Guest Blogger Cynthia Leitich Smith on Process

Today, author Cynthia Leitich Smith joins the blog to talk about her process. Cynthia writes for a wide range of ages and markets, and how she approaches each is a bit different. There's one little tidbit I just love.

Take it away Cynthia... 

HOW I WRITE

By Cynthia Leitich Smith

I like to s-t-r-e-t-c-h. I write short and long, realistic fiction and fantasy, and for toddlers to teens and beyond.

What I'm writing-the form of the manuscript-has a great impact on how I go about approaching it.

Both my picture books and short stories feel infinitely containable. I can pick them up, put them down, cradle or mangle them in the palm of my hand.

But the flow is different. My short stories tend to simply spill out once I've got that first sentence down. Not so with a picture book. It's more of a puzzle, worked and reworked over many drafts from many angles. Upwards of 80, even 100 different attempts until the last element clicks into place.

The novel, on the other hand, is an elusive beast with teeth and claws.

Early on, I would write an entire draft-from start to finish with a beginning, middle, and end-and then print it, read it, throw it away, and delete the file. That assuaged my fears, gave me permission to dive in and tap away, secure in the knowledge that no one else would ever see what havoc I wrought.

Of late, though, I've been working on a series of novels set in the same world. So, I haven't needed those discovery drafts. Instead the pre-writing was done in the preceding books and in the character worksheets and letters and models that I mined before them.

I don't have a critique group, though I did in the past. In each case, the other writers were warm, funny, smart, talented literary artists, and I miss having their feedback and their company in that way, though we're all still good pals.

When I began teaching writing to graduate students, though--through the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults-I couldn't read in depth for my students and my critique partners, too. It was simply a matter of hours in the day.

However, I do still exchange manuscripts with my very cute husband and sometimes co-author Greg Leitich Smith. We met as first-year law students, and we're much more direct with each other than we'd ever be with anyone else. Imagine receiving a manuscript marked, "No way is this going out of the house with the family name on it."

I love working with Greg. I have so much respect for his work, and in addition to the manuscripts themselves, we also have the occasional brainstorming session or embark together on a story-related field trip.

While I was writing Eternal (Candlewick, 2009, 2010), for example, I felt convinced that I couldn't possibly capture the full-blown freeze of Chicago in February without flying there one weekend to traipse every step that my characters took. On Navy Pier, overlooking Lake Michigan, the ink in our pens froze. Even for Greg, a native Chicagoan, this was a comfort sacrifice for love and art.

On the other hand, when writing Tantalize, we dined at every Italian restaurant in Texas, and he didn't seem to mind that a bit.

To fellow writers, I encourage stepping quite literally into your fictional world. Whether you're writing realistic fiction or fantasy, do all that you can to connect-really reach out and touch-your characters and their settings.

Cynthia Leitich Smith is the New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-selling author of ETERNAL and TANTALIZE (both Candlewick). Her award-winning books for younger children include JINGLE DANCER, INDIAN SHOES and RAIN IS NOT MY INDIAN NAME (all HarperCollins). She looks forward to the release of HOLLER LOUDLY (Dutton, Nov. 2010) for kids and BLESSED for YAs (Candlewick, Jan. 2011). She is a member of faculty at the Vermont College M.F.A. program in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Her website was named one of the top 10 Writer Sites on the Internet by Writer's Digest and an ALA Great Website for Kids. Her Cynsations blog was listed as among the top two read by the children's/YA publishing community in the SCBWI "To Market" column.

Watch the trailer for Eternal

The Final Blue Fire ARC Contest

The final contest is here! This is going to be a short one so the winner can get their copy before the actual book comes out on October 5. Doing another simple this time, so no thought required.

The rules are simple:

1. Just post a comment in the comments section. If you don't know what to say, tell me your favorite cheesy movie. Earn one point.

2. Link to this post about the contest. Earn one point.

3. Blog about the book. Earn one point. (Copy and past the below blurb, photo and links, and earn an extra point on top of just mentioning it)

4. Be or are a follower of this blog. Earn one point.

5. Be or friend me on Facebook. Earn one point.

6. You get one entry for every point. I'll draw names next Monday, October 13 and announce the winner that day.

7. Anyone can enter, except those who won last time.

Commenting at all counts, even if you don't give a favorite cheesy movie, so no worries there.

