| mel
boring |
Join us this afternoon
in the AUDITORIUM-Scheduled Events Room for an "Open Forum" with Web
Editor Mel Boring. Mel has published some 25 magazine articles and
stories, as well as eight books for the young readers market. He
taught writing for 18 years, while being home husband and parent to
two of his four children, and doing his own writing. He welcomes
your questions on time management, getting started, writer's block,
marketing, writing rights, writing earnings, or anything else you'd
like to discuss. Bring your QUESTIONS to this open forum-in five
minutes.
|
| mel
boring |
The Tuesday afternoon
"Open Forum" will begin promptly at 4 Atlantic/CANADA, 3 p.m.
Eastern, 2 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Mountain, and noon Pacific. While
you wait for the "Open Forum" to start, feel free to use your ASK A
QUESTION button RIGHT BETWEEN THE YELLOW "MAP" AND THE RED QUESTION
MARK IN ICHAT to post some questions for the discussion group-two
minutes from now.
|
| mel
boring |
Good afternoon! Welcome
to this Tuesday afternoon's "Open Forum" session. I'm your
moderator, Mel Boring, and the Web Editor for this site. We're back
for an informal time of answering any questions you might like to
ask, on any subject. So feel free to ask what's on your mind--and
I'll tell you what's on mine! First, please read these
announcements, then we'll get started.
|
| mel
boring |
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS:
Send questions you'd like answered or discussed by using your "Ask a
Question" icon/button. (It looks like a thought bubble icon, RIGHT
NEXT TO THE RED QUESTION MARK.) The moderator (me, Mel Boring) will
post the questions one at a time in the chat room and do my best to
answer them. Also note: If you want to make it possible to ask the
longest question you can, first type "/ask" (without the quotation
marks), then leave one space after the end of "ask", then type as
many characters of your question as you can. If your question is not
complete, send the second part next, then if necessary the third,
etc.
|
| mel
boring |
WARNING: If you don't
post anything at all, SOME of you will be bounced off the system in
15 minutes. TO PREVENT THIS, type something (either a question to
the moderator or even a private message) every 15 minutes to stay
active and remain online.
|
| mel
boring |
Here's GOOD NEWS of
what someone has been up to!...
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD NEWS from Hope
Marston: We were over in the Adirondacks earlier this week to visit
an outfitters store. I talked with the clerk and showed her my
LITTLE BOOK COLLECTION. I left her ordering materials and a
complimentary copy of the wolf book (her choice because the owner
and his boys "love" wolves.) This outfitter has stores in three
communities in the central Adirondacks.
|
|
|
| mel
boring |
Hope, we ALL HOPE with
you that your LITTLE BOOK COLLECTION will be stocked way up there in
the Adirondacks!
|
| mel
boring |
RV wants to know: What
are a few of the right questions for a new author/ illustrator to
ask?
|
| mel
boring |
Here is a pre-submitted
question of interest to MANY....
|
| mel
boring |
First of all, a new
author/illlustrator should ask: Am I going to be willing to stick
with writing for SEVEN years?...
|
| mel
boring |
because that is the
AVERAGE time it takes today to get a BOOK
published....
|
| mel
boring |
In fact, I think it's
MORE years nowadays myself, but seven is enough....
|
| mel
boring |
Secondly, a new
writer/illustrator should ask if they are willing to submit their
work to MAGAZINES first....
|
| mel
boring |
Because it's much
EASIER to get stories, articles or illustrations published in
magazines, RV....
|
| mel
boring |
Then the new
author/illustrator should ask: Am I ready for "suggestive questions"
from family and friends who don't think much of children's
writing....
|
| mel
boring |
If you can answer all
those questions affirmatively, RH, you'll be WELL on your way! And
GOOD FORTUNE to you from all of us!
|
| mel
boring |
If any of you have
things to suggest to RH to ask, message them to me and I'll share
them!
|
| gailmarina |
Is taking a writing
course essential for success?
