What's Your Method? Critique Group or 'Ideal Reader'?

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

My interview with Margo earlier this week generated an interesting discussion on what method she used to revise her novel. One of my followers, Gila Green, asked if Margo was part of a writing group or if she used Stephen King's 'ideal reader' (IR) method of writing and revising her work.

I must admit that I had to look up what Gila was talking about concerning Stephen King. I know, I know, I'm really out of the loop on this one. I did know that he'd written a memoir a few years ago, but I never really paid much attention beyond that. I had my reasons. First, I don't read Stephen King except in excerpts. Before you gasp in horror and turn away you have to understand something. While I greatly admire him as a writer, I honestly can't read his books. They scare me! and I like being able to sleep without nightmares. I have a very vivid imagination. Second, I am leery of books written by celebrities, even writing ones. That said, I did find a great link to an article on Stephen King's memoir On Writing. It was a guest review post on Jane Friedman's blog written by Jason Kong. Here's the link: The Stephen King Guide to Marketing.

The post raises some interesting ideas on marketing and how writing and marketing aren't mutually exclusive. This is a topic that I discuss quite often with one of my critique groups. I am actively involved with two critique groups. One for each novel I'm in the process of revising and rewriting. Did I mention I get easily bored? Well I do. That means that I am constantly working on more than one thing at a time. Anyway, one of my critique groups I meet with in person and one I 'meet' with online. We exchange chapters and give each other feedback on them once a month. I love being part of my critique groups. Being able to exchange ideas and get someone's take on what I've written from people I trust is invaluable to me. But in an age where social media and self-marketing your work grows more crucial everyday, my critique partners and I constantly question the importance of platform. Some still believe that building a platform even before publication is crucial for writers. Others feel that investing too much time in this can lessen the quality of your work because it means less time spent writing.

Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The article I listed above, by Jason Kong, did bring up several interesting points about author Stephen King's writing method (King's IR is his wife, Tabitha). The one that resonated with me is that when you sit down to write you always have an audience in mind. Sometimes that audience evolves as the story does. But ultimately, you are writing that story for someone. It may be that one IR or it may be a whole group i.e. middle graders or young adults, or mystery suspense lovers. Either way this audience is who you are selling that story too. In other words, you are marketing that book even as you write it, even if unconsciously.

So how about you? What is your method? Are you part of a writing or critique group or do you write for one trusted 'ideal reader' (IR) and why does either work best for you?

An Interview with Author Margo Dill on her book, FINDING MY PLACE

Picture courtesy of Margo Dill

Ann: I’m pleased to welcome author Margo Dill to my blog today. Margo is a busy mom, freelance writer, editor and teacher. Her work has been published in, Grit, Pockets, Missouri Life, ByLine Magazine, The Chicago Tribune, True Love, On the Line, Fun for Kidz, and The News-Gazette. She is here today to discuss her debut novel, Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength at Vicksburg, which is a Civil War adventure geared toward middle grade readers. It was published by White Mane Kids in fall of 2012.

Cover photo courtesy of Margo Dill

Finding My Place is the story of 13-year-old Anna Green and her family's struggles during the Siege of Vicksburg, MS in 1863 in the midst of the American Civil War. For three long months that summer the Union Army bombs Vicksburg day and night. Anna and her family live in caves and eat rats to survive. When a terrible tragedy strikes, Anna must find a way to hold her family together despite the overwhelming danger and hardship. In the process she discovers her place and a courage she never thought herself capable of.

Hello Margo and Welcome! For those of us who still aspire to be published authors could you share a little bit of what your journey was like getting Finding My Place published?

Margo: It wasn’t easy! J I wrote several versions of this book, and then I received some useful feedback from a literary agent who rejected me. She said I wasn’t focused enough on my character and had too much history in there. So, I rewrote it with that advice in mind, and then sent it off again. (Each revision went before my critique group, too.) When I sent it to an editor in New York, she asked to see the whole thing. Then she rejected me also and said that a school and library market might be better for my book. I found White Mane Kids in the “Children’s Insiders” newsletter, and sent them my submission! They, obviously, offered me a contract.

Ann: So this novel did have quite an evolution. Thank you for sharing this process with us. I think as writers we get so focused on the rejection we can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes we just need to keep revising and believing in our story to get that one Yes! it takes to get published.

What led you to write a historical novel about the Siege of Vicksburg? Have you always had a particular interest in history and the Civil War period?

Margo: Yes, I do love the Civil War and historical fiction in general. But what led me to the topic of Vicksburg was one paragraph in a fifth grade social studies book about the Siege. In the book, the authors wrote about the strength of the citizens, how they lived in caves, and that they ate rats. It sounded so interesting to me, and so I decided to do more research. Then I couldn’t stop finding out about this battle, which lasted for 47 days and mostly focused on the citizens instead of the soldiers.

