First Interview and Photos of a Child

Last Monday I interviewed a 12-year-old girl for an article I hope to write for a girl's magazine. In my day job as a writer/webmaster for a research center at Iowa State, I'm accustomed to interviewing professors, engineers, and even motor grader operators, but I've never interviewed anyone under 18 before. Turns out however that I was the fourth person to interview Natasha so she was an old hand.

She's already had two newspaper articles written about her, and she's been on TV, which is where I saw her and thought her story would make a great article for a kid's magazine.

Her experience being interviewed made it easier for me because I was a little nervous. Not about talking to her but about taking photos of her.

I have a brand new camera, a completely manual 35 mm SLR. I've used cameras like this many times, but for the first time ever, I was using a flash attachment.

Before loading any film, I fiddled with the flash (man, that sucker is bright!) to make sure it synchronized properly with my camera. According to the doohickey on the flash, I was supposed to use f-stop 16. According to my camera's how-to manual, I was supposed to set the shutter speed at 125 or slower. The flash wouldn't flash at 125, so I set my shutter speed at 60.

I loaded 100-speed slide film (color transparencies are preferred by the market I'm targeting). As a back up, I took along my little automatic camera. I shot up both rolls.

Natasha, her mom, and her siblings all had ideas about what I should shoot, so I just did as suggested, shooting with both cameras.

I was having a hard time telling if my shots were in focus. So I had no idea when I picked up my slides from the developer if there'd be any decent ones.

Lo and behold! I'm a decent photographer.

So yesterday I got my query written and mentioned the availability of transparencies.

Novel Class, Week 6: Setting

We finally got some written feedback from Neal last night. Here's what he said about my opening:

Beginning a narrative with your primary characters in the middle of a trip is a good way to start, but only if something really interesting happens right away. While I like your dialogue and the rural details, I don't find much to engage me in your opening pages. Perhaps you need to bring the central conflict more to the forefront. Don't leave everything so subdued.

Keep in mind that I know almost nothing about Young Adult Novels; so if my advice runs counter to what you're reading in the genre, just ignore it.

I'm not going to ignore his comments, but I am trying to balance them with feedback from my critique groups.

Sometimes I wonder how well some adults can relate to child/teen characters, particularly in first person POV. Some people have a much harder time of it, I think. Is that because they don't remember what it's like to be a kid?

Having kids yourself is not a prerequisite to that kind of empathy and sympathy. A good memory is helpful.

But maybe more than anything it's that I've never felt grown up. Isn't that true of many children's writers?

When I discussed Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes with my (then) book group, I remember several members identifying strongly with Frank's mother. Is that only because they're mothers and I'm not? I felt sorry for her, but I identified with Frank.

Setting

We briefly shared descriptions of our settings and discussed how important they were. For several of us the setting is the source of some (or more) conflict for the story.

Although we really didn't get into it, specific details of setting can go a long way to making your work memorable. What to me is mundane because I live it is exotic to people unfamiliar with it.

Novel Class, Week 5: Openings

I've heard over and over about the importance of an effective, "gotcha" beginning to my novel. But until I've completed a whole draft of the novel, I won't know for sure where I need to start. I have to write my way into it.

Last night I read to the class what are currently the first four pages of my YA mystery. I like my first sentence: The god-awful stench of hog manure smacked me in the face. For now, I'm writing my way into the story, getting a feel for my main character's voice.

The voice feels strong to me. I've gotten good reactions from my classmates and my critique group buddies. But that doesn't mean driving down the highway sniffing hog manure is the right place to start this story.

In two weeks we're supposed to turn in a basic step-sheet or plot outline. (The main reason I'm taking this class is to help me get this kind of work done.) I hope I'll know better where the story starts once I get an outline done.

Meanwhile my murderer needs some serious work.

Non-fiction and the "Bug" Magazines

The Institute of Children's Literature conducts a biweekly live "chat" session with editors, writers, and other professionals in children's publishing. The session transcripts are archived on the ICL website.

During a recent session, moderator Mel Boring (an Iowan!) chatted with two editors of the "Bug" magazines, Paula Morrow, editor of Babybug and Ladybug, and Heather Delabre, editor of Spider. The focus of the chat was on non-fiction. Take a look at the transcript.

Recently I did my own analysis of several issues of Ladybug and Spider to get a better feel for their different approaches to non-fiction. The biggest difference is in approach.

Ladybug

Ladybug, which is geared toward a younger audience, about 2-6 years, seemed to use non-fiction in poems and what appear at first glance to be stories.

• A little boy's first experience at a laundromat, told in first person from the boy's point of view.
  
• A day in the life of a garter snake from the snake's point of view.
• A girl playing in a sprinkler and seeing rainbows in the drops.
• A girl and her dad hearing cicadas, collecting their empty shells, and then watching one emerge from its shell.

The facts are there but woven into a loose story format. The laundromat story ends when the clothes are dried and folded, and the boy hopes the family's washer doesn't get fixed too soon so he can come back.

Spider

Spider's non-fiction is more recognizable as articles and activities. Topics in 2004 issues included

• "How to Grow a Three Sisters Garden" (about growing corn, beans, and squash together)
• "Hello, Daddy-O!" (matching activity: photos of animals with rhyming descriptions)
• "Great Gobs of Green Goober" (a first-person account of a woman's personal encounters with elephants in Africa; lots of photos)
• "Snoop, the Search Dog" (about a dog that finds people who are lost and how he's trained; lots of photos)
• "Markings: Part of a Pony's I.D." (matching activity: illustrations of pony face markings with descriptions)

The content is also more detailed and sophisticated for Spider, which appeals to kids about 6-9.

