Category Archives: Tips and Tools

#KTWriteOn with Children’s Librarian Amber Morrell: Author Visits in the Time of Remote Learning

07 Wednesday Oct 2020

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Welcome to the Kite Tales Writing Challenge: #KTWriteOn. Each writing challenge is crafted by a kid-lit publishing professional to help spark ideas, creative energy, and get your work moving out into the world.

This exercise was created by Amber Morrell, an author of middle-grade fantasy from Orange County, CA, where she’s a member of SCBWI SoCal. She’s also a children’s librarian and professional storyteller: “With poems, puppets, and songs, I create narrative experiences for children of all ages.”

Today, Amber’s bringing us an exercise that challenges authors to rethink their school visit presentations in a time when almost everyone is learning from home, online. If you’ve never done a visit before, or aren’t there yet in your career, you’re still going to learn a lot about keeping kids engaged, and we can all use that! Write on!

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Smart Research—Or How to Approach Research for Your Manuscript

30 Wednesday Sep 2020

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by Colleen McAllister

Stuck in an endless hole of research? Overwhelmed by what you still must learn in order to write your manuscript? Is it stopping you from moving forward?

Here’s how to refocus and make a directed approach that will break you out of your standstill. 

When I worked as a Hollywood film executive, part of my job was researching topics our CEO was interested in. I had to cover the topic quickly, gain a thorough working knowledge of it, then regurgitate what I learned in an interesting, easy-to-digest way. Topics ranged from the concept of Biohacking, to researching a video game company, to “futurists” and what they’re thinking about!

I usually had a few hours to turn my research around and zero knowledge of these topics beforehand. Under time pressure and a desire to impress my boss, I learned how to do comprehensive research in no time flat. Here are some tips to help you do the same!

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How Hollywood Finds Your Manuscript

19 Wednesday Aug 2020

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by Colleen McAllister

Hollywood executives are on the prowl for the book or series that could become their next franchise long before a manuscript is published. But what are they looking for and how do they find it?

We’ll hear from Nathan Schram, Senior Manager of Animation Development at Nickelodeon, and Maddie Breeland, Development Executive in charge of developing material for Fox, Disney and most recently Anvil Pictures, about how they find your book.

COLLEEN MCALLISTER: What does the process look like as far as how you look for book manuscripts to option?

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#KTWriteOn with Newbery Winner Christian McKay Heidicker: THE DESPERATE AUTHOR (Getting Good with Low Time and Resources)

01 Wednesday Jul 2020

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Welcome to the Kite Tales Writing Challenge: #KTWriteOn. Each writing challenge is crafted by a kid-lit publishing professional to help spark ideas, creative energy, and get your work moving out into the world.

This exercise was created by Christian McKay Heidicker, the author of the Newbery Honor-winning Scary Stories for Young Foxes, Thieves of Weirdwood, Cure for the Common Universe, and Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he reads and writes and drinks tea. Between his demon-hunting cat and his fiddling, red-headed fiancée, he feels completely protected from evil spirits. He wasn’t always an award-winning author. Read on for Christian’s excellent advice and exercises:

THE DESPERATE AUTHOR (Getting Good with Low Time and Resources)

By Christian McKay Heidicker

It took me twelve years to get my first book published. So in the interest of your sanity and my conscience, I’m going to tell you how to get better at this writing thing no matter what your obstacles are. Don’t have time? Don’t have money? Blessed with the attention span of a fruit fly? I experienced that in spades, my friend. And I’ve got some workarounds. All you need is a little window of time every day, a handful of unique shortcuts, and maybe some heartbreak. (That last one certainly helped me.)

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Why Write a Novel in Verse?

27 Wednesday May 2020

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by Sherry Shahan

While cleaning out my office I unearthed a shoebox filled with letters from a friend who served in Vietnam during the tumultuous 1960s. I spent hours poring through his astonishingly truthful accounts of this war. I knew I had to do something with his letters; after all, I’d kept them nearly 50 years.

Since letters inspired me to write Purple Daze: A Far Out Trip, 1965 (Authors Guild Back-in-Print Edition, 2020), it made sense to incorporate journal entries, notes, and letters into the narrative. I then began writing sketches about other high school friends and some of our more histrionic experiences. Once I began scribbling, memories assaulted me twenty-four-seven. Continue reading →

Working From Home Tips: An Illustrated Guide

13 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Illustrator's Perspective, Tips and Tools

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Working from home is the new reality for many. It’s also a privilege that I am certainly grateful for. After all, even though events have been canceled or postponed and book launches are being impacted, for a lot of us in the writing and illustrating industry, we’re likely the best equipped to work from home.

Processed with VSCO with k1 presetFor the last three years, Emma Trithart, an L.A.-based illustrator, hand letterer, and graphic designer, has been with a digital agency that is primarily “work from home”. Just before the stay-at-home orders were announced in California, she posted her illustrated guide So You’re Working From Home (Very Specific Tips From One Person’s Individual Experience] on Instagram.

