Giveaway!! Autobiographical Fiction: Real Life at its Heart

Today you're in for a special treat! Katherine Schlick Noe is here to answer questions about her book, her writing and how authorship fits into her busy schedule.

1) Why did you choose to write a memoir for children?
Many readers have wondered about the line between fiction and memoir in Something to Hold! I describe the book as fiction that is "inspired by" my own life. Like Deborah Wiles'Countdown and Jack Gantos' Newbery-winning Dead End in Norvelt, my book is nestled into the genre of autobiographical fiction. Kitty, her family, and her friend Pinky are all based on my family and a long-time friend from Warm Springs. But I wasn't as brave as Kitty becomes, nor as aware as she is of the prejudice and hardship that affect her classmates. Some of the events are based on real life, yet at its heart, the story is fiction.

I lived at Warm Springs when I was Kitty's age. Like hers, my dad was a forester with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and my brothers and I were also among the few non-Indian students at the same school where she goes. Unlike Kitty, I always felt welcomed and accepted and made many friends. All my life, other non-Indians have asked me, "What was it like living on Indian reservations when you're not Native?" And like all of the complex questions in our lives, there are many answers and none is simple. I started writing as a way to figure out some answers for myself. I started writing little episodes based on memories from Warm Springs: A stern teacher who read the Bible to us every day; late-night calls on two-way radio in the hallway outside my bedroom that alerted my dad to sudden forest fires; an art project gone terribly wrong because of a razor blade. And then a story of longing, belonging, and learning to stand up for justice slowly began to appear. 

2) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a writer.

I became a writer in the fourth grade at Warm Springs. I still have the first page of my first novel, Danger at Fort Bloodstone. I spent a lot of time living inside my own head, making up stories, thinking about people and the crazy things they do. I  wrote all the way through high school and college and then wrote poetry for a long time once I started teaching. I've been a teacher for over 35 years, which heavily influences my writing. I am driven by this "mission question": How can we help children and young people learn to live with courage and hope in an imperfect world? I now work with beginning teachers at Seattle University, and everything I do is grounded in that question. And it's also at the center of Something to Hold and certainly every other book that I will write.

3) The voice is very authentic, yet the work has a literary quality. How did you go about balancing that?
Wow -- thank you! That is the kind of writing that I love to read. It's what I so admire in other authors' work, particularly Deborah Wiles and Gary Schmidt. And it's how I want to be able to write. Getting Something to Hold from my head to the page was a long journey. It took me 14 years from the first episode until publication! And I am so fortunate to have worked with an exceptional editor who pushed me hard to learn the craft. She worked with me for four years, over many revisions before she was willing to offer a contract. And in that time, I threw myself into learning everything I could. So I'd say that balance didn't come easily, but I was highly motivated to learn how to write a book that I would most want to read. See my review of Something To Hold here.

4) Tell us about your process. Pantser or Plotter?
Since this is my first novel, I wish I could say that I have a "process." The journey was one of constant surprises, obstacles, and discoveries. I liken it to walking backward through snow -- I couldn't see where I was going, just where I'd been. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. In my new project (more about that below), I'm on the first draft, and I'm trying something new. I had a chunk of time in August, so set a goal of writing 1000 new words a day. They didn't have to be good words -- just keep going. Some days it took two hours; some days a lot longer. But I stopped right when I got just over the limit. By the end of the month, I'd written about 28,000 words! I'm hoping that this project will take far less time than the first.
 
5) What does a typical writing day look like?
Unfortunately, I have yet to have a typical day. I am writing in my head most of the time (yes, SU teacher candidates -- even when I'm with you!). I like having long expanses of time to write, but like everyone with an absorbing day job, I don't get that often. Right now, I'm trying out a shorter daily goal -- 500 words, which is about a page and a half -- to see if I can get a pace going.

6) Where is your favorite place to write?
My home office, which looks out on my Queen Anne alley, one neighbor's happily-quacking duck family, and another neighbor's huge pine tree.

7) What did or do you find most challenging in creating the story and getting it published? What do you wish you would have known?
The greatest challenge was in crafting the story, because though I'd tried a novel in the fourth grade, I really had no idea what I was doing. I was extraordinarily lucky to have an editor who was willing to read a draft -- and willing to keep reading and responding ("It's not there yet, but if you want to revise, I'll read it again") until I was able to send her something she wanted to publish. The challenge was the time that it took (7 years total), but I knew that I had a golden opportunity to learn from her, and I wasn't going to waste it. All you need is a great story and dogged persistence.

