Middle Grade Writer Gives Writing Tips

Monte's twins loved Matt Myklusch's first book, Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation. I like his tip about writing for YOU. Here is the posting from: "Guide to Literary Agents" This installment is from middle grade series writer Matt Myklusch. ??

Matt Myklusch spends his days working for mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network. A lifelong love of comic books spurred him to spend his nights and weekends writing Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation, the first in a middle grade adventure series from Simon & Schuster, Aladdin. Matt lives in New Jersey with his wife and family.

1. You only fail if you quit. Don’t think about the odds and don’t give up. If you’re still trying to get published and haven’t quit, then you haven’t failed, no matter how long you’ve been at it A screenwriter named Josh Olson wrote, “You can’t discourage a writer. If I can talk you out of being a writer, then you’re not a writer.” I totally agree. Life is going to present you with no shortage of excuses for giving up. The important thing to remember is that’s all they are— excuses. They’re not reasons. Have faith in yourself and your story. You can do anything if you want it bad enough.

2. You’ve gotta really want it. If you want writing to be your job one day, you have to treat it like a job now. Don’t try to find the time to write… make the time. I know it’s not easy. You probably have a job, schoolwork, a family… maybe all three. Whatever your situation is, I’m sure you have a million things in your life that will keep you from writing. I’ve been there. I’m still there. But, there are 24 hours in every day. Last year, I started getting up at 5 a.m. every morning so I could write for at least an hour before work. All those hours eventually added up to a finished novel. You just have to make the time and push on through. If you can do it on less than ten cups of coffee a day, you’re doing better than me.

3. Write for YOU. Scheduling difficulties aside, writing shouldn’t all be such hard work. I don’t want to focus too much on that side of things. No one is forcing you to sit down and write except you, so write for yourself. Write the story that you want to read. The one that you’ll have the most fun writing. It takes a long time to write a novel, and if nothing ever happens with whatever you are working on right now, you better at least have fun writing it. That’s what I did with JACK BLANK, and I think it made a huge difference in how the story came out. It certainly made those early mornings a lot easier.

4. Writing isn’t just typing. It goes on all day. I find that if I am stuck on something and really push myself to think of an idea or solve a plot problem, I can usually come up with something pretty mediocre. But, if I let the story sit in the back of my head percolating long enough, eventually, something clicks. Make sure that part of your brain is always on.

5. Get to know your characters. Your characters drive your story, so if you’re not sure what comes next, sometimes you have to get to know your characters a little better. Tom Clancy once said in an interview how he planned to kill a character in one of his books, but then, at one point in the story, the character did something so interesting that he had to change his plans. When I first heard that, I thought, “This guy’s crazy. The character did something interesting? He decides what the characters do.”

But, Tom Clancy was right. If you really get to know your characters, they can surprise you. Get to know them before you start writing. What do your characters want? What are they afraid of? What have they been through in life that makes them who they are? All of this information might not even make it into your actual story, but if you know these things about your characters, then you’ll know what they would do in any given situation. You’ll know what each individual character would say and how they would say it.

6. Stay off the internet! If you’re writing, don’t let yourself click over to your email, twitter, or any other site you usually hit up. It will kill your productivity. Case in point, I checked the Yankees pitch-by-pitch on MLB Gameday four-hundred times while writing this post, and it has taken way longer than it should have. (The good news is, the Yankees won). But seriously, don’t let yourself take little breaks to check your email or anything else while you’re working. Let your writing time be writing time.

7. Don’t be afraid to dream big. Get your hopes up. That’s what hope is for. If things don’t work out with your current manuscript, that’s okay… take a day to feel bad about it and then keep moving forward. See item number one for additional details.

Agent Jon Sternfeld On: 5 Elements of Interesting Narrative Nonfiction (and Memoirs)

From: Guide to Literary Agents Jon Sternfeld is an agent with the Irene Goodman Literary Agency representing literary fiction (including well-researched dramas and historical thrillers) and narrative nonfiction that deals with historical, social, or cultural issues. He is open to all writers with an original voice and he has a particular interest in fiction that has a large, ambitious canvas (exploring a time, place, or culture).

Jon’s co-agent, Irene Goodman, offers manuscript critiques on eBay every month, starting on the first day of each month, with all proceeds going to charity. Click on the link for more details on these critiques and charity auctions.

Narrative nonfiction is a difficult and crowded market. Here are some thoughts about distinguishing your work from the pack.

1. Arcs: Like a strong novel, make sure the story and the main character have Narrative Arcs—that is each needs to go somewhere. Finding the arc is key or else the story is a jumble of disjointed vignettes that lead nowhere. Evolution of character and movement of the story make a true story as engaging to read as a novel.

2. Inverse Rule for Nonfiction: The less well known the subject/story, the more blow people out of the water amazing the story needs to be. This holds for memoirs the most—unless your name is a brand, your life story needs to be fresh, original, and surprising to have any chance in the memoir market.

3. Familiar Strange, Strange Familiar: As my creative writing professors once said, the key to tackling a subject is to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. Surprise readers with what they thought they knew; show them the commonalities between their world and the (seemingly) strange world of your book.

4. Big and Small: My favorite nonfiction authors (Mary Roach, David Grann, Alain de Botton) intuitively understand this concept. The approach to their stories is “big” in the sense that there’s universality and larger implications (historical, social, scientific) in their work; the approach is also “small” in the sense that they get into the nitty-gritty details of their world: the fascinating hows and thought-provoking whys.

5. Voice: Remember that you, as writer, are a character in the book: If not in actuality (as in Erik Larson books and other historical narratives) then in voice. Nonfiction books these days are very ‘voice driven’ I hear this all the time from editors: THE VOICE NEEDS TO GRAB ME. Some books require an invisible hand, but unless your subject demands your objectivity/invisibility, put yourself into the story—either as a character, or at least as a perspective/voice. Your voice needs to come through.

Questions to ask yourself to see if a true story can work as a full narrative nonfiction book: Is there a hero, or at least an identifiable protagonist—someone we care about and relate to? Does this character have an arc? Does he/she evolve at all? Are there enough conflict(s)—plural—to keep the reader engaged throughout? Does it go and end up somewhere new and hopefully, unexpected? Is there a universality to the subject—as in, will people care? If it’s a story about an adoption gone wrong, do you get us to care about the problem, identify with the people, and see the larger issues at stake?

Final note on narrative nonfiction: Consider studying fiction narratives for what works in story and how that might be useful in nonfiction—all writers can be teaching tools so remember to look everywhere for lessons.

Schulz Buys Santa Barbara Writers Conference

Schulz Buys Santa Barbara Writers ConferenceSon of Charles Schulz will re-launch event By Publishers Weekly Staff Jun 22, 2010

The Santa Barbara Writers Conference has a new owner: novelist Monte Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. Schulz purchased the conference from bankruptcy and plans to re-launch it in 2011. The Schulz family has supported SBWC since its inception in 1972.

Charles Schulz, who died in 2000, was often present at SBWC, getting involved with a young writers scholarship fund and donating a drawing for auction. His son, Monte, has supported a number of attendees through scholarship funding. The last SBWC took place in 2008. Its previous owner was Marcia Meier.