Ah yes, we all know the description cliché: Our hero or heroine looks in a mirror and studies it so that the reader can form a full picture of this character. Bonus points if it’s in the first chapter! Appearances can be tricky, I won’t deny that — but there are lots of creative ways to get around Ye Olde Mirror cop-out! My cheat-answer for just about any writing question is intentional details. How do you build a fantasy world? Intentional details. How do you create mood? Intentional details. How do you describe a character? Intentional details. Details help add context and reality to...
On the WriteOnCon forums this year, an interesting topic came up: How do you write when you have personal trauma(s)? Do you use them, or avoid them? I only have my own experience to draw from, and everyone is unique. Our wounds are different and the ways we carry them are different. So please take this with a grain of salt. In my young life, I’ve already had to carry a few traumas. Mine (like most) rise from situations where I (or a loved one) were incredibly unsafe, and afterward my life was entirely changed. That how my counselor defines trauma, by the...
One definite perk of being the web master for WriteOnCon has been reading all about the upcoming releases in 2017 and 2018. So this year, my TBR list already has some books that have yet to be released! I thought I’d share my list with you guys, in case any of them perk your interest, too. The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser Amy Lennox doesn’t know quite what to expect when she and her mother pick up and leave Germany for Scotland, heading to her mother’s childhood home of Lennox House on the island of Stormsay. Amy’s grandmother, Lady Mairead,...
Guys, I am SO EXCITED to FINALLY be able to share some important news with you. But now that the time has finally come, I don’t even know how to start. I’ve been sitting on this secret so long, I can’t find the words I want — which is unfortunate, since my job is words. I’m going to pull a Ted Mosby and back this train all up to show you How I Met My Publisher(s). Here we go! Gifs will help me. February 2016 My agent Amber has been working with me on Illuminate for some time. But she’s like,...
After an enormous flop in my reading habits throughout 2015, I’m finally starting to get on top of things again! In 2016, I read 62 books (out of a 50-book goal). Disclaimer: A lot of these were children’s fiction (even picture books), but I’ll take what I can get. Below I’ve listed some of my favorite discoveries from 2014, along with publishers’ descriptions. Enjoy! Best Picture Books The Journey by Francesca Sanna (Illustrations) With haunting echoes of the current refugee crisis this beautifully illustrated book explores the unimaginable decisions made as a family leave their home and everything they know to escape...
As a young writer, I didn’t know the difference between plot and narrative — or how to make both work for the most compelling hook, arc, and story. Lucy Christopher at Bath Spa University was the first to sit down with me and really explain it. You need both plot and narrative hints to hook a reader. It’ll take a lot of revisions to get the balance of this right, but hooks that instantly immerse you in the story have this in common: Plot and narrative are working together. In the opening of Hugo, for instance, the action (plot) that changes everything is...
Things have been a little scarce here recently. Why? Among numerous other reasons (the topics of future posts!), I’ve also been helping plan, set up, and coordinate the fabulous online kidlit conference: WriteOnCon! We’ve been doing an Indiegogo campaign to help cover website costs, etc., and there’s just about a week left. Of course, it’s only now that I remember I haven’t actually talked about it here at all. *facepalm* SO HERE WE GO. (EDIT: The campaign is over, but you can still register here!) What is WriteOnCon? WriteOnCon is a three-day online children’s book conference from February 2-February 4, 2017 for writers...
Photography by Jason Koons Show vs. tell is one of the most difficult things to learn as a young writer. One of my novel mentees came to me with some excerpts to examine for the dreaded telling pitfall. This lovely writer had spent hours scouring the internet for advice, but found herself becoming more and more confused. My method of mentoring often involves examples — partially because I learn by doing the thing, so I have to try it before I can fully explain it. I took her paragraph and spent about 15 minutes rewriting it in my own voice. Then...
I was recently telling someone I’ve been novel-mentoring about creating graphics, and how it can be a great way to break writer’s block. She was like, “Huh?” And I was like, “Oh, I guess this isn’t the most obvious.” So, we already talked about visualizing characters with photo collages. Today we’re going to talk about assembling our casts. This used to be something I just did for fun, but it’s become a necessary part of my drafting process. In fact, for Eleventh Trade I had to stop writing and take a day just to pull together my cast. Making a cast...
Story graphics are one of my favorite parts of productive procrastinating, and one of my favorite types of story graphics is creating character concepts. I got this idea from my sister, Laura Hollingsworth, who uses it sometimes to brainstorm ideas for her webcomic, The Silver Eye. Though I’ll be using Photoshop for this tutorial, you can really use any photo editing program that lets you adjust layers and occupancy. (GIMP is a good, free alternative to Photoshop!) Step 1: Find a Base Image Find an image that basically looks like your character. This image will be at the base of your...
