Lily – Galveston, TX

Dennie & Amanda

Brain Dumping and pondering YA voice

Image by Deep Frozen Shutterbug via Flickr

Although my focus is on learning the craft of picture book writing, I occasionally genre-hop during writing practice/brain dump sessions. It seems my brain has ideas of its own.

The other day I was brain dumping, and the following character plopped out: (excerpt)

Diary Entry - Date and time

...They say it was a miracle I survived. I say it was a miracle I was ever born, that God saw fit to reward Peter Pony (real name Jango Lipschitz – yes, that’s right, my real last name is Lipschitz) and supermodel Mette Svingerviposidedeneyen with a child. Or maybe it wasn’t meant to be a reward. Maybe I was meant to make their lives unpleasant. I think perhaps it’s the latter. Neither Mom, when she was alive, nor Dad have ever been able to look me in the eye. Not since I was a toddler, anyway. I think my eyes are the only mirror they ever encountered through which they weren’t catapulted into narcissistic Valhalla by means of their own reflection.

Bitsy, aka Grandma, Dad’s Mom, says I haven’t been right or “raht” as she would say it, since the accident. It was for that reason she suggested I stay with her and her “inmates” as Dad calls them, at Bedford House, instead of accompanying Dad and Nanny Naughty Nurse on the Pulsating Pony Absolute Final (For real this time!) World Tour.

Diary Entry - Date and time

It has been decided. I will be allowed to stay at Bedford House for a period of 6 months. If all goes well, I will be able to continue the school year (REAL school!), but if I blow chunks and frick up the whole deal, I will be expected to return to Beverly Thrills, under the tutelage of my long-time nanny turned Stepmom, Nanny Naughty Nurse.

This, of course, is not her real name. Its appearance coincided with her shift from loving nanny and devoted overseer of my health and well-being to Stepmom extraordinaire, complete with new boobs, new lips, perky Brazilian buttocks, and a sudden devotion to three-martini lunches. Naughty nurse, indeed. It was said that nobody goes through that many tennis racket strings without ever setting foot on the court unless a little hanky-panky is involved.

Blech. The thought of her and Dad as a couple still makes my stomach want to crawl down my intestines and hide. Not that Dad’s all that normal himself. He may be a bit of a freak, but he’s my freak and my daddy to boot. Let’s just say that I love him, but I don’t always like him.

I know the writing, organization and grammar are doo-doo, this is just a brain dump. My main concern at this point is VOICE. I wrote over 1,000 words, but I couldn't bring myself to pursue or revise. I kept wondering: Is this the authentic voice of a 17 year old girl? Is her thinking too negative? Are her words too big? Is it all too heavy? How can I get the feedback I need in order to make an informed decision and grow?

I'm thinking this is one of the many uncertainties of creative writing. You can't tell, don't know, and you probably won't get the feedback you need in a timely fashion without forking out big bucks to an editor or writing mentor. And who wants to do that unless you have a pretty good idea that there's something "there"?

I was able to procure some indirect help, though. When I was scratching my bum and pondering all of this, Mary Kole wrote a post over at KidLit.com that she finished by asking if anybody had any burning writing or publishing questions. I wasn't about to let that opportunity slip! I asked her about YA voice, and she was freaking awesome enough to respond in her post "Mature Voice for the YA Market".

There is some invaluable general information there. I have read that it's best to save first-person voice for romance, mystery, etc., but I hadn't thought to expand the notion per her suggestions. Voice and action should be complementary. Makes sense. It's still hard, though, to get outside of yourself and tell if your female YA voice is actually coming across like that of a 56 year old longshoreman.

Conclusion: I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing cat food.

All brain dumps © Heather Kephart.

Horse on patrol - McKinney TX

What is happening here?

Picture Book Writing + Twitter = #pblitchat

Image by your neighborhood librarian via Flickr

If you're interested in authoring Children's Picture Books, and chatting with other like-minded folks, I highly recommend that you take advantage of #pblitchat, a weekly chat co-convened by friendly Aussies Karen Collum (@KarenCollum), and Kat Apel (@KatApel).

For details, including chat transcripts, check out:

Picture Books Only: Home of #pblitchat

New home for #pblitchat!

Karen Collum is happy to add you to the #pblitchat news & info mailing list. Just drop her a line: pblitchat@bigpond.com

You may also search twitter for #pblitchat, and add it to your saved searches for easy reference.

Anastasia Suen's Intensive Picture Book Workshop

I finally bit the bullet! I'm excited to announce that I will be attending Anastasia Suen's Intensive Picture Book Workshop lessons 1-6 September 1st - October 20th, 2010.

Online Workshops with Anastasia Suen

For those interested in attending, below please find the Q & A Anastasia includes in her welcome email (shared with permission):

Welcome to the Intensive Picture Book Workshop #1-6!

Q. How does this work?

A. On the first Wednesday of each month a new workshop begins. For 6
Wednesdays in a row I will send you a workshop lesson via email. You
have 2 weeks to complete each lesson.

Q. What do the numbers mean?

A. Due to the economy I have split my 12 week workshops into two 6
week workshops. Lessons #1-6 are the first half and Lessons #7-12 are
the second half.

Q. How do I send you my homework?

A. Just click reply to email me your homework. (Please write your
reply *in the body of the message* so we don't have to worry about
software compatiblity or possible viruses in the attachments.)

I will reply to your email that afternoon or the next day. (I write in
the morning and read the workshops in the afternoon Monday through
Friday.)

Q. How long do I have to complete the workshop?

A. You have 8 weeks to complete the 6 lessons in this workshop.

Lily at Blue Goose

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Dog of life threw bone!

Image via WikipediaOr am I dog-throwing bone? Not sure how that works. All I know is...

AM GENIUS!

And fool.

Will concentrate on the genius part. Couldn't figure out how to export links from Kidlit Writer to new and fabulous Diary of Heather blogspot blog, but then had an idea! Viewed source, then pasted html into shiny new Resources - Writing for Children page. Tweaked a bit and am now in Heaven as was actually considering manually copying and pasting well over 30,000 (plus!) links from said prior blog to said new blog.

Regarding the fool bit, well, that's because this is about the tenth time I've moved my blog. Will be the last! Have said that before, methinks. But sincerely mean to mean it this time.

P.S. As is new DIARY blog, will be posting like this as am not writing blog post, but writing DIARY post.
P.P.S. Don't care if is annoying.
P.P.P.S. Am hungry.

I won the Palace Beautiful giveaway!

I'm thrilled from the tips of my wiry, attitudinal gray hairs to the bottoms of my desperately-in-need-of-a pedi feetsies to have won a copy of Palace Beautiful by Sarah deFord Williams, published by G.P. Putnam.


Thanks to Jennifer Duddy Gill of "From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors" for drawing my name from that bowl! I can't wait to dive in. Be sure to check out the posts for more information about Palace Beautiful, and an interview with Sarah deFord Williams:

Palace Beautiful – Interview and giveaway
Palace Beautiful Giveaway Winner