Revision Is A Bear! Or Is It?

As I new writer, I approached revision like this:


The mere thought of all the potential mistakes in my novel made me feel as if I were, well, being eaten alive by a bear. Where do you start when there are SO many problems with a story? I chose to ignore the big, structural problems, choosing instead to focus on small, safe things like word choice, punctuation...

And it wasn't too effective. My manuscripts gathered a stacks of rejection form letters from publishers. Eventually, I learned the importance of revision, but I still didn't have many effective tools for approaching it. I simply read through my manuscripts over and over again, looking for things to fix. And sometimes I couldn't see the problems through the, um, car windshield.


Earlier this month I had the opportunity to attend Darcy Pattison's novel revision retreat. Aha! Using Darcy's workbook, Novel Metamorphosis, we learned how to tackle revision issues one at a time. First we created a novel inventory, noting the plot action and emotion in each chapter. So helpful! At a glance, I noticed a potentially weak chapter and places where I could strengthen emotional resonance.

Another incredibly useful revision technique is the shrunken manuscript. Darcy showed us how examining our novel in 6 point font, single spaced, can show us the overall patterns in our stories. One attendee realized that her story lacked conflict for several chapters in a row. That's exactly the kind of comment I used to ignore (my critique partners just didn't get it, I'd tell myself). But it's hard to argue with bright, bold highlighting. To learn more about the shrunken manuscript process, check out Darcy's blog.

All weekend we worked on small sections of our stories, which made the process seem quite do-able--and not quite so scary or overwhelming. Because revision really isn't a bear, it's simply a series of small tasks. Think of them as cuddly little bear cubs!

Happy revising! (We couldn't resist stopping at Bear World on our way home from the retreat.)

Posted by Sydney Salter

My writing and my mom

Mother’s Day is coming up this week. I could say any number of things about my mother and my writing. I could tell you how she taught me to read when I was four, had the chicken pox, and was bored out of my mind. I could tell about her love of poetry, how she always had table just my size with paper, pens, paint, scissors, and glue. But when I think about what she did that made the most difference in my life as a writer, it’s this: my mother never said a negative thing about herself in my hearing.
She had plenty of negative things to say to me which is why I had oatmeal for breakfast instead of brownies, and I am not picking my nose as I write this. But she never had a critical word for herself. I’m sure it’s not that she’s never had regrets or felt dissatisfied. But in a world that expects a woman to be self-effacing, she chose to remain uncritical of her appearance, her work, her relationships and her life choices. It is, in its silence, as bold a feminist statement as any I’ve heard.
And it has had an important impact on my own writing process. We all have our inner critic. The difference is that mine has never been one that says: “You have no talent. You are never going to finish this. You will never be good enough.”
I get my share of doubts and self-criticism, but they sound more like this: “This character is too much like this other one and needs his own voice. This scene needs more specific and detailed action. This piece needs more time to develop.”
It’s a subtle difference but an important one. One that helps me stick with a story until it’s done, look at the story dispassionately when I revise, and receive the critique of my writers group and editor in the spirit it is intended.
I’d like to say that I’ve done the same for my own daughters. I’ve certainly tried but it takes a measure of self-discipline to swim against a cultural expectation so ingrained I almost never think about it. So my Mother’s Day wish, beyond a lifetime of thanks to my mom, is that my own girls will learn to speak of their bodies, their choices and their work with respect and without excuses.
So how about you mom’s out there? Chime in on the comments with one thing about your work that makes you proud. Or maybe lay to rest for good a self-defeating phrase you hear yourself using. It’s the Mother’s Day gift that only you can give yourself—a gift that endures in the lives of your daughters. Happy Mother’s Day!

Writer-Writer Chit Chat with Swati Avasthi

Every fall, I teach a Young Adult writing class. One of the fun things about the course is that I get to choose three or four contemporary YA novels for my students to read and discuss and use as writing models. I always pick at least one book I know and love, one new book and one critical prize winner or classic. Next fall, I have opted to teach Split by Swati Avasthi. Swati’s novel seems to fulfill all three of my categories. It was released this March from Knopf and has been an instant hit with its readers and with me.

