Gail Giles's GIRLS LIKE US
PW
SLJ
Booklist
GIRLS LIKE US, Gail Giles
Friday, May 30, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
A Limerick— Why not?
A rhyme of a different color!
There was a young man from Duluth
Who thought losing his hair was uncouth.
So he bought a toupee
And began to sashay
And I'm sorry to say that's the truth.
So he bought a toupee
And began to sashay
And I'm sorry to say that's the truth.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
No-Nonsense Development
Advanced Novel Writing Workshop
Knopf Associate Publishing Director Melanie Cecka and Scott Treimel are faculty for the 2014 Pacific Coast Children's Writers Workshop and Retreat. Get set to learn your head off. The workshop format is collegial (attendees observe all critiques, e.g.) with professional face-to-face galore. Think of your growth as a writer. Get set to push it into hyperdrive.
* * * EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT ENDS MAY 28 * * *
Conception
Structure
Theme
Setting
Storytelling
Dialogue
Pacing for dramatic effect
Brewing tension
Plot Layers
Brewing tension
Plot Layers
Subordinating plotlines
Controlling the reader's experience
Controlling the reader's experience
Narration: first person, third person— a lot to say (teach) on this one
Character Stakes
The Antagonist
Interior Logic
More more mor
The Antagonist
Interior Logic
More more mor
AND guess what— the venue sits on the Santa Cruz-Monterey Bay!
Silly Song Saturday!
To market, to market
To buy sugar goods,
Home again, home again,
Bump into hoods.
Offering candy
To five gentlemen,
They demand, they demand,
Candy for ten!
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Silly Song Sunday
A collection of verses should not be a compendium of zingers. That creates a clumsy reading experience. Likewise, a musical (recalling JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY, 1989) should not be two hours of show-stoppers. The audience, a reader, wants the equivalent of a palate cleanser: it sets off, and sets up, the razzle-dazzle of the big numbers. Mother Goose collections include light little-little rhymes for this reason, along with the brilliant entries, Hey Diddle Diddle, e.g. These balance the rest and make a better reading experience.
Hence,
A little lighty-light SILLY SONG for the collection
One and Two and Three.
Count like that and see.
Numbers go and go,
So One and Two and Three.
Hence,
A little lighty-light SILLY SONG for the collection
One and Two and Three.
Count like that and see.
Numbers go and go,
So One and Two and Three.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
An Important New Novel by Gail Gilles
blunt, honest, and absorbing... rewarding and powerful— PW *starred*
compelling, engaging, and raw voices —
Booklist *starred*
authentic and genuinely moving. A respectful and winningly told story about people too often relegated to the role of plot device-bravo.—Kirkus
poignant... rewarding...gives memorable voice to underrepresented young women. —Horn Bookcompelling, engaging, and raw voices —
Booklist *starred*
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
THIRD PERSON NARRATION
Think of a 3d Person narrator as a camera. The narrator shoots with three lenses— for close-ups, mid-distance, and long-shots. Each has different merits we very rarely see exploited. Hence this post, a mini-instruction.
We love 3d Person narration because its detachment from the action can be a place "to rest", to perch beside the storyteller and mull over the characters and the vexations (we hope) they face. We love the analytic prospects available to a 3d Person narrator, which, were they to come from a 1st Person narrator may well feel obtrusive, out of character, telling not showing. It all depends on the narrative stance.
A 3d Person narrator can present or withhold information— from all characters' points of view.
A 3d person narrator can pull up close to a character and detail his/her inner thoughts and feelings.
A 3d person narrator can pullback to show the same character as a small player in a larger drama.
The effects of these shifting distances profoundly, subconsciously, play on the reader.
So what about limited 3d Person narration?
Have you ever seen a (very) indy art film where the camera fairly sits on the protagonist's shoulder? It creates, pretty quickly, unease. The viewer cannot see around the protagonist, know what others are up to: the viewer is vulnerable.
In the distant past, for reasons that presently escape us, we respected limited 3d Person— for some kinds of stories. But lately limited 3d Person narrators make us feel imprisoned in a point of view, claustrophobic. The merit seems to be the relative ease limited 3d Person allows a writer: it is first person without a substantial character voice.
Questions? Comments?
We love 3d Person narration because its detachment from the action can be a place "to rest", to perch beside the storyteller and mull over the characters and the vexations (we hope) they face. We love the analytic prospects available to a 3d Person narrator, which, were they to come from a 1st Person narrator may well feel obtrusive, out of character, telling not showing. It all depends on the narrative stance.
