Westside Illustrators Meeting Date Change!

Just giving everyone the heads up!
Our meeting this month will be Monday October 17
(NOT October 10) 7-9pm.
Topic "Licensing"
we will try to meet the 3rd Monday evening of the month
unless otherwise noted...

More info next week! Suzy

SuzyBlock@gmail.com
SuzyEngelmanBlock.com

The Westside Writers Schmooze September Distractions-Busting Super Schmooze!

After a two-month hiatus, the SCBWI Westside Writers’ Schmooze is….BACK!

On September 14^th, we reconvened for what we affectionately dubbed the “Back To School Schmooze” where we discussed: LOVED ONES, CIVILIANS AND INNOCENT BYSTANDERS: HOW TO GET RID OF THEM (and other distractions). There were about 40 Schmoozers in attendance (Karol meant take an actual headcount, but she got distracted. As for Charlie, he’s too afraid of lynch mobs to ever count crowds).

The evening started with first-(and possibly last)-time attendee, Kayto Silverfish (we’re pretty sure that’s not her real name) demanding that Charlie and Karol make good on their promise to solve ALL her life problems and address EVERY question she has about the writer's life. Charlie explained that this was merely the co-coordinators’ bait and switch – luring Schmoozers in to solve all of his and Karol’s life problems and answer every question they have about the writer’s life. Kayto stormed out (not really but we thought we’d milk this gag for everything it’s worth) and the rest of you Schmoozers came through with flying colors!

While you may not have actually answered ALL our life problems (for instance, why doesn’t the world think Wally Shawn types are sexy?) you certainly came up with a boatload of great ideas and super resources to help us avoid distractions and get our work done. More on this in a moment, but first…

A Mini-Recap of the fabulous SCBWI National Summer Conference!

Before we got to our main topic, we checked in with a small handful of people about their favorite speaker or experience from the summer conference, just to get a taste of it. Much more info can be found in the SCBWI Team Blog (which is both amazing and searchable!) (LINK), but here’s what we learned:

Karol spoke about Donna Jo Napoli’s keynote speech: “How Writing About Terrible Things Makes Your Reader A Better Person.” Since Karol’s writing a YA novel about a kid to whom terrible things happen, she hung onto Donna Jo’s every word. She especially appreciated hearing her say, “Chances are someone needs to read the book you need to write.”

Marilyn Cohon followed with a valiant attempt at describing the awesomeness that was Gary Paulsen's keynote, "A Writer's Upside-Down Life," summarizing how the simple kindness of a librarian offering him a library card (with his last name spelled correctly) launched the rescue from his wretched childhood, pretty much saving his life. Gary's speech was brutally honest, hysterically funny, and slyly subversive. What left the biggest impression on Marilyn was how utterly authentic he was and how that links to his books which have likely empowered many other troubled young lives.

Laurie Young talked about Libba Bray, doing her best to describe Libba’s indescribably funny latest novel, BEAUTY QUEENS, and her quirky sensibilities in general. The biggest gem for Laurie was Libba’s Survivor metaphor, warning against trying for perfection: “Perfect” wants to vote you off the island. “Better” wants to make an alliance.

Jeff Cox's highlight was the manuscript critique. He was super excited to have been assigned to Ellen Hopkins, author of several edgy and powerful YA novels (CRANK, TRICKS and the just released, adult novel, PERFECT). He found her notes and advice to be incredibly valuable. The thought and care Ellen put into his critique really blew him away.

Lupe Fernandez, one of four writers who make up the Pen And Ink Blog, showed off (and handed out) some nifty promotional bookmarks and pens that he and his blog-mates gave out at Friday night’s wine and cheese reception to celebrate published SCBWI members.

As an added fun perk, Lupe also hipped us to this hilarious video they made, featuring kid-lit luminaries reciting the alphabet. (Don’t ask; just click!)

One Schmoozer raved about the Illustrator’s Intensive day. The high point for her was the illustrator demonstrations, with the illustrators creating artwork right there in front of captivated conference attendees. Thank God no one asks writers to do that!

