sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Sample Pages 4

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Today’s sample pages come from my blackline master book Aussie Authors, aimed at classroom and library use. The sample pages include some sample activities and the index, where you can see the full list of authors included in the book. You can access the free sample here.

Guest Article: Eliminating Lazy Writing

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More spot-on advice from Lauara Backes. Enjoy!

ELIMINATING LAZY WRITING

by Laura Backes, Publisher, Children’s Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children’s Writers

The children’s book market is highly competitive. In order to make your manuscript rise above the rest, you not only need an enticing story and vivid characters, but your prose must be solid and fresh. Say exactly what you mean, but say it differently from everyone else. Sound impossible? It’s not, if you know what to look for.

The following are words which, if used in excess, will cause writing to feel flat. While these words can’t be eliminated entirely, often they can be replaced with more creative choices.

* Quantifiers

Really, very, all, big, little, many, some and “a lot” are overused and don’t add much to a sentence. The trick with descriptions is to find the exact word or phrase that will paint a picture in your reader’s mind. “Uncle Bill was very tall” does not give the reader any valuable information. But if you provide a point of reference, the reader can visualize Uncle Bill’s height: “Uncle Bill was so tall that when Jessie stood on a chair she could barely see his whiskers.” This not only tells the reader exactly how tall Uncle Bill was, but it also mentions another physical element–his whiskers– which makes him more interesting.

Sometimes eliminating the quantifier will make the sentence more powerful. “Sara stood at the bus stop. She was very cold.” The word very is not necessary and delays the reader from getting to the essence of the sentence, which is that Sara is cold.

*Telling Instead of Showing

“Like”, “as if” and “seemed” can make writing sound passive instead of active. “Tom picked up the puppy, who seemed as if she was afraid.” This is lazy writing, because the author relies on the reader to fill in what “afraid” means. “The puppy was curled up in a corner of the sofa. When Tom picked her up, she let out a soft whimper. He could feel her trembling as he held her close to his chest.” By giving concrete details, the author shows the reader exactly how this puppy acts when she is afraid.

One word many authors rely too heavily upon is “felt”. How a character feels should be evident from the surrounding text and dialogue. If the author has to tell the reader that Max feels happy, then the rest of the text is not working as hard as it should be. Show how Max is happy (maybe he’s turning cartwheels on his way home from school), and let the reader draw his own conclusions.

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For more information about writing children’s books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children’s Book Insider’s home on the web at http://write4kids.com

Copyright 2001, Children’s Book Insider, LLC

Seven Answers to Seven Questions: Bren MacDibble

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Today we are joined by children’s and SF author, Bren MacDibble, who has kindly dropped by to answer seven questions. Welcome Bren!

1. Tell us a little about your publication credits. If you have none, tell us about the genres you prefer to write, and your current projects.

I started out in 2000 with a nice illustrated educational fiction book for Nelson ITP (now Cengage). This contained two fun stories for nine year olds back to back. “Honestly Ernest” on one side then the child flips the book over for a whole new story called “Ernest’s Mice Mischief”.

Three slightly younger books with full colour illustrations followed for Blake Education, in 2002 “Take Me to Your Leader”, 2003 “A Red Hot Pet” and in 2004 “The Beast of Moogill” for a fun series called Gigglers.

There were also a lot of publications with Hullabaloo magazine at this time which was a US geographical kids magazine which won an award shortly before running out of funding.

I also had a lot of short stories published in SF magazines and ezines for adults and was accepted to participate in the first Clarion South workshop which improved my writing incredibly.

Lately, Shiny, a SFF mag for YA, has taken two stories called “Blurred Horizons” and “Being Bella Wang”. Funding will run out for Shiny eventually too but I am keen to pursue writing YA SF novels so I thought this was a nice entry into the genre. I do have a few completed YA novels I’m shopping about at the moment.

I adore short story and am also keen to provide written content for graphic novels/comics/and other forms. Currently exploring my options there and shopping an illustrated SF free-verse poem story for upper primary.

2. How long have you been writing for children?

Since about 1999. Almost a decade and I’m not famous yet. What’s going on?

3. How much time do you spend each week writing and/or revising? And how much time on other writing-related tasks such as promotion, researching markets and so on?

I spend a lot of time trying to make money at part time jobs with the idea that I’ll have more time to write. I revise a lot since I have these large novels to sell and with a novel there’s always something to improve. I critique for friends every week in the hope that they will critique for me when required. Because I write for children as well as adult SF, I have two groups of writerly friends to keep happy.

I have partial novels and wacky short stories on the go. I work on them in fits and starts and generally I don’t get inspired to finish them until someone calls for something or I find a guideline to match it and then I tend to immerse myself in it for days on end. I’d say I spend around 16-20 hours on writing related endeavours each week. I don’t spend enough time marketing or promoting and I get to less than a third of the networking opportunities offered so I feel pretty bad about that, thank you for asking.

4. How much time do you spend reading children’s books? And what are you
reading right now?

I try to read all the popular children’s books and I buy a lot of bizarre YA books that are similar to the novels I write.

