Emmy Laybourne's Blog, page 2
April 30, 2018
On Teaching Premise to Tech School Students
Hello friends,
Four years ago a reading teacher named Beth Sloan got in touch with me about coming to the Oliver Wolcott Technical School in Torrington, CT to do an author visit. The school had chosen my book Monument 14 for their One Book – One School initiative. Would I come and give a lecture?
I said, “Of course!” Imagine my honor, to have a whole school reading one of my books!
Since then, word has spread, and I now visit 3-4 CT Tech High Schools each spring.
My favorite part of the day (okay, BESIDES taking pictures with students, which is really, incredibly fun) is when I tell them that they are already experts in premise.
I show them a bunch of iconic book covers and have them tell me what the book is about, just by looking at the cover. We analyze the font used, the images and the tag line, if there is one, to see how much about the premise we can discover.
“You already know so much about story,” I tell them.
My secret goal is to make them aware of their natural story sense, so that they will engage with the fictional narratives they take in (film, tv, novels, comic books, you tune videos, all of it) as CREATORS — not as consumers. I want to give them a look under the hood of story, so they can break it down.
My second secret goal (yes, I have two) is simply to show them that it’s possible to make a living as a creative. That authors really do exist and that they are basically just regular people. This is why I am always delighted to answer the questions, “Are you rich?” and “How much does an author make?” I usually answer by telling them what my advance for MONUMENT 14 was and what kind of car I drive: a 2008 Audi station wagon handed down to me by my mom three years ago.
Most of them are a little disappointed with my answers, but there are always a couple of them who perk up. I feel like I can see them thinking — “Wait, that’s not so glamorous. That’s actually … doable.”
Thank you, Beth Sloan, for inviting me so many years ago. It’s been a pleasure and an inspiration!
Here are some photos I took this week as I toured three CT Tech High Schools. Can you see how much fun I’m having connecting with these wonderful kids?
Now, why do the Tech School kids like Monument 14 so much, anyway?
Well, there are a couple reasons. 1. It has a male narrator, which is a big selling point for the guys. 2. It’s got a cool premise — kids hiding out in a superstore while civilizations collapses outside. 3. It starts at a breakneck pace and doesn’t let up for about a hundred pages.
If you haven’t read it yet, check out the starred review I got from Publishers Weekly:
Hey — thanks for reading my newsletter! You made it all the way to the end!
I’ve got a question for you. I’m getting to work on a TV script for Monument 14 in the weeks ahead. I’m watching tons of TV to prepare — please tell me: what’s your favorite show on TV right now? I’d love to know!
xoxo,
The post On Teaching Premise to Tech School Students appeared first on Emmy Laybourne.
March 28, 2018
Screenwriting Tricks For Novelists
Whoa!
I’ve had a very exciting couple of months:
Handed in the second draft of Ransacker.
Took on a new project for the mobile-fiction app Hooked.
Hired Royal Digital Studio to build a new website for me.
And headed out to LA for a round of meetings with some very smart and creative Hollywood development execs.
(Friends, the meetings were exciting. There’s not much I can tell you about yet, but I promise — you guys are always the first to know about all major developments. I should have some big news in the next couple of months!)
In the meantime, I wanted to share a tiny lecture I put together for the NY Teen Author Fest. I was asked to give a 4 minute master class on an area of expertise. I decided to write about some lessons I learned in film school that have helped me as a novelist.
I give you:
1. Begin with the premise
I like to begin my writing process by nailing down a premise. I want to identify — the central character, the struggle, the stakes. Here’s an example of a premise:
When she is drafted into The Hunger Games, a gruff loner must learn to trust another competitor while they fight others and the game itself, or else lose her humanity and her life.
See how much there is in there? We really get a sense of the whole story — the protagonist, her central characteristics, the antagonist, the struggle she faces and the stakes. It’s all in there. Do I use these for my own work? Why yes, I do. I work on the premise before I do anything else.
Here’s one I wrote for my first book, Monument 14:
When a series of escalating environmental catastrophes strands a group of fourteen kids in a superstore, they fight to protect themselves from chemical warfare compounds in the air and to establish a new way of living. But when two desperate outsiders threaten to take over, the kids must fight back or lose everything.
