When Writing: Use What You Know but Imagine More #ChaBooCha

Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

We are one week into the writing challenge now. I hope everyone is making progress on their stories. I've been thinking about a popular piece of advice that is given out to authors and thought I'd let you in on a little bit of my ruminations on the subject.

As writers, we've all heard the advice to "write what you know." But if you only write what you know about, you'd never have fantasy stories, and mysteries would only be written by detectives. Adding elements of experiences you've lived through or making a character have the same career as yourself, because you know all about how to write about that particular career, seems to make sense. But if you only write about the things you know about, unless you've lived an unusually exciting life, your stories may become bland.

Using your experiences, which includes events you've lived through and emotions you've felt, can make writing about those things easier for you. But not having gone through a certain event or felt a certain emotion does not mean you can't write about it. If you've been through a heartbreak, you may find writing about it easier than someone who has never experienced heartbreak. But just because you've never experienced heartbreak doesn't mean you can't imagine and empathise with what it would feel like and accurately portray it.

Although you shouldn't limit yourself to only writing what you know, it can be helpful in your writing. For example, in writing fantasy, you use your imagination to invent entire worlds, so everything is new. But having lived in the real world for some amount of time, you should already know a little about human nature, about interactions between people, about human emotions and about how people can sometimes treat those who are different. Those are all bits of knowledge that can help you as you create your fantasy world.

What happens if you are writing about something you have no experience with and are not sure how to portray? That's when research comes into play. The Internet is great source for researching about all sorts of things. For example, when my characters are in a city that I've personally never been to, I can use the Internet to search up different things about the city, and I can use Google maps to virtually "roam" about the city and get a grasp on the layout and feel for the place.

In order to make "writing what you know" easier, you also should read a lot of books. If you read a lot of stories, you will naturally "know" more than someone who doesn't read. Our minds may not be great at retaining minute details about what we've read, but we do retain some general knowledge from what we've been reading, and that includes learning about emotions. For example, all of your children might be alive and healthy, or maybe you don't even have children, but you've read some stories that include grieving parents; if the writing was well done, you've felt the pain those parents experienced while you were reading about it, because we, as humans, have the ability to empathise even with things we have not been through ourselves.

Writing what you know can help you move your story along, but don't limit yourself to writing only about what you know; imagine more. Human beings have an incredible ability to use their imaginations to create. We can create entire universes within our imaginations. You can imagine more than what you know and write more than what you know, all while letting some of the things you do know feed into what you are only imagining.

Happy writing!

Self Publishing: Getting to the End by Victoria Corva #ChaBooCha

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Today, we have a vlog created especially for ChaBooCha by author Victoria Corva. I do believe this is the first vlog post done on the Chapter Book Challenge.

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Victoria Corva writes things and reads things and reads things out loud, and sometimes she gets paid for that, which is nice because it means she can feed her cat.

She lives in Wiltshire with her partner and her furry familiar and as many books as she could fit in her small flat.

She is anxious and autistic and doing just fine.

To find out more about her and read more of her work, visit https://victoriacorva.xyz
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Today's prize is a paperback copy of Books and Bone by Victoria Corva. (FYI: This is not a children's book.) To be entered to win, you must be a signed-up member of ChaBooCha and comment on this blog post. You only get one entry, and the drawing will be done by a random number generator on March 31st at noon. 

Anatomy Of a Middle Grade Manuscript by Laurie Smollett Kutscera #ChaBooCha

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay

ANATOMY OF A MIDDLE GRADE MANUSCRIPT

Lightning Strikes!

As a writer, you’ve probably experienced that moment when you’re involved in some unrelated task and you're suddenly overwhelmed by an idea with nothing to write on! I was sitting in a movie theatre watching the opening credits of a film - where these playing cards filled the screen. I was hypnotized by the faces of the King and Queen of Hearts. I felt them calling me. The next morning, I opened my laptop and began writing a story about a boy who discovers an animated deck of cards in his father’s old desk.

Best Laid Plans

I hadn’t planned on writing a middle grade book. I started out writing what I thought was a picture book. I even worked on a number of illustrations. But once the first draft was done, a dear friend, who was a librarian at a middle school, read it and suggested I consider revising for a middle grade audience. I knew very little about the genre and was grateful for her guidance. She suggested I read what has become one of my all-time favorite books: THE INCREDIBLE JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE, by Kate DiCamillo.

Read, Read, Read!

I immediately began reading as many books in the genre as I could get my hands on— more Kate DiCamillo, Neil Gaiman, Richard Peck, Jennifer L. Holm. I was moved by their heartfelt novels—each one so beautifully crafted. The more I read, the more I began to understand the age group. Their thirst for humor, adventure and authenticity, freed me to become more expressive in my own writing. And, so it began—I would craft a middle grade novel from my picture book draft.

