Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 235
October 6, 2016
Narrator vs POV Character
Last not, we had a really interesting conversation at critique group on your narrator vs your point-of-view character. One of our writers is working on a middle grade novel. Her point of view character is gifted and mature. Every once in a while, she sounds a big “old” or at least older than her 12 […]
October 5, 2016
My Misfit Manuscript
I had a critique group meeting this afternoon. I love my group and really wanted the chance to get some feedback. But I’ve been working on the Race and Racism book, due Wednesday. So that I didn’t have to miss out on their feedback, I pulled out an old manuscript that I jokingly refer to […]
October 4, 2016
Scrapbooking My Characters
Have you ever scrapbooked a novel? I read an article about this in the SCBWI Bulletin and am giving it a shot. I’m a pretty visual person so this may work well for me. We shall see. First things first, I’m scrapbooking my characters. I designated one page per character but I’m not sure that’s […]
October 3, 2016
Censorship and the School Library
Do you ever worry that what you write will keep your books out of school libraries? I have to admit that the thought has crossed my mind. I’m not so worried about Hidden Human Computers but I was worried when I wrote Black Lives Matter. After all, I’ve seen the racist memes changing the popular slogan to All Lives […]
October 2, 2016
Enrich Your Writing: Take a Class for Free
Open Culture maintains a 1,200+ list of free online courses. I just finished up my most recent class so I’m on the lookout for the next course that will help enrich my writing. What are my prerequisites when I’m looking for an online class? It has to be free. I’m not taking these for credit. […]
September 29, 2016
Writing Tough Topics
I’m one chapter away from a full draft of the race and racism book. One chapter should be about 1850 words. Unfortunately, I’m running short. That’s no great surprise. When I write for Abdo, I’m used to creating a 9 chapter outline. This time around the outline was only 8 chapters. Because I’ve more or […]
September 28, 2016
Top Nonfiction Picture Books
Earlier this week, writing buddy Stephanie Bearce asked me for a list of the Top Nonfiction Picture Books in the last 5 years. Where to start? There are so many book lists out there — bestsellers, various ALA awards and more. I decided to start with the top nonfiction as selected by School Library Journal. Here’s […]
September 27, 2016
Suitable for Young Readers?
Maybe this has been on my mind because this is Banned Book Week, but it seems like I’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about what books are and are not suitable to their age level. Most often it is because a broad topic is just “too much” for that age group. And sometimes […]
September 26, 2016
Winter Reading List
Are you an SCBWI Pal Member? A Pal member is someone who has published a book with a recognized professional publisher. If so, take advantage of this Pal opportunity to promote one of your books. The organization is pulling together a Winter Reading List for 2016. Schools, libraries, bookstores and consumers will have access to […]
September 25, 2016
ESL: Writing for a Korean Market
Saturday I had the opportunity to have an early reader critiqued by two of my Missouri SCBWI buddies, Peggy Archer and Stephanie Bearce. As always, their feedback was helpful but then Stephanie hit me with a question I couldn’t answer. “Are you sure that the power of three works in Korean stories?” Stephanie had recently […]
