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WFMAD Day 2: Think Big, Write Small, part 1

Wow! It is so exciting to read all the comments you posted to my blog, Facebook, and Twitter yesterday! I don’t keep hard and fast numbers about this challenge, but it sure seems like we have a record number of participants, with more joining by the hour. How cool is that!!??

So…. how did it go?

Did the words come fast or slow?
Did the characters whisper to you, or were you writing “from your head,” i.e. thinking things like “I must insert a clever foreshadowing of the B plot into this conversation”?
Did you feel triumphant or afraid? Or, perhaps, a little of both?

Do you have a specific writing question that you’d like an opinion on?

Yesterday I received this question, “I’m at a point where I’m stuck, and I don’t know where to go from here. Any advice?”

I feel your pain!!!

Writing a novel is an absurd idea. You have to create a world, nay, an entire universe, with a past, potential futures, personalities, sometimes a whole new culture, and then you insert the thump of a human heart and breath life into your clay characters and tell them to dance. You try to write down the steps to the dance, and make it flow, and make it interesting, and keep it under a billion words. Oh, and make sure that someone will find it marketable.

What kind of crazy person does that?

We do, my friends. We word-addled tribe of dreamers. That’s the good news and the bad news, because it’s easy to get lost when wandering in imaginary worlds. It is no fun feeling lost.

This is where THINK BIG, WRITE SMALL helps. You’ll use that in today’s prompt.

Ready… Give yourself a gold star (or ice cream) for making it to Day Two!

Set… Take a few minutes to shift gears from the outside world to the inside world. Close your eyes and breathe slowly. You are allowed to take this time for yourself.

Today’s prompt: Write down what you think might be the larger arc or issues or themes of your book. It’s OK if you don’t know for sure. You can change your mind down the road. If you don’t yet have anything as a specific as a theme, then try to summarize, in one or two sentences, the central conflict in your story. It can be the internal character conflict, or the external conflict he is facing in the world. (Or both!) This is your BIG PICTURE. It is the heading on your compass.

When you get stuck, reread your Big Picture statement(s). Say it aloud, write it in the sand, translate it into Bulgarian (or your language of choice), and then ponder:

1. What scenes can you invent that reflect the conflict of the Big Picture? Make a quick list of five such scenes.

2. Do you need to introduce new characters to complicate the Big Picture? Quickly write a few lines about five possible characters.

3. Your main character could likely use another layer or two of nuance. Which is a polite way of saying he needs some flaws. In one of your new scenes, or in conversation with one of the new characters, have your main character behave badly. Allow him to be a jerk, or make a foolish decision, or make a mistake.

Part Two comes tomorrow!

Scribble…Scribble…Scribble!

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Write Fifteen Minutes a Day Challenge – Welcome!

It’s August! That means the Fourth Annual Write Fifteen Minutes A Day© Challenge is here!

Get ready to scribble!

The rules are simple. In fact, they aren’t even rules. They’re more like guidelines, the Pirate Code of Writing.

1. Commit to write for 15 minutes a day for the entire month of August.

2. Just do it.

Seriously. That’s all there is to it. You don’t have to sign up anywhere, or meet minimum word count goals or complete a whole freaking novel in 30 days. You can write fiction, non-fiction, memoir, or poetry. Personally, I don’t think blog writing should count because that is immediately published and you always have your audience in mind. I think this month should be a chance for you to go deeper inside yourself. But if blog writing makes you happy, go for it.

Just. Write. Every Day. This Month.
15 Minutes.

This is not the time for editing or outlining. Just keep your pen, pencil, crayon, or fingers on the keyboard moving for 15 minutes. You can use the entire time to write “I don’t know what to write and LHA is crazy” the whole time if you want.

I’ll give a prompt a day for anyone who is feeling stuck. But you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.

I would love it if you guys checked in with me by posting in the comments section. Tell me where you wrote today or for how long, or what you were working on. Tell me what kind of resistance thoughts cropped up as you were writing, or trying to start writing. Tell me what it felt like when the 15 minutes were up.

I will be doing the same thing. I’ve been juggling several books in my head this year; it has not been pretty. And we’ve been renovating our house. I will try very hard not to whine about that. (BUT IT IS TEMPTING!) And it’s August, so it’s hot. And I leave for the SCBWI national conference in a couple days. And…

And…

And…

You see, it’s always something. ALWAYS. There are always things that will get in the way of your writing. Writing can be uncomfortable and awkward. That’s why we procrastinate about it. That’s why we often choose to put writing as our last priority instead of in the top five. We like thinking about writing, and talking about writing, and blogging about writing, but when it comes to the actual writing? Too often, we allow life to get in the way.

