Tag: creativity (Page 2 of 4)

Weaving Historical Facts Into Middle Grade Fiction

May 15, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

Coming on the heels of discussing the real history and legends that inspired my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND (see my post “The Real Pirate Lore That Inspired PIRATE ISLAND”) and while I’m currently deep in research mode for my next middle grade novel, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to weave real history into novels. And how to do this for children’s books in particular.

Much of the history I’ve researched both on famed pirate Captain William Kidd (for PIRATE ISLAND) and on witch trials in Connecticut in the 17th century (for my current WIP) deals with dark topics and violence. Both involve execution by hanging, murder charges, and other not-so-pleasant topics. I’m a firm believer that children’s writers should not shy away from writing darker stories, and that these stories are important, so long as the material is handled in a thoughtful way (see Newbery winner Kate DiCamillo’s essay in TIME “Why Children’s Books Should Be a Little Sad”).

The key is to keep it age appropriate, which is hard to do when kids anywhere from say 7 or 8 all the way up to 13 or 14 might be reading your book. That’s where subtlety comes in. You can include heavier themes and images in a subtle way where more mature readers will get them and less mature readers will simply gloss over them. I like to think of animated movies for a good example of this. So many drop in jokes that are for the adults but that children just won’t (even if they’re funny to the kids on the surface, they won’t get the innuendo behind it).

Beyond making the material age appropriate, I think it’s important to make the history relevant. Whether that means making it fun (which isn’t necessarily the case of the history I’ve included) or by making it personal. Captain Kidd’s history is personal to Billy, the main character of PIRATE ISLAND, because Billy becomes obsessed with Kidd and models Kidd’s behavior to be brave. The history of the hidden treasure drives the plot of the story, but Billy’s emotional connection to Kidd drives the emotional story line.

I’ve only scratched the surface on this topic, but in the interest of keeping my blog posts short, I’ll leave you all on that thought for now. But there’s so much more material I have on weaving history into stories, I have to revisit this topic. Anything in particular you all would like me to discuss on the next post?

Coming To The Realization That This Isn’t My Story To Write

March 19, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

In light of some really thoughtful, hard conversations going on in the children’s literature world about representation, I was thinking about a manuscript I’d started but never finished.

I loved the characters. The world I had begun to create had lots of story elements that I both love reading about and writing about. It is a YA retelling at its heart but has unique elements that I thought would make it stand out. I completed over 50,000 word on it for National Novel Writing Month (quite a few years ago). My critique group liked the bits they saw of it. I adore the story, and the plot had really started to come together in my mind. I did quite a bit of research for it. But I never finished it.

I thought it was because I couldn’t find the right character to tell the story. I played around with having a different point-of-view character. I played around with multiple points of view. I rewrote the beginning and tried it in third person instead of first. Yet I could never quite figure out how to tell the story. So I put it away. I had intentions of maybe coming back to it someday when I was a better writer who could maybe find the right voice.

But now, I don’t think I’m going to come back to it. I think I now know why I was having so much trouble trying to figure out how to tell that story. It’s not because I don’t think I could write it and write it well. And it’s not because I don’t think it would make for a good story. In fact, I think it would make a really great story, one I’d love to read some day. But I’m not going to write it.

One of the things that we as storytellers need to be asking ourselves, beyond if we can write a story and write it well, is should we be writing a story. I couldn’t find the right way to tell this particular story–as much as I love the idea of it–because it’s not my story to tell. It deals with cultures and characters who would probably not be best served with me doing the telling. I can (and have) visit the place where my story takes place and research the culture, but I’m not part of it, so the story would suffer for it. It could end up being harmful in its representation.

Maybe I’ll come back to the basic idea of doing a retelling of the tale that inspired the original idea, but with a totally different spin to it, one that I am more equipped to tell. And I have plenty of other ideas floating around in my head and notebooks that I certainly am not lacking for new stories to write.

Of course, it hurts a little to put this manuscript to rest. I’ve put a lot of work into it, and I want to be able to tell it. I won’t, though. And I’m okay with that.

Cheating On My Novels With Picture Books

January 23, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve so not been in the mood to blog lately. I have lots of things I could write about (both on the blog and in my own writing) but nothing that’s really sparking for me. So I’d rather spend my limited words on my actual writing than here.

So I’m just popping in to say that the one aspect of writing that I’m excited about is picture books. I think the short form is fitting with my attention span right now. Plus, I’ve been reading so many picture books with the boys, it’s hard not to get inspired in that area.

Writing picture books is a fun break from novel writing, which has felt like so much work lately. I’m slogging trough the long sentences and paragraphs in the novels. But my picture book is coming to me in fun little spurts. The scenes are snapshots that I have to interpret into words. Then I have to piece those snapshots together for a whole…but a short whole!

Not to say that shorter = easier. That is certainly not the case. But picture books are different than novels, and a change must be what I need. It’s almost like I’m cheating on the longer form with the shorter stuff. For me, there is less baggage when it comes to picture books. I feel a lot of pressure to get things right with this novel I’m working on, but there’s none of that with my picture books.

So I’m going with it…riding this burst of picture book creativity for now.

Recognizing Different Kinds of Productivity

June 21, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I’ve been feeling particularly unproductive this year, in part because I haven’t been doing much drafting. It’s my favorite part of the writing process and the one that creatively feels the most fulfilling. I feel whole when I’m in the midst of a draft and able to lose myself in the process of adding words to the page.

