Author: beckylevine

Becky Levine is a children's book writer, working hard to strengthen her picture-books skills. She is the author of The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, a book to help you get started with a critique group, learn to revise from a critique, and strengthen your own critiquing powers. She has also published two nonfiction children's books with Capstone Press. She is currently seeking representation. Becky lives in California's Santa Cruz mountains, where she spends a lot of time sitting on the couch, knitting needles in hand, thinking through the next revision. At her day job, she writes grants for a nonprofit healthcare organization.
Posted in Uncategorized

Random Thursday Thankfuls

Posted on by beckylevine

Well, I’m pretty sure I won’t be blogging NEXT Thursday, since the house will be full of family and food and flaming flamingos. (Just checking if you’re really reading!)

So, a quick thankful for the week:

1. I’m thankful for how the eucalyptus across the road look mixed in with this morning’s fog, and for the office window that lets me look at it.

2. I’m thankful that, when we bought this house, we said, “Yes, it’s plenty big,” because, really, this means I don’t have too much cleaning to do by next week.

3. I’m thankful for a son who, when I say, “Please bring me home a donut hole,” tells my husband that it would be better to send me six and, of course, for a husband who says, “You’re right.”

4. I’m thankful that nobody from the refrigerator store has called (yet) to say, “Oops, sorry, your refrigerator WON”T be there on Tuesday.”

5. I’m thankful for the ear-muffs Paddington (the one on the left) is wearing today on Jama Rattigan’s blog, because they made me smile. Which of course means I’m thankful for Cynthia Leitich Smith’s & Barry Gott’s new picture book, Holler Loudly, which made Paddington ask Jama for those ear-muffs. Holler Loudly is definitely on my to-read list!

6. I’m thankful for critiquing clients who are happy with my feedback (in that oh-boy-now-I-get-to-revise way) and who send me a note to let me know. W…H…E…W.

7. Finally, I’m glad for a stretch of hours ahead of me today to get back to my YA and do some more work on the antagonist and plot.

Posted in Uncategorized

Looking at My Writing Path: Where Will a New Twist Take Me?

Posted on by beckylevine

What have I been working on the past week or so? Getting started on another branch of my writing path, that’s what.

I haven’t talked about it here, because it’s one of those I-might-jinx-it-if-I-say-it-out-loud things. Or maybe one of those once-I-put-it-in-print-I’ll-look-pretty-foolish-if-it-doesn’t-go-anywhere things. Or a goals-are-just-something-that-don’t-happen things. Yeah. One of those.

But if this blog is about the writing path, and if I’m exploring a new curve in the path, well–I’m supposed to post about it, right.

So, saying it out loud: In the next few months, I will query about and/or write several nonfiction articles for children’s magazines and get them out the door.

One of the things I really want to add to my repertoire is more nonfiction for children. I had a great time writing The Everything Kids’ Grow Up to Be a Police Officer Book with Lee Lofland, even if the economy crash did cause the publisher to pull it from the publishing list, and I’m also happy with Cool Cash Adventure, a guide to finance that I wrote for middle-grade kids. As I do more research, I’m learning lots of stuff that won’t fit into my novels, and I still want to use it–to share it. Plus, let’s face it, I want to write for kids.

So those are the main reasons for the goal, and I think they’re pretty good. Which means the next step is to do something about getting there. I’ve looked around at publishers of nonfiction books, and I’ve sent off samples that I do have to some job postings. Realistically,though, I’m pretty sure I need more samples and better ones–more targeted at the kind of writing these publishers want to see. Which means, I think, kids’ magazines.

So I’ve got a stack, and I’m collecting a few more. I’ve downloaded writers’ guidelines and editorial calendars. The last couple of days, I’ve skimmed through the magazines, looking for the types of articles I’d like to write. I’ve got a growing list of ideas with notes about which magazine they might fit best, and whether I’m supposed to query first or just send the article. The next step, I’m pretty sure, is to pick an idea and target the magazine (or two) for an article (or two). Then I find a similar article and really read it, breaking it down in terms of content, structure, and voice.

Then I write.