At the moment I’m reading Un Lun Dun by China Mieville which is set under London and has child protags as opposed to Neil Gaiman’s book under London (Neverwhere) which has an adult male protag and which, I think, is still appealing to YA. I probably spend an hour a day with my nose in a YA novel.

5. What advice would you give other would-be children’s writers, or share with other professional children’s writers?

Run away! Run away! Actually, I have a how-to-guide for new children’s writers. It’s very Australian-focussed if anyone is interested. But basically, read your favourites, figure out what makes them tick, then refine your style and content to something that you really love.

There’s three reasons to write what you really love. One is that you’ll basically be working for love since most things won’t sell. Two is that editors may put out guidelines etc, etc, but they’re all secretly hoping that the next amazing new thing will cross their desk and they don’t really know what that looks like until they see it. So what you love may turn out to be what other people love too. Three is that there is little point in creating works identical to those already created. Other better established authors are already doing their thing. New fresh stuff, that’s what’s needed.

6. What is your favourite online resource for children’s writers? Why?

Verla Kay’s forum is quite good for keeping tabs on the US market. My favourite, of course, is all the lovely Aussie children’s writers at KidsWritersDownunder. It’s casual and friendly and they’re all very talented.

7. Do you have a website or blog? What else do you do to promote your published works and/or your writing skills?

My website is at www.macdibble.com soon to be updated… and I have a blog at http://macdibble.livejournal.com/ . Other writers can “friend” me there. I’ve joined loads of networking sites and Google seems to be pretty keen on the name MacDibble as a result. I don’t really do enough promoting of myself or my work otherwise. I certainly know a lot of writers but only a few publishers.

Thanks for dropping in Bren. If YOU would like to answer seven questions and be featured here on this blog, drop me a line at sally @ sallymurphy.net (remove the spaces).

Seven Answers to Seven Questions: Marianne Musgrove

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Today we are lucky enough to have children’s author Marianne Musgrove drop by answer my seven questions. Welcome Marianne!

1. Tell us a little about your publication credits. If you have one, tell us about the genres you prefer to write, and your current projects.

The Worry Tree, Random House Australia, 2007
– Winner of the 2008 Australian Family Therapists’ Award for
Children’s Literature (younger readers)
– Short-listed for:
o 2007 National Children’s Peace Literature Award
o 2008 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award
o 2008 SA Festival Award for Children’s Literature.
Also, my mum thinks it’s very good!

Mini blurb (a blurbette, if you will):
Worrywart Juliet finds a old painting of a tree beneath the wallpaper in her new bedroom. It’s a Worry Tree she can hang her worries on at night.

Lucy the Good (written by me, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini), Random House Australia, 2008
Seven year old Lucy spends an inordinate amount of time on the Time Out chair, only she can’t figure out why. Lucy’s stern great aunt from Holland comes to visit, pronouncing her niece, Lucy the Bad.
Lucy is on a mission to prove she really is good, only things don’t quite go to plan.

Current project: Don’t Breathe a Word, about two young carers.

2. How long have you been writing for children?

I was published in 2007 but began writing in 2002.

3. How much time do you spend each week writing and/or revising? And how much time on other writing-related tasks such as promotion, researching markets and so on?

Writing/editing: zero and fifteen hours per week
Angsting about the plot: eighteen and thirty-four hours per week
Promotion: a couple of hours per week.

4. How much time do you spend reading children’s books? And what are you reading right now?

I’m always reading one children’s book or another. I just read Peter Carnavas’ Jessica’s Box, a picture book about a little girl who tries to buy friendship and learns to just be herself.

5. What advice would you give other would-be children’s writers, or share with other professional children’s writers?

a) Self doubt is normal. It will pass. Then it will come back. Then it will pass. Then it will come back …

b) Work out your angle. My books are funny, realistic stories that help children. I market myself as such, eg, to school counsellors, social workers and psychologists.

c) Come up with a quirky fact about yourself that will stick in people’s minds. I happen to be a descendant of King Henry VIII’s librarian. My publisher uses this fact to pitch my books at overseas book fairs.

d) Don’t just market your book, market yourself. Your titles will change but your name will stay the same. I thought about calling my website www.worrytree.com.au but changed it to www.mariannemusgrove.com.au to promote myself as a brand. It still irks me to think about branding myself (ouch!) but books are products that need buyers so it’s a necessary evil.

e) When you receive the first draft of the back cover blurb of your book, ask if you can have a crack at rewriting it. You know it best.

6. What is your favourite online resource for children’s writers?
Why?

The e-zine, Pass It On. It makes me feel connected to other children’s writers plus it has such useful information. It’s a bargain.

7. Do you have a website or blog? What else do you do to promote your published works and/or your writing skills?

You can check out my very funny (if I do say so myself) website at www.mariannemusgrove.com.au You can download the first chapter of my novels. Each of my books has something extra to make it stand out from the crowd. Readers can download their very own Worry Tree from the Random House website. Lucy the Good comes with its own sticker and recipe for Dutch spiced biscuits.

Think laterally. My local butcher and shoe shop agreed to display a poster of my book. The sky is the limit!

Thanks for dropping in Marianne. If YOU would like to answer seven questions and be featured here on this blog, drop me a line at sally @ sallymurphy.net (remove the spaces).

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