Hook, Line and Binky

Back from the SCBWI writer's weekend!

I know the secrets of the publishing world!
I know how to make stories
that editors AND children
will gobble up
hook, line and binky.

Here is Part One of my conference gleanings.

How to make your story good bait...

From my agent Rubin Pfeffer of East West Literary Agency:

Agents and Editors are looking for
Great stories that are rich with
Emotion,
Strong characters,
Originality,
Strong pacing,
Masterful language - not cheesy rhymes,
Re-readability,
and Hook.

       What is "Hook?"

Hook is that snappy one-line
that will sell your story,
that clever Something that sets your book apart from the rest -

A robot escapes the Science Fair,
Dinosaurs deal with bedtime,
Pirates have to babysit,


From Bruce Hale,
author of Snoring Beauty and the Chet Gecko mystery series:

Art is War.

We have to fight within ourselves to produce art.
The biggest fight? Making time to write.
What sucks up your writing time?
Is it email? Social networking? TV? Phone?
What if you CUT THAT IN HALF ?
How much more writing would result?

Melissa Sweet, author/illustrator of award-winning Balloons Over Broadway, and other stunners,  wowed us with her art and her passion.

She embraces research as a necessary part of the process.
Melissa suggests doing quick mini-watercolors every day - to learn how to observe.
She once did a 365-day series graphing weather and light, moon and sun patterns.

from Charlotte in Giverny,
by Joan McPhail Knight, ill. by Melissa S

"Design isn't just about making things.

  It's making things happen." 

- Melissa Sweet

Carmine A Little More Red, by Melissa Sweet

 ill. by Melissa Sweet 

It's amazing to be surrounded 

by book-lovers, word-lovers
and art-lovers,

to connect with like minds and discover
that I am not the only writer afflicted 

with revisions...

Buoyant!

And thank you, Rubin Pfeffer, for this one:

"A writer is not a writer. A writer is a rewriter." - Patricia MacLachlan

Whew. Glad it's not just me.
I'll give you the second scoop of conference wisdom soon!

In the meantime, I leave you with books from local writer friends I can't wait to read:

Devine Intervention, by Martha Brockenbrough

Pickle, by Kim Baker

Dragonswood, by Janet Lee Carey

Wheee!