Spooky News & Giveaways

Interview with Middle Grade Novelist Royce Buckingham by Clete Barrett Smith from Through the Tollbooth. Note: "Royce Buckingham is a Pacific Northwest author who specializes in boy-friendly fiction. His latest book, the supernatural mystery/thriller The Dead Boys, was released by Putnam on September 2 and is a Junior Library Guild Selection." Peek: "It’s a knife-edge, so to speak, because you’re trying to scare them but you’re not trying to traumatize them." See also Clete on Things I've Learned about Writing Novels from Reading Comics.

Twitter Book Parties! a celebration of new books for kids, tweens, and teens. Peek: "The day your book releases (full list here), we'll spread the news, raise a glass, break out the chocolate, and virtually party with you. I’ll also provide a link to an independent bookseller of your choice (send me the link featuring your book) or to IndieBound so that thousands of tweeps can buy your book."

Nominate the Best Books of the Year for the Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards (the Cybils). Books published between Oct. 16, 2009, and Oct. 15, 2010, are eligible. Note: my upcoming picture book, Holler Loudly (Dutton, 2010), is not eligible; it's official publication date is Nov. 11.

Congratulations to Georgia McBride, founder of YALITCHAT, on signing with Mark McVeigh of The McVeigh Agency, and congratulations to Mark on signing Georgia! Read a Cynsations interview with Mark.

Defeating Your Inner Critic Part I: Track the Problem by Carolyn Kaufman from Query Tracker. Peek: "The Inner Critic can be the writer’s worst enemy. Each time we sit down to work, it feeds on our insecurities, reminds us of past failures, and criticizes everything we put down on paper." See also Part II: Put the Critic on the Stand.

When Back List Books Go POD from April Henry. Peek: "One downside to this idea is that a book might never be considered out-of-print, so the rights would never revert back to the author. Speaking as someone who made a few dollars putting her out-of-print backlist on the Kindle..."

Susan Hawk of the Bent Agency from Shelli at Market My Words. Peek: "We all know that promotion continues to become a more central part of any book’s success, and as that has changed over time, agents’ focus on the marketing plans that publishing houses create has grown as well."

Dystopian Worldbuilding Worksheet Part One and Part Two from Kate Messner. Peek: "Even imaginary worlds need rules. Consider Hogwarts. The incantation 'Expelliarmus!' always results in an opponent being disarmed, if it's done right. As readers, we wouldn't be on board if a character used 'Expelliarmus!' to disarm an enemy in one scene and then cried 'DroppusWandus!' five pages later. Things need to be consistent."

What Do Amazon Rankings Mean to Authors? by Richard Mabry from Rachelle Gardner, Literary Agent at Rants & Ramblings on Life as a Literary Agent. Peek: "The first consideration is that Amazon isn’t the only place people buy books."

Agent Advice: Jen Rofe of Andrea Brown Literary from Chuck at Guide to Literary Agents. Excellent in-depth interview in which Jen talks about her preferences. Note: She represents "children's fiction ranging from picture books to young adult" and is open to diverse voices and characters, especially where race is not the primary issue.

Spooky Giveaway Reminder

Enter to win a copy of The Wish Stealers by Tracy Trivas (Aladdin, 2010)! To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "The Wish Stealers" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message or comment me with the name in the header/post; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Deadline: Oct. 31. Sponsored by Simon & Schuster; U.S. entries only.

More Personally

Quirky & Quintessential Writer Series: Featuring Cynthia Leitich Smith by Mahtab Narsimhan from Moonlight Musings. Peek: "...what about the stuff totally unrelated to books? The quirky stuff that makes them the quintessential writer? I've wondered the same thing about a lot of writers I've greatly admired and so, was born the idea of asking them questions mostly unrelated to the world of writing. Fun stuff that makes them come alive for me!"

Two Chances to Win Blessed ARC

Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith Review and ARC Giveaway by Insert Book Title Here. Peek: "The world of Tantalize and Eternal combine in Blessed (PDF) to create an amazing story that is captivating. I loved both of the previous novels, but Blessed has blown them both out of the water. This is Cynthia at her best." Note: U.S. and Canadian citizens are eligible to win. Deadline: midnight Oct. 31. Enter here.

Blessed by Cynthia Leitich Smith ARC Giveaway by P.J. Hoover from Roots in Myth. Deadline: midnight Oct. 15. Note: P.J. is also giving away an ARC of her upcoming novel, The Necropolis (CBAY, 2010), an ARC of Brains for Lunch: A Zombie Novel in Haiku?! by K.A. Holt (Roaring Brook, 2010), and an ARC of Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky (Candlewick, 2010). Newly added: Truth with a Capital T by Bethany Hegedus (Delacorte, 2010). Click titles for details!

Spooky Event

"Beyond Feathers and Fangs: Crossing Borders in Realistic and Fantasy Fiction, with Cynthia Leitich Smith" at The 33rd Annual Mary Calletto Rife Youth Literature Seminar - Kalamazoo Public Library. The seminar costs $40 (lower student rates are available) and is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m Nov. 5. Note: Maria Perez-Stable and Beth Amidon will also present a book talk, and additional speakers are Gillian Engberg, Booklist editor, and Debbie Reese, UIUC professor. See more on the speakers. Note: I'll also be speaking on Nov. 4 in a public event at the Kalamazoo Public Library!

New Voice: Matthew J. Kirby on The Clockwork Three

Matthew J. Kirby is the first-time author of The Clockwork Three (Scholastic, 2010). From the promotional copy:

Three ordinary children are brought together by extraordinary events. . .

Giuseppe is an orphaned street musician from Italy, who was sold by his uncle to work as a slave for an evil padrone in the U.S. But when a mysterious green violin enters his life he begins to imagine a life of freedom.