In a perfect example of Conference Serendipity, another Schmoozer told how she and some friends came to have a surprise, two-hour lunch with Rukhsana Kahn, winner of the Golden Kite for Big Red Lollipop. Fortunately, they managed to keep their jaws off the ground long enough not to slobber on their clothes.

We wrapped up the recap with Rita Crayon Huang imparting a few of her favorite conference moments: Judy Blume (whom Greg Pincus was giddy to learn is one of his twitter followers) describing how trapped she felt before she began writing, so much so that she suffered from many exotic illnesses, all of which cleared up once she let her inner-artist out. (Laurie Halse Anderson reported the same phenomenon – so it’s official! NOT writing is bad for your health!) Also leaving a lasting impression on Rita was Bruce Coville, who recommended voice and acting lessons for writers and cautioned that we need to take ourselves seriously as business people – learn to read contracts and royalty statements people! (FYI – Rita’s blog has great pictures from the conference! Be sure to check them out.)

Loved Ones, Civilians, etc…

Obviously, we could have talked about the conference all night, but we didn’t want to get distracted from our main topic: distractions. So we turned out attention back to the task at hand. Of course, Step One is always admitting you have a problem, right? So we did an exercise – list your top 3 to 5 distractions and possible ways to eliminate or lessen them. In a matter of moments we were all insulting our children.

Charlie told a story about Kathleen Duey’s call to arms at a previous conference, “This is the year we tell them that when they knock on our office door to ask if we know where their socks are, they’ve just cost us a day’s work.”

Charlie was so inspired by this that he marched home and did exactly that, explaining the situation to his teenage son. Unfortunately, this did not lead to a reduction in interruptions, but rather, added a mocking preface to them: “Are you in the zone? I know you don’t want me bothering you when you’re in the zone!”

Lee Wind joked that school is not to educate, it’s to get kids out of the house so we can write.

One of our Schmooze Moms shared a magical phrase she discovered to combat familial interruption: “Can I think about it?” Others quickly offered variations: “Can it wait?”, and the infinitely-helpful, “Can you take care of that?” This one seemed to be a crowd favorite, though results are still being compiled as to its actual success rate.

Yet another Schmooze Mom spoke thrillingly about teaching herself not to care: “Let that towel stay on the floor, let things stay a mess. Let it all GO.” She described her own emotional struggle with caring, and how she finally learn to STOP. It was very inspiring and had the whole room nodding in approval.

For a lovely take on one mom’s rebellion against her messy family, check out The Piggybook by Anthony Browne. (Awesome illustrations!)

For spouses, we suggested giving them the following hand-outs to read:

http://oinks.squeetus.com/2010/07/how-to-be-a-writers-friend-or-spouse.html

http://www.writingiscake.com/2009/12/14/being-a-writers-spouse/

Having fully eviscerated our kids and spouses, we moved on to other distractions starting with the usual suspects: day jobs, errands, and Facebook—the longest cup of coffee…ever, before moving on to some more obscure (and possibly deeper) problems:

General Worry & Doubt

The number of people hoping to get published vs. the number of people who DO get published can be daunting. As well, money worries and putting the weight of income on the work can pretty much paralyze anyone: “If I don’t place this comma correctly it could RUIN us!”

Having TOO MUCH Time On Your Hands

This one was surprising even for your co-coordinators, but pretty much everyone agreed that too much free time can be counterproductive. Busier people have to squeeze in precious writing time here and there, whereas the non-busy can always justify putting writing off until a “later time” – which never ends up coming. It was good news to those of us with day jobs and those whose spouses insist they need to get one now. It may INCREASE our productivity!

DISTRACTION-BUSTING SOLUTIONS

So here they are: the ideas you all came up with to solve all our problems. Of course, there’s a plethora of “distraction-busting ideas for writers” available online as well.

Much of the suggestions we had fell into a few categories:

Create the Optimum Work Space

• Find a writing spot that works for you. This could be in your home or elsewhere. Make sure you have a comfortable chair and good lighting.

