Community Corner with Monica Sagaser: SCBWI Critique Groups and Taking the Leap

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critique groups, critiques, Monica Sagaser, pandemic, SCBWI community, SCBWI members

At the start of quarantine, I checked in with my writer friends. All of them reported they simply couldn’t write or open a book. They berated themselves, something painfully easy for writers. The anguish of loss and uncertainty during this global pandemic was taking a toll on their creativity. Feeling no different, I was terrified of even glancing at my half-baked manuscript. I feared it would go unfinished.

I didn’t want that to happen, so I took a leap.

An Interview with Kirsten W. Larson, Nonfiction Author

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Author Tips, CenCal Writer's Day, critiques, Kirsten W. Larson, picture books

by Ann Rousseau Smith, SCBWI CenCal News Liaison

Kirsten W. Larson, former NASA employee, is the author of numerous nonfiction books and magazine articles for curious kids. Her most recent book is a nonfiction picture book biography. Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane (Calkins Creek, February 2020) explores the failures and successes of self-taught engineer Emma Lilian Todd as she tackles the challenges of designing an airplane in the early 1900s.

Kirsten agreed to take a few moments from her busy schedule promoting her book to answer a few questions on the origins of her riveting new book.

Sue Alexander Grant is Open for Submissions! Here’s Why You Should Apply!

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agents, critiques, critiquing, Julia Edwards, published, publishing, SAG, SCBWI community, SCBWI events

By Julia Edwards 

If you are thinking about applying to SCBWI-LA’s Sue Alexander Grant, JUST DO IT! It was the best thing I could have done for my middle grade manuscript — twice! In 2017, I applied with a very early draft of Anno Catti: In the Year of Our Catand was lucky to be the first runner-up. Then, in 2018, after major rewrites, I applied again and received top honors and a free ride (!) to the coveted Working Writers Retreat weekend.

For those who have never been to WWR, here’s the deal:

SCBWI Webinars: Query Letter Help, Professional Manuscript Critiques, and More!

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critiques, query letter, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, webinars

By Kim Wildman, SCBWI-L.A. Assistant Regional Advisor

One of the things I love about being a writer is that I’m constantly learning. Yes, I’m writing, but I’m also reading books, studying other writers’ sentences, and listening to authors talk about their craft or their challenges. Learning together is one way SCBWI is a community to me.

Recently, I’ve taken advantage of SCBWI webinars, a resource that helps me learn in a relaxed and easy way. How easy? Bathrobe-at-my-kitchen-table easy.

Agent and SCBWI-LA WWR Faculty Victoria Wells Arms On Critiques, First Lines, and More

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Candice Ransom, critiques, E.D. Baker, first lines, Han Nolan, Katherine Hannigan, Marcella Pixley, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Susan L. Roth, Susan Middleton Elya, Victoria Wells Arms, Working Writer's Retreat

Before founding Wells Arms Literary Agency in 2013, Victoria Wells Arms spent 20 years in the publishing industry, working as an editor at Penguin and Bloomsbury, where she was the founding editorial director for their U.S. children’s list. She brings her expertise to this year’s Working Writer’s Retreat (WWR) as faculty.

She’s worked with bestselling and award-winning authors, including: E. D. Baker, Susan Middleton Elya, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Katherine Hannigan, Han Nolan, Marcella Pixley, Candice Ransom, Susan L. Roth and Renee Watson. She is an MFA candidate at the Vermont College of Fine Arts’s Writing for Children and Young Adults program.

Victoria took time away from her studies to answer our questions and share her insight.

ERLINA VASCONCELLOS: The retreat will feature a panel on first pages. How do first pages make readers eager for more? What are the elements commonly overlooked by unpublished writers?

Peer2Peer Critique Day 2018: Inspirational Setting and Writers

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community, critiques, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members, writing

By Renee Carter

It was a spectacular Saturday morning. The temperature was in the low seventies and the sky blue. The Peer2Peer Critique Day facilitators, Daka Hermon and Pamela Rippey, arrived early to the Skirball Cultural Center, armed with candy and great attitudes. I was warmly greeted, efficiently signed in, and encouraged to pick any spot for my group. Within minutes, other SCBWI members arrived. There were several familiar faces; two from my mingle group and two from prior Critique Days.

The table where I sat was composed of four other middle grade writers. We were a diverse group: a teacher, life coach, retired banker, retired physical therapist and a full-time author. Our common ground lay in the areas of writing children’s literature and a positive, supportive attitude.

Ask an Editor: Where Can I Find a Critique Group?

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critique groups, critiquenic, critiques, critiquing, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, SCBWI members

“Ask an Editor” is a forum wherein SCBWI members submit questions that are answered as part of our quarterly Kite Tales blog.

Dear Editor – I think my YA novel is finished but would like to show it to other people for feedback. Where can I find a critique group?
—Effie, Culver City

Need Help Finding a Critique Partner or Group – Peer2Peer Critique Day Can Help

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critique groups, critiques, critiquing, Daka Hermon, SCBWI events

Writers and illustrators, if you’re ready for the first step to taking your work in progress public, Peer2Peer Critique Day (formerly known as Critiquenic) returns Sunday, June 3 to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

It’s an opportunity to connect with other SCBWI members, and you may even find a critique group or partner to continue with after the event.

