Backstory is swimmingly swooshing in a writer’s mind, splashing and spraying about, eager to come pouring out. It takes restraint and trusting the reader not to put backstory in, and allow it to be inferred.
Author: Susan Uhlig
Writing is daring to feel what nurtures and breaks our hearts…it is a dance with pain and beauty.
Writing is daring to feel
Write one good clean sentence and put a period at the end of it. Then write another one.
Write one good clean sentence
Cloud and Wallfish
Cloud and Wallfish (Candlewick Press, 2016) by Anne Nesbet has an unusual title and is an unusual story. It’s a historical set in 1989, before and after the Berlin Wall comes down, but it’s way more than that.
Noah’s parents came together to pick him up from fifth grade. And as the text says, “…in Noah’s family, picking up kids at school was a one-parent activity.” Things get weirder from there. Much weirder. The family is moving to Germany–but “not the usual Germany.” They say it’s for an urgent expedition. But what expedition has you changing your name and birthday? And when they get to East Berlin Noah can’t go to school because of his speech defect–he stutters. But he ends up making a friend anyway. And, well, let’s just say things get riskier from then on.
I love this book. I like Noah’s personality and the Secret Files. I like how it ends. It was a hard-to-put-down read. Cloud and Wallfish was awarded the California Book Award gold medal in the Juvenile category in June. You can read about that here. See the other awards here.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may recognize Anne’s name as I’ve mentioned her previous books here too. Here’s her website if you’d like more info about Anne or her books.
Rules for Thieves
Rules for Thieves (Aladdin, 2017) by Alexandra Ott was a satisfying story.
For twelve-year-old Alli adoption day at the orphanage is the worst. No one wants her and she doesn’t want to be adopted either. When taken into a room with potential parents, she escapes the orphanage for the final time. Unfortunately, life on the streets does not go well and she is cursed with a spell that will eventually kill her. She meets Beck, a young thief, who not only helps her get food, but has an idea of how she can raise the money to save her life. Through Beck she may have found a home of her own with the Thieves Guild, but will she pass the trial they’ve set?
I don’t want to do spoilers, but was very pleased with the decisions Alli makes in the end.
This is author Alexandra Ott’s debut fantasy. A sequel is coming in summer 2018, which makes me happy. Alexandra is also an editorial assistant at Entangled Publishing. Read more about her on her website.