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD question,
gailmarina. I never took a writing course when I began 35 years
ago....
|
| mel
boring |
and I know people who
are getting published THESE DAYS without a writer's
course....
|
| mel
boring |
When I began in 1969,
the Institute of Children's LIterature was JUST
starting...
|
| mel
boring |
and I didn't hear about
them, or I would've taken their course....
|
| mel
boring |
My feeling is that if
you are starting out writing TODAY, gailmarina,...
|
| mel
boring |
taking a writer's
course would be a GOOD idea, because...
|
| mel
boring |
our business is so much
more competitive, and we need all the help we can
get....
|
| mel
boring |
And a course WOULD
HELP, I know, from having taught the ICL courses
previously.
|
| tkat_2 |
Mel, taking the ICL
course and the one at Longridge was one of the best decisions I made
on advice from one of the cofounders of my local creative writers
group to " get something else" under your belt.
|
| mel
boring |
THANKS for your GOOD
and timely advice, tkat_2!...
|
| mel
boring |
Is there a writer here
today who has NOT taken a writer's course, and would like to share
about this? Message it, and I'll pass it on.
|
| ladyblf2001 |
I need help in time
mangement. Hrs at work really hurt me
|
| mel
boring |
You are NOT alone,
ladyblf2001, for we ALL need help in time
management!...
|
| mel
boring |
To begin with, with an
OUTside job, you should schedule just a HALF-HOUR to write per
day....
|
| mel
boring |
Do ALL that you can in
that half-hour....
|
| mel
boring |
Later, you increase it,
by 5 or 10 minutes at a time, after you get that time spot
established....
|
| mel
boring |
Still NOW, after
writing for 35 years, I ALSO have trouble with time
management....
|
| mel
boring |
Working at home, there
are SO MANY distractions--good things you needa do!
(-:}...
|
| mel
boring |
I recently moved my
office UPstairs here, because it keeps me "above" all those things
I'm aware of needing to do downstairs,...
|
| mel
boring |
like giving the dog a
treatie weatie, checking on the cat's water, and so
on....
|
| mel
boring |
So start SMALL, then
when that SHORT time is secure, gradually increase
it....
|
| mel
boring |
And, ladyblf2001, I
ALWAYS want to know if advice works....
|
| mel
boring |
So will YOU please let
us know in, say, two weeks, how it's working for you?
THANKS!
|
| mel
boring |
I owe a big thanks to
lizr from last week:
|
| mel
boring |
MANY THANKS to lizr for
telling us this valuable news last week: Carolyn Yoder is the editor
of a new imprint at Boyds Mills Press, Calkins Creek Books; it was
started less than a year ago.
|
| mel
boring |
Carolyn Yoder's main
interest is HISTORY, so I'm sure that's why they've established the
Calkins Creek Books imprint. If now, and you know, would you let me
know, please?
|
| mel
boring |
Here's so MORE GOOD
advice on time management!...
|
| tkat_2 |
my best advice on time
management leave the television off :) It's worked for me so
far.
|
| george
kulz |
Mel, I devote 1/2 hour a
day to writing, and, if I do what I'm suppose to, I write anything
and everything on my mind for that half hour and don't go back to
correct, edit, fix, etc. I may do that after I've written everything
I want to write on whatever topic I'm writing on, but not during
development of an idea. Hope this helps someone who is having
trouble managing their time.
|
| mel
boring |
GREAT advice, tkat_2
and george kulz--THANKS!
|
| mbvoelker |
Distractions -- my kids
are banging on my door every 2 minutes because one is packing for
camp and the other is watching his little brother who is being
difficult. LOL
|
| mel
boring |
YIKES! That IS a great
barrier to writing, MB!...
|
| mel
boring |
Are YOU able to write
in all that distraction? Let us know how YOU do it,
please!
|
| mel
boring |
More from lizr about
Calkins Creek...
|
| lizr |
You're welcome, Mel More
info about the imprint is in the current = July issue of ICL's
Children's Writer
|
| mel
boring |
Thank YOU,
lizr!
|
| grandy1983 |
What can I do to make my
middle-grade novel stand out from all the others in the slush pile?
