OMG!! I can’t believe it!!!! After getting two separate critiques from fellow writers (who were awesome!!!!) and from a very friendly and helpful agent (she’s the best!!!!) I learned I made a huge, really horrible mistake in my novel manuscript!!! And I’ve been sending this manuscript out to agents!!! And they’ve been rejecting it, with nice words, but I still cannot believe I did this!!!!
You might have made the same mistake and I’m worried you might not even realize it!!!
Don’t worry, though, because there’s still time to correct it if you did, so yay!!
I have been using way too many exclamation points in my novel!!!
I used 307!!!!
I used 5 just on the first page!! Look!!
Here’s a screenshot of the first page of my novel!!!
What the heck! Who even does that! Why would I use so many?
Have you ever read a novel with 307 exclamation marks? How many are in a normal novel? I don’t know!!
I used over 3000 periods and 500 question marks (Wow!!) but I also used 307 exclamation points!!! That is crazy!! But I’m also kind of excited!!!
I’m going to go and delete some before I send the new version out to three new agents who favorited my tweet during the most recent #PitMad. I was pretty psyched to get three favorites!! But I really have to delete some of those exclamation marks. And maybe drink less coffee.
I’ve been involved in some contentious issues lately, including gun violence prevention. It is a scary, sad, frustrating issue.
In order to stay strong, sometimes I need to find peaceful moments. I use the Stop, Breathe and Think app to meditate as often as I can, even if it’s only five minutes in a day.
But a book came across my path the other day that offered a lovely look into Buddhism and insight into the process of creativity and story telling. I wanted to share it with you in case you needed help finding a peaceful mind, too.
The Cat Who Went to Heaven is a Newbery Award winner that describes how the cat, who did not honor Buddha at his death, atoned and was welcomed with Buddha’s forgiveness.
We could all use such forgiveness. We can all do better at forgiving ourselves. We can all work harder to forgive others.
Along with The Cat, our family also loves Zen Shorts, a lovely collection of Buddhist principles conveyed via vignettes and a fat panda bear. You can’t go wrong with a panda.
Many times, I write to find my way out of confusion and frustration over an issue, idea, or concept that bothers me. Other times, if my mind is too tumultuous I have real trouble focusing and getting the words out. Sometimes I need to reflect and calm down before I can really express my true thoughts and feelings.
In The Cat Who Went to Heaven, the artist meditates for three days on the life of Buddha before he begins to paint. He lives the life of each of the animals who came to honor Buddha. The story is a guide for writers of fiction and non-fiction. Get inside the mind of your characters. See what they see, feel what they feel. Tell their story.
I’m no expert on meditation and I don’t want to use it to tone down my feelings. I try to use it to hone my feelings and discover the real root of what upsets me. Meditation can allow to me focus on the source of the hurt that I feel, but also learn about the hurt that others feel. And I think it can help me tell a truer story.
Do you find it hard to write when you’re upset? Do you need a peaceful mind? Where do you find your moments of peace?
I am training for a triathlon. That means I have to practice three different ways of racing: swimming, biking and running. Each one requires me to work on my form for that sport. But the form for each sport has lots of moving parts: arms, legs, head, neck, spine. When you’re practicing any of those, it’s hard to think about your entire form all at once. So I think about it parts. When I’m swimming, I’ll think about elbows one lap, or keeping my neck loose. When I’m biking I’ll work on relaxing my shoulders and leaning forward for a half mile at a time. When I’m running, I’ll work on my forward lean for 2 minutes, then knee lift for the next two.
The same goes for writing and for revising a manuscript.
It’s hard to think about all of it, all at once. So try breaking it into parts.
In May, I attended an agent workshop hosted by my local SCBWI chapter. I spent the most time with Vicki Selvaggio from the Jennifer de Chiara agency. In final presentation of the weekend, she suggested each of us go back through our manuscripts and read it over five times. Each time through, she offered a different focal point for us to consider. Because it’s hard to revise your manuscript and think about all the important pieces all at once.
Here are the five focal points she suggested for revising a manuscript:
Make an X in the manuscript whenever you get bored, a character says the same thing more than once, you’re confused, or you see a tell vs. a show.
Make an X if a scene, page or chapter doesn’t move the story forward, if it doesn’t end when the story is over, if there’s a main character change or if the theme isn’t clear.
Make an X if it’s not written in a unique voice, if someone doesn’t have an important role, if they dialogue tags are too visible (“said” is just fine).
Make an X if your story is missing sensory details, if the story feels like it’s in a void, if you haven’t mentioned how things look, sound, smell, taste, feel, if you can combine setting details with action.
