The Westside Writers Schmooze Knows What Boys Like…Not Really, But We Tried To Find Out

Waaaaaay back in February, the Schmoozers gathered to discuss the age-old question (again, not really): What the heck is a “boy book” anyway and should you write one?

Actual boys, actually reading. Photo
courtesy of local author, Frances Sackett

“Boy Books.” No doubt, if you write for children, you’ve heard that label before. Charlie and Karol planned this topic not at all certain that gender specificity is a good thing. But the simple fact is – girls tend to read more than boys do. Girls will read books on a wide range of subjects, featuring both male and female main characters. Girls are just better and smarter than boys. Schmoozes, for instance, would be so much more pleasant if run entirely by girls—

AHEM!

Oh. Sorry, Charlie.  On the reading front, when it comes to boys reading a lot of books about a variety of subjects featuring protagonists of either sex…yeah, typically, not so much. The question is, why?

DISCLAIMER: Yes, every kid’s different. Some boys love princess stories and some girls would rather play video games than get caught dead reading some frilly, pink “girl book.” By definition this topic demands we speak in wide generalities. Deal with it.

So where were we? Right – Boys. Why don’t they read? The Guys Read website created by author Jon Scieszka explores the phenomenon of reading difficulties many boys tend to have and why that is. He sites lots of statistics about boys’ tendency toward sub par reading skills compared to girls of the same age – lower reading test scores, higher numbers of boys in Special Ed, more likelihood of being held back a grade and overall lower college enrolment. He also has some of is own theories on why boys tend to struggle more with reading, the most pertinent one for the Schmoozers probably being that many of the books boys are asked to read don’t appeal to them.

Boys don’t have enough positive male role models for literacy. Because the majority of adults involved in kids’ reading are women, boys might not see reading as a masculine activity.

Scieszka spearheaded an anthology of short stories by great male writers, Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys. Contributors include Chris Crutcher, Stephen King, Matt Groening, Daniel Pinkwater, Neil Gaiman, and many more.





And just what DO boys read, anyway? What are some favorites? Well, several series came to Schmoozers’ minds: Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, the Hardy Boys. 

Is writing a “boy book” as simple as having a male protagonist? The general consensus was NO. One Schmoozer commented that, “girls have a lot more internal dialogue” and tend to “questions their on choices.” Boys, on the other hand, “blast through a story, eating up the plot without chewing and so, never taste all the nuance of the work.” Okay, that might be a little harsh and simplistic, but in researching this subject, Charlie and Karol found that there are some generally agreed upon differences in books that appeal to boys.

Charlie also found lots of interesting info on the physiological and psychological differences between girls and boys. (He pointed out to Greg Pincus that, “there’s more to boys than just a penis,” to which Greg quickly agreed that, yes, there are also boogers.) At the risk of overwhelming you with minute and potentially inappropriate details of Charlie’s research dear Schmoozers, here are a few links to some of Charlie’s choicest findings:

BOY READING STATS!:
http://www.guysread.com/about/

THE STEREOPTYPES, COURTESY OF PEN & INK;
Very funny Pen & Ink blog –insanely outdated stereotypes
http://thepenandinkblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-to-write-books-for-boys-and-girls.html

HOW TO WRITE FOR BOYS—MARIE LU SAYS DON’T!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marie-lu/writing-a-book-for-boys_b_2806387.html

DOES YOUR BOOK COVER LIMIT SALES TO JUST ONE GENDER, or alert that gender to a book they’ll find great?:
http://maggie-lyons.blogspot.com/2013/10/books-for-boys.html#!

CAN CHICKS WRITE FOR DUDES? DUDES FOR BABES??
http://anneursu.tumblr.com/post/66944716733/on-gender-and-boys-read-panels

DIFFS BETWEEN BOYS AND GIRLS: (Parenting Mag)
http://www.parenting.com/article/real-difference-between-boys-and-girls

GIRL BRAIN VS. BOY BRAIN (babycenter.com)

http://www.babycenter.com/0_brain-development-is-the-difference-between-boys-and-girls-a_10310673.bc?page=3

SLAPSTICK: TESTOSTERONE, SPATIAL AWARENESS, & SYMPATHY (aka Why Women Don’t Think The 3 Stooges are Funny)
http://althouse.blogspot.com/2005/11/why-women-dont-like-three-stooges.html

Charlie wanted to continue waxing poetic about all the ways boys and girls are fundamentally different…but Karol stomped her foot and starting going on (and on) about how long this blog post was getting, and since she’s basically the Boss of All Things, Charlie eventually acquiesced and went off to a corner to mope.

The Schmooze wrapped up with a writing exercise.  Feel free to play along at home!

• You’re a boy between the ages of 8 and 17. Your parents just told you that you’re moving out of the country. Write a scene where you break the news to your friends. 
• Now write the same scene as a girl (of the same age). 

Please feel free to post any insights that came out of the exercise in the comments below.

