open the mail,
scan the letter looking for a connection
|
| janfields |
and only pass it on if
they find one.
|
| janfields |
But even a nebulous "I
am a huge fan of your blog and loved your post on so-and-so" can
count as a 'connection" enought to action get it to the desk slush
pile
|
| janfields |
rather than the big
morass of death slush pile.
|
| charweb |
Can you please explain
the significance of elipses, dashes..
|
| charweb |
semicolons and how and
when to use them?
|
| janfields |
Surely
|
| janfields |
An elipses signifies
missing information
|
| janfields |
So if you use a quote
but cut some out, you use ... to signify that
|
| janfields |
For
example
|
| janfields |
My only regret is that
I have...my country
|
| janfields |
I cut some stuff out of
the original famous quote
|
| janfields |
So the elipses warns
the reader of that.
|
| janfields |
In NONFICTION, that is
pretty much the only allowed use of the ellipses.
|
| janfields |
In FICTION, ellipses
are also used to signify things left unsaid.
|
| janfields |
For example, "You know
I ... I feel something for you."
|
| janfields |
The thing left unsaid
is I love you
|
| janfields |
You're signalling the
reader to input what is left out.
|
| janfields |
A dash can be a
substitute for a parathensis
|
| janfields |
It's often used as a
more attention getting way to indicate a parenthetical
aside.
|
| janfields |
I often say -- and by
that I mean daily -- that good writing comes from good
reading
|
| janfields |
It would be equally
correct to use parentheses there.
|
| janfields |
When you use a dash in
this way, you need a set to be correct
|
| janfields |
One for each missing
parenthesis.
|
| janfields |
The dash is also
sometimes used in dialogue to signal a sudden
shift.
|
| janfields |
"I think you need to
consider this rationally -- whoa, hang on!"
|
| janfields |
The dash makes a visual
statement, drawing the eye to the sudden change.
|
| janfields |
A semi-colon is used to
"glue" two sentences together when you do not want to use a
conjunction.
|
| janfields |
I eat ice cream and I
mainline chocolate
|
| janfields |
Can
become
|
| janfields |
I eat ice cream; I
mainline chocolate
|
| janfields |
Oh...drats...I missed a
comma in the first example
|
| janfields |
I eat ice cream, and I
mainline chocolate
|
| janfields |
Since I am joining two
complete sentences with a conjunction, I needed the comma to be
correct.
|
| janfields |
At any rate, sometimes
you don't want the conjunction.
|
| janfields |
You want to mash two
complete sentences together
|
| janfields |
To show the speaker is
in a rush
|
| janfields |
Or to strenthen the
connection between the two ideas.
|
| janfields |
In that case, the
semi-colon is the punctuation glue
|
| charweb |
Where can I get
more(besides) info on how to write rebuses?
|
| janfields |
I honestly don't know
for sure...you could try googling "write rebus"
|
| janfields |
But the info here on
the site is pretty good.
|
| janfields |
Mostly to write them,
you need to read a lot of them.
|
| janfields |
And then you have to
have a certain gift for them.
|
| janfields |
It's a very tight
form
|
| janfields |
The things to keep in
mind are that more editors limit the variety of images in each
rebus
|
| janfields |
They want the kid to
encounter each image more than once
|
| janfields |
So if you have a
flower...you want to use the word "flower" two or three
times
|
| janfields |
And you want not much
more than three or four different concrete nouns.
|
| janfields |
You have to limit your
cast of characters as much as possible.
|
| janfields |
In the big markets like
Ladybug and Highlights, I rarely see more than 2 speaking
characters.
|
| janfields |
And you want a surprise
or twist at the end.
|
| janfields |
The story needs to be
very concrete, and visual...and short, and have a
twist.
|
| janfields |
No problem
there.
|
| janfields |
Hence why I don't have
a huge list of rebus credits.
|
| monkee |
How do you store original
scripts? I can't retrieve what I burned onto disc because it wasn't
done using packet-writing software and now I'm
stuck.
|
| janfields |
I save a hard copy of
everything I write that I feel "complete" about
|
| janfields |
It's in a fire proof
box off site of my office.
|
| janfields |
I save my backups on a
network...not on media
|
| janfields |
And I save on my
harddrive, of course.
|
| janfields |
So I triple
save.
|
| janfields |
Ahhh...my computer is
part of a network set up by my husband...so I can back up onto a
different hard drive than my own...it's still in our house though so
is susceptible to things like fire
|
| janfields |
But since we aren't
likely to see both my computer and the network drive crash at once,
I have 2 electronic back-ups
|
| janfields |
If you had a friend who
has internet access but not much stuff on a computer (my dad for
example)...
|
| janfields |
one could email a copy
of everything
|
| janfields |
and have the person
save it in a file...thus an off-site electronic
backup
|
| janfields |
If you saved as text
files...which are incredibly small...you could save a lot of stuff
that way.
|
| janfields |
It would be a pain to
put back into decent format but would be fix-able.
|
| janfields |
I think the safe bet is
on three kinds of back-up in two different forms.
