Chris Eboch's Blog, page 46

Making the Most of Market Research

New market guides are coming out soon. Maybe you've put one on your holiday wish list, or maybe you'll visit the library to browse one there. That's a good starting place for market research, but it isn't enough. The next few posts will discuss how you can help your submission rise out of the slush pile. These posts are excerpted and adapted from an article first published in Children's Writer's Guide to 2009.

Eleni Beja, who was then Associate Editor at Scholastic, said she saw few submissions that are perfectly targeted. "For every ten," she said, "I'll see about two that are right for Scholastic. Of the two, I'll see nil-to-one that are right for Scholastic and me."

Dial Editor Alisha Niehaus said, "I've only seen something truly inappropriate a couple of times. More commonly, someone will send a project that's too commercial for Dial, or on a topic in which we have a strong backlist—things which, no matter what their merit, won't fit on our list."

The same "close but not quite" holds true for magazines, according to Marileta Robinson, Senior Editor at Highlights for Children. "The majority of submissions we see are in the ballpark of meeting our guidelines. That's not to say that the majority are right for Highlights. Tone, length, writing quality, age appropriateness, and subject matter have a great deal to do with a manuscript's chances of success."

Digging Deeper

A market guide is a great place to start. They list hundreds of publishers, with details about what the editors want. Most include a category index. According to Marni McNiff, editor of Book Markets for Children's Writers and Magazine Markets for Children's Writers, "Using the extensive category index in the back of the book can help you to narrow your market selections based on age range and topic.  Writers should read through several listings that they feel would be a good fit for their piece [and] follow their writers' guidelines carefully."

After identifying a few publishers, authors should do more targeted research, Robinson suggests. "Reading the guidelines and current needs posted on our web site and studying several issues of the magazine can help a writer learn what we are and are not looking for."

Edward Necarsulmer IV, Director of the Children's Department at literary agency McIntosh and Otis, does some research "the old-fashioned way"—drinks or lunch with editors. Authors don't have that option, but they can use his other techniques. "Publisher's catalogs are enormous resources for us. I can really see an imprint's style." Catalogs also let him know about the publisher's other policies, such as what rights they're buying. Authors can find publisher's catalogs online, request them from the publisher, or ask bookstores and libraries to pass along the ones they've used.

Janet Fox describes the research she did to sell Get Organized Without Losing It (Free Spirit Publishing, 2006). "My book idea was non-fiction, for middle grades, and for kids who have trouble getting and staying organized. I looked at existing books on organizational skills for older kids and adults, talked with teachers and librarians, and analyzed the demand for the type of book I proposed." She checked Books in Print and found nothing current for her target audience.

"Then I researched publishing houses. I was looking for a publisher that specialized in books for kids and adults, whose focus was on self-help. That is Free Spirit's mission statement. Of course, I looked at their online and paper catalog, and had already seen a number of their books, and felt that the manuscript I was drafting fit hand in glove with their other offerings, which included a book for older teens on study skills."

EXERCISE: Use the category index in your market guide to make a short list of publishers appropriate for one of your manuscripts. Then prepare to do more research over the following weeks.

Next week: book journals, submission spreadsheet and Google.

Market Guides

Book Markets for Children's Writers and Magazine Markets for Children's Writers list hundreds of publishers, with information about submission policies and needs.

Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market offers similar information. 

Writer's Market also has an online subscription option with a searchable database.

The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators has many market guides, updated yearly, available online to members. "Edited By" lists books edited by particular editors. The Bulletin newsletter has frequent updates.

Taking the Right Kind of Break

In the last two weeks, I've talked about ways to overcome writer's block. Many of these tricks require thinking first, before you start writing. You might find it easier to do that away from your desk. If the computer is starting to feel like an enemy, step away from it for awhile. Try jotting your notes longhand on a piece of paper, or even just thinking about your story while you fold laundry or ride your exercise bike. (Make sure you do keep thinking about the story though, and don't get distracted by other things. For me, this works best with mindless tasks such as a loading the dishwasher.)

