Dee Garretson's Blog, page 11

Armchair BEA 2011 – Introduction

Many thanks to those awesome bloggers who came up with the idea for Armchair BEA! http://www.armchairbea.com/ I love the idea of finding out about all the people out there who love books. Now that I spend so much time writing, sadly, I have less time to read so I depend on book bloggers to keep me up-to-date with the latest books.

Armchair BEA is doing a giveaway of an ARC of my next book, WOLF STORM, a middle grade/tween adventure, so be sure to enter! To find out more about the story, click here

Here's a quick introduction to me:

Who: Writer of Middle Grade fiction, maybe expanding into YA in the future

Where I live: Cincinnati, Ohio

What I like to read: Adventures, Fantasy, Sci Fi, Thrillers, Historicals

Geek fact about me: I love Lord of the Rings, books and movies

Favorite Books (besides LOTR) : Pride and Prejudice, Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy

What I wouldn't want to live without (besides my family and books): cats, movies. travel, and gardening

So please tell me a little about yourself. What's your favorite type of book to read? What wouldn't you want to live without? (besides books)

The Bookstore of the Future

Should all bookstores in the future have a resident cat? No, even though I would like to see that, I just used this picture because I am a cat person. What can bookstores do to survive? I can't imagine a world without them, but it's clear that most traditional bookstores are searching for ways to stay in business with the rise of ereaders and the ease of ordering books on the internet. It's been fascinating for me to check out various independent bookstores and their websites to see how some have adapted. Some are really community centers, those with the space to allow groups to meet and talk books or listen to music and poetry readings. That's a good thing, because I'm sure once people are in the store, it's hard to walk away without a purchase. I love meeting my critique group at a bookstore, because what better place can someone go to be inspired to write?

I'm thinking further into the future though. I'll continue to do much of my shopping at bookstores instead of ordering online, but what will draw other people in, those more casual readers? All of us traditionalists say we love the feel of a real book, but we are fast becoming the minority. I go to bookstores for the atmosphere, partly, but more so I can browse. Even once I get an ereader, I will still want to look for new books I haven't heard about, and find out enough about them so that I can decide if I want to buy them. Imagine a very high tech bookstore. Wouldn't it be great to have a something like the television news stations' magic walls of information? Book covers displayed, where if you touched the screen, you could read the backcover blurb and then see the book trailer. You could choose whether you want to read a few pages, either on the screen or own your own ereader. Reviews don't influence my particular buys, but if people are interested in those, they could be available as well. Essentially it would be like the Amazon model, but in a store atmosphere.

For example, I'd love to see children's books grouped more by type of book rather than just alphabetical by author's last name. I have a daughter who loves animal stories, so it would be convenient to see a section of middle grade books about animals. You could browse historical books, adventure books, school settings, and on and on. With computer screens , books could be in more than one category too. Once you found a book you liked, you could download it right there. Somehow it seems easier to browse when you see the larger images in front of you, rather than trying to get around on a small home computer screen. Physical inventory would be cut down, so more books could be shown, including those of newer authors who might not get a place in the bookstores of today.

A high tech bookstore would of course be very expensive to configure, but we can dream, can't we? So I'd love to hear comments from others about why they go to bookstores and what they would like to see in the bookstore of the future.

More WOLF STORM – A Movie Poster for the movie within the story

As I mentioned in an earlier post, WOLF STORM is about a group of young actors filming a science fiction movie when disaster strikes. For fun, and to use in the book trailer, I had a multitalented writer friend named Danielle DeVor create a faux movie poster of the film within the story:

WOLF STORM Costumes – Designing for the Fictional Movie

I love movies, especially sprawling science fiction, fantasy or historical epics with elaborate costumes and props and sets. When I set out to write WOLF STORM, the most fun part of the preliminary planning was getting to think up my own movie, which helps set up the story of what happens to the actors when things go very wrong . I wanted the movie within the story to be sci fi, so I had a terrific time thinking up costumes, weapons, creatures and spacecraft. Someday, I'd like to actually write the sci fi story itself. I'm planning to use some of the ideas I came up with in the trailer, if I can get the images transferred from my head to the paper. Here are the costumes the main characters, Stefan and Raine, are supposed to wear (Disclaimer-I'm not great at drawing faces. Also, for some reason, their silver gloves did not scan, so imagine they have hands.):

