Yesterday, I wrote very briefly about my personal correlation: cooking and writing. For me, they go together. I get into “creation” mode and we eat better.

(Unfortunately writing and cleaning seem to have the opposite relationship.)

Cooking special dishes is also how I celebrate writing milestones.

When I’ve gotten through a tough section of a story, I tend to make something chocolate.

When I’ve finished a draft, I usually crave brisket.

My favorite milestone is getting to page 100. Why? Well, it always amazes me when I realize that I’ve written 100 pages. When I’ve gotten that far, I know I have a story…not just an interesting character. I can’t help being amazed that once again, the creative process has actually worked!!!!

So to celebrate page 100, I treat myself to Thai Seafood Soup. I like it because it’s spicy and full of citrus. (I began developing this recipe when I first moved to Hanover, NH. I love YAMA, but I really miss good Thai food.) If you have loved ones sensitive to spicy food, cut back on the peppers…or watch steam rise from their scalps. When my kids were small, and esp before I had any success at all, I wanted to include them in the process, in these milestones. This is a commitment (living the writing life) that we have all made…and I never forget that.

ENJOY!

Sarah’s super spicy Thai Seafood Soup

Seasoning Mix: (Taken from Paul Prudhomme’s Fiery Foods That I love):

1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground ancho chili
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp white pepper

Mix these seasonings together.

The rest:

2T unsalted butter
2 cups fresh white mushrooms
1 stalk lemongrass, sliced thinly
2tsp fresh garlic
2tsp fresh serrano chilis
4 T (or more) lemon juice
2T (or more) fresh lime juice
3 T fish sauce (a combo of prepared fish sauce, sugar, lemon juice and pepper…let it sit an hour.)
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 pound shrimp
1/2 pound scallops
1/2 pound salmon, skin removed
1 pound calamari, cut into rings (I like tentacles, too.)
silver noodles, prepared

For the end:
cilantro
chopped zuchini, red pepper, onion. peas bean sprouts

What to do:

melt butter in a saucepan. Add mushrooms, lemongrass, serranos and seasoning mix. When that begins to stick (about 2 min on high heat), add juice and fish sauce. Cook five minutes until thick. Then add stock. Bring to boil. Add fish and cilantro. Again, bring to boil. When fish is cooked, add vegees. Add extra lemon and lime to taste. Ladle into individual bowls with silver noodles, cilantro garnish, and some bean sprouts. Make sure you have a BIG pitcher of water.

Hints:

I halve the cayenne. For my husband. Because he is the one who has made it possible for me to stay home and write…..

Happy eating…and don’t forget to celebrate the milestones with your loved ones!!!

When I am drafting a new manuscript, I do a lot of cooking.

Actually, when I’m revising I cook even more.

When I’m cooking, I’m creating. I’m thinking. I’m playing music. All these things let my subconscious ramble (and gives me enough space to think about something besides politics!!) When I cook, I think. I smell. I imagine details. My family thinks I’ve done something with my day!

(Let’s face it…sometimes we need some product while we’re in the process!)

If you aren’t sold yet, eating well also serves my creative process. I also write a lot better and faster when I take care of myself!

When I’m writing, I NEVER diet.

So this week, I’m going to share some of my favorite recipes that help me write. An appetizer. A main course. A salad. and a special celebration dessert.

Here’s your appetizer:

Sarah’s AMAZIN’ humus!!!

2 cups canned chick peas, drained
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon fresh garlic
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (This is the SECRET ingredient!!)
1 tsp cumin
1/3 cup tahini
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, plus lemon zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
parsley for garnish

Basically, put all this stuff in a food processor, season to taste, and eat. For years, my friends invite me to pot luck dinners JUST so I can bring the humus. It’s REALLY good with pita. Or tabouli. Or next to a piece of grilled tomato.

It’s also the kind of snack that can sit right next to the computer as I’m writing.

Bon Appetit, and happy writing!

Sometimes I feel like I’m wielding a machete or a flamethrower when I’m revising a book. Pages burn into ashes. Sentences blow away like the seeds of a dandelion clock.

