In my last post, Diagramming Your Plot: The Big Picture, I mentioned using a mentor text. I used an early chapter book (Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne) to help me see how the plot should be paced in this type of book for new readers. Renee Roberson commented that she could see using a mentor text in many different genres. I know just how right she is because I’ve used mentor texts in many different situations and in many different ways.
The first time I consciously used a mentor text was when Red Line Editorial asked me to write The Ancient Maya. As I read the series guidelines, I wondered what they meant by “scholarly but casual” and “academic but approachable.” I knew I had to get the tone right, but I wasn’t sure what they meant so I asked for a mentor text. There were no books completed yet in the new series but they provided me with PDFs for two titles with the same tone. By the time I read through several chapters in each, I had a feel for what they wanted and was able to create it in my own manuscript.
I also used mentor texts when I was studying a new-to-me magazine, Highlight’s Hello. A friend has had great success in writing poems for this magazine geared toward toddlers, and she suggested that I submit work to them as well. But I was unsure about the parameters for a toddler poem. Does it have to be silly or tell a story? To get a feel for what the editors wanted, I checked out a full year of the magazine and got busy reading every single poem published in the last twelve months. Finishing the stack, I knew that the topics often touched on the familiar, like pets, but that twist endings were a plus. It took me multiple tries to create a short rhyme that was good enough, but I made a sale to their new editor.
Again and again I’ve used mentor texts in my career. I reread the works of both Sharon Shinn and Simone Elkeles to learn how to effectively work in character descriptions without creating an info dump. Their writing also taught me what about my character needed to be stated and what could be left to the reader’s imagination.
How to work setting details into a chapter book? Back to Mary Pope Osborne.
How to people a book with diverse characters without making my story look like some kind of showcase? Anne McCaffrey.
One thing to note, I always turn to new authors and titles when I want to study what is being published now. Thus, I read the last twelve issues of Highlight’s Hello instead of the first twelve. But when it comes to matters of effective craft, both old and new works provide the guidance I need.
Look to the books and magazines that you love to learn your craft. This will give you the opportunity to mentor with the best.
--SueBE
To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins October 9th.
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What are you reading right now? What do you mean you don’t have time to read? Look, it isn’t me. It’s Stephen King, but he’s pretty clear on this – if you don’t have time to read, you simply do not have the time to write. He said so. And I have to suspect that the man might have a wee tiny clue.
But the truly shocking thing? The number of writers I know who don’t read or don’t read much. Their excuses vary as widely as the areas in which they write. They just don’t have time. They have families and day jobs. Or they don’t like much of what they’ve tried to read. It just isn’t any good.
Honestly, I have to back Stephen up on this. You need to find time to do both. Don’t give me that look. I spend far too much time with teenage boys, the kings of scorn, masters of the scowl. You, my dear, are not intimidating. Maybe if you’d read you’d learn how to do it?
Because that is Stephen’s point. Read and you will develop the tools that you need to write. Here are just a few things that you can learn from reading.
Read your favorites, the books, essays, or poems, that made you want to write. Look for the things that you loved. When I was a kid, I was hooked by Marguerite Henry. I loved how she could take factual stories and spin them into compelling fiction. With this true-story vibe, her work has the ring of Truth.
Read things published in the last 2 years and you’re going to learn about the market today. This is important because it is vital to know what is out there now. Look at how it differs from what was published back when your inspiration took root. No way, no how would publishers have touched Maggie Stiefvater when I read YA. Stiefvater's YA has a raw edge. When I cut my teeth, S.E. Hinton was all the rage. Yes, I still love her stories but her books are very different from what publishers are buying today. You need to know about today.
Read, read and read some more. And as you read, pay attention to how the authors do various things. Stiefvater has created an anti-hero I adore. He’s edgy and a more than a bit mean. But he’s also frighteningly compelling.
I’m currently reading Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann. He has spun a true story, 100% nonfiction, into something fast paced and compelling. He uses his timeline masterfully to pull you into the story. He plays with reality, giving you the facts as mainstream society originally saw them and then letting the reader in on what the Osage knew from the start.
Jane Yolen? I read her for a literary air, amazing vocabulary and masterful tellings.
Asia Citro? Her ability to teach science through fiction, combining fact and fantasy.
Lisa Wheeler? Fun word play.
April Pulley Sayre? Her use of rhythm.
Read to study what’s out there. Read to study good writing. Read so that you too can write. Seriously, just do it. It is well worth the time and effort and don't overlook audiobooks. They can accompany you on a long commute, to the gym and even into the kitchen when you fix dinner. Just find time to read. Otherwise? I'll have to go get Stephen.
--SueBE
To find out more about Sue Bradford Edwards' writing, visit her blog, One Writer's Journey. Sue is also the instructor for Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults. The next session begins August 14th.
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