Bookstore Travels – Ebenezer Books – Johnson, Vermont

 

I can't resist bookstores, so I've decided to photograph and post pictures of all the ones I visit in my travels.  First up is Ebenezer Books, a beautiful, independent store in Johnson, Vermont. They don't have a website, and I found out about it by asking someone in a store about nearby bookstores.  The person I asked raved about this store. It's located in an old bank building, so the vault is still there:

I doubt there are many places where a stuffed llama lives next to a bank vault.

Here's part of the children's section:

There was a great variety of books in a small space. I was particularly impressed by the selection of picture books.

Ebenzer Books, 2 Lower Main W, Johnson, Vermont

How many did you read? Debut middle grade 2010 books

So many books, so little time. I wanted to support fellow debut writers whose books came out in 2010 with this list before we all move on to the shiny new 2011 releases. It struck me that it would be a good thing to do when I saw some lists of people's favorite 2010 books posted by the first of December, because I worried that some of the debuts with October, November and December release dates would be overlooked. In this era of budget cuts, so many new authors don't have enough ARCs to send out, and it's tough to get a book noticed.

I'm sure I've missed many, so if you know of another 2010 middle grade debut, please leave it in the comments and I will update the list. Also, I tried to make sure these were all debuts, but it was tough to find information on some authors, so again, please post correct information in the comments if you see I've made a mistake. But most of all, enjoy! I hope we will see many more books from all these authors.

A – Alexander, R.C. UNFAMILIAR MAGIC

B – Buyea, Rob, BECAUSE OF MR. TERRUPT

Bond, Victoria, ZORA & ME

C – Cervantes, Jennifer TORTILLA SUN

D – Diamand, Emily, RAIDER'S RANSOM

Dooley, Sarah, LIVVIE OWEN LIVED HERE

E – Eland, Lindsay SCONES AND SENSIBILITY

F – Falls, Kat, DARK LIFE

Fixmer, Elizabeth, SAINT TRAINING

G – Garretson, Dee, WILDFIRE RUN (I couldn't leave my own off, right?)

G – Gonzales, Christina, THE RED UMBRELLA

H – Houtman, Jacqueline THE REINVENTION OF EDISON THOMAS

I – Ignatov, Amy, THE POPULARITY PAPERS

J – Jacobson, Andrew and Adam Jay Epstein, THE FAMILIARS

K – Kent, Rose, KIMCHI & CALAMARI and ROCKY ROAD

Kirby, Matthew, THE CLOCKWORK THREE

L – Lairimore, Dawn IVY'S EVER AFTER

Latham, Irene, LEAVING GEE'S BEND

Leader, Jessica NICE AND MEAN

M – Manivong, Laura ESCAPING THE TIGER

Messer, Stephen, WINDBLOWNE

N – Nielsen, Jennifer, ELLIOT AND THE GOBLIN WAR

O – Osmond, Claudia, SMUDGE'S MARK

P – Pickard-Fawcet, Katie, TO COME AND GO LIKE MAGIC

Power, Timothy, THE BOY WHO HOWLED

Q – Quimby, Laura, CARNIVAL OF LOST SOULS

R – Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, 8th GRADE SUPERZERO

S – Senzai, N.H., SHOOTING KABUL

T – Tanner, Lian THE MUSEUM OF THIEVES

Toffler-Corrie, Laura, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF AMY FINAWITZ, EIGHTH GRADER

U –

V- Van Eekhout, Greg KID VS SQUID

Vanderpool, Clare MOON OVER MANIFEST

W – Wagner, Hilary Wagner, NIGHTSHADE CITY

Walsh, Pat THE CROWFIELD CURSE

X

Y

Z – Zahler, Diane, THE THIRTEENTH PRINCESS

WOLF STORM – Coming 9/1/2011

I'm thrilled to be able to put up the cover of my new book, WOLF STORM, which will be released by HarperCollins on September 1, 2011. It's an adventure for middle grade and young adult readers along the lines of my first book, WILDFIRE RUN.