I have a good storyline, but how can I make an editor go, "WOW!"
when she reads it? I am only finished with the first few chapters.
Thanks, Mel.
|
| mel
boring |
It's ALL in the very
first words, grandy1983....
|
| mel
boring |
That is, your first
three pages, and consequently your first chapter MUST GRAB
them....
|
| mel
boring |
Envision this: You're a
NYC editor in your office; it's Friday about 4PM...
|
| mel
boring |
You're tired, plain
worn out, perhaps a little bored....
|
| mel
boring |
Then imagine that
editor opening up your manuscript....
|
| mel
boring |
You MUST grab them, and
I follow the "Rule of THrees."...
|
| mel
boring |
You have, first, THREE
SECONDS, to grab their attention....
|
| mel
boring |
So your title is
crucial there....
|
| mel
boring |
then, if they stay with
you, you have THREE MINUTES...
|
| mel
boring |
They will read for
about three minutes from the beginning of your
manuscript....
|
| mel
boring |
Go back and read your
ms, starting at the start, and read for three
minutes....
|
| mel
boring |
Then ask if there is
anything in that first three minutes that will GRAB
them....
|
| mel
boring |
Here's an example. I
THINK in the first Harry Potter book,...
|
| mel
boring |
J.K. Rowling VERY
QUICKLY gets to Harry being left on the porch....
|
| mel
boring |
THAT is a "grabby"
opening. Editors (and readers) will think, "Left on the porch?
What's gonna happen now?"...
|
| mel
boring |
and they will KEEP
reading. DON'T be J.K. Rowling; be grandy1983; but GRAB the editor,
and EARLY!
|
| spotslover2 |
I just finished the
magazine course, which was quite helpful
|
| mel
boring |
Thanks for letting us
know, spotslover2!...
|
| mel
boring |
My opinion is that
those courses give you the ONE BEST THING...
|
| mel
boring |
we all need to get
started: A one-on-one relationship with a real person, a published
author, and that is what you need to get published.
|
| realityczech |
I read so much about
writing daily when I started that I felt continually guilty for
missing a day. Now I realize that I am someone who writes in large
chunks, and then rests--like a python gorging on a pecary. I might
not write for a week, then BAM, I complete 3 chapters in a weekend.
Every writer needs to find his or her OWN rhythm.
|
| mel
boring |
Here's MB back with
some good advice:...
|
| mbvoelker |
Today I'm just doing
forums so its not too bad. I try to keep a "no pestering the mom"
time for a few hours each day while the little one naps and the big
kids do quiet things. Does always work, but more often than not.
:-)
|
| mel
boring |
How about putting a
sign up that says: "Don't Pester Mom" while you're working, or
"Don't Pester Pop"?
|
| mel
boring |
I think the trick is
FINDING those LITTLE BITS of time--like during naps, AND using them,
even if only FIVE minutes!
|
| peanut |
Mel, I am a stay-at-home
mom so I am home all the time, but writing time is still hard to
come by, especially in summer with the kids home. I set time in the
morning and in the evening to write every day. Any other time that
can be added is a plus... I set my timer and write nonstop until it
rings. The kids know that if my office door is closed, they can't
bother me unless someone is bleeding or
something...LOL
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD suggestions,
peanut, THANKS! The TIMER is something I have used, too, and it
WORKS!
|
| realityczech |
My kids know that if they
interrupt the python (ME) they might end up becoming the pecary! Ha
Ha!
|
| mel
boring |
HA! LOVE THAT!
realityczech, did you send me a larger message? I'm sorry, I seem to
have seen it, but lost it. Could you resend,
please?
|
| mena |
I am finding i only have
time to write when the pressure is
|
| mel
boring |
I'm going to guess at
the rest of mena's question...