Alas, the evening came to an end WAY before the Schmoozers were able to come to any definitive conclusions about what boys really and truly like…and that’s probably a good thing. Because each “boy” is different and you should write YOUR story, not a “boy story” or a “girl story.” 

 Still, the Schmooze offered lots of great food for thought on the “boy books” topic – PLUS a mini-biology lesson from Charlie. Really, what more could any Schmoozer want? (Just please don’t ask the woman who stormed out half way through… perhaps she was expecting and evening of good taste and decorum. Clearly, she came to the wrong place for that!)

And before we let you go, for your listening pleasure:

Whether you write boy books, girl books or everything in between – keep writing.

…and keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol

Closing Out the Holidays and the Year - Schmoozey Style!

Ah, yes – the holidays.  We’re all pretty much over them, right?  But we here at Schmooze Central would be remiss if we didn’t at least briefly recap the great fun we had with guest speaker Ann Whitford Paul back on December 11^th, even though, at this point, 2013 is so last year.

In keeping with our guest speaker’s predilection for picture books (and to perhaps nudge you toward putting her latest book, 'Twas the Late Night of Christmas on next year’s holiday gift list), we give you the following:

 ‘Twas the Schmmoze before Christmas; we welcomed a guest.

The Schmoozers all gathered, the best of the best.

We made some announcements; we intro’d ourselves.

We donated kids’ books to fill up bookshelves.

And – lo – did we treasure guest Ann Whitford Paul.

She’s an author, a poet…she’s quite on the ball.

She spoke of the music that picture books feature.

The Schmoozers were rapt, a flock ‘fore our preacher.

As Ann read some samples, techniques came to light.

We tried to discern what each author got right.

We questioned, we scribbled, we all had a snack.

We even wrote poems – Ann gave us the knack.

Then some went to Swingers for grub and more fun.

While others went home, to a daughter or son.

But no one left giftless at the end of the night.

Ann taught us:  Make music whenever you write!

And here are a few specific gems Ann shared with us (consider them stocking stuffers or Hanukah gelt…or “fill in the small item pertaining to your holiday here”…we’re All Inclusive at Schmooze Central):

• Ann’s “music of picture books” theme relates to ALL books. You can have the greatest plot in the world, but if the text isn’t musical, your story won’t get to a publisher.
• The rhythm of the writing has to echo the words.  Sad words need a sad rhythm.
• You don’t have to study poetry formally, but you DO need to be familiar with poetic concepts.  Such as:

o      Alliteration = repetition of consonants (lovely lizard).

o      Assonance = repetition of vowels (fat cat).

o      Consonance = repetition of the first and last letters (tick, tock).  

• Repetition does add “music,” but don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with a tongue twister.
• Picture books need to show change – a character accomplishes a goal (or decides it wasn’t worth accomplishing).  He or she needs to arrive somewhere NEW.
• Pay attention to the names you give your characters; try assonant names rather than alliterate ones (which, FYI, editors hate!).
• The truly fun part about writing is – once you have your story, you get to play around with all the different ways you can tell it.  (HINT:  You may want to NOT use your first ideas/choices.

Charlie and Karol with Schmooze guest, author Ann Whitford Paul

Ann's book for folks like us!

Now, a few last notes for the poor folks who missed this terrific Schmooze:

Ann invited all Schmoozers to join her e-mail list and subscribe to her blog, which features awesome writing tips, info on what Ann’s up to and the occasional entry written by her cat, Mr. Darcy.  

Click here http://www.annwhitfordpaul.net/ to sign up.

At Ann’s urging, we also held a book drive benefiting Project BookBag. 

Find out more about them and how to donate books here:  https://www.facebook.com/projectbookbag.org.

Schmoozers' donated books!

That about wraps up 2013, kids! 

Next up Schmooze-wise we’ll be meeting on Wednesday, February 12^th for “I Know What Boys Like” where we’ll explore the idea of “boys books” and ask questions like:

            What the heck is a “boy book” anyway and should you write one?

            What are some of the best “boy books” out there?

            Is gender specificity even a good thing?

Lastly, keep your eyes peeled to this blog for a recap of last month’s funfest – “Happy New Year…the Failure Schmooze,” coming soon.

Until then, keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol

The Magical Mystery Blog Post — A Time-Traveling Linkfest!!

Strange as it may seem, The SCBWI Westside Writer’s Schmooze Blog is back in business, ready to pick up where we left off. Unfortunately, we left off posting so long ago (the 40’s, it turns out) that neither Karol nor Charlie can recall the details of all the Schmoozes we missed. Fortunately, Karol is an extremely anal woman (and, in addition to that, she keeps good records) and was able to unearth these long hidden, never-posted (most likely due to the scarcity of reliable internet ISPs in those days), blogs from back in the day.