The challenge? It’s not really the dissecting or writing–I’m pretty good at both of those, and–if I’m honest with myself–this is something I can do and do well. The challenge is reminding myself of that, keeping up my level of confidence for something new, for venturing into a place in the writing world where they don’t know me yet, where I have to prove myself. Yes, I do this every day in my fiction, but–as you all know–that’s long-term proof. I have a heckuva lot of writing on this novel before I submit it for judgment. And the other challenge is doing it. Putting the nonfiction writing on my calendar, showing up at the computer, writing & revising, and following through on all that with actual submissions. Juggling this writing with my fiction, with my editing, with…oh, life.

Commitment.

Is this important to me? Yes. Is it something I will enjoy? Yes. Will this route be a good addition to my writing path, bringing a smattering of daisies and maybe a four-leaf clover or two? Yes.

So…time to get started.

What about you? Is there something you’re exploring that you haven’t yet (quite) committed to, that you’ve been skating around? Can you see the first step or two ahead of you, waiting for you to put them on your to-do list? What’s coming next for you on your writing path?

Posted in Uncategorized

Guess Which of the Seven Dwarves I am Today

Posted on by beckylevine

You got it…

It’s so Monday.

I will imbibe some caffeine (so much for cutting it out completely!)

I will pick a project that requires more specific check-off tasks, less random creativity.

I will resist the call from the couch.

I will play loud music.

I will get something done.

What do you do when the sleepies hit? (Note: Exercise has been tried already!)

Posted in Uncategorized

Five Pet Peeves….Just Because

Posted on by beckylevine

I try not to whine TOO much out here, but just for random fun this week:

Five of my pet peeves are:

1. Drugstores with card sections in which 99.99999999% of the cards are tacky and crude with cover art I could, honestly, skip altogether.

2. Packs of sticky notes that spend too much space on the yellow/orange spectrum and not enough on pinks and purples.

3. Raccoons that loiter around my house and, when I stomp and/or yell at them to take off, instead stay put and stare back at me with a “What??!!” expression on their faces.

4. Hummers.

5. Those wonderful, handy-dandy, revolutionary, newfangled ziplock bags in which so many groceries now come prepackaged and which, of course, DON’T ZIP.

What about you? Need a quick vent? Keep it light and not too mean and toss a peeve into the comments. 🙂

Posted in Setting, World Building

Out of Setting Comes Action

Posted on by beckylevine

Tuesday night at the South Bay CWC, I heard Tanya Egan Gibson give a great talk about world building. Now, Tanya doesn’t write fantasy or science fiction. She doesn’t write historical. She writes, in her own words–satire.

Not a genre you necessarily think of as needing a whole lot of world building. But Tanya does. I’m guessing she would say that any genre demands world building.

Because when you build your story world, that world, in turn, steps in to impact, if not drive, what your characters will do.

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately, as I do more research about 1910-1915, Chicago. (And, yes, I am SO going to read Kristin O’Donnell Tubb’s Selling Hope, set in 1910 Chicago–just as Hailey’s Comet comes through.) In my first draft, I did research as I wrote, but I was focusing on getting to the story, to Caro’s story, not worrying as much about filling in the world around her. And this was good, because I not only got to the story, I got to two stories, which–overwhelming as it felt at first–was the right discovery for me to make.

But I’ll tell you, it was frustrating to write without setting. I found myself giving Caro and her supporting cast the same tasks over and over. I had her reacting in situations where I didn’t know precisely what she was reacting to…or with, which pretty  much made her feel (at least to me) hyperbolically melodramatic. Yes, that much. I do like the bracket as an early-drafting tool, but by the time I wrote “The End,” I was pretty sick of typing it all over the place.

I can’t write another draft this way. For my sanity, a big piece of Draft 2 is going to be setting research. Or, yep, world building. I am going to populate my notes and my scenes with real furniture, real architecture, real food, real lifestyles. I’ve already started. And you know what?  As I research, as I find out details, I’m getting ideas for the actions my characters will take–things they can do in their world.

During her talk, Tanya said, “If you furnish the place, people can live in it. And they will live large.”