Research

When I began writing MISADVENTURES OF A MAGICIAN'S SON, I knew right away certain aspects of my main character Alex would be similar to mine. He questions everything and can get lost in his own thoughts. We both lost a parent at a young age and both of us were bullied. I felt comfortable tapping into my own journey as an awkward 12-year-old to build his world. But Alex, who reluctantly follows in his father’s footsteps, is also a talented magician. On the subject of magic tricks, I knew very little, and needed to do some serious research.

While the internet offered helpful information, I felt strongly that I needed a one-on-one experience. Enter Joel, a young magician I spent quite a bit of time with. Pen in hand, I asked countless questions while he enthusiastically shuffled his cards, did flourishes and made them fly from one hand to the other. He described each maneuver while I scribbled notes and took plenty of photographs. I also shot video that I watched over and over which helped me translate the card tricks onto the written page.

As the novel progressed, I visited Joel on several occasions loaded with more and more questions. “Could Alex do this? What about a trick like this?” After a while, I realized what I was doing was basically asking permission. Joel helped me realize, when it came to magic, anything was possible!  This was a huge turning point for me. I had permission to take the story where it wanted to go.

Pulling It All Together

I had just completed a writing workshop at Media Bistro in NYC when I discovered they also offered a YA/MG writing-critique workshop. I immediately signed up! Led by a remarkable agent/author Kate McKean, the group of eight was filled with talented writers, screenwriters, playwrights and me! This was the real deal and quite honestly, I was a bit intimidated. But they were all so supportive and the feedback was spot-on. I learned how to build tension, flesh out characters and move the story forward. It still remains one of the best experiences I’ve ever unknowingly put myself into!

Edit, Edit, Edit.

By the time the critique workshop had come to an end, I had received written feedback from each member of the group on my entire manuscript–chapter by chapter–which I organized in separate folders. With the understanding that I needed to get the word count up around 35,000-40,000, I began another draft.

I found this stage to be the most cathartic. Deleting blocks of text for a concise sentence. Elaborating on an emotional moment. Heightening suspense by using short quick sentences. I was molding and reshaping the story like clay on armature.

Step Away.

This is some of the best advice I can share. After a few months of focusing on another project, I came back and was able to review what I had written with a fresh perspective.

Edit some more!

After another round of edits, a few minor changes were made and I was ready for submission.

MISADVENTURES OF A MAGICIAN’S SON became a personal adventure from picture book to middle grade novel that will soon be released by Blue Whale Press this coming Fall! 

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Author/illustrator, Laurie Smollett Kutscera grew up in NYC’s Greenwich Village. She studied fine art and children’s book illustration at Queens College with Caldecott medalist Marvin Bileck. She is a published children’s book illustrator, an award-winning graphic designer and toy designer.

Her passion for writing began 14 years ago while cruising the eastern seaboard from Nantucket to the Virgin Islands. She is an active member of the SCBWI, 12x12 Picture Book Challenge and Children’s Book Academy.

Laurie lives on the north shore of Long Island with her husband Nick and rescue doggie, Cody. She and her husband own and operate an 85ft classic yacht for charter in NYC and Long Island Sound.

www.LSKillustration.com

https://www.facebook.com/laurie.kutscera

twitter:@lkutscera

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Give-away

Some of you already know that one of my (Becky's) hobbies is making jewellery and charm bookmarks. I like adding pretty charms to things, along with other jewellery-making ideas. today's prize is one of my charm-added bracelets. the bracelet itself looked small to me, so I had my 16 year old daughter (who is full-grown at 5'10" tall) try it on to make sure it would fit the average person. I've added a couple of fantasy charms to it and it is today's prize (pictured above). (Don't ask me what metal it is, as I am not sure. I tend to buy mostly silver-plated and stainless steel jewellery pieces and charms. I occasionally get actual sterling silver pieces in, but I don't keep track of which is what.) But it's a pretty bracelet that comes in a pretty jewellery bag, and you can keep it for yourself or give it as a gift to someone else.) If you are already a signed-up member of the challenge, all you have to do to be entered into the drawing for today's prize is comment on this blog post. (The photo doesn't really do the bracelet justice. It's more sparkly than it looks in the photo. I'm great at photographing people and places, but not so great at photographing items.)

Picture Book Writing vs. MG Novel Writing + Adding in Diversity, Oh My! by Tina Cho #ChaBooCha

Image by Pezibear from Pixabay

Picture Book Writing vs. MG Novel Writing + Adding in Diversity, Oh My!

