Writer Unboxed

Verla Kay is the award-winning author of eight historical children’s books, with three more in the works. Verla’s work is unique, as she’s pioneered a phrase called “cryptic rhyme” and set herself apart from others who write in rhyme. Verla’s also founder of a huge resource for children’s writers, called the Children’s Writing & Illustrating Message Board, which averages between 600-800,000 hits monthly. We’re thrilled she took time out of her busy schedule to chat with us about her work. Enjoy!

Interview with Verla Kay: Part 1

Q: You coined the phrase “cryptic rhyme.” What is it and how did the idea of it evolve for you?

VK: Cryptic rhyme will not be found in rhyming textbooks. You won’t find it listed in the dictionary or in poetry books. Why? Because it’s my own term for my own style of writing. I’ve never taken a poetry course or read a book on how to write poetry, so I didn’t know there was a name for the kind of writing I was doing, and when I first started writing verses like this, I didn’t have any way to describe it to people — so I coined my own term for it — cryptic rhyme.

I call it cryptic rhyme because I write short, clipped, descriptive verses that paint vivid, concise pictures using almost no full sentences. Much is left up to the imagination of the reader, who has to “fill in the gaps.” Hence the term, cryptic — verses with hidden meanings.

Here are a couple of verses written in cryptic rhyme from some of my currently published books.

From Iron Horses: Black clouds scuttle,/Billow high./Lightning crackles,/Splitting sky.

From Tattered Sails: Tainted water,/Slimy vats./Wormy biscuits,/Lice and rats.

From Rough, Tough Charley: Bandit! Hold up!/Bullets shoot!/Bad man buried,/”Saved the loot.”

I first got the idea to write like this because of a wonderful picture book I saw by Dayle Ann Dodds called, On Our Way to Market. She had one page in that book that I absolutely fell in love with. It went something like this, “Stuck duck. Bad luck. How will we get to market?” After hearing that phrase in my head for several days, I thought, “Hmmm. What if you wrote a whole story like that? In just short, clipped phrases?” And cryptic rhyme was born. At first, I thought I’d “invented” a new style of writing a book. I have since discovered that many others have also written in a style similar to mine — they just didn’t “name” their style “cryptic rhyme.”

Hopefully, this will clarify cryptic rhyme and will save someone hours of research…looking for information on cryptic rhyme in poetry books…which won’t be there.

Q: How important do you think it was to have both a unique style and label as you marketed your work? Continue Reading »

So I’m getting the galleys of Time of My Life tomorrow. Yay! For those of you who don’t know, a galley – or an ARC (advanced review copy) – is essentially an uncorrected paperback version of your book. Which means that there will still be some typos and whatnot, but that mostly, this is the finished product. So it’s pretty dang exciting. Especially because, unlike with my first book, this time around, my publisher – Shaye Areheart books, an imprint at Random House – is doing some really cool things with these copies.

The big push that they’re doing involves something called “blow-in” cards. Essentially, they’re sending a bunch of galleys to avid readers and folks with big mouths and such, and along with the book, they’re including a card that says, “Want to share your ‘what if’ moment with a friend?” And then, if you fill out the card with your friend’s address (and sharing your ‘what if’ moment), your friend will receive a copy of the book.

At first, while I was thrilled about the cool idea, I didn’t quite get it. I didn’t quite get the idea of a big galley push. I knew that these blow-in cards had helped generate buzz for a few select books in the past, but still…I don’t know, it just didn’t click. But then, it slowly dawned on me: galleys are for more than just garnering reviews and getting the book in front of booksellers. Galleys are an incredible marketing tool to get readers, not just the media and bookstores, excited for the book. Which sounds simple, logical even, but if you haven’t been fortunate enough to have this push in the galley phase, really, it might not seem so clear. (Or maybe I’m just slow!) As we’ve often discussed on this and other blogs, co-op space aside, word-of-mouth might be the single most important marketing tool you can hope for when it comes to your book’s success. And these blow-in cards, among other things, are designed to do just that: get people talking, get them buzzing, get them to spread the word and the excitement and hopefully, the love, about Time of My Life. Sort-of like advanced movie screenings. Such that by the time it hits the shelves in October, readers will say, “Oh yeah, a friend told me about this book, and I have to have it.” Continue Reading »

I’ve just been in Melbourne for the Children’s Book Council of Australia conference – three days jam-packed with discussion about writing and illustration for young readers.