There are times we must remove our Darlings. (“Remove”: a sterile word for “cut” and “kill,” which implies blood is involved.)

We may remove a word.

A sentence.

A scene.

A desire.

A motive.

A character.

Or another element of the story.

The revision may be substantial, and it is like we are pulling the warp threads out of a plot or sending the keystone from a character arc tumbling to the ground.

The art of writing involves knowing what needs to stay and what needs to be removed.

A positive spin: We are deleting cutting rescuing our Darlings from a place they don’t belong as we find the best way to tell our story.

What happens to the words we delete?

Scenes we eliminate?

Characters we yank from the pages?

Our Darlings may go on to another life as we tuck them away in our mental “use later” file or into a “cut from book” file in the computer. We can save an awesome turn of phrase to use at another time later. We can borrow and steal elements from a deleted scene for another story. Not a word we write is wasted.

When I remove words/ sentences/scenes/characters from a story, what else happens?

Example One: In my novel, River, I cut a significant secondary character. She wasn’t pulling her weight. (Truth be told, she didn’t want to be in the book.)

When I revised, elements of her character that were critical to moving the plot forward shifted to two other secondary characters.

Example Two: [These opening sentences are taken from one of my picture books that I wrote while at VCFA while in the picture book semester. This book was a finalist in the 2010 SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant competition.]

1. “We climb our mountains from the inside, up and up we climb.” (First draft—when I was desperately trying to get words on the page so I could make my VCFA packet deadline.)

2. “Today we will conquer a new peak, the highest peak in the mountain range.” (2^nd draft.)

3. “Today we are explorers. We cross the bridge toward the mountains wild . . .”  (Final draft, after numerous revisions.)

Only two significant words remain in the final draft: “we” and “mountains.” The concept of going “inside” shifts to a spread later in the manuscript. The word “explorers” in the final version captures the idea I wanted to express in the earlier versions.

Ghosts and Shadows

The essence of what is cut removed often floats around and squeezes into other sentences or parts of the book. At times, deleting and writing more words acts as a palimpsest: not all that was removed is fully erased. Vestiges remain.

Even when we kill our Darlings, they live on as ghosts and shadows. Aspects of what we removed remain in the pages. In essence, although what we cut is no longer there, ghosts of those words will haunt our pages and flit between sentences.

What is your experience with the traces and shadows, the ghosts of your Darlings?

~Sarah Blake Johnson

Hello, Boothers!

I just read Gary Schmidt’s Okay for Now—a party I know I am late to, but one I am so glad to have joined.  I loved this book like I haven’t loved a book in a long time, by which I mean I was entirely immersed in the world of the book, entirely invested in its characters, and entirely in love with the author’s writing.  And, most importantly, in awe of the book’s loving heart.

And, indeed, in doing a mental rummage of books-I-love, books I adore so much I’d sleep with them tucked under my pillow, I realized that, for me, this loving heart is almost always the thing that sets apart a book I love and ache for and think about over and over again from the books I love or admire in a regular sort of way.  Alison McGhee’s Rainlight, for example, a novel told from the points of view of multiple characters who are dealing with the death of a man each of them loved, is a book so full of sadness and depth it could only have been written because McGhee was willing to love her way into the heart of each character and make their feelings come alive in ours.

Similarly, Jane Gardam’s A Long Way from Verona—her whole oeuvre, actually—is deepened by the same intense compassion and understanding of her characters.  We feel the anguish and lovesickness and grief of teenaged Jessica Vye as deeply as she feels it, simply because Gardam must have been willing to love her, too, all the way from the inside out.

What’s to be learned from this?  A lot, it turns out.  For me, it’s been the key to what is the hardest part of writing for me—coming up with a plot.     And the only way that works for me to figure out what can actually happen in a book in is to try to live up to the example of writers like McGhee and Gardam and Schmidt by working very hard to have a loving heart that understands my characters and feels what they feel, loving them wholly from the inside.  Because how they feel drives what they do, and what they do is what turns into a plot.   So, loving hearts ahoy!  And thank you, Gary Schmidt, for such a gorgeous example.

