Winner! ... and a Tension #WritingTip

First and foremost, Janet and I want to congratulate

Susanne Drazic

on winning our ice cream contest giveaway!

*WILD APPLAUSE!*

Congratulations, Susanne! You can email me (a2sonnichsen (at) gmail (dot) com) or Janet to claim your prize. You can choose two 10-page critiques -- one from each of us!-- or a gift card to buy books. 

I thought today it might be fun to share some writing wisdom I learned at the recent SCBWI Western Washington conference last month.

I went to a session on pacing ... and we talked about tension.

I went to a session on plotting ... and we talked about tension.

I went to a session on characterizations ... and we talked about tension.

*Personal share alert* With my last book (which is now shelved) I got a Revise and Resubmit from an amazing editor who said I needed to work on PACING.  

So, I worked on pacing. I cut out more than a thousand words that I thought might be unnecessary. I made sure I was jumping into the middle of scenes instead of meandering my way into them. I mistakenly thought that's all pacing was--making sure your story flowed smoothly.

Don't get me wrong, these measures did improve my novel, but, when I heard back from the editor after resubmitting, her response was the same. There was still a pacing problem, dang it!

So, how thrilled was I to arrive at this conference and find such an emphasis on pacing in so many of the sessions I attended? (Answer: incredibly thrilled!) And I learned something that may be old news to all of you, but was new news to me: Pacing is set by the amount of tension on each page.

Now I'd heard about tension and I'd heard about pacing, but I'd never put the two together.

The more you increase tension, the faster readers will turn pages. 

Lower tension = a slower read

Lit agent Abigail Samoun talked about identifying the master tempo of your story on a scale of 1-10.

1= Tortoise slow

10= Hare fast

Few stories will survive at a master tempo of 10. Probably even fewer stories will survive with a master tempo of 1. Most of us write somewhere in the middle. While the tempo goes up and down, depending on the scene, we have to be aware of our master tempo. We also have to be aware of the doldrums in our books, the places where the tension drops below our master tempo for too long. These are the boring bits, where readers are likely to put our books down and never pick them up again. 

Author Robin LaFevers suggested assigning each scene a tempo number and then plotting those numbers on a graph to identify the slow points in your novels. 

Remember, low-tension numbers aren't always bad. Sometimes our readers need a breather, especially in a fast-paced book, to get their bearings and connect to the characters more deeply. What we want to avoid are those spots (saggy middles, anyone?) where we write scene after scene of our characters experiencing little or no tension.

A few tension killers:

• Description
• Backstory (Challenge: try taking all backstory out of the first 50 pages of your manuscript)
• Character sits and thinks

A lovely environment for tension:

A DIFFICULT DECISION: when a character is of two minds. Tension festers well in a complicated problem ... and that's GOOD!

Now repeat after me: I will add more tension to my novel. I will add more tension to my novel.

Any other thoughts? Was any of this new or striking or am I just repeating the same old, same old?

The Decision (And a Mother's Day Bonus!)

We tried.

You tried.

But the consensus? It was just too close to call.

We can't tell who ate more ice cream!

Besides, it's like Theresa Milstein said in her comment on Janet's post, "How can anyone lose in a game of ice cream?"

I also agree with Andrea that NEXT TIME (because of course there will be a next time!) we will have to have a couple of those mail scales on hand so we can weigh the ice cream and decide that way. OR, as Julie suggested, we could just eat the entire pint and see who finishes first. (*groan*) Yes, next time we'll be smarter.

Either way, our lack of a decision is still GREAT news because now everyone who voted for either person will be entered in the drawing! Hurray! *throws pints of Ben & Jerry's*

We'll announce the winner Monday, so be sure to come back to find out if it was you!

As a compensating bonus today, even though it's post-Mother's-Day, I want to throw a funny video at you that my friend, Hersha, helped produce (her sister is the star & she has a cameo appearance). You probably already know (because it says so in my bio off in the side bar) that I grew up in Hong Kong. This one's set in Hong Kong, and even though there are several snippets of this video that make me want to rip my eyes out with homesickness (I know that's weird, but it's one of the downsides to being a Third Culture Kid), the mothering aspect applies to moms anywhere in the world. Even if you're not a mom, you'll enjoy it!

Happy belated Mother's Day! (And don't forget to check back on Monday to see if you won our celebratory giveaway! Yeep!)

Help Needed! Ice Cream Eating Contest in Jeopardy!

We did it.

We came.

We saw.

We got on Skype at the same time (even though my mic was broken so I had to talk to Janet on the phone).

We even had the same kind of ice cream.

And our nine-year-old boys STUFFED OUR FACES.

Here's my video evidence of the grand competition:

But we have a little problem. Janet and I are in grave disagreement about who WON. Janet says I ate the most ice cream. I say she ate the most ice cream. We need your help.

Who ate the most? Watch Janet's video here and leave a comment with your decision on one of our blogs. We'll add up the votes to see who YOU think ate more, Janet or me. Then we'll draw the name of the ULTIMATE WINNER of our blog competition and announce it next Monday (find out what the awesome prizes are here).

Please give it up again for our FANTASTIC FRIENDS who are signing left and right with literary agents and editors at big houses. We're so, so, so proud of and happy for you ... which is why we were willing to embarrass ourselves in this way.

