Live-Blogging From Nashua: Kevin Hawkes' Keynote

The ballroom's filling up, and I'm sitting next to National Book Award finalist Nancy Werlin (new fantasy/romance YA Impossible coming this September). Kevin Hawkes is about to speak, and he'll probably use a lot of slides, so I'll just give you a quote or two to keep you with us.

Before Kevin speaks, Anna Boll gives us a bit about next year's conference, with keynote Cynthia Lord and illustrator Floyd Cooper. It will take place April 24-26, 2009, so mark your calendars. Anna introduces Kevin Hawkes, lauding his ability to make characters come alive.

Our theme this year is stretching our wings, Kevin says, which is risky. Who are the people that gave you your wings? Kevin introduces a few of those important people in his life, like his mother, who taught him to recognize magic, or the absence of it, in art. There were some key risks he took, and they paid off. Moving, for example, to Boston, was a big deal. He visited Little Brown, and an editor asked, "What kind of children's book do you want to illustrate?" He didn't know how to answer, and he began showing his portfolio to publishers, but his work was (as a friend put it) ... "strange-looking."

He changed his portfolio to do something fresh and new, and begins showing some slides of his new paintings from that time. Still he wasn't getting much response from publishers in New York and continued working in a bookstore, illustrating during his lunch hour. He finally got a call from New York based on a sales rep looking over his shoulder in the store. That was another risk: putting your work out there and hoping that somebody liked it. Which they finally did.

Kevin shows more slides of his early illustrations and first picture books ... Another risk for him was moving into non-fiction, which brought into play his love of history and research. Every book required a change in approach as an illustrator because every book was different.

Live-Blogging From Nashua: Leda Schubert on Fantasy

Afternoon workshop. Fantasy and World Building. Leda Schubert. 

I'm sitting in the back trying to keep my blogging low-key, next to writing buddies Wendy Nystrom and Mordena Babich (who knows the correct pronunciation of Rick Riordan), both in my critique group, both authors of excellent stories in the fantasy genre. Leda gets started (I did ask her permission to live-blog, and she graciously gave it, so relax and read on. Here's a disclaimer, though: these are rough notes, they don't include Leda's precise words, and the quotes are incomplete.)

What is the wrong reason to write fantasy? Because it's what's selling. The right reason? It is the best way to tell the story only you can tell. We're born with the need for story.

Leda goes over the classic book, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Study this book! It shows all that's right about fantasy, she says. The heart-stopping moment of fantasy is when you wonder if it's going to be okay. If you scare yourself as you're writing, you're doing your job. Sometimes as you write you don't know where you're going.

Motivations? We want to believe that something exists outside of what we see.

Where to begin? Read, read, read. Take notes. Hard analysis. Develop a list of things to look for. What kind of world has this author created? What are the elements? Are there moments when you're jarred out of the fictive world of fantasy?

After you've read the books, turn to folklore and mythology. Try retellings and re-imaginings. We all have stories we're "doomed to write."

Know story structure. Discover the myth of the hero all around the world.

Fantasy is not escapist literature. It is a journey in instead of out. "Myth may not be real," says Susan Cooper, but it is true. "Fantastic conditions must speak to our real one," said Lloyd Alexander.

Leda recommends The Tough Guide To Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. "It's a hoot," says Leda, making us laugh with a couple of quotes she reads aloud.

She explains Jane Yolen's three types of fantasy: earthbound, evens in our world with possible magical events (Borrowers), faerie (a secondary world like Earthsea), tourist fantasies where an earth traveler passes into another world or time (Narnia).

Leda also pulls from Jane Langton's The Weak Place in the Cloth. In fantasy literature, the cloth is either stretched, punctured, invisible and permeable, or unpunctured, but we're on the other side. The cloth can divide now from then, life from death (ghost stories), or finite present from infinite future (science fiction).

Leda's getting to the fundamentals now, explaining in detail how to create a fantasy world, and ends by saying that the work in this rich genre is still too much in the hands of white men. That's changing, but slowly. We need new voices, especially non-Western ones. We are part of this change.