Tollbooth friend Tim Martin joins us again this weekend to report on the recent SCBWI conference in New York–

The SCBWI winter conference in New York: thoughts from one tuckered out, dog-tired (but still-smiling) attendee.

The SCBWI winter conference came and went like an invigorating whirlwind of ideas, insights and connections. As usual, there were scores of diverse industry folks (including, this winter, people working in digital storytelling and marketing), and an inviting collection of breakout sessions of which we attendees could sample three. This seemed, at first, restrictive, but I think it pressed us to be specific and focused on our areas of passion and interest.

So, here are my picks of a few key moments, and the things that stayed with me as I jetted from the conference on my way home to Los Angeles:

Connections. SCBWI, along with all its regional and international tentacles, and associated writing groups, bloggers, and specialty discussion groups, has always been the nerve center for accessible networking between writers. The Society primarily functions as a community, and the twice-yearly conferences act as testament to this collective spirit. To that end, this winter get-together encouraged attendees to get to know their regional advisors, consider a submission to an editor, get involved in panel discussions, ask that burning question, and, of course, make that accidental connection over bagels and lox cream cheese. You know, the one that may just nudge a writer’s fortune in some unexpected direction.

Breakout sessions. A good assortment of topics were covered, from “Non- Fiction” (Ken Wright of Writer’s House) to “Diversity and Multiculturalism” (Stacy Whitman of Tu Books) to “Narrative Fiction” (Alvina Ling of Little Brown). For an attendee, it’s always hard to select from the list, and I found it worthwhile to check in on friends who had chosen alternative sessions, so as to get a gist of more themes, and more conference content. Many sessions were craft oriented (revision, dialogue, pacing and exposition), and some had an illustrative component. It was also interesting to see less conventional session topic selections, such as “Ebooks and Apps”.

The breakout sessions I chose were generally broad in scope, and tended to be genre related. Sarah Davies from The Greenhouse Literacy Agency took us through the subject of “thrillers” in an action-packed, spine-tingling, lightening-speed hour. She’s an inspiring speaker: passionate, articulate, and informative. She blended solid crafty talking points with the commerciality demanded from many agents such as herself.

In the second session, Arianne Lewin from G.P. Putnam put a spin on the topic of “fantasy” by focusing in on the first two pages of some well-known recent bestsellers. How did the authors manage to convey the fantasy world without too much exposition? What part did dialogue and action play?

In my final session, Tara Weikum of Harper Collins led us through the first sentences of evocative YA books, and gave her suggestions to what makes this early impression a key to each novel’s success.

Digital. Most presenters deduced that the current state of digital storytelling was still in its infancy, and one which is likely to become more “associated” material to books rather than “cannibalistic”. That said, it is a fast growing industry, and all publishing houses have digital advisors with plans to embrace any opportunities that present themselves as good ideas and/or money makers. Writers were encouraged to think about how their books could be redesigned for “enhanced” purposes, and how their stories could cross platforms so as to maximize all possibilities.

Promotion. Yes, the message that came through was that a writer’s website presence is mandatory, and blogging and twittering are encouraged (particularly if you are promoting a book). However, it is not a great idea to force these social media avenues if you’re not “that person.” Nothing like a stale one-blog-a-year, or a lackluster Facebook page that doesn’t really tell anyone anything. Friday’s “Marketing Intensive for Professional Writers” outlined how writers can use social media to our best advantage. The making of trailers, websites, and other promotional platforms were discussed and demonstrated. The term branding was bandied around (no-one seems to wholly embrace that word), although it became evident to me that, from a marketing perspective, that is what we writers should all be doing. As soon as an author’s name is registered as a dot com, she is stamping herself with a brand that begins to shape her professional identity. Any subsequent websites, blogging articles, and, of course, the writer’s work itself, begins to further sculpt their personal brand. It seems sensible to hone this identity than confuse or downplay it, as, ultimately, it is going to help increase book sales and readership.