Tanya’s right.

I leave you with this scene from Shanghai Knights. Look at the setting. Look at the way Jackie Chan uses the setting. Yes, sure, he knows the moves he wants to make. He knows the comedy he’s going to weave into the fights. But he also knows that setting can create action, can set up opportunities for anything and everything to become a piece of his choreography. I can just see him–Okay, let’s see. Open market…chase scenes…dodge the carts…duck between people…oh, hey! Lemons! And umbrellas!

Posted in Antagonists

Piecing Together an Antagonist

Posted on by beckylevine

Yesterday, Sherrie Petersen at Write About Now reminded me about a critical element of the antagonist–they don’t change.

I know…but sometimes I forget.

This was actually part of Sherrie’s post on making sure that every character except the antagonist has a story arc, at the end of which they do change. But, yeah, not the antagonist.

I’ve been working these last few days, to try and get closer to my antagonist, to turn her into a real person who does real things to impact/hurt my hero. I’ve been doing research about the type of person I know her to be, and I’ve been checking into my craft books on techniques for creating this character role in a story.

I haven’t pulled together a complete picture yet, but here are a few of the thoughts & pieces that have been floating around in my mind and my computer:

  • Just because the antagonist doesn’t change, this does not mean they don’t have a goal. They do. It’s got to be, in basics, the same goal as the hero–hence the big conflict as they each try to go after it.
  • I’m pretty sure it’s James Scott Bell (in Plot & Structure) that your antagonist had better be as strong, preferably stronger than, your hero. Otherwise, your hero, even if/when they win the battle, doesn’t come off looking all that powerful. Cuz, you know, maybe even a toy poodle could beat that wimpy antagonist.
  • The antagonist’s meanness or selfishness or paranoia or destructiveness has to translate into action. Just as each scene has to have your hero doing specific things to get to their goal, the antagonist has to do specific things to stop them, or to get to the goal themselves. Keyword here: specific. Snidley Whiplash doesn’t just sneer and bluster–he actually ties Penelope Pitstop to the railroad tracks. Okay, yes, over and over and over, but you get the point.

  • The antagonist has to have just as much (more?) at stake, in terms of not reaching their goal, as does the hero. Why does it matter so much to the bad guy to get the treasure, to keep the hero away from it? What will happen to the antagonist if they don’t win? And whatever something is, it had better be really, really bad. Symbolic or not, we’re talking life & death here–for both sides.
  • Layers. The antagonist has to have layers, just like the hero. Unless, you know, you’re purposely writing about Snidley and Penelope. The more you can make your reader understand the bad guy, the more tension you’re going to create on the page–because it’s not just all rooting for the good guy at this point. Wouldn’t it be great, you’ve got your reader thinking, if everybody could be happy? And they get all stressed out while they read, because they know that’s impossible. Tense, stressed reader? That’s a good thing!
  • You need to know what your antagonist is doing behind the scenes. Not just what they’re plotting and scheming, not just the traps they’re setting up for your hero that will cause great pain and strife, but their day-to-day life. What do they do when they’re not thinking directly about how to mess with the good guy? Because out of that daily routine will come the other stuff–if you know that, every morning, your antagonist has to drive across the Golden Gate bridge, well…suddenly you can start thinking about a really good car chase, with those orange (no, they’re not really gold!) pillars coming out of the fog, one by one, as the drivers barrel through all the traffic.

You need to do the work. This is what I’m telling myself right now, after writing a first draft in which the antagonist is pretty  much a limp, whiny noodle of a character. That it’s time to do the work, to figure out who this person is and what she does. Because, honestly, I can’t stand to write another draft without her being there, without her pushing buttons and creating problems–doing stuff.

What about you? How well do you know your bad guy? Got any tricks to share, for turning a vague sense of blech into a living, breathing character? Drop those thoughts into the comments!