The first post she found does indeed come from the 40’s, when we held a Schmooze devoted to niche writing, asking the (as it turns out literally) age-old question, Is Niche Your Niche?  The topic was appropriate to the times as detective novels were all the rage back then, even in kids’ books. The information we exchanged, however, remains as useful as if the Schmooze were actually held on June 12^th 2013:

Pony up to the typewriter, sister, and we’ll lay it all out.  Last Schmooze we talked niche markets and magazines.  You wanna get a little scratch for your troubles, don’t you?  Then you gotta learn about niche marketing. 

What’s the skinny on niche?  Well, according to the business dictionary, it’s “concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of the population.  Niches do not ‘exist’ but are CREATED by identifying needs, wants, and requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other (s)…” 

"Killin' Karol"

So what’s that look like in kid’s books? Our resident femme fatale "Killin' Karol"  took us literally under the covers of THE book on Kid Lit Markets (niche presses are only part of the tome, she claims), which coincidentally is known as “The Book” and is available for free from the SCBWI. 

Though Karol, of course, had murderous ulterior motives, (just ask her four former high school school principals — if you can find them), The Book was an icy G & T.  Take a sip and you’ll find, among other things, that it lays out all the niche presses churning out books right now. Any ink jockey worth his blotter would be a sap not to snatch up The Book toot sweet.

About this time “Weasel Charlie” coughed his way into the room and started singing like a canary, ratting out http://rockyourwriting.com which tells you how to find the niche of what you’ve already written. He went on to squeal on Cynthia Leitich Smith, who has a blog on “how to niche market yourself!”  We thought he was done, but he musta gotten some bad hooch, ‘cause he started ranting about “Author’s Access,” which (he said) was some kinda thing called a “podcast,” featuring writer Ellen Feld gabbling on about her horse niche market. We never figured out if he was talkin’ about heroin or a heroine.

"Weasel Charlie"

Thankfully, it was just about then when Big Joe Taylor thundered into the room.  Charlie squealed out of there like a rat on the Titanic, but not before yelling from the doorway something about blog posts murderers Dr. Peggy Sissel-Phelan (Fiction Notes) and Jane R Wood (Children's Book Writers-Florida)  who apparently made some sort of killing (in niche marketing, that is) and lived to tell about it. Then the Weasel squealed off into the night.

All eyes were on Big Joe now as he slowly thumped across the room and planted himself in the chair at the front. “I’m here to wise up you saps to the rag trade,” he growled. Seeing everyone’s perplexed looks he clarified, “Magazines, you hacks!”

Everyone knew Big Joe was a monster in the mag world:  Winner of 2009 SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for a piece called Flying Balloons, The Story of the Montgolfier Brothers in Cricket Magazine, and more a bunch of stellar Cricket pieces since then.  We also knew that nobody was going anywhere until Big Joe had said his peace.

Right away Big Joe put us wise to the amount of work, determination, talent and luck it took to become “Mr. Cricket” (his uptown moniker). Seems his award winner started its life as a picture book. He liked it but thought it had too many words. He then tried turning it into a historical novel but felt he was “losing the essence.” Last time Big Joe felt like he was “losing the essence” of something, 23 characters ended up at the bottom of a shredder. Balloons mighta ended likewise but Joe then thought of Cricket Magazine. He submitted it there, found the editors copacetic, ended up winning the SCBWI Merit Award, and carving out a nice territory for himself. Call it a niche within a niche at the magazine – lightly fictionalized stories about scientists and artists who made amazing breakthroughs in their fields. (Word to the wise:  You wanna keep scribbling? Steer clear of Big Joe’s niche.)

He then handed out a flyer with the Carus Group's various magazines (of which Cricket is one). Here's a link with the 411:

http://www.cricketmag.com/ProductList.aspx?type=M

Suddenly, Big Joe stood up.  Everyone ducked, ready to meet their makers, but it turned out Big Joe was just letting us know that the Schmooze was over and it was time to go.  Sobered, we filed out of the library, into the night.

The next un-posted blog Karol found was from a Schmooze we held on e-books, way back in the 60’s, the days of heady, communal DIY radicals. Appropriately, this gathering was a “Schmooze Collective” with a “panel of crackerjack hotshots, rapping on e-books and self-publishing.” Karol claimed to be under the weather and unable to attend, but Charlie had it on good authority that she was actually in Oregon, running naked with the Tree People. She did check in, though, virtually (through some hippie-futuristic thingamabob called Skype). Not surprisingly, her camera was off. This blog post is striking, both for its quant use of language and for the fact that the subject, e-books, did not even exist at the time the Schmooze occurred. You’d think it had actually happened on September 17, 2013, rather than back in the Decade of Love.

      

If you missed the e-book rapfest last night, man you missed a true happening. Greg (“the Fibber”) Pincus blew all our minds, making the scene in a man-miniskirt, Jeff (“the Webmaster”) Cox showed up in a bright orange Nehru Jacket, and Josh (“Brother#3”) Hauke wore his trusty torn jeans and “Keep on Truckin’” T-shirt.  The Tribe gathered to hear “The Three” pontificate on e-books and self-publishing — “the future, Mr. Gittes.”