Trends. Agents and editors are generally reluctant to forecast trends, and they usually fall back on the important mantra of “write the book you need to write, and write it well.” But there were some hints at shifts in the near-future publishing market. A “mash-up” or blurring of genres is being seen. Why not sci-fi morphed with supernatural and a slathering of romance, for instance? Some are also seeing themes, writing style and genre returning to a “classic” feel, although this seemed a very vague notion. There appears room for more very young middle grade stories (for, say, 2nd graders). In addition, “best seller hits” are intensely hunted down, so “commerciality” is becoming the new norm writ large. Most importantly, the strongest trend is that editors must not just love a book, but EVERYBODY must love the book (including sales, marketing, Barnes & Noble, etc). Books have to find a place in the marketplace. Those stories that have a global reach tend also to be more attractive to those marketing them (this may be the reason the fantasy genre continues to do well, as it tends to deal with plots beyond local issues, and thereby may appeal to a wider audience.) Beyond all this, each speaker made clear that the Bottom Line is, of course, great and engaging storytelling.

Focus. Kathryn Erskine’s final keynote lecture set out an abundance of ways we should, and can, focus our frail, skittish selves to get down to the business of writing. Candles were offered to calm us (a “transition ritual”); ways to fjord off unwanted interruptions of the human kind were recommended; headphones were suggested; playlists were proposed … and the list went on. But in our world of multitasking and distractions, focus is one of the hardest undertakings to achieve and keep. Kathryn’s point was that focusing eases the writer into a deeper state of imagination and consistency. Left and right brain sides speak to each more smoothly, threads are better connected, and, needless to say, progress is better made.

Awards. In a surprise announcement, Jane Yolen eloquently presented a new SCBWI award to be given annually to mid-list authors. It seemed an appropriate and over-due recognition, although her description of the “death-cycle” was pretty sobering. The Tomie DePaola award was given to Yvette Piette Herrera, with Laurie Eslick as runner up. In addition, two illustration students, Davin Choi and Eunhye Seo, won the Student Illustrator Scholarship. Finally, the Portfolio Showcase – where 185 illustrators competed – culminated with Mike Curato as the winner. Mike had entered a wonderful art piece of a tiny white elephant yearning over an elaborate iced cake in a shop window. Runners up were Wook Jim Jung and Lori Nichols.

Unwind. SCBWI parties bring out the “wild” in the writers, or at least show up those enthusiastic networking skills. Who says writers are shy and unforthcoming? In any case, it’s a testament to the Society’s accessible and welcoming nature that these parties turn out to be really fun. I was tugged between the lavish cocktail event, the Australian regional contingent (my country of origin), the GLBT discussion group (growing in greater numbers and diversification every conference), and the VCFAers (who gathered en masse for a fantastic Italian dinner on 42nd Street). If I didn’t know how to “network” before the conference, I could certainly do it two days later.

Tim Martin is a third semester student in Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Writing for Children and Young Adults program. He is based in Los Angeles and his website is: www.timothyjohnmartin.com

As we continue our discussion about self-marketing, I want to talk a bit (well, more than a bit) about discussion, activity, and teaching guides. Should you have one? And how can a guide help you market your book? To give us a bit of insight, I welcome to the Tollbooth today Debbie Gonzales. Debbie is the author of eight “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge. A Montessori teacher, former school administrator, and curriculum consultant specializing in academic standards annotation, Debbie now devotes her time to various freelance projects as well as serving the Austin SCBWI community as Regional Advisor. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

First, Debbie, welcome to the Tollbooth! Can you tell us a little about the business you run creating discussion and teachers’ guides for authors?

You’re familiar with the adage “Write what you know,” right? Well, that’s what I’m doing. I pull from my years and years of teaching and curriculum development experience and pour it all into these cross-curricular book guides. I make guides like the ones I wish I would’ve had when teaching. Science, math, crafts, creative writing, analysis, games – you name it, I put it in. They’re becoming so popular; I’m having a hard time keeping up with the demand. That’s a good problem, right?

When did you decide to start cross-curricular book guides?