Posted in Uncategorized

Friday Five: Things I’m Thinking about in November

Posted on by beckylevine

Halloween is done, although there’s still plenty of my son’s candy lurking on the counter and calling to me….November for me is the start of a mix of fun, family, and crazy juggling of holidays, school vacations, and–oh, yeah, some work! Here are just a few things on my mind for the upcoming month:

1. HOW big a turkey do I need to feed 11-13 people? And will that turkey fit in our smoker?

2. Is there any way to turn our refrigerator into one of those magical objects that’s a whole lot bigger on the inside that it is on the outside? Think Narnian wardrobe.

3. I should probably do some Christmas shopping this month. Oh, wait, there are a whole bunch of November birthdays to deal with first!

4. I will somehow squeeze in time to disappear as far as possible into two novels I’ve been waiting a long time for: S. J. Rozan’s On the Line and Naomi Novik’s Tongues of Serpents.

5. And the writing task–pick through every corner of my imagination and turn my MC’s mother into a serious, active antagonist who fills her daughter’s life with increasingly worse obstacles and problems. Oh, yeah, and keep moving the overall plot forward. And get my research done. And…okay, WAY more than five now.

I think I’ll watch some leaves fall, too, and enjoy the air getting more crisp and all the usual things about this month that makes Fall, even out here in California, my absolutely favorite season.

And you? What’s on your plate for November?

Posted in Books

Kenneth Oppel’s HALF BROTHER

Posted on by beckylevine

I picked up HALF BROTHER yesterday and finished it this morning. I am a big fan of Kenneth Oppel’s Airborne series, and I can tell you that this book is about as different from those books and from his Silverwing books as anything could be. And I loved it.

Writing any book is hard, but I think–in this story–Oppel picked a particularly tough road. Zan is a baby chimpanzee that Ben’s mother and father adopt, with the goal of testing whether a chimp can communicate through language–they set out to teach Zan ASL and see what happens. They also set out to, as much as possible, raise Zan in their family, as if he were Ben’s little brother. (It actually took me a bit to realize that this was a historical story, and I kept wondering why there weren’t any references to Koko, but after a bit I realized the record albums Ben has aren’t vintage, and there was a reason the house has orange-shag carpet in the living room.)

Anyway, maybe because I loved Koko’s story when I was a kid (and adult), I was curious to see what Oppel did with a plot that, as far as I could guess, would need to follow a certain pattern. I’m not giving any spoilers, but for today’s readers, I think, when you bring a baby wild animal into a family home, there are certain things we can probably guess are going to work and things that won’t. (Although, maybe this wouldn’t be true for a kid/teen reader–I’ll see if my son reads the book, what he thinks.) So I wondered how, for me, Oppel would keep up the tension and the feeling of what-next?

I think he did with the characters. He got me so emotionally connected to Ben and Zan and their relationship that I had to keep reading to find out what would happen to them, not just to a boy and an experimental chimpanzee subject. Ben is a fantastic kid, a boy with many normal tween goals, who’s put into a not-so-normal situation. And he responds with warmth and passion and a capacity for love that is beautifully portrayed.

And Zan…oh, Zan. Zan is everything I used to dream of when I thought that maybe, just maybe some day, I could meet Koko or work with dolphins or do some kind of animal behavioral science (in the days before I started hating math, that would be). And, yet, Zan is also so much more. There is some kind of huge irony that, in this story of trying to raise a chimpanzee in a human world, what I feel Oppel has done has reached into the center of who Zan is or could be and found something that I need another word for besides “humanity.” I guess, really, it’s Zan’s individuality, the specific, very unique-personalitied chimpanzee that Zan is. And that Oppel has drawn for us to get to know, really, just as we get to know Ben–page by page, layer by layer.

One thing that Oppel does was absolutely fascinating to me–he gets us very, very close to some of Ben’s physical reactions and responses. Here’s a passage about 3/4 of the way through the book, when Ben loses his temper with his father–for a very justified reason.

The hair on my body rose. I pushed back from the table so sharply the chair fell over with a bang, and the sound was like a trigger. My whole body tensed, ready for fight. I saw Dad’s calm, controlled face, and I went for him, pushing him hard by the shoulders, once, twice, until he stood and tried to grab my arms to stop me. Feeling myself pinned filled me with rage.