Peer2Peer Critique Day is free, but registration is required and is open until Sunday, May 27 on the SCBWI Los Angeles website. It’s for current SCBWI members only. If you’re not yet a member, you can sign up here.

The event runs from 10:30 AM to 3 PM. Bring a lunch or purchase food at the Skirball’s café.

Critique Day coordinator Daka Hermon gives us the scoop on how to prepare and what to expect:

Erlina Vasconcellos: How will Peer2Peer Critique Day be structured? Do participants meet individually or in groups?

Daka Hermon: When registering, the attendees will choose a category: illustrations, picture book dummy or text, chapter book/middle grade, or young adult/new adult. Upon arrival, attendees will be placed into groups. The size of the groups will vary based on attendance, but it’s normally about five to six members.

EV: Writers and artists are notorious introverts. How are you hoping to coax them away from the solitude of their desks and creative caves?

HarperCollins’ Alyssa Miele: Critiques, Word Blizzards, Queer Representation in Middle Grade, & Music to Edit By.

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Alyssa Miele, critiques, HarperCollins, Jen Malone, Jo Whittemore, LGBTQIA, middle grade, SCBWI events

HarperCollins Associate Editor, Alyssa Miele, loves fiction chock-full of strong, flawed, and loveable characters whose stories stay with her long after she’s earmarked, underlined, and reread the heck out of them. From commercial to literary, queer to straight, and everything in between, Alyssa loves books that inspire, haunt, and captivate. Alyssa’s recent projects include Changes in Latitudes by Jen Malone, Confidentially Yours: Vanessa’s Design Dilemma by Jo Whittemore and The Arrival of Someday (working title) by Jen Malone (Summer ’19). Alyssa was on faculty for this year’s Los Angeles Working Writers Retreat and spent a weekend in Encino with our members as they dove into their writing and tweaked, polished, and maybe even dismantled their projects. For tips, insights, and music to edit by, keep reading!

Sarah Parker-Lee: As faculty for the WWR, you gave feedback on attendees’ work, but you also had to share space with them for a weekend. Did that change how you approached critiquing? What is your “critique style?”

Alyssa Miele: Meaning, is it hard to critique someone’s writing when they could potentially be sleeping next door to you? Ha! I don’t think that occurred to me until after the first few group critiques, when, heading back to my room, I saw some of the writers walking to their rooms along the same walkway as mine. And of course we share meals and social hours, which really turned out to be a rewarding experience for me. But to answer your question, no, it didn’t change my approach. We’re all adults and, whether writer, agent, or editor, we’re all there to get better in some way or another. I got a very good vibe from the writers. In between critiques, everyone was conscious of giving you your time and space to recharge for the next critique group.

My “style” is pretty laid back. I tried to avoid ever sitting at “the head” of the table. I tried to have the writers open up the conversation before I would give my two cents…I very much believe that I was a guest, allowed into their sacred writing retreat environment, and I wanted them to feel like I came with the upmost respect for their time, their writing, and their process. I didn’t want anyone to feel or think I was the end-all be-all of advice, because the truth is that everything they do, and everything I say, is subjective. So I’m very much of the mind that — here is what I think, but if that doesn’t track with what your vision is, let’s hear some other opinions. I know I bring marketplace and publishing experience to the table, so I hope they could find helpful takeaways in that part of my critiquing, but other writers at the table provided helpful insight, too.

SPL: Critiques can be a hard experience for a writer, to give and to receive, but are super necessary. Any tips on how to stay open, be honest, and choose wisely? 

Authors Judy Enderle and Stephanie Gordon on Founding the Working Writer’s Retreat, Making the Most of Critiques and Writing with a Partner

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critiques, editing, Judy Enderle, Little Zack?, SCBWI community, SCBWI events, Smile! Principessa!, Stephanie Gordon, Where are You, writing tips

Since they met during a UCLA writing class in 1979, Stephanie Gordon and Judy Enderle have led prolific careers as writing partners, publishing more than 20 picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels like Smile! Principessa! and Where Are You, Little Zack?  They have also published books individually and under the joint pen names Jeffie Ross Gordon and J.R. Gordon.

They were also the co-editors of the Fox Broadcasting Children’s Network magazine, Totally Fox Kids, and story editors and writers for the first season of the Fox children’s television program Rimba’s Island. They have been lecturers, teachers, and editors for Boyd’s Mills Press, and are still famous for saying, “yes.” Today, they also run the manuscript critique and editing business Writers Ink.

Enderle and Gordon have crafted writing communities, founding SCBWI’s Southern California chapter (which would later be segmented to include the Los Angeles Chapter) and were the first Regional Advisor Chairpersons, taking SCBW(I) from six chapters to sixty and international, as well as launching the Working Writer’s Retreat. The retreat returns this year, Sept 15-17, with Enderle and Gordon again serving as faculty.

We asked them about their careers, working with a writing partner, and making the most of a critique.