Make an X where you start paragraphs the same way, if you can avoid “-ing” verbs, if you can avoid double verbs, if you can remove adverbs, or other weak words.
Before you tackle this, she suggests letting the story sit at least a month. I’m well overdue for revising my manuscript, so I have to get started making x’s right now!
My fingers are a little sappy as I write this. By sappy, I don’t mean weepy and dramatic, I mean sticky and covered in sap. Because even though I bought garden gloves for my boys so they wouldn’t use mine, I didn’t go and grab my garden gloves when it was time to drag pine boughs through the woods to help my boys make a hut.
(Bough is a homophone for bow, meaning to bend at the waist, while bow is also homonym for bow, the one you tie on birthday presents.)
We’re making a hut because it’s summer and what else does one do in summer except whatever one wants?
We recently visited Meadowcroft, a rock shelter in southwestern PA that has yielded evidence of some of the oldest human habitation in North America. While we were there, the boys had a chance to visit a Monogahelan tribe village, built by hand by the staff of Meadowcroft.
My middle son shrieked with delight when the village came into view beyond the new spring leaves of the forest. He had just studied Native Americans in third grade social studies and had lots to tell us. The boys loved learning about farming, gathering, living, and hunting.
So when school got out, they wanted to build a hut.
I struggled with helping them and letting them figure things out on their own. I tried to offer ideas without telling them HOW to do things.
They’ve done pretty well on their own. I gave some help with the tarp, but they’ve built the walls and done the interior, such as it is, on their own.
Their project reminds me very much of My Side of the Mountain, which I started reading to them last night. As I expected, it spoke to their little survivalist souls. They are ready to devour more. They are also excited about using the Internet to learn about making tools and shelter as opposed to just playing games.
Yes, there’s also an undercurrent of Lord of the Flies when I hear them making clubs and slingshots, but we won’t be reading that book for a few years.
In May, I attended the SCBWI Western PA Agent Workshop. I learned a lot and got some excellent advice for writers on pitches, storytelling, and revision and I wanted to share it with you!
Pitching Advice for Writers
While they need to be short, they still need to include the main character, the obstacle and some sense of resolution.
This was my pitch and it was well-received.
Short and sweet!
Storytelling Advice for Writers
Mirror, Mirror. Please don’t use the tired device of describing your character’s physical appearance by having your your character look into a mirror.
Too Much Telling takes away from action.
Why Should I Care? This is the feeling that readers get when they confront too much backstory. Weave it in, don’t dump it.
Bubble Boy or Girl. Or Alien. Make sure your characters don’t exist in a bubble. Describe the setting and use all five senses!
Revision Advice for Writers
More advice for writers covered how to revise your manuscript. Envision your manuscript as a road that your readers will travel on a wondrous journey. The first draft is like that rocky, dirty, bumpy path carved out by construction equipment. Each stage of renovation makes it smoother, easier, more pleasant to travel.
As you read your manuscript, look for places where you’ve left out setting details, where you’ve used passive voice and -ly words, and if your main character is changing. If not, go back and call in that construction crew.
Advice for Writers of Picture Books
Did you know 60% of the story should be told through illustration? That means for non-illustrating writers like myself, I should only write 40% of the tale in the text. This is an interesting way for me to examine my texts, even though I never considered myself particularly mathematical. I like the idea of making sure the larger part of the tale comes through in the art, even if that does make writing harder.
Lots of parents don’t let their kids watch the movie versions of popular books before their children read the books. I’ve heard this about Lord of the Rings, Divergent, Harry Potter, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and more.
I totally see the logic of this. Parents are worried their children won’t read the books if they’ve already seen the movie.
I want readers in my family, too. But we probably sound a little crazy and lazy to other families, because I let our kids watch the movies before they read the books. In fact, I often encourage it. I think it’s a great way to for my children to find stories that interest them and that it actually encourages them to read more instead of reading less.
Recently, I let my kids watch entire collection of Harry Potter movies. And you know what? Watching the movie first might have made my kids better readers, because after the movie they only wanted to read the books more.
Imperious doesn’t work when it comes to making kids better readers
My oldest son, who is 11, had already read the first four a few months ago but after the movies he was even more motivated to read the final three. He was so interested, he actually went back to the beginning and plowed all the way through the entire series of books. My middle son, who is only eight years old picked up the first book and is now almost finished the fourth book. My middle son was actually more excited about reading the books after seeing the movies because he wanted to know more of what happened. Instead of going from the rich, detailed book world to the skim-and-dip experience of a two-hour movie experience, he went the other direction. He went from the brief, delightful movie experience and dove into the fully fleshed out magical book world of Harry Potter with extra scenes and extended dialogue and an imaginative setting. He loves pointing out things he didn’t understand in the movies that are now clear to him because of the detailed book.