There is a reason, I think, that this bit resonates with the feeling of a dominance struggle between two males. There is a reason we feel Ben’s visceral response, as though we’re somehow hooked up to the nerve sensors on his skin, in his spine. Oppel does not write a story in which the chimpanzee becomes less of a chimpanzee, or in which the human boy becomes more of one. He simply presents them to us as they are, both capable of things like love and anger, at the emotional and physical level. He gets as far into Zan’s emotional state as he can, and–on the flip side–gives us the same insight into Ben’s instincts.

And he never makes the story feel contrived or forced or flat. By the time the crisis approached, and it is a crisis, I was tense and worried and frightened, for both Ben and Zan. As much as I had thought I could probably predict the main plot of the book, I was surprised and delighted and crushed by the details and the layers that kept opening up, to the very last page.

At which point, I found myself close to tears. Yeah–the good kind. 🙂

Posted in Writing Tools

Scrivener for Windows: Let’s Talk

Posted on by beckylevine

First, to all the people doing NaNo or PiBoIdMo, let me say good luck and, please, have fun!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you probably already know that–last week–I downloaded the Beta version of Scrivener for Windows. I was debating whether to get it or wait for the complete version next year, but I’d finished that first draft, and I was kind of moping around in the transition stage (i.e. not moving OUT of the transition stage), and–honestly–I needed a new toy. And there was Literature & Latte just holding out this lovely, glittery, ribbon-wrapped present for me…

Anyway, I thought I’d talk a little bit about what I’ve done with Scrivener so far, and any glitches and/or tricks I’ve found. If you’re playing with this new version (or in love with the old stuff) and want to share problems or solutions or just all-out-adoring-love, please drop them into the comments. Everyone should benefit! 🙂

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

  • Imported a lot of the PDFs on my computer into the research file. These include things as small as a photograph of 1913 hairstyles to a pretty big book–a dictionary of dry goods terms–published in 1912. The importing went seamlessly. So far, viewing and reading the PDFs seems pretty slow, but it’s not exactly speedy outside of Scrivener. I haven’t really spent any time on this, so I can’t say for sure whether I’ll use Scrivener as a reading tool for this or not. It is nice to have them all there to just remind myself easily what I’ve got.
  • I set up a Notes folder with individual “texts” (files that you can view as a document or a corkboard index card) for different categories. Mostly, these are texts for each characters–things I’ve thought about while I was writing the first draft and since I finished. I’ve also got a text in there for random plot notes that aren’t yet attached to a scene.
  • I set up my Scenes folder and started throwing in ideas. I’ve been re-reading James Scott Bell’sPlot & Structure, and putting in ideas that he makes me think of–which, honestly, happens every time I read this book, so if you don’t have it yet, go get it. I’ve got scene texts for most of Act I, up to that first doorway of no-return. No, I’m not sure if it’s no-return enough yet, but that’s okay. Because it’s so easy to change things.

Really, I’m surprised that I feel this way about Scrivener. I’ve used Word for years, and–you know–other the standard stupid stuff it doesn’t to–I’m happy with it. I’ve got a pretty organized file structure that I use in Explorer–very similar, actually, to what Scrivener has set up for me in their software. But here’s the thing–with Scrivener, I don’t have to switch back and forth between Word and Explorer to work/see the organization.

I know…how lazy can someone be? One click, maybe two, to get a file or make a change, and now I’m whining about that being too much work. But somehow, it feels like more than that. It really does feel, so far, like Scrivener has everything I need, right there, all in one spot. And as I plot and organize and brainstorm, not having to click out of the application seems to keep my brain more focused, more still in touch with the thoughts I’m having and hope to have soon.

Now…keep in mind I haven’t tried to write a scene yet. I’ve got lots of notes, many paragraphs and bulleted-lists long, but I haven’t started to actually create any new stuff.  I know I’ll give this a try, writing scenes here, and my gut is I’m going to like it, but you’ll probably get another update when I get there.

