YOU'RE THIS CLOSE
We're wrapping up our five part series on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with special guest Jamie K. Schmidt. Even if you're not writing a novel this month, we think you'll learn some tips and techniques to help you finish your novel on your timeline. We're so close to the finish line. Let's make these final days a success!
We talk about:
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NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 4 - THROW IN A DRAGON?
We are continuing our November National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) celebration with tips for writing 50,000 words in one month, which is 1,667 words per day. This is Part 4 in our 5-part series to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great ideas from Jamie K. Schmidt.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT
• The sagging middle
• How to go forward
• Should you throw in a dragon?
• Raising the stakes
• Putting your characters in danger
• Getting off your butt and doing something
• Jamie's new book Necessary Evil
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NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 3 - GET PAST THE SLUMP
We are continuing our November National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) celebration with tips for writing 50,000 words in one month, which is 1,667 words per day. This is Part 3 in our 5-part series to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great ideas from Jamie K. Schmidt.
WHAT WE TALK ABOUT
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NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 2 - DIGGING IN
Welcome to Part 2 in our 5-part series to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great tips and ideas from Jamie K. Schmidt. Jamie is a bestselling author and a NaNoWriMo enthusiast. We talk about:
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!
NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 1 - PREPARE
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is about to start. Every November, writers from around the world set out with the goal of writing a novel, about 50,000 words, in one month. We thought, how cool it would be to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great tips and ideas from someone who has successfully completed it. Join Jamie K. Schmidt and me for a little inspiration and a lot of motivation in this 5-part series.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!
TIPS FOR YOUR MYSTERY OPENING CHAPTERS
The first page of your mystery needs to intrigue your reader. It has to pull them in and make them wonder what’s going on or who did it. Today we bring you tips for your first pages from author Chaunie Bruise.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!
PLANTING CLUES
You’re in a race with your readers. The readers are trying to guess what will happen. You’re trying to spring that ‘whodunnit’ on the readers before they guess. Who will win? Those readers really don’t want to guess…they want to be surprised. But they want that sporting chance to beat you and get there ahead of you. Ideally, you have planted just enough clues, you have sneaked in just enough hints, that when you unveil that ‘whodunnit’, your readers sigh, “Oh, I should have guessed!” THAT gives you a satisfied reader! Join us as we talk about how to outfox your readers.
Join the Institute of Children's Literature Community! Get our weekly newsletter with articles on the craft of writing, hot markets looking for your work, and cool resources for your writer toolbox: www.instituteforwriters.com/icl-news
INTERVIEW WITH KATE MILFORD
Kate Milford is the New York Times bestselling author of The Thief Knot, as well as Greenglass House (winner of the Edgar award for juvenile literature, long-listed for the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, and a nominee for the Andre Norton Award and the Agatha Award for Children’s/YA).
We talk about:
• What makes a good mystery?
• Do you write a mystery differently than any other kind of novel?
• What are 3 things every mystery should have?
• What are 3 things every mystery writer should avoid?
• Self-aware ironmongery
• Here’s a mystery: 9 books and two kids - how?
Get a one-on-one mentor to help you write publishable work that agents and publishers are looking for! Get started here!
PLANNING YOUR NOVEL
At any time you speak to a writer, they may easily be either planning a novel, writing a novel, or revising a novel. Always. And sometimes a writer could be doing more than one of those at a time. As a result, a fairly streamlined process for novel creation can develop––for that writer, anyway––and Jan Fields’ process is a good one to share here.
Get a one-on-one mentor to help you write publishable work that agents and publishers are looking for! Get started here!
FOR THE LOVE OF GENRE
Anyone who has been writing for children for any length of time knows that folks have a tendency to see writers for children as dabblers and writers for adults as real writers. In fact, many children's writers have flatly been asked when they're going to do a real book. And within children's writing, book authors are definitely given more respect than magazine writers. And if you write books, well, writing the more action oriented, plot driven genre are definitely seen as less valuable than the character-driven, deeply emotional novels. But like any class system, this one is unfair, and just because other people have bought into it, doesn't mean we have to. Let's look more closely at our love of genre in this week's episode.
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REAL SPEECH FOR REAL PEOPLE
Today’s episode is adapted from one of our lessons in the Shape, Write, Sell Your Novel course. This course will work with middle grade and YA novels as well as adult novels. You can check out more details at:
https://www.instituteforwriters.com/novel-writing-course-online/
Dialogue is an essential component of creating distinct character voice, but of all aspects of writing, dialogue gives novice writers the biggest challenges. Once you understand what good dialogue is and train yourself to listen for it, you’ll find it’s one of the most enjoyable things to write.
INTERVIEW WITH JAMIE K. SCHMIDT
Today’s guest expert is USA Today Bestselling romance novelist Jamie K. Schmidt, who also blogs for us on occasion. Jamie writes contemporary love stories and paranormal romances including the bestselling romantic comedy Life's a Beach and her 2018 RITA award finalist Stud.
We talk about:
• Writer burnout
• Hybrid authors explained
• Difference between YA romance novels and adult.
• Recommendations for someone who is interested in writing romance
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!
8 STEPS TO PERFECT DIALOGUE FORMAT
Formatting dialogue in any manuscript can be perplexing. This rebroadcast of a popular episode has 8 guidelines to make your dialogue the best it can be.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!
HOW STRUCTURED IS YOUR PICTURE BOOK?
One of the major problems editors encounter when reading picture book submissions is the lack of plot, or even purposeful organization. Today’s podcast is inspired by something Jan Fields did for us: a primer on picture book structure and how choosing a structure can help you make plot decisions.
Ready to write for children? Our Signature Course, Writing for Children and Teens, is open now! Get started here!