And that's it!

One interesting thing, if you've ever been curious how much editing can be (and sometimes is) done after an ARC goes out, this is the book for you. We didn't fiddle with the story any, but the disclaimer "uncorrected proof" on the cover isn't kidding. I went through several more rounds of polishing since this ARC was printed. The text is a lot tighter in the final version. Could be fun to see the before and after from an editing study perspective.

Good luck, all!

The contest starts NOW!

Post this for the extra point:

Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer’s trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn’t mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn’t enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke’s clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke’s best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke’s plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer—if she doesn’t destroy it first.

Buy it online at: Barnes & Noble   Amazon     Or These Fine Retailers

Game On!

I have my very own game now.

Escape From Baseer!

Play if you dare...

Okies, in all seriousness, this is kinda cool. HarperCollins has an Awesome Adventures site where they've done games for a lot of their titles, and quizzes and stuff.

As a gamer girl myself, I'm jazzed to be part of the geekdom.

Come On, What's the Worst That Can Happen?

A friend of mine told me a bad joke the other day:

What's worse than finding a band-aid in your hamburger? The Holocaust.

What's the worst that can happen? is probably the most-recited piece of advice on plotting. It's good advice, and I'm a big fan, but as the joke illustrates, "worst" is very subjective.

Take this scene. Your protag is upstairs, she hears a noise downstairs. She grabs the bat from under her bed and goes to investigate. What happens?

A) She finds a burglar in the living room stealing the silver.
B) A sinkhole has opened up under her house and it's starting to collapse.
C) The sun explodes, killing all life on Earth.

Obviously, "worst" has many outcomes, and not all of them are going to work for your story. My examples are extreme, but we pick the metaphoric C more often than not, because it's "the worst that can happen." We're thinking about how to make the plot bigger and badder, not always what's the best "worst" for the story as a whole. And that can lead to scenes that might be exciting, but our beta readers are giving us feedback like "but it never goes anywhere" or "yeah, it's good, but what's the point?"

Things going wrong is the cornerstone to a good plot, but you want to look for things that can go wrong and still move the story forward, and deepen that story. Connect the "worst" to the story so it keeps the reader interested, and doesn't just give them stuff they have to slog through to get to the next story point (even if that stuff is interesting on its own)


Instead, ask...


1. What's the worst thing my protag thinks might happen in this scene?

Odds are your protag went into this scene with a certain amount of apprehension. (If not, that's a whole other post) What are they worried about? What realistic fears and unrealistic fears do they have? And don't just look at the most immediate fears. Look at those inner fears, childhood fears, etc. What do those smaller fears mean to a bigger problem? Brides worry about tripping on their wedding dresses, but it's not the "falling and getting hurt" consequence that scares them. It's ruining what's supposed to be the happiest most perfect day of their lives and haunting them for the entire marriage. Or even being a bad omen that the marriage isn't going to work out, preying on a deeper fear they might not be willing to face.

2. What's the worst thing the other characters in the scene think might happen?

This includes bad guys. Your protag may be driving the story, but it doesn't have to be all them all the time. Another character can offer you inspiration on what to do next in your plot. Bad guys often have more knowledge about something in a scene (because the protag is probably trying to find that secret out), so they'd react to things from a different perspective. To them, the protag getting to X might be the worst thing. And then they'll act in a way to prevent that, which could cause just the right problem for your hero.

Looking at the other characters is also a good way to keep the reader guessing. If the protag has been worrying abut X, the reader will suspect X is going to happen. But they probably aren't expecting Y. And a secondary character, might be worried about Y, which might cause just as much trouble for the protag as X. That also provides opportunities for other characters to get a little page time and become richer characters.

3. What the worst thing the author thinks might happen in this scene?

Don't count yourself out. This is a great time to brainstorm. Take a step back and look at this scene as if no other existed (Yes, I know, this goes against that whole "make them connect" advice, but bear with me). What problems might develop from this situation? Look at all sides, minor and major characters, setting, theme, let your mind wander. Think about later in the story. Anything that could be made worse there if things turn out differently here? What would totally kill your plot if it happened? Now, how might you get out of that if you actually had that happen?