2. Bust out the magic markers
After you have the premise, create a movie-style poster for your book. This is incredibly fun. Draw ten versions. What you’re doing here is pin-pointing the tone and also what’s special about this book.
Think of the poster for ET, or Jaws, or Little Miss Sunshine, or La La Land. How about the one for The Fault In Our Stars, with the two kids laying face to face, and the air tube twisting across the Shalene Woodley’s face. It tells you so much about the movie — it’s a love story. It’s intimate. It’s clever. It’s gonna be sad and tender.
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Some iconic movie posters. See how much you get from each poster about the characters and tone of the film? We can steal this clarity for developing projects by making our own posters!
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3. Embrace 3 act structure
I urge novelists to beat out their story. Get a cork board and use note cards. Get the structure up so you can see it. Some people get antsy when they think about using 3 act structure. They worry it will create a novel that feels cookie-cutter-ish. Think of structure as a scaffolding — it’s not meant to be seen. You use it to make sure your building will stand! By the time your book is written, the scaffolding is gone.
I know Pantsers (people who write by the seat of their pants) do exist and I know they can be very successful, but I say, write ten books from an outline first. By then your story sense will be strong and you’ll just know what’s supposed to happen next. Until you’ve written ten books, write an outline so you can get a look at the thing before you build it. Hear me? You want to get a look at it before you write the whole, dang book.
4. Think about your reader
Screenwritiers really think about their readers – movie executives. They know the movie executives don’t have a lot of time for each script. You’re lucky if they read the first five pages. So there are no extra words. Everything is crisp and vivid and lean.
Your readers are young adults and other people who love YA books. So write down the page, not across.
Novels can often be filled with long, dense paragraphs. It’s easier for the reader if you break those up into dialogue or short paragraphs for action.
5. Write what they do, not what they feel
In a screenplay, a writer can only describe what we see on screen. She can’t write: “Josie was really frustrated. Her boss was always late and it was starting to wear her out, but she had to keep it professional.” She’s gotta write: “Josie scrubs her hand over her face. She kicks over a wastepaper basket, then puts the papers back in.” Even that is probably a bit too much description. You’ve likely heard the phrase, “Show, don’t tell.” This is a very clear way to see this principle in action — show us what your characters do, as opposed to telling us what they are feeling.
In summary: Premise! Poster! 3 Acts! Write for your reader! Show, don’t tell!
That was my 4 minute master class! When I read it for the NY Teen Author festival, I made it with 2 seconds to spare!
Sending lots of love,
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}One last thing...
I’m thrilled, honored and delighted that BERSERKER made Refinery29’s exclusive list!
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January 30, 2018
Get Positive
It’s true. If you’re struggling with a scene, putting affirmative words into the dialogue will loosen everything up — you, your characters and the plot. It works like grease in a lock and it’s one of my secret weapons.
This idea is based on one of the fundamental principles of improvisation. It’s called the “Yes, and.” Beginning improvisers often want to say no in a scene. They want to stop the scene so they can get their footing. Instead, they are instructed to say “Yes” to whatever idea has just been made in the scene, and then to add to it, by tacking on the word, “And” and going from there. It’s one of the most difficult habits to train, but brilliant improvisers make an art out of the “Yes, and.”
This same desire to slow and stop a scene experienced by a beginning improviser can make us writers choke up as well. If we are anxious about the scene we’re writing, or even if we’re just having a bad day, we can transfer that attitude to our characters.
Often what’s needed is to let go a bit. And there’s nothing that helps to unclench tight creative muscles than the word, “yes.”
Here is a writing exercise to try out when you’re feeling stuck. I got the idea for this from the book Master Lists For Writers. (For you teachers out there, this book is my secret weapon for inventing new writing prompts.)
This writing exercise takes 2 minutes of prep, then write on it for 5-10 minutes, though, of course, if you really get fired up… say yes to yourself and keep going!
PREP:
Print out this PDF of positive words and phrases.
Cut it into individual slips of paper so that there is one word or phrase per slip.
