25 Wednesday Sep 2019
Posted in Ask an Editor
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Editor – What does it mean to have a book optioned?
—Ivy, Los Angeles Continue reading
19 Friday Jul 2019
Posted in Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools
Tags
Author Tips, authors, disney, fantasy, historical fiction, hyperion, interview, middle grade, Robert Beatty, Serafina, series, Willa of the Wood
Robert Beatty is the successful author of the New York Times best-selling Serafina series and of Willa of the Wood. His fourth Serafina book, Serafina and the Seven Stars (Disney-Hyperion) was released on July 9, 2019. I met up with him when he stopped in Los Angeles for the opening-day book event at the Grove’s Barnes & Noble.
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to LA! Serafina and Willa are some of my favorite middle grade characters. Your books spin fantasy and historical fiction together seamlessly. Much of Serafina takes place at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, and includes real-life characters such as the Vanderbilts. How did you choose this location?
19 Wednesday Jun 2019
Posted in Ask an Editor
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Editor – How do I write in an accent or use slang when it’s not the way I speak?
—Yolie, Westside
Dear Yolie – Let’s start with some definitions. Accents are “speech habits typical of the natives or residents of a region” while slang is a defined as “language peculiar to a particular group” (Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary).
ACCENTS: With accents, sparing use can be more effective. While some stories may carry an accent throughout, this works only when it’s done well and is easy for the reader to follow. Continue reading
29 Wednesday May 2019
Posted in Author's Perspective
Tags
agent, Author Tips, nonfiction, picture book, picture books, Seth Fishman, The Gernert Company, Writers Day, writing tips
Maybe you’ve come across SETH FISHMAN’s award-winning book A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars. Or, perhaps you attended his Keynote Presentation at SCBWI LA’s 2018 Writers Day event. His books are rocking the nonfiction picture book world
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! It’s great to see a local writer doing so well. Let’s talk a bit about nonfiction picture books. In your latest book, Power Up: Your Incredible, Spectacular, Supercharged Body, you shift the focus from the amazing universe around us to the fascinating world inside our bodies. Power Up has an engaging story line and is loaded with cool facts. Do you have any advice for aspiring children’s nonfiction picture book writers? Continue reading
27 Wednesday Mar 2019
Posted in Ask an Editor
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Editor – I’ve been working on my middle-grade book for years with my critique group and think it’s finally ready to send out into the world. What’s the best way to find an agent?
—Susan, Los Angeles
Dear Susan – Finishing your manuscript is quite an accomplishment. Kudos! Since you’re looking for an agent, that must mean you’re seeking traditional publication.
15 Friday Mar 2019
Posted in Author's Perspective
MICHELLE MARKEL is a successful writer and a local SCBWI member! She’s the author of Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909, which won the Bank Street Flora Stieglitz Straus Award and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Younger Children, and was also chosen as an NCTE Orbis Picture Honor Book. Her recent titles are Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children’s Books and Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington.
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! Your career has included a number of popular narrative nonfiction books as well as some fiction. How is the industry changing?
MICHELLE MARKEL: The field of narrative nonfiction has busted open. There are now books about little known historical events, unsung heroes, and underrepresented groups (women and people of color). Editors are interested in expressive language, innovative artwork, and uncommon formats. They’re looking for creative “hooks” to grab young readers. If you love telling stories, and love nonfiction, this is your moment.
CVZ: What’s your writing process for your biographies? Continue reading
27 Wednesday Feb 2019
Posted in Editor's Perspective, Writers Days
FRANCES GILBERT started her career with books in high school when she worked in the children’s department of her town library. After graduating from university with an M.A. in English, her first job in publishing was as a Book Club Editor at Scholastic Canada in Toronto. She moved to New York in 2000 to set up a children’s editorial division at Sterling Publishing. In 2012, Gilbert moved to Random House Children’s Books where she is Editor-in-Chief of Doubleday Books for Young Readers. She is also a successful author of several children’s books.
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! We’re excited to have you as a Keynote Speaker at SCBWI LA’s 2019 Writers Day event. You’ve been in the industry since a teen and, as an author yourself, understand publishing from both sides. As an editor, please share with us some reasons that picture book manuscripts are rejected. Continue reading
19 Wednesday Dec 2018
Posted in Ask an Editor
Tags
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog. This month, we feature a guest host, Renée M. LaTulippe, children’s poet, freelance editor, and founder/teacher of The Lyrical Language Lab.
Dear Editor – I’ve written a rhyming picture book, but now that I’m starting to search for an agent it seems a lot of them don’t want rhyming picture books. What should I do?
—Sam, Los Angeles
Dear Sam:
This is a question that gets a lot of airtime in kidlit writer circles, and for good reason. After all, we can all see how many rhyming picture books come into the world each year, so someone is writing and selling and publishing them, right? Seeing so many agents and publishers put up “No Rhyme Allowed” signs on their clubhouse doors is frustrating indeed. Continue reading
01 Monday Oct 2018
Posted in Author's Perspective
Tags
GARRET WEYR delights middle-grade readers with her novel, The Language of Spells (2018, Chronicle Kids). Previous publications include picture book, French Ducks in Venice (Candlewick, 2011), and YA titles from HMH Books for Young Readers, After the Moment (2009), Stay with Me (2007), The Kings are Already Here (2003), When I was Older (2002), My Heartbeat (2002), and, from Crown, Pretty Girls (1988).
CHRISTINE VAN ZANDT: Welcome to Kite Tales! It’s wonderful to share with our readers how a local author has successfully been published in PB, MG, and YA. What advice do you have for authors who write in more than one category? Continue reading
20 Wednesday Jun 2018
Posted in Ask an Editor, Critique Day
Tags
critique groups, critiquenic, critiques, critiquing, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members
“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.
Dear Editor – I think my YA novel is finished but would like to show it to other people for feedback. Where can I find a critique group?
—Effie, Culver City Continue reading
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