Consequences of the Heart

[In appreciation - for Donna Brooks]                       

            In June 2003 I participated in a writing conference at Manhattanville College in New York.  I was enrolled in the Masters in Writing program at the time, and we were required to attend at least one of the annual week-long summer conferences.  In addition to attending panels with editors and agents, going to readings, and learning about aspects of the publishing world, we all had to choose one creative seminar that we would attend every morning.  I chose the Writing for Young Adults seminar, led by Donna Brooks who was at that time the Editorial Director at Dutton Children’s Books, an imprint of the Penguin Group. 

            Donna admitted to us at the outset that she was nervous—she said she had never done anything like this before.  The information she passed to us came from her extensive knowledge of the children’s book business and her experience as an editor.  But once she felt comfortable with our group, it was her passion for the books and their authors that really came across and made an impression on me.  I took copious notes and still refer to them. 

            Shortly after our seminar, Donna left Dutton (which was, from what I understand, not her decision), and from what I've heard over the years, she left the children's book business to do different things with her life.  I have always considered it a tragic loss for all of us in the industry.  I only knew her for a week, but her editorial passion inspired me to follow my own heart, which led me to writing young adult stories.

            I’ve always wanted to pass on some of what Donna shared with us.  A lot of what she talked about had to do with character, specifically characters that are children.  Here are a few things she asked us to keep in mind when writing for children:

• Consequences of the Heart:  consequences flow from a character’s choices and actions and emotional flow.
• Children’s fiction is about the choices children make and the consequences of those choices, and how they live with them. 
• Young children are feeling all the time.  Children are always dealing with their powerlessness.
• Children experience things through concrete images:  i.e., when a parent dies, a child will want to know who will make the dinner, do the laundry, etc.
• Don’t worry about a character reflecting badly on YOU (the writer).   Don’t let the “mother” in you take over—don’t write from a “mothering” place.  Let the character go wherever he/she needs to go.
• “Every minute we are inventing ourselves.  Your characters are inventing themselves and by that, discovering what is important.” – D. Brooks

COMPELLING AND BELIEVABLE to be published in Sucker Literary Magazine's first online edition!

The message arrived from Sucker Literary Magazine yesterday just as I was leaving work.  I checked my e-mail one last time before logging off.

"It is with great pleasure to notify you that we have accepted your piece COMPELLING AND BELIEVABLE for publication in our first edition of SUCKER LITERARY MAGAZINE."

 Really?  REALLY?  My loud woo-hoo brought colleagues scurrying out of their cubicles.  I know I was beaming...at least.  This will be my first published work.

Compelling and Believable (or What I Learned in Sophomore English) is the story mentioned in my previous post.  It was a piece I started in 2007 when I was living in Paris, but I didn't find the heart of the story until I unearthed it a month ago.  My agent Erzsi Deak encouraged me to submit it.  Voila!

Yes, Virginia.  There IS a Santa Claus!  

About SUCKER:  http://suckerliterarymagazine.wordpress.com/  

And here is the Welcome message from the website, from Hannah Goodman, the President and Founder of the magazine:

Hello!
Welcome to Sucker Literary Magazine where raw, undiscovered, talented writers for young adults have the opportunity to strut their stuff. As we are a fledgling outfit, we will be eating the elephant one tiny bite at a time (how’s that for some mixed metaphors?) That is to say, our immediate goal is to collect submissions for our first issue, scheduled to be released by the fall/winter of 2011-2012. Currently, we are seeking FICTION ONLY (no stand alone poetry unless it is a short story or chapter from a novel in verse) and welcome all genres of YA writing. Bring on your skateboarding vampires, angst ridden, nerd-boy who has never been kissed, or girl crushing on her best friend (be it girl or boy).

A wonderful article about SUCKER in Publishers Weekly:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/47825-new-lit-mag-to-showcase-emerging-ya-writers.html

The first edition is due out at the end of this year or the beginning of 2012.

"Do you have any short stories?"

As it happens, I have some, almost all of them UFOs (unfinished objects).  I prefer novels—prefer to read them, prefer to write them.  I like the long burn of character development, plot complications, satisfying denouements.  Short stories are concentrated, like picture books:  brief, intense characterizations, focused plots, one scene or a few mini-scenes. 