BECOME YOUR OWN EDITOR
Today’s episode is an excerpt from our Writing for Children and Teens course at the Institute of Children’s Literature. The course consists of 10 assignments designed to help you develop submission-ready work by the time you complete your course. You get the benefit of one-on-one instruction and critiques throughout the process. It’s a course like no other. Learn more at https://www.instituteforwriters.com/course-catalog/
It may be that you’re a whiz who’s able to produce error-free prose without even thinking about it. But if you’re like most people—including many professional writers—you have at least a few failings when it comes to punctuation, grammar, usage, and spelling. Today, we thought it might be helpful to include a list here of the most common errors made by new writers —and how to fix them. We’ve mentioned some of these on the podcast before, but these errors are so common, that a little reminder is good for everyone.
COMMA LONG WITH ME
I admit I love punctuation. I love all the little rules surrounding periods, commas, and quotation marks. Maybe it’s because my mom was a professional editor, maybe it’s the added structure punctuation gives to a piece. A lot of times it’s because it makes communication more clear––we’ve all heard the following sentence with and without a comma in the right spot: “Let’s eat, Grandpa!” and “Let’s eat Grandpa!” Whatever it is, punctuation makes me happy. Let's dig into this punctuation primer.
Special thanks to Rita Reali for contributing to this episode.
INTERVIEW WITH EDITOR PAULA MORROW
Although Paula Morrow has written more than 70 books and hundreds of magazine pieces (fiction, nonfiction, and poetry), she considers her main talent to be editing. Paula honed her skill editing for fifteen years with Cricket Magazine Group and Cricket Books, then with several book, magazine, and educational publishers. Most recently she edited at Highlights. Paula is the judge for the ICL Nonfiction STEAM Article contest.
We talk about:
BASIC STORY ELEMENTS
Today, we’re discussing three basic story elements: characters, setting, and theme. Learn how they all work together to help you tell a complete story in this rebroadcast of a popular episode.
INTERJECTING HUMOR INTO YOUR WORK
We constantly hear that agents and editors are looking for humor. If they don’t say “humor” outright, we hear it in words like “quirky” and “whimsical.” So how do you bring humor to your own work? Let’s look at a few different ways and thanks to Andrea Collier for contributing to this episode.
HOW TO WRITE FUNNY
Is laughter really the best medicine?
I don't know, but I do suspect that laughter is a great way to get published. If you spend much time listening to acquiring editors or librarians or agents, you'll soon discover that humor is very much something they desire. Kids love books that make them laugh. Humans, in general, appreciate humor, even in the darkest times.
Unrelenting horror or pain is hard to survive, so being able to step outside it, even a little, to laugh can be life-saving. And readers will appreciate a story that allows them to do that. But for an author to find the way to do that takes a little understanding of how humor works. In this episode, let's talk about how to write funny.
PLAYING FAIR WITH PLOT
Good stories have lots of moving parts. Inspired by an article from our own Jan Fields, this episode challenges us to get all the parts to come together in a way that works.
Many writers understand that a good plot requires giving your main character something to want or need, and that the character then needs to do stuff. A story without action of any kind isn't much of a story and most writers get that pretty early in the process of learning to write fiction.
We also realize early on that a good story eventually fulfills the want or need for the main character. But there's a bit more to it than that, and one additional element is that you must play fair with the reader. Let’s look at what that means.
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INTERVIEW WITH NANCY COFFELT
Author/illustrator Nancy Coffelt began her career as a fine artist, but when she found that the titles of her whimsical works were getting longer and longer AND longer, she dove into picture books.
Her first book, Goodnight Sigmund was published by Harcourt in 1992. Since then Nancy has produced a steady stream of published works including the picture books Dogs in Space, Big, Bigger, Biggest, Fred Stays with Me!, Catch That Baby! and Aunt Ant Leaves through the Leaves. In addition to working with educational, small houses and foreign publishers, Nancy has worked with several big houses including Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic, Chronicle, Little Brown, Holiday House, Henry Holt, Simon & Schuster, and Highlights.
Nancy Coffelt has taught writing to fellow word nerds ages 6 to adult since 1992. Her teaching style has been described as “thoughtful,” “motivating,” and “inspiring.”
In our conversation about humor, we talk about:
Join the Institute of Children's Literature Community! Get our weekly newsletter with articles on the craft of writing, hot markets looking for your work, and cool resources for your writer toolbox: www.instituteforwriters.com/icl-news
PACING 101
You hear the word all the time from teachers, critiquers, and editors. “Nice brisk pace.” “Kind of slow, pick up the pace”. “I like it, but the pace is a bit slow in the middle.” So what the heck is pace and how do we make that slow middle faster or create that brisk pace in the first place? Today, I share a fantastic article on pacing from my old friend Mary Rosenblum.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!
VOICE
You may feel like you are struggling to find it. The first step in succeeding is realizing that it isn’t as far away as you might think. “Relax. Know that you already have a distinctive voice,” says author Kristi Holl. “Your voice is the product of your personality and your life experiences, both good and not so good.” The trick is to set this voice free in your writing and consistently sound like yourself—not your favorite author, critique buddy, or high school English teacher. Let's dig in on voice in today's episode based on an article from Sue Bradford Edwards.
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GETTING DOWN AND DIRTY WITH PLOT
Today we’re continuing our conversation around plot. Our IFW blogger Jamie K. Schmidt contributed to a great article on plotting. Every good story, whether picture book, middle grade, YA, or adult, needs an excellent plot to get your manuscript past the slush pile. If you’re starting a new book, it’s helpful to have a plot outline in front of you when you’re stuck as to what to write next. When you’re revising, it can be helpful to pull out a plot outline to make sure your manuscript is hitting all the right beats.
Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!