I find that taking a walk helps me sort out my thoughts. I often take a tape recorder along and dictate into it, but even just thinking about the problem can help. I give myself a couple of minutes to work through all the other garbage in my brain. Then I try to focus on the story. Sometimes I won't let myself turn around until I've gotten a good start. This means either I make progress on the story, or get lots of exercise!

You may need to experiment to find your own techniques for overcoming writer's block. Some writers go to a library, café or park to write. Some find that ideas come to them in the shower (pick up some kids' shower crayons so you can make notes on the walls). Or perhaps if you fall asleep thinking about a story problem, you'll have the answer in the morning (though this has never happened to me).

Maybe you need to talk about the problem with a friend. Even people who don't write can have fun brainstorming story ideas. When my mystery heroes had to escape from their trap, I asked a dozen people-including an engineer and a former military commando-for ideas. They came up with an amazing variety of possibilities. I didn't wind up using any of them, but they got my own mind thinking creatively.

So is there a cure for writer's block? Not a cure, perhaps, but a variety of treatments. Try these suggestions, and experiment to find new tricks that work for you. You may still get stuck, but hopefully you'll get those fingers flying soon, and fill up that blank white page with nice black words.


Do you have a way of handling writer's block? Please share in the comments!

Handling Writer's Block: Trouble Moving Forward

Last week I talked about how to overcome some of the challenges of getting started on a new project. Now let's look at what to do if you're bogged down in the middle and can't figure out where to go from here.

Let's say you've written your first paragraph, or page, or scene. Perhaps you've even gotten pretty far in the story. But then you get stuck. For me, this usually means I don't know what happens next. I may know where the story is going in the long term, but I'm not sure about the next piece.

If this happens, you can go back to your pre-writing exercises about plot or goals (see last week's post). But here's another trick that might work faster.

What will your character do in the next five minutes? That's right, just five minutes. It's easy enough to figure out that. Of course, sometimes the character doesn't do anything interesting in the next five minutes. Keep looking ahead. What happens after that? And after that?

Here's an example from my novel, The Well of Sacrifice . The heroine, a Mayan girl named Eveningstar, has been captured by the evil priest and sentenced to death by sacrifice. What does she do? Well, she'll try to escape, of course. But how? There's not much she can do during the day, with guards and other people all around. I'll skip ahead.

Now it's night time. Does she quietly go to sleep? Of course not! She'll be thrown into the well of sacrifice in the morning, so she's too anxious to sleep. She'll sit up, listening to the guards outside her door. She'll wait for her opportunity.

What opportunity? Hmm.... What if one of the guards leaves for a few minutes, perhaps to go to the bathroom. With only one guard outside, she has a chance. She'll look around for a weapon....

And my character is off and running, on the next part of her adventure.

You can also try looking at the action from another point of view—that of the villain. If you have a human antagonist, what is that person doing to foil your hero? Whether it's an a bully at school, an evil sorcerer, or parents who "only want the best" for their child, keep them active in the story, causing trouble.

I used this technique for a mystery novel, where the main characters were trying to find a missing friend. What would they do next? I couldn't figure out anything exciting enough. Then I checked in with my villain. Was he just sitting around waiting for the heroes to act? No! He had plans of his own, plans to set a trap... and then I knew what would happen next.

Whether you're struggling to get through NaNoWriMo, or just working at your own pace, chances are you will get stuck sometimes. Maybe these tips will help you move forward. Happy writing!

Breaking through Writer's Block

Some of you are gearing up for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) or Molly Blaisdell's more flexible alternative, The Golden Coffee Cup, so this post addresses the challenges of writer's block and diving into that intimidating first chapter.


How do you feel when you see a blank piece of paper—or a blank computer screen? Sometimes it's the excitement of potential, a clean slate, ready for the ideas to flow, for a wondrous work to emerge. But sometimes that blank seems to go on and on—as if it can never hold anything but emptiness. How does one start?