I’m in the middle of a predicament with my WIP. I’m mostly a picture book writer (with four picture books sold to publishers), one chapter book work-for-hire published, and I’m wrestling with my MG novel manuscript.

I’ve taken many picture book writing classes and am in three online picture book critique groups. Picture book writing and reading has been my forte. However, I also love reading middle grade novels and chapter books. I took one online middle grade novel class a few years ago. In picture book writing, we have to keep our word count down, usually below 500 words for a fiction story. Adding in too much description is a big no-no, let alone too much dialog! See the irony?

Take a look at this Venn Diagram I made for my personal blog in 2015 when I wrote the first draft of my MG novel. Yep, it’s been that many years!

(click on the image to view it full-sized)

As a picture book writer, it is extremely difficult for me to write a whole descriptive paragraph. As a reader of MG, I tend to skim through the description part anyway and get to the main story. Yet, my agent continually tells me to add more description. Have you noticed how much description is in Newbery Medal winning books? I’ve used some of them as mentor texts. It seems like judges like description.

Another part of my problem is that my story is set in places I’ve never been to. How can I describe in juicy details, when I haven’t experienced it myself?

So, I employ some hacks. If I can’t go there, I go there in photos. I use YouTube and watch other people’s vacation videos and read their vacation blog posts. I can find many sensory details from those two places. I also talk to people. I have friends in many places around the globe. So, if I have a question about something like what they eat, I shoot my friends a question on Facebook Messenger.

Another recent problem of my MG manuscript is the lack of conflict between characters. In picture book writing, we have a main character and maybe a sidekick or two, especially limiting the presence of parents. One major story problem is enough for a picture book story. But in MG, we have to write a main plot plus subplots which can entail a major conflict plus minor conflicts with minor characters. This sounds so mind-boggling. And each chapter has a conflict of its own. So when I first drafted my story, I did outline and sketch out the major plots and some minor plots. But I’m still missing a minor conflict between my two main characters, which I have to work on.   

Editors are looking for books that reflect our diverse population of children. I think that is wonderful. My WIP is about North Korean children. So my challenge is thinking like a North Korean. Again, this is extremely hard. How can I imagine their thoughts and conversations when I haven’t experienced their gruesome life? My current hack for this one is reading their interviews, journals, and trying to meet them while living in South Korea.

You might be adding in a diverse character. Try those tactics. Even better would be to visit the culture or place they are from.

I recently sold a diverse picture book to Penguin Random House’s new imprint Kokila which will publish marginalized voices. My story is about the haenyeo, granny divers off South Korea’s Jeju Island. First, I tried to write the story from just online articles and YouTube video research. But the story was bleh. I needed to experience the setting and sensory details. So, last spring break (I’m a teacher) my family flew there. It’s less than an hour flight from Seoul. I dragged my family to every spot along the ocean where the haenyeo were diving as well as the haenyeo museum. I took photos. I made my husband do mini interviews and translate when we could with them. Being there allowed me to get those juicy missing tidbits from my earlier drafts. Adding those in made the story come alive and become more real. That draft sold and will come out summer 2020, I’m told. 

And during the next couple months I hope to make it as far north as I can to North Korea’s border, the DMZ (demilitarized zone) for a tour. I’m not sure if that will add anything to my WIP, but you never know what will inspire new stories and find those nuggets needed for your current story. I did find a couple of North Koreans who speak some English. So I’ve asked them questions, but I don’t want to overdo it.

Picture book writers CAN write chapter books and middle grade. You just need to put on a different mindset. You CAN add in a diverse character. Just do your research in all sorts of places. Get out and meet people, and if you have the resources, go there. Your story will be all the better for it.   

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Tina Cho is the author of four picture books-- Rice from Heaven: The Secret Mission to Feed North Koreans (Little Bee Books/Bonnier Publishing August 2018), Korean Celebrations (forthcoming Tuttle August 2019), Breakfast with Jesus (forthcoming Harvest House 2020), and The Ocean Calls: A Mermaid Haenyeo Story (forthcoming from Kokila summer 2020). Although she grew up and taught in the United States, she currently lives in South Korea with her husband and two children while teaching at an international school.

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Give-away

Today's prize has been offered by Dani Duck. She is running a Writing Challenge event in May. The Writing Challenge is a free writing event to help people be creative and have fun with their writing! This event is for all genres and age groups. Find out more here. She's offering two prizes - two fully printed booklets/calendars for writers (you can get the booklet as a free pdf download during her event, if you don't win the printed version here). Sorry, but this give-away is limited to the US and Canada. All you have to do to be entered in the give-away, if you are already a signed-up member of the challenge, is to comment on this blog post.