• Keep your workspace neat & tidy. Not only is a messy desk distracting, you run the risk of being tempted to stop writing & start straightening. Here is an example of what your desk SHOULD NOT look like:

• Design your space to support you As A Writer, not make you feel like a schmuck with a hobby. Take yourself seriously as an artist and set up a sacred space that is just for this purpose. To inspire you, here are some famous writers’ off the grid spaces:

http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/email/famous-writers-small-writing-sheds-and-offthegrid-huts-140587

Alas, we can’t all be as lucky as Laurie Halse Anderson!

Schedule Your Writing Sessions

• Figure out when your most productive writing time is (morning? evening?) and try to write during those times. For most of us, a regular schedule works better than a catch as catch can approach.
• Use a timer. Decide how long you intend to (or are able to) write for and stick to that. Don’t set up unreal expectations or beat yourself up for not writing longer; the idea is to write often and to set goals you can meet.
• Communicate with your family, roommates, boss, etc. when you’ll be writing and, just as importantly, when you’ll be free. That way they’ll know they can count on seeing you later, and will be more likely to leave you alone now. Of course, this only works if you do what you say.
• Write when you can. Sometimes, catch as catch can is all you can catch. And, sometimes, that’s just fine. Allow yourself to live an adult life and take care of business when business needs taking care of. But try to fit in some writing, just to keep the muscles from atrophying.

Block Out Distractions

• Turn off all media. Yes, ALL. Yes, that too. Shut off/unplug your phones. All of ‘em. That editor who wants to offer you a huge contract can leave a message! Disconnect your Internet. Try to do your research in advance so you aren’t tempted. We all know how easy it is to click on Facebook, “just for a second” and lose an entire day. For the weak amongst us, there are programs available (Freedom) or websites (Stay Focused for Google Chrome) that will block out the internet, and even one that blocks out everything on your screen but a blank page and a cursor (Dark Room).
• Try earplugs if you write in a noisy environment.
• Some writers like to listen to music as they write. This has the advantage of totally blocking out your kid knocking on your door to ask you, “Are you in the ZONE?!” or to tell you there’s a fire in the kitchen.
• Sneaky trick: For those who can’t write with music blasting in your ears, use earphones that are unplugged, to make the kid think you’re listening to music. After a few failed attempts, he’ll walk away and call 911 himself. Success!

Once you’ve instituted these handy suggestions, Schmoozers agreed that finding a way to hold yourself accountable is invaluable. Suggestions for doing that included:

• Have a writing buddy to whom you report your progress. This is different from a critique friend. This buddy doesn’t have to read anything. They just ask you what you got done each day/week/whatever, and you return the favor by asking them the same obnoxious question.
• Reward yourself for writing accomplishments and milestones (although it was suggested that you pick a reward that doesn’t stress your wallet or waistline). On the other hand, how much could a single chocolate chip cookie per page hurt you?
• Using colorful charts to record your progress. Karol does this and the result not only helps her to stay on schedule but it truly delights her often-grumpy inner-child.

Still worried about distractions? Still not ready to get down to work? What IS your problem?! OK, as promised, here’s…

CHARLIE AND KAROL’S NIFTY LIST OF RESOURCES

Distraction-Busters Edition

Writing Through The Distractions of...Mothering

http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/45-FE4-WritingThroughDistractions.html#MotheringDistraction

How to Write Without Distractions

http://writetodone.com/2008/01/09/how-to-write-without-distractions/

Tips and Tricks for Distraction free Writing

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/tips-and-tricks-for-distraction-free-writing.html

The Guilt Ridden Writer’s confession

http://www.copyblogger.com/word-virus/

The Frazzled Writer: 5 strategies for alleviating the guilt

http://www.tglong.com/blog/2011/04/the-frazzled-writer-5-strategies-for-alleviating-the-guilt/

That pretty much sums up all the helpful hints we remember (please feel free to add things we forgot in the comments below). It was GREAT to be back in the swing of things and reconnect/recommit following our Summer Vacation.

Check the calendar at SCBWI So Cal for all the upcoming Schmooze topics, starting with BLOOD ON THE PAGE: How to get that ineffable quality, that juice, that pizzazz, that… blood on the page.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday October 14^th!

Keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol

Westside Illustrators Schmooze with Soooz

Westside Illustrators Schmooze
Monday Evening September 12, 2011
7:00 - 9:00pm
11624 Pico Blvd LA CA 90064

Topics: 'Let's play 'Catch up!' & 'Get ready for illustrators Day!'