Swati is also a member of the group of debut YA and MG writers called the Class of 2K10. 2K10 is the beloved sister group of those of us who started this blog. Swati agreed to visit and chat with us. Here are some of the questions I asked and here also, are Swati’s thoughtful and insightful answers.

JD:
Before I start asking questions about the riveting storyline of Split, I’m curious about something more general. I wonder at what part of the process of drafting the novel did you discover that what you were writing was YA? Was this something you imagined all along? Or something you discovered later? Have you been aware of many adults reading the book? what was their response?

Split was always a YA novel. I started reading YA almost 15 years ago and I fell in love with the genre. It was not the YA I had as a kid, growing up. It was far more complex and, I thought, far more honest in its presentation of issues. I've heard that we write what we love and that was true for me. As soon as the story of Split came to me, I never doubted that it should be YA. I started writing Split before YA was the hot genre and before many adults started discovering it. So their response when I began writing it in 2006 was a lot more of the pat-you-on-the-head, how-nice-that-you-write-for-children response. Now, I get a lot more of adults guiltily admitting that they read and like the genre. I'm waiting for the time when the academy and general public opinion no longer feels the need to "admit" that teen books are for adults in the same way that adult books are for teens.

Many adults are reading Split and, honestly, because of the intensity of the book, I'm glad about that. The reception has been wonderful, particularly because it is a book that can be shared in the family, which in turn, can generate good discussions.

JT:
Yes! That’s definitely why I want to teach it. Can I get even more insight into potential audiences, because domestic violence is, as you say, such an intense issues. Do you think young women will benefit from this literary look into the mind of a dangerous boy? Or do you see your best potential reader as a boy who might need to discover himself in your words? What writing strategies did you take to speak to a particular audience?

SA:
I can't pick one kind of reader. I'm a writer with delusions of grandeur and I want everyone to read it. :-) I see it as a book with multiple audiences: boys, men, girls, and women because every one of these groups is affected by domestic violence. But I am really interested in getting this to teens. Teens are usually better than adults at reframing issues. They aren't going to see things, abuse included, the same way their parents do, and since so many teens are victims of dating violence (estimated at 1 of 4), I wanted to write about teens and for teens.

JT:
Wow—that’s a serious statistic. And yet you made an interesting and risky choice in telling the story from the point of view of a boy who is not purely someone we always see as a victim. Jace is an extremely compelling character. How did you make this happen? What did you feel you had to tell us about him? and what misconceptions about boys like Jace do you want to remedy?

SA:
Thanks!

I was interested in trying to create a character who was complicated: endearing and repulsive, sympathetic and damnable, and most significantly, a whole person. I wanted readers to think of him as more than a role: (victim, witness, etc). So, I spent a lot of time and did a lot of character development of Jace outside of the house. I concentrated on soccer, photography, friends and girlfriends, things that defined him besides his role within an abuse cycle.

The misconception I find most disturbing is about abuse in general. I coordinated a domestic violence legal clinic for three years and, after listening to thousands of abuse stories, I became increasingly disturbed about how our society frames domestic violence as a women's issue. Most of the abusers are men, after all. Abusers are the ones with the clearest line of sight to stopping abuse, to figure out how to make sure the cycle isn't passed down through the generations. If a victim gets out, that is wonderful and I admire the strength it takes and she can probably go on to live well. But abusers just move on to the next victim. The responsibility needs to fall on the abusers, and so we need to think of abuse differently - as a men's issue, as something men can choose to stop.

**SPOILER ALERT** I structured the book so that we would fall in love with Jace first and then learn of his violent tendencies because that is the experience of victims. Their abusers are charming and funny and interesting, but they have this one, terrible flaw that victims don't learn about until they are already invested in their relationships.

JD:
I admire that. Split has a lot of texture, maybe because Jace himself is Split. Can you describe how you broke down his personality? how the pieces, his 'bastard' and his "bastard no-more' self evolved?