Scramble the slips up.
WRITING EXERCISE:
Write a scene with two characters. Each line of dialogue must begin with the words on one of your slips of paper.
You don’t need to use all of them and you can re-use one if you need it more than once.
I did this exercise with the small writer’s group I run here in Nyack. Just for fun, here’s the one I wrote, using this prompt:
At The Bank
by Emmy Laybourne
Shelly: Oh my goodness, Gretchen, is that you?
Gretchen: All right. Wasn’t expecting this—
Shelly: Hooray! So great to see you, honey. I’ve missed you!
Gretchen: Wow. Okay. Look, please empty your drawer into this duffel bag.
Shelly: Damn straight I will. I been worried sick about you ever since Mr. Grayson fired you. He’s a son of a bitch.
Gretchen: Amen to that. Hurry up with the twenties.
Shelly: I love it. Didn’t I tell you needed a little change up? I love this career for you. Did you dye your hair, like, for a disguise.
Gretchen: Affirmative. Can you please hurry up?
Shelly: Yee-haw! Little Gretchen Witznowski, bein’ blonde and robbin’ a bank!
Gretchen: Okay. Okay. Hand over the bag.
Shelly: Sounds good, honey. I didn’t put in any ink pods or nothin’.
Gretchen: Excellent. Don’t call the cops.
Shelly: Sounds good!
Gretchen: Cool! Lay on the ground and count to 1000.
Shelly: All-righty! Come back soon!
If you try this prompt, email me with the results. I can’t provide feedback, but I’d love to read your work!
All right, friends! That’s it for this month’s newsletter.
Mwah!
The post Get Positive appeared first on Emmy Laybourne.
November 30, 2017
The Secret Sauce…
I wanted to share with you a tool that almost every author I know uses. This tool is mentioned time and time again when I talk with other novelists at panels and festivals, yet, I’m not sure that everybody knows about it.
It’s music.
Many authors, myself included, cultivate extensive playlists we use to listen to as we draft our novels. Not only do we have playlists for each of our books, we have special playlists to set the mood for certain types of scenes.
For example, with Berserker, in addition to a general writing playlist, I have:
Intense/Violent
Hanne Thoughtful
Owen and Hanne Romance
I play a song to begin each writing session. I find music is so emotionally resonant that it immediately puts me into the scene. My brain fires up and opens up, as if I’ve had a double espresso.
Many of my favorite songs to write to have a strong rhythmic drive. The rhythm of the music helps me stay in the saddle as I write. Frequently, when working on a pivotal scene in a book I will put a song on repeat. I get into a bit of a trance, where I’m not really hearing the song, but it helps keep me in the emotional tone of the scene.
Here’s the really cool thing you can do with this information — you can read to it.
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Did you give in to my many requests and reminders and buy yourself a copy of Berserker?
Well, as you read it, listen to this playlist. You will hear the soundtrack I used when writing it!
Here’s a closer look…
This is Hanne’s theme song.
And listen to this one when you get to page 239. Make sure you let the song play — it picks up quite joyfully.
This song Owen and Hanne’s song. Just listening to it makes my heart feel a bit tender.
You can check out the rest of my writing playlists on my Spotify profile, and search out other authors you enjoy. I bet they’re on there!
I’m sending this off, then I’m going to get my hair blown-out and go to a launch party for Berserker. Today’s a special day for me, and all the more so because of the supportive community we have built together.
With love and thanks,
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November 21, 2017
Want What You Have (Am I Ever Thankful!)
Am I ever thankful!
Launching a new book is always an adventure and Berserker has not let me down!
In the last month I’ve crossed the country several times, hitting big book festivals in Las Vegas, Colorado, Morristown, Miami, St. Louis and my good old hometown, New York city.
We’ve continued to get good reviews – and now readers are starting to chime in on Amazon and Goodreads which is always gratifying, even when some of them clearly come from your own family members (Thank you, Sam…).
As we draw close to Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, I want to share a post with you that I ran over on Instagram on October 19th. It perfectly sums up how I feel coming into this week:
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Emmy
Laybourne (@emmylaybourne) on Oct 19, 2017 at 6:00am PDT
“Consolation prize for me this morning — Berserker did not make the NYT list, but I came downstairs to find that my daughter started reading Monument 14 late last night.
