Q&A with 2012 Featured Author Michelle Ray

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Michelle Ray is an MCPS teacher and the debut author of “Falling for Hamlet,” about which the New York Times said: “Not at all dull . . . it’s filled with the pageantry and royalty that so many [teens] have discovered in the William and Kate romance. It also has the kind of unfamiliar setting and code of behavior that has drawn them to books like those of the Hunger Games series.” A Shakespeare fan from a young age (in 5th grade, she even named her bird Polonius), she spends her time trying to convince people that Shakespeare is not scary.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! For “Falling for Hamlet,” I found inspiration in DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Hamlet, which was modern but not fussy about it. Their production made me think about the timelessness of love and betrayal, of family and heartbreak. I also find inspiration in art, overheard conversations, movies, my students, and my friends. In fact, many of them are characters in my books. I ask permission or change names, but I love to use people I know because the nature of our relationships and their characteristics are so vivid in my mind. I look for inspiration anywhere, and don’t judge. People think that just because I like Shakespeare, I must be snobby, but I love a good fart joke as much as a good soliloquy.

What are you reading right now?
I just finished Elizabeth Bunce’s awesome sequel to “Starcrossed,” “Liar’s Moon.” Now I’m reading “Heroes, Gods, and Monsters,” huuuuundreds of student papers for work, and “Shiver” by Maggie Stiefvater. “Shiver” is very out of character for me because I tend to avoid paranormal romance, but I’m hooked. It’s proof that if a book is well written and fits one’s taste (in my case, lots of action and daring characters), genre doesn’t matter.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
“It was a pleasure to burn.” – “Fahrenheit 451″ by Ray Bradbury

I never read it in school, but now I teach it. This amazing opening sets up the main character and the messed up future world Bradbury created. I read the book aloud with my students, and I always stop after that first line and watch their faces. They’re full of questions, outrage, surprise and amusement. Then they want to read on.

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
You probably expect me to say “Hamlet,” but that goes without saying!

“Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher. As a middle school teacher, a parent, and a former teen, it made me think a lot about how kids, and really, all people, hurt each other without thinking about the consequences. Sometimes, an unintentional slight or an intentional comment or action can ripple out and do damage beyond what one could have predicted. On the flip side, I like to think that the kindnesses we do in life can unexpectedly help others, as well. I keep this in mind with my own students and my own friends, for I’d much rather be remembered for the good that I do and say than off-hand remarks or jibes that could serve as the final straw in tearing someone down.

2012 Hands-On Workshop: Getting Your Work Out There

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

You’ve written your heart out. Now what? Now comes the scary part… seeing if anyone else thinks your baby is as pretty and special as you do!

There’s no question that sending your work out into the world to be judged is one of the scariest parts of being a writer. In this workshop, poet and Writopia Lab instructor Tony Mancus will help you figure out how to tackle the daunting task of submitting your work for publication. Whether it’s poetry or short fiction, a novel or a memoir, Tony’s tactics will help you get organized and prepared for that next step. From researching best venues to dealing with rejection, this workshop will cover the gamut of the submission process.

About Tony: Tony co-founded Flying Guillotine Press with Sommer Browning in 2008. He holds an MFA from the University of Arizona and his manuscript, “A Vessel Interior,” was a finalist for the Yale Series of Younger Poets award. His poems have appeared in Verse, Handsome, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Seattle Review and elsewhere. (So, yes, he is an expert on the submission process!)

Get organized and learn more about the submission process by attending Getting Your Work Out There, at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Don’t forget that pre-registration is required for all hands-on workshops.

Q&A with 2012 Featured Author M.K.Graff

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK. “The Blue Virgin” is set in Oxford; “The Green Remains” in Cumbria. Graff is also co-author of “Writing in a Changing World,” a primer on writing groups and critique techniques. She also is the author of a weekly mystery review blog site. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven. She has also published poetry, and her creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review.

Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration for my books through the choices people make in their lives and how that affects them. And since my series is set in England, I am constantly reading novels set there to keep the cadence and word syntax in my head for dialogue.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Aspiring writers need to read, read, and read; I feel that is the most important tool they have on so many levels. They will learn from good writers and bad. They also need to find a writing group or critique partner who understands how to give helpful feedback. This is critical, and not everyone is good at it. It helps you learn skills for your own writing as you brainstorm problems in someone else’s work. And they need to persevere and find their audience.

