Hard Work, Late Nights And Dirty Laundry: An Interview with Jodi Meadows

I'd like to welcome Jodi Meadows to the blog today! I recently reviewed her book Incarnate and you can find that here.

1) Why do you write for young adults?


Because young adults are awesome. There's so much going on in their lives, they're experiencing so many things for the first time. Firsts are exciting to write about.Also, because I really love YA books.


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

I've always wanted to be a writer. My sister and I made up lots of stories when we were young, but it wasn't until I was in seventh grade when I realized that writing was something people did. There was actually a job that involved making up stories!When I realized that was an option -- that anyone could be a writer if they wanted -- I decided I would.

Jodi's Ferrets

3) What was the inspiration for Incarnate?


First, I filled up a room with keyboards. Just keyboards, of course. The wires all went into computers in another room.
Then I released the ferrets.I'm not sure how they came up with Incarnate, but somewhere in the 8,000,000 pages of "jdfskjklgjfklesjgvcxnfghjkguioehfdnvv gk jskafskdljfads 1~~!!! !fdsfsda" I found a gem.That answer may be a lie.

4) Tell us about your process.


My process does not actually involve ferrets. Ideas arrive in my brain. I write them down in a "new ideas" document. And if the ideas don't leave after that . . . usually they start growing. Characters introduce themselves. I somehow end up tethered to my keyboard for months. At some point, a first draft emerges. It needs lot of work. I spend more months revising.

Mostly, my process involves a lot of hard work, late nights, and dirty laundry piling up.

5) What does a typical writing day look like?

Generally, it looks like me sitting in my desk chair, a ferret trying to balance on my head, and a cat sitting on my lap or keyboard, depending on the weather.

I write about 8 - 10 hours a day. It's a full-time job for me. I know how lucky I am, and there's nothing I'd rather be doing, but it is work and I definitely put the hours in.


6) Where is your favorite place to write?

I'm on a desktop computer, so I write only in the one place: my ferret room. I'm not sure I'd do well trying to write anywhere else, actually. I like complete silence while I'm writing.

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 was actually a pretty educated querier. When I was ready to start looking for an agent, I already had a few friends who were published. I had the benefit of their experiences, so there wasn't much that came as a surprise.

But I think a lot of new authors are surprised by how much work writing is. Lots of people imagine writing all day and having everything else magically happen around them, but it doesn't work like that. Revisions have to be done (by one's deadline), emails have to be answered, promotion has to get out there. It's not all glamorous.

8) What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

Oh, that's really hard to say. I've received a lot of excellent writing advice! But one of the most widely useful pieces I like to send back out to the world: only write the good parts. If what you're writing is boring to you, it's going to be boring to the reader. They can tell whether you're into what you're writing.

9) Are you working on a new project? Can you tell us about it?

Yes, I am! But no, I can't. It hasn't been sold yet, and while I hope it does sell, I can't make promises. And I hate to get anyone excited about something I can't promise will make it out there.

10) What advice would you give others that write for children?

Never, ever write down to them, or try to force a moral into the story. The second they feel patronized, they're out.

11) What are a couple of your all time favorite YA books?

Oh man, this is HARD. All time favorites? *pulls hair* Okay.

Anything by Robin McKinley. HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones (which so far is the only thing I've read of hers, but I have a feeling *anything* of hers would be on this list). IF I STAY by Gayle Forman. THE GIVER by Lois Lowry. PLAIN KATE by Erin Bow. And . . . well, okay.

Here's my "books I love beyond reason" shelf on Goodreads. Not all of them are YA, but most are. http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4011205?shelf=books-i-love-beyond-reason
12) It sounds like you never questioned whether or not you could be a writer...Were you always that confident?

Well, for a long time, I didn't realize how hard it was to get published. I assumed one simply wrote a book, and then someone published it. Once I did learn how difficult it was . . . I thought it was mostly a matter of time. I would query until someone said yes. I would write books until someone published one. (And then I'd write more.)

There was a while in there when I was a *good* writer but not good *enough* -- and that was really hard. So while I never doubted I could be a writer -- anyone who picks up a pen or keyboard and starts writing is a writer -- I did, for a while, doubt that I would ever be published. Most days, I'm still surprised that it happened. Because even though I can go to my local bookstore and see my book for sale, the whole thing still seems so surreal and like a goal I will always be shooting for.

New Books: 

Thanks so much Jodi. It was great to get to know you a little better! I can't wait to get my hands on the next book and you can bet I'll be reviewing it.

Have any of you read Incarnate? What did you think of the premise? 

Cooking the Perfect Synopsis

So, I've been working on my synopsis for my middle grade novel, which means I've scoured sources for suggestions, formats and instruction on getting it right. 

Why? Three reasons: 

1- It's a vital marketing tool, next to the Query.

2- If it isn't right you may have a flaw in your story. 

3- At some point someone is going to request one.

I've coalesced what I've researched into a basic recipe. 

*****************************************************************

Rockin' Synopsis
Preheat: Present Tense
Serves: Agents, Publishers anyone looking 

1 cup Voice               [Gives a taste of your unique voice.] 