I got started making these when a friend and YA author was told by a librarian that she needed a book guide made to compliment her latest book, one that met the Texas educational standards. She and I got to chatting about it and I told her I’d be glad to make one for her. Soon after, her book found its way to be listed by the International Reading Association. (I’m not saying that my guide got her on the list, but it sure didn’t hurt anything.) The rest is history.

What types of guides do you create?

Picture books, chapter, middle grade and YA, you name it. I’ll do it. I create three basic types of guides for any and all genres. One is an Activity Guide, which is packed with lots of manipulative learning games applicable to all areas of the curriculum. I just finished a really cool Research Activity Guide for two non-fiction books about dogs and horses that were such fun to make! The guide features activities focusing on anatomy, map skills, research skills, poetry writing and a bunch of other things.

Another type of guide is the basic Discussion Guide. This one works quite well for YA novels. I document quotes that, I think, resonate with meaning, and then imagine kids thumbing through the pages to find the selected phrases, reading them aloud over and over again. I like to not only create questions that are inspired by the text, but those that cause the reader to consider their own emotional response to the story.

Lastly, I make longer, more in-depth guides that are a combination activities and discussion that typically end with a special art project or a Reader’s Theatre script. These guides are designed to provide discussion and activities that will span over a 6 week period of time – a teacher’s gold mine!

A collection of guides I’ve created are posted on my website. Stop by and take a look. I think you’ll like what you see there.

When it comes to self-marketing, why do you think it is important for authors to invest in discussion and teacher guides?

I think any way we can make our books appealing to gatekeepers – teachers, booksellers, librarians, parents – the better. Guides demonstrate the academic soundness of your book to the educator. They show gatekeepers that you’ve taken their needs to heart and want to help make their lives a little easier. They elevate enthusiasm for reading by providing fun and interesting activities. When kids engage in learning on a multi-sensory level, they’ll always remember that book and the way they connected with it. I like to say that guides help keep your books in the hands of those that teach, and in the hearts of children that read them.

Should all authors consider having a guide to go along with his/her book? Or do you feel the guides work best for books more aimed at the school and library market?

It all depends on the author’s intended market. If you’re interested in letting folks know a little bit about your book, oftentimes authors devise a list of summary questions and post them on their website. That works. Even a few intriguing discussion questions written on a promotion brochure flap is helpful. You’re handing these things out at book signings anyway, right? Why not devise a little academic hook and lure those educators your way?

However, if you hope for your work to find a place in the classroom, I do think that a well-crafted guide is the way to go, something packed with clearly written lessons, easy to adapt to a learning situation. Why, just the other day I attended an open-house for an Austin magnet school and was wowed by the innovative ways the teachers were using The Book Thief as a teaching tool. Maps. Art activities. Journaling. Brilliant! You can bet I was taking some crazy notes, too.

Once a guide is made, how would you encourage an author to best use it?

Naturally, post it on your website, which would be the first thing to do. One illustrator couple I worked for is binding several copies of their new guide and making them available for giveaways at ALA. Most authors bind them nicely and give them out to teachers during their school visits. Some folks mail a copy of the guide, along with a thank you card, to schools who have booked school visits with them. Many folks film dramatize Reader’s Theatre scripts and post bits on YouTube. Lots of authors use the craft 3 ideas as activities to be done by the kids during book signings. Even librarians get into the act by using discussion questions for reading group interchange. The ideas are endless!

Go ahead and get a guide for your books, from me or any of the other clever guide creators out there. Do it. You’ll be glad you did.

All right, Tollboothers, let’s talk discussion, activity, and teaching guides? Do you have ‘em? Want ‘em? How have you used them to market yourself?

–Teresa Harris

Ask most published authors how much their publishing house did to market their books and they’ll probably say, “Not much.” And it’s true: Unless you’ve established that you will make your publishing house bazillions of dollars, or they’re willing to bet that you will (first-time authors with huge advances, anyone?), you’ll probably get a standard marketing plan. Though this standard plan varies greatly from house to house, I think it’s fair to generalize and say it boils down to “Not much.”

So, what can we as authors do? Market ourselves! First, let’s talk author blogs. I’m no expert in this arena, but I have in the booth today YA author and blogger, Nova Ren Suma, to lend me hand.