She has never read it because the way I describe it to people made it sound too scary. Apparently, she decided she’s ready.
How does it feel when your kid reads a book you wrote? Profoundly satisfying and heartening (especially if the kid likes said book).
Now, did I want to make the bestsellers list? Of course I did. Yes.
But I am reminded of my mom’s favorite saying: “Want what you have. Do what you can. Be who you are.”
That speaks so deeply to how I feel at this moment. I do want what I have — a loving, supportive family; a strong career doing something I love; twenty new ideas circling the airport, just waiting for room on the landing strip.
I am doing what I can – but I can do more. More volunteering, more outreach, more thoughtful writing directed at inclusion and truth-telling.
And I’m proud of Berserker because in it I am being who I am. The book is an expression of what I love in fiction, played out by characters I put my heart into.
I hope I can remember this moment and keep it ready for times when I lose my way.”
I’m glad I tacked that last sentence on there. It’s a little post-it note to my ego, saying, “Stay thankful! Keep your head on straight!” During the release of a book I can get really whacked out about numbers and sales and metrics. It’s easy to compare myself to others — and compare the success of my book to others.
Which brings me to another wise thing my mom told me, “You can’t run looking sideways.” I can’t go where I want to go if I’m craning my neck checking out how other people are doing.
So — eyes forward, my friends. We have a lot of work to do to make our world a better place.
Wanting what we have, doing what we can, being who we are — let’s go!
I send lots of love to you,
Are you in a Black Friday Mood?
Here’s a special offer for you: Buy Berserker and get a free poster and signed bookplate!
Email me proof of purchase of Berserker (Any retailer will do! Snap a photo or grab a screenshot.)
Include your name & mailing address in your email.
I’ll send you a free Berserker poster and a personalized bookplate!
Makes a nice holiday gift!
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August 25, 2017
Summer Fun With Color
Nope, I’m not here to tell you about the brightest new nail polish or trends in summer dresses—I want to tell you about how using paint-chips has helped me with my writing this summer.
I read a great article in Writer’s Digest magazine about using paint chips to help you clarify character. Yes, I’m a subscriber. (I also wrote an article for them once, actually.)
Here was the assignment: go to the hardware store and look at all the chips to find the color that feels like your character.
I went and had a ball. As you may remember, I’m hard at work on Ransacker, the sequel to Berserker. What I found was that the characters I had already written extensively for Berserker were very easy for me to identify.
Here’s what I chose:
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Next door, are the chips for the antagonists: Rolf and Ketil. These two guys are about as different as different can be. The combinations they make with Hanne and Owen felt right to me. That Ketil is a real SOB, and this bright color felt dangerous.
But when I went to pick out the colors for Sissel and the two men she’s in conflict within Ransacker, I discovered a problem.
These were the colors that felt like they represented the characters. But… hmm… no contrast. No drama between these colors.
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Doing this exercise led me to see that I had a weak character on my hands—JP (John Patrick), who is the love interest! I saw that he was too dull, too safe, as I had been writing him.
Even before I did this exercise I had suspected that I didn’t have him quite right, but my trip to the paint store confirmed it. I got back to work and took the character in a new direction.
After I had worked with him for a few chapters, I went back to Herb Lack paints, here in Nyack, NY.
Look what I came home with:
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Hey, hey, hey! This is working! This trio feels like romance and suspense.
Now I was cooking! These colors play together as the three characters do in the book. They’re not pure colors—they are a bit complicated and hard-to-know. This fits for the three young people I’m writing about. And I like the way they react with each other.
I had so much fun working with the swatches, that I brought them to the writing workshop I lead here in town. I even made two prompts based on them.
Here are the prompts, for your writing or teaching pleasure. Take 5 minutes for each.
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SLOW FADE…
At the hardware store, pick several swatches that start fairly light.
When you are ready to write, draw one of them at random.
Write a scene that begins in the emotional timbre of the lightest color and deepens in intensity as the scene progresses.
