Aaron Moments: A Tribute to Friendship

Congratulations to Joyce Hostetter who won the autographed copy of "The Great Call of China" on last week's post. Trust me, her winning was independent of this post!

A Bible Lesson

The ancient Israelites had a problem. In a battle with their enemies the Amalekites, Moses and Aaron noticed that whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. But his hands got heavy and when he let them down, Amalek prevailed. 

Exodus 17:12 says, "But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron (his brother) and Hur (his companion) held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." 

Apparently this intervention worked because the next verse records how the Israelites were victorious. This is a superb example of two friends coming alongside a great leader and giving him the help he needed.

Since this blog deals more with writing than Biblical history, you might be wondering where I'm going with this post.  

Half-Truths and Aaron Moments

I'm close to the end of my fifth write-it-from-the-beginning draft of Half-Truths. Last week I was writing a scene in which Lillie really wants to be mad at Kate. But, according to my outline, this is Act IV when the two girls are now friends. Why would Lillie choose not to nurse her anger?

Light bulb moment. By remembering a time when Kate believed in her when other people didn't.

In my mind, I dubbed this previous incident in the story an "Aaron moment." A time when Lillie was ready to give up and give in. But Kate's encouragement kept her going--despite her fears and doubts. 

Meet my "Aaron's"

Like Moses and Lillie, I've had my moments when I was ready to quit. Thankfully, I've had three friends who have believed in me and helped me fight my panic and doubts. You've met these friends in blog posts, but here's a little more backstory about how each one has helped me with my story. 

In chronological order, here are my three "Aarons:"

April, 2016

Seventeen years ago, Fran Davis, the Regional Advisor for SCBW (there was no "I" back then) called me, and then called Linda Phillips. She had decided the two of us should co-chair the 1999 regional conference in Charlotte. We each agreed although there was one problem--we had never met. After much email correspondence, phone calls, and meetings, Linda and I pulled it off. 

In the process, we became critique partners, praying friends, and walking buddies. We continue to lift each other up when the other person is overwhelmed by doubts and fears. We give each other marketing advice, pep talks, and a different perspective on ourselves and our writing. Most of all, we're always there for each other as the voice of encouragement when the other person wants to abandon her work.  

In 2007, I met Joyce Hostetter at the Mid-South Reading and Writing Institute in Birmingham, Alabama. I went to her workshop on writing historical fiction and had her autograph a copy of BLUE. Thus started a friendship which led to us co-teaching writing workshops at NCCAT and publishing our online newsletter, Talking Story. 

In 2008 Joyce challenged me to stop talking about writing a novel and to plunge into NaNoWriMo. She encouraged me to spend a week at a Highlights Foundation Workshop for which I'll always be grateful. She's read and critiqued numerous synopsis and first pages. She's now (finally!) reading this draft and giving feedback on everything from sentence order to killing my darling similes. When I bewail how long it's taken to write my first novel she offers understanding but no excuses.  

2013

I attended the 2011 SCBWI-Carolinas conference with a revised first draft and great confidence that I was on my way to publication. Mary Kate Castellani,  my critiquer, changed all that.  She rocked my world and changed my novel by calmly suggesting that my book would reach a wider audience if I wrote it from both Kate's and Lillie's POV. 

My mind whirled as I walked through the revolving doors at the conference hotel. I had just finished writing the entire book from Kate's POV. How could I possibly write a story from a black girl's POV? How could I start all over again? (little did I know...)

The first person I saw on the other side of the door was Rebecca Petruck. 

She not only told me I could and should write Half-Truths from both POV's, she has helped me with the humongous task of plotting a book from two points of view. I've appreciated Rebecca's ability to see what Half-Truths was trying to be and to bring me back from the many bunny trails which my imagination led me on.

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These friends have believed in me as a writer and in Half-Truths as a story. They have been my "Aarons" figuratively holding up my arms when my battles were rough. Thank you, Linda, Joyce, Rebecca, Kate, and Lillie. You each have showed me how powerful friendship can be. 

How about you? Who are your "Aarons"? 

My Next Big Thing

My friend and role model, Joyce Hostetter, tagged me last week in a work-in-progress meme called, "The Next Big Thing." You can read about Joyce's WIP here, and since I've had the privilege of reading parts of it, I can tell you that it will be great!

Now it's my turn to answer eight questions and then to tag several authors. Here we go:

What is the working title of your book? Half-Truths. 

Where did the idea for the book come from? That's a long story. I visited Wing Haven gardens with my youngest daughter about 15 years ago. At the time I thought it would make a great picture book but found that there were too many stories for that genre. Then I thought I would take some of the real stories about this bird sanctuary and write a book for young boys. My son-in-law said there was not enough blood and guts in a story about children rescuing a robin for boy readers today. Now Wing Haven is the quiet sanctuary where both main characters find refuge.

Joyce had shared Carolyn Yoder's advice to "write the story in your own backyard." I started thinking about how the same last name for both blacks and whites were on signs all around Charlotte, NC. Obviously there was a connection there. I visited the Rosenwald school in the Grier Heights community and noticed the pictures of many several light-skinned principals. That day I spoke with two gentlemen which further stimulated my thinking about the connections between white and African American families in Charlotte. 

One to two sentence synopsis of the book: In Charlotte in 1950, two teenage girls--one black and one white-- break racial restrictions, uncover family secrets, and discover they are second cousins.   
  