The program for CBCA conferences is aimed principally at teachers and librarians, and panel topics ranged from ‘The challenge of “reading” graphic novels’ to ‘How teenage writers get published.’ The first morning delivered something of a shock. Jack Zipes, professor of German at the University of Minnesota, scholarly writer on folklore and storyteller, used his keynote address to slam consumer culture and what he called the ‘endumbment’ and ‘commodification’ of children through the commercialization and standardization of children’s books. He was especially damning in his criticism of publishers for giving in to commercial interests by producing books principally for entertainment – his example was a certain series aimed at girls, with various tie-in products available – rather than books that reflect community values and standards. Professor Zipes made a number of valid points, and I can’t summarise his complex speech in a single blog post. It did concern me to hear him express this view so vehemently to an audience that included representatives of Australian publishing houses, since most of these continue to produce high quality books for young readers alongside more commercial titles. I’d have preferred to see the conference begin on a more positive note. The attendees at CBCA are people who spend a major part of their time and energy doing good things with kids and books. Continue Reading »

For those readers who have been following the story of Emmy Cherry, the 10-year old girl killed when a tornado ripped through her Arkansas home, Lynn Wiman, owner of Vintage Books, the bookstore where Emmy spent much of her time, sent us the link to the fund established in her name:

BRIGHTSPIRIT RELIEF FUND

Emmy, a fan of Erin Hunter’s WARRIORS books, along with her mother and father, are to be immortalized in the next Erin Hunter release as Brightspirit.  Former WU contributor Vicky Holmes, the brains behind the bestselling series, is giving Brightspirit a major role in the narrative as a tribute to Emmy.

Arkansas has some of the lowest literacy rates in the U.S.  The Brightspirit Relief Fund will help spread the love of books to children in Emmy’s community.

If you can, please give.

Therese and I are starting to get it together again after returning from our annual writer’s retreat. For the fifth year in a row, we–along with fellow writer-buddy Elena Greene–rented a cottage in a beautiful setting, left instructions for spousal units to feed and care for offspring, and gave ourselves permission to immerse in writing. (Here are Therese and me . . . me looking a little worse for wear due to a couple of glasses of the Fingerlakes’ finest vintages.)

This year we added two other writers to our trio to make us a quintet. I was a little worried that we were going to get in each other’s way scrapping for electrical outlets for our laptops and fighting over the comfy couch. But we spread out to the corners that suited us best, and dug in.

Last year, I posted tips on how to plan a writer’s retreat. The number one rule for success is essential: pick people who are as serious as you are about writing for this indulgence. You’ll throw away time, money, and opportunity if you saddle yourself with folks who want to chit-chat while you want to go roaring through a scene, or worse, view the whole enterprise as a lark. You and your writing buds can be at various stages of publishing, but they must understand that the prime objective of the retreat is to write.

Continue Reading »

Kath and I are groggy from our re-entry into the everyday world, but we wanted you to know about a few links:

Writer’s Digest published a fascinating interview with Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants, HERE.

Interested in checking out the BackSpace Writers Conference, where you can learn from and mingle with editors, agents and published authors? Members of the Mystery Writers of America receive a $50 discount off registration. More, HERE.

The author of Chocolat, Joanne Harris, has just come out with a new novel, The Girl with No Shadow. In Girl, Harris returns to the sensually delicious world of Chocolat, but with a few dark twists. Read more HERE.

Louise Erdrich also has a new novel out, The Plague of Doves, about the ramifications of a horrible crime on a Native American reservation. More, HERE.

More news at the WU Google Notebook, including who just won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards, what’s up with Amazon, and…YA novelist-sensation Stephanie Meyer has written a book for adults? Intriguing!

I’m blogging from an undisclosed location to let y’all know that Therese and I are at our annual writer’s retreat.  Monday is my day to post, but I’ll be late because I’ll be deep in re-entry mode from our three-day marathon writing session.  I’ll tell you all about it when I get a chance.

I  know.  Bated breath and all.  Duly noted.