Right?

I’ll cut some slack for certain groups of people. If you have a new baby in your home, if you’re recovering from major surgery, if someone you love has recently died, you have all my compassion and permission not to worry about writing until your life settles a bit.

But the rest of you?

You can easily carve out fifteen minutes every day to write. You could probably find more time, but I think baby steps are more fun and effective then setting massive, unobtainable, sure-to-backfire goals. This challenge (known as WFMAD for obvious reasons) is about support, not scolding. I like to focus on how we can pick ourselves up off the ground, instead of focusing on the fall.

I can’t promise you a book contract, but I will promise you this: writing every day will help you find yourself again. Writing every day will restore creativity to your life. Writing every day will help you discover balance and bring in more opportunities for happiness. Honest!OK, that’s enough blathering.

Ready….
Disconnect from the Internet (as soon as you finish reading this post!)

Set…
Turn off your phone and tell your family and friends not to interrupt you for fifteen minutes, unless there is a fire or someone is bleeding from an artery.

Today’s prompt*** Why do you need this challenge? What project have you been afraid to start? Think back on the past six months. What were your time sucks? Why did you allow yourself to go days or weeks without writing? And what will you do differently this month to give yourself the gift of at least fifteen writing minutes a day?

Scribble…Scribble….Scribble!

***LEGAL STUFF: These prompts, like all the rest of the stuff I write for WFMAD and my blog entries, are my material and, thus, under my copyright. You have permission to reproduce them for classroom use only. Yes, you may link to these posts. Spread the word! The more the merrier!!

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Calling All Texans!

Everything in Texas is bigger, including the size of the state itself; It’s ginormous! That means y’all who live there are not afraid of doing a little driving. Right?

You should drive to Dallas this Saturday!!

Why? For the First Annual Arts & Letters Live BooksmART Festival!! This Saturday, from 11 am to 5pm, for FREE!

Who will be there? I’m glad you asked:

Rick Riordan
Norton Juster
Laurie Halse Anderson
David Wiesner
Jerry Pinkney
Gene Luen Yang
Cynthia Leitich Smith
Duncan Tonatiuh
Antonio Sacre
Joe McDermott
Jan Bozarth and Faeren
Ann Marie Newman
John Bramblitt
Gretchen Goetz
Dallas Theater Center

Doesn’t that make all of you who don’t live near Dallas want to start driving or flying now? If you need further encouragement, check out the day’s schedule of events!

::raises right hand:: I solemnly swear to try my best not to whine about the heat. Honest. (I do love the South, but cannot fathom how you survive summer!) If you see me looking like I’m going to swoon, please hand me some ice.

See you there!!

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Winners!

Thank you all for the great comments and links to my post about the WSJ article. I hope that we can all find a way to reach out to people who are unfamiliar with the wide and wonderful world of Young Adult fiction and help them learn about the variety and significance of the field.

And now on to the business of the day! The winners of the Writers for Joplin raffle!

Thanks to a late contribution (given by someone who specifically requested not to be included in the raffle), you all contributed more than $4000 to the Red Cross to help the people in the SE United States who have been devastated by this spring’s storms. A total of 67 people donated, some donating in order to get a friend or family member’s name in the raffle (which was totally cool!).

For every ten dollars you donated, your name went into the raffle once. If you donated $50, that means I printed your name out five times. I used this highly regarded Official Raffle Drawing Container™​ to mix the names and pull the lucky winners.

::cues drum roll::

Winner of SOUL ENCHILADA, by David Macinnis Gill: Tracy Abell!

Winner of BLACK HOLE SUN, by David Macinnis Gill: Katy Duffield!

The winner of the GRAND PRIZE, the brave soul who gets to send their manuscript to me and reap the harvest of my critique is…

CARRIE COX!!!!!

I’d like to ask all of the winners to please send an email to laurie AT madwomanintheforest DOT com. Thanks again to everyone for helping!!

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Stuck between rage and compassion

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article,* “Darkness Too Visible,” by Meghan Cox Gurdon. The subtitle is “Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?”

(Pardon me while I take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths here. Need to keep the blood pressure down, don’t you know.)