Chapter Book Q & A with Ariel Bernstein #ChaBooCha

Chapter Book Q & A with Ariel Bernstein

When I was approached to write a post for the Chapter Book Challenge, I wasn’t sure at first what I should write about. So I asked writers in the KidLit411 Facebook group what they would like to know about chapter books. Below are some of the questions asked (a couple are condensed), and my answers.

How do you break into the market as a writer?

To break into the chapter book market, you mostly take the same route as breaking into the picture book, middle grade, and young adult markets. You write the best manuscript you can, query agents, and the agent will send the manuscript to editors that accept chapter book submissions. Sometimes a writer will have a previous relationship with an editor from other books, but that isn’t a pre-requisite for an editor wanting a book. In fact, some editors only want to work with writers in one category, such as only wanting to accept picture book submissions from a writer.

Also, sometimes a publisher will think of an idea for a chapter book series and approach a writer (either directly or through their agent), to work on the material. This is known as “work-for-hire.” Keep in mind that while this is commonplace for the industry, there are still plenty of deals made for chapter books where the story originates with the author.

Are most chapter books sold as stand alone books or series?

Most chapter books are sold in a multiple books deal, as the expectation (and hope!) is that there will be many books in the series. My chapter book series, WARREN & DRAGON, was originally sold in a 2-book deal. The offer for books 3 and 4 came later. Sometimes an editor and writer will have a finite number of books in mind for a series, and something it will just depend on how well the series does, and if the writer wants to continue with it. Keep in mind that you usually don’t need to have written more than one book to submit a chapter book. Sometimes an editor will want to know your ideas for future books, so it’s a good idea to think of a few more storylines.

How to get your chapter book manuscript submission ready?

Read a ton of recently published chapter books to see what works in them, and then see if the same elements are working in your own story. Also, it helps to find fellow chapter book writers to trade critiques with. Most of the time you will have to trust your instinct when your story seems ready for submission. Some writers will find freelance editors and writers to give them feedback, and while this can be helpful, it can also be costly and is not a necessity.

How do you decide if your book is a chapter book or middle grade?

There are specific things you can look for, such as the age of the main character(s). If the main character is in grades kindergarten through 3rd, it is often a chapter book. If the main character is in 4^th grade through middle school, they are often in a middle grade. Word count is a big tell as well. Chapter books are usually anywhere from 2,000 to around 12,000 words, while middle grade novels often start above 40,000 words. But the best way to tell if your story should be a chapter book or a middle grade novel is the voice. To know where the voice of your story belongs, you’d need to read published chapter books and middle grades to see where it fits in.

Can you write a chapter book with the main character as an animal?

Sure! Editors are always looking for original concepts and characters in chapter books, so having the main character be something they’ve never seen before is a great way to get their attention. Just make sure that an animal main character is still relatable to young chapter book readers. A chapter book reader would likely understand the character of a cat who doesn’t want to go on their family’s annual camping trip in order to watch the feline world series. But they might not understand a book about a grandpa unicorn who knits horn caps all day. If the right audience wants to read your book, it’ll work.

I hope the answers to these questions help all chapter book writers! I’m looking forward to reading your stories!

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Ariel Bernstein has the voice of an owl, a monkey, and a boy with a dragon for a pet. In other words, she's a children's book author. Ariel's debut picture book, I Have a Balloon, illustrated by Scott Magoon, is a Fall 2017 Junior Library Guild Selection. Her debut chapter book series, Warren & Dragon, illustrated by Mike Malbrough, is called "adorable fun for chapter book newbies" by Kirkus Reviews. You can find Ariel online at https://www.arielbernsteinbooks.com, and on Twitter and Instagram at @ArielBBooks.

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Give-away

We have an official ChaBooCha keychain. These keychains are normally only given to ChaBooCha Regional Ambassadors (which reminds me: any RAs who are in their second year of being an RA, please let me know so I can send you your keychain), but, occasionally, I get to offer one as a prize during the challenge. If you are a signed-up member of the challenge, all you have to do to be entered into the random prize draw for this keychain is to comment on this blog post. The winner will be selected by a random number generator on March 31st.

The Second Week #ChaBooChaLite #ChaBooCha

We've already reached the second week of the Lite challenge. How are you all doing with your stories?

The second week can often be difficult, because the first rush of the idea and your opening scene are done now and you have to start getting from one point in your story to the next. If you've outlined your story ahead of time, you might find this stage easier, but for those of you who, like me, create the story as you write it, you might find the writing comes to you a little bit more slowly now. You'll have to think about the story and where it is going before you write these next scenes.

