How to be an Awesome Author

The new title from Affordable Manuscript Assessments and Workshops is How to be an Awesome Author. This one is aimed at primary school children who love to write.

To buy, go to http://sallyodgers.weebly.com/how-to-be-an-awesome-author.html


Contents
Introduction 4

Why Would You Write a Story? 5

Ideas 7

Let’s Get Some Writing Tools 10

Beginnings 26

Middles 35

Ends 43

Characters 46

Plots and Paces 54

Settings and Periods 56

Awesome words and Not so Awesome Words 63

Dialogue 64

Voices and Tenses 71

Punctuation 76

More Awesome Words 79

Editing 84

Genres 91

Ms Tiggy’s Beginnings 92

Ms Tiggy’s Characters 95

Mr Bock’s Glossary 97

Go and be Awesome, Author! 99

Truth in Advertising - er - in CHILDREN'S BOOKS

Truth in Advertising Children’s Books

Truth is the thing children’s books need above everything else. You could also call it integrity. Here are the five points in integrity as I see them.

1.   A children’s book should deliver what it promises.

 

We have all seen film trailers that promise non-stop action, romance or humour. Sometimes when we see the films themselves we realise the action, romance or humour in the trailer was all there was. The film itself is a disappointment. Children’s books should not be like that. If the title, cover, blurb and premise promise an adventure, a romance, a fantasy, a ghost story or some serious scares, laughs or wish-fulfilment, then the book had better deliver. If it doesn’t, then why should the young readers trust authors or books?

 

How can a book fail to deliver? Just like the film, it can have a few good bits with a lot of dull stuff in between. Or maybe it’s a lesson wrapped up in the thin rags of a story. Or maybe the wonderful adventure turns out to be a dream…

 

Children’s books should deliver what they promise.

 

2.   A children’s book should be faithful to its genre.

 

Understanding the way genres work is the thing that brings readers to their favourite kinds of books. Adult readers who enjoy a sweet romance will not be happy if the hero cheats on the heroine in Chapter Six and the heroine never finds out.  That is not what ought to happen in a sweet romance. Fantasy readers do not want to discover the fantasy elements in the story were all a dream, or a trick.

 

Young child readers are learning about genres, and so should be able to rely on what they learn. This doesn’t mean a book can’t or shouldn’t transcend genre. It can be bigger, better and more. What it shouldn’t be is false and less.

 

3.   A children’s book should be truthful about consequences.

Fiction is often escapist and written and read for entertainment. This is fine. However, I believe children’s books should be truthful about the consequences of action.

 

Adults reading the aforementioned sweet romance know perfectly well these stories are not realistic and that they’re not meant to be. Adult readers of murder mysteries know most crimes are not so clever, or so complex. Adult readers of Utopian science fiction know we cannot “fix” the human condition by removing this or that barrier or attitude. Adult readers of adventure romance know perfectly well the hero who got shot in the shoulder this morning will not be carrying the heroine out of a burning building (or anywhere else) tonight. In other words, adults realise the consequences in books are not what they will be in real life. And if they don’t they ought to.

Children, though, don’t have that much experience. If a child reads a book where a bully is “cured” by Little Tina explaining how her sister felt when the bully stole her lunch and expects that to happen in real life, then that child is set up for ridicule or worse. If a child reads books in which every child who confesses to doing something wrong is praised for being truthful, then what happens when s/he confesses and is punished?

 

Life is a variable experience, and what should happen doesn’t always, or even often, so remember that when writing for children. By all means use clever plotting and character development, but show what really would happen in these circumstances to these characters.

4.   A children’s book should show a balance of characters with a wide variety of abilities, attitudes and beliefs. Avoid the obvious. Let there be some nerds who do not wear thick glasses. Let there be grandparents who are not old and retired. Let there be mothers who are sometimes busy, dads who ride bikes to work, teachers who occasionally don’t know something, and doctors who do not have an appointment as soon as you need one. Let the occasional standoffish new kid continue to be standoffish and the one who claims to be good at singing really win that competition.

This may appear to run counter to the advice about genre, but in fact it helps bust those stereotypes and lets a genre book transcend that genre.

 

5.   A children’s book should be the best book you can write.

Don't Do That!

Don't do that!
Don't do what?
Don't send your manuscript, book, request, entry anywhere before you have read the guidelines, rules or requests at the recipients' websites.


If picture book contest rules ask for texts of under 500 words without illustrations, then don't send a text that is 520, 780 or 1900 words. And don't send illustrations.


If a manuscript assessor asks for manuscripts in 12 pt TNR, double spacing and without extra blank lines between paragraphs, don't send your ms in 11 pt Calibri Body, 1.15 spacing with blank lines between paragraphs.


If a market asks for mss in MS Word .doc or .docx, don't send a PDF.


If a contest is for a fantasy story, don't send sf.


If a review site is listed on a third-party website, check the site before you send your review request. Some review sites accept only one specific genre. Some don't accept unsolicited review copies at all. 

If a market asks for mss in plain text, without fancy formatting, don't send it with text boxes, drop caps and large fonts.


OK. Rant over.