That feeling can come partway through a manuscript as well. It's like walking to the edge of a cliff, and being unable to take the next step. You're stuck, and there's nothing to do but walk away—perhaps to the sofa, to spend time with a good book. A book that is already written, by someone else.

Most writers faces writer's block at times. Even famous, successful and prolific writers struggle with writer's block. They have just figured out how to get past it more quickly.

In my experience, you can break writer's block into two basic types: trouble getting started, and trouble moving forward. For each, a few simple tricks can help you get past the block, so the words flow again. This week we'll look at ….
   
Trouble Getting Started
Starting a new piece can feel like a big commitment. I find this most true of longer work, like novels. Do I really want to spend the next year on this project?

I've written several work-for-hire books, where I'm writing for a publisher's pre-existing series (such as Jesse Owens: Young Record Breaker and Milton Hershey: Young Chocolatier , written under the name M.M. Eboch). Often I have to write a sample chapter to apply for this work. That's easy enough—it's just one chapter. I don't have to write the rest of the book until much later, once a contract comes through. At that point, it's easy enough to keep going. After all, I already have the first chapter!

You can try a trick like this yourself. Don't think about sitting down to write a whole story or book. Just plan to write the first page, or even the first paragraph. Forget about the rest, and just work on those opening lines.

In fact, how about writing several first paragraphs? You're not trying to write The Perfect Beginning. You're just getting different options on paper, so you can choose the best one later. No single paragraph is important, because you're going to throw most of them out anyway. That gives you permission to play.

This helps get past the fear of The Wrong Start. Sometimes it's hard to begin, because you're afraid of what will happen. Will a bad start sabotage the whole piece? What if you put all your energy into this story, and it's terrible?

Give yourself permission to write something awful. After all, it's just the first draft. You're going to do a lot of editing anyway. At worst, you can throw out the whole thing. Even if you toss the story, you'll have made progress. You can start over, with a better idea of what you want to say (or at least what you want to avoid). And any writing—even bad writing—is a kind of practice. It gets you into the habit of sitting down and putting the words on paper. That's the first step in becoming a writer.

Start before the Beginning
If you're still having trouble getting started, you may not know enough about your story. Perhaps you're not sure of your plot, or don't know your characters well, or aren't confident about your message. In this case, try pre-writing. With pre-writing, you're not even trying to write the story or article. You're just writing about it. That helps prepare you to write the actual story.

Some authors like to interview their characters. They ask questions, and write down the answers in the character's voice. You can ask your character about her family, friends, school/work and other activities. Ask about her past and her future. Be specific, with question such as these:

•    Who is your favorite person at school or work? Who do you dislike, and why? Who do you envy, or admire?
•    Do you see yourself getting married and having children someday? At what age? How many kids?

You can come up with dozens of questions on every aspect of life. But one warning—do not use this information in the story! Readers don't want a biography of a fictional character. They want a story with conflict and action. Pre-writing is just an exercise to help you learn more about your character. You might use a few small details from your character biography, if they fit naturally into the story, but most of the exercise is just background information. Your character will seem more real because you know everything about her life, even though you're only showing your readers a small slice of it.

The Story before the Story
You can pre-write about the plot as well. Write a summary of what's going to happen. Once again, don't think of this as part of the final story. Think of it as an outline so you know where you're going. Once you know what's going to happen, you can start writing the story in vivid scenes full of action and dialogue.

If you can't decide where you want the story to go, try interviewing yourself. Ask questions that will help you identify your goals in writing the story.
•    Who is my audience?
•    What do I want them to get from my story? Why?
•    What is my theme or message?
•    How can my plot best bring out that theme?

Don't worry if you struggle with some of these questions. You may not know the final answers until you're in the process of revision. Once again, your goal now is to learn more about the story, so you'll feel confident writing it. With each of these writing exercises, it's best to do them, review them, and then put them aside. You may want to refer to your plot questions once in awhile, so you don't forget anything, but if you keep looking at your character biography, you'll be tempted to put in all those details, and your story will bog down in backstory.

Next week I'll discuss Trouble Moving Forward.