SA:
Thanks! I think what really freed me up was that Jace is smart, self-aware, and imaginative. This gave me license to let him wrestle with complicated problems, like how he blames, protects, and loves his mother. It also gave him a lot of survival techniques and defenses including humor. He is able to articulate, often using humor, how his feelings are never simple, which opened up a host of options for him.

**SPOILER ALERT** I'd say I got the best handle on Jace in the "garage scene." This is where I started to understand how Jace was even more terrified of being broken down as a victim than he was of becoming an abuser himself and why he would chose his father as a role model over his mother. Like every kid, Jace wanted to grow up to be a man, didn't want to be weak. But because of who his role model was, he conflated strength with anger and manhood with control. For me, this was how his "bastard" self evolved.

His 'bastard-no-more' self evolved because he is imaginative, and can see his life in different ways. Because he is smart, he understands that he chooses his future.


JD:
I really loved that he had this kind of intelligent perspective. Teens are often confronted (in social media and television) with pretty pictures of how their life should look. These images may jar with how their life actually is. How might Jace, too, be a victim of double self-perception?

SA:
Jace and his family are wealthy and well-respected. Part of the media look for that is happy and healthy. The media does not present domestic violence as a problem for the rich, rather it is presented as a problem for the poor. In fact, there are some studies that suggest that underreporting is higher in wealthy communities and I think that this stake in looking good is why. I think that is part of why Jace has been forced into a position of silence.

I've known people whose houses had domestic violence and they looked like everyone else. That's the eerie part, really. Everyone thinks that it can't be true of their neighbor, their classmate, their friend. But when you think about the statistics (1 in 3 women in their lifetimes, to say nothing of the men who are victims as well) then it's very likely that domestic violence exists around us.

JD:
I had this sense that Jace was in hiding. And yet, Jace's relationship with his brother is at the center of this novel and the two seem to come together after quite a bit of shared suffering. How much, in your opinion is this book also about how Jace copes and redefines himself in relationship to others? Do you think he has a higher comfort level with the opposite sex by the end of the book? what part of Jace's story is left untold?

The importance of one plot line over another is more about the reader than the writer. That is to say, for one reader Jace's relationship with women will be very important and to another, not so much. So I want to start with the disclaimer that my read on the book is as valid as anyone else's. In my view, Jace's relationship to his brother and his relationship to women are intertwined. His brother is his role model and provides him with a different way to approach a romantic relationship and women in general. He has always tried to use his brother's model for how to treat women: he followed Christian's model about how to treat their mom to a T.

I think he does have a better view of women by the end of the book: Caitlyn is no longer shallow; Mirriam is no longer nosy; and Dakota is no longer unable to make her own decisions. Truth is, Caitlyn was never shallow, Mirriam was never nosy (just helpful; she was, after all, the one who got Christian to let Jace stay), and Dakota has always been able to make her own decisions, but now Jace *sees* those things. His perspective has changed, not the women themselves.

JD:
I love how you describe this change of perspective, because as a reader I felt this part of the story arc unfolded in a truthful way and I was very moved by it. Did telling this story from the potential abuser's point of view make it more or less difficult to find resolution and closure at the end of the novel? If Jace were less flawed as a main character, how would it have changed the story?

If Jace were less flawed, the story would have been far easier but also, I think, less interesting. As a writer, I'm not that interested in presenting simplified solutions to complex problems. Rather, I think I enjoy examining a problem from multiple angles to really appreciate how a problem affects not only the people caught directly in it, but also all those around them. I think that better reflects how interconnected we are.

A clear cut ending would have been a more serious possibility for Jace if he were less flawed only because his problems would have been more simple as well, but unlearning years, and formative years, is a difficult and long process. The book tries to reflect the idea that, while it might be extremely difficult to alter our patterns of thinking and actions, it's also possible. And for me, that is hopeful.

JD:
I agree. I think it’s the complexity of Jace and his struggles that make this book a valuable teaching tool. My students, many of whom are writing majors, might want to know about how it all came together. I know you are in the process of getting an MFA, so I am assuming that much of this novel was written in a workshop setting. How did this help or hinder you in your process? Do you have a YA focus in your studies, or is your MFA program one that students attend to write fiction mostly for adults?