New Writing For Children Course

Affordable Manuscript Assessments and Workshops announces a new virtual course on writing for children. The cost is $50.00.. which is paid upfront and access is via a private invitation-only blog. Some lesson material will be available at the blog, which is where students may interact with others taking the course via the comment form. Access will last for six weeks from the beginning of each course. Other materials will be e-mailed directly. 

To take part, you will need internet access, a google account/password (which is free) a printer, and scissors or a paper cutter. The fee may be tax deductible to people in the writing and related businesses. The first run of the course begins on the last Monday in May 2012.

To join up, or to ask questions,  send me an email at mail AT affordablemanuscriptassessments DOT com. This course is meant for adults writing for children.  At the end of the course you should have several viable ideas plus one manuscript either finished in rough draft or well on the way.

Contest Winners

The Sixth Paperback in Your Hand contest has been won by Ian Harrison for his black comedy/satire, DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

The First Writing FOR Kids contest has been won by Catherine Pelosi for A Fizzle Plop Day.
Runner up was Helen Nolan, for Crumbs!

The new contests are now under way. Visit http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and click on CONTESTS AND OPPORTUNITIES for details.

Why they Won: Legacy of the Skywasp

The sixth Paperback in Your Hand contest, run by Affordable Manuscript Assessments  has just closed and judging is underway. Now is a good time to look back over previous winners and explain, from the judge's point of view, why they won.

First, what does the judge (or judges... we're flexible) look for in this contest? Since the prize is a full edit and a paperback copy of the winner, we look for a manuscript with wide appeal. We look for an engaging story that has originality and charm. We especially look for that difficult-to-classify attribute; "sparkle". We also, obviously, prefer a manuscript that is well-presented and self-edited.

The winner of the second contest (pictured) was Legacy of the Skywasp, a glorious science fiction novel by Margaret Watts. You can read the blurb below.

Skywasp! Despite the heat, a shiver shoots
down my spine.
Nick lives in a futuristic Terra where everything is
regulated. He and his girlfriend Zandara know exactly
how their lives will progress. But then Nick meets
someone he thought dead and is sent much against
his inclination to the distant and dangerous world of
Eshrama.
There, he will relive Jethroy Blake’s experiences with
the wasp cult and become embroiled in a power
struggle as he seeks to solve the mystery of his
father’s relationship with Doriana, the Maiden of the
Wasps.

The characters (a generation apart), the settings (an ultra-civilised dome and a dangerous planet) and the premise (a reluctant son carries out the last wishes of a father he barely knew and had cause to resent) were all immediately captivating. The manuscript needed a bit of tightening and some extra explanation and clarification of the more complex passages, but the finished product was judged easily as good as many well-loved science fiction novels. This is a very human story, with flawed characters and no easy answers. The author was pleased with her prize and ordered some extra copies for gifts and for sale. Perhaps if you live somewhere in the Hunter Valley region of NSW you might have seen this book.

The Problem with Picture Books... Part 2

I think the problems with picture books generally stem from three misconceptions.
1. Picture books are short, and therefore, must be simple.
2. Picture books are for very young readers or listeners, and therefore, must be simple and may be slight.
3. Picture books are timeless.

These misconceptions are particularly dangerous because they are partly true. Here are the more accurate versions of the statements above.

Picture books are short. In fact, one problem we see a lot at Affordable Manuscript Assessments is texts that are too long and wordy. They may certainly be simple, but they don't need to be.  As mentioned in part 1 of this post, picture books should be layered stories.

Picture books are often for very young readers or listeners, and therefore, may be simple and occasionally slight. Most slight texts are rejected these days, simply because of the requirement for layered stories. Picture books can also be meant for (or at least accessible by) readers of ten or so. The fashion for "older" picture books comes and goes and the market for these is probably smaller than that for younger readers.


Some picture books are timeless. There are stories around now (in print) that were published when I was a little girl in the early 1960s. Some are older still. These are generally stand-out texts that have dated, if at all, charmingly. Most don't have have human protagonists. For every The Story About Ping and The Cow that Fell in the Canal there are hundreds of stories that are permanently out of print because they are felt to be dated, trite, sexist, ageist, or just plain out of step with modern literature.


Thanks for visiting our blog.  Everyone who comments on this post will be issued with a password which allows 20% off the purchase of any of the PDF workshops below.  To purchase, send an email to mail@affordablemanuscriptassessments.com

 

  20 Top Tips  (The Unwritten Rules of Writing)  $10.00 USD download                                                               

Writing a Manuscript Proposal                                                                                                                                                      

$2.50 USD download

Writing a Picture Book Text

Includes a prepaid manuscript assessment valued at $25.00.

$30.00 USD download

     

Creating  Fantasy Settings   

$3.75 USD download

                          

  (Giving our kids) A Reason to Write

(A handbook for parents and teachers)

$7.00 USD download

 

What Publishers Want

(Or, Why your manuscript may have been rejected.)

$4.00 USD download

                                                                  

Writing with Style 

$10.00 USD download

                          

Writing Dialogue

$10.00 USD download

    Writing Metrical Verse

    $7.00 USD download