Movies Before Books
I did try it the reverse once, with the classic book The Last Unicorn. I read that book out loud to my sons over the course of many weeks. They were transfixed and captivated by the unicorn’s search for her lost people. When we finished, I announced that we could now watch the movie. At the end of the ninety minutes, all they did was talk about the parts of the book left out of the movie.
“If I watched the movie first,” my middle son declared, “I would want to read the book right away to learn what I had missed.”
I totally think the books are always better than the movies. Truly. And I want to reiterate that I get that parents are looking for ways to make their kids better readers. But parents might not realize their well-intentioned plan can backfire.
Look at this way: Did you ever play a sport as a kid? Did you ever have to run laps as punishment for something you or your team did wrong? Did it make you love running? Sure, it made you stronger as an athlete but it became a punishment, not a reward. Many adults still think about laps with loathing and dread running. Reading shouldn’t be the same thing.
It’s possible that when parents say kids must read the books before getting to enjoy the “more desirable” result of viewing the movie, parents are turning reading into a chore. If they make it task or duty to be suffered before getting to the fun movie, parents should think about whether they are really encouraging a love of reading or sabotaging their own goals.
Were you allowed to see movies before books as a kid? Did it make you more or less of a reader?
What other ways do you find helps make kids better readers?
Ever wonder where to find ideas for stories? Here are fifteen places I find ideas for stories.
1. On a run.
“What would happen if I crawled through that drainage culvert?”
2. Reading other books.
“What if I combined Polar Express with The Martian?”
3. Cooking.
“What if there was a story about spices?”
4. Showering.
“Why doesn’t Santa have a pet?”
5. Listening to kids talk.
“Do teeth ever lose their kids?”
6. Listening to adults talk.
“I wish I could just rent a kid, for holidays and stuff.”
7. Listening to music.
“But with the beast inside/There’s nowhere we can hide.”
8. Gardening.
“How do worms keep our garden safe, Mom?”
9. At the museum.
“What if the dinosaurs had dance parties at night when the museum was closed?”
10. At the grocery store.
“Do seeds ever try to grow into a different kind of plant?”
11. At the park.
“Are there zombie bees?”
12. At a sporting event.
“Can kids do triathlons, too?”
13. Lying in bed, trying to sleep.
“Where did my grandfather get that old pocket watch?”
14. As soon as you wake up and remember your dream.
“All I remember is the church became a riverboat, and then the Devil walked in.”
15. Driving somewhere.
“Johnny sped out of town, the white lines on the highway blurred into a streak. He couldn’t understand how, but suddenly he remembered every moment of his life from birth until now. Including the face of the woman leaning over him, injecting him with something. Who was she? And what had she done to him?”
Our brains are made for stories. Our brains LOVE stories. More areas of our brain are activated when we hear stories, our memory works better, and our emotions kick in. If you want to sell more products or if you are a parent and want your kids to listen!!!) Tell them a story.
Some people are born storytellers and know just how to hold the audience under their spell. Other people need little bit of work and practice to tell a good story. This is true for kids and adults.
Remember the old game where one person says a sentence and the others in the group continue it? A classic. I love doing that one with my kids and setting up interesting problems for the characters to solve. That’s a great way to spark some creativity. But if you want a little coaching or helping getting ideas, try playing with Storycubes. We love these in our family. They event worked great at my workshops for the Summer Food Program.
I offer storytelling tips in my workshop “Want to Be a Writer.” I share my journal and my creative process. Running is of course a big part of my idea machine. But there are other ways I come up with story ideas. I share them all with the kids and I encourage them to experiment with some of my favorite techniques for thinking of and telling good stories.
Six Storytelling Tips
Doodle. I love to doodle and this often inspires a fun story starter. Doodle off of paper, too. Think outside the box. Maybe the act of doodling makes it into your story.
Lists. I generate lists of words and events that might happen to a made character. This helps with word variety, too.
Listen. Jot down what people around you are saying. Combine the sentences of two different conversations. WHOA, did that just lead you to an amazing new story?
Ask questions. I let my kids ask as many questions as they want. That includes my own children in my family and the kids in my workshops.
Senses! Make sure your story includes things people see, feel, hear, smell, and taste. Get that brain activated!
Humor. My favorite six sense is the sense of humor. Even a scary ghost story is better with a little joke here and there.
These tips aren’t about the mechanics of writing. These are about the magic of storytelling. And that’s the really fun part, in my opinion.
Looking for more info on how the brain lives for stories?
What are you favorite storytelling tips? Share them here!
Subscribe!
Receive my author newsletter, and/or receive notifications when I post to the blog!
