Ruta Rimas on Developing Characters

Ruta Rimas, editor at HarperCollins Balzer + Bray imprint presented a hands-on workshop on developing a character from scratch.

Look at your characters & ask questions like:
Who is your character? How does your character react to certain situations?
Write a scene where they do the exact opposite.

Ruta’s examples of well-developed characters:

from TV:
Dexter (conflicted & complicated)

Literary Characters:
Max from Where the Wild Things Are
Frankie Landau-Banks from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
Katniss from The Hunger Games

Ruta recommends Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass

First Pages with Agents Kelly Sonnack & Linda Pratt

What makes the 1st page a No:

Too much exposition (telling instead of showing)
Labeled for the wrong age group
Picture Book is dialogue heavy
Picture Book is list-y (tackling a list instead of an overall conflict)
Too much description in action scene slows down the pacing


What makes the 1st page a Yes:

Interesting opening line
Picture Book showing good imagination
Lots of action in opening scene

A Note on Titles: Choose a Title that doesn’t explain everything about the book.

Kelly Sonnack talks about The Secrets to Revising

Focus on the big things first before moving on to small things like word choice.

“Envision your story like a path. The reader needs to stay on that path throughout the story and not get lost in the woods.”

Characters - Why should the reader care about your protagonist? We need to care in the 1st 10 pages. An exception: in a fantasy, worldbuilding may be the focus of 1st 10 pages and character comes later.

Dialogue - Kelly suggests read through your manuscript reading only one character’s voice out loud. Is it consistent throughout the story?

Pacing - You need a good balance of description & detail. Use spare details in action scenes.

Language - Do you favor certain words? “Every writer has favorite words. Be aware of the words you favor. Vary sentence openers & paragraph openers.”

More Saturday Scenes

Diane Muldrow – editor, Golden Books

Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Patti Ann Harris, Senior Art Director at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Special thanks to J. Michael Smith for all of the wonderful photos!  You rock, Michael!

Saturday Morning Scenes

Conference Bookstore

Conference Attendees

Agent Linda Pratt

Editor Lionel Bender

Editor Ruta Rimas

Special thanks to J. Michael Smith for the fabulous photos!

Linda Pratt talks about Voice

Linda Pratt (agent with Sheldon Fogelman Agency) talked about voice.
Voice in children’s books (and any book) is the key thing that agents, editors, & readers look for.

Voice is something that is developed. Most artists & most authors are not self-taught. Writers must be readers first. Writers great with voice must be good listeners.

Linda says, “Voice is the personality and the whole life history of a character when they speak.”

Look at who the character is and the language they use. Word choice and sentence structure can tell the reader a lot about the character.

Some exercises Linda recommends for honing your voice include:
*Eavesdrop on conversations.
*Read for pleasure, then re-read later. Study the work.
*Read your work aloud.

Conference Welcome

Genetta Adair, SCBWI Midsouth Regional Advisor welcomed everyone to the conference.

The 2010 SCBWI Midsouth conference is a sellout! There are 120 writers/illustrators here from 14 states and we have one faculty member from London (Lionel Bender).

Book Signing Kickoff & The Conference Bookstore

I’m pleased to welcome Hannah Dills, Bookstore Coordinator for this year’s conference.

Tell us about the Book Signing event that takes place during the conference kickoff.

The FALL SCBWI Conference will include an exciting Dessert Party and Book Signing event Friday evening from 7-9 in the Embassy Suites Commodore A & B ballroom. In addition to the opportunity to meet faculty members and other attendees, everyone will have a chance to meet published authors and buy signed copies of famous books! I’d like to encourage attendees to take the time to greet the authors signing and ask about their journey toward publication – from winning contests, to meeting agents/editors at conferences, to teaching literature – all of our participating authors have unique stories to share!

Which authors will be signing Friday night?

We have a very exciting list of faculty and other published authors and illustrators who will be available to sign books, including:

Ellen Hopkins

Tracy Barrett

Diane Muldrow

Shellie Braeuner

Susan Eaddy

Jennifer Lambe

Bethany Griffin

Irene Latham

Erica Rodgers

Candie Moonshower

Is Friday night the only time to buy books?

If you miss the signing event Friday evening, items will still be available throughout the conference in the book store. Faculty members requested titles that will be referenced during presentations, so those books will also be available for purchase.

Who is directing the book store this year?

SCBWI is thrilled to have Robbie Bryan from Barnes & Noble Booksellers in charge of the Book Signing event and the conference book store this year. Barnes & Noble is generously donating a portion of the profits made throughout the conference back to SCBWI, which helps our region provide wonderful conferences. So please keep in mind that your purchases help support fellow authors and SCBWI! As a perk, you may use your Barnes & Noble membership card to purchase items at the conference, as long as you have your card with you.

I hope that you’ll find the Book Signing event to be a helpful part of the conference and that you will be able to take home materials from the book store that will help your writing career!

Looking forward to meeting everyone at the conference!

Hannah Dills

Thank you Hannah for organizing our bookstore this year!