Write what you know.

You’ve heard that advice before. Probably from the first time you were told to write a story. “Don’t try to get all fancy. Just stick with what you know.” Or, “If you have trouble creating a character, base him/her on someone you know.” It’s sound advice and I’m not going to knock it. And it works for any genre. That evil mermaid from a favorite book? I’m betting money SOMETHING about her was modeled after someone.

But…

Of there’s a but. All this becomes a problem if you’re ONLY basing characters on people you know. If you become too scared to step out of the box you’ve decorated so well to see if you can thrive without it.

My first manuscript was a story about three generations of one Russian-Jewish family. I liked to think of it as a Russian-Jewish JOY LUCK CLUB. It had romance, death, war, betrayal. It was a great premise. A 350 word epic. But it didn’t move. It didn’t sing. The reason? I based too much of it on my own family. Each time I dared to get creative, a voice in my head screamed “That’s not how it really happened! What will your parents say? Get back in the box!” Now, if this was a memoir, this would have been fine, but it was supposed to be fiction. In fiction, events don’t happen as they would in real life. They move quicker, toward something. There are obstacles at every step. My manuscript had obstacles but they didn’t factor in how they should have. The last 1/3 of the manuscript worked the best because that was the part most loosely based on my own life. That’s when I got my A-HA moment.

When I write now, I start with a voice. Sometimes it’s voice of someone I know/knew. Other times, it’s just a girl or guy with something to say. Along the way, they develop. I let my characters borrow some of my traits, some of people I know. I think a small part of me (like how I would react to a situation) appears in many of them. But I know to keep the story moving now, to not hold too tightly to a memory or vision of someone.

The goal is to keep stepping outside the confines of my box.

I was supposed to post yesterday, and for the first time since I began writing these Connect posts, I’m late.

Why? Health issues, family issues, revisions…just life. It happens, sure. But what can we do to avoid delays like this?

The obvious answer is to write things down on a calendar, which I started doing, and that has helped immensely. However, even with calendars, we get bogged down. Sometimes, I feel like I’m juggling twenty balls in the air at once, and I don’t know how to keep them from falling (ok, since I can’t juggle, this analogy… Continue reading

My dad’s birthday is today so in honor of this exciting day, I asked readers and writers for books they liked to read with their fathers. [**NOTE: Moms can read all the books below too**]. The compilation below is based on their suggestions. One writer told me that reading with his dad was the one common language the two of them had during the writer’s teenage years. I’m sure others can say the same. The list below is broken down by age group and is—by no stretch of the imagination—complete. However, I found this TERRIFIC blog called Book Dads (… Continue reading

Kitty Keswick

This week, we’re celebrating Kitty’s debut! Kitty Keswick has been an Anglophile since age four when she saw Robin Hood and fell head over heels in love. As she grew up on her grandfather’s California vineyard, Kitty’s imagination was her best friend. At a very tender age, she started writing her stories and reading them to the grapes.

Kitty spends her days with werewolves, Valkyries, vamps, and other creatures that go bump in the night. Check out her website www.kittykeswick.com… Continue reading

INSIGHT by Diana Greenwood

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
• Publisher: Zondervan
• Release Date: April 15, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 0310723140
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Some secrets won’t let you go.

Elvira Witsil lives about as far away from civilization as you can get, in a remote corner of Wisconsin where nothing much ever happens. In a house crowded with her mother, her cantankerous grandmother, and her little sister, Jessie, Elvira feels forgotten and alone.