Sometimes filming a movie can go very wrong…and turn all too real.

This is Stefan's big break. He's on location in the mountains far from home for his first movie role, filming a blockbuster sci fi adventure. The props, the spaceships, and the trained wolves on set should add up to a dream job, but acting turns out to be much tougher than he ever imagined, and he feels like his inner loser is all that's showing through.

From the way his famously stuck-up co-star, Raine, treats him, he's pretty sure she thinks so too. And worst of all, no one will believe his claim there are wild wolves haunting the forest around the set.

When a blizzard strikes, isolating the young co-stars and bringing hungry feral wolves into the open, Stefan must take on his biggest role yet-working together with his costars to survive. With no second takes, they only have one chance to get it right.

Lights

Camera

Action!

Book Covers – Middle Grade Readers' Picks

Over the past month I've spoken to about 350 middle graders (4th-6th grade), giving a talk called 'Can you judge a book by its cover?' I came up with the idea partly because I didn't want to spend 45 minutes talking about myself, and partly because over the past year I've learned how many authors stress over their covers. It is one of the aspects of publishing that is out of most authors' control, yet we all know a good cover and a good title can be critical to sales.

It has been fascinating to see the responses to my talks. I show the students 10-12 book covers of great books for middle grade, enlarged to almost poster size, and have them choose what they think they would like to read based just on the covers. I chose recently released books because I wanted those they were unlikely to have read yet or had even heard about. After they have chosen, I tell them a little of what the books are about, and ask if any have changed their minds. Luckily many do or my talk would be a failure!

This wasn't a scientific study by any means, but I wanted to post my observations. While the gender division has kicked in somewhat by middle grade, it has been less than I expected. I wasn't surprised to discover no boy selected an obvious 'girl' book as his first choice, but I was somewhat surprised by the negative reaction of most girls to overly girly covers. A few had them as their top choices, but most did not put them in their top three. I was happy to learn that these girls had moved beyond the pink aisle in toy stores.

I know nothing about the cover design process, but I used to teach design principles to my landscape design students, talking about the whole concept of negative and positive space, the idea that less may be more and so on. I'm not sure any of that influences a middle grader.

Here's the top two choices by both boys and girls based just on the covers:

It's obvious that having the image of at least one boy and one girl on these covers has influenced the selection of these, but the students also commented on how they liked the complexity of the covers. They didn't use the word complexity, but that's what they meant when they talked about how they liked all the 'stuff'.

The cover I most liked and thought had a great design was popular with boys, but did not move up the girls' list until I mentioned there was an important girl character in the book. After I told them, many asked me why she wasn't on the cover.

It's been quite a learning experience to do these talks, and to hear the students' opinions on what they like and don't like. I know now from talking to teachers and librarians how hard they work to expand kids' reading choices, and how a great cover would help them do that.

Signed Bookplates for Wildfire Run

One of the many careers I contemplated when I was in school was that of a graphic artist. I decided against it, but have always loved art and design, so I decided to try my hand at attempting some art for bookplates. As you can tell, it's not the art of a professional, but I had a great time working on it. If anyone would like a signed bookplate (and you are thirteen or older), just email me your address at deegarretson at gmail.com. If you are under thirteen, please ask a parent or other adult to email me their address.

Wildfire at Camp David is actually Wildfire Run

Just a quick post here to clear up confusion. Wildfire Run has received three reviews under the old title, Wildfire at Camp David. The reviews were published in the print editions of Kirkus, School Library Journal and Booklist. They are being corrected in the online editions, but the print editions remain. I'm putting this out there in hopes that any Google searches for the old name will bring up this post, so that potential readers can find the book.