SCBWI LA: Day 3 (#LA10SCBWI)

Three words for SCBWI LA–Fun! Exhilarating! Exhausting!

From Gordon Korman author of Pop and Swindle and other great middle-grade and young adult books:

• “Why don’t we teach humor [in schools]? What do you use most, your sense of humor or your ability to recognize foreshadowing?”
• “Have a sense of what’s cool…a super simple and elusive asset.”

Questions to ask yourself  to help you Create Characters That Come to Life by Carolyn Mackler:

• What does he keep in his underwear drawer?
• Who would she call/text/contact when something good happens and what would that good thing be?

From award-winning author Marion Dane Bauer:

• Stories have three trajectories: the character’s desire, the climax, and the emotional resolution for the character’s desire. Bauer asks herself, “What will that resolution feel like?”
• To the writers in the room: “The emotional resolution is your own truth.”

From Rachel Vail on Hearing Your Characters: “How do we hear one another? The trick is listening.”

Gail Carson Levine cautions, “Be patient with your ideas and don’t toss them off.”