Words of Wisdom

I’ve just been to the Somerset Literature Festival. Three days of workshopping, networking and sitting in on author talks has left me inspired and exhausted. The Somerset Festival is a children’s literature festival held every March on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
I thought in the spirit of sharing I would sum up the festival with some words of wisdom from the authors themselves. I hope you can take some inspiration from these also.


“When writing a narrative about something little kids don’t know, you need a way to share these ‘insights’. Use an animal or a teacher the main character refers to. Eg. “Mrs Martin would say…” – Nette Hilton.


“Don’t make your story too big. It makes it hard to keep the emotions personal.
In the beginning of your story take away your character’s country, friends, mum, dad and family. Then watch them struggle to get them all back.” – Melina Marchetta.


“To find good voices for your novels – eavesdrop. The best place to listen in on people’s conversations is IKEA on a Saturday morning – loads of good characters there.” – Anthony Eaton. (Tony didn’t say which IKEA he frequents, but watch out for him.)


“So much of history is cliché. Find the unique stories from the past and live the details, ie. Sounds, smells, tastes and sights.” – Jackie French.


“Many YA books now have dysfunctional characters and families. The final page really matters. Just what is your reader left with? - A feeling of empowerment or despair?” – Brian Caswell.


“Authors should show honest relationships and situations. Tell what it’s really like, brutal and all.” – James Moloney.


“Your character is not a single moment. They have a history, a back story. The emotions that made you who you are from the past are only just below the surface. So find out what’s below the surface for your character.” - James Roy.


“The core of comedy is about connection. If the jokes exclude people then the comedy doesn’t work. It must be inclusive. Comedy is about sharing, sometimes just between two people.” – Bruno Bouchet.


“Write the simple things well. Mention the small details in your story and readers will believe you. It validates the story.” – Markus Zusak.


“In order to research the ‘teenage voice’, travel on public transport around 3pm every day.” – James Moloney.


“Your villain has to be stronger, meaner and scarier than you think to hook your readers.” Belinda Murrell.


“Silence the gatekeeper to your imagination. When brainstorming, put every idea down, no matter how absurd.” – Brian Caswell.


“Alliteration is fundamental to the English language. We relate to alliteration in our reading, be it in picture books or news headlines.” – Bruno Bouchet.


“Ask your character: ‘What do you want?’ Then don’t give it to them until much later.” – James Roy.


“The best moments are the unexpected and the reactions to them.” – Markus Zusak.


“It’s about people – not the events. Get the characters right and everything else follows.” – Brian Caswell.


“The books you read feed into your own writing. Reading is the most important way to learn the craft.” – James Moloney.


I’ve been listening to audio books in the car lately. And surprisingly I am picking up more of the small details Markus Zusak mentioned. Today’s book was Sophie Laguna’s ‘Bird and Sugar Boy.’ Her characterisation is authentic and rich. The voice of Bird resonates for me and as a mother part of me wants to hug him. Sophie certainly has her characters ‘right’.


I’m working on mine and hopefully ‘everything else will follow.’

Juggling Point of View

Have you ever had trouble with Point of View when reading a novel? Do you stumble when the author jumps from one character's thoughts to another's (head hopping)? Does it pull you out of the story and make you wish you were at the movies instead?


Recently my writing critique group were discussing how to best explain 'head hopping' to new writers and also how to handle Point of View in our own writing. Our characters might happily jump from scene to scene  like puppets on a string, but every now and then we unintentionally cross the threads of the story, tangling the whole plot and confusing our readers.

So to avoid twisting our characters in knots I have invited Dee White to my blog today to explain 'Point of View'. Dee is visiting here Under the Apple Tree as part of her Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour.

Hi Dee!

Grab a spot on the blanket in the shade. The coffee is ready. Some of our other visitors might want to have a cuppa with us too. Do you want cream with your apple pie?

Hi Angela, thanks for inviting me here today. No thanks, just the pie will be fine.

So Dee, tell us how you decide on the best point of view when writing your stories. Is it a matter of just choosing your main characters?

Angela, to know which point of view suits your story, you have to understand the options first. Here's an explanation:

FIRST PERSON POV


First person point of view uses ‘I’ or ‘we’.


It allows the narrator to tell their own story. This point of view tends to be used where the story is concerned with the emotions of, and outcomes for a particular character. This is the POV I used in Letters to Leonardo because I wanted the reader to get close to Matt, my main character. But I varied the format; changing from narrative to letters and back again – using the letters to reveal more intimate things about Matt.

