Paranormalcy author Kiersten White in the house

I have been remiss in posting this interview. I meant to put it up when PARANORMALCY launched, but I was all sick and phlegmmy and that is all there is to say about that.In real life, she's in color

Meanwhile, stay tuned for Kiersten White's insight on:

- what to eat for breakfast if you want to write a rockin' debut;

- the importance of writing a manuscript that suits your talents; and

- the truth about the hard work of readying a manuscript for an editor

I interviewed Kiersten in Los Angeles over breakfast. I am probably making this up, but I believe she had waffles. WAFFLES. So now we know the breakfast of champion debut authors. Make a note of it.

Kiersten has been writing seriously since the birth of her daughter, who's six years old. She wrote an allegedly boring middle grade novel with time travel. It took two years, and she went it alone--without the SCBWI, without critique partners, and probably even without waffles. She sent out a query a month without luck.

In 2008, she had another baby and started working on a YA novel.

"I wrote my first YA novel in the month of June," she says. "Once I started writing YA, I was like, ‘why was I writing MG?' That’s when I really was like, 'I’m doing this.'"

She sent out 45 query letters and almost died--not from the letters, which would have been understandable, but from an ectopic pregnancy. Yikes!

When she got home from the hospital, she knew she'd get an agent "because the universe works that way." She got one in November and was so excited, she wrote a companion novel to the book in two weeks. TWO. Then, in January, the inspiration for PARANORMALCY struck.

Hold onto your hairpieces: Kiersten wrote PARANORMALCY in three weeks. Zoinks! The draft was 82,000 words. That's nearly 4,000 words a day, for those of you who enjoy math, or more accurately, those of you who enjoy math that other people have done for you.

Meanwhile, her first novel didn't sell. If it's not just an oatmeal flashback talking, it was because she had an 18-year-old protagonist. As she put it, "Vampires can be 100, but put in an 18-year-old girl and you're pretty much toast." (As opposed to a waffle.)

PARANORMALCY is a YA novel that skirts paranormal and urban fantasy (with a zesty dash of comedy and romance thrown in). About a girl named Evie who may or may not be human, and whose affections are divided between a shapeshifter and her faerie ex-boyfriend. People are nuts about the story, and it might even be made into a movie.

One big thing she did differently that helped her succeed this time around: She read her revised draft out loud before submitting.

"It really does make a difference," she says. "I know the next person is going to read this is an editor. I wanted to get it as polished as you could get it. Nothing else will make an awkward sentence stick out like reading it out loud."

As she read, she marked awkward passages, then went through and changed everything that needed tweaking. 

Another tip: As one of her final edits, she reads through a hard copy. "You don’t read as closely as when you read on a screen," she says.

Then, she wrote her own cover letter on behalf of her agent. That very letter became the source of the flap copy.

Since selling her debut, the fingers-on-fire pace of writing has slowed down a bit. The sequel took her several months, because life after a big book deal has become a bit more complicated, and the pressure is greater. But her sequel is done, and a third is on the way--which means fun and excitement for Kiersten and her many fans.

Learn more about the talented and wonderful Kiersten here:

Where she's touring

Kiersten's website

Her Twitter feed

Kirby Larson interviewed me! Yay!

Oh, how I love Kirby Larson. I first got to know her through her writing, and afterward, as the generous and thoughtful human being she is.

If you haven't read HATTIE BIG SKY, her Newbery honor novel, or TWO BOBBIES, or NUBS--nonfiction picture books that will lodge themselves in your heart--then you have some marvelous treats ahead. If you have, well, you know what a terrific writer Kirby is.

She interviewed me about having an agent vs. not having one on her blog and I am reposting it mainly so I'm always able to find it. But you should, by all means, visit Kirby's Lane often for insight, inspiration, and really helpful writing tips. (Plus: adorable photos of her dog Winston!)

Martha Brockenbrough is the author of the forthcoming picture book The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy. She is on the SCBWI National blog team, and is the social media director for readergirlz.org. She lives with her husband, their two daughters, and their smelly dog in Seattle.

MB: I love working with an agent. I’ve worked with several. I’m sort of like Elizabeth Taylor and husbands, but that’s another story.

Agents are not essential to selling books, but they make a number of things easier for you:
- agents are first in line with submissions;
- they often can give you editorial feedback that will help get your book in its best shape; and
- if you’re lucky enough to get an offer, they can and will make it better for you.

There is no one path to success in this industry, though. And often, it’s not as cut-and-dried as you might imagine. The story of The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy is a great example of that.

I met Arthur Levine, my editor, at a regional SCBWI conference. Because I volunteer on the advisory committee, I was lucky enough to have dinner with him, several other authors, and a literary agent. (I didn’t know I’d get to do this when I signed up to volunteer—I just really liked our regional advisers. But it is true that when you give of yourself, the generosity tends to return itself in unexpected ways.)

I never would’ve dreamed of submitting to Arthur Levine. He is ARTHUR LEVINE. I am merely myself, and at that point in my career, I wasn’t allowing myself such big dreams.