What are you reading right now?
I’m reading Val McDermid’s “The Retribution,” Karin Fossum’s “Bad Intentions” and Keigo Higashino’s “The Devotion of Suspect X.” I always have a print book or two in progress and another one on my iPad so that I’m reading wherever I can grab a few minutes. I have stacks of books waiting to be read and those are my guilty pleasure and my greatest delight. Starting a new book is like starting a new adventure.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” (“Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier). Right away an atmosphere is created that draws the reader in. Where/what is Manderley and why is the narrator dreaming about what must be an important place to her?

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
“Rebecca”: from the un-named protagonist to the mystery surrounding the title character, Du Maurier created intrigue, suspense and one helluva good story in a wonderful setting that almost became a character in itself. By never giving her character a name besides nicknames and titles, the heroine becomes an Everywoman that this story could happen to, as she battles the memory of her husband’s dead first wife. There is psychological drama and pure menace on so many levels.

Q&A with Featured Author Natalie Dias Lorenzi

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Natalie Dias Lorenzi is a school librarian and teacher, specializing in teaching English as a Second Language. She has taught in Japan and Italy and now teaches in a Washington, DC-area school where 85% of the students are immigrants. In addition to writing for children, she is a contributing writer for Scholastic’s Instructor magazine, and creates curriculum guides to new books for writers and publishers. “Flying the Dragon” is her first novel.

Where do you find inspiration?
I often find inspiration in moments when I least expect it — jogging around the lake behind my house, between stacks of books in my school library, and over the dinner table talking with my husband and children. I’ve traveled to many far-flung spots around the globe — from Indonesia to Egypt, Tokyo to Paris, and Texas to Alaska, but most of my ideas hit when I’m close to home. One of the main characters in my children’s novel, “Flying the Dragon,” is from Japan, but the idea for the story didn’t come to me while I lived in Japan; it came to me when I was living in Italy, which I consider my second home. Sometimes ideas hit you like bright light, and other times they tap you on the shoulder after they’ve had some time to percolate.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Read, write, live your life. Repeat. Join the SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) or the adult equivalent, and make connections with other writers by attending writing conferences. Join a critique group. Write without worrying (at first) what’s on the page.

What are you reading right now?
A writer friend’s debut young adult novel “The Wicked and the Just” by J. Anderson Coats. As a children’ author and librarian/teacher, I’m always reading middle and grade and young adult novels! I can’t remember the last time I read a novel written for adults.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
There are two that stick out in my mind:

“We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck,” from M.T. Anderson’s young adult novel “Feed,” and “‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast,” from E.B. White’s “Charlotte’s Web.”

Both examples have it all — voice, setting and conflict — in less than 20 words!

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
Markus Zusak’s young adult novel “The Book Thief” blew me away. I heard him speak in Munich at an SCBWI writers event in 2007 where he shed some insight into his writing process. He rewrote the first 50 pages of “The Book Thief” multiple times until he got it right — the point of view, character, the tone, and the structure. I admired his dedication to the story and and to his craft, and realized how much work it takes to tell a story that needs to be told. When I feel overwhelmed with revision (or first drafts), I often think of that conference and Markus Zusak’s message to keep at it until it’s right.

Q&A with 2012 Featured Author K. Michael Crawford

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

K. Michael Crawford has been creating magical art and whimsical writing for children’s books since 1991. Michael’s latest drawing books, “The Mystery of Journeys Crowne,” “The Island of Zadu,” “Batty Malgoony’s Mystic Carnivale” and “Professor Horton Hogwash’s Museum of Ridiculous” are part of a drawing series that get children to use their imagination, to teach them how to figure things out and lets them make choices.

Where do you find inspiration?
I get it from everywhere so that makes it so important to me to go out and visit museums, art galleries, lectures, and any place that gives knowledge and let’s me see things in a different way. Once a famous artist told me that if you have a 3-D life (meaning go out and have adventures and discover new things) then you can put all that information in your work.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Just write as much as you can. Or if you choose to be an artist, draw as much as you can. I carry a sketch book with me wherever I go, so I can write down any ideas I get along the way. Find a niche that needs filling and write stories about that niche. Most important, write from heart and tell a story only you can tell.

What are you reading right now?
I read a lot of middle grade and YA novels to keep my imagination strong for my work. I just got done reading “Savvy” and now I am reading “Story Beginnings.” I like to read magical books like “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Wizard of Oz.” I read about five to ten books a week.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
Oh, I don’t know if I have one. I have favorite lines from inside books. I guess if I had to pick it would come from “Treasure Island” or “The Once and Future King.” But “Alice in Wonderland” has a pretty good opening line. So there are too many to choose from.

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
Ray Bradbury’s books taught me to see visually. I could see all the stories play out in my head from the “Illustrated Man,” which I even saw the tattoos change on the man. I actually got the chance to meet and thank Mr. Bradbury in person for writing such wonderful books. I have to give credit to the one writer who taught me to read and that is Dr. Seuss.