8) What is the best writing advice you have ever received?
Write short chapters. It's really concrete, but it had a tremendous influence on me. My chapters are all about 5 to 8 pages long. Teachers tell me that their less-comfortable readers will tackle a book if the chapters are short.9) Are you working on a new project? Can you tell us about it?
My next story started as a hazy image that was stuck in my head for months: A girl, about 15, leans against the railing on the Monorail platform at the Seattle Center. I can't see her face. She never gets on the train and she never talks to anyone. I didn't know her story, but I knew right away that something was terribly wrong. I was at a writing conference and sat down with my computer -- and this girl just started talking. She kept talking through the week and all through the long drive back to Seattle. I had to pull off the freeway to jot down what she was saying because she'd finally decided to tell me her story. Glory's life is one long string of disasters -- but she taps into a well of grit and creativity, and deals with them in surprising ways.

Katherine also runs the Literature Circles Resource Center 
"I developed the Literature Circles Resource Center as an educational service to teachers in elementary grades through middle school. The purpose of this site is to provide in-depth information and resources on literature circles. The site evolved from a classroom action research project in which I spent one day a week in each of six classrooms in the Seattle area -- grades 1 through 6 -- learning with and from teachers and students as they tried out literature circles for the first time. The research project led to the book, Getting Started with Literature Circles (1999), co-authored with Nancy J. Johnson of Western Washington University in Bellingham. The site also presents information specific to middle school from the book, Literature Circles in Middle School: One Teacher's Journey(2003), co-authored with Bonnie Campbell Hill and Janine A. King. Both books are published by Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc."—LCRC
10) What advice would you give others that write for children?
Join the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators -- we have an awesome chapter in Western Washington! Go to their monthly meetings and the annual conference. Learn everything you can from other writers who are extraordinarily willing to help you. Read widely in the genre you want to write. One of the most helpful things I did early on was to "dissect" middle grade novels that I had loved as a reader to find out how they were constructed. That's where I learned about the power of short chapters.

Bonus Question: Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise us.
I've always wanted to be a back-up singer for Bruce Springsteen!

I'd like to thank Katherine for taking time away from her busy schedule to share her ideas and let us get to know her a little bit better! Okay, now for the giveaway...

Katherine said she's decided to try a shorter daily writing goal, what is it?  Answer the question and you could win a signed copy of her book Something To Hold. Enter before midnight on January 31st. Winner will be announced on February 1st.

Giveaway extended...to February 14th! 

Getting Across The Finish Line: An Interview with Wendy Wan-Long Shang

I'm so excited to have the author of The Great Wall of Lucy Lu which I reviewed last month, here. It is one of my favorite reads so far this year.
Welcome Wendy!


1) Why do you write for children?
     I love every aspect of writing for children. I enjoy the process - imagining the story, writing, and revising. I think it's an honor to write for kids and be a part of their lives. And when I began meeting other children's book writers, I felt like I had found my "tribe".


2) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a writer.
      I was originally an attorney working on behalf of children in the juvenile justice system, and I left that work to stay home with my children. Then about six years ago, I received an invitation to a high school reunion, and that got me thinking about what I wanted to accomplish with my life. I realized that I wanted to try to write a book, and on the advice of a friend, I signed up for a class on writing for children at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It was quite difficult to attend the classes - my husband had to come home early from work to take over for the kids and it was a long slog through Washington's infamous rush-hour traffic to get there. However, once I attended the first class - taught by the wonderful Mary Quattlebaum - I was hooked.
      I began to work on what would become LUCY in the fall of that year, and I wrote about 50 pages in a year. Then I received the call that I had won a Work-in-Progress grant from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. That call was a game-changer; I realized that I had been acting as if the story could not be finished and that I should finish quickly so that I could mention the grant without looking like I had waited too long. I wrote the next 100 pages in 6 months!

ORDER HERE

3) What was the inspiration for The Wall Of Lucy Wu?                                                         
The real kernel of inspiration for The Great Wall of Lucy Wu came from a relative in China I never met. He had written to my mother, asking her for family photographs because he was researching our family. She sent him some copies, and he wrote back, saying, "I thought I'd never see these photos again." Presumably, the photos had been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. I was so blown away by this thought that I wanted to write about it in a way that was meaningful to young people.


4) Tell us about your writing process.
When I start a story, I have an idea of what the climax should be and a general idea of how I want the story to end. Everything else in between is an adventure.


5) What does a typical writing day look like?
There really is no "typical" day for me; having three kids does that! When things are going well, I write for an hour and a half to two hours, and I try to leave the manuscript with a question or idea to gnaw on for the next writing session.


6) Where is your favorite place to write?
I like to write in public places, even if I don't talk to anybody - the local public library or a coffee shop. I'm really lucky - I have four libraries within a 15-minute drive of my house!


7) What did or do you find most challenging in creating the story and getting it published? What do you wish you would have known?
My biggest challenge - and I'm hardly unique in this - is keeping writing at the top of the list. It's so easy (and sometimes tempting) to let chores and the demands of everyday life take over and keep me from writing. I am working on keeping the "nibblers" (the little things that eat away at my time) to a minimum.