|
| mel
boring |
"I am finding I only
have time to write when the pressure is on,"...
|
| mel
boring |
and it's TRUE that SOME
people can ONLY write, or perform, when the pressure is
ON.
|
| loretta |
Last week someone asked
about payment from Kid Zone. Who was it and did they ever get
paid?
|
| mel
boring |
I don't remember who it
was, loretta, but I'll ask if that person is here, would they
respond to loretta's question?
|
| lizr |
I'm in a quandry about a
story I am working on -- I want to try my 'hand' at writing a story
with the MC as an animal - a little bear- I know that we hear that
most editors don't want anthropomorphic animal stories - but half of
the new stories out each season are about animals. So, -- should I
try it or just have the MC be a child?
|
| mel
boring |
NO, I would let it be a
bear, lizr, I know you can do it!...
|
| mel
boring |
BUT remember the advice
that BOTH Marileta Robinson and, I think, Cynthia Smith, gave
us:...
|
| mel
boring |
DON'T just have "kids
with fur."...
|
| mel
boring |
In other words, build
animal characters that are truly ANIMALS, and
not...
|
| mel
boring |
just "kids in
disguise."...
|
| mel
boring |
What I think that means
is that you should consciously put out of your
mind...
|
| mel
boring |
trying to "show kids
something" in using animals....
|
| mel
boring |
Let it be an ANIMAL
under that fur, not a kid!
|
| mel
boring |
HM has this GOOD
question: When we submit our manuscripts, are we supposed to single
space or double space between sentences? (And who makes that
decision anyway?)
|
|
|
| mel
boring |
Yes, HM, manuscript
pages should be DOUBLE-spaced, and I once asked that question of an
editor....
|
| mel
boring |
She looked at me with
surprise and said,...
|
| mel
boring |
"It's just to make them
easier to read."...
|
| mel
boring |
So the decision was
made by editors who wanted manuscripts to be easier to read,
HM.
|
| mena |
is poetry.com a scam,i've
entered many poems and they all
|
| mel
boring |
I don't have any
experience with poetry.com, mena,...
|
| mel
boring |
but one of my students
ONCE went through all the procedures there,...
|
| mel
boring |
and told me that SHE
felt it was a scam,...
|
| mel
boring |
and the purpose of the
scam (which is REALLY "dressed up in finery")...
|
| mel
boring |
is to sell YOU the book
with your poem(s) in it....
|
| mel
boring |
I'm sorry to be the
bearer of such BAD TIDINGS,...
|
| mel
boring |
but my OWN conclusion
is that they are a scam....
|
| mel
boring |
I'll be GLAD to give
equal time here to ANYone who has not felt they were a
scam!
|
| realityczech |
You posted the larger
message, Mel. It had to do with my being a writer who writes in
large chunks of time with days/weeks off in between rather than
daily, like a python gorging on the pecary. I was saying that each
writer has his own individual rythym that works, and it's okay if it
is different from what the books tell us to do.
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD point,
realityczech! THANKS for re-sending it....
|
| mel
boring |
The bottom line is that
we ALL have different bodies, temperaments, likes, dislikes,
etc,...
|
| mel
boring |
and OUR PARTICULAR
writing schedule MUST BE fitted to that.
|
| realityczech |
I think my kids are more
accepting of my large blocks of time because they know I DON"T write
every day
|
| mel
boring |
Here's some TIMELY
advice from a writer at work, lisalisa:...
|
| lisalisa |
Here might be a good time
to plug my article on the ICL
|
| lisalisa |
website. Under Writer's
RX, Writer's Support, Schedule
|
| lisalisa |
"The
Stay-at-Home-Parent's Guide to Finding Time to
Write."
|
| lisalisa |
As we speak, I'm on this
forum, putting together a booklet
|
| lisalisa |
for my class reunion,
trying to get my youngest down for a
|
| lisalisa |
nap, and sometimes
revising a story.
|
| mel
boring |
lisalisa, you are a
person who can do so MANY things at one time....
|
| mel
boring |
And that leads me to
say that it is WHEN I FORCE MYSELF to do many things at once, both
mentally and physically, that I get the most writing
done!
|
| mbvoelker |
Doing a Google or Yahoo
search on writing scams will bring up many sites for checking. My
favorite is one called Writer Beware, which is associated with SFWA.
