Of Books and Boys and Other Stuff » writing

The Big Ol’ Revision Post

W.H. Beck — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 16:38:11 +0000

It seems that at some point in every writer/blogger’s life, there come a time when they need to share their process. Maybe it’s to justify all that time sitting at a computer. (See? I really WAS doing something!) But anyway, having turned in one manuscript and in starting another, it appears to be my turn…

Be warned, however. I’ve been through 8 drafts of Malcolm at Midnight (M@M). Each draft presented new challenges. So this is long. Also, Colonel Mustard’s upcoming birthday party (tomorrow–another thing I am procrastinating from by writing this post!) has got me thinking about how revising a story is a lot like…baking a cake. So, fair warning: extended metaphor ahead.

Still with me? Well, then. Let us begin…

Drafts #1-3 were me trying to figure out what kind of cake I wanted to bake. Chocolate? Lemon? Pound? Sheet? Bundt? From a mix? From scratch? So many decisions. I experimented with voice, with plot, with characters and their personalities. Most of them were messy and tasted awful. But there were bits—ingredients, if you will—that I made note of to include in the next batch.

Draft #4 was different. It was the first draft that I mixed all the way up. I’ll admit, draft #4 only came about because I got a lovely call telling me that M@M was an SCBWI WIP grant runner-up. The recognition drew me back to the mixing bowl—could it be that someone would actually want to eat my cake? But I kept getting stuck in this draft. So I posted a reminder on my desktop: It’s not what HAPPENS next. What will Malcolm DO next? Eventually, I finished the draft and when I was done, the kitchen was a disaster, with batter slopped everywhere, dishes stacked in the sink, flour on my nose and in my hair…but as I tasted it, I thought, hmm…maybe…

At this point, an editor asked to see it, lumpy batter and all. But I wasn’t ready to share just yet. How can you serve something that’s still raw? So I went back into the kitchen, mixed up a fresh batch, and put it in the oven for the first time. Out came something I was willing to allow someone to taste. It wasn’t the cake I knew it could be, but it was edible. That was draft #5.

You know how, if you eat too much of one thing, you lose your appetite for it? Sometimes it’s hard to know if something truly tastes good or not. So, while the editor was reading, I took a little break from baking. After about a month off, I went back to draft #5, printed it out, and read through the whole thing.

And this is where the revising truly began. Because I realized something. The characters, the premise, the setting?–they all tasted great. But overall, my cake wasn’t the cake I wanted. It was too dark and had too many ingredients.

It was after this draft that I finally figured out what kind of cake I really wanted. How I wanted people to feel after eating it. And I wrote that up in a handy sentence. A theme, if you will. And I posted THAT on my desktop so I saw it every time I worked.

Then I took out my notecards and started planning. I made a card for each scene and spread them out on a huge bulletin board. I looked for ways I could combine plotlines, simplify story lines, and make things lighter. I shifted and moved things around, made new notecards, tossed old ones. I played around with a few recipes, from Jean Reidy’s Novel Analysis Spreadsheet and from Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass (I especially devoured the Plot Layers, Weaving a Story, and Character Turnabouts and Surprises sections), and Arthur Levine editor Cheryl Klein’s The Art of Detection: One Editor’s Techniques for Analyzing and Revising Your Novel.

When I thought (again!) I knew how to go about baking my cake, I started draft #6. About this time, I heard back from the editor. She liked it, but she also agreed that it needed some remixing. Luckily, we were on the same page in the recipe book. I agreed to keep working and send her my next cake.

When draft #6 was baked, I needed a fresh set of tastebuds, so I sent M@M off to two critique buddies who hadn’t tasted any previous versions. I wanted to know if I was getting closer before I send it off to the editor again. I knew that a second piece of cake was probably all she was going to eat. My readers had great suggestions that went into draft #7.

Draft #7 was the first cake I frosted. After I addressed my critique partners concerns and questions, I went through it, chapter by chapter, reading it aloud, making it “sing” with word choice and phrasing. (I know, I’m mixing metaphors now, but that is the word I think about when I do this.) And when the cake looked as good on the outside as it tasted on the inside, I sent it back to the editor…and out to some agents.