“Being used to office life, it was a bit of an adjustment… but now I love it,” Emma said. “I figured I could impart this little chunk of experience from my own life on others who might be struggling to get used to working from home.”

Whether you’ve gotten used to working from home or are still adjusting to the New Normal, here is Emma’s guide: Continue reading →

Keeping Creative During Quarantine

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com

Times are strange. Staying inside and shifting to work from home might be new for some, but for those of us used to camping out at our computers for long hours writing and editing on sunny weekends it can feel like an extension of the routine. Both of these realities can be jarring, and sometimes alienating. Especially when it seems like the world is falling apart. Here at Kite Tales we want to let you know: you’re not alone; we’ll get through this; and take some time for healing, whether it be writing or just watching your favorite movie.

In that spirit, we wanted to help provide you with some resources that you can access online. From webinars to virtual meetups, there is a great community of kidlit writers and illustrators sharing thoughts and inspiration.

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Author Jessica Brody on Transformative Stories, Structure, & Character Voice in Retellings

25 Wednesday Mar 2020

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Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, as you may have heard, SCBWI L.A.’s 2020 Writers Day has been postponed due to the Coronavirus. Please check your emails for the announcement which provides more details. Despite this news, the below interview (edited lightly following the news of the event’s postponement) provides fantastic information – so, please, read on! 

WD2020_Jessica BrodyJessica Brody, author of the plotting guide Save the Cat! Writes a Novel, is slated to be a keynote speaker at this year’s Los Angeles SCBWI Writers Day! Along with several popular titles, including 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, A Week of Mondays, The Chaos of Standing Still, Better You Than Me, and the Unremembered trilogy, Jessica has also written Sky Without Stars (and the sequel Between Burning Worlds) a sci-fi reimagining of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and books based on Disney franchises like Disney Princess Lego and the Descendants.

While Writers Day has been postponed (previously scheduled for March 28), here are some great tips and tricks from Jessica!

FARRHA KHAN: We’re excited to have you join us at Writers Day this year! Your keynote on The Transformative Power of Story sounds inspiring. Could you share a bit about what you will be exploring? – Without giving away too much, of course! 

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#KTChat With Author Margo Sorenson: How to ‘Write What You Know’ Without Oversharing

18 Wednesday Mar 2020

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by Margo Sorenson

Margo in colorEditor’s Note: Award-winning author Margo Sorenson, who has published more than 30 books for young readers and has been an SCBWI member for over 30 years, will be available to chat with you on Twitter this Friday (March 20) from 12 pm to 1 pm (Pacific Time). Keep on reading for her tips on how to write what you know without oversharing, and get your questions ready for this Friday’s live Twitter chat!

We’ve all heard the maxim, “write what you know,” but how can we leverage our true-life personal experiences in our writing without making our manuscripts shameless (blush!) tell-alls? In our upcoming live Twitter chat this Friday, March 20, we’ll explore some ways to use our past histories without incurring the possible wrath of family and friends or the excruciating embarrassment of having all our “deepest secrets” aired to (gasp!) young readers—but still keep our artistic integrity and creativity intact.

Acclaimed author Virginia Hamilton once wrote, “Writing is what you know, what you remember, and what you imagine.” Feelings and emotions are integral in writing, and when we stop and reflect, we really do know our emotions. Creating a main character that will resonate with young readers is often jump-started by tapping into these feelings. Those emotions we remember as kids—joy, fear, shame, love, and betrayal, among many others—will make our characters seem real and true to readers. However, it is key to separate “our real selves” from those strong, self-revelatory feelings that make us so vulnerable. That way, we can avoid turning our manuscripts into cringe-worthy “oversharing.”

How do we do that? Continue reading →

Prolific Author-Illustrator Mary Ann Fraser on Hooking Agents, Editors, and Readers with Narrative Nonfiction

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Author's Perspective, Tips and Tools, Writers Days

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This year’s Los Angeles SCBWI Writers Day is all about discovering that “eureka” moment by learning tricks and techniques to make your manuscripts shine, digging deeper or simply polishing work to perfection, and attending in-depth workshops with industry pros in areas where we all can use insights and practice. Author and illustrator of over seventy books, Mary Ann Fraser’s workshop, Ready, Aim, Write: Creating On-Target Nonfiction, is all about “carving a gripping informational story out of facts. You’ll learn how to form an irresistible hook to tempt agent and editor alike.” You’ll also get hands-on reading AND writing done in this workshop! We just couldn’t wait until March 28th, though, so we’re bringing you a little sneak peek. Read on for a great Q&A with Mary Ann!

SARAH PARKER-LEE: Thanks for joining us, Mary Ann! Your workshop sounds super fascinating! Nonfiction and fiction are often seen as opposite ends of the kid lit world, or that writing for one means you can’t write for the other. Writers can also feel intimidated because they don’t think they’re “experts” on new subject matter that might interest them, even if they’ve written nonfiction before. What do you say to writers looking to bridge these perceived gaps or who feel intimidated?  Continue reading →