Feel free to browse through previous posts here in the blog if you need some help or inspiration. ChaBooCha guest authors have covered a lot of topics during past challenges.

Give-away

And now for this week's prize:

Some of you might know that I, occasionally, create book covers: some for books I publish and some for clients. Here, you can see some examples of the covers I have created in the past. I am, by no means, the best at cover creation, but my covers do appeal to readers.

I'm offering, for this week's prize, to create a *book cover for one winner. You need to comment on this post to enter. The winner will be drawn by a random number generator drawn from signed-up members who comment below. The winner will be announced on September 30th.

*I work with photo-manipulation. My style might not be right for the book you are creating, but you are under no obligation, if you are the winner, to use the cover I create. I will do my best to come up with something that reflects the title and theme of your book. 

One day left to finish your book! #ChaBooCha

Everyone, you have one day left to finish your ChaBooCha novel! How far along have you gotten in this challenge? Any progress is better than no progress, but, if you are in it to win it, you have just one more day.

We have heard from some amazing guest authors during this challenge and, I hope, you have learned some new ways of approaching different elements of your story and, also, the editing process. But what's important is that you have devoted some time towards writing your novel, whether or not you're going to "win" the challenge.

Use today to get some more words written of your story. Your the only one who can write your story, so we need you to write it.

Good luck!

Writing is Magic #ChaBooCha

Sorry for the delay in posts. I usually have a post ready for you every couple of days during the challenge, but this time, most of the guests who will be posting have asked for dates in the middle of the month or end of the month. I hope you are all doing well with the challenge do far, we are already more than one-third of the way through the month. To keep you inspired, I'm re-posting this article that was first posted on the Blog Your Book in 30 Days blog here.

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Writing is Magic

The one vice that most writers are susceptible to is procrastination. It is so easy to find many, many things that need to be done and to tell yourself, "I'll sit down to write after I've done..." But this is the path that leads to never finishing your book.

For those of you who are able to set aside specific writing time, then by all means, get your bum in a chair and start writing. Make sure you designate that time for writing though. If you need to check your e-mail or you want to spend some time on Facebook, give yourself set times for doing so. Your best plan is to set aside a set amount of time for writing and when the time is up, then you can go and check your e-mail, browse the internet and chat with friends on Facebook and Twitter. Or set yourself a specific word count to reach for the day, before you start spending some more relaxing Internet time,

Some writers have very little free time, so sitting in a proper chair at a desk and writing is not an option for them. If this is the case for you, you need to use any chance you have to sit down, wherever you are, and write. If you are in your car waiting for your son or daughter to get out of school, grab a notebook or laptop and start writing. You can even dictate your story into your phone if necessary. If you are sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be called in for you appointment, whip out your notebook and start writing. If you are walking the dog, bring your phone with you and dictate your story as you walk. Be creative about how you fit in your daily writing. Maybe dictating while walking your dog is not actually SITTING, but sitting down and getting your bum in a chair is not the only way to write your book. ("Bum" is a British word for "butt," and I think it sounds nicer.)

Some of you may be wondering why getting yourself to sit down and write, or getting yourself to write during those tiny snippets of time when you are out and about, is so difficult to do. You love to write stories, so why do you fight it? Why do you find excuses not to do it? Why do you spend your time doing a variety of different things, all of which can wait, when you should be writing? Isn't writing your calling? Isn't it the one thing that keeps you going? So why do you struggle?

It's because, no matter how much you love to write, no matter how much you feel pulled and prodded by your own subconscious to write your stories, writing is hard. Putting pen to paper or setting your fingers on the keyboard while staring at a blank screen and typing in those words, is difficult. the words must come from deep inside of you in order for them to work. The words might form more easily in your mind than they do on the paper or screen. But the stories you tell are unique, and because of this uniqueness, the good words, the ones that breathe life into a character and transport your readers into another place or another world, those words don't come easily. They have to be played with and prodded, teased and shaped, in order to work.

Writing is art. Despite this, it doesn't matter if you are writing non-fiction, fiction, poetry or anything else, writing is still work. It's work that comes from your heart, from your very soul. Stringing out tiny bits of your soul onto the page for people to read is scary. And because you are sharing bits of your soul with others every time you write, you want to make sure that every word that comes from you is magical.

Of course writing is hard. It's also something more; it's magic.

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Give-away

Today's give-away is a $5 USD Amazon gift certificate. If you are a signed-up member of ChaBooCha, all you need to do to be entered into the drawing for this book is comment on this blog post. Winners will be selected from a random number generator on March 31st at noon (GMT).