Last week, we spoke to YA author Caroline Says, and the hot YA series UPPER CLASS that are giving the Gossip Girls a run for the money.  Says, in partnership with fellow writers Hobson Brown and Taylor Materne, have crafted a series of character-driven novels set in an elite New England boarding school.  These books are impressive, and even more so when one considers that Says, Brown and Materne have somehow managed to take three authorial voices and distilled them into one distinct voice that is both literary and distinctly teen.  (Missed part one?  Click HERE).  I read both novels in a feverish weekend session and came away captivated with their fresh spin on what can be an admittedly cliched storyline: rich elite teens and the trouble they get into at boarding school.  They avoid those pitfalls and weave the lives of four students in a sophisticated, often heartbreaking narrative.

Their latest release, OFF CAMPUS, revisits Wellington’s rarified campus, and pushes the series in new directions.  Says also reveals how one should approach writing for the YA market, and the exciting prospect of seeing their novels adapted into television.

Enjoy part two of our interview with Caroline Says. 

Q:  Your target audience is teens.  What should writers be mindful of when writing for this readership? 

Caroline Says:  Often we forgot–somewhat purposefully–that we were writing for teens, and not adults.  Teens are so savvy today in what they read and watch and listen to, and we didn’t want to dumb it down at all.  What we did try to do, and struggled with, was anchoring the story in the teen’s world, dealing with what’s happening behind the closed doors of the teens in the book, and not acting like adults looking into that world from afar.  We tried to stay mindful of what matters to a teen, what the world looks like from that perspective, and where the drama lies.  The horizon is different.  What’s at stake is different.  There are no mortgages and no career decisions and no taxes.  There’s love and grades and detention and virginity, as well as that tension between craving independence and yet not being quite qualified for total independence.

Continue Reading »

I head off to Melbourne later today for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Conference, which I’ll post about on return. It’s a three and a half hour flight, and I will get there at almost midnight. Must get up early enough to imbibe a strong coffee before tomorrow’s first session – at least I only have to listen, not talk! A highlight of the trip will be a puppet theatre version of Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel, The Arrival.

It’s been a chaotic week for me. My car number plates were stolen at the weekend which meant a lot of running around to get replacements. At the same time the car stereo finally died, and I needed to replace that in time for transporting the kids – they get sad in the car without the Wiggles. Yesterday included explaining the complex animal wrangling regimen to the friend who is looking after my house and its occupants while I’m away. (The two dogs have three different medications each, with varying doses. One dog is severely epileptic, the other feeling his age.) Today I look after my grandchildren until just before I need to hop on the plane. With the need to switch my brain rapidly from one mode to another, the book I’m working on has been suffering not only from lack of attention, but also from continuity issues.

Apparently there are some freelance editors who specialize in continuity checking for novelists. I assume this is like the continuity person who works in movies, making sure all the details are consistent within the many takes that may make up one scene. Some authors, especially those who write epic fantasy, employ one of these editors to read the ms before it goes to the publisher. Such an editor can pick up places where there are two full moons in one month, or where a river suddenly starts flowing in the opposite direction. It’s quite easy to make this kind of error, and the publisher’s editor doesn’t always pick it up. One well known fantasy author lopped off a character’s arm in one book, then let him reappear with it miraculously reattached in the sequel. I made an astronomy error in my most recent book, related to the possible position of a sickle moon, which nobody picked up for the first edition.

I’ve just finished reading right through my completed chapters (approximately half a book) to get a sense of how well the story is flowing along, to pick up errors of this kind, and to find out whether the dynamic between the two main characters is working in the way I want it to. There’s a developing relationship between two quite guarded people, and it needs to have a gradual escalation in intensity.

There was good news and bad news. Continue Reading »

There’s a terrific post up by Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware Blogs! about the precautions an author should take if working with a small press publisher. A number of authors have recently lost rights to their work when small presses have folded, and Victoria offers a number of preventative steps you can take to help ensure this doesn’t happen to you. Please do check it out–whether you’re with a small press now, are about to enter into this kind of relationship, or think a journey down a small-press road is in your future.

In other news from around the blogosphere, Colleen Lindsay, “an unrepentant nerd and literary agent with FinePrint Literary Management,” announces that she’s found the Best T-Shirt Ever. We agree. Thanks, Colleen!

Star Wars fans may be happy to learn there’s a new free book opportunity swooping into the galaxy. Check it HERE.

USA Today published THIS list of books you might consider giving to your mom on Mother’s Day. Hmm. I’d probably choose differently, focusing more on great fiction. How about you?