Live-Blogging From Nashua: Laurie Halse Anderson

Here I am in the ballroom of the Crowne Hotel in Nashua (9 a.m.), waiting to hear NESCBWI's keynote speaker for our annual conference. The place is packed with 500 eager writers and illustrators -- a more diverse crowd than in years past, but still mostly white, middle-aged, and female.

Conference director Francine Puckley is introducing the cadre of hard workers who pull off this huge conference. I'm sitting next to authors Tanya Lee Stone (A Bad Boy Can Be Good For A Girl) and Sarah Aronson (Head Case), who are BFFs, and trying not to miss MY writing buddy, author Karen Day (Tall Tales).

During the intro to Laurie Halse Anderson, we learn that her new YA/MG novel Chains is due out in October.

Laurie starts by showing us her tattoo, and tells us to get one in order to "frustrate the fifteen-year-olds in America." Her tattoo is the first word in Beowulf, which basically means "LISTEN TO MY STORY."

After hundreds of rejections and years, it dawned on her that she needed help, and she did the most significant thing in her writing life: she joined SCBWI. Eventually, she started getting personalized, "quality rejections." Next came phone calls.

"If you're not published yet, you are simply 'pre-published,'" she tells us.

Laurie's talk is about five keys to becoming a writer: time, space, art, craft, and permission. The session is inspiring for wannabes, newbies, and burned-out oldies alike. Applause, and we're done.

My next update will be at 2:40, when I live-blog Leda Schubert's session "World-Building: Bringing Fantasy to Life," followed by Kevin Hawkes' closing keynote address starting at 3:50. Now I'm off to my own session!

While I Was Away...

the new issue of the edge of the forest went live (with a review of my Rickshaw Girl to boot) ...

the Children's Book Council and USBBY announced their list of 39 outstanding international books published in 2006, narrowing the choices from a field of 250 books ...

dozens of kid lit peeps had a blast in the bar nine (bar me and Jen Robinson, who were partying on the other coast in a more sedate venue; pix of my whirlwind California Dreamin' book tour to come with my mother in gorgeous array painting alpanas) ...

hordes of other book folk (and some of the ones hobnobbing at bar nine, of course) attended the SCBWI conference in New York ...

cynsations went down right when Cynthia Leitich Smith's new novel Tantalize (Candlewick) was scheduled for release, and she's blogging at hubby's site (they come in handy, don't they? hubbies and their sites) ...

the literate world continued to wait in breathless anticipation for the announcement of the Cybils awards (TBA TOMORROW!) ...

Making Peace With Massachusetts

As I face the onset of my seventh winter in Massachusetts, I'm sensing that my friends are a wee bit tired of my annual whining spell: "... blah, blah, blah early nightfall, icy streets, can't hike, ergonomically not designed for skiing, blah, blah, blah..."

That's why I've decided to morph myself into a Massachusetts woman for the holidays.

Yes. You heard it here first, fire escape friends. No more indulging in futile longing for the white sands of Zuma beach or day hikes in the Mount Diablo foothills. No more late-night cyber JetBlue visits to ferret out deals on the Boston-Oakland flight. And enough with gazing lustfully at my tropical island screensaver when I should be writing.

The first step in this transformation was predictable. Like every good nerd, I took a quiz and scored a 100% on "How Massachusetts Are You?" That's an A+, people.

Step two .... presenting the top ten reasons I'm thankful to be a Massachusettsian -- er, wait, is it Massachusettser, or Massachusian ...? Aw, fuggedabouded. Here's the kid lit perspective on why it's been GREAT to reside in the Bay State (listed in no particular order):

1. Membership in the Boston Author's Club gives me something in common with two of my favorite children's book writers -- Margaret Sidney and Dorothy Canfield Fisher.
2. The New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators hosts topnotch regional events for beginners and established writers alike.
3. The Foundation of Children's Books celebrates local writers, connects us to educators, and hosts wonderful events, so when you read about those fly NY parties that Fuse No. 8 describes, aim a nugget of your envy a bit further north and east.
4. Charlesbridge is two miles away from my writing nook.
5. I saw OzandEnds walking down the street as I was driving home today.
6. Newtonville Books, an indie that knows exactly how to love on authors, is only three blocks away.
7. My writer's group, founded by Karen Day (Tall Tales, Wendy Lamb Books, 2007), meets every month at the Newton Free Library.
8. The library is four blocks from home and in and of itself enough reason to remain here until death do us part (and I'm talking about me and the library here, not me and the husband.)
   
