Kristin Wolden Nitz's Blog, page 4

Thief Errant

I was shocked and surprised to learn that the third book of the THIEF ERRANT series hasn’t been picked up by Arthur Levine yet.  There was such deep love for both of these books when they came out.  And there was a pretty serious cliffhanger in Liar’s Moon.  There’s a call to action here. 

Clearly publishing is a business. Publishers have to make decisions accordingly.  But businesses doe respond to customer demands.   Digger is a great character.  I’ve been recommending STARCROSSED to my writing students who are attempting fantasies.

Update: If you don’t tweet, you can like this page.

Out on Submission

I”m happy to report that Calyn’s story is now out on submission!  It’s been a long journey with any number of interruptions, but I wouldn’t trade any of them away because I really like where the book wound up. 

June was a busy month with visits from my daughter and my sister.  It ended with helping my parents salvage what they could after four feet of water ran through their cabin.  That might explain why I forgot to link to a blog post I did for Anna Staniszewski a few weeks ago when she was in her revision cave.  I discussed verisimilitude, the appearance of being real.

Italy vs.Germany in Euro 2012 Semi-Final

My name and heritage might be German, but I’ll be cheering for the Azzurri this Thursday at 2:45 Eastern Time on ESPN when they take on Germany in the Euro semi-final match. After all, once upon a time, my American son dreamed of playing for the Italian World Cup team.  He’d lived in Italy and attended the local schools.  The whole idea of citizenship thing wasn’t quite clicking for him, and he’d once mistaken a dollar bill for a Deutchmark. 

While we lived in Italy, I had the opportunity to watch a local Italian-speaking team play against a local German-speaking team. So I know some of what will be shouted from both sidelines. 

“Schnell! Schnell! Schnell!” from the Germans.  (Fast, fast, fast.)

“Dai!, Dai! Dai!” from the Italians. It sounds like “Die! Die! Die!” which might have been a bit unsettling to English players even though they undoubtedly expected it. I don’t have a really good translation for dai, but it’s similar to “Come on!”  I’ve heard “Ma dai!” used as a protest. 

And here’s the shameless promotional section of the blog.  If you’re curious about just how passionate Italians are about soccer, consider checking Defending Irene out of your local library.

Flying the Dragon

I suspect that one of the reasons that I’ve written two cross-cultural books is that I like reading them.  That’s why I’m excited about the launch of Natalie Dias Lorenzi’s Flying the Dragon.  For a behind the scenes look at how this book came to be, you can visit Emu’s Debuts for the first installment.  

 

Revisiting the Top 100 Chapter Books

Betsy Bird decided to revisit her Top 100 Children’s books poll on her Fuse#8 blog.  She made a few rule changes to tweak the results.  If I remember correctly, she wound up putting together a separate poll for kids.  She also asked that people vote for the first book in a series as the representative unless there was something exceptional about a later book in the series. Both THE HIGH KING by Lloyd Alexander and THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling were among the sequels that made it. 

There actually was quite a bit of shifting.  I know that I made some different decisions in order to help my favorite books move up the list.  On the first time through, I went almost exclusively on love based on the number of times that I checked out a book when I was a kid.  On this occasion, I did shift votes to the first of the series.   I also tilted toward the books that I adore now as well as giving a bit of extra love to books that I wanted to see move up.  It wasn’t a pure best of the best list. 

So here was my first round:

1. The Grey King by Susan Cooper (It’s the fourth book in her DARK IS RISING series, but I read it first because that was all the local library branch had. I loved it all the same.)

2. Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager (Edward Eager’s books are so much fun. SAVING THE GRIFFIN can trace its literary roots back to KNIGHT’S CASTLE, HALF MAGIC, THE TIME GARDEN and their siblings.)

3. The City of Gold and Lead (This is the second book of John Christopher’s original TRIPOD trilogy. THE WHITE MOUNTAINS comes first, but this one hit me the hardest.)

4. The Silver Chair C.S. Lewis (Jill Pole was my hero!)

5. Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth….Konigsberg (I could relate to Elizabeth, and I had my own Jennifer.)

6. My Side of the Mountain (Great adventure. A wonderful survival story.)

7. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken (I also adored BLACKHEARTS IN BATTERSEA and NIGHTBIRDS ON NANTUCKET. I’m afraid the others in the series left me a bit cold.)

8. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (My most recent title on the list. For the rest of this list, I was going by the books that I had a deep and abiding passion for back in elementary school.)

9. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. (I read THE LORD OF THE RINGS when I was eleven also, but it really doesn’t fit in as a chapter book.)

10. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol. (I also liked ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS very, very much.)

 

While the book titles changed, eight of the ten top authors kept their same places. Two books dropped off entirely. Two others jumped on.   

1. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

2. Half Magic by Edward Eager

3. The Westing Game by Raskin

4. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis

5. Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley and Me Elizabeth….Konigsberg

6. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

7. Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken

8. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

9. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

10. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol.

Taking a Risk

At the Missouri SCBWI retreat back in late April, Viking editor Kendra Levine shared a couple of ways to think about creating a high-stakes story.  It’s been more than a month, so any mistakes or misrepresentations of what she shared are the fault of my less than stellar memory and note-taking.  But anyway, she started with a “What if…?” question.  I was pretty satisfied with my response for PORTRAIT: What if a girl receives a small portrait from a relative that could have been painted by a Renaissance master? 