1/3 cup   Who       [Main characters: What do they want?]

1/3 cup   Why       [Why should we care?]

1/3 cup   How       [How is he/she going to get it?]

1/2 cup   What      [What goes wrong, who/what gets in the way?]

1/2  cup  Risk            [What is he/she risk? No risk, no story.]

1/2 cup  Reward    [Do he/she get what they want or version of it?]

Mix well trimming extra words, unnecessary phrases until you have a succinct mix. Set aside for several days. With fresh eyes, revise again perfecting every sentence until you have the exact flavor you want. Then share it with several  CP's or Beta's to see if they see what you see, feel what you want them to feel. If not, revise again. Repeat this until the synopsis has risen to the desired level. 
***************************************************************************

I found several excellent suggestions for how to obtain the perfect ingredients and boiling them down to the exact proportions. Here are a few links you may find helpful!

How to Write A Synopsis
How to Write A Book Synopsis: Tips, Techniques
Writing A Synopsis
Synopsis
Writing a Synopsis That Rocks

I know there are tons more out there! Do you have a post on your blog? Share a link in your comments! 

*Check in next Monday for Middle School Review of Savvy and Scumble by Ingrid Law

What I've Learned About Scene

     I wanted to talk about scene today. I'm working on the first draft of a middle grade novel. (I've had a few false starts.) In the process I have noticed a few things. 1) I keep trying to order things 2) My "beginning" is getting vague as I go deeper into my story.3) I keep reading over my written scenes.  *pulling out hair*

    I've continued to look for all the advice I can about the role scene plays in the novel. The main point idea: scenes are the starting point for story. Usually, scene presents itself long before you have a coherent story. However, we who are control freaks or want to sound "authory" try and explain the scenes instead of just writing them. Don't misunderstand this is not the editor showing its fangs--that comes later. This is our need to order things, understand exactly where we are going, write everything in our minds eye and plan accordingly.

     So, what to do. Well, here it is...*listen up you pantsers your gonna love this*. Story shouldn't be our concern until we have created enough narrative that the "elements themselves begin asking for the coherence of structure" (Vandenburgh, 27). Simply stated: Write our brains out without thinking about order or where it's taking us. As far as this draft is concerned, the writing should suck. Vandenburgh calls this "prewriting" to make it easier to toss later.(Resource: Architecture of a Novel by Jane Vandenburgh.)

    Holly Lyle on her post about scene states,"As the atom is the smallest discrete unit of matter, so the scene is the smallest discrete unit in fiction..." Our scenes are to story what scaffolding is to skyscrapers. It appears we try to manipulate our scenes before we give them a chance to spill out on the page. 

     Kay Kenyon writes,"If you are reading and re-reading your last few pages to get a run-up on your next scene, stop this now. Rereading causes revision blindness later."  She suggests using a tool called a scene list to jot down things that occur to you while you are writing to keep you from going back. I believe this is similar to the process Joyce Carol Oats uses when the story is first being born.

     Linda Clare explains that the most important element of scene is change, something has to happen. We still have the work of choosing, we need not tell everything in our minds eye. The adage..."Enter late, leave early" should be all the order we care about at this point.

     I love Jean Oram's analogy of a scene to a Thanksgiving dinner. What if you sat everyone down, insisted that everyone act a certain way, eat in an order you dictate and not allow any spontaneity. Why? Because, it is your dinner and you have a vision of what it "should" look like. She goes on to explain that this would create a "cardboard cutout of real life". This is what too much pressure to order can do to scene. (Besides, whats Thanksgiving without some drama?)

Bottom line folks...there is a ton of great advice out there. At some point you discover what works for you and I have great faith that I will too.

What helps you to get the story on to the page? What role does scene play in that process?

What Star Wars and Seseme Street Can Teach Us About Story Structure

   The other day I was looking at an article on Cracked.com entitled "17 Images That Will Ruin Your Childhood". I'll warn you, if you love nostalgia this will definitely crush some memories. 

So, it got me thinking about what I have been learning about story structure and plot. What made our childhood images so powerful was the effort that writers, artists and directors took to "suspend disbelief".  

Wait...isn't that what we are trying to do in our writing? 

Catherine Brady in her book Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction states," to think like an artist is to understand that story structure depends not on baldly advancing a literal conflict but on constructing a plot that articulates the exact parameters at the stories heart."  

Wow! That is a mouthful but think about it. What stories have you read that leave you changed and hungry for more? Why?

When I read a story, I don't want the author to come out and tell me what to think, just like a child I want to discover it myself.  It's how many of us are wired. Would the parables in the New Testament have as much impact if the true message was blatantly laid out?

Think about Faulkner and Munroe, their ability to use literal action to build the tension of the bigger story is epic! There are, of course many more that use this artistic scaffolding, invisible to the reader. It is only at the climax of the story do the questions that the tension aroused make sense. It's magic, a sleight of the hand.

What magic have you read lately?

Sometimes, it's What You Don't Know

Source: travel.ca.msn.com

     Silence is golden. 

