Category Archives: Author’s Perspective

Meet April Halprin Wayland, Author, Poet, and Beach Retreat Instructor

16 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Central Coast, Writers' Retreat

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By Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

2020 April Halprin Wayland - photo credit Morgan Eagle!! (1)

(Photo: Morgan Eagle)

April Halprin Wayland will be joining us for our picture book retreat, January 10–12, 2020, in San Simeon, California. She writes poetry and picture books, including More Than Enough: A Passover Story and the Sydney Taylor Gold Book Award winning New Year at the Pier: A Rosh Hashanah Story. She was named UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Outstanding Instructor of the Year, and blogs with five other children’s authors at TeachingAuthors.com. April will be presenting four sessions during the retreat weekend, which is open to the public, and will include time to write, join small critique groups, stroll on the beach, and enjoy a beachside campfire in the evening.

ANN ROUSSEAU SMITH: Welcome to the Kite Tales blog! Most people love origin stories. Can you tell us a little bit about your first published picture book?
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Secrets to Writing Rhymes that Sell

09 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Poet's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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By Jamie Kiffel-Alcheh

Can-You-Hear-a-Coo-Coo cover

Rhymes are naturally easy for the brain to process. Their innate musicality makes their messages easier to absorb. They have a calming effect because rhymes set up an expectation and fulfill it each time a verse is completed. And kids love them.

So why are rhyming books so hard to sell?

Well, there are common pitfalls to rhyming. But there are secrets to salable rhyme, too!

The pitfall: Something rhymes just for the heck of it.

“That’s the way” and “What a day” rhyme, but if they don’t tell the story, then the rhyme is doing what I call “treading water.”
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#KTChat with Author Henry Lien: 7 Exercises to Generate Unique Story Concepts

18 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by in #KTChat, Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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by Henry Lien

Peasprout Chen Vol 1 - Henry Lien - MacmillanUnique story concepts are some of the rarest and most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal. As an author, I’ve focused my career on unique concepts. For example, my Peasprout Chen series is an Asian middle grade fantasy about a boarding school that teaches a sport combining figure skating with kung fu. The New York Times described Peasprout Chen as “Hermione Granger meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets the Ice Capades meets Mean Girls.”

Below are seven exercises that I use in my own writing, as well as in courses I teach for the UCLA Extension Writers Program and Clarion West Writers Workshop, to generate original story concepts. These exercises are intended to shock your subconscious out of learned behaviors, lead you into unmapped territories of your own creativity, and help you generate story concepts that only you could have come up with. Continue reading →

Attending the Annual Summer Conference For the First Time as a PAL Member

11 Wednesday Sep 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, SCBWI Summer Conference

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by Karol Ruth Silverstein

With my debut YA novel Cursed on bookstore shelves, there was no way I was going to miss SCBWI Annual Summer Conference this year. Attending as a published author for the first time was definitely a different experience.SummerCon'19-LA Region GroupKarolRuthSilverstein

Here are my 5 takeaways: Continue reading →

What Cassandra Federman Wants You to Know About Writing and Illustrating Your First Book

28 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Illustrator's Perspective

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author-shot.jpgAuthor/illustrator Cassandra Federman was born and raised in Massachusetts, where she spent her childhood reading comic books, playing action figures, drawing superheroes, and participating in all things nerdy (before that became cool). She is also the SCBWI Los Angeles 2017 Mentorship Contest winner. Her book This is a Sea Cow hits shelves on September 1, 2019. Today she’s here to share some of her recent experiences and takeaways on her path to becoming published.

SARAH PARKER-LEE: What things do you wish you’d known/learned before you started this new chapter of illustrating? Continue reading →

Interview with Best-Selling Middle Grade Author Robert Beatty

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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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?

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Interview with Seth Fishman, Nonfiction Picture Book Author

29 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective

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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 →

Author Catherine Linka on Getting an Agent: It’s All About Fit

22 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective

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By Catherine Linka, author

Getting an agent is about finding the right fit, because the agent who will sell your work successfully is the person who loves to sell what you love to write. 

Agents champion books they believe in. They work unpaid until they get you a book contract.

And they are also human beings. They may love rom coms, but not horror. If you write rom coms and they love to read rom coms, they’ll be more likely to read your submission. They’ll be more likely to have sold rom coms and to know which editors are fans of rom coms. They will be more aware of the other rom coms in the marketplace.

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Seven Things I Learned After Publishing My First Book

08 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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by Helena Ku Rhee, Author

Helena with her muse Sherwin

EDITOR’S NOTE: Helena Ku Rhee grew up in Los Angeles, but has also lived in various parts of the U.S., Asia and Europe. Currently, Helena works at a movie studio by day and as a writer by night and weekends. Her debut picture book, The Turtle Ship (Lee and Low), is available now! Today, she shares seven things she learned after publishing her book and you’re going to want to learn them, too!

I’ve always loved learning about a writer’s journey — especially about the path of a debut author, with his or her very first book out in the world. Now that almost a year has gone by since the release of my debut picture book, I wanted to share seven learnings to help writers who are journeying towards their own exhilarating debut.

  1. Your dream will keep expanding and evolving.

During what I refer to as the “Rejection Years,” I used to think I’d be so happy to get just one book published. Continue reading →

Writers Day 2019: Tenacity, Writing with Respect, and Other Takeaways

12 Friday Apr 2019

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Writers Days

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By Charlotte Offsay

On March 9, writers swarmed the Skirball Cultural Center for SCBWI’s annual L.A. Writers Day conference. The day was packed with wisdom, tips, and motivation. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from the event.

The publishing industry is subjective, do your research and don’t give up!

Doubleday Books Editor Frances Gilbert cited being bored, an overly complicated plot, or an over-published topic among her reasons for rejecting manuscripts. She shared her own journey as an author and highlighted the subjective nature of this business – one of her manuscripts was called too specific by one publisher and too vague by another. She encouraged authors to do their research before submitting to find the right home and champion for their manuscript.

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