First person POV is limited in that it only allows the reader and the writer to see, hear, think and feel what the main character sees, hears, thinks and feels.


A way around this however, is to tell the story in first person from more than one character’s point of view.


Street Racer, the current YA novel I am working on is written in first person from the point of view of two characters, Rick and Kate. I have chosen very different voices and formats for each of them to tell their story. Angela, this is a way to ‘head hop’ even if you are writing in ‘first person’.


To avoid confusion, I change the point of view at the end of each section or chapter – this makes it very clear whose story is being told, and whose POV it’s being told from.

Yes, Dee. I enjoy reading first person Point of View.It makes me feel very close to the main character. But what about 3rd person? This is the Point of View I use the most in my writing. Do you have any advice on avoiding problems here?

THIRD PERSON POV

Third person allows for more description and information. But it still enables you to tell a story from a single or multiple points of view.


Third Person Intimate or Limited


Third person intimate/limited is very much like first person. It limits you to only seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling and understanding one character, but you can find out additional things about them in the story.


For example,


Chris lay on the soft ground next to the goal post wondering how he would ever face the team again. If only he’d taken more time – if only he’d sunk the kick. Chris had played with the Roosters for the last three years and in all that time he’d never missed a goal. Now when it really mattered he hadn’t been able to handle the pressure. He’d let the team down, and Dad would be furious with him. He was the Rooster’s coach and had high expectations of his son.


Here we can see what is happening from Chris’s POV.


Third Person Omniscient


This is the point of view that allows you to head hop from one character to another. You, the writer, know everything about all the characters and can go in and out of their heads and report on their feelings and thoughts. It allows you to tell the reader things that none of the other character knows.


For example


Chris slumped on the soft ground next to the goal post wondering how he would ever face the team again. If only he’d taken more time – if only he’d sunk the kick. Chris had played with the Roosters for the last three years and in all that time he’d never missed a goal. Now when it really mattered he hadn’t been able to handle the pressure.


“You let the team down! You let me down!” Jeff Mason dragged his son up by the shoulder. He loved being coach of the Roosters, and he hated losing – especially when his own son was to blame. How could he have missed from that distance? “Come on we’re going home.” Jeff strode towards the waiting Mercedes, glancing behind every now and then to make sure Chris was following.


Neither of them saw the Rooster’s captain, Joel Anderson sneak up to the car and slash each tyre, one by one.


Here you can see what’s going on in Chris and Jeff’s head, and information is being revealed that they don’t know about.


The important thing about whichever point of view you are writing in is that it has to be consistent. You have to stay in that POV. You can’t change from first to third person mid stride.


If you are writing in third person omniscient, it’s possible to have more than one point of view in a scene, but you need to make sure that it flows from one POV to the other – and it’s not a good idea to change mid sentence.


If you stumble over the transition bits or they seem clunky then the reader will find this too. Changing POV mid-scene can also weaken the tension that you have gone to so much trouble to build.


If you are writing from one character’s POV then they can’t know what is going on inside another character’s head unless that character tells them. Just like you can’t know what’s really going on in someone else’s head unless they tell you.


Angela, I hope this clears up some of the ‘mystery’ around POV. Thanks for your question, and for inviting me to your blog.


Thanks Dee, it does. I guess it's like driving along behind another car. You know what you (your POV character) are seeing, thinking and feeling, but you can't know what is happening in the mind of the other driver (character). And your reader can't know either.

Dee, thanks so much! I really appreciate you calling in today to talk about Point of View. I've been enjoying your blog tour and just want to point out to visitors that you can see more of Dee's tour at the blogs and dates below:

2ND February 2010
Claire Saxby’s blog
http://letshavewords.blogspot.com
Writing Picture Books - Leaving room for the illustrator.


9th February 2010
Dee White’s blog
http://deescribewriting.wordpress.com
Reviewing ‘There Was an Old Sailor’
Reviewing vs Editing skills.


16th February 2010
Sandy Fussell’s blog
www.sandyfussell.blogspot.com
Writers Need to be avid free range readers


23rd February 2010
Robyn Opie’s blog
http://robynopie.blogspot
How to make your story longer – adding layers.


If you have any comments or questions for Dee or myself, please post them below. We'd love to hear from you!


Dee, do you have time for another slice before you go?