Charlie (“Mr. Jones”) Cohen, looking clueless as ever in his Brooks Brother’s suit, questioned the gurus about the state of self-publishing.

Greg set the tone, laying down some TRUTH about expectations and goals – you gotta be honest about both. What do you want to get out of it? Why are you doing it? Greg rapped on how he released his amazing compilation of poems, The Late Bird, to learn how to release an e-book as well as to build on the audience he had grown online. Though he did not get rich off the e-book (yet!), he achieved both goals. “Know why you’re doing it, man,” he said, “and you’ll know what you need to do.”

Whoa.

Simple, but deep. 

Not unlike Greg himself.

"The Webmaster" on a bad day

Jeff must have gotten some of the brown acid, cause he bummed us all out, telling us how hard it still is to format a true e-picture book.  It’s got to cover all kinds of platforms and none of them are the same and each changes their protocols willy-nilly. He said you really gotta know how to program to do it. If not, you should steer clear of graphic-centric e-books, at least for now.

Propitiously, Josh emerged from his cloud of smoke just then to lead us all back into the groove. “It’s just transition, man,” he said, “like when we went from CD’s to MP3s. There’s always curves in the path; you just gotta learn to enjoy the view.” He went on to rap about the different path he took with his Tales Of The Brothers Three. He wanted to compile the first year of his amazing Web comic strip into a book. Rather than mess with e-books and all the formatting troubles that had so bummed out Jeff, Josh decided to release it digitally as a pdf (no formatting issues at all!) as well as in a (beautifully) printed book on Amazon. He said the two formats complemented each other: he sold more hard copies but made more scratch off the ebook.

‘Round this time Charlie started tripping: He ripped off his suit, stood on the table in just his “Friend of the Devil” BVDs and exulted: “FELLOW TRAVELERS! I GET IT NOW!! The Man says the worst reason to self-publish or e-publish is cause you can’t get your stuff published through the regular channels. I say, bullshit! That’s a great reason! The companies are narrow and getting narrower, and the percentage you make is small. So if your book appeals to a smaller, niche audience, it makes good economical sense for them to pass and for you to publish it! Both things are logical. SCREW THE MAN!!!

Everyone nodded. Except Jeff, who just growled, “First get your book into shape. Make sure you’ve vetted it, rewritten it and made it the best work you can do. And find better underwear.”

Then Greg, pupils dilated, started talking about the “world wide webs,” saying we should check out this book-designer Joel Friedlander’s blog about self-publishing and design, which had every possible thing you could want to know about how to design and release your book. 

“He’s awesome dude,” agreed Josh, “but if you really want your minds blown, check out this hombre, Matthew Herzberg.  He created this whole website about a fictional town and he writes all these stories about all the people in it.  The WEBSITE ITSELF is his e-book.  YOU GOTTA SEE THAT THING!!!”  

We had to restrain Josh at this point – in his excitement he was throttling Greg. 

Jeff shook his head and pointed accusatorily at the gathered tribe.  “These squares don’t care about that, man,” he sneered.  “They’re just looking to make money.  

All right Squares!  You want to make money off self-publishing?  Go to http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/how-can-the-average-writer-make-money-self-publishing-e-books and satisfy your mercenary little hearts.  

And while you’re online you might visit http://www.thecreativepenn.com where this chick, Joanna Penn, will give you a 51 page free download about marketing.

Josh chuckled the weird vibes away.  “That’s it, man.  I think we did it.”

And we had.  Everybody split to do their own things.

The final Schmooze we blogged about happened just last month on October 15, 2013. Of course in these modern days of social networks, e-readers and iPhones, “The Man “ has been renamed “The Cloud” and is back in control of the means of production. So as not to cross him/it we focused on more prosaic issues. Which is to say, this Schmooze was about plot - and promised (#notreally) to help Schmoozers learn How To Plot Like a Pro (trademark Charlie and Karol). (To appease the man further, please “like” our choice of topic on Twitface and Icarly.) #plotschmoozepander

Our plot Schmooze began like so many others, with Charlie trying to bring us all into his personal hell (#noncomposmentisleaders), laying bare his personal struggles with the very subject he helped choose (#whinyjew)

“I’ve always been suspicious of plot," whined Charlie.  "Always thought of it as lies rather than story.  A hard metallic infrastructure that wants to bend my characters into some predetermined and ultimately dishonest shape.  At the same time, I know that the only parts of anything that an audience can pay attention to are those that feel like they are integral to the story being told.  So where does that leave me?” 

“In need of my wise counsel,” snapped Karol (#obnoxiousknowitall), as she, wisely, opened the floor up to the Schmoozers for comments.  It turned out Charlie wasn’t entirely alone as most Schmoozers there confessed they were more vexed by plot than not, many wishing they could find a way to make do with less of it (#writershatewriting). We were lucky enough to have a teacher in attendance, though, who quickly set us straight.  She told us that kids in her classes were often “plot junkies” who read only for the plot.  She had to work to get them to slow down and actually pay attention to details. 