And they liked it! I found a delightful agent with which to work. The editor also liked it.

However, she wanted dainty pink cupcakes with sprinkles. Could I change it?

Meanwhile, the sentence on my desktop–my theme?–was all about chocolate bundt with cherries.

It was a hard decision. But my new agent agreed: let’s see if anyone else likes chocolate with cherries before we start over again.

But first, she had a few suggestions…

Draft #8, this last draft (but not the Last Draft, hopefully), was shoring up ingredients so their flavors exploded. I took my agent’s detailed list of suggestions, a fistful of highlighters, a printed-out version of my story, and I locked myself in my kitchen. I read through the whole manuscript in one sitting, highlighting things accordingly. I made notes, I stared out the window, I crafted charts, I brainstormed. It was messy and I was sweaty and the kitchen was a disaster when I came out. (None of her suggestions were major, but one thing I’ve learned—learned, not perfected, mind you—in my fledgling baking career is that sometimes one little change in the recipe, means other ingredients need to be altered…which then sets off other adjustments to the recipe.)

Then I sat back down and carefully mixed up my latest version of M@M. When it came out of the oven, I let it cool for a while. Then I painstakingly frosted it one more time.

And that’s where I am today. I’m not saying that this is How to Bake a Cake. I’m not saying I even know how to bake a cake.

But I do know that my cake is the prettiest, best-tasting one I’ve ever made.

And so now I wait. Will anyone else want to try a bite? Will they like it enough to bring it to the Big Party? I hope so. But if not, I’ve already headed back into the kitchen.

There’s this new recipe I’ve been dying to try…

…

Between the Vegan Chocolate and the Persistence Quotations

W.H. Beck — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:04:54 +0000

I’m starting a new book this week. It’s my fourth novel, so you’d think I’d have some things figured out. But no. I’m finding myself kind of overwhelmed and not really sure where to start. How do you do this again?

So when I was looking for book trailers to post to my library blog, I had to laugh at this one, for THE QUIET BOOK by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Renata Liwska. I’m stuck somewhere between the vegan chocolate and the persistence quotations.

The First Printout

W.H. Beck — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:11:11 +0000

Here it is. My latest project. Wow. I always feel a little awed and mystified as to where all those words and pages came from when I first see it printed. Anyone else? And now to figure out how to get it to all make sense…. Related posts:The Big Ol’ Revision Post done A Continuation of [...] Related posts:

done

W.H. Beck — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:54:45 +0000

It’s not DONE done, or even Done done, but it’s done: I finished my draft of MALCOLM. Whew! It’s only been….um…a little over two years. Granted, I did have 13 other books under contract that I had to write during the first year and a half. But, yeah, I’m a slow writer. Both my boys will not hesitate to tell you this.

In celebration of finishing, I will indulge in a list. Behold. Here are some things that kept me writing even when the story made no sense at all:

The Coffee Grounds. Especially their back corner table and their tendancy to not bother you and let you stay for hours. And their scones. I only make it about once a week, but it’s my best, most productive writing time.
Giving up on writing every day. It was a perpetual guilt trip. Instead, I’ve declared an hour before work on Mondays and Thursdays and Saturday mornings as my protected, not-to-be-interrupted-unless-there’s-blood-or-fire-or-someone’s-unconscious writing time. This works for me.
Pandora. Especially my Nick Lowe channel.
The document map feature on Word. I was introduced to this on the Blueboards. How did I live without this?
Writing scenes out of order. I’ve never tried this before, but when I got stuck near the end of MALCOLM, I jotted down all the scene that I knew were going to happen sometime in the story on Post-it notes. Then I turned them over and picked one at random. It was so wonderfully freeing–I felt silly for not trying this earlier. But I guess I’m just a linear person.
Post-it notes. See above. Also used for notes to myself of things to do, people to call, and anything else that pops up in my brain as an attempt to draw me away from writing. I Post-it and keep writing.
The SCBWI WIP grant. And a wonderful critique from Deborah Lynn Jacobs. Both of these came just at the right time. This past year I’ve turned down some other book offers–a professional library one and more school/library nonfiction books–as well as some articles. It felt really wrong and scary to say no to some sure things. But one thing I learned from writing the Follow the Food Chain series is that I only have time for one writing project at a time. And if I want to write middle grade fiction, then I have to say no to the rest. So getting a little encouragement with the fiction really helped quell my panic attacks.
Visuals. I picked up a stuffed rat at IKEA this summer. It’s Malcolm. It just is. And I also have a picture of “McKenna School” as the desktop of my computer. I would like to think these things don’t matter, but the truth is, they both get me ready to write.