9. The welcoming house of Monika Jain (editor of Kahani Magazine) is on my daily drive to and from my kids' school, making it convenient to stop by and enjoy a cup of great chai every now and then.
10. The Newton Public Schools included my author presentation in their roster of Creative Arts and Sciences programs, and invites from local schools fill my calendar every fall and spring.

So thanks, Massachusetts. And now for step three in the transformation plan: browsing the LLBean winter catalog ...

NESCBWI Conference Highlights

Chatting with Annie Sibley O'Brien (author/illustrator of The Legend of Hong Kil Dong, a gorgeous graphic novel coming this fall from Charlesbridge) who introduced me to her buddy Jamie Hogan (illustrator of my forthcoming Charlesbridge book Rickshaw Girl) ... listening to Newbery-award winning author Linda Sue Park's motivational keynote about the "3 best gifts for a writer" (an internal editor developed by reading widely and voraciously, the habit of writing every day, and the ability to play when it comes to revision and just "try it") ... attending my friend Karen Day's workshop on revision where she recounted the arduous process she endured before landing a 2-book contract with Wendy Lamb of Random House ... eating lunch with my wonderful writer's group (3 of us presented workshops, Karen, John Bell, and myself) ... receiving the gift-wrapped journal sent as a thank-you from the conference organizers to my hotel room ... listening to editorial director Yolanda LeRoy of Charlesbridge and the multi-talented Grace Lin describe how they worked together on Our Seasons ... surviving and even enjoying my own workshop as people interacted with each other and connected with the content (Jamie Hogan spontaneously sketched me while I talked and told me she'd send me the sketch, so you might see it here) ... and finally, as ever, wishing there was more diversity of skin color, accent, and gender at the conference, but thankful for the progress SCBWI has made in the 15 years I've been a member. Overall, I felt the weekend was a superb showcase of the excellence and professionalism in our region. Thank you, NESCBWI!

NESCBWI Conference: Honing Your Craft

After twelve years of attending Society of Childrens' Book Writer and Illustrator conferences, this is a big moment for me: I am serving on the faculty of the NESCBWI's conference this weekend in Nashua, New Hampshire. My workshop is about jump-starting a writing career by creating a niche, and I'm more nervous about speaking to a dozen or so of my colleagues than I ever feel facing a crowd of 300 middle-schoolers.

I did take a closer look at my own strong desire to defend Kaavya Viswanathan this week. I don't usually leap into controversy out here on the Fire Escape, so why did I risk such a strong opinion? (BTW, I'm glad I did, and probably will do so more often.) My gut response, I think, was spurred by a conviction that I need to invest in and encourage other writers -- especially young ones. I'm glad I'll be getting that opportunity this weekend, and highly recommend SCBWI to those of you who care about putting good books in the hands of young readers.

Lousy First Draft

I wrote Sparrow's story so fast that it's more of a skeleton than a full-bodied novel. I had to send it to my editor before my usual next step -- letting it sit for a month and then revisiting it -- because we're on a tight timeline. (The book has to be released during the upcoming presidential campaign.) Margaret Woollatt of Dutton is applying her keen editorial eye to suggest revisions. Once I get her comments, I'll need courage and energy to make the book sparkle before it goes to press. In the meantime, I plan to attack my overflowing, much-neglected in-box. I also heard today that I'm going to be on the faculty of the New England Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators annual conference in New Hampshire April 29th, 2006. I'm presenting a workshop for writers called "Name Branding: Creating A Lucrative Niche In A Competitive Market." Sounds good, doesn't it? Too bad I have no idea (yet) what I'm going to say. But it will come. I know quite a few writers who have done this successfully, and I plan to pick their brains.