Share your notes from the summer conference....
Illo Day Prep for Nov 12 ....Get your portfolio in shape ...
and enter 2 contests, research speakers

Continuing Monthly Challenges...

'Baby Steps... Dream Big, Start Small"
&
'A Doodle a Day"

Let's plan our topics for the year!
Looking forward to seeing you all!

Next meeting:
October 10th
Topic: "Licensing"

RSVP???... YES...if you can... SuzyBlock@gmail.com

WHERE???... 11624 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064
This is a large gray building with ivy & bamboo on the facade.
Look for the RED door ....it reads - "Alliance Francaise."

DIRECTIONS???... http://maps.google.com/maps?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLR,GGLR:2006-05,GGLR:en&q=11624+W.+Pico+BLvd,+Los+Angeles,+CA+90064&um=1&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

PARKING???... Street parking only. You don't have to feed meters after 6pm. Do NOT park in the electrical warehouse parking lot next door OR the parking lot behind the building on the corner of Federal Ave. You will be towed...FAST.

xoxo...suzy
cell... 818 389 1950



come visit me @ SuzyEngelmanBlock.com

Self Promo and Picture Book Dummies

Self Promotion

We tackles every aspect of promoting our work and ourselves from promotional mailings to websites. We had several samples of ones that other illustrators use and like. We shares and discusses what works best for promo. We even learned that one of our own got a job illustrating with use of one of his own Postcard Send-outs... :) YAY!

Picture Book Dummies - Part 3

From visuals to discussing ideas everyone participated in our Part 3 Picture Book Dummies. Seems like we are all moving along with some sort of progress. We all shared our great success and our weak points in layout and composition. The phrase "Baby Steps" was used... as we all take our ideas and make them into visual masterpieces. We are going to have a part 4 with our Book Dummies as well as go over our Portfolios next month (July) before the conference in Aug. We have new people showing up and we are all excited to share and evaluate all work.

There is no such thing as bad work... all work is good. It is good to be consistent and enjoy it. Keep illustrating and bring what you are working on next mo. as well as your portfolios.

I just read through the Conference Blog and there are some great notes that hit home with me.... last Aug I was fortunate to stay late one day and was able to get a really great random portfolio review from a speaker. It was one of the best reviews that really made sense to me and I have been enhancing my portfolio since. So if you get the chance to hang out later on any conference days, you never know when or who you will bump into and make sure you are prepared to show your work and talk about it with confidence.

Draw well,

Jen Swain

Illlustrator Schmooze, SFV-Glendale Area

(Photo illustration Book Dummy by Diana Browning)

The Westside Writers Schmooze celebrated faux pas - and lessons learned - on June 8th, 2011

Thirty-two people gathered to discuss faux pas and etiquette tips at the June 8^th SCBWI Westside Writers Schmooze. As anticipated, it was an evening filled with laughter. Charlie and Karol had a ton of tips and funny stories they pulled off the web and/or collected from anonymous sources in case the Schmoozers were shy about sharing, but that wasn’t the case at all.

After briefly mentioning some upcoming local events (have YOU registered for the national conference yet??), the evening started…and, well, sort of ended, too… with long-form introductions. The idea was to have everyone participate – and boy, did they!

Often the introductions around the circle “eat up” precious time for the “real content,” but since your humble new co-coordinators’ master plan is to do as little work as possible…er, we mean…encourage as much participation from the group as possible, we provided this poster board prompt, opening up the Schmoozerific floodgates.

Charlie started off the evening with a brand new faux pas, forgetting (for the second month in a row) all his notes, the nametags, and even his chicken hat. None of these, it turned out, were of any real import except the chicken hat, which he was going to use to augment his own etiquette tail of woe: It’s seems he and a partner traveled to the Cartoon Forum at Ludwigsberg Germany to sell a chicken cartoon concept to the world and it couldn’t have gone better! They wore their chicken hats for the entire week of presentations and were a smash hit with many interested buyers…until his partner drank WAY too much on the final triumphant night and basically destroyed all of the good will they’d created. (It takes a lot of alcohol, by the way, to destroy the good will created by chicken hats.) Charlie’s lesson-learned was this: Drink in moderation! (Heck, that’s probably a good idea in any life situation!)