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At the store, get swatches in bright, contrast colors. Cut them into single-color squares.
Put one from each swatch into an envelope.
The prompt is to write a scene where two of the colors have a disagreement.
When you are ready to write, dump out the colors and pick two.
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Before I go – remember, we are still accepting members for the BERSERKER STREET TEAM. This is a super fun initiative Macmillan is hosting. The first 400 people to sign up get an awesome welcome packet with tons of swag. You’ll get missions and will have chances to win an ARC and other prizes.
Love to You!
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The post Summer Fun With Color appeared first on Emmy Laybourne.
May 8, 2017
Screen Poisoning. Is That a Thing?
“Screen poisoning” is what I call an illness that sets in when I’ve been spending too much time in front of my computer and engaged with my phone..fusion-builder-row .fusion-layout-column.gradient-column-69 .fusion-column-wrapper {background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(), to())!important;background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -o-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;}
Symptoms include physical complaints such as:
Dry eyes
Strained vision
Shoulder and/or neck pain
Feeling drained
And mental difficulties like:
Fogginess
Being easily distracted
Fractured attention span
Forgetfulness
and… I can’t remember what else
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As a novelist, I often spend 8 hours a day in front of my computer. I go home and then squeeze in another hour or so answering emails on my phone. Sometimes I find myself checking out of moments with my kids to check my emails or texts. During the election—and the fallout thereafter—I had a really bad case of screen poisoning. I found I was spending hours a day on Facebook, in addition to all my other daily screen time. I decided to fight back.
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DRAMATIC RE-ENACTMENT. Do not try this at home.
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I began a series of experiments—how could I change my behavior regarding my computer and my phone to decrease my overall screen time? Would making these changes have an effect on my mental and physical well-being?
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Experiment #1: I ditched social media, by accident.
I was simply trying to make my phone less sexy, okay? I wanted to stop picking it up all the time. So I took Facebook and Twitter off my phone. I was shocked by the difference this made. For one thing, it revealed to me how often I was turning to my phone for stimulation; because without FB and Twitter, there was hardly anything to do on my phone! I’d pick it up, open it, see I had no new emails or messages then just… set it down again.
I wasn’t consciously trying to go off FB and Twitter, but I found that a few weeks went by without me checking in at all. And… I loved it. I didn’t miss posting or reading my friends’ posts – and my FB friends, well, they don’t seem to miss me! I’ve received exactly one email from a friend saying they noticed I hadn’t been posting on FB – and that one was just to make sure I was doing okay.
Now, my husband had ditched FB a year ago, and he’d been telling me to make the jump, but I had held on. For one thing, there’s an expectation that Young Adult novelists will have awesome and engaging social media feeds. I’ve kept up my Instagram account because I love posting photos and looking at other people’s photos, so I’ve still got that one. I guess it’s too early to say if this will negatively impact my career as a YA novelist. We’ll have to see, my friends, but I tell you—I saw a definite boost in my mental and physical well-being from dropping FB and Twitter.
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Experiment #2: I went analog for my daily To Do list.
I’ve been using ToDoist for years now to track my daily tasks, and while I like it—it was adding to my screen time in a big way.
I had seen ads (yes, on Facebook), for a premium journal called a Self Journal. It claimed to be “A simple yet powerful daily planner to help you optimize your day, tackle your goals, and be happier.”
These promises seemed a bit of a reach, but I was delighted to find that the journal has helped me do just what it says. It’s not just a nice daily planner, but it’s laid out in a way that helps you to structure your time. It also has some nice, morale-boosting elements planned in—you write down three things you are grateful for in the morning and there are nice, peppy quotes sprinkled throughout.
The biggest gift the journal has given me is a strange concept—to give my every working minute a job. In the morning, the first thing I do it sit with my journal. I sort my available hours into blocks, and tackle the most important work first. Before I started using this, I would sit down at my desk and answer emails for a couple of hours. The emails would have a bunch of mind-draining questions and I’d have to go get information and write it up nicely, etc, etc. in order to answer them all! Exhausting. After doing emails, I would then turn to my writing!