We came to the conclusion that plot was but one of many doors you can open to get into your story.  Still, once you were inside your story, you needed a plot to make it work. This led to a spirited debate between “Pantsers” (writers who write by the seats of their pants) and “Plotsers” (those who map out a course).  This, of course, brought to mind the great, overlooked fable by Aesop, “The Pantser and The Plotser” which centered on the struggles of a blathering butterfly and a boring ass to tell their mother her yarn was broken. The fable, of course, went on to inspire the famous vaudeville team of “Pantser and Plotser” whose career exploits were legendary, as well as their fall when Pantser pantsed Plotser and revealed Plotsers plotz (#whatthehellwasthat??, #imnotreallysurethisbitworkscharlie, #atleastiwrotethepost, #yeahforonce, #wherewerewe?). 

The Schmooze then settled down to some information that one can actually use to help you get through plotting (#finally):

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South Park and The Book of Mormon had some great tips on discerning plot from “stuff” in an impromptu writing class they taught at NYU which you can watch HERE.

Screenwriter Blake Snyder created a 15 beat story structure that he immortalized in his “Save The Cat” writing guides.  Rita Crayon Huang #hernewbabysbabymama said that she found it too daunting to start her story with but used it as a diagnostic tool after she finished her drafts.  You can check out ol’ Blake’s ideas at his posthumous website: http://www.blakesnyder.com

Still very much alive is Bruce Coville who gave one of his amazing plot talks at the 2011 SCBWI conference (read a recap HERE). Bruce has so much great stuff to say, there’s no way to do it justice here,  But one of the big takeaways was to complicate, complicate, complicate.  Use the senses.  Complicate not only your character’s overall goal, but the individual scenes too.

Linda Sue Park says to look at your character’s internal and external quests, and focus on the tension between the two.  She has a great explanation of it on her site: http://www.lindasuepark.com/writing/writing.html

Charlie found a surprisingly useful entry on how to plot a story—in wikihow!  (Hint: It’s character and conflict!)

More traditionally, there was Freytag’s Story Pyramid (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement).

Martha Alderson, the Plot Whisperer can take you through her plotting steps on her youtube channel.  She’s all about finding your characters’ flaws and she speaks sweetly from a garden with lots of dappled sunlight and chirping birds! (#makeyouwannabarfandlovelifeatthesametime) 

And of course, Charlie’s favorite plotting device, Joseph Campbell’s amazing Monomyth – an assessment arrived at by studying myths and stories of every hero’s journey throughout time and from all around the globe.  Charlie loves it because it’s so inspiring and yet so vague and open to interpretation.  

Here are two versions of it to peruse:

Campbell's Monomyth

And one that's at least slightly easier on the eyes #sheeshsmallprintwhydonha:

Finally, (SOME SCHMOOZER) brought up Randy Ingermanson’s (#evilvilliannamesMarvelneverused) notorious “Snowflake method” of plotting, a method so detailed and anal and terrifying that it made Charlie want to kill himself and even gave Karol some pause.  

For those of you who dare, though, here is a link to his page:

http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

And that was it (#againfinallynoreallythistime).  Fully flayed by the long evening we all plotsed out of there just in time before the library closed, escaping by the seat of our pants. (#seewhatwedidthere?)


Now that we're all super-caught-up-to-date, we hope you'll join us for any or all of our awesome upcoming Westside Writer's Schmoozes:
      

Mad About Middle Grade, Wednesday November 13th

Fabulous Guest Speaker (We Promise), Wednesday December 11th

Happy New Year!  The Failure Schmooze, Wednesday January 8th

I Know What Boys Like, Wednesday February 12th

Livin' In A Blogster's Paradise, Wednesday March 12th

Picture Book Critique Night, Wednesday April 9th

Novel Critique Night, Wednesday May 14th
Perfecting the Art of the Elevator pitch (Just in Time for the Summer Conference!), Wednesday June 11th

Until we see you again (like next week), keep passing the open windows!
Charlie & Karol

STRAIGHT FROM THE SCHMOOZERS’ MOUTHS PART DEUX – RECAPPING THE NOVEL CRITIQUE SCHMOOZE

Greetings Schmoozers!

Like last month, Charlie and Karol have mostly relinquished the floor to the Schmoozers for this blog post.  Also like last month, they realized there was no way they could top the novel critique Schmmoze blog post for 2012 (read it HERE). 

The Schmoozers in action

Here are the blog post prompts we put out to the 23 brave writers in attendance:

The most important thing I learned about my manuscript was...

– Hmm, let’s just say all the information I thought was on the first page WAS NOT THERE.

CAROL BARTH

– I took a risk with my novel's voice, and the overwhelming response amongst my group was that it worked.  Beyond that, I got a very helpful suggestion to help make my opening paragraph much stronger with the addition of a single sentence.

Garrett Vander Leun

– Too much telling.