The other part of feeling unproductive is being pregnant. With the bad colds all winter long, the morning sickness for the first half of the pregnancy, and the fatigue and swelling that’s come with the last trimester and warmer weather, I haven’t exactly been racking up the work hours. I get that my limits are temporary and necessary right now, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t frustrating as well.

So I’m trying to recognize other ways I’ve been productive this year. The obvious one is I’m growing a baby (no small feat!). I’m also bringing a book baby into the world in October with my middle grade adventure PIRATE ISLAND. I’ts the first time I’m self-publishing a book, and I’ve learned a ton about the process this year, much of which I’ve enjoyed…even when it’s slightly frustrating and takes more time than I had hoped.

Then there are those other little guys (The Boy and The Prince) who demand so much of my time. The Boy flourished in kindergarten and is on his way to being a big first-grader. The Prince is learning and growing so much and will start preschool in the fall. I’ve been doing my best to spend as much quality time with those two before baby (a.k.a. The Gentleman) comes.

I’ve been working on a picture book, doing some freelance work, and working on other small projects as well. Then there’s the veggie garden (we picked our first peas of the season the other day), prepping for baby (six months worth of laundry washed, sorted, and folded and new mini-van purchased), blogging, and all those other things that require time and attention (grocery shopping and dinner, I’m looking at you!).

So, yeah, I think it’s fair to say that I’ve been as productive as I can be with the time and energy I have right now. And it’s important to recognize that (even blog about it) to validate that I’m doing stuff…even if it’s not all the stuff!

What kind of productive have you been lately?

The Inspiration Behind TWICE BETRAYED by Gayle C. Krause

April 26, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

I’m pleased to welcome writer friend Gayle C. Krause to the blog today. She is celebrating her latest release, the middle grade historical fiction TWICE BETRAYED, and sharing the inspiration behind the book. Welcome, Gayle!

Thanks for having me on your blog today, Katie. I’m so proud to share my newest novel with your readers. If you like the 1776 era in American history, the story of a young girl’s loyalty to her friends, mystery, danger, and spies, TWICE BETRAYED is for you.

So, what inspired me to write TWICE BETRAYED?

Well, I’ve always loved history and discovering how things came to be.

When I walked in Pompeii, I felt like I had been there before.

In the Coliseum, a new story about one of the entertainers blossomed, which I’ve yet to write, but it’s taken its place in my brain queue.

In the Caribbean, I’m positive the long-lost pirates whispered to me with each crash of the waves, and so I also have a female pirate story I’m working on.

But Perdy’s story was different. I wrote it first, and when I visited the Betsy Ross House, after the story was completed, I froze in my tracks. My husband asked me what was wrong.

But nothing was wrong…it was right. I had described the shop, the kitchen, the bedroom Perdy shared with her sister and grandmother in great detail, with the only difference between Twice Betrayed and the real thing being the shape of the stairs. Mine are square with landings between floors and the real house has circular stairs within the walls.

And since the whole story about Betsy Ross making the first flag is a legend, with no real proof that she actually made it (ask any historian), it was a perfect setting for my story.

I come from a long line of seamstresses and am a certified Home Economics teacher, where I also taught sewing to my students, so you can see how the sewing bits in the story are relevant.

TWICE BETRAYED is a mix of fact and fiction stitched together to bring a new light to the fabric of our beginnings, told from the eyes of a thirteen-year-old girl, who fell into a web of deceit and struggled to win her freedom, just like the country being born around her.

TWICE BETRAYED blurb:

With the spark of independence crackling in Colonial Philadelphia, three girls dress as boys and head to the river to put a perilous plan into action, but only two return. The third, a milliner’s assistant, is found drowned, with gold in her hems, coded spy letters in her bodice, and a journal implicating another sewing apprentice in the treacherous plot.

All eyes turn toward Perdy Rogers, Betsy Ross’ thirteen-year-old apprentice, but she’s no spy! With her life on the line, she struggles to untangle herself from the web of deceit and learns the hard way that freedom, whether an individual’s or a country’s, comes at a cost.

If you or you followers read TWICE BETRAYED, I’d appreciate a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Thanks for having me. Remember…

“The golden thread of friendship is what stitches hearts together!”

TWICE BETRAYED is available in paperback and ebook.

I also have a new picture book coming out this year. DADDY CAN YOU SEEE THE MOON? will be released November 7, 2017 from Clear Fork Publishing. It’s about a young boy and his soldier dad sharing special moments by looking at the moon each night. But when Dad comes home a wounded warrior, his son discovers it’s the power of love that kept them connected all along.

About the Author:

Gayle C. Krause is a member of SCBWI, KIDLIT, Ink, KSRA, and a past member of the Historical Novel Society and the Poet’s Garage. She’s served on the Rhyming Revolution Selection Committee, choosing the “best” rhyming picture book for 2015 and 2016. A Master educator, she’s taught Children’s Literature to prospective teachers at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Ms. Krause writes fantasy, contemporary, and historical fiction for Young Adult, Middle Grade, and young children. Her publishing credits include:

Rock Star Santa – Scholastic 2008.
RATGIRL: Song of the Viper – Noble Young Adult /Trowbridge Books 2013
Scheherazade’s Secret – Trowbridge Books 2014
Twice Betrayed – Trowbridge Books 2017
And coming November 7, 2017 – Daddy, Can You See the Moon? – Clear Fork Publishing.

She lives in a small town not far from where she was born. She listens to her muse sing through the trees of the Pocono Mountains and is inspired to write for children everyday. For more about Gayle, visit her website gayleckrause.com, Twitter @GeeCeeK, Facebook, and Goodreads pages.