Ann: Did you find it hard to write from a white southerner’s point of view?

Margo: No, not really. Because I taught the Civil War and knew a lot about the facts behind the war, I know that both sides had good and bad people—honest and dishonest. Obviously, I don’t agree with the South’s view on slavery, but I tried to put myself in the shoes of my main character, Anna. How would a 13-year-old girl with kind parents who lived in the town feel about the slaves that worked for her family? What would she be thinking about and hearing? I tried to see the world through her eyes, which was made easier when I did research, too.

Ann: In the story you have your main character refer to her family’s slaves as servants even though they had no human rights. Did you do this to be historically accurate or more because this is a book geared toward children?

Margo: Many of the citizens called their slaves “servants.” So, it was more because it was historically accurate.

Ann: What an interesting distinction, a telling fact on the mindset of the white southerners during this time period. How did you go about researching your book? You do such a good job of portraying through your character what life was like for her and the people of Vicksburg, MS during this time period.

Margo: I actually went to Vicksburg—that was great. I toured houses that were standing during the Siege. I visited the national park, which is the site of the battlefield. I found old newspaper clippings in the vertical files at the library. But the best thing was talking to someone at a museum in Vicksburg, and he told me about a couple books written by women who lived through the Siege. Reading these primary sources were the best research I could do.

Ann: Wow! How fun that you were able to actually visit Vicksburg. Margo I have a question for you from one of my writing friends, Margit Henry.

Margit: Research Methods: How do you organize your material so that you can access it when you need to remember of confirm it? Do you write of research first?

Margo: Organization of material is VERY, important of course. With this book, I had an idea to write about the Siege of Vicksburg and make it for kids, but I didn't know enough about the time period to write without researching first. So, I immersed myself in research FIRST, and then the idea for the plot and characters just came to me. But the whole time I was writing, I had to research bits and pieces.

As for organizing, I did this in 2001, so I wrote all my notes by hand. I had a 5-subject notebook labeled with different categories, such as daily life/slavery, the battle, caves, general Civil War info, miscellaneous. In the misc section, I kept a bibliography of a book or website I used. I would read information, take notes and write down important points in the correct section of the notebook with the title I got the info from. After I used specific facts in my book, I put a check mark of highlighted them in yellow.

Ann: Great question Margit. Margo, what a clever way to keep organized, with a sectioned notebook. I especially liked your idea for keeping track of your sources in a bibliography as you’re researching. Any advice you could give to writers on how to get into the mindset of your character when writing a historical novel for children?

Margo:  I think the research is what helps you get in your character’s mind. If you have an understanding of the time period and the people, then it’s easy to imagine yourself as that person living during that time. I also had two amazing critique groups (because I moved while writing this!) who helped me with characterization. If Anna or any of my characters acted too modern, my critique group members called me on it!

Ann: As a former teacher yourself, what can you tell us about this book in particular and how educators or home-schoolers could use it in their classrooms or as a teaching tool?

Margo: Great question! It is the perfect book to go along with a Civil War unit—you can use it to start discussions on the two armies, slavery, economic issues, living during the war and more. You can also use Finding My Place for reading and language arts skills. For reading, you can discuss how each character grows and changes during the war as well as use prediction skills to figure out some of the events in the novel. For language skills, students can actually write a persuasive paper, taking a side on whether Anna should stay with Mrs. Franklin or take her brother and sister back to their own cave.

Ann: Sounds like you gave the uses for your book as a teaching tool a good deal of careful thought and planning. I think that is so important for juvenile readers to help them want to delve into history even more and understand it.

So, what new books do you have coming out that we can look forward to?

Margo: I have three books under contract, and I think two will be out in the next year. The one that is supposed to be out this fall is a picture book about Red Ribbon Week (drug prevention week) titled Lucy and the Red Ribbon Week Adventure (High Hill Press). Then I have a YA light paranormal novel coming out from Rocking Horse Publishing in the Spring 2014 titled, Caught Between Two Curses, which has a little bit to do with the Chicago Cubs billy goat curse!

Ann: Those all sound like fun reads! Thank you so much Margo, for spending some time chatting with me today. For those of you who would like to know more about Margo and her books check out her website at http://margodill.com/. A copy of Margo’s book, Finding My Place: One Girl’s Strength at Vicksburg, can be purchased at Amazon (author's page), Barnes and Noble, or directly from Margo on her website.