Unfortunately, I can't give you the URL right now.
|
| mel
boring |
GOOD advice, use the
search words "Writer Beware" to find that one--a GOOD one! I'll try
to slip the URL of it into the transcript before I post
it!
|
| craig |
can instructors assist
you with past assignments even after they have provided some
information on it once before
|
| mel
boring |
Hi, craig! They can do
it in a more limited way....
|
| mel
boring |
For instance, if you
write an Assignment 3 or 4 that is submittable, and you submit
it,...
|
| mel
boring |
you can come back and
say later, "I submitted to X Magazine, do you have any other
submission suggestion?"...
|
| mel
boring |
THey just can't give
another full critique of it, craig.
|
| mel
boring |
MORE good stuff on time
management!:...
|
| tkat_2 |
I told my family that
Tuesdays are forum days so they and my friends don't call me. If
they do, I have a second line for them to leave a
message.
|
| mel
boring |
What an imaginative
thing you've done in doing that, tkat_2!
|
| tkat_2 |
re: the Poetry.com scam
youb are rightbecause a few of the publishing houses of those
anthologies do the same thing like Poetry.com does. They lure you in
with finery and scam you by making you pay for the
extras.
|
| mena |
where do i send poems to
see if they can be published
|
| mel
boring |
mena, I would STUDY the
few poems published in HIGHLIGHTS....
|
| mel
boring |
For example, there is
always one inside the front cover....
|
| mel
boring |
And I would LEARN poety
writing from those good examples, then write poetry, not identical
to them, but as APPEALING as those poems are....
|
| mel
boring |
Then I would go
thoroughly through the CHILDREN'S MAGAZINE MARKET,
...
|
| mel
boring |
or CHILDREN'S WRITERS
AND ILLUSTRATOR'S MARKET,...
|
| mel
boring |
and PICK out the FEW
magazines who list wanting poetry....
|
| mel
boring |
Then I would submit the
poems I'd written with the HIGHLIGHTS poems as "teachers," to them,
mena.
|
| loretta |
Mel, I know you've spoken
on this before, but for YA novel, first time, what should I shoot
for
|
| loretta |
is last weeks forum
posted with the transcripts and if not will it be
eventually?
|
| mel
boring |
Last week's Open Forum
SHOULD be posted, loretta....
|
| mel
boring |
But it bears checking,
and I'll do it when this one is over and I post it. THANKS for
bringing it up, because I DO forget! I'll check on
it.
|
| mel
boring |
FOr a first YA novel, I
would shoot for no more than 15,000 words, or 20,000 at the
most,....
|
| mel
boring |
if that was your
question, loretta. But it's MOST important, at whatEVER word length,
that you really pack something SPECIAL into the
manuscript.
|
| lisalisa |
In the same thread as
craig's question, is it ever OK to ask
|
| lisalisa |
your former instructor to
critique something for you?
|
| mel
boring |
That would be a no-no,
I'm afraid, lisalisa,...
|
| mel
boring |
and here is why. Your
instructor's time is limited, so s/he is trying to hold within the
schedule that the course sets up....
|
| mel
boring |
ANything EXTRA really
pushes that schedule....
|
| mel
boring |
Here's a better
suggestion: Ask your instructor if they know of
a...
|
| mel
boring |
RELIABLE, REASONABLE
critiquer who does that as a business....
|
| mel
boring |
And I think that MOST
instructors would know of at least one.
|
| realityczech |
I have a question about
the copyright symbol. We've been told at forums to include it in
order to protect our work, but I have read several writer's guides
that claim putting the copyright symbol on your manuscript is the
clear mark of an amateur. Mary at Longridge seemed to share this
view. To copyright or not to copyright, that is the
question...