Still, I made him laugh during the dinner, and at one point he said, “You’re hilarious. Why aren’t you submitting to me?”

Honestly, until he asked, it had never occurred to me as something I might do. I’d read plenty of Arthur Levine books, and after that, I read everything in his line that I could possibly get my hands on (and I have a long shelf of Arthur A. Levine books to inspire me).

There was that little matter of having a suitable manuscript, though. And by little, I mean big.

I saw Arthur a few months later at the SCBWI national conference in Los Angeles, and to my astonishment, he remembered me. He also spoke that year about picture books, and how we should not fear for their future. I was so heartened by the talk that I sent him a thank you note with something I intended as a throwaway joke. But Arthur saw a story in it, and wrote back telling me as much.

At that same conference, I’d been impressed by an agent I heard speak. I set about finishing the novel I’d been working on, as well as working on that story idea for Arthur. I hoped to query the agent on one or the other when I was ready, assuming I was able to work out a deal with the agent who represents my adult work.

Meanwhile, a freelance piece I wrote—a Twilight spoof—started making the rounds on the Internet. An editor at HarperCollins posted it on Facebook, and that literary agent I so admired in Los Angeles wrote that it made him die of laughter (I guess he liked my use of the word “badonkadonk.”)

That became an opportunity to query him. And while it sounds on one hand like outrageous luck, it was also luck born of work. I didn’t write a story meant to catch anyone’s eye. I just wrote it because it was my freelance job, and I wanted to do something above and beyond the normal. The moral? Do your work as well as you can. Focus on that. The rest takes care of itself.

So, the agent said he’d be willing to work with me, even though he didn’t like the draft of the picture book I’d written. He didn’t sign me, but I revised it another twenty or so times (he saw two of those revisions). Then he finally read one he deemed “superb.” This, he sent to Arthur.

A few months later (after some gentlemanly prodding from my agent), we heard back. Arthur liked it, but didn’t love it… yet. It didn’t have quite the emotional punch he wanted.

So I revised yet again (I wrote sixty drafts, in all). The revision that worked, I banged out at SeaTac airport while I was waiting for a flight to Tahiti. This sounds great until you know that I was headed there to pick up my critically injured father and arrange for a Medevac flight home, provided he was still alive when I got there.

Side note: If you want a really good way to keep your mind from wondering whether you’d ever see your dad alive again, try revising a picture book! You might just find sources of emotion inside you that you didn’t know you had.

Another side note: I can’t really recommend this technique.

Shortly after I returned home from Tahiti with my dad (yay!), I lost my job writing those funny entertainment things that had earned me an agent (boo). But a few weeks after that, I heard from Arthur. He loved the book and was taking it to acquisition. I still didn’t believe it, though, until I saw Arthur in September at an SCBWI event put on by the Los Angeles chapter—where I also met the person who would become my new agent after the other one turned his focus to packaged books (yay/boo).

I’ll stop now. If you’re still reading, I salute you. And will conclude by saying this: You never know what life will bring—the regular life, or the writing life. So, write your heart out. Share your talents. Get out there and meet people, being genuinely interested in what they have to say, what they can teach you, and what you have to give. Show your gratitude. Be courageous when things don’t go your way. Keep working until you can’t get better. Then get better anyway.

Success isn’t guaranteed by an agent, and there will never be a moment when you are one, because life has a way of turning on itself. It will also turn you upside down from time to time. It’s the relationships that are important—the ones you have with people, and the ones you have with your keyboard. Give these everything you have, and you’ll have a meaningful ride on this earth, which is all anyone of us can really hope for.


Welcome, Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams!

I'm just back from an incredible SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, and to keep the good feeling buzzing along, am posting an interview with Suzanne Williams and Joan Holub, two of our colleagues.

Joan has moved on to a new region, but she'll always be among my favorites because she was the first person I ever spoke to at an SCBWI conferenOoh! Swag!ce. I'd just made it through the lunch line at Seattle Pacific University, and was having cafeteria palpitations. Joan looked friendly enough to approach, and even though she was an author and illustrator with a library of books under her belt, she took the time to encourage me, and she didn't seem to mind my table manners at all.

Suzanne is someone I had the good fortune to meet once I was settled in the SCBWI. She's a model of generosity and affability, and her books are tops. Together, she and Joan are goddesses.

To celebrate the release of their latest collaboration, Goddess Girls #3, Aphrodite the Beauty, Joan and Suzanne were kind enough to answer a few of my questions.

They are also giving away this groovy swag:

  • 24-color eyeshadow from Claire's
  • 7 lip glosses with faux rhinestones
  • Multi-color bracelet 
  • Goddess Girls bookmark
  • Autographed copy of Aphrodite the Beauty (See details below to enter.)

What inspired you to write the Goddess Girls books?

Suzanne: The series was Joan’s idea. She’d always been interested in mythology, and thought a “school-based” series starring tween goddessgirls and godboys would be fun to do. She was right!

Joan: Suzanne and I used to have dinner together regularly when I lived in Seattle, and we talked about books all the time. I respect her wJoan Holubork and thought it would be fun to write with her, and it has been! We’re tossing around other ideas for future series as well.

How are you doing your research?

Joan: We use books like Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology” as sources for myths, as well as mythology dictionaries and on-line articles. I’ve got two shelves of mythology books because I love the subject. Especially Egyptian and Greco-Roman. We’re introducing an Egyptian goddessgirl in the 6th book as a side character.

Suzanne: Our research is just the starting point, of course. We’ve had a lot of fun weaving the myths involving our four main characters into our stories, using those myths to play up themes (about friendship and boy-girl relationships, for example) that are of concern to our readers.

How are you handling the writing between the two of you? A lot of people have dreamed of teaming up, but aren't quite sure how to chart the course. Do you have any tips?

Suzanne: Pick the right writing partner! Joan and I both have strong work habits, compatible writing styles, and enough experience to allow us to put our egos aside for the sake of the writing.

Suzanne WilliamsJoan: Well said, Suzanne. We weren’t sure how we were going to write together in the beginning. Some writing teams trade off chapters, but that seemed too unwieldy for us. Since we were initially contracted to write four books, we each did rough drafts for two, then traded the stories back and forth for several more drafts.

Since I live in North Carolina and Suzanne is in Washington state we did all this through email attachments, using Microsoft Word’s Tracking feature to edit and comment on each other’s work. We also made many long phone calls.

Our relationship has been very comfortable—no arguments. (Yay!) It’s so nice to have someone to turn to who’s equally invested in the success of the books. When I’m stuck for something humorous, I can ask Suzanne, and vice versa.

Because we rewrite each other’s work so much, the series feels homogenous, as if written by one author. Our publisher, Aladdin, has recently asked us to write two more books for the series, so we’re each working on one more rough draft now. (Goddess Girls 5 & 6.) Lucky for us that they’ve always requested books in multiples of two!

Which goddess are you most like, Joan? And what about you, Suzanne?

Joan: I want to be Aphrodite! Who wouldn’t want to be the most popular, beautiful, likeable girl in school? But I’d also like to be Athena because she’s brainy; Persephone because, well, she’s got that bad-boy Hades in love with her; and Artemis is fantastic at every sport. So I’ll be greedy and take them all, rolled into one.

Suzanne: Probably Athena. I studied pretty hard when I was in school and got good grades. But like Persephone, I’ve sometimes “gone along to get along” with others, ignoring my true preferences. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. Compromise is a valuable skill. But I’ve learned that balancing my needs with the needs of others is also important.

Oh, wow, that sounds heavy. Sorry about that! I’m probably least like the sporty Artemis and the beautiful Aphrodite. I was never into team sports, and I never had tons of guys vying for my attention. Darn!

What kind of response are you getting from your readers? Has it been gratifying?

Suzanne: Yes! I use Google Alerts to track on-line references to the Goddess Girls series. I’ve found several blogger reviews that way, including one from a dad whose eleven-year-old daughter devoured the first two GG books, then immediately asked him to put the others on reserve at the library as soon as they were available. That kind of reaction is music to Joan’s and my ears!

Joan: I also enjoyed this last paragraph of a lengthy customer review of Persephone the Phony (Goddess Girls #2) on Amazon: “This book had just the right amount of drama, humor, and of course, just the right amount of extra-ordinary goings on at MOA to satisfy my interest in this mystical mythical tale. Needless to say, I ended up being quite charmed by Persephone, even if she was a tad devilish. After reading this one I can truly attest to the fact that both young and old goddessgirls are going to LOVE this series!”

Suzanne and Joan: We hope that reviewer is right because we LOVE writing the series! Thank you for letting us visit today, Martha!

And thank you for visiting! I am such a fan of both of you and your many books.

Aphrodite the Beauty (ages 8-12, releases August 3, 2010, Aladdin paperbacks) ISBN: 978-1416982739 Sure Aphrodite is beautiful, but being the goddessgirl of love is not always easy. Though others think she’s an expert on boy-girl relationships, they’re often just as confusing to her as to anyone else. And she certainly never thought she’d find herself jealous of one of her best friends!

"The authors intertwine an enchanting mythological world with middle-school woes compounded by life as a deity or blessed mortal. The books should be popular with fans of girly, light fantasy." - School Library Journal 4/1/2010

More books in the series:

Goddess Girls #1: Athena the Brain ISBN: 978-1416982715

Finding out she’s a goddess and being sent to Mount Olympus brings Athena new friends, a weird dad, and the meanest girl in mythology—Medusa!

Goddess Girls #2: Persephone the Phony ISBN: 978-1416982722

Hiding her feelings works fine for Persephone until she meets a guy she can be herself with—Hades, the bad-boy of the Underworld.

Goddess Girls #4: Artemis the Brave (releases December 7, 2010)

Giveaway details: Drop a comment to be automatically entered for a chance to win: Contest is open to USA only. Open to all ages. Contest runs from August 4 – August 8. One winner will be randomly chosen and announced here on August 9. Aphrodite the Beauty Swag Bag will be mailed out within 10 days of receipt of address from winner.