Dee White, author of Letters to Leonardo

Dee White, author of Letters to Leonardo is visiting Under The Apple Tree tomorrow as part of her Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour. Call back to hear her advice on understanding Point of View.

See you all then!

Oh and I'm baking a pie, so make sure you have a cuppa ready. We'll be in the garden...

Taking the Risk

My mother-in-law is an inspiration to me and the rest of our family. Here is a photo of her on holiday with my brother-in-law and his kids. Yes, she’s the one smiling in the front seat and NO this is not photoshopped.

She turns eighty in October and is currently planning her winter holiday north. In between she plays tennis and bush walks, volunteers at the local church and community centre and helps out twice a day at the small hospital for the aging in her town. She even has her own ID card and lanyard. Funnily for us Mum calls the patients there ‘the oldies’.

What my mother-in-law has taught me is to take the risk. To get ‘out there’ and to be a part of what is going on. To look outside the possibilities I have accepted as ‘the norm’ for many years. To see the opportunities available to me. To try something new.

In 2005 I was invited to a Breakfast with the Authors at the Somerset Literature Festival (I've been going each year ever since). The authors moved from table to table joining in on the conversation and talking about their work. It was my first encounter with the world of children’s literature (other than as a reader) and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.


Then when a children’s picture book illustrator sat down at our table and began to show us her portfolio with samples of rough sketches and reference photos, I was immediately captivated. That was my Ah Ha moment.


In the ten minutes she spent chatting with us a new world of possibilities opened up for me. Instead of dreaming about drawing and painting I decided to ‘get out there’ and ‘try something new’. I enrolled at the Gold Coast Art School and began creative writing courses. This lead to a 3rd place award in the CYA Lit competition in 2009 and publication this year with Penguin Australia.


So I took the risk.


It meant having belief in myself and it meant being supported by family who always believed in me, like my mother-in-law, my husband, my children and my late parents. I am grateful for them.


Tell me about your risks. Have you taken any lately?

PS. I have a special visitor popping in to my blog on Tuesday 2nd March. Dee White will be calling by to talk about 'Viewpoint'. If this is a troublesome area for you in your writing then stop by on Tuesday and join in with your own comments. Dee is visiting as part of her Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour.

Oh, and rush out and get your tickets to the Somerset Festival, Markus Zusak author of 'The Book Thief' is speaking along with a host of other award winning Australian authors and illustrators like: Jackie French, Nette Hilton, Leigh Hobbs, Melina Marchetta, James Roy, James Moloney, Sofie Laguna, Anthony Eaton, Belinda Jeffrey and more... too many to mention. Go have a look.

A Creative Space

Before I became a writer I always found other ways to release my creative soul. While the children were little I poured myself into my home, sewing curtains, pelmets, cushions, tablecloths and painting every room in the house at various times. My passion for English country interiors found me scouring antique shops and craft markets, op shops and garage sales. I could pair a Dutch delft vase with a chinese grocery store bowl and visitors would comment on their complementary arrangement. The value was not in the cost, but in the aesthetics.


In between house decorating and renovations, when cleaning bricks and stippling stencils were set aside, I would draw and paint. But I never had a space, a special area set aside for my pencils and brushes, paints and paper. Until recently.

Now I have a room called 'Mum's Study'. It is central to the family, near the laundry for hanging out that quick load and the kitchen for the essential cuppa. And Mum's Study is probably the tidiest room in the house. This is most likely because I like to procrastinate by arranging and re-arranging my piles of books, notes and sketches.

But because you are visiting today my procrastination has been given a purpose, a writer's purpose. "It's for my blog," I say.


So this is my creative space, a small room with a large picture window overlooking the front paddock, a room that captures the morning sun and the afternoon breezes.

I love the new office chair that hubbie bought me for my first book contract. Note the apple, a mother's day gift from my daughter. The blue notes board is my plotting board for the novel I am working on.

Where I sit and read with feet up

My art desk and easels and a part finished portrait of my daughter for her 18th.

The reading and thinking couch bed, with my dad's 'tambourica' and my sister's resonator guitar (just visiting)

Recently other authors and artists have been posting about their creative spaces. Check out Sheryl Gwyther's , Katherine Battersby's and Jason Nahrung's blogs. Perhaps you'd also like to tell me about yours.

Happy Feet

A few days ago I posted on facebook that I had 'Happy Feet.' Some presumed this might have something to do with penguins. And they were right. Only it is just one penguin, a very big one, actually the biggest and only penguin in the publishing industry - Penguin Group (Australia).