Their house also… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: June 2011
• Publisher: Candlewick Press
• Release Date: June 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 9780763641566
• ISBN (paperback): 2012

Tía Isa wants a car. Something big enough for the whole family when they’re together. A special car to take them all the places where the bus cannot go. But how can a girl and her tía find the money – and where will they find that one special car?… Continue reading

FOR THE LOVE OF STRANGERS by Jacqueline Horsfall

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2010]
• Publisher: Leap Books
• Release Date: October 2010
• ISBN (hardcover):
• ISBN (paperback): 978-1-61603-003-2

For the Love of Strangers puts a new spin on the classic hero-savior myth as 16-year-old Darya realizes that she is descended from a line of Russian deer-women who reincarnate over eons. Whitetail deer follow her. She talks to them, meets them in the most unlikely places, unaware… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2011
• Publisher: Sourcebooks – Teen Fire
• Release Date: June 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Stupid Fast is the story of Felton Reinstein, a fifteen-turning-sixteen-year-old in a rural Wisconsin town whose sudden growth spurt turns him from a small, sad, jumpy, picked-on kid (called squirrel nut) to a powerful athlete.  In Felton’s voice, speaking from his bedroom in the middle of the night, we learn of his broken home, his mother’s intensifying depression, his little brother’s pirate-clothed struggles, and the seeming root of all trouble – his father’s suicide… Continue reading

FREAKSVILLE by Kitty Keswick

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
• Publisher: Leap Books
• Release Date: January 8, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): ISBN-13:978-1-61603-001-8

FREAKSVILLE

A group of teenagers, trapped in a haunted theater on the night of a full moon, discover that ghosts are the least of their worries…

Every woman in the Maxwell family has the gift of sight. A talent sixteen-year-old Kasey would gladly give up. All she wants is a normal life… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Fall 2012
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Release Date: TBD
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

Travis Stephenson is a 19-year-old Marine on leave after his first deployment to Afghanistan, struggling with PTSD, a disintegrating family, and friendships that no longer fit. When his path crosses that of Harper Gray, a girl whose reputation he trashed with a middle school lie, Travis feels like he’s found something to hold onto–someone who helps him feel normal. Whatever that means… Continue reading

BORN AT MIDNIGHT by C.C. Hunter

• Publication Season/Year:  Spring, 2011
• Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
• Release Date: March 29, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): None
• ISBN (paperback): 978-0312624675

Kylie Galen has had a lot of crap tossed in her lap. Her parents are getting a divorce. Her boyfriend broke up with her because she wouldn’t put out. Her grandmother died and now Kylie’s acquired a stalker. Unfortunately, she’s the only one who seems to be able… Continue reading

SHOES FOR ME! by Sue Fliess

• Publication Season/Year: Spring/2011
• Publisher: Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books, Pinwheel Books
• Release Date: March 1, 2011
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0761458258

When Hippo realizes her feet have grown, she and Mom set off to buy new shoes. Hippo tries on every pair until she finally finds the perfect shoes for her… Continue reading

It has been a really trying week in my writing world. And it’s weeks like these when I especially choose to remember why I write. People often ask me about how it feels “doing what you love.” When I answer “awesome” or “wonderful”, I’m not lying, but I also don’t provide the full picture. Mainly because it would take a long time and a deep discussion. Sometimes, people ask me if how I write has changed since getting published. For this answer, I go into the lengthy point mentioned above.

Let’s be honest. Once you’re published, things do change… Continue reading

PRISONERS IN THE PALACE by Michaela MacColl

• Publication Season/Year: Fall, 2010
• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Release Date: October 13, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0-8118-7300-0
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

London, 1836. Sixteen-year-old Liza’s dreams of her society debut are dashed when her parents are killed in an accident. Penniless, she accepts the position of lady’s maid to young Princess Victoria and steps unwittingly into the gossipy intrigue of the servant’s world below-stairs as well as the trickery… Continue reading

• Publication Season/Year: Winter, 2012
• Publisher: Tor
• Release Date: TBA
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

It feels like all Ember Miller has ever known is war.  After the major cities were destroyed, the government began enforcing the Moral Statutes – the faith-based regulations governing almost every aspect of Ember’s daily life.  She and her mom know how to get what they need and pass the random inspections of their home made Federal Bureau of Reformation, but despite their low profile the unthinkable happens: Ember’s mother is arrested for violating Article 5 of the… Continue reading