8) What kind of marketing have you found to be most effective?
I've been fortunate to have Scholastic's incredible marketing and publicity teams behind my book - I really feel that their support has allowed me to focus on the fun stuff: writing and school visits.



9) What is the best writing advice you have ever received?
I can't remember where I saw it, but the saying that sticks with me is, "The most important job of a writer is to finish."


10) Are you working on a new project? Can you tell us about it?
I'm a bit superstitious about talking about works-in-progress, but I'll tell you a bit about the inspirations: in the early 1970s, my dad allowed a girl on my brother's baseball team, much to the consternation of some of the other parents. In this same time period, Taiwan was beginning a long reign over the Little League World Series.


11) What advice would you give others that write for children?
When you write, think about the children for whom your book will be the most meaningful. When I was in the middle of writing LUCY, I watched Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary about 5th graders in New York City learning to ballroom dance. There's a moment where they interview different kids - about the opposite sex, I think - and three Chinese girls are included. I started crying when I saw them, because I realized I was writing for them (and the 5th grader inside me) and I hoped LUCY would be a book they would love and relate to. While LUCY is, of course, for many different children (and I have received many letters starting with "I'm not Chinese-American but I understand Lucy's story because..."), having a specific audience in mind helps focus your story and inspires you to get across the finish line!
Find more Wendy:
Goodreads
From The Mixed Up Files

Be sure to check out my review here for great links and more information about her book.

World Building Technique: An Interview with Jen Reese Author of Above World

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I'm really excited to have Jenn Reese with us today. Her debut, Above World, will be released on February 14th. This is one you're not going to want to miss! I couldn't help but think about Katniss (Hunger Games) as Aluna, the heroine, fights to save her people and ultimately the world. 


1) Why do you write for children?
         When I was young, my home life wasn’t good and books were my escape. I spent as much time as possible in other worlds, making friends with Turtle from The Westing Game or helping Meg find her father in A Wrinkle In Time. (I was the kind of kid who almost walked into oncoming traffic because I couldn’t put my book down on the way to the bus stop, not even for a minute.) So my childhood is the main reason I write middle-grade adventures. The books I read back then saved my life, and I want to repay that gift if I can.

2) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you became a writer.
        I grew up reading but didn’t start writing until my mid twenties. Well, that’s not entirely true – I wrote constantly for the Dungeons & Dragons games I played, inventing elaborate back stories for my characters and creating worlds and cultures for games I was running myself. Once I starting writing short stories (it was eight more years before I tried novels), I couldn’t imagine why I hadn’t started sooner. Creating worlds and stories and characters is something I will always love doing. That I now get to share my inventions with other people is an absolute joy.

See Review Here.
ORDER HERE

   3) What was the inspiration for Above World?
      I was trying to come up with an idea for a short story, some sort of adventure in space. I asked myself what sort of person might make a good space captain, and the answer came to me right away: a mermaid! That’s how I got the idea of combining mythology with science fiction. I also knew I wanted the book to feel like an epic fantasy adventure, the kind I gulped down as kid. I thought that approach – along with an emphasis on bioengineering instead of spaceships -- might win over some readers who didn’t think they liked science fiction.

4) Tell us about your process.
           I am an unrepentant planner. When I start working on an idea, I write everything down in a Moleskine notebook that never leaves my side – not while I’m at work, not while I’m asleep, not ever. The notebook is basically an external brain where I trap every single thought related to the book, including all the stupid ones I’ll never use.

            Candy-bar scenes are another big thing for me. First, I should note that "candy-bar scenes" come from author Holly Lisle (hollylisle.com) who has a lot of great advice on her website. I list every scene that I’m dying to write – a first kiss, a fight scene with a particular kind of weapon or in a neat setting, a surprising twist that I can’t wait to spring on my characters. I have to know the big final scene of the novel (at least what it means to the main character), and it must be a candy-bar scene, a scene that I can’t wait to write. If it’s not, then it’s not the right final scene and I have to keep thinking.

           Once I’ve got the ending, I start to sketch out an outline – only a few brief sentences per chapter or just a chronological list of beats. I like to have structure, but to leave enough room for unexpected turns or for a side character to become more interesting. If I plan everything out too much, then it’s not as fun for me to write.
          Having said all that, I think processes should stay fluid. I’m continually changing as a writer and a person, and each story is different. I like to think that I’ll keep adapting as I go.

5) Your process is inspiring and I love the idea of "candy-bar scenes". Can you tell us a little more about your world building? How do you decide on the rules for your world and create plausibility?