So, what helps you to keep going?

A Continuation of the SCBWI WIP Yay

W.H. Beck — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:18:14 +0000

All the winners have been announced now. It’s funny; I’ve never once considered what I’m working on to be an “animal fantasy.” But I guess that does fit. Who knew! Related posts:The Big Ol’ Revision Post The First Printout done Related posts:

Hey! Yay!

W.H. Beck — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:36:41 +0000

Well, today began with a full-body sidewalk sprawl on my morning run, but it ended up with a call telling me that I’m the runner-up for the SCBWI General Work-in-Progress grant! For MALCOLM AT MIDNIGHT!

Aside from being delighted overall, I’m encouraged that it was for this story. I’ve been describing it as a humorous middle grade murder mystery starring classroom pets at midnight, but the truth is, no one else has read it yet and I really wasn’t sure what others would make of it. MALCOLM’s a little bit…unusual. A mixture of kids’ writer “no-no’s” and old-fashioned middle grade: Talking animals. School hijinks. Some second person point of view. A mystery. Silliness. Complete with…footnotes.

When I told Colonel Mustard, he was just as excited as I was. MALCOLM’s been our bedtime story for…well, a really very long time, according to him. Now I guess I need to finish it up. And, furthermore, I think I deserve the day off from running tomorrow!

Colonel Mustard and I celebrate with our $1.99 Malcolm from IKEA.

Heading to ALA

W.H. Beck — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:07:22 +0000

Yes, I am! In fact, I’m presenting there. And signing books (Lerner booth, Sunday 12:15). Come see me! Here’s the scoop on the presentation:

Nonfiction Book Blast!

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Convention Center Room W181
10:30 am to 12:00 pm
ALA Annual Conference, Chicago

wiki at http://nfbookblast.pbworks.com/

Track: Children & Young Adults; Literature & Collection Development

Despite the emphasis on fiction for leisure reading in schools, many reluctant readers are often more drawn to reading nonfiction. Expand your nonfiction repertoire as 17 authors booktalk their latest work.

Panelists include award-winning and acclaimed authors April Pulley Sayre (Vulture View), Kelly Halls (Albino Animals), and Carla McClafferty (Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium), as well as many additional prolific or brand new authors. Their booktalks, plus new ones crafted by audience members, will be yours to take back home to excite your students about reading nonfiction.

The Nonfiction Book Blast speakers (click on name for author website and title for book description) who will join moderator Sharon Mitchell, include:

Lisa Rondinelli Albert, Stephenie Meyer: Author of the Twilight Saga (Enslow Publishers, May 2009), So You Want to Be a Film or TV Actor (Enslow Publishers, 2008)

Mary Bowman-Kruhm, The Leakeys: A Biography (Prometheus Books, 2009)

Laura Crawford, In Arctic Waters (Sylvan Dell Publishing), The Pilgrims’ Thanksgiving From A to Z (Pelican Publishing), Postcards From Chicago (Raven Tree Press)

Jeri Chase Ferris, With Open Hands: The Story of Biddy Mason (Lerner), Arctic Explorer: Matthew Henson (Lerner)

Kelly Milner Halls, Dinosaur Parade (Lark/Sterling Publishers, 2008), Saving the Baghdad Zoo (HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2009), Tales of the Cryptids (Darby Creek Publishing, 2006)

Amy S. Hansen, Bugs and Bugsicles: Insects in the Winter (Boyds Mills Press, 2010), Touch the Earth (NASA and NFB, 2009)

Gwendolyn Hooks, Makers and Takers (Rourke Publishing, 2008)

Katherine L. House, Lighthouses for Kids: History, Science, and Lore with 21 Activities (Chicago Review Press, 2008)

Patricia K. Kummer, The Great Barrier Reef (Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2009), The Great Lakes (Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2009), North Korea and South Korea (two books) (Scholastic/Children’s Press, 2008)

Suzanne Lieurance, The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and Sweatshop Reform in American History (Enslow Publishers, Inc.)