Charlie also shared an anonymous wardrobe-malfunction faux pas submitted by one brave Schmoozer.She had a brand new blouse (bought especially for the occasion) betray her not once, but twice during a conference, when talking to two different, important faculty members. The moral of the story: Test new clothes! (And speaking of clothes, dressing in layers for the conference was suggested. You’ll probably be dealing with a wide range of temperatures inside and outside the hotel.)

These opening stories helped set the evening’s tone of we’re-laughing-with-you-not-at-you, and several people shared their own cringe-worthy experiences. Many of the Schmoozers’ faux pas involved blurting out something they wish they could take back, such as one person’s experience of “kindly correcting” an editor’s misinformation, which was not at all appreciated by the editor. The lesson in that? Don’t correct an author or editor on something she’s already published or said! (Actually, there were quite a few Schmoozers, who couldn’t restrain themselves from correcting editors, authors and the like. Is this an authority issue, a devotion to craft above all else, or just suicidal tendencies? Dunno.)

This theme of foot-in-mouth stories prompted Karol to introduce a word she learned recently:

Logorrhea. Noun: Excessive flow of words, especially when incoherent.

(FYI – Karol came by this word via a nifty little free e-mail subscription from Wordsmith.org. Check them out at A.Word.A.Day .)

The problem with logorrhea is – you can’t unring a bell…or get in the way-back machine and go correct your mistake….or fly around the globe so fast that you actually turn back time like Superman did to save Lois Lane in Superman II.

You CAN:

• Offer a brief, lighthearted apology (“Wow, that was kind of insensitive…sorry about that!”)
• Accept that you acted like a boob, forgive yourself and move on. Everyone puts his foot in his mouth occasionally. And on that note – if you find that you’ve put your foot in your mouth, take it out! Don’t shove it in further!
• Prepare better so you’re not so flummoxed the next time you meet some Big Shot Author/Editor/Agent, etc. (More on this topic in a sec.)

Logorrhea brought to mind another terrible faux pas: blogorrhea. This is when you say things on your, or someone else’s blog that should either remain unsaid, or be said privately. Not only can online bells not be unrung, they keep ringing repeatedly and in perpetuity. This can best be shown through the cautionary tale of “The Greek Seamen.” Click this link to see a writer self-destruct as she tries to upbraid an online reviewer for giving her book a vaguely negative review. She just goes crazier and crazier, until this exchange became an Internet sensation. Rather than being known for her work, she’s now known for this:

http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

On the other side of the logorrhea coin is a faux pas so bad, and yet so common, that we collectively concluded it was the worst and most deadly one you could fall prey to – no faux pas at all: Many people sheepishly admitted that they had no embarrassing stories because they were so afraid of saying or doing something stupid, they would routinely cower in a corner and avoid all contact with those with whom they most wished to make contact. This anti-faux-pas-faux pas is the story of countless missed opportunities.

Or, to put it another way: If you haven’t made an ass of yourself, you’re not really trying!

With the SCBWI National Conference coming up, there was general agreement that you must FORCE yourself to schmooze and network! Learn to think of the inevitable faux pas as badges of honor.

Luckily for the timid among us, the Schmoozers had a plethora of wonderful tips on how to get the absolute MOST out of your conference experience (and these tips are applicable for those prone to logorrhea as well).

Behold, the wisdom of the SCBWI Westside Schmooze Collective:

• Go to the conference with a plan. It’s your time & money – make the conference what you want.

• Familiarize yourself with editors’ or agents’ work before approaching them at a conference or meeting with them. Read reviews on Amazon.com if you don’t have time to read their books. Look up their images on the ‘net, so you know who you’re looking for.

• Nametags for faculty are often different – printed, on a lanyard, etc. Take note of what faculty members’ nametags look like to help identify them. Try to KNOW who you’re talking to.

• Bring business cards. You don’t have to put your phone number but definitely put your e-mail address or website. Maybe put what you write or a particular project if that’s what you’re concentrating on currently. (Try Vistaprint.com for free or inexpensive cards. Also, Avery labels makes perfectly fine business cards you can design and print out on your home computer with their free software.)