Hannah is a soft-hearted, strong-willed girl from the tenements, who supports her family as a hotel maid when tragedy strikes and her father can no longer work. She learns about a hidden treasure, which she knows will save her family -- if she can find it.

And Frederick, the talented and intense clockmaker's apprentice, seeks to learn the truth about his mother while trying to forget the nightmares of the orphanage where she left him. He is determined to build an automaton and enter the clockmakers' guild -- if only he can create a working head.

Together, the three discover they have phenomenal power when they team up as friends, and that they can overcome even the darkest of fears.

Are you a plotter or a plunger? Do you outline first, write to explore first, or engage some combination of the two? Then where do you go from there? What about this approach appeals to you?

Of the two, I guess I would be considered a plunger, but a slightly apprehensive one. It’s like traveling to a place I’ve never been, where I don’t know the language or the culture. I really like to travel, and I’m always excited to go someplace new and different, but I’m also a bit nervous.

Maybe I wouldn’t be as nervous if I had a better idea of my destination, but I don’t outline in the formal sense. At most, I might jot down some ideas, some images, or snippets of dialogue that I plan to use. I do usually have some mile markers in mind, which some might think of as a kind of outline, and I guess it is. But it isn’t a map.

To continue the traveling metaphor, if a writer who does follow a strict outline has a GPS, and a map, and a satellite phone, what I have are vague directions I picked up from a stranger I met on the side of the road. And that’s the way I like it.

Of course, now that I’ve said all that, I have to admit I did outline some of The Clockwork Three though much less than people think. The book has three protagonists, each with their own separate but interlocking stories. The majority of the book I wrote without an outline, but when I hit the last three chapters I had to lay it all out and organize it. I created a spreadsheet with columns for the different plotlines so I could see where they overlapped and lined up, departing from my usual on-the-fly way of doing things to make sure I wrapped up all the loose ends how I wanted to (which also meant leaving some threads intentionally hanging in the wind). But I haven’t felt the need to do that for any of my other stories.

When I write, all I really need is a direction to write in. I prefer to just relax and explore, even though it might mean some wrong turns, dead ends, and heavier edits later.

But some of my favorite bits and moments of writing have come from those times where I just let my characters guide me. That’s the key, really. Having characters that can show me around. I find that if my characters live and breathe and are real to me, when I put them in a situation authentic to them and set them going, they’ll lead me out of it.

How did you go about connecting with your agent? What was your search process like? Who did you decide to sign with? What about that person and/or agency seemed like the best fit for you? What advice do you have for other writers in seeking the right agent for them?

I’m represented by Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. Steve and I met at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Workshop in Sandy, Utah, a few years ago. He was on the workshop faculty, and I listened to him speak a few times at different breakout sessions. He impressed me with his demeanor and his philosophy on children’s literature.

After the conference, I sent him my manuscript, and I think his exact response was, “It’s good. But it’s not great.” I took that as a rejection, but Steve encouraged me to set the manuscript aside, work on something new, and send him what I wrote next.

That something new ended up being The Clockwork Three. Steve read it and offered representation, about a year-and-a-half from the time we first met. Following a round of revisions, he sent the book out on submission, and Scholastic made an offer less than a week after receiving it.

The thing you need to remember, and the great thing about Steve, is that during that intervening year-and-a-half in which he wasn’t my agent, he nevertheless encouraged and nurtured me as a writer. His generosity with his time and expertise was one of the things that helped me decide to sign with him.

I considered other factors when making that decision, things I think every writer should ask when looking for an agent. Do they communicate with you in the way you need? Do you get along with each other? (Because the agent-writer relationship is ideally long-term.) Are they an “editorial agent,” and is that something you’re looking for? Do you agree on where you see your career going?

Steve wasn’t the only agent I considered. But he and I lined up on the answers to each of these questions, and most importantly, he is passionate about my work. I’ve always thought that your agent should be as big a fan of your book as your mom.

Cynsational Notes

Matthew's photo by Azure Midzinski (2008).

New Voice: Jacqueline West on The Books of Elsewhere, Volume One: The Shadows

Jacqueline West is the first-time author of The Books of Elsewhere, Volume One: The Shadows (Dial, 2010). From the promotional copy:

Old Ms. McMartin is definitely dead. Now her crumbling Victorian mansion lies vacant.

When eleven-year-old Olive and her dippy mathematician parents move in, she knows there's something odd about the place--not least the walls covered in strange antique paintings.

But when Olive finds a pair of old spectacles in a dusty drawer, she discovers the most peculiar thing yet: She can travel inside these paintings to a world that's strangely quiet . . . and eerily like her own, yet Elsewhere harbors dark secrets--and Morton, an undersized boy with an outsize temper.

As she and Morton form an uneasy alliance, Olive finds herself ensnared in a plan darker and more dangerous than she could have imagined, confronting a power that wants to be rid of her by any means necessary. It's up to Olive to save the house from the dark shadows, before the lights go out for good.

What were you like as a young reader, and how did that influence the book that you're debuting this year?

I was lucky: I grew up in a house full of books, which made it seem like it was full of other things—things like hobbits and magical stuffed animals and big friendly giants and vampire rabbits. My mother was an English teacher, and my brothers and I learned to read when we were very young, thanks to her—and to the set of colorful alphabet magnets that hung on the refrigerator door. (To this day, each letter of the alphabet has a specific color in my mind.)

But even before I could read to myself, I was read to by my parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and babysitters. I would beg my parents for stories about when they were little or about when Grandma and Grandpa were little.

My mother would even make up stories for us, usually involving me and my brothers. (I remember a saga involving an imaginary mean girl who moved onto our street and the continuing drama of a leprechaun who fell into my littlest brother’s diaper pail.) By the time I was three years old, I was a story junkie.

