Writing for Children Quote from L'Engle

"You have to write whichever book it is that wants to be written. And then, if it's going to be too difficult for grown-ups, you write it for children."

- Madeleine L'Engle

This great quote came to my attention from Melissa Henderson, Head of Children's Services, The Glencoe Public Library, Glencoe, IL.

Writing Tip #8: Seeing Opportunities

On the final edit of a manuscript, my editor writes each question or request for a change on a post-it note and folds it over the page. Let's just say there's a post-it note on almost every page. This photo shows the final edit of Invisible Lines, a book I spent six years writing and rewriting. After having wrestled with this manuscript so much on my own, I could be overwhelmed to see so many comments at this last stage. Instead of getting depressed or defensive, I try to look at each suggestion as an opportunity to make the book better. It's the only way to survive.

Writing Tip #7: Entrances and Exits

Think of your book as a stage. The curtain opens. How does each character enter? If you have developed a dramatic character, make sure the entrance does your character justice. And pay attention to how your characters exit, too. Is each entrance and exit perfectly crafted to suit the character and the story?

Writing Tip #6: Listen to Fifth Graders

Here's just part of the two-page letter a fifth grader from Bordentown, NJ, wrote after reading my book, The Naked Mole-Rat Letters:

“I liked that you made the main character, Frankie, so bold and brave. If she was boring, it would make the book boring. By the way the character acts, it can make a story either really interesting or really boring. Since she was so bold, it gave the book action. I hate boring books.”

I think my reader hit on the reason why this book actually made it. Frankie's story begins with an autobiographical detail: she finds a love letter written to her father. The same thing happened to me when I was Frankie's age; however the autobiography ends there. I was timid and kept all my anxieties to myself--not such interesting material for a book. I deliberately gave Frankie the boldness that I didn't have.

Is your character passive or active? Ask yourself: what does the main character actually do in the story? It's an important question to ask.

Writing Tip #5: Be Open to Serendipity

When I am stuck in the snowdrift of writer’s block on a book that I am either writing or revising, I will reach for some non-fiction to read that seems unrelated. I think of it as a temporary distraction, something to take my mind off the frostbite that has gripped my imagination. But—when the muse is smiling on me—whatever I’m reading will trigger an avalanche in my brain that completely changes the landscape of my own work.

This happened with my forthcoming book Invisible Lines (Egmont USA, October 2009) in a big way. I was giving up on my novel, and I happened to read Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets, and the avalanche began.

Thankfully, inspiration comes at unexpected times, from unexpected sources.

Writing Tip #4: Offering a Critique

A playwright and dramaturg for Charter Theatre, Richard Washer emphasizes that instead of telling a writer how to fix a manuscript, it’s more useful to simply tell the writer how you experienced the story (or play, or poem). What did you picture in your mind as you read/heard the story? Were any parts unclear? What popped out? Summarize the story that you read/heard. This more than anything will help the writer to understand what he or she has actually communicated. Through Charter's open-to-the-public reading series, I have been able to participate in this type of critique firsthand, and I try to remember it when I am asked to critique a writer's work. Richard points to Peter Elbow’s book Writing Without Teachers as his inspiration.

Writing Tip #3: XXX Marks the Spot

If I'm revising a novel, chances are that I'm not revising it straight through from beginning to end. I'm jumping around a lot, because changing one factor will have a ripple effect on the book. Sometimes I'm working on a scene in the middle; sometimes I'm struggling to get an ending right; and sometimes I'm going back to some dialogue at the beginning. One thing is true: When it is time to quit for the day, I always put an "xxx" wherever I have stopped. In the morning when I begin work again I search for the "xxx" and start there. Otherwise, the temptation is to keep starting over at the beginning of the story every day, and that can get me into trouble. If I keep perfecting the first chapter of a novel, I'll grow too attached to it and that will make revising so much harder.

It's a funny thing: You really can't be attached to your writing if you want to be a writer.