Day 4 of CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK - With Margot Finke

Day 4 of CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK - With Margot Finke

 

7x  Passionate Authors
from
Guardian Angel Publishing
( affectionately known as GAP )
 
 STILL
Blogging 'till their Fingers Wear Out
for
Children's Book Week
May 7th - 13th, 2012

(See list of other GAP bloggers below)
.

 

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GAP Authors also

offer
2x FREE GIFTS

WIN

A cool tote bag of books by GAP authors

a FREE Picture Book Critique - by me!

Don't forget to sign up to WIN!
( entry form at the end of this post ) 

.

***************
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So. . .  let's get to it, mates.

 My Topic for Today,
 Thursday, May 10th

What Beginning Writers Need to Know
How to Reel in an Editor with Your Writing
( Borrowed from my Musings Column )

If you want to reel in an editor,
think fishing strategy.

• Know where the editor fish swim.
• Prepare the appropriate bait.
• Assemble a variety of hooks.
• Practice spreading ‘chum.'
• Make sure your line is strong.
• Hook the editor fish early.
• Play the line out -- craftiness counts.
• Land your editor fish -- (don't let him/her get away at the last moment)

Your First Paragraph:
This is your chance to hook the ‘editor fish' early.

If a few sentences of instant appeal do not come to mind, leave your first paragraph until later. Rummage for the distinctive words you need when your story is finished, and your plot and characters are as familiar as the taste of your favorite food. Think dramatic moment, wild humor, or even angst ridden inner turmoil. Consider making your first paragraph a splendid link into the heart of your main character, or perhaps, a powerful hint about future actions.


Your First Page:
Fling in morsels of chum, and bait a small hook.
What is chum? For big game fishermen, chum is bloody fish entrails, red meat, and other offal. This is thrown into the water to bring sharks and large fish closer to their boat. Get it? For writers, chum becomes the clues, hints, innuendo, characters, gossip, and whatever else we use to draw in readers. Make your first page a reading frenzy. Include the time, the place, and the names of your main characters. Now, plan something dramatic, significant or funny, for your second page. Then, in the last paragraph on your first page, leave a clue to whatever is about to happen. This is your hook, baited, and ready to lure the editor into turning the page.

Trawl Chum on Every Page:
This is where you play out your line, use different hooks, and try assorted bait.
The chum you scatter throughout your chapters depends on the type of story you are writing. The basic idea, is what you write on one page should lure readers into reading what you've written on the following page. Not only that, you must have fine writing, characters that kids will root for, and a plot that keeps reader interest to the last page. Flabby writing will get you eaten by an editor shark!


The Mystery/Adventure:
The style of your hooks depends on the type of book you are writing. A mystery or an adventure demands a strong and dramatic hook at the end of each chapter -- your main character faces disaster, is about to make a vital choice, or is on the brink of peril. Devising hooks for the end of your chapters has a lot to do with pacing. You must plan ahead. An end-of-chapter hook is always the moment before something physically or emotionally earth shattering happens. If your readers want to know the outcome, they must read on.
Keep the tension at a heart-pounding level, by regularly offering snippets of pertinent information, hints and clues. These are the small hooks you must keep baited throughout your chapters. Your readers don't want to be told about what happens. They want to be a part of the story: to see, feel, and hear the action as it happens. Splash around the dialogue: it is a wonderful tool for defining characters and setting a pace that crackles.


Emotional or Fun Stories:
Poignant stories also need end-of-chapter hooks. A tale about school and bullies, the story of a dying parent or friend, a funny romp at a holiday camp: these books all need lots of the right bait, on the right sized hooks, to reel in an editor. Ending your chapters with a question, a fear, a dread, or moment of panic, works extremely well. Readers identify with these emotions, and they hate for them to go unanswered. If the chapter that follows your hook provides satisfactory answers, your reader will keep reading. As the author, you make a tacit agreement with your reader to provide a satisfying conclusion to the story. Break this agreement at your peril!
Character development is vital in all children's books. Kids want to feel that they know the characters. Make sure you weave in background, past mistakes, and the relationship between siblings and parents. Your POV's (point of view) inner thoughts can offer important insights. Allow your main character some faults, plus the ability and courage to grow out of them. Offer a secondary plot line. Keep tabs on where your plot and characters are going. Don't allow your reader to feel up a creek without a paddle. Dialogue is vital to any story -- fresh, on the money, and dynamic. Attention to small details pays off.


Your Last Chapter -- You Must Deliver!
You get to land the editor-fish.
You've made it thus far -- DON'T BLOW IT! Craft a first paragraph that keeps readers guessing (mystery/ adventure), or unsure about what your main POV will decide (poignant or other story). Then tie up those loose ends ASAP - unresolved loose ends will allow the editor fish to escape. Check that your solution or ending is logical, and based on the main areas of the plot. Is that last minute confession too bizarre to be reasonable? Would your heroine really decide to settle a dispute that way?