And the software isn’t perfect yet. I’ve talked back and forth with a few other writers, and some of them have run into more problems than I did. My download and install when smooth as silk, and (I should not be saying this out loud), the software hasn’t crashed yet. I know, for some people, it was crashing and certain features were flat-out not working. I think some of these people tried a redownload and install, which might have helped–maybe they’ll chime in here and let people know if that was a good trick.

Scrivener doesn’t always remember my font/style changes. I haven’t figured out yet if this is a bug, or just that I’m not doing something consistently. Every now and then I just type too fast for it, and I have to check that there isn’t a crash. So far, no crashes; it’s just that I can’t type anything else until the software/screen catches up. I’m really hoping that, when the final version comes out, this isn’t a problem. That could be a true obstacle toward writing scenes within Scrivener. I’m still learning where I have to click within the file structure to show all the cards I want together on the corkboard, but that’s just a learning curve.

And, oh, that corkboard! It’s like the people at Scrivener knew the one thing I needed from them to get all my work into the computer, where I’m most happy to have it. I’ve always stumbled when it came to using real index cards or getting notes up on my whiteboard. The cards/whiteboard are never big enough to hold all the notes, and I’ve never been any good at writing one line for a scene and then remembering all the layers/ramifications that went went with that line. Not to mention, I cannot read my own writing quickly and easily, especially not in the notes that come flying out when I’m brainstorming.

Now I can look at the one-liner on a card and know that everything else I’ve thought about it is there, one layer down. I can delete things that aren’t working and add new material, without covering a real index cards in scratchouts and tiny words scribbled into tiny spaces. I can put the corkboard on Full-Screen and see 10-12 cards/scenes/ideas at once.

The corkboard makes me very happy.

What about you? Have you downloaded Scrivener for Windows yet? Have you been using the Mac version for years? Got any tips/thoughts to share with the rest of us? We’d love to hear!

Happy Monday and Happy Writing.

Posted in Uncategorized

Thankful Thursday: A Good Week (And a Contest Winner)

Posted on by beckylevine

Hump day has come and gone and I’m still smiling, so it’s time for another quick thankful!

1. I’m thankful for people who come read my blog (and hopefully enjoy it) and who leave comments and enter contests like this one. I’m thankful that nrhatch wants to be on an island with a flying dragon that hunts for its own food. I’m thinking, though, that after she reads her newly-won copy of Island of the Aunts, she’s going to see that even her flying dragon is likely to create some work for her to do!

nrhatch: please email me at beckylevine at ymail dot com, with your snail mail address, so I can get your prize sent off!

2. I’m thankful that I did work through to the end of my first draft, even with all the confusion about plotlines and storylines. Not only did the process bring me to some understandings I really needed, I do feel good about having written “The End,” and knowing that I can now get started on “The Beginning” again. And mixed in with this is me being thankful for the critique group who sticks this and every pass out with me, no matter how chaotic it all looks.

3. I’m SO thankful to Scrivener for bringing out a Windows version of their software. Honestly, the timing couldn’t have been better. It’s like the developer with the lovely British accent just knew I was getting ready to replot.

4. I’m thankful, all over again, that I have an interesting, creative son who is spreading his wings in ways I never could have predicted. I’m thankful that he has enough patience (most of the time) to let Mom flap around a lot just to try and coast along with him and check out the view.

5. I’m seriously thankful that my son has a father who truly partners in this parenting thing with  me, because both I and my son really need his take on things. Triangles can be tough, but–yay–this one works.

6. I’m thankful for all the writers in the world who research and write about the stuff I need to learn for my WIP. And, really, I’ll still be thankful, even when all the books I ordered this week show up, gather themselves into an intimidating pile, and glare at me every time I even think about doing anything except read them.

7. I’m thankful for the little sun icon that’s currently displayed on the weather page’s Halloween square. Let’s just keep it that way for another four days, okey-dokey?

8. And, finally, for what must be the gazillionth time in my life, I’m thankful for Dick Van Dyke. (When my son was a baby & had yet to decide sleeping through the night was a good thing, he timed his wake-up session to coincide perfectly with the Nick at Nite Early Morning airing of the Dick Van Dyke show.)  Last Saturday, the man was on Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. Go, listen, and laugh.