A 3d Person narrator can present or withhold information— from all characters' points of view.
A 3d person narrator can pull up close to a character and detail his/her inner thoughts and feelings.
A 3d person narrator can pullback to show the same character as a small player in a larger drama.
The effects of these shifting distances profoundly, subconsciously, play on the reader.
So what about limited 3d Person narration?
Have you ever seen a (very) indy art film where the camera fairly sits on the protagonist's shoulder? It creates, pretty quickly, unease. The viewer cannot see around the protagonist, know what others are up to: the viewer is vulnerable.
In the distant past, for reasons that presently escape us, we respected limited 3d Person— for some kinds of stories. But lately limited 3d Person narrators make us feel imprisoned in a point of view, claustrophobic. The merit seems to be the relative ease limited 3d Person allows a writer: it is first person without a substantial character voice.
Questions? Comments?
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Silly Song Sunday!
Jack and Jill was hard to hear our way through, because of the fancy ryhthmic breakaway. (Not a matter of counting syllables.) We saw this design perfectly executed by master technician Ogden Nash. Help us, gentle readers, determine if we need to rework or if Jack and Jill is finished. A mere Yes or No; and don't worry, we are professionals and can take it.
Jack and Jill
Start up the hill
But stop at the House that Jack built.
There was a mouse
That hid in the house,
Which terrified Jill
Who took to the hill,
Because, to her credit,
Jill remembered her original
assignment,
Namely fetching a pail of water.
Back in the house
Still hiding the mouse,
Jack set out to jail
The pest in a pail,
And Jack,
Being adept at capturing mice—
Well, most all house pests, really,
Looked high and low and caught her!
Friday, May 2, 2014
Viminy Crowe's COMIC BOOK
The latest from funny man Richard Scrimger, who teams with fellow Canadian Marthe Jocelyn for a raucous m-g from Tundra Books, part of R-H of Canada. Epic antics, silly scenarios, comics!
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Silly Song Thursday!
This is our favorite of the Silly Songs. It leads the collection.
We love this verse because it summarizes our work world, but also because it reads horribly-horribly-horribly-horrib
The entirety turns on the "—Oh!" with the dash *preceding* the line. That is a clue for how to read the verse. This is no arcane rule; the leading dash derives its meaning within the context of the Silly Songs' punctuation scheme… it is the only time a dash precedes a line, signaling something special.
That is the kind of close reading good poetry (stay calm: we do not presume the Silly Songs qualify) rewards.
So, how do you read The Ugly Duckling? There is speed going into "—Oh!" but a significant pause follows. "The goings-on" is to be read as befits the particular character of the phrase. Who uses the phrase, anyway? We do of course but we already know how to read The Ugly Duckling. The intonation of "the goings-on" is a combination of exasperation, affection, superiority, wonderment— the tone that might accompany an amused shaking of the head, as in Good grief, what next?
We are happily to recite/perform Silly Songs. If asked nicely. Fees are reasonable.
*merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.
‡‡‡ Relative to How To Read a Poem, take a look at Ashley Bryant reading Eloise Greenfield's Way Down in the Music. It inspired the peculiar working of The Ugly Duckling. ‡‡‡
There was an ugly duckling
Who became a lovely swan.
—Oh! The goings-on.
The entirety turns on the "—Oh!" with the dash *preceding* the line. That is a clue for how to read the verse. This is no arcane rule; the leading dash derives its meaning within the context of the Silly Songs' punctuation scheme… it is the only time a dash precedes a line, signaling something special.
That is the kind of close reading good poetry (stay calm: we do not presume the Silly Songs qualify) rewards.
So, how do you read The Ugly Duckling? There is speed going into "—Oh!" but a significant pause follows. "The goings-on" is to be read as befits the particular character of the phrase. Who uses the phrase, anyway? We do of course but we already know how to read The Ugly Duckling. The intonation of "the goings-on" is a combination of exasperation, affection, superiority, wonderment— the tone that might accompany an amused shaking of the head, as in Good grief, what next?
We are happily to recite/perform Silly Songs. If asked nicely. Fees are reasonable.
*merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.
‡‡‡ Relative to How To Read a Poem, take a look at Ashley Bryant reading Eloise Greenfield's Way Down in the Music. It inspired the peculiar working of The Ugly Duckling. ‡‡‡
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