When I’m running with an idea, I like to let it grow and develop.  Using it for a short story often seems like I’m wasting it.  But not every idea can sustain a novel. 

So when asked if I had any short stories, I delved into my file and came up with one I’d written a few years ago.  It had good bones but no muscle.  The main character had no motivation for his actions.  It was a story about a relationship with no relationship to back it up.

I named the main character Jason and listened to him talk about his friend.  I let him describe how their relationship changed his life.  But Jason wanted something different than I had planned for him.  I wasn’t comfortable with the story he wanted to tell, but I let him tell it.  Is there a novel in Jason’s story?  Maybe.  That would be a different story.

Bologna: Sightseeing when the Book Fair is over

For my final post about Bologna: a short list of things-to-do when you have a break from the Book Fair.  I had about three days to explore the city on my own.  Here are some of the places I visited.

A Classon family tradition, when we travel anywhere, is to seek out the highest accessible point in the area, and climb.  In Bologna, that point is the Torre Asinelli.  The "two towers" for which Bologna is famous (Asinelli and Garisenda) were built in the 12th century, when Bologna had many more towers still standing.  Most of those towers were taken down over the years, but Asinelli still stands, all 334 feet of it.  Garisenda is the shorter of the two--it was deconstructed in the 14th century when things began to lean (about 11 feet from the perpendicular).

 

 Here's a closer shot of one of the "leaning towers" of Bologna (Garisenda):

 To climb Torre Asinelli, you need strong quads, good wind, and the ability to deal with narrow wooden staircases winding around a nasty abyss.  (500 stairs up, and 500 back down)
This staircase is kind of like the Amalfi Coast highway:   a one-lane street for two-way traffic.

 But here is the reward, a gorgeous view of the terra cotta roofs of Bologna:

 

And here is Piazza Maggiore, the heart of central Bologna, from the tower:

 One of the best things about Bologna is its manageable size.  You can walk from one end of the old city to the other in a few hours, which leaves plenty of time for lingering.  Bologna residents love to linger and talk.  (Note the building porticoes--almost all the sidewalks in Bologna are covered, so you don't need an umbrella!)






The University of Bologna is the "oldest continually operating university in the world."  The week of the Book Fair was "Baccalaureate" or graduation.  Students dress up, sport laurel wreathes, drink out of wine bottles on the street, and parade around singing (easier to do after a bottle of wine). 

 Old vs. newer Bologna (one of the original
city gates):











And the famous Triton fountain near the Piazza Maggiore, with the breast-squirting mermaids (a favorite meeting spot): 

Other things to do (when you're not eating or shopping) include visiting the many beautiful churches, a handful of interesting museums, the modest botanical gardens near the University's science buildings, and take day trips out of the city (I didn't have time for that).  Bologna seems a very livable city and I hope to go back soon.

Bologna 2011: Food

After the Book Fair, what is there to do in Bologna?  Plenty.  I'll get to history & sightseeing at a later date, something I explored on my own since most of my friends were booked with business meetings most of the day (plus, they'd all been to Bologna many times and had no interest in climbing Torre Asinelli with me).


No, Bologna BF regulars get those meetings out of the way ASAP to get to the important stuff:  food, shopping...and food shopping.  Let's face it, this is Italy, home of PASTA:

 

With so much pasta to choose from and only a week in Bologna to try it all, decisions are grave and long-debated.  Here, Doug Cushman deliberates between fresh tortellini and tortelloni di zucca (pumpkin):

We ate mostly at trattorias, where meat (mostly beef or pork) is traditional, but where seafood is not commonly found.  However, the markets do carry fresh fish:

And almost every night we got together for dinner.  My favorite meal was at Trattoria Da Silvio, where the food just kept coming.  Here is the bloated, sated group after umpteen courses (I lost count of the desserts) and a digestif of homemade limoncello (l to r: Doug Cushman, me, Bridget Strevens-Marzo, Angela Cerrito, Erzsi Deak):

Don't we look happy?

For the in-betweens, our favorite coffee shop.  We liked the name:

 

And then more food shopping!  Gifts to bring home: the chocolate Easter eggs packed in colorful boxes...or the huge eggs on the stainless steel counter in the back, neither of which would fit in my tiny suitcase.  Oh well.