           There are a lot of ways to approach world building, and I have no fixed method. For Above World, I started with an endpoint and worked backward. I knew I wanted humans who had bioengineered themselves into the shapes of mythological creatures, so I tried to imagine how the world we know now might change to create such a need or desire. Overpopulation and resource depletion seemed like great excuses for humans to seek homes in harsh niches requiring biological modification. The humans chose mythological creatures as their inspiration because many humans (myself included!) are in love with form as well as function. We're drawn to mythic resonance, to sleek interfaces, to clever industrial design. Why live underwater as a human, when you could live underwater as a mermaid? Armed with this basic framework, I researched current science and extrapolated in an effort to make my modified humans as scientifically plausible as possible. Almost none of my research made it into the book explicitly, but I like to think it's there, hidden in the details. And I guess that's another one of my tricks: to do as much world-building as I can -- to fill my notebook with thoughts on food preferences and family trees and societal rituals -- but to use only the parts that work for the story. Then I sneak more and more details in with each draft as I understand both the world and the story better.

6) What does a typical writing day look like?
         I really don’t have a typical writing day. I’ve had many different day jobs over the years and my writing schedule has fluctuated wildly with each one. While I was working long hours at an animation studio, I wrote late at night between 11pm and 1am. Now that I’m working part-time and as a freelancer, I try to get two hours of work done in the mornings when I don’t have to commute to my job, and get to do as much writing as I want on weekends. I don’t write every day, except sometimes when I’m on deadline. I’m a big believer in filling the well and taking breaks, and in finding a system that works for you and your life.

The world cannot change for us;

therefore we must change ourselves for the world.

—Ali’ikai of the Coral Kampii, born Sarah Jennings

7)  I agree that filling the well is extremely important. Tell us some of the ways you "fill your well'.

   For the most part, I fill my well with other media -- movies, TV shows, music, and video games. I've learned so much from singers like Dar Williams and writers like Joss Whedon, both masters of metaphor but in entirely different ways. (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer is my favorite TV show of all time.) I remember watching Nickelodeon's animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and realizing that it was a perfect touchstone for the tone I'd been trying to capture in my book. Knowing that helped immensely when I was writing the next draft. I also read and re-read books on screenplay structure. Blake Snyder's Save the Cat seems to hold a different gem for me every time I open it. But I'm only able to see these things when I take a break from writing, step back, and give my brain a chance to refresh itself.
           (Looking back at this answer, I kind of wish I'd said, "I like to climb mountains, backpack through Europe, meditate on the beach in Fiji, and volunteer for the Peace Corps," but let's face it: I'm a geek.) 
8) Where is your favorite place to write?
        Sitting in my recliner or on the sofa with one or more cats keeping me company and a playlist for the novel blaring in my headphones. Some day I’d love to add a window with a forest view to that picture, but probably not while I’m living in Los Angeles.

9) Could you share with us a few artists that make their way into your playlists?
            I'm one of those people who can't write to songs with lyrics, so all of my writing playlists are instrumental. I mostly go for tone and mood. For Above World, I listened to a mix of soundtracks: Pirates of the Caribbean, Dragonheart, Harry Potter (Chamber of Secrets), and Serenity. Some days even soundtracks are too distracting and I listen to rainstorms or crashing waves with my "White Noise" app.

7) What did or do you find most challenging in creating the story and getting it published? What do you wish you would have known?
           I lost hope in this story many times along the way, and I’m certain I would have given up on it without the support of my friends. The book is dedicated in part to Stephanie Burgis (author of the amazing series Kat, Incorrigible) who talked me out of some very dark places. It was a visit with Steph and her husband Patrick in 2009 that convinced me I needed to take my career more seriously. When I came home, I set myself a schedule for revising the book and starting my agent search.
            What do I wish I would have known? That I’d be revising the book so many times – and so extensively -- that those initial drafts really weren’t that important. I struggled so much with the first draft. If I’d only known that I’d be rewriting the opening chapters six or seven more times, maybe I wouldn’t have beat myself up so much that I couldn’t get it right the first time.

8) What is the best writing advice you have ever received?
        Write with passion. I’m not sure if anyone ever said that to me specifically, but that’s what I get when I distill years of advice about trusting yourself and your voice, and understanding that no one else will ever write exactly the same story as you will. Passion is contagious. Even better, it’s fun.
9) Are you working on a new project? Can you tell us about it?
         I’m finishing up the second book in the Above World series and dreaming about writing a third. My Moleskine is filling up with ideas for a new middle-grade fantasy and a YA adventure set in an alternate dimension.

10) What advice would you give others that write for children?
          Don’t do it unless you love reading middle-grade fiction yourself. Writing for children isn’t for everyone; it requires a passion that you can’t fake.

That was incredible! There is one thing about having the opportunity to read a book before it's release—you have to wait that much longer for the second one to come out. 

Looking for more Jenn Reese?

Here are a few more places you can find her:

Website

Blog

Interview on The Enchanted Inkpot  sometime this week...

Don't miss my review of Above World here.

Thanks again to Jenn Reese for stopping by and we wish you well with the release next week!