Margo L. Dill on Digging Up a Historical Topic

One of the great things about inviting blog guests who have experience talking to kids, is that they tend to explain things well. Margo L. Dill is one such author, who gives us a clear and candid peek into her process of coming up with a topic for her middle-grade historical novel, Finding My Place.

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When I do school visits, I often talk to students about “potato ideas.”  These are ideas that are not the first ones to come to you when thinking about what to write. These are ideas that grow in your brain and you have to dig  out and on to paper. These are the ideas that create publishable stories—ones that readers want to read. (Hopefully!)

When deciding to write a historical fiction novel for 9 to 12 year olds set during the Civil War, I had to do some serious digging for a potato idea. I wanted to write historical fiction that teachers and home school parents could use with children—these were the books I liked to use with students when I taught fourth and fifth grade. But do you know how many Civil War books there are for this age group? Too many to count.

Then I read a tiny paragraph in a fifth-grade social studies book about some citizens in Vicksburg, Mississippi who did not want the Yankee army to capture their city, and so they were under siege for 47 days. They lived in caves and even ate rats to survive. What determination! The potato was starting to grow in my mind—although it was still just a baby red.

After reading and researching Civil War books for this age group, I realized many are set in the North or told from the point of view of a Yankee soldier. The children are usually drummers in the army or pretending to be older so they can be a soldier—and most are boys. So, what could I do to really change things up? I could create a female main character and make her Southern. And she would have nothing to do with fighting in the army—she’s a citizen, trying to survive a 47-day siege. Okay, now the potato was starting to get big enough to bake and serve with a ribeye steak.

But I still wasn’t ready to write. Historical writers have to do research, of course—and primary sources and visiting the place (even if it’s virtually) of your setting are essential. I was lucky to find a book STILL published, written by a woman who lived during the siege! I also visited Vicksburg (three days after the 9/11 attacks, but that’s another story) and saw the Mississippi River and its banks, the battlefield (now a national park), museums, library vertical files, and homes with damage and even an unexploded cannonball! I talked to experts on the siege; and finally, I came up with the idea for my book: Anna Green has two siblings—her mom dies during a bombing and her dad is fighting for the Confederate Army. So now she is the head of the household. What will she do? Will she be able to take care of her siblings in a cave for 47 days? Will she allow her pushy, bossy neighbor, Mrs. Franklin, to take over? Will her brother and father come home?

Once I had a potato idea AND enough research to back me up, writing the book became much easier—although it’s still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I think sometimes as writers we are stuck when we don’t have our idea fully formed, and we need to give it some time to grow while we dig a little deeper. 

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Learn more about Margo L. Dill on her website.

Until April 1, 2013, you can buy Finding My Place at a sale price here.

After April 1, you can purchase the book from Margo's website, Amazon, and Left Bank Books.

Claudine Gueh Yanting Listens to Her Picture Book's Main Character

I'm thrilled to welcome back picture book author Claudine Gueh Yanting. Her latest book, Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit, is a bittersweet poetic text about a girl trying to keep her grandmother from drifting away from the real world and memory. Claudine talks here about getting to know her main character.

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A SPECK OF ME, A RIVER OF HER

She was different.

En, my main character in BRIGHTNESS SAILORS, BIT BY BIT, was a seven-year-old who sailed out to relight her grandma’s dark and troubled stream of thoughts. En pushed the boat out alone, her determination as clear as the sky was black.

And off she went, my little heroine.

Who wasn’t a watcher but a doer.

Who did not sit and cry when sad things happened, but went out and made things brighter.

En was so different from my real seven-year-old self (I was more Ramona-on-her-sulky-days) I was worried I might not know her deeply enough. Like every writer then, I carried out imaginary conversations to seek more answers.

First, I spoke to myself:

Don’t idealize her.

Don’t turn her into who you wish you had been. (All right, all right … just not entirely, you clear? Let her be a speck of you, and a river of herself.)

Don’t make her out to be Super Girl 99. She’s only seven, and she’s losing her closest family. Do you not think she’s terrified?