But most important, spending time with friends:

Bologna: Take Me to the Fair

The Bologna Book Fair 2011:  
Spread throughout multiple "Fiera" buildings, at least five football fields in combined size (really, only five football fields?), the fair is a Function-Junction of children's book publishers, agents, authors, illustrators, marketers (etc.) from around the world.  I was a visitor--no business to transact--so I was able to wander...and wander...and wander...through the hundreds of exhibits.  My experience was a visual one, so I will tell it with photos.


 Thanks to Bridget Strevens-Marzo for this proof of my attendance:

I returned the favor (this is Bridget): 

Bridget's new book (she's the illustrator; the text is by Kristy Dempsey) 

is MINI RACER.

For information on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Mini-Racer-Kristy-Dempsey/dp/1599901706/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1302739804&sr=1-9

Erzsi Deak (center) was busy wheeling and dealing (and translating):

Angela Cerrito is smiling here because she just received 

her first copy of her book, THE END OF THE LINE, 

published April 1, 2011 by Holiday House:

 

A description of THE END OF THE LINE from Amazon.com:

  "Gripping and suspenseful, this powerful, no-holds-barred novel by an exciting new talent goes deep inside a young boy's mind. Thirteen-year-old Robbie is locked in a room with nothing but a desk, a chair, a piece of paper, and a pencil. He s starving, but all they ll give him is water. He is sure he s in a nuthouse or a prison. Actually, he s at Great Oaks School, aka the End of the Line. Kept in solitary confinement, Robbie must earn points for food, a bed, even bathroom privileges. He must learn to listen carefully, to follow the rules, and to accept and admit the truth: he is a murderer. Robbie s first-person account of his struggles at the school at times horrifying, at times hilarious alternates with flashbacks to the events that led to his incarceration."

Brian Selznick (in glasses, third from left) talked about his new book coming out in September:  WONDERSTRUCK (Scholastic Press). The moderator (left of Brian) asked questions and the other two people translated into French and Italian and English.  As you might imagine, this took a loooong time.

My prize for most imaginative conference room goes to Werkhaus from Germany for their innovative VW bus design:  ( http://www.werkhaus.de )

 And this photo gives a sense of the crowds:

That was the Fair.  More on Bologna in future posts.

Off to Bologna!

I'm off to the Bologna Book Fair, then a week of the Amalfi Coast.  I'm looking forward to new adventures, real pizza, and a good chianti with friends.  Ciao.

Some of my recent favorite books

Without going too far into the past--and I may write more on some of these books at a later time:
DELIRIUM - Lauren Oliver  -- and -- BEFORE I FALL - Lauren Oliver
    (two of the best books I've read; get them!)
REVOLUTION - Jennifer Donnelly
     (I don't know why this book hasn't won a slew of awards)
LIFE AS WE KNEW IT - Suzanne Beth Pfeffer
     (I still have to read the 2nd and 3rd books in this trilogy, but this book was amazing)
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN - Sherman Alexie
     (Just so you don't think I'm stuck on achingly serious girl stories)
GOING BOVINE - Libba Bray
     (Wow...out there and wacky but deep)
Laurie Halse Anderson - starting with SPEAK, but for everything, including her
     wonderful new colonial America series
Rick Riordan - For reintroducing us to the classic myths with thrills and humor
HUNGER GAMES trilogy - Suzanne Collins
MATCHED - Ally Condie
HOUSE OF NIGHT series - P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
     (Sorry, but I'm hooked.  Vampire soap opera, yes!)

This is the teeny-tip of the iceberg.

What are YOU reading?

Let me first discuss my reading habits.  I usually have 3-5 books going at once:

1. Bedside book

2. iPod audio book

3. Car CD/tape book

4. Paperback in my totebag for doctor offices, coffee breaks

5. Manscripts of pre-pub novels on my laptop for reviewing

90% of the time, these are all Young Adult novels, because that is my field.  I read them.  I write them.  I review them freelance for a book scout.

I'll post some of my reviews soon.  Meanwhile, what do you read?  Anything outstanding?  Let me know.

Wordprowler is born!

Welcome to my new blog, Wordprowler.  


Giving birth is exciting, cosmic, humbling, and a little painful.  This goes for books as well as babies...and, I suspect, blogs.  As a new blog parent, I will try to take good care of my child, nurture it, treat it with respect and try not to ignore it when it screams for attention.