Denise Vega's Blog: Denise Vega's blog and website, page 34

Writing Picture Books: My Upcoming Classes

Today is Picture Book Wednesday!

I’m focused on getting ready for a new class I’m teaching through the University of Denver Enrichment Program – “Writing Children’s Picture Books: Learn the Craft” and my Picture Book classes at Lighthouse Writers as well. I’m really excited about all of them and they’ve made me look at my own work in new ways – structure, language, pacing. I’m about to revise one of my picture books manuscript and will have these things in mind as I do.

My advice: always listen...

Post-prompt: Picture Prompt (boy with balloon)

Yesterday’s prompt was the above picture. Here’s what I came up with:

Aaron floated lazily across the grass, enjoying the lightness he felt, as if his body were filled with air too. He bobbed up and down, never quite touching the ground, feeling the breeze across his face.

Jumpstart #19: Picture Prompt

INTRO:Every Monday is Jumpstart Monday so I will be trying out things to help me get into my writing for the week; hopefully these will help you too.

It’s another prompt from a picture. Have fun!

I’ll post my own responses tomorrow.

First Page Friday: Tilt by Ellen Hopkins

Today we’ll be looking at Tiltby award-winning and NYT best-selling author Ellen Hopkins. Ellen writes YA novels in verse where every word, every placement of word, is deliberate.

Let’s look at what Ellen does to hook us in the first few stanzas.

The Page

Completely off its axis the night

I hooked up with Dylan Douglas.

It was New Year’s Eve–five

months ago-so maybe part of that

earth-sway had something to do with

the downers, weed and cheap beer,

a dizzying combo on an empty stomach.

What I know for s...

Find Inspiration

This Thursday I’m sharing another really great quote. This is a reality for me, for sure, but sometimes I get lazy and if I don’t feel inspired or excited about my book on a particular day, I often procrastinate, as if checking my email or surfing the Internet will somehow bring my story to life. Now, to find my club…

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” ― Jack London

Tattoos Inspired by Children’s Books

Today is Picture Book Wednesday and we’re going to look at tattoos inspired by children’s books, most of them picture books for obvious, illustrative, reasons.

More than one member of my extended family has a tattoo, including my brother-in-law who has an Elvish phrase around his bicep. I always love hearing why someone selected a certain phrase or image to have permanently etched into their skin. So you can bet I found this post very intriguing. (FYI, I used a general tattoo image from stock....

Post-prompt: Knowing Our Character Part 3

Yesterday’s prompt was to have our character write a short poem. Here’s mine, from Dominic’s POV. It’s funny, but my first instinct was to write from my main character’s POV. But again, that was too easy because I know her so well. The scenes with Emma that I wrote the last two weeks were surprising and intriguing so I decided to write the poem from a guy’s perspective. Dominic is Sheridan’s love interest (though where I am in the book right now, she doesn’t know it yet).

One day here

the next

G...

Jumpstart #18: Knowing Our Character Part 3

INTRO:Every Monday is Jumpstart Monday so I will be trying out things to help me get into my writing for the week; hopefully these will help you too.

The last two week we dealt with putting our character in a scenario. This week we’ll have our character write a short poem – rhyming, free verse, haiku – whatever fits your character.

I’ll post my own responses tomorrow!

Terrible Blogger Part 2

I don't know if anyone will read this, but I did want to let people know that I'm running a contest to give away three sets of the new paperbacks for Click Here and Access Denied:

http://www.denisevega.com/html/adcont...

Access Denied is the book - the sequel - that I promised I'd write about back in Nov 2009. Ha! So much for that promise. But...better late than never!

It was definitely scary writing a sequel. I know when I really love a book I don't want it to end and I feel like I've lived with the characters and experienced what they experienced. It's daunting to think about trying to deliver a story that will provide someone with a similar or better experience than they had with the first book. Eek! But I did have more to say about Erin and I'm glad I tried.

If anyone else has sequel experiences (either as a reader or a writer), I'd love to hear them.

Series/trilogies that I believe have books that are equally strong and engaging are (1) the Gemma Doyle Trilogy by Libba Bray, (2) The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and the (3) Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. There are definitely others, but these just are off the top of my head. Loved them all - though waiting in line for Mockingjay (Collins) and Monsters of Men (Ness) at the library!

Fact of Life #31: Now In a Small, Economy Size

I'm a terrible blogger!

Yes, I admit it right up front. I can't keep up with the online journal on my website or my Facebook page or Twitter or MySpace or...GoodReads! I try to be a good girl and list the books I'm reading but sometimes I forget.

But I always like to hear what other authors are up to or little tidbits about their books so I thought I'd try to share here whenever I think of it.

Okay, so I got copies of the new paperback for FACT OF LIFE #31 and their pocket-sized! Why is this such a big deal? Well, because most middle grade and teen books come out in trade paperback size - which is the size that's just a little smaller than a hardcover book. So that's what I expected and when I saw them they were so small and compact and would fit very nicely in those airport racks--if only they'd carry it...(sigh). But I think more books for teens and such will go to the smaller format so check it out.

Next up I'll talk about the scariness (is that a word?) of writing a sequel.