Nova is the author of Imaginary Girls (2011) and Dani Noir (2009), which is being reissued as Fade Out for the YA shelves in June 2012. Her next YA novel is 17 & Gone, due out from Dutton/Penguin in 2013. She can be found at novaren.com, on her blog distraction99.com, or on Twitter as @novaren, distracting herself endlessly.

Nova, your blog has such a cool name! Care to share your inspiration?

I started my blog distraction no. 99 in 2005, before I wrote YA fiction, and before I published any novels. I named the blog for the fact that I was so easily distracted, figuring the blog would be one more distraction I didn’t need (and, imagine, this was before Twitter)!

How long have you had your blog, and what was your impetus for starting it?

At the time I started blogging, I was a recent MFA graduate struggling to publish literary fiction for adults, and I used the blog as an outlet for myself and as a way to connect with other writers. I most often blogged about writing itself—the process, the low points and the high points—and sometime during those years my identity as an unknown, struggling writer shifted. The blog has been witness to me discovering YA, becoming a ghostwriter, publishing my first book under my own name, finding my first literary agent after I thought I’d never have one, publishing my first YA novel, and then promoting my books.

Promotion, you say? Can you tell us a bit more about how you use distraction no 99 for promoting yourself and the work of other writers?

It’s when promotion came into the mix that my interest in the blog and its focus shifted again. I would much rather do anything else—even a sink full of dishes—than be actively promoting myself. We all know how dirty that can feel. So when promotion started ruining blogging for me, I decided to reinvent distraction no. 99 into something else. Now I continue to talk about my writing process (as much as I can talk about, since so much now needs to be kept under wraps), and I talk about things like writers’ colonies and integral publishing moments, but what I most like to do is focus on other writers and their books. I never do book reviews. Instead I interview authors and feature them in my themed blog series.

Building a community is so integral to the process of blogging. How have you gone about working with other authors to do so?

Over the years, I’ve connected to many other writers who blog, and a community naturally formed among us. Now on distraction no. 99, you’ll find author interviews, including in-depth “writer-to-writer” interviews with authors I admire about books I’ve loved, and a new debut interview series featuring short Q&As with ten debut YA authors per season. The next round is coming up in April, featuring ten Summer 2012 debuts I’m excited to read. (I’m keeping which books I chose a secret until April!)

Plus I’m doing blog series on different topics, with featured guest blogs on themes like “What Scares You?” for October, and “What Inspires You?” during NaNoWriMo. The current blog series I’m running is called “Turning Points” and features different authors (mostly YA, but other writers, too) revealing the turning points in their writing careers. It just started this January, with inspiring posts from Gayle Forman, Sean Ferrell, Saundra Mitchell, and many more. It will be ongoing, with new guest blogs three times a week, into the spring, or for as long as I have authors’ stories to publish.

From a self-marketing perspective, how do you feel your blog has helped you build a group of potential readers and, dare I say, fans?

I didn’t expect this, but somehow all that passion and writerly angst and self-musing I pour into my blog appears to resonate with people. I’m often contacted by people who discovered me through my blog and then went out to buy my books. Somehow, some post I wrote on my blog made them think they’d like my fiction, too. How amazing is that?

I’ve noticed that there are some things that keep people coming back: Reveals, for one. (My blog about exploded the day I revealed the Imaginary Girls cover.) And giveaways. People love giveaways. But I don’t like having just a giveaway and throwing books at people, so I try to time them with important moments or connect them with the blog series. Many of the authors involved in the current Turning Points blog series are including giveaways with their posts, and I do hope this will entice some people to come over who may not necessarily have visited my blog otherwise. And of course it’s important to tease and publicize new content on Twitter and Facebook—otherwise, you’ll be missing many readers who might not find you.

But in general, I’ve noticed that readers seem to respond to honesty. The posts that most resonate with my blog readers aren’t the posts where I’m telling people about what book event I’m doing next or what journal reviewed my book or whatever. They’re the posts that pull the curtain aside and show the real person behind all of this. Those are also the author blogs I most love to read.