The corners of my favorite childhood books are worn soft from so much touching. Some of their pages are rumpled and stiff from falling in the bathtub; others have been smudged with dog drool or splattered with the pink milk from bowls of Lucky Charms.

There are certain books that I loved so much, I would get to the last page, flip to the front, and begin them again immediately. The worlds I found inside of these books were just as real to me, if not more real, than the one that existed around me.

My favorite childhood books and authors—especially those that I read again and again—practically became part of my genetic makeup.

For better or for worse, those books were the foundation for my own formation as a writer. The writers that I think had the deepest impact on me were those I began reading when I was very little; writers like A.A. Milne, Roald Dahl, and Lewis Carroll. I loved books that frightened me and books that made me laugh, and I especially loved books that did both.

A few years after learning to read to myself, I started reading aloud to my younger brothers. We’d pile onto the couch or into the backseat of the car with the latest Calvin and Hobbes collection by Bill Watterson (Andrews and McMeel, 1987-) or an installment of the Bunnicula series by James Howe (Avon, 1979 – 1987).

When I started writing The Books of Elsewhere, my intention was to write something my brothers and I would have liked when we were kids—something we would have read aloud to each other and laughed about and been a bit delightfully scared by. Writing these books has been like revisiting some of the best parts of my childhood.

As a fantasy writer, how did you go about building your world?

My favorite fantasy works are set in the real world. I love it when unlikely things happen in places that could actually exist; it makes the ordinary, everyday world seem full of potential magic. The Hundred Acre Wood could be any little forest. Roald Dahl’s witches convene in an ordinary hotel. Calvin and Hobbes live in a very normal house in a very normal town, but their daily lives are crammed with adventure.

The setting of The Books of Elsewhere is sort of a world within a world. The outer world is an old stone house, which could exist almost anywhere in reality—and I hope that there’s at least one creepy old house that scares away trick-or-treaters and inspires morbid rumors in everyone’s hometown.

I intentionally avoided naming the town or state where the house is located, because I wanted this outer layer of the setting to feel universal. I even tried not to give away too many climate-related clues, but this is tricky to maintain, especially now that I’m writing the third volume…

In any case, this outer setting is based on memory and observation, combining a decrepit Victorian mansion in the town where I grew up with parts of my grandparents’ old house, like their cluttered attic and terrifying basement.

That setting—the old stone house—is where the whole story began. I had that house waiting in the back of my mind, and I knew I wanted to fill it with an eccentric, out-of-place, scientifically minded sort of family, who turned out to be the Dunwoodys. From there, I got to build the house in my imagination, deciding what each room and hallway and dark corner looked like.

While this outer world is concrete and limited, the inner world that exists entirely inside of the old stone house is flexible and almost infinite. The inner world, of course, is Elsewhere: the alternate reality inside of the paintings that hang on the house’s walls.

Like a lot of kids, I used to imagine that objects had a secret life—that stuffed animals sat up and started talking as soon as we left the room or that all the food in the fridge played hide-and-seek once the door was shut and the light clicked off.

I also liked to imagine that the people inside of paintings could move and speak and go on about their days when no one was watching. I think that’s where the idea of Elsewhere came from.

Constructing Elsewhere and figuring out how the paintings worked was more complicated than building the outer world. The paintings are magical, so they don’t behave according to the laws of the real world, but they have their own logic and this logic needs to be consistent.

As the plot developed, it forced me to make decisions about how it feels to climb into a painting, what paintings can do or can’t do, how things from the real world can impact the painted world, and so on.

While Olive discovered the paintings, I got to discover them, too, one by one, and to decide what sort of inner world their painter would have created.

Cynsational Notes

From Indiebound: "A two-time Pushcart nominee for poetry, Jacqueline West lives in Chilton, Wisconsin. This is her first novel."

Spooky News & The Wish Stealers Giveaway

Enter to win a copy of The Wish Stealers by Tracy Trivas (Aladdin, 2010)! From the promotional copy:

Griffin Penshine is always making wishes. But when a sinister old woman tricks her into accepting a box of eleven shiny Indian Head pennies from 1897, Griffin soon learns these are no ordinary pennies, but stolen wishes.

This box of labeled pennies comes with a horrible curse: People in possession of the stolen coins are Wish Stealers, who will never have their wishes granted.... In fact, the opposite of what they've wished for will happen. Griffin must find a way to return these stolen wishes and undo the curse if her own wishes are to come true.

But how can Griffin return wishes to strangers who might not even be alive? Her journey leads her to ancient alchemists, Macbeth's witches, and a chance to help people in ways she never imagined, but the temptation of the Wish Stealers' dark and compelling power is growing stronger. Can Griffin reverse the curse in time to save herself and the people she loves?

Tracy Trivas's rich and imaginative début novel introduces a talent as bright and sparkling as Griffin's pennies.

To enter, email me (scroll and click envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address and type "The Wish Stealers" in the subject line (Facebook, JacketFlap, MySpace, and Twitter readers are welcome to just privately message or comment me with the name in the header/post; I'll write you for contact information, if you win). Deadline: October 31. Sponsored by Simon & Schuster; U.S. entries only.

More News

Congratulations to Julie Gardner Berry and Sally Gardner on the launch of their Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys series (Grosset & Dunlap, 2010)! Number 1 The Rat Brain Fiasco and #2 Curse of the Bizaro Beetle are now available.

Cynsational Blogger Tip: Ask first before blogging about a private and/or for-a-fee speech, workshop or other related event, online or off. Speakers set their rates with the understanding that they may give the talk again. Err on the side of courtesy and respecting other writers' ownership of their work.

Censorship and the Right to Read from Children's-YA Literature Resources. Note: this is a page on my main author site dedicated to free speech. What youth literature resources should I add? Write me, message me, or leave a comment at Cynsations at LiveJournal or MySpace.

