Craft – Page 18 – Susan Uhlig

How to Stand Out

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Susan Uhlig

image courtesy of tcatcarson on morguefile.com
Last year I was asked to be a judge for an SCBWI region’s conference grants. They sent me submissions and I got right to work. It’s always interesting seeing what others are writing. And I love it when I get to the end of a first page and wish there was more. But I thought it also might be helpful to share common problems I found when going through the grant submissions.
The first I noticed was category labeling*. In the children’s book world, we usually expect picture book, chapter book, middle grade novel, YA novel, etc., which actually refers to the audience. Sometimes you’ll see an additional genre label such as fantasy, magical realism, science fiction, contemporary, historical, etc. Some submissions did not indicate audience or genre. Others, more interestingly, had additional labels, but the first page of text didn’t fit the description. In other words, it shouldn’t require a label to know I’m reading fantasy–it should feel like fantasy. If it doesn’t, then perhaps the writer needs to look at the first page again.
Editors and agents don’t expect perfect in a manuscript, but mechanical errors on the first page are indications of less care elsewhere. Punctuation and grammatical errors I found included: run-on sentences, missing commas and misplaced modifying clauses.
Other mechanical errors related to formatting. One manuscript didn’t have indented paragraphs, making it harder to read. The more common was extra spacing after paragraphs. Probably agents and editors don’t care so much about this as I do, but it does mean writers aren’t getting as many lines for a full page. It probably means these writers aren’t aware of the nasty trick that Word uses as a default: adding 10 pts after a paragraph. This makes it look like a triple space after a paragraph versus a double. (Directions to fix it below.)
My critique group teases me about being the “as” Nazi. I admit it–the overuse of “as” drives me crazy, but I learned it from Deborah Halverson also known as Dear Editor (www.deareditor.com). And, yes, some submissions overused “as.” “As” is a word we often use to show things happening simultaneously. Yes, in real life they do often happen at once. However, in writing it’s easier to just think of things happening one at a time since we read them that way. Sometimes you can take “as” out and break the sentence into two sentences. Other times you might want to use another preposition, e.g. when, while, or reorder the sentence so it isn’t necessary. Often when people use “as” they don’t keep the events in chronological order. When it is used with a “said” and an action, simply take out the dialogue attribution and use the action. You can’t not use “as,” you just don’t want to overuse it.
I also found in a number of submissions that the description of the book was more interesting than the first page itself. In some cases, the first page made me want to read on; in others, not. In some, I think the writer needed to get into the action or tension quicker. Or maybe it was to make me care more about the character. These are tough to accomplish in 250 words, I know.
Several submissions were in rhyme. There was near rhyme, which some editors are okay with, but others aren’t. Sometimes the text was forced to make a line rhyme. The rhythm needs to be spot on, too.
Feedback is hard. So is not winning a contest or scholarship. But maybe one or two of these suggestions will improve your manuscript so it will stand out!

Removing the Word default of 10 pts after a paragraph
1. First, changing the default for all new documents…
– Open a blank document
– Go to Paragraph on your menu bar
>>in some versions you’ll click on the word Paragraph
>>in others, you’ll click on the arrow
– In the pop-up box, find Spacing
– Go to After: and change 10 pts to 0 pts
– Click on the Default box and now all new documents won’t have these extra spaces
2. Second, fixing it on existing documents…
– Open the document
– Select the entire body of text
>>Depending on your version this can be done by:
……..clicking Edit on the menu bar and choosing Select All
……..Or by highlighting the text with your mouse and cursor
– Go to Paragraph on your menu bar
– In the pop-up box, find Spacing
– Go to After: and change 10 pts to 0 pts

* Thanks to Carol Riggs for noting that I used the word genre when I should have used category, which I have now corrected.