JoAnn Early Macken, Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move (Holiday House, 2008)

Carla Killough McClafferty, In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008)

Wendie Old, The Halloween Book of Facts and Fun (Albert Whitman), The Groundhog Day Book of Facts and Fun (Albert Whitman)

April Pulley Sayre, Honk, Honk, Goose: Canada Geese Start a Family (Henry Holt, 2009)

Anastasia Suen, Wired (Charlesbridge, 2007), The U.S. Supreme Court (Picture Window Books)

Christine Taylor-Butler, SACRED MOUNTAIN: Everest (Lee and Low Books, 2009)

Rebecca Hogue Wojahn and Donald Wojahn, Follow That Food Chain (Lerner, 2009)

Write by Night

W.H. Beck — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 22:24:56 +0000

Eek! There’s an interview with Don and me about our Last Night for Dinner series in our local arts/entertainment newspaper, Volume One. It’s out now so you can pick it up when you’re out and about. Or go read it here. (But only if you promise to promptly erase any memory of what I look like in that first photo.)

Also, if you click on the pink “Related in Print” link to the right of the article online, you can see a couple pages from the Temperate Forest book.

Story Start: Snow Day

W.H. Beck — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 05:38:41 +0000

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.” ~ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a snow day is the single-most exciting occurrence in a school year. There’s nothing like it. Christmas break? Spring break? Those you see coming for months ahead of time. Heck, you wait so hard for those, you’ve almost worn out by the time they arrive. No, a snow day is something special, something out of the blue, a reprieve from spelling tests and oral reports and group projects. It’s like a surprise fire drill. Only better because you don’t have to shiver in line next to drippy Miranda Colt while the teacher counts heads. Nope, you’re home with your Wii and your buddies are too and if you’re really lucky, your parents still have to go to work. Then it’s hotdogs and ice cream for lunch. Bouncing basketballs inside the house and running scarf-free when you head outside.

Let’s face it, a snow day is an act of God.

So last January 15? When I saw my school on the list, I was pumped.

Only at the time, who knew we were going to be stuck inside school? With my little sister?

Story Start: Shay’s Pond

W.H. Beck — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:41:47 +0000

The last time someone fell through the ice at Shay’s pond was nearly a hundred and fifty years ago.

It was me.

When I fell through it was just a [stupid] accident. My cap blew off in that March gale. It cartwheeled over the snow drifts and across the pond. I ventured out after it. Craaack—ker-splunk. I was in the water before I knew it.

That water had a bite to it. It seized my legs, turning them in to logs as heavy as the ones they used to float down the river. Those log legs pulled me down. I remember scrabbling at the edge of the ice. It kept crumbling off in chunks. Then, the weight of my log-legs pulled me under. I settled down on the murky muddy bottom, where all the turtles and frogs had buried themselves to wait for spring.

Up on the surface, that gale was already licking my footprints in the snow smooth and driving everyone else with a lick of sense inside. By the time I was missed—the next morning—the snow was smooth and the ice had a new crust on it.

That how I come to live here next to Shay’s Pond for so many years. As a specter, you might say.

Writing Tip

W.H. Beck — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:26:10 +0000

Non-writer friends often ask how I find time to write with 2 kids and a full-time job. Here’s one of my tricks: It’s especially effective if you turn up your iPod and lock the door. Related posts:Me and eBooks Down by the Schoolyard done Author Talk: Mac Barnett Related posts:

RULES Coattails

W.H. Beck — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:43:51 +0000

I just found out from Scholastic and Booklinks that my Booklinks interview with Cynthia Lord is going to be included in a new paperback teachers’ edition of Cynthia Lord’s Newbery Honor-winning novel, RULES. The entire article will appear in the back of the book–including the sidebar on the literature circle blogging unit I did at my school with the book! Cindi (the teacher I did the unit with, not Cindy Lord, the author, who graciously guest blogged for us in our unit) and I are now feeling the urge to straighten up our links. People other than our students may be visiting it!