Writers Need Cheerleaders by Laini Taylor from Grow Wings. Peek: "Writers need cheerleaders. Before feedback. Before editing. Before almost anything else but snack-making, we need to be convinced and reminded that we are good. Feedback of the critical sort, however constructive and wise, can be deadly if it comes too soon."

Speak Loudly: "...a group of teachers, librarians, bloggers, and authors who have come together to speak out against the censorship of media materials for teens. We’re a community of people raising their voices together." See also the Speak Loudly blog.

Leah Hultenschmidt is the new senior acquisitions editor for the Fire (YA) imprint at Sourcebooks. Source: Joy Preble from Joy's Novel Idea. Note: Find out what Leah's looking for in terms of YA novels.

Cover Stories: The Mermaid's Mirror by L.K. Madigan from Melissa Walker. Peek: "I loved the girl's hair, and the water droplets effect, but the blue graphic didn't really convey anything about the story. Only the word 'mermaid' in the title hinted that it might be a fantasy."

Saundra Mitchell on Banned Books from Mundie Moms. Peek: "Reading books that reflected my neighborhood took away my shame, and replaced it with possibility. Other people had seen terrible things, and lived in terrible places, but they got to leave. They learned to fly planes and write books and build buildings and every remarkable, possible thing. I wasn't limited by the place I lived. I was limited only by myself."

On Being a Young Author or Does Age Matter? by Kate Coursey, age 17, from Suzette Saxton at QueryTracker Peek: "There are advantages and disadvantages to being a young author, but in the end, it comes down to the writing, the characters, and whether or not you have the dedication to see a novel through to the finish."

The Drive-By Signing by April Henry. Peek: "...if you're smart and have the energy, you'll have found out whether the escort planned to give the stores a heads-up about your visit."

God Is in the Details by Patrick from QueryTracker.net. Peek: "Given just the right emphasis, a detail enters the reader's mind, delineates the boundaries of the characters' world, and then fades. The reader picks up the tension but never traces it to the puddle of condensation growing around the water pitcher or to the flickering fluorescent light behind the counter."

McMakin Literary Agency: a new agency, founded by Jordan McMakin, representing young adult and middle grade fiction. Peek: "Before opening McMakin Lit, Jordan worked in editorial at Penguin Group (USA) and Disney*Hyperion Books in New York City." Source: Austin SCBWI.

The Evolution of the Literary Agent by Jane Friedman from Writer's Digest. Peek: "Can publishers’ royalties and sales continue to support the agency business model? Is it allowable for an agent to find other ways to make money from clients, aside from selling books to publishers?" Note: not focused on children's-YA book agents, but some global considerations/trends still apply.

Magazine Markets for Children's Writers 2011 and Book Markets for Children's Writers 2011 (Institute of Children's Literature, 2010) are now available. From the promotional copy: "The 650+ magazines listed in Magazine Markets...published nearly 35,000 articles and stories last year alone. Of those submissions, nearly 7,500 were by previously unpublished authors and almost 11,000 were by writers new to that magazine. Book Markets...lists over 590 publishers that combined to produce more than 28,000 titles. Of those titles, nearly 2,400 were by previously unpublished authors, and more than 2,800 were by writers new to the publishing house."

Secrets of Facebook by Darcy Pattison from PR Notes. Peek: "Unfortunately, Facebook is not forgiving. You make an ill-advised decision early–when you know so little about how it works–and you’re stuck. I’m keeping my two separate accounts; but I wish I’d know about the Lists so it was easier." See also Darcy on Villains Don't Always Wear Black.

Spell Check Will Fail You Every Time: Fun with Homophones from Tracy Marchini. Peek: "Before you send off that query letter or manuscript, I am sure that you are spell checking. However, there are still those dastardly words that will technically be spelled correctly, but the usage will be incorrect." Peek: "Tracy...is a freelance writer and professional manuscript critiquer. Before launching her own editorial service, she worked for Curtis Brown, Ltd. for four years."

NY-NJ-CT Bound

Attention New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut-based Teachers, Librarians, Booksellers and University Professors of YA Literature or Writing! I'm going to be spending some time in your area in early-to-mid February in conjunction with the launch of Blessed (PDF). If you'd like me to visit your school, library or school, write me at cynthia at cynthialeitichsmith dot com, and I'll refer you to the appropriate contact at Candlewick Press. Thanks!

More Personally

Tantalize - Cynthia Leitich Smith by Steven R. McEvoy from Book Reviews and More. Peek: "The story was great, with amazing twists in the plot. The surprises kept coming." See also Steven's review of Eternal.

Interview with Ming Doyle: A Miasma of Paint, Pencil and Ink by Rondal Scott III from Fuel Your Illustration. Ming is the illustrator of the upcoming Tantalize: Kieren's Story, a graphic novel (Candlewick, Aug. 2011). Peek: "Kieren, the main character, may be a teenage werewolf, but he’s somewhat reluctant to face his hairy destiny and he’s wary of the dangers associated with the paranormal. He’s almost a detective before anything else..."

Spooky Events

"Beyond Feathers and Fangs: Crossing Borders in Realistic and Fantasy Fiction, with Cynthia Leitich Smith" at The 33rd Annual Mary Calletto Rife Youth Literature Seminar - Kalamazoo Public Library. The seminar costs $40 (lower student rates are available) and is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m Nov. 5. Note: Maria Perez-Stable and Beth Amidon will also present a book talk, and additional speakers are Gillian Engberg, Booklist editor, and Debbie Reese, UIUC professor. See more on the speakers.

Guest Post: Jenny Moss on Maps, Tables and Timelines

By Jenny Moss

I love data. I also recognize I have OCD tendencies. Hence, my writing process involves the creation of multiple tables and timelines, and the occasional map.