…

 Then En spoke honestly to me. It was strange she sounded older and more independent than her age. Yet I couldn’t take those traits from her and I didn’t want to change her age. Seven felt right, and En was different, remember? So I let her be her. Here’s what she told me before I wrote her story in verse:

I’m scared. It’s so dark. But then I try not to think about it. Finding Grandma is more important.

And later, when she was in the middle of the stream:

The waves are sneaking higher, b…but I’ll try to ignore them. Reaching Grandma is more important.

And finally:

What if she doesn’t remember … How will we … What can I …  

Loving Grandma is more important. I’ll try and try and try to help her remember.

Trying and doing – that was En’s way of coping. She sailed out alone. She released Brightness from a sack. She rowed on when the waves grew harsher, letting her insecurities show bit by bit through her environment and not through her. She stayed strong, as advised by the spiders in the sky. She smiled despite the wreck. Who knew seven-year-old protagonists could be this cool?

En was afraid, but she didn’t show it much or stray because of it. I’m very proud of her, my little heroine. I hope her Brightness reaches you.

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Purchase Brightness Sailors, Bit by Bit on iTunes, Kobo, B&N, and Sony

Learn more about the book and about Claudine Gueh Yanting at CarryUsOffBooks and Goodreads.

To celebrate its release, Claudine has a gift for everyone called ‘A Little Book of Brightness.’ Please remember to check it out. Thanks for reading!

Jennifer Gladen on Kids' Books about Tough Subjects

There can't be much in life harder than watching your child battle a serious illness. But if you're a writer, you have a chance to use that experience to help others. Jennifer Gladen is one such remarkable parent, whose book Angel Donor, was inspired by her own daughter's need for a liver transplant. Here Jennifer discusses how she approached writing about such a difficult topic for children.

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WRITING ANGEL DONOR

by Jennifer Gladen

When I started writing Angel Donor, I was nervous. How could I write such an important story aimed toward children and not frighten them? Angel Donor is a story about Olivia, a little girl in need of a liver transplant. It follows Olivia through the day she gets a call that her doctors have a new liver for her. This is certainly a topic which could easily overwhelm and frighten children. However, the goal of the book was to be a book children in the same situation could identify with. I knew the book needed to be informative and comforting.

When writing children’s books about serious topics, it is important to be honest and educational. I thought about the basic things a child goes through when they are preparing for a transplant. I wanted children to say as they are reading the story, “Oh yes, I felt that way.” Or  “I had to get an IV too!” It was important that children who are going through the same things feel validated when reading the book. My hope is that Olivia, the main character in the story, is someone who “gets it” for the readers.

Although honesty is important in the story, I also made sure there was a balance. Simple things can be frightening to children, so it is important to choose the text and descriptions carefully. It is a tricky performance to be able to show the readers what Olivia experienced, yet not be too frightening.

Why write a book about such a serious topic? The idea came to me when my own daughter, Jacqueline needed a liver transplant at age 4.  Many times, I longed for a book I could read to her about the hospital, liver disease, or transplantation. As a  teacher, my training told me the best way to prepare a child for life experiences is to read and learn about them. This time, however, I could not find a book to prepare her. “There should be a children’s book about this,” I said to myself. And there, the idea for Angel Donor was born.

It took years to put it together. I worried I wouldn’t do the story justice. What if I left something out? What if it was too scary? As any writer will tell you, sometimes you have to silence that inner editor and “just sit and write”.  But I didn’t just write off the top of my head. I interviewed other parents of children with liver disease and asked them what they would like to see in the book. I ran the manuscript by doctors, nurses and social workers. Each bit of research helped shape the book and kept the focus on helping children as they watched Olivia get her liver.

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Learn more about Jennifer Gladen at her website.

Purchase Angel Donor from the publisher, at Amazon, or at Barnes&Noble.