What else about the book might peak the readers' interest?
I think that many young adult readers today don't fully realize the problems that African Americans faced before integration. Lillie, the light-skinned African American girl, will flirt with the idea of passing as a way to get everything that whites have. The white girl, Kate, has her own set of problems as she doesn't fit in with the debutante lifestyle her grandmother wants her to have. I am hoping that these issues of "belonging" will resonate with today's readers. There is also an unlikely romance threaded throughout the book. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have no plans to self-publish and will look for agency representation after it is as close to perfect as I can get it--with the help of many critique partners!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the story?
That is a REALLY hard question to answer! I had many starts and stops along the way as I had a hard time figuring out where my story began. As a result, I spent a lot of time writing what I now understand to have been the back story. In 2008 Joyce challenged me to participate in NaNoWriMo. I had already been working on this novel, but that helped me spill more of the guts of this book. By the end of 2010 I had completed my first draft. At the SCBWI-Carolinas conference in 2011, my critiquer was Mary Cate Castellani. She suggested that I write my story from both girls' points of view. That was a major shift in my thinking and writing and it took about nine months of working on and off with Rebecca Petruck to come up with a really good outline. I am now over half-way through this draft; which is tighter and better than any of the previous drafts! 

What other books would you compare it to in this genre? This is a scary question because I don't want to feel presumptuous at all. Since it deals with issues of segregation I'd like for readers to think of To Kill a Mockingbird--but I hesitate to even admit that since that is such a Southern classic! Since it deals with a light-skinned young woman passing, I also think of Flygirl by Sherri Smith, although that takes place about five years earlier. When I have described the book to others, some adults have thought that it was The Help for teens, but the books are very different. 

What actors would you chose to play a movie rendition? I am not a movie person, so I couldn't begin to answer this question. But Price Davis, my 92-year-old African American expert keeps telling me to hurry up and finish the book because he wants to see the movie! Now, that's encouragement!

Price Davis, outside his childhood home.

OK, now it's your turn Gretchen Griffith, Becky Levine, Bonnie Doerr, Donna Earnhardt, Augusta Scattergood, and Niki Schoenfeldt. If you want to play along and share with the world what your next Big Thing is--we want to hear it!

In Which I Take My Own Advice

If you have taken a writing class with me, than you have heard me extol the virtues of the red pencil as your best friend. One of the themes of Teaching the Story is that revision happens on many levels. Writers must be ready to delete their "word treasures," rewrite  sentences, add or remove paragraphs, and sometimes condense pages and pages into one paragraph. There are times when a writer finishes a piece, only to realize that what she has completed isn't exactly what she wanted to say and must begin again. In addition, one change often necessitates changes in the entire work. 


I created the "Writing-Revising Cycle" to reflect this dynamic. Feel free to download this file and use it as your own reminder or use it with your students. 


As it turns out, I find myself in the middle of this writing/revising process with my own work-in-progress, Half-Truths. Having completed the first draft at the end of last year, I have been editing it chapter by chapter. Aware that some writers totally rewrite their work in the second draft, I was thinking I could avoid that step.


I was wrong.


As I mentioned in my last post, I recently attended the SCBWI-Carolinas conference. I was fortunate to have ten pages of my manuscript critiqued by Mary Cate Castellani. Her feedback was both encouraging and heart-stopping. She liked my writing and the voice of my two characters. But since the story's main characters are of different races, she thought it would be a more marketable work if I re-wrote it from the viewpoints of each character using alternating chapters.  


I had never thought of that. 


After feeling both shock and denial (I lost track of how many times I said to my writer friends, "I can't believe I have to start all over again!"), I began to re-plot my story.


Since I needed to "see" the entire story, I used white and striped note cards to show the alternating chapters. I laid it out on my dining room table. This is what I ended up with:

Having gone through the "Writing-Revising Cycle" many times, I'm now back at the beginning. But believe it or not, my dread has been replaced with excitement and energy. I agree with Ms. Castellani. I think my book will be far richer as a result.


Now, if you'll excuse me, Chapter 1 is waiting for me. 


Meanwhile, I'd love to hear from you. Where are you in the writing-revising cycle?

8 Takeaways and 1 Giveaway

I thought I'd share some of what I learned this past weekend at the SCBWI-Carolinas conference. 


1. I'm not as close to having a finished manuscript as I'd thought (more on this in a future blog).

Mary Cate Castelanni

2. From Mary Cate Castellani, editor at Walker Books: A book's definition of either Middle Grade vs. Young Adult is determined by where it will be shelved in Barnes & Noble and the age of the protagonist (13 and up is YA). 


3. Also form Mary Cate: An editor may like your work, but if she can't sell it to her acquisitions committee, she'll pass on it. 

4. From several editors and agents: "Write fresh" is a nice way of saying "Get rid of cliches." 

5. From Lucy Cummins, art director at Simon and Schuster: "If you're going to write from two points of view, there has to be a reason for it." (more on this in the upcoming blog.) 


6. From Marietta Zacker, agent with Nancy Galtt Literary Agency: Writing and revising take time. It is like stirring a cup of hot milk until it reaches the right temperature. Be patient. 

Marietta Zacker

7. From John Bemis: Consider what will transform your character. Use this. 

John Bemis

8. From Kathleen Volcjak, the conference book seller: I have lots more to learn about the tapestry of North Carolina history.

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Last but not least, I had my copy of Windblowne signed by Stephen Messer and the winner of my giveaway contest is....

                                     

EMILY DUFF!

Emily, please contact me at cbaldwin6@carolina.rr.com with your mailing address--and this book will be on the way to you!