If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose, and why?
The three authors I would like to have dinner with are Lewis Carroll for his imagination , Frank L. Baum for his ability to tell good stories and Madeleine L’Engle for her love to the written word and the magic way she uses the words. But I would also have to throw one more interesting person into the mix to give new perspectives and that person would be Leonardo de Vinci. Just add in Cheesecake for dessert and that would be a wonderful dinner.

GBF Hands-On Workshop: Writing for a Young Adult Audience

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

We’ve all seen the lines of excited youngsters or teenagers eagerly waiting for the next release in their favorite series: The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter, and others.

Catching the attention and imagination of such young, enthusiastic readers can be thrilling and greatly rewarding, but what does it take to win over this crowd?

Pamela Ehrenberg, author of two young adult novels and writing instructor, has some expert advice and fresh ideas for anyone contemplating this audience. “A lot comes down to keeping it real,” says Pam. “That’s true for the story you’re telling but also for the day-in, day-out real work of getting it written.”

If you’re interested in learning more about young adult fiction, sign up for Pam’s GBF workshop, “Writing the Next Hunger Games…”

And don’t forget that all hands-on workshops require pre-registration.

Q&A with 2012 Featured Author Siobhan Fallon

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Siobhan Fallon’s debut collection of stories, “You Know When the Men Are Gone,” was listed as a Best Book of 2011 by The San Francisco Chronicle and Janet Maslin of The New York Times; has been called “the explosive sort of literary triumph that appears only every few years” by New York Journal of Books; “a terrific and terrifically illuminating book” by The Washington Post and a “searing collection” by Entertainment Weekly. Her stories and essays have appeared in Women’s Day, Good Housekeeping, New Letters, Publishers Weekly, among others.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere. I especially like new places and then trying to filter the experience through an outsider’s perspective. That was part of what was so exciting for me while writing “You Know When the Men Are Gone.” As a military spouse, I was writing what I knew, but sometimes I would step outside of myself and think about how crazy that life must seem to people on the other side of the front gate: the constant deployments, the thousand men who pack their bags, kiss their wives and babies, and head off for an entire year into a war zone. Or how the retreat plays at five o’clock, and all the cars in Fort Hood suddenly stop driving, soldiers and spouses get out, face the flag in the distance, salute or put their hands on their hearts until the bugle song is over. Now I am writing about life abroad, about Americans living in Amman, Jordan, where there is a little bit of a similar disconnect, the expats exist in two different worlds, trying to balance very different world views. There is so much material there.

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
I remember how much consolation I would get from stories about successful writers who had a difficult time getting published (think Madeline L’Engle, whose “A Wrinkle in Time” was rejected by more than two dozen publishers, or J.K Rowling and her first Harry Potter, rejected by twelve publishers). So, writers out there, don’t get discouraged, or perhaps just get discouraged enough to do a kick-butt rewrite. Every revision will make your work stronger, every new story or book is tighter and better than the last. Stay at it; work so hard you dream about your characters. It will eventually pay off.

What are you reading right now?
“The Postmistress” by Sarah Blake. The voice is perfect; it creates such a vivid portrait of the 1930’s, and shows the reader a rare glimpse into World War II: how small-town America waited to be pulled into the fight and how ordinary people in London managed day to day life during the Blitz.

I also just finished Kayt Sukel’s “Dirty Minds.” I don’t usually pick up non-fiction, and I certainly never pick up science writing. But Kayt’s book was an incredible eye-opener about how love and lust affect the human brain, about everything from how a monogamous (and cute) prairie vole will kill another male vole trying to seduce its ‘wife,’ to the similar activation of brain areas by sexual obsession and drug addiction.

Oh, and I just started reading local writer, Glen Finland’s “Next Stop”—her memoir about raising her differently abled son into an independent adulthood. It’s a gorgeous book, beautifully written, incredibly funny at times, always introspective and smart. It will make you appreciate family in a new way and give your child an extra kiss at bedtime.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
“I will be her witness” from Joan Didion’s “The Book of Common Prayer.” It immediately makes me, the reader, skeptical about the trustworthiness and motivations of the narrator. The reader is never sure if the narrator is telling the life of the protagonist, Charlotte, or her own life filtered through the events in Charlotte’s life. And I love that kind of unreliable narrator who offers the reader a great story as well as a great puzzle to figure out.

If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose, and why?
Shakespeare. Lorrie Moore. Flannery O’Connor.