SO. Who's the ice cream-eating champ?

Celebration Time ... with Janet and Ice Cream!

Celebration time, come on! *dances*

Why am I celebrating you may ask?  There are so many reasons!

One of our very own members of the Hacky Sack Club, Melissa Sarno, just SIGNED WITH AN AGENT!!, so head on over to her blog and read about it!

(Note: New members to the Hacky Sack Club are always welcome and we DO seem to have some good mojo going. Just saying.)

Also, my fabulous CP, Krista Van Dolzer [of Mother. Write. (Repeat.)] announced the BOOK DEAL she just signed!!

AND ... I'm a little late celebrating this news, but it's still as exciting as ever ... another one of my fabulicious CPs, Kristin Rae, has a TWO-BOOK DEAL of her very own!!

These ladies are amazing and are some of my dearest online writing buddies, so another dear writing buddy, Janet Awesome Johnson, and I couldn't go without hosting a HUGE celebration in true Hacky Sack (read: embarrassing) style.

And since all good celebrations need ice-cream, we are having an Ice-Cream Eating Celebration Contest!

Here's how it works:

Janet and I are going to battle it out to see who can eat the most ice-cream in 20 seconds. Too easy, you say? Our 9-year olds are going to be the ones stuffing the ice-cream in. Still too easy? Another child will hold our hands behind our backs to keep us from cheating.

And you'll get to see the whole thing on video!! How cool is that?!

BUT, it gets better. There will be PRIZES!!

All you have to do is guess who is going to win. Me? (if you're smart) Or Janet? (no. freakin'. way.)

Everyone who guesses right (on either blog) will be entered into a drawing for your choice of

a)       10-page critiques from BOTH Janet and me,

OR

b)      Surprise Package D (gosh I love me a surprise package). Could be a book. Or two. Or a gift card. Or, who knows? Maybe even A BRAND NEW HACKY SACK! *the crowd goes wild*

Just post your guess in a comment before the deadline on Sunday, May 12, midnight EDT, and come back next Monday, May 13^th, for the ice-cream eating event! Winners will be posted shortly thereafter.

So go on, take a guess!

I hope THIS photographic evidence helps you decide. Because I am an ice-cream eating MACHINE and Janet doesn't stand a chance.

Perfect

Is there such a thing as a TOO-GOOD mother?

You know, the one who keeps an immaculate house.

Prepares an organic, unprocessed, home cooked, original meal every night of the week AND stays within the food budget.

Has the laundry done and folded and nicely placed in everyone's drawers. (No one need ever scour the dirty clothes hamper for not-too-filthy socks.)

Knits sweaters with certified organic alpaca yarn.

Never yells.

Never cries.

Wears high heels without falling.

Has perfect hair.

Is never sharp, prickly or selfish.

Is never late. 

Has a craft prepared for every holiday and for every holiday a craft.

Anticipates her child's every need. He need never ask for anything. He need never wait.

But best of all, she destroys any chance her children have of ever being happy with a spouse, because they'll always be comparing either themselves or their spouse to HER.

All my shortcomings as a parent are actually Gifts to my children, because there are more important personality traits than perfection.

Now, don't you feel better?

Where in the World...?

I know I've been MIA around here lately and I'm SORRRRRY!

I decided to take it easy during the month of April, and taking it easy somehow morphed into DON'T BLOG AT ALL.

I attended the Western Washington SCBWI conference in Seattle last weekend and it was fabulous! I learned so much at this conference, I'm still reeling and living off fumes. I'll probably be sharing little writing tip tidbits over the next few weeks (nothing copyrighted, I promise!).

I've also been writing a lot -- trying to get the first/second/third draft of my WiP finished. The reason it's a first/second/third draft is also something for another blog post. *rolls eyes*

And I've been reading. One book on top of another. In fact, the little table next to my bed is piled so high with books, I'm often afraid it will collapse in the middle of the night.

Here's what I'm reading:

Novel in verse! *swoon*  And I got to meet Author Stasia Kehoe at the conference AND Editor Kendra Levin.

My first Justina Chen novel! And the love interest is a Chinese American boy with a cleft lip! So cool.

Sara is an agent sister of mine; wonderful book so far! I love the concept.

What have you been up to in the month of April? Any good books you've read that I should know about?

Putting the Spring in Break

Last week was spring break for my dashingly handsome sidekick and kids. We stayed home and did ... not much of any particular note except:

• lots of weed pulling (dashingly handsome sidekick and small slaves)
• lots of essay writing (dashingly handsome sidekick who is working feverishly on his National Board certification)
• lots of gymnastics (six year old upped her hours over the break and hit some new milestones-- her first kip & cartwheel on the beam; she's getting ready for state testing this summer)
• lots of reading (especially my eleven year old -- pictured below)
• and I wrote more than 10,000 words on my YA contemporary WiP. (Yay!)

So it was a productive vaykay and I enjoyed the sleeping in a lot. It'll be tough to get everyone up early and back to school tomorrow, and I won't lie, I'll miss my crazy kids (even if they do fight a lot).

My daughter and her snuggly reading buddy

How about you? When was your spring break? Did you do anything fun?