Oh, now you've uncovered a secret. I did not write much of this novel in my MFA workshops; I had a full first draft when I came into the program and so I was revising by the time I started the program. I only workshopped around 4 chapters with my MFA colleagues. Most of my workshopping of this novel came from my writers' groups, and I found those essential. Writers' groups are, by their nature, a lot different than MFA workshops in that writers' groups select their own members.

One of my groups is comprised of children's writers only, which is very useful, because they are up to speed on the genre. So, I have less explaining to do and they have more models to suggest for me. YA has changed so much that the genre is frequently dismissed by the academy as genre fiction, instead of understanding that the YA genre is highly varied and is comprised of both literary and genre fiction. (Books like Twilight don't help that image either so I can understand why the impression remains.) The other writers' group has both writers for adult and YA fiction, which I also find very useful because good writing is good writing and so people who deeply understand the craft are always helpful.

I had two professors at the U -- Mary Logue (adjunct) and Julie Schumacher (professor) -- who contributed greatly Split. Both read the whole thing. Mary read most of it twice, actually. They had wonderful feedback. So, I'd say that while the workshop experience was not highly influential, the MFA program was. But if you want to see if workshopping in an MFA program has helped or hurt my writing, I'd say look at my second book. About one third of that novel was workshopped.

JD:
Okay, now I’m completely curious. Can you give us a sneak peek into your next project?

I am working on BIDDEN (working title). Holly, Corey, and Savitri are looking forward to their post-graduation summer of free running and comic book reading, when a shooting changes everything. Now, Corey is dead, Savitri is seeking revenge, and Holly is descending into a place where no one -- not even Savitri -- can reach her. BIDDEN is about how far we will stretch for our friends.

JD:
Wow! I can’t wait.

SA:
Thanks again. Great questions.

JD: Thank you Swati. It’s been an honor to speak with you. If you are interested in hearing Swati read the first chapter of Split--check out the link below.

New covers, BEA, and other random thoughts

I'm taking my maiden voyage on our grads blog today. I owe a big "thanks" to all my 2k9 classmates who've kept this going since the calendar rolled on into 2010. I've mostly been keeping my nose to the grindstone on several writing and nonwriting related tasks and slacking in the virtual community-love department. Consequently, I missed my first post and was determined to get this one in and on time.

So, my editor's been gracing my in-box with a couple of surprises and an invitation. Surprise 1: B&N decided to carry The Secrets of the Cheese Syndicate in select stores. YAY! I was thrilled because my tiny, independent publisher doesn't have the marketing resources of the big boys and my distribution has been somewhat limited.

Invitation: Would I come to BEA and sign books at the distributor's booth? YOU BET! I've never been to the big apple and how could I possibly say no? Most of my 2k9 classmates went to BEA last year but my book was coming out in the latter portion of the calendar year, with the small publisher, so I passed.

A few weeks passed and VOILA! surprise #2 makes its way to my in-box: my editor has an illustrator redesigning my cover in anticipation of the sequel, so we can get a more uniform look to what will (hopefully) be a series. I've got three good stories with these characters, at least. I can't say much past that. So now I'm pumped to get the revision work finished on the sequel, which we're currently calling The Manticore's Revenge.

Currently, however, I'm being distracted by making a top ten list of things to do in NYC and at BEA. Help me out here, guys. If you've been to either of these strings of letters, tell me what I must ABSOLUTELY do. This wide-eyed southern girl wants to pack in as much as possible while she's there!