Regional Ambassadors & the Teapot Tales anthology series #ChaBooCha

ChaBooCha Regional Ambassadors

The Chapter Book Challenge has been growing year on year and, there are some things I cannot do because of the restrictions of my location, such as meet-ups. As a solution, in places where there are more than just one member, ChaBooCha has Regional Ambassadors. 

ChaBooCha regional ambassadors are the people who coordinate Chapter Book Challenge events within their region. In order to become a regional ambassador, there first needs to be more members in your region than just you, and your main duties are to arrange write-ins and meet-ups with other members within your region and also to spread the word about the challenge within your region.

Promotional materials, when they are in the budget, get sent out to our Regional Ambassadors, and printable files will be sent as well. A special RA badge will be created for RAs to use on their blogs and websites, if they so choose. As things move along, there may be more perks added for RAs.

If you think this is a role you might like to take on within your region, send me an e-mail. (There is only one RA per region, but they may choose a co-RA.)

The Teapot Tales anthology series

The Chapter Book Challenge began in 2012. In 2013, in an effort to help pay for the prizes, the domain, some of the promotional materials and other related stuff, members started contributing to an anthology of flash fictions stories. There are now three anthologies in the Teapot Tales series of anthologies: "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales" (Teapot Tales: Volume 1) and "Teapot Tales: Pirates, Mermaids and Monsters of the Sea" (Teapot Tales: Volume 2) and Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unusual Fairy Tales (Teapot Tales: Volume 3). 

Submissions are only open to Chapter Book Challenge members. The anthologies are sold through Amazon, but will be expanding to other retail outlets. All authors retain the copyrights to their stories to publish in their own collections or on their own websites. Up to three stories may be submitted. 
Submitting to the anthology is completely voluntary; you do not have to submit any stories in order to participate in the Chapter Book Challenge. Proceeds go towards the Chapter Book Challenge. Contributing authors get an author bio listed towards the back of the anthology in an "About the Authors and Illustrators" section. Artwork (line drawings) is also accepted.. Submission information can be found at Melusine Muse Press.

This year's anthology title is "Teapot Tales: A Collection of Extraordinary Fairy Tales." The stories are flash fiction (minimum word count 300 words/maximum word count 1,000 words) and are to either be a new take on an old fairy tale (sometimes called twisted fairy tales or fractured fairy tales) or completely new fairy tales.

All work must be your own.

Deadline for story submissions (and artwork): August 31st, 2016

Research for your Novel #ChaBooChaLite

Research is something that, with most books, you will have no choice but to do at some point during your writing. If you are writing a fiction novel, than you will need to research a variety of things for your book?

Some things you might need to research when writing a fiction novel:

History:
When is your story set? If it's in the past, what did people wear? How did they speak? What buildings were already built in that era? How were women treated? What occupations were prevalent? How did people travel? How was food prepared? As you can see, the list of things you will need to know if you story is set in the past is a long one, much longer than the questions asked here. And you will need to do thorough research on the topic in order to write a story that won't ask people to suspend their belief more than they should have to. Local museums, libraries and, if you have one, your local historical society are good places to start your research. Elderly relatives can also be true fonts of information about the past.

If your story is set in the future, it's important that you portray a future that is believable. What types of technology are being invented today? How do you think they will change by the time period your story is set in? Science and technology magazine could be a good source for finding out how some things are already set to change in the near future.

If you story is set in the present, your research won't have to be as intensive, unless your setting is somewhere that you are not familiar with.

Setting: 
Where are you setting your story? How is the setting important to the story and the events within the story? Have you done enough research on your setting to be able to write about it? Is your story going to be in a different world? If so, what do you need to research in order to accurately portray this mythical world?

Some authors who have a book set in the present day world use the need to research their chosen location for their setting as an excuse to travel. Some authors keep their stories located somewhere that they already know very well, but even then, there is research that might need to be done about the location. If the setting is local but in the past, local museums can be a great help in your research. For local stories set in the present, see if your town or city has a visitor's welcome center.

Weapons: 
If your protagonist or antagonist are using weaponry of any kind, you will need to research the type of weapon and how it is used. for example, different guns have different weights and caliber of bullets. Some guns and rifles take longer to reload than others ans some guns and rifles shoot faster than others. Some shoot more bullets before needing to be reloaded than others do. You have automatic weapons and semi-automatic weapons. Which will your character be using? And, taking a moment to look back at setting, which weapons are legal or illegal to carry in your story's location? What about licensing regulations within the chosen location for your story? 
Archery also contains differences that need to be researched. There are long bows and short bows, as well as cross bows and compound bows. Do you know what makes each of them different? And what about the way they feel when you use each one? Does one take more strength to pull back than another does? How fast can each type shoot arrows? What types of arrows do they use? Did you know that the compound bow was created in such a way that it reduces the holding weight when it reach full draw position? Or that the recurve bow is the only bow style allowed at the Olympics?

