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Sarah McGuire's Blog, page 2
November 15, 2014
Cheering on those who are NaNo-ing!
The amazing Joy Hensley (Rites of Passage, Harper Teen) asked me to contribute a motivational letter or video to the NaNoWriMo Kit that she distributed to local middle and high schools.
So of course I made a video. With costume changes. Because why not? And because I had the time. And because it was more fun than grading. (Many things are.)
If you are one of the brave souls NaNo'ing this year, I hope this helps! And if you're not, I hope it's entertaining. :)
So of course I made a video. With costume changes. Because why not? And because I had the time. And because it was more fun than grading. (Many things are.)
If you are one of the brave souls NaNo'ing this year, I hope this helps! And if you're not, I hope it's entertaining. :)
Cheering on those who are NaNo-ing!
(originally published 11/15/14) The amazing Joy Hensley (Rites of Passage, Harper Teen) asked me to contribute a motivational letter or video to the NaNoWriMo Kit she distributed to local middle and high schools. So of course I made a video. With costume changes. Because why not? And because I had the time. And because it was more fun than grading. (Many things are.) If you are one of the brave souls NaNo-ing this year, I hope this helps! And if you're not, I hope it's at least entertaining. :)
July 28, 2014
Playing Favorites (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From July, 2013
"VALIANT is currently out of my hands, so I'm concentrating on what comes next and starting my next story.
That, of course, has me thinking of siblings.
Of course."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"VALIANT is currently out of my hands, so I'm concentrating on what comes next and starting my next story.
That, of course, has me thinking of siblings.
Of course."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
Slant, or Write Like You Mean It (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From June, 2013
"For those who haven't heard, I signed with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary in April. (I still can't believe my good fortune!) Ever since then, I've been whipping VALIANT into shape before we send it out. In this round of revisions, I've been working on a) tightening the manuscript*, and b) writing on a slant.
What is slant? That's what I asked Patti Gauch last year when she told me I needed to write with it. Patti described writing on a slant as a wash of color over a scene. She made the point that if a character was feeling something, it would show up in everything: dialog, narration, description. I needed to write the scene like my character meant it."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"For those who haven't heard, I signed with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary in April. (I still can't believe my good fortune!) Ever since then, I've been whipping VALIANT into shape before we send it out. In this round of revisions, I've been working on a) tightening the manuscript*, and b) writing on a slant.
What is slant? That's what I asked Patti Gauch last year when she told me I needed to write with it. Patti described writing on a slant as a wash of color over a scene. She made the point that if a character was feeling something, it would show up in everything: dialog, narration, description. I needed to write the scene like my character meant it."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
Building a Fantasy World (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From April, 2013
"I'm mostly-kind-of-almost finished with VALIANT, a YA retelling of a The Brave Little Tailor. For the past year, I've been living in– and creating!– a fantasy world that I hope readers will want to enter. I want it to be so real, so vivid, that someone will feel homesick once the story's finished.
I'm still learning this worldbuilding thing, but I did gather a few tools along the way. There are tons of websites with worksheets that help you expand your world's culture(s). (Google 'worldbuilding.') However, I found I needed the most help with naming and visualizing my world. So I'd to share what I used for..."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"I'm mostly-kind-of-almost finished with VALIANT, a YA retelling of a The Brave Little Tailor. For the past year, I've been living in– and creating!– a fantasy world that I hope readers will want to enter. I want it to be so real, so vivid, that someone will feel homesick once the story's finished.
I'm still learning this worldbuilding thing, but I did gather a few tools along the way. There are tons of websites with worksheets that help you expand your world's culture(s). (Google 'worldbuilding.') However, I found I needed the most help with naming and visualizing my world. So I'd to share what I used for..."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
So What? (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From February, 2013
In my Creative Writing class, we’ve been asking ‘so what?’ a lot. You see, we started writing memoir. After a little brainstorming, I had the class jump in and write at least 400 words about a memory of their choice.For many students, it began to get frustrating right after that. They knew what they wanted to write about, but the more they wrote, the more unwieldy it became.
How could we wrangle a memory into something that a reader could navigate?
We ask, “So what?”
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
In my Creative Writing class, we’ve been asking ‘so what?’ a lot. You see, we started writing memoir. After a little brainstorming, I had the class jump in and write at least 400 words about a memory of their choice.For many students, it began to get frustrating right after that. They knew what they wanted to write about, but the more they wrote, the more unwieldy it became.
How could we wrangle a memory into something that a reader could navigate?
We ask, “So what?”
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
Charles Dickens and the Last Round of Revisions (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From January, 2013
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that teachers cannot expect to teach anything the day before Christmas break.
So… this past December 21, I challenged the students in my math classes to pull out their smart phones and see if they could get points in a holiday scavenger hunt."
To read the rest of the post,
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that teachers cannot expect to teach anything the day before Christmas break.
So… this past December 21, I challenged the students in my math classes to pull out their smart phones and see if they could get points in a holiday scavenger hunt."
To read the rest of the post,
Time to Say Goodbye...to an old manuscript (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From December 2012
"This year, I said goodbye to a manuscript. I worked on The Looking Glass for years. That manuscript taught me how to write. When I wrapped my mind around a new aspect of writing, I applied to it to the whole novel. I rewrote it many times, and every rewrite tackled a specific issue: made my main character more active, fixed a sagging middle, or built a believable world.
The Looking Glass was the manuscript I rewrote (again) while I was in the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. I met my Monkeys because of it! My mentor, Harold Underdown, taught me so much as I worked on it.
All the rewrites changed it for the better.
Until they didn't."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"This year, I said goodbye to a manuscript. I worked on The Looking Glass for years. That manuscript taught me how to write. When I wrapped my mind around a new aspect of writing, I applied to it to the whole novel. I rewrote it many times, and every rewrite tackled a specific issue: made my main character more active, fixed a sagging middle, or built a believable world.
The Looking Glass was the manuscript I rewrote (again) while I was in the Nevada SCBWI Mentor Program. I met my Monkeys because of it! My mentor, Harold Underdown, taught me so much as I worked on it.
All the rewrites changed it for the better.
Until they didn't."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
Acknowledge! (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From November, 2012
"Have you ever read the acknowledgements page in a book and mentally composed one of your own? For your book that someday might be published?
I have. And while I hate, hate, hate to jinx any future publication, I think an acknowledgments post might be a good idea, especially the day after Thanksgiving. Writing doesn't happen in a vacuum. We are surrounded by folks who keep us going. So..."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"Have you ever read the acknowledgements page in a book and mentally composed one of your own? For your book that someday might be published?
I have. And while I hate, hate, hate to jinx any future publication, I think an acknowledgments post might be a good idea, especially the day after Thanksgiving. Writing doesn't happen in a vacuum. We are surrounded by folks who keep us going. So..."
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
Something's Coming... (Turbo Monkey Tales archives)
From October, 2012
"I spent a good part of this afternoon looking out the window. Hurricane Sandy is coming and boy, could I tell. The sky was leaden. Wind pulled at the treetops. It felt like that moment when a perfectly still cat flicks its tail, and you just know it's ready to pounce…"
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
"I spent a good part of this afternoon looking out the window. Hurricane Sandy is coming and boy, could I tell. The sky was leaden. Wind pulled at the treetops. It felt like that moment when a perfectly still cat flicks its tail, and you just know it's ready to pounce…"
To read the rest of the post, go to Turbo Monkey Tales.