Barbara Kyle on Historical Fiction and the Hinges of History

I'm pleased to welcome Barbara Kyle, the author of five novels set in Tudor England, including The Queen's Gamble, an "Editor's Choice" of the Historical Novel Society. Her latest release is Blood Between Queens (May 2013).  Barbara shares her perspective on choosing a good setting for historical fiction.

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The Hinges of History

by Barbara Kyle

 
Game changer. Turning point. We use these terms to describe crucial, pivotal events. In my historical novels I like to call such events the hinges of history. It's a powerful image: a swinging door. An opening, a closing. Sometimes with a joyful whoosh, sometimes an anxious creak, sometimes a furious slam!

I set my stories at these hinges of history – decisive historical events – to test my characters’ mettle as the doors of change open and close. My “Thornleigh” books follow a rising, middle-class family through three tumultuous Tudor reigns during which they must make hard choices about loyalty, allegiance, duty, love, and family.

The Thornleigh family is fictional; I created them. But the historical events they're passionately involved in are dynamic hard facts.

The "Thornleigh" series begins with The Queen’s Lady set in the nerve-jangled court of Henry VIII as he wrenches England away from the Roman Catholic church to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. To get Anne, Henry created a national church, and any subject who refused to acknowledge him as its head was threatened with death. Honor Thornleigh fights to save victims of the religious frenzy of the day, and risks her life in trying to save her guardian, Sir Thomas More, from the king's murderous wrath.

In The Queen’s Captive the hinge of history swings when Henry's daughter, Queen Mary, imprisons her twenty-year-old half-sister Elizabeth in the Tower. The terrified Elizabeth fully expected to be executed. The Thornleighs make it their mission to save her, and in the ensuing national uprising against Mary, Elizabeth learns the hard lessons she will need to become a formidable leader.   

The Queen’s Gamble is set during the young Queen Elizabeth's fledging reign when she faced enemies on all sides. Fearing invasion by the French through Scotland, she sent money to John Knox's Scottish rebels who were fighting their French overlords. Isabel Thornleigh accepts the dangerous mission to secretly take the queen's money to Knox. Eventually, Elizabeth gambled by sending an army north to face the mighty French. Her victory over them, ushering in Knox's Protestant government, swung a hinge of history that forever changed Scotland.

My new release Blood Between Queens again features Elizabeth I, and the hinge of history is the emergency that Mary, Queen of Scots, creates when she flees to England to escape her enemies and throws herself on the mercy of her cousin Elizabeth. Mary, though, has set her sights on the English crown, and Elizabeth enlists her most trusted subjects, the Thornleighs, to protect it. But Justine, the Thornleighs' ward, pities and sympathizes with Mary when Elizabeth holds her royal cousin under house arrest and launches an inquiry into the accusations that Mary murdered her husband. The crisis splits the Thornleigh family apart.

The hinges of history tested the people who lived in those turbulent times. To this day we can hear echoes of the doors swinging open . . . and those slamming shut.

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Learn more about Barbara Kyle at her website. 

Purchase Blood Between Queens at Amazon and Indigo.

Alex Shvartsman on Humor, Subjectivity, and Slush

This week's guest talks about fiction-writing from a different perspective: as an editor. Alex Shvartsman, whose own collection of published science fiction stories would stretch from here to Cleveland if laid end to end, has edited an anthology called Unidentified Funny Objects. He shares with us an insider's view about the difficult task of picking stories from the pile of submissions.

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Humor is subjective.

This was the mantra of my associate editors and I as we read submissions for Unidentified Funny Objects last year. My stated goal was to collect a wide assortment of humorous stories and to feature a variety of styles and sub-genres that would offer something for every palate. But how to make certain that my personal tastes don’t skew the book toward the kind of humor *I* like at the expense of what other readers might enjoy? In order to build a healthy, balanced collection, I developed a slush system that’s quite different from most publications.

Each story we received was read by the first reader (in most cases it was me, only about 20% of the stories were seen by one of the other editors first). The first reader’s job was to look for stories that *might* be a good fit even if they weren’t that reader’s personal favorite. This culled well over 80% of the submissions and left us with a handful of very strong contenders.