There are several other weapons that your characters might make use of; a few examples are swords, throwing knives and poison darts. An extra step for your research would be to take a class that teaches you how to use the weapon. One class might be enough to give you an idea of the level of skill and difficulty and how each movement feels for the person wielding the weapon.

And a whole lot more:The types of research you will need to do will depend on what or who your novel is about, where it is set and many other factors. Each novel is unique and so is the research that it will need in order for it to be written well.

What have you needed to research for your novels?

*****

Everyone who is signed up for ChaBooCha Lite and comments on this post will be entered into a drawing for the cat charm book mark (similar to the one shown above). The drawing will occur at the end of the month and the winner will be announced in a blog post.

What to Do When you Hate What You've Written by Adam Wallace #ChaBooCha

What to Do When You Hate What You’ve Written

Writing is awesome. It is so much fun to sit and write or type something out, read it over, and be rapt in what you’ve written. It might make you laugh or make you cry. It might make you feel scared. It might make you feel like you can make it in this caper.

Except sometimes it doesn’t.

Sometimes you read a piece of your work and you hate it. Like, seriously hate it. It doesn’t have the feel you were after. It’s dull and drab and goes nowhere. It was a brilliant idea that doesn’t come across at all!

Think this just happens to you? Think again.

IT HAPPENS TO EVERYONE!!!

Sure, it happens more to some people than others, but it happens to everyone.

So what do you do when you’ve written something that you hate? To me, there are a few options.

1. Put it aside for a period of time. Especially if it is an idea or theme that you are really keen to explore, put it aside. Leave it. Move on to something else. Stick it in a drawer and do not think of it again.

Except you will.

You will think about it.

Suddenly, and it may be weeks or months down the track, something will pop into your head. An idea. A thought on how you can fix it, make it better.

That’s when you take it out of the drawer and get back to work.

(P.S. If that doesn’t happen, if you don’t get a burst of inspiration, you can still get back to work on it. Or not. You can also just leave it there for some more time.)

2. Work through it. Some people actually enjoy working through that phase of hating a piece of work, digging deep into it and really finding out why it isn’t working, doing the hard yards to come up with a piece of work that they’re happy with. To them, the final piece can feel more rewarding, and they can love it even more because they hated it at one point.

This isn’t me …

3. Show it to people you trust will be honest with you. Yes men are not your friend when you’re a writer. Not if you want to improve, at least.

Let these other people read it. If you tell them that you’re not happy with it, don’t say why. Don’t lead their comments in a certain direction. Just let them read it and tell you what they think. Two things might happen here. One is that they may actually like it. Just because you hate it doesn’t mean everyone else will. Then you have a decision to make, because is there a point to producing a piece of work if you hate it? Even if others like it? That’s up to you.

The second thing that might happen is that they, with a fresh set of eyes, may be able to give you ideas that can turn the piece around. If those ideas click with you, well, that’s when it’s time to get back to work.

4. The last and final thing I think you can do when you hate what you’ve written, and sometimes this can happen before or after you steps 1, 2 or 3, is to chuck it out. Just chuck it. You don’t have to love and keep every single thing you write. If you do, if you cling to thinking every piece has to be brilliant, and that you and everyone else in the world has to love every word you ever produce, you will never move forward.

You will never become a great writer.

You have to be prepared to just let some things go and move on.

Some pieces are steps along your journey, and that’s it. You need to get them out of your system to free yourself up for what you really want to write, even if you don’t know it at the time.

And even if you chuck a piece, there may still be snippets of dialogue or description that you may keep in a notebook, or there may be a theme that you may still like to try and write something around later, but you don’t have to keep the entire piece.

There’s no rule.

Not everything you write has to be a masterpiece, but it is all part of becoming a better writer. And sometimes, throwing something out and letting it go will free you up to write something brilliant.

Good luck, and happy writing!

About the Author

A qualified Engineer and Primary School Teacher, Adam Wallace settled on writing books for children as his career of choice. With more than 20 published, including Better Out Than In and the How to Draw series, Adam is fast becoming a well-known name in the world of children’s books. You can find Adam's books at Adam Wallace Books and his Facebook author page here.

Give-away

All you need to do, as a signed-up member of the Chapter Book Challenge, to enter into the drawing for "Writing Irresistable Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers" by Mary Kole is to comment on this blog post. (If you are reading this in your e-mail, you will need to click on the link that will take you to the actual post and then comment.)

