Category: Uncategorized

Superconference and kidcrit

I LOVE going to the OLA superconference. What can be better than mingling with librarians, booksellers and authors? For an entire hour on Friday, Fitzhenry & Whiteside gave out free copies of Daughter of War and I autographed. It was great to chat with so many teacher-librarians and public librarians. Here is a photo of me at the signing. With me is Marina Cohen, author of Trick of the Light and Shadow of the Moon.

What was also amazing was to meet up with so many of my book buddies from private kidcrit, which is an online critique group within the Books and Writers Community.

Private kidcrit participants must have thick skins and they must be superb writers. Otherwise they don’t last. It was thrilling to see kidcritter extraordinaire, Natalie Hyde. She doesn’t believe in succeeding in a small way. Her first book has just been published. And so has her second. And her third!!!

 

Not to be outdone, kidcritter Hélène Boudreau has FOUR books out this year. She was signing her novel, Acadian Star!

Here’s a photo of a bunch of us kidcritters whooping it up at dinner after the conference:

From left to right is:

Natalie Hyde, with three new books out right now.
Marina Cohen, with two books out and an awesome thriller in the works.
Me.
Marisa Zammit, not yet published, but working on an amazing WWII novel set in Poland.
Hélène Boudreau, author of Acadian Star and three brand new non-fictions!
Martha Martin is seated to the right of Hélène. Not yet published, but on the cusp, with her Camp Diaries (soda up the nose hilarious) and her contemporary thriller (cheeky and un-put-downable).
Above Martha is Karen Bass, the only non-kidcritter but I think she’ll be coming over to the dark side soon. Karen is the author of Run Like Jager, a superb YA.
Standing beside Karen is kidcritter Deborah Kerbel, whose first Canadian published YA novel, Mackenzie Lost and Found is getting lots of attention.
Sitting just below Deborah is kidcritter Mahtab Narsimhan, whose first novel, The Third Eye was just recently published and has been nominated for the Silver Birch!

Kidcritters rock!!!

(These photos are courtesy of Helene, who is obviously much more organized that I am)

Book launch: Call Me Aram — new date Feb 4

For Immediate Release:

National Book Launch of award-winning author’s book Call Me Aram which was to take place in Georgetown on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 has been rescheduled to Wednesday February 4th due to the giant snowstorm. Times and places are all the same.

 

Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the author of many books for children, including Daughter of War and Prisoners in the Promised Land from the Dear Canada series.  Of particular interest to Georgetown residents was her 2006 book Aram’s Choice, the true story of a group of Armenian refugee orphans who in 1923 made the long journey from Greece to Georgetown. 

Call Me Aram continues the story of the Georgetown Boys, telling of life at the farm (now Cedarvale Park), for these 100 orphans who arrived speaking no English and bringing with them a completely different culture.

Both books were adapted into a play “The Georgetown Boys” by Sam Hancock and presented by The Georgetown Little Theatre to sold-out crowds in May 2008.

Ms Forchuk Skrypuch will be speaking to local students in the afternoon and will be at The Freckled Lion Bookstore between 4 and 6, and 7:00 – 9:00 PM to talk further about her book, the Armenian genocide, as well as Canada’s, and particularly Georgetown’s, role in this international relief effort.  She will also be available to sign copies of the book.   Family members of some of the original Georgetown Boys will be in attendance as well.

Date: Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Time: 4 to 6 and 7 to 9 PM
Location: The Freckled Lion Bookstore, 56 Main Street South, Georgetown ON


Media Contact:
Kate Murray
The Freckled Lion Bookstore
56 Main Street South, Georgetown ON L7G 3G3
905-873-1213

books@freckledlion.com

 

what to do if you’re in a writing rut

Are you in a writing rut?

Have you tried brainstorming about your main character? This is an exercise I teach in writing workshops and it seems to help get writers out of a rut. Basically, write down your main character’s first name and last name on a piece of paper. Do the same with a secondary character (could be someone they’re in conflict with). Then consider the following:

nickname? if yes, why? if not, why not?
what does this person love?
what do they want?
what bad habit do they have?
what do they eat for breakfast?
what kind of underwear to they wear?
where do they sleep?
what’s their job?
is there something everyone around knows them for?

etc etc

Another idea is to get a job application form and try and fill it out for your characters. What all this does is expand your thoughts about your characters and think about them in a different way. Midway through the brainstorming your mind will explode with revelations. When that happens, think about how these two character confront each other, and then write that scene.

Remember that you don’t have to write your book in a linear way. You can start any place. Do this scene, and then write what comes before and comes after and eventually you’ll catch up to what you’ve already got.

I like to take my characters through a typical 24 hour day. Much of that ends in the trash heap, but again, doing this gives you revelations.

Also, think about your setting in a minute way. What the floor looks like. Are there bugs? What are the smells, touches.

Top 8 of 08 — promising new writers

Following the lead of my dear friend kc dyer, here is my top 8 of 08. She told me it could be any favourite 8s, but this is a year of many extraordinary new writers, and here are 8 of them:

ONE:

The hands down most promising new writer of 2008 is kidcrit’s own Hélène Boudreau! Speak about an over-achiever! Having her first book published in 2008 wasn’t enough for her. I’ve lost count, but I think she had four! Three were with Crabtree Publishing and one is her first novel, Acadian Star, published by Nimbus. Congratulations, my dear!!!

TWO:

Natalia Buchok is one to watch. She won the Kobzar Fellowship for her novel-in-progress this summer, which meant that she got to work with Janice Kulyk Keefer at Humber Summer School for Writers. Natalia and I did a research trip to Ukraine and Poland in the late summer. Her writing is stellar and this WWII novel she is working on is gut-wrenching and amazing. Her first fiction publication credit was the story “A Bar of Chocolate” in Kobzar’s Children.