Shakespeare because he changed the way the western world looked at literature, and continues to change it and inform writers, playwrights, and Hollywood directors. Who else in the history of literature has created a body of work that continues to live in this way? To stay fresh and timely? Who can write something that speaks to YA readers like Romeo and Juliet and also tackle old age and familial disintegration like King Lear?

Lorrie Moore because her narrators are the funniest, most broken-hearted human beings in the entire world. She would have us laughing and crying at the turn of a fork, and surely Shakespeare would be inspired to write an entire new play and series of sonnets about her.

Flannery O’Connor, because she is an extraordinary writer, but also because she lived a hermetic life, died too young, and definitely needs resurrecting. I think she and Lorrie Moore would really hit it off. O’Connor tragedies have a touch of Shakespeare in them too, such grief, such dark humor. And me, well, I would just set the table, make and serve the food, keep their wine glasses full to the brim, and listen in awe to their brilliance.

GBF Hands-On Workshop: Perfecting the Pitch

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Your book’s finished and that dream literary agent’s gotten in the elevator with you, leaving you just 30 seconds to capture their imagination with a great pitch.

‘Perfecting the Pitch’ puts the essence of your book on paper in the best prose, least words and in a delivery that the right editor and agent won’t be able to turn down.

Through a series of workshop exercises, two versions of ‘the pitch’ are taught, the 30-second-or-less, 30-word ‘elevator pitch’ and an expanded two-minute, 150 to 200-word ‘sit down’ pitch. Shorter than a synopsis, the pitch is the tool that gets your foot in the door.

Here are two elevator pitch examples:

Sticks & Stones – Dylan Sticks and Seamus Stones are living decrepit Dublin lives until they steal a leprechaun’s gold and journey to America, inciting the wrath of a dragon, Scotland Yard, Barbary pirates, three Indian tribes and the biggest buffalo herd in the history of the 1859 American frontier. Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn look out. Sticks and Stones are in town.

The Prosecutor, Prostitute & The Prostitute – When a prostitute is found murdered in Saint Mary’s church vestibule, Father Anthony is arrested, and with the entire town’s perceptions in jeopardy, it’s up to District Attorney Marcus Mangell to bring the murderer to justice and restore his community’s faith in law and order. Did Father Anthony have sex with a prostitute and murder her to cover it up? Who killed Arcella Landreth and can Mangell insure Father Anthony gets a fair trial? The Prosecutor, Prostitute & The Priest asks, “What is right, what is fair and what is true?”

Learn how to craft your own pitch to sell your story by attending Perfecting the Pitch, at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Don’t forget that pre-registration is required for all hands-on workshops.

Q&A with 2012 Featured Author Stewart O’Nan

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Stewart O’Nan is the award-winning author of more than a dozen novels, most recently, “The Odds: A Love Story.” His other works include “Snow Angels,” “A Prayer for the Dying,” “Last Night at the Lobster,” and “Emily, Alone.” Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He lives in Pittsburgh.

Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere

What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Read.

What are you reading right now?
Fitzgerald.

What’s your favorite opening line from a book?
“They threw me off the hay truck about noon.”

What book has inspired or affected you in some way?
“So Long, See You Tomorrow” by William Maxwell

If you could sit down at dinner with three other authors, living or dead, which three authors would you choose, and why?
Shakespeare, Chekhov, and Virginia Woolf. Because they know so much about so many.

GBF Hands-on Workshops: How to Write Realistic Dialogue

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Robin Ferrier

Ron Capps knows a thing or two about writing realistic dialogue. As a writing instructor for the National Endowment for the Arts through Operation Homecoming, at Howard Community College, at The Writer’s Center, and at George Washington University, Ron has helped many writers bring their characters to life by putting the right words in their mouths. So what will he be teaching at the GBF? In his own words:

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I call this workshop “more than words” because it takes more than just words to make dialogue work in your story. Your characters have to come to life during the scenes. How you make them move and what you have them do between utterances is how this happens. Dialogue happens in real time. That means that while you can speed up or slow down time during exposition, when characters are speaking, your reader perceives it at pace with how things might unroll in the real world. So every breath between phrases and every little nuanced movement your characters make must be designed and placed perfectly to make this happen.

Further, sometimes the laws of physics have to apply—even in worlds where they are different—so, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When one character pushes, another should react accordingly. This is true unless you want to create imbalance in your scene. In that case, one action might create an unequal or similar reaction. That’s when things become fun.

In my workshop, we’ll look at examples of how other writers have shown us all of this and we’ll actually work through a couple scenes to find ways to improve our own dialogue and our own scenes.

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Ron’s workshop, More Than Words: Making Dialogue Work, is a new addition to our workshop line up and a wonderful way for writers of all skill levels to develop this element of storytelling. Please remember that all workshops require pre-registration.