LAURIE YOUNG

– The most important thing that I learned about my piece (3 pages from a writing prompt) was that it could become a middle-grade book. I'm still smiling from the kind and encouraging feedback I received. 

CHERYL MANNING

– My transitions could be smoother.

DC

– I need to watch out for repeating what's been said. Keep the writing tight.

PATRICIA O’BRIEN

Last Leaf on the Tree Table (moderated by Charlie Cohen)

–...that it is a mistake to bring transitional scenes to a critique.  I got so sick of bringing the first 4 pages of my book I thought I'd bring the next four.  But those depend entirely on the first four to make sense.  So I wasted a lot of valuable critique time answering questions that were answered in the first four pages.  I wanted to see if there were things I could cut in the transition, but it was hard for anyone to judge, not knowing what I was transitioning from and to.  So what I learned was: Bring scenes where something happens.  Scenes that are, at least a bit, self contained.  Hmm.... Seems obvious now that I look at it, but...

CHARLIE COHEN

The "No You Can't Sit at Our Table" Table 
(moderated by Karol Ruth Silverstein)

– That, for a lesser writer, bringing a scene 100 pages into a manuscript to a critique might not work, but for brilliant old me…  No seriously, the thing I got was confirmation that the pivotal scene I brought

is coming across as awkwardly and honestly as I’d hoped.

KAROL RUTH SILVERTEIN

The most important thing I learned about writing for middle grade kids / teens was...

– You will be properly ridiculed if your main character says she lives on THE WESTSIDE.
CAROL BARTH

– In spite of my novel's unique and 'successful' voice, I still need to moderate how fully I use it because it could lead to comprehension problems for younger readers. 

GARRETT VANDER LEUN

– Be careful with word choice/vocabulary in your writing.   

Four Fatal Femmes Table (moderated by Laurie Young)

JOSHUA HAUKE

– Not to front-load the manuscript with background information. Dive head first into the mess and sprinkle background information as needed. Hook 'em from page one.
CHERYL MANNING

– Start in the action

LAURIE YOUNG

– Anything goes.  Really.

KAROL RUTH SILVERSTEIN

– I didn't exactly learn it, but it was brought back home to me: Never write down, and never preach.  But this is true for any age, from toddler to geezer.

CHARLIE COHEN

The biggest surprise for me at the May Schmooze was...

– I was surprised by how well received my work was.  Writing is such a solitary endeavor and it's always a little gut wrenching to finally take your little monster out for a stroll.  To not have everyone gasp in horror was a wonderful surprise.

GARRETT VANDER LEUN

– I didn't offend everyone at the table with my comments. I only offended HALF the table.
CAROL BARTH

– ...how amazingly well some folks can write.  Every time I sit at a critique table with "newbies," I am amazed that there are really terrific, visionary writers out there who have not before been to our schmoozes.  I mean, real writers who, somehow, got to this level of ability without us!!  HOW does this happen??!  Does this mean Karol and I are not the sun and the moon; the mother's milk of all your creativity?  That you people are the real talents and we, just trained monkeys, who hop around for your amusement?  Well, that's probably as it should be.

CHARLIE COHEN

501st Legion - The Wolf Pack Table 
(moderated by Blue Leader AKA Jeffery Cox)

– How interesting some of the stories people are working on turned out to be. 

JOSHUA HAUKE

– How committed the participants are.

LAURIE YOUNG

– (My tablemates were) awesome speed 'critters.' Really. It's not easy to give good advice under time limits, but they excelled.

PATRICIA O’BRIEN

–  Enjoying my pages being read out loud -- thanks to the wonderful job by Mara

CHERYL MANNING

Where ideas come from?

– …What!?!  No espresso brownies?!?  Noooooooooo!!!

ANONYMOUS

The most inspiring thing I heard at the May schmooze was...

– It's incredible how patient children's writers are and the lengths they will go to TACTFULLY tell me my pages need MORE WORK.

CAROL BARTH

– That my fellow critiquers wanted to read more of my story.

LAURIE YOUNG

– There was a woman who claimed she wasn't capable of writing anything beyond a few simple short stories...  And then she brought in this amazing short story that was loaded with original characters and a very unique plot that lends itself PERFECTLY to a longer-format story - - - not to mention that it only contains a handful of ideas from the author's incredible life story.  You don't know what you got until you sit down and give it a shot!  Don't say 'I can't' - just write!

GARRETT VANDER LEUN

– "Hey, they're are cookies over there." or "It's almost time for the SCBWI Summer conference."

JOSHUA HAUKE

– "COOKIES!"

CHARLIE COHEN

And a  few random thoughts/comments:

– Fresh eyes bring fresh insights. No matter how many people look at a manuscript, a new reader may see something missed by others.  It is such a pleasure to talk about writing with other writers.

PATRICIA O’BRIEN

– Inspiration works in mysterious ways. I just love being privy to the creative fruit and process of such diverse writers. Slowly, I feel my own flow desiring to be shared. And I surprise myself with all my comments during the critiques! I hope the love is clear.