THREE:

This goes to another Uke: Paulette MacQuarrie, the contributor of  “Christmas Missed” for Kobzar’s Children. A bit of background to how that story was written. When I was putting together the anthology, I needed a final story set in 2005/06 and wanted it set during the Orange Revolution. The person who had committed to that story backed out at the last minute. I also had three Holodomor stories that I wanted to include, but had to cut them back to just one. Paulette’s lyrical “Bread for the Birds” was one that ended up on the cutting floor, so I asked her if she could write a story set during the Orange Revolution. She came through in spades. It’s not an easy thing to write good fiction to a deadline but Paulette can do it.  Paulette is the producer and host of Nash Holos, BC’s longest running and only bilingual Ukrainian radio program so she knows what it’s like to work under pressure.

This summer, I was approached by Formac Press to do a non-fiction book about the internment of Ukrainians in WWI. This is a topic near to my heart, as my grandfather was one of those internees. When I realized that I wouldn’t be able to do this book due to other committments, I suggested Paulette. There is no other writer that I would have suggested for this. Paulette has the necessary research skills, a passion for the subject, the ability to write a compelling story, and the gift of being able to write well within a strict deadline. I know that this book will sing and it will launch her on a new path in writing.

FOUR:

Goes to kidcritter Lois Peterson, whose first novel Meeting Miss 405 came out in the fall. Lois is definitely one to watch. Her writing sings!

FIVE:

Goes to kidcritter Deborah Kerbel, whose first Canadian-published YA novel, Mackenzie Lost and Found, came out in the fall. Congratulations, my dear!

SIX:

They didn’t write a book, but Ian wrote the songs, and their first album is out in Germany and that’s a pretty significant achievement. Congratulations to Ian and Aaron of DYM.

SEVEN:

it’s not her first book by any means, but it’s her first picture book and it is getting rave reviews. Congratulations to Valerie Sherrard and her illustrator/son-in-law on the fall publication of There’s a Cow Under My Bed!

EIGHT:

Goes to a kidcritter who is not yet published in fiction but she has finished her amazing YA novel, Summer Camp Diaries. I see big things in her future with publishers pounding down her door. Congratulations, Martha Brack Martin! 2009 is going to be your year!

 

Life imitates art

When I was writing Hope’s War, an unexpected character walked into the novel and wouldn’t get out. That character’s name is Ian Smith and he was based on my nephew.

In the novel, Ian was one of Kat’s few friends who stuck by her in the midst of the media storm over her grandfather’s alleged activities in World War II. When I started writing that novel, I thought it was going to be about whether Kat could love her grandfather if he had done something horrible in the past. The novel turned out to be about whether one can judge by appearances.

When I wrote Hope’s War, the real Ian was in high school and was very much into Goth culture. The Ian in the novel was all these things too, although in the book, Ian was a classical pianist. My real-life nephew Ian was into acoustics and vocals.

In the book, there was a scene where Ian gives a concert and is then offered representation by a talent scout — for his look, not his music. Shortly after the novel came out, that same thing happened to the real Ian. He was in a number of TV commercials for his Goth persona.

After the book came out, Ian began to play keyboard (Industrial, not classical piano!)

As part of my research for Hope’s War, I interviewed Ian extensively about Goth culture, but also interviewed his friend A. We would often meet and go out for ice cream and talk for hours on end.

Just around that time, the two formed a group called DYM. Over the years, they’ve generated a loyal base of fans. Just recently, they launched their first album on a German label. The group is DYM and the album is Invilid and this week, it has entered the DAC (deutsche alternative charts).

Congratulations, DYM!

 

 

Bookwormed!

I’ve been bookwormed by my good buddy Linda Gerber who was bookwormed by mutual friend, Julie Weathers.

Here’s what I’m supposed to do:

1) Open the closest book- not a favorite or most intellectual book- but the book closest at the moment, to page 56
2) Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following
3) tag five innocents [or more]
4)Julie takes it a step further and suggests doing the same for your manuscript

Okay, so 1):

The book closest at hand is Running With Scissors by Augusten B. Burroughs.

2): And on page 56 it says:

She was snoring. The television was blaring and rolling its screen like it was frustrated that nobody would watch it. And I was sitting on the sofa alone because Hope had gone into the kitchen. I was sitting there watching Agnes snore when all of a sudden I heard the sound coming from somewhere upstairs.

3): My five innocents are Gillian Chan, Gabe Goldstone, Karen Willsey Bass, Maggie Wood and Helene Boudreau.

You guys now must do the same. Ha!

4): Here’s the excerpt from my work-in-progress, Stolen Child:

The windows were uncovered, so when a car passed, strange shapes played across the bare walls. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, hoping for sleep.

I was back in the bedroom with the high ceilings, snuggled in the soft mattress of a four-poster bed. I should have felt cosy, but instead I was anxious. I clutched a down-filled duvet to my chin and listened to my heart pounding in my chest. The high toy shelf with its array of perfect blonde dolls loomed above me, but I forced myself not to look at them. Raindrops trickled outside the pink curtained windows and I could see the beginning of daylight peeking around the edges.

Stolen Child

From today’s Quill & Quire:

Scholastic Canada director of publishing Diane Kerner has bought Canadian English- and French-language rights to Marsha Skrypuch’s Stolen Child, about the Nazis’ eugenics-inspired Lebensborn program. The book will ship in fall 2010, and the deal was arranged by Dean Cooke.