Author Interview with Margo Dill

Photo provided by Margo Dill

Check out my blog next Tuesday Sept. 3rd. I'll be talking to author and writing instructor Margo Dill about her debut novel Finding My Place: One Girl's Strength at Vicksburg. If you have any questions for Margo that you'd like me to ask leave a comment here. You can also follow me on Facebook (Ann Simmons Schwarz) or Twitter (@writer4kidults) and send me your questions there.

From Shakespeare, to Austin, to Lamb

My daughter is currently learning about a period in European history that spans ancient civilizations to the European Renaissance. Since she has to do a book review on a book or novel that takes place within this time frame I thought this would be an ideal time to introduce her to Shakespeare.

This idea was met with scorn. "I don't want to read that," she told me. "I wouldn't understand it. It's written in ye olde weird English speak."

To me her statement sounded like some form or weird English.  But I said, "Okay.What do you think you'd like to read." I knew she was too young for Dante or Chaucer. She's only in seventh grade. Plus if she thinks Shakespeare is written in a form of English that is hard to understand neither of the other authors would appeal to her.

"I know what I want to read and review," she told me with complete confidence. "I want to read Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice."

I really wanted to laugh at this proclamation. I'm sure Jane Austin would have taken exception to the fact a young girl thought she had been around as long as Shakespeare. But I didn't laugh.

"Sorry," I said. "Jane Austin is from a different period in history."

So my daughter got on the computer to do research on what books she should read. I'm not sure how she went about this. But she didn't have any luck.

I went to the library with her the next day and we found two books that she could choose to read that would fit within the right time span of history, The Shakespeare Stealer, by Gary Blackwood and Crispin by Avi. While we were there I looked around for a book that might have some of Shakespeare's plays in a format that she might be able to understand. I had read some abridged versions of his plays when I was around her age and loved it. It made understanding what was happening in his plays so much easier when I was in high school. I found a similar book at our library here and decided to read it myself. It's called Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb.

Little did I know when I listed it on my Goodreads page that this book is considered a classic in children's literature and was probably the same book I'd read as a middle grader. I was also surprised to see that it is the source of quite a lot of controversy among teachers and lovers of Shakespeare.

I'm not a scholar of the bard by any means. I've seen a few of his plays performed and studied Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet in high school. After re-reading it, I can see what some of the concerns would be for this book. First the plays are all abridged versions that are introduced more as short stories than the full plays. The second concern I read about was the language is lost in the translated version. However, that being said this book was originally written and published in 1807. So the prose while easier to understand, for me at least, might not seem that much better to my daughter. After all it was written during Jane Austin's period. Imagine my surprise to have the discussion between me and my daughter come full circle in this way, around Shakespeare. I haven't told her that the book I got for myself was written during the Regency period of history yet. I'm not sure at this point if would really matter to her. But if you are interested in introducing your younger children to Shakespeare in a way that would be easier for them to understand, I don't think having them read Tales from Shakespeare will hurt. Maybe it will get them interested in classic literature and make them want to read something like, oh, I don't know, Sense and Sensibility... ;P

Getting Out in the Garden to Refresh Your Soul

During the busy months of summer, sometimes going to the nursery or plant store can feel like going to the grocery store. You have your list of supplies you know you need and you go and get them. Sometimes if you go during peak season you get more than you need, like you do when you shop for groceries hungry. Then comes the stress later of getting all that stuff planted before it dies. The joy of gardening in the winter and spring that we anticipated sometimes gets lost along the way.

Me and my mom

 This summer thanks to my mom I was able to remember in the midst of summer the joyful and rejuvenating process that gardening is supposed to be.

Daughter Abby

My little nephew enjoying the choo-choos at Hidden Hill

I went to a wonderful nursery that also has a beautiful sculpture garden. A very large one in fact. Here I was able to wander around and enjoy nature without the pressure of feeling like I needed to buy something. This terrific place is Hidden Hill Nursery, in Utica, IN.

I would highly recommend looking for gems like this in your own community when you feel stressed or bogged down. Being in a garden and out among nature can be a wonderful way to ease tension in your daily life and help refresh your spirit. This beautiful place helped to remind me what gardening is truly meant to be, an act of creating life and beauty with joy. If you are anywhere near Utica, IN., make a point of stopping in and visiting Hidden Hill.

For those interested in a Fall garden, now is the time to start planting one. If you don't want to start from seed then broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage transplants can be put out, just remember to water on hot days. Although, if you've been enjoying a mild, wet summer, this probably won't be an issue. If you prefer to start your garden from seed, spinach, lettuce, and kale can be planted, along with parsnips and rutabaga. Check with your local master gardener or extension agent to be sure of your planting zone. Or you can check the Farmer's Almanac or USDA page online. If you live in a more northern climate your window of opportunity for planting some of these things might be coming to a close.

