It’s usually helpful at some point to have thoughtful fellow writers* look at your work and offer comments for improvement. Especially if you’re a novelist, think hard about who’s good at what. One critiquer may be a wonderful big-picture person, another a great question-asker, a third good at helping to polish or trim prose. Be careful to have each read at the most helpful point in your process,
Category: General
Pet Words
Writers tend to lean heavily on certain words or expressions. Nothing is wrong with this at the early stages because it helps get the draft down.
But especially if the same words appear again and again in most of the characters’ speech patterns, some tweaking is in order to distinguish the voices and add more variety to the prose.
Houdini: World’s Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Eric Velasquez
“My mind is the key that sets me free.”
— Harry Houdini
Houdini: World’s Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Walker, 2005). Brilliantly crafted picture book biography unveils (some) secrets behind the famous magician. Includes bibliography. Ages 7-up.
In coordination with the publication of the book,
Trust Your Reader
Greg is blogging this week about the importance of trusting your reader as related to potentially challenging vocabularly or references.
He talks about how critical it is to maintaining the authenticity of the point of view and secondary characters.
I’d like to offer another example or two.
Dialogue is too often filled with thinly veiled exposition.
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems On Being Young And Latino In The United States edited by Lori M. Carlson
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young And Latino in the United States edited by Lori M. Carlson, introduction by Oscar Hijuelos (Henry Holt, 2005). From the anthologist who brought us Cool Salsa, this new collection reaches farther and deeper, chronicling the perspective of young Latinos today. Includes helpful glossary and biographical notes.
Ella Enchanted (The Movie)
I saw the film “Ella Enchanted” last night and enjoyed it.
Despite my well documented Cinderella issues, I’d been a huge fan of the Newbery Honor Book and adore author Gail Carson Levine. It reminded me a lot of the Drew Barrymore vehicle “Ever After,”
Author Open House
Yesterday afternoon, Greg and I were featured speakers at an Author Open House at the Howson Branch of Austin Public Library.
The program was in celebration of National Library Week. Other authors on the bill were Elizabeth Fernea, Lewis Gould, James Hornfischer,
Me? A Celebrity?
At TLA, I went to lunch with an author friend who said she thought that autographings were a bad idea, that they sort of reinforced “the cult of celebrity,” and the whole thing should just be about the book.
Greg countered that signings were basically a way for readers to connect one-on-one with authors,
Author Jane Peddicord Debuts Web Site
Jane Peddicord, author of Night Wonders (Charlesbridge, 2005), launches her official Web site.
Jane’s site features not only her debut book, it also makes mention of Special Baby, illustrated by Meilo So, which is currently under contract with Harcourt.
She offers a biography, teacher’s guide, information on author’s visits,
Creativity
Some excerpts of answers from an online interview I did with a college student about creativity:
Some people are predisposed to be creative, but it is their responsibility to turn that inclination into a gift to the larger society.
My favorite (creative work) is always whatever I’m working on now, but other folks bring their own sensibilities to the equation.