Tag: inspiration (Page 1 of 3)

New England SCBWI Conference Gems 2022

May 19, 2022 / Katie L. Carroll

This year’s New England SCBWI conference was yet again in a digital format, but just like in 2021 (see those conference highlights here), it was a weekend full of inspiration and community. As is my tradition, I’m sharing some conference gems here on the blog.

Since I was presenting both an intensive workshop on self-publishing (reminder to check out my Self-Publishing Reources) and leading an Ask-a-Mentor session, I wasn’t able to attend as many live sessions as I normally do. One of the advantages of the digital format is that the sessions were recorded, so I’ve been catching as many as I can before the viewing period is up.

Jane Yolen, author of over 400 books and founding member of the New England SCBWI, is a staple at the annual conference. She kicked off the conference with her words of wisdom. Her first dinosaur book, illustrated by Mark Teague, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight took 20 minutes to write and her book Owl Moon, illustrated by John Schoenherr, took 20 years. She encouraged everyone to go and find the time to write, make the time to write, steal the time to write.

Heidi E.Y. Stemple and Rajani LaRocca engaged in a conversation that offered insight and advice into staying creative. Heidi said to know your process and trust your creative brain. She admitted that a creative block can be scary, but if you believe in yourself and trust your process, you can get through it. Rajani said to “follow the dopamine” when writing and to “find that thing that makes you light up and hold on to that.”

In a workshop on work-for-hire, Rebecca Allen and Meg Thacher shared many insights on best practices in this particular field of children’s writing. One suggestion was to be comprehensive in selecting your genres and age ranges so you don’t limit the projects you’re eligible for. They reminded writers that you can always say no to an opportunity if it doesn’t fit your schedule or writing interests.

Looking not so professional in the social rooms

I always enjoy the evening social rooms. I stayed up later than I intended on Saturday night catching up with my fellow NESCBWI kidlit friends and meeting a few new ones. It seems I always end up dressing up like a pirate (it is on brand for my middle grade book Pirate Island). Last year, I donned my actual pirate hat, but this year I opted for a filter. I think I pulled off the 5 o’clock shadow!

Tara Lazar, founder of the idea-generating Storystorm, presented a very funny keynote filled with memes. She made the mistake of sending out stuff too early (haven’t we all!) and had to learn how publishing worked before finding success.

Illustrator John Parra offered up an insight that particularly resonated with me as I work on developing my illustration skills. He said to make sure your supplies are out and not in a closet. He reminded us that procrastination is not an artist’s friend. His words have inspired me to start setting up a space where I have easier access to my art supplies.

Padma Venkatraman in her session “STARRY-EYED: Looking at a story through different lenses” asked these questions when thinking about point-of-view in your story: What’s best for this story? Whose story is this? How do I want my reader to feel?

What has inspired your writing lately?

Science, Math, and Nature as Inspiration for Themes in Writing and Beyond

October 25, 2018 / Katie L. Carroll

Long-time readers of the Observation Desk might remember that I’m a fan of science. Some of my old posts include “We Are All Stardust”, “Big New for the Big Bang,” and “Seems the World Will End in a Bang, Not a Whimper.” I find science and nature (and even sometimes math!) to be a great source of inspiration, not only for writing but for my life.

There are so many wonderful, beautiful, crazy aspects of our universe. An exploding star, called a supernova, sends particles shooting across the universe. These happen all the time in our universe and have been happening for billions of years. All the elements that make up earth, including our own bodies, were once ejected particles from a supernova.

Then you have the Fibbonacci Sequence, which starts at 0,1 and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two (0,1,1,2,3,5,8, etc…) and put in order in boxes make a spiral. Many things in nature follow this pattern, from flower petal and seed arrangements to how spiral galaxies are formed.

To take a look at a math example, did you know that a computer cannot truly generate a random number? Because computers function via algorithms, or sets of rules programmed in to the computer, it’s not possible for a computer to do random.

And whether or not I totally understand all these concepts that fascinate me (spoiler alert: I don’t, but I keep trying anyway!), they never fail to inspire me. They push me to examine the patterns in my writing. On a micro level, I look at the the words, language, and sentence structure patterns I fall back on, so I can push myself beyond my own cliches.

On a macro level, it pushes me to recognize emerging themes in my writing. What themes did I go in with and maybe didn’t follow through on properly? What themes didn’t I notice, ones that maybe stemmed from my subconscious, that can make my story better if I tease them out more and reinforce them? Where are there more opportunities to refine any symbols I’ve used or places where I can introduce more?

Taking a patterned analysis to my writing allows me to make sure every detail (word, sentence, symbol, description, etc…) counts to work toward a greater whole through theme and plot.

To take all this a step further, trying to understand the science and math that governs nature can help me examine my own life for themes and patterns. It pushes me to a greater level of introspection and hopefully to a better place as human being. And that will only contribute to me being a better, more deliberate writer.

When I work at honing that merging of the creative and analytical thinking, stuff moves in ways I could never have imagined before. The world, my stories, my life…everything reaches a whole new level of understanding in my mind. And that feels like a pretty incredible phenomenon.

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?

May #InkRipples: Mining Fairy Tales for Story Ideas

May 1, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

When Monday falls on the first day of the month, #InkRipples always sneaks up on me. I made sure to get my post up on time because I was particularly excited about this month’s topic of fairy tales. One of my most popular archived posts is “Fairy Tale One-Liners” and I’ve taught a writing workshop about mining story ideas from myths, fairy tales, and legends.

Back when #InkRipples was talking tropes (see “Tropes Are All In The Execution”), I said that all tropes have been used before, so it’s all about how you use them in your own way. I believe that’s also true of story ideas. They’ve all been done before, so why not borrow/steal/draw inspiration from other people’s stories. Fairy tales are ripe for the picking because of the universality of themes, their use of archetypes, the fact that many leave threads open in their plots, and the many different fairy tales out there from cultures all over the world.

You might be thinking that there are so many fairy tales retelling that there simply can’t be room for one more. While I’ve thought that myself, it never fails that another retelling comes out to great success. Seems people can’t get enough of retellings and even plan-old redoings (see the long list in “Disney Live-Action Remakes & Other Fairy Tale Movies Release Schedule”).

And it’s not just retellings that can be inspired by fairy tales. I love when a minor fairy tale character gets their own story or when a story is written from a villain’s view point. Even an interesting take on a classic fairy tale theme, i.e. rags to riches or true love’s kiss, can be taken in many different directions.

If I haven’t yet convinced you that there so many ways to use fairy tales for inspiration, stay tuned next week for a post about some of my favorite stories that stemmed from fairy tales, myths, and legends!

What are your favorite fairy tales and stories that mined from those tales?

#InkRipples is a monthly meme created by Katie L. Carroll, Mary Waibel, and Kai Strand. We pick a topic (May is about fairy tales), drop a ripple in the inkwell (i.e. write about it on our blogs), and see where the conversation goes. We’d love to have you join in the conversation on your own blogs or on your social media page. Full details and each month’s topic can be found on my #InkRipples page.

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.