|
| mel
boring |
I agree, realityczech,
it does mark an amateur....
|
| mel
boring |
Here is why. NO
respectable editor is EVER going to pilfer writing from
anyone....
|
| mel
boring |
SO they take the
copyright symbol as an offense....
|
| mel
boring |
After all, you haven't
EVEN gotten it published yet, why are you worried about copyright?,
they will wonder....
|
| mel
boring |
Books are CAREFULLY
copyrighted in the AUTHOR'S name at the time of
publication....
|
| mel
boring |
So you are ANTICIPATING
the editor's job, and most of them would be at least mildly
offended.
|
| tkat_2 |
My main character has to
travel back in time to find the missing pieces of her past. I know
that "Slider's" has the remote control calculator and "Stargate SG1"
has the gate, how can I make the trip more unique?
|
| mel
boring |
You DO need an
object...
|
| mel
boring |
that CLEARLY shows the
travel is launched, tkat_2....
|
| mel
boring |
Even C.S. Lewis had the
wardrobe in which the kids traveled to another
world...
|
| mel
boring |
in THE LION, THE WITCH
AND THE WARDROBE....
|
| mel
boring |
It can be ANYthing,
doesn't have to be a fancy remote control
calculator....
|
| mel
boring |
For instance, with
children of age 7-9, they could go under the table beneath the table
cloth to time travel....
|
| mel
boring |
But yours will be more
sophisticated, I think, tkat_2...
|
| mel
boring |
You could use a door,
any gate, maybe a concealed pathway, a path into the dense
forest,...
|
| mel
boring |
or ANYplace that
DEFINITELY SHOWS "Now my character is traveling back or
forward."
|
| grandy1983 |
How can I realistically
change my villain to become a better person and learn from his
mistakes? For example, my villain had been deeply hurt by something
that had happened to him, and he retaliated against the lady who was
the cause of this. However, he feels very guilty at the end when the
protagonist solves the urgent problem. What reasons would be good
enough to justify his changing into a better person? I know most
villains don't change, but because he is not truly evil, I felt I
could have him turn out to be a good character.
|
| mel
boring |
Could the protagonist
work WITH the villain, grandy1983?...
|
| mel
boring |
Maybe he would do it
GRUDGINGLY,...
|
| mel
boring |
but the villain could
realistically HAVE TO BE involved in the
resolution....
|
| mel
boring |
Why don't you consider
this, and let us know if it does or doesn't work?
|
| craig |
I want to use assignment
2 for a contest I need more advice on it
|
| mel
boring |
That sounds like you
need further critique on the story, craig, and that wouldn't be
appropriate....
|
| mel
boring |
What would you think of
this?...
|
| mel
boring |
Go to our Writer's
Retreat, and ask for the advice?...
|
| mel
boring |
There are students and
grads there who would be glad to advise.
|
| realityczech |
Another tip to help kids
understand the No Interruptions policy: SHOW THEM YOUR WORK. Once my
kids started reading my writing, they were much better about
respecting my time and space. I got my writing needs met and an
audience for my work--bonus!
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| mel
boring |
HA! Such a SIMPLE piece
of advice, but SO workable and practical! THANKS,
realityczech!
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| mel
boring |
Friends, I'm going to
have to stop on time because....
|
| mel
boring |
the "First Pass Pages"
have JUST arrived via FEDEX for GUINEA PIG SCIENTISTS, and I MUST
get them done by this Friday--an almost impossible
task!...
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| mel
boring |
THANKS for being here
today, and I'll save the leftover questions to use in the Q&As
on MOndays....
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| mel
boring |
THIS Thursday evening,
Karen Orfitelli will be our Chat Guest....
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| mel
boring |
She is an expert BOTH
writer and editor, with MUCH experience in both. See you
then?...
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| mel
boring |
Bye for
now!
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