Our friend Chuck Sambuchino at the Guide to Literary Agents blogsite for Writer’s Digest has a tip for writers, straight from agent Barbara Poelle (Irene Goodman Agency). There’s a new genre in town, and it’s called Quagmire Fiction. Read a little about it HERE.

Oh, speaking of Writer’s Digest–drumroll– Continue Reading »

Bookmarks. Don’t hate me, but I kind of…hate them. Well, not all of them; maybe I’m being too harsh. I have a beautiful wire ladybug bookmark a dear friend gave me, a hand-written and stamped label another dear friend made into an ingenious little bookmark, several beaded lengths of twine my daughter made for me, and of course there’s that one I bought to pay tribute to Lord of the Rings. But, really, how many bookmarks does a reader need at any one time? I don’t know about you, but I could do with one or two at the most. I could do with a tissue or piece of yarn in a pinch. Still, this is the item you’ll find in massive quantities whenever you go to a writers’ conference. And for good reason. For an author–especially a new one–bookmarks are an inexpensive way to help promote your work. As long as your bookmark hits the mark–meaning, as long as it can actually help promote you and not just become something left in the bottom of a tote or tossed into recycling.

How to make bookmarks matter more and work harder for you? Is it even possible? Through a new and growing Writers’ Promo Tips Yahoo loop
I’ve joined, I discovered this question-tackling post by blogger J.M. Snyder at Bookworm Bags. J.M. has graciously agreed to let me snag the original post for Writer Unboxed. Enjoy!

Thursday Thirteen ~ Bookmarks & what do to with them

I’m a big fan of Thursday Thirteen, a meme for bloggers to create a list of 13 items that may fit whatever theme you wish. It’s a good way to drive traffic to your website, and fun to see what others come up with as their weekly lists.

This week I’d like to talk about bookmarks. You made them yourself or had them designed professionally; you printed them at home or your local office supply store, or you ordered them online. However you got them, now you have 500+ bookmarks that you need to get rid of, right? So how exactly do you get them in front of people who may want to read your book?

Thirteen Things You Can Do With Bookmarks

1: Leave them in library books whose readers will enjoy your own stories, or put them in books when you return them. You can do this at bookstores or thrift shops that have a book section, as well.

2: Hand one to any solicitor who tries to hand you something (ie, you’ll take their flyer on the state of the economy if they’ll take your bookmark). I do the same thing with telemarketers over the phone ~ the minute they say they want to talk to me about yadda yadda, I say, “I’m glad you called. I just published this book …” They hang up every time.

3: Put a small stack on the counter of local stores. Bookstores, definitely, but think outside the box ~ do you write animal stories? How about leaving some with your vet’s office? Horse stories, look at tack shops. Erotica, visit fetish gear stores or adult bookstores or even lingerie places. Christian authors can find religious goods stores who will display the freebies. M/M or gay fiction? Gay bookstores, clubs, or places owned and operated by those in the gay community. Where I live, there’s a thrift store called “Diversity Thrift” where I left a ton of bookmarks on my way out.

4: Stick one in with your payment whenever you mail in your bills, or leave it on the table in the restaurant with your tip. You never know who will find it!

5: Sneak them into the magazines at the doctor’s waiting room. Continue Reading »

Just a quick note. C. Hope Clark’s blog just announced a great contest for children’s book writers who have yet to break into the business. Check out the Cheerios contest site for all of the details, but here are some of the pertinent contest rules from their site:

WHAT IS THE CONTEST?

The Cheerios Book Contest encourages aspiring authors to write and submit a story for a book for children ages 4 to 8.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR TO WIN. A PURCHASE DOES NOT IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING.

What can I win?

Grand Prize: One (1) Grand Prize of $5000 cash will be awarded. In addition to the cash prize, the Grand Prize winning story submission will be offered to Simon & Schuster for possible future publication. Publication not guaranteed. The $5000 will be awarded as a check made payable to the Grand Prize winner. Approximate value of the Grand Prize is $5000. Publishing terms and contract, if applicable, will be handled independently by Simon & Schuster, or such other publishing company as determined by Simon & Schuster.

The stories of all Prize winners will appear on www.SpoonfulsofStories.com.

How will ENTRIES be judged? Continue Reading »