Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 244

#BlackLivesMatter Booklist

It isn’t surprising when libraries and librarians stride forward to help teens cope as they try to find their place in today’s world.  That said, it is surprising when you see your own book on one of these lists.  Chelsea Couillard-Smith, a librarian in Minnesota’s Hennipin County Library, created a #BlackLivesMatter book list.  Duchess messaged […]

New RandomHouse Imprint: Mapping Tomorrow’s World for Today’s Children

I’ve heard it said that children’s books need to provide a mirror for today’s readers, giving them books in which they can see themselves.  I’ve also heard it said that books need to provide a window, a way through which they can view the larger world.  Today, I read a new explanation.  According to author/illustrator […]

Speculative Fiction: What’s In a Name

Recently I was with some of my writing buddies and we were discussing, no surprise here, books.  Specifically, we were mulling over what to call Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  Since it focuses on technology and feels a bit grungy, I tend to want to call it futuristic steam punk because science fiction just doesn’t feel precise enough. […]

Flash Fiction: Keeping It Short and Pertinent

I’m in the middle of reading 40 flash fiction contest entries.  The word limit is 750 which really doesn’t feel painfully short to me but that’s probably because I write for children.  Sure, most of my ABDO books start out at 15,000 word but much of what I’ve published in significantly shorter than 750 words. […]

Narrator Beware: Limit the Whining

Recently, I picked up a book that is wildly popular.  I’m seeing it all over the blogosphere.  A friend asked me to read it and give her my take on it.  It’s middle grade fiction but she worries that it is too dark.  She worries that ubber dark is a new middle grade trend. No, […]

Chapters: How Many Is Just Right?

A few days ago, I pulled out my outline for What’s Up, Chuck?  If I’m going to have it ready to submit by the end of August, I had better get to work. I hadn’t worked on a new chapter for a while so I didn’t actually remember what chapter I was writing.  It turned […]

4th of July

I know not everyone who reads this blog is from the US, but I am.  Today is the 4th of July, a family day for me.  I hope that you can all understand that that is where I’m devoting my time today. I hope that all of you who celebrate have a happy, safe holiday. […]

Picture Books: Leaving Room for the Illustrations

For those of us who write but don’t illustrate, part of the balance we need to achieve is writing a story that leaves space for the illustrations.  I knew better than to include specific character descriptions or clothing descriptions.  After all, unless the story depends on the character’s bright red hair, that’s the sort of […]

Rewriting: Sometimes It Means Starting Anew

If you’ve been writing for any length of time at all, you’ve probably realized that 95% of any writing project is rewriting.  When I say rewriting, I don’t mean copy-editing, such as fixing commas and checking spelling.  I mean rewriting — shifting paragraphs, deleting pages, coming up with concrete verbs and more. Most often I […]

Brainstorming with Blippar

I have to admit that I was really excited when I read Lee Wind’s post on brainstorming with the Blippar ap.  In short, you open the app and point your phone at whatever.  As soon as Blippar “recognizes” what the object is it will pull in a labeled photo which goes into a menu bar […]