I wrote a couple of posts for the SCBWI Carolinas’ Blog and wanted to share them in one place: Emotional Resonance was the holy grail of my MFA experience. I captured a few thoughts in this post (it was *hard* to keep it to under 1000 words! so much to say about this topic!) If […]
n There’s been talk lately about whether children’s books should tackle hard subjects. This one’s a no-brainer for me. They should. Kids read for truth and their world is not the cheery candy-colored confection adults strive so mightily to create. They should be given hope, yes. But hope without reality is about as satisfying as […]
I’ve been thinking a lot about beginnings – what captures us quickly and draws us into the center of story? We’re told to start with action, bring the reader into the scene, and keep it moving. That’s important advice, keeping us from lingering in backstory, setting the scene for too long, or wandering until we […]
If there were Ten Commandments of writing for children, the main character shall change by the end of the story would be among them. Jumped, by Rita Williams-Garcia breaks the rule. I would argue that the main character does change, but she’s not the obvious character. Most of the story takes place in a day […]