A blog is great for self-marketing, but you’ve used yours for so much more. What would you say is your favorite part about blogging?

I wouldn’t keep blogging if it was to only market myself and my books. I keep the blog because it’s been a part of my life for years, and I can’t imagine being a writer without it. Blogging is a creative outlet for me and, more and more, a way to talk about authors I love and books I want to read. I’m excited about being a part of the YA community, and these new features on my blog are my way of showing it.

That said, I hope anyone who comes across this interview will consider checking out the Turning Points series that’s currently running. I love plugging it, because these posts aren’t by me—they’re by other authors, and I have to tell you, I think they’re fantastic.

You can follow the guest blogs in the Turning Points series here.

Thank you so much for having me on Through the Tollbooth and asking me such great, thought-provoking questions!

You’re welcome, Nova. Thanks for stopping by! On Wednesday, we’ll chat with Debbie Gonzalez, who runs a business making school and discussion guides for books ranging from picture books to young adult. In the meantime, do any of you blog? If so, how do you use your blog to self-market? Or, conversely, how do you use it just to have fun and meet other authors?

–Teresa Harris

This winter Vermont College of Fine Arts is lucky to have Marla Frazee joining us as a Writer of Distinction. She’s an author and illustrator of spirited and structurally exacting picture books, and her work includes The Boss Baby, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, and the Clementine series for which she did the illustrations. Marla brought to the college her thoughts and experiences in an informal talk where she demonstrated the elaborate and often miraculous way an author and illustrator can work together, dog bites and all. I interviewed her about the commonalities and collaborations between writers and illustrators during the gaps we both had between lectures, workshops and lunch (+ breakfast, dinner, snacks, wine pit …)

Firstly, I asked how she was enjoying her spell at VCFA:

Marla had heard about the college for so many years and loved being here during this frenetic residency. Living within a whole lot of writers was, of course, a little unfamiliar, but she delighted in hearing writers talk about their stuff: their work, their craft and their world.

In what ways does illustration lend itself to collaboration?

Marla believes an illustrator’s job is primarily to interpret and serve the writer’s text. But it can also go further. Marla is a lover of music, and has had some interdisciplinary collaboration with her illustrative work. For example, she collaborated on a presentation with a singer-songwriter friend on her Woody Guthrie book New Baby Train, reading the book aloud whilst songs were played beforehand.

What’s her process when illustrating and writing her own projects?

Ideas generally come to her as a “need”: she doesn’t sit around forcing them to pop out. Usually, an idea comes to her as a visual cue: sometimes as a character (as with Boot and Shoe, and The Boss Baby); as a concept (Walk On); or as a visual experience (Roller Coaster). A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever drew its life from an experience of sorts: it was a “thank you” note to good friends. However they begin, her stories evolve in much the same way: a lengthy process of outlining, storyboarding, revising and editing.

When a picture book is being devised, how does the illustrator/writer partnership generally work?

After the illustrator receives the writer’s text, it is initially worked on fairly separately from the writer’s involvement. The illustrator breaks the text down visually, interpreting it with illustrations that speak both with, and alongside, the text. Various formats and page spreads are tried, and all of this is brought back to the editor. At this stage, the editor will sometimes share the illustrator’s thinking and progress with the writer, and occasionally the writer is often inspired to make changes based on how the illustrations are interacting with the words. Here, the collaboration primarily plays out as being between the writer’s words and the emerging book’s pictures.

What are the commonalities between illustrators and writers?

Marla suggested the revision and editorial process is often very similar. However she is also aware of differences between the two. For one thing, the writer’s work is often pre-contract, whilst an illustrator’s work is post-contract. Marla therefore sees illustrative work as, partly, a type of “product” – involving decisions with regards front cover design, font, layout, size, and format. These aspects have a commercial component inherent in the illustrator’s work: they implicate the book’s marketing possibilities, and where the book may be placed on the bookstore’s shelf.

VCFA thanks Marla for her wondrous work, generous presentations and readings. She definitely added to the tapestry of talent present at this winter’s residency.