Once I finish a solid draft of a book, the details can quickly overwhelm me, making me toss and turn at night and look slightly unhinged during the day.

Hallie and Whit Burnett, wife-and-husband co-editors of Story magazine, believed that some of a novelist’s success depends on his or her ability to “keep moving toward some ultimate goal in the distance on several wires, while juggling characters and plot and values at the same time, never losing sight of guidemarks or falling off.” Writing a novel can make for a crazy circus in the OCD mind.

One thing that nags at me is the possibility of inconsistency. That’s when I gleefully (and in full dork power) pull out my Microsoft Office software.

For my YA fantasy Shadow (Scholastic, 2010), in my writer’s folder on my laptop, I have many documents in addition to the drafts of the book - more files than I’ve had with any other novel. Part of the reason for this was because I was creating my own fantasy world set in a fictional kingdom I call Deor; I had a lot of details to keep straight, a lot of wires to walk.

One of my simplest and easiest-to-create files is a cheat sheet, just like the ones some professors would allow for tests in college. My objective was to put the global framework of the book on one piece of paper, so I could reference it when I needed to, getting information at a glance. (Also, for a time in the future when someone like Charlie Rose might call me and ask details about my book, I’d have a cheat sheet to refer to when I forgot the plot.)

The subtitles for my cheat sheet: "plot," "setting," "internal goal of Shadow" – who is the title character, "mythology," and "names and meaning." A cheat sheet can help the can’t-see-the-forest writer refocus on the key elements of the book and remain true to those.

On the other end of the spectrum, the file that is the largest and took the most time to create is a character chart: a table listing physical characteristics, emotional concerns, and goals of the characters. It’s only two columns: "character" (which includes "the weather" and "terrain") and "description."

To build the table, I copied and pasted references to each character from the text of the book into the "description" column of the chart, also listing the page number on which the reference was found. A row was devoted to each character.

When I finished the table, I read through the descriptions of each character, checking for consistency. Although by that time, just in the making of the table, I had already discovered most of the issues. The character chart I made for Shadow is 25 pages long.

Another worry is character relationships: Is there consistency in how the characters treat, converse with, and react to one another? Using Excel, I made a Relationship chart. The first column lists the chapters. The column headings consist of the different relationships: how does Shadow relate/see/think about Kenway, Kenway to Shadow, Fyren to Shadow, Shadow to the queen, etc.

I looked at each scene from each character’s point of view and filled in my spreadsheet. What I’d discovered – to my surprise – was that I had been fairly consistent in the way the characters reacted to one another. But there were some inconsistencies I tweaked as a result of the chart.

If you don’t feel you’re overwhelmed enough by the details of your novel, you can always throw in a road trip. If you do, a journey table can help keep things straight.

In Shadow, because the mode of travel involves walking and riding horseback in different conditions (e.g., flat dirt path, wagon-rutted road, swampy area), the travel times vary. So I took out the map of my fictional kingdom of Deor so I could add detail to it. Using graph paper and a ruler (which is a little like wearing suspenders and a belt), I made a to-scale map, placing all the towns, the type of terrain – hilly, flat, mountainous, forested, swampy – and rivers and streams.

Next, I researched travel times. How long would it take someone to ride sixty miles on horseback on a narrow trail? What if there were two people – who were not getting along very well – on one horse?

Finally, I could make my table. The first column listed all the legs of the journey, from the castle to a particular spot (which I won’t state here so as not to give anything away), from that particular spot to another – also secret – particular spot. The top row had headings for travel conditions (i.e., terrain, type of travel, and moon phase), speed of travel (gathered from research), and distance from place to place, then the resulting time, and the specific day and time of day. Unfortunately, I did this after I’d written my solid draft, which meant a lot of changes.

Timelines are also helpful for the OCD writer. I developed one for the plot of Shadow, so that I wouldn’t mix up what happened to whom and when. But I also needed a timeline listing events, referred to by the characters, but not seen by the reader. Some of these took place during the timeline of the story, but “off-stage.” Some occurred before chapter one began: the story before the story.

Other files can be created to be used for quick reference during the revision (or drafting) process, e.g., a chapter summaries chart, with one-paragraph summaries and the characters introduced in the chapters.

If you’re a fantasy writer, you might consider writing short Word files with descriptions of random things about your world. For example, for Shadow, I created files with details about my fictional kingdom, e.g., "geological and environmental Notes on Deor," "a short political history of Deor."

For an OCD writer, particularly a fantasy writer, creating your own world can be nerve-wracking. But maps, tables, and timelines can keep you from falling off in the high wire balancing act of novel writing.

Despite all this work, though, when asked questions about the book, I still forget details. But I do sleep better. And I’m ready if Charlie Rose calls and wants to know why it took Shadow so long to escape to that secret spot and what she really felt about Kenway during that particular scene. Here, let me get out my chart....

Cynsational Notes

From the promotional copy: "Shadow, an orphan girl, is given the duty to watch the queen's every move. When the castle is thrown into chaos after the queen is poisoned, Shadow escapes with a young knight, whom she believes was betrothed to the queen. As mystery builds, and romantic tension does, too, Shadow begins to wonder what her role in the kingdom truly is."

New Voice: Matt Myklusch on Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation

Matt Myklusch is the first-time author of Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation (Aladdin, 2010). From the promotional copy:

All Jack Blank knows is his bleak, dreary life at St. Barnaby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost, an orphanage that sinks further into the swampland of New Jersey with each passing year. His aptitude tests predict that he will spend a long, unhappy career as a toilet brush cleaner.

His only chance at escape comes through the comic books donated years ago to the orphanage that he secretly reads in the dark corners of the library.

Everything changes one icy gray morning when Jack receives two visitors that alter his life forever. The first is a deadly robot straight out of one of his comic books that tries its best to blow him up. The second is an emissary from a secret country called the Imagine Nation, an astonishing place where all the fantastic and unbelievable things in our world originate--including Jack.

