I recently submitted the fourth draft of Half-Truths to Rebecca Petruck for her critique. In a future blog I'll clue you in on my marching orders for Draft #5, but today I'm sharing a specific part of her feedback about writing scenes. This is a longer blog than normal, so grab your favorite beverage and… Continue reading Mississippi Trial, 1955: A Book Review and a Writing Exercise
Congratulations to Clara Gillow Clark who won "Diary of a Waitress" off last week's blog. ******* Fans of Between the Lines, a young adult novel that crosses back and forth between fantasy and contemporary fiction, will be happy with the recent release of Off the Page (Delacurte Press, 2015); the companion book which Jodi Picoult wrote in collaboration with… Continue reading Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won Blue Birds from last week's blog. ********* Readers of this blog are no strangers to book reviews by North Carolina author, Alan Gratz. He is well known for historical novels, like Prisoner B-3087 and Samurai Shortstop. But he also writes contemporary books like his newly released, Code of Honor, (Scholastic, August 2015)… Continue reading The League of Seven by Alan Gratz
This is my sixth post from the 2015 Florida SCBWI young adult workshop with Erica Rand Silverman, an agent with Sterling Lord Literistic, and Jacquelyn Mitchard, author and editor-in-chief at Merit Press. Click here for Part I (Why Write Young Adult); Part II (Querying); Part III (Pitches); Part IV (Marketing Yourself and Your Work); and Part V (Building a Lasting Career). Jacqueline Mitchard facilitated this part of the workshop … Continue reading SCBWI Florida Workshop Part VI- Holden and Augustus: What We Mean When We Talk About Voice in YA
This new young adult novel by Atia Abawi, a foreign news correspondent stationed in Afghanistan during the war, has all the elements of Romeo and Juliet: young lovers from families of different social status and backgrounds, parents who disapprove of their relationship, a jealous cousin, deaths of innocent secondary characters, and a clandestine marriage performed by a sympathetic… Continue reading The Secret Sky:A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan and A Giveaway
Writing a book from two points of view (POV) is not easy. Although I'm following Mary Kate Castellani's advice to write Half-Truths from both Kate and Lillie's POV, there have been times I've wondered if I can successfully pull it off. It's challenging to: Write a story with two separate character arcs. Write a story that has its own "big picture" arc interweaving… Continue reading Three Books. Two Points-of-View. One Giveaway. (Make that Four.)
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Congratulations to Jeannie Smith who won Deanna Klingel's book, "Cracks in the Ice." Writers have ongoing debates as to which is better, a character-driven story or one that is plot-driven. Obviously, both well developed characters and engaging plots are vital for a successful novel. As Rebecca Petruck said in a recent post, "Character and plot… Continue reading Character + Plot = Pinned
Congratulations to Donna Earnhardt who won last week's giveaway and will receive Gretchen Griffith's picture book, "When Christmas Feels Like Home." Don't be discouraged if you didn't win. Next week Deanna Klingel will share her winning query letter along with a chance to win "Cracks In the Ice." Today, I want to share my thoughts… Continue reading What I Saw and How I Lied
Two years ago I was pleased to share my friend Linda Phillips' news of signing with an agent. Today, I am even more excited to share her announcement of signing with a publisher! And you know that I'll be the first to offer an ARC or off-the-presses copy of her debut young adult novel when it is… Continue reading You Heard it Here First!