Gurdon characterizes young adult fiction as “a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is. There are of course exceptions, but a careless young reader—or one who seeks out depravity—will find himself surrounded by images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality and losses of the most horrendous kinds.”

I’ll let you read the article for yourself and form your own opinions about the author’s intent and bias. (Please let me know what you think in my comments section. Or better yet, send your thoughts to the Wall Street Journal.)

I find myself shaking with anger. Why? First and foremost because this is opinion (badly) dressed-up as journalism. I expect better from the Wall Street Journal.

Second, because I know how ridiculous and harmful the statements are. Books don’t turn kids into murderers, or rapists, or alcoholics. (Not even the Bible, which features all of these acts.) Books open hearts and minds, and help teenagers make sense of a dark and confusing world. YA literature saves lives. Every. Single. Day.

Based on the thousands of interactions I’ve had with teen readers, they are drawn to YA books for at least one of these reasons:

1. They are dealing with the same issues that the characters in the book are.

2. Even if they don’t have the same life circumstances as the characters, they share the same feelings.

3. They read books in search of information; either about things they’ve experienced (Am I alone? How do I get help? Is this normal?) or about things that make them curious. I have gotten SO MANY letters and emails from readers who say things like “I never understood why my mom doesn’t want me to go to those parties, but after reading SPEAK, I do. Thanks.” Or “I’ve kind of been thinking that it would be awesome to develop anorexia, but after reading WINTERGIRLS, I know how awful it is.”

(Note to Meghan Cox Gurdon: you read that right. Teens read YA books and take away positive, moral guidance. In order to show kids why certain behaviors are dangerous, you actually have to discuss the behaviors. Scary, I know. It’s tough being a parent. But it’s tougher being a kid who has clueless parents.)

4. They read books for the same reasons that adults read books: for fun. To dip into another world and then to return to the real world.

5. Teens are drawn to YA books when they don’t have loving, trustworthy adults in their lives who will listen to them. Kids who have been raped, harassed, neglected, abused, ignored, misunderstood – the list seems endless sometimes – open these books in search of answers. I cannot count the number of letters and emails I’ve had from readers who say “Your book saved my life.” Because they read my book and found a character who was struggling like they were. By reading the character’s story, they found a way to reach out, speak up, get help. They tell me that books are the reason they chose not to commit suicide.

5a. And its not just my books. Every YA author I know has had the same experience, including Cheryl Rainfield, the author of SCARS.

I know what makes people like Meghan Cox Gurdon afraid of YA literature. I mentioned it during the BEA panel on censorship. As a preacher’s kid, and as someone who loves a lot of conservatives, and lives in a rural, conservative community, I understand the adults who are terrified of YA books. I feel compassion for them.

Because it’s not the books they’re afraid of.

They are afraid of their inability to talk to their kids about the scary, awful, real-world stuff that is out there. And they know, deep-down, that even if their own children are blessed with violence- and trauma-free childhoods and adolescences, their kids will daily come in contact with other kids who aren’t that lucky. So they know they should be talking about this stuff, but they don’t know where to start. And when their kid starts reading books about subjects that make Mom and Dad uncomfortable, the reaction is to get rid of the book, instead of summoning the courage and faith to have conversations that make them uneasy.

That is sad. Kids and teens need their parents to be brave and honest to prepare them for the real world.

In my experience, the parents who scream the loudest about YA books tend to have younger kids. They become aware of the genre when their oldest child enters middle school, just as they are realizing the enormity of the challenges of parenting teens. As their family survives the bumps along the road of middle and high school, they become more confident in their own parenting skills and they accept (sometimes embrace!) the opportunities presented by these books.

Great young adult literature connects us. It bridges the darkness. It saves lives. Thousands of people are testifying about the life-saving abilities of YA books on Twitter. I urge you to read their thoughts, and to share your own stories here, at the Wall Street Journal, or on your own blog or social media space.

I’m closing with the video of me reading my poem, “Listen.” It is mostly composed of snippets from the letters I’ve had from readers who connected with SPEAK and found the courage to speak up… and to continue growing up, despite their bruises and scars.

Speak loudly, friends.

* the piece in question certainly reads like an editorial or opinion piece as there is no effort to look at both sides of the subject. But I could not find (online) any designation of editorial or opinion. I conclude that the WSJ considers this an article, held to the journalistic standards they require of their other writers.