Each story that made it past the first reader was stripped of any personal information and sent out to 5+ associate editors for evaluation. Anonymity was meant to help the editors judge the story solely on its merit – they didn’t know whether they were reading a submission by a Nebula winner or by a previously unpublished author.

Each editor offered a Yes, No, or Maybe vote with some comments. Based on those votes and feedback I either released the story back to the author, held it until the end of the reading period, or (in a few rare cases) bought it immediately because I knew I had to have it for the book.

I ended up buying 29 stories out of over 900 submissions. Do you know how many of those 29 received a unanimous vote from the associate readers? None. Not a single one. Because--say it with me--humor is subjective.

I don’t truly expect any one reader to enjoy every single story collected in this book. However, I strongly believe that almost anyone will find multiple stories they can love. Both readers and critics have been very kind to the volume so far, sharing this sentiment.

But don’t take their word for it – you can read a number of additional bonus stories posted for free at www.ufopub.com -- and if you are a Twitter user, may I suggest that you begin with this one: http://www.ufopub.com/twitter

Unidentified Funny Objects is available as trade paperback and eBook at Amazon, B&N, and Kobo, as well as directly from UFO Publishing:

http://www.ufopub.com/buy-our-books/

Jess Steven Hughes brings Ancient Rome to teens

Hooray! More historical fiction today! My guest is Jess Steven Hughes, whose YA novel The Sign of the Eagle takes place in 71AD, and deals with the love and law in Ancient Rome, as well as the cultural interplay between Celts and Romans. Jess shares some background on how he came to write this intriguing story.

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I had always wanted to write, but it wasn't until I was in my early 40's that I started.

I was not interested in writing non-fiction. Several factors lead to that realization. At the time I was a police detective sergeant on the Long Beach Police Department in California, and my major in college was Public Administration. However, my minor and academic first love was Ancient Mediterranean History─I have traveled extensively throughout the Mediterranean World. After I had received my Master in the above at the University of Southern California, I asked my Classical History Professor, Dr. David Hood, what were the requirements to teach Classical History? He answered in order to teach you had to have a Doctorate in Classical History, but you also had to be proficient (read and write) in six foreign languages. These included: French, German, Greek, Italian, Latin and Spanish. I had taken only Greek, Latin and Spanish. I decided that I should seriously consider writing historical fiction instead, which was my favorite genre, especially, stories of the Classical Period.

Because there are many gaps in the historical timeline, I knew I could write about the Classical Period with greater leeway than many other historical eras. This allowed me to be more creative and imaginative about the events of the time.

Before I wrote my first historical novel, The Sign of the Eagle, and the two novels I am currently writing, I had to learn the fundamentals of writing fiction. This included: plot, characterization, scene, setting, dialogue, descriptive narration, the difference between showing and not telling, etc. Only after I had attended writing seminars and workshops for several years did my abilities as an author of novels finally emerge.

           

Always keep in mind, I don't write HISTORY. I use historical events and backdrops for my stories. My historical novel, The Sign of the Eagle,  published by Sunbury Press (www.sunburypress.com), a traditional small press, takes place in Milan and Rome in 71 A.D. The main character, Macha, is a Celtic woman married to a Roman officer, Titus. He has been wrongfully accused of treason and conspiring to assassinate the Emperor Vespasian. Macha must almost single-handedly prove his innocence.

Historians have speculated there were several conspiracies against the life of Emperor Vespasian, but only two appeared to have been recorded as found in The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius or in The Histories by Cassius Dio. Therefore, my story is a fictionalized account of one possible unrecorded attempt on Vespasian's life. He was considered one of Rome's five "good" emperors and my favorite. I wrote from what I believe to be a different perspective using an unlikely protagonist, a Celtic woman. Why not?

           

Before I could fully develop The Sign of the Eagle, I had to conduct extensive research. For this I turned to my private library over 500 books on Classical, Celtic, and Mid-Eastern history. I started with the overall history of the Roman Empire and the Celtic world. I continued with geographical locations  narrowing down the story to Milan, Rome and the Italian country side.

