It’s Day 2 of #LA15SCBWI and I can’t imagine a more inspirational start then hearing Dan Santat speak. Dan was this year’s Caldecott winner with BEEKLE, but what really makes it this keynote special is that Dan “grew up” in the SCBWI. Like many of the speakers I’ve heard over the years, he got his start in this tribe and he made that very clear…ALL IT TAKES IS A LITTLE TASTE: STORIES OF HOW THE SCBWI HELPED ME AND HOW I GREW AS AN AUTHRO WHEN I WASN’T AT THE CONFERENCE
Over the course of Dan’s keynote, he made us laugh and he imparted tons of wisdom and inspiration. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place at the end of his speech. Here was my best take aways from Dan…
*Understand why YOU like–don’t be censored.
*If you have a closed mind, you’re going to miss out on the beauty of things.
*Comic books are soap operas for nerds.
*Learn from others. Ex. BREAKING BAD is a study in character development.
*Read Goodreads reviews with some common sense. You know when someone is giving you useful information that can help you grow. Also read the bad reviews of the classics to gain some perspective.
*Study the fundamentals–when you understand them, you then have the freedom to move around.
*Learn by imitation–don’t become a clone, use it to ADD to your fundamentals.
*If you do something hard once, you know you have it in you to do it again.
*Find your voice–stop imitating and start INNOVATING.
*Do what you love when the work will find you.
*Do it because you are passionate about what you do.
*If you put money in the equation, you’re never going to find it. It’s like chasing a shadow.
*Live and die by your own sword. If you put your faith in yourself you will tread water and survive.
*You don’t want to live with regrets. If I had quit I never would have had the Caldecott Medal. *cue sobs*
Next up was the AGENT’S PANEL: INSIDE THE CHILDREN’S BOOK MARKET
JR—Jodi Reamer (Writer’s House)
AP—Alexandra Penfold (Upstart Crow Literary)
KN—Kristin Nelson (Nelson Literary Agency)
BG—Barry Goldblatt (Barry Goldblatt Literary)
BB—Brenda Bowen (Greenberg Associates)
JB—Jenny Bent (The Bent Agency)
MODERATOR–LO—Lin Oliver
Here’s the advice and information that I took note of…
AP–You’re not acquiring a book, you’re taking on a life.
BG–Competition to get manuscripts read by editors is immense, so your MS needs to be in the best shape.
BG–9 to 5? WHAT IS THAT?
BG–You are the one in the driver’s seat. You get to choose.
JB–I don’t care who you are–there will be downtime in your career.
JB–Respect and honesty on both sides are key.
AP–Write the book that can get you above the noise.
BG–Editors should have the ability to take a flyer because a great smaller book can become a huge best seller. Ex–WONDER
JR–Social media should be natural. It should be you.
BG–We are colleagues. We’re not out to undercut each other. You’re not competing with anyone in this room.
AP–You never know where the connections are going to come from.
AP–If it makes me feel–I’ll follow you anywhere.
BG–We get jaded, but then we see something that knocks us off our seats and want to sell it!
AP–If you have a rich reading life, you will have a rich writing life.
BB–Best promo for a book is the next one. Keep writing.
JB–Be a mensch–Be kind. Be helpful. Be generous.
JB–I see social media as an opportunity to be kind to people and share.
Next up was my first Workshop of the Day. BONNIE BADER–CHAPTER BOOKS: WHAT’S WORKING AND WHAT’S NOT
Some things that make a book–a chapter book…
-a milestone event
-a protagonist around the age of the reader (7-10 year olds)
-Roughly 80-120 pages
-size of type, density of illustrations
-expand the details of your character to make them unique.
-use a universal theme with a twist
What kinds of chapter books that are successful…
–The Dory Books (Dory Fantasmagory)
LUNCH TIME!!!!
The next keynote of the day was Jane O’Connor–BORROWING FROM LIFE: CREATING A CHARACTER
Here were some Fancy Nancy style tips to remember…
*Leave out all the stuff that’s boring.
*Eavesdropping is crucial to writing.
*Middles are a bitch.
Jane was followed by Varian Johnson–IF IT WERE EASY, EVERYONE WOULD DO IT
Varian was open and honest and so touching with his ability to share his hard publishing moments with the audience. He had so much inspiration to share…
*The hard is what makes it great.
*We make the time.
*We all deserve to be part of the conversation, but we have to do the work.
*My job is to put words on paper. If the muse shows up that day–BONUS.
*Writing is a job that deserves to be treated as such. Set up a schedule.
*Don’t talk about it. Be about it.
*And while I’m not looking forward to my next failure…I know it’s coming.
*We’re writers…IT’S OUR JOB TO MAKE FICTION COME TRUE. <3
My second Workshop of the day was with the lovely Wendy Loggia–FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Ia addition to hearing Wendy rave about my fabulous agent Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary and my Wolf Pack Sistah Kiersten White…
…I loved learning a little bit more about Delacorte Press. Did you know…
*Delacorte plans their books out way in advance to give them the best marketing attention they can give. If you were to sell a book to Delacorte today (8/15) It would not be slotted for publication until Spring of 2017.
*Delacorte does not have a acquisitions board. Editors can acquire what they choose.
*Delacorte does not compete with other imprints at Random House
*Wendy does all her own editorial reading.
*Why Wendy purchases a manuscript?
-emotional connection
-loves the voice
-thinks it deserves to be published
Our next keynote was Molly Idle–YES, AND: SETTING THE STAGE FOR CRAZY CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Sorry–was having an afternoon brain fart or a caffeine low and missed getting a picture of Molly. Just imagine a highly energetic creative teaching us how to use theater to create stronger writing and illustration on the page.
Ummm no pictures here either. I swear I wasn’t sleeping LOL! This was a great panel on DIVERSITY IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS
MODERATOR–MP—Miranda Paul
NY—Nicola Yoon
JC—Joe Cepeda
IWG—IW Gregorio (didn’t attend due to illness)
This may have been my favorite diversity panel I’ve heard yet. Here are some bits from my notes…
VJ–You don’t need permission to write diversely, but you do need to do your due diligence. And remember you aren’t trying to write the experience of ALL the people–just the one that’s your character. Your research is not different than any other research for a character.
JC–I try not to overthink the issue too much.
VJ–I’m not a fan of the term, CASUAL DIVERSITY, but it’s when the characters featured are diverse, but the diversity isn’t the issue. Ex-Lando in Star Wars
NY–I’ve never been sassy a day in my life! (on sassy diverse sidekicks)
JC–Write and illustrate without fear and if you have fear, pretend you don’t.
And then it was time for the Saturday Gala! This year’s theme was Sparkle and Shine. And FYI the sugar cookies were amazing–I ate them before I could get a picture LOL!
I hope all this fabulous information is helping your writing to sparkle and shine. You can catch me first conference blog installment here…LA SCBWI 2015 Part 1 At the end of that blog, you’ll see that I’m still running a contest to win a signed copy of…
WHEN A DRAGON MOVES IN AGAIN by Jodi Moore
So don’t forget to head over there and take advantage of the opportunity. I’ll be back on Thursday with LA SCBWI 2015 Part 3!!!
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