But then she went on to expand that:

After inciting incident, a main character must main action while risking the stakes during setting.

And behold, as I tried to convert my “What if” into a plot, a wide and gaping hole opened up before me.  In fact, after I tried an initial run at my story, I wrote the following in my notes:

While Risking:

PLOT HOLE!

So I knew there was a problem, but I do often need a metaphorical two-by-four applied to the side of the head.  This came very gently with a preliminary evaluation from my insightful agent, Erin Murphy. 

 

I knew that my character was taking certain chances to do the right thing in my manuscript, but she wasn’t risking anything on a personal level.

Cut to the Chase

I’ve finished one chase scene in my Italian chase novel, and I’m in the middle of working on another one.  I’m finding that one of the challenges is deciding when it’s time to cut to the chase.  How much space should I dedicate to a description of the Scrovegni Chapel, the Basilica Palladiana or the Grand Canal?  Establishing a sense of place is important; establishing characters is even more important.  But how much is enough? How much is too much?  I always rely on feedback to help me figure out things like this.  But this time around, I have a number of friends who are enjoying the scenery, but they’re not sure whether I’m advancing the action quickly enough for readers who might not have the same level of interest.

Literary Rambles

I was so delighted to see that Casey McCormick and Natalie Aguirre received some well-deserved recognition for their fabulous blog, Literary Rambles. It made theWriter’s Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers in the May/June issue.  They came in at #13 under “Everything Agents.”   In addition to spot-lighting agents, they also profile writers.  So this is a great place to get more information on new releases.

Ghosts I Have Been

A hundred years ago today, the Titantic went down with more than 1600 souls lost. Sure, I’ve seen the James Cameron movie, but my favorite depiction of that horrific moment of history came out 25 years ago with the publication of Richard Peck’s GHOSTS I HAVE BEEN.   

Blossom Culp, the story’s main character, made her first appearance in Peck’s THE GHOST BELONGED TO ME as a member of the supporting cast.  I could certainly understand why Peck wanted to spend more time with Blossom. In fact, GHOSTS I HAVE BEEN was probably one of my favorite books in elementary school.  The first 120 pages or so are concerned with Blossom’s various activities from playing a ghost in a privy in the opening chapter to revealing the ‘shady dealings of a seance medium doubling as a con-man” in Chapter 10.   Miss Spaulding, Blossom’s formidable teacher and principal, invites a local newspaperman, Lowell Seaforth, to come to school in hopes that Blossom will “settle down to a quiet life and be a team player” after she receives some attention for her activities.  But Miss Spaulding is less than pleased by some of the details.

      “But, Blossom, is it not enough to tell us of your many actual, activities…without fabricating?”

       I opened my mouth to protest but closed it again.

       “In short, Blossom, you may play at being a ghost ,as you seem never to tire of, but you cannot see one. This flies in the face of science.”

        I’d sooner not fly in the face of science if it meant flying in the face of Miss Spaulding.  So I sat swinging my feet and examining my boots, which were my old ones.

        “And so, Blossom, for your own good and in the presence of the press, we must have on final confrontation with the truth. You have said that you have Second Sight, can see the Unseen, and have conversed with spirits.  Is this true and will you go on record for it?”

         I would and nodded.

         “Very well, Blossom. Then prove it. Now.” 

At that point, Blossom would have gladly negotiated for a thrashing but knew that Miss Spaulding didn’t make deals.  She tried to conjure up something. Nothing came.  It was not a good time for her Second Sight to quit on her until…

       Then I heard the first rumble. The sound I’d heard once before. The rasp of two great objects grinding together–iron against ice.  It was deeper than thunder and at first farther off.  But the roaring was soon in my ears and then in the room.

       The office began to throb and pound, like engines in the earth running out of control. I had hold of the chair arms to keep from pitching out.  If this was not the San Francisco earthquake, it was near kin of it….Just before the desk lamp fell over, I saw Miss Spaulding’s pince-nez glasses slip down her face. Her hand clamped over her mouth. The bulp in the lamp exploded. Lowell Seaforth’s voice came up strong: “Damnation! What have we unleashed?” 

You know that you want to find out!  I promise that anyone who liked Richard Peck’s award-winning YEAR DOWN YONDER and A LONG WAY FROM CHICAGO will enjoy GHOSTS I HAVE BEEN.

Guest Post on Peter Salomon’s Blog

I agreed to serve as one of Peter’s victims guests, so  I’m his Wednesday interview.  Peter’s debut novel, Henry Franks, is coming out this September from Flux.  The description on the Flux website is only slightly different from the query letter that Peter used to get some book industry attention.  He was kind enough to share it with me when I put out a call for successful queries to share in a talk for an SCBWI retreat a few years ago:

Sometimes, the only thing worse than forgetting is remembering.

Sixteen-year-old Henry Franks almost didn’t survive the accident that claimed his mother’s life and, suffering from post-traumatic amnesia, he relies upon his father to tell him who he is.

If he can trust his father.

HENRY FRANKS details one man’s obsessive desire to save his son and one boy’s need to find himself.

While a serial killer stalks the small southern town he lives in, Henry unearths the bitter truth behind his mother’s death—and the terrifying secrets of his own dark past