Everything I Need to Know About Writing, I Learned From Children’s Book Authors

I’ve spent a lot of years reading children’s books. Not only when I was a child myself, but the years I read to nieces and nephews, and the 15 I’ve been reading to my own children. For some of those years, I had little time to read anything written with an adult audience in mind. But that doesn’t mean I had to stop learning about writing for adults. Children’s books contain all the elements of good stories.

Dr. Seuss: Stories need rhythm. You can make up words, you can repeat entire phrases, you can even write utter nonsense, when the rhythm is there. The rhythm, the flow of the words, will carry readers through the story to the end. Don’t believe me? I challenge you to open Green Eggs & Ham or The Cat in the Hat and stop reading partway through. It cannot be done.

R.L. Stine: Watch a kid, even a reluctant reader, with an R.L. Stine book. Short chapters, quick action, lots of surprises and cliffhangers at the end of each chapter keep the reader turning the pages. Quickly. Chapter one of The Haunted Mask II from Stine’s Goosebumps series ends like so, “And then let out a long, high wail of horror.” Of course the reader is moving on to chapter two...which ends with, “Seeing Carly Beth, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.”  And chapter three? “And screamed and screamed and screamed.”

J.K. Rowling: I I fall firmly in the “pantser” category. My first drafts are written without outlines. J.K. Rowling? Clearly a plotter. I’ve read through the series several times, having read them aloud to a few of my kids, and each time I am astounded by the new things I find. The necklace that is so important in book seven, makes an appearance in book five. I barely noticed it the first time through, but Rowling made sure it was there.

Lemony Snicket:  If you don’t know what “voice” is, A Series of Unfortunate Events will spell it out for you. “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.” Great opening because it establishes the author’s voice. Dry, no nonsense, and yet somehow so funny.

L.M. Montgomery: Anne Shirley is probably the most memorable character from my childhood. She’s wonderfully flawed: a “little” overdramatic, holds a grudge, and is extremely vain about her hair. She’s so much fun you can’t help but love her—probably because of her faults, not in spite of them.

What children’s authors have taught you about writing?

Why I Write

At a recent meeting of my local writing group, we were asked to write about why we write. Like everyone else, I wrote about how writing is a part of me, how it’s something I don’t really have a choice about.

What I’ve been thinking about since is why I write as a career, and why I aspire to one day see my novel published. There are so many other things I am capable of doing for a living that involve less rejection and fewer blows to my ego.

When I was a kid, I dreamed of changing the world with my words.

In reality, much of what I write is practical stuff that I hope is helpful to some people, but isn’t exactly the answer to world hunger or saving the rain forest. But sometimes I’m fortunate enough to write about something that really matters, something that truly helps someone.  One article I’m especially proud of, The Reality of Motherhood...What Nobody Tells You appeared in the July/August 2006 issue New Beginnings. Thanks to Google Alerts, I’ve found people who have posted new links to this article because they think it’s important.

If my article or story reaches one person who needs to hear my message, then I’ve made a difference. And that’s why I write.

NaNoWriMo Winner?

The month of crazy (aka NaNoWriMo) is over. I took the challenge at the beginning of November thinking I had no chance of reaching the 50,000 word finish line, but I had a lot of other goals in mind. I wanted to get a good start to my novel, I wanted to learn to turn the inner critic off long enough to pound out a few thousand words, I wanted to get in the habit of writing a lot daily, and I wanted to remember how to have fun with my writing again, having spent the last year or so editing more than writing.

I had a blast writing this past month. My storyline took off in directions I hadn't considered at the start; ditto for complications that arose. I learned to write at the computer (I've always written long-hand before--but no time with this challenge) which increased my writing speed, and I fully practiced what I preach about squeezing writing in every spare moment. And the only way I could even come close to hitting the word count was to completely ignore the inner critic/editor and just let loose.

So I hit my goals--I was a NaNo winner in my books long before my word count was validated by the evil NaNo computer (evil because it knocked 500 words off my original, barely over the finish line submission), but I was still stupidly happy to reach the word-count goal as well. What can I say? I'm a competitive person and I find it hard to leave a challenge unfinished.

The problem is that by the end of it all, I was focused strictly on the word count, and that had never been what it was about. I wasn't even having fun anymore. I was stressed and half-panicked that time was running out and I was 500 words short (courtesy of the evil NaNo computer). James over at Men With Pens puts the whole thing into perspective with his post Did You Reach Your NaNoWriMo goal?

So . . . would I do it again? Probably not. I plan to take what I learned from this experience and carry it through my writing from here on in. Am I glad I did it this time? Absolutely.

NaNoWriMo Success

Yes, it's only Day 10 and yes, I am a day behind in my word count for NaNoWriMo, but I am ready to declare it a personal success. Already. My goals, when I started this little project, were to have fun, get in the habit of writing a lot (of fiction) every day, and make some progress on my novel.

What can I say? I am having a B-L-A-S-T writing. Who knew that turning off the inner critic would be so much fun? It's like the grown-ups have left the kids at home alone for the first time. (For that matter, who knew I was capable of turning off my inner critic? Certainly not anyone who knows me!) And who knew it would result in so many words appearing on my screen?

Ask me again in December, when I'm trying to pull this pile of--I mean, when I'm rewriting those words into something that my inner critic can live with, and I might not be so excited. But for right now, I'm enjoying the ride.

