Learn more about Erin Cashman
By Erin Cashman
Recently, someone commented to me that writing fantasy must be easy, since I can just make up what I need to fit my plot.
I wish! As Lloyd Alexander said,
“Once committed to his imaginary kingdom, the writer is not a monarch but a subject.”
Continue Reading Guest Post: Erin Cashman on The Role of Research in Writing Fantasy »
Deborah Halverson
We work hard to get to know our characters.
Creating bios, interviewing them, giving them personality tests. One discovery tool often overlooked in this great pursuit are the small actions tucked into the narrative beats.
Narrative beats are those little breathers in dialogue, sometimes filled simply with speaking tags like he said,
Melanie at Mabel’s Fables in Toronto.
This month, Maud (Penguin, 2017) is releasing in paperback. And I feel one thing…Gratitude.
In this unstable publishing climate, not all books go to paperback.
It isn’t the natural progression it once was.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Melanie J. Fishbane on What Maud Taught Me »
By Robin Galbraith
for Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s Cynsations
Adrienne Kisner is a Vermont College of Fine Arts alum and a hilarious fellow classmate, so I jumped at the chance to interview her about her funny and heart-wrenching debut YA novel, Dear Rachel Maddow (Feiwel &
Continue Reading New Voice: Adrienne Kisner on Dear Rachel Maddow »
Tim Tingle (right) with his son, Dr. Jacob Tingle,
photo courtesy Oklahoma Center for the Book.
By Traci Sorell
On April 7, 2018, author Tim Tingle received the Arrell Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Named in honor of an author who served as Oklahoma Center for the Book‘s first president,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Tim Tingle, Choctaw Storyteller & Author »
Eric Gansworth signing Give Me Some Truth
at 2018 Texas Library Association conference.
By Traci Sorell
Eric Gansworth is the YA author of Give Me Some Truth (Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic, May 29, 2018). From the promotional copy:
Carson Mastick is entering his senior year of high school and desperate to make his mark,
Continue Reading Author Interview: Eric Gansworth on Give Me Some Truth »
Caroline Leech is the debut author of Wait for Me (HarperTeen, 2017). From the promotional copy:
It’s 1945, and Lorna Anderson’s life on her father’s farm in Scotland consists of endless chores and rationing, knitting Red Cross scarves, and praying for an Allied victory. So when Paul Vogel, Continue Reading New Voice: Caroline Leech on Wait for Me »
Nic Stone is the debut author of Dear Martin (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2017). From the promotional copy:
Raw, captivating, and undeniably real, Nic Stone joins industry giants Jason Reynolds and Walter Dean Myers as she boldly tackles American race relations in this stunning debut.
Liara Tamani is the debut author of Calling My Name (Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2017). From the promotional copy:
This unforgettable novel tells a universal coming-of-age story about Taja Brown, a young African American girl growing up in Houston, Texas, and it deftly and beautifully explores the universal struggles of growing up, Continue Reading New Voice: Liara Tamani on Calling My Name »
Cynsations Note:
Happy Halloween!
Yesterday we heard from Gillian French about techniques for building suspense.
Today Helena Echlin shares her take on giving your readers goosebumps.
And if you looking for even more ways to scare your readers,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Helena Echlin on How to Write (& Rewrite) a Tale of Suspense »