Jack soon discovers that he has an amazing ability--one that could make him the savior of the Imagine Nation and the world beyond, or the biggest threat they've ever faced.

Are you a plotter or a plunger? Do you outline first, write to explore, or engage some combination of the two? Then where do you go from there? What about this approach appeals to you? What advice do you have for beginning writers struggling with plot?

I am a plotter and a planner. That’s how my brain works with everything, so why should writing be any different?

For me, writing without an outline is like trying to drive cross-country armed with only a map of Delaware, Utah, and California. Certainly, it can be done, and there are plenty of writers who don’t need a map at all. They can make it from NYC to LA just by going west, but not me. I need to plan out the route so I know where I'm going. Even then, I like to have GPS so I don’t get lost.

Having said that, it's important to note that the route is not carved in stone. I might still wander off and visit random tourist attractions along the way, but only if they are really cool, like the World’s Largest Rubber Band Ball or something (located somewhere near Topeka, I believe). [Actually, it's in Lauderhill, Florida.]

I start off with a basic idea of what I want to do. I don't know where the initial spark comes from, but I usually know the broad strokes of my story... the feel of it, the three acts, the turning points, and maybe a few big moments I am trying to create and make readers care about.

Then, I write a stream-of-consciousness mess of an outline the includes everything from basic scene overviews to specific lines of dialogue to notes to myself. It starts out as something that only I can understand, but over time, I break that down into chapters and clean it up.

Eventually, I have a map to my story, but that's all it is. A road map. A guide. It's not a story yet. It's not even interesting yet. The characters are what make it interesting.

This is where a lot of new writers trip up when struggling with plot. They focus too much on plot. I used to do this all the time. I used to write stories where the characters weren’t people, they were just tools I used for advancing plot points. As readers, you and I are never going to care about tools. We want characters that fascinate us, infuriate us, make us laugh, and more.

If you don’t know what comes next in your story, sometimes you have to get to know your characters a little better. What do they want? What are they afraid of? What have they been through in life that makes them who they are?

All of this information might not even make it into your actual story, but if you know these things about your characters, then you’ll know what they would do in any given situation. You’ll know what each individual character would say and how they would say it.

I’m a plotter and a planner, but that’s just how I like to work. When I’m writing that first stream-of-consciousness outline, the question of “what comes next?” is usually answered by the characters. That’s because I know how they would react to what is going on in the story. And, this might sound weird, but even though you’re the one creating the characters, sometimes what they do can surprise you.

Any road trip you might take is only as good as the people you're going with. As a writer, you are taking your readers on a journey, but they aren’t riding with you, they are riding with your characters. At some point, you have to sit back and let your characters drive.

As a fantasy writer, how did you go about building your world?

With Jack Blank, I wanted to showcase the comic book world that fired my imagination as a kid, and introduce it to an audience that hasn’t seen it before.

I thought about how in the movies, it’s always just one superhero versus one villain, and the hero is usually the only superhero in the world.

It’s not like that in the comic books. In the comics, Iron-Man, Thor, Spider-Man, the X-Men… they’re all running around the same city fighting an endless supply of bad guys. It’s normal for people there to see heroes fighting villains in the middle of the street on a random Tuesday. That fully developed superhero world really doesn’t exist outside of comic books.

In this novel, I wanted to create my own superhero world. I wanted to show people who might otherwise never pick up a comic book how much fun that world could be, but I couldn’t really wrap my head around it until I drew it.

I am a very visual person, and drawing is another big part of my process. I like to really be able to see my characters and the places they inhabit. That might not have been the case if I wrote for another genre, but with superhero/fantasy-based stories, it’s ideal. Drawing really helps me get into the world of my characters, and I absolutely need to get into their world if I’m going to have any hope of leading a reader through it.

My thinking is, I have to know that place inside and out. There can’t be any ambiguity on my part, or the reader won’t know where I’m taking them. (If I can’t see it, they won’t see it).

Luckily, growing up, I spent a lot of time drawing and creating my own comic book characters. Over the years, I accumulated enough of them to fill a whole world and then some. That world became the Imagine Nation, but the question still remained, what would this world look like?

The comic book world has everything— magic, sci-fi, superheroes, kung fu, fantasy, and more. What aspects of the comic universe was I going to include? It wasn’t until I drew the city where all the heroes, villains, ninjas, aliens, and robots lived that I finally got a handle on the Imagine Nation. I started thinking about a city with different boroughs, each one dedicated to a different corner of the comic book world. That’s when things really started to click.

I think at some point every kid wants to grow up to be a superhero. That’s why I decided the best way to introduce the Imagine Nation to readers was through the eyes of a child. That led me to Jack Blank, a young orphan with a mysterious past, and a future that could see him become anything from hero to villain to lowly toilet-brush cleaner. When the time came to actually write it all, I just had one rule and that was to have fun doing it.

Spooky Notes

Matt Myklusch spends his days working for mtvU, MTV's twenty-four hour college network. A lifelong love for comic books inspired him to spend his nights and weekends writing Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, son, and trusty dog, Indy.

Matt discusses Imagine Nation from Simon & Schuster:



Matt offers advice to inspiring writers from Simon & Schuster:

Top Hotels in Austin, Texas

Austin is such a now, wow, happening place in the book world! I find that fellow authors and industry pros are always coming to town, and many of them ask where to stay.

Here's are my personal recommendations:

The Driskill Hotel (downtown; if you're looking for quiet, avoid rooms overlooking 6th Street);

Intercontinental: Stephen F. Austin (downtown);

Four Seasons Hotel: Austin (near warehouse district/lake front);

The Hotel Saint Cecilia (near south);

Mansion at Judge's Hill (beyond downtown but still north central);

Hotel San Jose (near south; if you're looking for quiet, avoid during weekends; but great for diving into the entertainment scene);

Austin Motel (ditto above).