           

I had to consider historical events that occurred prior to those in my novel which were important to the story's background. Among these I included the great civil war of 69 A.D. known as the Year of the Four Emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian). In my story, Macha's husband, Titus, fought in this war against the forces of the short-lived Emperor Vitellius at the Battle of Cremona. Titus was part of one of Vespasian's advanced units.

           

Other events included the invasion of Britannia in 43 A.D. and the eventual capture of the British Chieftain, Caratacus, Macha's father. He was brought to Rome along with his wife and Daughter and ultimately pardoned by the Emperor Claudius. We don't know the daughter's actual name, I chose a good Celtic name, Macha. Caratacus was ultimately pardoned and disappeared from history, but there was no reason why I could not use his daughter for a story.           

           

For her background, I described her growing up being Romanized but clinging to many Celtic customs. Prior to the story, she married Titus, who was a born in Rome. His parents were Gauls, but his father was a Roman Senator, one of the first Gauls admitted to the Senate under the Emperor Claudius.

Because I used a Celtic protagonist, I had to research Celtic as well as Roman customs re: daily living, the role of women in the Celtic and Roman worlds, the gulf between the classes, slavery, etc.,  religion, the military (Celt and Roman), descriptions of city life, especially, in Rome, etc.

           

It was only after I had conducted sufficient research that I wrote my story. However, I wasn't finished. I had to run the gauntlet of two writers groups, the Spokane Novelists and the Spokane Valley Writers Group which month after month reviewed and bled all over my chapters until the manuscript finally met their expectations. Even then I wasn't through, I sent my manuscript to a "Book Doctor," an editor who had spent many years with Harper-Collins before going into private business. Fortunately, she is a very ethical person (there are some real charlatans out there) who was very thorough and answered all my subsequent questions after she had reviewed and returned my novel for more work. My efforts paid off. After many rejection slips, The Sign of the Eagle was accepted for publication.

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Learn more about Jess Steven Hughes at his website. 

You can purchase The Sign of the Eagle from the publisher, on Amazon, and at Barnes&Noble.

The great WIP race

I'm in a tizzy, to use an old expression. I have four novel-length works in progress. That in itself is not unusual for me. What's weird is that, this time around, there isn't one work that's truly leaping forward, causing me to forget the others for several months while I finish it.

After I finish a novel, I usually have a couple weeks of this state of confusion. But it's lasted a couple of months now, and I'm getting concerned. I have at my fingertips four works with very different purposes, which is making it particularly difficult to choose. And I think part of my problem is that I'm shying away from  the bigger challenge, yet part of me knows I should embrace the challenge.

Here they are, ranked in order of scariness, with No. 1 being the least terrifying to me:

1. A second sequel to my humorous (adult) sci-fi novel, Green Light Delivery. I think of this as the easy path, since I'm accustomed to the characters and world they live in. This is fully plotted and fun to work on.

2. A sequel to the middle-grade historical I'm currently shopping to agents. This is embryonic, with only a bit of research and plotting done. My main interest here is to have something available if and agent/publisher is interested.

3. A serious YA sci-fi, which I've been working on for two years. I really like the concept of this, but it's very complicated and some days I get exhausted just thinking about it. If I do this, it must be done right. I have about 12K words written and a full plot outline.

4. A very personal, long, mixed-genre piece that's my "desk-drawer novel," coming together slowly over the past five or six years. It's scary because it's the biggest emotional investment. Because of its topic, it's rather time-sensitive. I also know it will be an extremely hard sell, but it means a great deal to me to push it out into the world. And the wonderful, open-minded sci-fi publisher I work with (Candlemark & Gleam) may be my only chance ever to get someone even to consider it.

Eventually, I'll figure this out and commit to one work. Have you ever had this issue, not being able to decide what's the best thing to dive into with your whole heart and mind?

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For more info on my published novels, please visit my website.