Novel Class, Week 14: The End

Woohoo! Tonight is my last class. I'm turning in the first 50 pages of my YA novel.

Last week we filled out evaluations about the course and the instructor, so this week I should evaluate my own progress as a student. Most of what I learned during this class was about myself and my needs as a writer.

I was hoping this course would, through its structure, motivate me to do more work on this novel than I've actually done. Like many people, I tend to spread myself too thin, take on too many commitments. Revising one novel while also trying to write a brand new novel is hard to juggle, I've learned. So if I'm going to take a class, I really need to commit to it.

As a kid, I rarely volunteered any answers or comments during class discussion. I was too shy. That listed through my mid-20's. But now, in my late 30's, sharing my observations is something I like to do, but only when I have something to say. I expect my contribution to be respected.

Giving and receiving critiques is highly instructive for me. I was sorry that we didn't share material and write feedback more frequently. I love to see how others handle the issues that continue to plague me. This course made me even more grateful for the two excellent critique groups I'm in.

One thing I'd do differently is to peruse the syllabus carefully and ask the instructor questions about the assignments for the semester.

What I Read in March

I did some market research for a picture book manuscript, hence all the picture books:

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
• Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
• A Safe Place Called Home by Eileen Spinelli
• The Perfect Thanksgiving by Eileen Spinelli
• While You Are Away by Eileen Spinellil
• Coming Through the Blizzard by Eileen Spinelli
• Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

I only read or listened to four novels this month:

• Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason
• Love That Dog by Sharon Creech (on tape)
• Don’t You Know There’s a War On by Avi (on tape)

Love That Dog is a novel in verse. On tape it only took about 45 minutes to listen to. It was impressively compact as a story, yet its story time covered a whole school year. A great book to expose reluctant poetry readers too (like me).

The Rule of Four is an adult novel that's been compared to The DaVinci Code, which I found wanting. Caldwell and Thomason's writing was smoother than Brown's, I thought (I wanted to hurl his book across the room every time he dumped a paragraph or two of art history lecture in the narrative), but I wouldn't recommend it as a great read. It's certainly not controversial like Brown's nor as suspenseful.

Novel Class, Week 13: Premise and Theme

I skipped class last week, so there's no entry for week 12.

This week we were supposed to be able to explain our novel's premise and theme(s). I reviewed James Frey's chapter on those subjects in our text, How to Write a Damn Good Novel, and became confused. The way Frey described it, the premise sometimes sounded the same as theme. Other times it sounded like the thesis statement for a persuasive essay.

In class, our instructor clarified it for me. The premise is essentially the novel's central plot or fundamental story idea. A novel may have several themes, but it should have only one premise.

But I still couldn't come up with the premise of my current novel. This may be because I keep trying to force it into a murder mystery format when it's really about something else. For one thing, this story seems more serious/literary than I expected.

And now I'm not so sure I want to kill off this old lady character that I'd originally envisioned as the murder victim. Knock her down and rough her up, yes, but killing may be too drastic for the situation. For one thing, she's not such a stereotypical old crank any more. That makes her harder to kill. How can someone kill her if she's occasionally likeable?

But back to theme. Our instructor said that starting with theme can make writers focus too much on it. Themes should arise naturally out of the story.

This seems like sound advice to me. I've had lots of different story starters--a setting, a character, a plot element--but not a theme or a point I'm trying to make. I don't necessarily know what my themes are until after a draft is done.

Answers to Last Week's Critiquing Exercise

So how many did you recognize?

Excerpt 1: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

She scowled at her glass of orange juice. To think that she had been delighted when she first arrived here--was it only three months ago?--with the prospect of fresh orange juice every day.

A wonderful fantasy adventure about a girl. Won a Newbery Honor.

Excerpt 2: Zod Wallop by William Browning Spencer

The wedding was held outdoors. An April sky darkened and gusts of wind, like large, unruly hounds, knocked over folding chairs and made off with hats and handkerchiefs. A bright yellow hat went sailing over the lake, cheered on by two small children.

An adult fantasy about a children's writer whose fictional characters are coming to life.

Excerpt 3: Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

I am immune to emotion. I have been ever since I can remember. Which is helpful when people appeal to my sympathy. I don't seem to have any.

About a boy who falls hard for a girl who's lesbian. A Printz Honor book.

Excerpt 4: Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry

"Mother?"

There was no reply. She hadn't expected one. Her mother had been dead now for four days, and Kira could tell that the last of the spirit was drifting away.

This book follows The Giver in Lowry's loose trilogy.

Excerpt 5: Holes by Louis Sachar

There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland.

Winner of the Newbery. I enjoyed the movie, but Stanley didn't look anything like I'd imagined.

Excerpt 6: Freaky Green Eyes by Joyce Carol Oates

Later, I would think of it as crossing over. Maybe it was what my mother was doing, too. Crossing over. From a known territory into an unknown. From a place where people know you to a place where people only think they know you.

This was an interesting read, but I thought the first-person narrator explained too much sometimes.