DEBORAH COLE

Not Charlie's Table (moderated by Lee Wind)

– Whenever someone says you're only going to get to share the first five pages of your manuscript, there's a desire that I imagine is universal, to want to cram in more - twiddle with the margins, do a full first page - because there's a fear that if they don't see enough of it they won't 'get it.'  In our group on the novel critique night, we suggested that someone else besides the writer read the text aloud, and for one of our critique pieces, the reader only got to about three pages in before the reading time was running out.  The author commented that the person could maybe read the rest faster, but all the major points of feedback we had to give were already apparent in the first three pages.  (In fact, they were evident on the first page.)  It reminded me that as much as I, too, chafe at the idea of having my work appraised based on only a small portion, the DNA for the entire book is right there in the first three pages… the first page… and dare I say, maybe even the first few lines?  It was a good lesson to re-learn.

LEE WIND

We couldn’t have said it better...everyone!

Huge thanks to our table monitors and to Molly Mueller for snapping all the great photos.

Join us June 12^th for the niche Schmooze – where we’ll explore the road-to-publishing less traveled.  Plus – we want to hear your ideas on what Schmooze topics we should schedule for next year.

Until the, keep passing the open windows.

Charlie & Karol

The Westside Writers Way-Cool, Way-Late Schmooze Blog Post

 

Hey gang – great news!   

Charlie managed to score some plutonium (Karol made a point of not asking HOW), so pile into the DeLorean – it’s like a clown car DeLorean, designed to accommodate the entire Schmooze Blog readership – and let’s travel back in time to…late November, 2012, right about when this blog post should have gone up…

Greetings Schmoozey humans...if you are humans, as nothing having to do with normalcy or reality was guaranteed at our November Schmooze, where we discussed time travel, body swapping and other way-cool, reality-bending stories.

The turnout was a bit smaller than average, with 21 warm bodies in the room (perhaps the others were abducted by aliens…or forced to have dinner at their in-laws).  We started our evening with a few announcements, and then the standard introductions. 

What’s that you say?  The intros weren’t so standard?

That’s right!  In addition to saying your name and what you write, Schmoozers were asked: if you could travel to another time (past or future), when would that be and (briefly) why? 

Here are some of the cool, creative answers:

• Renee would go back in time to tell the first female millionaire to manage her money better.  Frustratingly, she wouldn’t tell us WHO the first female millionaire was!
• Richard would travel into the future, to August 15^th, 2027 to be exact.  Why?  Beats us!  You’ll have to ask Richard.
• Nostalgia for historically creative periods was a theme, with Laurie wanting to experience Gertrude Stein’s Paris and Paula opting for Greenwich Village, circa 1966.
• Josh, mischievous little-kid-at-heart that he is, thought it’d be cool to go back in time to get some dinosaur poop and then come back to the present and put a bag with the poop in it aflame on someone’s doorstep.
• Charlie thought it’d be fun to participate in Vietnam War protests – ‘cause apparently, that was a great way to get laid.
• Karol wanted to visit with Pete Rose in the early 80s and drag him to a Gamblers Anonymous meeting.
• Jeff wanted to meet Sara Breedlove, AKA Madam CJ. Walker  Who you ask?!?  Check her out here:  http://www.ladelta65.org/places/CJ.Walker.htm

Charlie kicked off the schmooze with one of his endless musings, this one on the meaning of fantasy, starting with a riff on Invasion of The Body Snatchers (technically a book by Jack Finney, but we all know that Charlie doesn’t read and has only seen the movies).  Charlie’s assertion was that Body Snatchers is evocative because it addresses the deep nagging suspicion we all have that everyone else is in on some joke that we don’t get, but that it works as a story because, laid on top of that, is a fun metaphor to give the fears shape (communism in the 50’s movie; me-generation-self-empowerment in the 70’s remake).  This led Charlie to muse on fantasy as a means of communicating primal fears and that led him to a truly disturbing discussion of The Uses Of Enchantment, a mind blowing deconstruction of fairy tales by crazed child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim. 

Bettelheim says that fairytales show kids the world of meaning hidden within the world of skills, allowing them to face existential questions.  Okay, so that part wasn’t so disturbing.  But Bruno was just getting started:  According to him, fairytales deal with existential questions through metaphor.  Every cave is a womb, every drop of blood the end of virginity, and Snow White is a preadolescent girl who escaped the jealous wrath of her mother to hide out from adult sexuality with a group of 7 pre-sexual, phallic-shaped, work obsessed men whose job is to go into dark holes.  Eventually, she gives into adult desire by eating the the apple and falling asleep, only waking when a suitable sexual mate, the Prince, arrives to kiss her and, well, you know…

Somewhere around the phrase “phallic shaped men,” a few of the new Schmoozers started eyeing the door.  Frankly so did Karol… Actually, just about everyone did  (except, oddly, Greg Pincus).  Fortunately, Charlie was too wrapped up in his own brilliance to notice and quickly moved on to discuss Joseph Campbell (The Hero With A Thousand Faces; The Power of Myth), a philosopher and mythologist who says much the same thing as Bettelheim did, only using myths rather than fairytales.