• When people give you a card, jot down notes about the conversation you had so you remember them. Do the same when you give someone your card.

• Stick around after the “official day” has ended. There’s the potential for valuable one-on-one time. If you’re tired, take a nap out by the pool.

• Be open to possibilities – every conference attendee has value. Don’t be rude – don’t ditch the person you’re talking to in order to “upgrade” to someone “more important.” Charlie told the story of being “stuck” at a table at lunch with people he didn’t know when he could have sat with his pals and Bruce Coville. Making the best of it, Charlie demeaned himself to talk to the “nobodies” at his table and found, to his left, a teacher who was not only funny and brilliant, but offered to teach his unpublished book to her third grade class. During the next school year the class Skyped him on numerous occasions, giving him feedback on his work in progress and, in the case of one very astute young man, pronouncing his book “the best book I ever read.”

• Praising someone’s work is a good way to start a conversation (but be honest about what you’ve read – or you run the risk of getting caught!).

• Editors & agents are people, too! It makes them uncomfortable if you look at them like they’re meat. (They’re SOOO sensitive!) So, rather than salivate at what they can do for your career, ask them about theirs! Joke about the conference, ask what sessions they’ve been to, etc. Do this, and before you know it, they’ll ask you about you, and you can go into your spiel. All they really want to know is that you’re not crazy.

• Don’t give away your power – you have something they want: great stories. Be confident in yourself and your material. Mention your successes – but GLOW, don’t GLOAT.

• Take the pressure off your manuscript consultant if it’s not going well – ask him or her questions, take it as an opportunity to get to know an author, editor, etc. And remember: their opinions, while valuable, are still just that – opinions. Don’t let any one bad reaction to your work devastate you. (Of course, if everyone has the same bad reaction, go ahead and be devastated…um, we mean – you might want to consider a rewrite.)

• Lastly, have your “elevator pitch” ready – but be appropriate!

And speaking of elevator pitches…Charlie & Karol had a Mini Pitch Mad Lib exercise planned for the end of the evening, but they ran out of time for anything beyond a hasty introduction of the idea. As promised, here’s the format you can use as a general guideline to formulate your own Mini Pitch Mad Lib. (Some Schmoozers were uneasy with the “readers will love this book because…” part, so this is definitely a “take what works for you and never mind the rest” situation).

**Please note – this mini-pitch format is copy written material, created by screenwriting teacher par excellance Pilar Alessandra, and was used/adapted with her permission. Karol has taken a class with Pilar and says she's awesome! Check her out at www.onthepage.com.

And one more VERY important note on pitching at the conference....DON'T do this:

With all the sharing and the cringing and the laughing we conveniently ran out of time before Karol had a chance confess to one of her own faux pas.

“Not so fast,” says Charlie. “Spill it!”

OK – here goes, a logorrhea story if there ever is one:

I’m a bargain hunter. Give me a sale price + a coupon, and I’m in heaven! One time an author was kindly signing her book for me, and I blurted out, oh-so-proud of my frugality, “I got your book for $1.98!” The author definitely did not share my enthusiasm. (If that author happens to be reading this… “Wow, that was kind of insensitive…sorry about that!”) Not sure what the lesson learned there was for me beyond – try really, really hard not to be an idiot.

Another thing we ran out of time for (are you picking up on a theme here?) was reminding everyone that the Westside Writers Schmooze will be taking its annual two month hiatus in July and August. Our next meeting will be September 14, 2011. But we’ll be at the conference (Karol attending, and Charlie at the bar, drinking away his last dime.)

Thank you everyone for being so open and giving and informative with your personal tales of shame. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening.

Until the next schmooze, you can…

• Register for the SCBWI Summer Conference
  

• Follow the Official SCBWI Conference Blog

• Like us on Facebook - Friends of the SCBWI Los Angeles Westside Writer's Schmooze

Please LIKE us…please really, really like us!

Keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol

Westside Writers' Schmooze takes on Misfits, Mutts & Bastards, May 11, 2011

A group of about 30 – including many new faces this month – gathered for the May 11^th Westside Schmooze, the first under the new Charlie & Karol Regime. Our topic was Misfits, Mutts and Bastards – which was not commentary on the people assembled (although Karol and Charlie both willingly identify as “misfits”). No, the misfits, mutts and bastards we were discussing were alternative book formats – from novels in verse to graphic novels to books so special and different they defy classification (The Invention of Huge Cabaret, anyone?).

In keeping with Schmooze tradition, we started with introductions. Everybody had a chance to say what kind of material they write and name a favorite “misfit book” (if they had one). In addition to The Invention of Hugo Cabaret by Brian Selznick (which got multiple mentions), some other books hailed by Schmoozers were The Arrival by Shaun Tan (a graphic novel without words), Wonderstruck, the latest book by Brian Selznick, and Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill, What My Mother Doesn’t Know by local author Sonya Sones and Out Of The Dust by Karen Hesse, all novels in verse.

The evening started formally with a discussion of novels which use devices to tell their stories. Some examples were Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, a middle grade novel told through letters and diary entries only, and the recent series of duel-protagonist books by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares), where chapters alternate between the POV of the male character, written by David, and the female character, written by Rachel.

Novels in verse were discussed as well. Karol offered tidbits from a Summer 2010 Kite Tails (download it here) interview with author Thalia Chaltas, whose debut novel Because I am Furniture, is written in verse. When asked why she writes in verse, Chaltas explained that she “thinks in verse…in swooshes of words, smatterings of sounds, burrowings of emotion.” She feels novels in verse are able to handle heavy subject matter in a way that’s not too overwhelming. It was also pointed out that, with novels in verse, a short poem can get across plot advancement and emotions that could fill several pages of a traditional novel. To illustrate this point, Karol read a couple sample poems from Virginia Euwer Wolfe’s This Full House, the final novel in Wolfe’s fantastic Make Lemonade trilogy. For anyone interested in exploring this genre (and Karol highly recommends that you do!), author Sonya Sones (who describes herself as “a poet first, and a storyteller second”) has a wonderful list of outstanding novels in verse on her website.

Next up, Charlie discussed graphic storytelling, starting with an overview of the various forms:

• ILLUSTRATED NOVELS – novels with pictures, like The Wizard Of Oz, Alice In Wonderland, Lynda Barry’s dark and violent Cruddy, and even Vonnegut’s Breakfast Of Champions, which features a crude drawing of a butt-hole that made Charlie wax poetic. These book would not have the power and poetry they do, would not stick in the mind with such tenacity, without the imagery of great artists like John Tenniel and Lynda Barry or Vonnegut’s bratty pen.

• COMIC BOOK NOVELS – novels with prose & comics, like Dav Pilkey’s great Captain Underpants series and Jeff Kinney’s even greater Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series. These hilarious amalgams move between telling a story and showing, combining all out comedy and slapstick with well observed commentaries on middle school life.

• COMIC BOOKS & COMIC STRIPS – you know: Peanuts and such. Also Windor McCay’s seminal Little Nemo In Slumberland.

• INTERNET COMICS & iPOD APPS – our own Josh Hauke discussed creating his hilarious online comic Tales Of The Brothers Three, as well as the advantages and limitations of writing for the internet. (Hint: it seemed like a pretty good idea to us.)

• GRAPHIC NOVELS – the meat and potatoes of graphic artistry, from Frank Miller’s brilliant (though neo fascistic according to Charlie) Batman Begins to Alan Moore’s complex and very human Watchman to Art Spiegelman’s clear eyed and accurate look at the holocaust through cats and mice: Maus, to Chris Ware’s endlessly sad tale of regretful middle age, Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth.

Schmooze regular Eric Drachman also discussed his own bastard work: wedding terrific picture books to beautifully produced audio recordings of the text, complete with cast and music. (Check ‘em out on Kidwick.com).

Charlie then went on to describe the proper form for writing graphic novel manuscripts, explaining that, in a graphic novel, the key element is the PAGE. You design each page, stating how many panels you want on it, and then describing each panel, one by one. When designing pages, keep in mind that, in graphic storytelling, each bit of dialogue takes up literal space. So a dialogue heavy scene will leave little room for action or art.

