Ensnaring the Wary: Engaging the Young Adult Reader

1. By Cinda Williams Chima The story is not in the plot but in the telling……Ursula K. LeGuin Ensnaring the Wary:Engaging the Young Adult Reader

2. Voice Character Conflict A compelling opening that introduces some of the above. We Draw Readers in With

3. Voice is the soul of the book. The narrative voice should be in a person The reader wants to spend time with. Cheryl Klein, Arthur S. Levine Books Editor of Harry Potter VOICE

4. The day begins in the middle of the night. I am not paying attention to anything but the bass in my hand, the noise in my ears. Dev is screaming, Tom is flailing, and I am the clockwork. I am the one who takes this thing called music and the lines it up with this thing called time. I am the ticking. I am the pulsing. I am underneath every part of this moment.---- Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, p. 1 First Person, Present Tense

5. Trinity Square was a holiday postcard from the past: snowy commons surrounded by the weathered stone building of the college, bows and greenery draped over the old-fashioned street lamps. Quaint storefronts glittered with their holiday offerings and shoppers hustled by the bundles and bags. Totally perfect Totally annoying But better than home. Back in Coalton County, she was the subject of sermons in hangdog little churches where sweaty-handed preachers used her as a bad example. “Witch,” they bellowed. And whispered, “Firestarter.” People crossed the street when they saw her coming. They collected into prissy little groups after she passed by, like gossiping starlings. ---The Dragon Heir, Chima Third Person Intimate POV Voice

6. If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is not happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle. This is because not very many happy things happened in the lives of three Baudelaire youngsters. Violet Klaus, and Sammy Baudelaire were intelligent children, and they were charming, and resourceful, and had pleasant facial features, but they were extremely unlucky, and most everything that happened to them was rife with misfortune, misery, and despair. I’m sorry to tell you this, but that is how the story goes. ----The Bad Beginning, “Lemony Snicket” (Handler) Third Person Omniscient Strong Narrative Voice

7. Choose one of the following situations or use one of your own. Write a paragraph in the voice of your character. It can be in first or third person. Your boyfriend/girlfriend just broke up with you It’s your first day at your new school You suspect Jeremy Johnson is a vampire Your mother is throwing a graduation party for you, which is the last thing you wanted. You come home from school to find your mother’s boyfriend is at the house, again. Voice Exercise

8. Somebody interesting better show up right away (could be villain or hero) Give the reader a person to focus on Make us believe Make us care Character

9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWB1HGnA3tA How do we make Readers Believe in our characters?

10. Readers don’t want reports of what’s going on in the character’s head, e.g. “she felt sad” or descriptions of personality—”Maggie was a sweet girl,” or “Billy was bossy.” If someone tells you, “I’m really sorry Michael dumped you! While they’re clearly trying to hide a smile, what do you believe? Readers Believe What They “See”

11. Write Cinematically

12. How would you feel if, in the midst of Star Wars, Stephen Spielberg came out on camera to say, “Han Solo is kind of rogue and seems like an opportunist, but he’s actually a brute and principled guy.” We want to see this, we don’t want to be told Showing, Not Telling

13. * Using too many adverbs • Telling: “You’re a real creep, you know that? She said angrily • Showing: “You’re a real creep, you know that?” she said, dumping salsa into his lap. *Using passive voice -Telling: He was walking down the street - Showing: He strolled down the street - Telling: Joe was impetuous and fool-hardy - Showing: Joe launched himself from the edge of the cliff. Symptoms of Telling

14. Using the words “look” or “feel” • Telling: He looked sad • Showing: He turned away, swiping tears from his eyes. • Telling: He felt happy. • Showing: That day, on the playground, he was lord of the swings. • Lack of dialogue is also a symptom of telling. Symptoms of Telling

15. She opened the door, and it was Seph McCauley, snow on his jacket and even his curls, smelling really good. Madison was glad to see him. He pulled the door shut behind him, grinned at her and asked if she’d been asleep. Madison asked if he knew what time it was. She felt bad because she hadn’t seen him in three days, and now her hair was all tangled and she was baggy-eyed and cranky. Besides, she knew her cousin Rachel would be really mad if she knew Seph was there in the middle of the night. No Dialogue=Telling

16. She crossed to the door, undid the chain, pulled it open and was ambushed. It was Seph McCauley, snow powdering his jacked and sparkling in his curls, smelling of fresh air and magic. Her heart foundered frantically in her chest as if it meant to escape. “Oh!” she said. “Hey, Maddie,” he said softly, stepping inside and pulling the door shut behind him. “Oh, “I’m sorry. Were you asleep?” he added, grinning, looking her up and down. “Do you know what time it is?” she mumbled, forcing her fingers through her tangled hair. She hadn’t seen him for three days (not that she was counting), and now when he did come, she was all baggy-eyed and cranky. “Rachel will skin you alive if she finds you here at this hour.” Dialogue=Showing

17. Write a paragraph, using actions, inner thoughts, dialogue, and reactions to show us who a character is. Can write from their POV or from that of an observer • A spoiled ten-year-old boy or girl • A shy 14-year-old who wants to ask someone to the dance • A boy who is scared to death of his father • A boy or girl who pretends to like you but really hates you • Someone with a secret they’re dying to tell • Or choose one of your own Exercise on Showing Character

18. Conflict comes from characters’ unfulfilled desires and the obstacles that prevent them from being satisfied The most important thing to know about each of your characters is, What does he/she want? And what is in the way? Conflict

19. What does your character want? What is in the way? Characters Drive Stories Forward with Their Desires

20. What does Harry want? What is in his way? Conflict in Harry Potter

21. What do Bella and Edward and Jacob Want? Where Are the Lines of Conflict?

22. Go back to your favorite book in your genre For the protagonists and antagonists, identify what each character wants and the obstacle(s) that must be overcome Do the same for your own work in progress You should be able to state in one sentence what each major character wants. Conflict Exercise (on your own)

23. Establish voice and point of view Introduce character Introduce the conflict Make a promise about the story “In the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book”----Gabriel Garcia Marquez What Should an Opening Do?