Naming Characters – from Mary’s Notebook

Posted on June 15, 2015June 17, 2019 by Susan Uhlig

Guest post by Mary Blount Christian
It helps when we create name for a fictional character to first create a background–positive and negative traits, talents, skills, interests, siblings and birth order, goals, conflicting emotions, support group [oft times friends more than siblings]. We make note of their needs–emotionally, physically, and spiritually; need to receive love and to give love, to have respect from peers and self, and to learn and achieve. Just ask yourself, what kind of character do I need to handle the challenges of my plot?
I find giving them a name that seems right often makes things fall into place–is it a family name, an unusual one that may give way to teasing, a strong name or a weak one, or a preferred nickname? A good exercise is to imagine visiting the protagonist’s room. How is it decorated? Any posters on the walls? Does it reflect her taste or is it in conflict? Go through the character’s purse or wallet for the older characters, or the toy box or that treasure box tucked under the bed. What we keep defines us. People tend to carry their lives in their wallets–club memberships, family pictures, friends’ pictures, that sort of thing.
In the November 2011 The Writer magazine, Bharti Kirchner wrote an article, “Tips for Naming your Characters.” She suggests that you get to know your character first [gender, personality, place of birth, hidden traits, ideals and socioeconomic status. Even the smallest of our readers share these. In names, she suggests that you not use names that work for either gender [Pat, Robin, Chris, etc.]
As tempting as it is, it’s best to not give your characters names of your kin and friends. Your job is to give characters flaws and challenges that even those yearning to see their names in print probably won’t like. Names need to fit your character the way a glove fits your hand.
Other things to avoid because repetition gets boring or confusing:
– All characters with one syllable names [Sam, Bill, Jan]
– Rhyming names [Harry and Larry, etc.]
– Names all beginning with the same letter
– Difficult to pronounce or spell
You can find popular US names listed by the birth year on the web at https://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/. Most recent year is 2015.
Here’s an index of researched surnames. For Asian names, try top 100 Chinese Surnames and Korean Surnames.
Host’s note: Looking for another ethnicity? Google it, but I hope you aren’t just using random last names with no idea about the culture where you got it. 😉

About Mary Blount Christian
Mary has more than 100 trade books published in the children’s–plus reprints in Braille French, Japanese, Indonesian–and young adult field with six adult mysteries due in 2016. Follow her blog here.
Kid photos courtesy of morguefile.com

Craft, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing

The Right Number of Characters

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Susan Uhlig

picture courtesy of Taylor Schlades on morguefile.com
There’s no magic answer to how many characters you should have in your story, especially if you are writing a novel. But overwhelming readers with the number of characters in a story is not good.
Sometimes the author shares a list of who is in the room–almost like calling roll in a classroom. Does a kid in a classroom care equally about everyone in the room? No. Neither does a reader.
Older students who have different classmates in every class may not even know all their names. They may think of someone as the tall girl or the annoying guy. It’s okay to have nameless walk-on characters in a novel, too.
Sometimes when reading, I can’t keep straight who is who in the cast of characters, which means there are not enough identifying characteristics of these people for me to keep them straight in my head. Or sometimes, it’s too long between when they were last mentioned and I’ve forgotten who they are.
So what’s a writer to do?
First, know every character in your story. If you don’t know anything about someone besides his/her name and possibly gender, how can the reader? What does your main character, usually your viewpoint character, think of this person? Is he a help or hindrance to the main character? Is she a friend or acquaintance or chance met person? Is he important to the plot? How does she change or influence the main character?
Second, learn about the purposes of characters in novels. If two characters serve the same purpose, are both needed? Perhaps not. But how do we determine that?
I realized I was doing this more by “feel,” than by logic or analysis. Therefore, I had to do research. Look at the great collection of articles I found!
Does Your Novel Have Too Many Characters? by Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy
Do too many characters spoil the story?
This article is clear about the types of characters in a novel:
How Many Characters Should You Include in Your Story? by K.M. Weiland @kmweiland
I love the chart example with the characters in this article and plan to try it myself.
How many characters should a novel have? by Robert Wood
Similarly, this piece has some great questions to ask about each character.
Should You Cut That Character? by Margo Kelly, @MargoWKelly
Like many things it’s often hard to see in your own writing if you have too many characters. This is where your critique group or beta readers come in–they can point out where they are confused, or ask what happened to character D who disappeared from a scene, or even suggest how two characters are serving the same purpose.

Craft, Inspiration, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing, Tools

What Do You Do When You’re Stuck?