Otherwise, the typical chains apply with the caveat that the Radisson on the lake has an excellent view of the bats (ask for a lake view and/or plan to eat at TGIFridays downstairs during bat season).

Spooky Notes

Learn about BookPeople, BookWoman, the Texas Book Festival on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, the Austin SCBWI Regional Conference on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19, the Annual Conference of the Texas Library Association on April 12 to April 15, 2011, and the Writers' League of Texas Agents Conference on June 10 to June 12.

Guest Post: Cinda Williams Chima on Violence in Teen Books

By Cinda Williams Chima

"What’s all this about violins on television?"

—Gilda Radner as Emily Litella, "Saturday Night Live."

A few years ago, one of my colleagues at the university loaned my first novel, The Warrior Heir (Hyperion, 2006), to her mother to read.

“Oh, my,” Sue’s eighty-something mother said. “So bloody. And you seemed like such a nice girl.”

“But I am a nice girl,” I protested. I am. I’m carry-the-spider-outside nice. For a while, I was running a rabbit relocation program from my backyard, in a nonviolent attempt to keep them from savaging my lilies. I’ve given IV fluids to a guinea pig. Horror movies scare me, and I still won’t set foot in a haunted house.

That’s when I realized—each of my Heir novels begins with a prologue. And each of the prologues involves some kind of violent event--a murder, accident, or attack.

In my Seven Realms series (Hyperion, 2009-), Raisa ana’Marianna, the heir to the troubled Gray Wolf Throne, is the target of several assassination attempts. Another of the viewpoint characters, Han Alister, is accused of a series of grisly murders. When he gets in the way of a powerful wizard dynasty, they strike back ruthlessly. I don’t dwell on graphic, onstage violence, but it’s definitely there.

Hmm. Raise your hands, and step away from the keyboard.

The issue of violence in YA lit came to the fore recently with the publication of the wildly-popular Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic, 2008-2010). In a near-future dystopian world, a dictatorship maintains its grip on power by forcing children to fight to the death in televised tournaments.

In a post on Shelf Awareness, bookseller Sheryl Cotleur raised questions about the violent content of the series. Cotleur’s point was that we often focus on keeping sexual content away from young readers—should we be worried about violence as well?

The thing is, violence cannot be avoided in a story about war. Anything else is condescending. We owe it to readers to tell them the truth about that, or why should they believe anything we say? War is sometimes necessary. It is a stage on which myriad compelling stories are acted. But it is always horrible, especially for those who suffer collateral damage.

Authors who want to sidestep violence should tell a different kind of story.

I guess I’m more worried about violence without reflection—about media content that implies that those who die can be resurrected for the next episode or game. And that the good guy never ends up dead, maimed or disabled. And that we can inflict death from a distance and never pay a price for it.

Some readers aren’t prepared for a realistic depiction of war. In the Heir Trilogy (Hyperion, 2006-2008; box set 2009), wizards dominate the other magical guilds, forcing magical warriors to fight to the death in a series of tournaments known as the Game. When one of my main characters dies in battle, I was deluged with emails from unhappy readers.

Depending on how it’s handled, violence in media can either encourage or discourage violence in real life.

Are intense scenes in screen media like movies and video games more disturbing than those in books?

I guess I’m torn. In movies, viewers are passive recipients of the director’s vision, while readers are partners with writers in creating story. Because readers are more deeply embedded in the world they’ve helped create, they might be more affected by violence on the page.

On the other hand, whether the issue is sex or violence, readers self-edit to a degree, based on their experience, imagination, and personal tolerance. So it makes sense for authors to use a light hand when it comes to graphic onstage violence in books for teens.

Finally, parents, librarians, booksellers, and teachers should consider what kinds of stories will suit individual YA readers and recommend accordingly.

Cynsational Notes

The Demon King (Hyperion, 2009, 2010) is now available in paperback, and The Exiled Queen (Hyperion) releases Sept. 28.

Excerpts from each of Cinda's books are available on her website. Help for writers can be found under Tips for Writers, including a document called, “Getting Started in Writing for Teens” (PDF).

At her blog, you’ll find rants, posts on the craft of writing, and news about Cinda and her books.

In the video below, Ed Spicer interviews Cinda at the Rochester Teen Lit Festival.

Spooky News & Giveaways

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Razorbill, Jan. 11, 2011) ARC Giveaway from P.J. Hoover at Roots in Myth. From the promotional copy:

A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone-one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship-tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Contest deadline: Oct. 1. See details.

More News

What's in a Fictional Name? by Brian Meehl from Crowe's Nest. Peek: "Intriguing names should definitely be tucked somewhere in a writer’s pigeon holes. The last name I added to my list was from a New York Times article about one of the first holdouts in the NFL: Pudge Heffelfinger."

Author Website Tip: make sure it's easy to find the publisher name, illustrator name, and publication date information for each of your books. It's also gracious to include related links.

Three Tips for Character Relationships by Darcy Pattison from Fiction Notes. Peek: "Do you know someone who aggravates you, even while you enjoy their company?" Read a Cynsations guest post on creating book trailers by Darcy.

An Inside Look at Leap Books by Bonnie Doerr from the Class of 2k10. Peek: "We opened during the economic downturn because we believe in the authors we’ve contracted. Some of the most vibrant publishing houses today began during the depression, and, as they discovered, there’s only one way to go and that’s up."

For Those We Lose Along the Way by R.L. LaFevers from Shrinking Violets. Peek: "I know of three authors who simply gave up after their first book, completely disillusioned and demoralized by the publishing process and the lack of support they got from their publisher, the lukewarm sales and reviews their book received." Highly recommended.