|
| janfields |
So I use 2 electronic
and one hard-copy (paper)
|
| janfields |
I don't trust ANY kind
of CD or tape or whatever for my hard copy.
|
| janfields |
Paper burns...and
crumples...but the language doesn't become
unreadable.
|
| monkee |
Is there any way to
salvage them and get them off the disc?
|
| janfields |
Not as far as I
know.
|
| janfields |
But you need a computer
expert...not a lowly writer like me.
|
| charweb |
I've written a n/f piece
and it's ready for sub. I did lot
|
| charweb |
of research and I found
only book written about that ...
|
| charweb |
subject. Is 1 book enough
to include in the bliblo ...
|
| janfields |
It
depends.
|
| janfields |
If all your facts come
from one source, that's an issue.
|
| janfields |
But if your facts came
from one book, twelve websites, two interviews, and a
magazines...that's different.
|
| janfields |
Not all sources have to
be books...but all nonfiction needs more than one
source.
|
| janfields |
Unless, your piece is
basically personal experience and you just need a source for scant
facts
|
| janfields |
Then one additional
source is fine.
|
| janfields |
For example, if I wrote
a nonfiction about the time I raised a wild baby rabbit caught by a
ca
|
| janfields |
cat
|
| janfields |
I would need a source
backing up my "formula" for feeding the baby
|
| janfields |
I might use the same
source for things like...the number of rabbits who die from being
removed from their mothers.
|
| janfields |
Or my odds of the
bunny's survival.
|
| janfields |
Stuff like that...and
if the BULK of my nonfiction piece is my experience
|
| janfields |
I might use websites
for my other sources...longs as they were
reputable.
|
| janfields |
It's all in
credibility
|
| janfields |
If it's personal
experience, the bulk of the credibilty rests on me.
|
| janfields |
Making me the primary
"expert" for the piece.
|
| janfields |
And that's having a
primary source...making everything else less
important.
|
| charweb |
What's flash
fiction?
|
| janfields |
Flash fiction is
extremly short stories...usually less than 100
words
|
| janfields |
but with a feeling of
completeness
|
| janfields |
They may not completely
follow the normal "story arc" or plot pattern
|
| janfields |
but they will feel
complete and they will have some kind of thematic
depth.
|
| janfields |
Flash fiction is not
something children's writers encounter much since 100 words is
considered a normal story for some of our audience
|
| janfields |
So it's mostly a genre
for adult writing.
|
| janfields |
And it's not
mainstream...it's hard to get money for flash
fiction.
|
| janfields |
A lot of it is a kind
of puzzle or writing exercise...kind of a "proving I can do it"
thing.
|
| tkat_2 |
Jan, for punctuation try
this site
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/
|
| janfields |
I LOVE the online
writing lab at Purdue
|
| janfields |
Honestly, it's one of
my favorites.
|
| janfields |
They have exercises and
"handouts" -- it's great.
|
| janfields |
If you have any kind of
weaknesses...it's a great place to brush up.
|
| janfields |
Understand
though...that sometimes what is "RIGHT" and what is done by
publishers...isn't exactly the same thing.
|
| janfields |
Publishers, especially
publishers of fiction, sometimes use...um...creative ways of
handling language and grammar and punctuation.
|
| janfields |
But if you know the
"right" way...you're ahead of the game, for sure.
|
| janfields |
Thanks
tkat
|
| janfields |
Oh no...I ran out of
questions.
|
| monkee |
How do you approach
someone for an interview if you haven't pitched or written the
article yet, but need them so you can?
|
| janfields |
I usually say, "I am
researching for a children's article on...blah
blah"
|
| janfields |
Sometimes...sometimes...I get back a
question
|
| janfields |
Who are you writing
for?
|
| janfields |
At which time I will
tell them who I am considering pitching to
|
| janfields |
With a remark like, "My
target market is Highlights, but I may be considering other markets
at the article shapes up."
|
| janfields |
I have
NEVER
|
| janfields |
EVER
|
| janfields |
been turned down
because I don't have a market nailed down.
|
| janfields |
But I always have an
answer to who I am considering.
|
| janfields |
Because if I haven't
been thinking about market matches, that's going to force me to come
back and ask more questions later
|
| janfields |
When I know the market
and realize I missed something I know they're going to
want
|
| janfields |
Or when I have to
reshape to suit a market.
|
| janfields |
So have a plan, but
don't worry about not having an assignment...I don't even mention
the market unless I'm asked.
|
| dell |
I'm on the conference
committee for our local SCBWI conference. If anyone lives within
travel distance to Poughkeepsie, New York, they may wish to visit
our web site to learn more about the conference. It's one of our
most impressive line-ups:
http://www.scbwi-upny.org/home/home.php
|
| janfields |
Hey, very cool...when
if your conference?
|
| janfields |
New England does theirs
in the spring, but I messed around and didn't send in a
proposal...alas.