If you've signed on for NaNoWriMo, are you having as much fun with it as I am? If you haven't signed up, try turning off that critic/editor for a while, and play with fiction again.

Quick Tip: Write from Beginning to End

There are four types of writers, I think.

1. Dash Drafter dashes off a first draft of a novel in 30 days (You knew there'd be a NaNoWriMo reference in here, didn't you?), checks it over for typos, and considers it done. It's painful to read.
   
2. E.D. Itor is at the other end of the spectrum. This one writes the first scene in 30 days, stopping and rewriting till every freaking word is absolutely perfect. It's painful to watch.
   
3. Author Interruptus never makes it to the finish line. Maybe he starts off like Dash but runs out of steam, or edits himself to death and never makes it past the first scene.
4. The fourth writer, we'll call the Published Author, and that's who we all aspire to be. This author is part Dash and Part E.D. Itor--he gets to the finish line, but then realizes the work has only begun.

I was inspired a couple years ago by a blog post I read on Murderati, written by Tess Gerritsen. A smart person would have bookmarked that post; unfortunately, I did not and now I can't find it despite my strong Google skills. She wrote about how she writes: from beginning to end, no matter what changes in the storyline. If she decided to change a character's name, she made a note of it and moved on. If she decided to get rid of a character, she made a note of it and moved on. When she edited her first draft, then she worried about all those pesky details.

I'm using her technique to get to the finish line of NaNoWriMo. I'm hoping that with my natural E.D. Itor tendencies, I'll eventually be able to chisel a finished novel out of the process.

Joely Sue Burhart has some other great tips for hitting the NaNoWriMo finish line--and, of course, like Tess Gerritsen's method of writing, these tips can help you get to the end of your novel whether you're doing NaNoWriMo or not.

So what type of writer are you?

Quick Tip: Brainstorming

The other day, a couple of my freelance writing friends and I got together online to brainstorm ideas and markets. I brought two ideas to the table and left with a pageful of notes, mostly spins on those same two ideas and potential markets for them.

Why not do the same with your fiction writing? Try getting together online, by phone or in person with a friend or two and brainstorm new story ideas, plot twists or solutions to problems.

Links Tent: Speaking of Writing Groups...

In my last post, I wrote about the importance of a writing group for even a beginner writer. If you don't belong to a local group--or even if you do--check out these useful online writing communities.

Stop by the Absolute Write Water Cooler. Whether you write novels, scripts, poetry or non-fiction, Absolute Write has a forum for you. Read about other people's experiences with an agent you're considering, find a critique partner or share freelance writing markets.

Querytracker.net's community also includes lots of information about writing, agents and getting published. There's a whole section devoted to critiques: the first five pages of your novel, your query letter and your synopsis. Be sure to check out the World's Worst [fictitious] Query Letters forum for a sampling of what not to do in your query letter.

Writer's Digest and The Writer magazines have useful online writing communities as well. In addition to "the usual" types of forums, Writer's Digest includes the Writer's Block Party and Success Stories, while The Writer has a forum for Unpublished Writers and an online Book Club.

Women on Writing lists several critique groups and writing organizations as well as lots of other resources and information. Take a look around their site.

If you have a favourite online writing community I haven't mentioned, please leave a comment and I'll add it to the list.

The 5 Cs of Writing Groups...+1

I finally made it out to one of my creative writing group meetings yesterday, and was reminded of all the reasons why I joined the group to begin with. I think it's easy for professional writers to see why they need a group or association—networking, resources, etc. But what about before becoming a professional writer? Here are the five top reasons I joined a creative writing group a few years ago.

A Commitment to my writing. Even though I am a disciplined person, I have five children and it is easy for my commitments to them to completely fill my every moment. Joining the group kept my writing in the forefront. If you are a less disciplined person, the group can help you stay focused. You’ll want to bring something to read to every meeting and you’ll probably begin announcing your goals—and then you’ll work hard to accomplish them.

A Challenge to grow as a writer. When another writer finished her novel, it motivated me to finish mine. I started doubling my targeted word count each week. If she could do it, so could I. It was as simple as that. You might also challenge yourself to try a new genre or a new form of writing, or simply to put your work out there.

A Community of writers. My husband is supportive of my writing, but if I told him I slept with my characters, he’d look at me like I had two heads. (For the record, I do not). He, like many non-writers, just doesn't get the process. It’s freeing to admit that I dream about my characters and have others tell me they do too.

A Cheering section. The writers in my group understand how disappointing a rejection can be, and they battle their inner critics too. We offer each other ideas, encouragement and support. And when that fails, I just need to look around the room to see an inspiring group of people who manage to write despite full time jobs, children and chronic illness.

A Coaching circle. Our group has members who write in various genres, both fiction and non-fiction, with varying degrees of experience and success. Some have been published, some have books to their credit, and others are beginners. But all of us have knowledge to share. The newcomer might have tips from a workshop, the veteran a contact.

There's one more reason to join a writing group, the +1 that I mentioned, but it's not a regular part of my group and I've turned elsewhere to find it.

Critique. Encouragement and praise can keep us going when we're writing, but critique will get us published. We need to know what's not working in a piece of writing, and we're often too close to our projects to see for ourselves. I have a wonderful critique partner who isn't afraid to tell me when my characters are immature or too angry, when a scene is weak, or when something is missing. I value her opinions, especially when they're hard to hear, because they make my stories richer.