Introducing Limelights…

by | Jan 25, 2013 | Book News

My upcoming novel, Cut the Lights, is the first of three books in the exciting new Limelights series. Conceived by Sarah Harvey, editor at Orca Book Publishers, the series offers compelling novels about the performing arts for ages 11 to 14. Singing, acting, directing, dancing — this series promises to dazzle and entertain teens who love performance.

In Cut the Lights, a director of a student-written Fringe Festival play is at odds with her cast and crew, until the breakdown of her lead actor forces them to work together. The novel captures the intense relationships that form during rehearsals and performances, and how a student director learns to empower her cast and crew both on and off the stage.

The series will also debut with novels by Tom Ryan, who published his first novel in 2012, and Robin Stevenson, author of over 15 books for kids and teens. Check out all three titles in Fall 2013.

Rethinking the Rejection Letter

by | Jan 13, 2013 | On Writing

One of the hardest things about being an emerging writer is receiving the dreaded rejection letter. But why do we call them “rejection letters”? And is that really what they are?

As writers, we obviously have a good grasp of language – in particular, how to choose a certain word or words to serve a specific function in our writing. So I’d like to challenge the term “rejection letter” and even re-name it to be more accurate. I came up with three replacements:

The Not-the-Right-Fit Letter

Too many beginning writers send out a manuscript to publishers or agents without fully researching their current needs, preferences, and even submission guidelines. One of the most common reasons for a refusal to publish or represent is that the manuscript is not a match to their needs. So do yourself a favour, and read the books championed by each publisher or agent you submit to. You will have greater success if you correctly target your manuscript.

The Perfect-Your-Craft Letter

Sometimes, a close reading of a manuscript shows that the writer has more to learn before his or her work is ready for publication. This doesn’t mean that you’re a failure; simply that you’re still learning the craft. Read the writing of authors you admire to discover new techniques, take a course with an experienced and supportive author, and/or start a writing group to exchange feedback on your works-in-progress. Learning more about the craft will get you closer to your goals.

The Manuscript-Sent-Out-Too-Soon Letter

A manuscript that is almost ready is not ready enough. How will a publisher or agent know what you’re capable of writing if you’re not presenting your very best work? Get feedback on your work-in-progress before you send it out, and rewrite until the prose is beyond polished. It will take many drafts to produce a polished manuscript, but it will give you a much better chance of getting the result you want.

***

Okay, so my new terms may not be as catchy as “rejection letter,” but they are more accurate and they’re not as discouraging. They imply that writers who receive one of these letters don’t need to give up, wallow in despair, or throw out a manuscript. But they may need to further research their market, perfect their craft, and/or revise, revise, revise.

The only way forward to publication is to take the next step, continuing to write and re-write with increasing knowledge of the craft and a clear vision of the marketplace.

Interview with CBC Canada Writes

by | Dec 14, 2012 | Mentoring, On Writing

CBC Canada Writes and CANSCAIP – The Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers – have joined forces to celebrate two weeks of “Seusstivus” with Canadian children’s authors. Go to the CBC Canada Writes website for:

There’s also a Q&A with me in my role as CANSCAIP President included here. Happy Seusstivus!

My Version of NaNoWritMo

by | Dec 1, 2012 | On Writing

I’ve always been a little jealous of writers who participate in NaNoWritMo – National Novel Writing Month. Writing a novel in a month! A collective word count of 3,288,976,325 for 2012 alone! But my writing process follows a different path, and NaNoWri Mo hasn’t “fit” with it yet.

Then I heard about the inaugural PiBoIdMo – Picture Book Idea Month. Created by author Tara Lazar, PiBoIdMo is a 30-day challenge for picture book writers. Tara’s idea is “to create 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. You don’t have to write a manuscript (but you can if the mood strikes). You don’t need potential best-seller ideas.”

I’m not a picture book writer, but I liked the idea of creating story concepts, and decided to write a novel concept a day for the month of November. The experience has been enlightening.

Here’s what I learned:

  1. I became more aware of the world around me, and I searched for story concepts wherever I went, whatever I did. I’m always collecting snippets, for example, an outfit of someone I see on the subway might appear on one of my characters in my work-in-progress. But this awareness of the world became heightened as I felt the pressure to write a concept a day, resulting in a fresh inflow of ideas.
  2. I became more practised in the art of defining a story concept in one-sentence – with a setup, confrontation and resolution. My novel concepts each day were not always complete. Sometimes, I would have only a setup or only a character with no discernible action for her to take. But over the days, some of those concepts became more complete and polished.
  3. I found myself revisiting themes over the month, exploring a similar story concept from different angles and approaches, even using different genres (contemporary realistic and fantastical) for the same concept. As a result, I felt I explored more thoroughly what would be the best story concept for a particular theme that I wanted to write about. I think this will make my future novels stronger, since I’ll have a more considered story concept from the start.
  4. I remembered how to “play” with my story concepts, having fun with absurd story concepts as well as sensible ones.

My conclusion? I will do it again next November. Because envisioning a story concept is an important skill to practise. Because playing with story concepts is fun and enlightening. Because I emerged with two solid story concepts that I plan to write one day.

I look forward to NoCoWriMo – Novel Concept Writing Month – next year! Maybe you’ll join me?

Writing Reality Through Fantasy

by | Nov 5, 2012 | On Writing

I’ve just returned from four days at the the World Fantasy Conference 2012 with my head full of stories, ideas and full-blown debates.

Like how to make real silver bullets (learn how on the site of author Patricia Briggs), just in case you come across a werewolf.

How the windigo – a mythical cannibalistic spirit – is seen as a metaphor for the capitalist consumption of Native resources on today’s reserves.

And how the popular plot line of  “romancing the monster” in fantasy literature – for example, in the Twilight series – can represent our desire to believe that people are capable of change.

It may be stating the obvious, but writing fantasy literature is not really about the wonderful imaginary worlds and their creatures that we enjoy reading about. Because authors are of this world, inevitably when we write, we’re commenting on the reality in which we live every day.

One panelist at the conference commented that, “Writing fantasy brings me closer to reality.” So an examination of the monsters we write about can show us the monstrous side of humanity. The dark horror of a gothic novel comments on the mood of despair, decay and disease we may find ourselves in.

I like to write both gritty realistic fiction as well as speculative fiction. But no matter which one I’m writing, it’s always a reflection of the world that I see around me.