     As writers we often talk about the deficiencies in telling instead of showing. This idea is far more than one of aesthetics or sophisticated writing. It is fundamental in the telling of a story or the unfolding of plot.

     As a reader, I want the experience of knowing the questions as the clues are presented by the writer. That way I may not know the details, but I feel them. I become emotionally engaged, pulled in by the tension that subtext creates. 

     "Meaning is only compellingly elusive when the reader must struggle to reconcile the tension that arises from plot, " writes Catherine Brady.

   So when I say, silence is golden, I mean exactly that. The gold I am after as a writer is that magic that cumulative clues create in the telling of the story.  

For a more in depth look at this concept check out "Story Logic and the Craft of Fiction" by Catherine Brady. 
  
Did you prospect any gold today?   For me, it often requires sifting through the dirt, if you know what I mean.

Monday, Monday, I'm Not Cryin' But I Could Be

 Tweet    Monday's are sometimes tough for writers, at least they can be for me. This is when I plan my week. What I have to do, what I want to do and especially what is most important to do.

It is always easy to plan the have-to's,  they are usually scheduled appointments, things that have deadlines this week, people you have committed to. Done!

Similarly, want-to's are often easy simply because they don't even have to to written down and they still have a pretty good chance of happening. You know...read that book, eat that last piece of pie, call a friend, watch a movie...buy those boots you saw on sale... Done!

It's the most-important-to-do's that seem to have the hardest time finding space on the calendar. Now, let me clarify. I'm not talking necessarily about need-to's either. Need to's are like the laundry, changing a diaper, cooking a meal. They will happen and if they don't there are consequences: screaming baby, nothing to wear, starvation. What I'm talking about are the things like...cut calories and eat healthy, exercise, work on my WIP,  the things that no one is going to call you on if they don't happen.

So, how can I make this happen? Here is the hard part...schedule it just like an appointment.

You have to set aside a special time to actually do it. Even more important is you have to be specific. Exactly, what is going to happen during that time. What is this bite going to look like? This is where I often go wrong. I either plan way too huge a bite that I choke on it or I make it too vague and spend most of the time fumbling around without really accomplishing anything.

Is this easy?   Hell no!  Do I always succeed? Double hell no! Why do I keep trying? I try because I believe that is why we have new days, new hours, new minutes so we can try it again.

How is your Monday going? Sometimes I have to push my Monday to Tuesday, what about you?

Confessions Of A Nanoholic

My name is Pam Torres and I am a Nanoholic.  You may be asking what is a Nanoholic? I define it as a newbie writer who jumps into Nanowrimo with both feet and comes out obsessed with numbers, watching stats and counting words.  Alcohol is to an alcoholic like gasoline is to a fire, it only feeds the addiction.  A Nanoholic is focused on numbers, how many days left to finish, how fast is fast enough, stares blankly at the screen, checks the stats again, how many words should have been written by now, how many words left to write, ...You get the picture.

I have an occasional drink, my favorite being the Outback's Wallaby Darned, more fruit than tequila. (I could really use one right now!)  I don't think I have ever had enough to get "drunk" and really don't have a desire to. I know however, that for an alcoholic one drink can be the beginning of a downward spiral.

This is what Nano was to me, a downward spiral into numbers, I just couldn't stop obsessing about my word count long enough to get lost in my writing. Getting lost is a necessary part of my process. So, I will be dropping from the official world of Nanowrimo so I can get back to my writing.

I have great respect for those who are able to use this tool in a healthy way and wish them all the best!

Does any of this make sense? I can't be the only Nanoholic out there ...right?

WIP Thursday: I know, I know, It's Friday...

     I just sat down to write this and *hic* got the hiccups. *hic* And no I haven't been drinking. *hic* Ok, this is getting an*hic*noying.  While I haven't been drinking, I have been a bit frustrated.  I took Elana's advice (check out Marieke's Musings and Operation Awesome) about writing your query letter while you are in the middle of writing your novel. What did I find out? That my last 20,000 words are mostly back story and the real story is what happens next.

The exciting part is that the "edge" I was looking for presented itself and the murky waters of my muse have cleared. Did the last few months of work mean nothing? How do I let go of something I have put so much blood and sweat into? 

First question: No, this wasn't a waste but a necessary process for me. I can accept that. It did get me to the real story, and besides, now I totally get why my MC wants what she wants. That's good, right?

Second question: Letting go is hard to do *tacky music plays* This is probably one of the most difficult things a writer does, slaying your babies for the sake of the story. The bottom line is, you can have the greatest turn of phrase, the most awesome character development, a really twisty plot but if no one is interested to turn the page and read on, what's the point.

So, I will keep my 20,000 words on the computer for reference. Then I will build a fire out back and burn those pages as a sacrifice for the better story.  I won't lie, it hurts.  It also means I am not as close to a finished novel as I thought. I have always told my children it is more about the process than the results, so I guess I will take my own advice and see that experience for what it was, a honing of my talent as a writer.

Excuse me, I think I need to go have a good cry...and no Honey, you can't fix this.
       Maybe I will have that drink, now.
Have you slayed any babies, lately?