Peace
Donna St. Cyr

Green Earth Book Awards

Since I don't have my own blog, I thought I'd use this space to give an update on my recent trip to DC for the Green Earth Book Awards. These awards are the only awards in the country (as far as I know) that focus on environmental themes in children's literature. There are four awards: picture book, children's fiction, young adult, and non-fiction. They are awarded annually to "authors and illustrators whose books best raise awareness of environmental stewardship, and the beauty of our natural world and the responsibility that we have to protect it."
The Green Earth Awards are given by an environmental foundation, the Newton Marasco Foundation, with an incredibly active and enthusiastic board and staff. They also work closely with the dedicated children's literature department at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland.
I think most of the authors in 2K9 would agree that it's the connections you form on school visits, bookstore appearances, and other book events that make them worthwhile. Everyone I met from the Newton Marasco Foundation and the university was warm, encouraging, and more than welcoming. In addition, they helped build the green writing community by generously bringing together the winners: Eileen Spinelli and Anne Kennedy (for their charming picture book, MISS FOX'S CLASS GOES GREEN) and Marge Ferguson Delano (for her stunning EARTH IN THE HOT SEAT: BULLETINS FROM A WARMING WORLD). (Saci Lloyd (THE CARBON DIARIES) was unable to attend.) We met over meals of all kinds, and I got to watch their presentations to school kids, admire Anne's drawing skills, hear about Eileen and Jerry's many, many grandchildren and many, many books, and watch how Marfe put together pictures, texts, and stories for her absorbing National Geographic biographies and non-fiction books.
Not only that, but since I grew up in Maryland, my parents were all able to attend the award ceremony!
Writing can be very solitary, but this chance to connect with such a vibrant writing and environmental community will fill me up for a long time.
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
S. Terrell French
OPERATION REDWOOD, Amulet Books, 2009

Me and My Yoga

A few years ago, I learned how to stand on my head. For a while, I practiced regularly, sometimes propping myself in a corner, but later, when I got better at it, going for it right in the middle of the room. I learned other neat tricks studying yoga too. Bending over and placing my hands on the floor, handstands against the wall, shoulder and forearm balance. Yoginis aren’t supposed to show off like I do. In fact, it might even be bad juju, but sometimes my extroverted impulses take over.

I think the source of my pride is a result of the fact that none of what I learned came easily. I’m not known for my patience or physical coordination. Writing a novel was nearly the hardest thing I ever accomplished. I’d put parenthood first, standing on my head second, and drafting my first book maybe third. The most fully realized people I know are certified yoga instructors and when I am upside down, I pretend to be a little more like them.

I try as much as possible to intertwine my writing life with yoga practice because the two disciplines have similarities. They require flexibility, being inured to the frustration of what doesn’t come easily, and living without guarantees. I redefine myself every time I get to work. Just when I think I know who I am, oops, I fall over and land on the dog

I once read that Michelangelo’s masterpiece David walked straight out of the stone into his magnificent reality. It’s easy to imagine that this is what genius is—an effortless understanding of the glory within, but I would miss the headstands if I were a genius.

A little succeeding after lots of failing makes the next days work that much easier.

Why I Write Middle Grade Novels

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy Spring Break with my 8th grader, I'm just saying that if I could've made her wear a burkha in the hotel pool, I would have. I've also learned that last summer's bikini top should always be tried on before this year's vacation. Okay, enough about my daughter picking up a sophomore in the hot tub...

My point is this: I spent many moments feeling wistful about my 10-year-old as she skipped down hiking trails, fell in love with stuffed animals in gift shops, and relished every new experience with exuberance. Every now and then she'd stop to bump pinkie fingers with me.

I know it won't be long until she learns to roll her eyes, scoff with disdain, and attract the attention of boys at the hotel pool. Fortunately this came in the mail while I was gone:

A package of letters from 4th graders in Overland Park, Kansas! Dozens of adorable thank you notes with pictures. Several kids felt inspired to become writers, others loved Jungle Crossing, some "might" read it now that they've met me, a few can't wait to get older so they can read my teen novels. I learned about their pets, their families, the imaginative stories they love to write. One girl told me about her favorite books, but confessed that she occasionally checks out Captain Underpants so she won't look "weird." Aw!

I almost cried with relief at the realization that because I write middle grade novels, I will always be able to hang out with sweet, spunky, spontaneous 10 year olds! --Sydney Salter

Cross posted at www.mybignose.blogspot.com