24. Character Conflict Specificity Credibility Elements of an effective opening

25. Open during a change Open with an interesting character Open with an interesting setting Open with dialogue Open with humor Open with an atmospheric or suspenseful description ----------------------Garland, Writing for Young Adults, p. 112 How to Craft a Great Opening

26. “When the doorbell rings at three in the morning. It’s never good news.” –Stormbreaker, Anthony Horowitz “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” Feed, M.T. Anderson “I have been accused of being anal retentive, an over-achiever, and a compulsive perfectionist, like those are bad things.” Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Lisa Yee Great opening lines in YA literature

27. “If your teacher has to die, August isn’t a bad time to year for it.”---The Teacher’s Funeral, Richard Peck There once was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scubb and he almost deserved it. Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C S Lewis “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife”—Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen Great Opening Lines in MG/YA Lit(middle grade and young adult)

28. “If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien Great Opening Lines in MG/YA Lit

29. “If Sarah hadn’t put the monkey in the bathtub we might never have had to help the monsters get big. But she did, so we did, which , given the way things worked out, was probably just as well of everyone on the planet—especially the dead people. I bought the monsters at a garage sale.” The Monsters of Morley Manor, Bruce Corville Great Opening Lines in MG/YA Lit

30. Some hint about conflict should be introduced earl, though the reader doesn’t have to know everything. Conflict doesn’t mean your story opens with a gun battle, a murder, or a ship sinking Conflict can be family strife, romantic misunderstanding, death of a pet, unwanted move, etc… Conflict and Mystery

31. What is the first thing the author chooses to present? What characters do we meet in the first paragraph? What questions are raised in your mind as a reader? Why do you think the writer chose to start the story this way? Look at the First Paragraph of Books in Your Genre

32. The day after my mother did, the priest and I wrapped her body in a gray shroud and carried her to the village church. Our burden was not great. In life she ad been a small woman with little strength. Death made her even less Her name had been Asta Crispin: The Cross of Lead

33. Write the first one or two sentences of a MG/YA book using one of these techniques. Introduce elements of character or conflict. Open during a change Open with an interesting character Open with an interesting setting Open with dialogue Open with humor Open with an atmospheric or suspenseful description Exercise: Write an Opening

34. Action Pacing Mystery Narrative tension We Keep Readers With…..

35. Something has to happen in the book Your main character must have an active role, e.g. is not just someone things happen to If you’ve done your job right in creating character, desires, obstacles, and conflict, the plot flows gracefully from those Action

36. Story happens when character and conflict collide A character’s personality traits, strengths and weaknesses, flaws and gifts, fears and desires drive how he responds to conflict. Characters change during a story in response to conflict Characters have dreams and goals that may change in the course of the story Character and Conflict

37. Six days till his book, The Fate of the Artist comes out. Pacing

38. “It’s not that teenagers don’t like to read. It’s that they don’t like to read boring books” ---Laurie Halse Anderson Pacing in YA Literature

39. Make it clean, make it clear, get to the point Writers are in love with words, little subplots, philosophical asides Readers read for story and character Write for your reader, not for yourself---readers don’t care how witty you are. Pacing in YA lit—Brent Hartinger

40. The issues are • What to include • How to present it • Atmosphere • Narrative/summary and scene • Detail and distance Pacing

41. Be ruthless—metaphors that call attention to themselves have to go Make every word count Clear is different from simple; in order to write complexity, need to write clearly Pacing in MG/YA Lit

42. Deliver character through action in the present and you don’t have to spend pages on the character’s history and biography • Deliver information on a “need to know” basis • Your reader needs to know relevant information in order to experience the scene with the character. Keys to MG/YA Pacing

43. Who is more likely to stay with you---the reader who may have a few questions about what’s going on, or the reader who is bogged down in back story and description? History and biography don’t deliver character’ which are you more likely to believe, what someone tells you or what you actually see Trust the reader!!! Keys to MG/YA Pacing

44. Easy reading is damn hard writing—Nathaniel Hawthorne I try to leave out the parts that people skip. –Elmore Leonard Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.—Samuel Johnson Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it. Wholeheartedly—and delete it before sending your ms to press. Murder your darlings—Arthur Quiller-Couch Write Simply

45. Details in a YA novel should serve multiple purposes • Details and descriptions should • Move the plot forward • Reveal a character • Create emotion and mood • Characters reveal themselves by what they do in the story • There’s usually no need for paragraphs of description Be Selective with Details

46. Slows Pace Speeds Pace • Flashbacks Dialogue and scene • Hunks of narrative Short paragraphs • Description Short sentences • Exposition Simple sentence structures Pacing in MG/YA Lit

47. Writers and Readers Participate in Creating Character