Keynote Conference Highlights and Writing Advice from #LA18SCBWI

I feel so lucky to have been able to attend the SCBWI Conference in L.A. earlier this month. A big thanks to the SCBWI for sending me out there (I won the trip through my participation in SCBWI BookStop program). For all of you who saw my worries about leaving The Gentleman when he was just barely 1, you’ll be happy to know that he was find while I was gone (and even took a bottle at times!).

There were so many amazing moments that I couldn’t possibly share them all here, so be sure to check out all the SCBWI blog coverage of the conference or #LA18SCBWI on Twitter. The keynotes in particular were amazing, so I’ve devoted this post to those. (I always like to note that I don’t use quotation marks for these snippets because these are from the notes that I’m often frantically taking during talks, so there’s not way to know for sure if it’s a direct quote or if I’m paraphrasing, but I always try to be true to the point the speaker was trying to get across.)

Daniel José Older (He’s super funny!):

• Words are supposed to sound nice when you put them together, so read out loud before you sub.
• Beginnings establish what your character wants; they establish their humanity.
• Every story that we tell is the story of a crisis, where a crisis is a turning point, a moment that everything changes in some significant way.
• Good books are made of bad decisions.

Ekua Holmes (I love her whole aesthetic…the colors, the flow, the emotions behind it…everything!):

• Reach back and gather the best of what our past hast to teach us. Reclaim her history, legacy, and sovereignty through art.
• Our art is always personal. My strategy is somehow to find myself in each of my stories.
• Confinement in mind and body cannot stop our creativity and desire to be free.
• Children innately respond to creativity.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt (Her talks are always so full of the passion she brings to her work and for caring about kids.):

• It’s a very brave act to create something that has never been in the world until you put your hand to the page and share it with others.
• Young readers need us to care more about them than we care about our careers and ourselves.
• Children are hungry for optimism–just like the rest of us.
• Wishes are passive longings. Change your wishes into goals and act on those goals.

Andrea Davis Pinkney & Brian Pinkney (Such an adorable, creative couple…with very different work styles. I’d love to be a fly on their wall.):

• Every artist have to have a style – B.P.
• You want the reader to not even know they are reading because they are having so much fun. – A.D.P.
• Write your own letter to diversity and come back to it in a year to see how you’ve done. – A.D.P.

Libba Bray (She’s a badass–super funny, smart, and thoughtful. See my post about how her keynote inspired by author theme of “find your magic”.):

• In writing a story, you have to want to know something. The question makes your story come alive, leading us from somewhere we know to something new. The question leads to change.
• Branding is about answers, about selling stuff. Brands by there very nature are static. It puts writers in a position to view kids as consumers instead of growing young people.
• Writers need safe places to be able to take risks.
• We are facing the kind of monsters we read about in books. There has never been a more important time to write for the next generation.
• If someone asks what your brand is, tell them it’s a commitment to craft and a deep respect for the audience.

Mike Curato (He’s as adorable as his elephant character Little Elliot):

• Eat cake…but make sure it’s good cake.
• Think about how happy you were as a kid making art. Create things that make you happy.
• Think about how small your were as a kid and how things looked, and draw from that perspective.

Lois Lowry (Needs no introduction! This was set up as a chat between Lois and SCBWI co-founder, Lin Oliver.):

• The reaction of kids to her first book kept her writing fiction for young people. Her sudden awareness of the passion of kids for a book they love.
• When asked what unifies her as a writer, Lois said intimacy. It’s her one word for her voice. She feels an intimate connection to her reader. The element of human connection is the theme that runs through her books.
• There are things that are too dark for children, but they’re there. We have to write about those thing, and do it in an intelligent way.

Unfortunately I missed Eliza Wheeler’s keynote because I had to take break to pump breast milk, but there’s a great overview on the SCBWI Conference Blog.

I also popped in and out of Bruce Coville’s keynote (and didn’t get a chance to take notes of what I did hear) because it ran late and I was rushing around getting books signed before I had to catch my flight home. I’ve listened to a keynote of his before, and it was sooo good. You can just tell how much he loves writing for kids and the impact reading can have on them. Again, check out the SCBWI Conference Blog. Him talking about ripples really resonated with me.

I’m hoping to pull some highlights from the panels and workshops I attended for another post, as well as just a fun post about some of the shenanigans that went on during the downtime (You do want to see me dressed up as Jane Austen for the party, right?). Stay tuned!

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