Finalists for the 2010 New Mexico Book Awards from New Mexico Book Co-op. See finalists in the picture book, activity book, young readers book, juvenile book, and YA categories. Note: especially recommended to those with a love of southwestern settings. Scroll to read an interview with finalist Kimberley Griffiths Little about The Healing Spell (Scholastic, 2010) from the Mother-Daughter Book Club.

Resubmitting a Revision by Mary Kole from Kid Lit. Peek: "So if I don’t ask you for a revision outright, what can you do? Emailing me immediately to ask if I’d be interested in seeing a revision down the line is probably not your best bet." See also Mary on Specificity of Setting.

New Agent Alert: Logan Garrison of The Gernert Company by Chuck from Guide to Literary Agents. Note: Logan is seeking children's-YA fiction.

Not Recommended for Younger Readers? by Kate Milford from The Enchanted Inkpot. Peek: "Obviously there’s an ongoing argument between writers, young readers, and their parents about what they can handle. Or maybe the disagreement isn’t so much about what they can handle, but what they should even be thinking about. Or maybe it’s both. It’s probably both. So let’s chat."

Video Interview with Kate DiCamillo from the Minnesota Legacy Fund. Peek: "Newbery award-winning children’s author Kate DiCamillo shares her thoughts on writing, dogs, fan letters, and embarrassing first drafts." Read a Cynsations interview with Kate.

Theft is Not a Higher Form of Flattery by David Macinnis Gill from Thunderchikin. Peek: "The book is being downloaded faster than Rotarians have pop down a stack of pancakes. The difference is, the Rotarians paid for the pancakes." Read a Cynsations interview with David.

Writing on a Unicycle: Making Time for What You Love in a Life out of Balance by Deborah Brodie. Peek: "Unless writing is your day job, these tips are for you. And if you have other ideas, and the time to write them down, please send them to me so I can share them with others."

Kidlitosphere Blogger Tip: Looking to build your readership? Register your blog at JacketFlap, "a comprehensive resource for information on the children's book industry. Thousands of published authors, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers visit JacketFlap every day."

Do Political Beliefs Impact Representation? by Jessica from BookEnds, LLC. Peek: "Wouldn’t it be nice if I could say, 'No, absolutely not,' but let’s be honest."

Vision Is Ahead of Execution by Lindsey Lane from This and That. Peek: "You see, I have never written a novel before. A whole 24,000 plus word novel. I am fretting because I’ve never done it before. And because I’ve never done it before, I am thinking I will fail because I have never done it before."

Suzanne Collins Completes the Hunger Games from the Associated Press. Peek: "Inspiration, like a sudden phone call, began at home. A few years ago, Collins was surfing channels late at night and found herself switching between a reality program and news reports about the Iraq war. The images blurred in her mind. She wondered whether other viewers could tell them apart."

To Multi-book or Not to Multi-book by Jennifer Laughran from Jennifer Represents. Note: a discussion of pros and cons. See also Jennifer on option clauses in book contracts. Source: Elizabeth Scott. Read a Cynsations interview with Jennifer.

Series Books: a new curriculum resource center from Teaching Books. Note: focusing on series published for elementary-aged students. Note: featured books include The Birchbark House trilogy by Louise Erdrich (Hyperion-HarperCollins, 1999-2008)(author audio, related resources).

In Defense of Dead/Absent Parents in Children's Literature by Nathan Bransford - Literary Agent. Peek: "I am a former twelve-year-old, and I can remember how thrilling it was to read books where the kids were off on their own, fighting and outsmarting adults, dealing with harsh landscapes, facing their deepest fears, making unforgettable friendships, and, while I didn't know it at the time, learning how to be adults." Note: for the counterpoint, see Leila Sales on Ol' Dead Dad Syndrome from Publishers Weekly. Read a Cynsations interview with Nathan.

Slattery to Become Agent with Pippin from Publishers Weekly. Former Knopf editor Joan Slattery joins Pippin as literary agent and contracts manager.

Spooky Screening Room

Check out the book trailer for The Haunted by Jessica Verday (Simon & Schuster, 2010). Read an interview with Jessica from Mundie Moms.



More Personally

For those who missed it, I unveiled the cover art for Blessed (Candlewick, Jan. 25, 2011) this week. The novel crosses over the casts of Tantalize and Eternal and picks up where Tantalize leaves off. For news release with flap copy, a new author Q&A, and more information on the series, check out the official media kit (PDF).


This shelf shot of Eternal (Candlewick, 2009, 2010) was taken at the Houston airport and comes from Kathi Appelt.


Giveaway Winners

The winners of The Dark Deeps: The Hunchback Assignments 2 by Arthur Slade (Wendy Lamb, 2010) are Vivien in Kansas, Janine in Utah, and Nancy in Texas. Read a Cynsations guest post by Arthur on How to Put the "Steam" in Steampunk.


Texas Book Festival

Check out the schedule for Texas Book Festival on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17 in Austin.

Cynthia Leitich Smith will be reading Holler Loudly, illustrated by Barry Gott (Dutton, 2010) from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17, in the Children's Read Me a Story Tent. Her signing will follow immediately afterward at the Children's Signing Tent (13th and Colorado).


Greg Leitich Smith will moderate a panel, "Portals to Imagined Worlds," from 11 a.m. to noon PM Oct. 17 in Capitol Extension, Room E 2.014. Featured panelists include Brian Yansky (Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences (Candlewick, 2010)); Ingrid Law (Scumble (Dial, 2010)); Carolyn Cohagan (The Lost Children (Aladdin, 2010); and Cinda Williams Chima (The Exiled Queen: A Seven Realms Novel (Hyperion, 2010)). Greg will also introduce M.T. Anderson at 3 p.m. Oct. 17, in Capitol Auditorium, Room E1.004.