Novel Class, Week 4: Conflict

The assignment for this week was a summary of our novel's conflict plus a 1-2 page scene showing conflict. I assumed Neal meant a synopsis, so that's what I turned in.

Again, he asked us to read our pieces aloud, but this time I'd had plenty of time to prepare my shy self. So I volunteered to go first.

The problem with going first is that no one has warmed up his/her ears yet. No one's ready to give any feedback. On the other hand, it's tough to give feedback on scenes taken out of context. This is from an early chapter of a YA mystery.

Here's what I read:

Ms. Erickson held up a paperback copy of Huck Finn. “Has anyone read this?”

Without thinking I raised my hand. I’d gone on a Twain kick the summer before last. Then I looked around. In the class of 20 other sophomores, no one else was admitting to having read it before.

Two rows over, Sara mouthed, “Wow.”

I felt a slow burn slide over my cheeks and lowered my hand. What? Didn’t kids read here?

Ms. Erickson flicked a glance my way then grabbed a stack of stapled white paper from the corner of her desk. “Read chapters one and two for Monday.”

Groans erupted around the room.

“And,” she continued, passing a small stack of papers to each row of students, “answer these questions about the reading.”

The kid in front of me handed back the questions. I took one copy and passed the rest over my shoulder.

Someone behind me whispered, “Guess she won’t have much homework this weekend.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see if she meant me.

A girl with long blonde hair and a slightly upturned noise was glaring at me.

Yep, she meant me. I shrugged and grinned.

The girl narrowed her eyes.

I leaned over the sheet of questions and pretended to start answering them.

When the bell rang two minutes later, I slid the questions inside my notebook, stood up, and started toward the door.

An elbow jabbed me in the side. Long blonde hair hurried past me.

Character Arc

There's a great article about this topic on the Institute of Children's Literature site written by Hope Irvin Marston called "Recipe for a Memorable Character." Marston analyzes the main character in a Karen Hesse novel, Letters from Rifka.

As someone who tends to be too plot oriented, this discussion and series of examples of a character's growth is a great reminder to focus first on character.

What I read in January

For years I've been thinking of keeping track of what I read for a year. Of course someone's already written a book about her year's worth of reading (haven't read it yet, but it sounds interesting). But here's my January book list:

• Luna by Julie Anne Peters (National Book Award finalist in 2004)
  

• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

• Godless by Pete Hautman (National Book Award 2004)

• Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters

• Loose Ends by Neal Bowers

• How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey (for my novel writing class)

I'd been meaning to read Luna for months and finally got around to it. I met Julie last October at an SCBWI conference in Colorado. She does an awesome job with first person. Keeping You a Secret also uses a first-person narrator.

Since Luna was competing with Godless for the National Book Award, I wanted to check that one out too (another in first person). Great take on belief and faith and religion. Also very funny, but then I'm not religious.

Decided to read The Last Unicorn because I've heard it's a classic in the fantasy genre (not a children's book, however). I'm not sure why it's considered a classic, not in the way Tolkien is. Maybe I was being a lazy reader and didn't get it.

Novel Class, Week 3: Character

For this week's class we were supposed to bring five pages that reveal our main character. This could be an actual scene from the novel or just something we wrote for class, but it was not supposed to be a list of character traits. Knowing our main character well is key.

Over the weekend Neal Bowers, our instructor, emailed a very detailed list of character questions that we could use if we wished to help explore our character. I've come across a few of these before, but this one was the most detailed I've seen. Neal said he swiped it from the Internet but can't remember where from.

It includes questions like

• What four things would CHARACTER most like to change about self?
• How does CHARACTER think others perceive him/her?
• Greatest source of weakness in character's personality (whether s/he sees it as such or not)
• Who does the character secretly admire and why?
  

In all it's about six pages long and covers physical appearance, favorites, habits, background, family, attitude, personality, traits, self-perception, inter-relation with others, goals, and problems/crisis.

I used it for some things as I fleshed out the main character of my YA mystery, but then I realized I was running out of time and needed to get to work on my five pages. If anyone wants a copy of the character questions, let me know.

Last week Neal told us he was waiting to hear back from his agent about some revisions he'd done to a novel. Since then, Neal broke his left arm above the elbow and heard from the agent that his revisions were right on target. Neal thought maybe his agent didn't want him to have to type much more.

So now the agent wants Neal to send him eight copies of the full manuscript, author bios, and reviews from his first novel. The agent is going to start shopping this latest book around.

Meanwhile Neal is starting a new novel as he teaches this class. He read his five pages first (yes, he tortured us all and made us read ours aloud too). His scene was about a man who falls on his icy front step and breaks his arm while getting the morning paper in his PJs. It was a funny scene.

I wonder if it was a first draft. It sounded pretty polished, but maybe he just writes that way.

My scene was definitely first draft material. That's what happens when I wait until Sunday to write something that's due Monday.

Nevertheless, I think I conveyed some things about my character without coming right out and telling the reader what to think. Revealing by implication is more fun to write and more fun to read.