Guest Post by Abby Schwarz: They have always been here!

Since people first began sharing stories they have always acknowleadged the existance of beings beyond their comprehension. Some hunted for them, others worshiped their presence, and some even feared them as micheivous or decitful beings.

 Wait you ask, what am I talking about? Is it spirits, gods, ZOMBIES!!! But let me calm your nerves. No it is not any of these. It is... is... is... (dramatic pause)! Oops sorry guys can't tell you yet, because it wouldn't be as mysterious or dramatic if I did.

Anyway, over the millenia people have said " Oh I found one!" There are whole websites devoted to finding these beings. Or some are devoted to finding and capturing these beings. They say "Oh we won't harm them just tell us if you find anything." Really they want to cage up these beings and disect them to see what makes them work. Guys and girls those people are crazy! Most people say they are just what they're made to be stories. Others say they are here and watching us....


      What do you believe?
                                      Do you believe in Fairies?

My Novel-Mom Reviews on Summer Kid Movies

Navigating through all the family movies that can come out over the summer months can feel like going on safari through a tropical forest.

You want to see most of them, but you don't want to feel like you wasted your money either. Hopefully a review of some of the many movies that came out this season will help.

I didn't make it to all the kid movies that were out this summer. (Monsters U was actually one I missed. Though my kids saw it and seemed to like it. My daughter's review of it was this, "You think Sully and Mike started off as friends, but you would be wrong.")  I haven't made it to Planes yet. But I did see Turbo, Despicable Me 2, Smurfs 2, and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. Below I list my reviews of these kid movies for those of you out there who aren't quite ready to let summer go, or just want to see a good movie with your kids to celebrate surviving the beginning of the school year.


Turbo- When I saw the previews for this movie it didn't stick with me. But my mom and kids wanted to go see this movie about a snail. So I went. I have to say it is a good movie. Turbo the snail dreams of being an Indy 500 racing snail. But, unfortunately, he is only super speedy in his own mind. When a freak accident changes this he is given the chance to fulfill his dreams and help some new friends at the same time. It took me a few minutes to really get into the story. But once the action really starts and Turbo begins to come into his own you find yourself cheering for him all the way. I will warn you though, at the end of this movie you may find yourself seriously craving tacos for dinner. (4/5 stars)



Despicable Me 2- Of the summer kids movies I saw this year this one was my favorite. This movie was laugh-out-loud funny. I think it was just as good as the first and the characters that are introduced are hilarious. Of course the minions steal the screen when they're on it. Gru gets promoted to save the world because of his villainous past. He also gets a partner, a new experience for him. I can't write anymore about this movie without giving away some spoilers. Again, seeing this movie made me crave Mexican food. And I saw it the very next day after watching Turbo. (5/5 stars)


Smurfs 2- I loved the Smurfs growing up as a kid, and I enjoyed the first movie. So did my kids. It was full of plenty of laughs for all of us. I would say as a sequel this one did a pretty good job. While I still didn't like it quite as much as the first one I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Smurf humor. The story premise was interesting, and there were some new characters that I really liked. The one thing I didn't like about it was Neil Patrick Harris's character, Patrick. Part of the plot revolves around his angst over his biological father's abandonment. While anyone can sympathize with this, Patrick is just plain mean throughout most of the movie. Most of this is directed at the stepfather who raised him, who is one of the new characters introduced in the movie, and one of the more likable humans. Still, by the end of the movie he manages to gain some much needed perspective and the movie has a happy ending for everyone--well except maybe Gargamel. (3/5 stars)

Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters- Overall I found this movie to be a bit of a let down for two reasons. First, it followed the story line of the actual book even less than the first movie did. Second, even if you've never read the book and could care less about doing so, the final showdown between the good and bad guys was weak. Maybe a good reason why Hollywood should craft movies based on books more like the actual stories, instead of trying to write their own. If you have kids in the 8/9 or up age range this is still a decent movie on its own despite the mediocrity of the ending. There is plenty of adventure and humor that would appeal to kids and it might even peak the interest of a reluctant reader to check out the series. I wouldn't recommend it for kids below the age of 8, as there are monsters in it that might be a little too scary for them. My star rating on a scale of 1 to 5 is 2.5.

And for those of you who like to read the books before they get made into movies, I'll include this link from Buzz Feed. I added it on to a previous post, but it applies just as much for this one.

14 Books to Read Before They Hit the Big Screen

In the coming weeks, check out my blog for author interviews, gardening tips and projects for fall and winter, and more book and movie reviews. Be sure to follow me on twitter at writer4kidults, or sign up by email for updates on my latest posts.