Josh, along with the many other illustrators who showed up for our little Schmooze (thanks!), mentioned the books Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud and Sequential Art by Will Eisner as essential resources for anyone interested in writing graphically. A spirited debate then ensued about which one was truly more essential! (The same crowd also debated the virtues of various software used to create iPad apps, but since neither Charlie nor Karol could figure out what they were talking about, we cut that one short.)

Finally, we talked about markets for your bastard opuses (opai?). It was noted that Scholastic has a new imprint called Graphix and may looking for graphic novel manuscripts for kids. There are other markets as well (a list is included in our collection of resource links below), but many of the comic book publishers are fairly closed houses. The good news, though, is that this is one area of the market where self-publishing is well respected. Many comic book stores take pride in supporting local artists and writers and will give your book a featured place by the register.

We ended the evening with an exercise – a fun attempt to translate some classic prose writing (samples handed out were from The Hunger Games and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) into graphic novel or novel in verse form. Honestly, it proved to be harder than we anticipated, (at least for your humble leaders), but when it came time to share, the Schmoozers astounded and delighted!

Perhaps the most important take away from the evening was to avoid style over substance. These alternative formats can be utilized to great effect, but your manuscripts need to feature great stories

first and foremost. There’s no better example of this than The Invention of Hugo Cabaret. Yes, the format – kind of a picture book/middle grade novel hybrid – is stunningly beautiful and unique, but the story itself is also incredibly special. (Seriously, if you haven’t yet read this book, go to your local library or bookstore now and get it. Well? Why aren’t you going? STOP READING THIS AND GO!)

Now that you’re back from the library…

For those of you who missed the Schmooze (shame on you!), here’s a copy of the list of references that was handed out:

CHARLIE AND KAROL’S NIFTY PAGE OF RESOURCES

The Bastard Edition

Everything you need to know about writing & selling graphic novels (OK, fine…not everything):

http://www.fivesprockets.com/fs-portal/features/main.do?content=comicbook-basics

This is the little lesson we went through in class from Five Sprockets software on how graphic novels are formatted. Also here: Free Software!!

http://homepage.mac.com/dmcduffie/site/Scripts.html

A GOLD MINE! Dwayne McDuffie, the writer Static Shock, Hardware, and others, as well as numerous Spiderman comics, generously shows samples of ALL THE DIFFERENT STYLES. Also, click on his name at the top, and nose around his site.

http://www.topgraphicnovelreviews.com/how_write_graphic_novels.html

a short little lesson in how to format and write graphic novels, including a nifty little exercise to help you with dialogue writing. Also, dig the links on where to sell—I included one of them below:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/submit.htm

Some info on novels in verse:

YA author of novels-in-verse extraordinaire, Sonya Sones (home page, comprehensive list of outstanding novels in verse)

http://www.sonyasones.com/index.html

http://www.sonyasones.com/imreading/novelsinverse.html

First Novels Club Guest post by Cathy Ostlere (Karma); Demystifying novels in verse.

mailto:http://www.firstnovelsclub.com/2011/04/demystifying-novels-in-verse-guest-post.html

Thoughts about Verse Novels, inspired by questions from author, Susan Taylor Brown, for an article in Children’s Writer, March 2010, The Novel World in Verse.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150249694535254http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150249694535254

Interview with Ellen Hopkins by Laura Watkinson for SCBWI Bologna 2010

http://www.scbwibologna.org/2010/presenters/interviews/ellen-hopkins.php

Next month’s Schmooze topic is: Writer’s Etiquette or Why-Oh-Why Do I Keep Putting My Foot In My Month And How Can I Stop? This will feature, “Miss Karol’s Pointers On Manners And Decorum.” That should be good. Oh, wait…this just in… Karol has renamed her presentation. It will now be called, “What NOT to Do. Ever. Really.”

In all seriousness, we’re counting on lots and lots of input from everyone in attendance, so won’t you please join us on June 8^th and bring your horrors stories and tales of triumph to share.

See you then!

Namaste? Nah! We’re going with…

Keep passing the open windows,

Charlie & Karol