I was putting everyone’s requests in front of my own work.
Zoinks! Once I saw this pattern, I knew I had to stop it.
Now I make sure the first two-hour block goes to writing. Then I do other tasks, have lunch, and resume for another one to two-hour writing block in the afternoon. It’s working so beautifully for my book, but you know what happens sometimes? …I don’t get to all my emails.
At first, this made me panicky. I’ve always prided myself on being a fast email responder, turning them all around within a matter of hours. Now I had become someone who didn’t get back to people… sometimes until the next day! (Just to be totally transparent here – I still answer professional emails toot suite, as well as ones from my mom and dad!) I’ve found that, again, no one really complained about me slacking off in this area.
Does working with a paper journal impact my mental health? Yes! I really like checking things off in the journal. And I find the moments of reflection it encourages boost me up. It has an area on each page for you to write goals—they can be lifetime goals, daily goals, monthly—whatever you want.
Here are some goals I’ve written down over the last few weeks:
Get a writing residency and write edgy, crazy sci-fi short stories.
Love exercise again.
Let go of perfectionism.
Draw more with Rex.
Learn to speak with a Norwegian accent and pitch yourself as the narrator for the audiobook edition of Berserker .
Are those fun to read? They sure were fun to write…
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Experiment #3: I started writing wirelessly.
I rent a lovely office in Nyack, NY. I like my office. It has some great art in it, and photos of my friends and family. I have a fancy sit/stand desk and an ergonomic chair. I work well in my office, but I’d found that I often got more writing done when sitting in cramped, uncomfortable places, like cafes or on airplanes. Why was this?
Part of it, I reasoned, was connectivity. With my giant, gorgeous iMac, surfing the web is a constant temptation. There are also books to distract me in my office, and a stack of bills sitting on the desk, waiting for my attention (they’re staring at me right now).
I had long had my eye on the FreeWrite, basically a fancy typewriter that backs up your writing to the cloud, but you can’t surf the web. However, the $500 price tag was a bit prohibitive for a productivity experiment. Then I found someone online mention a similar, but much cheaper device: the Neo 2 by Alphasmart.
The Neo 2 is a word processor that looks like a keyboard and has a small screen where your typing shows up—a screen like the one you’d find on an old calculator. I bought one for $40 off Amazon and it is my pride and joy.
You just write on this thing. You don’t edit. You can’t cut and paste. You certainly don’t flit off to do online research. Every once in a while, you plug it into your computer and open a Word file. Then you press send and it types your work into the document. It’s basically a big, portable keyboard that saves up your words then spews them out onto a computer file when you’re ready.
Has it improved productivity? Yep. Morale? Triple yep! I get such a kick out of how flat-out weird it is. And it makes for good conversations.
It turns out that I get more written in a Starbucks, on a dorky word processor, than I do in my comfy office with my ergonomic keyboard.
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Here are two photos of the tools I mentioned:
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Do you feel sorry for the Neo2 because it has no sexy marketing photos available online that I could pull? Well, don’t! The Neo2 is proud to be a nerd.
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Fancy SELF journal. I love it!
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RESOURCES
This post has turned out to be a very long one, but heck, if you’ve read this far you must be enjoying it so here are some resources that helped me in my experiments. I highly recommend all of these:
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BOOKS.fusion-builder-row .fusion-layout-column.gradient-column-83 .fusion-column-wrapper {background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(), to())!important;background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;background: -o-linear-gradient(top, , )!important;}
DEEP WORK
by Cal Newport
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THE BIG DISCONNECT
by Catherine Steiner-Adair, EdD
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DAILY RITUALS
by Mason Currey
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ARTICLES
Four Simple Habits To Take Back Control from Time Well Spent
Do You Have Email Apnea? by Linda Stone
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That’s it, my dear friends!
Sending lots of love and best wishes for your digital sanity,
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The post Screen Poisoning. Is That a Thing? appeared first on Emmy Laybourne.
April 1, 2014
March 6, 2014
Monument 14 companion short stories
I’ve written a compan...
I’ve written a companion story for each of my novels. They run on Tor.com and feature covers by American painter Greg Manchess.