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Susan Uhlig

image courtesy of veggiegretz on morguefile.com

Stuck on your current WIP? Here are some things I do, plus exercises I’ve learned from other people.
If I’m not feeling my character for the current scene, I go back some pages and reread what I’ve already written to get the feel of his or her life.
I’m not an outliner, but I know my main character’s problem well and have an idea of how the problem might be solved. The stories don’t always end how I think they will–I believe that is true for outliners, too. In one work in progress…the kid thinks he is responsible for his mother’s death. At the end, he will realize he was not in control of whether she lived or died. He also will resolve (in his heart) the issue of having disappointed her the day she died. I don’t know exactly how it is all going to happen, but I keep putting him in situations where he has to face what he’s done, face his grief, his regrets.
Talk to your character. In a workshop at Oregon’s SCBWI conference in 2013, Agent Trish Lawrence (EMLA) shared about “nailing your teen in the corner” and finding out what’s going on under the surface. Ask questions on paper and record her answers. Ask “why” questions. Go to the dark places. Try to discover core truths and inner values.
Do research about your setting or your character’s hobby or interests, or problem. In a talk at the 2014 New York SCBWI Conference, author Elizabeth Wein said that uncovering details often provides inspiration. Read her guest post on Authority and Authenticity. Author/illustrator Judy Schachner shared something similar at the 2014 LA conference when she showed us how she uses a journal/scrapbook to paste in pictures and quotes and ideas for her picture book character. As an illustrator as well as a writer, she also draws sketches of her character and tries things out with him.
Go some place different (anywhere, e.g. a doctor’s office, a park, a store, a restaurant) and soak in the environs, then put your main character there and just start writing about him or her being there. Ask yourself, “What would he be thinking?” etc. Don’t worry about your plot, etc. Just see what comes out. Several of us got things that may go into WIPs out of this exercise from a talk by author Elizabeth C. Bunce at a Kansas SCBWI workshop.
Work on another project and let this one simmer until it is bubbling to come out of you… Since I usually have a number of projects I want to work on, this works well for me.
Keep showing up to write. “Good ideas come when we show up,” author Kate Messner said.* Kate has more writing tips on her blog.
Check for action in your story, especially if a middle grade novel. Editor Nancy Siscoe (Knopf) said, “Action is always better than inaction.”* She added that nothing is worse than characters who never do anything.
Be courageous. Keep trying new things. While speaking on courage to write great picture books, Editor Jeannette Larson* reminded us to “do things that might scare you” and to be flexible.
At the fall 2013 SCBWI Oregon retreat, Deb Lund challenged us to “Mine Your Memories“–especially those yucky ones! What hurt you? What scared you? What secrets did you have?
Sometimes writing the next scene just doesn’t seem possible. Write a later scene in the story and worry about how to connect them later.
Maybe you’re worried too much about length. Don’t worry about how long or short it is; just work on what happens next.
Ask yourself questions about your main character’s problem. What’s stopping him from reaching his goal? Or arriving at a solution? How can you make it worse before it gets better? How can you raise the stakes? Will she get what she wants? Once at a writer’s event, I heard someone say “push the main character off the cliff and see what she does.” 😉
What do YOU do when you are stuck?
*at the 2014 New York SCBWI Conference

Craft, The Nitty Gritty of Children's Writing

Naming Your Character

Posted on November 12, 2014August 20, 2026 by Susan Uhlig

photo courtesy of earl53 on morguefile.com
I recently read this tweet by Nikki Trionfo, “I hate choosing character names. #amwriting” And I told her how at our SCBWI Oregon retreat, an editor from Scholastic talked about with project ideas, he just uses “Bob.” He replied to our tweets with “I could spend two hours trying to come up with a name. ‘Bob’ gets the job done.”

For me, I need the character’s name before I can move on in the storyline. Maybe I agree with what Anne of Green Gables says, “I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I’ve never been able to believe it. I don’t believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.” ― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables. In my opinion, who the character is is part of his or her name.

One of the resources I use is a name the baby book and lists of popular names on the internet. I look for names that sound right and often, but not always, check the meaning of names. Where and when a name was or was not popular can be important too.

For surnames, I like using the internet again to look up common last names. I might do it by city or state, ethnicity, and again meaning.

In real life, I’ve named dogs people names (Sadie and Quinn), but I don’t recommend doing that in a story. I think it is easier for the reader if pets have more obvious pet names.

Character Naming Resources
All these have practical tips, but this article is my favorite: “8 Tips for Naming Characters” by Dan Schmidt
“The 7 Rules of Picking Names for Fictional Characters” by Brian A. Klems
“I Need Help Naming My Character!” – What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Name Your Character
This article “How to Choose Characters Names for Writers” has some interesting sections, such as “Terms of Endearment,” “Overused Names,” and “Loaded Names.”
On this page, Random Name Generator at www.behindthename.com, indicate how many given names and gender and provide an optional surname. You can choose ethnicity/language, plus extras such as Mythology, Ancient, Biblical, and labels like Fairy, Goth, Hillbilly.

How do YOU name your characters?