Writing Tips
I am putting together a list of writing tips to use with schools when I do author visits. Perhaps you’d like to hear them?
Sarah L. Thomson’s Eight Best Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
First drafts MUST be MESSY.
Leave space in a first draft (skip lines) so there is room to revise.
For a second draft—don’t try to write it better. Write it different.
Stuck for something to write about? Take a story or an idea everybody knows (Cinderella and her stepsisters? Witches on broomsticks?) and CHANGE it.
Want to be a writer? Do these two things. Read A LOT. And try to finish whatever you write. Getting to the end gets easier with practice.
Alliteration (using words with the same letter sounds) is fun.
Plot outlines can solve the dreaded “I’m stuck in the middle of the story and I can’t finish it” problem.
I’ve done twenty drafts of some books. Two or three should be no problem.
Read MoreTell Me Your Author Visit Stories
AASL National Conference
Dear Fellow Authors and Illustrators,
Later this fall, I am going to be speaking at the AAASL (American Association of Awesome School Librarians)–oops, I might have slipped an extra “A” in there. I’ll be telling the cool librarians how they can work with authors, illustrators, teachers, staff, students, and families to get the most out of an author or illustrator visit.
If you’re a veteran of school visits, you probably know that subtle but real feeling of excitement when you walk into a school that’s READY. Maybe there’s a cool display up on a wall; maybe a kid does a double-take and gasps, “Are you the author?” (or as it often comes out, “Are you the Arthur?”). Or maybe there’s just a feeling in the air, and you know it’s going to be a good visit. The kids will be excited and engaged; the teachers will be interested; each presentation will seem too short.
Do you have any stories about schools that have done a great job creating this kind of energy and excitement? What have librarians or teachers done to get their students to the point where they are revved up about what you have to share and ready to put it use in their own creative work? What, to you, makes a GREAT school visit different from a ho-hum one? Please share in the comment section, and let me know if it’s okay to use your story in my talk.
Thank you!
Read MoreThe Best Moment
This week I sent a first draft of an adaptation(Inside of a Dog, about the science of animal behavior) off to one editor and a first draft of an early reader (Ancient Animals: Plesiosaurs) off to a second.
There are many good moments in the life of a writer. Getting the first bound book in the mail. Reading a good review. Connecting with a reader and seeing that your book really mattered to her. But I tell you, the finest, finest moment of all is when a draft that you’ve been working on for months is suddenly, with the tap of the SEND key, SOMEBODY ELSE’S PROBLEM for a while.
Aaaaaaaah.
Read MoreNinjas for Christmas
All other gifts in the stock must beware the ninja nesting doll!
My fab editor at Boyds Mill sent me ninja nesting dolls for Christmas. I really do have the best job in the world. I bet nobody else on the planet got ninja nesting dolls from a colleague.
Note ferocious eyebrows and culturally correct weaponry. She (of course she’s a girl, as in my upcoming novel, titled Deadly Flowers for the moment) is carrying a sword, probably the shorter one known as a wakizashi, and a shuriken, or throwing dagger, the quintessential ninja weapon (from the movies, anyway. Probably they were not used as widely in real life, since they weren’t all that accurate. Pretty scary to have one whizzing by your face, though.).
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly