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Monthly Archives: September 2012

9-11 Will Be Forgotten

It will be forgotten. One day. We all will be, as the universe grinds on to its slow heat death over trillions and trillions of unimaginable years.

It will be forgotten, as other human tragedies have been forgotten. And denied. And belittled. And shrugged away. Because we are human. Because we have to go on living. Because new generations are born who weren’t there and don’t know or don’t care; or can bring themselves to care only if they stretch their empathy and their imagination and compassion–as we must stretch ourselves to remember and learn from and feel for the tragedies of the generations before us.

It will be forgotten.

But not by me.

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You can see photos of the day here.

You can also read my 9-11 ruminations from a previous year.

What Are The Genres In Children’s Literature? – Kid’s Corner

Once a week, I’m going to do a Kid’s Corner post, devoted to children’s literature. Today’s question is about how to define genre in Children’s Literature. Some people would place Young Adult lit here too, but I think it makes more sense to discuss that with adult fiction, since the crossover in readership and material is profound. When I discuss Children’s Lit, I’m talking about books for young children up to Middle Grade. 
Children’s Lit encompasses the full range of genres that you find in Young Adult and Adult fiction. But the books are shelved by age, not the type of story. That makes sense. These are books for kids at widely divergent stages of reading ability, and catering to the vocabulary and sophistication of the reader is far more important than narrowing selection by interest. Kids are also more open to different genres than older readers. They aren’t as quickly bored as teens and aren’t as hardened in their tastes as adults. 
Unsurprisingly, the division in Children’s Literature follows the academic divisions of children’s education: Preschool, Elementary and Middle Grade. 
Within each of these categories are sub-categories, of course. 
Preschool books are usually called Picture Books. They include Baby Board books fashioned from hard cardboard or cloth, so babies can gnaw on them, as well as gorgeously illustrated stories, which might be quite long, with complex vocabulary, that are meant for parents or teachers to read to children. There are also Early Readers, like the Bob Books, First Little Readers or Starfall books, which teach phonics and site words to preschool, kindergarden and first grade children learning to read for themselves. 
I’ll be rolling out some picture books in this category, the Nearly Naughty Early Readers. They are for kids reading on their own, or parents who want to read to toddlers. In fact, a few are already available, for just $.99 in ebook form and $9.99 in print. Here’s one that expands the story behind a favorite swimming lesson song, I Had A Little Turtle, I Named Him Tiny Tim. My six year old is proud he can read this himself, and my two year old loves it because “tiny”Tim keeps getting bigger and bigger… He holds his fingers together, in the “tiny” motion and says, “Tiny!” on the first page. Then, when the turtle is so big the boy is standing on his back, my toddler laughs and says, “Not tiny! Big!” and spreads his hands wide.
Elementary books are also called Chapter Books. My kids favorite series is the Magic Treehouse. I have a series planned for this age range too, because this is the level my oldest son is moving into. The first book is already done and with the illustrator. I’ll talk about those more when they are closer to publication. 
Finally, we come to the Middle Grade books. These are short novels. If they were adult books, we’d call them novellas, and like novellas, they usually have simpler plots than adult books. But not always. Technically, the Harry Potter series is Middle Grade. I think it’s more fair to say that it began Middle Grade and ended as Young Adult. Just compare the complexity, characterization, themes and length of the first book with the seventh. Most authors could not pull that off! Part of J.K. Rowling’s magic is that she could.
Kristin Nelson has a great vlog post about the three levels of Middle Grade Literature. You’ll notice that she lists the Magic Treehouse books, and Beginning Reader Chapter Books, as the first level of Middle Grade, while I would generally consider those separate. However, it goes to show the crossover between these categories. So much depends on the book…and on the reader.
To recap, she divides Middle Grade into three levels. She’s vague about the word counts, but I’ve added approximations to my summary:

1. Level One: Chapter Books

– These books are for kids just learning to read
– Get kids excited about reading
– Teach “fundamentals”
– Grades K-2
– Word Count, 4,000-10,000

2. Level Two: Mid-Level Chapter Books

– Novella length and complexity
– More rounded characters, less obvious “lessons”
– Grades 3-6
– Word Count 10,000-40,000

3. Level 3: Upper Level Middle Grade

– Developed characters
– More sophisticated plots and sub-plots
– Well developed characters, and a larger cast
– Grades 6-8
– Word Count 40,000-70,000

Finding the Best Word for the Job

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FINDING THE BEST WORD FOR THE JOB
by Rayne Hall
Specific words make a story vivid because they paint a clear picture for the reader.
“A woman with a dog” creates only a vague picture. By replacing “woman” and “dog” with specific  words you can bring your story alive: 
“A lady with a poodle”
“A tart with a mongrel”
“A gothgirl with a puppy”
“A redhead with a Rottweiler”
 “The man looked like a sports champion” is bland.  Show us what kind of man and what kind of sports, and the sentence becomes interesting:
“The gentleman looked like a fencing champion.”
“The thug looked like a boxing champion.”
“The salesman looked like a sumo champion.”
Instead of the dull description with generic words “This garden is full of flowers of all kinds”  show the kind of flowers to paint a picture:
“This garden is full of roses, honeysuckles, and hollyhocks” – The reader sees a cottage garden.
“This garden is full of crocuses, daffodils and tulips.” – The reader sees a garden in spring.
“The garden is full of daisies, dandelions and thistles.” – The reader sees a garden overgrown with weeds.

Vague: “Woman holding a boat”  Specific: “Sea Witch tormenting the galleon”
Before tackling your own manuscript, you may want to practice on these sentences. Use your imagination to replace the underlined generic words with specific ones.
I went further down the roaduntil I came to a building half hidden by trees.
She put on her new dress and shoesand applied make-up.
For dinner, he ate meat with vegetables.
Post your versions as comments. I look forward to reading them.

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BIO
Rayne Hall is professional writer and editor. She has had over 30 books published under several pen names, in several genres(mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction), in several languages (mostly English, German, Polish and Chinese), by several publishers, under several pen names. For a list of currently published fiction under the Rayne Hall pen name, go to http://www.amazon.com/Rayne-Hall/e/B006BSJ5BK
Her recent books include Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel), Writing Fight Scenes (for authors), Writing Scary Scenes (for authors), Six Scary Tales Vol 1, 2 and 3(mild horror stories) and more.
She is the editor of the Ten Talesseries of themed multi-author short story anthologies: Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, and others.
She teaches online workshops for intermediate, advanced and professional level writers who are serious about improving their writing craft skills. Caution: these classes are not suitable for beginners or the faint-of-heart! For a list of her currently scheduled workshops, see https://sites.google.com/site/writingworkshopswithraynehall/

Salute to Dragon Con

Dr. Who by Mark Satchwill

The Art of Dragon Con: “It’s the last official weekend of summer. Its also the weekend that Atlanta hosts the largest Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention in the world. It’s an annual event that draws thousands of people from all over the world. At Dragon-Con you will find everything science fiction and fantasy in gaming, art, film, music, comics and literature. This week’s Art of the Day pays tribute to Dragon-Con, the people who participate in and attend the convention and the creativity that inspires and drives it.”

Knowingness vs Knowledge

A great post by John Barnes on why he hates snark. Snark, as he means it, is not all sarcasm or wittiness…so not this:

 …rather, what he objects to is a certain kind of “knowingness,” like teenage dismissiveness in people who no longer have the excuse of teenagerhood:

“Knowingness, of course, is not knowledge—indeed, is the rebuttal of knowledge. Knowledge was what squares had, or thought they had, and they thought that it was the secret of life. Knowingness is a celebration of the conceit that what the squares knew, or thought they knew, was worthless.”

Knowingness at twenty-five… is habitual laziness; it’s the guy who thinks he’s a polymath because he has two dismissive sentences about every subject. It’s the woman who couldn’t follow the story of the movie, so she nods and says, “Great cinematography.” It’s people called upon to be brave, compassionate, or kind who aren’t, and afterward explain that they could have been but they weren’t going to let authority pressure them into it.

Keep the Best For Last

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KEEP THE BEST FOR LAST: BACKLOADING TECHNIQUE
by Rayne Hall
Here is a nifty technique to give your writing style more impact: Structure your sentences so the most powerful word comes at the end. The last word touches the reader’s psyche more than any other, so make it count.
Short, evocative nouns, adjectives and verbs are best. Here’s a list for your inspiration: death, dead, kiss, lust, treachery, blood, fear, die, kill, deep, cold, heat, dark, boil, pull, grave, grip, grasp, hope, sear, scream, thrill, scar, bone, flesh, skull, wound, pray, pain, soul, child, flee, trap, teeth, curse, escape, safe, love.
These words, on the other hand, have no particular effect: it, then, them, across, through, there, somehow, around,  under, of, off, for, that, be, others, his, her.
Often, restructuring the sentence is all it takes, or perhaps adding, deleting or replacing one word.
Before
She knew she had to kill it.
After
She knew she had to kill.
Before
She had a painful headache.
After
Pain pounded in her skull.
Before
He felt the pain then.
After
Then he felt the pain.
Before
A child was in there.
After
In there was a child.
I recommend backloading the last sentence of most paragraphs – but only if it suits the contents. If possible, backload the last sentence of every scene, because that’s where the impact is greatest.
Try it with some sentences in your manuscript, and post the “before” and “after” versions as a comment.

BIO

Rayne Hall is professional writer and editor. She has had over 30 books published under several pen names, in several genres(mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction), in several languages (mostly English, German, Polish and Chinese), by several publishers, under several pen names. For a list of currently published fiction under the Rayne Hall pen name, go to http://www.amazon.com/Rayne-Hall/e/B006BSJ5BK
Her recent books include Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel), Writing Fight Scenes (for authors), Writing Scary Scenes (for authors), Six Scary Tales Vol 1, 2 and 3(mild horror stories) and more.
She is the editor of the Ten Talesseries of themed multi-author short story anthologies: Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, and others.
She teaches online workshops for intermediate, advanced and professional level writers who are serious about improving their writing craft skills. Caution: these classes are not suitable for beginners or the faint-of-heart! For a list of her currently scheduled workshops, see https://sites.google.com/site/writingworkshopswithraynehall/

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