Final Note:
If your grammar or punctuation is not what it should be, now is the time to enlist help. Have your trusted critique members check out your manuscript for G and P errors, as well as anything else that might make an editor fish shy away - weak plot, character problems, wordiness, or a particular word or phrase that constantly pops up, to name a few.
That complete, you are now ready to catch an editor fish. Bait your query hook!
Uh-oh. . . Sorry, Queries are a whole other blog.

And do please add YOUR favorites to the comments below.

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NOW .

Surf on over to some of the other
Guardian Angel Bloggers
and enjoy their Children's Book Week posts.

Mayra Calvani - www.mayrassecretbookcase.blogspot.com

Margo Dill - http://margodill.com/blog/
Margot Finke - http://hookkidsonreading.blogspot.com
Donna McDine - www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com
Nancy Stewart - www.nancystewartbooks.blogspot.com
Kai Strand - http://kaistrand.blogspot.com
Nicole Weaver - http://mysisterismybestfriend.blogspot.com


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Disclaimer:

Entry during the Children's Book Week celebration by Guardian Angel Publishing does not guarantee winning the FREE tote bag of Guardian Angel Publishing books, or the FREE picture book manuscript critique by Margot Finke. Winner of the FREE picture book manuscript critique by Margot Finke shall not hold Ms. Finke liable in publication success of submitted picture book manuscript.

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*Books for Kids – Manuscript Critiques
http://www.margotfnke.com
*Virtual School Visits – SKYPE makes it happen
http://virtualschoolvisits.blogspot.com/

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MUSE Conference - ADVICE that ROCKS!

I have just completed a fantastically busy
and rewarding week .

I ran the
HOOK an Editor With Your First Page - Workshop
+ afternoon Q and A chat sessions.

 all for
The MUSE Online Writing Conference. 

This FREE Conference comes around once each year in early October.  It is a chance to take workshops in many aspects of writing for adults or children, book promotion, or pitch your book to an editor.  

ALL for FREE!

The quality of the writing I saw this year was way up,
and I read and enjoyed some awesome first pages  -

 with great HOOKS.

What follows is one of the areas I talked about with the many talented
and dedicated writers who came daily to my workshops.

What to expec when you get a
PROFESSIONAL CRITIQUE

I want to let you know what I do as a Professional Critiquer.  It is NOT my job to edit your writing.  If you want to write and publish books, you must come to it with a good knowledge of grammar and punctuation. And if it's been a few decades since you had your knuckles rapped in Ms Writeit's class, then take a refresher course in the basics.

A good edit should be provided by the publisher that accepts your book.  It is their job to give your plot and characters a final OK,  and to nit-pick your grammar and punctuation -
NOT MINE.

A profesional critique should happen before you send your manuscript to the publisher, or before you self-publish.  My job entails nit-picking plot weaknesses and limp characters.  It means nagging you about the need to FOCUS on what is important, and leave those WAFFLES on the breakfast table.  We provide a clean-up crew for weak verbs and constantly repeated words.  A professional critique might suggest you tighten, tighten, tighten your writing - and should offer copious examples on how to do this.  They also vacuum up weak words, and suggest you find stronger and more evocative and powerful alternatives.

A good critique will head off that dreaded side-track, offer a viable alternative, and suggest ways to polish and perfect your writing voice, and the voice of your main POV.  We answer questions support and encourage. All you, the writer  has to do, is provide the basic writing  knowledge mentioned above, talent, staying power, and then write, write, write.  A little LUCK is simply a wild card we all hope will fall into our laps.

A critique, whether professional or private, offers comments, suggestions, and examples for you to consider when you rewrite.  Bottom line: This is YOUR baby.  Others can advise and suggest, but the final choices about what to cut and what to leave are YOURS. As you gain confidence and experience, these decisions become far easier.

Joining a private Critique Group is also a terrific idea, no matter what you write or how you publish.  Networking among other writers, having their fresh view of your chapters, picking their brains, and sharing writing knowledge can only make your writing stronger, richer, and more polished.  These critiques are FREE, so is is wise to let your crit group run through your chapters before you spend hard earned cash on a professional review.  The more suggestions, comments and examples your book needs, the longer it will take a professional to do -  and her time is YOUR money.

NOTE:

A word of caution. When you look for a private group to read your MS, or someone as a crit partner, make sure they write the same genre as yourself. Each genre, from children's books to erotic fantasy have their own particular needs and quirks. Only someone who writes and publishes in a similar genre to yours can really offer helpful and accurate feedback. If you do form a group, make sure there are some advanced or published members. This avoids the blind-leading-the-blind into complete confusion!

I have been with my critique group for 10 years. I can honestly say that I would never have been published without their feedback and great support.

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Books - Manuscript Critiques
http://www.margotfinke.com

BLOGS:
http://virtualschoolvisits.blogspot.coom/
http://perfectmagiccarpet.blogspot.com/
http://hookkidsonreading.blogspot.com/