|
| dell |
Still on the subject of
the SCBWI conference: It's June 9, 2007. the keynote is Laurie Halse
Anderson, plus two editors and an art director from CLOSED houses,
plus other award-winning writers and illustrators. Can you tell i'm
enthusuastic about the line-up!! :)
|
| janfields |
Hey cool, Laurie Halse
Anderson has the coolest blog too.
|
| janfields |
Sounds
fantastic...SCBWI conferences are excellent places to learn more
about the business
|
| janfields |
Meet super cool
people
|
| janfields |
And gain piles of
insight for submissions...and writing.
|
| janfields |
Ahhh...out of questions
again...oh, the scbwi url for upstate newyork
|
| janfields |
http://www.scbwi-upny.org
|
| janfields |
Even if you aren't a
member of SCBWI
|
| janfields |
It pays to look up the
chapter closest to you
|
| janfields |
Find their
website
|
| janfields |
And keep up with their
programs
|
| janfields |
Often non-members can
attend conferences
|
| janfields |
and other things...they
pay more, but they can often do conferences.
|
| coloradokate |
Can I still use an SCBWI
conference in 2005 as an "in" with the editors who were
there?
|
| janfields |
There is usually a
deadline of sorts to conference speaker invitations to
submit
|
| janfields |
If the house is open
ANYWAY
|
| janfields |
And you "clicked" with
something the editor said
|
| janfields |
Then I would say, Sure,
mention it in your cover letter
|
| janfields |
I do
|
| janfields |
But if the house is
closed but opened for a time after the conference
|
| janfields |
It's probably closed
again by now.
|
| janfields |
But ya know, the worst
that happens is they return your sub unopened
|
| janfields |
Or eat
it
|
| janfields |
They don't steal your
car or hate you forever
|
| janfields |
So you might try
anyway.
|
| janfields |
My instinct says it's
too long, but I've heard longer shots pay off in this
business.
|
| dell |
Although this is
extremely rare, my good writer friend sold her picture book after
having a one-on-one critique at this conference.
|
| janfields |
Hey,
fantastic.
|
| janfields |
You know, almost every
conference has at least one really happy ending story like
that
|
| janfields |
Where the person who
gets a critique is really READY to be published.
|
| janfields |
And manages to connect
with an editor open to that person's work
|
| janfields |
It doesn't always end
in publication by that house
|
| janfields |
But it can build some
excellent connections...because editors remember good work, even
when it's not the specific project they can use.
|
| eggamy |
What is the cost of a
membership in SCBWI?
|
| janfields |
I just re-upped...and
you know, I totally cannot remember
|
| janfields |
It's gone
up.
|
| janfields |
Anyone in the audience
remember?
|
| janfields |
Like seventy
bucks?
|
| janfields |
Dell says seventy-five
and she's likely to have a better memory than me
|
| janfields |
She's
younger
|
| janfields |
Yeah, yeah,
laugh...getting old sucks.
|
| dell |
the editor later admitted
to her, that this was the first time it happened (accepting a ms
based on a conference critique)
|
| janfields |
That's really
fantastic.
|
| janfields |
I love happy
endings.
|
| janfields |
Okay...any last minute
question??
|
| monkee |
I had an idea for getting
some writing practice and helping others...writing letters for
elderly in care homes to their relatives. They LOVE to talk about
grandkids, too, good for ideas.
|
| janfields |
Hey, that's a nice
thing.
|
| janfields |
Of course, old people
scare me
|
| janfields |
But I think that's a
really nice thing.
|
| janfields |
Anytime you take on
outside writing like that...
|
| janfields |
do be careful not to
pour out all your creativity
|
| janfields |
Because you can end up
feeling a little tapped out when you do your own
writing.
|
| janfields |
I know with all the
writing I do right now, writing about writing, I find I don't always
have the deep reserves
|
| janfields |
When I'm looking to
spend some time on a short story.
|
| janfields |
So...all writing is
good for you, but don't let it become all the writing you
do.
|
| janfields |
Blogs are like that
too
|
| janfields |
They're good, they help
you build connections and platform
|
| janfields |
But they dip into your
creative well
|
| janfields |
So be sure you leave
some for the work closest to your heart.
|
| janfields |
Wow...that hour flew
by
|
| janfields |
Thank y'all so much for
popping in and asking questions.
|
| janfields |
It's nice when I don't
have to make stuff up :-)
|
| janfields |
Don't forget next
Thursday nice is Laurie Calkhoven
|
| janfields |
She writes media tie-in
novels
|
| janfields |
Novels based on TV
shows and movies
|
| janfields |
Which is very
cool.
|
| janfields |
Thanks
tkat...
|
| janfields |
Of course, my husband
calls that "creative mind" -- irrational weirdness
|
| janfields |
But he's a computer
guy...very linear
|
| janfields |
I'll be back here never
Tuesday afternoon...won't be a forum...just hanging
out.
|
| janfields |
I hope some of y'all
will come hang out with me then too.
|
| janfields |
next
Tuesday
|
| janfields |
not never
Tuesday
|
| janfields |
You're
welcome.
|