Interview with author Darren Shan #ChaBooCha

Darren Shan has generously offered to let me ask him some questions for ChaBooCha which I am sharing below. I have some children of my own who love reading his books and also love writing so they are very excited to be able to read his answers here. I know it's unlikely, but if you actually haven't heard of Darren Shan before, there are two things to tell you: 1 - Where have you BEEN? and 2 - His bio is at the end of this post.

Interview with author Darren Shan

What motivates you to write about the paranormal, to create darker worlds from which your characters draw their experiences?
I always advise budding authors to write about what interests them, and I've always been fascinated by the darkness and what moves within it, which is why my books usually explore some very dark areas.

Why do you think the darker elements in your books appeal so much to your readers?
I think horror and dark fantasy appeal to readers because they allow us to look at the world and our lives from a different angle, to examine ourselves in a different light, and reflect on our day-to-day lives in a different way. For instance, my book Lord Loss featured a character whose parents and sister are killed by demons. He descends into madness (understandably!) but then finds the strength and courage within himself to recover and piece his life back together. What the book is saying to readers is that we can overcome any tragedy that befalls us, even the loss of the people we love most. But by using demons and magic, it allowed my readers to do that in a way that was also exciting and intriguing. Like any medicine, a good message is best swallowed with a little something sweet!

How do you inject a touch of humour when things are going wrong for your main character without it seeming out of place?
Humour actually goes pretty naturally with horror. When you weave a truly dark story, you need the lighter moments to give the readers some relief, and also to contrast with the mosre serious scenes. This is an old writing truism, something that Shakespeare worked into many of his texts. Any good story should be a mixture of the dark and the light.

What advice would you give to other writers who want to write using elements of darker/supernatural worlds?
My key piece of advice to writers of any genre is the same -- create characters that readers are going to be able to identify with, characters they will be interested in. You don't always have to make those characters loveable and charming -- my protagonist in Zom-B starts out as a VERY unlikeable being -- but there has to be a way for readers to connect with them, otherwise they'll have no real reason to read on. Every writer is looking for a great plot, something new and extraordinary, but those plots are wasted if we don't people our stories with characters that readers will want to spend time with.

About Darren Shan

Darren Shan's real name is Darren O'Shaughnessy. His initial breakthrough in publication was with an adult book, in 1999, titled Ayuamarca (since re-released in the UK as Procession Of The Dead, and coming to the USA in 2010). In January 2000, his first children's book, Cirque du Freak, which he'd written as a fun side-project, was published. The first book in a series titled The Saga of Darren Shan (or Cirque du Freak, as it's known in America) attracted rave reviews. Shan loved writing for children so much, that for the next several years he focused exclusively on his books for younger readers. First, he wrote a total of 12 books about vampires. He quickly followed up his vampiric saga with The Demonata, a series about demons. Running to ten books in total, The Demonata cemented Shan's place in the UK as the Master Of Children's Horror, and saw him score his first UK #1 bestseller. 

He also wrote a one-off short book, called Koyasan, for World Book Day in the UK. There was a very successful manga adaptation of Shan's vampire series, drawn by the Japanese artist, Takahiro Arai. It was originally serialized in Japan, but collected volumes are now on sale in the USA, UK and other countries. In addition to writing for children, Shan has now returned to his first love and is once again writing for adults as well. He has had two adult books published in the UK, Procession Of The Dead and Hell's Horizon. They have been released in a number of other countries too, and are due to hit the USA in 2010. A third, City of the Snakes, goes on sale in the UK in March 2010. His first adult books were released under the name of D B Shan, but they are being reprinted under the name of Darren Shan in March 2010, and City of the Snakes will be released under the Darren Shan name. 

By the start of 2010, Shan's books were on sale in every continent, in 39 countries, in 31 languages, and have been children's bestsellers in America, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and other countries. The books have topped adult bestseller charts in Hungary, Japan and Taiwan. In total, Shan's books have sold close to 15 million copies worldwide! The movie rights to Cirque Du Freak were bought by Universal, and the first movie (which combines elements from the first three books in the series) was released on October 23rd, 2009, starring newcomer Chris Massoglia as Darren Shan, along with a wide array of established stars such as Josh Hutcherson, John C Reilly, Salma Hayek, Willem Defoe and Ken Watanabe. The movie was called Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant. It was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in February 2010.

Give-away

The give-away today is a copy of "Writing the Paranormal Novel" by Steven Harper. Only signed-up members of the challenge are eligible. In order to be entered into the drawing, just comment on this blog post. (Comment must be on the actual blog, not a response to the e-mailed version of it.) Winner will be chosen by a random number generator at noon on March 31st.