In all of these questions, don't think, "I can't do that because..." Think about how you would handle it and see if you can pull it off. Because the last thing you would do, is probably also the last thing your readers will expect.

Link Time!

As I'm updating the blog, (and I'm liking this new layout better, hope you folks do too) I want to put a call out there for my reads who have blogs that they'd like me to link to. Some of you I have, but I'm missing a lot and it's only fair to share the link love. Drop me a link in the comments and I'll make sure it gets up there.

Get Over Overstating: Trimming Unnecessary Words

Every time we tweak or polish, or even just write, we tend to repeat ourselves. Sometimes this is good, as it reinforces something critical to the story, but sometimes it just gunks things up and tosses in extra words. So today, I'm going to show some things I cut from Blue Fire while doing my own revisions, talk about why, and how you can spot these in your own work.

Tell Me Everything

It's common to state something the reader can clearly figure out from the text. Trimming that out can tighten up the prose and make it read smoother.

I darted to the window [and peeked out.] Enzie was running down the walk, waving her arms above her head and yelling.

It's clear that the narrator here looks out the window after she darts to it because she tells you what she sees. Leaving in "and peeked out" won't hurt the story, but the goal is to start picking up the pace in this scene since something bad is about to happen. Having a shorter sentence achieves that.

What you can look for: Places where you're shown or implied an action, then went on to explain the action anyway. Senses are common offenders here. You listen to hear, look to see, touch to feel.

Whoa, TMI

Let's look at one that actually weakens the story by leaving it in.

She sure as spit wouldn't go quietly, [so I would have heard something.]

If she didn't go quietly, it makes perfect sense that noise would have been made and it would have been heard. Not only does cutting the back half of this sentence tighten the prose, it ends it on a much better dramatic punch. "She sure as spit wouldn't go quietly" suggests all kinds of interesting things to the reader, while "so I would have heard something" is just flat explanation. Who cares if she would have heard something. But we wonder what she would do to not go quietly.

What you can look for: Great punchlines that are weakened by explanation or reinforcement of the idea. You can usually tell the lines that land well, and when you end a sentence or a paragraph with those, you entice the reader to read the next sentence or paragraph. If you deliver a great line, then keep talking, you might be weakening that line.

Say it Again, Sam

Sometimes you say the same thing in two different ways:

Had she lied about the others or were they cleverly blending in with the mob looking for work? They'd already proven they were sneaky. [The streets were packed and it would be easy to hide in the crowds.]

Blending in with the crowds conveys the same basic information as saying it would be easy to hide in the crowds. You don't need both. And ending at "sneaky" leaves the reader wondering what else they might be sneaky about.

What you can look for: Repetition of ideas. These are harder to spot because they feel right and are usually well written, so they don't jump out. Keep a sharp eye out in scenes you know feel slow, but can't figure out why, or places where you want to trim and don't know what to cut.

Deja Vu All Over Again

Sometimes a line is fine, but it has to go because it restates something used close by in the same scene:

Relief bobbed above my terror for a heartbeat, but finding her first didn't mean we could get to her first. [I risked a look around the edge of the shed.] The woman tracker was by the ramp now, a blue-black pynvium rod in her hand.

This one's harder to judge without the whole passage, but the line, "I risked a look around the edge of the shed" doesn't really add anything to this, especially as she's been peeking and looking a lot in this scene. Alone it sounds fine, but after three other similar actions, it really stands out, and that will distract your reader.

What you can look for: Similar actions or thoughts in the same scene. These are really hard to spot, and the easiest way to do it is to read large chunks at once. That way, you'll remember the three other times you used a similar line in the same chapter and can cut the ones that aren't necessary. If you find yourself using the same word (like look, or peeked) you can a search for them and see how many you used. I've found making them bold and red, then looking at the pages in full page view lets me see how often I've used them.

Repeating ourselves is so easy to do, especially when we're revising and not reading the story in chronological order. But once you start training yourself to look for them, they tend to jump out at you.