More on Endings: The Storm before the Calm

My brother Doug Eboch write screenplays, teaches scriptwriting at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and writes an informative and popular blog on screenwriting. He has this to say about movie plots:

"There's one other critical structural concept you need to understand. That is the moment of apparent failure (or success). Whatever the Resolution to your Dramatic Question is, there needs to be a moment where the opposite appears to be inevitable. So if your character succeeds at the end, you need a moment where it appears the character will fail. And if your character fails at the end, you need a moment where they appear to succeed." (Read the full post here.)

I wondered whether this held equally true for novels. Looking through a few of the books on my shelf, certainly the climax is a crisis point where the reader may believe that everything is going wrong and the main character could fail.
In The Ghost on the Stairs , Tania is possessed by a ghost and her brother Jon isn't sure if he'll be able to save her. In The Well of Sacrifice , Eveningstar is thrown into the sacrificial well, a watery pit surrounded by high cliffs, and realizes no one will rescue her. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the lion Aslan is killed and the good army is losing their battle. In adult mystery or suspense novels, this may be the point where the bad guy has captured the hero or is threatening to kill him. In a romance, this is the point where the couple is farthest apart and we wonder how they'll ever resolve their differences to live happily ever after.Does your story or novel have a crisis point, a moment at the climax where readers truly believe the main character could fail? If not, you may want to rethink your plot or rewrite the action to make the climax more intense and challenging. The happy ending is only satisfying if it is won at great expense through hard work. In literature as in real life, people don't always value what comes easily. Success feels that much sweeter when it can be contrasted to the suffering we've had to endure.

Happy Endings

When I started this blog way back in January, I had a series of posts on the process of turning an idea into a story (links to the lower right). A story has four main parts: idea, complications, climax and resolution. I've talked a lot about getting off to a strong start and developing the middle of the story. Read about The Climax in the August 19 post. Now let's look at how stories wind down—the resolution.

The climax ends with the resolution. You could say that the resolution finishes the climax but comes from the idea: it's how the main character finally meets that original challenge.

In almost all cases the main character should resolve the situation himself. Here's where many beginning children's writers fail. It's tempting to have an adult—a parent, grandparent, or teacher, or even a fairy, ghost or other supernatural creature—step in to save the child or tell him what to do.

That's a disappointment for two reasons. First, we've been rooting for the main character to succeed. If someone else steals the climax away from him, it robs the story of tension and feels unfair. Second, kids are inspired by reading about other children who tackle and resolve problems. It helps them believe that they can meet their challenges, too. When adults take over, it shows kids as powerless and dependent on grownups. So let your main character control the story all the way to the end!

Child characters can receive help from others, though, including adults. In I Am Jack by Susanne Gervay (Tricycle Press, 2009), Jack faces bullying. He solves his problem, in part, by asking for help. In the end, Jack stands up for himself, but with the support of family, teachers and friends. It's a realistic ending that inspires kids to take charge in their own lives.


Though your main character should be responsible for the resolution, she doesn't necessarily have to succeed. She might, instead, realize that her goals have changed. In My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters by Sydney Salter (HM Harcourt, 2009), Jory starts out thinking that she needs a nose job to change her life. After a series of humorous disasters, Jory decides she really doesn't need surgery to feel better about herself.



Stories for younger children generally have happy or at least optimistic endings, even if the original goal changes. Teen stories may be ambiguous or even unhappy. Unhappy endings are probably most common in "problem novels," such as stories about the destruction of drug addiction. The main character's failure acts as a warning to readers.

Tip:  How the main character resolves the situation—whether she succeeds or fails, and what rewards or punishments she receives—will determine the theme. Ask yourself:
What am I trying to accomplish? Who am I trying to reach? Why am I writing this? Once you know your theme, you know where the story is going, and how it must be resolved. In My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, Salter wanted to show that happiness comes from within, rather than from external beauty. Therefore, Jory had to learn that lesson, even if it conflicted with her original goal of getting a nose job.

I'll be discussing theme more in upcoming posts, and showing how knowing your theme can shape your story.