The takeaway from both, Charlie claimed, was this:  Myths, fairytales, and fantastic stories exist to get at things that would be either impossible or intolerable to address in plain, earthbound stories. 

Karol followed Charlie’s excruciatingly long diatribe by sharing about two of her favorite books in the Way Cool genre.  Both feature body swapping and time travel, and both stories deal with dark, difficult subjects in stark but palatable ways – frustratingly validating Charlie’s whole esoteric schpiel.

Anne Frank and Me by Cherrie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld tells the story of a present day teenager who goes on a school trip to an Anne Frank exhibit and, after gunshots cause a panic in the museum, whiplashes through time and space and wakes up a Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Paris.

In Sherman Alexie’s Flight, a troubled, part Indian boy finds himself on the verge of a violent act, only to be shot back through time, briefly emerging in various violent moments throughout American history.

Interestingly, both stories begin with a contemporary kid who’s become doubtful of or desensitized to violent atrocities in the past.  Generally speaking, this makes both main characters more relatable to today’s readers.  When the characters travel back and experience the violence first hand – but through the eyes and mind of kids living in the present day – the impact is perhaps greater because it prompts readers to imagine themselves facing these awful experiences themselves.  Both protagonists begin their journeys with much to learn, and both come through their experiences all the wiser and more able to make better choices in their own, real lives.

After Karol was done waxing poetic about the two books she’d brought, she and Charlie did something completely unusual (for them anyway) and definitely Way Cool – they turned the meeting over to Schmoozer Richard Manning, who, as it turns out, is pretty mush a fantasy/sci-fi expert, having been a writer/producer on TV’s Farscape (among many other Way Cool TV series. 

He shared a number of great tidbits with the group, starting by explaining that a new wave of sci-fi in the 60s and 70s has since been replaced by what’s called “speculative fiction.”  In speculative fiction, you take something from the real world, alter it, and figure out what would happen.  Regarding world building, he said that both the wonderful part and the dangerous part is that you can do anything you want.   And while he realized, in his own writing, that he didn’t need to know what was around every corner, he did need to stick to a certain “ice box logic” (a term borrowed from Alfred Hitchcock, meaning that the story should make sense as you’re watching it, but it’s okay if there are some loose threads that occur to you later, as you’re taking a chicken out of the ice box).  The original Star Trek TV series was apparently notorious for “pulling solutions out of their back pockets.’  That sort of thing won’t fly with today’s more demanding sci-fi audiences.

In the “truth versus plausibility” equation, Richard learned that plausibility was actually more important.  There was a particular scene in Farscape that was technically accurate, but it was a scene fans constantly cried foul over – because it seemed implausible.  

An interesting way to tackle this conundrum (and a Way Cool tip overall) is found in this quote by John Cleese:

  "You don’t have to explain the rules.  You have to explain the exceptions.”

 (Apparently comedy and sci-fi aren’t that different!)

Karol also interspersed some awesome tips on world building from prolific, local-ish YA and middle grade author, Kathleen Duey.   

Check out these two fantastic interviews with Kathleen here http://writermorphosis.blogspot.com/2012/09/each-one-teach-one-interview-yamg.html and here http://writermorphosis.blogspot.com/2012/09/each-one-teach-one-interview.html.

With all this knowledge being laid on us, Charlie and Karol thought it’d be fun to try to put it to use in a writing exercise.  (If you missed the November Schmooze, here’s your chance to “play along.”). 

The writing prompts were:

• Rewrite a scene from a story where your protagonist has “swapped bodies” with another character (maybe the antagonist or a marginal character).

**OR**

• Have your protagonist travel back in time to a pivotal moment from his/her back story (e.g. her parent’s first date; his rejection from a crush in third grade, etc.).

The Schmooze wrapped up when Karol, against her better judgment, let Charlie have the floor again to discuss graphic novelist Chris Ware’s newest creation Building Stories a boxed set containing “14 distinct books, booklets, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets,” all of which address the goings on inside one big city apartment building.  Ware created it in this form to approximate the way we experience life, with past, present and future all mixed together in our heads, vying for our attention.  Charlie felt it applied to the topic of the night because the form was wayyyyy outside the box.  Which is ironic, considering it actually, technically…WAS A BOX!

 

That about covers it, Schmoozers.  Let’s all pile back into the DeLorean.  Charlie and Karol need to get back to the present.  They have the February Schmooze to plan (yeah, right, like we’re not going to be cramming all our research into the day before!).

And hey – if you SIMPLY CAN’T WAIT for the February 13^th Schmooze – Fifty Shades of Schmooze:  The Sex Schmooze – we could always let you borrow the car…

For those of you willing to wait – keep passing the open (DeLorean) windows,

Charlie & Karol