Novel Class, Week 11: Workshops, Agents and Editors

This class came hard on the heels of Iowa's spring SCBWI conference ("Three Able Agents and One Editor") in Des Moines. So when my instructor told the class to find an agent by combing the market guides and sending dozens of queries, I winced.

If I'd been able to get a word in, I would have encouraged my classmates to find a conference to go to. Meeting agents and editors in person tells you way more about fit and personality than you can glean from a printed page. To read about my experience at last weekend's conference, go here.

As for workshops, Neal disparaged MFA programs in poetry but thought fiction programs were probably fine. I think it all depends on why you're pursuing a degree.

I learned recently that I was accepted into Vermont College's MFA program in writing for children. I'm excited about the chance to focus so hard on writing. To me, the process of earning the degree is really the point, but the credential will be nice too.

Iowa SCBWI Conference Report

"Three Able Agents + One Editor" congregated with about 70 children's writers and illustrators in Des Moines this weekend. The agents included Rosemary Stimola, Karen Klockner, and Steven Chudney. Black is apparently the dress code for agents because each one wore it.

Rosemary Stimola

Rosemary spoke first. A petite woman with spiky black hair and comfy-looking red shoes, she oozed New York--in a good way. She was funny and charming and assertive. The thrust of her talk was that when choosing an agent, a person should be as picky as when choosing a spouse. Following are some of the comments she made that I especially liked:

• When choosing an agent to work with, "you gotta like this person."
• Know what your deal breakers are that would prevent you from working with a given agent.
• Does the agent have similar ethics and values as the writer? How does s/he conduct business?
• A good agent should share the writer's goals and be equipped to further them.

I was one of her "escorts" for lunch, which meant that I sat next to her for an hour at a table with six other writers and illustrators, who also had lots of questions for her. I learned that she represents the author of Gregor the Overlander, a middle grade fantasy novel that I've heard of but haven't read. I've picked it up several times, but I confess that the reason I haven't been compelled to read it is because it's about a boy. I prefer fantasy and adventure with girls.

Nevertheless, I write a similar kind of contemporary fantasy, so that was useful information. I prepared a query for her that will go in the mail tomorrow. She doesn't like partial manuscripts, so that made it easy. If she wants to read it, she'll ask for the whole thing.

Karen Klockner

Karen seemed very mellow to me, very laid back, probably easy to talk to. She is one of two U.S. agents with the Canadian Transatlantic Literary Agency. She is a former editor with Little, Brown and currently lives in Ohio. She reps more artists than writers and more non-fiction than fiction. She talked about several clauses in publisher contracts that authors/illustrators representing themselves could easily negotiate:

• number of author copies
• manuscript delivery date
• advance: all three agents talked about not necessarily pushing for the highest possible advance because you want it to sell out so that you're in a good position when you negotiate your second book
• royalty: ask the publisher if they're open to escalating the percentage once sales reach a certain point, e.g. 10% on sales up to 20,000 copies, and 15% after that
• out-of-print clause
• publication date
• bankruptcy: in case the publisher goes bankrupt, make sure rights revert to the author
• advance payment schedule

Steven Chudney

Steven, also from New York and also funny, has been an agent for about three years. His website (www.thechudneyagency.com) will go up in a week or so. He said he's looking for a few new clients, but don't send him picture books, non-fiction, fantasy, or science fiction. He said he loved Harry Potter, who didn't, but he just doesn't get the appeal of flying cars and talking hamburgers. (I mentally crossed him off my list.)

Steven talked about finding the right agent. He said if you're a control freak, like to micro manage, or basically like to do everything yourself, you don't need an agent. On the other hand, you should consider getting an agent if

• you're unpublished and don't understand (or want to) the publishing world
• you have a full-time job
• you're published but feeling stuck (one of his clients had sold 12 books on her own before hooking up with him)
• you want to concentrate on the creative side, not the business stuff

When he first started agenting, his clients were all new to the publishing business, so he is definitely open to writers who are not yet published.

Liesa Abrams, editor with Razorbill, a new imprint of Penguin Young Readers

Liesa talked about Razorbill's focus which is commercial, high-concept fiction. Teach Me is a YA novel coming out this fall about a high school senior girl who has an affair with her English teacher. This is Liesa's favorite book of all time, and she's edited hundreds of books. She used to work at 17th Street Productions, a book packager responsible for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and the Gossip Girl books. I wasn't sure what to make of her.

First pages

After all the speakers did their thing, they took seats at the front of the room and prepared to give a few comments on 10 or 12 first pages. Most of the pages had been sent to them ahead of time. Each page was projected on a large screen and read aloud by a very able and expressive reader.

As soon as my first page went up, without my name on it, thank God, my heart sped up and I couldn't bear to look. Each speaker had something to say about it, which was not the case for all pages, so that was nice, I guess:

• Rosemary: this was a setting page (my interpretation: quit dinking around)
  
• Liesa: too much detail (my interpretation: ditto)
• Karen: liked it, revealed character
• Steven: also liked it, his favorite, well done (Hmm, maybe he should go back on my list)
  

It was interesting to hear the variety of responses (to other people's pages) and see how subjective this business can be. Obviously Karen and Steven are wise readers.