Tim Martin is a third semester student in VCFA’s Writing for Children and Young Adults program. He is based in Los Angeles and his background also combines illustrated and written projects. His website is: www.timothyjohnmartin.com

One of the wonderful things about residency is meeting the Writers in Residence.  A few days ago, Peter talked about visiting author/illustrator Marla Frazee. Today, I will bring you highlights from a Q&A that I did with Libba Bray last week in which she talks about writing process, humor, and the well-plated NECI food.

What are some of the challenges you face when you write?

The hardest thing for me is to accept that my process is my process. Because my process is chaos. I look at someone like Holly Black, who is such a genius… She’s like the matter to my anti-matter. And I look at that and think, “Why can I not be more like Holly?” But the answer is, because I’m not Holly. This is how I write. This is how I do things.

What do you do to try to accept your process?

The number one thing that I do, and you guys are building it here, is having a community of writers that you can turn to when you’re at that point when you cannot see your way clear. I cannot tell you how many times I have sat with dear friends like, Gayle Foreman or Barry Lyga or Robin Wasserman or Jo Knowles and said, “Let me just talk this out.  Help me talk myself off the ledge.”* In the process of talking it through, you discover a lot more than you think that you will.

I know that people have a lot of questions about humor. We’ve had a few lectures this residency about it. In your work you have a natural tendency towards humor, how did you find your voice?

I grew up in a very funny family. Humor was so integral to who we were. If you made someone laugh, then that was a good thing. They were a tough audience. I remember reading, Woody Allen, Tom Robbins and Douglas Adams, and of course Monty Python was huge. I really enjoyed Absurdist humor and satire.

Whatever story you are writing, dictates how humor is used.  So, in the Victorian Trilogy, it’s Victorian and it has a British sensibility, so the humor is, if you excuse the pun, corseted.  It has to serve the story. It was really fun for me to write Bovine and Beauty Queens, which is like putting on my favorite pair of jeans.  That’s more in line with how I tend to see the world on a daily basis. I tend to be over the top.

In recent semesters we’ve been discussing the writer’s responsibility when writing about someone else’s culture. How did you approach this when writing Beauty Queens?

I interviewed people, such as a friend who is African American and had gone through the pageant system.  I called her up and we had a nice long conversation about everything from the pageant system and racism to African-American hair care.

Ultimately, it comes down to, as always, doing your due diligence of finding out who your characters are, finding the heart and the humanity. Be an observer of the world–can you just imagine how something feels? It always gets back to human nature.

You’ve been in Vermont for 24 hours. What were your first impressions of the college, the community, the food?

The food is well-plated.

I was jokingly saying Vermont College is like Brigadoon, because I’d heard about it but I’d never been here. It always felt like this mystical place. I know a lot of Vermont College grads, so I was really nervous about going. I didn’t know if I got game to be at Vermont College. I’m a little jealous because I’ve never had that experience, so it’s amazing to be here. It’s like being fed in this community. Everyone is so friendly and incredibly smart and there’s a sense of camaraderie. I’m so looking forward to being here for a few days.

What do you hope to bring to your discussion to the students?

I really believe in being present and listening. Really, I don’t come to something with an agenda.  One of the hardest things, is that I feel that I’m not worthy because I don’t have teaching experience and I never really feel like I have the authority.  My answer would just be, “That thing you are writing is awesome. Write that thing you are writing.”

So, I hope that I can be responsive to whatever people might personally want to know.  That lecture that April gave about outer yearning and inner yearning, sometimes I think that there is an outer question and underneath there is an inner question.  So I hope to be useful.

***

Indeed, she was.  Libba immersed herself in student life, participating in Q&A lunches with students, in workshops and lectures, and really got to know us one on one. By the end of her stay, she seemed to know everyone’s name.  I know that people appreciated her authenticity and wisdom.

*Many thanks to Ingrid and Tristan for talking me off the ledge.

Melanie Fishbane is a third semester at VCFA Writing for Children’s and Young Adults program.

Those post-dystopians, the VCFA Class of January 2013, has announced their name.

THE DYSTROPIANS!