My feet are happy, because they have been dancing around the house for a few weeks now, ever since I first received an email informing me my manuscript, 'Pond Magic', was on the desk of Penguin's children's publisher 'for consideration'.

Fast forward through Christmas, holidays with friends, overseas guests and New Year. Even with all those distractions, my mind was very much on whether the children's editors at Penguin would enjoy my story.

I had submitted Pond Magic to a select few publishers 6 months prior and the waiting room I found myself in was starting to grow dull - after all I'd read all the magazines.

Then on the first working day, a Monday, after New Year I received the email which blew me away. The executive editor 'enjoyed my story' and said: 'It's great fun, with a strong voice, likeable characters and themes that will appeal to the tween age group.' What's more they felt it would make a terrific addition to their Aussie Chomps list.

Did I open the champagne? you might ask. Well, no. Firstly, my manuscript was nearly 14,700 words long and the Aussie Chomps maximum is 12,000.

'Could I cut it back, please?'
'Why, yes, of course.'
The very next day I set out my instruments, sharpened my pencil and took to my manuscript with the precision of a brain surgeon. How do you cut nearly 3,000 words from what is a relatively short story? Very carefully.

I created a table on word and then read through my manuscript once more (for the millionth time), carefully writing down every plot point, character development and humorous remark in each chapter. There appeared to be two chapters where not a great deal happened, although they did show more about the characters. I decided to cut back both chapters by half and then systematically cut 100 words at least from each of the remaining chapters. This worked and I loved doing it. Playing with words and language have always been a passion of mine.

After smoothing out any wrinkles the editing had created, I re-read the manuscript again (I can't remember how many more times) and emailed it to the Aussie Chomps editor at Penguin.

Two days later I received a formal offer of publication.

'Pond Magic' will be published in September this year in Penguin's Aussie Chomps series.
I'd like to thank the writers who have believed in me and supported me along the way to my first publication, (especially all the writers of the Kwd group):

Sheryl Gwyther for your advice,

Dee White and Matt Zurbo for your critiquing.

and


Narelle Oliver for your passionate belief in my manuscript 'Pond Magic'.

The Queensland Writer's Centre for the editorial consultation,

The CYA competition judges,

and The Gold Coast City Council 'Creative Juices' team.



Thank you also to my readers:

Nadia, for your support and feedback,

Daniela, for every time you obliged when I shoved a chapter under your nose,

Rob for bouncing ideas and brainstorming in the wee hours of the morning,

Peter (14), for reading the final edit,

Elesia, Rosalia and Craig for your enthusiasm

and Ellen (aged 11) who wrote the first review of Pond Magic on this blog back in May 2009.

I know this sounds like I have won an award, but I am truly grateful to be so blessed.

Warm up those artistic muscles (warning - nudie pics)

Watercolour Pencil Sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

Even though I love to draw children, life drawing sessions are essential to the development of my skills as an artist. With a live model there is no choice but to draw the figure in the position I see her/ him. That means it's not possible to turn the model on his/her head (as I might a photo) simply because it's easier to capture a certain curve or a particular stroke.


Graphite Sketch. Life Drawing. A. Sunde 2009

Before I start to draw I have learnt to do warm up exercises designed to loosen my strokes and relax my mind. The exercises train my brain to remember arm and hand movements through repetition, using both left and right hands (sometimes simultaneously). It also shifts the focus of my mind to the 'right brain'. In other words the left analytical brain becomes so bored with the exercises it switches off and hey presto I am able to draw what I see and not what I 'think' I see.

These movements will then help me more accurately capture the image before me, even when I'm not looking at it. That makes it sound simple doesn't it?

Acrylic sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

I study Life Drawing at the Gold Coast Art School http://www.artschool.com.au/ with Tony Champ. We begin by drawing circles, repeatedly, without taking the pencil off the paper, big ones, small ones, in one direction, then the next, with our right hand and then our left for ten minutes each. Then we do figure eights, then ellipses.

By now it's apparent to me that a certain direction of stroke feels uncomfortable and awkward. My hand just doesn't naturally relax into the movement. That will be my weak stroke and that's the one I need to practise the most, just like an archer practises his aim so he can shoot the bullseye with his eyes shut.

Speed is essential in Life Drawing. The less time you have the looser your strokes. You learn quickly to draw from the elbow and not the wrist. These exercises have helped me to achieve that relaxed sketch I so admire in others.

But the real trick is to draw with your heart and not your intellect.